latest on greenblatt kaminetsy heter for adultery from Joe Orlow

this is a copy of a letter I sent to a Rav in the U.S.

Dear Rabbi [redacted],

As you are aware, I am part of a team that holds that the Halacha has been severely compromised by the actions of men considered to be Gadolei Yisrael in America.

To your credit, you have defended these men. You have challenged my attacks on these men. And you have done it from the best of places and purest of motives: your adherence to the principle that decisors of Halacha are to be given the greatest deference.

Yet, I think the Rav should be aware of some new developments on the Epstein-Friedman front.

I have spoken to Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky several times. The first time was several years ago when Tamar Epstein declared she was free from her marriage. She made this declaration despite her husband being alive and well, and despite his not giving her a Get. For the record, she was married to him with Kiddushin.

At that time, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky made light of the matter. He declined to speak in depth with me about it, and referred me to his son.

In a follow up call two years ago, after Tamar remarried, Rabbi Kamenetsky told me that one may rely on Rabbi Greenblatt as far as the legitimacy of Tamar's remarriage. He acknowledged that there are other Rabbis who hold the remarriage is not legitimate.

In a recent call, Rabbi Kamenetsky again said one may rely on Rabbi Greenblatt, while acknowledging that Rabbi Dovid Feinstein holds the remarriage was not permitted. He made it clear that he, Rabbi Kamenetsky, was not involved in the Heter given to Tamar to remarry.

Rabbi Kamenetsky is apparently a liar. Before Tamar received her Heter, Rabbi Kamenetsky was sending out letters to other Rabbis to induce them to provide the Heter. Recently, Rabbi Nota Greenblatt told me he was contacted by Rabbi Kamenetsky and his son Rabbi Shalom Kamenetsky regarding finding a way for Tamar to remarry without a Get.

On the face of it, Rabbi Kamenetsky was not only involved in the issuance of the Heter. He was also the impetus behind finding the Heter.

Furthermore, the Kamenetskys gave Rabbi Greenblatt the contact information for a mental health professional. Rabbi Greenblatt called this professional. Rabbi Greenblatt told me that the testimony of this professional became the basis of the Heter Tamar received.

So Rabbi Kamenetsky's involvement was critical to the issuance of the Heter. In fact, the Heter might not have come about except for the Kamenetskys supplying to Rabbi Greenblatt the contact info for the mental health professional.

Rabbi Dovid Feinstein's Bais Din determined that Tamar's remarriage was not permitted, as I mentioned above. Two years have passed since I notified Rabbi Hillel David by telephone and Rabbi Dovid Feinstein (both sat on the Bais Din) via email that Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky has not told Tamar Epstein to separate from her second husband, Adam Fleischer. This is despite both Rabbis Kamenetsky giving the world the impression that they adhere to the decision of the Feinstein Bais Din, a Bais Din that was convened for one and only one reason: to determine Tamar Epstein's marital status and issue a ruling for Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, and Rabbi Kamenetsky alone.

Furthermore, the Feinstein Bais Din never ordered Tamar Epstein and Adam Fleischer to separate.

In conclusion, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky is your Gadol. The man is a liar. And he facilitated the ongoing Halachic adultery of Tamar Epstein. He has it within his power to stop the Halachic adultery, and does not. He thus carries the sin. And so does the Feinstein Bais Din. Rabbi Kamenetsky is a Rasha. Rabbi Dovid Feinstein is fitting to be put in Nidui.

I admire that you will read all this and still maintain that the Rosh Yeshiva in Philadelphia is someone I should recognize as the greatest Gadol in America.

I will not do so. In no way does that diminish my respect for you. As long as I have strength, I will continue this fight against those who tear down the Halacha. And I will do it precisely out of my respect for you and other Jews.

You deserve better Gadolim than Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and his son Rabbi Shalom Kamenetsky who is reportedly designated to one day to become the next head of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the Agudath Israel of America.

Sincerely,

Joe Orlow

Tamar Epstein: What role did Rav Shmuel and Rav Sholom Kaminetsky play in the giving of the heter to remarry without a Get?

Aside from the above letter, Rabbi Feldman notes in his letter that it is widely believed that Rabbi Greenblatt's heter to remarry was in fact supported by the Kaminetsky's - even though they both deny it.

נוסף לזה, בעיני הצבור הרה"ג הנ"ל נתמך ע"י אחד מזקני ראשי הישיבה של הדור ובנו שהוא גם ת"ח חשוב, ואם כי הם מכחישים זאת, בודאי הרבה יסמכו על השמועות להתיר איסורי אשת איש ע"פ השיטה הזאת, שהרי לדעתם כבר הורה כן גדול בתורה

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It is well known that the Kaminetskys have tried for years to obtain a Get for Tamar Epstein and free her from her marriage to Aharon Freedman. This includes:

1) Supporting the public demonstrations of ORA against the view of the only authorized beis din - the Baltimore Beis Din.

2) Issuing a seruv against Aharon which calls for the public to pressure him into give a Get. Something which is not justified by halacha for ignoring a beis din when he and Tamar had agreed to use the Baltimore Beis Din. Finally a seruv doesn't require giving a Get even if it were legitimate - which it isn't.

3) I have testimony concerning a number of poskim who were approached by R Shalom Kaminetsy with a document which claimed that therapists found Aharon to be suffering from incurable personality disorders which made him impossible to live with. Included in that document was a request to pasken that the marriage was a mekach ta'os. He claimed that his father was agreed that the evidence was valid and was in agreement to ask for a psak of mekach ta'os.

4) Rabbi Shalom Kaminetsky - knowing that Tamar had not obtained a Get - has been reported as asking someone if they would be interested in a shidduch with her. When asked how she had been freed from marriage without a Get replied that if it were relevant to know the information would be supplied.

5) Rabbi Greenblatt who gave the heter said he relied on the evidence provided by the Kaminetsky's to justify marrying Tamar Epstein to her second husband without the first husband giving her a Get. He claimed that it was chutzpah to question the validity of what the Kaminetskys told him.

6) At no time has either R Kaminetsky objected to the heter being given.

In sum, the Kaminetsky's gathered evidence from various therapists, they organized the evidence as justification for the heter and they personally went to poskim to ask for a heter based on mekach ta'os and the posek who gave the heter rubber stamped their request without personally investigating the evidence nor did he bother speaking with the husband - because the Kaminetsky's had provided him with all he needed to know. Finally they have not objected in any manner to the heter - despite the serious objects publicly raised by various poskim as to its validity. But they do object to being perceived as encouraging or supporting the heter.

House passes Israel aid bill despite Biden veto threat

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67304782

To offset the cost of the aid to Israel, Republicans proposed cutting $14.3bn in funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which collects US taxes.

However, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said such cuts to IRS funding would result in less tax revenue, and increase the US deficit by nearly $12.5bn over the next decade.

"My Republican friends say they want to help Israel," said Democratic congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.

"And so, what do they do? They condition the aid to Israel on essentially a tax break for millionaires and billionaires and corporations that cheat on their taxes."

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Rav Eliahu Rominek's teshuva explaining why it is worthless

   Rav Rominek ---- Heter is Worthless 

Tamar's Heter: Protecting Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky is more important than protecting the Torah

Update: There are allegations that the Moetzes - instead of condemning the Kaminetskys and R Greenblatt for this scandal  - are working on publishing a letter that Rav Shmuel was not involved in the heter - a claim Rav Shmuel has made in several letters to rabbonim. The problem is that his son R Shalom directly contradicts this claim of non involvement in his letter to Rav Greenblatt[which appears below]. The only statement that everyone will agree is that Rav Shmuel did not give the heter - that was done by Rav Greenblatt together with Rav Feurst and others. The bottom line is that the heter would never had been given without Rav Shmuel's involvement and that furthermore it continues to exist entirely because he refuses to condemn it.

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As everyone knows, the storm resulting from the phony heter to Tamar Epstein has been going on for a while.  R Shalom Kaminetsky's campaign to manipulate Rav Greenblatt to declare the marriage invalid worked only for a while. However a wide range of major rabbis - including Rav Chaim Kanievsky - have condemned this heter and declared Tamar as still being married to her first husband and thus committing adultery with her 2nd husband. It has clearly been publicly declared by these rabbis that persuading a psychiatrist to write an invalid report - is  a major danger to the Orthodox community and the institution of marriage.

The question is why the issue has not been settled with a retraction of the heter by Rabbi Greenblatt and a rejection of the heter by Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and his son? Why is the issue dragging on? Why isn't an ultimatum being given to the above - to either comply or be publicly denounced?

The answer unfortunately is not a pretty one. Because if an ultimatum was delivered to the above rabbis - there is a good possibility that they would not comply. After all they have "Daas Torah" or as Rav Greenblatt says "I followed the Shulchan Aruch" and it doesn't matter to him whether the facts are true or not. He views the heter as being independent of how it was obtained and that the only thing that matters is that he issued a  psak that Tamar can remarry. Similarly Rav Kaminetsky sees no reason to condemn the heter because it was issued by a "bar samcha" (Rav Greenblatt) and so it doesn't matter if the basis is a pack of lies. In short neither cares whether the heter was obtained through falsely proclaiming that Aharon Friedman  suffers from extreme incurable mental illness that disqualifies him from ever being able to marry.

However the real answer why there is no ultimatum is because we have a serious problem here of codependency. What is ultimately preventing the resolution - and the reason that the Moetzes Gedolei Torah will never get involved - is the issue of the priority of  our rabbinic leaders. While Torah and halacha are truly important, there is a greater concern for these rabbis. They view that the system itself is in danger if major gedolim are declared to be in open rebellion against the Torah. These rabbis will never do anything that is perceived as an attack on gedolim. Thy believe that  faith in gedolim (and Daas Torah) is more important to preserve than faith in G-d and Torah! Or rather that faith in G-d and Torah must be through faith in the gedolim.

Unfortunately, by publicly declaring that the heter is false and that a major breach in Torah has occurred - they can't conceal from the public that the agents of this breach are in fact gedolim. The longer they hesitate the greater is the loss of faith in gedolim and the greater the cynicism is amongst the masses - including the yeshivos and seminaries. 

In short, since they have gone public with the existence of a major breach - they can not avoid following that to its logical conclusion. But they lack nerve and don't want to be perceived as the ones who destroyed the public status of revered gedolim - Rav Greenblatt and Rav Kaminetsky.

Consequently there is great pressure to try and save the reputation of these gedolim by putting pressure on Aharon Friedman. It is widely viewed by these rabbis that almost all goals will be accomplished if he is sacrificed by forcing him to give a get and receive nothing in return.

Let me make it absolutely clear. Aharon Friedman will never back down. He will not sacrifice his reputation or his relationship with his daughter in order to allow Rav Kaminetsky and Rav Greenblatt to save face and not be held accountable for their sins. Aharon Friedman is not going to be the scapegoat that allows the rabbis to avoid the horrible task of destroying the reputation and legacy of Rav Kaminetsky and Rav Greenblatt - if they won't back down and condemn the phony heter.

Who is Patrick Dai, Cornell student accused of threatening Jewish peers?

 https://nypost.com/2023/11/01/news/patrick-dai-cornell-student-accused-of-threatening-jewish-peers/

The Cornell University student accused of making violent threats against his Jewish peers is a 21-year-old engineering student who suffers from such “severe depression” that his mother worried he was on the brink of suicide just moments before his arrest.

Watch: The segment of President Herzog's BBC interview which did not air

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379495

In omitted section of the interview, Herzog challenged the interviewer's assertion that Israel is not allowing enough aid into Gaza: I don't want to go into whether the BBC has been objective or not.

IDF takes command of Hamas military stronghold in Jabaliya in Gaza

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-771045

Approximately 50 terrorists were eliminated by Israeli forces. Furthermore, Israeli fighter jets, under Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) intelligence, killed Ibrahim Biari, the commander of Hamas's Jabaliya battalion, and was one of the leaders of the October 7 massacre. Jabaliya is around four kilometers northeast of Gaza City.

peace plan

Yesterday a secular Israeli indicated that I was crazy and that made me realize the solution for peace

He said "Is it true you  used to live in New York but moved to Israel!?

When I said yes he became agitated and asked maybe you lived in the dangerous section of Bronx?

And I said no it was the best Jewish part of Flatbush!

in short he thought I was crazy!

For many weeks secular Israelis have been demonstrating for a secure secular Democracy or threatening to leave Israel

My solution is not the impractical two state solution but the 70 nation solution

Every Israeli and Palestinian will be given an alternative country with full citizenship employment and dwelling

I think enough would move that there would be no one left to fight!

it would be cheaper that the constant and unlimited  funding needed to support the present situation

The only problem is the fanatics  on both sides who will only live in Israel or don't want Jews to live there 

but we already have no solution to that

The Amshinover Rebbe told a  friend of mine who was forced to return to America for financial reasons

"It is better to be in New York longing to live in Israel that to live in Israel but longing to be in New York!"

Daas Torah update

I have been reading my latest book which is a collection selected blog posts from the last 15 years

it is obvious that it in fact an update to my sefer Daas Torah rather than a recording of an online journal

Weighing Lives: Israel’s Prisoner-Exchange Policy and the Right to Life

 https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1308&context=mjil

Abstract

The state of Israel has engaged in many prisoner-exchange deals involving large numbers of released prisoners in exchange for only a few Israeli captives. The Jibril Agreement and the Shalit prisoner exchange has set the price tag of one Israeli captive to the equivalent of several hundreds of prisoners.

Israel’s prisoner-exchange policy is suggested to contribute to a cycle whereby more lives are lost, which raises many important questions with regard to the right to life. Such a high price tag on Israeli life encourages more kidnappings, which results in further prisoner exchanges—and so forth. It is also claimed that released prisoners sometimes resume their involvement in terrorism, which causes a further loss of lives. This study aims to understand the motivations of Israel to engage in such unbalanced prisoner exchanges, to analyze Israel’s prisoner-exchange policy with reference to various aspects of the right to life, and finally, to offer guidelines and improvements to the current policy to better address the right to life principles. 

Is Shidduch crisis the result of abuse?

 Received an urgent call from America yesterday regarding an unmarried male of 39

The family discovered that their son's high school class has many unmarried older singles and people who have dropped religious observance

Question is 1) Could this be the result of sexual abuse? - the answer is clearly yes

Question 2) is could the trauma remain even decades later? the answer is yes?

Question 3) teachers and rabbis and therapists were consulted and they claim it is just a case of commitment anxiety? The answer is in most cases these people have no competence in dealing with abuse or commitment anxiety

Suggested solution - consult a therapist with solid track record of dealing with sexual abuse cases.

A public relations disaster

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379085

Ynet journalist Ran Boker wrote, "I'm really having a hard time recovering from this propaganda disaster. There are thousands of changes every reality show contestant goes through. People get a briefing before interviews. So a hostage who was held captive during a war?! Where is the person who is responsible for the propaganda? Terrible."

Then he showed headlines on the foreign channels that mainly cite the conditions in which Lifshitz was held. "Look at the headline of Sky News! It's unbelievable how Hamas schools us even in propaganda. Don't make live hostage statements. Don't hold press conferences. Only release recorded statements. They were held captive by a murderous terrorist organization. Where is the IDF spokesman? What is this crazy propaganda attack? This is delusional."

He made another claim. "The husband of the freed captive Yocheved Lifshitz is still in captivity - what can she say? We can only imagine what Hamas asked her to say and how they threatened her."

An Insane Number of Gen Zers Support Hamas's Slaughter of Innocent Israelis

 https://www.newsweek.com/insane-number-gen-zers-support-hamass-slaughter-innocent-israelis-opinion-1837422

Overall, Americans overwhelmingly support Israel over Hamas. A whopping 84 percent of respondents told pollsters they favored Israel, while just 16 percent favored Hamas. Among older Americans over 65, an astounding 95 percent supported Israel, and just 5 percent said their sympathies lie with Hamas. But among young people age 18 to 24, things looked quite differently.

Just 52 percent of this group said they supported Israel, while 48 percent said they supported Hamas. Yes, that's right: Nearly half of young respondents said they side with the terrorist group that just earlier this month purposefully targeted and slaughtered innocent civilians, including women, children, and infants, in a chilling and sadistic manner.