‘Dangerous Instincts’: Ex-FBI profiler explains dangers of that ‘nice’ neighbor

Washington Post

The man sitting in front of Mary Ellen O’Toole was, she says, a well-mannered guy. “He was low-key. He was nice. He didn’t swear.” He was very proud of his work, which he described in polite, pleasant tones.

His name was Gary Ridgway. His other name was the Green River Killer. His work was killing at least 49 women in Washington state throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He did it all while maintaining marriages, parenting and church-going, and he seemed very much the word neighbors often use to describe men who turn out to have headless torsos in their freezers. Which is to say, he seemed very, very nice

The niceness paradox. O’Toole worked as a profiler for the FBI for 30 years, headquartered in Quantico. She interviewed the Unabomber. She worked on the Polly Klaas abduction, the Red Lake school shooting and the investigation of David Parker Ray — the Toy-Box Killer who tortured women in a high-tech homemade dungeon. What she found was that the most dangerous criminals were often the ones who came across as the most harmless. That’s how they were able to continue harming people..

Monsey man charged with sexually abusing a boy, 14

lohud

A 58-year-old Monsey man has been charged with sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy, Ramapo police said today. Police accused Moishe Turner of 5 Dana Road of having anal and oral sex on seven occasions throughout Ramapo and Spring Valley. The investigation led to Turner's arrest last week on seven felony counts of second-degree criminal sex act and one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Shalit Exchange:Halachic Analysis

5tjt

The recent exchange of Gilad Schalit for over 1000 Palestinian prisoners, many with blood on their hands, has sparked much debate in the Jewish community. Is this exchange wise?  Is it permitted according to Halacha?  Are we not endangering the lives of so many others in this move?

Many of the Rabbis who have discussed the issue thus far have come out that the exchange is a violation of halacha.  Among them were Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the son of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt”l the former Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel (see http://yourjewishnews.com/12143.aspx).  It seems that at least initially, Rabbi Amar the current Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, was also in agreement with them. Respectfully, however, this may not necessarily be the last word on the subject. 

Let us not forget that often, halacha is not so clear cut.  Every case in halacha must be examined upon its own merits and the specifics of each case.  We must do the same here.

Real 'Sybil' Admits Multiple Personalities Were Fake

nrp

When Sybil first came out in 1973, not only did it shoot to the top of the best-seller lists — it manufactured a psychiatric phenomenon. The book was billed as the true story of a woman who suffered from multiple personality disorder. Within a few years of its publication, reported cases of multiple personality disorder — now known as dissociative identity disorder — leapt from fewer than 100 to thousands. But in a new book, Sybil Exposed, writer Debbie Nathan argues that most of the story is based on a lie.

Rav Dovid Katz of Baltimore:Keynote speech Ner Israel

A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills

New York Times

Researchers have conducted more than 100,000 studies on schizophrenia since its symptoms were first characterized. They have tested patients’ blood. They have analyzed their genes. They have measured perceptual skills, I.Q. and memory, and have tried perhaps thousands of drug treatments. 

Now, a group of people with the diagnosis is showing researchers a previously hidden dimension of the story: how the disorder can be managed while people build full, successful lives. The continuing study — a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; and the Department of Veterans Affairs — follows a group of 20 people with the diagnosis, including two doctors, a lawyer and a chief executive, Ms. Myrick. 

The study has already forced its authors to discard some of their assumptions about living with schizophrenia. “It’s just embarrassing,” said Dr. Stephen R. Marder, director of the psychosis section at U.C.L.A.’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, a psychiatrist with the V.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and one of the authors of the study. “For years, we as psychiatrists have been telling people with a diagnosis what to expect; we’ve been telling them who they are, how to change their lives — and it was bad information” for many people.

Lesbian parents give gender blocking treatment to son

Fox News

A lesbian couple in California who say their 11-year-old son Tommy who wants to be a girl named Tammy are giving their child hormone blockers that delay the onset of puberty -- so that he can have more time that he can have more time to decide if he wants to change his gender.

The couple’s supporters say the Hormone Blocking Therapy has only minor side effects and is appropriate for a child who is unsure of his gender. "This is definitely a changing landscape for transgender youth," said Joel Baum, director of education and training for Gender Spectrum, a California-based non-profit group. "This is about giving kids and their families the opportunity to make the right decision."

But critics of the treatment say 11-year-olds are not old enough to make life-altering decisions about changing their gender, and parents should not be encouraging them. They say it’s too soon to tell what the side effects of the treatments may be, and they say Tommy’s parents, Pauline Moreno and Debra Lobel, are irresponsible for seeking them and allowing them to be administered.

Bishop charged with violating mandatory reporting laws

Time Magazine

The news that an American bishop had been charged with failing to report child abuse should have been collosal news in the Vatican. But the response has been as if the case is far away and far removed from the Holy See — and the Papacy that is so quick to come down on questions of celibacy, women priests and the rights of gay Catholics appears to regard the American scandal, involving a priest and what seems to be child pornography, as a matter for local jurisprudence.[....]

The news that an American bishop had been charged with failing to report child abuse should have been collosal news in the Vatican. But the response has been as if the case is far away and far removed from the Holy See — and the Papacy that is so quick to come down on questions of celibacy, women priests and the rights of gay Catholics appears to regard the American scandal, involving a priest and what seems to be child pornography, as a matter for local jurisprudence.[...]

Dragon Mother: Living with a Tay-Sachs baby

NY Times

MY son, Ronan, looks at me and raises one eyebrow. His eyes are bright and focused. Ronan means “little seal” in Irish and it suits him. 

I want to stop here, before the dreadful hitch: my son is 18 months old and will likely die before his third birthday. Ronan was born with Tay-Sachs, a rare genetic disorder. He is slowly regressing into a vegetative state.  He’ll become paralyzed, experience seizures, lose all of his senses before he dies. There is no treatment and no cure. 

How do you parent without a net, without a future, knowing that you will lose your child, bit by torturous bit?

Depressing? Sure. But not without wisdom, not without a profound understanding of the human experience or without hard-won lessons, forged through grief and helplessness and deeply committed love about how to be not just a mother or a father but how to be human.

Character assassination: Professor Defends Treatment of Stutterer

New York Times

Calling herself “the victim of a character assassination,” the college professor who asked a student with a severe stutter not to pose questions in class said that her actions were misinterpreted, and that she did not mean to silence him. 

In an interview, the professor, Elizabeth Snyder, said Thursday that since the dispute was first reported this week in The New York Times, “I’ve gotten the most hateful, vile, vicious e-mails,” making her fear for her safety. 

The student, Philip Garber Jr., is a 10th grader taking courses at the County College of Morris, in Randolph, N.J., but talking for him is slow and difficult. He was enrolled in a history course taught by Ms. Snyder, an adjunct professor. After a few classes, she sent him an e-mail asking that he pose questions after class, “so we do not infringe on other students’ time,” and that he write answers to her questions rather than try to reply out loud.

Sefer HaIkkarim: Prophet can misunderstand his prophetic vision

Sefer HaIkkarim(3:17)  Even though that all the words of the prophets are true with out any doubt, nevertheless according to the greatness of the prophet and his level of prophecy will the truth that comes from his words be stronger. Because many prophets due to the weakness of their comprehension did not comprehend the clear facts properly. This is because what happens to the perception of the prophets is that which happens to perception of our physical senses. One whose senses are healthy and strong perceives things the way they truly are and one whose sense are weak will not perceive things the way they truly are but will only be aware of the general type or category and not the full details. Someone with healthy vision will see things according to the way they really are for example red or green and will perceive the hue of red or green. However the one who has weak vision will only perceive things in general. Even if he perceives the category i.e., red or green he will not perceive which hue or red or green. This is true also with the sense of hearing and the other senses.

This exact thing occurs also with the prophets and their perceptions. One who has strong perception will perceive things the way they are without illusion and his words will be clear without vagueness and thus his understanding will be true the way things are. A prophet who is on a lower level will perceive things as vague or as a puzzle or metaphors that are unclear. Therefore he won't see the truth as it is but only according to the appearance of the metaphor. He will thus confuse the metaphor with that which it alludes to and thus will fail to be aware of actual reality i.e., the message that he was sent. [Ohel Yaakov: for example Zecharya saw a man riding on a horse...That in itself was meaningless...what was to be seen by the prophet in this vision was that he was being sent by G-d to travel all over the land.]...

Therefore the words of all the prophets are of necessity subordinate to that of Moshe Rabbeinu. In other words the prophesy of a lesser prophets needs to be made totally consistent with that which a greater prophet said.

To clarify this matter we find for example that Yeshaya (6:1) said And I saw G‑d sitting on a throne elevated and transcendent. In contrast Moshe said G-d said that no man can see Me and live. If we didn't know the relative greatness of these two prophets we might have thought that the words of Yeshaya are correct. We would have assumed that because of his great prophetic ability that he perceived from G-d that which he was capable of seeing and therefore his words are to be taken literally And I saw G-d.  We would have assumed that Moshe had not reached the level of Yeshaya and therefore could not perceive G-d to any significant degree and thus he said No one can see G‑d and live.  But now that we know that Moshe was the epitome of the prophets...we know that Moshe's statements have to be taken as literally true and the words of Yeshaya are on a lower level and are not literally true. In fact according to his lower level the words I saw G-d which indicated he thought he saw G-d are not correct and are the result of his imagination. Moshe in contrast did not utilize the power of imagination in his prophecy at all. His prophecy was to report things exactly as they were and thus No one can see G-d and live is literally true.

Yeshaya who utilized his power of imagination in his prophecies that is called by our sages (Yevamos 49b) the unclear lenses - was brought to err by means of his imagination to think that he actually saw G-d. The explanation of this is that the physical essence of Yeshaya was not as refined as that of Moshe as Yeshaya (6:5) said I am a man of impure lips. Even his moral qualities were not proper as he said (6:5) In the midst of a people of impure lips I dwell. Dwelling amongst people with made moral qualities degrades the moral qualities of a good person. That is why he said (6:5) Woe is me that I have imagined. In other words I have been brought to error by my imagination I didn't prophesize with a clear lens like the prophesy of Moshe who heard the voice speaking to him without needing the image in from of his eyes. But I - said Yeshaya - prophesize with an unclear lens which is through the power of imagination I am not able to proper comprehend what I hear without seeing what I am being told and this causes me to be a man of impure lips and that I dwell amongst a nation of impure lips. And I know that this activates my imagination because concerning G-d it is impossible to associate any clear description or image even in a prophetic vision for one who has a clear lens.

This is what our sages (Yevamos 49b) say that Menashe killed Yeshaya because he had said I have seen G-d while Moshe Rabbeinu had said it is impossible to see G-d... He could however have defended himself by saying that even in the time of Moshe the people said they saw the G-d of Israel (Shemos 24:10).

What is learned from all this is that a prophet can never disagree with a prophet who is on a higher level. Instead he must interpret his own words in such a way that there is no conflict between them. Since the Torah has stated that the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu was on the highest level of all the prophets, it is impossible for any prophet to disagree with him or nullify his words. However if it is possible to reconcile the apparent disagreement by saying that there were additional factors not mentioned explicitly that is also acceptable.

Large new study: Mutivitamins & supplements don't help & may be harmful

Wall Street Journal

Multivitamins and many other dietary supplements provide little benefit for most people and may be harmful, according to researchers behind a large new study.

The researchers tracked nearly 39,000 women for an average of 19 years. They found a small increase in the risk of death among older women who took dietary supplements compared with those who didn't, according to the study, released Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. 

An exception was calcium supplements, which are widely recommended to protect against bone fractures. They were associated with a slightly decreased risk of premature death.

Healing a broken brain

NYTimes

Fifty-nine months ago, I was wearing my seat belt and my car was stopped when another vehicle hit me, causing my head to fracture the windshield. That damaged my right temporal lobe, one of my neurologists explained when he told me I had a traumatic brain injury. I lost my long-term memory, and have been a brain injury patient within Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals ever since.

At 45, I was jolted into an entirely new existence. Memories that connected different parts of my life fragmented and vanished. It took 26 months before I was able to thread my way back unattended to the house I had lived in for 17 years.

I am often amazed to find that people recognize me when I have no recollection of them. People who love me grieve what they claim to experience as the loss of elements of my personality that I cannot recall having been part of me. Others tell me that I seem to have become an altogether different person. I am told that I used to be a real “people person.” Today, however, I can barely stand being around people. And I can get irritable in a nanosecond. I am told that my work before the accident pertained to the AIDS pandemic; I was a treatment activist, founder of several early AIDS organizations and a photojournalist, as well as an artist. But I have no more memory of a photo on the cover of The New York Times of an exhibition I curated 10 years ago than I do of a watercolor I painted when I was 3 years old. When I see my pre-accident work, I am introduced to it as if for the first time. As if it was created by anonymous. Did I make that? So I’m told. [...]

What to pray for: "FINANCIAL CRISIS 'WORST WORLD HAS EVER FACED'"

gmar chasima tova!
Annonymous wrote:

Dear Rabbi Eidensohn,

I just wrote this up, if you want, feel free to post it as you wish. No accreditation please.

Wishing you and yours a Shana Tova and a Gemar Chasima Tova!

-----------

 

Today's Drudge Report, Erev Yom Kippur, is sobering: "FINANCIAL CRISIS 'WORST WORLD HAS EVER FACED'"and it links to this story in the UK Telegraph (Friday 07 October 2011) : World facing worst financial crisis in history, Bank of England Governor says.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8812260/World-facing-worst-financial-crisis-in-history-Bank-of-England-Governor-says.html

The world is facing the worst financial crisis since at least the 1930s “if not ever”, the Governor of the Bank of England said last night...after the decision by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to put £75billion of newly created money into the economy in a desperate effort to stave off a new credit crisis and a UK recession...the Bank had been driven by growing signs of a global economic disaster..."

 

The same thing is happening in the USA, and it has already happened in the "PIIGS" countries: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain and in almost all Western countries!

 

This is NOT how modern day Capitalism was supposed to work out.

 

After all, the recovery years after World War Two and during the Reagan Era, pure Capitalism with its free trade and enterprise, low taxes and less government bureaucracy, with proper care of the lower classes via Social Democratic benefits was supposed to help everyone in the West get along. But that is not how it has worked out and everyone is to blame, and then some.

 

First of all modern times have seen the utter collapse of Monarchies, Feudalism, Fascism, Imperialism, Communism and Liberalism -- their downfall all resulting in the betterment of humankind.

 

Capitalism was the last great hope of mankind, not because Ayn Rand said so, but because it's natural for people to both create and yes SHARE wealth. So far so good.

 

Along came the Shah of Iran and raised the price of crude oil, blackmailing the West. Thus began the transfer of untold trillions of petro-Dollars to the Muslim oil rich Islamic totalitarian states. Then, while Red Russia created Red China, along came Nixon and Kissinger and welcomed Red China into the family of nations. 40 years later, mainland China is still Red, a cruel dictatorship but it has prostituted and indentured its labor force and citizenry to factory owners from the West who produce goods for pennies and share the untold trillions of profits with the Peking Politburo. Added to which, defeated Japan and Nazi Germany instead of being demolished as states, as they would have done had they won WWII, were allowed to rebuild and focus on building machines which they are good at to sell to the West sucking in more untold trillions.

 

That was NOT meant to be the "high point" of Capitalism so that the Arabs, Chinese, Japanese and Germans become the modern world's economic superpowers. They are cruel to their own and do not share their wealth with any other nations, giving virtually no foreign aid like the US still does even though it's broke itself.

 

And in the West, greedy Labor Unions wanted more money for less work and not caring about shoddy performance. They want to be paid for sleeping and vacationing.

 

But, MOST guilty of all are what Tom Wolf, the writer, in his "Bonfire of the Vanities" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonfire_of_the_Vanities

calls the "Masters of the Universe" the young punk financially savvy new super rich. Armed with MBAs and all sorts of fancy new-fangled financial and technological skills and education with access to esoteric financial arts known only to their initiated, often conjuring up masses of untold trillions of money like proverbial magicians pulling rabbits out hats, their education was just there to express their pure raw GREED, and THEY, being in the West and of the West, are the ones who bust the West's banks, financial houses, insurance companies, corporations, all manner of investments, and ultimately its governments. Like a "legal" Mafia and like swarms of locusts the very savvy young Capitalists who were supposedly at the helm of the West's economies pissed away its monies and stashed away the rest.

 

Ironically and cynically they were actually launched by the heavily Marxist influenced university faculties of the West's universities, who hated Capitalism and helped create the monsters who ultimately destroyed Capitalism from within! So of course they saw no reason or ECONOMIC MORALITY to stand up to the oil rich Arabs, the emboldened Chinese, the rebuilt Germans and Japanese, the corrupt Unions with untold trillions in "pension funds" at home, rather, they worked with THOSE powers because, hey, that's where the dough was right? and now see the results, the West is broke, its economies are BROKEN, and Capitalism is DEAD!

 

Mashiach is on his way, the last of the big "isms" is on its way out forever. No one should complain if ordinary people demand a fair share of life.

 

A Gemar Chatima Tova! May the coming year 5772 be a year of Shalom!

Battered-wife who executed husband acquitted of murder charge

Los Angeles Times

Was Barbara Sheehan a battered wife who shot her husband, a retired police sergeant, in self-defense, or was she a calculating killer determined to collect on his life insurance? After three days of deliberations, a jury Thursday chose the former.

It acquitted Sheehan of murder in a trial that was seen by some people as a referendum on battered-woman syndrome.

Steve Jobs's message for Yom Kippur

Christian Science Monitor

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

3rd indictment filed in Jerusalem pedophile case

Jerusalem Post

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office announced on Sunday that an indictment has been filed charging a Jerusalem man with sexually abusing minors in the capital.

Zalman Cohen was one of five men arrested in September for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of minors in Jerusalem.

The indictment, filed by attorney Shulamit Ben-Yitzhak last Wednesday, describes how Cohen and another man allegedly abused several minors in a house in the Nahlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2009 and 2010.

Manny's Book Store:The complex fear of temptations of the Chareidi world

Haaretz

Nevertheless, it could be that what rankles the zealots above all is the too-modern atmosphere that reigns in the store. Or Hachaim Center may not be the first shop to bring to Jerusalem the Haredi-but-glamorous store design that is more commonly found in the ultra-Orthodox Borough Park section of Brooklyn. But for whatever reason, it - like the Zisalik ice cream shop and the nearby Greentec computer store - has become a target for the holy wars of the zealots.

One of the latter explained to Haaretz: "The problem is that they are offering not only a purchase, but a 'shopping experience.' This is alien to Mea She'arim, where there have always been only small, humble shops."[....]

Hareidim capture molester in mikveh & hand him to police

Jerusalem Post

An indictment was filed on Sunday in the Tel Aviv District Court, charging a Bnei Brak resident with sodomy and indecent assault against three boys aged under 16. [...]

According to that request, the defendant was arrested after a member of staff at the mikva noticed he had come to the mikva just before one of the minors. The witness informed a volunteer in a local Haredi organization, who held the defendant at the mikva until the police arrived.

Nachlaot pedophile ring - parents' overinvolvement unwittingly interfered with legal case

Haaretz

The story of the pedophile network in Nahlaot exploded in August, with the arrest of four suspects. One of them had already been arrested several months earlier and subsequently released. S., who was arrested two weeks ago, was the fifth suspect, and the parents hoped that this was the start of a solution to the major crisis they had experienced. But this month, attorney Shlomit Ben-Yitzhak, of the Jerusalem District Prosecutors' Office, submitted indictments in the affair, and the parents discovered that their hopes had been dashed: Indictments were submitted only against two of those involved - B. and P. And although the indictments describe sodomy, indecent assaults and rape, they refer to only five children. Even the most skeptical of those involved in the investigation and in the welfare agencies admit that that number is only a small percentage of the attacks. The police themselves have interrogated over 40 children.[...]

Someone close to the investigation claims that the reason for the huge gap between the parents' stories and the harsh testimony on the one hand, and the legal outcome on the other, is the activity of the parents themselves. The parents, he says, unwittingly interfered with the investigation process. The conversations and "investigations" that they conducted with their own children undermined the reliability of the stories the children then told the juvenile investigators. There are parents who even showed their children pictures of the suspects so the children could identify them, an activity that invalidated their testimony. For their part, the parents stress the fact that they have cooperated with the authorities from the beginning. Many of them are ultra-Orthodox, but as opposed to the usual stereotype of this religious community, they did not hide anything, described what their children had told them without mincing words, and encouraged their children to talk. Only afterward, they say, did they discover that the problem was not a lack of cooperation, but on the contrary - their great desire to eliminate the problem.

Novominsker Rebbe:Most difficult thing in abuse cases is how to address these crimes publicly while preserving kedusha in homes

In the current edition of Mishpacha (Sept 26, 2011 page 17) is a noteworthy exchange between Mrs. Bella Tzibushkin and Rabbi Aryeh Ginzberg regarding an article he had published in a previous edition  bemoaning the negative impact the knowledge of scandals had on the kedusha of the home. 

Mrs Tzibushkin writes a very cogent  letter strongly criticizing Rav Ginzberg for being more concerned for covering up scandals than dealing with them for blaming the messenger rather than dealing with the message. He replies that she had missed his point. He replies among other things:

When scandals lo aleinu do strike, they are addressed. The Novominsker Rebbe shlita told me that when the terribly painful abuse claims arose, the most difficult thing that the Moetzes Gedolei Torah had to deal with was how to address these horrific crimes in public and yet preserve the kedushah in our homes and in our lives. As difficult as that was, the claim that Mrs. Tsibushkin makes - that the scandals are ignored - is just not in line with the facts on the ground.

Given what we know about the history of the gedolim dealing with abuse - this simply boggles the mind.

For example 2009 in an editorial in the Yated (reprinted in my book on abuse) Rabbi Pinchus Lipshutz acknowledged the ignorance of the gedolim about how to deal with abuse cases and that they were typically ignored in the past:

Let us be clear: For too long, we weren’t tuned in to these innocent victims’ stories and their pain. For too long, we weren’t sufficiently aware that this problem existed and thus were able to ignore the quiet pleas, the sad eyes, the pained lives, and the personalities withdrawn. We didn’t recognize the warning signs and thus largely ignored the phenomenon. Equally clear, this inattention was not a function of some high level conspiracy to harm people or cover up for criminals or abet nefarious activities. It was simply a function of a lack of education about a complex and highly sophisticated problem. It was a result of our leadership simply being unaware of the depths that such sordid people could sink to, and the extreme skill perpetrators exhibit in covering their tracks. And yes, it was undeniably a gezera, which, as so often is the case, claims innocent holy souls - bikroyvai Ekodeish.

I am all too aware that it is fashionable in certain circles to blame this all on our rabbinic leadership. These people have yet to explain why our rabbanim, who devote their lives to serving people, would want to hurt anyone. The days when being a rav or rosh yeshiva meant strictly poskening shailos or teaching Torah are long gone. Rabbanim routinely spend an overwhelming portion of their time dealing with every type of personal problem imaginable. I don’t have to elaborate on this now, but suffice it to say that it defies logic to accuse our most choshuve leaders, who exhibit much mesiras nefesh, of coldhearted indifference. As I said, the problem was a lack of understanding.

Emunas Chachomim- accepting advice of chachom - is learned from Moshe

Tiferes Shlomo (Beshalach): The foundation of emunas chachomim is to believe in the words of the righteous of the generation (which are permeated with G‑d’s spirit) and everything they speak about and advise – even in issues not connected with mitzvos or sins(devar reshus). They are to be believed even if what they say is against commonsense and even if they say that their words are not from G‑d – in other words are not prophetic. That is because in this point a wise man is greater than a prophet. That is because concerning a prophet who speaks in G‑d’s name, faith in him is not relevant. All that matters for a prophet is that he be believed as being the messenger for conveying G‑d’s word. In contrast, emunas chachomim means faith in the chachom’s own words – even if they are against commonsense and are not from G‑d. Nevertheless the chachom’s advice is beneficial and it should be followed exactly as he says - even in material matters such as personal advice for business and in other issues. By following the words of the chachom, it will bring the final redemption…Someone who doesn’t belief in all of this is in fact delaying the redemption and causing the exile to be prolonged…Therefore when it was necessary for the Jews to cross…and to merit redemption by means of emuna – G‑d gave them a test through Moshe which didn’t make sense. G‑d commanded the escaping Jews to return and camp before their enemies. Obviously it was very strange to them to approach rather than avoid their pursuers. Despite the absurdity of the request, they nevertheless remained faithful to Moshe. In other words, they had faith in him even if he hadn’t been the foremost prophet and even if he told them to do something on his own which was not a message from G‑d and they obeyed him. That is what the Torah means when it said that the Jews believed in G‑d and Moshe His servant. It was with this double faith that they crossed and merited the Splitting of the Sea. This great miracle which was connected to the acceptance of the Torah where it said (Shemos 19:9), “And they will also believe in you forever. This is the path of the acquisition of Torah with emunas chachomim.

Kosher Switch:Rabbi Rabinowitz reportedly denies giving haskoma

Shalom, Rav Eidensohn,

A rabbinic colleague here in Israel, Rabbi Ohad Fixler, sent me the following information about the purported "haskamah" by Rabbi Rabinowitz for the "kosherswitch". He tells me that his brother, Rabbi Dror Fixler, agrees to publicizing his testimony. Please see below.

ketiva vachatima tova,

David Mescheloff

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: אוהד פיקסלר
Date: 2011/9/27
Subject: Re: מפסק חשמל כשר לשבת - ביטול ההוה אמינא
To:

אחי דרור בירר אצל הרב רבינוביץ מה דעתו לגבי המתג חשמלי שהוזכר כאן לפני

מספר שבועות, שלכאורה נתן לו הסכמה.:

"אז הוא אמר לי שלא הראו לו את המתג הזה ואינו יודע כיצד הוא עובד,

וממילא גם לא הסכים לדבר.

אלא לפני זמן רב דיברו עימו בכלליות שיש להם רעיון, והוא רק איחל להם

בכתב: ברכה והצלחה. וכפי שמאחלים לכל מי שיש לו יוזמה, והם פירסמו ציטוט

זה כאילו הוא מסכים להם."

אוהד.

Protecting Children in Shul- Message from Rabbi Y. Horowitz of Project Yes

Dear Readers: 

With the Yomim Noraim upon us and the Yom Tov of Succos shortly thereafter, we would like to remind all parents to make sure that your children are supervised by a responsible adult at all times -- including the times when the adults are davening in Shul or resting in the afternoon. 

One Shabbos morning earlier this month, walking through the heart of Boro Park while many Shuls were still davening, I observed dozens of children playing in front of various shuls with no adults in sight. This may potentially be a recipe for disaster. We therefore, strongly encourage all parents to raise their awareness level regarding child safety.    

    
The Yomim Noraim and Yomim Tovim are a special time when children have the opportunity to interact with many different people. It is an opportune time to review with them the important lessons of personal safety. These include:

1) Your body belongs to you and you alone. 

2) No one can ever tell you secrets to keep from your parents

3) Good-touch -- bad-touch: No one may touch you in a spot normally covered by a bathing suit.

4) No one has the right to make you feel uncomfortable. You should shout and run away if someone does that to you.  

If you are unfamiliar with these messages, please take the time to watch this video about teaching your children about personal safety,

Project YES has been sponsoring a "Take a Child to Shul" campaign for the past few years before Yom Tov, asking community members to help the children of single mothers, especially the boys, by taking them to Shul. We continue to encourage this practice and similar acts of chesed. 

On behalf of our staff and the families who reach out to us for help year-round, we wish our supporters and our readers a K'siva V'chasima Tova, a year filled with joy and nachas, and a year of Shalom for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel and around the world.

Yakov Horowitz    
Director, Project YES

Kosher Switch requests correction of the authorship of its defense

R' Menashe Kalata wrote:

Rabbi Eidensohn,

Rabbi Student has already updated his article (http://torahmusings.com/2011/09/in-defense-of-the-kosher-switch/) based on this request.  I ask that you please make the same correction on your site(s).

Thank you.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

The author of our response (http://www.kosherswitch.com/live/halacha/truth), to which you are replying in your new post, is not "R. Menashe Kalati" but KosherSwitch Technologies, Inc. ("KSTI"), and not me personally.  Additionally, there is another person who is a Rabbi with the same name as me, and who has nothing to do with KosherSwitch or KSTI.  Please correct the authorship attribution immediately, before more damage is done.
Thank you.

Hirhurim responds to Kosher Switch's harsh criticism

Hirhurim - Rabbi Gil Student

The Kosher Switch saga continues. KosherSwitch Technologies, Inc. (“KSTI”), the maker of this clever device (discussed in this post: link), has published a response to the critiques his invention has received (link). He deserves the right to speak in his defense and raises many important points for consideration. However, in his understandable frustration he has also lamentably lashed out personally at some of his critics.

 I am honored that KSTI felt this blog sufficiently important to be the subject of one of the sections of his response. He offers a number of criticisms of my essay. He lists a few inaccuracies in my technical description of the device’s function, important points that, I believe, fail to move the halakhic dial but are worthy of mention. As I wrote in my original post and KSTI seems to agree, his device is built on the misnamed “Gerama switch” but breaks new ground with added features. While the Kosher Switch satisfies some of the criticisms facing the “Gerama switch,” it fails to answer some of the most important concerns and is therefore forbidden according to many significant hakakhic authorities. [...]

Kosher Switch attacks its critics & defends its position

 Kosher Switch
[...]

Clearly the poskim gave written statements.  The vicious attacks by bloggers and others have caused some poskim to back pedal.  Some have disavowed any knowledge, while some others have qualified their previously issued written statements.  Others have not disavowed a thing.  However, the actions of the accusers have made some rabbanim appear irresolute and others appear inconsistent or forgetfully incompetent.  Yes – the first rev of the KosherSwitch web site had some problems in that links to all poskim’s written statements did not operate, so users could not immediately see that some poskim had given qualified approbations or mere blessings.  Rather than contacting us for correction of the link and review of the actual written statements from the poskim, the accusers ran to the poskim and sought their wholesale repudiations of KosherSwitch.  In some cases, these accusers successfully persuaded or intimidated the authors to revoke or revise their prior written statements.  The accusers have thus cast their mentors into the shadows of incredibility, memory lapse, or worse.  Is this the Torah way? [...]

Cancer treatment becoming unaffordable in many developed countries

 Reuters

An explosion of new technologies and treatments for cancer coupled with a rapid rise in cases of the disease worldwide mean cancer care is rapidly becoming unaffordable in many developed countries, oncology experts said on Monday. 

With costs ballooning, a radical shift in thinking is needed to ensure fairer access to medicines and address tricky questions like balancing extra months of life for patients against costs of a new drug, technology or care plan, they said. [...]

The Lancet report pointed to Dendreon's Provenge prostate cancer treatment -- which costs more than $100,000 for a three-dose course and was found in trials to improve survival by several months in patients with few other options. [...]

Economic terrorism of gay rights advocates

NYTimes

A handful of advocates, armed with nothing more than their keyboards, have put many of the country’s largest retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Wal-Mart, on the spot over their indirect and, until recently, unnoticed roles in funneling money to Christian groups that are vocal in opposing homosexuality. 

 The advocates are demanding that the retailers end their association with an Internet marketer that gets a commission from the retailers for each online customer it gives them. It is a routine arrangement on hundreds of e-commerce sites, but with a twist here: a share of the commission that retailers pay is donated to a Christian charity of the buyer’s choice, from a list that includes prominent conservative evangelical groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. 

The marketer and the Christian groups are fighting back, saying that the hundred or so companies that have dropped the marketer were misled and that the charities are being slandered for their religious beliefs.[...]

The interdependence of faith in G-d and faith in Sages

Sefas Emes (Vayikra Pesach): And they believed in G‑d and His servant Moshe –It is known from seforim that by means of faith in the sages (emunas chachomim) a person can come to have faith in G‑d. That is because faith in G‑d is a higher level than faith in man. However this is from the perspective that “I am first and I am the last.” That is because in reality, faith in G‑d both precedes and causes faith in the Sages. But it is only after having faith in the Sages that a person is able to have true faith in G‑d. This order is what we see here. The Torah first says that they believed in G‑d and then afterwards they believed in Moshe. After that they sang “az yashir…” Thus we see by their singing the praises of G‑d by the sea, they were brought to true faith.

Chassidus: The Shpoler Zayde's Seuda - Saving the rebbe by dying in his place

Crownheights.info

The Shpoler Zayde, traveling in a sled, safely crossed the Ros River on his way to the Bris. However, upon his return, the ice broke, endangering the lives of everyone riding in the sled. At this moment, the Zayde saw, that in Heaven, a terrible decree was proclaimed against him. He cried out to all the Chassidim present: “Whoever wishes to replace me, I promise him ”Olam Haba“ (the world to come)!” Whoever would give his life for the Shpoler Zayde would be guaranteed a place in the world to come.

“I wish to replace the Zayde!”, shouted his “Gabbai” (beadle) Yollek. And so it was; his “Gabbai” Yollek drowned and the Shpoler Zayde was spared.

KosherSwitch removed false assertion that Rav Sternbuch gave haskoma

In apparent response to my posting that Rav Sternbuch had not given a verbal haskoma to Kosher Switch - their false claim to the contrary has been removed. 

kosher switch endorsements

Contrary to what had been cited on their page of endorsements - Rav Sternbuch did not say that their switch was better than gramma. In fact a rabbi who was present at the meeting said that Rav Sternbuch said that it was worse than gramma.  Thus this was not a case of Rav Sternbuch reversing his position because of pressure or misunderstanding the question or giving approval for a narrower domain than the Kosher Swtich claimed. Rather it is a clear misunderstanding on the part of Kosher Switch. Baruch HaShem they have removed their claim regarding Rav Sternbuch.

Abuse: Person is responsible if he did something clearly wrong - even if told by rabbi

Rav Moshe Sternbuch told me that when dealing with child abuse - that if a rav tells you not to go to the police when it is obvious that one needs to - you should not listen to the rav but to ask another rabbi (if there is no danger to the children by the delay). A clear support for this idea of each individual needing to be responsible to do that which is obviously correct - even if told the opposite by a rabbi - is the following Ba'al HaMa'or. This broadens the obligation to use your seichel and knowledge and focus on doing the right thing. When something is a dvar mishna - clear and obvious - you can not use the excuse that an authority told you not to do the right thing. This is clearly opposed to the idea of blind obedience to authority.

Ba’al ha-Ma’or(Sanhedrin (p. 12a in the Rif:):“If you were to ask: We hold [the prevailing view] that cases of garmi (damages resulting from direct and predictable cause) are liable for court adjudication. Why then do we say that when a judge errs in something stated explicitly in a Mishnah, he simply reverses his ruling but is not responsible for any losses, even if the damage incurred by the litigant due to his error is irrevocable? [For example,] the case of the cow of Bet Menaḥem whose meat can not be returned because R. Tarfon [the judge] had already [caused it to be] fed to the dogs [by those who followed his ruling]. “The answer is: The litigant was negligent. Since the error is in that which is stated explicitly in a Mishnah, the error is obvious, and the litigant should not have relied upon him and should not have acted upon what he was told. He should have questioned [the judge] and demonstrated the error, for this was as obvious as an explicit Mishnah. Therefore it is the litigant who was negligent; the judge’s ruling is superfluous. This is what is meant by: It is as if the judge never issued the ruling; he did nothing at all [to the litigant].”[Translation Rav Nachum Rabinowitz Chakira Magazine #5]

Computers can see (almost) what you are thinking

Time Magazine

That's a video of the process up top. A test subject is undergoing an MRI while watching random video clips from Hollywood movies. On the left side, you see clips from what the subject viewed. On the right, you see the fMRI results of "quantitative modeling" using "a new motion-energy encoding model," essentially a matchup of brain activity with the viewed images. As you can see, at worst, it's capable of reconstructing what was viewed in terms of the video image's elemental geometry, e.g. broad shapes, lights and darks, etc. And at best, you can make out identifiable human forms and even vague facial features. (Interestingly, the human-related images seem the least abstruse, which, perhaps—wild speculation on my part here—says something about species-related bias in our recognition patterns.)

Rav Amnon Yitzchok versus Neturei Karta

100 rabbis[headed by Skulener Rebbe & Rav M. Solomon] meet to solve the Internet Problem

bhol

רבנים קבעו: יש למצוא פיתרון לאינטרנט

בארה"ב הוקם 'איחוד הקהילות לטוהר המחנה' • המטרה: למצוא פיתרון לסכנות הרוחניות הטמונות בטכנולוגיה • בחודשים הקרובים - כנס הסברה ענק • ויש תמונות 

בניו-ג'רזי שבארה"ב התקיים אתמול (ד') כינוס היסטורי, בו נטלו חלק רבנים ואדמו"רים מכל החוגים.

מטרת הכינוס היתה הקמת 'איחוד הקהילות לטוהר המחנה', שיפקח וימצא פיתרונות לסכנות שמציבה ההתפתחות הטכנולוגית בימינו - ובראשה האינטרנט הלא מפוקח.

עוד בנושא:
• שיתוף פעולה חסידי-ליטאי: כך נכשיר את האינטרנט

בראש הכינוס עמדו האדמו"ר מסקולען והגאון רבי מתתיהו סלומון, משגיח ישיבת לייקווד, והשתתפו בו ונשאו דברים, בין היתר, האדמו"ר מנובמינסק, הגאון רבי שמואל קמינצקי ראש ישיבת פילדלפיה, הגאון רבי משה גרין ראש ישיבת מונסי, הגאון רבי אליהו ברודני ועוד. 

Texas School Punishes Boy for Opposing Homosexuality

Foxnews

An honors student in Fort Worth, Texas, was sent to the principal’s office and punished for telling a classmate that he believes homosexuality is wrong.

Dakota was in a German class at the high school when the conversation shifted to religion and homosexuality in Germany. At some point during the conversation, he turned to a friend and said that he was a Christian and “being a homosexual is wrong.”

Were Egyptians the Perpetrators of Last Month's Terror Attack?

Time

Yedioth Ahronoth reported:

"The IDF's investigation of the incident was recently completed and its findings indicate that the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza sponsored the terror attack, but the terrorists who executed the attack were Egyptians," reporter Alex Fishman wrote.  "The Egyptian terrorists were responsible for the sniper fire from within Egyptian territory, and the three squads of suicide bombers who went onto Route 12 to attack the Israeli vehicles were also comprised of Egyptian citizens." Fishman reports that the operational cell numbered 20 people, including the Palestinian handlers. One, the story says, was an Egyptian police officer on active duty.

Kosherswitch:Falsely indicating that Rav Moshe Sternbuch endorses product

A company selling grama switch for Shabbos is claiming an endorsement from Rav Moshe Sternbuch.

Kosherswitch

HaGaon R’ Moishe Sternbuch shlit’aChief Rabbi/Ra'avad of the Eidah HaChareidis Yerushalayim. “Not gramma, better than gramma; Brocha that you should get the good to stay good, and get the bad to become good!” (1/5/2010 at his home)JerusalemVerbalWiki

 I received the following letter from Rav Sternbuch's gabbai

I asked the Rav about this, he told me that he was asked about it, he wrote  a letter via Rabbi Sigler on the issue, the Rav holds that it is not only chilul shaboss, but "akiras shaboss" to use this switch, the rav asked for his opinion to be publicized since he has been asked recently about this from numerous sources.

Discussion of Kosher Switch - problem of zilzul Shabbos

YU Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Liebowitz  Listen at the end where he discusses zilzul Shabbos

Kosher Switch & the problematic haskomas - Rabbi Rosen of Tzomet

Chareidi extremists demonstrate in Beit Shemesh

YNET

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox residents of Beit Shemesh staged a demonstration Tuesday evening outside a religious girls' school in the city, in protest of the Education Ministry's decision to open the school near haredi neighborhoods.  [...]

In spite of the organizers' hopes that the protest would be attended by all haredi factions in Beit Shemesh, the only ones who arrived were the "extremists" identified with the struggle, as well as dozens of haredi children. [...]

Baal HaTanya: Success is not determined by rational planning so don't ask advice from a gadol for personal matters

An interesting point is made by the Baal HaTanya. Personal advice such as finances were never asked of a talmid chachom but only a prophet. This is clearly stated in Koheles (9:11). This is perhaps a reflection of believing that everything is determined by Providence as opposed to the view that talented people with intelligent plans are more like to be successful  Thus he seems to be asserting that  a person's success is always determined individually by hashgocha protis - and not by rational planning. The role of a gadol is to give advice in avodas HaShem and spiritual matters. This is related to my previous question as to whether a person should monitor outcome and modify his behavior to increase success. This seems to be consistent with the Chovas HaLevavos that hishtadlus is only a precondition for success but doesn't determine it. Therefore there is no need to modify ones efforts or change jobs because there is no causal relationship between specific type of effort and success.

Koheles(9:11):[Shlomo said] I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not always won by the swift, the strong don’t always win the battle, the wise don’t always have bread, the men of understanding aren’t always wealthy, and the talented aren’t always favored. In fact they will only sometimes be more successful than others but all of them will find that at times their successes or failures are apparently random.

Baal HaTanya(Igros Kodesh #22): My dear friend… Has there ever been anything like this since the beginning of creation? Where can you find in any one of the books of Jewish sages – whether of the earlier period or later period - to have an established practice of asking advice concerning secular matters such as what to do regarding some mundane issue. [This wasn’t done] even from the greatest of the ancient Jewish sages such as the Tannaim and Amoraim -- from whom no secret escaped and for whom the pathways of heaven were clear. In fact asking advice was only done from the genuine prophets such as those that used to exist amongst the Jewish people. For example  Shmuel the Seer was asked by Shaul about the donkeys his father had lost. That is because in truth all matters pertaining to a person – except those having to do with Torah learning or fear of heaven – are not comprehended except through prophecy. As it says, “And the sage has no bread”(Koheles 9:11). Our Rabbis have taught, “Everything is in the hands of heaven except for fear of heaven.” They also say that 7 thing are concealed…and that no man no knows how he will profit… and when the House of Dovid will return… You should note that these are equated to each other. And this that is says in Yeshaya, “A counselor and a sage who silences all,” and also, the statement of our Sages that people “benefit from [a talmid chachom] by his advice and sound wisdom” – that is referring to his words of Torah which are called “sound wisdom.”…

Can the Palestinian Authority survive the U.N. vote?

Time

The U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood is a moment of truth, what it will reveal is that the promise on which the Palestinian Authority itself has been built -- that it is the administrative and security infrastructure of a state that will establish Palestinian sovereignty on the lands conquered by Israel in 1967, and will end the occupation -- is unlikely to be fulfilled either by a largely symbolic U.N. vote or by ongoing talks with the Israelis under U.S. auspices. The dangerous epiphany predicted by Dayton will likely coincide with a growing discontent on the ground as a result of economic pressure, an escalation of aggressive provocations by Israeli settlers, and a recognition that security forces suppressing protest actions are preserving a status quo that does not, in fact, lead to an end of the occupation.

Abbas has called for popular demonstrations to back his U.N. representations, in the way that U.S. politicians bring flag-waving crowds to campaign stops as a visual backdrop for their speeches. The Palestinian leader expects them to express support for his U.N. mission; no more. But Palestinians are far less interested in the status of their delegation at the U.N. than they are about the occupation. And if, inspired by the examples of the Arab Spring, they decide to use the opportunity to wage peaceful protests against the occupation, the prospects for the PA itself to survive will dim.

Riots erupted after police arrested 2 notorious figures in Mea Shearim

YNET

Police arrested two prominent Eda Haredit and Neturi Karta activists in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Also arrested were Yoel Kraus, a prominent Eda Haredit figure and Mordechai Hirsch, the son of Moshe Hirsch, who served as a cabinet minister in the Palestinian government. Local residents responded by hurling stones at the police officers.

Officers and Jerusalem municipal inspectors arrived in Mea Shearim to shut down a slaughterhouse, which was recently opened after previously being closed. The slaughterhouse owner was detained for questioning. Police also arrested one of the leaders of the Sicarii faction. [...]

A Reform Jew tries out being frum for a week

Reform Judaism

For the past week, my alarm has gone off every morning at seven—the click of the radio calling me to another day of altered consciousness. I have risen and washed my hands, recited b’rachot, and—covering my elbows, knees, collar bones—snuck out of the sleepy silence of my bedroom into the briskness of an autumn dawn.

For seven days, I have davened (worshiped) shacharit, mincha, and maariv. I have categorized my food, separating meat and dairy, and offered thanks after meals. Most of all, I have kept close watch on myself, pausing to take the pulse of my religious identity, as I’ve tried, for a week only, to experience a different way of being a Jew.

Having been raised in a committed Reform household, I’ve long known that being a Reform Jew allows me a great deal of personal autonomy in Jewish practice. But…with freedom comes the responsibility of choice. To fulfill myself in a Reform context, I don’t need to observe every commandment, but I do need to know the answer to a very important question: Why? Why do I choose to observe one ritual or commandment and not another? [....]

In Small Towns, Gossip Moves to the Web, and Turns Vicious

NYTimes

But of late, more people in this hardscrabble town of 5,000 have shifted from sharing the latest news and rumors over eggs and coffee to the Mountain Grove Forum on a social media Web site called Topix, where they write and read startlingly negative posts, all cloaked in anonymity, about one another.

And in Dee’s Place, people are not happy. A waitress, Pheobe Best, said that the site had provoked fights and caused divorces. The diner’s owner, Jim Deverell, called Topix a “cesspool of character assassination.” And hearing the conversation, Shane James, the cook, wandered out of the kitchen tense with anger.

His wife, Jennifer, had been the target in a post titled “freak,” he said, which described the mother of two as, among other things, “a methed-out, doped-out whore with AIDS.” Not a word was true, Mr. and Ms. James said, but the consequences were real enough.

Friends and relatives stopped speaking to them. Trips to the grocery store brought a crushing barrage of knowing glances. She wept constantly and even considered suicide. Now, the couple has resolved to move.

9/11 Boat Rescue of Manhattan "You've got to do what you have to do"

Study: Child abuse rose during recession

CBS News

An increase in child abuse, mostly in infants, is linked with the recent recession in new research that raises fresh concerns about the impact of the nation's economic woes.

The results are in a study of 422 abused children from mostly lower-income families, known to face greater risks for being abused, and the research involved just 74 counties in four states.

But lead author Dr. Rachel Berger of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh said the results confirm anecdotal reports from many pediatricians who've seen increasing numbers of shaken baby cases and other forms of brain-injuring abuse.[...]

Mind-Body: The impact of intestinal bacteria on our minds

Wired /Wall Street Journal by Jonah Lehrer

One of the deepest mysteries of the human mind is that it doesn't feel like part of the body. Our consciousness seems to exist in an immaterial realm, distinct from the meat on our bones. We feel like the ghost, not like the machine.

This ancient paradox—it's known as the mind-body problem—has long perplexed philosophers. It has also interested neuroscientists, who have traditionally argued that the three pounds of our brain are a sufficient explanation for the so-called soul. There is no mystery, just anatomy.

In recent years, however, a spate of research has put an interesting twist on this old conundrum. The problem is even more bewildering than we thought, for it's not just the coiled cortex that gives rise to the mind—it's the entire body. As the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio writes, "The mind is embodied, not just embrained."

The latest evidence comes from a new study of probiotic bacteria, the microorganisms typically found in yogurt and dairy products. While most investigations of probiotics have focused on their gastrointestinal benefits—the bacteria reduce the symptoms of diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome—this new research explored the effect of probiotics on the brain.