Sunday, February 19, 2012
A Jewish hockey player - whose family suffered from Nazis - plays for Germany -
A hockey jersey hung in each player’s locker. It bore Germany’s national colors, black trimmed in red and gold. The front was emblazoned with an eagle above the word Deutschland. This would be Evan Kaufmann’s first time wearing the jersey. He removed it from the hanger and turned it around to see his family name spelled in capital letters.
He would recall feeling a tingle of excitement. He felt something else, too, emotions that crisscrossed like the laces of his skates. He was proud to wear the jersey but also solemn about what history had done to the name on the back. His great-grandfather starved to death by the Nazis. His great-grandmother herded to extermination on a train to Auschwitz. His grandfather shuttled between ghettos and concentration camps, surviving somehow, finding a displaced sister after the war, pushing her from a hospital in a wheelbarrow after her lower left leg was amputated because of frostbite.
On Feb. 10, Kaufmann finished dressing and skated onto the ice at a tournament in Belarus. With his initial shift, he became one of the few Jews to represent Germany in elite international sports since World War II, the first in ice hockey since the 1930s and perhaps the most visible to have had family members murdered in the Holocaust, according to sports historians and Jewish officials.
A Palestinian’s trial & military justice - is there an alternative?
A year ago, Islam Dar Ayyoub was a sociable ninth grader and a good student, according to his father, Saleh, a Palestinian laborer in this small village near Ramallah.
Then, one night in January 2011, about 20 Israeli soldiers surrounded the dilapidated Dar Ayyoub home and pounded vigorously on the door. Islam, who was 14 at the time, said he thought they had come for his older brother. Instead, they had come for him. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and whisked away in a jeep.
From that moment, Islam’s childhood was over. Catapulted into the Israeli military justice system, an arm of Israel’s 44-year-old occupation of the West Bank, Islam became embroiled in a legal process as challenging and perplexing as the world in which he has grown up. The young man was interrogated and pressed to inform on his relatives, neighbors and friends.[...]
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Alleged Australian child molesters David Kramer & Zev Sero - now in America
A child sex abuse scandal in Australia’s Jewish community has spilled into America, as a pending extradition, arrests in Australia and a slew of cover-up allegations put that community’s response to molestation under scrutiny.
Australian police are seeking to extradite convicted child molester David Kramer, currently in jail in Farmington, Mo., on suspicion of having abused children at a Chabad school in Melbourne during the 1990s. [...]
Waks, 35, who has been the catalyst for revelations about the Melbourne abuse scandal, told the Forward he was molested by Velvel Serebryanski, son of a prominent Chabad rabbi, at two Melbourne synagogues during the late 1980s.
Serebryanski, who goes by the name Zev Sero in New York, did not deny the allegations when a Forward reporter asked him about them at his Brooklyn home. [...]
Friday, February 17, 2012
Psychiatry debates whether the pain of loss is really depression
The pain of losing a loved one can be a searing, gut-wrenching hurt and a long-lasting blow to a person's mood, concentration and ability to function. But is grief the same as depression?
That's a lively debate right now, as the psychiatric profession considers a key change in the forthcoming rewrite of its diagnostic "Bible." That proposed modification -- one of many -- would allow mental health providers to label the psychic pain of bereavement a mood disorder and act quickly to treat it, in some cases, with medication. With the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual's fifth edition set for completion by the end of this year, the editors of the British journal The Lancet have come out in strong opposition to the new language, calling grief a natural and healthy response to loss, not a pathological state.
"Grief is not an illness. It is more usefully thought of as part of being human, and a normal response to the death of a loved one," writes the editor of The Lancet. "Most people who experience the death of someone they love do not need treatment by a psychiatrist or indeed by any doctor. For those who are grieving, doctors would do better to offer time, compassion, remembrance, and empathy, than pills."
Companies find that regular down time from internet increases productivity
Some employers, however, are now attempting to flip the “off” switch. Companies from Atos, the French information technology services giant, to Deutsche Telekom to Google have recently adopted measures that force workers toward a better work-life balance, with scheduled breaks from the Internet and constant connectivity. Just last month, Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, pledged to deactivate emails on German staff BlackBerries during non-office hours. In a bid to combat employee burnout, staff at Volkswagen will be limited to only receiving emails on their devices from half an hour before they start work until half an hour after they leave for the day, and will be in blackout mode the rest of the time.
“Employers are recognizing that it is helpful for employees to have boundaries,” says Stewart Friedman, a Wharton practice professor of management. “The challenges of distraction in the digital world are massive…. The big issue is attention. In this digital age — which has really only just begun — we are starting the process of learning how to create useful boundaries that allow us to pay attention to the things that matter, when they matter.”
Queens public school teacher charged with sexually abusing boys
A computer teacher with a history of inappropriately touching children was arrested Thursday on charges of sexually abusing two boys at a Queens elementary school, the authorities said.
A spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney said the teacher, Wilbert Cortez, 49, touched the genitals and the buttocks of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old over their clothes in his classroom at Public School 174 in Rego Park on at least two occasions during the 2010-11 school year. [...]
A spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney said the teacher, Wilbert Cortez, 49, touched the genitals and the buttocks of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old over their clothes in his classroom at Public School 174 in Rego Park on at least two occasions during the 2010-11 school year. [...]
Los Angeles public schools failed to deal properly with child abuse
The arrest of a public school teacher here early this month came with plenty of vivid details, thanks to hundreds of photographs that the police say show the teacher covering the eyes and mouths of children with tape and allowing cockroaches to crawl over faces.
Those accusations alone were enough to prompt outrage. But more came: Another teacher at the same school was arrested on charges of sexually abusing children. Then came news reports that two aides at the school had been fired after being accused of abuse, and that one had been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Within days, other allegations surfaced at schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District: A high school music teacher was removed after being accused of showering with students; a third-grade teacher was being investigated for more than a dozen accusations of sexual abuse; an elementary school janitor was arrested and accused of lewd acts against a child. And on Wednesday, a high school softball coach and special education teacher was arrested on charges of sending inappropriate messages to children over the Internet.[...]
'Unorthodox' Author’s Claim Of Murder Cover-up Rebutted
With allegations of communal cover-ups involving child sexual abuse dogging the haredi community over the past several years, it may not be much of a stretch for some readers to believe a gruesome story that appears in a new memoir about growing up in, and leaving, the Satmar community.
The story, recounted by Deborah Feldman in “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” (Simon and Schuster), involves the alleged mutilation and murder of a boy by his own father — supposedly for masturbating — and the subsequent cover-up of the crime by Hatzolah, the community’s volunteer ambulance service.
The only problem, however, is that based on information obtained by The Jewish Week, the seems not be true.[...]
The story, recounted by Deborah Feldman in “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” (Simon and Schuster), involves the alleged mutilation and murder of a boy by his own father — supposedly for masturbating — and the subsequent cover-up of the crime by Hatzolah, the community’s volunteer ambulance service.
The only problem, however, is that based on information obtained by The Jewish Week, the seems not be true.[...]
Thursday, February 16, 2012
For Punishment of Elder’s Misdeeds, Afghan Girl Pays the Price
ASADABAD, Kunar Province — Shakila, 8 at the time, was drifting off to sleep when a group of men carrying AK-47s barged in through the door. She recalls them complaining, as they dragged her off into the darkness, about how their family had been dishonored and about how they had not been paid.
It turns out that Shakila, who was abducted along with her cousin as part of a traditional Afghan form of justice known as “baad,” was the payment.
Although baad (also known as baadi) is illegal under Afghan and, most religious scholars say, Islamic law, the taking of girls as payment for misdeeds committed by their elders still appears to be flourishing. Shakila, because one of her uncles had run away with the wife of a district strongman, was taken and held for about a year. It was the district leader, furious at the dishonor that had been done to him, who sent his men to abduct her.
Rav M. Feinstein: For Moshe seeing not more real than hearing - Contradiction?
Igros Moshe(Y.D. 1:223): You bring from Sefer HaIkkarim (4:15) that the reason that Moshe did not break the Tablets immediately when G‑d told him that the Jews had made the Golden Calf was because seeing is more powerfully real than knowledge. In my humble opinion, G‑d forbid to say that when Moshe heard about the Golden Calf that it was less significant to him than when he saw it himself - even in terms of emotional response. A possible explanation of why he broke the Tablets only after seeing the Golden Calf, because G‑d did not tell him about their enthusiastic dancing and therefore he thought it would be enough if they saw him - to completely repent immediately. However when he saw their enthusiastic dancing he realized that they would not so readily repent and therefore he broke the Tablets. You can also say that that he waited to break them so that the Jewish people could see him break the Tablets and realize the great loss they had caused because of the sin of the Golden Calf. This is stated explicitly in Devorim (9:14), “I broke the Tablets before their eyes.” This implies that he deliberately did it before their eyes. In addition it says later more explicitly in Devarim (34:12), “Before the eyes of all Israel.” Rashi explains this verse to mean that he intended to break the Tablets before their eyes. If so he had don possibility of breaking it when he first heard from G‑d about the Calf before he descended from the mountain. He was thus forced to wait until he descended so they could all see that he was breaking the Tablets. In contrast regarding hearing something from another person it is definitely true that seeing is more powerful in eliciting emotions and there is no need to bring a proof to something so obvious.
Igros Moshe(O.C. 3:50): I replied to you many years ago and my reply was printed in my Igros Moshe (1:223) that G‑d forbid to say about Moshe that what he saw with his own eyes was much more real than what he heard from G‑d and that is the reason that he only broke the Tablets after he saw the Golden Calf with his own eyes. Now you write to me that the Akeidas Yitzchok also shares the view of the Sefer HaIkkarim. I in fact looked into the Sefer HaIkkarim and I saw that in fact he agrees with my view that there is no difference between hearing information from G‑d to seeing it oneself. He brings a medrash that the reason that Moshe didn’t break the Tablets previously was in order to inform the Jews that it is prohibited to act on knowledge – even absolutely certain knowledge until it is directly witnessed… The Akeidas Yitzchok himself wanted to say that Moshe wanted to break the Tablets in front of the Jews in order to magnify the message to increase their discomfort at sinning. This is a strong reason and I my explanation anticipates this as I wrote previously.
In contrast in Darash Moshe (Yisro):
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
French court acknowledges fraud of iconic al-Dura killing
The French Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted an Israeli doctor accused of slandering a Palestinian man who claimed he was injured by the IDF during the second intifada.
The Palestinian man, Jamal al-Dura, and his 12-year-old son Muhammad, became the symbol of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, when the two were caught in a fire exchange in the Netzarim Junction. The boy was killed in the incident, triggering a blame game: The Palestinians accused Israel for Muhammad's death, while Israeli officials claimed he was hit by Palestinian fire.
Child Abuse: Why the leniency for pedophiles?
JPost
According to data disclosed at this week's Beersheba Conference on Child Welfare, some 2,500 complaints are filed annually in Israel regarding sexual assaults against minors under 14. Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, executive director of the National Council for the Child, paints a darker picture yet, estimating that over the past several years no fewer than 100,000 of this country's children have suffered some degree of sexual molestation. Most cases never reach the courts and most offenders aren't brought to justice. Yet in those that are, sentences meted out to pedophiles tend to be exceptionally lenient. Even hardcore repeat offenders are hardly supervised after they are released back to society. Legislation adopted to keep track of them remains largely unimplemented. Studies conducted recently for the council, Kadman reported, indicated that not only do judges sometimes impose ludicrously mild punishments for pedophilia but they often fail to impose even the minimum stipulated by law. Incomprehensibly, punishment for offenses against children tends to be significantly lighter than for offenses against adults. The lightest penalties are reserved for crimes within the family. The greatest leniency appears in plea bargains. While judges sometimes criticize such bargains, they nevertheless (in 99% of the cases, according to Kadman) acquiesce to them. This despite the fact that legislation enacted a decade ago fixed minimum sentences for certain sex crimes. Moreover, the law demands a clear explanation in cases where the minimum is disregarded. [...]
Haredim increasingly open to addressing sexual abuse
Specialists and professionals this week highlighted a changing attitude within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community toward reporting suspected sexual abuse of minors.[...]
“More and more people within the haredi sector are willing to say that there is a problem,” Kadman told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. “Within the community, the first thing someone does in many aspects of life is consult a rabbi. Today, many rabbis are advising people to file complaints with the police or social workers, which wasn’t the case in the past.”
According to Kadman, the number of reports of minors suffering possible sexual abuse in that community is lower than the national average, but he said this was likely due to cultural practices and taboos surrounding the issue within the haredi sector. [...
Mormon Church apologizes for baptism of dead Jews
The Mormon Church on Tuesday apologized that its members had performed posthumous baptisms into Mormonism of the long-dead Jewish parents of famed Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal.
The baptisms "by proxy" were performed last month in Mormon temples in Utah, Arizona and Idaho, according to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization named after the man who hunted down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals in the years following the Holocaust.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told Reuters the baptisms were "unacceptable," adding that people who lost everyone and everything and were murdered for being Jewish during the Holocaust should not have their souls hijacked by another religion.[...]
The baptisms "by proxy" were performed last month in Mormon temples in Utah, Arizona and Idaho, according to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization named after the man who hunted down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals in the years following the Holocaust.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told Reuters the baptisms were "unacceptable," adding that people who lost everyone and everything and were murdered for being Jewish during the Holocaust should not have their souls hijacked by another religion.[...]
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Ben Gurion U Conference on Children: Charedim endangered because of concern for lashon harah
Maariv
בכנס השנתי של המועצה לשלום הילד שנפתח היום (ב') באוניברסיטת בן גוריון בבאר שבע ויינעל מחר בערב, התבטאו פסיכולוגים, עובדים סוציאליים ועובדים במרכזי סיוע לנפגעי תקיפה מינית, באשר לעבירות המין המצויות במגזר החרדי
מנהל השירות הפסיכולוגי-חינוכי במודיעין עלית, ישי שליף, אמר כי "יש צורך להתמודד עם בעיית הפגיעה המינית במגזר החרדי". לדברי שליף, בעבר התקבלה פסיקה בגיבוי הרב יוסף שלום אלישיב בנוגע לצורך בדיווח על מקרים מסוג זה.
העובדת הסוציאלית לחוק הנוער במשרד הרווחה, חנה סלוצקי, ציינה כי עד לפני עשור דיון כזה לא יכול היה להתקיים כלל. "המגזר החרדי עשה כברת דרך ארוכה בהתפתחות שלו להתעמת עם הבעיה, והרשויות עצמן צריכות להיפתח עתה במקביל על מנת לטפל בבעיה 'טיפול רגיש תרבות'", הוסיפה סלוצקי.
העובדת הסוציאלית לחוק הנוער במשרד הרווחה, חנה סלוצקי, ציינה כי עד לפני עשור דיון כזה לא יכול היה להתקיים כלל. "המגזר החרדי עשה כברת דרך ארוכה בהתפתחות שלו להתעמת עם הבעיה, והרשויות עצמן צריכות להיפתח עתה במקביל על מנת לטפל בבעיה 'טיפול רגיש תרבות'", הוסיפה סלוצקי.
מנהלת מרכז "בליבנו" לטיפול בילדים ונוער שנפגעו מינית, בת שבע שיינין, הדגישה כי החברה החרדית נבדלת מרצון מהחברה החילונית, דבר שמייצר סיכון גדול יותר עבור הילדים החרדים.
"הילד החרדי לומד מגיל אפס לציית, וזאת בלי לשאול למה", הוסיפה, "ילדים לא יספרו לעולם על דברים מסוג זה מחשש ללשון הרע". עוד ציינה שיינין כי יש הבדל בין ילדים להורים חוזרים בתשובה לבין ילדים להורים חרדים באשר לכמות הדיווחים. לדבריה, לבעלי תשובה קל יותר לדווח
"הילד החרדי לומד מגיל אפס לציית, וזאת בלי לשאול למה", הוסיפה, "ילדים לא יספרו לעולם על דברים מסוג זה מחשש ללשון הרע". עוד ציינה שיינין כי יש הבדל בין ילדים להורים חוזרים בתשובה לבין ילדים להורים חרדים באשר לכמות הדיווחים. לדבריה, לבעלי תשובה קל יותר לדווח
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Monday, February 13, 2012
DNA Results Are In: Canned Sardines Are Kosher
Just so you know: Canned sardines are kosher.
This judgment would appear to be definitive, based on DNA evidence. Genetic testing by a parasitologist at the American Museum of Natural History has confirmed that the recent discovery of small worms in canned sardines does not render them treyf, or unkosher. It may render them unappetizing, but that judgment is up to the consumer (more on that later).
The museum got involved last March when rabbis from the Orthodox Union, which certifies as kosher hundreds of thousands of products across the world, sought scientific help in resolving a question that arose when they began finding the worms, or nematodes, in cans of sardines. [...]
Rav Ovadia Yosef & changes to greater stringency in tznius
This picture of Rav Ovadia Yosef and his family was recently published on YNET. The article is not written in a respectful manner. This post is to defend Rav Yosef against the claims of the article. The claim is made that Rav Yosef's wife is not dressed according to the laws of modesty. I just want to point out that there is no question that the standards of tznius have changed to be much more machmir. But her hair covering is halachically correct according to the Chasam Sofer and Rav Moshe Feinstein - and obviously according to Rav Yosef. It is interesting to note that in Rabbi Falk's book on Modesty he claims that this tshuva of Rav Moshe was only meant for the particular individual who asked the question. A reading of the Igros indicates that that is not so even though he has a letter from Rav Dovid Feinstein supporting him. The dress is also according to the acceptable standards of modesty of those times. Thus this is clearly an example of shifting standards of halacha but the bottom line is that she fullfilled the halacha and standards of those days - even though such is not be acceptable today. It also is not possible to rely on this to ignore todays standards.
See my discussion of this issue on Avodah 11:29
[note that the book on Modesty was written by Rabbi Falk & not Rabbi Wagschall]
There is also an important comment by Rav Yehuda Henkin on this issue in Avodah 11:31
See my discussion of this issue on Avodah 11:29
[note that the book on Modesty was written by Rabbi Falk & not Rabbi Wagschall]
There is also an important comment by Rav Yehuda Henkin on this issue in Avodah 11:31
Rav Ovadia Yosef dedicates shiur to recovery of Rav Eliashiv
YNET
שני המנהיגים כיהנו זה לצד זה כחברים בבית הדין הרבני הגדול לערעורים במשך כעשור - בשנות ה-60 וה-70, אך עם השנים נתגלעו ביניהם מחלוקות הלכתיות, השקפתיות ופוליטיות רבות, ובמקרים קיצוניים אף נרשמו כמה עימותים פומביים ומתוקשרים ביניהם, האחרון – לפני כשנה, סביב אישור גיורי צה"ל, מאבק שהסתיים בפשרה. עם זאת, ועל אף המחלוקות - הם רוחשים כבוד והערכה זה לזה.
"זקוק לרחמי שמים מרובים"
בתוך כך מוסיף להיות קשה מאוד מצבו של הרב אלישיב, שעדיין מורדם ומונשם במחלקה לטיפול נמרץ לב ב"שערי צדק", לאחר שחש ברגע בתחילת השבוע, ופונה בניידת טיפול נמרץ לבית החולים. בדיקת רופאים העלתה הבוקר כי הוא בהכרה, אך הערב התברר כי הרב סובל גם מחום גוף גבוה ומזיהום בדם, ובצוות הרפואי מתקשים לגלות סימני אופטימיות לגבי האפשרות שיצליחו לנקז את המים מריאותיו.
Internal battle within Eida Chareidis with Sikrikim
BHOL
In spite of the fact that Rav Weiss, the head of the Eida Chareidis,issued instructions that the community should prayer for the recovery of Rav Eliashiv - it was not publicized. It was determined that a group of Sikrikim extremists within the Eida blocked the publication of the announcement.... However in the Yated Neeman it was publicized this morning that Rav Weiss and Rav Sternbuch and the other members of the Bedatz instructed that prayers be said for Rav Eliashiv and prayers were also said in their own beis medrash....
הגאב"ד הורה להתפלל עבור הגרי"ש
מתברר שיש סיבה מדוע ה'עדה החרדית', אינה מפרסמת קריאה להתפלל עבור הגרי"ש: קבוצת הסיקריקים הקיצונית, מונעת זאת.
ביום שישי האחרון, ביקש גאב"ד 'העדה' הגרי"ט וייס מהנהלת 'העדה החרדית', כי ינסחו מכתב המורה להתפלל על הגרי"ש.
עיתון 'המבשר' אף הגדיל לעשות, ופרסם הבוקר כי אכן יצא לאור, קריאה מעין זו מבד"צ 'העדה החרדית', להתפלל עבור הגרי"ש.
אך מתברר כי המכתב לא פורסם. הגאב"ד התקשר להנהלת 'העדה' לברר מדוע המכתב לא פורסם ונענה כי "בישיבת הנהלה הוחלט כי לא מתאים שיפורסם כזה מכתב".
ל'בחדרי חרדים' נודע כי קבוצת סיקריקים היושבים בהנהלת 'העדה החרדית', היא שהחליטה להמרות את פי הגאב"ד ולא להוציא את המכתב.
מנגד העיתון 'יתד נאמן', פרסם הבוקר שהגאב"ד, הגרי"ט וייס, הראב"ד, הגר"מ שטרנבוך וחברי הבד"ץ הורו להתפלל על הגרי"ש, ואף ערכו תפילות בבית מדרשם בשבת האחרונה.
הערב (א') השמיע הגר"מ שטרנבוך דברים בכנס של 'העדה', שעסק בין היתר במאבק נגד תוכנית הליב"ה, ואמר: "הגרי"ש היה גדול הלוחמים בדורינו בנושא זה". הגר"מ שטרנבוך אף הוסיף, כי "מרן מאור חיינו במצב קשה, ובזכות שנתחזק בזה יבריא במהרה".
מתברר שיש סיבה מדוע ה'עדה החרדית', אינה מפרסמת קריאה להתפלל עבור הגרי"ש: קבוצת הסיקריקים הקיצונית, מונעת זאת.
ביום שישי האחרון, ביקש גאב"ד 'העדה' הגרי"ט וייס מהנהלת 'העדה החרדית', כי ינסחו מכתב המורה להתפלל על הגרי"ש.
עיתון 'המבשר' אף הגדיל לעשות, ופרסם הבוקר כי אכן יצא לאור, קריאה מעין זו מבד"צ 'העדה החרדית', להתפלל עבור הגרי"ש.
אך מתברר כי המכתב לא פורסם. הגאב"ד התקשר להנהלת 'העדה' לברר מדוע המכתב לא פורסם ונענה כי "בישיבת הנהלה הוחלט כי לא מתאים שיפורסם כזה מכתב".
ל'בחדרי חרדים' נודע כי קבוצת סיקריקים היושבים בהנהלת 'העדה החרדית', היא שהחליטה להמרות את פי הגאב"ד ולא להוציא את המכתב.
מנגד העיתון 'יתד נאמן', פרסם הבוקר שהגאב"ד, הגרי"ט וייס, הראב"ד, הגר"מ שטרנבוך וחברי הבד"ץ הורו להתפלל על הגרי"ש, ואף ערכו תפילות בבית מדרשם בשבת האחרונה.
הערב (א') השמיע הגר"מ שטרנבוך דברים בכנס של 'העדה', שעסק בין היתר במאבק נגד תוכנית הליב"ה, ואמר: "הגרי"ש היה גדול הלוחמים בדורינו בנושא זה". הגר"מ שטרנבוך אף הוסיף, כי "מרן מאור חיינו במצב קשה, ובזכות שנתחזק בזה יבריא במהרה".
Problem of physical & sexual violence against Arab women in Israel
Reports of physical and sexual violence against Arab women were up 20 percent in 2011 over the previous year, the Center to Help Victims of Sexual and Physical Abuse said over the weekend. Some 45 percent of the women calling the center's hot line said it was the first time they had told anyone that they had been abused. [...]
Figures from the Public Security Ministry to be presented Monday show that in 2011, Arabs were involved in 76 percent of the murders committed and in 70 percent of the attempted murders. They were also involved in 38 percent of the aggravated assaults.
According to the Knesset Research and Information Center, in 2009, 126 people were murdered in Israel, of whom 61 were Arabs - 48 percent. This is significantly higher than their percentage of the population, which is 20 percent.
According to the Knesset Research and Information Center, in 2009, 126 people were murdered in Israel, of whom 61 were Arabs - 48 percent. This is significantly higher than their percentage of the population, which is 20 percent.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Israeli Psychological Association legitimizes conversion therapy but doesn't recommend it
Rabbis, therapists and religious homosexuals have welcomed conclusions published by the Israeli Psychological Association on "conversion therapy", defining the document as "good news".
According to the religious leaders, the important thing is the fact that the committee believes a patient should be presented with the existing knowledge, which warns against reparative therapy, but that the possibility to change a person's sexual orientation should not be ruled out completely.
Rabbi Berel Wein: Why Haredim Have An Image Problem With Most Israelis
| [hat tip RaP] |
The most dreaded status in Israeli society is to be considered a frier – a sucker, a boob, stupid and unable to withstand being taken advantage of.
The current backlash in Israeli society against haredim is not merely a matter of theology or of vastly different societal values, different dress and customs. That would prove insufficient to provoke the over the top reaction that has emerged over the past several weeks against haredim generally because of the abominable behavior of some haredim – with, unfortunately, the tacit approval of many other haredim.
The underlying motive for all this haredi bashing is that Israelis – religious, traditional, secular and haredi light – are tired and disgusted of being friers. They have had it with a large and growing section of the Israeli population that they feels is being supported by the general public while contributing next to nothing to the general good and welfare of society.
It is useless to protest that the study and observance of Torah and the continuity of Eastern European or Sephardic traditions is somehow the guarantee of the continued existence of the state of Israel. [...]
What is the Halacha about the separation of sexes?
The issue of the “exclusion of women” (hadarat nashim) in public spheres has greatly engaged Israeli society over the last several months. Unfortunately, under this big headline, numerous phenomena have been included. There is a big difference, from the perspectives of both Halacha and democracy, between allowing religious soldiers to excuse themselves from recreational concerts by women singers, to forcing non-religious women to sit in the back of an Egged bus or beating them for entering a certain neighborhood in immodest dress.
Clearly, however, many of the phenomena are deplorable, and require redress on three levels: (1) rectifying the massive desecration of God’s reputation (Hillul Hashem) created by extremists like the Sikarikim group and their neighbors who fail to condemn their actions; (2) creating greater understanding on the relationship between Halacha, democracy, and tolerance; and (3) clarifying the halachic sources related to these matters, the latter of which will be the focus of this essay.
Clearly, however, many of the phenomena are deplorable, and require redress on three levels: (1) rectifying the massive desecration of God’s reputation (Hillul Hashem) created by extremists like the Sikarikim group and their neighbors who fail to condemn their actions; (2) creating greater understanding on the relationship between Halacha, democracy, and tolerance; and (3) clarifying the halachic sources related to these matters, the latter of which will be the focus of this essay.
An orgy of hatred by liberal secular Jews against the chareidim
In recent days I’ve been quarreling with all my friends. They are good people, these friends – liberal, tolerant, moderate and sensitive to any injustice. These are people that in our complex reality were never confused between good and bad. This is why I love them, among other things. I’d like to think that we are cut from the same cloth. That’s why I’m so amazed to see how uncaring and hateful they become when a group of people known as the haredim comes up for discussion.
My liberal friends propose various steps against the haredim and religious: A cadet who cannot bear female singing will not be an officer in the IDF, said one friend. As simple as that (“as simple as that” or “at once” are words that always accompany discussions about the haredim.) A segregated bus shall be stopped! The driver and bus operators should be sent to jail. A yeshiva that will not teach the core curriculum shall be closed at once! We shall not allow primitive ignoramuses to be raised here, and at our expense no less. A neighborhood that features separate sidewalks for women shall immediately lose its municipal services! They can go ahead and choke in their own garbage.[...]
Saturday, February 11, 2012
French parents teach politeness & patience - Americans don't
[see also Time Why American kids are brats]
[...] But for all its problems, France is the perfect foil for the current problems in American parenting. Middle-class French parents (I didn't follow the very rich or poor) have values that look familiar to me. They are zealous about talking to their kids, showing them nature and reading them lots of books. They take them to tennis lessons, painting classes and interactive science museums.
Yet the French have managed to be involved with their families without becoming obsessive. They assume that even good parents aren't at the constant service of their children, and that there is no need to feel guilty about this. "For me, the evenings are for the parents," one Parisian mother told me. "My daughter can be with us if she wants, but it's adult time." French parents want their kids to be stimulated, but not all the time. While some American toddlers are getting Mandarin tutors and preliteracy training, French kids are—by design—toddling around by themselves. [...]
One of the keys to this education is the simple act of learning how to wait. It is why the French babies I meet mostly sleep through the night from two or three months old. Their parents don't pick them up the second they start crying, allowing the babies to learn how to fall back asleep. It is also why French toddlers will sit happily at a restaurant. Rather than snacking all day like American children, they mostly have to wait until mealtime to eat. (French kids consistently have three meals a day and one snack around 4 p.m.) [...]
No, Israel Isn’t Turning into an Iran-Style Theocracy
New Republic Prof. Gil Troy
In the popular media, in both Israel and abroad, images of rock-throwing, gender-segregating, yellow-star-wearing extremists obscure these good works—and a more accurate picture. Noah Efron, a Bar Ilan University philosopher and historian, has explored the ingrained prejudice and popular revulsion against haredim. “The Jewish fight against ultra-Orthodoxy is part of a long-running struggle about what legitimately counts as Jewish,” Professor Efron says. “The modern forms of Judaism have so won the day that this need to continue fighting the battle seems neurotic.” Nevertheless, emphasizing the bad behavior of haredi Jews—who epitomize the stereotypical Jew—makes modern Jews and non-Jews feel better, less judged, suggesting that “these ostensibly superior Jews are actually inferior,” Efron says. “We continually prove our own probity to ourselves by proving the depravity of those people.”
More broadly, these stories provoke secular Westerners’ condescension toward religious people. Reading many of the American and European blogs about the haredi tensions this winter, Efron has been “stunned” by “the depths of the hatred and the crassness of the arguments. The attacks reflect a toxic mix of old style anti-Semitism and contemporary anti-Zionism, with a new style modern anti-anything-that-is-not-secular-liberal-and-Western added.”
More broadly, these stories provoke secular Westerners’ condescension toward religious people. Reading many of the American and European blogs about the haredi tensions this winter, Efron has been “stunned” by “the depths of the hatred and the crassness of the arguments. The attacks reflect a toxic mix of old style anti-Semitism and contemporary anti-Zionism, with a new style modern anti-anything-that-is-not-secular-liberal-and-Western added.”
Why the secular Israeli fears a chareidi majority
Capital punishment is not the issue. Two other issues are far more important in addressing concerns that Israel could become Talibanized. The first is that not everyone listens to Moshe Grylak – or his gemara. You can argue that the community should not be held responsible for the escapades of kano’im and Sikrikim – but they aren’t doing a very good job holding them in check either – or even speaking out against them. Why wouldn’t a chiloni Israel look at their activities with concern that as the Chareidi community grows, there will be more on these zealots, who will become even more brazen in time?
More important is the gemara that Rabbi Grylak does not quote: Rosh Hashanah 6, and elsewhere, which establishes the authority of the Jewish court to compel people to perform mitzvos. The plain meaning of the text is that people who are reluctant to perform mitzvos can be compelled through grievous bodily force to obey the law. Couple this with the authority of beis din to act le-afrushei me-issura/ to distance a potential sinner from his ability to sin, and you have a license for batei din to compel full observance of the Torah, both affirmative and proscriptive obligations. No witnesses, no forewarning, none of Rabbi Grylak’s niceties that calmed his secular friends. Why should they not anticipate groups of people jumping out of vans, forcing tefillin and tzitzis on their bodies, and bulldozing their soccer stadiums?
For members of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Gur sect, sex is a sin
According to Dr. Benjamin Brown, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, criticism of the regulations laid down by the late Rabbi Israel Alter (also known as the Beis Yisroel ), who led Gur from 1948 to 1977, goes back as far as the 1960s. Among the critics was Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky (1899-1985 ), known as the Steipler. Kanievsy was the brother-in-law of the world-renowned rabbinical authority Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz (the "Hazon Ish," who lived 1878-1953 ) and the father of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the leading rabbinical authorities in Bnei Brak today.
The Steipler wrote that one should not necessarily act according to the sect's strict regulations, which he said mainly cause suffering to women. To this day his views are studied in instruction sessions for bridegrooms in the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic ) ultra-Orthodox community, who are encouraged not to refrain from sexual relations. Among other things, the Steipler wrote: "It is known that a woman's main hope in her world is to have a husband who loves her ... but heaven forfend that he observe the measure of prishut, whereby he hurts his wife."
The Steipler wrote that one should not necessarily act according to the sect's strict regulations, which he said mainly cause suffering to women. To this day his views are studied in instruction sessions for bridegrooms in the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic ) ultra-Orthodox community, who are encouraged not to refrain from sexual relations. Among other things, the Steipler wrote: "It is known that a woman's main hope in her world is to have a husband who loves her ... but heaven forfend that he observe the measure of prishut, whereby he hurts his wife."
A Rabbi’s Teachings on Addiction Recovery Find a Wide Audience
For six years, Rabbi Taub, 37, has been teaching and writing about the spiritual component of recovery from addiction. He had begun within the Jewish community, specifically the Chabad movement, and yet providence or serendipity or destiny has brought him increasing recognition and influence well beyond it.
So it was that Father Boes asked him to address a half-dozen staff members, some of them clergy and some of them therapists, who lead recovery programs at Boys Town. Once a refuge for children neglected or abandoned due primarily to poverty, it now deals extensively with boys and girls who have abused alcohol and drugs. And while Boys Town from its origin had been nondenominational and opposed to religious compulsion of any kind, it has always considered faith a central element for repairing damaged lives. [...]
So it was that Father Boes asked him to address a half-dozen staff members, some of them clergy and some of them therapists, who lead recovery programs at Boys Town. Once a refuge for children neglected or abandoned due primarily to poverty, it now deals extensively with boys and girls who have abused alcohol and drugs. And while Boys Town from its origin had been nondenominational and opposed to religious compulsion of any kind, it has always considered faith a central element for repairing damaged lives. [...]
Tying together the whole discourse was Rabbi Taub’s thesis, the central insight of his teaching and writing. Addiction, he argues, is less a chemical dependency or a mental illness than the consequence of an individual’s absence from God and of the psychic pain that absence inflicts.[...]
Visit Jewish.TV for more Jewish videos.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Nude images hung in religious J'lem neighborhood- latest weapon against chareidim
The Secular-haredi tensions over the exclusion of women reached new heights in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel where there is a growing haredi community. Local bulletin boards were recently pasted with pictures of women posing almost entirely in the nude.
The pictures were put up suring the Sabbath and included a caption that read: "The glorification of women." The haredi residents were horrified by the "abominable signs" but could not remove them because it was the holy day and doing so would involve desecrating the Sabbath.
New project to integrate Haredim in higher education
The Council for Higher Education will invest NIS 180 million over the next five years to encourage Haredim to study and enter the workforce. The CHE approved the plan yesterday to make higher education more accessible to the ultra-Orthodox population.
The CHE will provide financial incentives to institutions of higher education to establish appropriate frameworks for Haredim, which will focus on specific professions. Among the proposals are scholarships, classrooms with separation between men and women, and special educational materials that take into account and bridge the large gaps in knowledge in certain subjects. The CHE will also increase the funding for colleges in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem that serve the Haredi community and allow them to accept more students.
Chazon Ish: Since prohibition of electricity is not clear - we need to seek out prohibitions for it.
From Dr. Benny Browns book on the Chazon Ish quoting his student Dr. Tzvi Yehuda
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Depressed children more likely to be bullied & socially rejected
Children who are ostracized by their peers and bullied often become depressed, but new research suggests that the relationship may work the other way around as well: children’s depressive symptoms in elementary school precede social victimization and isolation later on.[...]
While children with symptoms of depression in 4th grade became prone to peer victimization later, the researchers found that being bullied earlier didn’t increase children’s risk of depression in later grades. The children with the highest levels of depressive symptoms in 4th grade were more likely to be bullied by 5th grade.
Children who show symptoms of depression — having low energy, social withdrawal, passive behavior, excessive crying, and having an obsessive, negative self-focus — may first be rejected by peers and then targeted by bullies.
While children with symptoms of depression in 4th grade became prone to peer victimization later, the researchers found that being bullied earlier didn’t increase children’s risk of depression in later grades. The children with the highest levels of depressive symptoms in 4th grade were more likely to be bullied by 5th grade.
Children who show symptoms of depression — having low energy, social withdrawal, passive behavior, excessive crying, and having an obsessive, negative self-focus — may first be rejected by peers and then targeted by bullies.
Public school teacher's aide accused of taping sexual acts with students
A teacher’s aide at a public school in Brooklyn who was charged last month with possessing and distributing child pornography was arrested again on Monday night after federal agents discovered that some of the videos showed him engaging in sexual acts with students, possibly at the school, according to law enforcement officials.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Plea averts trial in NY Hasidic firebombing case
A Hasidic teenager pleaded guilty Tuesday to assault, averting a trial in an attempted murder case that brought unusual attention to a religious dispute in a Jewish enclave.
Shaul Spitzer, 18, accepted a plea bargain as jury selection was about to begin at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City, said defense attorney Deborah Lowenberg.
Spitzer had been accused of severely burning neighbor Aron Rottenberg with a firebomb outside Rottenberg's home in New Square, an insular Hasidic village of 7,000.[...]
Eda Haredit raises money to sue police
Eda Haredit members are fighting back against a recent wave of police arrests. The extreme ultra-Orthodox faction decided in recent days to step up its battle, and has begun filing personal lawsuits against police officers.
As a start, the faction allotted a budget of $20,000 for the legal struggle, which is aimed at deterring the police from "harassing" its members.
According to an Eda Haredit source, in recent months the police have decided to "hit everyone affiliated with the faction with all their might".[...]
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
School Linked to Abuse Claims Will Replace Entire Faculty
The entire faculty at Miramonte Elementary School, where two teachers were arrested last week on accusations of child sexual abuse, will be replaced by new teachers this week, the Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent announced Monday night.
Speaking to hundreds of parents at a meeting called to address the crisis at Miramonte, Superintendent John Deasy announced the school would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and when students returned on Thursday, an entirely new corps of teachers and staff members would have been hired to greet them. All current teachers, administrators and staff members will be moved to a school still under construction for the rest of the school year, where they will be interviewed by school officials and, if necessary, the police. [...]
Mr. Deasy said he felt a personal responsibility to do two things: help children who were victims, and restore parents’ trust in the school district.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Life sentence for man who refuses to give a get - upheld by rabbinic court
The supreme rabbinical court of appeals upheld a life sentence handed down to a man who has refused for ten years to give his wife a bill of divorce.
Meir Gorodetzki was imprisoned by the Jerusalem rabbinical court in 2001 for refusing to allow his wife to divorce him and has spent the last ten years in jail for his ongoing refusal to give his wife a bill of divorce, or get.[...]
Meir Gorodetzki was imprisoned by the Jerusalem rabbinical court in 2001 for refusing to allow his wife to divorce him and has spent the last ten years in jail for his ongoing refusal to give his wife a bill of divorce, or get.[...]
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Escape from Williamsburg: A Memoir of a young woman going off the derech
“Unorthodox” is a memoir about a young woman who has a lot of opinions. But in the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic world of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, opinions in general, and certainly those of young women, are not appreciated.
I grew up in a similar world nearby, the Hasidic world of Boro Park. Reading “Unorthodox” was like seeing a variation on my own life mapped out meticulously, down to the last traditional detail. I found it oddly compelling, visiting scenes and dialogues that so perfectly encompass a world so familiar. When Deborah and her older cousin, Mimi, go to an ice skating rink, a young girl offers Deborah a Hershey chocolate kiss and tells her that it’s kosher:[...]
Israeli bill aims to grant financial aid to Haredi youths leaving religious world
A new bill advanced by Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On aims to provide financial aid to youths leaving the religious world, similar to that given to new immigrants upon their arrival in Israel.
Three years ago, Tel Aviv resident Eli Bitaan, 21, abandoned the prestigious Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak and left the religious world. These days, he’s trying to fulfill his dream and get into Tel Aviv University’s Law School. Without a high-school matriculation certificate, and devoid of any financial backing from his family, Bitaan is, for the third time, trying to pass required predatory classes while working toward his high-school diploma. [...]
Three years ago, Tel Aviv resident Eli Bitaan, 21, abandoned the prestigious Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak and left the religious world. These days, he’s trying to fulfill his dream and get into Tel Aviv University’s Law School. Without a high-school matriculation certificate, and devoid of any financial backing from his family, Bitaan is, for the third time, trying to pass required predatory classes while working toward his high-school diploma. [...]
- Gur Hasidim & Sexual separation - הסודות של חסידות גור נחשפים
Haaretz - English version
In a recent study, scholar Nava Wasserman offers a window into the philosophy behind the strict sexual separation practiced by Gur Hasidim. For them, sexuality is the antithesis of sanctity, and must be resisted at all costs.
Haaretz - Hebrew version
תקנות מחמירות האוסרות על גברים לדבר עם כל אשה - כולל זו שנישאו לה; חתנים שמגלים רק לפני חופתם את סוד הכלולות; והשיטות להסחת הדעת מכל מראה שעלול ליצור גירוי. כתבה ראשונה מתוך שתיים
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Problem of readers making comments unrelated to the post
The issue of people making comments on new issues unrelated to the post has been brought up recently. It is generally perceived as an irritant and distraction.
I will try to keep the thread to topic from now on. For those who feel that there is an important issue that you want to bring up - please send it to me for evaluation [yadmoseh@gmail.com] as a guest post or something that I should make a post about.
In addition I just want to repeat that I don't allow anonymous comments. Sometimes I will add a name but usually I just erase them
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