Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Rav Hillel David confirms that the Feinstein Beis Din was convened solely at the request and for the benefit of Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky - and not for any other reason

My brother just spoke Sunday night with Rav Hillel David regarding the Feinstein Beis Din and its ruling. My brother said I could write about what he told me was said - and added that it was important to note that Rav Hillel David was very open with him and very polite and respectful. 

Rav Hillel David was asked why after over a month of deliberations - no psak has been released to the public. He answered unambiguously that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky had requested the ruling of the beis din regarding the Heter and that he was the sole person of concern. That what had been decided was not the business of the public. Therefore the psak was conveyed only to Rav Shmuel and his son.

My brother noted that the issue of the validity of the heter was in fact of public concern as are the associated issues as to whether Tamar is committing adultery and her future children will be mamzerim as many great poskim have already said.

Rav Hillel David repeated that the beis din was concerned only with the question that Rav Kaminetsky had raised as to whether they considered the heter valid. The beis din did in fact answer Rav Kaminetsky's question - and did not address the other issues. Because the mandate of the beis din was limited to Rav Kaminetsky's question - they did not deal with whether Tamar was an adulteress or whether she needed to separate from her husband. It was simply not their job. 

In short Rav Hillel David provided crushing confirmation of the worst conjectures concerning the Feinstein Beis Din. It showed an absolute lack of interest of the most pressing issues that this heter has raised regarding rabbinic corruption and the validity of annulling marriages. Thus instead of bringing closure to this scandal - it merely served as a ladder for Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and his son to distance themselves from the heter. We thus have 3 major talmidei chachomim who failed to address the real needs of the Jewish people at this time. By ignoring the full ramifications of this scandal they have ended up participating in the cover up to just show that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky is a tzadik who listens to Rav Dovid Feinstein. 

It seems that the Aguda has heaved a sigh of relief and feels that the issues have been properly resolved behind closed doors - and that it is time to forget and get on with life. 

But that is sheker and the matter has not been resolved nor will it be forgotten. This is a shameful episode that gets worse by the day. By Rav Dovid Feinstein's participating in this cover up, the Feinstein name has been besmirched

Learning a Mishna a day with your son

   Yeshuat Yaakov

Problem with Disqus: Comments are not showing on the Blog after moderation

 update: Just received the following information from Disqus which seems to have solved the problem

This is occurring because Blogger recently began using unique, country-specific URLs depending on the geolocation of the user visiting the page.
As Disqus is designed for a different thread to be created on each unique URL, this is causing new, 0 comment threads to be created when the page is accessed from any country where the site will not end in “.com”
To prevent this Blogger change from affecting your site, please follow the instructions here to prevent Blogger from creating new country-specific URLs for the pages of your site: http://www.labnol.org/internet/prevent-blogger-country-redirection/21031/

Have a great day!

 ==========================================

I was just informed that no recent comments are being displayed on the Blog. I have approved over 300 comments this week - but they do not appear on the Blog. I just contacted disqus. If the problem doesn't clear up I will drop Disqus and go back to the old system

Rav Avigdor Miller on the Divorce Epidemic

class #646, Mind of Control, 1:23:45

When the great dread day [death] comes, when finally Hashem says you are free, you are absolved, does the neshama feel relief, does the neshama celebrate that it's all over? Oh no. It's the yom hamara, the great and bitter day. Because our happiness in life is the duty of being in control. Ta'avah ni'hiya, when a desire is broken, is repressed, te'erav le-nefesh, [Mishlei 13:10] how sweet it is for the soul.

Disappointments when you accept that in good will, that's a great success for you. Success doesn't mean anything. Anybody can rejoice with success. When a person who keeps his mind calm even in disappointment, that's the person who is gaining shelmaius. And that's why HaKodesh Baruch Hu created us.

Life is full of disappointments. It's full of joys. If there are joys and successes we have to celebrate by thanking Hashem. Certainly we should [also] be grateful and express our gratitude for all the difficulties of life.

Here's a woman who had seven children with her husband. Then she put her eyes on a strange man. And she fell in love with a strange man. This mishugenah woman decides that she's unhappy with her husband. Now later she gets over this infatuation with this strange man. He goes away and moves out of the neighborhood. Now she's disillusioned with her husband. A woman with seven children. She lived like a Jewish woman until now.

But she has deep down in her heart gentile attitudes, attitudes maybe there's such a thing as romance yet in life. That's a gentile attitude. And she feels unhappy. And the husband is a hum drum husband, an ordinary decent Jewish husband. Maybe a handsome man too. But still you're accustomed to him already. He's too accustomed to be romantic anymore. And so she starts becoming dissatisfied. You know what she's doing? She's ruining her neshama.

Of course she's not going to commit adultery. She's going to force him to give her a get. She's going to break away from him and she'll look for somebody else to marry. She'll be disappointed. No question. The second time will be worse than the first time. No question.

But the breaking away, that's a corruption of the soul. Your perfection is to take what Hashem gave you (.... ) Cling to Hashem all the days of your life. V'dovak b'ishto. Control yourself. Squelch the imaginary romances that you think are waiting for you in life. It's all false. Make up your mind that what you have is what's good for you and people who live that way into their old age. No romance. Just live dutifully, live loyally, loyal to Hashem Who gave this to you. And don't be a nirgon, don't complain.

How long is life after all? The great day will come when you will finally be relieved then you'll say, ah now I look back and see how fortunate I was, I was loyal to my husband all these years. I didn't complain. I bore my burden dutifully as a bas Yisroel what HaKodesh Baruch Hu wanted me to do.

[1:27:36] Unfortunately today there's a rash of divorces and in most cases it's Jewish women.  Even the frum Jewish women are demanding divorces from their husbands, all over, everywhere. It's an epidemic and a tragedy of tragedies. They are ruining their lives, but most of all they are ruining their neshamas.

People are not willing to make peace with their circumstances. Say I'm going to live the best I can with the circumstances that Hashem gave me. These are the people who are going to succeed and they are achieving what's called shlaimus of parishas haratzon. They are conquering their passions. They are ruling with their minds over their emotions. And that is the greatest perfection.

See if you can do it with yiras shemayim, with fear of Hashem, very good. Even if not, any which way you succeed in living dutifully and accepting what Hashem gave you, you are successful and you live your life with a grand purpose.

Purim; Ester- The Daughter Of A Military General?! by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

 guest post by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

Historians have long struggled to identify Ester Hamalkah- Queen Ester...

Assuming Achashveirosh is in fact Xerxes, the forth known major Persian king, historians relate his queen to be Amestris- the daughter of a MILITARY COMMANDER, and not the daughter of Mordechai- a member of Sanhedrin....

The options that have been proposed thus far, are:

1. Amestris refers to Vashti

2. Ester was only a lesser wife

3. Historians got it all wrong

We suggest that Ester WAS the daughter of a military commander....

For questions or comments, please email us at salmahshleima@gmail.com

https://youtu.be/

Unprecedented: Father jailed for son refusing to divorce wife

Update: Supreme Court delays jailing father
ynet

בג"ץ עיכב את כניסתו לכלא של אבי סרבן הגט

לאחר שבית הדין הרבני קבע בצעד תקדימי, כי יש לאסור אב של סרבן גט בשל סיוע לסרבנות - החליטה שופטת העליון על עיכוב ביצוע ההחלטה, עד להכרעה בבג"ץ

 


update from srugim

Arutz 7

Tel Aviv rabbinical court finds father encouraged son to leave disabled wife without religious divorce, sentences him to 30 days in jail.

For the first time in history, an Israeli rabbinical court has sentenced a man to prison because his son will not grant his wife a divorce.

The court ordered that a Jewish-American tycoon be sent to jail for 30 days in jail after his son refused to give his wife a get. According to Jewish religious law, a husband must give his wife a document known as a get in order for the couple to be divorced. A woman whose husband refuses to do so is called an aguna [plural agunot, literally "chained woman"].

The ruling came after it was found that the father has discouraged his son from granting his wife a get for the past ten years. The head of the Tel Aviv rabbinical courts, Rabbi Shlomo Shatsman, stated that "The complainant's extended and brutal divorce case is one of the hardest agunot cases the rabbinical court system has had to deal with."

The court heard the story of a haredi couple who married 19 years ago and lived in the US, where their two children were born. About 10 years ago, the family visited Israel. During their trip, the wife suffered a severe stroke. She was left disabled and remains confined to a wheelchair.

After the stroke, the husband abandoned his wife and children in Israel and returned to the US. Since then, he has refused to grant her a divorce. He has ignored the Tel Aviv rabbinical court's ruling that he must grant her a get, and did not even bother to file an appeal.

The court tried to uncover the husband's perplexing motives. The court's aguna branch carried out a secret investigation in Israel and the US, and found that his father, a rich businessman known for his philanthropy in the haredi sector, is behind the refusal. When the husband's parents visited Israel, the court summoned them to testify and even issued a restraining order preventing them from leaving the country until they do so. This alone was an unprecedented decision. The parents, however, had rabbis and public figures apply strong pressure to the court in an attempt to obstruct justice. [...]
 =============================================update=====
srugim

מאסר לאביו של סרבן הגט, איך זה בכלל חוקי?

במבט ראשון אכן נראית דרישה זאת כלא צודקת וכלא הוגנת, אולם במבט בוחן ומעמיק יותר, ניתן להיווכח כי דווקא זוהי דרך הישר וזו התוצאה המוסרית והצודקת. עו"ד מוריה דיין המייצגת את העגונה מסבירה

פסק דין תקדימי פורסם השבוע בפרשת עיגון חמורה, אשר בה יוצגה האישה על ידי ארגון "יד לאישה", לפיו אבי הבעל ייעצר בגין סרבנותו של בנו לתת גט. נשאלת השאלה – האם יש בכך צדק? הלא אנו אמונים על העיקרון לפיו "לא יומתו אבות על בנים ובנים לא יומתו על אבות, איש בחטאו יומת" (דברים כ"ג ט"ז). כיצד, אם כך, מצאנו לנכון לבקש מבית הדין להעניש אב על חטאי בנו?

במבט ראשון אכן נראית דרישה זאת כלא צודקת וכלא הוגנת, אולם במבט בוחן ומעמיק יותר, ניתן להיווכח כי דווקא זוהי דרך הישר וזו התוצאה המוסרית והצודקת.

כאמור, פרשה עגומה זו החלה לפני למעלה מעשור ובמרכזה ניצבת אישה אומללה אשר במהלך ביקור משפחתי בישראל עברה אירוע מוחי חמור אשר עקבותיו נותרו בה עד היום. אישה זו, אשר נותרה נכה במחצית גופה לצמיתות, ננטשה ע"י בעלה שחזר לארה"ב מיד לאחר שהאירוע התרחש וזאת בעצת אביו, לאחר שהובהרה לו חומרת מצבה של האישה. מאז ועד היום מעגן הבעל את האישה, בחסות אביו ובאופן אכזרי, וזאת ללא כל סיבה נראית לעין.

במהלך העדויות שהושמעו בבית הדין עלה כי לא רק שהאב הוא בגדר "מסייע" בעיגון האישה, אלא אט אט התברר כי הוא הוא בעל הדבר עצמו. אבי הבעל הוא המושך בחוטים, הוא המתנה את התנאים, הוא הקובע את הכללים, והוא אשר ברצותו תעוגן האישה וברצותו תשוחרר.

בית הדין עשה שימוש בסמכויות המוקנות לו בחוק, שעניינן אכיפה וציות לפסקי דין שניתנו כדין ע"י ערכאות שיפוטיות במדינת ישראל. מאחר וכנגד הבעל ניתן פסק דין המחייב אותו לתת גט והתברר כי אביו הוא הגורם המכריע באי קיומו של פסק הדין, לפיכך ניתן להטיל עליו סנקציות מכוח פקודת ביזיון בית משפט.

אולם, מהי המסגרת ההלכתית והמוסרית אשר בתוכה פעלנו אנו כמייצגי האישה ובגדרה ניתן פסק הדין? הנה מצינו בפירוש הרמב"ם על המשנה (תרומות ו, ג) לגבי המסייע לדבר עבירה כי הוא בכלל "לפני עיוור לא תיתן מכשול", וז"ל שם: "והמתעהו והמביא אותו לידי מכשול, או שציווהו על העבירה, או שסייעו עליה באיזה סיוע שהוא.. עובר הוא על מה שאמר ה' 'ולפני עור לא תתן מכשול' אם גרם לעבירה, או שעובר על דבר ה' 'אל תשת ידך עם רשע' אם סייע לחוטא". במקרה זה אבי הבעל, הגורם לעיגון האישה, הוא בבחינת "לפני עיור לא תיתן מכשול" ועובר על איסור חמור.

 

Israeli Man Accused of Raping Stepdaughter for 15 Years, Siring Boy

Haaretz

Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court extended the remand of an ultra-Orthodox couple from Ashdod on Monday after they were arrested the day before on suspicion that the father raped his stepdaughter for 15 years, leading to the birth of a son.

A gag order has been imposed on the case, so names and details cannot be disclosed. However, the father confirmed that the son was the couple’s biological offspring, but said relations with his stepdaughter had been consensual and had taken place when she was an adult. 

The plaintiff, now 31, filed a complaint with Ashdod police last Thursday, saying she had been raped by her stepfather for 15 years, starting when she was 11. She claimed that her biological mother, who is married to her stepfather, knew of the sexual abuse and rape but did nothing to prevent it.

The plaintiff is now raising an 8-year-old boy and the police are preparing to conduct paternity tests in order to verify her claims. A police source told Haaretz that preliminary investigations show there is a factual basis to the complaint. He added that the parents had become Orthodox in recent years. [...]

Fulfilling the mitzva of Megila with a wandering mind by by Rabbi Benzion Halberstam of Lakewood

I received this letter today

There are lots of Rabbanim today who tell their people that you can't be yotze Megilla with just hearing it in Shul because your mind naturally gets preoccupied with stray thoughts so they require various complicated ways in order to be yotze and they say that otherwise you aren't yotze. In response to this, a Rav in Lakewood wrote a teshuva saying that this isn't true and that even if the person's mind thinks about other things during Krias Hamegilla he is yotze. This teshuva was put out on tables in some shuls this Shabbos and it seems very convincing.

   Megilla

Reinstating the Old Fashioned Torah Part 3 by Joe Orlow

Part 3

Jack Benny z"l was a comedian. Part of his routine was being notoriously stingy. When confronted on his radio show by an actor playing a thief, he finds himself in a quandary:

----

Thief: Your money or your life!

(silence)

Thief: Well....?!

Jack Benny [finally] : I'm thinking, I'm thinking.

-----

Besides nicely illustrating the Torah concept that some value their belongings more than their life, this brings us to the topic of how to teach thinking.

The short answer is you can't, at least not directly. But indirectly we can. External stimuli can lead to introspection. "Ashrai Ha'Ish Asher T'yas'renu Kah". From torment and affliction comes intense delving into the Torah to find answers.

We cry and bemoan the public and vicious breakup of Jewish families in the Torah World. We are in shock and pain as we become aware of Torah World Rabbis permitting Mamzerim to be born rather than risk losing financial support and the loss of personal honor.

We will dip our pens in tears mixed with ashes and begin to write a new future for the Torah.

--------------------

Pseudo-Gadolim

A Torah life is built on obedience to authority. Children obey parents. Students obey teachers. Community members obey the Torah leaders in their town. Local Torah leaders obey national leaders.

A local Torah leader can be the Rabbi of a Shul; a Rosh Yeshiva; a Dayan on a Bais Din; or a Torah scholar without a community position who people turn to for advice.

Parents and teachers are only to be obeyed if they follow the Torah. A child is not obligated to follow an order from a parent demanding that the child transgress the Torah.

Furthermore, the Torah directs each person to select a Rav to follow. The terminology is "Aseh L'cha Rav", "make for yourself a Rav". That is, a Rav cannot come and demand obedience from someone unless that person chose to submit to him. There are exceptions, however.

When the S'micha from Moshe Rabeinu was still given, a Rav could subpoena someone to appear in his court.

And historically, when Jews lived in all-Jewish communities, a person could come under the jurisdiction of a Rav without choosing him. A Rav selected by the community at large had to be obeyed even by those who may oppose him. The seven Tuvai Ha'Ir, even if they were not Rabbis, had to be obeyed. But even there, people had a choice. Someone could leave the city or region and move elsewhere.

If a Rabbi in America is a true scholar and his peers recognize his scholarship and defer to his decisions, he can become a Gadol, or even Gadol Hador, "The Great One of the Generation"; or perhaps a title limiting his authority to a region is conferred on him, such as, "The Greatest Gadol in America". Under those circumstances, the Gadol can require obedience.

Yet, curiously, some Rabbis claim that all Jews in America must submit to them without these Rabbis having properly earned the title. They assume the title of "Gadol", a "Great One", by dint of a family name, or having a prominent position in an established Yeshiva, by having studied under a true Gadol, or because many people bring them their questions or come to their Shiurim; or simply because they sit on the Eastern wall of the dais at a convention. Still, the scholarship of these men may be lacking and thus they are without the respect of true scholars and are pseudo-Gadolim.

Aa long as pseudo-Gadolim work within the confines of those places where their supporters treat them as a Gadol, their impact on others outside their followers is limited.

But when a pseudo-Gadol overreaches and makes decisions that affect people who disdain him for his sloppy scholarship, the stage is set for a showdown between individuals and the pseudo-Gadol. A free-for-all can ensue.

Those who consider the pseudo-Gadol as a fraud, a Rasha, and maybe even an Apikoros, begin publicly airing the flaws of the pseudo-Gadol. Meanwhile, the pseudo-Gadol's followers hit back and begin demanding respect for the man.

Each side demands to be left alone.

But in truth, the pseudo-Gadol has only himself to blame. He bought into all the hype. He exposed his own vulnerability by going into battle without arming himself with sources and proofs from the Mesorah.

Pronouncements from on high don't fly in the old fashioned Torah world. And a sure sign someone is a phony Gadol is when he clams up or begins double-talking, saying one thing to one person and another thing to another, or contradicting himself.

So don't berate me for jumping in and piling it on when a pseudo-Gadol raises his hand against one of my friends. Don't tell me to let the Gadolim handle it and that I should stay out and just watch from the sidelines.

Rather, let those who criticize me ask themselves why their vocal "Gadol" all of a sudden is scrambling to rise above the fray, when it was he who threw the first punch? Why is he refusing to discuss the issue at hand openly and honestly? I'll take a stab at answering that question: Because the pseudo-Gadol is used to being obeyed unquestioningly, and when someone catches him playing fast and loose with the rules, he freezes like a deer caught in the headlights.

As for me, to do nothing when I discern the Torah being abused eats away at my soul. For self preservation I am compelled not to stand idly by.

Vayikrah; Squirt The Blood Or Squeeze It? by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

Guest Post by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

The Torah tells the Kohein to do מיצוי הדם - Squeeze the blood- on both עלות העוף and חטאת העוף.

How should the blood be squeezed out? By squeezing the bird, and the blood squirting out? Or by squeezing the bird against the Mizbeach, and blood trickling down?

Rashi in Zevochim 64b, explains that it's done by squeezing the bird against the Mizbeach, and in Minachos 2b Rashi says it's done by squirting!?!.....

For questions or comments please email salmahshleima@gmail.com

https://youtu.be/xkooZPhvXBA

Wohlmark of the Mendel Epstein Torture Gang will go to Otisville

Wolmark will be joining others of the torture gang at Otisville

http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2015/11/tamar-epstein-heter-understanding_25.html

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Despite the clear evidence - it is unlikely that Rav Dovid Feinstein will publicly criticize anyone

After over a month of hearings by the beis din of Rav Dovid Feinstein - apparently nothing has been decided. In addition, given his behavior in the past -  it is highly unlikely that Rav Dovid Feinstein will actually publicly criticize anyone.

Next week - if nothing significant has been heard from the Feinstein Beis din - I wll return to explaining why the heter is a corruption of halacha and a gross misuse of Psychology. I will be placing most of the blame on Rav Nota Greenblatt - who despite admitting his ignorance of modern psychology - mistakenly insists that it is equivalent to medicine in terms of describing objective reality. Of course the Kaminetskys are not innocent and I will review their involvement.

However even if the Feinstein Beis Din publicly announces its conclusion - it is highly unlikely that they will end the mnatter - and I will explain why.

I would like to be proven wrong about the above - but it is highly unlikely.

Vayikrah 76 - Social Thinking and Da'at = Social Intelligence by Allan Katz

Guest post Allan Katz

The Book of Leviticus- Vayikrah deals with the sacrifices, holiness and purity. It opens with … 'And Hashem- God called Moses and spoke to him saying '…The commentaries explain that Moses did not want to enter the Tabernacle- Mishkan until God had given him an invitation and permission to enter. The Midrash commentary says 'that any sage or wise scholar who has no da'at – social intelligence, is worse than a rotting carcass. Moses, who was extremely close to God, his representative and emissary in the world to teach God's Torah, perform miracles etc and he even built the Mishkan, did not enter the mishkan until God called him and invited him to enter. And just as Moses acted with דרך ארץ – derech e'retz and sensitivity, God called Moses and addressed him by his name. From this למדה התורה דרך ארץ, the Torah taught derech e'retz, the way of the world, as how people should interact with each other. If a person wants to have a conversation with someone, he should first address him by his name and then start the conversation. 

God's call to Moses was out of affection and relationship. On the other hand, God just appeared to Bilaam, the prophet of the surrounding nations, as if by chance. Out of humility, Moses wrote the words 'and God called '- וַיִּקְרָא with a small ' aleph ', so God's revelation to him would be written as similar to that of Bilaam –ויקר by chance. It seems that a precondition for prophecy, the frame of mind for engaging in the offering of sacrifices and a relationship with God and people is humility. R' Akivah says a person who is arrogant because of his Torah learning, is like a rotting carcass. "אִם נָבַלְתָּ בְהִתְנַשֵּׂא '… you became like a rotting carcass' by being arrogant.-Proverbs 30:32. This wise scholar or sage may be academically intelligent but lacks social- emotional skills, sensitivity to others, derech e'retz, common sense and common courtesies. Because of his arrogance he fails to take into account the concerns and perspectives of others, how they perceive his teaching and behavior and the possible impact and consequences of his actions on others. The sage desecrates God's name with his behavior, people say that the Torah is to blame for his behavior, and at worst, it is possible that some people would learn bad ways from him. A rotting carcass does not do much damage and people know to keep away because of the bad smell. A leading Rabbinical Judge R' Shlomo D'chovsky in his farewell speech on retiring, encouraged fellow judges – your decisions don't always have to be ' glatt', taking into account all the stringencies of the law. Sometimes a b'di'eved or lenient decision may more accurately reflect the situation and meet the needs of the parties concerned. A stringent decision may cause more problems and certainly not be true, just and contribute to peaceful relationships. R' Isaac Sher asks that( 1) all people , not only wise scholars and judges have to act with derech e'retz, be sensitive to others and act with common courtesy so why does the midrash refer only to a sage and (2) why does the midrash use the word ' da'at ' instead of the word ' derech e'retz . The wise scholar and sage, because of their learning of God's Torah are expected to reflect on the highest levels of understanding as to how people are supposed to interact with each other and be highly sensitive to how they impact on others and how they perceive their needs. The scholar should be learning practical lessons on human refinement and sensitivity from his learning and finding ways to apply his learning to an imperfect world taking into account how people experience what he says and does. This is not just derech e'retz but da'at , a highly sophisticated social intelligence and understanding of 'da'at elyon', the highest form of intelligence. When such a person is honest in his business dealings , and he speaks pleasantly to people , people begin to speak positively about him and say that his teachers and parents who have taught him Torah are sure to be happy and proud of him. The reason his ways are fine and his deeds are righteous is because this man has studied the Torah.

When it comes to children and teenagers, their lack of derech e'retz, da'at or social intelligence has less to do with character or personality flaws like arrogance, but more to do about lagging social skills. Adult problems may also be due to ' untreated lagging skills ' when they were kids .We are born to a 'social mind ' which has a predisposition to ' empathy' and available to learning. New born babies identify with the cries of other babies, showing the trait of empathy. Crucial for the development of the social mind is child- directed play with others, and also an exposure to a lot of non-verbal and verbal language. Unfortunately, children are being introduced to academic learning at a younger age and this comes at the expense of social and emotional learning – less time for play and adults focusing on compliance. And some kids are developmentally delayed and have difficulty in naturally learning these social skills and therefore are challenged in area of social interactions.

Teaching kids by rote ' social scripts or behaviors' in the hope that they can generalize to other situations and help them function more socially does not help very much. Instead of static skills, they need to learn dynamic skills that enhance their dynamic intelligence so they learn to be flexible and adapt their behavior depending on situations and people involved. This is done by promoting ' social thinking' so the skills developed are not isolated, but a product of a problem solving process. It is not only being able to perform the skill that is important, but understanding the context and the purpose of the skill. Social thinking is how we navigate the space we share with others. We have to interpret and understand peoples' motives, intentions, concerns, to assess how others are feeling and predict what will happen next – how people will react and the consequences of our words and actions etc. it is not enough for a kid to understand his intentions but how others are reading his intentions. A kid maybe able to identify his concerns and the concerns of others, but he must also be able have some understanding as to how they interpret his intentions. In the social arena, a problem is not only about the kid having a problem pursuing his concerns, but often the problem includes addressing the concerns and expectations of others. The child also needs to learn to initiate conversations, articulate his concerns, and participate in brainstorming solutions that are realistic, durable and mutually satisfying.

In Schools and even in homes, social and emotional learning is about adult expectations and the consequences imposed on kids for infractions and rewards or praise for compliance. Besides promoting the most primitive form of morality , helping kids to ask what's in it for me , they never learn to ask themselves what are the consequences of my actions on other people and the environment. Adults never model perspective taking and seeing the kids ' world through their eyes'. They fail to learn the lesson – that it is not what we teach that matters, but what kids learn, and how kids experience what we do to them and say. What matters is just ' behavior ', ignoring the whole child, his feeling and motives, in the blind belief in the power of the Lo lishma, m'toch she'lo lishmah ba lishmah. Hillel taught – if I am not for myself, who is for me and if I am only for myself, who am I. If we totally ignore kids concerns and expectations, we don't teach them the social skills and social thinking as how to pursue their own needs in appropriate ways and yet take into accounts the perspectives and concerns of others. If we want kids to have derch e'retz, da'at and social skills we need to take steps - more play and more social, emotional learning focusing on social thinking.

Reinstating the Old Fashioned Torah Part 2 The Old Fashioned Torah by Joe Orlow

Guest post by Joe Orlow

What is the Old Fashioned Torah?

The key element of the Old Fashioned Torah is that it requires a Jew to think. Books such as "Obligations of the Heart" and "Path of the Upright" make this point. A Mitzvah requires the alignment of a Jew's inner and outer states. Thought and action have to coincide. For example, for someone to "pray" without understanding that they are addressing G-d, even if they say the words in a language they understand, they have accomplished nothing.

Thinking leads to the realization that the Torah requires a man to work, not for a man to mooch. The sources in the Torah that teach that everyone must work have been taught by Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn, and will only be treated briefly here. The Rambam says that a man must marry at age eighteen, and have a job and a paid up house. The Zohar says that not to have a job and paid up house and to marry puts the man into the category of a Shoteh, a strong term meaning someone who is untrustworthy due to his careless behavior. Rava, in the Talmud, encouraged his students to have business investments that would give them the income and the time to study Torah.

To be sure, it is proper at this point in history for some men to devote themselves full time to learning. But the decision that a given individual should learn full time should be made by the community in consultation with a Rav who has nothing to gain by deciding that the man should not work. The decision not to work should not be left up to the man himself, even if his wife is willing to be the sole source of income for the family; nor should the decision be made by his Rosh Yeshiva who stands to benefit from the increase in size and prestige of the Yeshiva.

The Torah World was a natural outgrowth from the great Yeshivas that taught the Old Fashioned Torah. What happened?

The Torah World got to the point of falling apart because it began demanding unthinking unquestioning obedience to Gadolim, some of whom turned out to be unworthy of their followers (please refer to the article Pseudo Gadolim appended below). The way to counter the break up of the Torah World is to teach people to think.

It is helpful to examine how unthinking became entrenched in the Torah World. Reb Chaim of Volozhin started his Yeshiva in reaction to "Enlightened" Jews disputing with Torah-true Jews as to the legitimacy of Torah observance. The Volozhiner Yeshiva emphasized pure Torah study isolated from the give-and-take of conversations with "Maskilim". Later, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch articulated arguments to counter the Reform and others. Rav Yisrael Salanter introduced the Musar Movement to Yeshivas. Still, there remained a standoffish attitude within Yeshivas, which is now becoming their downfall.

Specifically because all outside criticism is eschewed, Yeshivas lack a correction mechanism when their leaders veer away away from the Torah. They are closed to rebuke, immune to pressure. What was once a strength has become their undoing.

How can we teach people to think, the pre-requisite of an Old Fashioned Torah Yeshiva? That is the subject of Part 3.