FBI facing allegation that its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh was ‘fake’

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/16/fbi-brett-kavanaugh-background-check-fake

The supreme court justice was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford and faced several other allegations of misconduct following Ford’s harrowing testimony of an alleged assault when she and Kavanaugh were in high school.

Kavanaugh denied the claims.

 The FBI was called to investigate the allegations during the Senate confirmation process but was later accused by some Democratic senators of conducting an incomplete background check. For example, two key witnesses – Ford and Kavanaugh – were never interviewed as part of the inquiry.

 Among the concerns listed in Whitehouse’s letter to Garland are allegations that some witnesses who wanted to share their accounts with the FBI could not find anyone at the bureau who would accept their testimony and that it had not assigned any individual to accept or gather evidence.

Agunah

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agunah

Finding a flaw in the marriage ceremony is considered to be a last resort in releasing an agunah. It is rarely used as it is typically difficult to find actual cause in most marriages sufficient to invalidate them retroactively. In Jewish law, a marriage must be performed in front of two witnesses. In order to release the agunah, efforts are made to identify reasons why one of the witnesses was ineligible. This is typically unachievable as strong efforts are made at the time of marriage to ensure the validity of the witnesses and the marriage ceremony. Another possibility is to prove that the woman did not consent to the marriage clearly and of her own free will, so that the marriage ceremony is declared invalid. This too is not generally accepted amongst the halakhic authorities as there is generally no method to disprove intent. It is felt that the purpose of this endeavor is solely or primarily to retroactively delegitimize a marriage that was performed and accepted often many years previously. Annulling the marriage has no impact on the status of the woman's children. However, since it is not a generally accepted mechanism, it may leave the wife susceptible to a halakhic ruling that she was still married, and any subsequent relations with another man to be adultery. And it may lead to other halakhic problems, so it is only used as a last resort by the authorities that do accept its use.

 

Aviva Kaplan-Wallach Still Has Not Received Her Get

 http://agunahandherget.com/aviva-kaplan-wallach-still-has-not-received-her-get/

 She got a heter from International Beis Din and she remarried and yet still wants a get?!

We can not understand why, since her marriage is over, she should not be granted a Get as expeditiously as possible in a Jewish Court of Law, a Beis Din, as this is what is expected by those who adhere to Orthodox Jewish law. If Aviva is not given her Get, she is called, in Orthodox Jewish law, an Agunah (chained), which means she is forever chained until such time Aviva is given a Get.

In addition, by Aviva not being given her Get, she is not allowed to move on with her life and have closure. She can not date, or, if she so desires, remarry. It is cruel, inhumane, and against Orthodox Jewish law to withhold a Get.

Bible scroll from Bar Kochba era discovered in Judean Desert

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/298577

 The historic discovery comes 60 years after the last discovery of biblical scrolls in archaeological excavations. In addition to the scroll fragments, the operation uncovered additional extraordinary finds from various periods: a cache of rare coins from the days of Bar-Kokhba, a 6,000 year-old skeleton of a child – likely female, wrapped in a cloth and mummified, and a large complete basket dating back 10,500 years, likely the oldest in the world.

Our German-made Passover seder plates - Mendel Horowitz

 https://www.jns.org/opinion/our-german-made-passover-seder-plates/

To accompany the familiar narrative, on our Passover table, heirlooms link my children tangibly to their past. Incorporating their material objects into our rituals is both an homage to our ancestors’ determination and a prayer for the perpetuation of their faith.

Problematic divorce

 Rav Moshe Sternbuch (1:781): It often happens that the wife goes to secular court and receives a large judgment for maintenance for herself and her children. The husband is not able to pay it so he is forced to make a deal with his wife that he will divorce her and in exchange she forgives him from paying or to reduce what he owes her. So in order to be exempt from the judgment of the secular court which actually the court is stealing from him, he is forced to give her a get. The wife’s lawyer does not allow this exemption without the giving of the get. The wife is therefore forcing her husband to divorce her by using the pressure of the judgment of the secular court which is not in accord with the halacha and thus constitutes theft by the wife.  The pressure to divorce her includes fear of being imprisoned or monetary fines.  The Chazon Ish states that even though the pressure is not explicitly to divorce but since it is pressure to pay something not according to halacha we need to be concerned that the get is not valid.

Advising Against the Use of the International Beit Din: A Translated Letter From Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Shlita

 https://jewishlink.news/features/9425-advising-against-the-use-of-the-international-beit-din-a-translated-letter-from-rabbi-hershel-schachter-shlita

 https://jewishlink.news/features/9425-advising-against-the-use-of-the-international-beit-din-a-translated-letter-from-rabbi-hershel-schachter-shlita

It is a tremendous chutzpah that these three rabbis joined this beit din. Questions of this most serious nature—permitting a woman to remarry without a divorce—were brought to Rav Yitzchak Elchanan, after him to Rav Chaim Ozer and in our time to Rav Moshe Feinstein, all of whom were recognized as the greatest of their generations. It is forbidden for average rabbis to involve themselves in these matters because whoever does not understand the nature of marriages and divorces cannot be involved with them. In our generation, we present these questions to the few Torah scholars who have specialized in these laws and apprenticed under greats, and who therefore have a tradition about where to be lenient and where strict.

I encourage my colleagues and students not to rely on any ruling from this beit din because they have no standing. I heard that one of the judges resigned and I asked the other two to also remove themselves in the future from this bad activity and to inform the public not to rely on the lenient rulings they already issued, since their entire approach is not according to the law.

(Rav) Tzvi (Hershel) Schachter, Tammuz 5775

Can CBD Cure What Ails You?

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-cbd-cure-what-ails-you/

 Proponents say yes, but scientific studies on the effectiveness of this chemical derived from cannabis are a mixed bag

 Though CBD is legal to sell, the FDA has made it clear that unapproved CBD products cannot be in food, beverages, cosmetics or sold as a dietary supplement; neither can they be marketed with unsubstantiated health claims. CBD can be purchased as oils, tinctures, sprays, creams, capsules, lollipops, chocolates, energy bars, trail mix and gummies, among other things. It can even be vaped. (According to Pam Miles, past president of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, one restaurant chain offered sandwiches infused with CBD as part of a promotion, so you know we’re already there in terms of availability.)

Statement from the ZAKA Search and Rescue Organization

 https://zakaworld.org/statement-from-the-zaka-search-and-rescue-organization-meshi/

The management of the ZAKA Search and Rescue organization, its members and volunteers received with shock and astonishment the testimonies allegedly related to its chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav that were published Thursday by Haaretz.

The organization’s management has confidence in the official investigative authorities who will examine in the most professional way those matters that require investigation.

 Out of concern for the holy organization that I built with my two hands and a deep recognition of its essential nature for the fabric of society in our country, I draw the obvious conclusion from this great storm, even when these stories are unfounded, gossip and the settling of scores against me.

 As a first step, I request to relinquish the honor that has been bestowed upon me by the decision to award me the Israel Prize in a sign of recognition for the activities of the organization and for the activities of every single volunteer.

Secondly, the situation in which I find myself, requires me to take time out from my responsibilities as chairman until the cloud has been removed.”

Pentagon fires back after Tucker Carlson mocks women in armed forces

Rambam and showing respect to your opponent

 

There is much comment these days about the need for respectful debates of those you disagree with. "In the old days people were respectful of those with whom they disagreed." Below is the letter the Rambam wrote regarding a psak he disagreed with.

 

 

 

 

Sex offender who fled to Israel extradited to US

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/298403

 A Brooklyn "rabbi" who had fled to Israel in 2010 to escape arrest on charges of sexually assaulting children was arraigned in a Brooklyn courthouse on Thursday.

Gershon Kranczer, 65, had eluded authorities for years in Israel before being arrested in January 2020. He was denied bail in his first US court hearing, which took place a day after Kranczer was extradited from Israel.

Kranczer was the principal of a Brooklyn yeshiva before fleeing to Israel, where he did not immigrate or have a residency permit, amid a criminal investigation in 2010. The US Justice Department asked Israel to extradite Kranczer for years, but Israeli authorities tried and failed to find him until January 2020, when he was arrested.

CBD chocolate and Daas TORAH

 

Accused child molester extradited to NYC after fleeing to Israel in 2010

 https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/accused-child-molester-extradited-to-nyc-after-fleeing-to-israel/

 A Brooklyn man who fled to Israel in 2010 amid accusations of child molestation was extradited back to the Big Apple on Thursday, officials said.