Must a son agree if his father wants to live with him?

Rav Sternbuch (2:444):  Question: The mitzva of honoring parents is different than all other mitzvos. On the one hand there is no obligation to spend money on this mitzva since the halacha is that honoring parents is on the father’s expense and not the son’s. In contrast all other mitzvos require payment up to a fifth of his wealth. On the other hand the positive command of honoring parents is more severe than all other mitzvos since the parent’s honor is equated to that of G‑d. Another question is why is it that will all other mitzvos we say that there is no obligation to do it if it causes great embarrassment since there is the principle that “human dignity if great since it allows avoiding in a passive way of any positive mitzva. The Achronim discuss that that great torment is equivalent to great embarrassment in that it exempts the obligation to do a positive mitzva and it doesn’t exhaust his wealth because he is only obligated to spend at most a fifth of his wealth. In contrast the mitzva of honoring parents is obligatory even when there is great torment and great embarrassment. We know that even if the father insults him verbally in public it is prohibited to respond. In the present case where the sun claims that if his father lives with him it will cause him great torment and he will be required to deal with him constantly and because of that it will totally destroy his relationship with his wife and family. He will end up totally occupied with his father’s needs. The son says that this will be extremely great torment that will require unlimited care for his father. In addition it will entail expenses that are much greater than a fifth of his wealth. Answer: In my opinion the son’s words are totally wrong because we are not talking about doing a mitzva on a single occasion but rather that his father will be dwelling with him and as a result he will have hundreds of opportunities to do the mitzva. The Ran at the end of Yoma has stated that even concerning two serious prohibition which involve stoning and here we have the mitzva of honoring parents which will occur many times  - it is impossible to push off the obligation and merit of such a mitzva. Therefore it is necessary to explain to his wife about the great merit that he will get from this as well as the great reward she will receive for assisting her father-in-law. In addition that he can not get out of doing this mitzva with the excuse that it will cost more than a fifth of his wealth. However if he is forced to send his father to a nursing home in order to get proper treatment it would seem that he has the obligation to pay if the father can’t afford it and he not deduct the expenses from his charity funds. The reason for this I once heard in the name of the Brisker Rav that this that we rule that the father is obligated to pay his expenses that is only for things which are he is not personally obligated to do. But if the son is personally obligated and he is paying in order to avoid personally taking of his father – then he must pay. That is because he isn’t paying for his father but rather to avoid having to do that which he is obligated to do. Thus we see that he is actually according to the law to pay since it isn’t for his father but simply to avoid personal involvement. Consequently in the present case where is is obligated according to the law to take his father into his house but he wants to avoid this obligation by sending his father to a nursing home – then he must pay out of his pocket in order to avoid doing the mitzva personally. However if the father has the money then according to the law then the son doesn’t have the personal obligation to take care of his father. That is because the father has the option of being in a nursing home at his own expense. Thus it seems that the father would then be obligated to pay. Nevertheless even if the father has the money but he is a miser and he is prepared to pay and he truly needs the services of the nursing home, it seems that the son should pay for his father and afterwards deduct it the inheritance that goes to the father’s heirs. It is correct to issue a notice first before 2 witnesses that he is not paying for the nursing home as a gift to his father but rather the father owes him the money and he will deduct it later.  Nonetheless it is prohibited to leave his father in a neglected condition. (There is a well known story regarding someone who asked Rav Chaim Brisker whether he was obligated to pay transportation costs to visit his father in Warsaw since the halacha is that honoring of parents is the father’s expense. Rav Chaim replied, that he was obligated to go to Warsaw by foot but if he didn’t want to walk he could pay for the fare to get there. Nevertheless it needs to be investigated whether he actually needs to walk to another city in order to fulfill the mitzva of honoring parents. See Moadim v’Zmaninm (1:4). I heard that Rav Chaim Brisker discussed with the Chazon Ish when they met in Minsk during the War whether the halacha requires going to another city in order to acquire a kosher esrog. See Moadim v’Zemanin (1:3) Nevertheless with the mitzva of honoring parents is a more stringent mitzva because it is associated with honoring G‑d. This requires further study.

IDF Law Enforcement or Crime Enforcement?

BS"D

¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥

URGENT IDF DRAFT ARREST ALERT: 

¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥

24-Year-Old Religious Woman Arrested - In Wake of a Secretarial Error 8 Years Ago

By Binyomin Feinberg

5 Nissan, 5781 °° March 18, '21  Parshas VaYikra

Breaking News from Ben Gurion Airport, Israel: At about 12AM Israeli time tonight, Wednesday night, a 24-year-old Breslover woman, Efrat, from a Chareidi family of Beitar, was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport by Civil Police. A clearly Chareidi Seminary graduate, she was arrested in the wake of what many would deem a trivial error by a high-school secretary about eight years ago.

According to an Israeli activist who spoke with her during her arrest process tonight, this young woman claims that, as most religious girls do, she obtained her religiosity certification ("Tatzhir Dat") from a Rabbinical court at age 16. Standard procedure had been that many schools would send the documentation in to the Israeli Army Draft Office, to secure religious exemptions for their students. (At that time, serious complications for religious girls were almost unheard of.)

At that time, someone in the office  apparently erred in delivering her "Tatzhir Dat" to the Army. About a month ago, in response to being alerted by the Draft Office about her unresolved draft status, Efrat spoke to the Jerusalem Draft Office personnel (on Rashi St.). Efrat reported that the response she received from the Draft Office (D.O.) was that "that this type of mix-up happens." They understood she's Chareidi, and legally entitled to a military service exemption. The D.O. thus directed her to simply redo her Tatzhir Dat.

However, in the wake of Corona-related complications, that didn't occur yet. Now, she had understood from the D.O. that resending her certification was nothing more than a technicality, and certainly not a major issue, even for the draft officers themselves. Therefore, she didn't abstain from travel. 

She was arrested tonight on her way to Uman, Ukraine. She, like many Breslover chassidim, travel to Uman, conditions permitting, to pray at the burial site of the world-revered Rav Nachman of Breslov OB"M. 

She is expected to have a military court hearing within a matter of hours. We hope a vibrant protest will grace the occasion.

The same government-collaborative Chareidi MKs who have been pandering for Breslover votes lately should never have allowed the draft crisis to get to this point. Let's see if they'll do anything useful for this young woman.

¥¥¥ Perspective: ¥¥¥

Tonight, Efrat embarked to the airport intending to serve HaShem by visiting Uman. Clearly, HaShem has other plans for her. For every hour she languishes in incarceration, her spiritual contribution to the Jewish People will likely surpass by far whatever she could have accomplished in Uman. For one, this arrest could draw attention to a number of burning issues pertaining to the ongoing escalation of military draft harassment of religious girls, which most of the media have been ignoring. These include various issues already covered by Israeli media (often censored by faux-news venues) such as:

1. The Israeli Army's declared goal of reaching 40% Army enlistment by Mizrachi-type (zionist-oriented) high-school girls;

2. the abuse of the "Rayon Dat" (religiosity interrogations) - to force or otherwise manipulate religious girls into enlisting in the Army;

3. the dramatically caustic effect of Army life on the religiosity of girls, recently reported by an Israeli government Statistics agency,  considered authoritative by the government itself; [This refutes the Army and Supreme Court contention that military service doesn't contradict a religious lifestyle for girls.]

4. the jump in reports of sexual abuse within the Army last year (Israel HaYom, Feb. 12, 21); [That jump - of over double the previous year - dispels the argument that these are just false accusations, because it's extremely unlikely that that massive jump could be attributed soley to a steep jump in false accusations.]

5. rampant immorality within the Army, and official IDF facilitation thereof, via free Army birth-control and abortion "services" geared toward perpetuating said prohibitions (issurei korais);

6. aggressive Israeli Army attempts to convince girls to forego their exemptions AFTER obtaining them;

7. "Aluma" and it's deceptive crusade to enlist religious girls in the military, under the veneer of operating as an organization ostensibly independent of the Israeli Army;

8. a multitude of individual cases of harassment, abuse and persecution of Jewish girls - perpetrated by the Israeli Army, Draft Office, military and civilian Police, Military Prisons, & Courts, many of which have been reported in The Jewish Press or in other pro-Israel venues;

9. IDF faking of statistics of female religious enlistment (as well as Chareidi male enlistment).

°°°

Regarding this particular incident, unless we're missing some major part of the story, there was apparently nothing here mandating an arrest. This situation didn't call for arresting a young woman at the airport, even according to the Israeli police standards. To arrest an unquestionably Chareidi woman - over what's essentially a technical error of a school secretary about eight years ago [clearly not her fault] - is aberrational. It may even be seen by some (accurately or not) as an opportunity to vent ascendant antireligious sentiment, festering around the election campaign. By others, this may be taken as a specific jab meant to target Breslover chassidim, who've lately complained vocally about unfair treatment from the government.

Whatever the case may be, the very occurrence of this type of  arrest reveals a systemic flaw that allows for many such over-the-top arrests of innocent girls and women - precisely where it's least needed and least appropriate.  What's far more important to highlight here is that this type of overdone law-enforcement is generally followed by robust crime-enforcement -- by Israeli military prison authorities.*

[* replete with abuses competitive with the human-rights paradigms of some of the other countries who similarly force girls to serve in the military (such as in vicinity of the Korean Peninsula).]

Those familiar with this column may recall multiple girls and young women who were subjected to all manner of physical, emotional, psychological, and physical abuse in Military Prison Four and Six, as well as at Tel HaShomer.

This incident also highlights another ongoing, national travesty. The Israeli Army refuses to safeguard the basic rights of Israeli citizens by requiring that the  Draft Office inform each and every girl if and when their military service exemptions are processed. If the Israeli government would employ even minimal concern for individual rights, this policy would be put into practice. It's not. Consequently, many Israeli women find themselves facing arrest and military prison in the wake of their religiosity certification documentation "not being received" by the Army Draft Office (or due to claims of such).

In this case, the primary injustice is not unjust or lopsided application or enforcement of the law; it's the inherent corruption of everyday Army policy that leads to many such incidents. This, and many, many other aberrational excesses, are manifestations of the secularist, statist orientation of Israeli Military. In the secularist- dominated State, individuals have few rights against overreach by the behemoths of the State.  This sense of entitlement extends to non-citizens as well; case in point: N.D., a volunteer from France, brutally betrayed by the Israeli Army, who is now persecuting her by keeping her captive in Israel, while illegally threatening her with arrest, see "IDF: Israeli Document Forgers?" (http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2021/03/idf-israeli-document-forgers.html).

Another illustrative example [from June '19]: Orah Chaya & Moriah Leah R., Bnos Beruria:  https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/07/wonderful-opportunities-for-public.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FIjWSM+%28Daas+Torah+-+Issues+of+Jewish+Identity%29 

( https://www.dropbox.com/s/sct41kbjry0ph5m/BS.docx?dl=0 )
°°°

Efrat's exact whereabouts at the moment aren't known. She could potentially be incarcerated in the new Military Prison Ten. Prison Ten is the state-of-the-art, 300-bed incarceration facility in the Netanya area, not far from Tel Aviv. This massive, very expensive prison was completed just recently.*

[* Apparently that "investment" was prioritized, despite the competing requirements to meet unprecedented threats the Israeli government is now facing from Corona, Iran, the North, cyber attacks, qualitatively escalating military technology - especially precision missile capacities - in enemy hands, and hundreds of thousands of rockets being pointed at Israel.]

One concern over this "Mega-Prison" is that it enables the antireligious elements of the Israeli government to up the ante of religious persecution against religious refusenik girls and supportive protestors. Will some agenda-driven elements of the Justice system feel more leeway to employ yet more cruelty in sentencing such types of "enemies of the People," now that logistics are barely an impediment?  In the recent past, there have generally been several dozen girls languishing in Israeli military prison at any given time. A substantial portion of those are incarcerated due to objections to serving in the Army. Do the powers-that-be have their sights set on elevating those terrible numbers?

###

Background:

The Israeli Army forces its female citizens to serve in the military. It's been doing so in flagrant violation of Torah law, for about 70 years. All leading Rabbis from across the spectrum prohibit girls and women from enlistment in the military. Leading Rabbis have even deemed refusal to enlist as Yaihoraig v'Al Ya'avor, a prohibition we're obligated to sacrifice our lives to avoid.

The Israeli Army is also known for abusive treatment of women and girls, for decades. Moreover, the Torah objects to more than just non-consensual misconduct. Sinful conduct between consenting adults is similarly liable for korais, or worse. 

According to the Torah, we ought to be advocating against the Israeli military draft for ALL women. Now it's more vital than ever to push to exempt all girls and women from being forced into military service, and making that case on Torah grounds - as well as military readiness reasons. Torah authorities that should be cited include the Brisker Rov ZT"L who opposed non-religious girls serving in the Army even more vociferously than religious girls doing so, as Rav Aharon Soloveichik ZT"L quotes him.

If we would actually follow through on this one approach, we'd diffuse much antireligious animus, while gaining important allies in undermining support for the female military draft. (Obviously, we'd automatically dispense with the entire Rayon Dat problem in one fell swoop, without succumbing to the desire to fix the unfixable.)

If someone argues that we ought not tinker with the status of nonreligious girls out of fear that the Army Establishment will pursue "our girls," they should be informed that the Establishment has been pursuing "our girls" well before we made a public issue of helping save nonreligious girls from military service. Their problem may lie in the Cantonist Syndrome, treating anyone not part of their clique as expendable, "collateral damage," if you will.

****

Some background on the escalating role of women in combat roles in the IDF:

"The IDF is one of the only armies in the {Western -BF} world in which women are drafted to military service by law. Women have served in the Israeli army ever since its establishment in 1948. At first they served mainly in administrative jobs or as instructors in a variety of fields, but they gradually moved into operational positions due to both a shortage in combat soldiers and demands of Israeli feminist groups. According to Ha'aretz, the number of female combatants has more than doubled in recent years. In 2012, 3 percent of women in the IDF served in combat positions. Four years later, in 2016, the percentage more than doubled to 7 percent—and it will likely continue to rise." (https://www.lawfareblog.com/female-service-idf-challenge-integrated-army)

Its important to identify the vital role played by radical leftists in America in compounding the Israeli female draft syndrome, by adding western "Equality" to the pre-existing female military draft milieu. The escalation of women enlisting in fighting units in Israel corresponds to the ascension of Equality lunacy in America under Obama. The Obama era saw the advance of the most extreme moral subversives, who did grave moral and material damage to the American Armed Forces, as they did to American society at large. This is not to absolve the amoral and immoral leftists of Likud - at all - over the worst escalation of drafting girls Israelis have ever seen, which they've perpetrated in recent years. However, they had a lot of help from leftists overseas.*

(* Of course, Divine Justice is "inclusive" enough to provide amply for all involved parties, who would each qualify for iniquity-specific manifestations of Divine intervention - in accordance with the timeless principle of "Measure for Measure.")

***********
feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com

"... the more lonely his stand, the greater the number of his adversaries, the more powerful is his word, the mightier his deed."

--  Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch OB"M (1808-1888), (writing on Pinchos, and those who follow his lead, in "Judaism Eternal," vol. 2, p. 293)

###

IDF: Israeli Document Forgers?

BS"D

IDF = "Israeli Document Forgers?"

Israeli Army Reportedly Threatening An Illegally-Drafted Religious French Citizen with Military Arrest

... After Fraudulently Obtaining Her Signature on an Enlistment Document

--- in a Language She Doesn't Even Understand

For France, Yet Another Such Complaint Reportedly Comes As No Surprise... 

4 Nissan, 5781 / March 17, '21 [Parshas VaYikra]

BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL* LETTER OF A 19 YEAR-OLD, SINCERE, RELIGIOUS JEWISH FRENCH GIRL, N. D., WHO WAS DECEIVED INTO "VOLUNTEERING" FOR THE ISRAELI ARMY.

To recap this case, recently posted: a religious female French citizen, N. D., 19 years old, recently volunteered to travel to Israel to enlist in the Israeli Army. She did so out of an altruistic (albeit misinformed - due to no fault of her own) motivation to help save Jewish lives. She only enlisted under clear conditions, including securing her ability to a religiously compatible environment, and to return home at will. In return for trusting the Israeli Army headhunters, she has been badly mistreated - as if she were a secular Israeli citizen legally OBLIGATED to serve in the military (again, religious girls are supposed to be exempt, by law) -- and as if none of the promises to her were ever made.

In the wake of intolerable mistreatment in and by the Israeli Army, including violation of all of the preconditions of her volunteering for the IDF, Miss D. recently fled the IDF. We are informed that, on top of everything else, as of early last week, she has been repeatedly threatened with arrest.  Multiple Army calls were made to an Israeli relative, seeking to intimidate Miss D. into handing herself in to the Army.

Giving herself in, of course, would be a disastrous move on her part. Forcing the Israeli Army to actually arrest her would, practically speaking, be her best insurance policy.  If the Army was so comfortable about arresting her, they probably would have done so already. They're clearly not enthusiastic over that option. The reason is simple. IF the Israeli Army would be so cocky as to arrest a religious female French citizen - whom they duped into signing enlistment documents she can't even read* - they would be doing grave harm to their already tainted public image.

[* She isn't an Israeli citizen. She doesn't know Ivrit ("modern Hebrew"). The document given to her to sign to "volunteer" was in Ivrit, and not in easy Ivrit either. They knew she couldn't read it.  Under the false pretense of signing a document of "volunteering" for the Army - with the explicit stipulation that she remains free to return home to France at will - the Army had her sign a document enlisting her as a regular soldier.  Thus, the Israeli Army exploited her idealism and trust -- in a most un-Jewish demonstration of ingratitude and deception. It also thereby essentially forged an enlistment document.  The Army continues to compound their initial fraud with ongoing bullying and abuse by exploiting said forgery to subsequently to deny Miss D. her basic rights.

(Reportedly, the French are familiar with additional similar cases of Israeli Army deception of French Jewish girls.  For every such case we hear about, there are likely over a hundred about which we don't hear.)

° "Making Faking Great Again"

In a similar scenario, on the day after Yom Kippur, 5780 (in October 2019) a 19-year-old religious Ethiopian refusenik girl, Ziva bas Mazal M. (who's plight was reported on repeatedly by The Jewish Press), was reportedly similarly deceived into signing an enlistment document by the Israeli Army. She too remains resolute, enduring the very serious ongoing threat of arrest and incarceration in military prison.]

Apparently due to the difficulty of arresting Miss D., the Army opts to do what they do best: terrorizing girls into handing themselves in, effectively doing the Army's dirty work for them. In these situations, the only thing to fear is fear itself.  Her case, apparently typical of many others, is replete with multiple legal and moral Israeli violations of epic proportions. By remaining passively resolute, she can keep the Army "on defense."

However, that doesn't mean she's safe. She is indeed braving the possibility of arrest, and, possibly, abusive imprisonment in Israeli military jail. Despite formal legal intervention on her behalf, the Army refuses to recognize her basic human and religious rights, including her right to hold the Army to its commitments to her. She concludes her powerful letter: "I never thought I would be subjected to such an aberration, a swindle." 

Her January 31, '21 letter, below, is a window into the plight of untold numbers of idealistic Jewish girls in France, and perhaps around the world. Many such girls are routinely fooled, in one manner or another, via international propagandists for the IDF, into "volunteering" for the Israeli Army - under pretenses that are as premeditatively false as they are convincing.  Realize that we're talking about many innocent, naive girls - including frum and erlich girls.  In France, as unbelievable as it seems, even many sincere, altruistic religious girls are totally unaware of the  Torah prohibition of enlistment in the Israeli Army.  Many imagine that enlistment in the Israeli Army is simply not done by Chareidim, but not actually a prohibited act. As Miss N. D. herself writes below: "In France we are not aware of what is prohibited for young girls - due to lack of information."

* The version below is slightly edited for English punctuation, usage, and clarity. (She wrote in both French and English, but the latter is not her natural language.)   It's authenticity can be verified by contacting Merkoz Hatzoloh, the Orthodox organization in Israel assisting her with legal counsel.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

‪Date: יום א׳, 31 בינו 2021, 12:31‬

 French passport: ...

 Born in Paris on June ..., 2001

 Date of entry into the army: 13/09/2020

I joined the army by "Mahal" (1 year and a half volunteer)

 בס״ד

 My name is Nell D.. I have been in Israel for 1 year without my parents and I have decided to voluntarily enlist in the army for 1.5 years with a visa.

 If I decided to join the army, it is quite simple* because I was ready to help the Jewish people, while being a French citizen.

{* or "simply" Ed.}

 I grew up in a religious family, {Ed.: note THIS ==» } but no one warns us of the risks and dangers of joining the military.  In France we are not aware of what is prohibited for young girls - due to lack of information.  We think of an ideal, that to make the Army is something great - but it is not the reality.

 The decision was difficult because my parents are not with me and it is very difficult not to be with them every day, to be alone in Israel.

 I only wanted to serve in the Army under certain conditions, one of which was very important to be able to return to France.  I was promised that when I wanted I could leave and be with my family, and when I requested it was refused, especially when I unfortunately learned that my father had had an accident and that he was in the hospital (and) that it was urgent for me to return to be with him.  I have been denied a right which is indispensable (and) which {denial -Ed.} I do not accept.

 I haven't seen my parents for over a year, and, especially in this very difficult time for my family, I need to be there.

 I was also promised that the army would be kosher, that the Tsniout* would be respected both in clothing and in speech.

{* aka, "Tzniyut:" Torah standards of modesty and personal purity in matters between the genders - Ed.}

 I have seen and heard things that are the opposite of what I was promised and said -- unlike what I know and [the standards of] where I come from.

 I was promised that the Shabbat would be respected, and all the opposite happened.  Music on speakers all Shabbat is something that is not respectful, and I would even say contempt[ful] for religion; it is absolutely forbidden on Shabbat; the lighting of the plata {hotplate - Ed.} in the middle of Shabbat because they had forgotten, or that the only way to drink is with an electric dispenser; [these are] are prohibitions that oblige me to break Shabbat - because I am prohibited from eating a dish that has been cooked on Shabbat, or from drinking from an electronic source.  In France, we usually go to the synagogue with our family on Friday and Saturday to pray. There was a synagogue - but an empty one - where I cannot follow the Shabbat prayer, which is very important to me. Being the only one in my whole base shomeret Shabbat {Sabbath observant} is something that is not bearable, and that I live very badly.  I spend the day alone every time without my family, without my friends, and in a place that does not suit me.  I have never in my life spent Shabbat like this, and when I tell my officers when I ask them to be able to at least be at home on Shabbat, I am told that this is impossible even if it is very hard for me.  Also, the mix of girls and boys is unacceptable for me to always be together and see things that are against my values.

 I don't feel comfortable, I am feeling very bad, and I don't feel able to stay in an environment like this.  All the things that the Army had promised me are not respected, and I no longer have the strength to remain in this environment, in this living environment which does not suit me. {Ed. NOTE ==»»}  If I had known I would never have committed and would never have agreed to sign the contract.  They have exploited my naivety and my ignorance of the fact that I am a young French girl wanting to help, and I have been deceived (in)to (making me) believe things which are nothing but pure lies. I consider this to be dishonesty. I have been deceived.

 I no longer wish to stay in the Army because all the conditions for which I am enlisted are not respected.

 I demand the immediate cancellation of my engagement in the army because I suffer humiliation from day to day.  All the promises they made to me have no value.  I never thought I would be subjected to such an aberration, a swindle."

__________________________________________________________

{End of English letter; French letter available, and published online as well.} 

She and others like her are enduring tremendous nisyonos (spiritual tests) in the wake of our communal failure to assist them.  That overall communal failure is due in great measure to overall frum media silence on these  persecutions. However, "Middah Tovah Merubah:" try to imagine the reward in store for those who seek to help these brave souls on the front lines in the war for the future of the Jewish People. One can try to visualize the reward, but, in truth, anything we "imagine" pales in comparison to the reality.

Russia and Iran tried to interfere with 2020 election, U.S. intelligence agencies say

 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/16/russia-and-iran-tried-to-interfere-with-2020-election-us-intelligence-agencies-say.html

 But the report said that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized “influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US.”

One of Moscow’s key strategies, the report said, was to use Russian intelligence-linked proxies to spread misleading claims and narratives among certain U.S. media outlets and individuals — “including some close to former President Trump and his administration.”

Russia Worked to Boost Trump in 2020—With Help From Giuliani, Fox News, and OANN

 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/03/russia-worked-to-boost-trump-in-2020-with-help-from-giuliani-fox-news-and-oann/

 Elements in the Russian government, including President Vladimir Putin, oversaw a bid to use outside proxies to feed disinformation to Rudy Giuliani, Fox News, and the right-wing TV network OANN aimed at helping Donald Trump against Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign, a newly declassified US intelligence report reveals.

CNN called out for hyping Russia election interference to hurt Biden, burying Iran's role in damaging Trump

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-russia-iran-election-inteference-trump-biden

 A report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) that was made public on Tuesday determined that while there was no evidence of altering ballots or the voting process, it concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin "authorized" influence operations "aimed at denigrating President Biden's presidency" in support of former President Trump's reelection. Similarly, the ODNI concluded that Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei "authorized" to undercut Trump's reelection prospects and to "undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions."

Israel's serious virus caseload drops under 600 for 1st time since December's end

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SJJ47t07u

 According to Health Ministry data, 586 Israelis hospitalized in serious condition with coronavirus and 208 of them were connected to ventilators, 905 new virus cases detected in previous 24 hours

Tel Aviv's Jewish museum reopens after $100 million upgrade

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SJbKFmLQ00

The refurbished museum adopts a fresh approach to telling the story of the Jewish people, said chief curator Orit Shaham-Gover. It focuses on the diversity of Jewish culture and the accomplishments of the Jewish people, not just its tragedies, she said.

 

New US intel report shows Russia, Trump and GOP acolytes have same goals

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/17/politics/trump-russia-elections/index.html

 A new US intelligence report that finds Russia interfered in the 2020 election to help Donald Trump and hurt Joe Biden also underscores a fundamental truth: The gravest threat to US democracy comes from within.

The report, released by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, finds that Moscow sought to inject misleading information about Biden into the campaign through officials and others close to Trump.

The real bombshell it contains is not the confidence of the spy agencies that Russia hoped to subvert American democracy. It is that US intelligence experts effectively confirmed that for the second election in a row, Trump acolytes repeatedly used, knowingly or otherwise, misinformation produced by the spies of one of America's most sworn foreign adversaries to try to win a US election.

A Review of International Beit Din Case 105

 https://www.torahmusings.com/2015/09/a-review-of-international-beit-din-case-105/

Rav Hershel Schachter published a letter encouraging his students and colleagues to not rely on IBD rulings, to which other dayanim across the country added their agreement. ^[1] Specifically, Rav Schachter challenged a particular ruling relying on a well-known opinion of the Ritva. This is a reference to the IBD psak (ruling) on Case 105 (from here on: Psak 105), available in both English and Hebrew on the IBD website. ^[2] The IBD website tells us that “This psak is representative of several decisions handed down by the International Beit Din.” Additionally, Rabbis Simcha Krauss and Yehuda Warburg of the IBD have written with regard to Psak 105 that “This psak din as well as other IBD decisions are available for public scrutiny on our website.” ^[3] As such, it seems appropriate to subject Psak 105 to the examination which Rabbis Krauss and Warburg have invited. I strongly encourage any reader not to take my word, but to read the English and Hebrew versions of Psak 105 in conjunction with this review. This review will assume that the reader is generally familiar with the contents of Psak 105, including the background and final decision.

 

Renewed protest of International Beis Din

 

Important letter from Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Rav Nota Greenblatt, Rav Avrohom Union, and Rav Menachem Mendel Senderovitz regarding the "International Beit Din"

 http://www.torahweb.org/torah/docs/ibd-machaa.html

 למותר לא דין ולא דיין שטות דבריאלא של לפוסקים עצמם שמינו קלים
בינלאומיים, כבי ד" שבלשכת הגזית, לפגוע בקדושת ישראל שע"י חופה וקידושין
וחבל על בזה ולהאריך הדיו ועל הנייר נטע צבי גרינבלט, מעמפיס, כ"ב תמוז תשע"ה

The “International Beit Din”- A Very Troubling Update

 https://yated.com/international-beit-din-troubling-update/

Two years ago, when the activities of IBD became known and were investigated by established poskim, these poskim issued a strong “Letter of Mecho’oh” against IBD. This letter was published by TorahWeb and is available at http://www.torahweb.org/torah/docs/ibd-machaa.html. In their letter, the poskim explain that IBD was using specious heteirim (such as lack of yichud eidim, designation of witnesses, from the Ritva, which is a mere chumra l’halacha and does not invalidate a marriage). The poskim also stated that in previous generations, only gedolei hador, such as Rav Yitzchok Elchonon Spector, Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky and Rav Moshe Feinstein, could be mattir agunos, and that the IBD members, who are not anywhere near this stature and are three regular rabbis, were acting way out of their league by issuing such heteirim. The Letter of Mecho’oh referred to the IBD members as acting with “chutzpah gedolah” by doing that which only poskei hador are qualified to do.

 

Permitting sinning to reduce it?

 Igros Moshe (O.C. 4:35) Concerning the issue of mixed dancing of men and women, it is clearly prohibited even if the woman are not Nida and surely is prohibited if they are Nida And they don’t refrain from dancing with married women.  It is not relevant to permit mixed dancing  with the claim that if you don’t permit it in the social hall they will go to the regular dance halls where they will be dancing with non-Jews.