Mamzer purifying today?

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=the+mamzer+and+shifcha+katz+rjj+

Kiddushin (69a) MISHNAH. Rav Tarfon said: mamzerim can be purified, How? If a MAMZER MARRIES A BONDMAID, HER SON IS A SLAVE; IF HE IS FREED, IT IS FOUND THAT THE SON IS A FREE MAN. R. ELIEZER SAID: BEHOLD, HE IS A SLAVE, A MAMZER. GEMARA. The Scholars propounded: Does Rav Tarfon say thus at the very outset, or only if it is already done? — Come and hear: The Sages said to Rav Tarfon: You have purified the males, but you have not purified the females. Now, if you say that he means at the very outset, let a mamzereth too be married to a slave? — A slave has no paternity.Come and hear: For Rav Simlai's host was a mamzer, and Rav. Simlai said to him, ‘Had I known you earlier, I would have removed the stigma from your sons.’ Now, if you say that. Rav Tarfon 's device is at the very outset, it is well: but if you say, only when already done, what is it that he could advise him? — He would have advised him by saying to him, ‘Go and steal, and then be sold as a Hebrew slave.’ Were there then Hebrew slaves in Rav Simlai's time? Surely a Master said: The institution of a Hebrew slave is practised only when Jubilee is practised? Hence it surely follows that Rav Tarfon means at the very outset. This proves it. Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: The halachah is as Rav Tarfon.\

Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 4:20) If a mamzer cohabits with a non-Jewish woman, the offspring is considered a non-Jew. If he converts, he is a full Jew. If a mamzer cohabits with a maid-servant the offspring is a slave. If he is freed, he is a free Jew. Therefore a mamzer may wed, as a matter of first resort, a maidservant who has accepted Jewish observance and has immersed in the mikva for the sake of slavery, so that his offspring may be permitted after they are freed and they may marry a Jewish woman.

 

מחותנו החותם באהבה וידידות נאמנה. י"ד סיון תשכ"ה. 
• שו"ת חלקת יעקב אבן העזר סימן כג
  יא) קיצור הדברים דיש הרבה צדדים להיתרא לישא נכרית ולגיירה לשם שפחה בכדי לטהר את בניו, וכמובן שהוא ידור עמה בלי חופו"ק דהא בשפחה אין קידושין תופסין, והוולדות שיוולדו יצטרך לשחררם, ונוסח שטר שיחרור מבואר בעה"ש סי' רס"ז ס"ק קל"א וכמובן שזה צריך להיעשות ע"י בי"ד בני תורה ורבנים.
  
  ואף מי שירצה לפקפק בזה ולמצא קצת נדנוד איסור שזאת לא מקרי שפחה, וכידוע שכל אחד יש לו שכלו והבנתו בלימוד תוה"ק, ולא יתנאה לפניו מה שכתבתי להיתר ברור, בכל אופן עדיף טפי מלישא נכרית ממש בלי טבילה וקבלת מצוה שזה ודאי אסור משום נשג"ז ובדרך חתנות אף מן התורה, וכמבואר בהרמב"ם ושו"ע, ולישא גיורת או ממזרת הבנים יהיו ודאי ממזרים, והרי בחצי עבד וחצי בן חורין בגיטין מ"א דכפינן לי' לרבי' לעשותו בן חורין ומפסידין לו דמיו, וגם לעבור על העשה של לעולם בהם תעבודו, וכבתוס' שם ע"ב ד"ה כופין דהיכי דלא פשע אמרינן לאדם חטא כדי שיזכה חברך, אף על גב דיש לו עצה לישא ממזרת וכבתוס' שם ע"א ואמר ר"ת דאין זו תקנה להרבות ממזרים בישראל, כל שכן בני"ד דלהמחמיר היותר גדול בדינא דד"מ, בכל אופן לא הוי רק איסורא דרבנן לדעת הבי"ש אע"ז סי' כ"ח וסייעתי' דד"מ אינו רק דרבנן ומיקרא איסורא זוטא דהא אפי' איסור תורה העשה דלעולם בהם תעבודו אנו מתירין בכדי שלא לרבות ממזרים, א"כ כש"כ איסור דרבנן דלא הוי רק איסורא זוטא, ומצינו בשבת ד' ונפסק להלכה בסי' רנ"ד סע' ו' דאם נתן הפת בשבת מותר לו לרדות בשבת ואומרים לו לעשות איסורא זוטא בכדי שלא יבא לידי איסור חמור, ואפי' היכי דפשע, ובאחרים רק היכי דלא פשע, אם כן בני"ד דלא פשע דאמרינן אפילו לאחרים לעשות איסורא זוטא בכדי שלא להרבות ממזרים א"כ כש"כ לו לעצמו. כמה חתרו רבנים שבכל דור להתיר בנות ישראל שלא ישארו עגונות, וסמכו כמה פעמים אף על דברי יחידים עי' בי"ש סי' י"ז ס"ק מ"ז, וכש"כ כשהדבר נוגע רק לדד"מ דיש הרבה שיטות להקל והרבה סברות להקל אף להמחמירין, וגם אין עצה אחרת, ודאי דיש לסמוך ולהקל, וכמבואר בגמרא כתובות ס"ד ב' דצערא דגברא קשה מדאיתתא ושלא יבוא לידי עברות חמורות. דא ודאי שבארץ ישראל הדבר קילא הרבה יותר בענין דד"מ ולא ארצה להאריך בזה. מובן מאליו, שרב יחידי אין לו רשות ליתן הוראה בענין תמוה לרבים עד שיסכימו עמו גדולי בעלי הוראה שבדור, ולא באתי רק לחוות דעתי העני' בענין חמור הלזה. 
  
   

Released Arab Israeli who killed IDF soldier gets hero’s welcome in hometown

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/released-arab-israeli-who-killed-idf-soldier-gets-heros-welcome-in-home-town/

Video posted on social media showed Abu Mukh being given a hero’s welcome and paraded through a main street in the city. No Arab Israeli lawmakers were reported as attending Abu Mukh’s arrival in the city, though on hand was former MK Ibrahim Sarsour, a former leader of the Ra’am party, which is seeking to join a ruling coalition in the wake on last month’s elections. 

Abu Mukh is said to be one of the highest-paid recipients of monthly Palestinian Authority stipends, part of a controversial program that awards those who carry out terror attacks on Israelis.

 The Ra’am party, whose former leader Sarsur attended the welcoming ceremony for Abu Mukh, sits in a potential kingmaker position for forming the next government following the inconclusive elections last month.

With the Knesset divided between those who want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remain in office and those who want to oust him, both sides have been courting Ra’am, a conservative, Islamist party.

 

'That's a confession': Tapper on Trump's statement on his handling of pandemic

The_Comeback of Simple Faith The Ultra Orthodox Concept of Faith

https://www.academia.edu/36068205/The_Comeback_of_Simple_Faith_The_Ultra_Orthodox_Concept_of_Faith_and_Its_Development_in_the_Nineteenth_Century_English_

Vermont is putting BIPOC people at the front of the vaccination line. Here's why it's a great idea.

 https://www.businessinsider.com/vermont-vaccines-bipoc-people-front-line-opinion-2021-4

 Vermont Governor Phil Scott recently announced that Black people, Indigenous people, and all people of color over the age of 16 and their households can now get vaccinated for COVID-19. As of Tuesday, non-BIPOC Vermonters have to be 50 or older to get the vaccine. 

Basically, a 30-year-old BIPOC Vermonter can get vaccinated right now, but a 30-year-old white Vermonter cannot. 

The move has launched something of a moral panic among pundits, but a quick look at Vermont's unique demographics and some basic understanding of public health explain why it's actually a great idea.

Why did the sea split? For Jews or Egyptians?

 We celebrate the splitting of the sea on the seventh day of Pesach but why was it important? We already had the 10 Makkos to prove G-d’s dominance and they were the reason the Jews were freed from Egypt. 

 On the side of Egypt it seems like the 10 plagues did not really convince them since they ended up pursuing the Jews. They seem to have rationalized that G-d was not the supreme Deity and that the desert spirit Baal Tzfun was and that the sea split naturally because of the wind. However it couldn’t be a lesson for them since they were killed by the sea

On the other side, the Jews weren’t convinced by the 10 Plagues because they were still kvetching about dying in the wilderness. Apparently believing that Moshe was simply a great magician. But after the splitting of the sea they believed in Moshe and G-d. But shortly after crossing the sea and being filled with Ruach hakodesh to sing shira – they went back to kvetching. In fact the Jews were very fickle and didn’t fully believe until they experience G-d directly at Sinai. So following the view of Ramban and others, these experiences were simply lessons in faith but not the cause of lasting faith.

 Rashba[i](4:234): We learned from our forefathers not to accept something which contains the slightest doubts or uncertainties until it has been thoroughly investigated and the truth is ascertained. This we see concerning the acceptance of Moshe as a true prophet. They were uncertain whether to believe him - even though he came to announce that they were to be rescued from the horrible servitude of Egypt. This is why Moshe said they won’t believe me. This is because it was known that they were inherently skeptical and did not believe anything except that which was unquestionably true. Therefore, even though G‑d did incredible miracles in Egypt until they were taken out with an outstretched arm and awesome events - it was not sufficient to remove the doubts about Moshe from their hearts. These doubts were caused by the fact that all that occurred in Egypt were possibly just coincidental or natural events or from magical powers. Because of these doubts, they did not have unconditional faith in Moshe until the Splitting of the Sea - as the verse says, “that they [now] believed in G‑d and Moshe His servant” (Shemos 14:31). The Targum (Shemos 14:31) says they now believed in the prophecy of Moshe that it was true and was not the result of natural events. This event removed the last vestige of doubt that the miraculous events in Egypt could have been the result of random natural events. It was obviously impossible that the sea could have been split at night and the next day return to its normal state. Therefore, the splitting of the sea removed the doubts from their hearts - for the time being. However soon after the Splitting of the Sea, the doubts returned. They thought perhaps Moshe, who was more knowledgeable than any other man had ever been, knew how to do this by natural means which they couldn’t ascertain. The only remaining option for clarifying the truth of Moshe’s prophecy was by their own prophecy and this is what in fact occurred at the Revelation of Sinai when they final established the truth.

---

[i] שו"ת הרשב"א (ד:רלד)... ויורה ע"ז לדעתי, שלשה ענינים. האחד, שממנו למדו האבות, שלא [יתפתו] אחר הדברים שיכנס בהם שום ספק, עד שיבחנוהו [הרבה], שאין בו צד פקפוק אלא האמת. והוא שהי' משה נביא האמת, עליו השלום, מסתפק אם יאמינו לו, אע"פ שהוא בא לבשרם להצילם מן העבודה הקשה. כאמרו: לא יאמינו לי. וכלל הענין ההוא, לפי שידענו שלא יאמינו, רק בדבר אמתי והכרחי, אין בו שום צד פקפוק. וע"כ אף כשהגדיל ה' לעשות הנפלאות והנוראות במצרים, עד שהוציאם בזרוע נטויה, ובמוראים גדולים. עוד הוצרך להוציא הפקפוק מלבבם, מפני שכל מה שנעשה במצרים, אפשר שנתפשטו בהם, או מקריים טבעים, או עניני החרטומי'. ולפיכך, לא האמינו במשה אמונה מוחלטת, עד עמדם בקריעת ים סוף יורה על זה, מה שאמר שם: ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו. ותרגם המתרגם: ובנביאות משה עבדיה. שזה באמת נמלט מטבע המקריים, שאין הים נקרע במקרה בלילה אחד, ובבקר ישוב לאיתנו. וזה הוציא מלבבם הפקפוק, אמנם לשעתם. והוא שאמרה רחב הזונה: כי שמענו את אשר הוביש ה' את מי ים סוף מפניכם. לא הזכירה אחד מן הפלאים והמופתי' הקודמים במצרים, רק זה לבדו, לכונה שאמרתי. ואמנם, אף לאחר קריעת ים סוף, נכנס עוד בלבם צד פקפוק, אולי משה לבד שהיה חכם מכל האדם, ומכל מי שקדמו, ידע לעשות כן, והם לא יבחינוהו. וחזרו עוד להמשך אחר הספק והפקפוק. ומעתה, לא נשאר להם שום בחינה בנבואת עשה, זולתי שיגיעו הם בעצמם לענין נבואי, להוציא מלבם כל פקפוק. וזה היה במעמד הנכבד ההוא, ונתאמת האמת [ונצדק] קודש. והשני הוא אומרו. בעבור ישמע העם בדברי עמך. ומן המפורסם, שאין החוש משיג דבר השם בדברו עם נביאו. ואלו דבר עם משה, אף בקול נברא נכבד ונורא מאד, למעלה מקול השופר והרעמים והלפידים. אם לא השיג והורה בחושים, לא נמלט עדיין מן הפקפוקים הקודמים, ואין זה להם פלא גדול, מקריעת ים סוף, ובמה יבחונוהו. אלא אותו הקול, לפחות קול נבואיי היה. וא"כ, כבר עלו למדרגה ממדרגות הנבואה. והשיג כל אחד כפי מה שהוא, משה מחיצה בפי עצמו, אהרן מחיצה בפני עצמו, ונדב ואביהוא מחיצה בפני עצמם, ושאר העם. כל אחד מחיצה בפני עצמו. ולא שהשיגו כל העם השגה אחת, זה כזה. השלישי, מה שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל: אנכי, ולא יהיה לך; מפי הגבורה שמענום. ואיך שמעום מפי הגבורה, אם לא בדרך נבואי....

 

 

Mamzer integrating in society?

Edyos (8:7): Eliyahu will not come to pronounce unclean or to pronounce clean, to put away or to bring near, but to put away those brought near by force and to bring near those put away by force.  [Eliyahu will only distance those who are publicly known to be tainted but were forcibly intermingled among the Jewish People,and all those presumed to not be mamzerim but in fact are, he will let their status remain- Bertinoro].

Of Marriage: Relationship and Relations

 https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/725299/rabbi-dr-aharon-lichtenstein/of-marriage-relationship-and-relations/

 Were I to respond, in full, to the overarching question presented to

me – “What models are there in the classical rabbinic literature for

relationships between men and women?” – I would preface my discussion with the observation that, as regards marriage (presumably,

our primary focus), the models in evidence in Hazal are both few

and partial.

Study: Antibody levels drop 2 months after COVID vaccine

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/299415

 COVID antibody levels decline significantly two months after injection of the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, a new study shows.

 But some experts say the study is not necessarily cause for alarm, noting that similar declines are observed with antibodies for other viruses, and that antibodies make up only part of the body’s immune system.

 In an interview with according to Channel 12, Dr. Greenfield said the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine remains unknown, but added that there is no reason to believe the decline in antibodies indicates a loss of immunity.

The Jerusalem Parade and Homosexuality

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-jerusalem-parade-and-homosexuality/

 

It is here that a difficulty arises for secular philosophy and ethics. On the basis of which rational principle should a homosexual relationship be permitted but incest forbidden? For the same reason one could ask why a normal hetero-sexual relationship is permitted and even encouraged? What, after all, are the moral grounds to permit such a relationship?  Perhaps every kind of sexual activity should be forbidden and considered to be unethical. This is what the famous Danish thinker and father of Religious Existentialism Soren Kierkegaard seems to be claiming. (The Last Years- Journals, 1853-55) when he argues against marriage.

 

 

Think Again: Limud: A rejoinder to Rabbi Cardozo

 https://www.jpost.com/magazine/opinion/think-again-331775

 RABBI DR. NATHAN Lopes Cardozo goes even further.

He does not just urge Orthodox presenters to take advantage of whatever opportunities they are given at Limmud, but to sit together with their heterodox colleagues and learn from them. What should they learn? Biblical criticism? Guitar-playing? Cardozo suggests that the Orthodox might have learned from the heterodox how better to read the “religious map” of world Jewry. Has he read the Pew Research Center study of American Jewry – the 71-percent intermarriage rate among non-Orthodox Jews, the wildly disproportionate over representation of Jews in cults, the million or more American Jews who describe their religion as “none” or “other”? Has he read last week’s JTA article on Conservative and Reform temples surviving by renting out space to Orthodox minyanim? Is there a comparable phenomenon in the Reform and Conservative movements to the ba’alei teshuva movement, which has brought tens of thousands of Jews into the Orthodox fold? Does he know Conservative and Reform Jews who are dramatically changing their lives around the question: What does God want of me? CARDOZO HAILS the courage of new British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for his decision to attend the upcoming Limmud Conference, and bemoans the cowardice of Dayan Ehrentreu and other senior religious figures for urging Orthodox rabbis not to attend.It is an open secret that the selectors of the new chief rabbi made attendance at Limmud a condition for the appointment. Mirvis may have decided that his considerable personal and organizational skills were just the thing to revive the moribund United Synagogue, and there was nothing to be gained by passing on the appointment – since whoever was appointed in his place would also go. And he may have reasoned that his opening address, with no heterodox rabbis on the podium with him, could do little harm, and he might even inspire some with his words of Torah and encouragement of Torah learning.But an act of heroism his attendance is not.

Mamzer

 Vayikra Rabbah 32.8): But I returned and considered all the oppressions (Koheles 4: 1). Daniel the Tailor interpreted the verses as applying to bastards. And behold the tears of such as were oppressed (Koheles 4: 1). If the parents of these bastards committed transgression, what concern is it of these poor sufferers? So also if this man's father cohabited with a forbidden woman, what sin has he himself committed and what concern is it of his? And they had no comforter (Koheles 4: 1), but On the side of their oppressors there was power (Koheles 4: 1). This means, on the side of Israel's Great Sanhedrin which comes to them with the power derived from the Torah and removes them from the fold virtue of the commandment, A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord (Devarim 23:3). ’But they had no comforter.’ Says the Holy One, blessed be He: ' It shall be My task to comfort them.’ For in this world there is dross in them, but in the World to Come, says Zechariah, I have seen them all gold,

The Huge Cargo Ship Blocking the Suez Canal Is Now Afloat, Maritime Company Says

 https://time.com/5950702/ship-blocking-suez-canal-free/

Salvage teams freed the Ever Given in the Suez Canal, according to maritime services provider Inchcape, almost a week after the giant vessel ran aground in one of the world’s most important trade paths.

While the ship is floating again, it wasn’t immediately clear how soon the waterway would be open to traffic, or how long it will take to clear the logjam of more than 450 ships stuck, waiting and en route to the Suez that have identified it as their next destination.

Dominion Voting Systems sues Fox News for $1.6bn over election fraud lies

 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/mar/26/fox-news-sued-dominion-2020-election-voting-fraud-lies

The North American voting machine company Dominion has hit Fox News with a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit, accusing the network of spreading election fraud lies in a misguided effort to stop an exodus of enraged viewers after Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

The complaint accuses some of Fox’s biggest personalities Maria Bartiromo, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro “and their chosen guests” of spreading “defamatory falsehoods” about Dominion.

Fox supercharged false conspiracy theories about Dominion, the lawsuit says, by plucking the lies from relatively obscure corners of the far-right internet and broadcasting them to tens of millions of viewers on television and online.

“Fox took a small flame and turned it into a forest fire,” the complaint says. “As the dominant media company among those viewers dissatisfied with the election results, Fox gave these fictions a prominence they otherwise would never have achieved.”

Fox vowed to fight the case in a statement on Friday morning: “Fox News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court.”