Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Great Controversy in Israeli Batei Din - The Langer Case By Benzion Rotblat
Rav Goren later faced severe criticism in light of his ruling. Rav Elyashiv, who had ruled in the original case, left the Rabbinate Beit Din system after Rav Goren’s decision, as he felt that his ruling violated Halachic norms. A group of top tier Rabbanim including Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Rav Yechezkel Abramsky, Rav Yaakov Kanievsky, Rav Eliezer Menachem Man Shach and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz condemned the decision as consisting of “lies and deception” and that the Psak “endangers the survival of the nation.” [7] The Lubavitcher Rebbe also called for Rabbi Goren’s resignation. [8]
Goren Clears Mamzerim: Hanoch and Miriam Langer Wed Their Fiances
https://www.jta.org/archive/goren-clears-mamzerim-hanoch-and-miriam-langer-wed-their-fiances
Rabbi Goren called on his colleague, Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef – in the Negev town of Netivot for the day – and on all other rabbis and dayanim in the country to make peace with him. Members of the Supreme Rabbinical Court said in reaction to the quickie court that they thought it undermined the Judicial process. They wondered if the court appointed by Rabbi Goren had time to examine the evidence and hear witnesses.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Letter of "Revealing the Opinion of the Union of Rabbis", opposing the Dismissal of Rabbi Unterman in Favor of the Appointment of Rabbi Goren as Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who opposed the dismissal of Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman and the appointment of Rabbi Goren, wrote the ruling in this open letter: "The subject of the Jewish rabbinate all over the world, is a matter of authority which according to Torah law is irrevocable all his life
Man Taunts Middle Schoolers For Wearing Masks, Allegedly Coughs In Their Faces
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2022/01/24/man-taunts-middle-schoolers-for-wearing-masks-allegedly-coughs-in-their-faces/
The man, who is pictured typically wearing a shirt that reads “Your mask makes you look stupid,” has been allegedly harassing children in La Crescenta for wearing masks for at least the past month. Some parents said he’s been following middle and elementary school students and harassing them for longer. He was caught on video spewing out an anti-mask tirade after harassing middle schoolers in a parking lot near Rosemont Middle School. He was heard shouting obscenities within the earshot of those students. He also claims that his children goes to local schools and called the mask mandate “child abuse.”
Monday, January 24, 2022
UK woman can’t have contact with twin sons, 12, after Austrian court ruling
A British Jewish woman has been told that she is to have no contact with her 12-year-old twin sons as a result of a new ruling by an Austrian court.
Beth Alexander, now a London-based family law solicitor, has been fighting her ex-husband, Dr Michael Schlesinger, in the Vienna courts, after the breakdown of their short marriage and the birth of the twins, Samuel and Benjamin.
Health Ministry: 4th dose triples protection from serious illness for over-60s
The Health Ministry said on Sunday that the fourth vaccine dose for those aged 60 and up offers a threefold protection against serious illness and twofold protection against infection in the current wave driven by the Omicron variant.
The ministry said the figures are the result of initial analysis by experts from various leading academic and health institutions, and compares the fourth vaccine with those who received three doses at least four months ago.
The figures are based on 400,000 Israelis who received the fourth vaccine and 600,000 who received three doses, with the ministry stressing that the methodology is similar to previous papers the experts have published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine.
COVID-19 vaccine mandates worse than Holocaust, RFK Jr. suggests at anti-vax rally
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-694357
Addressing an anti-vaccination rally in Washington, DC, American environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday compared COVID-19 vaccination mandates to the Holocaust, saying that "Even in [Adolf] Hitler's Germany... you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did," according to a tweet by NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins.
A tragic battle with only losers
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-tragic-battle-with-only-losers/
When I tell people our story, they immediately know it is a Jewish story. The father is Viennese, a member of the Jewish community who grew up here and has friends in the right places; a Jewish High Court Judge, a Jewish psychiatrist and colleague, the head of the Chabad kindergarten, as well as his Rav and mentor with strong influence over the members of his kehilla. You would expect the community here to have joined ranks to prevent a chillul Hashem and deescalate the situation. If the leadership were courageous and compassionate enough perhaps Sammy and Benji would have been spared this needless endless suffering. If only the leaders had intervened at the very beginning when I begged them to mediate to find a solution outside the courts. But for reasons I may never understand, they allowed this whole sorry mess to be dragged through the courts for the eyes of the whole world to see and censure. There is nothing more tragic and embarrassing than seeing Jew against Jew.
JUDGE'S AFTERNOON TEA PARTY WITH THE FATHER
these are extracts from Susanne Gottlicher the "impartial" judge's report concerning her personal "investigation"
This visit took place in 2015 after the mother reported her concerns about the Filipino nanny who the children were often left alone with for the whole of Shabbos while the father worked. Furthermore, she could barely speak German or English.
The judge however was satisfied there were no concerns and shortly after the visit, she awarded Schlesinger full and final custody.
When we arrive, in addition to the father and the two boys, the father’s sister, Martina Schlesinger,
and the nanny are present.
We are greeted heartily and asked to come in. I introduce Ms Andesner and the father urges the
children to shake hands with us. We are ushered into the living room. The rooms I see are neat and
tidy but not sterile. The flat looks as if it is lived in and does not resemble the showroom of a
furniture store....
We sit down on the couch in the living room, where I again discuss the purpose of today’s visit:
the (recent) youth welfare office (Jugendamt) report made no mention of the mother’s accusations
regarding the nanny. The latter is introduced to us and sits down in an armchair beside the couch.
She is a woman in her fifties who does not speak perfect German but with whom I can easily
converse.....
I am given an explanation as to how the nanny came to the Schlesinger family:
They got to know each other in a park where the family often goes. The Schlesingers noticed how
the nanny was getting on with an Italian child she was caring for – a boy from an Italian Embassy
family. The nanny was so sweet with the boy that the twins’ aunt went up to her and asked if she
might not have time to take care of Sammy and Benji as well. The nanny has now been with the
Schlesingers for four years. She nodded as she heard this, confirming it...
...The father explains the following to me regarding the boys’ teeth:
When the boys came into his custody, they had objectively proven bad teeth and this fact was
common knowledge. At that time, teeth had to be extracted. The gaps in the teeth were provided
with temporary replacements....
...In the course of the conversation, the boys proudly show me and Ms Andesner the gaps in their
teeth: they are already so big that new, permanent teeth are on the way...
The father explained that the children love going to therapy and really enjoy it. They are very fond
of their occupational therapist, Ms Martina Muckler, and her approach of working through
pleasure and play is the most effective for success in learning and therapy.
In reply to my question, he answered that he would of course not subject the boys to unnecessary
therapies....
...Later, Benji goes and gets some pastries from the plate we have been offered. His father tells
him in a friendly manner to take a plate....afterwards, he comes in with a soft toy that looks like a
snake. It resembles a folded strap that is straight at first but when tapped against the lower arm,
rolls into the shape of a wristband. It is covered with fabric and has a snake’s head at the top. He
lets his snake eat from the pastries. We join in the game and when it is over, the snake is allowed
to drink from my glass of water...
...The accusation that the father acted violently on the occasion of a court hearing and pushed the
mother on the steps of the court is absolutely untrue....
The father again praises the nanny and states, “There is no one else outside the family circle that I
would trust to take care of the children without hesitation.”
In this atmosphere, it is described how the nanny still comes in the morning to assist the father
before work, and how she does the housework and sometimes cooks. She is no longer there in the
afternoons or evenings, except perhaps two or three times per week, when the father is on night
duty in the hospital.
...Our house visit lasts one and a quarter to one and a half hours. My impression is that of a nice,
caring family. ...
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Olmert demands psychiatric evaluation for Netanyahu family
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320985
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has submitted a request to the Tel Aviv District Court asking that the Netanyahu family – former premier Benjamin, his wife Sara, and son Yair – be subjected to psychiatric evaluation.
Olmert is currently being tried for defamation with the plaintiffs being the Netanyahu family, after Olmert publicly suggested that they suffered from mental illness. According to a report in the Haaretz newspaper, the chances of the judge granting Olmert’s request are low.
Police chief defiant amid NSO scandal: ‘Some want to harm our crimefighting ability’
With police facing public outrage over accusations they have regularly used spyware to break into Israelis’ phones without oversight, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Friday fiercely defended the force’s conduct, denied any widespread spying and vowed to respond severely to any “isolated incidents” of wrongdoing — if those are discovered.
Shabtai, in a letter sent to members of the force, said that “the police and one of its most important departments have been under attack, and it appears there are those who want to harm its ability to fight serious crime.”
3 mayors said targeted by police using NSO spyware despite no evidence of offenses
At least three city mayors and members of their families were targeted by Israel Police with spyware made by the controversial NSO Group in an attempt to find indications of criminal activity, the Calcalist website reported Sunday.
Information gleaned by targeting the mayors’ family members with the Pegasus spyware revealed activity that, though apparently not criminal, was used to justify requests for wiretaps on the mayors. That in turn led to their being taken into custody and interrogated, but all the cases were eventually closed, according to the report.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef jokes: Rabbi Shlomo Goren put Abba Eban to sleep
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320971
He said, "Then there was the issue of the brother and sister, the Langer siblings, which was a problem of mamzerim (children born from a union forbidden according to halakha who cannot marry anyone but other mamzerim). Rabbi Goren then wrote [that they were not mamzerim). The head of the Great Rabbinical Court, the entire rabbinical court, ruled that they were forbidden [to marry] and he ruled that they were permitted. There was an argument. The heads of government came at the time and began to chide [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef]. 'You should learn from your colleague, from Rabbi Goren. You also have the power to permit.' They chided him. Moshe Dayan said something I remember to this day: 'I don't care how you permit, I just want the bottom line that they are permitted.' Just like that."
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