Welcome to edition #219 of Havel Havalim, the weekly round-up of all that is odd, interesting and self-submitted in the Jewish blogosphere.
Curious about the real old dinosaur days of Jewish blogging? You didn't miss much. For proof click to Havel Havalim #4 and #12, the two previous times I hosted. See how sparse the offerings were? And who are those long-forgotten, defunct bloggers anyway? PsychoToddler? Mis-nagid? Now compare my two attempts from 2004 with last week's HH, hosted by the inestimable Benjie Lovitt [here.] See what I mean? Not only does he include several hundred dozens of posts, he uses categories! Categories? Who needed categories in late 2004 when the whole Havel Havelim was 12 posts?
I was also briefly perplexed earlier this week when the automated submission notifications started arriving from Blog Carnival central. Not to overdo this grouchy old man routine, but in my day, Havel Havalim consisted of posts the hosting blogger found on his own. That's right. We went out into the fields and sweated and toiled walking uphill both ways to create the best possible Havel Havalim experience. Along with neglecting the categories (bah! categories!), I tried to revive that old tradition by sharing some of the posts I personally enjoyed during the week that was.
(Note: I'm certain other HH hosts, possibly even the inestimable Benjie Lovitt, have done the same. Part of the grouchy old man bit is ignoring how things are not really that different after all)
***
Before there were blogs how did big-mouthed nobodies like me force their opinions on the world? With broadsides or pashkevils. Mother In Israel (A high-ranking member of the DovBear team) delivers a brief history of the form and some fun pashkevil facts to know and tell.
Alto Artist was shomeret for a dearly departed member of her congregation. The experience is described here. Speaking of dinosaurs, Tzippora the anthropologist found some old XGH cave drawings about the mesorah. Frum Satire makes a shidduch. JacobDaJew can see your nees. [sic]
Shvach Yid makes some not very schvach points about Nefesh bNefesh and their less sensible requirements. Occidental Israel frets about Israel: There's not enough water and the politicians are all corrupt. Ben Yehuda wonders if its true that Only the Likud Can... destroy settlements and return land.
DYS reports on the discovery of Ida, and explains why believing Jews needn't be concerned. Dass Hedyot publishes on the aftermath of his own Better Know a Kofer interview. Pen Tivokesh tell us how Akdomos and the Koran are alike. Kvetcher complaims that Israel is being less then democratic.
The Wolf tweaks JBN. Fiar Yid catches Dennis Prager being dumber than usual. XGH catches Rabbi Avi Shafran being just as stupidly condescending as always.
Is there a black fly in your Chardonnay? HSaboMilner has one: The parade pisher who can't seem to say anything nice about her recent wedding.
Shira Bat Sarah prepares for Shavuot and sees a bit of herself in Ruth the Moabite; Batya prepares to turn 60, and reports on the birthday celebration. The Rebbetzin's Husband posts a satiric Shavuos prayer; Cosmix X posts a poem about a bad guest. Shorty struggles with the different types of doxs; Benji Lovitt struggles through a shavuos all nighter (sort of) and comes up with a get rich scheme worthy of Ralph Kramden.
My own anthology of past Shavuos posts.
Rafi G. (another high-ranking member of the DovBear team) tells us about wierd water minhagim kept on Shavuos in other times and other palces. Remeber tfillin Barbie? Her creator(Hatam Soferet) is on JewSchool with a good Shavuos drash about the crownlets on letters in the Torah.
ChayyeiSarah hates grading papers.
How to be an Israeli offers a guide to the grunts, ehhhh's, nu's, and other monosyllables that are crucial to passing yourself off as an Israeli. Ben-Yehudah gives us a post about the joys and dangers of traveling in Israel as Shaboth nears. RutiMizrachi sings a song of love for Israel. SeraphicSecret worries about Obama. (He shouldn't.) Jameel worries, too. Rachel Neiman of Israelity waxes nostalgic about the dubon, the winter coat Israelis wore back in the 70s. JR shares some Israel hotspots.
Lamrot hakol has a long and interesting article about the Sanhedrin and bringing redemption. Also long and interesting, is Josh of ParshaBlog, who is his usual excellent self with a scholarly discussion of a story, told in Megged Givos Olam, in which Rav Moshe Soloveitchik rejects a newspaper account of his rebbe's death on the grounds that newspapers are unreliable; and anyway, "one is prohibited to believe that one's rebbe had died." Balaoshon goes L&I on the origin of the word agunah with supporting evidence from all sorts of neat sources. Rabbi Julian Sinclair gives us a long and interesting discussion of the tenth commandment which, he argues, is unfortunately ignored.
HH defends Cassuto. Chaviva imagines standing at Sinai . Shmarya finds a mideival Jewish text which appears to discuss a rape at the mikva. Ick.
Liora reviews a S Y Agnon story. Muse makes her monthly trip to Tel Shiloh. Ilana Davita reviews His Father's Paradise. MoChassid tells about the rewards of fostering. Chaim Bray (also a member of the DB team) found OpenMindedTorah's sad, infuriating, heart-breaking post about a father trying to get his Downs Syndrome child admitted to a Jerusalem yeshiva.
Rabbi Eliyahu Fink, who generated 166 comments with a guest post this week, argues on his own blog for a new Memorial Day. AbandoningEden has her first post-marriage Memorial Day bbq and discovers her Jewish wife gene. Suburban Sweetheart (who should NOT be reminded that her Cavs, like, suck) is also cooking (for the first time?) and has pictures to prove it
Religion and State in Israel does his regular review of media coverage on issues of religion and state in Israel, and includes a discussion of a female soldier denied permission to recite Kaddish at her base's synagogue and some new information about the reform conversion controversy. David of Israelty reports on the plan to increase the vegetable tax. Amanda discovers rabbis may reject for conversion those who studied about Judaism on the Internet
Mikkal Travvis tells how to survive a flu pandemic. The very great BOTH tells how to get things done with a customer service rep. NickDupree explains why Judge Sotomayer is not a radical (She isn't. Only those deeply in the grips of TownHall style commentary think she's a lefty loon, as Nick makes clear.)
Russel Grayson expresses some second thoughts about Obama, and gives a brief recap of Palestenian/Jewish History Yisroel Medad talks on Kol Israel Radio, offers some sympathy to Spanish "oppressed territories" and takes another visit to Jerusalem to read the ridiculous posters ridiculous people paste on walls.
RivkA explains how she and her husband raised a family of geeks, ummm, I mean Star Trek fans while the Rebbetzin's Husband tells us why his own kids are well-behaved in shul . Noyam G. has more to say about So You Think You Can Dance than any straight man should.
RivkA also tells us how she came to choose life, and the difference its made (recommended for anyone enduring a difficult or painful season.)
And finally, the Real Shliach announces his engagement (to Free Elisheva)
Mazal Tov. Mazal Tov
***
OK, cue the stuttering pig. I'm done. If I left out your post, perhaps I mistook it for spam. Please resubmit your great ideas for making money on Twitter to Esser Agaroth who is ringleader next week -- for the seventh time, if Google and my own memory are to be trusted. See you there, or back here again in 25 years for HH #3450
Search for more information about Havel Havelim at 4torah.com.
DovBear on the Parsha makes a great Father's Day Gift.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Your Shavuos/Rus Palooze
Those of you who refuse to abolish the all-night shavuot learning marathon on the grounds that it causes us to sleep through the first day of yom tov, obviating the chatzi lochem, v'chatzi loshem element of Yom Tov are encouraged to print these out for all night readin
Search for more information about Shavuot at 4torah.com.
- What does a woman do with Shavuos?
- Fulfilling the requirement to eat meat on the dairy holiday
- Ruth was not really all that modest
- The official Shavuos pet peeve / Again and again
- Stupid things overheard at the Shavuos dinner table
- Stuff my five year old knows that Chazal did not
- Rashi's difficulty with or ignorance of a particular Midrash on Megilas Rus
- Israeli Rabinate Rules Moshiach ben Dovid isn't Jewish
More on Shabbos and modern Rabbis
How do you keep shabbos? When I asked this question yesterday, my personal LexLuthor accused me of being exclusive. Shouldn't you first establish that shabbos is, in fact, being kept, he asked. Seemingly his point was that not every Jew keeps shabbos, and an inclusive blogger would not presume otherwise.
Perhaps, but forgive me. I don't define "shabbos keeping" in the way Bray does. According to my way of thinking nearly every Jew in the world "keeps" shabbos in some way or another, and this presents yet another critism of what the Baltimore Rabbis said at the rally to protest their Jewish Center's plan to remain open on Shabbos.
I hold that you are "keeping shabbos" if you light candles, or go to a service, or have a family meal, or "recharge your spiritual batteries" in some way, and most every Jew in the world does something like this. Unfortunately, this isn't how the torah or traditional sources define Shabos "keeping." Officially shabbos is only "kept" when you refrain from melacha in testimony of the fact that God created the world/took us out of Egypt.
Ironically, the Baltimore Jewish Center COULD REMAIN OPEN and still "keep" shabbos in the authentic and Torah True way and also in the modern way of "keeping" espoused by the protesting rabbis!
They spoke of "heritage" and "unity" and "identity. Surely, keeping the Jewish Center open on Shabbos will contribute to these things. If the whole point of Shabbos is heritage, unity, and identity, isn't that goal being met if the Center stays open? And if the Center stays open with no melacha done (certainly possible: Our shuls and catering halls stay open with no melacha problems) isn't that a win/win for Jews both modern and traditional?
Search for more information about the Holy Shabbos at 4torah.com.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Heartrending...
Bray
...quality post
episodes like this make me asahmed of my culture. How the man remains frum is awe-inspiring.
Search for more information about shadowing in mainstream classrooms at 4torah.com.
...quality post
episodes like this make me asahmed of my culture. How the man remains frum is awe-inspiring.
Search for more information about shadowing in mainstream classrooms at 4torah.com.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Obama's official spokesman denies the president has a secret evil plan to give Jerusalem away
Via email, from Moby:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Briefing-by-White-House-Press-Secretary-Robert-Gibbs-5-22-09/
MR. GIBBS: The goal is to be -- I guess, partly to clear some of this up, this is a -- this will be a broader speech about our relationship with Muslims around the world. I know there has been some conjecture that included in this speech will be some detailed comprehensive Mideast peace plan, and that is not the intention nor was it ever the intention of this speech. As I said a few days ago, I mean, obviously it would be difficult to give a speech and not touch on this subject -- I think that would be -- that wouldn't work -- but the notion that it will be the sole focus of the speech is not the case.
Q: Just to clarify, are you also ruling out -- forget out sole focus, but within the broader speech he is not going to say, "and here is what I want to do with the city of Jerusalem, and here is what I want" --
MR. GIBBS: No. As you know, Margaret, those are final status issues that the parties themselves have agreed to work out in whatever negotiation would be had. That's not something for the President to intone.
MR. GIBBS: The goal is to be -- I guess, partly to clear some of this up, this is a -- this will be a broader speech about our relationship with Muslims around the world. I know there has been some conjecture that included in this speech will be some detailed comprehensive Mideast peace plan, and that is not the intention nor was it ever the intention of this speech. As I said a few days ago, I mean, obviously it would be difficult to give a speech and not touch on this subject -- I think that would be -- that wouldn't work -- but the notion that it will be the sole focus of the speech is not the case.
Q: Just to clarify, are you also ruling out -- forget out sole focus, but within the broader speech he is not going to say, "and here is what I want to do with the city of Jerusalem, and here is what I want" --
MR. GIBBS: No. As you know, Margaret, those are final status issues that the parties themselves have agreed to work out in whatever negotiation would be had. That's not something for the President to intone.
Gutsiest P'sak since Rav Moshe z"l Passed?
By the Bray of Fundie
At last, another posek with "braita plaitzehs"= the "broad shoulders" i.e the combination of impeccable scholarship and fearlessness required to issue a controversial ruling.
Rav Zalman Nechenia Goldberg shlit'a was matir (permitted in a Halakhic responsum) surrogate motherhood. I have not seen the responsum and don't know the details but it is very encouraging to see a Kharedi Posek confront a 21st century medical Technology. This is especially so inasmuch as this issue reverberates with obvious thorny bio-ethical issues as well as issues of of tznius and yikhus . In an atmosphere where mixed gender buses or photographic depictions of females are taboo this ruling comes as a veritable hurricane of fresh air.
IIRC the learned Halakhic discussion about surrogate motherhood begins, oddly enough, by analyzing Midrashei Aggadah.
In Bereshis 30:21 the birth of Dinah is described. Rashi ad locum quoting a Midrash says that, aware that there would only be 12 tribes born to Yaakov and that she was pregnant with another boy, Leah prayed that her sister Rakhel not be humiliated by giving birth to fewer than two tribes. And , in answer to her prayer, an in utero sex-change of the fetus took place. However the Targum Yonoson ad locum says that an angel swapped the two fetuses (Rakhel was then pregnant with a girl). Such that Yoseph was conceived by Leah but developed and carried to term by Rakhel while Dinah Yoseph was conceived by Rakhel but developed and carried to term by Leah.
Much is made about Momma Rakhel crying for us again. But thanks to this landmark p'sak by Rav Goldberg the prayer of Momma Leah will pay dividends to the end of time saving countless Jewish women from the pain and humiliation of infertility.
Of interest as well.
Search for more information about suurogate motherhood at 4torah.com.
At last, another posek with "braita plaitzehs"= the "broad shoulders" i.e the combination of impeccable scholarship and fearlessness required to issue a controversial ruling.
Rav Zalman Nechenia Goldberg shlit'a was matir (permitted in a Halakhic responsum) surrogate motherhood. I have not seen the responsum and don't know the details but it is very encouraging to see a Kharedi Posek confront a 21st century medical Technology. This is especially so inasmuch as this issue reverberates with obvious thorny bio-ethical issues as well as issues of of tznius and yikhus . In an atmosphere where mixed gender buses or photographic depictions of females are taboo this ruling comes as a veritable hurricane of fresh air.
IIRC the learned Halakhic discussion about surrogate motherhood begins, oddly enough, by analyzing Midrashei Aggadah.
In Bereshis 30:21 the birth of Dinah is described. Rashi ad locum quoting a Midrash says that, aware that there would only be 12 tribes born to Yaakov and that she was pregnant with another boy, Leah prayed that her sister Rakhel not be humiliated by giving birth to fewer than two tribes. And , in answer to her prayer, an in utero sex-change of the fetus took place. However the Targum Yonoson ad locum says that an angel swapped the two fetuses (Rakhel was then pregnant with a girl). Such that Yoseph was conceived by Leah but developed and carried to term by Rakhel while Dinah Yoseph was conceived by Rakhel but developed and carried to term by Leah.
Much is made about Momma Rakhel crying for us again. But thanks to this landmark p'sak by Rav Goldberg the prayer of Momma Leah will pay dividends to the end of time saving countless Jewish women from the pain and humiliation of infertility.
Of interest as well.
Search for more information about suurogate motherhood at 4torah.com.
A Victim Speaks
A guest post by TikunOlam
I've recently begun corresponding with a the member of the DovBear community. He is a successful, frum, married man with children. Not long ago, during the discussions on the blog regarding the Markey Bill, he sent me a link to an article published on VIN written by Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, Editor of the charedi newspaper Yated. In the article, R' Lipschutz began to address the problem of childhood sexual abuse and specifically focused on the trauma to the victims and the impact it has on their lives. My DB reader friend told me to specifically look for the comments authored by him, the ones authored by "A Victim."
The following in a except from R' Lipschutz's article:
. . .The sad fact is that children in our community are being abused by perpetrators who prey upon their innocence and our silence. We don’t have a count of how many people are hurt, but it is much larger than we realized, even a short time ago. There is no real debate about the catastrophic effects of abuse.
The innocence and purity of children is destroyed for life. The victims remain hurt, shamed and scarred. They suffer in silence, afraid to reveal their secret to anyone. They are hounded by feelings of guilt and embarrassment and live lives of tortured pain. The overwhelming majority of survivors suffer in silence, unless they are lucky enough to endure agonizing, arduous, expensive therapy. . .
The article in its entirety: VIN article
With "A Victim's" permission, I have cut, pasted and rearranged his comments in order to tell his story.
First, I am a victim, however I am a unique victim. I was molested "only" twice. Once when I was 11 by a virtual stranger in shul during Shalosh Seudos. I did not understand that I had been molested but I knew the pain and fear that I felt afterwards. It certainly affected me. I can still sense the feeling of "What is this guy doing to me? Is he supposed to have his hands in my pants? Why does he keep moving me around on his lap?". It hurts to even write those words.
The second time I was well into my teens. A (very choshuv) older bocher molested me for a very extended period of time. We were actually learning in the Beis Medrash (study hall) in broad daylight. He as pulling my chair close to him and putting his hands in inappropriate places. Here is the key - my brain did not even tell me what was happening. I am sure it is because I was molested once before so my brain was unable to process what was happening. The episode probably lasted nearly an hour. I cannot explain why I did not leave, other than my brain could not process what was happening. I went through a period of about a week where I did not leave my dorm room until I finally mustered enough courage to tell my Menahel what happened.
Baruch Hashem my Menahel is an outstanding mechanech and he knew exactly what to do. He dealt with the bochur (severely) and I truly believe that the predator was regretful and worked on himself to the point that he may have nisyonos but is able to overcome them. He apologized to me and we reconciled. By my Menahel's instructions, I was not allowed to have anything to do with him and we had very little contact. I called him the day of my wedding and was mochel him. I see him once in a while and we are "civil" around each other. My situation is unique because I did not keep the abuse inside and my attacker actually acknowledged and apologized for what happened. Most of the time, the abuse goes undetected, undealt with and the victim keeps their feelings bottled up inside causing tremendous harm.
Second, I have a close relationship with another victim. Also unique, but much more severe. (This person REALLY wants to remain even more anonymous than I.) He/she was molested by a family member for a period of 5-6 years. Much of what I understand about molestation victims comes from his/her therapy and our conversations and self discovery together. He/ she has suffered tremendously and continues to suffer each day. He/she has no memories from his/her teenage years. He/she blocked out the pain and only now through therapy does he/she even begin to feel what he/she never felt as a child. You can imagine the inner conflict that he/she feels keeping such a powerful secret...
As I mentioned earlier - I have been waiting 16 years for a day like today to come. It is time for Klal Yisrael to do something about this problem - now. As to your vort (referring to another commenter's Torah thought about denial), I think it is evident that I agree wholeheartedly to a point. All victims deny that they are victims. This is part natural and part because there is no outlet for a victim to report such behavior. I truly believe that a real mechanech would know what to do just as me menahel did. However, true mechanchim are few and far between.
The reason for the cover up is simply because no one knows what to do! Where should the victim go? Very often the molester is a person of authority and now the victim is not going to trust authority. I was unique, I was the exception, I had the confidence to do what needed to be done and report my attacker. Sadly nearly every other victim does not share this with me.
Imagine, not trusting authority, hating yourself because you think it was all your fault, having no childhood memories other than the fear of the next attack and then being so alone with no one to talk to about all these problems. Imagine that every day you feel that pain and shame of being molested. Not one day goes by without being reminded how you were violated.
I have waited all of my life since the first time I was molested when I was 11 for the frum world to acknowledge the existence of the problem and the toxicity of its effects. You cannot imagine the pain a victim feels each day that he or she knows that their predator is still on the loose able to attack freely. But at this point there is no choice. Known predators live in our communities. Known predators are working in our day schools, yeshivas and camps. It is unconscionable that we are harboring these sickos and giving them the green light to continue. I challenge any "gadol" to look a victim in the eye and say "It's okay if this happens to more people", "molesters know how to control themselves", "I can't believe such a great person would do such a bad thing", "It probably is not as big a deal as you're making it out to be". With the psychological evidence that we have today it is unacceptable to say or even think those things.
I beg you all, please help to stop sexual predators from molesting our children. I have 2 sons and every single day I fear that chas v'shalom, Hashem yerachem, they could become the next victims. We should not have to live in fear. We are the mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh, why is it acceptable to molest innocent children?
PS: The assumption seems to be that Rebbeim are the only molesters in the frum community, this is simply not true at all, there are "older bochurim" in yeshivas, counselors in camps, fathers, brothers and neighbors that have molested our fellow yidden as well, please be vigilant and let us begin to eradicate molestation from our midst.
Search for more information about victims of sexual abuse at 4torah.com.
I've recently begun corresponding with a the member of the DovBear community. He is a successful, frum, married man with children. Not long ago, during the discussions on the blog regarding the Markey Bill, he sent me a link to an article published on VIN written by Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, Editor of the charedi newspaper Yated. In the article, R' Lipschutz began to address the problem of childhood sexual abuse and specifically focused on the trauma to the victims and the impact it has on their lives. My DB reader friend told me to specifically look for the comments authored by him, the ones authored by "A Victim."
The following in a except from R' Lipschutz's article:
. . .The sad fact is that children in our community are being abused by perpetrators who prey upon their innocence and our silence. We don’t have a count of how many people are hurt, but it is much larger than we realized, even a short time ago. There is no real debate about the catastrophic effects of abuse.
The innocence and purity of children is destroyed for life. The victims remain hurt, shamed and scarred. They suffer in silence, afraid to reveal their secret to anyone. They are hounded by feelings of guilt and embarrassment and live lives of tortured pain. The overwhelming majority of survivors suffer in silence, unless they are lucky enough to endure agonizing, arduous, expensive therapy. . .
The article in its entirety: VIN article
With "A Victim's" permission, I have cut, pasted and rearranged his comments in order to tell his story.
First, I am a victim, however I am a unique victim. I was molested "only" twice. Once when I was 11 by a virtual stranger in shul during Shalosh Seudos. I did not understand that I had been molested but I knew the pain and fear that I felt afterwards. It certainly affected me. I can still sense the feeling of "What is this guy doing to me? Is he supposed to have his hands in my pants? Why does he keep moving me around on his lap?". It hurts to even write those words.
The second time I was well into my teens. A (very choshuv) older bocher molested me for a very extended period of time. We were actually learning in the Beis Medrash (study hall) in broad daylight. He as pulling my chair close to him and putting his hands in inappropriate places. Here is the key - my brain did not even tell me what was happening. I am sure it is because I was molested once before so my brain was unable to process what was happening. The episode probably lasted nearly an hour. I cannot explain why I did not leave, other than my brain could not process what was happening. I went through a period of about a week where I did not leave my dorm room until I finally mustered enough courage to tell my Menahel what happened.
Baruch Hashem my Menahel is an outstanding mechanech and he knew exactly what to do. He dealt with the bochur (severely) and I truly believe that the predator was regretful and worked on himself to the point that he may have nisyonos but is able to overcome them. He apologized to me and we reconciled. By my Menahel's instructions, I was not allowed to have anything to do with him and we had very little contact. I called him the day of my wedding and was mochel him. I see him once in a while and we are "civil" around each other. My situation is unique because I did not keep the abuse inside and my attacker actually acknowledged and apologized for what happened. Most of the time, the abuse goes undetected, undealt with and the victim keeps their feelings bottled up inside causing tremendous harm.
Second, I have a close relationship with another victim. Also unique, but much more severe. (This person REALLY wants to remain even more anonymous than I.) He/she was molested by a family member for a period of 5-6 years. Much of what I understand about molestation victims comes from his/her therapy and our conversations and self discovery together. He/ she has suffered tremendously and continues to suffer each day. He/she has no memories from his/her teenage years. He/she blocked out the pain and only now through therapy does he/she even begin to feel what he/she never felt as a child. You can imagine the inner conflict that he/she feels keeping such a powerful secret...
As I mentioned earlier - I have been waiting 16 years for a day like today to come. It is time for Klal Yisrael to do something about this problem - now. As to your vort (referring to another commenter's Torah thought about denial), I think it is evident that I agree wholeheartedly to a point. All victims deny that they are victims. This is part natural and part because there is no outlet for a victim to report such behavior. I truly believe that a real mechanech would know what to do just as me menahel did. However, true mechanchim are few and far between.
The reason for the cover up is simply because no one knows what to do! Where should the victim go? Very often the molester is a person of authority and now the victim is not going to trust authority. I was unique, I was the exception, I had the confidence to do what needed to be done and report my attacker. Sadly nearly every other victim does not share this with me.
Imagine, not trusting authority, hating yourself because you think it was all your fault, having no childhood memories other than the fear of the next attack and then being so alone with no one to talk to about all these problems. Imagine that every day you feel that pain and shame of being molested. Not one day goes by without being reminded how you were violated.
I have waited all of my life since the first time I was molested when I was 11 for the frum world to acknowledge the existence of the problem and the toxicity of its effects. You cannot imagine the pain a victim feels each day that he or she knows that their predator is still on the loose able to attack freely. But at this point there is no choice. Known predators live in our communities. Known predators are working in our day schools, yeshivas and camps. It is unconscionable that we are harboring these sickos and giving them the green light to continue. I challenge any "gadol" to look a victim in the eye and say "It's okay if this happens to more people", "molesters know how to control themselves", "I can't believe such a great person would do such a bad thing", "It probably is not as big a deal as you're making it out to be". With the psychological evidence that we have today it is unacceptable to say or even think those things.
I beg you all, please help to stop sexual predators from molesting our children. I have 2 sons and every single day I fear that chas v'shalom, Hashem yerachem, they could become the next victims. We should not have to live in fear. We are the mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh, why is it acceptable to molest innocent children?
PS: The assumption seems to be that Rebbeim are the only molesters in the frum community, this is simply not true at all, there are "older bochurim" in yeshivas, counselors in camps, fathers, brothers and neighbors that have molested our fellow yidden as well, please be vigilant and let us begin to eradicate molestation from our midst.
Search for more information about victims of sexual abuse at 4torah.com.
Daily Halacha High
Received from Amshinover who received it by email from some holy spammer of halachot.
Hilchos Shavuos 5769/2009
Hilchos Shavuos 5769/2009
918.There is a (not so well known) minhag to bring good smelling grasses into shul to be passed around for people to make a beracha and smell the grass in remembrance of the Simcha of Mattan Torah where Har Sinai was surrounded by grass.Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 494:3
919. When practicing this minhag one should not pass the grass around during davening between Boruch She'amar and kaddish after Sh'mona Esrei because one is not permitted to interrupt davening at that time to make the beracha. Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 494:3
919. When practicing this minhag one should not pass the grass around during davening between Boruch She'amar and kaddish after Sh'mona Esrei because one is not permitted to interrupt davening at that time to make the beracha. Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 494:3
I haven't checked this inside - I don't even know what word the source uses for grass - nor have I investigated the grass-oriented customs prevalent in the Jewish or surrounding non Jewish community at the time this was written; still, I feel comfortable asserting that the grass in question isn't marijuana.
That said, I take it for granted that both great and ordinary Jewish men of yesteryear used substances that society now forbids. The dangers and risks weren't well understood, and people once used heroin, opium, and cocaine as ordinary medicines. Others used these substances in the same way that we use whiskey. Related
Search for more information about canibus at 4torah.com.
Search for more information about canibus at 4torah.com.
Monday, May 25, 2009
For Zevuluns with Commitment Issues
by the Bray of Fundie
click here.
Search for more information about Yissaschar Zevulun partnering at 4torah.com.
click here.
Search for more information about Yissaschar Zevulun partnering at 4torah.com.
Slurs, Slander and Shas
SM
The recent Supreme Court ruling that the state should fund Reform conversion centres can be debated for its rights and wrongs. But the response of Shas is little short of a disgrace.
As reported here, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, chairman of Shas, warned that if non-Orthodox conversion is recognized in Israel, "there are hundreds of foreign workers and Palestinians who will take advantage of the Reform conversion in order to gain Israeli citizenship."
The linkage is both cunning and revolting - this 'warning' is intended to frighten. Why else mention Palestinians? The implication there is that these people will have an ulterior motive for converting which is to do with damaging Israel. No recognition that Shas ministers are supposed to serve their Palestinian constituents and citizens. Moreover, the Reform movement will, impliedly, connive in converting potential 5th columnists so that they can become Israeli citizens. Not only will these people not be real Jews - that goes without saying. They will also not be real Reform Jews - they will convert for the sake of citizenship. Not like all those footballers and basketball players converted by the Orthodox then.
Thus Shas carries on its religious war by defaming other Jews for not being real Jews, defaming those it converts with accusations that they will be in some way hostile to Israel, and defaming those other Jews again by implying that they will be happy to convert people hostile to a State which Shas itself is ambiguous about.
Not bad for 22 words. Hatred, sneer, unjust accusations, abandonment of responsibility and hypocrisy in one neat package. Truly we have learned well from our enemies.
Search for more information about Shas's vile behaviour at 4torah.com.
The recent Supreme Court ruling that the state should fund Reform conversion centres can be debated for its rights and wrongs. But the response of Shas is little short of a disgrace.
As reported here, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, chairman of Shas, warned that if non-Orthodox conversion is recognized in Israel, "there are hundreds of foreign workers and Palestinians who will take advantage of the Reform conversion in order to gain Israeli citizenship."
The linkage is both cunning and revolting - this 'warning' is intended to frighten. Why else mention Palestinians? The implication there is that these people will have an ulterior motive for converting which is to do with damaging Israel. No recognition that Shas ministers are supposed to serve their Palestinian constituents and citizens. Moreover, the Reform movement will, impliedly, connive in converting potential 5th columnists so that they can become Israeli citizens. Not only will these people not be real Jews - that goes without saying. They will also not be real Reform Jews - they will convert for the sake of citizenship. Not like all those footballers and basketball players converted by the Orthodox then.
Thus Shas carries on its religious war by defaming other Jews for not being real Jews, defaming those it converts with accusations that they will be in some way hostile to Israel, and defaming those other Jews again by implying that they will be happy to convert people hostile to a State which Shas itself is ambiguous about.
Not bad for 22 words. Hatred, sneer, unjust accusations, abandonment of responsibility and hypocrisy in one neat package. Truly we have learned well from our enemies.
Search for more information about Shas's vile behaviour at 4torah.com.
A Simple Solution to the Reform Conversion Funding Controversy
A Guest Post by Rafi G
Everyone is all nervous about the fact that seemingly the courts are granting tacit recognition of Reform conversion. Last week the courts ordered the State to fund the Reform and Conservative conversion organizations equally as they fund the Orthodox.
People are taking that to mean they are granting the Reform equal status to convert as the Orthodox.
if that is correct or not, I do not know. It seems to me the issue is simply funding and discrimination. If the country is funding private organizations to perform conversions, as a democratic country I don't see how they can legally avoid treating all such organizations equally.
My solution is to stop funding all of them. The Orthodox as well. These are private organizations, and why should the conversions of Israel be run and administered by private organizations?
Instead, have everything run through the Rabbanut. No private organizations - Orthodox, Conservative or Reform - should be allowed to deal with conversions, or at least they should not be funded by the State. Then nobody can complain. The Rabbanut will run everything, and no private organization is getting more than the other.
I know it is simplistic, and I am probably missing something in my understanding of the fight, but it seems reasonable to me.
Search for more information about [topic] at 4torah.com.
Everyone is all nervous about the fact that seemingly the courts are granting tacit recognition of Reform conversion. Last week the courts ordered the State to fund the Reform and Conservative conversion organizations equally as they fund the Orthodox.
People are taking that to mean they are granting the Reform equal status to convert as the Orthodox.
if that is correct or not, I do not know. It seems to me the issue is simply funding and discrimination. If the country is funding private organizations to perform conversions, as a democratic country I don't see how they can legally avoid treating all such organizations equally.
My solution is to stop funding all of them. The Orthodox as well. These are private organizations, and why should the conversions of Israel be run and administered by private organizations?
Instead, have everything run through the Rabbanut. No private organizations - Orthodox, Conservative or Reform - should be allowed to deal with conversions, or at least they should not be funded by the State. Then nobody can complain. The Rabbanut will run everything, and no private organization is getting more than the other.
I know it is simplistic, and I am probably missing something in my understanding of the fight, but it seems reasonable to me.
Search for more information about [topic] at 4torah.com.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
How would you respond to this?
A Guest Post by Rafi G
How would you respond to this?
In this weeks parsha sheet "Eretz Yisrael She'Lanu", Rav Yaakov Yosef said it is preferable to buy, when possible, from religious Jews. He says if you have two stores, one of a Jew and one of a goy (or of a Jew who acts like a goy i.e. he is not religious), we are obligated to purchase specifically from the God fearing Jew. He bases this on a passuk in the Torah. Rav Yaakov Yosef also related that it was well known about the Chazon Ish that he would walk far to a makolet to buy items, rather than purchase from the makolet nearby, because the one nearby was owned by a non-religious Jew, and the one farther away was owned by a religious Jew.
I had the radio on for a moment, and caught the end of a discussion regarding the above psak. The broadcaster was criticizing it saying that with saying such a psak, they [haredim] cannot then come and tell [the establishment] that when they are learning instead of serving in the army they are learning for all of Israel. They are divisive and only look out for their own, and they should not then try to sell us stories of how they are concerned for all of us and learn for all of us.
(Again, I missed most of the discussion - I just caught the end of it which was that one statement)
How would you respond to that?
Search for more information about [religious businessmen] at 4torah.com.
How would you respond to this?
In this weeks parsha sheet "Eretz Yisrael She'Lanu", Rav Yaakov Yosef said it is preferable to buy, when possible, from religious Jews. He says if you have two stores, one of a Jew and one of a goy (or of a Jew who acts like a goy i.e. he is not religious), we are obligated to purchase specifically from the God fearing Jew. He bases this on a passuk in the Torah. Rav Yaakov Yosef also related that it was well known about the Chazon Ish that he would walk far to a makolet to buy items, rather than purchase from the makolet nearby, because the one nearby was owned by a non-religious Jew, and the one farther away was owned by a religious Jew.
I had the radio on for a moment, and caught the end of a discussion regarding the above psak. The broadcaster was criticizing it saying that with saying such a psak, they [haredim] cannot then come and tell [the establishment] that when they are learning instead of serving in the army they are learning for all of Israel. They are divisive and only look out for their own, and they should not then try to sell us stories of how they are concerned for all of us and learn for all of us.
(Again, I missed most of the discussion - I just caught the end of it which was that one statement)
How would you respond to that?
Search for more information about [religious businessmen] at 4torah.com.
Friday, May 22, 2009
New fundies should behave like old fundies
This week, the newspapers introduced Ida, a 40-million year old fossil, that may provide us with a better understanding of simian and prosimian ancestors. Though not a missing link - there is no such thing - Ida is still good evidence in support of many of the things modern fundies deny, such as evolution, common descent, and the old earth.
One modern fundie - Chaim Bray - enjoys the revocable privilege of posting on this blog, and true to form, he responded to the Ida announcement with fear and foolishness. Instead of acting like a thinking person, and attempting to work out ways to reconcile his thinking with the facts Ida represents, he subjected us all to an elaborate rant about the sitra achra and the hope that some as yet undiscovered Jewsh text might give solutions to all the mysteries (An ironic hope. Would such a book be accepted by his fundamentalist community? Un-bloody-likely)
To me, saying that evolution is a tool of the sitra achra is the same as saying that math is a tool of the sitra achra. To deny that the earth is very old, is to deny the facts.
To your 21st century ears, my view might sound like the view of a secularist or a modern Jew who's moved away from traditional Jewish thought. This is a mistake.
Before Orthodoxy lost its mind and decided to dig in its heels in defense of the indefensible, there were great Orthodox Jewish sages who did what I tell Bray to do. Instead of a throwing a Bray-like orgy of fear and foolishness, these great Orthodox Jewish sages responded to new facts with new thinking. Rather than deny facts, they reinterpreted their received tradition.
The most famous example of this approach is the Tifferes Yisroel, or Rabbi Yisroel Lipshutz, a 19th century who responded to the discovery of a woolly mammoth skeleton with a celebration. His view is recorded in his Drush Ohr HaChaim where he says the the discovery of fossils proves the earth is very olk, a view he subsequently substantiated from the writing of Ramban, Ibn Ezra, famous kabalists and others. Note his response: Faced with the undeniable fact of a very old fossil, Rabbi Lipshutz did not seek to defend the received wisdom. He did not go to war in defense of the young earth. Instead, he adjusted his thinking and reinterpreted the tradition.
There are other examples of mistaken Jewish thinking that was corrected after new facts were accepted. For centuries, Jewish received wisdom said that the earth stood at the center of the universe and insisted the space travel was imposible because the yesod haesh prevented going beyond the atmosphere. Once new facts were established the verses that had supported the erroneous received wisdom were reinterpreted. And there are still other examples.
Has the time has come to follow the Tiferes Yisroel's example and reinterpret verses that seem to indicate a Young Universe or deny Common Descent? Yes. To do otherwise is foolishness informed by fear.
Search for more information about [topic] at 4torah.com.
One modern fundie - Chaim Bray - enjoys the revocable privilege of posting on this blog, and true to form, he responded to the Ida announcement with fear and foolishness. Instead of acting like a thinking person, and attempting to work out ways to reconcile his thinking with the facts Ida represents, he subjected us all to an elaborate rant about the sitra achra and the hope that some as yet undiscovered Jewsh text might give solutions to all the mysteries (An ironic hope. Would such a book be accepted by his fundamentalist community? Un-bloody-likely)
To me, saying that evolution is a tool of the sitra achra is the same as saying that math is a tool of the sitra achra. To deny that the earth is very old, is to deny the facts.
To your 21st century ears, my view might sound like the view of a secularist or a modern Jew who's moved away from traditional Jewish thought. This is a mistake.
Before Orthodoxy lost its mind and decided to dig in its heels in defense of the indefensible, there were great Orthodox Jewish sages who did what I tell Bray to do. Instead of a throwing a Bray-like orgy of fear and foolishness, these great Orthodox Jewish sages responded to new facts with new thinking. Rather than deny facts, they reinterpreted their received tradition.
The most famous example of this approach is the Tifferes Yisroel, or Rabbi Yisroel Lipshutz, a 19th century who responded to the discovery of a woolly mammoth skeleton with a celebration. His view is recorded in his Drush Ohr HaChaim where he says the the discovery of fossils proves the earth is very olk, a view he subsequently substantiated from the writing of Ramban, Ibn Ezra, famous kabalists and others. Note his response: Faced with the undeniable fact of a very old fossil, Rabbi Lipshutz did not seek to defend the received wisdom. He did not go to war in defense of the young earth. Instead, he adjusted his thinking and reinterpreted the tradition.
There are other examples of mistaken Jewish thinking that was corrected after new facts were accepted. For centuries, Jewish received wisdom said that the earth stood at the center of the universe and insisted the space travel was imposible because the yesod haesh prevented going beyond the atmosphere. Once new facts were established the verses that had supported the erroneous received wisdom were reinterpreted. And there are still other examples.
Has the time has come to follow the Tiferes Yisroel's example and reinterpret verses that seem to indicate a Young Universe or deny Common Descent? Yes. To do otherwise is foolishness informed by fear.
Search for more information about [topic] at 4torah.com.
O Ye of Little Faith
by the Bray of Fundie
How much would we do to avoid a lower score on our credit rating? What if, in attempting blackmail, a hacker said to us; “With the push of a button I can drain every one of your bank accounts and change the title on all of your real estate holdings unless you _____________” how far would we go to fill in the blank? What demand on his part would it take for us to tell the hacker “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. Push the button”. What lengths would we go to in order to avoid disease? To avoid being party to an ecological disaster?
Now how about sin? To what lengths would we go to avoid it? Most of us pay lip service to Maimonides 11th principle: “I believe with a perfect faith That God gives reward to he who does the commandments of the Torah and punishes those that transgress its admonishments and warnings”. But how many of us have true yiras khet= fear of sin? And even if we are too sophisticated to imagine Divine retribution in terms of Dante- Reishis Khokhma –like boiling pitch and innumerable floggings sin is still is something we’d, sensibly, want to avoid at all costs. If "hell" means a step down a slippery slope that will ultimately rob us of our humanity, if it means an ineffable loneliness, if it means a burning humiliation without surcease, if it means alienation from all that makes both temporal life and eternity worth living, if it means the sorrowful shock of recognition that never subsides of the dissonance between our actual lives and our unfulfilled potential and if we REALLY believed any of this on a visceral level, we’d me MORE afraid of sin than if it’s wages actually were boiling pitch and innumerable floggings.
The Halakha demands that we forfeit our last penny before being ohver a lahv d’Oraysa= transgressing a Torah level garden variety negative commandment . But how many of us would be equal to the test of telling the hacker “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. Push the button” if his threat to us was “With the push of a button I can drain every one of your bank accounts and change the title on all of your real estate holdings unless you don that wool-linen jacket”
What triggered this screed was some give and take I had with JS yesterday over the relative merits and demerits of living in a society with advanced technology that minimizes hunger and disease but in which atheism and agnosticism are rampant vs. living in a a low-tech but high faith society. IMO the discussion was skewed. We were talking over each other rather than to one another. Because neither of us truly fears sin as the existential threat that it is.
Today, on some level or another, we are all green. Until we all appreciate that sin is like pushing a button that, at minimum, sets off a metaphysical Exxon Valdez type cataclysm there is no common ground upon which to conduct the debate.
Much has been made of my resistance to facts and empiricism and how it proves my cowardice. Its futile to try to defend myself against such charges. But is it too much to propose that the more we have bought into the facts on the ground the more we’ve lost sight of, and lost faith in, the facts off the ground?
In the past life was precarious. Existential threats abounded. Bad weather resulted in bad crops that resulted in financial ruin or even starvation. Infant mortality and childhood disease pandemics could wipe out whole families, floods and fires, whole cities, unanticipated volcanic eruptions, whole civilizations. In a word for most of human history the proverbial "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" life dominated. Science and Hi-tech have empowered modern man. Never before in human history has humankind as a whole and individual men and women had such self-sufficiency and control over their food supply, shelter, protection from extreme weather, avoidance of natural disasters and their own physical health and well–being as they do today.
The question is from a SPIRITUAL standpoint are we really better off?
There is a famous Torah from the Ri”m. He asks: What sort of curse was it for G-d to tell the snake וְעָפָר תֹּאכַל כָּל-יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ. = "and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life". This would seem to be a blessing rather than a curse inasmuch as the snake’s food supply is abundant, accessible and labor-free. He answered that the curse is precisely this: That being able to sustain himself on a food supply that is abundant, accessible and labor-free the snake is utterly independent of G-d. The snake can dispense with both faith and prayer. Being completely self-reliant has obviated the snakes need to be the least bit G-d-reliant.
This is my main gripe with evolutionary theory. Quite apart from all the scientific breakthroughs that it has wrought the very notion posits too many degrees of separation between man as creature and G-d as Creator. From there it is a very short jump to another form of man-/G-d alienation. From man as law-abider / fulfiller and G-d as legislator. To me it is no wonder at all that in our post-Darwinian era we consider mitzvahs to be extra credit and sin to be innocuous.
Tomorrow when we bentsch Rosh Khodesh maybe we should pray for "life informed by the fear of heaven and the fear of sin" with the visceral conviction that sin equals catastrophe. And that ain't no Parseltongue.
Search for more information about fear of sin at 4torah.com.
How much would we do to avoid a lower score on our credit rating? What if, in attempting blackmail, a hacker said to us; “With the push of a button I can drain every one of your bank accounts and change the title on all of your real estate holdings unless you _____________” how far would we go to fill in the blank? What demand on his part would it take for us to tell the hacker “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. Push the button”. What lengths would we go to in order to avoid disease? To avoid being party to an ecological disaster?
Now how about sin? To what lengths would we go to avoid it? Most of us pay lip service to Maimonides 11th principle: “I believe with a perfect faith That God gives reward to he who does the commandments of the Torah and punishes those that transgress its admonishments and warnings”. But how many of us have true yiras khet= fear of sin? And even if we are too sophisticated to imagine Divine retribution in terms of Dante- Reishis Khokhma –like boiling pitch and innumerable floggings sin is still is something we’d, sensibly, want to avoid at all costs. If "hell" means a step down a slippery slope that will ultimately rob us of our humanity, if it means an ineffable loneliness, if it means a burning humiliation without surcease, if it means alienation from all that makes both temporal life and eternity worth living, if it means the sorrowful shock of recognition that never subsides of the dissonance between our actual lives and our unfulfilled potential and if we REALLY believed any of this on a visceral level, we’d me MORE afraid of sin than if it’s wages actually were boiling pitch and innumerable floggings.
The Halakha demands that we forfeit our last penny before being ohver a lahv d’Oraysa= transgressing a Torah level garden variety negative commandment . But how many of us would be equal to the test of telling the hacker “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. Push the button” if his threat to us was “With the push of a button I can drain every one of your bank accounts and change the title on all of your real estate holdings unless you don that wool-linen jacket”
What triggered this screed was some give and take I had with JS yesterday over the relative merits and demerits of living in a society with advanced technology that minimizes hunger and disease but in which atheism and agnosticism are rampant vs. living in a a low-tech but high faith society. IMO the discussion was skewed. We were talking over each other rather than to one another. Because neither of us truly fears sin as the existential threat that it is.
Today, on some level or another, we are all green. Until we all appreciate that sin is like pushing a button that, at minimum, sets off a metaphysical Exxon Valdez type cataclysm there is no common ground upon which to conduct the debate.
Much has been made of my resistance to facts and empiricism and how it proves my cowardice. Its futile to try to defend myself against such charges. But is it too much to propose that the more we have bought into the facts on the ground the more we’ve lost sight of, and lost faith in, the facts off the ground?
In the past life was precarious. Existential threats abounded. Bad weather resulted in bad crops that resulted in financial ruin or even starvation. Infant mortality and childhood disease pandemics could wipe out whole families, floods and fires, whole cities, unanticipated volcanic eruptions, whole civilizations. In a word for most of human history the proverbial "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" life dominated. Science and Hi-tech have empowered modern man. Never before in human history has humankind as a whole and individual men and women had such self-sufficiency and control over their food supply, shelter, protection from extreme weather, avoidance of natural disasters and their own physical health and well–being as they do today.
The question is from a SPIRITUAL standpoint are we really better off?
There is a famous Torah from the Ri”m. He asks: What sort of curse was it for G-d to tell the snake וְעָפָר תֹּאכַל כָּל-יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ. = "and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life". This would seem to be a blessing rather than a curse inasmuch as the snake’s food supply is abundant, accessible and labor-free. He answered that the curse is precisely this: That being able to sustain himself on a food supply that is abundant, accessible and labor-free the snake is utterly independent of G-d. The snake can dispense with both faith and prayer. Being completely self-reliant has obviated the snakes need to be the least bit G-d-reliant.
This is my main gripe with evolutionary theory. Quite apart from all the scientific breakthroughs that it has wrought the very notion posits too many degrees of separation between man as creature and G-d as Creator. From there it is a very short jump to another form of man-/G-d alienation. From man as law-abider / fulfiller and G-d as legislator. To me it is no wonder at all that in our post-Darwinian era we consider mitzvahs to be extra credit and sin to be innocuous.
Tomorrow when we bentsch Rosh Khodesh maybe we should pray for "life informed by the fear of heaven and the fear of sin" with the visceral conviction that sin equals catastrophe. And that ain't no Parseltongue.
Search for more information about fear of sin at 4torah.com.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A quality post about Bedikah Cloth Inspectors (B.C.I 's
Penned In - Writing in confinement: Bedikah Cloth Inspectors
Search for more information about Bedikah Cloth Inspectors at 4torah.com.
Search for more information about Bedikah Cloth Inspectors at 4torah.com.
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