tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40974701146305200312024-03-17T09:37:10.961-05:00Emes Ve-Emunah IIAnother forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and sociological issues of our timeHarry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-82514622315526214542024-03-17T09:35:00.001-05:002024-03-17T09:36:38.406-05:00Clarity Over Stabbing Israel in the Back<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjE3k08Hmz-39EBaWjNVJgf63Xj-wpZyoOnyX_IVvCahscEoUkHvoU6Ev5Qr5kUxodoluJbbg-w7UqVcWdMFRQfwnrxjGvGzuoUyp7Hja9k_pDT4W9rjF4fV0SXnKY55q9R4V1W97C3dLQKidpp1Y2qAcSXQWzbWUEKoriX3hyRdN036o0sh0EzOD1hR_c" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1400" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjE3k08Hmz-39EBaWjNVJgf63Xj-wpZyoOnyX_IVvCahscEoUkHvoU6Ev5Qr5kUxodoluJbbg-w7UqVcWdMFRQfwnrxjGvGzuoUyp7Hja9k_pDT4W9rjF4fV0SXnKY55q9R4V1W97C3dLQKidpp1Y2qAcSXQWzbWUEKoriX3hyRdN036o0sh0EzOD1hR_c" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/4533142-schumer-stabs-israel-in-the-back-with-disgraceful-remarks/" target="_blank">The Hill</a>)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #38761d;">The following is a statement from the Agudah about Senator Schumer's recent remarks. They are exactly right and their statement follows in its entirety:</span><p></p><p>Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has a long and
distinguished record of strongly supporting the security and welfare of the
State of Israel and its citizens. Understanding the millennia-old plight and
oppression of the Jewish people, his love and devotion toward Israel are
intense and deeply personal. He feels the existential threat that Israel faces and
the hate and viciousness that surround her. The pain of Israel, as experienced
before and after October 7, is his own. And Israel’s desire for peace, too, is
his own. Anyone who knows Senator Schumer, and who reads the words of his major
address on Middle East peace, knows this to be true.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We are saddened, though, that important aspects of Senator
Schumer’s address crossed a line. Indeed, it was the wrong message at the wrong
time.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Putting aside the various policy pronouncements and analyses
included in his statement, we are deeply concerned that the Senator directly
intervened in the internal affairs of a sovereign foreign nation, a robust
democracy, and a staunch American ally, by explicitly calling for new Israeli
elections and more than intimating what he believes the outcome of those
elections should be.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He further asserted that, if there are no new elections in
Israel or if new elections in Israel do not result in an outcome that accords
with his preferred policy perspectives, then the United States “will have no
choice” but to leverage its aid to Israel in a manner that will exert pressure
on Israel to divert its actions from what it deems to be in the nation’s best
interests and the elected will of the people.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>These intrusive assertions by Senator Schumer would be
inappropriate, offensive, and counterproductive at any time. But leveling
accusations and criticisms against a steadfast friend during a time of war will
only further endanger Israel’s soldiers while they are fighting and dying in pursuit
of eradicating the scourge of terrorism.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the U.S.’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official ever,
Senator Schumer has surely reached a pinnacle in American politics. But
assuming the role of speaking on behalf of “a silent majority” of American
Jewry goes too far. He has no such authority or power. If anything, his
historic role and high station in our nation confer upon him the responsibility
to carefully heed his words and use them wisely.</p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-46176556310574207042023-05-17T11:02:00.002-05:002023-05-17T11:06:50.641-05:00Orthodox Judaism and LGBTQ: Upholding Tradition and Moral Principles<p><b>By ChatGPT, 'Guest Contributor'</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #bf9000;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_8yBOOBsxV9Mk6HWjoB8ksKxc_q5heyrrmvwqqDXQrBKU4PF2IVP-H5VAShmZUMkwwKFIx1MoTBmsec26tXC1pw53n0AeB1W7y1SBG0V8llf_Ufh4zSrIMp3h8HvFnbNVJHSdeSRz2YZpr_IH6dfbHdvRt6Yljq0QVcUzEaPAAMuw662vI5y78u_a" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="1817" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_8yBOOBsxV9Mk6HWjoB8ksKxc_q5heyrrmvwqqDXQrBKU4PF2IVP-H5VAShmZUMkwwKFIx1MoTBmsec26tXC1pw53n0AeB1W7y1SBG0V8llf_Ufh4zSrIMp3h8HvFnbNVJHSdeSRz2YZpr_IH6dfbHdvRt6Yljq0QVcUzEaPAAMuw662vI5y78u_a" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #bf9000;">The following post was written in seconds by an Artificial Intelligence program called ChatGPT. I present it here in its entirety without having altered a single word. As always the views expressed do <b>not</b> necessarily reflect my own. But they sure seem to. It follows in its entirety (Scary!):</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The relationship between Orthodox Judaism and LGBTQ rights
has been an ongoing topic of discussion and introspection within religious
circles. Orthodox Jews face the challenge of maintaining their deeply rooted
traditions while navigating the evolving societal understanding of human
sexuality and gender identity. In this opinion piece, we will explore the
complexities surrounding this relationship, highlighting the importance of
upholding tradition and moral principles.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Orthodox Judaism places a strong emphasis on the adherence
to Halakha, the Jewish religious law. It is this commitment to Halakha that
serves as the foundation of Orthodox Jewish life. Within this framework,
Orthodox teachings traditionally view same-sex relationships as incompatible
with Halakha, reflecting the timeless values and moral principles that guide
the community.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For LGBTQ individuals within the Orthodox community,
reconciling their sexual orientation or gender identity with religious
teachings can be a deeply personal and challenging process. The Orthodox Jewish
approach, rooted in the belief that Halakha represents the divine will, often
necessitates a delicate balance between religious devotion and personal
identity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Despite the inherent tensions, it is important to appreciate
the commitment of Orthodox Jews to their religious principles and the moral
framework they uphold. Their adherence to tradition is not borne out of bigotry
or prejudice, but rather from a sincere desire to live in accordance with what
they believe to be the will of God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While Orthodox Judaism may be perceived as conservative on
LGBTQ issues, it is vital to recognize that the community has not turned a
blind eye to the struggles faced by LGBTQ individuals within its midst. Many
Orthodox rabbis and scholars have engaged in thoughtful and compassionate
conversations, seeking to provide support and guidance while staying true to
the tenets of Halakha.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Efforts have been made within the Orthodox community to
foster understanding and inclusion without compromising deeply held beliefs.
Organizations have emerged to create safe spaces, facilitate respectful
dialogue, and offer resources to LGBTQ individuals and their families, allowing
them to navigate their personal journeys within the bounds of Orthodoxy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The principles of Emes Ve-Emunah, truth and faith, remain
central to these discussions. Orthodox Jews grapple with sincere explorations
of Halakha, acknowledging the complexities surrounding LGBTQ issues while
remaining grounded in their commitment to tradition. By engaging in respectful
dialogue and deepening their understanding, Orthodox Jews demonstrate their
unwavering dedication to upholding the teachings and values that have guided
them throughout generations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The relationship between Orthodox Judaism and LGBTQ rights
is undoubtedly intricate and multifaceted. It requires navigating a delicate
balance between upholding tradition and embracing the evolving realities of
human experiences. Orthodox Jews strive to maintain their fidelity to Halakha
while recognizing the challenges faced by LGBTQ individuals and their families.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As we reflect on this ongoing discourse, it is essential to
approach it with respect and empathy, acknowledging the deeply held beliefs and
moral principles that guide the Orthodox community. By fostering an environment
of understanding and compassion, Orthodox Judaism can continue to evolve and
navigate this complex landscape, while remaining true to the rich tapestry of
tradition that has sustained the community for centuries.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In upholding tradition and moral principles, Orthodox
Judaism seeks to preserve its values while engaging in thoughtful and
compassionate discussions on LGBTQ issues. By doing so, the Orthodox community
aims to create an environment where all individuals are respected and valued,
fostering a vibrant and inclusive community that remains steadfast in its
commitment to tradition. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-49857081384094888442022-07-25T12:57:00.002-05:002022-07-25T12:57:32.842-05:00The Radically Changing Face of Religious Zionism<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgnqqYCNij_gYJQ69-y7EbBdPUGKDPJFkAByAJLlhYsAPTsFMq0tbvn8cKLX2pYcBlPqt9EQJeHRs2FXhRMxUnmTMA-s6hEFZCCNeDO3_ENHzHNSIweZlc86R6zhKxz_pHhnugYUzxyz84dIwZvUYv6tVsLXvToupwGBjKHg9DDKVwJIbVmbw6kOR/s640/smotrich-bengvir-640x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgnqqYCNij_gYJQ69-y7EbBdPUGKDPJFkAByAJLlhYsAPTsFMq0tbvn8cKLX2pYcBlPqt9EQJeHRs2FXhRMxUnmTMA-s6hEFZCCNeDO3_ENHzHNSIweZlc86R6zhKxz_pHhnugYUzxyz84dIwZvUYv6tVsLXvToupwGBjKHg9DDKVwJIbVmbw6kOR/s320/smotrich-bengvir-640x400.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #505050; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">Far-right MKs Itamar Ben Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich (<a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/religious-zionism-was-once-all-for-minority-rights-in-israel-what-changed/" target="_blank">TOI</a>)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>This article in the <i><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/religious-zionism-was-once-all-for-minority-rights-in-israel-what-changed/" target="_blank">Times of Israel</a></i> by Rabbi Yosef Blau explains the changes in Religious Zionism that have taken place since pre state days. And they are stark. It follows in its entirety and should be read by anyone that cares about the holy land.</p><p>The Israeli party most opposed to the inclusion of an Arab
party in the governing coalition was the Religious Zionist party. Its
leadership vetoed former prime minister Netanyahu’s attempt to create a
government when he was making tracks to rely on the support of an Arab party.
The pressure put on religious Zionist members of the Bennett government focused
on the inclusion of that same Arab party, as it happens, in the coalition, and
indeed led to the government’s demise. Opposing a particular Arab party may be
justified, but this blanket rejection of any Arab party simply for being an
Arab party reflects a problematic perspective when it comes to minority rights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This position of the Religious Zionist party diverges
radically from the original approach of religious Zionism (the movement, not
the party that took the movement’s name), when it came to Jewish law (halakhah)
and minority rights. In the early years of the State of Israel, the major
rabbinic figures of the religious Zionist world all justified giving minorities
–Arabs too – full rights, including the ability to be elected to government positions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Indeed, even before the state was established, Rabbi Abraham
Isaac Kook permitted the sale of land in Israel to Muslims, as an essential
component of the “heter mechirah,” selling the land of Israel to a non-Jew
during the sabbatical year. He thereby enabled Jewish farmers to work the land
despite the shemitah requirement that the land lie fallow – a key compromise to
achieve success in the resettlement of the land.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, the Ashkenazic chief rabbi when
Israel was established, wrote a lengthy article justifying awarding full
political rights to all minorities in the new state. Rabbi Uziel, in the
comparable Sephardic role, agreed – and to the extent that he thought that
Rabbi Herzog’s long written justification of minority rights was problematic,
it was because the very effort implied that these rights were ever in doubt. At
least six different halakhic rationales were employed by different religious
Zionist rabbis to explain why minorities should have full rights in Israel (see Minorities
in the State of Israel: The Halakhic View, by E. Haddad, 2010, Hebrew).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By 1985, the leadership of one of Israel’s foundational
religious Zionist youth groups, Bnei Akiva, put out a book, “חביב אדם שנברא בצלם;
לקט מקורות ומאמרים לברור היחס לנוכרי ומעמדו בארץ” (“Beloved is Man for He was
Created in God’s Image: A sourcebook on attitudes towards foreigners and their
status in Israel”) to help participants understand the rights of non-Jews in
the Jewish state, and to clarify the potentially troubling statements in
rabbinic literature that appear to disparage non-Jews. The endeavor implies
that there were those who confronted the Bnei Akiva youth (or were a concern
for the future) wielding citations from rabbinic literature to “prove” that
non-Jews (in this case, surely Arabs) should not have full rights. The
religious Zionist leadership clearly disagreed, and set out to teach the young
people of the community to defend the state’s provision of full rights for
minorities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bnei Akiva should not have had to work so hard. Israel’s
Declaration of Independence – a binding commitment, surely – describes Israel
as the national home of the Jewish people, and also presents the state as
democratic, giving full rights to minorities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How far did the binding commitment of the Declaration of
Independence go? Rabbi Yehuda Amital believed it created a halakhic obligation,
similar to the one the biblical Joshua was under with regard to the Givonim, a
people who were welcome to live in the Israelites’ domain – essentially as
Members of the Tribe (with a few salient differences when it came to
particulars of marriage, the priesthood, and so on).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even the United Nations 1947 Partition Plan, aimed at
creating two states for Jews and Arabs, also presumed that the result would be
two democratic states.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But some key elements shifted some Israelis, indeed, some
religious Zionists, away from the givens of democracy. Perhaps it began with
the interpretation of the remarkable military victory of the Six Day War as
miraculous. In contrast to the UN’s role in Israel’s creation, which seemed a
reasonable outcome of very human geopolitical negotiations – despite the
halakhic significance that some rabbis attached to the UN decision at the time
– the military routing of Israel’s enemies in such a dramatic way suggested
divine intervention as the basis for the military superiority of the Jewish
state.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that youth group training was right on the money. It was
in the mid-1980s that new rabbinic voices began to emerge, with a different
take on Israel’s geopolitical reality. These rabbis were students of Rabbi Zvi
Yehuda Kook (son of Rabbi A. I Kook cited above), a strong opponent to the
notion of Israel returning any of the land it had gained during the Six Day
War. But adding that territory to Israel would more than double the percentage
of Arabs in the local population. That “influx” would threaten the Jewish
character of the Jewish state if granted full democratic rights. And so Rabbi
Zvi Yehuda’s disciples began to question the extent and the nature of the
rights given to the Arab minority – one rabbi, Elisha Aviner, attempted a
distinction between individual rights and national rights, to alleviate the
potential challenges to come.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sense of miraculous in 1967 also gave rise to an increase
in messianic anticipation – a feeling that the Jewish people were on the brink
of redemption in a more immediate way than the creation of the state itself had
let people believe. With confidence in Israel’s military superiority and the
feeling of better things on the horizon, many in the religious Zionist camp
began to turn away from the outside world. Values and priorities became
centralized in the Jewish world. Democracy began to be perceived as a Western
value – that is, not necessarily a Jewish one. It is a short step from
rejecting democratic principles to removing, or reducing, the civil rights of
minorities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To be clear: not all religious Zionist rabbis and thinkers
made this shift, but it has become entrenched in the religious Zionist
community. Perhaps the most dramatic confirmation of that is the approbation
some rabbis gave to Baruch Goldstein’s 1994 mass shooting of Arabs who were
praying in Hebron. Arabs were recast as enemies and potential terrorists –
inherently.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By 2010, a rabbinical degree prohibited selling or renting
property to Arabs – a direct contradiction of Rabbi Abraham Kook’s position on
selling land. His ruling about the status of Muslims was simply ignored. And
when Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein opposed the prohibition, its supporters
challenged his halakhic stature because he accepted the possibility of trading
territory for peace, rejecting his stance on the one question because of
disdain for his views in an unrelated area.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The religious Zionist community is not monolithic, and Rabbi
Lichtenstein’s students and supporters are an important component of it. A
substantial number of religious Zionists sit in the Knesset in an array of
parties outside of the Religious Zionist party, after all. But the party that
bears the community’s name represents a different, and potentially larger (the
numbers are not clear) segment of Israeli society. Were the next election held
today, polls indicate that the Religious Zionist party would win 10 seats. And
if the party were headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, it would win even more.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The obvious implications of the growing adherence to the
perspective of the Religious Zionist party are political. But the struggle to
define the halakhic perspective of religious Zionism with regard to minority
rights in Israel, and democracy overall, has broader significance. The
religious Zionists who helped found the State of Israel were not isolationists,
and their approach to minorities was a singular reflection of that. But in the
current milieu, the question of whether one can approach the modern world
through a prism of Torah when that modern world is being rejected in the name
of Torah is of particular concern.</p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-77992168433805814382021-12-22T09:41:00.003-06:002021-12-22T09:41:52.246-06:00Sex Abuse - The False Narrative of False Reporting<p><b>by Shana Aaronson</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #38761d;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-style: italic; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgjERAzpz_6fZCEV4fU6l581KMhq7B7rGtnMbgEy_GFwMGaY1VPgp7dzg4InSJ8SWua_MOGu4yKjfDF-UN7zPxuqHjW800_HqjCCgJRSpkuj5q1Oi2BZIeafdwYvE3RUvtOzxaf7bXw8SvdBkTyV_szKXntoLN5ex2sDlKSj_Zjk7uDEGNad60Kdm3=s400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgjERAzpz_6fZCEV4fU6l581KMhq7B7rGtnMbgEy_GFwMGaY1VPgp7dzg4InSJ8SWua_MOGu4yKjfDF-UN7zPxuqHjW800_HqjCCgJRSpkuj5q1Oi2BZIeafdwYvE3RUvtOzxaf7bXw8SvdBkTyV_szKXntoLN5ex2sDlKSj_Zjk7uDEGNad60Kdm3=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">S<span style="font-style: normal;">hana Aaronson (<a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-false-narrative-of-false-reporting/" target="_blank">TOI</a>)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>It's been awhile since I've posted anything here. But when this important <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-false-narrative-of-false-reporting/" target="_blank"><i>Times of Israel</i></a> article caught my eye, I felt it imperative to pass it along. Shana's words speaks for themselves. So without further comment, they follow:</span> </p><p class="MsoNormal">When you work in sexual assault advocacy, you are privy to
an endless amount of inaccurate information that gets thrown around, whether it
be on the internet or shared at the shabbos table.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Inaccurate and misleading information is always damaging.
But if I had to point to just one issue where myths do by far the most damage
in the fight against sexual abuse and assault, it’s those surrounding false
reports. Calling out those who intentionally promote myths around false
reporting is perhaps one the most effectives ways to give those abused the
confidence to come forward and seek justice. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The #MeToo movement was so important and no one is a bigger
feminist than me, but it’s open season on men now. Anyone can get angry at
anyone and accuse them of abusing them and there are no measures in place to
protect men from false allegations.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So many men’s lives have been ruined by false reports;
there’s an epidemic of false allegations”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I know it’s just a matter of time before some woman accuses
me of something!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The longer I work in education the more likely I know it is
that some student is going to say I was inappropriate with them.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m happy to allow a victim to go to the police if the
abuse really happened, but there are so many cases of false allegations that
you have to make sure it really happened first!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Have you ever heard any of the above? I have. I’ve heard
variations of every one of those sentences, on at least one occasion, by
influential people in our communities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obviously, false reports can have severe consequences and
ramifications on an innocent person’s life… which is exactly why there *are* so
many measures in place to make sure they don’t go anywhere. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When a victim makes a report, they are questioned
extensively by the police. Indictments can not be filed based on vague
allegations; they need specific descriptions of abuse, on specific dates (or at
least a close approximation of the date of the incident) with as many details
as possible. This is incredibly difficult for victims to recount, because
traumatic memories just don’t lend themselves well to this kind of recall. But
this is the law, and this is how the system works. I have watched detectives
sit with victims for hours while they try to verbalize and sometimes physically
simulate the horrific actions perpetrated against their bodies and souls. I
have sat with victims pouring over diaries and journals, recounting holidays
and birthdays marred by sexual assault, all in an effort to give law
enforcement the necessary timeline.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because when you accuse someone of assault, the unspeakable
needs to be spoken… or else the case gets thrown out. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will not even get into the confrontation process, or to
court testimonies, because *the vast majority of cases don’t even make it that
far*. I’ll get to that shortly. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So that’s all good and fine when it comes to police reports,
you might say. But what about the media? They accuse people all the time! </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do they though? I’ve worked with tens of journalists, and
participated in numerous exposes of sex offenders and predators. The
investigative process and due diligence is strict and extensive, to say the
least. Media outlets have deep pockets which make them very attractive targets
for libel and slander lawsuits. Mainstream media outlets have a legal TEAM
devoted to protecting them, and those lawyers review every such allegation
before it airs. And by “reviews”, I mean goes through with a fine tooth comb.
They require multiple victims to be willing to share their stories on the
record. They require recordings or documentation, endless corroboration. The
vast majority of cases known to journalists never see the light of day because
they can’t get enough evidence to meet the incredibly high standards set by
their legal departments. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And let’s talk about Israel’s slander laws for a moment.
Israel has some incredibly restrictive laws with regard to slander and
defamation. By “restrictive”, I mean the laws make it far easier to sue than in
other places, like the US. For example, you do not need to prove that you were
damaged in order to sue for defamation in Israel. Cases are virtually never
thrown out during pre-trial motions, so pretty much anyone can sue anyone if
they can point to even remote slander against them. Now they may lose, but abusers
frequently count on victims panicking and dropping their allegations when
confronted with the prospect of a lawsuit. Because even if you’ll win in the
end – it’s a headache, expensive, and pretty darn terrifying if you’ve never
dealt with the legal system before. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Speaking from personal experience – I’ve been sued or
involved in lawsuits more than once and it’s one of the less pleasant
experiences I’ve had. Bearing in mind that I am a well-connected (in this area)
professional with an organization and a team of professionals and a board of
directors and insurance and several lawyers… And it has still been incredibly
unpleasant, time-consuming and stressful. If you’re a traumatized victim of
sexual abuse with little financial resources, just working up the courage to
tell your story – and you’re slapped with a lawsuit… you’re
terrified. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In all of the years that I’ve been working in this field and
all the hundreds (thousands??) of victims I’ve spoken to, I have been privy to
exactly three instances of cases that may have been false reports. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In all three cases, no one’s life was ruined by the false
report. In the worst case scenario, the whole situation amounted to a very
awkward conversation or two for the accused. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you know what I’ve seen hundreds (thousands) of? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cases closed due to “lack of evidence”. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Journalists dropping stories because they couldn’t gather
enough evidence to publish. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Victims not being believed due to the abuser manipulating
and grooming the community.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Victims terrified to get help because of social
stigma. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Abusers going on to abuse and prey on others because initial
allegations were not taken seriously. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Intimidation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Taboos. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shame.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Claiming “there is nothing stopping anyone from accusing anyone
of abuse or assault” is a ridiculous distortion of reality.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what about numbers?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your children (both male and female) have a one in 5 chance
of being molested before they turn 18 (in Israel, that’s boys and girls). You
(if you’re a woman) and the women in your life have a 1 in 6 chance of being
the victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes. As a man, you have a 1
in 6 chance of being the victim of sexual molestation, assault, or attempted
assault in your lifetime. (For these and other statistics, visit <a href="https://www.children.org.il/" target="_blank">https://www.children.org.il/</a> and <a href="https://www.nsvrc.org/" target="_blank">https://www.nsvrc.org/</a>)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And out of actual 1,000 assault cases, .07 false reports of
sexual assault will be made to the police. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Put simply, focusing on false allegations is like the
statistical equivalent of refusing to wear a seatbelt because of those rare
cases when people are killed in an accident because of their seatbelt. Yes, it
happens. Yes, it’s horrific. But it’s not even remotely the primary danger at
play, and *it is almost always focused on to the detriment of the actual, real,
present, and likely dangers*. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obviously if you’re the rare individual who was falsely
convicted for rape and sat in jail before being exonerated, you don’t really
care about statistics – you care about being falsely convicted and the months
or years of your life that you’ll never get back. That’s more than
understandable. But the claim that “there is an epidemic of men being falsely
accused of sexual assault” is a lie. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is no epidemic of false allegations. There is a
terrible and rare smattering of false allegations. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the idea that you need to first “verify” if an
allegation is true before reporting it? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s called interfering with a criminal case, at best, and
corruption of evidence or witness tampering or intimidation, at worst. You do
not need to “verify” anything before performing your legal, moral, and halachic
obligation to report abuse. There are official bodies whose job it is to
investigate those alleged crimes – do not interfere. Building a case with
sufficient evidence is difficult enough without interference in the process.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“False allegations are so prevalent, it’s just a matter of
time before someone accuses ME of something!’ and “The longer I work in
education the more likely I know it is that some student is going to say I was
inappropriate with them.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Over the years, I have heard three prominent individuals
throw out that line publicly. All three of those men were predators. That’s not
a cute, casual, little soundbyte. That’s called laying the groundwork for a
defense and reputational comeback and an upcoming “See! I told you it was just
a matter of time before someone accused me!” Don’t be naive. No one has reason
to believe that it’s “just a matter of time” before someone accuses them of
sexual assault… unless they’ve committed sexual assault. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who promote the false narrative that a major problem
with sexual abuse is the amount of false complaints, are themselves part of the
problem. This myth undermines confidence in the ability of journalists,
activists and the criminal justice system to understand when a complaint is
serious or not, and perhaps most importantly, it undermines the confidence
(already a scarce commodity) of those who have been subjected to sexual abuse
or intimidation that they will receive a proper hearing and the ability to
achieve a just outcome. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So the next time someone you know begins to talk about false
accusations, please remember all of this somewhere in the back of your mind.
Perhaps consider, who stands to actually gain in this situation by being
dishonest? Is the concern here really false allegations, or are “false
allegations” being used as a smokescreen for the far more prevalent
injustices? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then, use your words and actions to help create safer,
honest, and just communities.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Shana Aaronson is the Executive Director of Magen for Jewish Communities, an Israel based non-profit providing education, awareness, mental health support, advocacy, and investigations around sexual abuse and its effect on individuals, families and communities. Shana holds a degree in psychology, certification in educational guidance counseling, training in abuse prevention with at-risk youth, and IFS therapy. Shana formerly served as the Assistant Director at Tzofiah, as social services coordinator for Magen Child Protective Services, and as COO of US based Jewish Community Watch. She volunteers as a madrichat kallot and birth assistant to women with histories of sexual and physical trauma. Shana lives with her family in Mateh Yehuda, Israel.</i></p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-82981459164383355842020-11-26T16:10:00.006-06:002020-11-26T16:13:53.371-06:00'A Promised Land' Explains a Lot<p><span style="color: #bf9000;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PrUlaUHIFXw/X8AnYhnuObI/AAAAAAAASYg/WqZrvmooUlQSts9rFQTl-QinynGSJklygCLcBGAsYHQ/s880/obama.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="880" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PrUlaUHIFXw/X8AnYhnuObI/AAAAAAAASYg/WqZrvmooUlQSts9rFQTl-QinynGSJklygCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/obama.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The former President in the Oval Office (<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/obamas-revisionist-promised-land/" target="_blank">JNS</a>)</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #bf9000;">A very <a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/obamas-revisionist-promised-land/" target="_blank">insightful review</a> of former President Barack Obama's new book as it pertains to Israel - by Dov Lipman:</span><p></p><p>(November 26, 2020 / JNS) I have never
criticized former U.S. President Barack Obama publicly—neither during my time
in the Knesset nor anywhere else—despite my having disagreed with many of his
policies. I am of the strong opinion that Israelis should not engage in or
interfere with American politics, and I regularly offer a blanket thank you to
all American presidents, including Obama, for their economic and military
support for Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, his memoir, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Promised-Land-Barack-Obama/dp/1524763160" target="_blank">A Promised Land</a>, is filled with historical inaccuracies
that I feel the need to address. His telling of Israel’s story (at the
beginning of Chapter 25) not only exhibits a flawed understanding of the
region—which clearly impacted his policies as president—but misleads readers in
a way that will forever shape their negative perspective of the Jewish state.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama relates, for example, how the British were “occupying
Palestine” when they issued the Balfour Declaration calling for a Jewish state.
But labeling Great Britain as an “occupier” clearly casts doubt on its
legitimacy to determine anything about the future of the Holy Land—and that
wasn’t the situation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While it is true that England had no legal rights in
Palestine when the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917, that changed just
five years later. The League of Nations, precursor to the United Nations, gave
the British legal rights over Palestine in its 1922 “Mandate for Palestine,”
which specifically mentions “the establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The League also said that “recognition has thereby been
given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to
the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The former president’s noted omission of the internationally
agreed-upon mandate for the British to establish a home for the Jews in
Palestine misinforms the reader, who will conclude that the movement for a
Jewish state in Palestine had no legitimacy or international consent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Over the next 20 years, Zionist leaders mobilized a surge
of Jewish migration to Palestine,” Obama writes, creating the image that once
the British illegally began the process of forming a Jewish state in Palestine,
Jews suddenly started flocking there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The truth is that Jews, who maintained a continual presence
throughout the 2,000 years that most were exiled from the land, had already
been moving to Palestine in large numbers way before then; considerably more
than 100,000 immigrants arrived in the late 19th century and beginning of the
20th century. Then, in the 1920s, high numbers fleeing anti-Semitism in Europe
could only find safe haven in Palestine, due to the United States having
instituted quotas in 1924 on the number of Jews who could enter America.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The number of immigrants rose even more in the 1930s, when
Adolf Hitler rose to power and began his conquest of Europe while the world
remained silent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Historical context is important, and once Obama chose to
write about the history, he should have provided the full context and portrayed
the Jews as they were: a persecuted and desperate people searching for safety,
and not, as he implies, strong conquerors flooding into Palestine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His claim that the new immigrants “organized highly trained
armed forces to defend their settlements” is also misleading. A more accurate
way to describe it would have been: “Because the Arabs in the region
mercilessly attacked the Jewish areas, the Jewish refugees had no choice but to
take up arms to defend themselves.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acknowledging that the Arabs were attacking Jews before
there was even a state of Israel is important historical context for
understanding the Israeli-Arab conflict.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A Promised Land recounts, as well, how the U.N. passed
a partition plan for Palestine in November 1947, by dividing the country into a
Jewish and Arab state, which the “Zionist leaders,” as he calls them, accepted,
but to which the “Arab Palestinians, as well as surrounding Arab nations that
were just emerging from colonial rule, strenuously objected.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama’s use of “Zionist leaders” instead of “Jewish leaders”
plays right into the current international climate, in which it is politically
correct to be “anti-Zionist,” while unacceptable to be anti-Jewish. (In
reality, Zionism is the movement for Jews to live in their biblical and
historic homeland, so being against that actually is anti-Semitism, but that’s
for another discussion.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The description of “Arab nations that were just emerging
from colonial rule” is a clear attempt to justify the Arab refusal of the U.N.
Partition Plan. Those poor “Arab nations” that have been suffering due to
outsiders colonizing their “nations” simply could not accept another “colonial”
entity, the Jews, entering the region.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the truth is that with the exception of Egypt, which was
not colonized, none of the neighboring countries that rejected the partition
plan had been established states before World War I. Yes, the post-war mandates
of the League of Nations gave control in the region to the British and the
French for a few decades, but this was in place of the Ottoman Empire that had
controlled the region for centuries. Thus, the image of countries emerging from
long-standing colonial rule as a subtle attempt to justify their objection to
the Partition Plan is simply false.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama tells the story of the establishment of the State of
Israel in two sentences, which are nothing short of outright revisionist
history: “As Britain withdrew, the two sides quickly fell into war. And with
Jewish militias claiming victory in 1948, the state of Israel was officially
born.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wow. I don’t even know where to begin. The two sides didn’t
“fall into war” when Britain withdrew; the two sides had been fighting for
decades, with the Arabs—who rejected more than half-a-century of efforts to
establish a Jewish state in the region—attacking the Jews, and the Jews
defending themselves. When the British then left the area in May 1948, the Jews
made a very difficult decision to declare their independence based on the U.N.
Partition Plan, which gave the right for a Jewish state alongside an Arab
state.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were no “Jewish militias claiming victory.” There was
a unified Jewish army that formed the Israel Defense Forces, which knew that
the surrounding Arab countries would begin an all-out assault to destroy Israel
the moment its Jewish leadership declared an independent fledgling Jewish
state. And that is exactly what the Arab armies did. The new State of Israel
fought off that assault for months, emerging in 1949 both weakened and fragile.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama’s perspective on the formation of the State of Israel
no doubt affected his foreign policy regarding the Jewish state. If one sees
Israel as a colonial force occupying the land as a result of its armed
militias, then it will be treated as an outsider that wronged others to
establish itself as a state. The former president misleads others into
believing this, as well.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The most disingenuous sentence of Obama’s history of Israel
is in his description of what happened during the 30 years following Israel’s
establishment: “For the next three decades, Israel would engage in a succession
of conflicts with its Arab neighbors…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What? I had to read that sentence many times, because I
could not believe that a president of the United States could write such
misleading, deceptive and damaging words about his country’s close ally.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Israel did not “engage” in any conflict with the surrounding
Arab countries. The Arab armies and their terrorists attacked Israel again and
again, and Israelis fought to defend themselves.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A straightforward history of Middle East wars involving
Israel yields this basic truth. Facts are facts, and the former president’s
misrepresentation of Israel as a country that sought conflict instead of
peace—one that willingly engaged in wars with the Arabs—does an injustice to
peace-seeking Israel and riles up anti-Israel sentiment.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama’s description of the 1967 Six-Day Way continues this
revisionism: “A greatly outnumbered Israeli military routed the combined armies
of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In the process, Israel seized control of the West
Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula
from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here he fails to address what led up to the war, when all
those Arab armies gathered along Israel’s borders and declared their intention
to wipe it off the map. He doesn’t describe Israel’s pleading with Jordan not
to enter the war, nor that Jordan altogether had no legal rights to the West
Bank, which it occupied in 1948 and annexed against international law in 1950.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most significantly, Obama fails to mention Israel’s
willingness, immediately after the war, to withdraw from all the areas that it
won in its defensive battle in exchange for peace; and by extension, he also
fails to tell of the Arab League’s “Three Nos” in response to that offer: no
peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This omission serves once again to portray Israel as the
aggressive occupier that seeks conflict and not peace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The former president continues with another outright
falsehood, which helps give insight into his policies regarding Israeli
settlements in the West Bank.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The “rise of the PLO (the Palestinian Liberation
Organization)” was a “result” of the Six-Day War he writes. That makes it seem
like the Palestinian liberation movement—including its violent and murderous
attacks against Israelis—was only a result of Israel’s taking control over the
West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It strengthens the message that if only Israel would vacate
these areas, there would be peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is
what spurs leaders around the world to suggest that Israeli settlements in
these areas are the obstacle to peace in the region.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But there is one flaw with this story and logic. It’s not
true. The PLO was established in 1964—three years before Israel was in control
of any of those “occupied” areas, and three years before there were any
settlements.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What exactly was this Palestinian organization liberating at
that time? Is there any conclusion other than the liberation of the Jewish
state in its entirety? What other option could there be?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is why the “Free Palestine” movement chants, “From the
river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” They are against the existence of
Israel anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They see
such a state as a colonial enterprise with armed militias grabbing the land of
others, just as Obama leads readers to believe when describing the formation of
the state.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The false description of the PLO rising after 1967 serves
the narrative that the “occupation” and the settlements are the cause of the
conflict, and this, no doubt, had a direct impact on Obama’s “not one brick”
policy, including freezing settlement construction, in an effort to bring about
peace between Israel and the Palestinians.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama describes the failed Camp David accords of 2000, in
which former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians more
than 90 percent of what they were asking for.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Arafat demanded more concessions, however, and talks
collapsed in recrimination,” he writes. But the talks didn’t simply “collapse.”
Sixty-six days later, Arafat unleashed the Second Intifada, in which 1,137
Israeli civilians were murdered and 8,341 were maimed by Yasser Arafat-funded
terrorists who blew themselves up in Israeli buses and cafes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Don’t trust my word on this. Mamduh Nofal, former military
commander of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, revealed
that following Camp David, “Arafat told us, ‘Now we are going to fight so we
must be ready.’”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In addition, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said in September
2010 that in the summer of 2000, as soon as Arafat understood that all of
his demands would not be met, he instructed Hamas, Fatah and the al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades to begin attacking Israel. And Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of
Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, has verified that the Second Intifada was
pre-planned by Arafat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not only does Obama fail to accurately connect the Second
Intifada to Arafat’s not receiving everything the Palestinians asked for at
Camp David—demands that would have prevented Israel from being able to defend
itself against Palestinian terrorism—but he seems to place the blame for the
intifada on Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He describes the September 2000 visit of Israel’s opposition
leader and subsequent prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem as “provocative” and a “stunt” that “enraged Arabs near and far.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But Obama neglects to mention that Sharon only visited there
after Israel’s Interior Ministry received assurances from the security chief of
the Palestinian Authority that no uproar would arise as a result of the visit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In fact, Jibril Rajoub, head of Preventive Security in the
West Bank, confirmed that Sharon could visit the sensitive area as long as he
did not enter a mosque or pray publicly, rules to which Sharon adhered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even more incredibly, Obama describes the Temple Mount as
“one of Islam’s holiest sites,” making no mention that it is the holiest
site in Judaism.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An innocent reader who is unfamiliar with the region and its
history reads this and concludes that it was simply wrong for a Jewish leader
to walk onto a Muslim religious site. On the other hand, if he or she knew that
it is the holiest site for Jews, then they would more likely wonder why there
was anything wrong with Sharon’s having gone there—except Obama omits that
part, leading anyone to conclude that Sharon was in the wrong.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That omission, together with the exclusion of Arafat’s plans
for the intifada right after negotiations at Camp David failed, can only lead
one to conclude that Israel was responsible for the five years of bloodshed
during the Second Intifada.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obama’s history lesson continues with the tension between
Israel and Gaza. Remarkably, he makes zero mention of the Israeli disengagement
from Gaza in 2005, when Israel pulled out all of its troops from the Strip
while forcing 9,000 Jewish citizens to leave their homes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyone reading the president’s description of the wars between
Israel and Hamas would never know that Israel no longer “occupies” Gaza, and
that the Palestinians have been free to build a wondrous “Israeli-free”
Palestinian state there for the last 15 years. That omission is glaring.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, Obama’s misleading words describing Israel’s
response to Hamas rocket fire on its civilian population only serves to inflame
and incite anti-Israel sentiment worldwide. That response, he writes, included
“Israeli Apache helicopters leveling entire neighborhoods” in Gaza—Apache
helicopters that he identifies as coming from the U.S., a subtle or
not-too-subtle questioning of whether the United States should be providing
Israel with military aid if it is used in this manner.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">More importantly, what does he mean by “leveling entire
neighborhoods,” other than to imply that Israel indiscriminately bombs Gazan
neighborhoods, willfully murdering innocent people? And what human being on
Earth wouldn’t be riled up to condemn Israel for such inhumane activity?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The problem is that it’s false. Israel targets terrorist
leaders and the rockets that they fire into Israeli cities. Tragically, Hamas
leaders use innocent Palestinians as human shields by hiding behind them in
civilian neighborhoods, and by launching rockets into Israel from there and
from hospitals and mosques.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Israel does its best not to kill innocent people—even
airdropping leaflets announcing an imminent airstrike—and calls off missions to
destroy rocket launchers or kill terrorist leaders when there are too many
civilians in the area. Israel most certainly does not launch retaliatory
attacks that aimlessly “level” entire neighborhoods.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have no problem with criticism of Israel. We can debate
the issues in intellectually honest discussions, and in the end, we may have to
agree to disagree about Israel’s policies. But no one should accept a book that
is filled with historical inaccuracies that invariably lead innocent and
unknowing readers to reach false conclusions. Such a devastating book has
real-life ramifications and consequences.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is terribly disappointing. I surely would have expected
truth, accuracy and fairness from Barack Obama, America’s 44th president. But
the falsehoods and inaccuracies in this memoir only feed the theory that Obama
was, in fact, anti-Israel. Now, through A Promised Land, he seeks to
convince others to join him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Dov Lipman served as a member of the 19th Knesset.</i></p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-66871265523329603072020-09-06T16:45:00.002-05:002020-09-06T16:47:38.603-05:00The Hidden Zionists<p><b>By Rabbi Marvin Hier</b></p><p><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ARNtEraUYXE/X1VW-IiY2cI/AAAAAAAASIY/6_6rqNnUM7cRbxm6eBJ6iU3GS0rEk9FRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s455/rabbi-marvin-hier.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="305" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ARNtEraUYXE/X1VW-IiY2cI/AAAAAAAASIY/6_6rqNnUM7cRbxm6eBJ6iU3GS0rEk9FRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/rabbi-marvin-hier.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rabbi Marvin Hier (SWC)</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #38761d;">Simon Weisenthal Center Founder and Dean (and Academy Award winner), Rabbi Hier makes some very keen observations in his <a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-hidden-zionists/" target="_blank">JNS article</a>. Hard to argue with:</span><p></p><p>It is common knowledge to anyone that studies the phenomenal
trajectory of the State of Israel that the miracle of its creation in 1948
would not have occurred without the pivotal role and support of
non-Jews—Christians who, unexpectedly and against all odds, suddenly seem to
arrive at the scene to take charge at key moments in the young Jewish state’s
72-year history.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harry S. Truman, a virtually unknown senator from Missouri,
replaces Henry Wallace as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pick as vice
president and, following the death of FDR, succeeds him. Truman then presides
over not only the defeat of Nazism, but the creation of the United Nations, and
in 1948 becomes the first to recognize the creation of the Jewish state. In
doing so, he defies the recommendation of his own Secretary of State, Gen.
George Marshall, a decorated World War II hero, who warns him that such a
recognition would endanger the United States by severing America’s relationship
with the oil-producing Arab world.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was non-Jews again who played the decisive role in
helping Shimon Peres and Israel build the Dimona nuclear plant in southern
Israel, which to this day continues to be Israel’s strongest deterrent against
the combined terrorist threat now posed by Iran and its proxies, Hamas and
Hezbollah. Peres, with David Ben-Gurion’s blessing, went to Paris, where he
befriended three French officials, two of whom—Guy Mollet and Maurice
Bourgès-Maunoury—later became the country’s prime ministers and agreed to lease
Israel uranium, a move that forever changed the strategic Arab advantage over
the tiny Jewish state.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In our time, there was President Donald Trump, fresh from
“The Apprentice” fame, who after coming to the White House makes his historic
and bold decision to be the first American president to recognize Jerusalem as
Israel’s eternal capital—a move that is not only opposed by the entire Arab
world as premature and endangering prospects for Middle East peace, but even
opposed by some Jewish Democratic members of the U.S. Congress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">his idea of the unexpected appearance of non-Jewish
heroes—suddenly from out of nowhere, stepping out of the shadows—is not at all
new. On the contrary, it is a well-articulated concept that made its appearance
at the very dawn of Jewish history.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the 20th-century Talmudist and thinker Rabbi Joseph B,
Soloveitchik points out, it was not only Abraham the Jew who discovered and
yearned for Zion, but Terach his non-Jewish father who first led him there. As
the Torah clearly states, “and Terach took Abraham his son … to go to the land
of Canaan” (Gen XI, V31). “Terach’s relationship with his son Abraham had been
hostile … infused with hatred and insanity he had conspired with the local
tyrants to destroy his own son both physically and spiritually … what changed
his mind? … stirrings of repentance … the thought that perhaps his sons way was
correct … a well-known revered and respected manufacturer of idols suddenly
abandoned everything to begin his life anew … father and son formally locked in
combat now started together on the march to Canaan … in order to be a great
teacher one must be able to reach his own family … that occurred when Terach
who once hated Abraham now reverses course and personally escorts him to the
promised land.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What Rabbi Soloveitchik is teaching is what the whole world
is now witnessing. Non-Jews, both Christians and now even Muslims, like the
leaders of the United Arab Emirates, are stepping forth to recognize the
legitimacy of today’s Zionists as the descendants and great-grandchildren of
Abraham, just as Terach himself once came forth to recognize the legitimacy of
his son Abraham, the founder and great lover of Zion.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Rabbi Marvin Hier is founder and dean of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center.</i></p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-77011863899838764972020-08-13T16:57:00.004-05:002020-08-13T16:58:37.989-05:00 A Foreign Policy Coup for the Trump Administration<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WjVAqxo09oc/XzW2gEzG81I/AAAAAAAASDY/LlJ7V32x83k1Qi0R2JANcYzYSiTDIQxsACLcBGAsYHQ/s696/PM-Netanyahu-speaks-with-Trump-and-UAE.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="696" height="219" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WjVAqxo09oc/XzW2gEzG81I/AAAAAAAASDY/LlJ7V32x83k1Qi0R2JANcYzYSiTDIQxsACLcBGAsYHQ/w328-h219/PM-Netanyahu-speaks-with-Trump-and-UAE.jpg" width="328" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Netanyahu speaks with Trump and Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed</span></td></tr></tbody></table>What are the odds that the mainstream media will either ignore this story. Or minimize it's significance if they don't ignore it. From the <i><a href="https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/historic-peace-deal-israel-uae-reach-peace-agreement-sovereignty-suspended/2020/08/13/" target="_blank">Jewish Press:</a></i><p></p><p>Israel and the United Arab Emirates have reached an historic
peace agreement, the first such event to take place since Israel and Jordan
signed their peace treaty in 1994. The two countries are expected soon to
exchange ambassadors and embassies, Reuters reported. </p><p class="MsoNormal">President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi closed the
deal — to be known as the “Abraham Accords” — Thursday in a phone conversation.
A joint statement issued by the three nations said the three leaders had
“agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United
Arab Emirates.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in
the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of
the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to
chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region,” the
statement said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will
meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment,
tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications and other issues, the
statement said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However, there’s a catch: “A result of this diplomatic
breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the
United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty” over areas of
the West Bank that were envisioned in the U.S. peace plan unveiled by Trump in
January.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, US Ambassador to
Israel David Friedman and Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz have been deeply
involved in the negotiations for the agreement, as well as Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the most important benefits to emerge from this
agreement will be the expansion and accelerated cooperation between Israel and
the UAE on COVID-19 treatment and vaccine development, which is to take place
immediately.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Israel for the foreseeable future will be focused on
building this relationship and pursuing all the advantages that can come from
having this new relationship with this country, and we also breaks the ice for
doing more normalizations and peace agreements with other regional players as
well,” a White House official told Reuters.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-23300115953520567352020-07-29T10:14:00.000-05:002020-07-29T10:18:34.757-05:00Let's Step Back from the Apocalyptic Rhetoric<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fj2c5RwONWs/XyGQqQauCYI/AAAAAAAAR-k/9Q0FA_r_tWEkc7xiHQRvIIGqgl0WQpCnACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/trump%2Bbiden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fj2c5RwONWs/XyGQqQauCYI/AAAAAAAAR-k/9Q0FA_r_tWEkc7xiHQRvIIGqgl0WQpCnACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/trump%2Bbiden.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The candidates and the apocalyptic rhetoric of their supporters (<a href="https://nypost.com/2020/07/26/trump-rips-joe-biden-for-calling-arizona-an-important-city/">NYP</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Words of wisdom from Jonathan Tobin. </span><span style="color: #38761d;">(</span><a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/on-tisha-bav-its-time-for-americans-to-step-back-from-apocalyptic-rhetoric/">JNS</a><span style="color: #38761d;">)</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Although tied to Tisha B'Av, they apply at all times and should be implemented by all.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Americans are experiencing a summer of discontent in a way
that exceeds any in living memory. The nation is divided not just along
political lines but seems increasingly immersed in something much dangerous—a
culture war in which both sides truly believe that not only will a triumph by
their opponents bring ruin, but that the very existence of the republic and
American democracy is at stake.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s why both Jews and non-Jews need to pause this week
and consider the lessons that the observance of Tisha B’Av: the day on the
Hebrew calendar that marks the destruction of both ancient holy temples in Jerusalem,
as well as many other catastrophes of Jewish history.<br />
<br />
The day of fasting and
reflection, which begins this year on the evening of July 29, is not observed
by most non-Orthodox Jews and generally considered too depressing to have
become part of secular American Jewish culture, which prefers holidays that
follow a model that runs along the lines of “they tried to kill us, we won,
let’s eat.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But if there was ever a year when its lessons were needed by
Americans of all faiths, it is 2020.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Tradition teaches us that the fall of the Second Temple in
70 C.E. occurred because of sinat hinam—senseless or baseless hatred—that
undermined Jewish resistance during the siege of Jerusalem and great revolt
against the forces of the Roman Empire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A war that pitted the forces of a small nation against the
world’s only superpower wasn’t going to have a happy ending, no matter how
united the defenders of Jerusalem had been. But the rabbis who subsequently
reconstituted Jewish faith emphasized the way that the Jewish rebels were
divided into competing factions within Jerusalem’s walls. In the civil war that
raged inside the doomed city, a Zealot faction destroyed food supplies that
could have prolonged resistance. Their self-destructive behavior made the task
of Roman conquest that much easier and provided Jewish history with a lesson of
what not to do to survive in a hostile world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s an important lesson, but not one that most Jews—or
non-Jews for that matter—find easy to follow.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The political lines dividing Americans are starker than at
any moment in living memory. It’s not just that Republicans and Democrats
disagree about the issues. Most of the supporters of President Donald Trump and
most of those who support his opponents seem unprepared to credit each other
with good intentions, period.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For good or ill, Trump is a singular figure in American
political history. His detractors don’t just see an outlier who deeply
distrusts the political establishment and thinks he has a mission to turn it
upside down. They view him as uniquely evil, an authoritarian determined to
destroy democracy. Epithets like “racist,” “fascist” or “Nazis” hurled at him
aren’t just insults. A large number of Americans truly believe that these are
accurate descriptions of him, and even worse, his supporters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trump supporters largely return the compliment and see
Democratic spending programs about a “Green New Deal,” open borders and
revisionist views of American history as the thin edge of the wedge of a new kind
of American socialism. Many disparage Trump’s opponent—former Vice President
Joe Biden—as a stooge of the far-left whose election will mean the triumph of
radical forces that will destroy the rule of law and implement measures that
will ensure that Democrats never lose another election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trump has helped coarsened discourse in a way that none of
his predecessors have done. They are consequences that stem from how populist
impulses turn up the political temperature in a way that makes the country
angrier and less open to the “better angels” of our nature to which Abraham
Lincoln once appealed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even if you think that his policies are misguided and his
conduct is particularly unfit for the presidency, the rhetoric of his opponents
is at least as irresponsible as anything Trump does.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The willingness of most Democrats to characterize the
administration’s recent attempt to defend federal facilities from violent mobs
who operate under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement as a “fascist”
coup or the operation of “secret police” comparable to the Gestapo is as
deplorable as it is absurd.<br />
<br />
The notion that the “mostly peaceful” BLM
demonstrations, which again turned into violent riots this past weekend in some
cities, are being wrongly suppressed by Trump is not a serious argument. One
can agree or disagree with the tactic, though representing his actions as
evidence of authoritarianism is pure partisanship intended to inflame public
opinion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In essence, both sides now see this November as a “Flight
93” election—a reference to the heroic effort of passengers on 9/11 to foil
their terrorist hijackers’ intentions to crash that plane into the U.S.
Capitol—in which there is no choice but to do anything to save the nation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That has set up a situation where Democrats are putting
about incendiary claims that Trump won’t go peacefully if he loses, and
Republicans are afraid that if the president does beat Biden, his opponents
won’t accept the results either and will encourage rioters to set our cities
aflame. The point is, as the lame-duck Obama administration’s investigations of
the Trump campaign’s mythical collusion with Russia demonstrated, there may be
a bit of truth to the assertion that no matter which side is defeated, the
losers won’t fully accept the outcome.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The stakes in this vote are high. But democracy doesn’t work
when those competing for votes won’t accept the other side’s legitimacy. Yet
increasingly, that is how many Americans feel about their opponents in a
political culture that has begun to resemble a tribal religious war.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now is the time for both sides to step back from the abyss
and speak to their opponents as fellow Americans as opposed to would-be
totalitarians or barbarian hordes that must be destroyed. On Tisha B’Av, rather
than only thinking of the suicidal fratricide that helped destroy the Second
Temple, perhaps we should also ponder the way all too many of us are routinely
seeking to demonize our opponents.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That may be too much to ask of some citizens so immersed in
the hatred of Trump or his opponents that they believe the inflammatory
rhetoric being fed to them by competing partisan media outlets. But that is
what is necessary if, lip service about preserving democracy notwithstanding,
we are to avoid scenarios where each side’s worst fears become a reality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News
Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin</i>.<br />
<br /></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-76833079687983067232020-04-17T13:14:00.002-05:002020-04-17T13:14:42.076-05:00I Still Cannot Believe This is HappeningIt'a like not being able to wake up from a nightmare!<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WE80_o6x854" width="560"></iframe>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-36971274689525569422020-02-02T09:22:00.006-06:002020-02-02T09:25:04.737-06:00Racism Within the Jewish Community<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 48px; margin: 0px 0px 7px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #111111; font-weight: 400; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 400; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: small;">By Elishva Rishon</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DBBHUgYDKsI/XjbohQHE2KI/AAAAAAAARcc/3rf-e2N3DT007gyyt5fnp9gv97c_EP89ACEwYBhgL/s1600/elisheva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DBBHUgYDKsI/XjbohQHE2KI/AAAAAAAARcc/3rf-e2N3DT007gyyt5fnp9gv97c_EP89ACEwYBhgL/s320/elisheva.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: 400;">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: small;">This important article from <i><a href="https://nashimmagazine.com/articles/hot-topics/racism-within-the-jewish-community/">Nashim Magazine</a></i> speaks for itself. There is nothing for me to add. It follows in its entirety.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I will start my story by saying that what you are about to
read is not an attempt to demonize an entire community. The Orthodox Jewish
community has the amazing potential to practice true Ahavat Yisrael and to
grow. The keyword here is “potential”. The Baal Shem Tov understood this, and
he spent his life trying to show Jews that they are supposed to be responsible
for each other and to show each other love. The concept of Ahavat Yisrael is
deeply imbedded in Judaism, yet, in my experience, as a Black Jewish woman, it
is a concept not always properly embraced.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I grew up in the Orthodox Jewish communities of Crown
Heights and Flatbush. As a child, I only saw myself as Jewish and equal to
everyone else. I loved singing Adon Olam at the top of my lungs. I
loved going over to the men’s side for the Kohanim’s blessing, and I smiled as
I felt the warmth of Hashem’s love underneath my Abba’s tallit. I loved saying
“Shabbat shalom” to people, even though they never said it back to
me. But in spite of my enthusiasm at being a Jew, I learned at a very young age
that some members of the Jewish community did not share this enthusiasm.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I will never forget my earliest memory of being introduced
to racism in my community. This earth-shattering moment occurred when I was
about 8 or 9 years old, in a shul in Crown Heights. On Shabbat, during the
Torah reading, a group of kids would always go out to play in the courtyard,
and being shy, I never knew how to ask them if I could play with them. Finally,
one day, I gathered up the courage and approached these girls, who were playing
with a ball, and asked them if I could play. The girls made faces and said,
“No, you can’t play with us—you’re black and dirty!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I didn’t understand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I checked my hands and showed them that they were clean.
They laughed. I insisted to them that I had just washed my hands in the
bathroom. They told me the “dirt” was all over my body, and then made a reference
to the word “black” again before running away, laughing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I was still confused.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">That Shabbat, I went home and looked in the mirror at myself
for hours until I saw that I was black. Once I saw it, I then
understood that being black made me “bad” and “dirty”. Until then, I only
thought I was Jewish.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The pain of this discrimination got even worse after I was
introduced to the concept of colorism (prejudice based on shades of skin tone).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The shul girls would never play with me or my younger sister
once they established that we were “black”, “bad” and “dirty”. However, once a
year, this rule was relaxed, when most of the other kids went away to summer
camp upstate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">With fewer kids to play with, the ones who were still around
felt it was “ok” to play with us—the black kids, the leftovers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">In this instance, I was standing side by side with my
younger sister, and the girls were deciding whether or not to play with us. I
remember them saying they would play with my sister but not me, because she was
the “lighter shvartze”, and “better” because she was “less dirty”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">When my younger sister went off to play with them, I ran to
the bathroom—the bad, smelly one that no one went into—to cry. I stayed there
until I heard davening conclude with the kids singing my favorite song, Adon
Olam.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The girls repeated this selection process over and over
again throughout the summer. Now exposed to colorism, I secretly began to
resent my sister, who was shades lighter than me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I also began to resent my dark skin and would try to wish it
away or scrub at it unnecessarily, in the hopes that it would make me lighter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Looking back on it now, it was utterly ridiculous, yet to my
young, developing mind, these negative interactions—followed by many, many more
similar situations—were creating deep trauma in my psyche.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Coming into adulthood, my experiences of racism within
Orthodox circles only became more complex and troubling. To be clear, not
every racist situation I have had to endure was always done in such an obvious
manner. Some racist interactions are absentminded ones. However, most
racist exchanges are less apparent and very subtle—aka microaggressions. They
are much more common than loud, screaming racism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I have experienced these microaggressions in everyday
situations, such as:<br />Walking into a Jewish store with Jewish friends and being
the only one watched and followed by the store manager.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Being at a job interview with a Jewish employer who makes
comments like, “I was expecting a Jewish girl from Brooklyn,” and when I say,
“I am a Jewish girl from Brooklyn,” he looks at me with smug
disbelief.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Being on a shidduch date, and having to tell the man to stop
touching me since I am shomer negiah, and then he smirks and uses various words
to insinuate that I must be immoral because, in his experience, someone who
“looks” like me doesn’t act appropriately.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Being at a singles shabbaton in a hotel, dressed in fancy
Shabbat clothes, wearing a Magen David necklace, and still, several fellow
Jewish attendees throughout the event approach me to ask me when their dinner
will be served or why I am there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">When someone refuses to believe that I am Jewish or was born
a Jew and says, “You don’t look Jewish.”</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">These microaggressions don’t go away with time or when
“people get to know you”, as some in the community love to claim. No—they are
persistent to this very day, because this behavior is generally tolerated in
Orthodox Jewish culture. It is inescapable. And it is something that eats away
at my neshama, hurting it, every day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Another awful aspect of going through these experiences is
telling my friends in the community what is happening, and then being told 1 of
3 things, or even all 3 things at once:<br />1. “I don’t believe you. Prove it.”<br />2. “Stop being so sensitive. Everyone has a tikkun—yours is
being black. Deal with it.”<br />3. “Stop being so negative. If you were more positive,
people would not be racist toward you. Also, stop making a Chillul Hashem by
talking about bad things other Jews do to you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">It is so frustrating to hear these responses repeatedly
throughout your entire life. It makes you feel helpless, as you are being
victimized again. It makes you feel like you are being a bad Jew by discussing
being treated poorly, differently or both, just because of your skin
color. It makes you feel anger and humiliation, as no one wants to make a
change and would rather label you as the problem.<br />It also places a huge burden on you to handle this constant
behavior on your own—something which directly goes against the concept of
communal responsibility associated with Ahavat Yisrael.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #111111; font-weight: 400;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I hope that I have brought some awareness to the community
by writing this article. I would like to ask the members of the Orthodox Jewish
world to be more mindful of other Jews and what they teach their children, and
to listen to Black Jewish people and believe Black Jewish
people when we tell you we are dealing with situations of discrimination. We
can’t fight these battles on our own—we can only work on this together as a
community.<br /> </span></div>
</h1>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-47614088902792037032020-01-23T09:07:00.001-06:002020-01-23T09:07:29.730-06:00A Major Kiddush HaShem<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wo3FNrUKlpo/Xim1rrarB9I/AAAAAAAARak/vTWCIwpEc6M5-IL069WL0oRGkovc4huXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/fortune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="1079" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wo3FNrUKlpo/Xim1rrarB9I/AAAAAAAARak/vTWCIwpEc6M5-IL069WL0oRGkovc4huXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/fortune.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Darchei Torah Honoree, Everett Fortune (<a href="https://mishpacha.com/fortune-of-honor/">Mishpacha</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If there was ever a major Kiddush HaShem, this one is it! From <i><a href="https://mishpacha.com/fortune-of-honor/">Mishpacha Magazine:</a></i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The short clip that went viral on frum social media last
week depicted a scene as improbable as the story behind it.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yeshivos are always looking for the surprise honoree to wow
dinner guests, the next level keynote speaker who will keep donors coming back
the following year. His last name aside, Yeshiva Darchei Torah did not honor
Everett Fortune for the number of ads he could attract for the dinner journal.
In fact, Fortune was not even aware he would be honored when he showed up
Sunday night in a red-and-white-striped shirt, black jacket, and dashing
Homburg, he told Mishpacha in an interview.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Everett Fortune is Darchei’s chief of security, a position
he’s held for the past 30 years. He recently recovered from a years-long
illness, and the yeshivah wanted to express its appreciation for his decades of
work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He knows every single child, he knows every single parent,”
said Rav Yaakov Bender, the rosh yeshivah, as he introduced Mr. Fortune to the
dais.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fortune was greeted with an extended standing ovation as he
made his way up, embracing Rav Shlomo Avigdor Altusky, rosh yeshivah of
Darchei’s Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid, and shaking hands along the way.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m about to burst wide open over here,” said Fortune,
tapping his heart as he searched for the right words. “You don’t know, ah,
well…”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The applause resumed as two generations of students
celebrated the man who greeted them as they got off the bus in the morning or
who may have woken them up for Shacharis.</div>
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Woken them up for Shacharis?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yes. Fortune lives near the yeshivah in Far Rockaway and is
available for whatever the school needs, said Rabbi Moshe Benoliel, Darchei’s
director of alumni affairs. Including pulling the hardest duty of all.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I used to be the vekker,” Fortune said. “I used to go
around to the dorms and get them out of bed. I loved it. I used to turn over
mattresses so they would get out of bed and get to Shacharis on time. That was
one of my most exciting [duties].”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fortune grew up in Inwood, on Long Island, where he attended
Lawrence High School in the late 1960s. It was there that he got his first
close exposure to Jews.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I grew up close to the Jewish neighborhood,” he said. “I
learned about Jewish food through my mom, who used to be a cook for a family
named Lichtman in Woodmere. My mom and dad always taught me to be friendly to
everybody, so I was friendly to everybody.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Darchei opened in 1972 and purchased its current campus in
1990. “Everett was literally the second security guard hired, the first one was
his brother, Elliot,” Rabbi Benoliel said. “Very quickly afterward they hired
Everett. Elliott is retired and Everett is still here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mother of the Fortune brothers passed away in 2004. She
was a regular attendee at the annual Darchei dinners, her son said. Fortune
said she would have had a lot of nachas from the plaque he received from the
yeshivah, along with the warm appreciation.</div>
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Hundreds of others also had nachas watching.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh, my gosh, I’ve had parents stopping in middle of the
street, holding up traffic, just telling me how much they loved it and how much
they love me,” Fortune said. “They told me it was a great honor, and you
deserved it. Even the students came up to me, and they said, ‘We love you. You
looked great.’ And they liked my Homburg hat. One mother told me, ‘I saw the
video,’ and she just started crying.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the years, Fortune evolved from being one of two
security guards to overseeing a whole team of security, which includes what
Rabbi Benoliel calls “measures seen and unseen to protect the students 24/7.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I just get my energy from these kids,” Fortune said. “I
call them ‘my little kinderlas.’ I love them. The way they greet me when they
get off the bus, it’s a great feeling all the way around. Also with the high
school, with the bochurim.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Former students who are parents take pride in pointing Fortune
out to their children and saying, “Look, kids, he used to be my security guard
when I was a kid.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But things were not going so well four years ago. Fortune
was diagnosed in 2016 with stage four colon cancer. He remembers the date of
his diagnosis vividly — it was on his birthday, March 14.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender, a son of the rosh yeshivah and
founder of Achiezer, the largest social services organization in Far Rockaway
and the neighboring Five Towns, harnessed his organization on Fortune’s behalf,
finding him a specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital. Fortune underwent multiple
surgeries as the cancer spread to his liver.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I had so many parents coming to visit me, students daven
for me,” he recalled. “The office staff came and davened for me. It was
unbelievable.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One incident that “really got to me,” he said, was when a
preschooler approached him during a rare return to the school during his
illness and asked indignantly, “Where. Have. You. Been? I missed you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rav Bender recalled at the dinner how the desk nurse at
Mount Sinai, who was also African American, asked him who Fortune was. There
were so many visitors, she figured he must be important.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I explained that he is the person who cares most about the
students in our school. He’s the chief of security,” said Rav Bender, his arm
wrapped around Fortune’s shoulders. “She said that in all her years of her
being in the hospital, she never saw as many visitors as she saw for Mr.
Everett Fortune.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took a few years, but he got a clean bill of health in
2019. He attributes that to all the tefillos said on his behalf.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I used to tell the kids, ‘Get upstairs for Shacharis, you
have to daven,’ ” he said. “I went to the classroom, and I explained to
them, ‘You put that tefillin on. It works. Daven! I’m standing in front of you
now because you davened for me. I’m telling you.’ ”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I have no problem with the kids going to Shacharis now,” he
added with a laugh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He also ascribes his good health to a small bracelet he
wears on his hand.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“When I was in the hospital doing very bad, one of the
bochurim from the high school put this on my wrist,” Fortune said. “He said,
‘Everett, you don’t have anything to worry about. I’m going to put this
bracelet on you — it says Thank You, Hashem.’ I don’t leave home without
it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If he had the chance to give his acceptance again, would it
be any different?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I had no idea that I was going to be honored,” Fortune
said, still awed by the event four days later. “I had no idea whatsoever. I’m
still numb. I’m in awe. I’m like, wow,” he said, breaking off into laughter.
“My legs are still buckling. I’m overwhelmed. I still can’t believe it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“There’s nothing like the Darchei family over here,” he
added. “There’s just nothing like it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-35248307989433638592019-12-24T08:38:00.004-06:002019-12-24T08:39:01.497-06:00Big Wow!<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5kxDCv85FXc" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-55034675228741655612019-11-06T08:38:00.000-06:002019-11-06T08:38:52.049-06:00Political Correctness at its Worst<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rh-m0wFIyKM/XcLaQcBlmPI/AAAAAAAARNI/KmzUFFHWQ38shfquebDcL1T78wsIo6hswCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Rabbi-Avraham-Elimelech-Firer-880x495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="880" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rh-m0wFIyKM/XcLaQcBlmPI/AAAAAAAARNI/KmzUFFHWQ38shfquebDcL1T78wsIo6hswCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Rabbi-Avraham-Elimelech-Firer-880x495.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer (<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/turning-rabbi-firers-blessings-into-a-feminist-curse/">JNS)</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The following </span><a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/turning-rabbi-firers-blessings-into-a-feminist-curse/">column</a><span style="color: #274e13;"> in JNS by Ruthie Blum says it all:</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The brouhaha surrounding a benefit concert whose proceeds
were earmarked for the health-care NGO, <a href="https://www.ezra-lemarpe.org/en/about/about-us?page=0%2C1">Ezra Lemarpe</a>—founded
and directed by genius medical autodidact Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer—is a
perfect example.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The concert, a tribute to the 50-year career of Israeli
singer Shlomo Artzi ahead of his 70th birthday, was supposed to take place on
Nov. 20. It was canceled on Monday by Firer, who was fed up and clearly hurt by
the commotion that his religious beliefs were causing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The carry-on began when it emerged that certain female
singers would be on the program, along with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
and other prominent performers. But the rabbi is a haredi (ultra-Orthodox)
Jew who adheres to the modesty directive that men may not hear women singing,
as their voices can be seductive.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This tenet of kol b’isha erva (“a woman’s voice is
nakedness”) has been the subject of much controversy among Israelis who
consider it a sexist affront. Two recent gender-segregated music festivals that
were held in public spaces catapulted this issue back into the headlines. A
nationwide argument erupted over the limits of religious freedom and practice
in the public sphere, particularly when involving state-funded or municipal venues.
One slogan that was slung around during the battle against those events was:
“We’re not Saudi Arabia.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is thus that when the organizers of the gala honoring
Artzi discovered and revealed that no female vocalists would be able to
perform, incensed women artists made a stink, and their male counterparts began
to announce that they couldn’t possibly appear on stage under such
circumstances. You know, out of “solidarity” and in “principle.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which actually meant that they feared being accused of
chauvinism.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thankfully, a handful of stars, including women, came out on
Firer’s side. They argued that fulfilling the rabbi’s wish would be a
negligible price to pay for the millions of people, including women, whom he
has served and whose lives he has saved.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The iconic Artzi, dubbed by some as “Israel’s Bruce
Springsteen,” was not one of them. Instead, he said that he would “do
everything he could” to persuade the rabbi to suspend kol isha just
this once. It was both silly and an expression of utter ignorance. Indeed, he
might as well have suggested that Firer dine on pork during the concert in
order to smooth ruffled feathers.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If anything illustrates the danger of viewing individual
issues through an inflexible ideological prism, this is it. Firer has proven
himself to be a selfless and heroic figure, who has done nothing but use his
eerie gift to help comfort and heal millions of people, without regard to their
ethnic, religious or gender identities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His almost mystical talent is a self-taught encyclopedic
knowledge of diseases and cures; the ability to read and swiftly decipher
complicated medical charts and scans; and the skill to diagnose rare conditions.
He uses the above to refer each of the dozens of patients he sees daily—at no
charge—to the appropriate doctors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For his tireless efforts and the running of Ezra Lemarpe, he
was awarded the Israel Prize in 1997, as well as honorary doctorates from the Weizmann
Institute of Science and the University of Haifa in 2002 and 2008,
respectively. Israelis from all walks of life have sought and received his
advice and expertise. So well-known has his miraculous medical “matchmaking”
become that he is as big a star as Artzi, but for a far more important reason.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sanctity of life is but one of Firer’s religious
principles. Another is refraining from listening to women sing. Allowing the
latter to cancel out the former not only is intolerant and unjust, but exposes
the kind of narrow-mindedness that feminists and fanatical secularists accuse
the haredim of possessing. In this case, it also turned what would
have been a blessed happening into an empty auditorium.</div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-9483129535322109562019-10-24T14:08:00.001-05:002019-10-24T14:09:22.205-05:00Trump 1999 Someone sent me this unbelievable 60 Minutes story about Donald Trump - who was interviewed by Dan Rather at the time. Trump's personality has not changed.<br />
<br />
He considered running for President back then. Most of the people that saw that 60 Minutes segment probably laughed at the idea. One so called expert said it would never happen. One of the few things that are indeed actually impossible. And that Trump knows that. Kind of makes us all look foolish now.<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hhfWFDdyWBE" width="560"></iframe>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-47332409950454350702019-08-07T09:55:00.000-05:002019-08-07T09:55:53.768-05:00Centrists, Charedim, and Open Orthodoxy<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pdj1RmiB7mg/XUrlAijrBSI/AAAAAAAAQ98/ZqDWiqZnHIAt1MJGNdaS3hIemHyh2u44ACLcBGAs/s1600/jm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pdj1RmiB7mg/XUrlAijrBSI/AAAAAAAAQ98/ZqDWiqZnHIAt1MJGNdaS3hIemHyh2u44ACLcBGAs/s1600/jm.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rabbi Jonathan Muskat (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/5TownsEducationConference/posts/1716915818563001:0">Facebook</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Brilliant piece of writing in the </span><i style="color: #38761d;"><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/modern-orthodoxys-relationship-with-the-charedi-and-open-orthodox-communities/">Times of Israel</a></i><span style="color: #38761d;"> by Rabbi
Jonathan Muskat. It reflects my views completely. Only he said it much better
than I ever could have. It follows:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week I authored a blog post where I suggested
parameters for preventing a schism within Orthodoxy in general, and between the
Modern Orthodox and Open Orthodox communities in particular. I received much
feedback from this post, and one central question that intrigued me was why I,
and for that matter other modern orthodox Rabbis, feel compelled to call out
practices we disagree with on the left (for example, partnership minyanim) and
not on the right (such as the erasure of women from publications). I
can’t speak for other modern orthodox Rabbis, but I can share with you my
perspective on this matter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe that both the Charedi and open orthodox
leadership, like the modern orthodox leadership, are sincerely motivated to
engage Jews to connect with God in a meaningful way. Nonetheless, as I
noted last week, there are circumstances that I believe compel me as an
Orthodox Rabbi to speak out. Despite my greatest wishes for unity, there are
issues that put the integrity of Orthodoxy at stake and it is insufficient to
remain silent or even “agree to disagree.” The question is, of course,
what are those issues? When must we draw a line in the sand and say, “this is
not Orthodox Judaism?”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Regarding my relationship with the Charedi community, much
of the Torah that the Charedi world produces has nothing to do with
controversial hashkafic issues and I want to benefit from their Torah.
The Charedi or more insular world is hundreds of years old, if not more, from
Ashkenazi Jews in the Middle Ages to the Eastern European communities, and
there is a tremendous amount that we can learn from them. Even in
areas where I disagree with them, I am often able to understand the sources
they rely upon for their approach. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I recall reading an article by Rav
Aharon Lichtenstein where he pointed out that whereas he supported the Hesder
Yeshiva movement, nevertheless, the “non-Hesder/Torah-only” movement is backed
by Torah leaders, also has a religious tradition, and is also legitimate.
He wrote that “hesder is at least as legitimate a path as any other. It
is to my mind, a good deal more; but surely not less.” His disagreement
with other Torah leaders about the Hesder Yeshiva movement essentially became a
classic debate similar to the debates between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel.
On this issue and others, I have no problem expressing to my community
where my approach differs from the Charedi approach, while recognizing that
they have Gedolim who support their positions as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That being said, I do not identify with many hashkafic
positions held widely within the Charedi community. In addition to their
reluctance to send their boys in Israel to serve in the Israeli defense forces,
I disagree with their approach regarding the Kollel movement as well as their
lack of higher Jewish education in the area of Torah She’ba’al Peh for women,
just to name a few issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do I do about all this? For the most part, as a
Rabbi in the modern orthodox community, I address issues facing my community
and not issues facing the Charedi community. Just as I would not want the
Charedi community to impose their view on my community, I allow them to deal
with their issues to the extent that those issues generally only affect their
community. However, I will speak out if I feel that their position may
impact the modern orthodox community. And of course, I espouse the modern
orthodox approach in my shul, from advocating for high level of Torah She’ba’al
Peh study for women, to celebrating Israeli soldiers in our community, to
clearly stating, when necessary, that I believe in the “learner-earner” model
for the vast majority of our community.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently, a new issue has emerged where the Charedi and
modern orthodox communities diverge. That is, the elimination of pictures
of women from Charedi publications, some of which are purchased by modern
orthodox Jews. In the past, I have expressed my opposition to this
practice. This practice does not reflect our Jewish value of modesty, and
I have noted that in modern orthodox publications and websites (like the OU and
RCA), pictures of women are featured. Rav Hershel Schachter himself
called this practice silly. However, the publications that have removed
women’s pictures are Charedi publications run by Charedi leadership. The
fact that many modern orthodox Jews purchase those publications perhaps
suggests that our community should respond by producing our own quality weekly
Torah publications where pictures of women are featured, as they always have
been.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Regarding the open orthodox movement today, the issues at
hand are often of a different nature. By definition, some are schismatic
issues that are more challenging to simply “agree to disagree.” The last
Mishnah in the first chapter of Yevamot describes two schismatic
issues: different standards of permitted food and different standards of whom
one may marry. If I can’t eat at your home or I can’t marry your child,
then that is considered schismatic according to the Mishna, for obvious
reasons. Additionally, more recently, another schismatic issue came up –
can I daven in your shul? Once Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Soloveitchik
forbade orthodox Jews from praying in a non-mechitza minyan, that effectively
severed the orthodox community from the conservative community. A central
component of a religious community is communal prayer and if I can’t pray in
your synagogue then I cannot be part of your community.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the divergent issues between the modern and open
orthodox communities today relate to standards of freeing agunot, standards of
conversion, and partnership minyanim. Each of these issues alone has the
potential to be schismatic. If our divergent practices mean that a modern
orthodox Jew cannot marry an open orthodox convert or an agunah freed according
to open orthodox practice, or if he cannot pray in an open orthodox minyan, a schism
will likely occur.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other issues that divide the modern orthodox and open
orthodox communities may be less certain to lead to schism. Both the
modern orthodox and open orthodox communities are struggling with issues that
relate to LGBTQ Jews in our communities, and time will tell how each community
responds to this very theologically-challenging issue. Any response that
essentially states that a prohibition of “arayot,” a sin whose punishment is
“karet” mentioned in the Torah, no longer applies, may further alienate the two
communities. Were our two communities to differ in our interpretation or
reinterpretation of such a strong Torah verse, I do fear that the gap between
us would grow significantly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Additionally, aside from the particular issues upon which we
disagree, I think that there is a foundational methodological difference in the
way that the open orthodox and modern orthodox communities approach
innovation. That is, our deference to the opinions of the prominent Torah
scholars of our generation on issues of major import.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In the modern orthodox world, Poskim who are well-versed and
are clearly recognized Torah leaders of our community in all areas of halacha,
not just the “hot button topics,” are the ones who collectively provide
guidance on both new and challenging issues. It doesn’t mean that
they are experts in medicine or politics or psychology or that they have powers
of prophecy, but it means that in significant areas that affect the future of
our community, we look to them for guidance. And after they have
adequately reviewed the critical facts in each case, often with the guidance of
experts, such as doctors, politicians, or psychologists, as the case may be, we
trust them to determine what the practice of our community should be. Sometimes,
they will tell us that we are in a position to make these determinations for
ourselves. In fact, often community Rabbis are told that they know the issues
involved and are best suited to decide for themselves and their
communities. However, our deference to our Gedolim means that we consult
with the acknowledged Poskim for critical contemporary issues. Sometimes
they will say “yes,” sometimes they will say “no,” and sometimes they will say,
“you decide.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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I don’t think that this approach is shared by the open
orthodox community. Within the open orthodox community, it is my
understanding that Rabbis feel more empowered to innovate even when there is no
prominent Torah scholar described in the previous paragraph who supports a new
practice. In fact, I believe that many of the differences between our two
communities regarding the “hot button issues” of our day reflect this different
methodological approach; where open orthodox leaders are more eager to respond
to challenges with innovation, modern orthodox leaders will not accept a new
practice without the approval of our greatest halachic decisors.</div>
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<br /></div>
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To be fair, within the modern orthodox community, the
deferential approach I described is often met with resistance. Indeed, I
believe that many in the modern orthodox community have difficulty with this
approach, as they believe that some decisions by the modern orthodox Poskim
seem arbitrary and illogical. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I think the reason for this is
twofold. First, maybe the modern orthodox Rabbinic leadership needs to
spend more time addressing challenging issues and clarifying why they opt to
innovate in some circumstances and not others. This problem can be fixed
with better communication and more access to the modern orthodox Rabbinic
leadership. The second problem is harder to solve. That is, we live
in a world today that has far less respect for institutions and experts than we
did years ago. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Contemporary culture tells us that we know better, and
this philosophy has unfortunately crept into our Jewish communities. As
such, if a religious expert has weighed many different considerations in
arriving at a conclusion to a “hot-button” issue, especially if that conclusion
is counter-cultural, some in our community would argue that even though
they may not have the same halachic knowledge as the religious expert, they
understand the issue and are in a position to offer a different ruling.
This presents a challenge for modern orthodox Rabbinic leadership, as
deference to authority and respect for expertise is foundational to our
practice.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In sum, though there is a divide between the modern and
Charedi communities with respect to certain issues, those issues tend to be
less foundational to our practice of halachic Judaism and less necessarily
schismatic. Still, we in the modern orthodox world should clearly
advocate our position, especially when it affects our community, such as the
issue of eliminating women’s pictures in publications or service in the Israeli
army.</div>
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<br /></div>
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When it comes to the possibility of schism between the
modern and open orthodox communities, I am more concerned. With regard to
the open orthodox community, some of our disagreements are on issues that by
definition may be schismatic. Issues that affect Jewish status and
differences in communal prayer are two prime examples. Additionally, our
different approaches to innovation and leadership may, in the long run, simply
push our communities farther apart. I worry that in time, as each side becomes
less comfortable with the other’s religious worldview, less interaction between
the two communities will ultimately cause a schism that wholly separates the
two. It is my hope that we do retain the goal of living amongst each
other and avoiding schism whenever possible. Our community is stronger
when we are unified, and I still do believe that there is much that currently
unites us.<br />
<br /></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-17493220194781363572019-08-04T16:41:00.004-05:002019-08-05T09:03:39.664-05:00Not Your Father's Lakewood<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X87OLSJ3UXI/XUdQxozK4GI/AAAAAAAAQ9M/6epeMrE59vEgp76TMTSmE0sNXli6SKrngCLcBGAs/s1600/Kotler%252C%2BReb%2BAharon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="780" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X87OLSJ3UXI/XUdQxozK4GI/AAAAAAAAQ9M/6epeMrE59vEgp76TMTSmE0sNXli6SKrngCLcBGAs/s320/Kotler%252C%2BReb%2BAharon.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">BMG Founder, R' Aharon Kotler</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #274e13;">The following letter by Yosef Shidler, appeared in <i><a href="https://greaterlakewood.com/attn-vaad-you-may-not-like-it-but-lakewood-is-changing-the-sea-of-black-and-white-is-dotted-with-color/?fbclid=IwAR2qtVILwFW634gw6hsPs5CuRavEWV_UQNv4h5gXBq3BH75Lh5Tf6n5_nIM">Greater Lakewood</a></i>, a publication geared for the Charedi world in Lakewood, New Jersey.
As most Orhtodox Jews know, Lakewood is the home of BMG, the flagship
institution of the Charedi world in America. The letter speaks for itself. If
it is anywhere near an accurate description of what goes on in this town, it is
a devastating indictment of how this community has evolved. Without any further comment, I present it in full.</span></div>
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So here we go again.</div>
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It’s another year and another story about Lakewood, New
Jersey, also occurring right around the Nine Days, a period when we mourn the
loss of our Batei Mikdash, one of which was destroyed because of the sin of
sinas chinam – baseless hatred, or thinking that you are better than everyone
else. As we reflect upon the lessons of the Nine Days and try to improve
our ways, it is also appropriate to consider our responsibilities as the chosen
people to be a light unto the nations in this world.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Clearly in the past few weeks the Jewish community has done
exactly that. Dozens of people dropped everything to aid in the search
for Rabbi Reuven Bauman when he went missing in Norfolk, Virginia. $2
million dollars was raised to pay the only medicine that could save the life of
a small child. Hundreds of people who turned out to mourn a young boy who died
in a tragic water park accident. All of these events are proof positive
that we are united in so many ways, with so much good in our community and so
many chesed organizations stepping up to help others in need. On the surface it
looks like we are doing everything right and that we have done what we needed
to bring Moshiach. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But he’s still not here. And from where I sit, we
still have a long way to go. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Lakewood itself has so much that is right about it. A
2014 New York Times article discussed the unprecedented giving that goes on on
a daily basis and the number of educational institutions here is
staggering. And yet, there are things going on in this town that nobody
wants to talk about and that in some instances seem to be deliberately done
behind the scenes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Let’s step back for a moment in time and consider Rav Aaron
Kotler zt’l and how Lakewood came to be. Rav Aaron had a dream of building a
small yeshiva for the top bochurim, that maybe one day might draw 100
students. He built Beis Medrash Govoha to bring his vision to life,
choosing the small resort town of Lakewood, New Jersey. He imagined that
bochurim and avreichim would come and learn in Lakewood and when they left the
yeshiva’s hallowed halls, they would move elsewhere, leaving Lakewood as a
haven for top-tier learners.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Little did Rav Aaron realize that his yeshiva would be so
successful that it would undermine what he had set about to do. Rav Aaron was succeeded by his son Rav Shneur zt’l, with his grandsons Rav
Malkiel and Rabbi Aaron Kotler currently at the helm of BMG. As time went
by, a shift in our culture meant that suddenly any “quality” boy would, of
course, be learning full time, a major change from the days when only the best
of the best stayed on in yeshiva. And a construction boom created a stock
of reasonably priced housing all over Lakewood, with a solid infrastructure
built to provide for the needs of the many families who flocked to the town in
search of a Torah community with modern conveniences. Hoping to head
those problems off at the pass, the Lakewood Vaad was created to ensure that
BMG remained the focal point of the town and that its residents fit the
yeshiva’s cookie cutter mold.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Baruch Hashem, Lakewood is home today to dozens of wonderful
yeshivos, but when it comes to getting our little ones into school, things can
be exceptionally difficult, especially for those who don’t fit into the BMG
box. Me? My family and I moved here from Crown Heights where housing was
unaffordable. We soon found ourselves very much at home in Lakewood and while
we were warned that getting your kids into school was “not easy but not
impossible,” we weren’t really worried about running into an serious
roadblocks. .</div>
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<br /></div>
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If you know me, you already know about the letter I wrote
last year on Tisha B’Av when I still didn’t have a single school willing to
accept my daughter. And you probably know how after that letter, she was
welcomed into a wonderful school called Ateres Tziporah, which was saved from
last minute financial problems by the generosity of Shlomo Yehuda
Rechnitz. What you don’t know is what an amazing year my daughter had in
Ateres Tziporah, a school that helps every girl maximize her potential, makes
each one feel special and has strong programs in both limudei kodesh and
secular studies. It is an institution that educates the next generation
of wives and mothers to have bright futures – one that equips them for the
important roles that they will play both inside and outside of the house,
should they choose to do so, instead of assuming that they aren’t capable of
anything more than just sitting home and raising the kiddies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And last weekend, the other shoe dropped. Unbelievably and
without any warning at all, Ateres Tziporah was closed, supposedly because of
financial issues. It took a while to dig down deep enough to find out
what had really happened and the truth was almost too crazy to believe. The
school’s downfall had been orchestrated by those who were tasked with making
sure that Lakewood remained aligned with Rav Aaron’s vision, which didn’t
include a place like Ateres Tziporah which warmly welcomed every girl who
wanted to learn. I guess in their minds, it made sense. If there are no
schools for the kids of non-BMG-type families, then they will have to pick up
and move elsewhere, leaving Lakewood pristine and pure. For students of
history, that concept is eerily disturbing, but let’s not go there. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Ironically, while Ateres Tziporah was supposedly closed for
lack of funding, those who were running the school turned down donations that
would have covered the shortfalls, with previous funding commitments
deliberately sabotaged. What terrible sin was it that Ateres Tziporah had committed
to find itself in the crosshairs of the Vaad? You better sit down for
this one. It had made the apparently fatal error of welcoming every girl who
wanted to learn and grow and succeed, and worse yet, it had done so without
forcing parents to grovel or to hand over $40k checks as “admission gifts.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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The funny thing is that while BMG’s original class of
talmidim may have included elite learners, they didn’t all come from BMG-type
families. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was considered to be one of Rav Aaron’s
top students and yet his ability to learn like no one else wouldn’t have been
enough to get him into some of the schools we have in Lakewood today. It
takes yichus. It takes money. It takes big checks and lots of them. How have we
gotten to the point where the Torah, G-d’s gift to all of the Jewish nations,
is considered to be something that is only for our society’s chosen
ones? </div>
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<br /></div>
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The fact is that whether the Vaad likes it or not, Lakewood
is changing, the sea of black and white dotted is with color. Is this a
community that only welcomes one type of Jew and tells the rest to find
somewhere else to live? I know what you’re thinking – that doesn’t really
happen. But I can tell you it does. Because I received a phone call last year
from a member of the Vaad telling me in no uncertain terms to “go back to Crown
Heights,” a pretty misplaced comment considering that I am from Denver, my wife
is from Florida and my family has been proud U.S. citizens for the past 100
years so we are the furthest thing in the world from Brooklynites. Are
the powers that be in Lakewood actually taking their cues from the people of
Sodom who prided themselves on denying outsiders entrance? As Americans, do we
not have the right to live freely anywhere on the soil of this great country? </div>
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<br /></div>
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And yet, five weeks before the start of the new school year,
170 girls suddenly have no place to go in September. Their parents will
be forced to beg and pull any string they can so that their daughter can be
squeezed into an already too full classroom. Ateres Tziporah’s parent
body is angry and rightfully so – it’s not just that they have to find another
placement for their girls. It is because their daughters were in a school that
loved them, nurtured them and helped them grow in their yiddishkeit and
outsiders decided that that approach to chinuch simply wasn’t the way things go
in this town. Parents are frustrated, angry and literally at wits end
because of the powers that be who are denying them the opportunity to educate
their girls as they see fit. And its not just Ateres Tziporah – other schools
that have suffered a similar fate, with a local girls’ high school with 60
students also being shuttered by the same forces.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Let me reiterate again that I am in no way looking to
detract from Rav Aaron’s kavod. He was one of the luminaries of the Torah world
and his method of chinuch yielded wonderful results. Coming from
Lubavitch I can tell you that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had a different approach –
he believed in welcoming every person, treating everyone with respect and
making sure that unity was priority number one. But the Lakewood Rav
Aaron envisioned is not the Lakewood that exists today and life in contemporary
Lakewood is not what it was in 1950 or even in 1980 or 2010. Even one of Rav Aaron’s
own grandchildren was heard to say that if he were alive today, “he would move
Lakewood out of Lakewood.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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At issue here is not just a single school but an entire way
of life. Sure we have conveniences galore but is it possible that our
community is breeding a divisive mentality, one that allows us to forget just
how powerful we can be what we all stand united? In any other community,
a yeshiva being forced to close down would result in a huge outcry and
campaigns to save the school that would likely be picked up by Jewish
communities all across the United States. But in Lakewood, Ateres
Tziporah was closed down and not a single community leader has uttered even one
word about the situation. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Does their silence imply that they stand with the
Vaad? That a school that welcomes every girl who wants to learn has no place in
Lakewood Ir Hakodesh? I’m sorry to say that we are living in a sick
world, where we can find ourselves in the midst of the Nine Days and there are
rabbis and community leaders who seem to have no problem seeing kids out of
school, stuffed like human sardines into an overcrowded school and torn away
from their friends. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When my daughter was about to enter Ateres Tziporah last
year, I was called to a meeting in the school where I was asked to sign a paper
from the Lakewood Vaad committing to keeping quiet and not speaking out on any
issue. The implication was clear – if I didn’t sign the paper my daughter
would not be going to school. Is that the kind of town we live in? Where people
are bullied into silence? It was clear at that moment that I was definitely not
welcome here, a message that seemed to come straight from the town’s
leadership.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I find myself asking the question. Is there not one
voice of leadership who will step up and say what we can do to rebuild Ateres
Tziporah? </div>
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<br /></div>
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I should mention that aside from this craziness, I love
living in Lakewood and we have been so happy here that my parents have moved to
town as well. Should I just move to a place that has true Torah values
and respects the potential in each child instead of throwing them under the
bus? I have no intention of going back to Brooklyn, as that lovely rabbi from
the Vaad suggested, and if I can’t find a suitable school for my daughter in
Lakewood because of the elitist mentality that seems to be everywhere, then I
will just have to drive farther to find a place that understands what the Torah
is all about and what achdus really means. It is laughable that Lakewood
prides itself on being an Ir HaTorah because there is literally nothing
Torahdik about leaving 170 girls out in the cold. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Having been raised on the teachings of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, I know that each of us is here to bring light into places of darkness
and right now, Lakewood is sadly, very, very dark. It is unfathomable
that so many precious neshamas have been cast aside like last night’s garbage
and left to flounder on their own and that an institution that teaches Torah
could be closed so that the Vaad could turn back the hands of time and pretend
that it is 1950 all over again. The leadership of Lakewood needs to open
their eyes and see what our town really looks like. The people of Lakewood need
to stand up and call out those who closed down a school that was home to 170
girls. We are a people who stop everything the minute there is a tragedy to
help someone else – how can we just stand in silence when our daughters are
denied their chance to be taught the beauty of Torah and the love of
yiddishkeit?</div>
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Let me end with a story told by Rabbi Yechiel Spero that was
recently printed by Artscroll that took place right here in Lakewood in
BMG. The entire yeshiva was downtrodden after Rav Aaron’s passing,
wondering what would become of the yeshiva. The mashgiach, Rav Nosson
Wacthfogel, stood up and relayed a dream that had been shared with him by a
great Torah scholar.</div>
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In the dream Moshiach was sleeping on a couch. The Chasom
Soffer approached Moshiach and tried to wake him up with no success. Then Rav
Aaron walked into the room and attempted the rouse Moshaich, again with no
success. Finally a young American boy in a baseball cap walked into the
room and tapped Moshiach on the shoulder, waking him up.</div>
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Addressing the room, Rav Nosson explained that Moshiach
didn’t come in the generation of the Chasam Sofer or Rav Aaron Kotler. He
told the talmidim “he is coming here, for you guys, right now and he is coming
for the American kid in the baseball cap.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Let that lesson sink in. Those kids in the baseball
caps? They have value. They are important. They were created in G-d’s
image. And the mashgiach of BMG made it abundantly clear to the yeshiva’s
talmidim that even those who don’t dress in black and white also have have the
ability to bring Moshiach – we just have to empower them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Are we ready to accept them? Open our arms to embrace them?
Create Torah institutions for them?</div>
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Or is Moshiach going to continue slumbering because even
after all these years, we still haven’t learned what ahavas chinam and achdus
are all about?</div>
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<br /></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-57814359570854767292019-07-24T17:08:00.003-05:002019-07-24T17:11:41.151-05:00Bais Yaakov Graduate to Head America’s NSA Cybersecurity Directorate<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0-F0pk6fU2s/XTjWlqTiE0I/AAAAAAAAQ7M/65UPGCA_vqI7HDBC_NwkPwgb79Q-_cgZwCLcBGAs/s1600/Anne-Neuberger-official-US-GOVT-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1029" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0-F0pk6fU2s/XTjWlqTiE0I/AAAAAAAAQ7M/65UPGCA_vqI7HDBC_NwkPwgb79Q-_cgZwCLcBGAs/s320/Anne-Neuberger-official-US-GOVT-photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">Anne Neuberger, head of NSA Cybersecurity Directorate (<a href="https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/bais-yaakov-graduate-to-head-americas-nsa-cybersecurity-directorate/2019/07/24/">Jewish Press</a>)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #274e13;">Some good news for a change. Congratulations to Anne Neuberger. From the </span><i style="color: #274e13;"><a href="https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/bais-yaakov-graduate-to-head-americas-nsa-cybersecurity-directorate/2019/07/24/">Jewish Press</a></i><span style="color: #274e13;">:</span><br />
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<br /></div>
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A Sabbath-observant graduate of the Bais Yaakov school
system has just become one of the highest-ranking women in the U.S. Department
of Defense.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Anne Neuberger has just been appointed to head the new
Cybersecurity Directorate being created at the U.S. National Security Agency,
it was announced Tuesday. Neuberger helped establish the U.S. Cyber Command,
having been with the NSA for nearly a decade.</div>
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The Cybersecurity Directorate is described on the NSA
website as “a major organization that unifies NSA’s foreign intelligence and
cyber defense missions and is charged with preventing and eradicating threats
to National Security Systems and the Defense Industrial Base.”</div>
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Neuberger, the website says, reports “directly to General
[Paul M.] Nakasone” — a four-star general who commands the U.S. Cyber Command,
the National Security Agency and is the chief of the Central Security Service.
Her previous positions were described as “NSA’s first Chief Risk Officer,
Deputy Director of Operations, and Lead of NSA’s Russia Small Group.“</div>
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She is currently the Senior Adviser to the Director of the
NSA.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Neuberger has led the NSA’s Election Security effort and
served as Deputy Director of NSA’s Operations Directorate, leading NSA’s
foreign intelligence and cybersecurity operations.</div>
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<br />
In addition to her other positions, Neuberger previously
served as the Director of NSA’s Commercial Solutions Center, responsible for
NSA’s partnerships with the private sector, as the Navy’s Deputy Chief
Management Officer and as a White House Fellow, working for Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Prior to joining government service, Neuberger was Senior
Vice President of Operations at American Stock Transfer & Trust Company
(AST), where she directed operations, including dividend distributions and
complex M&A processing for approximately 2,000 publicly traded companies.</div>
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<br />
Academically, she earned an MBA, Beta Gamma Sigma, and a
Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, and also graduated
from Touro College, summa cum laude.</div>
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Neuberger has lectured on cybersecurity, risk,
surveillance/civil liberties and national security as a guest lecturer at
Harvard University, Stanford University and Columbia University.</div>
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<br />
The new NSA cybersecurity chief told The Wall Street
Journal in an interview that her unit “will more actively use signals
intelligence gleaned from expanded operations against adversaries.”</div>
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<br />
Anne (Chani) Neuberger was raised in the Borough Park
section of Brooklyn and attended Bais Yaakov of Boro Park. She lives in
Baltimore.</div>
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As she takes up her new position, Neuberger is about to
become one of the highest-ranking women in the department since 1980.</div>
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<b>Trivia fact:</b> Neuberger’s parents, Rivki and Mendel
Yitzhak (George), were on the Air France flight that was hijacked to Entebbe in
1976. Despite their American citizenship, they were kept with the Israeli
hostages because of her father’s kipa. They were rescued by the IDF and brought
to Israel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-45420533403950737722018-08-28T16:09:00.000-05:002018-08-30T08:15:11.303-05:00A Tribute to my Rebbe, Rav Ahron SoloveichikRabbi Gil Student tweeted about this this morning. I never saw it until today - even though it was produced in 2011 in honor of the anniversary of his 10th Yahrzeit. It is just short or 14 minutes long; very inspiring; and worth every second of it.<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YkZV1zSYsKE" width="560"></iframe>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-32971004396645897402018-07-27T08:29:00.001-05:002018-07-27T08:30:16.843-05:00European Antisemitism Today<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rPxWmJVbKIY/W1sdRSgNiwI/AAAAAAAAP5Q/bnagrXldwkMiTiAz7o7ZB0yeNBbX1nFbwCLcBGAs/s1600/1200px-Mike_Pence_official_portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rPxWmJVbKIY/W1sdRSgNiwI/AAAAAAAAP5Q/bnagrXldwkMiTiAz7o7ZB0yeNBbX1nFbwCLcBGAs/s320/1200px-Mike_Pence_official_portrait.jpg" width="256" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: xx-small;">Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #274e13;">If the President ever leaves office for any reason during his first term he will be replaced by a man whose credentials with respect to the Jewish people are impeccable. Not to mention the fact that his own religious values are very similar to ours. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">I cannot think of too many others like Vice President Mike pence - who can see these things as clearly he does - and is willing to speak out about them regardless of where the chips may fall. I could not agree with him more. From the <i><a href="http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/pence-denounces.php">World Jewish Daily</a></i>:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vice President Mike Pence condemned antisemitic violence in
Europe, saying it "must end."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Speaking at a State Department conference on religious
freedom, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/mike-pence-condemns-anti-jewish-attacks-in-europe/">Pence
said</a>, "The world has watched in horror as these attacks on Jewish
people have taken place."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"In France and Germany, things have gotten so bad that
Jewish religious leaders have warned their followers not to wear kippahs in
public for fear that they could be violently attacked, and in too many cases,
that’s exactly what’s happened,” he added.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Drawing a comparison with the Holocaust, Pence stated,
"It is remarkable to think that within the very lifetimes of some French
Jews — the same French Jews that were forced by the Nazis to wear identifiable
Jewish clothing — some of those same people are now being warned by their
democratic leaders not to wear identifiable Jewish clothing."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"These acts of violence and hatred and anti-Semitism
must end," he asserted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-6112193043944200522018-06-25T09:03:00.002-05:002018-06-25T09:39:04.341-05:00Unconditional Love<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4o9alHFPPQ/WzD1sHpeBLI/AAAAAAAAPzc/bdNRbYQXTdQM8cTtazg8PaQbhR2ZTkYbACEwYBhgL/s1600/mendy-klein-zl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="702" height="215" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4o9alHFPPQ/WzD1sHpeBLI/AAAAAAAAPzc/bdNRbYQXTdQM8cTtazg8PaQbhR2ZTkYbACEwYBhgL/s320/mendy-klein-zl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mendy Klein <a href="http://www.queensjewishlink.com/opnion/larger-life-mendy-klein-blessed-memory/">(Jewish Link)</a></span><br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What a beautiful and most inspiring story by Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #36495f;">
<span style="color: #294b93; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #20124d;">I never met or even ever saw in my life, Mr. Mendy Klein.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He was known far and wide as a true baal chessed, a philanthropist of extraordinary proportions, a later in life self-made multi-millionaire and a total and complete <span style="font-style: italic;">mensch</span>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He was scheduled to be one of the honorees at the Agudah dinner a few weeks ago.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">That was the dinner I went hatless.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I would have loved to have met Mendy Klein, and I would have definitely taken my hat off for him.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">As one of his closest boyhood friends related to me, “Mendy was not a regular black-hat wearer.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">As the dinner was coming closer, I kept thinking about Mendy more and more.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">The reason I kept thinking about this man I had never met, was the simple fact that anyone to whom I mentioned that I would be attending the dinner, would undoubtedly say something to the effect, “Oh, you’ll be at the dinner; too bad Mendy won’t be there. We lost a great one when we lost Mendy.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Or another person said to me, “I was his best friend when he drove a taxi in New York back in the 70s for 22 hours a day. You know he never slept more than two hours a night! It’s too bad you never met him.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I kept hearing more and more about this man who I had not only never met, I had never heard of before the dinner, and somehow, everyone I met leading up to the dinner was only interested in talking about Mendy.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I was driven to find out more about this uncommon philanthropist of monumental proportions, who was able simultaneously to maintain a straightforward and approachable manner about himself.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I called friends of his and found out as much as I could about this giant of Chessed.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I decided to piece together my own vision of this legendary figure who I regretted never meeting.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Everything I relate was heard from friends of Mendy; some of them going back to the 1970s.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Any inaccuracies which may appear are due to my deficiencies and should be understood as my best effort to understand and appreciate a great man who I was never privileged to know.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He was the children of Holocaust survivors who settled after the war in Williamsburg.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">His parents were members of the fledgling small Satmar Chassidic community.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">His father, a man who had survived the horrors of the camps and had high expectations for Mendy, nevertheless realized his son possessed unusual and unique qualities.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">His father would eventually inform Mendy, as Zvi Gluck, (who worked with Mendy very closely) mentioned in one of his eulogies, “My son, G-d blessed you with a brain and cursed you with a mouth, so you won’t be able to keep a job down.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Perhaps this statement portrays the complexities of the relationship between a Holocaust survivor who had certain expectations of his American born son and his son’s yearning for individuality.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy went to cheder and grew up like many young children of immigrant parents.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">On the one hand, Mendy had a desire to become his own person; on the other side, his father was resolute that Mendy follows in the ways of his chassidishe family.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">And as many young people have done and continue to do, Mendy struggled during his adolescence over his true identity.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">At 16, he made a decision.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He informed his father that he was leaving Williamsburg and the insular protective eye of the community.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">As he packed his things and was preparing for his departure, his father walked over to him.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He hugged Mendy with all his love and then stepped back, opened his wallet, and removed an item never before seen in the Klein home — a $100 bill.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">This was 1967; to give you an idea of how much money that was for a Holocaust survivor who was struggling to makes ends meet: $100 in 1967 equals $749.31 in 2018!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">One can imagine the look of amazement on Mendy’s face as his father removed the $100 bill from his wallet.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">His father looked at his son and said the words that would echo in Mendy’s mind for the rest of his life.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">“Mendy, I always kept a hundred dollars in my wallet for unexpected emergencies. Your leaving the house certainly qualifies as one. Please take this hundred dollars and remember, no matter what you do or where you are, how you dress or how you act, I want you to know that I love you unconditionally and my door is always open to you. </span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">You will always have a bed here to sleep in and a hot meal to eat. Take this money and keep it with you so if and when the time comes and you want to come back, you will be able to. And never worry, I promise you, the door will always be open to you, whether you are Mendy or Marvin, whether you have peyos or blue jeans, my door will always be open for you.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy’s father had never attended parenting classes.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He had never read a book on modern child-psychology.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He had never heard of Dr. Spock, only of Dr. Mengele <span style="font-style: italic;">Yimach Shemo</span>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy’s father was a graduate of the school of Ahavas Yisrael that met in Auschwitz, and after completing years of instruction there, he knew that unconditional love of his son was a necessity of life.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He pressed the $100 bill into his son’s hand, kissed him on the cheek and silently said a <span style="font-style: italic;">kapitel Tehillim</span>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">The next four years were years of spiritual searching for Mendy.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy investigated different lifestyles, but, somehow he kept coming across the unused $100 from his father.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">After four years of searching, he reclaimed his heritage with all of his vigor and with complete passion.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He became a mighty lion as he set for himself the goal to accomplish his life’s mission: to become a person who would make a difference in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He never returned to a full Chassidic lifestyle; but, he did return to a total and sincere commitment to Yiddishkeit, to Chessed and especially to Tzedakah.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy Klein eventually became a businessman, yet his real passion was being a pillar of Tzedakah and Chesed of global impact.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Countless people, especially young people who are struggling with those issues others preferred to sweep under the rug, owe their physical and spiritual survival to his compassion and generosity.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Over Pesach, a friend of his asked him, “Mendy, If you had to name the one thing that made you who you are today, what would that be?”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy thought about the question.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He pondered his not-perfectly-behaved-student- childhood.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He even recalled some uncertain and tense times with his father, who initially had different aspirations for Mendy.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">And then, without hesitating, Mendy pulled out the worn and tattered 50-year-old $100 bill.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">“It was this bill and the knowledge that my father’s door was always open. That is what made me who I am today.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">My father and I may not have seen eye to eye on every issue as I grew up; however, there was one thing I knew for sure. I knew that his love for me was unconditional.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I knew with certainty, even as we sometimes engaged in passionate debates over lifestyles, one thing remained clear in my heart, my father’s love for me was unconditional. That is what made me who I am today.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy Klein passed away on the third of May of this year.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">He never made it to the Agudah dinner, and he left behind masses of grieving people who many never realized how he was their secret benefactor.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I thought of Mendy Klein one more time recently.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">It was at the conclusion of the wedding of my son Aryeh to his Kallah Tova Akerman.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">At the end of the festivities, my son Shaya asked me if I had any cash to pay for the babysitters which were hired to watch my grandchildren so that Shaya and his wife Yitti could enjoy the Chasunah without constantly worrying about the whereabouts of their children.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I opened my wallet, and I had $100 left which was the exact amount Shaya needed.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">As I handed him the money I thought of Mendy Klein and the $100 he received from his father.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">This was not the same $100 from 1967.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">It was also not a $100 given to allow Shaya to come home; he was not leaving home.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Nevertheless, I thought of Mendy Klein and his father for as Hashem would plan things, after all of the expenses which were paid that night, this was precisely the last $100 I had in my wallet.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Mendy Klein’s father’s gift of $100 symbolized his unconditional love for his child; no matter whatever different outlooks they may have possessed.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">That same feeling came over me as a parent as I handed Shaya the $100.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Sometimes, I know as a parent, I have made mistakes.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">There are times I am sure I said the wrong thing at the wrong time to my children.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I would not be surprised, after hearing about Mendy Klein, that he too experienced tense moments between his father and himself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Yet, just as the $100 given by Mendy’s father over 50 years ago, represented his unconditional love for his son. So too, I felt that as I was giving my son my <span style="font-style: italic;">last</span> $100, it also was a sign that whatever may come between us, I love him and all my children unconditionally.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I may not always say the right thing or make the right choices for them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">Yet, just as Mendy’s father knew he loved his son unconditionally, I know I love my children unconditionally as well.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">The lesson of Mendy Klein’s father was not lost on me as I too hoped my children realize how my love for them is unconditional and everlasting.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I never met you Mendy Klein; yet, I thank you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I have no specific reason to thank you for your Tzedakah as I don’t believe I was ever the beneficiary of your largesse.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">I thank you for your lesson; for reminding me how important it is that no matter what differences may occur between child and father, the knowledge that there is unconditional and unbreakable love between them must always be conveyed and stressed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: inherit;">May Mendy Klein’s Chessed and Tzedakah be his ultimate legacy.</span></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-35020287665229118922018-04-15T14:57:00.003-05:002018-04-15T18:11:48.658-05:00Statement by Orthodox Organizations about Extremist Attacks<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1whQ8zdeHo/WtOuZM_bWLI/AAAAAAAAPkM/20qdzRKohHwu1oMQaB1WphDhQZPTf1MoQCLcBGAs/s1600/Agudah.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="960" height="143" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1whQ8zdeHo/WtOuZM_bWLI/AAAAAAAAPkM/20qdzRKohHwu1oMQaB1WphDhQZPTf1MoQCLcBGAs/s320/Agudah.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">One of the many Orthodox organizations that have condemned extremist violence</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;">American Orthodox Jewish organizations have stepped forward to condemn the recent attacks perpetrated by Israeli religious extremists towards the IDF and Israeli police. The leadership of the Orthodox Union, Rabbinical Council of America and National Council of Young Israel have issued official statements at the behest of David Nyer, Orthodox activist. Over the last few months, there has been an increase in violent attacks against religious IDF soldiers and Israeli police. </span><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moishe Bane, president of the Orthodox Union, warns that “violence by one Jew against another, whether physical or otherwise, is an assault on the Torah values that have been passed down through our mesorah (tradition), from generation to generation</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Any such attack by Jews against soldiers of the IDF, to whom every Jew owes immeasurable respect and gratitude, is an attack against each and every member of the Jewish community, and provokes shame and regret in us all</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.”</span></span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rabbi Mark Dratch, executive vice president of the RCA, states further, “These attacks against both Israeli soldiers and police are violations of Jewish law and show a gross lack of appreciation and respect for those who defend all the citizens of the State of Israel. These attacks further divide and alienate segments of the Jewish community from each other and from Torah.”</span></span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Just this past week, a religious IDF soldier and his family were pelted with stones in the Mea She’arim neighborhood and had to be extricated by the police. Farley Weiss, President of the National Council of Young Israel, strongly believes this ought to be “the responsibility of the community itself to protect soldiers instead of needing the police to intervene.” Dozens of bystanders have been reportedly observing while these acts of violent extremism are committed. Jewish leaders in the United States urge witnesses to safely take an active role in protecting those who protect the country of Israel, stressing the Torah obligation and moral imperative. </span></span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There have been instances where both soldiers and police have been injured by extremists. In January, an IDF soldier was taken to the hospital as a result of being struck by stones when driving through Ramat Beit Shemesh. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Haredi extremists have a history of attacking IDF soldiers who enter their neighborhoods, claiming that the soldiers’ presence is an affront to their belief that religious men should not serve in the army. Another such incident was reported in February when an Orthodox soldier was attacked when praying in a synagogue in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mr. Weiss asserts that, “those who commit acts of violence against the IDF or police must be prosecuted to the fullest extent afforded by the law.” </span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Orthodox Jewish leadership in Israel has been largely quiet on this issue. Mr. Weiss appeals, “to all Jewish Rabbinical and communal leaders in Israel to join us in condemning these reprehensible actions and we must do all in our power to prevent these attacks.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br clear="none" /></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span>
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<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for the Agudath Israel of America, was approached by Nyer and asked for a response to the situation. AIA serves as an umbrella organization for Charedi Orthodox Jewry in America. Rabbi Shafran declared unequivocally that, “such unwarranted violence and abuse against any fellow Jew is beyond outrageous. Assault of Jewish brethren, especially those who have dedicated themselves to the protection of Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisroel such as IDF soldiers and Israeli police, is indefensible, ugly and wrong.”</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nyer asked for Shafran’s position on the role of eyewitnesses observing extremist violence. Rabbi Shafran stressed that he is not a posek but that it “would seem that, if it could be done safely, bystanders would have a chiyuv (obligation) to intervene and protect anyone placed in harm’s way.” When questioned what he believes the appropriate response to these perpetrators should be, Shafran concurred that, “these individuals who assault the IDF or police must be prosecuted to the fullest extent afforded by the law.”</span></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This initiative was spearheaded by David Nyer, LCSW, an Orthodox activist. He can be reached via email at </span><a href="mailto:DJN415@aol.com" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:DJN415@aol.com"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></a><a href="mailto:djn415@aol.com" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: #196ad4;" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:djn415@aol.com">djn415@aol.com</a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for any questions or comments.</span></i></span></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-38555198171303733172018-03-01T11:56:00.002-06:002018-03-01T11:56:42.265-06:00Polish Antisemtism<br />
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<b>1946 U.S. document reveals Poles treated Jews as
badly as Germans did </b></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xEGk04W-wv8/Wpg96eAVUAI/AAAAAAAAPYU/qAcYPrN1YC4_5RgL5C3Y0npQwK3qJJLagCLcBGAs/s1600/Polands-New-President.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="666" height="246" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xEGk04W-wv8/Wpg96eAVUAI/AAAAAAAAPYU/qAcYPrN1YC4_5RgL5C3Y0npQwK3qJJLagCLcBGAs/s320/Polands-New-President.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Polish President Andrzej Sebastian Duda </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #274e13;">The following <i><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/1946-US-document-reveals-Poles-treated-Jews-as-badly-as-Germans-did-543940">Jerusalem Post</a></i> article says it all. It needs no further comment from me.</span></div>
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A declassified US State Department report from
1946 documented the abhorrent treatment of Poland’s Jews before, during and
after World War II. The report equated Polish and Nazi treatment of the Jewish
population and said many Jews preferred to flee, even to Germany, after the
war.</div>
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The document, titled “The Jews in Poland Since the
Liberation,” was obtained by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and shown exclusively
to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, the same day a Polish
governmental delegation arrived in Israel to discuss Warsaw’s contentious
“Holocaust law,” which has caused a <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Aiming-to-defuse-crisis-Polish-delegation-set-for-Holocaust-law-talks-in-Israel-543809">diplomatic
crisis between the two countries</a>.</div>
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“There is little doubt that the current
anti-Jewish manifestations in Poland represent a continuation of activities by
rightwing groups that were at work before 1939, when even major political
parties had antisemitic programs,” the report said. “In other words, there is
not much that is essentially new or different in the current antisemitic
agitation.</div>
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However, the antisemitic overtones in prewar
Polish politics predisposed many Poles to the acceptance of Nazi racial
theories, and there is evidence that Poles persecuted the Jews as vigorously as
did the Germans during the occupation. The retreating Nazis, moreover, left in
their wake a heavy residue of their racial theories.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Even before the liberation of Poland, antisemitic
propaganda emerged in Polish émigré circles.”<br />
<br />
The Intelligence Research report, dated May 15, 1946, was distributed by the US
Office of Intelligence Coordination and Liaison as a restricted document.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
It was declassified in 1983.<br />
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It describes how antisemitism “reached such dimensions in the Polish Army under
General Wladyslaw Anders that many Jewish soldiers felt compelled to desert
those forces and seek enlistment with other Allied armies.”</div>
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By mid-1944, it said, widespread antisemitism was
reported in Lublin and other parts of Poland. By April 1945, “more reports were
current and a dozen Polish towns were named as places where Jews had been
killed, allegedly by members of the Polish Home Guard (Armia Krajowa), the
armed force formed by and loyal to the Government-in-Exile.”<br />
<br />
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Wiesenthal Center, said the
documents directly contradict current arguments by Polish leaders that
antisemitism was the result of communism.<br />
<br />
He pointed to a part of the report that discussed rampant antisemitism and
treatment of Jews as second-class citizens long before the communists took
power in Poland and indeed, well before the war, with religious leaders,
political parties and both high and low-level officials preaching and
practicing antisemitism.<br />
<br />
“In the jockeying for political preference in Poland after 1919, most of the
major political parties – with the exception of leftist groups – followed an
antisemitic line,” the report reads. “Catholic Church leaders, from Cardinal
Hlond down, preached antisemitism and favored an economic boycott of the Jews.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Polish nationalists sought to win peasant and
working-class support by attributing many of Poland’s internal difficulties to
the Jews.” Lawless elements attacked Jews, adding physical peril to the already
discouraging social and economic conditions.”<br />
<br />
A widespread Polish argument in the current disagreement with Israel over
Holocaust history acknowledges that some Poles may have acted badly during
WWII, but denies that antisemitism was prevalent in Polish society. “This is
absolutely not true,” Hier stressed. Some members of the Polish government have
said only Israel holds this view of Poland’s history, he noted, but the
impartial report written by the US government soon after WWII “absolutely tells
a different story and one that would be very difficult for the president of
Poland to deny.”<br />
<br />
The report also referred to the post-war era, when some Jews opted to move to
Germany rather than remain in Poland.<br />
<br />
“So violent have been the antisemitic incidents reported – and so widespread is
the fear for their lives among the handful of Jewish survivors – that some
Polish Jews have been reported seeking to escape to the American Zone in
Germany rather than remain in Poland,” the report said.</div>
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“Others, who have gone back to Poland, are
reported to be returning to Western Germany after only a short stay.<br />
<br />
Polish Jews in displaced persons centers in Germany have, moreover, almost
unanimously declined to return to their former homeland,” the document said.<br />
<br />
Hier said, “It’s very important that this report be made public so that people
all over the world can read what a 1946 assessment of the issue of how Polish
Jews were treated in Poland.”<br />
<br />
Copies of the report are currently being held at the Wiener Library for the
Study of the Holocaust and Genocide in London and in the US National Archives
in Washington.<br />
<br />
While the report is accessible, it has remained widely unknown until now.<br />
<br />
The Wiesenthal Center obtained the document in the course of research while
publishing books about the Holocaust.</div>
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Hier said he believes widespread knowledge of the
report can provide insight into why Jews are upset by the new law. He
emphasized that his organization is not an enemy of Poland, but a group that
brings hundreds of visitors to the country. “They have to acknowledge that
antisemitism in Poland was a problem of longevity. You just have to read this
report, which was not written by Jews, to see how real antisemitism was in
Poland,” he said.</div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-36273310723981268662018-02-27T09:14:00.002-06:002018-02-27T09:14:40.540-06:00Happy Purim<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p-2skUqszCU" width="560"></iframe>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-83144097469625288412018-01-11T08:54:00.001-06:002018-01-11T08:54:09.416-06:00The Evils of Expulsion<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rCzrX64iNHI/Wld6actzgHI/AAAAAAAAPNA/f-awZD8ih7QmrkLU5Rj7Nw0KdJREEyJggCLcBGAs/s1600/sp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="700" height="260" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rCzrX64iNHI/Wld6actzgHI/AAAAAAAAPNA/f-awZD8ih7QmrkLU5Rj7Nw0KdJREEyJggCLcBGAs/s320/sp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rabbi Steven Pruzansky</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have had </span>differences<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of opinion with Rabbi Steven Pruzansky on various issues. Some of them very strong. But I consider him an honorable man whose views are Torah based, sincere, and well intended. As a man of honor and </span>integrity<span style="font-family: inherit;"> he will admit to being wrong when evidence points him in that direction. This was the case with a recent article published at </span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/op-eds/22700-response-from-rabbi-pruzansky-changing-my-mind-on-school-expulsions">The Jewish Link</a></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and republished at <a href="http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2018/01/i-would-rather-send-my-children-to.html">UOJ</a> where I first encountered it. I completely agree with his reconsidered view. But rather than paraphrasing it. I have republished here as well. It follows:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For some time now, we have heard that many of our youth are in a bad way—<a href="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/editorials/22690-the-yeshiva-high-school-bubble-does-not-protect-against-alcohol-and-drug-abuse" rel="alternate" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;" title="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/editorials/22690-the-yeshiva-high-school-bubble-does-not-protect-against-alcohol-and-drug-abuse">drinking, drugs, scandalous behavior</a>—all of which have <a href="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/community-news/bergen/22696-teaneck-yeshivot-sound-the-alarm-on-teen-drug-and-alcohol-abuse" rel="alternate" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;" title="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/community-news/bergen/22696-teaneck-yeshivot-sound-the-alarm-on-teen-drug-and-alcohol-abuse">given rise to problems</a> in schools. There have been conferences and seminars, calls for better education and improved communication. And the schools have generally responded to credible accusations of misconduct with a quick but somewhat selective trigger finger—especially in their use of expulsions. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">A number of people have reported to me about a party that took place recently in the metropolitan area that attracted a lot of teens and involved mass drinking and revelry, with the parents of the host conveniently out-of-town. (There were probably many other and similar parties of which I am unaware.) And the schools have dutifully responded with the range of disciplines at their disposal, and applied to the great variety of offenders under their dominion in inconsistent ways.</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">I have always been a law-and-order man; schools should have rules just like life has rules because otherwise there is chaos and anarchy. But I think we have gone too far in these situations to the extent that I have changed my mind. I used to think that it was appropriate for schools to monitor their students’ behavior even off campus and react when there is degenerate behavior, and in an ideal world that would still hold true. But I no longer believe that. Schools should monitor what students do on their premises, and that’s it. And off premises? That is the responsibility of <a href="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/op-eds/22699-response-from-rabbi-rothwachs-on-substance-abuse-parenting-doesn-t-end-with-open-dialogue" rel="alternate" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;" title="https://www.jewishlinknj.com/op-eds/22699-response-from-rabbi-rothwachs-on-substance-abuse-parenting-doesn-t-end-with-open-dialogue">the parents</a>. Remember them?</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Parents used to have primary responsibility for parenting, discipline, and instilling values in their children. Sometime in the recent past, parents abdicated that responsibility to the schools, and the results have not been pretty. For example: What parent lets a teenager go to a party of teenagers that has no responsible adult in charge? (I say “responsible” because not all adults are </span><span style="background-color: white;">responsible.) You would have to be insane to allow such a thing. My children were trustworthy, but I would never let them as teens go to an unsupervised party. My wife and I would monitor, as best as possible, with whom our children would socialize. That is elementary parenting.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Forget the schools. As far as I am concerned, it’s none of the school’s business what happens off campus. It’s the parents’ business—and parents have to reclaim their role. Indeed, parents have many more disciplinary tools in their arsenal than schools do. They should use them, without fear of losing their children as “buddies.”</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">That being said, I have reconsidered something else. Schools have to stop these willy-nilly expulsions of students, which have become (1) a marketing tool (“Look at us! We expelled two students for unacceptable behavior. Problem solved. Send your children to us!”), (2) a deterrent that has clearly failed given the widespread misconduct that apparently exists and (3) a tacit admission that schools don’t have the time, interest or energy to deal with every child with a problem. I was slow to come around to this but I have realized that was once unthinkable has become normative, and again, quite selectively applied. A few months ago, I was sent a video a few months ago of Rav Moshe Weinberger (the Rav of Aish Kodesh) <a href="http://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/888062/rabbi-moshe-weinberger/chaburah-yosef-hatzadik-40-skeletons-in-the-closet-a-prerequisite-for-leadership/" rel="alternate" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;" title="http://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/888062/rabbi-moshe-weinberger/chaburah-yosef-hatzadik-40-skeletons-in-the-closet-a-prerequisite-for-leadership/">pleading with principals</a> to remember their own youth. “What were you like when you were 17?” Why are they pretending that all was so perfect that now we can just dispatch Jewish children into the spiritual wilderness?</span></span><div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">My initial reaction was that it is easy for someone not in chinuch to make such a broad statement and encourage such a policy change—banning expulsions—but as I pondered his comments over the course of a few weeks, I realized that he was correct. Teens are teens, and even if the parameters of “acting out” have widened over the decades since I was a teenager, and mostly in very unsalutary ways, I do not doubt that there are today principals and Roshei Yeshiva, teachers and rabbis, who acted as teens in ways that they chalk up to adolescent hijinks. Yet, they—or their boards—do not want to give today’s children the same break or a compassionate hand. I certainly do not lay all the blame at the feet of the principals or administrators who are often confronted with conflicting pressures that cannot all be resolved to the satisfaction of all.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">And then I started my research on my “Great Rabbis of the 20th Century” series and to my astonishment, I determined that these giants dealt with the same issues in a much more tolerant, loving and probably effective way. The Alter of Slabodka, for example, never agreed to expel a student. (Keep in mind that Slabodka had its share of students who desecrated Shabbat, who were Socialists trying to overthrow the Czar, who were students in the yeshiva who even rebelled against the Alter and tried to have him dismissed!) </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Yet, he would tell the Roshei Yeshiva, that we must look and find some good in them. He kept one student around, he told his colleagues, even though he wasn’t much of a student, because he liked to do favors for people. The Jewish people need that also. And when challenged about particular miscreants, he would cite the verse in Kohelet and the Midrash (Vayikra Raba 27:5) thereon: “‘G-d seeks out the pursued;’ even when the righteous pursue the wicked” G-d takes up the cause of the underdog. So find his good quality and help him. Don’t throw him away.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Similarly, Rav Ovadia Yosef <a href="https://www.vosizneias.com/107754/2012/06/11/jerusalem-r-ovadia-yosef-it-is-forbidden-to-expel-children-from-yeshiva/" rel="alternate" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;" title="https://www.vosizneias.com/107754/2012/06/11/jerusalem-r-ovadia-yosef-it-is-forbidden-to-expel-children-from-yeshiva/">said</a> in an interview a year before he died that it is forbidden to expel a child from yeshiva. I quote: “Even if there is a student who behaves inappropriately, it is still forbidden to throw him out of school and instead we must exercise extreme patience… If we are patient with this student, one day he can grow up to be a talmid chochom. And if we send him away from the yeshiva where will he go? To a secular school and then what will become of him?”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">And then he added: “What, are you throwing away a rock? These are precious souls! If you throw a child away, do you know what will be? Are you ready to take responsibility for what might happen?”</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">And in Rav Yissachar Frand’s Dvar Torah <a href="https://torah.org/torah-portion/ravfrand-5778-shemos/" rel="alternate" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;" title="https://torah.org/torah-portion/ravfrand-5778-shemos/">last week</a> (the second essay) he made the same point. If all these great rabbis are addressing this issue, it tells me that there is a problem in Baltimore, Israel, the Five Towns, New Jersey – and everywhere else.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">And who are we throwing away? The children of the Avot and Imahot of our people. Like Rambam says (Hilchot Sanhedrin 25:2), even the lowliest among us are “the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, the armies of G-d who took us out of Egypt with a great might and a powerful arm.”</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">I’m not an extremist. If a child is endangering another child, that is different. But short of that, there are other measures. Educate. Discipline. Suspend. Make a child repeat a class or a grade. (The thought alone of paying an extra year’s tuition will get the parents’ attention.) But don’t throw them away. G-d also took these children out of Egypt.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">I would rather send my children to a school that deals with its children with problems than to a school that pretends it doesn’t have any children with problems.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">And what should parents, now once again responsible for their children’s behavior, impress upon them? During the years of bondage in Egypt, we never lost our identity, our dignity, our sense of self-respect. We always knew, in the statement of the Mishna (Masechet Shabbat 111a), that “all Israel are the children of kings.” We are all princes and princesses. We never let the Egyptians, those debauched pagans, define us. We endured them, survived them and triumphed over them, and then the sense of inner freedom naturally emerged from us. It cannot be suppressed forever – in any of us.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">That is the message for us and for our children. They should realize that all the attractions and allures of the world mean nothing compared to the great privilege of being part of a royal people. They need to be taught that when they act like reprobates, they have first and foremost let themselves down.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">There is no greater deterrent to mischief than the realization that some conduct is beneath them and unworthy of them, of who they are supposed to be. When that realization sinks in, we will merit only blessings from all of our children.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097470114630520031.post-73536014194361731262018-01-02T09:40:00.001-06:002018-01-02T09:40:05.679-06:00Judge Freier on The Today ShowThis video of Judge Freier speaks for itself:<br />
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<iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" gesture="media" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/65hlny9H0u8" width="560"></iframe>Harry Maryleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09936405163453714823noreply@blogger.com0