FailedMessiah.com

Rebel Rabbi England's Top Jew Of All Time

The UPI reports:

Jews in Britain have voted a controversial 85-year-old rabbi from Manchester as the greatest member of their community.

The winner in the poll by The Jewish Chronicle was Louis Jacobs, a ground-breaking Jewish thinker noted for his attempt to reconcile modern scholarship and Orthodox teachings, reports the Independent newspaper.

He won over other illustrious British Jews including Harold Pinter, Isaiah Berlin and Benjamin Disraeli. His victory was heralded as a "stinging rebuke to fundamentalism," which could upset some in the Orthodox establishment.

The polling was done to celebrate next year's 350th anniversary of the readmission of Jews to England by Oliver Cromwell, the report said.

Jacobs said: "I feel both embarrassed and daft. I am overwhelmed and feel totally unworthy."

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jacobs' attempt to combine traditional theology with biblical criticism led to his leaving the United Synagogue and in the rise of the more liberal Masorti Judaism in Britain.

Forward Reports Rabbi Who Resigned From RCA In Support Of Rabbi Mordechai Tendler Is Rabbi Tendler's Wife's Cousin – Did Not Disclose Relationship When Publicly Criticizing RCA

The Forward reports:

Last week the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press published an open letter from Rabbi Moshe Faskowitz announcing his resignation from the RCA in connection to the Tendler controversy. Faskowitz quit the RCA after a Jerusalem regional rabbinical court characterized the organization as being in violation of its rulings.

Tendler had filed a complaint with the Jerusalem court in July, claiming that the RCA had violated rabbinic law by expelling him without bringing the charges to an independent rabbinical court. The RCA has responded that according to rabbinic law, a summons is not to be sent from one city to another if both litigants live in one city, and that therefore the Jerusalem court has no jurisdiction in the matter.

[The RCA's president Rabbi Dale] Polakoff said that his office had received no notice of an official resignation from Faskowitz or anybody else.

RCA sources say that Faskowitz is actually a cousin of Mordecai Tendler's wife, Michelle. Faskowitz could not be reached for comment.

If true, this lack of disclosure is another black eye for the wider Tendler-Feinstein family. The RCA should be happy to be rid of Rabbi Faskowitz.

UPDATE: Jason Maoz, editor of the Jewish Press, tells Steven I. Weiss that Rabbi Faskowitz did not inform the RCA of his resignation or discuss resigning with them before his "open letter" appeared in the Jewish Press. Rabbi Faskowitz used the Jewish Press to ambush the RCA and specifically forbade the Jewish Press from seeking comment from the RCA before his "open letter" ran. This type of conduct is reprehensible and unethical.

Is this another black eye for the Tendler-Feinstein family? You bet it is.

Rabbis Dance To Nirvana

Rabbis dance to Nirvana. Is that Rav Shteinman in the front row? Pretty hip for a guy who didn't know how a credit card works.

Rabbi Moshe Tendler Backs Intelligent Design Quid-Pro-Quo Deal To Save Son Accused Of Abuse?

Mariah Blake of the Miami New Times reports :

On a recent Tuesday evening, Moshe Tendler, an influential Orthodox rabbi and Yeshiva University biology professor, ambled onto the stage at Kovens Conference Center in North Miami. A stately figure with a wispy white beard and heavy glasses, he surveyed the 300-strong crowd of scientists and intellectuals — most clad in yarmulkes and dark suits with tallith tassels dangling about their waists — and urged them to spread the word that Darwin was wrong. "It is our task to inform the world [about intelligent design]," he implored. "Or the child growing up will grow up with unintelligent design.... Unintelligent design is our ignorance, our stupidity."

This may seem an unlikely message from a prominent Jewish biologist. After all, intelligent design theory — which holds that life is too complex to be a fluke of evolution — has been crafted primarily by evangelical Christians and spurned by most scientists.

But some Jewish leaders, like Tendler, have begun to quietly embrace the theory. And several of them went public with their support during the Sixth Miami International Conference on Torah and Science, which ran from December 13 to 15 and was hosted by Florida International University's religious studies department, the Shul of Bal Harbour, and B'Or Ha'Torah journal of science. In an area with the second highest concentration of Jews after New York — there are 113,000 in Miami-Dade alone — the event attracted about 1000 Jewish researchers, intellectuals, teachers, and students. There was also one prominent evangelical: Intelligent design luminary William Dembski was among the event's featured speakers.

The conversation proved divisive. Tendler kicked off the conference by attacking the idea that complex life could flow from "random evolution." "That is irrational," he said.

As soon as Tendler finished speaking, biologist Sheldon Gottlieb rushed to one of two microphones perched in the aisles. "We all know evolution is not random," he grumbled. "It goes through the filter of natural selection.... You cannot use those arguments with this audience." Tendler and Gottlieb sparred for about five minutes. Meanwhile long lines began to form at the mikes. But the moderator cut the question-and-answer session short and sent the crowd home.

Dembski, a slender man in a tweed blazer and a forest green oxford shirt, spoke the following morning, and more than 400 people packed in to see him. Besides Jewish scientists and intellectuals, the crowd included students from the Hebrew Academy and the Lubavitch Educational Center, as well as a busload of girls from Orthodox Beis Chana School, who arrived with Pumas and Nikes tucked beneath their ankle-length skirts.

Much of Dembski's talk concentrated on the evidence of design in nature. He offered the classic example of the tiny flagella that bacteria use to propel themselves through their environment. "They can spin at 100,000 rpm," Dembski marveled. "And then in a quarter-turn, they're spinning the other direction. Imagine if a blender could do that.... Is it such a stretch to think a real engineer was involved?"

After about 45 minutes, Dembski wrapped up his talk, and dozens of attendees swarmed the microphones again, many of them eager to air their objections. "Our speaker has fuzzied the main issue," complained Nathan Aviezar, who teaches physics at Bar Ilan University in Israel. "The whole enterprise of science is to explain life without invoking supernatural explanations. Intelligent design is not science, it's religion, and it shouldn't be taught in science class."

The contentious Q&A lasted 25 minutes. When it was done, dozens of scientists rushed to the front to pelt Dembski with questions. The hubbub lasted so long that Sholom Lipskar of the Shul was pushed off the agenda.

Lipskar, a soft-spoken man with a thick charcoal beard and wire-rim spectacles, ranks among Miami's most influential rabbis. And like Tendler, he believes Jews should back the intelligent design movement. "The fundamental question the theory answers is, accidental or intentional?" he explains. "If it's accidental, then what's the point? But if there's design, we're here for a reason." Lipskar also advocates bringing intelligent design into Jewish classrooms. "It should be taught together with chemistry and physics," he says.

In fact much of the debate at Torah and Science turned to whether intelligent design should be integrated into Jewish-school science classes; Miami's Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education even signed on as a sponsor. The organization's president, Chaim Botwinick, says the event is a harbinger. "Many Jewish schools are beginning to discuss making intelligent design an integral part of their curriculum," he explains. Among them, he adds, are a handful of schools in Miami, a city that has long been a stronghold of traditional Judaism.

What do the students think? Many of those who heard Dembski speak said they would like to study his ideas in class. "His words make sense," commented Annale Fleisher, a seventeen-year-old senior at Miami Beach's Hebrew Academy. "Saying life comes from evolution is like saying a library was made by someone spilling a bottle of ink."

Nathan Katz, who heads the Center for the Study of Spirituality at FIU and was one of the conference organizers, says the enthusiasm some Torah devotees express for intelligent design reflects a growing alliance between traditional Jews and evangelical Christians. The two groups have found themselves on the same side of many culture war battles. And evangelicals have funneled tens of millions of dollars into Israel. "The monstrous evangelical support for that country has led some Orthodox Jews to be willing to listen to evangelicals on other issues," Katz explains.

For his part, Dembski hopes the conversation that began at the Torah and Science conference will continue, and that some Jewish scientists will eventually lend their talents to the intelligent design movement. "It would be huge in terms of PR because it would give lie to this idea that this is just a conservative Christian thing," he explains. "It would also expand our talent pool immensely."

But critics in the audience at the conference chafed at the prospect of Jewish scientists contributing to a movement that has stated as its goal the "overthrow" of "scientific materialism." "We would be helping to eliminate science as a discipline," said Aviezar. "And that would put us back in the Fifteenth Century. It would be a disaster."

The Rabbinical Council of America just issued a statement in support of evolution. Rabbi Tendler was a member of the RCA but has distanced himself from the group because of the RCA's expulsion of Rabbi Tendler's son after multipile sexual abuse allegations were made against him. Rabbi Tendler and his brother-in-law Rabbi Dovid Feinstein have worked to damage the RCA in any way possible. Could these two issues be linked? After all, Rabbi Feinstein was a leader of the ban (start from bottom of page and read upward) against Rabbi Slifkin and Rabbi Tendler did not speak up in Rabbi Slifkin's behalf. Perhaps we have a kind of quid-pro-quo here.

Rabbi Tendler did not answer my earlier request for comment on Intelligent Design and his participation in this conference.

Israel Admits White Orthodox Rabbis Descriminate Against Ordained Ethiopian Orthodox Rabbis – Prime Minister Mandates Change

In a shocking article, Matthew Wagner of the Jerusalem Post documents official discrimination against Ethiopian Rabbis by Israel's religious councils and city rabbis:

PMO orders equality for Ethiopian rabbis
Matthew Wagner, THE JERUSALEM POST
Dec. 27, 2005

The Prime Minister's Office ordered religious councils Monday to stop what it called "apparent discrimination" against Ethiopian rabbis and kessim (traditional Ethiopian spiritual leaders).

Meir Spiegler, head of the National Authority for Religious Services in the Prime Minister's Office, wrote a letter Sunday evening to all religious council chairmen acknowledging the problem and issuing "unambiguous directives."

The Prime Minister's Office transferred NIS 5.823 million in 2005 for the 71 Ethiopian spiritual leaders' salaries, which means the average gross monthly salary was NIS 6,834, significantly lower than other comparably trained rabbis. Not all of this money, however, is being transferred from the religious councils to the rabbis themselves, according to attorney Sharon Abraham-Weiss of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Spiegler's letter therefore ordered the religious councils to make certain all of the funds transferred by the Prime Minister's Office reach their intended recipients.

The letter was the first official government document to acknowledge discrimination against the rabbis and kessim by the religious councils, said Abraham-Weiss.

"Finance Ministry and Prime Minister's Office representatives admitted there is discrimination during a meeting of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and the Diaspora. It is recorded in the minutes. But now we also have an official document that says so," he said.

Abraham-Weiss represents 13 Ethiopians ordained by the Israeli Rabbinate who are employed by religious councils and 58 kessim who have no Orthodox rabbinic training, but were spiritual leaders in Ethiopia.

"All 13 rabbis receive significantly lower salaries than the comparable non-Ethiopian rabbis, even though they have the same training," said Abraham-Weiss.

He cited as an example Rabbi Shai Ma'arad, an ordained rabbi who works in Arad's religious council, who receives NIS 4,522 a month, instead of the NIS 7,074 received by his fellow workers. "Ma'arad's situation is representative of all the rabbis," said Abraham-Weiss.

"The status of the kessim is more complicated from a legal standpoint because there is no comparable position for non-Ethiopians in religious councils," he added.

Rabbi Moshe Rauchverger, Chairman of the Union of Neighborhood Rabbis, denied there was any discrimination.

"Kessim are not rabbis any more than reform rabbis or Christian priests are rabbis," said Rauchverger, who claimed kessim had no real knowledge of Orthodox Judaism and had strong Christian and pagan influences.

"If we were to recognize kessim, we would have recognize reform rabbis or Christian priests," he added.

Regarding the 13 ordained Ethiopian rabbis, Rauchverger said it was the Prime Minister's Office's responsibility to make sure they got paid, not the religious council's.

Both kessim and ordained Ethiopian rabbis have an ambiguous legal status. The rabbis and kessim were first hired by the state in 2002 based on a 1995 cabinet decision that created official spiritual leadership functions for the Ethiopian community. Unlike other rabbis, who receive 60 percent of their salary from religious councils and 40% from the Prime Minister's Office, Ethiopian rabbis receive 100% of their salary from the Prime Minister's office.

On Monday the Ethiopian spiritual leaders had planned a large demonstration outside the Prime Minister's Office to protest their receiving less pay than their non-Ethiopian counterparts. They had also planned to demonstrate against the rabbinic establishment's ambiguous stance on the Ethiopians' halachic definition as Jews.

The demonstration was later called off due to bad weather, but not before Spiegler issued the letter.

Spiegler's letter also called on religious councils to adhere to a Supreme Court ruling issued in July 2004 ordering all marriage registrars to treat Ethiopians like any other Israeli citizen.

"Most religious council registrars refuse to serve Ethiopians," said Jasmine Keshet of Tebeka, a pro bono legal advocacy organization for the Ethiopian community.

"Every Ethiopian couple that applies for a marriage certificate is referred to Rabbi Yosef Hadana, who has an office in Tel Aviv. Couples and their witnesses are forced to travel long distances from Haifa, Ashdod, Arad, Safed and other cities to register," she said. Although certain rabbinic councils in places such as Netanya marry Ethiopian couples without a conversion, these councils only have authority over couples that live in their area; all others must go to Hadana's office in Tel Aviv.

Rabbi Reuven Yasu, an Ethiopian rabbi who helps Ethiopian couples register for marriage in Beit Shemesh and Gedera by proving they are Jewish according to halachic standards, said that the rabbinic establishment refuses to take a stand on Ethiopian Jewry's halachic status. This causes hardship for hundreds of Ethiopian couples wishing to be married by the rabbinate, he said.

"The chief rabbis of some towns and cities accept the halachic decision issued by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Shlomo Goren that Beta Israel Ethiopians, as opposed to Falash Muras, are full-fledged Jews and are not obligated to immerse themselves in a mikve [ritual bath]," he said. "In these towns there is no problem for Ethiopian couples who prove they are from Beta Israel to get married."

Most towns and cities, however, follow the Chief Rabbinic Council's directive in 1985 that demanded all Beta Israel Ethiopians immerse in a mikve before they are registered for marriage, he said.

No Ethiopians agree to undergoing conversions prior to marriage nowadays, Yasu said, "so everybody is sent to Rabbi Hadana, who accepts Beta Israel Ethiopians without immersion in a mikve. That means many are forced to travel a long distance to get to Rabbi Hadana."

"The rabbinate has to decide once and for all whether Ethiopians are Jews or not. I'm not trying to tell them what to do. If they say Ethiopians have to be immersed in a mikve that's fine, but they should come out and say it clearly."

Here are the pay rates in US dollars:

White Orthodox rabbi – $1,540
Black Orthodox rabbi –  $  985

While not all rabbis are racist, most certainly are. Ethiopian rabbis have been complaining about this discrimination for years. Outside of one or two Sefardi rabbis, no one stood up for them – and this includes the rabbis of the settler movement and modern orthodoxy, along with the 'gedolim' of the haredi world. Shame on them all.

More Deceptive Advertising From Oorah & Kars4Kids

[Please click on image to enlarge.]

Oorah sent the above e-mail to its list today. Note what it says:

Proceeds benefit Joy for Our Youth. J.O.Y. is an international organization providing for the physical, emotional,  and spiritual needs of distressed and at-risk youth.

Again, J.O.Y. gifts all of its money to Oorah. Oorah is a sectarian missionary organization whose sole declared purpose according to it's IRS filings is "kiruv," Jewish religious outreach, and related educational scholarships to Orthodox Jewish Schools. And Oorah gives less than 38% of its income to those causes and shows extremely high expenses.

Oorah, J.O.Y. and Kars4Kids are all run by Rabbis Chaim and Eliyohu Mintz. Kars4Kids and J.O.Y. serve as front-organizations for Oorah, allowing Oorah to raise money from non-Jews and from Jews who would not support Oorah's programs. Kars4Kids and J.O.Y. gets those people to give money to what appears to be a non-sectarian charity that aids children who are really in distress – homeless, abused, abondoned, etc. – but in reality all the money is gifted to Oorah for Orthodox Jewish missionary activity. Kars4kids is also using a Kirbycard e-mail address. Kirby Card is owned by Cucumber Communications which is a totally owned subsidiary of Oorah. Cucumber claims:

Cucumber Communications is one long distance provider that makes it easy for busy people to support causes they care about.                                          

Cucumber Communications is a division of Oorah inc.

ALL our profits [this appears to be false – see here] are directed to non-profit groups working for human rights and children’s education. Through our long distance services, customers can generate progressive donations for non-profit groups just by doing what they do every day – best of all, it costs you the customer not a penny more.

With Cucumber, every call you make builds a better world.

Oorah is endorsed by almost every leading rabbi in the Orthodox world.

In most states, this is criminal fraud, and it certainly violates IRS rules.

Will Oorah lose its IRS 501 (c) (3) status? Will Oorah's board be prosecuted? Only time will tell.

The Little Menorah That Didn't, #2

Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University's rabbinical school questions why we say the full Hallel prayer every day of Hanukka:

There are two distinct mitzvos that we perform on Chanukah, the mitzvah of hadlakas neiros and the mitzvah of krias Hallel. It is not surprising that Chazal instituted two different mitzvos to commemorate the events of Chanukah, since two miracles occurred that we are celebrating. The miracle of the oil is commemorated by lighting Chanukah candles, whereas the victory of the battle against the Yeavnim is marked by reciting Hallel. Chazal tell us (Megillah 14a) that we recite Hallel when we are saved through a miracle. As great as the miraculous events of the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash were, these events would not cause us to recite Hallel. Only the events of the battlefield preceding the restoration of the Beis Hamikdash should warrant the recitation of Hallel.

Each day of Succos we complete the Hallel, whereas on Pesach we recite an abridged form on Chol Hamoed and the concluding days. Chazal (Taanis 28b) explain that this difference reflects a basic distinction between Succos and Pesach. Each day of Succos is a separate yom tov since the korbanos that are offered each day differ from the previous day. On Pesach the identical korbanos are offered each day, therefore the entire week of Pesach is viewed as one yom tov. Therefore, once a complete Hallel is recited on the first day there is no need to repeat it on subsequent days. Tosafos raises the problem that according to this criterion we should only complete the Hallel on the first day of Chanukah. Why do we view each day of Chanukah as a separate entity? Tosafos concludes that the miracle of the oil was renewed each day. Since each day the oil lasted was a new miracle, we commemorate each miracle with a daily completion of Hallel. The solution of Tosafos seems difficult – since the recitation of Hallel relates to the victory on the battlefield, why is the daily nature of the miracle of the oil relevant? It would seem that the complete Hallel should only be recited once, since we were only saved once.

Those of you who have read my previous post on this issue already know the factual answer to this question. However, Rabbi Sobolofsky chooses to answer the question with a new myth:

When the war ended, it was obvious that the Chashmonaim were victorious on the battlefield. However, it was not apparent who had won the spiritual conflict. Perhaps the Chashmonaim had defeated their enemies with their swords, but it still had to be determined who would emerge victorious in the battle between Torah and Yavan. Hashem performed a second miracle that would prove that the spiritual battle had also been won. Chazal associate the light of the menorah with the light of Torah. If pure oil could burn for eight days despite the defilement of the Beis Hamikdash by the Yevanim, the pure light of Torah had emerged victorious from the darkness of Yavan. The miracle of the oil was not distinct from the miracle on the battlefield, but rather it was the completion of the physical struggle that occurred. The Chashmonaim emerged victorious on the physical and spiritual battlefields. Lighting the menorah in the Beis Hamikdash was not just a mitzvah, but rather the victory in the spiritual war. Being saved from spiritual annihilation warrants reciting Hallel just as a physical deliverance does.

Tosofot did not have the resources we have. They had no history books, no archaeological digs, no Josephus, no 1 and 2 Maccabees, no Philo, etc. Their mistake is understandable.

But we must be clear – there is no record of a "miracle of oil" in any ancient source. The first mention of it is in the Talmud, written at least 600 years after the events took place. In contrast, 1 and 2 Maccabees were written by Jews within a few years of the events of Hanukka, and only the military victory is mentioned – no "miracle of oil." Josephus, written just over 200 years after Hanukka has no mention of the "miracle of oil." I repeat, nowhere in any ancient source, rabbinic or otherwise, is a "miracle of oil" mentioned.

Full Hallel is said each day of Hanukka because Hanukka was both a rededication of the Temple/victory celebration and a replacement for the recent Succot festival the Jews had missed because of the Greeks. That is exactly what Judah Maccabee said when he instituted Hanukka. It answers Tosofot's question without tortured logic and sleight of hand. And it is the truth.

RCA: Evolution Compatible With Judaism

The Rabbinical Council of America, the largest Orthodox rabbinic organization in America, has issued a statement saying that Judaism and evolution are compatible:

Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design:
The View of the Rabbinical Council of America

December 22nd 2005
21 Kislev 5766

In light of the ongoing public controversy about Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design, the RCA notes that significant Jewish authorities have maintained that evolutionary theory, properly understood, is not incompatible with belief in a Divine Creator, nor with the first 2 chapters of Genesis.

There are authentic, respected voices in the Jewish community that take a literalist position with regard to these issues; at the same time, Judaism has a history of diverse approaches to the understanding of the biblical account of creation. As Rabbi Joseph Hertz wrote, "While the fact of creation has to this day remained the first of the articles of the Jewish creed, there is no uniform and binding belief as to the manner of creation, i.e. as to the process whereby the universe came into existence. The manner of the Divine creative activity is presented in varying forms and under differing metaphors by Prophet, Psalmist and Sage; by the Rabbis in Talmudic times, as well as by our medieval Jewish thinkers." Some refer to the Midrash (Koheleth Rabbah 3:13) which speaks of God "developing and destroying many worlds" before our current epoch. Others explain that the word "yom" in Biblical Hebrew, usually translated as "day," can also refer to an undefined period of time, as in Isaiah 11:10-11. Maimonides stated that "what the Torah writes about the Account of Creation is not all to be taken literally, as believed by the masses" (Guide to the Perplexed II:29), and recent Rabbinic leaders who have discussed the topic of creation, such as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, saw no difficulty in explaining Genesis as a theological text rather than a scientific account.

Judaism affirms the idea that God is the Creator of the Universe and the Being responsible for the presence of human beings in this world.
Nonetheless, there have long been different schools of thought within Judaism regarding the extent of divine intervention in natural processes. One respected view was expressed by Maimonides who wrote that "we should endeavor to integrate the Torah with rational thought, affirming that events take place in accordance with the natural order wherever possible.” (Letter to the Jews of Yemen) All schools concur that God is the ultimate cause and that humanity was an intended end result of Creation.

For us, these fundamental beliefs do not rest on the purported weaknesses of Evolutionary Theory, and cannot be undermined by the elimination of gaps in scientific knowledge.

Judaism has always preferred to see science and Torah as two aspects of the "Mind of God" (to borrow Stephen Hawking's phrase) that are ultimately unitary in the reality given to us by the Creator. As the Zohar says (Genesis 134a): "istakel be-'oraita u-vara 'alma," God looked into the Torah and used it as His blueprint for creating the Universe.

___________
For articles and sources on this subject, see Aryeh Carmel and Cyril Domb eds., "Challenge: Torah Views on Science and its Problems," Feldheim, N. Y. 1976; and Rabbi J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (Soncino Press 1960), Additional Notes to Genesis.

The statement also supports a world far older than 6000 years. These were key points found to be heretical by the haredi 'gedolim' who banned Rabbi Nosson Slifkin and his works. Will these 'gedolim' ban the RCA as well, perhaps using the Tendler case as a starting point?

If the 'gedolim' do not do so, their silence will be further proof of their duplicity. If they do act, it will force many in the right wing Modern Orthodox and left wing haredi worlds to take sides. Neither of these outcomes bodes well for the haredi world and for those small men who lead it.

The Rebbe And The Menorah, #2

 

The Lubavitch News Service propagandizes:

Millions are by now accustomed to the menorah display in their respective town squares, and, Jewish or not, they welcome the light, often joining in the festivities celebrating the message of Chanukah. After all, the menorah’s message is universal, which explains why governors and mayors and councilmen nationwide are eager for the chance to get into those ubiquitous cherry pickers and put flame to wick.

No. Not really. In fact, not at all.

First of all the mesage of Hanukka is not universal. Judaism does not endorse the freedom of polytheists to practice their religions. When the Maccabees took control of Judea, they did not allow (in the first years) polytheism to continue in the areas they controlled. No Temple of Zeus was endorsed by Judah Maccabee and he did visit any such shrine in a fit of "religious tolerance." Further, the later Maccabees became hellenized and were heavily criticized by the rabbis as a result.

Second, politicians light the menorah because it is a photo op and free publicity, two things politicians thrive on. But Chabad prattles on:

More than any other symbol, the menorah is representative of Chabad-Lubavitch and its efforts to displace darkness with light. When Chanukah was an unknown among the general American public, Chabad introduced the holiday. At the time, it didn’t seem to have much hope of ever competing with the pervasive and highly popular sights and sounds of the December holiday season.

Funny. I remember 40 years ago, well before Chabad's public menorah lighting campaigns, my local television stations reporting on Hanukka and broadcasting a menorah with the proper number of burning candles at the beginning and end of each commercial break. Our newspapers had front page coverage. Radio stations played a few Hanukka songs. Public schools mentioned the holiday. And I live in a metropolitan area with few Jews. And friends from around the country had similar experiences.

Yet Chabad writes: "When Chanukah was an unknown among the general American public, Chabad introduced the holiday."

What was unknown among the "general American public" and among Jews anywhere was the new Chabad menorah, which has become the trademark of Chabad-Lubavitch. For more on Chabad's misrepresentation of that menorah, see The Rebbe And The Menorah. For historical details on the story of Hanukka, read The Little Menorah That Didn't.

Lawsuit Against Rabbi Tendler Made Public

The New York Post has a report on a lawsuit filed against Rabbi Mordechai Tendler. Rabbi Tendler is the son of Yeshiva University's Rabbi Moshe Tendler, the grandson of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and the nephew of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein. Rabbi Tendler was removed from the Rabbinical Council of America because of a related issue. His father and uncle have continued to stand behind Rabbi Tendler, and arranged for an Israeli haredi Beit Din to hear the case and find against the RCA. That is slowly bringing pressure on the OU, whose rabbis are RCA members. This is a very sad situation all around. What else can one say?

UPDATE: The court filing against Rabbi Tendler has been posted online.

The Little Menorah That Didn't

Here we are, soon to light the second candle on this 2169th Hanukka. For 2169 years, our ancestors have lit candles, most often in menorah's, to celebrate the "miracle of the oil." Or have they?

We all know the story. The Maccabee's capture Jerusalem, free the Temple and find it defiled. Worse yet, there is only one sealed, undefiled cruse of oil left in the Temple – enough to keep the menorah burning for only one day. It will take days – eight days, to be exact – to send for more pure oil.

The Maccabees, God-fearing priests that they were, lit the menorah with that one cruse of oil and, lo and behold, the menorah burned for eight days. New oil arrived as the menorah was still burning on day eight, and thus the miracle of Hanukka is sealed in the memory of our nation forever – maybe.

Why maybe? Because it did not happen that way. Let's see why:

1. The oldest telling of the story of Hanukka is found in 2 Maccabees. It does not mention the "miracle of oil."

2. The text of the Al HaNisim prayer inserted in the Amida prayer for Hanukka does not mention the "miracle of oil."

3. Josephus, who was a priest and served in the Temple, recounts the battles that led to the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple but does not mention the "miracle of oil." This is even more significant because Josephus was a member of the Perushim (Pharisees).

4. No other ancient records mention the "miracle of oil."

Why would this be? Let's try to answer that question by exploring the first known mention of the "miracle of oil," found in the Talmud, which began to be codified in about 400 C.E. – almost 600 years after the Maccabees triumph – and was not completed for many years after that.

The Talmud's version of the Story of Hanukka can be found in Shabbat 21b:

What is Hanukkah? Our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev [begin] the days of Hanukkah, which are eight, and on which mourning and fasting are forbidden.  For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmoneans [Maccabees] defeated them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil with the seal of the High Priest,  but which contained enough [oil] for one day's lighting only; yet a miracle happened and they lit [the menorah from that single cruse of oil and it lasted for] for eight days. The following year these [days] were made a Festival including [the saying of] Hallel and thanksgiving.

So, 600 years after the event, the Talmud claims the miracle of Hanukka was the "miracle of oil" and the holiday of Hanukka was established for the following year, in part because of it.

Here is the story of Hanukka as told in 2 Maccabees, written by a Jew within a few years of the actual events:

10:1 Now Maccabeus and his company, the Lord guiding them, recovered the temple and the city:

10:2 But the altars which the heathen had built in the open street, and also the chapels, they pulled down.

10:3 And having cleansed the temple they made another altar, and striking stones they took fire out of them, and offered a sacrifice after two years, and set forth incense, and lights, and shewbread.

10:4 When that was done, they fell flat down, and besought the Lord that they might come no more into such troubles; but if they sinned any more against him, that he himself would chasten them with mercy, and that they might not be delivered unto the blasphemous and barbarous nations.

10:5 Now upon the same day that the strangers profaned the temple, on the very same day it was cleansed again, even the five and twentieth day of the same month, which is Casleu [Kislev].

10:6 And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.

10:7 Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.

10:8 They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews.

10:9 And this was the end of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.

No "miracle of oil."  Eight days because of the Succot sacrifices (that went on for eight days) that were not able to be offered due to the Greeks.

Now, Josephus:

[36] Accordingly Matthias, the son of Asamoneus, one of the priests who lived in a village called Modin, armed himself, together with his own family, which had five sons of his in it, and slew Bacchides with daggers; and thereupon, out of the fear of the many garrisons [of the enemy], he fled to the mountains; and so many of the people followed him, that he was encouraged to come down from the mountains, and to give battle to Antiochus's generals, when he beat them, and drove them out of Judea. So he came to the government by this his success, and became the prince of his own people by their own free consent, and then died, leaving the government to Judas, his eldest son.

[38] Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus would not lie still, gathered an army out of his own countrymen, and was the first that made a league of friendship with the Romans, and drove Epiphanes out of the country when he had made a second expedition into it, and this by giving him a great defeat there; and when he was warmed by this great success, he made an assault upon the garrison that was in the city, for it had not been cut off hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper city, and drove the soldiers into the lower, which part of the city was called the Citadel. He then got the temple under his power, and cleansed the whole place, and walled it round about, and made new vessels for sacred ministrations, and brought them into the temple, because the former vessels had been profaned. He also built another altar, and began to offer the sacrifices; and when the city had already received its sacred constitution again, Antiochus died; whose son Antiochus succeeded him in the kingdom, and in his hatred to the Jews also.…

No "miracle of oil."  Again, eight days because of the Succot sacrifices (that went on for eight days) that were not able to be offered due to the Greeks.

What happened? Why was a "miracle of oil" added to Hanukka?

The Pharisees fought with and suffered suffered from the Hasmonean kings, as the Hasmonean dynasty over time became Hellenized and the Sadducees, opponents of the rabbis, allied with the Hasmoneans.

The rabbinic dislike for the Maccabees can be summed up with the following question: How could a miracle have come through a family that would later become so evil?

Within 150 years two disasters would rock the Jewish world. The first, the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. after a war initially backed by many of the rabbis. The second took place 65 years after the Destruction when the Bar Kokhba revolt failed and with its defat came the deaths of tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of Jews. The chief backer of the revolt was Rabbi Akiva, the leader of Rabbinic Judaism who believed Bar Kokhba to me the messiah. This revolt failed, but the Maccabees, without rabbinic leadership, won their war and liberated the country.

Here we have rabbinic sanction for war and no miracle happens. Why? Were the rabbis less deserving of God's miracles than the Maccabees and their Sadducee allies?

Worse yet, the prayers for Hanukka, established long before Bar Kokhba, glorify the Maccabee's war and do not mention the oil, and the rabbis cannot simply remove or edit a text which was widely known throughout the Jewish world.

I believe the rabbinic response to this problem was to gradually push aside the victory of the Maccabees, which was the true miracle of Hanukka, and replace it with  the "miracle of the oil." By the time the Talmud was codified, the "miracle of oil" had become the "normative" understanding of Hanukka.

Today the "miracle of oil" is well known, but the details of the Maccabees' fight against the Greeks is not.

Hanukka Samayakh.

Haredim: Metzitza B'Peh Equal To Shabbat, Not Enough Risk To Stop

Agudath Israel of America's Rabbi David Zwiebel explains Agudath Israel's view on MBP's risk to Steven I. Weiss:

We neither accept nor reject that metzitzah b'peh is a health risk - we haven't been privy to the evidence on which the Health Department bases its claim. What we do know is what we hear (and what the Health Department has heard) from pediatricians who serve the communities where the practice is routinely performed: that any incidence of neonatal herpes after metzitzah b'peh is extremely rare, and that any incidence of serious harm is rarer still.…Given that testimony, and given the fact that we're talking about an essential religious practice, we feel it was inappropriate for the Health Department to issue this type of public warning.

What level of demonstrated risk would justify such a public warning or a ban? Dunno, but I'd imagine that if that level of risk existed, the religious leaders of the community would beat the Health Department to the punch.

Weiss then interviews Rabbi David Niederman of the Satmar-controlled Central Rabbinical Congress, whose beit din (religious court) was charged by the city with investigating MBP, but missed it's deadline to rule. Rabbi Niederman explains "that level of risk":

So what level of risk would the CRC consider necessary to trigger a ban or limitation of the practice? "The same level of risk…the metzitzah b’peh is the same mitzvah as other mitzvos of the Torah, nothing less than shmiras Shabbos…for this mesorah, we are ready with mesiras nefesh." The standard would be "the same pikuach nefesh for a doctor on Shabbos."

Of course, following that 'logic,' dozens of babies will have to die or be maimed before the CRC will act. And that's just fine with Rabbi Niederman who, when asked about potential AIDS transmission (to the mohel) from MBP, had this to say:

"[H]ow do you compare AIDS that is a killer…AIDS that is overwhelming evidence that certain behavior contributes to that," to the case of neo-natal herpes and metzitzah b'feh, about which he claims there's no such evidence.

Neonatal herpes is fatal in almost 30% of cases. But why let fact interfere with Rabbi Niederman's 'logic'?

Weiss then asks about the December 1 deadline the CRC missed:

"[I]t’s basically we said that we feel that we will have our investigation of Fischer done by that time…we have since indicated that we will not be done by that deadline" as they're being careful "because pikuach nefesh is so important to us." "We take this very seriously…if there’s any safek of pikuach nefesh, we’ll be the first to say no…the Torah says…even the slightest, we take this issue very seriously," he said, adding "the commissioner himself said take this very carefully…so we’re taking the time to make sure that no stone is unturned." Meanwhile, "Fischer [the mohel who apparently infected several babies with herpes, one of whom died] has done brisin all over the globe, so we have to go all over these places and do the investigation in addition to the medical investigation."

NYC should ban MBP outright and impose criminal penalties on those who perform it. Will haredim do MBP underground? Yes they will. Will babies still die? Yes they will. But some mohels will be caught and others will be too frightened to do MBP. More babies lives will be saved this way than by 'working' with recalcitrant haredi communities.

Oorah Gives Less Than 38% Of Income To Charity

Oorah, the Lakewood-based haredi missionary organization whose deceptive advertising practices were exposed by the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, distributes less than 38%*** of its income to the childrens programs it champions. According to the most recent IRS 990 filing available (Download oorah_2003_irs_990.pdf) , Oorah had gross revenues of almost $2,000,000 yet used only $741,639 of that revenue for outreach and for underwriting Jewish education. Almost $741,000 went to cover expenses and another $482,000 was held as "assests" and not disbursed.

Oorah's for-profit subsidiary, Cucumber Communications, is shown with a total income of $208,609. Even though Oorah claims that "every penny of profit" is given to Oorah, Ooorah's IRS filing shows that Cucumber transferred only $144,391 to Oorah. Cucumber also shows assets of $367,301.

Oorah is run by Rabbi Eliyohu Mintz.

*** By way of contrast, in 1998, the last of the five probationary years preceding the IRS decision on whether or not to grant permanent tax exempt status, Oorah raised $262, 657 and gave away $238,207, just over 90% of what it raised. Download oorah_1998_irs_990.pdf

[Previous report here.]

Haredim Attack City Over Circumcision

The Jewish Week reports that two pediatricians with practices overwhelmingly made up of haredim have attacked the city and its health commissioner for warnings he issued about the dangers of metzitza b'peh, oral-to-genital-contact during circumcision. Both doctors are medical advisors to the new haredi "circumcision board."

The pediatricians have raised the following objections:

Drs. Robert Adler and Steven Styler said Frieden has not proven a link between metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks the blood orally during circumcision, and life-threatening herpes in newborns.…

“I’m aware of a couple of isolated cases, but am not aware that there have been sufficient cases for me to agree with [Frieden],” said Styler, whose office is in Borough Park, Brooklyn. “It’s too bad that the documented number of cases cannot be more firmly established. The question is whether it’s common enough to pose a real risk. The number that would be? I’m not prepared to offer an opinion.”…

Adler, who has offices in Borough Park and Williamsburg, was asked by the family of one of the boys who contracted herpes this year whose case has been cited by the Health Department to examine the baby at Maimonides Medical Center about a month ago, “even though the infectious disease person there didn’t think that his lesions were consistent with herpes,” the doctor said.

If it was herpes, Adler said, it may have been caused by a member of the baby’s family who had a cold sore and unwittingly transmitted it to him while changing his diaper, if the adult had touched his or her mouth with their fingers and then touched the baby’s genital area.

Tucker said that in this and the other cases cited by the Health Department, “the medical circumstances are inconsistent with infection acquired at delivery, in the newborn nursery or from caretakers.”

These herpes cases, he said, “are consistent with acquisition at circumcision” because of their timing and the location of the herpes sores, among other things.

Right. If this were a method of transmission with any chance of success, there would be thousands of cases of Herpes each year. Why? Because any baby circumcised by any doctor or mohel, in or out of the hospital, would be at equal risk. But this is clearly not happening. Why? Listen to the NYC Health Department's Andrew Tucker for an answer:

Health Department spokesman Andrew Tucker said this week that the number of cases, along with the timing of the first symptoms of blisters in the genital area within days of the boys’ brises, proves a link to metzitzah b’peh.

“Statistically, with an estimated 30 cases of neonatal herpes in New York City per year, even a single case resulting from metzitzah b’peh contributes significantly,” Tucker said. “Since approximately 10 percent of all neonatal herpes cases occur after delivery, in New York City this would be three cases per year. A single case due to metzitzah b’peh would be even more statistically significant.” …

The Health Department, in an advisory to physicians last week, warned that as many as 20 percent of babies who contract herpes may not develop skin lesions, “so providers must maintain a high index of suspicion for herpes infection following circumcision which includes metzitzah b’peh.”

This is echoed by a Sefardi doctor who is also part of the new haredi "circumcision board":

Another doctor on the medical advisory committee of the American Board of Ritual Circumcision said he takes the health commissioner’s warning against metzitzah b’peh very seriously.

“It’s not a healthy practice because of transmission of herpes,” said Dr. Edward Gindi, who serves a largely Sephardic clientele in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. When mothers come in with their baby boys for the first visit after giving birth, “I advise them to avoid it,” he said.

Sefardim generally hold much more like the Modern Orthodox on matters like this, and their opinions are disregarded by the haredi community. What is more telling is the complete lack of credible Modern Orthodox participation in the "circumcision board," whose founding chairman now weighs in:

Mohels who maintain the practice believe metzitzah b’peh has been mandated by God and used safely since the time of Moses.

They also believe that the city has not proven its case, said Romi Cohen, chairman of the American Board of Ritual Circumcision, which has certified three dozen mohels, most of whom employ the practice.

Cohen formed the organization about a year ago [i.e., right after the Fischer case was made public and the city took the first steps toward regulating or banning MBP], he said in an interview, out of concern for the professional standards and skill among mohels. His members are required to submit blood tests twice a year proving that they have not contracted herpes, HIV or hepatitis B, he said.

Testing twice per year is next to worthless, and does not address the way these diseases are transmitted or how they are carried in the body.

But we have more. Agudath Israel of America chimes in:

David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, an organization that represents the interests of the fervently Orthodox community, estimates that metzitzah b’peh is performed more than 2,000 times a year in New York City.

The group issued a statement this week criticizing the Health Department for “a highly objectionable use of Departmental authority” when it issued last week’s statement, an “unprecedented and highly selective use of its bully pulpit authority to publicly attack a millennia-old practice.”

About a year ago the city started investigating Rabbi Fischer. In another unprecedented move, earlier this year the Health Department turned that case over to a religious court in Williamsburg to adjudicate.

When the bet din did not issue a ruling by an agreed-upon deadline of Dec. 1, the Health Department issued its statement.

As is the norm of late, Rabbis are behaving very badly.

Making Of A Kanoi, Part 1

I think, just as today's Orthodox world was ready for Rabbi Nosson Kamentsky's banned book, The Making of a Gadol, it is ready for a companion book – The Making of a Kanoi. And so, here begins a sporatic series of posts that will, God willing, form the heart of that book. We shall start with a definition, an answer to the question, "What is a kanoi?"

A kanoi is one who appears very pious and learned, and who is always very careful to keep only the "highest" standard of mitzvot between man and God. He will eat only in his own house or in the homes of some leading rabbis. He will raise questions about the kashrut of almost every kosher item avilable in your supermarket – unless he is paid by that company. Any rabbi who deviates from the kanoi's perception of proper interpretation of Jewish law will be harassed. If that does not bring about the desired result, the rabbi's children and grandchildren will be harassed.

The kanoi will fast the longest, daven the earliest, and wear his black hat whenever outdoors, even while cutting the lawn in 90º weather. The kanoi will "misrepresent" facts to achieve his goals, all the time being able to quote an obscure sefer that allows such behavior in a time of pressing need. Who determines if this is a time of pressing need? The kanoi, of course!

The kanoi is also a fixer. His word can open the doors of gedolim or have them slammed in your face. He can fix your parking tickets or have your car towed for non-payment of same. He is beloved by few and feared by all. He is a Pinchas without a Moshe Rabbaynu, a sicarri without a dagger, a self-appointed guardian of yiddishkeit.

And he is watching you.

Lakewood Cop Smear Continues

A small Lakewood area newspaper, the Tri Town News, reports on the Lakewood rabbi, the cop, and the "newly abused." Key quotes:

This week, Nichole Robinson, 29, said she and her attorney are preparing to file a lawsuit for an as yet undetermined amount of money based on injuries she claims to have sustained after being taken into custody by Menck on Nov. 20.…

Although Robinson said she would fax a copy of the police report and the complaint she filed with the Lakewood Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit to the Tri-Town News in order to prove her claim, no documents were ever provided and she did not return subsequent calls requesting them.

This is not a surprise. Robinson's medical records released so far do not support her claim. She promised to release the full medical record, which she claimed does support her. She has not done so.

And then this from Rabbi Yehuda (Yudel) Shain, a leading kanoi:

“Believe me, many times the people who get the ticket are wrong, but just as often the police officer oversteps his boundaries,” Shain said in June. “Most people don’t want to file anything with Internal Affairs because they don’t feel they are going to get any place. We get calls every day because of the problems we get. The police department feels they don’t have to answer to anybody and can do whatever they want.”

At several Lakewood Township Committee meetings held after the incident, non-orthodox Jewish residents said orthodox Jews did not respect the authority of police officers, such as Menck, who were just doing their job.

Rabbi Shain actively supported Robinson in her claims against the police, which conveniently "surfaced" a few days before Rabbi Bursztyn's trial was to begin. Rabbi Shain also made claims of "many witnesses" supporting the rabbi and proving the police wrong. None have ever gone pubic, and Rabbi Shain has refused repeated requests to name them or to provide any proof of their existence.

You can read the entire article on the Tri City News website. (The copy archived below, after the jump, is only for archive purposes.)

Lakewood-Based Haredi Charity Uses Deceptive Advertising, Bad Charity Practices, Apparent Trademark Infringement

The Lakewood, NJ-based Kars4Kids is a front for Joy For Our Youth, which itself is a front for Oorah, a haredi missionary organization. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch reports on the deceptive advertising used by Kars-For-Kids, and the questionable business practices of Oorah:

Radio jingle is catchy-and it may catch you
By Bill Smith
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/20/2005

One of the hottest musical offerings of this holiday season may be a catchy radio jingle for a New Jersey-based vehicle donation program:

"1-877-KARS4KIDS. . . K-A-R-S, cars for kids . . . 1-877-KARS4KIDS. . . Donate your car today."

The advertising spots, which have been airing on KMOX since before Thanksgiving, offer few details on the vehicle donation program. They tell listeners the program is a "recognized charity" and donors will receive a "maximum deduction" from the Internal Revenue Service for their vehicles. The ad also says donors will receive a "free vacation voucher" good for a three-day, two-night stay.

What is left unsaid, and what also is conspicuously absent from the charity's Web site, is that almost all money raised through the Kars4Kids charity goes to a Lakewood, N. J.-based program set up to pay for private schooling and other educational programs. It aims to bring Jewish schoolchildren and adults closer to their heritage.

A 2004 report from the Better Business Bureau's national office, the most recent available, is tough on the Kars4Kids and related JOY For Our Youth program. The report says the charity may not meet at least eight of the BBB's 20 standards for charity accountability.

Among the BBB concerns:

The group's board of directors does not provide adequate oversight of the charity's organization and staff.

The group has declined to make public annual financial statements or annual reports.

The group does not have a board-approved budget.

Despite requests, the charity has not provided the BBB with fundraising and informational materials about its programs.

A BBB official says 70 percent of the national charities it has scrutinized meet all of its accountability standards.

Officials with Kars4Kids and JOY For Our Youth did not responded to several Post-Dispatch requests for information about either its advertising campaign or its programs.

The radio advertising spots refer listeners to the group's Web site at Kars4Kids.com. As of Tuesday, the site said car donations benefit JOY for Our Youth, which it describes as "an international organization providing for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of distressed and at-risk youth."

The site also says that JOY was established in 1996 "to help those children who were on the streets with no one to turn to for help. JOY stepped in to fulfill a need for children who had nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help."

None of the Web site information indicates that Kars4Kids or JOY have any ties to a specific religious group, but federal tax records paint a different picture.

JOY's 2003 tax filing with the IRS - the most recent available - reports that its only only grant that year, for $207,000, was made to a nonprofit group called Oorah Inc. Tax records for both JOY and Oorah list the same New Jersey address.

While phone calls placed to Oorah also were not returned, that group's Web site says it was founded in 1980, "with the goal of awakening Jewish children and their families to their heritage.

"We seek out families who are interested in enriching their spiritual lives and provide them with the right resources to succeed."

The site also says Oorah enables children to enroll in Jewish day schools or yeshivas and brings "adult education opportunities to the parent, as well as all the ritual objects and support they need to live a full Jewish life."

A January 2005 story in New York's The Jewish Week said Oorah recruits potential students by going "door-to-door" in search of unobservant Jewish families receptive to the idea of sending their children to day school.

The article quotes Oorah's head, Eli Mintz, as saying: "I think it's the right of every Jewish child to know his tradition. And for him to really know his roots and who he is, not to intermarry, to keep his Jewish identity, without a yeshiva education, he doesn't have a clue."

The story says Mintz takes no salary but added that "he does not explain the source of his income."

Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer with the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, said federal tax rules on car donations were tightened beginning with this year. Prior to this year, most donors could claim a tax deduction in the amount of the fair market value of the donated vehicle. Now, if the charity or its agent resells a donated car, the donor in most cases is able to take a deduction only for the amount of the car sale.

Weiner also said car donations have become increasingly popular among charities, which usually negotiate with third-party brokers to pick up and sell the cars for them.

Weiner urged that vehicle owners research a charity's programs, finances and governance before making a donation.

He did not criticize the Kars4Kids program, saying the BBB reports serve only as a guide to help prospective donors decide whether they should give to a specific charity.

Kars-For-Kids describes Joy For Our Youth this way:

Your car donation to Kars-4-Kids™ will benefit Joy for Our Youth. J.O.Y. is an international organization providing for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of distressed and at-risk youth.…

JOY is a registered international, 501(c)(3), non-profit organization providing developmental programs for at risk youth. JOY provides food, clothing, shelter, health and wellness, education, after school programs, special training, mentoring, tutoring, private counseling, summer programs, and guidance to children from the ages of six to eighteen.

Established in 1996 to help those children who were on the streets with no one to turn to for help. The dire situation of many young children was at dangerous levels. JOY stepped in to fulfill a need for children who had no where to go and no one to turn to for help. JOY has blossomed into an international organization helping to alleviate the problems of hundreds of children, and finding solutions that work.

Yet, all of Joy's money goes to Oorah, which describes itself this way:

Oorah, which means "Awaken," was founded in 1980 with the goal of awakening Jewish children and their families to their heritage.

We seek out families who are interested in enriching their spiritual lives, and provide them with the right resources to succeed.

We enable children to enroll in Jewish day schools or yeshivos, where they receive a full religious and secular education straight through high school.

While the children learn and grow, we bring adult education opportunities to the parents, as well as all the ritual objects and support they need to live a full Jewish life.

Oorah has the endorsements (Download oorah_rabbinic_endorsements.pdf) of many haredi gedolim and rabbinic leaders, including many who sigined the Rabbi Slifkin Ban, and a who's who of Modern Orthodox leaders as well, including YU's Rabbi Modechai Willig, the OU and YU's Rabbi Menachem Genak, and the Beit Din of America's Rabbi Michael Broyde.

Also note that Kars-For-Kids and Joy For Our Youth have apparently stolen the trademarked Dummies symbol from the Dummies Guides series and used it for a "Dummies Guide To Car Donations" and for a "Dummies Guide To In Kind Donations" on their respective websites.

UPDATE #1: Steven I. Weiss notes that the Kars4Kids website is registered to Rabbi Eliyohu Mintz, who also heads up Oorah. Oorah's president is Rabbi Chaim Mintz, a senior official at the Yeshiva of Staten Island.

Oorah owns Cucumber Communications, and claims that "every penny" of profit goes to Oorah's activities.

UPDATE #2: Kars4Kids Chicago-area car seller is a convicted felon who has previously defrauded the charities he represents.

[More on Oorah's finances here.]

Yated Ne'eman On The Renewed Rabbi Slifkin Ban

Under a headline reading "Why We Censor," the Internet version of the Israeli Yated Ne'eman explains why it was necessary to ban Rabbi Nosson Slifkin:

…Many books include ideas mentioned by Slifkin, but only his were condemned. Why? Because of "the impudent and audacious spirit of throwing off the yoke (prikas ol) of the mesorah miSinai and our sages (rabboseinu hakedoshim) who are its bearers (maggidehoh)," that is not found in those others.

Are the rabbonim asking or telling us to stop thinking? Do they wish us to be intellectual wimps who cannot and do not evaluate critically what they hear?

What an absurd suggestion! If we close down our minds we will not even be able to understand the Torah that they transmit to us daily, not to mention the holy words of our Sages of previous generations back to Sinai. No intellectually honest person could say that our rabbonim do not want us to think! The often-heard response that pronouncements such as this one are anti-intellectual betray a desire to ridicule us and our rabbonim, not a serious charge.

Free, serious and deep inquiry is our goal, constantly pursued. But — yes there is a "but" — it must be within the spirit of Torah and not in the spirit of the secular world which is deeply, unremittingly hostile to Torah.…

When we faced the Greeks in the time of the Maccabim, the issues were clear and in the open. They said, "Write on the ox horn that you have no part in the G-d of Israel." You cannot get more direct than that. They did not let us learn Torah and do mitzvos. The violated our money and our daughters and our Sanctuary.

Now they leave our daughters alone (except for once-in-a- while attempts in the State of Israel). They shower us with wealth. They allow us to learn and to do mitzvos with hiddurim that were undreamed of by earlier generations.

Yet the spirit of the Western world, in its media, in its science, in its art, in its politics, is a challenge to the authentic Torah spirit from the floor to the rafters.

Just pick up a Mesillas Yeshorim and consider the catalogue of things that the Ramchal lists as inimical to the very first step of the Path of the Righteous (Chapter 5), and it is clear that modern society has raised the difficulty of overcoming them to new heights: 1] Dealing with distractions and necessities of the world; 2] Laughter and ridicule; 3] Pressures of an evil society.

The mass of modern media and communication make the temptations of excess in the first area stronger than they ever were, even as it has increased greatly the amount of information that we really have to deal with. The amount of comedy and ridicule has increased tremendously compared to any previous period, even as its prestige has grown, making it harder to dismiss. Finally, society is so intrusive, even as it is free, that it exerts tremendous pressure to conform to its increasingly decadent values.…

It is hard to know who is for us and who is against us. Our rabbonim do not reject modern society wholesale, but they draw lines for us: This is ok. Stay away from that.

Whoever wants to, is free to go it alone. He or she can plunge in to the treacherous waters of the modern world alone, and try to reach the truth heroically alone. It is a big task for an individual.

The rest of us will take shelter under the banner of gedolei Yisroel. As in the generation of Chanukah, so too in our generation — the gedolei veziknei hador cry out to us all: Mi laSheim eilai!

Whoever wants to reach Hashem should join them!

Rabbi Slifkin had rabbinic endorsement for his works, including the endorsement of at least one gadol who now bans him. But truth has never been an issue for haredim. Neither has decency or respect for the work of others. Rabbi Slifkin's mistake was to try to make the haredi world fit with modern science. That cannot be done. Science is by definition an unrelenting search for truth. Harediism is a constant attempt at hiding from that truth, and is itself a lie.

The time has come to reject the haredi world, to stop "showering" them with money and respect. Do not fund their yeshivot and summer camps. Do not attend their dinners and fundraisers. Do not refer with honor to the men who banned Rabbi Slifkin, and do not follow their halakhic decisions.

Choose life.

Chabad Cleans Up Hurricane-Damaged Modern Orthodox Synagogue

Chabad's nationwide campus organization has sent student volunteers to New Orleans to help clean up the flood-ravaged Beth Israel Orthodox Synagogue.

Saturday Night Live On Metzitza B'Peh

From last Saturday's Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live:

"New York City officials said Tuesday that they had identified two new cases in which infants were infected with herpes during a circumcision ritual in which the practitioner, or mohel, sucks the blood from the circumcision to clean the wound. Added the officials, 'Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to barf forever.'"

"Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow."

[Hat tip: Nachum Lamm.]

New Haredi Circumcision Board Certifies Mohel Who Says God Gave Us Saliva To Clean Wounds

The new haredi front organization the American Board of Ritual Circumcision publishes a list of mohels it "certifies." Among them is the Crown Heights based-Rabbi Yisroel Heller, who told the New York Jewish Week what he believes about metzitza b'peh (oral-to-genital contact during circumcision):

“Our teachers taught us to use our mouths,” said Crown Heights-based mohel Rabbi Israel Heller, who is the official mohel of Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

“The saliva cleans wounds. God gave us saliva in our mouth to clean things.”

Enough said.

Update On Rabbi Goldschmidt Ban

Forum 18 reports:

Pinchas Goldschmidt, Moscow's Swiss-born Chief Rabbi, is now back in the Russian capital after having his one-year multi-entry visa revoked without explanation on 27 September (see F18News 6 October 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=668). Speaking to Forum 18 following his 8 December return to Russia, Rabbi Goldschmidt said that he now holds a one-month single-entry religious work visa supported by an invitation from "one of the Jewish communities." Goldschmidt's Moscow Jewish Religious Community is affiliated to the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organisations of Russia (known as KEROOR).

Rabbi Goldschmidt confirmed to Forum 18 on 16 December that he thus has to leave Russia again in early January, but added that he hopes to re-enter holding a one-year multi-entry religious work visa. He declined to comment on the possible reasons for his September deportation.

Immediately following that incident, there were suggestions in the Russian media that it might be linked with the Moscow rabbi's possession of a business rather than a religious work visa. A faxed reply from the Russian Foreign Ministry to Forum 18's 29 November query about his predicament (see F18News 30 November 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=697) appears to support this view. Dated 5 December, it maintains that Goldschmidt visited Russia on business visas supported by invitations from "various commercial structures" from 2003 - in particular, the SA-SEV "financial-trade" company during 2004-05. According to the Russian tourism website turist.ru, SA-SEV is a Moscow-based limited company which received licences to offer tour agency and tour operator services in April 2002.

Pointing out that his wife Dara teaches in a Jewish school in Moscow, Rabbi Goldschmidt maintained to Forum 18 that his annulled visa had not been supported by a business as such, but an organisation offering services to educational institutions.

The Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department's assistant director Mikhail Troyansky, however, maintains that, while holding business visas, Goldschmidt "actually visited Russia to conduct professional religious activity," a fact confirmed in writing by the Swiss Embassy, Adolf Shayevich ("the Chief Rabbi of Russia according to KEROOR") and his own public appearances as Chief Rabbi of Moscow. As a result, continues Troyansky, Goldschmidt "repeatedly violated" Article 26, Part 2 of the 1996 law on entry to and exit from the Russian Federation, which states that foreign citizens may be barred from entering the country if they "submit false documentation or knowingly provide false information about themselves or the purpose of their visit." This, according to the Foreign Ministry's reply, is the reason why Goldschmidt was prevented from entering Russia.

Troyansky concludes, however, that all bars on Rabbi Goldschmidt's travel to Russia have been lifted. "Goldschmidt may obtain a visa at any Russian consulate by presenting all the necessary documentation, including an invitation from a Russian religious organisation issued in accordance with the legally prescribed procedure via the Interior Ministry." He duly received his one-month visa on 6 December.

Lev Krichevsky, Moscow correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), reported a quite different reason for Rabbi Goldschmidt's expulsion. In a 22 November JTA article, he noted that, according to Russia's Interior Ministry, Rabbi Goldschmidt was being kept out of the country "for national security reasons." Contacted by Forum 18 on 9 December, Krichevsky confirmed that a 9 November Interior Ministry official letter he saw – to which he no longer had access – explicitly referred to Article 27, Part 1 of the 1996 law on entry to and exit from Russia as the reason for Goldschmidt's visa annulment. This provision indeed states that foreign citizens may be prevented from entering Russia "for the purposes of ensuring state security."

While a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told Russia's Interfax news agency on 28 September that they were "examining the circumstances" connected with the annulment of Rabbi Goldschmidt's visa, the Interior Ministry is qualified to comment on the case as it took over the handling of foreign religious workers' visa applications from the Foreign Ministry at the end of 2002.

Tankred Golenpolsky, editor of the International Jewish Newspaper, speculated to Forum 18 in early October that Rabbi Goldschmidt's expulsion may actually have been connected with a property dispute between Moscow's Choral Synagogue and the Russian Jewish Congress under its president since November 2004, [Chabad-affiliated oligarch] Vladimir Sluzker (see F18News 6 October 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=668). On 10 November [non-Chabad oligarch] Vyacheslav Kantor was elected president of the Russian Jewish Congress in place of Sluzker.

Rabbi Goldschmidt is the 53rd foreign religious worker – and the first Jew - known to Forum 18 to have been denied entry to Russian since March 1998 (see F18News 7 September 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=644).

The Russian authorities' expulsion of foreign religious workers is not usually explained. However, Jeffrey, Susan and Jordan Wollman, a US evangelical missionary family previously based in Kostroma, were informed by the Foreign Ministry in July 2002 that they had been denied visas the same month specifically under Article 27, Part 1 of the 1996 law on entry to and exit from Russia. Without specifying which part, the Foreign Ministry subsequently stated that the visa of Irkutsk-based Polish Catholic bishop Jerzy Mazur was revoked in April 2002 "strictly in accordance with" Article 27, and that Canadian Salvation Army officer Geoff Ryan, based until September 2000 in Rostov-on-Don, was barred from travelling to Russia under the same provision. A Krasnodar-based lawyer representing Swedish evangelical missionary Leo Martensson, whose Russian visa was revoked in September 2002, was reportedly told by the Foreign Ministry in early 2004 that he posed a security risk.

Rabbi Goldschmidt's case demonstrates that it remains unclear what foreign religious personnel are entitled to do in Russia. Officially employed as a computer studies teacher, US citizen Craig Rucin was involved in unpaid religious work in his spare time when deported from Udmurtia in 2001. Officially a religious worker with the Church of Christ in Volgograd, by contrast, US citizen Charles Landreth was ordered to leave Russia by local police in September 1999 on the grounds that he was breaking the law by working in orphanages and "having social interaction outside church activities."

Black Lace Thongs Work Best

Steven I. Weiss notes this bizarre story from Israel. Hundreds of Israeli women have been leaving their panties on the tomb of the mishnaic sage Jonathan Ben Uzziel in Amuka, with the hope this act will speed the answering of their prayers for husbands.

What is this? Ba'al Teshuva Breslov meets Las Vegas?

Idiocy In The Name Of Torah

On The Main Line has posted a section of a fundrasing brochure from a Bnei Brak-based nonprofit describing the visit of a gadol (haredi rabbinic leader), a leading signer of the Rabbi Slifkin Ban, to the nonprofit's offices:

Why are so many stations necessary?" he asked. The telephones at the stations of the steady operators were ringing non-stop...."But how is it that a person contributes over the phone? How does the money come in?" he asked. The gabbai [assistant] briefly explained how a credit card works.

"But the contributor doesn't even sign anything... he's contributing over the phone!" Harav Steinman asked again. "But what if he changes his mind?" he went on....It was astounding to see to what extent maran, shlit"a, who is immersed in Torah study day and night, is cut off from the financial nature of our daily lives in the modern world. At the same time, it was fascinating to see how quickly he caught on when the matter was outlined in the briefest detail.

The man did not know how a credit card works. Earth To Haredim: GET NEW LEADERS! YOUR SHIP IS SINKING!

Aish HaTorah On Creationism

Aish HaTorah's Rabbi Yakov Salomon has made a short flash video on creationism in the classroom.  His basic thesis is as follows:

1. "Evolutionists" only allow one way of teaching – Darwinian evolution.
2. "Creationists" are flexible – teach evolution and other opinions like creationism side-by-side.
3. "Evolutionists" hold creationism in the classroom is unconstitutional.
4. "Benjamin Franklin" wrote in the Declaration of Independence that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights …" (He actually garbles the quote. See the video.) "Is the Declaration of Independence unconstitutional?" Rabbi Salomon asks.

Of course, Rabbi Salomon is very poorly informed (or he's lying – take your pick). In order:

1. Scientists will allow any scientific, peer-reviewed theory to be taught as science.
2. Creationism and Intellegent Design are not peer-reviewed because they are not science.
3. Scientists hold Creationism is a religious teaching and not science, and therefore cannot be taught as science. (It could be taught in a compararative religion class, though.)
4. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration, not Benjamin Franklin. The Declaration is not now, nor was it at the time of its signing, science, and no one is attempting to have it taught in the classroom as such.

Stupidity and deceit seem to be dominating the outreach business in this post-Rabbi Slifkin ban era.

The Rebbe And The Menorah

Arch of Titus, Rome

Hanukka is fast approaching. A motzei Shabbat excursion to the grocery store brought me face to face with two shluchim (Chabad rabbis) of the younger generation, hard at work erecting a Hanukka display that will remain up through Hanukka. The centerpiece of the display is a menorah with straight diagonal branches, often mistakenly referred to as Rambam's menorah. (More on this below.)

I like both of these rabbis very much. I've known them since they were children. I know the work they do is often selfless. One has done innovative, successful programing – a rarity in these parts. But every time I see a "Rambam's menorah," I want to scream. And tonight was no exception.

I restrained myself somewhat and contented myself with pointing out a historical fact – the menorah in the Temple looked nothing like that. As a simple proof, I mentioned that coins have been found from the reign of Mattias Antigonus [see one to the left], the last Hasmonean king, who ruled just before Herod. These coins have the menorah on them, and the branches are curved, not straight.

The elder of the two answered my challenge by quoting the Rebbe: The menorah on those coins and on the Arch of Titus is not the Temple menorah – it is merely a second menorah, a copy, used for non-sacramental purposes in the Temple.

Right. This is the same mind that brought us a new "Jewish" version of Gosse's theory and who insisted that spontaneous generation really happens.

Well, there are a few problems (to put it mildly) with the Rebbe's thesis, not least among them is this – all representations of the menorah  contempraneous to the existence of the Temple show the menorah with curved arms. Further, in all of Jewish history, only two rabbis appear to have claimed anything different – the Rambam and Rashi. Both lived almost 1000 years after the Temple stood. Neither had any representation of a menorah that matched the Rebbe's understanding of their positions.

But take a look at the Rambam's own drawing of the menorah, and compare it to the Rebbe's version.

 
Rambam's drawing of the Temple menorah     The Rebbe's menorah (adapted for Hanukka)

The cups on the Rambam's drawing are at different heights and at different angles. In Rebbe's menorah,  each cup is at the same height and the same angle. (And of course there are other differences, as well.)

So here we have an entirely new version of the menorah not found anywhere else throughout Jewish history. Worse yet, the Rebbe claimed this was the "correct" version of the menorah, and the one found on the Hasmonean coin (minted by a king who was both a kohen and the high priest and who served in the Temple!) was incorrect.

Rabbi Seth Mandel has a long post on AishDas.org dealing with the shape of the menorah. In it, he explains convincingly that the Rambam's drawing was a schematic, and was not meant to be representative of the menorah itself:

[I]f the arms weren't exactly straight, why did the Rambam draw them
that way? Well, why did he draw the kaftorim as a circle? Because he
drew everything with a ruler, a compass and a protractor (much as an
electrical schematic drawing is done with straight lines). Note that all
the kaftorim are drawn not as free-form circles, but are perfectly round
(even though the real kaftorim were not). Similarly, the top of the
base, above the three legs, is a perfect arc clearly drawn with a
compass. The distances are also schematic: the space occupied by the
gavia', kaftor and perah above the base are one tefah, as the note on
the drawing next to them states, whereas the empty space above them and
below them are both two t'fahim, also clearly noted ("t'fahayim") on the
drawing, yet those latter spaces in the drawing are much less than the
space taken by the g'via', kaftor and perah.…

Now even in a schematic drawing, if the arms were semicircular arcs, as
they are on the Arch of Titus, the Rambam would have surely drawn them
that way, using a compass. But what if the arms were not semicircular,
but were curved somewhat? What, as a matter of fact, if they were like
the arms shown in a), the coins of Matitya Antigonos or the arms shown
in b), the drawing on the wall of the house discovered in the Old City
[conclusively dated to the end of the Second Temple era],
that were partially curved and partially straight or almost straight? I
would argue that in his schematic drawing, the Rambam would see nothing
wrong with drawing them with a ruler as a straight line. After all, as
he says, "my intent in this drawing is not that you should know [i.e. I
should draw] the exact form. Rather my intent is to show you the number
of the g'vi'im, the kaftorim and the p'rahim, and their placement, and
the length of places of the arms of the Menorah that are empty and that
of the places that have kaftorim and p'rahim, and its general
appearance."

Of course, one can also easily argue that the Rambam was simply mistaken, and did the best he could do with the information he had.

But what of the representation on the Arch of Titus? The base is wrong and their are other problems as well. Rabbi Mandel answers by quoting Rabbi Daniel Sperber, whose book on minhagim (Jewish customs) is very well regarded:

… [T]he base is two giant hexagons, the top one larger than the lower one,
with decorations on the side panels. Examination of the panels of the
hexagons shows that the central one on the upper hexagon has a picture
of two eagles holding a (laurel?) crown. To its left and right are
panels showing a ketos, a aquatic monster usually with a serpent body
and the head of a bird or other animal. In the lower hexagon are three
panels with various kete (plural of ketos). A ketos is called drakon by
Hazal; in the Mishna Avodah Zara 3:3 it shows that a drakon was suspect
of being a symbol of AZ. How would that get into the Temple? Even worse,
the eagle was the symbol of Imperial Rome, and as such was an anathema
to Jews longing to be free of Roman rule.

However, the picture cannot be simply an invention of a Roman artist.
The arms are are equidistant from each other, and the distance equals
the width of the arms (another universal characteristic of Jewish
sources), they all go up to an equal height, and even the ratio of the
distance from the base to the lower arms to the rest of the height
matches the ratio given by Hazal. And there are clear g'vi'im, kaftorim
and p'rahim on the arms. This must be a representation of the Menorah of
the Hekhal. So how can we explain the base?

R. Daniel Sperber gives the correct answer, IMHO. He notes that usually
a ketos has a nymph perched on its back, and scales on its neck, and
shows pictures of a very similar from a Roman temple in Didyma with such
a nymph. In e), there is no nymph and no scales on the neck. He quotes
the g'moro AZ 43a that a drakon that is osur has scales on its neck, and
the Tosefta in AZ that says "if the neck was smooth, it is muttar." This
evidence, that the base was made showing the symbol of Imperial Rome and
avoiding AZ, matches Herod the Great. He was put in his position, after
Matitya Antigonos, by the Roman, and Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews
tells us that he erected a great golden eagle over the gates of the
Temple, an act that angered the Jews. OTOH, he always was careful to
portray himself as King of the Jews and avoided any outright AZ. So, R.
Sperber concludes, it must have been Herod who put on the base. Why
would he have monkeyed around with the Menorah? Probably because shortly
before his reign the Parthians entered Y'rushalayim and plundered it.
The Menorah may well have been broken at its weakest point, its small
base, at that time, and Herod, whose mark was large construction
projects many of which were for the benefit of the Jews while at the
same time reminding everyone of Roman sovereignty (as he did in his
reconstruction of the BhM), would naturally have made a large new base,
for the good of the Jewish Temple but with Roman symbols.

So it is extremely probable that [it] was actually drawn from someone who
saw the Menorah as it was paraded through Rome in 71 and perhaps later,
wherever it ended up. But some of the exact details, like the exact
number of kaftorim, or the exact curve of the arms, is wrong, because
the sculptor no longer had the Menorah in front of him.

My Chabad friend also pointed out that Rashi holds the menorah is like the Rambam's drawing. Rabbi Mandel attempts to deal with Rashi (who also had no coins or seals or wall paintings to look at) this way:

I would also argue that Rashi's statement of alakson [diagonal] could also fit the drawings Medieval Jewish sources … it is inconceivable to me that rabbonim drawing pictures of the Menorah in the 14th Century would not have noted that Rashi disagrees.

I would simply argue that Rashi is mistaken, except that Mandel has a stong point – no one ever drew a menorah that matches the Rebbe's understanding of Rashi. Therefore, the Rebbe's understanding is mistaken.

As Mandel points out, history is against the Rebbe:

In summary, all depictions of the Menorah in the Hekhal, from Jewish and
Roman sources from the time of the [Temple] and the following couple of
centuries (as well as medieval Jewish sources) show the Menorah with
rounded arms. …

Menorah from 1st century Italy

In conclusion, I have argued that no one thought that the arms were
exactly straight; that the idea came into being only in the 20th Century
after the Rambam's drawing became common knowledge, but does not have a
basis in a careful reading of the Rambam and a comparison to Jewish
depictions ranging from the time of the Temple to centuries later.

Some have claimed the Rebbe set up the new Chabad menorah as a corporate symbol, for branding and messianic purposes. History would seem to support that claim.

Arutz 7: Haredim Violated Circumcision AgreementUPDATE: Head Of Rabbinical Court Charged With Investigation Says Metzitza B'Peh "Safe"

[UPDATED BELOW]

Arutz Sheva reports:

New York City's health commissioner has issued an unprecedented warning that part of the circumcision ceremony in some ultra-orthodox communities can be dangerous to babies. "There exists no reasonable doubt that metzitzah b’peh [MBP] can and has caused neonatal herpes infection," said Dr. Thomas Frieden. In the procedure, the mohel (who performs the circumcision) orally sucks blood from the site of the genital cut he makes. The Rabbinical Council of America recommends using a sterile tube and gloves to avoid direct oral-genital contact.

Dr. Frieden advised against the procedure, which is used in many ultra-orthodox communities, following an investigation of a mohel who officials said passed on herpes to three babies.

Dr, Frieden's warning came after violation of an agreement with ultra orthodox rabbis in the Williamsburg community in which they promised to stop the procedure temporarily pending an investigation. The religious court, which was to rule on the issue, did not decide by the deadline set by the health commissioner.

In other words, the haredi beit din (religious court) knew about the new cases of herpes transmission from MBP and did not act.

Instead, haredim set up a "board of circumcision" whose purpose is to promote MBP while it "regulates" circumcision. No Modern Orthodox rabbis or moderate haredim are on the board, and the mohelim listed do MBP.

How many infants must be maimed or worse before these people wake up?

UPDATE #1: Steven I. Weiss has posted a press release from the Rabbi David Neiderman of the Central Rabbinical Congress defending metzitza b'peh. The CRC's beit din (religious court) is the court that was supposed to deal with the MBP issue, but did not:

Nobody is more concerned with the health and well-being of our children than we are. We have expressed that directly to Mayor Bloomberg on two occasions, and appreciate his sensitivify to our Constitutional right to continue to exercise our religious customs. We also appreciate Commissioner Frieden's acknowledgement of the religious basis of the practice he is criticizing, and note that there is no move to ban it.   Any kind of a ban would run counter to the freedom of religion that contributed to our community's moving to this country in the first place.***

The Rabbinical Court of the Central Rabbinical Congress, acting at the behest of the City, is nearing a decision concerning a mohel mentioned in earlier reports and the broader safety questions raised by the Health Department. The court has consulted medical and rabbinical experts across the United States and abroad for a comprehensive study that is part of our commitment to our communify to ensure that mohelim continue to safely practice metzitzah b'peh.

We have serious concerns about the Health Department's insistence on advising mothers of newborn boys concerning a religious practice. We believe that continuing the religious practice of metzitzah b'peh is highly safe. We will work with expectant mothers and fathers in our community to urge them to consult with their rabbis as they approach the blessed event of celebrating a bris for a newborn boy.

*** There's a plane waiting for you at JFK, Neiderman. Bye bye.

UPDATE #2: The New York Jewish Week elborates on the Arutz 7 story (which, as Steven I Weiss points out, Arutz 7 probably "ripped" from the Jewish Week to begin with):

12/16/2005
City Urges Halt To Ritual Practice
Unprecedented open letter says controversial circumcision technique is dangerous; haredim say they won’t heed warning.
By Debra Nussbaum Cohen and Larry Cohler-Esses
City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden: “There exists no reasonable doubt that metzitzah b’peh can and has caused neonatal herpes infection.”

In the face of a religious court’s failure to conclude its investigation of a mohel who health officials say transmitted herpes to three babies, New York City’s health commissioner issued an unprecedented public warning Tuesday that a controversial circumcision procedure is endangering the lives of Jewish infants.

“There exists no reasonable doubt that metzitzah b’peh can and has caused neonatal herpes infection,” Dr. Thomas Frieden wrote in “An Open Letter to the Jewish Community” about a procedure routinely practiced by mohels in some sectors of the Orthodox community. “The Health Department recommends that infants being circumcised not undergo metzitzah b’peh.”

But some community leaders in sectors of the Orthodox community where the practice is common indicated they would continue to insist on the procedure as a requirement of religious law.

The letter — the Health Department’s first official warning against the procedure — follows an apparent breakdown in an agreement the department had with a Jewish religious court in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In September, the city withdrew a lawsuit against a mohel the department concluded had transmitted the disease to three babies on whom he had performed the procedure, including one who died as a result and one who suffered brain damage. It also withdrew a court order barring him from continuing to use the technique.

In exchange, Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer voluntarily agreed temporarily to stop performing metzitzah b’peh. Rabbi Fischer and his attorney dispute that the rabbi was the source of the infection. And a Jewish religious court took up the case for final resolution. But according to Frieden, the religious court, or bet din, failed to meet the Dec. 1 deadline.

“They’ve since communicated to us that it’s a complicated situation and they’re not sure when they can come back,” Frieden told The Jewish Week. “So rather than let that continue indefinitely, we felt it was important to make clear to the public our own conclusion and position.”

Rabbi David Niederman, liaison for the Williamsburg bet din, said he was “shocked” at Frieden’s reaction to the delay.

“We have set the date, and it might be a little bit later,” he said. “However, I believe that the lines of communication are open, so it’s only a phone call to ask ... when would the report be issued. We did not break down the agreement.”

The rabbinical court, he said, “is making a very thorough and broad investigation. They will not leave one stone unturned.”

But whatever the court’s ultimate conclusions about Rabbi Fischer, it will not impact the practice of metzitzah b’peh in the haredi community, said Rabbi Niederman.

“We are convinced that it’s not dangerous,” he said. “Had it been dangerous we would not be performing it, and you know that Hashem [God] would not give something to us that is dangerous.”

In metzitzah b’peh, a mohel orally sucks blood from the site of the genital cut he makes during the circumcision procedure. Not all haredi groups mandate the practice, and the Modern Orthodox-oriented Rabbinical Council of America recommends using a sterile tube and gloves to avoid direct oral-genital contact.

But several haredi sects insist Jewish religious law requires the practice. City officials said mohels from these sects may also apply the procedure outside their communities.

Rabbi David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, an Orthodox umbrella group, estimates that metzitzah b’peh is performed more than 2,000 times a year in the New York City.

Two New Herpes Cases

In his Open Letter, Frieden reviews seven cases of herpes that have occurred locally, including two this year that the letter discloses publicly for the first time.

Health Department investigators have concluded all were transmitted by mohels performing metzitzah b’peh.

According to Frieden, in one of the two new cases, the infant shows evidence of severe brain damage. The case came to the Health Department’s attention in October.

Frieden said in neither case have the families been willing to identify the mohel who performed the circumcision.

“We are continuing to try to gain their cooperation,” he said.

In legal documents filed several months ago the department stated that herpes, which generally causes just blisters and cold sores in healthy older children and adults, is fatal as much as 30 percent of the time in newborns.

Frieden’s warning against the procedure comes more than a year after a cluster of three neonatal herpes cases were attributed to Rabbi Fischer.

Furthermore, The Jewish Week has learned, the warning comes a full five years after two senior pediatricians at Long Island Jewish Medical Center warned the city that metzitzah b’peh was putting the lives of Jewish infants at risk.

Dr. Philip Lanzkowsky, chief of staff of Schneider Children’s Hospital at Long Island Jewish hospital, said he and a colleague reached out to city health officials and members of Brooklyn’s haredi community about the danger in 2000. The physicians acted after determining that two cases of neonatal herpes brought to Schneider Hospital had been caused by metzitzah b’peh.

“I went to Brooklyn myself and met with rabbis and a representative of the Health Department,” said Lanzkowsky.

He said he acted without publicity at the time, explaining, “One of the things we didn’t want to happen was adverse publicity in the general media that might affect [ritual circumcision] in general. We wanted to deal with it in the local Jewish community.”

There is little doubt the city was aware of Lanzkowsky’s warning. In his open letter, Frieden cites Lanzkowsky’s investigation of the two cases, published in the March 2000 edition of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal.

Asked why he thought the city was acting now, Lanzkowsky said, “Obviously they [the community] didn’t heed the first warning.” But after the death of a child last year, “I think the Department of Health, which carries a responsibility here, could not sit quiet.”

Last year the city began to investigate the suspected link to one local mohel of three herpes cases in 2003 and 2004. As it probed the link, some sectors of the Orthodox community lobbied city officials heavily not to interfere with the practice. That effort included a meeting in August between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and prominent members of the Satmar chasidic community based in Brooklyn and Rockland County as Bloomberg was gearing up for re-election.

“We’re going to do a study to make sure that everybody is safe, and at the same time it is not the government’s business to tell people how to practice their religion,” Bloomberg said one day after the meeting.

‘They Haven’t Banned It’

Frieden issued his statement in two parts: the open letter and a flier titled “Before the Bris: How to Protect Your Infant Against Herpes Virus Infection Caused by Metzitzah B’peh.”

The latter is a one-page “fact sheet” the city intends to distribute directly to new parents at hospitals frequently used by Jewish mothers to give birth, circumventing religious authorities who maintain that metzitzah b’peh is an essential element of brit milah, or ritual circumcision.

The fact sheet introduces options that Jewish parents could have for the ritual circumcision of their new sons — information they might not receive from within sectors of the community insisting on metzitzah b’peh. The fact sheet and letter are also on the Health Department’s Web site, www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/std/std-bris.shtml.

The flier begins with the statement “circumcision has health benefits,” but goes on to explain how herpes is contracted from mohels who employ metzitzah b’peh and encourages parents to “consider other options.”

It takes aim squarely at arguments offered by some fervently Orthodox community leaders in the last few months claiming the practice is safe.

“There is no proven way to reduce the risk of metzitzah b’peh,” the flier says. “Although a mohel may use oral rinses or sip wine before metzitzah b’peh, there is no evidence that these actions reduce the spread of herpes. A mohel who takes antiviral medication may reduce the risk of spreading herpes virus during metzitzah b’peh, but there is no evidence that taking medication eliminates this risk.”

Other members of the haredi community joined Rabbi Niederman in expressing concern over the Health Department’s action.

David Zwiebel, an attorney and executive vice president of Agudath Israel, an organization that represents haredi interests, said he would have preferred the statement not be issued.

But at least “they have been true to their commitment that they would not regulate the procedure,” he said of Health Department officials. “They haven’t banned it and haven’t required some sort of informed consent, which was an idea on the table at an earlier stage.”

Zwiebel was concerned that the department’s action could harm the haredi community’s public image and serve as a “foundation on which other jurisdictions might choose to regulate the practice, or even New York City might do that at some future date.”

Haredi communities often view government agencies as interlopers meddling dangerously with their internal religious affairs. In this case the Health Department’s statement may prompt some to ask questions of their rabbis, Zwiebel said.

“The most likely reaction is that there will be a general message from many of these rabbonim to their communities whether or not — and probably not — the statement from the commissioner could impact their halachic practice,” he said.

Rabbi Levi Heber is a mohel based in Crown Heights, from the Lubavitch community, where metzitzah b’peh is considered a spiritually integral part of the brit milah ritual.

“The concept of non-Jewish authorities trying to influence certain behaviors should not be accepted by anyone,” said Rabbi Heber. “You never know where it could lead.”

Since the potential health risks of metzitzah b’peh hit the headlines, many clients have brought up concerns about it, Rabbi Heber said. “It’s something that’s been brewing.”

But parents “are sincerely interested in finding out the facts, and with a little bit of explanation they agree to it,” he said.

Rabbi Heber said he has never refrained from metzitzah b’peh because of a parental objection, but has had parents say “ ‘do what you have to do, but I’m not going to be there’ ” to see it.

Rabbi Niederman stressed the huge number of metzitzah b’peh procedures performed with no apparent ill effects.

“There have been seven cases, allegedly over a span of 15 years,” he said. “In Williamsburg alone we have close to 57,000 people. The overwhelming majority is very young, so you’re talking about 120,000 brises of metzitzah b’peh. You tell me, is it safer to give a flu shot or to do metzitzah b’peh?'

But Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a dean at Yeshiva University’s rabbinic school and a professor of biology there, as well as an expert in Jewish medical ethics with a doctorate in microbiology, has long opposed metzitzah b’peh as halachically unnecessary and medically dangerous.

In an interview this week, he said that indications of brain damage in one of the boys whose case is being cited by the Health Department should make people aware of the dangers, besides death, of herpes contracted through metzitzah b’peh.

“I’m convinced that many children have been infected and not diagnosed, and years later they are in special education in the schools and no one knows why,” Rabbi Tendler said.

Dr. Jonathan Zenilman, chief of the infectious disease department at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, and an internationally renowned expert in sexually transmitted diseases, agrees.

“Because neonatal herpes has a large variety of presentations, it’s quite likely that cases prior to this recent increased awareness were undiagnosed,” he said. “And because neonatal herpes causes encephalitis, the long-term effects of that infection will be lifelong, including neurological impairment.”

Public health policy experts, including Zenilman, say Frieden’s statement is unusually pointed.

“As these things go this is pretty strong,” said Zenilman.

The only reason the city Health Department didn’t impose an outright ban on metzitzah b’peh, he said, is because it would be nearly impossible to enforce, with most ritual circumcisions taking place in private homes and in synagogues.

Dr. John Santelli, a pediatrician and chair of the department of population and family health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said “it’s difficult when there’s a potential clash between religious values and medical information, but it’s really important that parents know, and for the commissioner to take the position that this is a dangerous practice.”

Health departments have learned from dealing with HIV-AIDS that “in public health you have to start with education, with a community and its leaders,” Santelli said. While the health commissioner has broad latitude protecting public health, in some cases amounting to police authority, officials “rarely take draconian measures because it alienates the people you want to work with.”

“The commissioner is now throwing the ball back to the Orthodox community and saying ‘how are you going to respond to this?’ ” Santelli said. “I hope we don’t have another tragedy.”

Debra Nussbaum Cohen is a staff writer.
Larry Cohler-Esses is editor-at-large.

Lakewood Rabbi: I Pleaded Guilty Because It Was Convenient, I Did Not Commit A Crime

The Lakewood rabbi who pleaded guilty Tuesday to obstruction of justice (despite claims by his supporters of "many" witnesses to support the rabbi's version of events) is now claiming that he is innocent after all and that the charges were "completely unfounded." So why did he plead guilty?

But [Rabbi] Bursztyn, in a telephone interview Wednesday, said he feels he "caved in" in pleading guilty. While his testimony in entering his guilty plea was technically truthful, he said doesn't believe he committed a crime, and he entered the plea to spare himself the expense, stress and time consumption of a trial.

The rabbi said a trial would have interfered with his personal and professional responsibilities. He also said he pleaded guilty because community leaders have urged him not to further aggravate unrest between the community and the police.

"Maybe a long trial was something I couldn't afford to do — pay lawyers and have the stress on my health," Bursztyn said.

But if the rabbi had so many "witnesses" to support his version of events, the trial should have been a slam dunk. Further, lower court cases rarely go on for extended periods of time. The trial could very well have lasted less than one week. Perhaps this bit of new information (shown after the plea by the rabbi's lawyer to the media in the rabbi's "defense"!)  shed's some light on the rabbi's true motives:

A videotape from Menck's car, which Carluccio played for the Asbury Park Press Wednesday, showed that Menck told Bursztyn to back away from his niece's car and also not to approach the patrol car. It showed the rabbi walking away from his niece's car toward the patrol car, despite repeated orders from Menck to "walk away."

The tape, however, does not show what happened when the rabbi got to the patrol car, although it does record him asking for Menck's badge number and telling the officer that the woman he stopped was his niece.

This is entirely consistant with the police officer's report.  The police claim that when the rabbi reached the potrol car, he asked for the officer's badge number, was order away by the officer, and the rabbi reached into the car and grabbed the officer's shirt (apparently in order to get the number off the officer's badge).  The officer then did what every cop has been trained  to do in a circumstance like this– he restrained the rabbi.

The rabbi clearly violated the law. He endangered himself and others by doing so. Yet he still believes he is innocent. Why?

Because haredim believe they are above the law – that secular law was not made for them. The rabbi's actions in this case are reflections of that belief. When the rabbi says his testimony in entering his guilty plea to obstuction of justice was technically truthful, but he doesn't believe he committed a crime, this is what he really means – I am above the law.

It is the haredi mantra – learn it well.

Toronto Orthodoxy In "Uproar" Over New R. Slifkin Ban

The Canadian Jewish Tribune reports:

Toronto’s Orthodox community was in uproar this week following the circulation of a letter by one of the city’s leading Rabbinic authorities, Rabbi Shlomoh Eliyahu Miller, head of the Kollel Avreichim (an advanced institute of Talmud study for married men).

The letter condemned the books of Rabbi Noson Slifkin, the ‘Zoo Rabbi’ as “words of heresy and denial…and ignorance,” for apparently suggesting that scientific knowledge could ever take precedence over rabbinic lore in explaining the origin of the world, astronomy or the laws of nature. Rabbi Slifkin lectured to capacity audiences in the city this weekend as a guest of the ‘Torah in Motion’ program.

Rabbi Slifkin’s books, which discuss various aspects of zoology, evolution and the animal kingdom in the light of rabbinic tradition, stress the rabbinic authorities through the ages who have welcomed scientific thought as illuminating – not contradicting – traditional Judaism. As such, he has been under sustained attack for more than a year by ultra-Orthodox leaders in Israel and the United States.

The attempt to ban his books and ostracise him, further fanned by what have been identified as clumsy attempts to attack modern science, provoked a huge crisis of confidence in Orthodox circles. The attacks on Slifkin were criticized as attempted ‘thought control’ in the Orthodox community, aimed at enforcing one interpretation of tradition, and intimidating anyone holding – or approving – alternative views. The Internet, and particularly the ‘blogs,’ were major forums in publicizing and discussing the unfolding of events.

Local orthodox leaders expressed concern regarding both the content and the tone of Rabbi Miller’s letter. Rabbi Miller criticizes Rabbi Slifkin’s views, defines him as a heretic, compares him to the ‘wicked son’ of the Pesach Haggadah, and explains that it is obligatory for Jews to believe in Rabbinic traditions, giving as an example the belief that Cain and Abel were born on the sixth day of creation, without any gestation period.

He then says that he will “strengthen the hearts of those who may have heard the words of denial (divrei kefirah)” by giving examples (apparently unrelated to Slifkin) of how the Torah has proven astronomy wrong, and how the Talmudic rabbis knew advanced science from biblical exegesis.

He further points out that in discussing the nature of light, the rabbis define darkness not as the absence of light, but as a real substance, and that in this “scientists are wrong.” In the letter he refers to Galileo, Quantum Mechanics, ‘Non-local reality’ and Bell’s Theorem as perhaps offering confirmation of his views. A local Orthodox Jewish scientist termed the scientific content of the letter “perplexing.”

Metzitza B'Peh – A Prediction

When will haredim stop metzitza b'peh , the dangerous oral-to-genital contact done during circumcision based on Talmudic-era medical knowledge?

When the first gadol's grandson is maimed, and not before.

Today's 'gedolim' are so ignorant and distainful of science and medicine, nothing short of a personal tragedy will move them.

This is not  simply a story about dead and maimed  babies. It is a story about 'gedolim,' rebbes and rebbelach unfit to lead, and a haredi society careening toward disaster as a result.

The answer for Jews is simple – stay as far away from haredi Judaism as possible. It is our only hope.

Student Beaten, Stabbed In Ponevitch Yeshiva Conflict

Israel's preeminent haredi yeshiva has seen another outbreak of violence. The Jerusalem Post reports:

Meanwhile Wednesday, a 20-year-old Ponevezh Yeshiva student was severely beaten and stabbed by a number of assailants. Police said the youth, from Jerusalem, was attacked inside the yeshiva building and evacuated to Sheba Hospital in moderate condition.

The stabbing, police said, appeared to be part of an internal turf war at the prestigious Lithuanian yeshiva, which has been torn apart recently by rivaling rabbis fighting for control of the institution.

However, Ponevezh yeshiva students denied police claims that the incident was related to the ongoing feud between rabbinic camps vying for control of the yeshiva.

[First seen on Mentalblog.]

New Haredi "Circumcision Board" Supports Dangerous Oral-To-Genital-Contact During Bris

The new haredi-controlled American Board of Ritual Circumcision supports metzitza b'peh (MBP), the oral-to-genital-contact during circumcision that has killed at least one infant and maimed others. One of it's medical advisors is Daniel Berman, who has been a vocal advocate for MBP and has claimed that no harm can come from the procedure. Many of the mohelim listed as board-approved regularly do MBP.

Further, no Modern Orthodox rabbis are listed as advisors, most likely in retaliation for the Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America's statement against MBP issued earlier this year. The board also serves another purpose – to stop Rabbi Moses Tendler from setting up a real board that would provide real oversight and protect children.

New York City's Health Commissioner today released more evidence confirming the dangers of MBP. It seems haredim are intent on ignoring that evidence and using this Board as a weapon against the City. Apparently policy is more important to these rabbis than the lives of children.

Lakewood Rabbi Pleads Guilty – Police Officer Cleared

I suspect Nicole Robinson's lack of medical documentation for her charges of police brutality, her constantly shifting story and the lack of support she garnered outside the haredi community (Robinson is not Jewish), influenced Rabbi Bursztyn decision to admit his guilt rather than go to trial.

Haredim, including Rabbi Yudel Shain, claim there were many unnamed "witnesses" to support Rabbi Bursztyn's claim of police brutality. They also claim the same for Nicole Robinson. Haredim also claim the police and city "refused" to interview said witnesses for Officer Menck's Internal Affairs hearing. Yet, somehow, when these many "witnesses" could have to testified (but under oath and with the risk of perjury) and supported the rabbi's claims, the rabbi pleads guilty and no "witnesses" testify.

The Asbury Park Press reports:

A rabbi, whose altercation with police earlier this year sparked protests in Lakewood's Orthodox Jewish community, has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the incident in Lakewood.

Rabbi Yosef Bursztyn, 63, of Sixth Street, Lakewood, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the disorderly persons offense before Superior Court Judge Edward J. Turnbach, who imposed $125 in fines, said Executive Assistant Prosecutor Ronald F. DeLigny. Bursztyn could have faced up to up to six months in jail and fine up to $1,000.

Bursztyn admitted he failed to comply with a directive of Lakewood Officer Erik Menck on June 26 while Menck was performing an official function, court documents said.

Police said Bursztyn reached inside Menck's patrol car after the officer had stopped the rabbi's niece for allegedly tailgaiting another vehicle.

Bursztyn's arrest sparked protests in Lakewood's Orthodox community. Menck was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident.

If you have not yet done so, read my earlier coverage of this incident, especially the Lakewood Shopper's "report" on the Robinson affair. This haredi-owned tabloid has been shameless in its attempts to whip up hatred for the Lakewood Police.

It should also be noted that yesterday's (failed) rally to garner support for Robinson outside the haredi community was conveniently scheduled for the day before Rabbi Bursztyn's court appearance. Now, why would that be?

NYC Discloses 2 New Cases Of Herpes From Circumcision Rite – City Calls On Jews To Stop Metzitza B'Peh, Issues Letter To Jewish Community

[UPDATED BELOW.]

Two more babies have contracted herpes from metzitza b'peh, oral-to-genital-suction during circumcision. The New York Times reports:

City health officials said yesterday that they had identified two new cases in which infants were infected with herpes this year during a circumcision ritual practiced by some Orthodox Jews. During the circumcision, the practitioner, or mohel, sucks the blood from the circumcision wound to clean it. Since 1988, health officials have identified at least five infants believed to have been infected during such procedures by Type 1 herpes, commonly carried by adults. One baby died and another may have suffered brain damage, health officials said. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the commissioner of health and mental hygiene, disclosed the new cases yesterday in an open letter to Orthodox Jews in which he called upon parents to consider other religiously viable options, including using a tube or sponge. But he did not ban the practice.

Of course, he cannot ban the practice – Mayor Bloomberg, suspiciously close to the mayoral election this Fall, promised Satmar and Agudath Israel in an apparent pre-election quid-pro-quo that he would not do so, and turned the 'investigation' into the mohel (ritual circumciser) that started it all, Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer, over to a Satmar beit din (religious court). The beit din has not managed to deal with the case so far. (Its schedule must be very full dealing with their community's 'special needs.')

One thing is clear– haredim are willingly sacrificing children to preserve a part of the circumcision rite that is not biblically mandated, and was only made part of that rite based on 1500-year-old Talmudic science to protect the health of the infant. In the ultimate irony, rabbis now fight to needlessly endanger the lives of infants, not protect them.

The City has set up a special website to deal with the problem. The problem is that most of the communities still doing metzitza b'peh have banned the internet. At any rate, the City notes that:

In metzitzah b'peh, the mohel places his mouth on the freshly circumcised penis to draw blood away from the cut. If the mohel is infected with oral herpes (as most adults are), metzitzah b'peh can expose the infant to the herpes virus. While severe illness associated with this practice may be rare , there is a definite risk of infection.

Oral herpes spreads easily through saliva, especially when saliva touches a cut or break in the skin, such as during metzitzah b'peh.Most people with oral herpes don't know they are infected and don't have symptoms. Even without symptoms, however, people can spread the infection.

Because the immune system of newborns is not developed enough to fight serious infection, herpes infections pose grave risks to infants.

There is no proven way to reduce the risk of metzitzah b'peh

Although a mohel may use oral rinses or sip wine before metzitzah b'peh, there is no evidence that these actions reduce the spread of herpes. [This is Rabbi J.David Bleich's 'solution' to the problem – have the mohel rinse his mouth first. He said this to 'refute' Rabbi Moshe Tendler's call to ban metzitza b'peh.] A mohel who takes antiviral medication may reduce the risk of spreading herpes virus during metzitzah b'peh, but there is no evidence that taking medication eliminates this risk.

Zachary Scholem Berger reports on a Dear Colleague letter sent yesterday by the NYC Health Department to physicians:

Dear Colleagues:

You may have heard about the Health Department’s recent investigation of several cases of herpes simplex type 1 infection in male infants following circumcision which included metzitzah b’peh.

Metzitzah b’peh is a practice performed by some mohelim (religious circumcisers) as part of the circumcision. After removing the foreskin, the mohel places his mouth on the baby’s freshly circumcised penis to draw away the blood. In 1998, the Health Department investigated two cases of neonatal herpes due to herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) – one of these infections occurred in 1988, the other in 1998. Both were associated with one mohel (Mohel A) who performed metzitzah b’peh during circumcision. Mohel A agreed to stop practicing metzitzah b’peh.

In November 2004, the Health Department was notified of 3 male infants with HSV-1. All were circumcised by one mohel (Mohel B), who performed metzitzah b’peh. The infants developed herpes infection in the genital area 8-10 days after circumcision and were hospitalized for several weeks. One baby died from the infection. Two cases were reported by physicians in 2005 and both are also consistent with infection from metzitzah b’peh. Every case occurred in the time frame consistent with transmission from metzitzah b’peh.

Our investigation found Mohel B to be the source of the 2004 cases, and metzitzah b’peh to be the means of infection for these and other cases, for the following reasons:

• The medical circumstances are inconsistent with infection acquired at delivery, in the newborn nursery, or from caretakers.

• Infection is consistent with acquisition of herpes at circumcision. For example, two infants who were circumcised several weeks after birth showed signs of infection in the time frame that would be expected were the infection acquired during circumcision.

• Several mothers tested negative for HSV-1, making it impossible for them to have been the source of infection.

• All infants tested culture-positive for HSV-1, which is found in the mouths of most adults.

• The location of herpes sores (on infant genitals and buttocks) is very unusual and strongly suggests that infection was introduced at the genitals.

With an estimated average of fewer than 30 cases of all forms of infant herpes infections occurring per year in New York City, the odds of one mohel being associated with 3 cases of neonatal herpes are infinitesimally small (about 6.9 million to 1). In the interest of allowing religious communities to address these health concerns first, the Health Department agreed to let rabbinical authorities ensure that the mohel stopped performing the practice at least until the authorities conclude an investigation. In addition, the connection between metzitzah b’peh and neonatal herpes has been documented in the medical literature. Three investigations published within the past 5 years (from New York City [1], Israel [2, 3] and Canada[3]) describe 11 cases of males with HSV-1 infections on their genitals following metzitzah b’peh. Among the 11 cases, there are 4 pairs of cases (including the 1988/1998 cases from New York City).

In the United States, approximately 70% of persons age 40 and older are infected with herpes simplex virus type 1. The mouth is the most common site of HSV-1 infection; HSV-1 spreads easily through infected saliva, especially when saliva comes in contact with a cut or break in the skin, such as occurs during metzitzah b’peh. Most adults with oral herpes do not know they are infected and do not have symptoms. Even without symptoms, however, people with oral herpes can spread the infection to others. If herpes lesions are present, they tend to occur (and recur) on the skin or mucous membranes at the site at which infection was introduced or in related dermatomes. HSV-1 infection is lifelong; antibody is evidence of infection.…

Sincerely,
Susan Blank, MD, MPH         Julia Schillinger, MD, MSc

Assistant Commissioner     Director of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Research

Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Control
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

But, there is more. The Health Commissioner's letter (Download std-bris-commishletter.pdf) implies that the reason the City has not banned metzitza b'peh is that the haredi community would ignore the ban and further endanger infants by the added secrecy that would be involved:

The Department has reviewed all of the evidence and there exists no reasonable doubt that  metzitzah b’peh can and has caused neonatal herpes infection.  We have always maintained that  it is our preference for the religious community to address these issues itself as long as the public's health is protected.  While some medical professionals and others in the Jewish community have called on the Department to completely ban metzitzah b'peh at this time, it is  our opinion that educating the community through public health information and warnings is a  more realistic approach.

Every death caused by metzitza b'peh is on the heads of those rabbis and community leaders who demand it. Shame on them.

Coverage from the New York Post and the Daily News.

UPDATE: I asked Sandra Mullin of the New York City Department of Health and Hygine the following questions.

1. Is Rabbi Fisher involved in these new cases? Is he the mohel? 

"We know he wasn't involved with one case; we do not know who was involved with the other.

2.  Has the Williamsburg-based Jewish court (beit din) reached any decision regarding Rabbi Fisher?

"Not to our knowledge."

In other words, the haredi community is covering for the mohel in case #2. This explains in part why the city has not outlawed metzitza b'peh – doing it underground will only make the problem worse. So, again, babies die and are maimed as rabbis fiddle and prevaricate.

Lakewood Cop Smear – Accuser Has Little Support, Except For Haredim

Nicole Robinson's attempt to whip up non-haredi public support for her allegations of police brutality have faltered. The Asbury Park Press reports:

A protest rally to spotlight a woman's claims she was beaten by a township police officer drew only a handful of people Tuesday to Town Square.

Nichole Robinson, the woman who says she was beaten last month by embattled Patrolman Erik Menck, said the rally was canceled because Public Safety Director Al Peters told her that organizers needed a permit.

Peters said he told Robinson that no permit was necessary.

The rally will be rescheduled for next month, Robinson said, but the disagreement is her latest with the township since she went public last week with allegations of police brutality.

On Nov. 20, four police officers, including Menck, went to Robinson's Coventry Square town house to question her about a disorderly persons call earlier that day.

Robinson maintains Menck asked her for a statement and then beat her in front of her two children. Wearing a bandage on her left arm, Robinson said Tuesday she suffered injuries to her arm, her hand and her back.  [The doctor's diagnostic notes do not support this claim.]

Police say Robinson attacked Menck while he attempted to get a statement from her. Robinson was then taken to Kimball Medical Center for treatment of asthma, police add.

Robinson, 29, says she does not suffer from asthma. After the incident, she was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and her father, Horace Cody, 66, was charged with interfering with an arrest.

Robinson later filed a formal complaint against Menck, she said Tuesday. She also has retained a lawyer, who said last week he plans to sue the township for damages.

Robinson said Tuesday she has received a lot of support from members of the Orthodox Jewish community, some of whom distrust Menck because he charged a respected rabbi with assault over the summer.

Menck charged Rabbi Yosef Bursztyn, 62, with aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest after a physical confrontation on Forest Avenue on June 26.

An Internal Affairs investigation cleared Menck of wrongdoing, but the altercation sparked tension between some in the Orthodox community and the Police Department.

Bursztyn's charges are still pending at the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Robinson has changed her story several times and her claims do not match the doctor's diagnostic notes from the night of the incident. She has promised to release medical records to back her claim, but has failed to do so. Yet it appears that the haredi community is still behind Robinson and may be giving her more than moral support in an attempt to keep Rabbi Bursztyn out of jail. Smearing a police officer is apparently kosher for that purpose.

Extensive coverage of this incident can read here.

Israeli Rabbi Urges Sedition, Prays For Expulsion Of Disengagement Supporters

Y-net reports:

We should pray that God will banish those who planned and authorized the recent disengagement and who are capable of committing another act (pullout) that would endanger Israel, Jewish Rabbinical Council Chairman Dov Lior said in a pamphlet being distributed in synagogues all over the country.

“It is not the way of the Torah to pray for a Jew’s death,” Lior, who is also the rabbi of the West Bank settlement Kiryat Arba, said, “but God can remove these people from their posts, exile them along with their Arab friends, or remove them from this world entirely.”

As to the soldiers who took part in the evacuation of settlements, he said, ‘most of those who participated in the banishment (of settlers) were incited; a distinction must be made between the police officers and soldiers and those who planned the eviction, meaning the government and its ministers, Knesset members and IDF commanders – who acted out of sheer maliciousness.”

'They came to annihilate Israel'

“In addition to relinquishing the Land of Israel to the Goyim, they threw residents from their homes. The struggle should focus on them, not on the soldiers,” Lior added.

Lior also criticized those rabbis who called on soldiers not to refuse orders during the disengagement, saying, “These rabbis, some of whom head yeshivas, deceived their students by telling them not to refuse orders in total contradiction to what the torah says.

“This erroneous attitude resulted in scenes in which there were those who embraced and danced with the expulsion officers, who came to annihilate the Land of Israel and banish Jews from their home instead of fighting for the country."

Lior also called to replace the current Yesha Council with a rabbinical leadership, saying that only rabbis posses the necessary courage for struggles such as the one waged on the eve of the disengagement.

Satmar Shul Brawl: A Return To The Garden Of Eden?

Four men charged with misdemeanor assult in the Satmar shul brawl have pleaded guilty. The New York Daily News reports:

The four were initially charged with felony assault after pouncing on victim Jacob Brach last December after he burst into the temple and sat in a seat reserved for the Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum. Also attacked was Brach's pal Leon Teilebaum. Brach suffered a broken leg and Teilebaum a broken ankle.

Zalman Teitelbaum was appointed by his father, Grand Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum, to run the Williamsburg congregation. But Brach is among followers of Zalman's older brother, Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, who believe he is entitled to run the synagogue. Two lawsuits aimed at getting the civil courts to settle the vicious battle are still pending.

Yesterday, prosecutor John Omara told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Anne Feldman that he accepted the lesser pleas because Brach, who has a federal conviction, was "provocative" and offensive by deliberately placing himself in the seat reserved for Zalman.

Thousands of incensed Zalman followers packed the synagogue after the incident. The four were charged with attacking Brach with a door and a baton and choking, kicking and punching him.

"We had two police officers who will testify they were present when Mr. Brach was involved in praying," Omara said in court. "There was a lot of commotion. They broke down the door and began attacking."

He said if the case went to trial, the victims would be able to identify the four men, and a retired cop who took pictures of the men would testify they continued to assault Brach even after police arrived.

Krausz's lawyer George Farkas was gratified Omara described the scene as he did, noting that Brach had committed the ultimate affront and provocation to Zalman's followers by sitting in a place so holy they forbid their children from touching it.

A traditional explanation for the Sin of Adam and Eve is that Adam told Eve that God had forbidden them from touching and eating from the tree on penalty of death, when in fact God had only forbidden eating. The serpent pushed Eve, she touched the tree and did not die. The serpent then said, if you can touch the tree and not die, why not eat from it, too? You will become like God! And so Eve ate.

The point is that adding onto a law without specifying that this is only a fence and not the law itself leads to greater sin.

And so is the case here. When one treats a rabbis chair as "so holy they forbid their children from touching it," one elevates a chair to a presumed status it does not in fact have. This led to tremendous chillul hashem, desecration of God's name, and the violation of real biblical commandments.

This is the problem with the hasidic movement as a whole. It elevates customs to a place higher than law. This can only lead to destruction. And so it has.

Chabad's 'Science' Exposed: Of Lice And Men

The Florida Sun-Sentinal has early coverage of Chabad's Torah and Science conference:

But the main focus will come Wednesday with a keynote address by William A. Dembski, a champion of intelligent design and the first evangelical Christian ever to address the conference. Dembski, of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will share the dais with three Jewish experts who will look at various facets of evolution.

Ask Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, one of the conference organizers, about the topic, and he sounds much like a conservative Christian.

"The moral and ethical morass today -- hate among nations, juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, family breakdown -- comes from people not believing there is a higher authority that owns and directs the world," said Lipskar, of The Shul of Bal Harbour. [This must be the problem! Quick! Let's tell Osama Bin Laden about religion!] "But when we look to purpose and meaning, a superior authority, things fall into place, socially and spiritually."

Lipskar met head-on the suggestions by some that intelligent design is meant as a "back door" to putting religion in schools. "It's not a back door, it's a front door!" he said. "But the objective is not to make people religious. It's to make them understand that the world was put into place by an intelligent being. We are not random chemical reactions."

To have a conference on Torah and Science whose keynote speaker is a Baptist is, shall we say, unusual. But even more unusual is to have a keynote speaker with no peer-reviewed work, and for the conference to present that work as peer-reviewed science. Even worse, that speaker is sharing a presentation with scientists, including Yeshiva University's Rabbi Dr. Moses Tendler, who give his presentation authority it would not otherwise have.

Coincidentally, RebelJew points out that Chabad's view of science is, shall we say, heavily warped by extreme apologetics like this, on spontaneous generation:

… The literal meaning of Torah’s words must always be upheld. Terrible damage has been caused by the attempts in the past — and that are again being made — to “smooth” some people’s inner confusion and perplexity by arguing that the words of Torah should be understood non-literally. [Yet,  Rishonim did understand parts of the Torah non-literally.]

This is especially forbidden when dealing with areas that are relevant to practical Halacha. The question that you mentioned is of this variety: The existence of spontaneously generated worms is mentioned with regard to the laws of Shabbat, since such creatures may permissibly be killed on Shabbat. It is therefore obvious that there is no issue of a parable here; we are talking about real, live, and factual entities.

It is also forbidden to undermine the literal meaning of the verses with regard to the six days of creation — days, not eras! — since it is connected with the fundamental concept of the Shabbat day, which was established on the seventh day of the world’s existence, as well as with specific laws concerning Shabbat.

On the other hand, there is no need to ignore the seeming contradiction. Someone whose faith is strong is not bothered by such a contradiction, since the foundation of our faith is that the Torah of truth is the ultimate truth. However, if some people do feel bothered by what seems to them to be a contradiction, it is obviously necessary to examine seriously and in detail the root of the contradiction, and to prove the mistake in a specific experiment or theory. It is also possible that an unjustified generalization or inclusion has been made in the extrapolation of some scientific result or another.

The issue with spontaneously generated worms is very simple. True, experiments do allow for following the process through which a worm [larva] develops from an egg. And, when there are also explanations for the process of how these eggs were laid, that allows for the conclusion that these specific worms were created through a reproductive process. However, when eggs found in rot are identified as belonging to a specific species of worm, and the worms found there also bear signs of belonging to that species, that in no way proves that it is impossible for these worms to have appeared without the eggs, through spontaneous generation.

RebelJew's riff on this is very important and should be read. Even more important is knowing the name of the co-author of the above Chabad quote – it is none other than Dr. Herman Branover, the co-head of Chabad's Torah and Science conference and an avowed messianist. Worse yet, the entire quote is a paraphrase of a letter written by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, the 'Sorbonne'-educated 'scientist,' Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

So much for the science of charlatans.

Berel Lazar In His Youth

[How Chabad sold out democracy to win control of Russia.]

Israeli Rabbi Scandal Widens

"Rabbi [name] studied for five years in high yeshivas and passed examinations as required. By the directive of [Sephardi] Chief Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi Doron, shalita [may he live long and happily], the above rabbi is eligible for a diploma as the possessor of high Torah education." The document adds, "This diploma does not constitute qualification for serving in the rabbinate in practice."

The Ha'aretz report that broke the story of the "rabbi degree mills" set up by some of Israel's most prominent rabbis disappeared from the Ha'aretz website almost as soon as it was posted, with the front page links to the story bringing up only blank pages. A Google News search led to a link to the same blank page. By this morning, the links had been removed entirely.

However, a bit of poking around in the Ha'aretz archives produced the report. You can read it here. If the link doesn't work, you can read the report after the jump below.

The sad thing about this story is that some of the students actually studied, and did so diligently, and passed tests equivalent to the semicha (ordination) tests of the Chief Rabbinate. Yet their semicha is sullied by the majority who only went through the motions (if even that) and by the rabbis who, out of greed, took the money and signed bogus certificates of semicha. Even worse, some – perhaps the majority – of the students are apparently not religious Jews, yet the rabbis signed their certificates, as well.

Sad.

Ha'aretz: How Chabad Took Russia

Ha'aretz has a long, detailed report on the fighting between the various Jewish organizations in Russia, with a focus on the Rabbi Goldschmidt ban. It contains the best explanation of how Berel Lazar and Chabad took over Russia:

[Oligarch Roman] Abramovich, who had business ties with [Chabad Oligarch Lev] Leviev, recruited the Israeli diamond merchant for a struggle on behalf of Putin and against Gusinsky. In return, Leviev received the support of Putin, who in 2000 was elected president of Russia. That support made it possible for Lazar to receive Russian citizenship in record time and to be recognized in practice as the chief rabbi of Russian Jewry. Shayevich was shunted to the sidelines.

The Jewish "federation" of Lazar and Leviev became the darling of the government. This was clearly manifested when President Putin took part in a resplendent ceremony to dedicate the FEOR center in the Marina Roscha neighborhood in 2001.

A plaque at the entrance to the building lists the donors. They include Leviev, his partner Gaydamak, [Chabad oligarch Vladimir] Slutsker [please see below] and other oligarchs. But at the top of the list is Abramovich. He donated $5 million for the construction of the building. Lazar and FEOR left REK. In 2002 Gusinsky was forced to leave Russia and then to sell his assets there. The authorities launched an investigation against him for tax violations. He based himself in Israel and Europe and invested in the Israeli daily Maariv and in the local Russian press; during the past year he has spent most of his time in the United States. He was replaced as REK president by Leonid Nevzlin, Khodorkovsky's associate. However, a year later, when it became apparent that the Putin government supported FEOR, Nevzlin realized that his place at the head of an organization identified with Gusinsky, who is loathed by the government, was liable to be detrimental to him and to affect Yukos as well. Nevzlin resigned and the deterioration of REK has continued apace ever since.

FEOR flourishes
In contrast, FEOR has flourished in the past five years. The success of Lazar and Leviev can be attributed to the fact that Putin used them in his struggle against Gusinsky and received a Jewish "umbrella" from them in return. But another reason for the close ties between the Putin government and FEOR lies in the promises made by Leviev and Lazar that they would make their connections available to Putin and assist the Kremlin to open doors in the corridors of power in Washington. Most importantly, they let Putin and his aides understand that their influence and lobbying would bring about the abolition of a 1974 Congressional amendment to the Trade Reform Act sponsored by Senator Henry Jackson and Representative Charles Vanik, both Democrats. Putin is deeply distressed by this legislation, which stipulates that countries, such as the former Soviet Union, which restrict freedom of movement and prevent the free emigration of their citizens will not receive special trade benefits from the United States. Even though the Jews of the former Soviet Union, and then Russia, were allowed to leave, the amendment has not been repealed.…

… Rabbi Lazar talks of an organization that has 200 communities across Russia and which provides both spiritual support (sacred articles, religious services, rabbis) and material backing (food, education, health, financial aid) to hundreds of thousands of Jews. "In Moscow alone," he says in an interview, "130,000 Jews have ties with us."

There are some who are skeptical of these figures. Two years ago, when Tzipi Livni, then Israel's immigrant absorption minister, asked FEOR for a list of these Jews, her request was rejected with the slightly peculiar explanation that this would be a violation of privacy.

Gusinsky supported democracy. Putin is a neo-Stalinist. Chabad supported Putin and worked to destroy Gusinsky and the Russian Jewish Congress. Then, late last year they got one of their own oilgarchs, Vladimir Slutsker, elected head of the now-comatose RJC. What was Slutsker's first (and last) big move? He forced out the non-Chabad Chief Rabbi of Moscow:

The conversation with Slutsker took place over a month ago in his luxurious office, which is located in a modern new glass building in the center of Moscow. Even though he was ousted some weeks ago from his position as president of the Russian Jewish Congress (REK), he was in buoyant spirits. Like all the Russian oligarchs, he is surrounded by bodyguards, chauffeurs and young energetic female assistants dressed in tailored suits. Hanging above him on the wall is a photograph of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. "Don't get me wrong," Slutsker emphasizes. "I do not care about money and I am not greedy, because I am a kabbalist [Jewish mystic] and therefore I have added the name Moshe Shlomo. I am not a Chabad member like Leviev, but I recognize the spiritual authority of the Lubavitcher Rebbe."…

Slutsker explains that he has always been drawn to public activity, especially "spiritual religious activity," and therefore he has donated generously from his own pocket to Jewish institutions and organizations in Russia. Under the influence of "my good friend" Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, he says, he established a yeshiva and a kabbala center called Tree of Life, which according to Slutsker has 200 students. "A year and a half ago I was approached with a request to save the Russian Jewish Congress, which was in a state of collapse and barely functioning," he continues, "I saw this as a challenge and threw myself into the work."…

Slutsker's major and most talked-about dispute is with Rabbi Goldschmidt. At stake is control of a property - the headquarters of the Russian Jewish Congress, located in a building that was transferred to the ownership of the Jewish Community in Moscow, which is headed by Goldschmidt. As a religious organization, the community has a tax-exempt status. "After some time," Slutsker notes, "Rabbi Goldschmidt asked us to pay him rent as though the offices actually belong to him. Naturally, I and the congress refused to pay."

Goldschmidt's confidants say that the request was not for rent, but payments to cover the costs of ongoing maintenance of the structure, such as electricity.

Be that as it may, on September 15, 2005, Slutsker, to his "great surprise," received a fax from a rabbinical court, the Jerusalem Court for Civil Law and Ancestral Law, in which he was notified that he and the congress were being summoned to din Torah, a lawsuit in which judgment is given according to the strict letter of traditional Jewish law. The plaintiff was the "Jewish Community of Moscow." "I did not even bother to answer them," Slutsker says. "I do not recognize the authority of a court in Jerusalem to address a commercial dispute in Moscow. What connection do they have with me?"

Ten days later, in one of those strange coincidences, Goldschmidt was deported from Russia. "There is absolutely no connection," Slutsker states.

Please take the time to read this entire, feature-length report. [Also found after the jump, just in case it disappears from the Ha'aretz website – a problem of late.]

Moscow's Chief Rabbi Returns

The JTA reports:

Moscow’s chief rabbi returned to the city after being barred from Russia since September.

Pinchas Goldschmidt landed at a Moscow airport Thursday evening. His visa had been cancelled upon arrival at the Moscow airport in late September, with no reason given, and he had been denied a new one for nine weeks. He received a one-month visa earlier this week, but said he hoped to extend his stay.

Goldschmidt told JTA he had no problems at passport control in Moscow on Thursday, but would have to leave Russia later this month to get a new visa. A Swiss citizen and Russian resident for nearly 15 years, Goldschmidt previously received one-year visas.

Buy A Rabbi – Israel's Chief Rabbinate Scandal Widens

Ha'aretz writes:

Buy a rabbi
By Haaretz Editorial

This weekend's Haaretz magazine exposes a major corruption scandal that could be called the "Latvia 2 affair." Hundreds of policemen, army officers and noncommissioned officers are suspected of having received fictitious certification as rabbis from important yeshivas. This gave them salary increases of up to NIS 2,000 a month, equivalent to the increase granted to those with academic degrees. For the yeshivas, it was worthwhile due to the tuition they collected for the few hours of study each week. But the treasury annually suffered millions of shekels of damages.

This scam, which has been going on for three years already, involved senior members of the rabbinic establishment: former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliahu, former Sephardi chief rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, and members of the Chief Rabbinate Council, including Haifa Chief Rabbi She'ar Yeshuv Hacohen, Be'er Sheva Chief Rabbi Yehuda Deri, and Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu.

Employers ought to encourage their workers to pursue an education in their line of business and reward them with pay increases. But in recent years, Israel has witnessed a growing phenomenon of "pseudo-education" solely for the purpose of salary increases, which turns the issue of professional education into a laughingstock and is liable to injure those who truly deserve such raises.

The Latvia affair involved people who obtained academic degrees without studying at all. Sources involved in the investigation in the current affair reported that some of those certified as rabbis were not even familiar with basic Jewish concepts. Particularly grave was the fact that policemen, including senior police officers, behaved as if the law did not apply to them.

The religious world attaches great importance to the term hillul hashem (desecration of God's name), meaning acts that are not only undesirable and even forbidden, but that sow contempt for religion. The rabbinic certification affair is a desecration of God's name on a grand scale. The Chief Rabbinate is striving to preserve its monopoly over the rabbinic establishment and prevent state recognition of Reform and Conservative rabbis. Therefore, one would have expected Chief Rabbinate Council members to demonstrate greater responsibility when certifying people as rabbis, instead of cutting off the branch on which they are sitting.

The investigation, which is being conducted by the Justice Ministry's Department for Investigating Policemen, the National Fraud Squad, and the Military Police, has been under way for three years already. Such a drawn-out process is liable to create the impression that the police have no interest in completing a probe involving the force itself.

Claims made by Chief Rabbinate officials that the police pressed to have the certificates issued to policemen quickly must be investigated. The police's deputy chief rabbi, Chief Superintendent Aharon Gotsdiner, has resigned, but the public deserves to know whether the police's chief rabbi, Ya'akov Gross, also was involved in the affair. The policemen involved in the affair are complaining about the lengthy investigation, saying it has impeded their promotions. Therefore, it is necessary to complete the probe and bring this affair to an end expeditiously.

UPDATE: This might just be the real reason behind Israel's rejection (and later reinstatement under intense pressure) of all degrees granted by Yeshiva University.

Putin "Backs Down" Under US, EU Pressure

Under intense US and EU pressure, Russia's neo-Stalinist president Vladimir Putin appears to be backing down from proposed restrictions on pro-democracy groups:

President Vladimir Putin signaled Friday he would scrap some of the harshest provisions of a much-criticized bill that would severely restrict the work of foreign-funded non-governmental organizations in Russia.

The United States and European Union expressed concern about the draft legislation, warning that it would curtail groups that are critical to a functioning democracy. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have said they might have to shut down their Russian operations if the bill becomes law.…

His announcement came two days after Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice rebuked Russia over the proposed legislation. It also was raised last week during talks in Moscow between U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and senior officials.

The Kremlin has shown increasing displeasure with nonprofit groups that criticize the government and advocate democracy. Such groups played significant roles in the mass demonstrations that brought opposition leaders to power in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Even without the new legislation, Moscow has managed to persecute NGOs it does not favor, especially religious organizations other than the Russian Orthodox Church and Chabad. The Rabbi Goldschmidt ban is only one of many such incidents. (Rabbi Goldschmidt was allowed back into Russia this week after a three-month ban. He was issued a one month temporary visa that the government can renew – or not – at will.)

Has Putin really changed his mind? Time will tell.

Ethiopian Jews Sue Jewish Agency, Joint

The Jerusalem Post reports:

One hundred and thirty-nine former immigrants from Ethiopia sued the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee this week for more than NIS 5 million for allegedly refusing to pay them for their work at the refugee compound [in Addis Ababa] before the mass evacuation to Israel.…

The lawsuits focus on the year 1990, after Israel and Ethiopia re-established diplomatic relations and Israel re-opened its embassy in Addis Ababa. Thousands of Jews flocked to the Ethiopian capital and established a compound around the embassy, waiting to be taken to Israel.…

In 2000, a group of Ethiopians sued the state for similar damages and were granted NIS 30,000 each. The current plaintiffs are asking for NIS 34,000.

New Scandal Rocks Israeli Chief Rabbinate

Israel's haredi-controlled Chief Rabbinate is involved in yet another scandal, this time awarding fake semicha (ordination) certificates that raise the salaries of the recipients. Paul Shaviv reports.

Lakewood Cop Smear Updates

The post on haredim in Lakewood, NJ attempting to destroy the career of a local police officer has been updated several times. What it all boils down to is this – haredim believe secular laws were made for others to follow, and they resent being made to follow those laws themselves. Perhaps it is time for New Jersey's Attorney General to look into the matter.

Fight In Prague Flares – Former Chief Rabbi Returns, Chabad Pushed (Partially) Out

Prague's former chief rabbi, Karol Sidon, has been reappointed by the Prague Jewish Community. Rabbi Sidon, a former dissident and native Czech, was forced out a year and a half ago by a secular head of the PJC with allegedly close ties to the former communist secret police. The secular former communist clashed with the Orthodox former dissident rabbi, and so the former communist fired the former dissident and brought in the local New York born and raised Chabad rabbi to take over the Maharal shul and lead the community. According to the Prague Post:

The fracas began last spring when [Tomas] Jelinek, a onetime economic adviser to former Czech president Vaclav Havel, won election with the backing of a group of mostly secular Jews. His platform called for construction of a modern senior-care facility, greater financial transparency and an easing of the strictly Orthodox religious policies of Prague's chief rabbi, Karol Sidon.

Jelinek was taken to an Israeli rabbinical judge by Rabbi Sidon. Rabbi Sidon lost, in part because Jelinek claimed to represent the board of the PJC. Fast forward almost one year. The JTA reports:

“He was unfairly and illegally dismissed by the past chairman,” Tomas Jelinek, “and we want to right this wrong,” said Jakub Roth, the community’s new vice president.…

“Mr. Jelinek claimed to have the consent of the board, which he did not,” Roth said. “There’s a rule in halachah that any ruling based on a lie is null and void. So it’s not that we don’t accept the ruling of a rabbinical court, but that there never was any legally binding ruling in place.”…

[The Chabad rabbi's wife] did not have her contract renewed this summer as the community’s mikvah attendant. She was replaced by a less-experienced attendant, who some of the women say is openly hostile to Barash.

Some 50 women visit the mikvah regularly, and nearly half joined a petition asking that Dina Barash be reinstated, saying they were more comfortable with her than with the new attendant.

Dina Barash can still take women to the mikvah, but she no longer has keys and must contact the other attendant before making an appointment.

“The mikvah should not be politicized,” said Diana Ben Perets, one of the women who signed the petition. “This is a very personal thing — who you go to the mikvah with, who you pray with and take your clothes off in front of.”

Roth said the women still could choose which attendant to take to the mikvah. He compared the argument over the mikvah to “two people fighting over a printer in the office.”

But he did say the issue was “part of the local Chabad’s striving to take over the community’s religious life. We have seen an ugly foray of Chabad in their attempt to take over the Old-New Shul, and now it’s the mikvah."

Rabbi Elyashiv Opposes Rabbis Who Banned Book Without Reading It – The Same Thing Rabbi Elyashiv And His Henchmen Did To Rabbi Slifkin

In a bizarre move, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv criticizes other rabbis for banning a book on marriage without first reading it. Does that mean Rabbi Elyashiv apologized to Rabbi Slifkin for banning him and the books he wrote on Torah and Science – books Rabbi Elyashiv did not read before banning them? No chance.

Krum  reports:

As reported in this letter by R' Aharon Feldman printed in the Israeli papers, R' Elyashiv criticized rabbonim for opposing a book regarding marriage because they hadn't read it. Isn't this precisely the conduct he is reported to have engaged in with respect to R' Slifkin?

Note also the striking contrast between the "book review" process described in the letter and the process that Slifkin's writings were subject to. R' Feldman reports that:

1. R' Elyashiv rendered an opinion only after the book was checked by a bes din of experts

2. The writer was given an opportunity to correct the errors that were found.

Of course, Rabbi Slifkin was given no such courtesy by Rabbi Elyashiv or any other so-called gadol.

Gil Student Thanks God For Modern Orthodoxy

R. Gil Student, exasperated with pronouncements of gedolim disparaging science, thanks God for Modern Orthodoxy. The crux of Gil's journey begins in high school with a question: Was the entire text of the Talmuds and Mishna given to Moses at Mount Sinai, or were the principals of the Oral Law given without the text itself, a much more tenable proposition. Gil notes that he has been told in the name of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, that the entire text of the Mishna and the Talmuds were given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. Perhaps Chabad would like to discuss this point at their upcoming conference on Torah and Science.