FailedMessiah.com

Auschwitz Falling Apart

Ha'aretz reports Auschwitz is crumbling, disappearing, not so slowly, into the earth. Visitors now walk on bits of exposed bone and the infamous exhibits of human hair, shoes, etc., are being destroyed by mildew:

…[Auschwitz director Piotr] Cywinski is acutely aware of the deficiencies of the museum but is constrained by money and the physical limitations imposed by the scale of the site.

Various grandiose ideas - including one for a giant dome - have been rejected on grounds of cost and because any major construction would destroy some of the area and alter it.

Smaller-scale enclosures to protect the buildings would be possible, but even these would be expensive and would have to be agreed by all the groups that protect the site.

"Tens of millions of dollars, more, would be needed to do all the work," said Cywinski. But money is not the main problem: the Polish government has provided large sums and there are a number of international donors.

Time itself is the enemy, eroding the site and its contents.

"Conservationists are like doctors: we can extend life, but not for eternity," said Cywinski, who opposes any suggestion that decaying original artefacts should be replaced by copies.

Faded and frail, two tonnes of hair shorn from victims is piled up in one cell block: once blonde plaits, black pony-tails and auburn curls, it is gradually decaying and now looks like grey wire wool.

The museum has had more luck with its 80,000 shoes, mostly odd. Chief conservationist Rafal Pioro and his staff of 38 invited school children to help clean and polish some of them.

But there are so many, most still have to be stored in a warehouse without air-conditioning. Slowly, most are falling apart.

"The work is endless and painstaking and can be heart-rending," said Pioro. "When we were working on the children's shoes, some of us were crying all the time."

Workers at Auschwitz are struggling to slow the ageing of the camp and keep it as a lesson on the evils of anti-Semitism.

They aim, in the words of a plaque near the gas chambers, to keep Auschwitz as "a cry of despair and a warning to humanity".…

How far should humanity go to preserve this most horrific part of our history? How much money should be spent? Cywinski now has a staff of 260 workers. Should he have more?

I think the answer is yes. Auschwitz needs to be preserved at almost any cost.

Idealogical Head Of Edah Haredit Passes Away, Group Now Seen As Rudderless

The Jerusalem Post reports on the passing of what it terms the "mythological political leader" of the anti-Zionist Edah Haredit, Rabbi Yosef Scheinberger. To me, the most interesting bit of information is the yichus of Rabbi Scheinberger and therefore of his grandson, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, the haredi street riot leader turned Zaka founder turned – haredi street riot leader:

Sheinberger's family was directly related to the Sanz Hassidic dynasty.

Edah Haredit was built on anti-Zionism. All major anti-Zionist haredi leaders are hasidim. Neturei Karta's theology is largely based on the works of three hasidic rebbes: Yoel Titlebaum of Satmar, the Munkatcher Rebbe known as the Minchat Elazar, and the fifth rebbe of Lubavitch, Sholom DovBer Schneersohn.

By contrast, the origins of Religious Zionism are largely Lithuanian. Even the hasidic founders of RZ were, for the most part, hasidim from the Belarus-Lithuania region. Examples of the latter would be Rav Kook and the lesser known but influential Smargoner Gaon.

Another Israeli Leader Falls

Last week, Israel's president, Moshe Katsav, was indicted on rape and sexual harassment charges. Today, its former Justice Minister, Hiam Ramon, one a prime ministerial hopeful, stands unanimously convicted of "indecent behavior," or, in American terms, sexual harassment. He is expected to appeal the conviction.

Rabbi Steals From Synagogue, Uses Money To Buy Ring For Mistress, Trips To Israel, Private School For His Kids

All this crime! And he isn't even Orthodox! The local ABC affiliate reports:

A Monmouth County rabbi has admitted stealing $86,000 from a fund meant to help members of his congregation.

Prosecutors say Rabbi Peter Light bought a ring for his mistress, paid for private school for his children and took trips to Israel.

Light headed Congregation Ohev Shalom, the Marlboro Jewish Center, for two years until he resigned in June.

The rabbi is expected to be sentenced to five years in prison.

State Looks To Prosecute Rabbis Who Called For Murder Of Army Commander

We noted two weeks ago that the nut jobs from the new "Sanhedrin" had issued a fatwa against a senior army officer. The State has now decided to open a criminal investigation against these rabbis. Ha'aretz reports:

The State Prosecution on Wednesday decided to open a criminal investigation against a group of rabbis who issued a halakhic ruling against GOC Central Command Yair Naveh for authorizing restraining orders against West Bank settlers. The rabbis ruled that in signing such orders, Naveh was guilty of crimes punishable by death according to Jewish law.

About two weeks ago, a group of rabbis linked to the revived Sanhedrin movement - or high court of Jewish law - ruled that Naveh was guilty of three crimes: "Causing the masses to sin"; being a "moser" - someone who informs against fellow Jews or hands over Jews or Jewish land to gentiles; and terrifying the public in a blasphemous way."

In their decision, the rabbis referred to a ruling made by the 12th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides, according to which "it is permissible to kill a moser everywhere, even in this time when the courts do not rule on capital cases."…

The signatories to the halakhic ruling include Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, the head of the Jerusalem Temple Institute; Rabbi Yehuda Edrey, of the movement to rebuild the temple; Bar Ilan Literature Professor Hillel Weiss; Rabbi Rueven Hass and Rabbi Ido Alba.

36 (Haredi) Virgins

After reading Steve Martin's 72 Virgins, I wondered what it might be like if haredim had their own suicide bomber theology. It might be something like this:

36 (Haredi) Virgins

    1.    Could you please slow down? I'm not through davening ma'ariv yet.
    2.    I'm still very shomer negiah.
    3.    My rebbetzin said not to.
    4.    Look, you've waited this long. What's another day?
    5.    Can Rifkie watch?
    6.    You call that oneg? Sheindie has more oneg in her middle finger than you have in …in … what do call that thing?
    7.    I'll be right there. I just have to finish shaving my head.
    8.    I don't think the Rebbe took his clothes off.
    9.    Hey! What's that yukkie stuff on my leg!
    10.     I am NOT going to touch it! It's bad enough I have to watch you touch it!
    11.    Okay. I'm on my back. Now what?
    12.    I was told not to move.
    13.    I don't understand why the goyyim like this so much.
    14.    Does God know what you're doing? DOES THE REBBE!?!
    15.    No! Was I supposed to use the mikvah?
    16.    So, Sheindy, she goes, like, um and then Rifkie, she said …
    17.    No. I lost it climbing trees.
    18.    If you're such a big lamden, such a big tzaddikel, you figure out where it goes!
  19.    And then my parents brought me to the rav, and he looked, and he paskined – I was only three – it was supposed to grow back!
    20.    Ooooo, I'm soooo close! Just move the kugel a little bit to the left – OH! RIGHT THERE! OH, YES, OH, YES, OOOOHHHH YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!
    21.    So, in sifrei kabbalah it says … Reuven? Reuven! Are you snoring?
  22.    So you blew yourself up for Hashem and you think that means that I, Sheindie, have to do what?!?!
    23.    If you can't find a makor, this is over. No makor, no kissie. Got that?
    24.    What do you mean it's in? You call that "in"? Is that what they taught you in yeshiva, Mr. Big Shot?
    25.    You call this a manual? And, no, I do not care what the Ra'avad said!
    26.    At some point, isn't this supposed to feel good?
    27.    Okay, I admit it. But he wore condoms, so it's not really the same, now is it?
    28.    I thought it didn't count if he wasn't Jewish?
    29.    And now Morah Sheindy is going to put a soft, new nappie on your little hard tzaddikel …
    30.    My brother was bigger.
    31.    My rebbetzin said I can't look.
    32.    My rebbetzin said I can't touch.
    33.    Only Torah and glatt kosher mehadrin min hamehadrin food will ever pass these lips. Got that, tzaddik?
    34.    Gee, that was really nice. Yup, it sure was. Can I go back to sleep now?
    35.    Now I understand the advantage of that immaculate conception thing.
    36.    You touch one hair on this sheitel and we're through! Do you hear me?
©2007 Shmarya Rosenberg, Failed Messiah.com (after Steve Martin).

Haredim And The Holocaust

How do haredim relate to the Holocaust? Ha'aretz reports:

…Professor Menachem Friedman, however, one of the leading experts on ultra-Orthodoxy in Israel, attributes it to Haredi society's reluctance to confront the most difficult questions arising from the period. Questions like "Where was God in the Holocaust?," and those raising doubts about the rabbis' performance during those dark years. These questions were seen by ultra-Orthodox society as threatening to their way of life, and pushed it into a defensive stance.

"Even now, the Haredim cannot ask, at least not openly, how the Gerrer, Satmar and Belzer rebbes and others fled and saved themselves, leaving their followers behind. The question is not only why the rabbis refrained from warning their followers, but also why they prevented them from migrating to Israel for fear of 'spoiling' them," says Friedman.

Friedman says these questions, which Agudat Yisrael newspapers dealt with passionately immediately after the Holocaust, gradually became taboo over the years.…

The bulk of the article is about one woman, Esther Farbstein, who has changed this to a small degree:

…Farbstein, who presented the research at both Haifa University and Yad Vashem, believes these are historic documents that shed light on various issues and add insights into Jewish life before and after the Holocaust. …

The most interesting dilemmas are those pertaining to survival itself. Rabbi Weinberger of the town of Turka, in Galicia, contends with the question of whether or not to leave. Despite family pressure to leave, he decides to remain with his community. The prefaces also reveal that the option of pretending to be a gentile presented a halakhic dilemma, as adopting a non-Jewish identity can be tantamount to idol worship.

The question of whether to go to the Land of Israel also worried the ultra-Orthodox rabbis, many of whom strongly objected to Israel for ideological reasons.

For it's part, Chabad was not different. The Rebbe Rayyatz followed in his father the Rashab's virulent anti-Zionism. (Did you know that a significant part of Neturei Karta's ideology is based on three hasidic Rebbes' anti-Zionism, the Satmar Rebbe, the Munkatcher Rebbe and the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch?) The Rayyatz told his followers there would be no war and Warsaw was safe for them. He did this in the summer of 1939, a couple of months before the Nazi destruction of Poland.

The Rayyatz was saved by American intervention. As he was being wisked out of bombed out Warsaw, what did he ask his American saviors for? To save more Jews? No. He asked for his book collection (largely secular books like Sherlock Holmes in Yiddish) and his household silver. The Rayyatz wrote several letters to President Roosevelt during the war. He never once asks Roosevelt to save Jews.

Only one man spoke with prescience regarding Europe's Jews – Vladimir Jobotinsky. And it was followers of Jobotinsky who created and organized the so-called Rabbis March on Washington, which brought the ceation of the War Refugee Board, which saved more than 200,000 Jews. These followers of Jobotinsky were for the most part not Orthodox.

In other words, for the most part, listening to haredi rabbis meant dying on the ash heaps of Auschwitz. Never forget that.

The Jesus Dynasty

Months ago, I was contacted by Simon & Schuster and asked to accept a review copy of James Tabor's book, the Jesus Dynasty. I agreed, and intended to write a review. But the Lebanon War and the abuse scandals didn't leave me time, and Tabor's book sat partially read on my table.

I met Tabor years ago in Jerusalem, and have really felt uncomfortable with my continued procrastination. Then tonight, I happened upon Tabor's blog. From there I went to the book's website:

…John and Jesus preached adherence to the Torah, or the Jewish Law.  But their mission was changed dramatically when John was arrested and then killed.  After a period of uncertainty, Jesus began preaching anew in Galilee and challenged the Roman authorities and their Jewish collaborators in Jerusalem.  He appointed a Council of Twelve to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel, among whom he included his four brothers.  After he was crucified by the Romans, his brother James – the “Beloved Disciple” – took over leadership of the Jesus Dynasty.

James, like John and Jesus before him, saw himself as a faithful Jew.  None of them believed that their movement was a new religion.  It was Paul who transformed Jesus and his message through his ministry to the gentiles, breaking with James and the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem, preaching a message based on his own revelations that would become Christianity.  Jesus became a figure whose humanity was obscured; John became merely a forerunner of Jesus; and James and the others were all but forgotten.

James Tabor has studied the earliest surviving documents of Christianity for more than thirty years and has participated in important archeological excavations in Israel.  Drawing on this background, Tabor reconstructs for us the movement that sought the spiritual, social, and political redemption of the Jews, a movement led by one family.  The Jesus Dynasty offers an alternative version of Christian origins, one that takes us closer than ever to Jesus and his family and followers.  The story is surprising and controversial, but exciting as only a long-lost history can be when it is at last recovered.…

James D. Tabor is chair of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  He holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from the University of Chicago and is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian origins.  The author of several previous books, he is frequently consulted by the media on these topics and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs.

I still have not had time to finish the book. From what I've read, I'm not yet convinced Tabor has proved his case. Still, for those interested in the split between the Church and Jews, or who simply want to know more about the time period that led up to the destruction of the Second Temple, Tabor's book may be worthwhile.

[By the way, Tabor for many years was involved in the Bnai Noach Movement, and may still be today.]

Missing Children

[We are] trying to help more than 65 child survivors of Holocaust find information about their past.
Please look at the photos and read the profiles of each child.

Perhaps you have a missing piece of information for these child survivors. Perhaps you have  a suggestion for additional research. Click on the pictures or names for the individual profile pages.

New Edah Journal Online

The new Edah Journal, now published by Yeshiva Chovevei Torah and renamed Meorot, is online now.

Does Teshuva Work For Sex Offenders?

Rabbi Dov Linzer of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah addresses this issue. Rabbi Mark Dratch and Dr. Michelle Freidman offer responses. Download by clicking this link. Source sheet can be downloaded by clicking here.

More Chovevei shiurim here.

[Hat Tip: Ben Max.]

Steve Martin: 72 Virgins

Steve Martin writes about Islam's 72 virgins in this week's New Yorker:

Virgin No. 1: Yuck.
Virgin No. 2: Ick.
Virgin No. 3: Ew.
Virgin No. 4: Ow.…
Virgin No. 7: Here, I’ll just pull down your zipper. Oh, sorry!…
Virgin No. 10: . . . so I see Heath, and he goes, “Like, what are you doing here?,” and I go, “I’m hangin’ out,” so he goes, “Like, what?” . . .
Virgin No. 14: I’m eighty-four. So what?…
Virgin No. 16: Even I know that’s tiny.…
Virgin No. 24: Would you mind saying, “Could I see you in my office, Miss Witherspoon?”?…
Virgin No. 40: I’m Jewish. Why do you ask?…
Virgin No. 51: What do you mean, “move a little”?
Virgin No. 52: Not now, I’m on my BlackBerry.…
Virgin No. 54: We’ve been together twenty-four hours now, and, you know, sometimes it’s O.K. to say something mildly humorous.…
Virgin No. 66: We could do it here for free, or on a stage in Düsseldorf for money.…

More On Former President Carter

Neal Sher, the former Justice Department official who recently released damaging evidence on former President Carter's "ethics," blogs over at PoliticalMavens.com, where he writes more about what many say is our worst ex-President ever.

UPDATE: A commenter is quick to bring up Neal Sher's past misdeeds. I admidt, I did not remember (perhaps I never knew) that Sher had been disbarred. Thankfully, the guys over at Powerline, who issued a warning about Sher when the Carter story broke, have linked to the NY Sun, which has helpfully posted the original documents. Read the Sun piece for more information. The documents are posted below. (Click to enlarge.)

The Nuclear Holocaust To Come?

Yossi Klein Halevi and Michael Oren have written a comprehensive, frightening article on Iran.  In it they note that Yitzhak Rabin's acceptance of Oslo was meant to remove the inner ring threat to Israel, to neutralize it, so Israel could prepare for and face the threat of a nuclear Iran. The US under President Clinton did not believe Iran had a military nuclear program. It did and still does. (The authors note that Israeli defense officials began calling George Tennant's CIA – which insisted that Iran was peaceable and had no military nuclear program – the CPIA, the Central Politicized Intelligence Agency.)

The main message here besides the threat itself and the potential Israeli response is that Rabin tried to remove the Palestinians from Iran's orbit. He may very well have succeeded in this if the Clinton Administration had forced the PLO to comply with the agreements signed. It did not do so. That led to increasing chaos, the eventual Israeli-enforced isolation of Arafat, and the anarchy we see now.

But Rabin's goal was good and his attempt to achieve it understandable. One can only hope fringe elements of Israeli society – especially the settlers and their insane "sanhedrin," Chabad, haredim, and the extreme right – can stop focusing on their parochial concerns and instead focus on the real threat – a nuclear Holocaust launched by Iran.

For his part, leftist historian Benny Morris thinks the end is near. His terrifying take on Iran can be read here.

UPDATE -- Bernard Lewis on Iran:

…The Cold War philosophy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), which prevented the former Soviet Union and the United States from using the nuclear weapons they had targeted at each other, would not apply to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran, said Lewis.

"For him, Mutual Assured Destruction is not a deterrent, it is an inducement," said Lewis of Ahmadinejad. "We know already that they [Iran's ruling ayatollahs] do not give a damn about killing their own people in great numbers. We have seen it again and again. If they kill large numbers of their own people, they are doing them a favor. They are giving them a quick, free pass to heaven. I find all that very alarming," said Lewis.…

New J-Blog

Steven I. Weiss has launched a new subdivision, so to speak – a new blog under his Canonist banner. Written by Menachem Wecker, "Iconia," SIW writes, "is a blog about the intersection of religion and art… It's the first of what will hopefully be several specialty blogs to launch under the Canonist banner."

The Jewish Student Union That Isn't -- NCSY And Deceptive Outreach, Part 2

David Kelsey noted last week that NCSY has a front organiztion, the so-called Jewish Student Union, that it uses to bring non-Orthodox high school students into NCSY's orbit. It is now clear why NCSY uses the JSU front to snare kids. In order to get into public schools, clubs and organizations need to be cultural or educational, but not religious in nature. NCSY uses the JSU to skirt the Constitution and push religion in the public schools. This is deceptive, both for the students recruited and their families, and for wider society.

Many of you are now clucking that I am wrong and that my "hatred" for Orthodoxy is driving this post. So, for all you Steve Brizels out there, let me help you with the logic and facts.

A group calls itself, say the Jewish Cultural Student Union. It forms clubs in public high schools and teaches kids about "cool Jewish  stuff" like the Prophets and the Messiah and Jewish history. They bake bagels and fry latkes. They knit kippot and weave talaysim. They play sports and visit neighborhood religious institutions to "observe" "davening." They study "Jewish culture" with "rabbis."

You Brizels out there have no problem with this, do you? You support this type of deception 100%, without reservation.

Now look at it this way. That Jewish Cultural Student Union is not a stealth project of NCSY and the OU. Instead, it's a stealth project of Jews for Jesus.

Dishonesty and manipulation should have no role in legitimate public discourse. That means what is wrong for Jews for Jesus is also wrong for NCSY, Aish HaTorah and Ohr Somayach. The sad thing is, none of these groups believe they are doing anything wrong, morally or legally.

Haredim Steal Woman's Body To Prevent Autopsy

The riot last May in Ashdod.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Police were conducting searches in Beit Shemesh on Sunday morning for the body of a woman who died overnight Saturday.

Haredi residents of Beit Shemesh have reportedly hidden the woman's body to prevent the police from taking it for an autopsy, which is prohibited according to Jewish law.

Police detectives questioned the woman's husband and family to establish the cause of death, but so far there is no suspicion of foul play…

Similar cases in the past include the riots that broke out in Jerusalem following the autopsy in February 2006 of Frida Wiesel, an 89-year old woman who died during a burglary, and the deaths of two babies who were cared for in the same Jerusalem day-care center and died within 13 days of each other in December 1999.…

The haredi parents of the two infants refused to have autopsies performed, and thus health officials never discovered the cause of the infants' deaths.

Ynet has more:

The corpse of a 40-year-old ultra-Orthodox woman found in Ramat Beit Shemesh Saturday was snatched by residents of the area, preventing the body from being transferred for an autopsy.

The search for the body by the Israel Police continued Sunday morning, and they believe the woman has not yet been buried.

The body was found in an open field and an inspection by a Magen David Adom crew found no marks of violence on the woman, prompting the crew to take her to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to determine the cause of death.

A few hundred haredim living in the neighborhood arrived at the scene and forcibly prevented police from moving the body.

In the riots, four police officers were lightly injured and three men were arrested for assault.

After successfully keeping police from the body, the haredim carried it away, possibly to one of the neighborhood synagogues.…

Ha'aretz adds:

…"Several hundred members of the ultra-Orthodox community approached policemen at the scene and injured four officers and snatched the body," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

"We did not ask to carry out an autopsy on the woman. They grabbed the body thinking we wanted to carry one out," he said.…

After an extensive police search and lengthy negotiations with rabbis, the ultra-Orthodox community handed the body over to a hospital on Sunday for an external examination to determine the cause of death. The body was later buried.…

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

VozIzNeis is reporting that the Pupa Rav of Montreal, Canada has passed away. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

BROOKLYN PEDOPHILE ALERT

A friend forwarded the following email to me:

Yeshiva boys commonly accept rides from strangers who appear to be “frum.”  However, appearances can be deceiving and this practice has lately proven to be extremely harmful.

Recently, a Jewish male in his 40s, had been offering rides to Yeshiva boys waiting at bus stops on Coney Island Avenue and other Flatbush and Boro Park venues.  One of his regular passengers confided to his father that the driver had exhibited unusual behavior.  The boy’s father decided to accompany his son and confront the driver.  The driver fled the scene when he saw the father.  It has since been discovered that the driver had been previously arrested for endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree sex abuse.

Because of early intervention, no crime was committed this time.  However, this predator has escaped incarceration and remains free to prey on unsuspecting boys.  The authorities are investigating this matter.

The pedophile has been identified as follows:

Vehicle:*          Blue 1987 Chevy Caprice – New York license plates
Age:                 Early to mid 40’s
Height:             5’ 11
Weight:            Approximately 220 lbs.
Facial hair:      Clean-shaven
Color:               White

*Please note that he may have access to more than one vehicle.

We urge you to caution your children never to accept rides from strangers without your explicit permission.  Instruct them to immediately report to you any strange behavior displayed by any adult in their lives.

We must be proactive about containing and preventing these incidents in our community.  Please pass this information on to everyone you know.  Please advise anyone who suggests this falls into the category of loshon horah, that they are mistaken.  A pedophile is a rodeph and we have a halachic obligation to protect our children and the children of our community from harm.  The Torah asserts that we are forbidden to sit idly by while others are in danger (lo samoid al dam re’echa).  As Harav Shalom Yosef Elyashiv has ruled, we are obligated to report known pedophiles to the police.

Keep your eyes and ears open and insist that your child do the same.  Help keep our children safe and healthy.

The alleged pedophile's name, address and license plate number were in the original email. While my friend has proven to be absolutely credible, I am not printing the alleged pedepohile's identity until I can verify it. I will say that he lives in a haredi area of Brooklyn and has a very Jewish first name and family name.

LEADING CHABAD THEOLOGIAN: "The Rebbe Is Alive … There Is No Change In How The Rebbe Relates To Hasidim And No Change In How Hasidim Relate To The Rebbe"

Rabbi Yoel Kahn, Chabad's chief theologian, has this to say about the Rebbe's death and his 'role' in the world to this day:

…The right shitah is to say the truth: That now the Rebbe is also alive and affects us here physically. That after Gimmel Tamuz 1994 no change has occurred in the relationship between the Rebbe and chassidim - no change as the Rebbe relates to chassidim and no change as chassidim relate to the Rebbe.

"Chazal tell us (in Sotah 13b) that just like Moses was standing in service of G-d before he became 120 so too he is standing in the service of G-d after 120. It is brought down in holy books that this is said not only of Moses but of all true leaders of Israel in every generation especially in the sichos where the Rebbe speaks of the "hiskashrus" to the Previous Rebbe.

"Obviously, this pertains to the Rebbe too as it is written in Zohar that "when a Tzaddik departs he is to be found in all the worlds more than in his lifetime."

"The difference between the Rebbe Rashab and the Rebbe is that since the Rebbe Rashab had a son who replaced him the "hashpo" goes through the new leader and Moses of that respective generation. But in the case of the Rebbe since he did not leave anybody to replace him, he continues to affect us just like before.… [One must ask, if this is true (it is not), does this mean every childless leader of Jews is still leading us, even many years or centuries after their deaths? This bizarre thought is now normative in Chabad. – Shmarya.]

Just like before Gimmel Tammuz 1994 people from all walks of life, not only Lubavitchers, would come to the Rebbe on Sundays to receive a dollar and ask for a blessing and witnessed outright miracles today too people from all walks of life come to the Ohel and are blessed with what they need. Some people make a special trip just for that. They land in Kennedy airport, go to the Ohel and fly back just as they came to the Rebbe before Gimmel Tamuz.…

This is part of a loger interview published in Kfar Chabad Magazine in which Rabbi Kahn attacks the theology of the extreme messianists (also known as Sfasniks and Taliban), the guys who pretend to get glasses of wine from the late Rebbe and other insanities. In other words, Rabbi Kahn is not arguing against the now normative Chabad belief that the Rebbe will be the messiah.

For those of you unaware, Gimmel (3) Tammuz is the date on the Jewish calendar of the Rebbe's death.

[Hat Tip: Tzemach Atlas.]

Our Sheltered Ancestors

Truth is funnier than fiction. Stefan Kanfer writes in the New York Times:

… Boris Thomashefsky, the quintessential impresario-entertainer, … billed himself as “America’s Darling.”…

Thomashefsky held forth at the National Theater, where he and his wife, Bessie, staged everything from pageants to Shakespeare. Threatened by Thomashefsky’s ambition, his personal playwright once declared, “I will write you a better play than this ‘Hamlet’!”

The boss played the troubled Prince of Denmark, anyway, and received tumultuous applause from a naïve audience. The ticket-holders called, “Author! Author!” According to the Thomashefsky memoirs, Bessie explained to the audience that “Mr. Shekspir lived far away in England and could not come to see his play.”…

[Hat Tip: Dr. Gershon Mendel.]

More Than 50,000 Haredim Got Yeshiva Draft Deferments This Year

Ha'aretz reports on the the stunning news – more than 50,000 haredim took (indefinite) draft deferments rather than serve in the Israeli armed forces. That's 50,000 this year alone:

In evaluating the Tal Law, other figures are also worth noting: For example, 10 percent of army-age Jewish males receive a deferral instead of being inducted at age 18. This amounts to about 4,500 [new deferments] annually. A Central Bureau of Statistics table of education systems shows that 23 percent of Jewish first-grade boys are enrolled in ultra-Orthodox institutions. In another 12 years those boys will be conscription age. Even if we assume that some are not ultra-Orthodox, and will therefore serve in the army, it is doubtful the IDF can afford a deferment rate of even 18 percent.

In other words, haredim will not only have bankrupted their own communities but they will have endangered the lives of Jews in the process. How bad is this? How much are the haredim opposed to doing their share? This much:

…More than a few ultra-Orthodox rabbis, particularly from the Degel Hatorah movement, strenuously opposed the Tal Law. Most prominent among these rabbis was the head of the Maalot Hatorah Yeshiva, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who is expected to be an important Degel Hatorah leader in another 10 years or so. At first the Tal Law's opponents published letters and posters and hounded the law's proponents. MK Avraham Ravitz (UTJ), however, says that in retrospect, there was practically no need for their struggle.

Few in the ultra-Orthodox public made an effort to realize the [potential benefits of the] Tal Law. One ultra-Orthodox journalist explains that the community's newspapers never detailed the law's content, and did not inform their young readers of the decision year option. [The haredi press is controlled by haredi rabbinic leaders. HaModia by the Gerrer Rebe, Yated Ne'eman by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.] The numbers clearly show that not just the strongest objectors - the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox - are not taking advantage of the "year of decision." Even the Sephardim and Hassidim, who have a greater tendency to join the work force, are not rushing out of their yeshivas.

The end is near, my friends. I shudder at the tremendous disaster that, God forbid, it seems we are about to live through.

Israeli Porn Flick Gets Kosher Seal Of Approval?

Well, not exactly. Monsters and Critics reports:

…TMZ, Harvey Levin's intrepid army of roving reporters has uncovered an Israeli porn flick produced by Tight Fit Productions of Van Nuys, Calif., the purveyors of "Assraelis," shot entirely in Israel with local talent in Hebrew, which has come under attack from rabbis who say their use of a food-certification symbol on DVD covers must cease-and-desist.

The quit letter from lawyers representing Rabbi Yehuda Rosenbaum of KOF-K Kosher Certification, a New Jersey company that puts its stamp of approval on Kosher goods was sent to the principals of Tight Fit.

The porn DVD cover "claim of Israeli authenticity" is accompanied by the Hebrew letter reserved for rabbi-ordained meats, grains, and other foods.…

Porn producer and owner of Tight Fit, Oren Cohen, is amused, but he's a good Jewish boy and will comply with the rabbis' requests. Who needs the aggravation?

Has anyone seen this flick? Will anyone own up to having seen it? Luke?

Not A Word About Sex (Or Rape, Or Abuse)

Ha'aretz reports that haredi-controlled media in Israel – including HaModia, Yated Ne'eman, and Kol Hai have not mentioned the nature of the charges (in HaModia's case, the indictment itself was not mentioned) against Israel's now-indicted president, Moshe Katsav. Why? Because haredim want to keep their media "clean". Here is one haredi example from the article:

…The religious radio station Kol Hai's news bulletins have been covering the Katsav affair since the attorney general's announcement Tuesday, but broadcasters, reporters and commentators have been ordered not to mention the nature of the charges or say words like "sexual harassment," "rape" and "abuse."

Interviewees are also warned not to use those terms on the air.

The channel did not broadcast the recent news conferences live, but only after offensive phrases had been deleted.

"When a father sits in his car with his children listening to the news, my job is to protect the children and not use terms alien to the children's pure world," said Mordechai Lavi, the radio's main news broadcaster.…

A friend who has worked extensively with New York City haredi communities told me one of the biggest in dealing with haredi abuse cases is that victims, especially those from Williamsburgh, Kiryas Joel and New Square, lack the vocabulary to explain what it is that has happened to them. There are often no Yiddish words for what has happened to them, even for some body parts. They are hurt and confused, and this additional burden makes comming forward that much harder. (So does, my friend is quick to add, is the communal and rabbinic pressure to stay silent.)

Haredim need to realize this extreme ghettoization often does not protect children; instead, it hurts them.

[Hat Tip: KK.]

Haredim Burn "Immodest" Clothing In Public Demonstration; Clothing Shops Vandalized

Haredim held a public rally tonight to burn womens clothing deemed by them to be "immodest." We're not talking miniskirts and halter tops, here; haredim burned skirts they thought were too flashy and clothing made of materials they dislike. Ynet reports:

The "clothes of impurity" were burned in a barrel in the center of the stage. Rabbis who spoke at the rally stood nearby admonished the crowd that congregated around the site.

"We will get rid of the tight clothes and the Holy One, Blessed be He, will place his mercy on us," it was written on one of the signs held by the protestors. "Modesty is the only thing that needs to be corrected in our generation," the rabbis clarified, saying this would solve the troubles of today. "We must overcome this hurdle," they pleaded.

The clothes that were set on fire during the demonstration were collected by a haredi organization in the past few months in a door-to-door campaign held in haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem. During the campaign, clothes deemed "immodest" were collected. Women rose to the challenge. The organization handed out coupons for "authorized shops" to those who handed over "forbidden clothing" so that they can buy new clothes.

In an announcement published by the rabbis, they clearly define what is forbidden to wear:

    * Tricot shirts
    * Lycra shirts and skirts
    * Open-collared shirts
    * Short and tight skirts
    * Skirts with a slit
    * Skirts with a straight cut
    * Long or bulky earrings
    * Clothes and bags in loud, flashy colors
    * Wigs that are too exclusive
    * Transparent or colorful stockings
    * Clunky shoes

The result: Violence

The war against immodesty has recently descended into violence. Extremists attacked women with various sprays who were wearing clothes that didn't fit their criteria. Clothing stores in Jerusalem have also been hurt. One of the stores near the center of the city sustained an attack of bleach bottles. Tens of thousands of shekels of damage was caused to the merchandise.

Fear of the modesty guards is great in haredi neighborhoods. Yehudit, a haredi woman who works as a saleswoman in a clothing store in Geula said: "It is very scary, stressful, and unpleasant. A woman is wearing a skirt that cost NIS 200 (USD 50), and someone comes along and destroys it."

Yehudit defines herself as a "modern haredi," and claims that she and other women must not let "all of these protests affect us. It doesn't bother me at all." She also claims, "I haven't changed the clothes I wear. I haven't met one modern haredi woman who has purchased a new wardrobe or shorter wig because of the demonstrations."

The Rebbe and Rabbi JB Soleveitchik

[Hat Tip: The Town Crier.]

The Campaign Against The Conservative Movement Begins

The campaign against the Conservative Movement's new tzedek hechsher, a supervision that would attempt to ensure workers employed by companies getting kosher supervision from others are fairly treated, has begun in ernest. First, we had the Kosher Today smear of the Conservative Movement's point man on this issue, Rabbi Morris Allen. Now Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum (affectionately known to several commenters on this site as "Gershon the Swindler"), the COO of Igud HaRabbonim (the so-called Rabbinical Alliance of America) has jumped in, using his Jewish Press column to threaten kosher food manufacturers who may be thinking of using the new tzedek hechsher:

In December 2006, a call came from outside the sphere of Orthodox kosher certifiers for a tsedek heckscher or justice certification that would ensure that kosher food producers “have met a set of standards that determine the social responsibility of kosher food producers, particularly in the area of worker rights.”

      The Orthodox Union issued a statement that labor issues were a matter for federal and local regulators, not kosher authorities. Rabbi Genack was reported as applauding the call to look at labor issues, given the weight of Jewish law dedicated to that topic. However, Rabbi Genack stressed that the effort cannot be allowed to blur the line between Jewish law regarding worker rights and Jewish law regarding the kosher standard of food.
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      On January 2, the Hisachdus Horabbonim issued a kol koreh proclamation condemning any efforts to dilute or becloud kosher supervision standards, nor to allow any other supervision standards to be applied to kosher certification halachahs. The proclamation was signed by three members of its Kashrus Beth Din: Rabbi Avrohom Yehoshua Heshel Bick, Mezebusher Rav; Rabbi Hillel Weinberger, Serdehaly Rav; and Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Menachem Eichenstein, Galante Rebbe.

      The Hisachdus kol koreh called upon all observant Jews to reject the introduction of any type of tsedek heckscher, something never previously heard of. The Hisachdus views the suggestion as an attempt by those outside the observant community to infiltrate and dilute the existing framework of kashrus certifications. Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Glick, rav of Khal Beis Avrohom and executive director of the Hisachdus, stressed that any injection of social or humanitarian considerations, especially by outsiders, would be an unallowable breach of the time honored halachic administration of kashrus standards.   

        Every kosher food producer must repulse any attempts of introducing such alien impositions. Tolerating such infringement would be a first step in destroying halachic kashrus standards. The kol koreh calls upon kosher food producers as well as kashrus certifiers to maintain vigilance against any effort to pierce protective barriers now in place.

      The universally highly-regarded HaEdah HaCharedis Kashrus Beis Din in Jerusalem as well as Rabbi Shmuel Wosner, author of Shevet Levi and leading posek, have been alerted to the suspicious machinations of those attempting to impose the so-called hekhsher tzedek.…

Note these haredim use the old haredi argument – everything new is prohibitied – to come out against enforcing the Torah's mandates on treatment of workers.

I suspect the next move will be for various supervisors to refuse to have their supervison mark appear with that of the tzedek hechsher. This will put tremendous pressure on manufacturers and will force many to avoid using the tzedek hechsher, which is, of course, what the haredim want, even if the motives behind the new hechsher are pure.

Naomi Ragen Files Suit: Women Will Not Move To The Back Of The Bus Any Longer

American-born Modern Orthodox author Naomi Ragen has filed suit as part of a group of Israeli women in an attempt to get Israel's high court ot ban haredi buses that have enforced segregated seating. The so-called "mehadrin busses" force women to sit in the back of the bus. Ynet reports on Ragen's personal experience with these buses:

…The petition describes a personal experience by Ragen in July 2004 while on a 'kosher' bus line, coincidentally the only direct bus line from central Jerusalem to her neighborhood of residence.

At first, the bus was empty and Ragen sat alone in a seat up front. As the bus filled with passengers, haredi men came up to her and demanded harshly that she move to the back of the bus.

Ragen, unaware that it was a haredi bus, responded that she had seen no sign requiring her to sit in a specific location. Furthermore, she said, as a religious woman, she knew that there was no Jewish law forbidding her from sitting wherever she pleased.

From that moment, Ragen said, she was verbally abused. At every bus stop, the incoming haredi male passengers yelled at her. There was even one man who threatened her with physical harm.

"He treated me exactly as if I were a black woman in the United States South 50 years ago," recounted Ragen. "It was very humiliating."

According to the petitioners, the separation becomes even more enraging when the male section of the bus is almost empty, while the female section is overcrowded. At such times, the petitioners said, the men still prevent women from crossing over to "their side".

"Why should a woman with children and a baby carriage be forced to stand when there are plenty of empty seats on the bus?" Ragen asked.

Ragen added that, because there are no signs on the buses, women have no way of knowing whether they are 'kosher' or not.…

DovBear recently reported (and Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblum confirmed) an attack on a religious Jewish woman by haredi males on an Egged bus, because she refused to give up her seat and move to the rear.

My friend Ellen Silman has a friend who called me yesterday from Jerusalem. He had just taken the 973 bus from Sefat to Jerusalem. At the Afula stop, a haredi rabbi got on an noticed an elderly haredi couple sitting together in the front seat of the bus. He demanded that the wife leave her seat and move to the rear. She and her husband refused. An argument ensued. The elderly man asked to see the rabbi's ID. At that point the driver confirmed thhe rabbi was, in fact, working for Egged, enforcing seperate seating. The haredi rabbi again ordered the elderly woman to move to the rear of the bus. Her husband retorted. I, too, am a rabbi and I know halakha, and the halakha you are enforcing does not exist! Egged's haredi rabbi-enforcer responded by ordering the driver not to move the bus until the elderly woman moved to the rear. She moved and so did the bus. Ellen Silman's friend said he plans on filing a complaint against Egged.

Naomi Ragen says she filed this suit because she wants to prevent Israel from "turning into a Taliban country." I'm afraid she may be too late.

How Accurate Is Kosher Today?

How accurate is Kosher Today? Not very. The same issue that reported on the broken "friendship" between Rabbis Morris Allen and Asher Zeilingold has this to say about why Saint Paul's kosher meat market closed about one year ago:

Many Kosher Stores Close Due to Lack of Succession

New York… In many markets, the closing of a kosher grocery store or restaurant is immediate cause for blame. “It’s the fault of the large supermarkets,” is one often heard argument. “The community does not patronize the store,” is yet another frequently heard opinion as to why a kosher restaurant closes. But a deeper look at some recent closings in cities like St. Paul, Cincinnati, Kansas City and others points to an often neglected culprit: “succession.” Children may have moved away from the community or are in any case involved in other pursuits.…

The truth is the Saint Paul store had been in financial straits for years. Then, the building housing it was sold, and the new owners wanted more than triple the rent. The store owner could not pay the increase, so he negotiated a deal with a local supermarket to have a kosher meat concession. That deal was nixed (before it was signed) by Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, who wanted a different set up. (I'm told this had nothing to do with any kosher issues.) The owner of the kosher store simply closed up and went into another business. And, for the record, he had no children then old enough to take over the business.

Who, one might ask, was Kosher Today's source for this story? My guess is Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, who certainly played a major role in Kosher Today's smear of Rabbi Morris Allen and the Conservative Movement.

[I should note that Rabbi Zeilingold is the rabbi who excommunicated me.]

Did Dennis Prager Praise A Plagiarist? A Paid Hack?

If Luke Ford is correct, the answer is yes.

Luke has a great new site design, too.

RUBASHKIN HOT DOGS RECALLED FOR "HIGHEST LEVEL" HEALTH RISK

NOTE: The 1 lb package has also been recalled.

The AP via NY Newsday reports:

Agriprocessors, Inc., issued a voluntary Class I recall on about 2,700 pounds of frankfurters _ the highest classification given to consumer recalls, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Tuesday.

The company is recalling two-pound vacuum-packed packages labeled 'Supreme Kosher Family Pack Classic Frankfurters made with Beef & Chicken,' and one-pound packages of 'Supreme Kosher, Classic Frankfurters made with Beef & Chicken.

The products were recalled after an Agriprocessors employee discovered possible underprocessing.

A Class I health hazard is when a reasonable probability exists that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.

The frankfurters were produced Nov. 15 by the Postville, Iowa-based company and shipped to retail stores in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The recalled products were labeled with the establishment number; 'EST. 4653A' inside the USDA mark of inspection, and bear the use-by date March 16, 2007.

FSIS has not received any reports of illness related to the consumption of the products.

NOTE: It's important to remember that Rubashkin is, allegedly, at least, bad about properly tagging and labeling output. It is also important to realize that, even though these are retail packages, they may have been sold to restaurants by suppliers. (This is not uncommon.) The bottom line: Ask before you eat. If the restaurant can't tell you exactly what day the product expires, do not eat it. In my opinion, anything from Rubashkin should be considered questionable until proved otherwise, until the entire tainted output is located and destroyed.

The Truth About Rubashkin, The Conservative Rabbis and OSHA

Kosher Today, the mouthpiece of the kosher food industry, has a misleading piece on the Conservative Movement's new tzedek hechsher, Rubashkin and the allegations of worker abuse at Agriprocessors Postville, Iowa plant. First, the Kosher Today article in full:

Friendship of Orthodox and Conservative Rabbi in Tatters Over Kashrus Issues

St. Paul: It all began almost a year ago when a local glatt kosher butcher closed its doors leaving many kosher consumers without a source for glatt kosher meat. Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, spiritual leader of the Adath Israel Synagogue, head of United Mehadrin and a respected authority on kashrus, persuaded Cooper's Supermarket to carry glatt kosher meats from Agriprocessors. Celebrating his accomplishments, Rabbi Zeilingold next reached out to his long-time friend Rabbi Morris Allen, the rabbi of the Conservative temple Beth Jacob in Mendota Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Rabbi Zeilingold had hoped that Rabbi Allen would help him assure that as many Jews as possible patronize the Cooper's special section on glatt kosher meats. But Rabbi Allen insisted that the store not carry regular kosher meats from Agri, which had been the subject of attack by PETA, the extremist animal rights organization. The Conservative Rabbi also made sure to send out to his membership copies of a scathing article by the Forward which accused Agri of abusing its workers. He also refused to accept regular kosher meat from Agri, preferring instead kosher meat from Green Bay. In the process of settling on a supplier of the kosher meats, the American Jewish World in Minneapolis launched a vicious tirade against Twin-City Poultry, accusing the large kosher meat distributor of refusing to sell non-glatt products. The irony of it all is that kosher meat in many markets is more expensive than "glatt kosher" meat.

Within days of the Forward article, Zeilingold and a Spanish speaking congregant, Dr. Carlos Carbonera, visited the Postville, Iowa plant of Agriprocessors. They freely spoke to many of the Agri employees and found the Forward piece to be patently false. The Orthodox rabbi invited his friend Allen to see for himself. He and a group of Conservative rabbis turned up in Postville, only to take part in the latest efforts by the Union to unionize Agri employees. The Union had in fact advertised the rabbi's appearance. Said Rabbi Zeilingold: "From the Forward article, and from Rabbi Allen's deceptive behavior, it was obvious to me that Rabbi Allen, Victor Rosenthal, and the other members of the Conservative commission did NOT visit Agriprocessors in order to evaluate the validity of the Forward's May 26 attack on Agri.  They were delighted to accept all the lies and slander of the Forward article as absolute truth because it gave them a pretext by which they could gain entry into Agriprocessors and other plants posing as the champions of "kashrut" and the rights of workers.  The lies of the Forward article gave them fertile ground to plant the seeds of the "tzedek hechsher," a new Conservative certification that includes social concerns.

To put the entire matter to rest, Rabbi Zeilingold arranged for a high ranking official of the United States Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to visit the Agri plant. After two-full days at the plant, the OSHA official reported having "no issues of concern."  According to OSHA records, Agriprocessors has a far better safety record than the plant named by the commission of Conservative rabbis, with approximately sixty percent fewer citations.  The OSHA official further stated that, “a program addressing each and every one of the hazards recognized by OSHA inspectors "was working strongly at the plant" and further, that "Agriprocessors inspection history stands within normal parameters compared to other companies within this industry."  He ends his report by stating definitively: "Agriprocessors is committed to providing a safe work environment to their employees. They have the tools that allow them to improve the safety of their working environment." With the record straight, Zeilingold still hopes that a fair-minded Allen will take his hand in friendship once again.

The friendship issue. To call Asher Zeilingold and Morris Allen "friends" is a stretch. They worked together on to get kosher meat for their community. They didn't party together, vacation together or study together. They didn't see each other socially. They didn't visit each others synagogues, give drashot there, or pray together. Their "friendship" was conditional, based on a achieving a specific, limited goal. When worker abuse allegations against Rubashkin surfaced, Allen's attempts to clean up Rubashkin put him at odds with Zeilingold.

Further, Zeilingold has a business interest with Rubashkin. His supervision mark is on Rubashkin's non-glatt product. He has a vested interest in freeing Rubashkin from the cloud that hangs over him. Kosher Today does not mention this business relationship, even though ethically it should have.

OSHA. I spoke with OSHA officials in  Washington, in the regional office that covers Iowa, and the officials in Iowa who administer the state's OSHA-approved program. This is what I learned:

1. No Federal or State OSHA inspection took place at Agriprocessors during the time frame set out in the Kosher Today article.
2. Federal OSHA does not have jurisdiction over Agriprocessors, because Iowa is a State Plan state, and all OSHA work is handled locally.
3. Mary Bryant, the woman who administers OSHA enforcement for the State of Iowa, told me no inspections or enforcement actions took place during that time. This is current through yesterday, the day of publication of the Kosher Today article.

So what could have happened? Perhaps this. OSHA has a consultancy program. A company can confidentially call OSHA (in this case, Iowa-administered OSHA) and get a consult. OSHA will look at a plant's operations as it is on that day (not how it was the day before, not how it will be the day after) and give the company a report to help them get into compliance. But any plant can prepare for one of these consults, get into perfect working order, then have OSHA look, and then publicize this consult. Rubashkin did just this with Dr. Temple Grandin's consult. Did Rubashkin do this with OSHA, too?

Maybe. Steve Slater, the man who  runs this program for the State of Iowa, can't say, because he is bound by the consult program's pledge of confidentiality. He did say that he, the most senior OSHA-related person in Iowa, did not make the statements quoted in Kosher Today and he is unaware of any other senior staff making them, as well.

For their part, Federal OSHA is clear. Charles "Chuck" Atkins, the head of OSHA for the region that includes Iowa, told me no Federal OSHA people had been in Iowa for the past year. "We have to be very careful about going in there, because Iowa is a State Plan state," Atkins said. Keven Ropp, OSHA's spokesman in Washington, DC, could find no record of any Federal OSHA presence in Iowa or at Agriprocessors.

Who has more violations? On this, Kosher Today has a point, although it is very weak. Empire has more violations over the past two years than Rubashkin. But Empire's violations are largely related to specific equipment. Rubashkin's violations are fewer in number but more holistic. For example, Empire is often cited for a violation involving "powered industrial trucks." Rubashkin is cited for "respiratory protection," "hazard protection," "general requirements," and "general requirements for all machines." (Rubashkin also has a "powered industrial truck" violation.)

Additionally, State and Federal enforcement are not equal. While State Plan states must meet Federal requirements, enforcement of those requirements vary from state to state. Pennsylvania is not a State Plan state, and Empire's enforcement comes from Federal OSHA, which is considered stricter than some State Plan enforcement.

The price of non-glatt meat. Kosher today wrote: "The irony of it all is that kosher meat in many markets is more expensive than "glatt kosher" meat." This is part of the Justice Department's investigation into price-fixing in the kosher meat industry. Rubashkin is said to be a target of that investigation.

Rabbi Asher Zeilingold. Much of Rubashkin's defense comes down to the trustworthiness and veracity of Rabbi Asher Zeilingold. For details on him, please read this.

[I should also note that Rabbi Zeilingold is the rabbi who excommunicated me.]

UPDATE: 2-8-07– I have now confirmed the "OSHA inspection" was done by an employee of Federal OSHA on his own time. It was not a full inspection, was not sanctioned or approved by OSHA, and was arranged by Carlos Carbonera (this "inspector" is a friend of Carbonera's). OSHA's regional head Chuck Adkins told me again today that he will "bring the hammer down" on anyone, this inspector included, who uses OSHA's name without permission. He also pointed out that what this inspector did was a violation of OSHA's "internal rules and regulations." 

More here.

Censorship In The JBlogisphere

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz writes about his website, which he recently reconfigured to function as a blog:

…After giving it some thought, I decided not remove any of the negative comments. (For the record, I removed the posts that mentioned people’s names or names of institutions with regard to the abuse issue.) Why? Because I felt that once I decided to open my website to unedited comments, I felt that the honorable thing to do was to leave the negative ones on the site as well as the complimentary ones. Additionally, I felt that once I chose to solicit funds using the site, it was fair, if not unpleasant, for people to question my motives.

In the greater scheme of things, the flow of comments posted to my columns – positive and negative – in the past month has been eye opening for me, and I feel that my response ought to be to read them all carefully.

Let’s face it. Blogging is here to stay and people will respond to my columns in one way or another. On my website or on someone else’s. If anything, the exponential advances in technology will only add to this phenomenon of instant polling and interactive discussions in ways we cannot even imagine at this time.

I think that I am best off following the sage advice of Dovid Hamelech (Kind David), who, sadly, knew a thing or two about discord and adversity. “Be’komim alay me’reim tish’mana aznei (Tehilim 92:8)– When my adversaries rise against me, my ears should hear [their words].” There is a Chassidic interpretation that Dovid prayed to Hashem that he maintain the moral strength to carefully listen to the rebuke of the people who were criticizing him, rather than ignore their words as those of ‘enemies.’ I ought not get defensive or reactionary, but rather reflect on the criticism of those who took the time to post the comments – and hopefully grow from reviewing them.…

In other words, Rabbi Horowitz removed any specific reference to individuals, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, say, and institutions, like Torah Temmimah and Agudah, but left in any attacks on himself. This is far more open than other haredi sites, which for the most part heavily filter all comments. It's a step in the right direction – a step other haredim are unlikely to follow.

Crime and 'Punishment' in Israel, Part 2

The Jerusalem Post editorial board writes:

…Lifer Rafi Nahmani murdered Tel Aviv District Court judge Adi Azar while on furlough in 2004. In a country with no capital punishment, this professional assassin had nothing to lose. Common sense should have denied him leave. It didn't.

The contract hit on Azar was no bolt from the blue. The two teens who murdered taxi driver Derek Roth for kicks in 1994 also enjoyed leave from prison. During one furlough they held up a grocery and badly wounded its proprietors.

The prison authorities refused them further furloughs, but the violent robbery did not persuade a judge to rule likewise. One of the slayers - Moshe Ben-Ivgi - fled abroad during a subsequent furlough that he was supposed to spend at home under his father's supervision. He has since been extradited from Argentina.

Other vacationing prisoners abscond. "Southern rapist" Meir Assur, who once terrorized the Negev, was allowed a time-out too, despite the nature of his crime and the high recidivism rate of sex offenders. He disappeared, and long eluded capture.

Furloughs are even granted to husbands convicted of domestic abuse. Many return home to kill.…

Why this sudden attention to prison furloughs? This.

Yemenite Jews Forced To Flee

Ha'aretz reports:

Some 45 Jews of Sa'ada county in Yemen left their homes after being threatened by radical Muslims, the Saudi daily Al Wattan reported on Monday.

According to the report, the extremists told the Jews to leave their homes within ten days, after which time they will be exposed to abductions and looting.

The Jews moved into a hotel in the town of Sa'ada, north of the Yemenite capital Sana. A formal complaint was submitted to the Yemenite President Abdullah Salah, the report said.…

The Jewish community in Yemen consists of several hundred members, who are not interested in leaving it. The Jews maintain a community life, including a cheder for children's torah instruction and to pray.

The Jewish Student Union That Isn't

David Kelsey has uncovered a bit of subterfuge out of the bastion of Modern Orthodoxy. The OU's NCSY has apparently started a front organization, the Jewish Student Union, to lure unsuspecting high school students into NCSY and Orthodoxy. DK notes that NCSY and the Jewish Student Union share some staff, and that nowhere on the JSU's website is the relationship between the JSU and NCSY and the OU mentioned.

How's this for the new NCSY slogan? Abusive and deceptive kiruv – it's not just for the haredeim any more™.

[I would also add a bit of history. Traditionally, JSUs have been student run and governed. The NCSY version is top down, with programs and leadership coming from adults long past school age. For those of us involved in the JSU movement years ago, this NCSY innovation perverts what JSUs are and are meant to be. And it does so piggybacking on the selfless work done by many students over generations. It is, in fact, a form of geneivat da'at. Just another reason not to trust NCSY.]

Pelegish Makes A Comeback – In Iraq, With Shites

The Washington Post reports:

Fatima Ali was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school diploma and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him.

Ali wanted someone to take care of her. Rubae wanted a companion.

They met one afternoon in May at the house he shares with his wife, in the room where he accepts visitors seeking his religious counsel. He had a proposal. Would Ali be his temporary wife? He would pay her 5,000 Iraqi dinars upfront — about $4 — in addition to her monthly expenses. About twice a week over the next eight months, he would summon her to a house he would rent.

The negotiations took an hour and ended with an unwritten agreement, the couple recalled. Thus began their "mutaa," or enjoyment marriage, a temporary union believed by Shiite Muslims to be sanctioned by Islamic law.

The Shiite practice began 1,400 years ago, in what is now Iraq and other parts of the region, as a way to provide for war widows.…

[Hat Tip: Who else?]

Did Moses Exist?

The new Encyclopedia Judaica is not so sure, citing the work of historians, archeologists and others. YU's Rabbi Shalom Carmy responds this way:

Orthodox Rabbi Shalom Carmy of New York's Yeshiva University grants that historians have so far found no documentation on Moses apart from the biblical writings. He doesn't find this gap surprising and says scholars who make that argument fail to acknowledge that evidence corroborating ancient texts is very spotty.

Summarizing the Jewish divide, Carmy observes that liberals hold the biblical text "doubted until independently proven true," while for fellow traditionalists "it is true unless conclusively disproved."

Really? A less-than-6000-year-old-universe has been conclusively disproven, yet most of Rabbi Carmy's "fellow traditionalists" still posit a less-than-6000-year-old-universe. And, one should ask, what would Rabbi Carmy do if large parts of the Torah were proven false? You know the answer to that question. Rabbi Carmy will continue to believe, will continue to maintain even those parts of the Torah are true, and will continue living his Orthodox life.

In Rabbi Carmy's mind, the Torah can never be wrong and can never be proven wrong. Therefore all proofs are not conclusive. Follow that reasoning? It should sound very familiar to you, especially if you were ever a Moonie or wore orange robes.

Gaza More Than One Year On

Ha'aretz reports on the evacuees from Gaza:

…The sequence of events at Givat Hazan amply illustrates the bureaucracy and official foot-dragging regarding the evacuees' permanent residences. The families originally wanted to settle in Egoz, but the site was vetoed out of environmental protection considerations. Givat Hazan was proposed as an alternative, but it is next to a firing range that the Israel Defense Forces is loath to relinquish. The families have been waiting for months for an answer, and the issue has reached as far as the Prime Minister's Bureau.…

The government was willing to settle these people in permanent homes; all the settlers needed to do was leave Gaza on schedule and without rioting. They did neither, because their rabbis told them not to. This does not excuse byzantine "bureaucracy and official foot-dragging," and it does not get the government off the hook. Those of you who supported the Gaza riots and who urged Jews to stay in Gaza, now need to find ways to financially help these people. They made their lives immeasurably worse by fighting Disengagement. You encouraged them to fight. It's time for you – rabbis included – to pony up.

Rabbi Avi Shafran On Torah & Science

Agudah spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran wrote a book on Judaism, Jewthink: A Guide To Real Judaism for the Thinking Individual, Hermon Press, 1977, which is a collection of apologetics meant to defend Judaism from, among other things, the challenges of rational thought and science. A friend send me this PDF of Rabbi Shafran's take on the conflicts between Torah, which posits a world less than 6000 years old, and science, which has proved a much older world, billions of years old.

Rabbi Shafran insists the world is less than 6000 years old, claims science, all of it, is poorly intentioned and incapable of ascertaining the truth, and explains the world was created to look old. This is of course the famous Gosse theory, first advanced by a Protestant theologian in the first half of the 19th century. Gosse's work was adopted by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and apparently Shafran picked it up from him. Neither the Rebbe or Shafran bothered to attribute the theory to Gosse.

Here is an excerpt from Rabbi Shafran's book:

Download avi_shafran_torah_science.pdf

For a Jewish view (not derived from Christian fundamentalist apologetics) on the age of the universe, read this.

Barbarians In Jews Clothing

Tommy Lapid writes:

That woman, the one who it turns out is named Yifat Alkobi, the Jewish woman that confronted, cursed, spat on and threatened her Arab neighbor in Hebron, she who is imprisoned in her own home, seemed somehow familiar to me.

Gradually, from the cobwebs of my childhood memories, I dredged up the image of a Hungarian neighbor in Novi Sad, who used to stand at the entrance to her home and curse us every time we went into the street - just like Yifat Alkobi.

When we decide, and rightly so, to never under any circumstances compare the behavior of Jews to that of Nazis, we are forgetting that anti-Semitism only reached its height at Auschwitz. It had existed, was active, frightening, harmful and disgusting - exactly like Alkobi's image - in the years that preceded Auschwitz too. And behind shuttered windows hid terrified Jewish women, exactly like the Arab woman of the Abu-Isha family in Hebron.

It is unthinkable that the memory of Auschwitz should serve as a pretext to ignore the fact that living here among us are Jews that behave toward Palestinians exactly the way that German, Hungarian, Polish and other anti-Semites behaved toward Jews.

I am not referring to crematoria or pogroms, but rather to the persecution, hounding, stone-throwing, undermining of livelihood, scare tactics, spitting and contempt.

It was all of these things that made our lives in the Diaspora so bitter and harrowing, even before they began the wholesale killing of Jews.…

Lapid goes on to say that:

…I reacted with silence to this when I was justice minister too. We left the task of protest to the extreme leftist groups, who provoke well-deserved loathing from us all other days of the year.

We are familiar with the excuse of "We didn't know." So, for the record: We do know.

We will never be able to forgive ourselves - our consciences won't let us - and neither will our children if we do not make our army and police put an end to the Jewish barbarism in Hebron.

Rabbis: Naveh Should Be Killed

Rabbis associated with the new 'sanhedrin' have issued a ruling fatwa against OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh. The JPost reports:

The rabbis, all connected with a movement to resurrect the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish governing body, said in their halachic ruling this week that Naveh was guilty of being a moser, a Hebrew word that can be roughly translated as an informant or traitor. Literally, it means someone who transfers another's property or person to enemy authorities.

The rabbis see the Olmert government as the equivalent of a gentile enemy that "evilly and violently expels and causes mental and physical damage to Jews."

Maimonides ruled in his Mishneh Torah: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish moser anywhere, even today when rabbinic courts are not permitted to decide on capital punishment matters."

Maimonides stipulated that the death penalty is issued even if the person is not currently involved in traitorous activity but is expected to do so again in the future. Naveh's supposed treason consists of signing administrative orders prohibiting approximately 20 right-wing extremists who live in Judea and Samaria from returning to their homes and families for an indefinite period.

The IDF said that the orders, which were issued without a trial, have prevented clashes between settlers and Palestinians.

However, the rabbis said the administrative orders were part of Naveh's plan to "prepare settlements in Judea and Samaria for transfer to the enemy. Abandoning these places to foreigners endangers Jewish lives."

In the halachic decision, which is personally addressed to Naveh, who is Orthodox, the rabbis accuse him of transgressing the prohibition against "passively standing by while your brother is killed."

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem and a former IDF rabbi, signed the decision together with Rabbis Reuven Hass, Yehuda Edri and Ido Elbo, and Prof. Hillel Weiss of Bar-Ilan University.…

The 'sanhedrin's' leader is Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. He did not sign this fatwa. He should also resign from the 'sanhedrin' to protest this insanity.

REUTERS WATCH: Every Neo-Nazi Skinhead Thug An "Activist"

From Reuters:

Last year activists burned Holocaust victim Anne Frank's diaries and made a teenager wear a sign saying he was a Jew. Many Jewish establishments have police guards and a German all-Jewish football team suffers weekly abuse.

The latest figures prompted Chancellor Angela Merkel this weekend to condemn the rise in right-wing violence and urge Germans to fight it.

Ariel Sokolovsky sent this in, noting that Reuters now calls terrorists "militants" and neo-Nazi skinhead thugs "activists."

Crime and 'Punishment' In Israel

A man is convicted of premeditated murder, killing seven unarmed Palestinians in cold blood. He gets seven life sentences plus twenty years, later commuted to forty years. He serves his time in a prison yeshiva, gets regular 48 hour furloughs (124 so far!) where he travels unsupervised throughout Israel, and he marries and fathers a family. Ynet reports:

… Ami Popper was convicted of murdering seven Arab workers and the attempted murder of ten additional workers on May 20th of 1990. Popper was 21 years old at the time. At approximately 7:00 am he arrived at the Rose Garden junction between Rishon Lezion and Nes Ziona, with a Glilon assault rifle and five ammunition clips, which he had stolen from his brother, who was a soldier.

Popper demanded of the Arab workers waiting at the junction to line up and asked to see their ID cards. When a car with West Bank license plates drove by Popper stopped it and forced the passengers to join the lineup at gunpoint. Afterwards Popper opened fire at the line, killing seven of the workers.

The murder created a storm in Israel and the territories, where riots broke out and rioters were killed by IDF fire. Popper was immediately arrested after the murder and first claimed his motive had been his girlfriend's departure. Later he changed his story, claiming to have been raped by an Arab when he was 13 years old and was now seeking revenge.

Popper was convicted of seven accounts of murder and sentenced him to seven life sentences and an additional 20 consecutive years. In prison Popper became religious, marrying a Canadian woman from family identified with the Kach movement in 1993. In 1995 his eldest son was born and two more sons followed.…

Popper is in the news today because the car he was illegally driving (his license had long ago expired) veered into oncoming traffic and crashed. Popper's wife and one of his sons were killed. Popper was on furlough from prison at the time of the accident.

Perhaps God has punished because man would not, yet the theology of that thought is in itself terrible, although very biblical.

How Martin Luther King, Jr. Learned Hebrew

Pierre M. Atlas writes about his uncle, Rabbi Seymour Atlas:

…From, Rabbi Seymour Atlas was the spiritual leader of Congregation Agudath Achim, an Orthodox synagogue in Montgomery, Ala. One day while going for a walk, the young rabbi bumped into the young minister who led the church down the street. That church was Dexter Avenue Baptist, and the minister was Martin Luther King Jr.

The men began a cordial relationship based on common interests as clergy. Uncle Seymour spoke several times to King's congregation. King asked the rabbi to teach him to read Hebrew.
But as my uncle told me the other day, King had to enter the synagogue through the back door for his Hebrew lessons. "That was the tradition of the South," Seymour said. "If you let a black man come in the front door, you'd be ostracized. It was rough. There was lot of hatred there."
Many Southern Jews walked a fine line in those years, not wanting to anger the whites who held all the power, who were often anti-Semitic as well as racist. The synagogue board of directors took a "don't rock the boat" attitude toward racial issues and they were hypersensitive to anything that might look like a pro-civil rights stance. Some Jews had even joined Montgomery's racist White Citizens' Council, which was linked to the Ku Klux Klan. "They said it was better to be on the inside knowing what the enemy was doing rather than guessing," Seymour told me. "They wanted me to join the WCC, but I wouldn't do it."

I asked my uncle if he became involved in the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. He said no. But in the next breath, he told me a story showing that he did, in fact, take his own stand.

Seymour had a black "domestic" who cleaned the house and helped his wife with the kids. The boycott meant that the maid, who refused to ride the bus, could not make it across town to the Atlas home. So Seymour drove her back and forth from her "colored" neighborhood to his home each day.
In response, his car was vandalized on several occasions. " 'N-lover' and N-words were painted on my car from top to bottom," he told me. "It was a very dangerous time." As the boycott progressed, my uncle got a gun permit and carried a revolver with him as he drove across town to bring the maid to his home. "I only had to use it once," he said. "I fired it in the air to scare off some people."…

Rabbi Atlas was forced out by his synagogue shortly afterward. Here is more on Rabbi Atlas from a scholarly article on Jews and the Civil Rights Movement:

…Twenty years later, as events surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott began to unfold, another local Rabbi, Seymour Atlas of Congregation Agudath Israel would suffer the same fate as Rabbi Goldstein. Known for his liberal sermons and his outspoken support for civil rights, Rabbi Atlas caused a split among members of his congregation, many of whom were afraid of retribution from the larger anti-civil rights population. Appeals for him to moderate his rhetoric instead pushed him to the other extreme. Much to the consternation of his congregation, he frequently appeared on local television and radio stations with Martin Luther King, publicly discussing issues relating to desegregation, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and other civil rights problems. To dramatize his activism, Life magazine featured Rabbi Atlas in an article that included his photograph. The article depicted him as a maverick, whose views were so progressive they were out of place in a southern city such as Montgomery. At an emergency meeting summoned by his congregation's board of trustees, Rabbi Atlas was invited to recant his support for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and asked to henceforth submit all public speeches he intended to deliver to the board two to three days prior to delivering them (Life, 1956). Rabbi Atlas remained unrepentant. At his next service he offered a defiant prayer in support of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was more than the increasingly irate trustees were willing to tolerate. Snubbed by his own congregation, a dispirited Atlas tendered his resignation, and gave up his career as Rabbi of the synagogue (Webb, 476).…

Lakewood Internet Ban Spreads To Brooklyn

Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum writes in the Jewish Press:

More than 120 rabbis, dayanim, heads of yeshivos and principals of girls schools in Boro Park and Flatbush, met on Sunday, Asarah B’Teves, December 31, to implement a takanah to counteract the sakanah (danger) of the Internet. The meeting was called for by Rabbi Yosef Rosenbloom, Rosh Yeshiva, Shaarei Yosher; Rabbi Yechezkel Roth, Karlsburger Rav; Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, Novominsker Rebbe; and Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, Mashgiach, Yeshiva Torah Vodaath.

         The attendees were advised of the steps the observant communities of Lakewood, Monsey, and Skver (Spring Valley) have successfully taken to stem the influence of the Internet. Rabbi Moshe Greenfeld, chairman of the Monsey effort, described the unity of Monsey’s Torah institutions in their campaign.…
   
         The Karlsburger Rav reviewed the 60-page directives that were distributed to the meeting’s participants. The Rav elaborated on several of the key steps that are being taken and must be strengthened.

         The Novominsker Rebbe recalled that American Jewish history was replete with battles to protect Shabbos, kashrus, Taharas HaMishpachah, all of which are proudly adhered to in observant Jewish America today. However, the Rebbe stressed, the threat of the Internet is greater than all the previous perils combined.

        Rabbi Moshe Green, Rosh Yeshiva in Monsey, described the Internet as destroying the religious character of those who trespass there. Rabbi Nochum Gotlieb, menahel, Yeshiva Bais HaTorah in Lakewood, described the necessity of always being on guard. Any child, he reported, can purchase an Internet access device for a mere few dollars and connect any computer to the Internet within seconds. Lakewood, as a yeshivish community, has achieved the greatest success to date, in the battle against the Internet.…

The Internet breaks the rabbis stranglehold over information. It allows the weak and powerless to fight back against rabbinic oppression. It levels the playing field. And rabbis can't win if the game is played fairly.

Meanwhile, the point man for haredim in dealing with "at risk" kids has this to say about what the real threat is:

…In my opinion, the number one risk factor – by far – for children abandoning Yiddishkeit is abuse and neglect. This is not to say that the majority of kids who are off the derech were abused. But of all the complex and varied educational, social and familial factors that present risk to our children, the most damaging by far, in my opinion, is abuse. The very real threat posed by external influences, such as TV, Internet, ‘bad friends’ are all firecrackers compared to the “atom bomb” of sexual abuse.…

The grand pooba of Agudath Israel, the Novominsker Rebbe, is busy attacking blogs and banning the Internet, while ignoring the issue of rabbis and rebbes who sexually abuse children. If there ever was a morally bankrupt organization, it is Agudath Israel of America.

The OU's Double Standard

DovBear notes something I meant to post on, but forgot due to a computer crash and other matters – the OU's double standard. DovBear notes in a post about the Conservative Movement's new Tzedek hechsher:

…If the halacha is more demanding then the law (as it, in fact is) don't companies, in our view, have an obligation to go beyond the law? Who's the posek that told the OU that companies don't have to go beyond the secular law when it comes to choshen mishpat? Anyway, if the OU is so certain the government can be relied upon to enforce Jewish law, why do we need the OU's kashruth division in the first place!?… [We really don't – see here.]

The real problem, though, is this: R' Genack's boneheaded response opens the OU to the charge that they embrace a double standard by considering the government reliable for some questions of Torah law, and not others. Worse, it suggests us that ben adam l'makom laws are more important than the laws that tell us how to treat each other.…

Of course, that charge is true. Orthodoxy is far more concerned about rabbinic minutia and humrot of kashrut law than they are about breaking a biblical command about treatment of workers or cruelty to animals. That's one major reason why you should not be Orthodox.

What To Do With Today's Gedolim? Let The Talmud Tell Us

Are rabbis like trees? If so, when is it appropriate to 'chop one down' or cut a rabbi down to size? Steven I. Weiss has a talmudic quote from Ta'anit 7a that explains, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan:

…This is to create a parallel with the situation of a great scholar (”talmid chacham“). If it’s appropriate, you eat from it and do not cut it down, and if not, destroy it and cut it down.

I would think much of today's Orthodox leadership, especially the haredi leadership, should be 'kindling' by now.

Haredim, The Army and Work

The Jerusalem Post quotes IDT founder Howard Jonas in an article on the Nahal Haredi army unit:

…Jonas terms himself modern Orthodox and believes in helping members of the haredi community integrate into society via the workforce. About 20% of his employees in the US are haredi. In Israel, the proportion is even higher.

"For year we were coming here to Israel and seeing how bad the poverty among the haredim is. Of course I can give charity, and we give $15 million every year, but there's no end to poverty. Giving people jobs is a much better way of dealing with it," he said.

"To encourage ultra-Orthodox men and women to work, IDT provides them with the kind of environment they need, including time off for prayers and a strictly kosher canteen."

"I just think it's morally not right to live here and not serve in the army," he said. "So many of them just sit around not getting any success in life, and it goes with them ever after. Instead, those who join the army get a sense of direction in life, self-esteem and a job afterward. It changes their whole life."…

Jonas is aware that much of what he is doing is highly controversial within the haredi leadership. He says, though, that he has not heard many objections.

"We are also big contributors to the Yeshiva world and I believe that the rabbis realize that what we're doing works well for people and improves their lives. They just look the other way," he said.

Haredi Wall Posters

Ever wonder how those haredi wall posters known as pashkvillim that announce bans, excommunications, deaths, and other news get distributed? In Jerusalem, it happens this way.