Obama's Great Joke

Obama's speech to the combined Houses of Lords and Commons at Westminister Hall yesteray in London began with a truly great one liner.

"The previous three speakers who have spoken here in Westminster Hall were the Pope, Her Majesty The Queen and Nelson Mandella - which is either a very high bar, or the beginning of a very funny joke."

For those who want the full version, here's the BBC recording....

Proud of Bibi

I was immensely proud of Bibi Netanyahu, as I watched him live on CNN, speaking to the Joint Houses of  Congress.

His perfect English (with American twang), composed professionalism, swinging eloquence, and ability to connect on an even playing field with this prestigious and powerful audience - was only matched by the open adoration of those Congressmen for Israel, and for Bibi our Prime Minister.

Dozens of standing ovations; aplause for everything and anything he said... I doubt Bibi has been so rapturously received anywhere else on the planet. Certainly not in the Kenesset, his home turf; even in the Likud Party Conference. The unconditional love and support from Congress was astounding.

Kol Hakavod Bibi!! Way to Go!!

The distorted self-serving view of halacha at Sunday's Agudah conference

This is a timely article from Rav Daniel Eidensohn's Daat Torah blog, about the seious limitations of the publicised advances in the orthodox community, at this year's Agudah Convention in the USA, on how to best handle allegations of child abuse. 


By Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn (published here with his kind permission)

I listened in dismay to R' Shlomo Gottesman's presentation [at the Agudah Conference in NY] of halachic issues of child abuse. He picked a very narrow perspective in answering the question of whether halacha allows going to the police to report abuse. The presentation involved snippets from the collection of teshuvos found in volume 15 of Yeshurun. He concluded that it was in fact permitted to go to the police but only if a rabbi had established that there was some - deliberately vague - level of evidence  called raglayim ledavar and that this was for tikun olam (improvement to society). It was asserted that both these conditions could only be determined by a rabbi. In other words one risked being guilty of mesira (informing) and thus lose olam habah if reporting was done directly without first consulting a rabbi. Thus the focus  of his presentation was on preserving rabbinic authority in abuse cases when the rabbi is not capable of dealing with it and the police need to be involved.

He also claimed that requiring a rabbi  to decide whether abuse could be reported did not violate mandated reporting laws.  . He did not say how this is possible but just asked the audience to trust him that it was possible to reconcile the mandated reporting requirement to report abuse and the requirement to allow a rabbi to decide whether abuse is to be reported. It is astounding that he so glibly stated this since he is a very competent lawyer and presumably knows that this is very problematic and that he is unlikely to find any judge or secular social agency to agree with him. He also claimed that there was no need to utilize the concept of rodef  (self-protection) since a rabbi could decide on calling the police by tikun olam alone. That is strange since the concept of rodef is a significant factor even in the teshuvos of the gedolim that he was citing. Why would the gedolim utilize this concept if it wasn't necessary?

So what was really wrong with what he said? The fact is that by entirely focusing on the assertion that permission must first be gotten from a rabbi before contacting the police  - he avoided dealing with the complexity of the  issue of abuse as it happens in the Orthodox community. He obviously felt this was not of general interest but as he put it, this is what an individual needs to speak privately with a rabbi because each case is different.

Unfortunately he squandered an important opportunity. What he should have done was to ask a different question. Not under what conditions is calling the police mesira - but the real question is what does the Orthodox community need to do to protect the children? He failed to note that there are clearly times when a rabbi does not need to be consulted and that furthermore there are clearly times when a rabbi who says not to report should be ignored. He failed to address the more important issue of whether going to the police without community involvement and with pressure on parents not to file a complaint is really protecting the children. He failed to address the fear of reporting because of shidduchim and the danger that a child will be kicked out of school if he/she is found to have been abused. He failed to note that the Aguda has insisted that the financial well being of its institutions are more important than the welfare of the children. That cover ups to protect reputations of rabbis come before the sanity and safety of our children.

But perhaps his biggest failure was to address the betrayal of the abuse victims by the rabbis and community and the severe psychological &  religious damage this betrayal causes. It is commonly observed by those who work with off the derech children that most of these children have been abused.

So yes - there is a legitimate halachic problem of how to deal with mesira - but in reality the issue of abuse is not primarily about how to preserve rabbinic authority - but how to protect our children.

Leading Rabbi: "Go Straight to the Police!"

(Photo for illustrative purposes only)

This is a 'reprint' of an article that Rabbi Blau kindly wrote for Tzedek-Tzedek in September 2009.

Rabbi Yosef Blau is the mashgiach ruchani at Yeshiva University and its affiliated rabbinical school Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchal Elchanan. Rav Blau has been active in trying help survivors of abuse in the Orthodox community. Rav Blau has kindly agreed to offer his insights on Tzedek-Tzedek into the question of Rabbinical involvement in child abuse cases in the orthodox community.

-----------

By Rabbi Yosef Blau 

My experience is with the Orthodox community in America but from what I have heard the situation in Israel is similar. As in many other personal areas, Orthodox Jews, when they are informed about abuse, instinctively turn to their rabbis. Unfortunately the rabbis (with the exception of young rabbis recently trained in modern Orthodox rabbinical schools) have no training and are not equipped to evaluate the accusations. When the accusations are about other Orthodox rabbis they assume that such behavior is impossible. While it is true that most abuse takes place within families, teachers have access to many potential victims and even a small number guilty can molest hundreds of children. 

Our assumption that observance creates better people makes it difficult to believe that the abuse has happened, and if it did, then the abuser was someone not religious and certainly not a Torah teacher. Halakhic standards of proof are essentially impossible to achieve, as the victims are children and women who are ineligible to be witnesses. The shame associated with being violated in the Orthodox world also promotes the notion that people should not go public. Rabbis, even when suspicious that molestation has occurred, will usually advise silence to protect the family's good name. 

Batei Din in our times are not effective in dealing with criminal behavior. Lacking the investigative arm of the police and having restrictive standards of testimony they can not establish guilt. When the culprit is charismatic, he can often get protégés who feel indebted to him to lie to the Beis Din. It takes years before those who have been abused as youngsters to openly face their abuser. 

The desire to protect the image of the community from an outside seen as basically hostile, both prevents going to authorities or media and turns the whistleblowers into the perpetrators. There is a perverted sense of Chillul Hashem that places the blame, not on those whose behavior mocks their external look of piety, but places it instead on those who unmask them. 

When the issue becomes protecting the role of the rabbinate rather then stopping abuse, defensive articles are written, but children are not protected. In America, there is a growing awareness that no community is spared from having abusers in its midst. Orthodox mental health professionals have prepared materials to help children and their parents recognize signs of abuse which are being used. The taboo of calling the police (mesira) is slowly being replaced by following the pesak of almost all the gedolim that abusers are ongoing dangers and that secular authorities must be informed.

How To Talk With Your Children About Child Abuse

In light of current events in Ramat Bet Shemesh, it is an opportune time for us all to review and act upon the important advice of Dr David Pelcovitz.

Here is the article/summary by Magen, published after Dr Pelcovitz presentation in Bet Shemesh for Magen in January this year:

     Dr David Pelcovitz - How to Discuss Child Abuse with Your Children

 Dr. Pelcovitz spoke at Raishit about protecting our children from abuse, specifically sexual abuse. He emphasized that talking to our children about these points is not an "event" but a "process." This should be an ongoing dialogue and attitude about personal safety. He said we should talk about personal safety, the same way we talk about fire safety or safety crossing streets...It does not have to frighten children. He offered five important guidelines for parents to share with children.

1. No matter what you do or what you tell me I will always love you. I want to hear about the good and the bad. (80 % of children molested never tell.)

2. No one is allowed to make you feel scared or hurt you. I will protect you.

3. There are three kinds of touches: Yes touch, No touch, and I don't know touch.

Yes touch: A hug from a parent, for example. No touch: A kid hits you, for example. I don't know touch: A touch that doesn't hurt, but you feel uncomfortable, strange, or scared...This is the kind of touch that you always tell your mother or another adult about. No one is allowed to touch you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable.

4. Parts of the body that are usually covered by a bathing-suit are private. No one should show you theirs or touch
you there, and vise-versa.

5. If anyone tells you to keep a secret from your mother that means, go tell your mother right away!

Dr. Pelcovitz said that with older children we need to teach about personal space and be aware of 'grooming' behaviors. Perpetrators don't usually come right out and molest a child. Most children are abused by someone they and their parents know and trust (90 %!). The grooming relationship usually starts with extra attention by the adult, like offering sleep overs and trips to the child, unexplained gifts, touch that is enjoyed by the child and is safe, tickling games, and then moves on gradually to unsafe touch...which is very confusing to the child and is why they usually don't tell. They usually take responsibility for the abuse...He stressed that pre-school age children always take responsibility because of the developmental stage they are in. They believe they 'make things' happen.

He said that grooming should not be confused with youth workers and teachers who give appropriate attention to children. But he said that parents should trust their gut. If something feels "off" it probably is. He said that keeping abuse quiet doesn't work and enables abusers to move on to the next victim.


Throughout the presentation, Dr Pelcovitz stressed the importance of reporting any and all suspicions of abuse to the appropriate legal authorities, being the Social Services and/or Police.


Magen can assist you in making these reports as user-friendly for the child and parents as possible. 

Dov Lipman: I am standing for Knesset!

(I know this is long but I ask you to take just a few minutes to please read this and respond - Dov)

Dear Friends,

 

I wanted to inform you about a recent exciting development in my life and ask for your help  - help for me personally but, even more importantly, for am yisrael.

 

For the last few years I have had a growing feeling that Israel is headed in a disastrous path. We have been so consumed by our enemies all around us that we have let ourselves decay from within.  The secular are becoming even more secular with almost no Jewish education.  This, of course, hurts who we are spiritually as a nation and as a country.  The more religious aren't training their sons for professions which is creating an economic crisis for the country and also cuts them off from the rest of the country.  Both extremes lead to frictions and tensions between populations and generate lack of unity.  That lack of unity will only increase in the coming years as over 300,000 Russian immigrants who are not halachically Jews marry Israelis and we have a mess on our hands regarding who is and who isn't a Jew.  Every Torah source that I know of which speaks about out success as a people and working towards redemption state clearly that our success will come from Above when we are unified and acting with core Jewish values.  As much as I knew this to be the case, there was little that I could do about it other than trying to work for unity and ahavat yisrael here in Bet Shemesh.

In recent months I have become close to MK Haim Amsalem.  He is a truly remarkable person - intelligent, articulate, educated, and full of love for all Jews and positive energy.  MK Amsalem was thrown out of Shas for saying that yeshiva boys should go to college and make a living (while providing a select, elite few with a very comfortable stipend to enable them to develop into our gedolim) and for his opinion that leniencies exist within the framework of halacha to help the over 300,000 Russian immigrants who have Jewish fathers or grandfathers and are not being allowed to convert - especially for those serving in the IDF.  

MK Amsalem has started a new party called Am Shalem which will focus on fixing the problems within our country including the ones enumerated above as well as working towards reinserting Torah content, tziyonut, and Jewish values in the public schools.  Please see the attached document to see the basic party doctrine.   In short, MK Amsalem and his party represent everything I have a passion to work for in our country.  The most current poll done by the very professional and reliable Maagar Mochot polling firm indicates the party winning 5 seats in the next elections with a window of up to 13 seats.   MK Amsalem has been all over Israeli television and radio on almost a daily basis and his message and that of the party is resonating with people from a wide range of populations and backgrounds.  

 

MK Amsalem has seen the work I have done to work for unity (including interviews on Israeli television) and we have discussed our similar ideologies in person.  He has asked me establish and lead "Anglos for Am Shalem" and bring as many Anglos into the party as possible.  I accepted to do this because I believe so passionately in the party's mission.  Regarding security issues, the party is similar in nature to the general right wing camp of Likud, but it will actually work to try to correct the non-security related problems which we suffer from within as a country and a people  - something which parties such as Likud and Ichud Leumi are not doing.  This could then actually impact our success against our enemies from without. 

 

Now for the part which impacts me personally.  In Israeli politics, especially on the national level, people rarely reach nomination for candidacy for office based on their credentials and abilities.  It is largely based on "power" which means numbers of people a person brings into the party.  If someone brings thousands of people into a party, they are given a high slot on the party list for the elections.  MK Amsalem has offered to give me a high slot on the Am Shalem list in the Knesset if I succeed in bringing large numbers of Anglos into the party.  Once in the Knesset, I would certainly work towards the goals of the party - especially unity and Jewish education which is my field of expertise.  However, I would go beyond that and work towards increasing Anglo aliyah and helping Anglo immigrants with their absorption.  I would also work towards improving the general situation for the country's youth including working towards creating a network of summer camps as exist in North America and I would also try to play a large part in "hasbara" - explaining Israel's positions to the international community.  Let's also remember that there are currently no Anglo Knesset members in the Knesset and none of us feel like we have any personal representation in the government.  I would make that my mission b'ezrat Hashem.

 

So, how can you help?  A few ways:

 

1)If you agree with the party's ideals, I ask you to please join and to have every member of your family who is 18 and above to join.  It takes just 1 minute to join by completing a form and you can do so even if you are a member of another party.  Joining the party is not a commitment to vote for the party, although you will be hearing from me as we get closer to elections about why I think you should vote for Am Shalem. 

 

Even if there is no chance that you will vote for Am Shalem, signing up still helps me try to make this improbable climb to the Knesset and I ask you to help me take this step.  Please think of the incredible amount of good that I could do for all Anglo olim as well as for all am yisrael as an MK. You do not have to pay any money to join although donations to the party would certainly help and even a token donation of 20 NIS for joining would be appreciated.  Again, this is not required. 

 

I have the forms at my home - 12/2 Maapilei Egoz apt. 2 at the corner of Reuven and Maapilei Egoz.  If you can come to sign up tomorrow morning (Friday) or Motzei Shabbat that would be very helpful.  Like I said, it takes 1 minute to do so.  Please let me know if you will be signing up and how many in your home will be doing so.  If you cannot come to my home at those times I will arrange a time to come to your home to do so but would appreciate it if you made it a bit easier and actually come by.    

 

2)If you are really excited about the party and this news then I ask you to consider taking a more active role in the party which for now would include trying to get others to sign up but could then evolve into more should you be interested in doing so.  Please let me know if you would like to be involved in the movement on a leadership level.  

 

3)I am looking for party representatives in Anglo neighborhoods - Rechovot, Chashmonaim, Raanana, Maaleh Adumim, Modiin, Efrat, Yerushalayim, and others.  If you have friends or relatives in these areas who you think would connect to its message and would want to be involved and help then please let me know.

 

These past few years, working on city matters and trying to make things better for all of us have been very rewarding and I look forward to continuing that effort.  I never thought for a moment that I was doing anything other than trying to help locally and now all of a sudden this new door has opened where I can try to do so on a national level.  I really ask you and your families for your help to make this happen.  Like I said before, in Israel it is not a matter of credentials but of numbers and I need your help to reach high numbers.

 

Please let me know if you have follow up questions and I look forward to hearing back from all of you.

 

Thank you for your time in reading this and be well, Dov

Hamas and Osama Bin Laden

Amidst the international celebration of the successful assassination of Osama Bin Laden by US special forces, the official response of Hamas has all but been ignored by the major news carriers (such as CNN and BBC).

It is commonly understood that the attack on the Twin Towers, and the subsequent Al Qaeda bloody attacks on (mainly Muslim) targets throughout the world, including Indonesia, Iraq, Bali, Spain and England…leaving literally tens of thousands of innocent murdered victims, was so utterly evil, that therefore the assassination of Bin Laden was clearly a victory for civilization…

However, this is not the way Hamas and their supporters view it.

A decade ago, when news of the 9/11 Twin Towers atrocity reached Gaza, the Gazans spontaneously danced on the roof tops, in the streets and handed out candies to kids to celebrate.

And now, in response to Bin Laden's assassination, the following statement was reported from Hamas:

The Hamas prime minister of the Gaza strip, Ismail Haniya, said: “We condemn the assassination of a Muslim and Arab warrior and we pray to God that his soul rests in peace.

“We regard this as the continuation of the American oppression and shedding of blood of Muslims and Arabs.”

Hamas and their supporters (comprising an electoral majority in BOTH the West Bank and Gaza) are firmly committed to Jihad against Israel, America, and even against their fellow Muslims around the world.

The widely acclaimed Palestinian Authority (PLO) kiss-and-make-up agreement with Hamas, which was brokered last week by the new Military Government in Egypt, is intrinsically an endorsement by those three parties of the "heroism of the martyr” Bin Laden - and gives their active and combined support for orchestrated and institutionalized global terror.

Far from peacefully taking its place amongst the "family of nations", the pending Palestinian State will resemble the already Jihadist Gaza, and yesteryear's nightmare Talibanist + Al Qaeda Afghanistan.

Terror leaders must not embraced - they must be eliminated.

And terror states must not be CREATED - they must be defeated.

Which Rebellion Next?

 

The speed and scope of rebellions across North Africa and the Middle East has been dizzying.

Absolutely no-one seems to have predicted this current and dramatic tidal-wave of unrest and even regime change. Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and now Syria…

Commentators have been guessing where the axe will next fall.

The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet Daily News has predicted that the Kurds of Turkey are ripe for revolt.

“The Arab Spring may lead to a Kurdish Summer”, they have suggested.

There are estimates between 14-20 million Kurds in Turkey – approximately 15-20% of the country’s population. There are also some 1 million Kurds in Syria, and 2 milion in Iran.

The hostility of the Kurds to the Turkish Government is long standing. Revolts go back at least to 1925, and include a major rebellion by the separatist PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) which started in 1978, and overflowed into Kurdish northern Iraq. Over 40,000 Kurds are reported to have been killed in these hostilities. It has been estimated that 3000 Kurdish villages were “wiped off the map” and some 300,000 Kurds were allegedly displaced.

It may be significant that in the past two month (March and April 2011), there have reportedly been large demonstrations by Kurds against the Turkish authorities, in Istanbul, and the largest Kurdish town Diyarbakir. The Government forces are reported to have killed one demonstrator.

The US paper Defense News reported on April 11 that officials in Ankara are increasingly alarmed at the prospect of revolts against regimes around the Middle East, and especially those in Syria, may inspire widespread revolts in Turkey’s own backyard.

Of course, commentators' guesses are simply that, and given the past four months of unpredicted changes in this part of the world, the only reasonable forecast, is this that the future developments of the rebellions will also not be predicted….