Rabbinical court of haredi rabbis rules that rabbis Yitzhak Tufik and Moshe Tufik committed ‘severe and obscene transgressions’ against their students …

 

Sexual abuse by two rabbinic brothers suspected at Be’er Yehuda Yeshiva in Jerusalem

 

Rabbinical court rules students should no longer enroll in schools run by Yitzhak and Moshe Tufik, advises victims to file complaints with police -

“It is utterly forbidden to send yeshiva students to the Be’er Yehudah Yeshivot and those who assist in registering students there, and all the more so those who assist in attempts to cover up the facts, are guilty of a sin too heavy to bear, because they bear the sins of many in taking kosher students down to the nethermost pit,” wrote the rabbis. “Since rabbinical court in our days has no enforcement ability in these matters, the rabbinical court permits and even recommends every student who was harmed by the staff of the yeshivas mentioned to file complaints with the police, and speedily.”

 

 Students study at a yeshiva in Jerusalem

 

An ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court has found that two brothers who head a Jerusalem yeshiva have for years allegedly sexually assaulted their high school and post-high school students.

In a Friday ruling, the panel of five prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis said that brothers Yitzhak and Moshe Tufik present a “serious threat” to students and advised that no students should enroll at their Be’er Yehuda yeshiva, located in the Sanhedria neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Yitzhak is dean of the upper yeshiva and Moshe is dean of the high school yeshiva, which is well-known in the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox community.

The religious panel, which has no criminal jurisdiction, urged any students or former students who were assaulted by the brothers to file a complaint with the police.

“Over several years, dozens of youths were severely harmed by serious things that we cannot put in writing, and even right now the serious acts continue,” the rabbinical court said in a statement of its findings.

Several formal complaints have been filed in recent days and Yitzhak Tufik was questioned by police on Sunday, the Haaretz daily reported.

Around 10 former students testified before the rabbinical court, which did not summon the Tufik brothers themselves. Most of the complaints were against the elder of the brothers, Yitzhak, who is accused of more serious offenses.

A source familiar with the allegations told Haaretz the panel had evidence supporting the claims, including letters and recordings.

Moshe Tufik rejected the accusations and the ruling.

“The court did not summon us and did not speak with us and we heard about the ruling by reading of it on the internet,” he told Haaretz.

He called the ruling “a death sentence on innocent people” and said the claims against him and his brother were being made by former students seeking revenge.

“Not a single one has come before us and said that we did something to him. Everyone knows that our yeshiva is the most God-fearing,” he said.

The brothers have faced previous accusations of abuse and following an earlier rabbinical court hearing had committed to abide by restrictions intended to prevent the alleged assaults. The court said that it was making its ruling public because they had violated those terms, without elaborating.

According to the report, some senior rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox community who were supposed to sign the court ruling ultimately declined to do so.

One of those who did sign was Rabbi Zion Boaron, who is a candidate to become the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel. Three years ago, Boaron was on a similar court panel that had warned the brothers over allegations against them, though that ruling was not widely publicized.

At the time, Yitzhak Tufik signed a commitment to not be alone with his students under any circumstances. He also committed to not enter the dormitories or participate in any trips with the students.

In addition, the rabbi pledged to not give lessons to prospective grooms, a common practice in the chaste ultra-Orthodox community. Former students have claimed it was during such lessons that some of the assaults were carried out, Haaretz said.

However, Tufik later claimed that he only agreed to make those commitments to “calm the waters,” according to Haaretz.

In the wake of those developments, the brothers appealed to another private rabbinical court to investigate the claims. That court heard the testimony of former students and also heard the brothers’ version. In a ruling published two years ago, that rabbinical court found that “there is no suspicion or nothing untoward, and everything there [at the yeshiva] is conducted in the best way,” Haaretz reported.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-brothers-suspected-of-sex-abuse-at-their-jerusalem-yeshiva/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2021-08-30&utm_medium=email

Israeli children’s average level of knowledge in mathematics, science and reading is below that of every developed country, the Shoresh report showed. Educational gaps in primary education within Israel are also much higher. And the country has more students who do not reach the minimum level of knowledge set by the OECD – even without considering most ultra-Orthodox children, who do not study the materials and therefore do not participate in international exams.

 

Israel’s education system is a ‘ticking time bomb’

 

A new report has shown that 50% of Israel's students are getting a third-world education.

Ultra orthodox jewish kids seen the first day of school at an Ultra-Orthodox school in Neve Yaakov Neighborhood of Jerusalem on August 9, 2021.

 

 

Some 50% of Israeli children from the country’s fastest-growing sectors are getting a third-world education that will not be able to support a first-world economy, without which there will be no first-world health, welfare and defense systems, according to a new report published by the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research.

 

“The absence of a first-world ability to defend itself in the world’s most violent region will jeopardize the State of Israel’s very existence,” Prof. Dan Ben-David, who authored the 2021 report, told The Jerusalem Post. “This is an existential threat.”

 

Israel has enjoyed one of the world’s highest fertility rates for quite some time. The most recent report shows that Israeli families have an average of 3.1 children – a minimum of an entire child more than any other OECD country.

 

Families in Mexico and Turkey have an average of 2.1 children. The rest of the countries in the list average between one and 1.9.

 

 

 

Students and parents protest outside the Municipality in Tzfat after their school was closed allegedly due to safety deficiencies. August 25, 2021

 

 

However, those children are being born mostly into certain sectors: Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Arab Israeli students each make up more than one-fifth of Israel’s first graders today, about 43% in total.

 

Most haredi students do not even study the core curriculum. The average score of Arab Israelis in the basic subjects is far below the entire developed world.

 

The education provided to students in Israel’s social and geographical peripheries is often inadequate as well.

 

 That’s about 50% of students, and it “turns the national education picture into a ticking time bomb,” Ben-David said.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fundamental problems of the education system, bringing to the forefront challenges that had existed for years prior, despite continual investment.

 

The Education Ministry budget is larger even than that of the Defense Ministry, yet students are simply not making the grade.

 

Israeli children’s average level of knowledge in mathematics, science and reading is below that of every developed country, the Shoresh report showed. Educational gaps in primary education within Israel are also much higher. And the country has more students who do not reach the minimum level of knowledge set by the OECD – even without considering most ultra-Orthodox children, who do not study the materials and therefore do not participate in international exams.  

 

Israel’s non-religious Jewish schools rank below a third of the developed countries, when looking at the most recent average achievement scores in 25 OECD countries and in Israel on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam, which evaluates what students know in reading, mathematics and science and what they can do with that knowledge.

 

The country’s religious schools fall below 80% of those countries. Arab Israelis fall at the very bottom, including beneath nine of the 10 Muslim countries that participated in the most recent PISA exam.

 

While Israel cannot be compared to the United States in terms of population size, the US, like Israel, can be divided into four major ethnic groups. In the US, PISA scores show, Asians and whites are getting a better education than every student in every developed country, achieving an average score of 549 on the exam.

 

Israel’s non-religious students average 509. Israel’s religious students average 485.

 

However, American Hispanics achieve only 470, while African Americans have almost the lowest score – 436. But there is one group that achieves lower: Arab Israelis achieve an average of 372.

Moreover, Israel has the highest percentage (33%) of students in any OECD country scoring at or below “level 1” in mathematics, science and reading on the PISA exam, on which one is the lowest score and six is the highest.

 

“If education is a jumping-off board to the marketplace, with these gaps in knowledge, you cannot expect equality in future generations,” Ben-David said.

 

 

Israelis return to school amid coronavirus concerns, September 1, 2020 

 

 

So, why is this happening?

 

THE EDUCATION system likes to blame the country’s large classrooms as the reason children are struggling to learn. But according to the Shoresh report, while this may be a contributing factor, not all Israeli classrooms are large, and there is no explanation for why efforts have not been made to reduce class size given the number of teachers that Israel employs per student – higher than average.

 

The number of students per teacher in Israeli elementary schools is nearly identical to OECD averages, according to the report, and the middle and high schools have fewer children per teacher than the OECD average.

 

Additionally, the number of instruction hours in Israel is greater than in most OECD countries.

As such, Ben-David pointed to a different challenge: the quality of Israeli teachers.

 

He said that the knowledge levels of undergraduate Israeli education students are very low – both compared to other Israeli college and university students and when compared to others in the developed world.

 

Some 79% of Israelis study to be teachers in one of the country’s teaching colleges, another 17% learn in general colleges and 4% are students in regular universities. The average psychometric score for those studying in teaching colleges is nearly 25% lower than the average for Israeli university students, the score is almost one-third (32%) lower for those who are accepted to general colleges, and still 9% lower even for those who learn to teach at the university level.

 

The situation becomes even more acute when looking at how Israeli teachers rank on the OECD’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) test, which examines the basic knowledge and skills of adults ages 16-64. Israeli literary teachers’ skills are close to the bottom of the developed world, and the knowledge of Israel’s math teachers is the lowest among developed countries.

 

Ben-David stressed that this situation is not because teachers in Israel are underpaid. He said that “contrary to Israeli conventional wisdom, the country’s teachers’ salaries are higher than the national average salary and are also higher than average teachers’ salaries in developed countries.”

 

Specifically, Israeli elementary school teachers make 3% more than the average received by their OECD counterparts, middle school teachers 16% more, and high-school teachers 23% more when looking at what teachers make per hour of instruction.

 

“Israel regards brain power as its primary natural resource. Its hi-tech sector – nearly the only economic sector that’s thriving economically in the global arena – does not have nearly the number of workers with university-level educations that it needs. How can teachers who could not even get accepted to universities themselves educate children at a level that could bring them there?” Ben-David asked. “How can we expect our kids to reach university and be a part of modern society if their teachers are not at that level?”

 

As Israel goes back to school on September 1, rethinking its classroom models to keep kids safe from coronavirus, Ben-David said there is an equally urgent need to reimagine the way that Israel chooses, trains and compensates its educational staff.

 

“The system is not functioning well,” he stressed. “We need an overhaul of the entire system.”

While the sky is unlikely to fall this year or next, Ben-David told the Post that if Israel does not act soon, there will be “a point of no return.”

 

He highlighted the situation in Beirut that was brought on in large part by demographics – a less fertile, more educated elite sector of society was overturned over time by a more fertile, less-educated poor population.

 

“It is hard for young people today to imagine that Beirut was once called the Paris of the Middle East,” Ben-David said. “Today, it is a poverty state at the brink of explosion.... Countries do fail.”

 

To ensure that Israel is equally a success story in 2065 as it is today, Ben-David said that when it comes to education, “Israel must get its act together while we still can.”

 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israels-education-system-is-a-ticking-time-bomb-677966?_ga=2.63218927.1520215445.1630261805-1969581575.1579377799&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=COVID%3A+Booster+opened+to+all%2C+jabbed+with+3rd+dose+exempt+from+isolation&utm_campaign=August+29%2C+2021+Night&vgo_ee=Jn367jKILnpErXAAhCpdDovy7T5YEJ8ohjC9vauJg30%3D

No images of women could be printed on the pages of books or newspapers, or kept at stores or in homes....No woman under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan ever enjoyed the basic human right of speaking her mind or dressing as she liked. Women who flouted any of the above commandments were subjected to harsh, undreamed-of and ruthless punishments by the religious police.

 

Taliban’s Regulations For Women

It will send chills down your spine. 

 

 

 

 

Conventional media have put all their resources into whitewashing the brutalities of the Taliban and giving them an image makeover, so as to make them acceptable to the modern world and perhaps win these mountain savages a seat at the United Nations. They tell us that Taliban 2.0 is a whole different entity and is not comparable to the Taliban that had wreaked havoc in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. After all, the Muslim group has promised to honor women rights and allow them to continue to work as usual. Little girls could receive education as well.

We are a little confused by the Taliban’s commitment to permitting girls to go to school, because quite recently, Taliban jihadis were going door-to-door hunting down girls as young as twelve years old, to take them as sex slaves. We have learned of a woman being lashed for wearing revealing slippers and another burka-clad woman being shot dead for not covering her face enough. And these atrocities have happened under the rule of the moderate, women’s-rights-acknowledging Taliban 2.0.

Leaders of the Muslim outfit have clarified their views on women’s rights in the country: “The rights of women will be under the Sharia law,” affirmed Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, during their first press conference since conquering Kabul.

And what are the rights granted to women by this esteemed Islamic law? Let’s look at the “rights” Afghan women enjoyed during Taliban 1.0 from 1996 to 2001; or shall we call them impositions?

Women were not allowed to walk out of their homes without a burqa covering every inch of their skin, including their feet, hands and face. Most women during that period opted for the shuttlecock burqa that covered them from head to toe; there was a little gap for the eyes, but with a net or mesh covering the gap so that their eyes couldn’t be seen. It was mandatory for every woman to be accompanied by a male family member – a blood relative – while she was out on the street.

No man should be able to hear the footsteps of a woman, hence, high heels or any kind of footwear that produced a sound while walking were banned from use by women.

A woman’s voice must not reach the ears of a man who is not related to her. Hence she must watch the level of sound she was producing while talking. Would it be “Islamophobia” if we said that the Taliban had perfected the textbook version of silencing a woman?

Again, as women were prohibited from being viewed by men who were not related to her by blood, it was mandatory that the windows of all ground floors be painted in a dark tint, covered, or shut at all times, just in case a woman passed by and became visible to a man in the ground floor.

Also, women were barred from standing at the balconies of their houses, as that could allow men on the streets or male neighbors to catch a glimpse of them.

The word “woman” was removed from all public places or names of public places.

Women were precluded from having their pictures taken or being filmed. No images of women could be printed on the pages of books or newspapers, or kept at stores or in homes.

It goes without saying that women were not allowed to be in movies or on television, or to work at radio stations. They were forbidden from forming groups outdoors or holding public gatherings.

Women have never been allowed to work in offices under the Taliban. They cannot work as journalists, bankers, teachers, nurses, doctors or hold administrative positions, as these jobs would land them amidst male colleagues who are not related to them. Office jobs held by women were subsequently passed on to their male family members.

Little girls were banned from going to school. Numerous schools imparting education to girls have been bombed or burned down by the Taliban, not only in Afghanistan, but in several countries where they have gained the slightest foothold.

 

 

No woman under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan ever enjoyed the basic human right of speaking her mind or dressing as she liked. Women who flouted any of the above commandments were subjected to harsh, undreamed-of and ruthless punishments by the religious police. They could be stoned to death, mutilated, or given hundreds of lashes with a meter-long metal lash. Many of these women perished in the midst of receiving their penalty.

Afghanistan in 1996 witnessed a young woman’s finger being chopped off by the Taliban; she had dared to paint her nails. A woman named Bibi Aisha was forced into a nightmarish marriage as a trade-off to settle a family dispute. When she tried to escape the violent and abusive marriage, the Taliban, to shame her for her act of disobedience and to set a warning example for the other young women in the community, severed her nose and ears.

One must be an absolute ignoramus living in denial to even begin to trust that the Taliban will leave the Afghan women alone this time.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/talibans-regulations-women-ashlyn-davis/

The widespread rejection of COVID vaccines brings this into high relief for a couple of reasons. First, the selfishness of those who reject the vaccine affects not only the individual who makes that choice but the broader public. Their decision not only puts them at risk but also the unwitting person exposed to them later. At least with cancer, poor choices only affect those making them.

 

From Cancer to COVID: Is There a Fix for Willful Medical Ignorance?

H. Jack West, MD

The patient saw me for a second opinion after developing metastatic disease, but he'd initially been diagnosed with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). His oncologist had appropriately proposed treatment with concurrent chemoradiation followed by durvalumab. He listened to the rationale and the evidence, but he refused to pursue it, favoring alternative medicine instead.

A repeat scan several months later showed obvious progression. Even though it was potentially treatable — including with curative intent — he demurred again.

Several months down the line, he developed back pain heralding a new spinal metastasis. Only then did he accept that perhaps conventional, evidence-based anticancer therapy was worth pursuing. Of course, by that time the window of opportunity to treat with the hope of cure had closed.

But in other ways, it isn't too late for him. He can at least benefit from subsequent treatments for advanced NSCLC. Too many other patients I've seen have eschewed conventional medicine so long that their poor performance status precludes standard therapies that would have been effective had they pursued them as something other than a final act of desperation.

Corollaries to Coronavirus

Though this dynamic has existed for decades in oncology, the current rejection of the coronavirus vaccine, on a massive scale involving a significant minority of the US population, is a reflection of this same willful ignorance.

In 2008, I started a nonprofit organization — the Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education — dedicated to providing free, timely, and credible information to cancer patients and caregivers around the world.

It was based on the premise that if the lay public had access to the best information — in other words, the same content that informs experts and defines optimal patient management — patients would then be able to pursue these treatments to the extent that they were broadly available. And although this service and a growing number of similar efforts have since generated a virtual army of sophisticated patients (who have since become an important force in and of themselves), it has been humbling to recognize that this approach can't help the many people who denigrate the very pursuit of evidence-based medicine.

The widespread rejection of COVID vaccines brings this into high relief for a couple of reasons. First, the selfishness of those who reject the vaccine affects not only the individual who makes that choice but the broader public. Their decision not only puts them at risk but also the unwitting person exposed to them later. At least with cancer, poor choices only affect those making them.

Another reason that COVID vaccination is such a flashpoint: everyone, including every public figure, now makes a public declaration of their support or suspicion of science and evidence-based medicine. And we are seeing an alarming fraction of people with access to very good information rejecting the evidence and our best opportunity to control the pandemic.

I am particularly disheartened that those who reject the science aren't prone to change their views with better educational efforts. I recognize that there is a spectrum of resistance and that some of our colleagues have convinced family members and patients to reverse their prior anti-vaccine stance; but I wish it wasn't so hard to overcome people's biases against the establishment — biases that lead not only to self-harm but danger to the broader public.

We need to do more to understand what leads people to reject science, because it's clearly not just ignorance and lack of better information. We have to recognize that this phenomenon is now a leading bottleneck in the progress of modern medicine, both in oncology and other settings.

I would love to learn what others think, including successes and more optimistic views — or to simply vent your frustrations with these issues.

H. Jack West, MD, associate clinical professor and executive director of employer services at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California, regularly comments on lung cancer for Medscape. Dr West serves as web editor for JAMA Oncology, edits and writes several sections on lung cancer for UpToDate, and leads a wide range of continuing education programs and other educational programs, including hosting the audio podcast West Wind.

Follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

 

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/957067?src=WNL_dne_210825_mscpedit&uac=404005EZ&impID=3591774&faf=1

Kanievsky added that the general public should make every effort to protect themselves from COVID-19, including adhering to Health Ministry regulations, and urged people to get the vaccine because it will prevent the cancellation of Torah studies and prevent illness.

 

Top ultra-Orthodox rabbi (and Yanky): Unvaccinated teachers should not come to work

 

Rabbi Haim Kanievsky says teachers have an obligation to get vaccinated and should be suspended from work if they don’t do so. 

Coronavirus Commisioner Dr. Salman Zarka meets with Rabbi Haim Kanievsky on Tuesday

 

Rabbi Haim Kanievsky, the leading Ashkenazi non-hassidic ultra-Orthodox rabbi, has told school principals in the sector that if school teachers are not vaccinated against COVID-19 they should not teach. 

 

Kanievsky’s comments were made amid an increasing rate of coronavirus infection in the ultra-Orthodox community resulting largely from the reopening of haredi educational institutions at the start of the Jewish month of Elul on August 8. 

 

The rabbi made his remarks in a meeting with coronavirus commissioner Dr. Salman Zarka on Tuesday. He and other leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis have repeatedly called on the haredi public to get the vaccine and booster shot. 

 

Zarka raised the issue of unvaccinated teachers in the haredi sector, drawing particular attention to institutions for children below age 12 who cannot be vaccinated, and are therefore likely to infect unvaccinated children. 

 

According to a statement from the Health Ministry, Kanievsky said that it was "forbidden" for teachers to go to work unvaccinated and that men and women involved in education had an obligation to get the vaccine. 

 

The rabbi added that principals should suspend any unvaccinated staff.  

 

 Coronavirus Commisioner Dr. Salman Zarka meets with Rabbi Haim Kanievsky (and Yanky) on Tuesday. (Yanky whispers in zeide's ear "Don't fall asleep now")

 

 

 

Kanievsky added that the general public should make every effort to protect themselves from COVID-19, including adhering to Health Ministry regulations, and urged people to get the vaccine because it will prevent the cancellation of Torah studies and prevent illness.

 

According to the Health Ministry, Zarka called on adults to get the third shot of the vaccine and also asked for Kanievsky’s blessing for the success of the current vaccination campaign at educational institutions. 

 

 

https://www.jpost.com/judaism/top-ultra-orthodox-rabbi-unvaccinated-teachers-should-not-come-to-teach-677659?_ga=2.20070971.2065450011.1629707200-1229034299.1617710680&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Israeli-Arab+swimmer+Iyad+Shalabi+wins+gold+medal+in+Paralympics&utm_campaign=August+25%2C+2021+Day&vgo_ee=Jn367jKILnpErXAAhCpdDovy7T5YEJ8ohjC9vauJg30%3D

A Bunch Of Murderous Ignorant Rabbis Get Together And In The Name Of DAAS TORAH Tell Thousands DO NOT GET THE COVID VACCINE! Not even the Humane Suggestion To Speak With Your Doctor! On The List Of Potential Murderers is Malkiel Kotler And Eli Ber Wachtfogel!

 

Chief Rabbi --- What's Next? - I Never Even Heard of Meron? I heard of Moron, but not Meron!

Rabbi of holy sites tells Meron probe: I had no authority over Lag B’Omer events

 

Shmuel Rabinovitch testifies before commission into Israel’s worst peacetime disaster: ‘They didn’t tell us there was an issue with the passageway. Nobody brought it up to us’

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch testifies before the Meron Disaster Inquiry Committee in Jerusalem, on August 23, 2021

For the second consecutive day on Monday, the government commission investigating a deadly accident at a Jewish pilgrimage site in April heard testimony from officials involved in the oversight of Mount Meron in Israel’s north.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, told the three-member panel that he didn’t know the narrow passageway that was the site of the crush was dangerous. “We didn’t know there was a problem,” he said on Monday. “They didn’t tell us there was an issue with the ‘Dov Bridge.’ Nobody brought it up to us.”

Rabinovitch spoke to the panel, headed by former Supreme Court justice Miriam Naor, almost four months after the crush at Mount Meron left 45 people dead. The April 29 incident at a Jewish festival in northern Israel was the deadliest civilian disaster in the country’s history. Around 100,000 worshipers, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, attended festivities despite longstanding warnings about the safety of the site and the dangers of overcrowding.

In June, the government approved the formation of an independent state commission of inquiry — composed of Naor, former Bnei Brak mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz and former Israel Defense Forces planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai — to investigate safety shortcomings at the site.

Rabinovitch served as the head of the Committee of Five charged with overseeing the Mount Meron site, which draws enormous crowds each year on Lag B’Omer of those seeking to visit the grave of second-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Rabinovitch repeatedly claimed that the committee was not involved with the planning of events at the site on Lag B’Omer, and did not have the authority to intervene. “If the state had told me that I was responsible for the events of Lag B’Omer, I would have immediately resigned,” he said on Monday.

He also told the panel that when the committee was established in 2008, the site was in much worse shape. “The situation there in 2008 was awful — there was no infrastructure, there was illegal building, electric cables everywhere, and every brick we tried to move set off a war,” he told the three-member panel, which is holding hearings in the Malha neighborhood of Jerusalem.

“I decided that I couldn’t give in [to demands] because the place was so dangerous. And for three years there were major changes,” Rabinovitch added, saying that the situation now is vastly improved over 2008. “Then, any child could touch an electric cable and get electrocuted.”

Victims of the April 30, 2021, Mount Meron disaster: Top row (L-R): Chen Doron, Haim Rock, Ariel Tzadik, Yossi Kohn, Yisrael Anakvah, Yishai Mualem, Yosef Mastorov, Elkana Shiloh and Moshe Levy; 2nd row (L-R): Shlomo Zalman Leibowitz, Shmuel Zvi Klagsbald, Mordechai Fakata, Dubi Steinmetz, Abraham Daniel Ambon, Eliezer Gafner, Yosef Greenbaum, Yehuda Leib Rubin and Yaakov Elchanan Starkovsky; 3rd row (L-R): Haim Seler, Yehoshua Englard, Moshe Natan Neta Englard, Yedidia Hayut, Moshe Ben Shalom, David Krauss, Eliezer Tzvi Joseph, Yosef Yehuda Levy and Yosef Amram Tauber; 4th row (L-R): Menachem Knoblowitz, Elazar Yitzchok Koltai, Yosef David Elhadad, Shraga Gestetner, Yonatan Hebroni, Shimon Matalon, Elazar Mordechai Goldberg, Moshe Bergman and Daniel Morris; 5th row (L-R): Ariel Achdut, Moshe Mordechai Elhadad, Hanoch Slod, Yedidya Fogel, Menahem Zakbah, Simcha Diskind, Moshe Tzarfati, Nahman Kirshbaum and Eliyahu Cohen.

 

Naor pressed Rabinovitch to answer questions about the narrow passageway where the tragedy unfurled, as hundreds of people pressed their way to the exit and, as some began to slip and fall, leading to the deaths of 45 men and children.

“We didn’t know there was a problem. The security advisers we consulted in 2008 and after that didn’t bring up any problems with the Dov Bridge, they didn’t mention it,” said Rabinovitch on Monday. He claimed that it was possible there were no issues with the bridge throughout the majority of the year, and said that on Lag B’Omer, “I don’t really spend much time at the site.”

Rabinovitch reiterated that he had never heard of any concerns with the specific passageway, “but I thought that the entire area looks like the third world. We asked to plan and build everything from scratch,” he added. “We started work on a plan that was supposed to renovate the entire area. I didn’t know there were any problems with that bridge. Nobody brought it to my attention.”

The members of the panel further pressed the rabbi about the specific area of the Meron site where the tragedy occurred, where the Toldot Aharon sect lights a bonfire each year. Rabinovitch claimed that the lighting occurs each year without any particular oversight or approval. “I don’t approve anything — nobody even asks us,” he said.

Rabinovitch said he believed authorities should considering canceling or moving the satellite bonfire lightings at the site. “The committee was opposed to the Toldot Aharon lighting… we told them to go to a different area, but they rejected it.”

Former chief of the Supreme Court Miriam Naor (center) heads the Meron Disaster Inquiry Committee in Jerusalem, on August 23, 2021

He told the panel that he welcomed the state commission of inquiry, and noted that it was unfortunate that such a tragedy had to occur to establish an investigation.

“There are many different interests at play. I am also part of the bereaved families, I lost a nephew during the incident,” said Rabinovitch. “It’s a horrible tragedy, my heart is hurting.”

The commission’s proceedings kicked off on Sunday with testimony from Northern District police chief Shimon Lavi, the officer who was in charge of managing the event.

Lavi said the Mount Meron festivities were the Israel Police’s most significant annual event, requiring extensive resources, planning and preparation. He said that out of safety concerns “there has been no limitation on attendance at Meron — that’s how it has been done for the last 30 years.”

Any attempt to limit entry and put up barricades could result in “bottlenecks and much greater disasters,” he said.

Israeli rescue forces and police at the scene of the fatal crush during Lag B’Omer celebrations on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel, on April 30, 2021

 

Lavi said there had been “neglect for many years” and “a lack of understanding that the event grew over time and that the infrastructure was not adequate, but rather a kind of Band-Aid.”

In addition to Lavi and Rabinovitch, witnesses summoned by the panel include former Israel Police deputy commissioner Alon Asur; Yosef Schwinger, head of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places; Yisrael Deri, the head of the northern branch of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places; and Eli Friend, manager of the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

The panel has been granted a budget of NIS 6 million ($1.83 million) to investigate how the disaster unfolded and probe the decision-making processes that authorized the event.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-of-holy-sites-tells-meron-probe-i-had-no-authority-over-lag-bomer-events/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2021-08-23&utm_medium=email

Not just Afghanistan or Brooklyn; you can find Taliban wherever people reject science!

 

The Chief Taliban Scientist Explaining His Law of Gravity

 

What medical and scientific researchers have not done is explain, in ways that the average yutz can understand, how science has always worked.

Anti-vaxxer causes mass-infection in special needs kindergarten

 

An anti-vaxxer got infected with COVID-19 and sent her twins to their special needs kindergarten, sparking a mass-infection.

Anti Covid-19 vaccine injection activists protest outside a vaccination center of Magen David Adom, in Jerusalem,

 

An anti-vaxxer was the source of a mass-infection of COVID-19 in a special needs kindergarten in Ra’anana last week, Ynet reported.

 

The infection was discovered when the kindergarten teacher wrote in the parents' WhatsApp group that one of the staff had been infected, and so all the children needed to be put in isolation.

 

"It was the last week of kindergarten in any case, so we all immediately got tested and went into isolation," one of the mothers told Ynet.

 

But another mother, who has twins in the kindergarten, refused to isolate her kids.

 

"I refuse to put the children into isolation, and I won't get them tested," she wrote in the WhatsApp group. "I won't take part in this madness, I'm sorry, it's enough."

 

After a short argument with her ex-husband in the WhatsApp group, the ex-husband wrote: "Get well soon, Nurit. I hope you're recovering well from COVID-19." The woman immediately left the group.

 

The next day, the parents received the results of their kids' tests, and many of them were positive.

 

"We went back through the messages and realized that she was the one who infected them," a different mother told Ynet. "We went into her Facebook and discovered that she clearly wrote there that she has been sick since the 9th. She still sent her twins to kindergarten. They're also infected now." 

 

 

Jerusalem’s new Shalva National Center for children with disabilities

The other parents were outraged. "The kids in this kindergarten are taught that their lives will be tangled with difficult experiences," a mother told Ynet.

 

"One moment before they are meant to go on holiday, this woman ruins it for everyone. How can a person do that? To endanger the kids, their families and the staff that gives their heart and soul to these children? There's a teacher there who is over 70 [years old]."

 

The mother added that she also blames the ex-husband. "It doesn't matter that they're separated. He cooperated with her."

 

The mother filed a complaint with the police against the infected woman, who she says constantly posts anti-vaxxer posts on Facebook and has called the coronavirus pandemic a scam.

 

The kindergarten teacher reported the infected woman and filed a complaint against her to the Education Ministry.

 

Another parent at the kindergarten told Ynet that they didn't sleep that night because of their anger and frustration.

 

"More than we worried about the kids, we worried about the staff," the father said. "There are elderly people there, and a pregnant woman. Throughout the pandemic, they worked for the kids because they need a routine. This kindergarten has no masks because of its unique nature, and no social distancing and the staff agreed to take the risk. It's a staff of angels."

 

The father added that the staff took it very hard because they could not believe they were put in this position after everything they do for the kids.

 

He also told Ynet that there were other incidents with the infected woman where she did not heed the restrictions and was told off many times.

 

In a statement to Ynet, the infected woman said that she was infected by a vaccinated woman and reported it to the Health Ministry.

 

"I've been sitting at home for two weeks. I got seriously ill, and I haven't seen my kids," she said. "They've been with their father, not me. 

 

"The Israeli people have become a people of snitches. I have no connection to the outbreak in the kindergarten. My kids have a carer, and he's also sick. He's a vaccinated person who infected my mother and my kids. I am not vaccinated, and I got to the point where I was on the verge of death."

 

The woman added that her kids "were part of a vaccination experiment conducted by pharmaceutical companies. That's why they have autism. It's true about all the kids in the kindergarten."

 

The kindergartens do not yet have a date for reopening and are expected to be kept closed until after Rosh Hashana.

 

The Education Ministry meanwhile reported that any teacher who is unvaccinated and untested will not be allowed to enter the schools.

 

 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/anti-vaxxer-causes-mass-infection-in-special-needs-kindergarten-677383?_ga=2.145969780.1517962874.1629448825-1969581575.1579377799&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Bennett+to+present+Biden+with+plan+to+halt+a+nuclear+Iran&utm_campaign=August+22%2C+2021+Night&vgo_ee=Jn367jKILnpErXAAhCpdDovy7T5YEJ8ohjC9vauJg30%3D

Rabbi Yaakov David Klar allegedly carried out his abuse while he was a social worker at Chai Lifeline, a national Jewish social services provider, and as a teacher at the Yeshiva Kehillath Yaakov in Monsey, N.Y., also known as Cheder Chabad

 

Lawsuit: Monsey rabbi sexually assaulted children — and his bosses covered it up

 

Rabbi Yaakov David Klar speaking at a 2011 Chai Lifeline event in Boro Park about coping with trauma.

 

 

A New York rabbi sexually assaulted children while he was supposed to be treating them for mental health issues, and the prominent Jewish institutions he worked for covered it up, claims a lawsuit filed August 13 in New York.

Rabbi Yaakov David Klar allegedly carried out his abuse while he was a social worker at Chai Lifeline, a national Jewish social services provider, and as a teacher at the Yeshiva Kehillath Yaakov in Monsey, N.Y., also known as Cheder Chabad, Yeshiva Tzion Yosef or Pupa. 

 Klar allegedly began years of abuse of the plaintiff in 2002, when the lawsuit alleges the yeshiva already knew or should have known of the rabbi’s predatory history.

After other people at those institutions reported earlier assaults, the lawsuit alleges, the defendants continued to allow Klar to be around children.

Only later did they enter a “secret arrangement” to allow Klar to leave quietly — and they never reported his suspected actions to the authorities, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says the plaintiff, identified as John Doe, has suffered physical, emotional, and psychological damage as a result of Klar’s actions, and seeks monetary compensation from Klar, Chai Lifeline and the yeshiva.

The lawsuit was filed under the Child Victims Act, which extends the statute of limitations for child sex crimes and established a look-back window for survivors whose statute of limitations had previously expired. The window for filing on CVA cases closed Aug. 14.

While the lawsuit does not say when the institutions parted with Klar, a 2016 article in the New York Jewish Week identifies Klar as the co-associate director of Project C.H.A.I., Chai Lifeline’s crisis intervention, trauma and bereavement hotline.

The lawsuit says Klar used his position of trust to take advantage of children he knew were especially vulnerable.

Doe had “serious mental health issues” at the time, according to the lawsuit, which is why he was receiving treatment from Chai Lifeline.

“Despite [Klar]’s full knowledge and awareness that the Plaintiff had serious mental health issues, [Klar] criminally sexually assaulted the Plaintiff, and exposed the Plaintiff and other children and personnel to an increased risk of harm, all in a wanton and reckless disregard of the child’s, students, and/or patients’ safety,” the lawsuit says.

While the school’s willful ignorance of prior assaults has not been demonstrated the way it might with a full discovery process, the plaintiff’s attorney, Darren J. Epstein, said that abusers in other cases frequently receive such shelter from their institutions.

“Not just in yeshivas — we’re talking about Catholic churches, Episcopal churches, public schools,” Epstein said. “In all these scenarios, we have found that there have been complaints that have been made about individual perpetrators and nothing was done about it.”

When the Forward called Klar at his home for comment, the person answering the phone said he was unavailable. Calls to Chai Lifeline and the yeshiva on Friday afternoon went to voicemail.

With the lawsuit filed, the defendants now have time to put in an answer or a motion. If the case is not settled or dismissed during that period, it will proceed to the discovery phase.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/474469/lawsuit-rabbi-yaakov-david-klar-money-chai-lifeline-sexual-abuse/

Women and girls are the first victims of fundamentalism. When you see a movement that represses women, know that it is an unhealthy one. It will prove to be repressive for society as a whole, not just women. It will maintain itself on the backs of others and at all costs, for the rules of fundamentalism mean that nothing — not even human freedom — is as valuable as the cause itself. Fight extremism the moment you see it...

 

Fundamentalism never dies (In Any Cult)

Fight extremism the moment you see it, for unless you are as fervent in your beliefs as the fundamentalists are in theirs, they will eventually come for you too 

 

 

POSTED SIGN IN JERUSALEM - IT IS FORBIDDEN TO HAVE A FEMALE EMT RESCUE YOU - RATHER DIE OR KILL YOURSELF FIRST - IT IS TANTAMOUNT TO SLEEPING WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S WIFE (LOOSELY TRANSLATED)

Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace, after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021. The man standing second from left is a former bodyguard for Ghani

 

Those of us who remember the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 1996 likely recall it as a nightmare. The images that reached us were horrific, suited to a dystopia movie set in a world where extremists and misogynists ruled.

Immediately, women and girls were subject to intense oppression. The Taliban prohibited women from working, shuttered girls’ schools, made the burqa mandatory, and leaving home without a male escort illegal. Breaking these rules meant public whipping or even execution. Minorities were persecuted. Cultural treasures were destroyed.

Now, 25 years later, while we watched, city after city fell to their hordes.

Again, our hearts break for the Afghan people.

Tragically, we at home can only wait to be told how we might possibly help those in Afghanistan. But we can — and must — learn from what is happening.

1- Fundamentalism does not go away. We ignore it at our peril. Fundamentalism follows a strict interpretation of religion or ideals and sacrifices everything — and everyone — at its altar. 

Fundamentalism may be briefly beaten back, but without intense education to counter deep-seated extremist beliefs, and prevent them from taking root in each generation, it won’t be defeated. It is patient and feeds on itself and others’ dismissal of it. Extremism will resurge when we are least prepared, mainly because we think we have done away with it.

2 – When someone says they want to destroy your way of life, believe them. The Western mind still refuses to understand Middle Eastern culture. The rules are different. For many in this part of the world, culture and enlightenment aren’t values — neither to appreciate nor to strive to achieve. More often, might makes right. And the one with the might makes the rules. Add to this the fundamentalist belief that the ends always justify the means, and you have a holy war. And holy wars only end one way — with the “infidels'” total defeat.

3 – Women and girls are the first victims of fundamentalism. When you see a movement that represses women, know that it is an unhealthy one. It will prove to be repressive for society as a whole, not just women. It will maintain itself on the backs of others and at all costs, for the rules of fundamentalism mean that nothing — not even human freedom — is as valuable as the cause itself.  Fight extremism the moment you see it, even if it doesn’t affect you. Even if you may benefit from it…for unless you are as fervent in your belief as the fundamentalists are in theirs, they will eventually come for you too.

4 – Where women and girls are secondary to men, have value only in relation to men, when men restrict women’s movement, deny girls and women education, and dictate their dress — this is not culture, this is control. The noble Western call for “cultural sensitivity” cannot be applied when it comes to abuse. There can be no tolerance for abuse in the name of culture. When a society cannot make room for women at the helm, when it chafes at women’s accomplishments, when it removes their rights and freedoms, it is deeply, deeply flawed.

5- Do not analyze conflicts, issues, and situations solely from your own lens. Understand that the way that you see something, from your perspective, with your history — individual and collective — with your education and experience, is not the way others will. Listen to the people affected by the issues and help if you can, but don’t dictate your solution to the people who live the problem. This applies just as much to your local community as it does to the global one.

6 – Recognize the stakes. Understand your opponents and what will happen if they win. People are shocked at the Taliban’s success, and at the speed with which they achieved it. But, recall #1, fundamentalism doesn’t die on its own. They have waited, stockpiling both weapons and fervor for decades, for the moment they could strike. In a power vacuum, the strongest, most ruthless, most committed will win. Remember that when someone screams, “End the occupation” or “Free, free Palestine.” What is the plan for this demand that Israel withdraw on its own? Who comes in to fill the breech if Israel moves out, as it did in Gaza…? Slogans are great for protests and the ego of the social justice warrior. But real change needs real planning, as well as a reality check– see #7.

7- Understand reality. Accept what *is* and not what you wish would be. Policies and decisions cannot be made on ideals alone. They must be grounded in fact. No matter how much we might want things to be different, we need to deal with what is — and plan for when things go wrong.

What does this mean for us, for those of us who are lucky enough to be far from Afghanistan? To what extent, if at all, we will be able to help the Afghanis remains to be seen. But we can learn from their experience of the past weeks, on the heels of the past 20 years. We can identify areas of our own worlds that need improvement, recognize when we are up against a version of fundamentalism (as above), and focus our energies on the change we want to see.

Ask:

• What do we see — what is the problem we want to solve?
• What are the policies that bring harm?
• Who needs help and what do they need?
• How can we suggest changes that will be accepted?
• Who are our allies in this struggle?
• Who are our opponents and what are their goals?
• What are the challenges in our path?
• How do we set goals we can actually achieve?
• What does change look like practically — and how do we get there?

Whether fighting antisemtism, advocating for peace, championing minority rights, or even fighting the Taliban — whatever your cause, these questions are the foundation of what must be asked and answered.

If we want to do something with the pain we feel for the people of Afghanistan, we should choose something local to sink our teeth into. While we may not be able to help the Afghanis right now, we can make a difference for the people around us.

Turn off the news. Look up. Go change your world. 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/fundamentalism-never-dies/?utm_source=The+Blogs+Weekly+Highlights&utm_campaign=blogs-weekly-highlights-2021-08-19&utm_medium=email

I'm in "relatively" good company :-)

 

BRILLIANT

MESSED UP

Cry Me A River ---- "He also said vaccines had been developed “through the use of the cell lines of aborted fetuses” and that “a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that any moment he or she can be controlled by the state regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine”.

 

Vaccine skeptic US cardinal on ventilator after Covid diagnosis

Cardinal Raymond Burke: ‘Please pray for me’

 

Cardinal Raymond Burke during a March for Life in Rome, where he lives, in May.

Maya Yang in New York

Mon 16 Aug 2021 10.30 EDT

Last modified on Mon 16 Aug 2021 11.19 EDT

• 
  

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a staunch conservative in the US Catholic church who has emerged as a leading critic of Pope Francis and a vaccine skeptic, was placed on a ventilator just days after testing positive for Covid-19.“Doctors are encouraged by his progress,” the cardinal’s official Twitter account announced. Supporters were asked to “pray the Rosary for him”.

The 73-year-old, who has frequently been seen maskless in Rome, where he lives, tested positive last Wednesday while visiting Wisconsin.

Burke said then: “Thanks be to God, I am resting comfortably and receiving excellent medical care. Please pray for me as I begin my recovery. Let us trust in Divine Providence. God bless you.”

Last May, Burke spoke out forcefully against Covid-19 vaccines, saying: “It must be clear that vaccination itself cannot be imposed, in a totalitarian manner, on citizens.”

He also said vaccines had been developed “through the use of the cell lines of aborted fetuses” and that “a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that any moment he or she can be controlled by the state regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine”.

Experts on health and misinformation have repeatedly debunked such conspiracy theories.

Cardinal Burke has not said if he has been vaccinated.

The former archbishop of St Louis was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 but demoted from a senior Vatican position by Pope Francis in 2014.

Burke is often seen as the ringleader of a faction opposed to Francis, whom he has publicly challenged on issues including abortion and homosexuality.

In an interview with Buzzfeed in 2014, for example, Burke criticised Francis’s liberal beliefs on homosexuality, claiming he had “done a lot of harm”.

In 2015, Burke said the Catholic church had developed an increasingly “feminized environment”, saying: “Men are often reluctant to become active in the Church. The … lack of the Church’s effort to engage men has led many men to simply opt out.”

The cardinal, who has had strong ties with the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, has also spoken out against immigration, saying: “To resist large-scale Muslim immigration in my judgement is to be responsible.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/vaccine-skeptic-us-cardinal-raymond-burke-ventilator-covid

These radicals have no place within the ultra-Orthodox community; they have no place in Judaism; and they have no place in Israel. They need to be isolated and excommunicated.

 

We Must Uproot Religious Extremism From Israel

 by Eli Beer

Candles are seen during a vigil for the people killed and injured in a stampede

On July 14, unidentified ultra-Orthodox extremists vandalized and destroyed a memorial that was set up to commemorate the deaths of 45 people, most of whom were from the ultra-Orthodox community, at the site of the deadly stampede in Meron.

The memorial had been erected on the outside wall of United Hatzalah’s medical clinic, which was a few meters away from where the tragedy occurred during the Lag Ba’Omer festival. This desecration is a terrible insult to the families of those who perished. And it represents an extremism that, unfortunately, has continued to fester inside some communities in Israel.

Meron was the worst civilian tragedy in Israel’s history, and every Jew in Israel — religious and secular alike — took it to heart. People all over the country lined up for hours to donate blood after the tragedy. Everyone wanted to do what they could to help in the face of this horrible disaster.

It seems that the only ones who didn’t connect to the tragedy were the extremist radicals in the ultra-Orthodox community, who comprise a very small group of people who are making a chilul Hashem and giving the rest of the ultra-Orthodox community a bad name.

Groups like Neturei Karta and similar extremists are destroying the upstanding reputation of the Orthodox community in Israel, which birthed an overwhelming number of chessed organizations that help everyone in Israel, ultra-Orthodox and non-Orthodox, Jewish and non-Jewish alike. These organizations include Yedidim, Ezer MIzion, Yad Sarah, our organization, and many others. The amount of volunteering that takes place in Israel by people who simply want to help others is unmatched anywhere else in the world.

These small groups of extremists, who are really akin to idol worshipers, care more about controlling the site of Meron than they do about people’s lives. When they saw the faces of those who were killed in the tragedy and heard that the government was planning an investigation, they took matters into their own hands and lashed out by desecrating the memorial that had been set up for the fallen.

They had no remorse or kindness for the families of the victims — no qualms about disgracing the memory of 45 holy Jews who died celebrating a Jewish festival; one that the ultra-Orthodox community, in particular, celebrates widely.

Video footage showing these radicals tearing down the memorial was sent to me by a very special person, Aryeh Morris, the father of Donny Morris, a beloved boy who was one of the 45 people who died in the tragedy. I was so angry when I saw it that I had no words. I was devastated, but not nearly as devastated as Donny’s family was. I was embarrassed to no end by the actions of others who claim to have a Jewish heart. I don’t understand how someone with a Jewish heart, who comes from a community that upholds the Jewish ideals of kindness and chessed, could do such a thing. What’s worse, the incident occurred during the nine days before Tisha B’Av.

Until we eradicate such people from within our society, we need to look no further to understand why the third temple has not been built. These radicals have no place within the ultra-Orthodox community; they have no place in Judaism; and they have no place in Israel. They need to be isolated and excommunicated.

We really don’t want to get to where other countries are, having to fight radicalism among our own populations. We are a peaceful country with a people who are filled with loving-kindness. Therefore, it is imperative that each of us weed out radicalism wherever we find it, in all of its forms. We must be successful, or we will bear the consequences for generations to come.

Eli Beer is the father of five children, a social entrepreneur, and president and founder of United Hatzalah of Israel, an independent, non-profit, fully volunteer EMS organization that provides fast and free emergency first response throughout Israel. Last year he almost lost his life to Covid-19 while in Miami.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/08/15/we-must-uproot-religious-extremism-from-israel/

Some people are complaining, “Well, my freedom is being kind of disturbed here.” Well, I told them, “Screw your freedom.” You have the freedom to wear no mask. But if you exercise that freedom, you’re a schmuck—because you’re supposed to protect your fellow Americans.

 

Don’t Be a Schmuck. Put on a Mask.

 

Generations of Americans made incredible sacrifices, and we’re going to throw fits about putting a mask over our mouth and nose?

By Arnold Schwarzenegger

Earlier this week, I delivered a simple message: There is a virus here. It kills people. The only way you can prevent it is to get vaccinated, wear masks, and do social distancing.

Some people are complaining, “Well, my freedom is being kind of disturbed here.” Well, I told them, “Screw your freedom.” You have the freedom to wear no mask. But if you exercise that freedom, you’re a schmuck—because you’re supposed to protect your fellow Americans.

I’ll admit, calling people schmucks and saying “Screw your freedom” was a little much, even if I stand by the sentiment. But there is nothing that I’m more passionate about than keeping America great, and it’s the only subject that can make me lose my temper.

David Frum: Vaccinated America has had enough

I knew I’d be called a RINO, but that doesn’t bother me. Honestly, rhinos are beautiful, powerful animals, so I take that as a compliment. I anticipated being called a Nazi and a Communist. But I’ve got thick skin stretched over my metal endoskeleton, so I knew I could take it.

But some of the responses really worried me. Many people told me that the Constitution gives them rights, but not responsibilities. They feel no duty to protect their fellow citizens.

That’s when I realized we all need a civics lesson. I can’t help but wonder how much better off we’d be if Americans took a step back from politics and spent a minute thinking about how lucky we are to call this country home. Instead of tweeting, we could think about what we owe to the patriots who came before us and those who will follow us.

I am not an academic, but I can tell you that selfishness and dereliction of duty did not make this country great. The Constitution aimed to “promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.” It’s right there in our founding document. We need to think beyond our selfish interests.

I am an immigrant. This country gave me everything. I often tell people not to call me self-made; I prefer to call myself American-made. My success would have been impossible without the principles of the United States and the generosity of Americans.

I could just keep making more money, but that would be selfish. I feel a responsibility to do everything I can to help this country remain great. That’s why I traveled to all 50 states as the chair of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports on my own dime, that’s why I accept every invitation to visit our troops, that’s why I’ve invested millions to create a nationwide after-school program, and that’s why I walked away from $30 million movie deals to serve as governor of California for no salary. And even after all that, I’ll be paying down the debt I owe America for the rest of my life.

It’s up to all of us to recognize that the great privilege we have of being Americans comes with the great responsibility to keep this country No. 1.

I often think about how many Americans sacrificed to make this country great. John Adams wrote that “it was the Duty of a good Citizen to sacrifice all to his Country.” Or, as the classic film Team America taught us: “Freedom isn’t free.”

Every generation has heroes who have put the country ahead of themselves. From the men who left their families at home to fight for independence to the teenagers who shipped over to Europe and the Pacific to fight fascism, our history is defined by sacrifice. From the fields of Gettysburg to the beaches of Normandy, our country’s greatness is steeped in duty. From women’s suffrage to the civil-rights movement, our nonstop efforts at creating a more perfect union are underwritten by the men and women who were willing to give up everything for the United States.

Our country began with a willingness to make personal sacrifices for the collective good. It’s right there in the closing line of the Declaration of Independence: “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Almost two centuries later, John F. Kennedy posed his famous challenge: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Our country became great because every generation before us knew that liberty and duty go hand in hand. I am worried that many of my fellow Americans have now lost sight of that.

When I look at the response to this pandemic, I really worry about the future of our country. We have lost more than 600,000 Americans to COVID-19. Are we really this selfish and angry? Are we this partisan?

George Washington wrote, “Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.” When we wear a mask or get a vaccine, we are serving our country and our fellow citizens.

When people call this fascism, I can’t stand it. Just a few generations ago, this country stood up to real fascism. (And yes, I know that my father was on the wrong side of that conflict.) And we didn’t win just because of our love of freedom. We won because Americans came together and did their duty.

Americans accepted the rationing of food and gasoline to win that war. Mothers and fathers sent their kids off knowing it could be the last time they saw them. Women worked tirelessly in factories to make the weapons our troops needed. Americans lived through four years of brutal sacrifice, and we’re going to throw fits about putting a mask over our mouth and nose?

“Wearing a mask is nothing compared with what we were going through then,” one member of that generation, Bill Platts, recently told the Idaho Statesman. “It’s so comical nowadays to think that somebody won’t wear a mask when in those days they would do anything for the United States.”

We are fighting a war against what President Donald Trump correctly called an “invisible enemy.” Hospitals are once again filling up in some states. Deaths are rising.

Some people want to create an alternative America, where we have no responsibility to one another. That America has never existed. They may tell you that what we are doing to fight the war against the coronavirus is unprecedented. They’re full of crap. They are lying to you because they make money from your anger.

As Americans, we have agreed to vaccinations to eradicate diseases since George Washington mandated the smallpox inoculation for his troops. “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members,” the Supreme Court said in 1905, in a ruling supporting vaccine mandates.

Read: How the pandemic now ends

We need to protect ourselves and win this war. We don’t need to close our economies again. We just need to come together like the generations of Americans who came before us, and to give just a tiny fraction of what they gave.

We need to prove to ourselves and to the world that we can unite to defeat a common enemy, because, trust me, the coronavirus is not the biggest challenge we will face this century.

What will you do for your country?

Arnold Schwarzenegger was the 38th governor of California.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/schwarzenegger-schmuck-mask-vaccines/619746/