Approximately six months ago, Yosefi was arrested by police amid an investigation into document forging and providing fictitious exemptions to young ultra-Orthodox men attempting to avoid conscription into the IDF...

Ultra-Orthodox baby trafficker exposed!
The conspiracy of silence has lasted for years because of how ultra-Orthodox society is structured. 
 

Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth investigated allegations against Haim Aharon Yosefi, a well-known figure in the Haredi world, for taking young, pregnant Haredi woman from Israel to the US to give birth before giving the child away in an 'adoption' arrangement for a fee; ‘If I tell you who I'm connected to, it'll blow your mind,’ he tells undercover journalist.

Haim Aharon Yosefi—a well-known businessman and figure in the ultra-Orthodox world—trades in babies. He is a central figure in a network that allegedly takes young, pregnant Haredi women from Israel to the United States to give birth before giving the child away in an "adoption" arrangement for a fee.

  In a series of meetings with undercover reporters from Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, Yosefi unwittingly provided a rare glimpse behind the curtain, openly divulging how he and his accomplices operate. He also revealed a string of other related activities including the distribution of pills to suppress sexual desire, forging identification documents and more.

Over the last few weeks, Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth sent "Devorah Leah," a young Haredi woman with a cover story, to Yosefi. "I got pregnant by a married man, and I'm in trouble," Devorah told Yosefi.

Haim Aharon Yosefi

   
During their meetings, Yosefi detailed the journey Devorah would have to endure until her baby is given to an adoptive family. He also offered her payment for the baby and even told her about previous "cases" he "handled."

"Let's say all the expenses concerning you are $50,000, and I'm getting $100,000. Maybe I'm making a profit off of you, but that also means I'm spending $50,000 on you. This is all very problematic and very sensitive. Just so you know, the law says whoever tries to lobby a woman to give her child up for adoption in exchange for favors can get 15 years in prison. It is very criminal," Yosefi told Devorah.

"If I tell you now, Devorah Leah, take $50,000 and I expect to get your fetus, that sounds fine. We are making what is called a fair deal. You get $50,000 and I get the fetus. It doesn't matter if I sell it for a million dollars, or I don't sell it at all. You make out alright for your part. Just know the law is very dangerous. Now I am saying, in principle, in general, I am with you."

The conversations with Yosefi open a window into what he himself calls the "industry" of baby trafficking, involving "a ton, a sea," of similar cases, as he confessed to Devorah.

The connections

Yosefi is a member of Degel HaTorah, the Lithuanian faction of the United Torah Judaism party. He has close ties to many prominent rabbis and is also welcome in many other Hassidic circles.

Approximately six months ago, Yosefi was arrested by police amid an investigation into document forging and providing fictitious exemptions to young ultra-Orthodox men attempting to avoid conscription into the IDF.
"If I tell you who I'm connected to, you'll be blown away," he told Devorah. "Officials in the Interior Ministry, the IDF, the police and different municipalities. I once had an arrangement with an official in the Interior Ministry where I would provide her with interest-free loans and she would help me in return."

Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth learned of Yosefi's activities through testimony provided by "Esther," who recounted her experiences with him when her infant son was sold to a couple in the United States.

As the investigation progressed, more stories emerged and many of the details were confirmed by Yosefi himself in conversations with Devorah, which were also rife with remarks that bordered on sexual harassment.

Yosefi constantly shifts between the gray and criminal areas. For example, he expressed disappointment when Devorah supposedly approached a doctor through her local clinic for a pregnancy checkup.

"You weren't smart. From now on, never use your real name. I'm sending you to a private physician, and you can say your name is Ruth," he told her. "I've gone with other girls to the doctor as well. You pay and money has no smell. I come with you, put out NIS 500 or 900. I also make sure to give you an identity card with a fictitious number."

When Devorah told Yosefi the alleged father of her baby demanded proof she had an abortion, Yosefi suggested another criminal solution. "Now don't quote me, but you can play a very dangerous card and tell him 'I'm going to the police and telling them you raped me.' At that moment, he'll commit suicide. No one would believe a cute 21-year-old girl raped a 33-year-old man. They will believe you more than him."

Payment

Devorah's first meeting with Yosefi took place at a Jerusalem hotel, while her second and third meetings took place in the basement office of Lev L'Achima, a large ultra-Orthodox organization dedicated to religious education.

Yosefi labeled payments as "royalties." When asked about the precise nature of the royalties, he said, "Beyond the accommodations and flights, I provide you a gift of $10,000 or $20,000. It is criminal, but with God's help, I work very hard to make sure you get royalties too."

Yosefi then outlined the entire birthing process to Devorah, beginning with his accompanying her to the US and the birth itself.

When the time comes, according to Yosefi, he will organize a "host family" in the US, with whom she will live until the birth. "They do it as a good deed," said Yosefi. "They can clothe your body in money."

When asked if he already had a family lined up, Yosefi responded, "Today I know, there are many Haredi families in the world that cannot have children for all kinds of reasons. I have a few, but I have to decide what I want."

Yosefi then proceeded to emphasize to Devorah that he has competitors in the market. "There are all kinds of organizations. But this is very sensitive. I'm talking to you about honesty and fairness. I send you abroad whenever you want. Sometimes I ensure that others do it and sometimes I do it myself. We ensure a host family for you throughout the entire pregnancy and you receive close supervision," he told her.

It costs quite a bit of money. Do I have to work while I'm there in order to finance it?

"All expenses—clothing, makeup, medical insurance, the birth, doctors—you do not have to pay a shekel. If you go tomorrow, you have no expenses for the next six months."

Yosefi also offered additional bonuses, saying, "If you want, we can make efforts to give you some cosmetic treatment, a body design studio. I need to pamper you. This is all in the package. Trips, restaurants, fun. It will all be paid for."

Devorah then inquired about what to tell her parents when she needs to go to the United States and disappear for a period of time, to which Yosefi responded, "I can assist you with this too. I have a bag of excuses."

When Devorah asked about the mental state of girls who have undergone the process and the possibility of seeing the baby after birth, Yosefi responded, "Psychologically, it isn't good for you, because you connect with him. It may be that in your case we will need to organize psychological help."

'We will market you as well'

How can such an industry, involving so many people like Yosefi, exist for so long under the radar?

In the absence of sex education, quite a few ultra-Orthodox girls and women become pregnant, and since the Haredi community is intolerant of such cases, women are forced to find a solution.

Many women willingly cooperate and others believe if they just give birth away from their families and friends, they would be able to raise the child themselves, or at the very least, remain in contact with the child.

The conspiracy of silence has lasted for years because of how ultra-Orthodox society is structured. 

No one speaks, because they do not want their children boycotted or condemned. However, as soon as one story comes out, others find the courage to speak out as well.

Why is the process conducted in the United States and not in Israel? For two main reasons.

The first is to distance the wayward girl from the community in order to "protect" her, as it were. The second, and most significant, reason is that of legality.

According to Yosefi, in the US, such a practice is possible and even legal. Most of the girls sign adoption documents and payment is ostensibly transferred to them legally.

In their last meeting, Yosefi thought it prudent to explain something else. He is now marketing Devorah to families who are looking to adopt a child. "I am going to elevate you, to market you respectfully. I will market you morally. I am trying to do my job faithfully." 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5002130,00.html

Send In The Clowns!

 

Trump to Send Kushner to Middle East for Israel-Palestine Talks

 

President Donald Trump is dispatching a team led by his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to Israel in pursuit of a Middle East peace deal.

Trump’s sending the delegation to try to take advantage of a period of relative calm following violent clashes last month over Israeli security arrangements at the Jerusalem shrine known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, said a senior administration official who requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

Kushner will be joined by Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Dina Powell on the trip, which will include meetings with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The U.S. president wants to set an ambitious agenda for the talks, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, efforts to combat extremism, and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the official said.

Trump has said he is hopeful his son-in-law can help restart a peace process that has made little headway over the past 25 years. He made addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict an early priority, hosting leaders from both sides at the White House during the opening months of his presidency and visiting Israel during his first international trip as president.

Abbas Visit

 

During the visit of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in May, Trump said a peace agreement “is frankly, maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years." He told reporters that negotiators would get a deal done, even while acknowledging that he had heard that “perhaps the toughest deal to make is the deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

“Let’s see if we can prove them wrong, OK?” Trump continued.

But his early forays into diplomacy have also run into some hiccups. He suggested during a state visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February that the U.S. wouldn’t necessarily press for a two-state solution, a seeming reversal of long-standing U.S. policy that reflects a key Palestinian demand.

Kushner is a longtime friend of the Israeli prime minister, who is facing a slew of domestic legal troubles. Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, Ari Harow, has signed a deal to cooperate with prosecutors there, and police have confirmed they’re investigating the prime minister as a suspect in a bribery, fraud, and breach of trust case. Netanyahu has blasted the media and critics over the controversy and accused opponents of attempting a “governmental coup.”

The last round of U.S.-led talks, a pet project of former Secretary of State John Kerry, broke down three years ago amid mutual recriminations.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-11/trump-to-send-kushner-to-middle-east-for-israel-palestine-talks

“I was 18 years old, and he was 70 years old, a very prominent person in the community,” she said. “He brought me to his house, and he did something to me.” After pausing, she continued, “When he drove me home, he said, ‘Wow, the things you make me do…. ’ I told a domestic abuse organization about what happened, and they told me, ‘If you go to the police, you have nothing on him; no one will believe you, and he will bury you.’”

Rabinowitz is a survivor of sexual abuse herself — and a graduate of the ultra-Orthodox Bais Yaakov girls school system.
“Most people around me don’t acknowledge the fact that I was abused at all,” she told me in an interview. “I have close friends who don’t acknowledge it. My film trailer was the first time I said it publicly. I’m making this documentary for my friends and family to be able to say, ‘This is for you to know how to talk about it with me.’
“I know it’s hard for people to process. When someone says they were raped by a family member, you’ll never be able to understand what that feels like, but you do understand that basic feeling of shame and suffering. It’s by empathy — through art and music — that we can come to understand another’s pain, rather than through intellectual understanding.”
In her forthcoming film, shot mostly in Tel Aviv, Rabinowitz shows Goldenberg talking about her music and her dissociation, as she bounces between her Orthodox family and her artist friends, many of whom are also survivors of abuse.
“Don’t assume that people are normal and happy,” Rabinowitz said. “My friend and I went along the same path. We wore the same school uniform. I went home and I was abused. She went home and she wasn’t. We lived parallel lives, except mine was covered in soot. I looked the same, but I may not have acted the same. Understand that I was in an upside-down world.”

Her film, now in postproduction, is a window into this world of childhood trauma.
“Where I come from, it’s really stuffed under the rug, though it’s starting to change,” she said matter-of-factly. Her wide, blue eyes stared straight ahead. She cited the case of another young woman in her community who accused her father of molesting her. “The whole community shut her up; they told her to leave in silence, so she left for Israel,” Rabinowitz said. “People say, ‘She’s crazy’; no one believed her. Yeah, she’s crazy. If your father is lying on top of you every night, suffocating you and raping you, of course you’re crazy. When you survive abuse, there’s always someone else in your head. You see it in Yuval.”
Rabinowitz didn’t go into too much detail about her own story, but years of abuse, and her subsequent turn to substance abuse, landed her in Retorno, an Israeli religious drug rehab center. When she returned to the States, “straightened out” and “frum again,” her past as a vulnerable young woman continued to haunt her. When she was 18, a community member drove her home from an event and said he had to stop at his house to “get something,” inviting her in.
“I was 18 years old, and he was 70 years old, a very prominent person in the community,” she said. “He brought me to his house, and he did something to me.” After pausing, she continued, “When he drove me home, he said, ‘Wow, the things you make me do…. ’ I told a domestic abuse organization about what happened, and they told me, ‘If you go to the police, you have nothing on him; no one will believe you, and he will bury you.’”
That was the moment that she realized something needs to change. “I would be speaking to religious kids from different communities, from around the world, and everyone had a story, everyone knows someone who is affected by this,” she said. “We need everyone to finally be open and connect all those stories to make a difference.”
She rattles off harrowing story after story, name after name, with unnerving poise.
“My focus is not on the perpetrators. So instead I’ve turned to film to tell my story. My goal is to use Yuval’s story to de-stigmatize the issue of child sexual abuse. I hope to motivate people who have not experienced this trauma to take action to help victims.”
Read more: http://forward.com/life/faith/379521/orthodox-survivor-of-sex-abuse-exposes-traumas-in-new-film/

Still Feeling 

 

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  Through moments of composition, expression, contemplation, pain, and awakening, Yuval subtly addresses her childhood experiences; explaining the complexities of the emotional, psychological, and physical effects of childhood sexual trauma....

Rabinowitz is a survivor of sexual abuse herself — and a graduate of the ultra-Orthodox Bais Yaakov girls school system.

“Most people around me don’t acknowledge the fact that I was abused at all,” she told me in an interview. “I have close friends who don’t acknowledge it. My film trailer was the first time I said it publicly. I’m making this documentary for my friends and family to be able to say, ‘This is for you to know how to talk about it with me.’

“I know it’s hard for people to process. When someone says they were raped by a family member, you’ll never be able to understand what that feels like, but you do understand that basic feeling of shame and suffering. It’s by empathy — through art and music — that we can come to understand another’s pain, rather than through intellectual understanding.”

In her forthcoming film, shot mostly in Tel Aviv, Rabinowitz shows Goldenberg talking about her music and her dissociation, as she bounces between her Orthodox family and her artist friends, many of whom are also survivors of abuse.

“Don’t assume that people are normal and happy,” Rabinowitz said. “My friend and I went along the same path. We wore the same school uniform. I went home and I was abused. She went home and she wasn’t. We lived parallel lives, except mine was covered in soot. I looked the same, but I may not have acted the same. Understand that I was in an upside-down world.”

Her film, now in postproduction, is a window into this world of childhood trauma.

“Where I come from, it’s really stuffed under the rug, though it’s starting to change,” she said matter-of-factly. Her wide, blue eyes stared straight ahead. She cited the case of another young woman in her community who accused her father of molesting her. “The whole community shut her up; they told her to leave in silence, so she left for Israel,” Rabinowitz said. “People say, ‘She’s crazy’; no one believed her. Yeah, she’s crazy. If your father is lying on top of you every night, suffocating you and raping you, of course you’re crazy. When you survive abuse, there’s always someone else in your head. You see it in Yuval.”

Rabinowitz didn’t go into too much detail about her own story, but years of abuse, and her subsequent turn to substance abuse, landed her in Retorno, an Israeli religious drug rehab center.

When she returned to the States, “straightened out” and “frum again,” her past as a vulnerable young woman continued to haunt her. When she was 18, a community member drove her home from an event and said he had to stop at his house to “get something,” inviting her in.

“I was 18 years old, and he was 70 years old, a very prominent person in the community,” she said. “He brought me to his house, and he did something to me.” After pausing, she continued, “When he drove me home, he said, ‘Wow, the things you make me do…. ’ I told a domestic abuse organization about what happened, and they told me, ‘If you go to the police, you have nothing on him; no one will believe you, and he will bury you.’”

That was the moment that she realized something needs to change. “I would be speaking to religious kids from different communities, from around the world, and everyone had a story, everyone knows someone who is affected by this,” she said. “We need everyone to finally be open and connect all those stories to make a difference.”

She rattles off harrowing story after story, name after name, with unnerving poise.

“My focus is not on the perpetrators. So instead I’ve turned to film to tell my story. My goal is to use Yuval’s story to de-stigmatize the issue of child sexual abuse. I hope to motivate people who have not experienced this trauma to take action to help victims.”

Read more: http://forward.com/life/faith/379521/orthodox-survivor-of-sex-abuse-exposes-traumas-in-new-film/

In a nutshell

Still Feeling is a short documentary that celebrates the human spirit. This film employs a novel stylistic approach, to shift the focus from stories of abuse—what exactly happened—to what really matters to a victim's support system, which is the experience and the pain of the person who was abused.

 Still Feeling uses artistic expression as the opening to uncover what it means to be physically, emotionally and mentally violated. By using art to tap into the audience’s vulnerabilities, Still Feeling provides a unique opportunity to explore the depth of the experience and pain of this trauma on a personal level.

 Through moments of composition, expression, contemplation, pain, and awakening, Yuval subtly addresses her childhood experiences; explaining the complexities of the emotional, psychological, and physical effects of childhood sexual trauma.

Still Feeling is in the final phase of post production. This is the magical process of crafting the powerful footage we have into an outstanding documentary film. Please take part in the magic, and help us reach our  post production goal to ensure the continuation of this story. Click here to make a 100% tax deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor.

Yuval Goldenberg

Yuval is an Israeli singer-songwriter who found her voice through music. At a time when Yuval’s life was consumed by the pain, and her daily interactions were overpowered by trauma, Yuval says, “My only lifeline was my music.”

Yuval has chosen to come face-to-face with her experiences of child sexual abuse. Rather than live in the shadow of the trauma, she chose to elevate her pain through song. In Yuval’s original music, she tackles mental health and explores the concepts of destruction and rebirth.

Learn More

• Wall Of Shame Safety Alert : Israel לאחר חקירה ממושכת ומאומצת, JCW מוצא לנכון להזהיר את הציבור מפניו של אליהו יואל (יואלי) ובר, זאת לאחר בדיקה מעמיקה של טענות חמורות ואמינות בדבר סדרה של הטרדות מיניות שביצע. ובר ביצע לכאורה שורת מעשים של התעללות חמורה בקטינים כאשר שימש בתפקיד מלמד בחיידר "בית-דוד" במונסי, זאת טרם שעלה לישראל בשנת 2013. ובר מתגורר כיום ברמת בית שמש ב', הוא משמש כמנהל רוחני של חיידר "חכמת שלמה" בשכונת מאה שערים בירושלים. נציין כי המוסד היה מודע להאשמות נגדו עוד לפני תקופת העסקתו. After a lengthy, intensive investigation, JCW must warn the community of serious and highly credible allegations of sexual molestation by Eliyahu Yoel Weber (Yoely) formerly of Monsey, NY, now of Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet, Israel.  Weber is alleged to have molested multiple male minors during his time as a rebbe in Beis Dovid in Monsey before moving to Israel in 2013. Weber now resides in Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet, and is currently the menahel ruchani of the Chochmos Shlomo cheder in the Meah Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem. The school was aware of the allegations against Weber before hiring him. נאך א לאנגע און אינטענסיווע ויספאָרשונג, JCW מוזן ווארענען די קהילה פון ערנסט און שטארק אַלאַגיישאנז פון געשלעכט - מאלעסטיישאן דורך אליהו יואל וועבער (יאולי) אַמאָל פון ניו יורק מונסי, איצט וואוינט ער אין רמת בית שמש, ארה"ק. וועבער איז אמאל געפונען מיט קליינע קינדר אין צייט וואס ער איז געווען א רבי אין בית דוד חיידר אין מאנסי. איידער ער האט געקומען קיין ישראל פיר יאר צוריק. וועבער וואוינט איצט אין רמת בית שמש ב', און איז איצט די מנהל 'רוחני' פון די חכמת שלמה חייידר אין מאה שערים. די חיידר האט געווסט פון די אַלאַגיישאנז קעגן וועבער איידער ער איז געווארן מנהל. Donate Today & Help Us Keep Our Streets Safe

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  אופיר סמימי מירושלים

  אופיר סמימי מירושלים

  08/09/2017Baby Hunterאבי דוביצקי, אופיר סמימי, אור בן בצי, אור בן צבי, אורי שבתאי, גיל ראובני, כרמלה שבתאי, עידו רביב, עידן מירון

  אופיר סמימי מירושלים נעצר לאחר שהגיע למפגש מיני עם ילד בן 13, הוא עובד בישיבה בחב"ד בירושלים כטבח,וקישר עצמו לאירועים פלילים מסוג זה, משטרה הצליחה לאתר קורבן אמיתי, ואימו הגישה תלונה כנגד אופיר סמימי וזה נשאר במעצר.
  בעקבות המעצר אופיר סגר את הפייסבוק שלו.

  
  
  
  
  
   





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If we want true everlasting happiness we will only find it in the silence, in the stillness and in the now. It is there where everything will make sense. This is not a place to fear but a place to embrace, a place to heal, and a place to remember....

What I Learned From Blaise Pascal About The Power Of Stillness

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. -Blaise Pascal

Can you sit alone for a period of time, quietly, without distraction? That simple act has taken me years to master and I still have a way to go.  My search for stillness has led me to the words of a French mathematician and theologist named Blaise Pascal.

What did Pascal mean by those famous words above?  

The thought above came from Pensees 139, one of the many thoughts Pascal wrote during his life in the mid 1600’s and shared posthumously with the world.  Many critics would later view and translate his words to mean that we humans are avoiding stillness and solitude because we fear  the truth a world without distraction would lead us to face.

Why can we not just sit alone? What truth are we running from?

It seems that in his thought 139, Pascal is saying that without entertainment, distraction, diversion man would be forced to be alone with the inevitable “truth” of his existence.  That so called truth is: Life is tough and man is meant to suffer. Man is bound to be miserable.  (Pascal’s Pensees, n.d.)
Is this true or merely a belief humanity has clung to throughout the centuries? Are we running from truth or an illusion?

What I believe to be true is that if human beings are forced to sit still in a room alone without distraction, they will have to deal with the insufferable mind… the worries, threats, rumination, and fears that fill it.  They will be forced to listen to ego’s incessant chirping about how miserable this existence is.

It is understandable then why many of us avoid being alone in quiet and stillness. Why would anyone want to be still when stillness brings such horrible unhappiness?

The Solution 

If humanity’s problem is that man cannot sit alone quietly, what then would the proposed solution be?  Isn’t it obvious?  We must learn to sit quietly without diversion.

Is it possible that what Pascal was saying was not so much that the problems of the world were due to man’s inability to sit quietly and accept suffering , but that the only solution was to sit quietly so he could learn to get beyond suffering?

Could Pensees 139 be a request for the ceasing of senseless activity and the suggestion that we can actually solve humanity’s problems if we simply spend more time, as individuals, going inward?  Is this not the mantra of most of our present age spiritual teachers and gurus?

Could he be saying that diversion, our chasing after futuristic goals and our ceaseless need to do will not save us but maybe quiet time in prayer, meditation, and truth- seeking will?

Can we at least put down our electronic devices, our phones, our brain numbing activities for a few minutes and try to sit quietly alone somewhere?

What does it entail to sit alone without diversion?  

Sitting quietly will involve, I believe, a two-part process.  First, we have to face the feelings that arise when we examine this collective belief that life is miserable and that we were meant to do nothing but suffer.  We simply need to question the validity of that belief that makes us so unhappy. We need to question ego.

This desolate view of self and life is ego’s doing.  Ego doesn’t want us still.  It does everything it can to keep our bodies doing and our minds full of useless thoughts so it fills us with the fear of quiet spaces.  Even Pascal in a later Pensees wrote, “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.” (Pensees 206)

It is the ego that creates fear, and the ego that keeps us running from the Self we find in the quiet still places. Ego knows if we find the true Self, we will no longer buy into its lies and empty promises.  It will not survive. Our finding the peace of stillness and silence will mean the end of ego.  So it tries to convince us that the quiet is a dangerous place we should not enter.

We need to stop listening to ego.

Secondly, when we face this fear induced by faulty belief, we will have the opportunity to go beyond ego to the true Self, to remembering who and what we are and from Whom we came. We have forgotten this Truth and stillness is the only place where it can be found. Remembering who we really are  will bring a peace and happiness that no momentary pleasure derived from ego distraction could ever match.

We are not our egos.  We are so much more.  Life is also not how ego has painted it.  It too is so much more. This is the Truth silence gives us.  This is the Truth we run from when we listen to ego and are tempted by its many worldly distractions and diversions.

Finding Happiness in the Silence

If we want true everlasting happiness we will only find it in the silence, in the stillness and in the now.  It is there where everything will make sense.  This is not a place to fear but a place to embrace, a place to heal, and a place to remember.

I love this line from lesson 291 of A Course in Miracles. “The real world shows a world seen differently through quiet eyes and with minds at peace. There is nothing but rest there.  There are no cries of pain and sorrow heard…”

Why don’t we put down our diversions and find a quiet room to sit in?  There, we can examine our fearful thoughts.  We can learn to see past this ego illusion and see the beauty of promise true reflection offers us.  There is no suffering in the room we learn to sit quietly in alone, only peace. And is peace that humanity needs.

Just sit!

http://thewisdomdaily.com/what-i-learned-from-blaise-pascal-about-the-power-of-stillness/

If we would economize more and not splurge on unnecessary material comforts we would not be compelled to seek government aid fraudulently and the resultant antagonism toward hasidim could be averted....

 Luxury as the Great Pitfall for Hasidim

In a telephonic lecture this past Tishoh beav, Saul Klein excoriated the haredi trend to pursue luksus (luxury) at the expense of basic necessities and a profanation of God’s name. The 40-minute lecture was given in a program called hotzi shiur (half measure) accessible on the Kol Mevaser telephone hotline. Klein belongs to the Old Guard, harboring memories of R. Joel Teitelbaum and the formative years of Satmar hasidus in America. He has distinguished himself as an expert in haredi education and he is also a columnist on the Aaronite newspaper Di Zeitung.

Klein cited several examples of the luksus he despises:

• An advertisement in a hasidic paper showing a burger with the subtitle “decadent”.
• An advertisement for a haredi group cruise on a yacht, with a concert, and with gourmet meals served by uniformed white-gloved servants.

He reminisced how in the old days people would wrangle over who would get to pay the least –a mere $50 for the summer– for a bungalow, whereas nowadays the contest is for the bigger, better-furnished and most expensive “bungalow”. He wistfully recalled the days when the mere purchase of a car was considered flaunting one’s wealth and dubious, whereas now two  “luxury Lexus” cars (alliterative pun intended) are acceptable.

Aside from the crass ungodly materialism such a lifestyle entails, Klein criticized it on the grounds that its adherents neglect to abide by more basic communal and familial financial commitments, e.g. the one who was behind four months in tuition but somehow had the funds to travel to Uman for Rosh Hashonoh.

People are naturally xenophobic, says Klein, e.g. the post 9-11 animosity toward Muslims. When we flaunt our wealth and employ legally questionable methods to maintain our profligate lifestyle, we trigger the ire of the gentiles and sometimes even that of modern Jews.

When the federal government hands down an indictment against a Hasid accused of defrauding a welfare program, “the media do not go to Saul Klein to get an expert explanation; they go to Samuel Heilman” and what Heilman tells them is that Hasidim lead a legally-defined poverty-laden life by choice, even as the community’s coffers are full and even as many recipients of welfare programs have plenty of money for other things. What Heilman does not acknowledge, bemoans Klein, is that the costs of maintaining a haredi lifestyle are so high that even with the underreporting of income haredim are still indigent and morally justified in seeking government aid.

Nevertheless, Klein exhorts, if we would economize more and not splurge on unnecessary material comforts we would not be compelled to seek government aid fraudulently and the resultant antagonism toward hasidim could be averted.

Samuel Heilman is the author of a dozen books on hasidism, including the recently published Who Will Lead Us whose ripples have been felt among hasidim, e.g. this KaveShtiebel forum thread
Kol Mevaser lectures are popular with Internet-barred young hasidic lads who resort to Kol Mevaser’s telephonic technology to access words of wisdom by haredi rabbis and experts, as well as a steady stream of news.

http://hasidicnews.com/hn/?p=739

This Article Will NOT appear in AMI or Mishpacha.....Or Yated, Hamodia.....

To the Extraordinary Men: We See You.

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m busy dismantling the patriarchy at every opportunity.

 

That said, don’t expect me to start in saying something about how sorry I feel for men and how they get such a bad rap. Sometimes that bad rap is richly deserved—and don’t even get me started on misogyny or rape culture or the massive gender inequities that are clear to anyone who’s paying attention.


Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way (my disclaimer, if you will), I can say this: There are extraordinary men in this world.

Not only do we know they are out there, we see them in our own lives. We do. And when we complain about men in general, we don’t mean you. But you already know that, because it’s not your fragility shouting, “But not all men!” You would never say that because you know that we didn’t mean “all men.” We meant “most men.” The majority, not the extraordinary. We know there are other extraordinary men out there, just like you.

We appreciate how you aren’t intimidated by the strength of women. You don’t feel insecure about our education, careers, or choices. You recognize our accomplishments and respect them. But then again, you just respect us—not because we’re the “weaker sex” or “fragile,” but because you recognize us as equal human beings.

We appreciate that you don’t think housework or childcare is just “helping out” or “babysitting,” but simply a part of your responsibility as a household member or parent. You do it without expecting thanks or acknowledgement because it’s just what responsible, mature people do.

We see you.

We appreciate that you don’t catcall or touch us without our consent. We appreciate that consent is equally important to you. We appreciate that you respect us when we say “no.” We appreciate that you don’t slut shame us or call us prudes. We appreciate that you respect our bodies as being our own and don’t try to control or judge our choices.

We appreciate that you don’t stay silent around “locker room talk.” You confront these attitudes and choose not to spend time with people who promote rape culture. You never, ever, say anything that could be construed as “locker room talk” because you actually respect women.

We appreciate when you identify as feminist and use your own voice to create change. Your masculinity isn’t threatened by feminism because you understand that gender equity helps us all. It doesn’t take anything away from you or any other man when women are given fair and equal treatment. You understand this, and we applaud you.

We appreciate that you still open doors and show courtesy. We appreciate that you keep your word and don’t try to pretend to be someone you’re not. We love your authenticity and your refusal to treat relationships as a game.

We appreciate when you tell us we’re beautiful—not just when we’re dressed up for a night out with perfect hair and expertly applied makeup. No, you tell us we’re beautiful when we’re exhausted after a long night with our kids or when we’re sick. We love that you appreciate who we are and what we do and aren’t afraid to tell us. We appreciate that you value our happiness as much as your own.

We appreciate that you don’t try to change us. We’re not too much or not enough for you; we’re perfect just the way we are, flaws and all. We love that you enjoy our similarities and celebrate our differences.

We appreciate that you touch us. Oh, not just our bodies (though of course we love that), but you also touch our hearts and our minds. You connect with us on deeper levels than just the physical because you’re not at all afraid of intimacy. We love that you look us in the eyes and listen.

We see you and appreciate you because we know that you see and appreciate us as well.

We appreciate the extraordinary men of this world. We see you and recognize your value, even if the rest overlook it or ridicule it or misunderstand it.

Know you are seen.

Know you’re appreciated.

And know that the right hearts will recognize you for the extraordinary men that you are.

https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/08/to-the-extraordinary-men-we-see-you/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Wake%20Up%20Call%20August%207th&utm_content=Daily%20Wake%20Up%20Call%20August%207th+CID_8d526e922ade1ef6069f8469d0d10730&utm_source=Email%20Marketing&utm_term=Read%20More

Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky's Influence In Brooklyn Is Going To The Dogs!

From the Raw Story:

“We do see a higher number of clients who don’t want to vaccinate their animals,” Dr. Amy Ford of the Veterinarian Wellness Center in the Boerum Hill neighborhood told the Brooklyn Paper. “This may be stemming from the anti-vaccine movement, which people are now applying to their pets.”

Dr. Ford said that more and more people hailing from hip areas of Brooklyn are refusing to vaccinate their pets for rabies, distemper and hepatitis — all of which are required by law in New York.

“It’s actually much more common in the hipster-y areas,” Ford said. “I really don’t know what the reasoning is, they just feel that injecting chemicals into their pet is going to cause problems.”

I wonder what "chemicals" these Brooklyn hipters take into their own bodies. At any rate, they better not pull this crap with cats.

h/t: Barry

FRAUD - FRAUD - FRAUD!

אם אינך רואה מייל זה אנא לחץ/י כאן

What is “Tu B’Av Together” and why are thousands of Jews participating? Read on Join the many singles (now married) whose prayers were answered after last year’s tefillah (no donation required, join by CLICKING HERE now) Join (for free) the Special Tefillah for SHIDDUCHIM (Marriage) & All Yeshuos in AMUKA On The Day of Segulah of TU B’AV A Minyan Talmidei Chachamim of Yad L’Achim Will Pray For You & Your Loved ones on Tu B’av, The Noted Day Of Segulah For Shidduchim, In Amuka WHERE THOUSANDS HAVE ALREADY HAD THEIR TEFILLOS ANSWERED No donation required to submit names – just click here Learn about the Global Day of Tefillah Initiative –“Tu New postB’Av Together” – where Jews across the world (that includes you) will daven together on Tu B’Av – Monday, Aug. 7th @10am EST– be a part of it! Visit www.TUBAVTOGETHER.com Watch the Viral Videos Click HERE or on the image below to submit your names or call 1‑866‑923‑5224 or visit WWW.YADLACHIM.ORG

Any Lingering Doubt That Charlie Kushner Bought RCA's Hershel Schachter and Blessed Lookstein's Fraudulent Conversion of Ivanka Trump Should Now Be Removed...

 How senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner got into Harvard is an instructive one.

Of course few will be surprised that Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, a wealthy and connected developer and political donor, helped him get in. But the details of just how that happened, described in Daniel Golden’s thoroughly reported 2007 book The Price of Admission, remain remarkable to this day.

What Golden found, essentially, was that Jared’s father handed Harvard (a school he did not attend) a big pile of money just as Jared was starting to apply to colleges. Around the same time, Jared’s dad got his US senator to contact another US senator to arrange a chat with Harvard’s dean of admissions.

Happily for the Kushner family, Jared was then admitted. But several officials at Jared’s high school outright told Golden that they found the choice puzzling, since his grades and academic record really didn’t seem to merit it:

In 1998, according to sources familiar with the gift, the New York University alumnus [Charles Kushner] pledged $2.5 million to Harvard, to be paid in annual installments of $250,000. ... At the time of the pledge, Kushner’s older son, Jared, was starting the college admissions process at the Frisch School, a Jewish high school in Paramus, New Jersey. A senior in 1998-99, Jared was not in the school’s highest academic track in all courses, and his test scores were below Ivy League standards. Frisch officials were surprised when he applied to Harvard — and dismayed when he was admitted.

“There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard,” a former school official told me. “His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought for sure, there was no way this was going to happen. Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted. It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not” ...

... Margot Krebs, who was director of Frisch’s college preparatory program at the time, said, “Jared was certainly not anywhere near the top of his class. He had some very strong personal qualities. He’s a very charming young man with a great deal of poise, the sort of kid you would look at him and say, ‘This is a future politician.’ It was an unusual choice for Harvard to make.”

Golden goes on to describe the role of the two senators — Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts — in getting Charles Kushner in touch with Harvard’s dean of admissions:

A source close to the family told me that New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg, to whom Kushner and his family gave nearly $100,000 from 1992 to 2002, turned to Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy to boost Jared’s Harvard prospects. Senator Kennedy, a Harvard alumnus whose family has been associated with the university for three generations, is said to have contacted admissions dean William Fitzsimmons, who then spoke with Kushner.

You can read more detail in Golden’s book, but overall the saga is a rather remarkable peek behind the curtain at just how the admissions process can be twisted to the benefit of the wealthy.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/2/16084226/jared-kushner-harvard-affirmative-action

Haskel Lookstein In His Own Words - Why Lookstein's Converts Are Not Converts At All!

..."This is besides placing in jeopardy the Jewish status of Reform and Conservative converts who wish to register as Jews with the Interior Ministry." (NO KABALLAT MITZVOS REQUIRED)

 

Words count!

Haskel Lookstein Rabbi Haskel Lookstein is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and Principal Emeritus of the Ramaz School

 
By Haskel Lookstein

If there is anything clear in the history of the Jewish People during this season on the Jewish calendar, it is that words count! We are entering the period of the Three Weeks of semi-mourning, leading up to the Ninth of Av, which marks the anniversary of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE (and its predecessor, in 576 BCE). According to the Talmud, this tragedy occurred because of unnecessary, internecine hatred among the Jews of 1st century Judea. Jewish religious and political groups hated each other and expressed that hatred in evil words which ultimately proved to be destructive.

Something like this seems to be happening today in pronouncements by the Government of Israel and the responses to them by voices in Israel and in America. The Cabinet of Israel recently announced two decisions that have an impact far beyond the shores of Israel. The first freezes a carefully negotiated agreement to establish an area of the Kotel, known as Robinson’s Arch – out of sight and sound of the Kotel Plaza – to accommodate non-Orthodox prayer services. The agreement had been negotiated by a broad coalition of groups under the chairmanship of Natan Sharansky and was accepted by the Government in January, 2016.

It isn’t entirely clear exactly what the “freeze” entails but the Haredi Minister of Health, who leads Israel’s United Torah Party, expressed very clearly what he – and, presumably, his colleagues – believe it to mean: “The Government’s decision to freeze the Western Wall arrangement,” he said, “sends a clear message to the entire world. The Reform do not and will not have access or recognition at the Western Wall.”

Words count!

Words count especially when they are spoken by one of the leaders of the government coalition, which includes seventeen members of the Haredi parties and which forced the hand of the Prime Minister to create this freeze or risk the fall of his government. These are hurtful – I dare say, hateful – words spoken by a representative of the Government of Israel against fellow Jews. This is sinat chinam – unwarranted hatred – for those with whom one disagrees. It is this kind of talk that led to the destruction of the Second Temple as taught by the Talmud and confirmed in the writings of academic historians.

Simultaneously, the government introduced a bill into the Knesset to designate the Chief Rabbinate as the sole authority to approve conversions to Judaism in Israel. This would nullify recognition of conversions by independent Orthodox courts and prevent the conversions of tens of thousands of Israelis from the former Soviet Union who want to be Jewish, are ready to accept Jewish practice, speak Hebrew, serve in the IDF, send their children to Israeli schools and will inevitably marry other Jewish Israelis. Nullifying or preventing their conversions will forever divide the Jewish people in their own land.

 This is besides placing in jeopardy the Jewish status of Reform and Conservative converts who wish to register as Jews with the Interior Ministry.

(NO KABALLAT MITZVOS REQUIRED)

So much for all the protests – and the agreements – of last summer. Oh how words count!

But words count also in the reactions and responses to these troubling actions and words by the government of Israel and its leaders. The first response that is troubling is the response of silence. I am referring to the silence of Modern Orthodox leaders and organizations. Where is the outrage over these hurtful actions and hateful words? Why has the Minister of Health not been called to task by Modern Orthodox rabbinic and lay organizations? How can we let him get away with saying that the State of Israel will assure that “Reform” – and, presumably, Conservative and egalitarian or women’s prayer groups – “do not and will not have access or recognition at the Western Wall?” Whose Wall does he think this is?

Some years ago, when a women’s group brought a Torah to the women’s section of the Kotel, and terrible epithets were hurled at them by intolerant men, Rabbi Yehuda Getz, then Rabbi of the Kotel, rushed out to the Kotel Plaza and proclaimed: This wall belongs to everyone; to men and women, to Ashkenazim and Sephardim, to Hassidim and to Misnagdim, to religious and to irreligious,… as it is written “For my House will be called a House for all nations (Isaiah).”

Where is the Rabbi Getz of today, in the Haredi world, in the Modern Orthodox world? We are not living in pre-emancipation times. Not every Jew will live according to Halacha. Not every Jew will pray as I do; so therefore he/she has no right to pray at the Kotel? Where is the fairness, the tolerance for other points of view, the ahavat Yisrael, love of Israel? Unless one doesn’t consider other Jews who practice their Judaism differently from “us,” Jewish. Then we are back in the days of 70 CE, God forbid. The Talmud says that the rabbinic leaders of that day saw what was happening and stood by silently, without protesting. Sometimes, silence speaks volumes.

Edmund Burke wrote in 1795 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Words count!

But, there is a proper way to respond. Words count here too!

The outcry from many Jewish groups has been very strong, indeed, powerful. Justifiably so. The government’s actions have been divisive for the entire Jewish people and some of the words have been very hurtful. Some of the reactions, however, have been more than strident; they have been dangerous. In one’s passion to criticize and correct bad behavior and words, one should not punish the entire Jewish people and the citizenry of Israel. One should be careful, when trying to ensure the survival of Clal Yisrael not to hurt Clal Yisrael. One should not urge American Jews to boycott all government officials and to shun the Prime Minister on our visits — or theirs. One should not discourage philanthropic giving to Israeli hospitals and urge American Jews to fly to Israel on the friendly skies of United and Delta, and boycott EL AL. That excessive response to outrageous governmental behavior is understandable, but not practical. It could mean hurting UJA and the Federation movement. It could result in serious losses to AIPAC. In the effort to ensure that Israel does not divide the Jewish people, one could, God forbid, turn Jew against Jew and greatly weaken all of our efforts on behalf of Israel and the America-Israel relationship. The anger may be justified; but the damage must be controlled.

Words count! And can have a lasting, destructive effect.

The most constructive words regarding this controversy, have been expressed, by the leadership of the Conference of Presidents: Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman. In their statement they announced that they had said in a letter to the Prime Minister that “it is imperative that the government move expeditiously to address this matter and come up with a resolution that is equitable to all, as you sought to do in the agreement that was reached before.”

The letter noted that “given all the challenges facing Israel and American Jewry, this is a time when achdut, unity, is more important than ever.” Acknowledging that “there are different points of view,” the Conference leaders wrote that those differences “can and must be brought into harmony to enable a way forward without intimidation, threats or feelings of exclusion…. Delay will only exacerbate tensions and make an equitable outcome more difficult.”

Hopefully, with courageous and sensible leadership in Israel, these words will count!

—

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and Principal Emeritus of the Ramaz School.

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/words-count/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=7d63cd85ca-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_31&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-7d63cd85ca-55186525

A Tendler By Another Name - Yaakov Yagen - Keep Your Wives And Daughters Away From This Guy!

YAAKOV YAGEN