GEVALT! The Jewish Fress Gets It Right (After being tormented for 16 years For Being Idiots)

Word Prompt – GEVALT – Yisroel Picker

Photo Credit: Jewish Press

I recently posted the following on my LinkedIn account:

You aren’t to blame if the abuser loses their job due to your reporting.

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You aren’t to blame if the abuser ends up getting divorced due to your reporting.

You aren’t to blame if the family of the abuser suffers because the abuser gets put in jail due to their actions.

And Finally:

You aren’t to blame if the abuser decided to take their own life rather than go to court and/or jail.

It is the abuser themself who is solely responsible for all the above.

Some of the comments complained that religious Jews should not be speaking about this in public. That the family of the (alleged) perpetrator shouldn’t suffer (despite the fact that I listed no names). That I was defiling Jews across the globe.

My reaction to these comments was a single word: “GEVALT!”

We have made huge strides in the area of child sex abuse prevention, but huge strides doesn’t mean we are anywhere near the goal.

https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/features/word-prompt/word-prompt-gevalt-yisroel-picker/2022/07/20/

 

...And in the beginning....בְּרֵאשִׁית

An Anonymous Flier (Pashkevil) In Brooklyn
By: Editorial Board  
Wednesday, February 22, 2006

It was doubtless inadvertent, but the author of the flier makes our point. Thus, the flier recites that "this mailing should not have been necessary," inasmuch as the target and his employer were warned in advance that if the individual either resigned or was fired, "th[e] mailing would be stopped." And on the Internet, the author has declared to one and all that he is about to "uncover" others if they do not accede to his demands. 

Plainly, this individual is engaged in an effort to fashion a weapon with which to impose his will on Klal Yisrael. 

An anonymously written flier mailed recently to many Jewish homes in Brooklyn, containing lurid accusations of improper conduct against an individual in our community and railing against his employer for not firing him, should be taken as a serious warning of a cancer growing in our midst. The flier not only offers no substantiation of the charges themselves, but also reports uncorroborated – and, it turns out, vigorously denied – comments from the employer, which the flier’s unknown author offers as proof of a cover-up. 

 READ IT ALL:

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2006/02/jewish-presstrash-weighs-in-with-their.html

We live in a time of extremes. Some of the religious leaders of our age have embarked on a battle against the world we live in. The argument that to be a loyal Jew (a “Torah Jew”) involves rejection of science and culture has to involve an emotional, not an intellectual position, and ipso facto it has to involve rejection—usually vehement rejection—of others.

 

Charisma: A Note on the Dangerous Outer Boundary of Spirituality

 

 

For the past several years, I have contributed postings to a number of websites on the subject of the dangerously charismatic teacher in schools. The material was based on my book on Jewish school management that was published at the beginning of 2010. The section on the charismatic teacher was entitled “The Pied Piper.”’[i] Paul Shaviv

Tragically, between the time that the section was originally written (in 2007) and the time the book was published, a former Jewish Studies teacher at our school was arrested on very serious charges of sexual molestation and assault. His alleged offenses were committed in Israel. Following his arrest, an investigation in Toronto unearthed many issues of concern. He had exemplified many of the good and many of the bad characteristics of the charismatic teacher, especially one active in the religious life of the school. While in Toronto (as a shaliah) he had been immensely popular; had been idolized by students and by some staff; was a talented musician, much in demand locally as a singer at weddings and other community celebrations; and was also used by NCSY as a youth leader and resource. Many former students testified to the profound religious influence he had on their lives. Others—as it emerged—had far darker, tragic, and damaging memories.

The whole episode and its aftermath caused me many hours of reflection, and made me reconsider fundamentally many other encounters throughout my life with charismatic rabbis and teachers—in both personal and professional capacities. I concluded that although many good teachers and rabbis have elements of charisma in their personalities and style, the overtly charismatic personality almost always masks far more sinister agendas, and must be treated and managed with the utmost caution. The tipping point is where the personality of the teacher/rabbi is more important than the content of his message or teaching. Sadly, most readers of this article will be familiar with examples from within our own community, let alone examples from other educational and religious communities.

Where, though, are the boundaries? At what point does charisma become dangerous? In a community (and a wider world) where an elusive quality called “spirituality” is constantly sought as representing the “authentic” in the religious quest, how can the individual, or the community, or the responsible leader, distinguish the teacher with integrity from the predator?

It can be difficult; but there are some obvious danger signs. They may be present in different combinations, and seem to have some degree of overlap with recognized patterns of cult behavior, although they are rarely so blatant. They may include, but are not limited to:

The personality of the rabbi/teacher becomes the most important part of his presence, rather than the content of what he is teaching. When people go to a shiur, or a workshop, or a lesson, to see what “X” is doing or saying—rather than what “X” is teaching—a personality cult is in the making. The same applies when their conversation is about X’s latest action, or remark, or appearance—rather than X’s “Torah.” A truly spiritual personality, in a Jewish context, is concerned to bring people to God, not to himself (more rarely—herself).

Extreme emotional or pseudo-intellectual manipulations are being used to demonstrate that X, and only X, has “the answer.” A spiritually and intellectually honest teacher will rarely deal in absolutes.

The teachings and views of others—particularly rivals for the charismatic teacher’s popularity—are openly disparaged or undermined.

In an institutional or community setting, the followers of the charismatic rabbi/teacher become a group within a group. They do not mix with others, and see themselves as an elite.

Individuals or small groups regard themselves as favored protégés of the teacher. When they no longer uncritically accept the teacher’s philosophy or Torah, they are quickly dropped; disillusion—often accompanied by feelings of betrayal—sets in.

Counseling, advice and guidance are being given on deeply personal, perhaps intimate matters, far beyond the training and competence of the rabbi/teacher. The personalities we are describing will often invite such disclosures.

There is one clear sign that should immediately raise red flags:

The rabbi/teacher teaches, or shows by behavior, that he or she is exempt from the rules that apply to others. Mesmerized followers accept that “it”—whatever “it” is—is permissible or not problematic because the rabbi/teacher has special reasons, or a special argument, or special circumstances, or special authority, to justify the behavior. Often, there is an accompanying condition: Don’t tell anyone about this, because no one else can understand.

This is most obvious in a sexual context, but any and every such instance is suspect. Are meetings and encounters taking place at times, places, and in circumstances that violate accepted norms and practices? Are improper communications passed between individuals? Are money, gifts, favors, special treatment being exchanged?

The sad list goes on. Unfortunately, in our community context, too many people who should know better willfully ignore such danger signs, arguing that the ends justify the means. The word “kiruv” frequently figures in such discussions. It takes a great deal of courage, and a great deal of conviction, to stand up against this type of activity.

We live in a time of extremes. Some of the religious leaders of our age have embarked on a battle against the world we live in. The argument that to be a loyal Jew (a “Torah Jew”) involves rejection of science and culture has to involve an emotional, not an intellectual position, and ipso facto it has to involve rejection—usually vehement rejection—of others. 

 Parallel or analogous political positions and beliefs will generate similar behaviors. They all encourage extreme personalities. Tolerating, let alone encouraging, extreme personalities makes the group vulnerable to unhealthy influence and behavior.

We need charisma—it has an honorable history in leadership, certainly including models of Jewish leadership—but we need it to be combined with uncompromising, uncompromised, and comprehensive integrity. That integrity has to be religious, emotional, behavioral, and intellectual. But it is very difficult to be a charismatic moderate!

 

[i]The character of the Pied Piper remains a seductive and sinister figure in folklore. According to legend, in 1284 130 children mysteriously disappeared from the medieval German city of Hamelin (Hameln). A man dressed in colorful (“pied”) clothing, and playing a pipe mesmerized the city’s children with his music. Bewitched, and entirely under his control, they blindly followed him out of the city to an unknown destination, and were never seen again. (Also by playing his pipe, he had lured the rats that plagued the city to their deaths by drowning in the local river. The town council refused to pay him for his services. In an act of revenge, he worked his magic on the children.) The poet Robert Browning (1812–1889) immortalized the story in verse (“The Pied Piper of Hamelin”).

 

Paul Shaviv had been the Director of Education at TanenbaumCHAT, the community high school of the Toronto Jewish community, since 1998. The school is the largest Jewish high school in the Diaspora, with almost 1,500 students (G9-G12) on two campuses. He subsequently served at Ramaz High School in New York, and currently is a highly regarded education consultant. He is originally from the UK, and was educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. In 2010 he published The Jewish High School: A Complete Management Guide. This article appears in issue 9 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals

 

https://www.jewishideas.org/article/charisma-note-dangerous-outer-boundary-spirituality

Queens Yeshiva Teacher Witnesses Sexual Abuse of Kindergarten Boy; Fired for Reporting Incident

 

As the issue of child sexual abuse at the hands of educators continues to dominate the headlines, it was recently reported by the New York Post that a lawsuit indicates that a teacher at a Queens yeshiva allegedly caught a substitute teacher groping a boy of kindergarten age.

The teacher, Roza Tachalov, who teaches Hebrew at Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion Elementary School in Forest Hills, said in the suit that she was condemned for “making up stories” when she reported the abuse to school authorities.Having taught at the Queens yeshiva for nine years, in January 2021, Tachalov witnessed the alleged abuse, according to her Brooklyn Federal Court filing against the school, as was reported by the Post.

In the litigation that she filed, Tachalov said that when she witnessed the incident, students were watching a movie when she saw the substitute with “a kindergarten student sitting on his lap and … touching the child in an inappropriate manner, “ according to the Post report.

As Tachalov fled the classroom on that January day in 2021, the Post reported that the substitute put the child down. Later, Tachalov confirmed what she witnessed through a review of video surveillance. The Post reported that Rabbi Ephraim ben Mordechai refused to watch the video footage and accused Tachalov of mendacious claims and said she was attempting to “destroy” his position with the school board.

Tachalov was later terminated from her teaching position at the yeshiva, according to the Post report. Leaders at the yeshiva in Forest Hills has vowed to inform the parents of the boy in question but did not do so, the report indicated.

The NYPD said it has no reports of the incident, as was reported by the Post.

“We’ll let the courts decide the baseless nature of these charges,” Michael Miranda, a lawyer for the yeshiva, told the Post.

https://thejewishvoice.com/2022/07/queens-yeshiva-teacher-witnesses-sexual-abuse-of-kindergarten-boy-fired-for-reporting-incident/

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for a 6-to-3 majority, affirmed Kennedy’s assertion that his proselytizing on government property during a public-school function was “private,” “personal” and “quiet.”

 

Imagine your boss fervently proclaiming his religious beliefs at the end of a companywide meeting, inviting everyone on the team who shares those beliefs to join in. You’re surrounded by colleagues and other higher-ups. Everyone is watching to see who participates and who holds back, knowing that whatever each of you does could make or break your job and even your career, whether you share his convictions or not. But hey, totally up to you!

 

Joseph Kennedy, a former high school football coach, after arguments in his Supreme Court case

That’s what Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant coach in Kitsap County, Wash., did with his team — only he did it with public-school students at a high-school football game. When the superintendent made clear that by actively inviting players to join him at the 50-yard line for postgame Christian prayers, he was violating school policy and, by the way, the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, Kennedy took to the media, turning a small town’s school sporting event into a three-ring circus and ugly social media sideshow, with students effectively forced to perform or suffer the consequences.

Naming the single worst decision of the Supreme Court’s disgraceful 2021-22 term is a tough call. But the one that best captures the majority’s brazen efforts to inflict its political and religious agenda on the rest of the country may well be Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which ruled that the coach had a constitutional right to pray on the field. Overturning precedent and in a cynical elision of fact, Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for a 6-to-3 majority, affirmed Kennedy’s assertion that his proselytizing on government property during a public-school function was “private,” “personal” and “quiet.”

It was nothing of the kind. In easily observable fact, Kennedy’s religious display was public, vocal and coercive, as demonstrated by testimony from football players and other community members and by video and photographs of the coach surrounded by crowds of people on bent knee. According to an amicus brief filed by one of Kennedy’s football players and seven other members of the community on behalf of the school district, participation in Kennedy’s prayers was “expected.” Students were explicitly encouraged by him to ask the other teams’ coaches and players to join in, something Kennedy himself boasted about.

But this court’s right-wing majority is following the dictum of our Trumpian age: Objective truth doesn’t matter. Subjective belief — specifically the beliefs of the court’s religious-right majority — does. The Kennedy decision wasn’t based on the facts but on belief in the face of facts. Moreover, those six justices are determined to foist their beliefs on the rest of the country.

In allowing for greater “religious expression,” the court curtailed the liberty of those whose prayers take other forms, Americans who practice non-Christian faiths and people who do not practice religion at all. Kitsap County is home to a variety of religions, including Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and Baha’ism. A coach-led Christian prayer on the playing field is necessarily exclusionary.

Students who walked off the field rather than take part in Kennedy’s prayers may have risked losing playing time and perhaps a path to a football scholarship. No athlete on a public-school team should have to pray to play.

“Kennedy v. Bremerton opens the door for so much more government promotion of religion and a great deal of religious favoritism by government officials,” Daniel Mach, director of the A.C.L.U.’s program on freedom of religion and belief, told me. “I think we are likely to see a lot more blatant religious favoritism by school officials who feel emboldened by the decision.”

This comes at a moment when, for the first time, a minority of Americans belong to a church, synagogue or mosque — only 47 percent in 2020, down from 70 percent in 1999. The number of nonbelievers is on the rise, with roughly one in four Americans identifying as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” Belief in God also fell to an all-time low in 2022, with 81 percent of Americans believing in God, down from 98 percent in the 1950s.

This trend is surely part of what drives the resurgent Christian right, and it may well even be on the minds of the current conservative majority on the Supreme Court, five of whom are Catholics and one of whom was raised Catholic but attends an Episcopal church. With their brand of religious dogma losing its purchase, they’re imposing it on the country themselves.

They target a vulnerable population. One atheist student on Kennedy’s team reported feeling coerced to participate. He described feeling “uncomfortable and unsafe” during a chaotic scene in which over 500 people stormed the field to join in Kennedy’s prayers. This deprived the player not only of his free-exercise rights, but also, according to the brief, of “his love for football, lasting friendships with his teammates and the respect he otherwise earned from his coaches.” Years later, the brief reports, he feels traumatized.

It’s also a largely powerless population. While the percentage of nonbelievers in America is increasing, secular humanists and atheists are among the least represented groups in American politics. And while 60 percent of Americans say they would vote for an atheist for president (up from 18 percent in 1958), only one member of the 117th Congress identified as unaffiliated with any religion in a 2021 Pew poll. None identified as atheist or agnostic.

It’s still dangerous to come out as an atheist in many parts of America, according to Rachel Laser, president and chief executive of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “We have religious-minority and atheist plaintiffs and clients who have received death threats and have had their kids physically attacked, their pets killed, their home windows shot out and their businesses boycotted,” Laser told me. “Many are too afraid to be named as plaintiffs and insist on being anonymous because they fear for their own and their families’ health and safety.”

Those who objected to Kennedy’s behavior similarly faced harassment in their communities and on social media. When Jennifer Chamberlin, a teacher in the school district, came out publicly in favor of her employer, she became, in her words, “a social pariah.”

 According to the amicus brief filed by community members on behalf of the school district, the situation forced her to “come out as atheist,” something she hadn’t previously done because “she was afraid of being ostracized.” The brief explained that being outed as a nonbeliever “resulted in ‘one of the most difficult times in her life’” and that her son “also suffered and was ‘constantly having to defend’ his mother from classmates and community members.”

Such intolerance mirrors the strong-arming intentions of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority. Unhappy with what much of the country believes, the court’s right wing chooses to believe what it would like and foists the results on the rest of us. Just like Coach Kennedy, they’re out to proselytize.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/17/opinion/kennedy-bremerton-supreme-court.html

"Core studies would be instituted which, in turn, would prepare students for further education in remunerative fields and enable lucrative careers – and that would make it impossible for rabbis and wheeler-dealers to control who gets accepted where. They know the entire edifice would collapse on their heads."

 

A fight for the right to poverty and ignorance 

 

The ultra-Orthodox leadership's battle against state oversight of schools jeopardizes the future of their constituents – and of the country 

 

MK Moshe Gafni (left) with United Torah Judaism party colleague Meir Porush in the Knesset - shnayim ochzin be-smartphone

The ultra-Orthodox leadership has found an old-new enemy: the state-Haredi education system. Last week, United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni said: “There will be no such thing as ‘state-Haredi’ education.” Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox public, went him one better by asserting that “those who teach in state-Haredi schools lose their place in the world to come.”

To the outside observer, this looks like yet another petty Haredi civil war. In reality, the consequences of that war for Israel are enormous. Victory would leave the ultra-Orthodox sector poor and insular, making an ever-smaller contribution, relative to its size, to the State of Israel and Israeli society.

Twenty-five percent of children enrolled in Israel’s Hebrew education system are ultra-Orthodox, and the number is growing at a rate of 3.7% per year (compared to 2.3% in the rest of the education system). The vast majority of Haredi children, 96%, study in unofficial ultra-Orthodox institutions. These institutions maintain only the weakest of links to the state system. Their curriculum generally does not include a full slate of core studies, if any at all; their supervision is lax or non-existent, and their connection to the state is mostly budgetary. Their administration is a failure and, in many cases, they are a source of income for wheeler-dealers no less than they are educational institutions. In a nutshell, this is a chaotic system run according to mid-20th century standards.

In 2014, Education Minister Shai Piron established the state-Haredi education system. The idea was to incorporate the ultra-Orthodox education system into the Israeli system, apply state supervision standards to it, and establish a more binding and meaningful core studies framework – to start transforming Haredi education from an extraterritorial system to a part of the state. The idea sounds proper and logical, but in practice it has had little success. Today, only about 3% of ultra-Orthodox schools belong to the state-Haredi education system. Of these, a large majority are affiliated with marginal Haredi streams such as Chabad, Breslov, or other small groups. The ultra-Orthodox mainstream is not there.

In recent years, following an increase of less conservative Haredim who desire that their children receive an education that will allow them to live above the poverty line, there have been attempts to establish state-Haredi schools in several major ultra-Orthodox population centers. These parents want their children to be educated in a more modern system that meets, at least, minimum standards of both curriculum and physical facilities, and which is part of the State of Israel.

Despite the marginality of this emerging current in ultra-Orthodox education, the Haredi leadership is waging a war of attrition. Attempts by parents in ultra-Orthodox cities to open such schools run into a brick wall. The municipal systems struggle with this, and the community condemns any parent who promotes such initiatives or sends their children to these schools. The words of MK Gafni and Rabbi Edelstein animate this Haredi horror show.

And they know why. The ultra-Orthodox education system is the power base of the Haredi leadership. Upholding ignorance and preventing Haredi boys from acquiring the ability to earn a decent living; preserving the communal regime that controls parental behavior through educational institutions and admission to them; the great budgetary “milking” operation that supports masses of ultra-Orthodox political hacks and dynastic courts.

All of these are necessary conditions for maintaining the ultra-Orthodox “system.” If that system should – heaven forfend! – become subject to supervision, core studies would be instituted which, in turn, would prepare students for further education in remunerative fields and enable lucrative careers – and that would make it impossible for rabbis and wheeler-dealers to control who gets accepted where. They know the entire edifice would collapse on their heads.

Haredi Jews currently constitute 13% of the Israeli population (1.22 million), and their median age is 16. If drastic change doesn’t occur soon, and if the current vectors of non-education, non-involvement in Israeli life, and non-participation in military/national service and the labor market continue unabated, Israel will collapse under this increasingly untenable burden and become an entirely different place within a few years’ time.

Strengthening the state-Haredi education system is a potential tool for change. If the next government to be formed is not encouraged to do so, it may be too late for those that follow. But the responsibility also lies with those many Haredim who want state-Haredi education but are afraid. If they don’t confront their leadership – which cares nothing for their well-being – neither they nor the state will survive.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-fight-for-the-right-to-poverty-and-ignorance/?utm_source=The+Blogs+Weekly+Highlights&utm_campaign=blogs-weekly-highlights-2022-07-14&utm_medium=email

Pictures of the day!

 

Dropping to one knee, a tearful Biden moved by Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem

 

On first day of Israel visit, US president speaks at length to two women who survived Nazi camps, tells one of them: ‘As my mother would say, God love you, dear’

 

 

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/dropping-to-one-knee-a-tearful-biden-moved-by-holocaust-survivors-at-yad-vashem/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2022-07-14&utm_medium=email

A Palestinian state is a prescription for bloodshed!

 

Rabbis tell Biden it is time to recognize the “land for peace policy” as an exercise in futility and consider a new route

Rabbis tell Biden it is time to recognize the “land for peace policy” as an exercise in futility and consider a new route

A Palestinian state is a prescription for bloodshed
———————————————————————
Tel Aviv – Towards the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden in Israel, the Rabbinical Congress for Peace-Pikuach Nefesh (RCP) has launched a wide-ranged campaign with full-page ads in major English newspapers in Israel and worldwide web in which it sends a clear cut message to the President: 

Territorial concessions will not lead to peace but G-d forbid to bloodshed and instability in the region.

The RCP in the name of its 400 members express their deep appreciation for the President’s efforts to reach a true and viable peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors and wish him success in this noble endeavor. At the same time they warn against any Israeli territorial concessions. “The last 30 years have proven that the “land for peace” formula is an exercise in futility,” a formula for increased terrorism and a means of pushing peace further away,” the rabbis warn.

Furthermore, “any negotiations based on Israeli territorial concessions, especially for the creation of a Palestinian state, will only embolden our enemies to strike at us with further determination through terror attacks, boycotts, and international anti-Israel campaigns,” the ad says.

The rabbis cite the Halachic ruling in the Jewish Code of Law (Orach Chaim, sec. 329) which is based on the principle of sanctity of life, namely: Whenever a Jewish city is threatened by foreigners its townsmen are not only permitted but are obligated to arm themselves, even on the Sabbath, and prevent them from entering their city.

The rabbis state that it is time for American foreign policy-makers to abandon the futile “land for peace” formula and consider a new foreign policy route. The only way the U.S. can serve as an effective mediator is by declaring outright that there will never be Israeli territorial concessions nor will a Palestinian state ever be established alongside Israel, the RCP said.

 

http://pikuachnefesh.net/en/rabbis-tell-biden-it-is-time-to-recognize-the-land-for-peace-policy-as-an-exercise-in-futility-and-consider-a-new-route/

Scientists Marvel at NASA Webb Telescope’s New Views of the Cosmos On Tuesday, NASA rolled out a series of unforgettable scenes of the cosmos captured by the largest space observatory ever built.

 MUST WATCH VIDEOS:

 https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/12/science/webb-telescope-images-nasa?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20220712&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=32999454&segment_id=98290&user_id=cd11df7e4826fae198be96d8f3a4bb15

Secular Jews Matter!

 

The Haredi thugs who spoiled my grandson’s bar mitzvah are winning 

 

50 relatives flew in to rejoice with Seth at the Western Wall and learned that Israel will stand up to any threat except when it's violence instigated by rabbis

Ultra-Orthodox youths interrupt a bar mitzvah ceremony at the egalitarian section of the Western Wall on June 30, 2022

The Times of Israel has covered the Haredi attack on three b’nei mitzvah families celebrating their children’s transition into adulthood as committed Jews (Haredim interrupt Americans’ Western Wall bar, bat mitzvahs, tear up prayer books).

I am one of the grandfathers of one of the b’nei mitzvah celebrants at Robinson’s Arch when these juvenile delinquents attacked.

Seth Mann’s older brother and sister, as well as his two cousins, opted to stay home and become b’nei mitzvah in the USA. Seth liked the idea of becoming a bar mitzvah in Israel at the Kotel, knowing how important Israel was to his family.

At great expense, nearly 50 family members from both sides of Seth’s family packed up and flew from the United States to Israel to celebrate this important milestone of his life. That’s 50 family members who were booking hotel rooms, who were ordering food in restaurants, and who were filling their luggage with souvenirs and Judaica, to take home. This was my fourth trip to Israel and my wife’s sixth. Each trip to Israel before this has always been the trip of a lifetime.

While his family was making arrangements and preparing to travel, Seth spent the past year studying for his big day. He learned the Shacharit service, learned each of the Torah portions he would read, and prepared a speech sharing with his family what this momentous day at the Western Wall meant to him.

Bright and early on Thursday morning, our families arrived at Robinson’s Arch, an egalitarian area off of the Kotel that the Knesset had designated for non-Orthodox families to celebrate events like this in peace.

Our rabbi from Las Vegas, Nevada, Felipe Goodman, his wife Liz, and his daughters Dani and Ari, arrived at Robinson’s Arch ahead of everyone and had set up the pulpit area. Our excitement over witnessing Seth’s bar mitzvah was bubbling over.

The Shacharit service began with Seth chanting the blessings. He was nervous at first, but quickly calmed down and led the service as if he had done it hundreds of times. The calmness and serenity of the morning prayers were interrupted by someone at a different bar mitzvah yelling out. We all looked over, but didn’t understand what the shouting was about, yet.

Not long after the shout, the delinquents attacked us. I understand their shameful rabbis arranged for a bus, dismissed them from class, and instructed them on how to disrupt non-Orthodox services, using whistles and shouting terrible things. The vile demonstrators must have made their complicit rabbis proud.

It didn’t matter to them that dozens of fellow Jews had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and were participating in a morning prayer service, just like they had earlier in the morning. What mattered to them was that these Conservative movement Jews from America had the audacity to pray while standing next to wives and daughters, cousins and friends.

Seth, just like the other b’nei mitzvah praying that morning at Robinson’s Arch, kept his head down and, remembering the discipline he was taught in his studies, continued leading the service. 

Unfortunately, his family members and friends weren’t able to do the same. While the police stood by and watched, only getting involved if the delinquents got too close to the families, our family members and friends did the police officers’ jobs by forming a wall between these thugs who had been taught to hate their fellow Jews, and the Shacharit service.

My parents both survived Auschwitz and while they are no longer with us, it was them I was thinking about as I walked to Robinson’s Arch. How proud they would have been to see their great-grandson become a bar mitzvah in Eretz Yisroel.

Instead, I was left embarrassed about what the Orthodox had done to Israel. This great nation of the Jewish people is being held hostage by narrow-minded rabbis, the youth gangs they control, and a government that will stand up to every other nation that threatens her, but cowers at dealing with these homegrown thugs.

As long as Israel does nothing to stop these attacks, the Haredim will feel they have the government’s blessing and the violence will continue. Families will no longer feel safe celebrating and will just stay home.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-haredi-thugs-who-spoiled-my-grandsons-bar-mitzvah-are-winning/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2022-07-10&utm_medium=email

The Jewish Religious Organizations That Support The Right Wing Xtian Agenda - The Overturning of Roe - Government Funding For Religious Schools - Public Prayer At Secular Events - Are Not Seeing The Big Picture That Awaits The Jews In A Supreme Court Controlled By Avowed Xtians! As Usual, Religious Jews Are Shortsighted To The Inherent Dangers Of "Religious" Reasons For Government Laws!

US supreme court takes a hatchet to church-state separation

 

 

The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: ‘We Are Seeing Them Emboldened’

Political candidates on the fringe mix religious fervor with conspiracy theories, even calling for the end of the separation of church and state.

The southern state’s top law enforcement official was not the only Republican to reference God while taking a victory lap. Nor was he alone in rooting for the supreme court to continue a pattern of forcing religion back into the US political system and tearing down the wall that separates church from state.

The court – said to be more pro-religion than at any time since the 1950s – wrapped up one of its most consequential and divisive terms this week. Critics lamented a string of decisions that they say undermine legal traditions that prevent government officials from promoting any particular faith.

In May the conservative majority ruled in favor of a Christian group that wanted to fly a flag emblazoned with a cross at Boston city hall under a programme aimed at promoting diversity and tolerance among the city’s various communities.

Last month they endorsed taxpayer money paying for students to attend religious schools under a Maine tuition assistance programme in rural areas lacking nearby public high schools.

Then they backed an American football coach at a Washington state public high school who was suspended by a local school district for refusing to stop leading Christian prayers with players on the field after games. This ruling cast aside a 1971 precedent, known as the Lemon test, which took into account factors such as whether the challenged government practice has a secular purpose.

In all three cases, the court decided against government officials whose policies and actions were taken to avoid violating the constitution’s first amendment prohibition on government endorsement of religion, known as the “establishment clause”.

In addition, although their decision last week to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide did not involve the establishment clause, it was celebrated as a seminal victory by religious conservatives. Mike Pence, the former vice-president and a born again Christian, called for a national ban on the procedure.

 

Three weeks before he won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano stood beside a three-foot-tall painted eagle statue and declared the power of God.

“Any free people in the house here? Did Jesus set you free?” he asked, revving up the dozens before him on a Saturday afternoon at a Gettysburg roadside hotel.

Mr. Mastriano, a state senator, retired Army colonel and prominent figure in former President Donald J. Trump’s futile efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, was addressing a far-right conference that mixed Christian beliefs with conspiracy theories, called Patriots Arise. Instead of focusing on issues like taxes, gas prices or abortion policy, he wove a story about what he saw as the true Christian identity of the nation, and how it was time, together, for Christians to reclaim political power.

The separation of church and state was a “myth,” he said. “In November we are going to take our state back, my God will make it so.”

Mr. Mastriano’s ascension in Pennsylvania is perhaps the most prominent example of right-wing candidates for public office who explicitly aim to promote Christian power in America. The religious right has long supported conservative causes, but this current wave seeks more: a nation that actively prioritizes their particular set of Christian beliefs and far-right views and that more openly embraces Christianity as a bedrock identity.

Many dismiss the historic American principle of the separation of church and state. They say they do not advocate a theocracy, but argue for a foundational role for their faith in government. Their rise coincides with significant backing among like-minded grass-roots supporters, especially as some voters and politicians blend their Christian faith with election fraud conspiracy theories, QAnon ideology, gun rights and lingering anger over Covid-related restrictions.

Their presence reveals a fringe pushing into the mainstream.

“The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church,” Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican representing the western part of Colorado, said recently at Cornerstone Christian Center, a church near Aspen. “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk.” Congregants rose to their feet in applause.

A small handful of people who espouse this vision, like Ms. Boebert, have recently come to power with the blend of Christian messaging and conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump elevated. Others, like Mr. Mastriano, are running competitive races, while most have long-shot campaigns and are unlikely to survive primary races.

The fight over Christian power in America has a centuries-long history, dating to the country’s origins, and it is again in sharp relief as the makeup of the nation shifts. For generations, the United States has been made up mostly of Christians, largely white and Protestant. In recent years, Christianity has declined at a rapid pace, as pluralist and secular values have risen.

Since the Jan. 6 attack, which blended extremism and religious fervor, the term “Christian nationalism” is often used broadly to refer to the general mixing of American and white Christian identities. Historically, however, Christian nationalism in America has also encompassed extremist ideologies.

In the 1948 presidential election, for example, a fringe political party called the Christian Nationalist Party nominated Gerald L. K. Smith, a pastor with pro-Nazi sympathies, and adopted an antisemitic, anti-Black platform that called for the deportation of people with whom it disagreed.

Mr. Trump gained power in large part by offering to preserve the influence of white evangelicals and their values just as many feared that the world as they knew it was rapidly disappearing.

The fact that Mr. Trump, whom they saw as their protector, is no longer president intensifies feelings for many conservative Christians that everything is on the line. About 60 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe that the election was stolen from Mr. Trump, according to a Public Religion Research Institute survey conducted late last year. White evangelicals are also the most likely religious group to be believers in QAnon, according to the survey. QAnon refers to a complex conspiracy theory involving a Satan-worshiping, child-sex-trafficking ring, and the F.B.I. has previously warned that some of its adherents could turn violent.

Across the country, candidates have attempted to appeal to voters by championing Christian identity in policymaking.

In Arkansas in May, State Senator Jason Rapert, who founded a group called the National Association of Christian Lawmakers in 2020, lost the Republican primary for lieutenant governor with 15 percent of the vote. The group offers model legislation, like prohibiting abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy and requiring the display of “In God We Trust” at public schools.

In Oklahoma, Jackson Lahmeyer, lead pastor of Sheridan Church, made a long-shot attempt to unseat Senator James Lankford, who has embodied traditional social conservatism. Mr. Lahmeyer lost, but got 26 percent of the vote. “Our Constitution is built upon the Bible,” he said in an interview. He said that he did not advocate a theocracy and that he supported the separation of church and state, which he said “had nothing to do with the church staying out of the affairs of the state.” He also said that “trying to remove Christianity, which this nation was birthed upon,” from public schools had “absolutely” led to the rise in school shootings.

In Wisconsin, State Representative Timothy Ramthun is significantly trailing in a bid for governor that emphasizes his Christian faith and a promise to decertify the 2020 election. He created a 72-page report of what he sees as evidence of election fraud, and called his push to fight it “Let There Be Light” after words attributed to God in the Bible. In an interview, he described his efforts as a Christian act of truth-seeking. “I don’t lie,” he said. “I work for the Lord first and foremost.”

In a livestream on Rumble, a video site popular with the far right, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, urged followers to be proud of “Christian nationalism” as a way to fight “globalists,” the “border crisis” and “lies about gender.” “While the media is going to lie about you and label Christian nationalism, and they are probably going to call it domestic terrorism, I’m going to tell you right now, they are the liars,” she said.

Around the country there are active efforts to leverage the growing religious fervor in the American right into voter turnout. That includes more typical Republican voter outreach efforts, but also new groups mobilized since President Biden took office.

In California, Freedom Revival, which started late last year and has used worship to mobilize evangelicals to see Christian morality as the foundation for governance, targeted conservative Christians with voter guides of its California primary endorsements of “freedom-loving candidates” who stand for “traditional values.” Endorsements included those for Anthony Trimino, a businessman who felt divinely called in church to run for governor to bring “Christian, moral, biblical values to Sacramento,” and who did not qualify for the general election; and Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County, who has previously defended his past membership in the Oath Keepers, an extremist group, and who did win.

“We continue to support law enforcement officials who recognize and behave as a shield of the people against drunken tyrannical rule,” Brittany Mayer, one of Freedom Revival’s founders, said in an email.

A sense of religious grievance is deepening in the ultraconservative wing of the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, a contingent that is increasingly allied with right-wing political causes like the extreme push to punish women for abortion. At a conference in Memphis this spring, Rod Martin, one of the founders of the Conservative Baptist Network, described objections to Christian nationalism as simply a plot by Democrats.

“Let’s demonize patriotism by calling it nationalism and associating that with Hitler. Ah, now let’s call it white nationalism,” he told the gathering, imitating how he saw people on the left. “Then we’ll call it Christian nationalist so we’ll make it sound like you are the ayatollah. It is all designed to demonize you.”

Young male pastors, he predicted, would increasingly adopt the Christian nationalist label in defiance: “They are not saying they are theocrats; they are saying they are deplorables.”

In a sign that political operatives see opportunity to capitalize on that feeling of persecution, the next day a second conference was held in the same auditorium with an explicit purpose to mobilize the constituencies these pastors represent.

Chad Connelly urged attendees to scan a QR code on the screen so he could connect their churches to precinct poll-watching efforts, and said his group, Faith Wins, worked with 312 churches in Virginia to register 77,000 new voters ahead of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s win. Mark Meadows, former chief of staff for Mr. Trump, described the importance of America as a Christian nation in personal terms, with a story of how his 11th great-grandfather escaped religious persecution on the Mayflower. “You may never see the fruit of your labor, but I can tell you this: God will use your obedience to change this great nation,” he said.

Rick Green, who leads a group called the Patriot Academy that runs “biblical citizenship” training programs in hundreds of churches to instill the belief that America was founded on Christian values, told the audience he saw “a window of opportunity right now to convert millions of Americans to the principles of liberty and to biblical values” because of “the chaos and insanity of the last two years.”

In some places there are signs that conspiracy theorists and far-right activists are embracing an explicitly Christian nationalist identity.

Andrew Torba, who founded Gab, a social media platform popular with extremists, and is from Pennsylvania, wrote on the site that he endorsed Mr. Mastriano as part of his own efforts to build “a coalition of Christian nationalists at the local and state levels to help pioneer a grass-roots movement of Christians in PA to help take it back for the glory of God.” Mr. Torba has written about building Gab as “a parallel Christian society on the internet.”

The day after a mass shooting in Buffalo, where a white man was charged with killing 10 Black people after posting a racist screed online, Mr. Torba posted on Gab, “The best way to stop White genocide and White replacement, both of which are demonstrably and undeniably happening, is to get married to a White woman and have a lot of White babies.”

So-called replacement theory is the notion that Western elites want to “replace” and disempower white Americans.

“Jesus Christ is King of Kings and we are going to lawfully, peacefully and democratically take back this country and our culture in his name,” Mr. Torba wrote in an email response to a request for comment. “There is absolutely nothing you or any of the other powers and principalities can do to stop us.”

Events at times use violent rhetoric and imagery.

The Patriots Arise event, where Mr. Mastriano spoke, opened with a video of conspiracy theories related to QAnon that prophesied that “control systems” including “media propaganda, the child trafficking and the slave economy” would “crumble down.” A robotic voice-over forecast a “great awakening,” and an image of a guillotine blade accompanied the promise of “executions, justice, victory.”

When Mr. Mastriano finished, a man in an American flag cowboy hat and shirt presented him with a long sword, inscribed with “For God and country.”

“Because you’ve been cutting a lot of heads off,” explained Francine Fosdick, a social media influencer who organized the event and whose website has promoted a QAnon slogan. “You are fighting for our religious rights in Christ Jesus, and so we wanted to bless you with that sword of David.”

He raised the gold hilt in his right hand. “Where’s Goliath?” he asked.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/us/christian-nationalism-politicians.html

For The Historical Record - Rabbi Schorr Was Never The Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath! Disregard The Revisionists WannaBe Historians Who Pull Their Facts Out Of Nowhere To Align With Their Personal Agendas. The Machlokes For Leadership Of YTV In the 1960s Brought The Yeshiva To Its Knees, Never To Recover Its Original Glory, and the Collapse and Demise of Beis Medrash Elyon!

Yahrzeit of Moreinu Horav Gedaliah Schorr, zt"l Today - 7 Tammuz  ​ Rav Gedaliah ben R' Avrohom zt"l Today, 7 Tammuz, is the yahrtzeit of our revered Rosh Hayeshiva, Moreinu Horav Gedaliah ben Rav Avrohom Schorr zt"l.  For a biography on Horav Schorr with pictures which appears in  "AMERICA'S YESHIVA" Click Here.     Horav Gedaliah joined Yeshiva Torah Vodaath when his family moved to Williamsburg. He quickly became the heart and soul of the Bais Medrash, where his brilliant “kushyos” generated excitement with regard to the sugyos the Yeshiva was learning. When he was twenty one years old, Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz zt"l appointed him to a position in the Mesivta, despite his unmarried status. His talmidim, many were only a few years his junior, were drawn to him, and accorded him great respect.  When World War II broke out Europe's Jewry was on the brink of extinction, but in America little was being done to save it. Rav Schorr worked closely with Elimelech "Mike" Tress, and the others involved in the hatzoloh efforts, saving thousands of lives. Scores of people still remember the Shabbos when Horav Schorr received a report about exterminations and the need for immediate rescue efforts. He spoke to the minyan until every single person there was weeping and was determined to give the rescue mission top priority. On a sub-freezing Shabbos in January, he walked from Williamsburg to Boro Park to make an appeal. He arrived numb and frozen - but the freezing in the ghettos was far worse; and so he walked. He sold his one personal treasure, a Vilna Shas he had purchased in Europe, and contributed the money to the rescue effort. Upon the passing of Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz in 1948, Rav Schorr was appointed Menahel Ruchni of Torah Vodaath, a post he maintained for 31 years. After the passing of Horav Reuven Grozovsky zt"l in 1958, he also became Rosh Yeshiva of Beis Medrash Elyon, the post-graduate division of Torah Vodaath.​ Y'hei Zichro Boruch! Rabbi Yitzchok Gottdiener Executive Director Yeshiva & Mesivta Torah Vodaath 718-941-8000x210 ryg@torahvodaath.org

Camp Ramah added that it “welcomes and reflects families of all constellations which include: single parents, same-sex parents, divorced households, blended families, non-parent guardians, and everything in between.”

Camp Ramah to Allow Kids to Bunk According to Gender Identity

The Camp Ramah network of Conservative Jewish summer camps has published a diversity statement notifying parents that their children may be bunking with children of the opposite sex due to gender identity issues.

Camp Ramah, which operates camps in the United States, Canada and Israel, acknowledged that parents might not like the idea a son might have to bunk with a girl who identifies as a boy, and vice versa.

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In a statement asserting its “commitment to diversity and inclusion,” (first uploaded in April 2021) the camp wrote under the section entitled Value: Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity :

“The Ramah community includes campers and staff of all sexual orientations and gender identities. With the recognition that gender identity and sexual orientation are distinct, Ramah seeks to simultaneously create a safe and welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ identified kids, staff, and parents.

 

a. RAMAH IN ACTION: We achieve this by aiming to avoid heteronormative assumptions in our language and programming, and by educating our staff. In our bunking process, our goal is to support an individual’s wellbeing, which may include bunking campers and staff according to gender identity rather than birth sex. We recognize that this may represent a “learning zone” for some of our families and we are happy to provide additional information and resources.”

The camp added that it “welcomes and reflects families of all constellations which include: single parents, same-sex parents, divorced households, blended families, non-parent guardians, and everything in between.”

Camp Ramah Diversity Statement.

Inclusion within reason can be a good thing, particularly for children who might otherwise be punished for their parents’ issues. But what is the message to heterosexual children when they are forced to share their sleeping space, whether they want to or not – – with someone whose biological sex is different from their own? What about the “individual’s wellbeing” for those children, who are the most vulnerable of all at bedtime in a summer camp, far away from home?

A discussion of the mental health implications for the straight kids, who are generally in the majority, would require an entire article on its own. Suffice to say that extreme discomfort and possibly permanent trauma is well within the expectations in such a situation.

As for those whose gender identity differs from their biological sex . . . there’s gonna be a whole bunch of pregnant boys at the end of this summer.

https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/camp-ramah-to-allow-kids-to-bunk-according-to-gender-identity/2022/07/06/

Anti-Semites! ---- More than 9 in 10 American adults may want to think about skipping the summertime barbecues.

 

 

Fitness crisis? Just 7% of U.S. adults have good cardiometabolic health

MEDFORD, Mass. — More than 9 in 10 American adults may want to think about skipping the summertime barbecues. A new study finds that less than seven percent of the nation’s adult population have what health experts consider good cardiometabolic health.

Researchers from Tufts University say this measure includes five key components of health: blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, adiposity (being either overweight or obese), and the presence or absence of cardiovascular disease.

Weight and blood sugar spiraling out of control

Using information on roughly 55,000 people over the age of 20, the results show just 6.8 percent of American adults reached optimal levels of health in all five categories in 2018. Moreover, the study found American health has been in steep decline over the last 20 years.

In 1999, one in three adults had healthy levels for adiposity, meaning they had a healthy weight and were not overweight or obese. By 2018, that number fell to just one in four Americans.

At the same time, three in five people were free of diabetes and prediabetes in 1999. By 2018, however, more than six in 10 adults had one of these conditions!

“These numbers are striking. It’s deeply problematic that in the United States, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, fewer than 1 in 15 adults have optimal cardiometabolic health,” says Meghan O’Hearn, a doctoral candidate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science, in a media release. “We need a complete overhaul of our healthcare system, food system, and built environment, because this is a crisis for everyone, not just one segment of the population.”

Instead of just looking for signs of disease, the team focused their study on the signs of good, moderate, and poor cardiometabolic health.

“Disease is not the only problem,” O’Hearn explains. “We don’t just want to be free of disease. We want to achieve optimal health and well-being.”

Are societal disparities part of the problem?

Researchers also found large health gaps between U.S. adults of different genders, ages, ethnic backgrounds, and education levels. Specifically, the study found Americans with less education were half as likely to be in peak cardiometabolic health.

While there was a slight increase in the number of non-Hispanic White Americans reaching good cardiometabolic health between 1999 and 2018, study authors say those measures dropped off for Mexican Americans, other Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and adults of other races.

“This is really problematic. Social determinants of health such as food and nutrition security, social and community context, economic stability, and structural racism put individuals of different education levels, races, and ethnicities at an increased risk of health issues,” says senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School.

It’s important to note that this study used data coming from a period before the coronavirus pandemic — a time where physical activity fell off significantly. Previous studies have shown that sedentary lifestyles during the pandemic have contributed to even further declines in health and fitness since 2020.

‘A large portion of the population is at a critical inflection point’

Not everyone in the study has passed the point of no return when it comes to their health. Researchers say many fall into the category of “intermediate” levels of health, meaning their cardiometabolic health is not optimal, but not yet poor. These individuals may be dealing with certain conditions including prediabetes, pre-hypertension, or they may be slightly overweight.

“A large portion of the population is at a critical inflection point,” O’Hearn adds. “Identifying these individuals and addressing their health conditions and lifestyle early is critical to reducing growing healthcare burdens and health inequities.”

“Its impacts on national healthcare spending and the financial health of the entire economy are enormous,” O’Hearn concludes. “And these conditions are largely preventable. We have the public health and clinical interventions and policies to be able to address these problems.”

https://www.studyfinds.org/us-adults-cardiometabolic-health/