Full time manned video surveillance in & around Jewish schools is no longer optional...with armed guards at all the entries and patrolling the premises...

School Shooting in Colorado Leaves 1 Student Dead and 7 Injured

 

Mahesh Anandan picked up his three children after a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch near Denver, where eight students were shot, one fatally, on Tuesday

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Last month, as the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting approached, STEM School Highlands Ranch joined hundreds of schools near Denver in closing temporarily amid security concerns. The anniversary came and went, and schools returned to their routines.

But on Tuesday afternoon, the STEM school’s worst fears were realized when eight of its students were shot, one fatally, and two fellow students were being held as suspects.

“We know two individuals walked into the STEM school, got deep inside the school and engaged students in two separate locations,” Sheriff Tony Spurlock of Douglas County said at a news conference.

At 6:45 p.m., about five hours after the shooting, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office released a statement confirming that one of the eight who had been shot, an 18-year-old man, had died.

Sheriff Spurlock said the suspects, who were armed with a handgun and other weapons, confronted law enforcement officers when they arrived. He said the suspects, one adult and one juvenile, were not injured.

“I can tell you that there were shots fired,” he said. “Our officers went in and engaged the suspects. We did struggle with the suspects to take them into custody.”

Sheriff Spurlock said neither suspect had been on law enforcement’s radar before the shooting and that the motive was unknown.

The sheriff said he would not release details about the injured students, their ages or their injuries on Tuesday night.

Students who were not injured were taken to Northridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch, where hundreds of anxious parents gathered to look for their children on Tuesday afternoon.

Law enforcement officers directed parents who were picking up their children from Northridge Recreation Center after the shooting

“I heard a gunshot,” said Makai Dixon, 8, a second grader who had been training for this moment, with active shooter drills and lockdowns, since he was in kindergarten. “I’d never heard it before.”

Makai’s parents said they joined thousands of others in rushing to the school as news blazed through this suburban community.

“We’re more messed up than they are,” Makai’s mother, Rocio, said as they walked to their car.

The shooting at the Highlands Ranch charter school is the latest at an educational institution, rattling communities nationwide because young people have been put in mortal danger in places long considered safe havens. One week earlier, a man with a pistol shot six people on the last day of spring classes at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, killing two.

On Tuesday, as wave after wave of classes were released from the recreation center in Highlands Ranch, high schoolers began walking out in tears, reaching for their parents’ arms and hugging their teachers.

Tyler Rush, 17, a junior, said he had been on the second floor of the school, just above where the shooting occurred. He said that it began during the day’s final period and that the school announced a lockdown in the middle school portion of the building. He and his classmates gathered in a corner and turned out the lights. Some cried. Some sat paralyzed.

He heard two gunshots.

“I was in a state of shock,” he said.

Littleton Adventist Hospital in Colorado said five people were transported there after Tuesday’s shooting. Two are in serious condition while three have been discharged, the hospital said. Sky Ridge Medical Center said two children were transported there and were in stable condition. Children’s Hospital Colorado said one victim had been treated at its south campus and then released.

While details of how the shooting happened remained sparse, one parent said students had tried to stop the attack.

Brad Bialy said his oldest son, Brendan, a senior, told him that he was in class when gunfire erupted. Mr. Bialy said his son told him that two students entered the classroom and one pulled a gun out of a guitar case.

He said his son and two friends tried to tackle the gunman but one of the boys was shot in the chest. Other students tried to stanch the bleeding by putting pressure on his chest, Mr. Bialy said.

Fernando Montoya told a local television station that his 17-year-old son, a junior, was shot three times. He was taken to a hospital but was going to be released.

Students got off buses after being evacuated from STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school that has about 1,800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade

“Thank God he’s fine,” Mr. Montoya said.

He said after news of the shooting broke, he could not reach his son and was in a state of shock until they were able to talk to each other.

“We are so lucky,” Mr. Montoya said.

Sheriff Spurlock said the school, which has about 1,800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, had no police officer assigned to it and used private security instead, but he did not say what actions that security service may have taken during the shooting.

The sheriff said that the school alerted law enforcement “almost immediately after the first gunshots were fired” and that deputies arrived roughly two minutes later.

“I have to believe that the quick response of officers that got inside that school helped save lives,” the sheriff said.

Earlier in the day, local news media showed video footage of tear-stricken parents gathering near the school as at least two air ambulance helicopters arrived at the scene after the shooting, which was reported before 2 p.m.

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said the state government was monitoring the situation.

“We are making all of our public safety resources available to assist the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department in their effort to secure the site and evacuate the students,” he said on Twitter. “The heart of all Colorado is with the victims & their families.”

Douglas County is an affluent area south of Denver with about 350,000 people. It sits next to Jefferson County, home to Columbine High School, and students there are already primed to watch for gunmen.

Last month, hundreds of schools in the Denver area were closed as law enforcement searched for a Florida woman who they said had made threats ahead of the 20th anniversary of the deadly shooting that claimed 13 lives at Columbine High School, which is about seven miles from the site of Tuesday’s shooting.

The woman, Sol Pais, 18, was found dead on April 17 of an apparent self-inflicted shotgun wound in the mountains west of Denver.

Douglas County is more conservative than traditionally blue Denver, and like much of the region has been at the center of the national debate over gun violence.

“I have to believe that the quick response of officers that got inside that school helped save lives,” Sheriff Tony Spurlock of Douglas County said.

Last month, Mr. Polis signed into law a so-called Red Flag bill, allowing authorities to take guns from people deemed a threat after a court hearing. The bill divided the state, and some sheriffs said they would not enforce it, while some counties began calling themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”

In Douglas County, the county commission criticized the bill, saying they feared it threatened constitutional liberties, while Sheriff Spurlock emerged as one of its most vocal supporters.

The area’s history of gun violence was front and center in last year’s election for its United States representative. Jason Crow, a Democrat, unseated Mike Coffman, a five-term Republican incumbent supported by the National Rifle Association.

Mr. Crow campaigned openly on gun control — including universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and restrictions on high-capacity magazines — and the issue dominated the race.

He was one of several public figures to express his sorrow on Twitter on Tuesday.

“It is with broken hearts that we respond to the news coming out of Highlands Ranch,” he wrote. “We still don’t have all the details regarding the situation at STEM school, but we do know this: we have a public health crisis on our hands. This cannot continue.”

Patrick Neville, a Columbine survivor and the top Republican lawmaker in the Colorado House of Representatives, said in a statement that the shooting was a reminder “of the need to secure our schools.”

He said armed security guards and facility upgrades were the best way to keep students safe.

“School safety programs which include armed security and safety upgrades to school facilities are the best way to stop these criminals from harming our children,” he said.

There have been several high-profile shootings in Colorado in recent years.

In 2010, a man shot two students with a high-powered rifle at a suburban middle school near Highlands Ranch.

In 2012, 12 people were killed at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., about 20 miles northeast of Highlands Ranch.

In 2013, a student in Centennial, Colo., killed himself after he fatally shot another student in the head.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/colorado-school-shooting.html

Kahane stood for the idea of not accepting the status quo, of not swallowing "the wisdom” of being quiet and waiting for the great people who will maybe, perhaps, be able to do something behind the scenes if they are given enough kovod and endless time....

Why They hated Rav Kahane: Some truths are too Harsh

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of having my article “No, Rabbi Kahane was not a Racist” published in the Jewish press.  In that article, I argued that not only was Rav Meir Kahane הי"ד not a racist, but certainly the leaders of Otzma Yehudit, whose platform is far milder than some of the more controversial things Rav Kahane said, are not racist, the Supreme Court of Israel notwithstanding.  I received several comments which I would like to respond to.  In particular, some asked me to explain why I thought it was important to defend Rav Kahane’s reputation, given that the vast majority of the Jewish world, both left and right, religious and secular, rejected him and his views.

I want to begin by referencing an insight of Dr. AJ Heschel (probably not a Kahane fan) in “A Passion for Truth,” his treatment of the holy Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (and, lehavdil Søren Kierkegaard).  In introducing him, he said that the extreme, total and unforgiving passion for truth by the Kotzker was too much for almost everyone, who could not live with that standard of absolute rejection of anything not absolutely true, given the weaknesses and foibles of most humans.  Because of this, the Kotzker could not tolerate most people and they could not tolerate him, and he ended up spending many years towards the end of his life locked up in a room in solitude.  Nevertheless remains a vital and important influence in this:  anyone who studied his teachings, and heard of his stories in any serious way, will never be able to allow his ego to grow too large – the memory of the Kotzker and what an authentic man of truth he was serves as instant needle to prick the balloon of any overblown sense of self, and make one realize what a flawed, incomplete and pitiful creature one really is.

That quote has stayed with me and haunted me often throughout the years.

I start with this as a way of talking about what Rav Kahane meant to me and continues to mean for so many people.  He was fearless and extreme; he seemed to care not a whit what people thought of him. He was deeply insightful, and he spoke and stood for many truths that so many deep down agreed with, but were afraid to say openly. (This has been amply documented). And while they were either afraid to stand with him, or felt that pragmatically the time was not right for his message, they appreciate that – like a lighthouse – he was there shining the light of truth, which may have been too powerful for others.  He was there to remind us that political correctness and social veneer was hiding a large deep and dangerous reality – that liberal Judaism and the secular Zionists and the intellectual elites were, literally, spiritually killing many  more Jews than Hitler ימ"ו ever did (a fate arguably worse than death) and that we lemmings are too nice and polite and genteel to protest or do anything about it.

He initially gained fame by starting the Jewish Defense League and defending Jews who no one stood up for. But his main contribution was not that Jews should defend themselves -- he was far from the only one who advocated this (Jabotinsky, the partisans, Abba Kovner, Menachem Begin and many others come to mind). His main ideology – his Raayon HaYehudi – was that Jews should have pride in who they are, and stand up for themselves and unabashedly stand for Torah values and our rights.  That the time of cowering before the Goyim was over.  That we should no longer be held back worrying about “it’s a Shanda – what will the goyim/elitists/intellectuals/opinion-makers/establishment politicians/etc. say!”.   It is time that we were no longer afraid to stand up for who we are, without apologies.   And that message is crucially important.

His first – and probably most important – book, “Never Again,” was most understood. I remember hearing a mussar schmooze from one of my Rabbeim in my yeshiva days. In which he exclaimed, “Never Again is Apikorsus!”  Who are we to think that we can shout that!  Our fate is in the hands of the Ribbon Shel Olam – Does Kahane think he could have prevented the Holocaust?”   

Of course, this just proved that said Rebbi, LIKE VIRTUALLY ALL of Kahane’s critics, didn’t bother actually listening to him or reading his words, but rejected the soundbite out of hand as מוקצה מחמת מיאוס.    He said no such thing in the book.   What he argued was that the AMERICAN Jewish establishment, with rare exception, was guilty of doing virtually nothing to get Roosevelt to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz, to allow the St. Louis and Sturma to come in, or to otherwise help save what could be saved. Too enamored of the Rasha Stephen Wise and his cohort who assisted Roosevelt in doing virtually nothing for the Jews.  Too frightened of being seen as worried about their own parochial interests, at the expense of the larger war effort. Too worried about “What the goyim would say.”

Kahane stood for the idea of not accepting the status quo, of not swallowing "the wisdom” of being quiet and waiting for the great people who will maybe, perhaps, be able to do something behind the scenes if they are given enough kovod and endless time.

And so it was with his “Why Be Jewish,” an incredibly effective reflection on the question of why should a typical American Jew Bernie should not chase after Bridget, given the Judaism that most Reform/Conservative/secular and many Orthodox young Jews are presented with. (It included the best chapter title ever – “Artists, Intellectuals, and Imbeciles”).

Kahane stood for the idea of not accepting the status quo, of not swallowing "the wisdom” of being quiet and waiting for the great people who will maybe perhaps be able to do something behind the scenes if they are given enough kovod and endless time.  He knew that Jews needed to be defended – NOW.  He knew that the time to save the remnant of Soviet Jewry was NOW, not in another thirty years when nothing would be left.  He knew that Israel had to stand up for itself – NOW.

Kahane was not a rabble-rouser who was just interested in making trouble, (although unfortunately, he did attract followers who were that type whom he was not always able to keep in line.)  He was a deeply devout Jew, a serious Talmid Chochom, who loved other Jews with every fiber of his being, perhaps to a fault, and could not stand what was being done to them, most often by their fellow Jews.  He hated how the leaders of reform and conservative and some orthodox were ripping out the neshama of young Jews.  He hated what the Israeli government had done to Yemenite Jews, and Yaldei Teheran and so many Sephardic Jews – his real connection and understanding of their pain was a great source of his political base in Israel.  Kahane was about waking up the sleeping Jews, and asking “Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews.”   He wanted to get us out of our apathy and laziness and irresponsibility and stand up for other Jews.

Later, in Israel, he became consumed with the Arab question, and wrote “They Must Go”, in which he detailed his plan to bring about a transfer of the Arab population out of Israel, while paying them compensation, except for those who were willing to become a loyal minority (more than had been offered to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who had been forcibly evicted from Arab countries in 1948).   

Was he right about the need to get rid of all Arabs in Israel?   I don’t know.  As I write this, three pleasant Arab women are cleaning my house downstairs.  We talk to each other and exchange pleasantries.   I am not worried that they will do anything to my family or me. I know, and they know, that they have it good in Israel compared to any of the neighboring countries.  They are not like the Arabs of East Jerusalem and towns in Yehuda and Shomron, whom I would be very wary of allowing in my home, raised and fed as they are on hatred and incitement.   I do agree with the stated position of Otzma, who stand for the banishing of all Arabs who are proven disloyal enemies of Israel but allowing those who desire to live in peace to stay, although they do pose some degree of danger.

Many, many in Israel saw him as a voice of truth, of standing up to the pie in the sky starry-eyed dreamers who gave us Oslo and peace plans that brought intifadas, and who gave back the Har Habayit to the waqf for NOTHING, and who were too busy worrying about what the goyim in the UN will say to allow Israeli soldiers to defend themselves and us properly.   Many say that if we had listened to him, then many of today’s problems would have been obviated.

Why was he so rejected?   Why did the Knesset routinely walk out on him?  Partially because they hated him for pointing out the truth.  Even more so, because it was easier to pursue the ultimately successful course of ostracizing him to the point that he would be disqualified from the Knesset on the pretext that he was a racist.   He was predicted to get up to 10 seats in the next election; they joined forces to take him out of the game.

I do want to publicize what he once told me personally on one of the very few times that I had the privilege of speaking with him.  I attended a talk that he gave for yeshiva bachurim in Yerushalayim.  After his very stirring remarks, I came to him and asked, “Everything you say sounds true and persuasive, but as far as I know, none of the Gedolim agree with you or your Derech – is that not a problem?”

He said, “First of all, many of them do agree with me privately, but for one reason or another will not say so publicly.”  (see list cited above).  “But more importantly, it is true that we have Gedolim today, but we do not have Manhigim.   They speak out, but only reactively, never with a proactive approach to anything outside the limited concerns of the frum community.  Given that they refuse to lead, במקום שאין אנשים, השתדל להיות איש (When there is no man who will stand up, you be that man - Avos 2:5) .  That is why I do what I do.”

In summary, he was a unique and great person.   He was a fearless leader who taught true pride in Judaism, the Torah, and the Jewish people.   He believed, as I do with all my heart, that we are living in a new time when the old excesses of the Golus are over, and it is time for the Jewish people to proudly assert themselves.  In Israel, they continue to slander him and his supporters – what the Supreme Court did to Dr. Ben Ari, while allowing rabid haters of Jews to sit in the Knesset is unconscionable – but the truth will ultimately prevail.

In closing, I was given great hope by a Bris Mila that took place recently, after Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva Achiad Ettinger was killed by a terrorist a week ago outside Shiloh.  After fatally stabbing IDF Sgt. Gal Keidan at the Ariel Junction, the accursed degenerate grabbed Keidan’s gun and opened fire at passing vehicles, hitting Rabbi Ettinger. Rather than fleeing, the father of 12 turned his car around, and pursued the terrorist. When Rav Achiad saw the cretin pointing his gun at more innocents, including a pregnant woman, Rav Achiad drew his gun and started shooting at the villain, who turned and shot and Rav Achiad Ettinger, instead of the woman.

The next day Rav Achiad succumbed to his wounds and died. The same day the pregnant woman who he saved gave birth to a baby boy. The other day was the Brit of the baby, and the sandak was Rav Achiad’s son. He was also given the honor of naming the new baby after his father who was murdered while saving the baby. You can watch the bris at https://tinyurl.com/achiad-brit

I found it particularly moving when he read the verse from Yechezkel 16:6

וָאֶעֱבֹר עָלַיִךְ וָאֶרְאֵךְ מִתְבּוֹסֶסֶת בְּדָמָיִךְ וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי

And I passed by you and saw you downtrodden with your blood, and I said to you, 'With your blood, live,' and I said to you, 'With your blood, live.'

The blood of the martyr with the blood of the covenant.

מִי כְּעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל גּוֹי אֶחָד בָּאָרֶץ

“Who compares to the nation of Israel ...the unique nation of the world” 

(Shabbat Mincha prayer)

Am Yisrael Chai!!

 

 

https://libibamizrach.blogspot.com/2019/05/why-they-hated-rav-kahane-some-truths.html?fbclid=IwAR0c8cxDL1D2hMakpNau_aBrqizUTZfJNB5atOgnT5-6MrQUYsJw2tZsGwU

And yet these rabbis assert their opinion is nothing less than what has come to be called da’as Torah, or Torah authority, elevating their erroneous and dangerous views to the level of near prophesy.....

Da’as Torah and Anti-Vaxxers

BY Dov S. Zakheim

 

In a recent article in the Forward, Rabbi Avi Shafran, the spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, the umbrella organization of American Charedi Jews, complained that the media was singling out the ultra-Orthodox as the prime culprits responsible for the measles outbreak in the United States. He implied that what underlay these media reports was not only anti-Charedi sentiment but actually unvarnished anti-Semitism. He pointed out that on the one hand there are many “anti-vaxxers” who are not Jewish, much less Charedim. On the other hand, what he called the “vast majority” of Orthodox Jews do have their children vaccinated.

On its face, Shafran is not incorrect. The problem is that he simply is not telling the whole truth. 

Indeed, it is the very leaders of his own organization who are telling their followers not to vaccinate their children if, for whatever reason, they don’t want to. Even more troubling, these same leaders are forbidding schools under their religious aegis to deny attendance to unvaccinated children.

Although ground zero for the outbreaks in America have been the Chasidic strongholds of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Borough Park neighborhoods, it is the non-Chasidic leaders of Agudath Israel who not only have justified opposition to vaccinations, but explicitly condemn schools that require vaccines as a prerequisite for attendance. They draw upon on mostly discredited studies and argue that the risk of complications from measles is minimal. They overlook the fact that the saving of life (pikuach nefesh) applies even in cases where the risk of death is minimal. Yet the risk is very real. I should know. Many years ago, my younger brother nearly died from complications of measles. It was only thanks to the proximity of a talented and energetic doctor that he survived the trip to the hospital.

The risk is very real. I should know. Many years ago, my younger brother nearly died from complications of measles.

And yet these rabbis assert their opinion is nothing less than what has come to be called da’as Torah, or Torah authority, elevating their erroneous and dangerous views to the level of near prophesy. No wonder ordinary Charedim are loathe to challenge the views of their respected leaders. To do so would be to risk expulsion from their tightly-knit communities.

Who are the men issuing these pronouncements? Two of them lead the Beis Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, N.J.: Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, its chancellor or Rosh HaYeshiva, and Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon, its moral tutor (to borrow a term employed at Oxbridge colleges) or mashgiach. They lead a yeshiva that is the most prestigious and the wealthiest school of its kind in the United Stares — in effect, the Harvard of yeshivas. No wonder their word is taken as law. 

But these men are not alone among the rabbinical anti-vaxxers. Rabbis Shmuel Kamenetsky and Aaron Schechter are, like Rabbi Kotler, members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah — the Committee of Torah Sages — that dictates Agudah’s religious and secular policies. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a leading Israel-based decisor for thousands of Charedim worldwide, has also, in the words of Rabbis Kotler, Solomon and Kaminetsky, “explicitly ruled that schools cannot refuse such [unvaccinated] children.” These rulings are not merely flouting science; their da’as Torah is endangering hundreds, perhaps thousands of younger children and older people who are especially vulnerable to complications from measles.

In the previous century, Agudah’s rabbis invoked da’as Torah to urge Europe’s Orthodox Jews not to emigrate to America or Israel in order to escape the Nazi onslaught. Until May 1948, they invoked the same principle to oppose the creation of the State of Israel. In the 1970s and ’80s, they invoked da’as Torah again to counsel against public demonstrations on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Now they invoke it to oppose vaccinations. And once again, as before, they find themselves on the wrong side of history.

---

Dov S. Zakheim was Under Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in the second Ronald Reagan administration. He holds a doctorate from Oxford.

https://jewishjournal.com/columnist/297876/daas-torah-and-anti-vaxxers/?fbclid=IwAR3hYgVKki6UZ4ikM82pQxy574wEaahvmdHulckLHGTxPB36IdopF4V3NKE

Family Time --- Be Back Soon

Some rabbis derided the health department’s scientific expertise, and one respected rabbi went as far as to question the health department’s statistics. To assuage them, Bill de Blasio, upon becoming mayor, undid Mr. Bloomberg’s circumcision regulations. Two years later, six infants became infected with herpes in cases considered to be tied to the procedure....

A "No Vax" sign at a demonstration against the barring of unvaccinated children from public spaces in Rockland County, N.Y.

My Fellow Hasidic Jews Are Making a Terrible Mistake About Vaccinations

My community faces a grave threat. I am not talking about the measles spreading throughout our Hasidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I am referring to the scientific denialism that has infected our community and has put the lives of children here and elsewhere at risk. 

In October, an unvaccinated child from our community contracted measles while on a visit to Israel. In New York City, more than 350 people have since become ill, an outbreak that health officials have linked directly to that first child’s case. Most of the cases are in the Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Borough Park. 

According to health officials, the most recent outbreak is a direct result of disinformation efforts: Like tens of thousands of Americans, many Hasidic Jews have fallen under the sway of anti-vaccination propaganda — spread by people within our community — and have refused to inoculate their children against measles and other diseases. 

As infections linked to this outbreak spread as far as Michigan, I can’t help wondering what has made some of us dismiss basic science, embrace quackery and treat objective truths as if they are no more than suggestions.

A sign outside a pharmacy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, warns against entry "if you have a fever and a rash, or have been exposed to the measles."

In the not-too-distant past, the ultra-Orthodox community was a champion of scientific knowledge and innovation. Ours was a community with the ability to welcome science, value research and be a forward-thinking force for good. Where did we go wrong?

The rabbinical establishment, which is struggling to understand why a vocal minority is resisting the calls to vaccinate, must reckon with the role it has played in this crisis. Over the years, some of our religious leaders have greatly contributed to the current distrust of science. 

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration in 2012 introduced rules that required parental consent before an infant could have a form of ritual circumcision believed to be linked to the spread of herpes, some rabbis denounced those efforts as a blood libel or “the evil plans of the New York City health department.” The rules were put in place after 11 boys, between 2000 and 2011, contracted herpes from the practice, which involves an oral cleansing of the circumcision wound (it is practiced only by some ultra-Orthodox families).

 Two died and two suffered brain damage. 

Some rabbis derided the health department’s scientific expertise, and one respected rabbi went as far as to question the health department’s statistics. To assuage them, Bill de Blasio, upon becoming mayor, undid Mr. Bloomberg’s circumcision regulations. Two years later, six infants became infected with herpes in cases considered to be tied to the procedure.

Whether out of shortsightedness or strategic malice, some of our religious leaders have directly fostered an atmosphere where thorough research is sneered at, the scientific method is doubted and the motivations of professionals are assumed to be nefarious and steeped in anti-religious animus. 

In more recent years, when the Department of Education pushed for an increase in secular studies in the city’s yeshivas, some of our leaders once again instigated their community to oppose these much-needed reforms. Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the grand rabbi of Satmar, the largest Hasidic sect in the United States, whose stronghold is in Williamsburg, went as far as to say that the government was persecuting Jewish religious schools and essentially declared war against the department. These rabbis and community leaders used their platform to tell the ultra-Orthodox world that math, science, history and social studies are unnecessary and have little value — reinforcing the idea that government officials are out to get us and wish to destroy our religious values. 

We see this same approach now among some of our leaders toward vaccines. Some rabbis are contributing to the spread of disinformation, repeating unfounded claims about the health risks of the M.M.R. vaccine. 

Such anti-science has no place in our community’s beliefs; Judaism is not behind the refusal to vaccinate. Most in the ultra-Orthodox community are vaccinated, and a vast majority of prominent rabbis support the vaccination requirements. Seven rabbis recently banded together and released an edict, advising that the vaccinations are a matter of life and death. A majority of our charitable organizations, like Hatzalah and the Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association Vaccine Task Force, have joined the battle against measles.

Doctors and health officials are begging the community to heed their warnings about the dangers of non-vaccination. Mayor de Blasio is now requiring unvaccinated individuals in our neighborhoods to receive the vaccine or face a fine, and city officials are closing yeshivas and day-care centers that defy the order. 

But a powerful subgroup is continuing to ignore these calls and to misrepresent the motives of doctors, health officials and activists. They were behind a lawsuit against the city’s vaccination order, which argues that the current outbreak in Brooklyn is not “a clear and present danger to the public health” (it was dismissed last week).

Evidently, the strategic deployment of a siege mentality by some of our religious leaders has worked all too well. Their words are received by an impressionable community, and many people have bought into these claims. Having sowed deep suspicion of government health officials, and having planted doubts as to the veracity of scientific knowledge and government health statistics, community leaders are now unable to persuade these families to accept what we all know to be true. 

Our leadership has effectively turned around the famous words of King David in Psalms and we can now say: Those who sow with joy will reap with tears.

Moshe Friedman is a Hasidic yeshiva graduate and a father of three.

NYC Measles Outbreak Declared Public Health Emergency

New York City has declared a public health emergency amid a measles outbreak that is mostly impacting the Orthodox Jewish community. Mayor Bill de Blasio says Yeshiva schools that don't require all of their students to get vaccinated will face fines or closure.

LISTEN:

https://kcbsradio.radio.com/media/audio-channel/nyc-measles-outbreak-declared-public-health-emergency?fbclid=IwAR2dmFxSH5R7UBaB78EW2kep-IGWgNTQfbULgF8qKZd3wwF6b9nd9QwXWBw

 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/opinion/my-fellow-hasidic-jews-are-making-a-terrible-mistake-about-vaccinations.html?fbclid=IwAR1MPsmP0UcCykz41LzbqMb2EEPQ8nqKqIUsJmPytd9Wru9Sg8eiNAUiVa4

Who Gets To Venezuela First?

 

In Venezuela, women sell hair as another way to get by

 

Nelly Navarro sits with her kids Nerianny and Luis in a beauty salon where she came to consult how much money she could get for her hair, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Navarro said she needs the $100 to travel to Colombia where she's planning to move. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Valery Díaz covered her eyes and held her breath before looking in a hair salon mirror to see herself without much of the long dark hair that used to frame her face.
The 16-year-old student was paid $100 for the shorn hair, money she’ll use to help her family and buy a cellphone at a time when Venezuela’s sharp economic decline has led to shortages of food and medicine, and hyperinflation has made salaries nearly worthless.

Increasing numbers of women in poor neighborhoods are selling their hair for use in wigs and extensions as the demands of daily survival force them to abandon the kind of self-care long an obsession with a country known globally for its success in beauty pageants. Seven Miss Universe winners have been Venezuelans, as have six Miss Worlds.

Some women are washing their hair with dishwashing liquid because they can’t afford to buy shampoo that costs more than the minimum monthly salary, now equivalent to just a few dollars. Many have to adapt to make personal care products last longer, with no sign of an end to a crisis that has pushed more than 3 million Venezuelans — one-tenth of the population — to leave the country in recent years.

Díaz gazed silently at the mirror and attempted a positive spin on the loss of locks that she had worn since she was a young child. She described herself as feeling “light” and said it had been hard to maintain her flowing hair in the past.

Valery Díaz sits still as she gets her hair cut to sell at a beauty salon in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, April 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

“There are times when you go two or three weeks without washing your hair,” she said, alluding to frequent water shortages in past weeks, caused by nationwide blackouts that shut off water pumps.
Her mother, Yeny Gómez, laughed nervously and tried to buoy her daughter’s spirits.

“You don’t notice it,” Gómez, a 43-year-old teacher, said of the drastic haircut.

Despite sacrificing her hair, Díaz said she still tries to buy cosmetics, using money she earns from making and selling bracelets.

But Gómez said she hasn’t bought lipstick or any other cosmetics for more than a year because she’s saving whatever money she earns to get food for her and her two daughters. Beauty care has become secondary for most Venezuelans, she said.

Carmen Merchani, a 49-year-old hairdresser, knows that well. After decades of cutting and styling hair, she said things have never been worse and she’s had to adapt to maintain her salon on one of the steep hills of Catia, a Caracas district. About a year ago, Merchani said, she started to do barter deals with her clients, getting food in exchange for hair stylings, manicures and pedicures.

Local shops that sell beauty products are also reinventing themselves to stay afloat. International cosmetics brands have disappeared from storefronts, replaced by cheaper goods from China as well as locally made products that use honey and other ingredients.

Díaz said she still dreams of becoming a Miss Venezuela someday, when “my hair grows again.”

https://apnews.com/6094f864299e4a28bcaff44d023e1b32

Any rabbi Anti-Vaxxer (and his demented wife) have no right to be considered a leader on any matter for any sane Jews. They lost it ...and do not have the mental capacity to understand right from wrong...real from fantasy!

New York Outbreaks Drive US Measles Count up to 626

 

New York outbreaks continue to drive US measles cases up toward levels not seen in 25 years.

By Associated Press, Wire Service Content April 22, 2019, at 10:09 a.m. 

Photo shows a sign explaining the local state of emergency because of a measles outbreak at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y. Outbreaks in New York state continue to drive up U.S. measles cases, which remain on pace to set a record for most illnesses in 25 years.


NEW YORK (AP) — Outbreaks in New York state continue to drive up the number of U.S. measles cases, which are approaching levels not seen in 25 years.

Health officials say 71 more cases were reported last week, with 68 of them from New York. That brings this year's total to 626.

That is already the most since 2014, when 667 were reported for the whole year. The most before that was 963 cases in 1994.

Twenty-two states have reported cases, but the vast majority have been in New York — mainly in New York City and in nearby Rockland County. Most of the New York cases have been unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest numbers Monday.

NYC Measles Outbreak Declared Public Health Emergency

KCBS Radio: On-Demand

New York City has declared a public health emergency amid a measles outbreak that is mostly impacting the Orthodox Jewish community. Mayor Bill de Blasio says Yeshiva schools that don't require all of their students to get vaccinated will face fines or closure.

https://kcbsradio.radio.com/media/audio-channel/nyc-measles-outbreak-declared-public-health-emergency?fbclid=IwAR2dmFxSH5R7UBaB78EW2kep-IGWgNTQfbULgF8qKZd3wwF6b9nd9QwXWBw
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-04-22/new-york-outbreaks-drive-us-measles-count-up-to-626

Wishing all my Jewish readers a happy Passover...

75% of You Need To Wisen Up

"In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us. And The Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hands" (Passover Hagada)

והיא שעמדה לאבותינו ולנו שלא אחד בלבד עמד עלינו לכלותנו והקדוש 

ברוך הוא מצילנו מידם

Wishing all my Jewish readers a happy Passover

I do not like to do it, but sometimes it is necessary to remind some Jews of historical facts about antisemitism in France. Begun in 1240, the trial ended with the decree, out of the Notre Dame Cathedral, ordering seizure of all copies of the Talmud, that is tens of wagonloads, at least 10,000 handwritten volumes of holy texts (the printing press had not yet been invented) and then burning them on nearby Place de Greve in 1242 ....

Notre Dame and the Jews

 

The flames at Notre Dame Cathedral should remind Jews of the burning by that very same church of tens of wagonloads of the Talmud in the Middle Ages.

The mainstream media, even in Israel, is featuring in headlines “The Crown of Thorns and tunic of St Louis saved from Notre Dame fire.”

I do not like to do it, but sometimes it is necessary to remind some Jews of historical facts about antisemitism in France.

Many of you have certainly visited Paris or The Notre Dame Cathedral, but how many of you have seen the two statues at the main entrance of the Paris Cathedral?

These statues, known as "Ecclesia" and "Sinagoga", represent the Christian theological doctrine of "Verus Israel" according to which the Jewish people are fallen and replaced by the "new Israel" represented here by a woman who stands with her head crowned facing the other woman represented who has her head bowed, blindfolded by a snake and holding in her hands the tables of the Law ...you know, the Jewish people's Torah.

Every year, millions of tourist flock to admire and photograph these statues, but do they really realize what they represent?

Theft, crimes and persecutions - those were committed in the name of Christianity?

We have entered the final phase of the redemption of Israel and of all humanity and it is truly regrettable to see some of our Jewish brothers saddened by this fire when this building represents in all its strength the exile of Israel and the will to replace us.

The Catholic Church became the official state religion of France at the conversion to Christianity of Clovis I, leading to France being called "the eldest daughter of the Church."

The construction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris began in 1160. Construction was largely completed in 1260.

In 1240, in Paris, it was the same Catholic Church which had built the cathedral that held the famous Paris controversy in which the Talmud was tried for blasphemy against the church. There was no way the Jewish rabbis debating the Christians could win. Held at the instigation of Nicolas Donin, an apostate Jew converted to Christianity, he and clerics debated four rabbis, led by Rabbi Yehiel of Paris in the presence of King Louis IX of France.

Begun in 1240, the trial ended with the decree, out of the Notre Dame Cathedral, ordering seizure of all copies of the Talmud, that is tens of wagonloads, at least 10,000 handwritten volumes of holy texts (the printing press had not yet been invented)  and then burning them on nearby Place de Greve in 1242.

Two of the rabbis, Rabbi Shmuel of Falaise and the Maharam Rottenberg, who participated in the debate are well known to us today through the prayers they  composed and the elegies about the burning of the holy books which are still part of our liturgy.

But who was that Louis, King of France, who cooperated so willingly with the church?

Louis IX (1226-1270), grandson of Philip Augustus and King of France, was a king of the Middle Ages: a knight, religious, ascetic and hostile to the Jews.

In spite of the fact that this opposition worked to its own disadvantage, he opposed the lending activity of his Jewish subjects; he decreed laws against them and even finally ordered their expulsion.

Known today as St. Louis, he was very anxious to convert the Jews and encouraged the discussions between the synagogue and the Church to this end. At these theological disputes, it was hoped that some Jews would be converted, or at least shamed, and thus convinced unresolved Christians of the truth of Christianity and the baseness of Judaism.

There is reason to believe that Louis took no action to protect the Jews persecuted by so-called crusaders in 1236 in several provinces (Anjou, Poitou, Mançois, Touraine, Berry). When, in 1239, Pope Gregory IX asked the kings of France and Portugal to order the seizure of Jewish books for examination, Louis was the quickest and most zealous to obey. So 24 loads of Jewish books were burned in 1242.

The Talmud's trial, also called the Talmud's Burning, Paris Dispute or Talmud Controversy1 (Hebrew: ויכוח פריז Vikouah Pariz) is a major event in the history of the Jews and their relationship to Christianity.

So is King St. Louis a Saint? And what about his anti-Semitic measures?

King 'Saint' Louis was marked by a profound anti-Judaism of essentially religious nature. Louis IX, deeply Christian, did not like those Jews who refused to recognize Christ.

He condemns the Talmud!  King St. Louis, moreover, does not like these people who constitute a foreign body inside the kingdom of France that he seeks to unify.

'Saint' Louis goes further. "Christians have a chief," he said to himself, "it's the bishop. The Jews have no one, so I must be the bishop of the Jews and punish them when they behave badly, but also protect them when they are unjustly attacked ... "

Still, Saint Louis was instead a persecutor of the Jews to the point of imposing on them, in 1269, the wearing of the rouelle (a piece of red felt or cloth cut in the form of a wheel, four fingers in circumference, which had to be attached to the outer garment at the chest and back), advocated by the Church which took this decision at the Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215. Saint Louis did not hesitate to apply it, especially for the sake of integration and forced conversion of Jews to the national community.

King St Louis was the instigator of the last crusades and massacre of Jews in the Holy Land.

France is in state of shock, the Christian world is outraged while muslims are rejoicing on social media.

Jews have nothing to mourn.

And by way of comparison, was the world shocked when on Kristallnacht November 9-10-1938, 1000 synagogues  were destroyed in flames by Nazi Germany, begining of the annihilation of the Jews of Europe?.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23744

"Fallen Short"

 

Senior rabbi, 55, is caught having an 'inappropriate association' with a married woman by a private eye hired by her multi-millionaire husband after he became suspicious of his 'frequent pastoral visits'

 

• Yonason Abraham, 55, had an 'inappropriate association with a married woman' 
• He was forced to quit Toras Chaim synagogue and his position at Beth Din court 
• He said he had 'fallen short of the standards expected' and he was 'deeply sorry'

 Forbidden sexual behaviors, known as gilui arayot, are viewed so negatively that a Jew is obliged to sacrifice one's life before committing them, only 3 transgressions out of 613 fall into this category.

Yonason Abraham, 55, was caught having an 'inappropriate relationship with a married woman'. He was forced to quit as rabbi at Toras Chaim synagogue and resigned from his position as a judge at Beth Din court.

A senior rabbi has been forced to quit his synagogue after an ‘inappropriate association with a married woman’.

Yonason Abraham, 55, said he had ‘fallen short of the standards expected’, adding he was ‘deeply sorry I have let you down’.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis issued a statement saying the ‘shameful episode ... has shaken us to the core’. 

He added: ‘When one of us fails in this manner, we are all greatly diminished.’ The disgraced rabbi is said to have quit over his links with the wife of a millionaire, to whom he gave ‘pastoral support’ in her marital home.

The marriages of both the rabbi and the millionaire were said to have been rocked by the scandal – although it is understood that neither couple has split. 

Rabbi Abraham had founded the Toras Chaim synagogue near Golders Green in north London, and had long been respected as one of the four judges in the London Beth Din court. He has also resigned from this latter role.

His reputation as a devout leader of the Jewish community was questioned last month when he sent his sudden resignation letter to his congregation.

The rabbi said he had been under ‘exceptional strain and stress for some time which has taken its inevitable toll’, adding: ‘I now need to help myself and my family.’ A source close to the community told the Daily Mail: ‘He had got far too close to the glamorous wife of a multi-millionaire and senior figure in the community. 

They have children. She suddenly started receiving a lot of pastoral support from [Rabbi] Abraham at her marital home. It’s said it wasn’t long before he crossed personal and religious boundaries.

‘The husband became so concerned at the rabbi’s frequent visits that he hired a private eye to find out what exactly was going on. 

What he told the husband was enough for him and his wife to face possible divorce – and for the rabbi to resign.’

The source went on: ‘The husband’s hackles were first raised when his wife said she wanted the family to “embrace their faith” more. They attend synagogue like any other family so this seemed to him an odd thing to say.

‘Then there were all the visits from the rabbi, including his using the swimming pool, which on reflection was odd as well as he was supposed to be there to give pastoral support. 

His worst fears were realised when the private eye produced evidence that left him in no doubt the rabbi was behaving inappropriately.

‘It was assumed they were divorcing but somehow they are holding it together. The rabbi’s reputation however has been ruined.

‘I don’t know how his marriage has survived. The fact that he is a judge in the religious court makes this even more embarrassing and hypocritical.’

The millionaire and his wife declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail with the allegations. Rabbi Abraham also declined to comment.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis told rabbis in his statement: ‘A Beth Din [religious judge] must be unimpeachable – anything less is entirely unacceptable.

‘It was for this reason that I, together with the United Synagogue, ensured that the matter was dealt with so swiftly.

‘This shameful episode has been met by many with disbelief and has caused great pain.

‘In addition, there are innocent family members who have been directly affected and whose lives have been devastated by it.’ 

A spokesman for the Chief Rabbi refused to elaborate on the details of the scandal, but dismissed concerns that the Jewish court could face appeals in cases heard by Rabbi Abraham going back years.

The spokesman said: ‘There is no concern about the validity of any previous judgements.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6917795/Senior-rabbi-55-caught-having-inappropriate-association-married-woman.html?fbclid=IwAR2VF_xqc11MeuomZKHqP4lCniOBNy98Cf9TeV25kiCeLZzc0WfbMimNuhA