Interesting Posts and Articles #106

1. More discussion of the phrase "The Rebbe runs the world," "der rebbe firt der velt,"used by many in Lubavitch even after the Rebbe's death. See the discussion at Daas Torah and at Circus Tent.
   
   
2. Lion of Zion discusses an article by the New York Times public editor, about how they choose to use and when to avoid the word terrorist. And this is not as was suggested by some bloggers, that news outlets use this term interchangeably with militant and gunman.
   
   
3. Beyond BT and A Simple Jew have a guest post by Rabbi Ozer Bergman, about alarmists. A valuable read, and we will have to see how the comment sections shape up.
   
   
4. Divrei Chaim addresses from what age kol isha begins.
   
   
5. A security flaw in Internet Explorer, which allows hackers to get your passwords. Until you get and install the emergency security, I would avoid using Internet Explorer, at least for general browsing. But thousands of websites have been compromised already.
   
   
6. Kankan Chadash on Freud and Jam Theories.
   
   
7. Wolfish Musings posts (based on an article in HaMercaz) on how an Israeli yeshiva expelled 10 students for learning to drive, after consulting Rav Kanievsky about it.
   

   "A person who categorizes himself as a Ben Torah should not have a license, which takes him out of this category."

   He also posted a year ago about women driving being considered not frum.
   
   It is obviously a cultural difference in the significance of driving (they might use the car to go on trips and hang out), but despite the cultural difference, I am at a loss of what to say when I see:
   

   The Rosh Yeshiva asked about an additional boy who had also gotten his license only because his father was disabled, and getting around was difficult. R' Chaim Kanievsky responded that that student could be kept in the Yeshiva, but advised him to cancel his license anyway.

   There is kibbud av vaEm, a Biblical command, plus chessed, on one hand, and the advice of a Gadol on the other, based on concerns of what makes one a ben Torah. I think Rabbi Tarfon would have kept his license in order to be able to convey his mother around. And if being a ben Torah means that one should disregard the real needs of a disabled father, then I am not so sure I would want to categorize myself as a ben Torah. What is the ultimate goal of Torah, after all? Perhaps we can apply Divrei haRav vs. Divrei haTalmid, Divrei mi Shome'in? Though I would apply it one way, one could apply it either way.
   
   Though perhaps Rav Kanievsky's concern is that the availability of the license to a teenager, even for this very good reason, will quite possibly lead him to error when he uses it in other contexts.
   
   A solution might also be to drive without a license, since it is only the having of a license which is being forbidden by the words of the statement. I wonder, also, if there is a way to keep information about licenses issued private. These students were expelled when the yeshiva was provided with the licensing information, upon request.
   
   This is all if these reports are accurate. There might be some missing context, such that any commentary. And while everyone is eager to promulgate the latest psak, this is really prone to misunderstanding and perhaps should not have been promulgated.