Interesting Posts and Articles #270

1. Daat Torah with an interesting historical source -- is it ever a good idea to cover up sexual abuse?
   
   
   

   The community was outraged by this act. Her relatives wanted to press charges with the police so that the assailants should be properly punished. They came to me and I spoke with them to quiet the matter so that it should not disgrace the Jews in the eyes of the non‑Jews by the wanton act of our youth that they would rape, transgress Shabbos and threaten to kill.  There was also the danger that could result from  going against these brazen youth. The relatives listened to me and did not go to the police.

2. A CNN editor fired for saying she has respect for a Hezbollah terrorist, and that she was sad to hear of his death.
   
   
   

   CNN doesn’t think Nasr’s apology makes up for what she said. “We believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward,” Nasr’s CNN superior Parisa Khosravi said in a statement.

   Note how they say 'going forward'. I don't see why it would not also be so going backward.
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3. A guest post, by Rabbi Dov Lipman, at Life in Israel, all about the Dati Leumi Plot crisis in Bet Shemesh. An excerpt:
   
   
   

   Given all the background – the Mayor seemingly siding with those who do not want Orot there, the Mayor being against Rabbi Rosner’s shul being built there (because “right now there are only 30 families” – his words, not mine), and the Mayor not sitting down and talking with the people involved despite all the already existing tension – how can we conclude anything other than the Mayor plans to use the presence of the caravans to then take the Orot campus and to essentially destroy any chance of Rabbi Rosner growing his new community and to move the school which services hundreds of families who have been living in the area for years. As one of the more prestigious Rabbis in the community told me, once those caravans go down right there, that “is the likely the death of our community.”
   Not because chareidi children are bad, God forbid. But because it is so crystal clear what the next steps will be.

4. Also at Life In Israel, what is quite literally the pashkevil to end all pashkevils, in Hebrew and English.
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5. In the Five Towns Jewish Times, in a letter to the editor, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminesky lends support to Rabbi Aryeh Ginzberg regarding the inviting of the Maharat to speak at one of the shuls.
   
   
   

   Several rabbonim encouraged Rabbi Ginzberg to write his article, and he wisely chose not to state their names and expose them to the anger he feared might result from his words (though they were respectful and measured words throughout). As one of those who encouraged him, and to whom he submitted his article to ensure that I approved of it, I would like to publicly commend him for what he wrote...

6. Hershel Tzig on various Rebbes departing from their forebears and protesting the Yaffa graves situation.
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7. At Vos Iz Neias and elsewhere, in Sderot, a tznius standard, and certification, instituted in some businesses:
   
   
   

   “We felt like we want to do something to help. Bombing Gaza is not within our capacity, so we thought of doing something in order to increase opportunities to do something good. We consulted with Rabbi Eliyahu on how we can strengthen them in terms of Torah, and what came up as a request from the public of the Torah core families is the issue of modesty.

   But this is not, IMHO, something good. It is something truly awful. Why?
   
   
   

   “It was clear to us that we could not turn to the general public and ask them to grow stronger in their abidance of modesty because this would not be accepted. Therefore, we thought of starting with people who serve the public. What we are in essence asking of them is to be considerate of the religious public. After all, it is fairly acceptable that businesses have uniform dress.”

   So educate the public, if you believe your standards of tznius are right! Do kiruv rechokim and get them to appreciate the beauty of Judaism, and then perhaps tznius standards. That the public will not accept your words doesn't mean you should seek out the scenario in which you can compel people against their will! Of course, they claim it is non-compulsory:
   
   
   

   “We want people who don’t keep the Torah and mitzvoth also to understand the pain and suffering of a person trying to raise his children in purity but encounters public representatives who spoil it for him. I want people to understand that there is no oppression here.”

   But if they suggest to businesses that they need to make their workers dress in a certain way, and if as a result the bosses compel their workers to dress in a certain way, then it absolutely is compulsion and oppression. I don't care that their modesty standards are ones I agree with as a religious Jew. This is well beside the point. These are not the modesty standards of your normal chiloni, and this is religious compulsion the same way as if they would compel yeshivish people to accord with chassidic modesty norms. Ironically enough, they entitle their campaign mutual respect.
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8. At Rationalist Judaism, Rabbi Slifkin notes an upcoming book by Rabbi Meiselman called The Torah of Science, and offers some speculation of what the book will and will not contain.
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9. And here at parshablog, I discussed two segulos for curing a toothache, one endorsed by gedolim, and how they appear to step from idolatrous and superstitious folk remedy.