Interesting Posts and Articles #282

1. Wolfish Musings on a Lakewood response to molestation.
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2. Jerusalem Kosher News on an "alarming tale" with a message for us all. An excerpt:
   
   

   Rabbi Altman phoned the chief mashgiach from the bakery, who confirmed that is exactly what occurred, adding this was not uncommon, explaining when the bakery for one reason or another had difficulty meeting an order, it would subcontract the job and make the delivery without informing the end-user that a switch occurred. He did not offer an explanation or apology for the fact that the ‘other bakery’ had a different hechsher.

   This disturbed the rabbi, compelling him to telephone a senior rav who is one of the authorities overseeing the Eida Chareidit kashrus operation. He felt the situation was indeed serious enough to warrant such a call on an erev shabbos. 

   The rav listened to the story and basically, without going into the details, concurred with the chief mashgiach, explaining this is a routine event. He too saw no reason for an explanation or an apology, despite the fact the bakery is synonymous with the Eida Chareidit, and permits itself to use its stationary and delivery documentation to send another hechsher without prior notification or even bothering to see if substituting a hechsher is acceptable. 

   Making things worse, as the rabbi tried to argue the merit of his case, the prominent Eida rav hung up the phone on him.

   This doesn't strike me as "alarming" in the slightest. More like "alarmist". The bakery doesn't make its own ingredients, but rather gets them from elsewhere, in a way such that the Edah Chareidis approves. If the Eidah Chareidis also apparently approve of the kashrus supervision of another bakery, for they do not consider it non-kosher and the substitution wholly acceptable and routine. It is also not surprising that the prominent Eida rav is not as patient as Hillel to nudniks bothering him on erev Shabbos, such that after explaining the policy, when the rabbi continues to "argue the merit of his case" on an erev Shabbos, he hung up on him.
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3. More on the controversy regarding Rabbi Orlofsky's intemperate remarks. A guest post at Emes veEmunah by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein. Then, a report of Rabbi Orlofsky's reaction, from someone who deems this "Rabbi Orlofsky bashing". And then a written response / clarification / apology from Rabbi Orlofsky, which on careful read does not seem like much of an apology. Bli neder, I'll try to analyze it in a separate post. And DovBear also posts, and reacts to the letter.
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4. Related (?), a woman in England throws a cat into a garbage bin. She thought it would be funny. Now caught on tape, she apologizes.
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5. Mishpacha on the need for Internet filters.
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6. Life In Israel on a videotaped meeting between Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak and Rav Shteinman, where the former tries to get the latter to ban Shwekey, in a way similar to how askonim typically try to manipulate gedolim:
   
   
   

   At the end he asks for a bracha and if he is doing the righ tthing. Rav Shteinman doesn't respond. He asks a few times, repeating his question. he pesters Rav Shteinman until he says something good enough for Rav Yitzchak - he basically says the same bracha he gives to every Tom Dick and Harry who walks in for a bracha, but now Rav Amnon Yitzchak can take that and tell people that Rav Shteinman supports him.
   
   The best, I think, is when Rav Amnon Yitzchak uses another argument. Rav Shteinman is not responding the way expected, so Rav Yitzchak says that Rav Shteinman supported banning the Internet, yet Shwekey makes a lot of money form the Internet - people can watch all of his music on the internet. So Rav Shteinman should join him against Shwekey because he uses the internet regularly to promote himself. I think this is the best part of the video because Rav Amnon Yitzchak himself has a website in which he promotes himself and his hashkafa, and makes video clips from his various sessions and drashos widely available. Yet he tries to get Shwekey banned for doing the same thing.
   
   Rav Shteinman doesn't seem to understand a lot of what Rav Amnon Yitzchak is saying. He doesnt seem to understand who Shwekey is and what he does. He doesnt understand what music albums are and what disks are. He doesnt understand what the internet is and how Shwekey uses it. Yet Rav Amnon Yitzchak persists until he can get Rav Shteinman to approve.

7. A medical treatment carries a side-effect of limiting homosexuality, in some cases.
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8. An important study that shows that nearly one million children have likely been mistakenly diagnosed with ADHD. Basically, there is a disparity in which the youngest children in the grade are diagnosed with it much more than the older children in a grade. And this is true across different states, which have different cutoff points for entering into a grade. The teachers are just reacting to the immaturity of a five-year-old over that of a six-year old.
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9. A cute mathematical story and devar Torah over at Geshmack Torah, about 39 vs. 40 lashes.
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10. Here at parshablog, all about Eldad Hadani, the charlatan who perverted our masorah, and the tie-in to our parsha of Ki Tavo.