Interesting Posts and Articles #253

1. An interesting contrast in stories between Matzav and COLLive where they got it from. It is a story about a couple who had a child 20 years after a blessing from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Chabad article begins:
   
   

   
   

   For years the Rebbe promised Aaron and Chaya Orah Baleish they would have children. This week the promise was fulfilled.

   By Mendel Rizel, COLlive reporter in Israel
   
   
   A blessing from the Lubavitcher Rebbe has been fulfilled this week, close to 20 years after it was first given to an Israeli couple.
   
   
   Aaron Baleish and his wife Chaya Orah, a Lubavitch couple from the city of Tzfas, have been waiting for many years to hear a child's laughter or cry in their home...

   While the Matzav article begins with:
   
   
   

   Aaron Baleish and his wife Chaya Orah, a Lubavitch couple from the city of Tzefas, have been waiting for many years to hear a child’s laughter or cry in their home.

   That is, they sense something slightly off, that they don't want to stress, and so omit the extreme Rebbe-focus from the article. Look at some of the comments there. E.g.:
   
   

   
   

   See???????

   There's no time limit on the Rebbe's Brachas. We just have to do what WE have to do. So we need to keep pushing to see Moshiach now!

   Is it is blessing? Is it a promise? Must it be the fulfillment of the bracha rather than other things which might have occurred in the intervening years? This happened in January. This is not atypical, it seems, unless it is somehow a duplicate. (Though the pictures appear to be dated to January.) But in November of last year, there was a similar story, mentioned at Life In Israel. He asked there -- and I agree with him:
   
   

   I am not a skeptic, and I believe in the power of brachos. My question is how they know to associate the baby to the bracha they received 20 years earlier? During the interim, I am sure they davened for children and did many mitzvos to obtain as much merit as possible. They probably even went to various tzadikim to get brachos, but if they are pure Lubavitchers, maybe they did not - I don't know.
   
   So I have no problem with the merit of their mitzvos and the brachos they received having helped them to finally merit having a child. I am simply curious how they could be so confident to attribute it to a specific bracha they received 20 years earlier, rather than to anything they might have done in the interim.. It is not as if the Rebbe told them they would have a child in 20 years. He simply gave them a dollar and said it is for the children they will have.

   and so on and so forth.
   
   
2. The latest Haveil Havalim is available, here.
3. Here at parshablog, a post on Rashi, Mechilta, and spontaneous generation. And a roundup of posts so far for this week's parsha, Yisro.
4. A followup interview with Rabbi Dovid Ribiat about Rabbi Leib Tropper. Some salient bits:
   
   

   INT: I believe that you have, Rabbi. Now, in the previous interview, you repeatedly emphasized the lack of evidence in the case of Tropper. Many are asking why evidence is necessary if Tropper himself is not denying the tapes?
   
   RR: The Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivah I have spoken with have told me that he has vehemently denied the authenticity of the tapes to them. However, I definitely agree that his failure to deny them publicly, or to indicate that he is trying to disprove them raises very strong suspicions. A Beis Din can, and I’m sure will, demand an explanation. But they cannot take action, or even make statements, without proof.
   
   INT: OK, but isn’t it pretty obvious by now that the tapes are real – everyone who has listened to them insists that it is his voice. Can’t the Beis Din proceed on that alone?
   
   RR: This may seem hard to believe, but the Rabbis have been warned that, given today’s advanced technology, tapes and even videos could be fabricated or manipulated with amazing results. In fact, Rabbi Tropper claims that he is being harassed by powerful adversaries with the desire and resources to do this. Therefore, a Beis Din cannot use them as evidence unless they are authenticated.

   This despite Rabbi Tropper's seeming admission a few weeks ago. I think this is quite plausible -- that it is not chas veshalom some cover-up, but rather than the rabbonim involved are simply ill-equipped to evaluate claims pertaining to madda and technical metzius such as the ease of fabricating such a tape, and so can be easily duped by outlandish arguments.
   
5. In response to an article at Chabad.org, Mystical Paths declares that Yoga is NOT kosher. I don't know that I agree with their particular proof, though:
   

   One small example: Aish HaTorah (of all places) had a class on meditation. One student had what he called a beautiful vision. He told the teacher about the gorgeous blue light that he saw. The teacher told him to come talk to me (Reb Gutman Locks). The Hindus say that blue light in visions is the highest (The Blue Pearl), and both Yoga and Hindu practices strive for it. The Zohar Chadash says "it is the lowest color in visions and much ardent prayer must be exercised to avoid it."

6. An interesting new ATM fraud.
7. At Hirhurim, R' Ari Enkin on Rabbi Henkin's view on family planning.
   
   
8. In a facilitated communication, an autistic confirms that the dybbuk is real.
   

   Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent another message to the world,another lesson for Am Yisrael that should be taken very seriously.  That lesson is the dibbuk that appeared lately. It was sent also to show us ultimately, not with a huge earthquake where millions of people are dead and suffering, but a voice from within a tortured man. A dibbuk, a lost soul who entered and occupied someone else's body and is bringing a glimpse of what happens to a soul who is steeped in avairos.

   By implication, Rav Shternbuch and Rav Kanievsky must be wrong in assessing that it is a case of mental illness. Someone should inform them, and find out their reactions...