Year: 2022

Whitewashing Mendel Lefin, Evil Author of Cheshbon Hanefesh

Rabbi Yaacov Edelstein and co. try and defend the Maskilic author of Cheshbon Hanefesh (yes, there were good and bad Maskilim, but Lefin was bad). See Yisrael Shapira’s article on Ynet’s “Kikar Hashabat” site here…

“How come Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (who lived soon after the author) endorsed the book?” Let me answer the question with another question: How come the Yad Rama (who lived soon after Rashi) quotes the “Rashi” on Perek Chelek?!

The Charedi-style “defense'” begins with some irrelevancies, progresses to the belligerent Argument from Authority, and excuses the plagiarism in two words. And then, just when you should expect the real meat, it becomes the standard: “Trust me, the author was fine even though I don’t care to prove my point (for secret reasons)” (read: Are you going to doubt someone as chashuv as me?).

Eh, put me down as unconvinced.

The State of Israel’s Corona Regime – *J’ACCUSE!* by Professor Ehud Qimron

Professor Ehud Qimron: “Ministry of Health, it’s time to admit failure”

Published: January 10, 2022

Professor Ehud Qimron, head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tel Aviv University and one of the leading Israeli immunologists, has written an open letter sharply criticizing the Israeli – and indeed global – management of the coronavirus pandemic.

Original letter in Hebrew: N12 News (January 6, 2022); translated by Google/SPR.

See also: Professor Qimron’s prediction from August 2020: “History will judge the hysteria” (INN).

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Ministry of Health, it’s time to admit failure

In the end, the truth will always be revealed, and the truth about the coronavirus policy is beginning to be revealed. When the destructive concepts collapse one by one, there is nothing left but to tell the experts who led the management of the pandemic – we told you so.

Two years late, you finally realize that a respiratory virus cannot be defeated and that any such attempt is doomed to fail. You do not admit it, because you have admitted almost no mistake in the last two years, but in retrospect, it is clear that you have failed miserably in almost all of your actions, and even the media is already having a hard time covering your shame.

You refused to admit that the infection comes in waves that fade by themselves, despite years of observations and scientific knowledge. You insisted on attributing every decline of a wave solely to your actions, and so through false propaganda “you overcame the plague.” And again you defeated it, and again and again and again.

You refused to admit that mass testing is ineffective, despite your own contingency plans explicitly stating so (“Pandemic Influenza Health System Preparedness Plan, 2007”, p. 26).

You refused to admit that recovery is more protective than a vaccine, despite previous knowledge and observations showing that non-recovered vaccinated people are more likely to be infected than recovered people. You refused to admit that the vaccinated are contagious despite the observations. Based on this, you hoped to achieve herd immunity by vaccination — and you failed in that as well.

You insisted on ignoring the fact that the disease is dozens of times more dangerous for risk groups and older adults than for young people who are not in risk groups, despite the knowledge that came from China as early as 2020.

You refused to adopt the “Barrington Declaration”, signed by more than 60,000 scientists and medical professionals, or other common-sense programs. You chose to ridicule, slander, distort, and discredit them. Instead of the right programs and people, you have chosen professionals who lack relevant training for pandemic management (physicists as chief government advisers, veterinarians, security officers, media personnel, and so on).

You have not set up an effective system for reporting side effects from the vaccines, and reports on side effects have even been deleted from your Facebook page. Doctors avoid linking side effects to the vaccine, lest you persecute them as you did with some of their colleagues. You have ignored many reports of changes in menstrual intensity and menstrual cycle times. You hid data that allows for objective and proper research (for example, you removed the data on passengers at Ben Gurion Airport). Instead, you chose to publish non-objective articles together with senior Pfizer executives on the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.

Irreversible damage to trust

However, from the heights of your hubris, you have also ignored the fact that in the end the truth will be revealed. And it begins to be revealed. The truth is that you have brought the public’s trust in you to an unprecedented low, and you have eroded your status as a source of authority. The truth is that you have burned hundreds of billions of shekels to no avail – for publishing intimidation, for ineffective tests, for destructive lockdowns, and for disrupting the routine of life in the last two years.

You have destroyed the education of our children and their future. You made children feel guilty, scared, smoke, drink, get addicted, drop out, and quarrel, as school principals around the country attest. You have harmed livelihoods, the economy, human rights, mental health and physical health.

You slandered colleagues who did not surrender to you, you turned the people against each other, divided society, and polarized the discourse. You branded, without any scientific basis, people who chose not to get vaccinated as enemies of the public and as spreaders of disease. You promote, in an unprecedented way, a draconian policy of discrimination, denial of rights, and selection of people, including children, for their medical choice. A selection that lacks any epidemiological justification.

When you compare the destructive policies you are pursuing with the sane policies of some other countries — you can clearly see that the destruction you have caused has only added victims beyond the vulnerable to the virus. The economy you ruined, the unemployed you caused, and the children whose education you destroyed — they are the surplus victims as a result of your own actions only.

There is currently no medical emergency, but you have been cultivating such a condition for two years now because of lust for power, budgets and control. The only emergency now is that you still set policies and hold huge budgets for propaganda and psychological engineering instead of directing them to strengthen the health care system.

This emergency must stop!

Professor Udi Qimron, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

From Swiss Policy Research, here.

Judaism Is Not an Obstacle Course!

From Rabbi Moshe Averick zatzal‘s basic intro to “Open Orthodoxy” here…

Rabbi Dr. Moshe Meiselman, a nephew of Rav Soloveitchik’s and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Toras Moshe in Jerusalem, once remarked that many people have a warped view of the halakhic process; they view halakha as some sort of obstacle course. In other words, they decide beforehand that they are determined to arrive at Point B starting from Point A, and then run, twist, jump, and do summersaults in order to avoid injuring themselves on the razor-wire and land-mines that are the halakhic “obstacles.”Victory is achieved by capturing whatever flag it is they are after – in this case a feminist-progressive one – raising it aloft and proclaiming, “You see Rabbi, I didn’t cut myself on one halakha!”

This is a terrible distortion of what Torah is all about. The nation of Israel sealed their covenant with the Almighty not by  pursuing their personal agendas while at the same time exhibiting great skill at avoiding halakhic sand traps, but by proclaiming, “Na’aseh V’Nishma!”[literally: we will do and then we will understand]– we first commit ourselves body and soul to fulfilling whatever it is you ask from us, irrespective of any and all personal, subjective feelings and judgments and only then begin the process of learning your Torah and its commandments. The committed Jew asks him/herself, “What path does God show me in his Torah?” not “What path do I want to go on and how can I best manipulate Torah and halakha to justify myself?”

Read the rest here (before the Slime of Jezreel awakens and deletes it)…

(Not to disagree, but personally, I cannot muster the same outrage against reforming movements. In my mind, anyways all Diaspora Jewry is heading for ignorant impiety\impious ignorance. It’s just a matter of time and labels.)

Aliyah Is Not a Milestone but a QUEST!

Haaretz Hatovah: Five Times Aliyah

4:33 am

Binyomin Biron, Kiryat Sefer, Modi’in Illit

I first came to Eretz Yisroel as a bochur. I had previously been involved in kiruv activities in Kiev. At the end of the school year, my brother-in-law who was living in Eretz Yisroel suggested that I continue on to yeshivah here, being that I was already so much closer in Kiev to Eretz Yisroel than from back home in the US. With my parents’ approval, I came to learn in the Ponevezh Yeshivah. Once here, my brother-in-law suggested that I try to just imitate the Israeli dialect of speech (including resorting to the guttural “reish”), as this would help me acclimate myself to speaking Hebrew and make me comfortable while doing so. I also practiced my Hebrew by speaking to Israeli kids who were happy to be of help with my Hebrew vocabulary.

While I was here in Eretz Yisroel, it was eventually time to start shidduchim. I fortunately found someone who was also interested in living here, and although we went back to the US to get married, we came back to Eretz Yisroel shortly thereafter. Although we had both come to Eretz Yisroel before, this time it was more significant because we were now establishing a home here.

After we had done our own “aliyah,” establishing ourselves here in Eretz Yisroel, we decided to go through the process of what the Israeli government calls “aliyah”—as in obtaining Israeli citizenship. This would allow us to work here legally, get some benefits, and save a bit of money (e.g. cheaper health insurance, possibly lower home purchase tax, etc.). We know people who choose to live here without becoming Israeli citizens, but we didn’t want to have to renew our visas and be subject to the whims of the Interior Ministry clerks, or have it easier to decide to move back. Though, for some people that works better.

When we went to the Interior Ministry with all of our documents to process our citizenship request, there was a minor issue with one of my documents which prevented my request from immediately being processed. I was going to fix the issue, but a friend, who b’siyatta diShmaya “happened” to be there just then, alerted me to the fact that as a male Israeli citizen eligible for the draft, I would be subject to some restrictions regarding the length of time I may be out of the country. This held true even though I was a full-time learner and would not be drafted. Because this friend knew about my kiruv activities, he advised me not to apply for aliyah so I could travel if necessary. I decided I would push off the process for myself, and at that time only my wife obtained citizenship, I was eventually offered a job in a kiruv kollel in Moscow. They wanted a commitment of at least two years, but we ended up staying there slightly more than three. I would not have taken up such an offer from a kollel in the US, because there would be a risk of finding ourselves stuck there—after all, we were both originally from the US and had family there. As for Russia, there really wasn’t anything that would keep us there for the long term and prevent us from fulfilling our goal of settling in Eretz Yisroel.

When our oldest child was going to enter kita aleph (first grade), we decided, with guidance from Gedolim, that it was time to reestablish ourselves in Eretz Yisroel, this time as a small family. We weren’t going to wait until the kids got older when the adjustment would be more difficult. We really wanted the chinuch available in Eretz Yisroel, especially in a place like Kiryat Sefer. The chinuch here is on a very high level—there is more Yiddishkeit, more kedushah, less gashmiyus, and less exposure to tum’ah. Here, learning Torah is most valued, tzaddikim are the role models, and there is a general atmosphere of yir’as Shomayim. Although earning money, having a car, and similar materialistic items might be important, it’s not the focus.

We are privileged to raise our children in a place that is more closed and protected. Such communities exist back in the US, but they’re still more vulnerable to the influences and social pressures of their country and general society.

Several years after we were back in Eretz Yisroel, I completed the process of citizenship, further strengthening my connection to the Land, at least in a technical way.

Here’s an observation of mine: Among the American bochurim who are here learning in Eretz Yisroel, there are at least some who would also like to establish themselves here. Many are unaware that they don’t have to go back to the US for potential shidduchim. There are many regular Beis Yaakov girls from America who are already here that also want to live here and who have already started shidduchim. Some of them are here in post-seminary programs and others have immigrated with their families. Although the boys are primarily here to learn, I don’t see why those interested shouldn’t try shidduchim here.

While there is a possibility of finding a shidduch in chutz laAretz who would also tentatively agree to come to live in Eretz Yisroel, even with all the goodwill it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. Good intentions aside, there are differences one would have to adjust to over here—not having two cars, getting along with Jews from “arba kanfos ha’aretz”—i.e. many different cultures, and many other things—someone who’s not wholeheartedly committed to living here might just not get over any real or perceived difficulties. As for the pool of potential shidduchim for Americans being smaller here, well, the bottom line is you only need one…

Still Ascending

I came as a bochur, came again with my wife, came a third time as a small family, and have gone through the citizenship process twice—once for my wife, and once for myself. But, as Rav Zev Leff, shlita, says (I learn in the yeshivah in his Moshav Matityahu in the mornings), aliyah doesn’t end at the airport (or in the Interior Ministry). It’s really two stages—the first step is leaving America behind, and the next step is to keep shteiging here.

This article is part of our Haaretz Hatovah series featuring Yidden living in, settling, and building up Eretz Yisroel. For more information please contact us at info@naavakodesh.org or visit naavakodesh.org/haaretz-hatovah

Reprinted with permission from Yated Ne’eman

From Matzav, here.