The ‘Journalistic Ethics’ of The Times of Israel & The Jerusalem Post

The Media’s War Against Orthodox Judaism

by Chananya Weissman

The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post are waging a journalistic war against Orthodox Judaism. They have dropped all pretenses of objectivity; not only are their editorials one-sided and biased against the more traditional segments of Orthodox Judaism, but they regularly publish thinly-veiled editorials under the guise of news items. There can be no doubt that their mission is not to report news and inform the public, but to manipulate their readers through propaganda, selective reporting, double standards, and lack of nuance.

Two examples from the last few days alone (there are many more) illustrate their lack of integrity and professionalism.

On July 2 the Times of Israel posted a news update under the title “Shas leader says he made sure synagogues can keep packing them in“. This is the sort of snarky title one might expect to find in a high school newspaper, not a professional media outlet. The article went on to relate that the Prime Minister had sought to limit synagogue attendance to 20 people, while allowing more in event halls, bars, and clubs, but “Deri canceled the evil decree.”

The Times of Israel then showed a stock photo from May 20 – six weeks earlier – with the caption “Ultra Orthodox Jewish men eschew masks while praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem”. Thinly veiled message to readers: please hate these people!

But it got even worse. The article, ostensibly a news update, continued as follows: “It can’t be that restaurants, bars and clubs, where the danger is larger several times over, can host 50 people and synagogues can only have 20. In clubs they don’t keep distances and nobody wears masks,” says Deri, who apparently frequents dance clubs.

The malice of the unnamed writer or editor at the Times of Israel was so pronounced that he simply could not hold himself back from taking pot shots at Deri and Orthodox Jews at every opportunity in this short “news update”.

Needless to say, there were no reports of Muslim imams seeking to “pack them in” at mosques with snide commentary. After all, in their own words, “The Times of Israel has no partisan political affiliation. It seeks to present the news fair-mindedly…”

On July 9 the Jerusalem Post published a news story with the inflammatory headline “Chief rabbi patronizes women studying halacha, says ReformJudaism is fake“. The article began with the following paragraph: “Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has issued an all out attack on Reform Judaism, describing it as “fake” and “falsified Judaism,” while also casting aspersions on the ability of women to study Jewish law at an advanced level.”

As it turns out, this is misleading. The article goes on to relate that Rabbi Yosef specifically reacted to legal pressure being put on the chief rabbinate to essentially ordain women (albeit perhaps with a title other than rabbi), and he acknowledged that women can and do learn Torah on a high level.

The author, Jeremy Sharon, referred to the women seeking “accreditation” as being “overwhelmingly from the moderate wing of the religious-Zionist community”. However, he did not enlighten readers with the basis on which he considers them moderate and Rabbi Yosef extremist – particularly important considering the “moderates” are using the secular courts to try to impose their will on the rabbinate and attain something that has never been accepted in Orthodox Judaism. Clearly the Jerusalem Post does not want readers thinking about this, but to simply accept as fact that Rabbi Yosef is a tyrant seeking to keep down holy religious women from achieving what is rightfully theirs.

Sharon then “reported” that Rabbi Yosef “embarked on an anti-Reform diatribe”. This diatribe basically consisted of accusing them of falsifying the Torah. What does Sharon expect the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, a staunchly Orthodox Jew from a prestigious rabbinic dynasty, to say about Reform Jewry? Apparently, that they are free to interpret the Torah however they wish, make whatever changes they wish, and it’s all just as good or better. Ridiculous.

Needless to say, we don’t read about Reform pastors, radical feminists, homosexual activists, and cross dressers pretending to be of another gender launching into diatribes against Orthodox Judaism. The Jerusalem Post treats their utterances with the greatest of respect and sensitivity. They will also never report to us how Muslim religious leaders might deal with pressure from women to become imams, which is a shame – that would surely be an interesting story.

On July 11 the Jerusalem Post followed up this editorial posing as a news story with an actual editorial. This one ran under the headline “It’s time for Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef to step up or step down: The government needs to present Yosef with a choice – either help or get out of the way.”

It is unimaginable that the Jerusalem Post would speak of any religious leader from any other denomination or faith in such caustic terms.

The editorial went on to declare: “It was also the latest proof why the Chief Rabbinate as an institution has lost its way and needs to be defunded by the government and eventually shut down…The attacks on Reform Jews is another stage in the Orthodox world’s assault on progressive Jews…Sadly, matters of religion and state in this country continue to be held hostage by ultra-Orthodox radicals who refuse to accept that not every Jew will look like them or practice Judaism the same way that they do…People who want to travel on Shabbat do not have an option of public transportation and reforms in the country’s kashrut system are slow in coming…It is time that all this changes. The government needs to present Yosef with a choice – either help or get out of the way.”

Simply put, the editors of the Jerusalem Post demand that the Chief Rabbi of Israel stop being Orthodox and that Orthodox Jews stop “assaulting” those who want to destroy their way of life in Eretz Yisrael by resisting this takeover in any way. Orthodox Jews are “radicals” and those who trample on the Torah and tradition are “progressive”.

This is the official position of the editors of the Jerusalem Post; it is clearly stated in their editorials and reflected in their heavily biased news coverage.

It is time not only for Orthodox Jews, but all decent people who respect tradition and objective reporting of the news to hold the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post accountable for their lack of integrity and professionalism. Perhaps those who do not wish to see Orthodox rabbis, institutions, and communities defamed on a regular basis – like no other religious leaders or communities – should “defund” these anti-Orthodox media outlets.

I understand that Anglo olim like holding an English newspaper in their hands, and maybe they know someone who works there, but at some point it’s time to decide that it’s too little a price for your selling your soul.

There is a war being fought against Orthodox Judaism. It’s time to stand up and fight back.

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www.chananyaweissman.com

https://www.facebook.com/etm.shabbatons

A Serious Question Has Now Arisen Regarding America’s Future…

IMPLOSION

Even a cursory review of world history allows the reader to realize that great and mighty countries and empires fall not necessarily because of outside pressures, but because of the implosion of the society itself. Rome ruled the world for over five centuries, and, at the height of its power, it succumbed to barbaric tribes. The breakup and disintegration of the Empire came as Rome was undermined by the spread of Christianity within its society and the dissatisfaction and dissolution of social norms. These factors gave way to internal violence and a complete abandonment of any sense of loyalty to the Empire itself, or to the history that Rome had so carefully fashioned and preserved over its centuries of hegemony. In short, Rome collapsed from within and not from without.

The same can be said of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century, which never recovered from its foolish, and self-destructive exile of its Jewish population at the beginning of the century. It no longer possessed the creativity and will to succeed that had driven it to become one of the major powers in the world.

The Ottoman Empire was also rotten from the inside, and any stress placed upon it would hasten its extinction and disappearance. The first World War provided that stress. and the Ottoman Turkish Empire never recovered. In our time, we have witnessed the destruction of Communism within the Soviet Union after 75 years of brutal and tyrannical rule. Once again, the Soviet Union collapsed from the inside and not from the outside. It had weathered all of the storms of World War II and the Cold War, but it could not survive because of the malaise of its population, the burdens of bureaucracy and inefficient government that it had foisted upon a helpless populace.

A serious question has now arisen regarding the future of the United States of America. It is a very polarized society, and over the past decades it has lost its moral footing. It has become dissolute, hateful of its own heritage, spoiled by too much material wealth, and subject to Marxist indoctrination emanating from its educational systems. Whether or not the United States will be able to survive this storm is, as of yet, an undecided question. However, it is clear to me that no matter what happens, it will become increasingly difficult for Orthodox Jews to maintain themselves in American society. The entire culture is hostile to Torah values and to a Jewish way of life.

Jews have waxed prosperous over the past decades, and the continuity of Orthodox educational institutions is contingent upon the continuation of that prosperity. However, whether America will have a prosperous future over the next few decades is a difficult question to answer. There will be more governmental regulations regarding curriculum, and the nature of educational classes in schools. Education separated by sex will certainly not be allowed, and the concentration on Torah studies will be severely limited. I hope that I am wrong regarding my fears, but my heart tells me otherwise.

Certainly, the America that I grew up in and lived in for most of my lifetime no longer exists. There is no longer wholesome entertainment nor a feeling of moral probity. America was once a religious country. Today it has become overwhelmingly secular with all the attendant evils that such a change in society inevitably engenders. History teaches us that nothing goes on forever, and that great countries and empires rise but inevitably fall.

For many years, I thought that the United States was an exception to that rule, but I no longer believe so. The curve has already flattened, and we are witness to the downward spiral that leads to irrelevance and impotence in world events, I fervently pray that I am wrong but these are my impressions as I view the current scene.

From Rabbi Berel Wein, here.

A Pandemic of Mask Misinformation

Physician And Medical Journal Editor: Healthy People Should Not Wear Face Masks

 POSTED ON

Healthy People Should Not Wear Face Masks

by Jim Meehan, MD
MeehanMD.com.

Via Health Impact News:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts began telling us to follow a number of disease mitigation strategies that sounded reasonably scientific, but actually had little or no support in the scientific literature. Community wearing of masks was one of the more dangerous recommendations from our confused public health experts.

The Pandemic of Bad Science and Public Health Misinformation on Community Wearing of Masks

Renowned neurosurgeon, Russell Blaylock, MD had this to say about the science of masks:

As for the scientific support for the use of face masks, a recent careful examination of the literature, in which 17 of the best studies were analyzed, concluded that, “None of the studies established a conclusive relationship between mask/respirator use and protection against influenza infection.”[R] Keep in mind, no studies have been done to demonstrate that either a cloth mask or the N95 mask has any effect on transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Any recommendations, therefore, have to be based on studies of influenza virus transmission. The fact is, there is no conclusive evidence of their efficiency in controlling flu virus transmission. – Russell Blaylock, MD

You can read Dr. Blaylock’s brilliant discussion of this matter at the end of this paper or at this link:

Blaylock: Face Masks Pose Serious Risks to the Healthy

Quarantining Healthy People – A Failed Experiment

We were told that everyone, even the healthy, should quarantine at home. All were told to “shelter-in-place,” isolate ourselves, hide alone, indoors, until the danger of the virus passed, despite the large body of scientific evidence that shows our immune systems thrive on diversity of exposures, sunlight, time in nature, and in loving company of others.

Furthermore, it seemed that the public health experts were ignoring the very real harms that result from shutting down the economy, putting tens of millions of workers out of work, and the shadow pandemic of suicides, drug abuse, overdoses, and other harms that follow massive economic downturns. [R][R]

Historically and by definition, quarantines had always been about sequestering the sick. Never before had anyone beat a virus by quarantining the healthy. We were not told that quarantining healthy people was a first-of-its kind experiment. And the experiment failed. More on this topic later.

Community Wearing of Masks is a Bad Recommendation

We were frequently confused by the mixed messages coming from public health agencies. Early in the pandemic Dr. Fauci, the U.S. Surgeon General, and the WHO all told the public, in no uncertain terms, not to wear masks. Then, over the course of the next several weeks and months, the CDC twice changed their recommendations, as did the WHO, and the recommendations always contradicted each other!

The CDC made the mistake of telling us cloth masks worked, and they even provided directions on their website for making homemade cloth masks.

To clear up the confusion, I will show that the scientific evidence not only does not support the community wearing of face masks, but the evidence shows that healthy people wearing face masks pose serious health risks to wearers.

Hiding our faces behind masks and isolating in our homes is not the solution, at least not for most people with healthy immune systems. Supporting the health of your immune system, confidently confronting all pathogens, and allowing herd immunity to develop and protect the vulnerable populations should be the goal.

What’s happening in the world today, including the misinformation surrounding community mask wearing, is about political agendas, symbolism, fear, and dividing and isolating the people. It has nothing to do with science.

Medical Masks are Bad for Health

As a physician and former medical journal editor, I’ve carefully read the scientific literature regarding the use of face masks to mitigate viral transmission. I believe the public health experts have community wearing of masks all wrong. What follows are the key issues that should inform the public against wearing medical face masks during the CoVID-19 pandemic, as well as all future respiratory disease pandemics.

Face masks decrease oxygen, increase carbon dioxide, and alter breathing in ways that increase susceptibility and severity of CoVID-19

Mask wearers frequently report symptoms of difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, headache, lightheadedness, dizziness, anxiety, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, and other subjective symptoms while wearing medical masks. As a surgeon, I have worn masks for prolonged periods of time in thousands of surgeries and can assure you these symptoms do occur when surgical masks are worn for extended periods of time. The longer a surgical mask is worn, the more saturated with moisture it becomes, and the more significantly it inhibits the inflow of oxygen and outflow of carbon dioxide.

In fact, clinical research shows that medical masks lower blood oxygen levels[R] and raise carbon dioxide blood levels.[R] The deviations in oxygen and carbon dioxide may not reach the clinical criteria for hypoxia (low blood oxygen), hypoxemia (low tissue oxygen), or hypercapnia (elevated blood carbon dioxide), but they can deviate enough to cause even healthy individuals to become symptomatic, as occurred with the surgeons studied and published in this report:

Preliminary Report on Surgical Mask Induced Deoxygenation During Major Surgery

At the same time masks inhibit oxygen intake, they trap the carbon dioxide rich breath in the mouth/mask inter-space. Thus, a fraction of carbon dioxide previously exhaled is inhaled at each respiratory cycle.

Masks force you to re-breathe a portion of your own breath, including all the stuff (infectious viral particles) the lungs were trying to remove from the body (more on this later).

As medical masks lower oxygen and raise carbon dioxide in the blood, the brain senses the changes and the risk they pose to the maintenance of normal physiology. Thus, the brain goes to work to bring things back in order. To obtain more oxygen and remove more carbon dioxide, the brain tells the lungs to increase the rate (frequency) and depth of breaths.[R] Unfortunately, struggle as they may, your brain and lungs can not fully compensate for the negative effects of the mask. Some may even suffer the symptoms of carbon dioxide toxicity.

For people with diseases of the lungs, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), face masks are intolerable to wear as they worsen breathlessness.[R]

In the case of respiratory pathogens, the negative effects of masks and the respiratory changes they induce could increase susceptibility and transmission of CoVID-19, as well as other respiratory pathogens.

Viral particles move through face masks with relative ease. Studies show that about 44% of viral particles pass through surgical masks, 97% pass through cloth masks, and about 5% through N95 masks. Increasing tidal volume (depth of breaths) results in literally sucking more air, more forcefully through and around the mask. Any SARS CoV-2 particles on, in, or around the mask are more forcefully suctioned into the mouth and lungs as a result of the compensatory increases in tidal volume.

The changes in respiratory rate and depth may also increase the severity of CoVID-19 as the increased tidal volume delivers the viral particles deeper into the lungs.

These changes may worsen the community transmission of CoVID-19 when infected people wearing masks exhale air more heavily contaminated with viral particles from the lungs.

These effects are amplified if face masks are contaminated with the viruses, bacteria, or fungi that find their way or opportunistically grow in the warm, moist environment that medical masks quickly become.

Despite the scientific evidence to the contrary, public health experts claim that medical masks do not cause clinically significant hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypercapnia (high CO2). I would like to ask those experts to explain the growing number of cases in which medical masks worn during exercise have resulted in lung injuries and heart attacks:

Two Chinese boys drop dead during PE lessons while wearing face masks amid concerns over students’ fitness following three months of school closure [R][R]

Jogger’s lung collapses after he ran for 2.5 miles while wearing a face mask [R]

If medical masks were perfectly safe and effective, then why would healthy boys suffer heart attacks or a 26 year old man collapse his lung while wearing masks and running?! In my opinion, these are tragic examples of the risks of wearing medical masks. And we are only getting started.

Continue reading…

From Natural Blaze, here.

Anecdotal Evidence Against Segulos?

It appeared the Bris would have to be delayed, because of high jaundice. So, the mother borrowed every possible Segulah, listened to every neighbor, and recited every prayer. But by the seventh day, there was no improvement at all. So, she stopped washing the baby’s hands every morning. The parents already canceled the catering, the hall, etc. And then the bilirubin count suddenly dropped, and they performed the Bris exactly on time, with barely a minyan.

So, you see? Segulos don’t work!

But that doesn’t disprove Segulos at all, the concept endorsed in Chazal. Indeed, using more than one Segulah at a time shows a misunderstanding of the source, like buying multiple lottery tickets. Bitachon is the best Segulah.

‘Vox Populi Vox Dei’ In Judaism

Civil Disobedience in a Torah State

The coronavirus plague has brought the issue of civil disobedience to the forefront in many countries around the world. Authoritarian and even totalitarian governments have faced uprisings from desperate citizens. One cannot help but hope that this will lead to greater freedom and liberty for oppressed people around the world.

More democratic countries have employed draconian measures to limit the spread of the virus, in many respects resembling authoritarian regimes. Leaders have had to straddle the line between public safety, economic collapse, preventing citizens from panicking, and unjustified power grabs. Citizens in these countries have had to straddle the line between social responsibility, financial ruin, obeying authority, and fear of punishment. In these cases there is a great debate over whether harsh measures from governments will ultimately cause more harm than they will prevent.

As always, the Torah provides a model for how we should respond to every situation. Our divine treasure waits quietly to be sought, allowing those who think they can devise a better way to fumble and stumble. Perhaps social fabrics across the world must fray, perhaps Man must experience epic failure before he surrenders and turns to God’s instruction manual.

The Torah provides a unique model for the relationship between citizens and authority figures. Most people – even, sadly, religious Jews – view the Torah’s system of a monarchy and religious tribunals as primitive and unenlightened. Let us take a closer look and then compare with the best of what our modern, enlightened world has to offer.

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We tend to view monarchs as ruthless dictators commanding unflinching obedience and lopping off heads right and left for their own amusement. This is for good reason; the archetypical monarch throughout history has been such a character, and there is no shortage of world leaders today who follow that tradition sans the crown and title.

Ancient Israel contributed many members to this dubious club, yet the vast majority of “bad” monarchs belonged specifically to societies that rejected the rule of the Torah. This includes the Davidic kings who embraced idol worship, the kings who broke away from the Davidic dynasty, and the kings during the second Bais Hamikdash. All of the non-Davidic kings except for Shaul and Yerovam derived their power strictly from force and rejected the Torah. This is not a coincidence – the two go hand in hand.

The Torah’s description of a king’s powers is unique among all man-made systems. Man-made systems invariably describe a leadership position by outlining the powers of the one who occupies it. The Torah, on the other hand, describes a king specifically by restricting his powers! He must not have too many wives, lest they sway his heart. He must not have too many horses, just enough for the needs of his army. He must not even have too much silver and gold, just enough to cover his expenses and bring appropriate respect to the kingdom. He must carry a Torah with him at all times to remind him that he is merely an ambassador of the King of Kings. He must learn from the Torah all his days so that he will fear God and not exalt himself over his fellow Jews. The Torah utters not a single word about the glory and power a king – only limits him and humbles him.

Indeed, the “good” Davidic kings, beginning with David himself, were extremely humble and responsive to the common people, despite wielding enormous power. We find throughout the books of Navi that they derived their power from the consent of the people, and were ever-mindful of that. The same David who inflicted unparalleled terror on Israel’s enemies responded meekly when Jews rebelled against him. This is the prototypical Jewish king.

Compare and contrast to our modern, “enlightened” leaders, who tend to take a reverse approach.

At the same time the Torah humbles the Jewish king, it commands the people to accept his authority. The king is not a mere figurehead, but a powerful ruler who represents the entire nation, and one who rebels against the king even slightly can be put to death.

Yet just as the king must balance his broad power with humility and prudence, the Torah balances the people’s subservience with the right to disobey a command that violates the Torah. In fact, they are obligated to do so. For example, Avner, the powerful general of Shaul, refused an order to murder the people of Nov. Avner is praised for this and suffered no repercussions for disobeying this order. On the contrary, the Gemara says he was later killed by divine punishment for failing to dissuade Shaul from pursuing David. The message is very clear: obeying a corrupt order from a king is ultimately far more hazardous than disobeying the king.

The Torah strikes the perfect balance for us, and if things are less than perfect, it is only because we have failed to adhere to this balance.

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We find something similar with rabbinic leadership, which also gets a bad rap by secularists who consider themselves too sophisticated for religion. The Torah grants enormous power to the religious courts as well. Obeying their rulings is one of the 613 commandments. The Jewish courts have the power to levy fines, appropriate property, and even administer corporal punishment beyond the letter of the law if they deem it necessary to repair moral breaches in society.

Yet here too we find that they derive their powers entirely from the people. Judges and officers are appointed by the people, and once again the Torah goes to great lengths to warn judges against any form of corruption or negligence.

The Talmudic sages viewed themselves as divinely mandated to serve the people by virtue of their knowledge, against their personal best interests. Their calling was a wearying burden, and they lived in terror of the repercussions for ruling incorrectly (Sanhedrin 7A and many other places). A judge who ruled incorrectly would in many cases have to make restitution out of his own pocket! Again, compare and contrast to any religious or secular court in the world today.

Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yishmael were on their way to be martyred by the Roman government. Rabbi Shimon said to his teacher that he could not fathom the divine cause of his execution. Rabbi Yishmael asked him if he had ever kept litigants waiting momentarily for him to finish his drink, put on his shoes, or wrap himself in his tallis before adjudicating them. Rabbi Shimon was consoled by these words, accepting his death as a heavenly punishment for inconveniencing ordinary people who came before him to be judged! (Mechilta, Mishpatim Chapter 18)

As if that’s not enough, the Jewish courts were literally powerless to impose laws on society without the people’s cooperation. When they passed a gezeira, they would keep the reason behind it a secret for a full year even from their students. Furthermore, the courts were prohibited from passing a law that society could not tolerate. If the public voted with their feet not to accept the law, it was repealed, not forcibly imposed. (See Avoda Zara 29B, 35A, 36A)

We find here a truly divine balance between respect for authority and the power of the people. The court could not pass a single law without the trust of the people. This trust was earned by their track record of faithfully serving the people, to the extent that they would follow a new edict even if it was difficult and the reason for it incomprehensible. If the people accepted the law, nothing less than unswerving obedience was required. On the other hand, if the people felt the law was too constraining, they would simply disregard it, and the power of the courts would automatically be checked.

The rabbis know best, but the people know best, too. They serve each other, and the power flows between them to create a healthy, stable society.

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Today in many parts of the world there is great tension between the rulers and the common people. Do the leaders have wisdom and integrity? Are they going too far with their authority? Can the people be trusted to behave responsibly? Do they have the right to disobey? Should the orders of governors and judges be obeyed even if they are misguided and immoral, simply to preserve the rule of law? These are questions millions of people are grappling with as their society teeters on the edge of both authoritarianism and anarchy.

The Torah provides a system that is far superior to anything Man has ever created, a perfect distribution of power between political leaders, religious leaders, and regular citizens. One doesn’t have to be religious to appreciate this system.

It’s high time we seriously discussed it.

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