A Jew's view from the capital of Israel and the future site of the Third Temple, may it speedily be rebuilt.
Former first daughter Ashley Biden this week filed for divorce from her husband of 13 years, according to reports.I posted about the so called "marriage" way back when. Go ahead, read the post. It's a good one!
Hopefully Dr. Krein learned from his mistake and will find a nice Jewish girl to marry.
So here is the link: The Consequences of Opposing Intermarriage
Rabbi Pruzansky, Yishar Koach!
American Jewry, as a community that is connected to world Jewry at large, is in free fall. If the polls are to be trusted, 70% of American Jews voted against the man who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. 70% of America's Jews voted against the man who signed an executive order making Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act apply to anti-Semitic acts. 70% of American Jews voted against who advanced peace between the State of Israel and several Arab countries. This is a shocking lack of solidarity, not only with the Jews of Israel, but also with their own children who suffer abuse from the radical left on college campuses.
Now let us take a look at whom they did vote for: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. These two people are living examples of the destruction of American Jewry through intermarriage. Joe Biden's daughter is "married" to a Jew. I blogged about that "marriage" and some of its disgusting aspects way back in 2012. Kamala Harris is "married" to a Jew named Douglas Emhoff.
When learning the history of Jewish communities in the Diaspora, a pattern becomes clear. Each community has a period of growth until it reaches its pinnacle. Eventually, there is a decline: "But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot...". Sometimes the decline is gradual. Sometimes the decline is speedy and violent. Remember what happened to the Jewish communiites in Babylon, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. It seems to me the Golden Age of American Jewry is now officially over. It is time to come home.
Five months after agreeing to go on a date with tight end Colton Underwood, Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman has let the cat out of the bag and revealed they are officially a couple!Gevalt!The two walked the red carpet on Monday night at the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Ceremony 2016 at Barclays Center of Brooklyn, New York.
Whatever offensive things he has said are actually tame compared to the lyrics of rap, the ranting of bad comedians, and what the tawdry culture celebrates. We should remember that New Yorkers first got to know Donald Trump as a real estate developer, but much of the rest of the country became familiar with him as an entertainer. This is the culture. What so many of his critics loathe in Trump is, perhaps, what they should loathe about American society but they don’t. They are just looking in the mirror and don’t like what they see.And here is another worthy quote from the rabbi's post:
Perhaps it is worth mentioning a cartoon that has made the rounds in the last week, with the caption: “The difference between Donald Trump and most leftist American Jews is that Trump has Jewish grandchildren.” If only these groups would realize that intermarriage is the most serious crisis facing them today, and compared to that, politics is beanbag.Mr. Trump seems to be just the right man to lead America in this generation. I wish him much success.
My dad had an enormous amount of confidence in me, even though at times it might have seemed somewhat misplaced for where I was in life. He really only had two rules for me growing up. One he gave me early, and one he gave me later. The rule he gave me earlier was that I could do anything I wanted in life. It didn’t matter what profession I picked, the only thing that mattered to him was that my wife was to be Jewish (whether through birth or conversion he didn’t care). That was really the only ground rule I had with him for the first few decades of my life. I could do what I wanted and explore different things. I remember I came home from college with a purple mohawk my freshman year, and my dad was not fazed. He said, “I love you, and I would walk down the street with you any time, anywhere. I am not embarrassed. I would take you to shul like this and out to dinner. I love you. You are my son. You can do anything you want as long as you marry Jewish.”And then there is this:
Intermarriage was at the top of the list (of challenges facing Jews today -CX). He saw intermarriage and assimilation as very significant threats to the Jewish people. He always felt he was at a crux because he was at the end of a line. It was his job to continue it and to make sure that he was not the last. He felt a connection to the fact that for thousands of years, Jews had been transmitting information down the generations in a certain way with certain values. I think he was very concerned that the line would end with him.
Rolling Stone magazine has this wonderful quote from Sanders:
You've said of Netanyahu, "I'm not a great fan." What's your issue with him?In order to evaluate Sander's expertise on the matter, here is a summary of his military experience:Do I think that Netanyahu overreacted? Yes, I do. War is terrible unto itself. But I think that Israel overreacted and caused more civilian damage than was necessary. They have very sophisticated weapons systems. They make the case, and I respect that, that they do try to make sure that civilians are not damaged. But the end result was that a lot of civilians were killed and a lot of housing was destroyed. There was terrible, terrible damage done.
Sanders applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War; his application was eventually turned down, at which point he was too old to be drafted.As an aside, how can a conscientious objector desire to be Commander in Chief of the most powerful army in the world? Would not he object to sending young men and women to kill and die?
It should be noted that Bernie Sanders, who said he is "proud to be Jewish", has the dubious distinction of being a pioneer of intermarriage in the United States, back in the 1960s, when the intermarriage rate was only about 10%. He divorced his non-Jewish wife two years later, fathered a child out from a different woman out of wedlock, and married his current gentile wife in 1988. Proud to be Jewish? Give me a break!
I would also like to note that I think that his socialist agenda is a disaster.
Woe unto humanity if this guy becomes President of the United States!
(The title of this post was inspired by this classic essay.)
We have the problem of assimilation. We have the problem of intermarriage. We have the problem that too many generations of Jews don’t realize the importance of our institutions strengthening our community—particularly with the rise of anti-Semitism and global intolerance.Intermarriage is a problem. Then we have this:
At an annual Jewish community event in my congressional district, I spoke about my personal connection to Judaism and in a larger context about the loss of Jewish identity and the importance of connecting younger generations to the institutions and values that make up our community. I do not oppose intermarriage; in fact, members of my family, including my husband, are a product of it.So Wasserman-Schultz does not oppose intermarriage, even though it is a problem. Do you see the logic here? I don't.
The real problem here is not whether Debbie Wasserman Schultz opposes intermarriage or does not. The real problem is that most American Jews have no idea what being Jewish is all about. They are unaware of our role in the world, that of being a "kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." They replace our dedication to God and His laws with loyalty to the Democratic Party, its platform and "social issues". And when our real goal is missing, when being Jewish has been stripped of its original and genuine meaning, there really is no reason to be Jewish, to separate yourself from the rest of the world.
The good news is that any Jew who really wants to know what his heritage is all about can find out. The web is full of genuine Jewish web sites. It is all a matter of if one really wants to know.
Media outlets two months ago touted "coexistence" as Muslim Arab Mahmoud Mansour (26) married Moral Malka (23), a Jewish woman he met in their native Yafo - now Mansour has been arrested for drug trafficking and assaulting a police officer.Not only that, according to the Walla web site:Mansour was arrested last weekend after more than 10 grams of cocaine were found on him, Channel 2 reported on Sunday.
Police say that he was riding on a motorcycle in Yafo when he saw officers in the area, at which he threw aside a bag containing 20 additional grams of cocaine. As he was being arrested, police say Mansour struck one of the officers.
למנסור עבר פלילי עשיר בעבירות של סחר בסמים. הוא ריצה בעבר עונש מאסר ואף נושא עונש של מאסר על תנאי של 40 חודשים בגין עבירות סמים, אשר הפרקליטות תבקש לממש. זאת, בנוסף על העונש שהיא רוצה שייגזר עליו בגין העבירה שהוא נחשד בה כעתFor those of you who (still) do not understand Hebrew, here's a translaton:
Mansour has a rich criminal background in dealing narcotics. He has spent time in jail in the past and currently has a 40 month suspended sentence for drug related crimes, which the prosecution will request to implement, in addition to the punishment which it (the prosecution) wants him (Mansour) to be sentenced for his current crime.Now the question is what will Moral do? It seems that in Islam it is not easy for a woman to initiate divorce:
Khula is the right of a woman in Islam to seek a divorce or separation from her husband. A Muslim woman may petition a qadi, or in non-Islamic areas an Islamic community panel, to grant her divorce if the husband refuses. The waiting period (iddah) of a woman who seeks a divorce is one menstrual cycle or one month if she is post-menopauseal, i.e. ceased menstruating. This is to ensure she is not pregnant.[27] If the woman is pregnant, then the waiting period is until she gives birth.I, in any case, hope that Moral does the moral thing and returns to her people.Women's right to initiate divorce is very limited compared with that of men. According to shari'a law, there are two reasons for a wife to be divorced: when she can prove that the husband did not have intercourse with her for more than two months or if the husband does not provide her with what she needs for living such as food and shelter. While men can divorce their spouses easily, women face legal and financial obstacles.[28][29] For example, in many cases the woman must repay her dowry and marriage expenses. In general she also has to forfeit child custody, if the child is older than seven years. Even if she gets child custody, she has to give it to the father, when the child reaches the age of seven.[28][29]
It is astonishing how dull one's moral clarity can become. Take the Metropolitan Opera and its production "The Death of Klinghoffer" . The people who decided to produce this show are deeply lacking in moral clarity. All the attempts to disuade them from doing so failed. All those involved in this production, Jews, gentiles and apostate Jews, will bear everlasting shame, if not in This World then certainly in the World to Come.
Without moral clarity, Teshuvah is impossible. One of the purposes of this blog is to present moral clarity, especially in areas where it has been lost by the uninformed majority and is not thought of being as "politically correct".
One of the issues that I have spoken up about is intermarriage. It is wrong, just plain wrong. I will say it again and again. On this matter I am happy to be the compass that keeps pointing North while others have unfortunately lost all sense of direction.
Almost four years ago I wrote a post about MK Einat Wilf. The gist of the post was that a Jew who "married" a gentile is a "bad example" and as such cannot lead or educate the Jewish People. I stand by that post and am pleased to note that Ms. Wilf is no longer a member of the Knesset.
Not too long ago someone stumbled upon the post and wrote me the following email:
I came upon your blog because I was intrigued by Einat Wilf – after what I read what you said about her I have decided to become an atheist as well. No more wondering why we have an Eruv to make you feel better in walking your kids on Shabbat and more important why my building loses a lift because you cannot push a button on Shabbat. Opening a water tap is OK even though it triggers a pump. Cannot tear toilet paper but can say that we can get rid of all non-Jews in Israel. When I learnt bible it said that everyone had to fight in the army – that we forget because I would suspect you make up the rules as you go along. There is now a growing number of amazing youngsters leaving the Haradi fold to follow their dreams. I was in the army with a few and was told how incense and rape go unreported because that is what the rabbi says. You vote what the rabbi tells you and it is very sad. You sponge of the government of Israel and donations from everywhere. You do not create anything except live a life of cheating and lies. I am ashamed at what my home city Manchester looks like. You are fortunate you live in a country where most people get an education enabling them to create things and help humanity thereby being able to fund your life style. Einat Wilf is a very smart cookie and the truth is you are not. Have a good New Year and may you be inscribed in the book of life – you are lucky I don’t give advice on who gets in the book.Much can be written about this email. The author ignores the issue of intermarriage entirely and instead blames the post for his own lack of faith. This reminds of what a rabbi once told a wayward student usng a play on words, "teirutzim (answers) for questions I am willing to give . I am not willing to give terutzim (answers) for teirutzim(excuses). He continues to rant about different issues in Jewish Law that he does not understand, and apparently does not want to understand. His questions, real and imagined, are simple and can answered by any Orthodox rabbi.
The reader continues, making assumptions about me that are simply not true ("You vote what the rabbi tells you and it is very sad. You sponge of the government of Israel and donations from everywhere. You do not create anything except live a life of cheating and lies. "). This is indeed unfortunate. Perhaps such prejudice is a result of repeated exposure to stereotypes often pushed by the mass media.
All in all I have hope for this guy. The fact that the post brought about a reaction, even a negative one, is a sign that the "pintele yid" is still there. May he merit to make Teshuvah and be written and sealed for a good life.
For those of you who do not understand Hebrew, the invitation is to the "wedding" of a Jewish Israeli girl named Moral to an Arab named Mahmud. If I am not mistaken the girl converted to Islam.
The girl's father strongly opposes the wedding, as can be seen here. Lehava has promissed to protest the wedding, which God forbid will take place at Shemesh Adumah (Red Sun) Hall in Rishon LeTzion on Sunday at 7:30 PM. Youth from the radical left Meretz party also promissed to be there to "protect" the couple from the protesters. Leftist activists also succeeded in having Lehava's Facebook page removed.
Here's a report from Tzinor Laila:
The proportion of Jews who say they have no religion and are Jewish only on the basis of ancestry, ethnicity or culture is growing rapidly, and two-thirds of them are not raising their children Jewish at all.The JTA also points out:Overall, the intermarriage rate is at 58 percent, up from 43 percent in 1990 and 17 percent in 1970. Among non-Orthodox Jews, the intermarriage rate is 71 percent.
* Overall, 22 percent of U.S. Jews describe themselves as having no religion, and the survey finds they are much less connected to Jewish organizations and much less likely to be raising their children Jewish. Broken down by age, 32 percent of Jews born after 1980 — the so-called millennial generation — identify as Jews of no religion, compared to 19 percent of baby boomers and just 7 percent of Jews born before 1927.The New York Times brings us the following from the survey:* Emotional attachment to Israel has held steady over the last decade, with 69 percent of respondents saying they feel attached or very attached to Israel. Forty-three percent of respondents said they had been to Israel.
* Far more respondents said having a good sense of humor was essential to their Jewish identity than observing Jewish law — 42 percent compared to 19 percent.
* Approximately one-quarter of Jews said religion is very important in their lives, compared to 56 percent among Americans generally.
* Less than one-third of American Jews say they belong to a synagogue. Twenty-three percent of U.S. Jews say they attend synagogue at least once or twice a month, compared with 62 percent of U.S. Christians.
Two-thirds of Jews do not belong to a synagogue, one-fourth do not believe in God and one-third had a Christmas tree in their home last year.Excuse me while I puke!
You can read the full survey here.
I found the reaction of this non-Jew to the survey fascinating:
Though I, obviously, am not Jewish, I find this deeply troubling, though sadly predictable. Apart from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there is no way to hold onto Jewishness across the generations. Modernity is a harsh solvent; only the Orthodox Jews, who are committed to living religiously, and as a sign of contradiction to the modern world, are holding the line. The lesson here is that if you are only passively Jewish, your grandchildren will probably not be Jewish at all.He understands what so many "Jewish leaders" simply fail to grasp.
The question is not new. I raised it two years ago when Weiner resigned from Congress on the heels of "Weinergate":
The truth is, according to Jewish law, Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin are not married. A Jew cannot marry a non-Jew. Period. According to the Torah, their current lifestyle is a simple case of promiscuity, to put things mildly as possible.Well, two years have passed and my prediciton that Anthony and Huma would be "parting ways in the near future" was wrong.My guess is that Huma and Tony are going to be parting ways in the near future. Huma thought that she married an up and coming Congressman who was on the way to becoming the Mayor of New York City. Now her "husband" has become a walking joke! Such an embarrassing situation is no doubt unbearable. Huma has little use for such a disgraced has-been. He's not President Bill Clinton. She will show him the door quicker than most people think.
Chances are that they would have broken up in a few years time anyway. As is well known, intermarriages are recipes for domestic strife and confused children. The Weiner-Abedin union is no exception. I wonder what baby Weiner will think when he/she hears the imam say that his/her father is "a descendant of apes and pigs"?
At the beginning of the above snippet I mentioned that according to Jewish law Weiner and Abedin are not married. From the Torah point of view the two are involved in an illicit relationship, a relationship which is much worse that Carlos Danger's online escapades.
I wonder how Huma Abedin's family looks upon the couple. I remember back in the days when I still did reserve duty, I was on a border patrol together with a Bedouin scout. To my great dismay I had heard of Muslims marrying Jewish girls here in Israel. I had never heard of a case where a Muslim girl marries a Jew. I asked him out of curiousity if there is any chance that a Bedouin girl would marry a Jew. My Bedouin comrade-in-arms gave me a "perish the thought" kind of look and said that such a thing was absolutely forbidden.
A little bit of research confirms what he said. It turns out that according to Islam, a Muslim man can take a Jewish or Christian wife, as long as the children are brought up as Muslims:
Muslim men are permitted by Islamic Law to marry up to four non-Muslim women who belong to other two Abrahamic religions i.e. Christians and Jews, provided that all of the children are ensured to be brought up as Muslims. The conversion of the wives to Islam is encouraged, but not obligatory, as their children will legally be Muslim regardless.However, for Muslim women, things are different:
Islamic scholars generally forbid Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men.So by Islamic standards, the Weiner marriage is not valid. It seems that this union falls under the Islamic category of Zina, adultery or fornication, which is punishable by lashes. If Huma were to travel to Saudi Arabia without a diplomatic passport, she would probably come back with more stripes than a zebra.
So Huma Abedin, who professes to be a practicing Muslim, is living in a state of cognitive dissonance. Or is she?
Some people think that Anthony Weiner may have secretly converted to Islam:
Certainly the most likely scenario is that Weiner did convert to Islam, as Abedin’s mother, a professor in Saudi Arabia, would almost certainly have insisted that he do so. Weiner has made no public statement of this conversion, but since it would almost certainly have cost him politically if he had announced it, this silence is not any indication that he didn’t actually convert.Others think that Huma Abedin was given special dispensation from Islamic clerics to marry the kafir Weiner in order to infiltrate the highest levels of the United States government:
Few Westerners are familiar with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood revival of the doctrine of muruna, which literally means “stealth” or “flexibility.” It is far worse than taqiyya, since it sanctions all prohibitions that block Muslim interests, even blasphemous ones. . . . Consider the example of Huma Abedin, a practicing Muslim who married Jewish former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Qaradawi has used muruna to sanction such marriages.While I cannot prove that these theories are false, I would like to present another option. Huma Abedin merely does what she wants. It is that simple. She has subjugated her Saudi submission to her Philadelphia freedom. She is willing to fast during Ramadan but not to wear a hijab. She preferred marrying an American Jew to a Muslim from anywhere else on the planet. It's not a conspiracy nor a secret, just an issue of personal preference. As far as she is concerned, if the Qadi doen't like it, he can go drink water from the Indian Ocean, or should I say the Great Salt Lake. Whatever.What was once forbidden by Shariah — from major crimes like Muslims killing Muslims, to issues of interest banking that include alliances with infidels — was made “temporarily” kosher by muruna.
In any case the question remains: What will be Huma Abedin's next step? According to my theory, she will do whatever she perceives as being good for her. Is she better off being a single mother or sticking it out with a man who has brought her so much embarrassment, and who just happens to be the father of her son? Is Anthony Weiner an asset or a liability to her own political and/or career ambitions? Does she think that at 37 years old plus a child she can find somebody better? Who knows? Huma knows.
That video clip depicted a sad spectacle. Yes, it was a sad spectacle indeed to see the man who has separated himself from God and His Torah walking into a kosher bakery just before the Jewish New Year, desparately trying to drum up votes among the very people who he has abandoned. Being Jewish is a lot more than shoving some honey cake into your mouth and saying, "Have a sweet year". Nobody at the bakery mentioned this. Who would dare? It's not polite. It's not politically correct. Then came Kessler.
Saul Kessler's confrontation with Anthony Weiner was a "clash of civilizations" within the Jewish community. In the United States of America there are two different kinds of Jews: those whose progeny will be Jews and those whose progeny will not. Kessler, as far as I can tell without knowing him personally, belongs to the first. Weiner, to our great dismay, at least at this point of time, belongs to the second.
Weiner, by "marrying" a non-Jew, has knowingly cut off his seed from the covenant of Sinai and the ways of Abraham:
"For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.'"Weiner's uncontrolled passions caused him to leave the path of Abraham and follow the path of "Carlos Danger".
Yesterday was Weiner's Day of Judgment: 19 out of 20 Democrats who took part in the primaries voted for someone else. Anthony Weiner objected to Saul Kessler judging him. Now the public has judged him, and he has no choice but to accept the verdict.
Beleaguered New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner got into a war of words Wednesday with a man who lashed out at him for being “married to an Arab,” in addition to chastising the former congressman about his well-documented sexting scandal.
The incident began inside a bakery in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood, where the man yelled out to Weiner, who had just bought cookies and an iced coffee, “You’re a real (expletive deleted).”
Weiner offered a quick retort, then said to no one in particular, “Very nice, that’s a charming guy right there.” It’s then that the man, later identified as Saul Kessler, responded: “Married to an Arab.”
The comment is an apparent reference to Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, who works for Hillary Clinton. Abedin’s late father was an Islamic scholar from India and her mother, a sociologist, is from Pakistan. Weiner is Jewish, as were most of those inside the Brooklyn bakery.
The Democratic candidate responded with, “Very nice, in front of children… That is charming.” Kessler didn’t stop talking, even as Weiner was leaving the bakery, saying, “You are disgusting, disgusting.”
“It takes one to know one, (expletive deleted),” Weiner replied.
The two then went face-to-face, with Kessler accusing Weiner — who resigned in disgrace after 12 years in Congress representing part of New York City after admitting to sending sexually suggestive images and carrying on inappropriate relationships with women over the Internet — of doing “disgusting things, and you have the nerve to even walk around in public.”
A visibly agitated Weiner responded,”And you’re a perfect person? You’re my judge? What rabbi taught you that?”
At one point, Kessler implored Weiner to “think about your wife, how could you take the person you’re most closest to … and betray her?”
The mayoral hopeful then accused Kessler of acting like he is superior, even though he doesn’t “have the moral authority to judge me.”
The back-and-forth went on for about a minute longer before Weiner left the bakery. He seemed to quickly brush off the confrontation, saying, “He has every right to (challenge me). It’s America.”
Personally, I am disappointed in Anthony Weiner. I thought that he had the potential to be the next Teshuvah poster boy. So far, that has not happened. Instead, he has fulfilled the verse, "As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is a fool that repeateth his folly."
The incident in the bakery brings to mind what Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah said, "I wonder if there is anyone in this generation who knows how to reprove(Arachin 16B)." Many mistakes were made here by Mr, Kessler, as one can see by learning what the Rambam writes:
It is a mitzvah for a person who sees that his fellow Jew has sinned or is following an improper path [to attempt] to correct his behavior and to inform him that he is causing himself a loss by his evil deeds as [Leviticus 19:17] states: "You shall surely admonish your colleague."Obviously, in order to properly reprove somebody according to what our rabbis taught us, you don't start by calling him a, uh, you know, what he said.A person who rebukes a colleague - whether because of a [wrong committed] against him or because of a matter between his colleague and God - should rebuke him privately. He should speak to him patiently and gently, informing him that he is only making these statements for his colleague's own welfare, to allow him to merit the life of the world to come.
If he accepts [the rebuke], it is good; if not, he should rebuke him a second and third time. Indeed, one is obligated to rebuke a colleague who does wrong until the latter strikes him and tells him: "I will not listen."
Whoever has the possibility of rebuking [sinners] and fails to do so is considered responsible for that sin, for he had the opportunity to rebuke the [sinners].
At first, a person who admonishes a colleague should not speak to him harshly until he becomes embarrassed as [Leviticus 19:17] states: "[You should]... not bear a sin because of him." This is what our Sages said: Should you rebuke him to the point that his face changes [color]? The Torah states: "[You should]... not bear a sin because of him."
From this, [we learn that] it is forbidden for a person to embarrass a [fellow] Jew. How much more so [is it forbidden to embarrass him] in public. Even though a person who embarrasses a colleague is not [liable for] lashes on account of him, it is a great sin. Our Sages said: "A person who embarrasses a colleague in public does not have a share in the world to come."
Therefore, a person should be careful not to embarrass a colleague - whether of great or lesser stature - in public, and not to call him a name which embarrasses him or to relate a matter that brings him shame in his presence.
When does the above apply? In regard to matters between one man and another. However, in regard to spiritual matters, if [a transgressor] does not repent [after being admonished] in private, he may be put to shame in public and his sin may be publicized. He may be subjected to abuse, scorn, and curses until he repents, as was the practice of all the prophets of Israel.
However, it must be noted that even if Kessler was not particularly adept at reproof, his heart is in the right place. He obviously detests intermarriage, and he is not afraid to say it. Mr. Kessler has not been spoiled by the prevailing political correctness spouted by "liberal" Jews with regards to this subject. What's more, Weiner's personal behavior does matter. If the man is a habitual liar who cheats on his live-in-partner (I refuse to call Huma Abedin his wife since Jewish law does not recognize such a union), he is unfit to serve the public.
Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, a Bar Ilan University lecturer and brother in-law of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, slammed the government's plan to issue currency with the likeness of Hebrew poet Shaul Tchernichovsky. Turning Tchernichovsky into a “national icon” was a terrible idea and would set a bad example – because of his longtime marriage to a Christian woman, he explained.Be sure to read the entire article. This part of the article was a revelation for me:
Ben-Artzi compared the issue with that of the struggle by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook in the days before the establishment of the state to block the appointment of Max Nordau as the successor to Theodor Herzl to lead the World Zionist Congress. Nordau was married to a non-Jew who could not be converted.
One of the conclusions that I reached after reading these essays is that the state of Jews in the United States is steadily getting worse. They are melting in the melting post at an increasing rate. As we start reading the book of Exodus this week, I cannot help but remember those Israelites who preferred to stay in Egypt and died during the plague of darkness. Here are a few quotes from the above mentioned Klal Perspectives Journal that illustrate the situation.
Currently, less than 70% of the students enrolled in our Yeshiva and seminary (Shapell’s/Darche Noam and Midreshet Rachel v’Chaya) have two Jewish parents. This number has been steadily dropping over the past few years.Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald:
Contemporaneously with, and clearly related to, the rapid decline of the Conservative movement over the last two decades, it is my view that there has been a precipitous drop in the number of people becoming baalei teshuva in America. This decline is because Jewish youngsters today simply have no real connection to Judaism upon which to build. The vast majority of non-Orthodox Jewish youth now receive no religious education. Many have never been Bar or Bat Mitzvahed, and consequently, have little or no connection with Jewish life. As a result, fewer and fewer young people today respond to conventional outreach efforts. An invitation to a Friday night meal, a Purim party, a Learners Service, etc., is almost hollow and meaningless because virtually nothing Jewish resonates within them.Lori Palatnik:
The “middle class” of Judaism is rapidly disappearing. Gone is the generation in which Jews generally married Jews (and if they didn’t, it was still shocking). The distinction between Jew and non-Jew is hardly acknowledged at all.This more or less confirms what I wrote a while back:Today, in some cities (think Seattle, San Francisco, etc…), it is unusual to meet a couple who are not intermarried. My non-observant but proudly Jewish mother-in-law in Chicago tells me, “My friends and I no longer struggle with ‘should we go to the intermarriage of our children?’. Everyone goes. We do not want to lose our kids. Today we struggle with, ‘do we go the christening of our grandchildren?’”
Increasingly we see, either you are “in” – an educated committed Jew – or you are “out,” ignorant, gone from the Jewish ranks, intermarried, assimilated, apathetic. In my family, though raised as secular Jews, three out of four of us became observant. The fourth one got married in a church on Shabbos and is raising his kids as Christians.
Interesting and sad: when I grew up in the 1960s, the rate of intermarriage among American Jews was around 10%. Today, it is about 50%!Torah really is amazing. It's too bad that so many never get the chance to see what it is all about.The Jews that came to America at the beginning of the previous century were not always careful in mitzvah observance, but they were culturally Jewish. Their mother tongue was Yiddish and they would not even imagine marrying out. The next generation was also culturally Jewish, but Yiddish was a second language for them to be used when speaking to Bubbie and Zaide.
The third generation, that is to say mine, did not speak Yiddish. We were American through and through! Why shouldn't I marry a gentile? She eats bacon and we eat bacon. What's the big deal?
I have on many occasions hosted kids from "Birthright" at my Shabbat table. Many of these kids are the products of my peers that intermarried. The mother is Jewish and the father is not, or the other way around. They are very confused about their identity. How many of them will return, and how many will leave the Jewish nation forever?
The point of the story is that we really are a nation only through our Torah.
A 58-year-old man set fire to his girlfriend as she sat in their car, murdering her, according to an indictment filed in the Nazareth District Court on Thursday.HaKol Yehudi reports that Nashad Basul was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his crime. He also has to pay 250,000 NIS in damages to Nariman's family. Why was he sentenced to only 16 years in prison? Because the prosecution made a plea bargain with the accused, convicting him of manslaughter and not murder. The Kol Yehudi article includes another interesting detail: Basul was already a married man with children when he met Nariman. He led a doulbe life, with one wife in Raina and one wife, Nariman, in Upper Nazareth.Nashad Basul, originally from Reina, is also charged with false imprisonment for allegedly forcing the victim, Natalia Nariman, to remain locked inside their Upper Nazareth apartment for years.
According to the indictment, Nariman met Basul in 1993 after she made aliya from Uzbekistan. She converted to Islam, and the couple lived in Upper Nazareth with their baby daughter and Nariman’s son from a previous relationship.
Basul refused to let Nariman leave the house, according to the indictment. He also allegedly ordered Nariman not to speak with other men, and slapped her.
Tension began to grow between the couple, the indictment alleges, as Nariman expressed her desire to work outside the home and swapped her traditional Muslim dress for Western clothing.
Eventually, Basul plotted to murder Nariman, the indictment alleges. Basul allegedly took Nariman to a hotel in Afula where he gave her alcohol to drink.
In the early morning of September 10, as the couple was driving home, Basul is said to have left the car, leaving Nariman strapped into the passenger seat.
Basul allegedly set fire to Nariman as she sat in the car, then left the scene.
Firefighters later discovered Nariman’s partly charred remains in the passenger seat.
This case received very little coverage in the press. I wonder why!
