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- 23 sept 2011
Rabbe of Lubavitch?
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Chabad-Lubavitch One of the world's larger and best-known Hasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. The organization is believed to be the largest Jewish organization in the world today.
The movement originated in Ukraine in Eastern Europe, then part of Imperial Russia under the Tsars. Chabad traces its roots back to the beginnings of Hasidic Judaism.
Netanyahu: In 1984, when I was appointed as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, I visited the great rabbi of Lubavitch.
So can it be? :
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), fifth in paternal line from Menachem Mendel and son-in-law of the previous rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. He was successful in expanding the ranks of Chabad and spreading Orthodox Judaism in general. Even after his death he is revered as the leader of the Chabad movement.
The movement, motivated by Schneerson, has trained and ordained thousands of rabbis, educators, ritual slaughterers, and ritual circumcisers, who are then accompanied by their spouses to many locations around the world. Typically a young Lubavitch rabbi and his wife, in their early twenties, with one or two children, will move to a new location, and as they settle in will raise a large family who as a family unit, will aim to fulfill their mandate of bringing Jewish people closer to Orthodox Judaism and encouraging gentiles to adhere to the Seven Laws of Noah.
2005 The Legacy Of Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Chana Gourary, eldest daughter of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn and sister-in-law of the 7th rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, after being beaten by a hasid of the 7th rebbe. Mrs. Gourary was then in her mid-eighties.
In a discussion on Mentalblog, the beating of Chana Gourary by a Lubavitcher hasid was mentioned. Chana, the daughter of the 6th rebbe of Lubavitch and the sister-in-law of the 7th and then current rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, then in her mid-eighties, was beaten on Shabbat by a student of the central Chabad-Lubavitch yeshiva. Mrs. Gourary's husband, Rabbi Shmaryahu Gourary, had been the operations head of the yeshiva since its days in Poland before WW2.
Why was Mrs. Gourary beaten?
Because, as one of the two surviving children of the 6th rebbe and as the mother of his only grandchild, Mrs. Gourary wanted her family's share of the 6th rebbe's estate. The 7th rebbe, Mendel Schneerson, opposed this. When it became clear that Mrs. Gourary and her son Barry were taking items from the estate, the Rebbe became infuriated and spoke out against the 'thieves.' An enraged follower then went to Mrs. Gourary's apartment and assulted her.
The Rebbe refused to go to a neutral beit din to resolve the dispute and, instead, in violation of normative halakha, brought the case to secular court which eventually found that the estate belonged to 'all hasidim' and was not the personal property of the 6th rebbe or his descendants – a decision that would not have been reached in an impartial beit din. To this day, Chabad keeps much of the meat of the estate under lock and key, unavailable for viewing by researchers and hasidim alike – hardly the public use the secular court envisioned.
After the attacker left her apartment, a badly injured Chana Gourary phoned her sister Chaya Mussia, the Rebbe's wife, for help. It was Shabbat. Phones are not used or answered. Yet Chana called and Chaya Mussia answered the phone. This was before caller ID or special ring tones. Chaya Mussia got help.
Word of the attack spread through Crown Heights. Chabad 'authorities' quickly put the attacker in seclusion and, on Shabbat, arranged for a flight to Israel on the first available plane. By the time the police arrived looking for him, the attacker was already out of US airspace. He married and lives a normal life in Israel as part of the Chabad-Lubavitch community there. He has not been shamed or ostricized in any way.
In the 1970's an elder member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Va'ad HaRabbonim refused a direct request from the Rebbe to excommunicate an Israeli politician who had disregarded the Rebbe's wishes. Rabbi Rivkin pointed out that there were no halakhic grounds for the excommunication and respectfully refused to do the Rebbe's bidding. Similar to what would happen in the Gourary case, the Rebbe publicly and viciously spoke out against the one who would not sign. The Rebbe also posted the excommunication order signed by the other members of the Va'ad HaRabbonim so it would be clear to all who that "one" was.
Rabbi Rivkin was spit on in the streets, called a Nazi, had his home covered with graffiti, his windows broken. He received late-night harassing phone calls. He was threatened. An elderly man, Rabbi Rivkin could not handle the strain. He had a stroke, fell down his stairs and died.
The Rebbe denied his hasidim had any role in the harassment of Rabbi Rivkin, an odd contention because, a) The Rebbe himself publicly and in direct violation of Jewish law harassed Rabbi Rivkin, and b) much of the graffiti was in Yiddish. No one who learns Chabad hasiddus could do such a thing, the Rebbe told reporters. Only a few years later, another hasid of the Rebbe, a man who studied in his yeshiva and learned much Chabad hasidut, beat a defenseless elderly woman to the point of death.
As before, the Rebbe was unmoved and unrepentant.
5 oct 2011
Israel mulls legality of Jewish 'Taliban'
Israeli sisters who tried to join Lev Tahor in Canada are back at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
An Israeli court is expected to announce its decision on the legality of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, also known as the Taliban over the group's extremist religious beliefs.
The court will decide next week whether it is illegal for Israelis to become a member of Lev Tahor community, Haaretz reported on Wednesday.
The ultra-Orthodox sect, alias the Taliban, was established nearly a decade ago by a figure who called himself Shlomo Elbarnes.
Elbarnes started forming the Lev Tahor sect in the United States some 20 years ago, but he brought his followers to a village on the outskirts of Montreal, Canada, after he was expelled from America over charges that he coercively asserted control over a 13-year-old minor.
Women in Lev Tahor sect have to be clothed from head to foot in black veil and should marry a man in the group when they reach 14. Flogging of those considered as sinners is among the rituals of the extremist group.
If the court finds that membership in Lev Tahor is illegal, social welfare agencies will be able to remove children from the control of the parents who are affiliated with the community.
The court case comes after an Israeli family from Beit Shemesh tried to send two of their daughters to Lev Tahor community in Canada following a recent Jewish holiday.
However, Canadian police -- with cooperation of the Israeli foreign ministry and Interpol -- deported the girls from airport, citing a relative's petition to the Israeli court.
The relative -- a grandmother's brother --had expressed concern that the sisters will be dispossessed of their rights and property if they join the community.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/202873.html
5 jan 2012, 15:42 , Respect -
Maria 18 oct 2011
Israeli soldiers should kill terrorists 'in their beds' following Shalit deal, former IDF rabbi says
Avihai Rontzki says can understand bereaved family members who would want to avenge Palestinian prisoners released in the prisoner swap agreement, adding 'a normal country would destroy them.'
The Israel Defense Forces' former chief Rabbi criticized a prisoner swap deal that is to set abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit free, saying on Monday that Israeli soldiers should from now on "kill terrorists in their beds."
Public debate over the Shalit swap deal has been raging in Israel ever since the Israel-Hamas agreement was revealed, with the expected release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists who are responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli citizens.
Referring to the deal, due to take place on Tuesday, former Chief Military Rabbi Avihai Rontzki said in an interview to Arutz Sheva that IDF soldiers should no longer arrest terror suspects, instead urging them to "kill them in their beds."
"A lot of cases shouldn't even reach court," Rontzki said, saying that the army should instead rely on the "wisdom of commanders and fighters."
"When you arrive to arrest terrorists like the murderers of the Fogel family, they should just be shot, exterminated. They were terrorists that murdered people and should be killed in their beds," the former chief IDF rabbi said.
Rontzki also referred to the possibility that family members of those killed in attacks would wish to avenge those who were released in the Shalit deal, saying: "I'm not calling for vengeance or anarchy. But it can happen."
"Any normal country would…destroy those who seek to hurt it. The murderer who perpetrated the [2000] lynch in Ramallah, it's inconceivable, it would bring disgust to any normal person," Rontzki said, referring to the expected release of two Palestinians involved in the mob attack on two IDF reservists in the West Bank city.
"A country that would allow something like that needs to realize that people will rise up and do something. It's understandable," he added.
The former chief military rabbi also said the Shalit deal would provide a significant boost to Hamas, saying: "Terrorists don't have tanks. Their strength comes from their fighting spirit, and Hamas got several divisions of fighters and fighting spirit today."
Rontzki's comments to Arutz Sheva came after a High Court session earlier Monday, which assembled to discuss petitions by bereaved families against the Shalit swap deal.
Four petitions were submitted to the court, filed by the Almagor Terror Victims Association and relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks. Judging from similar appeals in prisoner exchange deals in the past, however, the court is unlikely to intervene in what it considers a political and security issue.
During the hearing, Shvuel Schijveschuurder, a 27-year-old from Givat Shmuel who lost his parents and three of his siblings in the 2001 terror attack at the “Sbarro” restaurant in Jerusalem, yelled at Gilad Shalit's father Noam, who came to court as a defender.
Schijveschuurder - who last week vandalized Yitzhak Rabin's Tel Aviv memorial in protest of the Shalit deal - shouted: "Hang a black flag over your home in Mitzpe Hila, this is a day of mourning."
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Maria 19 oct 2011
Tzohar: Settlement homes in return for Shalit deal
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel
Rabbis' organization expresses its support for prisoner exchange deal, but urges prime minister to permit construction of hundreds of houses for 'the first public which may pay the price for the release of arch-terrorists'.
The Tzohar rabbis' organization on Monday announced its support for the prisoner exchange deal securing the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
In its statement, the organization called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to permit the construction of "hundreds of houses for the residents of Judea and Samaria – the first public which may pay the price for the release of arch-terrorists."
The Tzohar rabbis congratulated the Shalit family on their son's impending release, and the people of Israel for the day in which a soldier who has been gone for five years is being released.
As opposed to rabbis who issued halachic rulings against the deal, the Tzohar organization said that "the issue of the release and the heavy price being paid is very complicated and includes many values, which are not all included in the halachic field of 'redemption of prisoners'. We must trust the government and the security forces on this matter."
http://fwd4.me/0fEz
Rabbi Yosef links Shalit return to resurrection of dead
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef addressed Gilad Shalit's release from captivity Tuesday night saying it demonstrates what is expected with the resurrection of the dead.
"This day bring immense joy to Israel for Gilad Shalit's release," he said at a Torah class he gave in Jerusalem.
http://fwd4.me/0fEt
5 jan 2012, 15:47 , Respect -
Maria 23 oct 2011
'Intermarriage plays into Nazis' hands'
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau
Several high school students walk out of meeting with Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau in protest of controversial remark. Former chief rabbi later explains, 'Assimilation serves Israel's enemies'.
"Marrying gentiles is like playing into the hands of the Nazis," Yad Vashem Council Chairman and former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau has been quoted as saying to students from Ramat Gan's Ohel Shem High School.
According to the students, the rabbi made the remark during a lecture on the Holocaust and on his personal memories as a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp which he delivered to teenagers who had returned from a trip to Poland.
Lau's remark and the nature of his lecture caused several 12th graders to walk out of the auditorium during the lecture, the students said.
One of the teens who left the room explained, "As far as I understood, the lecture's point was that marrying non-Jews is forbidden, and according to Rabbi Lau, marrying gentiles is 'playing into the hands of the Nazis.'
"This remark was made toward the end of the lecture and made me very angry. As soon as it was said, I got up and left. I came to the lecture without any skepticism and tolerant toward his opinions, otherwise I would have walked out at an earlier stage."
The student addressed other remarks made by the rabbi, which angered him. "We were told about the daughter of a respected rabbi who disconnected from religion during the Holocaust, married a goy, had a child and sent him to a convent," he recounted.
"The lecture also included Bible verses, one which I particularly remember was from the Book of Psalms, and according to the rabbi, it described the Holocaust before it happened. This was said after he claimed that the Nazis tried to destroy Judaism and not just the Jews, so basically the Jews drawing away from religion are destroying Judaism."
Another 12th grader shared the unpleasant atmosphere caused by the rabbi's remark. "He spoke about his life in Poland and about the Holocaust, and then began preaching about assimilation," he recounted.
"He said the Jewish people must not assimilate and that we must maintain the Jewish identity. In addition, he presented delusional statistics, claiming that had there been no assimilation the United States would now have 30 million Jews, and showing contempt for those who assimilated – as if they are inferior to others."
Some students were upset over their fellow classmates' protest. "I saw students leaving in the middle of the lecture, not listening, and some even chose not to enter the auditorium at all. It made me very angry and bordered on disrespect for an elder and honorable person," a 12th grader said.
"A spontaneous discussion on the issue continued in the classrooms," she added. "Many were irked by the fact that we are forced to enter lectures. We have listened to many lectures during our three years in Ohel Shem, and I think the only reason they were angry was because that person is a rabbi and now a secular man.
"But Rabbi Lau is a person who contributes to the community. He is an outstanding man and should be respected if only for his position and for being an honorable person, regardless of his beliefs."
And weren't you irked by the saying about marrying gentiles?
"Every person can take this sentence to a different place. The Nazis tried to hurt Judaism, and there is a point in the rabbi's remark that assimilation is a spiritual victory for the Nazis.
"The lecture was not religious in my opinion and I didn't see any incitement attempts. The word 'assimilation' was mentioned in only one sentence and the rabbi was not trying to influence us. If a secular person had said the exact same thing, it would have been received differently."
The former chief rabbi's office issued the following statement in response: "Rabbi Lau has been delivering lectures at Ramat Gan's Ohel Shem High School for many years now, and this time too he appeared before nearly 400 12th graders.
"The rabbi did not see any of the students leave during the lecture. On the contrary, he got the feeling that the students were attentive and fascinated by what he had to say."
As for the rabbi's remarks, his office said: "It's no secret that the number of Jews in most of the world's countries is steadily declining – not because of their immigration to Israel but because of intermarriage and assimilation. Therefore, self-examination is needed during the High Holidays.
"This troubling phenomenon serves generations of Israel's enemies, who envy the Jewish people's survival. The rabbi regrets any extreme reactions from those who surely did not listen to what he was saying and did not absorb the message stemming from the lecture."
The municipality said in response, "The Ohel Shem School encourages an open dialogue in democratic and pluralistic frameworks and hosted Rabbi Lau. Several students who were unsatisfied with certain opinions acted in a disrespectful manner and walked out, and we regret that.
"The school is unaware of the discussion reaching the classrooms, although we encourage an open dialogue as part of our values-based education."
http://fwd4.me/0fW8
5 jan 2012, 15:47 , Respect -
Maria 25 oct 2011
Monsey NY: Rabbi Moishe Turner Aressted On Child Molestation Charges -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15TEMjEFf0Y
Police want victims molested by Turner to come forward
Anyone with Information about this molester is asked to call Ramapo Police
I wonder how many Rabbonim in Monsey knew about this monster and kept it quiet. Why are they obsessed with Tznius issues of women, but will protect a man that sexually abuses hundreds of victims. How many innocent children have to die before the Rabbonim start condemning these gangsters?
Read the following and weep!
A 58-year-old Monsey man has been charged with sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy.
Ramapo police accused Moishe Turner of 5 Dana Road of having anal and oral sex on seven occasions throughout Ramapo and Spring Valley.
The police investigation led to Turner's arrest last week on seven felony counts of second-degree criminal sex act and one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Ramapo Police Detective Sgt. Brian Corbett said Monday that the investigation found the sexual activities occurred across Ramapo and in Spring Valley.
He said Ramapo detectives kept the case because the alleged crimes started in the town's jurisdiction.
"At this point in our investigation, we think there may have been more victims," Corbett said.
Turner was ordered held in the county jail in New City on $75,000 bail set during his arraignment on the charges in Spring Valley Justice Court. He is to return to court on Thursday, according to his attorney, Kenneth Gribetz.
Gribetz on Monday evening maintained his client's innocence.
"We want to state, without commenting further, that Mr. Turner intends to enter a plea of not guilty and that we intend to litigate this matter in court," Gribetz said.
A felony hearing will be held on the charges and on the setting of bail. The hearing could be adjourned and the case moved to criminal court in New City if the case is presented to a Rockland grand jury and an indictment is returned this week.
While Turner calls himself a rabbi, Corbett said police have no definitive information on his rabbinical status.
Rabbi Noson Leiter said Turner might have been educated in yeshiva but he doesn't lead a congregation and isn't a religious leader in the community. Leiter is a member of Torah Jews for Decency in Monsey.
Leiter said Turner has "misused the term rabbi to cover himself for unspeakable, egregious acts."
"The Orthodox and Hasidic community response to his arrest was very positive," Leiter said, adding Turner has been in the community for some time and religious leaders were helpful.
"We're obliged to uproot these people in our midst," Leiter said, "and make sure they don't harm others in the community or outside the community."
http://fwd4.me/0hAE
5 jan 2012, 15:47 , Respect -
Maria 27 oct 2011
Rabbi Moishe Turner Enters Not Guilty Plea
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYo85YWZuxE
A self-proclaimed Rockland County rabbi pleaded not guilty in a Spring Valley court this morning to repeatedly molesting a 14-year-old boy.
Moishe Turner, 58, of Monsey, said he was innocent of charges that he sexually molested the boy on at least seven occasions throughout Ramapo and Spring Valley.
Turner was arrested last week and charged with seven counts of committing a criminal sexual act and child endangerment.
Police and the district attorney are investigating the possibility Turner molested other boys as well.
Turner is due back in court on Nov. 17.
5 jan 2012, 15:47 , Respect-
Maria 28 oct 2011
'NY orthodox Jew (Rabbi) convicted of selling Israelis' kidneys'
Haredi man is the first convicteded of brokering for-profit organ transplants in the US; Israelis were reportedly paid $10,000 for "donations."
A New York orthodox Jewish man became the first person sent to US prison for the black market sale of human organs when he plead guilty to the charge in a New Jersey federal court this week.
Dual US-Israeli citizen Levy Itzhak Rosenbaum, who was caught in an FBI sting operation, admitted to brokering three previous deals in which Israelis were paid to give their kidneys to wealthy Americans in need of a transplant, the Newark-based Star-Ledger reported Thursday.
The case was the first time anyone in the US was convicted of brokering human organ transplants for profit, the newspaper reported.
Federal investigators first learned of the scheme during a wide-spread investigation into money laundering through Jewish charities and organizations that has thus far seen dozens of indictments.
For $160,000, Rosenbaum arranged for an undercover FBI agent to receive a kidney, according to the report. He was recorded explaining the cost, saying, "One of the reasons it’s so expensive is because you have to shmear all the time."
The Israeli "donors," he said, were paid $10,000. "There are people over there hurting," Rosenbaum added, the Star-Ledger reported.
In addition to the transplant arranged during the FBI sting, Rosenbaum admitted in his plea deal to arranging three for-profit transplants for paying residents of New Jersey between 2006 and 2009.
All of the transplant surgeries took place in US hospitals, according to the report.
http://fwd4.me/0fml
5 jan 2012, 15:47 , Respect -
Maria 3 nov 2011
Senior rabbi indicted for sexual abuse
One of the most prominent Israeli rabbis in the religious Zionist community has been indicted over sexual assault against two teenagers.
The al-Quds (Jerusalem) Magistrate's Court filed the indictment on Wednesday, accusing Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Elon of assaulting one of his students and another youth in 2003 and 2005, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.
The offenses took place when Elon headed Yeshivat Hakotel in the Old City.
In January 2003, a student and an admirer of Elon, was invited by the rabbi for a private talk after the 17-year-old lost a close friend. The student was then molested by Elon.
The teen was later enticed the youth to spend a night at his house, Elon pursued his sexual advancements for about 15 minutes, after which the rabbi left the student alone to sleep.
Another case of a similar harassment occurred during a private consultation session with the same victim.
Elon's second charge involves another 17-year-old, who was not a student of his, but came to consult him about a personal problem in 2005. The two met in the al-Quds offices of an organization called Mibereshit, which Elon headed at the time.
The teenager underwent another ordeal after he attended a lecture at Hakotel, not knowing that Elon headed the yeshiva. After the lecture, the rabbi went over to the boy asked him to accompany him to the study hall, where he was once again assaulted.
At a pre-indictment hearing, Elon flatly denied any sexual offenses, and his lawyer claimed that the students had misinterpreted 'innocent gestures of affection from a teacher'.
The indictment is one of the most embarrassing revelations since the launch of probe in February 2010, in response to earlier reports by a religious forum called Takana, mandated to deal with allegations of sexual harassment in the religious Zionist community.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/208232.html
5 jan 2012, 15:50 , Respect -
Maria 7 nov 2011
Ex-Mossad chief explains anti-haredi remark
Ephraim Halevy refuses to apologize for stating 'ultra-Orthodox radicalization a greater threat than Iran,' says was not referring to haredim as a group or individuals. Knesset Speaker Rivlin: His words include anti-Semitic tones.
Former Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy on Sunday clarified that his statement that "growing haredi radicalization poses a greater existential threat to Israel than the Iranian nuclear program" was not directed at the ultra-Orthodox public as a whole.
"I didn't say one word against the haredim as a group or individuals," Halevy clarified in an interview to Kol Hai Radio.
The former Mossad chief refused to apologize for his remark until the end of public religious radicalization, but expressed his regret over the fact that many people were hurt.
"The example of the Iranian threat may have been extreme, but that's not the issue," he said. "I'm sorry if anyone was hurt. The last thing I want is to hurt people, but I don't want people to hurt me either."
Asked by the interviewer, Elad Kinset, whether he was satisfied with the public debate sparked by his remarks but not by the way it was sparked, Halevy said yes.
He explained that haredi radicalization leads to seclusion and deepens the rift within the Jewish people, while unity is a necessary condition for dealing with external threats like the one Israel is facing from Iran.
He mentioned the segregated bus lines, the issue of women's singing in the IDF and haredi soldiers' demand not to see female soldiers during their entire service.
"It's not right to look for further aggravations from generation to generation," Halevy ruled, calling for the adoption of the moderate rulings of Rabbi Shlomo Goren as Israel's chief rabbi and chief military rabbi.
'Playing into anti-Semites' hands'
Halevy's remarks, which were said during a meeting with military boarding school graduates and published over the weekend, sparked a row – especially among the haredi public.
"This is a slur putting to shame the person these remarks are ascribed to," said Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman. "It's scary to imagine that such groundless remarks were said by a person who served in such a high-ranking and responsible role, who is now verbally attacking and inciting against an entire public."
Interior Minister Eli Yishai added, "It's enraging that especially on the memorial day for (slain Prime Minister) Yitzhak Rabin, Mr. Halevy has not learned the lesson of incitement."
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin slammed the former Mossad chief as well, saying that his remarks "include anti-Semitic tones". He added that Halevy should be more careful, as "such irresponsible remarks could play into the hands of the world's greatest anti-Semites."
http://fwd4.me/0gNv
5 jan 2012, 15:50 , Respect -
Maria 18 nov 2011
'Troops will die rather than listen to women'
Rabbi Elyakim Levanon favors 'firing squad' over women's singing
Samaria Chief Rabbi Elyakim Levanon blasts IDF committee's expected recommendation not to exempt religious soldiers from official ceremonies which include performance of women. 'Troops must give their life for this issue,' he states.
Samaria Chief Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, head of the Elon Moreh hesder yeshiva, has slammed the expected recommendation of a committee appointed by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz to force religious soldiers to attend official ceremonies which include the performance of women.
Elyakim warned that if the IDF were to adopt the recommendations, many rabbis would orders their students to walk out of these events, "even if they are faced by a firing squad for doing so."
In an interview to Kol Hai Radio, the rabbi blasted the expected recommendation, saying that soldiers must "give their life for this issue."
According to Levanon, this is a move of coercion on the part of the army against its religious soldiers, which would send them into a situation in which, according to Halacha, a person must not give in and violate even the simplest mitzvot under any circumstances.
Rabbi Levanon stated that in such a case he would instruct his students to stop joining the IDF, as it would no longer be a Jewish army, and would expect Military Rabbinate officials to resign.
"People don't understand the halachic entanglement they're getting themselves into," the Samaria rabbi said. "They are leading to a situation in which rabbis will be forced to instruct their soldiers to walk out of such events even if they are faced by a firing squad outside and shot to death.
"They have to understand what they are getting themselves into… Everything that has been agreed on is being broken.
"If the IDF accepts the committee's recommendation, which means that a religious soldier must be present when a woman sings, and I say this carefully, there will be many rabbis and religious authorities who will issue an instruction that a soldier must give his life and walk out of such an event…"
Rabbi Levanon strongly criticized the discussion of this issue. "Never mind forcing soldiers to attack against their will, but this is about listening to a female singer! Is this what the army is about? Is this what makes a person a better soldier? This whole issue is clearly an attempt to harass religious soldiers."
Asked by the interviewer, Elad Kinset, whether a Religious Zionist Rabbi should not be more flexible in favor of the army's intactness, Levanon responded: "We are all subject to Shulchan Aruch, Maimonides, the Talmud – both the haredi sector and the national-religious sector… Once there is coercion, Halacha cannot be compromised.
"I certainly hope that there will be some smart people there who will curb this awful move, but if not – we'll have no choice… I'll recommend to anyone who asks me not to enlist anymore."
IDF rabbi: Soldiers mustn't refuse orders
IDF Rabbi Rafi Peretz
Chief Military Rabbi Rafi Peretz, on the other hand, stressed his strong objection to soldiers refusing orders when he appeared before the committee.
Nonetheless, the IDF rabbi opposes the committee's expected decisions, as he believes that clear rules should be set for exempting soldiers from ceremonies which include the singing of women and that commanders' discretion on the matter must be limited as much as possible.
He said the recent events – which climaxed with the dismissal of religious cadets from an officers' course after they refused to listen to women sing – proved that the commanding ranks sometimes found it difficult to make the right decision.
According to Peretz, there is no doubt that women will continue singing in the IDF, but an effort should be made to provide a suitable solution for a soldier whose conscience tells him not to listen to them.
http://fwd4.me/0h48
5 jan 2012, 15:51 , Respect -
Maria 3 dec 2011
Chief rabbi wishes Livni 'becomes PM'
Rabbi Metzger
Rabbi Metzger expresses his support for opposition leader, calls for national unity government. 'I may have been misunderstood,' he says after remarks published.
Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger took part Wednesday in the Sderot Conference for Society alongside Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, and expressed his hope that she would one day become prime minister.
"I wish that, God willing, you will become a member of the government, and perhaps head the government, and if only we had a national unity government," he said
In his address, Metzger lashed out at the "Taliban women" phenomenon in the ultra-Orthodox society. "Allow me to express my grief over the distortion of Jewish mind, the cloak sect, women called 'Taliban' who walk around with cloaks and different covers.
"There have been no rulings on this matter as it has not been known in history. There is no such thing as covering one's face and dressing up. This is distortion of Halacha, unless it stems from lack of knowledge or insanity."
After his remarks were published, Rabbi Metzger clarified that he did not mean that Livni should become prime minister, only a minister in a national unity government.
"I did not mean prime minister," he said. "That wasn't my intention, and I may have been misunderstood."
The opposition chairwoman said in her speech that "Israel needs a new list of priorities. We must rethink things and commit to them on the political level as well. We must renew our investment in education, define our common denominator as a society, determine what the State owes its citizens, as well as what the citizens owe the State.
"Social justice is not just a slogan, and it includes an equal share of the burden and national military or civilian service for everyone. This isn't against anyone, but in favor of each citizen's ability to feel like they belong and prevent hostility between the different parts of the Israeli society."
http://fwd4.me/0hwm 5 jan 2012, 15:51 , Respect -
Maria 17 dec 2011
Leading Settler Rabbi, Owner of Major Internet Portal, Incited Price Tag Violence, Vigilantism, Genocide, Insurrection Against State
Rabbi Yeshayahu Rotter
Rabbi Yeshayahu Rotter, the founder of Rotter.net, Israel’s major news and gossip portal, wrote a column in HaKol Hayehudi, a website maintained by the extremist Yitzhar yeshiva run by Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg (co-author of Torat HaMelech, which advocates murdering Palestinian children since they’ll grow up to murder Jews). In the column published last March, he foreshadows (and incites) some of the most incendiary acts of violence in the entire history of price tag activities: a few days ago settlers directly attacked an IDF West Bank outpost and threw a brick at a senior IDF officer in his vehicle, injuring him. This follows three mosque arson attacks, repeated death and bomb threats against Peace Now leaders, sexual assaults against peace activists and much more. It’s reasonable, in fact, to wonder whether the very yeshiva students who read this article last March didn’t take it to heart. Their current activities could in fact be seen as acts of homage to their saintly teach, Rabbi Rotter.
Unlike settler rabbis harboring similar views, Rabbi Rotter lives in Haifa. But he might as well live in Yitzhar for all the difference in his views from those who wrote Torat HaMelech. I call him a “settler rabbi” because he is a rabbi of the settlers even if he doesn’t live there.
Similarly, the good rabbi can be proud because while he carefully distinguishes his incitement to violence from actual violence, his son Meir, a police officer widely known to Sheikh Jarrah protesters for his especially violent ways, published his own incitement to violence against demonstrators in the Rotter forum. Meir Rotter urged police officers to vandalize cars of protesters, slash tires and perform other acts of violence to teach these disgusting leftists a thing or two about how Israel should be run. You can no doubt be certain that Rotter Jr. doesn’t just write, but he does. Do you think Meir has been reprimanded for his extracurricular taunting at Rotter? Of course not. Abba can’t be quite as explicit. He’s a rabbi after all. But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Rotter’s statement is a lit match on a pool of gasoline. It is the equivalent of a bunch of neo-Nazi Skinhead thugs beating up an Arab, after which a leading Christian cleric endorses the violence.
Rabbi Rotter isn’t stupid. He makes clear (totally disingenuously, I might add) that he is merely stating his “personal opinion” and not inciting anyone to take any action illegal or otherwise. This, he believes, gets him off the hook. Of course, he neglects that he runs one of Israel’s most popular websites and that his views carry weight and authority especially in the far-right settler community.
I was raised always to respect rabbis and though I’ve learned otherwise (regarding some rabbis) over the years, I try to give any rabbi the benefit of the doubt since they still retain at least an aura of moral authority. But not Rabbi Rotter. What he’s counseling is not just immoral and illegal, but he’s counseling violence as both a tactic and strategy for the settler movement. Given his stature, what he’s doing is evil. It is very hard for me to say that anything a rabbi would do is evil. But this is. If his was just Baruch Marzel or David HaIvri I’d just chalk it up to political sloganeering, but once you mix in Judaism, halacha and related issues, you have a rabbi declaring that our religion countenances violence, illegality and hilul haShem. This cannot be. This is a rabbi who must be denounced by other rabbis and anyone who cares about Judaism. Rabbi Rotter is perverting Judaism.
The rhetoric below is little better than Der Shturmer. In fact, it’s the Jewish equivalent. Do we want genocidaires among us Jews? For that is what Rabbi Rotter is. He believes he’s saving Jewish lives and avenging Jewish dead. But that is not what the State of Israel needs right now. It doesn’t need avenging angels. In fact, avenging angels in the current political climate are Angels of Death. And they will kill Jews and Palestinians without distinguishing between them.
Here is his op-ed:
In the calculations of the murderers [Palestinians] these days more than previous ones, there is no sense of deterrence. Every potential murderer among the Palestinians knows that he will receive the critical support from the Arabs and from Jewish leftists who hate settlers more than Arabs hate them. The only thing that restrains murderers from slaughtering Jewish families in the Land of Israel is “price tag.”
In the past I was very much against this. Because in essence this is taking the law into one’s own hands and you cannot have such a situation in a civilized country. Even this statement could place me in trouble with Shai Nitzan [State prosecutor who pursues security cases]. But I am expressing an opinion and not inciting anyone to act on such an opinion. I am not organizing anyone to do anything, only expressing a difficult opinion in a difficult time.
In a civilized society which takes responsibility for its citizens, who know that it will take every possible measure to protect their lives and will respond with all possible strength to deter such deaths, there is no reason to take such measures [as price tag]. In fact, this is something that is absolutely forbidden. But the question is whether the State of Israel today, under the leftist domination of a twisted media, extreme leftist media figures, some of whom justify crimes against the settlers, and obtuse courts which act as if they are in Belgium or Holland–is it not the case that in such circumstances [the rules prohibiting] taking the law into one’s hands in the face of the enemy slaughtering children upon their parents [the reference is likely to the Fogel family murdered in Itamar] is no longer relevant.
As I said, for these murderers there is no deterrence, it’s only a question of opportunity. They don’t murder every day not because anyone frightens them off, but only because they don’t have opportunity to murder children, women, and the elderly.
When there is no deterrence, when there is no price tag then there is no cost for the murderers ["everything is free"]. What is free? Even the blessings and satisfaction offered by various Israelis who arent’t afraid to express their views [favoring killing settlers] and the media which airs these views.
In such circumstances we must examine deterrent forces like price tag and just as in a there are no limits [constraints], “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” ”In a place where there is no man, be a man.” To my sorrow, in everything concerning settlers and deterrence “there is no man.”
If there is only one consideration why not let it be price tag, since the only price to be paid is by the person who commits such an act. He will find himself in prison for many years and he and his family will suffer greatly for this. Therefore, it’s appropriate to consider the cost when considering price tag [attacks]. But this should be his only consideration and nothing beyond it [i.e. he shouldn't take into account any moral considerations either regarding the State of Israel or the intended victims]. Because the Palestinians are “dead men” [a chilling locution meaning "as good as dead" or lit., "children of death"]. There is no better definition for them. Every one of them intends to kill us, even an infant a single month old.
There is much to consider in this racist, rancid rant. First, I’d say Rabbi Rotter is not just an extremist, but he’s delusional. In fact, Biderman’s cartoon above is a perfect representation of the minds of Jewish paranoiacs like him. He has absolutely no sense of reality. He’s little different from schizophrenics and individuals with bipolar disorder who engage in acts of violence because they misperceive reality. But in this case, it isn’t just himself that he endangers or those around him. He in fact incites others who respect and admire him and infects them with his own demented perception of the world.
Second, price tag as a policy will not deter a Palestinian militant as Rotter claims. In fact, as was shown in the case of the Palmer stoning incident, those Palestinians threw rocks because settlers had previously torched their village mosque in a price tag attack. Such acts incite Palestinian violence, not deter it. Price tag has little to do with the Palestinians in fact. It is actually an act of political protest meant to both damage the State’s power and protest policies which rein in settler power. The only way price tag might become a deterrent to Palestinian violence is if it turned into mass pogroms against Palestinians. And even then, it would still do just the opposite. For every Palestinian into whom was thrown the fear of God, there would be two who would turn in the opposite direction and attempt to take it to Israelis and make them pay. That’s the thing about price tag. Everyone pays, not just the Palestinians.
The ultimate goal of price tag and Rabbi Rotter isn’t just vengeance against Palestinian murderers, it is the toppling of the civil state and its replacement with a Torah-true kingdom in which religion and nationalism have become united. Sort of an Islamic Republic of Iran, if you will. There will be no democracy there. No Arabs too. No secular Jews. And God forbid, no leftist media. Only Torah-true Jews. Judeans, if you will.
You can just imagine what will be necessary to attain this vision. How much blood will be shed. Both Palestinian and Israeli, Jewish and Muslim. Make no mistake, this is the cry of the genocidaire. It was like Milosevic’s cries for Serbians to kill Croat Muslims in Srebrenica before they could kill Serbians. Others may think of other parallel historical situations. If your enemy has nothing but murder in his heart, then you’re justified in killing him first. That’s why Rotter must lie and claim that it is the Palestinians who will be guilty of the genocide he wishes for them.
Maria 19 dec 2011
Freed Palestinian prisoner: Rabbi Yosef deserves to die
Salah Hamouri
Salah Hamouri, who was imprisoned for plotting to kill Shas spiritual leader and was freed in 2nd phase of Shalit deal, says the rabbi is 'symbol of Israeli racism, fanaticism'.
A Palestinian prisoner released by Israel on Sunday as part of a swap for a captive soldier said that Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef deserves to die. Salah Hamouri, 26, in 2005 was imprisoned for plotting to assassinate the influential rabbi.
Hamouri was one of 550 prisoners freed to complete a deal in which Israel released 1,027 prisoners for soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for over five years.
Many of the 450 prisoners freed on October 18 under the Egyptian-brokered swap for the soldier had been serving life sentences for deadly attacks.
Hamouri, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) militant group, said in an interview he and two accomplices were correct in seeking to kill former chief rabbi, now 91, for which he was jailed in 2005.
Israel asks most Palestinian prisoners it frees ahead of serving out their sentences to sign a pledge forswearing future involvement in violence, but not all stick to their word.
Yosef 'symbol or racism in Israel'
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Hamouri's lack of repentance seemed an example of how the symbolic swap which initially stirred some optimism, wound up changing little on the ground, where conflict, fueled by months of diplomatic stalemate, persists.
Interviewed at his home in the West Bank, Hamouri cited hateful remarks made by Rabbi Yosef in the past as justification for sticking to his own militant views.
"This man is and will remain a symbol of racism and fanaticism in Israel," Hamouri said.
The outspoken Yosef has on a few occasions slandered Palestinians and wished death on them.
In a sermon in 2000 Yosef likened Palestinians to snakes, drawing strong rebukes from both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and a year later he said Arabs should "be shelled with missiles...to destroy them."
In his latest edict in August 2010 Yosef said: "Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) and all these evil people should perish from this earth ... God should strike them and these Palestinians – evil haters of Israel – with a plague".
Hamouri's French mother, Denise Hamouri-Guidoux, had campaigned for his release for years and said she managed to get French President Nicolas Sarkozy to seek her son's release.
The release was conditional on Yosef's consent, which he gave earlier this month, permitting Hamouri to go free as part of the deal for Shalit, just several months before his prison term was to have expired.
"This is a final attempt from the occupation to give this racist man a human face," Hamouri said of Rabbi Yosef's nod.
Fluent in French, Hamouri, who also holds a French passport, told Reuters he wanted to go to France to thank those who campaigned for his release.
"Freedom represents life, and to be free now, surrounded with my friends and family, I feel alive and hopeful again," he said.
http://fwd4.me/0irL
5 jan 2012, 15:51 , Respect-
Maria 22 dec 2011
Where Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto Spent His Charity's Money
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto
The receipts for an extended luxury hotel stay, vacation homes in the Hamptons, expensive diamond jewelry, and expensive clothing purchased by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto for his family's personal use and paid for by Mosdot Shuva Israel, Pinto's charity meant to aid the poor.
Top: receipt for luxury diamond jewelry allegedly purchased by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto with Mosdot Shuva Israel money.
Middle: a store receipt for expensive tailored clothing purchased by Mosdot Shuva Israel for Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto and his young son totalling more than $9300.
Bottom: a $50,000 bank transfer from Mosdot Shuva Israel to jeweler Jacob & Co. dated 10-8-2008.
Above: a section of Most Shuva Israel's May 23, 2008 Aging Detail showing $99,502 in watches purchased.
Below: all the receipts for purchases made by Rabbi Pinto for his family's personal use but paid for by Mosdot Shuva Israel, Pinto's charity which claims to fund religious schools and aid the poor as a PDF file:
Maria 30 dec 2011
How Many Lies Has Rabbi Rotter Told?
Rabbi Yeshayahu Rotter: living by rules he devises and which only he understands
Rabbi Yeshayahu Rotter founded Rotter.net, one of Israel’s most popular gossip and news sites (Alexa ranks it 72nd of all Israeli sites). He is a Haredi Jew who teaches 12th grade at a Haifa yeshiva which belongs to the Bnai Akiva branch of Orthodox Judaism. Surprisingly, considering the extremism of his politics, Bnai Akiva is considered one of the more moderate sects in the Orthodox movement.
Rotter is one of the most far right-wing figures in the Israeli media world. He not only supports the most extreme of the settler movement, he advocates violence and defiance of state authority to enforce their prerogatives to settle and retain every inch of the Occupied Territories. His son, Meir, is a policeman known not only for beating up Sheikh Jarrah protesters at their weekly protests against Palestinian home expulsions, but for bragging about this at Rotter.net using a pseudonym.
Israeli blogger Moni Dvir just published a post (Hebrew) about Rabbi Rotter that made me realize I knew very little about him, and that what I did think I knew, was based on some suspect assumptions which the man himself has disseminated to the public. In a 2007 Maariv interview (Hebrew), Rabbi Rotter claimed he earned a PhD in Jewish Studies from Boston University. In a separate interview at his own site, he further claims he earned this degree in 1998. He also claims to have a BA and MBA from a third-tier Israeli private college, Yozmot (this link appears to be to the institution mentioned in the Maariv interview, though I can’t be 100% certain).
This bears inspection. A number of us have not been able to verify his doctoral degree. The BU alumni office cannot locate any alumnus by his name. Neither Google Scholar nor an online search of doctoral dissertations turns up anything by him. In reply to my specific request that he confirm the degree mentioned in Maariv, he would only say he had the degrees mentioned in the article from universitaot angliot, which could mean “British” universities or “English-speaking” universities. This seemed a deliberate obfuscation. Repeated civil attempts to get him to be more specific ended in some rather nasty, smearish threats on his part which I’ll go into later.
The best we can say is that while Rotter claims a doctorate, he either doesn’t have one or no record of one exists after numerous attempts to confirm one. I haven’t attempted to confirm with Yozmot whether he has the business degrees he claims from that school. Though it’s such a poorly considered institution I wouldn’t be surprised if he did earn degrees there.
UPDATE: An Israeli reader brought to my attention a story, which has been subsequently confirmed by someone formerly close to the Rotter family, and by this report (Hebrew), that the rabbi worked for Bank Yerushalayim in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Money was allegedly stolen, he was suspected of theft, the bank made a complaint and police opened a criminal file against him. No charges were ever brought, but he was forced to leave the bank, which was when he moved to Haifa where his parents lived. He appears to have an inordinate acquisitive urge, for which there’s nothing wrong in an ordinary person, but which for a rabbi seems somehow grasping and inappropriate.
Another claim made in the Maariv article is that Rotter is an IDF officer:
[He] served in an armored unit and was an officer.
This too is a fudge. In a separate interview the rabbi published on his own site, he notes that during his active service he was a sergeant (not officer-rank). He now serves as a chaplain, which automatically makes his an officer. So in the Maariv story, he appears to make greater claims for his IDF service than are actually warranted. He seems to want readers to believe he was a combat officer, which he was not. In addition, before his IDF service he attended a yeshiva whose students were largely exempted from military duty. Some students could attend a truncated version of service. Given his religious affiliation, my Israeli sources tell me it’s likely he didn’t serve the full three years other Israelis do when they do their duty.
Rotter reveals a rather extraordinary bit of deception, which he proudly claims for himself. He states he’s angry that the Israeli media doesn’t credit the scoops published at his site (as if he owned them or researched and published them himself). So he performed a test. After a terror attack during which the terrorist was wounded and captured, Rotter supposedly published a “scoop” saying that the Palestinian had AIDS. Sure enough, Alex Fishman published (allegedly) a story stating the militant had AIDS. Rotter even notes that all the soldiers involved in capturing the attacker had to get AIDS tests and endure extended exams to ensure they were not infected.
Don’t know about you, but I’m astonished a rabbi would engage in such deliberate infliction of suffering on all those soldiers and their families, who would not know for sure whether or not they had gotten AIDS from contact with this man. And Rotter even reveals this publicly in the newspaper with no shame whatsoever!
But there’s an even worse problem with this story, according to the Seventh Eye, Israel’s major media watchdog publication, Rotter’s story is a crock (Hebrew). Never happened. Not a word of truth in it. The reporter queried Alex Fishman, who denied he’d ever written any such story and a search of Yediot Achronot’s archive never turned up one.
So now we have an Israeli rabbi who not only boasts of deceiving his readers, the Israeli media and the IDF by trickery, but who made the story up in its entirety. I’d guess that one of the reasons Rotter chose Alex Fishman to smear is because he thinks he’s a filthy traitor and media leftist, phrases which commonly echo through the Rotter website in comment threads. I have reported on, and spoken with Fishman a number of times in the past few months due to his excellent reporting about Iran. And this is not the kind of journalist who comes anywhere near doing the sort of shoddy journalism of which Rotter accuses him. In fact, it is Rotter himself who is the shoddy liar, it appears. Though you’d never know it from the rabbi himself, who continues to claim the incident happened precisely as he presented it in the interview. Except somehow he couldn’t manage to provide any proof to the reporter when it was requested. Does this remind you of the story about his alleged PhD?
Now, let’s look at how the good rabbi operates his website. In 2007, he claimed he had 50,000-100,000 visitors every day. By 2011, that number had risen to 1-million according to the marketing come-on offered to potential advertisers. That’s a mighty big jump. But if you’re Matt Drudge or Wonkette, I suppose it’s possible. But is Rotter.net in that league? Readers of the site (and I) have noticed a rather peculiar behavior. If you keep a page of the site open in your browser open for any length of time, when the page refreshes it doesn’t take you back to the same page. Rather, it takes you back to the site’s main page. If you want to continue reading the original page you have to go back to it. That means for every one page you actually visited, three page views might be counted.
I’m not an expert in SEO and how these things are done. So I don’t know for sure whether his claims for his site are legitimate or not. But given his lack of candor (to say the least) it’s highly likely that his claims for site traffic may be as highly exaggerated as his claims of having a PhD. I would hope that anyone thinking of advertising at his site would do their own due diligence to ensure that they’re getting what they expect and what they paid for.
Returning to the Maariv interview, Rotter makes some rather extraordinary claims about his own and his site’s moral and Jewish standards, which bear examination:
Lashon Hara ["gossip" or "slander"]
Journalism is the antithesis to lashon hara. The learned rabbis permitted [Jews to be] journalists. Therefore we should rely on their authority that journalism’s purpose is to warn people about crooks.
Considering the level of sludge and smears in the Rotter threads, it’s astonishing that the fact that his site is a leading source of lashon hara is completely lost on him. Just to take a few wee small examples. When I publish my own blog scoops there, I’m invariably referred to as “traitor,” “saboteur,” etc. Members have threatened to put a bullet in my head. One even created a hoax FBI press release claiming I’d been arrested for making kiddie porn. That post, at least the good rabbi removed because he likely realized that I might have legal recourse to sue him, as so many others have apparently done before me.
Returning to lashon hara, tell me if this sounds like someone for whom this is a cardinal value:
Write whatever you wish. I have nothing to hide. Here in Israel am totally transparent. In fact, it would be fitting to engage in this two-man battle. In Google, we’re finding some interesting things about you. I’m not sure they’re true, but I’m sure they’re written in Google. It’s always possible to quote [them] alone. [After reading these items about you] They’ll no longer ask why we sink to this personal [low] level, as they once asked me. Your profile in Israel is quite interesting.
Can you believe that someone who claims to oppose lashon hara would stoop to trashing me with the muck and mire that deranged folk have written about me online? Clearly, he didn’t care whether any of it was true or not. Just smearing the kaka around would give him joy. I read that e-mail as a quasi threat, and not being one to take threats lightly, I responded decisively:
I would love for you to disseminate some of the nuttier things written about me on Google. Because if you do it will show you to be an utter fool. So please go right ahead.
BTW, I’ve never claimed an academic degree I didn’t earn and anyone asking me which ones I have and from which universities gets a straight answer no matter who they are. I’m sorry you didn’t feel you could show the same candor. And the fact that you threaten me with smears because YOU refuse to confirm where & whether you earned degrees, means you are both defensive and appear to have something to hide…
Rotter prides himself on all the wedding ceremonies he’s performed. In fact, as part of his entrepreneurial spirit, he’s created his own website to promote Jewish matrimonial bliss and shiduchim (matchmaking). But if you’re disabled or divorced, you’re outa luck. Not allowed. I suppose they’re not good for business. Another itty-bitty problem though–guess who’s divorced? You got it, the good rabbi himself. Dya think he bans himself from his own website? Not on your life. When I first read of this oddness I laughed and laughed. Can you imagine someone who is such a hypocrite?
In Maariv, he further waxes rhapsodic about the beauties of Shabbat spent around the dinner table with family and friends. He’s a big devote of Shabbat as any observant Jew should be. There’s only one itty-bitty problem. Rotter.net isn’t shut down on Shabbat. Not only can you access its pages, you can violate the laws of Shabbat by posting there. That’s probably not the worst Shabbat violation though. Rotter is chock full of ads. Anyone who clicks on an ad makes Rabbi Rotter money. He earns money whether they click on a weekday or on Shabbat. But it is a grave sin for a Jew to earn money on Shabbat, which is the supreme day of rest.
I don’t know how such a learned rabbi justifies this violation of a halachic prohibition. I don’t even know if anyone’s asked him. No doubt, as with many Orthodox Jews, he’d say rather cynically what non-observant Jews do at his site is their own business and not his. In that sense, he’s the ultimate Jewish libertarian. Though I don’t believe halacha would countenance libertarianism defined in that way.
To be clear, I don’t keep the laws of Shabbat. I publish posts on weekdays and on Shabbat. So I’m not criticizing Rotter’s behavior in a blanket or categorical way. I’m saying that on his own terms as an Orthodox Jew, he’s violating halacha and that he’s a moral hypocrite for doing so.
A commenter here in the threads noted that in the very early days of the site, it specialized in offering illegal downloads. Now, I have nothing particularly against such sites and won’t argue there’s anything particularly immoral about them (the RIAA takes a different view). But it does seem to me that a rabbi should feel an obligation not to earn money off such an enterprise. Jewish tradition says that a rabbi should hold himself above questionable activities which might be acceptable to an ordinary Jew. Since Jews look to rabbis as moral arbiters, they could construe this type of activity as morally approved when a rabbi does it. A rabbi should set an example, not pander to the lowest moral common denominator. That may be why he has claimed that in those days, his son Noam ran the site. There are reports by Israeli media that he used this story to brush off precisely the moral questions I raised above.
I’ve hardly spoken yet about Rotter’s political views, which are also quite interesting: after the Fogel murders he advocated violent price tag attacks against Palestinians. In fact, his comments sounded very close to calls for genocide. He declared he had no faith in the State to avenge Jewish blood and urged settlers and other extremists to do it on behalf of the Jewish people. He was all defiance of the State. In fact, it seemed rather clear that the entire idea of a secular state was rather repulsive and that he would far prefer a halachic theocratic state in which a settler “Judean” ideology reigned supreme.
The Rotter forum is also being used (Hebrew) by radical settlers as a sort of real-time emergency band radio to broadcast the movement of the IDF in the Territories so wanted settlers may avoid capture at roadblocks set up outside the most extreme settlements, which house Jewish terrorists who resist evacuation of settlements or engage in acts of violence against local Palestinians and their activist supporters. This adds to the image of Rabbi Rotter and his media enterprise as a form of resistance to the secular state and its authority. Not that he’s above benefiting from the advertising revenue generated from citizens of that secular state.
While Rotter’s claim that he allows free speech for right and left at his site is mainly true, it’s clear that some speech is more free than others. Though I have published many scoops there, I have also had many taken down. And for no apparent reason since they violated no Israeli laws, gag orders or censorship. It appears that Rotter can remove anything he likes and for any reason. So his claims of a free-wheeling website with virtually no ideological limits are largely, but not entirely true.
To its credit, Rotter.net is a freer site than many in Israel if you can stand the death threats. I was banned from another site, Fresh, when I posted about Anat Kamm. No reason was given. I was just shown the door.