What’s Next? Foxes in the Henhouse?!

Ho Hum, now they’re housing confirmed male rapists and serial killers of women (“identifying as non-male”, but without hormone therapy or any surgery) together with, uh, females (many of them already rape victims) in California prison, nu-nu. And it’s about to spread countrywide if Congress passes a law…

So anyway, what else is new?

Chafetz Chaim versus the Health Experts

Medical Tyranny Versus Authentic Torah – Part 4

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the Chafetz Chaim, was one of the greatest and most influential Torah leaders of modern times. His works are staples in every true Jewish home, and his saintliness was legendary. He divinely predicted that European Jewry would be decimated but Hitler’s army would be unable to invade Eretz Yisrael, where a remnant would be spared.

But I wonder if even the Chafetz Chaim knew that two footnotes about him would offer us critical guidance nearly a century after his passing.

The Chafetz Chaim lived at the juncture between the old world and the modern world. The Reform movement had metastasized into a powerful threat to authentic Judaism, just as the scientific establishment – and the tycoons who controlled it – were starting to believe they can and should control everything. The role of a doctor in society was evolving from the traditional one outlined in this series to that of a nanny and ultimately a dictator.

If the Chafetz Chaim lived today, what would he do? How would he guide us? Fortunately, the answer is clear from the example he already set.

The Chafetz Chaim on the Torah is a small collection of his teachings on the weekly Torah portions, plus related stories from his life, which appear in footnotes. Below are English translations of two footnotes from Parshas Va’eschanan.

Another time he explained this verse [Devarim 4:15, that one should very much guard his life/soul] that it is incumbent upon a person to take care of his body, just as a wagon driver must take care of his horse that it shouldn’t starve, for isn’t it from him that he earns his livelihood? Likewise a person needs to take care of his body that he shouldn’t harm it, for from it comes life, as well as for the soul.

And one time he rebuked one of the famous Roshei Yeshiva in Europe for holding himself back from eating a piece of meat every day, and saved it all for the sake of his students, that nothing should be taken from their daily food.

And he said as follows in his sweet style, ‘Among the numerous matters that are incumbent upon the Rosh Yeshiva in his role as a Rabbi to his students, there is one urgent matter that is worthy of particular attention: that he should make sure his students have a healthy Rosh Yeshiva.’

He also said that the mitzva to guard one’s health is extremely great. More than once he would order the lamps in the yeshiva to be extinguished at a late hour in the night, in order that the students should go to sleep. He had a pearl in his mouth [was fond of saying] that this too was the advice of the yetzer hara [evil inclination], in order that the students should become weak, thanks to their excessive diligence, and they would later completely stop learning Torah. And so he would say, ‘Even if the yetzer hara advises you to learn [at such hours], don’t desire it and don’t listen to him, for his intentions are not pleasing.’

And in his final years, when due to weakness it was hard for him to walk, he would push himself in spite of this to walk four cubits after eating, to fulfill the words of our sages in Shabbos 41A...” (Footnote 3)

The Chafetz Chaim was extremely stringent about protecting one’s health, and considered martyring one’s health to learn extra Torah as sinfully self-destructive. Furthermore, unlike many modern Jews who pompously dismiss the health teachings of Chazal as outdated, the Chafetz Chaim treated their wisdom in these areas with reverence as well.

Surely, then, the Chafetz Chaim would place the recommendations of health experts on a pedestal…right?

Here for your consideration is footnote 7 from the same Torah portion:

…When it became known to the Chafetz Chaim that a conference of doctors was going to take place in Vilna, and they were planning to offer various suggestions for the sake of the health” of the yeshiva students, such as to limit their hours of learning, and to designate an hour or two every day for exercise, and other improvements and “repairs” of this type, such as to reduce the number of students in each group, the Chafetz Chaim, of blessed memory, first sent a letter of blessing to the chairman of the conference, the well-known doctor [Zemach] Shabad, and these were his words:

“’As I have heard that there will soon be a conference of doctors, and his honor will be the chairman, I send my blessings to him, that the Healer of all flesh should send you His assistance and blessing from above. Being that I heard that the situation in the yeshivos is of great interest at your conference, I thought to inform you that, thank God, the yeshivos are standing on a firm and stable foundation. The students receive all their needs, and they are served three meals a day. Approximately two hours a day they rejuvenate themselves with walks, and, thank God, they are healthy and whole. Surely this will be of great joy to you.

And after signing he added the following two lines: I wanted to remind his honor that it is written in the Torah Whoever touches the mountain [Mount Sinai when the Jews were given the Torah] will surely die. If touching the mountain is deserving of death, one who touches the Torah itself [interferes with Torah study] how much more so.‘”

It is fair to assume that Doctor Shabad and his colleagues did not have sinister motives in establishing health regulations for yeshivos. Again, this was when science and technology were starting to take great leaps forward. Most likely these doctors saw themselves as enlightened health experts, privy to revolutionary new discoveries, whose duty it was to impose their wisdom on primitive Torah scholars for their own good.

The position of doctors was evolving to that of a vaunted authority who makes rules for society. Modern science was evolving into a new form of idolatry. The Chafetz Chaim witnessed these changes, and had the foresight to recognize the existential threat of letting “health experts” overstep their bounds. Doctors were likely to exaggerate potential dangers, overestimate their abilities, and intervene in people’s lives far more than appropriate. Even if their motives were entirely benign, expanding the role of doctors beyond the one outlined in the Torah would cause more harm than good.

Furthermore, if this expansion were permitted for the presumed sake of saving lives, it was inevitable that power-hungry profiteers and governments would use “public health” as a pretext to impose tyranny on the public.

The Chafetz Chaim politely reminded the doctors that their concern was appreciated, but their intention to intervene in yeshivos was unnecessary and out of bounds. He further warned them that crashing the boundaries and interfering with the Torah would be most dangerous for health – their own.

Unfortunately, the scientific establishment has not heeded the Chafetz Chaim’s words, and he is no longer here to lead us in the face of the tyranny that has emerged. However, the appropriate response in the face of these challenges is clear from the example he set. We are not to allow “health experts” to encroach on Torah study or Jewish life at large, no matter what fears they express or promises they make.

The commandment to guard one’s health is most serious, but doctors do not have the right to impose their will on individuals or the public, even if they think they know best.

Those who were responsible for closing the shuls and yeshivos did not only touch the mountain, they committed grave sins. Those who issued fraudulent “rulings” that we must do whatever doctors decide for us corrupted the Torah, the penalty for which is losing one’s share in the world to come (Avos 3:11). It is unlikely that they can escape punishment after all the harm they caused, but if they repent they can salvage their souls.

The rest of us need to take the Chafetz Chaim’s words to heart and recalibrate our approach to “health experts”. Doctors work for us, as individuals, if we choose to employ their services. They do not control our lives, and no government has the right to ride on the backs of doctors to control our lives.

If they seek to encroach on the Torah and Jewish life – even with the best of intentions – we must inform them that this interference is unnecessary and unwelcome. If they insist on interfering, we must resist. If their intentions are malicious, we must recognize them as mortal enemies who come dressed as saviors.

Whoever touches the mountain will surely die, and those who touch the Torah, how much more so. May it be soon.

__________________________

chananyaweissman.com/

Upcoming Book by Yehoshua Alt: Amazing Shabbos Insights (FREE Sample Chapter)

Shalom U’Bracha from the Holy Land, 

I hope you are doing well. As we have arrived at the final stages before publication, this is the final opportunity for dedications for the book about Shabbos titled “Amazing Shabbos Insights” (the cover is attached below). Don’t miss out on the Dedication Opportunities, which can be given from Maiser money. It can be L’Ilui Nishmas, L’Refuah Shleima, an advertisement for a business, in honor of a special occasion or any other dedication that your heart desires. This is in addition to sharing in the merit of the Torah learned by each reader. For more information or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at yalt3285@gmail.com. Donations can also be given via credit card by clicking “Donate” at  https://bit.ly/392t1ZkAny amount is welcome.

 

All the best,

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I Agree. Death (‘Morbidity’) Is Unsettling!

Woke researchers call for term ‘morbidly’ obese to be banned because it’s offensive

Calling the fattest category of people ‘morbidly’ obese is offensive, woke researchers said today.

And they urged doctors and scientists to stop referring to unsuccessful attempts to lose weight as ‘failures’.

Terms used moving forward should include ‘ineffective’ or ‘insufficient’ weight loss, or even ‘secondary weight regain’.

No specific suggestions were given to replace the phrase ‘morbid’, however severe is often used instead.

Critics today slammed the recommendation, published in a leading obesity journal, saying it was ‘odd’ given morbid obesity is a clinical term.

But industry experts agreed that ‘less stigmatising’ language was crucial in the battle against the bulge, saying ‘words truly do matter’.

Joe Nadglowski, president of the Obesity Action Coalition, said: ‘The old expression “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” doesn’t apply for those living with obesity.’

It comes after a separate team of researchers claimed the word obesity is racist and should be dropped in favor of ‘people in larger bodies’.

The Ongoing Corruption of Jewish Women by the IDF (and Abortions)

Hear Cries of Silent Heroes

Friday, June 3, 2022

BS”D

Hear the Cries of the Silent Heroes of Israel

3 Sivan, 5782 / Bamidbar /  Le’Ilui Nishmas Dinah Bas Itta Libah A”H / June 2, ’22

The crisis of female Israeli teenagers being routinely bullied, hounded, persecuted, arrested, and incarcerated over their refusal to submit to Israeli Army Draft Office dictates remains an ongoing threat, one of monumental proportions, to the long-term survival of Jews as Jews in Israeli society. Israel, unlike the vast majority of countries, drafts 18- year-old girls into the military. They generally allow girls to apply for a “religious exemption.”  If the Army wants to challenge that application for a religious exemption, they do so, in a multitude of ways, some of them officially legal.

Our primary objection here is against the very drafting of women altogether – of any level of religiosity, of any background, color, or ethnicity – Jewish or otherwise.  The level of religiosity of a girl is irrelevant here. Forcing women into military service has no place in any society – especially one that claims to civilized. This is all the more so in the modern era of mixed-gender units, fallout of ascendant “Dequality” Dogma.

The very fact that – at just about any given time – there are girls sitting in Israeli Military Prison over their refusal to enlist in the Army is an outrage and kitrug. It’s also the zenith of hypocrisy, when perpetrated as official policy by a country claiming to be the “Jewish” state. I can think of few things more antithetical to Judaism than forcing young women, the future mothers of the Jewish People, into the morally corrosive, exploitive military milieu – especially given all of the depravity ensuing from that policy, including the devastating abortion rate. If you insist on calling yourself a Jewish State, then at least pretend to “walk the walk,” on this and other foundational issues. Otherwise, don’t just “talk the talk.”

This is something we all must clarify, unrelentingly: The Israeli law that mandates the drafting of “non-religious” girls is itself an outrage. No Torah leader ever agreed to such a barbarian law. In fact, the world-renowned Brisker Rov, OB”M, was even more adamantly opposed to drafting non-Torah-observant girls than drafting Torah-observant girls – the latter also being absolutely prohibited – “Yai’horaig V’al Ya’avor” (see Sefer Yeled Sha’ashu’im, p. 350).  At most, some Torah leaders of previous decades may have deemed it impossible to fight the female military draft per se. That apparently prompted some of them (but NOT the Brisker Rov – see Sefer Yeled Sha’ashu’im, p. 348-9) to acquiesce to focus on saving whom they could from an Israeli government hellbent on drafting girls, namely “religious and traditional” girls.

However, things have changed. In recent years, the very policies put in place to ostensibly shield religious and traditional girls from being drafted into the military are being regularly exploited to persecute and draft the “easy targets” among them. “Easy targets” for the Israeli Army Draft Office include traditional (Mesorati) girls, Ba’alot Teshuva, Ethiopian girls, immigrants and their daughters, girls from divorced families, and girls who have a very ill immediate family member. They also include girls who, for whatever reason, studied in a non-religious school.

° Consider the irony of the latter: much of the secularist Israeli establishment relentlessly complain how so many of the Torah-observant population shun secular education. These secularist critics mockingly dismiss legitimate religious objections to many secular educational venues. However, when a religious girl does enroll in a non-religious school, even if its with religious safeguards, this same secularist cast of characters brands her as irreligious, and therefore unqualified for a religious exemption from military service.

° Another phenomenon accentuates the raw corruption of the escalating crusade against religious and traditional girls. Israel is fond of flaunting its Hi-Tech credentials and accomplishments. In marked contrast to its ability to shoot down drones with lasers, they can’t seem to deliver critical mail to their own Army Draft Office.  The Israeli Postal Service is able to deliver mail to everywhere in the country. Yet, it very frequently “fails to deliver” military exemption certification from Israeli girls to the Draft Office – located right in Jerusalem, on Rechov Rashi.  This coincidental “quirk” in mail delivery helps the Draft Office persecute girls for ostensibly failing to submit requisite paperwork. Thereby, the Israeli postal service plays an important role in what some see as a trafficking scheme, seeking to force teenage girls into enlisting in the Israeli Army.  All of this absurdity is clearly on orders from “on high.”

The predictable results of drafting 18-year-old females into an immoral military milieu have been apparent for decades. One of these is widespread abortion. Abortion, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein OB”M (d. 1985), is murder for Jews and non-Jews alike (Iggros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat, Vol. 2, e.g. 73:8, p.310).

Those seeking to stop the unrelenting abortion of Jewish babies, which has killed over two million (!!) Israelis, would be advised to seek ways to end Israel’s female military draft. That one policy shift – one which could definitely gain unusually broad public support – would reduce abortion dramatically over time.

~~~

On Abortion, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein, a premier, world renowned authority in Jewish Law, [from The Jewish Press, slightly edited]:

“Abortion in Jewish Law:  DID YOU KNOW….?

That Reb Moshe Feinstein, OB”M, a premier authority in Jewish Law, writes in a responsa (Iggros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat 2:73:8 p. 310) that not only are Jews prohibited from committing abortion (except in the most extreme circumstances, specifically danger to the Mother’s life -BF) but we are also prohibited from assisting even non-Jewish people in committing abortion. Abortion is prohibited for non-Jews too, as a capital crime. Even if refusing to perform an abortion would result in “Aivoh” (antipathy towards Jews), it remains prohibited for Jewish doctors [to even participate in].”

~~~

Interestingly, that responsa was penned on the 16th day of the Hebrew month Iyyar, 5742, being exactly 40 years – to the day – prior the Jewish protest in Washington DC, on Tues. May 17, ’22, against the NCJW faux “Jewish” demonstration for abortion legalization. [One week earlier, he had written a responsa (CM 2:70, p.300), clarifying some errors that led some to lenient positions on abortion.]

It’s not the only responsa he wrote decrying abortion as murder – for all Mankind, Jew and non-Jew alike (see ibid., 2:69, p.294). Cf. ibid., 2:69 (p.294); 2:71, p.302 (regarding the Rambam in MT, Hil. Rotzaiach 1:9; Noda BeYehuda); p. 303 (para. 1-3).

~~~

Promiscuity and rampant abortion in IDF, sample reports:

1)  https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/40-cases-of-rape-reported-in-the-IDF-signifying-rise-in-complaints-561765

2) https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Dramatic-rise-in-number-of-IDF-soldiers-reporting-sexual-assault-572369

3) https://www.israelhayom.com/2018/12/12/idf-sees-spike-in-sexual-harassment-complaints-in-2018/

4) https://www.1202.org.il/en/union/info/statistics/arcci-statistics

5) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/.premium.MAGAZINE-israeli-choreographer-takes-on-routine-sexual-harassment-in-idf-1.6717980

6) https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-to-offer-day-after-pills-to-soldiers-570107

7) https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-to-provide-morning-after-pills-in-effort-to-decrease-abortions/

8)  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16146146/

9) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-shhh-don-t-tell-evangelical-supporters-of-israel-about-the-country-s-abortion-laws-1.7274968

~~~

Ostensibly Orthodox advocacy organizations ought to be focusing on these burning issues, rather than issuing absurd statements trepidating or obfuscating over the U.S. Supreme Court possibly alleviating Roe, in the wake of the bloody legacy of the 63 Million. However, they are not. And that itself says much more than we ever could.

On the opposite side of the moral spectrum, those who stand with the aforementioned female refusenik heroes of Klal Yisroel will share in their monumental merit. Those young women, refusing to enlist in the Army, despite Army Draft Office terror and antireligious persecution, endure so much – and thereby secure the continuity of the Jewish People, whose identity is inherently connected to our fidelity to the Torah – as it was given to us on Har Sinai – just over 3333 years ago.

Wishing the readers an uplifting Shavuos,

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

USA: 845-642-1679* «» 

* for calls and texts, but not WhatsApp

Israeli Helpline: 03-721-3337

From Daas Torah, here.