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Olim: Experiencing Emotional Distress? Free Helpline in YOUR Language!

Making Aliyah to Israel is complicated, so it is important for us that you know you’re not alone.

At the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the ERAN association, we are aware of the many difficulties and mental pressure that accompany the process of Aliyah and integrating into Israel. For this reason, we started a new service that provides you, new olim and returning residents, professional psychological assistance.

The service is provided in various languages, so that you can express the difficulties you are facing in your own language and share and ease some of the difficulties, even slightly.

So, if you are feeling overwhelmed, lost, or lonely

Come talk to us, in your own language.

The service is active from Sunday – Thursday  between

the hours of 16:00-21:00

The service is active on Sunday – Thursday between the hours of 16:00-21:00 in the following languages: English, Russian, Amharic, French, and Spanish

From ERAN, here.

Marriage IS NOT Just a ‘Sacrifice’ for Torah or Child Welfare!

Why Marriage Is Good For You

The data are clear: you’ll live longer, stay saner, get richer, and be happier.

Autumn 2000

When Americans debate the value of marriage, most attention focuses on the potential harm to children of divorce or illegitimacy, and for good reason. Mountains of research tell us that children reared outside of intact marriages are much more likely than other kids to slip into poverty, become victims of child abuse, fail at school and drop out, use illegal drugs, launch into premature sexual activity, become unwed teen mothers, divorce, commit suicide and experience other signs of mental illness, become physically ill, and commit crimes and go to jail. On average, children reared outside of marriage are less successful in their careers, even after controlling not only for income but also for parental conflict.

Yes, marriage protects children. And yes, marriage therefore protects taxpayers and society from a broad and deep set of costs, personal and communal. But there is another case for marriage, equally significant, that you probably haven’t heard. Marriage is a powerful creator and sustainer of human and social capital for adults as well as children, about as important as education when it comes to promoting the health, wealth, and well-being of adults and communities. For most Americans, this is news. When it comes to adults, the case for lifelong marriage has been framed in exclusively moral, spiritual, and emotional terms: one side argues for personal liberation from marriage, the other urges parents to sacrifice for God’s and/or the kids’ sake.

These are important considerations to be sure. Parents surely should be willing to make appropriate sacrifices for their kids’ sake. But framing the marriage debate solely in those terms obscures as much as it reveals. It misses the profound benefits that lasting marriage confers on adults. And it overestimates considerably the likelihood that divorce will, in fact, lead to greater happiness for the individual.

Recently, I had the opportunity to review the scientific evidence on the consequences of marriage for adults with University of Chicago scholar Linda J. Waite for our new book, The Case for Marriage. What I found surprised me. Quietly, with little fanfare, a broad and deep body of scientific literature has been accumulating that affirms what Genesis teaches: it is not good for man to be alone—no, nor woman neither. In virtually every way that social scientists can measure, married people do much better than the unmarried or divorced: they live longer, healthier, happier, sexier, and more affluent lives.

Continue reading…

From City Journal, here.

I Imagine Daniel Greenfield Seems Far Less Funny if You’re Still Stuck in America…

HOW TO MAKE YOUR MURDER MATTER

  May 15, 2023

If you want your murder to matter, you need to be shot, not stabbed. How much coverage did the four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in their apartment last year get? Even though theirs was the first murder in Moscow, Idaho in 7 years, you probably didn’t hear about it.

But not all guns are equal.

If you really want people to notice your murder, you had better arrange to be shot by an AR-15 or some mean-looking gun that Democrats want to ban as a “weapon of war”. Handguns are used in 78% of mass shootings. Like the kind that happen every weekend all over Chicago. And you don’t want to be just another statistic among the “15 shot over a bloody Sunday afternoon”.

Handguns don’t count. If you want your murder to matter, don’t get stabbed or shot with a pistol. Remind the shooter that if he doesn’t invest in an AR-15, he won’t make the evening news.

If you are about to be shot by an AR-15, congratulations, you’ve almost hit the lottery. Your brutal murder will be reported on CNN. Paid activists will brandish your photo for a week or so at gun control rallies. If you’re really lucky, Biden or Kamala might even call your family. But there are still a few things you can do to improve your brand and maximize your murder recognition.

Be a minority. Even if you’re not technically a minority, it’s never too late to discover some long-lost Indian heritage or to decide that you’re non-binary in the 3 seconds before the (hopefully) AR-15 rounds impact you. Also you can rapidly convert to Islam by quickly mouthing three times the sacred Islamic shahada, “Muhamad fi halat ‘shikker’ w’Allah ‘fressing’ fi ‘ayaam aljumueat fi TGI Fridays”. If you or the bullet are in a hurry, just skip to the last words.

Those 3 seconds can make all the difference between your murder being a mere “crime” and a much more serious “hate crime”.

Does Halacha Permit Honoring Public Sinners?

5/13/23 – Shiur 419 – Baalei Aveirah in our midst – How do we deal with them?

3 days ago

Who’s a מומר?
Someone who flaunts his Aveiros publicly – is he a מומר?
Can a Baal Aveirah write an Ois in a Sefer Torah?
If the Sofer writes the outline is it kosher?
Can they get an Aliya?
Can they Daven for the Amud?
Are they Possul to be עדי קידושין?
Can they make ברכת הזימון?
Are we allowed to be Mechabed them or is it חנופה?
Should we be ostracizing them from our community?
Should we be Mekarev them?

with Rabbi Aharon Sorscher – Rov of Yeshiva Community in Waterbury, Maggid Shiur of Oraysa – 11:20
with Rabbi Yosef Yeshaya Braun – Rov in Crown Heights, Member of the Beis Din of Chabad – 38:08

Continue reading \ listening…

From Halacha Headlines, here.

Thought-Provoking Humor on King Nebuchadnezzar

Thought he would live forever

But he didn’t.

ISHA YIRAS HASHEM
NOV 6, 2022

On Tuesday, January 20, 2022, I asked the Polish uber driver, who drove me and my son home from school, if he had ever heard of King Nebuchadnezzar.

He frowned and said, “Excuse me?” I repeated, “Have you ever heard of Nebuchadnezzar?” He shook his head no.

On Thursday, January 22, 2022, I again asked an uber driver, from Moldova this time, if he knows who the great Nebuchadnezzar is. He said that he is sorry. He does not know him. This was actually very okay with me. It would be more worrisome if he said that he did know him.

My son asked me why I always ask people about Nebuchadnezzar. I explained to him that it is for research purposes, and he accepted this matter of factly, without argument. It’s a good thing he’s not a teenager yet.

That day, I also asked the uber driver driving me to the dentist, who said he was from China, after ascertaining that he spoke enough English to grasp the question at hand. “Have you ever heard of Nebuchadnezzar?” “No, I’m sorry.” I thought some context might help him. “You know, king of Babylon? Long time ago?” “No, sorry. I don’t know about it.”

Upon exiting the Uber, I accosted the next person I saw on the street, an old Jewish lady from Pennsylvania, and asked her if she is familiar with Nebuchadnezzar. She said, “No, I’m sorry”, and took the stairs instead of the elevator I was waiting for. Probably likes exercise.

I also asked a FedEx guy from Liberty, who was stuck in the elevator with me while it was going up to the dentists office, if he knows who Nebuchadnezzar is. He also didn’t know, and took to staring at his package.

I even asked the receptionist at my dentist about Nebuchadnezzar. She said, “No. Am I supposed to?” I said no, that’s fine. Turned out the lady from Pennsylvania was going to the same dentist, and when she came in, I thanked her for helping me with my research, and rewarded her and the receptionist with portions of the story. I kept on offering to stop, but they wanted me to keep on talking, so it must be interesting enough.

Just to be safe, I decided to ask the other lady in the waiting room, who looked very young and very friendly. She was from Cape Verde, an island off the coast of Africa. She also didn’t know. Finally, I asked my Uber driver on the way home. He was from Haiti, his name was Love, and he had a voodoo priest father and churchgoing mother. He also didn’t know. But he did give me permission to include his real name and fascinating personal information.

This research may have cost me some interpersonal respect along the way, but it was thoroughly done. No matter what the country, age, nationality, religion, or language of the people I asked, they had no idea who Nebuchadnezzar was. Some even thought it sounded like an odd name.

I should note that on January 26, an Armenian uber driver, who turned out to be a history buff, did know who he was. I explained about this research, and asked if there is any chance that we have to worry that Nebuchadnezzar might still be the king of the world. He said not to worry, Nebuchadnezzar is not king of the world, in fact he is long dead and gone, and I trust him, because no one else even knew who he was.

On the basis of this research, it is safe to conclude that Nebuchadnezzar is no longer powerful, and certainly not the king of the world, and has failed to achieve his goal of reigning forever.

From Isha Yiras Hashem, here.