Is One Allowed To Kill Jews for the Regime? No! (Even Without Yoma 82b)

Confronting Evil at the Young Israel of Woodmere

An appalling lack of interest in Aaron Glatt’s involvement in the horrible death of a patient

Chananya Weissman
Dec 25, 2024

If the administration of a shul, yeshiva, or Jewish organization is notified that one of their rabbis was involved in a heinous act, and information supporting this accusation was offered, would we expect them to take it seriously and immediately look into the matter?

If the rabbi were accused of molesting a child, or taking advantage of vulnerable women, or supporting abusive husbands, or other such monstrous behavior, would we expect the institution to act immediately to protect potential victims and thoroughly investigate the claims?

What if the rabbi is alleged to have played a key role in the horrific, slow death of a patient, having fought tooth and nail in court to deny her potentially lifesaving treatment, for no justifiable reason?

The Young Israel of Woodmere — which touts itself as the largest Young Israel congregation in the world and one of the largest (and wealthiest) Jewish orthodox congregations in America — is apparently not interested.

I refer to the 2021 case of Deborah Bucko, who died under horrific and alarming circumstances as a patient at Mount Sinai Hospital of South Nassau, where Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt is the Chair of Department of Medicine. I wrote about the case shortly after her death, here, and interviewed her bereaved husband, Scott Mantel, where he told the story of a woman being purposely, maliciously denied potentially lifesaving treatment as she died a slow, horrible death. The interview is available here.

The interview went viral at the time, and has over 70,000 views, but the community has taken no action. Glatt has faced no scrutiny, let alone consequences.

The allegations that Glatt played a key role in the death of Deborah Bucko, and that this was a wrongful, quite possibly avoidable death, are supported not only by Mr. Mantel’s testimony, but court documents.

Continue reading…

From Chananya Weissman, here.

צריך להיות ‘נורמלי’ ומעורב עם הבריות, אבל השאלה החשובה היא למה

ה”נורמלים” אוהבים להביא מקורות התומכים בהנהגה מעורבת עם הבריות.

יש להעיר, שאפי’ במקרים שהם צודקים, ואפי’ בסביבה טובה (עיין מס”י ספ”ה) הטעם הוא לא כי התורה “נדחית” חלילה!

וז”ל המ”ב סי’ קכ”ה סק”ח (לא הבנתי מה שציין בשה”צ), מודגש:

ונושאין אותו וכו’, כי איתא בתנחומא פ’ צו ובשתים יעופף מכאן תקנו לעוף על רגליו בשעה שאומר קדוש. וכתב המ”א ודלא כאותם שדולגים וקופצים אבל הא”ר ושארי אחרונים יישבו את המנהג ומנהג ישראל תורה היא ומ”מ במקום שאין המנהג כן פשיטא שאין לעשות כן כי יבואו להתלוצץ ויצא שכרו בהפסדו.

וכן ההיתר לתת אוכל למי שלא יטול ידים בדלא קאי בתרי עברי דנהרא לא משום “נו, באמת, די, פשיטא, [נזיפה], אל תתחיל עכשיו…”, וכולי אלא כמ”ש החזו”א בצדק שבלא”ז יבא להכשיל אותו בל”ת דלא תשנא (ניתן לראות רשימת מקורות כאן), נמצא מפריש מאיסור חמור יותר. ואין כאן קולא אלא חומרא.

וכיו”ב שאר היתרים.

וזה כלל גדול בתורה, שלעולם צריך לשמור את התורה!

On the Psychology of Israeli Military Incompetence

An old book might give clues.

Quoting a synopsis on Wikipedia:

Here he discerns a vicious circle: it is people of a certain type who are recruited and promoted, so others either do not apply or languish in insignificant positions. Among characteristics of the British officer class in the period under examination are: a narrow social segment admitted, scorn of intellectual and artistic endeavour, subservience to tradition, and emphasis on virility.

This leads, in his view, to the prevalence of an authoritarian type, fawning to superiors and often harsh or uncaring to inferiors. Such a man, by this analysis, is afraid of women (so only half human) and afraid of failure. He therefore ignores people and facts which do not conform to his world view, learns little from experience, and clings to external rules, applying them even when the situation demands other approaches (for example Haig sacrificing hundreds of thousands of men he ordered to walk through mud into German machine gun fire). He may not be stupid, though some of the generals studied undoubtedly were, and he may be physically courageous, but his fatal lack is moral courage. Men like Townshend and Percival, caught in a trap by a more enterprising enemy, sat zombie-like until disaster overwhelmed them.