Irreversible Damage

 

Author’s note – This is definitely one of the longest single posts that I have ever posted. I was not an easy post to write and is not an easy post to read. To make it smoother, I cut it into bite-sized sections. I appreciate those who take the time to read it and hope they will think it was worthwhile.

 

 

Many of us have our Tehillim or Shema Koleinu lists. These are names of people that we want to daven for Heavenly salvation for various personal problems. The most common categories are parnassah, shidduchim, and refuah sh’leima. In addition to these, I have one other category: people being detained or held by non-Jewish or secular authorities. Pidyon Shevuyim.

Currently, my list comprises four names:

Nechama Dina Krinsky – נחמה דינה בת חיה באשא.

She is a Chabad shlucha and mother of 11 that is being prosecuted in Lithuania for alleged tax fraud and withholding information when she was forced to declare bankruptcy on the Chabad school she led. As of last March, she was in house arrest but could face jail time. You can see her story HERE. I do not know the current status but believe that there was supposed to be a trial on March 9, 2023.

According to her husband, the reason they did not have the needed funds is because money allocated for the Vilna Jewish community from the Ukrainian government, to which their school is entitled, was not released to them by the Good Will Fund which is run by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Aside from that, one needs to wonder why the Chabad organizations that sent the Krinskys as shluchim did not provide adequate funding.

 

Yehoshua (last name unknown) – יהושע מנחם רפאל בן גילה מרים.

17-year-old Israeli bochur who was lured into being a mule to smuggle illegal substances to France - presumably by a “frum” Jewish person. See the story HERE. Current status unknown.

 

Amiram Ben-Uliel – עמירם בן נורית.

West Bank resident was convicted for murder and arson in Duma incident and sentenced to 3 life terms. There is absolutely no proof to his guilt except a confession that was obtained from torture. See the story HERE and how to help HERE.

 

Malka Leifer – ריבה מלכה פרומית בת מרים שרה.

Israeli school principal convicted in Australian court for allegedly molesting some students. The students reported her to Australian authorities three years after she left Australia. See last post HERE.

  

There is a strange common denominator to all these cases. In all of them, it is the behavior (or misbehavior) of Jews at the source of their ordeals. Jews. Delinquent, non-G-d-fearing Jews. Some of these Jews know about G-d and Torah but choose to rebel. Reshaim. Some are misguided. Tamim. Consumers. And some may be clueless. Einam yodim l’shaal. But they are all Jews.

מהרסיך ומחרביך ממך יצאו

The thought of all this does not help my digestive system.

I am not here to reform the reshaim or to initiate the clueless. My mission is to help the consumers. These are people who think of themselves as G-d fearing but are misguided about what G-d really wants.

In my book and blog, I discussed the difference between consumers and providers. I lamented about how disconnected the consumers are from the advantages of understanding the products and the hazards they succumb to as a result. As I wrote in my treatise about Thinking Like a Jew, the primary hazard that affects a consumer is Hazard #3:

Hazard #3 - Vulnerability for allowing concepts (read: propaganda) from non-religious sources to influence one’s position on religious issues.

 

I went on to explain that: 

“consumerist Jews who live in Western societies tend to develop their philosophies based on non-Jewish Western secular values. To be more blunt, this is saying that many American mitzvah observant Jews think more like a secular American than they think like a Jew.”

As one of today’s neo-conservative analysts put it (paraphrase), “Everyone is obsessed with staying in line with ‘the current thing’.”

 

The accusers in the Malka Leifer episode made it their business to turn this into a public spectacle. They used social media to amass a chorus of cheerleaders to tell them what they want to hear. To create an echo chamber. I wrote about it in this post (Consumerism and the Art of Denial).

These cheerleaders, most of whom are Jewish and many of whom are even Orthodox, are all consumers paying homage to “the current thing”.

Somebody recently lent me a book for my moments of solitude that explains the current craze of sudden transgenderism that is plaguing adolescent girls. The book is titled Irreversible Damage written by Abigail Shrier (a nice Jewish girl from the East coast). The title couldn’t be more appropriate. See my recent post about permanent solutions to temporary problems.

One aspect of this craze, which would be totally shocking if not that I am conditioned to it, is the role of social media. On page 12 (about as far as I have read) she mentions a girl named Julie and quotes one of her mothers (she has two):

“I saw the picture of her, right after her mastectomy, lying in the hospital bed, talking about how this is the best day of her life, tears of joy, this kind of thing, and four hundred of her cheerleaders saying, ‘Yay,’ ‘Awesome job,’ ‘We’re so proud of you,’ ‘You can do this,’ You know – the usual”.

For sure, this is all I have seen from the hundreds of jubilant cheerleaders for the Leifer accusers, ‘Mazal tov!,’ ‘Baruch Hashem,’ ‘Yay,’ ‘You girls are awesome,’ ‘We’re so proud of you,’ ‘You did it,’ You know – the usual.

All this for perpetrating irreversible damage.

As I wrote in my very first preamble post on this episode, it is not only a band of cheerleaders. It is a band of consumerist vigilantes who follow their emotions and not their heads. The mindless masses. As Rachel Risby-Raz wrote in her TOI blog, “The gang didn’t really have a leader.” No leader, no head, just a boich (gut). Some psychologists call this mass formation psychosis.

Just like the transgender craze, the irreversible damage is also to themselves, to each other, and to society at large. It is very scary.

The harmonious comments of the cheerleaders overwhelmingly reflect every type of trait that they would solemnly swear not to teach their children:

1. Overwhelming presumption of guilt
   
   
2. Overwhelming thirst for punishment and retribution (eye for eye)
   
   
3. Overwhelming animosity and demonization
   
   
4. Overwhelming disdain for Halacha and Jewish values
   
   
5. Overwhelming rationalization and self-righteous vindication
   
   
6. Overwhelming shortsightedness on ramifications

I think each of these traits call for some introspection. Here we go:

 

1 - Overwhelming presumption of guilt

I discussed this topic at length in these posts: Midas HaDin, Adulterating the Truth, Updates on Malka Leifer and JCW

Dassi Erlich announced the guilty verdict on her Facebook page on April 3. This post attracted 613 comments before it petered out. I quickly scrolled through them to check them out. All of the comments are supportive, congratulatory, and jubilant. Lots of “Finally,” “At long last,” “Baruch Hashem,” “Mazal Tov”, “You are so brave and amazing”, etc.

Not a single one was surprised at the verdict. Nor against it. Why should they be? She is so obviously guilty. Let’s hear from some of the cheerleaders. We will start with the next to last comment written by Sam Leary referring to Dassi’s ex-husband:

I hope your ex-husband has trouble looking himself in the mirror now the truth he tried so hard to cover up, has been so publicly confirmed. His selfish motives trying to destroy the mother of his child shows his true self.

The funny thing is that Dassi’s ex-husband’s testimony was that this case is being blown out of proportion. The verdict does not prove him wrong and, if anything, does more to prove him right. Sam Leary can only see in him “selfish motives” in that he is “trying to destroy the mother of his child”. Leary cannot fathom that perhaps he is trying to protect Mrs. Leifer from unjust prosecution. Incidentally, there is no reason why Mrs. Leifer getting off would destroy the mother of his child (Dassi Erlich). Personally, I think it would be much better for her.

His comment about “the truth he tried…to cover up” displays his presumption of guilt but this was basically run-of-the-mill. After all, to him it's been 'confirmed'. What impressed me more was the immediate reply from a fellow named Shimshon Shoshkowitz:

Sam Leary Whilst the whole Jewish community knew Leifer was guilty, he still decided to testify for the defence…

Yes, indeed. The whole Jewish community (except me) knew Leifer was guilty. How did they know? Did she tell them? Were there objective witnesses? Not that I am aware of. Only these amazing sisters said she is guilty and therefore she is. Also people like Dovid Lichtenstein, Yerachmiel Lopin and Yaakov Horowitz, ad infinitum.

I don’t think he really meant the whole Jewish community knew. He meant the whole Jewish community presumed to know. Of course, this makes Dassi’s ex-husband who probably knows a lot better irredeemably wicked.

Other cheerleaders were “thankful” or “grateful” that she was found guilty. Writes Helen Mazner, “We are so thankful the verdict was GUILTY.” Comments Lynda Green, “Thank goodness the truth was told and the verdict of guilty was pronounced.” And former prosecutor Shlomit Metz-Poolat, “As a former prosecutor I was following your case every step of the way and was grateful to see her jailed, extradited, tried, and finally convicted!”

I am not sure who they are being grateful to, but people are only grateful for one thing: when they get something they want. They all wanted Mrs. Leifer to be guilty. Nobody wanted her to be innocent. One can’t justify hating innocent people.

From all these, the most striking comment was from Helene Gordon, “Malka's guilt is a relief!!!”

A relief?? She is relieved that a Jewish person was found guilty in a non-Jewish court for a crime that was never established to have occurred at all?? Wouldn’t it be a greater relief if she was found innocent? If the court ruled that whole thing was a crazy nightmare, a figment of some people’s imaginations? Blown way out of proportion? No one was really molested. What a relief!

It just can’t be. She had to be guilty because… because… because… everybody knows she is. And why?

Because nobody wants her to be innocent. That would be so anti-climactic. If she would have been found totally innocent, there would have been a cry of outrage and miscarriage of justice from the grandstands. “She must really be guilty, they just couldn’t prove it.”

Let’s look at a commenter from March of 2018 named Nicole Iglicki Gold. She wrote:

...“A fair trial in Australia”-who are you kidding? She doesn’t deserve anything fair. I don’t know these girls but I am human and am sensitive to their pain. ...Ask yourself, what if it were your children who were subjected to this evil evil lady? ... She is a criminal and deserves to be in jail and to have the key thrown away.”

 

Here is a typical commenter who admits that she doesn’t "know these girls” (the accusers) which indicates that she certainly doesn’t know Mrs. Leifer, as well. She doesn’t know anything at all, yet she knows that Mrs. Leifer is an “evil evil lady” and a “criminal” and “deserves to be in jail and the key thrown away…” Just because Dassi Erlich said so!

 

And what does Nichole Sapper Meyer say about the one who says “she does not deserve anything fair”?

 

Nichole Meyer: Nicole Iglicki Gold thank you ... your words mean a lot to us.

Yes, she is so automatically guilty that she doesn’t deserve anything fair. Nicole confirms this.

This is Midas Sodom.

 

2 - Overwhelming thirst for punishment and retribution (eye for eye)

See this post: Justice is Blind…and Deaf- Midas HaDin

Great. Terrific. She’s guilty! Yes, she’s guilty!

Um, what is she guilty of?

As we know, the secular courts say she is guilty of some heinous crimes including “rape”. This is, by use of their definition of “rape”. For the very few people who may have read my preamble post, Thinking Like a Jew, we learn what rape really means (as well as what it used to mean in a secular court many rains ago). Real rape is performed by real men and by force. This is a heinous crime. This newfangled artificial female “rape” is just invasive pattycake.

This is what I wrote in my 2017 post Flirting with Danger:

Even if she is guilty of what she is being accused of, the activities are not felonious by Torah standards and don’t call for any extreme penalties. Not even judicial flogging. Claims of emotional and psychological injury to the victims are only personal injury claims and are monetary and not criminal.

Did I just mention personal injury? Ah yes. Both in the Thinking Like a Jew post and in my very last post we discussed the penalty for personal injury:

Chazal teach us (Bava Kama 83b) that “an eye for an eye” doesn’t mean a literal eye. It means cash. In other words, when one injures or inflicts physical pain on another person, the punishment is monetary compensation to the victim. This is the Torah way. Torah justice is done with monetary compensation, not with cutting eyes or limbs or putting people in jail. Our Torah is much more compassionate than any secular justice system.

But the cheerleaders are having none of it. They have no compassion. They want blood. Listen to our frum ex-prosecutor Shlomit Metz-Poolat, “She will rot in a small cell for many years to come.”

Once a prosecutor, always a prosecutor.

Our ex-prosecutor is not alone. How many times have I seen the banal line, “Let’s make Leifer a lifer?” Countless.

And don’t forget Ms. Nicole Iglicki Gold from last section who doesn’t know anyone or anything but wrote that she, “deserves to be in jail and the key thrown away…”

Most consumerist Jews don’t know the Gemara in Bava Kamma that says that “an eye for an eye” means money. Or that צדק צדק תרדוף means in a Jewish court at the hands of a G-d fearing Beis Din. They think an eye for an eye means a real eye for an eye. Vengeance. And צדק צדק תרדוף means secular courts and secular laws.

I wish it were only the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders are influenced by the professional “athletes”. Let’s go back to my contested post Judging the Judges 2 from July 2017 (currently offline). In that post, I clearly wrote:

I don’t want to see Malka Leifer destroyed and I don’t want to see Dassi Erlich destroyed. There is no need for it. As far as I know, they are both victims. I think it's a better idea to try to fix wounded people than to try to break them.

I sincerely meant it then and do so to this day. I want what is best for everyone.

Comes fix-the-world athlete Shana Aaronson onto social media and, in regard to this very post, she writes to me:

[I] Still think your an immature cruel human being incapable of understanding compassion and nuance.

Get this? I want what is best for all sides. Let’s play nice and everybody go home and cool down. Shana Aaronson totally wants to destroy Mrs. Leifer and doesn’t care if Dassi Erlich gets herself destroyed in the process. She wants blood and vengeance. (More on this later.) And I am the one who is immature and incapable of compassion???

Clearly, Mrs. Aaronson and I have very different definitions of “compassion”.

Most of us have heard the sharp words of Mahatma Gandhi, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Maybe that’s what they mean when they say that Justice is blind.

 

 

3 - Overwhelming animosity and demonization

Related posts: Midas HaDin, Building a Case

The cheerleaders never tire of using the most appalling epithets to demonize our villain: Monster, wicked, witch, b—ch, rapist, pedophile, scum, evil, etc. Everything to the most extreme.

Why is this necessary?

People need to justify their being cruel and vindictive, and they do it by announcing that the villain is the worst type of miscreant imaginable. They are forced to label the villain as irredeemably wicked because, if they aren’t, there is no excuse not to redeem them.

After all, all these people like Nicole Iglicki Gold and Shimshon Shoshkovitz know exactly everything that happed. They said so. And even devout pious role-models like Dovid Lichtenstein can publicly state regarding a Torah observant Jew, “ושם רשעים ירקב”. (Perhaps he means to elevate her to the status of the skilled Kohanim of the Beis HaMikdash – Yoma 38a).

It must be therapeutic. People need to demonize others to make themselves feel better about their own shortcomings. This is so they can tell themselves, “Yes, I know that I do this or used to do that, but at least I’m not as bad as that evil monster.”

In order to be able to love themselves, so many people need to find “others” to hate. They only need to justify why they are not bad people for hating them. Ah, the villain is so irredeemably wicked, they cannot be considered human and certainly not Jewish. They are not entitled to the rights that normal humans are entitled to, like, for instance, a fair trial. They must be akin to Amalek. It is a mitzvah to hate them and to wish and do to them the utmost harm. Thus, hating other people becomes a part of their essence. It’s a mitzva now, after all.

This is something that never stays inside its cage. One “mitzvah” drags in another “mitzvah”. It is now a mitzvah to demonize anybody who is understanding and compassionate of the accused. “Let’s get them, too.” And so, the animosity and demonization spills over to Mr. Fried, Rabbi Shafran, Rabbi Grossman, Rabbi Litzman, to me and, most recently, to Dassi Erlich’s ex-husband.

Ironically, and perhaps hypocritically, bounty-hunter Mrs. Shana Aaronson, boldly proclaims as a fact that 1 in 3 women are abused in their lifetimes. When one couples this with another known fact that most abusers were themselves abused, it has to bring up the odds that our villain may be a victim of abuse to way beyond 50%. Such a situation, if verified, would go a long way in making our villain a bit more human and redeemable.

But the haters and demonizers will have none of it. They can’t even face up to such a possibility. Because, if it is so, they are now murdering a victim.

As such, when I suggested in my blog that Mrs. Leifer is most likely a victim, Shana Aaronson needed to fight me on public social media (same thread as before). She wrote to me, “some [molesters] were [abused]. But not as many as your assuming.”

Not as many as I am assuming? Doesn’t she herself write that 33% of all women are abused, even those that don’t graduate to be abusers? 33%! That’s her number. And the odds for a molester can only be higher (can’t be lower.) Has anybody heard her podcast on her own website where she mentions how at one time, almost all the friends she was hanging out with were sharing their personal stories of abuse?!

She then went on to state, “NO ONE gets a pass at molesting a kid. And sure as h*ll not on 74 counts…”. 

Firstly, here again is your universal presumption of guilt. How is she certain that our villain is guilty of 74 counts? Or even one? Further, she obviously means “a pass” from punishment, not from prevention. Shana is a firm believer in blood and vengeance. Every “molester” needs to be punished even if they are retired and even if they were molested themselves.

Why?

Well Shana seems to be among the 33%.

I am aware of an online chat forum strictly for frum women. I became aware of it many years ago when one member critiqued my book. (That part of the forum was accessible to anyone). I promptly directed my wife to become a legitimate member. Ever since, if I needed to, I could find out what the “ladies” have to say on a topic that I might be dealing with. You can bet that I “peeked” into the threads about Malka Leifer.

Regarding Malka Leifer, there was a protracted thread about the involvement of Rabbi Litzman, after that there was a more recent one celebrating the extradition and now one celebrating the conviction. As expected, the prevalent attitude is approving, celebratory and even vindictive although there are always some lone level-headed posters who may challenge some points and say this is not something to celebrate. Those few usually get gang tackled. The titles of the two last threads are indicative of the mood: “Finally! Extradited” “Finally! Guilty.”

One tragic thing about all the threads is that far too many posters tell us that they were abused themselves. Thus, it makes sense for them to identify with the accusers and cheer for them. In light of this, as I checked out those threads there was something I was looking for. And I didn’t find it.

With all those posters, many of whom were “survivors” themselves, not one, not a single one, could even suggest that perhaps Mrs. Leifer is also a victim (or “survivor”.)

Why not?

Because, if she is, they would also have to let her into their “victims” club. They cannot allow themselves to do that.

 

 

4 - Overwhelming disdain for Halacha and Jewish values

 

A consumer, by definition, is one who does not know all that much about the product. That’s bad enough. But consumers of Jewish Halacha are even more recalcitrant since, in most cases, they don’t want to know all that much about the product. As long as the definition of secularism is to do whatever one sees fit and not to be bound by restrictions, all that Halacha gives us are the restrictions we would otherwise not want.

Ben Shapiro has often remarked, “Facts don’t have feelings,” and this is no less true about the “facts” of our Halacha. They don’t have feelings, or at least, the type of feelings most of us would like them to have. For most consumers, and especially for the entire Malka Leifer prosecution cheerleading squad, the simplest route is to just ignore the Halachic ‘facts’ and act as if they don’t exist.

But exist they do, and we can’t just wish them away. And since they are pointing a different direction, I find myself responsible to point them out. It’s a part of the Halacha.

As such, before I took on this task, I made it my business to write the preamble post Thinking Like a Jew. This sets the moral compass for this entire episode. Indeed, when one consumerist sheep bleated to me, “Where is your moral compass?” I was very easily able to link to this post and then say, “Here’s mine. Where’s yours?”

This universal disdain for Halacha is not confined to the mindless masses of the cheerleaders. This conduct came from “higher places” as well. The dialog with Shana Aaronson that I referenced in the previous sections took place while she and Meyer Seewald were busy composing their defamatory article against me. In that same thread, she wrote me that I “don’t have a clue how sexual abuse works.”

Aside from not providing a clue on how she “knows” this, as well as totally not acknowledging what I wrote on the subject before she ever heard of me (HERE), I let it slide and just countered that, “I don’t think you have a clue on how Halacha works…”

I know that she has no clue because she is clearly violating it. Nor does she even claim to be observing it. Nevertheless, her response was, (her words - abridged for brevity):

“If it means I get to keep advocating for the people whose lives have been ripped apart by evil, and for protecting all of our children (including yours), I’ll take it. Sure. Not your Halacha, that’s for damn sure.” (Note the emotion in her words).

My Halacha?

What she is saying is that she will decide for herself what Halachos to follow and what to discard. She will do what she wants. Not what the Halacha that I source tells her to. That is my Halacha and is not applicable to her. She will not be subject to boundaries and restrictions that are meant to protect people (including her).

I responded that “My Halacha is your Halacha – sorry to say.”

Incidentally, there is nothing in any Halacha that says she cannot advocate for victims. It only says she can not decide what is permissible to do to alleged perpetrators. Like most of these confused souls, she is conflating two issues in order to rationalize her bloodletting.

She wasn’t done railing in that thread but she never responded to the Halacha claim. She then went on to publish her defamatory article where she referred to my position as “pseudo-Halachic” without a single word to explain what is pseudo-Halachic about it. Later in the same article she actually demonized me for “vehemently defending his [my] position under the guise of Torah, Shulchan Aruch and Halacha“.

I clearly listed the sources, and she in no way denied that my stated Halachic premises actually appear in the Torah, Shulchan Aruch and Halacha. Yet, to her, it is just a “guise”. She knows the real Halacha, wherever it may be. She has yet to reveal it. It must be Toras HaNistar.

This woman actually claims to teach “Halacha” to kallahs who have suffered traumas. Hashem Yishmor!

Actually, this thread appears in a post in Meyer Seewald’s Facebook page in 2017 whence Meyer bashed me for “using Halacha”. Yes, it’s a crime for me to use Halacha. Meyer is indicating that he or JCW would never do such a thing!

One consumer named Shmuel Kopel jumped in to save him in the comments secton. He wrote: 

 

Meyer Seewald please reword you statement to "claims to be using Halacha" otherwise u are agreeing with him that he is following halacha. I proudly try my best to follow halacha and would like to know the source for his behavior in halacha if that is what u r saying.

This consumer did not read my blog nor see my sources. Anyhow, based on his suggestion, Meyer changed the text of his post to “claims to use Halacha”. He did not bother to explain what, if anything, is faulty about those “claims”.

Another commenter on that thread wrote: "I’m really curious to see how this twisted individual uses Halacha to justify the exact opposite of basic HALACHA."

I promptly replied with a link to Thinking Like a Jew.

It doesn’t end there. We have the master of Halacha Headlines himself, Dovid Lichtenstein, who is a proud supporter of the accusers and an even prouder demonizer of the accused.  I think, due to his public position as a purveyor of Halacha, his  כגון אנא דמסיגנא ד' אמות בלא תורה ובלא תפילין is a chillul Hashem.

 

5 - Overwhelming rationalization and self-righteous vindication

Related post: Putting the Peh before the Ayin - Building a Case

Needless to say, this trait is a spinoff of all of the previously listed traits - presumption of guilt, lust for blood and punishment, animosity and demonization.

The terminology of the celebrators point to a collective sigh of relief that Mrs. Leifer was found guilty. So many, “Finally” and “What a relief” and “Baruch Hashem.”

To paraphrase, they are saying, ‘We were right all along.’ ‘She is definitely guilty because these non-Jews with Western secular standards said she is.’ ‘She really is the evil satanic demon we’ve been calling her all these years.’ ‘We were right. And she really does deserve all of the years in prison and court and people following her around with cameras.’

Clearly, there would definitely not be any “Finally” and “What a relief” and “Baruch Hashem” if Mrs. Leifer was found innocent. That would be a catastrophe. ‘You mean all our redifus, name-calling, destruction and persecution was in vain?’

The disdain for Halacha part won’t bother most of the cheerleaders since they anyway learned to live with themselves while not observing Jewish Halacha. Yet, there are a few who hold themselves as observers of Halacha. How do they rationalize their position?

One method is the demonization; to paint the accused as the most diabolical fiend imaginable. Once the villain is labeled with every diabolical epithet, one can say they are no longer human, no longer Jewish. Open season. Kill the beastie. The sinas chinam become sinas kinaim.

A second method is to distort the Halacha to find kulos for hurting accused people.

Some want to claim that the Torah says rape is like murder (Devarim 22:26). From this, we see the danger of playing word games. If anything, this pasuk refers to real rape, not to feminine finger poking. Also, the comparison is that a rodef in progress for real rape can be stopped with lethal means like a rodef in progress for murder. This is if the crime is in active progress. Once it is carried out and completed, it is subject to due process in a Jewish court (only). Both in cases of murder and of real rape.

The Leifer case has no rodef and no rape.

As usual, I received no online comments on my last post. However, I was contacted by a few readers off-line. One reader, a prominent blogger who is a big proponent of religious ideals and a big Har Habayit and techeiles enthusiast, complained that I only want to follow the letter of the law.

I responded that for anything bein adam l’chavero, we are obligated to follow the letter of the law because being lenient to one side automatically means being strict to the other. He proceeded to show me (A) some halachic sources which tell us that a Beis Din has the authority to enact extra-judicial punishments when the looseness of the generation call for it. He then (B) extended this to claim that since BD today is powerless, there is no problem to turn our miscreants over to goyim for extra-judicial punishments since BD could do it if they want.

As for A, I responded that you don’t need a list of sources. This is clearly in Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 2, so would this be applicable, then it is a part of the “letter of the law”. That said, for B, I pointed out that this is an exclusive right and function of a Beis Din. Even today, a Beis Din (and only a BD) has the authority to rule if it is appropriate to be moser somebody to non-Jews in another country. As far as I know, there was never a Beis Din involved in this case at any level whatsoever.

Furthermore, this authority for extra-judicial punishments can only hold when it has been established beyond a doubt by the Beis Din that the alleged crime was committed, and the suspect is guilty of it. That is certainly not the case here, but our messianic reader is suffering from the same presumption of guilt that is driving this entire debacle.

Lastly, there is no real source for a Beis Din to allow non-Jews to carry out extra-judicial punishments - with the possible exception of enforcing a get decree (although a get decree is not an extra-judicial punishment and the decree itself is made in Beis Din). There is no such allowance in all of Hilchos Mesira (Choshen Mishpat 388). But if it helps people like my blogger friend and Shana Aaronson to live with themselves after spilling Jewish blood shelo k’din, I guess it may be worth it.

 

6- Overwhelming shortsightedness on ramifications

Related posts: Flirting with Danger and Extradition or Jurisdiction

One refrain that I’ve heard from numerous people is the concept of the greater good. Even if extradition is not justified and/or prison is not justified and the villain doesn’t deserve such harsh treatment, there are still very significant social gains that benefit the community as a whole. Hence, it is justified to “sacrifice” the miscreant for these social gains. (Another rationalization.) The rationalizations sound like this:

Firstly, indeed there is a strong “raglayim l’davar” that there were inappropriate activities that took place and that innocent young people were hurt. To get the alleged – with raglayim l’davar – miscreant off the streets ensures that these activities don’t continue even if this step is not really necessary.

Secondly, seeing the [alleged] perpetrator punished gives a sense of closure to the [alleged] victims and helps their healing process.

Thirdly, all this acts as a deterrent by which to convince other potential predators to desist. Thus, society gains in the long run. The miscreant might be getting the short stick, but society can only gain. What does the general society have to lose? It’s good for society!

This attitude is an expression of short sightedness. Not only are these celebrations misguided for all the reasons discussed in the previous sections, but they are also poisonous to society including to those who are celebrating. Some poisons take effect immediately and others don’t take effect until long afterward, but all poisons are hazardous to one’s health.

This is one reason I wrote the post Flirting with Danger. In that post I noted that, in my opinion, the vocal cheerleaders who are celebrating are an עם נבל ולא חכם. This is because, as Rashi says, they do not see the nolad, they do not see what this may be leading to.

I opened there with the dangers from the religious perspective. This is all a tremendous chillul Hashem and a chillul Hashem can never be good for society at large. Secondly, whenever a miscreant is discovered in the chareidi One Above camp (אם בחוקותי תלכו), the religious liberals and irreligious scoffers - the members of the Seven Below camp (ואם בחוקותי תמאסו) - capitalize on it to denigrate the One Above camp, and discourages Jews from improving their lives. They are creating a deterrence to Torah living which far outweighs the deterrence to stop molesters from molesting.

I wrote there that:

“It seems to me that most of these Jews, the victims and their supporters, are not really yarei shamayim. So they will not acknowledge this danger.

But they should take heed that there are a number of dangers of a more earthly nature that it would be wise to think about. If one can be a chacham. If one can be ro’eh ess hanolad.”

I made a number of predictions in that post. The most dramatic of them did not come to pass. Mrs. Leifer wasn’t acquitted, but she might have been. Still, the things that took place set some very dangerous precedents that may come back to bite those that advocated for them.

The first thing is the extradition that everybody was cheering for. The manner in which the State of Israel so readily extradited a natural born citizen to a foreign country on such flimsy pretenses means that it can happen to anybody. One never knows how and why he or she can find themselves on the next flight out. Needless to say there is no shortage of Israelis on the international wanted list.

Hence in my post about Extradition or Jurisdiction I wrote:

We live in a very hostile world that is not sympathetic to the struggles of the State of Israel for survival and security. There are ubiquitous open ended “arrest warrants” in many countries for Israeli officials, politicians, and military personnel for bogus “war crimes” or “crimes against humanity”. Many of our leaders and military heroes are not free to travel anywhere in the world without diplomatic cover for fear of wanton prosecution in countries that have no moral jurisdiction (only self-imposed) to whatever events they would prosecute for.

It is unthinkable that the State of Israel should acquiesce to an extradition request for any natural born Israeli citizen under these circumstances; especially when the treaties themselves provide for the exemptions.

Doing so would set a horrible precedent and could open a Pandora’s box that will haunt Israeli officials forever. It would be political suicide.

Well, the precedent has been set.

I also think this whole attitude of ‘building a case’ to get a conviction without due process is a ticket to trouble.

Just this past Pesach, Mishpacha Magazine put out their gala Pesach edition chock full of advertisements and sporting their collection of fiction short stories in their Calligraphy booklet. This year’s Calligraphy had a very interesting story of historical fiction about a Jewish family living in Massachusetts in the general vicinity of Salem in the 1690s when the witch trials took place.

The story is narrated by a young girl whose older brother was engaged to a 22-year-old lady from what was probably the only other Jewish family in the region. As the story progresses, the 22-year-old kallah is accused of witchcraft at the height of the hysteria since a few days after she was at someone’s home, their dog dropped dead.

She was arrested and indicted and imprisoned and certainly would have gone the distance to the fruit tree if not that she managed to break out of jail (can’t figure out how) and hide out by her chosson’s family until her whole family could secretly relocate to Rhode Island.

Although the story is full of holes, it does accurately reflect the tempo of the era. Mainly, that anybody who is accused of being a witch is confirmed to be so on the “strength” of the accusation itself and the accused bear the burden of proof to prove themselves otherwise. This is virtually impossible. Secondly, anybody Jewish, of any stripe, is going to be a prime target of this hysteria and will certainly get a shorter measure of fair play than any non-Jew.

Most of us think that that was a dark bygone era when people were superstitious and primitive and vulnerable to all kinds of irrational fears and beliefs. Today we are educated and scientifically advanced. We are rational and have civil rights and the protection of a fair law system and a Bill of Rights. Things like this couldn’t happen anymore.

Not so. Every generation has new witches and new witch hunts. The Salem witch trials were in the 1690s but all the Wild West gunslinging and lynching of suspected horse thieves and cattle rustlers was only in the more recent 1800s. Then came the McCarthy Red Scare “witch hunts” in the 1940s and 50s which certainly influenced the Rosenberg case.

Subsequently, in the 1980s and 90s rose up the Day-Care Sex-Abuse Hysteria. Today’s child abuse is the witchcraft of yesterday complete with the presumption of guilt and all the other trappings.

As such, it scared the life out of me to read this article: 

Florida Enables Death Penalty For Child Sexual Abuse

On the face of it, it sounds like a great idea. Hey, I am all for the death penalty in general and for confirmed professional incorrigible grown-up pedophiles. It all sounds great and long overdue. We’re all going to love this “Let’s kill all pedophiles” law until… until…

...until one of the first customers is ch”v going to be one of us. When some 16 year old who started up with their cousin or sibling or neighbor is going to be fingered and R”L sent to the chair.

Remember how many times I wrote that most offenders are young adults who will most likely grow out of their hang-ups - if they are not hung up first? See HERE and HERE.

Trust me, Jews (and maybe other minorities whose lives don’t matter) will be the primary targets of this law. Incidentally, it says in the article that this is not going to require a unanimous jury verdict. An 8-4 decision will be sufficient. And with today’s burden-of-proof-upon-the-accused mentality, this will be a disaster. All the askanim who try to intervene in some case will be told, “Hey, you guys wanted this law.”

To those who are not roeh ess hanolad, a law such as this is appropriate and long overdue. Let’s celebrate. But this is just a modern version of 1692. Today’s child abuse is the witchcraft of yesterday. And I am worried that, R”L, some people may die to regret it.

Lastly, I get daily emails of Rav Avigdor Miller’s ZTL Q and A sessions. In a recent email that I received on April 20 (before Yom HaShoah) Rav Miller was asked as follows:

Why didn’t the tremendous zchus of the tzaddikim in the time of the Holocaust save six million Jews? The kehillos in Europe and the Torah learning was its peak.

Rav Miller’s response was:

Judaism in Europe was not at its peak! It was approaching the peak of the bottom! I’ll give you an example. In Lithuania, there were daily Jewish newspapers; one for the Left Zionists called the Tze-Es; Zionist Socialists, a daily newspaper.  There was a daily newspaper for the general Zionists, a daily newspaper for the Revisionists.  Daily newspapers for Jews to read. These were newspapers for Jews, not for the gentiles.

But for Orthodox Jews, there was no daily and no weekly and almost no monthly. 

Now the question is who was doing all this reading? Human beings were reading it.  And not Lithuanians, not gentiles. Jews! Jews were doing all this reading! Now, what was in those newspapers, the daily newspapers?  Hostility to Judaism.  Attacks on rabbonim.  Ridicule of Torah and mitzvos. It was filled with hostility and ridicule. And that means that the Jewish nation in Europe before the Holocaust was reading newspapers every day with poison against Torah, against da’as Torah. They were being poisoned.

So it means that the ear of the public belonged to the reshaim, which means that the masses of the Jewish people were going lost.

What are you saying that Judaism in Europe was as its peak?! A yeshiva man, if he walks out, let’s say, in Staten Island in some very assimilated Jewish neighborhood, will Jews call him names?  Jews might not take to him, they might consider him alien, a stranger, but that’s all. But in Lithuania, a yeshiva bochur in many places was called names by the Jews!  They looked down on him!  They called him patron! They called him a parasite. You don’t realize how far the Jews in Europe had moved away from Judaism. There was a lot of chillul Shabbos!  There was a lot of atheism.  The youth had no longer any connection with Judaism.

According to Rav Miller, ZTL, this is what Judaism was like at the cusp of the Holocaust. It is almost 85 years later and we are seeing more of the same. Antisemitism is at an all time high. And plenty of Jews are those who are feeding it. It always has been Jews.

I really hope there will be no need to relearn the lessons of the holocaust. But there are no guarantees. If the damage isn’t already irreversible, we must make sure it doesn’t get there.

 

הוי כי גדול היום ההוא מאין כמהו ועת צרה היא ליעקב וממנה יושע