My Shana Tova Message from 5771 - Repost for 5785

Behold, I am reposting my Shana Tova message from 5771. It looks like it may still be relevant today.

In 5771 I wrote: Maybe, just maybe, by the end of the year, he will really mean it.

[It seems that he tried to run for president again in 2017 but was shoved aside by the "bosses".  He missed a thrilling helicopter ride last spring. Good for him. Maybe they need to take him out of the mothballs since they are running a bit low on inspirational "leaders".]

ויאמר כל אשר נשמה באפו, ה' אלוקי ישראל מלך -- ומלכותו בכל משלה!

לשנה טובה תכתבו ותחתמו

And I really mean it!

Yechezkel

The Gold Apollo Hornet Sting

 

וגם את־הצרעה ישלח ה' אלהיך בם עד־אבד הנשארים והנסתרים מפניך: (דברים פרק ז פסוק כ)

הצרעה - מין שרץ העוף,  שהיתה זורקת בהן מרה ומסרסתן ומסמָא עיניהם בכל מקום שהיו נסתרים שם (ראה סוטה לו , א).

Hashem, your G-d, will also send the hornet upon them until all the remaining and hiding of them are destroyed from before you. (Devarim 7:20)

Rashi – Hornet: A type of flying insect that would cast into them gall (venom) which would emasculate them and blind their eyes wherever they would be hiding. (Sotah 36a) 

The second you hear anything buzz, watch out!

We Jews are obligated in 613 torah commandments and plenty of Rabbinic ones to boot. The non-Jews get off easy. They are only obligated in 7 commandments. This applies to almost any type of non-Jew with one exception. The descendants of Yishmael (Arabs).

In addition to the universal 7 commandments, the sons of Yishmael have one additional Torah obligation. Circumcision (Brit Milah).

This commandment was given to Avraham Avinu to be passed down to all of his descendants, and this includes Yishmael. And, in fact, the descendants of Yishmael do perform this mitzvah. They do not do it as thoroughly as we do, but they indeed do perform it. But this is all that they do. They perform this mitzvah and then perform any other activities that can be performed with this organ.

 עשרה קבים זנות ירדו לעולם תשעה נטלה ערביא ואחד כל העולם כולו. (קידושין מ"ט:)

This mitzvah is not meant to be only performed. It is meant to sanctify a person. It comes with an additional obligation –

ואתה את בריתי תשמר

We must guard the bris. It should only be used for constructive purposes.

Our Yishmaeli cousins go less than half way. Not only do they stop short of complete performance of the milah, they do not practice shmiras habris at all.

As such, HKBH says, “If you do not guard the bris, you do not deserve to keep it.”

And so, this past week, we have seen some astonishing events that HKBH has inflicted upon some of the Yishmaelim to our North. An entire shipment of communication devices miraculously malfunctioned all at once. Those who were stricken by it felt the heat in three primary places – the eyes, the hands, and the lower extremities (the “bris”).

This is the sting of the Hornet – the צרעה.

Why these three parts?

The eyes – ולא יראה בך ערות דבר ושב מאחריך (Devarim 23:15)

The hands - כל היד המרבה לבדוק בנשים, משובחת. ובאנשים, תקצץ.  Any hand that is frequent to inspect [the genital area], if that of a woman is praiseworthy, if that of a man is fit to be amputated. (Niddah 13a)

The bris - ואתה את בריתי תשמר

If Yishmael is required to perform the bris, he is likewise required to guard the bris. If not, he is misusing it.

And so, HKBH tells Moshe (Shmos 34:10):

ויאמר הנה אנכי כרת ברית נגד כל עמך אעשה נפלאת אשר לא נבראו בכל הארץ ובכל הגוים וראה כל העם אשר אתה בקרבו את מעשה ה' כי נורא הוא אשר אני עשה עמך

And He (HKBH) said, “Behold I will be ‘koress a bris’. All across your nation I will do wonders that have not been created in the entire world and for any of the [United] nations. And the entire nation that has you among them will see the actions of G-d, for He is awesome, which I will do for you.

Perhaps there is more than one way to be koress a bris.

HKBH keeps His word. He is performing for us unprecedented wonders. And He is sending them the Hornet to blind them and emasculate them. He is trying to communicate with them. He is paging them.

I don’t know if they got the message. But the message is really for us.

וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך.

Project Emesh 2 - Mission Statement – Hashavas Aveida and Sustaining the World (Parshat Ki Teitzeh 5784)

 

In my opening post, I quoted several frightening statements from Chazal that spell out how enormous is the responsibility of Jewish judges and that many are those who are guilty of “mismanagement” (to be nice). I don’t know if any of these passages are as frightening as the one that we all know from the Mishna at the end of the first chapter of Pirkei Avos: 

רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר, על שלשה דברים העולם קיים, על הדין ועל האמת ועל השלום, שנאמר (זכריה ח, טז) אמת ומשפט שלום שפטו בשעריכם.

Raban Shimon ben Gamliel says: The world remains in existence on account of three things – on judgement (Din), on truth (Emess), and on peace (Shalom), as is written (Zecharia 8:16), “truth and judgement and peace must be judged in your cities.”

The implication of this statement is that the application of these three things are vitally essential for sustaining the continued existence of the world. One who upholds these values is sustaining the existence of the world and, conversely, one who is responsible for maintaining these values and shirks his responsibility – and more so if he acts against these values – is destroying the world.  

     

Destroying the world!

As said, these three values keep the world from self-immolation. According to the Mishna they are:

Din – Emess – Shalom

But, according to the verse in Zecharia 8:16 that teaches this to us, they are:

Emess – Mishpat – Shalom

E. M. Sh. = EMeSh.

Introducing Project Emesh. Project Emess, Mishpat and Shalom.

This Mishna in Avos is so fundamental that Rabenu Yaakov ben Asher, the Tur Shulchan Aruch, quotes it to open his section on monetary laws, Choshen Mishpat (1:1). 

The Tur writes a very long introduction, but his main point is that without din - the rule of the judges - along with emess (truth), there cannot be any shalom (peace). Note that the Beis Yosef, ad loc., wants to say that the attribute of din applies to the dayanim, the attribute of emess applies to the witnesses and the attribute of shalom applies to the litigants once they accept the ruling. But the Tur himself places all three things in the domain of the dayanim. If the dayanim do not judge properly, they are ultimately to blame that there is no peace among the litigants.

This even applies if they are called upon to sit in judgement and refrain from doing so. They are not at liberty to walk away. Every Jew is responsible to do what he or she can to prevent another Jew from suffering losses to life, limb or property. This obligation is called השבת אבידה. 

This mitzva happens to be written in this week’s Parsha, Ki Teitzeh (Devarim 22:1 and 22:4). In the mitzva of hashavas aveida (and the following one), the Torah tells us one cannot be present when another Jew’s sheep is wandering or their donkey collapses and ignore them (לא תראה...והתעלמת). If he is present and is in position to assist, he is obligated to do so. We will see the importance of this in future posts.

In my own experiences in monetary Batei Din I have seen way too much shefichas “damim”, in all its ambiguity. This is why it brings cherev to the world (Avos 5:11). There are flaws in the system that cause this that can be easily fixed. 

The mission of Project Emesh is to identify the flaws and to suggest possible remedies. Allow me to repeat what I wrote in my previous post:

This is a project to educate readers about Beis Din. What it is and what it isn’t; how it works and how it should work; what every person should know before they call for a Din Torah or before they respond to one; and how to avoid getting hurt.

Most people, even the most learned among us don’t have a clue.

In short, it is an exercise in hashavas aveida.

One Above and Seven Below was released 17 years ago. As I wrote in the Introduction of the book, its primary purpose is to educate consumers of Judaism as to how it really works. How to get the best results from this “product”. Sadly, those of us who aren’t learned aren’t learned and, as such, they are “consumers” (as opposed to “professionals” or “experts”).

One of the most neglected parts of our religion are the laws of business and monetary issues and resolving disputes. As I wrote in my section about prenups, this applies to family law as well. People blindly get married without really knowing the rights and obligations of each side and what to do if, chas v’shalom, their problems get as far as a Beis Din. When they get to Beis Din, they don’t know what hits them. For this reason, I suggested reforming the Chassan-Kallah education system to include relevant parts of Even HaEzer. 

If a kallah is taught what kinds of behaviors will result in her losing her ketubah in Beis Din, she will know that these behaviors are not only unacceptable, but are hazardous to her bottom line. This should bring about better conduct during a marriage and, when the worst happens, a smoother divorce. But these rules are usually not even taught.

When it comes to Batei Din for mammonos, the problems go way beyond mere ignorance of the players and not knowing the rules, i.e., problems that apply to the litigants. the problems also concern the dayanim of the Batei Din who take advantage of this universal ignorance to bypass the rules. This happens in Batei Din for gittin as well, but there is more hefkeirus (lawlessness) in the monetary courts. 

I will explain why this is so in an upcoming post, but I will divulge one part of the reason. A lot of this has to do with the independence of the various Batei Din. There is absolutely no regulation or oversight for Batei Din, no organization that controls or “unionizes” the Batei Din to work within uniform guidelines. There are no ethics committees and no courts of appeal. There is no Vaad HaKashrut for Batei Din. Not in Israel, for the monetary Batei Din, and not in the diaspora for any Batei Din.

We need these things. Without them, there is no authentic mishpat, no emess and certainly no shalom. This is destroying the world.

And so, the primary mission of Project Emesh, just like the mission of One Above and Seven Below, is to educate the consumerist public about how the system works and how to use it successfully. I consider both to be an exercise in hashavas aveida. 

The secondary objective is to serve or establish some kind of regulatory body which will oversee all affiliated Batei Din. Any Beis Din that won’t be affiliated with this umbrella agency will be considered a outcast. This is similar to the Vaad Mishmeres HaSTaM here in Eretz Yisrael. At some point, I would like to create a database of specific Batei Din and rate their efficiency and compliance.

The ultimate goal is to strengthen emess, mishpat and shalom. Thus, the ultimate goal is to sustain the world!

The upcoming posts will present the realities, the problems and the solutions. They are based on my personal experiences in Beis Din and some as an observer, my association with dayanim and toanim, and my [limited] knowledge of Choshen Mishpat. I know enough to take on this project but there is plenty that I don’t know and would like to.

As such, I encourage any and all readers who have firsthand accounts of the excesses of our Batei Din (i.e., “horror stories”) to share their stories with me. I only want the true objective facts but as much detail as possible. I am more interested in the monetary Batei Din, but stories of any Batei Din are valuable.

As of right now, Project Emesh is nothing more than a concept that resides in my blog site. It is not an official NPO or Amuta, but I hope it will one day be one. It is not [yet] monetized, it has no staff, no web page and no specific email address. It’s all right here. 

I do not yet have a dedicated web site or email address for this project, so for now, all correspondence should be sent to my One Above email address: 1a7b.author@gmail.com. 

I hope this project will take off, make a name for itself and a place for itself (Amuta), and make a constructive difference in Orthodox Jewish society. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even get interviewed on Meaningful People. 

After all, I am trying to strengthen Emess, Mishpat and Shalom with the goal of sustaining the entire world. What could be more meaningful than that?

Project Emesh 1 – Dayanim and Sh’fichas Damim (Parshat Shoftim 5784)

I find it interesting that Rosh Chodesh Ellul, which prepares us for ימי הדין – the days of Heavenly judgement - always falls out around Parshas Shoftim which tell us how to establish Batei Din and to judge our fellow man here on Earth. This is no accident.

Parshas Shoftim begins with the laws that apply to judges and witnesses. We hear the key rules about not corrupting the din, not playing favorites, not accepting bribes, and the epic statement: צדק צדק תרדוף. Pursue nothing but justice. Also, we learn how a judge cannot dissent after the majority has ruled (זקן ממרא), that all punishments and monetary judgements require two witnesses, and the reciprocal punishment for false witnesses (עדים זוממים).

Jewish judges have a great deal of responsibility. This is a strong message for Ellul.

But the Parsha is not done. After all of the talk about Batei Din, it moves on to discussing appointing a king and how to fight wars. 

Is there a connection?

Well, let's note that we revisit the responsibility of judges in the very last segment. The very last segment instructs us to undergo the עגלה ערופה ritual, which is to decapitate a calf when the body of a dead traveler is discovered in peacetime. The Torah tells us that the “elders of the closest town” together with the Kohanim must beg for atonement on the mysterious death to ward off Heavenly retribution. And who are these “elders”?

They are the dayanim.

How do they beg for atonement?

The dayanim declare, “Our hands did not shed this person’s blood. And our eyes did not see.” And then the Kohanim say, “Atone for the nation of Israel…”

“Our hands…Our eyes”. Who needs the atonement, the people or the judges?

Rashi quotes the Mishna in Sotah (45b) that asks this question:

Is it conceivable that the judges of the Beit Din are shedders of blood (murderers)? Rather, the judges are saying that we did not see this person in our town and send him off without provisions or without anyone escorting him.

This passage in Chazal is telling us that, even without plunging a knife into one’s neck, the “authorities” can still be held accountable for his death at the hands of another person. This would be in case he wasn‘t treated properly; in case he needed assistance and was ignored; in case he wasn’t looked after.

The dayanim are responsible for this. They have shed his blood.

Now let’s return to all the previous lessons about going out to war that are sandwiched between the beginning and end of our parsha and repeat the earlier question: Is there a connection?

I think there is. The Mishna in Pirkei Avos (5:11) clearly tells us: 

חרב באה לעולם על עוות הדין ועל עינוי הדין ועל המורים בתורה שלא כהלכה.

Sword (i.e., violent death) comes to the world due to corrupting judgement, delaying judgement and issuing rulings that don’t conform with Halacha.

This corruption can only be referring to the judges of Beit Din. When the judges are not carrying out their job properly, we are stricken with war and death. The dayanim are responsible for this bloodshed.

I wrote as much in a post on March 6, 2024. Let's review: 

On a subject that I haven’t really addressed in these pages, but I intend to, I have seen numerous instances over the years, of pious dayanim and Batei Din who, let’s just say, were making mistakes. I am talking about mistakes that didn’t need to happen and that have caused damages to people that also didn’t need to happen.

I am talking about easily avoidable damages and, in some cases, easily fixable damages. Yet, the dayanim involved are not too eager to acknowledge the mistakes, nor to fix or minimize the damage. One shocking instance happened just recently, in this apocalyptic period.

Ever since Shemini Atzeres, we are currently in a situation of cherev – sword – which means war and violent death. According to Chazal, there must be some responsibility from the Batei Din. What’s more shocking is that on November 30, 2024, at the height of the war, there was a tragic terrorist attack at the entrance of Yerushalayim which claimed four precious Jews. One was a very prominent dayan, a second was the niece of a dayan and one of the wounded was likewise a dayan.

This “cherev” does not only come to the tzibur, but it comes to the dayanim themselves.

Our dayanim are not only accountable for the ravages of war, but for all kinds of national misfortunes. And not just national misfortunes, even international ones. This is what Chazal tell us in the gemara in Shabbos 139a:

תניא רבי יוסי בן אלישע אומר אם ראית דור שצרות רבות באות עליו צא ובדוק בדייני ישראל שכל פורענות שבאה לעולם לא באה אלא בשביל דייני ישראל שנאמר )מיכה ג, ט) שמעו נא זאת ראשי בית יעקב וקציני בית ישראל המתעבים משפט ואת כל הישרה יעקשו בונה ציון בדמים וירושלים בעולה ראשיה בשוחד ישפוטו וכהניה במחיר יורו ונביאיה בכסף יקסומו ועל ה' ישענו וגו' . 

We are taught in Braitha – Rabi Yosi ben Elisha says: If you see a generation that numerous troubles overwhelm it, go and investigate the Judges of Israel for all misfortunes that come to the world only come due to the Judges of Israel, as is written (Micha 3:9), “Please hear this the leaders of the House of Jacob and the officers of the House of Israel who detest justice and corrupt all that is straightforward, they construct Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrongdoing. Its leaders judge based on bribery and its priests issue rulings for a price and its prophets will conjure for money and they will justify all their activities on G-d[liness]…”

That same gemara later adds:

אמר ר"א בן מלאי משום ר"ל מאי דכתיב (ישעיהו נט, ג) כי כפיכם נגואלו בדם ואצבעותיכם בעון שפתותיכם דברו שקר לשונכם עולה תהגה כי כפיכם נגואלו בדם אלו הדיינין ואצבעותיכם בעון אלו סופרי הדיינין שפתותיכם דברו שקר אלו עורכי הדיינין לשונכם עולה תהגה אלו בעלי דינין 

Says Rabi Eliezer ben Malai in the name of Resh Lakish: What is the meaning of the verse (Yeshaya 59:3), “For your palms are soiled with blood and your fingers with sin, your lips speak falsehoods and your tongues pronounce invective…”? Palms soiled in blood – these are the judges. Fingers with sin – these are the court scribes. Lips speak falsehoods – these are the advocates (Toanim). Tongues pronounce invectives – these are the litigants.

We can understand that the advocates and litigants who are הדיוטות (commoners) are not expected to be saints. That’s why they are in court. They don’t take any bribes, they just pay them. And they wouldn’t pay them if the dayanim  wouldn’t take them. But what is the excuse for the corruption of the pious and learned dayanim and the scribes?

Their palms are soiled in blood.

All of this is in line with the gemara in Moed Katan 5a which says that the “authorities” (i.e., local Beis Din) are responsible to oversee that roads and streets are smooth and safe, are clear of debris and thorns, and that all the Mikvaos are kosher. After stating this, the gemara adds a very strong admonition:

From where do we know that if they did not oversee these things, that anyone who is hurt or injured is viewed as if they (Beis Din) are the ones who shed their blood? From this pasuk (Devarim 19:10), והיה עליך דמים “And there will be upon you (עליך) bloods.”

 

[Note, it does not say והיה בך דמים “There will be bloods among you” but rather עליך “upon you” meaning the death or injury is put upon the authorities.]

All this tells us that when a dayan is irresponsible and causes damage, he has blood on his hands.

I have personally been to Beis Din (monetary) on several occasions both on the inside and the outside and I have seen way too much שפיכות דמים. As I noted in my March 6 post, a lot of this שפיכת דמים is avoidable. I am greatly disturbed that I do not see the general institution of Beis Din or the individual dayanim taking any measures whatsoever to avoid it or even to reduce it. All too often, when the dayanim of today exclaim ידנו לא שפכו את הדם הזה, they are not being truthful. And I have seen dayanim meet untimely deaths and other misfortunes as a result.

For quite some time, I have yearned to address this problem in my blog and to suggest obvious remedies. To date, I have been delaying this in hopes that the prophecy of Yeshaya 1:25 will beat me to it. Yeshaya says:

(ישעיהו א, כה) ואשיבה ידי עליך ואצרוף כבור סגיך ואסירה כל בדיליך ואשיבה שופטיך כבראשונה ויועציך כבתחלה וגו'. 

“And I will restore My hand upon it and will smelt off your scum as with lye and remove all your impurities and I will restore your judges as they were at first and your advisors as in the beginning…”

So far, it hasn’t happened, and I cannot put it off any longer. This is a very complex subject, and it will require either a short series of long posts or a long series of short posts. My experience as a blogger tells me that the second approach is much preferred, so I will try to keep the posts shorter than my usual ones. As a bonus, when they are shorter and take less time to write, I can post more frequently and maintain a rhythm.

With this, I am announcing the launch of Project Emesh.

 

This is a project to educate readers about Beis Din. What it is and what it isn’t; how it works and how it should work; what every person should know before they call for a Din Torah or before they respond to one; and how to avoid getting hurt.

Most people who haven't been to a Din Torah, even the most learned among us, don’t have a clue.

Although I am unworthy of this momentous task, I don’t see anyone else taking it on (specifically for cases of mammonus). I will be more than happy if others join me or even take it over and relieve me of this task.

Why is it called Project Emesh? What is the meaning of the term Emesh?

Well, I just wrote that I want the posts of this series to be shorter, so I will leave this mystery for the next post.

Meanwhile let’s stay safe and keep our hands clean.

כפר לעמך ישראל אשר פדית ה' ואל תתן דם נקי בקרב עמך ישראל