Interlude to the Four Horsemen - Permanent Solutions to Temporary Problems

 

There is a well-known saying about suicide – Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Even though it may not always be true that the “problem” is temporary, it certainly is most of the time. But the main message, which is certainly true, is that the “solution” is permanent, meaning, irreversible. If it is, R”L, successful, it can’t be undone. No way, no how. Irreversible solutions are never to be implemented except when there is absolutely, positively no alternative whatsoever.

There are other events in life which are irreversible even if they aren’t so absolute. The best example is medical procedures such as amputations, removal of organs, or dental extractions. In some cases, the missing “part” can be replaced by a prosthetic one, but it is never the same. Of course, things like abortions, lobotomies and “gender reassignment” are totally irreversible. And let’s not forget tattoos.

There are events that can be terminated or “undone” but the effects of the event are permanently inflicted and can never be erased. I am specifically referring to marriage which can be undone through divorce or even divorce that can be reversed with a new marriage or remarriage. Every marriage ends, either in death or divorce. But neither death nor divorce can destroy the marriage that existed until then. It will always remain and, in this light, anyone who is ever married to another is always married to them at some level. An “ex”-spouse is an actual spouse that just happens to have an “ex” in front. And, needless to say, when there are children.

You may notice that all the above is referring to self-inflicted man-made events. This is because self-inflicted events are, more or less, within the control of the one affected. When one makes a choice, we hope it will be an intelligent and wise one. As a rule, people act in their own best interests.

Yet, it goes without saying that what one does to another works on the same scale of permanence. Homicide is as permanent as suicide and can also be described as a permanent solution to a temporary problem, but it isn’t permanent to the perpetrator. One can also permanently injure or cripple another person. Even if it’s not as absolute as death, it may be just as irreversible. And an injury that results in severe damage such as loss of limb, paralysis, blindness, deafness, or brain damage can put a living person out of commission as if he or she is dead.

We know that the gemara in Avoda Zara 5a tells us that when a person is “out of commission”, he is as good as dead. The gemara tells us:

Four people are considered as if dead – A poor person, a blind person, a leper, and one who has no offspring.

I do not believe that this list is exclusive. These four examples are listed because each one has a direct reference in Tanach. But the gemara in several places, specifically Bava Kamma 85b, makes the status of a deaf person even more severe than a blind person. Likewise, it just makes sense to say that just like a leper is repulsed and barred from social intercourse, anyone who is repulsed and barred from social intercourse is as good as dead.

And this will certainly include someone who is incarcerated in prison.

In August 2017, I devoted a full featured post to educating my readers about the realities of prison. After a lengthy analysis, this is what I concluded:

One thing we know for sure is that a prison is not a healthy place for a human being. For one who doesn’t qualify as a “human being” it doesn’t much matter. But for one who does, and primarily for one who is Jewish, and more so, one who officially observes Torah and Mitzvos, it is deadly. Firstly, it is a very dangerous place where one is exposed to violent and promiscuous people with no adequate means of defense. Secondly, it takes a tremendous toll on one’s self esteem and emotional and psychological well-being. Suicide, R"L, is not uncommon. Thirdly, and as a consequence of the previous, one is vulnerable to depression and the associated lowering of immune defenses and to contracting all kinds of deadly illnesses. So, for just about anybody, prison literally shortens one’s life.

 

And for an observant Jew in a non-Jewish prison, there is no real chance of being able to keep Torah and mitzvohs, proper Kashrus, Shabbos observance, Yom Tov, tefillin, and even saying brachos causes problems. No way to maintain a family life, tznius or family purity (if somehow applicable). And of course, there are countless other spiritual challenges to boot.

Chazal also tell us directly that being in prison is called a life-threatening situation and they learn it from Dovid Hamelech. They tell us (Brachos 54b):

Says Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav - There are four who are obligated in “thanks” (either a korban Toda or to bless the gomel): (1) One who traveled on the sea (2) one who traveled through a desert (3) a sick person who recovered and (4) one who was released from incarceration. From where do we derive this? From the words of Tehillim chapter 107.

The common denominator of these four scenarios is that the individual emerged alive from a life-threatening situation (see Rashi s.v. צריכין להודות). In all these cases, the dangers are so rampant that the individual must consider himself fortunate to be alive. It tells us that, all too frequently, these adventures do not culminate in a happy ending. And when they don’t, the “damage” is irreversible.

But, even when one is released from prison, there is an indelible mark. In many ways, it’s just a prolonged death. Some say prison is a lot like marriage and others say that marriage is a lot like prison. Both of them always end either in death or divorce/release. Even when they are terminated before death, the effects are permanent. Always.

Certainly, for the duration of time that one is in prison, he or she is "out of commission" and is as socially dead as a leper.

As such, I concluded my discussion about prison life thusly:

All told, prison is no place for a Jew. Not for any kind of Jew.

 

Sof davar, barring a situation of pikuach nefesh to other Jews, there is no justification for allowing, and certainly for facilitating, the incarceration of a Jew into a non-Jewish prison. Prison life literally physically shortens the life of an inmate and prevents them from living as a Jew.

 

Anybody who causes a Jew to spend time in a non-Jewish prison (again, where there is no pikuach nefesh to anybody else) will have to answer for every lost minute of life, every lost mitzvah, and every forced transgression. Rationalizations such as punishment for past crimes or the quest for “justice for the victims” and "closure" will not do the trick.

 

We Jews live by the adage of ואהבת לרעך כמוך – Love your fellow as yourself, and, as Hillel said, מאי דסנאי לך לחברך לא תעביד – What you detest, do not do to your peer.

We decry suicide, which is an option of dealing with one’s own problems, as being (pardon the pun) overkill. A permanent solution to a temporary problem. Most of the time. In all cases, the damage is irreversible. When we look for solutions of problems caused to us by other Jews, we need to apply the same standards. We need to determine if we are dealing with a temporary problem or a permanent one. And we need to be responsible enough not to apply permanent solutions to temporary problems and not to inflict needless irreversible damage.

Incidentally, this isn't just my opinion. So says HRHG Rav Moshe Feinstein, ZTL, in Igros Moshe Orach Chaim 5 Siman 9. And before him this is found in Chofetz Chaim Hilchos Lashon Hara 10:2 condition 7 (see Beer Mayim Chayim 12).

From this it emerges that anybody who actively (or even vocally) strives to put somebody in prison is cruel and vindictive and a student of Bilaam HaRasha. There is no other way to put it.

This is something to take very seriously because our Torah tells us (Shmos 22:5) – שלם ישלם המבעיר את הבעירה.

The one who lights the fire, pays for the damage.

By Your Hand - the Sin of Nov

Harav Yosef Blau

Director of Jewish Community Watch

Here is a trivia question:

Who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and what was the date?

If you answered the US Air Force on August 6, 1945 I will give you partial credit but it’s not the true answer. Let’s think out of the box.

The gemara in Sanhedrin 95a refers us to a pasuk in Shmuel B 21:16:

וישבו (וְיִשְׁבִּי) בְּנֹב אֲשֶׁר בִּילִידֵי הָרָפָה, וּמִשְׁקַל קֵינוֹ שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת מִשְׁקַל נְחֹשֶׁת, וְהוּא, חָגוּר חֲדָשָׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר, לְהַכּוֹת אֶת-דָּוִד. 

And Yishbi of Nov who was from the offspring of Harpa (Orpa) and the weight of his spear was 300 weights of copper…and he sought to smite Dovid.

The gemara explains that HKBH said to Dovid HaMelech: “How long must this sin be concealed in your hands? By your hand (on your account) was destroyed Nov the city of Kohanim, by your hand Doeg HaAdomi was banished, and by your hand Shaul and his three sons perished. Would you prefer that your offspring be eradicated or that you be surrendered into the hands of your enemy?”

How special. We don’t all get to choose our destiny!

In any case, Rashi explains that “this sin” is referring to the sin of Nov. This sin was an act of gneivas daas. Dovid was on the run from Shaul and he reached the city of Nov where the Mishkan was. He requested from the Kohanim of Nov to give him bread and a sword as an emissary of Shaul when, in actuality, he was a fugitive from Shaul and his men. This had quite a backlash as Shaul’s Chief of Staff, Doeg HaAdomi, accused all of the Kohanim of sedition (mored b’malchus) and, by his word, Shaul ordered them all to be executed. As a result, Doeg, who was known as the “chief of the shepherds” – i.e., the head of all Roshei Yeshiva (the Gadol HaDor) – was banished from Olam Habah and Shaul and his sons died an inglorious death at the hands of the Plishtim.

HKBH is calling Dovid HaMelech responsible for all of these calamities. Not only for the inadvertent destruction of the city and the Kohanim, but even for the doubly inadvertent banishment of Doeg and the deaths of Shaul and his sons.

Of course, Dovid HaMelech did not kill anybody. His only “sin” was not telling Achimelech that he was a fugitive. Shaul and Doeg killed the Kohanim and, for this, they met their doom. It was their fault, not Dovid’s. In fact, Dovid’s gneivas daas was a clear matter of pikuach nefesh. And why was he on the run to start with?

Well, Shmuel HaNavi anointed him as the King of Israel while the sitting king, Shaul, was still on the throne. This is usually not a very good idea. Could be hazardous to one’s health. Besides, Dovid wasn’t really interested in the job. He had lots of big brothers who were capable fellows. It’s just that Shmuel HaNavi had his number and he needed to make an early exit from our world so he wasn’t able to push it off.

All told, Dovid was the most innocent of all of the characters in this debacle and yet, HKBH put everything on his hands. Everything. The executions of the Kohanim (also innocent), the banishment of Doeg (not quite so innocent), and Shaul and his boys (Shaul was the one who “gave the order”). Everything is on Dovid’s hands. For one little infraction in a life or death situation!

This gemara is here to teach us a frightening lesson. Every person can be held accountable, not just for his own actions, but for what other people – even irresponsible lowlife people – do as a response to his actions. And if this is so even when his own actions were almost unavoidable at a time of pikuach nefesh, imagine if the initial player has no excuse of pikuach nefesh and had every opportunity to avoid it!

And if this applies when the backlash is something nobody would have anticipated, imagine the responsibility for a repercussion that one would expect to happen and should have been foreseen.

Of course, we already should have gotten this message with our mitzvah to bring an eglah arufah as an atonement because, just perhaps, we did not give a travelling Jew enough encouragement to deal with the hazards of the road. But this gemara seems to tell us how far this concept really goes.

When we do something, even if it’s not reckless, we are responsible at some level for the backlash. And when we are foolhardy and reckless, even more so!

So, by now you have probably figured out the answer to our trivia question:

Who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and what was the date?

The real answer is that the Japanese Navy did it on December 7, 1941. Of course, they didn’t realize that they were dropping an atomic bomb on their own country. There was no such thing as an atomic bomb, anyway.

But when those atomic bombs came down, they were just the grand finale of the first conventional bombs that they dropped on Pearl Harbor. Legend has it (never confirmed) that the Naval Marshal General, Isoroku Yamamoto, himself acknowledged this with his legendary remark on Dec. 7, 1941: I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

The terrible resolve was resolved on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima.

When one starts a war, everything that happens as a result, even to himself, is “by his hand”.

Friends (the few I have left) and relatives ask me why I continue to write about the Malka Leifer episode. Well, firstly it is a tremendous Chillul Hashem which I would like to see terminated. But, truly, this is far from the open-and-shut case that the consumers think it is. There are things that need to be said and nobody else feels like saying it.

The allegations are for events that allegedly occurred ten plus years ago and ended then. Only the accusers know what really happened and to what extent they were victims. But now, nobody is hurting them any more. They are no longer victims (they call themselves “survivors”). They are currently accusers and prosecutors. They are on offense. The Leifer camp is now on defense. The accuser is pursuing the accused.

I have pointed out that, at this stage, the Halacha does not support this redifa. It is the duty of the public – who have no idea what to believe – to either butt out or to work to put an end to this redifa and Chillul Hashem, not to perpetuate it. Anybody who actively or vocally participates in it has all of the repercussions on their hands.

Moreover, even though one could argue that Mrs. Leifer and her activities are the catalyst for what’s going on now, this war of extradition and prosecution was really started sometime in 2011 when the JAPs walked into the Victorian police station and filed a criminal complaint against a Jew who has been in Eretz Yisrael for a good three years.

This war is starting to get very ugly, as most wars do. Let’s have a quick look at one of the most recent posts on the BringLeiferBack page:

We receive constant backlash from those that support Leifer in reaction to this #bringleiferback campaign.

We can live with that.

But when Leifer’s relatives use my sisters death as proof of their power that is going way way way too far!

In the last few days, we have heard that Leifer's family have been calling members of the Jewish community. They have threatened that unless they sign letters stating that Leifer was the perfect educator and the sexual abuse has been a figment of our imagination, “bad things will happen to them”.

AND THEIR PROOF?? "We told this to someone else, they didn't listen to us, and they died'.

Absolutely sickened and horrified.

Interesting. From the way she is relating it, I don’t know how she knows that the referenced “someone else” is her late sister, A”H. I will have to assume that the details were more specific in real time. But now, let’s discuss.

First, the disclaimer. I personally am a total lone wolf in this drama and have no relationship or connection with anyone from the Leifer camp. To date, nobody on that side has ever contacted me to say “Thank you” or “No, thank you”. Nothing. So I have no involvement in these tactics and I do not condone them. I also think they are a little beneath the belt and can be called “hot oil”.

Nevertheless, the saying goes: All is fair in love and war!

This is going way way way too far? Already? My dears, this episode is far from over and I fear – like Naval Marshal Yamamoto – that you ain’t seen nothing yet.

The sheer naïveté of these JAPs is so utterly astounding. Did they think they can start a war with their 2011 Pearl Harbor attack in Victoria and then go home and sleep peacefully? Did they really think the Leifer camp, who is on the defense, is not going to fight back? Do they think this is Columbo? That the bad guy is just going to stick out his hands for the cuffs and come along quietly?

Goodness! I wrote more than a year ago that these girls are Flirting with Danger. I wasn’t kidding. There are definitely folks who hadn’t woken up yet and are now starting to. They may not be such powerful giants but, who knows who will wake up tomorrow and what they will do?

Incidentally, if this becomes a family feud, I am under the impression that the Leifer family is way bigger than the Sapper family, with some powerful figures, to boot.

So now Dassi Erlich, the aggressor, is complaining about hot oil and mustard gas. Does she realize that if it has come to abusing the memory of her late sister that this is by her hand? If Dovid Hamelech is blamed for the deaths of the “wayward” Doeg and Shaul, can these JAPs conceive that they are the ones who are violating their late sister? It is by their hand?

And what will they say when the nukes start to fall?

There’s more. I hate to say it but the dirty tricks did not start now and they did not start by the Leifer camp.

The JAPs are complaining about the defense tactics that are “going way way way too far.” You mean to say there are boundaries? You mean to say that the Sapper camp has any boundaries whatsoever? Not that I can see.

I have been following Dassi’s posts on her Facebook page for well more than a year and all of the suggestions that they get from “their” supporters that they thank them for. Things such as organizing protests in front of the court building (not the worst thing) and obstructing funding for her legal defense so her lawyer cannot do his job as well as to deny her of a legal defense council - which is essentially obstruction of justice. 

The story that really inflamed me was in the comments of her post on March 6, 2018 (there are lots of comments and these are in the "Reply" section of one comment). 

It began with a sensible comment from a more objective reader (and a religious woman) named Shoshana who, at that point was a supporter of the extradition campaign. She wrote:

At the end of the (say) [day] the most important thing is that there be a fair trial in Australia and this matter gets resolved …

Okay, a "fair trial". This reasonable comment was immediately countered by one Nicole Iglicki Gold who 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…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 Sapper sisters) 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

Get that? Nicole Sapper Meyer thanked the lady who said “she doesn’t deserve anything fair”. She did not thank Shoshana. Evidently, Nichole Meyer likewise does not believe that anybody she accuses deserves anything fair!

So it appears that the Sapper sisters want what they want and don’t believe in playing “fair”. And now Dassi says that when the Leifers take extreme measures to defend themselves that “that is going way way way too far!”??

What were we discussing previously about Double standards??

Now, I do have something to say in favor of the Leifer camp. I am sure they have seen the grand proclamation from Rabbi Shmuel Feurst, Shlita and 106 prominent American Rabbanim which says that:

The Torah's statement in Leviticus 19:16, "Do not stand by while your neighbor's blood is shed," obligates every member of the community to do all in one's power to prevent harm to others.

Now, I personally wrote that this is really a mistake. It should read “all that is necessary to prevent harm” and not “all in one’s power to prevent harm” but who am I to argue with HRHG Rav Shmuel Feurst and 106 American Rabbanim – some of whom are even my age or older?

As I said earlier, at this stage of the game, the Sappers are on offense and the Leifers are on defense. Mrs. Leifer is currently the nirdaf[et]. I am certain many readers think that Mrs. Leifer’s blood doesn’t qualify for Lo Taamod (I will abstain for now), but I can say that to her relatives it certainly does. As such, they have the psak of HRHG Shmuel Feurst and 106 other prominent Rabbanim who say that not only are they allowed to do “all that is in their power” but they are obligated to.

So the Leifers have a hetter - if not a chiyuv - for their tactics. What hetter do the Sappers have?

And this is all by their hand.

And what makes it really bad is that the people who perpetrate this travesty are people who sport pious beards.

As I have repeatedly said, this whole episode is one great Chillul Hashem and it is getting ugly and it will not end well for anybody. It needs to end. And who is keeping it alive?

Obviously, the JAPs who started this war are in it till the end. By they cannot do it without help. Yes, they have thousands of fair weather grandstand supporters that cheer them on on their Facebook page (and they block out all dissenters). But they have a little bit more organized help. Consequently, this debacle is just as much by the hands of these organizations.

Who are they?

I can name two very misguided organizations that call themselves Rabbinic.

The first are my good friends at the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand (RCANZ). This organization provides no Jewish services for the community whatsoever. Its sole raison d’etre is to be a spokesman for the Jewish community to the outside world on social issues.

Sadly, these are a group of very liberal Rabbis who put the emotions of the crowd ahead of the guidelines of the Shulchan Aruch. In a previous post I mentioned some of the ringleaders: Rabbi Yaakov Glasman, Rabbi Alon Meltzer, Rabbi James Kennard and Rabbi Benjamin Elton. These are all left-wingers, Modern or Open Orthodox. Into interfaith dialog and LGBTQI rights. They are all younger than I am so as far as I am concerned, they are a bunch of children pretending to be "Rabbis".

Despite all this, their misguided support has given some sense of legitimacy to this campaign. Thus, even though it does not look like they have actively intervened in this controversy, what is happening is by their hand.

At best, RCANZ will get the Oscar for Best Screenplay Editor. But the Academy award for Best Supporting Actor goes to…the envelope, please…

Jewish Community Watch!!

Jewish Community Watch is a boiler room operation with a very impressive web site. As opposed to some of the other more sincere organizations like Ohel or Amudim who focus on helping victims of abuse, JCW is not very interested in the victims of abuse. Their primary focus is to hunt down and prosecute those who they are convinced are molesters. It doesn’t really matter if they are molesters or not. As long as JCW thinks they are, there is no line they won’t cross to do them in.

One of their features is their shameless Wall of Shame. Here they feel they are saving the world by seeing to it that anyone on their hit list is posted. Now, I have written in my post about the 3 Ps that one of the most effective tools is indeed, publicity or pirsum. But even this has limits. It is sufficient to have an online list of known and even potential predators with a clear description as to where they are holding in their predatory career, but an officially called Wall of Shame puts everyone in one basket. It’s not just that some may be true psychopaths and others are not really so, but also, many have “done their time” and need a chance to rehabilitate themselves. But what is the worst thing, and indeed applicable in the Malka Leifer case, not every person on their list is even a confirmed predator.

In most of the WOS entries, JCW puts a little box with a short description of what the person is guilty of. Often they can write that X confessed to this or Y was convicted for that. But there are plenty of exceptions. As an example, one person on the JCW WOS has one small note in his little box: Convicted in 2012 for possession of child pornography.

Though we may say that this person has a very bad habit (understatement) and maybe needs to be watched, there is no indication that he ever harmed or tried to harm a single soul. It is common that people have perverse fantasies and use imagery to gratify themselves but have no intention of crossing the line into predatorship. All of their sins are bein adam L"Makom. And who says that he didn’t get help to kick the habit? So perhaps he needs to be avoided and there are grounds for awareness, but why is he a predator and why does he need to be “shamed”??

Incidentally, JCW doesn't have anything on this fellow as of 2012. This was six years ago. What is the Halacha? Is it permissible to shame anybody for something he did in the past but as far as anyone knows is not being done now?

Dovid Hamelech himself gives us the answer in Sanhedrin 107a: One who has engaged in adultery (past tense) is worthy of strangulation but has a place in the World to Come. One who shames one in public, has no portion in the world to come!

Another person only has:  JCW has interviewed multiple people who recounted sexual abuse… So this person hasn’t been charged or convicted of anything. We don’t know how many people are “multiple" and how credible they are. At the end of the day, it is he said/she said. Same thing here, what are the grounds for “shame”?

But, after these, there are quite a few people that have no little box at all! At most, some links to some news items which talk of their unconfirmed allegations. Malka Leifer is in this group. And there were some that didn’t even have any links! It’s anybody’s guess why they are up there.

The most irresponsible thing of all is that they have multiple entries for "predators" without posting their picture. Besides the fact that the key shaming that they want to do is to post the villains mug on to the Net for everyone to see, so what do they gain by pictureless posts? But there is a very serious issue here. And let's take one entry as the prime example - a confirmed offender named Avraham Rosenfeld.

There are six Avraham Rosenfelds in the Jerusalem Chareidi phonebook and these are just the married people with phones. And this doesn't include Bnei Brak or Kiryat Sefer or anywhere out of the Jerusalem area. If you don't show his picture, how do we determine the correct Avraham Rosenfeld and avoid mixing him up with the incorrect AR? Do you know how much damage this can cause to totally innocent people?

Let's go one step further and ask what is accomplished with this particular "shaming" (along with many of the others). Is it protecting anybody? Well, as long as this fellow is in jail (as noted), he is not a threat to anybody on the outside. Should he be released from jail, this is still totally worthless because there is no picture of him and not even a place of last residence (and he certainly will not be back in the school in Tel Aviv where he was).So it doesn't affect him. It only affects his innocent relatives or another innocent Avraham Rosenfeld who may be mistaken for him. 

So the score is: People helped - 0; Innocent People hurt - who knows?

Bottom line is that Jewish Community Watch is dedicated to shaming, hurting, and punishing whoever they set their sights on and making sure not to fix anyone who may be fixable. Actually they prevent this. And they don’t really care who else gets hurt in the process, even some of those they claim they are trying to protect. (See my post about Victim Turned Predator). I devoted a special post (HERE) to explain why this approach is not too effective.

Jewish Community Watch has certainly taken a more active role in our episode.  As mentioned, our suspect has a prominent spot as one of very few females on their Wall of Shame. But, despite all the Halachos I discuss that seem meaningless to them and despite the futility of this needless Chillul Hashem and despite the fact that nobody in Australia is in any danger from this person no matter what, they could not rest.

At a time when the forbidden extradition process seemed deadlocked, and the newspapers were silent, JCW (see HERE) very valiantly paid megabucks (of their donors' money??) to have somebody follow this woman with a video camera for 200 hours to catch her doing what?

Doing absolutely nothing! Riding buses, buying things, writing checks, talking on her cell phone. All this just to show the world that she is fit to be sent to Australia where she is no threat to anybody! 200 hours of being normal and not a single minute of molesting anybody!

Well, of course all the newspapers woke up and the police took action and Shana Aaronson and Manny Waks got great video shoots, and the war is back on and the Chillul Hashem perpetuated. Three Cheers for JCW!

Essentially, Mrs. Leifer is now sitting in jail in Neve Tirtza accused of being capable of riding buses and using her cell phone. And I and my fellow Israeli citizens are paying for this.

It is by their hand.

No question that Jewish Community Watch is a very misguided organization, but who is misguiding them?

Well, their key players are two very devoted and very hot-blooded individuals. Meyer Seewald in the US and Shana Aaronson, the Chief Operating Officer here in Eretz Yisrael. True heroes for our long suffering victims – oops, I mean, survivors. But we must assume that these avenging angels are paragons of virtue and wouldn’t lift a finger without exemplary guidance from great Torah authorities.

Let's recall that Dassi Erlich wrote in the initial post that this "is going way way way too far". This episode is getting messier and messier and the Chillul Hashem is getting stronger and stronger and we have the wizards at JCW to thank.

Wizard? Well, who is the man behind the curtain? Who is the great Torah authority?

His name is Rabbi Yosef Blau. Yes, I am talking about the senior Mashgiach ruchani at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is also the president of the Religious Zionists of America.(Wikipedia).

It is by his hand.

Rabbi Blau is on the Board of Directors. But he also has some elves. If you check out the JCW Advisory Board we find some other very distinguished people who must be advising them. These include:

·       Rabbi Elchonon Tauber – the dayan of Hancock Park in Los Angeles, California.

·       Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik – the president of the Merkaz HaRabanim of Chicago.

על פיהם יהיה כל ריב וכל נגע!

Apart from JCW, I have a lot of respect for all of these people. They are all genuine Orthodox Rabbis and are all older than I am. Amazingly, I have in some way crossed paths with all of them in previous years.

As concerns Rabbi Tauber, Shlita, I shared a ride with him from Yerushalayim to Ben Gurion Airport about twenty years ago. We had a wonderful conversation about dayanus and Choshen Mishpat. As for Rabbi Soloveitchik, I once heard a shiur from him in Rabbi Karno’s shul in Chicago when I spent a summer bein hazmanim there visiting relatives.

And Rabbi Blau?

Aside from attending the same yeshiva as his son, Binny, some four decades ago and being a chavrusa to his nephew from Elizabeth at the same time and place, I must add that my aishes chayal used to be one of Rebetzin Dr. Rivkah Blau’s [Shaarei] Bnos Chayil. (The best one, in fact.)

So we have some very prominent Rabbanim behind this monstrosity. Everything they damage, hurt and ruin is by their hand. And every bit of this Chillul Hashem.

There is only one thing that Dassi Erlich says that I can fully agree with. This thing “is going way way way too far”. How do Rabbi Blau and Rabbi Tauber and Rabbi Soloveitchik justify it? 

בא וראה כמה קשה המחלוקת שהרי ב"ד של מטה אין עונשין אלא עד שיביא שתי שערות וב"ד של מעלה עד כ' שנה וכאן אבדו אף יונקי שדים

Rabbi Yosef Blau, LOY”T, is somewhere around 80 years old. הרב בלוי שפקח הוא, מה ראה לשטות זה? And likewise for Rabbi Tauber and Rabbi Soloveitchik.

Where will you be when the earth splits open?

Please stop this madness. It will only get worse. I cannot see how it will end well for anybody at all. Not for the Sappers, not for the Leifers, not for yourselves and not for me.

Just do it. Please.

It’s all by your hand.






Update to Previous Post - Earlier this week I received a phone call from the leasing company of the car I damaged. The woman said that their shammai (appraiser) conceded that they were not authorized to use an original part and they will accept my offer for NIS 765. I settled it on the phone with 3 credit card payments. 

Hetter L’Issur - When a Jew Falls onto Hard Time

I’ll start this one with a joke (a cartoon I once saw):

One prison inmate remarks to his cellmate, “I got tired of doing the same nine to five. Now I’m doing six to twelve.”

End of jokes.

The concept of prison as a punishment doesn’t seem to faze anybody in our era. Hey, we all play Monopoly. You break the law – you go to jail. And, if you go to jail, you must have broken the law (unless you just happened to pick the wrong Chance card).

It’s as American as apple pie!

It’s not just American. In today’s age, imprisonment as a judicial penalty is a part of every culture that exists. And it goes back a long way. We know there was prison in ancient Egypt – Yosef went there. And there was prison in ancient Bavel – Tzidkia and Yechanya went there.

But we Jews are a bit different than everyone else. We have our own rules. What kind of rules do we have for prison?

The short answer is: none at all. It is not a part of our culture.

However, upon closer examination, we do see some forms of incarceration. There are two well-known examples.

Firstly, the gemara in Sanhedrin 78a/b tells us that we indeed carry out “police custody” and judicial detention pending outcome of a trial or while we see if the stricken victim recovers or succumbs. This is taken from the basic case of assault and battery (Shmos 21:19) as well as the cases of the mekoshesh (Bamidbar 15:34), the mekalel (Vayikra 24:12). In addition, the gemara in Sanhedrin (112a), regarding a deviant city, suggests that each inhabitant is judged and then held in detention until it is determined if there are enough guilty inhabitants to designate the entire city as a deviant city and to apply the special laws.

So we know that our culture supports incarceration for short-term detention.

Secondly, we have the Arei Miklat – cities of refuge. This applies to one who is guilty of what can best be termed reckless homicide. This is a gray area between premeditated murder (death penalty) and totally involuntary manslaughter (no penalty). In a case like this, the perp is not guilty enough to get the chair but not innocent enough to walk. The Torah is very forgiving if a close relative of the victim wants to take him out; but since the perp doesn’t really deserve this, the Torah provides for him a sanctuary where he is off limits to the avenging “angel”.

In this special city, the perp lives a normal life in a real house with his wife and kids, goes to shul and work or kollel (locally) and does not live any sort of prison life. He can go to sleep and wake up whenever he wants. He can go out to parks and restaurants, to the local zoo, and can take out full membership in the JCC. He is merely confined to the borders of that city until the acting Kohein Gadol passes on.

On the one hand, the gemara in Makkos looks at this as a punishment and atonement for his act – a chiyuv galus- but, on the other hand, its name – ir miklat – does not indicate a place of punishment but rather a place that is aimed at protecting him. Thus, it is very hard to call this a “prison”.

In any case, this is something that is unique to our culture although it may have been emulated in autonomous penal colonies that were popular in the French and British colonial era.

But let’s now talk about the real McCoy – Alcatraz, Sing Sing, Shawshank, Ohio State, Penn State (did I mean State Pen?), Phnom Penh, Leavenworth or, most dreaded of all…Maasiyahu. The places where people do “hard time”. Do we Jews have a Halachic concept of doing “hard time”?

Before I go on, let’s try to understand what a prison is and what its purpose in today’s world is. Like everything else, the concept of prison has pros and cons. (Most prisons are full of cons although some of the cons are real pros. And, of course, there are also ex-cons like Ehud Olmert and ex-pros like O. J. Simpson.)

Here are some of the pros:

1.   It keeps dangerous people off of the streets thus making the world a much safer place.

2.   It gives these people lots of time to reflect on their misdeeds and to improve themselves. This is why these wonderful places are called “Penitentiaries” – for here they do penance – and “Correctional Facilities” – for here they are corrected and straightened out – or the Ohio State Reformatory.

3.   It provides dysfunctional people with a home where they can get food, shelter, clothing, and medical benefits at no cost (to themselves) and even play basketball for an hour a day.

4.   It protects people who come from bad neighborhoods from gunfire and only leaves them exposed to makeshift knifes and shoelaces.

5.   It deters other potential criminals from carrying out nefarious deeds, thus reducing crime rates.

6.   It administers justice for the benefit of victims of crimes.

7.   In days of yore, it generated cheap forced labor.

8.   It provides numerous jobs to prison wardens, guards and attendants, perpetual income to defense attorneys on retainer, and overwhelming profits to the private companies that win lucrative state contracts to run the joints.

All told, it is great for society and the economy. Everyone wins…almost.

How about some of the cons:

1.   People cannot live the lives of normal human beings in there (family life) and are forced to do unnatural things and to become “non-human” (if they aren’t already).

2.   It confines them to the company of people who are just as, or even more, dangerous and degenerate than they are. Not much to expect in the way of positive influences.

3.   It adversely affects people’s emotional, psychological and physical health.

4.   It brands inmates officially as “criminals” (jailbirds) which stays with them and gives them no incentives to improve themselves.

5.   It prevents able bodied people from being economically productive for a central portion of their lives. In line with this, it forces the prime portions of peoples’ lives to go to waste which, in turn causes them to waste the rest of their lives.

6.   In line with the previous, if they have dependents, the dependents lose their support base and resort to the resources of the government or community or charities or other relatives for support, thus depleting these resources. In some cases, the dependents resort to criminal means themselves.

7.   X (player to be named later)

A quick look at the Pros list and we notice that only nos. 2-4 benefit the people on the inside. The rest benefit those on the outside. Now, check the Cons list. Nos. 1-3 and 5 affect those on the inside; nos. 6 and 7  affect those on the outside. #4 is detrimental to both sides.

So if you are a criminal or planning to be one, and you want to do a cost/benefit analysis you must compare Pros 2-4 vs. Cons 1-4. As far as I can calculate, if one is a pereh adam from a bad neighborhood, a drug dealer, pimp, M-13er or such, Pros 2-4 vastly outweigh Cons 1-4 and doesn’t make prison look like too bad a deal. So he has no overwhelming urge to try to stay out which bumps out Pro #5 for the rest of us. If he currently is a human being and wants to stay one, he may think twice.

But for those of us on the outside, we need to compare Pros 1 and 5-8 vs. Cons 4, 6, and 7 and make a cost/benefit analysis. Does it really make our world a safer place? Does it really benefit the victims? It seems we are not getting forced labor or chain-gangs any more. And what about Con #7?

It would sure help if we reveal the identity of Con #7. So here it is:

·         It costs an outrageous amount of money!

And the looming question is: who is really paying for all this?

And the looming answer is: You are. And I am. And all the "good guys" in society, including all of those who were victimized by these crimes.

Chicago, Illinois currently has the highest municipal sales tax rate in the US. And do you know where a good chunk of that money goes? Just have a quick peek into Cook County Jail and see your tax dollars at work!

Incidentally, when all those prosecutors work overtime on cases with very weak evidence to clinch a conviction for someone who may not be the right criminal so he can sit in prison at our expense (while the real one stays free and does business as usual), who do you think is paying them to do that?

What comes out is that we – the “good guys” – are (Con #7) footing the bill and (Con #6) sustaining collateral social and economic damage and what are we getting in exchange?

Does it make the streets safer? Are crime-ridden areas any less crime ridden? For all the money we pay, are we now able to walk in Bedford-Stuyvesant? South Bronx? South Chicago? Crown Heights???? And if you live in a low crime area, is the penal system to thank for that?

Does it deter crime?

We take for granted that most people in prison want to get out. This is not always the case. Some folks get very comfortable and cozy there. They’ve got food, clothing, and shelter… on your dime. No worries, mate.  And, believe it or not, there are numerous people on the outside who want to get in. For the same reasons. So they are not really deterred from committing crimes. They may be actually more committed to committing crimes.

Do the other “Pros” benefit us?? Check the list and judge for yourself.

My cost/benefit analysis tells me that prisons are not a good deal. If it was possible, I would move to dispense with them altogether. But there are people who need to be taken off the streets and even a minimal deterrence is better than no deterrence. So we do need them for people who absolutely must be isolated from society.

But to use it as a punitive institution for white collar criminals, petty delinquents, and to serve justice for people who are long retired from criminal activity just doesn’t add up. Hey, I am all for justice, but I am having enough trouble paying for my electric and water. I just can’t afford to pay even more for “justice” that takes and doesn’t give. And, I am a bit resentful at those who demand it on my cheshbon!

The upshot of all this is that incarceration may be a necessary evil but it hurts more than it helps. And, as all “necessary evils”, it should only be employed as a last resort, not the avenue of choice.

So after all this, we see four purposes for modern day imprisonment:

·         To isolate a harmful person from society

·         To try to “straighten him out”

·         To punish somebody for being a “bad boy”

·         To deter others from committing crimes

We can now return to our original discussion. Is there a Halachic concept of prison in our judicial system?

Depends who you ask.

As I wrote, aside from pre-trial detention and Ir Miklat, there really isn’t. The Torah has more faith in the humanistic character of a Jew and presents faster and more effective methods of getting our people to toe the line. In all of our Halachic literature, you will not find such a concept anywhere except…

…in the Rambam. Two places.

In Hilchos Rotzeach 2:5 the Rambam is discussing a confirmed wanton murderer who does not meet the requirements for judicial execution. He writes:

If the king chose not to execute…Beis Din is nevertheless obligated to beat them severely and to incarcerate them under harsh conditions for many years…in order to frighten (i.e., deter) other evildoers…

So here we see a unique Halacha that applies exclusively to murderers who deserve the death penalty but don’t meet all the Halachic requirements for implementation. Perhaps Rambam will apply this Halacha to capital cases of giluy arayos as well (masculine r^pe of a married woman or another man) since the Torah likens this to murder. Still, from this Halacha, all we know is long term incarceration can be used as a substitute for the death penalty where a death penalty is called for.

The second mention is in Sanhedrin 24:9. Here, the Rambam expounds on the rule that Beis Din is empowered to take extrajudicial steps in unusual circumstances when there is a general communitywide breech of proper behavior. He writes:

And likewise the court may shackle one’s hands and feet and incarcerate him in prison and drag him…

In this Halacha we are evidently not limited to a case of capital offense but it is limited to exceptional circumstances when there is a special need. From the source gemara of this Halacha (Moed Kattan 16a) and the way this is presented in the Tur (the only codifier who quotes this Rambam in his work; the Shulchan Aruch conspicuously refrains from doing so) it seems that this procedure was intended specifically to enforce compliance from one who defies the rule of Beis Din and is meant to be enforced only until the miscreant relents and complies.

Interestingly, the source gemara in Moed Kattan only uses the term כפתינן ואסרינן which means to “shackle” and "restrain”. The gemara does not mention that it means to restrain in prison. The Rambam is interpreting this on his own. The Tur concurs but Rashi argues. Rashi in Moed Kattan refuses to define the term “restrain” to mean to imprison. He says it means to tie one to a whipping post to be flogged. Likewise nowhere does Rashi mention anything about incarcerating a murderer for “many years” or at all. This is likewise a chiddush of the Rambam.

Thus, according to Rashi, we have no Halachic grounds for punitive incarceration whatsoever. Perhaps Rashi made a similar cost/benefit analysis.

So, is prison good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? Is it okay for a Jew to fall upon Hard Time?

To sum up, only the Rambam advocates long term prison limited to confirmed but not implementable capital offenses. Both Rambam and Tur seem to advocate some form of prison as an extrajudicial measure but we do not know if it is meant for anything other than a short-term measure to "correct" audacious defiance and to enforce the authority of Beis Din (as opposed to a long-term punishment). Moreover, I think we can safely assume that these extra-judicial measures are only to be employed after the more standard measures - Makkos d'Rabanan - have been undertaken and have not gotten the desired results.

From Rashi, it appears there is no such thing as incarceration under any circumstances.

The non-Jewish secular society is each-man-for-himself. All law-abiding citizens see themselves as the elite “us” and see the criminals, thugs, social misfits and miscreants as the underworld “them”. They erect a glass wall and disassociate themselves from the criminal class and let the authorities deal with them. They don’t really give a d**n what happens to them and there is no reason for them to. They are “other folks”. They casually pay their state and city taxes and assume it is being put to good use. If there is any trouble, the first thing they do is call the cops.

We Jews tend to mimic this relationship with regard to the non-Jews and it tends to carry over into cases involving fellow Jews. But, in truth, we have no authority to maintain this glass partition when it comes to our fellow Jews. Our miscreants are part of us, not a separate nation. Like it or not, they are "family". And we are responsible for their well-being.

כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה

One thing we know for sure is that a prison is not a healthy place for a human being. For one who doesn’t qualify as a “human being” it doesn’t much matter. But for one who does, and primarily for one who is Jewish, and more so, one who officially observes Torah and Mitzvos, it is deadly. Firstly, it is a very dangerous place where one is exposed to violent and promiscuous people with no adequate means of defense. Secondly, it takes a tremendous toll on one’s self esteem and emotional and psychological well-being. Suicide, R"L, is not uncommon. Thirdly, and as a consequence of the previous, one is vulnerable to depression and the associated lowering of immune defenses and to contracting all kinds of deadly illnesses. So, for just about anybody, prison literally shortens one’s life.

And for an observant Jew in a non-Jewish prison, there is no real chance of being able to keep Torah and mitzvohs, proper Kashrus, Shabbos observance, Yom Tov, tefillin, and even saying brachos causes problems. No way to maintain a family life, tznius or family purity (if somehow applicable). And of course, there are countless other spiritual challenges to boot.

All told, prison is no place for a Jew. Not for any kind of Jew. Even the Rambam who advocates incarceration for an inexecutable murderer is talking about a prison under the jurisdiction of a Jewish Beis Din. He may not be overly concerned about the physical or emotional health of this miscreant who should anyway be put to death; but, clearly, he cannot condone subjecting any Jew to committing more transgressions than he has already committed. Hey, even if Beis Din is going to feed him barley until his stomach bursts (Sanhedrin 81a), they still have to make sure that the barley isn't tevel or chodosh!

Sof davar, barring a situation of pikuach nefesh to other Jews, there is no justification for allowing, and certainly for facilitating, the incarceration of a Jew into a non-Jewish prison. Prison life literally physically shortens the life of an inmate and prevents them from living as a Jew.

Anybody who causes a Jew to spend time in a non-Jewish prison (again, where there is no pikuach nefesh to anybody else) will have to answer for every lost minute of life, every lost mitzvah, and every forced transgression. Rationalizations such as punishment for past crimes or the quest for “justice for the victims” and "closure" will not do the trick.

It is not “Jewish” justice.

ברוך אתה ה' ... מתיר אסורים!