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!
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.
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?
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 worldonly 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
Note – If you are not up to date on this topic, you can see previous posts HERE. It is also helpful to see this post about the 13 principles of faith: The Amalek Within Us.
It may appear that I am overdoing it with Dassi Erlich’s distasteful dis-faithful book, In Bad Faith. So far, I invested a long post just to analyze the cover of her book and then another four posts to analyze the inside. Basically, I am done with the book (I have lost faith in it). But, as a grand finale, there is one more component that I want to analyze.
The author.
No, I am not interested in psychoanalyzing Dassi or her mental state. She does plenty of that herself in the book and I have nothing to add. Besides, this is way above my “pay grade” in terms of expertise.
I want to analyze her relationship to G-d. I have much more expertise in this field.
I have always been fascinated by irreligious Jews. How do they deal with the inherent contradiction of identifying as the nation of G-d while at the same time ignoring His commandments?
This may not be such a perplexing question regarding Jews who are openly atheistic or who are not educated and have never been religious. But those who were brought up in a religious environment were taught that there is a Creator of this world who manages the whole shooting match and makes an accounting at the end of the game. How do they see all this?
Are they truly non-believers or are they just living in denial?
I have written about this in previous posts. I think the most comprehensive one is this one (HERE). This post analyzed our 13 principles of faith and explained how people can claim to believe in G-d (or in god) and still be secular. Here is what I wrote about my dilemma:
When a Jewish person who was brought up Orthodox and educated Orthodox and was taught Torah and mitzvos stops observing Torah and mitzvos for whatever reason, he or she is saying that they don’t believe in principles 10 and 11. They won’t be rewarded and they certainly won’t be punished. Most likely, they do not believe in principles 6-9, either. They can claim that they believe in G-d and even in “justice”, but it is their definition of justice, not G-d’s. They may be “good” people with social morals, but they are not Yarei Elokim and they have no boundaries.
And there are even Jews who can be called “Orthodox”… They may even believe in principles 5-8. But somehow things change in principle 9 (there will be no other Torah). Suddenly, the Torah becomes flexible.
As such, they may rationalize:
When G-d says …Jews should not be imprisoned, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says, Jews cannot be sent out of the Land of Israel, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says that Jews are not to be handed over to non-Jews for punishment, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says not to shame people in public for things they have done in the past but are no longer doing, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says to love Him and do His mitzvos even when He takes your life or your money or gives you a rough time in life, He doesn’t really mean it.
And they will think:
This is because we have to be “just” and “moral” people and, regardless of what G-d says, this isn’t my idea of justice and morality. So I can …denounce Jews to non-Jewish police for past sins (not just for current ones) and I can see to it that they are extradited and imprisoned and shamed and destroy their families and prevent them from repairing their lives because this is “justice”.
All of this may be applicable to Nicole Meyer who, at least outwardly, has remained Orthodox. But the other two sisters have totally left Orthodoxy and, for all appearances, have left Judaism.
What is certain is that Dassi Erlich turned her back on G-d. She left the Sukka and kicked it on the way out.
The first question is, why?
The simple answer is that Dassi thinks that G-d turned His back on Dassi first.
Did He really?
We’ll get to this later, but it doesn’t really matter. As long as this is what Dassi thinks, then this is what her excuse is.
I will postulate that Dassi Erlich was born a good person. All Jewish people are born as good people. And, based on her narrative up to page 260, she obviously was handed a raw deal. It is not very common that people from observant Jewish families go through such a harrowing upbringing. Why did it happen to her?
With this, we arrive at the great existential question that has been asked through the ages, from Iyov, to Moshe Rabeinu to Yirmiyahu HaNavi:
Why do bad things happen to good people?
I recall that a renowned conservative “rabbi” named Harold Kushner who wrote a very well-received book titled “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”. He wrote it because one of his children was stricken with a very rare disease resulting in a very early demise (R”L) and papa “Rabbi” Kushner tried to make sense out of it all. How could a merciful G-d do such a thing?
Kushner’s very un-Orthodox conclusion was that his god is as such: “God” is benevolent but not all-powerful to prevent evil.
In other words, his god is finite. He’s good to us but no match for Satan.
What this says is that “Rabbi” Kushner is a total heretic – kofer b’ikar.
As I wrote in the aforementioned post, Rambam tells us the 13 principles of faith. Many non-observant Jews at least hold of the first four or six. But let’s check out principle numero uno:
I believe with complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the Creator and Guide of all the created beings, and that He alone has made, does make, and will make/do all things (i.e., enact or cause all events).
This means that our G-d not only created all that exists, but that he is behind every single event that takes place whether it looks “G-d-like” or not. This is the Torah principle of אין עוד מלבדו - HKBH is in charge of everything.
There is nothing finite about our G-d. But this is not “Rabbi” Kushner’s god. He worships a different god. Kushner cannot even get past principle of faith number one on the list!
This is beyond belief!
Now, if the Conservative movement wants to be taken seriously at any level, they would have had to throw this Kushner heretic out on his head. But they didn’t. As such, I can only conclude that the entire Conservative movement does not believe in the true G-d as described by Rambam and has no chelek b’Elohei Yisrael.
So, what is the Orthodox answer to the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people”?
The answer is that there is no such thing as a “bad thing”. “Things” may look bad and be distressing, painful and even fatal (cha”v), but they are never really bad. They happen in order to help us or to test us. In all cases, it is to make us better people.
And what about the totally faultless young people, babies and fetuses et al, who are mercilessly stricken?
Let me tell over an allegorical story that I heard from a Rav in his drasha in shul.
There was a very narcissistic observant man who thought he was G-d’s gift to the world. He would constantly degrade and shame other people and even hit them. Eventually, he completed his allotted Earthly time and was ushered upstairs for judgement. Since he had been devoutly observant, he had many merits for performing countless mitzvos, even with hidurim. Nevertheless, his poor midos and disdain for others made it impossible for him to be admitted to Gan Eden.
Therefore, he was given the option to come back to Earth for another go and to improve his midos. It was the best deal for him but he was afraid that he may wind up being the same narcissist and will make things worse rather than better. So, he begged the Heavenly court to make him a destitute poor man begging for sustenance with nothing to be proud of.
This request was granted.
Then he said that he is still afraid he may get into fights and hurt other people so he wants to make sure he only has one arm so he won’t be able to hurt anybody. The Heavenly court said this is too much. Sorry, Charlie, but you get two normal arms just like everybody else. Why should you be a privileged character?
But he insisted and pleaded to only have one arm and this turned into a big debate in the Heavenly court. Finally, HKBH stepped in and said to grant him this request as well.
And so it was. This fellow was born anew to a poor family and, in his childhood, lost one of his arms. Then he had no luck in school or livelihood and he wound up sitting on street corners humbly begging for money.
And the moral of the story?
If you ever see a one-armed beggar sitting on a street corner, you should give him a shekel, but you don’t need to feel sorry for him. He may be in a better place than you are and, by taking your shekel, he may be doing you a bigger favor than you are doing for him.
Basically, this brings us to the concepts of gilgulim (reincarnation) and tikkun hanefesh. We will never know in our lifetime how our hardships are helping us and what is accomplished when people come to this world and last only a short time and depart after a bout of indescribable suffering. But there is purpose to it.
Sure, we are obligated to help people who are suffering and to daven for them. This is our tikkun. But it is not for us to question why they are suffering or even to look at their suffering as a true tragedy. There is always something gained. Usually, something very valuable.
This even applies to all those murdered in the Holocaust, no matter what age, and to those murdered, raped and kidnapped on October 7. Every “victim” was Hand chosen for this treatment and it is to their ultimate benefit – if those who are still alive take it the right direction.
So, we return to Dassi Erlich. She was born into a dysfunctional and abusive family through no choice of her own. She had no say in the matter, or did she?
I mentioned in some previous posts that I have listened to many of the lectures from Rav Alon Anava. In one of his near-death experience (NDE) lectures (I don’t recall which one), he mentioned that when a new Jewish neshama comes into the world, he or she can choose which family to be born into from a given assortment of options. In other words, a child who is brought into any family, rich or poor, healthy or ill, stable or unstable, has actually chosen that family as the best option to accomplish his or her tafkid (Earthly purpose).
I was astonished when I heard that, but I was totally blown away when I heard the exact same thing from a different non-Orthodox Jewish woman named Elizabeth Krohn who was literally struck by lightning and experienced her own NDE. She says it right here at 08:40:
[Note - the video may not display in the email version. You can access it HERE.]
She also mentions at the very end (about 20:00) that our journey to Earth in general is something we agreed to do. I have heard this concept from other sources, as well. This is that before we are born, we are shown what our mission is, what are challenges will be and we all agree to take it on.
We really shouldn’t be influenced by NDEs (לא בשמים היא) but, if this is the case, then it means that Dassi and all her siblings actually chose this couple to be their parents. And she agreed to her ordeals including what transpired with Mrs. Leifer. She agreed to it all! Why would anybody in their right mind do this?
The obvious answer is that it is good for them. It will give them the tools to accomplish what they need to accomplish. And all the pain and suffering will serve both as a tikkun and as a test.
Perhaps, in a previous life, Dassi was very disrespectful to her parents, so, in this life, she is intentionally placed in a family setting where she is forced to respect her parents whether she likes it or not. This would be a proper tikkun for her past transgressions. She will gain from this immensely.
But this is the world of free choice. A test can be passed, and it can be failed. And a tikkun can be blown. Like coming there in the first place, it’s their choice.
By the way. Dassi Erlich is not the only such public figure I have come across who abandoned a religious upbringing and “kicked the sukka”. Before I ever knew of Dassi Erlich I came across Shalom Auslander.
Shalom Auslander was born to a very Orthodox family in Monsey and attended Yeshiva Spring Valley. He had an upbringing very similar to Dassi’s except that his father was the narcissistic abusive one and his mother was the codependent enabler. He found x-rated material in his parents’ room and this led him to a very natural addiction. Clearly, he was having a tough time in the sukka.
In any case, he went way off the derech. He left the sukka. And he also kicked it on the way out but in a different way. Unlike Dassi, he didn’t falsely demonize the community he came from (motzi-shem-rah). He just made fun of them (leitzanus).
As a writer and humorist, he didn’t go quietly. He wrote all about it for everybody to see. He first wrote a book of short stories which he titled Beware of G-d (no dash in his version). I haven’t read it. He then wrote a personal memoir which he titled Foreskin’s Lament. I did read that book. (The book is definitely rated R at best, with lots of foul language, so I cannot recommend it for a Torah Jew.)
The fascinating thing is that, although he openly abandoned G-d, he cannot relinquish his belief in G-d. The fact that this world has a supreme Creator is too obvious to ignore. He is way too intelligent to think otherwise. He cannot reject at least the first four of the 13 principles. And, because of this, he is having a miserable time rejecting the other nine.
He expressed this in a very humorous but irreverent promotional video on his book from 2008. You can see it here:
[Note - the video may not display in the email version. You can access it HERE.]
At the very end of the video, he displays the following in text: “I believe in G-d…It’s been a real problem for me.”
If you cannot see the video, here is a blurb about his book from the Amazon page:
Shalom Auslander was raised with a terrified respect for G-d. Even as he grew up and was estranged from his community, his religion and its traditions, he could not find the path to a life where he didn’t struggle daily with the fear of God’s formidable wrath. Foreskin’s Lament reveals Auslander’s “painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious” youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox Jewish community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. His combination of unrelenting humor and anger renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith and family.
What is a “terrified respect for G-d”? Let me explain.
We all have a god-like reverence for our parents. When we try to characterize G-d in our minds, the natural thing is to model our Father in Heaven after our actual real-life fathers. When our fathers are loving and benevolent and are tempered in their discipline and show unconditional love and give us a stable home, good food and nice things (and maybe a generous allowance), we can appreciate them, grow close to them, and grieve when they depart us. Accordingly, it is not hard for us to imagine our Heavenly Father as an enhanced version of this. And we can have a relationship to HKBH. Ahava and Yirah.
But when the god-like model of a real-life father is a narcissistic and abusive father and a codependent mother, as was the fortune of Shalom Ausdlander, such a relationship with G-d cannot come about. When one has a draconian and terrifying perception of their parents, one will naturally develop a draconian and terrifying perception of G-d. There will be no Ahavas Hashem and ultimately there will be no Yiras Hashem.
Like Dassi, Mr. Auslander also chose his family and chose his path.
So, where is Dassi now in terms of Emunah?
Definitely not where she could be and where she should be.
How far has she strayed?
For the moment, she isn’t sure. Here is what she told in a Haaretz interview from Feb. 4, 2024:
Having emerged from the restrictions of Adass and the abuses of her home and school, she is uncertain now of her attitude towards Judaism and the Jewish community. "I'm still working it out. It's something I fought against for a long time. I rebelled against it, then ignored it, then didn't have the space to think about.
"I see myself as secular. I have an appreciation for some parts of Judaism. I see myself as a Jewish woman. I do participate in certain religious holidays because sometimes that's when my family will come together. We'll get together for Seder, at Pesach. Occasionally my siblings and I will make a Friday night meal together. It's not something we do regularly.
"What do I believe in and what makes or doesn't make sense to me? That's something I'm still discovering."
I find this hard to believe.
The article inquires how Dassi feels about “Judaism and the Jewish community” as if they are nothing more than ideological concepts. It’s more than this. “Judaism” is the Word of G-d and “the Jewish community” are G-d’s faithful. So the real question is “What is her attitude towards G-d?” She can’t be in the course of “discovering” her “attitude to Judaism” or the community if she is not trying to discover the essence of G-d.
ישראל ואורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא, חד הוא.
From Dassi’s faithless (G-d forsaken) book, it is clear that she is not searching for G-d. And one who doesn’t search for G-d will never find Him. Only an explorer discovers. Dassi is not really exploring.
Let’s take one final look at the toxic passage that Dassi wrote on page 300 of her unbelief-able book:
But no matter where I turned, I couldn’t escape the looming presence of the court or the relentless attacks from Malka Leifer’s supporters…I sought support from Shana Aaronson of Jewish Community Watch to deal with it. Shana was unwavering and helped… A court in Israel instructed that the defamatory posts be removed and at the time they were, but since then more posts have been made.
Malka Leifer’s supporters? Who are they?
I mentioned in previous posts that nobody supported Malka Leifer’s alleged actions, but we stood up for G-d’s definition of “justice”. What this means is that the “supporters” were (are?) all G-d’s messengers trying to steer these girls in the right direction. It’s not us. It’s HKBH talking. And He has lots of messengers.
So, what Dassi is really saying is that “But no matter where I turned, I couldn’t escape the looming presence of”…G-d. As Shalom Auslander quoted in his promotional video (1:40), “G-d is here, G-d is there, G-d is truly everywhere.”
Yep, she can seek support from Shana Aaronson who can petition the court to unlawfully censor G-d’s messages to her, but if He wants to communicate to her, then “more posts will be made”. And if He doesn’t want to communicate, it’s even worse.
Technically, it’s still not too late. But I fear that the price of doing teshuva is more than she can afford. It would mean renouncing all that she worked for since 2011. It would mean deleting her Facebook page and recalling her slanderous book. And it would mean making amends to quite a few people and trying to fix a mountain of damage. Mesira and malshinus are very hard sins to atone for. Dassi was warned, but she burned her bridges behind her.
ואל יבטיחך יצרך שהשאול בית מנוס לך, שעל כרחך אתה נוצר, [ועל כרחך אתה נולד], ועל כרחך אתה חי, ועל כרחך אתה מת, ועל כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא.
I don’t envy “Rabbi” Kushner or Shalom Auslander or Dassi Erlich. They made their choices before and during their lives.
It may be hard to believe in G-d. But it’s even harder not to.
רש"י: בלעם הלך שם ליטול שכר עשרים וארבעה אלף שהפיל מישראל בעצתו
Rashi: Bilaam traveled there to collect the reward for the 24,000 people from Israel who died on account of his advice.
Poor, poor Bilaam. It’s a shame they didn’t have electronic funds transfers in his time. The only way to get paid was for him to personally come to Midian to collect payment for his dues. He very unwisely left the comfort of his personal fortress, and made his way to Midian to stuff his pockets. Unfortunately for him, at exactly the same time, there were 12,000 Israeli warriors who came personally to Midian to collect payment for their dues.
What inauspicious timing. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the right time.
Apparently, the Cherev Missile went sailing through his guesthouse window at 2:00 am and got him and his latest Ham-Ass accomplice.
That was the end of Bilaam.
I wonder what happened to all the money.
Of course, since he was a cohort with Balak, he should have been fully protected by the Midianian Secret Service. What in Heaven’s name went wrong with their security detail?
Heaven only knows.
Whenever a major world event happens in our times, there is always some portent of it in the current Parsha.
One Bilaam of today, our very distant cousin, Ismail Haniyeh, unwisely left the comfort of his protected fortress in Qatar Turkey to visit his buddy Ayatollah Ali Balak Khamenei. Why did he go there?
Well, the official narrative is that he came to attend the inauguration of the new Iranian President, YSh"V. He certainly did so. But, I have a hunch that while he was there, he had some other items on his agenda. He probably wanted to "collect" for dead Israelis, past and future (R"L).
Regardless, he should have been safe there and protected by the Iranian Secret Service. But I suppose there were some leaks in their security. The Iranian Secret Service couldn’t keep a secret (or their Royal Guard was caught off-guard).
In any case, the Tzitz brought him down. Rashi tells us this in BaMidbar 31:6. He writes:
Klei Hakodesh - This is the Aron and the Tzitz. Because Bilaam was with them [in Midian] and he elevated the kings of Midian with his sorcery and he was flying with them. [Pinchas] showed to him the Tzitz upon which is engraved the name of G-d, and they fell to earth.
The Tzitz is an instrument that can see through anything. It sees through all the windows.
הנה זה עומד אחר כתלנו משגיח מן החלנות מציץ מן החרכים
We bid fareHell to Ismail Haniyeh. Like his predecessor, he just happened to be at the wrong place at the right time.
This post is Part 2 of a 2 part post about my personal mention in Dassi Erlich's book. Please see Part 1 HERE. If you are not up to date on this episode you can see the earlier posts HERE. It is also helpful to see this post - Irreversible Damage.
For those just tuning in, I am continuing my response to a very malicious paragraph written by Dassi Erlich in bad faith in her widely acclaimed tome, In Bad Faith.
Let us review the entire paragraph on page 300:
But no matter where I turned, I couldn’t escape the looming presence of the court or the relentless attacks from Malka Leifer’s supporters. There was constant trolling of our social media pages and hateful blogs labelled us monsters and accused us of selling our souls for revenge, asserting that we were no longer human beings but predators. I sought support from Shana Aaronson of Jewish Community Watch to deal with it. Shana was unwavering and helped uncover the identity of some of the most hateful. A court in Israel instructed that the defamatory posts be removed and at the time they were, but since then more posts have been made.
In my previous post, we discussed the hypocritical nature of Dassi’s claim to “relentless attacks”. I acknowledged that the bogus “relentless attacks” that she is complaining about may be the work of multiple people and not specifically me. However, when she refers to “hateful blogs” (likewise hypocritical), there are no other candidates. She is referring to me.
Basically, I only have one blog. This is where I have written about 50 posts on this sordid episode since 2016. The terms Dassi is paraphrasing never appeared on my blog. It can be argued that I also have a largely neglected Facebook page which technically meets the definition of a web log, i.e., a “blog”. But it’s not really known as my “blog”.
Incidentally, Dassi’s Facebook page is just as much a blog. If it’s on the web and it’s a log – a chronological journal – then it’s a web log, or a “blog”. And, along with all its relentless attacks, it is the most hateful blog I have ever seen.
I strongly object to my blog[s] being referred to as “hateful”. “Hateful” is not a synonym for “critical” or even for “antagonistic”, which means opposing. “Hateful” means something else.
The term “hateful” has a definition. It is not arbitrary. The definition of “hateful” is one who wishes bad on a second person, such as death, disease, or divorce, poverty, privation or prison. If you want bad things to happen to Joe or to Jane, that means that you hate Joe or Jane. No sugarcoating.
You will not find this hatred in any of my blog[s]. Only in Dassi’s. So, here in her book, Dassi is trying to pin her personal hatred on me. I think this is a very hateful, perfidious, and despicable thing to do.
I was not silent about this. I wrote an email to Dassi and to her publisher about two days after the previous one. Here is the email:
To Dassi Erlich, Ms. Ellen Whinnett, and the worthy publishers at Hachette Australia Books,
The lack of response to my previous email and the fact that, in all this time, I haven’t found any blogs that meet your descriptions, force me to conclude that all the references in the passage on page 300 are referring to my own blog.
As you are aware, but continue to deny, my blog is very principled and adheres to those principles. Some of them are:
· Presumption of innocence for all accused people
· Full adherence to Halacha and Jewish values
· Disdain for retribution and revenge
· Compassion for all involved parties
In my recent post Irreversible Damage, I demonstrated how you and your supporters constantly reject and violate these principles and maintain contrary ones.
There is no debate that my blog is exceedingly critical of your damaging principles and that it is not subtle in saying so, but I must take exception to your describing it as “hateful”. It may be called “harsh” or “unkind”, but it is not hateful. I refuse to allow you to project your own hatefulness to those you write about, upon me.
If you maintain that my blog can be called hateful, I insist that you provide me with true, unadulterated examples, with full accurate context instead of distorted excerpts, and explain why it is not justifiable criticism considering my principles (or, what is wrong with my principles).
Until then, I demand a formal apology.
Very sincerely yours,
Yechezkel Hirshman
Owner and author at Achas L'Maala Blog
Needless to say, to date, I received no response at all to this letter and certainly no apology.
Just like I wrote about the “relentless attacks” in my previous post, Dassi is setting the definitions with her terminology.
In my earlier post (In Bad Faith 3), I wrote how “hateful” my blog really is. I was quoting my epic 2017 post Judging the Judges II. This is what I wrote:
Because, as I wrote way earlier, contrary to all appearances, I really do have a lot of ahavas Yisroel. 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. But I have yet to hear a single voice echo mine!
I never wanted anything bad for Dassi. Doubtless, I did not want her to succeed in her efforts to harm Mrs. Leifer. I, and many of the Rabbanim involved in this case, recognize that there is more than one human being in this story and that the current aggressor is not Mrs. Leifer but Dassi Erlich. Dassi refuses to acknowledge that, in her battle against Mrs. Leifer, I wasn’t on anybody’s side. If anything, I stand on the side of the Charedi community when it is being attacked and maligned. This is my mandate in One Above and Seven Below.
Sadly, Dassi also refuses to acknowledge that Mrs. Leifer is a human being. She is a “monster”. That’s how she wants to deal with her and that is how she wants her to be dealt with. And she encourages all of her echo chamber followers to play along.
This is very hateful.
And so, as I display in my second email above, to date, nobody has been able to produce anything in my blog that indicates that I do not want what is best for Dassi Erlich. It is just that Dassi is too narcissistic to see it. Dassi went out of her way to team up with Shana Aaronson to make fun of my statement that I don’t want to see anyone destroyed. It’s the only way they can try to justify themselves for the hateful actions they took and the hateful words against me in this paragraph.
In this paragraph, Dassi attempts to illustrate her false assertion by paraphrasing some terms that do not appear on my regular blog, although she claims that it does. She wrote:
...and hateful blogs labelled us monsters and accused us of selling our souls for revenge, asserting that we were no longer human beings but predators.
Once again, Dassi uses her skill of dishonesty by telling only half the story as well as changing some details. Dassi is referring to an open letter that was addressed to her sister, Nicole Meyer, that I posted on my Facebook page. Yes, I did employ the term monster in relation to Nicole Meyer and there was very harsh criticism for what she was doing. It was all done in context.
So, what was Nicole doing? Why did I use this terminology? What is the context?
Dassi doesn't think her readers are entitled to know. As she did in many other parts of the book, she omits all of these "trivial" details and makes the reader think that this was a malicious remark that came uninvited and unwarranted. She presents this as if it is an unprovoked attack. Surely, Dassi, her sisters, and their lynch mob do not attack or hate anybody. It's unthinkable.
They are all nothing but pure innocent victims.
Well, to present the context, I need to reveal some actions that took place behind the scenes. I usually do not reveal things in my blog that did not happen in public, but this accusation against me plus some lies that Dassi Erlich wrote into a sworn court statement (the defamation case) create the necessity to do so.
On June 7, 2017, I received an email from necmeyer@yahoo.com.au (Nicole Meyer). The writer declined to identify herself and, at that time, I did not know the names of the Sapper sisters or that this writer was one of them. Note that she initiated this correspondence.
She wanted to speak to me personally. Not through email, but by phone. I spent a few emails asking her who she is, what her position is – friend or foe - and why it needs to be only by phone? The only question she answered was that she claimed to have read all that I wrote until then. She refused to say where she stands on it. When I told her that I need to know her objective in this discussion, she did not answer my letter. Thus, I let it drop for the while.
Later, in November, I finally caught on that Nicole Meyer is one of the sisters. I sent her a letter to confirm it and she declined to reply.
From then, the entire episode was on ice until mid-February 2018 when Mrs. Leifer was rearrested after Shana Aaronson had a PI trail her for 200 hours. I then reopened the correspondence to Nicole with a very critical “open” letter telling her she is playing with serious Halachic prohibitions. I was surprised to get a curt response that she still wants to talk.
I replied that she refused to tell me the purpose of the conversation earlier and I need her to reassure me that her intentions are peaceful. She refused to reassure me. Though she remained evasive, I was a bit intrigued, so I agreed to call her on her phone number. I did not want to let her have my phone number so long as she would not reassure me that she will not abuse it.
Indeed, she gave me her phone number. When I was able to call, the connection was faulty. I heard her answer but she could not hear me so there was no conversation.
You can see this correspondence HERE (I redacted the phone number):
We discussed on email about taking another opportunity to call, all the while I was still criticizing her for her campaign. Finally, on Mar. 4, 2018, I asked if she still wants me to call her and she did not answer. I made no further attempts.
In the meanwhile, I was following Dassi’s hateful Facebook page. It was two days later on March 6, 2018 when Dassi complained about Mrs. Leifer being released on bail and the hateful comments from her lynch mob, that Nicole Meyer showed her true hateful colours. This was punctuated by the exchange that I wrote in Part 1 of this post between Shoshana and Nicole Gold where Ms. Gold pronounced that Mrs. Leifer does not deserve anything fair and that she is an evil, evil lady.
Nicole Meyer got on to thank Ms. Gold for her relentless attack (against both Mrs. Leifer and against Shoshana). This was all in the backdrop of the relentless attacks against Rav Yitzchok Grossman who was willing to take responsibility for house arrest for Mrs. Leifer – all of it instigated by Dassi and her sisters. Dassi and Nicole couldn’t stand that Mrs. Leifer should be allowed to be confined at home with her family. Their hatefulness toward Mrs. Leifer was such that they wanted only the worst for her and her family (who were certainly innocent in all this).
It is for this blatant hatred – sinas chinam – that I told Nicole Meyer that, if you don’t believe she deserves anything fair, you are no longer acting like a human being. You have now become the monster as much as the one you are accusing. And, yes, I said that she sold her soul for revenge and that she was losing her tzelem elokim.
Nobody ever refuted what I said or told me that I am wrong. This was an actual email sent to Nicole sent on March 14, 2018. She did not respond to this email. Note, that this was in the course of holding a very prolonged and civil one-to-one email dialog. She had every opportunity to respond, but she did not.
I decided to post this open letter on my Facebook page. This was because it was in response to what they put on their Facebook page so it is dialog on the Facebook forum. Preferably, I would have simply posted it as a comment on Dassi’s page but Dassi had long blocked me, like she has done to other dissenters. My only Facebook forum was my own page.
I just need to point out that despite all the harsh criticism in this letter, which was richly deserved, even in this letter there was nothing hateful. I ended the letter with what I truly want “Please call it off”. Make peace with Mrs. Lefer and with yourselves. Just live and let live. It’s the best thing for everyone.
But, to Dassi Erlich, the best thing for everyone is “hateful”.
Incidentally, Dassi told the court in the defamation case that I refused to have a conversation with Nicole. This, even though I personally called Nicole in the faulty connection. She didn’t mention to the court that Nicole refused to reassure me that her intentions are friendly. It must have slipped her mind. This is just one of many lies and half-truths that characterizes Dassi’s story telling.
So let us go to the end of this toxic paragraph. Dassi writes:
I sought support from Shana Aaronson of Jewish Community Watch to deal with it. Shana was unwavering and helped uncover the identity of some of the most hateful. A court in Israel instructed that the defamatory posts be removed and at the time they were, but since then more posts have been made.
Once again, I cannot find any other writer that Shana slandered besides myself, so it must be me. It seems that I have now become the “most hateful”. As I wrote in my acclaimed post Victim Turned Predator, Shana Aaronson makes it her business to demonize and harm people that she doesn’t agree with. This, together with her partner in grime, Meyer Seewald, until they split in 2020.
A real grownup knows that the only legitimate way to respond to criticism is to refute it and prove the critic wrong. This is what a mature, frum, and honest person would do. Evidently, Shana and Meyer and Dassi cannot deal with my tochacha and need to act like spoiled children. If one cannot refute, one must discredit and demonize.
Hence, Shana and Meyer embarked on a campaign to find out whatever personal information they could about me and used it to harass me and my family and to publicize a very damaging and vindictive article about me on the JCW website with the intent to do harm. When they refused to remove it or to amend it, I had no choice but to take it to Israeli court (Batei Din did not want to deal with it). They had nothing of substance for defense, so they enlisted Dassi and her sisters to file a countersuit from Australia for some of the harsh, though true, criticisms in my posts.
I must mention that Dassi never ever contacted me to complain about anything that I wrote as being untrue or to request (or demand) any corrections, so she cannot claim that her actions were out of “self-preservation” or that she was being unjustly defamed. It was done under the guidance of Shana and Meyer for money, intimidation and censorship.
A court in Israel instructed that the defamatory posts be removed and at the time they were, but since then more posts have been made. (Note - there should be commas both after the word “removed” and after the word “then”. Poor grammar editing.)
The Israeli court did indeed make such an instruction but, since there was no assertion that my posts were not truthful, there were no legal grounds for this. As I wrote previously, I appealed the case. There was a good chance that it might have been overturned, but the appeals court first suggested a settlement. For whatever reasons, I opted to go with the settlement.
Dassi writes that “since then, more posts have been made”.
I only want to comment that also since then, a book has been published and more lies have been spread. I wish there would have been no need for any further posts, but if Dassi keeps writing hateful things and inverted narratives, and if she sticks with her habit of misrepresenting events by only telling half the story, I will need to be here to fill in the empty spaces.
After all of this, there is one more thing I want to examine about her being in bad faith. Where is G-d in all of this?
This will need to wait for my next, and hopefully, final post about Dassi’s faithless book.
Yechezkel now does private Counseling/Coaching for all matters with an emphasis on Marriage (Couples)/Pre-marriage and Shalom Bayis (men or couples only) based on the One Aboveand Seven Below ideology.
Confidentiality assured.
If you live in the Jerusalem area and would like to arrange a meeting, you may email me at: 1a7b.yiutz@gmail.com(note that email may compromise identity). If you have Skype, you can also Skype me at: yiutz.1a7b and leave a message.
You need not leave your real name or any personal information besides how to contact you.
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