Myrtle Rising

Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Noach: Why Davka a Flood?

23/10/2020

In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshat Noach: The World of Nothing, the question comes up of why a flood?

There are several reasons why Hashem saw fit to wipe out humanity.

The most obvious reason is sin. Dor HaMabul was a very sinful generation.

They led lives of ease & luxury—and they went against Hashem without turning back.

But He could've wiped out humanity with a pandemic.

Why a flood?

Why a hot flood with upper & lower waters surging to entirely destroy everything: buildings, roads, utensils, structures, sculptures, books, bones, animals, orchards, fields, forests—literally everything?

Our Fascination with Our World

Those earliest generations set the stage for all the generations that followed after Flood: techniques for sowing, harvesting, making all sorts of tools, making metals like swords & plows, making bread, horticulture, agriculture, weavery & textiles, and much more.

King Shlomo wrote that Hashem put the world into our hearts.

On the negative side, that means we focus on the material.

On the positive side, it means that we focus on the myriad wonders throughout the world—like the perfect miracle of an apple—and reflect back on the One who created it all.

In other words, we can use the world for physical pleasures & material goals or use the world for kedushah & spiritual goals.

Our attraction to the world is either a trap or an opportunity; it depends how we use it.

Where is Hashem in All This?

In the time before the Flood, people became obsessed with fulfilling physical desires and material acquisition.

They tricked each other out of things worth less than a penny & fought over territory and more significant possessions.

The Me'am Lo'ez says that wheat grew tall with kernels the size of melons.

Because of the difficulty of harvesting such heavy-duty wheat, Hashem caused a wind to come & blow out the kernels so the people could easily gather them from the ground.

They didn't even need to thresh their wheat.

He made life so easy & bountiful for the people, yet they ignored Him.

Rav Miller advises us to include Hashem in our conversations more, like at the dinner table.

Even if we feel very religious & committed to Torah, Rav Miller suggests we examine how often we talk about Hashem—and how often we talk about business, politics, and other worldly matters without including Hashem?

And how much do we feel compelled to discuss our resentments & jealousies?

Sure, sometimes we need to get stuff off our chest. We need reassurance or advice.

But some of us constantly harp on the deficiencies of our spouse, in-law, parents, children, neighbors, co-workers, boss, and so on.

Appreciation or Obsession?

It's good for us to appreciate & love what we have in life.

But Rav Miller reminds us that we can fall so in love with certain aspects that we lose focus.

Our home becomes such a part of us that we end up looking to beautify it all the time.

Making repairs & keeping it comfortable to live & function in is good. That sometimes necessitates improvements.

But if you've ever found yourself thinking obsessively (as I have) about how you'd like to rearrange the furniture or add this and buy that and so on, then that's diving a bit too deeply into This World.

Yes, sometimes you need make calculations about your home & analyze a better design in your head, but not obsessively.

Rav Miller also mentions obsession with work & hobbies.

Travel, art, sports, entertainment, cuisine, novels...

How many of us get so caught up in wedding plans that we lose sight of the very real kedushah of a new joining of souls who are setting out on a journey of self-rectification & mitzvot?

It's very normal.

Rebbetzin Tziporah Gottleib (Heller) once mentioned that sometimes women told her, "But with more children, you have more laundry"—as if it's not worth it.

True, the laundry can get overwhelming—100%! But Rebbetzin Gottleib emphasized the incomparable value of bringing a Jewish soul into the world.

It's so precious & so powerful—how can it be reduced to the amount of laundry that accompanies it?

There are so many distractions—some under the guise of pressure, some under the guise of pleasure—it's hard to maintain the true perspective.

We all struggle with this on some level.

When Nothing is Everything

So Hashem brought us the Mabul to say that everything is nothing--hevel.

It sounds depressing, but that's really the meaning of Shema Yisrael, when we declare that Hashem is our One & Only.

It's actually a beautiful, inspiring, and liberating idea (page 17):

Now, I understand that there will be opposition to this.

If you try to tell people these things they laugh at you; they’ll say it's extreme and that it’s not realistic.

“You have to be a frum Jew,” they say. “You have to daven and you have to learn Torah and do mitzvos; but to say everything is Hashem and if not, it’s hevel?! Only to think about Hashem?! Is that a life?!”

And the answer is yes; a resounding yes!

That’s the best life, the most successful life, the happiest life.

The Holy Nutter

Rav Miller reminds us that when Esav asked Yaakov about all the people with him, Yaakov answered, "They're the children that God gave me."

This is the correct perspective.

An elderly Iranian-Jewish woman told me of when her mother held her newborn baby (i.e., her granddaughter) in her arms for the first time and just stood there gazing at the baby without speaking.

The woman told me in a voice full of affection, "I said, 'Mother, what are you doing?' And without looking up, my mother told me, 'I'm looking at nifla'ot haBorei'—the wonders of the Creator."

We're not so far removed from the people with the correct perspective.

We sound silly or holier-than-thou or like show-offs when we talk like this.

But it's the right way to think.

As for how we should behave, practically speaking?

We need to strike the right balance between not letting others' opinions determine our behavior & not showing off or being unusual just to be rebellious or attract attention.

Here's Rav Miller (page 18):

It’s better to be a lunatic all your life in the eyes of Mankind, in order that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should approve of you.

However, take that advice carefully.

It’s a recipe for greatness, a prescription, but don’t just stam try to be a shoteh [fool].

But either way, that’s the ideal and we’re talking now about the ideal – to see Hashem everywhere, to see Him in everything.

Some Quick & Easy Tips to Internalize This Concept

On pages 18-20, Rav Miller details how to view eating, apples, bread, sunshine, rain, and clouds.

Life has a purpose, states Rav Miller.

It doesn't have to be nothing.

On page 21, I see that Toras Avigdor added a wonderful new section called Let's Get Practical.

There, you can read tips from Rav Miller about how to incorporate the lessons of Parshat Noach into yourself.

As usual with Rav Miller, it's all about very small acts that take mere seconds to fulfill, such as spending 20 seconds to replace This World with Hashem—like when you see sunlight, take 20 seconds to think that Hashem is shining the sunlight. And do this 3 times a day.

Here are Rav Miller's final words on the topic:

And because remembering Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the most important thing, it was worth it to bring a Mabul upon the world just to teach that lesson forever and ever.

The great flood came to destroy everything in order to demonstrate that all the things that people considered important until now are really nothing.

What’s left in the world? There’s nothing left to talk about, nothing to think about.

Only water on all sides, just desolation.

They were sitting in the teivah [ark] and there was nothing to do except to look out and see nothing.

And that way the progenitors of the newly built world would experience at least once that actually it’s only Hakodosh Boruch Hu that belongs in our hearts and with that understanding they would rebuild the world again.

If you daven Kabbalat Shabbat:

When you say the Psalm 29 ("Havu L'Hashem bnei elim..."), and you get to verse 10 ("Hashem lamabul yashav vayeshev Hashem Melech l'olam—Hashem sat [enthroned] at the Flood; Hashem sat as King forever."), you can think of the image produced by Rav Miller's words above.

It's really good to do that because that's the meaning of the verse, which is phrased in a very pictorial way.

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Part II–Beware the Government that Wants to "Help" You: The Exceptionally "Progressive" City & Its House of Horrors

22/10/2020

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In Part II, we'll look at flagrant violations of the 7 Universal/Noachide Laws, plus why we need to stop focusing on gender & focus instead on values, evidence that no matter how much you blame immoral leaders, they still need the collusion of society to operate, why you should NEVER automatically trust the government & authorities, and more.

Note: Usually, I prefer to avoid names of wicked people as much as possible (because studies show it lends them a certain aura of importance, which affects society negatively, & which is maybe 1 reason why Jews traditionally say "May his name be erased" after saying the name of an evil person). But in this case, avoid names leads to confusion (because there are 3 of them). So I'll use initializations or drop titles, etc., instead.

How It All Began

In 1891, Georgia Tann was born to Beulah & George Tann.

Beulah respected in the community & devoted to her family.

George served as a local judge. A domineering man who publicly flaunted his infidelities, Judge Tann forced his daughter Georgia into piano lessons & hours of practice from the age of 5, insisting that his daughter becoming a concert pianist.

There was an older brother too, but it's not clear whether he was biological or adopted.

Despite Judge Tann's obvious flaws, he seemed to show genuine concern over abandoned or neglected children, often bringing them home.

The other alternatives at that time were either a child workhouse or a state asylum.

So he brought them home. (The older brother may have been one of those kids.)

"I wish I had a doctor, a school teacher, and a far-seeing minister to sit as a committee and help me decide what should be done with these children," he often lamented.

Highly Educated & Independent with a Veneer of "Helpfulness"

Georgia (from hereon called "GT") earned her unwanted degree in music in 1913.

But her real interest lay in law.

She took courses in social work at the Ivy League Columbia University in New York, then studied law with her father and passed the Mississippi bar exam.

GT never showed any interest in getting married. (She only felt attracted to her own gender, and acted on this attraction for the rest of her life.)

But because practicing law was uncommon for women, her father refused to let her do it.

Instead, she became a social worker.

And that was the beginning of the end of the lives of many children.

Setting the Stage

GT found work in a Mississippi children's home.

There, GT adopted a little girl named June.

At that same place, GT also met a younger woman who'd given birth out of wedlock, but invented a new last name to appear widowed, and kept her out-of-wedlock son.

Then she & GT ended up permanently living together in "that" kind of a relationship with the 2 children.

(Yes, this is getting weird for the 1920s.)

Here, GT first started displaying "questionable child-placing methods," which resulted in her termination in 1924.

In short, Mississippi parents who never agreed to give up their children took GT to court, where the judge allowed the parents to win & foiled what amounted to kidnapping on the part of GT.

And so GT found work in a children's home in Memphis, Tennessee, where she used aggressive tactics to take control of that home, becoming the manager in that same year.

Mass Abductions Disguised as Adoptions

At that time in America, adoption barely existed.

Before GT took over, there were maybe 5 adoptions in Tennessee throughout the entire year.

Unwed mothers generally married the father of their child.

It was GT who created the modern American adoption system.

And it wasn't in a good way.

The best term to describe GT's operation is "child trafficking."

From 1924 to 1950, GT trafficked around 5000 children with the collusion of her motley staff and authorities like Mayor Crump and Judge Camille Kelley.

While the adoption fee used to be affordable ($7), GT used lies & false promises (unfulfilled background checks, imaginary expenses, etc.) to elicit hundreds of dollars from wealthy couples looking to adopt.

In some cases, GT managed to earn $5000 for an adoption.

She took infants of poor, unwed mothers straight from birth without allowing them to see their baby even once, telling them they'd delivered a boy when they delivered a girl, and vice-versa, or claiming the baby had died—all so that they'd never be able to trace their stolen baby.

(GT obviously needed—and received—the collaboration of the hospital staff to carry this out.)

She lied to couples looking to adopt, telling them a child came from classy educated parents when the child was really from a backwoods uneducated family.

Jewish couples, who found it impossible to adopt (either because homes refused to adopt out to Jews or because so few Jewish babies were available for adoption) found GT willing to deal with them (for a high price, of course) and she sold them non-Jewish babies, claiming they were Jewish.

If couples wished to adopt a blonde blue-eyed child of, say, age 5, GT either went out herself or sent agents to scour playgrounds & streets for a child who fit that description, then stopped by that child in her elegant limousine.

In fact, GT specialized in blonde, blue-eyed children.

With her grandmotherly appearance & promise of candy, GT lured children for an exciting ride in her limo.

She even combed impoverished neighborhoods, looking for children playing outside on the porch.

At that time, it was perfectly safe to leave your baby in a carriage or crib on the front porch of your home (especially in those rural small-town areas), while you worked in the kitchen or took a nap.

GT lured all the unsupervised children from their front yard into her limo, even snatching the baby from its carriage.

In at least one case, the children played outside their home under the supervision of their oldest sister, age 8, while the mother was away giving birth at the hospital.

(Can't remember whether the father was dead or at work.)

GT took all the children.

If you can only imagine the trauma of the mother coming home with a new baby to a completely empty home, with no way to ever find her children.

In another case, a pregnant young widow took a nap while her children played on the front porch.

She woke to find her children gone.

Parents dropped off their children at preschool in the morning only to discover them "taken by welfare agents" when the parents returned to pick them up—in other words, kidnapped by GT.

GT also targeted children temporarily placed in an orphanage by parents struggling with illness or poverty.

Nuns who cared for children were forced to hide the children in attics when GT invaded their institution to seize their charges.

With her access to welfare files, GT targeted poor mothers, making visits to their homes & pretending to discover medical problems in the children, then promising to "help" the family by taking the children to the doctor herself & paying for the visit—yet GT & the children never returned to the deceived mother.

GT sold many children into child labor or to pervs.

GT falsified information & sealed documents or even destroyed records—doing everything she could to prevent biological parents, children, and siblings from later finding each other.

This system of sealed records spread throughout America, as did the adoption industry (although not as lethally or as abusively as GT's personal institution—although abuses still occurred within the nationwide adoption industry).

Myriads of Memphis children found themselves trapped into GT's children's home.

And conditions in GT's children's home later earned it the name: "house of horrors."

The Memphis House of Horrors

As no decent person would work in such a place (sort of like with abortionists; no decent doctor would work in today's abortion clinics), the caretakers were untrained men & women, who often worked while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Later, it was said that no boy passed through the home without being abused by one of the male employees.

Girls were also molested—including by GT herself.

Physical abuse was also common.

Hygiene & nutrition remained in a poor state.

Children were given sedatives to keep them quiet.

And just when you thought things couldn't be worse...as per the fashionable science of the time (eugenics & social Darwinism), GT saw no use for babies who suffered some sort of defect or seemed weak or whom she considered "ugly."

She ordered her staff to wheel those babies out into the sun and leave them there.

Just like how the term "euthanasia" covers up the act of murder, this oh-so innocent act of wheeling a baby outside to "enjoy" the sunshine & fresh air covered up the intentional death caused by overheating & dehydration.

GT also devised ways to get rid of older children she found hard to place, but it's not clear how.

When the poor hygiene of GT's enterprise caused an epidemic of dysentery in the home in 1945, GT continued to round up children—even when local doctors ordered her to stop.

40-50 children died in that outbreak.

GT's horrific practices resulted in Memphis reaching the highest infant mortality rate in the nation.

It's impossible to know exactly how many children died in GT's custody.

Only 19 graves exist on the property because GT preferred cremation.

But some researchers estimate around 500 children perished under GT's custody.

How the House of Horrors Ended

Finally, Governor Gordon Browning (also a Democrat—let's give credit where credit is due!) overcame Mayor Crump's control and launched an investigation into GT's institution in late 1950.

GT died of uterine cancer not long after the truth went public & so she never faced earthly repercussions for her crimes.

The house of horrors closed down.

Appallingly, no court ever launched an investigation into the black-market "adoptions."

No court ever returned any of the stolen children to their families.

Reunification only occurred decades later, when biological parents, children, and siblings decided to search for each other.

Traumas ran deep, especially in children old enough to remember their parents & siblings (like the 8-year-old twins sold to a well-meaning couple in California).

Debbie Branco was sold as a Jewish baby under the name Catherine Shredder to Jewish parents in New Jersey, then discovered her biological parents weren't Jewish at all.

"Who knows what I am?" she said after the discovery.

Five siblings (of a family originally consisting of 6 siblings) found each other, but lamented over never finding the baby sister who arrived at GT's institution in 1945.

1945 was the year dysentery killed dozens of babies in GT's custody.

It's likely their baby sister didn't survive.

All in all, GT earned $1 million dollars from her racket—$11 million dollars in today's money.

Crummy Corrupt Crump

How could such a travesty continue for 26 years?

A combination of factors intertwined to enable this horror.

And it had a lot to do with appealing appearances covering up a complete lack of ethics.

First of all, Memphis elected the Democrat Crump as Mayor and he maintained a stronghold over Memphis, serving more as a crime boss than a mayor.

Crump achieved certain nice-looking goals for Memphis, like giving black citizens the right to vote & paying their poll tax & providing them transportation to voting stations, he gave them parks & sports fields—all so they would vote for him & his policies; he didn't actually respect black people, though; he labeled them as "inferior," and so on.

He gave free milk to poor whites & political positions to young professionals.

Crump paved the streets, made repairs, & lowered taxes.

Yet he took huge bribes that allowed major illegal activities to continue—GT's enterprise was one of them.

He forced city workers to contribute to the fund that provided city improvements—pay or be fired.

That's how he financed freebies & obligations while keeping taxes so low.

He also set up a voting system that allowed him to know how every single citizen voted.

Any city worker who refused to vote according to Crump's demands found himself unemployed.

Those who allied with Crump found easy success.

Yet success came with a price.

In one case, Crump instantly turned one young attorney into a state legislator, and then a senator 2 years later.

But when years of not being his own man ate away at this attorney-turned-senator, he finally criticized Crump's poll tax. (The poll tax was a prime way Crump stayed in charge.)

When the young man refused Crump's demand to resign from office, the man suffered threatening phone calls & police surveillance.

Memphis society shunned his wife & the Red Cross refused to accept her blood donation.

As they walked along a sidewalk one day, a black sedan zoomed at the couple as if to run them over.

The man suffered a heart attack at age 42.

Losing their wealth, the couple moved far away & remained poor.

Crump became so powerful that other Tennessee politicians (like senators & governors) could not win without his support.

Initially, Governor Browning won Crump's support, which is how Browning first gained in politics.

Later, Browning turned against Crump & won.

And that win enabled the shutdown of the house of horrors.

The Little Irish Jinn

Camille Kelley was a widow & former medical student who served as the juvenile court judge from 1920-1950.

While Camille's late husband was a lawyer, Camille never was. (After a few courses in medical school, she settled for being a housewife until her husband died and Crump offered her the bench.)

Yet because Crump was in favor of women's rights (and because her husband was an ally), Crump decided to appoint Camille to the bench of juvenile court.

Again, appointing a woman to a high position, insisting on women's right to vote, & offering privileges to black citizens made Crump look oh-so progressive.

Known as "the little Irish judge," Camille rejected the traditional black judicial robes in favor of colorful dresses, furs, jewelry, and a flower pinned to her shoulder, saying, "Robes would scare the children to death. They're not so timid when they appear before me and see that I am wearing a flower."

Camille insisted on a balance between juvenile justice and sympathetic understanding for human problems.

She focused on taking nothing from a juvenile delinquent "but his mistakes."

She wrote books about her advice & experiences, and gave the books charming titles like A Friend in Court & Delinquent Angels & Kelleygrams.

Camille insisted on treating black & white children equally, seeking to improve circumstances for black children as much as for white children.

She opposed physical discipline in the home.

Doesn't it all sound lovely?

Yet Camille also engineered 20% of GT's "adoptions"!

That means hundreds of kidnapped children passed under Camille's authority.

Later, Camille denied receiving any money from GT and even declared that she obtained favorable results in 85-90% of the 50,000 cases she handled over the course of her career—that includes GT's abducted children.

Yet how could Camille ignore the appalling high death rate at GT's institution?

The dysentery outbreak & GT's continuity of bringing children into the home at that time?

What about all the parents who sought justice in Memphis courts after experiencing the disappearance of their children—obvious abductions?

Records show that Camille also voided the rights of divorced mothers to enable their children to be placed by GT.

It's appalling that children with 2 live parents who wanted them were forced from their home simply because their parents were divorced (and because GT wanted to make money by selling them).

I wasn't able to find more information online about Camille, but at least 2 books have been written that include information on her participation.

Regardless of how much Camille knew about GT's horrors, GT's crimes could not have occurred without Camille's participation.

Camille also died not long after the scandal broke, and she too never faced justice in This World.

The Respectable Grandmotherly Gremlin

GT maintained the appearance of a respectable matron who came from a well-respected family.

She lived in high style and associated with prominent members of society, including politicians.

She adopted a "needy" child herself and seemingly adopted a "widow" with a child into her own home.

Her institution was housed in a beautiful manor and her abusive, addicted, untrained nurses wore formal, impressive nanny uniforms.

She often insisted on these children from disadvantaged families being adopted into high society families.

One impoverished unwed young mother, who willingly gave her baby to GT, boasted later of having made sure her baby went to a more privileged home. She remained proud of this into her old age, certain that GT was a savior who'd done her & her child a tremendous favor.

(However, it's impossible to know what GT actually did with that baby.)

GT appeared open-minded, willing to provide Jewish couples or established single women with children.

People saw well-appointed offices & waiting rooms on the lower levels of the manor, while the children lived in rooms painted pink in the upper floors.

While many children died of murder or neglect (GT refused to follow doctors instructions to give medication to sick children & babies) & while many children were sold into child labor or to pervs, many children were also sold into loving, upper-class, stable families.

Some led lives of privilege with nurturing parents.

With GT's impressive externals & her criminal strategy to provide couples with any kind of child they desire, she gained prestige by providing high society celebrities with children: Hollywood star Joan Crawford, Nobel-prize-winning author Pearl Buck, star performers June Allyson & Dick Powell, New York Governor Herbert Lehman—they all adopted through GT

They did not know she stole the children; she lied to them.

(Also, while Joan Crawford adopted twins through GT, her adopted daughter who infamously wrote Mommie Dearest was adopted from another agency.)

This celebrity support also lent prestige to GT's operation.

It Takes a Village to Support Evil

In other words, external appearances looked so nice.

Memphis looked pretty & oh-so progressive under Crump.

"The little Irish judge" looked so caring & appealing & competent as a judge in juvenile court. She even won awards for her work.

GT appeared respectable, matronly, helpful, and social-minded.

With today's superficial belief that being a non-racist automatically makes you a good person, Crump's wickedness shows that supporting rights for women & blacks confers no halo over your head.

How did everything go so wrong?

It's similar to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, which the Nazis set up to fool the Red Cross. The Nazis made everything look nice. But it was all a façade to allow the genocide to continue.

The deception should have been obvious, but the people involved apparently didn't wish to see the truth.

And that's what happened in Memphis.

But Mississippi shows that it didn't have to happen that way (and certainly, not for so many years).

As described earlier, Mississippi refused to tolerate GT's methods.

The children's home, the social workers, the courts, and the citizens themselves...

GT's exit is described as GT "being run out of town" by Mississippians.

Furthermore, the children's home in Mississippi chose to provide for the children's family.

Meaning, that if an orphaned or abandoned child had relatives, but the relatives lacked the means to take in this child, then the Mississippi children's home provided them with financial assistance.

This was exactly the opposite of GT's method.

The Mississippi home acted in the child's best interests, even if they need to pay out of their own pocket.

Their allegiance was to the children in their care.

GT looked to benefit herself, and not others.

Mississippi refused to tolerate it.

But Memphis accepted it.

And even with Crump's corrupt tyranny, Memphis still voted him out of office at one point.

Black citizens grew tired of his corruption & being under his thumb.

Everyone else grew resentful of his tyranny and corruption.

They ousted Crump.

Too bad they didn't do it earlier.

Where the Path of "Progressive" Policies Really Leads

It's also impossible to ignore how GT's travesty came on the heels of Wilson's policies of racism & dominance & interference with rights on all levels.

The pseudo-science of eugenics (invented by a cousin of Darwin) and Darwinism (especially social Darwinism) was all the rage among the elite throughout Europe & America, both academics & the wealthy powerful magnates.

It's chilling to realize that while GT murdered "undesirable" children, the Nazis also rampaged on a program of genocide against the Jews—and a program of eugenics which also saw the seizure of Polish children from their homes, the undesirable ones executed by injection or in medical experiments, and the blonde blue-eyed ones forced into a German identity & into German families—all very similar to GT's crimes.

During this time too (1948-1954), the oh-so progressive secular Leftists in Eretz Yisrael committed similar crimes against not just the Yemenite Jews (although they were the main victims), but also against Holocaust survivors & anyone else they deemed appropriate to steal their baby, later claiming the baby had died and then adopting the baby out into upper-class families—if the baby was lucky.

Some met a more chilling end, if the hearsay is true.

We see that sometimes a certain ruach descends throughout the world.

It may be supported & even promoted by the most successful in society, the most educated, and the most respectable.

It may be backed by "science" and promoted through compelling stories & persuasive words, while also threatening with ridicule & rejection (or much worse) anyone who does not abide by this ruach.

And it takes a truly independent thinker and a true commitment to morality to resist being uprooted by this ruach.

What's behind the Smile & the Charity?

If Crump were a politician in our times, mainstream media would revere him for his stance as a Democrat, his progressive liberal values, for his advancement of women's rights & the rights of black people, for his dedication to running a city well, his care for the disadvantaged, his freebies, and his low taxes.

Yet anything seemingly good he did was ONLY to keep himself in power.

Today, many wealthy powerful people speak of the poor, minorities, and women with so much sympathy. They spout "progressive" values. They run organizations alleged to help the disadvantaged.

But it's all a show.

(I'm looking at you, Clintons.)

Today, GT would be lauded as a savior of children. A "brave pioneer in women's rights" for attending a prestigious university and passing the bar.

The media would admire GT's refusal to marry and also her attraction to her own gender.

But they were all terrible, wicked people.

It shows why you can't be superficial about trusting the government or the elite in society or external appearances & emotionally appealing ideas.

It shows how easily people can be manipulated into believing that something is acceptable and even beneficial—when it's actually profoundly evil.

(This same dynamic occurred around the same time in Nazi Germany, BTW. Hitler, yemach shemo, offered people free or affordable stuff, equality regardless of economic class, improved workers' rights & conditions, provided nature-outings for children, instituted laws against animal cruelty...and convinced everybody that if only no Jews existed, then everything would be peachy. The Nazis used science to back up their ideology, and popularized everything through propaganda. Everything GT did parallels Nazi ideology.)

Finding Our Way Out of the Evil Land of Riches

It's hard to sum up the lessons from the whole tragic saga.

(Except that maybe Rebbe Nachman already did it in his story, The Prayer Leader, in his description of the Land of Riches.)

It's about the influence of popular pseudo-science, and how that science infiltrates so many aspects of life—and is allowed to do so when people refuse to scrutinize what's being presented.

It's about focusing on external appearances rather than actual values.

It's about wanting the easy way & settling for good enough.

It's about ignoring the 7 Universal Laws.

After all, had the mayor & the juvenile court judge realized their duty was to both enforce these 7 laws & punish those who violate, they never would've turned a blind eye to the horrifically high death rate in GT's institution, they never would have condoned the stealing of children (or, in Crump's case, stealing by forcing his workers to pay for stuff or stealing election, etc.), GT wouldn't have abused the children or allowed them to be abused, and so.

The mayor wouldn't have accepted bribes from the crime groups catering to human vice.

If any of them had internalized the fact that every human being is a tzelem Elokim, the Image of God (and not just blonde blue-eyed children or the attractive strong ones, or wealthy people).

There was definitely a certain ruach in the world at that time.

And we also learn that you can't complacently think, "Well, this guy supports minorities, so he's okay. And this guy supports career advancement for women, so he's okay. And we need women in charge because that's only fair."

It was davka men who fought Crump & shut down GT's house of horrors.

The identity politics played today, which encourages people to focus only on gender or race, proves deadly in the end.

We must only look at the actual values & goals of our authorities, and not meaningless externalities or fawning words.

Pirkeh Avot tells us: "Hechacham ro'eh et hanolad"—a wise person foresees the future results of present decisions & actions.

Only people of emunah & rock-solid integrity to stood up to the ruach of that time.

And that's the key now too.

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Part I–Beware the Government that Wants to "Help" You: Wilson's Policies & the Infant Care Program

21/10/2020

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The values of American culture & the Constitution force the U.S. government to implement any program of questionable ethics in appealing camouflage to disguise the true intent of the program.

For example, in the 1920s, the U.S. government sided with a method of child psychology that opposed normal parental affection and the natural maternal response.

(You can read more about that here: The Past 200 Years of Chinuch I: The Non-Jewish World.)

Most oddly & disturbingly, the U.S. government distributed Infant Care pamphlets to doctors, which warned against “excessive” parental affection, advising parents to kiss their child only on the forehead and to limit hugs.

A lot of this was somehow meant to prevent disease and weakness.

An entire generation of young new mothers received these pamphlets with the stern warnings of how going against these stipulations would ruin their children, both in character and in body.

Though high school graduates of the 1920s were better educated than the average college graduate of today, these young mothers revered the education & authority of the doctors handing them these government-approved Infant Care pamphlets, feeling that both the government authorities & their doctors knew so much more than they did.

These pamphlets inculcated mothers with the belief that children (including infants) were manipulative and that tending to one's child in the natural, traditional way women always did would ruin one's child.

As stated (and explained) in the post linked above, I believe that a lot of the Sixties revolution was the result of this "children-as-manipulative-demons" approach to parenting.

When I described this government initiative to re-program young mothers against their natural instincts (and against generations of maternal experience & wisdom) to a chassidish friend from England, she grew thoughtful for several moments, then said, "I wonder what the American government's interest was in pushing this approach to child-rearing?"

The question of why never occurred to me. I knew it was all wrong, but why indeed did the U.S. government jump onto that particular bandwagon AND promote it so intensely?

My friend continued, "I mean, why would the government care so much about whether mothers rocked their babies or kissed them or played with them? Why was that so important to the government?"

I didn't have an answer and I still don't—though I suspect it connects to several nefarious programs activated around that time.

"Hi, We're the Government—and We're Here to Help!"

Woodrow Wilson, a dubious character, served as President of the United States from 1913-1921.

Initially, he focused on nature conservation (always sounds nice, but tends to lead to particularly fierce wildfires & the elimination of species) and set up a central bank: the U.S. Federal Reserve—which seems to be the reason why Americans ended up unable save for retirement on their own (inflation); once upon a time, you could save up.

In general, Wilson sought to involve the Federal government (as opposed to local government by state) in all aspects of American life: banking, agriculture, railroad & roads, work hours, and more.

As lovely & caring as it all sounds, these policies and they way they were implemented are similar to what Hitler yemach shemo did at the beginning of his reign.

The Typhoid Mary of Foreign Policy

Wilson also started intervening in the politics of other countries, sending American troops to Central & South America.

While this was always done in the name of peace-making for the good of those countries, a deeper look into it indicates Wilson's desire to dominate.

For example, during this time, Wilson managed to create the Panama Canal, which enabled new economic opportunities for the U.S.A. and also made it easier for the U.S. Navy to navigate between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.

So that's at least partly why Wilson insisted on intervening so much in that region.

(Ever notice how extremely manipulative people always coo that everything they're doing to benefit themselves is actually all "for yooooooou"?)

He initially responded to World War I via neutrality & diplomacy, but when Wilson decided to enter the war, he set up an all-encompassing conscription bill to force young American men into the draft, with local boards set up to determine who should be forced into the military.

During that time, the federal budget soared from $1 billion dollars to $19 billion dollars within a 3-year period.

Wilson also increased taxes with the top tax rate reaching 77% and taxes increased on both businesses & individuals.

Wilson's Treasury Secretary came up with the idea to issue low-interest war bonds, but this backfired by causing a leap in inflation.

In 1917, Wilson created the first propaganda organization called "the United States Committee on Public Information."

To control free speech, Wilson pushed through 2 more Acts to prevent people from speaking against Britain or the War, or in favor of Germany.

(Even if you agree with those opinions, why enact them as official government policy? What if any of them were wrong? Why can't there be open discussion & debate?)

At the end of the war in 1918, Wilson called to establish the League of Nations to help govern the world.

Also, the post-war Wilson traveled to Europe and spent 6 months there, working out a peace treaty.

That would be inconceivable behavior for a President nowadays, but is even more appalling in that time of poor communication technology.

How can a President run a country while absent—especially in those days?

Six months! (With only a 2-week visit during that entire period.)

In Europe, Wilson either participated in or orchestrated policies with negative far-reaching effects, such as forcing Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles, increased colonization in various countries by foreign authorities, and the creation of new states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia).

(These effects were often only felt years later, and, for example, many claim the Treaty of Versailles had a lot to do with the rise of the Nazi party later.)

Not to mention that all his investment in "peace" policies did nothing to prevent World War II.

On the contrary, as in the case of Germany, his policies may even have contributed to World War II.

American Regression under Wilson

With Wilson's focus on everything except his own country, things started to implode domestically.

Demobilization of American troops occurred with poor planning; troops returned in chaos with little money or benefits.

Strikes in a variety of sectors occurred, some turning violent.

Race riots, in which whites attacked blacks, broke out.

Race riots weren't surprising seeing as Wilson was an unabashed white supremacist who promoted the Ku Klux Klan and supervised the racial segregation of the federal workforce.

In fact, Wilson's Presidency not only halted black advancement, but even eliminated previous strides made.

Wilson also hosted the showing of the pro-KKK movie, Birth of a Nation (originally titled The Clansmen) at the White House in 1915.

Another disturbing aspect of Wilson's Presidency is that when he became bed-ridden from illness, his wife took over.

Throughout the autumn of 1919, she decided which government officials deserved direct contact with Wilson and all information & documents & proposals & bills went through her veto first.

Furthermore, Wilson's condition (about which a neurosurgeon later said consisted of "disorders of emotion, impaired impulse control, and defective judgment" after examining Wilson's medical records) was hidden from the American public, who had no idea that their leader was incapacitated and that the country was being ruled by his wife.

(This situation caused many to later say that Edith Wilson was America's first female President.)

Wilson wished to run for a third term (at that time, no term limits existed for the President), but by 1920, the American public discovered his incapacitating illness and wisely rejected him.

The end of the Wilson Presidency saw race riots, a setback in the previous advancement for all non-whites, vastly increased American global interventionism, new & invasive government laws & policies that could not be retracted as easily as they were passed, inflation, unemployment, higher & expanded taxes, the encroachment of Communism on within America, and general civil unrest.

Most notably, the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 raced out of control during Wilson's administration.

Limiting All American Freedoms—Except the Freedom to Get Drunk as a Skunk

Intriguingly, it seems that the only far-reaching Federal bill that Wilson didn't want to sign was the Prohibition Act.

Prohibition banned the sale, transportation, import, and production of alcoholic beverages. (It exempted wine used for religious purposes, like kiddush, or alcohol for medical purposes, etc.)

Nationally, private ownership & consumption were okay, although some local governments forbade that too.

Despite the over-reaching invasive aspects that Wilson seemed to favor in every other facet of American life, Wilson not only opposed Prohibition, but sought to create a bill to prevent the enforcement of Prohibition.

Throughout my life, teachers & adult family members presented Prohibition as a silly act that everyone ignored and which only worsened things in America.

After all, my grandparents' first date together was in a speakeasy (underground illegal pub) in New York, something they mentioned with chuckles of pride.

(I also thought this was really cool when I was a secular teenager.)

In addition, I only heard about how Prohibition actually increased crime (at least, organized crime) and caused a black market industry to pop up.

Also, the production & consumption of alcohol (banned in some states) is understandably difficult to govern because it can be hidden so easily. (Unlike drugs, alcohol can easily be made at home using normal ingredients, like some kind of food & sugar.)

Economically, Prohibition caused the shut-down of many businesses associated with alcohol production, like liquor stores, refineries, vineyards, saloons, etc., (although Coors successfully transitioned into producing malted milk & porcelain, and grape growers transitioned into making grape concentrate).

It seems like violent crime rose during Prohibition, with some studies showing that violent crime, theft, homicide, and drug addiction rose during that time.

However, other historians attribute that to urbanization, which was also on the increase during that time.

It could also be that violent crime increased among criminals, but not in the general public.

Also, organized crime continued to thrive long after the Prohibition, as we see today, so it's not clear that Prohibition in itself caused organized crime.

While most historians agree that the beginning of Prohibition saw a decrease in all the negative aspects related to alcohol, the black market industry and its accompanying crime seemed to rise in conjunction with the Volstead Act in 1919, which sought to both enforce & intensify Prohibition, but ultimately didn't succeed so well. (Wilson also opposed this enforcement.)

Wilson's entire response to Prohibition is out of character because while he set up loan banks & government assistance for farmers (which ended up controlling farmers), he did not do so for the now-defunct alcohol industry, nor did he fund any programs for those seeking treatment for alcohol addiction.

Overall crime decreased 1849-1951, so some historians say this means that Prohibition didn't really raise crime rates. After all, the overall crime rate was on the decrease and continued to decrease.

Furthermore, some very real benefits occurred.

Some alcohol-related industries successfully transitioned into producing other products (like Coors). Grape-growers benefited from Prohibition, though not always for the right reason: Consumers bought the grape concentrate to make illegal alcohol.

Other industries also flourished, like the producers of fruit juices & soft drinks, who filled the gap left by the elimination of alcoholic beverages.

And the following decreased dramatically:

arrests for drunkenness declined by 50%
domestic violence
cirrhosis of the liver
infant mortality
death from alcoholism
hospital admissions for alcohol-induced psychosis
vagrancy
disorderly conduct
absenteeism (people not showing up for work)
the number of prison inmates
juvenile delinquency
general alcohol consumption declined by 30-50%

These stats are not surprising considering how often you see today disorderly conduct & vagrancy & hospital admissions in which at least one person is clearly intoxicated.

With a father at home rather than at the bar, controlling wayward sons no longer fell so solely on the financially struggling overwhelmed mother (who also not struggling financially as much as before because now she had a sober husband who earned regular wages—wages which were now available to spend on necessities rather than beer & whiskey).

So that's another reason why lack of drinking decreases delinquency.

Furthermore, with more men working stably (rather than missing work due to drinking or hangovers or alcohol-induced illness) and NOT spending wages on alcohol, people had more money to spend, which boosted the economy.

And it's heartbreaking to read that infant mortality was so affected by Prohibition. The implication is that drunk adults kill babies, and it's awful to realize that caretakers would endanger babies in such a way.

But the truth is that infant mortality went down during Prohibition, then rose again after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.

In addition, Prohibition wiped out the entire saloon culture. It created a new form of socializing in which drinking played no part, and this norm continues among many Americans today.

Case in point: Until the 1970s, American drinking levels did not return to the high levels recorded in 1900-15.

And while the American public later wanted Prohibition repealed (initially, voters were so happy with it, they voted in the Republican Herbert Hoover in 1928 based on his pro-Prohibition stance), a wide swathe of Americans had expressed concern for over a century about the effects of drinking.

From at least the 1800s, American women made a strong stand in this area.

After all, women especially suffered the effects of drunkenness: noise & violence of local saloons (which were also more prone to fires, which endangered the mostly wooden structures nearby), domestic violence, poverty as the man of the house drank away his wages, and caring for a husband in poor physical health who died prematurely due to drinking—not to mention dealing with sons doing the same.

Alcohol always did & still does play a part in social dysfunction: accidents, poverty, abuse, deaths, violence, and crime—so much is alcohol-related.

It's odd that Wilson, who intervened so aggressively in foreign affairs & invasive rights-violating government programs, showed such apathy in the fight against alcohol abuse.

With his love of government over-reach, he could easily have fought the organized crime & black-market industry, yet Wilson not only refused to get involved, but even tried to oppose the Prohibition and its enforcement.

(Note: A lot of well-researched information on Prohibition can be found here.)

The Liberal Lie: "I'm Only Doing This Because I Care Soooo Much..."

Wilson granted women the right to vote, but with his whole "I'm doing all this for yoooooou" mask on all his policies, it's logical to assume that he merely saw women as potential voters for his third term (or for the Democrat party in general), rather than cared about the rights of women.

(Or maybe his wife strong-armed him into it.)

Anyway, the final comment on Wilson is that he was a Democrat.

With the attitude of an autocrat, Wilson consistently ostracized Republican senators in every area, leaving them with little voice or sway during Wilson's administration.

This doesn't matter so much, seeing as Republican Presidents also instituted harmful policies in America.

However, the pro-Democrat media today, along with the pro-Democrat educational system (including the universities), insist that you revere Democrats as the great lovers and saviors of society.

And Democrat leaders like Wilson prove that it just ain't so.

Still No Answers

I didn't even mean to write a whole post on Wilson.

But looking at it now, it ties into the reality of a history of government policies presented as for our own good, but serve a more nefarious purpose.

Migdal Bavel (the Tower of Babel) resulted from government policy.

(A deeper discussion of that can be found here: The Kli Yakar in English - Parshat Noach.)

But today, we all see covid-19 policies instituted for our own good, but a deeper look shows the policies as either ineffective or davka infectious (as is the case in Israel, which necessitates that people infected with covid-19 use public transportation to go get tested in a public area; both actions spread infection rather than reduce it).

In fact, my children's school recently installed a large digital thermometer at its entrance (probably government-mandated)...which does not work unless you TOUCH it.

With around 1000 students, plus parents & faculty, how is that remotely hygienic?

Doesn't such a thing spread disease rather than prevent it?

Getting back to the original question, I still don't have a good answer as to why the American government decided to interfere so invasively in the relationship of mothers & children.

It upturned American parenting, creating a new kind of mother who now possessed a narrow, negative, & uncompromising view of babies & children & unnatural, non-nurturing mothering--all based on the theories of psychologically unhealthy professionals.

Even eugenics doesn't explain (at least to my understanding) why the government wanted the average American mother to behave toward her child in such a manner.

Though presented as for the good of the child, it clearly wasn't.

In fact, the husband-wife team Dr. C Anderson Aldrich & Mary M. Aldrich published Babies are Human Beings in 1938. This popular childcare manual brought the Aldrichs' experience as both parents & professionals. (C. Anderson was a doctor & Mary was a nurse, in addition to being parents.)

It shows good sense & humanity by professionals experienced in both parenting & medical care—and it sold well—but could not overcome the government's Infant Care programming.

That programming continued until the Sixties, which instituted a whole other attitude toward child-rearing, which sounded better, but reaped a lot of problems as we see now.

It seems like the government's Infant Care program is an outgrowth of Wilsonian policies meant to invade & control people at every level, mostly for financial gain.

But why did the government want mothers to be this particular way?

I have no idea.

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Please Daven for Chava Leah bat Esther: Here is Her Story & Family's Requests...

20/10/2020

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Please daven for Chava Leah bat Esther.

I received the following message from a special davening list regarding Chava Leah bat Esther:

This is the woman in B’nei Brak who waited five years for a child and does not even know that she gave birth because she is in a medically induced coma on a respirator because of the Mageifa. ["plague"—She means covid-19.–M.R.]

The family has asked that if you can take just 30 minutes per day and say whichever perakim you want for a refual shlema for her.

Also here’s a link to Tehillim Yachad https://new.tehilimyahad.com/mr.jsp?r=lXWSNaSgegP

Here is what the family wrote, translated from the Hebrew, which appears below the English:

Since the situation of Chava Leah, daughter of Esther, remains very difficult, Psalm Shifts have been organized in recent days, and they really saw the dedication of klal Yisroel Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart!

And now we organize shifts of prayers and psalms around the clock and since it is naturally much more difficult to hold shifts on Friday and Saturday, we need your help even more, please take part in these shifts and even for a short time.

The phone number is 0556705652, 025827280.

Remember two things:

1) In the midst of the great difficulty the family faces, these are the things that support them and give them strength.

2) Today baby Yehudah is 17 days old (note that was yesterday or day before), and has not yet received the thing he needs most, his mother’s hug!

IY”H may we hear good news very soon.

P.S. the author of the message above, asked that everyone forward this message in any form to as many people as possible, tizku l’mitzvos.

תפללו---
היות והמצב של חוה לאה בת אסתר נשאר קשה מאוד התארגנו בימים האחרונים משמרות תהילים, ובאמת ראו את המסירות של עמ"י
תודה רבה גדולה מקרב לב!

ועכשיו אנו מארגנים משמרות של תפילות ותהילים בכל שעות היממה והיות שמטבע הדברים שישי שבת הרבה יותר קשה לקיים משמרות, אנו זקוקים לעזרתכם ביתר שאת, אנא טלו חלק במשמרות אלו ואפי' לזמן קצר.

מס' הטלפון הוא 0556705652, 025827280.

זכרו שני דברים:
1) שבתוך הקושי הגדול עמו מתמודדת המשפחה אלו הדברים שמחזיקים אותה ונותנים לה כוחות.

2) היום יהודה התינוק נהיה בן 17 ימים, תינוק שעדיין לא זכה לקבל את כל מה שתינוק זקוק לו, חיבוק של אמא.

שנשמע ונתבשר בשורות טובות בקרוב ממש.

נ.ב. אנא העבירו הודעה זו בכל צורה שהיא לכמה וכמה שיותר אנשים, תזכו למצוות

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The 7 Universal (Noachide) Commandments according to the Me'am Lo'ez

20/10/2020

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Even though the list of what the Me'am Lo'ez calls "The 7 Universal Commandments" appears in Parshat Beresheit of the Me'am Lo'ez (Beresheit 2:16-17), it is still appropriate to discuss them in Parshat Noach because these "7 Universal Commandments" are also known as "The 7 Noachide Laws."

In other words, they're one and the same, just different labels.

(Note: The Me'am Lo'ez is a master translation & commentary on the Torah written in Ladino and first published in 1730.)

The Me'am Lo'ez notes that Hashem commanded Adam Harishon to keep 7 rules:

These would apply to him and, equally, to all his descendants.

In other words, they apply to every single human being anywhere in the world for all generations, starting with Adam.

That means us.

The translator notes these 7 commandments apply primarily to Adam's non-Jewish descendants (because Jews not only observe laws that include these commandments, but Jews committed themselves to much more).

Some of this blog's readers aren't Jewish, so maybe they'll find the following helpful.

But Jews also need to know.

Sometimes, a seeking non-Jew asks a Jew a question about what they should be doing, and the Jew either doesn't know or unknowingly offers the wrong guidance.

It also helps us understand what's going on in our society.

When the majority of society regularly transgresses commandments meant for & self-evident to all descendants of Adam for all generations, then Hashem must respond to them in ways meant to wake them up, and show them that yes, there are consequences for their behavior and their self-delusion.

So here they are: The 7 Universal Commandments:

1. Don't Worship Idols

This is self-explanatory, but idol-worshipping occurs in many Eastern religions and I've heard that the practices of some church-going people also crosses the line into idol-worshipping. (The details vary from group to group, and I'm not familiar with all the details, but that's what I've heard.)

Hashem expects people to know that an image fashioned out of wood, stone, or metal by human hands cannot possibly possess any power.

Furthermore, He expects people to know that planets & stars cannot possess any power.

In the face of such obvious complexity, clearly a Master Orchestrator is at work.

As shown from Avraham Avinu's destruction of his father's shop of idols until today's earthquakes & lightning strikes, idols lack the power to protect even themselves, let alone assist anyone else.

Even if a person believes that the idol is merely a conduit for the spirit to enter the idol & do stuff, it's still very wrong because the spirit possesses the power, not the idol (so it's foolish to worship the idol).

And the spirit is one of impurity meant to deceive & harm human beings, so why get involved with that?

Anyway, everything is under Hashem's Mastery, so it's best (and true) to always turn straight to Him, without any thought of any intermediary.

2. No Forbidden Physical Relationships.

According to the Me'am Lo'ez, this includes these 6 relationships:

(1) Between a son & his mother.
No need for further commentary.

(2) Between a son & his father's wife.
This includes any woman the father was ever with physically, whether he was married to her or not, and whether it was consensual or not.

(3) Between any man & a married woman.
Because the only Jewish definition of marriage is the halachic Jewish ceremony, Judaism allows non-Jews to define marriage according to their society's norm.

Meaning, if a non-Jewish culture performs marriage by the couple jumping over a broomstick, then that's a marriage according to Judaism.

If it's performed by taking vows in front of a judge or clergyman, then that's a marriage.

Basically, Judaism defines a non-Jewish "marriage" as any situation in which a couple lives together as man and wife. (I'm guessing this means they've set up a home together with a monogamous commitment to each other, whether they underwent an actual marriage ceremony or not.)

Likewise, Judaism does not recognize a non-Jewish divorce.

As soon as the non-Jewish couple separates (I guess this means that one of them decides to physically leave permanently), then Judaism no longer considers them married.

The modern situation, in which a couple decides to live together as a married couple for years before either separating or getting legally married, presents a problem within universal law.

The couple do not consider themselves married, yet it's not clear that Judaism concurs.

I don't know how it's viewed by Chazal.

In Western society today, an enormous amount of infidelity occurs, both among officially married couples and couples living together as if they're married.

We see from this prohibition that Hashem views this very severely.

Also, with so many stories & songs glorifying the very infidelity that Hashem so strictly forbids, how do you think Hashem views that?

(4) Between a brother & a sister.

(5) Between 2 males, even if one is a minor.
Unfortunately, it has become fashionable to violate this prohibition.

Also, it's interesting that Judaism emphasizes the inclusion of minors in this prohibition.

It's true that several cultures throughout history consider this okay when done to a young boy, which is sick & people should know that it's sick (which is why it's one of the universal commandments—these are ethics people can figure out without Torah m'Sinai).

For around 300 years, Greek upper-class men were very into this with pre-teen boys.

Even cultures that strictly forbid toeva between adult males look askance when an adult male does it to a boy because it's considered playing around—but it's not. Not at all.

This is why you see Islamic cultures slaughtering in cruel ways men & teenage boys who engage in toeva, yet when it's done to, say, an 8-year-old boy, there usually aren't repercussions.

Anyway, this prohibition (at least between males from their teens and onward) is now celebrated as permissible in modern society.

You are now castigated if you support Hashem's prohibition & oppose society's permissiveness.

That doesn't exactly bring bracha to society.

(6) Between a human & any animal.
This really doesn't need any commentary, however, a frum friend of mine read me the opening chapter of a popular novel that opened with this kind of scene. It lacked the revolting details and was presented in a light-hearted manner, and mentioned that the person involved fought to make this a legal marriage recognized in law & society.

My friend thought it was very funny & innovative, which is why she wanted to read it to me. "I just came across the most unique opening I've ever read in a novel. Wanna hear it?" was how I got roped into hearing it.

But I was like, Can't you see what they're pushing? They're trying to break down more boundaries in society by making this seem "cute" rather than really abhorrent.

In modern American society, you can get away with almost anything as long as you are cute & funny enough.

3. Don't Murder Anyone.

The Me'am Lo'ez notes that this includes abortion.

He says this also applies to a person so ill, he's considered dead & sure to die no matter what. (Euthanasia, anyone?)

This also includes killing by passive means, like by "tying the victim before a lion or leaving him to starve to death."

Needless to say, infanticide of female or weak or deformed children regularly occurred in some cultures by "exposing them to the elements"—100% forbidden by God.

Today, euthanasia is often performed this way.

They remove the feeding tube and allow the unconscious person to starve to death.

This happened to one of my non-Jewish family members in the pricey, reputable old-age home in which he resided.

(Yes, I tried to stop it, but it happened in the States and I live in Eretz Yisrael. And the man's children were so yippy-skippy about it, there was no stopping them.)

To my horror, the staff decided to push the dying man's bed right against that of his wife's so that they could spend his dying week close together. (Yes, it took around a week.)

I received cheerful emails describing how his skin started mottling and stuff during the starvation.

When I wrote back questioning the appropriateness of forcing his wife to experience this, my relative insisted it was fine and that his wife wasn't "with it" enough to notice.

(And yes, I also pointed out that just because someone is unconscious, that doesn't mean they aren't aware and can't feel either emotional or physical pain or suffering. Maybe they can! Some do! However, in our very rationalist Darwinian society, no one cares...especially if it's an old person.)

I found the whole thing ghoulish.

Later, I discovered that the wife was definitely "with it"! Maybe not 100%, but definitely enough so that when people visited her, they told me how she sat up and talked and made comments on their appearance. They engaged in real conversations with her.

In a photo of her, I noticed a shelf of novels next to her bed.

I felt even worse knowing this.

But the entire ghoulish process occurred among lots of good cheer & "compassion" among both the family members & the staff of the old-age home.

I felt very grateful that Hashem had brought me to Torah so that I could know that this was all horribly wrong & immoral, despite how cheerfully & "sensitively" they carried out the whole ghoulish murder.

Also, many places use morphine to murder their patients, yet they don't present it that way to the family members.

(Please read this excellent article on the topic by a very devoted & courageous Jewish woman: Hospice: A Jewish View.)

Also:

In the "Noachide Laws" link at the end, you'll notice that murder includes hiring someone to do it. Using a hitman doesn't absolve a person of this crime.

Here's a bit on killing as defense:

If a non-Jew sees a person pursuing someone to murder or violate them, then it is permissible to kill that person before he commits murder or violates a woman.

But if the pursuer can be stopped by wounding him or cutting of his hand, then one is guilty of murder if he actually kills him.

That's basically the answer to how police are allowed to respond.

Most American police officers do not want to actually kill anyone.

But if they do, whether they needed to or not, the people who respond by looting innocent businesses & shooting random police officers are also committing grave & unforgivable offenses against Hashem's Universal Laws.

The people (like politicians & professors) who support looting & murder are also in big trouble according to these laws. (Please see below the commandment to appoint judges & police officers.)

I don't know if defunding the police literally violates God's Law, halachically speaking, but it certainly isn't going in the right direction.

4. Do Not Steal.

No stealing from anybody, regardless of their religion or yours.

No stealing any amount of money, including something worth less than a penny.

If a non-Jew is employed in an orchard, he may not eat the fruit, even while working, because it belongs to the owner. To do otherwise is stealing.

If one withholds a worker's wages, that is stealing.

According to the above, this means that all those jolly looters & shoplifters are in big trouble.

In general, all sorts of stealing is seen as permissible in society today.

Not good.

5. You Must Appoint Judges & Police Officers

The Me'am Lo'ez states that non-Jews have an obligation to appoint judges & police officers for every place.

The role of the judges & police officers is twofold:

To enforce these 7 Universal Commandments
To punish those who violate them

In a non-Jewish court, the judge may accept the testimony of a witness, even if the witness did not first warn the accused that he was transgressing.

Presumably, at least one reason for that is because the 7 Universal Laws are self-evident.

For example, you may need to warn a Jew first that he is transgressing Shabbat. The Shabbat laws are numerous and it could be that a Jew honestly did not guess that his action was prohibited.

However, regarding the Laws for all people, Hashem expects people to figure out on their own the wrongness of murder or stealing, or eating from a live animal braying or squeaking in pain, and so on.

In a non-Jewish court, the testimony of relatives is accepted, even when judging a capital case.

6. Don't Curse God.

According to the Me'am Lo'ez, a non-Jew who curses Hashem incurs the death penalty.

It's really bad & forbidden for Jews too, but because you can't make a death penalty for so many prohibitions (like the hundreds for Jews), Jews have some leeway, even though some prohibitions (like murder) still call for the death penalty.

He doesn't explain more about how that's defined.

I could think of many examples in society that I consider cursing God, but not sure if they literally are.

Nonetheless, to be on the safe side, a person should make a point of thanking & praising God.

7. Don't Eat Flesh from a Living Animal.

This means even the tiniest piece of meat—as long as the animal shows any signs of life.

Even if the animal underwent proper shechitah, with the windpipe & the gullet severed, as long as the animal shows any sign of motion, one may not cut off a piece of meat and eat it.

This doesn't seem so applicable in our times; Western culture considers this repulsive. (Although some chomp live bugs on camera for shock value & ratings, but I don't know if live insects are forbidden under this Law—though it certainly is disgusting.)

Yet we know that in some restaurants in China, they eat live mice & octopus, and enjoy the sensation of the dying animal moving around in their mouth.

I even read there is a Chinese dish called Huo Jian Lu, which literally means "Live Braying Donkey."

And yes, it's as it sounds.

In Japan, there's a dish in which the diner eats the still-beating heart of a frog.

Not all Chinese or Japanese engage in such disturbing cuisine, of course, but the ones who do are in big trouble.

And no, I've no idea of the parameters of this, like if this includes seafood and insects.

A Final 4 Prohibitions (connected to the above 7, but not unanimously agreed upon)

The Me'am Lo'ez includes 4 more prohibitions that some Sages (though not all) say apply to non-Jews:

(1) Not to sterilize any living creature by castration.
This has become common in modern society; it's even considered a responsible thing to do.

(2) Not to engage in witchcraft.
Like with toeva, this has become fashionable today. I remember signs posted in the hallway of my college advertising a weekly "Wicca meeting."

Witchcraft is also glorified in so many books & movies.

And however "cute" and appealing witches & witchcraft are made to be, it's the occult and includes some very nasty things, in addition to being a denial of Hashem's Mastery.

(3) Not to interbreed any creature with another not of the same species.
You can't even make a mule (horse & donkey combo).

It also makes me wonder about those people who like to interbreed big cats together ("ligers"—lion-tiger) for curiosity or to make money showing these "freaks" at their zoos.

Like other universal mitzvot, you can figure out on your own that this isn't a good idea.

For example, many modern animal conservationists consider this kind of cross-breeding as unethical. They arrived at that conclusion without knowing that some Torah Sages forbid this.

(4) Not to eat blood from a living animal.
The primary prohibition concerns eating a limb from a living animal.

But some authorities include the animal's blood in this too.

Please note the Me'am Lo'ez's final encouraging words on the 7 Universal (Noachide) Laws (page 252 in the English translation):

If a gentile keeps them because they are God's commandments, he is counted among the "Righteous Gentiles" (Chassidei Umoth HaOlam), and he has a portion in the World to Come.

Hope you found this helpful.

If you have questions, I'm unfortunately not knowledgeable enough to help you (whatever the Me'am Lo'ez wrote here is all I know now).

There is also this article at "Ask the Rabbi—Din Online," which is very learned, well-sourced, and may not be for beginners, but is an intelligent and valuable resource to clarify these 7 Universal Laws:
The Noachide Laws: A World of Order & Peace

It seems to me this resource is written more for knowledgeable Jews than non-Jews, and that's helpful because I know of at least 2 seemingly Orthodox rabbis who unintentionally ended up misguiding both Jews & non-Jew due to their...well, I'm not sure what. Cognitive dissonance?

Anyway, it's good for Jews to know the parameters.

The above-linked article also contains a very interesting discussion on how Islam & Christianity are viewed within the framework of the Universal Laws, which Jews also need to understand.

Also, if you ever wondered about the responsibility of non-Jews trapped in a society of unethical courts & police (like a Communist system), then the article addresses that too.

If you have further questions, you can ask your rabbi or you can leave a comment at the end of the linked article or you can contact them in their question form. (You can use an anonymous name too.)

*Please note that while your name will not show up there in the question, the comment form is totally different and if you leave a comment with your real name, it will show up in the comment.

Final Food for Thought

Learning the above gives us better insight into why the world seems crushed under increasingly harsh judgement.

We see that the most fundamental laws of ethics given to Adam millennia ago are now being violated with abandon.

Even worse, much of society even glorifies & romanticizes many of these violations.

Some are encouraged by society in the name of "compassion" & "freedom."

Or "rights." (The "right" to die, the "right" to abortion, the "right" to be happy, etc.)

Western courts uphold transgressions of some of these violations.

Needless to say, these are serious dysfunctions.

It can't continue like this.

May we all do teshuvah and may Hashem please bring the complete Redemption with mercy & compassion.

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Why COVID-19 is NOT like Cholera (and why we need to stop pretending it is)

19/10/2020

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There's an article going around the frum community about the cholera epidemic in the time of Rav Akiva Eiger.

It's a fascinating look at how they responded to a deadly disease before modern hygiene and modern knowledge and antibiotics.

It also showcases Rav Eiger's wisdom & innovation in protecting his community against a truly dangerous disease.

The reason so many people innocently promote this article is because of its supposed similarity to the covid-19 epidemic.

But it's simply not a good comparison.

They're nothing alike.

The Good News: Covid-19 isn't Cholera

Left untreated, cholera kills 50-60% of those infected.

That's a horrific death rate!

Furthermore, cholera sometimes kills its victim within hours.

Meaning, some victims die a mere 2 hours after showing symptoms.

That isn't anything like covid-19.

Here's an personal example of a covid-19 outbreak:

Right around Rosh Hashanah, a group of around 20 yeshivah students caught covid-19 together. They'd been following the rules by attending yeshivah in a "capsule," which meant staying in yeshivah without leaving the premises, not to buy a can of soda or to go home—nothing.

Even going off the steps outside the yeshivah wasn't allowed.

The staff followed the rules of masks, etc.

But these young men still caught the virus because the non-NC95 masks simply do not work, nor do the other rules.

The young men subsisted on yeshivah food, no one even coughed, and the main symptoms were aching limbs, mild fevers, and the temporary loss of taste or smell.

As for treatment? No vitamins, no citrus fruits, no medication, no vitamin D or hydroxychloroquine, no ventilators, no special care—completely untreated.

(Note: If they'd asked for lemons or tangerines, they would have received. But they felt pretty cool about getting along in survival mode, so they proudly made do without.)

They fasted Yom Kippur and even made scrumptious festival meals with the extra food the yeshivah staff brought them.

(Yes. Yeshivah bochurim can cook—and cook really well! Some of them, anyway...)

Then after the newly instated 10-day quarantine passed from the time they got tested, they came home.

(No one gets retested; you're simply free after 10 days—which is nonsensical because there's no guarantee that a person is automatically virus-free after 10 days. If covid-19 was a truly lethal disease, the 10-day stipulation-without-retesting would be dangerously irresponsible.)

Interestingly, out of these 20 infected bachurim who went through a bout of covid-19 COMPLETELY UNTREATED...NO ONE DIED. No one even suffered complications. Baruch Hashem.

If it was anything like untreated cholera, at least 10 should've dropped.

But as it was, there was a 0% death rate.

Likewise, in many of the "corona hotels" here in Eretz Yisrael, the guests subsist on unheated pre-prepared trays of meals. Many quarantined guests have uploaded impassioned complaints to social media, detailing their suffering and lack of medical care, without even a tablet of Acamol (Tylenol) available to alleviate their aching limbs.

Yet no one dies.

Why?

Because covid-19 is NOTHING like cholera.

Just as a side point: Another difference is that cholera is a bacteria while covid-19 is a virus. Furthermore, cholera is rarely spread by person-to-person contact, but from drinking or eating stuff infected with cholera, like contaminated water or seafood.

Note: Please understand that I'm not pointing fingers at the average person sending this article around. They've been led to truly believe that covid-19 is much more dangerous than it has been proven to be. I'm concerned about why people who should know better insist on conflating covid-19 with untreated cholera—emphasis on untreated cholera; when treated, the mortality rate for cholera drops to less than 1%.

Also, I understand that in America, covid-19 has manifested in a particularly frightening manner—in New York in particular—with several respected rabbis from different communities dying of covid-19 in a narrow timeframe, plus people see ambulances coming to pick up people with severe cases.

That's not happening everywhere, so it's easy to dismiss it if you're not from New York. But in New York, the Jewish community is certainly experiencing covid-19 with more severity and it's important to be sensitive to that difference.

Having said all that, this still is nothing like a cholera epidemic.

What about Pneumonia?

In my area, we've seen hundreds of infections over the months of covid-19...yet only 2 deaths.

Both of the niftars were around 81.

One I did not know, but the other I knew.

He was obese and he looked & moved like other obese elderly I'd known who suffer diabetes & high blood pressure.

I was very sad to hear he died because I liked him; he'd always been so nice to children.

However, I also suspect that had the flu or pneumonia been going around, that might have ended his life too because people with his health issues are very susceptible to illness.

After all, while I don't know his specific health issues, he looked & moved like a very unhealthy 81-year-old.

By the way, pneumonia kills 50,000 people in the USA alone each year.

1 million adults seek hospital treatment for pneumonia each year.

In fact, within the 30 days of contracting pneumonia, 5-10% of its victims die.

Shockingly, it is the world's leading cause of death for children under age 5.

This seems very serious. Why are there NEVER any lockdowns or masks because of this?

When It's the Cure that Kills

In any discussion of covid-19, I try to keep 2 points in mind:

(1) Despite the very light response to the disease in most people, it's still new and a light infection could fester into something worse months or even years down the line. If it's anything like its family of coronaviruses, then probably not. But it's true that we don't know.

(2) It SEEMS like covid-19 is more lethal than other viruses for vulnerable people (i.e., people with pre-existing medical issues, like heart trouble, high blood pressure, etc.). But it's hard to say for sure because the accuracy of data collection of covid-19 is questionable.

Also, with 50,000 annual deaths from pneumonia and the 12,000-61,000 deaths per year from the flu receive no attention, and so we don't have the same comparison.

Frum media, for example, went out of its way to list the people who died (or who allegedly died) from covid-19. Pictures of relatively young people (with obviously pre-existing health problems) appeared in frum media to accompany reports of their tragic deaths.

But that never happens with more common diseases like the flu or pneumonia.

Not to mention, it also seems like many covid-19 deaths were treatment-induced—meaning the ventilators davka harmed people, hospital staff offered ineffective treatment, or hospitals even denied their patients proper treatment (via self-imposed quarantines, which prevented them from caring for their patients properly).

Here are a couple of reports:
habayitah.blogspot.com/2020/04/new-york-city-of-chelm.html
habayitah.blogspot.com/2020/04/our-mom-survived-covid-19-but-died-of.html

That's just 2 examples. There are more.

Also, many reports state that the covid-19 numbers are falsely inflated.

Meaning that if someone diagnosed with covid-19 dies in a car accident, then the death is reported as covid-19. If someone diagnosed with covid-19 dies of another illness, it's registered as a covid-19 death. Not sure if there's proof, but those are the reports.

An indication of this lies in an article quoted here:
havahaaharona.blogspot.com/2020/10/19-reasons-to-thank-hashem-for-covid-19.html

According to Shmuel Sackett's investigation into Israel's chevra kaddisha, LESS people have died OVERALL in Eretz Yisrael during March-September 2020 than in the last 10 years!

If the mortality for covid-19 was real, we should be having an overall higher death rate, not a lower one.

So it looks like the deaths from covid-19 really aren't as reported.

That needs to be investigated.

However, it still stands to reason that we need to both protect and care for our vulnerable brothers & sisters—but we should be doing that during flu season too.

Why the Insistence?

There seems to be almost a willful desire to make covid-19 worse that it is.

After all, the article on Rav Eiger's responsible & insightful handling of cholera is both interesting & heart-warming.

However, it has nothing to do with the covid-19 epidemic.

Yet it is being presented that way.

Covid-19 is simply not as lethal as untreated cholera.

So why publicize an event of a truly lethal disease as if it's related to a fairly non-lethal disease?

Why the insistence on trying to conflate the mostly non-lethal covid-19 with the extremely lethal untreated cholera?

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Please Help Free a Deceived Jewish Girl Trapped in Bulgarian Prison

18/10/2020

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Please check out this campaign to free Bat-El Peretz from a Bulgarian prison.

It's apparently yet another case of some menuval (despicable person) convincing young tourists to take an "innocent" suitcase. In this case, the menuval promised to pay for the plane tickets for her and her friends, if only they take the suitcase with them.

I honestly don't know how these despicable people live with themselves, knowing the incredible harm they cause these innocent youth.

Anyway, it's a Verified Campaign (which means it has been checked out & is legit).

They managed to raise half the money necessary, but another huge chunk is needed.

Please, whatever you can manage.

The mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim (redeeming captives) brings tremendous blessing to those who contribute.

Every dollar counts.

Again, here's the Donate Page:
thechesedfund.com/chessed-forever/freebatel?aff=666&utm_source=InforuMail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A5+%285%29

And here's the plea from her father, Shimon Peretz:

PIDYON SHVUYIM: Please Save My Daughter. Without You She May Spend 15 Years In A Brutal, Foreign Prison

Hi,
My name is Shimon Peretz. My daughter Batel was offered an “all expenses paid” trip to Bulgaria by a member of our community, in exchange for bringing a suitcase with items perfectly legal in Israel. Growing up sheltered, she had no idea she was being tricked. Upon arrival, she was arrested and brought to prison.

She has been subjected to harsh conditions unheard of in the Israeli or US penal system. She is allowed only one phone call a day with us. When I visit her, I am not allowed to hug her. She cannot communicate with her jailers. Even something as simple as asking for a glass of water or letting the nurse know she is feeling ill is usually impossible. Her health and spirit is deteriorating rapidly. This young girl from a loving home is being housed together with murders and violent criminals, many of whom don’t like Jews. Her life is in grave danger and I want her to come home.

Our whole family is suffering. My son, a sensitive young boy with no history of mental illness, recently became institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. The “unknown” regarding his sister has been too much for him to bear.

We are spending a lot on lawyers. Because of language issues, we have had to hire translators and other professionals at a high price. She is not being provided with Kosher food, so my wife and I rented an apartment in Bulgaria to cook food for her and her friends. We are being offered a plea bargain in exchange for expensive “fines.” We don’t have that kind of money, but without it, she may spend 15 years in prison and who knows if she will make it out alive.

My dear fellow Jews, I am begging you for your help. Without you, I will lose my precious daughter. While all mitzvahs are great, the Gemara singles out Pidyon Shvuyim as a “Mitzvah Rabbah”. Because the Talmud says “captivity” is worse than starving to death, the Rambam rules redeeming a captive takes precedence over charity for the poor. The Shulchon Aruch says one who delays in redeeming a captive is considered a murderer.

Because Batel is a girl, halacha gives her precedence for redemption. The reward and bracha you will receive for helping is unimaginable. Hashem listens to the tefillah of the broken-hearted and I daven that Hashem grant you wealth in abundance, health and nachas from your kids.
***
We are trying to raise money for Pidyon Shvuyim. Our goal is for 500 people to donate $390. The reward for this Mitzvah will surely stand you in good stead.

***

UPDATE BEFORE SHABBOS 10/16/2020:
Baruch Hashem we are halfway to our goal. Thank you so much to all those who have helped but we must, must make it to our goal to get Batel back home & safe. She will spend this Shabbos in a jail cell. Tizku l'mitzvos!!

I don't know what her mother's name is, but in the meantime, we can daven for Bat-El bat Shimon to be freed from prison and brought back to her home in Eretz Yisrael.

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The Nations Established by the Sons of Noach: Where are They Now?

18/10/2020

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In Parshat Noach, we encounter the descendants of Noach, who went on to establish nations, some still in identifiable existence today.

With the help of Rav Gedalia ibn Yachya's Shalshelet HaKabbalah (Chain of Tradition), first published in Venice in 1586, we understand more about the location of those descendants today.

(Note: Though I tried very hard to decipher the names of the regions, I still didn't manage to understand all of them. So I only listed those of whom I was pretty sure.)

The first list originates in Sefer Yechusin, but quoted in Shalshelet HaKabbalah:

Bnei Yafet (Japheth)

First of all, he writes that bnei Yafet took the area of Lusitania, which today is where part of Portugal & Western Spain lie.

Gomer & Magog are a part of Medea called Shirvan. (Shirvan lies in today's northeastern Iran.)

Yavan is Greece.

Tuval is Spain.

Meshech is the Kingdom of Persia. (In the 1586, this included Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikstan, and parts of Iraq, Pakistan, and even China.)

Tiras stretches from Venice until Hungary.

Rifat is England ("Inglaterra").

Gomer is Ashkenaz (Germany) and its capital is Bohemia. (Bohemia was a kingdom that encompasses at least the Czech Republic today & lay under Habsburg rule in Rav Gedalia's time.)

Torgemah is Turkey.

Tarshish is Sicily.

Dodanim is Rhodes.

Bnei Cham (Ham)

Kush is the "kingdom of the blacks."

Sava & Shva (Sheba) are the kingdom of Greece. (Yeah, that surprised me too. I was sure they'd be labeled as somewhere in Africa.)

Put is Libya & Nineveh (Iraq), close to Ashur (Syria).

Patros & Caphtor extend from Gaza until Egypt.

Girgashi is Gurjistan (Georgia in Russia today).

Here, Rav Gedalia says where he thinks these nations are in his time:

Bnei Shem

Elam is in the Kingdom of Persia.

Ashur is Syria "and Arpachshad is near it."

Aram is Damascus.

Lud is possibly Lydia, in Turkey.

Utz is near the land of Canaan.

Chol is Armenia.

Gether is Carmania (Kermen in Iran).

Mash is possibly Mygondia in Greece.

All the descendants of Yaktan (from Shelach) settled in the countries in the East.

Midyan & Afar are "the children of Avraham Avinu in the kingdom of Africa."

Bnei Yafet (Japehth)

Gomer is Galatia (Anapoli in Turkey).

Magog is a place called "Shetia," possibly in Iraq.

Medai is Medea (Iran).

Yavan is Grazia (an island near Italy).

Tuval is Spain.

Meshech is Cappadocia (in Turkey) "near Armenia."

Tiras is possibly Thrace, an ancient region that today includes parts of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey.

Ashkenaz is Tartary (which is weird because that includes Mongolia, so maybe I misunderstood where Tartarzia is.)

The descendants of Rifat ended up in Venice.

Torgemah is Prague.

Bnei Cham (Ham)

Kush is Ethiopia.

Mitzrayim is Egypt.

Put is Libya.

Canaan is "Palestiana, near Eretz Yisrael."

Sava is Arabia.

Chavilah ended up being a group of nations in Arabia.

Savtca is a group within Libya.

(In general, he says, the descendants of Kush are scattered throughout the regions of the Kingdom of Libya in his time.)

Chet is the island Piombino in Northern Italy.

Chivi is near Lebanon.

Sini is Tripoli.

Chiti & Emori are close to Yerushalayim.

Yevusi is Yerushalayim.

Emori, Girgashi, Chivi, Sini, Arvadi, Arki, Tzamari, and Chamat were scattered throughout Eretz Yisrael, and "uprooted from the world by Bnei Yisrael."

Ancestral Opinions of Other Sources

Then he quotes others who say the following:

Rifat is the Aeolian Islands (near Italy).

There's a tradition that the inhabitants of Ashkenaz are the Canaanites who fled before Yehoshua.

Also, Josephus says that Tarshish is Tuscany (central Italy), but others say that Tarshish is Tunis, while still others say it's Carthage (a region within present-day Tunisia) in Africa.

The Targum Yerushalmit states that the "daughter of Edom residing in the land of Utz is Armenia."

Some say Yafet is France & Britain.

Some say Tuval is Pisa.

Some say Tirus is Russia.

A commentary on Daniel states that Cutim is Rome, the kingdoms of Greece & Rome as one.

Elisha is Borgonia (Borgoñá), which is today in Gerona, Spain.

Apparently, Rebbi Shmuel says that Gomer & Magog are Africa, Zarmenia, Medea, Mokdonia, Aisania, and Tunia.

We know what Africa is. Medea is a region which is today northern & western Iran. Mokdonia is Macedonia, a region in modern Greece. Aisania is presumably Asia, and as for Tunia? Today, there is a region in Pakistan called Tunia Baqa Shah, but I don't know if that's it, but it makes sense seeing as Pakistan is in southeast Asia and borders on Iran, south of Medea, which lies in the same region as the others listed here.

But I couldn't figure out "Zarmenia."

Final Comments

Some are missing because I simply didn't know what some of the areas were. For example, he says that some say that Tiras is "Unglakira" and Russia.

What is Unglakira? Probably one of the countries bordering Russia at that time, but I couldn't figure out which one.

Also, it's interesting to note above the general location of Tarshish, which is where Yonah Hanavi intended to sail.

It was apparently either somewhere in Italy or in Tunisia, which isn't so far from Italy—just on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.

When he names the location of Ashkenaz, he calls it "Alemania"—which is the Spanish name for Germany. (I didn't know that until I need to look up where Alemania was.)

The Gemara also states the location of Ashkenaz as "Germamia."

It's interesting also to note that Germany consists of the descendants of Ashkenaz (via Gomer from Yafet) and also the Canaanites.

Seeing as Chazal identifies Amalek in their time as "Germamia" (Germany), it's interesting to think that the people in the German region comprise a mix of Amalek and Canaanites.

Canaan was a very icky, immoral, human-sacrificing nation in ancient times.

And though the Americas had been discovered in his time, Shalshelet HaKabbalah doesn't mention the American continent in his list. Or perhaps he did, and I simply didn't understand the term he used.

Europeans only discovered Australia and the rest of Oceania after his time, so these are not mentioned either.

Anyway, this sums up the Shalshalet HaKabbalah tracing of the descendants of Noach.

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What Noach Teaches Us about the Power of True Teshuvah

16/10/2020

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The end of Parshat Beresheit introduces us to the appallingly corrupt Generation of the Flood and humanity's hero, Noach.

On Beresheit/Genesis 6:8, the Me'am Lo'ez notes an interesting opinion about Noach.

This opinion (Zera Berakh) states that, initially, Hashem included Noach in the decree to destroy humanity.

But Noach did teshuvah. He changed his ways.

And so Hashem annulled the decree over Noach individually and even catapulted Noach into the role of savior of humanity (and savior of the animals & birds).

This is hinted to in the word "found"—as in "Noach found favor in the Eyes of Hashem." It implies that the Divine favor wasn't always there, but was a more recent acquisition.

This, explains the Me'am Lo'ez, shows us the true power of teshuvah.

A person can be despised & far from Hashem.

But as soon as he truly repents, he "finds favor in Hashem's Eyes."

And with that new-found favor, he can merit not only a revolutionary change in his own destiny, but in the destiny of the entire world.

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The Secrets to Happiness in Marriage: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Beresheit

15/10/2020

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah on Parshat Beresheit: The Marriage Bond, he immediately dives into the command of leaving your father & mother to cleave to your wife—stating that this isn't just an observation of the way of the world, but it's THE PROGRAM for marriage.

Then on pages 3-4, Rav Miller explains why the idea of romance has no place in a Jewish marriage.

Love? Yes.

Profound, abiding, unconditional love? YES.

Goodness, empathy, and compassion? YES.

Romance? No.

He explains that in all his years as a rav (which included tons of marriage counseling), he consistently saw the following dynamic:

The chatan or kallah is thrilled with his or her intended and enthusiastic about the wonderful middot of the potential spouse.

Then sometime after the wedding, reality sets in and one sees all the problematic middot of the other person.

As Rav Miller notes (page 5):

She imagined him to be Prince Charming, but now she calls me on the telephone almost every week about this problem he’s making and that problem.

She’s not so impressed with his middos anymore.

Especially nowadays when narcissism & unrealistic expectations run rampant & are even encouraged in secular society, marriage challenges everyone on some level.

And it's meant to.

Yes, you are marrying someone with the potential for greatness.

But you are also marrying a real person.

And no one is perfect except Hashem.

Everyone has potential for greatness.

And everyone has flaws.

As Rav Miller explains:

You settle down to real living, real marriage, and then you begin seeing things you didn’t expect.

You’re marrying a human being after all, someone who has certain important elements of greatness in him — every person has greatness in him — but you must expect ordinary characteristics, too.

Thus, Rav Miller insists:

That’s why it’s important to issue a clarion call to all the girls and boys:

Do not live in a world of make believe!

Don't imagine that marriage is the answer to your quest for happiness!

Because you know what’s going to happen? You're going to discover it is not.

You're going to end up crashing on the rocks of life.

NEWSFLASH: Loyalty to a Spouse Supersedes Loyalty to Parents

Leaving your parents for your spouse doesn't mean that you stop honoring them or sever the relationship with them.

You still maintain your relationship and you still honor them.

But it means your loyalty changes.

This means that you never confide your spouse's flaws in your parents.

This means that if your wife finds hosting your parents too difficult, you side with your wife—no matter how much your parents insist on coming.

Yes, you turn down your parents in the nicest, most apologetic way possible (without implying blame on your spouse).

But your loyalty is to your spouse, not your parents.

Rav Miller says all this on page 5.

Later, on pages 6-8, Rav Miller details this more.

You must not allow others to denigrate your spouse, both behind their back and in front of them.

This includes parents.

By the way, Rav Miller is one of the only people I've ever heard say this so straight-forwardly from a halachic point of view.

Like my peers, I first started attending shalom bayit classes & reading shalom bayit books when I got married over 20 years ago.

Eager & idealistic, we all did this in sync.

Telling wives to stand up to their own parents in favor of their husband? Yes.

There were even stories of rabbis who told couples to cut off all contact with the wife's difficult mother.

But never the husband's difficult mother or father.

Nope. If it was his parents, then it becomes a shalom-destroying free-for-all.

It's true that the halacha is different in that a husband maintains an obligation to honor his parents after marriage, while a wife is exempt (though she must still treat her parents respectfully, of course) because it is absolutely too much to ask of her with all her wifely & maternal responsibilities.

Yet that difference in no way grants a free pass to the husband and his parents to denigrate the wife, or to make demands on the couple, and so on.

Initially, I was shocked when I saw how often the husband's mother or father played a part in shalom bayit problems, even when it led to divorce.

Even more shocking, I initially felt bad for parents whose son withheld a get—only to discover that THEY were the ones encouraging him to make problems with the get!

(I think MAYBE this could be why the Israeli Rabbinate denied burial to the mother of a get-withholder; maybe they cottoned on to the fact that she was pulling strings behind the scenes? I don't know, but it's interesting that they penalized the mother's burial to deal with the son. Would they have done so if she'd been a wholly innocent party? Not sure.)

Don't these people care about their grandchildren, at least? I wondered to myself. Aren't they concerned about their own grandchildren growing up with parents who don't get along or growing up as children of divorce?

Yes, I also saw couples in which the wife's mother caused problems, but like I said, advisors were willing to criticize that and tell the wife to stop enabling it.

At one point, I felt very confused because it looked like yes, a husband's parents may behave however badly they wish and make any demands on their son & daughter-in-law...even if it leads to the couple's divorce.

Does kibud av v'eim trump shalom bayit, even if it leads to divorce? I wondered. Is honoring parents more important that keeping a marriage together, even if young children are involved?

That sure didn't seem right to me, but I couldn't deny what I was observing & hearing.

Even asking rabbis elicited no answer (because they weren't "real" rabbis, which most of my BT friends & I didn't know existed back then, but Rav Miller & the great Chassidic Rebbes & the Kli Yakar not only acknowledged their existence, but also warned against such "rabbis").

Certainly, most people I know have decent marriages.

But it was hard to watch the ones struggling with a difficult husband whose parents played an active role in the fierce arguments that occurred in front of young children ONLY because of in-law incitement.

Anyway, all this caused me to nearly fall off my chair when I first read the Pele Yoetz.

In the section on in-laws, he wrote that even if their son's wife is evil & difficult, they must be very careful "not to make their yoke heavy upon her."

Furthermore, he insisted that not only must the husband's parents refrain from revealing any of her bad points to others, they must davka praise her to others & make sure that others view her with respect.

Please note that the Pele Yoetz speaks about bad qualities that actually exist in the daughter-in-law. Despite her being literally "ra'ah" and "kashat ruach," parents-in-law are still not allowed to complain & gossip about the awful daughter-in-law to others.

All the more so, if the parents-in-law spread actual lies & bear tales of exaggerated "faults" of a decent daughter-in-law.

Then he insisted that the parents of the husband must "guard their souls" against bad-mouthing the wife to the husband (their son) "lest they awaken resentment in his heart against her, and he comes to hate her."

Well, golly gee. There it was all that time.

Like, this idea has been around for nearly 200 years—yet who knew? [sarc]

Then the Pele Yoetz writes: "And woe to them, to a father and mother who cause this!"

That means they're not allowed to do or say anything to cause their son to resent or hate his wife.

Even if the wife is really awful—all the more so if she's decent or even good—if they cause him to resent her and eventually hate her, then they better start fearing for their souls.

In fact, the Pele Yoetz advises parents of the husband that it's better for them to "suffer 1000 evils" than to cause machloket (controversy) between their son and his wife.

You can read all this in Hebrew here on the second page of the PDF, or in English here on pages 487-488 (the last 2 pages of the PDF).

After the suffering I saw among certain couples & their children (both those who live without shalom bayit and those who divorced) with a significant contribution from at least one of his parents, I ended up feeling very upset with all the advisors who had the power to at least mitigate or even stop the disharmony, yet refused to advise couples according to halachot of marital loyalty (and lashon hara).

As stated above, advisors did do this when the wife's parents were making problems.

So they could have tried to put a stop to the husband's & his parents' shenanigans, but I guess they didn't know the halacha applies to the husband too.

Yet when I think about it more deeply, I feel nervous for these same advisors.

If they had the opportunity to create shalom and prevent divorce simply by obeying halacha by advising the couple to set healthy boundaries against his parents' bad behavior and to act with more loyalty toward the wife—yet they didn't, then...well...I sure wouldn't want that on my Heavenly cheshbon.

No way.

Even if the husband & his parents won't listen, the advisor would still get credit for doing the right thing.

Why Bad-Mouthing Family Members Seems So Okay even though It's NOT

Throughout his life, Rav Miller repeatedly stressed the issue of loyalty in marriage and NOT bad-mouthing your spouse.

This seems very confusing today because, for example, in shalom bayit classes, the rebbetzin often offers negative examples of her husband.

Sometimes, she even offers examples that make you hate him.

By the way, I've seen very chashuv rebbetzins do this.

It's mind-boggling when it happens. No one's perfect. I guess she just wasn't thinking.

For example, according to what's said by these rebbetzins, there seems to be an epidemic of rabbis who simply cannot remember which sink is dairy and which is fleishig and constantly inconveniences his rebbetzin & causes kashrut problems by tossing the wrong utensil into the wrong sink.

I'm not talking about occasional mishaps, which we all do.

I mean, she says he NEVER remembers. "He always forgets," she chuckles.

(Which is kind of interesting because if it's a real mistake, you'd think that sometimes he'd get it right simply by chance. But he throws it in the wrong sink ALL the time? This smells like passive-aggression to me. But either way, she still shouldn't be making him look like a dunce or a passive-aggressor to her audience.)

Even if the sinks are the same sinks for 20 years, he still cannot remember despite his ability to remember large swathes of Talmud & Shulchan Aruch.

For some reason, 2 porcelain sinks are way beyond his mental capabilities. At least he doesn't get really confused and throw forks in the toilet. After all, that could be mistaken for a sink if you're REALLY not paying attention.

Or the rash of rabbis who simply cannot turn off an oven.

Despite how ALL oven technicians are men, rabbinical husbands are somehow incapable of figuring out an oven to turn it off, incapable of asking a neighbor to help him, and also incapable of simply removing the oven's plug from the electrical socket.

Yet he manages to run an entire yeshivah. Hmm...

The rebbetzin laughingly blames herself for not telling him how to turn off the oven & burning the cake she worked hard to make.

Fine, I get that. But being a wife & mother involves so much to remember, it would be nice if she needn't pay such a high price every time she forgets.

And guess what? I also don't need to believe that it happened like that.

Seriously. Even though she doesn't mean it to be, it's lashon hara and I'm not allowed to believe that her husband lets her cakes burn due to extreme mental incompetence.

Or that he can't remember which sink is which, even after 20 years.

Of course, these lecturers always laugh off their husband's lack of consideration & seichel as being typical men and therefore, not his fault.

Their good intention is to facilitate a chummy, informal, non-judgmental ambience for their female audience.

But it always made me uncomfortable, which is why I don't listen to most shalom bayit lectures (because it's unfortunately very common).

I went so far as to ask a lashon hara rabbinical expert about this, and he said that you can't do this—and he said that justifying it by being a gender-norm is no excuse. It's still not allowed.

Also, can you imagine the opposite?

Can you imagine if a rabbi gave a shalom bayit class using his wife as the negative example?

Like what if he said, "My wife gets so persnickety at that time of the month, but you know, that's just how women are." Hardy-har-har! (Not.)

Or, "My wife temporarily shorted out the electrical circuits in our home when she tried to fix something. But it was really my fault because I never explained anything to her about drills & wiring, and I really should have because, after all, she's a woman."

See? It sounds so rude when a man does it. But women shouldn't do it either.

Even if it's true, why does the entire world need to know?

Or how it's so fashionable to complain about one's mother-in-law or one's child or one's spouse.

It makes it seem permissible.

But it's not.

The Best Way to Facilitate Happiness in Marriage

The best way to facilitate a good & happy marriage, says Rav Miller, is to marry for the right reason.

And the right reason to marry is for: avodat Hashem—serving Hashem.

If you marry for reasons of kedushah and self-improvement, then you'll be a lot happier in your marriage.

Here's Rav Miller on marrying with the right mindset and then nurturing affection (page 6):

And so v’davak doesn’t mean you have to ‘fall in love’ with your wife or with your husband; if you’re capable of having a certain affection, that’s good enough.

And then all your life, starting from the day after the wedding, both of you begin practicing that affection and it’s an affection and caring that continues to grow always.

It grows into a companionship of nobility and kedusha and dedication to each other – and it all grows from the seeds of loyalty.

Of course, you’ll have to water the seeds with other things too, but it’s from the seeds of loyalty that a successful marriage grows.

This is the best advice, regardless of what kind of marriage one faces.

A good marriage can be made even better, a mediocre marriage can also improve a lot with this attitude, and sometimes, even a bad marriage can also be made better this way.

But even in a marriage to a person so dysfunctional, the marriage never improves no matter what the other spouse tries? Looking at the marriage as personal avodah is one of the most helpful ways to maintain sanity (though nothing's guaranteed when dealing with truly difficult people).

Imbibing Hashkafah from Truly Great People as Opposed to Regular (albeit well-meaning) People

I realize that popular modern shalom bayit attitudes cast the vast majority of the yoke on the wife, however, this isn't Chazal's attitude when they write about it.

As the Pele Yoetz writes (here, at the bottom of page 780 in the book or the second page of the PDF—and yes, my translation differs slightly because I tend to translate more literally than professional translators—or in Hebrew; emphasis mine):

The obligation to be sensitive is cast upon you more than her as Baba Metzia 59a says: "A husband must always be cautious in regards to hurting his wife because since her tears are near, so is her pain.”

Gosh, he even gets it from the Gemara. That's a pretty solid source.

It's important to note that Judaism also makes strong demands on the wife regarding shalom bayit.

However, if you listen to or read popular material on shalom bayit for the past few decades (with the exception of people like Rav Miller, Rav Shalom Arush, and Rav Shimon Gruen, and others), you would think that Judaism places the entire responsibility on the wife—or at least it imposes the main obligation on the wife—and it is simply not true...as we see in plain black-and-white text.

This is why it is so important to access the original material written by tzaddikim and not rely on popular books & speakers for ALL your information.

Yes, I listen to some of the popular speakers too; there's a reason why they're popular!

But if you receive ALL your Judaism from a regular person—including non-Gedolim community rabbis & rebbetzins—then you risk imbibing very well-intentioned yet very non-Jewish ideas disguised as Torah tradition.

This is not done on purpose, but tends to be an unconscious mistake due to all the tumah in the air and the overwhelming exposure to non-Jewish attitudes & modes presented with great appeal in the non-Jewish world.

And yes, that includes this blog! Don't rely on my interpretations! This is why I link to the original sources so you can imbibe them yourself.

Like everyone else, I mean well, but what if I've accidentally misunderstood something? It's better for you to read it in the original & not rely solely on regular people.

And here's Rav Miller (page 9):

...the Torah way of marriage requires constant politeness.

Anything you need from your wife, you always say it with words of politeness. “Sarah, will you please hand me this-and-this.”

Of course, the best thing is to get up and hand it to yourself.

I don’t like it when the husbands sit at the table and shout to the kitchen, “Bring this, bring that.”

Get up and bring it yourself! What are you, a cripple? You have two good feet!

Even if you say it politely: “Sarah, a little more sugar, please, a little more of this,” who made you a monarch to sit at the table and give orders?!

Get up you lazy fellow and do it yourself!

I've only heard of a handful of husbands doing that regularly, so I don't think it's so common. But some of their wives truly find them wearisome & start trying to avoid them at home.

Rav Miller emphasizes the great importance of both spouses speaking to each other nicely, including a stream of compliments and expressions of gratitude.

He also stresses how important it is to keep up the loyalty and good behavior in front of the children.

And another powerful point Rav Miller makes is the necessity to keep up the routine duties in marriage. (This is good against depression too, BTW.)

Neither spouse should take revenge on the other via all sorts of "punishments," like withholding money, or refusing to make dinner or do laundry, or any other type of petty revenge.

Rav Miller very much opposed revenge & "punishing" one's spouse.

What Marriage is Meant to be

Going back to the main point in marriage:

Rav Miller notes that a yes-woman is no eizer (helpmate—which is what Hashem designated a woman for a man).

Someone who agrees with everything you do or say and makes life the easiest-shmeeziest experience in the world does nothing for your inner growth.

Even very compatible spouses with fantastic marriages still need to make adjustments and work through certain issues at some point.

So if we view marriage, not as the Key to Happiness, but as the Key to Eternal Life, we'll do much better.

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Our Fascination with Our World

Where is Hashem in All This?

Appreciation or Obsession?

When Nothing is Everything

The Holy Nutter

Some Quick & Easy Tips to Internalize This Concept

How It All Began

Highly Educated & Independent with a Veneer of "Helpfulness"

Setting the Stage

Mass Abductions Disguised as Adoptions

The Memphis House of Horrors

How the House of Horrors Ended

Crummy Corrupt Crump

The Little Irish Jinn

The Respectable Grandmotherly Gremlin

It Takes a Village to Support Evil

Where the Path of "Progressive" Policies Really Leads

What's behind the Smile & the Charity?

Finding Our Way Out of the Evil Land of Riches

"Hi, We're the Government—and We're Here to Help!"

The Typhoid Mary of Foreign Policy

American Regression under Wilson

Limiting All American Freedoms—Except the Freedom to Get Drunk as a Skunk

The Liberal Lie: "I'm Only Doing This Because I Care Soooo Much..."

Still No Answers

Please daven for Chava Leah bat Esther.

1. Don't Worship Idols

2. No Forbidden Physical Relationships.

3. Don't Murder Anyone.

4. Do Not Steal.

5. You Must Appoint Judges & Police Officers

6. Don't Curse God.

7. Don't Eat Flesh from a Living Animal.

A Final 4 Prohibitions (connected to the above 7, but not unanimously agreed upon)

Final Food for Thought

The Good News: Covid-19 isn't Cholera

What about Pneumonia?

When It's the Cure that Kills

Why the Insistence?

Ancestral Opinions of Other Sources

Final Comments

NEWSFLASH: Loyalty to a Spouse Supersedes Loyalty to Parents

Why Bad-Mouthing Family Members Seems So Okay even though It's NOT

The Best Way to Facilitate Happiness in Marriage

Imbibing Hashkafah from Truly Great People as Opposed to Regular (albeit well-meaning) People

What Marriage is Meant to be

Myrtle Rising

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