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What We Learn from Why Shem Lost the Kahunah: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Lech-Lecha

29/10/2020

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshat Lech-Lecha: The Prince and the King, we discover that Avraham Avinu was a war hero.

The details of Avraham Avinu's military magnificence are never discussed much because, as Rav Miller notes, "they are unimportant" (which shows you Torah priorities right there).

But he was an excellent general & military strategist. He came home to a nation of adoring fans with all he won from his victories.

​Yet whenever we speak of Avraham Avinu, it's always about his spiritual victories—because the real gibur (hero) is the one who conquers his yetzer hara.

How Shem Lost the Kehunah

We never learn much about Shem, one of Noach's sons and the great-great-grandfather of Avraham Avinu.

If you'd like more insights into Shem's personality & accomplishments, you'll find them on pages 4-6.

​Anyway, the original plan for the Kahunah (Priesthood) was for Shem to receive it, and thus all Shem's descendants (Nedarim 32b).

That's very interesting, if you think about it.

From the descendants defined by Sefer Yechusin, Shalshelet HaKabbalah, and Me'am Lo'ez (HERE & HERE), this means that not only the Jews would be kohanim, but also the Arabs, the Indians, the Persians, the Far East Asians, the Armenians, and some Turks. 

And initially, Shem received it. He also received the title Malkitzedek (king of justice) and served as priest to Hashem.

​Shem (as Malkitzedek) went out to greet Avraham Avinu on his return.

​Shem blessed Avraham Avinu with beautiful blessings.

In the first blessing, Shem said, "Blessed is Avraham to the God on High..."

So impressed by Avraham Avinu's accomplishments, both the spiritual & the worldly, Shem lost himself & blessed Avraham Avinu before Hashem.

He mentioned Avraham Avinu before he mentioned Hashem.

It sounds so strange. It doesn't even sound like Shem did anything wrong!

Yet that lost the Kahunah for Shem as a whole.

Here's Rav Miller to explain it (page 7):
A man who forgets about the Keil Elyon, the Uppermost Power, even if it’s just for a moment, defaults his privilege to be the progenitor of the Am Hashem!

The Chosen People must have Hakodosh Boruch Hu uppermost in their thoughts always.

It means that even when you’re talking to the biggest tzaddik; let’s say you’re going out to welcome the greatest rosh yeshiva and you’re dancing around him and singing, if for a moment you forget about whom you’re really dancing and you think you’re dancing about this tzaddik, then you lose out!

If you become bribed by his personality, if you become bewitched by this great man and for a moment you forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu, it means that something is wrong.

And that was the error that Malkitzedek made on that day; for a moment he lost himself and he put Avrohom first. It was only for a moment – he caught himself right away, but for the one who wants to be the father of the Am Hashem, it’s not good enough.

The Real Greatness of Avraham Avinu

Immediately, Avraham Avinu responded (whether verbally or in thought): "Is it proper to
first say a bracha to me, and only afterwards to give a bracha to Keil Elyon?”

​And this is the real greatness of Avraham Avinu.

Says Rav Miller (quoting the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim): Avraham Avinu never stopped thinking about Hashem.

And that was greater than anything else Avraham Avinu ever did.

​This is the great test in This World: Always remember Hashem.

​Whatever we're doing—no matter how mundane—never forget about Hashem.

The Correct Hashkafah: Great People are Ladders. Use Them Wisely.

On page 9, you can read about how Avraham Avinu seen in his time.
  • He was extremely wealthy.
  • He composed many books, which people read.
  • He had tens of thousands of disciples.
  • He was handsome.
  • He was charismatic (in a real way, due to his saintliness & noble countenance).
  • He was a military hero.
  • He taught the Egyptians mathematics & astronomy (from Josephus, quoting Berossus the Akkadian).
  • He was very holy.
  • He was profoundly wise.
  • He was a Prophet.

It's easy to get lost in one's awe & reverence for such a truly great personality.

But Rav Miller says no. Watch out!

This is what we learn from Shem's seemingly innocent mistake.

A Tzaddik, a Rav, a Rebbe, a Rosh Yeshivah—they're all only ladders to reach Hashem.

Yes, we respect them & listen to them.

But at the same time, we know that Hashem put them among us to help us reach HASHEM.

Rav Miller loved all Jews. He loved chassidim. He never allowed anyone to criticize any Rebbe. He always crushed criticism of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

He particularly admired the Satmar Rav Yoel Teitelbaum.

And here is Rav Miller's beautifully metaphorical take on the cause of religious infighting among Jews and how to prevent it with the right outlook (pages 12-13):
​The truth is that you always must keep in mind that your Rebbe is only a ladder – the Rebbe is only there to make it easier to climb up to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

But if a man just stands on the ladder and never reaches the shelf, then we tell him, “What are you standing there for?!”

There are a lot of people standing on ladders, and they’re all yelling at each other.

This one says, “My ladder is better,” and this one says, “My ladder is better than yours.”

So we tell them, “Get going already! Go higher!”

Once you understand that you’re climbing a ladder, then all Rebbes become “My Rebbe.”

All Rebbes!

​The Satmerer Rebbe! Ahh! Zol ehr lang leiben! He’s a wonderful man. A big warrior; and he accomplished for us so much.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, zol ehr lang leiben! He accomplished so much and he’s still accomplishing.

​They should both be our Rebbes because they both can bring us to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and that’s all that matters.

Rav Miller was not a chassid, but a litvak. 

And he had appreciation, respect, and ahavat Yisrael for all legitimate Torah groups.

"Ladders."
​
That's the key.

A Kosher Wife Makes Sure that Both She & Her Husband Put the Will of Hashem before Their Own

Today, many women remain silent (maybe disapprovingly, but still silent) in the face of their husband's lack of integrity or whatever.

Now, if she can't say something, then she can't.

Some husbands are too combative, too corrupt, or too blind to listen.

It's simply not worth it for her to speak to him about what he's doing wrong; the price is too much to pay.

But if she can say something, she should.

Conversely, many women also do things against halacha "because my husband says so" or "because he likes this/wants me to do this."

The happens the most with regard to tsniyut, in which a great many married women dress with some lack of tsniyus in order to please her husband.

Another scenario occurs when the husband is such a great person. He's a great knowledgeable scholar too. His wife respects him so much—and for good reason.

Yet even then, she shouldn't blindly trust his judgement when she sees him doing something she knows he shouldn't.

​Even very great people can get caught up in their own idealism, and so on.

So Rav Miller goes on at length about how your husband's will should never come before Hashem's Will.

​Here's a snippet (page 14):
The answer is, that you should never forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu!

Even the most pious wife who understands that a loyal wife bends to the will of her husband; and even when it concerns a great husband, a gadol, but still, he doesn’t come before Hakodosh Boruch Hu!

If something seems that it can be corrected, you shouldn’t keep quiet because even your husband’s great personality shouldn’t cause you to forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

And therefore, because his wife didn’t say anything she was punished too. She heard; she was told what was happening, and she should have taken action.

She was a great woman; she wasn’t a plain person and she’d figure out a way to make a protest in the way that’s fitting for a wife with such a great husband.

Whatever it was, she’d have to do it, because it could be he’s the greatest husband, the gadol hador; it could even be Avrohom Avinu, but no matter, Hakodosh Boruch Hu comes first.

The Honor of Hashem Precedes the Honor of Parents

On pages 14-18, Rav Miller delves into the complex subject of honoring parents, mentioning ideas I hadn't heard before.

The idea here is to honor parents for Hashem's Sake.

Honoring a parent is about honoring Hashem.

That's why, if a parent requests or even demands that a child do something against the Torah, the child must not obey.

The refusal should be carried out nicely & respectfully. But the child should not capitulate.​

The Big Lesson

On pages 18-20, Rav Miller discusses how people interact with others in a way that prioritizes the person's desires over Hashem's desires. 

This occurs with lashon hara, chanifah (flattery), and other aspects we don't always pay attention to in conversation.

And ultimately, this is what we learn from the loss of the Kahunah from all Shem's descendants.

Instead, the Kahunah transferred to Avraham Avinu, from where it ultimately transferred to the descendants of Aharon HaKohen where it remains until today.

​Hashem comes first.

Make sure you check out page 21 for the practical exercise to help internalize this concept! 

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How the Baby Steps in This World Create Your Future World of Beautiful Pulsating Light

28/10/2020

 
While gaining a lot of encouragement from Judaism's emphasis on the power of baby-steps in the right direction, I struggled to understand how that worked within the context of the thorough scrutiny & Heavenly judgement that awaits every person in the end.

Rav Avigdor Miller enthused about how 5 minutes of a self-accounting becomes a game-changer, and also how thinking of Hashem for the amount of time it takes to walk from one streetlight to the next makes you one in a million and changes everything.

Or what about how 60 seconds can win you Olam Haba? (HERE.)

Or how Rav Itamar Schwartz recommends starting off talking to Hashem for only 30 seconds a day? (HERE.)

Or with Rav Bender's story of the crude butcher (HERE) who did teshuvah to the point that he died with "a good name" in his community. 

But the butcher never became a tzaddik.

And Rav Bender, who was a tzaddik & knew tzaddikim up close & personal, still seemed so content with the man's final outcome.

Yes, the butcher made tremendous spiritual progress in his life, but he never reached the elevated levels of Rav Bender and other tzaddikim.

​Yet Rav Bender recalls the butcher's final outcome ("a good name") with such relish & satisfaction.

How does all that fit into the ultimate scrutiny?

How can those minutes add up, especially with all the other distractions & tumah tugging at & influencing us?

​Can we really achieve a good position in Olam Haba with such small steps & limited progress?

The answer lies in Rav Dessler's Strive for Truth.

Creating Powerful Roots of Pulsating Beautiful Light

In the section on Being & Having in Part 3 of Volume II, Rav Dessler explains the connection between our good deeds in This World & our experience in Olam Haba (The World to Come, The Next World).

Gratitude plays a massive part in this.

Whatever gratitude a person cultivated in This World, it continues to multiply in the Next World...forever.

Rather than a stagnant world of pleasure, Olam Haba pulsates with continuously renewed pleasure as the soul experiences higher & higher revelations of Hashem's Glory, which increase the soul's gratitude, which thus opens up even higher revelations...all in a never-ending ascent of delightful self-abandonment.

(In This World, wild self-abandonment leads to animalistic behavior, which leads to terrible sins. But in Olam Haba, the goal is self-abandonment from the side of holiness, which means the nullification of the ego, which then enables you to experience maximum pleasure.)

In other words, Rav Dessler says that Olam Haba is an ever-ascending spiral of spiritual progress.

And that progress started down here.

This World.

This icky, polluted, stressful, exhausting world.

Basically, every single time you do anything to overcome your yetzer hara (especially with the awareness you're doing it because Hashem said so), you create a whole new root from which your spiritual progress can grow.

Every. Single. Time.

Because a Jew's entire purpose in This World is to reveal Hashem's Glory (something with which non-Jews can also assist the Nation of Israel), a single instance of choosing the right act over the wrong act reveals Hashem's Glory.

No one here generally notices this revelation, but it is certainly noted in Shamayim!

It happens whether you perceive it...or not.

This is very special, especially in our times when so much of morality is considered repugnant or on object of mockery & derision.

Have you ever been derided because you have a filter or image-blocker on your Internet—including by an old-fashioned middle-age aunt who should know better because she grew up with better values? (It happened to me.)

Why do you filter your Internet? After all, it only inconveniences you.

Your filter means you care about your soul.

​Hashem doesn't want us encountering certain venues of tumah (spiritual impurity), so you place a filter or an image-blocker.

In other words, you're doing it for Hashem.

And how many times have you restrained your tongue from anger or lashon hara?

Especially lashon hara to someone with whom you're genuinely close and would never betray you—that's lashon hara with no perceivable consequences. So why did you resist?

Only because Hashem forbade it.

Maybe a burst of temper would make things go better for you. Maybe you enjoy the cathartic release it brings (some don't experience guilt after their tantrum). Maybe your family or employees will get their act together out of intimidation. (Unfortunately, it works—at least for the short term...)

But you refrain. You overcome that particular yetzer hara.

Why?

Only because Hashem said losing your temper is like worshiping idols. It's a denial of Hashem's intimate supervision; it's the opposite of emunah.

And each time you do this, you create an invisible root.

That root definitely exists...only no one can see it.

​But it's THERE.

And in the World to Come, all these roots you created will combine together to form an unimaginably vibrant field of light—light that carries you on the journey of spiritual progress you started all the way down here.

Tzaddikim spend every moment making roots of light. So they experience amazing delight in the Next World.

But we can also do this. 

Those roots exist.

And that's why these baby steps, these 10 minutes here, and the 30 seconds, and the amount of time it takes to walk from one utility pole to the next—they all mean so much.

They all end up combining together to take you higher & further than you ever dreamed.
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For more from Rav Dessler on how to do this, please see:
  • ​Rav Eliyahu Dessler's Visualization to Free You from the Trap of This Upside-Down World: Are You a Lowly Slave to Random Feet or...a Fabulously Successful Shoe Magnate?
  • ​​3 Inspiring Stories of Utilizing the "Instruments" Hashem Gives Us for Better...or for Worse​
  • Looking to the He'der Aspect of Gehinnom for Inspiration


Update on The Nations Established by the Sons of Noach

28/10/2020

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For anyone interested, the post The Nations Established by the Sons of Noach: Where are They Now? has been overhauled.

A couple of mistakes corrected, a couple of things clarified, plus the addition of 5 old maps (to show the kingdoms mentioned that no longer exist, like Lydia, Bohemia, Kerman, Shirvan, Persia, etc.), 2 modern maps, and a photo of the ruins of the ancient synagogue in Sardis (which lies in modern-day Turkey)—all to enable a better understanding of how the sons of Noach spread & developed.


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The Generation of the Flood has Reincarnated into Our Generation: Here's the Evidence & Also What You can Do to Protect Yourself & Others

27/10/2020

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Since I was a little girl, I enjoyed the stories dealing with Noach's time.

And they're even more fascinating now when seen through the lens of our Sages.

So even when it's not Parshat Noach (which really begins at the end of Parshat Beresheit), I'm still eager to learn about & discuss it.

​(All of the following has been extracted from the Me'am Lo'ez.)

Abortion is the Destructive Solution, Not the Compassionate Solution

The Me'am Lo'ez on Beresheit 23:6:5-6 discusses the people of that time—people we generally define as giants.

Several types existed, however this post focuses on one type: the Nefilim.

Chazal offers several reasons for their name. The root of Nefilim is nafal—falling. They were so tall, they looked like they were falling.

In the preceding verse (verse 4), the Torah writes Nefilim as if it reads nafalim—aborted infants.

The Me'am Lo'ez notes that with all the wanton behavior occurring in that generation, illegitimate pregnancies became common.

To save themselves from the shame of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, these pregnant single women were given drugs to induce abortion.

(Modern society credits itself with the invention of a pill to induce abortion, but Torah commentaries show people already invented it thousands of years ago.)

So in addition to reading the verse as "the Nefilim were in the land," the Me'am Lo'ez reads it as "the aborted infants were in the earth": "The earth was literally filled with them."

This reminds me of the dumpsters behind abortion clinics, filled with the remains of aborted babies.

Pro-life activists sometimes sneak into these dumpsters to photograph the gruesome remains of abortions carried out on an unborn baby developed enough to adopt human form.

The activists are accused of using gruesome shock tactics, but they're merely photographing the reality of abortion.

(BTW, I'm against using the photos out in public, like on the sidewalk, for the same reason I'm against any gruesome or indecent image randomly assaulting the eyes of the public. But using these photos during an official presentation is correct.)

Another reason for abortion was because the regular women fell in love with the giants of that time, but could not physically bear such large children.

So they aborted them.

Pre-Flood Flaunting—Just Like Now

In the time of preceding the Flood, all sorts of immorality took place (sort of like now).

One bizarre aspect of that generation was that when they first heard about the punishment in store for their world, they responded by intensifying their corrupt behavior.

Again, this reminds me of the "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!" attitude prevalent today.

Also, in the "End of the World" genre, characters sometimes respond by committing depraved acts because "now's our chance!"

So upon hearing about the upcoming punishment, people engaged in every kind of depravity, including men with men or with animals. They even performed wedding ceremonies to legitimize these depraved relationships.

Women made themselves up and displayed themselves in the streets, seeking out wanton liaisons.

Men fathered many children without marriage, producing offspring all over the world.

Again and again, the Me'am Lo'ez emphasizes the lack of shame in that society. People did all the above without shame.

On the contrary, they reveled in their debauchery.

We see all this in our time.

For example...

With all the formality of the British royal family, I was surprised to read about the future king of England publicly shacking up with his significant other—the future queen of England—prior to their engagement.

Also, because she has since proven herself to be a paradigm of propriety, fitting so well into her royal role as Duchess-Princess, it's still weird to me that they were so lackadaisical prior to marriage—and especially prior to their engagement.

Yes, I know the royal families have always been immoral & hypocritical, but flaunting impropriety rather than keeping it private shows a huge crack in social norms.

​After all, "all the best people are doing it." So why shouldn't everyone?

What's more, you have all these European princesses willfully producing children outside the framework of marriage—their only concern whether these children inherit a title or not.

And with all the out-of-wedlock children & loose behavior pre-Flood, why did shame motivate women to abort?

After all, it's clear that generation commonly produced children outside of marriage.

Perhaps it's like today: An unwanted pregnancy is considered an easily preventable mistake in the mid-to-upper classes.

That stratum of society considers accidentally impregnated females stupid, not only because they got pregnant in the first place, but because they carry the baby to term when a practical "solution" (abortion) is so easily available to them.

So you rarely see a mid-to-upper class woman carrying an unwanted baby to term in the USA.

They either use contraception or abortion.

Attention Climate Change Activists!: Natural Disasters aren't So Natural

Hashem gave people many warnings a several hundred years to repent.

He flooded two-thirds of the world twice in Enosh's time.

He brought great earthquakes in the mountains, which placed the world in darkness—could this mean ash from eruptions?

He produced constant thunder and lightening.

When Metushelach died, the Sun rose in the West and set in the East (rather than its usual East-West path). But people insisted it was just a natural phenomenon.

He sent Noach to warn people.

But nothing helped.

Again, we see all this now.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, fires, disease, and flooding always bring calls to carry out useless gestures to reverse "global warming" and/or calls to impeach President Trump.

But these natural disasters never bring calls for repentance (unless you happen to be in a religious community).

The Danger of Too Much Luxury & Freedom

Despite the incidents of natural disasters, Hashem made life very easy and pleasant for people.

They felt rich, untouchable, and strong.

They scoffed at the need for Hashem, even to bring rain. Because they lived surrounded by an abundance of water wells, they felt like, "What do we need God for?" (That attitude is SO characteristic of today!)

They were strong—and also very healthy. They suffered no disease.

Wheat kernels grew as big as melons, then Hashem sent a wind to blow them off onto the ground so people needn't thresh the wheat nor go digging around for tiny kernels.

But instead of feeling grateful to Hashem for all that free time & ease, and instead of utilizing that ease & freedom to build a relationship with Hashem, people used these gifts to sink into decadence & depravity.

Seven days before the Flood, Hashem changed the Sun's path to rise in the West and set in the East.

During that 7-day period, Hashem allowed that generation to experience such great pleasure, it approached the delights of the World to Come!

(He did that so the destruction of the Flood would cause them even more distress, coming after such pleasure.)

This is also similar to today. 

Even though before covid-19, many people felt stressed out, but a lot of that stress related to acquisition.

The truth is that even poor people in America live better than rich people did 2 centuries ago.

Cars, electricity, indoor plumbing, supermarket aisles full of everything to meet your needs in all different flavors—even $1 stores provide so much.

And the Internet brought great pleasure straight to one's fingertips.

Free movies, free games, free music—whether legal or not, it's all there & oh-so easy to access.

"Hi, This is Cindy from Dor HaMabul Reporting to You Live..."

Rav Itamar Schwartz mentions several times Chazal's prediction that the Generation of the Flood will reincarnate in our times (i.e. the End of Days).

​(Please see page 10 of this PDF.)

I think we're seeing this now.

The similarities between their generation & ours are too great to dismiss.

Interestingly, Chazal also says that the Generation of the Flood has no part in the World to Come.

I guess that means they cease to exist, including on the soul-level.


But they exist right now. They're all around us.

The reason why we need to maintain this awareness is because the same people who set societal norms & values for us today are the same people who horribly corrupted the world several thousand years ago.

And they're doing it again.

These people have NO future. When they die, that's it for them.

Do we really want to get caught up with such people?

Where are they taking us?

Around 4000 years ago, these same souls danced down a path of revelry & abandon that led to unimaginable destruction.

And they're doing it again.

Let's step off their path & travel our own, even if our path doesn't seem as smooth.

Our path leads in the right direction—to Geula.

​Their path leads toward destruction.
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Here's another link with a little more information on the topic:
communications-from-stars-or-angels-in-todays-ufo-cults-nothing-new-the-generation-of-the-flood-did-that-too.html
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The Me'am Lo'ez on the Descendants of the Sons of Noach

26/10/2020

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This post is basically a continuation of The Nations Established by the Sons of Noach: Where are They Now?

It's all based on the Me'am Lo'ez on Parshat Noach.

Cham

The Kaftorim (offspring of Mitzrayim from Cham) are the pygmies.

The Patrusim & Kasluchim (also offspring of Mitzrayim from Cham) indulged in the immorality of exchanging wives. From these adulterous unions came the Plishtim (Philistines).

The Lehavim (also offspring of Mitzrayim from Cham) acquired this name because their faces were like flames (not sure if in shape or some other quality). Lahav is "flame" in Hebrew. 

Kush, Mitzrayim, Put, and Canaan were the leaders of the plan to build the infamous Tower of Babel.​

Yefet

Tiras (Yefet's youngest son) initiated the custom of wearing gold or silver rings on the fingers.​

Shem

Ever (son of Shelach from Shem) was the biggest tzaddik of these offspring & he also possessed tremendous genius. Both these attributes inspired him to establish the incredible yeshivah in which our Patriarchs studied, commonly known as "the yeshivah of Shem and Ever."

Chatzermavet (literally: "courtyard of death) was the grandson of Ever (via Yaktan), who descended from Shem.

A nation of ascetics descended from Chatzermavet. The Me'am Lo'ez states they went around unclothed "like the Dervishes" and "were interested only in death."

Only recently did I have a clue as to what this could possibly mean.

Could this be the ghoulish Aghori cult on the banks of the Ganges River in India?

(For more on them, please see: How Going to the Extremes of "Transcendent" Spirituality Leads to Disturbing Death Rituals & Cannibalism.) 

This aligns with Rav Gedalia's theory in Shalshelet HaKabbalah that all the sons of Yaktan ended up in the East. While certainly there are countries even farther East than India, his specific term is that they ended up on the eastern "side," which easily includes India, as well as the Far East.


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CUSTOM MADE – Nechumelle Jacobs's Poetic Glimpse into Appreciating the Good within Life's Grueling Ordeals

25/10/2020

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This post features another poem by Mrs. Nechumelle Jacobs.

I love all her poems, but this one encapsulated all-in-one so much of what she has expressed in several of her previous poems.

The challenges of Cerebral Palsy (wheelchair-bound, can only used her right hand, with chronic pain in one leg), the forced dependence on others for things we often don't even notice (like how we're able to go about our lives without custom-made socks)—all this combined with a highly intelligent & independent personality, and her profoundly beautiful relationship with her husband—a man so special, he makes Nechumelle feel all her suffering is worthwhile for such a soulmate.

CUSTOM MADE

Because throughout my life, I endure a disability
My socks and splints are custom made for me

This ensures the fit is completely correct
As my feet can’t handle the slightest defect

It takes a ‘master of his work’ to do the measure
So that as I wear them, I do not feel any pressure

This thought occurred to me in recent days
Hashem custom-made my life in so many ways

He created my life with His guarantee and seal
He senses that my life is quite a big ordeal

So He gave me family and friends to help reach my goal
And since I married, I have my husband – we share a soul

Looking back throughout my life, this observation I truly got to see
The turbulent times gave me my marriage, despite my disability

©Nechumelle Jacobs – 21st October 2020

(Used with permission)
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For previous poems by Nechumelle Jacobs, please see:​
  • "WE ARE HERE TO GROW" – An Inspiring Poem by Nechumelle Jacobs
  • Poetic Inspiration for the Day of Judgment from Nechumelle Jacobs: "SUPER SENSITIVITY"
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Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Noach: Why Davka a Flood?

23/10/2020

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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 (here's Part I), 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.

Here's Part II–Beware the Government that Wants to "Help" You: The Exceptionally "Progressive" City & Its House of Horrors
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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:
  1. To enforce these 7 Universal Commandments
  2. 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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