Sperber Leaves Orthodoxy?

The JTA reports today that Rabbi Dr. Daniel Sperber is the chancellor of a new rabbinical school - the aptly named Canadian Yeshiva and Rabbinical School - which is to be the "middle ground between Conservative Judaism and what they describe as an increasingly rigid Orthodox movement."

So check out the leadership: all but Sperber are Conservative rabbis; faculty? All conservative rabbis, including Joel Roth and Wayne Allen, two of the brightest and most halakhically knowledgeable of Conservative rabbis.

Going through the entire faculty list yields only one non-JTS rabbi, Aaron Levy who's a musmakh of Chovevei... which seriously doesn't help matters for both schools.

So finally finally finally Sperber outs himself for what he really is: a conservative rabbi. Yeah, Dan, we Orthodox are so rigid and have 'moved to the right' - either that or you and your cronies have been pushing the goalposts so far to the left that all I had to do was stand still.

But, you may say, the JTA article does state:

Sperber, who is on the advisory board of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a liberal Orthodox rabbinical school in New York founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss, says the major hurdle will be attracting more Orthodox faculty. If the new school becomes identified as a Conservative institution -- a possibility, given that most of its leadership is Conservative -- Sperber said he will withdraw.

How seriously should I take that? Well, a hallmark of conservative halakha has been a remarkable short-sightedness; they advocate rapid, jerky change and then wonder why nobody follows D'orytas anymore. In the same vein, Sperber has jumped ship without bothering for the consequences (just as he did by advocating for the so-called partnership minyans).

Bottom line is that he has been a conservative rabbi for a while now. And the crazy part is that people will interpret that statement, and he will react to that statement, by thinking it's a slur. It's only a slur if you are a bigot. I'm not: it's perfectly OK to be a conservative Jew... just don't hide what you're doing behind the veneer of Orthodoxy, that's assur.

Yet for Sperber to believe that the yeshiva is good enough to join as chancellor, but only if it's not 'conservative' means that he's a bigot. Look, Dan, do you agree with your faculty? So what if they're "conservative" in name - you agree with them in what they do. So join them in name. Do everyone a favor and stop being a meisit.

P.S. I love how all the faculty with "s'mikha" are called "Rav." I believe this is in reaction to Rav Moshe Feinstein's practice of phonetically spelling out the English word "rabbi" in Hebrew when referring to non-Orthodox rabbis. Either that or it's the standard 'through the looking glass' way that conservative rabbis take standard halakhic terms and infuse them with their new denomination specific meanings.

Pic is of Sperber from his new yeshiva's website

Top Pulpit Rabbis

This has got to be a first. Newsweek has put together a list of the top-25 pulpit rabbis in America - a subject I know a little bit about - and I actually agree with much of the rankings. Go figure.

Dummies Update

OK. Here is the worst title of them all:

Depression for Dummies.

It'd be funny except I've known a few people who've attempted suicide in my time as a professional...

Rabbi Akiva and his students

Recently, I commented on this this fellow's blog; his entry was:

Posted by Larry Lennhoff at 9:15 AM, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 A quick thought about Rabbi Akiva. It is out of season I know, but it occurred to me that 1000 pairs (couples?) of students died for each additional year Rabbi Akiva stayed away after from Rachel after he became a Talmid Chacham.

My response:

Hi Larry,

Just floated to your blog after seeing a comment you made on Hirhurim.

I gave a drasha on this topic. I think the answer to your question is seen in the Aggadata (TB Nedarim 50a) - when Rabbi Akiva returned after 14 years with his 24000 students, they repudiated Akiva's wife: "So she went to see him, but the disciples wished to repulse her. ‘Make way for her,’ he told them, ‘for my [learning] and yours are hers.’"(translation Soncino)

Hence I think the Gemara is telling us that the nature of the students' sin was related to Akiva's absence from his wife.

See this article for some more sources. Just to expand on the point I made in the Drasha: the fact that the original students - i.e. the ones who died - didn't get to see their Rosh Yeshiva in a human, loving, normal family relationship, they grew to believe that their Torah knowledge was more important than human relations. The fact that they would brush a woman aside - to treat her with disrespect - can be extrapolated to how they must have treated each other.

{2009 Update: Pic of Hadrian and Rabbi Akiva from here.}

Am I a Jewish Blog?

I wonder why I spend more time about regular subjects than Jewish ones. Israel don't count.

Meaning that there are developments in the Jewish world that I don't track and don't comment on. It could be from the paradox of a rabbi-blogger - that I have a non-anonymous pulpit wherein to talk about Jewish Stuff and I use my anonymous blog to cover the rest of my interests.

Or it could be that since a blog is available to the world, I don't want to air dirty laundry.

Sadly it could be because I'm not that much part of a hermetic Jewish community (like Brooklyn, Teaneck, Riverdale) and considering my wife's profession (college professor) there's a good chance for that situation to continue. As it is, topics like "proper behavior in summer bungalow colonies" is not part of my experience or interest.

Backpost finished 8/21/07, started 4/18/07. I had the first two sentences.

Gay Rabbis and Newsweek's Best

Two things that just happened today.

1. JTS and Gay Rabbis

JTS will now ordain gay rabbis. I'm not sure what ramifications this will have. One thought is that the
right-wing of JTS will split off, a la UTJ (Halivni etc). Conservative already broke from d'oryta Judaism when - in 1950! - they allowed driving on Shabbat. You'd think that the tumult in the early 80s about ordaining women would be less controversial than sublimating michalelei Shabbas b'farhesia, but you'd be wrong.

Is ordaining homosexuals worse than driving on Shabbas? I'd say no: because halakha does not recognize homosexuality as an identity - it's an act not an ontology - there's no problem with a gay rabbi, per se. Gay marriage is even less of an issue because, at worst, it's just a problem of sheim shav, and that happens all the time in their movement. Driving on Shabbas is worse, therefore, because it basically gave a blanket heter to violate the basics of Shabbat (creating fiery explosions) and thus removed the sanctity of Shabbat fully.

On the other hand, it does not say so completely explicitly that you can't drive on Shabbat in the Torah (it's close to explicit, though) - while homosexuality is pretty durn explicitly forbidden in the strongest terms. So looking at the issue in a broad sense, while driving on Shabbat violates the Day of Rest, and a Shabbat-violator, according to Chazal, is the equivalent of someone who denies God (because God rested on Shabbat, there's a logic there), allowing gay marriage basically states that there's no divinity to the Torah.

Thus stated, is denying God's Creation worse than denying the validity and sanctity of the written Torah? That's a true lifeboat question.

The Best Newsweek Rabbis

Newsweek, in its wisdom, created a list of the top 50 most influential
American rabbis. Yes, there's the head of Chabad (#2) and Satmar (#15) but
the list, naturally, is ignorant of the wider frum community (e.g. Rabbi Lamm
is #44 but no Rosh Yeshiva of YU, like Rav Schachter, is on the list - even though Schachter is the true head of the institution, and halakhic head of the OU to boot).

However, I think the list reflects what I've described as the 'Wexner
Fellowship' (or UJA, Federation) frame of reference for the Orthodox community. I mean, Shmuely Boteach (#9) and Marc Schneier (#33) but not Rav Malkiel Kutler (head of Lakewood), or Rav Aaron Schechter (head of Chaim Berlin) etc. I'm not
denying that the 50 people on the list have influence but Newsweek (surprise
surprise) lacks effective insight into a not insignificant part of the
Jewish world.

Lincoln & The Republican Party

I've been catching up on my Lincoln reading and considering that today we're somehow we're supposed to be celebrating his birthday (or Washington's, or all Presidents', or Mattresses), it seems appropriate to deal with a recent controversy about the man.

In my Rosh Hashanah sermon this year I mentioned how three men seem to be so great, so inclusive, that every possible adherent group wants to claim the man as their spiritual ancestor: Abraham the Patriarch, Maimonides, and Lincoln.

For Abraham's legacy, see any of the bazillion major and minor religions that use the Bible. For Maimonides, see how his pronouncements are used by Modern Orthodox, Reform, Charedi, and Chasidic groups.

Lincoln is our American Abraham. [Side note for a true story; up until when I was in kindergarten, I thought Abraham the Patriarch and Abe the President were the same person; they were talked about in the same manner, and how many people are called Abraham anyway? Name another one in American history and I'll give you a coke]

Anyway. Last week, Congressman Don Young (R-AK) while voting for the "surge" quoted what he thought were words from Lincoln:

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged."

It should be obvious to anyone who knows Abe that he could never have said such drivel. He fought a war to preserve the rights of the Constitution and was constantly pardoning people from the death penalty - how could he call for people to die just for expressing their constitutionally protected beliefs?

Thankfully, it was quickly shown that Abe never said it. The quote was invented by some right-wing stooge. The full story of the quote can be seen here from Editor & Publisher:

But Lincoln never said that. The conservative author who touched off the misquotation frenzy, J. Michael Waller, concedes that the words are his, not Lincoln's. Waller says he never meant to put quote marks around them, and blames an editor [at the magazine Insight] for the mistake and the failure to correct it. We also note other serious historical errors in the Waller article containing the bogus quote.

It takes a special kind of idiot to think that the greatest president who ever lived, possibly the greatest American (besides my Mom) who ever lived, would be able to say filth invented by a right-wing crank.

It gets better when you see what Lincoln actually did say. I love this (h/t Sullivan):

"Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after having given him so much as you propose. If to-day he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, Â? 'I see no probability of the British invading us;' but he will say to you, 'Be silent: I see it, if you don't.'

"The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood," - Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to William H. Herndon, Feb. 15, 1848.

(Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, had written him arguing that the president as commander-in-chief possessed the right to initiate a war against Mexico without specific Congressional authorization.)"

To clarify Lincoln - while in Congress - criticized the sitting President's rationale for the Mexican War. Which means that the Lincoln of the Republican-stooges would call for the hanging of the real Lincoln.

Lincoln is not a Modern Republican

But here's the bigger point: why do we keep associating Lincoln with the Republican party? Sure, I know, he was the first of that party to be president, but by that logic we should say that James Buchanan is indicative of the Democratic party. The parties of 1860 have no resemblance to what they are now. The 1860 Democrats were about racism and entrenched power - the very same stuff represented by the Republicans of today (and except for the amazing Teddy Roosevelt, pretty much every Republican from 1868 on).

I want to call for a moratorium on labeling Republicans "the Party of Lincoln" and that all references to Lincoln being a founder of the current party to be considered irony.

Lincoln fought and died for freedom, dignity, and equality. He was a bleeding-heart liberal, a supporter of the common laborer against the wealthy, a staunch opponent of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing party, a supporter of civil rights, an opponentnt the death-penalty, and unaffiliated with any religious denomination. He is a liberal and just as James Buchanan would be a 2007 Republican, Lincoln would be 2007 Democrat.

Jewish Agency Materials

The Jewish Agency (Sochnut) has some useful material for the current situation, inlcuding a translation of the special prayer for the 3 recent captives [verbatim below except in italics]:

May it be Your will, oh L-rd, our G-d and G-d of our Forefathers, That the verses of these Psalms which we have read before You today will find favor and will be accepted as if spoken by King David, Your servant and annointed one, of blessed memory.

May You do this for the sake of Your Holy Names that is written in them, alluded to and included within them. Accept mercifully and graciously our prayer and request.

May our supplication come before You that You shall take pity, forgive and have mercy upon Your servants, the son of Your handmaidens,

Gilad, son of Aviva Shalit
Ehud, son of Malka Goldwasser
Eldad, son of Tova Regev

And You shall save them in both physical salvation and compassion, together with all the hostages and prisoners of Israel, Your People.

"He who liberates prisoners in good health, may He redeem them from their captors. Bring them forth from captivity to freedom, from slavery to redemption, from darkness into light, Restore them to complete health, both in mind and body. Fortify their spirit and increase their strength, spreading happiness and joy, So that they may be strengthened and healed, and know eternal happiness.

May the proliferation of public prayer, protest and grief on his behalf, far and wide, act on their behalf to protect, shield and redeem them from the house of his imprisonment.

And He will cast asunder their evil sentence that has been decreed, their good deeds shall be enumerated before the Almighty blessed be He, including all that they have done and accomplished on behalf of our people and our inheritance.

So shall He cast asunder his evil sentence through the Holy Name that is alluded to in the initials of the words ""??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ????; accept the delight of Your People, exalt us and purify us exceedingly.

May He fulfill for them the Biblical declaration, as it is written: And those redeemed by the L-rd shall return and come to Zion in gladness, with eternal happiness on their heads; they shall know rejoicing and happiness; sorrow and grief shall fade. May this come to pass speedily in our days. Amen." (Isaiah 35:10)

Am I Back?

I hope I'm back. Don't tell everyone, just in case this bursts early.

But I miss the writing.

The reason why this went on a year hiatus is 'cuz:

1. blogger.com was causing me much agita and
   
2. people were reading the Blog and nagging me in two ways:


1. asking why I had time to write a blog when I hadn't responded to their self-absorbed desires, or
   
2. how could I say such things when my public persona is a carefully produced shell that combines equal parts Chofetz Chaim and Abraham Lincoln - and neither of them would say such nasty things about nice people.

Anyway, if you out there get the urge to ask either of those questions, I request that, like the Chofetz Chaim, you reign in your yappers.

As it is, blogging for The Styx is the reverse of the most common model. People often blog to create a voice for their otherwise anonymity. As a public (type) figure, I have both a name and a literal pulpit, so I use blogging as an opportunity to be faceless and muted.

When you live in a fishbowl, there's an advantage to being able to shout into a void.

Day of the Timed Disasters

Tuesday was nuts. First of all, my Tuesday's are generally my busiest, with my office hours in the morning and my shiur in the evening. This week was to be the long awaited "Holiness of Israel" class that was canceled last week for sickness and postponed from two weeks ago for the conference.

Two members were in the hospital early in the week (and for a small shul, this is significant). I had hoped to get down to see them after lunch. But, by the time I left the shul, it had started to snow. By the end of lunch, a full storm had hit, sending this sleepy New England hamlet apoplectic with the Snow Freaks.

Before lunch I went to check my email and saw that the computer had frozen. Not an infrequent occurrence with Windows. I manually restarted the ol' battleship but instead of whining to life the "tower" emitted warning beeps and stayed good and dead. I tried a few times, unplugged all the peripherals, shut down all the power-strips and surge-protectors. Nothing. The computer was dead. Hardware level, dead.

I would have tried to take the computer in, or even summon a technician to the house, except that my wife had been hit by my kid's stomach flu. As you can expect, with me or my kid out of commission, the house can still function; with my wife poleaxed, we were all doomed.

With my computer dead, I couldn't prepare source sheets; contact online help - etc. The competing pulls and needs that day were enormous, but by taking things in order of importance (Child, Wife, Hospital, Shul, Shiur, with Computer at the bottom of the list) I managed to juggle.

Only after I got back from the shiur (which ultimately had to be cancelled when only 2 people showed up and they recommended that we all go home while the streets were being cleared, somewhat) did the full impact of a hardware-broken computer hit me.

The next day, I sat on the phone waiting for the good hour or so to speak with the Dell Sub-Continent Help Desk. It turns out that my memory cards had popped off their moorings (they discerned this through the multi-colored A-B-C-D lights on the back of the "tower" - cool). And after I cracked open the 'puter like a briefcase and fiddled with the innards, by the late afternoon, I was back in business!

Highly satisfying (to have the computer fixed over the phone) but I lost two full work days. And now that the weather was getting a bit better, it's starting a whole new storm. My wife is a bit better from her flu and my son is still the stalwart trooper.

Conclusion: Boo freakin' hoo. Poor me.

Square K

Does anyone know anything about the "Square K" - from Seattle? Square-K Kosher Services POB 18915, Seattle, WA 98118. (206) 878-1065; Fax: (908) 370-0467. Rabbi Moshe Londinski.

The hekhsher is left off some good lists and included in some bad ones, but I know very little about the West Coast Scene.

More Support for the Psak

Turns out that I was not the only one dealing with this halakhic issue. Some blogger wrote about it and you can see his discussion here. DO NOT BE FOOLED - his blog "Biur Chametz" looks exactly like mine. Rackenfracken templates, now I have to change the colors!

Psak Reaction

I wrote that two weeks ago I ruled that the shul wouldn't say tachanun in reaction to the death of Arafat. While most of the congregation applauded the loss of tachanun, if not the loss of our enemy, there was some opposition. One member asked me for the sources of the halakha and I have spent the time since shoring up the halakhic support for the psak.

First of all, the Shulchan Arukh is very clear in Orech Chaim 575:11-13 that when we fast for rain, and the rain falls, we can say Hallel. Siman 576 then expands the need to fast to all difficult situations - including a feared enemy.

In any case, every shul Rav I've spoken to agrees that we have the power to suspend tachanun for a communal simcha, but that wasn't enough for the textually minded. Two poskim - one black, one white - ruled on the matter. Rav Nachum Rabinovich, the Rosh Yeshiva of Ma'ale Adumim, agreed with my decision (said that I did the right thing) and said that since tachanun was a minhag, I as Maara d'Atra could make that decision.

Rav Ephraim Greenblatt (the famed Rivevot Ephraim, whom I know from Memphis) was less enthusiastic about my ruling but said that I had halakhic grounding, specifically the Chaya Adam, klal 155, siman 41.

Rav Greenblatt pointed out that people associate omitting tachanun with the death of a tzadik and thus my psak was difficult. I explained that the omission of tachanun is only with the yahrzeit of a tzadik - the death of a tzadik (according to the Shulchan Arukh) requires everyone who hears to tear kriah! However, the death of an enemy requires rejoicing and the yahrzeit is forgotten (because of the yimach-shemo stuff)

Since then, it was pointed out to me that there were those in Israel who ruled the same as I: see this story from (ugh) Arutz-7.

It's gratifying to know that my halakhic-intuition was on the mark.

Arafat is Dead

In my power as Ma'ara D'Atra I declared that we would not say Tachanun today. No, it wasn't just because it's Thursday; after weighing the proper responses to the death of Arafat, no tachanun was a start. This is what I said:

We're told in Pirkei Avot, 4:24:

Shmuel HaKatan said: "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles let your heart not be glad, lest God see, and regard it with displeasure, and divert His wrath from him [to you]."

Our response is tempered; despite our joy we cannot respond with Hallel. But we recognize that with the death of Arafat, God has shown us mercy and we acknowledge that by not saying Tachanun.

Arafat was the greatest enemy of the Jews since Hitler.

He is called "the father of modern terrorism" - he gave the world suicide bombers, children as targets, the car-bomb. He also created the falsehood of a "Palestinian" - there is no such thing, no such person, no such state, and Arafat's evil made that falsehood live [one of the only things he let live]

The IDF claimed that for Arafat to die from natural causes outside Israel was the best possible scenario. And for that we're grateful as well.

In response, we will say three chapters of Tehillim: 121, for the ongoing war; 124 - which is about God saving us from enemies, and 125 - where we acknowledge that we must respond to God's mercy with mitzvot. We must increase our tzedaka and other good works today.

[After the tehillim, I had to say a quick comment and "Rebbi Hananya ben Akashya" so I said:]

There's a popular joke about Hitler and now Arafat that whatever day he died would be declared a Jewish holiday. It didn't happen - because we don't celebrate the death of enemies; we ask God to "yimach shemo" - to blot their names out from the world. No day to commemorate the obliterated names.

P.S. Psalms 124 & 125

A Song of Ascents; of David. 'If it had not been God who was for us', let Israel now say; 'If it had not been God who was for us, when men rose up against us, Then they had swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul; Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.' Blessed be God, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of God, who made heaven and earth.

A Song of Ascents. They that trust in God are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so God is round about His people, from this time forth and for ever. For the rod of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; that the righteous put not forth their hands unto iniquity. Do good, O God, unto the good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. But as for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, God will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel.

Sleep, blessed Sleep

I've got to go to sleep. I'm going to have nightmares; I feel sick to my stomach. This morning, I led the shul in 3 chapters of Tehillim - 121, 120, & 122 - because I felt that we need God's protection and help. Oh, please, let this turn out for the best.

Stress Levels High

While nowhere near the stress levels when I just moved in, these late-Tishrei stress levels are still off the scale. I'm laboring under some delayed obligations - from people who I'm sure look at the chagim as a suspension of work - and new ones piling on every day (from people who look at this as a new season full of new promise). Where's a fire-hose when you need one?

{2009 Update: 3-D version of Munch's Scream from here.

Asymmetry Crush

My brother (Shlita) has emphasized in his unpublished philosophy that a key to understanding success through life is to recognize and use asymmetries. First developed in recognition of traffic patterns, it applies to all game-playing/political ventures of everyday life. You win by exploiting asymmetries, you lose by being caught in the opposite end of the ratio. Be a numerator, not a denominator.

That said, I am now caught in the pincers of a nasty asymmetry. While this happens every year after the chagim, this year is particularly onerous. Basically, the chagim are time-consuming for everyone and people with secular jobs find themselves having to makeup lost work. This is nothing compared to the burden of the workingman pulpit rabbi. We all know it, we call it our "busy season" (like April for CPAs) but who else has a busy season of hammerlike repetition where you can't write/record or relax?

Normally, after Shabbat, I try to take some time to recall the things I said/sermonized/taught. The crush of 3 three-day yom-tovim - all those ideas! - one after another and then Shabbat Bereshit!

Ya see, this year there's a happy happenstance in the Jewish calendar - every parsha has its own week. The combo of the holidays not being on Shabbat plus a leap year makes that possible. So I pledged this year to take the time a develop a workable preliminary commentary on the Torah. Then Bereshit - the largest parsha for a commentary - becomes inaccessible! Argh!

The chagim asymmetry combines with the other crushes - the Moving Houses, the Baby, the Intro to a New Community - all piled on each other making repair and review arduous and nearly inaccessible.

I was hoping to take part of this week off. Won't happen. Firstly, I've had to put off all outside requests and demands so I could concentrate on the chagim. And, sadly enough, a beloved member of the community passed away on Simchat Torah - which means shiva minyanim… and as the only clergyman, I can't take off.

Asymmetries - respect them.

{2009 Pic Update, of the Archimedes lever, from here.}

A Different Agunah Problem

I received an email about a seiruv against a man named Samuel Rosenbloom. The Baltimore Beit Din cited him in contempt for not showing up and for not giving his wife a get. The email then said that he owns the web-business succah.com and that we should boycott the business until he gives his wife a get.

I am all for helping the batei dinim, and the email made reference to a good organization, ORA, who posted a PDF of the seiruv.

But before I publicized this, I felt that I can't destroy a business - days before Sukkot - on the basis of an email. Email is very dangerous. Who knows how long an email has been bouncing around the netspace. I've been using email regularly since 1993 and the same hoaxes are still poppin' about.

So I called the Baltimore Beit Din. They confirmed that the seiruv is still effective. But the Rabbi I spoke to did not think Rosenbloom was still affiliated with Succah.com!

I then called Succah.com and asked the man who answered the phone if Rosenbloom was still with the company. He said no, it was solely owned by Debra Weintraub. I told him that this was a serious matter and I need to confirm that, and I identified myself and gave my phone number. He insisted that I didn’t sound genuine and that I should just email succah.com to talk about this. I asked him twice for his name and he evaded the question. Then he hung up quickly. So I emailed succah.com (that was yesterday, Thursday).

Today I called succah.com again and I reached Weintraub. She says she owns the company exclusively and has for 6 years. I told her of the gravity of the email campaign against her company. She didn't act like a person who was outraged by a slander campaign. She sounded defensive and evasive - just like bad mashgichim do when I ask for their credentials. I asked if she knew Rosenbloom and she said yes, he worked for succah.com and was important as a consultant… he also does heavy lifting for her (she said she couldn't physically do all the stuff alone).

I asked if he received a salary or had any financial stake in succah.com; she said no. I asked if her relationship with him was exclusively professional. She said they were just friends.

The person who sent me the original email said that she received it from her rabbi. I emailed him today and he responded just a few minutes ago (some Erev YK this is for the both of us!) saying that he got the info from the RCA! So I just emailed them.

My conclusions:

1. If the RCA is sending this kind of message out, they need to do so with due-process.
2. Because the due-process was not demonstrated in the emails that have bounced around, I implore anyone who receives that kind of message to *not* forward it around until due-process is met.
3. The RCA - and the Baltimore Beit Din - must provide proof that succah.com should be boycotted. Otherwise, we are stealing money.
4. Rosenbloom was likely the guy I spoke to on Thursday. Weintraub's description of her relationship to Rosenbloom and to the company sounds odd.

Why due process? Because:

1. It's the basis of any legitimate legal system. It’s the *only* basis. The rule of law depends on equal treatment and clear transparent procedure. Without due-process, even a Beit Din with old rabbis with big white beards and thick spectacles is no more than a pack of vigilantes.
2. We in the Jewish community need to trust our beit dins. This ain't the way to do it.
3. We want people to support the practice of a ban/cherem/seiruv. It's one of the only weapons we have against recalcitrant husbands. What are we to do if we use the weaponry wrong?!
4. We tend to believe the husband is wrong and the wife is right - and we're willing to err on the side of the wife. Except, I happen to know of one high-ish profile case of a woman who led a campaign against her ex-husband where it turned out the guy was totally innocent. The woman was a crackpot, the husband was a tzaddik, and the wife slandered him mercilessly. Eventually she kidnapped their child and fled the country. DUE PROCESS WILL PREVENT THIS.

Anyway, bli neder, after Shabbos I'll be able to discover more of the case's ins and outs.

Data:
Baltimore Beit Din
(it has the same address of the synagogue Adath Yeshurun Mogen Abraham)
3 Pinelea Court
Pikesville, MD 21208 (the above pdf says Baltimore)
Fax: 410-922-7356
Rabbi Simcha Shafran (he's in the shul, I don’t know if he's in the beit din)
Phone: 410-655-0864

Succah.com
(301) 990-0466

The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, Inc. 646.796.4551, info@getora.com
http://www.getora.com/

RCA
212-807-7888, 212-727-8452 (Fax)
info@rabbis.org

Saw You At Sinai

On Friday, I was accepted to be a matchmaker on Saw You At Sinai. It's a very good resource that emphasizes the privacy of the members (it's matchmaker driven). It needs more men on the network (the female-male ratio is insanely skewed) - so tell your friends to join!

If they are reluctant, then tell them to choose one matchmaker that they feel they can trust (like, uh, me) and then exclude the option of having other matchmakers see the information. This way the trusted shadchan can work closely with them and not waste their time.

If you know someone who is single and you get so frustrated at seeing them in distress and they seem to ignore you (I'll explain why they do that later), then this is a good option. We need to get the word out.

Shtender Cleaned

Yesterday was my last Shabbat as assistant rabbi here. I cleaned out my shtender last night. Now comes the 72 hour project to pack up my office. I have, in my office, about 1 mile of books and 2 miles of papers/files. If you don't hear from me in a while, call Haztoloh.