Guest Post at DaatTorah: Changing Entrenched Attitudes

http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2009/08/changing-entrenched-attitudes.html

Recognizing those who helped save Jewish lives

"There is no evidence of any Jew being turned over to any Nazi," said Gershman, who is Jewish, from his home in Basalt, Colo. "Seventy percent of the people in Albania are Muslims"

"Baba Haxhi Dede Reshatbardhi, an Albanian Muslim who helped save Jews during the Holocaust, was photographed by Norman H. Gershman for the exhibition "Besa: A Code of Honor." (Courtesy of El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center)"

O.C. 231: That all a person's intents be l'shem shamayim (for the sake of Heaven)

"If it is not possible for a person to study [Torah] without an afternoon nap, he should sleep (Rama: And when he wakes up it is not necessary to say the blessing "Eloqai Neshama". And there are those who say that prior to sleeping he should recite "V'hehi noam") provided that he does not lengthen his nap since during the day it is prohibited to sleep more than a "cat nap" [literally "horse sleep" but...]...And even with this little bit his intent should not be in order to benefit his body, but rather to strengthen it for serving God, may He be blessed. And likewise with every benefit in this world he should not intend for his own pleasure but for the service of his Creator, may He be blessed, as it is written, "In all your ways know Him", and our Sages said, "All your actions should be l'shem Shamayim (for the sake of Heaven). Even permitted activities such as eating and drinking [kosher food], walking, sitting, and rising, or marital relations, or conversation, or any bodily need should only be for serving his Creator or something which results in His service.

Even if one is thirsty or hungry, if he eats or drinks to benefit himself this is not praiseworthy, rather he should have the intent that the food and drink give him nourishment in order to serve his Creator.

And likewise one who sits in the place of the upright, stands in the place of the righteous, and walks in the advice of the pure, if he does so to benefit himself and to fulfill his wants and desires, this is not praiseworthy, but rather he should do so l'shem shamayim (for the sake of heaven).

And so too with reclining, it is not necessary to say that at the time he is able to engage in learning Torah and doing mitzvos he should not indulge in sleep to enjoy himself, rather even when the time has arrived and he needs to sleep to rest from being tired, if he does so for the enjoyment of his body this is not praiseworthy, rather he should intend to give sleep to his eyes and rest to his body for the sake of his health, so that his thought will not be torn from Torah from sleep deprivation.

And likewise with marital relations, even at the times required by Torah, if he does so to fulfill his desires or to benefit his body, this is embarrassing. And even if he intends to have children who will be able to assist or to full his place, this is not praiseworthy. Rather he should intend to have children who will serve his Creator, or intend to fulfill his marital obligations like a person fulfilling an obligation.

And likewise with speech, even to speak words of wisdom, one's intend should be to serve his Creator or a matter which results in His service.

The principle of the matter, a person is obligated to place his eyes and his heart on his ways and weigh them on the scales of his intellect, and when he sees something which brings about the service of his Creator, may He be praised, he should do so, and if not he should not do so, and a person who does so serves his Creator continually.

Shulchon Oruch, Orach Chaim 231

Chasidic cop's undercover drug sting

I'm happy to report that the article we brought up recently about a Sanzer Chassid going undercover to bust drug dealers has gone back into circulations via the Daas Torah blog: Chasidic cop's undercover drug sting

and here on April 12th and here on April 13th.

Psak on Reporting Income Tax Fraud

Rav Wozner - informing on tax cheats

Open-mindedness

Divrei Chaim has a post called Limits of freedom of thought for Agnostics which reminds me of why I've never been so big into those who assert "open-mindedness". I'll take intellectual honest over "open-mindedness" any day. Dogma Reconsidered

Bumpersticker

I just saw one of those bumperstickers which boldly asserts "Jesus is God Read the Bible" [c'v], just for the record, I have and he's not.

“Even this you wish to take away from them?”

Maran Rav Shteinman Shlita Regarding Vacation

“A line we must be careful never to cross…”

http://www.hamodia.com/mainstory.cfm

Article: Hasid Goes Undercover To Aid Drug Sting

It's been a little while since this story first appeared but a) it didn't get much attention and b) I think that rather than just kvetch about bad behavior we should praise good behavior and c) we could all use a little chizuk right about now.

Hasid Goes Undercover To Aid Drug Sting
By Nathan Jeffay

www.forward.com/articles/13136/
Published April 10, 2008,

A few months ago, Israeli police planning a sting were hard-pressed to find a convincing small-time dealer who could buy large quantities of drugs without arousing suspicion. In the end, they settled on a novel solution: a Hasidic man who would claim he was buying for students at his yeshiva.

The case ended up netting the arrests of 15 men in the Israeli town of Lod. The arrested will face trial next month on charges of possession and supply of illegal substances. The operation was given the name Ketoret Samim, a double entendre referring both to drugs in modern Hebrew and to a talmudic mixing of incense in ancient Hebrew. The operation’s success was thanks to footage recorded from cameras secreted in the long black coat of Shlomo Treitel, a 34-year-old Hasid from Netanya who is a community police officer.

“My wife didn’t know what I was doing, but when I told her, she said that she knows I’m guided by our rebbe, so I won’t come to any harm,” he told the Forward.

On some 30 occasions, and spending $14,000 altogether, Treitel went to dealers in Lod, notorious for its Arab-controlled drug trading. He bought hard and soft drugs. His story was that the students in his yeshiva were ba’alei teshuvah (secular Jews who have turned to more observant lives), and he had come to the conclusion that he could well cash in on their habits by becoming a small-scale dealer.

“We wanted somebody who would not arouse suspicion of being a police officer,” explained Chanoch Yitzhack of Ramle-Lod police, who masterminded the operation. “On occasion we have used a young woman, another time a taxi driver, and for this we knew people are unlikely to think a Hasid is a police officer.”

Treitel recalls that the dealers would say, “You’re religious, we trust you; we don’t mind giving you business.”

Yitzhack and Treitel’s other superiors deemed his dress a safety device: The theory was that religious clothing inspires a certain respect even from hardened criminals, lessening the chance that they would make physical contact and discover recording devices. The superiors also believed that his religiosity would allow him to get away with being relatively unfamiliar with drug culture; any slip-ups in underground etiquette would be considered a symptom of his devout lifestyle.

“It really proved quite easy,” Treitel said. “The dealers just want money, and they’ll take it from anyone. I just handed over the money and took the drugs.” Though Treitel was unarmed, he “wasn’t scared, because there was backup nearby.”

When intelligence chiefs first approached him to go undercover, Treitel was working as a uniformed community officer in Kiryat Sanz, a Netanya neighbourhood in which 700 families from his sect reside. (He has returned to this role since the sting.) Treitel refused to become involved in the sting until he had checked with his religious mentor, the renowned Sanzer Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech Halberstam.

The rebbe met police chiefs for an in-depth discussion about the plans, and then gave them his blessing. “He said that drugs are a problem for the whole of society, and that it was an important task to take on,” Treitel recalled.

The rebbe’s encouragement reflects a long-standing legacy in the Sanz sect of attributing religious importance to initiatives intended to improve society. The current rebbe’s father and predecessor, Rabbi Yekutiel Halberstam, founded Netanya’s Laniado Hospital in the 1970s because of the religious value he attributed to healing. It has been known that when bloodstocks were dangerously low, prayers were actually stopped until enough worshippers came forward to donate and replenish enough for immediate use.

Treitel continued his daily part-time studies in kollel throughout the operation, and kept details from his wife and five children.

He was put through a crash course to teach him about different kinds of drugs and how to talk the talk — not easy for a man who conducts most of his life in Yiddish. He was given phone numbers of dealers and told how to behave when — inevitably — he was short-changed or sold fake drugs.

His superiors held a special ceremony to honor him after the arrests. He spoke, declaring that exchanging his uniformed duties for a career — albeit a made-up one — as a drug dealer had ended up allowing him more time to spend studying Torah.

Now that his community knows of his exploits, he has become something of a celebrity. He said, “My community often feels negatively towards the police, but they know there is a war against drugs that needs to be fought and people are really happy.”

Dina D'Malchusa

דברי חכמים ח"מ פרק דשאלה: הרוצה לעלות לא"י (כדי לקיים מצות ישוב ארץ ישראל) ו יש לו חסרון פרנסה, ורק יוכל לבוא אם לא הודיע המדינה בארצות הברית על כל מה שהוא הרויח במשרה שלו, למשל, (not report income tax), וגם שהוא טוען שלמעשה הרבה עושין זה ברגילות, האם מותר לו לעשות זה או לא

תשובה: שמעתי מהגריש"א שבודאי אסור לעשות זה, (שאסור מדין דינא דמלכותא) ואסור אפי' אם לעולם לא יוכל לעלות לא"י אח"כ

Loosely Translates:

Question: Someone wishes to make aliya to Eretz Yisrael (to fulfill the mitzvah of settling the land of Israel) but has financial difficulties, and is only able to come if he does not inform the United States Government about his income, which many people do regularly, is it permitted for him to do so or not?

Response: I heard from HaGaon Y.S. Elyashiv shlita that it is certainly prohibited to do so (which prohibited because of dina d'malchusa) and it is prohibited even if he will never be able to make aliya to Eretz Yisrael afterwards.

(I've ajusted the date to bring this post back to the top)

*Rav Elyashiv shltia lives in Eretz Yisrael so his psak is clearly not out of fear of personal liability.

Laundering may kasher table-cloths but not money III

A little early for Parshas Ekev,

"The holy words of our holy teacher Rebbe Menechem Mendel from Rimnov zy'a are known and brought many times by the holy elder our Master Rebbe Tzvi Elimelech zya [of Dinov, The B'nei Yisoschar] in his holy seforim, "The honorable Admo"[r] The holy Rav Menechem Mendel said concerning the oddity which we see many times, a child, who in his youth goes to cheder and continually learns Torah, and davens with kavannah (prays with concentration) and answers "Amen, Yehei Shmei Rabba" and "Amen", and are upright in their ways. And afterward, when they grow up, they revert to degenerate middos chas v'Shalom, and cease learning Torah and davening and the like. And how can this be, the Torah which they learned in their youth is "breath in which their is no sin" (Shabbos 119:2) should be sufficient to establish them and add strenght to their neshamos, since a mitzvah leads to another mitzvah. And he replied that, 'This is because their fathers fed thme from stolen money, which they enriched themselves with through commerce which was not faithful...'".....

I have already sounded the alarm on this manner many times..why haven't we produced amongst us students of Torah, Gedolim like in the past. Do we see today Gedolei Yisroel or Talmidei Chachamim who fear Hashem like those seen in the previous generation,like the Holy Gaon, the author of the Chafetz Chaim ztvk"l or the Holy Gaon Rabbi Chaim Ozer ztvk"l, or many Admorim [Rebbes] and Tzaddikim....?"

Shefa Chaim, (Chumash Rashi Shiur parshas Ekev, 5742) page 475.

From Aspaqlaria

R. Micha has posted information about a gathering being held Tuesday night on the importance of living with integrity, http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2009/07/email-from-agudah.shtml

I will be unable to attend, but encourage all who can to do so.

From Just Tzedakah we read:

Far worse, however, is misrepresenting the cause being supported, in favor of a more popular one; this practice may enter the realm of theft. (35 Responsa Divrei Yatziv, Yoreh Deah 146; Responsa Yashiv Yitzchak, Yoreh Deah 28; Responsa Shevet HaLevi II, 119; Responsa Shraga HaMeir IV,20:3; Responsa Ateret Moshe, II, 188.)

And

In all instances, the overarching concern of the organization must be Kiddush Hashem – Sanctification of the Divine Name, and the avoidance of Chilul Hashem – Profanation of the Divine Name (It is also for this reason that when soliciting donations, particularly in matters of basic sustenance,the focus should be within the Jewish community (See Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 254:1-2 and 259:3-4 and Orach Chaim, 154:11; Responsa Da’at Cohen, 132; Responsa Teshurat Shai, I, 15 and II,51; Responsa Divrei Yatziv Yoreh Deah 142).

Divrei Yatziv is the Responsa by the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe z'ya and Yashiv Yitzchak is by the Rosh Yeshiva in Kiryat Sanz.

Laundering may kasher table-cloths but not money II

When I posted the piece last night I knew that their was a piece in the Shefa Chaim I had read more recently that dealt with this topic, I was just looking in the wrong year and a parsha too early. In the Chumash Rashi Shiur for 5743 on Parshas Devarim we read:

"A hint to this is said in Chazal (Shabbos 31a) that at the time when a person enters for [heavenly] judgment, they say to him, "Did you engage in commerce faithfully?" etc. Of all the Taryag mitzvos of the Torah, they first ask him specifically about faithful commerce, without theft or deception, since if he is not careful over this he will automatically be unable to be particular on the rest. With this we answer the difficulty presented by the Gemara (Sanhedrin 7a), "A persons judgement only starts with words of Torah" since we infer that a person's judgement doesn't begin with faithful commerce but rather words of Torah. But according to our understanding this makes sense, since as a prerequisite for asking if a person engaged in Torah, it is necessary to initionaly aske if he engaged in commerce faithfully, since if he is a robber and thief soiled(?) with money which isn't his, it is not possible that he fixed time for learning Torah. And the matter is simple and obvious, that his mind was contaminated with stolen money so his learing will not be effective." Page 452.