The Song of Gittin

 

Iranian Jew Stopped At Ben Gurion Airport For Suspected Espionage, Deported to Iran

 

An Iranian man of Jewish descent was apprehended at Ben Gurion Airport on Friday, raising suspicions of engaging in espionage activities on behalf of Iranian intelligence, according to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency.

The man, who has familial connections in Israel, was taken into custody by Shin Bet agents upon his arrival early on Friday morning. The security agency disclosed that during interrogation, the man admitted to being in Israel on a mission to spy for Tehran. Consequently, he was promptly deported back to Iran via a third country. Authorities deemed that he posed no immediate threat.

The specific country from which he had entered Israel has not been disclosed by the Shin Bet.

According to the Shin Bet’s report, the individual had been directed by Iranian security operatives to gather intelligence on Israel prior to his journey. He was furnished with a seemingly innocuous item – an empty tissue box – intended to conceal surveillance equipment, including a cellular phone and a portable power bank.

“The provided items were likely intended for his use in clandestine espionage activities targeting entities within Israel,” remarked the Shin Bet.

The agency further disclosed that the suspect was instructed to utilize his time within Israel to collect information on multiple designated targets. The addresses of these targets were intended to be communicated to him by his Iranian handler subsequent to his arrival.

The incident is perceived as part of a broader Iranian endeavor to establish covert espionage and potentially terror networks within Israel. The Shin Bet also highlighted the influence that Iran seeks to exert on social divisions via online platforms.

This announcement deviates from the customary practice of the Shin Bet, which typically refrains from promptly publicizing developments in international espionage cases involving Iran. Furthermore, the agency does not typically repatriate apprehended spies back to their home countries.

Sources within the defense establishment conveyed that the individual in question had likely succumbed to pressure from Iranian intelligence, as well as the allure of substantial financial gain. This contributed to the decision to deport him rather than press charges.

A defense official emphasized that the low likelihood of the individual facing legal charges within the Israeli system was due to his non-Israeli citizenship and the fact that he had not yet engaged in any substantive activities.

“He was intercepted before any action was taken. This is in addition to other operational considerations,” the official elaborated.

3 Weeks After Throwing Eggs At Nes Tziona Tefillin Booth, Man Returns To Apologize, Place Tefillin

 

A man who threw eggs at a Nes Tziona Tefillin booth three weeks ago, arrived at the booth Friday to apologize to the two Chabad youths who man the booth.

The two warmly received the man, Elad Levi, and accepted his apology, asking him if he was willing to put on Tefillin. Elad surprised them by saying that he would place Tefillin and would make a daily habit of doing so. He put on Tefillin and said the Shema and other prayers.

Elad is pictured wearing Tefillin and beaming with the two youths next to him.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Re'eh

 

Child Drowns but the Crown Heights News Blog Says "He passed away suddenly"

 

Can we talk about the way many frum sites cover tragedies?

When a child tragically drowns, they did not "pass away suddenly". They drowned. That should be written.

Why? Because while some accidents will always happen, others may be prevented by taking safety precautions.
1/4 pic.twitter.com/gQ6I1EBV0H

— Mendel Kalmenson (@mendelkalmenson) August 10, 2023

DemonRat State Senator Apologizes For Visiting Israel

 

A state senator in Michigan has apologized to her Arab and Muslim constituents for a recent visit to Israel with her fellow lawmakers.

Sylvia Santana, whose district includes part of Detroit. as well as Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, with a high concentration of Arab Muslims, posted the apology on social media.

“I recognize my presence on this trip has sparked anger and disappointment by many in the Arab/Muslim community,” she wrote.

A president who undermines Israel and Usefull Jews who support him

 

by Matthew M. Hausman, J.D.

The adage “Hanlon's Razor” states that one should “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity” and aims to eliminate improbable explanations for human behavior. T

he term “useful idiots” describes those who should know better than to support causes that threaten their natural interests but do so anyway (the phrase was famously applied to western progressives who shilled for the Soviet Union despite its totalitarian contempt for western freedoms). Hanlon’s Razor never assumes ill-intent, while useful idiocy suggests a degree of willfulness; but both presuppose the inevitability of bad acts. Thus, negative conduct is the one constant, whether motivated by animus or ignorance.

And either term can be used to describe those who – irrespective of intent – continue to support an administration pushing policies that disregard Jewish historical rights, reward terrorism, interfere with Israeli domestic politics, seek appeasement with Iran, and threaten Israel’s safety and security

As has been widely reported, the Biden administration recently reinstituted an Obama-era prohibition against the use of American tax-dollars to subsidize joint US-Israeli research and development projects at institutions in Judea and Samaria. 

Efraim Fishel Grinfeld a Charedi Extremist Loses Extradition Appeal After Rioting At Yerushalayim Electronics Stores

 

Efraim Fishel Grinfeld, a Charedi man residing in London, has met a brick wall in his attempts to avoid being extradited to Israel to face charges over his participation in riots outside an electronics store in Yerushalayim.

A judge has denied his appeal against extradition, citing the numerous times he’s been involved in such rioting incidents.

Grinfeld fled Israel in December 2012 shortly before a verdict was scheduled to be delivered in his trial for his alleged participation in riots that took place between June and August 2008. These riots transpired outside a DVD and MP3 player store in Yerushalayim’s Geula neighborhood.

The extradition request, initiated by Israeli authorities in 2021, outlines the accusations against Grinfeld and his fellow protesters. According to the request, they obstructed the store’s entrance, engaged in confrontations with customers, store employees, and owners, vandalized property, and even threw dirty diapers at the store’s entrance. Grinfeld’s alleged actions included cutting off the store’s electricity to carry out acts of vandalism under the cover of darkness and physically assaulting employees who tried to intervene.

Grinfeld faced indictment in Israel on two charges involving seven offenses, including rioting, common assault, blackmail by threats, and aggravated wounding. Throughout his trial, Grinfeld maintained his innocence, denying any involvement in the violence and asserting that he was a victim of it instead. He claimed to have been saying Tehillim at the scene.

After leaving Israel with his wife and three children for Canada, Grinfeld arrived in London in 2016. He has since worked as an office assistant in a property business. His youngest child (he now has 8) is currently six months old.

In January, a judge at Westminster Magistrates Court ruled that the decision regarding Grinfeld’s extradition should be made by the Home Secretary. Despite acknowledging that Grinfeld had led a law-abiding life in the UK, the judge also considered him a “fugitive from justice.”

Grinfeld’s wife presented her concerns, explaining that relocating to Israel was not a viable option for the family. She said that sending her husband back to Israel would have a profound negative impact on their family dynamics, as their children were well-settled and content in school in the UK.

In his appeal, Grinfeld argued that the conditions of incarceration in Israel would violate his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and that his extradition would disproportionately affect his family. While two High Court judges acknowledged that one count of common assault should not be considered for extradition, they ultimately dismissed his appeal on other grounds, citing his alleged participation in the riots as a significant factor in their decision.

Get Refusers Have Help from Enablers

 

 

by Yisroel Picker

I often write about child abusers, and how sadly the community chooses to side with the abuser rather than the victim.

This is done for numerous reasons, none of them justifiable.

But abuse takes many different forms. It can be physical, spiritual, emotional or even psychological.

Sometimes the pain in the victims is visible to all, sometimes the pain is hidden to the naked eye.

As I sit here trying to put my thoughts properly into words, I’m troubled by the recent death of Morah Chaya Gansburg, who recently passed away at the age of 76.

I didn’t know Ms. Gansburg. But one thing about her story is extremely disturbing to me.

She was an aguna for the last 38 years of her life.

The only thing that severed her bond between her and her estranged husband was Hashem taking her Neshama back.

The Debate Whether One Should Light a Yurzeit Candle for a Dear Departed

 

 

DIN: I am bringing you a debate between Rabbi Yair Hoffman who is in favor and emailimbatorah  who writes that there is no obligation to light a candle at the yurzeit or by the grave site , and he questions where this minhag came from.

Personally, I have a good feeling lighting a candle in memory of my parents, and I feel I'm doing something good for their neshama.

But having read Rabbi Hoffman's side, I am completely taken aback as he brought absolutely zero proof for his argument? All he writes is that a child has an obligation to honor his father even in death, but what does lighting a candle have anything to do with? 

 Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Home

It is the custom within the community, Klal Yisroel, to light a Yahrzeit candle on the day that a relative had passed away.  This article will discuss the reasons for it, but first – a tefillah:

The lighting has no accompanying blessing, and I am sure that many people find themselves looking for something appropriate, some way to express themselves in a prayer when lighting the candle.  This is not only true on a Yahrzeit but whenever Yom Tov comes as well and Yizkor is said.

The author of the Peleh Yoetz, Rabbi Eliezer Papo (1785–1828), did in fact compose such a prayer.  Rav Papo was the Rabbi of the city of Selestria in Bulgaria.  Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time.  The Tefillah of the Pelehe Yoetz is reproduced in Hebrew and translated below, as a public service.

 

 הריני מדליק נר זה למנוחת ולעילוי נשמת אבי מורי (אמי מורתי) ____ בן ____

 

תפילה הנמצאת בספר אלף המגן  מבעל הפלא יועץ על פרשת ויצא עמוד כ”ד

יהי רצון מלפניך ה’ אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו, שתקבל ברחמים וברצון כל מעשה הטוב שאני עושה, בין במחשבה, בין בדיבור, בין במעשה ויהיה הכל לזכות ולמנוחת ולעילוי לנשמות עמך ישראל, ובפרט לנפש רוח של (אמי/אבי/נפטר) _____.  יהי רצון שתהיינה נפשותיהם צרורות בצרור החיים.

 

Behold I am lighting this lamp for the rest and uplifting of the soul of my father (or deceased), my teacher _______ the son of _______.

May it be Your will before you, Hashem our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers, that all my good deeds whether in thought, speech or action be done for a merit and a resting and an elevation of the souls of your nation Israel.  It should be especially for the soul of my mother/father/ deceased _____.  May it be Your will that their souls be bound in the bond of life.