Chairwoman Of New Party For Female Charedim, Says Charedi Women In Position Of ‘Slavery’

Kol hakovod to Geveret Kolian for having the courage to speak out for the hundreds of thousands of Chareidi women who really have no voice in the government of EY. 

Their husbands mindlessly vote like sheeplach as directed by some Rebbe so they are further disenfranchised. 

Hopefully, over the longer term, they will elicit sufficient votes to get some traction in the Knesset and representation in key ministries. 

In the interim, simply speaking out as they have done is a big Kiddush hashem and will empower more women over time to ask questions, challenge the status quo and seek to move into the the political mainstream. 

Hopefully, they will run over and squash anyone who suggests they should stay at home in the kitchen with the kids and allow their husbands to represent them.

If Hareidi woman are expected to take a greater role to financially support their husbands then this is the natural outgrowth.

The chairwoman of the new U’Vezechutan party Ruth Kolian launched to provide haredi women with Knesset representation described the situation of haredi women in the country as akin to slavery and said that the need for female haredi MKs was overwhelming.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Kolian, who is 33 and married with four children, outlined the reasons why she was starting a new political party to represent haredi women.

“There are a vast number of different population sectors who have representation in the Knesset, Arabs, Jews, Sephardim, Ashkenazim, haredim and so on,” she said.

“But haredi women have no representation at all. There are male haredi representatives but they do not address the needs and concerns of haredi women,” she continued.

Kolian noted that the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women had held a hearing in November to discuss worrying findings about women’s health in the haredi sector, including a thirty percent higher rate of breast cancer mortality and that haredi women have one of the lowest levels of life expectancy in the country.

“Not one of the haredi MKs showed up to the hearing,” said Kolian. “Haredi women are ranked eighth in Israel for life expectancy, while haredi men are ranked second. This is an unbelievable gap,” she continued.

“The burden and division of labor within a haredi family is completely lop-sided. Women have to bring in an income to support the family financially, take care of the children, cook, and perform other family requirements. Some men are now working but many still go to study all day and this burden on women has a toll.”

Kolian also said that the social stigmatism attached to being a divorced, single woman in haredi society was so intense that many haredi women would not even contemplate filing for divorce from an unpleasant marriage or an abusive husband unless they were in a life-threatening situation.

“Single divorced women are seen as shameful in the haredi community, they are seen as being failures, as not being good enough, and so many choose to suffer in silence,” she said.

“Politicians are talking today about the weaker sectors of society and the invisible people. Well we are slaves, we are invisible, we are the weaker sector. Haredi women are a group of people together and we need to gain Knesset representation as a people and take care of ourselves by ourselves.”

Kolian said her new U’Vezechutan party would also seek to provide representation to members of the haredi community who have left full-time yeshiva study and are joined the workforce, saying that this haredi sub-sector also has no Knesset representation.

She noted that prior to establishing and launching U’Vezechutan she approached the two mainstream haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism asking for slots on their electoral lists to be reserved for women but the requests were denied.

Kolian was also part of a group of women who submitted a petition to the Central Elections Committee chaired by Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran which demanded that Shas, UTJ and the new Yachad Ha’am Itanu party established by former Shas MK Eli Yishai be required to include at least one woman on their respective electoral lists.

The petition was denied with Jourban writing that the committee did not have the authority to intervene in the affairs of political parties and their chosen candidates.

Despite the problems facing haredi women, U’Vezechutan’s chances of entering the Knesset are slim given the way in which the haredi public, including the women, largely adhere to the instructions of the leading rabbis and vote for the established parties, Shas and UTJ.

Kolian was more reticent when discussing her own societal background and place within haredi society, but insisted that her and her new party are representative of mainstream haredi women.

She pointed out that she sends her children to “Talmudei Torah,” haredi elementary schools, often a barometer of a person’s commitment to a haredi lifestyle, although there are a range of such institutions, some of which would be considered to be outside of the haredi mainstream, especially if they teach core curriculum subjects.

Kolian has herself taken a public role and is active on Facebook, both of which are unusual for haredi women, while her husband works full-time, when the oft-espoused ideal for men in haredi society is to study full time in yeshiva.

Kolian said she rejected such yard-sticks for defining her haredi identity, arguing that “to be haredi is to have fear of Heaven,” and said that the length of one’s skirt and internet usage were not relevant to her place in haredi society.

“I’m not prepared to allow this kind of platform to determine what a haredi woman can be. Haredi women do not have to be confined to the role of a kindergarten teacher who goes home only to take care of her own children as well,” she said.

“There are haredi women who will hear what we have to say and will see that for the first time there is someone who is attentive to and understand them.

“The haredi woman is alone at the voting booth,” Kolian said in reference to the strong influence rabbinic declarations about the importance of voting for the established haredi parties have on the haredi public.

“The community is becoming more aware of this cynical use and manipulation of our great rabbis and will come to understand that something really smells bad with this kind of political model.”

Frum Police Officer resigns because his fellow officers called him a "dirty Jew"

David Attali claims fellow cops vandalized his locker with hate-filled messages, greeted him with 'Heil Hitler' salute and called him 'dirty Jew.'

AN EX-NYPD cop claims he was subjected to such virulent attacks on his Jewish faith by fellow cops at the World Trade Center police command that he resigned from the force, the Daily News has learned.

That the police station is located on hallowed ground where more than 2,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attack apparently did not deter the cops who allegedly vandalized David Attali’s locker with hate-filled messages, greeted him with a “Heil Hitler” salute and called him a host of anti-Semitic slurs including “dirty Jew.”

“Everybody messes around but these guys were out of control,” Attali told The News Tuesday in an exclusive interview. “The World Trade Center is someplace special, sacred, it’s American history. But it didn’t seem to affect these people.”

Attali, 31, is suing the city and five cops involved in the denigration that he says included sending him text messages containing the slurs and even a photo of Adolf Hitler. He is also suing four supervisors for refusing his request for a transfer and allowing the hostilities to continue.

The six-year veteran reported the harassment to the NYPD Office of Equal Employment Opportunity last May, but Attali did not disclose to investigators that he had copies of text messages and secretly recorded audio to back up his claims.

Attali said he was hoping the sight of his locker plastered with supermarket advertisements for pork products, a newspaper headline that read: “Hail Hitler” and a swastika carved in a sticker would have been sufficient grounds to approve a transfer — but he was wrong. “He wasn’t looking to get anyone in trouble but he was drowning ... and he had to get out of there,” said Attali’s lawyer Rocco Avallone.

Unable to deal with the further stress of being shunned and harassed, Attali resigned in August. Several months after he left, Attali was informed that EEO had confirmed that his locker was vandalized but the allegations of verbal harassment were unsubstantiated apparently because the cops denied it, according to Avallone.

Deputy Chief Kim Royster, an NYPD spokeswoman, said the investigations are confidential.

Today, the Brooklyn-born Orthodox Jew, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Israel, works as a driver for a company that inspects water meters.

The harassment, he said, may have been motivated in part to his being given Saturdays off to observe the Jewish Sabbath.

In early 2013, a handwritten note was attached to Attali’s locker stating, “This sign is covered with bacon grease. If anyone touches it he will go straight to hell,” according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

Attali said he confided only in his wife. His wife, whose grandfather died in a concentration camp, was appalled by what she heard.

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association lawyer Steve Worth, who represented the accused cops during the EEO investigation, said Attari made it clear he wanted off the job. “The way he did it was to bring false claims against these officers and to bring a lawsuit to get money on the way out the door,” Worth said. 

Boycott Borsalino Hats Over Rising Costs

Ok, I think we should start wearing baseball caps, with the insignia of the respective yeshivos...

so if your a Telzer, the cap should have a large "T" and so on....

The following is via COL:

Will the boycott travel across the Atlantic?

A group of Chabad bochurim in New York are trying to garner support to join a boycott that originated in Israel over the rising prices of fedora hats

Organizers are saying that prices of the Italian made Borsalino hats have risen by $50 in the last 5 years, bringing the price of the typical Yeshiva student’s hat in Israel to $274.

Petitions going around in Yeshivas in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak are threatening to stop purchasing hats if the prices don’t drop. According to Makor Rishon newspaper, some 10,000 people signed.

“Borsalino is telling us that it’s a luxury item and the price doesn’t have to be cheap, but they know the truth – that everyone still buys it, not only a select few,” one organizer said.

“It’s a common product and there is no reason the price should be so high,” the person added. “A manufacturer raises prices to increase profits on a product that isn’t selling well, but if the masses are buying this excuse doesn’t exist.”

Regular consumers of the hats made of felt from Belgian rabbit are Lubavitcher chassidim, and students of Litvish and Sephardic Yeshivos. Other chassidic groups wear hats with beaver finish or a fur shtreimel.

Recently, bochurim in a Chabad Yeshiva in New York have asked their ‘hanhala’ administration if they would be allowed to join the boycott and start wearing a flat cap, also called a casket hat.

Eida Chareidis to French Jews: Don’t Come on Aliya

If this is in fact true, and all indications are that it is, all Jews should stop buying any products from the Badatz!

If this is true, then these so called Rabbonim are, as the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Yoel Teitelbaum put it ..."Meenin and Apikorsim"

How low can a Jew go? I guess, very very low! 

In a pashkavil released by the Badatz Eida Chareidis addressed to Jews of the Diaspora, the beis din calls on Jews of France and Europe not to permit themselves to believe statements from state officials to come on aliyah due to the recent wave of terrorism in France and the fear of additional attacks.

The badatz mourns the murdered Jews but advises European Jews not to move to Israel for as long as they do not know with certainty where their children will be attending school but to remain in France and continue their Torah observant lifestyle.

The badatz warns by citing what occurred in the past to other communities that came to Israel and lost their Yiddishkheit as a result.

Jewish Doctor Murdered in Hospital in Boston

Dr. Michael Davidson z"l
This Oct. 24, 2006 photo provided by Mainframe Photographics, shows Michael J. Davidson, director of endovascular cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who died late Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, after being shot inside the hospital earlier that day.  AP

Administrators and staff at a leading Boston hospital are mourning the death of a cardiac surgeon who was fatally shot at the hospital by a man who then killed himself.

Officials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said Dr. Michael J. Davidson, director of endovascular cardiac surgery, died late Tuesday after being shot around 11 a.m.

“Dr. Davidson was a wonderful and inspiring cardiac surgeon who devoted his career to saving lives and improving the quality of life of every patient he cared for,” said a statement issued by the hospital, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. “It is truly devastating that his own life was taken in this horrible manner.”

Hospital officials said Wednesday they planned to lower a flag outside the hospital to half-staff in honor of Davidson.

Police said Stephen Pasceri, 55, entered the hospital Tuesday morning and specifically requested the doctor.

Pasceri, of Millbury, shot the doctor twice just outside an examination room on the second floor of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center; he then turned the gun on himself, police said.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said officers conducting a room-by-room search found the gunman dead in an exam room with the weapon.

Police said Pasceri wasn’t a patient of the doctor’s and they didn’t specify a motive for the shootings.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he was “deeply saddened” by Davidson’s death. “This tragedy is the result of a senseless act of violence that has no place in our City,” he said in a statement early Wednesday.

Evans said earlier Tuesday that police were talking to witnesses, “but it’s leading us to believe there was something in the past that upset this guy, that made him go in and look for this particular doctor.”

Police and hospital officials commended the fast response by police and hospital staff, who they said had been trained to respond to an “active shooter” situation.

Evans said police were on the scene within seconds after getting the first calls of shots fired and had the area secured within 15 minutes.

Betsy Nabel, the hospital’s president, said Brigham and Women’s will evaluate its safety protocols. She said there have been no discussions about installing metal detectors, which none of the city’s hospitals have.

MK Gafne: There is No Such Thing as a ‘Working Chareidi’

Der Chuchem Fin De Ma Nishtana, MK Gafe

That's it guys..... the regular working zhlub that is either a professional or a blue collar worker, gets up at 5:30 in the morning to learn the daf, davens, then grabs his coffee running to work, comes home exhausted from a full day's work, steals a supper, runs to say hi to his kids, and runs out the door to chap a shiur, comes home, speaks to his wife for 15 minutes and falls asleep, "IS NOT A CHAREIDIE!" even if he is a shomer torah u'mitzvos!

But the guy who gets up at 8:00AM and walks calmly to shul, comes home to hearty hot breakfast, then walks to Kollel, comes home for a hot lunch, grabs an afternoon nap, and then goes slowly back to Kollel, then walks home to a hot supper, and then chaps a shmooze with all his children...then goes to Maariv and looks into a sefer, comes home and goes to sleep, and who has never worked a day in his entire life...."HE IS A CHAREIDIE!"

Speaking with Mordechai Lavi of Kol Berama Radio on Tuesday morning 29 Teves, MK Moshe Gafne explained from his perspective there is no such thing as ‘working chareidi’.

Following is excerpts from the radio interview which lasted over 20 minutes.

Gafne

I do not accept the categorization. There are those who opt to leave yeshiva and join the working community.

KB

Are they called chareidim?

Gafne

No they are no. I do not accept this. It does not exist. One who does not learn in kollel and works has left.

KB

Is it true that at times children are discriminated against due to their ethnicity?

Gafne

I tell you now as in the past this is simply not true. There are children who are not accepted for one reason or another. Sometimes because the parents work, at times other reasons. There are many. Now we are speaking about something else.

One can go to work and that is fine but they are not the same as those immersed in limud. By the way, to my sorrow, I too am working and it is not the same.

KB

Yes but your children are accepted.

Gafne

Please, we are not speaking about this. I know there is a person who turned to me about this. I know what you are talking about…In the time of the Chassam Sofer there were those who worked and those who did not but the difference is they all adhered to his word, unlike today…

I do not accept the category. There is no such thing as working chareidim and I do not need an asifa. This is the fact.

KB

But these people do not know who to vote for? Who represents them?

Gafne elaborates how he dedicates a great deal of his time to work with mosdos and Chinuch Atzmai and to address issues of students being accepted and rejected in schools. This he insists is all the time and not just now, before elections. I have my record that speaks for itself and I do not need elections to make the point.

KB

Can you admit there is a group that feels Yahadut Hatorah is now their home, that you do not represent them? Perhaps the people Aryeh Deri and Eli Yishai are working to enlist?

Gafne

It is not a “group”. There is no group like this. They are trying to drum up votes. I cannot speak for them. I know we cannot compete with one another or worse, than one will not pass the minimum threshold and the votes will be wasted. Those evil people with their gezeiros did not differentiate between us and we should not differentiate between one another.

KB

What is a working chareidi? One who wears a shirt that is not totally white? What is he called?

Gafne

Finally we get to it. Anyone who adheres to Torah and rabbonim and wants his children educated as they should I will work to assist him. I do not understand from shirts. I deal with the person, not clothing.

Honestly, I do not look at one’s clothing but I look at the person. It is possibly competition between mosdos.

KB

Rav Gafne you are avoiding the issue. Is there such a thing as working chareidim?

Gafne

No there is not. There are chareidim who adhere to gedolei yisrael. That is it.

KB

Have you visited the Kiryat Ono Chareidi College?

Gafne

No. It is not my job. My job is to concern myself with the needs of lomdei Torah and that is it. One wishing to attend a chareidi college may but it is not my job. I do not represent academics.

KB

That is exactly the point. That is what they say. You and Yahadut Hatorah does not represent them. Don’t you understand this is how they feel? They are looking for representation.

Gafne

From my perspective I represent them too but not regarding academics

KB

No you do not and that is where we started. They are without representation

Gafne

They must consult with their rav, the same rabbonim who permitted them to attend a college, even a chareidi one. We have to worry about the lomdei Torah for that is our goal and our future. I do not encourage academics and it is not my job. The thousands in these colleges do turn to me and I do my best to assist them.

Let one person come off the air and tell me he came to me and I refused to assist him.

KB

I have him on the air. Are you willing to debate him?

Gafne

No.

KB

What scares you so much? I do not understand.

Gafne

For me it is ideology. It has not and will not change no matter how good they are. I am here for lomdei Torah, not academics. Since the lomdei Torah keep us all going and they are targeted [by the government] it is my job to assist them, no one else. Anyone who approaches me as an individual that I can assist I have and will always continue doing what I can to assist.

There are many including person close to me that shifted to academics but that is not what I do.

KB

What about “chardakim”?

Gafne

Please, I told you I do not know about all these titles. I follow what I was taught by Maran HaRav Shach and do my best to assist anyone and everyone that comes to me.

KB

I never heard you stutter like today. I have rachmanus on you. You are in an untenable situation. Perhaps it is time to reconsider and look at the generation and it is time to change things around

Gafne

You can say what you need to and I will respond as I do. Thanks for having rachmanus and I need it for certain due to the load. However there is nothing to change, not even one millimeter. This is what it is and will continue to do. This is our job and our responsibility. Hence, I have rachmanus on you that you thought Gafne will say different things on the air and I disappointed you.

KB

You believe it works like that?

Gafne

No but you have rachmanus on me so I return it.

ISIS executes 13 teens for watching soccer

ISIS jihadists publicly executed 13 teenage boys for watching a soccer match.

The young fans were watching an Asian Cup match between Iraq and Jordan on TV last week when they were caught by the militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which the Islamic State controls, the Daily Mail reported.

Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group that exposes ISIS atrocities, reported that the teens were executed by a firing squad.

“The bodies remained lying in the open and their parents were unable to withdraw them for fear of murder by terrorist organisation,” the group posted on its website.

The boys were slaughtered because they were said to be violating Sharia laws by watching the game.

A few days earlier, the Islamic State released a gruesome video showing two men being flung off a tower in Mosul after a masked fighter announced that they had been found guilty of engaging in homosexual activities.

Iraq beat Jordan 1-0 in the Jan. 12 match, which took place in Brisbane, Australia.

Why the movie about Martin Luther King removed all traces of Jews in "Selma"

There is a new movie out there about the life of Martin Luther King ....called "Selma"
When Martin Luther King marched on Selma,..... just two feet away from him was Rabbi Joshua Heschel, marching with him, but you wouldn't know it watching this movie!

They also twisted and re-wrote the true history between the relationship of LBJ and King. Those of us that were alive during the Civil Rights Movement will remember that the one who was in the fore-front of this movement was the President at that time, Lyndon B. Johnson, and King had a great relationship with LBJ, but you wouldn't know it watching the movie....

But Blacks are miffed that it didn't get nominated for an Academy Award..even though the movie is not related in anyway to the truth, and was the figment of the Director's imagination.

So, I'm sure, you're all thinking, "why does  DIN care?" 
I do care because by in large the audience of this movie will be blacks, and if the Director would have stuck to the facts, more blacks would have seen that it was the Jews that were fighting for them to get equal rights, and maybe, just maybe, we would be able to begin to turn around some of this black hatred against Jews!
But the Director who is anti-White and anti-Jews had a different agenda and now she is reaping what she sowed....
a movie that will be thrown into the dustbins of history and will soon be forgotten! 

Martin Luther King Day

Leaders in a Vietnam war protest stand in silent prayer in Arlington National Cemetery, Feb. 6, 1968. Front row, from left: Rev. Andrew Young, executive vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Bishop James P. Shannon, Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul; Rabbi Abraham Heschel, professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York; the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Arlington Amphitheater are in

Half a century after Dr. King walked arm-in-arm with rabbis to demand racial equality, his movement’s legacy ignites the activism of American Jews on both ends of the Israel spectrum, pitting ardent Zionists against Jews who beg to differ with King’s 1968 assessment of Israel as “one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done.”

King once told someone who was an anti-Zionist
": "Don't talk like that. When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You're talking anti-Semitism"

A Torah Perspective on How to Uproot Terrorism from its Islamic Source

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed

The writer is Head of Yeshivat Har Bracha and a prolific author on Jewish Law, whose works include the series on Jewish law "Pininei Halacha" and a popular weekly column "Revivim" in the Besheva newspaper. His books "The Laws of Prayer" "The Laws of Passover" and "Nation, Land, Army" are presently being translated into English. Other articles by Rabbi Melamed can be viewed at: www.yhb.org.il/1

Islamic Terrorism

The murder of the holy Jews in Paris merely because they were Jews, raises the need to relate to the social and religious circumstances which cause these horrific attacks.

The Growing Tension between the West and Muslims

There was nothing new about the terrorist attacks in France other than  their location, in the heart of Europe - Paris. For years, Muslim terrorists have murdered hundreds and thousands of people every month. They murder members of other religions, and even members of rival factions in Islam. The amount of murdered people is steadily increasing, and is spreading to other countries.

Nevertheless, leaders of the powerful countries in the West, despite the shock, continue business as usual. They believe these are simply frustrated, unemployed and emotionally disturbed people, or an oppressed "people” demanding its "rights" from the Jews who conquered their homeland. They ignore the sheer hatred that the Muslims openly express - towards the West in general, and Israel in particular.

Criticism of the West and its “Experts”

The “experts” in Western countries believe that the entire world desires to emulate them. And if there are those who do not, it is only because they are still unenlightened.; as they develop, they will inevitably move towards the Western approach, according to which all people desire freedom, material prosperity, and the independence to practice religion or other leisurely pursuits.

The technological and economic advantages achieved by Western “experts” (in no small part thanks to the significant contributions of Jews), make it difficult for them to understand man’s deep longing for a life filled with meaning and idealism based on faith. The plethora of luxuries creates a type of smoke-screen which blinds them from seeing the fiery flames burning in the depths of the human soul and mind, which can explode in a negative direction of fanaticism, destruction and hatred, or in contrast - in a positive path of faith, productivity and change for the better.

As a result, they find it difficult to understand the motives of their enemies and rivals. No less severe, they also fail to analyze the roots of the crises befalling their countries, which are reflected in the loss of identity, the breakdown of the family, and the serious difficulties in educating children. 

The Religion of Islam

The source of this stems from the religious Islamic perception which views God as an omnipotent conqueror, to whom everyone must submit and whose absolute authority must be accepted.

Out of the five major precepts of Islam, four of them deal directly with the honor of God and submission to him: 

1) declaration of faith in him. 

2) praying to him five times a day, mostly involving kneeling and reciting seven verses 17 times praising Allah and accepting his lordship. 

3) The Ramadan fast. 

4) Pilgrimage to Mecca. 

The fifth precept is giving charity to the poor, which also expresses the idea that money belongs to Allah, and not man.

Even praise and thanks to Allah are performed out of feelings of total submission. 

Islam’s Influence on Inter-Personal Relations

This approach extends to all interpersonal relationships which are based on honor. A wife must respect her husband, and a husband is obligated to take care of, support, and protect his wife – this being his honor. Needless to say, children are also required to honor their parents. Interpersonal relationships as well are based on great respect, emitting a sense of noble generosity, which allows for hospitality and brotherhood.

Since honor is so important, offending a Muslim is intolerable because it undermines the very foundation of his existence, and therefore he is obligated to respond with extreme severity, giving rise to the familiar and horrifying phenomenon of “family-honor killings.”

Force and control are vital to Islam, and as a result, a ruler who is not perceived as strong and even cruel is incapable of surviving in Muslim society. Consequently, the democratic system is incapable of providing stability for Islamic countries. For them, the ideal system of government is an authoritarian rule which protects and grants honor to all its subjects, similar to a compassionate father who cares for the welfare of his children.

Islam – A Religion of War

Islam has positive aspects, but our focus here is on the negative ones. 

After the five major precepts of Islam, the next most important precept is jihad. 

Those faithful to Allah must model themselves after him, follow his ways, act courageously as he did, and forcibly subdue those who do not succumb to his authority. “Muhammad lives by the sword!”

Power and the sword play a central role in the Muslim religion. They emphasize the tangible strength of the religion, enhancing the greatness and honor of Allah by imposing his beliefs on all mankind. Even the calls to prayer over loudspeakers by the muezzin day and night are an expression of imposing the religion over wide-open spaces, both towards the believers themselves, and towards others.

It is no coincidence that the Arabs have succeeded in imposing Islam on many nations, to the point where today the religion has approximately 1,400,000,000 followers. 

Islam’s genetic code is directed towards a steadfast war to impose Muhammad’s religion on the entire world by means of the sword. To achieve this goal, everything is legitimate. The nations they conquered realized this, and opted to convert to Islam rather than die.

Indeed, all nations attained their achievements through wars and victories, however in Islam, unlike other cultures, the principle of compromise is intolerable – especially a territorial compromise. Compromise is an expression of weakness, and  a Muslim is obligated to symbolize the heroism and strength of Allah, and must always clutch his sword to be prepared for the battle of imposing the religion on the entire world.

When a Muslim realizes he lacks the power to defeat his enemy, he is permitted to agree to a cease-fire (‘tahadiya’ in Arabic), while actually preparing for the continuation of the religious war. Such thinking is based on the behavior of Islam's prophet Muhammad, especially towards the tribe of Quraysh.

How to Deal with the Islamic Threat

The only way to absolve a Muslim from his duty to wage war is to create a situation in which he is totally coerced, so he lacks the ability or prospect of succeeding. Only then, according to Muslim law, is he exempt from the necessity to wage war. At that time he is obliged to wait for years, or even generations, certain that when the opportunity arises, he will return to wage war.

Conversely, any attempt to compromise with Islam will inevitably lead to continued terrorism and war, because compromise is perceived as a weakness, for according to Islamic culture, if the Western countries had the power to defeat them they wouldn’t possibly be seeking a compromise. Seeking a compromise can only mean that they find it difficult to face the heroic attacks of Allah’s faithful, the glorious martyrs, and hence, their downfall is close at hand.

The same is true regarding Israel – any attempt at compromise or presenting a “political horizon”, instills hope within the Arabs that they can defeat us, and encourages terrorism and war.

Anyone who desires peaceful and quiet relations with Muslims must first defeat them and avoid any talk of peace, and then strive for a stable ceasefire while managing a viable relationship.

The Detrimental Social-Welfare Policy

As a follow up to the issue I dealt with in previous articles, even the conventional social welfare policies of Western countries are perceived by Islamic followers as a weakness, and weakness which promotes militancy. 

According to their beliefs, Christians who do not accept the religion of Islam must pay a high tax to the Muslim rulers – a tax which among other things is meant to express the superiority of Islam.

Consequently, many Muslims have no gratitude for the child benefits and welfare payments they receive in Western countries, because obviously, they are superior to all 

Christians and entitled to receive taxes from them. This is the religious justification for demanding increases in benefits, and for the indignation when they are reduced.

Leftist Policies Create Ingrates

All this is in addition to the basic problem, namely, that the position of the political left, which maintains the state must provide for the welfare of all its citizens, corrupts the morality of welfare recipients, in that it makes them ungrateful.

The punishment imposed upon Adam requiring him to work hard for a living corrects his sin and transforms him into a positive person who understands the value of work and creativity.By means of his responsibility and industriousness in earning a living, he becomes a partner with God in tikun olam (the improvement of society). 

In contrast, when child benefits and welfare payments enable many members of Muslim society living in France to maintain a higher standard of living than in their countries of origin without any effort or responsibility, they become exploiters and ingrates.

And so their conscience doesn't torment them, they feel compelled to hate and hurl accusations at those who grant them the benefits for not showing proper respect to them and their prophet, and for not giving them additional benefits.

The Crisis in Islam

Throughout the world Islam is in a state of crisis, frustration, and decline. This is reflected in a huge drop in the birthrate. 

Terrorism represents an attempt to escape the crisis, and efforts by the West for reconciliation and compromise add fuel to the fires. 

In any event, in leading countries such as Iran and Turkey, the population has been shrinking because the average woman gives birth to less than two children. Western countries are the only places where the Muslim population has increased – thanks to the child allowances.

The same thing happened in Israel when child allowances were particularly high, and happens today, to a lesser extent, with other benefits. 

An example of blatant foolishness in Israel is the granting of a 1,500 shekel benefit for each child of a divorced woman if the courts rule that the father of her children is unable to pay child support. As a result, the State of Israel is encouraging polygamy in the Arab and Bedouin sectors, because their husbands divorce them fictitiously in order to live off the increased allowances for their children and their supposedly divorced wives, recognized by the State as being single mothers.

This money, of course, returns to the honorable husband, who, thanks to the State of Israel's foolishness, is able to maintain an exploitative Muslim lifestyle l’mehadrin. We are left only to thank him for taking the money and not taking part in terrorist attacks! 

Europe's Response

After the horrendous murders Europeans wreaked for centuries in the name of nationalism and religion, particularly towards the Jews, many champions of morality in Europe today are prone to lean to the other extreme – to the left, which advocates for complete equality of rights.

And once again, lo and behold, they accuse the Jews. 

Their deep-rooted anti-Semitism returns and reveals itself once again. If Europe wishes to repent, it must truly regret hate crimes against Jews, and acknowledge the Jewish nation's contributions to humanity. 

Christians must also cloak themselves in humility and gratitude towards Judaism. Only such a tikun will make them truly moral.

This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper, and was translated from Hebrew.

Dovid Winiarz killed in auto accident in Maryland was going to Kiruv Convention!

by Sandy Eller of VIN News 

 A well known fixture in the kiruv community and a beloved Staten Island resident died this morning in a head on collision on icy roads in Maryland.

Dovid Winiarz was on his way to the Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland when the fatal accident occurred at 7:30 AM this morning near the intersection of Route 23 and High Point Road in Harford County, Maryland.

Maryland State Police have not released any official information about the collision but Chief Rudy Walters of the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company in Harford County said that three others besides Winiarz were injured in the collision which was due to slick road conditions.

According to Walters, everyone was wearing seatbelts when the collision occurred. The other victims of the accident were transported to a local hospital where they are reported to be in stable condition.

Route 23, also known as the East West Expressway was closed for several hours and the Maryland State Police are continuing their investigation.  The Harford Fire Blog’s Facebook page listed numerous accidents in the area this morning and warned of exceptionally slippery roads.

Winiarz, who was in the back seat of the vehicle, was one of four people on their way to the AJOP convention.

The father of ten, Winiarz, also went by the moniker “Facebuker Rebbe” in his efforts to reach unaffiliated Jews.  His final Facebook post shows a video taken last night at Avos U’Bonim with the words “Before I leave on my road trip I came to learn Torah with my son and his friend…”  The founder of Survival Through Education Foundation, a means of reaching unaffiliated Jews, Winiarz also ran a food pantry in Staten Island and was closely involved in numerous communal organizations.

Winiarz’s levaya will take place tomorrow at a location to be named soon, according to Yanky Meyer of Misaskim.

“We are very thankful to the coroner and the chevra kadisha in Baltimore for all their assistance in moving things along on a Sunday and a legal holiday and we thank them for their sensitivity,” said Meyer.

Reb Dovid Winiarz

Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, shared his thoughts on Winiarz.

“Dovid was a one-man dynamo, an unstoppable force, when it came to reaching out to fellow Jews far from Yiddishkeit, and he was just as committed and energetic when it came to helping any Jew in need,” said Rabbi Shafran. “He was indefatigable, always full of joy and caring.  It sounds trite, but I really can’t imagine a world without him, without his constant smile and contagiously happy demeanor, without all the wonderful things he did for Klal Yisrael on a daily basis.

“His eishes chayil is a partner in all he did, and his children and children-in-law all realized always what a gift they had in Dovid. May they all have the strength and fortitude to carry on his life through their own good works, and may they, and all who knew and loved Dovid, somehow achieve a nechama.

“Before I heard the terrible news, I noticed how bleak the day was, bleaker, darker, somehow, than other cold, rainy days. It just seemed so… sad a day.  Now I feel I know why.”

Yossi Yurowitz of Our Place, who recalled Winiarz’s efforts for the community, described Winiarz’s death as “tragic.”

“Dovid was on a campaign to stop Footsteps,” said Yurowitz. “He organized several meetings with Our Place and askanim in his Staten Island office.”

While journalists are supposed to remain impartial and report just the facts, I cannot do that in this case.

Dovid Winiarz was a close personal friend who literally lived to help others.  Passionate about Torah, kiruv and sharing the beauty of Yiddishkeit with everyone, Dovid lived to make the world a better place and to make sure that the light of Torah shined a little brighter on a daily basis.  A proud father and grandfather, his Facebook page was routinely filled with pictures of his children and grandchildren in the hopes that he could inspire others to understand the beauty of what it meant to raise a family in the ways of the Torah.

“If there’s one reason why G-d had Facebook be created, it was so that Rabbi Winiarz could reach out to and help thousands of people across the world,” wrote one poster on Facebook.

His cheerful emails were frequent guests in my inbox and not a Friday afternoon went by that he didn’t wish me, and I am sure, countless others, a good Shabbos. He asked me on more than one occasion to send him a picture of my Shabbos table to share on his Facebook wall to inspire the 12,243 people who liked his Facebook page in their own shemiras Shabbos.

Always with a perpetual smile, Dovid lived to spread simcha throughout the world. In one of his last emails to me, he shared his joy about having the opportunity to attend the AJOP convention.  His warmth, his simcha and his genuine love for every Jew will be lasting legacies of a life cut all too short.

Just one week ago I was asked to write about Dovid’s efforts as the Facebuker Rebbe.  I was elated to be able to write about Dovid. I just never thought this would be the article that I would be writing.

Yehei zichro baruch.