As reported by Julia Marsh for the New York Post today, students at the Orthodox Beth Rivkah HS have been ordered to immediately delete their accounts on the popular social-networking site and pay a $100 fine, or be kicked out of the school.
“Girls are getting killed on the Internet — that’s the reason for it,” Benzion Stock, administrator of the Crown Heights school, told The Post. Stock said Facebook is also off-limits because it encourages girls to violate the Orthodox code of modesty.
“The Internet is a good way to ruin marriages and families,” Stock said. “We don’t want them there, period. It’s the wrong place for a Jewish girl to be. Facebook is not a modest thing to do. “Socializing on Facebook could lead to the wrong things.”
The edict became the talk of the neighborhood after several 11th-graders at the school last week were found to have illicit Facebook pages and were forced to pay the fine. The crackdown was reported by CrownHeights.info, and went viral, infuriating school officials who said the policy has been in place for years and that all its students sign a contract not to use social media.
Chaya Tatik, 17, said she was booted from Beth Rivkah as a ninth-grader for using Facebook and dressing immodestly. “It’s not right that they’re keeping them from such a thing,’’ said Tatik, who is now a senior at Bnos Chomesh Academy. “Everyone uses Facebook. It’s a way to communicate,’’ she said. “I communicate with my cousins from Israel, who I don’t get to see that much. A lot of teenagers have been talking to guys on Facebook. They’re my friends. I don’t see a big thing about it.”
She said the Beth Rivkah ban will backfire.
“Blocking them from using it gives them hatred . . . They want to take revenge and rebel. I know because I’ve experienced it.”
You go, girl!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Voices of Reason - Austin Dacey: The Future of Blasphemy
In the days of Moses, blasphemy was the mortal offence of failing to respect the divine. In an age of human rights, blasphemy is understood as a failure to respect persons, as insult, defamation, or “advocacy of religious hatred.” The criminalisation of this has been advanced at the United Nations and upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, which has asserted a universal “right to respect for religious feelings.”
In his new book, The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights, human rights activist and philosopher Austin Dacey turns respect on its head. Respect, Dacey argues, demands that we grant each other equal standing in the moral community, not that we never offend.Join Center for Inquiry as it hosts Dacey to mark the U.S. launch of this important new book. Dacey will give a short presentation then participate in a dialogue with the audience. The conversation will be followed by a book signing. The venue, 116, will have a cash bar operating throughout the event.
Admission is on a first come, first serve basis, though RSVPs are appreciated. Please email nyc@centerforinquiry.net.
This event will be held at 116, located at 116 MacDougal St. between Bleeker St. and Minetta Lane, near the A/B/C/D/E/F/M/1 trains.
This event is part of CFI's Voices of Reason lecture series that features leading thinkers on ethics, science, and religion.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Killer Finally Admits He Was Targeting Jews
The New York Post exclusively reported today that "the livery driver whose two-gun attack on a group of Hasidic students on the Brooklyn Bridge shocked the city 18 years ago has finally admitted that he targeted them because they were Jewish." I am shocked, shocked!
Rashid Baz was convicted in 1995 of murdering Yeshiva student Ari Halberstam, 16, and trying to kill more than a dozen others in a van with a hail of bullets he fired on a Manhattan approach to the bridge on March 1, 1994.
Baz initially told cops he opened fire because of a traffic dispute. But in 2007 Baz finally confessed that he targeted his victims, tailing their van for about two miles before the shooting, an admission that had never been made public until now.
Rashid Baz was convicted in 1995 of murdering Yeshiva student Ari Halberstam, 16, and trying to kill more than a dozen others in a van with a hail of bullets he fired on a Manhattan approach to the bridge on March 1, 1994.
Baz initially told cops he opened fire because of a traffic dispute. But in 2007 Baz finally confessed that he targeted his victims, tailing their van for about two miles before the shooting, an admission that had never been made public until now.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Reason Rally: March 24, 2012
The Reason Rally is an event sponsored by many of the country’s largest and most influential secular organizations (including the Society for Humanistic Judaism). It will be free to attend and will take place in Washington, D.C. on March 24th, 2012 from 10:00AM – 6:00PM at the National Mall. There will be music, comedy, speakers, and so much more. Speakers include:
Dr. Richard Dawkins
Author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, The God Delusion, The Greatest Show on Earth, and more; Founder of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
Jessica Ahlquist
High school activist and successful plaintiff in the case of Ahlquist v. City of Cranston (PDF). Taslima Nasrin
Author of more than thirty books, including Lajja (“Shame”); Prolific activist for gender equality, free thought, and human rights. Paul Provenza
Host and producer of The Green Room with Paul Provenza on Showtime and producer of the movie The Aristocrats (with Penn Jillette) James Randi
Founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation; Creator of The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge; Magician (known as “The Amazing Randi”). Lawrence Krauss
A highly regarded international leader in cosmology and astrophysics and author, most recently of the New York Times bestseller A Universe From Nothing: Why There is Something Rather Than Nothing
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Society for Humanistic Judaism Welcomes New Community in Tucson
The Society for Humanistic Judaism is excited to welcome the Secular Humanist Jewish Circle in Tucson, Arizona, as its newest affiliated community. The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle joins the almost 30 Humanistic congregations and communities across North America.
"I recognized that there was a great interest and hunger in Tucson for a secular Jewish alternative when more than 70 people showed up to hear Rabbi Miriam Jerris speak in February 2010," said SHJC founding member Susan Rubin. "Since then, we have been enthusiastically growing our community. We now have a committed board and solid membership. Affiliating with SHJ will bring us into the national family, open the door to exciting new resources, and give SHJC respect and legitimacy."
Rabbi Miriam Jerris, who has been supporting the efforts of the leadership in Tucson for nearly three years, observed that she knew from the beginning that "Susan and Marshall Rubin's understanding of the philosophy and their personal warmth, combined with their knowledge of Jewish organizational life, were the right combination for creating a community in Tucson. We welcome the more than twenty-five households into our Humanistic Jewish family and hope that they will learn what I learned many years ago, 'What we do together is more powerful than what we can accomplish on our own.'"
Monday, March 19, 2012
Open Season on Jews in France
As reported by AP, a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire today at a Jewish school, killing a rabbi and his two young sons as they waited for a bus, then chased down a 7-year-old girl, shooting her dead at point-blank range. It was the latest in a series of attacks on minorities that have raised fears of a racist killer on the loose. The same weapon, a .45-caliber handgun, was used in two other recent shootings in southwestern France, also involving an assailant who fled by motorcycle. Those attacks left three people dead — military paratroopers of North African and Caribbean origin.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Circumcision Causes Herpes
As reported on March 7 by the New York Post, the death of a 2-week-old baby boy who contracted herpes following an ultra-Orthodox circumcision is being investigated by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. A spokesman for DA Charles Hynes confirmed that prosecutors are looking into the Sept. 28, 2011, death at Maimonides Hospital. The infant had been circumcised in a controversial religious ceremony in which a rabbi or mohel draws blood away from the freshly circumcised penis with his mouth. In 2004, another baby died after catching herpes from a Rockland rabbi who performed the bris.
An aside: I believe they mean "Hasidic" by "ultra-Orthodox". It's ironic because Hasids used to be (correctly, in my opinion) considered heretics by the real orthodox, the Misnagdim.
An aside: I believe they mean "Hasidic" by "ultra-Orthodox". It's ironic because Hasids used to be (correctly, in my opinion) considered heretics by the real orthodox, the Misnagdim.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Rabbi in Cigarette Tax Bust
As reported by the New York Post last week, a Brooklyn rabbi was busted for allegedly scamming the state out of nearly $200,000 a week in unpaid cigarette taxes.
According to the post, Meshulam Rothschild, 26, was reportedly moving illegal cigarettes bearing no tax stamps out of his warehouse on Spencer Street in Williamsburg. The Post witnessed his arrest in a raid earlier this month by the Brooklyn DA’s office and feds from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Rothschild, a member of the Pupa Hasidic sect, allegedly purchased the untaxed cigarettes in Virginia and then peddled them to bodegas and shops in Chinatown and elsewhere in the city. He moved about 3,600 cartons a week, The New York Post's sources said. The state lost about $50 in tax on each contraband carton.
One source said Rothschild actually had to start sending the cigarettes back to Virginia for phony tax stamps at one point because Chinatown merchants were refusing to buy the unstamped packs — for fear they were inferior fakes from China. Rothschild also was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument for allegedly possessing more than 11,000 phony tax stamps from the Old Dominion state. That top rap could land him 15 years behind bars.
Also arrested in the scheme were three members of the same family: Nasmi Havolli, 51; his son Nart, 20; and Nasmi’s nephew Blerim, 24. In all, 23 people have been busted for beating the state and city out of more than $2 million in cigarette taxes, officials said.
A fraction of the money has been recovered through forfeitures. In one case, cig-tax scofflaw Mamdu Bayy, 34, forfeited almost $240,000, and in another, cheat Ching Chong Lam, 46, gave up $180,000 to satisfy the charges against them, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn DA said.
During another sting, two men, Gani Hodja and Abdul Herkash met with an undercover investigator to buy untaxed cigarettes and wound up spraying the operative with mace. They then stole the shipment of Newports and Marlboros, the spokeswoman said. They were charged with robbery.
As a rabbi, Mr. Rothschild should have been familiar with the concept of Jewish law, Halakha, Dina d'malchuta dina ("the law of the land is law"), which, according to my trusty Wikipedia, is "the principle recognizing non-Jewish laws and non-Jewish legal jurisdiction as binding on Jewish citizens, provided that they are not contrary to any laws of Judaism. This principle applies primarily in areas of commercial, civil and criminal law." Hopefully, Mr. Rothschild (I cannot bring myself to call him "rabbi") will reflect on this in the slammer.
According to the post, Meshulam Rothschild, 26, was reportedly moving illegal cigarettes bearing no tax stamps out of his warehouse on Spencer Street in Williamsburg. The Post witnessed his arrest in a raid earlier this month by the Brooklyn DA’s office and feds from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Rothschild, a member of the Pupa Hasidic sect, allegedly purchased the untaxed cigarettes in Virginia and then peddled them to bodegas and shops in Chinatown and elsewhere in the city. He moved about 3,600 cartons a week, The New York Post's sources said. The state lost about $50 in tax on each contraband carton.
One source said Rothschild actually had to start sending the cigarettes back to Virginia for phony tax stamps at one point because Chinatown merchants were refusing to buy the unstamped packs — for fear they were inferior fakes from China. Rothschild also was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument for allegedly possessing more than 11,000 phony tax stamps from the Old Dominion state. That top rap could land him 15 years behind bars.
Also arrested in the scheme were three members of the same family: Nasmi Havolli, 51; his son Nart, 20; and Nasmi’s nephew Blerim, 24. In all, 23 people have been busted for beating the state and city out of more than $2 million in cigarette taxes, officials said.
A fraction of the money has been recovered through forfeitures. In one case, cig-tax scofflaw Mamdu Bayy, 34, forfeited almost $240,000, and in another, cheat Ching Chong Lam, 46, gave up $180,000 to satisfy the charges against them, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn DA said.
During another sting, two men, Gani Hodja and Abdul Herkash met with an undercover investigator to buy untaxed cigarettes and wound up spraying the operative with mace. They then stole the shipment of Newports and Marlboros, the spokeswoman said. They were charged with robbery.
As a rabbi, Mr. Rothschild should have been familiar with the concept of Jewish law, Halakha, Dina d'malchuta dina ("the law of the land is law"), which, according to my trusty Wikipedia, is "the principle recognizing non-Jewish laws and non-Jewish legal jurisdiction as binding on Jewish citizens, provided that they are not contrary to any laws of Judaism. This principle applies primarily in areas of commercial, civil and criminal law." Hopefully, Mr. Rothschild (I cannot bring myself to call him "rabbi") will reflect on this in the slammer.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Happy 100th Anniversary, Girl Scouts!
Girl Scouts are celebrating their 100th anniversary. My daughter was a girl scout for several years, while my son was never a boy scout. The reason? Unlike Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts don't force members to pledge allegiance to god. On October 23, 1993, Girl Scouts adopted a measure to permit substitution of another word or phrase for "god" in the official pledge. Girl Scout President B. LaRae Orullian made an official statement that the change is "a very strong statement that Girl Scouts continue to be on the cutting edge, and this is a continuing effort to show that we have strength in diversity and that we are an inclusive organization."
To read more about this important difference between Boy and Girl Scouts, see this article.
To read more about this important difference between Boy and Girl Scouts, see this article.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)