We all go on streaks of periods with a good run of luck and sometimes, unfortunately, streaks of periods with a bad run of luck.

El Al is going through the latter right now...

The news today announced that a senior security officer of El Al has been Arrested for being involved in drug smuggling (specifically cocaine), and using the El Al planes and flights in the process. The alleged involved are Rami Yogev and his son Shalom along with two more El Al employees.
sources: Ynet and Haredim10

As if they didn't have enough bad headlines right now...

To put some humor into a tough situation, perhaps the real reason they stopped in Athens 10 days ago on the now infamous flight 002 was to drop off, or pick up, some drugs. Perhaps the missing luggage with all the Shabbos clothes also had some sort of drug involvement...

More humor - they have not said it yet, but we are all waiting for the El Al press release blaming the Haredi passengers for the drug smuggling...

To be fair, sometimes you make your own bad luck...

Back on Lag b'Omer, Chabad hosted a parade for kids with the popular children's performer Yuval Hamevulbal. They came under criticism for infusing the holiday parade with some religious content - explanations and lessons about the holiday. As an aside, Yuval Hamevulbal has famously come closer to religion over the years and is involved in religious events, he can be seen frequently photographed in tefillin, and he has a strong relationship with Chabad. For some reason people were surprised that a holiday parade hosted by a religious organization would have religious content about the holiday, and they complained about, to the point that it even made the news (though the video I posted has since been removed).

According to a report on Ynet, Yuval Hamevulbal, among others, has been investigated and questioned under warning for cocaine use, and the police say indictments are coming. And to think this cocaine addict was just criticized for trying to teach kids a little bit about Lag b'Omer at a recent chabad parade! They should have been, they were right to be, upset that their kids were being taught anything by a coke addict, regardless of what he was teaching them! I guess we will see, by the outcry or lack thereof, if parents are more upset about drugs or religion...

BTW, I am never surprised to hear about a celebrity/performer being caught with drugs. it is part of the way of life. Even if not all of them are involved in that, it is more common than not.

There is another "minor" drug scandal gong on in the frum community, though it is not getting much press that I can see.

Behadrei has reported on a a drug bust involving an avreich as the ringleader dealer, and 3 yeshiva boys as the mules. Among the 3 mules, 1 was actually a mule, 1 changed his mind at the last minute and did not agree to carry the suitcase, and the 3rd acted as some sort of agent bringing them together.

According to the claims of the prosecutor, this group was involved in smuggling tens of thousands of ecstasy pills into Israel.

Whatever the details of the case may be, if they are innocent or guilty, I don't know. They claim they thought they were smuggling watches, not drugs, or whatnot, they were taken advantage of. Maybe, maybe not. It does not interest me that much.

What I find interesting in all this, is how Behadrei describes the ringleader as "a kollel avreich who is the father of a young daughter, who works in a store in Bnei Braq".

Well, is he an avreich kollel or does he work in a store? Is everyone who wears a hat and jacket automatically an avreich? 

The description "avreich" is often used to imply a certain naivete and purity, someone untouched and uninfluenced by the outside world. Someone who has dedicated his life to sitting in the beis medrash and avoiding the influences of the outside world.  I submit that they are using this term to describe this fellow to portray him as innocent, as someone taken advantage of. He might very well be, but the avreich and yeshiva community might not be so maligned if the "powers that be" would stop calling every Haredi male an avreich or a rav just because they wear a hat and jacket and have a beard.

I remember reading in a book about Jewish members of the mafia about a mafiosa fellow nicknamed "The Rabbi". He was given this nickname because he tried to avoid killing on the Sabbath. And when he could not avoid it, he would first put on his tallis and pray a bit before murdering his target.

I was reminded of this when I saw this article about a ring of 5 Orthodox drug dealers who close up shop for Shabbos. It seems they would send out messages to clients letting them know not to come between sunset on Friday evening until sunset on Saturday evening. The group of men has been indicted - they have been arraigned this week, pleading not guilty, and most are out on bail.
(source: The Forward and Ladaat)

It's a funny thing, but even way back in the time of the gemara, and later in the time of the Shulchan Aruch, we find that it is common that people very religious can have a problem with one specific vice - and they would be completely trustworthy in regards to everything else except the one area in which they have a weakness. It is strange to call such a group of men "orthodox". Maybe just by being involved in pushing drugs a person has given up on being associated with Orthodox Jews. However, when that is how they act and present themselves, even if they have their one or two vices that are pretty bad, it is not wrong to still call them "orthodox".

I was happy to hear that the third yeshiva bochur in Japan who had been awaiting the conclusion of his trial and a decision has been declared not guilty. Yoel Goldstein has been released and just returned to Israel.

I get that everyone is happy to see him and are in a celebratory mood. It is a big simcha that he got out, especially considering that his two partners on the trip were both found guilty. I just hope they won't turn the simcha into turning him into a hero or the next gadol ha'dor.

What I don't understand about this is:

1. why was he found not guilty if the other two were found guilty? Was it simply a case of having a better lawyer and learning from the mistakes of the first two cases?
2. Do the other two resent his having gotten off while they have criminal records having been found guilty for the same thing he was part of or are they happy for him?

While we have received occasional updates about the status of the three boys arrested for smuggling drugs into Japan, along with frequent collections appeals on their behalf, I don't remember seeing updates regarding the drug dealer menuval who took advantage of them and sent them off to Japan carrying drugs.

The three boys in a Japanese jail: One boy was serving his sentence, eventually was transferred to serve the remainder of his time in a prison in Israel. He was eventually pardoned and has been released. One boy just had his appeal in Japan rejected, and he will be serving i think 3 more years in prison in Japan. The third boy is waiting for his appeal to be heard.

Benzion Miller, the drug peddler

The drug dealer: His name is BenZion Miller and he was arrested. He served some time under hosue arrest, and then when his case came to trial he was sentenced to three years in prison. Bechadrei is reporting that this week Miller is being released from prison. His release was approved based on his good conduct. Of the three year sentence he served a year under house arrest, 8 months in actual prison, and one full year was deducted for good behavior. Upon his release, Miller plans to move to a different city and get a new start on life. (source: Bechadrei)

Needless to say, the families of the three boys are pretty upset that he is being released while the boys (2 of them at least) still sit in jail.

The Boys In The Japanese Jail
Today, the appeal for Yaakov Yosef Greenwald was heard. Greenwald is one of the three boys arrested in Japan after being caught smuggling drugs.

The three were mules for someone else, their kindness and naivety used to take advantage of them. They were caught, they went to jail in Japan, and have spent a few years in jail in Japan. One of the three has since been moved to a jail in Israel, and was eventually pardoned.

The Appeal
The family, and Greenwald himself, along with the askanim helping him, were all very optimistic about the appeal and expected to be released.

The Verdict
Unfortunately, today the appeal was heard and decided upon. the judge in Tokyo ruled and rejected the appeal. Greenwald must remain another two years in jail in Japan. (source: Bechadrei)

With many drug smugglers and mules being caught recently, the risk of getting caught has become very high. That means it is time to stop smuggling drugs, at for those who are averse to such levels of risk, and find something else to carry over the borders.

The latest catch was hair. That's right, someone was smuggling hair.

Ladaat reports that the latest smuggling scheme to be caught was a Haredi guy coming in from Sao Paolo, Brazil. As the customs agents had him open his suitcase, they were surprised to find it full of hair. They opened up his second suitcase, and it too was full of hair. The guy was smuggling 10kg of hair, to be used to make sheitels in Israel.

I  wonder if they can train dogs to sniff for things like hair or anything else people might smuggle in..

There is a difference between drug users and drug dealers. With the law, there is usually such a difference, and while both are illegal, the police and prosecution will often make a deal with users, and even with low level dealers, to let them off with light punishments if they turn over the {higher level] dealers.

Rav Efraim Zalmanovitz, the rav of Mazkeret Batya, has gone on record making such a difference according to the halacha as well. Rav Zalmanovitz said that if a student is aware of a fellow student using drugs he should not report him to the police. Rather, he should immediately inform the students educator who will take care to deal with the problem properly. Rav Zalmanovitz even added that he discussed this very issue with the Minister of Internal Security and asked him not to chase down such users and not to pressure students to turn in their fellow students.

Rav Zalmanovitz continued that while students should not report their fellow students who are users, they should immediately report to the police students who distribute and/or deal in drugs, or anybody who puts the students in danger..

Rav Zalmanovitz insists that the only way to deal with such situations is by proper education, and it is therefore the educators who need to be responsible for minimizing the drug usage, and for dealing with the legal issues. Police involvement, with student users, will just exacerbate the situation and increase usage and addiction levels. (source: Mynet)

The Medical Union of Israel has decided to allow anybody who wants, for any purpose at all, to buy Ritalin, without going through the system of diagnosis for medical need that has been required until now.

The ethics committee has decided to allow it, permitting even a regular family doctor to write the prescription, where until now the only way to get Ritalin was to go through a series of examinations and evaluations by neurologists and psychiatrists, and only the neurologist could make the final decision to prescribe.

The purpose of the new decision is to allow even people who have no actual medical need for Ritalin but want to  benefit from it for other purposes to do so. That means someone having a hard time concentrating on studying for his exams, for example, can now go get some Ritalin to help him concentration until he finishes the exams.

The only limitation is that buying Ritalin for such a non-medically diagnosed purpose will require the user to pay for it out of his/her own pocket, and it will not be funded or subsidized as part of the medical "health basket". Patients who require Ritalin for medical needs and go through the diagnosis process will still go through the same system as before and the subsidy will still be applied.

There are those who oppose the decision. Their main point of protest is that it will increase the gap between rich and poor. The rich will have access to this expensive drug that will help them perform better on exams, while the poor will not be able to benefit from this. As well, people who take Ritalin but do not need it will suffer from side effects such as headaches and stomachaches. (source: Mako News)

Is morphine next? Vicodin? codeine? How about even harder stuff? This just does not seem like a good idea to me. I am not a big fan of pills and medicine as it is and think they should only be taken when absolutely necessary. Opening something like this up seems to me to be a dangerous precedent.

Mazel tov to Yosef Bondo, the youngest of the three young men who had been caught and convicted as drug mules smuggling drugs, though it was unknown to them at the time, upon receiving a pardon from Shimon Peres, with the approval of the Japanese government. he served time for his crime, and now he can start afresh.

Upon his release Bondo went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to update him with the news of his release and his plans for the future, and to thank him for his encouragement and continued tefillos throughout the ordeal.

Upon Bondo's release, Rav Chaim Kanievsky said that "keeping the law is not a right, but a duty. When the gemara says "Don't steal from the tax authorities", it is not just giving a suggestion but is stating an obligation." (source: Bechadrei)

I wonder if they even ever told Rav Kanievsky about the fact that he had been carrying drugs, or if they only told him that these boys had been arrested for smuggling "something" for someone else. He didnt say a word, or at least he was not quoted as saying anything, about the fact that they carried drugs and the dangers inherent in drug use and the damage they cause and how they wreak havoc on people, families and communities, just about the obligation to not smuggle in general.

Treating celebrities as if they do not deserve the same punishment for drug crimes committed by poor blacks and other regular Joes, the justice system and the media create a special class that justifies if not contributes to the murder and mayhem south of our border.

Some human beings crave illegal drugs as much as others want food and water. Heroin from Afghanistan, cocaine from Columbia, marijuana from Mexico, meth from small town labs scattered across the United States, all find their markets in every country around the world. In Mexico, the transfer point for all types of drugs into the United States, drug wars are fought for control of this multi-billion dollar industry. Illegal drug use tears the social fabric of society asunder. No one is really taking this matter seriously, and the media treat the subject and its cast of characters like celebrities.

American news is filled with stories about another celebrity who had a wild, allegedly drug-fueled assignation in a fancy New York hotel, and supposedly violently attacked a woman escort. Drugs, prostitution, and violence seem to go hand-in-hand. The media, and even the courts, treat these celebrities like appealing and attractive “bad boys” and “bad girls.” The hotel has said it will not prosecute the celebrity for the major damage to his room, and the District Attorney seems to have told the t.v. star to get out of town fast. He went right back to filming his series at two million dollars per episode. But in Mexico, a young reporter was shot to death for reporting how the drugs gets from crop to nose, and the police, his family, and bosses are cower in the wake of his murder afraid for their own lives.

The insatiable thirst for illegal drugs may not have caused the murders of Luis Carlos Santiago and the other innocents of Mexico, but we are no less responsible than is second hand smoke for cancer. Letting celebrities walk into rehab instead of jail after repeated arrests for drug possession and their associated criminal acts, contributes to a rage among poor people and people of color that celebrities are treated different by the law and the media. The gentlemanly, compassionate treatment of celebrities and the children of the rich caught possessing and using illegal drugs tell the rest of us it is an ok behavior. We all have a hand in the murders and violence south of the border.
I have hardly heard a news commentator call for the arrest of one major celebrity for his cocaine and alcohol induced rant, even though he allegedly was high on cocaine and alcohol, smashed hotel furniture, and threatened his female companion who feared for her safety and called security. This news-making instigator was allowed to leave the hotel, board a plane, and fly home without ever being charged with any crime let alone drug possession. What if he was a black man from Harlem? Do you think he would be treated the same?

The judges adjudicating their cases, the prosecutors cutting deals with their defense lawyers, and the celebrity swooning media, are guilty by collaboration in the failed war on drugs if not first hand association with the cartels. They all are answerable if not accountable in the murder last September of Santiago, a 21 years old photojournalist who worked for

El Diario newspaper. His newspaper and others in Mexico merely report the drug trade and cartel murders, but now they have become the object of murderous dealers who do not want the publicity. Not only is reporting being stymied, but democracy is being killed by the violence in the drug trade. It is already spilling over the border into the U.S. How long before our democracy is threatened by this violence? The U.S. Federal government seems, at best, inept, and at worst complicit, in this war.

Bring it down to scale; the cartels are at war over who is going to supply Hollywood celebrities and twenty million other drug using Americans with a hot, in demand product, just like Target and Wal-Mart do without the shootings. Only this costs America $200 billion a year and people die. The celebrities seem to get special treatment bouncing in and out of rehab, while poor folks go to jail. The mean Federal sentence for drug felonies is more than six years. When was the last time we can remember anyone with celebrity status receiving anywhere near this kind of sentence? Instead, they offer to go to rehabilitation treatment centers for their addiction, while people without the financial resources go to jail.

I have heard many people describe the shooters in Mexico as “animals,” “locos,” and worse. American police, politicians, and residents along the borders with Mexico blame the illegals for smuggling drugs, bringing crime, fear, and death to their once peaceful communities. No one blames the Americans for our hunger for cocaine, heroin, meth, and marijuana. Our government looks the other way at Wachovia, American Express International, Bank of America, their officers and staffs accused of financing the cartels and their activities. Instead of slapping their wrists, government could make a large statement by confiscating their corporate and personal assets like they take possession of homes and cars of small fry caught with drugs.
Government could show it is serious about wiping out drug possession and use by expanding treatment programs, but at the same time by seriously punishing our icons and trend-setters, fashion arbiters, and stars; i.e., punish the glamorous for their drug buys, distribution, and personal use. These people are not cute. Advertising agencies hire them as spokespeople to sell products, because they can get Americans to buy the products. Show them being punished instead of glorified for drug use, and may be it will have a deterrent effect on some young person.

The media report the arrests of celebrities for drugs like it was a red carpet night opening of a new movie. More attention is paid to their drug activities by the entertainment media than the news reporting media. It warms my heart to hear the compassion for these stars by mental health experts and analysts on t.v. talk shows who worry more about the careers of personages like Lindsay and Paris than the impact of their drug buys, possession and use on society here and in Mexico. Who cares about the careers of Black men and women who do not get to cut deals with judges and prosecutors, but fill our jails for the very crimes over and over again for which celebrities are sent to rehab, given parole, or just go free?

Sure there is a double standard. We all know that’s they way the system works. But if you think watching these rich, white, celebrities walk away again and again from serious criminal prosecution and punishment endured by the poor and minorities isn’t taking its toll on our social fabric, then visit a prison once. Go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, talk to teachers whose students come to school high, and then you will understand why they are killing each other in Mexico to sell drugs in Hollywood and New York where their use is glorified and seems socially acceptable. Oh yea, read a major bank’s cash flow statement. Then tell Luis’ mother how sorry we are he got shot to death by a bunch of animals.

A woman asked Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, on a radio show, what she is allowed to do, as there is a drug dealer taking advantage of her son and selling him drugs son and the police don't do anything about it.

Rav Elyahu responded that as a mother she must do everything she possibly can, legal or illegal, to get the drug dealer away from her son. If a person sees that the authorities are not acting, it is allowed to take the law into one's own hands, when that person sees the attempts to cause someone to become addicted to drugs.

Rav Eliyahu described his efforts in Tzfat when dealing with drug addicts and how he saw the horrible affect drugs have on people and conclusively states that letting someone become addicted to drugs is like killing them.

First, in this situation, the mother should persist in trying to get the prime minister, defense minister, minister of internal security, the chief of police and any else possible involved to do what they are supposed to be doing.

After that, if it is still a problem, she should chase away these drug dealers with sticks and metal bars and do whatever she can do to hit them and persuade them to stay away from her son, whether using legal or illegal means.

(source: Srugim)

Oy. If you thought the drug smuggling ring to Japan was a one-time affair with unknowing yeshiva bachurim just trying to help out a fellow haredi who duped them, think again.

The police just arrested 18 yeshiva bachurim in Jerusalem for running a drug smuggling ring.

The article gives no details of what type of yeshiva bachurim they are, and there is a very wide range of types of yeshivas. Perhaps they are hassidic? Litvishe? Maybe they are part of one of the yeshivas that deal with boys who have drug problems?

So, while this can't paint a bad picture for all yeshiva guys, it is still unsettling.

These guys must have a really good relationship with the rabbi!

They were purchasing 1.5 million NIS worth of cocaine form their supplier in the island of St. Lucia, and they came up with a great idea how to deflect suspicion form the shipment, and away from them. instead of giving their own addresses for the delivery, they gave the local rabbis address! Also, they shipped it via regular post office! I didn't know that is how drug dealers deliver their packages.. it seems kind of risky to use official post office services for such a thing.

Maybe this qualifies these guys for the Darwin Award...

Anyway, after waiting for their package impatiently, they kept asking the rabbi if it came yet, they checked with the post office a number of times, etc., it finally arrived. What they did not know is that it had already been stopped by officials, and the cocaine had been swapped out for flour. After the package was picked up, the investigators swooped in and made the arrests.

It turns out the rabbi was not involved - they used his address without his permission. Not only that but he testified against them to the fact that they had asked repeatedly if the package arrived. So when they claimed they knew nothing of it, this was refuted by the rabbis testimony!

I wonder what they said when they asked the rabbi for the package and he said "why did you ship to my house?", as anybody would say in such a situation (regardless of the package containing drugs).

It takes a certain amount of gall to ship drugs through the rabbi, via the post office...Maybe they were stoned when they did it!

(source: NRG)

the drugs would be really potent if I hid them in my socks!

(Will be cross-posted at Dov Bear soon)

Should Israel Help them? Eitan Haber writes in Ynet about the phenomenon of Israelis demanding Israel rescue their relatives in danger in other countries.

There is something beautiful about the fact that we feel the need to protect Jews around the world. I have written about it before. We hear about backpackers in Chile or Peru that fall off a cliff and Israel sends a search team. We hear about various calamities around the world in which an Israeli gets himself caught in the middle of trouble, and Israel sends some sort of extraction team.

Jameel wrote about this being a symptom of the "Magia lee" attitude.

I want to know wher the Foreign Ministry, or any other government office, was when Pollard was caught and sent to rot in jail. Where were they when Gilad Shalit was taken hostage and sent to rot somewhere in Gaza. Where were they when Arad, Baumel, Katz and Feldman were taken captive and sent to rot in some cell in Iran or Kebanon.

Do we only defend drug dealers? Jerks like these two idiots and like Elchonon Tenenbaum (who got himself kidnapped in Lebanon during a drug deal), are the people we "go to the end of the world" to free. People who sacrificed themselves for Israel are let to rot while we expend ourselves around the world for stupid backpackers who can't stay on a trail, and for drug dealers.

Another thing, and this I left in the commenst by Jameel - why do they deserve our help in Thailand? Because they were given the death penalty? And what in essence were they giving to the people who were going to be buying their product? they were giving them the death penalty, as many of them would end up dropping dead from drug overdose, suicide, gang and turf wars that are drug related, and the like.

So why should we defend them and save them from the death penalty, when they were going to be giving the death penalty to many more people. And those people we would have let die without batting an eye. We would have said, just another druggie... but the dealers we have to protect.

Here is a sickening video made by the lawyer dealing with the yeshiva boys arrested in Japan for drug smuggling.



He implores people not to get involved in drug smuggling, especially in the United States, but only because it is not worth it and how bad the prisons are.

Forget about the actual dealing in drugs, forget about the chilul hashem. The biggest problem is the conditions of the jail. I guess if the jails would not be so bad, such as being incarcerated near Puerto Ricans, it would be worth smuggling drugs...

Compare that statement to the following letter put out by the Badatz of Antwerp with a much more definitive statement in which they call upon people not to carry drugs or money for people, not to exchange money for people, not to carry packages for anybody, even people from within the community. Nobody has trust in these matters and it is completely prohibited to be involved in these things, both by halacha and by dina d'malchusa dina.

I am not into Bible Criticism. It does not interest me and I am not plagued with doubts and questions that reinterpretations of the Torah would sway me one way or the other with answers.

That being said, some Professor at the Hebrew University just published a reinterpretation of the whole Mt. Sinai experience.

His conclusion is that Moses was high and tripping at the time. He drank some herb from the Sinai and had all these sensory hallucinations that made him experience "thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking."

He admits he has no proof, and never will, but he supports it with his own personal experiences in South America of his using herbs to get high and experience similar hallucinations.

Personally, I feel very disturbed and insulted that this guy feels he can write off Judaism simply by saying Moses was tripping.

The only partially redeeming point he says is, "But not everyone who uses a plant like this brings the Torah," Shanon concedes. "For that, you have to be Moses."

So, in other words, according to Professor Shanon, Judaism is 99% based on getting high on drugs, and 1% based on Moses being great enough to use those drugs to produce a Torah.

Maybe this guy is still tripping from one of his herbal drinks that he has "drank hundreds of times since 1991"....

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach pens a frightening analysis about the problems with the guys and girls who come to Israel for yeshiva and seminary in the one year post high-school programs.

What do you think? Is it as bad as he says?

In my day, when I was in yeshiva (post highschool), it was limited to a few select yeshivas that had these problems. The average yeshiva did not have these problems (or if they did it was individuals in the yeshiva/sem and not widespread).

I have heard from some people that the problems are more prevalent now, though usually it is smoking a hookah and some drinking. Rabbi Boteach is describing something much worse than what I have heard.

Is it as bad as he says?