Yeshiva World News

The Internal Revenue Service announced a voluntary program Thursday to certify paid tax preparers who complete annual training and pass a test.

A majority of taxpayers pay someone to help them file their tax returns, but most preparers are unregulated. The goal of the program is to help consumers know which tax preparers have at least a minimum level of competency, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

Attorneys, certified public accountants and others who represent clients before the IRS are exempt because they already undergo training.

“It helps lessen the risk to taxpayers from preparers who have no education in federal tax law or filing requirements,” Koskinen said. “And it allows preparers without professional credentials to stand out from the competition by giving them a recognizable record of completion that they can show to their clients.”

Starting in 2015, tax preparers would have to complete 18 hours of training each year and pass a test showing that they understood the material to be certified for the upcoming filing season.

The IRS tried to make training and testing mandatory a few years ago. But earlier this year a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that the IRS didn’t have the legal authority to impose the new rules without congressional authorization.

Koskinen is pressing Congress for that authority.

Tax giant H&R Block issued a statement supporting the new program.

But the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which represents people in the accounting profession, questioned whether the IRS has the legal authority to administer the program.

Nina E. Olson, the national taxpayer advocate, said she supports competency requirements for tax preparers, but she is concerned that the testing in the new program won’t be rigorous enough. Olson runs an independent office within the IRS.

(AP)

[By Rabbi Yair Hoffman]

This past Thursday, an article by Masorati Rabbi, Reuven Hammer –  a leading figure in the Conservative Jewish movement and a former president of the International Rabbinical Assembly, appeared in the Jerusalem Post.

He described how a pair of “ultra-orthodox” men had examined his Mezuzah without his permission and had left it with his neighbor telling him to relay the message, “unless we fixed it, terrible things would happen to us.”

Hammer then proceeds to question, “Does a mezuza protect a house? If so, we could cancel our contract with an alarm system and save money on our house insurance. Since when does Judaism teach such superstitious nonsense?”

He further writes, “Seeing the mezuza, one should remember what it written in it and the teachings of the Torah.  Nothing is said about protection.  That is what Maimonides taught in his Guide For the Perplexed. He includes the mezuza in a class of precepts that “serve to remind us continually of G-d, and of our duty to fear and love Him, to keep all His commandments, and to believe concerning G-d that which every religious person must believe” (III 44). The Talmud, for its part, says that the mezuza is one of the things that will keep a person from sinning, because it will remind them of G-d’s presence and His commandments (Men.43b).  That the mezuza is some sort of magic amulet (sic) which assures protection and whose absence will bring catastrophe never appears in the Torah or these later sources.”

There are three observations I would like to make.

The first, is that if these people did, in fact, take Rabbi Hammer’s Mezuzah off without permission then this was wrong and halachically forbidden.  No one has the right to take off someone else’s Mezuzah without permission. This is a violation of trespassing.  The Talmud (Bava Basra 88a) records a debate between Rabbi Yehudah and the Sages as to whether taking an item without permission renders a person a gazlan, a thief, or whether he simply has the status of a borrower.  Rabbi Yehudah maintains that he does not have the halachic status of a thief, while the Sages maintain that he does. The Rif and the Rambam both rule in accordance with the Sages-that he is considered a thief. Indeed, this is also the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch in four different places (C.M. 292:1, 308:7, 359:5, 363:5).

The second observation is that the term “ultra-orthodox” is a pejorative term.  Religious Jews do not like it and never refer to themselves in this manner.  Ultra – means extreme or too much.  Rabbi Hammer would never refer to any other ethnicity or group of people with an appellation that they find demeaning – why is it permitted to do so to a group of fervently observant Jews?

The third observation is that I believe that Rabbi Hammer is incorrect and that there are sources that the Mezuzah assures protection and its absence will bring catastrophe.

The reason to observe the Mitzvah is because this is what the Creator has commanded, and it serves as a reminder to serve Hashem and to observe the Mitzvos.  It does, however, have protective qualities.  The Aruch haSHulchan (285:3) points out that we should not be observing the Mitzvah because of  them, but because it is a commandment from Hashem.

Let’s now get to the sources:

The Talmud (Menachos 33b) states:

Rabbi Chaninah said:

Come and see how the qualities of the Holy One blessed be He are different from that of flesh and blood. It is the nature of human beings to have the master sit in the house while the servants stand guard outside. Not so is the nature of the Holy One Blessed be He! His servants sit inside while He stands guard outside.

Indeed, no less an authority than the author of the Shulchan Aruch, Rav Yoseph Karo, writes in his Kesef Mishna that the Mezuzah has protective qualities.  He writes that the protection only comes with the actual observance of the Mitzvah and not through the parchment itself

The Maharam of Rottenburg, a very early authority from the era of the Rishonim is quoted both by the Tur and the Taz (See Yore Deah 286:9) as writing that “before he affixed a Mezuzah between the Bais Midrash and his home, a ruach rah would disturb him while he was taking his afternoon nap.”    When a person places the Mezuzah upon his doorway, Hashem guards him from damaging spiritual forces known as mazikin as well as from other dangers. MeShiurei HaRishon LeTzion IV §169 writes that when there is a kosher Mezuzah on the doorpost the home is guarded by sixty angels and the Name of Hashem barring the entry of any damaging spiritual force. See also Rav Ovadiah Yoseph in Yabia Omer (Volume 8 YD §30) who cites a proof to this from the Jerusalem Talmud.

The Tur (285) describes the protective quality as greater than the fact that the Mezuzah extends life perhaps because the protection quality is an open miracle, while the longer life is a hidden miracle (Bais Yoseph). Alternatively, the wondrous aspect of a king watching his servants is why it is described as greater (Bais Yoseph and Bach).

According to the Sefer Chareidim (introduction), one who purposefully lives in a home (such as a tent) where he is fully exempt from observing the Mitzvah of Mezuzah will not be saved during a period of Divine Wrath (BeIdna DeRischa).  This is also found in the Shla in Chulin based upon Shabbos 32b.

The reward for observing this Mitzvah is also very great. If one is careful in the performance of this Mitzvah, he and his descendants will merit long life. The converse, however, is also true (See Shulchan Aruch 285:1; Tur; Sifrei Aikev Piskah 46; See also Shabbos 32b regarding the sin of being neglectful in this Mitzvah.)

And there are other physical rewards, as well. The Talmud (Shabbos 23b) tells us that one who is careful in the Mitzvah of Mezuzah merits a beautiful home. This can be attested to by the experience of many people.

The Baal HaTurim explains that the Torah juxtaposed the Shma section in the Torah to the section of “And it shall be when Hashem shall bring you to the land..” (Dvarim 6:10) to teach us that it is in the merit of observing the Mitzvos of a Sefer Torah, Tefillin, and Mezuzah that we will inherit the land without effort.

It was also the Mezuzah and Unkulus’ meticulous observance of this Mitzvah that was paramount in the incident of the conversion of the Roman Caesar’s men recounted in the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 11b).

Unkulus the son of Klonimus converted to Judaism. The Caesar, his uncle, sent a legion of Roman soldiers to retrieve him. Unkulus enticed the soldiers to Judaism by quoting verses, and they converted to Judaism. The Caesar sent a new legion but this time he instructed them not to enter into conversation with his nephew. As they dragged him from his home, Unkulus saw the Mezuzah affixed to his doorpost. He longingly placed his hand upon it and asked them, “Do you know what this is?” The soldiers could not contain their curiosity and answered, “You tell us.”

Apparently moved by what they observed, they asked him about it, thus ignoring their Caesar’s instructions. Unkulus explained the unique nature of this Mitzvah that we have seen before:

It is the nature of human beings to have the master sit in the house while the servants stand guard outside. Not so is the nature of the Holy One Blessed be He! His servants sit inside while He stands guard outside. As it states (Tehillim 21:8), “Hashem Shall guard your departure and arrival, from now and forever more.”

They too converted, and the Caesar did not pursue the matter further.

We see from sources throughout the Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud, the Rishonim, and the Shulchan Aruch that the Mezuzah indeed offers protection from damaging spiritual forces, from sin, and from other dangers.  It offers long life for us and for our children, the reward of beautiful home, and the land of Israel itself.

Rabbi Reuven Hammer wrote a masterful translation of the Sifrei but in these latter two points, I believe he is in error.  The Talmudic sources clearly demonstrate that there is most certainly a protective quality to Mezuzah.  It is not the reason we should perform it, but it there plain as day.  Rabbi Hammer should issue a clarification.

The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com.  Rabbi Yair Hoffman is the author of eleven books on Jewish law including, Mezuzah A Comprehensive Guide as well as the Not Your Usual Halachah series.  His books are available on Amazon.com and have approbations from leading Torah scholars of the generation.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY 5TJT

Before a unanimous Supreme Court weighed in, the White House had brushed off claims that President Barack Obama was exceeding his executive authority as just so much grousing from frustrated partisans.

Then, in a 9-0 decision Thursday, the high court ruled that at least in one case Obama had gone too far.

For Republicans, the court’s decision that Obama violated the Constitution in 2012 when he appointed members to the National Labor Relations Board without Senate confirmation validated their argument that Obama has acted against the law when he has taken matters into his own hands.

The court’s decision comes while Obama is determined to use all his executive powers to get around the gridlock of a divided Congress. In the process, he has left his imprint on policies ranging from immigration to the environment, from gay rights to worker pay.

“This administration has a tendency to abide by laws that it likes and to disregard those it doesn’t,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. “Whether it’s recess appointments or Obamacare, this troubling approach does serious damage to the rule of law, and the court’s decision is a clear rebuke of the administration’s behavior.”

Just this week, House Speaker John Boehner accused Obama of “aggressive unilateralism” and announced he would seek a vote in the Republican-controlled House to authorize an election-year lawsuit asserting that Obama has failed to carry out the laws passed by Congress.

The list of grievances against Obama range from his administration’s 2011 decision not to argue in favor of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court to his decision to allow certain immigrants who entered the country illegally as children to obtain work permits.

Obama has readily embraced a strategy of acting on his own to pursue certain policies. Faced with Republican opposition to raising the minimum wage, he signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to increase it to $10.10 an hour. He has instructed his administration to prepare an executive order that prevents federal contractors from discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender workers; legislation that would apply to all employees is stuck in the House. And he has put in motion new carbon limits for new power plants.

Boehner’s lawsuit threat seemed calculated to coincide with the end of the court’s term when two executive power decisions were pending. With the recess appointment ruling now announced, the only remaining one will decide whether the government can force companies to provide insurance that covers certain methods of contraception that the companies say violate their religious beliefs.

After Thursday’s decision, the White House struck an unyielding tone.

“If Congress refuses to act, the president will not hesitate to act on his own,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

And even though he ended up on the losing end of the court’s decision Thursday, Obama still effectively won what he initially sought. The Democratic-controlled Senate eventually weakened the ability of Republicans to block Obama’s nominations by doing away with procedural obstacles that required 60 out of 100 votes to overcome.

As a result, his appointments to the NLRB have since been confirmed, as was his appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, another recess appointment made during the same 2012 Senate break.

“He’s no worse off and the presidency is no worse off,” said former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, who recently returned to private practice. “In fact, it’s better because now future presidents have clarity that the Supreme Court has definitively spoken that intra-session recess appointments are constitutionally valid.”

Obama had argued that when he appointed the NLRB members the Senate was on an extended holiday break. The administration maintained that the brief sessions the Senate held every three days were a pretense designed to keep him from making a recess appointment.

In his majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer said that the Senate is not in recess if lawmakers actually say they are in session. A congressional break, he said, has to last at least 10 days to be considered a recess under the Constitution.

Conservatives took special notice of the solidarity behind the decision of the nine justices.

“They’re surprisingly willing to push back against this president’s overreach,” said Curt Levey, who heads the conservative Committee for Justice.

Still, the decision was particularly narrow and did not end a president’s power to make recess appointments.

Writing separately, the four justices on the conservative side of the court said they would have upheld an appellate court ruling that the only recess recognized by the Constitution is the once-a-year break between sessions of Congress.

“The presidency dodged a bullet today,” said John Cooney, a former assistant to the solicitor general and deputy general counsel at the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan. “This decision could have been a lot worse.”

He said Obama will still leave his successors with more constricted authority to make recess appointments than he had when he came into office. “All his predecessors had been very careful not to risk the powers of the presidency on separation of powers litigation whenever they didn’t have high assurances that they’d win,” Cooney said.

(AP)

You cannot be running TV, social media and newspapers encouraging terror and the murdering of Jews and then claim you are innocent when acts of terror happen.

The PA is now officially united with Hamas, a terror organization that pledges to destroy a sovereign nation and establish a Muslim caliphate. Financing the PA is therefore financing terrorism. PA terror has become a major industry. Is this what the West is so breathless to support?

Would the U.S. or Europe agree to give its cities and parts of its soil for a terrorist organization to establish a country the way U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been pushing Israel to give up most of the West Bank and return to pre-1967 borders?

Can we Palestinians blame Israel when the wall never existed before Hamas and the PLO started launching terror attacks on Israel on a daily basis?

Instead of financing the PA leaders’ lavish lifestyles, the world should start questioning the PA’s institutionalized incitement of terror and hatred to my people which they do every day through media, education and religious institutions. For the sake of both Israel and the Palestinians, it is not Israel but the PA that should be boycotted.

“Most people are mad at those who kidnapped the kids. When they commit such acts, we rejoice, celebrate for Israel’s suffering, then sit down and worry if we will be allowed into Israel for work and medical treatment. This has to stop, for our own sake.”Palestinian businessman

While Israel prays for the safe return of three Israel teenagers kidnapped by terrorists last week, although Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas tepidly defended the search for the teens — comments for which many Palestinians attacked him — the official PA daily wrote that “Israel itself is behind the ‘kidnapping’,” alleging that the three boys were soldiers when in fact they were students, two in high school, and the kidnappings were celebrated by people, glorifying the kidnappers and passing out sweets. The Fatah Facebook page then published a cartoon showing the three kidnapped teenagers as rats bearing the star of David with the caption “The Master Stroke”.

Keep in mind that the PA exerts extreme monitoring and control over social media used by Palestinians in the West Bank. A Palestinian man was jailed for six months for “liking” an anti-PA post on Facebook. The PA, therefore, is fully responsible for encouraging the celebrations of the kidnappings over Palestinian social media.

Responses such as these should help the world — which has been trying to force a peace agreement with the PA down Israel’s throat — wake up to the reality that the PA is a terrorist organization that has been inciting acts of violence and radicalism, and should be treated as such. Its leaders should be recognized as terrorists who deserve jail rather than a red carpet treatment in Western capitals.

While some argue that freedom of speech is sacred, it seems the only freedom of speech the PA allows is the one that incites terrorism.

The first thing the world should remember is that the PA is now officially united with Hamas, a terrorist organization that pledges to destroy a sovereign nation, Israel, and establish a Muslim caliphate. Financing the PA now is therefore financing terrorism.

Yet, despite uniting with Hamas, the PA will still apparently be receiving generous financing from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

The UK, with the best of intentions, offers an average of $135 million a year to the PA for development; nonetheless, the Guardian newspaper reported that the money, always fungible, was instead being used by the PA to finance terrorist imprisoned in Israeli jails — thus inadvertently financing more terrorism.

In addition, it is no secret that the PA officials have been stealing hundreds of millions of dollars of the aid money intended to improve the livelihoods of my people, the Palestinians, with no sign that Western aid to the PA ever filters down to the Palestinian public.

Instead of financing the PA leaders’ lavish lifestyles, the world might finally start questioning the PA’s institutionalized incitement of terror and hatred to my people which they relay daily through media, education and the religious institutions.

Ever since the PA came into existence, it has been keen to mass-produce and institutionalize the hatred of Jews and also the West. With their government-controlled TV shows that teach children how to kill Jews, and textbooks that preach hatred for Israel, the PA and Hamas are directly and fully responsible for each and every terror act committed by Palestinians, including the kidnapping of the three teenagers.

Is this what the West is so breathless to support?

Ironically, the PA is claiming no responsibility for the kidnappings, however you cannot be running TV, newspapers and social media encouraging terror and the murdering of Jews and then claim that you are innocent when acts of terror happen.

Another reason for kidnapping the three teenagers, of course, is also the regular prisoner-release agreements forced on Israel. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and held for five years then released in a prisoner exchange agreement for more than 1,000 terrorist prisoners who were let out of jail. Such deals have been openly encouraged and blessed by the PA leader. In other words, the PA encourages the kidnappings of Israelis to exchange them with terror prisoners.

The world should therefore understand Israel’s position when it recently called off releasing yet more terror prisoners in a deal promoted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. These releases just encourage the kidnapping of more Israelis.

As a Palestinian, I do not wish for any of my people to be in jail; nonetheless, I cannot sympathize with those who kill children and innocent civilians. I also know that releasing those prisoners in “swaps” sets a bad example, and even encourages more of my people to commit acts of terror: they see they can be released in a few years in a prisoner exchange brokered by the West.

Would the U.S. or Europe agree to give its cities and parts of its soil to a terrorist organization to establish a country the way Secretary Kerry has been pushing Israel to give up most of the West Bank and return to pre-1967 borders?

Also, if the US or any European country were facing terror attacks from any neighboring country, wouldn’t it seek to build a barrier to protect itself from that country? The U.S. already has a fortified wall along parts of its border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration — an offense not by any means close to any of the terrorist acts that have claimed the lives of thousands of Israeli civilians over the years. Therefore, can the world keep blaming Israel for having a security barrier?

Can we Palestinians blame Israel when the barrier never existed before Hamas and the PLO started launching terror attacks on Israel on a daily basis? Yes, the wall looks sad and ugly and depressing, but if Israel’s neighbors proclaim every day that their sole desire is to displace Israel, what else — apart from surrender — can Israel do?

We Palestinians know that Israel welcomed us with open arms before the PA came and brought terror-preaching with it. And yes, there have always been constant acts of Palestinian terrorism. But PA terror has became a major industry — in which terrorists are pampered, protected, financed, employed, and glorified by the PA — with streets, soccer stadiums and summer camps named after them. And Europe breathlessly joins in.

Israeli measures towards securing the safety of its citizens as well as that of the Palestinians, have been demonized by the world and the so-called Palestinian sympathizers, who choose to ignore the fact that Palestinians’ lives have become harder because of the terrorists and not because of Israel. A Palestinian businessman, for instance, who frequently passes illegally into Israel to buy his products, said: “Most people are mad at those who kidnapped the kids…[because] When they commit such acts, we rejoice, celebrate for Israel’s suffering, then sit down and worry if we will be allowed into Israel for work and medical treatment. To me, such a kidnapping only destroys the livelihood of my four children. This has to stop, for our own sake.”

The Palestinian Authority is a terrorist organization, and its leaders are terrorists who deserve international arrest warrants rather than the red-carpet treatment in Western capitals. The PA has been an inciter of terror; it jeopardizes the safety and livelihoods of Israelis and Palestinians alike.

This tragedy should remind the world that the PA — and organizations like it — is a threat to all of us and should not be rewarded with still more funds for terrorist behavior. For the sake of both Israel and the Palestinians, it is not Israel but the PA that should be boycotted, excluded and even dissolved.

(Source: Gatestoneinstitute.org)