I was about to write a post on this subject when I received the following cogent and sensitive comment that I decided to post it instead. =================
Guest post by Guy Gustafson
What I find really wacky is that after all these recent developments and exposures none of the media circles have put out an updated or new story.
All the old stories are still up there and doing a search on google news for "Rivky Stein" or "Yoel Weiss" brings up news articles from the New York Daily News to Jweekly (and about this issue the Daily News hasn't said anything new about this for days and Jweekly hasn't said anything for weeks).
The articles on news sites and various blogs (aside from this blog) read as if the verdict is already in and that Yoel Weiss is condemned and that Rivky speaks truth as if she gave the Torah on Mount Sinai.
I think Yoel has more then vindicated himself and at the very least has shed some serious doubts on Rivky's story which I would think she would have to defend... but no she does not because as far as the media in concerned the story hasn't changed since they first heard about it and only if you happen to read this Daas Torah blog will you get an alternate side to Rivky's story.
I don't understand it. I would of thought the media would have a field day with this. I mean this is drama and entertainment of the highest order (sorry Yoel but it is, I myself don't follow news stories so much anymore but this one had me hooked from the beginning, its so alarming!)
Everybody loves it when a liar gets outed in the media, look what happened when Susan Smith and Lance Armstrong got there lies smashed into pieces (the latter spent a whole session with Oprah and his sociopath sob story).
I'm not saying that this case is anywhere close to the level of exposure of the above heavyweight all time media highlights that will never be forgotten. but this is a very serious Jewish community issue and its not an isolated incident.
When men start dating after this they are going to be obsessively looking for signs of psycho with a magnifying glass in every woman thus extending dating for months or years. I imagine men are going to turn away a lot more women for marriage at the slightest perceived sign of instability or wackiness.
But better that then to marry a super-psycho! Background checks, private investigators and references equal to that of getting a job in the US secret service will be necessary. cause I'll admit until this circus I myself was not too concerned about this issue but now its a very very big concern.
I'm fairly confident to say that most people have met people like Rivky Stein somewhere throughout there lives so everybody knows they exist.
I remember people I met at all levels of schooling and at various work places. People who I initially found to be engaging and interesting and with time passing small signs of crazy started showing and then they accumulated to the point of discomfort and then fear - cause they got too close and how could I get rid of them now?
If you have been in that kind of situation you know how uncomfortable and spooky it can be and how much effort and thought has to go into avoiding them after you have befriended them. Now imagine that happening after you married someone cause you didn't check them out closely enough during the dating process!
So for the sake of this alone (although exonerating Yoel is in its self a good enough reason) that the shofar on this issue should not be put away but be blown to warn unmarried Jewish men to be REALLY careful and scrutinizing when dating.
So this is why its important for these new developments to get into the media; news, blogs, and social networking sights need to be brought up to date.
Yet aside from Daas Torah - there's silence all around and worse; the perpetuation of the old and obviously fabricated story. people on Facebook (not that I'm a member thank G-d) are still condemning Yoel Weiss and calling for him to be burned at the stake.
They are ready with their cyber pitchforks and burning torches to form a mob and cast him out of existence with such certainty that he is Frankenstein. this is very likely to be just because they haven't heard latest events making up much more then half the story.
So if the people heard the closer to full story they can stop screaming to rip off Yoel's head and stick it on a spike, step back, think, reform their opinions and apologize to Yoel and ask forgiveness for so naively accepting lashon hora (evil speech) and spreading it. At the very least they can just stop verbally bashing him and celebrating Rivky raising her ego to the heavens.
But I guess if that never happens Yoel will just have to pack his bags cause his reputation got so tarnished that he can never live a normal life again and move here to Israel where nobody knows him thus fulfilling the mitzvah (commandment/obligation) of dwelling in the land of the Jewish people.
Hey if you look at it that way once again we see that every thing G-d does is good and there is a silver lining to every dark cloud. Come home Yoel the unmarried girls here need you!
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