Rav Dovid Karliner (Sde Chemed Kuntres Metziza 3:4): …It remains for us to explain how to decide in a matter that doctors based on their knowledge and experiments decide against the Tradition of Chazal. I have already explained in Sheilas Dovid when there is a tradition of Chazal which is undisputed and it is from Sinai in a halachic matter such a treifos. However regarding the condition of an animal which our tradition doesn’t deem a treifah, it can certainly be curable and it doesn’t concern us if the doctors decide based upon their studies that it is incurable. We rely on the Talmudic Sages and their Tradition and we don’t agree with the view of the doctors that nature has changed since this is a matter which is relevant to halacha concerning such things as treifos… we don’t say that nature has changed. Because if it were so then we would have been informed that a time would come that nature changed and these animals would be prohibited by means of this illness or this physical deficit. But from the fact that our Talmudic Sages did not agree in certain cases that indicates that they did not have a clear tradition or they are disagreeing what the majority case is but nevertheless they agree with each other that at least a minority exists. Therefore since there is not a clear tradition and there isn’t a direct halachic consequence but it only has consequences regarding certain fact than we can say that it is possible that nature has changed over time. In contrast where there is a clear tradition and the Sages are in agreement with each other than nature will never change and we don’t listen to the contrary view of the doctors. All this is only relevant regarding halachic issues. However regarding conditions that Chazal consider dangerous to health – the correctness of these statement can change over time…It is also possible that in their times there was no cure for a particular condition but now a cure has been found for something which Chazal don’t claim is a Tradition from Sinai but rather they knew from the medicine of their day. In fact it is possible that they learned many things from the doctors of their time such as scurvy (Yoma 84a) which R’ Yochanon learned how to cure from a non-Jewish woman. Nevertheless he poskened that it was allowed to profane Shabbos for the sake of this cure even though it apparently involved transgressing a Torah prohibition. There were also many cures that Chazal described as being learned from “a certain Arab” and other secular sources. Thus so while it is true that many cures were known to Chazal from Divine Inspiration (Sod HaShem) but it is not possible to say that all of their cures were such. Therefore when Chazal said about certain medical treatments that Shabbos can be violated for them in their times and places it was because they didn’t know any alternatives and they considered the medical conditions to be dangerous and thus it was permitted to profane Shabbos for them. But once it has been determined through medical science that these conditions are not dangerous we cannot profane Shabbos for them…. As long as all doctors are in total agreement then the condition is not considered dangerous anymore. However if there is not universal agreement then it is possible to say there is a possibility of error and the assumption of danger remains…. In my opinion concerning all the dangers and cures that require transgressing Shabbos mentioned in the Talmud, if there is not universal agreement of the doctors then we follow the view in the Talmud even to transgress Shabbos. But when there is universal agreement that in modern times there is no longer danger then we say that nature has changed in this matter…
Monday, October 12, 2026
When Science Meets Kashrut: How one woman blazed a trail in OU Kosher
Dr. Leff’s specialty was educating kashrut professionals and the general public to have an understanding of the increasingly complex relationship between kashrut requirements and the challenges presented by emerging high-tech food production techniques.
“Kashrut questions arise at all stages of a biotechnology product,” she continued. “Our posekim face new challenges, and they are devoting increasing attention to resolving these issues.”
She expanded on this theme in a 1996 Jewish Action essay, “Do Natural + Wholesome = Kosher?”: “Natural ingredients carry a hefty financial premium, so there are strong incentives to cheat,” she wrote. “In this case, however, replacing a ‘natural’ ingredient with one derived from petrochemicals is good for kashrut. . . . Everything I ever learned in my life was used in my work in kashrut,” Dr. Leff says. “I pride myself on having brought the awareness of the kashrut aspects of the many thousands of ingredients used in food manufacturing, including those produced by means of biotechnology.”
Fill the government with barbarians, you get barbaric government
To understand Pete Hegseth, go beyond superficial judgments about his carefully curated image. Beneath the tattooed and testosterone-obsessed public persona there lurks altruism. He aspires to be America’s tutor. Understand this: The secretary of war wants to improve us.
Hegseth says, earnestly if ungrammatically, that Hasan’s killing should be public “because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” Who are the people whose understanding Hegseth deems unsatisfactory? Surely not terrorists of Hasan’s ilk, for whom “these types of things” (mass murder) are a religious vocation — a calling. Perhaps Hegseth thinks the other 340 million Americans need to be instructed not to commit massacres.
If Hasan’s live-streamed execution is supposed to be statecraft as soulcraft, perhaps the government should sell the television rights to this spectacle. It could be a Netflix special. Or a pay-per-view moneymaker for the government. Public instruction by death in prime time could also be a deficit-reduction measure, financed voluntarily by Americans snacking on bowls of popcorn while viewing.
Trump says Russia and Ukraine reached ‘energy ceasefire’; Zelensky: ‘News to me’
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to what he described as an “energy ceasefire,” prompting surprise from Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, who said the announcement was “news” to him.
In an interview with Axios, Zelensky said Trump’s post was the first he had heard of the deal, though a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Ukraine was ready to agree to such a ceasefire, if Russia was.
Trump, whose war in Iran has been blamed for high diesel prices that are weighing on Republicans’ prospects at next month’s midterm elections, had previously announced an energy ceasefire in Ukraine in mid-September, though neither side ever confirmed such an agreement was reached.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis
"We live longer than we used to. During the twentieth century, the lifespan of Americans increased by thirty years. Much of the increase was caused by such advances as antibiotics, purified drinking water, sanitation, safer workplaces, better nutrition, safer foods, seatbelts, and a decline in smoking. But no single medical advance had a greater impact on human health than vaccines. Before vaccines, Americans could expect that every year measles would infect 4 million children and kill three thousand; diphtheria would kill fifteen thousand people, mostly teenagers; rubella (German measles) would cause twenty thousand babies to be born blind, deaf, or mentally retarded; pertussis (whooping cough) would kill eight thousand children, most of whom were less than one year old; and polio would permanently paralyze fifteen thousand children and kill one thousand. Because of vaccines most of these diseases have been completely or virtually eliminated from the United States. Smallpox—a disease estimated to have killed 500 million people—was eradicated by vaccines. Despite their success, vaccines are in trouble; only four companies now make them, and two of the four have severely reduced their vaccine research programs. The result has been an unrelenting series of vaccine shortages and a lack of hope that certain vaccines will ever be made. Recent examples show just how bad things have gotten: In 1998, the tetanus vaccine was in such short supply that its use was restricted to emergency rooms. Since 2000, a vaccine to prevent the most common cause of severe pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis in children (pneumococcus) has been available only intermittently. During these shortages, when the vaccine has been difficult or impossible to obtain, parents could only hope that their children weren’t among the thousands permanently harmed or killed by pneumococcus every year."
Russia will supply US and global markets with diesel, Trump says
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/6139544-trump-putin-us-diesel-supply-high-costs/
Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelensky rejected the U.S. move on Friday and said Ukrainian strikes are retaliation for Russia’s targeting of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, in particular electrical grids, depriving people of light, heat and water.
The Treasury Department said Friday that it would be lifting sanctions on Russian diesel to allow the fuel into the global marketplace. A few weeks ago, Trump signed a bill into law that authorized further sanctions on Russia.
“There must be support for Ukraine in protecting lives, and there must be pressure on Russia for its war. And today, there was a conversation between the leaders of America and Russia. A conversation that leads to something different,” he posted on X.
Commentary Op-ed Republicans are victims of a discredited economic ideology
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/republicans-are-victims-of-a-discredited-economic-ideology/
Sometimes people do inhumane things. The Senate health care bill is a case in point. It denies health care to a large group of poor, disabled, and elderly Americans to give a big tax cut to a small group of very wealthy people.
But are Senate Republicans evil people? Do they lack a moral compass? I don’t think so. I think they are simply victims of a once-successful but now discredited economic ideology. That ideology says tax cuts for the rich will create jobs for the middle class. It says cutting benefits, including health benefits, for the poor will cause them to work harder and behave more responsibly. Granted there is a grain of truth in these propositions but they have now become a cartoon of their once-legitimate, Chicago-school ancestors.
Republicans have become trapped in their own rhetoric, crafted during years of being in opposition. As Ross Douthat noted in a recent New York Times column, drawing on new analysis in a report by Lee Drutman, that rhetoric is now well to the right of the beliefs held by the broader Republican electorate. Republican leaders have failed to recognize the fact that the economic views of those who voted Republican in 2016 “lean only slightly to the right.” Republicans could have used the Trump election to effect a political realignment—one that would have combined a more moderate set of economic policies than the Republican elite currently supports with a more moderate set of cultural positions than those espoused by leading Democrats.
CMV:Republicans have never passed a law that benefited the middle and/or lower class that did not favor the elite wealthy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/dxk0oa/cmvrepublicans_have_never_passed_a_law_that/
So change my mind. Tell me any law or set of laws the Republicans ever passed into law that favored the middle class over the wealthy class. Because in my 58 years, it's never happened that I know of.
GOP lawmakers reject U.S.-Russia diesel deal, Trump’s Zelensky comments
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6140871-republicans-oppose-trump-russian-diesel-deal/
Several Republicans voiced objections to the Trump administration Russian diesel deal and President Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine needed a new leader.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), former Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated he was “concerned the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil will only fund the Kremlin’s war machine—emboldening more violence and destruction, as we have seen in recent days.”
He added that Congress already passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act which “gave the president significant authorities and leverage against China and Russia to bring Putin’s war to an end with a negotiated settlement.”
Trump can’t stop talking about vomit and Texas barbecue
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/10/10/trump-cant-stop-talking-about-vomit-texas-barbecue/
Republicans need President Donald Trump to use his swagger to hype up embattled U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton. He keeps talking about barf.
This year’s midterm mudslinging has largely focused on substantive topics such as corruption and affordability. When it comes to the U.S. Senate race in Texas, however, President Donald Trump has an additional issue he’d like the electorate to consider: vomit.
Crowds at the campaign stops typically laugh intermittently when Trump talks about imagined vomit. But all of Trump’s retching rhetoric offended one Texas GOP operative’s Southern sensibilities.
LevinAt11: Chillul HaShem &Elections
תכנית ראדיו רב יהודה לעוין, שליט"א, ערב שבת פרשת בראשית, תשפ"ז~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~Tefillah request, for refuah shelaima of:1. Rav Yehuda ben Masha HaLevi (Levin);2. Shimon ben Masha;3. Lea bas Freeda;4. Reuven ben Chava;5. Yechezkel ben Feiga Zlota;6. Neryah Dov ben Chana (Leiter).~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~Topics Included:~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~1. Parsha-based insights into the severity of murder (4:25, כי הרגו קין; also: the Gemara Rosh HaShana 3a regarding possible meanings of כי). This relates to the NY elections being held in wake of the (preventable) passage of Physician-Facilitated Murder.
• The Torah's universal vision for all Mankind (vs. the self-serving tunnel-vision of some faux* Jewish leadership) is referred to at the beginning of the Haftarah of Beraishis (not read this year due to מחר חודש).
* See last week's program, calling out artificial Jewish leadership - not despite the need to respect authentic Torah authority -- but specifically because of it.
2. Elections and massive, public Chillul HaShem - see letter copied below;
• If any candidates ask for your support - ask them what they've done to address the foundational moral threats we face (see letter below).
https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?
~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~• Important News: How inexpensive it is to save girls from the Female IDF Draft (Giyus Banos)~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~- From Chomosayich, an established volunteer women's organization in Israel, which has saved and assisted thousands of girls from the ongoing IDF escalationsagainst "easy-target" girls, over the years. Q) How far can your donation go in saving girls from falling into the Israeli Army?In other words, for how little can you save one neshomoh?A) FACT: For as little as TEN DOLLARS YOU CAN SAVE A TEENAGE GIRL FROM BEING DRAFTED INTO THE EXPLOITIVE ARMY!FACT: GIRLS LOCATED FURTHER AWAY FROM CHAREIDI CENTERS CAN BE SAVED FOR A MERE 15 DOLLARS.The cost of saving these neshomos is, in many cases, so low that it's scandalous that we're not seeing far more donations. Inexcusably, most of the tzibbur is simply being kept in the dark.
However, it's also because many of those "Shaineh Yidden" who do hear about this crisis, and the work being done to address it, fail to properly spread the word. Too many of us are focused on issues far less important, and/or too timid to be seen as "controversial."
••• See the half-page ad in the new Upstate Jewish Business Directory. •••Call Today.~~~~ ~~~~
https://www.chotam.org.il/
(* This very publication is a stinging indictment of the Israeli Army Draft Office, and the antireligious Establishment behind its escalating crusade to rob Torah-observant / traditional girls of their legal entitlement to a religious exemption from military service. The very need to publish such a guide speaks volumes of the danger posed to the next generation of Jewish mothers by "fellow Jews." The professional, psychological-warfare techniques that these 16- and 17-year-old girls need to be trained to defend against, all alone - without even legal counsel or a family member - are almost as outrageous as they are anti-Torah. The institutionalization of such techniques indicate how intent the Israeli military is on drafting increasing numbers of Torah-observant girls, and to what depths they're willing to stoop to do so.)
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A Good Shabbos to our supporters and partners, and wishes for a good, sweet, productive and uplifting year.
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
Email: torahjewsfordecency@
gmail.com Direct: 771.215.8892
Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337
Heard weekly on New Jersey's WSNR Radio 620AM, co-hosting the renowned Levin At Eleven program, every Thursday evening, 11pm to midnight (ET).
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ערב שבת, הושענא רבה, תשפ"ז
Previous week's program:ערב סוכות:Writeup and supplemental material:~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~Broadcast of preceding week, Shabbos Shuva: פרשת האזינוWrite-up:~~~ ~~~Previous week's broadcast:ערב ר"ה...An initial write-up and brief overview, w/ supplemental info appears here:~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~Preceding week's broadcast: נצבים-וילךLinked here is the LevinAt11 radio broadcast of Sept. 3, '26.*An initial write-up and brief analysis/ overview appears here:Sept. 17:~~~~~~~~~~~~~PS: A published version of last week's letter, Living the Legacy of the Chofetz Chaim, appears (edited) in the current MonseyMevaser.com p.14, 16.----------
Broadcast weekly over: Davidzon Radio: davidzonradio.com (718) 303-8000Sept. 24:~~~Circulated recently:יג תשרי, תהא שנת פדיון זוכותA simple עצה for those seeking גדרי צניעות in electronic communicationWhen communicating electronically with the opposite gender, when practical, one may prefer to not respond immediately, or to at least send the response on a timed-delay, as in the "schedule send" option for emails.This delay reduces the sense of a live-time interaction. The recipient then may feel a bit more like they're responding to the חפצא (object) of the email communication, rather than to the גברא (person) sending it.When not possible to delay in responding, even a momentary delay, when done as a geder, may help; that too can help maintain a sense of awareness. (Such brief delays are often beneficial in any case, to avoid errors and impulsive reactions.)Please feel free to share this.This is being disseminated for the zechus of all the Bnos Yisroel in Israel currently braving threats of arrest and legal pursuit, over their heroic refusal to submit to Army Draft Office orders to appear at the Draft Office - in the process of seeking a religious exemption (or otherwise). Likewise, circulated for the merit of those girls silently enduring the indignities of arrest, military tribunal, and incarceration at the hands of the Israeli military police, court and prison system.May their collective mesiras nefesh for Kedusha and Tzniyusserve to protect Klal Yisroel from all of our enemies - those threatening us from within and without - in ruchniyus and gashmiyus. To share in helping assist and rescue such girls, please partner with the established Chomosayich women's volunteer organization. They're silently bearing the burden incumbent on us all. To donate from the USA, CALL OR TEXT: (347) 661-0172. Please mention where you saw their number.###TTI~~~~Relevant to Doctor-"Assisted Suicide" legislation:~~~~~
October 1 Link:
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
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