Vayikra Rabbah (04:04) Ten things serve the soul: The gullet for food, the wind-pipe for the voice, the liver for anger, the lungs for drinking, the first stomach to grind the food, the spleen for laughter, the maw for sleep, the gall for jealousy, the kidneys think out and the heart decides; and the soul is above them all. G-d says to the soul: 'I have made thee superior to all of them, and yet thou goest forth and committest robbery and violence, and sinnest!
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Soul
Bereishis Rabbah (14:09) The soul fills the body, and when man sleeps it ascends and draws life for him from above
Chagigah (12b) Yet the soul of my lord shall be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God. The spirits and the souls which are yet to be born, for it is written: For the spirit that enwrappeth itself is from Me, and the souls which I have made. And the dew wherewith G-d will hereafter revive the dead, for it is written: A bounteous rain didst Thou pour down, O God; when Thine inheritance was weary, Thou didst confirm it There too are the Ofanim and the Seraphim, and the Holy Living Creatures, and the Ministering Angels, and the Throne of God; and the King, the Living God, high and exalted, dwells over them in Araboth, for it is said: Extol Him that rideth upon Araboth whose name is the Lord. And whence do we derive that Araboth is called heaven? From the word riding, which occurs in two Biblical passages. Here it is written: Extol Him that rideth upon Araboth. And elsewhere it is written: Who rideth upon the heaven as thy help.
Menachos (99b) The Torah was given in forty days and the soul is formed in forty days: whosoever keeps the Torah his soul is kept, and whosoever does not keep the Torah his soul is not kept. A Tanna of the School of R. Ishmael taught: It is like the case of a man who entrusted a swallow to the care of his servant and said to him, ‘Do you think that if you suffer it to perish I will take from you an issar for its value? No, I will take your soul from you.
Nidah (30b) Every tongue shall swear refers to the day of birth of which it is said, He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not taken My name in vain, and hath not sworn deceitfully. What is the nature of the oath that it is made to take? Be righteous, and be never wicked; and even if all the world tells you, You are righteous, consider yourself wicked. Always bear in mind that G-d is pure, that his ministers are pure and that the soul which He gave you is pure; if you preserve it in purity, well and good, but if not, I will take it away from you
Nidah (31a) There are three partners in man, G-d, his father and his mother. His father supplies the semen of the white substance out of which are formed the child's bones, sinews, nails, the brain in his head and the white in his eye; his mother supplies the semen of the red substance out of which is formed his skin, flesh, hair, blood and the black of his eye; and G-d gives him the spirit and the breath, beauty of features, eyesight, the power of hearing and the ability to speak and to walk, understanding and discernment. When his time to depart from the world approaches G-d takes away his share and leaves the shares of his father and his mother with them
Sanhedrin (37a). For this reason was man created alone, to teach thee that whosoever destroys a single soul of Israel, scripture imputes guilt to him as though he had destroyed a complete world; and whosoever preserves a single soul of Israel, scripture ascribes merit to him as though he had preserved a complete world
Sanhedrin (091a) Antoninus said to Rabbi: The body and the soul can both free themselves from judgment. Thus, the body can plead: The soul has sinned, the proof being that from the day it left me I lie like a dumb stone in the grave powerless to do aught. Whilst the soul can say: The body has sinned, the proof being that from the day I departed from it I fly about in the air like a bird and commit no sin.’ He replied, ‘I will tell thee a parable. To what may this be compared? To a human king who owned a beautiful orchard which contained splendid figs. Now, he appointed two watchmen therein, one lame and the other blind. One day the lame man said to the blind, "I see beautiful figs in the orchard. Come and take me upon thy shoulder, that we may procure and eat them." So the lame bestrode the blind, procured and ate them. Some time after, the owner of the orchard came and inquired of them, "Where are those beautiful figs?" The lame man replied, "Have I then feet to walk with?" The blind man replied, "Have I then eyes to see with?" What did he do? He placed the lame upon the blind and judged them together. So will G-d bring the soul, replace it in the body, and judge them together, as it is written, He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people: He shall call to the heavens from above-this refers to the soul; and to the earth, that he may judge his people-to the body.
Bereishis Rabbah (34:10) Antoninus asked Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi When is the soul planted in man?When he leaves his mother's womb, replied he. But if you leave meat without salt for three days, said he, will it not putrefy? Rather, from conception Our Teacher agreed with him, for Scripture too upports him: All the while my souI is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostril, while it is written, And Thy Providence hath preserved My spirit hence, when didst Thou place the soul in me? When Thou didst determine my fate.
Sanhedrin (91b) Antoninus also said to Rabbi, When is the soul placed in man; as soon as it is decreed that the sperm shall be male or female, etc., or when the embryo is actually formed? He replied, From the moment of formation. He objected: Can a piece of meat be unsalted for three days without becoming putrid? But it must be from the moment that God decrees its destiny. Rabbi said: This thing Antoninus taught me, and Scripture supports him, for it is written, And thy decree hath preserved my spirit .
Sanhedrin (103b) The soul of one righteous man is equal to the whole world:
Shabbos (152b) And the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it: Render it back to him as He gave it to thee, in purity, so do thou return it in purity. This may be compared to a mortal king who distributed royal apparel to his servants. The wise among them folded it up and laid it away in a chest, whereas the fools among them went and did their work in them. After a time the king demanded his garments: the wise among them returned them to him immaculate, but the fools among them returned them soiled. The king was pleased with the wise but angry with the fools. Of the wise he said, Let my robes be placed in my treasury and they can go home in peace; while of the fools he said, Let my robes be given to the fuller, and let them be confined in prison.
Tanis (22b) An individual may not afflict himself by fasting lest thereby he come to need the help of his fellow men and it may be that they will not have mercy upon him. Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: R. Jose's reason is because It is written, And became a living soul; Scripture thereby implies, God says, Keep alive the soul which I gave you.
Yoma (20b) There are three voices going from one end of the world to the other: The sound of the revolution of the sun; the sound of the tumult of Rome, and the sound of the soul as it leaves the body. Some say also the sound of childbirth
Yevamos (62a) If a man had children and they died, he has fulfilled, said R. Huna, the duty of propagation. R. Johanan said: He has not fulfilled it. R. Huna said: He fulfilled’ because he follows the tradition of R. Assi. For R. Assi stated: The Son of David will not come before all the souls in Guf will have been disposed of, since it is said, For the spirit that unwrappeth itself is from Me etc.
Zohar (Bereishis 012b) It behoves a man to labour in the study of the Torah, to strive to make progress in it daily, so as thereby to fortify his soul and his spirit: for when a man occupies himself in the study of the Torah, he becomes endowed with an additional and holy soul, as it is written: “the movement of living creatures”, that is, a soul derived from the holy centre called “living”. Not so is it with the man who does not occupy himself with the study of the Torah: such a man has no holy soul, and the heavenly holiness does not rest upon him. But when a man earnestly studies the Torah, then the motion of his lips wins for him that “living soul” and he becomes as one of the holy angels, as it is written: Bless the Lord, ye angels of his, to wit, those who occupy themselves in the study of the Torah, and who are therefore called His angels on earth.
Berachos (43b) Whence do we learn that a blessing should be said over sweet odours? Because it says, Let every soul praise the Lord What is that which gives enjoyment to the soul and not to the body? You must say that this is fragrant smell.
Beitzah (16b) On the eve of the Sabbath G-d gives to man an enlarged soul and at the close of the Sabbath He withdraws it from him, for it says: He ceased from work and rested: once the Sabbath has ceased woe that the additional soul is lost!
Rosh HaShanna (17a) Wrongdoers of Israel who sin with their body and wrongdoers of the Gentiles who sin with their body go down to Gehinnom and are punished there for twelve months. After twelve months their body is consumed and their soul is burnt and the wind scatters them under the soles of the feet of the righteous as it says, And ye shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet. But as for the minim and the informers and the scoffers, who rejected the Torah and denied the resurrection of the dead, and those who abandoned the ways of the community, and those who spread their terror in the land of the living, and who sinned and made the masses sin, like Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his fellows these will go down to Gehinnom and be punished there for all generations, as it says, And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against me etc. Gehinnom will be consumed but they will not be consumed, as it says, and their form shall wear away the nether world. Why all this? Because they laid hands on the habitation, as it says, that there be no habitation for Him, and habitation signifies the Temple, as it says, I have surely built thee a house of habitation. Of them Hannah said, They that strive with the Lord shall be broken to pieces. R. Isaac b. Abin said: And their faces shall be black like the sides of a pot. Raba added: Among them are the most handsome of the inhabitants of Mahuza, and they shall be called sons of Gehinnom.
Reading Donald J. Trump and JD Vance on Iran
https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/reading-donald-j-trump-and-jd-vance-on-iran/
Given US President Trump's sterling record in confronting Iran – no other US president has actually gone to war against the radical Islamist regime and repeatedly backed Israel's wars of defense against Iran – one wants to give Trump the benefit of the doubt now too when he seeks to defang Iran diplomatically.
But the trash-talking about Israel by Trump and especially by his Vice President, JD Vance, makes this hard to do.
Dr. Michael Doran of the Washington-based Hudson Institute argues, almost convincingly, that Trump is buying time, not surrendering to Iran.
But Trump is prone to conjuring-up huge and historic "peace" deals, believing his own rhetoric even when it flies in the face of reality, and then moving on – leaving allies on their own to deal with messy, very warlike, aftermaths. See Ukraine and Gaza, and now perhaps Lebanon and Iran too.
Thus, in the real world – not an imaginary world of grand civilizational peace and a "new era of US-Iranian relations with some very nice and responsible Iranian leaders" who whimsically reflect "regime change" in Tehran, according to Trump – America's "temporary concessions" to Iran are not easily reversible.
Failure in Iran, defeat in Lebanon
https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/failure-in-iran-defeat-in-lebanon/
Despite the Israel Defense Forces' impressive military achievements, the Iranian regime survived, Hezbollah is recovering, and Israel has been left without a clear diplomatic achievement. Why do many feel the campaign ended far from the goals that were set?
The courage and heroism of IDF soldiers and pilots, along with precise target intelligence (as opposed to strategic intelligence about the enemy, which failed again this time), produced extraordinary military achievements that will be discussed for years to come. But all this did not amount to victory, leaving us with a sense of a missed opportunity, and even of failure.
We should not be afraid to admit that we failed. Recognizing failure is the first step toward correcting it. True, failure is a harsh word, and some fear using it lest it damage public morale, as though Israel's citizens do not have eyes in their heads and cannot understand for themselves what happened vis-à-vis Iran and in Lebanon. But if we do not look reality squarely in the face, we will not be able to get back on track and win in the future. That is why we can only regret that the October 7 failure has still not been investigated, and that the truth about what happened to us on that day and before it is still not public knowledge.
'Marriage crisis' warning over draft dodgers sparks US ultra-Orthodox fury
https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rk0009efmzg
Senior Vizhnitz figure said ultra-Orthodox men classified as draft evaders and unable to leave Israel struggle to marry women from abroad, prompting sharp criticism from US Haredi voices, including claims that some soldiers 'will never marry' after falling in combat
The fact that ultra-Orthodox men who have not reported to IDF enlistment offices are unable to leave Israel is already well known within the Haredi community. However, in recent days the issue has become a central topic of discussion after rabbis and Haredi public figures warned that it is also creating a crisis in matchmaking, particularly within Hasidic communities that maintain close ties with communities abroad.
However, the focus on matchmaking during wartime has triggered a wave of criticism among ultra-Orthodox communities in the United States. Many argued that while soldiers are being killed in combat and tens of thousands of reservists are spending months away from their families, concentrating on international matchmaking difficulties reflects a disconnected sense of priorities.
Monday, June 29, 2026
Israel-Lebanon framework faces first test as Hezbollah rejects disarmament deal
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-900787
Israel and Lebanon signed a US-brokered framework agreement in Washington on June 26, turning months of cautious negotiations into a formal diplomatic process. But the deal’s hardest test is only beginning: whether Lebanon can impose state authority in the south while Hezbollah remains armed, powerful, and opposed to the arrangement.
On paper, the agreement is a breakthrough. Israel and Lebanon recognize each other’s right to live in peace as neighboring sovereign states and say they intend to end the conflict and, eventually, any state of war between them. In practice, the bargain remains the one that shaped the talks from the start: Lebanon wants Israeli forces out and sovereignty restored; Israel wants proof that Hezbollah will be disarmed and kept away from the border.
Hezbollah’s rejection came quickly. The group called the framework a surrender, rejected any link between Israeli withdrawal and its own disarmament, and made clear it would not be bound by an agreement from which it was excluded. The response was predictable, but it showed the gap between the official negotiating table and Lebanon’s actual balance of power.
Supreme Court won’t save Trump from paying E. Jean Carroll $5M
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/29/e-jean-carroll-donald-trump-supreme-court-00979728
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a 2023 jury verdict holding him liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll, dealing a final blow to the president’s effort to thwart one of the most significant legal victories against him.
Carroll’s lawsuit accused Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s and then describing her allegations as a “hoax” after she went public with them during the first term of his presidency.
The Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene means Trump will have to pay Carroll the $5 million judgment, plus interest, that the jury awarded her. Trump, however, is still appealing a much larger judgment — $83.3 million plus interest — awarded to Carroll after a second trial that found Trump liable for other acts of defamation.
Defense Minister: Trump's pressure saved Hezbollah
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/429377
Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed that President Trump's demand to link the Iran and Lebanon arenas prevented Hezbollah's collapse.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday presented his assessment of the situation on the northern front, along with an overview of Israel's other fronts, stating that Israel is working to shape a new security reality in Lebanon.
Cain banished from Earth
Zohar (Bereishis 009b) When Cain was banished from the face of the earth, he descended into that land and there propagated his kind. That earth consists of two sections, one enveloped in light, the other in darkness, and there are two chiefs, one ruling over the light, the other over the darkness. These two chiefs were at perpetual war with each other, until the time of Cain's arrival, when they joined together and made peace; and therefore they are now one body with two heads. These two chiefs were named Afrira and Kastimon. They, moreover, bear the likeness of holy angels, having six wings. One of them had the face of an ox and the other that of an eagle. But when they became united they assumed the image of a man. In time of darkness they change into the form of a two-headed serpent, and crawl like a serpent, and swoop into the abyss, and bathe in the great sea. When they reach the abode of Uzza and Azael they stir them up and rouse them. These then leap into the dark mountains”, thinking that their day of judgement has come before the Holy One, blessed be His Name. The two chiefs then swim about in the great sea, and when night comes they fly off to Na'amah, the mother of the demons, by whom the first saints were seduced; but when they think to approach her she leaps away six thousand parasangs, and assumes all shapes and forms in the midst of the sons of men, so that the sons of men may be led astray after her. These two chiefs then fly about through the world, and return to their abode, where they arouse sensual desires in the descendants of Cain to bear children. The heaven above that earth is not like ours, nor are the seasons of seed and harvest the same as ours, but they only return after cycles of many years. These Elohim, then, who have not made heaven and earth may perish from the upper earth of the universe, so that they should have no dominion there, should not traverse it and should not cause men to pollute themselves “through anything that chanceth by night; and for that they will perish from the earth and from underneath the heaven which were made in the name of Eleh, as has been explained above. It is for that reason that this verse has been written in Aramaic, so that the angels should not think that they are alluded to and so bring accusations against us. This, too, is the secret of the last word, to wit, Eleh, which being a sacred name, could not be altered into Aramaic.
NJAAP FOR abortion- transgender-tyranny bill A2218/S2260
BS"D
June 29, '26
Attached is a statement of strong support by the NJAAP for the abortion-at-whim/ transgender-tyranny bill A2218/S2260.
Here is one critique, focusing on abortion-at-whim:
Here is one updated alert for the Orthodox community:
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
845.642.1679
Direct: 771.215.8892
Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337
Tomim Tih'yeh [countering "New-Age" infiltration]:
Presentations on New-Age dangers: 605-313-6831 ext. 2
Heard weekly on New Jersey's WSNR Radio 620AM, co-hosting the renowned Levin At Eleven program, every Thursday evening, 11pm to midnight (ET).
Open Letter to NJ Pediatricians to Oppose NJAAP support of A2218
BS"D
June 29, '26/ Parshas Pinchus, 5786
Dear NJ Pediatricians,
Recently, the NJAAP sent a letter strongly supportive of the looming transgender/abortion-at-whim-
I urge you each to consider an immediate rebuttal to that letter of the NJAAP - and sending it to NJ legislative reps, or at least a few allied reps opposing A2218/ S2260, to circulate to their colleagues.
Such a missive would help expose the fact that very many NJ pediatricians have not sold their souls to the Depravity-Industrial complex, that seeks to profit off vulnerable youth and adults, via barbaric gender "transitional" scams and abortion-at-whim.
It is the pediatricians who have the ability - and responsibility - to act. If you need us to facilitate, please inform ASAP.
The time to act is now, not after passage.
The subversives are active. However, the reason they are so effective is not just because they're active - it's because the rest of the people are not. That must change.
Don't rely on others to act. That has repeatedly proven as foolish as it is counterproductive, and even lethal, as evidenced by the 2018 passage of physician-facilitated poisoning of the medically vulnerable (euphemistically named "Aid In Dying") in NJ -- by one single vote!
FYI, here's one analysis of the bill from a pro-life perspective:
And here's their critique of the NJAAP letter:
Thank you in advance,
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
845.642.1679
Direct: 771.215.8892
Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337
Tomim Tih'yeh [countering "New-Age" infiltration]:
Presentations on New-Age dangers: 605-313-6831 ext. 2
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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Sunday, June 28, 2026
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