Bava Metzia (84b) R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon's fears were not allayed that he had sinned by advising the Roman police. So he undertook a penance. Every evening they spread sixty sheets for him, and every morning sixty basins of blood and discharge were removed from under him. In the mornings his wife prepared him sixty kinds of pap, which he ate, and then recovered. Yet his wife did not permit him to go to the schoolhouse, lest the Rabbis discomfort him. Every evening he would exhort them, Come, my brethren and familiars!’ whilst every morning he exclaimed, Depart, because ye disturb my studies! One day his wife, hearing him, cried out, You yourself bring them upon you; you have already squandered the money of my father's house! So she left him and returned to her paternal home. Then there came sixty seamen who presented him with sixty slaves, bearing sixty purses They too prepared sixty kinds of pap for him, which he ate. One day his wife said to her daughter, Go and see how your father is faring now. She went, and on her arrival her father said to her, Go, tell your mother that our wealth is greater than theirs [sc. of his father-in-law's house]. He then applied to himself the verse, She is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her food from afar. He ate, drank, and recovered, and went to the schoolhouse. Sixty specimens of blood were brought before him, and he declared them all clean. But the Rabbis criticised him, saying, ‘Is it possible that there was not [at least] one about which there was some doubt!’ He retorted, If it be as I said, let them all be males; if not, let there be one female amongst them. They were all males, and were named Eleazar, after him.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
US intelligence indicates limited new damage to Iran's nuclear program
U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon has not changed since last summer, when analysts estimated that a U.S.-Israeli attack had pushed back the timeline to up to a year, according to three sources familiar with the matte
The assessments of Tehran's nuclear program remain broadly unchanged even after two months of a war that U.S. President Donald Trump launched in part to stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear bomb.The unchanging estimate of how long it would take Iran to build such a weapon reflects in part the focus of the latest U.S. and Israeli military campaign, the sources said.
While Israel has struck nuclear-related targets, including a uranium-processing facility in late March, U.S. attacks have concentrated on conventional military capabilities, Iran's leadership and its military-industrial base.
New Sefer
I want to publish a sefer dealing with supporting parents, spouses and children who have severe disabilities both the difficulties and the possible benefits. When to do it and when not to get involved. This is a very current issue between the aging of the population and the increasing acceptability of abortion, assisted suicide and government support. I am interested in first person accounts of dealing with these issues to add to the traditional sources.
For example:
When Rabbi Freifeld was sitting Shiva for his first wife. He recalled that he had once received news that a single non religious mother of two had been recently committed to a mental hospital. He said "I was very busy with my yeshiva and my wife was overwhelmed being wife mother and teacher/mentor. Nontheless she said we will take in these children and we raised them."
להזהיר ולהיזהר": הגאון הליטאי ממודיעין עילית בדברים חריפים על ל"ג בעומר
https://www.kikar.co.il/haredim-news/teik7i
"רשב"י לא נפטר בל"ג בעומר", ולמה קבעו את ל"ג בעומר ליום זה? "לא בגלל יארצייט של רשב"י, אלא כי מזג האוויר נח לנסיעות או כי אין אבילות ביום זה" | "צריך להזהיר ולהיזהר, שלא להגיע לידי שיבושים... כאילו מבקשים ומקבלים דברים מרשב"י" | הציטוטים החריפים של הגאון רבי חיים קלופט על ל"ג בעומר (חרדים)
Dina d'malchusa dina AI
"Dina d'malchusa dina" (Aramaic: דינא דמלכותא דינא) translates to "the law of the kingdom is the law." It is a foundational principle in Halakha (Jewish law) establishing that Jews are religiously required to obey the civil laws of the country they reside in, particularly concerning taxes, commerce, and civil administration.The concept originated in the Talmud, introduced by the Babylonian sage Shmuel in the 3rd century.
The Rationale: It was established to prevent lawlessness and maintain good relations with the host country. Some medieval commentators (like the Rashbam) explain that this law is binding because citizens implicitly agree to the government's standard rules.
Taxes and Commerce: The primary and most widely accepted application is the obligation to pay all state and local taxes, as well as to abide by monetary and property laws.Civil vs. Ritual Law: The principle applies strictly to civil, financial, and administrative matters (such as traffic laws or zoning regulations). It does not allow the state to force a Jew to violate a Torah commandment (such as eating non-kosher food or breaking the Sabbath).
Limits to Arbitrary Laws: Most rabbinic scholars stipulate that the rule applies to laws that are general, public, and apply to all citizens equally. Arbitrary, discriminatory, or confiscatory decrees by a ruler are often not recognized as binding under this principle.
Jewish Sovereignty: Many classical authorities, such as the Ran and the Rashba, argued that dina d'malchusa dina applies strictly to non-Jewish or foreign kings. Because every Jewish citizen is considered a stakeholder in the Land of Israel, some poskim argue that this specific law of obedience does not apply to a Jewish sovereign state.
Charting how Trump became a historically unpopular president
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/05/politics/trump-approval-rating-analysis-vis
Trump came into office with his best approval ratings ever, with some polls showing him above 50% in late January 2025. But he had an extremely short honeymoon, quickly shedding several points.
It’s difficult to pin down exactly what caused the quick decline. Trump’s first days back in office were a flurry of unilateral actions. Two likely culprits were his highly unpopular pardons of virtually all January 6 defendants, even those who assaulted police, and the haphazard Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts to government employees and services led by the highly unpopular Elon Musk.
Haredi masses breach Meron, flouting wartime Lag B’Omer restrictions
https://www.timesofisrael.com/haredi-masses-breach-meron-flouting-wartime-lag-bomer-restrictions/
Masses of ultra-Orthodox worshipers crowded onto Mount Meron on Monday night to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer in a show of brazen defiance after authorities attempted to limit the annual festivities at the northern site due to fear of Hezbollah rocket fire.
In footage posted online, crowds could be seen streaming into the complex — traditionally thought to be the resting place of the 2nd-century Jewish sage Shimon Bar Yochai — and gathering around a central bonfire lit outside the tomb.
Police closed all roads leading to Meron on Sunday and erected barriers aimed at preventing any would-be revellers from reaching the area. But as many as 20,000 people were estimated to have already arrived in Meron in anticipation of Monday’s festivities, and no effort was made to clear them from the area.
High alert: Israel prepares for possible collapse of ceasefire with Iran
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/426555
Amid the U.S. operation in the Strait of Hormuz and recent Iranian strikes on the United Arab Emirates, Israel is preparing for the possibility of immediate escalation. Tehran has threatened a “night of rage."
Monday, May 4, 2026
US and Iranian militaries trade shots as Strait of Hormuz tensions escalate
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/04/world/live-news/iran-war-hormuz-trump
US military sinks six Iranian boats as Tehran fires on US Navy and commercial ships.
• Strait of Hormuz: The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran that has held for nearly a month is being tested after both sides fired shots in the Strait of Hormuz. The US military “blew up” six Iranian boats Monday after Tehran launched “multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats” at American Navy ships and commercial vessels, US Central Command said.
• Clashing accounts: Earlier, US-flagged vessels successfully passed through the strait, the military said, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps rejected the statement as “baseless,” according to state media.
The Trump administration ramps up its lawlessness on the seas
It has now become routine for U.S. Southern Command to post grainy videos online of boats being blown up, along with claims that “male narco-terrorists were killed,” even though the administration has not offered any evidence that even one of the people incinerated by U.S. firepower was engaged in drug trafficking, much less in terrorism. The administration is so averse to trying to prove wrongdoing in court that, when suspects survive a strike, they are released rather than arrested. Apparently, there is a secret Justice Department opinion justifying the strikes based on the fanciful premise that drug cartels are waging war on the United States.
But there is also a greater willingness by the U.S. armed forces to engage in illegal conduct. Echoing the view of many legal experts, Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal adviser, told me, “These boat strikes — premeditated killings outside of armed conflict — implicate U.S. criminal laws prohibiting murder on the high seas, conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States, and murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.” Even many conservative legal scholars agree that, as John Yoo wrote in The Post in September, the boat strikes “violate American law and the Constitution.”
Another mystery: What exactly is being accomplished by the strikes other than satisfying President Donald Trump’s bloodlust? Trump recently boasted on Truth Social that “98.2% of Drugs coming into the U.S. by Ocean or Sea have STOPPED!” That figure is about as reliable as his claims that prescription drug prices have fallen by more than 100 percent, which is mathematically impossible.
Understanding Lag B'Omer
The first 33 days of the Omer are observed as a period of mourning. We do not take haircuts, perform weddings, or listen to music. What’s the mourning all about?
Rabbi Akiva, the towering sage of the Mishna, exerted a powerful influence on the Torah scholars of his day, to the point that he had 24,000 disciples. Great as the members of this group was, they had one short-coming: They failed to show proper love and respect for one another. The tragic consequence of this shortcoming was a brief but cataclysmic epidemic that claimed the lives of these students – all 24,000 of them. The period during which the epidemic took place was none other than the first 32 days of the Omer.
The 33rd day of the Omer signified a new period in the life of Rabbi Akiva. The last students of his aborted legacy died, and he established a new venue for his legacy. This consisted of five sages. Their names were Rabbi Meir; Rabbi Yehuda; Rabbi Elazar; Rabbi Nechemiah; and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. All of these names are familiar to any student of Mishna or Talmud, but the most prominent among them is the sage Rabbi Shimon, about whom we shall learn more. (There is an opinion that Rabbi Shimon later died on the 33rd of the Omer, and we therefore celebrate his memory on that day.)
Significantly, it was Rabbi Shimon, most prominent of Rabbi Akiva’s disciples, who affirmed the immortality of the chain of transmission of the Oral Torah. In a discussion recorded in the Talmud (Shabbat 138b), some sages voiced the opinion that the Torah was destined to be forgotten. Rabbi Shimon said, “God forbid that the Torah shall ever be forgotten!” He buttressed his view with a verse from the Torah, “For it (the Torah) will not be forgotten from the mouth of progeny of the Jews.” (Even today, visitors to Rabbi Shimon’s tomb, nestled among the breathtaking mountains of northern Israel, are greeted by this very verse painted at the entrance to the memorial building.)
If these five new students were able to survive and keep the chain going, there must have been a qualitative difference between them and their fellow disciples of Rabbi Akiva. If the first group failed in their interpersonal relationships, the second were able to rectify that defect. Just as we mourn the dimensions of Torah lost through lack of appreciation for one another, so do we celebrate the reclaimed dimensions that were made possible by devotion to one another.
Maine Senate candidate Platner says tattoo recognized as Nazi symbol has been covered
His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.
The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police.
Platner, in an Associated Press interview, said that while his campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, he chose to cover it up with another tattoo due to the limited options where he lives in rural Maine.