Yiftach in generation is like Shmuel in his Generation

 Rosh Hashanna (25b) Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among them that call on his name. We see therefore that the Scripture places three of the most questionable characters on the same level as three of the the most estimable characters, to show that Jerubaal in his generation is like Moses in his generation, Bedan in his generation is like Aaron in his generation, Jepthah in his generation is like Samuel in his generation, and to teach you that the most worthless, once he has been appointed a leader of the community, is to be accounted like the mightiest of the mighty. Scripture says also: And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites and to the judge thou shall be in those days. Can we then imagine that a man should go to a judge who is not in his days? This shows that you must be content to go to the judge who is in your days. It also says; Say not, How was it that the former days were better than these.

Dead Aware of the Suffering of the Living?

 Berachos (18a)  R. Hiyya and R. Jonathan were once walking about in a cemetery, and the blue fringe of R. Jonathan was trailing on the ground. Said R. Hiyya to him: Lift it up, so that the dead should not say: Tomorrow they are coming to join us and now they are insulting us! He said to him: Do they know so much? Is it not written, But the dead know not anything? He replied to him: If you have read once, you have not repeated; if you have repeated, you have not gone over a third time; if you have gone over a third time, you have not had it explained to you. For the living know that they shall die: these are the righteous who in their death are called living as it says. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a living man from Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he smote the two altar-hearths of Moab; he went down and also slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow.

Berachos (18b)  The sons of R. Hiyya went out to cultivate their property, and they began to forget their learning. They tried very hard to recall it. Said one to the other: Does our father know of our trouble? How should he know, replied the other, seeing that it is written, His sons come to honour and he knoweth it not? Said the other to him: But does he not know? Is it not written: But his flesh grieveth for him, and his soul mourneth over him? And R. Isaac said commenting on this: The worm is as painful to the dead as a needle in the flesh of the living? He replied: It is explained that they know their own pain, they do not know the pain of others. Is that so? Has it not been taught: It is related that a certain pious man gave a denar to a poor man on the eve of New Year in a year of drought, and his wife scolded him, and he went and passed the night in the cemetery, and he heard two spirits conversing with one another. Said one to her companion: My dear, come and let us wander about the world and let us hear from behind the curtain10 what suffering is coming on the world. Said her companion to her: I am not able, because I am buried in a matting of reeds. But do you go, and whatever you hear tell me. So the other went and wandered about and returned. Said her companion to her: My dear, what have you heard from behind the curtain? She replied: I heard that whoever sows after the first rainfall will have his crop smitten by hail. So the man went and did not sow till after the second rainfall, with the result that everyone else's crop was smitten and his was not smitten. The next year he again went and passed the night in the cemetery, and heard the two spirits conversing with one another. Said one to her companion: Come and let us wander about the world and hear from behind the curtain what punishment is coming upon the world. Said the other to her: My dear, did I not tell you that I am not able because I am buried in a matting of reeds? But do you go, and whatever you hear, come and tell me. So the other one went and wandered about the world and returned. She said to her: My dear, what have you heard from behind the curtain? She replied: I heard that whoever sows after the later rain will have his crop smitten with blight. So the man went and sowed after the first rain with the result that everyone else's crop was blighted and his was not blighted.16 Said his wife to him: How is it that last year everyone else's crop was smitten and yours was not smitten, and this year everyone else's crop is blighted and yours is not blighted? So he related to her all his experiences. The story goes that shortly afterwards a quarrel broke out between the wife of that pious man and the mother of the child, and the former said to the latter, Come and I will show you your daughter buried in a matting of reeds. The next year the man again went and spent the night in the cemetery and heard those conversing together. One said: My dear, come and let us wander about the world and hear from behind the curtain what suffering is coming upon the world. Said the other: My dear, leave me alone; our conversation has already been heard among the living. This would prove that they know? —Perhaps some other man after his decease went and told them.

Berachos (18b) Whence do we know that the dead converse with one another? Because it says: And the Lord said unto him: This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying. What is the meaning of saying? G-d said to Moses: Say to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: The oath which I swore to you I have already carried out for your descendants.

Berachos (18b)  The father of Samuel had some money belonging to orphans deposited with him. When he died, Samuel was not with him, and they called him, ‘The son who consumes the money of orphans’. So he went after his father to the cemetery, and said to them [the dead]. I am looking for Abba. They said to him: There are many Abbas here. I want Abba b. Abba, he said. They replied: There are also several Abbas b. Abba here. He then said to them: I Want Abba b. Abba the father of Samuel; where is he? They replied: He has gone up to the Academy of the Sky. Meanwhile he saw Levi sitting outside. He said to him: Why are you sitting outside? Why have you not gone up to heaven? He replied: Because they said to me: For as many years as you did not go up to the academy of R. Efes and hurt his feelings, we will not let you go up to the Academy of the Sky. Meanwhile his father came. Samuel observed that he was both weeping and laughing. He said to him: Why are you weeping? He replied: Because you are coming here soon. And why are you laughing? Because you are highly esteemed in this world. He thereupon said to him: If I am esteemed, let them take up Levi; and they did take up Levi. He then said to him: Where is the money of the orphans? He replied: Go and you will find it in the case of the millstones. The money at the top and the bottom is mine, that in the middle is the orphans’ He said to him: Why did you do like that? He replied: So that if thieves came, they should take mine, and if the earth destroyed any, it should destroy mine. Does not this show that they know? —Perhaps Samuel was exceptional: as he was esteemed, they proclaimed beforehand, Make way for him!

Ibn Ezra (Devarim 18:11): Going to cemeteries to ask the dead, and taking a bone of a dead man in order that he will appear to him in a dream are things which are abominations to G d. In truth a person’s heart should always be pure with his Creator and when he is dependent upon his wisdom to seek the facts and what will be in the future independent of G d then in fact his heart is deficient and in error. Whoever wants to seek this information should enquire from G d by means of His prophets. That is why the prohibition necromancy is followed by a discussion of prophets….

Israel confirms Syria strike: 'We repeatedly warned Syria' over Turkish troop deployment

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/08/19/israel-confirms-syria-strike-we-repeatedly-warned-syria-over-turkish-troop-deployment/

For the first time, Israel has officially acknowledged carrying out the strike on the Abu al-Duhur air base in Syria's Idlib province, near the Turkish border. The Prime Minister's Office issued an English-language statement on X late Tuesday night saying the Syrian government had been on the verge of violating a security status quo agreed with Israel.

"Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo," the statement said. "Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel's security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo."

Politics drove antisemitism probes against Ivy League schools, DOJ whistleblower says

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/08/18/politics-behind-probes-antisemitism-ivy-league-schools-whistleblower-says/

The Trump administration task force charged with investigating antisemitism on Ivy League campuses pressured universities into punitive settlements despite turning up little to no evidence of systemic abuse, according to a whistleblower complaint made public Tuesday.

The complaint — filed by Haley Van Erem, a former career attorney in the Justice Department’s civil rights division who said she was involuntarily detailed to work on the probes last year — alleged that the outcomes of investigations into schools like Harvard, Brown and Columbia were “predetermined without regard to the evidence” in a “politically mandated effort” to suspend their government funding and grab headlines.

When career attorneys raised objections that the evidence did not support the administration’s position or the tactics it was pursuing, including targeting Muslim professors for interviews, they were overruled and ignored, she said.

“Ms. Van Erem and other DOJ assignees repeatedly warned that funding suspensions lacked legal basis and that evidence did not support findings of violations at Brown,” Van Erem’s attorneys wrote in the 25-page filing, adding, “In the cases of Columbia and Harvard, no complete investigation was conducted.”

Van Erem left the Justice Department in May 2025, her attorneys said, because she was “unwilling to be made vulnerable to further participation in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law.”

Her disclosures Tuesday could bolster concerns raised by critics that the administration’s self-proclaimed push to combat antisemitism on campus was in fact an effort to punish schools it deemed ideologically opposed to its agenda. Van Erem’s account raised questions about past settlements the administration has struck with universities under investigation as well as pending probes that have yet to be resolved.

Harmful to Sight

 Chagiga (16a) Anyone who looks at three things, his eyes become dim; at the rainbow, and at the Prince, and at the priests. 

Convergence: The Idea at the Heart of Science

 Hi – I'm reading "Convergence: The Idea at the Heart of Science" by Peter Watson and wanted to share this quote with you.

"Convergence is a history of modern science but with a distinctive twist. The twist has been there for all to see, but so far it has not been set out as clearly as it deserves. The argument is that the various disciplines—despite their very different beginnings, and apparent areas of interest—have in fact been gradually coming together over the past 150 years. Converging and coalescing to identify one extraordinary master narrative, one overwhelming interlocking coherent story: the history of the universe. Among its achievements, the intimate connections between physics and chemistry have been discovered. The same goes for the links between quantum chemistry and molecular biology. Particle physics has been aligned with astronomy and the early history of the evolving universe. Pediatrics has been enriched by the insights of ethology; psychology has been aligned with physics, chemistry, and even with economics. Genetics has been harmonized with linguistics, botany with archaeology, climatology with myth—and so on and so on. Big History—the master narrative of the trajectories of the world’s great civilizations—has been explained and is being further fleshed out by the interlocking sciences. This is a simple insight but one with profound consequences. Convergence is, as Nobel Prize–winning physicist Steven Weinberg has put it, “the deepest thing about the universe.” This story of the convergence of the sciences—their synthesis, symphysis, and coherence—turns out to offer one timeline of history on which all of the major discoveries that have ever been made can fit. It is not a straight line by any means but a definite line nonetheless, not unlike a very long and complicated backbone, or spine, which curves and is made up of vertebrae of different sizes. I further argue that the order that emerges from this convergence—and the way one science supports another—gives scientific understanding an unrivaled authority as a form of knowledge and that we should therefore expect it to extend its reach in the years ahead, into fields not traditionally associated with science. In truth, it is already doing so and we should welcome that fact. The proven interlocking nature of science now helps to guide future research. Not all the links and overlaps in the story are equally strong. Niels Bohr’s amalgamation of physics and chemistry was fundamental, as was the later linking of quantum chemistry to molecular biology, by Linus Pauling and others (chapter 9). In more recent decades, the linking of fundamental particles to the early history of the evolving universe (chapter 11), and the “hardening” of psychology—the links between behavior and brain chemistry, for example—are no less fundamental (chapter 16). The same too goes for the overlaps that have also been revealed between genetics and archaeology, and between genetics and archaeology and language (chapter 12). At other times, the overlaps—while not exactly trivial—are more helpful and intriguing than fundamental. The example of tree-ring chronology is a case in point, as are some of the other scientific dating technologies that have been developed, the potassium/argon method, for example (chapter 12). They show that not just botany but also physics, molecular biology, and genetics can help us reconstruct history. Importantly, the different dating mechanisms are consistent with one another, so that ancient history in particular is now an interdisciplinary branch of science.""But—and this is the underlying point—all the connections and overlaps, all the patterns and hierarchies that have been revealed, whether fundamental or otherwise, dovetail together conceptually. There are no exceptions, no important ones anyway. Scientific discoveries repeatedly come together, in all manner of ways, to support one another, to tell one coherent, interlocking story. In an important sense, and to use another analogy, it is as if this story has its own form of gravity as—like particles in cooling gases—the different chapters come together to form a solid narrative."

The idea that the sciences are linked in some hierarchical way is not new, of course, and is known as reductionism. Although reductionism has been criticized—especially in the last twenty to thirty years, even as the evidence in its favor has grown stronger than ever—for the most part, leading scientists themselves have overridden these objections. Such figures as George Gaylord Simpson, Philip Anderson, Ilya Prigogine, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg, and Robert Laughlin (the last five being Nobel Prize winners) have all described themselves as wholehearted reductionists. Edward O. Wilson, the noted sociobiologist, put it this way: “Reductionism is the primary cutting tool of science.” 

Start reading this book for free: https://a.co/08AZNJv3

Entering a Church

 Shulchan Aruch YD (150:1) Entering an actual house of avodah zarah is clearly prohibited.

Igros Moshe (Y.D. 3:129.6) Question: Is it permitted to enter a church? Answer: It is clearly prohibited to enter a church which is a place of worship even if only to look at things made solely for decorations which  Tosfos says there is no prohibition to look at them as there is to a place of idolatry or the idols themselves. However a building where they actually worship is prohibited under all circumstances  The status of a courtyard where no worship takes place which serves merely as a transit before a house of worship and the concern is arousing suspicion of others is permitted. Also this that Tosfos says that the things made solely for decoration are permitted, this means decorations made for non religious purposes such as statues of the kings or forms on coins or pictures or illustration in manuscripts. However all that is made to enhance idolatry or the place of idolatry is prohibited to benefit or obtain pleasure from as idolatry itself. Aside from the prohibition of idolatry there is harm caused to faith by the mere desire to go there. In addition my son Rav Dovid said that the decorations were made solely to seduce and attract people to idolatry and that is clearly prohibited to let them accomplish their desire. Therefore G-d forbid! That anyone should go there. 

Clothing that has a cross?

 Teshuvos V’hanhugos (2:411) Question: Can clothing which has a cross on them be worn? Answer: According to the letter of the law it would be permitted even though it is prohibited to make. Therefore if one already bought it, he does not have to abstain from wearing it since it was not made to worship. While there is a dispute between the Rema and the Shach and Gra whether to be machmir in a case that it is not worshipped, perhaps the Rema would agree in modern times when they are not so fanatic about their religion  and it is merely part of the style and not considered a religious symbol it is permitted especially if it doesn’t physically stand out. Nevertheless it is still disgusting and should at least initially be avoided and not bought. Rav Yakov Kaminetsky had the practice to be strict and not even write a cross or any notation that looked like a cross. Even though he did this as an act of piety I was told he once said he wasn’t sure that this was not required by halacha.My opinion is not to be strict in modern times for a decrative cross but if it is obvious because there are many it is disgusting and it should not be purchased. In Medrash Rabba it says that the wagons that Pharoh sent to Yakov had idolatry carved in them and therefore Yakov did not want to use them and wanted to use only the wagons that Yosef sent. Therefore today when the crosses under discussion are not created for idolatry but it is recognized as a symbol of Christianity which is idolatry even though there was no intent to make a religious object. It is still appropriate to avoid and not buy such clothing. I heard from a talmid chachom, that the Chofetz Chaim when he traveled by wagon he would bend over sleep and periodically in those days they would pass a cross at every intersection. Every time they passed a crucifix he would wake and lift his head and straighten up. After they passed it he would go back to sleep. You should also know that there are times that a cross is deliberately added to the design to attract  the purchase by religious Christians and that intent would make it a religious object and not just decoration, This varies from country to country and the nature of the cross. If the cross in your location is typically made purely for decoration it would be permitted

Everything Controlled by G-d?

 Rambam (#436): This that you say that not everything that a person does is determined by Heaven is absolutely true. That is why a person receives reward if he goes in the good path and is punished if he goes in the bad path. All of a man's deeds are included in the category of Fear of Heaven. Ultimately all actions are either mitzvos or sins. Therefore, this expression of our sages that "Everything is in the hands of Heaven" is referring the events of the world and nature. For example the world of vegetables, animals, spirits, mazel and spheres as well as angels are totally controlled by Heaven. We have already discussed this at length in the commentary to Pirkei Avos 1:13, 3:18–19, and 4:28 Shemonah Perakim #8 as well as in Mishna Torah [Beginning of Hilchos Teshuva Chapter 5]. Whoever ignores my explanation based on established principles and instead searches amongst agada and medrash or the words of the Gaonim until he finds something which seems to contradict my cogent exposition is committing suicide and deservedly suffers the consequences. … When he finds verses of the prophets or statements of our sages which seem to contradict the foundation he should examine and analyze carefully until he can properly reconcile them with the words of the Torah. If he fails to find reconciliation, he should simply say that he doesn't understand properly the words of the prophet or the sage and that their words are not to be understood literally. …

Rambam (Shemoneh Perakin 8) The Mutakalllimun are, however, of a different opinion in this regard, for I have heard them say that the Divine Will is constantly at work, decreeing everything from time to time. We do not agree with them, but believe that the Divine Will ordained everything at creation, and that all things, at all times, are regulated by the laws of nature, and run their natural course, in accordance with what Solomon said, "As it was, so it will ever be, as it was made so it continues, and there is nothing new under the sun".  

Rambam (Shemoneh Perakin 8) The statement found in the sayings of the Rabbis, "All is in the power of God except the fear of God" is, nevertheless, true, and in accord with what we have laid down here. Men are, however, very often prone to err in supposing that many of their actions, in reality the result of their own free will, are forced upon them, as, for instance, marrying a certain woman, or acquiring a certain amount of money. Such a supposition is untrue. If a man espouses and marry a woman legally, then she becomes his lawful wife, and by his marrying her he has fulfilled the divine command to increase and multiply. God, however, does not decree the fulfillment of a commandment. If, on the other hand, a man has consummated with a woman an unlawful marriage, he has committed a transgression. But God does not decree that a man shall sin. Again, suppose a man robs another of money, steals from him, or cheats him, and then uttering a false oath, denies it; if we should say that God had destined that this sum should pass into the hands of the one and out of the possession of the other, God would be preordaining an act of iniquity. Such, however, is not the case, but rather that all of man's actions, which are subject to his free will, undoubtedly either comply with, or transgress, God's commands; for, as has been explained in Chapter II, the commands and prohibitions of the Law refer only to those actions with regard to which man has absolute free choice to do, or refrain from doing. Moreover, to this faculty of the soul (i. e. the freedom of the will) "the fear of God" is subservient, and is, in consequence, not predestined by God, but, as we have explained, is entirely in the power of the human free will. By the word "all", the Rabbis meant to designate only natural phenomena which are not influenced by the will of man, as whether a person is tall or short, whether it is rainy or dry, whether the air is pure or impure, and all other such things that happen in the world, and which have no connection with man's conduct. 

Trump threatens to bomb Oman, says Hamas ‘giving up their guns’ under Gaza peace plan

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/trump-threatens-to-bomb-oman-says-hamas-giving-up-their-guns-under-gaza-peace-plan/

Asked about his top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner’s meetings with Hamas and Israeli officials in the region this week, Trump indicates progress on Hamas disarming under his Gaza peace plan, and says that Israel should not be striking Gaza right now.

“We have our own relationship with Hamas. They are giving up their guns,” he says.

Trump: Hamas agreed to disarm, Israel must cease strikes on Gaza

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/431826

US President Donald Trump on Monday told Fox News that he would bomb Oman if they "get in the way," and issued a warning to Israel.

In the interview, Trump said that the US is capable of continuing its attacks on Iran, and urged the IRGC to "put up the white flag of surrender."

Regarding the Hamas terror group's recent ceasefire violations and their attempts to regain control of Gaza and rebuild their weapons stores, Trump insisted that he had made progress in convincing the terror group to disarm.

He also demanded that Israel cease all strikes in Gaza, without detailing exceptions.

Dovid was born in Sin

  Tehilim (051:07):. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

Alshich (Tehilim 51:7): Behold in sin I was formed – From the time it decreed that I should be born by means of the sin of Lot’s daughter who had an incestual relation with her father which is disgusting and terrible sin – but that is how I was formed. As it says in Bereishis Rabbah (50:16), “I found Dovid My servant” where was he found? In Sedom. And in sin my mother conceived me - that is referring to Ruth who is referred to as mother as it says in Bava Basra (91b)... she was the mother of the Davidic monarchy. From the time when she got the idea of lying at the feet of Boaz which was the sin of chilul Hashem as we see in Ruth Rabbah (6:1) that Boaz prayed that no one would know that she came to the threshing floor. And You G‑d did not consider it bad since You knew the motivation was good....

 Kotzker Rebbe (Emes v’Emuna p635):The biblical prohibition on adultery included relations with one’s own wife if they involved sexual desire.

Rashi (Tehilim 51:7): Behold I was formed in transgression – So how could I not sin. The basis of my being formed was my parents sexual intercourse and through intercourse it is possible to be involved in a number of transgression. And alternative explanation, my principle formation was from male and female – both of them are full of sins. However there are other interpretive readings to this verse and they do not conform to the subject matter of the verse.

 Vayikra Rabbah (14:05) In sin I was formed … Dovid said before G-d, did my father actually have intent to have me or was he was he focused on his own pleasure? Obviously it was for pleasure because when they finished, my father and mother both turned their faces away from each other.

Love Wife as Friend

  Chazon Ish (Igros Kodesh #01): It is important to note that our Sages are not saying to love one's wife with the natural love that man is attracted to a woman but rather to love her with the love that friends have for each other - as someone he knows and has a covenant with him and that they are partners in many things and each one helps and receives help from the other. In addition the love he feels for her should also come from gratitude. He needs to have the clear image in his mind that if he had not gotten a wife and would have remained alone and isolated - how much suffering and pain he would have from this. But now that he has a wife his life is in place and functioning. The significance of gratitude is immeasurably important. This type of love is what our Sages say a man is obligated to have towards his wife. And again this love does not come from the lust a man has for a woman at all but from one of the good attributes which he is obligated to have. He needs to have this type of love and feeling towards her when he strives to cause her rejoicing at the time of intercourse and well as before and afterwards. Such a relationship is not disgusting – chas v'shalom – but rather it is a mitzva. In fact he should conduct himself in this manner even if he were not obligated by the Torah and surely now that the Torah does obligated it - as we mentioned before.

Bill Cassidy Calls Trump’s Vaccine Plan ‘Stupid Policy’

 https://www.newsweek.com/bill-cassidy-calls-trump-vaccine-plan-stupid-policy-12329123

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy on Sunday labeled President Donald Trump's childhood vaccine overhaul a "stupid policy," escalating one of the sharpest clashes yet between a GOP lawmaker and the administration over federal health directives.

Appearing on ABC News' This Week, the Louisiana Republican and physician—who has repeatedly defended established vaccine science—criticized the president's executive order directing federal agencies to split the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots and alter appointment schedules for children.

"It's stupid policy," Cassidy said. "It's inconvenient for the parent."

Cassidy's criticism carries added significance given his role in the confirmation process of Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite prior concerns raised regarding Kennedy's stance on immunization.