Monday, October 12, 2026

Science vs Chazal

 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…

Rav Sherira Gaon (Otzair HaGaonim - Gittin 68b page 152): Our Sages were not doctors and what they said is merely a reflection of what was known by the medical experts of their times and therefore there is no mitzva to accept their statements concerning medicine…. 

Moreh Nevuchim (03:14):  Don’t expect from me to show that everything that our Sages said regarding astronomy in fact agrees with observation. That is because mathematics was not fully developed in those days and their knowledge was not based on information received from the Prophets. Rather it was based on their own personal knowledge as experts or it was taken from the astronomers of those times. However I am not going to say that what they say that in fact agrees with observation is incorrect or was accidentally true. Rather whenever it is possible to explain a person’s words as being in accord with observation, it is the duty of every educated and just man to so.  

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When Science Meets Kashrut: How one woman blazed a trail in OU Kosher

 https://jewishaction.com/food/kashrut/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.”

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Fill the government with barbarians, you get barbaric government

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/10/11/fill-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.


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Trump says Russia and Ukraine reached ‘energy ceasefire’; Zelensky: ‘News to me’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/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.

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Why Orthodox Jewish Families Are Moving Into America's Forgotten Towns

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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."

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Israel is losing US support - even among Republicans

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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LevinAt11: Chillul HaShem &Elections

בס"ד
מוצ"ש שבת פרשת בראשית, ל' תשרי, תשפ"ז - תהא שנת פדיון זוכות

Linked* below is this week's LevinAt11 broadcast, פרשת בראשית, October 8, '26:


תכנית ראדיו רב יהודה לעוין, שליט"א, ערב שבת פרשת בראשית, תשפ"ז
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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).

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Topics Included:
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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;

• This election in NY State will be seen - by those who matter within political class - as a referendum on murder - specifically, Physician-Facilitated Poisoning of the medically vulnerable (aka "Assisted Suicide") - which the NY legislature just passed, and which Gov. Hochul just signed, in this past legislative session.

• If any candidates ask for your support - ask them what they've done to address the foundational moral threats we face (see letter below).

• It's necessary for every individual to intelligently outreach to voters, as well as to Rabbonim you're close with.

3. Addressed voting record of NY State Senator Sam Sutton (D) (eliminating minimum sentences:
https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=S01209&term=2025&Summary=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y ) and Rockland Assemblymen Aron Wieder (D) (39 y/o murderer's parole bill when they turn 55:
https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=%0D%0A&leg_video=&bn=514&term=2025&Summary=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y  cosponsored by Wieder), in support of pro-criminal bills. 

4. We shared rare, foundational and timely insights into the Satmar perspective on voting, within the broader context of the Shitah of the saintly Rabbeinu Yoel Teitelbaum (aka the Satmar Rov), ZY"A, as applied to domestic elections.  Given the degree to which the Satmar Rov shunned giving any semblance of legitimacy to Akiras HaDas and rebellion against HaShem, his approach would, if anything, be more extreme in opposition to voting for such candidates, all the more so in such an environment in which the votes are seen as degrading the very value of such foundational issues.

And more...
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• Important News: How inexpensive it is to save girls from the Female IDF Draft (Giyus Banos)
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- From Chomosayich, an established volunteer women's organization in Israel, which has saved and assisted thousands of girls from the ongoing IDF escalations against "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."

• A suggestion for the indulgence-focused: Instead of dispatching another fortune on yet one more battery of Shushi - try this: eat something normative, healthy, and economical - and direct the windfall savings towards an urgent, ultra-worthy cause like this one.

U.S. Donations to Chomosayich:

••• See the half-page ad in the new Upstate Jewish Business Directory. •••

Call Today.
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The following is a link to a  Guidebook provided by the pro-Israel organization "Chotam." It's an English guide for observant and traditional girls to avoid enlistment in the IDF: 

https://www.chotam.org.il/media/61762/pinkaskis-orange-english.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1hBP9tHJxSIfF07n8ywx27I_kWn0jfd9EOBy7fYfRe1xNChBPBU4qLLo0  *

(* 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

845.642.1679

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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Previous Programs:


Summary/ write-up [recently posted version]: 

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Broadcast of preceding week, Shabbos Shuva: פרשת האזינו


Write-up:  
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Previous week's broadcast:
 ערב ר"ה

...
An initial write-up and brief  overview, w/ supplemental info appears here:

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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.

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Broadcast weekly over: Davidzon Radio: davidzonradio.com (718) 303-8000
Sept. 24:
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Circulated recently:
יג תשרי, תהא שנת פדיון זוכות

A simple עצה for those seeking גדרי צניעות in electronic communication

When 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 Tzniyus serve 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.
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TTI
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Relevant to Doctor-"Assisted Suicide" legislation:

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Link to Oct 8th Broadcast:

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Letter, from which we read on air (final quarter) -

R'  ...,

A gutt yohr.  Nice (stories about Kiddush HaShem).

I'm wondering how such inspiring stories can be utilized to evoke acts of public Kiddush HaShem that require Yidden to extend themselves beyond their comfort levels.

Feel-good mitzvos are nice, and often very important. However, they are by no means nearly sufficient.

This is especially true given the overabundance of public Chillul HaShem that frum communities are routinely supplying, particularly around election seasons, unknowingly or otherwise.

It's no secret that most of those who tend to speak most noticeably in the name of Torah and Orthodox communities make it very clear what their priorities are, and what they are not.

From most of them, we hear not a word about LGBTQ, kefirah and Z'nus indoctrination in the government (aka "public") school system; Physician-Enabled-Homicide (euphemized "Assisted Suicide")/ Stealth Euthanasia; abortion-at-whim; or child-/youth-trafficking; for prominent, relevant examples.

It's not just about talking the talk, it's also about how they walk the walk.

Frum media venues routinely promote the Askun Class hawking the very politicians promoting aforementioned depravity. This is ostensibly because "the community" (or the askunim themselves) has something to "gain" (funding, access to funding, even more funding... or yet more lip service being dispensed in the direction of ever-proliferating anti-Zionists and anti-semites, who crave free attention).

Now, I sincerely hope that you can grasp how just much that warped priority-snapshot stands in stark contrast to the advocacy of a multitude of Christian organizations, who emphasize at least some of the foundational moral issues, and prioritize confronting some of the morality-related existential threats facing society. 

Again, I'm referring to:

1. the movement pushing the virulently anti-Torah LGBTQ agenda, including the Marriage-DeDefinition movement, including legalized "Gay Adoption" and the attendant trafficking of innocent children into the hands of dangerous, same-sex "couples" (doubles), some clearly pederastic.*
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* sidenote: The barbarian policy of adoption of innocent children - Jewish children as well - by sodomists is ignored and/or censored by much of the frum media (partly out of ignorance or inattentiveness, partly out of an agenda). This itself is arguably a Chillul HaShem - and in any case requires special emphasis.  So pardon me for diverging.

The "Gay" Adoption policy would never pass in Sodom, which would never have accepted the very notion of Mabul Marriage (see Akeidas Yitzchak, Parshas VaYaira 20). Yet, Trump felt comfortable in appointing Scott Bessent to Treasury, despite - or because of - being married to a male - with two "adopted" children. 

This pederastic policy has arguably left its' indelible imprint on international relations. "Gay"-Adoption was the point of contention that prompted Russian President Putin to correctly ban Russian babies from being adopted by Americans, about 15 years ago. 

As if we're to hearken to a Heavenly warning, that international friction apparently contributed to the escalating tensions between Russia and the decadent nations of the west.  President Putin has been the most prominent world leader unrelenting critical of the LGBTQ Mafia agenda pervading the western world.  And leaders of western nations, whose primary export has been LGBTQ indoctrination, have been responding in kind.
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2. The Planned-Parenthood-centered movement pushing abortion-at-whim; free access to homicidal abortion poison pills; transgender-medical abuse of confused youth; promotion of Znus and kefirah in schools and beyond (thereby providing a lucrative market for the allied human-trafficking movement collaborative with abortion- perpetrators to cover up crimes against under-age girls); and

3. The Steath Euthanasia movement aforementioned, for ever-relevant example.

Needed: Mesiras Nefesh for Kovod Shomayim

Rashi (מס' קידושין ס"ט: ד"ה ואבינה בעם) relates how those Leviyim who returned to E"Y with Ezra were those who had previously employed the strength of character to amputate their own thumbs when ordered to sing שיר ה' in Bavel (תהילים קל"ז: ד), to preclude their ability to play the requisite instruments (ע' ילקוט תהילים, שם ).

I recall seeing in a peice on Chanukah from Rav Moshe Shapiro ZT"L asking why the Gemara Brachos 20a - as an exemplification of the level of mesiras nefesh of the previous generations - who merited tremendous Heavenly assistance - quotes an incident of Rav Adda Bar Ahava - which turned out to be based on an erroneous perception, one which resulted in a huge financial penalty meted out against him to recompensate the party who was mistakenly identified.  He asks:

Q) Of all the possible acts, why was this particular one, based on an error, chosen to exemplify mesiras nefesh?

A) Because, he explains, the essence of Kiddush HaShem is not the accomplishment achieved - but rather the degree to which a Jew is willing to sacrifice for Kovod Shomayim.

We need to speak uncomfortable truths to (1) defend Kovod Shomayim and to (2) save those Jews who would be open to be saved from supporting these terrible candidates.

Then, where are we?

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

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