“He’s interspersing science with new age spirituality and using a lot of terms very loosely,” Van Dam said. “He’s also extrapolating scientific research well beyond things to which it can speak.”
“And that’s part of the appeal to the public,’ he added. “It sounds like it’s science, it sounds like scientific evidence, but it’s not.”
Pesachim (42a) Three things increase one’s waste, lower one’s stature, and take one five-hundredth of a person’s vision if he eats them regularly. And they are: Bread from coarse flour, new beer, and raw vegetables.
https://etzion.org.il/en/talmud/studies-gemara/midrash-and-aggada/large-strides-and-loss-vision
R. Kook provides an answer to the question that coheres with his broader reading of our passage. For R. Kook, large steps convey impatience with the process and the means to an end, while rushing toward conclusions and results. From this perspective, pesiah gasa (taking large steps) is problematic even when chasing a worthy goal. Someone with a deeper understanding appreciates the value of the process and avoids a frenzied attempt to finish early. In fact, according to this more profound perspective, one does not rest content at any finish line, since each achievement is the springboard for the next journey.
The "March of the Million" near the Knesset in Jerusalem on Thursday evening may not have hit its target (organizers say 600,000 attended; police say 200,000), but it succeeded in putting to bed Opposition claims that Israelis are united against judicial reform. It also provided much-needed backing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's beleaguered government.
אמת ליעקב פרשת קדושים
(ג) איש אמו ואביו תיראו ואת שבתותי תשמרו.
נראה לבאר הקשר בין שני ענינים אלה, דבאמת המאמין בקדמות העולם - וכמו שמאמינים אומות העולם ורשעי ישראל שבמשך הזמן נתפתח האדם מכל מיני קופים ושאר חיות וכדומה - בהכרח שסובר שכל מה שהדורות מתרחקים מהזמן הקדמון יותר הם מפותחים ויותר הם חשובים, ולכן אדרבה - הם סוברים שהדור הזקן חייב לכבד את הדור הצעיר, אבל אנו שמאמינים שהאדם הוא יציר כפיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא וככל שמתרחקים הדורות יותר אנו מתרחקים מההשפעה האלקית ומגדלותו יתברך, בודאי השומה עלינו לכבד את הדור הקודם, שהרי הם חשובים וגדולים יותר ממנו, ולכן כשבאה התורה להזהיר על "איש אמו ואביו תיראו", הוצרכה לחזור ולשנות גם את פרשת "ואת שבתותי תשמרו", דהרי השבת הוא הזכר והאות לחידוש העולם על ידי הקדוש ברוך הוא בששת מעשה בראשית, ודו"ק.
בענין זה אזכיר מה ששמעתי מהגר"א וואסרמן זצ"ל: שאילו ראה דארווין את החפץ חיים לא היה אומר שהאדם נתפתח מקופים וכדומה, אלא שהוא ראה רק אנשים כמוהו ולכן בא לידי טעות, ודו"ק.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-e-jean-carroll-rape-case-blown-1797369
Donald Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina "threw" the former president's chances of emerging triumphant from the ongoing New York rape trial "out the window" during the cross-examination of plaintiff E. Jean Carroll on Thursday, Michigan attorney Jamie White has told Newsweek.
"The cross-examination of Ms Carroll was the most tone-deaf and shameless cross-examination I have ever seen," White, best known for his work with sexual assault victims, said. "His insinuations were credibly rebuffed by Ms. Carroll. If Mr. Trump had a prayer of coming out on top, his attorney threw it out the window yesterday."
White has successfully worked on several cases calling for justice for victims of sexual assault. Most famously, he represented the members of the U.S. Gymnastics team who were assaulted by former coach Larry Nasser,
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370645
An enormous rally with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators called the 'Million March,' was held in front of the Knesset this evening (Thursday) in support of the government's planned judicial reforms.
Over 1,000 buses are bringing citizens from all over the country to participate in the demonstration.
Police said that crowds at the demonstration at first reached 200,000 people.Later, as more and more people arrived, and it was almost impossible to get through the crowds that poured in, filling all the streets around the Knesset, the organizers estimated close to 600,000 people.
According to the files, Cruz reportedly tried to sell his plan to Fox host and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 2—four days before the Capitol riot—pitching a scheme to overthrow the 2020 election by blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6, then establishing a commission to investigate the nonexistent claims of fraud which would ultimately “decide” who to inaugurate.
When conservative activists and Maga influencers called for a boycott of Bud Light beer over a sponsorship deal with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, one notable GOP figure stayed silent on the matter: Former president Donald Trump.
The twice-impeached ex-president’s silence on the bubbling controversy stood out among GOP presidential contenders, many of whom spoke out against the maker of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Trump’s former top political adviser Steve Bannon was also allegedly involved in the scheme, but the case was halted after the former president pardoned him. He will likely stand trial for his alleged involvement in the scheme in November 2023.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics/disney-desantis-reedy-creek-power/index.html
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts on Wednesday sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his hand-picked oversight board, accusing the Republican 2024 presidential prospect of weaponizing his political power to punish the company for exercising its free speech rights.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court minutes after the board appointed by DeSantis to oversee Disney’s special taxing district sought to claw back its power from the entertainment giant, voting to invalidate an agreement struck between Disney and the previous board in February, just before that board’s dissolution.
Former Jewish girls school principal and now convicted sex offender Malka Leifer was ordered on Wednesday to appear in an Australian court in June for a two-day sentencing hearing.
Tucker Carlson, the leading prime time host who was ousted from his job this week, was shown the door at the cable news giant in part because of comments he made in private about his Fox News colleagues and bosses, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-attorney-knows-jurors-may-hate-his-client-1796677
The former president has continued to deny any wrongdoing in relation to Carroll. A spokesperson for Trump previously told Newsweek that Carroll's suit is "just another part of the witch hunt targeted to interfere and tamper with a Presidential election."
"The radical, deranged Democrats will stop at nothing in order to prevent the American people from choosing President Donald Trump—the overwhelming frontrunner by far— as their 47th President," the spokesperson said. "The lunatics will fail and President Trump will Make America Great Again!"
The E. Jean Carroll trial against Donald Trump for rape and defamation began poorly for the former president, with opening statements by lawyers for both parties starting with Trump’s decision to not bother showing up in person.
In court today, E. Jean Carroll was in full view of the jurors with her gaze “fixed on Tacopina [Trump’s lawyer]” during his opening. Carroll’s presence signaled to the jury that she stands behind her allegations and that she is unafraid to let them see for themselves her demeanor and reactions. Thus the jurors had no view of Trump to compete with the sexual predator that Carroll’s lawyer portrayed him to be other than the attacks on Carroll’s character made by Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina. Trump’s absence made Tacopina his stand-in for the start of the trial and while his blustery style might make him an excellent choice as a debate practice stand-in for Trump, it is unlikely to be helpful in a case where Trump is accused of rape (sexual battery) and defamation.
https://www.5tjt.com/treating-terrorists-first/
At first glance, it seems like the type of inane directive that would make one’s blood boil. It is thus quite understandable how ZAKA’s chairman and founder, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, made it clear that ZAKA’s medics would turn their attention to the victims first, regardless of the injuries sustained by their attacker.
The Los Angeles Times on Monday reported that Rupert Murdoch made the decision to boot him from Fox and pointing to two factors that reportedly led to the decision: the ongoing discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, a former producer for Carlson and Maria Bartiromo, and Carlson’s recent coverage of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/24/florida-surgeon-general-covid-vaccine-00093510
Yet the researchers who viewed a copy of the edits said Ladapo removed an important analysis that would have contradicted his recommendation. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, called Ladapo’s changes “really troubling.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/24/tucker-carlson-leaves-fox-news/
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/24/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news/index.html
Carlson’s departure at Fox News comes after the network also severed ties with right-wing bomb thrower Dan Bongino, who had been a regular fixture on the network’s programming, in addition to hosting a weekend show.
“Folks, regretfully, last week was my last show on Fox News on the Fox News Channel,” Bongino said on Rumble, chalking up the exit to a contract dispute.
“So the show ending last week was tough. And I want you to know it’s not some big conspiracy. I promise you. There’s not, there’s no acrimony. This wasn’t some, like, WWE brawl that happened. We just couldn’t come to terms on an extension. And that’s really it.”
https://www.torahmusings.com/2022/04/contemporary-tzaraat-2/
The question why we don’t observe the laws of metzora has troubled many Torah scholars. In his introduction to his Tiferet Yisrael commentary on Mishnah Nega’im, R. Yisrael Lipschitz recalls that in his youth he asked the great R. Akiva Eiger this question. He responded that he himself was wondering the same thing for a long time and does not have a good answer. [18] R. Lipschitz himself answers along the lines of Rambam. Whereas Rambam stressed the need for a kohen meyuchas in determining a metzora to be impure, R. Lipschitz claimed it was essential for the purification process. Because the purification process included shaving the head, it could only be done if the metzora was really impure and had now been cured. But since a metzora can only become impure by the pronouncement of a real kohen, if it turned out the kohen was not a valid kohen, the shaving of the head would be a Torah violation. [19]
Most Americans in a new poll don’t want former President Trump to run for the White House in 2024, and a majority doesn’t want President Biden to run for reelection, either, as he prepares for an expected campaign launch that could come as early as this week.
A new NBC News poll found that 60 percent of Americans think Trump shouldn’t try to retake the Oval Office — including roughly a third of Republicans. Thirty percent of those who think he shouldn’t campaign in 2024 cite the criminal charges he faces in New York as a “major” reason.
Israel arrested a Jordanian parliamentarian on suspicion of smuggling over 200 guns and gold into the West Bank, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday.
According to Jordan’s Ammon news outlet, the arrest took place Saturday evening at the Allenby Bridge border crossing, as MP Imad al-Adwan was heading into Israel by car.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the episode.
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-740041
Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) Spokesperson Fiona Sharpe issued a statement stating that Abbott's letter was unacceptable.
Sharpe added that the letter attempted to "reduce the racism faced by Jews to mere prejudice when in living memory 6 million Jews were systematically slaughtered in Europe for their race is grossly offensive."
Sharpe added "In the UK today, 1 in 5 of all Jews has suffered a racist attack..."
I need to scan books - 100's of pages into pdf or word format
There are many scanners for books with features such as autofocus page flattening and curved surfaces - does anyone recommend a particular model or whether it is better to use a professional service - which I am still looking for in Jerusalem.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370356
Kisus went missing after he left his kayak in order to swim at an unofficial beach, and it seems he was swept away by the current.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370316
Dozens protested Thursday night outside the home of Khaled Kabub, a Supreme Court justice, after he declared that a rapist acted "without significant violence."
In the incident in question, an Arab raped a Jewish woman, but Kabub declared that the rapist had acted "without significant violence" and ordered that his release be considered.
Even for a multi-billion dollar company, $787.5 Million is a lot of money.
Fox Corp., which owns and operates Fox News, is also facing lawsuits from shareholders on the company’s board who are upset with the network’s coverage of the 2020 election and the resulting litigation it has sparked.
Shareholder Robert Schwarz alleged in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court earlier this month that Murdoch and other board members breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders by failing to uphold the company’s ethical reputation.
The network gave perfunctory coverage to the Dominion settlement, even as rival cable networks and other news sites splashed the big news.
To many people, Fox’s conduct around the election-related conspiracy theories was indefensible.
But it’s a massive stretch to imagine its audience will drift away in any significant numbers — if at all.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65322821
Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptologist and former antiquities minister, told the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper: "This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black."
Mr Hawass said the only rulers of Egypt known to have been black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BC).
"Netflix is trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilisation is black," he added and called on Egyptians to take a stand against the streaming giant.
Read comments to this spin
It was the eighth straight quarter that Fox News Digital finished as the No.1 news brand among multiplatform minutes. It was also the third straight quarter that Fox News Digital finished as the leader with multiplatform views from a group of organizations that includes NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Insider Inc., and USA Today, in addition to CNN and the Times.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-739679
According to the existing law that expires on July 31, haredi yeshiva students who leave a yeshiva before the age of 26 are required to serve in the IDF. The government is discussing what the new exemption age will be, with the IDF preferring 23 while Smotrich and the haredi parties reportedly prefer earlier. Another issue that is being discussed is the size and form of the benefits for conscripts in general and combat soldiers in particular.
Chinuch (71) It is impossible for the settlement of people without their making one of them head over the others, to do his command and fulfill his decrees. As the opinions of people are different and they will never all agree to one opinion - to do one thing from among the many things. And from this, the result will be idleness and a cessation of actions. And therefore they need to accept the opinion of one of them - whether it is good or whether it is bad - so that they will be successful and be involved in the business of the world, sometimes finding great benefit from his will and counsel and sometimes finding the opposite. And all of this is better than disagreement which causes complete idleness. And since the one appointed as head is the cause for the benefit that we said - whether he is big in leading us in the ways of religion or whether he is big in the kingdom to guard a man from his neighbor that is more powerful than he - the matter is fitting and proper that we not treat his honor lightly, and also that we not curse him.
The lawsuit, which stemmed from coverage of the post-2020 presidential election, had become media fodder with news outlets closely watching the outcome of the highly publicized legal battle.
Then-President Donald Trump and his allies fiercely challenged Joe Biden's victory in the weeks following the election. Some of them, including members of his legal team, made false and unsubstantiated claims against Dominion Voting Systems and are the subject of separate defamation lawsuits.
Fox News media host Howard Kurtz couldn’t bring himself to repeat the hefty $787.5 million settlement his employer paid to Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday, claiming he was unable to “independently confirm” the amount. Kurtz, whom Fox forbade from covering the Dominion lawsuit before easing that restriction last month, made several on-air appearances to discuss the shocking settlement on Tuesday.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fox-news-ad-ny-times/
Murdoch's papers are so committed to accurate reporting they failed to report that Fox News is giving Dominion almost a billion dollars for damaging the company with false claims. Instead they placed an ad in NY Times claiming they are widely believed
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-729182
What does Israeli society actually want?
The answer is that we, the general Israeli society, don’t really want haredi soldiers serving in the IDF. Meaning we want haredim to serve but we want them to be less haredi. If you’re already in the army, we think, then what’s the problem with having female soldiers around? And why not a Druze worker in the kitchen? And why special kashrut standards, prayer services and Torah study?
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday presented a new outline for military service, amid plans by the government to grant ultra-Orthodox men earlier exemptions from drafting to the army.
The IDF indicated that it was opposed to the plans discussed by the government earlier this week that would essentially give Haredim a blanket ban from army service, stating that drafting Israelis from all parts of society is of utmost importance.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-739447
The integration of female soldiers into Israel’s combat infantry units, some elite Special Forces and certain armored units has been postponed due to the physiological difference between men and women, the IDF told the High Court of Justice on Monday in response to petitions by women seeking to join Special Forces.
https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-legal-battles-arent-over-yet-1795193
"Dominion's litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox's disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest," Connolly said in a statement that was tweeted by Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith on Tuesday afternoon. "Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy."
So what is Smartmatic exactly? Based in London, Smartmatic is another voting-tech company that got wrapped up in Donald’s Trump’s election misinformation campaign and ended up on Fox News. The company is seeking a whopping $2.7 billion in damages from Fox, $1 billion more than Dominion. The lawsuit specifically names Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and Lou Dobbs, though Pirro managed to dodge the suit and was removed because she only indirectly blamed Smartmatic on her show. (Meanwhile, Dobbs’ program was yanked off the air shortly after the suit was filed.)
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/18/rupert-murdoch-dominion-settlement-00092694
A hundred million here, a hundred million there, might crimp your finances. But in the Murdoch universe, paying such settlements is just the cost of doing business Murdoch-style. The alternative to settling with Dominion for telling a series of lies about voting fraud would have been a painful and long courtroom drama. A stream of ugly would have been on the Fox image, day after day, as Dominion made its case. Even after the case concluded and went to appeals, the Fox brand would have been further stigmatized, and shame and disparagement would have been leveled at Murdoch, Fox executives and Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, Laura Ingraham and Bret Baier, all of whom Dominion planned to put on the witness stand. Getting out from under all of that hurt for $787.5 million is a kind of bargain for a company with a market cap of $17.3 billion. Fox has $4.1 billion in cash and warrants on hand, says the New York Times.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/18/media/fox-dominion-settlement/index.html
The right-wing network said in a statement that it “acknowledge[s] the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” referring to Davis’ recent ruling that 20 Fox News broadcasts from late 2020 contained blatantly untrue assertions that Dominion rigged the presidential election. But Fox won’t have to admit on-air that it spread lies about Dominion, a Dominion representative told CNN.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/18/media/fox-dominion-defamation-trial-kickoff/index.html
The outcome of the trial, however, is not likely to dramatically change the dishonest way in which Fox News operates. The channel is the profit engine in Murdoch’s media empire and its business model is dependent on feeding its viewership a steady stream of right-wing infotainment.
Even as this case has advanced forward in recent days, some top Fox News personalities such as Carlson have yet again shamelessly sowed doubt about legitimacy of the 2020 election.
"The plaintiffs allege that Ohio State concealed Strauss’s abuse and Ohio State’s knowledge of it, destroyed records, gave Strauss false performance reviews, and actively misled students by, for example, telling complainants that no one had ever previously complained about Strauss. The plaintiffs plausibly allege a decades-long cover up. Given these plausible allegations, the plaintiffs adequately allege that they could not have reasonably discovered Ohio State’s conduct. This alone provides sufficient grounds to delay the accrual of their Title IX claims."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University_abuse_scandal
Following an independent 2019 investigation which found that Richard Strauss had sexually abused at least 177 students from 1979 to 1997, Ohio State University agreed to pay $40.9 million to settle the lawsuits of 162 men who alleged sexual abuse during the former university team doctor's tenure. Other lawsuits remain outstanding.[54]
Although Jordan has repeatedly insisted he didn’t know team doctor Richard Strauss was sexually mistreating athletes in his charge, former OSU wrestler Adam DiSabato called Jordan a “liar” at a Tuesday House Civil Justice Committee hearing on a bill that would let Strauss’ victims sue Ohio State for damages. DiSabato also said Jordan contacted him repeatedly in July 2018, after media outlets quoted his brother, Michael DiSabato, saying Jordan knew about Strauss’ abuse.
“Jim Jordan called me crying, groveling… begging me to go against my brother…That’s the kind of cover-up that’s going on there,” said DiSabato, who is among a group of former OSU wrestlers who filed lawsuits that allege the school ignored Strauss’ abuse.
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/jim-jordan-sexual-assault-deny/
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is being slammed for calling the story of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who obtained an abortion after she was raped “another lie” in a since-deleted tweet.
It marks at least the second time the congressman from Ohio has been accused of ignoring a sexual assault in the Buckeye state.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/06/politics/jordan-osu-wrestlers-strauss-invs/index.html
Multiple former OSU athletes told CNN they found Jordan’s denials puzzling, because they say they distinctly remember him responding to complaints about Strauss.
One former wrestler, Dan Ritchie, said he remembers a teammate complained about Strauss and that Jordan said, “If he ever tried that with me I’d snap his neck like a stick of dry balsa wood.”
Rabbeinu Bachya (Vayikra 24:11) Whenever someone displays signs of effrontery and disdain towards the Jewish religion and G’d it is time to examine his maternal genealogy as it is certain that the droplet of sperm which such an individual grew out of reflected a negative deed or thought at the time when marital relations which produced that baby took place.
https://momentmag.com/are-democrats-becoming-anti-israel/
While Democrats might increasingly view Palestinians more favorably than Israelis, there is still no real political force behind this shift. Going back to the Gallup survey, it is interesting to look at another question, one in which Americans were asked to grade foreign countries by their favorability. On this measure, Israel still maintains an extremely high showing, with 68 percent of participants in the poll expressing a favorable view of the Jewish state, while the Palestinian Authority gets a favorable rating from only 26 percent of Americans.
How can we reconcile this figure with the head-to-head sympathy question that puts Palestinians in advantage among Democrats? Let’s dive into the numbers.
Israel’s favorability crosses political boundaries, with 82 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of Democrats viewing it favorably. Favorability of the Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, is low across the board: Only 36 percent of Democrats and a mere 9 percent of Republicans view it favorably.
Furthermore, the overall favorability of Palestinians, though slightly up compared to most years in the past two decades, is still at just 31 percent.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/partisan-gap-support-israel-seems-permanent
“Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to view the Israeli people favorably and the Palestinian people unfavorably (44% vs. 12%).” Pew also found that “Republicans and those who lean to the GOP are much more likely to express a favorable view of the Israeli people (78%) than of the Palestinian people (37%). Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, on the other hand, similar shares express favorable views toward both groups (60% and 64%, respectively).”
Sefer Chasidim (76) Do not punish an Israelite, nor curse him but pray for him that G-d make his heart whole and return him to right conduct. Do not invoke judgement on him saying, “The Lord should avenge me from his hand and visit evil upon him according to his wickedness.” For he who invokes divine judgement upon his neighbor, the attribute of justice comes before G-d, and says, “Lord of all the Universe, shall we then acquiesce to his request? he is deserving to be punished for such and such…
Friday night in shul I was approached by a young man whose water filled eyes indicated heavy medication. He said "I am manic depressive and I can't do anything. please help me. I asked how? He responded Give me a beracha because treatment isn't working
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-gets-fooled-by-russian-propaganda-docs-from-sarah-bils
Tucker Carlson laid into President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday, accusing them of committing “crimes” in their support of Ukraine. He referenced a “leaked” Pentagon slideshow that, Carlson said, proves the American people are being lied to about the status of the war in Ukraine. “The second thing we learned from these slides is that despite direct U.S. involvement, Ukraine is in fact losing the war,” Carlson said last week. “Seven Ukrainians are being killed for every Russian. Ukrainian air defenses have been utterly degraded. Ukraine is losing. The Biden administration is perfectly aware of this.” As it turns out, Carlson is the one peddling lies about Ukraine to the American people—the slides he referenced were apparently doctored by a known Russian propagandist that lives in the United States. “Tucker Carlson pushed a fake version of a U.S. intelligence document about Ukrainian war casualties,” said Yahoo News senior correspondent Michael Weiss on Twitter. “It was doctored by a fraud podcaster who claimed to be a Russian woman from Luhansk. In reality, Sarah Bils is a former U.S. Navy clerk from New Jersey—and she pocketed all the money she claimed to raise for Russian causes.”
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/64888/jewish/The-Rebbe-on-the-Holocaust.htm
But the most important thing about the Holocaust to the Rebbe was not how we do or do not understand it, nor, even, how we memorialize its victims, but what we do about it. If we allow the pain and despair to dishearten us from raising a new generation of Jews with a strong commitment to their Jewishness, then Hilter's "final solution" will be realized, G‑d forbid. But if we rebuild, if we raise a generation proud of and committed to their Jewishness, we will have triumphed.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/17/politics/fact-check-manhattan-crime-trump-bragg/index.html
Trump claimed in March that Bragg “has watched Violent Crime in Manhattan soar to Record Highs” and that “killings are taking place at a number like nobody’s ever seen, right in Manhattan.”
These claims are not even close to true. Manhattan’s recent levels of violent crime in general and murder in particular are way down from the record levels of the early 1990s.
New York City publishes crime statistics on its website, so the truth is easy to find. In 1990, when the city set its all-time record for total murders, there were 503 recorded murders in Manhattan, which is one of the city’s five boroughs. In 2022, Manhattan recorded 78 murders – a decline of about 84% from 1990.
Democrats and those who lean to the Democratic Party are more than four times as likely as Republicans and Republican leaners to say that a person’s gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth (61% vs. 13%). Democrats are also much more likely than Republicans to say our society hasn’t gone far enough in accepting people who are transgender (59% vs. 10%). For their part, 66% of Republicans say society has gone too far in accepting people who are transgender.
https://jewishinsider.com/2023/01/alvin-bragg-new-york-hate-crimes-antisemitism/
In a demographic breakdown of his office’s open hate crimes investigations shared with JI, the highest number of cases, 44 in total, were said to be motivated by anti-Asian bias, followed by 32 cases involving members of the LGBTQ community. The hate crimes unit is currently working on 16 antisemitic cases, which represent the third largest share of hate crimes prosecutions now under the office’s purview.
Indeed, a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives — a Republican in good standing, who’s poised to be rewarded by her party next year — assumed she could get away with accusing three senators from her own party of being “pro-pedophile,” without any meaningful pushback, because that’s where the contemporary right is now.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/why-republicans-are-smearing-everyone-as-pedophiles-now.html
Not long ago, the notion that American politics was oriented around a dispute over the merits of child sexual exploitation was viewed as so loopy that not even Donald Trump could take it seriously. It is now becoming the Republican Party’s most energetic idea. The two most prominent theaters of partisan combat of the moment, the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation and Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, have both seen a growing swath of conservatives embrace charges of pedophilia as their central theme.
Because American politics are now just one, long, low-rent nightmare, Republican culture warriors have spent the past few weeks slandering their various enemies as being soft on pedophilia. For some time, this sort of raving was mostly confined to adherents of QAnon, the Trump-idolizing conspiracy cult that believes Democratic politicians and other elites are secretly operating a global child trafficking ring.
Trump cited Anheuser-Busch's record of donating slightly more to conservative politicians than liberal ones as reason to keep buying their beer.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-lawyers-recusal-spells-bad-new-former-president-legal-experts-1794634
Following the news of Corcoran's recusal from the documents case, numerous legal experts and analysts took to social media and said that the move was a clear sign that charges will soon be leveled. This, they said, is because Corcoran would have to recuse himself if he was expected to be called as a witness at a future trial.
“Peaches Stergo stole the life savings from an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was just looking for companionship. This conduct is sick – and sad,” US attorney David Williams said. “Using the millions in fraud proceeds, Stergo lived a life of luxury, purchasing a home in a gated community and a Corvette, taking vacations at hotels like the Ritz Carlton, and buying thousands in designer clothing, while at the same time causing her elderly victim to lose his apartment.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee quietly deleted a fundraising page Saturday that took aim at one of its largest donors, the parent company of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch.
The NRCC’s backpedaling follows conservative calls for a boycott of the beer company after it partnered with transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney.
ABC News' This Week host Jonathan Karl asked Graham on Sunday about what he makes of Greene's and Carlson's remarks.
"What they're suggesting will destroy America's ability to defend itself. That it's OK to release classified information based on your political views. That the ends justify the means. It is not OK," Graham responded.
https://www.jpost.com/bds-threat/article-739348
She also wrote that Lebanon faced a "ruthless, genocidal onslaught of an Israeli invasion” and wrote of a "desire for resistance to the Zio-Saudi project."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/16-year-old-dies-after-lung-collapse-apparently-caused-by-vaping/
Yariv Keller called on parents to make sure their children don’t use electronic cigarettes, saying that there had been dozens of similar cases of lung collapse in the United States.
https://www.jpost.com/science/article-739262
The new treatment has been detailed in a peer-reviewed study, which has been published on Wednesday in the journal PNAS.
The new treatment, using peptides, interacts with the CDK5 enzyme. The CDK5 enzyme is overactive in Alzheimer’s patient’s brains. Fortunately, the peptide has not shown signs of reacting with the essential CDK1 enzyme which shares structural similarities with CDK5.
https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-739238
“No, it makes him an enemy to America. Leaking classified documents, especially this sensitive in nature, is a crime and he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, replied to Greene on Twitter. “His conduct is indefensible and should be universally condemned.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/marjorie-taylor-greene-pentagon-leaker-martyr
Greene’s theory of oppression, in this case, has not been adopted by her Republican colleagues. However, she did find a friend in Tucker Carlson, who shared a similar view during his Thursday night Fox News broadcast. “Tonight, the news media are celebrating the capture of the kid who told Americans what’s actually happening in Ukraine,” Carlson told his viewers, before lashing out at news outlets for reporting on the reportedly racist and antisemitic content shared in Teixeira’s Discord server. “They are treating him like Osama bin Laden, maybe a little worse actually, because, unlike al-Qaida, apparently, this kid is a racist.”
https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-739002
But Orthodox feminists took notice of the photo, which depicts Miller wearing a hat and is shaded in blue. The cover of Safier’s book features the same image and design. The print version of the article also included a photograph with the face of another woman — Rebbetzin Temi Kamenetsky, the late wife of Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, a prominent Lithuanian haredi rabbi who lives in Philadelphia.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369963
According toCNN International, while Israelis shoot and kill Palestinians, Israeli cars “receive” bullets and the occupants die in a “crash.” That is how, at least, two separate incidents were described during a single segment on Isa Soares Tonight on April 10.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3949488-greene-defends-accused-ukraine-documents-leaker/
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene said on Twitter.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1ytctvg2#autoplay
Israeli basketball players and their fans came under attack from Greek crowds in Athens during the FIBA Champions League quarterfinal series in Athens on Wednesday, burning the Israeli flag and throwing firecrackers onto the court, and hurling rocks at the Israeli fans in the stands.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/12/tennessee-democrats-justin-jones-pearson-00091631
While Republicans intended their ouster of two progressive lawmakers last week to be a punishment, the move has turned into one of the Democratic Party’s best chances in years to boost their organization in the South. Democrats are dreaming up ways to claw back some power from the GOP, fueled by an influx of out-of-state dollars and new commitments from Tennesseans to get involved with politics.
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/10/gun-deaths-among-children-are-soaring
While the majority of adult gun deaths are by suicide, children and teens killed by gunfire are more likely to die by homicide (60%).
Sanhedrin (90b) Queen Cleopatra asked R. Meir, ‘I know that the dead will revive, for it is written, And the righteous] shall in the distant future blossom forth out of Jerusalem like the grass of the earth. But when they arise, shall they arise nude or in their garments?’ He replied, ‘Thou mayest deduce by an a fortiori argument the answer from a wheat grain: if a grain of wheat, which is buried naked, sprouteth forth in many robes, how much more so the righteous, who are buried in their raiment!’
The Nashville Metro Council on Monday unanimously voted in favor of reinstating Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones back into office just days after he was ousted for calling for gun reform on the chamber floor.
Jones, 27, was one of the two black Democratic lawmakers expelled by the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly after a gun control protest on the House floor after a deadly school shooting.
After yet another mass shooting featuring an assault-style weapon, Fox News contributor Ted Williams told the conservative channel’s audience that “we have to talk about guns” because AR-15s “are killing our babies.”
He continued: “Just two weeks ago, I stood in front of a camera—when you had some kids, some babies, shot in Nashville, Tennessee—where a person that had an AR-15! And from what we have been told here, Neil, this individual had that same kind of a weapon.”
Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 32:43) There are many people who are wondering why such an important concept as that of the resurrection has not been spelled out in the written Torah in detail. Seeing that the Torah has spelled out in detail many less important concepts, sometimes repeating them several times, the failure to spell out the concept of resurrection of the dead is considered especially puzzling. The fact is that Torah addresses first and foremost terrestrial matters of concern to us.
Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 32:43) The life of disembodied souls in the celestial regions while awaiting the resurrection, has similarly been alluded to only in the vaguest manner. The average reader may not even notice these allusions whereas the elite may notice their significance. The truth is that the written Torah was given to and for the multitude who do not concern themselves overly with abstract matters, matters of interest primarily to the intellect rather than to the senses.
Many council members have publicly commented that they want to send Jones back to the statehouse. The vote will happen as state lawmakers hold their first floor sessions since last week’s expulsion votes.
Expelled Memphis Rep. Justin Pearson, meanwhile, could be reappointed at a Wednesday meeting of the Shelby County Commission.
Not too long ago - only about three years - when I was contemplating publishing my books on child abuse, I was advised by rabbis, friends and family that it was suicidal. There were two major reasons given. 1) "We don't talk about abuse." Stores told me they would not sell any book that had the word abuse in its title or used the word "sex" in it. Someone who had initially offered support for the book, withdrew it when he saw that I actually explicitly discussed sexual abuse in the book. 2) "You can't criticize rabbis for failure to deal with the issue." Or rather I was told I can't make the claim that rabbis were not following halacha - it was viewed as an oxymoron. Obviously rabbis follow halacha because that is what rabbis do - at least Chareidi rabbis.I was once consulted by a young lady who had been molested by some frum boys when she was ten. She concealed the event from her parents and became increasingly withdrawn and depressed. As a teenager she tried committing suicide. Had a mental breakdown. Was hospitalized in a mental hospital for several years. Now at the age of 20, she seemed fully recovered, cheerful and productive.
My question to her was, now that it is over why are you coming to me? She replied that she has learned to deal with the horrible memories, the pain and degradation. She has learned to let go of feelings of revenge. She has a single problem left. She had asked a single question to all the rabbis she has consulted, “Why did G-d do this to me?” They all replied with some version of, “G-d always does what is best and for reasons beyond our comprehension felt that you had to be raped.” She said simply, “I can’t accept that G-d is so cruel!” My response was that these rabbis were wrong. That they were providing her with one legitimate view of theology i.e., that all that happens is caused by G-d. But there is an alternative view – that of all the Rishonim.
This view says that one man can harm another man – even though G-d doesn’t want it to happen. This is the view not only of Rishonim but is that expressed in Michtav M’Eliyahu, the Netziv citing the Zohar, it is also the view of the Maharal. Thus I told her, G-d did not want it to happen but He gives free-will to man, He does not stop man from acting. You have suffered greatly but will be compensated in the World to Come. She replied that she could live with such an understanding of G-d, while the other view was totally unacceptable. However other victims receive greater consolation from the original answer. One needs to be sensitive to individual differences.
At recent meetings of the Rabbinical Board of Torah U’Mesorah, attended by Rav Dovid Feinstein, Rav Yitzchok Feigelstock, Rav Aharon Feldman, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, Rav Avrohom Chaim Levin, Rav Yaakov Perlow and Rav Aaron Schechter, shlita, the following statement concerning a painful issue was issued:We address ourselves to the problem of child molestation in our community. A small number of individuals have caused untold pain to many children, primarily varying in age from three to fourteen. In addition to the sins which they have committed, they have created painful memories in the minds of their victims, memories which can have a devastating lifetime impact.It is incumbent upon everyone to use every means to stop these violations of children, including, at times, exposing the identities of the abusers and even their incarceration. At times, our primary intent may not be to punish the perpetrators, but rather to help them. Therefore it is preferable, wherever appropriate, to force them to undergo appropriate professional therapy.Torah U’Mesorah is issuing a set of behavioral and reporting standards for principals to implement in their yeshivos and day schools, which, it is hoped, will strengthen the protection of students. It is well documented that molesters are rarely strangers to the child; they are usually relatives or neighbors – and in rare occasions, even teachers. They are able to act because they have the child’s confidence, and then, after the act, they usually threaten him or her with punishment if he or she reveals what has occurred or they shame their victims into keeping a secret.It is important that parents advise children in an appropriate manner to beware of potential molesters. Children must be told to advise their parents of any abusive behavior, and assured that they will suffer no consequences if they do so. We encourage rabbanim throughout our communities to address this issue, which, in itself, will serve as a deterrent to potential abusers. Rabbanim must also help and support anyone who has fallen victim to abuse, as well as refer them to seek professional help from frum private practitioners and/or organizations in their community. It goes without saying that rabbanim should take precautions that accusations are not made maliciously or without basis.2008 Claims ignorance of severity and magnitude of problem until recently. Acknowledges problems in correctly handling abuse cases.
Rabbi David Zweibel executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America The Jewish Daily, October 10, 2008
“Until not terribly long ago, the issue was very much in the shadows,” said David Zwiebel, director of government affairs and general counsel of Agudath Israel of America. “The fact that there were isolated reports here and there of cases arising in yeshiva settings, it was known, but they were very isolated.”
Bloggers legitimately target the Aguda over child abuse“Sometimes they were dealt with correctly and sometimes incorrectly,” Zwiebel added, “but the severity of the problem and the possible magnitude were really things that most people, including myself, just didn’t understand.”
Rabbi David Zweibel executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America (Jewish Star November 12, 2008):
Community can't handle abuse - but D.A. should not be viewed as taking power from rabbis“[Sexual abuse] is an issue which has come out of the closet in a certain sense and is engaging the attention of our community and its leadership and that’s ultimately a good thing. That’s why it’s hard for me to be totally annoyed with some of the excesses of the blog world. Their outrage, anger, and sometimes excessive advocacy and negativity towards the establishment, it’s a terrible thing, but at the same time, I know that their hearts are in the right place and it is stuff to be very upset about. Is Agudah a fair target? I think we could always use a healthy dose of introspection and honest assessment of how well we as a society have performed in this area and lots of other areas.”
New York Times (October 14, 2009 Orthodox Jews Rely More on Sex Abuse Prosecution By Paul Vitello):
David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a group representing many chareidi factions, offered the moderate view. “A broad consensus has emerged in the last few years,” he said, “that many of these issues are beyond the ability of the community to handle internally.”But he added that prosecutors should recognize “religious sensitivities” by seeking alternatives to prison, to avoid depriving a family of its breadwinner, or by finding appropriate Orthodox homes for children removed from abusive families.“The district attorney should be careful not to be seen as making a power grab from rabbinic authority,” Mr. Zwiebel said.
New York (April 2009) - Agudath Israel of America and Torah U’Mesorah –
The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, upon consultation with their respective rabbinic leaderships, respectfully submit this statement regarding legislative proposals to amend existing statutes of limitations for civil claims, including claims against schools and other communal institutions, based on allegations of child sexual abuse. We do so only after much serious thought, after weighing all relevant arguments and for the sole purpose of protecting the most fundamental interests of our community.
Agudath Israel and Torah U’Mesorah fully acknowledge the horror of child sexual abuse and the devastating long-term scars it all too often creates. Our rabbinic and lay leaderships are acutely aware of the emotional trauma and damage caused by the perpetrators of such abuse. Our hearts go out to their victims, and we share in their pain. We realize that for too long many victims have suffered alone. We are committed as a community to do whatever we can to root out perpetrators of child abuse from our schools and other communal institutions, and to help victims on the road to healing and recovery.Indeed, in recent years, as awareness has increased and sensitivity has been heightened regarding the incidence of sexual abuse and its severity, both in the broader society around us and in our community specifically, Agudath Israel and Torah U’Mesorah have taken a number of concrete steps to help ensure that Jewish schools, extra-curricular youth programs and summer camps implement policies and procedures designed to protect children against such abuse. Our organizations have also supported legislative efforts to furnish such protection, including the recently enacted legislation in New York authorizing nonpublic schools to screen all prospective employees through the state’s fingerprint checking system. [...]
Stated simply, legislation that would do away with the statute of limitations completely, even if only for a one-year period, could subject schools and other vital institutions to ancient claims and capricious litigation, and place their very existence in severe jeopardy. Agudath Israel and Torah U’Mesorah most vigorously oppose any such legislation.We must continue to seek out ways to protect our precious children and help eradicate molestation and other forms of abuse. We must also redouble our efforts to help those who have suffered the horrors of child abuse obtain the healing they so desperately need. However, we dare not bring down our most vital communal institutions in the process.
