In the course of the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, legal documents reveal new text messages between a Fox executive and Tucker Carlson's former producer have come to light, revealing how they corresponded about Donald Trump's election lies.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Netanyahu to ministers: No meetings with US officials until PM is invited to White House
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368721
Three months have passed since the current government was established, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to receive an invitation to the White House to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, after receiving the requests of several government ministers to travel to the United States, Netanyahu allegedly issued a response clarifying that they were not to make the trip until he himself has received an official invitation.
Israeli leaders must step up to the plate to stop the madness
The silent, moderate, and mature majority knows that we have reached a point we are talking past each other. Leaders of the protests are angling for either anarchy or elections. Thus, it would be wise to deny them this pleasure by pre-empting things.
Israelis Are Now Openly Talking About the ‘Total Destruction’ of the Jewish State
For most Israelis, there are no words to describe the consuming fear that, as former Mossad director Tamir Pardo puts it, the country is “on the verge of collapse.” He says his fellow citizens stand at the very precipice of “the total destruction of the state of Israel.”
He is not alone. Former PM Ehud Barak calls Netanyahu’s project “the assassination of the Declaration of Independence, which will turn Israel into a dictatorship.” If a government uses the tools of democratic rule to “destroy it from within,” Barak says, Israelis must prepare to resist. “It is not just the right of citizens; it is, in my judgment, the obligation of citizens to turn unfortunately toward civil disobedience.”
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Tradition meets technology with UK app for halachic questions
https://www.timesofisrael.com/tradition-meets-technology-with-uk-app-for-halachic-questions/
There is now a team of nine rabbis on payroll working full-time fielding questions, which can number as many as 250 a day before major holidays and between 40 and 60 on any given day, via a back-end app – a necessary addition, as the office employee was quickly overwhelmed by the volume of questions.
Override Clause approved in first reading in Knesset
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368679
Proposal approved by a majority of 61 to 52. The bill stipulates that laws struck down by the Supreme Court can be re-enacted by the Knesset with a majority of 61 MKs.
A Group of Scientists Suggest that Plants Feel Pain
For years, scientists are baffled by the question of whether plants can feel pain or not. A team of scientists from Tel Aviv University may have the answer to that question, as they discovered that some plants can emit a high-frequency distress sound when in environmental stress.
EXPERTS WORRIED RITUAL ROBOTS MAY WORSHIP GODS BETTER THAN HUMANS
https://futurism.com/the-byte/ritual-robots-hinduism-religion
"There are concerns that the proliferation of robots might lead to greater numbers of people leaving religious practice as temples begin to rely more on automation than on practitioners to care for their deities," Waters writes, citing research that has found that younger people are, indeed, going to church less.
Judaism and Vegetarianism
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/858870/jewish/Judaism-and-Vegetarianism
The sages declared that an empty-minded person has no right to eat meat.9 They also taught never to eat meat out of hunger; first satisfy your hunger with bread.10 (On an empty stomach, it is very difficult to keep focus on anything other than stuffing your face.) Only when “eating mindfully,” focusing on our divine mission, are we doing more for the animal than the animal is doing for us.
According to this approach, it may be cruel to not eat meat, because doing so robs the animal of its chance to serve a higher purpose.
Don’t be scared off. Get your act together and focus; the completion of G‑d’s universal plan is at “steak.”
Monday, March 13, 2023
West Bank teacher arrested for sexually assaulting students
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-734211
According to the survey, the rate of victims in the welfare services following sexual abuse is higher among the students of the religious public school stream, who mainly represent people who identify themselves as religious-Zionist. For every 1,000 students in the stream, there are 2.39 students who were treated in welfare services as a result of sexual abuse, higher than in ultra-Orthodox education (1.98), and more than double the amount in the secular public school stream (1.04).
Human-dinosaur coexistence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-dinosaur_coexistence
The notion that non-avian dinosaurs and humans actually coexisted at some time in the past or still coexist in the present is a pseudoscientific and pseudohistorical belief common among Young Earth creationists, cryptozoologists, and some other groups. This belief often contradicts the scientific understanding of the fossil record and known geological events. Supposed evidence presented for the idea that non-avian dinosaurs persisted to modern times has often been determined to have been hoaxed.[2] Some proponents have tried to identify depictions of dinosaurs among ancient artwork or descriptions of cryptids, though such identifications are often based on outdated or incorrect ideas about dinosaur biology and life appearance[3][4] and often ignores the cultural/artistic context.[2]
Israel Needs Judicial Reform—but How?
Shrewd thinkers on Israel’s right understand that compromise is needed to lower the stakes, regain the public’s confidence and pass something durable. The opposition, however, sees Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing on a ledge and has no desire to let him off lightly. The coalition will have to moderate its own proposal and settle for partial victory, even though the true believers won’t like it.
Wall Street Journal: Only Bibi can achieve compromise, but the A-G won't let him
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368644
Despite the growing chaos on the streets, the article continues, "Most Israelis accept today that the judicial system needs to be reformed, which is a great achievement by the right-wing. But the Netanyahu government has not convinced Israelis that their reform plan is the right one." Furthermore, the way in which they have responded to the challenges of the opposition have hardened the positions of all involved and made it far harder for them to approach the negotiation table.
Origin of Oral Law - Malbim
Malbim (Introduction Toras Cohanim): There has been much confusion and concern of scholars throughout the generations about the origin of what we call the Oral Torah. It is clear to all who are familiar with the Jewish texts that the Oral Torah is constantly connected with verses and interpretation from verses. This is the obvious pattern that is found in such works as the Sifre, Sifra and Mechilta as well as the Babylonian Talmud and the Yerushalmi Talmud. However when the meaning of the verses are examined and compared to the lessons that are drawn from them it often seems as if there is no clear and necessary connection between the two. In fact we find in most cases that not only is there no obvious justification for the halachic interpretation which is learned from the verse but that there are times when the verse actually contradicts and opposes the halachic conclusion. In addition in most cases we find strong and sweeping conclusions built upon minor and far-fetched justification. Thus we find major halachic concepts which are established because of a single word or even a single letter – which despite great effort and thorough analysis no necessary justification for these conclusions can be found. And even if you accept that the word or letter is the basis for the halachic understanding, the question arises why other instances of the word or letter are not viewed as having the same significance for other Halachos? In addition we find at times that a particular analysis of a verse is done in one place but in other places that the word is interpreted to imply just the opposite. Thus it seems to be that the interpretations are totally dependent on the whim of the moment and that matters of substance are justified by trivialities. When we ask how this issue was understood by the scholars of the ancient times we see that they said that the words of the verse which are brought as proof for the halacha are simply arbitrary signs and mnemonic devices which were selected in order to aid recall of the halacha. In fact these ancient Torah scholars claimed that halacha was not learned from textual analyses but were known from oral tradition. However this answer seems very far-fetched because we see that Chazal were always asking where a particular halacha was learned from and they always answered with specific Torah verses. And there often was a dispute with one saying that verse was incorrect and a different one was the source. The typical interchange involved attempts by all parties to justify their verse and to show that the verse and proofs chosen by others was wrong. It makes no sense that Chazal would engage in such intensive arguments concerning something which was merely an allusion or mnemonic device!.. It is clear therefore that the verses are in fact the sources of the halacha and are not mere mnemonic devices. In fact the Rambam (Introduction to Mishna) distinguishes between those Halachos which are not derived from verses which he calls Halacha LeMoshe and between those halacha which are derived from verses. These two categories are different from each other for a number of reasons… The Rambam counts the halachos which are Halacha LeMoshe and shows that they are few. The vast majority of Halachos are in fact learned from Torah verses and grounded in them. Thus these two explanations of halacha being learned from Tradition and being learned from verses are simply incompatible. This matter is not only astonishing to the masses but Jewish heretics utilize this contradiction to cause difficulties and to undermine the validity of our Tradition. However even amongst scholars it causes severe difficulties because they end up with two opposing paradigms which they are constantly switching between. Sometimes they focus on the language of the verses and the interpretation of drash is viewed as external and artificial. But other times they are drawn after the drash and Tradition and argue with those who focus on the rules of syntax and understanding of the verses. Thus there is a constant fight of the brothers - the meaning of the verse and the drash. Both sides murmur in their tents and there is no reconciliation….
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