4 Jewish takeaways from the John Bolton book Trump doesn’t want you to read

https://www.timesofisrael.com/4-jewish-takeaways-from-the-john-bolton-book-trump-doesnt-want-you-to-read/

Pro-Israel groups lobbied for him to be secretary of state; Israel is not always happy with the Trump administration, particularly on Syria and he doesn’t think much of Nikki Haley

Still, buried in the nearly 290 pages are some surprising nuggets, telling us a little more about Trump and foreign policy than we knew. You’ve seen the big headlines beyond Trump’s fruitless effort to block the book’s release: Bolton says that Trump likely committed impeachable offenses not just in seeking to extract favors from Ukraine, but from Turkey and China.

Rambam Messiah

The King Messiah will arise and re-establish the monarchy of David as it was in former times. He will build the Sanctuary and gather in the dispersed of Israel. All the earlier statutes will be restored as they once were. Sacrifices will be offered, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years will be observed, as commanded in the Torah. Anyone who does not believe in him or one who does not anticipate his coming not only denies the Prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our Teacher. For the Torah has given testimony about him saying, “And the Lord your G-d will turn your captivity and have compassion with you. He will return and gather you from all the peoples…If any of you should be dispersed at the ends of Heaven, from there G-d will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord, your G-d will bring you…” (Deut. 30:3-4). These matters are explicit in the Torah and include everything said by all the Prophets. It is even written in the Chapter of Balaam who prophesized about both the Messiahs. The first Messiah was David who saved Israel from her adversities. The final Messiah will be from his sons and will deliver Israel from the hands of the descendants of Esau. There it says, “I shall see him, but not now” (Numbers 24:17) - this refers to David; “I behold him, and not soon” (ibid.) - this is the King Messiah; “A star from Jacob shall step forth” (ibid.) - this is David; “and a scepter shall arise out of Israel” (ibid.) - this the King Messiah; “and shall smite through the corners of Moab” - this is David; and so it says, “And he smote Moab and measured them with a rope” (II Samuel 8:2); “and break down all the sons of Seth” (Numbers 24:17) - this is King Messiah of whom it says, “and his dominion shall be from sea to sea” (Zechariah 9:10); “and Edom shall be a possession” (Numbers 24:18) - this is David, as it says, “And Edom shall become slaves to David” (see II Samuel 8:6 and II Samuel 8:14); “Seir also, even his enemies, shall be a possession” (Numbers 24:18) - this is King Messiah, as it says, “And the saviors shall come upon Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau…” (Obadiah 1:21).

Even in the section regarding the cities of refuge it says, “If the Lord your G-d shall enlarge your borders…and shall add for you another three cities more…” (Deut. 12:20, Deut. 19:8-9). This actually never took place¹²³Since there were never nine, but at most six Cities of Refuge. The additional three must therefore be prophetic., and the Holy One Blessed be He never commands for nothing. However, from the words of the Prophets this matter does not need a proof, since all the Books are full of this matter.

It should not occur to you that the King Messiah must bring wondrous signs or perform marvels or invent new things or revive the dead or anything like what the fools say. It is not so. For Rabbi Akiva, one of the wisest of the Sages of the Mishna, was King Ben Coziba’s¹²⁴Bar Cochba. arms-bearer¹²⁵I.e. his staunch supporter. and said that he was the King Messiah. He and all the Sages of his generation thought that he was the King Messiah, until he was killed because of his sins¹²⁶He killed Rabbi Elazar HaModai.. Since he was killed, they then understood that he was not the one. The Sages never asked of him neither a sign nor a wonder. So, the essence of the matter is like this: The Laws and the Statutes of the Torah never change. We may not add to them nor detract from them. ¹²⁷This last sentence is absent in most editions.Anyone who adds to or subtracts from them or reveals some new dimension to the Torah or understands the Commandments differently than their plain meaning is, for sure, an evil person and an Apikoris.

Now, if a king should arise from the House of David who is versed in Torah and engages in Commandments, as did David his forefather, in accordance with both the Written and the Oral Torahs, and he enjoins all of Israel to follow in its ways and encourages them to repair its breaches, and he fights the Wars of G-d¹²⁸I.e. he defends Israel., then he may be presumed to be the Messiah. If he succeeds in his efforts and defeats the enemies around and builds the Sanctuary in its proper place and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Messiah.

But, if he does not succeed in these matters or is killed, we will know that he was not the one Torah has promised. He is (merely to be considered) like all the (other) exemplary and qualified kings of the House of David who have died. G-d set him up only to try the masses, as it says, “And some of the wise will stumble, to refine among them and to purify and to make white, even to the time of the end, for it is yet for the time appointed” (Daniel 11:35).

Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined he would be the Messiah and was killed by the Court¹²⁹Or, was handed over to the Romans who killed him as a revolutionary because he proclaimed himself the Messiah, King of Israel. was prophesized about by Daniel as it says, “and also the children of the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision, but they shall stumble” (Daniel 11:14). Was there ever a greater impediment than this one? All the Prophets spoke of the Messiah, Redeemer of Israel and Savior and Gatherer of the Exiles and Strengthener of the Commandments. But this one caused the ruin of Israel by the sword and the dispersal of its remnant and its humiliation and reversed¹³⁰Or, changed. the Torah, and caused most of the world to err and worship a god other than HaShem (G-d).

Who Was Bar Kochba? Jewish Biography as History Dr. Henry Abramson

Why Did Rabbi Akiva Think Bar Kochba Was the Moshiach? - Ask the Rabbi Live with Rabbi Mintz

Trump contradicts own officials: I don't kid

Was Trump Just Joking About Slowing Down Testing? | Morning Joe | MSNBC

This is the most succinct -- and brutal -- Republican rejection of Donald Trump that you will ever read

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/steve-schmidt-donald-trump/index.html

"Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had. And I don't say that hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And he has brought this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office. And there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.

"When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don't use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We've never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.

"It's just astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show, that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman. Well, he's the President of the United States now, and the man who said he would make the country great again. And he's brought death, suffering, and economic collapse on truly an epic scale. And let's be clear. This isn't happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home. Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where you're the most likely to die from this disease. We're the ones with the most shattered economy. And we are because of the fool that sits in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk."

 

Ziva Malkomo arrest by Military Police

BS"D

According to Rabbi Binyomin Chayat, Spokesman for the Israeli organization Shomrei Torah (providing information to girls seeking to avoid being forced to serve in the Army),
Ziva Malkomo of Ashkelon, a Orthodox Jewish Ethiopian girl (about 19-1/2 y/o), previously incarcerated for refusing to be drafted into the Army, was arrested, yet again, by male Military Police officers, at her home 2AM Monday morning, June 22, '20. After dramatically and passionately insisting on her right to a religious exemption, Ziva was released on site, but was instructed (by an arresting officer) to give herself in the next day to be imprisoned, something she refuses to do.

Long ago, Ziva submitted her religiosity documentation (signed by Rabbi Doniel Katz of the Ashkelon Regional Bet Din, dated Jan. 15, 2018). The Army denied her exemption. Refusing to enlist, Ziva was imprisoned for several weeks prior to Yom Kippur, 5780, as reported in the Jewish Press on Sept 27,'19. (She honorably refused to seek the previously "easy" Petur Nashi option that some suggested.)

After her release Erev Yom Kippur, Ziva (erroneously) complied with the Military Court order to appear at the Tel HaShomer Draft Office on Oct 10, where, she was evidently misled by staff into signing a military service enlistment document, under the pretext of signing to simply certify that she reported to the Draft Office (in response to the order to do so).

All leading Rabbis prohibit girls from military service. 
Ziva remains steadfast in her refusal to enlist, even if it means additional incarceration, R"L, according to R. Chayat and others  involved with the case, including Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter, Executive Director of Help Rescue Our Children, a NY-based advocacy organization assisting targets of attempted sexual abuse and human trafficking. Her full Jewish name is Ziva bas Mazal.

psak of Baltimore Beis Din for the morons who are either ignorant or afraid

I am reposting this because I am tired of the men and women who don't know either facts or the halacha but think they are being righteous or smart rabbis or gedolim whether in Lakewood, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia  or Washington - for attacking Ahron Friedman or myself

there is only one beis din that both husband and wife agreed to accept their view and that is the Baltimore beis din

any idiot claiming he is obligated to give a divorce or that his wife claims he has an intolerable personality disorder or that it is just to force him to give a get should read the following very carefully

Tamar Epstein's Heter: Protest of the Eidah Charedis against her remarriage without a Get

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: The shameful reality is they think we are stupid

As mentioned yesterday, R Sholom Kaminetsky wrote a letter in which he acknowledged that Rav Dovid Feinstein had paskened that the heter was worthless and that he accepted this psak.

Some people felt that this was news worth celebrating - after all didn't the forces of good triumph over the forces of evil? The answer is no! The situation is much worse than before.

What was Rav Dovid Feinstein doing for the last 6 weeks? Apparently he was given one job and that was to decide whether the heter was good or not. Why did he do this? He apparently did this because the Novominsker and others convinced him that he was the only one that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky would listen to - as in fact Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky wrote to Rav Weiss when he asked him not to protest against the heter. 

Thus Rav Feinstein was paskening solely for the sake of Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky regarding the heter. He was not dealing with what Tamar Epstein should do, nor was he deciding whether Aharon Friedman should give a Get. He was not dealing with the corruption of the halacha in this case with a phony seruv issued by Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky. He was also not dealing with whether Rav Nota Greenblatt was wrong in paskening based on a flawed psychiatric report based solely on Tamar Epstein's biased views about a case where Rav Nota didn't bother to speak to both sides or even verify that the information he was spoon fed by R Sholom Kaminetsky was true.

In short - Rav Dovid Feinstein was used to save the hide of the Kaminetskys. With his psak about the heter he gave Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and son a ladder to climb down from the branch that they were precariously hanging from that was being sawed off by the major rabbonim around the world who have explicitly condemned the heter.

That is why the heter was not announced publicly but was sent to R Shalom Kaminetsky. It was only his response that was published and that done through the strange publication in Matzav - not the normal channel for such an important notification. There is no written psak from Rav Dovid Feinstein and there is no official letter of response from Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky. It is simply smoke and mirrors. I was told that if there had been an official written psak, that the Kaminetskys would have been subject to direct criticism by the Rabbonim and  by the media and they would not have retracted. Rav Dovid Feinstein and the Aguda avoided this spectacle by making a virtual announcement. This way the Kaminetskys were allow to make it appear that they were innocent bystanders - without Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky actually saying anything. 

Ah but you are saying - but Rav Dovid did invalidate the heter. Isn't that progress? The answer is no. Primarily because Rav Greenblatt has not retracted his mistaken psak. Thus Rav Dovid Feinstein was suckered into making this a machlokess haposkim. It is now his view versus Rav Greenblatt. Tamar can simply say that she received the heter from a major posek and that the heter is still in place. Nothing has changed,

What needs to happen is that Rav Dovid Feinstein has to issue a written psak -  as has been done by major figures such as Rav Shlomo Miller and the Baltimore Beis Din. He needs to explicitly criticize the process of the heter - otherwise it will open a floodgate of phony heterim. Rav Dovid has done nothing to protect us from anyone with mail order smicha doing away with the need for Gittin.

He needs to write that Tamar needs to separate from Adam. Without addressing the status of Tamar and what she has to do - it remains simply a public relations move to save the Kaminetskys.

Finally Rav Dovid Feinstein needs to directly criticize Rav Nota Greenblatt for issuing the heter and trying to deceive everyone that he had nothing to do with the heter. He needs to make public condemnations so that no one in their right mind will think of doing this again. As it stands there is absolutely no downside of privately telling a woman he she doesn't need a get because if she had only known what she knows now she would never have married him. This is the Rackman mechanism - which has gained a foothold through this heter.

Bottom line, Nothing has been done to clean up the stinking garbage of corruption and trampling on our holy Torah. We need the restoration of Torah leadership - not more "leave it to the gedolim to decide" announcements.

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: A reader asks, What is the real agenda of this blog in protesting corruption of halacha and adultery?

We have been dealing for a long time with the issue  of a recognized gadol - R Shmuel Kaminetsky - being involved in the slimy task of corrupting halacha and refusing to accept responsibility to stop the adulterous relationship of Tamar and Adam. R Kaminetsky and son conducted a worldwide campaign to produce a psak from R Greenblatt in which he investigated not a single one of the phony facts presented to him. R Greenblat married the couple solely on the say so of Rabbi Kaminetsky. "It is chutzpa to question what a gadol says!" Worldwide outrage was expressed in letters from most of the leading poskim against the heter. [see the post at the uppoer right corner of this blog] In spite of that we still have people - as seen in the comment below - who say, "What is your agenda?"

in short: what is the real agenda here? to try and get RSK to force Tamar out of current situation thru the blog pressure (which does not seem to be happening), or to somehow allow him to 'save face' , but to get the desired result

 There are a few issues here.

1) Did something horribly wrong take place in the producing of the Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter which threatens the foundations of yiddishkeit by damaging the collective emunas chachoim?

2) Do we ignore or tolerate horrible actions by gedolim because they are gedolim and therefore- We -the "fungus under their feet" - have no right to question them?

3) Is there an imperative to protest this corruption of Torah - as we do any other corruption - or is it a task only for other gedolim to deal with?

4) Is it a fact that the protests on this blog have not produced results?

=============================

We have dealt with the other issues at length. I would like to address the last issue.

It is clear from the feedback that I have gotten -- that the protests have in fact registered. While it is true that Tamar and Adam are still living in sin - but the protests have not been in vain

1) R Kaminetsky and his extended family are highly irritated by the protests - based entirely on their claim that R Kaminetsky has done nothing wrong and has clearly acknowledged that Rabbi Dovid Feinstein has said the heter is garbage. In particular, that he never paskened that Tamar could remarry and thus he has no obligation to do anything. He feels no responsibility for the campaign that his son conducted - in direct consultation with him and his approval of every step - to find poskim who would agree to the heter nor the phony psychiatrist report that his son produced to support the heter. In short, he claims he is totally innocent of wrong doing  and that the responsibility is solely that of R Greenblatt. It doesn't bother him that Tamar is relying entirely on the heter of R Greenblatt that he engineered - because after all she has a major posek to rely on. This despite that R Greenblatt relied totally on the facts that were presented to him by the Kaminetsky's - including the false claim that Aharon Friedman is totally insane. However as one family member told me, "the whole thing stinks and is a grave embarrassment" [yes there are family members who are ashamed of what R Kaminetsky has done]

2) Talmidim and admirers of R Kaminetsky are alternatively angry with me and embarrassed by the fact that they have no intelligent explanation for R Kaminetsky's conduct in this sordid affair. But after all he is gadol hador so they struggle with their cognitive dissonance as best as possible. Some by attacking anyone who questions R' Kaminetsky's actions and others by a strong sense of shame and embarrassment which they heroically suppress.

3) There is in fact widespread awareness amongst the yeshivas students and avreichim - as well as the rabbis and poskim of our generation. This includes of course the many rabbis who wrote letters denouncing the heter. Most have no idea of how to deal with this - but they are very bothered by it. They understand that R Kaminetsky is the "bank that is too big to fail" as well as that their jobs and their future employment and shidduchim for their children are in danger if they make any public statements. R Kaminetsky is a very important figure in the Torah world and he has a high level of influence - not only personally but through marriage. One of the major rabbinic players told me a long time ago that it was clear to him that R Kaminetsky was acting against the halahca "But who am I to criticize the gadol hador - no one will listen to me."

So yes - there is a need to continue the protest against what R Kaminetsky has done and against the fact that he has not publicly stated that the couple needs to separate and has not apologized to Aharon Friedman for the slander and "dirty halachic tricks" he has used against him.

It is Elul for gedolim also!

Truth

Trump Accuses Obama Of Treason, Pushes Mail-In Voting Conspiracy | Morning Joe | MSNBC