https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/theodor-herzl-vs-rabbi-kook-610614
The notion that there is an intrinsic contradiction between Theodor Herzl’s
Zionism and that of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, first chief
rabbi of Israel, is prevalent in many national-religious circles.
Indeed, Rabbi Benny Lau asserts in “Statehood and spirit” (Magazine, August 30):
https://mishpacha.com/southern-squatters/
But there is an additional price to be paid. To grasp the real total that Naftali Bennett paid for Ra’am’s political support, you need to take a trip south to the Negev Desert, where vast areas have been swallowed in recent years by illegal Bedouin building. Aside from chairmanship of the Knesset’s Interior Committee and of the Arab Affairs Committee, Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas secured a clause stipulating the legalization of three Bedouin villages in the Negev as well as a review of the status of 11 others.
https://hamodia.com/2021/06/25/schumer-intervening-fixsler-case/
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer is intervening in the case of Alta Fixsler, a brain-damaged, 2-year-old Jewish girl in the U.K. at risk of being removed from life support by a hospital in Manchester against her family’s will.
Alta’s family has waged a battle to keep his daughter alive. Her mother is an Israeli citizen, and her father an American. If Alta is unable to remain on life support in the U.K., the family is hoping to at least be able transport her to Israel or America for treatment.
Jewish activists have been working on getting the Israeli and U.S. governments involved in the case, to either pressure the British to keep Alta on life support or transport her to one of those countries.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-vitamin-d-help-protect-against-covid/
Given the results of Neale’s large-scale study and the modest benefits found in Martineau’s latest meta-analysis, it seems unlikely that vitamin D will prove to be a critical ingredient in fending off COVID-19 or modulating its severity. But these and other new trials may find it is useful in certain doses for certain populations. As Neale points out, “there is data that is suggestive” and enough smoke to indicate that you don’t want to be vitamin-D-deficient in a pandemic.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308717
Video from 2018 surfaced this week of Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City, describing Orthodox Jews as a drag on the tax system.
“We’re not talking about poor, impoverished, disabled people who need help, we’re talking about able-bodied men who study Torah and Talmud all day and we subsidize them,” Sliwa says in the video. “And then all they do is make babies like there’s no tomorrow and who’s subsidizing that? We are.
“So are we the shmucks and putzes? Yes.”
Marriage equality is one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s earliest achievements, arriving at the end of the first legislative session of his first term, on June 24, 2011. Cuomo brokered the passage, convincing four Republican senators to cast votes of conscience to pass the bill.
The vote was a nail-biter. Not until Sen. Stephen Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, rose and gave his support was passage assured.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308724
Israel’s embassies around the world have raised the rainbow flag today in accordance with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s directives, including in London, Oslo, and Vienna.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem raised a rainbow flag last Tuesday, and Foreign Minister Lapid said: "For the first time ever this morning, I ordered the Foreign Ministry to fly the pride flag for pride month events. The Foreign Ministry and its employees carry a message of tolerance and freedom."
It should be noted that Yair Lapid's deputy in the Foreign Ministry, Idan Roll, belongs to the LGBT community and lives with his partner, singer and songwriter Harel Skaat.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/24/us/miami-building-collapse-victims-missing/index.html
Jewish community members missing, rabbis say
https://www.duhoctrungquoc.vn/wiki/en/Temple_in_Jerusalem
In his novel The Old New Land, depicting the future Jewish State as he envisioned it, Theodor Herzl – founder of political Zionism – included a depiction of a rebuilt Jerusalem Temple. However, in Herzl's view, the Temple did not need to be built on the precise site where the old Temple stood and which is now taken up by the Muslim Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, which are very sensitive holy sites. By locating the Temple at an unspecified different Jerusalem location, the Jewish state envisioned by Herzl avoids the extreme tension over this issue experienced in the actual Israel. Also, worship at the Temple envisioned by Herzl does not involve animal sacrifice, which was the main form of worship at the ancient Jerusalem Temple. Rather, the Temple depicted in Herzl's book is essentially just an especially big and ornate synagogue, holding the same kind of services as any other synagogue.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dr-theodor-herzl-building-the-3rd-temple/
Yesterday marked the commemoration of the 17th of Tammuz, a day of
fasting and reflection and the start of the “three week” mourning period
culminating in the somber day of remembrance Tisha BaAv, the Ninth of
Av. In addition to the other misfortunes which befell the Jewish people
on this day, traditionally the 17th of Tammuz is the day when the walls
of Jerusalem were breached in 69 C.E. leading to the destruction of the
2nd Temple 3 weeks later on the Ninth of Av. Throughout the centuries,
the Jewish people have used this time period for both personal as well
as national introspection. For the vast majority of people the Temple
and its destruction, is only used as an instructive teaching platform
for broader moral lessons. For many the questions and introspection
focuses on the following: What was the root cause of the destruction?
How can we make sure to not fall prey to it again? Do we see similar
trends in the Modern State of Israel, and if so how should we combat
those trends? However, regrettably, there seems to be only a small
minority of the Jewish people who ponder and contemplate the need for
the actual physical rebuilding of the Temple. What purpose did the
Temple serve, and what meaning and insight would its rebuilding hold for
the Jewish People Today?
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308713
He added that, “We weren’t surprised to discover that people who were fully vaccinated are among those contracting coronavirus now. Around the time when we emerged from the third wave of the virus, there were hundreds of vaccinated people contracting Covid-19, and some of them even died. So of course we're seeing that again now.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is highly effective against the Delta variant of COVID-19, a Pfizer official in Israel said on Thursday.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308653
Head of Public Health Services, Dr. Sharon Alray-Price, revealed the disturbing facts at a media presentation on Wednesday. According to her data, of the 891 cases of coronavirus confirmed in the last month alone, half had received both doses of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine.
