What is understood is that as of now, the vaccine is at least 90%-95% effective against stopping hospitalization or serious disease – the metric that at least these health professionals believe should be used in determining policy.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
The Rebbe on the Jewish Woman's Hair Covering
The Rebbe went so far as to state that wigs might even be more
attractive than one's own hair. At the time, it was meant to encourage
and educate women who were of the opinion that all wigs were
aesthetically lacking. In comparison to what women might have worn in
earlier generations, the new wigs, the Rebbe said, were attractive.
Mitzvah to Live in Israel
https://www.aish.com/atr/Mitzvah_to_Live_in_Israel.html
The general approach today is that if both places (Israel and the
Diaspora) are equally "livable," one should make the effort to live in
Israel. Every year, approximately 3,000 Jews make aliyah from North
America – 90 percent of them religious.
Is There a Mitzva to Settle the Land of Israel?
https://etzion.org.il/en/halakha/yoreh-deah/eretz-yisrael/there-mitzva-settle-land-israel
The first question that arises in any discussion regarding the mitzva of settling the Land of Israel is whether or not such a mitzva exists? The Rambam, as is well known, did not include the mitzva of settling the Land of Israel in his count of the 613 biblical mitzvot. The Ramban, in his criticisms of the Rambam's Sefer ha-Mitzvot, adds the mitzva of settling the Land of Israel as one of the commandments unjustly omitted by the Rambam:
Are We Required to Live in Israel?
But Maimonides’ position is less easily understood. As Nachmanides observes, Maimonides does not count possessing or living in the land of Israel as a mitzvah. Meggilat Esther offers a well-known explanation for Maimonides’ position. He explains that according to Maimonides, a commandment can only be included among the 613 mitzvot if it applies for all generation. Any commandment that is given to be performed at a specific time in history cannot be included among the 613 mitzvot. For example, at the time of the giving of the Torah Bnai Yisrael were instructed to not approach or ascend Sinai. This injunction was related to a specific time – the Revelation. After Revelation, the mitzvah no longer operates. There is no prohibition against climbing Sinai today. Therefore, this injunction cannot be counted among the 613 mitzvot.[2] Meggilat Esther contends that the command to posses the land of Israel was given to Moshe and Yehoshua to perform. The command continued to be binding and active until the exile from the land of Israel. But with exile, the command was suspended. It will reemerge with the Messianic era. But in the interim, there is no requirement to posses or conquer the land. Therefore, this is not a command that applies for all generations. Like the injunction to not ascend Sinai, the requirement to conquer the land of Israel emerges and reemerges at specific moments in history. As a result, it cannot be counted among the 613 mitzvot.[3]
Topic: Israel, Obligation to Live in
https://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/152/Q1/
Other factors to consider: How will you deal with living far from family? How will you adapt to a new culture? What suitable marriage prospects are available? What appropriate Torah study program will you connect with? Will you be able to live in a Torah neighborhood?
G-d forbid anyone should say a life isn't 'worthwhile' just because it's lived outside of Israel. A life dedicated to Torah and Mitzvot is certainly worthwhile, wherever it is. Sometimes a person's contribution to the Jewish People can be even greater outside of Israel, especially a person involved in Jewish education or outreach.
The Mitzvah Of Making Aliyah (Living In Israel) Today
Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (Igros Moshe E.H. 102) discusses whether there is a mitzvah to make aliyah and why many rabbanim have lived in the Diaspora. He writes that even according to the opinion of the Ramban, that there exists a biblical obligation, the nature of this obligation is different than many other mitzvos. He feels that this mitzvah is “kiyumis” not “chiyuvis”.
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l agreed with the premise of Rav Moshe
Feinstein. He also felt that the mitzvah to live in Israel is a mitzvah
“kiyumis” and not “chiyuvis” (oral ruling cited by Rav Herschel
Schachter shlit”a sefer Peninei Harav).
Gang who held French Jewish family hostage sentenced to up to 12 years in jail
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309304
A French court has sentenced a nine-member gang who violently kidnapped a Jewish family to sentences of up to 12 years in prison.
The Assize Court in Seine-Saint-Denis, located near Paris, tries some of the most egregious crimes committed in France.
The judge ruled in this case that the gang receive sentences ranging from 4 to 12 years in jail.
The lengthiest sentence was handed down to the ringleader of the three main assailants who attacked Mireille Pinto, 75, Roger Pinto, 89, and their 52-year old son David.
The elder Pinto is a well known leader of the French Jewish community.
'Netanyahu joined with Arab MKs to undermine Israel's security'
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309336
The ruling Yamina party castigated the Likud, and in particular Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, over the party’s decision to vote against the Citizenship Law.
Senior Yamina officials blasted Netanyahu, comparing him to Joint Arab List MK and former Yasser Arafat adviser Ahmed Tibi, whose faction also voted against the citizenship law.
“The Opposition, led by Bibi and Tibi, failed to topple the government, but together they managed to directly harm Israel’s security and surrender its borders.”
Government reaches agreement on six-month extension on family unification law
Israel’s disparate coalition members reached an agreement early Tuesday on a compromise on the contentious Palestinian family reunification law that will likely see it pass in the Knesset, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced.
During an all-night debate on the vote, which was deliberately extended by the coalition to give it time to hash out a deal with the left-wing Meretz party and the Arab Ra’am party, an agreement was reached to see the law extended by six months instead of annually.
Under the agreement Meretz will vote for the deal along with two of the four Ra’am MK’s, most likely allowing the deal to squeak through. The vote was not expected before dawn Tuesday.
Knesset rejects Citizenship Law
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309333
The Citizenship Law, which prevents the unification of Palestinian Arab families, did not pass in a vote in the Knesset plenum early Tuesday morning.
59 MKs voted in favor of the law, 59 voted against it and two abstained.
Just before the vote, the coalition turned the vote on the law into a vote of confidence in the government.
Two members of Ra'am, including chairman Mansour Abbas, voted in favor of the law. MK Amichai Chikli (Yamina) voted against.
Chief rabbi: Better to live abroad than among secular Israelis
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/BkGcEvlT00
Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has urged ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora not to move to Israel if it means living in a non-Haredi area with secular Israelis who would have a negative impact on their spiritual life.
Yosef made the comments during his weekly sermon on Saturday night while accompanied by Rabbi Haim Bitan, the visiting chief rabbi of the Tunisian island of Djerba.
Monday, July 5, 2021
Head-Covering IV: How
https://www.deracheha.org/head-covering-4-how/
As we have learned, Rav Moshe Feinstein rules that the Torah-level obligation is to cover at least most of the head . That leaves the amount of hair that can be left uncovered undefined.
In order to define how much hair can be left uncovered, Rav Moshe turns to the Talmud’s discussion of hair as erva! This is surprising, because Rav Moshe usually takes care to distinguish between the matter of erva and the obligation to cover one’s head, and does not consider women’s hair nowadays to be erva.10
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