Thursday, July 29, 2021
Reassessing Rav Kook - Tzadik hador
https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/reassessing-rav-kook/
While being an administrator was not his strong suit, Rav Kook was most
generous in his rabbinic duties to help the needy. He spent a lot of
time visiting the sick, regularly giving away his own household
possessions. One of his disciples, Rabbi Ya’akov Moshe Charlap, a native
Jerusalemite, regarded him as “Tzadik HaDor, the saint, who in
Kabbalistic and Hasidic doctrine, takes upon himself the uplifting of
his time, and whose soul challenges God’s energies into the world.”
Tzadikei hador are G-d's beis din
ספר צדקת הצדיק - אות פז
Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham mocked the harrowing police testimony about the Capitol riot with snickers and a 'best political performance' trophy
https://news.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-laura-ingraham-mocked-110027089.html
Carlson responded: "Actually, what happened on January 6, according to the video we do have, does not look a lot like Iraq. It's not Fallujah." He played footage of a relatively quiet segment of the Capitol invasion, with people milling peacefully about the rotunda.
Extensive footage of much more violent moments exists.
Fanone also excoriated the "indifference" shown to officers who defended the Capitol that day. "I've been left with the psychological trauma and the emotional anxiety of having survived such a horrific event," he said.
Carlson outright laughed at this:
Jared Kushner set to move away from politics and launch investment firm
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/28/jared-kushner-donald-trump-investment-firm-politics
Jared Kushner, a top adviser to former Donald Trump, plans to launch an investment firm in coming months, a move that will take him away from politics for the foreseeable future, sources familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.
Kushner, the former chief executive of Kushner Companies, who served as the Republican president’s senior adviser in the White House, is in the final stages of launching an investment firm called Affinity Partners that will be headquartered in Miami.
Kushner,
who is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, is also looking to
open an office in Israel to pursue regional investments to connect
Israel’s economy and India, North Africa and the Gulf, said two people
briefed on the plan, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Terrorist who stabbed Jew handed 15-year sentence
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310811
Despite a demand by the Military Prosecutor's Office that Maslama receive between 19-25 years in prison, the judges decided on a lighter sentence, accepting the claim that the terrorist found the knife by coincidence, and therefore did not plan the attack early enough, Yediot Aharonot said.
"We need to take into account that the accused found the Exacto knife
used in the attack by happenstance, and did not intentionally arm
himself with it ahead of time, as in other cases. Indeed, the accused's
actions were done after prior thought, when he ambushed his victim after
noticing him, but this is a 'short-term' pre-planning, in my opinion,"
Judge Rani Amar wrote in his ruling.
PM set to back 3rd vaccine dose for older Israelis after nod from expert panel
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is expected to announce his support for older Israelis to receive a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine after a government-appointed panel of health experts gave a nod to the trailblazing initiative on Wednesday evening.
The panel’s position will be presented to Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz during a Thursday morning meeting, after which the prime minister is expected to announce his backing for Israelis above the age of 60 to receive a third dose of the vaccine.
The vote by the panel was not unanimous, according to Hebrew media,
but a majority supported booster shots for older Israelis, against the
backdrop of the rising number of seriously ill patients in recent weeks.
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Trump and DeSantis clash with Biden as the mask wars roar back to life
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/28/politics/mask-wars-are-back/index.html
Knesset nixes vote on bill to decriminalize cannabis
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310747
A bill to decriminalize the use of cannabis will not be brought for a vote Wednesday, after the coalition leaders failed to garner a majority supporting it.
The bill, put forth by New Hope's MK Sharren Haskel, was brought down mainly by opposition from the United Arab List (Ra'am) party.
The bill would ban smoking cannabis only in public areas, similar to
the laws regarding smoking cigarettes. In all other places, police
officers would be banned from conducting a body search, detaining a
suspect, or arresting someone smoking grass.
Health Ministry to begin offering third coronavirus vaccine dose - next week
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310729
During a Wednesday morning interview with Galei Zahal, Professor Eli Waxman of the Weizmann Institute of Science called on the Health Ministry to approve the provision of a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
"You need to understand that we don't have time," he said. "We need to immediately approve the third dose of the vaccine against coronavirus, to start the campaign - and to vaccinate, at the end of the day, the entire population."
Tzadikim- Ohr HaChaim (Bereishis 6:3)
ויאמר השם לא ידון רוחי. G'd said: "My spirit will not abide in man permanently." This verse needs someone to explain it. Our sages have given numerous explanations to it without explaining the plain meaning of the verse. It appears that the Torah wishes to tell us that a change occurred in G'd's dealing with man. During the lifetime of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, G'd personally had rebuked man for any misdemeanour. When man's deeds became increasingly repulsive to G'd, He decided not to deal with them on such an intimate basis.
The word רוחי in our verse therefore means "My Presence." Man had forfeited the privilege of proximity to G'd's Presence. G'd's Presence withdrew from man in direct proportion to his deeds. As long as G'd had confronted man directly whenever He had reason to rebuke them they were on the spiritual level of prophets. When man began to profane himself (meaning of החל in 6,1), he no longer enjoyed that status. In the course of time outstanding individuals, צדיקים, appeared on earth. These individuals succeeded in restoring a closer relationship between man and G'd. After the destruction of the Temple there were no more prophets; the most that remained were individuals who possessed a degree of what our sages describe as רוח הקודש, a measure of holy spirit. Ever since Israel's eyes closed, we no longer have even ריח הקודש, a holy fragrance, not to mention רוח הקודש. The absence of this line of direct communication from G'd is the greatest misfortune for those of us who thirst for at least a fragrance of the holiness of our Father in heaven in order to revive our spirits. The curse we speak about originated with the generation of the deluge. G'd supplies the reason for this in our verse. בשר בשגם הוא, man added to his abominations by adding the sin of בשר, adultery to his other sins. G'd hates sexual permissiveness more than anything else. As a result G'd resented having to communicate directly with such people.
The characteristic of the righteous is that they refine the body to give it spiritual content. The characteristic of the wicked is that they do the reverse. They degrade the spirit making it the tool of the body. This leads to the destruction of the universe. G'd referred to this when He said: "My spirit will not find satisfaction in them forever more," not even in the world of eternity. This is because they have turned even their spirit into a tool of the flesh. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 108) states that the people who were destroyed by the deluge do not enjoy a life in the Hereafter.
COVID: Bennett vows decision on 3rd shot is near as cases top 2,000
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-in-israel-2123-test-positive-in-the-last-day-675016
More than half of the current cases and two-thirds of patients in serious condition were fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry reported.