'No major incidents of illegal activity': DHS told Pentagon as pro-Trump mob breached Capitol

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/28/dhs-pentagon-jan-6-capitol-riot-514527 

 On Jan. 6, more than 30 minutes after the first attackers breached barricades erected to protect the Capitol, the Department of Homeland Security sent an incongruous update to the Pentagon.

“There are no major incidents of illegal activity at this time," read an internal Army email sent to senior leaders at 1:40 p.m. that day, referring to an update the service had just received from DHS’s National Operations Center (NOC).

THE KIDDUSH CLUB by Amudim

Kiddush Club Is Not the Problem

 https://mishpacha.com/kiddush-club-is-not-the-problem/

 How are we still discussing banning alcohol when edibles are getting hechshers? A communal event without alcohol is unheard of. Rabbis ply congregants with alcohol, high school rebbeim knowingly look the other way (at best) as their students drink and vape. Can we afford not to counter these confusing messages in our communal spaces?

(Tuesdays with) Morrie Schwartz: Lessons on Living, Ted Koppel Nightline Interview

Can Angels Sin?

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1055341/jewish/Can-Angels-Sin.htm

 At first glance the answer seems simple enough. After all, did we not receive the Torah precisely because angels cannot sin? As Moses retorted in his winning argument to the angels during his epic debate in heaven over who should receive the Torah. "It is written in the Torah 'Thou shall not murder,' 'Thou shall not commit adultery,' 'Thou shall not steal.'" Moses said. "Is there jealousy among you!? Do you have an evil inclination!? Obviously the Torah is not meant for you."

Bereishis Rabbah (50:9) 9. AND THE MEN SAID TO LOT... FOR WE WILL DESTROY THIS PLACE (XIX, 13). R. Levi said in R. Nahman's name: Because the ministering angels revealed God's secret, they were banished from their precincts a hundred and thirty-eight years. R. Tanhuma expressed it in the word .kelah. R. Hama b. Hanina said: [They were punished] because they expressed themselves boastfully,

 

Behind Tucker Carlson’s white replacement rhetoric, a frightening antisemitic history

 https://forward.com/culture/467965/behind-tucker-carlsons-white-replacement-rhetoric-a-frightening/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_2918892

 That prompted Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, to take the rare step of calling for Carlson’s removal in a letter to Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott.

“At ADL, we believe in dialogue and giving people a chance to redeem themselves, but Carlson’s full-on embrace of the white supremacist replacement theory on yesterday’s show and his repeated allusions to racist themes in past segments are a bridge too far,” Greenblatt wrote.

Carlson’s comments are far from original. His invocation of “importing a brand-new electorate” was originally “le grand remplacement,” the title of a 2011 book by Renaud Camus—no relation to Albert Camus.

Making of a Godol

 Is  anyone interested in purchasing a genuine new copy of  2 volume set - Making of a Godol for a reasonable price? Only restriction is it can only be obtained in Jerusalem - there is at present no shipping and supplies are limited. contact me by email

yadmoshe@gmail.com

 

At present it is being sold on Amazon for $1200! 

https://www.ebay.com/p/219895639  $3500 on ebay

Number of intubated coronavirus patients tops 200

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313954

Children under 11 years of age constituted 40% of this week's new coronavirus cases, and on Thursday it was reported that the positivity rate among students is 6.1% - higher than that of the general population.

COVID: Overcrowded and short on ECMOs, Israeli hospitals are in crisis

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/covid-who-shall-live-and-who-shall-die-israels-hospitals-in-crisis-analysis-680178

 The majority (about 40) of the country’s “heart-lung machines” are being used by unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. According to hospital staff, when about six or seven more patients are put on ECMO machines, hospitals will be forced to turn away others who need them.

Battle for cable car crash survivor reaches court

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313892

First hearing on guardianship of Eitan Biran, sole survivor of Italy cable car crash, held in Tel Aviv court on Thursday.

FALL OF ANGELS:

 https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5998-fall-of-angels

But it is especially Samḥazai and Azael of whom the fall is narrated. In Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. vi. 4 they appear as the "nefilim" (A. V. "giants"), undoubtedly in consequence of an incorrect interpretation of this word as "those that fell from heaven." The story of these two angels is found in brief form in Yalḳ., Gen. 44; it has been published by Jellinek ("B. H." iv. 127; originally in Midrash Abkir; comp. Rashi, Yoma 67b; Geiger, "Was Hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume Aufgenommen?" p. 107).

 

Angels lack free will

 Rambam 13 Principles

The fifth principle That He is the One that is fitting to serve and to exalt and to make His greatness known and to do His commandments; and not to do this to that which is below Him in existence - from the angels and the stars and the spheres and the elements and what which is composed of them. As they are all designed and there is no judgement and no free choice in their actions - only to Him, may He be blessed. And so [too], it is not fitting to serve them in order that they be intermediaries to bring them closer to Him, but rather to Him alone should they direct their thoughts and leave everything besides Him. And this fifth principle is that idolatry (worship of others) is prohibited, and most of the Torah prohibits this.

Declare that all Rabbinic mitzvos are really Torah Mitzvos

 

Chasam Sofer[i](Kovetz Teshuvos #58): I wrote to you previously that “Innovation is prohibited by the Torah.” [chadash assur] I did not write that Orlah or Kelayim…but innovation. That is because I understood from our Sages that it is required to be one who preserves the Torah. They warned against those who provide an opening and seek leniencies for the radicals of our people who desire them. If these radicals find a minute crack, they will greatly expand it into a breach…. Therefore, it is best to elevate and exaggerate the nature of the prohibition [and say that Rabbinic prohibitions are Torah prohibitions]… That is because due to our many sins there is a great increase today of people who say they have no concern with Rabbinic prohibitions since G‑d did not command them… We find the wicked writing on Shabbos because they claim it is only a Rabbinic prohibition. They have no concern with anything which has been commanded only by our Sages and not by G‑d Himself…

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[i]  חתם סופר (קובץ תשובות סימן נח): על מה שכתבתי במכתבי הקודם החדש אסור מן התורה הנה לא כתבתי ערלה וכלאים ופגול לא ירצה, כי אם החדש, כי מזקנים אתבונן שראוי להיות ממקימי התורה, ונזהרו מלפתוח פתח ולחפש קולות לפריצי עמינו, אשר אותם הם מבקשים, ואם ימצאו סדק כמחט של סדקית, יפרצו פרץ על פני פרץ,... וטוב להעלות האיסור.... כי בעוה"ר רבו אלו בזמנינו עד שיאמרו אין אנו חוששין לדברי רבנן ה' לא צוה... והרשעים כותבים בשבת על דעת שהוא דרבנן, והם אינם חוששין לאיסור דרבנן ה' לא צוה...

Alarmed by COVID spike, Orthodox move to make the sukkah safer

 https://forward.com/news/455434/orthodox-alarmed-by-covid-spike-seeing-risks-in-sukkah-normally-a-symbol/

A sukkah is something of a paradox.

It’s a symbol of safety. In prayer, the word is literally translated as shelter — often, a shelter of God’s peace, spread over the supplicant.

Yet its occupants are also not supposed to feel too safe. The roof of a sukkah must be sparse enough to see the stars, and it must be a temporary structure. In this way, it’s a reminder of the fragility of life, and the human need to rely on the Almighty.

Indeed, a sukkah usually has such an airy feel that Orthodox Jews thinking about sitting in one during a pandemic might have reasonably thought that it would be safer than sitting in synagogue. But they would have been wrong.