THE CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT RABBI MOSHE FEINSTEIN

Einstein escaped the Nazis because he was so smart - more nonsense from KA

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Einstein/Nazi-backlash-and-coming-to-America

In December 1932 Einstein decided to leave Germany forever (he would never go back). It became obvious to Einstein that his life was in danger. A Nazi organization published a magazine with Einstein’s picture and the caption “Not Yet Hanged” on the cover. There was even a price on his head. So great was the threat that Einstein split with his pacifist friends and said that it was justified to defend yourself with arms against Nazi aggression. To Einstein, pacifism was not an absolute concept but one that had to be re-examined depending on the magnitude of the threat.

Freud left Austria because of his profound knowledge of human nature - nonsense from KA

 https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2019/09/freuds-last-days-in-vienna-as-nazis-approached/

In 1923, when diagnosed (with cancer), all Freud asked of his physician was help to “disappear from this world with decency,” according to Peter Gay’s 1988 biography, “Freud: A Life for Our Time.” He was determined to be in Vienna when that time came. The intensity of his resolve matched the urgency with which colleagues and friends begged him to leave as the Nazi threat began to grow. In March 1933, Hitler assumed broad dictatorial powers as chancellor of Germany. That same month, Austria was in political turmoil, following the suspension of its parliament. In May, Nazis burned Freud’s books in Berlin. Freud’s sons, Oliver and Ernst, decided it was time to leave Berlin where they had established careers and settled their families. Oliver relocated to France and Ernst to England.

Yet their father remained rooted in Vienna.

“The only thing I can say,” Freud wrote to his nephew Sam in July 1933, “is that we are determined to stick it out here to the last. Perhaps it may not come out too bad.”

Hillel Kook

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Kook

Initially the Bergson Group largely limited its activities to Irgun fundraising and various propaganda campaigns. The outbreak of World War II saw a dramatic transformation in the group's focus. As information about the Holocaust began to reach the United States, Kook and his fellow activists became more involved in trying to raise awareness about the fate of the Jews in Europe. This included putting full-page advertisements in leading newspapers, such as "Jews Fight for the Right to Fight", published in The New York Times in 1942, and "For Sale to Humanity 70,000 Jews, Guaranteed Human Beings at $50 a Piece", in response to an offer by Romania to send their Jews to safety if the travel expenses would be provided. On March 9, 1943, the Group produced a huge pageant in Madison Square Garden written by Ben Hecht, titled "We Will Never Die", memorializing the 2,000,000 European Jews who had already been murdered. Forty thousand people saw the pageant that first night, and it went on to play in five other major cities including Washington, D.C., where First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, six Supreme Court Justices, and some 300 senators and congressmen watched it.

Your walking speed could indicate dementia

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/31/health/walk-speed-dementia-wellness/index.html

Now, a large, new study of nearly 17,000 adults over age 65 finds people who walk about 5% slower or more each year while also exhibiting signs of slower mental processing were most likely to develop dementia. The study was published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Judge: No ‘speck’ of proof in Sarah Palin’s libel case against NYT

 https://www.fox8live.com/2022/05/31/judge-no-speck-proof-sarah-palins-libel-case-against-nyt/

The judge who presided over Sarah Palin’s libel case against The New York Times denied her request Tuesday for a new trial, saying she failed to introduce “even a speck” of evidence necessary to prove actual malice by the newspaper.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff made the assertion in a written decision as he rejected post-trial claims from Palin’s lawyers.

After Sussmann trial defeat, what's next for the John Durham probe?

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/31/politics/durham-whats-next/index.html

Special counsel John Durham, the Donald Trump-era prosecutor hunting for wrongdoing in the Trump-Russia investigations, came up empty Tuesday after a federal jury returned a not guilty verdict in his first major case against a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer.

The verdict is a significant blow to the Durham probe. After more than three years, Durham has racked up one guilty plea, one acquittal at trial and has one more trial scheduled for this fall.

Since Durham began his work in 2019, he has been accused by critics of running a politicized operation that is essentially chasing down right-wing conspiracies about the Russia probe. The outcome of the Sussmann case is sure to fuel these criticisms.

Shaked pushes back on Liberman's plan to cut yeshiva subsidies

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/328523

Two coalition lawmakers vowed to block plans by Finance Minister Avidgor Liberman to cut funding to yeshiva students.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Mk Nir Orbach, both members of the Yamina party, toured Zichron Ya’akov Tuesday, visiting local state religious schools.

During their visit, Shaked and Orbach said they would not permit Liberman to cut payments to married yeshiva students in the 2023 budget.

“This coalition government is built on agreements, and we will do our job to care for Torah scholars and ensure that they won’t be harmed,” Shaked declared.

“We, in Yamina, recognize the value of Torah study,” Orbach said, “and we know that Torah scholars dedicate their lives to the people of Israel and do so with great self-sacrifice. Together, we will God-willing protect the Torah world.”

On Monday, Liberman mocked haredi yeshiva students, accusing them of “idleness,” and urged the government to cut stipends to yeshiva students.

Shul supporting Tamar is Rav Schacter also supporting her?

 

Hallel Rosh Chodesh

 Taanis (28b) Rav happened to come to Babylonia, where he saw that they were reciting hallel on a New Moon. Unfamiliar with this practice, he thought to stop them, as he assumed that they were reciting hallel unnecessarily. Once he saw that they were omitting portions, he said: I can learn from this that they are maintaining the custom of their forefathers, i.e., they know that it is a custom, not an obligation. 

Tuma and kedusha often similar Talmid of Gra

 

Yeshivas send thousands of letters pushing back against draft state oversight rules

 https://nypost.com/2022/05/30/nyc-yeshivas-send-thousands-of-letters-pushing-back-against-draft-state-oversight-rules/

“We have done a magnificent job in educating our children,” Aaron Twerski, a Brooklyn Law School professor and Yeshiva parent, wrote to state officials. “They are deeply religious, highly disciplined, hard-working and industrious.”

He continued: “What you propose is an assault on the Orthodox and Chassidic. Your oversight is not needed and is not welcome.”

Time to fully embrace the Strictly Orthodox

 https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/time-to-fully-embrace-the-strictly-orthodox-4uO6XzRsh9ip64yvsILQcp

In response to this, I would venture the following two arguments. First, we spend far too long sequestering ourselves into ever smaller boxes and labels. Instead of a Jew is a Jew, we look to split, divide and further sub-divide a people which altogether constitutes a mere 0.19 per cent of the world’s population. On a number of occasions I recall the late Rabbi Sacks, of blessed memory, refer to his personal distaste at attaching any appellation to “Orthodox” – whether of the “ultra” or “modern” variety. He felt that “Orthodox” should suffice as a broad enough definition of Jewish identity, without the need to categorise it further. Adopting this attitude means that the success of any part of a people is a success of the whole — and one we should celebrate.

Miracles are built into nature

 Rambam (Shemoneh Perachim 8) This occasioned the sages to say that all miracles which deviate from the natural course of events, whether they have already occurred, or, according to promise, are to take place in the future, were fore-ordained by the Divine Will during the six days of creation, nature being then so constituted that those miracles which were to happen really did afterwards take place. Then, when such an occurrence happened at its proper time, it may have been regarded as an absolute innovation, whereas in reality it was not. The Rabbis expatiate very much upon this subject in the Midrash Koheleth and in other writings, one of their statements in reference to this matter being, (Avodah Zarah 54b) "Everything follows its natural course". In everything that they said, you will always find that the Rabbis (peace be unto them!) avoided referring to the Divine Will as determining a particular event at a particular time. When, therefore, they said that man rises and sits down in accordance with the will of God, their meaning was that, when man was first created, his nature was so determined that rising up and sitting down were to be optional to him; but they as little meant that God wills at any special moment that man should or should not get up, as He determines at any given time that a certain stone should or should not fall to the ground. The sum and substance of the matter is, then, that thou shouldst believe that just as God willed that man should be upright in stature, broad-chested, and have fingers, likewise did He will that man should move or rest of his own accord, and that his actions should be such as his own free will dictates to him, without any outside influence or restraint, which fact God clearly states in the truthful Law, which elucidates this problem, when it says, (Genesis 3:22) "Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil". The Targum, in paraphrasing this passage, explains the meaning of the words "mimmenu lada'at tov vara". Man has become the only being in the world who possesses a characteristic which no other being has in common with him. What is this characteristic? It is that by and of himself man can distinguish between good and evil, and do that which he pleases, with absolutely no restraint. Since, then, this is so, it would have even been possible for him to have stretched out his hand, and, taking of the tree of life, to have eaten of its fruit, and thus live forever. Since it is an essential characteristic of man's makeup that he should of his own free will act morally or immorally, doing just as he chooses, it becomes necessary to teach him the ways of righteousness, to command and exhort him, to punish and reward him according to his deserts. It behooves man also to accustom himself to the practice of good deeds, until he acquires the virtues corresponding to those good deeds; and, furthermore, to abstain from evil deeds so that he may eradicate the vices that may have taken root in him. Let him not suppose that his characteristics have reached such a state that they are no longer subject to change, for any one of them may be altered from the good to the bad, and vice versa; and, moreover, all in accordance with his own free will. To confirm this theory, we have mentioned all these facts concerning the observances and the transgressions of the Law.