Thursday, September 15, 2022

Supreme Court sides with LGBTQ group at Yeshiva University

 https://nypost.com/2022/09/14/supreme-court-sides-with-lgbtq-group-at-yeshiva-university/

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal justices on Wednesday in a 5-4 decision that lifted a temporary hold on the state court order and denied the university an emergency request for relief.


Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Trump faces new legal problem in DOJ pressure allegations

 https://thehill.com/homenews/3641681-doj-pressure-allegations-lead-to-newest-political-quagmire-facing-trump/

Former President Trump is facing a new political quagmire as Senate Democrats open an investigation into allegations he pressured the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate his political opponents. Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in a new book that the Justice Department under Trump pushed his office to pursue criminal cases against former Secretary of State John Kerry and others viewed as political opponents of Trump.

בית שמש: בור ענק נפער בחנייה, וגילה חריגות בנייה, בנס לא היו נפגעים

 בולען בגודל 5 על 3 מטרים נפער בחניה של בניין | לפניכם תמונות בלעדיות מהבנייה הלא חוקית שבוצעה לכאורה בקומה מינוס 2 | מפקח הבנייה בעיריית בית שמש דוד די קסטרו: הסיבה לכך שהחניה קרסה לתוך שתי קומות מתחת לאדמה נובעת כתוצאה מעבירות הבניה שבוצעו שם | מנכ"ל העירייה יוחנן מאלי: אני מגלה אפס סובלנות כלפי עברייני בניה | מנהלת פיקוח על הבניה אירה ריצ'וטין: ביום שני נגיע עם צווים מוכנים מבית המשפט ונעבור דירה דירה.


בפעם השניה בתוך חודש: בניין מגורים הוכרז כמבנה מסוכן

 https://beitarillit-online.com/4308/

תושבי בניין ברחוב פחד יצחק בו נעשות עבודות בנייה ללא היתר ופיקוח, הכוללות עבודות חציבה וחפירה בסמוך ליסודות בניין המגורים, קיבלו אמש צווים החתומים על ידי ראש העיר המכריזים על הבניין כמבנה מסוכן, המקרה נחשף לאחר שבאחת מחצרות הבניין נפער בור, אשר בעקבותיו ביצעה העירייה ביקורת בה התברר שבוצעה חפירה מתחת לבניין, שחשפה את כלונסאות הבניין מהנדס העירייה הוציא חוו"ד שהמבנה מסוכן לשהייה ובעקבות כך, רה"ע חתם על צווים בהתאם.





Illegal and unsafe building in Israel

 As is common knowledge - it is often difficult to obtain permits for changes to an apartment in Israel and as a result much is done without permit or concern for safety

It is also common knowledge when buying an apartment to check what is legal and what was added illegally.

It is also common knowledge that there is a severe housing shortage and thus strong financial incentive to create illegal apartments.

Problem aside from the illegality and possible need to demolish structures is the question of safe building practices being ignored.

Example you have new apartment buildings built to proper safety standards which are ruined by the owners on the ground floor who excavate large areas extending from their apartments. They destroy support pillars of the building as well as physical support for the building bt removing rock or soil.

There have been cases of collapse and damage to the building as well as the new construction.


Anyone complaining against theses illegal structures is labeled a moser.

One case I know where the new construction collapsed. One neighbor was suspected of telling the government and was ostracized by the entire building while the one who actual caused the real damage is viewed as a tzadik.


While it is nice to attack secularist etc for picking on our community The frum world is doing nothing about this dangerous reality. In other words if the community doesn't supervise itself it has no justification for complaining about government involvement

Missing years (Jewish calendar)

The Missing 160 Years

https://www.torahmusings.com/2019/10/the-missing-160-years/

In a recent lecture, Rav Hershel Schachter says that there are great sages (“gedolim”) on both sides of the issue — some who accept rabbinic chronology and some who modify it in one way or another. He points to the Maharshal’s (Rav Shlomo Luria, 16th cen., Poland) comment in Chokhmas Shlomo (Sanhedrin 52b) in disagreeing with the Talmud’s conclusion that he should not be considered like someone who disagrees with the Talmud because there is no current practical implication to his view. Similarly, there is no practical implication to disagreeing with the Talmud on chronology. Rav Schachter also points to Rav Zerachiah Ha-Levi (12th cen., Spain), known as the Ba’al Ha-Ma’or, in his commentary to the beginning of Rosh Hashanah where he explicitly disagrees with the Talmud about the list of Persian kings (and his colleague, the Ra’avad, says that this is against our tradition).


Fixing the History Books

 https://www.simpletoremember.com/other/History166.htm

Rather than dismiss the Greek tales altogether, Dr. Heifetz has recognized that folklore often contains much truth, even if it cannot always be taken at face value. Just as the Greek stories about Assyria an extra Darius and Cyrus. Had and Babylonian are interpreted by modem scholars in the light of inscriptions, Heifetz takes the traditional view of this period as given in Seder Olam as his framework, and reexamines the Greek tales within this framework. In doing so, not only do many of the Greek stories make better sense, but an entirely new dimension is added to the Jewish picture of history.


The Kings of Persia and the Missing Years

 https://www.etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/ketuvim/sefer-ezra/kings-persia-and-missing-years

The differing chronologies, moreover, carry major consequences for the dating of Purim. Having so dramatically shortened the Persian empire’s span, the rabbis place the Purim story before the Second Temple was built. According to modern scholarly consensus, however, Purim did not take place until some fifty years after the Second Temple was completed. As Rabbis Yoel Bin-Nun[4] and Menachem Leibtag[5] have suggested, this difference might have profound implications for the meaning of Esther. If the narrative unfolded decades after the Temple had been rebuilt, we might be more likely to view the Megilla as a satire castigating the Jews of Shushan for remaining in the Persian capital instead of returning to their own capital Jerusalem.


Missing years (Jewish calendar)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_years_(Jewish_calendar)#:~:text=The%20traditional%20Jewish%20date%20recognized,as%20the%20"missing%20years".

It has also been posited that certain calculations in the Talmud compute better according to the academic dating. Two possible harmonizations are proposed by modern rabbis:

Shimon Schwab points to the words "seal the words and close the book" in the book of Daniel as a positive commandment to obscure the calculations for the Messiah mentioned within, so that the true date of the Messiah's arrival would not be known.[28] However, Schwab later withdrew this suggestion for numerous reasons.[23]: 281-285  [24]: 66–67  [25]: 67–68, 93 

An alternative solution suggests that the sages were concerned with the acceptance of the Mishnah. There existed a rabbinical tradition that the year 4000 marked the close of the "era of Torah". The authors of the Ḥakirah article propose that the sages therefore arranged the chronology so that the redaction of the Mishnah should coincide with that date and thus have a better chance of acceptance.[25]: 67–115 

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Simonim

 Horious (12a) R. Ammi said: He who wishes to ascertain whether he will live through the year or not shall, during the ten days between the New Year and the Day of Atonement, kindle a lamp in a house wherein there is no draught. If the light continues to burn he may know that he will live through the year. He who desires to engage in business and wishes to ascertain whether he will succeed or not, let him rear up a cock; if it grows plump and fine he will succeed. He who desires to set out on a journey and wishes to ascertain whether he will return home again or not. let him station himself in a dark house; if he sees the reflection of his shadow he may know that he will return home again. This, however, is not a proper thing to do, lest his courage fail him and he meet with misfortune in consequence. Said Abaye: Now that it has been said that omens are of significance, a man should make a regular habit of eating, at the beginning of the year, pumpkin, fenugreek, leek, beet and dates.

New York Passes Regulations Giving State Control Over Secular Studies Curriculum in Private Schools

 https://hamodia.com/2022/09/13/new-york-passes-regulations-giving-state-control-over-secular-studies-curriculum-in-private-schools/

The State Board of Regents voted Monday to approve new regulations on secular-studies in private schools, requiring each school to prove to state officials that their curriculum is “at least substantially equivalent” to that offered in public schools. Passage of the regulations transforms the relationship between government and private schools in the Empire State, and caps a years-long battle over what secular education each child deserves and whether it should be determined by parents or governmental authorities.

Do religious Jews have a right to reject basic secular education?

 https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/do-religious-jews-have-a-right-to-reject-basic-secular-education/

As much as it can be a mistake to generalize about conditions in these schools and as much as the Times' motives and reporting are suspect, the willingness of many Jews to reflexively circle the wagons around them and to defend the resistance of the ultra-Orthodox leadership to even minimal scrutiny or accountability for their failures in secular subjects is not merely a mistake. It's consigning a large and important part of the Jewish community to a future of poverty that would be indefensible if we were describing any other group.


For Jews, paths to and away from secularism led to the same place

 https://www.thejc.com/news/all/for-jews-paths-to-and-away-from-secularism-led-to-the-same-place-1.512598

In any case, secular studies were normally incompatible with traditional Judaism. Training in medicine was impossible without breaking Jewish law, especially the dietary laws, the Sabbath and festivals.