This teaches us a profound lesson regarding the way in which Hashem wishes to bestow His blessing on the world. Although there are times when Hashem has performed miracles for the Jewish people, these do not represent the ideal way that He wishes to run the world. Rather, it is the rules of nature, ordained by Hashem, that contain within them the capacity to provide for the needs of all life-forms. If the Jewish people follow the Torah, then the medium of nature will be maximized to produce plenty and fulfil all their needs.
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Nature and Miracles
https://etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/great-thinkers/rambam/nature-and-miracles
Aristotle maintained that the world is eternal, with no beginning and no end. Some of the Sages of Israel were of the opinion that the world had a beginning and will have an end. Maimonides thinks that that it had a beginning, but that it has no end. So too he believes that the world's natural order is permanent, in accordance with the principle that the world follows its natural course. Within that order, however, miracles that deviate from the natural order are possible for a limited period of time. Thus, it has been established that the world is founded on Divine wisdom, but despite the natural order the revelation of Divine will is possible. On a deeper level, this deviation does not contradict the natural order, but rather is in accord with it, for the world thereby becomes "the best possible world," as befits the work of God.
How Judge Cannon broke with conservatives in Trump documents case
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/20/how-judge-aileen-cannon-broke-with-conservatives-00057647
“I think there’s a division there,” the liberal professor said. “Of the Federalist Society professors I follow and I know, the vast majority think this is incredibly wrong. Kudos to them.”
Trump team resists special master’s request to explain declassification of Mar-a-Lago documents
Former President Trump’s legal team on Monday night resisted a request to elaborate on his claims around declassifying the documents recovered last month from his Mar-a-Lago home.
In a filing to the court-appointed special master that Trump requested, his attorneys said the “time and place” for making such a disclosure would come in a motion in a criminal trial as an effort to recover his property.
A Lesson From the Past for Ron DeSantis
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/18/reverse-freedom-ride-south-desantis-00057339
Earlier that year, council members in New Orleans and Little Rock dreamed up a public relations stunt: They would offer Black Southerners bus fare and relocation costs to undertake “Reverse Freedom Rides” to Northern cities, where, they told their victims, good jobs and housing awaited them. The idea was to embarrass and expose the hypocrisy of Northern liberals who cheered the real Freedom Rides, but whom, they suspected, would blanch at receiving thousands of Black transplants in their own communities. Harris was just the first of roughly 100 Black Southerners whom the councils shipped to Hyannis.
New York yeshiva asks transgender teacher to leave amid uproar over her identity
A transgender woman left her teaching position at an Orthodox Jewish New York City day school this week, after an uproar over her identity.
The teacher, Talia Avrahami, has faced widespread harassment in the past week over the issue and agreed on Friday to leave her position at the Magen David Yeshivah in Brooklyn.
Doubts rise over whether DeSantis had budget authority to fly migrants
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/19/desantis-immigrants-marthas-vineyard-venezuela-00057673
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended flying nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in part by saying that Florida lawmakers gave him $12 million for such transports.
Yet the transports, which triggered widespread outrage from Democrats and launched an investigation by a Democratic sheriff in Texas, sparked ongoing questions about whether DeSantis had carried out the program as the Republican-controlled Legislature intended.
Monday, September 19, 2022
Malbim - fossils
Malbim (Berishis 7:23)
וימח. אחר שמתו כולם כמ"ש ויגוע. נמחו גם גופותיהם שלא ימצא למו שארית על פני האדמה, ובזה היה בהפך שגוף האדם נמחה תחלה, כי הוא מצד הרכבתו חלוש יותר מגופי שאר הבע"ח ואח"כ גוף הבהמה שחזק יותר, ואח"כ רמש ועוף שגופותיהם הקטנים נסתרו בקנים ובמערות ונתקיימו יותר, ומבאר וימחו מן הארץ, שהגם שהרבה נשארו עצמותיהם החזקים כמטילי ברזל ולא נמוחו, בכ"ז נמחו מן הארץ כי ע"י שטף המים הובלו הפגרים לתוך העמקים ורובם נבלעו בעמקי תהום, אשר האדמה פצתה את פיה מעומק תהום רבה וירדו כמה אלפים אמה לעמקי שאול, עד שבצאת נח מן התיבה לא מצא שום רושם מפגרי בע"ח ועצמות הענקים ובע"ח הגדולים שהיו קודם המבול. ועדות ה' נאמנה מחכימת פתי להשיב דבר לחכמי הגעאלאגיא, שחופרים בעמקי האדמה ומוצאים עצמות גדולות מענקים ובע"ח גדולים שנאבדו מן הארץ ואינם עוד מימי המבול ואילך, והם מוכיחים מזה קדמות העולם כי יחשבו את האדמה שעשויה מינים מינים, שבכל עומק ידוע יש מין אדמה אחרת, ויחשבו לפי איכות האדמה שימצאו העצמות שם, ולפי חשבון כמה היה צריך עד שיולדו שטחי האדמה שהעולם קדמון מרבוא שנים, ושכבר היו בע"ח מימי קדם קודם לזמן היצירה שלנו. וכ"ז הבל וריק, כי בעת המבול פתחה האדמה את לועה ע"י הרעשים שבאו מעומק שאול ותהום רבה והפכה תחתונים למעלה ועליונים למטה והורידה פגרי הבע"ח עמוק עמוק, ונבקה חכמת הדורשים והחופרים לדעת איכות המהפכה הזאת אשר עשתה נפלאות במשך ק"ן יום של עמידת המים, עד שכל הסדרים שסדרו למו החוקרים מאיכות האדמה בכל שטח וכל חשבונותיהם בזה נתבלבלו אז וכל השערותיהם ודמיונותיהם ישא רוח יקח הבל, ולו חכמו ישכילו זאת ויראו מעשי ה' ונפלאותיו במצולת שאול איך מחה את כל היקום מעל פני האדמה ויטביעם בשאול תחתית עדי אובד:
Malbim (Berishis 8:22) עוד כל ימי הארץ. הנה התברר לחוקרי הטבע שכדור הארץ שינה מקומו בזמן מן הזמנים, באשר החופרים במעמקי האדמה בארצות הקרות מצאו עמוק עמוק באדמה עצמות פילים וקופים ויתר ברואים שלא יחיו רק באזור החם, וע"כ שהיה עת שעמד האקלים ההוא קרוב לקו המשוה, וזה עדות שבימי המבול התמוטט כדור הארץ מדרום לצפון והמדינה שעמדה עד העת ההיא תחת קו המשוה באה רחוקה מן המשוה לצפון ונעשה שם אזור הקר, והשנהבים והקופים שחיו באקלים ההוא מצאו שם קבר. וזה אחד מן ההשחתות שהיה לארץ, שהארץ החמה שגרו עליה כל בני האדם אשר השחיתו את דרכם נעתקה מנגד השמש, ותחת מגד תבואות שמש נהיה שם קרח וקפאון ושממות עולם. זאת שנית בארו חכמינו כי קודם המבול לא נטה השמש במעגלו השנתיי כ"ג מעלות מן המשוה לצפון ולדרום כמו שהוא עתה, רק מסלול השנתיי היה אז ג"כ על קו המשוה או סמוך לו, וע"כ חיו בני אדם חיים ארוכים, כי לא ידעו מנגעי התקופות ושנוי העתים שזה סבה לשנוי האויר ונגעי בני אדם ומחלותם, והעתק הזה שנעשה בכדור הארץ במצבו נגד השמש שנה את האויר והפירות והחליש תוקף האדמה וכחה בהשקף על חיי האדם ובע"ח אשר עליה, וכמ"ש במד' שקודם המבול לא היה חלי בעולם, וספרו מגבורות בני אדם וכחם, וששלחו כצאן עויליהם וילדיהם ירקדון כבני צאן בהולדם, ושהגשם לא ירד רק א' למ' שנה, והיו זורעים בעת ההיא והי' די למ' שנה, וכ"ז נשתנה אחר המבול לרוע, וכ"ז נולד משנוי מצב הארץ נגד השמש. וזה הודיע ה' לנח השינויים שיהיו מעתה, ואמר עוד כל ימי הארץ זרע וקציר, שכבר התבאר אצלי שיש הבדל בין ימים סתם שהם מכ"ד שעות ובין ימי הארץ שהם שנים. שכל שנה הוא יום אחד מימי הארץ, כי סיבוב השמש בכל יום ממזרח למערב בכ"ד שעות הוא יום סתמי, וסבוב השמש בכל שנה ממערב למזרח הוא יום מימי הארץ [כמ"ש בחבורי התורה והמצוה (בהר סב) שלכן נקרא שנת השמטה שבת שהוא יום השביעי שבת לה' בימי הארץ], ולכן יאמר לפעמים שם ימים על השנה כמו ימים תהיה גאולתו, ועתה יש בכל יום מימי הארץ זרע וקציר, ר"ל שבכל שנה זורעים וקוצרים. וקודם המבול לא היה זרע וקציר בכל שנה רק אחד לארבעים שנה, ועתה בכל ימי הארץ היינו בכל שנה ושנה יהיה זרע וקציר. עוד שנוי ב', שעד עתה לא הי' שנוי התקופות כי השמש הלך תמיד על קו המשוה ולא היה לא קור וחום ולא קיץ וחורף, שעתה שנטה השמש במסלולו במהלכו השנתיי ללכת על עגולת המזלות נוטה מן המשוה כ"ג מעלות וחצי, יהיה קור וחום, קיץ וחורף, ושנוי האויר והמזג בעת התקופות יחליש את הגופים ויכניעם בל יוסיפו להשחית כמו קודם המבול, וע"ז אמר במדרש שמ"ש קור וחום הוא מיני חלאים שפי' שממנו יצמחו החלאים וחלישת הגוף. עוד שנוי ג' שיום ולילה לא ישבתו. שהארץ לא תתן פירותיה בנקל כמו קודם המבול, ויהיו בני האדם מוכרחים לעבוד את האדמה תמיד להוציא לחמם לא ישבתו ממלאכה, ועי"כ לא יתגברו עליהם ציורי התאוות אשר הם זונים אחריהם, ומזה אמרו חז"ל דב"נ אסור לו לשבות, כי רק לבני ישראל התיר וצוה לשבות בשבת אבל ב"נ נשאר באיסורו כמקדם:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/parshat-noach-fear-of-fossils/
Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser (March 7, 1809 – September 18, 1879 — better known by his initials as “Malbim”) explains that fossils are not evidence of creatures that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, but were actually animals that were destroyed by the flood, which we read about in this week’s Torah reading.
He writes in his commentary to Genesis 7:23 that not only were the prehistoric animals all destroyed in the flood, with only their fossilized bones remaining, but also the ground was disturbed so that scientists, who date fossils based on the layer of rock in which they are found, are misled by the effects of the flood.
Walker downplays debate with Warnock: ‘I’m not that smart’
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Walker was asked what kind of preparation he was doing for the debate.
“Talking to the voters, talking to you. You told me I gotta prepare, so I’m preparin’,” he said to the reporters. “I’m this country boy, you know, I’m not that smart. And he’s that preacher. He’s a smart man, wears these nice suits. So he going to show up there, embarrass me at the debate, October the 14th. And I’m just waiting, you know, I’ll show up and I’m [going to] do my best.”
Meron tragedy - dispute between Amoraim
Pesachim (64b) THE FIRST DIVISION ENTERED etc. It was stated, Abaye said: We learned, ‘They [the doors] locked themselves’(Or, were locked-miraculously, without human agency.); Raba said, We learned: THEY LOCKED. Wherein do they differ? — They differ in respect of relying on a miracle. ‘Abaye said, We learned, They locked themselves’; as many as entered, entered, and we rely on a miracle.( That the doors should shut themselves when sufficient had entered) Raba said, We learned, THEY LOCKED, and we do not rely on a miracle.
In this way the Paschal lamb is slaughtered in three groups of thirty people each, although the total number of people involved is only fifty.
The mishna teaches that the first group entered, after which they closed the doors to the Temple courtyard. It was stated that the amora’im disagreed about the precise wording of the mishna. Abaye said: We learned in the mishna that the doors of the Temple courtyard miraculously closed by themselves. Rava said: We learned in the mishna that people would close the doors of the Temple courtyard at the appropriate time.
What is the practical difference between them? The practical difference between them is with regard to whether we rely on a miracle. Abaye said: We learned in the mishna that the doors closed by themselves; as many people as entered, entered, and we rely on a miracle to close the doors so that an excessive number of people not enter and thus create a danger (Rabbeinu Ḥananel). Rava said: We learned in the mishna that people would close the doors, and we do not rely on a miracle to ensure that the courtyard not become overly crowded.
Yeshiva University suspends all student clubs as it appeals case against LGBTQ alliance
Rachael Fried, a Y.U. alum and the director of Jewish Queer Youth, an organization that has been supporting the YU Pride Alliance in its bid for recognition, criticized the latest move. “Stern afforded me the opportunity to serve as president of the student body in a shomer Shabbos and Torah environment — I certainly would not have been able to do so in another university,” she told the New York Jewish Week, using terms meaning religiously observant. “I do not believe I would have attended YU undergrad had there not been student council or student clubs in which I could participate.”
“To postpone all student clubs, leadership, and essentially all student-led initiatives on campus in order to avoid allowing queer students to create community and share pizza in a dignified way is wrong, cowardly, and shameful,” Fried said.
Miracles - is a Jew required to believe in them?
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm
Belief in miracles is not one of the 13 principles of faith. If a Jew rejects miracles is he a heretic?
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Who's being cruel? Politicians debate use of migrants as pawns.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/18/migrant-buses-adams-desantis-abbott-00057350
Adams criticized Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas for not coordinating with his staff on the matter when Abbott directed busloads of migrants to New York.
“Coordination in crisis is something that we must do together,” he said. Adams added on ABC’s “This Week” that he reached out to the Abbott administration for organization, without success.
The Republican governor has sent thousands of migrants to New York, Washington and Chicago over the last few months to call attention to what he sees as an immigration crisis. Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, a Republican, has also done so, though he hasn’t come in for the same level of criticism because he has worked more closely with other officials.
Ramban's view of nature?
The Ramban is widely believed to view that there is no nature but everything is a miracle. Is this true?
Ramban (Devarim 13:16) ”Through the great open miracles, one comes to admit the hidden miracles which constitute the foundation of the whole Torah, for no one can have a part in the Torah of Moses our teacher unless he believes that all our words and our events, [as dictated in the Torah], are miraculous in scope, there being no natural or customary way of the world in them, whether affecting the public or the individual. Instead, if a person observes the commandments, His reward will bring him success, and if he violates them, His punishment will cause his extinction. It is all by decree of the Most High, as I have already mentioned. The hidden miracles done to the public come to be known as is mentioned in the assurances of the Torah on the subject of the blessings and imprecations,
וכשאנו מעיינין יפה, אנו רואין, שאין לאדם חלק בתורת משה רבינו ע"ה עד שיאמין שכל דברינו ומעשינו כלם נסים, אין בהם טבע ומנהגו של עולם, שהרי יעודי התורה כלה נסים ומופתים גמורים הם... (תורת ה' תמימה, וראה שם עוד)
Ramban (Vayikra 26:11) Now we have already that all these blessings are miracles, for it is not natural that the rains should come in their due season, and that we should have peace from our enemies, and that they should have faintness of heart so that a hundred of them flee before five, as a result of us observing the statutes and commandments of G-d, nor that everything should be the opposite i.e., that none of these things should happen because of us planting in the Seventh year [which we are forbidden to do]. But although they are hidden miracles, for they are brought about by means of the natural events of the world occurring according to their habit, yet the Torah mentions them separately because they come to be known as miracles because of their constant and continuous occurrence in the whole Land. For if one righteous man lives and G-d takes away sickness from him, and he lives out his days, this also happens to some wicked people and is thus not acknowledged as miraculous. But when an entire land and a whole people always have rains coming in their season, and plenitude, security, peace, health, strength and defeat of their enemies, in a manner unparalleled in the whole world, it becomes known to all that this is the Eternal’s doing.. Therefore He said in connection with these blessings And all the peoples shall see that the Name of the Eternal is called upon thee, and they shall be afraid of thee.. And the opposite of this will occur because of the curses, when punishments will come upon the whole Land, just as He said, and I will make your heaven as iron,. and punishments of sickness, as He said, and sore sickness, and of long continuance,. meaning that the food will be spoiled and bring about sickness, and thus the miracle will be made known to all because of its continued existence amongst the whole people. Therefore it is written, And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say when they see the plagues of that Land, and its sicknesses.. For they will not wonder at that [single] man upon whom all the curse that is written in this book shall lie. for it happens many times in the natural order of the world, among all nations, that bad happenings come upon a certain individual. It is only with reference to that Land that they will wonder, and that all the nations will ask, Wherefore hath the Eternal done thus unto this Land? for all will see and understand that the hand of the Eternal hath done this. And [by way of reply] they will say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Eternal, the G-d of their fathers.In general then, when Israel is in perfect accord with G-d, constituting a large number, their affairs are not conducted at all by the natural order of things, neither in connection with themselves, nor with reference to their Land, neither collectively nor individually, for G-d blesses their bread and their water, and removes sickness from their midst, so that they do not need a physician and do not have to observe any of the rules of medicine, just as He said, for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.. And so did the righteous ones act at the time when prophecy [existed], so that even if a mishap of iniquity overtook them, causing them sickness, they did not turn to the physicians, but only to the prophets, as was the case with Hezekiah when he was sick.. And Scripture states of Asa, king of Judah, by way of rebuke, Yet in his disease he sought not to the Eternal, but to the physicians.. Now had the practice of consulting physicians been customary among them, why should the verse mention as a sinful act Asa’s consulting the physicians, since his guilt was only because he did not [also] seek G-d? But the verse can be compared to someone saying: “That person did not eat unleavened bread on the Festival of Passover, but instead [ate] leavened bread.”. For he who seeks the Eternal through a prophet, will not consult the physicians. And what part do the physicians have in the house of those who do the will of G-d, after He has assured us, and He will bless thy bread, and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee,. whereas the physicians are concerned [mostly] with food and drink, warning [the patient] against [eating] certain foods and commanding him [to eat] others. Thus also the Rabbis said: During all the twenty-two years that Rabbah reigned [as head of the Academy at Pumbeditha], Rav Yoseph did not call even a blood letter to his house” as he, being a righteous person, was protected directly by G-d and needed no physicians, and they also say by way of proverb “A gate which is not open for the commandments i.e., a house wherein the commandments are not observed is open for the physician.” This is also the meaning of their saying: “People should not have to take medicaments, but they have become accustomed to do so.” That is to say: had they not accustomed themselves to taking medicines, people would become sick according to the degree of punishment corresponding to their sin, and would be healed by the will of G-d, but since they accustomed themselves to medicaments, G-d has left them to natural happenings. This is also the intent of the Rabbis’ interpretation: a. “And he shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. From here [you deduce the principle] that permission has been given to the physician to heal.” They did not say that “permission was given to the sick to be healed” [by the physician], but instead they stated [by implication] that since the person who became sick comes [to the physician] to be healed, because he has accustomed himself to seeking medical help and he was not of the congregation of the Eternal whose portion is in this life,. the physician should not refrain from healing him; whether because of fear that he might die under his hand, since he is qualified in this profession, or because he says that it is G-d alone Who is the Healer of all flesh, since after all people have already accustomed themselves to seeking such help. Therefore when men contend and one smites the other with a stone or his fist. the one who smote must pay for the healing,. for the Torah does not base its laws upon miracles, just as it said, for the poor shall never cease out of the Land, knowing beforehand that such will be the case. But when a man’s ways please the Eternal, he need have no concern with physicians.
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler: There is no difference between miracle and nature. Everything is nature! The entire world exists only because of Hashem's will, and His will is His doing and leadership. Since everything that He wills manifests itself. What we call a "miracle" are simply the manifestations of Hashem's will that we are not accustomed to, and therefore that novelty is viewed as a miracle from our point of view. What we call "nature" are things that Hashem's will is consistently manifesting and we are accustomed to...
It is an ultimate test for man. The "nature" is a "miracle" in disguise. Everything is Hashem's direct will, and "nature" is an optical illusion, in order for man to have free will and have a place to make mistakes and choose the true path.
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