Ohr HaChaim (Bereishis 2:1) Heaven and earth were completed. I have heard from Torah scholars (who were my teachers) that the reason G'd made the earth spherical is to enable its various parts to endure with equal ease. The rabbis meant that of all the desires, urges and feelings of love in the universe nothing matches in intensity the urge of the spirit which has recognised the light of G'd and its desire to cleave to G'd's light. Every living soul which has been fortunate enough to recognise even a small amount of that light longs to behold visions of the pleasantness that is G'd. Know that G'd has endowed each category of His creatures with a two-tiered intelligence. One tier is the power to perceive, the other tier is the power to analyse. Human beings, i.e. creatures who are endowed with the power of speech, as well as all lower forms of life or even the inert part of nature, all received a degree of intelligence commensurate with their status in the universe which enables them to recognise their Creator. By means of this intelligence we know that the globe continues to exist without faltering. G'd has revealed some of this secret to those who revere Him and by means of these explanations these facts became translated to our senses The force holding up the globe is G'd's beautiful and all-embracing light which surrounds the globe in equal measure. Every section of the revolving earth derives additional strength from the power of the fiery urge that burns within it urging it to cling to the manifestations of G'd's spirit. This is why the globe remains in its position in the universe.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Holy people transcend and can change Nature
Sefer HaIkkarim (1:21) We do find that the devotees of the Torah came into such close intellectual union with God that they were able to change the laws of nature, cause the latter to do their bidding and perform miracles against the laws of nature. Thus we find that the prophets proposed and God carried out their proposals. Elijah caused fire to descend, which is contrary to its own nature. He said, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven …, and it was so. He also divided the waters of the Jordan. Elisha cured Naaman’s leprosy and brought a dead body back to life during his own life time and also after his death. Many such incidents happened to him and the other prophets. The same thing is true of all believers. Pious men, even if they are not prophets, can change the laws of nature by prayer. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were cast into the fire and were not burned. Rabbi Hanina the son of Dosa and Rabbi Phinehas the son of Yair made certain temporary changes in the nature and conduct of the world.
Sefer HaIkkarim (1:21) This shows that one who believes in God and in His Torah is above nature and not subject to natural law. On the contrary, the laws of nature are subject to him, and he can change them as he pleases.
Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline
https://baishavaad.org/qa-from-the-bais-havaad-halacha-hotline-103/
Finally, a pruzbul can only be written if the borrower owns land, rents land, or has a room and board agreement; he must have some connection to land. A young bachur, for example, may not have one, so some pruzbul texts include a clause wherein the lender gifts the borrower a tiny piece of land.
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Miracles and Nature (2)
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:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/parshat-noach-fear-of-fossils/
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.