Thursday, June 1, 2023

Republicans ‘Not Interested’ In Whether Biden Bribe Allegation Is True, Chuck Grassley Says

 Republicans ‘Not Interested’ In Whether Biden Bribe Allegation Is True, Chuck Grassley Says

 Republicans don’t care if it’s true that Joe Biden accepted a bribe as vice president — they just want the FBI to hand over its record of the uncorroborated allegation.

That’s according to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), one of the two Republicans leading the effort to obtain the FBI’s raw material.

“We are not interested in whether the allegations against Vice President Biden are accurate or not,” Grassley said Thursday morning on Fox News. “We’re responsible for making sure the FBI does its job, and that’s what we want to know.”

The fierce debate over rewriting children's classics

 https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230530-roald-dahl-the-fierce-debate-over-rewriting-childrens-classics

It is perhaps worth remembering that it is not just children's literature that is subject to these sorts of revisions. Both Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming have recently had offensive references removed. Nor is it a new practice. Charles Dickens was so stung by the hurt reproaches of a Jewish reader over his depiction of the villainous Fagin that he halted a reprinting of Oliver Twist mid-run and removed many of the references to Fagin as "the Jew". The kindly Jewish character of Mr Riah in Our Mutual Friend, Dickens's last completed novel, seems to have been intended as an atonement.


Haskoma to Yad Yisroel

 


Haskoma to Yad Yisroel

 



Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Stop the lie: Israel never ethnically cleansed Palestinians

 https://www.jns.org/jns/israeli-palestinian-conflict/23/5/30/291532/

Moreover, according to a research report by the Institute for Palestine Studies, an Arab-sponsored research institute, the majority of the Palestinian Arab population was not forcibly expelled and 68% of the Palestinians left without even seeing an Israel soldier. 

Clip of Lindsey Graham Saying 'Russians Are Dying' Misleadingly Edited

 https://www.newsweek.com/clip-lindsey-graham-russians-dying-misleading-1803289

But as the backlash against Graham escalated, it soon emerged that his comments were misleadingly edited in the short clip, which conflated different comments.

A longer version of the conversation, which was released by the Ukrainian government and published by Reuters, among others, shows that the two remarks—framed as part of the same comment—were in fact unrelated.

In the first part, Zelensky thanks the United States and allies for their "bipartisan support" of Ukraine, stating that America's support since the start of the invasion exceeded "$38 billion."

To that, Graham replies: "The best money we've ever spent," adding that this is "467th day of a war that was supposed to last three days." The latter comment appears to hark back to Putin's alleged pre-war goal of "taking Kyiv in three days."

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Republicans have a serious antisemitism problem. It isn’t Ilhan Omar

 Republicans have a serious antisemitism problem. It isn’t Ilhan Omar

In case it’s not obvious, let me state it plainly. Today’s Republican party has a serious antisemitism problem. The easy acceptance and amplification of all sorts of anti-Jewish hate that party leaders engage in emboldens all the worst bigots, raving racists, and far-right extremists across the globe, all the while threatening Jewish people here and everywhere.

Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, an architect and guardian of Haredi-secular relations

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-gershon-edelstein-an-architect-and-guardian-of-haredi-secular-relations/

As the celebrated spiritual leader of Ashkenazi Haredi Jewry, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, who died Tuesday at the age of 100, was a major advocate for compromise and coexistence at a time of growing estrangement between religious and secular Israelis.

Hate in the Sunshine State: Extremism & Antisemitism in Florida, 2020-2022

 https://www.adl.org/resources/report/hate-sunshine-state-extremism-antisemitism-florida-2020-2022

Florida is home to an extensive, interconnected network of white supremacists and other far-right extremists. This network, which often collaborates in planning and executing propaganda distribution campaigns, banner drops and in-person demonstrations, includes the White Lives Matter (WLM) network, the antisemitic Goyim Defense League (GDL), the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), NSDAP (named after the Nazi Party of Germany), the neo-Nazi Sunshine State Nationalists (SSN),  NatSoc Florida (NSF) and the National Socialist Movement (NSM). Many of the individuals in this network, which includes dozens, attend events organized by multiple groups giving each group an outsized appearance.

Yad Yisroel English published by Amazon - Available now

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1478175419/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1PXTI7Z8QLA7Z&keywords=eidensohn&qid=1685439803&sprefix=%2Caps%2C583&sr=8-10

700 pages soft cover $17 introductory price

Price rise in June


















Monday, May 29, 2023

Medicine and G-d

 Chaya Adam (65:1) A person about to be bled for medicinal reasons should first say “It should  be G-d’s will that this activity should bring about a cure for me because  You are a free Doctor.”  Similarly prior to eating or drinking anything for medicinal purpose he should say this prayer and not think that something is curative without G-d’s involvement. Therefore by means of this prayer he puts his trust in G-d and asks from Him that this should cure him. After the procedure he should say  "Blessed art Thou King of the World who cures the sick."

Chanuka & Philosophy - Philosophy is Jewish

In the discussion of Chanuka and philosophy - it is important to realize that there are solid Jewish sources that philosophy originated with the Jews. The following sources are taken from my Daas Torah page 140

Kuzari(2:66): Shlomo spoke—with Divine power and his great intellect and natural talents—concerning all types of knowledge. From the ends of the earth, people came to him to hear his knowledge and to transmit it to the world—even as far as India. In truth the root of all wisdom and its principles was copied from the Jews—first by the Chaldeans and afterwards the Persians and Medes. Afterwards this knowledge went to the Greeks and Romans. However, because these events are distant in time and the many intermediaries in the process it has not been mentioned in the books of science and wisdom that it was taken originally from the Jews. These books mention only that they originated in Greek and Roman sources. …

Rema(Toras HaOlah 1:11): In truth all the wisdom of philosophy and intellectual analysis originated from the Jews. All the secular wisdom is in fact contained within the Torah as the Rambam demonstrates in great detail in the Moreh Nevuchim that all philosophical wisdom is found in the medrash and aggados of our Sages. You should know that I saw a very ancient document that described the development of all philosophy. It stated that Socrates was considered the first philosopher. It also says that he obtained this wisdom from Assaf and from Achitofel. It also says in the Paths of Faith that the philosophy of Aristotle was stolen from the wisdom of Shlomo HaMelech. When Alexander the Great captured Jerusalem, he gave control of Shlomo HaMelech’s library to his teacher Aristotle. Whatever good things he found there he wrote his name on it and then added some of his own incorrect thoughts such as the world had no beginning and the denial of Providence. This was done in order to conceal the fact that his material was in fact stolen from the wisdom of the Jews. Alternatively, it is possible that whatever he found that did not have clear—cut proofs in the works of Shlomo he simply did not believe. We see however that the basis of all wisdom hangs from this vine. In truth, every Jew should believe in this system and not to give a pride and glory to strangers—the wise men of the gentiles. In fact, Shlomo was praised for being able to speak to the cedars of Lebanon and the hyssop growing on the wall. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the basis of this wisdom was stolen from him, there would be nothing praiseworthy in Aristotle and those that came after him…Therefore it is proper to believe in these things. Just as we have written that is the way it is.

כוזרי (ב:סו): אמר החבר: ומה דעתך על חכמת שלמה כי הוא דבר בכח אלוהי וברב שכלו ובכשר טבעו על כל החכמות ומקצוות העולם היו באים אליו לשמע חכמתו ולהעבירה אל האמות עד להדו ועד בכלל. ובאמת שרשי כל החכמות וכלליהן העתקו מאתנו אל הכשדים בראשונה ואחרי כן אל פרס ומדי ואחרי כן אל יון ואחרי כן אל רומא אך מפאת רחק הזמן ורבוי המעתיקים לא הזכר בספרי החכמות כי העתקו מעברית הזכר רק כי העתקו מיונית ומרומית אולם יתרון העברית הוא גם מצד עצם הלשון וגם מצד תכן הענינים הכלולים בה:

[iii] רמ"א (תורת העולה א:יא עמוד י"ג)...כי באמת כל חכמת הפילוסופי' והחוקרים בא להן מישראל. וכל חכמתן כלול בתורה כמו שהאריך הרב המורה להורות שכל החכמות הפילוסופי' נמצא במדשרי חז"ל ואגדותיהן. ודע כי ראיתי בספר אחד ישן מאד והיו מצויירין בו כל הפילוסופי' בצורתן וחכמתן איך המציאן והיה כתוב בו שב' אקרוט שהוא שקראוהו הפילוסופי' סקרא"ט האלהי להיותו שהוא המציא בראשונה בפלוסופיא שיש נמצא נבדל: ואחריו נמשכו הפלוסופי' האחרי' וכתב שם שהוא קבל החכמה מאסף הקרחי ומאחיתופל. ועוד כתב בשבילי אמונה כי כל עיקר חכמת ארסטוטליס גנוב' מחכמת שלמה ע"ה. כי כאשר כבש אלכסנדרוס מוקדן ירושלים השליט לאריסטוטלס רבו על אוצר ספרי שלמה וכל דבר טוב שמצא בהן כתב שמו עליו ועירב בהן מקצת דעות רעות כמו קדמות העולם. וכפיר' השגחת כדי לחפו' עליו שלא ידעו הבריות שבאו אחריו שגנב החכמה מיהודי ואפשר שכל דבר שלא מצא עליו מופת חותך בדברי שלמה לא האמינו. ומכל מקום נתבאר שכל החכמות תלויים בגפן זה ובאמת שכל בר ישראל ראוי להאמין אמונה זו ולא לתת תהלתינו ותפארתינו לזרים חכמי הגוים. והרי הכתוב שבח שלמה ע"ה שדבר על ארז בלבנון ועל האזוב אשר בקיר ואי לא היתה עיקר חכמה זו גנוב מאתו מה היתה מעלתו על אירסטוטלוס והבאים אחריו שחקרו על כל טבע וטבע כמו שנתבאר בדבריהם לכן ראוי להאמין בדברים האלה כמו שכתבנו כן הוא.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch - Kiruv for non-Jews