Monday, June 19, 2023
Demons
Sefer Chasidim (469) There is a demon called dragon, in Greek. If he is struck with a sword, he will not be harmed, But its offspring can be harmed. There was once someone who was born from a princess and a dragon. It is said that this dragon that impregnated the princess was only afraid of a dragon who was the son of a princess.It was in prison . The King said to it, “I will free you from prison. Come out “He went and took the sword of his father and went under the bed of the queen. Immediately the demon smelled it and said, "I smell from the one I fear," he said, "Nonetheless, I will not be stopped from having relations with the queen. " The one that was under the bed came out and waited. After the demon finished he got off the bed and he was struck with the sword and was wounded ...
Sefaria and Koren – A concerned look
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/372928
If one does a more thorough search, it is clear that today Sefaria is packed with problematic material, from gay pride source sheets, to Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative movement) content, to Maharat (female Open Orthodox clergy) publications, and just about everything else from all “streams”, including the individual works of the founders of Conservative Judaism and contemporary Reform and Conservative clergy.
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Reward of the Dogs
https://aish.com/reward-of-the-dogs/
The Torah relates that during the Plague of the First-born, the dogs that were in the vicinity of the Jewish people did not bark at all. The commentaries explain that this was something that is considered miraculous, because in general, dogs bark wildly when the Angel of Death is present. Moreover, the dogs that were among the Egyptians did bark constantly. The Midrash teaches that as a reward for this silence, for the entirety of history, if a Jew owns a piece of non-kosher meat, he should give it to a dog, rather than anyone else.
Miracles, Nature and what Lies Between: Ramban on Hashgacha
The Ramban's conception of hashgacha is a vision of divine concern for His creation which is not merely good design but actual responsiveness to human action. The good are rewarded and wrongdoers are punished, as we would expect in a just world (I will return to this theme in a later shiur). God cares about us, to the extent that He is willing to change the order of nature in order to show that care. Yet the order of nature exists; it is not an illusion and there is meaning and value to the human endeavor to understand and, at least to some extent, to control it. God is present in history, particularly guiding the nation of Israel on its long course, intervening when necessary, as described in the Torah and the Prophets. In a sense, the Ramban's notion of hashgacha is constructed to provide us with a way of synthesizing all of our concerns into a delicate balance: we want God to be involved but not so much as to constrain human freedom. We want divine intervention, alongside a stable natural order. The key this balance is the Ramban's idea of hidden miracles in which God's intervention is so subtle that it is not recognizable as such.
Rambam - Everything is miraculous
Ramban (Toras HaShem Temimah) A person does not have a part in the Torah of Moshe unless he believes that all things that happen are miracles and not part of Nature and examples of the natural events of the World. The goal of the Torah is entirely miraculous and complexly wondrous. There is no distinction between a person living a full healthy and pleasant life of 80 years while one who ate Teruma dies and the splitting of the Sea and the fact that no dog barked
All are miraculous events, involving alterations of Nature . What seems to us as being natural are in fact hidden miracles/ Thus we are not aware that a person recovering from disease is in fact because of the charity he gave while the death of a clearly healthy person was because he ate prohibited fats. Therefore the Rambam is problematic in the fact that he favors natural explanations over miraculous ones. He also says miraculous events are only temporary aberrations even though he rejects this idea in his treatise on Resurrection
'Anne Frank pornography' being banned in Florida, Texas schools
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-746102
The graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, published in English in 2018, has found itself at the center of a growing number of controversies involving book removals from school libraries. A small number of passionate activists have pushed for the book to be removed from schools in Florida and Texas, calling it “pornography” and even “anti-Semitic.” Sometimes, they’ve succeeded.
No hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin in Trump's COVID-19 vaccine
Former President Donald Trump said he received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which doesn't contain any of the ingredients listed in the post. Multiple health agencies say the drugs hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are not recommended to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Trump Will Be Abandoned by MAGA Voters, Ex-Staffer Says: 'Dam Will Break'
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-abandoned-maga-voters-ex-staffer-1807428
Scaramucci said that a lot of Trump's former allies and those who used to work for him, himself included, dropped their support because of what the former president demands of those surrounding him.
"He wants asymmetrical loyalty, he wants to be reckless and do things that are borderline criminal, if not over-the-edge of criminal. And he wants you to sit there and defend him religiously, like some of the nut cases still working for him," Scaramucci told CNN presenter John Berman and New York Times reporter Astead W. Herndon.
What Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis Tell Us About the Trump Indictments
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/16/trump-indictment-precedent-burr-davis-00102291
Both trials may presage the days to come, as politicians and ordinary citizens debate the severity of the charges against Trump, and the implications of sending a former president to prison. It’s nice to say that no one is above the law. But history suggests that may be a good theory that doesn’t always work in practice.
