Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, tweeted last week that his embassy worked with Swedish authorities to successfully thwart the Torah burning. But a rabbi involved in interfaith work in Sweden told the Jerusalem Post that he credited Muslim leaders for dissuading the protest organizer.
Friday, July 14, 2023
Swedish police approves request to burn Torah, Bible in front of Israeli embassy
Swedish police on Friday approved a request to hold a public gathering to burn Judaism's holy book Torah and a Bible in front of the Israeli embassy.
According to Swedish media, the burning will take place on Saturday outside the embassy in Stockholm. Previous reports said that a man in his 30s is behind the request.
He stated that this act is a response to the Quran burning outside Stockholm's mosque in June and "a symbolic gathering for the sake of freedom of expression."
'A disgrace to Sweden' | Swedish authorities allow provocative burning of Torah scroll
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374160
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has strongly condemned the decision of Swedish authorities to allow the provocative burning of holy books and texts by extremists in the country.
An application to burn a Torah outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm this Saturday was recently submitted to Swedish police, who have accepted the application. The request also includes the burning of a Christian bible at the same location.
Blessing of Tzadikim
Ruth Rabbah (06:02) One should never keep back from going to an elder to be blessed. Boaz was eighty years of age, and had not been vouchsafed children. But when that righteous woman prayed for him, he was immediately vouchsafed, as it is said, And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law: Blessed be he of the Lord (Rut II, 20). Resh Lakish said: Ruth was forty years of age and had not yet been vouchsafed children as long as she was married to Mahlon. But as soon as that righteous man prayed for her, she was vouchsafed, as it is said, BLESSED BE THOU OF THE LORD, MY DAUGHTER. The Rabbis, however, say: Both of them were vouchsafed children only as a result of the blessings of righteous people.
Bilaam's blessings
Devarim Rabbah (03:04) All the good that Israel enjoys in this world is a result of the blessings with which Balaam the wicked blessed them, but the blessings with which the Patriarchs blessed them are reserved for the time to come, as it is said, THAT THE LORD THY GOD SHALL KEEP, etc.
Orthodox feminist group addressed allegations against sex-guru founder, says report
Released Wednesday, the review concludes that all of the allegations aired publicly last year were true. But after interviews with 31 people and unfettered access to documents and communications related to JOFA, the report’s authors said they found no other evidence of wrongdoing.
Still, the report says, the group did not live up to its values during the period ending in 2018 during which two executive directors said they were subjected to sexual harassment and inadequate responses to their concerns. Improvements have been made subsequently, the report says.
Low-dose atropine eyedrops no better than placebo for slowing myopia progression
“The absence of a treatment benefit in our U.S.-based study, compared with East Asian studies, may reflect racial differences in atropine response. The study enrolled fewer Asian children, whose myopia progresses more quickly, and included Black children, whose myopia progresses less quickly compared with other races,” noted the study’s lead co-author, Michael X. Repka, M.D., professor of ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University.
Much stronger concentrations of atropine eyedrops (0.5-1.0%) have long been used by pediatric eye doctors to slow myopia progression. While effective, such doses cause light sensitivity and blurry near vision while on the nightly eyedrops. Thus, there is interest in clinical studies assessing lower concentrations that have been shown to have fewer side effects.
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Whistleblower Made Bombshell Hunter Biden Claims While Lying to FBI
https://www.newsweek.com/whistleblower-bombshell-hunter-biden-claims-lying-fbi-1812608
"In the letter, Raskin and Goldman explain that the information Luft shared with FBI agents—the information the GOP keeps saying will blow the lid off the Biden probe—took place during a meeting that led to charges against Luft for making false statements to the FBI," Gill wrote on the Mueller, She Wrote Twitter account.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Rains in their proper seasons is the most important Beracha
Ramban (Vayikra 26:04) He mentioned the matter of rains first of all the blessings because if they come in their proper season, the air is pure and good and the springs and rivers are clear, and thus it the rain is a prime cause of physical health, and all produce will increase and be blessed by it, just as He said, and the Land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Thus because of this pure state of the environment people do not become sick, and none shall miscarry, nor be barren, even among their cattle, and they will live out the full extent of their days. For when the material frame of human beings is large and healthy, they can continue in health as in the days of Adam. Thus this blessing — the rains in their seasons is the greatest of all blessings and therefore it is given first place.
Secular education and Rav Shach
Relevant to our discussion of the relevancy of secular studies are two stories about Rav Shach - who was not shy about expressing his strong views on a wide variety of issues.
The first story I heard from Rabbi Gershenfeld - Rosh Yeshiva of Machon Shlomo in Har Nof. Rav Leff - the Rav of Mattisyahu is also the head of the high scholl Maarava - which provides high level of secular studies to its elite student body. Rav Leff took the job at the insistence of Rav Shach. One day Rav Leff heard that Rav Shach had made a strong attack on Maarva and secular study. He hurried to Bnei Brak to offer his resignation to Rav Shach. He told him he did not want to be part of an institution that Rav Shach opposed. Rav Shach responded. "You are to remain as the principal of Maarava and I will continue attacking it."
I was told that originally Maarava was created for students who didn't really fit in yeshiva and thus were going off the derech because they had no place. With the development of the school these misfits were able to be saved. However with time, people who were not misfits were attracted to the school. Students who would have been very successful in a Torah only environment - wanted to have careers and become professionals. This necessitated Rav Shach's attack which was to make clear that Maarva was only for those people who would have been lost otherwise. It was not an option for a successful student.
The second is mentioned in the autobiography of Prof Aharon Kirschenbaum. The biography itself can be downloaded here.teaching Jewish law
Do frum self-help books contain ancient Torah wisdom - or pop psychology?
Conclusion - Update 8/16/13 It is apparent from the comments to this post is that there is no such thing as Torah Psychology or Torah Therapy that was given at Sinai. There are psychological insights which are found in our Tradition which can be used in therapy - but they don't constitue a program of therapy. A psychology or therapy based primarily or exclusive on Torah sources might be desirable - but it doesn't exist at present and it clearly is not part of our Tradition from Sinai.
Lawrence Kelemen's parenting guide, To Kindle a Soul, for example, claims in the subtitle to contain "ancient wisdom." "At the foot of a mountain in the Sinai desert, the Creator of the universe directly revealed His profound wisdom to approximately three million people .... Those present received ... a comprehensive guide for raising great human beings." The book attempts to describe "this ancient, Torah approach to education" which is "more comprehensive and effective ... than any of the schools of child psychology I studied at university." Kelemen describes the "significant" differences between these supposedly "ancient traditions" and the practices of contemporary parents.""Yet Kelemen's parenting approach fits neatly within late twentieth century American parenting discourse, and it differs significantly from that of pre-modern Jewish sources. Kelemen combines an American religious-right critique of supposedly decadent American family life with a child-centered parenting approach advocated by endless American mass-market parenting guides in the 1990s. Criticism of American materialism and permissiveness; advocacy of limiting the mother's time at work; polemics against spanking; emphasis on good nutrition, proper sleep time, and bedtime routine; concerns about the adverse impact of television viewing; claims to provide a "system" for raising moral children; and advocacy of "quality-time" for empathy and close communication between parents and children, all characterized American experts' suggestions to worried middle-class parents at the end of the twentieth century. Even Kelemen's claim that his approach derives from the Bible follows the pattern of American religious parenting guides. Indeed, the book's unstated assumptions - that parenting is a full-time endeavor, and that parents should actively monitor their children's moment by-moment lives - typify experts' advice and popular assumptions in America during the so-called "century of the child."Not only does Kelemen's approach match that of contemporary parenting experts, but it differs from traditional Jewish sources on the topic. While a complete history of Jewish approaches to children and family has yet to be written, it is enough in this context to note that traditional Jewish literature speaks of childhood and parenting in spotty and unsystematic ways, scattered in works focused on other topics. This reflects a historical past in which families were considerably less child centered than they are today, and parents learned how to parent more by imitation, instinct, face-to-face conversation, and osmosis than from the written word of experts. Pre-modern Jews did not write parenting manuals since they assumed that knowing how to parent was an intuitive or natural thing.
Take the example of Kelemen's approach to corporal punishment and spanking. This is a particularly important example because traditional sources do say quite a bit on the topic, and what they do say clashes rather dramatically with the approach of contemporary Haredi parenting literature. Kelemen polemicizes against corporal punishment of children, and even harsh verbal reprimands. Instead - reflecting both contemporary notions of individual autonomy and the voluntary nature of modern religious commitments, which make it difficult to coerce people into religious conformity - he insists that parents should calmly explain to their children what is proper and improper. Parents should then serve as living role models of the proper, hoping thereby to help children come to their own appreciation of and identification with the parents' values.[...]
House Dems Demand Probe of Comer’s Indicted ‘Missing’ Biden Informant
The committee Democrats also said that it “appears as if Mr. Luft sought ‘whistleblower’ status to shield himself from prosecution, as the indictment was actually handed down last November and he was initially arrested in Cyprus in February. Luft had since been on the run after he skipped bail in April.
Hear why an ex-GOP lawmaker is now helping Hunter Biden
Former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman talks to CNN's Jim Acosta about why he's now working with the legal team advising President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
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