“Now, no one should really get hung up, as sometimes Republicans are want to do, on whether sufficient proof exists to convict Joe Biden of a financial crime. That’s irrelevant here,” she argued.
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Memphis police shoot Jewish man who fired gun at Orthodox school, tried to break in
Police in Memphis, Tennessee, said Monday that officers shot a man after he fired a weapon outside a Jewish school and tried to break inside the building.
The suspect was Jewish and a former student at the school, said US Rep. Steve Cohen, whose district includes Memphis.
A Jewish security group also said the suspect was Jewish and that the incident appeared to be personal in nature. The Memphis Police Department would not confirm the claims, nor reports saying the man had been killed.
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Messianic times
Will all halachic questions be resolved in Messianic times and if so how? Sources?
Mishna Torah (Melachim 12) Our Sages taught: "There will be no difference between the current age and the Messianic era except the emancipation from our subjugation to the gentile kingdoms."...He will not come to declare the pure, impure, or to declare the impure, pure. He will not dispute the lineage of those presumed to be of proper pedigree, nor will he validate the pedigree of those whose lineage is presumed blemished. Rather, he will establish peace within the world as ibid. 3:24 continues: 'He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children."
In that era, there will be neither famine or war, envy or competition for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d.
Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah 11:9 states: 'The world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the ocean bed."
Saturday, July 29, 2023
DeSantis faces backlash from Black conservatives
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4125593-desantis-faces-backlash-from-black-conservatives/
DeSantis and his team have generally taken a pugilistic attitude with the media and GOP rivals. Asked about Scott’s remarks, he said the senator was “siding” with liberals.
“At the end of the day, you got to choose: Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you going to side with the state of Florida?” DeSantis told reporters. “I think it’s very clear that these guys did a good job on those standards. It wasn’t anything that was politically motivated.”
Avoda Zara has power to help?
אמת ליעקב פרשת ואתחנן (04:19
ונראה שיש כאן מחלוקת עיקרית ביסוד ענין עבודה זרה, דשיטת הרמב"ם בכמה מקומות היא דהעבודה זרה אין בה ממש כל עיקר ואין לה כח כלל, וכל המתפלל אליה ועובדה לא רק שהוא עובר על האיסור אלא הוא גם מבזבז זמנו לריק ולשוא, אבל דעת הרמב"ן היא שהקב"ה הטביע בטבע העולם שכל אומה יש לה משפיע משלה בעולמות העליונים והוא יש לו כח מסויים שיכול להשפיע על אומתו כל זמן שאין הדבר נוגע לישראל [דהרי אין מזל לישראל], אלא איסור עבודה זרה שנצטוו בה האומות הוא שאסור להם להתפלל למשמש הזה כי הרי כל כוחו נובע ממה שהטביע בו הקדוש ברוך הוא, ולכן התפילה והעבודה צריכה להיות לאלקי האלקים, כלומר להאלו־ה שהוא ממעל כל האלהים, ולכן צריכים להתפלל להקב"ה עצמו ולא לעבד שלו, אבל ודאי אם עובדים את העבודה שלהם ומתפללים אליה זה משפיע עליו לעזור להם ויש ביכלתו לעשות כן, וזהו ביאור הפסוק אשר חלק ה' אלקיך לכל העמים תחת כל השמים, והיינו שה' חילק לכל אומה אומה את השר והמשפיע שלה.
Listen to gedolim and tzadikkim - even against the Torah - but not to a prophet
Devarim (04:02)You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of your G-d that I enjoin upon you.
Rashi (Devorim 04:02)YE SHALL NOT ADD — For instance, to place five chapters in the Tephillin, to employ five species of fruit and plants in the fulfilment of the command of Lulab And to place five fringes on one’s garment. Thus, too, must we explain the following words ולא תגרעו, Ye shall not diminish [from it]" (Sifrei Devarim 82:4).
Ramban (Devorim 04:02) However, the prohibition against adding [to the Torah] by word of a prophet we derive only from the verse stating, These are the commandments, which establishes, “From now on, no prophet is permitted to originate anything [in the Torah].” Whatever [laws] the Sages have established in the nature of “a fence [around the Torah],” such as the secondary degrees of forbidden marriages — that activity of [establishing fences] is itself a requirement of the Torah, provided only that one realizes that these [laws] are a result of a particular fence and that they are not [expressly] from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the Torah.
Vayikra (27:34)These are the commandments that G-d gave Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai.
Chizkuni (27:34)“these are the commandments;” no future prophet has the authority to either add to them or to cancel any of them. (Sifra)
Modern belief is that if a godol or tzadik tells you that something is halacha - it must be accepted even against a clear mesorah. This perhaps started with the belief that one can not disagree with the Chazon Ish.
Rav Moshe Feinstein: Can one disagree with the Chazon Ish & other gedolim
This view is still clearly alive. My son went to a major posek in Bnei Brak for a haskoma to his sefer. which he got but it included the caution "I can not agree with his halachic conclusions that result from his analysis because in many issues they conflict with the rulings of the Chazon Ish"
Similarly I have been criticized for disagreeing with the halachic views attributed to Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and Rav Nota Greenblatt
In other words the view of gedolim must always be accepted while that of a prophet is disregarded if it goes against the halacha.
Author Who Debunked RFK Jr. A Decade Ago Thinks His Candidacy Is ‘Pretty Depressing’
Describing his views as ‘controversial,’ I think, is dishonest. They’re not controversial. They’re false. He’s not spreading controversial views, he’s spreading lies. And so the framing matters enormously, and that’s something that I foresee being a huge, huge issue in the 2024 campaign.
Trump Handed Another Loss as Judge Dismisses His ‘Big Lie’ CNN Lawsuit
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-big-lie-cnn-defamation-lawsuit-is-dismissed?ref=home?ref=home
Donald Trump’s already-shaky defamation lawsuit against CNN officially flopped Friday, with the federal judge he appointed dismissing the case despite his pleas the network had associated him with Adolf Hitler.
Friday, July 28, 2023
Do Florida school standards say ‘enslaved people benefited from slavery,’ as Kamala Harris said?
The Florida Board of Education set new social studies standards for middle schoolers July 19.
In a section about the duties and trades performed by enslaved people, the state adopted a clarification that said "instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
Experts on Black history said that such language is factually misleading and offensive.
'Sound of Freedom': Why is this surprise box-office hit causing controversy?
https://www.today.com/popculture/movies/sound-of-freedom-movie-controversy-rcna95992
The film portrays children being snatched and kidnapped by strangers. While this can certainly happen, it’s a myth that most traffickers “target victims they don’t know,” according to Polaris, an organization that operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline.
In fact, “many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents,” Polaris notes.
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Erin Albright, an attorney with extensive experience in the anti-trafficking field, called the movie’s portrayal of trafficking “sensational” and said it perpetuates unhelpful and even harmful myths.
Albright argued that when popular movies promote the narrative that trafficking involves forceful kidnapping and imprisonment, it makes it harder for people to grasp more complex trafficking cases, such as cases of coercive control or psychological manipulation.
Supreme Court striking down reasonableness bill 'uncharted territory,' PM says
"We had to put Israeli democracy back on an equal footing with other democracies. The essence of democracy is the balance between the will of the majority and the rights of the minority. This balance has been violated over the last 20 years, because we have the most activist court on the planet," Netanyahu said.
Five revelations from new Trump charges
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4124168-revelations-from-new-trump-charges/
Federal prosecutors’ superseding indictment against former President Trump in his classified documents case on Thursday has brought to light several new charges and revelations.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Tish‘ah be-Av and the Agunah Problem by Rabbi Shalom C. Spira
The Gemara, Ta‘anit 30a, prohibits most areas of Torah study on Tish‘ah be-Av. One of the few permitted exceptions, as identified by Mishnah Berurah, Orach Chaim 554, se’if katan 3, is the passage in Gittin 55b-58a regarding the Temple destruction. The conclusion of that passage – an exposition of Micah 2:2 – is interpreted by Maharsha (Chiddushei Aggadot) as declaring that if even one husband is wrongfully pressured to divorce his wife [in violation of Exodus 20:14] or if even one marriage is poisoned by adultery – then the entire Jewish People is held accountable to collectively protest. Thus, it emerges that Tish‘ah be-Av is a time to reaffirm our commitment to the sanctity of marriage – and to eschew half-baked solutions to the agunah problem – as I previously wrote at <http://daattorah.blogspot.
R. Simchah Rabinowitz, Piskei Teshuvot al Mishnah Berurah Chelek Shishi, points to another exception presented by Mishnah Berurah, this time in se‘if katan 5. Where a halakhic verdict is urgently needed on Tish‘ah be-Av for a sick patient or for litigants in a monetary dispute (who cannot wait until tomorrow), a decisor may study the case as is necessary to provide immediate guidance. Rabbi Rabinowitz explains that this is what justified R. Shalom Mordechai Schwadron, Teshuvot Maharsham, I, no. 84, to formulate a responsum on Tish‘ah be-Av to permit an agunah to remarry. Indeed, Rabbi Schwadron concludes that responsum by citing Bach to the effect that rescuing an agunah is a spiritual achievement equivalent to rebuilding one of the ruins of Jerusalem.
Upon careful reflection, it emerges that there is no contradiction between the aforementioned Maharsha and Maharsham regarding the agunah-problem message of Tish‘ah be-Av [and, poetically enough, their works carry almost identical names]. Where the Oral Torah declares that an agunah can remarry, such as the case of Maharsham in which he discovered sufficient circumstantial evidence to presume the first husband to be dead, then it is indeed a great mitzvah to enable this remarriage. But where the first husband is demonstrably both alive and innocent of any wrongdoing, then Maharsha directs us to respect that first (and only) marriage.
For this reason, R. J. David Bleich, responding to the 1992 New York Get Law [a well-meaning but unfortunately less-than-successful attempt to solve the agunah problem], comments as follows [available at <https://traditiononline.org/
"Regrettably, instead of serving as a panacea resolving the plight of the agunah, the Get Law has itself created countless agunot. It is precisely because of concern for agunot that the Get Law cannot be allowed to stand."
In other words, we must always take into consideration the Maharsha vs. Maharsham dichotomy, thereby distinguishing true from imagined solutions to the agunah problem. That is why my own prenup proposal [available at <http://www.scribd.com/doc/
 | Halakhic analysis of prenuptial agreements, leading to a combination of two halakhically kosher prenuptial agreements to benefit the Jewish wife |
Continuing on this theme, I would like to highlight my recent exchange with R. Heshey Zelcer in Hakirah Vol. 28 (Spring 2020) [available at <https://hakirah.org/
“At the initial session, Beth Din shall outline the issues between the Parties and make a determination of the interim payments necessary to ensure that the lifestyle of the un- emancipated children of the household (if any) can be maintained, and that they can continue to attend yeshiva.”
Rabbi Sternbuch et al do not raise an objection to this paragraph, presumably because it does not explicitly require the husband to pay the wife until he grants her a get. However, as one can discern from the aforementioned Hakirah exchange, Rabbi Zelcer effectively interprets this clause to in fact mean that the Beth Din will direct the husband to pay the wife until he grants a get. And so, the Yashar Prenup seems to present a problem that is essentially identical to that of the RCA prenup, the latter representing a prenup that Rabbi Sternbuch and others have identified would produce an invalid get. [See <https://hebrewbooks.org/60970
A careful examination of Rabbi Sternbuch’s letter of approbation for the Yashar Prenup [available at <https://yasharinitiative.org/
Rabbi Spira works as the Editor of Manuscripts and Grants at the Lady Davis Institute of Medical Research, a pavilion of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada.
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