Zara pulls advert from website front page after Gaza boycott calls

 https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/zara-pulls-advert-website-front-page-after-gaza-boycott-calls-2023-12-11/

Zara pulled an advertising campaign featuring mannequins with missing limbs and statues wrapped in white from the front page of its website and app on Monday after it prompted calls by some pro-Palestine activists for a boycott of the fashion retailer.

Inditex (ITX.MC), which owns Zara, said the change was part of its normal procedure of refreshing content. It did not comment on the boycott calls, but said the "Atelier" collection was conceived in July and the photos were taken in September. The war between Israel and Hamas began after Oct. 7

One in five young Americans believes the Holocaust is a myth, poll finds

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/one-in-five-young-americans-believes-the-holocaust-is-a-myth-poll-finds/

One-fifth of US citizens between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that the Holocaust is a myth, according to a new poll from the Economist/YouGov.

The poll was conducted between December 2 and December 5, and among other issues, examined the beliefs held by US citizens on Israel, Jewish people and the Holocaust.

In response to the statement “The Holocaust is a myth,” 20 percent of participants between the ages of 18 and 29 said that they agreed with it, and an additional 30% said that they did not agree or disagree

The Hamas Leader Who Studied Israel’s Psyche—and Is Betting His Life on What He Learned

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-yahya-sinwar-israel-palestinian-hostages-6407dc41?mod=hp_trending_now_article_pos3

When Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel more than a decade ago, he explained to an Israeli official a theory now central to the war in Gaza. 

Sinwar said that what Israel considers its strength—that most Israelis serve in the army and soldiers hold a special status in society—is a weakness that can be exploited, said Yuval Bitton, who spent time with Sinwar as the former head of the Israel Prison Service’s intelligence division

SEGULOS FOR PARNASSAH

 https://betterthanasegulah.org/free-services/segulos/segulos-for-parnassah/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20segulah%20for%20parnassah%20to%20establish%20for%20oneself,then%20afterward%20daven%20for%20parnassah.

A chassid once came to the Ruzhiner Rebbe and complained, “For years I have been having special kavannah during Kedushah of the Yamim Noraim, as this is said to be a segulah for wealth, but I am still as poor as ever.”

The Ruzhiner Rebbe answered the man, “This segulah is for one who has this kavannah only during Kedushah, while during the rest of the tefillah he doesn’t think about money. But you – the only thing you think about during the entire davening is money, money, money!”

Were the Hashmonoim chareidi - or Why do we celebrate Chanukah?

 Rav Tzadok says the main miracle was the war against the Greeks not the menorah

Why did the Chashmonoim not have bitachon that the Greeks would lose without war? Why did they assimilate and illegally become kings?(Ramban)

Israel Gaza war: UPenn loses $100m donation after House testimony

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67655910

The founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, Mr Stevens told the university that its "permissive approach" to those calling for violence against Jewish people "would violate any policies or rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge"

Senate Republicans block Ukraine and Israel aid bill

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67637679

Senators - including every single Republican - voted 51 to 49 against advancing the bill, with 60 votes needed. The vote throws uncertainty into the future of aid for Ukraine and sends lawmakers back to the negotiating table with just days to go until Congress has scheduled winter break.

What kind of monster finds it ‘unacceptable’ to demand babies be freed?

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/381529

On Monday, Albanese responded to a tweet by former State Department official Dennis Ross, who wrote: "The suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is real. Why not call on Hamas to release all hostages and agree to have its leaders leave Gaza. They could save Palestinians from paying a further price. Real support for Palestinians should produce such a call. Isn’t it time for that?"

The Special Rapporteur wrote in response: "Regrettably, this sounds like: - putting the onus to end the carnage in Gaza on the Palestinians, including those being slaughtered in Gaza; - justifying and deflecting the attention from the atrocities committed by the Israeli army in Gaza. Unacceptable."

After Artscroll, agunah advocates eye NY yeshiva

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-artscroll-agunah-advocates-eye-ny-yeshiva/

 Now, Dodelson’s supporters are calling the Staten Island Yeshiva to ask for Weiss’s removal — a difficult request for a yeshiva run by his mother’s family. As an additional step, supporters are being encouraged via Facebook to work to disinvite the yeshiva’s head from guest appearances at local synagogues. Supporters have already contacted a Highland Park, New Jersey, synagogue that is expected to host Feinstein this Saturday night, asking it to withdraw its invitation to Feinstein.

Republican Lawmakers Spar With University Presidents at Campus Antisemitism Hearing

 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/harvard-mit-penn-presidents-antisemitism-congress-f39aacfe?mod=hp_trending_now_article_pos5

College leaders around the country stumbled in their early responses to the Oct. 7 attacks, attempting to appease activists on both sides of the seemingly intractable issue. Some issued updates to their public statements, or clarifications to those updates, as they weighed their responsibility as moral arbiters, protectors of free speech and administrators aiming to keep their campuses safe.

Heads of 3 top US colleges refuse to say calling for genocide of Jews is harassment

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/university-leaders-grilled-by-us-house-on-campus-antisemitism-amid-israel-hamas-war/

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the press conference.

“I think Prime Minister Netanyahu probably said it the best: This truly is a battle between good versus evil, light versus darkness, civilization versus barbarism, and the idea that this is happening on college campuses, university campuses, across this land is unconscionable to us,” he said. “This antisemitism has become all too common. It’s turning to violence in some of these places. And the idea that university administrators would not speak out, would not take care of this problem, is just beyond comprehension.”

Biden: 'We must condemn sexual violence by Hamas – the world can’t just look away

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/381501

US President Joe Biden, spoke at a Tuesday fundraising event in Boston for his election campaign and mentioned the war in Gaza.

“Hamas terrorists have caused so much pain and suffering for women and young girls. The world cannot be silent. It is our responsibility to condemn the Hamas terrorists’ sexual violence,” said Biden. “Let’s be clear, Hamas’ refusal to release the women caused the renewal of fighting.”

He added that “all hostages still held by Hamas must be immediately released and returned to their families. We won’t stop.”

Parnossa

I have been working on a sefer that tries to define the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural i.e. idolatry and segulas and heresy magic medicine and miracles - the sefer has grown to over 1700 pages without getting passed the conclusion that it is a machlokes. It is too big and there is no clear path to make it smaller

This Shabbos an Avreich asked me whether I have ever written a sefer about parnossa

While my sefer Daas Torah mentions this with regard to bitachon, I realized this also involves the boundary between the natural and supernatural. In particular the idea of hishstadlus. Therefore I am starting over from this perspective and hopefully can a clearer picture in less than 800 pages. This seems very relevant to the many Kollel couples who were told not to worry about money but to have bitachon or the current position in the chareidi world that there is no need for an army or doctors if we are devoted to Torah study and mitzvos and/or segulos

Henry Kissinger’s (Maybe) Last Interview: Drop the 2-State Solution

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/02/henry-kissinger-interview-israel-hamas-war-00129374

I believe the West Bank should be put under Jordanian control rather than aim for a two-state solution which leaves one of the two territories determined to overthrow Israel. Egypt has moved closer to the Arab side, so Israel will have a very difficult time going forward. I hope that at the end of it there will be a negotiation, as I had the privilege to conduct at the end of the Yom Kippur War. At that time, Israel was stronger relative to the surrounding powers. Nowadays, it requires a greater involvement of America to prevent a continuation of the conflict.