Haredi rabbi: This is why yeshiva students don't visit injured

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382101

"And at any rate, those who come and claim, 'Why do you not go to visit the sick and help with the war effort,' can be considered insane, since the yeshiva students and Torah sages cause that there be no need for a spear or a shield, and they cause that we should not need more tanks or fighter jets to protect ourselves, because they themselves are protecting us from the brutal enemies. And essentially, that they sit and invest in their studies, they fulfill the greatest [commandment] to visit the sick that there is, in their own way, since they are adding merits so that there will not be any more ill in the nation of Israel."

How does he explain the following?

 Gittin (62a) the Sages taught in a baraita (Tosefta 5:4): One sustains poor gentiles along with poor Jews, and one visits sick gentiles along with sick Jews, and one buries dead gentiles along with dead Jews. All this is done on account of the ways of peace, to foster peaceful relations between Jews and gentiles.

Who said this and what year? - Trump or Desantis?

He   summed up the major issue of the time ‘as a struggle between “the great mass of Americans of the old pioneer stock” and the “intellectually mongrelised Liberals.”’‘We are, ‘of the plain people, very weak in the matter of culture, intellectual support, and trained leadership. We are demanding, and we expect to win, a return of power into the hands of the everyday, not highly cultured, not overly intellectualised, but entirely unspoiled and not de-Americanised, average citizen of the old stock…. This is undoubtedly a weakness. It lays us open to the charge of being “hicks” and “rubes” and “drivers of second-hand Fords.” We admit it.’

Trump Disqualified From 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/colorado-supreme-court-rules-trump-disqualified-from-presidential-primary-ballot-66b2de64?mod=hp_lead_pos1

Donald Trump can’t appear on the 2024 presidential primary ballot in Colorado because of his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday.

The first-of-its kind decision sided with a group of Colorado voters who argued in a lawsuit that the Republican front-runner was disqualified under a clause in the 14th Amendment. Enacted after the Civil War, the provision disqualifies from public office those who swore to defend the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S.

“President Trump incited and encouraged the use of violence and lawless action to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” the Colorado Supreme Court said in a 4-to-3 ruling.

Double standard for bitachon

As I go through the classic texts regarding parnossa I have noted a double standard

We are constantly told that G-d runs the world and therefore bad things are an indication either of punishment for sins or a test to provide a chance for spiritual growth and reward if we pass the test. This includes such things as illness or lack Parnosa. or being held captive by Hamas We just need to have bitchon. As the Chofetz Chaim explained why people should not leave Europe where they were starving and go to America - Because G-d provides the parnossa a person deserves, He can do it in Europe as well as in America

On the other hand, when it comes to the sick or poor or kollel- we are not to tell them that they should repent or have bitachon and G-d will provide. Instead, we are instructed to provide what they are lacking - even to provide luxuries to a rich man who lost his wealth. There is even an arrangement call Yissachar Zevulen - Rav Moshe says this is to provide peace of mind to learn Torah and it must be a long term relation since security for a short time doesn't eliminate worries and we are not to say to the talmid chachom to have bitachon that G-d will provide what he needs. Rav Moshe also notes that a person in Kollel should not refuse kollel payments claiming that one should not benefit from Torah study - He goes so far as to say this is the advice of Satan

So why do we need to have bitachon for our problems, but we can't tell others that they need greater bitachon or repentance?

NYC police tell Elisha Wiesel to put away Israeli flag at anti-Israel protest

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-778641

Police in New York City “insisted” that Elisha Wiesel put away an Israeli flag on Tuesday, as Weisel, son of the late writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel, attempted to counterprotest a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian demonstration in the city’s Penn Station, Wiesel said on X.

The protest was organized by Within Our Lifetime, an activist group that has led near-daily protests since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel’s south, initiating the ongoing war between Israel and the terror group that has controlled Gaza since 2006. 

Within Our Lifetime expressed support for the attack, defending “whatever means necessary… with no exceptions and no fine print.” 

Gaza hospital director describes how Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382211

Ahmed Kahlot, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya, Gaza, confessed to the Shin Bet that the Hamas terrorist organization used his hospital as a military facility.

During his interrogation, Kahalot describes how Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, including hiding its operatives, carrying out military activity, moving around Hamas members, and even bringing a captured soldier to the hospital.

"They hide in hospitals because for them a hospital is a safe place. They won't be targeted when they are inside a hospital," Kahalot said.

Judge Engoron Tears Donald Trump to Shreds

 https://www.newsweek.com/judge-engoron-ruling-donald-trump-fraud-trial-1853587

While rejecting Trump's argument to rule in his favor, Engorn highlighted some of the "fatal flaws" in the former president's defense, including the testimony from one of their expert witnesses in the trial, New York University Stern School of Business research professor Eli Bartov.

During his testimony, Bartov told the New York court that there is "no evidence whatsoever" that Trump or his family committed fraud with their financial statements. It was later revealed that Bartov was paid $1,350 an hour for his services to defend the former president, putting his total at $877,500.

IDF suspends several troops for singing Hanukkah songs into Jenin mosque loudspeakers

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-suspends-troops-for-singing-hanukkah-songs-into-jenin-mosque-loudspeakers/

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday suspended several soldiers who appeared on video singing Hanukkah songs over the loudspeaker system in a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin.

The incident came as the military continued a three-day operation in the city, a hotbed for terrorism, during which troops detained hundreds of suspects and seized weapons.

Footage circulating online showed the soldiers singing Hanukkah songs and the Jewish prayer “Shema Yisrael” (Hear, O Israel).

Edah HaChareidis Rabbis denounce journalists who praise soldiers

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382192

Rabbis of the Edah HaChareidis, a conservative haredi organization with anti-Zionist views, published a strongly worded letter yesterday against haredi journalists they believe to be promoting nationalism and combined enlistment of men and women. The Rabbis were led by Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, a member of the organization's rabbinical court.

The Complicated Relationship Between Screen Time and Depression

 https://www.chconline.org/resourcelibrary/the-complicated-relationship-between-screen-time-and-depression/

Dr. Ramsey Khasho, chief clinical officer at Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto, who works with youth in crisis, argues that it’s reductive to begin and end discussions of mental illness among youth by talking about smartphones and social media. According to Khasho, one of the reasons we see a rise in youth hospitalizations for mental health is because we’ve increased awareness of mental illnesses, making it more acceptable for parents to access treatment for their children.

Nearly half of British Jews considered leaving UK due to antisemitism

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-778447

Nearly half of British Jews have considered leaving the UK since October 7 due to antisemitism, according to polling data collected by the Campaign Against Antisemitism. Four out of five Jews surveyed identified as Zionists.

The polling was conducted from November 12-17 among 3,744 respondents.

Based on the CAA survey data, 69% of UK Jews agree (40% of them strongly) that they were less likely than they were before the October 7 massacre to show visible signs of their Jewishness, such as wearing a Star of David or kippah. Another 15% disagreed, and the rest did not say.

Think Strategy, Not Tactics

 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/strategy-not-tactics-israel-hamas-war/675863/

Both sides are driven by total objectives. For Hamas, this is nothing new: In its 1988 covenant, it committed itself to the annihilation of the state of Israel, and then and since, to the extermination of as many of its citizens as possible. Like most extreme Islamist movements, it distinguishes only loosely, or not at all, between Jews and Israelis. This objective justifies in its view the ultimate in violence, all of which was horrifically on display in the October 7 massacre, accompanied by the murder of children, rape, torture, beheading, and kidnapping. Behind its strategy is a long-term theory of victory: that such attacks, coupled perhaps with strikes by Hezbollah and Iran, or the risings of Palestinians in the West Bank, will cause Israel to collapse. In Hamas’s view, Israeli counterattacks on Gaza, which will inevitably kill many civilians, contribute to its objectives because they undermine support for Israel abroad, and inflame its many enemies.

Is rape and sexual assault part of the Hamas tactic of war?

 https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4365815-is-rape-and-sexual-assault-part-of-the-hamas-tactic-of-war/

In the Israel-Hamas war, the horror of the act of rape grips us and shocks the consciousness. The idea that these mass rapes were not simply the spoils of war but a tactic intended to instigate the current Israeli response must be realistically considered. Hamas has shown itself to be capable of playing a deadly long game and proven itself implacable, cruel and single-minded. As Hamas seeks to crush Israel from the river to the sea once and for all, it draws Israel into the predictable response that will see tens of thousands of Gazans killed. Hamas appears willing to make that sacrifice. The undecided question is whether Hamas will rise out of the rubble that remains of Gaza, however miserably, by this “risk it all” bet. 

Hamas, Gen Z and the 'River to the Sea'

 https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-gen-z-river-sea-1853419

The majority of young Americans are the only age group where the majority does not want a two-state solution, which is heavily favored by older Americans. More than half of 18- to 24-year-olds want Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians, while 32 percent favor two states.

But the poll also showed there were strong anti-Hamas and pro-Israel sentiments among Gen Z, suggesting the conflict is much more complicated than simply siding with Israel or Palestinians.