G-d doesn't answer the prayers of someone who makes no effort to help himself

 Bava Metzia (75b) There are three who cry out and are not answered, as they are responsible for their own troubles. And they are: One who has money and lends it not in the presence of witnesses, and one who acquires a master for himself, and one whose wife rules over him.  One who acquires a master for himself, what is it? There are those who say that it is referring to one who attributes his property to a gentile. He falsely claims that his possessions belong to a gentile in order to evade his obligations, thereby inviting the gentile to take advantage of this declaration. And there are those who say that it is referring to one who writes a document bequeathing his property as a gift to his children in his lifetime, as he becomes financially dependent on them. And there are those who say that it is referring to one who has bad fortune in this town but does not go to a different town. He is consequently responsible for his own misfortunes.

Age of sex education

 Novominsker Rebbe once said to me

"this was about 40 years ago after he gave a  gemora shiur I asked him about sex education. Noting that Rav Yaakov told my brother that education in these matters should be at age 16

"Eight year old children today know more about these issues than I do."

Daas Torah om Marriage

 

I just republished my sefer on Marriage. I was told the previous title was not politically correct and some found it inappropriate to have in their home

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR82BLXH/ref=sr_1_14?crid=3PCU647447HZJ&keywords=eidensohn&qid=1704039883&sprefix=%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-14

Tucker Carlson: Ben Shapiro, other pro-Israel voices don't care about America

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-780172+

Tucker Carlson, the populist pundit who led Fox News’s evening lineup until his ouster in April 2023, said in an interview this week that Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire “[doesn’t] care about the country at all,” accusing him and other pro-Israel voices of being “focused on a conflict in a foreign country as their own country becomes dangerously unstable.”

Freed hostage Mia Schem: ‘I experienced hell. There are no innocent civilians in Gaza’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/freed-hostage-mia-schem-i-experienced-hell-everyone-in-gaza-is-a-terrorist/

“It’s important to me to reveal the real situation about the people who live in Gaza, who they really are, and what I went through there,” she told Channel 13 news. “I experienced hell. Everyone there are terrorists… there are no innocent civilians, not one,” she said. “[Innocent civilians] don’t exist.”

Eilu V'Eilu by Rabbi Hershel Schachter

 https://www.torahweb.org/torah/2017/parsha/rsch_shoftim.html

The Talmud, as well as later rabbinical literature, is replete with halachic disputes. The halacha has had to decide which opinion should be followed. Should we assume that the rejected view was mistaken and simply incorrect? The Gemara (Eruvin 13b) states regarding the many disputes between Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel that, "eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim Chaim - both opinions are the words of the Living G-d." although in the overwhelming majority of cases we have not accepted the views of Beis Shamai, this does not mean that they were wrong; one who spends time learning the views of Beis Shamai is in fulfillment of the mitzvah of Talmud Torah. Beis Shamai were also basing their opinions on middos she'ha'Torah nidreshes bohein; they were following the principles and the rules of the Torah She'b'al Peh, just that they came to a different conclusion than Beis Hillel. Therefore learning their opinions would also constitute a proper fulfillment of the mitzvah of Talmud Torah. To use the terminology of Rav Soloveitchik, their views also constitute a cheftza shel Torah.

Standardization of the Chareidi mind

 I was reading about Sinclair Lewis and his concern with conformity in middle America. I realized the same dynamic applies to the Chareidi world.

You probably noted that from Tanach through the Rishonim the most obvious feature is the constant disagreement and variety of opinions about everything. This has famously been pointed out by the gemora that concludes Ailu v'eilu. All views are correct as the word of G-d

Rav Yakov Kaminetsky decided he wanted to go to learn in Kelm. Instead of simply asking permission from the Alter - the masgiach of Slobodka so he simple deviated from his normal behavior. He took a different path to the bathroom. That deviance was enough for the Alter to call him over and tell him to go learn in Kelm where he would acquire consistency.

Someone raised a question in a gemora shiur from a tosfos which directly contradicted the rebbe's hypothesis. The rebbe responded "There is no such Tosfos!" His students asked him whether he in fact knew every Tosfos. He replied I don't know every Tosfos but i I know Tosfos doesn't think that way it had been claimed

Institutional education attempts to provide a standardized mind - the core curriculum

However Rav Hutner noted that the ideal is not yeshiva learning but father to son learning

My rebbe once said that he thought most creatively when he had to commute from Williamsburg to Far Rockaway. His mind was free while he was driving. 

Today the ideal is to listen 24/7 to shiurim or reading a sefer

Today we use Ramchal and Maharal, Artsroll. Daf Yomi, Bina magazine and Mishpacha Magazine to ensure a standard way of thinking. Apparently, a large part of the content is from Mussar and Chassidus

The Raban and Shulchan Aruch are major tools for standardization.

The Gerrer Rebbe once chastised some chassidim who had sinned. "I  am not criticizing you for sinning since you are human beings with a yetzer harah. I am upset that you had the spare time to sin!

Rav Kook noted that each individual needs to develop his own haskofa from the variety of views while Rav Dessler noted we have an inner voice to listen to for guidance.

Bottom line is whether to strive for standardization or individualization.

A Call for Hamas to Surrender by Rabbi Shalom C. Spira

          .The Gemara, Eruvin 45a, establishes that the Sabbath must be desecrated in order to defend the borders of a Jewish state from enemy incursion. That casus belli standard was [more than] adequately met this past Oct. 7, 2023. Hence, as elaborated by R. J. David Bleich, Be-Netivot ha-Halakhah, I, pp. 77-84, the Israeli Defense Forces enjoy moral authorization to wage a war termed “ezrat Yisrael mi-yad tzar” (rescuing Israel from the oppressor, a termed coined by Rambam, Hilkhot Melakhim 5:1). This means there is no guilt whatsoever for collateral damage caused by the IDF in its legitimate war of self-defense against Hamas. 

      In my opinion, Rabbi Bleich is supported by Tosafot, Yevamot 114b, s.v. zimnin, who write that it is the nature of war for projectiles to be launched from a large distance, with the combatants not knowing who will actually be hit by those projectiles. Ergo, we can extrapolate from Tosafot that once the Torah authorizes the Jewish army to engage in ezrat Yisrael mi-yad tzar, it means that the Jewish army is granted immunity from guilt over collateral damage. [And that which the Gemara, Gittin 56b, speaks of “removing the threatening snake with tongues while protecting the barrel of honey” is specifically referring as a critique against Vespasian’s invasive attack on the Temple in Jerusalem, a fundamentally different situation.]  

      In an effort to verify that my proof from Yevamot 114b is dispositive, I touched base with posek ha-dor Rav Bleich. On Nov. 18, 2023 [after havdalah], he responded by e-mail as follows: 

 

“The reference in the Gemara is to milchamah ba-olam. That doesn’t sound as if there was Jewish involvement. If so, Tosafot is describing conduct of non-Jews before the Geneva Convention.” 

 

      Nevertheless, even granted Rabbi Bleich’s caveat, the bottom line is that Tosafot seem to demonstrate that the nature of warfare is to precipitate collateral damage. Ergo, while warfare may well be forbidden to Noahides [as per my previous article at <https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-cri-de-coeur-for-russian-army-to_30.html>], when the same concept of warfare is suddenly authorized for Jews under the rubric of ezrat Yisrael mi-yad tzar, collateral damage should presumably become justified. 

      It is true that Siftei Chakhamim to Genesis 32:8 comments that Jacob was distressed at the prospect of defending himself in war against Esau, lest Jacob execute collateral damage. However, there the issue appears to be emotional discomfort experienced by the patriarch, rather than identification of moral transgression. Assuredly, any war represents a monumental tragedy, and so Jacob desperately yearned to avoid it. But it remains the case that a military campaign of ezrat Yisrael mi-yad tzar – once necessitated by enemy attack – is ethically correct. [And see R. Chaim ben Atar, Or ha-Chaim to Genesis 34:31, who comments that it would have been collective self-endangerment for the family of Jacob had it failed to rescue Dinah from Nablus.]

      Furthermore, in my capacity as the author of [what appears to be] the only halakhic prenup that is actually effective in [at least somewhat] alleviating the agunah problem [as recently publicized at <http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2023/07/tishah-be-av-and-agunah-problem-by.html>], I contend that it is wrong for Hamas to prolong this conflict and thereby risk creating agunah cases among the wives of IDF soldiers. Rather, Hamas should recognize that “wisdom is better than weapons of battle” (Ecclesiastes 9:18), and surrender. 

            In attempting to appeal to the conscience of Gazans, the key issue at hand is how to properly channel the spiritual yearnings of Gazan society in a halakhically correct way. Rambam, Hilkhot Melakhim 10:9-10 rules that Noahides must not invent their own religion. Rather, Noahides are commanded by the Holy One, Blessed Be He, to observe the Seven Commandments identified by the Gemara, Sanhedrin 56b. If a Noahide seeks further spiritual enrichment, then he is welcome to choose to volunteer to perform any additional mitzvah [that would normally be directed to Jews alone] that he seeks, and he will receive reward as a volunteer for that mitzvah. The only exceptional mitzvot which Noahides cannot volunteer to observe are Shabbat and Torah study, as per the Gemara, Sanhedrin 58b-59a. [If a Noahide truly desires to observe even the latter two mitzvot, he enjoys the option of applying to a qualified Beth Din for consideration for conversion to Judaism.] 

            Now let us halakhically analyze the ways of many religiously fervent Gazans. They reject idolatry, insisting instead on worshipping the One and Only Master of the universe Who revealed Himself to Abraham. This represents a most impressive achievement, because it fulfills one of the Seven Commandments. Gazans also pray with devotion in Arabic, perhaps as much as five times a day. That’s wonderful, because prayer is a mitzvah that Noahides are either obligated or at least allowed to observe [-see Encyclopedia Talmudit, s.v. Ben No’ach], and prayer can be performed in any language, as per the Mishnah, Sotah 32a. Furthermore, when Gazans pray, they announce that “the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Is Great.” Well said: the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Is indeed Great, as per Deut. 10:17 [-a verse incorporated into the first paragraph of every Jewish amidah prayer for the past 2,400 years, as per the Gemara, Yoma 69b]. And the way that a Gazan should show that he truly recognizes that Greatness, is that the Gazan should observe the Noahide Code. Keep it at that, and thereby keep the peace.  

            Some confusion appears to have arisen from the fact that Gazan married ladies are scrupulously diligent to perform the mitzvah of kisui rosh (head covering). This may have led Hamas to the regrettable (mis)impression that it can therefore attack Jews. [To that effect, a recent statement by Agudath Israel, dated 17 Kislev, 5784, specifically asks all Jews (in the Hebrew version, though not directly translated in the accompanying English version) to strengthen themselves in kisui rosh. See <https://hamodia.com/2023/11/30/statement-from-moetzes-gedolei-hatorah-of-agudas-yisrael-on-yerushalayim-terror-attack/>.] 

            The reality that Arab civilization excels in kisui rosh was already known two millenia ago to the Sages of the Mishnah, as recorded in Shabbat 65a. Actually, the mitzvah of kisui rosh is primarily directed to Jews [as per the Gemara, Ketubot 72a-b], although one could hypothetically argue that it has bears a measure of relevance even to righteous Noahides, regarding whom we have an oral tradition that following the Deluge, they accepted upon themselves an enhanced dimension of respect for the sanctity of marriage. [See Rashi to Genesis 34:7 and Numbers 22:5, as well as Maharsha, Chiddushei Aggadot to Yevamot 63b, s.v. limsokh. And see Eruvin 100b which seems to indicate that Eve covered her head.] In any event, even if Noahides are not formally commanded in kisui rosh, a Noahide who volunteers to perform an extra mitzvah will certainly receive reward [as per the aforementioned Rambam, Hilkhot Melakhim 10:10], and so the Gazan married ladies deserve congratulations for their kisui rosh. Yet, at no time does the Talmud suggest that Arab civilization can therefore persecute Jews. On the contrary, Arab civilization – like all of humanity – is expected to seek spiritual excellence by specifically observing all commandments of the Noahide Code, and these commandments include refraining from murder and refraining from kidnapping.   

            Arguably [and as possibly reflected in the aforementioned Agudath Israel statement], there may be room for Jewish improvement regarding kisui rosh. Although R. Moshe Feinstein, Iggerot Mosheh, Even ha-Ezer, II, no. 12 allows a wig, his responsum is challenged by a lengthy monograph of R. Nehorai Yosef Ohana, Zahav Levushah (Jerusalem, 5774), available online at <https://hebrewbooks.org/56098>. To summarize the hundreds of pages of refutation: Rabbi Feinstein claims that since a gentlemen can presentably groom his face with a scissors-like kosher shaver [despite his thereby becoming visually indistinguishable from someone who grooms his face with a forbidden razor], therefore we should extrapolate that a married lady can also don a wig [despite her thereby becoming visually indistinguishable from a single lady.] Alas, the extrapolation is questionable (with all due respect to Rabbi Feinstein) because the two cases are dissimilar in terms of how they apply in situations of life-preservation. Specifically, piku’ach nefesh indeed allows a gentleman to shave with a normally-forbidden razor [as famously occurred, for example, to R. Michoel Dov Weissmandl and the Stropkover Rebbe when they were hiding in a Bratislava bunker during the Holocaust; see the cleanshaven photos of them in Artscroll’s The Unheeded Cry, ch. 13], whereas even in a situation of piku’ach nefesh, a gentleman has a mitzvah to look away from a lady [other than for a purely functional recognition], as per the Gemara, Sanhedrin 75a. Ergo, it is logical to surmise that kisui rosh should operate with a more rigorous standard [and not be fungible with a wig], so as to visually distinguish the married ladies from the single ladies. Nevertheless, even granted this argument against Rabbi Feinstein, the forum for implementing this improvement is the Beth Din system which supervises conversions to Judaism [and hence can make a demand of prospective converts to accept upon themselves kisui rosh, as one can discern from <http://www.beisdinofsouthflorida.com/%D7%92%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-conversion/>]. That is to say, this argument against Rabbi Feinstein [while valuable in its own right] does not exempt Gazans from their paramount obligation to uphold the Noahide Code, which includes refraining from murder and refraining from kidnap. 

            My late mentor R. Joshua H. Shmidman (previously showcased at <https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2021/05/daas-torah-and-legacy-of-rabbi-joshua-h.html>) would introduce the recitation of the sacrificial order within the Yom Kippur mussaf service with the following insight. The spilling of blood in animal sacrifices, when orchestrated in the manner prescribed by the Torah, serves as a kosher outlet for the worshipper to escape the inclination to spill human blood. As such, I would recommend for Gazans to read R. Binyamin Fuss, Torat ha-Bamah (Jerusalem, 5766), available at <https://hebrewbooks.org/47849>, a detailed Noahide Code treatise on how all humans [other than Jews] can bring animal sacrifices today. In other words, although Jews are barred from offering sacrifices until the Temple will be rebuilt in the messianic era, Noahides can indeed offer sacrifices today as a matter of practical Halakhah, following the guidance in this publication. This will afford Gazan society [and indeed any other Noahide society that so opts] an opportunity to spill animal blood as part of religious observance, without ever engaging in violence against human beings. 

      May we indeed see humanity embrace the Noahide Code, and thereby usher in an era of global harmony. And the first step in that direction is for Hamas to surrender. 

 

Rabbi Spira works as the Editor of Manuscripts and Grants at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, a pavilion of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada. 

Democratic Rep. Torres: 'Antisemitic to compare Israelis to Romans who murdered Jesus'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382618

Critics blasted New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a Christmas message comparing Jesus to the Palestinians, with at least one saying it invoked the historic charge that the Jews killed Jesus.

Drawing parallels between Jesus’ persecutors and present-day Israel, Ocasio-Cortez claimed in an Instagram post on Sunday that Jesus was born in “modern-day Palestine” under a government carrying out “a massacre of innocents.” According to the New Testament, Jesus was a Jew who lived within the modern borders of Israel and was killed by the Roman forces ruling the territory at the time.

“He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians.”

State of Orthodoxy in America? - A sample of one

I was sitting on a bench in the local shopping center yesterday when I was approached by a young man who obviously wanted someone to talk with. After he asked me in English how long I was living in the neighborhood. He then started smoking a cigarette. He apparently was a new worker at one of the local businesses and this was his break time. He then stated he was from a modern Orthodox community in New Jersey. " Even though the Rav is a well-known figure in the Modern Orthodox world the congregation is basically Conservative Jews, some even drive to Shul on Shabbos. He had gone to YU for a year. Had been introduced to drugs by a roommate. Another roommate had committed suicide. Furthermore, his father was a drug addict who provided no emotional support to him. He personally was now working on being more religious since he came to Israel. He then excused himself saying he needed to get back to work.

While this is a sample of one - Does it reflect the reality of America? Whatever problems we have in Israel - pale in comparison to this nightmare he described.  

Eyewitness was blind: Chicago man freed after twelve years in prison for murder

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382542

Darien Harris, a resident of Chicago, spent more than twelve years of a 76-year sentence in prison for murder due to a witness testimony that connected him to the crime.

According to CTV, Harris was released this week when it was clarified to the judge that the key witness in the case was blind.

At the age of eighteen, Harris was arrested on suspicion of murder in a gas station which happened while he chanced to be walking along a nearby street. The sole evidence for his conviction came from a security camera, which showed an unidentified man exiting a vehicle and shooting the victim, and testimony from one Dexter Saffold.

Red Cross refused to give medicine to Gaza hostages, Netanyahu tells families

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-779463

An International Committee of the Red Cross representative refused to bring a box of life-saving medicine to Israelis taken hostage in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a Monday address to the Knesset plenum.

"I met with the Red Cross; I handed them a box of medicine for some of the hostages shown here. Some of them really need it...I told a representative to take this box to Rafah; she said no. It was a difficult conversation," he told a special Knesset session attended by families of hostages, who were heard shouting "Now!" at the prime minister as he explained the return of all hostages would take time.

Harvard president’s corrections do not address her clearest instances of plagiarism, including as a student in the 1990s

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/20/business/harvard-president-claudine-gay-plagiarism/index.html

Jonathan Bailey, a plagiarism expert who runs the site Plagiarism Today, told CNN that instances of plagiarism are often followed by calls for a harsh rebuke.

“People tend to want to paint plagiarism with a broad brush as something that should be immediately cause for termination or immediately cause for the strongest action,” Bailey said. “But that’s just not how it works in the real world. A lot of factors are looked at and considered when deciding how to respond to it.”

“This is a nuanced case, and that nuance is kind of impossible because of how politically charged it is right now,” said Baile

Sickened by the Chilul Hashem?

 https://cross-currents.com/2009/07/07/sickened-by-the-chilul-hashem/

Here’s an idea to consider. Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz has written urging the rest of the Torah community to stand up without equivocation and combat the unspeakable primitivism of many of the Yerushalayim protesters. He takes most of the media accounts seriously. He points a finger at “askanim” who are really in charge, and not Gedolim whom others presuppose are in charge. He cites approvingly the statement of an American philanthropist that he will withhold his sizable donation to a favorite yeshiva until its Rosh Yeshiva publicly condemns the form of the demonstrations. (Note: he does not – and I would not – urge us regular folks to withhold money from the yeshivos that are the lifeblood of Klal Yisrael.)