Why no real magic today or demons?

Rav Kaminetsky (Emes L’Yaakov Shemos 7:22) And the Egyptian magicians did the same with their spellsConcerning the question why are there are no true magicians today or demons or spirits (dybuk) that our ancestors told us about? Similarly there are many types of knowledge that we don’t have or know about. The answer seems to me  that this is the result of a case of measure for measure that G-d arranged to ensure  that we have free-will and not err. That is why as explained by the Ramban  (Shemos 14:21)  G-d had a strong wind blowing during the Splitting of the Sea so the Egyptians could err and say it was happening because of the wind and therefore they could also cross the sea  as the Jews had. Consequently when there were prophets who performed miracles  to persuade them to do G-d’s will, if they didn’t also have real magicians who could do these miracles then they would have had no free-will like what happened to Pharaoh. Even though with the plague of lice the magicians acknowledged that it was the finger of G-d. Pharaoh said in his heart that was because the magicians were lying  in order to conceal that Moshe was a greater magician  than they. Therefore as long as there  was prophecy there needed to be real magic. Afterwards since they still had bas Kol there were also  invisible spiritual forces like demons. As long as there were people who could do amazing signs and wonders  there were demons which were manifestations of hidden dark spiritual powers. 

However later when no one was able to do miracles and everything was purely material and only intellect and desire   were involved that is why our Sages have stated that no one as great as Moshe will ever occur again. amongst the Jews  though it is possible  amongst the Babylonians, it is possible  to have someone like Bilaam. In order to allow free-will, That is why in the time of Moshe  it was necessary to have Bilaam.  This is a general rule This explains why Yosef responded to Pharoh when he said “I heard  that you interpret dreams.” By saying it is not his knowledge but rather G-d’s concern for Pharoh’s welfare Similarly with Daniel, Nevuchadnezer said to Daniel  “can you tell me what my dream means?” Daniel answered that the meaning is not obtained with esoteric knowledge since only G-d can reveal it, Daniel was thus denigrating this esoteric knowledge which had created a barricade between man and G-d’s providence. This is expressed by the statement that these esoteric arts were considered the epitome of knowledge and understanding in the eyes of non-Jews,

It would seem that this idea can also be used to justify the view of the Rambam that demons don’t exist and that they are not real. There are many who have criticized him and pointed out that demons are mentioned many times in the gemora so how does the Rambam explain these gemoras?...

However according to what I have written it is possible that the Rambam  believed that in the time of the gemora since there were Amoraim who had the power to resurrect the dead and perform other miracles therefore of necessity it was needed to have  the dark  spiritual powers such as demons – in order to have a balance for free-will.  So therefore only in modern times when true spiritual powers are hidden will will there be a corresponding concealment  of the dark forces such as demons

And I remember that when I was in Kelm, that Rav Ekchonon Wasserman  wrote in the name of the Chofetz Chaim “that the famous event of a dybuk that occurred in his lifetime was likely the last appearance of this type. That was because that to the degree the power of Torah and true spirituality is reduced the power of the dark forces of impurity are likewise reduced.”

However it is possible that even today that in the places where there are still Jews with  pure faith and act properly that they also have an extra measure of the dark spiritual forces – in order to maintain a proper balance. Think about this deeply!

Israel denies genocide accusations at top UN court, says war in Gaza is self-defense

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/12/middleeast/icj-israel-gaza-hamas-genocide-hearing-hague-day-two-intl/index.html

Israel concluded its hearing by asking the court to refuse South Africa’s request for provisional measures, since it said these would constrain Israel’s ability to defend itself while allowing Hamas to continue attacks.

If “resort to force in self-defense against an enemy hiding behind civilians can be portrayed as genocide and trigger provisional measures,” then “an inevitable tension will be created between the genocide convention and states defending themselves against the ever-increasing capacities of terrorist organizations,” argued Gilad Noam, an Israeli lawyer.

The Big Lie Is the South’s New Lost Cause

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-big-lie-is-the-souths-new-lost-cause?ref=home?ref=home

Speaking in the South Carolina church where a white supremacist gunman killed nine people, Biden likened the Confederates who embraced the “lost cause”—that the war was about state’s rights, and resisting federal power, as Nikki Haley recently suggested, and not about slavery. “Now, we’re living in an era of a second lost cause,” Biden said, citing the 2020 election and those “trying to turn loss into a lie.”

Bnei Torah Who Work – A New Hashkafic Emphasis

https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/2253115/bnei-torah-who-work-a-new-hashkafic-point.html

 However, in the past twenty years, it has become clear that it is no longer possible for all avreichim to learn for their entire lives even in Eretz Yisroel, as Harav Aharon Kotler, zt”l mentioned regarding the general population of Klal yisroel. Obviously, there are those who need to be involved in other aspects to earn a living, etc.

Although initially there was no special focus on these individuals, and many fell between the cracks. However, today, this matter has expanded, and although Baruch Hashem the great majority of the Bnei Torah population remain within the category of “והייתם לי סגולה”, likewise, there are those who also work and are unable to engage solely in Torah study for their entire lives.

It is imperative, however, that our attitude toward them should not be that they are balei batimwho merely have a connection to the Torah, rather, our attitude must be the exact opposite:

Jews barred from shops amid Turkish antisemitism

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hk00azhhp6?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=internal

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was no different from Hitler, and that the Israeli strikes on Gaza were akin to Nazi persecution of Jews in the Holocaust, he was reflecting sentiments of his countrymen as antisemitism in Turkey is reaching new heights. 

Israeli flags have been laid on the ground in markets around the country for people to step on as they entered to shop. An effigy of Netanyahu was hung off a bridge in the city of Afyonkarahisar and in Istanbul, signs outside shops say Jews are not permitted to enter. In Ankara, a giant banner shows Netanyahu with a swastika and the face of a pig and the words "Israel murders babies," written on it.

Texas Independence Plan Suffers Major Blow

 https://www.newsweek.com/texas-independence-plan-suffers-major-blow-1859834

The Texas Supreme Court has refused to take up a case filed against the state Republican Party after it rejected a petition calling for a vote on Texas independence to be included on its March primary ballot.

The case was brought by the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), a group campaigning for the state to leave the United States and become a fully independent country. On Wednesday, the TNM's petition, with 139,456 signatures, was denied outright, sparking an angry response from secessionist campaigners.

Swedish alarm after defence chiefs' war warning

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67935464

Oscar Jonsson, a specialist from the Swedish Defence University, said that while war was a possibility, it would require several factors to fall into place: Russia's war in Ukraine coming to an end, its military having the time to rebuild and rearm its fighting force and for Europe to lose US military support.

All of which were within the realms of possibility, he added.

Huge ancient city found in the Amazon

 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67940671

While we knew about cities in the highlands of South America, like Machu Picchu in Peru, it was believed that people only lived nomadically or in tiny settlements in the Amazon.

The city was built around 2,500 years ago, and people lived there for up to 1,000 years, according to archaeologists.

It is difficult to accurately estimate how many people lived there at any one time, but scientists say it is certainly in the 10,000s if not 100,000s.

Prayer

 https://etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/issues-jewish-thought/issues-mussar-and-faith/prayer

In this chapter, we will discuss the age-old philosophical problem of how prayer works. The question of the efficacy of prayer has plagued philosophers throughout the ages. The philosophical question is often posed as such: if God is perfectly wise and omnipotent, then He knows, in His divine wisdom, what is best. If so, then how can we, when we pray, ask God to change His mind and do something else?

 If we are asking Him to do something He was planning to do anyway, then the prayer is in vain. And if we are asking Him to do something which is the opposite of His will, then why would He change His mind?[1]  If He has already, with His perfect divine wisdom, willed to do what is most perfect, wise and just, why would He do something less wise or less perfect or less just, simply because we have asked Him to? And if everything God does is for the good,[2] why would we want Him to change His mind?[3]

South Africa’s genocide charges against Israel: Cynical abuse of the ICJ

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-781481

While nothing is surprising in the international realities in which we live, it is nevertheless ironic that the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the world’s principal judicial organ, is being petitioned by South Africa, at the evident behest and initiative of the Palestinian leadership, to adjudge the State of Israel for the alleged crime of genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

The irony emanates first and foremost from the nature and history of the very term “genocide” – a term coined in 1944 by a Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, to describe the Nazi atrocities against the Jews during the Holocaust in Europe. 

This term was ultimately coopted into international law by the international community when it adopted in 1948 the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which criminalized acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

Praying to remove suffering is problematic

 Nefesh HaChaim (2:11): Even though it is a clear halacha in the gemora that an individual can add requests in prayer for his personal needs and suffering in each beracha according to the subject, it still should not be done because of his concern for his personal suffering. That is not the correct approach for those who are truly righteous. It is truly puzzling how it is possible to ask anything at all from G d so that his suffering should be removed. The issue is analogous to being cured from sickness. The doctor gives him strong medicine or in extreme cases amputates a limb in order to prevent the spread of the poison causing the illness. Does a person beg the doctor not to give the medicine or not to amputate the limb? The sick person is in fact paying to give him these unpleasant treatments. Therefore, one should not pray to have suffering removed. They are in fact the ointments and medicines that revitalize to atone for sin. Our sages (Shabbos 55a) stated: “There is no suffering unless caused by sin” - because the sinful person cannot obtain atonement without suffering.

Bitachon and doctors

 Shevet HaLevi (8:251): Question: Concerning the refusal of a sick person to allow medical treatment - can he be forced to accept treatment which is a mitzva for both the sick person and for the doctor? If in fact he can be forced to accept treatment , is it the doctor’s or the court’s obligation? What is the halacha today when it is a violation of the law of the land to force medical treatment on someone who is capable of making decisions. Answer: If the person refuses treatment because of his strong bitachon (trust) in G d then his refusal does not constitute a nullification of a mitzva as we see in the Ramban (Vayikra 26:11). However if he refuses treatment because of suicidal motivation or because of nonsense, then it would seem that the forced treatment should be done through the beis din (court) according to the advice of the doctor. Furthermore it seems from the Taz (Y.D. 336) that the obligation and mitzva to use medical treatment applies only to the ordinary person but not a complete tzadik. In addition the view of the Tzitz Eliezer - that there is an obligation to persuade someone who refuses treatment because of bitachon - is the correct halacha when we see that the sick person’s life is possibly in danger. That is because we can’t be sure that his bitachon is strong enough that it allows him to avoid medical treatment - which has been permitted by the Torah. While I am well aware that the Ktzos HaChoshen and the Nesivos (Choshen Mishpat 3) discuss whether the obligation to force is for beis din or it applies to every individual… However, in my humble opinion, the decision as to whether to force treatment on the sick person is given only to those with true understanding of the Torah. That is what I meant by the term beis din. …

Talent is from G-d

 Derashos HaRan (#10): The Jews were first commanded concerning two things. 1) Not to view their success as resulting from their own strength and abilities. 2) Not to view their conquest of Israel as being the result of their merit... While it is true that people vary in their talents and abilities, e.g., some are more intelligent than others while others are more skilled at making money than others. Therefore the rich man might say that he succeeded because of his inherent abilities. In order to forestall this conclusion, G d therefore said that it is important to remember that He is the source of this ability... One cannot deny that talent is critical to achieve success but one must never forget that talent is G d given.

Abarbanel (Devarim 8:1): Moshe did not want to reject the necessity of competence for success but provide the context for understanding its importance. Therefore he said: Remember He is the one who gave you strength to succeed. After all how can one deny the role of strength in farming and caring for cattle and property. These means to success cannot be denied since they are so self-evident. However the truth is that a person is the cause of his success but is the intermediary cause not the initial cause. It is critical that a person realize that while his efforts and talents are needed for success but G d is the provider of the conditions for success. 

Ramban (Devarim 8:18): But you should remember G d for it is He who gives you the power to succeed… It is well known that the Jews are powerful heroic soldiers in battle as we see they are compared to lions and wolves. Nevertheless they were defeated in battle by the kings of Canaan. Therefore the Torah tells us that if you think that your strength and own efforts are the sole basis for success - you should remember the redemption from Egypt. At that time you had no strength or capabilities at all. Furthermore you should remember in the desolate desert where there is no chance of natural survival - G d provided all your needs. Consequently you should understand from these facts - that even when you when you have strength - it is in fact G d who is provided this strength. If you forget this then G d will remove your strength and you will be defeated as other have. That is because whoever deserts G d is obliterated…

Dovid did not rely on Divine Promises

 Akeidas Yitzchok (#26): Who was greater than Dovid the anointed king and beloved of G d. Despite the fact that he had promised security by the prophet, he struggled with all his natural ability to save himself from his enemies and from Shaul. He did not rely on the Divine promises because he knew that G d’s rescue and promises does not apply as long as it is possible to be saved by natural means. This is true even if the natural means are debasing such as his feigning insanity and let saliva drip on his beard to escape his enemies. Failure to use all natural means is indicative of laziness. It is only after totally exhausting every possible natural option - and the situation appeared hopeless - do we find that he prayed that G d rescue him