Daas Torah Marriage Review

 Fascinating and Comprehensive

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024

Verified Purchase

The topic is fascinating and the work is comprehensive. I enjoyed learning the topics from the sources. The book does not contain "questions" which the sources "answer" but are lumped by broad category. This is great because it is objective and allows the reader to decide for himself. However, it also makes answers hard to find.

For example, I wondered what the Torah view on whether Homosexuality is nature or nurture. I found nothing in the section on Homosexuality but in the section of differences between gender I found a reference to the mekubal the Rekanti that there is no gender swap between Gilgulim (if u were a women in a previous Gilgul u will be reincarnated as a women) and that if a soul were to be in a the wrong body gender it would be infertile. My inference is that according to the Rekanti, gender disphoria can be real but such a person would be infertile. If a fertile person claimed gender disphoria it would not be genuine.

Similarly, if one wanted to look up "spicier topics" such as unconventional sex (anything other than missionary), one would not easily come to a conclusion. Relevant headings are Somdomy, Pleasure, Zera Livatala, and Rabbi Friedeld.

Last example, I was hard pressed to find the Daas Torah on how to Foreplay. The best I found was in the section "Behavior with wife can be learned from animals" it cites a Talmud passage to arouse one's wife with promises of clothing even if there is no intent to fulfill.

One section I was dissatisfied with was Birth Control. I assume the author did not wish to navigate such murky waters or that very little has been actually published on the subject.

All in all, amazing buy and highly recommended.

Trump posts video with an image of a hog-tied Biden, drawing a rebuke from Democrat’s campaign

 https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-politics/ap-trump-posts-video-with-an-image-of-a-hog-tied-biden-drawing-a-rebuke-from-democrats-campaign/

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump drew criticism Friday for posting a video on social media that contains the image of a hog-tied President Joe Biden painted on the tailgate of a passing truck.

Trump Needs His MAGA Followers to Believe America Is Screwed

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-needs-his-maga-followers-to-believe-america-is-screwed?ref=home

MAGA (Make America Great Again) isn’t just a message on a red hat, it’s a mantra. And to acknowledge the ways America is currently great (and improving!) is to admit that the country does not, in fact, need a fulminating strongman like Trump to save us from the ashes of our once proud homeland.

As I have learned, saying something like “It’s great to be alive and in America right now” constitutes fighting words. That’s because Donald Trump needs his MAGA followers to believe America is screwed. The danger, of course, is that this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sin of Golden Calf and Working

 Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 277) Both the Ibn Ezra and the Ramban believe that that the main sin with the Golden Calf was that they erred in descending from their high level to the level of nature even though this was done for pure motivation in that they wanted to remain in pure service of G-d according to their belief that Moses was no longer with them. This was the deception of the evil Inclination which encourages man to the apparent simplest course  to achieve a goal (for example a person mistakenly thinks that the withstanding of a test always leads to sanctifying G-d’s Name) – we have already explained that this was the basis of Adam’s sin i.e., descent for the purpose of ascent.  Repentance for this sin is difficult since it contains an aspect of sinning with intent to repent And the root of this sin are the sly tricks of the evil inclination to bring man down. It can be determined to be  evil since it mixes together lust and spirituality. As we see when Eve stated “that the tree is good to eat and is lust for the eyes and pleasing to the intellect. Just as a person masks his combining Torah with working

Foreign Ministry on ICJ ruling: Israel places no limitations on the aid which enters Gaza

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387569

“‎Israel will continue to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones, in order to enable and facilitate the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip in a continuous and extensive manner, by land, air, and sea, together with UN bodies and other partners in the international community. This includes ongoing efforts to increase the scale, and means of access for such aid despite the operational challenges on the ground and Hamas׳s active and abhorrent efforts to commandeer, hoard, and steal aid.”

Trump Goes After Judge Juan Merchan’s Daughter AGAIN—This Time By Name

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-goes-after-judge-juan-merchans-daughter-againthis-time-by-name?ref=home?ref=home

Trump has been particularly fixated on the political work of Merchan’s daughter, suggesting her supposed political leanings are enough to influence how her dad treats him in a criminal trial.

“She works for Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, and other Radical Leftists who Campaign on ‘Getting Trump,’” he said, adding that her work has created a “TOTAL Conflict.”

In his latest rant, Trump made no mention of social media posts he previously claimed were made by Merchan, however.

That’s likely because a representative for the New York state court system pointed out that the account Trump attributed to her in his initial rant against on Wednesday didn’t actually belong to her.

In surprise primary result, Lapid holds on to party leadership by a mere 29 votes

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-surprise-primary-result-lapid-holds-on-to-party-leadership-by-a-mere-29-votes/

Opposition leader wins only 52 percent of vote in leadership contest he was expected to breeze through; thanks opponent Ram Ben Barak for ‘a fair race’

Smotrich vs. Sanctions: USA reduces sanctions against Judea and Samaria residents

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387581

The USA has significantly reduced the sanctions it imposed on residents of Judea and Samaria following Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's threats of economic sanctions against Palestinian Authority banks.

US Warns Israel Against 'Enormous' Mistake in Gaza

 https://www.newsweek.com/us-warns-israel-enormous-mistake-gaza-1884585

The State Department on Wednesday again warned Israel about an offensive against the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, saying that an assault on the territory's frontier refuge would inflict "massive harm" on civilians and ultimately weaken Israeli security.

For months, U.S. officials have been warning against an Israeli attack on Rafah, which sits along Gaza's border with Egypt and has become the "last refuge" for more than 1 million Palestinians fleeing Israel's offensive against the devastated territory.

Washington wants Israel to conduct a more limited, targeted operation to root out the Hamas and other militant leaders and formations believed to be in Rafah, including their occupation of a network of tunnels underneath it. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have repeatedly made clear they see a full assault as their only choice.

X Account Trump Cited to Attack Judge’s Daughter Isn’t Even Hers, Court Rep Says

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-bitterly-attacks-judge-juan-merchans-daughter-hours-after-gag-order?ref=home?ref=home

“Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump posted online. “In other words, he hates me! His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem) Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden. He was recently the judge on an unrelated trial of a long term employee, elderly and not in good health. This judge treated him viciously, telling him either you cooperate or I’m putting you in jail for 15 years. He pled, and went to jail for very minor offenses, highly unusual, served 4 months in Rikers, and now they are after him again, this time for allegedly lying (doesn’t look like a lie to me!), and they threatened him again with 15 years if he doesn’t say something bad about ‘TRUMP.’ He is devastated and scared! These COUNTRY DESTROYING SCOUNDRELS & THUGS HAVE NO CASE AGAINST ME. WITCH HUNT!”

Brothers testify in Lev Tahor kidnapping trial

 https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/monsey/2024/03/26/lev-tahor-kidnap-trial-weingartens-deny-allegations-us-district-court-white-plains-ny/73100675007/

A former Monsey resident who joined a fringe sect of ultra Orthodox Judaism and is accused of kidnapping two children to return them to the group in Guatemala testified at his federal trial that he was convinced the children were being abused so he needed to help free them.

Republicans Have an Internal Polling Problem

 https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-have-internal-polling-problem-1883984

An analysis by The New York Times concluded that Republicans in 2022 were misled by "right-leaning pollsters using opaque methodology, in some cases relying on financial support from hyperpartisan groups and benefiting from vociferous cheerleading by Mr. Trump."

These impacted the polling averages calculated by groups like RealClearPolitics exaggerating the GOP's position.

The New York Times said: "The skewed red-wave surveys polluted polling averages, which are relied upon by campaigns, donors, voters and the news media.

Yeshiva Education was not meant for the welfare of Everybody

 Michtav M’Eliyahu (03 page 356) The main problem is the difference between the education system of Frankfurt and the education system of the Yeshiva World . Frankfurt - allowed science and included studying at the university as being acceptable as being their guiding principle in education. The price they paid for this was that the number of Torah greats that they produced was even of those who studied Torah in the Yeshivas of Lithuania and Poilin and science in Ashkenaz, only a very few of them became great scholars. While it is true Frankfurt had very few who left religion, the purity of their views regarding the absolute truth of the Torah system. instead of being contradicted by science, their view of Torah became subtlely  distorted by belng a strange partnership with it as if it were possible to combine inherently contradictory ideas in one heart. Nevertheless almost all remained mitzvos observers with great devotion while some achieved the highest level of observance.   In contrast the goal of the yeshiva was not quantitative but focused on quality by producing  a few gedolim and comsequently they prohibited  their students from attending universities since this was viewed as undermining the possibility of becoming a godol.  Don’t think that they were not fully aware that this elitist goal would not destroy the religious observance of many of the students of the yeshivos who would not survive this extreme environment. But they were willing to pay the price to obtain gedolim. Obviously they tried hard to prevent the damage to those who would not become gedolim as long as it did not impact the others. For those who had to leave the yeshivas, it was conditional on getting only menial low status jobs such as being clerks in stores that don’t require special training or degrees and thus they would not be devoted to these occupations. Anyone wanting a good job or academic training was rejected so as to not harm the other students.I heard that they found support for such an approach by the statement found in Vayikra Rabba (2:10), One thousand students enter to study Bible and only one comes out as a posek and G-d says “that is the one I desire.” They also mentioned the words of the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, “It is better that 1000 fools die in order to obtain one Torah scholar.”

[Rav Sternbuch told me to append a note to this letter of Rav Dessler’s letter. He said that the halacha is clear that it is not allowed to produce gedolim if it causes others to stop being observant. He said that Rav Dessler doesn’t mean that it is certain that people will go off the derech because of this approach – but only that it can happen. In addition that going off the derech here refers to a possiblity of losing the yeshiva standard of observance  - not giving up religious observance entirely.]

Newsmax got funding from Qatari royal family during Trump administration: WaPo

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4557594-newsmax-funding-qatari-royal-family-trump-administration-wapo/

Newsmax, the conservative cable news channel touted by former President Trump and his allies, received funding from a member of the Qatari royal family during Trump’s years in the White House, according to a new report.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that a member of the Qatari royal family invested roughly $50 million in Newsmax in 2019 and 2020, citing documents and representatives for the media company and the royal.