Working is good only for some People

Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 197) It has already been explained that all man's efforts in earning a living is so that he may learn about Divine providence and withstanding tests. Also to know , that there is no such thing as Nature at all, but everything is from G-d alone. That is why the need to engage in a job varies according to the degree the man is aware of G-d’s providence.

Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 197) There are five different levels concerning the awareness of G-d’s providence. The highest level is the man who has already stood the test, and recognized that the miracle and nature are both truly visible miracles, and knows that there is no real nature. , For such a person there is no longer a need for the test of "by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread". And it is proper for him to rely all the time on his attachment to G-d and His Torah, since there is no reason to conceal  the miraculous from him. This is the method of R. Shimon bar Yochai, that as long as Israel does the Will of G-d.  their work is done by others...

 Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 197)  The second level concerning the awareness of G-d’s providence: There are no miracles from heaven except for those who have reached the perfection of bitachon. They view miraculous and the natural in their hearts as being totally identical. Thus they perceive that nature does not exis and that is simply a test. But for those who have not yet reached such perfection, they should behave as if Nature exists and is real. He needs to overcome natural challenges. He still is required to obey the curse of with the sweat of your breath you shall eat bread, this is the level that Rabbi Ishmael  prescribes in the dispute with Rabbi Shimon. If such a person refuses to work and insists on relying on miracles, he will not be successful.

Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 197) The third degree concerning the awareness of G-d’s providence, is the one who sees nature merely as a tool in G-d’s hand. and he does not see that nature is not real. Also there exists varying degrees of these levels. Someone who has reached the degree of R. Ishmael should have a job, because in every act he continues to find out for himself the nonreality  of his deeds. Thus for such a person working actually increases his spiritual level. But he who is at a lower level than this, there is the fear that his actions will not add clarity to his knowledge, but will actually cause him to descend and to think that Nature is real.  For such a person nature activities are dangerous and he should minimize them as much as possible.

Is There Life on Other Planets?

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3012/jewish/Is-There-Life-on-Other-Planets.htm

Dr. Velvl Greene was a microbiologist who was enlisted by NASA in their project to determine if there is life on Mars. He asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe privately if this was something he should be doing.

The Rebbe replied, “Dr. Greene, look for life on Mars! And if you don’t find it there, look somewhere else in the universe for it. Because for you to sit here and say there is no life outside of planet Earth is to put limitations on the Creator, and that is not something any of His creatures can do!”

Parnossa - Pele Yo'etz

 Pele Yoetz (Parnossa) It is known that the key to parnossa is in the hands of G-d. He is feeds and provides sustenance for all from the horns of rams to the eggs of lice. Hower there are distinctions and differences  betweeen them. Man is sustained according to his deeds and mazel and according to G-d’s understanding. 

Pele Yoetz (Parnossa) There is a well known disagreement in the Talmud that the Rashbi believed that a person should engage only in the Torah constantly and as a result his work is done by others while Rabbi Yishmael believed that one should follow a natural course and have a job. the commentators say that what both of them say is true.  The meaning of the matter is that the work of the pious  is blessed in miraculous fashion. Therefore the little work they do is is blessed by G-d and is adequate for their needs. However for the majority, G-d provides parnossa in a natural manner. 

Pele Yoetz (02 page 58) . 1. A craft, is a laborious act that requires concentration and effort, and therefore has the ability to keep the thoughts of lust away from a person. But on the other hand, its content is usually material, and therefore In any case, it also distances from spiritualityand from the Torah. 2, Torah and Derech Eretz, various explanations have been given to this concept, but the most striking is that of Rabbi Chaim of Volozyhner, who interpreted when is the Torah beautiful with Derech Eretz? When Darech Eretz is also Torah. And this is his language there, "Raba said (Brachos 35) to his students on the days of Nisan and on the days of Tishrei, do not appear before me in order not to struggle with your livelihood the rest of the year.” G-d forbid to say that they turned their hearts completely to working all day long and they were  completely negligent from Torah study. But in fact while they were involved in their business their thinking was involved with Halacha.

Pele Yoetz (02 page 58) Mixing in oil means the Torah that should be mixed with good deeds, As they say “It is beautiful that Torah studying be comboned with derech eretz. Since the exertion in both obliterates sin.”When a who has good deeds is engaged in Torah study he keeps himself from sin. In other words, by this he keeps himself from sin, and in this man comes closer to the level of pure motivation for the sake of G-d.

Parnossa Kad HaKemach

 Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad haKemach  Parnossa) And He even sustains every nation of the seventy nations that exist in the world even those who are not worthy of it because there are some nations among them who have no Torah and nothing to do with a mitzvah but are worshipers of idolatry. Also the wild animals including those that are dangerous and harm us as it is written He gives bread to the animal, etc., and all are nourished and provided for by His ever-great kindness that does not cease. and David also said He gives bread to all flesh because His kindness is eternal.

Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad haKemach  Parnossa) G-d sustains the whole world from the horns of rams to the eggs of lice, that is, from the largest to the smallest of the animal species that does not speak, and it is not necessary to say of the human species

Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad haKemach  Parnossa) In the name of sustenance, G-d was called a shepherd Come and see how great the power of sustenance is because the parts of the world that need sustenance are four. And these are inanimate and vegetative and living and speaking. . And each and every one's livelihood is prepared for him according to his value and that which is appropriate for it.

Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad haKemach  Parnossa) Children. Lifespan and parnossa, are not dependent on virtue but on mazel. This  it is not to be understood that the matter depends on luck and according to the stars and that prayer is irrelevant. Because we know from other sources that prayer does help in these matters. In fact this statement informs us how great is the power of prayer. Because everything decreed by the stars can be canceled by G-d. In fact everything that is decreed by the stars, it is possible for a person to cancel it by his merit even  without prayer and without shouting at all. Nevertheless in these three things which are dependent on the stars, he is needs to pray

Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad haKemach  Parnossa) And because in the giving of the parnossa a miracle is done in them by canceling the power of the stars. Therefore our sages compared the giving of parnossa to the splitting of the Red Sea, because the splitting of the sea was an open miracle and while parnossa is a hidden miracle, therefore they said it was like the splitting and not the splitting.

Rabbeinu Bachya (Kad haKemach Parnossa) It is well-known that the matter of livelihood is a testimony to the wonders of G-d and to his great kindness of His graces from the fact that He gives bread to all flesh and distributes sustenance to all His creatures.Our Sages said It is called the Great Hallel because God sits in His midst of the world and distributes sustenance to all His creatures, because He gives each and every one his need for sustenance and enough for his lack that he lacks.

Deadly Rafah strike doesn’t cross Biden’s ‘red line’

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/rafah-strike-biden-red-line-00160258

The Biden administration has decided Israel’s weekend strike in Rafah that reportedly killed nearly 50 displaced Palestinians did not cross the “red line” President Joe Biden set two months ago, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

The administration made clear in public and in private on Tuesday that the incident, while devastating, would not trigger any serious reprimand from Washington. It’s the strongest indicator yet that Israel is conducting a military operation that the administration can accept, even if U.S. officials don’t like every aspect of it.

IDF says hidden store of terror munitions may have caused deadly Rafah blaze

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-hidden-store-of-terror-munitions-may-have-caused-deadly-rafah-blaze/

The military suspects that the munitions or some other combustible substance it was unaware of caused a secondary explosion and a fire to spread in a complex housing displaced Gazans in Rafah, killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, following an airstrike targeting two top Hamas terrorists in the area.

Airstrike shrapnel hitting fuel tank likely caused Rafah fire - US official

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-803937

Initial information suggests that the fire that broke in Rafah following the airstrike targeting two Hamas senior members on Sunday most likely occurred as a result of shrapnel hitting and igniting a fuel tank in the vicinity of the attack, ABC News reported on Monday, citing a US official.

Response to Rav Feldman

 https://cross-currents.com/2024/05/23/response-to-rav-feldman/

This is going to be short. Others might have much more to say. I would only like to contrast Rav Feldman’s approach with that of R Moshe Sternbuch, shlit”a, – whose anti-Zionist credentials are even richer than those of R Feldman – penned just a few days after Oct. 7. Here is a free translation of his words:

The Gri”z, zt”l, said a lofty thing. When the navi Yonah boarded the ship to escape to Tarshish, and Hashem brought a tempest to the sea that threatened to capsize the vessel, Yonah’s reaction was, “I am the cause of this great tempest.” Now, there were many actual idolators aboard, as it is written, “Each man cried out to his god.” Nonetheless, Yonah did not attribute the cause of the tempest to the sins of all the others on board the ship. He attributed the fault to himself. The Gri”z said that this instructs us on how to react at a time of great affliction – for, after all, only prophecies that had continued relevance to all times were recorded. At such times a person should not seek out the sins of his friend and those around him. Rather, he should say, “I am the cause of this great tempest.” He should examine his own actions, and how to repent for them.

How the Activist Left Turned On Israel

https://time.com/6323730/hamas-attack-left-response/

 But for many members of the young left, the massacre of Israeli innocents represents a glitch in a moral dogma that reduces most political conflict to an underlying battle between the oppressor and the oppressed.  "The default of the left is to side with the victims and defend them," says Berger, and in the long-simmering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, "it doesn't seem like the Jews are the victims.”

Child of Famed Jewish Family Funded Pro-Palestinian Protests

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/pro-palestinian-campus-protests-were-funded-by-rachel-gelman-despite-family-being-jewish?ref=home?ref=home

 the Gelmans have ranked among the biggest bankrollers of the Birthright Israel Foundation, which sponsors free trips for Jewish young adults to Israel—and which she also once chaired.

Meanwhile, the Gelmans have simultaneously bankrolled the Bafrayung Fund, their daughter Rachel’s charity, pouring in $3,470,000 between 2019 and 2022—the last year for which disclosures are available—all from Morningstar Philanthropic, the same outfit through which the Gelmans support Birthright and the Israel Policy Forum.

Bafrayund has in turn disbursed money to a wide range of left-wing causes, including those tied to pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli activism. That includes $60,000 for the Palestinian Youth Movement—doled out in annual earmarked tranches to the group’s sponsor WESPAC—and $40,000 for the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.

Tzadik is not necessarily a Scholar

 Malbim (HaCarmel) The name tzaddik refers to one who uses the laws of wisdom to do justice and habituates himself to acting according to the laws of wisdom and this becomes his nature. Even though he is not learned and did not accept and learn the laws of wisdom through extensive study from others, he trained his nature to do them according to commonsense 

Women ran stores in Europe - but not in Israel

While there are many sources which explicitly state that women should remain home - the historical reality was something else. For example there are letters written by the students of the Vilna Gaon who came to Israel in the early 1800's. The letters were requests for financial assistance from their European brethren. One of the reasons given for the need for this help was that in Israel the accepted practice [of the Arab population] is that women don't work in stores as they did in Lithuania. In addition the men came to Israel to learn Torah - not to work.

אברהם יערי אגרות מארץ ישראל ע”מ 336.

מכתב מתלמידי הגר”א בשנת 1810

 

“טעם הב’ ראיתי חובה עלי להודיע כי הספרדים יש להם פרנסות בחנויות וס”ד  הכל בהיתר ולא באיסור ובמנוחה. אבל לא לאשכנזים מפני מניעת הלשון, וגם כאן המנהג שהנשים אינם יושבות בחנויות, ואנשינו הבאים

לאה״ק ע״פ רוב ביאתם לקנות שלימות ולהיות מתופשי ב ה מ ״ ד " לישב על התורה ועל העבודה ובאים בידים ריקניות.”

Tzadikim are G-d's Partners

 Ramchal (Daas Tevunos 158.8) And see how much honor the Creator, G-d, gave to the tzadikim, whom He considered to be partners with Him. Because He truly gave them a part in the correction of the world and the perfection of creation.until we find the correction of creation, so to speak, divided between G-d and the tzadikim, which is not fulfilled except by both.

Ramchal (Daas Tevunos 158.13) And now we will explain the reality of the partnership that we mentioned between the righteous and God in the correction of creation in that G-d provides benefit only according to the preparation of tzadikim.  It is therefore best if the tzadikim increase preparation upon preparation and correction upon correction, and correspondingly G-d will send benefit and elevation.

Trump told donors he will crush pro-Palestinian protests, deport demonstrators

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/27/trump-israel-gaza-policy-donors/

Former president Donald Trump promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, telling a roomful of donors — a group that he joked included “98 percent of my Jewish friends” — that he would expel student demonstrators from the United States, according to participants in the roundtable event with him in New York.