Josh Shapiro says antisemitism played ‘no role’ in his not getting picked as Kamala Harris’ running mate

 https://www.jta.org/2024/08/19/politics/josh-shapiro-antisemitism-played-no-role-in-his-not-getting-picked-as-kamala-harris-running-mate

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said antisemitism played “no role” in Vice President Kamala Harris’ opting against him as a running mate, and blamed Donald Trump for spreading that allegation.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, made the remark in an interview on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, as he was making the rounds between meetings of state delegations. Shapiro had been considered a leading contender in Harris’ veepstakes, and faced a progressive campaign to tank his chances over his support for Israel.

In military operation: IDF, ISA, retrieve bodies of six hostages from Gaza

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/en/news/394890

The bodies of Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchstab, Yoram Metzger, Haim Perry, Alex Dancyg, and Avraham Munder were retrieved Monday night from Gaza in an IDF operation.

All six were kidnapped to Gaza by terrorists during the October 7 massacre, and were murdered in captivity.

Talmudic Authority

Introduction to Mishna Torah  

Thus, Ravina, Rav Ashi, and their colleagues represent the final era of the great Sages of Israel who transmitted the Oral Law. They passed decrees, ordained practices, and put into effect customs. These decrees, ordinances, and customs spread out among the entire Jewish people in all the places where they lived. 

After the court of Rav Ashi composed the Talmud and completed it in the time of his son, the Jewish people became further dispersed throughout all the lands, reaching the distant extremes and the far removed islands. Strife sprung up throughout the world, and the paths of travel became endangered by troops. Torah study decreased and the Jews ceased entering their yeshivot in the thousands and myriads, as was customary previously. Instead, individuals, the remnants whom God called, would gather in each city and country, occupy themselves in Torah study, and [devote themselves] to understanding the texts of the Sages and learning the path of judgment from them. 

Every court that was established after the conclusion of the Talmud, regardless of the country in which it was established, issued decrees, enacted ordinances, and established customs for the people of that country - or those of several countries. These practices, however, were not accepted throughout the Jewish people, because of the distance between [their different] settlements and the disruption of communication [between them]. Since each of these courts were considered to be individuals - and the High Court of 71 judges had been defunct for many years before the composition of the Talmud -people in one country could not be compelled to follow the practices of another country, nor is one court required to sanction decrees which another court had declared in its locale. Similarly, if one of the Geonim interpreted the path of judgment in a certain way, while the court which arose afterward interpreted the proper approach to the matter in a different way, the [opinion of the] first [need] not be adhered to [absolutely]. Rather, whichever [position] appears to be correct - whether the first or the last - is accepted. 

These [principles apply regarding] the judgments, decrees, ordinances, and customs which were established after the conclusion of the Talmud. However, all the matters mentioned by the Babylonian Talmud are incumbent on the entire Jewish people to follow. We must compel each and every city and each country to accept all the customs that were put into practice by the Sages of the Talmud, to pass decrees parallelling their decrees, and to observe their ordinances, since all the matters in the Babylonian Talmud were accepted by the entire Jewish people. 

Secular knowledge is from ruach hakodesh

The need and importance of consulting psychologists and doctors and other experts in secular knowledge should not be regarded as against Torah. Aside from the fact that Moshe consulted with Yisro and that through the ages gedolim have always done such - the following Chasam Sofer asserts that secular wisdom itself is inspired by ruach hakodesh.

Chasam Sofer (Orech Chaim 1:208): And this that you have written a number of times concerning the issue of wisdom and prophecy and Azniel ben Kenaz who restored the lost Halacha by pilpul… You correctly explain that which the Raavad said that there was ruach hakodesh in his beis hamedrash and similar such expressions does not mean ruach hakodesh in the sense that Dovid HaMelech had. Rather it means the spirit of G‑d for those who engage in Torah for pure motivations who merit to ascertain the truth even if according to the nature of their wisdom and intelligence they should be incapable of comprehending it properly. Nevertheless, G‑d in His mercy gives extra inspiration of wisdom for a limited time. In this manner Azniel ben Kenaz merited to ascertain the truth through pilpul, kal v’chomer and gezera shaveh [Temurah 16a] that which his natural intelligence was incapable of doing. This is similar to what it says in Bava Basra 12a that even though prophecy was taken from the prophets but not from the sages. However, your understanding of this gemora to be that wisdom was not taken from the sages is incorrect. Rather it is that prophecy was not taken from the sages. In other words, that type of prophecy which is attainable through the wisdom of one who studies Torah for pure motivation merits many things [Avos 6:1] with his intellect and his wisdom even though he doesn’t have the natural ability for it. The gemora wants to prove this from the common fact that a talmid chachom comprehends something on his own which in fact is according to the understanding of Rabbi Akiva. We know that this person’s level is not up to Rabbi Akiva’s heels. This proves that it happened by the prophetic ability we mentioned. In addition, we also find that he says things which in fact are Halacha L’Moshe m’Sinai. The gemora rejects this proof by saying that perhaps this occurs by chance like a blind person groping through a window. However, the gemora concludes that it is not by chance since he gives justifications for his views and thus it is like a prophetic form of wisdom. This idea can explain the gemora in Megila (16a): “Whoever says wisdom even if he not Jewish is called a wise man.” The obvious question is why shouldn’t he be called a wise man? Don’t we in fact even say a beracha on the wise men of the non‑Jews “who gives of His wisdom to human beings” (Berachos 58a)? The answer is that without this gemora we would have mistakenly thought that Divinely inspired wisdom only comes to Jews while if a non‑Jew said something brilliant that seems to transcend his intellectual capabilities we would have thought it was just blind chance….

Enlightenment & the Jews: What part should G-d play in secular culture?

This is the first of a series of posts on the relationship of Judaism to secular society and secular knowledge. I had previously mentioned the Seridei Aish's view that the Mussar Movement was a frum enlightenment which I understood literally. Dr. Marc Shapiro corrected me and said that I can not take this literally. Apparently the Seridei Aish simply meant it was enlightenment - but only in the spiritual sense and was never meant to include the issue of secular knowledge or tikun olam. However no one else seems to have characterized the Mussar Movement as frum haskala.  Dr. Shapiro said he would send me a letter from the Seridei Aish that discusses the issue more fully.

However once on the topic - since it is the issue today with Rabbi Lipman and his attempt to bring the chareidi society into the modern secular world with compulsory secular studies in high school, compulsory draft and in general a compulsory interaction with the secular world - I thought it would be of value to explore the historic lessons of the traditional Orthodox world dealing with the secular world. The issues facing Israeli Chareidim now were faced by the Jewish community beginning with the end of the 17th century when the secular enlightenment occurred together with emancipation from the ghetto - and continued to the present day.

 ============

Paul Johnson (A History of the Jews page 298-299): Although the haskalah was a specific episode in Jewish history, and the maskil or enlightened Jew is a special type peculiar to Judaism, the Jewish enlightenment is nevertheless part of the general European enlightenment. But it is, more particularly, linked to the enlightenment in Germany, and this for a very good reason. The movement in both France and Germany was concerned to examine and readjust man's attitude to God. But whereas in France its tendency was to repudiate or downgrade God, and tame religion, in Germany it sought genuinely to reach a new understanding of and accommodation with the religious spirit in man. The French enlightenment was brilliant but fundamentally frivolous; the German was serious, sincere and creative. Hence it was to the German version that enlightened Jews felt attracted, which influenced them most, and to which they in turn made a substantial contribution. For perhaps the first time Jews in Germany began to feel a distinct affinity with German culture, and thus sowed in their hearts the seeds of a monstrous delusion.

To intellectuals in Christian society, the question posed by the enlightenment was really: how large a part, if any, should God play in an increasingly secular culture? To Jews, the question was rather what part, if any, should secular knowledge play in the culture of God. They were still enfolded in the medieval vision of a total religious society. It is true that Maimonides had argued strongly in favour of admitting secular science and had demonstrated how completely it could be reconciled to the Torah. But his argument had failed to convince most Jews. Even a relatively moderate man like the Maharal of Prague had attacked Rossi precisely for bringing secular criteria to bear on religious matters. A few Jews, for instance attended medical school in Padua. But they turned their back on the world outside the Torah the moment they re-entered the ghetto in the evening, as indeed did Jewish men of business. Of course many went out into the world never to return; but that had always happened. What the awesome example of Spinoza had shown, to the satisfaction of most Jews, was that a man could not drink at the well of gentile knowledge without deadly risk of poisoning his Judaic life. The ghetto remained not merely a social but an intellectual universe on its own. By the mid-eighteenth century the results were pitifully apparent to all. As long ago as the Tortosa dispute, early in the fifteenth century the Jewish intelligentsia had been made to seem backward and obscurantist. Now, more than 300 years later, the Jews appeared to educated Christians - or even uneducated ones - figures of contempt and derision dressed in funny clothes, imprisoned in ludicrous superstition, as remote and isolated from modern society as one of their lost tribes. The gentiles knew nothing, and cared less about Jewish scholarship. Like the ancient Greeks before them, they were not even aware it existed. For Christian Europe there had always been a 'Jewish problem'. In the Middle Ages it had been: how to prevent this subversive minority from contaminating religious truth, and social order? No fear of that now. For gentile intellectuals, at least the problem was now rather: how, in common humanity, to rescue this pathetic people from their ignorance and darkness

Smotrich orders haredi daycare subsidies to continue, defying attorney general

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-815212

Smotrich claims Limon and Messing's opinion is wrong

In his letter, dated Thursday but published on Sunday, Smotrich argued that Limon and Messing’s opinion was wrong and based on spite towards haredi families. Smotrich demanded that they rescind the opinion, that he intended to continue with the subsidies and, that if the legal advisors thought it problematic, they could petition the High Court. The finance minister’s intention contradicted the aforementioned High Court ruling, which reiterated that the attorney-general was the only statutory interpreter of the law and the court’s rulings, and therefore its opinions were binding.

Studying Greek Wisdom

 https://www.etzion.org.il/en/halakha/yoreh-deah/topics-yoreh-deah/studying-greek-wisdom

          Learning a trade is considered one of these needs, as the Yerushalmi says. The Ra'avan writes that despite the prohibition against embarking on a sea voyage three days before Shabbat, it is permissible for one's trade.  Rashi writes (Bava Metzia 30b) that the verse "You should inform  them of the path in which they should walk" refers to teaching one's children a trade.  Studying Greek wisdom might, if it has some worth, also be considered a legitimate need, which (according to the Ran's approach) would not detract from one's fulfillment of the obligation to "learn Torah according to one's ability."

Far-right influencers turn against Trump campaign

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/18/trump-campaign-nick-fuentes-groypers-hard-right-criticism/ 

Colin Henry, a researcher at George Washington University who has studied political extremism online, said influencers on the far right have grown visibly frustrated in recent weeks by Trump’s fading performance in the polls and the campaign’s disavowal of hard-line policy proposals, such as Project 2025. “They saw that as a shot across the bow from the mainstream folks, who wanted to do all this stuff with policy and institutions,” he said.

‘Alarming’ surge in mental ill health among young people in face of ‘unprecedented’ challenges, experts warn

 https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/14/alarming-surge-in-mental-ill-health-among-young-people-in-face-of-unprecedented-challenges-experts-warn

Intergenerational inequality, unregulated social media, wage theft, insecure employment and the climate crisis are driving a “dangerous” and “alarming” global surge in mental ill health among youth, a consortium of health experts has warned.

There is an urgent need to address these driving factors and improve mental health treatments to stymie rates of premature death, disability and lost potential, all of which have escalated over the past two decades, the research from The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health found.

Sunday Meltdown: Trump Floods Truth Social With Photos of Swifties and Communists

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/sunday-meltdown-trump-floods-truth-social-with-ai-images-of-swifties-and-communists?ref=home?ref=home

Trump went on to remind his followers that he did more for Black Americans while in office than any other president—with one possible exception.

“Along with Opportunity Zones, the long term funding of HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, and much more, I’ve done more for our black population than anyone other than, perhaps, Abraham Lincoln!!! Sorry, but that’s the way it is!!!”

The claim is an old talking point of his, something he’s repeated in tweets, at campaign rallies, and, most recently, at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago. (Experts told The Washington Post in 2020 that the list of presidents who have done more for Black civil rights than Trump includes: Lyndon B. Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Harry Truman, and Barack Obama.)

The Way to Fix the Middle East Conflict Looks Obvious—Except to Israelis and Palestinians

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/two-state-solution-israelis-palestinians-708b6075?mod=hp_lead_pos7

In fact, support for side-by-side states has been dwindling for well over a decade. While surveys from the late 1990s until around 2010 showed solid majorities of Israelis and Palestinians backing the two-state solution, it has been downhill ever since.

Now only 32% of Palestinians believe in the formula, according to a PCPSR survey released in June. Among Israeli Jews, belief in peace based on two states has collapsed to 19%, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center published in May, from 32% shortly before Oct. 7.

Most Israelis and Palestinians know they need to find a way to share the land between the river and the sea. But they can no longer see a partner on the other side. 

Child sex-trafficking victim who killed her abuser will finally learn her fate

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/08/14/chrystul-kizer-sentence-sex-trafficking/

Her case has challenged the limits of the criminal justice system’s growing leniency for sex trafficking victims who end up behind bars. As police, prosecutors, judges and lawmakers have been trained regarding the trauma endured by those coerced into commercial sex, many states have implemented laws allowing trafficking victims to be cleared of certain charges — such as prostitution or theft — if they can prove their crimes occurred because they were being trafficked.

Obligation to obtain Scientific knowledge

 Devarim (04:06) Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, who, when they shall hear all these statutes, shall say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

What is this wisdom which is required to impress goyim?

Rashi in Chumash says it is Torah study

ושמרתם AND YE SHALL BE ON THE WATCH TO DO — This refers to the study of the laws (Sifrei Devarim 58), 

ועשיתם — this must be explained according to what it implies: AND YE SHALL DO. 

כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם וגו׳ FOR THIS IS YOUR WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING [IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLES] — i.e. through this ye will be accounted wise and understanding men in the eyes of the peoples.

However in Shabbos (75a) Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of bar Kappara: Anyone who knows how to calculate astronomical seasons and the movement of constellations and does not do so, the verse says about him: “They do not take notice of the work of God, and they do not see His handiwork” (Isaiah 5:12). And Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From where is it derived that there is a mitzva incumbent upon a person to calculate astronomical seasons and the movement of constellations? As it was stated: “And you shall guard and perform, for it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations” (Deuteronomy 4:6). What wisdom and understanding is there in the Torah that is in the eyes of the nations, i.e., appreciated and recognized by all? You must say: This is the calculation of astronomical seasons and the movement of constellations, as the calculation of experts is witnessed by all. 

Rashi (Shabbos 75a) In the eyes of the nations – since this is wisdom that is self evident in that it shows them a sign according to his words in the movement of the sun and the constellations, which testifies as he says that this year is rainy or this year is sunny All the events are related only to the mechanical movement of the sun and the constellations

It indicates it is referring to scientific studies. There Rashi indicates it is to knowledge that shows that nature follows mechanical rules and this undermines the belief that there are volitional forces that run the world

Teens’ Energy-Drink Habit Is Amping Anxiety, Disrupting Class and Triggering Seizures

 https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/teens-energy-drink-habit-is-amping-anxiety-disrupting-class-and-triggering-seizures-9badd52b?mod=hp_lead_pos11

It can hinder learning, disrupt class and, in some cases, cause seizures. Students regularly visit the school nurse’s office, complaining of rapid heart rates and anxiety attacks after consuming several energy drinks, administrators say. Caffeine consumption is linked to heightened feelings of anxiety and depression, which are on the rise among adolescents.