Rav Moshe Feinstein(Igros Moshe Y.D. 3:92): Our Sages describe the opposing views of halachic debate as both being “the words of the living G‑d.” This means that Torah study of the diverse views of Sages inherently does not contain something which is not true. Thus the opposing views of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel are both true. This rule applies also to the disputes of R’ Eliezer and all the Tannaim and Amoraim. All of them were given from One Shepherd. Thus it was not untrue when the Heavenly Bas Kol announced that the Halacha was in accord with R’ Eliezer. His words were inherently true - even though in this world we decide practical Halacha on the basis of majority decision. Because of the inherent truth of all views of our sages, we say the blessing “Who gave to us the Torah of truth” even if we are only learning the views that have been rejected from practical Halacha such as Beis Shammai or minority opinions.
Friday, October 11, 2024
The miraculous rebirth of Benjamin Netanyahu
https://www.politico.eu/article/miraculous-rebirth-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-palestine-war/
A year ago, Benjamin Netanyahu’s long career at the top of Israeli politics looked like it was over. His government’s catastrophic failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks meant the only thing keeping him in office as prime minister, amid surging public grief and anger, was the need for stability in an emergency.
..Twelve months on, he has recovered his standing after ordering a series of audacious attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah targets. The remote detonating of thousands of pagers and the assassination of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, stunned observers around the world and boosted his popularity at home.
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Kremlin refutes Trump denial on sending Putin COVID tests
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/09/trump-putin-covid-testing-equipment-kremlin
Woodward reported in his book that during the early days of the pandemic, Trump sent scarcely available COVID-19 testing machines for the Russian leader's personal use.
Woodward also reported that Trump and Putin have had "as many as seven" personal conversations since Trump left office in 2021.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Tuesday that the allegations were "made up stories" and called Woodward "a truly demented and deranged man."
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Torah starts with Bereishis - Why?
Chasam Sofer (Derasha to Simchas Torah page 57b #11) asks why did the goyim object that the Jews took the land away from the Seven Nations by military conquest. After all isn't this the normal way all people take land away from it current inhabitants. So why should the Jews be considered thieves more than any other nation? An explanation is that all the ancient people believed that each people had a spiritual representative in Heaven and who provided them with a homeland. The ancient people believed that G-d was just one of the national spiritual representatives and He was the representative of the Jews. They also firmly believed that G-d did not work in the normal natural manner but rather everything that He did was through miracles in a supernatural way. Consequently when they saw that the Jews were conquering the Land of Israel in a natural manner – rather than through miracles – they accused the Jews of unlawful seizure of the land and said that they were no more than thieves. That is because they knew that G-d only worked through miracles. It was to counter this mistaken understanding that the Torah begins with the story of G-d creating the world. This showed that G-d also works in a natural manner. If the Torah started with the Redemption of Egypt, that would serve to reinforce the mistaken view that G‑d only works through miracles. Therefore now that the Torah begins with Bereishis, the Jews were able to explain that they were not thieves. They conquered the Land of Israel in a normal manner through war, because G‑d wanted a natural conquest of the land rather than a miraculous conquest. However in truth this requirement of a natural conquest was not arbitrary but was the result of the sin of the Golden Calf and the breaking of the Tablets as is well known.
Rishonim are viewed as infallible - but Rambam erred?
Emes l'Yakov Bereishis (01:01) אבל כפי שאנחנו מתייחסים לדברי הראשונים שסוברים אנו בגדר של אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים א"כ אף על פי שבמקום זה אין הלכה כמותו אבל שיהיו דבריו דברי טעות לא יכולתי להשלים, ואם טעה הרמב"ם בהלכות יסודי התורה מדוע לא יטעה בהלכות שבת וכדומה?
והנראה בזה, דהנה לכאורה יש לתמוה על כל הענינים שכתב הרמב"ם בארבעת הפרקים הראשונים של הלכות יסודי התורה, הא כתב הרמב"ם בסוף הלכות אלו [פ"ד הלי"ג] וז"ל: ועניני ארבעה פרקים אלו הם שחכמים הראשונים קוראין אותו פרדס וכו', ובחגיגה [דף י"א ע"ב] איתא: אין דורשין במעשה בראשית כו' ולא במרכבה ביחיד אא"כ היה חכם ומבין בדעתו וכו', וא"כ בודאי לא נכתבו עניינים אלו אלא נמסרו בעל פה מפה לאוזן, וא"כ איך כתבן הרמב"ם בחיבורו ופירסמם לכל, ובפרט שהרמב"ם עצמו [בפ"ד הל"י] הביא הדין הזה שאין דורשין בדברים האלו ברבים וכו', וא"כ מדוע כתבן בספרו?
ובעל כרחנו אנו צריכין לומר שמה שמסר לנו הרמב"ם בפרקים אלו אין זה לא מעשה מרכבה ולא מעשה בראשית, אלא כתב כל הד' פרקים אלה מדעתו הרחבה מתוך ידיעות בחכמות חיצוניות, כלומר שלא מחכמת התורה, אלא הרי זה פיליסופיא בעלמא - ונאמר שכבר השיג עליו הגר"א ביו"ד סי' קע"ט סקי"ג שהפיליסופיא הטתו ברוב לקחה ועיי"ש, והרמב"ם כתב פרקים אלו רק בתור הקדמה לספר יד החזקה, ועיקר הספר מתחיל מפרק ה': כל בית ישראל מצווין על קידוש השם וכו', ואין לדמות טעויות בהלכות אלו לטעויות בהלכות שבת וכדומה, ודו"ק.
Emes l'Yakov Bereishis (01:01) According to our common understanding that the Rishonim are infallible. Even though only one view is regarded as halacha but the opposing view is not viewed as mistaken. So if the Rambam was mistaken in this matter of the nature of the heavenly bodies perhaps he was mistaken in hilchos Shabbos and other halachos?!
To answer this difficulty it must be noted that the Rambam states (Yesodei HaTorah (04:13) That the first four chapters in Mishna Torah are typically considered Pardes such as Meisa Bereishis and that our Sages (Chagiga 13a) prohibited public discussion of these matters. So why did the Rambam include them in his sefer which was meant for the masses!? We are forced to conclude that what the Rambam wrote in these first four chapters is not actually Pardes but his personal views based on philosophy and his own analysis. As is noted by the Vilna Gaon. In fact the fifth chapter is the actual beginning of the Torah viewpoint. Thus the material in the first four chapters can be mistaken while later chapters regarding halacha are infallible.
Rav Yakov and the Moon landing
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Allan Lichtman: October surprise ‘huge myth,’ Harris will win
The “October surprise” is a “huge myth” in American politics, according to the historian who devised the “Keys to the White House” formula.
Allan Lichtman, a historian and American University professor, has correctly predicted nearly every presidential race since 1984 using a formula of 13 true-or-false questions.
Looking ahead to November, eight of the keys favor Vice President Harris, while three do not, according to Lichtman.
The final two keys — foreign policy success and failure — could go either way but won’t sway the final outcome, he predicted.
כינוס חירום של רבני בני ברק: "לשים קץ לבנייה הבלתי חוקית"
https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1675740
עשרות דיינים ורבני קהילות התכנסו בבני ברק ויוצאים בקריאה נחרצת: "לשים קץ לבנייה הבלתי חוקית". בכינוס הועלתה לדיון הנושא הכאוב של בנייה בלתי חוקית שלמרבה הצער מתרחבת בעיר. הרבנים קראו לציבור להקפיד על חוקי התכנון והבנייה ולהימנע מגזל. הוצע לערוך תקנון מיוחד בחתימת רבני העיר
Interior Minister responds to Breslov hasidim stranded abroad
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/397291
Due to the chaos at the borders of Ukraine and Romania, which has caused thousands of Breslov hasidim to be unable to return home to Israel, representatives for the Breslov community have turned to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) for assistance.
In their request, the hasidim noted the chaos and the overcrowding which travelers faced in their attempts to return to Israel following their Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine.
Responding to one of the requests, Arbel answered that he has no way to help them, since, "Israel is at war."
"We are at war right now, and there was a travel warning," he wrote. "Whoever decided to travel anyway should take into account the risks which come with it."
Noach was not perfect tzadik because he didn’t save the world
Emes L’Yakov (Bereishis 06:09) Why do some of our Sages say negatively that Noach was only a tzadik in his generation when it is possible to interpret this verse as praising him? A possible answer is that he was viewed negatively because he was not able to save his generation Meaning that if he were a complete Tzadik, he would have saved them This can be explained by Bereishis Rabbah (31:03) which says that he chastised them as idolaters when in fact they were fully aware that idolatry was nonsense and they only worshipped idols as an excuse for sexual immorality as is stated in Sanhedrin (63b).Thus his preaching was useless in changing them. That is why some of the Sages viewed him negatively. because of his lack of awareness of the true situation – even though this seems more of a lack of wisdom then piety We see from this that lack of wisdom must mean a lack of piety. This means that if he were really concerned with Truth, he would have known to chastise them concerning sexual immorality. Thus the foundation of serving G-d is being concerned with putting all one’s efforts in determining the underlining Truth.
Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky- Evolution
We must invoke the well-known story about Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky zt”l on the plane. Although there are already several versions, the undisputed facts seem to be that the great rosh yeshiva sat on a plane to Eretz Yisroel next to a secular Israeli politician. Rav Yaakov’s son and grandchildren took wonderful care of him on the flight, making sure that he was comfortable and filling all of his needs. The non-religious Israeli, who also had family on the trip, was puzzled. “How come,” he finally inquired, “your children and grandchildren attend to you as if you were a king and mine have disappeared for the past nine hours?”
Rav Yaakov smiled in his kindly way and inquired, “It would seem from our discussions of the past few hours that you believe in the theory of evolution. Is that correct?” The man responded, “I don’t know what that has to do with anything, but, yes, of course. Most intelligent people today do. But why do you bring that up now? We will be landing soon and I just wanted to know how to get my family to act like yours.”
The rosh yeshiva’s retort has become one for the ages. “You see,” he softly explained, “we believe that the greatest moment in our national history occurred in the year 2448 after creation when the Torah was given. Each generation that was closer to that event is greater than the next because of its proximity to the holiness and power of that experience. Therefore, my children and grandchildren look up to me as a link to that astounding episode. You, my friend, on the other hand, believe and convey to your family that we are all descendents of apes. You think that mankind has been evolving for eons to ever greater heights and intellectual capabilities. Therefore, they see you as just one step closer to those monkeys, so why indeed should they give you any respect? If anything, following your own beliefs, you should give them honor and respect.”
The Great Florida Migration Is Coming Undone
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/florida-home-sales-slowing-355616a2?mod=hp_trendingnow_article_pos1
A surplus of housing inventory and dwindling buyer interest are slowing sales. Hurricanes and extreme weather are making it worse.
Trump seeds disinformation as he sets course for a possible Oval Office return
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/08/politics/trump-disinformation-2024-analysis/index.html
The ex-president made multiple false statements about the Biden administration’s hurricane response, including a baseless argument that Democrats ignored victims in Republican areas in North Carolina and that Biden hadn’t answered calls from Georgia’s GOP governor.