It's Time to Stop Calling Donald Trump a Fascist

 https://www.newsweek.com/its-time-stop-calling-donald-trump-fascist-opinion-1975888

Recently, however, more and more observers have taken to painting the movement and especially its sundowning 78-year-old leader with a single, saucy epithet: Fascist.

So, when figures as varied in outlook, occupation, and political bent as former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Charlamagne Tha God, and Yale historian Timothy Snyder characterize Trump and Trumpism as "fascist," attention must be paid.

With respect to Gen. Milley, Professor Snyder, and the rest, one could make the argument—oh, what the hell, let's just make it—that not only is Trump not a fascist. He's worse.

Rav Avigdor MiIler claims conservative candidates, police brutality, stern justice and capital punishment are indispensable for the welfare of society

Subject: Rav Avigdor Miller on Election Day 2016 - Halacha Li'maisah

Q-

     Is it a proper opportunity for the Rav to advise us on who to vote for in the upcoming election?

A-

     Is it advisable for me to recommend voting for one individual over another? Yes, absolutely. It's certainly advisable for Jews to back conservative candidates. Now, exactly which conservative candidate is the best choice is a matter that requires deliberation. But there's no question that the Jews have for too long carried on an affair with the liberals and it has caused them a great deal of suffering. And as long as the liberals will continue to have power we are going to have a continuation of the present disorder of society.

     All the theories of the liberals as to how to improve society are garbage. The plain truth is that forty years ago, without any of these theories, society was relatively stable. And it was based on one easy to understand principle - and that was that there has to be stern justice. And that's all! Now, the liberals will say, "No, that's nothing. It's not true. Capital punishment only increases crime." But that's baloney. It's sheker vi'kazav. There's one thing wrong with this country and that's it. Now, don't say that I'm oversimplifying things. Because they oversimplified in the olden days and we were able to walk in the streets. Everyone was afraid of the police. Until Mayor Lindsay came along and emasculated the police, everyone was afraid of a policeman. And that's what we need. We need more police brutality. And although innocent people might suffer sometimes, it pays. We need tough police who don't care what you say about them. We need police who have headquarters with bosses who disregard the complaints. In the olden days if you walked into headquarters and complained, the Police Captain would bark at you, "What do you want?!" That's what he said to you. He didn't listen to you polititely. "What do you want?!" he said. And you walked out with your head down.

     Capital punishment is the best rehabilitation for criminals. There used to be a Sing-Sing and it was a perfect educational institution for criminals. Anyone who went to Sing-Sing and worked on the [garbled] rock pile, when he got out  he had learned that crime doesn't pay. In [garbled] you didn't have television. All you had was an iron mallet and you stood in the sun in [garbled] and you banged and you banged and you cracked rocks and you sweated. And you were thinking all the time, "Why was I such a fool to get into this?"

     It's nothing but yir'as ha'onesh. And even tzadikim need it. The best people need it. And it would solve almost all crime. But instead they make a crime-study commission and they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and they bring scientists together and the result is that there's more crime than ever. And you know why? Because it's the scientists who cause crime. Scientists are causing crime. They're the ones who say that we should do away with harsh punishment and that we should listen to the complaints of the criminals. So when the prisoners recently made an insurrection in the prison and they killed some guards and they demanded to be heard, what happened? So the Governor appoints a commission and the members of the commission come to the prison to listen to the complaints of the felons. Instead of taking them and putting them into solitary for ten years on bread and water. That's what they used to get in the good old days. That's what they got and that's why we didn't have crime. You didn't have crime! What kind of stories are they telling us that there was always crime?! There wasn't crime. I remember, I walked home from Mesivta Chaim Berlin every night, summer and winter, through black neighborhoods. Who ever heard of somebody snatching a woman's pocketbook in broad daylight. In the olden days - [At this point the tape ends vi'chaval al di'avdin]

                  

 TAPE 125

THE ABOVE QUESTION AND ANSWER  WAS RECORDED FORTY YEARS AGO - A FEW WEEKS BEFORE THE CARTER-FORD PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1976

Rav Shach - Dialectics and understanding Gedolim

Shloime just posted a long list of harsh comments by Rav Shach - "to let him speak for himself" So let me present some counter balancing stories. which create a more 3 dimensional understanding. In essence I will take the approach presented by Anonymous [I would really like some more creativity expressed - why does everyone chose the moniker "anonymous"?]. A leader is not the simple sum of a sample of stories told about him.

1) My son learned in Ponevich in Rav Schach's time and related the following story which circulated the Yeshiva when Rav Shach was niftar.

Rav Shach once asked a close friend of his to promise to attend his funeral. When the astonished friend questioned the necessity of such a strange promise, Rav Shach replied, "As a leader I know I have made many enemies over the years. I am afraid that there will not be a minyan at my levaya."

This is intimately connected with another story.

2) When the news of Rav Shach's petira broke, there was a massive movement of hundred's of thousands of Jews to Bnei Brak. The buses leaving Har Nof were packed. While I was standing by the bus stop wondering how to get to Bnei Berak a car pulled up and offered me a ride. I did a double take when I saw who the driver was. An acquaintance who is the most dyed in the wool fanatic religious Zionist I have ever met. As I gratefully settled in my seat, I asked him why he was going to honor a man who was such a strong opponent for everything he stood for. He replied, "I have much reason to be upset with Rav Shach - both in terms of what he said and what he did to us. But there was no question that G-d chose him to be one of the major Torah leaders of our generation. How can I not show kavod to him by going to his levayah."

3) Regarding his attitude to secular learning. As is well know there is a unique institution guided by Rav Zev Leff - Maarava - in which an elite student body learn both Torah secular studies on a very high level. Something which is obviously not done in the chareidi world. It is also well known that Rav Shach periodically denounced the school in very strong terms. As those who know Rav Leff will attest, he is a very loyal member of the chareidi establishment. Before he accepted the position at Maarava, he of course had consulted with Daas Torah i.e., Rav Shach as to whether to accept the job. When he heard Rav Shach's strong denunciations and read the many wall posters attacking the school - he hurried to consult with Rav Shach. Rav Shach replied, "I already told you that you should take the job with the school. Just as it is your obligation to provide guidance for the school it is my obligation to denounce it so that the cream of our yeshivos understand it is not a l'chatchila choice for them. But for those who need such a school it is important that you guide it."

4) The Bostoner Rebbe told me the following when I was trying to find a school in Yerushalayim for my kids that was comparable to Chaim Berlin where they had learned. He said, "It is obvious that Americans need a different type of education than Israelis and it is obvious that many American's don't make aliyah or go back to America because their kids don't fit it the Israeli yeshiva system. I once went to Rav Shach to explain to him the need for a different yeshiva for Americans. When I presented my views he told me, 'If you American's don't like the way we run things here go back to America.' "

At the time I thought it was incredibly insensitive. However as I have gotten older, I realize that not every problem is to be approached with American rachamim - sometimes Israeli din is needed also. American's fail because they are overly sensitive about somebody saying boo at them or saying, " I don't like you." If they want to live and thrive in Israel they need to be as tough as the natives.

5) This was once expressed to me very bluntly by Rabbi Eliyahu Essas - one of the heroes of the Russian refusenik era. I mentioned to him that I had a set of mishnayos translated into Russian -my grandmother got it as an engagement present. I told him perhaps he would be interested in reprinting it to aid the Russian baalei teshuva. He replied with an irritated tone. You Americans are always looking for the easy way to do things. Russians know that the only way to be a scholar is to master Hebrew and learn the original. American's rely too much on crutches and don't learn to walk on their own."

6) One final story. Rabbi Steinzaltz is one of the modern heroes of the Jewish people. But he has no mesora i.e., he never was part of a yeshiva. [The Chofetz Chaim had a similar criticism of the Meshech Chochma]. There are many Russian Jews whose tie to Yiddishkeit was almost entirely through the Steinzaltz gemora. There are many baalei teshuva who first learned gemora with the Steinzaltz. Over time his influence and accomplishments increased mightily. He was even described as the "Rashi of Our Era" by Time magazine. Nobody criticised him until he acquired superstar status. It was when people starting describe him a gadol - as someone to guide and make the meta decision for the Jewish people that he was attacked. [Similar to R' Slifkin] He produced a book describing how our Biblical ancestors were human beings with psychological issues and typical petty motivation. It was then that Rav Shach attacked.

Hopefully this answers Shloime's question - if not - perhaps it will be enlightening to another reader of this blog.

History - The Funeral Controversy

Jewish History No One Knows (But Should Know)

From articles written for the Yated Neeman (USA)

by Avraham Broide
(Jerusalem based translator and journalist.
phone: 02-5856133; email: broide2@netvision.net.il)

When is a corpse not a corpse? When it's still alive of course!

Determining the moment of death is a subject that has many doctors and rabbis at loggerheads. Doctors are anxious to push forward the moment of death in order to save lives with transplants, while rabbis argue that there is no point killing Peter in order to save Paul.

There was once a time when the rabbis fought a very different battle. During the 18th Century, many people thought it barbaric to bury a person too soon, as who knows, perhaps he was still alive. They preferred to wait for only certain determinant of death, physical decomposition, which generally begins after three days.

Rabbis, on the other hand, wanted to bury people before nightfall, due to the Torah's command regarding a criminal whose body was hanged up as a warning (Devarim 21:23), "Do not leave his body overnight on the gallows, for you shall certainly bury him on that day." As the Shulchan Aruch" (Yoreh Dei'ah 357:1) rules, "It is forbidden to leave the dead [unburied] overnight unless it was for his honor, to bring him a coffin and shrouds."

During 5532/1772 things came to a head when the Mecklenburg Province of Germany outlawed prompt burial and legislated that three days must pass beforehand. When German rabbis raised a protest, Moses Mendelssohn was called on to intercede and he promptly found sources that seemed to support the government measure.

For example, a mishnah in Masseches Semachos relates how someone recovered from a death like coma and lived for another 25 years. Because of this, the mishnah says, people buried their dead in catacombs, instead of burying them underground, so that they could visit them for several days afterwards and ascertain their death status. If the corpse yelled or tapped on the walls of his stone coffin, there was still a chance to yank him out. Practically speaking, Mendelssohn had a point, as it is not unheard of for people to suddenly wake up and find themselves in a morgue.

One example of such pseudo-death may be Alexander's passing in 3439/323 BCE, when his body reportedly remained fresh several days afterwards. Some medical men theorize that he may have been suffering from a paralyzing disease.

The Yaavetz rejected Mendelssohn's proofs. Regarding the fear that Jews who determine death as the moment a person ceases breathing might determine someone as dead when he is really alive, the Yaavetz insisted that Moshe Rabeinu received this criteria of death at Sinai or that it is revealed in the verse, Kol asher ruach chayim be'apo (Whatever has the breath of life in its nose), from where the rabbis derive that before digging someone out of a ruin on Shabbos, we check whether he is breathing or not.

As for Mendelssohn's proof from masseches Semachos, the Yaavetz writes that such things happen so rarely that we need not be concerned about them on a practical basis. It is as rare, he says, as the case of Choni Ha'eme'agel who slept for seventy years!

This controversy led to one of the first formal move of Jews away from Jewish custom and law.

When the Berlin Chevra Kaddisha refused to succumb to the Maskilim's demands, some Maskilim, including Mendolssohn's son, Josef, opened up their own burial organization called the "Gesellschaft der Freunde" ("Society of Friends") in Berlin, with branches in Breslau and Konigsberg, which delayed burying the dead and eventually adopted many other non-Jewish funeral customs as well.

A man was wheeled into surgery to harvest his organs. Weeks later, he left the hospital alive

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/28/health/organ-donor-surgery-kentucky-investigation/index.html

The medical records Rhorer has for TJ say he was “declared brain-dead patient being maintained for harvesting of organs” on October 29. TJ underwent procedures to make sure his organs were fit for donation, and that afternoon, hospital workers came to the family and told them it was time.

They held what’s known as an honor walk, a tradition in many hospitals when someone donates organs. A video shot by Rhorer’s friend and posted on TikTok shows TJ in a bed being rolled down a corridor. Hospital staff stop what they are doing, line the halls and stand in silence in their blue scrubs and white coats. Some hold tissues and dab at their eyes.

Will Trump’s and Johnson’s ‘Little Secret’ Be Unveiled on January 6?

 https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trumpjohnson-secret-unveiled-january-6.html

As Politico Playbook noted, this remark could be interpreted as “a reference to the House settling a contested election.” It is universally understood that Johnson holds his gavel strictly at the sufferance of Trump. And it’s a plain fact that the then-obscure Louisianan was the 45th president’s congressional floor leader in seeking to overturn the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election on January 6, 2021. But it’s not just a matter of previous experience of an insurrectionary alliance between Trump and Johnson. Capitol Hill has been buzzing for a while (per a Politico report last month) about the Speaker’s potential role in another bid to overturn another election defeat, which Trump clearly intends to do if the opportunity arises:

Outcry over Trump’s hint at ‘little secret’ with House Republicans

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/28/trump-mike-johnson-little-secret-election

Some observers and Democratic politicians believed the most telling remark of the night came from the Republican nominee himself after he introduced Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, on stage and alluded to a shared secret.

“We gotta get the congressmen elected and we gotta get the senators elected,” Trump told the crowd, referring to the congressional elections at stake next week.

“We can take the Senate pretty easily, and I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House. Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a little secret – we will tell you what it is when the race is over.”

Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s running mate celebrated the Oct. 7 attack on Israel

 https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-826568

Stein has made opposition to Israel’s military campaign and US support for it a centerpiece of her campaign. Campaign videos show her wearing a keffiyeh or Palestinian scarf, and she recently shared a post by an account named “Kamala Harris is murdering Palestinian children.” On Monday, she posted, “A vote for Harris/Trump enables genocide. We can’t normalize the mass murder of children. As Gaza goes, we all go.”

Israel outlaws UNWRA, bucking international pressure

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-826525

The Knesset plenum approved final voting for two bills aimed at blocking the activity in areas under Israeli control of the UN Relief and Works Agency, which services Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank.Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein presented both bills in the plenum. According to Edelstein, UNRWA’s operations “eternalized” the issue of Palestinian refugees.

In addition, Edelstein cited the fact that UNRWA employees had participated in, and even served as commanders, in the October 7 Hamas massacre. Edelstein also mentioned incitement in UNRWA school curriculums. According to Edelstein, the time had come to ban the agency from Israel.

Elon Musk is sharing some details about his immigration path. Experts say they still have questions

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/28/us/elon-musk-immigration-washington-post-cec/index.html

Atlanta immigration attorney Charles Kuck says Musk stating that he had a J-1 visa makes it clear he worked illegally, given the restrictions that would have only allowed work in connection with his academic program.

“So clearly, he’s admitting now that in fact, he did work illegally and violate his status. The only question is at that point, what did he do to fix his status violation?” Kuck says.

Confederate anthem ‘Dixie’ played at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/28/trump-madison-square-garden-rally-dixie-song-controversy/

 Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, meant to demonstrate broad-based and unifying support as he seeks a second term, was marked by racist barbs amid other demeaning insults.

It also featured a song that had little in common with the location: “Dixie,” the unofficial national anthem of the Confederate States of America.

Trump's New York Rally Was Moment That Ended His Campaign: Geraldo Rivera

 https://www.newsweek.com/geraldo-rivera-donald-trump-msg-rally-puerto-rico-1976328

"You know, Madison Square Garden is famous for a lot of things," he continued. "I think it will be famous for ending President Trump's meteoric campaign to be reelected. I think that the surveys, the polls will show that this was the time, this was the moment where things turned on Donald Trump."

Embracing racism, rabbis at pre-army yeshiva laud Hitler, urge enslaving Arabs

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/embracing-racism-rabbis-at-pre-army-yeshiva-laud-hitler-urge-enslaving-arabs/

In another clip from the Bnei David Yeshiva published by Channel 13, Rabbi Giora Redler can be heard praising Hilter’s ideology during a lesson about the Holocaust.

“Let’s just start with whether Hitler was right or not,” he told students. “He was the most correct person there ever was, and was correct in every word he said… he was just on the wrong side.”

Redler goes on to say that pluralism is the “real” genocide being perpetrated against the Jewish people, not Nazi Germany’s Final Solution.

The Jewish leadership in Germany and the Nazi threat in 1933

https://www.nli.org.il/en/articles/RAMBI990003228220705171/NLI

Defends the response of the German Jewish leadership to the first Nazi measures against the Jews in 1933 as having been based on concern for immediate Jewish interests. The official Nazi policy towards the Jews had not yet been formulated conservative forces in Germany feared foreign reactions to anti-Jewish violence, whereas Nazi followers demanded strong measures against the Jews. At that time, many German Jews assumed that they would find a way to cooperate with the regime, and they would continue to live in Germany with restricted rights and economic opportunities.