The president wanted Jews out of the West Bank. The prime minister went only as far as the Sinai.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
HITTING BACK Jess Phillips slams ‘ridiculous’ Elon Musk over grooming gang scandal blasting ‘he knows absolutely nothing’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/32663993/jess-phillips-slams-elon-musk/
Speaking to ITV News, Ms Phillips said: "The thing that annoys me the most about it is it takes up so much bandwidth of my time from a man who knows absolutely nothing about the subject he’s talking about.
The minister also denied Musk's "intervention" has helped to move things along, saying she is "apoplectic" that progress into acting on recommendations made by the national inquiry has "been so slow".
She said, prior to Labour winning the General Election, she had called on then-Home Secretary James Cleverley for a "time line on the process".
AI responded to the question of the source in Ramban
Conclusion
While Ramban does not explicitly comment on mamzerim in the Messianic era within his Torah commentary, his broader teachings about redemption, divine justice, and societal rectification strongly suggest that such issues will be resolved. His focus on purification and universal perfection aligns with the Talmudic view that lineage issues will cease to exist during the Messianic age.
3. Universal Perfection in the Messianic Era: Ramban's commentary on Genesis 49:10, regarding the prophecy of Judah and the coming of Shiloh (the Messiah), emphasizes the universal perfection of the Messianic era. He sees this time as one in which all imperfections will be rectified, and the world will return to its ideal state as intended at creation. This would likely include resolving the status of mamzerim, as part of the general healing of societal and halachic challenges.
Autopsy Permitted for educational purpose?
Igros Moshe (YD II #151 ) Is it permitted to do an autopsy in order to understand the disease better for educational purposes. This is analyzed by the Nodeh BeYehudah and he ruled that it is prohibited unless there is a living person be treated now with the same condition for which the knowledge gained might be needed to be cured.
Autopsies
https://etzion.org.il/en/halakha/yoreh-deah/mourning/autopsies
The Noda Biyehuda argues that one may not violate a prohibition because of the possibility that this will save a life in the future, that is to say, one may not violate a prohibition when there is no one presently before us whose life will be saved through the commission of the transgression.[3] It should be mentioned that there is room to disagree with the Noda Biyehuda's comparison. He argues that if we allow uncertain piku'ach nefesh of this sort, we should always desecrate Shabbat, "for perhaps a sick person will arrive." But there is no similarity between the cases. Preparing medical instruments on Shabbat because of the possibility that a sick person will arrive would indeed be foolish. Regarding medical training, however, there is no uncertainty. There is no question that at some point in the future one of the current medical students will find himself treating a patient with the same illness. Indeed, uncertainty exists as to the degree that the autopsy performed now will enhance his medical skills, but that is a doubt of an entirely different sort. R. Moshe Sofer, the Chatam Sofer, writes in one of his responsa (Yore De'a, no. 336): "According to this, if there were before us a patient with a similar disease, and we would wish to perform an autopsy on the corpse in order to cure the patient, it would almost certainly be permissible."[4] This implies that we assume that performing the autopsy will indeed enhance the doctor's skills and contribute to the saving of life. The only problem is that there is no patient before us. Regarding the professional training of doctors, however, is it really "an unlikely concern," as argued by the Noda Biyehuda? Indeed, the author of Responsa Machane Chayyim, R. Chayyim Sofer (a descendant of the Chatam Sofer), writes that if it were impossible to prepare medications on a weekday, but only on Shabbat, it would perhaps be permissible to prepare them on Shabbat, because of the sick people who may arrive. The same should apply in our case where the only way to learn about the disease is by way of an autopsy.[5]
Autopsy
Igros Moshe (YD II #150 ) There are very strange questions resulting from the terrible decrees in the hospitals of Israel concerning the autopsy of the dead by the irreligious and the wicked among us. They are very difficult to solve because they can not be evaluated calmly and dispassionately because of the great suffering and grief involved in this. Nevertheless I will try to write what needs to be done in reality out of necessity since it is critical to know immediately and G-d should help us not to fail in the halacha. And there is obviously the issue of honoring the dead resulting from the delay in time until burial of what remains occurs. This is not an issue of the remains that a cohen becomes impure from in the case of meis mitzva which is the head and the majority of the body. And it is logical that means not even without the head that a priest can be made impure. The obligation is to bury even parts of the corpse and this is viewed as honoring the dead as if he buried the entire corpse. So when the corpse is intact there is an obligation of burial and even if there are only parts left there is still an obligation to bury them and this is viewed as honoring the dead and it should be done with a rabbi and eulogy as well as levaya (funeral) and it is also allowed to delay burial in order to assenble people for the funeral.[ to be continued]
Spiritual growth only outside of Israel
Rav Tzadok (Pri Tzadik Vayechi 1) The 17 years that Jacob was in Egypt revived some of those bad years which befell him. This idea is stated (in ) that if an individual lives a good year close to his old age, it is a good sign for him, and G-d considers it as if all his days were good. All the days of Jacob when he was in pain was not considered to be life because they were not completed in holiness and only in Egypt did he merit to complete them in his holiness. Logic would dictate that since Israel is the place of greatest holiness in the world, as G-d told Abraham to leave Aram and go to the land of Israel, and Isaac was told that he would be blessed if he lived in this land. Jacob himself loved the land, and it would have been fitting for Jacob to complete his life in holiness in the holy land, and not in Egypt which is an impure land, and its people are more polluted than any other.
We find that in the exile in Babylon and in the exile of the second Temple that the main expansion of the oral Torah was specifically in exile. Specifically there the secrets of the Torah were revealed, more than was revealed while the Jews were in Israel. It is specifically from Babylon that the people of the great assembly arose and they were able to establish the law of Arava (c.f. Sukkah 44a) We also see in Sukkah (20A) that Ezra rose from Babylon and established Torah, and thereafter Torah was forgotten. Hillel then went and re-established it (and Hillel was also from Babylon (ed)), Rabbi Chiya and his sons (from Babylon) reconstituted the Torah. It also states in Medrash Shir Hashirim (4:4) that the righteous after the destruction of the Temple constituted the Torah in a greater way than the righteous in their building of the Temple.
This Parasha is closed. Our Rabbis have explained the reasons for it, and they are all true. There is another reason for it being closed. The completion of Jacob's holiness is specifically in Egypt, and not in the land of Israel. This coincides with the notion that the revelation and arrival of the Jewish People which contains the souls which were prepared for the acceptance of the Torah specifically in a foreign land and not in Israel, and that the end of the creation of the world occurs in the land of Egypt. These concepts are closed(Satum) from human understanding.
Trump makes false claims about January 6, Europe, NATO and Canada
Trump repeated a false claim he has repeatedly made about European countries and trade: “They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm products, they don’t take anything.” He also said, “European Union: We have a trade deficit of $350 billion.”
Facts First: None of this is true.
It’s not true that the European Union doesn’t “take anything” from the US. The US exported about $368 billion in goods to the European Union in 2023 (while importing about $576 billion from the EU that year), US federal figures show.
Trump exaggerated the US trade deficit with the European Union when he said it was “$350 billion.” Even counting only trade in goods, and ignoring the services trade at which the US excels, the nominal (non-inflation-adjusted) deficit was about $209 billion in 2023. While it was on track to be tens of billions higher in 2024, for which complete data is not yet available, it is expected to be well under $300 billion.
It’s also not true that “they don’t take our cars,” though US automakers have often struggled to succeed in Europe. According to a December 2023 report from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the EU is the second-largest market for US vehicle exports – importing 271,476 US vehicles in 2022, valued at nearly 9 billion euro. (Some of these are vehicles made by European automakers at plants in the US.)
And it’s false that “they don’t take our farm products”; the US government says the EU was the fifth-largest 2022 export market for US agricultural and related products, behind China, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
Trump complaining Musk is ‘around a lot’
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5071134-maggie-haberman-donald-trump-elon-musk/?tbref=hp
“Trump does complain a bit to people about how Musk is around a lot,” Haberman said on Monday’s episode of the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast, as highlighted by Mediaite.
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
The meh-ification of Jan. 6
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/06/jan-6-american-attitudes-polling-trump/
Politically, the conventional wisdom is that Trump has successfully rewritten the narrative; he’s “retconned” it, to use a popular term. And it’s not just an academic question; as Trump prepares to pardon many participants in the Capitol insurrection, perceptions of that day will matter when it comes to how practical that decision will be and how it will reflect on Trump.
After the dust settled on the insurrection four years ago, YouGov showed Americans overwhelmingly agreed on the very basic threshold question of whether the rioters were bad. More than 8 in 10 Americans and even three-quarters of Republicans disapproved of them. More than 7 in 10 Americans “strongly” disapproved.
That suggests that only about half of the political middle is truly animated by this topic.
The biggest movement hasn’t been from “Jan. 6 bad” to “Jan. 6 good,” but rather from “Jan. 6 bad” to people saying they’re “not sure” just how bad it is — which for some might just be “I don’t care enough to say.” Just 9 percent of Americans declined to offer a verdict in January 2021; today, 19 percent do.
On Jan. 6 many Republicans blamed Trump for the Capitol riot. Now they endorse his presidential bid
https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-biden-insurrection-congress-690af49cbf1f7a5696545b1ebbe45c47
Republican Kevin McCarthy, who went on to become House speaker, had called Jan. 6 the “saddest day” he ever had in Congress. But McCarthy, R-Calif., retired last month he endorsed Trump for president and said he would consider joining his cabinet.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said he would back whomever becomes the Republican Party nominee, despite a scathing speech at the time in which he called Trump’s actions “disgraceful” and said the rioters “had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth because he was angry he lost an election.”
Trump has called Jan. 6 defendants “hostages” and said there was so much love at the “Stop the Steal” rally he held near the White House that day before he encouraged the mob to march down Pennsylvania Avenue, assuring he would be with them at the Capitol, though he never did join.
Allies of Trump scoff at the narrative of Jan. 6 that has emerged. Mike Davis, a Trump ally sometimes mentioned as a future attorney general, has mocked the Democrats and others for turning Jan. 6 into a “religious holiday.”
Jack Smith's final report on Trump investigation blocked by judge
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/07/jack-smith-report-trump-aileen-cannon-blocked
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — who Trump appointed — halted the release of the report until three days after the Eleventh Circuit court responds to a similar emergency motion.
Because the case is now under the jurisdiction of an appeals court, it's unclear whether Cannon can order Garland how to handle the report, the New York Times reported.
Cannon temporarily blocks Trump special counsel report’s release
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5071562-trump-legal-team-request-report-blocked/
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s report on President-elect Trump’s two prosecutions, granting a request from his legal team.
The ruling from Cannon comes after Trump’s two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case asked her to bar the release of both sections of Smith’s report, including that dealing with Trump’s election interference case.
It’s not clear the extent of Cannon’s purview over the case, as a prior ruling from her tossing the case has been appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Cannon said her ruling blocking any transmittance of the report would remain in effect until three days after any appeals court ruling “unless the 11th Circuit rules otherwise.”
Elon Musk Biographer Details Why He Thinks Billionaire Is ‘Going Mad’
“I legitimately believe Elon Musk may be going mad,” he posted to X. “I’m a Musk biographer who has been tracking his online behavior for the last two years—and given that he’s admitted to all of mental illness, heavy drug use, and crippling stress, it is now reasonable to fear he is deeply unwell.”
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