Monday, August 25, 2025
Living Death
I'm reading "Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease" by Allan H. Ropper, Brian David Burrell and wanted to share this quote with you.
"Although my evidence is entirely anecdotal, I have become convinced of two things: (1) physicians complain disproportionately of this symptom and are hard to persuade that it is benign; and (2) only the nicest people get ALS (thus immunizing a substantial number of physicians)."
"Anyone diagnosed with ALS has a series of gut-wrenching decisions to make. After the shock has worn off, once the capacity for rational thought returns, many small choices and a few large ones come along in relatively rapid succession. When will I need a wheelchair? Will I accept a feeding tube? Will I go on a ventilator machine?"
"The disease is most certainly fatal if left to run its course. Yet it leaves the brain and the sensory system intact. The patient can feel everything and move almost nothing, eventually coming an eyelash away from being completely locked in. The ultimate question facing the ALS patient is whether to be or not to be. Quite simply, will I do whatever it takes to stay alive, in whatever condition, or will I let the disease take over? In practice, the question is much more direct: Are you willing to have a tracheostomy tube inserted and be placed on a ventilator? If so, you will no longer be able to talk, but you will be able to breathe"
Horrifying testimonies seek to lift shroud of silence around ritual sex abuse claims
Police have opened an investigation into multiple allegations of organized ritual sexual abuse after accusers relayed harrowing testimony of torture, rape and other horrors to lawmakers late last month.
The July 27 hearing included testimony from alleged victims, now adults, regarding abuse they had experienced as children, primarily in the ultra-Orthodox and national-religious communities in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Haifa, Safed and elsewhere.
Double Sinks
Shemos (34:26) You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
Igros Moshe (YD I #42) Question Washing dishes in the sink. Is a single sink permitted? Answer: Even if you want to claim that a Bal Nefesh should be strict and not wash dishes in a single sink this is not the normative halacha to a person who only wants to do the minimum because most sinks can not actually be prohibited and thus it is not prohibited even to a Bal Nefesh. Also most times the dishes are not actually touching the sink but rest on a racks which are separate for meat and milk. Even if occasionally that the sink water rises to touch the dishes. This is only a concern lechatchilah but bedieved it is not a problem even for a Bal Nefesh. Thus even though the custom is to have separate sinks it is not prohibited to have a single sink.
Rivka was afraid of her Husband Yitzchok
Bereishis (24:64) And Rivka lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Yitzchok, she fell off the camel.
Netziv (Bereishis 24:64): And Rivkah lifted her eyes – and she saw Yitzchok while he was still praying and he was at that moment like an angel of G d – extremely awesome. and she fell off her camel – Because of her great fear and awe. However she did not know who she was afraid of. If she had been sitting with Eliezer the servant on the same camel and she had been sitting behind him then she would have relaxed when she would have seen the man go and greet the servant and seen them talking together like all men. Then eventually when she would have been informed who it was – her fear would already have dissipated. But since she was sitting together with Eliezer she didn’t wait – but asked immediately who it was out of great fear. Who is that man - that makes me agitated and frightened? We see in Bereishis Rabbah that the term “that” implies someone fearsome and frightening. Therefore when she heard that it was her husband she took out her veil and covered her face out of her great fear and embarrassment because she realized she wasn’t fit to be his wife. From that moment on that fear was permanently planted in her heart and she was not able to have the relationship with Yitzchok that Sarah had with Avraham and Rachel had with Yaakov. In particular when the others objected to something their husbands had done they were not embarrassed to speak firmly with them. Rivkah was different. All of this served as a necessary preliminary to the events that would follow in Parshas Toldos when Yitzchok and Rivkah had strongly different views. Nonetheless Rivkah could not find the courage to stand up to Yitzchok and defend her views – even though it was true that Esav was a fraud. The same thing happened at the time of giving the berachos. In fact all of this was the means by which G d caused the berachos to be given to Yaakov in this manner as we will explain later. All was done with Divine Providence from the beginning - that Rivkah should arrive when Yitzchok was praying and thus she should see him as an awesome and frightening spectacle – it all happened according to G d’s Will.
Texas Senate approves new map, sending it to Abbott’s desk
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5464117-texas-senate-approves-gop-redistricting-map
The new district lines are likely to add up to five additional U.S. House seats for Republicans in next year’s midterms.
Abbott vowed Saturday to “swiftly” sign the map into effect, though court challenges are also likely to come soon after to try to stop it.
“The One Big Beautiful Map has passed the Senate. Despite Democrats’ petty stunts, we delivered on our promise,” the governor wrote Saturday on social platform X. “This map reflects Texans’ actual voting preferences, and I look forward to signing it into law.”
Suspect in plot to kill AG identified as British man residing in Jerusalem
At a hearing in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, Ezagui’s lawyer forcefully argued his client’s case, claiming he had no intent to murder Baharav-Miara since he never received Yosef’s permission to do so.
“Even if this is an act that is loathsome on a moral and ethical level, we are still within the realm of criminal law,” said attorney Idan Butbul. “He contacted the rabbi via a sealed envelope and not with direct intent, and asked him a question. Under these circumstances, the act does not amount to a criminal threat.”
Sunday, August 24, 2025
Trump Squeezes Iran As Nuclear Deadline Nears
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-sanctions-iran-nuclear-deadline-europe-2117621
In parallel, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was set to hold a phone call with his French, German and British counterparts on Friday, joined by the EU's foreign policy chief, in an effort to avoid the "snapback" mechanism that would reimpose U.N. sanctions on Tehran for its failure to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which terminates in October.
The three European powers had warned in a letter earlier this month that unless Iran found a "satisfactory solution" to address nuclear compliance, they would move forward with the process.
Shiur #21: Charity in Israel and the Diaspora
https://etzion.org.il/en/holidays/yom-haatzmaut/shiur-21-charity-israel-and-diaspora
The difference between the two explanations is clear, but both stand in opposition to the explanation proposed by the Ramban. According to the Ramban, "be-artzekha" does not refer on the strictly literal level to Israel, whereas according to both understandings of Rabbeinu Bachya, the "land" in question is indeed Israel, but the law stated nevertheless extends also to the Diaspora.
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