Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Book Review: ‘After Revelation: The Rabbinic Past in the Medieval Islamic World’, by Marc D. Herman
Dr. Marc Herman’s After Revelation: The Rabbinic Past in the Medieval Islamic World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025) examines shifting conceptions of Torah she-beʿal peh within the Judeo-Islamic world from the geonic period through the time of Maimonides.[1] Beginning with Rav Saadya Gaon and concluding with the Rambam, Herman traces a gradual reorientation away from the geonic understanding of Torah she-beʿal peh as wholly revealed toward the Maimonidean position, in which human interpretation plays a constitutive role in the formation of rabbinic law. Alongside his analysis of Jewish legal sources, Herman situates these developments within their broader intellectual environment, drawing careful parallels to contemporaneous trends in Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory. In tracing this shift, the book clarifies how medieval Jewish thinkers conceptualized the authority of Torah she-beʿal peh, and how those conceptions correspond to broader jurisprudential models current in the Islamic world.
Rabbi Dov Lando: Don't participate in demonstrations
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/420838
Rabbi Dov Lando, the head of the Slabodka Yeshiva and a leading Lithuanian-haredi rabbi, today (Tuesday) reiterated his stance on the draft law issue and called for not participating in protests.
"Some are going out against it, they are holding demonstrations, and they are doing great harm. Do not participate in the demonstrations!" he said during a conversation as part of preparations for the fifth annual education conference of the 'Hazino' Center.
In his remarks, he also criticized those going out to protest, hinting at the actions of the 'Jerusalem Faction.' "There are also those who disturb and hold demonstrations and other nonsense - do not participate in the demonstrations!"
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
U.S. plane used in boat strike was made to look like civilian aircraft
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/12/boat-strike-civilian-plane/
The Trump administration’s first deadly strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat, in early September, was conducted by a secretive military aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane, multiple officials confirmed to The Washington Post on Monday.
Feigning civilian status and then carrying out an attack with explicit intent to kill or wound the target is known as “perfidy” under the law of armed conflict, a war crime, according to legal experts.
The Trump administration has claimed that its lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the waters around Latin America are lawful because President Donald Trump has determined the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. That contention is widely disputed by legal experts, who say the U.S. is not at war with drug traffickers and that killing suspected criminals in international waters is tantamount to murder. Several analysts and former national security officials have said the entire campaign is, at its foundation, unlawful.
Tzadik or people pleaser?
I came across a book written to stop a serious psychological problem of subordinating ones own needs to always give to others. As I went through the book it struck me is that the nebach they were trying to save sounded like a tzadik. The question thus is what is the difference between a People Pleaser and a tzadik?
Scientists find exercise rivals therapy for depression
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/01/260107225516.htm
A growing body of evidence suggests that moving your body might lift depression nearly as well as therapy—no prescription required.
Trump Has Complained About Pam Bondi Repeatedly to Aides
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-has-complained-about-pam-bondi-repeatedly-to-aides-
President Trump has complained to aides repeatedly in recent weeks about Attorney General Pam Bondi, describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda, administration officials and other people familiar with his complaints said.
The criticisms appear to be part of an intense campaign by Trump to pressure the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue his priorities, some of the officials said. Trump has previously criticized Bondi at times but his vocal concerns about his attorney general have grown more frequent in recent months, officials said.
Homeland Security says a fraud investigation is underway in Minneapolis
Federal Homeland Security officials were conducting a fraud investigation on Monday in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said then that fraud will not be tolerated and that his administration “will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.”
Noem on Monday posted a video on the social platform X showing DHS officers going into an unidentified business and questioning the person working behind the counter. Noem said that officers were “conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.”
Trump willing to sacrifice NATO alliance for Greenland
https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/01/12/trump-greenland-nato-choice-interview/
US President Donald Trump estimated he may need to choose between NATO membership and control of Greenland, according to an interview published Monday in The New York Times. The comments came against the backdrop of a Sunday Bloomberg report that Britain and Germany are leading discussions about increasing European military presence in Greenland, aiming to demonstrate to Trump that the continent takes Arctic security seriously.
Trump explained why ownership of the island matters to him beyond maintaining military bases. "That's what I feel is psychologically needed for success," he said. "Ownership gives you a thing that you can't do, whether you're talking about a lease or a treaty." When asked whether ownership was important to him personally or to the United States, he responded, "Psychologically it's important to me. Maybe another president would feel differently, but so far I've been right about everything."
The interviewer noted that Xi views Taiwan as separatist and would argue it's a threat to China. "It's a source of pride for him," Trump said about the Chinese president's attitude toward the island. "That's up to him, what he's going to be doing. But, you know, I've expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don't think he'll do that. I hope he doesn't."
When asked if anything could limit his power on the world stage, Trump responded, "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me." The interviewer asked, "Not international law?" Trump replied, "I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people."
Fundraiser for ICE agent who killed Renee Good includes antisemitic attack on Minneapolis Mayor
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-883168
Supporters of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot and killed Renee Good, a US citizen, in Minneapolis last week are flocking to an online fundraiser to, in its organizer’s words, “Defend the Agent Who Stopped a Deadly Attack on America’s Border Enforcers!”
After stating that Good had engaged “in a blatant act of domestic terrorism aimed at killing or maiming the men protecting our borders from the endless invasion,” the description continued: “But this didn’t happen in a vacuum - it’s the direct result of anti-American traitors like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (who is Jewish) fanning the flames of resistance.”
After being circulated online and verified by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the clause “(who is Jewish)” was removed from the description of Frey late Monday.
A president who treats Washington like his chew toy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/09/donald-trump-arch-oval-office/
It is incongruous that Donald Trump, who advertises his disdain for things European, wants to give us something that no one in his or her right mind wants: a knockoff of France’s Arc de Triomphe. Which is bad enough.
Given Trump’s gargantuan exercises of executive discretion regarding great matters of state, it might seem quaint to wonder why he cannot be stopped from treating Washington as his chew toy. This would be unworthy of our nation if he had exquisite taste. The fact that he revels in being a vulgarian takes a toll on the nation’s soul.
Trump’s Oval Office, stuffed to overflowing with gold bric-a-brac, might be beautiful to someone who is colorblind. Or to connoisseurs of high-end Gilded Age brothels. It would be nice if he would confine his ornamenting fidgets to Mar-a-Lago, about which we can say what a wit said of the State Department: It is like tundra — anything done to it would improve it. The Oval Office can be, as it were, visually fumigated quickly for the next occupant. Getting rid of an Arc de Trump would be resisted by curators of Trump’s legacy.
Trump has the terrible strength peculiar to people who are incapable of embarrassment, and cannot fathom that they look ridiculous. Recently, however, Republicans in the House of Representatives, hitherto impeccably obedient to him, seem to have become healthily embarrassed about their subservience. There have been silent insurrections.
Perhaps the Arc de Trump, its gold paint glistening when bathed by sunsets, will celebrate, in addition to its namesake, the triumph of U.S. forces in the Battle of Nuuk. With a population of less than 20,000, and boasting that its rush hour traffic lasts 15 minutes, Nuuk is the capital of, and largest city in, Greenland.