Ramban (Vayikra 26:06) AND I WILL CAUSE EVIL BEASTS TO CEASE OUT OF THE LAND. When Israel observes the commandments, the Land of Israel will be like the world was at its beginning, before the sin of the first man, when no wild beast or creeping thing would kill a man, just as the Rabbis have said: “It is not the wild ass that kills, but it is sin that kills.” It is because of this that Scripture says, and the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and similarly, and the cow and the bear shall feed … and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. For dangerous beasts only prey on human beings on account of the sin of man, because of which it was decreed upon him that he be a prey to their teeth, and preying was made a part of their nature so that they also prey on each other, as is well-known for having once preyed on man, they add to this tendency that of preying on animals so that they become more harmful. And so Scripture states, And he learned to catch the prey, he devoured men. Now at the time of the creation of the world, it is said of the beasts that He gave them the herb for food, as it is written, And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food, and Scripture states, and it was so, meaning that such was the nature with which they were endowed forever. It was only afterwards that they learned how to prey, on account of human sin which causes death,
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Prohibited to Alter Nature
Ramban (Vayikra 19:19) YE SHALL KEEP ‘MY STATUTES. “And these are they: thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind, etc. Statutes are the decrees of the King for which there is no reason given.” This is Rashi’s language. But our Rabbis have not mentioned that the reasons for the commandments mentioned in this verse are hidden from us, and that the evil inclination and the idolaters raise objections against them, except in the case of the prohibition against wearing a garment made of wool and linen, but not in the case of mating of animals of diverse kinds for which there is a reason, as will be explained later on. And the intention of the Rabbis in defining “statutes” as the laws of the King for which there is no reason was not that these are decrees of the King of kings for which there are no reasons whatever, for every word of G-d is tried. They meant only that “statutes” are like the enactments which a king promulgates for his kingdom, without revealing their benefits to the people, and the people, not sensing these reasons, entertain questions about them in their hearts but they accept them nonetheless out of fear of the government. Similarly, “the statutes” of G-d are His secrets in the Torah, which the people by means of their thinking do not grasp as they do in the case of ordinances” — laws which conform to the human conception of justice], but yet they all have a proper reason and perfect benefit. Now the reason for the prohibitions against kilayim [mixed kinds], is that G-d has created in the world various species among all living things, both plants and moving creatures, and He gave them a power of reproduction enabling them to exist forever as long, as He will desire the existence of the world, and He further endowed them with a power to bring forth only after their kind, and that they should never be changed, as it is said with reference to all of them at the time of Creation, after its kind. This driving force in the normal mating of animals is for the sake of preserving the species, even as human beings engage in sexual activity for the sake of having children. Thus one who combines two different species, thereby changes and defies the work of Creation, as if he is thinking that G-d has not completely perfected the world and he desires to help along in the creation of the world by adding to it new kinds of creatures. Moreover, the mating of diverse species of animals does not produce offspring, and even in the case of those that are by nature close to each other, from which offspring are born, such as mules, their seed is cut off, for they themselves cannot produce offspring. Thus from the point of view of these two matters the act of combining different species is despicable and futile. Even when diverse species of vegetation are grafted together, their fruits do not reproduce afterwards, and they too are prohibited because of the two above-mentioned reasons. This is the meaning of the prohibition, thou shalt not sow thy field with two kinds of seed, which in the opinion of our Rabbis constitutes a prohibition against grafting But He has prohibited also the mere sowing together of diverse kinds of seed, because their nature and form change when they derive nutrition from each other, and thus each kernel of it is as if it were grafted together from two kinds. Similarly, He has forbidden to plow with an ox and an ass together, because it is customary among tillers of the soil to bring their working animals into one cattle-shed, and there they might come to mate with a diverse kind. And one of our colleagues adds to the reason for the prohibition against mixing seeds, that it is in order not to throw into disorder the primary forces which bring about the growth of the plants, when they derive nutrition from each other, as is indicated in the saying of our Rabbis in Bereshith Rabbah: “Said Rabbi Simon: There is not a single kind of herb that does not have a constellation in heaven which smites it and says to it, ‘Grow.’ Now he Thus he who mixes different kinds of seeds, denies and throws into disorder the work of Creation.
Astrology is Real but a Jew can over come Influence of Heavenly Bodies
Ibn Ezra (Shemos 23:25) That what befalls human beings depends on the alignment of the planets and what their arrangement indicates at the time of a person’s birth. The aforementioned is extremely difficult to understand. If a woman is born under an arrangement that decrees she will not be able to carry her children to term, then it will be the nature of her womb to abort the children in it. The same is true if the woman is born under an arrangement that decrees that she be barren and not have children. Now if a person who is born under an arrangement of the planets that determines that he will have a physical makeup that is unable to beget children cleaves to God, then if he truly cleaves to God, the revered God will strengthen the power of this man’s kidneys and see to it that his sperm functions properly so that he will be able to have children. God therefore told Abraham, I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou whole-hearted . This is what the rabbis meant by “Cease thy planet gazing.” God told Abraham, “If you make a treaty to serve Me, I will greatly multiply you, as I will overcome what nature has decreed for you.” This is not a victory over the arrangements of the stars, for they were not created to do good or ill to the lowest world. On the contrary, they always go and do the service of God, as that is what they need to do. The inhabitants of the lowest world receive a thing and its opposite from them in accordance with their desire. Thus if we observe the Torah we will not receive evil from the heavenly bodies.
Nature is not to be Changed except by G-d to promote Fear of G-d
Rashi (Koheles (03:14) The Creation is fit to be eternal, and it cannot be changed, either by adding or by subtracting, and when it is changed, it is because God commanded and caused it to be changed, in order that they should fear Him. The ocean broke through its boundary in the generation of Enosh and inundated a third of the world, and God did this so that they would fear Him. Seven days, the course of the sun was changed in the generation of the flood, to rise in the west and set in the east, in order that they fear Him. Also, the sun went back ten degrees in the days of Chizkiyahu; and in the days of Achaz his father, the day was shortened and the night was lengthened on the day of his death, so that he should not be eulogized. All this was so that they would fear Him. Therefore, there is nothing better for a man to occupy himself with than with fulfilling His commandments and to fear Him.
Knowledge of Nature was Concealed to ensure Faith and Trust in G-d
Zohar (Shemos 80b) If men but knew the wisdom of all that G-d, has planted in the earth, and the power of all that is to be found in the world, they would proclaim the power of their Lord in His great wisdom. But the Holy One has purposely hidden this wisdom from men, in order that they should not turn from His way by trusting in that wisdom alone, forgetting Him.”
Iran called Trump's bluff — and now he's spiraling and 'out of ideas': expert
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-war/
None of President Donald Trump's usual bailouts are coming after he launched a war on Iran, and the situation has quickly spiraled out of his control.
The 79-year-old president has long relied on lies, bluster and escalation to stay one step ahead of consequences in his business, political, and personal life, but those tactics are proving woefully ineffective against the global energy market that's been choked off by Iran in response to the military operation he impulsively authorized, wrote political scientist Nicholas Grossman for MS NOW.
"In response to the U.S.-Israeli attack, Iran played its biggest card, closing the Strait of Hormuz," wrote Grossman, a political science professor at the University of Illinois. "It’s a narrow choke point at the end of the Persian Gulf, and a kink in the waterway leaves it exposed to a lot of Iran’s coastline. About 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through Hormuz, and it isn’t hard for Iran to stop the traffic."
US government is FAR better off without conspiracy theorist Joe Kent
Feverish Iran-war critics Tuesday seized on Joe Kent’s resignation as national counterterrorism director as somehow proving President Donald Trump was foolish to launch Operation Epic Fury, when in fact Kent’s “I quit” letter proves he never belonged in that high post.
It’s not just that he contradicted his own past positions (e.g., saying Trump should’ve attacked Iran’s weapons programs in 2020) in a letter that now says Iran posed no “imminent threat” and insists Trump went to war two weeks ago “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
It’s that he bizarrely blamed Israel for the Gulf War (which Ariel Sharon quietly advised against) and even for his own wife’s tragic death in Syria at the hands of ISIS in a campaign begun by Israel-hating President Barack Obama (to clean up the mess created by Obama’s own policies).
Joe Kent resignation over Iran war reveals an internal MAGA Trump division
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5788572-gop-divisions-trump-iran-war/
Joe Kent’s resignation from the National Counterterrorism Center over objections to the U.S. war in Iran is putting a spotlight on divisions in the GOP and President Trump’s MAGA coalition.
Until Kent’s resignation on Tuesday, criticism of Trump’s foreign policy moves and strikes in Iran had largely come from the usual GOP congressional gadflies, or right-wing commentators like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
“It’s bigger than any resignation that happened under Biden for Gaza,” said Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative magazine, which argues for restraint in foreign policy. Mills previously supported Trump.
“Joe Kent is not a nobody. He’s one of the most prominent people in the government,” Mills said. “Usually when people resign in protest, you hear their name for the first time. Plenty of people have heard Joe Kent’s name before.”
Fact check: Trump’s barrage of false or unproven claims about the Iran war
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/17/politics/fact-check-trump-iran-war
President Donald Trump continues to make false and unproven claims about the war in Iran.
Trump claimed that a former president had told him in a private conversation that they wished they had attacked Iran as Trump did. But aides to all four living former presidents told CNN on Monday that they hadn’t spoken to Trump about the war.
As of Tuesday, CNN could only find mainstream US outlets that had debunked fake videos of the Lincoln, including PolitiFact, Newsweek and The New York Times. When we asked the White House on Monday for any examples of media outlets that actually promoted the Lincoln fakes, spokesperson Anna Kelly responded with links to three foreign outlets – one Israeli, one Turkish, one Saudi – that had quoted baseless Iranian statements about having struck the Lincoln.
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
NCTC director quits in protest over Iran operation, blames pro-Israel lobby
https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/03/17/joe-kent-nctc-director-resigns-iran-war-israel-pressure/
This marks the first resignation since the operation began – an operation that has drawn widespread criticism over the justification for the strikes, particularly against the backdrop of simultaneous reports of reduced operational readiness and allegations that Israel "forced America's hand" into the fight.
Kent's resignation sheds light on tensions at the top of the US intelligence community, centered on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard, who appointed Kent to his post, is known for championing a staunchly isolationist line that opposes American military involvement overseas. She previously sparked controversy when she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and expressed skepticism about the chemical attacks attributed to his regime.
Gabbard's positions on Iran have brought her into direct conflict with President Donald Trump over the current campaign. She has consistently argued that the war does not serve American interests – a stance that has seen her sidelined in White House decision-making. Administration officials noted that in recent months she has been "almost completely shut out" of the most sensitive operational discussions on the Iranian front.
Israel urges Iranians to revolt but privately assesses they’ll be ‘slaughtered’
Israel urges Iranians to revolt but privately assesses they’ll be ‘slaughtered’
Senior Israeli officials have told U.S. diplomats that Iranian protesters will “get slaughtered” if they take to the streets against their government even as Israel publicly calls for a popular uprising, according to a State Department cable reviewed by The Washington Post.
The cable, circulated by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Friday, relayed an Israeli assessment that Iran’s regime is “not cracking” and is willing to “fight to the end” despite the Feb. 28 killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the ongoing U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign.
Narges Bajoghli, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University, said that Iranians have long been skeptical of Israeli intentions and that the dual messages on display in the cable will be viewed by many as callous and exploitative of Iranian lives.
Is MAGA in its cringe era?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2026/03/17/maga-cringe-vibe-shift/
A little over a year ago, a new class of Trump supporters arrived in Washington to celebrate the dawn of the president’s second term. They were fashion-conscious, politically incorrect and ready to party. They were heralds of a youthful MAGA coalition that was supposed to be more fun than the young fogies of the old right and the uptight killjoys of the contemporary left.
To his enthusiastic young loyalists, Trump’s narrow yet decisive victory in 2024 marked a cultural realignment that rejected the liberal agenda in favor of something ostensibly cooler: freedom and hedonism, checked only by the (very much desired) encumbrances of traditional family values.
And there’s another problem: “We treat American culture like a giant oppo dossier,” Winters says. “We’re good at attacking culture, not at creating our own.” And in the absence of that, MAGA finds itself falling into a pattern for which they excoriated the left: cancel culture.
Top counterterrorism official resigns in protest of US war against Iran
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-counterterrorism-official-resigns-protest-us-war-iran
In a pointed letter to President Donald Trump that he posted publicly on X, Kent said the war marked a departure from the administration’s earlier approach to avoiding prolonged conflicts in the Middle East.
"Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation," he said, seemingly referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, a series of U.S. strikes in June 2025 on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The National Counterterrorism Center director reports directly to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and is a top five intelligence community post in any administration.
A senior administration official told Fox News Kent was a "known leaker" who "was cut out of (Trump's) intelligence briefings months ago."