Lekutei Moharan (063:6) The ant that lies inside the serpent’s mouth is the aspect of the tzadik of the generation, who is upright and righteous and possesses good character traits. Because he is wise and involves himself in their scholarship and philosophical investigation, probing these wisdoms, this tzadik suffers greatly when these scholars begin to engage in their philosophical investigation. He wages a fierce battle with them—i.e., with the aforementioned aspect of the serpent—for he is greatly assailed by doubts, untrue assertions…
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Huge majority of debate watchers say Harris took home the victory
An overwhelming majority of debate watchers said they thought Vice President Kamala Harris outperformed former President Trump in Tuesday night's debate, according to a CNN poll.
The survey respondents went into Tuesday night's debate split, with 50% saying they expected Trump to win and 50% saying they expected a Harris victory. By the end of the night, however, 63% said Harris came out on top, compared to 37% for Trump.
Kamala Harris Won Debate by a Knockout—but Her Fight Is Far From Over
But do not expect that opinion polls will show her lead ballooning in the next few days. It will grow probably—but by a modest amount. That is due in part, of course, to the fact that many opinion polls are deeply flawed. But it is also a consequence of the fact that we live in a country in which the members of our two political parties receive their information from dramatically different sources.
Koheles is Heresy?
Koheles Rabbah (01:3) “What profit is there for man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?”. “What profit is there for man?” Rabbi Binyamin said: The Sages sought to suppress the book of Koheles because they found in it matters that tend toward heresy. They said: All of Solomon’s wisdom that he seeks to impart is: “What profit is there for man in all his toil,” but one might think that he meant even in the toil of Torah. They then said: He did not say “in all toil,” but rather in his toil…
Who Won the Debate? Even Republicans Agree it Was Kamala Harris
What happens when a former president whose own niece has diagnosed him as a “narcissist” is declared the loser of a crucial debate that could make or break the 2024 presidential election?
He declares himself the winner.
“Comrade Kamala Harris is going around wanting another Debate because she lost so badly - Just look at the Polls! It’s true with prizefighters, when they lose a fight, they immediately want another. MAGA2024,” Donald Trump posted on his own social media platform. He cited a far-right Newsmax snap poll conducted after the debate that declared Trump the winner over Harris by 93 percent to 6 percent.
Disagree With Chazal?
Rav Avraham ben HaRambam (Discourse on Agada): We are not obligated to accept the views of the sages of the Talmud on matters concerning medicine, natural science or astronomy - simply because of their greatness and authority - as we are concerning their explanations of the Torah. That is because concerning Torah, they were the ultimate experts and they had the exclusive authority to teach it as it says in the Torah, “You should do according to the Torah that they teach.”
Fact-checking the ABC News presidential debate
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/10/politics/fact-check-debate-trump-harris/index.html
Former President Donald Trump repeated a false claim at Tuesday’s debate that has been promoted by numerous prominent Republicans in the past week, including Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance. Trump claimed that Haitian migrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, are stealing people’s pet dogs and cats and eating them.
In the Trump-Harris face-off there was a clear winner but don't believe this election is over
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-harris-face-off-there-clear-winner-dont-believe-election-over
Although Harris clearly won the debate in my estimation, it isn’t at all clear that this debate, just 56 days before the election, will fundamentally impact the outcome on November 5.
Trump Spent the Debate Walking Into Traps Harris Laid For Him
https://time.com/7019832/harris-trump-debate-analysis/
Then he puffed up his political chest: “People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.” The dispute was completely immaterial for undecided voters and would win him zero new votes, but Harris understood exactly what she had done: in inviting Trump’s ego to overtake actual issues, she was showing his pettiness in full display. And, for millions of voters watching Harris in such an environment for the first time, it’s impossible to imagine a better first showing.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Sky News reporter resigns after comparing Gaza to Holocaust
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395981
Sky News apologized shortly thereafter on air, stating "In an interview earlier today with Israeli politician Danny Danon, a Sky News presenter made a comparison between Mr Danon’s comments on Israel’s war with Hamas and the treatment of Jewish people in the Holocaust."
“Sky News recognized the complete inappropriateness of this comparison and the offensive nature of those comments. Sky News would like to apologize unreservedly for the comparison and to Mr Danon personally for making the comparison.”
Donati has not apologized and could not be reached for comment.
Predestination to Sin?
Vayikra Rabbah (26:07) G-d showed Moses every generation and its judges, every generation and its kings, every generation and its sages, every generation and its leaders, every generation and its lieutenants, every generation and its officers, every generation and its communal leaders, every generation and its extortionists, every generation and its robbers, every generation and its prophets.
Following Trump’s train of thought as it derails on a child care question
“Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down — you know, I was, uh, somebody, we had Sen. Marco Rubio [(R-Fla.)] and my daughter, Ivanka, was so, uh, impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue.
But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because child care is child care. It’s, couldn’t — you know, it’s something, you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it.
But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to but they’ll get used to it very quickly. And it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country.
Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s gonna take care. We’re gonna have — I, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time. Coupled with, uh, the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country — because I have to say with child care, I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I’m talking about, including growth.
But growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, uh, that I just told you about. We’re gonna be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in.
We’re going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people and then we’ll worry about the rest of the world. Let’s help other people. But we’re gonna take care of our country first. This is about America first. It’s about: Make America great again. We have to do it, because right now we’re a failing nation. So we’ll take care of it. Thank you. Very good question.”
Trump’s Psychologist Niece Says ‘Donald Is Dementing’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-psychologist-niece-mary-says-donald-is-dementing
Mary Trump, the psychologist and writer who is now an outspoken critic of her father’s younger brother, addressed the former president’s cognition after his rambling, incoherent answer to a question about childcare last week. Asked at the Economic Club of New York about what legislation he would advance to make childcare more affordable if he wins back the White House, Trump blathered on for almost two minutes in a response that left media pundits at a loss to explain what he was trying to say.
“Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down—you know, I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue,” Trump’s answer began. “It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that—because look, childcare is childcare, it’s—couldn’t, you know, it’s something, you have to have it, in this country you have to have it.”
IDF strikes Hamas terrorists who operated in humanitarian area in Khan Yunis
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/395934
Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional means.
Monday, September 9, 2024
Donald Trump Holds Responsibility for Afghanistan Withdraw, Ex-Adviser Says
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-responsible-afghanistan-withdraw-ex-adviser-1944696
"Oh, yes," McMaster said after being asked by Cooper if Trump bears "part of the responsibility for what happened." McMaster then added, "The whole premise of talking to the Taliban before you leave Afghanistan...why the heck were we even doing that?"
"The Obama administration didn't negotiate with al-Qaeda and Iraq on the way out," he continued. "If we were gonna leave, why not just leave? What happened in these series of negotiations is we kind of threw the Afghans under the bus on the way out... then forced them to release 5,000 of some of the most heinous people on the earth
Trump officials back away from 2020 Taliban peace deal after withdrawal chaos
https://www.axios.com/2021/08/20/trump-taliban-agreement-doha-biden
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who was fired by Trump in November 2020, said he believed at the time the agreement was signed that it should have been "conditions-based," which is in part why he later objected to Trump's call for a Christmas homecoming for U.S. troops.
Esper told CNN that although Biden is responsible for the outcome in Afghanistan, Trump "undermined" the agreement and weakened U.S. leverage in negotiations by impatiently calling for troop reductions in the country.
"Our secretary of state [Mike Pompeo] signed a surrender agreement with the Taliban," McMaster said on Bari Weiss' podcast. "This collapse goes back to the capitulation agreement of 2020. The Taliban didn’t defeat us. We defeated ourselves."
GOP probe of Afghanistan exit rips Biden, labors to implicate Harris
But while the GOP report contains some minor new details, there are no major revelations that go beyond prior reporting already in the public domain via separate investigations conducted by the Defense Department, the State Department, news outlets and analysts, as well as the foreign affairs committee itself. And it contains no evidence that Harris played a major role in the withdrawal’s execution.
Democrats on Sunday panned the new report and noted the total absence of Democratic involvement in its drafting. “It is a politicized, cherry-picked report … a nakedly partisan campaign thing,” the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” That is all it was “designed to do,” Himes said — “not shed light on a tragedy.”
GOP releases critical report of Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4868649-gop-report-afghanistan-withdrawal/
The report asserts that Biden was not bound by the Doha Agreement negotiated under the Trump administration, arguing it allowed for the dissolution of the deal if the Taliban did not meet its commitments.
But Biden has made clear he viewed the U.S. as too far down the path of withdrawal to shift its approach and that doing so would commit the military to once again engaging with the Taliban.
“The choice I had to make, as your president, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban,” Biden said in a televised address in 2021.
Negotiators said to believe chance of hostage deal ‘close to zero’; US also pessimistic
Families reportedly told deal unlikely to happen as Netanyahu, Sinwar both hardened stances; US to delay presenting new proposal, does not want to reward Hamas after executions
Sunday, September 8, 2024
3 Israelis killed in terror shooting at crossing between West Bank and Jordan
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Three Israeli men were killed in a terrorist shooting attack at the Allenby Bridge Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Sunday morning, authorities said.
The attack was carried out by a Jordanian truck driver who had arrived from Jordan. The crossing, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is the West Bank’s sole crossing with Jordan.
BBC breaches its own editorial guidelines 1500 times during Israel-Hamas War
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-819124
The BBC has breached its editorial guidelines for news coverage more than 1,500 times since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, according to The Telegraph's Saturday report based on research led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson.
The research analyzed four months of the BBC's output across television, radio, online news, podcasts, and social media. Additionally, a team of around 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists contributed to the research and analyzed nine million words of BBC output using artificial intelligence (AI),
Hamas document details tactics to up pressure on Israel, stall hostage talks
A newly revealed Hamas document indicates that the terror group’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel is to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population, German newspaper Bild reported Friday.
Largest Texas Newspaper Accuses Greg Abbott of 'Beyond Reckless' Behavior
https://www.newsweek.com/houston-chronicle-governor-greg-abbott-purged-voter-rolls-texas-1950355
The Houston Chronicle's editorial board, in a Wednesday op-ed entitled, "Texas' voter roll purge is routine practice. So why is Greg Abbott crying voter fraud?" took direct aim at Abbott's August announcement that over 1.1 million people have been removed from Texas voter rolls since September 2021.
This purge, which Abbott framed as an effort to protect elections from illegal voting, includes individuals who have moved out of state, are deceased, or are not U.S. citizens.
How some of the biggest right-wing social media stars became unwitting mouthpieces of Russian propaganda
The secret payments pull back the curtain on some of the most popular right-wing personalities, who were paid millions of dollars by the Kremlin, without their knowledge according to the Justice Department to promote conservative narratives that furthered Russian interests. And while the influencer, podcaster, and online content creator space is booming, the indictment shows how open the new media ecosystem is to infiltration, where independent creators operate with few guardrails and little transparency.
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Man charged with plotting attack on N.Y. Jewish center on Oct. 7 anniversary
U.S. officials have charged a Canadian resident with plotting to travel to New York to try to carry out a mass shooting against Jewish people on the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks in southern Israel, authorities announced Friday.
Vance Stands By Tucker Carlson Platforming Holocaust Revisionist
In a statement to The Jewish Insider, a Vance campaign official said that the Ohio Senator does not hold Carlson responsible for Cooper’s whitewashing of the Nazis’ genocide—despite the fact that Carlson called him possibly “the best and most honest popular historian” in the entire country.
Candace Owens criticized the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and his fans quickly clapped back
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-819056
It was far from the first time that Owens, who has millions of online followers, has gone after Jews and Jewish groups. She was fired from the media company of Ben Shapiro, who is an Orthodox Jew, earlier this year after criticizing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and since then has supported white nationalist Nick Fuentes and used her YouTube channel to defend Hitler and question historical facts about the Holocaust. A Trump fundraiser recently dropped her from its lineup following pushback from Jewish Republicans, but Owens remains a popular figure among the young online right.
Friday, September 6, 2024
Hostage killings and new demands cast doubt in White House that Hamas wants a deal
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/05/gaza-israel-us-hostages-ceasefire-deal-prisoners
Biden and his top advisers were shocked after Hamas killed six hostages, among them U.S. citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and have started to rethink the way forward in the negotiations over the deal.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
DOJ Bombshell Alleges MAGA Media Group Is Backed by Russian Money
A Tennessee-based media company with prominent MAGA personalities on its roster has been accused of receiving millions of dollars from two employees of Russian state-backed media company Russia Today (RT) in order to influence American viewers
In child's room filled with paintings: IDF reveals footage of tunnel where hostages executed
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1nbrx8hc#autoplay
Military uncovers first video clip of terror tunnel in Rafah whose shaft discovered inside of child's room, from which forces recovered bodies of six hostages
Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Jews Are at a Crossroads as Military-Draft Orders Arrive
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredim as they prefer to be called, are at a critical juncture. So is the Israeli military, which, after a June Supreme Court ruling, is now aiming to draft some 3,000 Haredi men who had previously been exempted if they studied Jewish holy texts in religious seminaries full-time.
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
UTJ threatens Knesset boycott amid Education funding standoff
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-818726
The Ashkenazic-Haredi party United Torah Judaism announced to Coalition whip MK Ofir Katz (Likud) that they will boycott the Knesset plenum until their “education issues are resolved,” a spokesperson for one of the party’s MKs confirmed on Wednesday.
The coalition intends to introduce a number of bills on Thursday for a vote in a plenum session scheduled for Monday – a UTJ boycott will make it harder to ensure that the bills pass.
The main bill is an amendment to the 2024 budget bill, which proposes to increase state spending for 2024 by NIS 3.4 billion in order to fund evacuees from the North and South until the end of the calendar year.
Does Rav Shternbuch really believe that all RZ hate their religion
Guest Post of Dr. Nachum J. Stone regarding this morning's post from Rav Shternbuch: Rav Sternbuch attacks Mizrachnikim for hating religion [Nachum Stone is a graduate of Yeshiva University and University of Maryland . He has been practicing dentistry and giving shiurim in Maale Adumim for the last 26 years.
His son got engaged to Ofra this morning.]
He asked me to add that he is not naïve or condescending
I decided to include Dr. Stone's essay in the hopes that his well written essay gives a basis of communication between the two worlds.
updated with my introductory comments
Dr. Stone your essay is well written and condescending. You paint a rather black and white picture - when shades, colors and textures would be more accurate. Your belief that charedim are not hated but only resented - apparently reflects your experience - but that is not what goes on in the world. As Elie Wiesel put it - there is no greater hatred than hatred of brothers.===============
You give absolutely no credence or even possibility that charedi hashkofa has any legitimate basis in the sources. You seem to assume as something that is obvious that chareidi gedolim are incapable of understanding simple hashkofa - which you in your greater wisdom have been trying to share with them for years. You claim that the chareidi view of Judaism is a major distortion which serves only to protect them from their responsibilities to the greater community. The possiblity of it having any legitimacy seems outrageous to you.
In sum the caricature of yiddishkeit that you ascribe to Rav Sternbuch and the chareidim perfectly mirrors their view of you and your community. But hopefully that will change.
What good comes from this discussion? Does Rav Shternbuch really believe that all RZ hate their religion, their Torah? All the great talmidei chachamim and their baalei batim hate the Faith?! All of the Briskers [ not R David and his isolationists, but the true Rambamists ] hate the Torah ?!
Who hates who here? What Talmid Chacham says of fellow Jews “Amalek” ? I pray that that quote was in error. I still havent met any yid, frum or otherwise, who hates chareidim , despite [ as proven by?] the erev pesach debate on your blog
I know many who hate charedi politics, who cringe every time MK Gafni opens his mouth, but they still NEVER express hatred for the man himself. R Shternbuch is valiantly carrying on the fight on behalf of R Sonnenfeld ,but who gains from this invective?
In Moreh Nevuchim 3:46 Rambam [ it's long , the paragraph on chatat seirim] identifies the first, most recidivistic, and deadliest, sin of am yisrael as sinat achim .
I'll attach here a link to a short essay I wrote almost 2 years ago that was posted on the Havolim blog that addresses the tension between various groups in the religious community that has since festered into today’s “declaration of war” .
http://havolim.blogspot.co.il/2011/07/dr-nachum-j-stone-guest-post-on.html
http://havolim.blogspot.co.il/2011/07/dr-nachum-j-stone-guest-post-on.html
In the course of his vort on the unique circumstances of Milchemet Midyan, K’vod Baal Achsanya, HaRav HaGaon B, asked why is it that “Frum Jews [who] hate the Chareidim for avoiding the draft.” I would like to try to explain on a few levels. Firstly, no one I have ever met hates the Chareidim for anything. A much more accurate description would be resentment.
It should be noted that all draft-dodgers are looked down-upon in Israeli society. Citizens protest if non-soldiers are hired for entertainment. Most job applications inquire of one’s military service. It’s just part of a society whose existence is so fragile.
HaRav B seems to want to include modern Chareidi draft-avoiders in Rambam’s military exemption. [This is not the place to debate that point, but it is not universally accepted that Rambam exempts ANYONE from a Milchemet Mitzvah. V’AKMAL ] I have never heard any of the yeshiva students make such a claim, but to do so would be ridiculous. Can any contemporary Talmid Yeshiva claim to “פרק מעל צוארו עול החשבונות הרבים אשר בקשו בני האדם”? These are the same Talmidim who whine when their stipends are 2 weeks late? Who think that all businesses are somehow "obligated” to give them a special discount? Who demand equal funding as army-veteran university students? Are any of them on that level?
Even if we were to grant that the Rambam Levite exemption exists, it certainly is not obligatory upon anyone to exempt himself. Imagine if these “Klei Kodesh” were in the army. Would it not change the nature of the army to a Machaneh Kadosh? How would motivation change, how would morale change? How would the self-image of these Bnei Yeshiva change? The army already has special yeshivishe units. Perhaps they are not perfect, but if they were more heavily populated, they would function better too!
The original agreement between the Chazon Ish and PM Ben Gurion was intended to free-up a few hundred superior scholars to replenish the rabbinic cadre after the holocaust. Now, the Torato Umanuto exemption has become an almost mandatory burden on all who would call themselves Chareidi. They are pariahs if they don’t “choose” the exemption. So the system is abused, and the newspapers duly report the sophisticated massive fraud.
Fictitious students get government stipends to learn in largely virtual yeshivot. Perhaps the Chilul Hashem drives some of the disgust? Are
all the Chareidim being stigmatized because of the abuse of the few?
Certainly. On the other hand how many of the Talmidei Yeshivot are true
matmidim whose time can’t be sacrificed for communal defense? So the 95% who
abuse the system give all the others a bad name!
This leads us to the heart of the problem. The future Talmidei Yeshivot are indoctrinated from a young age, that they are the true defenders of Israel. Without their precious learning we would lose all our wars! It’s hard to fault the kids; the ideology is axiomatic for them. So, not only do they not serve. Not only do they not respect or thank those who serve (and die…) but they hold themselves superior. I think we’re very close to an answer to HaRav B’s question.
Another point raised was “Shevet Levi had the job of davening for Klal I’m sure they did.Unfortunately, these modern-day self-appointed Leviim have neglected that part of their job. The contemporary non-participants would rather stomp out of shule than daven for the soldiers, even the dead ones. They won’t use a siddur that includes a prayer for our soldiers [really, I’ve seen them check]. I had one guy leave the ammud as shatz one Shabbat [and then the building] when asked to say the mishbarach for the soldiers- in the middle of a war! Yes, in America, there’s more of a chance that the Chareidim will pray for the soldiers, there’s less of a chance that the youth might be tempted to be one. Yet still, those shules that do daven for the soldiers are few.
There’s a strange paradox here. On the one hand, the individual Talmid Yeshiva can’t be faulted for doing what absolutely everyone around him is doing, what he has been trained to do since birth. It would be quite radical for him to do otherwise. Indeed, the few charedim who do join the army probably are trying to get out of the charedi system anyway. On the other hand, many in the younger charedi leadership have told me that they know that what they are doing is probably wrong, definitely causing friction, and unlikely to last in the long-term.But they see themselves powerless to change anything; the “street” won’t let them. So the “street” doesn’t bear personal responsibility, but is responsible for the perpetuation of an intolerable situation that guarantees animosity.
We should also bear in mind something very important psychologically- who else doesn’t serve? The Arabs. Who else claims to hate the state and wishes for it to disappear- Simplistic? Yes. But herds think simplistically.
To close, I too, would like to quote our parsha: האחיכם יבאו
למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה?!
Another point raised was “Shevet Levi had the job of davening for Klal I’m sure they did.Unfortunately, these modern-day self-appointed Leviim have neglected that part of their job. The contemporary non-participants would rather stomp out of shule than daven for the soldiers, even the dead ones. They won’t use a siddur that includes a prayer for our soldiers [really, I’ve seen them check]. I had one guy leave the ammud as shatz one Shabbat [and then the building] when asked to say the mishbarach for the soldiers- in the middle of a war! Yes, in America, there’s more of a chance that the Chareidim will pray for the soldiers, there’s less of a chance that the youth might be tempted to be one. Yet still, those shules that do daven for the soldiers are few.
There’s a strange paradox here. On the one hand, the individual Talmid Yeshiva can’t be faulted for doing what absolutely everyone around him is doing, what he has been trained to do since birth. It would be quite radical for him to do otherwise. Indeed, the few charedim who do join the army probably are trying to get out of the charedi system anyway. On the other hand, many in the younger charedi leadership have told me that they know that what they are doing is probably wrong, definitely causing friction, and unlikely to last in the long-term.But they see themselves powerless to change anything; the “street” won’t let them. So the “street” doesn’t bear personal responsibility, but is responsible for the perpetuation of an intolerable situation that guarantees animosity.
We should also bear in mind something very important psychologically- who else doesn’t serve? The Arabs. Who else claims to hate the state and wishes for it to disappear- Simplistic? Yes. But herds think simplistically.
To close, I too, would like to quote our parsha: האחיכם יבאו
למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה?!
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