Moredes if forced by husband?

Otzar Haposkim (77)

Avoda Zara does it have actual power?

אמת ליעקב דברים פרק ד פסוק יט

(יט) וראית את השמש ואת הירח גו' אשר חלק ה' אלקיך אתם לכל העמים תחת כל השמים8.
עיין במפרשי התורה שישנם בעיקר שני מהלכים בביאור פסוק זה, דיש מפרשים דהשמש והירח נחלקו לכל העמים להאיר להם ומזהירה התורה אותנו שלא נשתחוה להם, אבל הראב"ע והרמב"ן כאן פירשו דיש לכל עם ועם כוכב ידוע ומזל מיוחד, וכן יש מזל לכל עיר ועיר, והם הם המשפיעים על העמים, וכן היא גם שיטת הרמב"ן לעיל בפרשת בראשית [א' פי"ח], עיין שם.
ונראה שיש כאן מחלוקת עיקרית ביסוד ענין עבודה זרה, דשיטת הרמב"ם בכמה מקומות היא דהעבודה זרה אין בה ממש כל עיקר ואין לה כח כלל, וכל המתפלל אליה ועובדה לא רק שהוא עובר על האיסור אלא הוא גם מבזבז זמנו לריק ולשוא, אבל דעת הרמב"ן היא שהקב"ה הטביע בטבע העולם שכל אומה יש לה משפיע משלה בעולמות העליונים והוא יש לו כח מסויים שיכול להשפיע על אומתו כל זמן שאין הדבר נוגע לישראל [דהרי אין מזל לישראל], אלא איסור עבודה זרה שנצטוו בה האומות הוא שאסור להם להתפלל למשמש הזה כי הרי כל כוחו נובע ממה שהטביע בו הקדוש ברוך הוא, ולכן התפילה והעבודה צריכה להיות לאלקי האלקים, כלומר להאלו־ה שהוא ממעל כל האלהים, ולכן צריכים להתפלל להקב"ה עצמו ולא לעבד שלו, אבל ודאי אם עובדים את העבודה שלהם ומתפללים אליה זה משפיע עליו לעזור להם ויש ביכלתו לעשות כן, וזהו ביאור הפסוק אשר חלק ה' אלקיך לכל העמים תחת כל השמים, והיינו שה' חילק לכל אומה אומה את השר והמשפיע שלה.
ועיין בספר שופטים [י"א פכ"ד] בדברי יפתח אל מלך עמון שאמר לו: הלא את אשר יורישך כמוש אלהיך אותו תירש ואת כל אשר הוריש ה' אלקינו מפנינו אותו נירש. ועיי"ש בפירוש הרלב"ג שפירש שעל דרך הלעג אמר כן. אבל לפי שיטת הרמב"ן לא היתה כוונת יפתח על דרך הלעג, אלא כוונתו היתה כפי פשוטו9, דבודאי יש כח לכמוש אלהיך להוריש לך מה שהוא רוצה, ומכיון שזה הוא מה שהוריש לך א"כ איך לך לבוא בטענות נגד ישראל שהם ירשו את מה שהורישם ה' אלקי ישראל, ודו"ק.

 

The complexities of vaccine hesitancy

 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210720-the-complexities-of-vaccine-hesitancy

 First, some distinctions. While it is tempting to assume that anyone who refuses a vaccine holds the same beliefs, the fears of most vaccine hesitant people should not be confused with the bizarre theories of staunch anti-vaxxers. "They're very vocal, and they have a strong presence offline and online," says Mohammad Razai at the Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, who has written about the various psychological and social factors that can influence people's decision-making around vaccines. "But they’re a very small minority."

Father of 10-year-old rape victim: 'We give the Bedouin everything, and they laugh at us'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310379

 The father whose 10-year-old daughter was raped in her bed by Bedouin Arab intruders from southern Israel participated Thursday in a tour of the Negev, along with MKs from the Land of Israel Caucus.

In his words, the father, A., blamed the government authorities for the anarchy in the Negev.

"The State of Israel has reverse racism towards its Jewish citizens," A. told Arutz Sheva. "The Arabs claim that we are an apartheid state. That's true, but only in the opposite direction. The apartheid is towards Jews. It's unthinkable that there should be quick enforcement against a Jew who moves a millimeter out of bounds, when in the Bedouin settlements the law doesn't even exist - including in so-called 'legal' settlements."

Fact Check: Is Asking Someone If They Are Vaccinated a HIPAA Violation?

 https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-asking-covid-vaccination-status-violation-hipaa-privacy-law-1611758

When Greene was asked by a reporter about her vaccine status, she refused to answer the question, calling it "a violation of my HIPAA rights."

On July 20 she said: "With HIPAA rights, we don't have to reveal our medical records and that also involves our vaccine records."

False.

Greene's claim that being asked about her vaccination status was a violation of her HIPAA rights is false.

HIPAA rules prevent certain entities from improperly disclosing your health information. The rules do not mean that no one can ask you about your health information.

The Woman Spearheading the Fight Against Sexual Assault in ultra-Orthodox Society

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-woman-spearheading-the-fight-against-sexual-assault-among-haredim-1.5455644 

 Attorney Rivka Schwartz remembers vividly the first time she ever heard about sexual abuse within the family. She was 16 at the time, attending summer camp. She and one of her best friends – also a Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, girl from Bnei Brak – were having trouble falling asleep. They talked well into the night, and Schwartz’s friend revealed something that astounded her.

McConnell urges Americans: ‘Get vaccinated’ as cases spike

 https://apnews.com/article/health-government-and-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-af236206a9e74e614479d10b5bc4555c

 McConnell has been one of the most outspoken members of his party in urging vaccinations to stop the virus spread, speaking often in his home state of Kentucky of the need for people to get the shot.

Without criticizing prominent Republicans who refuse the vaccine or mock the severity of the virus, including members of Congress, he has expressed dismay at those who choose to go unvaccinated.

Joint Arab List chief rushed to hospital

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310305

The chairman of the Joint Arab List faction, MK Ayman Odeh, was rushed to the hospital Wednesday afternoon, after complaining of severe kidney pains.

Odeh was evacuated to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa Wednesday for treatment, with aides saying his pains were apparently caused by kidney stones.

Several other Arab lawmakers have been hospitalized recently for kidney stones, including Joint Arab List MK Ahmed Tibi, and United Arab List chief MK Mansour Abbas.

Orthodox Jews have the best sex - opinion

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/orthodox-jews-have-the-best-sex-opinion-674351

 As for Judaism’s rules about sex which, she so derisively dismisses, the interesting thing is this: Judaism has almost no rules about sex, something I highlighted at length in my book Kosher Sex. Every position and every pleasurable interaction is allowed. Indeed, about the only things that are forbidden are pornography, because you’re being excited by strangers and not each other; and having sex during menstruation, because Judaism wants the “erotic barrier” of sexual forbiddenness of several days each month to magnify lust and desire. Husbands and wives need a period of sexual separation in order to hunger for each other’s bodies again.
Indeed, the Orthodox Jewish marriage is based far more on lust than love, a point easily demonstrated by the 10th commandment. It expressly forbids lusting after your neighbor’s wife, which by direct implication means you sure as heck ought to be lusting after your own.

He spent two decades in prison for church murders. New DNA evidence shows someone else did it

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/20/us/georgia-man-exonerated-church-murder-trnd/index.html 

A man who spent two decades in prison for a 1985 double homicide during church bible study has been exonerated, with all charges against him dropped.

Newly discovered DNA evidence from a hair sample shows Dennis A. Perry, 59, "may have been acquitted if that evidence had been available" during his 2003 trial for the murders of Harold and Thelma Swain in Georgia, according to a news release from Glynn County District Attorney Keith Higgins.

 

 Authorities identified Perry as the main suspect based mainly on testimony from an informant who wanted a $25,000 reward and ultimately was paid $12,000 in exchange for testimony -- something that was never disclosed to Perry's attorneys, the release from Georgia Innocence Project said.

Rabbi Morgenstern

 

The Golden Calf

 https://www.etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/torah/sefer-shemot/parashat-ki-tisa/golden-calf-1

             In contrast to Rashi and the Rasag, the majority of the commentators do not interpret the sin of the golden calf as pure idolatry. When the people requested an idol, they were not so foolish as to think that a man-made idol made from their own jewelry was actually the God who took them out of Egypt.

             What, then, was their intention? Both the Ibn Ezra and his son in law, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (Spain, before 1075-1141) in his philosophical work, the Kuzari (a polemical work directed against Aristotelian philosophy, Christianity, and Islam), explain that the worshipers did not believe the calf to be an actual god but rather they saw in the calf a physical manifestation, a symbolic representation of the one God. The calf was not a rebellion against God, a worshipping of an alternative power, but was rather an alternative, more corporeal and palpable form of worship:

 

            The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Spain, 1194-1274) agrees with the Ibn Ezra that the sin of the golden calf was not idolatry in the pure sense of the term. However he rejects Ibn Ezra's interpretation that the calf was a corporeal manifestation of God. Instead the Ramban suggests that the golden calf was meant to be a replacement for Moses.

            Both the Bechor Shor (Rabbi Yoseph Ben Yitzchak Bechor Shor, France, 12 century) and the Chizkuni (Rabbi Chizkiya ben Manoach, France, mid-thirteenth century) agree with the Ramban that the function of the golden calf was to replace Moses as the leader of Israel. They interpret the word 'elohim' in the people's request, "make us a god" (32:1) not as a god but rather a judge and leader. They also offer an explanation for why Aaron agreed to make an idol, an act which involved great risk and danger of pure idolatry. Why not designate himself or some other influential figure as a replacement for Moses? The Chizkuni and the Bechor Shor (see 32:2) suggest that Aaron feared the possibility of a conflict, a power struggle, which would erupt upon Moses' return. He feared that the replacement for Moses would not step down when Moses would return and this would lead to a division of the people into rival camps, each supporting a different leader. He himself was unwilling to serve as leader so as not to betray Moses. He therefore decided to create a harmless figurehead which could be disposed of with little opposition when Moses would return. Otherwise, Aaron feared the people would designate a king to lead them instead of Moses (see Chizkuni 32:22). 

            To summarize, the commentators disagree as to the nature of the request by the people for an idol. They can be divided into two main groups: those, such as Rashi and the Rasag, who regard the golden calf as a form of pure idolatry, and those, such as the Ibn Ezra, Kuzari, Ramban, Chizkuni, Bechor Shor and Shadal, who reject this idea. In the first group, Rashi is of the opinion that Aaron was coerced into making the idol while Rasag maintains that it was a plot to differentiate between the idolaters and those of true faith. In the latter group of commentators, the Ibn Ezra and the Kuzari posit that the calf was a corporeal manifestation of God while the Ramban, Chizkuni, and the Bechor Shor regard it as a replacement for Moses.

Lapid pressed, Bennett folded: The political drama around Temple Mount worship

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-pressed-bennett-folded-the-political-drama-around-temple-mount-worship/

Yair Lapid proved on Monday that he’s much more than the alternate prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. He is the man who cut through the talk of a new policy regarding Jewish worship on the Temple Mount. It was he who spoke with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, after Bennett had issued an extraordinary statement hailing the “maintaining of Jewish worship” at the site, and explained that the publication was a mistake. And it was he who then marketed to journalists the message that there is no change to the status quo on the Temple Mount, Bennett’s announcement notwithstanding.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement and the making of the modern Middle East

 https://theconversation.com/the-sykes-picot-agreement-and-the-making-of-the-modern-middle-east-58780

The mainstay of the plan was that France and Great Britain were prepared to recognise and protect an independent Arab state, or confederation of Arab states – in exchange for Arab help in overthrowing the Ottoman Empire.

Conflicting promises

To get a sense of the broken promises, it’s worthwhile comparing the Sykes-Picot Agreement to two other contemporary documents. These are the McMahon-Hussein letters and the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

Sir Henry McMahon was the British high commissioner in Egypt and Hussein bin Ali was the Sharif of Mecca. In letters they exchanged between 1915 to 1916, Britain clearly agreed to recognise Arab independence after the first world war, in exchange for Arab help in fighting the Ottomans.

The Arabs regarded McMahon’s promises as a formal agreement, which it may very well have been. The boundaries proposed by Hussein included Palestine. But this area was not explicitly mentioned in the McMahon–Hussein correspondence.

Confusing the issue was the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which promised British support for a Jewish “national home” in Palestine. Part of this very short text reads as follows:

His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object…

These conflicting promises remained at the heart of the impasse between two distinct nationalist groups in Mandate Palestine: the Zionists and the Arabs, later to be renamed Israelis and Palestinians.

Sykes-Picot: The map that spawned a century of resentment

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36300224

 The Sykes-Picot agreement conflicted directly with pledges of freedom given by the British to the Arabs in exchange for their support against the collapsing Ottomans.

Sykes–Picot Agreement

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement

The agreement is seen by many as a turning point in Western and Arab relations. It negated the UK's promises to Arabs[9] regarding a national Arab homeland in the area of Greater Syria in exchange for supporting the British against the Ottoman Empire. The agreement, along with others, was made public by the Bolsheviks[10] in Moscow on 23 November 1917 and repeated in the British Guardian on 26 November 1917, such that "the British were embarrassed, the Arabs dismayed and the Turks delighted".[11][12][13] The agreement's legacy has led to much resentment in the region, among Arabs in particular but also among Kurds who were denied an independent state.[14][15][16][17]

Timeline: Six key moments that shaped Jerusalem

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/18/middleeast/jerusalem-original-series-faith-and-fury-timeline/index.html

By the start of World War I, Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with Germany.

On the other side stood the British Empire, which "badly wanted to control the Holy Land, to bring it under Christian influence at a time of Ottoman Islamic rule," says Bruce Hoffman, the Director of the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University.

As the war unfolded, there was born what at first appeared an alliance, as Arabs in revolt against their Ottoman rulers found support from the British.

In reality, says Ali Qleibo, an anthropologist and writer for This Week in Palestine magazine, Arab rebels hoping to come out from under Ottoman rule "were lured and lied to by Britain. They thought it's simply liberation; they did not know it was preparatory for an occupation."

Britain struck a secret deal with France called the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which "essentially divided [the Ottoman Empire] of the Middle East into a British part, including most of Iraq, Jordan and Palestine, and a French part, which included Lebanon, Syria and part of Turkey," Mourad says.

Twitter temporarily suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for vaccine misinformation

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/19/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-twitter-ban/index.html

 The Georgia Republican has tried to make a name for herself being an outsider and a rabble-rouser and routinely uses parliamentary procedures to slow down House floor business, much to the dismay of her colleagues.

But the tactics have helped her win support on the far right. In April, her campaign announced she had raised $3.2 million in the first three months in office -- an astonishing amount for a freshman member.

Israel Warns Unilever Chief Over Ben & Jerry’s Boycott

 https://time.com/6081709/israel-unilever-ben-jerrys-boycott/

 According to NBC News, Anuradha Mittal, the chair of the ice cream maker’s board of directors, said the statement Unilever released on its behalf, which says that Ben & Jerry’s will stay in Israel, wasn’t approved by the panel she oversees, as it should have been.

“I am saddened by the deceit of it,” Mittal said, according to NBC. “This is not about Israel. It is about the violation of the acquisition agreement that maintained the soul of the company.”

In a separate statement, Unilever said it has always recognized the right of Ben & Jerry’s and its board to take decisions about its social mission, and welcomes the fact that the ice cream brand will stay in Israel.

Kuzari Principle

 https://ohr.edu/3577

The Jewish claim to truth is based on the idea that G-d revealed Himself to the entire people at Sinai which was an experience so great and so intense and so unanimously experienced by all that it could not have been made up. This imparted in the Jewish people an unswerving commitment to the belief in G-d. Subsequently they may have lapsed into rebelling against His will, but their acceptance of G-d’s existence was not questioned.

Compare this to other religions’ claim to truth based on the spiritual experiences or insights of one person, or of just a small group of people. This experience cannot be corroborated in any way by others. Of course, the experience may have happened. But the difference is that translating the experience of the individual to a national “belief” is based solely on faith in that individual and accepting his claims despite having no other verification.

As Delta Variant Spreads, House Republicans Keep Spreading Opposition to Vaccines

 https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/71921 

As the dangerous Delta variant spreads, filling hospital beds with unvaccinated Americans and jeopardizing hard-won progress toward ending the pandemic, Kevin McCarthy’s House GOP is doubling down on stoking misinformation and opposition to life saving vaccines.

The increasingly Republican pandemic

 https://news.yahoo.com/increasingly-republican-pandemic-184318917.html

The Associated Pressreported last week that of the 18,000 American COVID-19 deaths in May, only 150 involved fully vaccinated people — and that "breakthrough" infections of vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of the 853,000 COVID-related hospitalizations during the month. Those low numbers suggest the pandemic death rate "could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine," the news service concluded.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of vaccine holdouts. As David Leonhardt points out today at TheNew York Times, the refusers are trending Republican: The average county that voted for Donald Trump is just 34 percent vaccinated; the number is 45 percent for counties that went for Joe Biden. And unsurprisingly, the counties that have a low proportion of vaccinations have higher rates of new cases.
It's here where you have to consider if Tucker Carlson holds the power of life and death — or, at least, good health or ill — over his nearly 3 million conservative viewers.

As failure follows failure, coalition in uphill battle against inexperience

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-failure-follows-failure-coalition-in-uphill-battle-against-inexperience/

 The failures came in quick, maddening succession. One bill after another crashed in the Knesset plenum, sometimes from laughable and embarrassing errors by coalition lawmakers. Some pundits labeled it the worst string of legislative losses incurred by any ruling coalition in the Knesset’s history.

Ben & Jerry’s joins long list of failed 'boycotts' of Israel - analysis

https://www.jpost.com/bds-threat/ben-and-jerrys-joins-long-list-of-failed-boycotts-of-israel-analysis-674391 

 The desire to boycott Israel has existed since the country was created in 1948, but what is left of the “boycott” movement today appears to mostly be some privileged activists in the West.

Ben & Jerry’s board in dispute with owners Unilever over remaining in Israel

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-jerrys-board-in-dispute-with-owners-unilever-over-complete-israel-pullout/

 A statement Monday by Ben & Jerry’s that it will no longer distribute its products in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” but will remain in Israel was released by the company’s owner, Unilever, without consulting with the ice cream maker’s board — which had intended to put out a different statement that made no mention of committing to continue doing business with the Jewish state, Ben & Jerry’s chairman Anuradha Mittal told NBC News.

While many companies and countries have differentiated between Israel and its settlements in the West Bank, a complete boycott of Israel by a major Western company has been almost unheard-of in recent years.

Mittal said the board had been pushing for years to stop selling its products in settlements and intended to release a different statement from the one Unilever put out. NBC, which reviewed the intended statement, said it made no mention of remaining in Israel and focused on Ben & Jerry’s commitment to social justice causes.

I grew up in the same community as the star of Netflix’s ‘My Unorthodox Life.’ Here’s what I wished she remembered.

https://forward.com/scribe/473098/i-grew-up-in-the-same-community-as-the-star-of-netflixs-my-unorthodox-life/ 

 Can I call you Talia? The same Talia the young me watched in total awe, dancing and leading her way thru our high school concerts? The Talia that headlined so many local Monsey events leaving her audience in stitches with her comedic genius? The beautiful and graceful and oh so well dressed Talia that walked the streets of Monsey (incidentally, the streets in your first episode are Boro Park, not Monsey, you might want to fix that teeny, tiny error). So Talia, is it ok if I refer to you as that, that girl, the one I remember?

20% of Americans believe the conspiracy theory that microchips are inside the COVID-19 vaccines, says YouGov study

 https://news.yahoo.com/20-americans-believe-conspiracy-theory-115206203.html

A new study has found that 1-in-5 Americans believe that it is "definitely true" or "probably true" that there is a microchip in the COVID-19 vaccines.

The study by YouGov in conjunction with The Economist has found that 30-44-year-olds are most likely to believe this widely debunked conspiracy, with 7% of people from this age group saying that it is "definitely true" and 20% of them saying it is "probably true."

Less than half of people surveyed (46%) said that it is "definitely false."

 

Video of a microchip reader finding a chip in a vaccinated woman’s arm was posted as a joke

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/01/instagram-posts/video-microchip-reader-finding-chip-vaccinated-wom/

Video of a microchip reader finding a chip in a vaccinated woman’s arm was posted as a joke.

Jewish leaders in Israel and abroad slam Ben & Jerry's Judea and Samaria boycott

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310177

 Israel's Minister of the Interior, Yamina's MK Ayelet Shaked slammed the ice cream chain via a Twitter post, writing: "Your ice cream doesn't sit well with us anyway," and adding, "We'll be just fine without you."

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid responded to the move saying: "Ben & Jerry's decision is a shameful surrender to anti-Semitism, BDS, to all that is evil in the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse. We will not allow them to silence us."

 Spokeswoman of Samaria Regional Councilman, Yossi Dagan, Esther Silam Alush, quoted Dagan as saying: "Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria will continue to exist long after Ben & Jerry's has melted."

 Israel activist and former Democratic New York State Assemblyman from Brooklyn's Assembly district 48, Dov Hikind, accused the ice cream firm of hypocrisy, posting: "But Ben & Jerry's will still sell their product in unoccupied Palestinian Territory despite the fact that if you’re LGBTQ there’s no way you can survive a day in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin or Gaza! Because 'consistency'"…

Ben & Jerry's to boycott West Bank settlements, east Jerusalem

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/ben-and-jerrys-to-end-sales-in-west-bank-674336

 Well-known ice cream company Ben & Jerry's announced on Monday its plan to boycott West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, by refusing to allow its products to be sold in those areas. 

"We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)," the company stated in a notice it posted on its website.

Israel's bus, train users lament lack of masks and enforcement

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1p0yxq0u

 Despite the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases around Israel and the subsequent reintroduction of the indoor mask mandate, the country's often overcrowded buses and trains are filled with people who are not wearing the protective face covering.

Outrage As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook To Build An Empire

 https://www.npr.org/2021/07/19/1013793067/outrage-as-a-business-model-how-ben-shapiro-is-using-facebook-to-build-an-empire

 But The Daily Wire has turned anger into an art form and recycled content into a business model.

 Other conservative outlets such as The Blaze, Breitbart News and The Western Journal that publish aggregated and opinion content aimed at invoking outrage have also generally been more successful at generating engagement than legacy news outlets over the past year, according to NPR's analysis, which used data compiled by the media intelligence company NewsWhip.

1,679 Jews pray on Temple Mount during Tisha B'Av

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/310095 

More than 1,600 Jewish visitors ascended the Temple Mount Sunday for prayers marking the Tisha B’Av fast day, drawing the ire of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and its political representatives in the Knesset.

According to the Bayadenu organization, which organized mass visits to the holy site, a total of 1,679 Jews visited the Temple Mount as of Sunday afternoon, a 42% increase over last year's Tisha B'Av fast.

The United Arab List, a coalition partner which represents the Southern Islamic Movement in Israel, condemned the Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount, warning Jewish worshippers on the holy site could cause Arab riots and ultimately spark a “religious war”.

Choni the circle maker

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honi_HaMe%27agel#Death

According to Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews, Honi met his end in the context of conflict between the Hasmonean brothers Hyrcanus II, backed by the Pharisees and advised by Antipater the Idumaean, and Aristobulus II, backed by the Sadducees. Around 63 BC, Honi was captured by the followers of Hyrcanus besieging Jerusalem and was asked to pray for the demise of their opponents. Honi, however, prayed: "Lord of the universe, as the besieged and the besiegers both belong to Your people, I beseech You not to answer the evil prayers of either." After this, the followers of Hyrcanus stoned him to death.^[8]

The Babylonian Talmud records a different story of his death, as part of the aforementioned carob tree story. The Maharsha explains the discrepancy between the Talmud and Josephus by stating that Honi was "presumed" killed by Hyrcanus II's men, but in reality was put into a deep sleep or coma for 70 years, and only then died.^[5]

Taanis (23a) Ḥoni went home and said to the members of the household: Is the son of Ḥoni HaMe’aggel alive? They said to him: His son is no longer with us, but his son’s son is alive. He said to them: I am Ḥoni HaMe’aggel. They did not believe him. He went to the study hall, where he heard the Sages say about one scholar: His halakhot are as enlightening and as clear as in the years of Ḥoni HaMe’aggel, for when Ḥoni HaMe’aggel would enter the study hall he would resolve for the Sages any difficulty they had. Ḥoni said to them: I am he, but they did not believe him and did not pay him proper respect. Ḥoni became very upset, prayed for mercy, and died. Rava said: This explains the folk saying that people say: Either friendship or death, as one who has no friends is better off dead. 

Chidushei Agadot (Taanis 23a)

ולא עבדו ליה יקרא כדבעי כו'. גם שראו בו שהוא בעל תורה ונהירין ליה שמעתתיה כבשני דחוני המעגל מ"מ לא ראו בו שהיה בעל מעשים כחוני ולכך לא עבדי ליה יקרא כדבעי ואמר דבעי רחמו ומת כו' שלא הגיע עדיין זמנו למות דאותן ע' שנין שהיה ישן לא נחשב לו לכלום ובירושלמי מייתי עובדא דחוני המעגל שהיה בחורבן בית ראשון והיה ישן מחורבן בית ראשון ע' שנין עד שנבנה בית שני אבל זה המעשה דמתני' היה אח"כ זמן רב בזמן שמעון בן שטח וכתב בעל יפה מראה דשני חוני המעגל הוו וזה דמתני' הוא בר בריה הוה ע"ש ובספר יוחסין כתוב בשם יוסף בן גוריון שנהרג חוני המעגל מחוץ לירושלים במלחמות בני חשמונאי וזה מסכים עם תלמודנו לפי שנאבד מן העולם ע' שנה בשינה אמרו עליו שנהרג במלחמת האחים ולכך כשבא אפי' בר בריה לא האמין לו:

Knesset speaker flubs vote, killing coalition bill for rabbinical court reform

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-speaker-flubs-vote-killing-coalition-bill-for-rabbinical-court-reform/

The bill would have expanded the panel that chooses rabbinical judges to include more representatives from the government and more female representatives.

Who is most likely to develop severe COVID-19 even after a second jab?

 https://www.jpost.com/health-science/who-is-most-likely-to-develop-serious-covid-19-even-after-a-second-jab-673788

“Overall, we can say that the main thing is that these are not healthy people,” Brosh told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. “Almost all of them (96%) had comorbidities: heart disease, lung disease, renal disease, dementia, cancer, or other common ailments. So, people who get breakthrough infections and are admitted are sicker than a usual person.”

As Covid cases rise in Florida, Governor DeSantis digs at Fauci with merchandise

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/14/florida-ron-desantis-digs-fauci-merchandise-covid

Since Trump’s defeat by Biden, the Fauci-bashing baton has been passed to the Fox News star Tucker Carlson. The prime time host has taken a more menacing approach, accusing Fauci of lying about the origins of the coronavirus in a series of unsubstantiated rants.
 Now it’s DeSantis’s turn to jump on the bandwagon – and generate some cash to fund his 2022 re-election campaign. Since the start of the pandemic the Republican governor has positioned himself as the champion of freedom, standing up against no-fun health experts who insist on masks and social distancing.
Even as Covid was sweeping the US in early 2020, DeSantis refused to close Florida’s beaches. He shunned mask ordinances and removed all restrictions on businesses in May.
The timing of his new Fauci-bashing merchandise launch is unfortunate, given the state of his state. Though vaccination levels have risen in Florida, and infection rates fallen, Florida is grappling with a marked increase in new cases and hospitalisations as the highly contagious Delta variant kicks in.

The Myth of the White Suburb and “Suburban Invasion”

 https://nlihc.org/resource/myth-white-suburb-and-suburban-invasion

To appeal to suburban voters in late summer 2020, President Trump tweeted that “people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream” would “no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood.” The tweet referred to the president’s gutting of the Affirmatively Furthering, which required local governments to affirmatively address racial segregation as required by the 1968 Fair Housing Act. He continued, “Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!”

President Trump’s HUD Secretary Ben Carson concurred with President Trump’s desire to roll back fair housing enforcement at HUD. In an op-ed shortly after President Trump’s tweet, then Secretary Carson affirmed the president’s abhorrent rhetoric by stating that fair housing practices could lead suburbs to become dens of “crime and chaos,” suggesting that low-income people are inherently criminal. This type of comment has obvious racist elements, as a disproportionate number of low-income people in this country are Black or Hispanic. 

While President Trump’s and Secretary Carson’s words played to deplorable racist perceptions of people living in affordable housing, the vision of the suburbs they paint is also incorrect. The exclusive, white, middle-class vision of the suburbs is rapidly changing. Whites fled cities to move to outlying majority white middle-class enclaves in the mid-1900s, a phenomenon known as “white flight.” The federal government encouraged whites to move to suburbs by constructing federal highways and providing white families low-interest mortgages for homes in car-centric, less dense neighborhoods. Racist residential segregation policies, like redlining, housing discrimination, and racially restrictive covenants, limited opportunities for people of color to follow the same path.

MK Ibtisam Mara'ana: 'It's my security and it's my foreign affairs'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309914

MK Ibtisam Mara'ana (Labor) has joined the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as an alternate member, sparking controversy.

"I don't understand the uproar," Mara'ana told News 12. "If a man had joined the Committee for Women's Issues no one would raise an eyebrow, or if a Jew had joined the Special Committee on Arab Society Affairs, no one would raise an eyebrow. But when an Arab joins the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, people raise eyebrows."

"I joined the Committee because it's my security, too, and it's my foreign affairs, too. My job on the Committee is first of all to be on guard and to say that violence and war no longer works. We are paying a price in blood, bereavement, and destruction. I am a person who believes that all avenues of negotiations must be pursued.

 

 When asked if she would want the IDF to win if it needed to engage in another Gaza war, Mara'ana refused to clearly condemn Hamas' attacks on Israeli civilians.

"I want there to be peace here," she claimed. "I say enough with the violence, the crime, and the wars. It's time to examine a different path. My stance is very clear: The paths of attack and violence, and wars, and people on both sides who lose their homes - this doesn't work."

Race in America 2019

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/04/09/race-in-america-2019/ 

Black and white adults have widely different perceptions of how blacks are treated in America, but majorities of both groups say blacks are treated less fairly than whites by the criminal justice system (87% of blacks vs. 61% of whites) and in dealing with police (84% vs. 63%, respectively).

 When asked about specific situations they may have experienced because of their race or ethnicity, blacks are considerably more likely than whites, Hispanics or Asians to say that people have acted as if they were suspicious of them; people have acted as if they thought they weren’t smart; they have been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotion; or they have been unfairly stopped by police. Hispanics and Asians are more likely than whites to say each of these have happened to them.

 

4 Iranian nationals charged with alleged kidnapping plot of US journalist, court documents say

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/14/us/iranian-nationals-charged-kidnapping-journalist/index.html

The four were charged with conspiracies related to kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud, and money laundering, according to the indictment. They are based in Iran and remain at large, authorities said.

"As alleged, four of the defendants monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime's autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim's fate would have been uncertain at best," US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said in a news release Tuesday.

Iranian Agents Are Facing Charges For Their Role In A Plot To Kidnap A U.S. Journalist

 https://www.npr.org/2021/07/14/1015861534/iranian-agents-are-facing-charges-for-their-role-in-a-plot-to-kidnap-a-u-s-journ

Federal prosecutors in New York charged five foreign agents backed by the Iranian government for their roles in a stranger-than-fiction plot to kidnap a U.S. citizen and journalist critical of the nation's regime.

 

Hear the anti-vaccine rhetoric from Fox News amidst Covid-19 deaths

 https://edition.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/07/14/fox-news-newsmax-vaccine-misinformation-newday-vpx.cnn

'We are seeing people passing quicker than before': What hospitals look like in US Covid hot spots

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/13/us/us-covid-hot-spots-hospitals/index.html 

 The overwhelming majority of those coming in sick with Covid are unvaccinated, Segarra said. Many are young -- people in their 20s and 30s who are getting "extremely, extremely sick" and some of whom are dying.

Do Israel's haredim really live off the state?

https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-do-israels-haredim-really-live-off-the-state-1001359942 

 What is it about Haredim that interests Israelis politically more than, say, security or the housing crisis? Well, exemption from army service is without a doubt a top issue. And many blame haredim for spreading Covid-19. But if you follow the extensive media coverage of haredim, you’ll notice that lack of contribution to the Israeli economy and manipulation of the national budget are an even greater source of contention for many citizens. As Liberman posted recently in Facebook: "On the day that Balfour ceases to be Deri, Gafni, and Litzman’s bank account, that is the day we can point to as the beginning of the Israeli economy’s recovery."

Israel's Top Court Allows Sex-segregated University Classes to Integrate Haredim

 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-top-court-allows-sex-segregated-at-university-classes-to-integrate-haredim-1.9994427

Separate-sex classes at universities are permissible to promote the ultra-Orthodox community’s integration into higher education, Israel's High Court of Justice ruled on Monday.

The court, however, determined that the policy barring female faculty members from teaching in male-only classes must be repealed immediately.