Wednesday, February 9, 2022

How the Right Learned to Love Saul Alinsky

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/08/right-saul-alinsky-canada-truckers-00006903

For conservatives of any stripe to suddenly embrace protesters who blockade roads and deface monuments marks a dramatic flip for a movement that waxed apoplectic about BLM and Antifa demonstrations but now cheer as their team has started working from the occupation script. Republicans and other conservatives once defended the nation’s institutions reflexively. But for some of them, that fealty has gone to vapor. Your rank-and-file GOP member may not be trying on his riot uniform of football helmet, camo gear, and rollerblade knee-and-elbow guards in front of his bedroom mirror, but it’s easy to imagine potential recruits to this nascent movement visualizing themselves in full, violent grievance mode.

Sen. McConnell's 'Clear And Unambiguous' Rebuke Of January 6

Video of Mitch McConnell Calling Jan. 6 'Violent Insurrection' Viewed Over 2 Million Times

 https://www.newsweek.com/mitch-mcconnell-jan6-violent-insurrection-mccarthy-1677447

A clip of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell describing the January 6 attack as a "violent insurrection" and criticizing the Republican National Committee for censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger has gone viral.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McConnell dismissed the RNC's description of January 6 as "legitimate political discourse," which appeared in the resolution to censure the only two Republican lawmakers on the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol attack.

The Kentucky senator also suggested it was "not the job" of the RNC to decide which lawmakers should be supported in the GOP.

Two 'missing' girls were not kidnapped, their sister says

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/322009

Two girls from a Gerrer hasidic family recently disappeared, reappeared, and then disappeared again - and police say that contrary to rumors, they have not been kidnapped.

According to Kikar Hashabbat, the two girls, daughters of the Sandik family of Bnei Brak, were claimed to be missing after their parents decided to leave the hasidic sect and join a different community. The site also cited a different rumor, which said that there was an attempt to take out a protective order for the girls, due to "violence" perpetrated against them by their father, but that a judge had denied the request.

Feds Arrest Capitol Rioter Who Allegedly Shouted ‘Let’s Go!’ While Fighting ‘the Commies’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/capitol-rioter-eric-gerwatowski-who-rallied-other-rioters-arrested-on-civil-disorder-charges

The Justice Department announced the arrest of the latest Capitol rioter Tuesday: Eric Gerwatowski, 31, of New Hyde Park, New York. He’s been charged with civil disorder, disorderly conduct, entering and remaining on restricted grounds, and a host of other charges for his alleged participation in the riot. According to court documents, Gerwatowski pushed open doors that Capitol Police had forced closed and rallied other rioters to enter the building. “Let’s go,” he allegedly shouted, according to the criminal complaint. He also appeared in multiple videos outside of the Capitol building, allegedly telling one interviewer that he entered the Capitol because “the commies are trying to steal the country.” Gerwatowski is one of more than 725 people arrested for their role in the attack.

Trump Spokeswoman Says 2020 Fraud Claims Won't Stop 'Until Correct Result'

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-spokeswoman-says-2020-fraud-claims-wont-stop-until-correct-result-1677411

A spokeswoman for former President Donald Trump has vowed that 2020 presidential election fraud claims will continue until Trump achieves "the correct result."

Trump lost the election to President Joe Biden by the relatively unambiguous margin of 7 million national popular votes and 74 votes in the Electoral College. Regardless, the former president has continued to maintain without evidence that the presidency was "stolen" from him more than a year after Biden took office.

Minister: Blood shortage will end in coming days, despite ‘foolish’ Orthodox boycott

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/minister-blood-shortage-to-end-in-coming-days-despite-foolish-orthodox-boycott/

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Tuesday that the recent countrywide blood shortage would likely end in the coming days, adding that “foolish” calls by anti-LGBT religious groups not to donate — over Magen David Adom forms asking donors to identify “parent 1” and “parent 2” — were not the cause of the crisis.

Horowitz said at a Knesset Health Committee session that the “temporary” blood shortage was caused by the Omicron wave of the pandemic, as those infected are barred from donating for several months, adding “it’s not related to any other matter.”

He noted that such shortages are taking place around the world as well, and impacted Israel in previous waves of the pandemic too. “It’s the worst blood shortage in 40 years, according to the World Health Organization,” Horowitz said.

Cure for long COVID? Antihistamines shown to provide huge relief

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/321970

Prof. Pinto told Newswise that, “Most patients tell us that providers have not recommended anything that has helped. If patients wish to try OTC antihistamines, I urge them to do so under medical supervision. And because providers may not know about new potential treatments, I would encourage patients to be active in their care and consider taking research and case reports like ours to appointments with providers so they can help create a regimen that will work. The next steps for this research into antihistamine treatment are to conduct broad-based trials in order to evaluate efficacy and to develop dosage schedules for clinical practice guidelines.”

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Dr. Brett Giroir on study on JHU study about COVID lockdowns

Johns Hopkins Study SLAMS Lockdowns As A DISASTER

Johns Hopkins study finds lockdowns reduced COVID-19 mortality by only 0.2%

John’s Hopkins Delivers a Lockdown Bombshell

Devastating Secondary Consequences Possible | Jordan Peterson on Johns Hopkins’ Lockdown Study

Johns Hopkins study reignites COVID lockdown debate

 https://www.foxnews.com/health/covid-lockdowns-johns-hopkins-study-debate

A recent controversial Johns Hopkins meta-analysis reignites a discussion about the adverse consequences of lockdowns after finding they had no significant mortality benefit during the first wave of the 2020 pandemic in the United States and Europe, according to a recent report.

Fox News guests use questionable lockdown study to launch misleading attacks on masks, vaccines

 https://www.salon.com/2022/02/03/fox-news-guests-use-study-to-launch-misleading-on-masks-vaccines/

Fox News segments on Wednesday repeatedly conflated a new study that questions the effectiveness of pandemic lockdowns with the controversies over vaccines and mask mandates, essentially to claim that all public health measures are ineffective. Yet many scientists across the globe have rushed to speak out against the paper, pointing out its flaws — something that Fox News did not address in its constant coverage of the study.

Did a Johns Hopkins Study 'Prove' Lockdowns Don't Work? What We Know So Far

 https://www.newsweek.com/did-johns-hopkins-study-prove-lockdowns-dont-work-what-we-know-so-far-1676724

"This is a highly political "push/opinion piece" masquerading as "sober analysis," Jeremy Kamil, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport told Newsweek in an email. "One of the authors mentions affiliation with the Cato Institute, which as far as I know is a right-wing pro-business organization that is against governments doing anything at all about anything. The methods seem deceptive."

What to know about the study on lockdowns and COVID-19 deaths by economists

 https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/feb/07/what-know-about-study-lockdowns-and-covid-19-death/

Fox News and other outlets are touting a new study that looked at how early COVID-19 lockdowns impacted mortality of the disease. The stories come with bombshell headlines that say research conducted by Johns Hopkins University found that lockdowns barely reduced deaths.

A new paper by three economists affiliated with Johns Hopkins University found that COVID-19 lockdowns barely reduced deaths, but the paper has not been peer-reviewed and is considered a working paper. The university did not endorse the study.

Several experts have criticized the paper and point to issues such as the authors’ broad definition of lockdown, a limited focus on the first wave of the pandemic, a comparison of policies that look very different from country to country, and an exclusion of studies that look at the science of disease transmission.

Other research has found that lockdown measures have helped save millions of lives during the pandemic.

Now 'Prof Lockdown' slams shock study that found draconian curbs only reduced Covid deaths by 0.2%

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10473937/Now-Prof-Lockdown-slams-shock-study-draconian-curbs-reduced-Covid-deaths-0-2.html

There are also questions about the methods used in the paper. Only 24 studies were included in the review and some were discarded for seemingly trivial reasons, which led to accusations the authors 'cherry-picked' studies.

But other experts said the review shows there is 'no evidence that lockdowns did any good and accused the British media of 'maintaining pandemic fear' by failing to cover the report.

Crucially, the researchers also left out studies which looked at early lockdowns in countries which managed to suppress Covid and record extremely low death rates during the pandemic through incredibly strict lockdowns and border controls — such as China, Australia and New Zealand.

Noting this limitation, the authors write: 'One objection to our conclusions may be that we do not look at the role of timing. If timing is very important, differences in timing may empirically overrule any differences in lockdowns.'

They add: 'Including these studies will greatly overestimate the effect of lockdowns, and, hence, we chose not to include studies focusing on timing of lockdowns in our review.'

Expert reaction to a preprint looking at the impact of lockdowns

 https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-a-preprint-looking-at-the-impact-of-lockdowns-as-posted-on-the-john-hopkins-krieger-school-of-arts-and-sciences-website/

“Smoking causes cancer, the earth is round, and ordering people to stay at home (the correct definition of lockdown) decreases disease transmission. None of this is controversial among scientists. A study purporting to prove the opposite is almost certain to be fundamentally flawed.

“In this case, a trio of economists have undertaken a meta-analysis of many previous studies. So far so good. But they systematically excluded from consideration any study based on the science of disease transmission, meaning that the only studies looked at in the analysis are studies using the methods of economics. These do not include key facts about disease transmission such as: later lockdowns are less effective than earlier lockdowns, because many people are already infected; lockdowns do not immediately save lives, because there’s a lag from infection to death, so to see the effect of lockdowns on Covid deaths we need to wait about two or three weeks. (This was all known in March 2020 – we discussed it in a paper released that month, and later published in Nature. Our paper is excluded from consideration in this meta-analysis.)

“It’s as if we wanted to know whether smoking causes cancer and so we asked a bunch of new smokers: did you have cancer the day before you started smoking? And what about the day after? If we did this, obviously we’d incorrectly conclude smoking is unrelated to cancer, but we’d be ignoring basic science. The science of diseases and their causes is complex, and it has a lot of surprises for us, but there are appropriate methods to study it, and inappropriate methods. This study intentionally excludes all studies rooted in epidemiology–the science of disease.”

The Evil Eye Remover

 https://www.aish.com/sp/so/The-Evil-Eye-Remover.html

Since this piece initially came out, people have been asking if the “curse” ever lifted. Well, my husband’s career ripened and prospered, my daughter’s condition improved dramatically, and around then I won close to $13,000 in fellowships and awards for that novel I was working on. In fact, “In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist” has just been released. Oh, and I became the owner of a washing machine.

'Violence against haredim is a direct result of incitement by Liberman and his friends'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/321923

Eichler told the MKs, "Today a haredi Jew was cruelly beaten in Bnei Brak by a cruel and incited police officer, because he did not wear a mask. And whose fault is that? Those who say, 'The haredim hate us,' and those like Liberman who blame the haredim for the high cost of living."

"The deadly blows by the police against haredi Jews, as occurred today in Bnei Brak and as occur in every violent meeting of the police and haredim, are a direct result of the incitement by Liberman and his friends. May the Guardian of Israel protect the remnants of Israel from the enemies from without and from the enemies at home."

Monday, February 7, 2022

Mum seeking reunion with sons dismisses offer of help as ’tissue of lies’

 https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/mum-seeking-reunion-with-sons-dismisses-offer-of-help-as-tissue-of-lies/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1644257365

A letter from the president of the Vienna Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, offering to help the British Jewish solicitor, Beth Alexander, to take part in the upcoming June barmitzvah of her twin sons, Samuel and Benjamin, has been denounced by a furious Ms Alexander as “a whitewash” and “a tissue of lies”.

Ms Alexander describes this as “a complete fabrication. I never received help at any time. I was always alone with my lawyer. I asked people to come along as my witnesses. I asked my neighbour to come as my witness and she kept adjourning and eventually refused. People were terrified to say publicly that they supported me”.

Netanyahu: Imagine if IDF used F-35s against citizens

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/321882

"Something unthinkable has happened here. Police officials have illegally used the most aggressive tools in the world to spy on countless citizens - journalists, social activists from right and left, mayors, businessmen, politicians, their families - who was not" spied on, Netanyahu asked.

"The private lives of citizens were unveiled here. They followed them, listened to them, got into their most hidden secrets and who knows what improper use they made of this espionage. Spyware designed to thwart terrorism and fight our enemies has become an everyday tool used by police to spy on civilians in violation of any norm, in violation of any law.

To illustrate the seriousness of the matter, Netanyahu said that "this is similar to the IDF using the F-35 planes we use against Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas to bomb the citizens of Israel. There was no such thing and under no circumstances should it be on the agenda."

Kinzinger: Trump was the 'worst president America has ever had'

Freedom Convoy 2022 Refund Request

GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created. However, as a result of multiple discussions with local law enforcement and police reports of violence and other unlawful activity, the Freedom Convoy fundraiser has been removed from the GoFundMe platform.

The update we issued earlier enabled all donors to get a refund and outlined a plan to distribute remaining funds to verified charities selected by the Freedom Convoy organizers. However, due to donor feedback, we are simplifying the process for you. We will automatically refund your contributions directly - you do not need to submit a request. You can expect to see your refund within 7 - 10 business days.

Ottawa Mayor Warns 'Someone Is Going to Get Killed' by Truckers' Protest

 https://www.newsweek.com/ottawa-mayor-warns-someone-going-get-killed-truckers-protest-1676664

Canadian Mayor Rips Ted Cruz Months After Australian Official Does Same


Months after an Australian minister slammed Senator Ted Cruz for criticizing the nation's COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the mayor of Vancouver also hit back against the Texas Republican for knocking the city's handling of the anti-mandate "Freedom Convoy" protest in Canada.

On Friday, Cruz responded to Kennedy's statement by tweeting: "Mayor says 'Vancouver doesn't want' truck drivers there. Folks might feel differently with empty shelves."

In response, Kennedy hit back against Cruz and noted that 90 percent of Canadian truckers are fully vaccinated.

"Can someone tell @tedcruz our store shelves are fine thanks to the 90% of Canadian truckers who are fully vaccinated. Too busy high-fiving all the awesome folks in #Vancouver that are helping push back against the #hateconvoy," Kennedy wrote.

Israeli engineers develop implants to help paralyzed people walk again

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-695725

Following the success seen in the lab trials and the results observed in the mice post-implant, the researchers hope to progress to clinical trials in humans within the next few years. They have already held talks with the FDA regarding the preclinical program.

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Belief in Angels is required

Moreh Nevuchim (3:45). Naturally the fundamental belief in prophecy precedes the belief in the Law, for without the belief in prophecy there can be no belief in the Law. But a prophet only receives divine inspiration through the agency of an angel. Comp. "The angel of the Lord called" (Gen. 22:15); "The angel of the Lord said unto her" (ibid. 16:11); and other innumerable instances. Even Moses our Teacher received his first prophecy through an angel. "And an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flame of fire" (Exod. iii.). It is therefore clear that the belief in the existence of angels precedes the belief in prophecy, and the latter precedes the belief in the Law. The Sabeans, in their ignorance of the existence of God, believed that the spheres with their stars were beings without beginning and without end, that the images and certain trees, the Asherot, derived certain powers from the spheres, that they inspired the prophets, spoke to them in visions, and told them what was good and what bad. I have explained their theory when speaking of the prophets of the Ashera. But when the wise men discovered and proved that there was a Being, neither itself corporeal nor residing as a force in a corporeal body, viz., the true, one God, and that there existed besides other purely incorporeal beings which God endowed with His goodness and His light, namely, the angels, and that these beings are not included in the sphere and its stars, it became evident that it was these angels and not the images or Asherot that charged the prophets. From the preceding remarks it is clear that the belief in the existence of angels is connected with the belief in the Existence of God; and the belief in God and angels leads to the belief in Prophecy and in the truth of the Law. In order to firmly establish this creed, God commanded [the Israelites] to make over the ark the form of two angels. The belief in the existence of angels is thus inculcated into the minds of the people, and this belief is in importance next to the belief in God's Existence; it leads us to believe in Prophecy and in the Law, and opposes idolatry. If there had only been one figure of a cherub, the people would have been misled and would have mistaken it for God's image which was to be worshipped, in the fashion of the heathen; or they might have assumed that the angel [represented by the figure] was also a deity, and would thus have adopted a Dualism. By making two cherubim and distinctly declaring "the Lord is our God, the Lord is One," Moses clearly proclaimed the theory of the existence of a number of angels; he left no room for the error of considering those figures as deities, since [he declared that) God is one, and that He is the Creator of the angels, who are more than one.

Rabbi Kaplan Meditation and the Bible





The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Call for a Scientific Non-Hasidic Meditation

 https://www.academia.edu/2503448/The_Lubavitcher_Rebbe_s_Call_for_a_Scientific_Non_Hasidic_Meditation?auto=download&email_work_card=download-paper

With the publication of Meditation and the Bible, interest in Jewish meditation began to grow. Even the Lubavitcher Rebbe issued a directive that Jewish forms of meditation should be explored. Groups that taught and practiced Jewish meditation were formed in the United States and Israel. I felt privileged that my books formed the basis of many of these groups. Unfortunately, a number of groups also involved in “Jewish meditation” were practicing something far from Judaism. Some of them attempted to adapt Eastern practices to Jewish audiences, or to Judaize Eastern teachings…Meanwhile, together with a group of committed Jewish psychiatrists and psychologists, I began to experiment with the techniques I had found in the literature. Together we explored the inner space of the meditative state. (Kaplan 1985)

3 arrested for Florida neo-Nazi attack on Jewish student

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/3-arrested-for-florida-neo-nazi-attack-on-jewish-student/

Three people have been arrested days after a Jewish passerby was attacked by a group of self-proclaimed neo-Nazis who yelled antisemitic slogans outside a central Florida shopping plaza over the weekend, authorities said Friday.

Group leader Burt Colucci, 45, and Joshua Terrell, 46, are each charged with battery with a hate crime enhancement, while Jason Brown, 47, is charged with grand theft, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. All three are members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the nation’s largest neo-Nazi groups, officials said.

More than a dozen demonstrators, wearing Nazi garb, protested at an intersection near the University of Central Florida on Saturday and waved a swastika flag from a highway overpass on Sunday.

Omicron Wave Pushes U.S. COVID Numbers Past 'Astronomical' 900,000 Deaths

 https://www.newsweek.com/omicron-wave-pushes-us-covid-numbers-past-astronomical-900000-deaths-1676479

In an interview with PBS, Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, who studies epidemiology and global health at the Johns Hopkins Center For Health, said the high death toll in the U.S. is likely due to the country "not making enough progress in vaccinating adults against the virus."

The U.S. ranks third in the world when looking at the number of people vaccinated, but when focusing on vaccination rates relative to population, the U.S. falls to 58th in the world, though it still stands above the world average, Johns Hopkins reported.

Nuzzo told PBS some Americans are hesitant to get the vaccine because the U.S. has an "information environment" in which people try to do their own research on the vaccine.

Ra'am threatens coalition over controversial bill

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-695639

The coalition leadership decided on Thursday to let MKs vote their conscience on the controversial citizenship bills that would tighten immigration controls and make it harder for Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs to receive citizenship.

COVID-19: Israel sees highest number of serious cases since start of pandemic

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-695511

Of some 5,800 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, some 84% are over the age of 60. The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector comprised 8% of all serious and critical cases, while the Arab sector comprised 20%. The remainder are from the general population.

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Israel sees blood shortage amid Rabbi protest of LGBTQ

 https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/hj4qy2f0y

Magen David Adom (MDA) reported on Thursday its blood bank was suffering from a severe shortage amid a 4-months boycott by some in the Orthodox and National Religious communities

Rabbi Aviner who supported the blood donation ban to MDA also said that "sometimes the simplest things are forgotten, so you have to remind them to people. I have a mother and a father and I won't allow them to be erased. Without them, I wouldn't be alive and without them, I wouldn't be a blood donor."

When asked if their actions justify people not receiving surgery or blood when they need it, the Rabbi replied: " You should ask MDA why they are doing such things while putting people at risk, they have a responsibility. Second, we can also donate blood directly to the hospitals, and there is no need to go through MDA."

Student who praised terrorists as ‘heroes’ gets academic role at Sheffield Hallam University

 https://www.thejc.com/news/news/student-who-praised-terrorists-as-'heroes'-gets-academic-role-at-sheffield-hallam-university-6maNAICN9suYno5jDJczGH

A Palestinian student who wrote that “Zionist lobbies… buy presidents” and praised terrorists as a “heroes” has been cleared of Jew-hate and given a contract by Sheffield Hallam University, the JC can reveal.

Shahd Abusalama, a former PhD student at the university, has also urged her social media followers to watch a shocking video which claimed the Talmud permits Jews to kill and steal from gentiles.

Announcing her appointment on Twitter, she wrote: “We're celebrating a fantastic victory for Palestine today…. I have been wholly exonerated of the false charges of antisemitism.

Tucker Carlson Has Become Obsessed With Hungary. Here’s What He Doesn’t Understand.

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/01/tucker-carlson-hungary-orban-00004149

As the elections approach, hosting one of the most-viewed American television anchors and being endorsed by American politicians is surely handy for Orbán. He knows how to play to latent nationalist resentments in a country that lost two-thirds of its territory after World War I. Positioning Hungary as a major player in the global conservative universe is part of that strategy.

Jonathan Rosenblum's revisionist history about university's concern for truth in the good old days

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Closing_of_the_American_Mind

The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students is a 1987 book by the philosopher Allan Bloom, in which the author criticizes the "openness" of relativism, in academia and society in general, as leading paradoxically to the great "closing" referenced in the book's title. In Bloom's view, "openness" undermines critical thinking and eliminates the "point of view" that defines cultures. The book became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback.

Bloom critiques the contemporary American university and how he sees it is failing its students, criticizing modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Throughout the book, he attacks the "moral relativism" that he claims has taken over American universities for the barrier it constructs to the notions of truth, critical thinking, and genuine knowledge. Bloom claims that students in the 1980s have prioritized the immediate, blind relegation of prejudice as inferiority of thought, and therefore have "closed" their minds, as the title suggests, to asking the right questions, so that prejudice may be eradicated through logic and critical thinking, as opposed to empty, baseless instinct.[citation needed] Bloom writes, "Prejudices, strong prejudices, are visions about the way things are. ... Error is indeed our enemy, but it alone points to the truth and therefore deserves our respectful treatment. The mind that has no prejudices at the outset is empty."[3]


As a college student and later as professor in three colleges. I did not see the seeking of truth that Rosenbaum claims existed at the same time. People were looking for a degree to earn money. 


Admittedly, some of my fascination with the topic is personal. The late Allan Bloom writes in The Closing of the American Mind (1987) about how earlier generations of students came to college with high expectations of a new world of ideas about to open up before them.

I know I did. And I was not disappointed. Not only did I love college, but I feel it provided me with a base for much of my subsequent life. My classmates and I came to college to learn, to be exposed to new ideas and perspectives.

RNC calls Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot ‘legitimate political discourse’ as it votes to censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger

 https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/rnc-censures-liz-cheney-adam-kinzinger-for-investigating-jan-6-pro-trump-riot.html

KEY POINTS

The RNC voted to censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of llinois due to their involvement in the investigation of the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters.

That resolution described the deadly riot as “legitimate political discourse.”

Mike Pence 'Did the Right Thing'—GOP Voters Praise Speech Against Donald Trump

https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-did-right-thing-gop-voters-praise-speech-against-donald-trump-1676538

Republican voters on Friday praised former Vice President Mike Pence for a speech where he strongly rebuked former President Donald Trump's claims about overturning the 2020 presidential election.Pence offered his strongest criticism of Trump yet, referring to the former president directly and telling his audience: "President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election" despite the former president's claims to the contrary.

Is beis din the solution to child abuse?

https://mishpacha.com/inbox-issue-896/

Approximately 35 years ago, I called this need to the attention of the then-president of Agudath Israel of America, Rabbi Moshe Sherer, after which he invited me to make a presentation to the Moetzes Gedolei Torah on the matter, which I did. Following some deliberation, to which I was not privy, the Moetzes decided to create a special beis din for cases of child abuse, with HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlita serving as the av beis din and Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, then director of government affairs, as the coordinator.

It took two years for the beis din to work out all of the many procedural and policy details in consultation with mental health professionals before it was prepared to hear its first case. About 12 cases were eventually brought to that beis din, which sensitively, discreetly, and successfully adjudicated each one.

Unfortunately, after a little over a year, the beis din abruptly disbanded as a result of more than one of the distinguished dayanim receiving death threats from a suspected perpetrator.


Meir Wikler, DSW

Rabbi Kaplan's book on meditation

It is important, however, to realize that the object of contemplation is merely an not an end in itself. One must be extremely careful not to make the object of contemplation into an object of devotion, since to do so would border on idolatry. Even when one becomes aware of the Divine in the object, it may not be made into a venerated object or an object of devotion. Since this is always a danger, it is best to limit oneself to types of contemplation actually mentioned in classical Judaic literature.

It appears that this was one of the attractions of ancient idolatry. While the Jewish meditative schools required extensive discipline and preparation, many idolatrous schools of mysticism and meditation were open to all. A person could at least think that he was having a transcendental experience, without adhering to the tight discipline of Torah and Judaism. It was very much like the situation today, when Eastern meditative groups seem easier to relate to than the strict discipline of Judaism.

For anyone who has ever had a taste of the transcendental, it can be an infinitely sweet experience, more pleasurable than love or sex. For many people, it was an experience after which they would actually lust. When the Talmud speaks of the "lust for idolatry," it could be speaking of the magnetic attraction that this spiritual experience had for people. If they could not get it from Israelite sources, they would seek it in idolatrous rites.

As long as the Israelites were in their homeland, the situation was more or less under control. Idolatry may have been a strong temptation, but the prophetic mystical schools were strong enough to unite the people and prevent them from assimilating. Even if individuals or groups backslid, they could always be drawn back into the fold. In sum, during the entire First Commonwealth, meditation and mysticism played a central role in Judaism; the spiritual leaders were the prophets, the individuals who were most advanced spiritually.

All this changed with the diaspora, which scattered Jews all over the world. It was realized that if the masses remained involved in prophetic mysticism, the temptations drawing them to idolatry would ultimately alienate them from the Torah. Isolated, widely scattered groups would be ready prey to false teachers and experiences. Therefore, around this time, the more advanced forms of meditation were hidden from the masses and made part of a secret teaching. Now only the most qualified individuals would be party to the secrets of advanced prophetic meditation. 

Second, as discussed earlier, Jewish meditation was an extremely difficult discipline, which required years of preparation. If it were an accepted part of Judaism, it was feared that Jews would become frustrated by the difficulties of practicing it and be tempted to try non-Jewish forms of meditation. This, in turn could lead them to idolatry and assimilation. Idolatry had been enough of a problem during the First Commonwealth, when all the Israelites were in their homeland; now, in the diaspora, there was a distinct danger that it would lead to the destruction of the entire nation.

Therefore, the Jewish leadership made a very difficult decision. The benefits of having the masses involved in the highest types of meditation were weighed against the dangers. Although the nation might lose a degree of spirituality as a result of the decision, it would at least survive. Henceforth, the discipline of the chariot had to be made into a secret doctrine, taught only to the most select individuals. The Great Assembly, which represented the first Jewish leadership in the Second Commonwealth, thus decreed: "The discipline of the chariot may be taught only to individual students (one at a time), and they must be wise, understanding with their own knowledge."

The Great Assembly also realized that the general populace would need a meditative discipline. But rather than have it be something loose and unstructured, they needed a discipline with a structure common to the entire Jewish nation, one that would serve as a means of uniting the people. It would have to contain the hopes and aspirations of the nation as a whole, to reinforce the unity of the Jewish people.

Friday, February 4, 2022

"80% of serious COVID cases are fully vaccinated' says Ichilov hospital director

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/321674

Are Israeli hospitals really overloaded with unvaccinated COVID patients? According to Prof. Yaakov Jerris, director of Ichilov Hospital’s coronavirus ward, the situation is completely opposite.

“Right now, most of our severe cases are vaccinated,” Jerris told Channel 13 News. “They had at least three injections. Between seventy and eighty percent of the serious cases are vaccinated. So, the vaccine has no significance regarding severe illness, which is why just twenty to twenty-five percent of our patients are unvaccinated.”

Jerris also revealed some of the confusion in reporting cases. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, he told ministers, “Defining a serious patient is problematic. For example, a patient with a chronic lung disease always had a low level of oxygen, but now he has a positive coronavirus test result which technically makes him a ‘serious coronavirus patient,’ but that’s not accurate. The patient is only in a difficult condition because he has a serious underlying illness.”

Serious COVID Cases Are All Unvaccinated or Unboosted, Top Israeli Expert Says (with VIDEO)

 https://themedialine.org/by-region/serious-covid-cases-are-all-unvaccinated-or-unboosted-top-israeli-expert-says/

The seriously ill COVID-19 patients at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem are all either unvaccinated or did not receive a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the head of the hospital’s coronavirus ward has said.

Federal probe to investigate alleged antisemitic harassment at Brooklyn College

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/federal-probe-to-investigate-alleged-antisemitic-harassment-at-brooklyn-college/

The US Department of Education has opened an investigation into alleged harassment of Jewish students at a New York college by both faculty and other students.

Report: Iran Behind Online Campaign to Foment ‘Religious War’ in Israel

 https://hamodia.com/2022/02/04/report-iran-behind-online-campaign-to-foment-religious-war-in-israel/

According to its investigation, a specialized Iranian unit disguised itself as an Orthodox newsgroup, and focused on a specific target audience of Israeli nationalists and Orthodox Jews in order to sow divisions and encourage hate speech against Arabs and Islam.

The Strange Case of Mosheh Friedman

 https://jewishdutchess.org/blogging-jewish-in-dutchess/the-strange-case-of-mosheh-friedman

After meeting Hamas official Atef Adwan in Stockholm in 2006, Moshe Friedman announced his intention of building a coalition between Hamas and anti Zionist Jews to bring about Israel's dissolution. To this day, Moshe Friedman insist that the Holocaust was a much smaller event than presented by historians and that it was exaggerated by the Jews to pave the way for the creation of Israel. He claimed during an interview in 2009 that he doesn't consider himself anti Zionist and that there is no such a thing as anti Zionist Jews, although he insisted on his alternate version of the Holocaust and on the need to dissolve the State of Israel.

Breaking news

 https://m.facebook.com/groups/reunitingbeth/permalink/457685755817939/




𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗡𝗔 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗘𝗙 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜: 𝗜’𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗛 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗦

The former chief rabbi of Vienna has pledged to reunite Manchester-born Beth Alexander with the twins from whom she has been alienated for five years.

In a dramatic intervention, Rabbi Moshe Friedman, who claims to have won many cases by representing victimised plaintiffs in the Austrian courts, travelled to Vienna this week after hearing of her plight.

And, in a further development yesterday, the community’s lay and religious leaders contacted British chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis after becoming aware of Rabbi Friedman’s involvement and the international outrage following the official launch on Sunday of a Facebook support group.

Alleging cover-ups, corruption, coercion and interference in Ms Alexander’s case, Rabbi Friedman says that his involvement will send shockwaves through the legal establishment, the social services, the education department and the Vienna Jewish community.

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Graham defends opposition to Jan. 6 pardons after Trump calls him a 'RINO'

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/592462-graham-defends-opposition-to-jan-6-pardons-after-trump-calls-him-a-rino

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday defended his stance against offering pardons to Jan. 6, 2021, defendants a day after former President Trump called him a “RINO,” an acronym that means “Republican In Name Only.”

“I stand with the police officers who protect our streets, federal courthouses, and the United States Capitol against rioters. They deserve our respect and support and I will not second-guess the decisions they made under dire circumstances,” the senator said in a statement.

However, he emphasized that Americans needed to have a unified voice against “politically motivated violence.”