https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327417
Sefer HaIkkarim (1:20:1) A thing perceived by an unusually popular and trustworthy person or by a number of persons of superior powers of comprehension or by an unusually large number of persons, is more likely to satisfy the mind of its reality and to be firmly believed than a thing not so accredited. For this reason God desired that the Torah should be given through Moses with great publicity and in the presence of a mighty multitude of six hundred thousand people. For according to the wise men of the Cabala this number includes all physiognomies, hence the publicity could not be greater, though the number of persons had been multiplied many times.
According to the Rabbis, the revelation was published before the whole world. Commenting on the verse, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran …, they say, Why Seir and why Paran? The answer is, that God offered the Torah to all the world, who refused to accept it. Then Israel came and accepted it. The meaning is that since there were then seventy nations in the world and the text of the Bible mentions only Seir and Paran, it is clear that the reference is not to mount Seir and the wilderness of Paran, but to the whole world. Knowing that founders of religion were to arise in the future in Seir, i. e., the people of Edom and those associated with them, and in Paran, i. e., the people of Ishmael and those related to them,—two nations including the whole world, and both descended from Abraham, the first true believer, God published before these nations His revelation of the Torah to Israel, pointing out to them that the revelation of a divine law must be published very widely, else it is not divine. This is so because an order which passes between God and the prophet alone leaves a suspicion or doubt in the minds of others, even of those living in the same generation, not to mention those who come after. Thus even in the case of Moses, the Israelites did not fully believe in his prophetic character until the day of the revelation on Sinai, when they heard the voice speaking to him, as we saw before.
This is the reason why the Torah was not given completely to Abraham, Isaac or Jacob that they should command their children after them to keep the way of the Lord. For though the tradition should be handed down by them continuously from father to son, some suspicion or doubt might occur to those who came after in future generations, because those who received the law first were individuals. The case is different where the thing is clearly perceived by a very great number of persons embracing many wise and intelligent men, representing a great variety of opinions. This is the reason why the Torah was given through Moses with such great publicity, in order, namely, as I said before, that no suspicion or doubt should remain in the minds of the recipients and their associates, nor in the minds of those who come after, so that the tradition may be as firm and true as it is possible to make it.
Donald Trump endorsed Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican congressman whose opposition to a Holocaust education bill helped earn him the rare distinction of being an incumbent criticized by the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Massie is one of a number of Republicans the former president is backing in the primaries ahead of this year’s midterm congressional elections in a bid to prove he still has sway in the party. Trump has also endorsed Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, another incumbent Republican the RJC’s affiliated political action committee has opposed in a primary.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327383
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327380
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/22/florida-examples-prohibited-topics-math-textbooks
“Those examples were given with no context and were not even elementary-level material,” Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association that represents more than 150,000 educators, said. “So it seems like it’s more about smoke and mirrors of trying to accomplish a political agenda than really about what we are teaching our kids.”
“What educators and parents are concerned about is if we don’t have teachers in our classrooms, or bus drivers to get kids to school on time, then our kids aren’t learning math or any other subject,” Spar said.
“We’re expecting over 9,000 teacher vacancies by the end of the year, according to the state board that he appoints, and we have a massive bus driver, paraprofessional, cafeteria worker, custodian shortage in addition. We’ve heard the governor say or do nothing about it.
“These kinds of antics and political theater going on over these textbooks is exactly what’s driving people out of the profession.”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-706387
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327326
The Harvard Crimson’s recent endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement has attracted far more wide-ranging attention than a typical student paper’s editorial page, as faculty and alumni of the Ivy League institution have lined up to denounce the student paper’s op-ed and condemn the shift in Israel discussion on college campuses.
In an open letter, more than 100 Harvard faculty members objected to the paper endorsing an academic and financial boycott of the state of Israel, including the school’s former president Larry Summers; prominent psychologist and author Steven Pinker; endowed law professor Gabriella Blum; former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey Flier; and emeritus law professor and longtime pro-Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz.
“We believe that many well-meaning people with no hate in their hearts, including those at Harvard, gravitate to this movement believing that it offers a means for advancing Palestinian rights and peace in the Middle East,” the letter reads. “But the reality is that BDS merely coarsens the discourse on campus and contributes to antisemitism.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nebraska-trump-herbster-primary-governor-lindstrom
Mazel Tov on your bar mitzva
Don't know if you realize its wider implication - in Jewish law that means it is now your responsibility to keep the religious and ethical principles of Judaism
One of the most important of these being to honor and respect both your father and mother
You are in a very difficult position in this area. Never the less you are still obligated
As a minimum you need to ensure that your mother is invited to the bar mitzva
As a psychologist I will simply note that if you can't deal properly with this issue it is very unlikely you will have a good marriage or be a good parent. Not a threat or curse - just a dose of reality
Daniel Eidensohn PhD.
Transcription of the words of Rabbi Dovid Greenblatt by Rabbi Spira
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2021/05/daas-torah-and-legacy-of-rabbi-joshua-h.html
My father was matir a woman a year or two ago. He was only matir two women in 60 years. The rest of them, for the other thirty thousand, he travelled on buses and planes, and spent the night, and went to South America, all on his own cheshbon, everything, for thirty thousand. But there were two women he was matir. The last time he was matir a woman, he got tremendous flack. Big Jews criticized him. What happens to us when we get criticized? What happens to a person who’s not a gadol? ‘Ah, you’re criticizing me. You don’t know me. You don’t know why I did it. You should have called me. Do you know who I am? You didn’t let me explain it to you.’ We’re all… We’re all defending… We’re all defending our negi’os. It makes us defend ourselves. ‘What an insult to me.’ But my father said to me, literally in my ear, he said ‘Dovid,’ he said, ‘you understand the problem.’ He said: ‘Now, if a woman needs a heter, a Rav is not going to give her a heter no matter what, because he’s not going to want to take the flack. We’ve now made it hard for a woman who deserves a heter to get a heter.’ He didn’t think one second about himself. This was only about what is this going to do to nebach to the woman that deserves a heter and has a gadol who’s going to say ‘I don’t want to end up with that flack.’ I think it’s a small story but I think it’s the difference between gadlus and… and… and… and… and… and being one of… and being me… being the rest of us.
Moreh Nevuchim (3:29) You know from the repeated declarations in the Law that the principal purpose of the whole Law was the removal and utter destruction of idolatry, and all that is connected therewith, even its name, and everything that might lead to any such practices The law prohibits us to imitate the heathen in any of these deeds, and a fortiori to adopt them entirely. It is distinctly said in the Law that everything which idolaters consider as service to their gods, and a means of approaching them, is rejected and despised by God; comp. "for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:3 1). In the books which I shall name to you later on, it is stated that on certain occasions they offered to the sun, their greatest god, seven beetles, and seven mice, and seven bats. This alone suffices to show how disgusting their practice must be to human nature. Thus all precepts cautioning against idolatry, or against that which is connected therewith, leads to it, or is related to it, are evidently useful. They all tend to save us from the evil doctrines that deprive us of everything useful for the acquisition of the twofold perfection of man, by leading to those absurd practices in which our fathers and ancestors have been brought up. It is in reference to these idolatrous ideas that the true prophets exclaim, "They walked after vain things, which do not profit." How great is the usefulness of every precept that delivers us from this great error, and leads us back to the true faith: that God, the Creator of all things, rules the Universe: that He must be served, loved, and feared, and not those imaginary deities. According to this faith we approach the true God, and obtain His favour without having recourse to burdensome means: for nothing else is required but to love and fear Him; this is the aim in serving God, as will be shown. Comp. "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord"? etc. (Deut. 10:12). I shall complete this subject later on: now let us return to the theme [of this chapter]. I say that my knowledge of the belief, practice, and worship of the Sabeans has given me an insight into many of the divine precepts, and has led me to know their reason. You will confirm it when I shall give the reason of commandments which are seemingly purposeless. I will mention to you the works from which you may learn all that I know of the religion and the opinions of the Sabeans; you will thereby obtain a true knowledge of my theory as regards the purpose of the divine precepts. The great book on this subject is the book On the Nabatean Agriculture,
Moreh Nevuchim (3:37)
It is the object and centre of the whole Law to abolish idolatry and
utterly uproot it, and to overthrow the opinion that any of the stars could
interfere for good or evil in human matters, because it leads to the worship of
stars.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327268
Rabbi David Yosef, a member of the Council of Torah Sages, has urged Israelis to avoid traveling to Meron during the upcoming Lag Ba'omer holiday, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
During a weekly Torah class in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef said, "I really request the entire public not travel to Meron this year. I repeat and reiterate: I ask that each and every person in Israel, please, this year, do not travel to Meron."
"You know very well that my father and teacher, of blessed memory, never believed in this idea of traveling to Meron in our generation. The trip to Meron has a very holy foundation, there is no doubt....but it's a whole generation already that we know that tens of thousands travel there.
https://www.newsweek.com/karine-jean-pierre-stolen-election-tweets-called-out-conservatives-1705029
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/article-706267
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-706207
https://www.jewishideas.org/biblical-heroes-imperfections-truth-thoughts-parashat-lekh-lekha
Sanhedrin (93b)Rabbi Alexandri says that the term hariḥo teaches that God burdened the Messiah with mitzvot and afflictions like millstones [reiḥayim]. Rava says that hariḥo teaches that the Messiah will smell [demoraḥ] and then judge on that basis, sensing who is right, as it is written: “And he shall neither judge after the sight of [lemareh] his eyes, nor decide after the hearing of his ears; and with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:3–4).
The Gemara relates: Bar Koziva, i.e., bar Kokheva, ruled for two and a half years. He said to the Sages: I am the Messiah. They said to him: With regard to the Messiah it is written that he is able to smell and judge, so let us see ourselves whether he, bar Kokheva, is able to smell and judge. Once they saw that he was not able to smell and judge, the gentiles killed him.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/15/omicron-covid-joe-biden-administration
So, when positivity rates get too high, the science says we must wear high-quality masks, distance when possible, and lock down if needed until levels drop to levels where the vaccines are most effective. (Restaurants, very dangerous worksites, should definitely be closed and their workers paid to stay home.)
But Democrats in Washington, Chicago and New York keep using vaccination as justification to keep schools open as daycare centers. Is this really for our collective safety? Or to keep workers earning more wealth for the Democratic donor class?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/12/13/biden-trump-covid-deaths/
https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/comparing-trump-and-biden-on-covid-19/
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he and his administration have done a “phenomenal job” and deserve an “A+” for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, despite the fact that nearly 200,000 Americans have died from the virus, the most deaths of any country.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/10/us-coronavirus-response-donald-trump-health-policy
https://time.com/6173552/democratic-party-grassroots-abortion/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327033
At least three people have been killed and four others wounded in a terrorist attack in the haredi city of Elad Thursday night.
Several Magen David Adom (MDA) and United Hatzalah ambulances were called to the scene of the incident. According to MDA's statement, there are seven victims in total, three of whom have passed away. Of the other four victims, three are in serious condition, one is in moderate condition, and one is in light condition.
According to preliminary reports, the terrorist attacked people with an axe on a city street before moving to a nearby park to continue his killing spree. Police spokesperson Eli Levy said that there were reportedly two attackers, one armed with an axe, and one with a knife.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/moscow-israeli-mercenaries-fighting-with-far-right-ukrainian-unit/
A spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday claimed Israeli mercenaries were fighting alongside the far-right Azov Regiment in Ukraine, further fueling tensions with Israel after Russia suggested Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood.”
“Israeli mercenaries are practically shoulder to shoulder with Azov militants in Ukraine,” Maria Zakharova told pro-Kremlin Sputnik radio in an interview.
Azov rose to prominence in 2014, when its far-right activists took up arms to fight pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region but have since fallen under the command of Ukraine’s military.
They have been fighting alongside the Ukrainian army against Russian troops, who on February 24 launched a military campaign in the pro-Western country.
Its members are part of the Ukrainian resistance in the port city of Mariupol, holed up inside the Azovstal steel plant against which Russian forces launched a major assault on Tuesday.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-intelligence-helped-ukraine-target-russian-generals-report/
AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE BETH-EL, BUT THE NAME OF THE CITY WAS LUZ AT THE FIRST. that is the Luz in which the angel of death never bore sway. What then did they do with the old people? When they were very old, they were led without the city wall and there they died.) R. Abba b. Kahana said: Why was it called Luz?- Whoever entered it blossomed forth into meritorious acts and good deeds like a luz (nut tree). The Rabbis said: As the nut has no mouth [opening], so no man could discover the entrance to the town. R. Simon said: A nut tree stood at the entrance to the city. R. Leazar b. Merom said in the name of R. Phinehas b. Hama: A nut tree stood at the entrance of a cave; this tree was hollow, and through it one entered the cave and through the cave the city.
https://www.newsweek.com/us-close-surpassing-1m-covid-deaths-since-pandemic-began-17035985
https://daastorah.disqus.com/admin/moderate/pending
Moreh Nevuchim (2:06.03) Say to a person who is believed to belong to the wise men of Israel that the Almighty sends His angel to enter the womb of a woman and to form there the fœtus, he will be satisfied with the account; he will believe it, and even find in it a description of the greatness of God's might and wisdom; although he believes that the angel consists of burning fire, and is as big as a third part of the Universe, yet he considers it possible as a divine miracle. But tell him that God gave the seed a formative power which produces and shapes the limbs, and that this power is called "angel," or that all forms are the result of the influence of the Active Intellect, and that the latter is the angel, the Prince of the world, frequently mentioned by our Sages, and he will turn away; because he cannot comprehend the true greatness and power of creating forces that act in a body without being perceived by our senses.
Moreh Nevuchim (2:06.03) Our Sages have already
stated--for him who has understanding--that all forces that reside in a body
are angels, much more the forces that are active in the Universe. The theory
that each force acts only in one particular way, is expressed in Bereshit Rabba
(chap. 1.) as follows: "One angel does not perform two things, and two
angels do not perform one thing"; this is exactly the property of all
forces. We may find a confirmation of the opinion that the natural and
psychical forces of an individual are called angels in a statement of our Sages
which is frequently quoted, and occurs originally in Bereshit Rabba (chap.
lxxviii.): "Every day God creates a legion of angels; they sing before
Him, and disappear." When, in opposition to this statement, other
statements were quoted to the effect that angels are eternal--and, in fact, it
has repeatedly been shown that they live permanently--the reply has been given
that some angels live permanently, others perish; and this is really the case;
for individual forces are transient, whilst the genera are permanent and
imperishable.
Moreh Nevuchim (2:06.03)Again, we read (in Bereshit
Rabba, chap. lxxxv.), in reference to the relation between Judah and Tamar:
"R. Jochanan said that Judah was about to pass by without noticing Tamar,
but God caused the angel of lust, i.e., the libidinous disposition, to present
himself to him." Man's disposition is here called an angel. Likewise we
frequently meet with the phrase "the angel set over a certain thing.'' In
Midrash-Koheleth (on Eccles. 10:7) the following passage occurs: "When man
sleeps, his soul speaks to the angel, the angel to the cherub." The
intelligent reader will find here a clear statement that man's imaginative
faculty is also called "angel," and that "cherub" is used
for man's intellectual faculty. How beautiful must this appear to him who
understands it; how absurd to the ignorant!
Moreh Nevuchim (2:07) We have already explained that the term "angel" is a homonym, and is used of the intellectual beings, the spheres, and the elements: for all these are engaged in performing a divine command. But do not imagine that the Intelligences and the spheres are like other forces which reside in bodies and act by the laws of nature without being conscious of what they do. The spheres and the Intelligences are conscious of their actions, and select by their own free will the objects of their influence, although not in the same manner as we exercise free will and rule over other things, which only concern temporary beings. I have been led to adopt this theory by certain passages in Scripture: e.g., an angel says to Lot: "For I cannot do anything," etc. (Gen. 19:21); and telling him to deliver himself, the angel says: "Behold I have accepted thee concerning this thing" (ver. 21). Again: "Take heed before him, and listen to his voice," etc. (Exod. 23:21). These passages show that angels are conscious of what they do, and have free will in the sphere of action intrusted to them, just as we have free will within our province, and in accordance with the power given to us with our very existence.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/was-hitler-jewish
One of the most frequently asked questions about the Holocaust and the Nazi party is whether Adolf Hitler was Jewish or had Jewish ancestors. The question received new media attention in May 2022 when Russia’s foreign minister claimed Hitler had Jewish blood.על היתרו המפורסם נדון באשכול נפרד https://forum.otzar.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24608
Current estimates of childhood sexual abuse among Jews in the United States are only available for females and do not include a spectrum of religiosity. We examined sexual abuse, mental health, and religion, in a religiously diverse sample of male and female Jewish adults from North America, using a novel methodology to minimize sampling/response biases. A total of 372 diversely religious Jews participated. Prevalence of any form of childhood sexual abuse was statistically equivalent to national rates, except that females reported less involuntary penetration (OR = 0.53). All Jewish religious groups reported equivalent levels of sexual abuse, except that history of involuntary penetration was greater among formerly (but not presently) Orthodox Jews (OR = 3.00). Across our sample, sexual abuse was associated with increased likelihood of psychiatric diagnosis (OR = 1.34), greater mental distress (F ranging from 2.99 to 9.08, p < .05 for all analyses), lower religious observance (F = 4.53, p = .03), and lower intrinsic religiosity (F = 4.85, p = .03). Further, across our sample we observed a moderate buffering effect of spiritual/religious factors against mental distress (ΔR2 values ranging from 0.028 to 0.045, p <.01 for all analyses). Thus, we found childhood sexual abuse to occur across the spectrum of Jewish religious affiliation and greater prevalence among formerly Orthodox individuals. Furthermore, history of childhood sexual abuse was associated with greater risk for psychiatric distress and less religious involvement, however spiritual/religious engagement and belief appeared to facilitate resilience in the context of abuse.
