Perplexed by ‘overreaction,’ White House says PM stirring crisis in US-Israel ties

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/perplexed-by-overreaction-white-house-says-pm-stirring-crisis-in-us-israel-ties/

The White House suggested on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to manufacture a crisis in US-Israel ties after he canceled plans to send an Israeli delegation to Washington over the Biden administration’s decision to allow the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and hostage release.

Netanyahu said the US abstention marked a divergence from Washington’s policy linking a ceasefire to Hamas releasing the hostages it abducted on October 7, but US officials asserted that this wasn’t their interpretation of the resolution and that their position in favor of that conditionality has not changed.

“It seems like the Prime Minister’s Office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that,” White House National Security Council John Kirby said in a press briefing.

Can Gedolim err?

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387377

An opinion of our Sages teaches that the evil decree in the Purim story came when the Jews of Shushan attended the feast of Achashverus which celebrated his false understanding that the Jews would not return to Eretz Yisrael to build the Beit Hamikdash. Apparently, Mordechai was the only Jew who protested. He begged the Jews not to participate, but they were happy to attend, insisting that the food and drink would be glatt kosher.

The cause for the celebration – the belief that the Jews were freed of the obligation to return to the Land of Israel and to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash did not seem to bother anyone save Mordechai. There is no record that the other great Rabbis of the time, of which there were many, supported Mordechai’s vehement protest. Perhaps they dd and perhaps they erred and attended the gala party which celebrated the disconnection from Eretz Yisrael and an open door to acceptance amongst the Gentiles and assimilation, believing it would cement good relations with the powers that be.

Golders Green rabbi Chaim Halpern charged with sexual assault

 https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/golders-green-rabbi-chaim-halpern-charged-with-sexual-assault-br2xu8bc

Golders Green rabbi Chaim Halpern has been charged with two counts of sexual assault of a woman after a police investigation.

Police launched inquries after the unnamed woman alleged in a broadcast interview in December 2022 that she had been a victim of sexual offences in London.

Halpern, who is 65, was arrested in March last year in connection with the incident which allegedly took place on June 1 2022 and a file submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service last December.

He has been bailed to appear at Willesden Magistrates Court on April 19.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN JEWS IS ENDING

 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/04/us-anti-semitism-jewish-american-safety/677469/

Anti-Semitism on the right and the left threatens to bring to a close an unprecedented period of safety and prosperity for Jewish Americans—and demolish the liberal order they helped establish.

Preaching to the Choir

 Everybody knows about the dybbuk and the Chofetz Chain. Rav Elchonon Wasserman used to tell the story at the Purim Seudah, But he said only those who believe in these things should be invited.

In other words these stories are meant as spiritual chizuk not as a means of convincing anyone about spirituality. In Making of a Godol (page 363-354) he also notes that his father was against telling spooky tales even about the Golem as it convinces some that Judaism is full of bizarre superstitions The above probably is true of Agada medrash and chassidic miracle stories

Lies exposed | Fmr. Al Jazeera director says rape allegations against IDF false

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387313

Yasser Abu Hilala says the woman who alleged in an interview that IDF soldiers raped women in Shifa Hospital admitted that she fabricated the story to incite fury.

Hamas, Al Jazeera admit: Story of IDF rapes in Gaza hospital fabricated

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793560

After more than 24 hours of letting the story run freely, Qatari mouthpiece Al Jazeera deleted the page featuring their former story, which accused Israeli soldiers of allegedly perpetrating rape against women during the IDF’s latest excursion against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who barricaded themselves inside the former hospital-cum-terror headquarters at Shifa Hospital.

Though the Qatari mouthpiece hasn’t yet officially referred to the retraction, all content related to the allegation has been reportedly deleted.

Fani Willis warns ‘train is coming’ in Trump Georgia case

 https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4552102-fani-willis-warns-train-is-coming-in-trump-georgia-case/

All while that was going on, we were writing responsive briefs, we were still doing the case in a way that it needed to be done,” she told CNN on Saturday. “I don’t feel like we’ve been slowed down at all.”

“I do think there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming,” Willis continued.

Trump Defenders Dismiss All His Legal Problems As ‘Lawfare’

 https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-defenders-dismiss-all-his-legal-problems-as-lawfare.html

The niftiest thing about the “lawfare” argument is that it can obliterate any willingness to look at the cases involving Trump in terms of their merits. Hush-money payments, defamation about a sexual assault, shady business practices, trying to overturn an election … no matter what the former president might have done, it’s all washed away by the malice of his enemies. The Washington Examiner’s veteran reporter Byron York, once a sober analyst of political developments, exemplifies the sweeping immunity afforded Trump by Republicans under the rubric of fighting “lawfare”:

Grenades, RPGs, mortar shells found in UNRWA bags in Khan Yunis

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387266

During scans of a residential building, soldiers of the Armored Corps located explosive charges, grenades, RPG missiles, and mortar shells. The weapons were found hidden in UNRWA bags.

Amulets - Protesting Against

 Melamed Lhoil(2 63:1) Question: Should objections be raised against those who hang tablets in the room of a new mother which contain oaths and there is concern for the prohibition against magic (darchei Emori). Answer: It is an established practice to make various kamiyas (amulets or charms) [See ShulchanAruch (YD 179 OH 25 and 334:14] And even for those who don’t believe in them and similar practices it can still bring benefit since it comforts those who do believe in them and helps them recover. Therefore you should not object if this is done. Furtermore we have a rule that all things done for cure are not considered magic (darchei Emorei Shabbos 68a)

Sins of gedolim and Amalek

 Rav Tzadok has an interesting explanation of the mitzva of remembering Amalek

He notes the apparent strange condition that it applies after you no longer fear your enemies

He explains that Amalek is the Yetzer Harah and once you reach a very high level you think you are free. 

That is when you need to be extra careful and he cites the gemora where a number of gedolim -e,g., Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Akiva ridiculed those who sinned and as a result Satan would have gotten them to sin except for the special protection they had from G-d

--------------------------------------

A similar drasha is found in the sefer Daas Torah by the mashgiach of Mir.

He notes the statement in the medrash that only a hair's width separates Gan Eden from Gehinnom. And thus even after reaching a high level you need to not be lulled in feeling you are out of reach of sinning as we see from the constant fear of the Avos

Pro-Palestinian nurses eject Jewish boy from hospital bed, UK trust to probe

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-793306

A British National Health Service (NHS) Trust is investigating allegations that nurses, while brandishing pro-Palestinian stickers on their uniform, forcibly ejected a nine-year-old Jewish boy with a blood disease from his bed, according to multiple media reports from Friday.

The boy, who was being treated at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, was allegedly “kicked out of his bay,” according to the boy’s Israeli-British uncle, Elliott Smus.

U.S. Warned Russia Before Moscow Attack That Killed at Least 60

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-moscow-concert-hall-shooting-attack-1a009cc4?mod=hp_trending_now_article_pos1 

The U.S. passed a secret warning to Russia earlier this month of a plot to target large crowds ahead of an attack that killed at least 60 people and injured over 145 at a concert hall outside of Moscow, according to U.S. officials.

Explosions rocked the site and gunmen opened fire on concertgoers Friday evening, Russian authorities said, less than a week after Vladimir Putin was elected for a sixth term as the country’s president.

U.S. officials said they believed Islamic State was responsible for the attack. The group claimed responsibility in a statement issued by the Islamic State-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram, without providing evidence.

On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a cryptic warning to American citizens to avoid concert venues. The U.S. had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow potentially targeting large gatherings—including concerts—which prompted the State Department to issue a public advisory, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Friday night. “The U.S. government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy,” Watson added.