Daas Torah - Issues of Jewish Identity
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Dispute
Yam Shel Shlomo (Introduction to Bava Kama): The Kabbalists wrote an explanation as to how two conflicting views could both be true. It is the consequence that all souls that would ever exist were at Sinai and accepted the Torah through 49 different conduits. The sounds that were both seen and heard (Shemos 20:15) refers to the information which was transmitted through these 49 conduits. Each person perceived the Torah through his own conduit and according to his ability to comprehend. Thus, he received the Torah according to the strength of his soul above and according to the degree of his spiritual elevation. Each one received information which differed from the others. Consequently, the Halacha would be for one that the object under discussion would be spiritually pure while a second person would inherently see the object as spiritually impure. A third person would see the object as not being in accord with either of the previous. Thus despite their disagreement, all of the views are true. This needs to be understood.
Trump blames Fox News while his MAGA media allies blame everything but him
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/04/media/trump-blames-fox-news-midterms-maga-media
President Donald Trump began election night by lashing out at Fox News. He implausibly tried to blame the conservative network for the GOP’s devastating midterm losses.
Fox “bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse,” Trump declared on Truth Social shortly before midnight Eastern time.
Tonight is one such time for the Republican Party,” radio host Buck Sexton wrote on X.
He went on: “Way too many mistakes. Bad messaging. Poor candidates. High prices. Unnecessary war that did not go as promises. We get up tomorrow and carry on. But there are lessons here.”
Rambam - Aristotle
Sefer HaBris (Section 1 2:6): The Givat HaMoreh wrote in the introduction to his sefer that the reason that it took such a long time for the full development of philosophy was because of the great wisdom of Aristotle and his unprecedented stature. Because of this his views were followed by all the scholars generation after generation in a slavish manner. It was viewed that anybody who disagreed with him was as if he were arguing on self-evident reality. In exactly the same way, the reason that there has been a long delay in the development of our theology is because many think that to disagree with something that the Rambam said is to disagree with something which is self evidently true. The two processes are almost identical because in fact the concepts of the Rambam are those of Aristotle - as is well known. However all men of integrity while they love the Rambam – love the truth more. This is as the philosopher said, “I love Aristotle and I love Socrates but the truth I love more.”
Trump allies blame Iran war for GOP’s devastating midterm losses: ‘Hope Schumer calls Netanyahu and thanks him’
Many of President Trump’s longtime loyalists are blaming the Iran war for tanking Republicans in the midterm elections — saying the economic pain of the conflict caused the GOP to lose the House and Senate.
“I hope Chuck Schumer calls Bibi Netanyahu and thanks him for his victory. This war was a disaster. People need to be clear-eyed about it,” a Republican strategist involved in the midterm campaigns told The Post.
“It took some time, almost two years, but we finally have an answer to the question of what happens when you take military and political advice from a mouth breathing buffoon like Mark Levin,” fumed a source close to Trump. “Every piece of data we have says it was the war and gas prices.”
Donald Trump’s Republicans suffer landslide defeat – what this means for the world
Donald Trump’s Republican Party has received a stunning rebuke in the US midterm elections. Republicans went into the evening hoping that the polls might be wrong and that they could at least cling on to control of the Senate. But by midnight in Washington, the GOP was staring down what looked like its worst defeat in 50 years.
Republican losses were not just confined to the type of swing districts that parties usually worry about on election night. The scale of the losses was staggering. They lost Senate seats in deep red states such as Texas and South Carolina. They lost districts they had gerrymandered and in which they were supposed to be unbeatable. They lost seats that even the sharpest analysts thought were safe.
Why? For months, surveys have shown that voters are fed up with high prices, with the war in Iran, and with what is increasingly being talked about as the Trump administration’s corruption. A president who was narrowly elected on the promise of a steady economic hand instead spent two years pursuing an extreme ideological agenda favoured only by a minority of Americans. He ignored what voters were saying, and now they have delivered a harsh verdict.
"This is troubling" | Hannity confronts Republican defeat, warns of lessons ahead
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/435636
Fox News host Sean Hannity responded to the Republicans' midterm election defeat by arguing that the results followed a familiar historical pattern in American politics, in which presidents with dominant political personalities suffer significant setbacks halfway through their terms but can recover in the next presidential election.
Democrats Take Congress in Stunning Rebuke of Trump
Democrats have taken control of the Senate and House as a blue wave surged across the country and voters delivered a rebuke of President Trump. The party flipped Senate seats in Maine, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina and numerous seats in the House.
Blue tsunami delivers Dems both chambers of Congress in stunning defeat for GOP and Trump’s handpicked candidates
A blue tsunami delivered Democrats the House of Representatives and the Senate Tuesday night, sweeping away once-safe Republican seats and unleashing immediate finger-pointing and preparations for fights with Congress.
A historic series of defeats, including Democrats flipping Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas — with equally staggering results in House races — positioning New Yorkers Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to lead the Senate and House.
“America is back,” Jeffries said. Schumer added that the Dems had won “against all odds” and that “relief was on the way.”
Voters punish Trump with dramatic swing to Democrats
Democrats win control of House and Senate in biggest Republican loss in half a century.
The American voter dealt President Donald Trump a historic rebuke on a scale not seen since 1974, propelling Democrats into control of both houses of Congress with commanding wins in places they hadn’t carried in decades.
Democrats won both the Senate and governor’s races in Texas by double digits — their first statewide victories there since 1994. They took a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina, and the Georgia governorship for the first time since 1998. Kansas sent a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1932.
Among their early House victories were a Kentucky district that voted for Trump by 15 points and two Florida seats that Republicans redrew to shift right. The head of the House GOP’s campaign arm trailed in his own race with 99 percent of the vote counted. As of 12:01 a.m.
Ben Shapiro Says Republicans Must Avoid Poor Candidates, Prioritize Stability After Midterm Losses
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said Tuesday that the first lesson for Republicans from the midterm election results is not to run terrible candidates.
Speaking during The Ben Shapiro Show’s election-night coverage on The Daily Wire, Shapiro argued that candidate quality remains a decisive factor in every cycle. He pointed to the Texas Senate race, where Republican Ken Paxton faced high unfavorable ratings, saying that incumbent Sen. John Cornyn would have presented a stronger matchup against Democrat James Talarico. Shapiro noted that some Republican candidates, including those in Ohio and Maine, remained competitive despite the broader environment.
Democrat El-Sayed wins Michigan's US Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers, main pollsters say
https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-913770
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is projected to win his closely watched race against Republican Mike Rogers, leading pollsters reported on Wednesday, with the anti-Israel candidate set to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters.
In his speech, El-Sayed also referenced his past criticism of Israel, saying that "we don't want our money sent to do apartheid, or genocide, or war."
El-Sayed has stirred controversy throughout his campaign due to his stance on Israel, having accused the Jewish state of genocide over the war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel rejects the claim, while Rogers disputes it.
The now-victorious candidate reiterated his accusation during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes on Monday, further arguing that the United States continues to declare its support for a two-state solution while its actions help prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, specifically in the form of military assistance to parties working against its formation.
In massive rebuke to Trump, Democrats projected to control Congress
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/03/politics/live-news/midterm-election-congress
Momentous sweep: Democrats will flip control of both the House and Senate in a resounding and historic victory, CNN projects. They capitalized on President Donald Trump’s historic unpopularity to win a major victory and significant power to check his final two years in office.
President’s response: Trump told The New York Times he will accept tonight’s results, shutting down — for now — questions about whether he would challenge the outcome. And in an interview with Fox News, he said he didn’t see the GOP losses “as a hit on me.”
Notable Democratic wins: James Talarico is expected to win a Texas Senate seat, which has eluded Democrats for 38 years, Adam Hamilton will win in deep-red Kansas and Annie Andrews will replace Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina.