Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Trump Uses ‘Shylock’ Term Again—A Year After Claiming He Didn’t Know It Was Antisemitic
President Donald Trump once again used the term “Shylock,” widely considered antisemitic, while defending Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., at a campaign rally in Kansas on Monday night, more than a year after he faced widespread criticism for his use of the term and claimed he was unaware that the term had antisemitic connotations.
Marshall worked as an obstetrician before entering politics, and the Times reported that the lawsuits led to some patients having their paychecks garnished and others being arrested after missing court appearances.
“And they made it like, oh, he was some kind of a Shylock-type guy,” Trump said, arguing that Marshall had been unfairly criticized over his past medical debt collection practices.
Trump previously faced criticism over the term “Shylock” in July last year at a campaign rally in Iowa, where he was touting his domestic policy bill. He said “Think of that: no death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowings from in some cases a fine banker. And in some cases, Shylocks and bad people.” The use of the term drew immediate pushback, and the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement saying it “evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous,” and added: “President Trump’s use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible.” The term originates from William Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice,” which features a character named “Shylock” who is a Jewish money lender.
The Real Reasons for High Oil and Gas Prices
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/real-reasons-high-oil-an
In the wake of the devastating Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. gas prices soared, averaging $4.25 a gallon. Now fossil fuel companies and their political allies have seized the opportunity to suggest that additional fossil fuel investment is the solution. Their arguments are rife with misinformation. This is calculated, of course, meant to pad the industry’s pockets and lock more generations into fossil fuel dependence. That would, in turn, further delay the clean energy future necessary to achieve real energy independence. Here are some of the myths to look out for and the facts that refute them.
Fact-check: We can safely say the Biden administration’s decision to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL), an extension of the fully operational Keystone Pipeline System, had no impact on current oil prices.
Yes, allies of the oil and gas industry—from Fox News hosts to former vice president Mike Pence—are claiming that the pipeline would have buffered Americans from high gas prices and reduced U.S. reliance on Russian oil. That’s false on multiple levels.
First, it would have taken years for KXL to be fully operational, so its increased supply would have no bearing on current gas prices. Second, the 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil it would have carried daily were intended to head directly to refineries on the Gulf Coast—and then likely to markets overseas.
High gas prices falsely attributed to Keystone XL cancellation
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-895299166310
THE FACTS: Social media users are pointing to President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2021 as a major reason for high gas prices in the U.S. in recent weeks. Gas prices have reached record highs since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A meme posted on Facebook last week, which now has over 20,000 shares, reads: “Facts: If they didn’t shut down our pipelines we wouldn’t be paying $7 for gas.”
“So the guy who closed the Keystone pipeline on Day one, wants us to believe it’s Russia’s fault for the gas crisis,” says another Facebook post.
Even if the Keystone XL pipeline had been completed, the amount of oil it was designed to transport would have been a drop in the bucket for U.S. demand, experts noted. The U.S. used nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day last year, while global consumption of oil was near 100 million barrels. The pipeline would have contributed less than 1% to the world supply of oil, according to AP reporting.
“The total volume of additional supply is negligible in a market that uses 100 million barrels of oil every day,” Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia, said in an email statement to the AP.
Most Americans blame Trump for high prices as midterms approach, a new AP-NORC poll finds
A majority, 65%, of U.S. adults now blame Trump’s policies for persistently high costs more than factors outside of his control, signaling growing weariness over his aggressive use of tariffs and continued unhappiness with the war with Iran.
The dismal numbers come just weeks before midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress and while Trump is hitting the campaign trail with an aggressive schedule of rallies. But Trump — who has asked voters to pretend that he is on the ballot as he tries to bolster turnout — remains deeply unpopular, with even many Republicans faulting him for failing to deliver on promised relief.
But Americans were less likely to blame Biden in the lead-up to that year’s midterm elections, a sharp contrast with the solid majority who hold Trump responsible now. In October 2022, 44% of Americans said Biden’s policies were responsible for high prices, while 55% blamed factors outside of his control.
תושב בית שמש נאשם בעבירות מין בארבעה קטינים במקווה ובבתי כנסת
https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/local/1111025/
Translation by AI
Jerusalem District Prosecution filed a severe indictment today (Tuesday, October 20, 2026) against
Yechiel Yehoshua Brand, a 33-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh, for committing sex offenses against four minors aged 13 to 16.
According to media reports, the indictment filed in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court charges Brand with committing indecent acts, indecent acts against a minor under the age of 14, and attempted indecent acts.
Key details from the indictment include:
• Exploitation of holy and public spaces: The defendant exploited various opportunities between 2024 and 2026 when the minors were in synagogues, ritual baths (mikvahs), and a supermarket in the city to assault them.
• Assault during prayer: In one described incident, Brand pressed against a minor and rubbed against him in a synagogue. Later, while the minor was praying the Shemoneh Esrei (Amidah) prayer, the defendant touched him multiple times. The minor tried to push his hand away and move to another spot, but the defendant followed him and continued his actions.
• Indecent acts in the mikvah: In one incident, the defendant touched a minor as he exited the immersion pool, and in another instance, he touched a minor in the changing area of the ritual bath.
• Abuse of a minor under 14: The fourth charge details multiple instances of sexual contact and indecent acts against a minor under the age of 14, including blocking his path on the stairs leading out of the immersion pool.
Threadbare
There are times when one is forced to address the deliciously ludicrous. When "kabbalistic" red strings, once wound around Rachel's Tomb and then worn to ward off the evil eye, become the latest Hollywood fad -- selling for a staggering $26 a piece! - and dragging Judaism's ancient and holy mystical works onto New York Post's Page Six column, we have most certainly reached one of those times.
A group of Hollywood glitterati have turned contritely to look for the meaning of life in the great tradition of Kabbalah. An astute salesman turned "kabbalist" has taken note of their needs and filtered out the less marketable demands of Kabbalah, and presented a Kabbalah that demands little more than cash from its adherents. The reams of exhortation found in the Zohar and Arizal -- the two most fundamental Kabbalah texts -- against hedonism and lust have somehow been hidden from sight.
Firstly, there is absolutely no genuine kabbalistic source for wearing a red thread around one's wrist to ward off the "evil eye." While there exists such a practice amongst some devout Jews, it is not mentioned in any kabbalistic work.
Tosefta Shabbos 07:01) The following are practices constituting "the ways of the Amorites": one who styles his hair in the komi fashion, one who fashions a forelock, one who leaves a tuft of hair at the nape of the neck, one who drags her child among the dead, one who ties an object to his thigh or a red thread around his finger, one who counts and casts pebbles into the sea or a river—all these are "ways of the Amorites." Likewise, one who claps his hands, slaps his thighs, or dances before a flame—these, too, are "ways of the Amorites."
Rejoice at Suffering of Others
Shiurei Daas (2:13): Sanhedrin (101a): When R’ Eliezer became sick, R’ Akiva laughed when he saw him suffering. He explained, “I was worried that Heaven forefend that my teacher was receiving all his reward in this world, but now that I see him suffering I am happy.” It is very difficult to hear these words and our minds simply can’t tolerate them. How can somebody be happy at another’s suffering especially someone as great as R’ Eliezer - whose holiness is described in many places in the gemora and Zohar… This gemora is so incredible that there is nothing comparable to it. While it is clearly praise worthy to rejoice at one’s own suffering but it is totally offensive to rejoice at another’s suffering - even if the intent is for the good of the other person…. However if you think deeply about it from another perspective, not only is it not problem to rejoice at another’s suffering but it is obvious that just the opposite is true. Why shouldn’t a very spiritual person rejoice at other people’s suffering? He is fully aware that the suffering is beneficial for the person’s soul? Someone who deeply understands the purpose of man in this world will obviously rejoice. He knows how indispensable it is to attain the true pleasure of the World to Come even at the expense of the worthless pleasures of this world… To cry over the suffering of others or to comfort them for their suffering is appropriate for all people and there is obviously nothing wrong with it. In fact empathizing with the other’s suffering involves the best of human nature. Comforting others isn’t a problem even if he isn’t deeply affected by the suffering or his condolences are not totally sincere. In contrast to rejoice at another’s suffering or to console him by saying that the suffering is wonderful is only relevant for someone who is truly knows that he loves the sufferer in the deepest recesses of his soul. Only a person who can determine that his rejoicing flows from absolute knowledge that the suffering is beneficial is permitted to express rejoicing. However for anyone who has not reached this level of perfection it is very likely that his rejoicing is not pure. Lesser people can assume that there are subconscious factors that poison the purity of their joy and contain aspects of cruelty and enjoyment of the plight of the unfortunate.
Zelensky has figured out why Trump loves Putin
Donald Trump’s second-term relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky got off to a disastrous start. On Feb. 19, 2025, the U.S. president blasted the courageous Ukrainian leader as a “modestly successful comedian” and a “Dictator without Elections” who “has done a terrible job.” Nine days later, Trump berated Zelensky in the Oval Office for not ending the war that Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin had started. “You don’t have the cards,” Trump told him before temporarily suspending U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
Not for the first time, it seems the wily Putin has manipulated a credulous Trump. The U.S. president is now blaming Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for the soaring oil prices that are exacerbating his political woes. Never mind that his war in Iran is the actual culprit. If Republicans lose the midterms, Trump has a ready-made scapegoat.
What explains Trump’s bizarre affinity for Putin? The Russian warmonger is standing in the way of his goal of winning a Nobel Peace Prize. Shouldn’t Trump be mad at him? I have long since given up believing in conspiratorial explanations of the relationship. If evidence for some nefarious tie existed, it would’ve been uncovered by now, especially after four years of Democratic control of the executive branch.
It hadn’t occurred to me that Trump views Putin as a fellow billionaire, but it’s true. Putin’s net worth has been estimated at $70 billion to $200 billion. Trump, who made more than $2 billion last year, no doubt respects anyone who manages to make so much money in office while clinging to power for so long. He seldom has a cross word for any dictator, while regularly berating democratic allies. Whatever the explanation, Trump’s willingness to do the bidding of a murderous despot is despicable and dangerous.
Monday, October 19, 2026
Source of Torah knowledge
Raavad (Sefer Kabbalah): This book “Sefer Kabbalah” that I have written is to inform the students that all the words of our Sages – the rabbis of the Mishna & Talmud – were all transmitted from one great tzadik to another great tzadik, from rosh yeshiva and his supporters to another rosh yeshiva and his supporters all the way back to the Great Assembly which received it from the Prophets. The Sages of the Talmud and surely those of the Sages of the Mishna – even for a minor issue - never said anything original except for the decrees that they made with unanimous consent in order to make a protective fence around the Torah. If a person whispers and says, “Because the Sages had disputes over many issues there I am uncertain about the validity of their words,” you should sharply rebuke him and tell him that he has the legal status of a rebel. The fact is that our Sages never argued about the existence of a particular mitzva but rather the details. That is because they heard about the essential nature of the mitzva but did not ask about all the details of the mitzva because they did not serve their teachers properly. For example they didn’t argue whether there should be lights lit for Shabbos. They only argued as to the appropriate material to use for the wicks and what fuel should be used.
The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers" by Will Durant
2. THE EDUCATION OF SPINOZA
It was this Odyssey of the Jews that filled the background of Spinoza’s mind, and made him irrevocably, however excommunicate, a Jew. Though his father was a successful merchant, the youth had no leaning to such a career, and preferred to spend his time in and around the synagogue, absorbing the religion and the history of his people. He was a brilliant scholar, and the elders looked upon him as a future light of their community and their faith. Very soon he passed from the Bible itself to the exactingly subtle commentaries of the Talmud; and from these to the writings of Maimonides, Levi ben Gerson, Ibn Ezra, and Hasdai Crescas; and his promiscuous voracity extended even to the mystical philosophy of Ibn Gebirol and the Cabbalistic intricacies of Moses of Cordova. He was struck by the latter’s identification of God and the universe; he followed up the idea in Ben Gerson, who taught the eternity of the world; and in Hasdai Crescas, who believed the universe of matter to be the body of God. He read in Maimonides a half-favorable discussion of the doctrine of Averroës, that immortality is impersonal; but he found in the Guide to the Perplexed more perplexities than guidance. For the great Rabbi propounded more questions than he answered; and Spinoza found the contradictions and improbabilities of the Old Testament lingering in his thought long after the solutions of Maimonides had dissolved into forgetfulness. The cleverest defenders of a faith are its greatest enemies; for their subtleties engender doubt and stimulate the mind. And if this was so with the writings of Maimonides, so much the more was it the case with the commentaries of Ibn Ezra, where the problems of the old faith were more directly expressed, and sometimes abandoned as unanswerable. The more Spinoza read and pondered, the more his simple certainties melted away into wondering and doubt. His curiosity was aroused to inquire what the thinkers of the Christian world had written on those great questions of God and human destiny. He took up the study of Latin with a Dutch scholar, Van den Ende, and moved into a wider sphere of experience and knowledge. His new teacher was something of a heretic himself, a critic of creeds and governments, an adventurous fellow who stepped out of his library to join a conspiracy against the king of France, and adorned a scaffold in 1674. He had a pretty daughter who became the successful rival of Latin for the affections of Spinoza; even a modern collegian might be persuaded to study Latin by such inducements. But the young lady was not so much of an intellectual as to be blind to the main chance; and when another suitor came, bearing costly presents, she lost interest in Spinoza. No doubt it was at that moment that our hero became a philosopher."
Start reading this book for free: https://read.amazon.com/kp/
Avoda Zara
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Trump gives ‘warrior’ Netanyahu ‘complete and total endorsement’ for reelection
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-october-18-2026/
US President Donald Trump says he had long intended to endorse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection but deliberately waited until closer to next week’s vote, according to Axios.
“I was always going to do that. I just didn’t want to do it too soon,” Trump tells the publication in a brief phone interview following the endorsement today.
Trump stresses the “good relationship” he has with the premier, and says, “It is important that Israel has a person they can count on.”
Asked if he could work with an alternative Israeli leader, Trump replies: “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Who wants to take the chance?”
The endorsement came despite the fact that several of Trump’s close advisers had favored Netanyahu’s replacement, believing it would better serve US interests in the Middle East, according to Channel 12’s Barak Ravid, who also writes for Axios.
Sources in Netanyahu’s office tell Channel 12 that they were unaware of Trump’s planned endorsement. The Hebrew network adds that the two leaders spoke several times this month, possibly signaling coordination on the matter.