Cursing the Deaf

 Ramban (Vayikra 19:14) THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF. “From this verse I know only that one may not curse the deaf. Whence do I know that one may not curse anybody? From the words of Scripture: Of thy people thou shalt not curse. If so, why does it state here ‘the deaf’? It is to teach us that ‘the deaf’ has been singled out by Scripture here because although he is unable to hear and feel hurt, he has the characteristic of being alive, thus exluding from the scope of this prohibition the dead who, though they are like the deaf in their inability to hear and feel hurt, are unlike them in being no longer alive.” This is Rashi’s language, and so it is taught in the Torath Kohanim. But the interpretation of the Gemara is not so. Rather, Scripture first warned against cursing the dignitaries of the people, the judge or ruler, saying, Thou shalt not curse the judges nor curse a ruler of thy people. Then it gave another admonition here against cursing the unfortunate ones of the people, like the deaf, and from them i.e., from both classes of people, the distinguished and the unfortunate we learn by a general proposition that we must not curse anyone of the rest of the people, since from beginning to end from “the ruler” to “the deaf” they are all included in this prohibition. 

Ramban (Vayikra 19:14) THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF. According to the plain meaning of Scripture, the verse mentions cursing the deaf in order that we may deduce that if in the case of one who cannot hear and will not become incensed by the curse, the Torah nonetheless admonished against cursing him, how much more so is it prohibited to curse one who hears and feels the insult, and will become hot-tempered because of it! Moreover, Scripture always admonishes against doing that which is frequent, for a person is inclined to curse the deaf and put a stumbling-block before the blind since he does not fear them, because they know not, neither do they understand. Therefore it states here, and thou shalt fear thy G-d, Who sees the secret things. And He added another prohibition against cursing rulers, the prince and the judge, because it is usual for people to curse them in their bed-chamber when in judging him he lets him go forth condemned, and there are many harms that are caused by cursing a prince or a judge, for the masses of people in their foolishness will hate them and will thus be stirred to rise up against them, while in truth the prince and judge establish the land by their justice.

All I want to do is cry’: trauma of 7 October survivors three years after the attacks

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/06/trauma-of-7-october-israel-survivors-three-years-hamas-after-attacks

Israeli communities shattered by Hamas massacres are torn between rebuilding their lives and remembering lost friends and relatives

Israel’s security forces were caught by surprise, and by the time they regained control of the area, 1,209 people had been killed, the majority of them civilians, including 36 children, according to records kept by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

In total, 47 people were killed and 76 taken to Gaza, including Shiri Bibas, her 10-month-old baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, who were killed in Gaza. The dead and hostages represented more than a quarter of the small community.

Israel marks three years since October 7 attack with memorials and protests

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/06/world/october-seven-attack-anniversary-israel-intl

Three years to the minute after the start of the deadliest single day in Israel’s history, the country marked the somber occasion with a series of ceremonies, memorials and protests at more than 400 locations.

At 6:29 in the morning on October 7, 2023, Hamas-led gunmen stormed Israeli communities along the border with the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to the enclave. Those slain included children, women, elderly people and complete families.

The commemoration began with a national moment of silence at the time the attack started. At noon, bereaved families and civil grassroot protest groups will hold a national minute of reflection, joined by various public hospitals, local municipalities, universities and private businesses.

Memorial events will also take place at the Nova festival site in the Re’im Forest, where over 370 people were murdered and 44 were abducted. Additional protest convoys and displays are expected throughout the country all day.

October 7, 2023: Israel pauses to remember 3 years later

 www.israelhayom.com/2026/10/07/3-years-since-october-7-israel-memorial-ceremonies/October 7, 2023: Israel pauses to remember 3 years later

Three years after the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas at break of dawn, Israel is holding memorial and commemoration ceremonies nationwide Wednesday for those murdered. At 6:29 a.m., the exact minute Hamas opened fire in 2023, civilians shut down the Ayalon Highway (Tel Aviv's main freeway) in both directions, unfurling massive banners that read, "The nation shall remember its sons and daughters." At a ceremony in Kfar Aza (a hard-hit Gaza border community), the flag was lowered to half-staff at the same moment.

The protesters said in a statement, "This morning, we stand with the families of October 7. The memory of those murdered and abandoned cannot be erased, nor can the day of the massacre."

Trump gifted a lavishly encrusted ring from Belgian diamond group that won tariff relief

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/belgian-diamond-group-gifts-trump-ring/

Dozens of diamonds spell out two giant letter "T" next to the Stars and Stripes and "1776" and "2026." Dozens more frame the numbers 45 and 47 in the shape of Superman's logo. A diamond-winged eagle carries a ruby shield and clutches an olive branch of emeralds, below a radiant "250" and atop the phrase "250 YEARS USA" etched in 18-karat gold.

All told, 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies encrust the watch-sized gold ring presented this week to Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, to give to President Trump.

The gift comes months after Belgium's diamond industry won the removal of U.S. tariffs on diamond imports. In September, AWDC said it had "succeeded in securing a zero percent import tariff" on Antwerp's annual export of more than $2 billion of polished diamonds to the U.S. A spokesperson for the group said on Thursday that the AWDC provided "input" to the European Commission as it negotiated with Mr. Trump on a broad deal on tariffs in 2025, but did not itself lobby the administration.

Women were Cursed

 Eruvin (100b) Eve was cursed with ten curses, since it is written: Unto the woman He said, and I will greatly multiply, which refers to the two drops of blood, one being that of menstruation and the other that of virginity, ‘thy pain’ refers to the pain of bringing up children, ‘and thy travail’ refers to the pain of conceptions ‘in pain thou shalt bring forth children’ is to be understood in its literal meaning, ‘and thy desire shall be to thy husband’ teaches that a woman yearns for her husband when he is about to set out on a journey, ‘and he shall rule over thee’ teaches that while the wife solicits with her heart the husband does so with his mouth, this being a fine trait of character among women? — What was meant is that she ingratiates herself with him. But are not these only seven? When R. Dimi came he explained: She is wrapped up like a mourner, banished from the company of all men and confined within a prison. What is meant by ‘banished from the company of all men’? If it be suggested: That she is forbidden to meet a man in privacy, is not the man also but could be retorted. forbidden to meet a woman in privacy? — The meaning rather is that she is forbidden to marry two men

Eruvin (100b) Eve was cursed with three additional curses are: She grows her hair long like Lilith, a demon; she sits and urinates, like an animal; and serves as a pillow for her husband during relations.

One year on, Trump's Gaza plan has not stopped Israeli fire or disarmed Hamas

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-910750

US President Donald Trump’s year-old plan to end the Gaza war has stalled, and Israel and Hamas have been battling in the Gaza Strip for almost three years.

The initial phase resulted in a ceasefire on October 10, 2025, and secured the release of the last remaining hostages seized in Hamas’s 2023 attacks on Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.

But other goals, including disarming Hamas, securing Israeli withdrawal - as the IDF currently controls about two-thirds of the strip - and rebuilding Gaza, appear far from reach.

California leaders slam Trump for saying Iran could ‘take out’ L.A. or San Diego

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/10/06/california-leaders-slam-trump-saying-iran-could-take-out-la-or-san-diego/

California officials have sharply criticized President Donald Trump after he appeared to suggest Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego in a speech in Nebraska on Monday.

Speaking at a Republican rally, Trump said Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon and described the war as a “small price to pay for keeping the world safe.”

He suggested Iran could “take out a city,” saying: “Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego.” He added that the war would be over “very soon.”

In a social media post, White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump “was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.”

Mamdani’s plan to tackle antisemitism faces backlash from Jewish New Yorkers

 https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/6130352-zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-strategy-criticized/

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) rolled out a first-of-its-kind municipal strategy to combat antisemitism last week, and it has drawn some criticism from Jewish leaders who say its omission of Israel and anti-Zionism overlooks a key factor behind the recent rise in hate crimes against Jewish New Yorkers.

A joint statement from the United Jewish Appeal (UJA)-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the American Jewish Committee, and the New York Board of Rabbis welcomed elements of the plan but said the city must also confront anti-Israel rhetoric — including Mamdani’s own — to effectively combat antisemitism.

“While the Mayor’s plan has a number of positive elements, including some increased security funding for Jewish institutions and expanding proven programs, it fails to address a central issue that the Mayor himself has perpetuated: rhetoric that demonizes and delegitimizes Israel inevitably leads to the targeting of Jewish New Yorkers,” the groups wrote in a statement.

Midterm Voters Live in Trump’s Two Economic Realities

 https://www.newsweek.com/midterm-voters-live-in-trumps-two-economic-realities-12526758

Donald Trump’s administration has been stacking up some economic wins as of late as his Republican Party candidates prepare for the midterms.

That’s because the economy is doing well—for people like Donald Trump. Most Americans are not like Donald Trump, and his administration’s impressive growth statistics and booming corporate profits are not the kind of numbers most Americans encounter on a daily basis. Those are found on the sign outside the gas station and at the bottom of the grocery receipt.

Tzadik Tamim

 Noam Elimelech (Noach 3:1) A perfect tzadik was he in his generation The tzadik by the  holy deeds that he does brings G-d into to the world and thus is benefitting his generation since the Shechinah is with them because of his actions. Thus when the tzadik reaches high spiritual levels he causes the connection with G-d and His influence in all worlds. Thus the meaning is that such a tzadik benefits his generation  through his spirituality as well as elevating himself  and even influences the higher realms as expressed by saying that he walked with G-d

Michtav M’Eliyahu (2:184) A tzadik decrees and G-d fulfills – It is obviously true that this does not mean that a tzadik can decree something which G-d doesn’t want. The explanation is that there are tzadikim for whom the whole world exists in their merit. That all that happens in the world is merely a means for us to learn from the conduct of these tzadikim how to elevate our service of G-d. What we learn from them is what preserves all of us from the lowest to the highest. That is what it means that because of their merit we live because we are mere utensils for the tzadik which enables us to see G-d’s great kindness in that He freely sustains the entire world .So when a tzadik who is at this exalted level sees an issue which hides an aspect of G-d’s honor it is appropriate for him to ask G-d to withhold it even if it involves a change in G-d’s normal actions. This is what is meant by “a tzadik decrees and G-d fulfills

Reish Lakish killed the Gladiators

  Gittin (47a) Reish Lakish sold himself to gladiators. He took a bag and a round stone inside of it with him. He said: There is a tradition that on the final day of a captive’s life, before his captors kill him, they do for him anything that he requests of them, so that he would forgive them for the spilling of his blood. On the final day before they were set to kill him they said to him: What is amenable to you? He said to them: I want to tie you up and have you sit, and I will strike each one of you one and a half times. He tied them up and had each one of them sit. When he struck each of them with one strike with the stone in the bag, the one whom he struck died, because Reish Lakish was of great strength. Reish Lakish gritted his teeth in anger, and said to the one whom he killed, in order to prevent the others from realizing what was happening: Are you laughing at me? You still have half of a strike remaining with me, as I struck you only once. He killed them all, and Reish Lakish escaped his captors. He left and came back home, and after some time had passed he was sitting, eating, and drinking, without concern for his livelihood. His daughter said to him: You don’t want something to lie upon? He said to her: My daughter, my belly is my pillow, and this is enough for me. When he died he left only a kav of saffron as an inheritance, and even so he recited this verse about himself: “And they leave their wealth for others” (Psalms 49:11), meaning that he was pained that he did not use all of his property. He exhibited his confidence that God would provide his needs by not saving money for the future. 

Rav Tzadok (Takanas Hashavim 9) The nature of Reish Lakish’s criminal past is not mentioned at all in the Talmud since it had already been repented and thus was no longer considered that he had sinned at all. It appears to me that the story that he sold himself to gladiators and killed all of them is also not regarded as sinful as Tosfos states there since this happened before he did teshuva, However it is not clear why this event was mentioned in the Talmud especially since it seems like he was going to be killed by the gladiators according to the customs of those times and thus it was tantamount to suicide. It is thus obvious to me  that all his actions were done deliberately for the sake of Heaven for the sake of repentance because there are views that suicide and self induced suffering is an appropriate way of teshuva.

Teshuva and Aveira Lishma

 Rav Tzadok (Takanas Hashavim 9) Through repentance willful transgressions are transformed into inadvertent errors or even merits; it constitutes a rectification of the past—specifically regarding actions already carried out—achieved by bringing one’s heartfelt repentance all the way to the root of the soul within the intellect reaching the Throne of Glory, from which the rectification of those past actions also emanates. The reason such acts are likened to inadvertent errors—specifically through repentance born of fear—is analogous to the case of one who intends to eat pork but ends up eating lamb: the Talmud likens this to an inadvertent error regarding forgiveness and atonement, because the person’s intent was to commit a forbidden act. Thus, even though the past is rectified—with everything transformed into merits, as all is the will of God and there is no evil at all "for You are with me"—nevertheless, if the original intent was to transgress, the act is still classified as an inadvertent error. Therefore it is necessary to rectify the intent until it is viewed entirely as a merit and not at all as a sin even though we know the original intent was to sin and do evil.  

Rav Tzadok (Takanas Hashavim 9) The nature of Reish Lakish’s criminal past is not mentioned at all in the Talmud since it had already been repented and thus was no longer considered that he had sinned at all. It appears to me that the story that he sold himself to gladiators and killed all of them is also not regarded as sinful as Tosfos states there since this happened before he did teshuva, However it is not clear why this event was mentioned in the Talmud especially since it seems like he was going to be killed by the gladiators according to the customs of those times and thus it was tantamount to suicide. It is thus obvious to me  that all his actions were done deliberatly for the sake of Heaven for the sake of repentance because there are views that suicide and self induced suffering is an appropriate way of teshuva..

Keser Rosh(132) An aveira Leshma has not been permitted at all from the time of the giving of the Torah otherwise why have the 613 Mitzvos

Nefesh HaChaim(01:21) And this was also the entire matter of the service of the Patriarchs, and all the early righteous ones who accomplished the Torah before it was given, as our rabbis  commented on the verse: “from the ritually permitted animals…”. And they stated: “from here we conclude that Noach learned Torah”. And they stated:”Avraham upheld the entire Torah. It’s not that they were commanded and thus acting as they did from a legal perspective, for if it were so they would not have taken positions based on their own intellect and attainment, even if they had grasped that based on the context of the root of their soul- it would have been necessary to trespass and to change even a small part of one of all of God’s- commandments. Yaakov would not have married two sisters, nor would have Amram married his aunt. 

Brooke Eby, Who Chronicled Life With ALS With Humor and Honesty, Dies at 37

 https://www.today.com/health/health/brooke-eby-dies-als-advocate-37-rcna589053

She turned a terminal neurodegenerative diagnosis into a movement, using candor, wit and humor to “really let ALS be heard.”

Brooke Eby, who transformed her diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis into one of social media’s most compelling chronicles of resilience, humor and advocacy, helping change how millions of people understood a devastating disease, has died. She was 37.

When Eby was diagnosed in 2022 at age 33 after years of unexplained symptoms, she faced a prognosis that people with the disease know all too well: ALS is a fatal, progressive neurodegenerative disease with no cure and few effective treatments. Rather than retreat from public life, she leaned into it.

Her videos, often equal parts comedy routine and medical diary, documented the realities of losing mobility without surrendering her personality. She joked about wheelchairs, dating, awkward encounters with strangers and the absurdities of living with a terminal illness, drawing millions of viewers who found themselves laughing before they learned something about ALS.