https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-fox-news-pushes-trump-to-make-every-bad-decision
President Donald Trump’s announcement last Friday that he would end the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history without securing funding from congressional Democrats for his long-promised border wall came after weeks of brutal headlines and sagging poll numbers.
But when Trump arose the following morning, he did not devote his time to convening his White House advisers to figure out what went wrong or reaching out to Republican congressional leaders to plot their next move.
Instead, he did the same thing he’s done on countless days of his administration: He turned on his television, tuned in to his favorite program, Fox & Friends, and started tweeting about what he saw.
Torah thought on parshat תרומה
ReplyDelete“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him.” (Exodus 25:1-2).
שמות פרק כה פסוק ב
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת תְּרוּמָתִי
מדרש אגדה (בובר) שמות פרשת תרומה פרק כה סימן ב
דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה. כתיב לי הכסף ולי הזהב (אמר) [נאם] ה' צבאות (חגי ב' ח'), אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל התנדבו ועשו המשכן, ואל תאמרו מכיסכתם אתם נותנים דבר, כי משלי הוא הכל, לפיכך אמר ויקחו לי משלי: דבר אל בני ישראל. להוציא החרש שאינו שומע ואינו מדבר: אשר ידבנו לבו. להוציא השוטה שאין לבו נודבו: מאת כל איש. להוציא את הקטן שאינו איש. ומנין שלא יקחו מן הגוים, שנא' דבר אל בני ישראל, ולא ממי שאינו מישראל:
“But be strong, O Zerubbabel—says the Lord—be strong, O high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak; be strong, all you people of the land—says the Lord—and act! For I am with you—says the Lord of Hosts. So I promised you when you came out of Egypt, and My spirit is still in your midst. Fear not! For thus said the Lord of Hosts: In just a little while longer I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; I will shake all the nations. And the precious things of all the nations shall come [here], and I will fill this House with glory, said the Lord of Hosts. Silver is Mine and gold is Mine—says the Lord of Hosts.” (Haggai 2:4-8).
My theory. God caused all the nations of the world to bring the fabulous building materials in this week’s parsha for the Tabernacle. The nations gave of gold, silver, etc to individual Jews as outright gifts. God causes gold, silver, etc to go from one party to another... This is Haggai’s prophesy. A strange/wonderful prophesy. This is what happened after the Exodus...
relevance?!
ReplyDeleteDaas Torah Mod says “relevance?!”
ReplyDeleteGod is giving us a gift with Donald Trump, POTUS.
“The Lord disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people. Moreover, Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people.” (Exodus 11:3)
שמות פרק יא פסוק ג
וַיִּתֵּן יְקֹוָק אֶת חֵן הָעָם בְּעֵינֵי מִצְרָיִם גַּם הָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה גָּדוֹל מְאֹד בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בְּעֵינֵי עַבְדֵי פַרְעֹה וּבְעֵינֵי הָעָם
God is disposing favorably the Americans toward the Jewish people.
Allow me to quote from Trump’s speech:
We will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people. We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed. With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs.
Just months ago, 11 Jewish-Americans were viciously murdered in an anti-semitic attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. SWAT Officer Timothy Matson raced into the gunfire and was shot seven times chasing down the killer. Timothy has just had his 12th surgery -- but he made the trip to be here with us tonight. Officer Matson: we are forever grateful for your courage in the face of evil.
Tonight, we are also joined by Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet. He arrived at the synagogue as the massacre began. But not only did Judah narrowly escape death last fall -- more than seven decades ago, he narrowly survived the Nazi concentration camps. Today is Judah's 81st birthday. Judah says he can still remember the exact moment, nearly 75 years ago, after 10 months in a concentration camp, when he and his family were put on a train, and told they were going to another camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Judah's family braced for the worst. Then, his father cried out with joy: "It's the Americans."
A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight, Joshua Kaufman, was a prisoner at Dachau Concentration Camp. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. "To me," Joshua recalls, "the American soldiers were proof that God exists, and they came down from the sky."
Thanks Kalonymus Anonymus for your uptick.
ReplyDeleteRosh HaShana 23a
“R. Johanan also said: Alas for the idol-worshippers since they have no means of remedy [i.e., they will not be able to save themselves by remedying the wrong they have done], as it says “Bowing before you, shall come The children of those who tormented you; Prostrate at the soles of your feet Shall be all those who reviled you; And you shall be called City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken, Rejected, with none passing through, I will make you a pride everlasting, A joy for age after age. You shall suck the milk of the nations, Suckle at royal breasts [emendation yields their unavenged blood shall be avenged]. And you shall know That I the Lord am your Savior, I, The Mighty One of Jacob, am your Redeemer. Instead of copper I will bring gold, Instead of iron I will bring silver; Instead of wood, copper; And instead of stone, iron. And I will appoint Well-being as your government, Prosperity as your officials.” (Isaiah 60:14-17), But what can they bring to replace R. Akiba and his companions? Of them the Scripture says “Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom a desolate waste, Because of the outrage to the people of Judah, In whose land they shed the blood of the innocent. But Judah shall be inhabited forever, And Jerusalem throughout the ages. Thus I will treat as innocent their blood [Though I cleanse them [of other transgressions] from their blood I shall not cleanse them] Which I have not treated as innocent [emendation yields their unavenged blood shall be avenged]; And the Lord shall dwell in Zion.” (Joel 4:19-21)”
In the Exodus, God caused the Egyptians to bring gifts to the Jews. These are Egyptians that recognized that they sinned to God.
This week’s parsha: “And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it.” (Exodus 25:8-9). This concerns us today. Why? We’re closer to the prophecies of Isaiah, Haggai, and Joel when wicked nations will recognized that they sinned against Jews and will want to bring gold, silver, etc to Jews.
I quote from Trump’s speech:
“My Administration has acted decisively to confront the world's leading state sponsor of terror: the radical regime in Iran. To ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons, I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. And last fall, we put in place the toughest sanctions ever imposed on a country.”
Rosh HaShana 3b
It has been taught: Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes [Mentioned together in “So the elders of the Jews progressed in the building, urged on by the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, and they brought the building to completion under the aegis of the God of Israel and by the order of Cyrus and Darius and King Artaxerxes of Persia” (Ezra 6:14)] were all one. He was called Cyrus because he was a worthy king; Artaxerxes after his realm [The Persian Artakhshathra means by whom empire is perfected] while Darius was his own name. All the same, the contradiction still remains [between the statements in Haggai and in Ezra]?”
Donald Trump is his own name, but can we call him Cyrus the Great ?
Gerald, many rabbonim say we can't build the temple until moshiach does it. Long and complex discussion. Alas, the Jerusalem Talmud says we will, before moshiach comes .
ReplyDeleteKalonymus Anonymus says “Gerald, many rabbonim say we can't build the temple until moshiach does it. Long and complex discussion. Alas, the Jerusalem Talmud says we will, before moshiach comes”
ReplyDeleteNo. Thank God we have Trump POTUS. No, I’m not going into the if we can build the temple now or when will the משיח come. I’m not interested in long and complex discussions remote from the plain narrative...
Hertz on The Sanctuary:
“With the exception of chaps. xxxii-xxxiv, which tell the story of the Golden Calf, the remainder of the Book of Exodus is concerned with the construction of the Sanctuary. Israel has been redeemed from bondage and God has proclaimed His Laws unto them at Sinai. The communion of God with Moses and Israel was not, however, to cease with Israel’s departure from Sinai. Moses is bidden to erect a Sanctuary that shall be a visible emblem to the people that God dwelleth among them.”
More on why I love Trump. Trump speech:
To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America's children. I am also proud to be the first President to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave -- so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.
There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our Nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the Governor of Virginia where he basically stated he would execute a baby after birth.
To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb.
Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children -- born and unborn -- are made in the holy image of God.
more hypocrisy
ReplyDelete