https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5053319-trump-greenland-purchase/?tbref=hp
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump said in the Truth Social post.
On Monday, Greenland’s prime minister said the island isn’t up for purchase.
https://collive.com/over-30-injured-in-chabad-seminary-fire-in-jerusalem/
A large fire broke out on the top floor of a dorm of a Chabad girls’ school on Rechov Dovid Yellin in Jerusalem early Monday morning, injuring more than 30 people and requiring rescue forces to extricate dozens of girls from the burning building.
------------------- comments
A parent
December 23, 2024 9:40 am
Thankfully the girls are safe.
My daughter and her friends attempted to run out of building but they were locked inside with a padlock with no one to be found with a key.
Only with the help of neighbors on outside who used a chain saw to get through the door were they saved. A special mention also to an Arab worker who endlessly helped save girls at risk to his own life.
Parents: please make sure your seminaries are not locking the girls in at night.
Google triangle shirtwaist factory fire. Hashem yishmor
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/23/politics/biden-federal-death-row-trump/index.html
Notably, the president did not commute the sentences of three people whose crimes included mass shootings or acts of terrorism: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers responsible for the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof, a White nationalist who massacred nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.
We have been discussing Rav Moshe's view that medical tests could be a violation of Devarim (18:13)
Others seem to limit that to avoiding astrologers or diviners. The Netziv and others say it only applies when there are prophets that are available. The Shulchan Aruch says the problem it means searching for indications of the future such as asking an astrologer but there is no problem utilizing the information if you overhear it
Aside from medical tests there is the question of insurance which Rav Moshe permits as a business deal. What about Social Security or eating healthy food? |Should smoking cigarettes be a concern or vaping? Some say using a doctor at all is also a problem.
Rav Noach Weinberg told me that utilizing sear belts and vaccinations show lack of bitachon. Others say being concerned with air raid sirens is a lack of bitachon. or even following elementary rules such as stopping for a red light or wear a reflector when walking down a dark road or signaling when turning
Interestingly the biggest concern we have with the future is what we call chinuch. Nobody I know would send their child to public school or a coed school or college or medical school saying "Whatever G-d wants will happen. Similarly everyone is concerned with who are your child's friends and who he/she associates with
Similarly with shidduchim no one says my child will marry the first person proposed and I will not check out who they are. Rav Moshe does caution about too much instigation. No one forms a business deal or invests money or buys a house without doing investigation regarding the future.
In sum, there are those who say that everything that happens is because G-d makes it happen and you simply must view everything as a direct consequence of G-d's Will. Others say that man is a required participant and must do whatever hishtadus he can and G-d does the rest
https://baishavaad.org/the-foreseeable-future-may-we-try-to-find-out-what-lies-ahead/
One brief but important attempt at a delineation of the contours of the injunction of tamim tihyeh is by R’ Moshe Feinstein, in the context of the propriety of screening for the gene that causes Tay-Sachs:
According to this understanding of R’ Moshe, preventive MRIs would presumably not violate tamim tihyeh, because they, too, do not predict the future, but rather reveal what already exists. While this does not seem to be the straightforward understanding of R’ Moshe’s intent, we shall iy”H see in the follow-up article that some do indeed posit such a distinction with respect to the applicability of the mitzvah of tamim tihyeh.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matt-gaetz-ethics-report-released/
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who briefly stood to become President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be attorney general, was found by congressional ethics investigators to have paid numerous women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex, and to have purchased and used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office, according to a final draft of a comprehensive investigative report obtained by CBS News.
Those were among the findings of the long-running investigation by the House Ethics Committee into Gaetz, which concluded the former Florida congressman violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.
Igros Moshe (YD IV #57.11) The reason for not establishing a day of fasting and prayers to commemorate the murdered of the Holocaust
Question In the matter of the Decree due to our many sins which resulted in the murder of 10 times 600,000 through Hitler and his associates their memory should be erased. It would seem appropriate that there is a need to establish a particular day for fasting and prayer. You are astonished that nothing has yet to be done. Answer In the Kinos which are said by all Jews on Tisha B’Av, it is explained there that a special day was not established for fasting and and mourning for the decrees of the Crusades, which were the decrees in all European countries where most of the Jews lived, and several towns and villages were destroyed, and it was named Tach v’Tat after the years it happened. Also in Israel they killed many during the Crusades. The reason is they didn’t is because we are not to establish another day for fasting and mourning. Instead the tragedies of the Crusades are to be mentioned in the Kinos of Tisha B‘Av For this reason we are slso not to establish a special day to commemorate the decrees that happened in our time. Rather it is to be included in all the tragedies that have happened during this long Galus. It is thus not like the Chemelniki Massacres that were done by Cosacks in the Ukraine and Poland for which a day of fasting and Selichos was established on the 10th of Sivan since that wasn’t a general decree like the Churban and Galus but it occurred only in a part of one country. In addition tragedies of Tach v’Tat were not committed by the government and therefore are not the result of Galus and the Churban but rather those who rebelled against the government. It is not considered a government action and thus an aspect of Galus since the government attempted to defend the Jews. The only connection to Galus is that the Jews received punishment for their sins which deserved Galus. Thus it was only relevant to make a decree of fasting and Selichos for only those places. In contrast the decrees of Hitler applied to all Jews since he conquered the main places where Jews lived and in these places he murdered all the Jews who were there and he intended to conquer the whole world. It was impossible to stop him untl G-d hasd mercy on us. Therefore it was a decree against all Jews and thus it is to be viewed as an extension of the Churban and Galus for which we are not to establish another day of mourning as is stated in the Kinos.
https://www.koltorah.org/halachah/the-proper-time-to-kindle-chanukah-lights-by-rabbi-chaim-jachter
One should try to light Nerot Chanukah at the optimal time. However, defining the precise time has been an elusive task. It appears that common practice is simply to light when the men return from Maariv. Shalom Bayit and male communal Torah study might permit one to light after the optimal time.
Igros Moshe (OH. IV #101.6 p189) The best time to light a Hanukkah candle is about ten minutes after the beginning of sunset and it should have enough oil to burn for an hour or so in order that it will burn about half an hour after the stars come out.,
Igros Moshe (OH IV 62 page 95) Also we light the chunukah lights everyday at a later time so that there is parsumei nissa for fanily members
https://www.5tjt.com/halachic-musings-lev-tahor-and-pidyon-shvuyim/
It is this author’s conclusion that there is no mitzvah or even inyan to help the leaders of Lev Tahor evade jail charges. This is also the opinion of one of the leading poskim in the New York area. May Hashem bring yeshuos and nechamos to Klal Yisrael.
https://mishpacha.com/aching-hearts/
During the four-and-a half-years since Mishpacha’s probing report on the mysterious Lev Tahor, the setting has changed and shocking accounts of mind control and abuse are emerging. Can an unlikely coalition of Guatemalan geirim and chassidish activists tip the balance and bring change to Lev Tahor?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/21/trump-musk-shutdown-demands-defeat/
After that, the accounts diverge. Multiple House Republican lawmakers said the president-elect mentioned eliminating the debt ceiling casually and in passing, and that he understood Johnson’s explanation that the proposal didn’t have the votes to pass. Hill Republicans broadly agreed that no one got the impression Trump was repeatedly and clearly demanding that they raise the debt ceiling before Christmas. His sudden red line Wednesday reverberated across the Capitol, shocking House and Senate Republicans
https://medicalhalacha.org/2021/01/21/preventive-medicine-and-disease-screening/
Predictive or presymptomatic diagnosis, whether for the purposes of assessing the risk of diseases or for early intervention, can play a critically important role in a patient’s chances of recovery or of avoiding disease entirely. Screening tests, such as mammograms or colonoscopies, tests that assess or predict the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, or genetic testing that can identify a predisposition to an ever-growing wide range of diseases, are all essential diagnostic tools. Does the Mitzva of “v’Nishmartem” obligate a person to undergo such testing or to follow the precepts of preventive medication in general?
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/21/politics/trump-mandate-washington-challenges/index.html
Trump has asserted his decisive November victory should clear any roadblocks standing in the way of his agenda. He has demanded fealty from fellow Republicans while often overstating the breadth of his win. Though he is the first Republican in a generation to win the popular vote, Trump ended up with less than 50% of the country behind him and his Electoral College margin was sizable but hardly historic.
Mike Johnson is still Speaker of the House, but this week Republicans have behaved as if the Speaker is another Johnson—as in Woody of the New York Jets. He’s the impulsive owner who, reports The Athletic, overrules his football people on a whim, consults his teenage sons for football insights, and looks for guidance from the internet. Result: perennial losing seasons.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-strikes-houthi-targets-in-yemen-takes-down-drones-over-red-sea/
The United States on Saturday said it struck targets in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, hours after a missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck and wounded people in the central Israel city of Tel Aviv.
The missile, which wounded 16 people, was the second such attack in two days.
Among the targets of US forces was a Houthi missile storage center and a “command-and-control facility,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
It said that it had conducted the strikes “to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.
Authorities in Guatemala rescued at least 160 children from a Jewish sect following allegations of abuse and human trafficking.
Police raided the premises of the sect called Lev Tahor in Oratorio city, 78km southeast of the capital Guatemala City, on Friday after receiving complaints of widespread abuse of children, including rape, human trafficking and forced marriage, prosecutors said.
They took at least 160 minors and 40 women into protective custody.
The operation in the Santa Rosa region involved around 480 police personnel, soldiers, prosecutors, and psychologists who also seized electronic devices and searched for evidence of child pornography.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/21/shutdown-deal-trump-musk-debt-limit/
Mr. Trump should not have spurred a last-minute frenzy to keep the government running during the holidays when a reasonable bipartisan compromise had already been reached. The negotiators’ job was made harder by the fact that Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, the president-elect’s confidant tasked with making the government more “efficient,” seemed to be at cross-purposes in their demands. Mr. Musk said the stopgap’s spending levels were “criminal” and called for shutting down the government until Mr. Trump’s inauguration, when Republicans would have more leverage to deny line items Democrats wanted. Chiming in later, Mr. Trump criticized some of the spending but also issued a very different demand: that Congress lift the debt limit or eliminate it entirely, which would have required Democratic buy-in, given the narrow majorities in Congress and some Republicans’ aversion to raising the fiscal ceiling.
The Democrats without any delay seized the opportunity to mock Donald Trump while suggesting that Elon Musk had effectively become the ‘Shadow President’, asserted Daily Beast. Eventually, two competing narratives emerged to explain the events, where, one suggested the confrontation was a deliberate strategic move which showcased the direct approach of the new administration while the another indicated Donald Trump was essentially ‘cornered’ by Elon Musk's vocal opposition.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-cries-conspiracy-over-claims-hes-usurped-trumps-power/
Trump hasn’t directly addressed growing claims that Musk is usurping his power, but his incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt released a statement Thursday to remind the country who is really in charge.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” she said. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
Igros Moshe (Even Haezer IV #10) Should a person take a test for Tay Sachs before marriage. Question Concerning the matter of the children who by nature live only a short time after being born, about two or three years and die, which is called Tay-Sachs.They are born from a father and mother who both contribute to produce this condition. Even though neither parent has the sickness or suffers any personal consequences for being a carrier for the sickness, the consequence is that they produce children with this sickness. If only one parent is a carrier than the children don’t get the sickness. It can be determined by a blood test whether the person is a carrier or not. This knowledge of who is a carrier can aid in deciding whether a particular boy should marry a particular girl. If he is a carrier he should avoid marrying a girl who is a carrier. She should avoid marrying a boy who is a carrier if she is a carrier. You want to know my humble opinion whether it is appropriate for the boy and girl to make an effort to find out whether they are a carrier If it is a good thing to take the test, should it be done while they are still children or only when they are ready for marriage? Should it be conducted in a public manner or privately? Answer Even though only a small small minority of children are born like this and it is appropriate to say about it, Tamimim Tehiye (be innocent with the L-rd your G-d), as Rashi explains that you should walk with G-d in innocence and wait for Him and do not inquire about the future. Nevertheless since it is now easy to test, perhaps not testing should be viewed as if he is closing his eyes to see what can be seen since if something like this happened to the child, it is extremely distressing to the parents. Consequently it would be appropriate to have this test prior to marriage. Therefore it is a good idea to publicize this in newspapersand other ways so that everyone knows there is such a test buy it is clear and obvious that this should be conducted privately so that the identities of the boy and girl should not be made public even by the doctor who does the test.
Rav Moshe is stating here that Tamim isn't violated by medical tests which easily determine information. However I was told that Rav Moshe was against medical screening tests such as pap tests when the person had no symptoms of illness. this includes yearly medical tests and x-rays as well as ptostate testing. In the eighth volume of the Igros they included the story that when he had a suspected heart attack he was upset they took a series of blood tests. So not sure what his actual view was.
Musk’s outsize role in sending the federal government careening toward a potential shutdown before Christmas has alarmed Democrats, academics and watchdog groups, while some Republicans said his intervention was uninformed.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-cr-spending-plan-fails-republicans-revolt-2003876
President-elect Donald Trump threw his support behind a revised government funding plan from House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday. But it wasn't enough to push the stopgap bill over the finish line.
The proposal failed to pass on Thursday evening when it didn't secure enough support from House Republicans.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/18/elon-musk-false-claims-cr-00195252
A bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown collapsed Wednesday amid a sustained campaign against the package led by billionaire Elon Musk — one featuring a series of false and misleading statements.
Musk used his social network X to stir Republicans into a frenzy over the stopgap spending bill filed the night before by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was forced by his thin majority to negotiate with Democrats on a resolution that could pass in time to avert a government shutdown that would start 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
The billionaire falsely claimed that members of Congress would get a 40 percent pay raise as part of the package — something both Musk and the X account for his so-called Department of Government Efficiency got wrong.
Musk reposted a claim that the bill would provide $3 billion for a new NFL stadium in Washington. Not true: The bill transfers control of the site of the existing RFK Stadium to the D.C. local government for redevelopment, which could potentially include a stadium. No federal funds are changing hands as part of the transaction.
The president-elect made an almost unrealistic proposal that combined some continuation of government funds along with a much more controversial provision to raise the nation’s debt limit — something his own party routinely rejects. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote.
Regarding the pair’s efforts to kill the spending bill that House Speaker Mike Johnson had painstakingly negotiated with Democratic leaders, New York Rep. Daniel Goldman told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, “It’s not Donald Trump asking for this. It’s very clearly President Elon Musk asking for this.”
“The fact that Donald Trump has been completely AWOL during these negotiations to the point where only after Elon Musk publicly tweets about his displeasure, about this budget deal,” he continued, “all of a sudden Donald Trump, chief of staff to Elon Musk, comes trotting in and blows up the deal.”
https://www.newsweek.com/senators-react-trump-musk-government-spending-bill-2003235
Trump's directive to tank the spending plan threw Congress into chaos and sent lawmakers back to the drawing board. They have until Friday—just days before Christmas—to pass the continuing resolution, or the government will shut down.
Mesores Moshe, (vol. 4, p. 434): I asked Rabbi Feinstein whether the well known story that is told about him was correct. The claim is that he once drank by mistake some non cholov Yisroel milk in America. When he was informed of the mistake he went to the bathroom and forced himself to vomit out the milk. Rav Moshe looked at me like I was crazy and he said, "It never happened! Someone who had nothing to do made up this story." I told him that is what I had assumed because it was difficult to believe that he would be so strict in a matter which was essentially permitted. Furthermore what benefit would result from vomiting it out. The critical issue is to avoid the pleasure in drinking. I think he agreed with me.
https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/medication-or-therapy
For problems with parenting, marriage or adjustment, psychotherapy is usually the first recommendation. This treatment can help you build skills and respond more appropriately to stressors.
Speaking out against law enforcement is especially difficult in small towns, where cops are deeply embedded in the communities they serve. For the residents, there are often fewer avenues to lodge misconduct complaints and less protection from retaliation.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-slaps-down-trump-and-explains-the-mystery-drones/
On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump nevertheless insisted at a press conference that “something strange is going on” and claimed government officials “don’t want to tell the people” what’s happening. “I think they’d be better off saying what it is,” Trump said. “Our military knows and our president knows, and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense.”
A joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Defense Department, and the FBI separately said that over 5,000 drone sightings have been reported to authorities in recent weeks. The agencies found that the sightings to date “include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.”
Over one million drones are lawfully registered with the FAA and “thousands” of them are in the skies of the U.S. on any given day, the statement said. “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast,” it added.
Igros Moshe (Y.D. 01:137): Coeducation, for even the youngest children, is surely something that would not please our Sages. While small children experience neither temptation nor lewd thoughts, we must still train them to distance themselves from women. Yet when they study together, they become accustomed to closeness. They will remain accustomed to this when they grow up, as well, when they do face temptation, and the danger of lewd thought. Therefore, although there is no risk of breaking any prohibition now, our educational duty still stands." I am willing to be lenient in an emergency, where an all-girl school cannot be formed, and the alternative is public school." which teaches neither faith nor good deeds. Better that very young children, regarding whom the prohibition does not apply, should be educated in schools founded by the God-fearing, even if boys and girls study together. It is clear and simple that if there is any chance of founding an all-girl school, it must be done. Of course, slightly older children are legally forbidden'" to study either religious or secular subjects in such a school.
Igros Moshe(YD II 57 p77) Regarding mentally ill people that need to go to doctors, the psychiatrist or psychologist. Is it permitted to go to those who are non believers and heretics? In my humble opinion they should not go to such doctors to be cured. That is because the healing doesn’t come from drugs but from the intensive discussions they have with their patient which reveal the thoughts which are causing suffering. The therapist then advises the patient what to do . Obviously, there is concern that the therapist will give advice occasionally that is against the laws of the Torah and even against fundamental religious principles, conduct and modesty. This is not comparable to being healed for physical ailments by a regular doctor who is a heretic or denier since the cure comes from physical medicine or treatment and thus the religious beliefs of the doctor are irrelevant. The prohibition to be cured by heretics is only with those cures involving incantations or idolatrous names {Tofos Avoda Zara 27; Shulchan Aruch YD 155]. However in the case of psychology and psychiatry where the cure comes entirely from words, there is a clear concern that he will use words of heresy or nivul peh. However if they are truly professionals and they promise the parents that they will not speak anything against religion and mitzvos of the Torah, then perhaps you can rely on the fact that they are professional and will not lie. Therefore it is best to find a therapist who is Torah observant but if one is not available you should obtain a promise that there will not be any discussions with the patient concerning faith and Torah.
Igros Moshe (OC IV #118) Writing the ketubah for a woman who had been sexually active and she has already informed the groom, there is no need to tell the rabbi performing the ceremony since the groom will sign the ketubah and he has agreed to the kesubah saying that she is a virgin even though it isn’t so. Since she is not deceiving him and he in fact wants to obligate himself according to the amount for a virgin and thus is no different than any additions voluntarily added to the kesubah.
Igros Moshe (OC IV #118) And as for whether you need to tell the guy that wants to marry you, of course you need to tell him, but you don't need to tell him the first time that you meet when it is not yet known if he wants the match at all and in any case then you must not tell him then. Only after you know that he clearly wants to marry you and has already told you and spoken regarding marriage, you only need to say that it happened, when you didn't have such a serious head to withstand temptation against repeated seduction, and you immediately regretted sinning and were upset that something like this happened until he recognizes from your words that he should not be concerned that it will happen after you are married. Only then should you reveal this information since he wants you because he realizes how wonderful and pious you really are and truly believes that you won’t do it again and that you will be totally devoted to your husband and faithful to him
Rav Moshe used to return home everyday for a hot lunch meal. This was his main meal of the day prepared carefully by his wife. One day just as he arrived for the meal, the phone rang and he was distracted from the meal for a long time. His wife kept telling him to hang-up and eat his lunch but he continued speaking and thus missed his meal. After a long time, when he had finished the call he returned to the yeshiva. The students who accompanied him asked why he had skipped his lunch. He replied simply that it was an important call involving shalom bayis (domestic harmony). The students then asked, ”Why was the caller’s shalom bayis more important than his own?” He replied simply, ”In the case of the caller there was two people fighting but in his case there was only one.”
Igros Moshe (E.H. 04:032.9):Shaking hands with women as greeting. It is obviously prohibited as I have written previously (O.C. 113) because of concerns for sexual arousal and pleasure. However I wrote (E.H. 56) that if you see religious Jews who are lenient to judge them favorably and assume that they are relying on the absence of sexual arousal and pleasure but I also wrote there that it is difficult to rely on this. I don’t see any inconsistency between prohibiting shaking hands but permitting riding on buses (E.H. 2:14) since there is no affection involved there for almost everyone.
On Monday, Japanese investor Masayoshi Son joined Trump to announce a $100 billion investment in US projects over the next four years, with a goal of creating 100,000 new jobs in emerging technologies, including the development of artificial intelligence. (Because what investment in 2024 isn’t tied to AI?) The planned investment will come from Son’s SoftBank Group, which, despite its name, is not a bank — more of a sprawling global tech investing company.
This is hardly the first time a president has sought to gin up economic goodwill through agreements with companies on the promise of reviving American industry. But, as Trump knows well from his first term, these sorts of arrangements are often heavy on fanfare but light on actual value.
But you get the idea. Good intentions are great, and then they often encounter economic realities.
They’re all after roughly the same thing: a spot on Trump’s “nice” list, or at least a shot at remaining off the “naughty” list for as long as possible.
Igros Moshe (O.C. 01:026):Listening to a young girl singing. This that you write that it is impossible to protest that parents should not come to listen to their children singing without causing great controversy, therefore you want to know my view regarding what the halacha regarding listening to children singing? Beis Shmuel( E.H. 21.4) explicitly states that the voice of an unmarried woman is permitted except during prayer and the Magen Avraham (E.H. 75.6) states that only the singing of a married woman is always prohibited. This that an unmarried female is permitted is only if she is not a nida. This is stated by the Pri Magadim and it seems that nida is viewed as erva. The Be’er Heitiv (E.H. 21.4) cites the Be’er Sheva saying that unmarried females or a widow is prohibited and only the voice of a man’s wife is permitted except during prayer. That seems to mean that even an unmarried female who is not a nida and thus disagrees with the Beis Shmuel. Thus the halacha is in accord with the greater number of those that permit and furthermore the Be’er Heitiv does not note that the Be’er Sheva disagrees which indicates he has no concern that that view is halacha.In addition the Mishna Bereura (75.17) also permits an unmarried female who is not a nida when it is not during Shema. What needs to be a point of concern is that which the Mishna Berura writes that the singing of an unmarried girl is permitted as long as there is no intent for pleasure so that it doesn’t lead to lustful thoughts. So possibly there are some who come with the intent to listen and have lustful thoughts which is prohibited. But it seems that the Misha Berura means someone who listens for lustful rasons.and we can assume here also that people are not coming to listen for lustful reasons and we don’t need to be concerned that lustful thoughts will be produced by listening to girls singing. Thus the prohibition only applies to females that are prohibited to him inherently to get any pleasure from them which excludes unmarried girls who are not nida. So even if there is concern that listening will result in lustful thoughts, this is relevant only for older girls who might become nida and not young girls. In addition there is normally no lust for sex with children and consequently looking or listening to children does not produce lustful thoughts even when done for the sake of pleasure. This is true even for girls older than 9 years. In conclusion you asked for the actual halacha and that is that it is permissible for girls singing as long as they are not more than 11 ears old. More than 11, even if it is known that they are not nida and according to the straight halacha it is possible to be lenient as I have explained, nevertheless you should be strict since it is possible for some to be nida, If there is no pressing need you should always prohibit because in these matters all who take the strict view are called holy.
https://www.wsj.com/finance/softbank-ceo-trump-deal-ca0d3ab3?mod=hp_lead_pos10
Tech investing heavyweight Masayoshi Son offered a gift to President-elect Donald Trump: a pledge to spend $100 billion on artificial intelligence and related technology in the U.S.
“President Trump is a double-down president,” he said Monday, standing next to Trump at a Mar-a-Lago press conference—a reference to how his commitment was twice the $50 billion he pledged at a similar event eight years ago.
Left unmentioned: Son, the chief executive of tech conglomerate SoftBank Group 9984 4.42%increase; green up pointing triangle, doesn’t have $100 billion. Following through will require Son to embark on some combination of a massive fundraising effort, a huge amount of new debt or selling chunks of the company’s holdings to raise cash.
Igros Moshe (EH IV #100) Question There are people who make sure that their wives and daughters do not walk without stockings on their feet, but no one makes sure that the stockings are in such a way that it does not show the flesh. Why should seeing the flesh through stockings be permitted? We hold that all the flesh of the leg below the knee is considered nakedness. Why should it make a difference seeing it directly or through transparent stockings? We hold that nakedness in a transparent container is prohibited. Obviously if you hold like the Mishna Berura (75:02) that this area is not consider nakedness then there is no need to wear stockings at all? Answer In fact the concern in wearing stockings is for extra care because of modesty as the halacha is that the leg until the knee is not considered nakedness and the reason wearing transparent stockings is considered modesty is because in reality the threads of the stockings, even sheer ones, do not actually allow one to see the actual flesh of the leg. The proof is that when the stockings are colored white or black, one does not see the flesh of the leg. Thus it is only because the stocking are flesh colored it appears like you are seeing the flesh.Thus when wearing sheer stockings the leg is in fact covered and despite what seems to the on looker to be the leg is not the actual leg at all. So even in a situation of halachic nakedness it still would be considered covered . However then it would be prohibited because of arousing licentious thoughts. Thus with children for which there is no hirhur, even for areas considered nakedness in adults it would be sufficient.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musks-x-corrects-mtgs-vaccines-cause-autism-claim/
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took to X on Monday to falsely state that vaccines caused autism—but not without backlash.
This time, she declared unequivocally that vaccines cause autism—a claim that has been studied extensively, with no evidence to suggest that the two are connected.
“I fully believe vaccines cause Autism,“ she wrote. ”It’s another example of crimes against humanity. And innocent babies, children, and their families are the victims."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/12/16/hamas-gaza-israel-war-ceasefire-negotiations/
With its military power depleted and its political influence on the wane, Hamas is under growing public pressure to help bring the war in Gaza to an end.
Palestinians in the besieged enclave are desperate for a ceasefire after 14 months of conflict, and many residents said they are increasingly fed up with the militant group as they struggle to survive hunger, displacement and Israeli attacks. Last week, Hamas publicly softened its negotiating position with Israel.
Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov has pleaded guilty to lying about a false bribery conspiracy that was once a main point of contention against Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Smirnov’s allegation sparked widespread controversy against the two Bidens, starting the House impeachment inquiry into the president by Republicans. Smirnov, 44, pleaded guilty to four federal charges relating to the fake allegations, as well as tax evasion charges that alleged he hid millions of dollars in income, according to The Hill. He told the FBI that the head of Burisma, a energy company in Ukraine, had paid the president and his son both $5 million. The allegations were false. No proof has been released that Joe Biden accepted bribes or engaged in corruption during his time as president nor vice president and he has denied all allegations. Court documents also revealed that Smirnov said he gave “false derogatory information,” according to The Hill. Smirnov had been an informant for more than a decade, his identity was not revealed until he was indicted. Smirnov, who will be sentenced next month, agreed to a sentence of between 48 and 72 months. An attorney for Smirnov declined to comment after the hearing in Los Angeles federal court
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/16/politics/trump-immunity-hush-money-conviction-merchan/index.html
Donald Trump’s felony conviction in the New York hush money case should not be tossed out because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday.
Merchan’s decision rejected one of several avenues that Trump’s lawyers have taken to try to dismiss Trump’s May guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The judge did not, however, rule on a motion from Trump’s attorneys to dismiss the conviction because Trump has now been elected president.
Instead, his 41-page decision focused on the question of presidential immunity.
Merchan wrote the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump should receive broad immunity for official acts during his time in office did not mean the conviction should be dismissed, ruling that the evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorney’s office was not related to Trump’s official conduct as president
Although there are Poskim who justify the custom of throwing bread from one end of the table to another, one should nevertheless abstain from throwing bread completely. This applies especially to the bread eaten during the Shabbat meals upon which the head of the household recites a blessing in order to fulfill the Mitzvah. In such an instance, the Peri Megadim (Chapter 167, Eshel Avraham, Subsection 38) writes that even according to the Rashba, it will be forbidden to throw the bread, for this constitutes “degradation of a Mitzvah.” Several other Acharonim rule likewise.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York filed a brief in July supporting that argument, saying, "In light of the United Nations’ immunity, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the United Nations."
The brief notes that "the United States acknowledges and deplores the profound losses suffered on October 7," and that "the United States takes no position on the factual allegations in the complaint."
"The United Nations is absolutely immune from suit and legal process absent an express waiver of immunity," Williams said, citing the Charter of the United Nations, to which the United States acceded in 1945, that says the U.N. "shall enjoy in the territory of each of its Members such privileges and immunities as are necessary for the fulfilment [sic] of its purposes."
https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/news/pressreleases/pages/press18324r.aspx
The Labor and Welfare Committee, chaired by MK Israel Eichler (United Torah Judaism), convened on Monday to begin preparation for second and third readings of a bill intended to allow victims of hostile acts to file lawsuits and receive compensatory damages from those who bear responsibility for acts of terrorism in conjunction with receiving benefits from the state. At present, according to the Benefits for Casualties of Hostile Acts Law, 1970, it is not possible to receive damages benefits under this law and also compensatory damages under another law. As a result, people harmed by hostile acts are compelled to refund to the National Insurance Institute (NII) the full amount of compensation received from the NII in order to file a suit for compensatory damages from a party that has been found to bear responsibility for the terrorist attack, such as the Palestinian Authority. Bills sponsored by MKs Sharren Haskel (New Hope—The United Right), Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beitenu), Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) and additional MKs, which were merged [into a single bill], propose to allow compensation to be received from the party that caused the harm in the amount of 25% of the damages awarded to the casualties, along with receiving compensation from the state.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-833444
The HJS report accuses the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry of inflating its figures by including natural deaths, combatant deaths, and even fatalities predating the war. “The Ministry of Health, operating under Hamas, has systematically inflated the death toll by failing to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, over-reporting fatalities among women and children, and even including individuals who died before the conflict began,” it states.
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-833313
The University of Michigan has fired an administrator after she was accused of saying that Jewish students should not benefit from diversity programs as they are "wealthy and privileged," according to documents obtained by the New York Times on Thursday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/13/mcconnell-polio-vaccine-trump-cabinet/
Magen Avraham[1](O.C. 610:5): To be like angels – according to this women should not wear white on Yom Kippur because they can’t be like angels as it states in Misheli (21:22) A wise man scales the city of the mighty men. [This refers to Moshe going to heaven to be with the angels] It refers to the Heaven as the “city of the mighty men”. Thus only men are capable of being like angels
[1] מגן אברהם (תרי:ה): דוגמת מלאכי - ולפ"ז אין הנשים לובשין לבנים דאין יכולים להיות כמלאכים דעיר גברי' כתיב כמ"ש מט"מ גבי טבילה ומ"מ הקיט"ל יכולים ללבוש שיכנע לבם, אפי' מי שלובש שק מחמת תשובה אסור ללבשו ביה"כ (ס"ח תרט"ו ר"ש הלוי סימן ו'), איתא בילקוט שופטים דף ט' ע"א לעשות פתילות עבות בבה"כ
Vayikra Rabbah[1](31:5): R. Joshua of Siknin in the name of R. Aha cited, A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty--gibborim (Prov. XXI, 22).1 The written form is gebarim’ (men), for all of them are males; there are no females among them.
[1] ויקרא פרשה (לא:ה): ר' יהושע דסכנין בשם ר' אחא אמר (משלי כא) עיר גבורים עלה חכם גברים כתיב שכלם גברים ואין בהם
