https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/670819
A municipal delegation from the city of Bnei Brak flew to Miami last week, allegedly to review models of new slides intended for installation in city playgrounds, Kan Moreshet journalist Eli Bitan reported.
The delegation included the mayor, his deputy, and senior city officials.
According to the report, the delegation traveled first class, without obtaining the required approval from the City Council, as is required in such cases.
Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court imposed sentence after years of attempts to persuade the woman to accept the divorce, including efforts by police officers who brought the document to her home
https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/s1nkmoo0eg
Two students beat a Jewish classmate while shouting antisemitic threats; family accuses school of ignoring earlier harassment and files police complaint
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-november-22-2025
Israel eliminated five senior Hamas officials in airstrikes on Gaza today in response to the terror group’s violations of the ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says in a post on X.
“Today, Hamas violated the ceasefire again, sending a terrorist into Israel held territory to attack IDF soldiers. In response, Israel eliminated five senior Hamas terrorists,” the post reads.
“Israel has fully honored the ceasefire, Hamas has not,” the post continues, accusing “dozens” of Hamas terrorists of crossing into the IDF-controlled side of the withdrawal line in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/418169
The New York City mayor-elect accused Israel before reporters and President Trump of carrying out "genocide" in Gaza, and said that "the U.S. government is funding it." President Trump did not contradict him.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/21/politics/takeaways-zohran-mamdani-trump-oval-office-new-york
Among Trump’s comments:
“I think he’s going to surprise some conservative people, actually.”
“Some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.”
“We agree on a lot more than I would’ve thought.”
“I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”
When a reporter noted Trump had threatened to cut funding to New York City if Mamdani were elected, the president suggested that he’ll play that card if he needs to. But he also downplayed the possibility.
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him,” Trump said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/rfk-jr-cdc-vaccine-autism
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, said in an interview with the New York Times that he personally instructed the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to change its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism.
Countering decades of science showing vaccines to be safe, the US public health agency’s website was changed to say: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”
In the interview, Kennedy said that while the large-scale epidemiological studies of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine had found no link to autism, and that studies of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal had also shown no link, there are gaps in the vaccine safety science.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5618271-trump-mamdani-meet-affordability
The oddest of political couples had a startlingly positive meeting Friday afternoon when President Trump came face-to-face with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) in the Oval Office.
Biggest winner: Zohran Mamdani
The encounter was, by any reasonable measure, a big success for the 34-year-old incoming mayor.
Mamdani achieved his key objective in finding common ground with Trump without ceding any real issue of principle.
https://mishpacha.com/just-say-no-to-palestine
It should be clear that the Trump administration, which views foreign policy through a transactional lens, sees greater economic potential and investment opportunities in the Arab world than in Israel. Trade with the Arab world doesn’t have to come at Israel’s expense. In 2024, US trade with Israel in goods and services totaled $55 billion, nearly 40% of the $141 billion the US traded in the Middle East and North Africa, but Trump is setting new priorities, along with his top two Middle East envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who are more than knee-deep in personal business transactions with the Arab world.
Israel must steel itself to reject pressure to sign deals that benefit other parties far more than they benefit them, and to prevent pushing the Middle East further away from real peace and stability.
What was the critical factor?
Shabtzai Tzvi
Mendelson
Napolean
Spinoza
Emancipation
Zionnism
Chasidim
Kabbala
Shulchan Aruch
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/20/trump-reporters-piggy/
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday defended President Donald Trump’s decision to call a female reporter “Piggy” on Air Force One, claiming the insult reflected the “frankness” that helped him win a second term.
As he faces political blowback for his handling of the files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump has escalated his disparagement of female reporters.
Days later at a White House event with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump called Mary Bruce, the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, a “terrible person and a terrible reporter” and called her network “fake news.” He also urged his Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, to revoke ABC’s broadcast licenses in response to Bruce’s questions, which concerned the killing of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the Epstein files.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/21/world/jd-vance-wife-india-religion-debate-hnk-dst
Speaking at an event last month with Turning Point USA at the University of Mississippi, Vance was asked by an audience member about Christianity and American patriotism.
“Why are we making Christianity one of the major things that you have to have in common to be one of you guys? To show that I love America just as much as you do?” the audience member asked.
“This is completely in contrast to Vance’s previous comments that his wife’s Hindu upbringing and values inspired his own return to faith,” Priyanka Deo, US correspondent of Indian network NDTV, said on Instagram, adding that his latest remarks suggest acceptance in the United States is conditional and predicated upon becoming a Christian.
President Trump’s insistence that Texas Republicans redraw their House map before the 2026 midterms is looking like it could backfire in a big way. A federal court on Tuesday struck down the new map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The dispute is a legal hash, but it suggests the GOP didn’t look before leaping into a mid-decade gerrymander free-for-all.
Mr. Trump saw redistricting Texas as an easy way to pick up five GOP House seats next year. At first state officials resisted. They jumped on board after the Justice Department sent the state a letter in July, claiming “serious concerns regarding the legality” of House seats that Texas drew in 2021, after the last Census. The DOJ said those seats were “coalition districts,” in which two or more minority groups add up to a majority. The letter called this a violation of the law and constitution.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/13/brooklyn-eric-gonzalez-nechemya-weberman
Gonzalez’s position isn’t a totally new take.
On Andrew Cuomo’s last day in office as governor in 2021, Gonzalez asked him to commute Weberman’s sentence, arguing in part that the severe punishment “might deter other victims from coming forward and witnesses from participating in a process that could result in such an excessively harsh outcome.”
A hateful mob of anti-Israel protesters descended on a prominent New York City synagogue Wednesday night, chanting “Globalize the intifada” and sinisterly urging the “resistance” to “take another settler out.”
Some 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan and heckled Jews attending an event by Nefesh B’nefesh, a Zionist organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel, according to the Times of Israel.
“It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events,” one protest leader told the crowd.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2p2dz9zk2o
President Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of "seditious behaviour, punishable by death", after they released a video urging US service members to refuse unlawful commands.
The six lawmakers, all of whom have served in the military or intelligence community, called Trump's remarks dangerous and said they amounted to threats against elected officials.
Sen Kelly, who served in the Navy and is a former astronaut, says: "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders."
"No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution," the lawmakers say in the video.
"This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens," it says. "Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad but from right here at home."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/20/kennedy-rfk-jr-cdc-website-vaccines-autism
The Post reports that the change, which echoes the views of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump, was made without consulting career scientists at the agency responsible for vaccine safety. It also blatantly violates a pledge that Kennedy made to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who delivered the key vote for his confirmation, that the “CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Kennedy and his allies might have the power to edit government websites, but they cannot erase the dozens of high-quality studies that have thoroughly shown that children who are vaccinated are no more likely to be diagnosed with autism than their unvaccinated peers. Nor can they deny the consequences of their anti-vaccine movement: This year, the United States recorded its highest number of measles cases in more than three decades thanks to epidemics in areas with low vaccination rates. This led to the deaths of two children and one adult, all unvaccinated
https://apnews.com/article/cdc-autism-vaccines-7b1890f626dd5921fafd00fdd1e6425a
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website has been changed to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism, spurring outrage among a number of public health and autism experts.
The CDC “vaccine safety” webpage was updated Wednesday, saying “the statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”
The change is the latest move by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to revisit — and foster uncertainty about — long-held scientific consensus about the safety of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products.
“We are appalled to find that the content on the CDC webpage ‘Autism and Vaccines’ has been changed and distorted, and is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism,” the Autism Science Foundation said in a statement Thursday.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1ljop3xzl
Mordechai Yomtov, a former teacher wanted for extradition to the US on child sex abuse charges, nabbed in capital's Tel Arza neigborhood; convicted in 2001 for assaulting boys aged 8 to 10, he fled to Israel with a fake passport in 2002 after violating parole
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/20/marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-maga-georgia
In Greene’s Georgia congressional district, much of the MAGA base has her back against Trump, who has called her a “traitor.”
“We got Donald Trump trying to take care of the world,” said the chair, Jim Tully, pacing in front of the lectern. “Got Marjorie Taylor Greene trying to take care of the country.”
Greene’s recent tensions with Trump went far beyond the Epstein files. The congresswoman also suggested the Trump administration is too focused on foreign affairs, criticized aid to Argentina and assailed her party’s approach to health care in a slew of media appearances. Days after Trump drew MAGA backlash for saying that the U.S. needs foreign workers because it does not have enough “talented people” for specialized jobs, Greene said she would introduce a bill to end the H-1B visa program at the center of the controversy, saying, “I serve Americans only.”
But even some of Greene’s Republican critics say that her populist message has resonated in the district and that it will be difficult to oust her. Trump is also trying to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), another House Republican who has clashed with him.
President Trump’s defense of conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson’s interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes is sparking backlash among Jewish conservatives who backed the president’s pro-Israel policies, creating another rift with a key group of supporters.
Fuentes was quick to tout Trump’s comments, thanking the president in a post on the social platform X.
“I’m going to say it. The GOP has a Nazi problem. And the more we pretend like we don’t, the worse it’s going to get. We do. Don’t tell me we don’t,” far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is Jewish and has the president’s ear, said Wednesday in a post on X.
Nearly one year since his return to the White House, Trump’s insistence that legal immigration is not only tolerable but an economic necessity continues to roil hardliners on the right, who are at odds with the business and tech interests that Trump has long aligned himself with.
Trump’s break with his base reflects his desire to increase investments in the tech and manufacturing sectors, which the president does not believe would be possible — in the short term — without foreign workers.
The president also has close ties to the tech industry, a top user of the H-1B program. During the last fiscal year, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google relied most on H-1B visas. Those companies have contributed handsomely to Trump efforts including his inaugural fund and the $300 million ballroom that will replace the White House East Wing.
“You saw the list … they’re all on there, and they all want their H-1B workers,” said a person close to the administration, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “So he’s hearing about this from all of those folks.”
There were no known meetings between the US and Hamas before Trump’s second term, when he dispatched an envoy to secretly meet with Hamas officials earlier this year to help secure the release of American-Israeli hostage soldier Edan Alexander.
Sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel at the time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy Ron Dermer had fumed upon learning of the secret US-Hamas talks after the fact and leaked them to the press, contributing to their collapse in March. Witkoff and Kushner’s October 9 sit-down with the Hayya-led team was the next in-person meeting between the sides.
While Netanyahu publicly embraced the plan when it was unveiled in September at the White House, neither Israel nor Hamas has actually signed it. Instead, they agreed on October 9 to a different document that focused on the ceasefire, Israel’s initial pullback from Gaza, the hostage-prisoner swap and humanitarian aid provisions.
In a joint interview alongside Kushner last month, Witkoff said he had managed to connect with Hayya over their shared experience of losing sons.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-873987
Four children were injured following a roof collapse at a kindergarten in Beit Shemesh, Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority stated on Sunday.
Medical officials said several people received treatment at the site and were then evacuated to the hospital with minor injuries.
No life-threatening injuries were reported.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-874434
The Degel HaTorah faction of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) gave a “green light” on Wednesday from its spiritual leaders to advance the controversial haredi conscription bill.
Advancements on the bill had previously been halted in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC), chaired by MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud), since the opening of the winter session in October.
The green light was given after the Lithuanian-haredi Degel HaTorah’s two spiritual leaders, Rabbi Dov Lando and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, passed on the approval instructions to its MKs.
As the case reemerged, court filings obtained by The Times of Israel showed that last December, an array of Jewish leaders signed a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeking a commutation for Weberman’s immediate release. The previously unreported letter was submitted to the court as a reference for resentencing in June, along with other letters of support from Weberman’s family and supporters.
The letter called Weberman’s sentence “absorbently excessive,” saying he had not incurred any infractions during his 12 years in prison and that his sentence was “much greater by comparison to others held guilty of a similar crime.”
The letter was signed by 13 prominent rabbis representing an array of Hasidic groups in New York City and a representative of Yeshiva University. The university did not reply to a request for comment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/19/saudi-arabia-mbs-mohammed-bin-salman-trump
President Donald Trump’s lies about our murdered columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, overshadowed the more tangible deliverables handed to Mohammed bin Salman during the Saudi crown prince’s visit this week. On balance, Mohammed gained more from the trip than the United States, though the Trump family’s businesses stand to profit handsomely from private deals with the Saudis.
“MBS,” as Mohammed is called, returns home with permission to purchase 48 advanced F-35 fighter jets that many in the Pentagon, and Israel, do not trust him to have, as well as nearly 300 Abrams tanks. Trump also conferred “major non-NATO ally” status on Saudi Arabia and agreed to provide it with “world-leading” artificial intelligence technology, which hopefully won’t wind up transferred to China.
In exchange, the Saudis committed to invest nearly $1 trillion in the U.S., up from the $600 billion they announced in May. They offered no time horizon for this far-fetched figure, which is roughly the size of their annual economic output. Analysts say it will be even more difficult to achieve given lower oil prices and the kingdom’s growing budget deficit due to wasteful spending on white elephant infrastructure projects. But Trump loves to tout big topline numbers and the Saudis, like other countries, are happy to play along.
The Defense Intelligence Agency recently warned in a report that China might be able to access F-35 technology if the U.S. goes ahead with the sale because Riyadh has a security partnership with Beijing. Israeli defense leaders separately balked that the deal would jeopardize its air superiority in the Middle East. Trump acknowledged that, but concluded both countries deserve the “top of the line” planes. Fortunately, Trump and MBS did not reach a deal for the U.S. to share civil nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, which is awash in cheap energy, though they agreed to keep talking about it.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/11/19/virginia-school-pays-jewish-students-antisemitism
The private Nysmith School in Northern Virginia will pay approximately $100,000 to a Jewish family whose three children were expelled. As previously reported, the school expelled three Jewish siblings last July who faced severe antisemitic harassment following the October 7 massacre, during a period when students at the school drew Hitler as a "strong leader."
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5613961-vindman-trump-saudi-call-transcript-khashoggi
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), who served on the National Security Council (NSC) in the first Trump administration, called on President Trump to release the transcript of a “shocking” phone call that took place with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the aftermath of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination.
Vindman — who played a key role in exposing details of Trump’s infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 — said a second phone call exists with the Saudi crown prince that rivals the first as “the most problematic.”
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5612407-comeys-challenge-trump-prosecution/
The Justice Department on Wednesday admitted that the operative indictment against former FBI Director James Comey was never presented to the full grand jury — a procedural error defense attorneys say should bar the prosecution.
Instead of presenting a new indictment to the full panel after it rejected one of the counts, interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan gave the grand jury’s foreperson an updated version — not seen by the other grand jurors — to sign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/18/saudi-prince-trump-visit-white-house
Mohammed arrived to a grand welcome from Trump at the White House on Tuesday, greeted at the South Portico with an Army honor guard of black horses and herald trumpeters, a remarkable turnaround for the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia who had been branded a pariah in 2018 after the CIA concluded that he had approved the killing of Khashoggi.
Trump’s embrace of the crown prince despite U.S. intelligence warnings of his complicity in Khashoggi’s murder recalled a similar moment in Trump’s first term, when he said he took Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vow over a U.S. intelligence assessment that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 elections.
Mohammed’s arrival was filled with more pomp than for any world leader thus far in Trump’s second term. Trump treated Mohammed to a flyover of six F-15 and F-35 fighter jets that streaked across the Washington sky, as large American and Saudi flags fluttered from the black horses of an Army honor guard that walked across the South Lawn in procession. Trump escorted the crown prince into the White House, where the two leaders met in the Oval Office before a working lunch and then a grand dinner.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5611401-khashoggi-widow-slams-trump/?tbref=hp
When asked about Khashoggi’s death, the president defended Crown Prince Mohammed, telling reporters that the leader “knew nothing about that” and alleging “a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman.”
He also slammed a journalist from ABC News who pressed the crown prince for an answer on the subject.
“Your Royal Highness, the U.S. Intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist, 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office,” White House correspondent Mary Bruce asked. “Why should Americans trust you? And the same to you, Mr President.”
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-874281
The story about a few hundred Hamas fighters trapped in the tunnels of Rafah is not much different. They could just surrender and then be repatriated to some Arab or Muslim countries. But the story is developing along the line of Beirut.
The American administration has been applying constant pressure on Israel to allow the trapped terrorists a victorious march, perhaps even with their weapons, out of the tunnels to freedom. As the result of the “deadlock” around this issue, Mr. Witkoff is about to directly meet Hamas representatives again to discuss possible solutions. Why he needs to meet with the heads of a terror organization directly and not through the “trusted” channels of Turkey and Qatar is explained as the penchant of the president for direct diplomacy.
It is also clear that the legitimization of Hamas, as a serious and recognized negotiating partner, is underway and perhaps has already been completed. That may explain why the president of the United States would personally guarantee the safety of Hamas leadership in Qatar. Those guarantees go beyond what president Reagan offered Yasser Arafat back in 1982. Then, Israel had no direct commitments to the United States and did strike at the PLO in Tunisia later when the situation demanded action.
It wasn’t long ago that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, was declared a “pariah” in Washington. President Biden came to regret his remark to that effect as soon as he needed help on oil prices and diplomacy. By contrast, President Trump needs no reminders of the importance of U.S.-Saudi relations. The question after Tuesday’s love-in at the White House is whether he suffers from the opposite excess.
Mr. Trump showed the visiting Crown Prince a portrait of a Biden autopen signature, before saying ABC News should lose its license for unfriendly questioning. Not an advertisement for democratic values. On the substance, MBS knew what he wanted on this trip, and it seems he will go home with much of it.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/18/politics/khashoggi-murder-trump-bin-saudi-crown-prince
President Donald Trump on Tuesday angrily dismissed a question about the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, claiming the Saudi dissident journalist was “extremely controversial” and insisting the subject was only raised during his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to embarrass his visitor.
“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you liked him or didn’t like him, things happen,” Trump said in the Oval Office as he presided over a pageant-filled visit for the de facto Saudi leader.
Trump went on to insist Prince bin Salman — who the CIA assessed likely ordered the murder — wasn’t involved.
“He knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that,” Trump said, turning toward the crown prince.
https://www.newsweek.com/epstein-trump-emails-house-vote-today-victims-live-updates-11063917
The Senate moved quickly Tuesday to approve legislation requiring the Justice Department to release records tied to its case against Jeffrey Epstein. The vote came just hours after the House overwhelmingly advanced the measure, sending it toward President Donald Trump’s desk.
The House passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on a 427-1 vote earlier Tuesday
The Senate followed by unanimous consent, avoiding a roll call and speeding approval
The bill directs the Justice Department to disclose unclassified records related to Epstein
https://www.agudahaction.com/#/?affl=general
1) Rabbonim and Morei Derech (column 1);
2) Mental Health Professionals (column 2);
3) Kallah Teachers (column 2).
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/19/politics/trump-epstein-files-release-house-senate-analysis
Donald Trump is reeling from a spectacular defeat, easily his worst from his own party on Capitol Hill during two turbulent presidencies, after every step he took to stall and deflect the Jeffrey Epstein saga blew up in his face.
Beyond the difficulty of next steps for Trump, there are the questions of how much political damage he’s suffered in recent days, both within his own party and personal power base and in the country more broadly.
Bava Basra (74b) Once we were travelling on board a ship when we saw a precious stone that was surrounded by a snake. A diver descended to bring it up. Thereupon the snake approached with the purpose of swallowing the ship, when a raven came and bit off its head and the waters were turned into blood. A second snake came, took the head of the decapitated snake and attached it to the body, and it revived. Again the snake approached intent on swallowing the ship. Again a bird came and severed its head. Thereupon the diver seized the precious stone and threw it into the ship. We had with us salted birds. As soon as we put the stone upon them, they took it up and flew away with it.
Megila (7b) Rabbah and R. Zera joined together in a Purim feast. They became inebriated, and Rabbah arose and cut R. Zera's throat. On the next day he prayed on his behalf and revived him. Next year he said, Will your honour come and we will have the Purim feast together. He replied: A miracle does not take place on every occasion.
Kesubos (111a) The dead outside the Land will not be resurrected; for it is said in Scripture, And I will set glory in the land of the living, implying the dead of the land in which I have my desire will be resurrected, but the dead of the land in which I have no desire will not be resurrected.
Kesubos (111a) Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise; does not the expression ‘Thy dead shall live’ refer to the dead of the Land of Israel, and ‘My dead bodies shall arise’ to the dead outside the Land; while the text, And I will give glory in the land of the living was written of Nebuchadnezzar concerning whom the All-Merciful said, ‘I will bring against them a king who is as swift as a stag’? — The other replied: Master, I am making an ex position of another Scriptural text: He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. But is it not written, My dead bodies shall arise? — That was written in reference to miscarriages
Kesubos (111a) And spirit to them that work therein teaches, said R. Jeremiah b. Abba in the name of R. Johanan, that whoever walks four cubits in the Land of Israel is assured of a place in the world to come. Now according to R. Eleazar, would not the righteous outside the Land be revived? — R. Elai replied: They will be revived by rolling to the Land of Israel. R. Abba Sala the Great demurred: Will not the rolling be painful to the righteous? — Abaye replied: Cavities will be made for them underground.
Kesubos (111a) Thou shalt carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying-place. Karna remarked: There must be here some inner meaning. Our father Jacob well knew that he was a righteous man in every way, and, since the dead outside the Land will also be resurrected, why did he trouble his sons? Because he might possibly be unworthy to roll through the cavities.
Rabbeinu Bachya (Bereishis 11:11) “these are the descendants of Shem.” You do not find the word death, or “the died,” in connection with any of the descendants of Shem who have been enumerated here as you find it mentioned when the Torah enumerated the generations between Adam and Noach. It is possible that the reason is that the kingdom of David the Messiah will be descended from them, and in due course the Messiah will be the cause of banishing death altogether. When he comes it will be 837 to the completion of 6000 years. After 837 years will begin thr 7000th year when everything will be peaceful and life will be forever. Non Jews will not be resurrected but only we Jews the descendants of Shem
A U.S. magistrate judge ordered the Justice Department to release all grand jury material to the former FBI director, citing possible government misconduct that could lead to the dismissal of charges.
https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/gaza-proves-you-cant-solve-everything-with-business-deals
Once, before dreaming of the presidency, Donald Trump confessed he was "drawn almost pathologically to complex deals, partly because they tend to be more interesting." This approach succeeded spectacularly and almost miraculously for him and for us in securing the release of hostages from Gaza, both living and deceased. Yet concerning Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the notion of "the complex and interesting deal" has emerged, at least for now, as either a fiasco or an illusion. It displays excessive naivety or pretense, occasionally drifting into fantasy territory. We harbor no ingratitude toward the man without whom the hostages would almost certainly continue languishing in Hamas tunnels today. However, we cannot escape the obligation to confront reality honestly, and most importantly, to comprehend how it emerged.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-backed-gaza-plan-approved-un-israel-hamas-11062530
The U.N. Security Council on Monday approved a U.S. plan for Gaza backed by President Donald Trump, authorizing an international stabilization force for the war-ravaged territory and outlining a possible future path toward an independent Palestinian state.
The resolution passed 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining after Moscow declined to use its veto on a measure it had initially opposed while circulating a rival proposal.
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that Washington will be selling F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was set to visit the White House on Tuesday.
Israel is thought to not oppose such a sale in principle, while hoping that the US would condition it on Saudi Arabia agreeing to join the Abraham Accords.
The New York Times reported last week that there are concerns in the American intelligence community that the F-35’s sensitive technology could reach China, while also upsetting the balance of power in the Middle East.
https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/sy00wokdx11x
Trump’s Middle East plan initially aligned with Israeli interests, but just two months later, the U.S. is advancing a path to Palestinian statehood
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/17/politics/trump-epstein-files-reluctant-reversal
Trump threw his support behind a congressional effort to release all the files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after it became clear that he could not halt its momentum and that he risked suffering an embarrassing blow on the House floor, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
The stark reality, which was conveyed to Trump by allies and advisers in recent days, drove the president’s abrupt reversal Sunday evening and his comments Monday that he’ll sign the measure if it comes to his desk. It’s a decision he came to reluctantly, but one that is now likely to clear the way for the measure’s overwhelming passage in the House on Tuesday and for the Senate to take it up after that.
Rabbeinu Yonah (Sefer HaYirah) And we should not assign any sign except what the Sages said, and if a person has a mitzvah to perform, such as reviewing a gemora or starting his son’s education, he should not say, "I will wait until Rosh Hashanah or until Pesach"... And those who are not concerned with omens will not be influenced by them, but those who are concerned, Satan stands at their right hand to oppose them and strengthen them in their error.
Bava Basra (110a) I have the following tradition from my grandfather's family: At all times shall one rather hire himself out to idol-worship than be in need of the help of his fellow creatures. He thought that Abodah Zarah meant actual idol worship, but it is not so, the meaning being, ‘work which is strange to him’; as Rab said to R. Kahana: Flay a carcass in the street and earn a wage, and say not, ‘I am a great man and the work is degrading to me’.
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-gaza-popularity-rises-03efb873?mod=hp_lead_pos9
Hamas’s popularity has edged up among Palestinians in Gaza since the cease-fire, ending a slide during the war and posing a challenge to President Trump’s plan to bring peace to the enclave by disarming the militant group.
Attacks continue to force some in the country’s 400,000-strong Jewish community to reconsider their future, even as many believe ‘the vast majority of Canadians are good people’
President had urged House Republicans to reject the proposal but faced defections within the GOP
President Trump said Sunday that House Republicans should vote to release the files related to late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — a surprising reversal after previously dissuading the GOP from backing the measure.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/16/jeffrey-epstein-vote-house-republicans-00652460
President Donald Trump is suddenly reversing his monthslong campaign to bottle up a bipartisan effort to disclose federal records dealing with Jeffrey Epstein — just as scores of House Republicans prepare to defy his demands concerning the late convicted sex offender.
At the end of last week, Johnson and senior House leaders appeared powerless to stop perhaps as many as 100 Republicans from breaking ranks and voting with Democrats to release the files. The situation worsened over the weekend, as Trump lashed out in deeply personal terms at Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who is leading the effort to force a House vote on Epstein, and publicly spurned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a one-time close ally who has recently broken with Trump on Epstein and other matters.
https://thehill.com/homenews/5608565-trump-truth-social-epstein-files
President Trump on Sunday night called on House Republicans to vote to release files linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his previous position.
Trump’s announcement came amid signs that a vote this week on a measure forced by a discharge petition might have won dozens of Republican votes despite the president’s opposition.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/417861
Israel's Health Ministry on Sunday reported that a measles patient was present at an event held last Tuesday in the “Keter Harimon” hall on Aharonowitz Street 10 in Bnei Brak.
The event took place starting at 11:00 p.m. The Health Ministry requests that anyone who was in the hall during that time verify that they are vaccinated against measles according to the updated recommendations.
The Ministry also stated that guests who were present in the hall during the above time are requested to contact the “Kol Habriut” hotline in order to receive guidance regarding their vaccination status and possible exposure risk.
In a joint statement arranged by the US on Friday, multiple countries working toward an end to the Gaza conflict voiced backing for Washington’s UN Security Council resolution to establish an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, amid pushback from Russia and China.
The statement, supported by Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey, noted that the process “offers a pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/nfnr1axca
New York resident Eliyahu (Eli) Weinstein (51), who was released from custody in 2021 after receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for a new fraud scheme. According to prosecutors, Weinstein, who belongs to the Orthodox Jewish community, used the alias "Mike Konig" to conceal his identity and solicited money from investors claiming he would invest in COVID masks, baby formula and emergency equipment destined for Ukraine. The money was actually used for gambling, real estate purchases and luxury watches. The federal court in New Jersey determined that Weinstein defrauded more than 150 investors of $41 million and ordered him to pay $44 million in restitution.
https://www.newsweek.com/maga-reacts-as-donald-trump-cuts-ties-with-marjorie-taylor-greene-11052892
A major rift opened in the MAGA world this week after Donald Trump formally broke with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of his most vocal supporters.
In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said he was withdrawing his endorsement of Representative Greene. "I am withdrawing my support and endorsement of 'Congresswoman' Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the great state of Georgia," he wrote.
He also vowed "Complete and Unyielding Support" to any conservative primary challenger leading into the 2026 midterm elections, and described Greene as "wacky" and a "lunatic," saying all she does is "complain."
Formally speaking, whataboutism is a fallacy most closely related to the ad hominem fallacy, wherein a person responds to an accusation by attacking the person making it.
It is a fallacy because even if the counter-accusation is true, it doesn’t defend whoever is being accused (the lying partner, the messy child, Donald Trump) in the first place. At best, it shows that both parties behaved shamefully. And, of course, two wrongs do not make a right.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/politics/epstein-files-house-vote-johnson
House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to quickly schedule a House vote on an effort to force the release of all of the Jeffrey Epstein case files once the calculation was made that it couldn’t be stopped.
The decision marked a shift in strategy for Johnson and the White House, who had long sought to delay the process, three sources told CNN.
House GOP leaders are bracing for a significant number of Republicans to break from President Donald Trump and support the bipartisan bill led by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna calling for the Justice Department to release the Epstein files — as supporters push for a veto-proof majority.
Republican sources say there’s a broad cross-section of the conference willing to support the plan — and it will be hard to limit defections.
The decision to move quickly with a floor vote came shortly after thousands of new Epstein emails were released by the panel on Wednesday and top Trump administration officials met with GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, one of the few Republicans who signed onto the effort demanding DOJ release its trove of Epstein files.
From regulating the price of chicken to levying fees on cigarettes, Hamas is seeking to widen control over Gaza as US plans for its future slowly take shape, Gazans say, adding to rivals’ doubts over whether it will cede authority as promised.
After a ceasefire began last month, Hamas swiftly reestablished its hold over areas from which Israel withdrew, killing dozens of Palestinians it accused of collaborating with Israel, theft, or other crimes. Foreign powers demand the terror group disarm and leave government, but have yet to agree on who will replace them.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjmzosngbe
The United States has spent weeks working to secure approval for a UN Security Council resolution that would establish an international stabilization force in the Gaza Strip. A draft that surfaced highlights what Washington calls a reliable path to Palestinian self-determination and a future state, after the proposal was shaped with Arab countries based on President Donald Trump’s original plan. Late Thursday, however, Russia submitted its own resolution, threatening to delay the process because of its veto power.
The American draft, built on Trump’s 20-point plan and his “declaration for lasting peace and prosperity,” signed at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, states that “the United States will establish dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for prosperous coexistence.” Israeli officials say the new draft includes clauses that are “uncomfortable for Israel,” including language on a path to Palestinian statehood and a clause that denies Israel the ability to veto which countries may send troops to the stabilization force. Even so, the officials say the proposal maintains the framework of the ceasefire agreement approved in Jerusalem, although it is considered less favorable than the original.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/politics/donald-trump-epstein-political-danger
If President Donald Trump has nothing to hide vis-à-vis Jeffrey Epstein, he sure has a weird way of showing it.
Trump hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the convicted sex offender, but he’s doing a great job of looking suspicious.
This is merely the latest baffling episode in the administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Among the others:
The administration’s suspiciously timed, sudden reversal on releasing the files.
Trump’s belated disclosure of his knowledge of Maxwell’s Mar-a-Lago recruitment.
Trump’s weird denial of authoring a lewd letter for Epstein’s 50th birthday album.
His other false claims about Epstein-related matters.
The administration’s dubious decision to grant an interview with Maxwell, which seemed geared more toward helping Trump than anything else. (Sure enough, the newly released emails undercut Maxwell’s claims about Trump in that interview.)
The transfer of Maxwell to a minimum-security prison camp that she didn’t appear eligible for without a waiver. The administration still hasn’t explained how this happened, months later. And CNN’s MJ Lee reported Thursday that Maxwell is getting special treatment there.
Even if Trump doesn’t have anything to hide, the danger here is in making it look a whole lot like he does.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5602658-discharge-petition-epstein-files-grijalva
A discharge petition for a bill to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein got enough signatures Wednesday to force action on the matter, teeing up a long-sought vote on the House floor relating to the convicted sex offender.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) became the 218th and final signature on the discharge petition shortly after she was sworn in Wednesday. She joined all other Democrats and four Republicans: Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.).
Later on Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that he would bring the Epstein bill for a vote in the House next week — a move that amounts to ripping the band-aid off a vote that neither Johnson nor President Trump wanted.
Without cooperation from GOP leadership, the earliest a vote would have happened under the discharge petition process was early December, due to waiting periods under the process.
But it still faces an uphill climb to become law, as it would have to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate before making it to the desk of the president, who took to Truth Social saying that only “very bad, or stupid” Republicans would fall into an Epstein “trap.”
“There should be no deflections [sic] to Epstein or anything else,” Trump said.
Newly sworn-in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva signs on to bipartisan House petition
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-anxiety-disorders-essential-nutrient-brain.html
The study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, analyzed data from 25 studies. The researchers compared the levels of neurometabolites—chemicals produced during brain metabolism—in 370 people with anxiety disorders to 342 people without anxiety.
They found the level of choline—an essential nutrient—was about 8% lower in those with anxiety disorders. The evidence for low choline was especially consistent in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps control thinking, emotions and behavior.
"This is the first meta-analysis to show a chemical pattern in the brain in anxiety disorders," said Jason Smucny, co-author and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "It suggests nutritional approaches—like appropriate choline supplementation—may help restore brain chemistry and improve outcomes for patients."
https://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2025/11/agudah-national-action-summit-to.html
The distinguished panel will include:
Hagaon Rav Sholom Kamenetsky, Rosh HaYeshiva, Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
Dr. Shmuel Mandelman, Ph.D., Founder and Clinical Director, The C.L.I.N.I.C.
Sefer Chasidim (#1170) Why do spirits harm on Shabbat Eve? Because the spirits are not in Gehenim. This is referring to the spirits of the wicked, when they die, are the harmful demons, like all the descendants of Cain who died, their souls became harmful demons and they were given permission to harm those who violate the Sabbath. Or if they were upset on Shabbos. Or even if they are not enjoying it.
In the 2011 email, the disgraced financier wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims and that encounter “has never once been mentioned” by police.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/12/politics/epstein-trump-emails-oversight-committee
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Democrats on the House Oversight Committee for releasing the messages, claiming the members “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5601668-epstein-trump-emails-released
Emails released by Democrats show convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein telling associates in the 2010s that “of course” President Trump knew about his relationships with underage girls.
In the short exchanges, Epstein says Trump “spent hours at my house,” while another says the president “knew about the girls.”
Trump sued The Wall Street Journal for defamation after the outlet published a story this year alleging Trump wrote a birthday note to Epstein in 2003 referencing their relationship.
Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein acknowledged in a bitter email months before his death that Donald Trump told Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to stop plucking young girls from the spa at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to groom and sexually abuse.
Nearly eight years earlier, on April 2, 2011, Epstein described Trump in an email to Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking conspiracy and other charges, as “that dog that hasn’t barked,” adding that an unnamed victim “spent hours at my house with him [and] he has never once been mentioned.”
A bipartisan petition to force a House vote on a measure compelling the Justice Department to release its Epstein files was expected to receive the required 218th signature later Wednesday, when Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is sworn in by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-emails-michael-wolff-maxwell-donald-trump-11034117
The three newly released emails, dated 2011, 2015, and 2019, involve email correspondence between Epstein, his jailed associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and journalist Michael Wolff, who has authored books about Trump.
Jeffrey Epstein Email to Michael Wolff From January 31, 2019
Epstein: [VICTIM] mara lago. [REDACTED]. trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. . of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-873527
The High Court of Justice, in a decision authored by Supreme Court Chief Justice Isaac Amit, on Tuesday rejected a retrial request by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, following the court’s July ruling that the Rabbinate must allow women to sit its religious certification exams.
Zohar Chodesh Bereishis #861) If there is an old person in the house it is a good omen for the house Similarly if there is a tzadik in the generation it is a good omen for the world
Archin (19a) Ḥizkiya said that people say a popular saying: If there is an elderly man in the home, there is a burden in the home, as he does not help with anything; if there is an elderly woman in the home, there is a treasure in the home,as she assists with various domestic labors.
Any sources reconcilling these two quotes would be appreciated
A review of 5 years of health records for more than 130,000 adults with insomnia who had used melatonin for at least a year found they were more likely to be diagnosed with heart failure, require hospitalization for the condition or die from any cause.
The association between melatonin and increased risk of heart failure or death found in this study, which cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship, raises safety concerns about the use of melatonin, which is widely available, and may warrant more research on melatonin to assess its cardiovascular safety, researchers said.
A federal judge has said she will continue to block the Trump administration from enforcing a directive ordering states to reduce or revoke full SNAP benefits.
The administration is now attempting to retract hundreds of millions of dollars in food assistance benefits distributed after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - which pays for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) - informed states last week that it was "working to implement" benefits in compliance with a court order.
"It would seem to me that if the agency is trying to comply with the law and with the executive branch's preferences on policies, a piece of that wouldn't be trying to play vindictive games with the states. That's not part of it," said U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani on Monday, according to NBC News.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-stimulus-check-update-given-by-scott-bessent-11020206
Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said that excluding those with incomes over $100,000 would mean 150 million adults still qualify for the rebates, putting the total cost at $300 billion. This compares to the roughly $217 billion the Tax Foundation estimates current tariffs will raise in 2026.
"The math gets worse accounting for the full budgetary impact of tariffs: a dollar of tariff revenue offsets about 24 cents of income and payroll tax revenue," she wrote. "Adjusting for that, tariffs have raised $90 billion of net revenues compared to Trump’s proposed $300 billion rebate."
York added that the rebate scheme "would increase the national debt."
https://thehill.com/homenews/5597856-maxwell-prison-perks-whistleblower/?tbref=hp
The information provided to the committee alleges a series of remarkable steps taken to accommodate Maxwell after she was quietly transferred to a medium-security facility in Texas shortly after her meeting with Blanche.
According to the documents, Maxwell has been receiving customized meals that have been personally delivered to her cell.
They also describe unusual treatment of her guests, with Democrats relaying the creation of a “special cordoned off area for visitors to arrive, as well as an assortment of snacks and refreshments for her guests.” Her guests have also been allowed to bring computers, which is something not typically allowed for visitors.
