NYC COVID Hospitalizations Quadruple Over 3 Weeks for Kids, Just a Third Vaccinated

 https://www.newsweek.com/nyc-covid-hospitalizations-quadruple-over-3-weeks-kids-just-third-vaccinated-1663133

No fully vaccinated children ages five to 11-years-old have been admitted into a New York hospital since December 19, according to the statement. They first became eligible to take the vaccine in November.

Trump wants the courts to help him sabotage the January 6 investigation

https://www.vox.com/2021/12/19/22837673/supreme-court-trump-january-6-investigation-executive-privilege-thompson

In part because of gerrymandering and in part because the party that controls the White House tends to lose seats in midterm elections, Republicans are favored to regain control of Congress in the next election. If they do, they can shut down the January 6 committee and quash any of its ongoing efforts to obtain Trump’s documents.The Supreme Court, in other words, doesn’t even need to overrule any existing precedents in order to carry Trump’s water in the Thompson case. All it has to do is run out the clock.

Israel’s growing intermarriage problem

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/israels-growing-intermarriage-problem-687691

But a deeper dive into the data leaves no room for doubt, as the majority of interfaith marriages in Israel are between a Jewish man and a non-Jewish woman. Nearly 60 percent, or 52,000 out of 87,000 intermarriages, involve a woman who is not Jewish. Consequently, their children will not be considered Jewish either.

COVID-19 Omicron outbreak due to homosexuality and Israel - Al-Aqsa Imam

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-689614

The LGBTQ+ community, as well as the Israeli government and media, are to blame for the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Imam of al-Aqsa Mosque Issam Amira has claimed, according to N12.

The Palestinian Islamic scholar and preacher made the controversial statements in a sermon during Friday prayers at the Islamic holy site in Jerusalem.

According to Amira, the Omicron variant "did not spread until the government and media announced its existence."

Amira went on to claim that the government and media that "brought the variant" are the same that "allow and encourage homosexuality.

Dad banned from leaving Israel for 8,000 years in bizarre divorce law

 https://nypost.com/2021/12/24/dad-banned-from-leaving-israel-for-8000-years-in-bizarre-divorce-law/

A dad has reportedly been banned from leaving Israel for nearly 8,000 years under a bizarre divorce law after his ex-wife filed a child support claim.

Noam Huppert, 44, is barred from leaving the country until December 31 in the year 9999 unless he forks out more than $3million in future child support payments.

It means the Australian dad has effectively been slapped with an 8,000-year prison sentence.

He moved to Israel in 2012 to be nearer to his two young children after his ex-wife returned to the country and filed a divorce case against him in an Israeli court, news.com.au reports.

In 2013, the court issued a so-called “stay-of-exit” order against Huppert.

It bans him from leaving the country even for holiday or work until he pays “future debt” for the child maintenance of his two kids – until they turn 18.

Understanding Haredi society: Eda Haredit and Peleg Yerushalmi

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-689531

The haredi newspapers and websites, which usually refrain from criticizing actions of the Eda, go out of their way when it comes to Sikrikim, in order to clarify how much their actions infuriate the haredim themselves. The work in the area, led by the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Transportation through the Mass Transportation program and carried out by the Moriah Company, will be built between the intersections of Eretz Hefetz and Harel Brigades streets, and to the end of Bar-Ilan Street at the corner of Eli HaCohen. However, strong and violent attacks perpetrated by the Sikrikim have already caused a significant delay in the plan.

Rabbi Rakeffet misunderstands the Epstein-Friedman annullment

https://www.yutorah.org/rabbi-dr-aaron-rakeffet-rothkoff/

listen at about 40 minutes

https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/941665/rabbi-dr-aaron-rakeffet-rothkoff/rabbi-rackman/ 


left the following on the webpage

 listened to your misunderstanding of the Epstein Friedman case
i would suggest you read the relevant documents including the many halachic analyses- especially Rav Feldman

your understanding is contrary to the common understanding including that expressed by Rav Kaminetsky himself 

 Rabbi Rakkefet-Rothkoff is mistaken in comparing Mr. Friedman to the insane husband described by Iggerot Mosheh, Even ha-Ezer I, no. 80. In the case adjudicated by Iggerot Mosheh, there was a confirmed psychiatric report - published by known psychiatrists at an accredited hospital (already established in 1919; see here: https://www.maryland.va.gov/about/PPhistory.pdf ) - that the husband was insane even before the marriage, so insane in fact that the husband was unable to find employment or live with his wife. This report was investigated by the Baltimore Beth Din of the time, and it merely asked R. Moshe Feinstein to confirm its conclusion of mekach ta'ut, which R. Moshe Feinstein did. By contradistinction, in the case of Mr. Friedman, (a) nobody knows who has written the psychiatric report on Mr. Friedman, a report which is incongruous with Mr. Friedman's continued employment in Congress; (b) the husband was capable of living with his wife after marriage (-the daughter born to Ms. Epstein was not conceived in a mikveh), and even as of today would be delighted to return to shelom bayit with her, and (c) the Baltimore Beth Din has clearly ruled on multiple occasions that Mr. Friedman is the husband of Ms. Epstein.

Florida’s second COVID Christmas marred by 320% infection hike

 https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/12/24/floridas-second-covid-christmas-marred-by-320-infection-hike/

In just two weeks, Florida’s seven-day average has gone from 4,200 cases a week to 17,800, according to the data released Friday. The Sunshine State has already surpassed the 16,000 daily cases recorded at the peak of last year’s winter wave and could soon surpass the summer delta wave, which peaked at 25,000 daily cases.

Historical fake news from KA

 It was claimed that Goren liberated the Kosel by convincing Motta Gur to violate his orders

KA said 

He was part of it, and he convinced Mota Gur to take the old City - which was not part of the military plans. In terms of Jewish history, it was Rav Goren who liberated the Temple Mount, and the Kotel. Also Hevron.

The fact is that Goren merely tagged along with the troops that liberated the Kosel. While it is true that initially the plan was not to take the Old City or retake the Jewish Quarter

That change was not because of Goren

Rather as Martin Gilbert noted Eshkol was convinced by Begin and Allon because of the call by the UN for a cease fire. Page 387  Israel A History and Dyan therefore gave orders for the troops to occupy the Old City. Gur was in fact obeying orders 

KA also claimed that Rackman was a pioneer in Kiruv when in fact there is no mention of this anywhere

He claims that Liebman statement that Rackman brought more people to Orthodoxy is proof when it is not clear what Liebman is claiming. KA then said maybe it was as Rabbi or Chaplain- while a totally different claim - and is still not supported by any evidence.

KA also insists that Rakeffet is following Rav Soloveitchik and not Rackman regarding annulment of marriage

Rav Soloveitchik was against the annulling of marriage while Rackman felt it was essential-Rakefet is in favor of annulment as he stated regarding Tamar Epstein - thus he could not be siding with Rav Soloveitchik but with Rackman

We will conclude by citing from a speech delivered by Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik to the Rabbinical Council of America, in response to Rabbi Rackman's proposal:7

36

I have to discharge a duty. Believe me, I do it with much sadness in my heart. You know I never criticize anybody; I have never attacked anybody. But today... I feel it is my duty to make the following statement....

I also was told that it was recommended that the method of afka'inhu rabanan lekiddushin mineih [to annul marriages] be introduced.... Do you expect to survive as Orthodox rabbis? Do you expect to carry on the mesorah under such circumstances? Chaos will replace Torah. I hope that those gathered here will join me in objecting to such discussion at a rabbinical convention. I cannot imagine a Republican National Convention or Democratic National Convention where a symposium would be held as to whether communism should replace democracy in the United States.

Biblical Theology of Rabbi Emanuel Rackman

 But one writer raised a significant issue and I share his question and my answer to it with the readership of Hirhurim around Rabbi Rackman’s yartzeit. He asked me a question about Rabbi Rackman’s biblical theology and raised the possibility that Rabbi Rackman was a technical heretic in that he did not believe in the Torah being revealed by God at Sinai to Moses (Torah miSinai). In truth, I had never spoken to Rabbi Rackman about the issue raised by this writer, although I had myself seen the view of Rabbi Rackman and been troubled by it. In a symposium in Commentary in 1966 entitled “The State of Jewish Belief”, Rabbi Emanuel Rackman wrote:

The most definitive record of God’s encounters with man is contained in the Pentatuch. Much of it may have been written by people in different times, but at one point in history God not only made the people of Israel aware of his immediacy, but caused Moses to write the eternal evidence of the covenant between Him and His people. (Commentary, August, 1966 at page 128)

The sanctity of the Pentatuch does not derive from God’s authorship of all of it, but rather from the fact that God’s is the final version. The final writing by Moses has the stamp of divinity-the kiss of immortality. (Judaism, Spring 1969, page 153)

The Genius and Limitations of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik z”l

 https://www.cardozoacademy.org/thoughtstoponder/genius-limitations-rabbi-joseph-ber-soloveitchik-zl/

Rav Soloveitchik’s famous argument with Rabbi Emanuel Rackman—renowned Talmudic scholar and thinker, later to become Dean of Bar-Ilan University—is another example of the former’s sometimes extreme halachic conservatism. In several places, the Talmud introduces a rule that states: Tav Lemeitav tan du mi-lemeitav armelu—It is better to live as two than to live alone,[11] which refers to the fact that a woman would prefer to marry almost any man rather than remain alone.

Rav Soloveitchik sees this as a “permanent ontological principle,” which is beyond historical conditions, and that even in our day needs to be applied and cannot be changed. This principle operates under the assumption that even today’s women prefer to stay in a marriage, no matter how unfortunate the circumstances may be. To be alone is worse. This means that a woman cannot claim that had she known what kind of person her husband is, she never would have married him. If she could make this claim, her marriage would be a “mistaken marriage,” which would not even require a get (bill of divorce), since the marriage took place on a false premise and the woman would never have agreed to it had she known. In that case, she was never considered lawfully married and could leave her partner without receiving a get. Since this obviously has enormous repercussions for today’s society, it could help thousands of women.[12] Rav Soloveitchik was not prepared to take that approach and thus blocked the possibility for many of them to leave their partners without a get.

It seems to me that the above-mentioned rabbis were talmidei chachamim no less than Rav Soloveitchik was. Their disadvantages were that they didn’t occupy a central role in Modern Orthodox and Yeshiva University circles, and above all they didn’t belong to renowned Ashkenazic rabbinical families. Had they been called Soloveitchik, their Torah would have received far more attention and would probably have been much more effective.

"Four Dissenting Modern Orthodox Thinkers - Emmanuel Rackman"

Israelis living abroad riot at airport over travel restrictions

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1ufsagsy

According to those who found themselves stranded in Ben Gurion Airport, the riot started after they were made aware that they must fill in and submit a brand new online form and then wait no less than 24 hours until it is processed - despite their flights being mere hours away.

The Public Security Ministry wants us to fill out an online form in Hebrew only and we are not given an answer,” said Dimitri Kiblansky, a resident of Canada who found himself unable to board his flight home.

Security guard who attacked MK revealed as Hamas terrorist

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/319137

One of the two security Arab guards who attacked MK Itamar Ben Gvir earlier this week has been revealed as a Hamas terrorist, Israel Hayom reported.

In the past, terrorist Mohammad Shaweeky wrote a post on social media praising Hamas terrorist Ali Shyouky, Israel Hayom added.

Shyouky is a Hamas terrorist from Silwan, who in October 2016 was eliminated after conducting a firebombing.