Jonathan Rosenblum's revisionist history about university's concern for truth in the good old days

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Closing_of_the_American_Mind

The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students is a 1987 book by the philosopher Allan Bloom, in which the author criticizes the "openness" of relativism, in academia and society in general, as leading paradoxically to the great "closing" referenced in the book's title. In Bloom's view, "openness" undermines critical thinking and eliminates the "point of view" that defines cultures. The book became an unexpected best seller, eventually selling close to half a million copies in hardback.

Bloom critiques the contemporary American university and how he sees it is failing its students, criticizing modern movements in philosophy and the humanities. Throughout the book, he attacks the "moral relativism" that he claims has taken over American universities for the barrier it constructs to the notions of truth, critical thinking, and genuine knowledge. Bloom claims that students in the 1980s have prioritized the immediate, blind relegation of prejudice as inferiority of thought, and therefore have "closed" their minds, as the title suggests, to asking the right questions, so that prejudice may be eradicated through logic and critical thinking, as opposed to empty, baseless instinct.[citation needed] Bloom writes, "Prejudices, strong prejudices, are visions about the way things are. ... Error is indeed our enemy, but it alone points to the truth and therefore deserves our respectful treatment. The mind that has no prejudices at the outset is empty."[3]

As a college student and later as professor in three colleges. I did not see the seeking of truth that Rosenbaum claims existed at the same time. People were looking for a degree to earn money. 

https://mishpacha.com/why-the-universities-matter/

Admittedly, some of my fascination with the topic is personal. The late Allan Bloom writes in The Closing of the American Mind (1987) about how earlier generations of students came to college with high expectations of a new world of ideas about to open up before them.

I know I did. And I was not disappointed. Not only did I love college, but I feel it provided me with a base for much of my subsequent life. My classmates and I came to college to learn, to be exposed to new ideas and perspectives.

RNC calls Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot ‘legitimate political discourse’ as it votes to censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger

 https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/04/rnc-censures-liz-cheney-adam-kinzinger-for-investigating-jan-6-pro-trump-riot.html

KEY POINTS

The RNC voted to censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of llinois due to their involvement in the investigation of the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters.

That resolution described the deadly riot as “legitimate political discourse.”

Mike Pence 'Did the Right Thing'—GOP Voters Praise Speech Against Donald Trump

https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-did-right-thing-gop-voters-praise-speech-against-donald-trump-1676538

Republican voters on Friday praised former Vice President Mike Pence for a speech where he strongly rebuked former President Donald Trump's claims about overturning the 2020 presidential election.Pence offered his strongest criticism of Trump yet, referring to the former president directly and telling his audience: "President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election" despite the former president's claims to the contrary.

Is beis din the solution to child abuse?

https://mishpacha.com/inbox-issue-896/

Approximately 35 years ago, I called this need to the attention of the then-president of Agudath Israel of America, Rabbi Moshe Sherer, after which he invited me to make a presentation to the Moetzes Gedolei Torah on the matter, which I did. Following some deliberation, to which I was not privy, the Moetzes decided to create a special beis din for cases of child abuse, with HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlita serving as the av beis din and Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, then director of government affairs, as the coordinator.

It took two years for the beis din to work out all of the many procedural and policy details in consultation with mental health professionals before it was prepared to hear its first case. About 12 cases were eventually brought to that beis din, which sensitively, discreetly, and successfully adjudicated each one.

Unfortunately, after a little over a year, the beis din abruptly disbanded as a result of more than one of the distinguished dayanim receiving death threats from a suspected perpetrator.

Meir Wikler, DSW

Rabbi Kaplan's book on meditation

It is important, however, to realize that the object of contemplation is merely an not an end in itself. One must be extremely careful not to make the object of contemplation into an object of devotion, since to do so would border on idolatry. Even when one becomes aware of the Divine in the object, it may not be made into a venerated object or an object of devotion. Since this is always a danger, it is best to limit oneself to types of contemplation actually mentioned in classical Judaic literature.

It appears that this was one of the attractions of ancient idolatry. While the Jewish meditative schools required extensive discipline and preparation, many idolatrous schools of mysticism and meditation were open to all. A person could at least think that he was having a transcendental experience, without adhering to the tight discipline of Torah and Judaism. It was very much like the situation today, when Eastern meditative groups seem easier to relate to than the strict discipline of Judaism.

For anyone who has ever had a taste of the transcendental, it can be an infinitely sweet experience, more pleasurable than love or sex. For many people, it was an experience after which they would actually lust. When the Talmud speaks of the "lust for idolatry," it could be speaking of the magnetic attraction that this spiritual experience had for people. If they could not get it from Israelite sources, they would seek it in idolatrous rites.

As long as the Israelites were in their homeland, the situation was more or less under control. Idolatry may have been a strong temptation, but the prophetic mystical schools were strong enough to unite the people and prevent them from assimilating. Even if individuals or groups backslid, they could always be drawn back into the fold. In sum, during the entire First Commonwealth, meditation and mysticism played a central role in Judaism; the spiritual leaders were the prophets, the individuals who were most advanced spiritually.

All this changed with the diaspora, which scattered Jews all over the world. It was realized that if the masses remained involved in prophetic mysticism, the temptations drawing them to idolatry would ultimately alienate them from the Torah. Isolated, widely scattered groups would be ready prey to false teachers and experiences. Therefore, around this time, the more advanced forms of meditation were hidden from the masses and made part of a secret teaching. Now only the most qualified individuals would be party to the secrets of advanced prophetic meditation. 

Second, as discussed earlier, Jewish meditation was an extremely difficult discipline, which required years of preparation. If it were an accepted part of Judaism, it was feared that Jews would become frustrated by the difficulties of practicing it and be tempted to try non-Jewish forms of meditation. This, in turn could lead them to idolatry and assimilation. Idolatry had been enough of a problem during the First Commonwealth, when all the Israelites were in their homeland; now, in the diaspora, there was a distinct danger that it would lead to the destruction of the entire nation.

Therefore, the Jewish leadership made a very difficult decision. The benefits of having the masses involved in the highest types of meditation were weighed against the dangers. Although the nation might lose a degree of spirituality as a result of the decision, it would at least survive. Henceforth, the discipline of the chariot had to be made into a secret doctrine, taught only to the most select individuals. The Great Assembly, which represented the first Jewish leadership in the Second Commonwealth, thus decreed: "The discipline of the chariot may be taught only to individual students (one at a time), and they must be wise, understanding with their own knowledge."

The Great Assembly also realized that the general populace would need a meditative discipline. But rather than have it be something loose and unstructured, they needed a discipline with a structure common to the entire Jewish nation, one that would serve as a means of uniting the people. It would have to contain the hopes and aspirations of the nation as a whole, to reinforce the unity of the Jewish people.

"80% of serious COVID cases are fully vaccinated' says Ichilov hospital director

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/321674

Are Israeli hospitals really overloaded with unvaccinated COVID patients? According to Prof. Yaakov Jerris, director of Ichilov Hospital’s coronavirus ward, the situation is completely opposite.

“Right now, most of our severe cases are vaccinated,” Jerris told Channel 13 News. “They had at least three injections. Between seventy and eighty percent of the serious cases are vaccinated. So, the vaccine has no significance regarding severe illness, which is why just twenty to twenty-five percent of our patients are unvaccinated.”

Jerris also revealed some of the confusion in reporting cases. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, he told ministers, “Defining a serious patient is problematic. For example, a patient with a chronic lung disease always had a low level of oxygen, but now he has a positive coronavirus test result which technically makes him a ‘serious coronavirus patient,’ but that’s not accurate. The patient is only in a difficult condition because he has a serious underlying illness.”

Serious COVID Cases Are All Unvaccinated or Unboosted, Top Israeli Expert Says (with VIDEO)

 https://themedialine.org/by-region/serious-covid-cases-are-all-unvaccinated-or-unboosted-top-israeli-expert-says/

The seriously ill COVID-19 patients at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem are all either unvaccinated or did not receive a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the head of the hospital’s coronavirus ward has said.

Federal probe to investigate alleged antisemitic harassment at Brooklyn College

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/federal-probe-to-investigate-alleged-antisemitic-harassment-at-brooklyn-college/

The US Department of Education has opened an investigation into alleged harassment of Jewish students at a New York college by both faculty and other students.

Report: Iran Behind Online Campaign to Foment ‘Religious War’ in Israel

 https://hamodia.com/2022/02/04/report-iran-behind-online-campaign-to-foment-religious-war-in-israel/

According to its investigation, a specialized Iranian unit disguised itself as an Orthodox newsgroup, and focused on a specific target audience of Israeli nationalists and Orthodox Jews in order to sow divisions and encourage hate speech against Arabs and Islam.

The Strange Case of Mosheh Friedman

 https://jewishdutchess.org/blogging-jewish-in-dutchess/the-strange-case-of-mosheh-friedman

After meeting Hamas official Atef Adwan in Stockholm in 2006, Moshe Friedman announced his intention of building a coalition between Hamas and anti Zionist Jews to bring about Israel's dissolution. To this day, Moshe Friedman insist that the Holocaust was a much smaller event than presented by historians and that it was exaggerated by the Jews to pave the way for the creation of Israel. He claimed during an interview in 2009 that he doesn't consider himself anti Zionist and that there is no such a thing as anti Zionist Jews, although he insisted on his alternate version of the Holocaust and on the need to dissolve the State of Israel.

Breaking news

 https://m.facebook.com/groups/reunitingbeth/permalink/457685755817939/

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗡𝗔 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗘𝗙 𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜: 𝗜’𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗛 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗦

The former chief rabbi of Vienna has pledged to reunite Manchester-born Beth Alexander with the twins from whom she has been alienated for five years.

In a dramatic intervention, Rabbi Moshe Friedman, who claims to have won many cases by representing victimised plaintiffs in the Austrian courts, travelled to Vienna this week after hearing of her plight.

And, in a further development yesterday, the community’s lay and religious leaders contacted British chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis after becoming aware of Rabbi Friedman’s involvement and the international outrage following the official launch on Sunday of a Facebook support group.

Alleging cover-ups, corruption, coercion and interference in Ms Alexander’s case, Rabbi Friedman says that his involvement will send shockwaves through the legal establishment, the social services, the education department and the Vienna Jewish community.

Graham defends opposition to Jan. 6 pardons after Trump calls him a 'RINO'

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/592462-graham-defends-opposition-to-jan-6-pardons-after-trump-calls-him-a-rino

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday defended his stance against offering pardons to Jan. 6, 2021, defendants a day after former President Trump called him a “RINO,” an acronym that means “Republican In Name Only.”

“I stand with the police officers who protect our streets, federal courthouses, and the United States Capitol against rioters. They deserve our respect and support and I will not second-guess the decisions they made under dire circumstances,” the senator said in a statement.

However, he emphasized that Americans needed to have a unified voice against “politically motivated violence.”

Is Buddhism Kosher?

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/60122/jewish/Is-Buddhism-Kosher.htm 

Today, this refinement process is extending to Buddhism. Many Jews began their spiritual trek with the path of Buddha and continued by discovering their own heritage in Torah. A twofold process occurs: Buddhism has evolved more in the past thirty years than in all its history before, to the point that what is presented today in America as Buddhism is already more Jewish than it is Buddhist. And, secondly, when those practicing "Jubus" return to Jewish practice, they reject those aspects that are anathematic to Torah, while making good use of those aspects that are complimentary.

Many of the Buddhist practices and world-concepts are in direct opposition to the Torah concept of singular Divine providence. When it comes to Tibetan rites, for example, Shamanism abounds. Even if the intellectual Buddhist conceives of these notions in a highly abstract fashion, they are still the notions of idolatry against which our father Abraham struggled. For a Jew to burn incense in front of a statue is horrifying, no matter what he will say are his inner intents. Similarly, the proclamation, "In Buddha I find refuge" is a catastrophe for the Jewish soul.

Austria: Antisemitic crimes hit record high in 2020

https://www.dw.com/en/austria-antisemitic-crimes-hit-record-high-in-2020/a-57343980 

Around 40% of the incidents had a right-wing political motivation (229), while 15% were tied to the left. The second largest category was "not possible to assign" with 195 incidents.