Matti Friedman - The Aleppo Codex

Spies of no Country | Matti Friedman & Benjamin Balint | 3.12.2020

Trump campaign doubles down on election fraud claims

 https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/12/politics/donald-trump-pennsylvania-cheating/index.html

In an interview with CNN's Victor Blackwell, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said the campaign was concerned with potential election fraud, particularly over electronic voting machines, which security researchers have warned are vulnerable to hacking.

Trump has offered no evidence to back up his claims that the elections would be "rigged" against him, and asked about making an unjustified assertion, Pierson said it was a concern over a hypothetical scenario.

"There is no evidence because the election hasn't occurred yet." Pierson said. "This is not far-fetched. Election fraud has been a concern for a very long time."The Trump campaign went still further, calling on its website for supporters to volunteer to be Trump election observers.

Trump sues Hillary Clinton, alleging ‘plot’ to rig 2016 election against him

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/24/trump-hillary-clinton-russia-lawsuit-2016-election

Donald Trump has sued Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and other people and entities tied to the investigation of Russian election interference in 2016, claiming that in a bid to rig the election they orchestrated a conspiracy which made Watergate “pale in comparison”.

The book of the angel Raziel

 Zohar (1:055b) When Adam was in the Garden of Eden, G-d sent down to him a book by the hand of Raziel, the angel in charge of the holy mysteries. In this book were supernal inscriptions containing the sacred wisdom, and seventy-two branches of wisdom expounded so as to show the formation of six hundred and seventy inscriptions of higher mysteries. In the middle of the book was a secret writing explaining the thousand and five hundred keys which were not revealed even to the holy angels, and all of which were locked up in this book until it came into the hands of Adam. When Adam obtained it, all the holy angels gathered round him to hear him read it, and when he began they exclaimed: “Be thou exalted, O Lord, above the heavens, let thy glory be above all the earth. Thereupon the holy angel Hadarniel was secretly sent to say to him: “Adam, Adam, reveal not the glory of the Master, for to thee alone and not to the angels is the privilege given to know the glory of thy Master.” Therefore he kept it by him secretly until he left the Garden of Eden. While he was there he studied it diligently, and utilised constantly the gift of his Master until he discovered sublime mysteries which were not known even to the celestial ministers. When, however, he transgressed the command of his Master, the book flew away from him. Adam then beat his breast and wept, and entered the river Gihon up to his neck, so that his body became all wrinkled and his face haggard. God thereupon made a sign to Raphael to return to him the book, which he then studied for the rest of his life.

Ramban's source

 Zohar (1:081b) R. Judah said : ‘Consider this. Because Abram went down to Egypt without first obtaining God's consent, therefore his descendants were enslaved to the Egyptians four hundred years.’

On Conservative Radio, Misleading Message Is Clear: ‘Democrats Cheat’

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/business/media/conservative-radio-democrats-cheat.html

Republican politicians and cable outlets like Fox News have carried the torch for Mr. Trump’s conspiracy theories ever since. But the loudest and most consistent booster of these unfounded claims has been talk radio, where conservative hosts reduce the jumble of false voter fraud theories into a two-word mantra: “Democrats cheat.”

Shireen Abu Akleh probe could harm Biden-Abbas meeting - analysis

 https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-711290

This week’s harsh denunciations of the US by the PA leadership are part of Ramallah’s effort to stave off the widespread criticism from its own people. However, the anti-US statements are also seen by some Palestinians as part of an attempt by the PA to extract concessions from the US administration on the eve of the Biden-Abbas meeting.

The Hasidic Underground

 https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/the-hasidic-underground

In those days (the late 1970s) Aryeh Kaplan, who was already well known as an Orthodox writer, lived on the outskirts of Boro Park. His books on Kabbalah had been published by Samuel Weiser, who owned a New Age press from Maine. This bothered some of the more conformist Haredim in Boro Park, and thus I think Kaplan’s decision to live on the margins of Boro Park was more than symbolic. An ultra-Orthodox Jew of Sephardic descent, who was a baal teshuvah himself and once served as a rabbi in a Conservative synagogue (which in Boro Park is basically the same as a church), Kaplan decided to stay on the margins of that world. A deeply pious man, he would have an open house after Friday night dinner, and we sometimes walked there to listen to him. The neighborhood was not safe at night, and thus going to Kaplan’s home itself required a modicum of emunah (faith). His dining room was adorned with a series of bizarre oil paintings. At some point, with no training as an artist, Kaplan decided to refrain from study for a year and devote himself to painting. After the year he stopped and never painted again. Those paintings were the product of his experiment.

He would gesture to someone to ask him a question about the weekly Torah portion and then he would just spin off of that for what seemed like hours (it probably wasn’t). In any event, Kaplan emphatically did not like Dovid Din. It was a kind of fissure in the scene because there was a lot of overlap in those years between Dovid and Aryeh Kaplan. Kaplan saw something in Dovid he didn’t trust, but he didn’t know what. We just never mentioned Dovid in Kaplan’s presence. Many years later Kaplan’s intuitions about Dovid turned out to be right. He was hiding something.

RABBI ARYEH KAPLAN – THE MAN BEHIND THE BOOKS:

 https://www.kotzkblog.com/2019/10/247-rabbi-aryeh-kaplan-man-behind-books.html

R. Kaplan wrote that some medieval Kabbalists may have used psychedelic drugs[8] to achieve lofty states. Also, cannabis, known as k’nei bosem (sounds similar) was used in the anointing oil.[9]

Drugs in Judaism

https://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/89/Q1/ 

In general, using drugs is unhealthy. But even if no harm is done to the body, drugs lead to a lack of concentration needed to pray, fulfill mitzvot and learn Torah properly.

https://mobile.twitter.com/kann_news/status/1544037373750681600

The Prohibition of Geneivas Daas

 https://dinonline.org/2016/06/30/beware-of-deception-the-prohibition-of-geneivas-daas/

The Semag (Negative Prohibition 155) and the Shulchan Aruch Harav (Onaah 11) likewise state that the prohibition of deception is a Torah law. The Semak (262), however, writes that the prohibition is rabbinic, and this is also the opinion of the Bach (Choshen Mishpat 228).

Some authorities make a distinction between commerce and other matters, writing that the Torah prohibition applies only to sales and commerce (see Sefer Ha-Kovetz, De’os 2:6; see also Shulchan Aruch Ha-Rav, who makes special mention of deception that results in financial gain). Certainly, if a merchant purposely conceals a flaw in the goods he sells, it will be a full transgression of the prohibition (and be classified as monetary theft as well).

The Pet Rock Fad - As Crazy as It Sounds?

Sending Anti-Semitic Vaccine Conspiracy Email

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2022/01/04/entrata-chairman-david-bateman-resigns-hours-after-sending-anti-semitic-vaccine-conspiracy-email/?sh=5ed2e5103ab5

David “Dave” Bateman, who cofounded the Utah-based property management software company in 2003 and stepped down as CEO last year as the company raised more than $500 million from private investors, had emailed a group including some of Utah’s leading tech CEOs, investors and other public figures—including its governor, Spencer Cox, calling upon them to “stop the vaccination drive” due to an unfounded conspiracy theory blaming the Jews for “a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people.”