Chida (Pesach Einayim 1:202b): R’ Meir found a verse and interpreted it. The gemora did not simply say, “R’ Meir found a verse.” This implies that only R’ Meir interpreted the verse as permission to learn from a heretic while the rest of the sages disagreed with him. Thus according to the majority position there is no distinction between an adult and child learning from a heretic. That is why the Rambam omitted such a distinction in the Mishneh Torah. This is also the understanding of the Shach (Yoreh Deah 246). Others disagree with this interpretation However if the Rambam rejected R’ Meir’s position that a mature adult can learn from a heretic - how could he himself have learned secular knowledge. He writes in one letter that he learned all the books of idol worship… Furthermore we find that the Rivash (#45) said that the Rambam learned philosophy because he accepted the view of R’ Meir that a mature adult is allowed. The Rivash also notes that the Rambam cites the verse of R’ Meir in the introduction to Moreh Nevuchim! I think the resolution of these difficulties is what I wrote elsewhere. The Rambam’s definition of mature adult is not great in years but rather great in Torah and with an advanced mind even in matters of the world as was R’ Meir. Therefore, if the Rambam wrote in the Mishneh Torah that a G-dol was permitted to learn from a heretic, everyone would view themselves as a Godol and permit themselves to learn from a heretic. Therefore, he deleted this distinction. The spirit of G d spoke in him, in particular in our orphaned generation where every student thinks he is a rabbi. They are in fact naked and yet they are not embarrassed…
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
The Dark Heart of the Republican Party
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/11/the-dark-heart-of-the-gop/671965/
In terms of actual damage, January 6 was far worse than one violent crime in San Francisco. Republican leaders—and here I will leave aside Donald Trump, who is in a class of hideousness all by himself—have said far worse things over the past five years. But a parade of Republicans somehow think that an unhinged, hammer-wielding intruder putting an old man in the ICU is funny.
Kari Lake Makes Light of Pelosi Attack, Draws Laughter at Campaign Event
https://www.newsweek.com/kari-lake-makes-light-pelosi-attack-draws-laughter-campaign-event-1755901
Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has drawn laughter and applause after making a flippant remark about the violent attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump joins conspiracists stoking doubts about Pelosi attack
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/01/trump-paul-pelosi-attack-conspiracy-theory-00064417
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Rick Scott repeats false claim that Democrats cut $280 billion from Medicare
In an interview on CNN’s "State of the Union," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., repeated a talking point previously used by the National Republican Senatorial Committee — which Scott chairs — in campaign ads.
The ad cited Senate roll call vote 325 to back up its assertion. This was the final vote to approve the Inflation Reduction Act, a Biden-backed bill that included provisions addressing climate change, the taxation of very large corporations, and Medicare drug pricing, among other topics. It passed both chambers with only Democratic votes, and it received Biden’s signature.
The $280 billion — technically, somewhere between $237 billion and $288 billion, depending on how the numbers are estimated — stems from a provision in the Democratic bill that would end the longstanding bar that kept Medicare from negotiating with drugmakers over the price of certain medicines. Not being able to negotiate prices has meant that Medicare — the pharmaceutical market’s biggest single buyer — could not leverage its weight to secure lower prices for taxpayers. This has been part of the reason U.S. pharmaceutical prices have been higher than those in any other major country.
Prominent conservatives share online disinformation about Paul Pelosi assault
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/conservatives-disinformation-paul-pelosi-assault-00064208
“The Left is going crazy because not only are we not BUYING the wacky, implausible Paul Pelosi story but we are even LAUGHING over how ridiculous it is,” Dinesh D’Souza posted Sunday morning to his 2.5 million Twitter followers. “What this means is that we are no longer intimidated by their fake pieties. Their control over us has finally been broken.”
Attacker wanted to ‘kneecap’ Nancy: Partisan conspiracies in Paul Pelosi assault
Clay Higgins, a Republican House member from Louisiana, tweeted something he must have found amusing.
After the vicious assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, the member of the Homeland Security Committee tweeted an apparently doctored image of the speaker with one eye looking bruised. The caption: "That moment you realize the nudist hippie male prostitute LSD guy was the reason your husband didn’t make it to your fundraiser."
Donald Trump Jr.'s Paul Pelosi Post Receives Huge Backlash
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-jr-paul-pelosi-posts-backlash-1755787
Many social media users are condemning Donald Trump Jr. for a message he posted over the weekend on Twitter and Instagram that references the violent attack on Paul Pelosi.
‘Absolutely no evidence:’ Police, FBI affidavit debunk salacious conspiracy about Pelosi attack pushed by conservatives
Prominent figures on social media, including some of the loudest voices on the political right, are pushing a salacious and false conspiracy theory about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, in an apparent attempt to shift the narrative about the assault.
The claim that big names like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jr., and Dinesh D’Souza have promoted to millions of their followers: Paul Pelosi and the man who attacked him were gay lovers who had gotten into a fight.
Monday, October 31, 2022
Yad Moshe Hebrew edition
My sefer Yad Moshe has been unavailable in seforim stores. However it was recently reprinted and shipped to New York
There are two distrubutors - Berman and Levitts who should be getting it soon In Israel Shanky is the distributor
Previously it took only a week to get to New York now it can take 6 or more weeks
If you are not willing to wait, the English edition is available now from Amazon
Divine Providence
Netziv (Shemos 34:10) We need to explicate the manner of Divine Providence. There are two types which four. 1) there are two by means of an angel. It can be given in a general manner that an angel is to guard the person. However the Jewish people are generally not on such a low level. 2) It is given to a specific angel to guard him. With these two types it is possible to directly request from the angel for protection since the angel was given him by the Will of G-d. For example Lot directly made a request of the angel. There are also two types by G-d directly. For example livelihood is provided by G-d Himself, Nonetheless it is actually being carried out by an angel. Consequently since this is being directed by G-d it is prohibited to ask the angel. Nevertheless these two – livelihood and protection are not interdependent. In the days of Yehoshua they became separated so that livelihood is from G-d while protection is from an angel. Thus we have two that are four. There is a clear difference between whether it is an angel or directly by G-d. An angel is not able to change nature if he were not sent to do a miracle. In contrast when directly from G-d, it can be done in a natural way as we see for livelihood in Israel or it can be done in a miraculous manner.
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Do Liberals Disdain the Disabled?
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/opinion/do-liberals-disdain-the-disabled.html
But more is at stake here than factual inaccuracies. Mr. Santorum and Ms. Palin are spreading a poisonous meme: that liberals disdain the disabled and look down upon parents who raise children with physical or intellectual limitations. They seek to insert the hateful rhetoric of the culture war into one of the few areas of American life that had remained relatively free of such rancor. Care for people with disabilities has quietly been one of the few causes in this country on which social liberals and conservatives could put aside their differences to get important work done. I fear this may be changing, and at the precise moment when budget crises and the knife fight over health care reform place the future of key disability services into doubt.
Williamsburg Hasidic School Fined $8 Million for ‘Several Overlapping Frauds’
Central United Talmudic Academy (CUTA), a.k.a. Yeshiva Torah ViYirah DeRabbeinu Yoel MeSatmar, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Monday admitted in federal court that it was involved in several overlapping frauds, including a multi-million-dollar scheme to wrongfully obtain funds designated to feed needy schoolchildren, the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York reported Monday.
CUTA has entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the government in connection with the criminal information filed in the Eastern District of New York charging the school with conspiring to commit wire fraud. As part of the agreement, the school has agreed to pay $5 million in penalties, on top of more than $3 million in restitution it has already paid.
Satire? Don't Be Fooled by Their Defense of Fetterman. The Left Loathes the Disabled
https://www.newsweek.com/dont-fooled-their-defense-fetterman-left-loathes-disabled-opinion-1755253
Leftists loathe the disabled. I learned that the hard way during the COVID lockdowns. But when it is politically expedient, they will happily and shamelessly pretend otherwise.
This cynical and disgraceful anti-human machination of the Left was exposed to sunlight in the Fetterman-Oz debate. It's truly disgusting, transparent, and cruel and it needs to stop.