https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4412449-scarborough-iowa-victory-bad-news-for-trump/
“The fact that Donald Trump has 50 percent of Republicans not voting for him, and as Steve Kornacki said, one-third hating him in the state of Iowa, in the state of Iowa … I gotta say for people who actually want to win general elections, that’s not good news,” Scarborough said.
It has been more than 50 days since Hamas militants released Sharon Aloni Cunio and her twin three-year-old daughters, but she remains haunted by her time as a hostage - most of which she says was spent in a Gaza hospital - and longs for her husband who remains captive in the Palestinian enclave.
https://mishpacha.com/the-missing-link-2/
Compounding the mystery is the high regard in which this gaon and tzaddik was held by all who knew him personally. One of the last eyewitnesses alive today who met Rav Tzvi Hirsch and was amazed by his tzidkus and toil in Torah is the revered posek Rav Moshe Sternbuch. In fact, Rav Sternbuch frequently mentions Rav Tzvi Hirsch in his shmuessen as a prime example of how total immersion in Torah was a reality not so long ago. Most recently, Rav Sternbuch spoke before thousands of yungeleit at a siyum held at the Mir in Yerushalayim, about the time Rav Tzvi Hirsch stayed in the Sternbuch home in England. He described his extraordinary hasmadah and tzidkus as a model for all bnei Torah to strive toward.
Shabbos (85a) And from where do we derive that when the Sages have an accepted tradition it is a substantial matter, meaning that the tradition is reliable? Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “You shall not cross your neighbor’s border, which they of the old times have set in your inheritance that you shall inherit” (Deuteronomy 19:14)? It means that you shall not cross the border that the early generations set, establishing the parameters necessary for each plant. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: The early generations set? Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: What is the meaning of that which was written: “These are the sons of Seir the Horite who inhabit the land, Lotan and Shoval and Zibeon and Ana” (Genesis 36:20)? And is everyone else inhabitants of the heavens, that it was necessary for the verse to emphasize that these inhabit the land? Rather, it means that they were experts in the settlement of the land, as they would say: This tract of land that is the full length of a rod is fit for olive trees; this full length of a rod is fit for grapes, this full length of a rod is fit for figs. And the members of this tribe were called Horites [ḥori] since they smelled [heriḥu] the earth to determine what is fit to be grown there. The allusion is based on a transposition of the letters ḥet and reish. And in explanation of why the early inhabitants of Seir were called Hivites [ḥivi] (see Genesis 36:2), Rav Pappa said: Because they would taste the earth like a snake [ḥivya] and determine what should be grown there according to the taste. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said that they were called Horites [ḥori] because they became free [benei ḥorin] of their possessions when the children of Esau drove them from their lands. Their primary name was actually Hivites.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4411489-nikki-haley-us-never-been-racist-country/
In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Haley whether she thinks the GOP is a “racist party.”
“No. We’re not a racist country, Brian. We’ve never been a racist country,” Haley said in response.
In its ruling from December 26, the High Court of Justice ordered the Rabbinical Court of Ashkelon and the Chief Rabbinate to stop investigating the woman’s Jewishness and promptly dissolve her marriage.
The case of the woman, who asked that her name be withheld citing privacy issues, is part of a growing tendency on the part of rabbinical courts, which in Israel act as family courts and are therefore under the High Court’s authority, to conduct background checks whose scope exceeds the issues brought before them, and which critics say are invasive and inappropriate.
https://www.jdn.co.il/j_world/2120910/
סופר סת"ם חרדי חרדי שמכר ספרי תורה, תפילין ומזוזות בקהילה החרדית במשך שנים, יצא לתרבות רעה, אך המשיך למכור כלי קודש ללקוחות • כעת הרבנים מפרסמים את שמו ומזהירים את הציבור שלא להשתמש בפרשיות שהוא כתב
BS"D
5 Shvat 5784
Friends,
This past week, Help Rescue Our Children took out a full back-page ad raising awareness about the Israeli female draft (MonseyMevaser.com).
In one response, we were asked about the "indignities" against young women to which the ad refers. Here is one reply.
Questions:
-What are the indignities to which you are referring in the ad?
-What are your concerns with girls joining the military?
Answer:
Said indignities include - but are by no means limited to - sexual exploitation and abuse in the Army environment. Any Army environment lends itself to such problems, especially in mixed-gender scenarios.
The Israeli and American armed forces are no exceptions to that rule. Such problems have been documented by a variety of sources, from secular Israeli media, to The Jewish Press, to Chotam.org, a pro-Israel advocacy organization. Additionally, an established and esteemed American organization, Center for Military Readiness, has complied extensive information on the hazards of drafting women into the military.
The risk of mistreatment and sexual abuse if captured by enemy troops is, undeniably, another monumental concern, as brought into unforgettable relief by the unspeakable horrors of the Oct. 7th pogrom, and the agonizing, ongoing aftermath.
Female soldiers captured by the enemy lose the natural advantage of female captives, applicable to civilian women taken prisoner, and are often in graver peril of sexual abuse and death due to their status as female soldiers, especially in situations such as that in the Holy Land.
Clearly, even from a secular perspective, no woman or girl should be forced or pressured into enlisting into any military.
Indignities also include languishing in Israeli military prison, over refusal to be drafted, be it in compliance with the Torah prohibition against female enlistment into any Army, or for other reasons.
Concerns also include, for example:
* Female soldiers risk being specifically targeted by the enemy (as a female US special forces vet testified on CSPAN before the Heck Commission several years ago).
* The ability of military superiors to make life-and-death decisions affecting recruits under their command contributes to a relationship acutely endemic to exploitation of those female recruits under their command.
The recently published letters in MonseyMevaser.com also convey a sense of what our concerns are. Please see our letter to the editor (Letter vs. Israeli Military female draft: MonseyMevaser.com p.16, 18, Parshas Shemos 5784) published about a month after our previous letter on the same subject (VaYishlach, p.14).
----------
When considering the above, it becomes evident how this cause truly involves both Pidyon Shevuyim and lifesaving imperatives.
Please call us at 771-215-8892 to share with us how you could take part in this holy work.
May the unimaginable merit thereof stand by you at all times, especially when you need it most.
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
845.642.1679
Direct: 771.215.8892
Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337
Tomim Tih'yeh: Presentations on New-Age dangers: 605-313-6831 ext. 2
torahjewsfordecency@gmail.com
Personal: Nathanadvisors@gmail.com
Tomim Tih'yeh: tomim1679@gmail.com
¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥
About Help Rescue Our Children:
This work against drafting innocent young women into the Israeli Army - or any military environment - is a direct extension of the work on which Help Rescue Our Children was initially founded about twelve years ago, namely combating local child-molestation, from a Torah-true perspective, in cooperation with a range of leading Rabbinic authorities - ever since the arrest of admitted child-molester Moshe Turner well over ten years ago.
Rabbi Leiter
Yoma (09b) Why was the first Sanctuary destroyed? Because of three evil things which prevailed there: idolatry, immorality, bloodshed…They were wicked, but they placed their trust in G-d. For it is written, The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord and say ‘Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us’.
Shabbos (139a) If you see a generation overwhelmed by many troubles, go forth and examine the judges of Israel, for all retribution that comes to the world comes only on account of the Judges of Israel, as it is said, Hear this, I pray you ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, etc. They are wicked, but they place their confidence in Him Who decreed, and the world came into existence. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring three punishments upon them answering to the three sins which they cultivate, as it is said, Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. And the Holy One, blessed be He, will not cause His Divine presence to rest upon Israel until the wicked judges and officers cease out of Israel, for it is said, And I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin. And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning, etc.
שו"ת משנה הלכות חלק יד סימן קעא
וכבר כתבתי בדרך אפשר וחשבתי דרכי איזה חטא מעכב ביאת משיח צדקינו, אחר שעברנו כל הצרות הגדולות והחורבן הגדול באבדון ששת מיליון מאחב"י וראיתי שהחטא היותר גדול בישראל הוא ע"ז ח"ו וכל המודה בה כופר בכל התורה כולה ואפי' מקיים מצות בכל פרטיה ודקדוקיה ומודה בע"ז הרי כופר בעיקר ואינו בכלל ישראל והחטא המסתעף והדומה לו הוא הליכה בערכאות של גוים שהוא מאבזרייהו דע"ז וכמ"ש חז"ל (גיטין פ"ח) והובא ברש"י פ' משפטים שהמביא דיני ישראל לפני ארמיים (גויים) מחלל את השם ומיקר שם האלילים להשביחם שנאמר (דברים ל"ב) כי לא כצורנו צורם ואויבנו פלילים כשאויבנו פלילים זבו עדות לעלוי יראתם. ולפי שבאו אנשי כנה"ג ובטלו יצרא דע"ז (יומא ס"ט ע"ב) מ"מ נשאר יצרא דע"ז לגבי ערכאות של גויים ומשפטיהם בעונ"ה.
ובגמ' (שבת קל"ט ע"א) תניא רבי יוסי בן אלישע אומר אם ראית דור שצרות רבות באות עליו צא ובדוק בדייני ישראל שכל פרעניות שבאה לעולם לא באה אלא בשביל דייני ישראל שנאמר שמעו נא זאת ראשי בית יעקב וקציני בית ישראל המתעבים משפט וגו' (מיכה ג') אמר רב פפא אי בטלי יהירי בטלי אמגושי אי בטלי דייני בטלי גזירפטי ופרש"י בטלי דייני רשעים מישראל שמטין דין, בטלי מעל ישראל גזירפטי, נוגשי שוטרי עובדי כוכבים ע"ש. ונראה פשוט דקאי אדייני ישראל אשר הם המתירין ומזרזין ללכת לערכאות של עכו"ם ולכן שוטרי עו"כ ונוגשיהם שולטין עליהם בעונ"ה כמו שראינו בדורינו בעונ"ה שכל בית ישראל חרדים לדבר ה' ושומרי התורה וכשיש להם מו"מ בין אדם לחבירו וצריכין לדון ביניהם או בין איש לאשתו הולכין מיד לערכאות ולבית משפטי העכו"ם וכיון שהם חרדים הולכין לאיזה ראביי הקורא עצמו דיין ומתירין להם הליכות בית המשפט ש"ג ועי"ז שוטרי העכו"ם ושופטיהם משתלטים על בית ישראל וצרות רבות באות עליהם.
והנני כותב זה מפני שעיני ראו כמה זה הקילו במצוה זו וקלקלו דוקא הרבנים והדיינים שהם מחמירין ומקפידין על דבר קטן, ולהתיר ללכת לבית ע"ז ונאמר אלך ואעבוד ע"ז זה מדברים הקלים והקטנים אצלם, ובעונ"ה כבר באו דברים לידי מעשה אשר ראו עיני בשביל דברים אלו עברו על ע"ז וג"ע ושפ"ד מתחילה התירו לאשה ללכת לערכאות שהוא ע"ז ואח"כ התירו ג"ע שהשופט הכריח את הבעל ליתן גט לאשתו בע"כ הן ע"י החוק שחקקו להכריח והן ע"י עונשים שמטיל עליו ומטיל עליו תשלומין אשר אין בידו לעמוד נגדן ובע"כ נותן לה גט פטורין והוא מן הדין לא חייב לגרשה והו"ל עשוי ליתן גט ע"י עכו"ם שלא מן הדין הרי התירו עריות שהוא גילוי עריות, ואח"כ לא הי' לבעל לשלם את כל ההוצאות שהטילו עליו התירו לה ללכת לערכאות שנית בהסכמת הרבנים ולא עוד אלא שאחד מהם בא להעיד לפני השופט שיש לבעל כסף אלא שאינו רוצה לשלם והשופט צוה להכניסו לבית האסורים ולהסגירו בבית האסורים בתוא מכמר לששה חדשים שהוא בכלל רציחה ממש ושפכ"ד. והנני כותב זה ומעיד שכן כבר קרה בכמה מקרים, אוי נא לנו כי חטאנו ונתקיים בנו ויתערבו בגוים וילמדו מעשיהם בעונ"ה.
Megila (18a) Rosh HaShanna (26b) In a certain place which Levi happened to visit, a man came before him and said , So-and-so has kaba'ed me. He did not know what he meant, so he went and enquired in the Beth Hamidrash. They said to him: He wanted to say to you, has robbed me, as it is written, Will man rob God? Raba from Barnish said to R. Ashi: Had I been there, I should have said to him, How did he kaba you, in what did he kaba you, why did he kaba you, and so I should have found out from his answers. Levi, however, thought that he meant some kind of offence. The Rabbis did not know what was meant by serugin till one day they heard the maidservant of Rabbi's household, on seeing the Rabbis enter at intervals, say to them, How long are you going to come in by serugin?The Rabbis did not know what was meant by haluglugoth till one day they heard the handmaid of the household of Rabbi, on seeing a man peeling portulaks, say to him, How long will you be peeling your haluglugoth? The Rabbis did not know what was meant by salselehah and it shall exalt thee. One day they heard the handmaid of the household of Rabbi say to a man who was curling his hair, How long will you be mesalselwith your hair?The Rabbis did not know what was meant by we-tetethia bematate of destruction, till one day they heard the handmaid of the household of Rabbi say to her companion, Take the tatitha [broom] and tati [sweep] the house. The Rabbis did not know what was meant by Cast upon the Lord thy yehab and he shall sustain thee. Said Rabbah b. Bar Hanah: One day I was travelling with an Arab and was carrying a load, and he said to me, Lift up your yehab and put it on one of the camels.
Gra (Kol Eliyahu Rosh HaShanna 26b): “Our sages did not know the meaning of the verse (Tehilim 58:23): Cast your yahava on G d… Raba Bar Bar Channa was carrying a burden and an Arab said : Place your yahava on my camels.” This seems astounding. How is it possible that our sages did not know the meaning of yahava and the Arab did? The explanation is that they had had a doubt concerning bitachon as to whether a person must first act with his intelligence and then have bitachon that G d would provide that which is good for him or whether it is totally unnecessary to rely at all on one’s own deeds and intelligence. They said that of course a person should make intelligent efforts first and also have bitachon. But this understanding seemed to contradict the verse in Tehilim (58:23) which should have said needs instead of yahava. However this was resolved when they saw that an Arab had asked Raba Bar Bar Channa to place his burden on his camel without charge. Normally Raba Bar Bar Channa should have had to pay the Arab to transport his burden. Therefore since the reverse occurred, they concluded that if it is decreed in Heaven then the service is not only free but the service is offered without being requested. Therefore the word yahava - which means something which normally is paid for - is appropriate. Thus one should rely on G d for everything and it will be provided without pay or effort.
Biur Halacha (156:1): Torah study without work becomes lost & causes sin - The seforim write that this rule is addressed to the masses since not everyone is able to have the merit to exist on the high level to be involved exclusively with Torah study. However, there are always individuals who are in fact able to devote themselves totally to Torah study. [This is what is mentioned in Berachos 35b, “Many did like R’ Shimon Bar Yochai and they were not successful in Torah. That means that the masses were not successful in exclusive Torah study – but there were individuals who were]. And G d will surely provide them with a livelihood as the Rambam (Hilchos Shemitta chapter 13) wrote, “And not just the tribe of Levi alone…” And it is obvious that if there already exist men who wish to support them in order that they devote themselves to Torah study that this directive to combine work and Torah study is not relevant. The proof for this is provided by the Yissachor-Zevulun relationship.
