Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox block Route 4 in protest against IDF conscription

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-block-route-4-in-protest-against-idf-conscription/

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked the Route 4 highway outside the central city of Bnei Brak during a demonstration against conscription to the military on Monday, the date set as a deadline for the Defense Ministry to begin drafting Haredim.

The demonstrators belonged to the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which numbers some 60,000 members and regularly demonstrates against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Protesters held banners reading “To jail and not the army,” “We will die rather than draft,” “Stalin is here,” and “Russia is here.” Police arrested six demonstrators and forcefully cleared the highway after the demonstrators refused to leave, opening the road to traffic after two hours.

Republicans slam Biden for proclaiming Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter, though it’s yearly observed on March 31

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/30/politics/easter-trans-day-visibility-trump-biden-johnson/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

Elizabeth Alexander, a spokesperson for first lady Dr. Jill Biden, cast the Republican egg complaints as “misleading swirl” and posted on X, “The American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins.”

Fox News Runs Wild With Two Very Dumb Easter Outrages

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-runs-wild-with-two-very-dumb-easter-outrages?ref=home

Just ahead of the Easter weekend, the White House issued nearly a dozen proclamations that included recognition for Cesar Chavez Day, Month of the Military Child, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. The administration also proclaimed Sunday to be Transgender Day of Visibility, a day of awareness that was established in 2009 and has been held annually on March 31.

Torah comes from the Children of the Poor

 Nedarim (81a) Be on guard against scabs; take good care to study in company and be heedful not to neglect the children of the poor, for from them Torah goeth forth, as it is written, The water shall flow out of his buckets meaning, from the poor amongst them goeth forth Torah. And why is it not usual for scholars to give birth to sons who are scholars? — Said R. Joseph, That it might not be maintained, The Torah is their legacy. R. Shisha, the son of R. Idi, said: That they should not be arrogant towards the community. Mar Zutra said: Because they act high-handedly against the community. R. Ashi said: Because they call people asses. Rabina said: Because they do not first utter a blessing over the Torah.    

U.S. and Israel’s ‘Unprecedented’ Intelligence Sharing Draws Criticism

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-and-israels-unprecedented-intelligence-sharing-draws-criticism-a85979b4?mod=hp_lead_pos1

The intelligence sharing with Israel is conducted under a secret memorandum that the White House issued shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and amended a few days later, U.S. officials said. At about the same time, the U.S. expanded its intelligence collection on Gaza, having largely relied on Israel to spy on the enclave in recent years.

Donald Trump Warns Americans 'Won't Have a Country' If He Loses in November

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-warns-americans-wont-have-country-if-he-loses-november-1885362

Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, weighed in on a variety of topics — including his likely rematch with Democratic rival President Joe Biden on November 5 — during an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade that aired on Saturday night.

"The most important day in the history of our country is going to be November 5," Trump said. "Our country is going bad. And it's going to be changed on November 5, and if it's not changed we're not going to have a country anymore."

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, doubled down on the former president's remarks, telling Newsweek in an email on Saturday night: "Without law and order and safety for all Americans, we won't have a country anymore."

Israel should ignore Biden and finish the job in Rafah

 https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4565296-israel-should-ignore-biden-and-finish-the-job-in-rafah/

Israel has committed to going into Rafah, and the United States should work to ensure the operation is a success. Biden claims his objections to the Rafah operation are humanitarian in nature. If that’s the case, we should be pressuring Egypt to open humanitarian corridors and temporary camps in the Sinai Peninsula, where Gazan civilians can relocate while military operations remain ongoing. 

Daas Torah Marriage Review

 Fascinating and Comprehensive

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024

Verified Purchase

The topic is fascinating and the work is comprehensive. I enjoyed learning the topics from the sources. The book does not contain "questions" which the sources "answer" but are lumped by broad category. This is great because it is objective and allows the reader to decide for himself. However, it also makes answers hard to find.

For example, I wondered what the Torah view on whether Homosexuality is nature or nurture. I found nothing in the section on Homosexuality but in the section of differences between gender I found a reference to the mekubal the Rekanti that there is no gender swap between Gilgulim (if u were a women in a previous Gilgul u will be reincarnated as a women) and that if a soul were to be in a the wrong body gender it would be infertile. My inference is that according to the Rekanti, gender disphoria can be real but such a person would be infertile. If a fertile person claimed gender disphoria it would not be genuine.

Similarly, if one wanted to look up "spicier topics" such as unconventional sex (anything other than missionary), one would not easily come to a conclusion. Relevant headings are Somdomy, Pleasure, Zera Livatala, and Rabbi Friedeld.

Last example, I was hard pressed to find the Daas Torah on how to Foreplay. The best I found was in the section "Behavior with wife can be learned from animals" it cites a Talmud passage to arouse one's wife with promises of clothing even if there is no intent to fulfill.

One section I was dissatisfied with was Birth Control. I assume the author did not wish to navigate such murky waters or that very little has been actually published on the subject.

All in all, amazing buy and highly recommended.

Trump posts video with an image of a hog-tied Biden, drawing a rebuke from Democrat’s campaign

 https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-politics/ap-trump-posts-video-with-an-image-of-a-hog-tied-biden-drawing-a-rebuke-from-democrats-campaign/

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump drew criticism Friday for posting a video on social media that contains the image of a hog-tied President Joe Biden painted on the tailgate of a passing truck.

Trump Needs His MAGA Followers to Believe America Is Screwed

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-needs-his-maga-followers-to-believe-america-is-screwed?ref=home

MAGA (Make America Great Again) isn’t just a message on a red hat, it’s a mantra. And to acknowledge the ways America is currently great (and improving!) is to admit that the country does not, in fact, need a fulminating strongman like Trump to save us from the ashes of our once proud homeland.

As I have learned, saying something like “It’s great to be alive and in America right now” constitutes fighting words. That’s because Donald Trump needs his MAGA followers to believe America is screwed. The danger, of course, is that this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sin of Golden Calf and Working

 Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 277) Both the Ibn Ezra and the Ramban believe that that the main sin with the Golden Calf was that they erred in descending from their high level to the level of nature even though this was done for pure motivation in that they wanted to remain in pure service of G-d according to their belief that Moses was no longer with them. This was the deception of the evil Inclination which encourages man to the apparent simplest course  to achieve a goal (for example a person mistakenly thinks that the withstanding of a test always leads to sanctifying G-d’s Name) – we have already explained that this was the basis of Adam’s sin i.e., descent for the purpose of ascent.  Repentance for this sin is difficult since it contains an aspect of sinning with intent to repent And the root of this sin are the sly tricks of the evil inclination to bring man down. It can be determined to be  evil since it mixes together lust and spirituality. As we see when Eve stated “that the tree is good to eat and is lust for the eyes and pleasing to the intellect. Just as a person masks his combining Torah with working

Foreign Ministry on ICJ ruling: Israel places no limitations on the aid which enters Gaza

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/387569

“‎Israel will continue to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones, in order to enable and facilitate the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip in a continuous and extensive manner, by land, air, and sea, together with UN bodies and other partners in the international community. This includes ongoing efforts to increase the scale, and means of access for such aid despite the operational challenges on the ground and Hamas׳s active and abhorrent efforts to commandeer, hoard, and steal aid.”

Trump Goes After Judge Juan Merchan’s Daughter AGAIN—This Time By Name

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-goes-after-judge-juan-merchans-daughter-againthis-time-by-name?ref=home?ref=home

Trump has been particularly fixated on the political work of Merchan’s daughter, suggesting her supposed political leanings are enough to influence how her dad treats him in a criminal trial.

“She works for Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, and other Radical Leftists who Campaign on ‘Getting Trump,’” he said, adding that her work has created a “TOTAL Conflict.”

In his latest rant, Trump made no mention of social media posts he previously claimed were made by Merchan, however.

That’s likely because a representative for the New York state court system pointed out that the account Trump attributed to her in his initial rant against on Wednesday didn’t actually belong to her.

In surprise primary result, Lapid holds on to party leadership by a mere 29 votes

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-surprise-primary-result-lapid-holds-on-to-party-leadership-by-a-mere-29-votes/

Opposition leader wins only 52 percent of vote in leadership contest he was expected to breeze through; thanks opponent Ram Ben Barak for ‘a fair race’