Saturday, August 31, 2024

Why Trump’s Arlington Debacle Is So Serious

 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/08/trump-arlington-cemetery/679659/

Trump was unsurprisingly not telling the truth; 11 soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in his last year in office, and his administration had itself negotiated the withdrawal. But such fabrications are incidental sins compared with what came next. A top Trump adviser, Chris LaCivita, and campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung talked to reporters and savaged the employee who had tried to stop the entourage. Cheung referred to her as “an unnamed individual, clearly suffering a mental-health episode.” LaCivita declared her a “despicable individual” who ought to be fired.

Stolen Valor

Pro-lifers blast Trump 'betrayal' with shifting abortion stance, answer on Florida Amendment 4

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pro-lifers-blast-trump-betrayal-shifting-abortion-stance-answer-florida-amendment-4

Former President Trump's recent comments on abortion, including remarks that sparked some initial confusion about where Trump stood on an amendment that would upend Florida's ban on abortions after six weeks' gestation, have sparked backlash from pro-life advocates on social media.

Trump's latest – and clearest – comments about Florida's Amendment 4, which would enshrine a constitutional right to abortion in the state, may blunt some of the criticism. After Trump made remarks on Thursday that appeared to indicate he might back the amendment, the former president told Fox News Channel's Bryan Llenas on Friday afternoon: "I'll be voting 'no.'"

Still, the comment confusion, coupled with some other recent statements, have rankled the pro-life community.

"Trump has destroyed both the conservative movement and the pro-life movement. He’s done what even Barack Obama couldn’t do," one user on X said.

Friday, August 30, 2024

Israel requires Human Efforts

 Vayikra Rabbah (25:5): The hen, when its chicks are tiny gathers them together under its wings to warm them and get food for them. But when they grow up if one of them wants to get close to her she pecks it on its heads and says: Go dig for food yourself. Thus it was for the Jews forty years in the Desert. The manna fell from Heaven, a well of water followed them, the quail were readily available, the clouds of glory encircled them, and the pillar of cloud led them. However once they entered into Israel, Moshe told them: Let everyone of you take his shovel and go plant trees…

Chasam Sofer (Sukkos 36a): I heard an insight from my teacher the Hafloah concerning the dispute between R’ Shimon bar Yochai and R’ Yishmael (Berachos 35b). R’ Shimon said that a person should only learn Torah and R’ Yishmael  said a person should also work. The gemora concludes that many did like R’ Shimon (and studied Torah full time) but were not successful. He noted that they merely imitated the actions of R’ Shimon but did not in fact do exactly as he did. In fact there is no doubt that a person who is truly motivated for the sake of G d, Who examines all hearts, will definitely be successful. … I, his insignificant student, want to expand his insight. It appears to me that R’ Yishmael did not apply the verse “you should gather your grain” - that one should work - except for those dwelling in Israel when the majority of Jews live there. In such a case farming itself is an expression of the mitzva of settling the land by bringing forth its holy fruit. For example Boaz was involved in winnowing grain because of this mitzva. Thus a person in Israel - who wants to exclusively learn Torah and doesn’t want to farm - is like one who says that he doesn’t want to put on Tefilin because he is studying Torah. It is possible that this is also true concerning all occupations which help develop society - that they are included in the mitzva of settling Israel. In contrast when we are scattered amongst the nations of the world. There to the degree that we develop society, we destroy our service of G d, then R’ Yishmael would agree with R’ Shimon that one should only learn Torah. Thus concerning those living outside of Israel, we rely on the view of R’ Nehorai that he ignored every trade in the world and only taught his son Torah. 

Don’t yawn at Trump’s dishonorable use of Arlington National Cemetery

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/29/trump-arlington-cemetery/

Also for the record, it was Trump who negotiated the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and forced the Afghan government to release thousands of jailed Taliban fighters in a prisoner swap. Those decisions helped make possible the Taliban’s swift return to power.

I’m a combat veteran. Here’s why Trump’s Arlington stunt was so insulting

 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-arlington-national-cemetery-grave-photo-rcna168767

Trump was so eager to use Arlington’s Section 60 as a backdrop for a campaign event this week that he may have broken federal laws against politicizing the burial ground to do it. Trump’s staff also shoved aside a cemetery official trying to stop them. He even posed for a photograph over a U.S. Marine’s gravesite, grinning and giving a thumbs-up. The moment was jaw-droppingly crass and vulgar, as all of Trump’s are. It defiled sacred ground.

These are not one-off statements by a rhetorically reckless buffoon. This man harbors deep resentment toward the military and those who’ve sacrificed in service. Even when he poses with a family — as he did at Arlington this week — he only does so to enhance his campaign or his political prospects. Trump’s use for the military and our dead extends only as far as it suits him.

Poor are Source of Torah Scholars

 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 goes forth, as it is written, The water shall flow out of his buckets meaning, from the poor amongst them goes 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.

Poverty and Righteousness

 Eruvin (41b) Three matters cause a person to act against his own will and the will of his Maker, and they are: Gentiles, and an evil spirit, and the depths of extreme poverty. What is the practical halakhic difference that emerges from this statement? It is significant as it teaches one to request mercy for people who suffer from those…

Winning Arguments

 Ramban (Introduction to Milchemes HaShem): For those who look at my sefer, don’t say in your heart that all my responses to the Baal HaMeor are in my eyes absolutely correct and obviously true and would therefore force everyone to acknowledge them. For everyone who studies our Talmud is well aware that concerning disputes between the commentaries that there are no absolute proofs or absolutely unanswerable questions. In fact, in this area of wisdom, things are not clear and unambiguous as we find in mathematical proofs. The main effort is to show that one position is more likely and more reasonable than the alternatives - rather than to show that one is entirely correct and the other is entirely wrong.

US Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/29/politics/us-army-rebukes-trump-campaign-arlington-incident/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

Thursday, August 29, 2024

5 Palestinian gunmen, including top commander, killed by IDF at West Bank mosque

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-palestinian-gunmen-including-top-commander-killed-by-idf-at-west-bank-mosque/

Islamic Jihad chief in Tulkarem area among dead; another operative detained; two soldiers hurt; Palestinian death toll since start of operation rises to 17

Israel kills one of most wanted West Bank commanders as operation continues

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/29/israel-operation-west-bank-gaza-war/

Israel’s military said it killed a prominent Palestinian militant commander as a major operation in the West Bank — which appeared to be one of the largest in the occupied territory in recent years — continued into a second day.

Sticks and Stones: Insults and How We React To Them

 https://outorah.org/p/28342/

Not long ago, I was studying a passage in the daily daf in Masechet Gitin (37b) when I came across a passage which also appears in tractate Shabbat 88b. As I stared at the words of the passage, I felt myself transported to a different time and place. The words before me, with their powerful and profound message, brought to mind my grandfather’s comment on this passage. My grandfather, Rabbi Bezalel Zev Shafran, authored the renowned Shelot U’tshuvot R’baz. It is a Sefer my father often counseled me and my siblings to study, telling us “teayenu ba’sefer shel saba”, to “…look into Saba’s sefer”.

“Our Rabbis taught: Those who are insulted ne’elavin but do not insult, hear themselves reviled shomeim cherpasan without responding, act through love and rejoice in suffering, regarding them the verse states: ‘But they who love Him as the sun goes forth in its might’ Judges 5:31”

Did Trump’s campaign break the law at Arlington National Cemetery?

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/28/trump-arlington-national-cemetery-law-explained/

“While the families’ statement that they invited and approved of the campaign photographer’s presence in Section 60 may soften the remarkable cynicism and crass behavior of the Trump campaign in the eyes of some people,” McElya said, “the law does not give them the authority to sanction campaign photography.”