Deadliest year in decades as antisemitism becomes ‘new normal’ in West, Jewish watchdog finds

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-903961

The year 2025 marked the deadliest year for antisemitic violence in the Jewish Diaspora since the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, according to a new report by the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism.

The report, released on Wednesday, documented 20 lives lost to targeted antisemitic attacks across the globe in 2025. From the Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach in Sydney that left 15 dead to shootings at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, and two killed at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, as well as one killed in Boulder, Colorado.

The J7 task force, which unites major Jewish organizations representing over 90% of the Jewish Diaspora outside Israel across Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US, tracked over 23,000 antisemitic incidents in 2025 alone. While total incidents dipped slightly in a few nations compared to record highs in 2024, overall figures remain up 136%, and violent incidents up 97%, compared to the baseline year of 2022.

Words have lost their meaning in the Trump era, and Israel is now paying the price

 https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/hyro4wvhfx

After weeks of strikes, none of the war’s central objectives has been achieved, Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz and Washington is searching for a diplomatic success, yet Trump continues to speak as though the campaign ended in triumph

It is doubtful Trump understands that the entire Middle East, not only Israel, is at stake.

When it comes to words, Trump is indeed a superhero.

Senate confirms Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5995382-senate-confirms-jay-clayton-as-intel-chief/

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence (DNI) in a 51-47 party-line vote, potentially reviving a stalled battle over renewing the nation’s warrantless spy powers.

Clayton, currently a U.S. attorney who served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission under the first Trump administration, does not have the broad foreign policy and intelligence background of others who have led the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

“When the position of the DNI was created by Congress after the 9/11 attacks, the law laid out a simple qualification for the position: that the DNI ‘shall have extensive national security expertise.’ Jay Clayton fails that foundational, statutory test,” Schiff wrote.

Limit to Testing

 I have heard these words many times " G-d never gives a person a test greater than what he can deal with"

What is the source for this claim? It is a widespread Christian belief

Bereishis Rabbah (34:02) A potter does not test defective vessels, because he cannot give them a single blow without breaking them. Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not test the wicked but only the righteous: thus,  The Lord trieth the righteous.’ R. Jose b. R. Hanina said: When a flax worker knows that his flax is of good quality, the more he beats it the more it improves and the more it glistens; but if it is of inferior quality, he cannot give it one knock but it splits. Similarly, the Lord does not test the wicked but only the righteous, as it says: ' The Lord trieth the righteous. R. Eleazar said: When a man possesses two cows, one strong and the other feeble, upon which does he put the yoke? Surely upon the strong one. Similarly, the Lord tests none but the righteous; hence, ' The Lord trieth the righteous.

 Bereishis Rabbah (56:11)AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CALLED UNTO ABRAHAM A SECOND TIME OUT OF HEAVEN, AND SAID: BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN What was the need of this oath? He had begged Him: Swear to me not to try me again henceforth, nor my son Isaac. R. Levi in the name of R. Hama b. R. Hanina gave another reason for this oath: He had begged: ' Swear to me not to test me again henceforth. This may be likened to a king who was married to a noble lady. She gave birth to her first son by him, and he divorced her; a second, and he divorced her; a third, and he divorced her. When she had given birth to a tenth son by him, they all assembled and demanded of him: ‘Swear to us not to divorce our mother again.’ Similarly, when Abraham had been tried for the tenth time, he said to Him: Swear to me not to test me again. R. Hanan commented: BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS THING it was the tenth trial, yet you say, BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS THING! The fact, however, is that this was the last trial, which was as weighty as all the rest together, and had he not submitted to it, all would have been lost.

How vaccine skeptics use storytelling to create powerful and medically inaccurate messaging

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/ripple/2026/07/27/how-vaccine-skeptics-use-storytelling-effectively-to-create-powerful-but-medically-inaccurate-messaging/

Researchers generally refer to people who do not follow the standard advice of health professionals about vaccines, by either refusing or delaying some or all vaccines, as vaccine hesitant. Today, vaccine hesitancy is most famously associated with the Make America Healthy Again movement and its standard-bearer, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

But vaccine-hesitant groups are particularly adept at using narrative to craft compelling, nerve-wracking or highly emotion-driven stories of doctors ignoring patient concerns and children developing devastating health conditions after getting vaccinated.

What makes these stories the secret weapons of vaccine hesitancy is that they often are not actually about vaccines at all. When vaccines become detached from medicine, they can function like a symbol or a metaphor in a story, reflecting a worldview that encompasses much more than medicine and is fueled by nonmedical anxieties. These stories use narrative strategies, including some drawn from film and literature, to undermine vaccine confidence.

Measles Cases in the U.S. Are at a 35-Year High

 https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/measles-cases-us-35-year-high/

Measles is an old scourge that’s rapidly re-emerging as a new one. According to numbers released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 24, there have been 2,318 cases of measles reported nationwide so far in this year, already exceeding the 2,289 cases reported in all of 2025. The current figure is the highest incidence of measles in 35 years, a record set back in 1991 when there were 9,643 U.S. cases.

It wasn’t long ago that measles cases were extremely rare in the U.S. In 1963, the first measles vaccine was introduced in the U.S., and decades of steady administration of the shot eventually led to the country being declared measles-free in 2000. There were some scattered infections in the ensuing years—56 cases in 2003, 55 in 2012, 13 in 2020. But this year and last year, the numbers have exploded

The surge has come amid a backdrop of drastic changes to childhood vaccinations.  In January 2026, the CDC changed the childhood vaccine schedule—despite experts and organizations saying there had been no change in the science—after President Donald Trump directed the agency and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine skeptic, to review how other developed countries issue vaccine recommendations. The new guidelines reduced the number of recommended vaccines for children from 17 to 11. Though the measles vaccine is still on the “recommended” list, recent research published in Science showed that changes in the CDC's vaccine messaging under the Trump Administration reduced the public's trust in the agency and in vaccines, while increasing perceptions that vaccines are not safe.

Torah makes you appear Wise

 Devarim (04:06)  Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the is nations, who, when they shall hear all these statutes, shall say, Surely this great nation a wise and understanding people.

Rashi Devarim (04:06) FOR THIS IS YOUR WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLES — i.e. through this ye will be accounted wise and understanding men in the eyes of the peoples.

Sforno (04:06) Observance of the laws of the Torah is your true wisdom and will enable you to resist the lures and challenges by the heretics.

 Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim (04:06) Nations perceive as your wisdom and discernment.” The verse teaches first and foremost that all the commandments only come into their own when being performed. Their integrity has to be safeguarded and their substance has to be carried out or performed by not violating them. All the worthwhile activities in the world are automatically part of one or more of the Torah’s commandments. The discipline of healing is part of a commandment seeing the Torah tells us that if we listen carefully to its commandments and perform all its statutes and refrain from violating them we will not experience disease, etc., “seeing the Lord is your Healer.” The message is clear: Torah observance=preventive medicine. The same applies to all other scientific disciplines.

Trump holds off major Iran escalation after Pentagon warns of interceptor shortage

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r111brtghmg

The US president had weighed a multistage bombing campaign against Iranian military, energy and nuclear targets, but advisers warned that heavier fighting could drain Patriot stocks, expose Gulf bases to retaliation and deepen the region’s energy and refugee crises

U.S. President Donald Trump has put aside, at least for now, plans to sharply intensify the U.S. military campaign against Iran after senior advisers warned that a broader war could dangerously deplete American air defense stocks in the Middle East.

Trump and his advisers were also weighing the possibility of a wider regional war, damage to relations with vulnerable Gulf allies, further pressure on the global economy and worsening energy and refugee crises.

Mind Blown

 https://mishpacha.com/mind-blown/

In the last few years, the world of mental health treatment has seen a quiet but powerful shift: psychedelic assisted therapy. For people who have struggled with deep-seated trauma or intractable emotional pain, psychedelic therapy with drugs such as psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and ayahuasca, can open the door to sudden, almost miraculous healing. For some, psychedelic-assisted therapy has accomplished in one or two sessions what would have taken conventional talk therapy months or years to achieve.

But along with its incredible capacity to bring healing results, psychedelic drugs hold the potential to wreak untold psychological, mental, and physical harm. They are the Jekyll and Hyde of therapy: credited with both facilitating stunning emotional breakthroughs unheard of in conventional therapy, and with triggering devastating outcomes like psychosis and suicide. This duality has generated a worldwide ban on the illicit use of these potent drugs.

What are these “miracle drugs” that have mesmerized so many in our community? What power do they hold to better people’s lives? What motivates an otherwise law-abiding person to ignore the ramifications of ingesting a powerful, illegal, and unregulated substance? And where is this cultural trend heading?

Rav Moshe Rotberg, a Toms River posek heavily involved in mental health issues and a licensed therapist, doesn’t deny the potential for psychedelic therapy to effect profound healing. He believes that in the future, psychedelics will figure significantly in trauma treatment.  He has seen firsthand how psychedelic therapy administered once or twice, and entrusted to qualified practitioners with vast experience, who maintain rigorous screening standards, has produced remarkable results.

However, at the same time, he’s observed a psychedelic community that has sprung up with practitioners, prescribers, and even rabbis involved — but shockingly devoid of real, responsible oversight.

Why Trump’s White House Dinner Speech Felt Different

Trump’s Nuclear Doctrine: Anything Is Possible For A Price

 https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7309929059139673041/7580651519010879201

The United States’ new nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, struck yesterday as American missiles continue to batter Iran, was met with cries of hypocrisy! and warnings it would spur on the race for a nuclear bomb in the Middle East.

This is neither surprising nor unfair, but the criticism fails to address a deeper, and perhaps more consequential, problem.

The agreement—which could purportedly grant Riyadh a path to build its own uranium enrichment facilities as part of its civilian nuclear program without undergoing stringent inspections by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA—signals we are entering a new era of nuclear doctrine.

Tisha B’Av 2026: fast times, rules and who is exempt

 https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/bjiheap4fe#google_vignette

The Tisha B’Av fast in 2026 will begin at sunset on Wednesday, July 22, and continue until nightfall on Thursday, July 23.

In Jewish tradition, Tisha B’Av marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. The sages established the fast as an expression of national mourning and as a call for repentance, based on the belief that the causes of the destruction remain relevant to Jewish society.

According to tradition, five major tragedies occurred on the date.

The first was the sin of the spies in the desert, after which the Israelites’ entry into the Land of Israel was delayed for 40 years.

Evil Eye how it Damages

 Malbim (HaCarmel) The concept of the "evil eye," as explained by scientists is that when an envious person gazes at an object, then harmful sparks and poisonous vapors—derived from bodily excesses which are expelled naturally and which are rooted in the lowliness of his soul—emanate from his eye. These act like deadly darts upon the object of his gaze; their venom affects whatever is susceptible to such influence, instilling a curse and a blight, much as the gaze of a viper can kill those vulnerable to it. It has even been noted that if a person possessing the evil eye gazes steadily at a loaf of bread, that bread can become a source of death and destruction. It is regarding this that the Wise man warned: "Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his delicacies, for there is death in his offering." 

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