ChatGPT avoids Muslim jokes, but antisemitic ones are fine

 https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/byyqyxf006

Popular AI chatbot consistently refuses to tell jokes about Muslims but easily cooperates when asked for jokes about Jews, even incorporating antisemitic stereotypes

Bitachon today - Rav Lichtenstein

The phenomenon is clear: the equilibrium between the two aspects of trust has been lost by the Religious Zionist community in Israel. This fact was and is reflected in our educational system. We inculcated the ideas of faithful trust, redemption, hope and expectation very well, but neglected to teach the values of loving trust, of cleaving to God without hesitation under all circumstances. We did not fortify our children or ourselves concerning the possibility of crises, conveying that the song to God must be sung even on the rivers of Babylon. We did not allow ourselves to wrestle with the possibility of national setbacks.

We taught our students about the “human comedy” but never about the “human tragedy,” on either the individual or the collective plane. We did succeed in nurturing the younger generation to be ready and willing to make personal sacrifices for the sake of the nation and the land. All of this was accomplished, however, while riding a wave of optimism, that all would work out because the process of redemption was unfolding. The engine of this process was faithful trust, and it found expression on the individual as well as on the national level.

I fear, however, that today we are beginning to pay the price for this skewing of values, and now is the time to rectify the error. Our obligation is to redirect our focus to embrace loving trust, to acknowledge that we are ready to hold tight to God because He is our steadfast Rock, and let the chips fall where they may. We must deal with the tragic dimension of trust, to renew the spirit of “Though He may slay me, still I will trust in Him.” This expresses the essence of Jewish trust in the face of tragic situations.

Critics say US colleges’ double standards let rabid antisemitism thrive on campus

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/critics-say-us-colleges-double-standards-let-rabid-antisemitism-thrive-on-campus/

“The school would not, and should not, tolerate menacing conduct aimed at Blacks or Latinos or the LGBTQ community. We want one standard applied equally to all,” said Schwab, the founder and managing partner of Kronor Capital.

‘I’m afraid every day for my children’: As antisemitism soars, French Jews flee to Israel

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/

“Some people tell me that they are afraid of being in France because they are Jewish, and they took down their mezuzahs,” Pachter says, referring to the parchment scrolls affixed to the doorposts of many Jewish homes. “It’s unbearable to live like that, to hide any sign of Judaism when no one is ashamed to say that they are Christian or Muslim.”

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria blasts woke Universities like Harvard with deep political agendas

‘Beyond Crazy’: The Liberal Jew Mugged by a Post-Oct. 7 World

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/04/delphine-horvilleur-antisemitism-france-00133462

Of the calls she has gotten from her congregants since Oct. 7, many are from mixed couples in distress. Jewish spouses say their non-Jewish partners don’t get the trauma they’re going through and sometimes dismiss it as “a kind of Jewish hysteria.” From the non-Jewish spouse, she hears some version of, “When we got married, he or she wasn’t that Jewish.” That identity, “that Jewish marker has become so central,” Horvilleur adds. “They had no idea that Jewish history was so present in their beloved’s life. There is a deep consciousness of fragility.”

The Comeback of “SimpleFaith”: The Ultra-OrthodoxConcept of Faith andIts Development in theNineteenth Century

 https://www.academia.edu/36068205/The_Comeback_of_Simple_Faith_The_Ultra_Orthodox_Concept_of_Faith_and_Its_Development_in_the_Nineteenth_Century_English_

At the end of the eighteenth century, and especially in the nineteenthcentury, a swift and astounding process took place, wherein a shift occurred inthe belief values of Central and Eastern European Jewry. In rapid succession,Kabbalah lost its centuries-old hegemony over the Jewish spiritual world, andits vacated place was occupied by simple faith. Note that from this stage onward,simple faith became a religious ideal of Judaism and no longer a compromise—

Bitachon that everything that happens is good

 The Chazon Ish, i(Ha-emuna Ve-ha-bittachon, beginning of chapter 2). . . an old error has become rooted in the hearts of many concerning the concept of trust. Trust . . . has come to mean that a person is obligated to believe that whenever he is presented with two possible outcomes, one good and one not, then certainly it will turn out for the good. And if he has doubts and fears the worst, that constitutes a lack of trust. 

This view of trust is incorrect, for as long as the future outcome has not been clarified through prophecy, that outcome has not been decided, for who can truly know God’s judgments and providence? Rather, trust means realizing that there are no coincidences in the world, and that whatever happens under the sun is a function of God’s decree.

Bitachon: Rav Lichtenstein

 https://etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/great-thinkers/harav-aharon-lichtenstein/bittachon-trust-god

The Ramban’s conclusion is forceful and unmistakable:

When God is pleased with a person’s conduct, he has no need of physicians.

            The Ramban’s approach so disturbed Rav Chayim Soloveitchik that he was inclined to believe that the offending words were not the work of the Ramban at all, but rather an interpolation by a later copyist! 

Harvard taps Jewish provost who lamented school’s failure to denounce Hamas as interim president

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/harvard-taps-jewish-provost-who-lamented-schools-failure-to-denounce-hamas-as-interim-president/

Harvard has named its provost and professor Alan Garber as its interim president following the resignation of Claudine Gay.

Gay stepped aside yesterday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

Gerber, who is Jewish, teaches courses on healthcare policy, economics, public policy, health policy and management at various Harvard schools and departments.

Mother and uncle of a US serviceman are rescued from Gaza in secret operation

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/mother-and-uncle-of-a-us-serviceman-are-rescued-from-gaza-in-secret-operation/#:~:text=Ragi%20A.%20Sckak%2C%2024%2C,on%20the%20ground%20in%20Gaza.

The mother and American uncle of a US service member are safe outside of Gaza after being rescued from the fighting in a secret operation coordinated by the US, Israel, Egypt and others, a US official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

It is the only known operation of its kind to extract American citizens and their close family members during the months of devastating ground fighting and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. The vast majority of people who have made it out of northern and central Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt fled south in the initial weeks of the war. An escape from the heart of the Palestinian enclave through intense combat has become far more perilous and difficult since.

Going to new country can improve one's fortune

 Or HaChaim (Bereishis (12:01) Although man's success in this world does not depend on the amount of effort he invests in his material progress as we know from Psalms 75,7: "for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness of hills;" our sages say that every time the word mountains appears in the Bible it means mountains except in this instance. In Psalms 75,7 the word describes a spiritual uplift. This comment of our sages notwithstanding, the fact that a change of one's physical environment brings in its wake an improvement in one's fortune is not to be ignored. This was why G'd commanded Abraham specifically to leave his country. 

Cheating in business shows lack of faith

 Netziv (Devarim 25:17): However a person who uses false weights doesn’t do it from lust. He does it because of a lack of faith in G d who feeds and sustains through Providence according to one’s deeds. Thus the sin of false weights is an aspect of idol worship. Therefore the sages said that the sin of false weights - even though it is just an aspect of idol worship and is far from being outright heresy. Nevertheless it is more severe than lust which produces sexual immorality. This is because a lack of faith is difficult to repent and because it is relevant to G d’s honor. Now how does all this relate to Amalek and the astounding fact that doubts arose in their hearts despite having witnessed so many miracles? We have explained that they had doubts that G d was with them in nature after the miracles ended. Because they had a lack of faith in G d  - Amalek came. The sin of false weights is used as an example of lack of faith.

Torah Study - getting paid?

 Igros Moshe (Y.D. 2:116): Concerning the matter of Torah scholars who want to engage in Torah study and advance in their knowledge of Torah – both quantitatively and qualitatively – and they therefore receive payment from kollel for their livelihood. This also applies to rabbis and teachers who take pay as well as roshei yeshivos. Question: Is their taking money correct or not. Is it an act of piety not to take the money and they should rather support themselves with other jobs? Answer: There is no question that they are acting correctly. This is the ruling of the Rema (Y.D. 246:21) that even a healthy person is allowed. It is permitted for a scholar and his students to receive payments from that which is given in order to strengthen the learning of Torah – because this enables them to study Torah properly. Furthermore the Shach (Y.D. 246:20) also cites the Kesef Mishna who rules similarly - even if you wish to say that this is not the view of the Rambam – because all the scholars prior to the Rambam and afterwards take payment from the community.