Stopping Robert Mueller to protect us all

The “deep state” is in a deep state of desperation. With little time left before the Justice Department inspector general’s report becomes public, and with special counsel Robert Mueller having failed to bring down Donald Trump after a year of trying, they know a reckoning is coming.

When a Hug is more Meaningful than a Kiss

Every time we read the story of Rus we are once again inspired by the extraordinary loyalty and noble spirit of this former Moabite princess. 

Naomi, a Jewish woman living in Moab, decides to return to Eretz Yisrael after losing her husband, her two sons and all her wealth. Her two widowed daughters-in-law, Arpah and Rus, both of them Moabite princesses, want to accompany her, but Naomi insists that they return. Arpah accedes to her mother-in-law’s wishes, but Rus is steadfast in her loyalty. Together, Naomi and Ruth return to Eretz Yisrael, where Rus ultimately marries Boaz and becomes the ancestress of the Davidic dynasty. Arpah returns to Moab and becomes the ancestress of Goliath.

How and when was Rus’s loyalty expressed? 

Her famous words immediately come to mind: 

“Do not press me to abandon you, to turn back and leave you behind. Wherever you go I shall go. Wherever you sleep I shall sleep. Your people are my people, your Lord is my Lord.” 

But if we look into the Megillas Rus we find that Rus's loyalty had already become evident even before she spoke these famous words. 

We read: “And Arpah kissed her mother-in-law, and Rus embraced her. And [Naomi] said, ‘Behold, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.’ And Rus said, ‘Do not press me to abandon you . . .’”

How did Naomi know Arpah had decided to return but not Rus? 

The clue seems to have been in their different reactions to Naomi’s appeal that they return home. Arpah kissed her, but Rus embraced her. 

The Talmud (Sotah 42b) tells us that Goliath was vanquished by David because the Holy Blessed One said, ‘Let the child of the one who kissed be vanquished by the one who embraced!’ Clearly, there was a great difference between Arpah’s kiss and Rus’s embrace, a difference with important ramifications for the future.

How can we define this difference between a kiss and an embrace, which instantly told Naomi that Arpah had decided to return but Rus was determined to remain?

Perhaps we can answer this question with another question. The Talmud tells us that when the Jewish people assembled at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, Hashem uprooted the mountain and held it over their heads. “If you accept the Torah, all is well,” He said, “but if you don’t, this will be your burial place.” 

The question immediately arises: Why did He find it necessary to do this? The Jewish people had just accepted the Torah unconditionally with the immortal declaration of “Naaseh venishma! We will do, and we will hear!” Why was it necessary to force them to do something they had already agreed to do?

The commentators explain that Hashem was teaching the Jewish people a critical lesson that would carry them through all future generations. 

If the Torah had been accepted only because of an emotional impulse, there would always have been a danger that, at some future time, the emotion would dissipate - and the commitment along with it. 

Therefore, Hashem wanted to impress upon the Jewish people that Torah was the very breath of life, that without it they were as good as in a “burial place.” The tremendous inspiration of the moment was to their everlasting credit, of course, but the perpetual bond to the Torah could only be forged by a strong fundamental attachment based on need in addition to emotion.

This is where a kiss differs from a hug. A kiss is a glancing touch, an incomplete physical contact which expresses strong inner emotion but from a slight distance; a kiss does not show the fusion of two souls. 

An embrace, however, is an expression of total attachment, of two hearts that beat as one, that cannot live without each other. 

When Arpah kissed Naomi, she showed that her feelings for her mother-in-law were purely emotional, and Naomi immediately understood that these tender emotions would not lead her to accept the sacrifices that lay ahead. But Rus hugged her mother-in-law, showing a close attachment, a dependency, and Naomi understood she would not be so easily persuaded to return home. Nevertheless, she tried to send her away, and Rus responded with her celebrated declaration of undying loyalty.

In our own lives, we sometimes find our observances lacking in zeal and enthusiasm. But if we reflect on the awesome power of the Torah to transform, elevate and give meaning to our lives, we can recapture that enthusiasm. 

As we prepare to receive the Torah this Shavuos, let us do more than pay lip service to the Torah. Let us recognize that our lives have lasting, eternal value only through the Torah. And if we embrace the Torah with all the devotion and dedication in our hearts, we will surely be rewarded with a feeling of total connection and fulfillment.

Rabbi N. Reich

Tracing the History of Shavuos Night Learning

By Eliezer Brodt

This article will trace some of the earliest sources for the Minhag observed by many to stay up learning Torah throughout the entire night of Shavuos.[1] At the outset I would like to note that the focus of this article will be not be about the exact seder that was learned i.e. Tikun Lel Shavuos.[2]

Different versions of this article originally appeared in the Kulmos Supplement of Mishpacha in 2014 and then in English in 2015. I returned to all this in my doctorate Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century.[3] This post contains important additions to some of the earlier versions. One day I hope to update it properly.

That the minhag of staying up on Shavuos night to learn was observed widely in recent history is very clear. For example, the author of a nineteenth-century Lithuanian memoir describes how her brothers would stay up the entire night.[4]

In a memoir about Yeshivas Lomza, the author writes in passing "after staying up the whole night, the whole yeshiva would take part in a milchig kiddush at the Rosh Yeshiva’s house".[5]

Posters in Monsey Compare New Square to Gaza

The administration of New Square have decided that it is a bad idea for Skverer children to find out that there are Frum Jews in Monsey that are not Skverer Chassidim, so they came up with a bizarre but dangerous scheme to buy up property all around New Square so that other Frum Jews wouldn't G-D forbid move near their town, who are exposing their little sheep to Satmar, Belz, Viznitz and other non-Skver Frum Jews!

I know this sounds crazy .... but it isn't only crazy it's dangerous, because they are renting out these one family houses to Latino families. 

These Latinos are by in large illegal emigrants with criminal backgrounds who move in with many of their criminal cronies, causing  entire neighborhoods around New Square to be crime infested.

These Latinos are also by nature transient, so they never establish families with roots in the community. 

Just two years ago, two Satmar Families that I personally know, managed to buy houses within walking distance to New Square. New Square bullies bought houses on both sides of these houses, filled them up with criminals whose teenage daughters paraded around on Shabbos with skimpy outfits, making life miserable to these Satmar families who were trying to bring up children in a country atmosphere, out of the city, only to be bombarded with these degenerates.

What the above poster is pointing out is that New Square Chassidim by in large live in poverty, and yet the administrators manage to find huge amounts of money just to make their Chassidishe neighbors who are not Skverer Chassidim, miserable!

25 Chareidim Complete Israel Police Course; Now 350 Chareidi Police Officers

Twenty-five chareidim are the latest members of Israel Police, successfully completing the department’s course.

At the end of the training program, 25 chareidi cadets completed a police course during which they were certified as policemen, passed weapons certification and joined the organization as regular policemen. The policemen were recruited as part of the military service (Shacham) and civilian service for two and two years and 8 months.

The recruitment of a chareidi unit in the police began less than four years ago and has since recruited more than 350 chareidim. The officers who completed the training will serve in various units in a variety of positions, including: patrol, intelligence, investigations, Lahav and classified units.

Yitzchok Menashe Rosenfeld 7 Killed by a bus in Beitar Illit

A young boy of approximately 7 years of age was struck and killed by a bus in Beitar Illit on Thursday afternoon. Paramedics and EMTs from United Hatzalah and staff from Magen David Adom (MDA) responded to the emergency and began performing CPR on the young boy. At the time that the EMS  first responders arrived, the boy was already in trauamatic arrest.

EMS personnel from MDA told Israeli newspapers that the young boy was hit by a bus after he had slipped while riding his bicycle. First response teams decided to continue performing CPR on the child while en route to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.

He was unfortunately Niftar when he arrived at the hospital.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are still being investigated.

Kiryas Yoel Child Drank Poison Thinking it was Chocolate Syrup

Images doesn't represent story

On Tuesday, a serious tragedy occurred in Kiryat Yoel - Monroe in New York. As reported in Behadrei Haredim, 4 year old Yitzhak Menashe Schwartz swallowed poisonous material believing it was Chocolate Milk. 

He was flown to the Westchester Hospital, and in the helicopter his heart stopped beating and he returned his soul to its creator, 

Neturei Karta Fanatic Decides To Dance With IDF Soldiers

This kind of unity may not have been seen, and it is particularly moving at a time when ultra-Orthodox soldiers and soldiers are afraid to wear uniforms in ultra-Orthodox centers.  But last night, this happened within an ultra-Orthodox crowd, some of whom were identified with the extremist circles, dancing hand in hand - border policemen with a fanatical Neturei Karta The Reason for the dancing was because of a Sefer Torah was donated in honor of the IDF Soldier Binyamin Yakobovitz a IDF Soldier murdered in Gush Etzion. The Neturi Karta guy is Akiva Miller who happens to daven in the shul where the Torah will be housed

Brooklyn Yeshiva Numbers Decline

By Yochonon Donn - Hamodia

In a vivid example of recent population trends, the number of students in Brooklyn’s yeshivos showed its first-ever decline since the borough became an Orthodox powerhouse a century ago, according to an analysis of state education data.

The borough home to Williamsburg, Boro Park, Flatbush and Crown Heights still has a commanding lead with the most number of students in New York state — it has 81,350 students. But this is down by 1,184 from 2017. And it is up from the 64,721 number of students a decade ago.

The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, which compiled the data from statistics made available by the New York State Education Department, said that Brooklyn’s decline is a direct effect of rising home costs.

“Young families are leaving in large numbers to [other] counties or to New Jersey,” OJPAC said in a statement accompanying the study. “Consider: While enrollment in Brooklyn rose by 3,248 students the last five years, full day kindergarten enrollment dropped by 582 students from five years ago.”

IDF’s New Drone Poops on Rioters

Israel’s Defense Ministry’s weapons R&D on Wednesday revealed a new development that will help IDF soldiers disperse rioters with non-violent means. Dubbed the “Shoko Drone,” the new device hovers over groups of rioters and dumps its payload of plastic baggies packed with “skunk water,” which erupt on contact, sharply reducing quality of life wherever they hit, but no one is hurt beyond being seized by nausea.

The baggies received their name from their similarity in shape and texture to a popular Israeli chocolate milk drink, sold in plastic baggies. It’s bathroom humor, admittedly, but it helps reduce real casualties.

The R&D engineers began to work on a non-violent response to disturbances at the end of last Passover. This week, the Shoko Drone began his military service above the Gaza Strip, where its activities have been rated as successful and very effective.

With the new invention, IDF forces are not required to reach a point close to the border – the operations are carried out from the air, controlled by command forces on the ground deep inside Israel.

The new development is based on a drone which is already manufactured by the Israeli defense industry. The drone is designed to carry heavy cargo and is suitable for a variety of uses as well as for low-altitude flying with designated charges. The ability to disperse rioters was not among its planned uses, but when the need arose, the aircraft’s designation was modified in a short time.

The drone was fitted with a shell capable of containing a large quantity of skunk bags, a.k.a. Shoko. The drone has the ability to release the bags on demand from the air to the ground. The bags burst, and the foul content disperses the rioters.

The Defense Ministry stresses that the skink water has been tested and is not harmful even in cases of a direct hit.