Yom Ha’atzmaut: Recognizing Redemption

 

Chazal understood that redemption does not arrive all at once. It unfolds in stages. To describe this, they, in the Yerushalmi (Yoma), compared geulah to sunrise. At the first light of dawn, the world is still dark. A faint streak appears on the horizon. Slowly, the light expands. Darkness begins to recede. Only later does the full day arrive. Sunrise does not happen all at once, and neither does geulah.

In 1947, when the United Nations voted to grant a foothold in Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish people, many Rabbanim opposed it. This fell far short of the redemptive vision we carry. It did not resemble the geulah we had imagined.The Gerer Rebbe responded by citing this Yerushalmi, which compares redemption to sunrise and teaches that it unfolds. Slowly and gradually ,קמעא קמעא

Iran Is Rearming in Plain Sight: Tehran Retains 40% of Its Drones and 60% of Its Launchers After the Ceasefire

 

U.S. intelligence, as reported by the New York Times, now says Iran held onto roughly 40% of its prewar drone stockpile and more than 60% of its ballistic missile launchers, after using the ceasefire to literally dig its underground "missile cities" back out. 

Satellite imagery, stalled Islamabad talks and IRGC gunboats firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz all tell the same story: 

the regime is bruised, not broken, and the next round isn't a question of if, but when.

Rav wonders why emperor won't put on clothes ....The shidduch initiative and army debacles return

R Binyomin Cohen

by Daas Yochid

DY: "Someone sent me a great article in Hamodia (motto: “more boring than Yated”) from the Pesach supplement ‘Front Burner 3’.

 In it, they asked a chashuve rav, R Binyomin Cohen, a lot of pretty hard-hitting questions.

I missed it, and I imagine many others did too - I don’t know who still reads anything but Mordechai Schmutter there.

 Here are two standout questions:

There is a certain type of person who was once very committed to asking a daas Torah, followed rabbinic guidance faithfully and then felt he was led in the wrong direction. He’s now disillusioned and hesitant to ask again or to follow a decision. What would you say to someone like that?

RBC: Answer: I have to be honest: the phrase “asking a daas Torah“ is one I don’t particularly care for. The phrase implies that only some talmidei chachamim are capable of dispensing the Torah’s view on matters of hashkafah. The truth is that “daas Torah“ is the Torah’s view on a subject and is not its own category of Torah. It’s applying one’s chochmas haTorah in areas of hashkafah and public policy. It’s not the purview of a “specialist” in daas Torah.

That said — the answer I would give to someone who has been disillusioned is this: find a Rav or a Rebbe or a Rosh Yeshivah you can have a real relationship with, and ask him your questions directly. Not what you heard this one says in a shiur, not what that one posted online. A personal and sincere question deserves a clear answer.

Try to engage the person and try to understand what’s bothering him in his question. Try to answer his question and have a discussion with him about it. When we talk in learning, sometimes there’s a clear answer and sometimes there’s not. But one of the most important things a Rav can do is simply say: “I don’t know.” I cannot overstate how much comfort those words can give. If someone who had been stung by what he felt was overconfident guidance were to go to a Rav and ask a genuinely hard question, and if the Rav were to sit with it for a moment and say, “I don’t fully understand this either — let me think about it,” that person would feel validated in a way that years of confident declarations never could accomplish.

The starting point on issues of public policy and hashkafah is that we should implicitly trust and accept what the Gedolei Yisrael are saying about these issues. That doesn’t mean that I understand everything that is being said by them or in their names. My confidence in them doesn’t require me to understand every decision and every nuance. That doesn’t mean questions should be stifled or explanations shouldn’t be given. In general, the tzibbur is entitled to ask questions respectfully and sincerely, and we should do our best to answer their questions.

The Pope's Perfidy Against His own Faith

The Pope signing the “Golden Book” ceremonial guestbook in the Great Mosque in Algiers

When US President Donald Trump sent Vice-President JD Vance to negotiate with members of the Iranian regime in Islamabad, people initially thought that Vance — reportedly the most outspoken voice in the Trump administration against going to war with Iran — would be a soft touch.

When the talks in Pakistan broke down, however, Vance’s position could hardly have been tougher. Having seen the Iranian regime up close, he said, he was absolutely certain that these people must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons.

In recent days, he has again taken a position which contradicted previous assumptions about his worldview.

The MAGA movement is currently convulsed by a faction of poisonous, unhinged Jewish-conspiracy theorists, led by podcaster and political commentator Tucker Carlson. Believing that Israel drags America into needless foreign wars, they’ve been inflamed to the point of hysteria by the war against Iran.

A number of these people are Catholics who have positioned themselves against Christian Zionism, largely associated with evangelical Protestantism. Younger Catholics, particularly recent converts who reject modernity, are leaning into older, more “authentic” versions of the faith — and are thus embracing its earlier virulent antisemitism.

Vance, a passionate Catholic convert, has caused great unease among the Jewish community by refusing to distance himself from this tendency.

This past week, an explosive row was detonated between Trump and Pope Leo XIV that played straight into the MAGA convulsions.

Is the "mezizia be'peh" practice an actual requirement of a Bris! Not so fast!

 

 From 

 EMAILIM BATORAH <friedmanmoishe771@101211442.mailchimpapp.com>

The Most Controversial Teshuvah of the Chasam Sofer Of the 1,246 printed Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, there is one Teshuvah that stands out as the most controversial ever written by the Chasam Sofer. This Teshuvah was intentionally omitted from the original printed editions of Teshuvos Chasam Sofer and remained unpublished until recently, when it appeared in the Biton edition. In this Teshuvah, the Chasam Sofer writes that מציצה בפה is not mentioned anywhere in Halacha, but is practiced only according to קבלה. He then adds, “אין לי עסק בנסתרות”—“I do not involve myself in mystical matters”—indicating that he does not attach particular importance to Kabbalistic practices. He further states that even if the משנה had explicitly required מציצה בפה, it would not necessarily apply today, since מציצה is not part of the מצוה of מילה itself, but rather a medical procedure. Therefore, if it can be safely performed in another manner—without using the mouth—it would be entirely permissible to do so. When this Teshuvah first became known, some Gedolim claimed that it was a forgery fabricated by opponents of מציצה בפה. However, this was later proven false. The original manuscript of the Teshuvah still exists and is currently in the possession of descendants of R. Yisroel Stern זצ״ל of London. The מהר"ם שיק and others argued that the Teshuvah was a הוראת שעה—a temporary ruling made under exceptional circumstances—and therefore cannot be used today as a היתר (leniency) to refrain from מציצה בפה. Although the Chasam Sofer himself does not describe it as a הוראת שעה and the wording of the Teshuvah does not suggest that it was one, Chassidic and Hungarian (Heimish) communities accepted the Maharam Schick’s interpretation. As a result, they do not rely on this Teshuvah as a basis for permitting Milah without מציצה בפה. On the contrary they are the biggest opponents of those not requiring מציצה בפה

Fragile Ceasefire: Strikes in Lebanon and Escalating Iranian Moves

 

IDF forces carried out multiple strikes in southern Lebanon in response to Hezbollah ceasefire violations. Several militants were eliminated.

Iran announced a renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the American naval blockade violates the ceasefire terms. At least two vessels reported being attacked over Shabbos.

The United States is warning that military action could resume within days.

The bridge used by Hezbollah that the IDF destroyed just yesterday has already been rebuilt by the Lebanese Army

 

Question: This bridge was only a benefit to Hezbollah, why did the Lebanese Army rebuild it?

Could it be that the entire "peace talks" are fraudulent?

Zera Shimshon Parshat Tazria - Metzora

 

Video of Reb Shayele of Krestir

Some of my nephews from the USA planned a trip to Europe to visit our Kever Avos and to visit the grave of Reb Shayele of Krestir, and they invited me, and we were to meet in Budapest! 

Because of the war, my tickets were cancelled, but my nephews were kind enough to send me the video of Reb Shayele! I had no idea that the rebbe was still alive, and here I thought we were going to his Kever! Everyday I learn something new, B"H!

Shout out to Sendy, Binyamin, Chesky

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Open Letter to the Roshei Yeshivos and to the Chareidie Community

An open letter to the Roshei Yeshivot and to the entire Chareidie public.

We are now on vacation from the yeshivas, your students are flooding the north, vacationing, bathing and having fun until they return to school. And we saw them this week in droves in the Sea of Galilee and in the north in general.

It could have been done differently. An entire country has been at war for two and a half years, more than 100,000 reservists are enlisted, their families are collapsing, businesses in the north are collapsing, farmers and residents of the conflict line are crying out for help.

One would have expected someone with a Jewish neshama to stop and say:

This year we will doing it differently.

This year, my students, won't go buy snacks and go to the Kinneret. This year we will volunteer, we will take part and inherit together with the people who sustain and protect  this country.

Tens of thousands of Rabbi Akiva's students died in the plague at this very time because they did not show respect to each other.

 Learn from the punishment they received from Heaven.

Hoping someone will hear this message and understand!

כתב פתוח לראשי הישיבות ולציבור החרדי כולו.

יש עכשיו חופשה מהישיבות, תלמידיכם מציפים את הצפון, נופשים, רוחצים ומבלים עד שיחזרו ללימודים (בין הזמנים). וראינו אותם השבוע בהמוניהם בכנרת ובצפון בכלל.

אפשר היה לעשות את זה אחרת. מדינה שלמה במלחמה כבר שנתיים וחצי, מעל 100 אלף אנשי מילואים מגויסים, משפחותיהם קורסות, עסקי הצפון קורסים, החקלאים ותושבי קו העימות משוועים לעזרה.

היה מצופה ממי שנשמה יהודית באפו לעצור ולומר:

השנה עושים את זה אחרת.

השנה תלמידי אל תלכו לקנות חטיפים ולכנרת לכו להתנדב, קחו חלק ונחלה יחד עם אנשים שמחזיקים את המדינה הזו.

עשרות אלפי תלמידיו של רבי עקיבא, מתו במגפה בדיוק בתקופה זו משום שלא נהגו כבוד זה לזה. תלמדו מהעונש שקיבלו מידי שמיים.

אני מקווה שאוזניים להם וישמעו.