“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Herzog tells US Jewish leaders to respect results of Israel's election
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke to American Jewish leaders on Monday, telling them to accept the results of Israel's Knesset election tomorrow regardless of the results.
Speaking by video to the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Chicago, Herzog said:
“Dear friends, tomorrow Israelis will go out to vote. I know the frequency of elections in Israel is somewhat unnerving, and I am aware of the questions posed in many Jewish communities around the world about the outcome of the elections.”
“They are also evidence of a vibrant, dynamic democracy,” he said. “We must all recognize that the Israeli people, abundant with diversity and varying opinions, are correctly exercising their fundamental democratic right to vote."
He added: “The results may or may not be to your liking, but the vote of the Israeli people should be respected. Beyond this, I say to each and every one of you that the firm, vital connection between the State of Israel and North American Jewry will not, and should not, be compromised, whatever the results."
Herzog's statements come as several American Jewish leaders have expressed concern over the prominence of Otzma Yehudit leader MK Itamar Ben-Gvir in the current election.
“I have every confidence in the bonds we share, which run deeper than politics or shifting circumstances. We are all bigger than this," Herzog said.
Kasho Rebbe "Hochul a Rasha All DemonRats are Garbage!"
A scathing pre-election speech believed to given a by a prominent Chasidic rabbi slammed Governor Kathy Hochul, denouncing her as a wicked person while issuing a scathing rebuke of any religious Jew who votes for her.
The speaker is believed to be Rabbi Avraham Sholom Blum, from Williamsburg son of the late Kasho Rebbe, Rabbi Raphael Blum, Zt’l who is highly respected as a Torah scholar and for his keen understanding of politics in addition to having been extremely involved in the yeshiva education issue.
Speaking in Yiddish in recent days, the rabbi called out Hochul supporters who say that she has defended yeshivas, noting that the governor has remained quiet on the issue and has done nothing to advocate for Jewish educational institutions, and that those who say otherwise are not being truthful.
He spoke strongly against the Democratic party, decrying them as promoters of immoral behavior.
“What I don’t understand is how in the world religious Jews can vote for any Democrat, a party that indulges in the lowest behavior and all kinds of abominations,” said the rabbi.
The rabbi had equally harsh words for Jews who vote for Hochul in the hopes that she will funnel more money to yeshivas, saying that they are overlooking how New York’s State Education Department appears to be intent on destroying the Jewish educational system.
“You forget that you are a religious Jew for a few dollars,” said the rabbi.
Sharing a conversation that he once heard from a grand rabbi, the speaker spoke out strongly against the New York Times for its relentless attacks on the Chasidic and Orthodox communities. He noted that the grand rabbi referred to the newspaper as “The New York Tima,” saying that it was full of tima – filth – “because it always has something bad to say about religious Jews.”
In contrast to his views on Hochul, the rabbi praised Congressman Lee Zeldin as an ethical individual, someone who has spoken out in favor of yeshiva education even at tremendous personal cost, with liberals attacking him for his statements.
Describing Zeldin as someone who is unafraid to stand up for the truth, the rabbi said he believed that the Republican is the best choice for New York’s next governor.
Understanding that there are those who have been considering staying home on Election Day, the rabbi said that he himself had considered not voting, but then reconsidered, realizing that it is a kiddush Hashem to show appreciation to those who support the causes that matter most to the Jewish community.
Monday, October 31, 2022
FakeNews! Lihi Lapid not a Messianic Jew.
Lihi Lapid, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, is pushing back on claims she is a messianic Jew.
Rumors that Mrs. Lapid is secretly affiliated with a Christian church began circulating on the internet last week, after a video by messianic Jewish preacher Chaim Malespin went viral.
In the video, Malespin claimed that Lihi Lapid “is a believer [in Jesus].”
“We’re in a time with more congregations, more openness to the Gospel. Even the government, the Prime Minister’s wife, is a believer right now… Yair Lapid’s wife, Lihi, is a believer.”
“Like what? This is, what? I mean a confirmed believer. This is crazy stuff going on right now in Israel. Hallelujah! Yeah, we’re living in exciting times.”
After Malespin’s video went viral, Mrs. Lapid’s personal website, LihiLapid.com, was hacked, with references to Christianity added.
In addition, Lihi Lapid’s Wikipedia page was edited to reference the rumor that she is a practicing, Christian.
“Her and her family are christians belonging to the messianic church,” the addition read.
Shortly afterwards, the Wikipedia entry was edited, removing the claim, and Lihi Lapid’s website taken down.
A spokesperson for Mrs. Lapid told the London-based Jewish Chronicle that that “Lihi Lapid's website was blocked after it had been hacked and used to spread fake news.”
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Lapid’s Yesh Atid party pushed back on the rumor, calling it “nothing short of ridiculous.”
“Somebody said something that is not true. This is the situation. It’s not true. It’s a lie. I don’t know why he said that. I don’t know what his interest is. I don’t know. But it’s a lie.”
Malespin later issued a video statement walking back his claims and issued an apology.
Want to know why Jewish People Need a State? Watch, and See
Yair Lapid’s Wife Lihia Believe In The Christian Messiah?
A number of disturbing clips claim that Lihia Lapid, wife of Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid, believes in the New Testament and Jesus.
The clips also refer to Lapid’s facebook page, in which a missionary claimed to have seen her at a rally for believers in Jesus. Lapid’s page erased this information but a title remained there stating that “Jesus is definitely on the other side.”
Lihia Lapid, whose great-grandfather Rabbi Amiel was the rabbi of Tel Aviv, has denied the claims that she believes in Jesus as “ridiculous”. However the title remained on her Facebook page
Missionary claims Lihia Lapid also believes in Jesus.
Recently after Lapid’s sister-in-law Ila’il Keren was appointed as JNF director it was revealed that she and her husband had been members of a Messianic Jews group.
In the past Yair Lapid has also said that “My ancestral lineage includes Moshe Rabbeinu, Jesus and the Rambam.”
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Chinese intelligence officials infiltrated the Biden family, ..Entire Investigations Against Trump was to Hide the Elephant in the Room...Biden's Chinese Connections
by Michael Goodwin
To announce charges in three cases against foreign operatives working in the United States, Justice Department officials held a press conference last week that recalled the Red Scare days of the 1950s. This time, the alleged Communist evil doers are Chinese, not Russians.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI director Christopher Wray and others adopted a striking anti-China tone in describing a level of venality.
They are willing to “lie, cheat and steal their way to dominance,” Wray said, pointing to criminal cases involving agriculture, academia, green technology and governments.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, citing evidence that bribes were offered to obtain inside information about Justice’s investigation of Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, said the case “shows the interconnection between . . . intelligence officers and Chinese companies.”
After the officials talked in this hostile manner for nearly 30 minutes, reporters asked questions about details. But there were no questions or any comments from officials about the elephant in the room.
Said elephant being the fact that the family of the president of the United States had deals with a Chinese bank and a Chinese energy firm that were nearly identical to the pattern the officials had just called a national security threat. Yet no one dared to mention the obvious similarity.
The see-no-evil moment underscores the lack of seriousness in much of Washington about the near certainty that President Biden is compromised by his family’s lucrative relationship with agents of the Chinese government.
Tony Bobulinski is clear-eyed about the facts and believes the danger is greater than initially estimated. The former partner of Hunter and Jim Biden in the infamous deal with CEFC, the Chinese energy giant, Bobulinski now believes the effort by a string of Chinese business leaders to hook up with the Bidens was more than just a “political or influence investment,” as he once described it.
“I believe Chinese intelligence officials infiltrated the Biden family,” he told me last week. “And I think eventually the FBI and Justice Department will peel it back and realize this was a Chinese intel operation.”
The distinction is significant because of the stakes. Bobulinski, who two years ago said Joe Biden was the “big guy” slated to get a secret 10% cut in a deal with CEFC, credits his conclusion to what he calls “aggregating all the data points.”
Based on what he saw firsthand, what was on Hunter Biden’s laptop and the disappearance of most of the Chinese officials who paid millions of dollars to the Biden family, Bobulinski now believes there is “a zero chance that all this is random.”
Indeed, the idea that the targeting of the Bidens during Joe’s years as vice president was a Chinese intelligence operation is the only explanation that makes sense. The target was too big, the effort too extensive for it to be anything else.
GOP Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson appear to be reaching a similar conclusion. They recently sent more than 200 bank documents from their probe of the Biden family to the US Attorney in Delaware who is ostensibly leading the federal probe of Hunter Biden that seems to be going nowhere.
The documents, the senators wrote, focus on “the Biden family’s connections to the Chinese regime and persons connected to its military and intelligence elements.”
Johnson told Fox News evidence the president is compromised is “hiding in plain sight.”
Broadly speaking, all of China’s spy network, cyber intrusions and theft of technology and business secrets undercut America and advance China’s aim of global domination.
National-security issue
But intelligence and military operations targeting America take the battle to a new level because of the aim of piercing our national security. A Carnegie Endowment report last spring summed up the results: “China’s intelligence agencies have stolen a significant volume of US military secrets in recent years, including aircraft designs. They have penetrated US political campaigns to gain insight into future American policymaking. And they have compromised America’s own espionage networks, reportedly helping to expose and disrupt US intelligence activities in China.”
The report added an ominous point: “China’s intelligence targeting of American officials has become a major justification for US tech restrictions.”
Nearly all those espionage earmarks converge to support the view the Biden family was targeted — and took the bait.
How much damage has been done already seems to be of no concern to Garland, Wray and the somnolent Washington media. Despite having Hunter’s laptop since 2019, there is zero indication the FBI has even considered the clear evidence that Joe benefited from the many millions Chinese handlers wired to Hunter’s accounts. Their inaction smells like a deliberate attempt not to know.
By all means, the Justice Department should continue to crack down on China’s myriad efforts to lie, cheat and steal its way to global dominance.
But its duty to safeguard national security makes it imperative that investigators also pay special attention to China’s efforts to undermine America’s strength by targeting key individuals and families. The failure to hold the Bidens to that standard is a national scandal today that could lead to a national catastrophe tomorrow.
Did You Know that there are 20,000 dead bodies buried under Washington Square Park?
Washington Square is one of New York’s liveliest parks, with NYU students, dog walkers, street performers, tourists and drug dealers crowding its nearly 10 acres of lush sidewalks and meeting spots. But just below all this bustling humanity lurks a shocking secret: 20,000 dead bodies.
“What lies beneath that splendid, recently re-landscaped and renovated outdoor sanctuary is a bit more morbid,” research librarian Carmen Nigro wrote in a blog post for the New York Public Library.
From 1797 to roughly 1820, the eastern two-thirds of Washington Square Park was a potter’s field, where the bodies of poor and unidentified New Yorkers were unceremoniously dumped in mass graves. For just $4,500, New York City purchased the plot so impoverished locals could afford a decent spot to rest in peace.
Two hundred years later, the organization NYC Ghosts gathers a tour group every night below the park’s iconic arch to tell the spooky stories of the neighborhood. On one recent foggy evening, a lanky tour guide holding a lantern said park-goers “feel sudden cold chills on hot summer nights as they walk over the mass burials. Others have seen shadowy figures in the trees that vanish when approached.”
“This is nothing but death all around here,” another ghost hunter affiliated with NYC Ghosts told a YouTube show. “Is it haunted? Absolutely. I mean there has got to be those spirits and energy that’s still here.”
Certainly, Washington Square Park’s history is teeming with stories that would send a shiver down anyone’s spine.
Who will win the midterms? Ask bettors, not pollsters
Some pundits say that Democrats will win the midterms.
MSNBC tells us, “Democrats are seeing momentum headed into midterms.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims, “We will hold the House by winning more seats!”
Really? Want to bet?
This fall, CNN’s Douglas Brinkley said, “There is a blue wave going on right now.” Michael Moore agreed: “There is going to be such a landslide” of elected Democrats.
At the time those predictions were made, people who bet on elections believed Republicans had better than a 70% chance of winning back the House.
Whom should we trust?
We can listen to:
No. 1: People who bet.
No. 2: The media pundits.
No. 3: Polls.
No. 4: Professional election forecasters.
Among forecasters, Nate Silver has the best track record. Early this week, his FiveThirtyEight website gave Democrats a 55% chance to hold the Senate (it’s since dipped down to 52%). The Economist’s forecasters give Democrats even better odds.
But I don’t believe them.
I believe the people who bet.
Saturday, October 29, 2022
When Jewish ‘honor courts’ Post WW2 Tried Jews as Kapos
Jewish police detaining a former kapo who was recognized by former concentration camp inmates in the Zeilsheim Displaced Persons camp, Germany, ca. 1945. |
In the wake of World War II, many Holocaust survivors in Europe and Israel grappled with a desire for revenge. Some turned to improvised “honor courts” for relief.
Created within reconstituted Jewish communities and displaced persons (DP) camps, the tribunals had no jurisdiction outside of the Jewish community.
Active until 1950, the informal judiciaries handed out punishments ranging from bans on holding public office to banishment from the community.
“The courts tried survivors who were accused of having acted immorally toward other Jews and allegedly having helped the Nazis in their genocide,” said historian Laura Jockusch, who spoke about honor courts during a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum virtual event on October 26.
Estimates on the number of alleged “collaborators” put on trial vary, but the Jewish community in Poland alone opened 175 files and prosecuted 25 Jews as collaborators.
In German DP camps, where thousands of survivors lived, American authorities allowed honor courts and commissions for “liberated Jews” to “purge fugitive collaborators from the ranks of the Jewish community,” said Jockusch.
Historians estimate up to 200 people were tried in DP camp-based proceedings.
Ezra Friedlander Sends Yiddish Message that States That those Exposing Maimonides Hospital Are "Liars!"
MUST READ! pic.twitter.com/uK5MB2TMZU
— Ezra Friedlander (@EzraFriedlander) October 26, 2022
Friday, October 28, 2022
Elon Musk completes Twitter takeover, begins firing woke execs
Let that Sink In |
Elon Musk finally completed his $44 billion Twitter takeover deal, firing the company’s CEO and financial chief and ending a lengthy tug-of-war with its board of directors just before a key deadline, according to a source close to the situation.
Musk took the struggling social network private late Thursday, ousting Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bloomberg News reported early Friday that Musk plans to take over as Twitter’s CEO — at least on an interim basis.
It wasn’t immediately clear who would replace Segal as CFO.
Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, sources said. Musk had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
Musk also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, and Sean Edgett, general counsel, according to the Wall Street Journal.
CALL THE FAKE DOCTOR! Jill Biden to Campaign for Threatened NY-17 Rep. Maloney
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the Democratic congressman from NY-17 on the precipice of a stunning loss to Republican Mike Lawler is calling in the doctor for help. Dr. Jill Biden, who is a teacher, that is.
The First Lady will campaign with the embattled congressman this Sunday in Mount Kisco in an effort to save the head of House Democrats’ campaign arm from an embarrassing defeat. Biden will also attend several other events in support of Democratic candidates in New York.
Earlier this week, the Cook Political Report moved the Maloney vs. Lawler race from “lean Democrat” to “toss up,” a sign of how difficult an election cycle 2022’s midterms is for Democrats.
Republicans have thrown massive amounts of money at the campaign as confidence rises that they could take out the powerful Democrat. In turn, the DCCC, which Maloney leads, has made a $605,000 ad buy in the district to help him secure his seat.
“It will be quite a feather in their cap to knock off the DCCC chair,” Democratic strategist John Reinish said. “He is a very effective burr in their collective saddle, so the idea that they could knock him off would be one that would be very tantalizing.”
Why Did The Israeli Bus Driver Cross The Road?
The story of the bus driver who crossed the road that is circulating in Israel has restored some people’s faith in the kindness of bus drivers.
The protagonist of the story is Moshe Biton, a bus driver for the 65 Egged bus line, which travels from Pisat Ze’ev to Givat Shaul in Jerusalem.
A Facebook user, Ravit Shalom, wrote the moving story on Facebook: “This morning, on bus 65, an elderly blind woman got on the bus and tearfully told the driver that the day before she waited a very long time for someone to help her cross the street and no one paid any attention to her.”
What did Biton do? When he reached the woman’s bus stop, he stopped the bus and patiently escorted the woman across the street.