Letโs tune out all the static so we can truly connect. Put away the phones and technology, light the Shabbat candles, sanctify the day over a cup of wine, enjoy wholesome meals with family, and reconnect through Torah study and meaningful conversation. Then do it all over again next week.
Wishing everyone a meaningful, uplifting, and impactful National Shabbat.
Nachmanides on Book of Deuteronomy 11:18:
ืืฃ ืขื ืคื ืฉืื ื ืืืื ืืชืื ืื ืืืจืฅ ืืืืฆื ืืืจืฅ, ืืื ืืฆืืืื ืื ืืืฆืืืช ืืื ืฉืื ืืืื ืขืืืื ืืืฉืื ืืฉืชืืืจื, ืื ืขืืงืจ ืื ืืืฆืืืช ืืืืฉืืื ืืืจืฅ ืืณ
โEven though I exile you from the Land to outside the Land, remain distinguished with mitzvos so that they will not be new to you when you return, for the essential fulfillment of all the mitzvos is for those dwelling in the Land of Hashem
If this is going to be a good faith conversation please 1st concede the point that Eretz Yisroel is essential to fully fulfill our mission as Yiddin. There are a dozen or so pesukim that are clear the reason Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim to begin with was in order to bring us to Eretz Yisroel. This point is axiomatic. Then we can discuss what that means.
but if you really want to know, his Torah could not be fully lived that is why he wanted to enter so badly.
there is also a well-known Midrashic idea that Har Sinai was ultimately โtransferredโ to the site of the Beis Hamikdash on Har HaMoriah/Har Habayis.
The basis is the verse in Tehillim comparing Har Sinai and Har Bashan, along with Chazal that connect the revelation at Sinai to the future resting place of the Shechinah in Yerushalayim. The Ramban at the beginning of Terumah develops the idea that the Mishkan was essentially a continuation of Maamad Har Sinai, and from there the Shechinah ultimately rested permanently on Har Habayis.
That argument falls apart when you realize that the Maharsha on and the Chasam Sofer (YD 236) discuss opinions that Har Sinai itself was within the borders of Eretz Yisroel.
And the sefer hachareidim writes that โgoy echad baaretzโ โ one nation in the land โ applies specifically in Eretz Yisroel. Torah, nationhood, are only fully expressed in Israel .
Scott Ritter, a former American intelligence officer:
โIf I were Iranian, I would dismantle Israelโs salt refineries right now. I would finish off Israel.
Israel needs to be eliminated. It is literally the cancer of the planet.โ
Is there a Hidden Resentment Inside Every Act of Generosity?
I visited Bethlehem and Hebron, traced a philosophical rupture at the heart of Jewish history, all to answer one question hidden in the Book of Ruth.
The answer changes how you think about charity, parenting, societyโฆ and what it means to receive the Torah itself.
The person receiving charity often secretly resents the giver.
Not because they're ungrateful. But because receiving, without the ability to give back, quietly strips away your dignity.
The Talmud calls it "the bread of shame."
This is why Lot fled Abraham. Why teenagers slam doors. Why Adam's first act after creation was rebellion.
And it's exactly the problem the Book of Ruth was written to solve.
Ruth's insight changed everything: the receiver doesn't diminish the giver. The receiver creates the giver. You cannot give if there is no one to receive.
Together, they build the act of kindness. Neither above the other. Partners.
That's why we read Ruth on Shavuot. Because the only one truly ready to receive the Torah is someone who understands that in receiving, they become indispensable.
Fake Rabbi Jake is a Reform Jew masquerading as a representative of normative Orthodox Judaism. Claiming that Jews are โnot a nationโ and have no national identity collapses under even the most basic reading of the Bible and Jewish history. The Jewish people are described from the very beginning as: a people descended from common ancestors, bound by a shared covenant, tied to a specific land, with shared laws, courts, holidays, language, history, and destiny. The Bible speaks constantly about: national exile, national return, restoration of sovereignty, rebuilding Jerusalem, gathering the exiles, kingship, borders, and collective responsibility. That is not merely a religion in the modern Western sense. It is a civilization, a people, and a covenantal nation. Even the early Reform movement understood this. One of the FIRST things they explicitly changed in the 1800s was declaring: โWe consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community.โ Why would they need to โreformโ that idea away if it was never part of Judaism to begin with? You can debate modern politics. You can debate Zionism. You can debate how and when Jewish sovereignty should exist. But pretending Judaism historically viewed Jews as only a religion with no national identity is simply disconnected from the text, the prayers, and 3,000 years of Jewish history.
It is extremely easy to get Israel out of any of these:
Lebanon - the Lebanese army needs to fulfil what it signed many times. Disarm Hezbollah. Then Israel leaves
Gaza: Hamas fulfils what it committed to. Hand its weapons over to the new Gazan leadership.
Syria: commit to an end to the official state of war; make peace. Then Israel leaves.
Just like Israel fully left Sinai when Egypt made peace.
The West Bank could have gone that way too. But at the 1968 Khartoum conference the Arab League issued its 3 โnoโsโ: no peace, no recognition, no negotiation.
Translation: uncompromising commitment to war to try to destroy Israel.
The Palestinians could have had the West Bank several times, but refused to sign the paper formally agreeing to end the conflict and accepting a non-Arab non-Muslim state in the region.
"The truth about their character comes out.โ
@DLoesch breaks down Massie's recent 180's including accepting donations from some interesting sources ๐
Podcast: https://t.co/A9ZuQuXe0x
Not realising that historically many blood libels had masses of heads of the equivalent of civil society organisations. Whether Churches, courts, charities or whatever.
None of that made obvious falsehoods true. But the nature of blood libels is that they pick up mass group think and that group think extends to self appointed ethical arbiters.
Most blood libels also sweep along Jews at the fringes of Jewish society too who fall in line and โaffirmโ the accusation.
In todayโs case every group @mehdirhasan sites includes people who had already accused Israel of genocide before the war began, people who have advocated for the definition to be changed so that Israel can be accused of it (in many cases before this war) or people who have openly called for the destruction of the state of Israel.
Pretty much everyone on your list ticks at least one and in some cases all three boxes.