The Controversial Topic of Sholom Rubashkin Being a “Jewish Hero” - Two things can be true at once — the system can be cruel, and the man can be culpable.

 

Let’s say this cleanly, without theatrics or euphemisms: calling Sholom Rubashkin a Jewish hero is not an act of compassion. It is an act of confusion. And confusion, dressed up as loyalty, is one of the most dangerous habits a community can cultivate.

A hero, in Jewish tradition, is not someone who merely suffers. A hero is not someone who draws sympathy. A hero is not someone around whom we rally because the outside world feels hostile. Our mesorah is painfully clear: “Eizehu gibor? Ha’koveish et yitzro” — Who is mighty? One who conquers his impulses. 

Not one who becomes a symbol because the system overreached, but one who lives in a way that leaves no need for symbolism in the first place.

Yes, Rubashkin’s sentence was excessive. Yes, the prosecution was aggressive. Yes, there were legitimate questions about proportionality, prosecutorial conduct, and selective outrage. Many people of conscience — Jewish and non-Jewish — recoiled at the spectacle of a man effectively buried alive for white-collar crimes that routinely earn others far less. To protest injustice is Jewish. To demand mercy is Jewish. To mobilize politically for clemency is Jewish. That part of the story deserves respect.

But here is where the communal mind short-circuited: injustice does not transmute a defendant into a tzaddik. An unfair sentence does not retroactively launder behavior. The Torah does not work on a cable-news moral scale where outrage converts flaws into virtues. Two things can be true at once — the system can be cruel, and the man can be culpable.

What happened instead was something far more corrosive. Rubashkin was elevated not despite the controversy, but because of it. He became a vessel for collective grievance. He was turned into proof that “they are against us,” and once that transformation occurred, facts became secondary, nuance became betrayal, and moral accounting became verboten. That is not Judaism; that is tribal reflex.

Judaism does not fear teshuvah — it demands it. If Rubashkin repented, rebuilt, prayed, learned, inspired others in prison — all of that matters deeply. The gates of repentance are never closed. But teshuvah is inward work, not public coronation. Teshuvah restores a person’s relationship with God; it does not automatically entitle him to communal sainthood or historical absolution. Dovid Hamelech repented — and still lived with consequences. Yehuda repented — and still carried shame. Our heroes are great because they are judged honestly, not because we shield them from judgment.

The rush to call Rubashkin a hero teaches our children something dangerous: that communal pain excuses moral shortcuts; that suffering sanctifies; that loyalty means suspending discernment. It teaches that if the outside world is harsh enough, we will abandon our own standards just to spite it. That is not strength. That is insecurity wearing a black hat.

Worse still, this rhetoric hollows out Jewish moral language. When hero means “one of us who was punished,” then hero means nothing. When every cause célèbre becomes a martyr, true martyrs disappear. When every defendant becomes a symbol, justice becomes optional. A people that cheapens its words eventually cheapens its values.

None of this requires cruelty. None of this requires erasing compassion. We can say: the sentence was wrong. We can say: the prosecution was excessive. We can say: mercy was appropriate. And we can say all of that without rewriting reality, without mythologizing a businessman into a moral exemplar, without confusing communal defense with moral endorsement.

Sholom Rubashkin is not the villain the tabloids wanted — and he is not the hero some Jews desperately needed him to be. He is something far more uncomfortable: a mirror. A mirror showing how quickly fear turns into idolatry, how fast injustice morphs into myth, how easily a wounded community trades ethical clarity for emotional solidarity.

If we want heroes, Judaism has an endless supply — people who chose truth over tribe, integrity over convenience, humility over applause. If we want symbols, we will keep manufacturing them out of controversy and outrage.

 But if we want Torah — real Torah — we will learn to defend our own fiercely without lying to ourselves about who they are.

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/two-things-can-be-true-at-once-the-system-is-cruel-the-man-can-be-culpable/

John Bolton on Trump/Greenland.... ...

 

 

Now is the time to admit it, America: He’s a dangerous, lunatic moron

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/opinion-now-is-the-time-to-admit-it-america-he-s-a-dangerous-lunatic-moron/ar-AA1UxA2e

שומר ישראל

Netanyahu vows Turkish, Qatari soldiers won’t enter Gaza, admits to ‘argument’ with US - Times Of Israel

Mr. Trump,

Stop calling it peace.

What you are proposing is not reconciliation, not justice, not healing. It is you inserting yourself into history like a wrecking ball and demanding applause for the damage.

You did not earn authority over Gaza. You announced it. You did not consult legitimacy. You crowned yourself chairman. That single act exposes the fraud at the center of your project: peace does not begin with a man who cannot imagine not being in charge.

You don’t want peace. You gather Israel’s enemies and call it balance.

You invite Qatar, the banker of Hamas, and Turkey, whose leadership profits from demonizing Israel, and you pretend this is wisdom rather than provocation. You elevate cynics and arsonists to the status of overseers and dare anyone to object — because objection interferes with your hyped self-image. 

This is not realism. It is arrogance lubricated by ignorance. You will be remembered as a man who mistook noise for authority, money for morality, control for wisdom — and himself for history.

Paul Mendlowitz 

Don’t Kid Yourselves: Trump Is a Long-Term Disaster for the United States

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/health/tylenol-autism-acetaminophen-study.html

No Link Between Acetaminophen in Pregnancy and Autism, a New Study Finds

The review looked at more than three dozen studies and found no evidence that acetaminophen increased the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.

 

 This isn’t about left versus right, Democrat versus Republican, red hats versus blue hair. This is about reality versus illusion, about whether a civilization understands the difference between noise and strength, chaos and leadership. The United States has flirted with demagogues before, but Donald Trump is something more corrosive: a long-term institutional acid that eats away at everything it touches—law, trust, alliances, truth itself.

In Jewish terms, this is not a debate about personalities. This is a debate about sechel—basic intelligence—and the tragic consequences when a nation confuses bravado for wisdom.

The Torah does not oppose kings. It opposes bad kings—those who mistake their ego for destiny. The Navi does not warn Israel about foreign enemies nearly as much as it warns about leaders intoxicated by their own reflection. Shaul fell not because he lacked strength, but because he lacked humility. Rechavam split the kingdom because he chose bluster over counsel.

Trump fits squarely into that lineage. He governs—when he governs at all—by instinct, grievance, and television ratings. The Rambam writes that leadership requires daas, not theatrics. Trump has spent a decade proving that he has volume without depth, anger without strategy, and confidence without comprehension.

The Erosion of Institutions Is Not “Draining the Swamp”

Trump’s defenders speak endlessly about “draining the swamp.” What they really mean is burning down the mikdash because you dislike the kohanim. Yes, American institutions are flawed. Yes, bureaucracy can rot. But Trump’s answer is not reform—it is delegitimization.

Courts are “rigged.” Elections are “stolen.” Intelligence agencies are “traitors.” Journalists are “enemies of the people.” Allies are “freeloaders.” Generals are “losers.” Anyone who contradicts him is corrupt by definition. This is not conservatism. This is not populism. This is nihilism.

In Jewish history, the destruction of institutions always precedes catastrophe. Once people stop believing in law, they stop obeying it. Once truth becomes negotiable, power becomes the only currency left. That is not freedom. Trump boasts that “the world respected us.” This is fantasy bordering on delusion. The world feared American unpredictability the way one fears a drunk driver—not with respect, but with anxiety.

Alliances built over seventy years were treated like bad real estate deals. NATO was mocked. Long-term deterrence was replaced with impulsive threats. Dictators learned a simple lesson: flatter the man, ignore the country.

The Gemara teaches that chacham ro’eh et hanolad—the wise person sees what comes next. Trump sees only the next headline. America’s enemies plan in decades. Trump plans in tweets.

The result? A weakened global order where adversaries test boundaries and allies hedge their bets. Empires do not fall from one blow; they rot from repeated foolishness at the top.

Trump normalized cruelty as entertainment. Mockery replaced dignity. Lying became strategy. Violence became “understandable.” Lawbreaking became heroic. Children learned that power excuses everything.

In Jewish language, this is chilul Hashem on a civilizational scale. When leadership teaches that nothing is sacred—not elections, not oaths, not truth—it invites societal breakdown. People stop trusting outcomes, then neighbors, then each other.

You cannot build a nation on permanent outrage. You can only burn one down.

Jews have seen this movie before, and it never ends well. When people cling to a strongman, it is usually because they have lost faith in themselves. Trump does not restore American confidence—he feeds on American insecurity.

A truly strong leader does not demand loyalty; he earns it. He does not scream “I alone can fix it”; he builds systems that outlast him. He does not divide relentlessly; he unifies grudgingly, responsibly, imperfectly—but genuinely.

Trump offers none of this. What he offers is addiction—to grievance, to spectacle, to perpetual crisis. And like all addictions, it leaves the host weaker over time.

Future historians will not debate Trump’s tweets. They will study the damage: the erosion of democratic norms, the coarsening of public life, the strategic self-sabotage, the hollowing out of trust.

They will ask how a great nation confused chaos for courage and narcissism for strength. They will ask why so many intelligent people chose denial over discernment.

And they will conclude what should already be obvious: Donald Trump was not a solution to America’s problems. He was a multiplier of them.

Judaism teaches that leadership is an obligation, not a performance. That power must be restrained by law, wisdom, and fear of consequences. Trump embodies the opposite: power without restraint, speech without responsibility, ego without limit.

So don’t kid yourselves. This isn’t about whether you like his enemies or distrust elites. This is about whether the United States intends to survive as a serious civilization—or amuse itself into decline.

Empires don’t collapse from external enemies first. They collapse from internal foolishness, crowned as strength. And that, tragically, is Trump’s legacy.

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dont-kid-yourselves-trump-is-a-long-term-disaster-for-the-united-states/

Just Sayin' :-)----Learning Music Rewires Your Brain for Intelligence | Neuroscience Explains

What Dov Landau and His Miserable Ilk Will Never Understand Or Care! The IDF Soldier PTSD Crisis.....

"Moshav leitzim" --- where a company of people literally doing nothing else than engaging in frivolty and lightheaded, empty speech ---- The Technology Circus - Part Two!

 

What is a Moshav Leitzim? (Avodah Zarah 18b): “One who goes to a  circus or to a house of laughter

A second asifa addressing the growing impact of artificial intelligence was held Thursday night in Lakewood, drawing senior dreaming rabbinic artificial unintelligent leadership and continuing a discussion that began earlier this week.

The gathering focused on concerns surrounding AI-driven calling, texting, and content generation, and followed an initial asifah that drew dozens of leading rabbanim and roshei yeshiva, where the gedolim called for a yom taanis u’tefillah over the threats posed by AI. A date has not been set for when that will take place.

Thursday night’s meeting featured remarks from Rav Elyah Ber Wachtfogel, Rav Malkiel Kotler and Rav Yisroel Newman, who addressed both the technological and hashkafic implications of artificial intelligence.

During his remarks, Rav Yisroel Newman warned that artificial intelligence poses dangers he described as more severe than those associated with the general internet. Rav Malkiel addressed the use of AI in Torah learning, stating that Torah learned through AI-generated means would not warrant a bracha, characterizing such a bracha as a berachah levatalah.

 

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Leitzim Versus Baalei (Hashem Yisborech's) Daas..... 

 

AI can now use sleep to predict your medical future

In A Nutshell

• Stanford researchers trained an AI model on sleep recordings from 65,000+ people and found it could predict risk for 130 diseases years before diagnosis
• The system achieved 84% accuracy for predicting mortality risk and similar high accuracy for dementia, heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and other conditions
• Sleep recordings capture hidden patterns across brain activity, heart rhythms, breathing, and muscle movements that signal future health problems
• The findings suggest polysomnography may eventually become a powerful early detection tool, though current sleep studies require specialized clinical equipment

Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that can predict a person’s risk of developing conditions ranging from dementia to heart failure by analyzing a single night of sleep data. The findings suggest that sleep patterns contain far more information about future health than previously recognized.

Researchers at Stanford University and collaborators trained an AI model called SleepFM on polysomnography recordings from more than 65,000 people, representing over 585,000 hours of sleep data. Polysomnography is the gold standard sleep study that records brain activity, heart rhythms, breathing patterns, and muscle movements throughout the night.

After analyzing these overnight recordings, the model identified elevated future risk for 130 medical conditions, often years before clinical diagnosis. For all-cause mortality, the system achieved a concordance index of 0.84, meaning it correctly ranked patient risk 84% of the time. Similar accuracy emerged for dementia (0.85), heart attack (0.81), heart failure (0.80), chronic kidney disease (0.79), stroke (0.78), and atrial fibrillation (0.78).

“Sleep is a fundamental biological process with broad implications for physical and mental health, yet its complex relationship with disease remains poorly understood,” the researchers wrote in their paper published in Nature Medicine.

AI Analyzes Multiple Sleep Signals Simultaneously

The study examined sleep recordings from four major research cohorts spanning ages 1 to 100 years. Traditional sleep studies focus on specific disorders like sleep apnea or measure isolated metrics. SleepFM takes a different approach by processing all physiological signals simultaneously—brain wave patterns, eye movements, heart activity, muscle tone, and breathing measurements.

The system breaks down sleep recordings into five-second segments, analyzing patterns across different signal types to identify which combinations predict future disease. For disease prediction, researchers paired Stanford sleep recordings with electronic health records containing diagnostic codes and timestamps. They only counted cases where diagnosis occurred at least seven days after the sleep study to avoid detecting existing conditions.

 

Strong Predictions Across Major Disease Categories

SleepFM demonstrated particularly strong predictive power for neurological and mental health conditions, including mild cognitive impairment and Parkinson’s disease. Among cardiovascular conditions, the system effectively predicted hypertensive heart disease and intracranial hemorrhage. Cancer-related risk prediction showed promising associations for prostate cancer, breast cancer, and skin melanomas.

The model maintained accuracy when tested on sleep recordings from 2020 onwards, a period entirely excluded from training. This validation included strong performance for death (0.83), heart failure (0.80), and dementia (0.83).

 These findings reveal that a single night’s sleep contains a wealth of information about future health across numerous conditions. Sleep patterns may serve as an early warning signal for diseases that won’t manifest for years, offering potential opportunities for earlier intervention and prevention.

MORE: https://studyfinds.org/scientists-decode-sleep-patterns-to-forecast-future-health-risks/?

The Epidemic of Rabbis Without Sechel - The Obsession With Predicting the Exact Time of Moshiach

Remarks were delivered overnight by Rav Reuven Elbaz, Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr HaChaim and a member of the Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah of Shas, as he addressed the condition of Klal Yisroel and the dramatic period through which we are currently passing.

In his words, Rav Elbaz expressed absolute confidence in the nearness of the geulah, speaking with sharp and unequivocal language. “My heart is certain,” the Rav said. “We are not talking about distant times. Not months. We are in moments, in hours, in days — and perhaps in the coming weeks — before the revelation of the true light.”

There is a strange and dangerous epidemic spreading through parts of the Jewish world: rabbis without sechel—without basic intellectual honesty, without humility before history, and without fear of embarrassing Heaven—publicly predicting the exact time of Moshiach and the Final Redemption as if they were announcing the arrival of a FedEx package.

This is not emunah. This is not mesorah. This is not even old-fashioned Jewish foolishness. It is spiritual malpractice.

Judaism has survived for millennia not because of date-setters, but in spite of them.

The Gemara does not whisper. It screams: “Tippach atzman shel mechashvei kitzin”—“May the bones rot of those who calculate the End” (Sanhedrin 97b). Not “they might be mistaken.” Not “they should be cautious.” May their bones rot.

That is not poetic flourish. That is Chazal diagnosing a disease. A disease where ego dresses itself up as prophecy, and ignorance masquerades as holiness.

Yet here we are, centuries later, with bearded men livestreaming kabbalistic numerology like day traders hawking crypto scams. “This month.” “No—this week.” “No—this Shabbos.”

Every failure is followed by a shrug, a new calculation, and an audience too polite—or too frightened—to ask the obvious question: If you were wrong last time, why should anyone trust you now?

The Rambam could not be clearer. In Hilchos Melachim, he warns against obsessing over the mechanics and timing of redemption. Moshiach will come, he says—but the details are unknowable, and speculation only weakens faith when predictions collapse.

And collapse they always do.

False certainty does not strengthen emunah. It poisons it. Because when redemption is promised on a date and fails to arrive, the people do not blame the rabbi. They blame God. That damage lasts generations.

Let us speak plainly. Predicting the time of Moshiach is not theology—it is psychology. It thrives in chaos. It feeds on fear. It flourishes when people feel powerless.

A frightened public wants certainty. A weak rabbi wants relevance. So he delivers “secret knowledge,” coded charts, hidden gematrias, whispers from “great mekubalim,” conveniently unverifiable and eternally flexible.

This is not prophecy. It is religious populism. And like all populism, it collapses when confronted with reality—then reinvents itself under a new slogan.

Our history is littered with the corpses of kitzin. Shabbtai Tzvi. Jacob Frank. Endless medieval “calculators of the End.”

Every one of them claimed Torah. Every one of them cited Zohar. Every one of them destroyed lives. And still, modern rabbis repeat the same arrogance, as if Jewish history reset itself because they have a WhatsApp group.

The audacity is breathtaking.

What happens when these proclamations go viral? The outside world laughs. The inside world fractures. The young walk away.

Judaism begins to look like a doomsday cult rather than a civilization of law, ethics, learning, and restraint. A rabbi who announces exact dates for redemption is not bringing Moshiach closer. He is pushing thoughtful Jews further away.

That is not zeal. That is chilul Hashem with a microphone.

Real Jewish leadership sounds boring to those addicted to drama. It says we do not know the timetable. It says we are commanded to act morally regardless. It says redemption is built through responsibility, not riddles. It says Torah is not a crystal ball.

It says what Chazal said: “Im yavo—achakeh lo.” If he comes, we will be ready. If not, we will still live like Jews.

No hysteria. No countdown clocks. No spiritual gambling.

The bitter irony is that those screaming loudest about Moshiach often ignore the very behaviors Chazal say delay redemption: corruption, dishonesty, cruelty, arrogance, and the silencing of dissent.

You cannot bully the Jewish people into redemption. You cannot frighten them into holiness. And you certainly cannot spreadsheet your way to divine intervention.

Moshiach is not summoned by bravado.

The Jewish people do not need more predictions. We need more sechel. More integrity. More leaders brave enough to say: I don’t know.

Because a rabbi who admits uncertainty may lose followers—but he saves Judaism.

And if Moshiach does arrive tomorrow, he will not ask who guessed the date correctly. He will ask who preserved truth when lies were easier.

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-epidemic-of-rabbis-without-sechel/

Haredi Boycott of Yeshivas who denigrate IDF-Rabbi Nechemia Steinberger/...

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health that described “a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

 

 

Smartphones Associated with Depression, Obesity, and Poor Sleep in Adolescents

Eli Cahan, MD, MS, Neonatology Fellow, Stanford University

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Article type: Pediatrics Blog

Topics:

Adolescent Health/Medicine Public Health

Editor’s Note: Dr. Eli Cahan is a former editor of the Section on Pediatric Trainees (SOPT) feature in Pediatrics, and an investigative journalist who covers child welfare. He is also a neonatology fellow at Stanford University. - Rachel Y. Moon, MD, Associate Editor, Pediatrics

When the topic turns to smartphones, every parent of a teen I’ve spoken to recently reacts the same: ugh. The fragmented conversations, devoid of words and full of swipes. The bedtimes, come and gone. The battles at the dinner table, in the car, during the walk in the park, and on and on. 

As smartphones have proliferated—according to data from the Pew Research Center, nearly 95% of teens reported having access to one—so too have concerns about their potential impact on the cognitive and socioemotional development, as well as physical and mental health, of youth. For example, a July study in MMWR found that “teenagers with higher non-schoolwork screen use were more likely to experience a series of adverse health outcomes” across physical and mental health domains.

While further research is needed to understand what exactly is so toxic about smartphone use, experts repeatedly point to the impact of social media. In 2023, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health that described “a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health warns of exposure to “a wide range of apps and websites that aren’t intended for children and teens” such as social media platforms—which in turn present risks to the health of exposed youth.

Still, large-scale data on the longitudinal health impacts of smartphone ownership in adolescents is lacking. Research by Dr. Ran Barzilay and colleagues from University of Pennsylvania, University of California Berkeley, and Columbia University being early released this week in Pediatrics adds to that data (10.1542/peds.2025-072941). They analyzed 2016-2022 national data on more than 10,500 9-16-year-olds from 21 sites, to test associations of smartphone ownership and age of first smartphone acquisition and adverse health outcomes at age 12.

The authors found that odds of depression, obesity, and insufficient sleep were 31%, 40%, and 62% higher in 12-year-olds who owned a smartphone than those who didn’t. They also found that the odds of obesity and insufficient sleep increased almost 10% for each additional year of owning a smartphone before age 12. Lastly, they found that 13-year-olds who owned a smartphone were 57% more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for mental illness.

“No clear evidence exists on the explanation for the deleterious associations between smartphone ownership and youth development,” the authors write.

However, they add, “smartphone use contributes to fragmented attention, increased checking behaviors (which may impact relationships), and extended use (particularly in the evenings), which may lead to both mental and physical health challenges and less sleep, especially during a period of development whereby many youth may not have sufficiently mature self-regulatory skills to make optimal choices regarding their smartphone use.”

Those interested in learning more about the health impacts of smartphone use in adolescents today would be well served to review the article and its corresponding video abstract in this month’s issue of Pediatrics.

https://publications.aap.org/journal-blogs/blog/33876/Smartphones-Associated-with-Depression-Obesity-and?

An Open Letter to Haredi Leadership: Your Mouths Are Endangering Jewish Children - And now a 14-year-old Jewish child has paid the price.

 

Words Kill — Especially When Rabbis Speak

When Rav Dov Lando and his peers describe the Jewish state, its soldiers, and its institutions as enemies of Torah, you are not delivering mussar. You are issuing moral permission slips.

You know exactly how this works. Jewish history documents it in blood. When rabbis dehumanize fellow Jews, unstable people hear a heter. When leaders frame fellow Jews as traitors to God, someone always decides that “doing God’s work” requires action.

Stop Hiding Behind Children You Don’t Protect

This is no longer a debate about ideology, theology, or the boundaries of dissent. It is about responsibility. When rabbinic leaders speak in absolutist, delegitimizing language—casting fellow Jews, the Jewish state, or its defenders as enemies of Torah—they are not engaging in abstract thought. They are shaping reality. And now a 14-year-old Jewish child has paid the price.

This did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in an atmosphere deliberately cultivated by senior Haredi leadership, including Rabbi Dov Lando, where words are weaponized and consequences are outsourced. Jewish history teaches one lesson with brutal consistency: when rabbis inflame, the vulnerable suffer first. Not the powerful. Not the ideologues. Children.

Claims of innocence ring hollow. “We never told anyone to do this” is not a defense recognized by Judaism. Halacha does not judge leaders by intent alone but by foreseeable outcomes. Moshe is punished for a single misstep of speech. Eli HaKohen is condemned not for what he did, but for what he failed to stop. Leadership without accountability is not Torah leadership—it is negligence wrapped in sanctity.

When rabbis frame other Jews as spiritual enemies, unstable listeners hear permission. When leaders speak of existential war against fellow Jews, someone always decides that action is required. This is not theory. It is precedent. And pretending surprise when rhetoric metastasizes into harm is either willful blindness or moral dishonesty.

The deeper rot is structural. Much of today’s Haredi leadership has perfected an ideology that externalizes risk. Others fight wars. Others absorb terror. Others bury their dead. Meanwhile, those who speak most recklessly remain insulated—physically, socially, and politically—from the consequences of their own words. This is not mesirus nefesh. It is moral draft-dodging.

Judaism does not permit sacrificing minors on the altar of ideological purity. That is not zealotry for Heaven; it is pagan logic disguised as piety. When Torah language makes Jewish children unsafe, Torah itself is being desecrated. No amount of learning, no pile of responsa, no invocation of “Daas Torah” can launder that stain.

At a moment when Jews face rising global hostility, this rhetoric does something unforgivable: it fractures the Jewish people from within. It teaches that some Jews are holy while others are expendable. That some lives are protected while others are collateral. History does not forgive rabbis who sow internal destruction during crisis. It remembers them precisely—and harshly.

What Torah does not survive is leaders who abandon basic Jewish ethics while claiming divine authority. Recklessness is not courage. Incitement is not faith. And sanctimony is not holiness.

A line has been crossed. A child has already been thrown under the bus of ideology and murdered!.

If Haredi leadership does not immediately and publicly retract dangerous language, condemn rhetoric that endangers minors, and reaffirm that pikuach nefesh overrides all ideology, then responsibility for what comes next is clear. It will not belong to “extremists,” “misinterpretations,” or “the street.” It will belong to the men who spoke recklessly and called it Torah.

Jewish history is unsentimental. It does not forget names. And it does not confuse learning with righteousness.

 

REPUBLISHED

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/to-haredi-leadership-your-mouths-are-endangering-jewish-children/

Violent Rhetoric By 95 Year Old Dov Lando - “Let everyone who is complicit in this crime of casting the holy Torah, the Torah of God, behind bars know this: you are not fighting flesh and blood; you are fighting the Torah and the one who gave it, blessed be his name,” the 95-year old rabbi added.

 

Very Seriously Ill Senior ultra-Orthodox rabbi: Those enforcing Haredi draft are fighting against God - Lando Drove The Bus That Murdered This Child!

HORRIBLE DEATH OF DRAFT PROTESTER DIRECTLY RELATED TO LANDO'S MURDEROUS/DEMENTED RHETORIC

Rabbis Meet in Lakewood to Discuss the Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

Thirty rabbis gathered in Lakewood this week to confront the gravest threat to Judaism since the invention of the printing press: Artificial Intelligence.

They did not convene to ask whether AI could cure disease, decode ancient manuscripts, or help parnassah-starved families make an honest living. No. They came to save us from the unsupervised thoughts of machines—and, accidentally, from the supervised thoughts of human beings.

The meeting was urgent. A long table, folding chairs, stale rugelach, and a fear thicker than the steam rising from the urn. The agenda was simple: AI is dangerous. Why? Because it answers questions. Because it remembers sources. Because it doesn’t ask permission. And worst of all—it doesn’t know who the gedolim are.

One rabbi opened with a trembling voice: “In our day, Torah was acquired through mesorah. From rebbi to talmid. Today, a bochur asks a box with wires.” Heads nodded gravely.

 No one asked why the same bochur already carries a smartphone, uses Google Maps, orders cholent on an app, and checks the stock market before Shacharis. Technology is fine—until it starts thinking.

Another rav warned that AI can generate divrei Torah in seconds. “What took the Maharsha years,” he thundered, “now takes fifteen seconds and a prompt.” A gasp filled the room. A tragedy. A shanda. Torah without sweat. Torah without hunger. Torah without a landlord banging on the door.

But let’s pause here. Judaism survived the alphabet. It survived paper. It survived the Rambam systematizing the entire Torah in one book. It survived Rashi explaining everything so clearly that even a ten-year-old could learn Chumash. It survived the printing press, which the rabbis of its time also declared dangerous. It even survived Artscroll—barely.

Yet now, suddenly, this is the line? The Almighty, who gave human beings the capacity to reason, invent, calculate, and create—He’s alarmed that a computer can summarize Tosafos?

One rav stood up and said the quiet part out loud: “If people can ask AI questions, they won’t ask us.” Silence. Truth has a way of clearing its throat in the room.

This wasn’t about theology. It wasn’t about emunah. It wasn’t even about halacha. It was about control.

Because AI doesn’t tell you, “That question is inappropriate.”
AI doesn’t say, “You’re not holding there yet.”

AI doesn’t shame you for asking why half the community lives in poverty while leaders fly on private jets to asifos about poverty.

AI answers the question.

And that is intolerable.

Someone warned that AI could expose contradictions between sources. Another fretted that it could show historical context—how certain chumros developed, how politics shaped psak, how power calcified into dogma. One rabbi nearly fainted at the thought of a teenager discovering that “this is how it’s always been” is often historically false.

They spoke about bitul Torah. They did not speak about bitul zman created by a system that keeps men learning without skills, without income, without dignity—while their wives shoulder the burden and their children inherit the anxiety.

They spoke about modesty filters. They did not speak about intellectual honesty filters.

They spoke about protecting the masses. They did not speak about protecting truth.

Outside the room, the world keeps moving. Doctors use AI to detect cancer earlier. Engineers use it to prevent disasters. Historians use it to preserve memory. Even poskim quietly use it—don’t kid yourself. Someone in that room already asked it a question. Probably about Rashi. Probably late at night. Probably with a browser set to incognito.

Here’s the unorthodox truth: AI is not the danger. Fear is.
Fear of losing monopoly. Fear of questions that don’t stop where they’re told. Fear that Judaism, when stripped of coercion and insulation, will demand something harder than obedience—integrity.

Torah has nothing to fear from knowledge. If it does, then something else is being defended in its name.

Thirty rabbis met in Lakewood to warn about Artificial Intelligence. What they should fear is artificial authority—authority propped up by banning questions instead of answering them, by silencing curiosity instead of guiding it, by mistaking gatekeeping for greatness.

The Gemara survived worse than a chatbot.

The question is: will the gatekeepers? 

 

REPUBLISHED

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/rabbis-meet-in-lakewood-to-discuss-the-dangers-of-artificial-intelligence/

“When a mustached man ruins a country using oil, the End is near.” Maduro, Gematria, and Moshiach

 

Israeli Rabbi Frames Reported Fall of Maduro as Divine Cleansing Ahead of Global Change

 

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu,

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A senior Israeli religious leader wrote Monday that the reported arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro should be seen as part of a divinely guided process reshaping the world, according to an opinion article published on Israel’s Channel 14. 

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed and a prominent voice within Israel’s national-religious community, said recent global events point to what he described as a spiritual “cleansing” of regimes built on oppression, violence and corruption.

Eliyahu, the son of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, has long been an influential religious figure whose views often blend Jewish theology with contemporary political events. His writings and statements are closely followed by religious Zionist audiences and frequently spark public debated

In the column, Eliyahu linked Maduro’s downfall to a series of developments he said reflect the weakening of what he described as an “axis of evil.” He cited the collapse of Syria’s Assad regime, the killing of senior militant leaders in the Middle East and strikes against Iran-backed forces as part of a broader pattern unfolding over the past year.

Drawing on Jewish tradition and history, Eliyahu wrote that kingdoms founded on injustice and bloodshed do not endure. He compared current events to the fall of Nazi Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union, arguing that regimes sustained by fear, lies and the suffering of their populations eventually collapse.

Turning to Venezuela, Eliyahu wrote that the country’s humanitarian crisis under Maduro — despite vast oil wealth — represents a moral failure rather than an economic one. He framed the arrest as a message not only to dictators but also to nations living under authoritarian rule.

The rabbi also connected the developments to Jewish liturgy, writing that prayers recited for generations — calling for the removal of wicked governments and the downfall of tyranny — are being realized in real time. In his view, the events signal that divine justice is unfolding on a global scale.*****

 

 

 

 

 

Unorthodox Jew's Point of View

Several rabbonim have now suddenly remembered that their rebbe once muttered something about South America while stirring tea.

“When a mustached man ruins a country using oil, the End is near.”

Was this written down? No.Is there a source? Of course. Do you have the emunah to accept it? That’s on you.

So yes—Maduro’s name adds up to something.

So does the word “sandwich.”

The difference is that sandwiches actually feed people.

מדורו

Now count:

• מ = 40

• ד = 4

• ו = 6

• ר = 200

• ו = 6

Total: 256 --- Average weight of every arrested draft dodger in Israel - Talk about "min Hashamayim"

But never fear. Moshiach is coming imminently. If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then after one more dictator, one more war.

Maduro controls oil. Oil is shemen. Shemen is used to anoint kings. (Also lights menorahs when Bayis Shlishi is built, imminently!)

Therefore, Maduro is spiritually greasy, which is close enough for redemption purposes.

Also, oil floats to the top. MAD(URO) shLiach ( Mashliach) - Could Be Chabad Guy In Venezuela.

The Obsession With Separating Judaism From Zionism - What Many “Jewish Academics” Have in Common With Yasser Arafat

 

What Many “Jewish Academics” Have in Common With Yasser Arafat

The Obsession With Separating Judaism From Zionism

There is a peculiar spectacle unfolding in Western intellectual life: a cadre of self-described Jewish academics straining, contorting, and moralizing to separate Judaism from Zionism with an intensity that would make Yasser Arafat nod in recognition. They insist—often loudly, always sanctimoniously—that Zionism is a political corruption of a “pure” Judaism, that Jewish national self-defense is a betrayal of Jewish ethics, and that Jewish sovereignty is a historical accident best apologized for, dismantled, or indefinitely placed on moral probation.

They present themselves as courageous dissenters. In reality, they are recycling an old political strategy—one perfected by Arafat and the PLO—now repackaged in the language of seminars, journals, and keynote lectures.

The strategy is simple: deny the Jewish peoplehood claim without denying Jewish existence. Accept Jews as a religion. Reject Jews as a nation. Grant Jews prayers—but not borders. Memory—but not sovereignty. Mourning—but not self-defense.

That is the shared ground.

Arafat understood something that today’s academic anti-Zionists pretend not to: you don’t need to attack Judaism head-on to delegitimize Israel. You merely need to sever Judaism from Jewish peoplehood. Once Jews are reduced to a private faith community—no different than Quakers or Unitarians—the entire Zionist project collapses under its own weight. No nation. No homeland. No army. No claim to self-determination.

Arafat said it openly. Jews are a religion, not a people. Palestine, therefore, belongs to Arabs alone.

Today’s Jewish academics say it politely. Jews are a religion, not a people. Zionism, therefore, is a colonial intrusion.

Same logic. Different accent.

Where Arafat used revolutionary rhetoric, the modern academic uses moral vocabulary. “Universalism.” “Ethics.” “Human rights.” “Decolonization.” These words are wielded not to protect Jews, but to discipline them.

The Jewish state is judged by standards no other nation is required to meet. Jewish self-defense is treated as aggression. Jewish history is reduced to metaphor. Jewish trauma is acknowledged—briefly—before being dismissed as insufficient justification for sovereignty.

And crucially, Jewish power is treated as obscene.

This is the tell.

The discomfort is not with nationalism per se—these same academics routinely excuse or romanticize Palestinian nationalism, Kurdish nationalism, or any nationalism deemed sufficiently “subaltern.” The discomfort is with Jewish nationalism succeeding.

To sustain this position, these academics invent a Judaism that never existed: diasporic, powerless, ethically pristine, and politically inert. A Judaism that prays but never governs. Argues but never fights. Suffers but never wins.

This fantasy Judaism bears no resemblance to Tanach, to Chazal, to medieval Jewish governance, or to modern Jewish history. It is a Judaism tailored for Western approval—safe, aesthetic, and permanently dependent.

In this fantasy, Jews are allowed to exist only as symbols.

Zionism shatters that illusion by insisting Jews are a living people with a land, a language, an army, and the moral burden of power. That burden terrifies academics far more than antisemitism ever has, because it destroys their self-image as enlightened custodians of Jewish conscience.

There is also a darker incentive at work: disavowal as self-protection.

For generations, Jews learned that visibility invites danger. Some academics have internalized this lesson not by hiding their Jewishness, but by weaponizing it against Jewish sovereignty. They present themselves as “the good Jews”—the Jews who apologize, who distance themselves, who reassure the powerful that Jewish power will never threaten moral comfort.

Arafat understood this dynamic perfectly. He cultivated Jewish allies who could speak against Israel with Jewish credibility. Today’s academics continue that tradition, whether they admit it or not.

When Hamas butchers civilians, they rush to contextualize. When Israel responds, they rush to condemn. When Jews are murdered, they mourn cautiously. When Israel defends itself, they moralize aggressively.

This asymmetry is not accidental. It is ideological.

To separate Judaism from Zionism, one must amputate Jewish history. One must pretend exile was voluntary, that return is unnatural, and that Jewish longing for Zion is a poetic metaphor rather than a political reality stretching back three thousand years.

One must ignore that Jews prayed toward Jerusalem, legislated for sovereignty, and never once imagined exile as ideal. One must rewrite Jewish survival as evidence against Jewish self-determination.

This is not scholarship. It is theology in academic drag.

And like all bad theology, it requires heresy trials. Jews who refuse the separation—who insist Zionism is not a betrayal of Judaism but its historical consequence—are labeled extremists, ethnonationalists, or worse.

Arafat called them occupiers. The academy calls them immoral.

This debate is not abstract. On October 7, the fantasy collapsed. Jews were slaughtered not for Israeli policy debates, but for existing as Jews in their ancestral land. The response from many Jewish academics was not outrage, but equivocation.

That should have ended the argument.

If Zionism were merely a political choice, antisemitism would distinguish between Zionist and non-Zionist Jews. It does not. It never has.

Those who still insist on separation after October 7 are not naive. They are committed.

The final irony is this: the very academics who claim to be protecting Judaism are actively hollowing it out. A Judaism stripped of peoplehood, land, memory, and responsibility is not a moral triumph. It is a museum artifact.

Arafat wanted Jews dissolved into history. These academics want Jews dissolved into ethics.

Both deny the same truth: Judaism without Zionism is not Judaism as it lived, survived, or understood itself. It is Judaism as others find it most convenient.

And Jews have already lived through the consequences of being convenient.

Enough.

Zionism is not a deviation from Judaism. It is Judaism refusing to die quietly.

 

REPUBLISHED

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-some-jewish-academics-have-in-common-with-yasser-arafat/

Prime Minister Netanyahu's remarks at a JNS event in Miami - Who Needs an Army When You Have Bench Kvetchers?