'Neocon' - Code Name -"Jew"

 

Prominent neoconservatives include figures who emerged as influential voices in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, often associated with a strong foreign policy stance, interventionism, and the promotion of democratic values globally. Key figures include Irving Kristol, considered the "godfather" of neoconservatism. Other notable neoconservatives include Paul Wolfowitz, Norman Podhoretz, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Max Boot, Douglas Feith,  Elliot Abrams, Richard Perle, Paul Bremer, David Frum, Charles Krauthammer, Dennis Prager.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

Trump Declares the 'Neocon' Era Over

 

The speech in Saudi Arabia promised a new course for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Can He Provide Overnight Delivery With The Qatari Bribe?

 

President Donald Trump has a vision of a "great transformation" in the Middle East. But it's not the transformation that American leaders have talked about bringing at gunpoint. At his Tuesday speech at a U.S.-Saudi investment summit in Riyadh, the president denounced the failures of "interventionists" and promised a future "where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence."

Those words came with action. In his speech, Trump promised to lift all U.S. sanctions on Syria, and the day after, he shook hands with new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who had a $10 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government just six months ago. In the weeks leading up to the summit, Trump ended the U.S. war in Yemen and negotiated the release of the last American in Hamas captivity. It remains to be seen whether he can follow through.

Riyadh was only the first stop in Trump's planned four-day tour of the Persian Gulf. He also plans to stop in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In his speech, Trump praised the oil-rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf—and used their success to attack the architects of past U.S. policy. 

 "The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons, or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Kabul, Baghdad, and so many other cities," Trump said. "Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions, and charting your own destinies in your own way."

He also offered Iran "a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future," emphasizing that "some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past." Although Trump threatened Iran with more economic sanctions if it didn't accept a deal, he didn't bring out his usual threats to bomb the country.

The Trump administration is currently negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program, and briefed the media that it was "encouraged" by the latest meeting in Oman last week. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the negotiations "more serious and more direct" than before. 

If Trump's brief war in Yemen was a dry run for war with Iran, his outreach to Syria demonstrated his eagerness to turn enemies into friends. There were two issues at play. One was that Congress and the White House had imposed intense economic sanctions on Syria designed to weaken the rule of Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa's new government inherited that embargo despite overthrowing Assad by force.

The second issue was that Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, was himself a former commander in Al Qaeda. (As Trump joked, Sharaa has a "very strong past.") There was intense debate in Washington about whether to continue pursuing economic pressure. In the end, Trump decided to offer Syria a clean slate. During his handshake, Trump asked Sharaa to join an alliance with Israel, deport Palestinian rebels, and assume responsibility for accused Islamic State supporters currently being held by Kurdish-led rebels, according to a White House statement.

"This is good for Israel, having a relationship like I have with these countries," Trump told reporters on the Wednesday flight from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.

But the Israeli government and its supporters are pretty nervous about being left behind by Trump's new policies. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) stated in a press release on Tuesday that he has "been in close contact with Israel, as they are extremely concerned about the state of play in Syria." And Trump's peace deal in Yemen does not forbid Houthi forces from attacking Israel, which they did in the middle of Trump's speech.

Perhaps most concerning for Israel, the Trump administration has begun direct talks with Hamas, via Arab Americans for Trump founder Bishara Bahbah. The U.S. did not inform Israel, which only discovered this backchannel through spies, according to Axios. Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that there is "no way we will stop the war," even if more hostages are released, Trump said in his Tuesday speech that he would "work to get that war ended as quickly as possible."

On Monday, Hamas agreed to release Edan Alexander, an American teenager from New Jersey captured while fighting for the Israeli army. Alexander "wouldn't be there if it weren't for us, he wouldn't be living right now, probably none of the hostages would be living right now," Trump said during the Wednesday flight. Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who serves as foreign minister, told reporters on Wednesday that he was expecting "very courageous decisions" from Trump on "resolving the broader issues of Palestine."

The prince added that he "fully supports nuclear talks between America and Iran and hopes for positive results." Trump also joked in his speech that lifting the sanctions on Syria was one of the "things I do for" Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Trump has always been close to the Gulf monarchies. Saudi Arabia has invested $2 billion into a business run by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Just before the summit, Qatar gifted the White House a $400 million luxury airplane. In the past, these states were an influence for more U.S. intervention. They used much of their influence trying to incite Washington against their mutual enemies, such as Iran and Syria, and against each other.

But the Gulf states' outlook has changed. On one hand, they're satisfied with the victories they've won so far; the Syrian government was overthrown and Iran was cut down to size. On the other hand, the success of Yemeni and Iranian missile attacks has demonstrated that even direct U.S. protection can't shield the Gulf states from the cost of further war. And the Gulf leaders seem genuinely scared that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could spill over to threaten their rule.

Of course, the Gulf states still fundamentally want U.S. protection, despite their shifts on some issues. Along with his peaceful gestures, Trump signed a new $142 billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. The next day, he publicly signed off on a previously agreed $2 billion drone sale to Qatar. While Trump mocked the "Western interventionists flying people in beautiful planes" to the Middle East, these arms deals historically bring hundreds of U.S. military advisers and defense contractors to the region—along with unspoken promises of more direct U.S. military assistance.

Before Trump soured on the Yemeni war, Saudi Arabia was reportedly egging on U.S. escalation. The influence that the kingdom is now using to encourage diplomacy could easily be used to encourage war again.

After all, former President Barack Obama made the same promises as Trump early in his presidency, telling an audience in Egypt that there would be "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect." Over the next eight years, he ended up permanently entrenching U.S. military involvement in the region.

"In a meaningful way, this is Trump delivering Obama's Cairo speech…only this time in Riyadh, and with notable tweaks, of course. But at its core, the message is much the same," wrote New Lines Magazine Editor in Chief Hassan Hassan. The only question is whether Trump can succeed where his predecessor failed.

https://reason.com/2025/05/14/trump-declares-the-neocon-era-over/?

The Choice --- Seriously Ill Vs. Seriously Ill. Seriously Ill Won! As of May 13, 2025, the estimated population of the United States is 341,762,685. This estimate is based on the current data from the U.S. Census Bureau. How Ill Are The American Public?

 58.7 million US adults, or 22.8% of the adult population, experienced a mental illness. This translates to about 2 out of every 9 adults in the United States. Mental illnesses are common health conditions that affect a wide range of individuals, with various degrees of severity - and the American public chose one!

 

A Damning Portrait of an Enfeebled Biden Protected by His Inner Circle

 

“Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, depicts an aging president whose family and aides enabled his quixotic campaign for a second term.

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Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s “Original Sin” chronicles a different fall from grace. The cover image is a black-and-white portrait of Joe Biden with a pair of hands clamped over his eyes. The biblical story is about the danger of innocent curiosity; the story in this new book is about the danger of willful ignorance.

“The original sin of Election 2024 was Biden’s decision to run for re-election — followed by aggressive efforts to hide his cognitive diminishment,” Tapper and Thompson write. On the evening of June 27, 2024, Democratic voters watched the first presidential debate in amazement and horror: A red-faced Donald Trump let loose a barrage of audacious whoppers while Biden, slack-jawed and pale, struggled to string together intelligible rebuttals.

Trump’s debate performance was of a piece with his rallies, a jumble of nonsensical digressions and wild claims. But for many Americans, the extent of Biden’s frailty came as a shock. Most of the president’s appearances had, by then, become tightly controlled affairs. For at least a year and a half, Biden’s aides had been scrambling to accommodate an octogenarian president who was becoming increasingly exhausted and confused. According to “Original Sin,” which makes pointed use of the word “cover-up” in the subtitle, alarmed donors and pols who sought the lowdown on Biden’s cognitive state were kept in the dark. Others had daily evidence of Biden’s decline but didn’t want to believe it.

Tapper is an anchor for CNN (and also served as a moderator for the presidential debate); Thompson is a national political correspondent for Axios. In an authors’ note, they explain that they interviewed approximately 200 people, including high-level insiders, “some of whom may never acknowledge speaking to us but all of whom know the truth within these pages.”

The result is a damning, step-by-step account of how the people closest to a stubborn, aging president enabled his quixotic resolve to run for a second term. The authors trace the deluge of trouble that flowed from Biden’s original sin: the sidelining of Vice President Kamala Harris; the attacks on journalists (like Thompson) who deigned to report on worries about Biden’s apparent fatigue and mental state; an American public lacking clear communication from the president and left to twist in the wind. “It was an abomination,” one source told the authors. “He stole an election from the Democratic Party; he stole it from the American people.”

This blistering charge is attributed to “a prominent Democratic strategist” who also “publicly defended Biden.” In “Original Sin,” the reasons given for saying nice things in public about the president are legion. Some Democrats, especially those who didn’t see the president that often, relied on his surrogates for reassurance about his condition (“He’s fine, he’s fine, he’s fine”); others were wary of giving ammunition to the Trump campaign, warning that he was an existential threat to the country. Tapper and Thompson are scornful of such rationales: “For those who tried to justify the behavior described here because of the threat of a second Trump term, those fears should have shocked them into reality, not away from it.”

 President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again

 

 

 

 

 

Biden announced that he would be running for re-election in April 2023; he had turned 80 the previous November and was already the oldest president in history. Over his long life, he had been through a lot: the death of his wife and daughter in a car accident in 1972; two aneurysm surgeries in 1988; the death of his son Beau in 2015; the seemingly endless trouble kicked up by his son Hunter, a recovering addict whose legal troubles included being under investigation by the Justice Department.

Yet Biden always bounced back. The fact that he defied the naysayers and beat the odds to win the 2020 election was, for him and his close circle of family and advisers, a sign that he was special — and persistently underestimated. They maintained “a near-religious faith in Biden’s ability to rise again,” the authors write. “And as with any theology, skepticism was forbidden.”

In 2019, when Biden announced a presidential run, he was 76. It was still a time when “Good Biden was far more present than Old Biden.” By 2023, the authors suggest, that ratio had reversed. Some of his decline was hard to distinguish from what they call “the Bidenness,” which included his longtime reputation for gaffes, meandering stories and a habit of forgetting staffers’ names.

But people who didn’t see Biden on a daily basis were increasingly taken aback when they finally laid eyes on him. They would remark on how his once booming voice had become a whisper, how his confident stride had become a shuffle. An aghast congressman recalls being reminded of his father, who had Alzheimer’s; another thought of his father, too, who died of Parkinson’s.

The people closest to Biden landed on some techniques to handle (or disguise) what was happening: restricting urgent business to the hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.; instructing his writers to keep his speeches brief so that he didn’t have to spend too much time on his feet; having him use the short stairs to Air Force One. When making videos, his aides sometimes filmed “in slow motion to blur the reality of how slowly he actually walked.” By late 2023, his staff was pushing as much of his schedule as they could to midday.

When White House aides weren’t practicing fastidious stage management, they seemed to be sticking their heads in the sand. According to a forthcoming book by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, Biden’s aides decided against his taking a cognitive test in early 2024. Tapper and Thompson quote a physician who served as a consultant to the White House Medical Unit for the last four administrations and expressed his dismay at the idea of withholding such information: “If there’s no diagnosis, there’s nothing to disclose.”

Just how much of this rigmarole was desperate rationalization versus deliberate scheming is never entirely clear. Tapper and Thompson identify two main groups that closed ranks around Biden: his family and a group of close aides known internally as “the Politburo” that included his longtime strategist Mike Donilon and his counselor Steve Ricchetti. The family encouraged Biden’s view of himself as a historic figure. The Politburo was too politically hard-nosed for that. Instead, its members pointed to Biden’s record in office and the competent people around him. The napping, the whispering, the shuffling — all that stuff had merely to do with the “performative” parts of the job.

Tapper and Thompson vehemently disagree. They offer a gracious portrait of Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated Biden’s handling of classified materials and in his February 2024 report famously described the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Biden and his team were incensed and tried “to slime Hur as an unprofessional right-wing hack,” but the authors defend his notorious line. They emphasize that it is incumbent upon a special counsel to spell out how the subject of an investigation would probably appear to a jury — and that what Hur wrote about Biden was true.

Of course, in an election like 2024, when the differences between the candidates are so stark and the stakes are so high, nearly every scrap of information gets viewed through the lens of “Will it help my team win?” Even competently administered policy could not compensate for a woeful inability to communicate with the American people. In a democracy, this is a tragedy — especially if you believe, as Biden did, that a second Trump term would put the very existence of that democracy in peril.

Earlier this month, in what looks like an attempt to get ahead of the book’s publication, Biden went on “The View” to say that he accepts some responsibility for Trump’s victory: “I was in charge.” But he was dismissive about reports of any cognitive decline. In “Original Sin,” Tapper and Thompson describe him waking up the morning after the 2024 election thinking that if only he had stayed in the race, he would have won. “That’s what the polls suggested, he would say again and again,” the authors write. There was just one problem with his reasoning: “His pollsters told us that no such polls existed.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/books/review/originial-sin-jake-tapper-alex-thompson.html

TWISTED MOMZER! ---"We" Were Blessed With A New Pope"! “Rabbi Goldstein veiled over $2.8 million in fraud schemes he perpetrated with at least ten other co-conspirators by exploiting the non-profit statuses of the Chabad of Poway and the Friendship Circle of San Diego, organizations entrusted to him to serve the community....”

Press Release

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein Sentenced to Prison for Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Schemes

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of California

Assistant U. S. Attorneys Valerie H. Chu (619) 546-6750 and Michelle L. Wasserman (619) 546-8314

NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – January 4, 2022

SAN DIEGO – Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, former director at Chabad of Poway, was sentenced in federal court today to fourteen months in custody for his years-long, multi-million-dollar schemes to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, several San Diego Fortune 500 companies, and multiple public and private agencies.  He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $2,834,608.

According to his plea agreement, while Rabbi Goldstein was director of the Poway synagogue, he received at least $6.2 million in phony contributions to the Chabad and affiliated charities and secretly refunded up to 90 percent of the donations to the “donors.” After Rabbi Goldstein provided these donors with fake receipts, they illegally claimed huge tax deductions for these nonexistent donations, and the rabbi kept about 10 percent – more than half a million dollars over the course of the fraud - for himself. Tax losses to the IRS were more than $1.5 million.

Rabbi Goldstein also admitted that he defrauded three different Fortune 500 companies by tricking them into matching supposed charitable donations of their employees.  Working with the employees, Rabbi Goldstein fabricated receipts and then secretly returned their fake “donations.”  This allowed the employees to claim tax deductions for the completely fabricated donations, and allowed Rabbi Goldstein to collect the companies’ matching funds—including some that matched double their employees’ donations. Rabbi Goldstein helped to orchestrate this scheme with at least six taxpayer-employees and two other associates who helped recruit new donors or conceal the true recipient of the funds.  In total, Rabbi Goldstein defrauded the companies out of at least $144,000, and helped the taxpayer-employees to claim nearly as much in fictitious tax-deductible charitable contributions to the IRS.

Rabbi Goldstein admitted that he also helped his brother Mendel Goldstein conceal approximately $700,000 in income by allowing him to use Chabad bank accounts to deposit his income, thereby hiding it from the IRS.  As his cut, Rabbi Goldstein kept 10 percent of this individual’s income—more than $70,000. 

Separate and apart from the tax evasion scheme, Rabbi Goldstein and another defendant, Alexander Avergoon, used false information and fabricated invoices and other records to pretend to be eligible for emergency funds, grants or donations, and private loans. These frauds on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), and private foundations resulted in losses to these programs of at least $860,000. 

According to sentencing documents, the United States Attorney’s Office recommended departures from the sentencing guidelines for Goldstein because of his cooperation against other individuals, and because of the extraordinary events he suffered as a victim of the April 27, 2019 shooting at the Chabad of Poway. 

In imposing sentence, U.S. District Judge Cynthia A. Bashant commented, “You dragged down so many congregants.  Many of those individuals thought that they were committing these offenses to benefit the Chabad or the synagogue in general, when in fact it was to benefit you.  I just can’t ignore that. … I think time in custody is important.  It’s important to send a message to the community, and it’s important to send a message to you.” 

“Yisroel Goldstein exploited his position and stature as a faith leader to commit well-planned and carefully executed crimes of greed,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “As his serious criminal conduct was under investigation, the rabbi became a victim in a devastating attack on the synagogue he led.  Today’s sentence accounts for these extraordinary circumstances and our office’s mission to always seek justice.” Grossman thanked the prosecution team, the FBI and the IRS for their excellent work on this case.

“The defendant used the Chabad of Poway’s tax-exempt status as a religious organization to compile millions of dollars in fraudulent ‘donations’,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner. “This scheme enabled Rabbi Goldstein to line his own pockets; reward his fake ‘donors’ with reimbursement for their contributions; and provided receipts enabling the ‘donations’ to be written off as charitable contributions, all in furtherance of the scheme. The FBI will continue to root out fraud disguised as charitable donations which ultimately hurts those organizations relying on the generosity of donors.”

“Rabbi Goldstein veiled over $2.8 million in fraud schemes he perpetrated with at least ten other co-conspirators by exploiting the non-profit statuses of the Chabad of Poway and the Friendship Circle of San Diego, organizations entrusted to him to serve the community,” said Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner of IRS Criminal Investigation's Los Angeles Field Office.  “IRS Special Agents were proud to work alongside the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in this multimillion-dollar tax and grant fraud investigation that uncovered decades of illegal conduct.  In addition to holding Rabbi Goldstein accountable for cheating U.S. taxpayers and businesses for personal gain, my fervent hope is that today's sentencing brings closure and healing to all who were affected by his crimes.”

Rabbi Goldstein was ordered to surrender into federal custody by noon on February 23, 2022. 

DEFENDANT                                   Case Number 20CR1916-BAS              

Yisroel Goldstein                                Age: 60                       Poway

SUMMARY OF CHARGES          

Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, USC 371
Maximum Penalty: Five years in prison

INVESTIGATING AGENCIES:

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation

Updated January 4, 2022

 

 

---

Topic

Financial Fraud

Component

USAO - California, Southern

Press Release Number: CAS22-0104-Goldstein

 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/rabbi-yisroel-goldstein-sentenced-prison-multi-million-dollar-fraud-schemes

 

‘Challah’ and ‘tefillin’ were code words in the Chabad of Poway’s  fraud scheme

Former rabbi of the synagogue targeted in 2019 by an antisemitic shooter received a 14-month term for his part in the scheme; as a co-conspirator is sentenced, new details emerge

https://www.timesofisrael.com/challah-and-tefillin-were-code-words-in-the-chabad-of-poways-tax-fraud-scheme/

 

More Christians In Their Programs, Than Your Local Church:

 

https://www.chabadpoway.com/

 

Rabbi YY Jacobson- Community Awareness, Child Safety, Child Rape and the Aguna Crisis - "In Every Jewish Cemetery There Are Children That Committed Suicide"

A Somewhat Cogent & Conflicting Analysis of the "Dear Leader" On The Middle East - From Sam Harris & Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

 

Understanding Trump

 

it seems that Trump’s grievance with Netanyahu is the PM's insistence on safeguarding Israel’s vital interests in the case of Trump's characteristic desire to 'strike a deal' - this time, with Saudi Arabia.

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Understanding Donald Trump is a hazardous sort of punditry as he is mercurial, a man of contradictions, not entirely coherent in his policy pronouncements, and given to abrupt changes without explanation.

That he is now reportedly “frustrated” with Prime Minister Netanyahu is not entirely surprising (join the club). The report may be untrue – the media “reports” some rumor or scandal almost daily; most are usually forgotten the next day when what was reported does not materialize – and almost always are promoted by someone with an agenda. Stuff is made up all the time and quickly forgotten after the initial shock and outrage dissipate.

Nonetheless, if Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu is real, why would that be? And should it be a cause for concern? First, a word about Trump.

President Trump is an American Trump patriot who rightly construes what he perceives as the best interests of TRUMP US as paramount in his considerations. He is blustery but seldom acts on his threats. He is a materialist who thinks that one’s primary objective in life is to obtain as much money and become as wealthy as possible. He is not an ideologue and has little use for ideology when it interferes with the pursuit of (personal) material gain. He will passionately espouse and try to implement a particular policy, and if it does not immediately bear fruit, he will abandon it for its antithesis with the same ardor with which he first pursued it, and without any explanation.

Trump has a positive attitude towards Jews but properly puts America First. He does not mind, and perhaps even enjoys, opposing views among his staffers, but also enables the sparring sides to feel that they each have Trump’s support. And he has always been against war, any war, which he sees as bad for business.

Above all, he prides himself on being a deal maker, with the art of the deal being the heart of the deal – not so much its implementation or consequences but the deal itself. As a real estate baron, Trump was known to renege on agreements, to hondle merchants, workers, and suppliers when the due date for payment came, and welcomed lawsuits – as plaintiff or defendant – because those were just preludes to more deal-making. Contracts and the written word were meaningful only as a guide to general principles but did not bind him if circumstances changed (which they always did, as in “the job is done, so why should I pay you?”).

That is why Trump did not hesitate to breach US trade agreements with other countries. Circumstances, to wit: his election, changed. Paradoxically, he is decisive until he changes his mind – but he does make decisions, seeks finality, and will walk away from negotiations if the prospects are strong for stalemate, no deal, or an inconclusive outcome.

Trump also wants to be seen as a winner; hence the abrupt reversal of his tariff plans when the stock market tanked. He ordered the justified, targeted assassinations of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (and good riddance to the both of them) and chalked those up as victories, even though Iran has since become an even more nefarious force and ISIS still exists. A deal with Iran, Syria, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Hamas, the PA, Saudi Arabia, the Houthis is the goal. The deal is the win, whatever happens later is incidental. That is how Trump sees the world.

Therefore, he will not tolerate endless negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, with sundry countries and their trade arrangements with the USA, or between Israel and our many adversaries. For Trump, the deck is cleared once an agreement is signed regardless of future consequences. He prides himself on being a conflict solver, especially in the short term.

By contrast, as stated here not long ago, PM Netanyahu is a conflict manager, not a conflict solver. He has made an art form of kicking the can down the road until there is no road left. What he may see as caution has become a sort of paralysis – an inability to resolve anything – which also cleverly enables him to prevail in every election promising to resolve the problems that he never resolves.

For the duration of Netanyahu’s long tenure – he has served as Israel’s prime minister far longer than FDR served as US president – he has dedicated his life to preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb, now closer than ever. Rockets and missiles have been falling on our heads incessantly throughout his term, the only change being their points of origin. Repeated mini-wars have degraded the enemy’s capabilities but never really change anything because he allows them to rebuild and become more violent and dangerous. He is no closer to judicial reform than he was fifteen years ago. And he still looks to others to fight our battles – especially to the US, as if Trump will invade Iran and destroy their reactors on our behalf. But we can rely only on our Father in Heaven and ourselves.

When the report emerged that Trump is “frustrated” with Netanyahu, I assumed it was because of Netanyahu’s hesitations in Gaza and his reluctance to do what is necessary to prevail. Even Netanyahu’s various choices for senior positions – including head of the Shin Bet and the new Chief of Staff – tend to impede his policies rather than strive to implement them, and for that he too is to blame. So if Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu stems from the latter’s inability to “finish the job,” it is a frustration shared by many Israelis.

Yet, it seems that Trump’s grievance with Netanyahu is not because of the latter’s weakness and vacillation but because of his strength, and his insistence in this case on safeguarding Israel’s vital interests. That is, Trump is reportedly “frustrated” because his goal of expanding the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia is foundering because of Netanyahu’s rejection of Saudi demands that Israel end the war in Gaza short of victory and Israel publicly commit to the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state. Both are rightly non-starters, and to his credit – again, if the reports are accurate – Netanyahu has appropriately dismissed them. Good for him, and for us.

In the alternative, Trump has allegedly asserted, he will make a deal with Saudi Arabia that includes strategic attainments for both countries, but no recognition of Israel by the Saudis, to which I say, great. It is far better to have shared strategic objectives and an unofficial alliance with the Saudis than enter into an official agreement that endangers our future. We have survived for 3700 years without peace with the Saudis and can survive until Messiah comes without it as well.

Trump may well feel that Israel should sign any agreement, end the war, get the hostages out, withdraw from Gaza, make peace with the Saudis – and then just renege on the agreement and do what is necessary, citing “a change in circumstances.” The Saudis may want Israel’s commitment to a Palestinian Arab state to mollify the Arab street, but I am more concerned with the Jewish street, and the implications of agreeing to allow a Nazi-like foe to survive as well as renouncing a signed agreement, which will subject Israel to even more international opprobrium but now with a tinge of legitimacy.

Moreover, before these Abraham Accords are expanded, we would do well to remind ourselves of the original Abraham Accords, the covenant our forefather enacted with the Creator that promised and entrusted the descendants of Abraham with the land of Israel. That is a religious right – and a divine gift – that should not be repudiated even if Saudi Arabia agrees to open a Chabad House in Mecca. The ancient Abraham Accords are far more important, meaningful, and enduring than the current one may prove to be.

Rapprochement with the Saudis should be between two nations that respect each other’s rights, interests, values, and heritage. It should not come at the expense of the land of Israel, and certainly not by empowering an enemy still sworn to our destruction. Having good relations with the USA is an Israeli strategic interest that should not be dismissed lightly, but we should have the fortitude to say to President Trump that certain concessions are not worth our participation in any deal, and if the US and the Saudis have their own agreement, that is fine by us.

We should not say “no,” but we should say “no, thank you.” Mr. President, make your deal, reap the Saudi investment in America, address Saudi concerns about Iran, and feel like a winner. And if Trump still feels “frustrated” with Netanyahu, so be it. In that, he will echo the feelings of most Israelis and even many of Netanyahu’s supporters. At least in this case, though, PM Netanyahu’s caution here is well founded.

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky teaches Torah in Modiin, and serves as the Senior Research Associate at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy (JCAP.ngo).

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/408087

R' Sholom Ber Lipskar OBM: "We Know Who Moshiach Is" (In Present Tense)—But What Are We Doing to bring Him (Back)? The fragility of the human mind - Great men can be brainwashed - Yet, he was a great man!

Mazal Tov In Gaza!

 

One who studies Torah without national responsibility, one who learns without combining study with acts of kindness, one who walls himself inside the four cubits of the beit midrash and does not hear the needs of the Jewish People—his Torah is deficient. A moral obligation lies on every person, and certainly every Torah scholar, to shoulder responsibility for society. Since in the State of Israel the existential and security threat stands at the forefront of our national challenges, yeshiva students must take part in addressing it.....

 

The Complexity of Hesder Revisited

R. Aharon Lichtenstein, in uniform, delivering a shiur to Hesderniks in Lebanon, Summer 1982 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the ten years since the passing of my father, my teacher and master, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l, we have faced difficult and challenging times, foremost among them the massacre on Simchat Torah 2023 and the ensuing war. My father, now gone for a decade and receding into the mist of the past, has not experienced these ordeals together with us. Yet, although his voice has been silenced, the influence of his consistent Torah-based ethical values has not ceased.

I wish to present here a small selection of his vast worldview related to an urgent issue in Israel’s public discourse—his clear position obligating all yeshiva students to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces and share the burden of combat. I will first present his position on the damage done to Torah by those who remain exclusively in the beit midrash at such an hour, and then propose a course of action, based on his teachings, for expanding the circle of yeshiva students enlisting. All this is offered with the hope that his words, spoken from a pure heart, will enter the hearts of my readers.

In 1981, in the pages of TRADITION (19:3), my father published his essay “The Ideology of Hesder” (published the following year in Hebrew in Yeshivat Har Etzion’s journal, Alon Shevut #100). True to form, he addressed the topic from multiple angles. He presented military service as an urgent necessity, as a clear and present mitzvah; laid out the justification for shortened military service for yeshiva students; extolled the contribution of Hesder’s combination of study and service to the nation and the IDF; pointed out the difficulties inherent in the Hesder track; and offered solutions.

His primary halakhic argument presented Hesder as a clear fulfillment of “Torah combined with acts of lovingkindness.” As one who consistently followed the ways of Beit Hillel, giving precedence to his opponents’ arguments before his own, he fairly and thoroughly presented the views of those who exempt yeshiva students from military service. He engaged with their arguments and sources, but ultimately concluded that they do not provide a sufficient basis for a sweeping and definitive exemption for Torah scholars.

The essay was published over forty years ago, closer in time to the founding of the Hesder movement in 1953 than it is to our own day. It expresses an original position that at that time was not accepted even among other heads of Hesder yeshivot. Anyone reading the essay feels its polemical tone—one that, as often happens, engages most ardently with those closest to one’s own position. My father chiefly confronted the track known as “Hesder Merkaz” (centered on Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav). He argued that the key difference between the varieties of Hesder experience was whether they viewed military service merely as a necessary preparation for war, should it arise (as all in Israel reasonably suspected it would; indeed, the First Lebanon War broke out less than a year after the essay was published), or whether they also saw bearing the burden of ongoing national security as an inherent obligation for Torah scholars.

Here, I will highlight a paradox in the positions of both sides. Merkaz HaRav, which champions Rav Kook’s Torah—a Zionism of action that sees the State of Israel as the realization of prophetic vision—nevertheless supports shorter military service for yeshiva students in favor of increased time on the benches of the beit midrash. Meanwhile, my father, whose Zionism drew from entirely different sources, called for longer military service for students of Torah. This paradoxical reversal is rooted in a deep difference in worldview regarding the sacred, the secular, and the nature of the State of Israel. With the “image of father appearing before us in the window” (cf. Sota 36b), I will attempt to offer an explanation and reexamination of the issue through the lens of our present experience of a year and a half of continuous warfare.

Hesder as an Ideal

When my father arrived in Israel in the summer of 1971 there were few Hesder yeshivot. Many of the roshei yeshiva and ramim of that time had grown up in the Haredi system. How did they view their Hesder students? I heard from Rabbi Haim Sabato that his teacher at Yeshivat HaKotel, Rabbi Yeshayahu Hadari zt”l, described Hesder’s goal as “to bring Torah to the boys of Bnei Akiva.” The assumption behind that statement was that Hesder represents a compromise or concession—a yeshiva for Religious Zionists (who probably couldn’t handle a “real” yeshiva), where they could learn a bit of Torah alongside serving in the army.

Such a yeshiva was seen as a realization of the Mizrachi movement’s vision, emphasizing “Torah and…” In other words, much of the Hesder leadership viewed its very own institutions as a bedi’avad (less than ideal) option, meant for those who had already chosen the path of Religious Zionism and its compromises. For a boy whose soul thirsted for Torah and who aspired to grow in learning their recommendation was to study full-time in a “proper” yeshiva, nicknamed the “Holy Yeshivot,” and take the exemption from army service.

My father represented a completely different orientation: Hesder as an ideal (lekhathila). Rabbi Re’em HaCohen told me that as he was finishing Netiv Meir high school and was deliberating about his next step, he consulted with my father. He asked him about the choice between a “Holy” and a Hesder yeshiva. Father surprised him with his answer: He said that someone unable to handle the dual challenge of serious Torah study along with the military should opt for a yeshiva without army service. But one who is strong and capable of both deep Torah study and army service should choose Hesder—which he saw as the more challenging but preferred path.

Indeed, anyone who learned at Yeshivat Har Etzion knows that my father viewed the yeshiva as a kind of Volozhin-like ideal in terms of his expectations of us, his students. Those expectations were high—in terms of diligence, academic level, and aspirations. He envisioned a yeshiva where the sound of Torah would not cease for even a moment. True, there were extended periods when students would leave the beit midrash, but this did not diminish the vision that here, the banner of Torah would be borne high—equal to or surpassing other yeshivot.

This worldview is expressed in the main argument presented in “The Ideology of Hesder,” regarding Torah combined with hesed (acts of kindness). My teacher and master, Rabbi Yehuda Amital zt”l, shared this worldview, and that is why he drafted my father to stand alongside him at the head of Yeshivat Har Etzion, so that the institution would be led by a Torah role model of the highest caliber. 

Despite their differences, they found common ground in many areas, among them a shared vision regarding the mission of the Hesder yeshivot. The difference between them, in form not in essence, is demonstrated in R. Amital’s well-known expression of his worldview through a short Hasidic story, while my father encapsulated his philosophy through a complex, twenty-page scholarly essay. Nonetheless, the ideas are one and the same. 

R. Amital would often relate the tale of Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Ba’al HaTanya, who lived for a time in a modest dwelling with his son and infant grandson. The house had three rooms: The Ba’al HaTanya sat and learned in the innermost room; in the middle room sat his son, later known as the Mitteler Rebbe, also learning; and in the outer room, the infant lay in his cradle. During his study, the Ba’al HaTanya heard the infant crying, and, as he passed through the middle room, noticed that his son was so engrossed that he did not hear the baby. After comforting the child, he rebuked his son: “If one learns Torah and does not hear the cry of a child, there is a flaw in his learning.”

R. Amital’s message about personal responsibility is clear. My father’s article expresses a similar worldview: One who studies Torah without national responsibility, one who learns without combining study with acts of kindness, one who walls himself inside the four cubits of the beit midrash and does not hear the needs of the Jewish People—his Torah is deficient. A moral obligation lies on every person, and certainly every Torah scholar, to shoulder responsibility for society. Since in the State of Israel the existential and security threat stands at the forefront of our national challenges, yeshiva students must take part in addressing it.....

Mayer Lichtenstein, Rav of Beit Knesset Ohel Menachem in Beit Shemesh, is a Ram at Yeshivat Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv. This essay (translated by Jeffrey Saks) is excerpted from his newly released Musar Avi: Shiurim Be’ikvei Torat Avi Mori HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l.

 

 

READ MORE OF THIS FASCINATING MAN :

https://traditiononline.org/the-complexity-of-hesder-revisited/?

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I conclude with a quote from the Rov זצללה"ה. "We must remember that an ethical or Halachic principle decreed by God is not rendered void by the fact that the people refuse to abide by it.

Rabbi Mayer Twersky RESPONDS TO HERSHEL SCHACHTER'S DISTORTIONS:

 

The belated (April 3, 2025) publication of the Hareni Club Protocols (“Exhibit B”) has allowed us to clarify and, perhaps for the first time, accurately contextualize elements of the Hareni Club agreement.

The recent agreement contractually commits to, sanctions and institutionalizes not only the L.G.B.T.Q. nomenclature but its agenda as well.

In April 2021, the Y.U. Pride Alliance filed suit against Y.U., alleging discrimination and demanding that Yeshiva recognize a Gay Pride Club.

Y.U., in its filing with the courts in 2021 and 2022, correctly exposed the Plaintiffs’ heretical goals “to change Yeshiva’s Torah-based understanding of L.G.B.T.Q. issues.” Y.U. even incorporated the Plaintiff’s actual self-revelatory words, as evidenced in this next sentence. “And (the) Plaintiff’s desired goal – forcing Yeshiva to make “cultural changes” to its religious environment and “make a statement.”” (See pages App.246, App.251 here.)

The Plaintiffs’ strategy and methods were also exposed. As summarized by Justice Alito, “To facilitate these goals, the Alliance planned to host events that framed Jewish practices and religious events through an LGBTQ lens.” (See Yeshiva University, et al, v. YU Pride Alliance, et al.)

All this notwithstanding, Y.U., לדאבון לבנו ולעגמת נפשנו, on March 20, 2025, incredibly announced that it had agreed to a club wherein students openly identify as (and thereby openly identify with the philosophy of) L.G.B.T.Q. In its contractual commitment to this L.G.B.T.Q. club, which was revealed when “Exhibit B” was later unsealed, Y.U. pre-approved events such as “Mishloach Manot project”, “pre-holiday events such as pre-Rosh Hashana/ pre-Pesach (dinner and discussion)” etc. – i.e., events which implement the very strategy and methods of the Pride Alliance.

Y.U. also pre-approved “a professional networking/career development event” which further signified the ignoble agenda of the students’ Hareni Club. Such an event fosters active L.G.B.T.Q. identification in the workplace, while clearly betraying Y.U.’s ostensible, exclusive goal of a club which fosters and strengthens genuine commitment to Torah.

The Pride Alliance embarked upon a heretical campaign “to change Yeshiva’s Torah-based understanding of L.G.B.T.Q. issues” and to make “cultural changes.” They formulated a strategic plan for this campaign, i.e., to “frame Jewish practices and religious events through an L.G.B.T.Q. lens.” Y.U., in the Hareni Club agreement, mind bogglingly approved that insidious plan.

Effectively, Y.U. approved not only a social, professional gay club but one for כפירה.

אוי לעינים שכך רואות, אוי לאזנים שכך שומעות.

The mythical, illusory notion that the goals or methods of the club have changed since 2021-2022 is belied by the fact that the current students also insist upon identifying as L.G.B.T.Q. and by the representative, self-revelatory, celebratory, triumphant reactions of the co-presidents of the Hareni Club. (e.g., “I think this will really show that there is no separation between being queer and being a Jew . . .”, Hayley Goldberg (New York Times, March 20, 2025); “This agreement was a huge step in terms of normalizing being queer at YU”, Schneur Friedman (InsideHigherEd.com, March 26, 2025).)

This communication is intended to provide clarity and direction, not engage in condemnation. But without recognizing that this agreement is a staggering, sacrilegious, self-destructive travesty, it is nigh impossible to recognize Yeshiva’s exigent obligations at this moment.

Moving forward with clarity and correct(ed) context, it is abundantly clear that such a club categorically cannot (continue to) exist. The agreement constitutes a חלול השם, זיוף התורה and חורבן הישיבה, and, as such, cannot be countenanced at all for any period.

Mayer Twersky
1 Iyar, 5785

https://torahweb.org/torah/special/2025/rtwe_club.html

 

Response to Ongoing Chilul Hashem at Y.U.

 

https://torahweb.org/torah/special/2025/rtwe_club2.html

 

Reflections Upon and Reaction to a Student Club for "LGBTQ"

https://torahweb.org/torah/special/2025/rtwe_club.html

 

YU Creates New LGBTQ Club ‘Grounded in Halacha and Torah Values’ 

 

Yeshiva University announced the establishment of the Kol Yisrael Areivim Club Monday, an undergraduate student club for LGBTQ students “striving to live authentic Torah lives.” 

The club was approved by the administration and senior roshei yeshiva, with input from LGBTQ students, and was formed due to student interest in a club in line with traditional Orthodox values. Like other undergraduate clubs, club members will be granted access to the university’s resources and will be allowed to host events, provided they remain “within the framework of Halacha.”

“We recognize that our undergraduate students, including our LGBTQ students, who choose to attend Yeshiva come with different expectations and navigate different challenges than those who choose a secular college,” stated an email sent to undergraduate students. “And as such, we have been working to formulate a Torah framework to provide our LGBTQ students with an enhanced support system that continues to facilitate their religious growth and personal life journeys.

“Today, we are announcing a new initiative to support our LGBTQ undergraduates, which includes a new student club that presents an approved traditional Orthodox alternative to YU Pride Alliance and a commitment to strengthen our on-campus support services.”

The email was signed by YU President Ari Berman, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Chairman of the board of YU Ira Mitzner and Chairman of the board of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) Lance Hirt. 

https://yucommentator.org/2022/10/yu-creates-new-lgbtq-club-grounded-in-halacha-and-torah-values/

Seeking Divrei Torah Of Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz זצוקייל For An Upcoming Sefer! Please Help Spread The Word To Anyone That May Have His Divrei Torah, Machshava & Mussar. Thank You.

 

“There is no cure for measles, and it can result in serious complications. It’s misleading and dangerous to promote the idea that measles is easily treated using unproven and ineffective therapies like budesonide and clarithromycin,” the AAP has said of Kennedy’s claims.

 

Measles vaccination is believed to have saved more than 93 million lives worldwide between 1974 and 2024 and reduced overall childhood mortality.

World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says

 

As infections pummel communities in the US, Mexico and Canada, fear of ‘the most contagious human disease’ grows

A leading immunologist warned of a “post-herd-immunity world”, as measles outbreaks affect communities with low vaccination rates in the American south-west, Mexico and Canada.

The US is enduring the largest measles outbreak in a quarter-century. Centered in west Texas, the measles outbreak has killed two unvaccinated children and one adult and spread to neighboring states including New Mexico and Oklahoma.

“We’re living in a post-herd-immunity world. I think the measles outbreak proves that,” said Dr Paul Offit, an expert on infectious disease and immunology and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Measles – because it is the most contagious of the vaccine-preventable diseases, the most contagious human disease really – it is the first to come back.”

The US eliminated measles in 2000. Elimination status would be lost if the US had 12 months of sustained transmission of the virus. As of 1 May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 935 confirmed measles cases across 30 jurisdictions. Nearly one in three children under five years old involved in the outbreak, or 285 young children, have been hospitalized.

Three large outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and the US now account for the overwhelming majority of roughly 2,300 measles cases across the World Health Organization’s six-country Americas region, according to the health authority’s update this week. Risk of measles is considered high in the Americas, and has grown 11-fold compared with 2024.

Only slightly behind, data released earlier this week from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO also noted that measles cases across Europe were up tenfold in 2024 compared to 2023. That data also indicated that the 2024 measles cases in Europe followed a seasonal pattern, which was not previously noted in 2021 through 2023.

Of the European cases, which reportedly hit 35,212 for 2024, 87% were reported in Romania. The ECDC said the dip in vaccine rates has impacted the recent spike in measles, with only three countries, Hungary, Malta and Portugal, having coverage of 95% or more for both doses of the measles vaccine.

“This virus was imported, traveling country to country,” said Leticia Ruíz, the director of prevention and disease control in Chihuahua, Mexico, according to the Associated Press.

Many cases are in areas with large populations of tight-knit Mennonite communities. The religious group has a history of migration through the American south-west, Mexico and Canada.

Mennonite teaching does not explicitly prohibit immunization, according to an expert in the religion. However, as some in the Mennonite community in Texas resist assimilation and speak a dialect of Low German, community members may have limited contact with public health authorities, leading to lower vaccination rates.

Immunologists fear the rate of infection of such diseases – and the unnecessary suffering they bring – will increase as the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, spreads misleading claims about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases, undermines public confidence in vaccines’ benefits, threatens to make some vaccines less accessible, guts public health infrastructure and pushes leading vaccine experts out of the department.

The National Institutes of Health said it would launch a “universal” influenza vaccine trial with $500m in funding, but the news comes as the administration displays hostility toward Covid-19 vaccines.

“Here, Robert F Kennedy Jr is exactly who he has been for the last 20 years. He’s an anti-vaccine activist, he is a science denialist and a conspiracy theorist,” said Offit.

“He has a fixed belief that vaccines are doing more harm than good – as he’s said over and over again.”

Although Kennedy has tepidly endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to prevent measles, he has also made false and inflammatory claims about the vaccine. Just this week, Kennedy told a crowd that it contains “aborted fetus debris”. The rubella vaccine, like many others, is produced using decades-old sterile fetal cell lines derived from two elective terminations in the 1960s.

Kennedy’s health department also stated this week that it would implement new safety surveillance systems and approval requirements for vaccines, but did not provide any specifics about the design.

Experts said running certain trials, such as for a decades-old vaccine like MMR, would be unethical because it could expose people to a dangerous disease when an intervention is known to be safe.

Measles outbreak: how contagious is it and what are the symptoms?

Kennedy recently visited the most affected community in Texas, centered in Gaines county, in his capacity as health secretary. There, he made misleading claims about measles treatment, including that the antibiotic clarithromycin and steroid budesonide had led to “miraculous and instantaneous recovery”.

The overwhelming scientific consensus is that the best way to treat measles is through prevention with the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective. Still, Kennedy has said he will ask the CDC to study vitamins and drugs to treat the viral disease.

Measles is a virus. There is no cure for the viral disease and it is not considered “treatable” by leading physicians’ groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

“There is no cure for measles, and it can result in serious complications. It’s misleading and dangerous to promote the idea that measles is easily treated using unproven and ineffective therapies like budesonide and clarithromycin,” the AAP has said of Kennedy’s claims.

Measles kills about one in 1,000 children who become infected with the disease, and has similar rates of brain swelling, called encephalitis, that can result in lifelong disability. Measles infection suppresses the immune system, which can lead to other infections.

Measles vaccination is believed to have saved more than 93 million lives worldwide between 1974 and 2024 and reduced overall childhood mortality.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/03/measles-post-herd-immunity