העורך Editor

Ever notice how those belonging to the Israeli government army are indicated in government media?

When the reference is bad or just neutral, “chayal\חייל”, or soldier. When seemingly positive, “lochem\לוחם”, or warrior…

A student of Brisk dies and arrives at a fork in the road. There are two signs. One arrow points right: “Heaven”. The other arrow points left: “General lecture on the main important central definition of Heaven according to Maimonides”.

Guess where the Brisker ended up…?

יש מהמון בני ישראל שסוברים שמצוה לרבות בקדישים, וכמה טועים הם… וקורא אני עליהם “תשתפכנה אבני קודש”, ואין משתמשין בשרביטו של מלך מלכי המלכים, רק כפי שהרשה אותנו, והמרבה בהם מזלזל בהדרת קודש! (ערוה”ש או”ח נ”ה ג’)

ואחד מיוחד מגדולי החסידים צעק מרה על זה (“דבר שמואל”) וזה לשונו: ‘המרבים באמירת הקדישים … ומתישים כח קדושת ה’ הגדול והנורא.’

הקדמונים לא אמרו רק שבעה קדישים בכל היום. אחר כך הוסיפו עוד שלושה. ויותר אין מקום לקדישים. עם כל זה הוסיפו עוד אחד, אחר שיר של יום, מפני היתומים המרובים, אבל יותר מזה חלילה להוסיף. ובזה מקיימים דגל השכינה הקדושה. (שם)

מתוך עלון נר לשלחן שבת פרשת שמיני תשע”ו

See this essay by Murray Rothbard on forced fluoridation of drinking water.

An excerpt:

First: the generalized case for and against fluoridation of water. The case for is almost incredibly thin, boiling down to the alleged fact of substantial reductions in dental cavities in kids aged 5 to 9. Period. There are no claimed benefits for anyone older than nine! For this the entire adult population of a fluoridated area must be subjected to mass medication!

The case against, even apart from the specific evils of fluoride, is powerful and overwhelming.

(1) Compulsory mass medication is medically evil, as well as socialistic. It is starkly clear that one key to any medication is control of the dose; different people, at different stages of risk, need individual dosages tailored to their needs. And yet with water compulsorily fluoridated, the dose applies to everyone, and is necessarily proportionate to the amount of water one drinks.

What is the medical justification for a guy who drinks ten glasses of water a day receiving ten times the fluorine dose of a guy who drinks only one glass? The whole process is monstrous as well as idiotic.

(2) Adults, in fact children over nine, get no benefits from their compulsory medication, yet they imbibe fluorides proportionately to their water intake.

(3) Studies have shown that while kids 5 to 9 may have their cavities reduced by fluoridation, said kids ages 9 to 12 have more cavities, so that after 12 the cavity benefits disappear. So that, at best, the question boils down to: are we to subject ourselves to the possible dangers of fluoridation solely to save dentists the irritation of dealing with squirming kids aged 5 to 9?

(4) Any parents who want to give their kids the dubious benefits of fluoridation can do so individually: by giving their kids fluoride pills, with doses regulated instead of haphazardly proportionate to the kids’ thirst; and/or, as we all know, they can brush their teeth with fluoride-added toothpaste. How about freedom of individual choice?

(5) Let us not omit the long-suffering taxpayer, who has to pay for the hundreds of thousands of tons of fluorides poured into the nation’s socialized water supply every year. The days of private water companies, once flourishing in the U.S., are long gone, although the market, in recent years, has popped up in the form of increasingly popular private bottled water even though far more expensive than socialized free water.

Nothing loony or kooky about any of these arguments, is there? So much for the general case pro and con fluoridation. When we get to the specific ills of fluoridation, the case against becomes even more overpowering, as well as grisly.

…

Following are the words of the book “Tiferes Shlomo” on Beshalach defending the false notion known today as “Da’as Torah”: