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’Never Believe Anything Until It’s Officially Denied!’

Why Americans No Longer Trust the Biden Administration

By 

Ron Paul Institute

August 4, 2021

For libertarians – and even many non-libertarians – it’s not shocking to discover that a US Administration lies and deceives the electorate. For government on all levels, lying to the American people is as American as apple pie. Sometimes the liars are held to account for their deception, but most often they are not.

Watching these early months of the Biden Administration it’s hard not to think that lying, deceiving, and manipulation is rising to a whole new level.

Take “ending the endless war” in Afghanistan. President Biden was cheered for achieving what even Donald Trump could not deliver: an end to the pointless 20 year – and several trillion dollar – war in Afghanistan. By the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we were told, the war would be over.

The only people furious about this decision were the bombmakers at Raytheon and the rest of the military-industrial complex and the laptop warriors in the Beltway think tanks. It turns out, they really didn’t need to worry.

The US is not finally leaving the Afghan people alone to run their country as they see fit. Just this week, Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the US is increasing – not ending – its airstrikes on Afghanistan. The US would be pulling regular military troops out of the country (though likely keeping CIA, Special Forces, and mercenaries on the ground), but it would continue to bomb Afghanistan using “over the horizon” facilities from the Persian Gulf.

I’m sure that makes Afghan victims of US bombs feel much better.

Then last week Biden announced an “end of the US combat mission” in Iraq by the end of the year. While we’ve heard that line before, still it seemed like good news. However, as usual, the devil was in the details. While the “mission” was over, the US troops would remain in-country in an “advisory role.” This is despite the fact that the Iraqi Parliament formally requested last year that US troops leave the country.

Biden has bombed anti-ISIS militias supported by the Iraqi government twice this year (so far).

The 900 US troops illegally occupying Syrian territory would also remain in-country, the Biden Administration announced last week.

Also, just over a week ago President Biden told us that if we got the vaccine we would not get Covid. Then a few days later his own CDC released data from a Massachusetts study showing that 78 percent of the people who caught Covid were fully vaccinated. Is it any wonder Americans have lost all faith in “the science” as it pours forth from the politicized “scientists” in charge of US public health institutions?

The US mainstream media has morphed into a de-facto arm of the Biden Administration, however, covering up for all of these lies and word-games and holding precisely no one in government accountable. So much for a free media acting as a check on government power.

In fact, any “enemy” country overseas with such a subservient press would be targeted for a State Department color revolution.

Governments lie. We understand that. It is the nature of politics and power. In the absence of independent institutions to hold government accountable, however, such lies become indistinguishable from facts, and soon “freedom” itself becomes slavery, as Orwell wrote. Let’s hope more of America wakes up soon.

From LRC, here.

ArtScroll Shir Hashirim ‘Editing’ Rashi…

Reading and Translating Shir Ha-Shirim

Thursday, April 21, 2011
How to reconcile the literal and allegorical readings of Shir Ha-Shirim (Song of Songs, henceforth SHS) was a problem that occupied our greatest exegetical minds.  Rashi, the greatest among them, is a prime and fascinating example.  Fortunately, in the introduction to his commentary on SHS — a text that should be required reading for any student of Jewish biblical exegesis — he spells out his methodology with great clarity.  From the unedited version of Rashi’s introduction, it will be obvious that his approach is a conscious hybrid of contextual, plain-sense interpretation and midrashic embellishment.

The introductory paragraphs to SHS in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash (pp. 1263ff.) quote at some length from Rashi’s introduction.  Even so, the citation is partial — Rashi’s words have been truncated.  In an apparent act of ideological censorship, the editor omitted the opening and most critical lines of the text.
Such editorial tampering is glaring and surprisingly brazen, considering that unedited versions of Rashi’s introduction are widely available to anyone with a basic Jewish home library or an internet browser.  The original text can be found in standard editions of Chumash Mikraot Gedolot, at the back of the Vayikra volume.
Here is my translation of the “missing” portion of Rashi’s introduction:

“God has spoken once; twice have I heard it (Ps. 62:12):  A single verse of Scripture may bear multiple interpretations” (Sanhedrin 34a).  After all is said and done, no scriptural verse may be interpreted in a way that deviates completely from the simple, literal meaning.  While the prophets spoke allegorically, one must interpret their allegories according to the structure of the text and the sequence of the verses, one following the next . . . I have endeavored to preserve the literal meaning of the text and to interpret the verses in sequence.  I shall also cite the midrashim of our Sages, each one in its appropriate place . . .

Continue reading…

From Realia Judaica, here.

Reminder: The Creator of the World Hates Idols

Parshat Re’eh: Of false prophets and idolaters

06 August 2021

28 Menachem Av 5781
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Re’eh – Mevorchim

The Midrash Says on Parshat Re’eh:

…Moshe explained to the Jews: “Eretz Canaan is full of objects pertaining to idol worship. You cannot build a Land of holiness, with a Beit Hamikdash in its midst, while surrounded by the artifacts of idolatry.”
“Eliminate everything associated with idolatry – such as altars, stones, or trees – by whatever method is most effective. Demolish them, burn them, or cast them into the sea. Leave no trace of idolatry! If a place was named after idols, change its name.”
While it is a mitzvah to eliminate idols in any country (where Jews have the legal power to do so), in Eretz Yisrael the obligation goes further: The Jews are required not only to destroy all known idols, but must search for and demolish all the hidden ones as well.
The Torah repeatedly emphasizes that idolatry is the severest of sins. There could be no greater audacity than using one’s intellect, which is capable of inferring the presence of the Creator, to deny G-d’s uniqueness and attribute the vast intelligence that obviously activates all of creation to powers other than Him [even another human being.]
…The Torah declares that besides the inherent evil of worshiping idols, G-d hates the wicked rites of the idolaters. A Jew must therefore distance himself from all idolatrous practices.
…Moshe warned the Jews, “If any ‘prophet’ – whether Jewish or otherwise – ever arises in your midst and claims that a deity other than Hashem gave him a prophetic message, or even claims that Hashem Himself ordered the permanent abrogation of any mitzva of the Torah, know that he is an imposter. …Do not attribute any truth to his words, even if he performs wonders in heaven or on earth. [Even if he says he is here to “stand with Israel.”] …G-d is testing your loyalty to Him. 
…The Torah enacts very strict laws against a maisis, a (Jewish) “instigator” or “missionary” who attempts to persuade our people to accept strange gods.
He is not included in the law of “loving a fellow Jew.” Rather, it is a mitzva to hate him, in accordance with “Hashem, do I not hate those who hate You?” (Tehillim 39.21) He may also not be judged favorably, not treated mercifully, and in his case, Beit Din is exempt from its usual obligation to find exonerating factors for someone condemned to death.
…Rambam comments, “By not favoring a rasha and not covering up for him, we bring peace upon the Jewish people.”
Even if you want to say that xianity is allowed to the gentiles – it is NOT ALLOWED to gentiles in Eretz Yisrael!! And even if you believe that they have “pure” motives, we are forbidden to allow them to perform xian worship on holy soil. How much more so to invite them to do so and to participate in it or even observe it!
In Sefer HaMitzvot it is written, “It is a negative commandment 213 not to turn astray after idol-worship, neither in thought nor in word, nor even by watching.”
Sefer HaChinuch Negative Commandment 426 – “show no mercy to idol-worshippers (we should have no kind feelings for those who worship idols, and nothing about them should be good or pleasing in our eyes; in other words, we should remove far from our mind, and it should not [ever] arise in our speech, that there could be anything of value in one who worships in idolatry, and he should find no grace or favor in our eyes)
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again and again and again if I can get this idea across. The extent to which this sounds harsh or extreme to you is the extent to which you have assimilated Western values which stand in contradiction to Torah law.
Hashem says His thoughts are above our thoughts. It’s up to us to align ourselves with the Torah and not to try to change it to fit “the times.” We’ve become too complacent about this matter and too accepting of xianity even to the point of denying that is even idolatry.
~ Shabbat Shalom – Chodesh Tov ~

Drinking During Pesukei Dezimra?!

Drinking During Davening

Posted by: Gil Student

Aug 6, 21

I have seen myself and heard from others that over the past few years, there has been significant growth in the number of people who drink coffee or tea during the morning prayers. They recite a blessing on the drink before the prayers and continue sipping occasionally during the initial sections (including Pesukei De-Zimra) and after their silent Amidah. This strikes me as irreverent but is it forbidden?

The Gemara (Berakhos 10b) says that it is forbidden to eat or drink before praying. However, you are allowed to drink water (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 89:1). One sage learns it from the verse, “Do not eat from (literally: on) the blood” (Lev. 19:26) — do not eat until you pray for your blood. Another learns it from the verse, “And you have cast Me behind your back (or: your pride)” (1 Kings 14:9) — do not act arrogantly by satisfying your pleasures before praying.

Over time, coffee and tea became permitted, because they are necessary in order to able to pray. At first, they were permitted without sugar but eventually with sugar (Arukh Ha-Shulchan ad loc., 22). Someone who is sick or weak can eat or drink as necessary to be able to pray. Apparently, people today are very weak because many people take great liberties in this area, probably too many. Be that as it may, it is permissible to drink coffee or tea before prayers. What about during the prayers?

After saying the Barukh She-Amar blessing, you are not allowed to interrupt your prayers. From Barukh She-Amar through Yishtabakh is Pesukei De-Zimra, afterwards comes Shema and its blessing which you may not interrupt, and then immediately comes the silent Amidah. If you are not feeling weak or sick, are you allowed to drink during Pesukei De-Zimra or in between the blessings on Shema?

Rav Simcha Rabinowitz (cont., Israel; Piskei Teshuvos, 51:9) quotes Rav a Ephraim Greenblatt (Rivevos Ephraim 6:29) who permits someone who feels weak or sick to say a blessing and drink during Pesukei De-Zimra. But if you don’t absolutely need to drink, then you may not. He adds (n. 86) that even without the issue of the blessing, eating or drinking constitutes and interruption to Pesukei De-Zimra which is otherwise forbidden. However, he does not offer proof that drinking constitutes and interruption.

In a recent article, Rav Matzli’ach Chai Mazuz (cont., Israel; “Whether it is Permissible to Drink Tea During Pesukei De-Zimra” in Ha-Mashbir, no. 9) argues that drinking tea constitutes a forbidden interruption. Rav Mazuz cites as proof the rule regarding Havdalah on Pesach night. If the first night of Pesach falls on Saturday, we must recite Havdalah ending Shabbos during Kiddush at the Pesach Seder. If you started the Seder in the regular way and forgot to say Havdalah, and you already started the Maggid section of discussing the Exodus story, then you wait until you are finished with Maggid and then say Havdalah (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 473:1).

Ramban (Milchamos Hashem, Pesachim 24a) disagrees with Rav Zerachiah Ha-Levi, who understands the Gemara as permitting drinking extra cups of wine during Maggid. Ramban disagrees because that constitutes an interruption. Once you begin Maggid, you may not interrupt the mitzvah by drinking. Based on this, Rav Mazuz argues that drinking constitutes an interruption and therefore you may not drink during Pesukei De-Zimra, and even more so during the blessings of Shema.

Rav Mazuz quotes Rav Yosef Bar Shalom (21st cen., Israel; Responsa Va-Yitzbor Yosef 2:17) who forbids drinking during Pesukei De-Zimra because it is distracting and also because it displays arrogance, which is why eating and drinking are forbidden before prayer. However, everyone agrees that if you feel weak or sick, then you may drink during Pesukei De-Zimra.

From Torah Musings, here.