re: “Ivri Script: Back to the Basics”

The video recording from A.S. Adler’s lecture last week is now available on YouTube:

The audio recording (which is probably higher quality than the video) is available at https://archive.org/details/IvriScript

On that page, you can two audio recordings: the shorter audio recording is of an earlier dry run practice session of the lecture, and the longer audio recording contains the entire actual lecture as delivered on Zoom (including the q&a afterwards). On the archive.org page you can also download the video that is on YouTube as an mp4 file and download the PDF file of Adler’s book to see his sources and the pictures that he references in the lecture. Soon, the archive.org page will have these files available in various multiple formats depending on your exact needs.

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Author of: God versus Gods & Lashon HaKodesh

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the author of God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry (Mosaica Press, 2018). His book follows the narrative of Tanakh and focuses on the stories concerning Avodah Zarah using both traditional and academic sources. It also includes an encyclopedia of all the different types of idolatry mentioned in the Bible.

Rabbi Klein studied for over a decade at the premier institutes of the Hareidi world, including Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood and Yeshivas Mir in Jerusalem. He authored many articles both in English and Hebrew, and his first book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew (Mosaica Press, 2014)  became an instant classic. His weekly articles on synonyms in the Hebrew language are published in the Jewish Press and Ohrnet. Rabbi Klein lives with his family in Beitar Illit, Israel and can be reached via email to: rabbircklein@gmail.com

The Lying and Spying Is Far Worse: Not Just the FBI and Twitter…

Quoting Breitbart:

The CIA is referred to in the communications as “OGA,” which stands for “other government agency,” Taibbi explains, adding that the FBI and “OGA” were involved, not only with Twitter, but also with “virtually every major tech firm,” including “Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest, and many others,” as well as “industry players.”

Bullet points look better:

  • Facebook.
  • Microsoft.
  • Verizon.
  • Reddit.
  • Pinterest.
  • “Many others”.
  • “Industry players”.

“One of the most common forums was a regular meeting of the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), attended by spates of executives, FBI personnel, and – nearly always – one or two attendees marked ‘OGA’,” Taibbi says. “The FITF meeting agendas virtually always included, at or near the beginning, an ‘OGA briefing,’ usually about foreign matters,” he adds.

“‘Other Government Agencies’ ended up sharing intelligence through the FBI and FITF not just with Twitter, but with Yahoo!, Twitch, Clouldfare, LinkedIn, even Wikimedia,” Taibbi says.

Bullet points look better:

  • Yahoo!.
  • Twitch.
  • Cloudflare.
  • LinkedIn.
  • Wikimedia.

…

“Especially as the election approached in 2020, the FITF/FBI overwhelmed Twitter with requests, sending lists of hundreds of problem accounts,” Taibbi reports. “There were so many government requests, Twitter employees had to improvise a system for prioritizing/triaging them,” he describes.

Of course, the very name includes the ironic accusation of so-called “foreign influence”; an assertion even the Twitter twits couldn’t validate.

And the FBI asked (at least) Twitter about “particular users”. (I guess NSA spooks were too busy turning on friends’ webcams to help the FBI out.)

Read the rest here…

This is really awful because the USG exceeds expectations. How can I be a “conspiracy theorist”, when it’s as bad as can be and all of it documented?!

Anyway, is “Israel” like this yet?

Still, it’s more about the principle of the thing than a personal threat for most, as we explain here.

An Article to Save: Follow the Torah, NOT the Rabbis!

Two highlights:

The other “Lo Tasur” verse (Devarim 28:14):

ולא תסור מכל הדברים אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום ימין ושמאל…

Also refers to all rabbis. Just, em, not the way you think…

(See Seforno.)

Quoting Rabbi Aaron Kotler, a geshmack Litvak:

Rav Aaron Kotler comments on the statement of Chazal that Lot was saved from death in the merit of keeping silent when Avraham told Elimelech that he was Sarah’s brother and not revealing that Avraham was really her husband. Why, asks Rav Kotler, did Lot need to rely on this merit to be saved? Wasn’t his practice of הכנסת אורחים welcoming guests, even at the risk of his own life in Sodom, enough to save him? After all, this was a great mitzvah. He answers that when Lot was hospitable to guests, he was not doing this from inner conviction, as a mitzvah of chesed, but only in imitation of his uncle Avraham, for he had grown so used to this practice that he did it as a matter of course. But when he refused to reveal Avraham’s true relationship with Sarah, at this point he was acting out of conviction, from a wish to save his uncle. This was the “true Lot” and therefore he was rewarded for this action.

Continue reading the rest here…

Beis Vaad L’Chachamim has said similar things in the past (e.g., here).