העורך Editor

McCain Deserves ZERO Sympathy!

Doug Casey explains why, in brief, understated fashion.

Here’s the main bit:

When the Vietnam War came to an end in 1973, there were negotiations between Henry Kissinger and the Vietnamese government about US POWs. At the time, it seemed very certain that there were a couple thousand American POWs being held by the Vietnamese. But only about 500 of them returned to the United States. The other 1,500 or so were kept in North Vietnam.

[Editor’s note: This article is a good summary of the situation.]

Justin: And why was that?

Doug: It seems they were held as a bargaining chip. The Vietnamese expected war reparations for the immense damage that the Americans inflicted on their country.

The negotiations on the terms of their repatriation bogged down; the US didn’t want to pay the indemnity Hanoi demanded. And after a while, neither the Vietnamese nor the Americans wanted to acknowledge these people. They were an embarrassment for both governments. So the assumption is that they quietly died in prison. Maybe they simply “disappeared.”

But we’ll never know the truth because McCain was instrumental in making sure that the records of what happened were buried. We may never know what happened to those real or alleged POWs. They’re hidden behind a veil of secrecy now.

Justin: Why would he do that?

Doug: Who knows? Well, McCain knew. And that’s important because his entire political career is built on his Vietnam War record. And yet, his military record is completely unexceptional. Or even some place between undistinguished and shameful. But it’s hard to know the facts.

Read the rest over here…

The Chareidi Passive Reformists

How much different is סוף השמדת התורה (to paraphrase the Brisker Rav) – the active reform of the Reform movement – from the passive reform of mainstream Chareidim?

I mean, how would you describe the following attitude to our current state of קיום התורה והמצוות?
A recent event publicized in Kedushas Tzion was disgraced with the stated “הרגשת הלב” of a prominent, scholarly speaker claiming as follows: If there is a מצוה we are למעשה not performing, and we don’t really feel emotionally connected to it, better leave it alone…
This incredulous idea was purported to be a legitimate reason behind the Chareidi neglect of Techeiles (תכלת). It was also used to claim an ideological disinterest in חידוש הקרבת קרבנות, safely decided what was to be the “proper” conclusion of any responsa on the topic. Nor is this sort of opinion too rare.
(This also happens to be the speaker’s approach to several other such matters, especially fake head-coverings for women.)
What will be?!
Now a protest was written up in the latest “Kedushas Tzion”, #35 pages 17-19. Check it out.
[I was helped in writing this by a reader.]

Another Made-Up Medrash…

Yesterday’s article, titled “פרי ראש השנה יום הכיפורים, והוא תכלית הכול” taught us an interesting expression about the year cycle known to the Rishonim and explained what it meant.

There is something interesting, however, you may have missed:

האימרה מובאת בספר הדרושים “נהר פישון” לרבי יצחק אבוהב… ונאמר שם כי היא נמצאת במסכת יומא. ברם אין זכר לה בגמרות שלנו. רבי אברהם ב”ר שבתי הלוי, אביו של רבי ישעיה הורוויץ, בעל השל”ה, מקדיש בספרו “ברית אברהם” פרק שלם, המשתרע על כמה עמודים, לפירוש אימרה זו, שלפי דבריו היא מדרש. דומה עלי כי גם איננה במדרשים שבידינו.

Of course, it’s not a Medrash! And yet, there were those who would call post-Chazalic creations a “Medrash” to increase their stature (see Rashi Pesachim 112a), although this phenomenon was unknown even to scholars, such as Tuvia Preschel (because no one ever spelled it out). Although there are certainly Midrashim which were known in the past, and then lost, such as ושכנתי בתוכו… בתוך כל אחד ואחד.

We have written about this horror elsewhere. I highly recommend you read it slowly.

If that sounds bad, and looks awful and seems wrong, that’s because it is. I’m in no mood these days to spell out what this all means, but you can figure it out for yourselves. This is nowhere near the Septuagint deception…

This might also explain why the Medrash of כל שאינו אומר דבר בשם אומרו was famously attributed to a Gemara, which then fooled the Magen Avraham, see this.

[Likewise, but not in the same category, there are books with the word “Medrash” in their name, but aren’t, like “Medrash Talpiyot”, etc. (or “Yalkut Re’uveni”).]