The Wisdom of the Halacha - Fasting

Fasting Boosts Stem Cells’ Regenerative Capacity

Excerpt:

As people age, their intestinal stem cells begin to lose their ability to regenerate. These stem cells are the source for all new intestinal cells, so this decline can make it more difficult to recover from gastrointestinal infections or other conditions that affect the intestine.

This age-related loss of stem cell function can be reversed by a 24-hour fast, according to a new study from MIT biologists. The researchers found that fasting dramatically improves stem cells’ ability to regenerate, in both aged and young mice.

In fasting mice, cells begin breaking down fatty acids instead of glucose, a change that stimulates the stem cells to become more regenerative. The researchers found that they could also boost regeneration with a molecule that activates the same metabolic switch. Such an intervention could potentially help older people recovering from GI infections or cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, the researchers say.

Read Fasting Boosts Stem Cells’ Regenerative Capacity

Rav Shimon Schwab zt'l on Torah Im Derech Eretz

Read full article:

Rav Shimon Schwab zt'l on Torah Im Derech Eretz

Heresy is worse than idolatry

How many times has a Zionistic leaning person told you that the Gemara says it is better to live in Eretz Yisroel in a city mostly of idolaters than outside Eretz Yisroel in a city mostly of Jews? This is a standard Zionist propaganda line. The reference is given to push you to move to the 'medinah.' 

The Gemara is in Kesubos 110b:

ת"ר לעולם ידור אדם בא"י אפי' בעיר שרובה עובדי כוכבים ואל ידור בחו"ל ואפילו בעיר שרובה ישראל

(Steinsaltz translation, from the William Davidson edition on Sefaria:) The Sages taught: A person should always reside in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city that is mostly populated by gentiles, and he should not reside outside of Eretz Yisrael, even in a city that is mostly populated by Jews.

Response from Parsha Pearls:

The word "even" means that this is the limit, but more than that – i.e. something worse than gentile idolaters - is not permitted. Jewish heretics are worse than gentile idolaters, "for they afflict Israel and lead the people astray from following Hashem.” (Rambam, Laws of Idolatry 10:1) A person is naturally more influenced by one of his own kind. (See Vayikra, p. ??.) Furthermore, the evil inclination for idolatry was slaughtered long ago by the Men of the Great Assembly (Yuma 69b), whereas heresy remains a strong attraction (see Avodah Zarah 27b). One must distance himself more from heresy than from idolatry, as it says (Shabbos 116A): "Even if one is being pursued by a murderer or a poisonous snake, he may enter a house of idol worship but not a house of heretics, for the gentiles were never taught the truth, whereas the heretics are Jews who learned Torah and then denied it." Therefore, the Gemora in Kesubos does not mean that one should live in a city of mostly heretics.

In other words, that Gemara refers to gentile idol worshippers. What we have in Eretz Yisroel today are Jewish heretics, which is something far more dangerous. So rather than telling you to move to Eretz Yisroel in our times, this Gemara is telling you not to. 

I would add that Israeli society today isn't merely mostly heretical, the great majority, around 80% is heretical. 

live shiur in English TODAY Rosh Chodesh Sivan (24th May)

Posek HaDor HaGaon Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlit”a will be saying a live shiur in English TODAY Rosh Chodesh Sivan (24^th May), which can be heard worldwide by clicking the link below, or by dialing the numbers below. The shiur will be on the halochos of Yom Tov, at 5.30pm Israel time (4.30pm in SA, 3.30pm London).

Pls pass on to all interested!

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79504217530?pwd=ZVNJa3NYMk5WQ0k5M0xZemZ4QmZtdz09

Meeting ID: 795 0421 7530

Password: 3456

Call in from phone lines also available, depending on location:
ISRAEL:                     +97239786688
SOUTH AFRICA:       +27875507717
UK:                             +442036950088

USA:                              +16699006833     
Follow instructions on call (Enter ID, #, password, #).

For any other queries or questions related to topic which you would like answered by the Raavad in the shiur, please email ravsternbuchshiurim@gmail.com

The hypocricy of Reagan

https://medium.com/federalists/embracing-reagans-notion-of-small-government-federalism-dde83edd11bb

"Reagan’s vision of modern Federalism is to achieve the same goals of the original Federalists but from the opposite end of the spectrum. He realized that the national government was quickly becoming too powerful. He embraced the Federalist approach of checks and balances between the states and Washington DC that empowers either to properly represent their citizens. If someone in Michigan was being oppressed by the federal government, they could go to the state to seek protections. If it was Michigan that was oppressing this person, they could call on DC for help. Only through balance of powers can this country be properly managed. Only through balance of powers can the people’s freedoms be properly protected."

Behavior & Society The Real Reasons Autism Rates Are Up in the U.S.

Behavior & Society The Real Reasons Autism Rates Are Up in the U.S.

Excerpts:

Autism didn’t make its debut in the DSM until 1980. In 1987, a new edition expanded the criteria by allowing a diagnosis even if symptoms became apparent after 30 months of age. To garner a diagnosis, a child needed to meet 8 of 16 criteria, rather than all 6 of the previous items. These changes may have caused the condition’s prevalence to tick above 1 in 1,400.

Then, in 1991, the U.S. Department of Education ruled that a diagnosis of autism qualifies a child for special education services. Before this time, many children with autism may instead have been listed as having intellectual disability. The change may have encouraged families to get a diagnosis of autism for their child. The number of children who have both a diagnosis of autism and intellectual disability has also risen steadily over the years.

In 1994, the fourth edition of the DSM broadened the definition of autism even further, by including Asperger syndrome on the milder end of the spectrum. The current version, the DSM-5, was released in 2013, and collapsed autism, Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified into a single diagnosis.

...

Policy changes may have also played a role. In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended screening all children for autism during routine pediatrician visits at 18 and 24 months of age. This move may have led to diagnoses for children who would otherwise have slipped under the radar.

• By Jessica Wright, Spectrum on March 3, 2017

The prevalence of autism in the United States has risen steadily since researchers first began tracking it in 2000. The rise in the rate has sparked fears of an autism ‘epidemic.’ But experts say the bulk of the increase stems from a growing awareness of autism and changes to the condition’s diagnostic criteria.

Here’s how researchers track autism’s prevalence and explain its apparent rise.

How do clinicians diagnose autism?
There is no blood test, brain scan or any other objective test that can diagnose autism—although researchers are actively trying to develop such tests. Clinicians rely on observations of a person’s behavior to diagnose the condition.

In the U.S., the criteria for diagnosing autism are laid out in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM). The criteria are problems with social communication and interactions, and restricted interests or repetitive behaviors. Both of these ‘core’ features must be present in early development.

What is the prevalence of autism in the U.S.?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 68children in the U.S. have autism. The prevalence is 1 in 42 for boys and 1 in 189 for girls. These rates yield a gender ratio of about five boys for every girl.

How does the CDC arrive at this number?
CDC researchers collect health and school records for 8-year-old children who live in select U.S. counties. These researchers are part of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which the CDC set up in 2000 to estimate autism prevalence.

Every two years, trained clinicians scan the records for signs of autism features, such as social problems or repetitive behaviors. They focus on 8-year-olds because most children are enrolled in school and have had routine health assessments by that age2. They then decide whether each child meets the criteria for autism, even if the child does not have a diagnosis, and extrapolate the results to all children in the state.

Continue

Behavior & Society The Real Reasons Autism Rates Are Up in the U.S.

And the shuls?

Beaches, malls, schools, and zoos are all open but not shuls in the so-called Jewish state. That zoos are open really adds insult to injury. The atheists who founded the state have got their wish, at least for now. Active cases - around 3,500 - continue to drop. The great majority of those cases are minor or have no symptoms at all. 49 on ventilators. What's 49 divided by 9 million? .0005% What's 3,500 divided by 9 million? .03% The death toll, which is less than that of second hand smoking over the same period of time (no draconian measures about smoking have been proposed) has barely changed. But the shuls are closed and we haven't heard a peep about opening them.

Healthy girl paralyzed by flu shot

Watch

#ADEM is an auto-immune disease that occurs when the immune system "mistakenly attacks its own brain tissue," after a #vaccination or infection.

Rav Avigdor Miller on Internet For Business

Q: 
Can somebody have internet in the house for business? There are plenty of businesses that are on the internet today and people want to know if they can have it in the house if they work from the house?

A:
If a person has an internet machine in his house he should have it under lock and key; two locks! And he should have both of the keys. He shouldn't leave it unattended for even one evening. The internet is Gehinom. That’s what it is. Even a computer in the house is a sakanah. Who knows what could happen! And therefore you have to keep it under lock and key! There’s no alternative to that; there’s no second choice.

TAPE # E-229 (April 2000)

TorasAvigdor.org

TREASURES OF ASHKENAZ A Time to Return to the Lag Baomer of Old

18 Iyar 5780: A Time to Return to the Lag Baomer of Old – ל”ג בעומר התש”פ: עת לשוב לל”ג בעומר הישן

השיבנו ה’ אליך ונשובה, חדש ימינו כקדם
It is time to go back to the old ל”ג בעומר (those that never left it are already set, some who have gone elsewhere can return, this year it is very easy to do so, with all the restrictions in place due to the pandemic).
It is time to return to תורת משה, as articulated and elucidated by the רבן של ישראל, רבי משה סופר, מרן החת”ם סופר זי”ע.
זכרו תורת משה עבדי – the Chasam Sofer wrote that that he would not join the Lag Baomer pilgrimage to to Meron.
The old Lag Baomer, when it meant a day marking when the dying of תלמידי רבי עקיבא stopped. Unlike later when it was changed to an ecstatic festival focusing on רשב”י, overshadowing its earlier meaning and way of observance.

read full post

Mexico halts some vaccinations after 2 children die, 29 are hospitalized - LA Times

https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-vaccines-20150510-story.html

Excerpt:

Mexico stopped administering certain vaccines nationwide and launched an investigation into why two children died and 29 fell ill this weekend after receiving inoculations in Chiapas, the country’s southernmost state, officials said.
A total of 52 children in the municipality of Simojovel received vaccines against tuberculosis, rotavirus and hepatitis B on Friday, and 31 of them had adverse reactions that night, according to the Mexican Institute for Social Security. Of the hospitalized children, six are in grave condition and 23 are stable, the health agency said.

read https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-vaccines-20150510-story.html

HaGaon Harav Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger, shlita

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

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Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger (בנימין שלמה המבורגר) is a rabbi and author who is regarded as an expert on the subject of minhag Ashkenaz, the customs of German and Western European Jews, and their history. Born in Basel, Switzerland, to German parents, he currently lives in Bnei Brak, Israel.^[1]

Having originally been educated in Eastern European Jewish and Hasidic institutions, he came to explore his family's heritage after learning more about the traditions observed by his ancestor, Moses Sofer (1762–1839), the rabbinical authority better known as the "Chatam Sofer" after his writings.^[1] He commenced his research in the 1970s,^[1] and in the late 1980s founded the research institute מכון מורשת אשכנז (Machon Moreshes Ashkenaz, Center of Ashkenaz Heritage) to further these studies.^[1][2] A number of communities affiliated with the Institute, in Israel and the United States, now follow the Ashkenaz custom.^[2]

He is best known for a five-volume series of books titled שרשי מנהגי אשכנז (Shorshei Minhagei Ashkenaz, The Roots of Ashkenaz Customs) and an introductory volume on the importance of adhering to the Ashkenaz custom.^[3] An English synopsis of the work appeared in 2010.^[4] He is also the author of the 1989 book משיחי השקר ומתנגדיהם (Meshichei Ha-Sheker U-Mitnagdeihem, False Messiahs and their Detractors), a historical work detailing many of the people who claimed to be the Jewish messiah, as well as a multi-volume work on the Yeshiva in Furth.^[2]

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d} Revier, Chaim (2006-02-15). "The New Yekkes" (PDF). Mishpacha. pp. 26–30.
2. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Tannenbaum, Avi (2011-02-11). "Ashkenaz: The world that is" (PDF). Yated Ne'eman. p. 110.
3. ^ Hamburger BS (1994). [Rabbinic authorities on the observance of the Ashkenaz custom] גדולי הדורות על משמר מנהג אשכנז (in Hebrew). Bnei Berak: מכון מורשת אשכנז.
4. ^ Minhag Ashkenaz Sources and Roots (2010). Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz. Minhag Ashkenaz Sources and Roots: Synopsis of Volumes I-IV. Nanuet, NY: Machon Moreshes Ashkenaz. ISBN 978-1-58330-329-0.

External links[edit]

• Machon Moreshes Ashkenaz
• Excerpts from משיחי השקר ומתנגדיהם
• List of topics discussed in Shorshei Minhagei Ashkenaz

posted according to the Wikipedia public domain permission