lo aleinu - A 19-year-old woman is blind after taking Tamiflu (Fox News)

https://www.foxnews.com/story/woman-loses-eyesight-after-taking-tamiflu

A 19-year-old woman is blind after taking Tamiflu — and she didn't even have the H1N1 virus, London's Daily Mail reported.

A National Health Services helpline advised Samantha Millard to take the medication, and within 72 hours Millard was in the hospital on life support.

Millard suffered from Stevens-Johnson syndrome, causing her skin to peel off, and toxic epidermal necrolysis syndrome, which robbed the woman of her sight.

Hospital tests revealed Millard, of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England, never had the H1N1 virus.

Doctors told Millard it could take up to two years for her to recover, and they are not sure if her eyesight will return.

"It's hard," Millard said. "I can't bathe myself, I can't dress myself, I can't watch films and I can't read books."

Gershon Veroba Mimkomcha

Swine flu hysteria

"Then, on the heels of the Reyes decision, came the swine flu faux
epidemic of 1976. There, forty-five million Americans (one-third of the
adult population) subjected themselves to a flu shot at President Gerald
Ford’s stern urging only to learn, later, that the flu was not particularly
dangerous, but the shot itself was—causing in some small proportion of
patients Guillain-Barré syndrome, a usually reversible but occasionally fatal
form of paralysis. A flood of litigation and withering press attention
followed."

Rav Avigdor Miller on Purim

Q: 
The Rav spoke tonight about the lesson of Purim being the internalizing of how much Hashem loves us and our responsibility to love Him and to love the Am Yisroel. But isn’t it possible to say that the Simchas Purim is because of קיימו וקיבלו, that the Jewish Nation accepted the Torah again after the witnessing the neis of Purim?

A:
I want to explain something to you. Ezra Hasofer came along and the gemara says about him that ראוי היה עזרא שתנתן התורה לישראל על ידו – “Ezra was big enough that the Torah could have been given to us through him.” I’ll explain that. Ezra  made a tremendous change in the Klal Yisroel. Before Ezra, you didn’t have to daven shachris, mincha and ma’ariv. You didn’t have to make a bracha either. A בורא פרי העץ or המוציא לחם מין הארץ wasn’t a requirement. Of course, people were mispallel to Hashem. And people thanked Him for the food, absolutely. But there was no chiyuv to daven three times a day or to make brachos. And muktzeh as well. Many types of muktzeh were permitted.

And Ezra came along with the Anshei Knesses Hagedolah and they made a whole list of takanos chachomim. He changed the entire tzura of being a Jew. Ezra changed everything because he saw that with the Jews being in golus, they needed a סייג לתורה, a fence around the Torah; otherwise who knows what’s going to happen to us. And so he made fences around the Torah. So Ezra actually came with a new Torah for Klal Yisroel. Now, it wasn’t actually new. It’s ossur to be mosif, to add on, but he made issurei d’rabanan. He said that it’s all m’dirabanan, but it’s a סייג, a fence, to protect the Torah – to protect the Am Yisroel.

Now, how could he get the Klal Yisroel to accept that? You think it’s easy?! We’re a stubborn nation. And we’re talking now about a tremendous change! How did Ezra succeed? And the answer is that Purim came along! The miracle of Purim came along and there was such a love for Hashem, that קיימו וקיבלו, they accepted the Torah again. Not only did they accept the old Torah again, but they accepted it with such a willingness that they now took upon themselves all the new takanos of Ezra, to be mikayeim them too. So on Purim the takanos of Ezra were finally given the chizuk needed to remain with the Klal Yisroel forever.

So you’re asking if we celebrate that? Absolutely we celebrate that. No question about it. But you have to know, that that’s only agav urcha. That’s not the main idea of Purim. That’s not an open possuk. That idea of קיימו וקיבלו is not the plain pshat. The pshat in that possuk doesn’t mean that they accepted to fulfill the Torah. It’s a good drash and it’s true, but it’s not the original pshat of the possuk. 

And therefore the most important lesson of Purim is something else: that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is oheiv amo Yisroel. That is the lesson of Purim! That Hakodosh Boruch Hu loves the Am Yisroel more than anything else, that’s the main lesson of Purim! Other things, what you hear in other places, it’s true also. Could be. But the main lesson of Purim is that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is oiheiv amo Yisroel. 

Of course, as a result of that we’re more loyal to Him. We’re mikabeil to do everything now, because He saved us. Of course, that was a result of the simcha that we had when we saw how much He loves us. But the great lesson of Purim is just that. That He loves us.

And the lesson that we have to learn is that we have to love the Am Yisroel the same way Hakodosh Boruch Hu does. Hashem made a public demonstration on Purim; He demonstrated His love for us. And He wants us to follow His lesson and love His people like He does. We love the Am Yisroel because Hashem loves the Am Yisroel. It’s a way of us demonstrating our love for Hashem. And on Purim we have to start on our own, to fulfill what Hakodosh Boruch Hu showed us as an example by means of the neis of Purim.
TAPE # E-225 (March 2000)

The Statement of the Day

"Party head Avigdor Liberman vowed Monday he would not join a Likud-led government that includes ultra-Orthodox parties, but he has also refused to join a coalition with the Arab-led Joint List."

https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-almost-95-of-votes-counted-likud-gain-a-seat-to-36-shas-drops-to-9/

If that is not the most incredible statement. He hates Charedim. The former head of defense hates Charedim. He won't join in any coaltion that includes Charedim. It's astonishing. Do Charedim factor so much in his life? Do Charedim have any real power? Who owns the banks, runs the universities, leads the military, manages the corporations, sits on the High Court, publishes the newspapers? It's not Charedim. Charedim are a relatively powerless group, a low income group. There's some control over marriage licensing and public bus schedules on Shabbos. Not much more that. It is relatively minor. But this creature hates Charedim so much that he'll hold up the government formation once again even though Likud is all set to annex half of area C. He'll put a hold on that, even though he wants it too, just because he hates Charedim so much. It's not rational. Reminds us of you know who. 

It's pretty weird. Esav? Amalek? You tell me. 

Rav Avigdor Miller on Amalek’s Brotherly Impudence Q: Why did Amalek attack the Jewish people when they knew that Hashem had just performed remarkable miracles for them? A: Now we have to know who Amalek was. Amalek wasn’t such a wicked nation as we think. The fact is, the children of Yisro all throughout history associated with Amalek; they lived together with them. You remember when Shaul came to battle against Amalek, he had to send a messenger to the Bnei Keini warning them to separate from Amalek because he’s going to war against them now. Now, the Bnei Keini, children of Yisro, they wouldn’t live with Amalek if Amalek was that bad. The answer is this: Amalek was a brother. Amalek was the children of Eisav and nobody is an enemy like a brother who turns sour.  The worst enemies that we have are Jews that turn bad. Who were the ones who battled that the Nazis should be recognized by the Supreme Court as a legitimate organization? Jews! The ACLU, the American Criminal Liberties Union, they got fifty thousand dollars from a Jew named Neier for that purpose. And the United Hebrew Federations of Los Angeles gave their first annual award to Neier.  So the Federation of Charities gave their first annual award to Neier for a special service to the Jewish people. And he was the one who gave fifty thousand dollars to get the Nazis recognized. Throughout history, our worst enemies have been Jews.  You have to know that. In the communist upheaval, when the Bolsheviks took over, we suffered from the Jewish communists more than from anybody else.  They were the ones that sent Reb Dovid Rappaport to his death; a gadol baTorah, the Tzemach Dovid, a rosh yeshiva.  They packed him off to a concentration camp where he died.  They sent off tzaddikim, gedolim to their deaths. They were the worst ones. Trotsky, yimach shmo v’zichro, Leon Trotsky was one of the worst enemies of the Jewish people.   And therefore we have to remember that Amalek was a brother. Amalek was Esav’s grandson – he was a brother of the Jewish people and therefore he had more sinah than anybody else.  So all the nations heard, שמעו עמים ירגזון – The nations heard and they trembled. But Amalek was a brother and therefore he mustered enough impudence to attack the Am Yisroel.  He wanted to show – “It’s nothing.” He wanted to demonstrate to the nations, “Don’t be impressed by these people; they’re frummies. We know them. My grandfather had business with their ancestor, Yaakov. He’s a crook. He’s a ramai.” And that’s why they went out to fight against our people and nobody else did. Because a brother who is no good is the worst enemy. TAPE # 268 (June 1979)