Friday, January 31, 2020

ordered to discontinue the teaching of parshas hashavua

Harav Yitzchok Hershkovitz shlita, Rosh Kollel Choshen Mishpat, is tirelessly consumed with alerting the masses regarding the government’s takeover of the Chareidi chinuch. He tells of meeting with a Rav of a chassidus, and discussing the chinuch situation of the chassidus’s mosad. When he felt that his words weren’t penetrating, he spoke frankly; “Does the Rav agree that there exist smoking ovens of the Misrad HaChinuch? He answered, ‘Yes.’ There are explicit programs plans [to this effect], everything is barah kachamah. Does the Rav agree that there are secular people standing at the opening of the ovens, waiting for the moment that they can scorch neshamos? The inspectors are in complete control [of the curriculum], there are commands issued in writing and by mouth. There are plans exactly how to destroy Yiddishe kinder. The Rav agrees? He said, ‘Yes.’ The Rav then agrees that the neshamos are aboard the trains heading to the gas chambers. The only disagreement that we have is; where is the train now holding. You say it is holding at the last stop before the ovens, and I say that it is already holding at the opening of the ovens. Even if [you are correct] that it is holding at the last stop, is that not enough of a reason to exit?!”

One gan was ordered by an inspector to utterly discontinue the teaching of parshas hashavua. The gannenet inquired, “What should I teach?” The inspector replied, “Teach about the human body.” If parshas hashavua is prohibited, we can safely assume that the teaching of the human body will not be designed toward revealing its Creator.

the Sentry

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Vaccines & Autism: How the Media Lie about the 1998 Lancet Study


by 

Hammond tells us that Wakefield never said the MMR causes autism but that there is a possible connection that needs to be investigated.

This is what the study actually said with respect to the hypothesis of an association between the MMR vaccine and autism.

In eight children, the onset of behavioural problems had been linked, either by the parents or by the child’s physician, with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination. Five had had an early adverse reaction to immunisation (rash, fever, delirium; and, in three cases, convulsions).

We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described. Virological studies are underway that may help to resolve this issue.
If there is a causal link between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and this syndrome, a rising incidence might be anticipated after the introduction of this vaccine in the UK in 1988. Published evidence is inadequate to show whether there is a change in incidence or a link with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. A genetic predisposition to autisic-spectrum disorders is suggested by over-representation in boys and a greater concordance rate in monozygotic than in dizybotic twins.

As for the alleged retraction by the coauthors, they wrote:

The main thrust of this paper was the first description of an unexpected intestinal lesion in the children reported. Further evidence has been forthcoming in studies from the Royal Free Centre for Paediatric Gastroenterology and other groups to support and extend these findings. While much uncertainty remains about the nature of these changes, we believe it important that such work continues, as autistic children can potentially be helped by recognition and treatment of gastrointestinal problems.
We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient. However, the possibility of such a link was raised and consequent events have had major implications for public health. In view of this, we consider now is the appropriate time that we should together formally retract the interpretation placed upon these findings in the paper, according to the precedent.

Read Hammond's full article. It's mind opening as to how a religion has been formed around vaccines.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Satmar Rebbe

When the Rebbe came to America, he found a handful of his followers sitting in a beis medrash all day, davening and learning. He summoned them and insisted that they find jobs to support their families. “If I had the strength, I’d also go to work,” he said. He could not ignore the American emphasis on material well-being. In America especially, one had to be mindful of the dictum that poverty can sway a man from loyalty to his Creator (Mishlei 30:9). Moreover, a viable community could only take shape if it is self-supporting on a level comparable to that of the surrounding society.

Y. Cohen

Monday, January 27, 2020

Brave Dr. Moss

VaxXed Tour: Brave Dr. Moss in West Virginia

Dr. Alvin Moss MD, a nephrologist (kidney doctor), a professor of medicine at the West Virginia school of medicine who has taught medical ethics, says vaccine court has been paying out $200 million a year to people injured by vaccines. He notes that the vaccine makers don't pay this money. Vaccine makers cannot be sued. Says he knows a dozen cases of kids who were hurt seriously by vaccines. Says parents should have a choice. Says flu vaccine in one year protected only 19% of people but has caused serious injuries. Says there's a problem with integrity at the CDC (Center for Disease Control). References a doctor in California who decided not to recommend that patients vaccinate and the medical board in California might take away his license. Thus, more doctors would come forward but are intimidated.

Sunday, January 26, 2020

choice

Rabbis Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Yehoshua Neuwirth, Hershel Schachter, J. David Bleich, and Mordechai Willig ruled that parents cannot be compelled to vaccinate their children, regardless if their concerns are irrational.


Saturday, January 25, 2020

CDC: What’s in Vaccines?

Let's present both sides of the story now. Here is what the CDC has to say.

What’s in Vaccines?

Today’s vaccines use only the ingredients they need to be as safe and effective as possible.
Each ingredient in a vaccine serves a specific purpose:
  • provide immunity (protection)
  • keep the vaccine safe and long lasting
  • for the production of the vaccine
Vaccine Ingredients.
Type of IngredientExample(s)PurposeMost common source found…
PreservativesThimerosal (only in multi-dose vials of flu vaccine)*To prevent contaminationFrom eating foods such as certain kinds of fish, mercury (which thimerosal contains) gets into the body
AdjuvantsAluminum saltsTo help boost the body’s response to the vaccineFrom drinking water, infant formula, or use of health products such as antacids, buffered aspirin, and antiperspirants
StabilizersSugars, gelatinTo keep the vaccine effective after manufactured.From eating food such as Jell-O® and resides in body naturally
Residual cell culture materialsEgg protein^To grow enough of the virus or bacteria to make the vaccineFrom eating foods containing eggs
Residual inactivating ingredientsFormaldehyde†To kill viruses or inactivate toxins during the manufacturing processResides in body naturally (more in body than vaccines). Also found automobile exhaust, and household furnishing such as carpets and upholstery.
Residual antibioticsNeomycinTo prevent contamination by bacteria during the vaccine manufacturing processAntibiotics that people are most likely to be allergic to — like penicillin — aren’t used in vaccines
* Thimerosal has a different form of mercury (ethylmercury) than the kind that causes mercury poisoning (methylmercury). It’s safe to use ethylmercury in vaccines because it’s processed differently in the body and it’s less likely to build up in the body — and because it’s used in tiny amounts. Even so, most vaccines do not have any thimerosal in them.  Learn more about thimerosal, mercury, and vaccine safety.
^ Because influenza and yellow fever vaccines are both made in eggs, egg proteins are present in the final products. However, there are two new flu vaccines now available for people with egg allergies. People who have severe egg allergies should be vaccinated in a medical setting and be supervised by a health care professional who can recognize and manage severe allergic conditions.
†Formaldehyde is diluted during the vaccine manufacturing process, but residual quantities of formaldehyde may be found in some current vaccines. The amount of formaldehyde present in some vaccines is so small compared to the concentration that occurs naturally in the body that it does not pose a safety concern.
medical icon
Most vaccines do not contain thimerosal or mercury. If you’re concerned about thimerosal or mercury in vaccines, talk with your child’s doctor.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Japan Leads the Way: No Vaccine Mandates and No MMR Vaccine = Healthier Children

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/vaccines/japan-leads-the-way-no-vaccine-mandates-and-no-mmr-vaccine-healthier-children/

Excerpts:

With a population of 127 million, Japan has the healthiest children and the very highest “healthy life expectancy” in the world—and the least vaccinated children of any developed country. 

In 1994, Japan transitioned away from mandated vaccination in public health centers to voluntary vaccination in doctors’ offices, guided by “the concept that it is better that vaccinations are performed by children’s family doctors who are familiar with their health conditions.” The country created two categories of non-compulsory vaccines: “routine” vaccines that the government covers and “strongly recommends” but does not mandate, and additional “voluntary” vaccines, generally paid for out-of-pocket. Unlike in the U.S., Japan has no vaccine requirements for children entering preschool or elementary school.
Japan also banned the MMR vaccine in the same time frame, due to thousands of serious injuries over a four-year period—producing an injury rate of one in 900 children that was “over 2,000 times higher than the expected rate.” It initially offered separate measles and rubella vaccines following its abandonment of the MMR vaccine; Japan now recommends a combined measles-rubella (MR) vaccine for routine use but still shuns the MMR. The mumps vaccine is in the “voluntary” category.
  • Japan has no vaccine mandates, instead recommending vaccines that (as discussed above) are either “routine” (covered by insurance) or “voluntary” (self-pay).
  • Japan does not vaccinate newborns with the hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine, unless the mother is hepatitis B positive.
  • Japan does not vaccinate pregnant mothers with the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.
  • Japan does not give flu shots to pregnant mothers or to six-month-old infants.
  • Japan does not give the MMR vaccine, instead recommending an MR vaccine.
  • Japan does not require the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
Japan initially recommended the HPV vaccine but stopped doing so in 2013 after serious health problems prompted numerous lawsuits. Japanese researchers have since confirmed a temporal relationship between HPV vaccination and recipients’ development of symptoms. U.S. regulators have ignored these and similar reports and not only continue to aggressively promote and even mandate the formerly optional HPV vaccine beginning in preadolescence but are now pushing it in adulthood. The Merck-manufactured HPV vaccine received fast-tracked approval from the FDA despite half of all clinical trial subjects reporting serious medical conditions within seven months.

Read the entire article. Interesting that a country that some associate with avodah zara doesn't make an avodah zara out of medicine as they do in the USA.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

CDC has allegedly known since 2001 - childrenshealthdefense.org

Last August, CDC senior scientist, Dr. William Thompson, reportedly invoked federal whistleblower status and confessed that the CDC has allegedly known since 2001 that black American male children exposed to the MMR vaccine have a disproportionate risk of autism. 
Thompson, a 17 year CDC veteran, is the author of some of the leading studies cited by CDC to exculpate vaccines from the autism epidemic. Thompson, who still works at CDC, released the raw data sets that he says his bosses at CDC ordered him to conceal. Those data allegedly show that black boys who received the MMR vaccine prior to three years old, as the CDC recommends were 3.36 times more likely to receive an autism diagnosis than those who received the vaccine after 3 years of age. This effect was not observed in other race categories. Nevertheless, when the CDC scientists published their results in Pediatrics in 2004, they reportedly omitted the damaging data, fraudulently declaring there was no risk of autism from the MMR vaccination. In August 2014, Dr. Thompson issued a press release through his attorney stating, “I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that black male children who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism.

childrenshealthdefense.org

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/video/rfk-jr-taking-on-big-pharma-the-vaccine-industry/

Monday, January 20, 2020

Dr. Suzanne Humphries MD: Another good doctor who finds serious problems with vaccines

Dr. Humphries is a nephrologist (kidney doctor)

Interview

She points out that Lester, England was highly vaccinated but was still experiencing a high rate of small pox. They stopped vaccinating, despite threats that they would destroy the world, but the rate of small pox decreased. In fact, when small pox was eradicated, a small percentage of the world was vaccinating. However, during that time, sewage systems were being installed all over the world and this is the main reason that small pox was substantially reduced. Less germs were being transmitted. The reason she describes pox as being reduced and not eliminated as the corporate press tends to describe it is because there are other forms of pox, like monkey pox, that are still out there.

She also discussed several other diseases whose incidence started rapidly decreasing before the vaccine for it was introduced. For example, tetanus (Canada). The disease was on a rapid decline for 50 years before the vaccine was introduced. Graphs are similar for the USA and the UK.


She points out that an essential problem with the basic method vaccines is that it introduces a disease in a manner different from how a disease normally enters the body. For example, measles is inhaled but the vaccine is injected directly into the bloodstream so the body's response to the injection is different than it is when it builds a natural resistance. And then of course the vaccine contains all kinds of other chemicals (mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde.

She says also that proper studies are not really being done on vaccines. A true blind study would take half a population of vaccinated and half not. However, the great majority of people have been vaccinated. Most of the time when studies compare vaccinated to not vaccinated the non-vaccinated have been received most vaccinations but might be missing one of them.

"I say nobody has proven to me that they are safe, that I have scientific reason to believe that the components that are in them, and how they act upon the immune system and the potential for autoimmunity and cancers and neurologic diseases is there, and so I cannot say, guarantee that these vaccines are safe, not even one of them, let alone numerous vaccines in the childhood vaccination program given earlier and earlier and more and more."

She also commented on the startling aggressiveness of many people with regard to getting vaccinations. They tend not to want you to hear the other side.

"And what you might notice if you have been in the middle of this problem yourself is that the people who want to vaccinate are often very aggressive, and they don't want you to hear the other side. And that should make a light-bulb in your head go off, why don't they want me to hear the other side, why don't they think I can actually listen to both and come up with my own decision. See I will never tell you not to vaccinate, but they will always tell you to vaccinate for everything. That alone I believe should be a red flag to you. That I'm saying you listen to everything and then you choose. What you do is your responsibility. And that's not what the people who are supporting this aggression vaccination campaign, more and more vaccines all the time for little babies (are doing)." 

Her website.

This is a rational person, an educated person. She is a medical doctor. She is a scientist. The image that anybody who questions vaccines is a nut, is ignorant, is just listening to propaganda is itself propaganda. This woman is incredibly well informed and experienced. She is a doctor. Her arguments are very strong.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year because of medical mistakes

"Medical errors affect a significant proportion of patients. Indeed, the best evidence suggests that roughly 1% of hospitalized patients are victims of bona fide medical malpractice, (59) while another 1% to 1.5% of hospitalized patients are “preventably,” though not necessarily negligently, hurt by the care they receive. (60) Because U.S. hospitals admit roughly 35 million patients each year, preventable errors affect as many as 700,000 Americans annually. (61) Further, some of these injuries are serious. Each year, 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die because of medical mistakes which means that medical errors may cause more deaths per year than all other accident types combined."  

Stanford law Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom
A Dose of Reality for Specialized Courts: Lessons from the VICP University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 163, p. 1631, 2015, Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 2623756


See also https://news.stanford.edu/2015/07/06/vaccine-court-engstrom-070615/


Saturday, January 18, 2020

The Rotavirus Saga

The rise and fall of RotaShield demonstrates how social values and external considerations interact with empirical evidence throughout the decision-making process and in communications to the public.

This is scary story of the RotaShield vaccine, how it was pushed through to approval and then removed from the shelves due to its problems. Reading this one doesn't get a cozy feeling about the people in charge of vaccine approval. But when one considers what people are generally like, their greed and corruptibility, it really shouldn't be surprising.

The First Rotavirus Vaccine and the Politics of Acceptable Risk

Abstract

Context

Vaccination in the United States is a frequent source of controversy, with critics alleging failures by public health officials to adequately identify, monitor, and respond to risks associated with vaccines. In response to these charges, the case of RotaShield, a vaccine withdrawn in 1999 following confirmation of a serious adverse event associated with its use, is regularly invoked as evidence of the effectiveness of current vaccine safety activities.

Methods

This article examines the history of RotaShield, with particular attention paid to decision making regarding its use in the United States and internationally. I reviewed and analyzed federal advisory committee meeting transcripts, international conference reports, government and scientific publications, media coverage, and other primary and secondary source materials. I also conducted six semistructured interviews with former senior officials and advisory committee members at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who participated in decisions regarding the vaccine.

Findings

Decision making regarding RotaShield, including the ultimate withdrawal of its recommendation for use, was shaped significantly by government health officials’ concern for preserving public confidence in overall U.S. vaccination efforts amid several unrelated vaccine risk controversies ongoing at that time. This attention to public perception and external pressures occurred in tandem with the evaluation of the quantitative evidence regarding the magnitude and severity of the risk associated with the vaccine. The decisions made in the United States resulted in foreseen but unintended consequences for international use of the vaccine, including in nations where the profile of risks and potential benefits was dramatically different.

Conclusions

As enthusiasm for evidence-based decision making grows throughout medicine and public health, greater explicit attention should be directed to the processes by which decision makers and their expert advisers evaluate such evidence and translate it into regulation and policy by means of qualitative judgments.
Keywords: Rotavirus vaccines, intussusception, safety, risk, vaccination, policymaking

Friday, January 17, 2020

Yahoo Finance: MMR vaccine licensed with trials of less than 1,000 participants

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mmr-vaccine-licensing-called-following-131500482.html

MMR Vaccine Licensing Called Into Question Following ICAN's Latest FOIA Exposure of FDA Coverup

AUSTIN, Texas, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In another significant legal win for vaccine risk awareness non-profit Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a new Freedom of Information Act disclosure from the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revealed that the MMR vaccine was licensed based on clinical trials which in total had less than 1,000 participants and far more adverse reactions than previously acknowledged.

Emmy-winner Del Bigtree hosts the weekly fact-based news series
Emmy-winner Del Bigtree hosts the weekly fact-based news series
More
"It's alarming that an appeal was required to get this information, but it's more alarming that every time ICAN prevails in obtaining a FOIA disclosure from the FDA, CDC or HHS, we learn about another serious shortcoming in their duties to assure Americans' health and health care," says Del Bigtree, ICAN founder and host of the weekly fact-based medical news show "The HighWire."

The MMR vaccine is at the heart of the vaccine debate. The following are some of the key facts learned from the clinical trial reports produced by the FDA, which the agency relied upon to license the MMR:

There were eight clinical trials that in total had less than 1,000 individuals, out of which only 342 children received the MMR vaccine
The safety review period only tracked 'adverse events' for 42 days after injection
More than half or a significant percent of all participants in each of the eight trials developed gastrointestinal symptoms and upper respiratory infections
All adverse events were generically described as 'other viruses' and not considered in safety profile of licensure
The control group received other vaccines for either rubella or measles and rubella, and none of the controls received a placebo (an inert substance such as a saline injection)
Bigtree, an Emmy-Award winning producer, and director of the documentary "Vaxxed: From Coverup to Catastrophe," says the reason for increased vaccine hesitancy is not unreasonable fear, but a growth in awareness of the corruption, secrecy and obvious overt propaganda surrounding vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry.

"Thanks to the laws in this country that for now at least permit access to various government records, we now know the MMR vaccine was licensed using an irresponsibly small and limited group of children," says Bigtree.

"But what's even more alarming is learning about the serious adverse events that were known and acknowledged, yet ignored in order to license the MMR vaccine," Bigtree adds, noting "This was after only tracking adverse events for 42 days after injection – imagine what they might have found had they tracked safety for three years against an appropriate control, like they do for drugs."

Thursday, January 16, 2020

compare vaccinated and unvaccinated children

https://www.oatext.com/Pilot-comparative-study-on-the-health-of-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-6-to-12-year-old-U-S-children.php

This study aimed 1) to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated children on a broad range of health outcomes, and 2) to determine whether an association found between vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), if any, remained significant after adjustment for other measured factors.  In conclusion, vaccinated homeschool children were found to have a higher rate of allergies and NDD than unvaccinated homeschool children. While vaccination remained significantly associated with NDD after controlling for other factors, preterm birth coupled with vaccination was associated with an apparent synergistic increase in the odds of NDD.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Back and forth on vaccines

Some kind of attempt to be balanced:
Do Vaccines Cause Autism? - Dr. Bradley Peterson
He offers the view that I tend towards which is that there are individuals who respond poorly or tragically to some vaccines. So they may be safe for most but not all people.

Doctor behind film that links autism to vaccines speaks out
Includes woman whose son had convulsions that night and developed autism

What your doctor won’t disclose
Corruption and intimidation in the American medical industry

Child Vaccinations - The Doctors Debate
An actual discussion with people on both sides of the issue. Rare. Includes several mothers whose kids got sick that night and have never recovered. Includes a rep from a vaccine advocacy center. Best of all includes a doctor who understands medicine and sees risks in both directions. Unfortunately, nobody mention that you cannot sue vaccine makers for damages. There's a cap on suits and the government pays the damages in vaccine court. If you cannot hold pharmaceutical companies liable, how can you trust their products?

Controversial researcher claims link between vaccine and autism | 60 Minutes Australia
Another kid who changed profoundly after MMR vaccine (2 weeks after)

W.H.O Scientists Question Safety Of Vaccines
Real scientists who make vaccines talking. To their credit, they do raise safety concerns.







Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Vaccination in Halakhah and in Practice -Hakira

http://www.hakirah.org/Vol13Bush.pdf

The Polio vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1955. During 1951 to 1954, an average of 16,316 paralytic polio cases 36 and 1,879 deaths from polio were reported each year. As of 1991, polio caused by wild-type viruses had been eliminated from the Western Hemisphere. A physician entering practice today may never see a case of meningitis due to Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib). Before the introduction of effective vaccines, in 1988, approximately one in 200 children under the age of five developed invasive Hib disease. Hib was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under age five—accounting for 60 percent of all cases. From 15 to 30 percent of affected children became hearing impaired and about 420 children died every year despite antibiotic therapy. In addition, Hib vaccine has prevented the leading cause of acquired mental retardation in the U.S. By 1998, vaccination of pre-school children reduced the number of Hib cases by more than 99 percent. In the 1960’s many people witnessed first-hand the terrible effect of rubella, commonly known as German measles. During an epidemic between 1964 and 1965, about 20,000 infants were born with deafness, blindness, heart disease, mental retardation and other birth defects because the rubella virus infected their pregnant mothers.37 Today, thanks to nearly universal use of an effective vaccine, the rubella virus poses virtually no threat to the children of expectant mothers. (former Surgeon General of the United States, David Satchar, M.D., Ph.D)

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth have both ruled that a parent cannot be compelled to vaccinate their child, regardless of how irrational their concerns may be.38 Similarly, Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Mordechai Willig and Rav J. David Bleich are all of the same opinion. 
38:
נשמת אברהם ח' חושן משפט סי' תכ"ז) with communications further and Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth

“Dangerous Disease & Dangerous Therapy,” Rav Akiva Tatz; Targum Press. From page 48: “The question was put to Rabbi Elyashiv, who ruled that the parents should accede to immunization despite their concerns. When asked if the reason behind this ruling was the issue of fairness and the obligation to share responsibility, Rabbi Elyashiv indicated that it was; his reason was that since immunization of children is normal practice throughout the world, one should follow that normative course. In fact, Rabbi Elyashiv went so far as to assert that failure to immunize would amount to negligence.” He then continues, “Refusing childhood immunizations on the basis of unsubstantiated fears of vaccine side-effects is irresponsible and out of order halakhically. The danger of precipitating epidemics of measles, poliomyelitis and other diseases with potentially devastating complications is far more real than the dangers attributed to vaccines on the basis of anecdotal claims. Until objective evidence to the contrary accrues, the halakhically correct approach is to do what is normal. In addition, a legitimate government’s legislation concerning standards of medical conduct adds weight to their halakhic acceptability.” As is well known, the “theories” that suggested that the MMR vaccine was responsible for autism have been thoroughly discredited by all medical authorities, not to mention that Thimerosal (the mercury-based ingredient alleged to have caused the problem) is no longer used in the production of these vaccines.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Widsom from the gentiles: This too shall pass - Of unknown origin but worth telling over

"There’s a story – where it comes from I don’t know, but still the story is worth saying over for itself.
Shlomo Hamelech once asked, 'Can anyone supply me a ring that whenever I’ll be too excited, too flustered, I’ll be able to look at that ring and it’ll have the segulah, the power to bring me back to calmness of mind?'" R' Avigdor Miller, Toras Avigdor, Parshas Vayishlach, The Disturbed Wicked

“This too shall pass  is an adage that has provided succor for many a person in distress.
It is a powerful reminder that life does not stand still, and that one must always anticipate
 change, hopefully for the better. Much mystery surrounds this adage. We know almost
nothing about its origin, whether in its Hebrew or non-Hebrew versions.1 Surprisingly,
the phrase “this too shall pass” occurs nowhere in Scripture, Talmud, or Midrash.
Indeed, it seems to appear nowhere in all of Jewish literature prior to the
nineteenth century.2 In that century, the phrase was attributed—apparently in
non-Jewish sources—to King Solomon. In the twentieth century, the connection to
King Solomon became part of an elaborate legend that was often told, but rarely recorded.”
Shneyr Leiman,
Tradition, 41:1, Spring 2008

-------------------------------------------------------

This too shall pass

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"This too shall pass" (Persian: این نیز بگذرد‎, romanized: īn nīz bogzarad) is a Persian adage translated and used in multiple languages. It reflects on the temporary nature, or ephemerality, of the human condition. The general sentiment is often expressed in wisdom literature throughout history and across cultures, although the specific phrase seems to have originated in the writings of the medieval Persian Sufi poets such as Rumi.
It is known in the Western world primarily due to a 19th-century retelling of Persian fable by the English poet Edward FitzGerald. It was also notably employed in a speech by Abraham Lincoln before he became the sixteenth President of the United States.
History[edit]
In the tenth-century Anglo-Saxon poem "Deor's Lament", each stanza of the elegy ends in the repetition of the refrain "Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg" translated variously as "That passed away; this also may" or "That was overcome, so may this be."[1] In this case the similarity with the Persian form is, of course, coincidental. The same is probably true of the following passage in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Vol. III, Ch. 6), published in 1813. The "philosophic composure" of Mr. Bennet leads him to reply to his daughter, Elizabeth, who has counseled him not to become inconsolable after a recent family misfortune, that "You may well warn me against such an evil. Human nature is so prone to fall into it! ...I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. It will pass away soon enough."
An early English citation of "this too shall pass" in the Persian or Middle Eastern context appears in 1848:
When an Eastern sage was desired by his sultan to inscribe on a ring the sentiment which, amidst the perpetual change of human affairs, was most descriptive of their real tendency, he engraved on it the words : — "And this, too, shall pass away." It is impossible to imagine a thought more truly and universally applicable to human affairs than that expressed in these memorable words, or more descriptive of that perpetual oscillation from good to evil, and from evil to good, which from the beginning of the world has been the invariable characteristic of the annals of man, and so evidently flows from the strange mixture of noble and generous with base and selfish inclinations, which is constantly found in the children of Adam.[2]
It was also used in 1852, in a retelling of the fable entitled "Solomon's Seal" by the English poet Edward FitzGerald.[3][better source needed] In it, a sultan requests of King Solomon a sentence that would always be true in good times or bad; Solomon responds, "This too will pass away".[4] On September 30, 1859, Abraham Lincoln recounted a similar story:
It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction![5][6]

Origin of the fable[edit]

The fable retold by FitzGerald can be traced to the first half of the 19th century, appearing in American papers by at least as early as 1839.[4] It usually involved a nameless "Eastern monarch". Its origin has been traced to the works of Persian Sufi poets, such as Rumi, Sanai and Attar of Nishapur.[4] Attar records the fable of a powerful king who asks assembled wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad. After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the Persian words "This too shall pass" etched on it, which has the desired effect to make him happy when he is sad. It also, however, became a curse for whenever he is happy.[4]
This story also appears in the Jewish folklore.[7] Many versions of the story have been recorded by the Israel Folklore Archive at the University of Haifa.[8] Jewish folklore often casts Solomon as either the king humbled by the adage, or as the one who delivers it to another.
In some versions the phrase is simplified even further, appearing as only the Hebrew letters gimel, zayin, and yodh, which begin the words "Gam zeh ya'avor" (Hebrew: גַּם זֶה יַעֲבֹר‏‎, gam zeh yaavor), "this too shall pass."

Sunday, January 12, 2020

The flu vaccine

We publish both sides of the story here:

4 year old girl, who was not vaccinated, nearly died and is now blind due to a severe case of the flu.

(careful, the NY Daily news linked to here has some immodest pictures below the article)

Now that doesn't mean a vaccine would have saved her because the flu vaccine is one of the least effective.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2019-2020.htm

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/flu-vaccine-had-another-disappointing-year-will-this-year-be-different

Paramedic who died from the flu even after getting the flu shot.
https://www.healthnutnews.com/fox-healthy-paramedic-dies-from-flu-despite-getting-the-flu-shot/

11 year old boy who died from the flu. I read that he was vaccinated.
https://www.healthnutnews.com/abc-11-year-old-flu-victim-remembered-as-kind-considerate-and-generous/

Flu kills Portland woman 37, and unborn child despite receiving her flu vaccine

www.healthnutnews.com/flu-kills-portland-woman-37-and-unborn-child-despite-receiving-her-flu-vaccine/

And there are claims that it is not safe. See here:

Really scary video about flu shots and vaccines in general

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Golus is good

"Jacob went to Egypt because G-d wanted him to. But why did G-d want him to? And why does He want us, Jacob's descendants, to continue living in the different Egypts of our widespread Diaspora? The Jews were created with a mission to make this world a dwelling for G-d. And this does not mean only the land of Israel. On the contrary, since Eretz Yisrael has an inherent dimension of holiness, the essence of that mission is directed to places outside its borders."

Keeping in Touch, vol. 2, parshas Vayechi, from the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Living Jewish, parshas Vayechi

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

AUTISM & ALUMINUM ADJUVANTS IN VACCINES

The image of people who question vaccines is largely of hippies with flowers in their hair. But in fact many hard core scientific researchers and medical practitioners have produced many quite substantial research and papers that identify serious problems with vaccines. Here's one of them. Excerpt:

In fact, the CDC statements are contradicted by a large, consistent and growing body of scientific evidence, including: 1) studies showing neurotoxic and neuroinflammatory effects (e.g. microglial activation) from dosages of aluminum adjuvants lower than or approximately equal to dosages received by infants according to the CDC vaccine schedule (Crepeaux 2017, Petrik 2007, Shaw 2013, Shaw 2009); 2) studies linking vaccines to immune activation brain injury (Zerbo 2016, Li 2015); 3) studies showing that early-life immune activation is a causal factor in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders and mental illnesses (e.g. schizophrenia) (Meyer 2009, Deverman 2009, Estes 2016, Kneusel 2014, Careaga 2017, Meyer 2014). The accumulating evidence indicates that vaccine-induced immune activation, and aluminum adjuvants in particular, may cause mental illnesses and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. 

Full paper 

Saturday, January 4, 2020

On The Theory of Evolution

"This will never change, not even if the latest scientific notion that the genesis of all the multitudes of organic forms on earth can be traced back to one single, most primitive, primeval form of life should ever appear to be anything more than what it is today, a vague hypothesis still unsupported by fact. Even if this notion were ever to gain complete acceptance by the scientific world, Jewish thought, unlike the reasoning of the high priest of that notion, would nonetheless never summon us to revere a still extant representative of this primal form as the supposed ancestor of us all. Rather, Judaism in that case would call upon its adherents to give even greater reverence than ever before to the one, sole God Who, in His boundless creative wisdom and eternal omnipotence, needed to bring into existence no more than one single, amorphous nucleus and one single law of "adaptation and heredity" in order to bring forth, from what seemed chaos but was in fact a very definite order, the infinite variety of species we know today, each with its unique characteristics that sets it apart from all other creatures." R' Hirsch, Collected Writings, vol. 7 pp. 263-264

Friday, January 3, 2020

The Institute for German Jewish Heritage

The Institute for German Jewish Heritage has published a number of important volumes on German Minhagim. They would like to publish more but need some funding. If you would like to contribute, click here

Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz




Vol. 1 (5755), 481 pages


"Foremost in the effort of Machon Moreshes Ashkenaz during the last thirty years to research, archive, preserve and disseminate the over-one-thousand-year-old, magnificent heritage of Ashkenaz has been the publication of this monumental series, which researches the evolution of German-Jewish customs and traditions, their development, origins and views surrounding them, in a detailed and clear format.These books have become an invaluable asset for anyone with an interest in Jewish customs in general and German-Jewish customs in particular. The series is intended to expand to tens of volumes, and currently includes a wide range of topics such as minhagim of tefillah and shul, Shabbos and Yom Tov, marriage customs, yoledes and bris milah, as well as a variety of other minhagim."


Thursday, January 2, 2020

Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita CHEERING UP THE DEJECTED

CHEERING UP THE DEJECTED “And they told him, saying, "Yoseph is still alive," and that he ruled over the entire land of Egypt... and the spirit of their father Yaakov was revived” (45:26-27) Osher’s  daughter  Serach  was  rewarded  by  going  straight  to Gan  Eden in  her  lifetime accompanied  by  600,000  angels for  telling  the news  to  Yaakov, especially since  she  did  so gently and gradually (Targum  Yonoson on  46:17  and Bamidbor 26:46).  In  return  for  reviving  Yaakov’s spirit, she merited eternal life for her own spirit. Similarly, anyone who cheers up the dejected, reviving their spirits, receives eternal rewards for their efforts.

Based on droshos by Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita, raavad of Yerushalayim. To receive these weekly divrei Torah email benipray@netvision.net.il