Join me on Notes

A new place to connect

Just published first notes on the new feature Substack Notes, and would love for you to join me there! You won’t be getting email notifications of each Note, so read below on how to keep up with the Notes and comment and add your own insights.

First a summary of yesterday’s Notes:

Youth chaos in Chicago! The Lubavitcher Rebbe said that if children are not taught that there is a Master of This Creation, Who Sees and Hears everything, the country will descend into a jungle. He said that self-restraint will only be exercised in the immediate presence of the police out of fear of arrest. Now that last measure of self-restraint is also disappearing as acts of violence are carried out right in front of and against police. This is the point that needs to be made, and I made in a Note in response to the Mayor Elect of Chicago.

5783 years of Divine Torah wisdom teaches about how deception and intimidation are used to win wars years before any physical battle. Top secret documents are only leaked from military and intelligence agencies when the population is to be moved. The documents themselves are created based on a flow of enemy disinformation fed to intelligence compilers who are primed to believe what they are fed. First, they have been priming Americans with a lie that China is so powerful that it can create a virus (and is capable of more even deadlier viruses), and now that China is so powerful it can zap aircraft carriers. All designed to zap and disable the American mind.

And, of course, there is direct Torah learning, such as highlighting the awesome learning of the Rambam of the day and its message of Divine guidance and hope for every human being.

Finally, an observation on a disturbing post where a former President and presidential candidate lacks a consistent position and yet is still successfully marketed as having the position the readers desperately want to believe he has. Regardless of your thoughts about guns, what is striking here is the ability of marketing to create an aura of “pro Second Amendment” even while he advocates banning certain rifles and banning 18 to 21 year olds from access to basic items that have kept Americans free for 250 years. We need to learn to effectively research what is actually being said and done and make decisions based on that rather than on our wishful thinking.

What’s Notes?

Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like short insights and responses to developing news, work-in-progress or quick questions. It also gives you way to keep up with my posting but without having to get an email every one or two days. You can also respond and post your own insights.

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How to join

Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app (See screen shot below). As a subscriber to The Rabbi Smith Bulletin, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of The Rabbi Smith Bulletin can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.

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If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!