Thoughts and words

I received the following email last night and I thought I would share it with you. Click here to get Think Hashem daily emails.

Thought of the day....

Why do the words דבר (thing) and דבור (speak) share the same letters?

Because everyTHING created was through Hashem's WORD.

And it is only Hashem's WORD that continues to give everyTHING it's existence.

From the first Shiur of many that I was Zocheh to hear in person from Harav Moshe Shapiro זצ"ל whose Levaya was yesterday in Yerushalayim

On the Terror Attack in Jerusalem

Below is an excerpt from yesterday's State Department briefing.

QUESTION: The first has to do with the passing away of the former Iranian President Rafsanjani. Over the weekend, there was a comment attributable on background to U.S. or a State Department official offering condolences for his passing. Do you – can you put that on the record for us?

MR KIRBY: Sure. I mean, former President Rafsanjani has been – or was, excuse me – a prominent figure throughout the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we do extend our condolences to his family and to his loved ones.

QUESTION: So there have been some people who are highly critical of the Administration on Iran policy in general, but also on this specifically, taking issue or questioning, rather, the appropriateness of offering condolences to Mr. Rafsanjani given activities that Iran was involved in in terms of supporting terrorism back when he was in charge and also in his roles in the Iranian parliament. What do you have to say about that?

MR KIRBY: Well, look, I – no question, as I said, he was a prominent figure, and the history’s complicated. We’re not going to debate the history, and I don’t think it’s valuable for us to try to comment on the potential internal implications of his death, of the potential impact on Iran today. He was consequential in terms of the recent history of Iran and we send our condolences to the family and loved ones. And whatever there is to say about his complicated history, you’re still dealing with a family that’s dealing with grief and dealing with a loss, and so it’s not inappropriate for us to simply offer our thoughts to a family that’s grieving right now.

QUESTION: Okay, but – but, I mean, this is a guy who when he was in senior leadership positions repeatedly did and said things that this --

MR KIRBY: Absolutely.

QUESTION: -- that this government, whether this Administration or previous administrations --

MR KIRBY: Yeah. Sure.

QUESTION: -- have adamantly rejected – his position on Israel, for example – and condemned.

MR KIRBY: Sure. Sure. Sure. Absolutely.

QUESTION: And so you don’t see any – you --

MR KIRBY: But should we – so we should hold the family and loved ones accountable for things that he did in his past that we didn’t like? I mean, the man died; we offered condolences to the family. We went through this, I think, when Fidel Castro passed too. I mean, no question – another individual with a history of actions and decisions and policies and rhetoric that we didn’t approve of in many, many ways, but you still have a family that’s grieving. And again, I don’t think we should make more of this than needs to be made. We offered our condolences, thoughts, and prayers to the family, and we think that’s appropriate.
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2017/01/266727.htm