THE TWIN BRIEF
Big week loading. The US says it could hit Iran again within days of an order, Brazil re-elects Lula, Israel votes tomorrow, the Fed decides Wednesday, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon report, and Apple may finally make a touchscreen Mac. Sports: the Oilers got smoked by Toronto and host Detroit tonight, World Series Game 3 is tonight too, and the Knicks are somehow 0-3. Plus a Dvar about the most expensive translation mistake in the Gemara. About a 5–10 minute read. Illustrated edition. Sunny and about 71 in Riverdale today.
Dvar Torah · Week of Parashat Vayera
Lost in Translation (Friday 2 PM Edition)
Quick quiz: what is the most dangerous time of the week in a Jewish home? Not Monday morning. Not finals week. According to the Ben Ish Chai, it’s Erev Shabbat afternoon.
This week’s halachot in the Ben Ish Chai (2nd Year, Parashat Vayera) are all about welcoming Shabbat. And right in the middle, he quotes the Chida (in Moreh B’Etzba) with a warning: Friday afternoon is exactly when the Satan works overtime to start fights at home. Think about it. The chicken is burning, someone’s in the shower too long, the shoes are missing, there are 14 minutes to candles, and everyone is one comment away from a meltdown. That’s not a coincidence. That’s the setup.
So the Ben Ish Chai’s advice is basically: when something goes wrong, don’t blame the person in front of you. It’s not your brother, it’s the setup. Stay quiet, be patient, don’t get angry, and go for peace.
To make the point, he brings a wild story from the Gemara (Nedarim 66b). A guy from Bavel moves to Eretz Yisrael and marries a local woman. Problem: they speak different dialects of Aramaic. He says, “Cook me two lentils,” meaning “a few lentils.” She cooks… exactly two lentils. Next day he says, “Cook me a geriva,” meaning a lot. She cooks a giant pot, way too much. Then he says, “Bring me two butzinei,” meaning small gourds. In her dialect, butzinei means lamps, so she brings two lamps. Now he’s fuming: “Go break them on the bava!” In his dialect, bava means the gate. But the great sage Bava ben Buta happened to be sitting at the gate judging cases, so she walks over and breaks the lamps on his head.
Here’s the twist. Bava ben Buta doesn’t yell. He asks, “What did you do?” She says, “My husband told me to.” And he answers: you did your husband’s will, so may Hashem give you two sons like Bava ben Buta. Lamps on his head, and he responds with a bracha. That’s next-level chill.
The Ben Ish Chai also brings the story of Rabbi Meir, who spent three Shabbatot making peace between a couple who fought every Friday, until they heard the Satan cry, “Woe! Rabbi Meir drove me out of this house!” The lesson: whoever fights is helping the Satan, and whoever holds back drives him out.
Sephardi Friday-night bonus from the same halachot: in Lecha Dodi, we say “Bo’i kallah” twice out loud and the third time quietly, adding “Shabbat malketa”. The custom is to turn to the right for the first, to the left for the second, and to face west for the quiet third. And the main moment of accepting Shabbat is “Bo’i kallah.”
Takeaway: half of all fights are translation errors. Someone said “two lentils” and someone heard “two lentils.” This Friday at 4 PM, when the chaos hits, assume it’s a glitch, not a crime. Be the Bava ben Buta of your house.
Source: Ben Ish Chai, Halachot 2nd Year, Parashat Vayera (opening halachot on Kabbalat Shabbat), quoting the Chida’s Moreh B’Etzba; Gemara Nedarim 66b (both checked on Sefaria). Written in-house for teens. A teen-friendly summary, not a personal halachic ruling.
World
Iran on the clock, Lula wins again, Israel votes tomorrow
Iran: CNN reports US forces could launch major new operations against Iran within 96 hours of an order, likely after the Nov 3 midterm elections. Israel wants to join in, and the US reportedly told it to hold off for now. On Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” President Trump framed his choice as finishing it off, which he called “very easy,” or making a deal. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said new strikes won’t change Iran’s positions. A third US aircraft carrier group is headed to the region, and delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey are in Tehran today trying to cool things down. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi-held areas of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
Brazil: President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday’s runoff with 51.79% to Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.21%, about 64.3 million votes to 59.8 million, with turnout near 81%. Flávio, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, refused to accept the result and called for it to be annulled. Lula, a loud critic of President Trump, now heads into another term.
Israel: Israelis vote tomorrow, Tuesday Oct 27. The final polls show a stalemate: neither Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot reaches the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority, and Likud and Eisenkot’s party are close to even. Polls close at 10 PM Israel time, which is 4 PM here. Exit polls come right after.
Tech
Foldable iPhone cracks, Elvis sues an AI, and Macs might get touchscreens
iPhone Duo teardown: iFixit opened Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo and gave it a provisional repairability score of 5 out of 10, its best score yet for a foldable, but warned that replacing the inner screen or hinge is still hard and expensive. Some owners have reported cracked screens, and iFixit thinks the stress may start near the hinge’s center support. Apple hasn’t confirmed a cause.
Touchscreen Mac? Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple will unveil new MacBook Pros with touchscreen OLED displays on Wednesday. After years of Apple saying you don’t need to touch a laptop screen, you may soon be able to. (Your little siblings have been doing it for years anyway.)
Elvis vs. AI: the companies that own Elvis Presley’s music sued AI company Anthropic, saying it trained its Claude chatbot on 274 Presley songs without permission. They’re seeking about $41 million. Anthropic says it disputes the claims.
Quick hits: SpaceX closed $40 billion in loans to buy AI chips. Elon Musk warned that hundreds of smaller AI-cloud companies (“neoclouds”) face what he called a “guppy-level death,” and their stocks fell. Apple Stores are reportedly getting a gadget that can check an iPhone inside a sealed box to fight return fraud. And attackers used new PHP security holes before fixes were out, so website owners: update.
Money
Fed Wednesday, Big Tech report cards, and $115 oil
This morning: stock futures were a little higher, with Dow futures up about 0.4%, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted two losing weeks in a row. Oil eased: Brent fell about 1.7% to roughly $115 a barrel and US crude slipped to about $101, after Brent hit its highest level since April on Friday.
The Fed: the Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and Wednesday. Markets see roughly 90% odds it leaves rates at 3.75%–4%, according to CNBC. Watch what Chair Kevin Warsh says about later: with oil this high pushing prices up, some traders and banks think a rate hike could come in December.
Report cards: Alphabet and Microsoft report Wednesday after the close, and Amazon on Thursday. Investors want proof all that AI spending is paying off. Apollo economist Torsten Slok says that, outside Big Tech, AI hasn’t shown a financial payoff yet. Also this week: Verizon today; Visa, Boeing and Coca-Cola Tuesday. On Thursday, the first look at third-quarter GDP (expected around 3% growth) and the PCE inflation report.
Sports · Oilers first
Leafs crush the Oilers, Detroit tonight, World Series Game 3 tonight
Oilers (8-2-1): Saturday night was rough. The Maple Leafs won 7–2 at Rogers Place, snapping Edmonton’s three-game win streak. William Nylander scored twice, 13 different Leafs got on the scoresheet, and Anthony Stolarz made 30 saves. Tristan Jarry gave up six goals on 32 shots. The Oilers’ coach put it simply: Toronto played “harder and faster for longer” and the effort “wasn’t good enough, period.”
The bright side: McDavid had 2 assists and now has 33 points with a point in all 11 games. Draisaitl scored twice and has 9 goals in his last 6 games, and Evan Bouchard has an 8-game point streak. All three are in the top three in NHL scoring. Edmonton scores a league-best 4.36 goals a game but ranks 27th in goals allowed. That’s the problem in one sentence. Goalie Devon Levi is on injured reserve.
Tonight: Red Wings at Oilers, 9:30 PM ET (Sportsnet). Detroit (4-4-3) is coming off a 4–1 loss in Calgary, and Alex DeBrincat leads the Wings with 12 points. Edmonton is 2-0 after losses this season. Wednesday it’s Calgary.
MLB: World Series
- The Brewers lead the Rays 2–0 after winning Game 2, 5–4. Neither franchise has ever won a World Series.
- Game 3 is tonight, 8:00 PM ET on FOX, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg: Freddy Peralta for Tampa Bay vs. lefty Robert Gasser for Milwaukee.
NFL: Week 7
- Giants 27, Texans 21 (OT). Cam Skattebo ran for 124 yards and a TD, including the 42-yard run that set up Devin Singletary’s 30-yard walk-off touchdown in overtime. Malik Nabers had 7 catches for 111 yards, his fourth straight 100-yard game. Giants are 4-2-1.
- Dolphins 28, Jets 25. Miami’s first win of the season. Malik Willis threw 2 TDs and ran for another. The Jets fall to 2-5.
- Seahawks 20, Chiefs 3: Kansas City’s first loss. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 9 catches for 150 yards and a TD. Falcons 29, 49ers 20: San Francisco’s first loss too (6-1). Vikings 16, Colts 10: Minnesota is still perfect at 6-0.
- Also: Steelers 16, Saints 10 in Paris, the first NFL regular-season game in France. Bengals 35, Ravens 13 (all 35 in the second half). Lions 20, Packers 17 on a field goal as time expired. Rams 35, Raiders 21, as Matthew Stafford set the Rams’ career passing TD record.
- Monday Night Football tonight: Cowboys (2-4) at Eagles (2-4), 8:15 PM ET on ESPN.
NBA
- Magic 111, Knicks 102. The defending champs are 0-3, the first defending champion to start 0-3 since the 2011-12 Mavericks. New York led by 10 with 9:20 left, then Franz Wagner scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. Jalen Brunson had 28. Knicks host Detroit Tuesday.
- Pacers 136, Nets 109. A long night in Brooklyn.
- Friday: Jayson Tatum scored 36 as Boston beat the Knicks 107–103, and Nikola Jokić put up 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in an OT win over New Orleans.
Comic: The free hour
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