THE TWIN BRIEF
First regular weekday wire after the holidays. Ukraine sends hundreds of drones at Moscow, Hormuz stays shut, the Nasdaq hits a record while the 10-year yield hits a 24-year high, and the Oilers pack for California.
Dvar Torah
Rewiring autopilot: the 90-times trick
Since Shemini Atzeret, the second bracha of the Amidah has a new line: mashiv haruach u’morid hageshem, “He makes the wind blow and the rain fall.” For six months your mouth said the summer version, so for the next few weeks it will try to say it again on autopilot. Halacha knows this. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 114), brought by Yalkut Yosef in the laws of mentioning rain, says that during roughly the first 30 days, if you’re not sure whether you said it, you assume your mouth said the old summer version (for Sephardim, morid hatal), so you go back. It also gives a shortcut: if you deliberately repeat the new phrase 90 times, you’ve retrained your habit, and from then on a doubt is assumed to have gone right.
That fits this week perfectly. We just restarted the Torah from Bereshit, the story of how the world got its first “settings.” Starting over isn’t only about big inspiration. It’s about deliberately retraining the small things you do without thinking. Teen takeaway: pick one habit you want to change this Cheshvan, whether it’s your phone at night, how you talk to a sibling, or one tefillah you rush. Then do the new version on purpose, many times, until it becomes the thing you do without thinking.
Source: Shulchan Aruch OC 114 (mentioning rain; reciting the phrase repeatedly to build the habit), as brought in Yalkut Yosef, Hilchot Tefillah. Teen reference, not a personal ruling. Ask your rav for your own practice.
World
Huge drone wave on Moscow · Hormuz tankers hit · Yemen retakes Mokha
- Ukraine / Russia: Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Moscow in two years overnight. Moscow’s mayor said about 650 drones were sent toward the region, and most were shot down far from the city. Officials said two men were killed, nine people were injured, dozens of houses were damaged, and all four Moscow airports had flight restrictions. Meanwhile, Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least 13 people and injured 104, damaging a hospital in Kryvyi Rih. Both sides keep hitting energy and transport targets as winter approaches.
- Iran / Hormuz: Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, called talks with the U.S. “meaningless” on Monday, even as President Trump said he is open to direct negotiations. Iran says the Strait of Hormuz stays closed until its seven conditions are met. Another tanker was hit by a projectile in the strait, starting an engine-room fire (no injuries reported), the third ship struck in two days. U.S. Central Command says it has redirected 130 commercial ships since restarting its blockade of Iran in July. The U.S. also moved its B-1 bombers out of a base in England over what Trump called “a threat.”
- Yemen and Brazil: Yemen’s government forces say they retook the Red Sea port of Mokha from the Iran-backed Houthis, a key spot on a major oil shipping route. In Brazil, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro beat the polls in the first round of the presidential election and will face President Lula in a runoff.
Tech
Invisible watermarks on ChatGPT text (EU) · ads next to AI images · a big U.S. open model
- OpenAI will start hiding an invisible watermark in text written by ChatGPT and Codex for users in the European Union, to follow the EU AI Act’s labeling rules. It works by nudging word choices into a pattern only a detector can see. OpenAI’s own tests show that swapping some words for synonyms weakens it, and it isn’t switching it on outside the EU for now. Separately, OpenAI said ads will start showing up next to images people generate in ChatGPT, in the U.S. only, later this month.
- Startup Reflection AI unveiled Beam, a 501-billion-parameter “open-weight” model (anyone will be able to download and run it). It says Beam matches top Chinese open models like those from DeepSeek and Z.ai while using far less computing power. Those claims haven’t been independently checked yet, and the weights are due later this month. And Google DeepMind showed SynthID Bio, a way to watermark proteins designed by AI so labs can tell where they came from.
Money
Nasdaq record (27,477) · 10-year yield 5.31%, highest close since 2002 · Brent near $100
- Stocks: On Monday the Nasdaq rose 1.05% to a record close of 27,477, led by Nvidia and Microsoft. The S&P 500 gained 0.66% to 7,774, just under its record, and the Dow added 0.18% to 51,268. Last week’s weak jobs report cooled fears of another Fed rate hike this month. Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting come out later this week.
- Bonds: At the same time, the 10-year Treasury yield closed at about 5.31% and the 30-year at about 5.66%. Both are the highest closes since 2002. Investors are worried about inflation and heavy government borrowing. Higher long-term yields push up mortgage, car-loan and credit-card rates even when the Fed doesn’t move.
- Oil: Brent fell about 1.9% to ~$100.32 and U.S. crude fell to ~$89.43 after G7 countries pledged to release emergency reserves and Gulf exports (not counting Iran) picked up. Early Tuesday, Brent briefly dipped below $100. Analysts say prices will stay jumpy until there are real signs of a U.S.–Iran deal.
Sports
Oilers hunt forward depth before @ ANA Wed · Falcons rout Saints · Rays and White Sox up 2–0
- Oilers (2–0–1): No game since Saturday’s 3–1 win over Seattle. Next up is the start of a three-game California road trip, @ Anaheim, Wed Oct 7, 10:00 PM ET. Jason Dickinson (ankle) skated on the second line Monday between Trent Frederic and Kasperi Kapanen, and coach Mike Babcock hopes he can make his season debut Wednesday. With Zach Hyman (about two weeks), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark all out, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports Edmonton is exploring a trade of a depth defenceman for a forward. They aren’t panicking, since most of the injuries aren’t long-term.
- NFL (MNF): Falcons 45, Saints 24. Bijan Robinson scored on a 59-yard run on Atlanta’s third play and finished with 145 yards and 2 TD. Brian Robinson Jr. added 3 rushing TDs. Atlanta (2–2) is tied with Carolina for first in the NFC South, and the Saints fall to 1–3.
- MLB (ALDS): Rays 5, Yankees 2. The Yankees made four errors and trail 2–0, with Aaron Judge still out with a calf injury and Ben Rice’s two homers the only offense. Game 3 is Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. White Sox 4, Guardians 3: Chicago is 4–0 this postseason and one win from its first ALCS since 2005. Tonight (NLDS Game 3s, FS1): Dodgers @ Braves 6:00 PM ET · Brewers @ Padres 9:30 PM ET.
- NBA: Still preseason. The regular season tips Tue Oct 20.
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