THE TWIN BRIEF
Three years since October 7. The Houthis fire at Saudi Arabia and Aden, the U.S. tells Iran what a deal needs, the S&P 500 closes above 7,800 for the first time, OpenAI dumps hundreds of math results online, and the Oilers open their California trip tonight in Anaheim.
Dvar Torah
Clothes that remind you who you are
This week’s parasha ends Gan Eden with a strange detail: Hashem Himself makes clothing for Adam and Chava (Bereshit 3:21). The Ben Ish Chai opens his halachot for Parashat Bereshit with that pasuk, and then jumps straight to tzitzit. His point: clothing isn’t just fabric. The Torah says of tzitzit, “you will see it and remember all of Hashem’s mitzvot.” The garment is supposed to be a reminder you wear all day.
So his very first halacha is about the mind, not the strings. Before the bracha, he says, think about what you’re doing: Hashem told us to wear these so we remember His mitzvot. He warns that doing it without thinking turns it into “a mitzvah of people done by rote.” Then comes the practical part. Before the bracha, glance at the strings to make sure none are torn, and separate them if they’re tangled (on Shabbat you just check them without untangling). Teen takeaway: tomorrow morning, take five seconds before the bracha. Look at the strings, think “this is so I remember,” and let the first thing you put on set the tone for the day.
Source: Ben Ish Chai, Year One, Parashat Bereshit (Laws of Tzitzit), preface and halachot 1 and 3. Teen reference, not a personal ruling. Ask your rav for your own practice.
World
Houthis fire at Riyadh and Aden · U.S. spells out Iran demands · Putin’s-birthday strikes on Ukraine
- Yemen / Saudi Arabia: The Iran-backed Houthis say they fired missiles and drones at airports in Riyadh and Abha and at military bases in southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi-led forces said they shot down a ballistic missile north of Riyadh, and flights were briefly disrupted. The Houthis also fired at least two missiles at Aden’s airport, where Yemen’s government is based. One landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due, so the plane was sent to Jeddah instead. No one was reported hurt. Saudi Arabia and Yemeni government forces are pushing to retake the Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, an important shipping route now that Hormuz is shut.
- Iran: Vice President JD Vance said Iran must make a “meaningful” cut to its uranium enrichment to end the war, now about seven months old. Some experts read that as softer than the earlier demand that Iran stop enriching completely. President Trump said the war will end “the nice way or the not-so-nice way.” Iran wants sanctions and the U.S. naval blockade lifted first.
- Ukraine / Russia: Russia hit Ukrainian energy sites and cities including Kyiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 34. President Zelenskyy called it a “birthday gift” for Vladimir Putin, who turns 74 today. Ukraine says it struck Russian oil facilities.
- Israel: Israel marks three years since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.
Tech
OpenAI posts 372 math results at once · Google’s new on-device search model
- OpenAI posted 722 math papers on GitHub, grouped into 372 results, all produced by an AI model it hasn’t released. It says each one solves or makes real progress on an open problem in math or computer science, including a four-dimensional version of the Kakeya conjecture and progress toward the Riemann Hypothesis. Many proofs were checked in Lean, a programming language that verifies a proof’s logic step by step. Mathematicians say it will take months to tell which results contain genuinely new ideas, and some are skeptical of OpenAI’s bold claims and how little it shares about how it works.
- Google released EmbeddingGemma 2, a small AI model (740 million parameters) that runs on your phone or laptop without the cloud. It can search across text, images, video and audio, for example finding a video clip from a voice memo.
Money
S&P 500 tops 7,800 for the first time · yields ease · Brent back above $101
- Stocks: On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to a record 7,818.93, its first close ever above 7,800. The Nasdaq added 0.4% to another record, 27,599.79, and the Dow gained 0.5% to 51,521.28. Nvidia closed in on a $6 trillion market value. A few giant tech companies did most of the lifting, while more Nasdaq stocks fell than rose. Big banks start reporting third-quarter earnings next week.
- Bonds: The 10-year Treasury yield slipped to about 5.28% after hitting its highest level since 2002 on Monday. The government sells $39 billion of 10-year bonds this afternoon, and traders are watching how much demand there is.
- Oil: Brent crude rose about 1% to roughly $101 a barrel on Wednesday because of a storm threatening U.S. production in the Gulf of Mexico and the Houthi attacks. Oil is up about 45% in three months.
Sports
Oilers @ Ducks tonight, a playoff rematch · Dodgers and Padres win · Yankees face elimination
- Oilers (2–0–1) @ Ducks (2–0–0), tonight 10:00 PM ET: This starts a three-game California road trip and is the first rematch since Anaheim knocked Edmonton out in six games in last spring’s first round. The Oilers haven’t won in their last six visits to Anaheim. Devon Levi starts in goal again after winning his first two starts, and Tristan Jarry gets Saturday at San Jose. Jason Dickinson (ankle) practiced fully on the second line with Trent Frederic and Kasperi Kapanen and could make his season debut. Connor McDavid has 9 points (2 G, 7 A) in three games and Evan Bouchard has 8 (4 G, 4 A). Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman are still about two weeks away.
- MLB (NLDS Game 3s): Dodgers 3, Braves 1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out 10 over seven innings, and Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman homered. L.A. leads 2–1 and can close it out tonight. Padres 4, Brewers 3. Jake Cronenworth’s tiebreaking homer kept San Diego alive, and Milwaukee leads 2–1 with Game 4 tonight.
- MLB (ALDS Game 3s today): White Sox (up 2–0) host the Guardians at 4:00 PM ET. Rays @ Yankees, 8:00 PM ET at Yankee Stadium, with Max Fried pitching for New York down 0–2. Lose and the season’s over.
- NBA: Still preseason. The regular season tips Tue Oct 20.
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