THE TWIN BRIEF
Week-in-review + Shabbat Vayera setup. Israel’s final count leaves nobody at 61, Spain mourns its worst train crash in years, Hormuz gets limpet mines, Google has its worst day in 20+ years, someone walks off with $6.3 billion in crypto, and Apple finally lets you poke a Mac. In sports: McDavid breaks a record, the Brewers win their first World Series ever, and the Oilers come to New York this weekend. Plus a Dvar on why Avraham served the dairy first. About a 5–10 minute read. Illustrated edition. Candles tonight 5:35 PM ET. Clocks fall back Saturday night.
Dvar Torah · Parashat Vayera
Dairy First, Then the Burgers
Three strangers show up at Avraham’s tent in the desert heat, and he goes full five-star catering. Then the Torah lists the menu: “Vayikach chem’ah v’chalav uven habakar asher asah”, he took butter and milk and the calf he had prepared (Bereshit 18:8).
The Ben Ish Chai, the great Sephardi Torah giant of Baghdad, asks the obvious food-critic question in his Derashot on Vayera: why does the Torah list the butter and milk before the meat? The meat is the main event. Nobody says “I’m going out for coleslaw and a burger.”
His answer: the order was the plan. Avraham put the dairy at the head of the table and the meat platters after it, on purpose. Eat dairy first, and you can go to meat right away: rinse your mouth, wash your hands and clean your mouth with a bite of bread. Eat the meat first, and you’re stuck waiting six hours. Avraham was thinking about his guests’ whole evening.
But both foods were on the same table. What if someone grabbed both at once? So the pasuk says “v’hu omed aleihem tachat ha’etz”: he stood over them under the tree. The Ben Ish Chai says Avraham was acting as a shomer, a guard, like the rule Chazal give about reading by a lamp on Friday night: if someone is watching you, it’s allowed, because we don’t worry you’ll tilt the lamp. And that’s why the pasuk ends “vayocheilu”, and they ate: everything was set up right. Avraham, the original mashgiach.
Bonus round: earlier, Avraham says “Yukach na me’at mayim”, let a little water be brought (18:4). The Ben Ish Chai says “me’at,” little, hints at humility, and it has to be the same inside and outside, like water. Water always flows to the lowest place, and it’s see-through: what’s inside is what’s outside. And on “ki al ken avartem al avdechem” (18:5), he says Avraham was telling the guests: you did me the favor by coming. Then the guest side: whatever the host offers, the guest should say yes. That’s derech eretz.
Takeaway: real hachnasat orchim isn’t just a lot of food. It’s thinking two steps ahead for your guests. Got Shabbat guests? Plan the menu so it works for them, and act like they’re doing you a favor. Are you the guest? Say yes to the kugel.
Sephardi practice: we follow the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 89): a full six hours from meat to dairy, and from regular dairy to meat it’s rinse, wash and eat something. Aged hard cheese has its own rules, so ask your rav.
Source: Ben Ish Chai, Derashot, Parashat Vayera (on Bereshit 18:4–5 and 18:8; Hebrew checked on Sefaria). Written in-house for teens, with no Rabbi input. A teen-friendly summary, not a personal halachic ruling.
World
Israel’s count is final (nobody’s at 61), Spain mourns, Hormuz heats up
Israel: The final count from Tuesday’s election came out early Friday, and it’s a deadlock. Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats and Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc has 48. You need 61 of 120 to form a government, and Arab-led parties won 19, an all-time high. Likud is still the biggest party with 27, and Eisenkot’s Yashar! has 21. Turnout was 77.9%. Results go to President Herzog on Nov 4 and the new Knesset is sworn in Nov 10. Expect weeks of coalition haggling.
Spain: On Wednesday, two high-speed trains collided near Toledo, on the Madrid–Seville line. At least 69 people were killed and about 100 were hurt, and officials warn the toll could rise. A first report says a Renfe AVE train hit a stopped Iryo train at an estimated 160–200 km/h after a computer failure had halted traffic on the line. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said people from 27 countries may be among the victims, and Spain declared three days of mourning.
Iran and Hormuz: A small boat attached limpet mines to a tanker near Oman on Friday, starting an engine fire. The crew is safe, and nobody has said who did it. Iran claims four tankers hit mines, and the Houthis say they attacked Saudi oil sites. VP JD Vance sent Iran a letter to restart talks, Qatari mediators are back in Tehran, and the US is weighing new strikes after Tuesday’s midterms.
Also: In Brazil, Lula won Sunday’s runoff 51.8% to 48.2% for a fourth term, and his rival Flávio Bolsonaro refused to accept the result. US midterm elections are Tuesday, Nov 3.
Tech
Google’s worst day in 20+ years, a record crypto heist, and the touchscreen Mac
Big Tech’s AI bill: Alphabet, Google’s parent company, fell 12.6% on Thursday, its worst day in more than 20 years, after missing on revenue and profit while spending huge sums on AI. Amazon also missed. Its free cash flow over the past year was about −$42 billion, a record, because it’s pouring money into data centers, and the stock slid about 7% in premarket trading Friday. Intel’s weak outlook sent it down about 25% before the bell. Microsoft was the exception, with its Azure cloud up 48%.
Binance hacked: The world’s biggest crypto exchange says hackers got away with about $6.3 billion, likely the largest crypto theft ever. It reportedly started with a compromised employee laptop. About $3 billion was frozen, Binance says it will cover user losses, and blockchain firms link the attack to North Korea’s Lazarus hackers. Bitcoin fell about 5%.
Apple: The first touchscreen MacBook Pro is here, with an OLED screen and M5 Pro/Max chips. The 14-inch starts at $2,899, the 16-inch at $3,399, and a fully maxed one costs $14,549. It ships Nov 6. Also this week, Anthropic filed to go public on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT.
Money
Fed holds, oil is up 14% in October, and Big Tech’s AI bill comes due
The Fed: On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at 3.75%–4.00%. Two officials voted for a hike, and Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation is still too high, so traders now think rates could go up in December.
The economy: GDP grew at a strong 3.4% pace in the summer quarter. But the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge (PCE) was 3.6% in September, well above the 2% goal. Jobless claims stayed low at 194,000.
Markets and oil: On Thursday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 7,720, the Dow fell 133 points to 52,343 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.4% to 26,185, as Big Tech sank. Futures pointed lower again Friday. Brent crude was around $113–117 Friday and is up about 14% in October, its fourth straight monthly gain, because traders fear more fighting with Iran after the midterms.
Sports
McDavid makes history, the Brewers finally win it all, and the Oilers come to New York
Oilers (9-2-2): a 1-1-1 week. Sat: a rough one, losing 7–2 to Toronto. Mon: lost 4–3 in a shootout to Detroit, whose goalie was making his first NHL start. Zach Hyman left with a head injury and is in concussion protocol. Wed: bounced back with a 4–0 shutout of Calgary. Jarry made 24 saves, and Joseph, Ekholm, Kapanen and Formenton scored.
McDavid watch: 2 assists Wednesday gave him an assist in each of the team’s first 13 games, a new NHL record, passing a mark that included Wayne Gretzky. He leads the league with 36 points. Edmonton is No. 1 in goals per game and on the power play, but the penalty kill (25th) needs work.
Next, a New York weekend: at the Islanders Sat Oct 31, 2:00 PM ET (that’s Shabbat, so highlights after Havdalah). Then at the Rangers, Sun Nov 1, 6:00 PM ET at MSG (NHL Network). Watch out for Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer, who scored twice, including an OT winner, against Minnesota on Thursday.
NHL: around the league
- Detroit suspended former captain Dylan Larkin after he said he won’t play for the team while waiting for a trade. That’s the same Larkin who scored in the shootout to beat Edmonton on Monday. The Wings beat Chicago 4–1 that night anyway, with a Viktor Arvidsson hat trick.
- Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov is 9-0, a franchise record to start a season. Utah’s Logan Cooley scored a hat trick in his hometown, Pittsburgh, tying it with one second left before the Mammoth won in OT.
MLB: World Series
- The Milwaukee Brewers are champions for the first time in their 57-year history, beating the Rays 4 games to 1. The clincher was a 4–1 win Wednesday. Rookie Jacob Misiorowski threw 5⅔ scoreless innings and Cooper Pratt drove in two runs.
- How they got there: Game 3 was a 10–1 blowout with an eight-run fifth inning on seven straight two-out hits. Tampa Bay stole Game 4, 4–3, on a walk-off in the 12th. Catcher William Contreras was named World Series MVP.
NFL
- Sunday: Giants 27, Texans 21 in OT, and the Giants are 4-2-1. Dolphins 28, Jets 25.
- Monday: Cowboys 38, Eagles 21. Dak Prescott threw 3 TDs.
- Thursday: Packers 27, Panthers 19. Jordan Love threw 3 TDs and Josh Jacobs scored twice. Green Bay is 5-3.
- This Sunday: Raiders at Jets, 1:00 PM ET on FOX. The Giants have a bye.
NBA
- The Knicks started 0-3, then woke up: they beat the unbeaten Pistons 111–97 and the Bulls 133–127 (Jalen Brunson 38). They’re 2-3.
- The champion Thunder lost for the first time, 120–96 to Dallas, with rookie Cooper Flagg scoring 26. Houston is 5-0. Steph Curry dropped a season-high 44, and Nikola Jokić got his 200th career triple-double.
- Thursday: Memphis rookie Cam Boozer had his first career triple-double (18 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) in a win over Portland.
Comic: The touchscreen Mac
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