It is hard, almost impossible, to get used to the idea of adding z”l (ob”m) to the name Rabbi Daniel Beller.
Just two years ago we were standing in front of him under the chuppah, surrounded by our families and friends who had joined to celebrate in our simcha. With his classic smile from ear to ear, and with hundreds of people listening intently (not a given at an Israeli wedding), it was clear that Rabbi Beller was kvelling as much as our parents at our happiness, and at the part that he had played in bringing Maya and I together.
“I have been zoche to a balata in shamayim” (privileged to a place in heaven) he said as his began his remarks. He spoke about the power of the months of Nissan, in how G-d intervenes in the natural order of things.
Last week h...
Debrecen, Hungary - Two suspects were arrested Sunday for the murder of Ofir Gross, 40, who had been declared missing since last week in Hungary according to Israeli authorities.
Gross’ body was found in a forest not far from the eastern city of Debrecen. He had last contacted his family Thursday before disappearing.
The suspects in custody are male, aged 21 and 19. “We received word that suspects were arrested,” Gross’s mother, Hannah, told the Ynet news website on Sunday. “We still don’t know very much, we’re still trying to process the terrible news.
Further details and the motive behind the murder still remain unknown.
Israeli authorities delivered the announcement to his family, who traveled to Hungary and positively identified...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:09 am
Jerusalem - ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav describes sparingly and with restraint the things he and thousands of his volunteers at ZAKA do. ZAKA is a haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) organization that rescues, identifies, and traces Jewish disaster victims in Israel and all over the world under sometimes virtually impossible conditions. Such a mission requires love of one’s fellow man, great empathy, faith, and a belief that good will come of it. It requires Zahav, a man with impeccable curly white payess (sidecurls).
Two months ago, following a four-year struggle, ZAKA won recognition as an official UN consultant and observer. The eventual decision was taken unanimously by a special UN committee composed of representatives of 19 countries, including Iran, Sudan, Venezuela...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:06 am
London - One is a bus driver’s son who grew up in social housing, the other a billionaire’s son raised in a mansion. They are two very different London success stories, and one is about to become the city’s next mayor.
The contrast between Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party and Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith is resonant in a booming city where rocketing rents and property prices are squeezing out the middle class and increasing extremes of poverty and wealth.
But the election on Thursday has been overshadowed by allegations that Khan, who is Muslim, has links to extremists — and counterclaims that Goldsmith is trying to frighten and divide voters in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.
Goldsmith has used words such as “radical...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:06 am
Washington - A CSX freight train derailed on Sunday morning in northeastern Washington DC, with several cars overturned and leaking hazardous liquids near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station, the District of Columbia Fire Department tweeted.
The Metro station and Rhode Island Avenue were closed as three cars were leaking liquids, the tweet said. It did not identify the substance, but said there was no fire.
Photos on the fire department’s twitter account showed several cars lying on their sides by the tracks on the main train route into the city, including tank cars, bulk material cars and box cars.
WUSA Television said that no injuries were reported.
In a Twitter message, CSX Corp said: “CSX personnel are working with DC first responders on a derailment at 9th and...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:05 am
New York - Trade unions and other groups are staging rallies around the world to mark International Workers Day.
May 1 is celebrated by many labor unions and workers worldwide. May Day is generally a public holiday in many countries.
A look in photos at some May Day events:
Participants of the traditional May Day celebrations, organized by the Austrian Social Democrats, SPOE, and trade unions walk with a flag in Vienna, Austria, on Sunday, May 1, 2016. Every year around hundred thousand citizens participate the event. (Credit: AP)
Participants of the traditional May Day celebrations, organized by the Austrian Social Democrats, SPOE, and trade unions walk with flags and banners in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, May 1, 2016. Every year around hundred thousand citizens participate the e...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:05 am
Toms River, NJ - The culture clash continues in the Lakewood area, with officials in both neighboring Jackson and Toms River telling members of the Lakewood citizens patrol that their presence is unwelcome.
Last week, Toms River police chief Mitchell Little instructed the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch to immediately cease all operations in the area, according to the NJ101.5, after some residents complained about the safety patrol’s vehicles driving through their area.
The LCSW agreed to the request, acknowledging that they had sent a vehicle to the area after being asked to do so by residents who live near the Lakewood Toms River border and apologizing for any issues their presence may have caused in Toms River.
Jackson Mayor Mike Reina said on Friday that while ci...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:04 am
Apple Inc on Friday ended its worst week on the stock market since 2013 as worries festered about a slowdown in iPhone sales and after influential shareholder Carl Icahn revealed he sold his entire stake.
Shares of Apple, a mainstay of many Wall Street portfolios and the largest component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, have dropped 11 percent in the past five sessions.
That shrank the technology behemoth’s market capitalization by $65 billion, about equivalent to Cambodia’s net wealth.
Confidence in the Cupertino, California company has been shaken since posting its first-ever quarterly decline in iPhone sales and first revenue drop in 13 years on Tuesday, although Apple investors pointed to the stock’s relatively low valuation as a key reason to ...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:03 am
Omaha, NE - Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc is poised to do well no matter who wins the White House in November, and the billionaire investor defended the performance and tactics of the conglomerate’s several large investments.
Buffett presided over his 51st Berkshire annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, where he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger fielded five hours of questions on such matters as Coca-Cola’s sugary drinks, lower shipping volumes on the BNSF railroad, risks from derivatives, and who might succeed Buffett as chief executive.
Buffett, a staunch supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, was asked about the regulatory impact on Berkshire if Republican front-runner Donald Trump wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:03 am
United Nations - Iran asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday to convince the United States to stop violating state immunity after the top U.S. court ruled that $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be paid to American victims of attacks blamed on Tehran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote to Ban a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, calling on the Secretary-General to use his “good offices in order to induce the U.S. Government to adhere to its international obligations.”
Zarif’s appeal comes amid increasing Iranian frustration at what they say is the failure of the United States to keep its promises regarding sanctions relief agreed under an historic nuclear deal struck last year by Tehran and six world powers.
In the letter, ...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:02 am
New York - Finding him guilty of misdemeanor assault, a judge said a New York City police officer “gratuitously” stomped on a suspect’s head as fellow officers tried to handcuff the man.
Officer Joel Edouard was convicted Friday after a non-jury trial at state Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors said the 38-year-old officer had stopped Jahmiel Cuffee in July 2014 after spotting him drinking on the sidewalk and possessing marijuana.
Prosecutors said Edouard was caught on a bystander’s video pulling out his gun and then stomping on Cuffee’s head as the man was face down on the ground, subdued by other officers.
His attorney told WCBS-TV (http://cbsloc.al/1SUQRqM) he was disappointed with the verdict. He said his client is a “terrific” ...
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May 1, 2016 at 11:02 am
The man police say walked into a Baltimore TV station with what he claimed to be an explosive vest now faces charges including two felonies.
Alex Michael Brizzi, 25, of the 6500 block of Ducketts Lane in Elkridge has been charged with second-degree arson, first-degree malicious burning and the misdemeanors threat of arson, reckless endangerment (four counts) and placing a phony destructive device, Commissioner Kevin Davis said at a press conference.
Brizzi remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition at Shock Trauma after he was shot by police for ignoring officers' instructions. He kept his hand in his pocket around what police had every reason to treat as a detonator. The station's offices are across the street from homes.
The arrest warrant fo...
Baltimore, MD - May 1, 2016 - Shiva Houses Beginning Motzaei Yom Tov, Motzaei Shabbos April 30:
Messrs. Josh & Sholom Levin and Rachel Reissman for sister, Yoni Gershan for mother
Shiva at 6212 Wallis Ave. , Baltimore, MD 21215 through Friday morning, May 6th
Shacharis 6:50 (M&TH) 7:00 AM (T,W,F)
Mincha/Maariv 7:45 PM
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R' Ovadia Bander for his father, Z'L: (in Baltimore through Tuesday evening only)
3100 Bonnie Road through Tuesday night.
Davening times:
Sunday Shacharis - 8 a.m.
Monday, Tuesday Shacharis - 6:45 a.m.
Mincha/Maariv 7:45 p.m.
Shiva will continue at 53 Glen Avenue Fairfield, NJ 07004 until Friday morning
Davening times:
Shacharis - 6:30 a.m.
Mincha/Maariv - 7:30 p.m.
Please, no visitors between 1-2PM AND 6-7...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:31 pm
The venue of the 2016 song contest released a document listing banned flags and banners, which includes disputed territories' flags and any non-UN member flag.
Globe Arena, the venue where the annual Eurovision Song Contest is to be held in Stockholm in less than a fortnight, released a document in which it listed flags that may not be waved by the public, including the Palestinian flag.
Globe Arena has forbidden, according to the document and inter alia, flags "containing commercial messages," flags" of political or religious nature, in particular flags of disputed territories," and flags "containing statements in another language than English."
In addition to the explanation, a non-exhaustive list of banned example flags was providing, including the Basque, Crimean, T...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:26 pm
Donald Trump is being criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for repeating a slogan the group believes to be anti-Semitic.
The ADL has taken issue with Trump's use of the phrase "America First" to describe his approach to foreign policy.
The phrase was originally used by a group called the America First Committee in the 1940s, which pushed to keep the U.S. out of World War II.
The ADL released a statement Thursday saying that famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, one of the best-known supporters of the committee, sympathized with the Nazis.
"The undercurrents of anti-Semitism and bigotry that characterized the America First movement – including the assumption that Jews who opposed the movement had their own agenda and were not acting in America’s best interest &nda...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:19 pm
Two suspects seen spray painting swastikas at park, elementary school in Washington, D.C., suburb with large Jewish population.
JTA -- Swastikas were spray-painted at a park and an elementary school in a Washington, D.C., suburb with a large Jewish population.The swastikas were discovered Sunday in Rockville, Maryland, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. A witness said he saw two white boys spray-painting the swastikas, according to the Post.Montgomery County police told the newspaper they contacted the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington about the incident.“Even though some people think it’s just offensive graffiti, you must understand it really offends community members deeply,” Ron Halber, ...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:14 pm
Italian police release arrest warrants for six for trying to join ISIS, planning attacks on Israeli embassy and Vatican.
On Thursday, police in Italy released arrest warrants for six people for planning to join ISIS, Reuters reports. Three of the suspects reportedly wanted to carry out attacks on the Israeli embassy and the Vatican.
Authorities have already arrested four, a man, a woman and a couple. The other two, a husband and wife, are still missing and believed to have traveled to Syria and Iraq last year. All but one, the missing wife, are Moroccans. The wife is Italian.
One suspect was recorded saying that he had talked with an Albanian man in order to obtain a weapon to attack the Israeli embassy in Rome. Separately, another declared, "I swear I will be the first t...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:09 pm
Albany, NY - Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that his administration retained a former criminal prosecutor to review his upstate economic development initiatives after learning federal investigators are examining potential conflicts of interest and improper bidding related to the programs.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation has “raised questions” about improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest by individuals involved in the Buffalo Billion initiative and efforts to attract nanotechnology investment, according to a statement from Cuomo counsel Alphonso David.
In response, the administration hired Bart Schwartz, formerly head of the U.S. attorney’s criminal division in Manhattan, to conduct an internal investigation.
“The s...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:07 pm
Reinhold Hanning, 94, accused of complicity in 170,000 murders, is ‘ashamed’ of having done nothing to prevent crimes
BERLIN, Germany — A 94-year-old former SS guard on trial for complicity in 170,000 murders at Auschwitz broke his silence Friday for the first time since the war, telling victims: “I am truly sorry.”
“I have been silent all my life,” Reinhold Hanning told a court in the western town of Detmold, more than 70 years after the end of World War II.
“I want to tell you that I deeply regret having listened to a criminal organization that is responsible for the deaths of many innocent people, for the destruction of countless families, for the misery, distress and suffering on the part of victims and their relatives,” a...
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April 30, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Miami, FL - The largest police agency in Florida is outfitting 1,000 of its officers with pager-sized body cameras over the next few months in the state’s biggest such deployment to date, officials announced Thursday.
The Miami-Dade Police Department detailed a $5.5 million plan to begin using the cameras next week, with a goal of 1,000 in the field by the end of September. About $1 million of that comes from a $75 million federal grant program announced in 2014 by President Barack Obama.
Police body cameras have become increasingly popular following a number of fatal shootings or other deaths involving police around the country in places such as Ferguson, Missouri; Cleveland and Baltimore. Authorities say the cameras will record entire incidents from start to finish, wil...
