Moscow -  Russia told the United States on Thursday to get to the bottom of a hacking scandal involving Democratic Party emails itself and rejected what Donald Trump said was a sarcastic suggestion that Moscow should dig up Hillary Clinton’s “missing” emails. Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, angered Democratic circles on Wednesday by inviting Russia to unearth tens of thousands of emails from rival Clinton’s tenure as U.S. Secretary of State. He spoke out after U.S. President Barack Obama said it was possible Russia might try to influence the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election after a leak of Democratic National Committee emails that experts blamed on Russian hackers. Suggestions of Russian involvement have riled the Kremli...
Sydney - Australian officials confirmed on Thursday that data recovered from a home flight simulator owned by the captain of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 showed that someone had used the device to plot a course to the southern Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed. There has been confusion over exactly what was found on Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s flight simulator since New York Magazine reported last week that an FBI analysis of the device showed Zaharie had conducted a simulated flight to the southern Indian Ocean less than a month before the plane vanished along a similar route. The magazine cited the discovery as strong evidence that the disappearance was a premeditated act of mass murder-suicide at the hands of the captain. Australia’s ...
Connecticut, PA - A Connecticut man already in custody after large quantities of firearms and ammunition were seized from his home was indicted on charges he made online threats to kill or injure people, including Jews, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday. Kendall Sullivan, 50, of Stamford, was charged on Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with three counts of making threatening communications online, each punishable by up to five years in prison. A lawyer for Sullivan could not immediately be identified. Authorities said Sullivan posted his threats on the internet forum Metalthrone.net three times between May 29 and July 5. The indictment alleged that Sullivan wrote that he had “a few ‘Houses of Satan’ in my Town,” ...
Chicago, IL - Boeing Co could end production of its iconic 747 aircraft, as the world’s biggest plane maker faces falling orders and pricing pressure, according to a regulatory filing. “If we are unable to obtain sufficient orders and/or market, production and other risks cannot be mitigated, we could record additional losses that may be material, and it is reasonably possible that we could decide to end production of the 747,” Boeing said on Wednesday. (http://bit.ly/2as8Z9k) Boeing said it had canceled plans to increase production of the 747 to one plane per month from 2019, and stuck to its plan of halving the production rate in September. “On the 747 program, we decided to reduce future production expectations and revenue assumptions to account for c...
This week’s Torah portion discusses the mitzva of inheritance (see (Bamidbar 27:8) Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein related the following fascinating story that pertains to the mitzva of inheritance. A certain wealthy congregation began a construction project to improve the appearance of its shul. The congregation decided that while they were fixing the appearance of the shul they should also  repair their Sifrei Torah, Torah Scrolls. The president of the shul asked a team of two sofrim (scribes) to inspect the Sifrei Torah. The sofrim inspected the Torah scrolls and saw that they needed a lot of repairs. They gave an estimate to the president that all of the work would cost $6000. The president, who wanted to get a bargain said, "We are only willing to spend $1000 towards this proj...
Chesed Chesed
Philadelphia - Text of President Barack Obama’s speech Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention, as provided by the White House. ___ Hello, America. Twelve years ago tonight, I addressed this convention for the very first time. You met my two little girls, Malia and Sasha - now two amazing young women who just fill me with pride. You fell for my brilliant wife and partner Michelle, who’s made me a better father and a better man; who’s gone on to inspire our nation as First Lady; and who somehow hasn’t aged a day. I know the same can’t be said for me. My girls remind me all the time. Wow, you’ve changed so much, daddy. And it’s true - I was so young that first time in Boston. Maybe a little nervous addressing such a big crowd. But...
Baltimore, MD - July 28, 2016 - “Hadran Alach Seder Taharos, Tanach, Shisha Sedarim V’Shas Bavli v’Hadrach Alan.”  So began Reb Nosson Horowitz as he, on behalf of the entire Baltimore community, recited the Hadran on Kol HaTorah Kulah – all of Tanach, Mishnayos and Gemara Bavli. Learning began in earnest last summer for this 25th cycle of Baltimore’s Siyum HaTorah, as  community members joined together to do what no one person could do by himself.  Rabbi Zvi Teichman began the 26th cycle with the first Mishna in Brachos.  Congregants of Rabbi Teichman’s shul, Ohel Moshe, joined in this year’s Siyum by completing four of the Sedarim of Mishnayos and hope to complete all six Sedarim for the coming cycle. Masterfully MC�...
Washington -  Some U.S. intelligence officials suspect that Russian hackers who broke into Democratic Party computers may have deliberately left digital fingerprints to show Moscow is a “cyberpower” that Washington should respect. Three officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity, said the breaches of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were less sophisticated than other cyber intrusions that have been traced to Russian intelligence agencies or criminals. For example, said one official, the hackers used some Cyrillic characters, worked during Russian government business hours but not on Russian religious or political holidays.“Either these guys were incredibly sloppy, in which case it’s not clear that they could have gotten as far as they...
Poland - Two Holocaust survivors took to a stage at the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto this week to perform lively prewar tunes - the 91-year-old played drums and the 88-year-old was on accordion, keyboard and vocals. In the audience several elderly Christian Poles who saved Jews during the Holocaust swayed and tapped their feet to songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and Polish. Poland, a deeply Catholic nation, has a complex relationship with the Jews who flourished for centuries in the Eastern European land before perishing in the Holocaust. It is a deeply emotional story of both betrayal and salvation that Pope Francis will encounter during a somber visit Friday to the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where some 1.1 million people were murdered, most of them Jews. ...
Gaza - Hamas is digging 10 kilometers (six miles) of tunnel each month toward Israel, a senior security official told Channel 2 on Wednesday. Construction continues despite several tunnel collapses in recent months. A senior diplomatic source went on to say that Israel has no perfect solution to the tunnel problem, and neither does any other country. The news comes amid controversy regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s readiness to combat the tunnel issue. Netanyahu pushed back on Monday against claims that his government was unprepared for the threat of cross-border tunnel raids from Gaza in the lead-up to the 2014 war, saying that they are “the opposite of the truth.” The discovery in April of a tunnel leading from southern Gaza into Israel, and ..re...
Philadelphia - A Hillary Clinton campaign pin written in Hebrew was spotted on the lapel of former president of the United States Bill Clinton during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Wednesday evening. The pin, according to online publication Tablet Magazine, was presumably a gift from either one of two representatives from the National Jewish Democratic Council who were in attendance at the DNC. “I was at a Clinton/Gore campaign alumni event this afternoon at the Jewish Historical Museum in Philadelphia and gave my old boss the pin,” Steve Rabinowitz, a former Clinton White House staffer and NJDC official, told Tablet’s Yair Rosenberg. “He said he’d wear it but I didn’t know whether or not to believe him and certainly didn...
Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Thursday to do “everything humanly possible” to keep Germany safe following a string of attacks — including two carried out by asylum-seekers and claimed by the Islamic State group that she said mocked the country that took in the assailants. The attacks brought Merkel fresh criticism for her decision last year to welcome refugees. More than 1 million asylum-seekers were registered in Germany in 2015, although the influx has since slowed dramatically. Merkel said at a news conference that Germany will “stick to our principles” and give shelter to those who deserve it. “We will manage this,” she said, repeating a mantra she coined last August. Merkel called for a better “early warning system&...
Washington -  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday tried to quell the furor over his call to Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails by saying he was being sarcastic. The New York businessman on Wednesday invited Russia to dig up tens of thousands of “missing” emails from Clinton’s time at the U.S. State Department, prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging foreigners to spy on Americans. “Of course I’m being sarcastic,” Trump said in an interview broadcast Thursday on Fox News. “But you have 33,000 emails (by Clinon) deleted, and the real problem is what was said on those emails from the Democratic National Committee,” he said, referring to hacked emails released last weekend by WikiLeaks...
Jerusalem - For years, Dani Dayan was the West Bank settler movement’s face to the outside world. Next week, he’ll become the face of Israel to much of North America. Dayan takes office Aug. 1 as Israel’s new consul general in New York, overseeing his country’s biggest diplomatic mission and serving as its representative to the world’s financial and cultural capital. He will also be in charge of outreach to the largest Jewish community outside Israel at a time of disagreements over Mideast peace and Jewish pluralism. Dayan’s appointment reflects the settler movement’s strong influence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. It’s also a personal victory for Dayan, whose previous appointment as ambassador to Brazil ...
Israel - Jerusalem unequivocally denied on Thursday that Israel’s leadership favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the US presidential race, following a Washington Post story quoting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as saying that was indeed the case. “The Prime Minister expressed no preference whatsoever in this presidential race,” Netanyahu’s spokesman David Keyes said. “He has scrupulously avoided being dragged into American politics, and looks forward to working with whomever the American people decide to elect.” The Washington Post on Wednesday quoted Giuliani, who was in Israel in the Spring and met with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, as saying, “I’ve talked to the members of the Israeli government at the high...
Israel - IDF special forces units teamed up with US Marines last week for a joint military exercise in the Negev Desert in part aimed at coordinating techniques for combating terrorist activities such as that of Islamic State, Channel 2 revealed Thursday morning. The drill dubbed ‘Noble Shirley,’ which was kept under wraps until now, reportedly involved special units from the Israeli Air Force, Navy and ground forces. Channel 2 reported that the IDF forces relayed their experience in combating regional terrorism threats to the US forces, which can apply the training to America’s fight against ISIS in the Middle East. During the exercise, the troops took part in drills simulating helicopter landings behind enemy lines, urban warfare above and below ground along...
Shortly after the charges were dropped against the remaining officers charged in the police in-custody of Freddie Gray, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby gave an impassioned speech in front of the Freddie Gray Memorial in west Baltimore. Mosby defended her decision to charge the officers in May 2015. Mosby told WBAL-TV 11 News the decision to drop the charges was not an easy one for her and her team. While many may look at it as a loss for her, she told 11 News in a one-on-one interview that she sees it a different way. "I have decided not to proceed on the case against Officer Garrett Miller, Sgt. Alicia White or relitigate the case against William Porter," Mosby said. In the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood where Gray was arrested and with a mural of h...
We live in a time not just of paradox but of extreme impulses that call to mind Yeats, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”  There seems to be no ballast at the core of our experience, nothing to root us and give us rational context to the local, national and international forces pulling us further and further apart from one another.  Black Lives Matter.  Angry Police Unions.  KKK.  Occupy Wall Street.  ISIS.  Hamas.  Radical Settlers.  The tenor of our debate is fierce and violent.  We are pulled to extremes.  “Are you with us or against us?”  And remember, those “against” us have no redeeming views; they are as devils.  They are the enemy. ...
Discussing repeal of Core Curriculum law, MK Yair Lapid adamant he has no hate for haredim in his heart; 'not everyone who disagrees hates'. Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid emphatically denied on Thursday claims his efforts to require core curriculum courses in haredi schools were rooted in a sense of malice towards the haredi sector. In an interview with the haredi Kol Hai radio this morning (Thursday), he expressed his exasperation with the persistent claims that he "hates haredim". "You can't discuss any issue in this country without being accused of hatred," Lapid protested. The conversation then turned to the repeal of the Core Curriculum law, that passed a first reading in the Knesset this week. "I would love to understand, maybe you can explain to me, how there...
Decision ends what some have called religious discrimination against haredi sector. Following a series of threats by a haredi organization to file a law suit with Israel’s Supreme Court, the Transportation Ministry has given initial approval for a plan to extend to yeshiva students the same public transportation benefits now enjoyed by students in academic institutions of higher learning, BeHadrei Haredim reports. The Union of Yeshiva Students, which pushed for the change, claims the current policy constitutes discrimination against the haredi sector, denying them the kinds of benefits enjoyed by the population at large. After the Union threatened to take the issue to court, the Transportation Ministry held a series of meetings with haredi MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Juda...
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