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October 21, 2016 at 11:53 am
Shin Bet, Israel’s Internal Security Agency, said in its monthly report this week that terror attacks in September doubled compared to August. 26 attacks occurred in Jerusalem in September, compared with 13 the previous month, according to the report.
Attacks included the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli vehicle on September 27, a stabbing attack which injured six security personnel, the wounding of soldier in a shooting attack near Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, and a pipe bomb attack on Israeli soldiers in the Bethlehem area on September 20.
The report found that attacks increased in September to 109 (78 of which were Molotov cocktail attacks), in contrast to 93 in August. 26 attacks took place in Jerusalem, compared with the previous month’s 13. 5 attacks attac...
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October 21, 2016 at 9:18 am
Boca Raton, FL - Hillary Clinton dispatched to Florida one of her most effective surrogates to Jewish voters on Thursday, hoping to shore up support within a community that has repeatedly proven crucial to Democratic victories there.
A political independent who leans heavily to the left, socially liberal and muscular on foreign policy, former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman tracks closely with the Democratic presidential nominee on a host of issues– and with many Jewish Floridians still on the fence just seventeen days before the general election.
Addressing a temple in Boca Raton, a shul in Miami and a group of rabbi and community leaders, Lieberman emphasized that Clinton is precisely the type of candidate the Jewish community has been waiting for.
“On Israel a...
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October 21, 2016 at 9:14 am
MOUNT GERIZIM, West Bank – In one of the tensest corners of the West Bank, Israeli settlers and Palestinians live in separate worlds. But there is a spot on the top of a mountain that connects them both: a village of Samaritans.
To get there, Israelis drive up a steep, winding road, near ominous red road signs posted by Israel's military that warn them against entering the nearby Palestinian city of Nablus. Palestinians get to the top by driving up a steep, winding road from Nablus on the opposite side of the mountain.
At the top live about 380 Samaritans. They, and about 420 Samaritans based near Tel Aviv in Israel, comprise one of the world's oldest and smallest religious minorities.
Israelis and Palestinians are locked in continued conflict over land a...
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October 21, 2016 at 8:55 am
“Who can count, who can measure,
The bounds of his heart’s breadth?
His novel Torah insights are endless,
Into Hashem’s perfect Torah,
All as clean as fine meal,
As it was given at Sinai,
Would that they be engraved in a book.”
— from an introduction by the sons of the Gra to a volume containing their father’s Bi’ur al Kammoh Aggodos, Vilna, 5560 (1800)
The following is translated and adapted from the monumental three-volume work HaGaon by Rav Dov Eliach. It is taken from the second volume, chapter 21, entitled, “Toras Hashem Temimoh.”
Whole and Perfect
Becoming acquainted with the vast corpus of the Gaon’s Torah writings is a very revealing experience, which transforms one’s understanding both of Torah&rsqu...
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October 21, 2016 at 8:51 am
An Israeli hiker was killed while walking along a cliff next to the Ganges River in northern India this week, Ynet reports.
Ariel Freeman, 50, from Moshav Nir Tzvi, was hiking with his wife and fellow trekkers when the tragedy struck. Those accompanying Freeman were only able to report the incident on Wednesday after they reached an area with cell phone service.
His body was recovered at the scene and was taken to the police station in the town of Uttarkashi.
The local police reported that this is the second time in two weeks that a foreigner had fallen victim to the treacherous mountainous area while hiking.
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October 21, 2016 at 8:49 am
Russia has begun its biggest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War as it aims to effectively end the war in Syria on the eve of the US election, NATO officials warn, The Telegraph reports.
The Kremlin is sending the full might of its Northern Fleet and part of the Baltic Fleet to reinforce a final assault on the city of Aleppo in a fortnight, according to Western intelligence.
The final bombardment is designed to shore up the Assad regime by wiping out rebels – paving the way for a Russian exit from the civil war.
The assault on the city will also serve to highlight US inaction in the run-up to election day and may aid Donald Trump. Read more at THE TELEGRAPH.
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October 21, 2016 at 8:47 am
It was bound to be awkward from the beginning.
On a night in which Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would meet for perhaps the final time, the staging called for speeches by the two presidential candidates.
The choreography at the Alfred E. Smith charity dinner benefitting the Catholic Church’s charities – an annual New York tradition for the city’s well-heeled and a quadrennial circus when the presidential candidates come to town – was perfectly set.
Melania Trump entered first and took her seat. Clinton entered next, moving deftly behind her to take a chair a few feet away, with nothing more than a polite greeting.
As Trump took the stage in white tie, he flashed a thumbs up and a wave, shaking hands with those on stage but seeming to make no acknowle...
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October 21, 2016 at 8:42 am
Simchas Bais HaShoaiva 5777 at Mir Yerushalayim
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October 21, 2016 at 8:42 am
Succos is almost upon us so I will forgo the opportunity of discussing this week’s Parsha, Ha’azinu, and focus on this most beautiful holiday. Succos is referred to as “The Time of Rejoicing”. This needs explanation. Is not every holiday a time for rejoicing? Would we not consider the holiday of Pesach which celebrates our exodus from Egypt, the birth of our nation a more significant time of rejoicing?
The Torah refers to Succos as the Festival of the Harvest because it occurs at the period of the harvest. The summer has ended and all the grain has already dried and is ready to be milled. We are getting ready to hunker down for the winter. Could it be that this is the reason why it is the Time of Rejoicing?
The problem with this explanation is that it seems to be ...
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October 21, 2016 at 5:49 am
Shabbos Chol HaMoaid Succos 5777 / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP!
Baltimore, MD – Oct. 21, 2016
Parshas: Shabbos Chol HaMoaid Succos 5777
Today: 19 Tishrei
Chatzos: 12:51 PM
Hadlakas Nairos: 6:00 PM
Shkiah: 6:18:42 PM
Tzais HaKochavim: 7:09 PM
Pisku Tuvu
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October 21, 2016 at 5:49 am
As we all know, it is a mitzva to spend as much time as possible in a succah. This includes eating, sleeping and even socializing in the succah. However if one is mitztaer, if one is uncomfortable in the succah because of the weather, insects or another persistent annoyance, one is exempt from the mitzva. In fact when one is exempt from the succah, there is no mitzva at all to stay in the succah. (click here for some inspirational stories about Succos.) This brings us to the following interesting moral dilemma. There were four Jewish college students who shared an apartment. They were going to be in their apartment for Succos so they decided to pool their resources and build a succah together. Each student contributed $250 and together they had $1000 to purchase a nice succah. They...
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October 21, 2016 at 5:49 am
A New Understanding of ‘Shabbos Shuva’
As we all know, there is always one ‘plain’ Shabbos between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. That is to say, there could be two Shabboses that fall out during the Aseres Y’mai Teshuvah (the ‘Ten Days of Teshuvah’) between the first of Tishrei (when RH begins) and the tenth of Tishrei (when YK falls) – but only one of them will be a ‘regular’ Shabbos (not concomitant with either RH or YK). And, of course, this Shabbos is known as Shabbos Shuva – most conveniently translated as ‘the Shabbos of Teshuvah’, since it comes during the Ten Days of the year when doing teshuva is the dominant theme. That would be the simplest, most direct way to understand this term and the appell...
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October 21, 2016 at 5:31 am
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is pushing for policy reforms to investigate and prosecute police misconduct.
Thursday morning, Mosby announced five proposals that she would like to see take effect in Baltimore.
"The ultimate goal will be to provide the community with a seat at the table," Mosby said. "My first proposal involves replacing the typical police investigative team with one that includes impartial investigative representation from the Police Department, the prosecutor's office, state police and the investigator and civilian review board."
Mosby said a collaborative approach will improve transparency, remove the pressure of police investigating fellow officers and eliminate bias and skepticism during the early investigation stages.
"My second ...
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October 21, 2016 at 5:26 am
The general election is set for Nov. 8.
That is the day when voters across the country will decide who they want as their next president. Several key offices are up for grabs in Maryland that day, including for U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and Baltimore's mayor and City Council.
Local leaders are working to ensure the general election is smoother than April’s primary. Concerns with the primary election eventually led the state to temporarily decertify the results Baltimore City due to problems with provisional ballots.
City Elections Board Director Armstead Jones said the number one issue his office had during the primary was not having enough election judges, along with not enough training for those they did have.
According to state election officials...
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October 20, 2016 at 11:47 pm
The case against Hillary Clinton could have been written before the recent WikiLeaks and FBI disclosures. But these documents do provide hard textual backup.
The most sensational disclosure was the proposed deal between the State Department and the FBI in which the FBI would declassify a Hillary Clinton email and State would give the FBI more slots in overseas stations. What made it sensational was the rare appearance in an official account of the phrase “quid pro quo,” which is the currently agreed-upon dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable corruption.
This is nonetheless an odd choice for most egregious offense. First, it occurred several layers removed from the campaign and from Clinton. It involved a career State Department official (he occupied the sa...
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October 20, 2016 at 11:19 pm
Two men have been arrested in contention with the murder of Menachem Stark, Law enforcement sources told JP. one man was picked up in lower Manhattan the second man was busted in brooklyn the sources said. both were inside the 90 precinct detectives squad at 8:45p.m. sources added.
Kandall Philex, 28-years-old and his brother Erskine Philex, have been arrested NYPD officials said. Kandall has been charged with hindering prosecution, and tampering with evidence, Kandall was charged with murder.
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October 20, 2016 at 10:51 pm
Baltimore, MD - Daily Dvar Halacha - Oct. 20, 2016 / 18 Tishrei 5777 - Shopping on Chol Ha 'Moed?
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October 20, 2016 at 5:39 pm
Archaeological evidence of the breaching of Jerusalem’s Third Wall by the Romans at the end of the Second Temple era was discovered last winter thanks to an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Israel’s GPO reported Thursday. The siege culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple still mourned by the Jewish people thousands of years later.
The remains of a tower and numerous ballista and sling stones fired by Roman catapults were discovered as well.
“This is a fascinating testimony of the intensive bombardment by the Roman army, led by Titus, on their way to conquering the city and destroying the Second Temple,” excavation directors Dr. Rina Avner and Kfir Arbib said in a statement.
The archaeologists noted that the bombardment targeted sentries ...
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October 20, 2016 at 5:34 pm
The US State Department has labeled Hezbollah Commander Haytham ‘Ali Tabataba’i from Beirut, Lebanon a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), according to a press release this week.
Treasury said it was a joint action with Saudi Arabia aimed at “disrupting Hezbollah’s worldwide commercial and financial infrastructure.” This effect will hope to diminish it’s military branch that has a strong influence in the Syrian conflict.
The State Department said Tabataba’i has operated in Syria and Yemen. Tabataba’i’s actions in those countries are believed to be part of a broader effort by Hezbollah, a Lebanese terror group, to provide training, materiel, and personnel in support of what the State Department described as “destabilizi...
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October 20, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Much of the media has been up in arms over Trump’s claim that elections are rigged, but the question is what does he really mean when he claims that the election is rigged? Hillary Clinton had once said that George W. Bush was selected not elected, referring to the victory over Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election involving a miscount in ballots in Florida where Al Gore could have contested the election.
This could be taken that Hillary may have insinuated that the election, at least the 2000 election, was rigged in some kind of way. But is Trump’s idea about a rigged election the same as what happened in the 2000 election or is this a false equivocation?
One claim that Trump has made about rigged elections is that dead people tend to vote democratic. USA today...
