On Tuesday morning 22 Menachem Av, police received calls of a suspicious male seen moving around the Maalot Daphne neighborhood of the capital. The police response was immediate, and the suspicious person was found near a home, carrying burglary tools and gloves. He was taken into custody. A probe into his activities revealed that the suspect, a PA (Palestinian Authority) resident, earlier in the night, attempted to break into homes, albeit without success, causing damage to doors. He was remanded on Wednesday and ordered held without bail.
JetBlue Airways says fumes from nail polish remover caused two crew members to become ill on a flight from Boston to Charleston, South Carolina. Airline spokesman Doug McGraw said Thursday that the employees asked to be checked out after Wednesday’s flight landed in Charleston, and they were later released from a hospital. No passengers became ill, he said. It’s the third time in the last week that employees or passengers have reported becoming ill from odors on a JetBlue flight. Emergency workers boarded a plane after it made an emergency stop in Buffalo, New York, and treated a flight attendant in the terminal. JetBlue says it has installed carbon air filters to reduce odors on planes.
Two major charities are canceling fundraisers at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as the president faces a backlash from his comments about violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Cleveland Clinic says in a statement that it decided not to hold is annual event there after “careful consideration” of a number of issues. It didn’t elaborate. Doctors, nurses, medical students of the Ohio hospital signed a public letter earlier this year objecting to the choice of venue given President Trump’s positions on a variety of issue. Its fundraiser has been held at Mar-a-Lago the past eight years. The American Cancer Society plans to move its 2018 Island of Palm Beach gala from the resort, too. In a statement, it is citing its “commitment to diversity.” A...
Belgian authorities say the lone surviving suspect in the massacres in France in November 2015 will stand trial in Belgium over a shootout with police officers just before he was caught last year. The federal prosecutor’s office confirmed Thursday that Salah Abdeslam and a suspected accomplice would face trial for attempted murder. The trial date could be set in the coming weeks. Abdeslam and two suspects were hiding in an apartment in Brussels when police arrived for a routine search of the flat. Four officers were injured in the shootout that followed and one suspect was killed. Abdeslam was captured a few days later in the flashpoint Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek. He is currently in prison in France and unlikely to face trial there for several years.
After months of sometimes heated internal debate, the Trump administration has almost reached a decision on a new approach for fighting the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday. He gave no hint of what the strategy would look like. In remarks at the State Department, Mattis told reporters President Donald Trump will confer with his national security team Friday at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, and said the talks “will move this toward a decision.” “We are coming very close to a decision, and I anticipate it in the very near future,” he added. Months ago the Pentagon had settled on a plan to send approximately 3,800 additional troops to help strengthen the Afghan army, which is stuck in what some call a dete...
HaGaon HaRav Bentzion Boaron, Shlita, on Wednesday morning 24 Menachem Av commented on the High Court ruling supporting the appointment of a woman to head the nation’s batei din. Rav Boaron was responding to the recent High Court of Justice ruling clearing the way for the appointment, which is opposed by Maran HaGaon HaRav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman Shlita as well as the Chief Rabbis of Israel. Speaking with Noam Zeigman of Kol Berama Radio on Wednesday morning, Rav Boaron explained “we can live with a woman heading the batei din”, which is an administrative and non-halachic. There is an exception here from the authority of the court. The Basic Regulations explicitly state that someone who has received rabbinical capacity or special capacity from the Chief ...
The petition, which stretches over dozens of pages, shows the chain of events that led to the municipality’s decision to allocate the structure to the seminar and the transition of the talmud torah to an alternative building on Chachmi Street in Bayit Vegan, due to the distress of the seminar. In light of the announcement by the school’s officials this week that it will not open for the coming school year if they are not given additional space to accommodate the large number of students. As such, the city, represented by attorney Kedar, an urgent session of the court to address and rule on the mater by accepting the city’s position, and to instruct the Minister of the Interior to re-approve the allocation. The municipality claims in its petition that there is concern t...
President Trump has told senior aides that he has decided to remove Stephen K. Bannon, the embattled White House chief strategist who helped Mr. Trump win the 2016 election, according to two administration officials briefed on the discussion. The president and senior White House officials were debating when and how to dismiss Mr. Bannon. The two administration officials cautioned that Mr. Trump is known to be averse to confrontation within his inner circle, and could decide to keep on Mr. Bannon for some time. As of Friday morning, the two men were still discussing Mr. Bannon’s future, the officials said. A person close to Mr. Bannon insisted the parting of ways was his idea, and that he had submitted his resignation to the president on Aug. 7, to be announced at the start of this ...
White House Chief Strategist and Senior Advisor Steve Bannon moving on.. Developing... 
Parshas Re’eh / Shabbos Mevarchim Elul / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Baltimore, MD – Aug. 18,  2017  Parshas:  Re’eh Today:    26 Menachem Av      Chatzos: 1:10 PM Hadlakas Nairos: 7:39 PM Shkiah:                   7:57:55 PM Tzais HaKochavim:  8:48 PM Rosh Chodesh Elul: Tuesday, Aug. 22 and Wednesday, Aug 23rd Kiddush Levanah: Friday, Aug 25, 4:23 AM through Tuesday, Sept. 5, 10:45 PM (Kiddush Levanah may only be said at night)
As a grandson of Holocaust survivors, I found it frightening to begin the week, seeing images of neo-Nazis marching on the streets of America. I was hoping that by week's end I would be comforted somewhat, knowing that our elected leaders and all upstanding citizens unequivocally repudiate all forms of racial and religious bigotry and hatred. Sadly, there is much work yet to be done on the local and national level. The eruv controversy in Mahwah, which has exposed religious bigotry of its own, has unfortunately led to a lawsuit (see below). In an op-ed, our New Jersey director Rabbi Schnall called upon elected officials and citizens to take the high road, by defending religious freedom and opposing bigotry. On a national level, Rabbi Zwiebel and Rabbi Shafran commented on ...
OP-ED FEATURED IN ASBURY PARK PRESS THURSDAY, AUG. 17TH Recent developments in the New Jersey town of Mahwah should trouble not just Jewish Americans, but every American of good will. Only the most irascible curmudgeon would be bothered by unobtrusive plastic pipes attached to neighborhood utility poles and connected to one another high in the air by thin filaments. If passersby even noticed them, they would be at most curious, and certainly not offended.   But in Mahwah, the municipality and some citizens are up in arms over the piping, part of a Jewish law legal construct called an "eruv," which figuratively "encloses" an area so that observant Jews can carry things and push strollers on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.   Although missing pet notices and fiber-optic cable bo...
You may know something about the Sicarii, or Sikari’im (or Sikrikim), the radical Jewish faction at the time of the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash. What you may not know is that their name has been adopted by a small group of Californians who are part of a somewhat larger group of African-Americans who call themselves “Hebrew Israelites.” The contemporary “Sicarii” hold that the Jewish People are imposters, and that descendants of Africans like themselves are the “true Jews.” They aim to “uplift disenfranchised blacks, Latinos and Native Americans” by teaching that they are the “true descendants of the ancient Israelites.” The group refers to white people in general as “deceivers” or “devils.&rd...
Add Fox News boss James Murdoch to the growing list of business executives taking issue with President Donald Trump’s Charlottesville riot response. Murdoch, the CEO of 21st Century Fox, the parent of conservative Fox News Channel, said he and his wife, Kathryn, would donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League in the wake of Trump refusing to assign sole blame to a white supremacist/neo-Nazi group for fights on August 12 in Charlottesville, VA. Two factions squared off that day — one protesting the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the other anti-fascists and their supporters. That conflict ultimately resulted in one death and 19 injuries. Trump said in the aftermath that “both sides” were to blame, remarks...
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — The Latest on reaction to President Donald Trump, the terrorist attack in Barcelona and the Charlottesville violence (all times local): 9:20 a.m. President Donald Trump says “Radical Islamic Terrorism must be stopped by whatever means necessary!” He adds that “the courts must give us back our protective rights. Have to be tough!” That appeared to be a reference to a temporary travel ban Trump sought to impose on visitors to the U.S. from six mostly Muslim countries. The ban has been challenged in court. The Supreme Court plans to hear arguments in the fall. Trump tweeted the day after 13 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured after a van mowed down pedestrians in Barcelona, Spain, in what local authorities said was an ...
3-year-old child, Italian father of 2, and Belgian woman among those killed in Spain attacks. 7-year-old Australian boy missing. The death toll in the two terror attacks in Spain Thursday night rose to 14 Friday afternoon, less than a day after an Islamic terrorist ran down roughly 100 pedestrians outside a popular shopping center in Barcelona, and a second vehicle hit seven in the town of Cambrils. A total of 13 people were killed in Barcelona, while 1 of the 7 injured in Cambrils succumbed to her injuries Friday. Authorities also released the identities of two of the dead on Friday. One, a tourist from Italy, was killed while walking down the street with his wife and five-year-old son and seven-month-old daughter. Bruno Gulotta, a 35-year-old father of two, was crushed by the t...
A one-time Republican candidate for New York governor whose insults of Barack and Michelle Obama preceded calls for his ouster from the Buffalo school board has been removed from the post. State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced her decision Thursday following a five-day hearing in June. School board members lobbied for Paladino’s removal after he disclosed information about teacher contract negotiations that were discussed in closed-door sessions. But Paladino said the real reason for their efforts were comments he made that appeared in a Buffalo arts newspaper. Paladino wrote that he wanted to see the former president dead of mad cow disease and the former first lady living with a gorilla in Africa. He said the comments weren’t for publication. He didn&...
The State Department says at least one American was killed and one injured in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, Spain. The department said Friday that diplomats from the U.S. consulate in Barcelona are working with local authorities to identify victims and provide assistance to Americans. The department did not identify either of the American casualties. It said the injured person suffered only a minor wound.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is calling for the removal of Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol as the contentious debate over the appropriateness of such memorials moves to the halls of Congress. Pelosi says she is calling on Speaker Paul Ryan to join Democrats in supporting legislation to remove the Confederate statues. She says the statues in the Capitol should “embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation.” Each state is allowed to place two statues in the Capitol. Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, says the display of statues is a decision for the states to make. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, says he will sponsor legislation to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol building.
The Navy says the commanding officer of a warship that lost seven sailors in a collision off the coast of Japan will be relieved of command, and nearly a dozen other sailors face punishment. Adm. William Moran, the No. 2 Navy officer, told reporters at the Pentagon Thursday that the actions are to be taken shortly, although the Navy’s investigation into how and why the USS Fitzgerald collided with the container ship in June has not yet been completed. Moran says the commander of the Navy’s 7th Fleet, based in Japan, is removing the top three sailors – the commanding officer, the executive officer and the command master chief – from duty aboard the Fitzgerald. Moran says they and others will face non-judicial punishments yet to be determined.
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