Following the arrest of twelve suspects in an ongoing probe into alleged fictitious billing of the IDF, netting millions, authorities on Wednesday 28 Tishrei arrested additional suspects. An air force captain and NCO were taken into custody in connection with the billing scheme, in which the military was billed for work never performed. All the suspects in the case have been arraigned and remanded. As reported earlier, two officers were arrested along with employees of a civilian company which provided services to the IDF. Channel 2 News reports one of the suspects is a relative of IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott. Members of Eizenkott’s staff responded to the report, explaining he has no connection with the relative, with whom he last communicated wit...
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson is calling on the U.S. State Department to investigate a bizarre string of attacks on diplomats in Cuba. The South Carolina Republican and House Foreign Affairs Committee member made that request Thursday in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. At least 22 American diplomats, intelligence agents and their spouses in Havana have been harmed in unexplained, invisible attacks over the last year. President Donald Trump has blamed the island nation for the attacks, even though Cuba’s government has repeatedly denied both involvement in and knowledge of the incidents. Earlier this month, the U.S. expelled 15 of Cuba’s diplomats to protest its failure to protect Americans from the unexplained attacks, plunging diplomatic ties between the countri...
Noach was a remarkable individual, a wunderkind from the outset. His arrival in the world was announced as a transformative event in history. The inability of the earth to produce anything other than קוץ ודרדר, thistles and thorns as a result of the sin of Adam and Chava was now at an end after seven long generations. His name reflects this renewal of the very nature of the world - נח has roots suggesting leaving behind the past, being renewed, refreshed (see Rashi on Breishis 5:29). The implication is even greater than just a fresh start though. The Zohar indicates that Noach had the potential to bring the Geula, to be the Moshiach. Now that the sin of Adam and Cain would be rectified, world history would reach its zenith and God's intentions in creating the world would be ...
Senate Republicans adopted a budget for the next fiscal year, clearing a critical hurdle in the GOP push to overhaul the tax code. The Senate's late Thursday passage of the budget blueprint, in a 51-49 vote primarily along party lines, helps unlock a procedure that Republicans plan to use to rewrite the tax code with just GOP votes. See More Coverage »
The European Union is well-known for ignoring Israeli law and funding major construction projects. Eight EU countries led by Belgium, have sent an official protest to Israel, demanding $35,400 in compensation from the Government of Israel after the latter razed the illegals structures, Haaretz reported on Wednesday, 28 Tishrei. Israel has razed illegal structures built by the EU in the past and according to the Haaretz report, this marks the first time a protest was filed with the Israel Foreign Ministry demanding compensatory payment. The report is based on a senior EU official speaking with Haaretz. It does not come as a surprise that the eight nations (in alphabetical order); Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, and Sweden are members of the “West B...
Parshas Noach / Shabbos Rosh Chodesh/ Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Baltimore, MD – Oct. 20, 2017 Parshas:  Noach Today:    30 Tishrei  (1st Day Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan)    Chatzos: 12:51 PM Hadlakas Nairos: 6:02 PM Shkiah:                   6:20:24 PM Tzais HaKochavim:  7:11 PM Rosh Chodesh Mar Cheshvan: Friday, Oct. 20 and Shabbos, Oct. 21 Kiddush Levanah: Oct. 23 @5:52 AM through Shabbos, Nov. 4, @12:14 AM
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads to the Middle East, South Asia and Europe this week on a diplomatic mission focused on conflicts in Iraq and Syria and blunting Iranian influence in the region, the State Department said Thursday. Tillerson departs on Friday for travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and India before returning home through Switzerland on Oct. 27, the department said in a statement. In Riyadh, Tillerson will explore ways of improving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq by participating in the first meeting of the two countries’ new coordination council, it said. That effort, which U.S. officials say Tillerson has pushed for months, is aimed reducing Iran’s increasing influence in Iraq by encouraging Baghdad to align more closely with Riyadh. S...
After the debacle of the deluge, G-d sought to rebuild mankind through Noach and his descendants. However, after the misguided united effort to build the Tower of Babel in defiance of G-d’s dominion, once again G-d was forced to play His hand by dispersing the populace to the far corners of the globe, foiling their rebellion. The stage was now set for one man to establish a family that would lead the world back to its former hope and glory, by promoting the unadulterated truth of G-d’s oneness and absolute benevolence. Before Avraham Avinu sets out on that journey the Torah details the family of mankind, zeroing in on the objective of all creation, the descendants of Terach. It first details his three sons, Avram, Nachor and Haran, adding that Haran was the father of Lot. It t...
Police have opened an investigation after a swastika was found daubed outside homes in the predominately Jewish neighborhood of Stamford Hill, in north-east London. Shocked families discovered the antisemitic graffiti painted on the roadway on Geldeston Road on Wednesday afternoon. Shomrim Stamford Hill was contacted by local residents, who then alerted Metropolitan Police and the local Council. On Thursday morning, Shomrim tweeted that the swastika graffiti had now “been removed by Hackney council”. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that “the incident happened between 12:30hrs and 16:30hrs on Wednesday, 18 October” and that an investigation was under way. No arrests had been made so far. The spokesperson added that patrols in the area ...
In this week’s Parshah, Noach is forced to live in the Ark in order to survive The Great Flood. Rashi (6:16) quotes a dispute regarding what Noach used as his source of light to navigate within the Ark. One Sage states that he built windows in the Ark and it was those very windows that gave Noach the light that he required. Another Sage argues that the Ark did not possess windows for light. Rather, Noach used a magical stone which provided supernatural light. The brother of the famous R’ Chaim Shmuelevitz asks a poignant question on the second Sage who states that Noach used a magical stone that provided light and not windows: the Torah states explicitly that Noach released the dove through the Arks’ WINDOW to investigate whether or not the flood had subsided (8:6). Clea...
For the second time in a week, a south shore neighborhood on Staten Island has been hit with hate and targeted with racist graffiti. But as CBS2’s Jessica Layton reported, the victims in the most recent case are responding in a way you might not expect. In a neighborhood where American flags adorn the fronts of homes and Halloween decorations are on display, the message of hate stands out in a sickening way. “It’s hard and very upsetting to know that someone could have that much hate for someone of a certain religion or a certain race,” said vandalism victim Halle Calabrese. At 17 years old, Calabrese said she has never felt targeted for being Jewish – until her family woke up to the swastika and the anti-Semitic slur Tuesday morning. “We are ...
American Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt released a statement Thursday backing Israel’s position that Hamas recognize the State of Israel and disarm. This follows the recent agreement between Hamas and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ (Abu Mazen) Fatah party to end hostilities and work together. From Israel’s perspective, all talks between Israel and the PA are off until such time Hamas disarms and changes its position to officially recognize the State of Israel as part of the PA Government. This was the decision reached by the Political Security Cabinet on Wednesday, 28 Tishrei, refusing all negotiations with the PA until Hamas meets its obligations and this is the minimum obligation to be included in the PA Government as far as Jerusalem is concerned. “All partie...
1) Miracles Versus Hishtadlus Ramban asks a very obvious question opening about the Flood in Parshas Noach: If you have sulfur and acid that’s pouring down from the heaven, obviously a little wooden teivah, ark, is not going to save everybody? Also, how could the ark fit every species of plant and animal in its confined space? It was 300 amos long, which is about 600 feet, with 3 stories, but that still seems insufficient for all that must have been in there including man, animals, plants and food for one year? Ramban makes clear that it certainly was a miracle that everything fit and it certainly was a miracle that it remained protected despite the sulfuric rain outside, but Hashem works with nature and He wants us to do our hishtadlus, minimal human effort, thus allowing Him to d...
Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg’s Jewish residents are heaving a sigh of relief after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced significant changes to local regulations that will alleviate the pre-Shabbos parking crunch. de Blasio’s pledges came on Wednesday night at a Town Hall meeting at St. Francis College hosted by Councilman Stephen Levin of Brooklyn’s 33rd District.  According to a press release issued by Levin last week, the councilman had already petitioned city officials to suspend alternate side parking on Myrtle Avenue on Saturdays following Jewish holidays after numerous Orthodox residents were slapped with parking tickets because they were unable to move their cars during the three day yomim tovim.   Addressing a packed crowd in the St. Francis gym, de Blasio ...
The head of a leading neo-Nazi website is encouraging people who are unable to attend white supremacist Richard Spencer’s talk at the University of Florida (UF) on Thursday afternoon to target local Jewish and other minority institutions in Gainesville. Andrew Anglin, founder of the Daily Stormer, urged followers on Thursday morning to dress “normally” — “don’t look like an antifa (but don’t look too Nazi either)” — and stage flash demonstrations across the city to “protest Jews, black crime, Jewish media, Jewish coffee — whatever.” He listed the addresses of the Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student Center at UF, the Institute of Black Culture, the Gainesville Sun, and a local Starbucks (one of th...
Chaotic scenes broke out on Wednesday at the trial in France of the brother of an Islamist extremist who carried out a spree of terrorist attacks around the southern city of Toulouse in March 2012, including a gun assault on a Jewish school that resulted in the brutal murders of a rabbi along with three young children. Shouts and jeers erupted from the gallery at the court in Paris during the testimony of Zoulika Aziri  — the mother of 35-year-old Abdelkader Merah, who could face a life sentence if he is found guilty of having aided his brother, Mohammed, in carrying out three separate terror attacks between March 11-19, 2012. Mohammed Merah was shot and killed by French police on March 22 of that year at the culmination of a 30-hour siege after he was tracked do...
Two storks struck an Israel Air Force F-35 fighter plane, known in Hebrew as the ‘Adir’, compelling the sophisticated fighter jet to halt training and return to base for maintenance and inspection in the Netafim base in the Negev. According to the IDF spokesman unit report, the plane will be returning to service in a number of days, one of seven of the advanced fighter planes in Israel’s possession. An agreement was signed in the summer for 17 more of the planes, adding to the order in progress which will ultimately bring 50 of the advanced stealth fighter planes to the IAF.
he number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since Richard Nixon was president. THE NUMBERS: The Labor Department said Thursday that claims for jobless aid dropped by 22,000 to 222,000, fewest since March 1973. The less volatile four-week average slid by 9,500 to 248,250, lowest since late August. The overall number of Americans collecting unemployment checks dropped to 1.89 million, lowest since December 1973 and down nearly 9 percent from a year ago. THE TAKEAWAY: Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs. The low level suggests that employers are confident enough in the economy to hold onto workers. The unemployment rate last month hit a 16-year low 4.2 percent. Employers cut...read more at Chicago Tribune
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