Baltimore, MD - Nov. 19, 2017 - Working non-stop and around the clock to help Baltimore City, it seems that Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer is doing everything short of leaping tall buildings with a single jump. And many are taking note. Less than a year since he entered office, Schleifer has received numerous recognitions and awards that took others years to obtain, including his induction on November 8, 2017, into the Maryland Retails Association’s (MRA) Hall of Fame. At a special ceremony in honor of the occasion, the MRA’s recognition put Yitzy among the ranks of Maryland legends including Frank Purdue, The Paterakis Family, Paul Diamond, z'l, and William Donald Schaefer, who had previously received the recognition.  A small bu...
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 26, 2017 - I’ve spent countless years as a therapist working with people who are dealing with chemical dependency, and have noted the various trends of drug use during that time. This current opioid epidemic is extremely alarming, hitting the community very hard and, unfortunately, taking the lives of our neighbors, friends and family members. The statistics are staggering. Here in Maryland, the number of opioid related deaths has more than doubled in just two short years, and the numbers are even higher among women. This is a crisis that will require everyone to work together.  The governor has declared a state of emergency.  State schools are mandated to provide prevention education as part of the curriculum.  The face of addiction is everyone....
Students’ modesty protected by studying online with no cameras; can make contact by chat or voice only AFULA, ISRAEL – Israel Sci-Tech Schools, which for several years has been making important in-roads in the education and career development of ultra-Orthodox students, has begun a new program in its Orayta School, teaching students how to create apps. The courses are taught online without cameras in accordance to their modesty standards. Students and teachers communicate via telephone calls and an online chat portal. Many ultra-Orthodox students have long been excluded from studying technology because they lacked computers at home and in their schools, as well as prohibitions in modesty that presented challenges for secular teachers lecturing on their subjects. These challeng...
Just before the Jewish High Holy Days this fall, Judge Rachel Freier was rushing around her kitchen, as she perpetually is. She had just cooked a salmon dish for Sabbath dinner. She was talking to her daughter in Israel on her headset. She was at a countertop, cutting apples and wrapping tuna salad sandwiches to take to work, because at night court in Brooklyn, where she presides, there’s little to eat that’s kosher. Stepping outside her townhouse in Borough Park, Brooklyn, she climbed into her purple and white minivan emblazoned with the emblems of the female volunteer emergency medical service she founded in her ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. A trained paramedic, she keeps her medical bags in her vehicle, just in case. “My car is like my second home,” she said...
Honda is recalling about 900,000 of its Odyssey minivans because the second-row seats may tip forward if not properly latched. The recall announced Saturday covers vehicles from the 2011-2017 model years. About 800,000 of the affected minivans were sold in the United States. Honda says it has received 46 reports of minor injuries related to the issue. It says the Odyssey's second-row seat may tip forward during moderate to heavy braking if it isn't properly latched after adjusting it side-to-side or reinstalling a removed seat. The company is working on a way to repair the issue and says it will notify owners when one is available. It will be free. Until then, Honda has put instructions for properly latching the seat on its website for owners.
Five Sifrei Torah were stolen from a synagogue in Jaffa over the weekend – only to be returned shortly afterwards, thanks to the cooperation of Israeli police and local Palestinian Authority forces in the city of Hevron, south of Jerusalem. Torah scrolls, which are written out meticulously by hand by Torah scribes (sofers), cost tens of thousands of shekels to produce, and are frequently targeted by thieves. Arab thieves operating in Jaffa, part of the city of Tel Aviv, stole five such scrolls from the Beit David synagogue on Bikkurei Tzion Street over the weekend. After Israeli police were notified of the theft, Israeli authorities contacted PA security forces, who helped locate the stolen religious items in the city of Hevron, some 45 miles away in Judea, south of Jerusalem. Ch...
President Reuven Rivlin turns down former IDF Sargent Elor Azariya's request for clemency for shooting death of Arab terrorist. President Reuven Rivlin will not grant former IDF Sergeant Elor Azariya a presidential pardon, it was announced Sunday evening, despite the recommendation by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. Azariya, who was convicted in January for the March 2016 shooting death of an Arab terrorist shortly after a stabbing attack on an IDF soldier in Hevron, was sentenced in February to 18 months in prison. In September, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot slashed four months from Azariya’s sentence, following a written appeal on Azariya’s behalf. The former soldier’s legal defense team later submitted a pardon request to President ...
Thousands of Shluchim posed for a group photo in front of Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. They are among more than 5,000 Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinic emissaries and communal leaders from 90 countries hailing from as far away as Bangkok and Kenya that are gathering for the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. One highlight each year is the traditional group photo of thousands of Shluchim at the front of the building on 770 Eastern Parkway – Chabad’s central headquarters. This year, for the 13th year, tens of thousands of viewers from around the world will be able to view the International Kinus HaShluchim banquet live – here on YWN – on a broadcast made possible by the organizers...
The U.S. Secret Service says an individual has been taken into custody after attempting to jump a security barrier on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House. President Donald Trump was inside the White House during the Sunday morning incident. The Secret Service tweeted at about 8 a.m. Sunday that someone tried to jump a row of metal bike racks that are being used to create a second row of fencing outside the executive mansion. Those racks were installed in response to a series of fence-jumping incidents in recent years, including a man who made it into the White House in 2014. Pedestrians were briefly barred from walking in front of the White House during Sunday’s incident. The Secret Service hasn’t immediately provided more details.
Following the High Court of Justice ruling that supermarkets should not be opened in Tel Aviv on Shabbos, the coalition is forming a compromise with the chareidim. The compromise in the works is that the chareidim will give up retroactive legislation that will also ban the opening of supermarkets in Tel Aviv on Shabbos. In return, the Interior Ministry, which is run by Shas Chairman Minister Aryeh Deri, will have the authority to enforce labor laws on the day of rest. In addition, the coalition will advance a government proposal that the status quo will not permit the opening of businesses on days of rest in local authorities. At a meeting at the beginning of the week, Deri demanded that a bill be drafted to give authority, not only to Ministry of Labor inspectors, but also Interior Minis...
Germany’s foreign ministry says it will press Kuwait about a law that prevented its national airline from transporting an Israeli citizen on a flight originating in Frankfurt. Deputy foreign minister Michael Roth told Die Welt newspaper Friday that Germany’s ambassador has been asked to raise the issue with Kuwaiti authorities. The move follows a Frankfurt court ruling Thursday that Kuwait Airways didn’t have to transport the Israeli on a 2016 flight that included a stopover in Kuwait City because it would have faced legal repercussions at home. The court noted the airline wasn’t allowed to have contracts with Israelis under Kuwait’s boycott of Israel. Roth said: “It is incomprehensible to me that in today’s Germany a passenger cannot boa...
The Tel Aviv District Court is recognizing a class action lawsuit against El Al Airlines in the amount of 1.28 billion shekels. The petitioner requested the court view the case as a class action lawsuit based on changes made by the airline almost three years ago regarding terms of a ‘Matmid’ flyer. The change in conditions included three changed conditions in respect of which the plaintiffs request the legendary sum: 1. Goals for which a bonus ticket will be required – more points will be required. 2. Goals for which a bonus ticket will be required – 50% more points will be required. 3. Ending the ability to purchase a ticket open for one year using bonus points. The Tel Aviv District Court approved the filing of the class action and defined the members ...
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott informed Brig.-Gen. Ofer Winter that he will not be the prime minister’s military secretary. Winter was one of the candidates to be appointed military secretary in lieu of Brigadier-General Eliezer Toledano, who is to be appointed commander of the Gaza division, even though Winter’s name was not included in the list of candidates for the position. According to the report in Yisrael Hayom, the list included three names: the commander of the Gaza Division, Brigadier-General Yehuda Fuchs, the commander of the Bashan (Golan) Brigade, Brigadier-General Yaniv Asor; and the commander of the fire brigade, Brig.-Gen. Uri Gordin, who interviewed the three of them weeks ago, but did not select any of them and did not inform the chief o...
Rav Yitzchak Goldknoff of the Vaad for Shmiras Shabbos spoke with Kol Berama Radio host Noam Zeigman on Sunday morning regarding Health Minister Yaakov Litzman’s threat to break from the coalition if Israel Railways continues its chilul Shabbos, employing Jews to perform maintenance and repairs. Zeigman points out that despite the statements attributed to Litzman, he threatenedto leave the coalition if chilul Shabbos by the railway continues, not specifying only if Jewish laborers are involved. Zeigman stated the letter simply stated if work is carried out by the railway, he would leave the coalition. Despite the threat, non-Jews were employed this past Shabbos, Parshas Toldos, working on tracks in the Dimona area. Goldknoff explains in this particular incident, it may h...
The Vishnitzer Rebbe has Bichasdei Hashem been taken off the respirator on Sunday morning. As has been reported on Motzei Shabbos, the Rebbe – who had been hospitalized for the past few days – suddenly turned critical and was placed on a respirator. Thousands of Vishnitzer Chassidim packed Batei Midrashim around the globe reciting Tehillim throughout the night. His condition continued to improve all night until he was removed from the respirator on Sunday morning. The Rebbe, Hagaon HaRav Mordechai Hager Shlita, is the elder of the Admorim today. He is the uncle of the two Vishnitzer Rebbes from Bnei Brak, Rav Yisroel and Rav Mendel. Rav Yisroel, whose grandchild got married in Boro Park two weeks ago, was still in NY (after a historic visit to Cleveland) and was ...
Baltimore, Md - Nov. 17, 2017 - On Wednesday, Nov. 15, Luxenburg & Bronfin, LLC, hosted the inaugural Ner Yisroel Lunch and Learn in Pikesvile. The event was highly successful with over 35 attendees. HaRav Yissocher Frand delivered a fascinating shiur on the topic of "Is DNA Testing Compatible with Halacha?" Yasher koach to the alumni committee who spearheaded this project, to the hosts who graciously offered their office space, and to all who attended. The Pikesville Lunch and Learn will hopefully become a regular occurrence going forward. Your browser does not support the audio tag.
Jerusalem - The Israeli military says it has fired a tank shell into Syria as a “warning shot” after the Syrian military conducted construction along their border. The military says Syria violated the 1974 cease-fire agreement on the Golan Heights Saturday by using heavy tools to fortify a military post in the demilitarized zone between the countries. In response, the military says it complained to the United Nations peacekeeper force station on the Golan and fired a tank shell as a warning. The incident comes as Israel has voiced concerned about the growing presence of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in Syria as that country appears to be transitioning into a post-civil war reality, in which Israel says it will defend its interests.
Buenos Aires - Argentina’s Navy said Saturday it was ramping up the search for a submarine that hadn’t been heard from in three days, and at least six other nations said they would join in the effort. Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said that the area being searched off the country’s southern Atlantic coast has been doubled as concerns about the 44 crew members grew. “We are not discounting any hypothesis,” Balbi said. Possibilities could include “a problem with communications” or with its power system, he said. Authorities last had contact with the German-built diesel-electric sub, the ARA San Juan, on Wednesday as it was on a voyage from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to Mar del Plata. President Mauricio Macri said in a tweet that the coun...
British lawmakers and student leaders convened on Wednesday to discuss the prevalence of antisemitism at universities and strategize on ways to protect Jewish students on campus. Hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism and the Antisemitism Policy Trust, the session featured speakers including Labour MPs Angela Rayner and John Mann; Shakira Martin, president of the National Union of Students (NUS); and Liron Velleman, campaigns manager of the Union of Jewish Students. Testimonies shared at the event pointed to a diverse litany of abuse — from student officers using the hashtag #Jew in Twitter discussions on wealth to “violent” protestsdirected at students attending a pro-Israel event. “A number of campuses have Holocaust denial litera...
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