There is much discussion regarding the exact methodology and pattern behind the ten plagues - what the plagues represented individually and as a whole and why they were in their specific order. I would like to focus on a specific subset of the ten plagues. In four out of the ten plagues, Egypt was invaded by animals. This animal invasion seems to have a theme of its own. Rashi (Bereishis 1:26) writes that man was created to rule over the fish, the birds and the animals. However, if man is not worthy, he will become subservient to the animals. This four-pronged attack from the animal kingdom served to prove that the Egyptians had reached that level of unworthiness and they needed to be shown that they were no longer in charge. The first animal invasion was that of frogs. Although the frogs...
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 15, 2018 – It is with sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com (BJL) informs the community of the petirah of Mrs. Sara Rae Goldfeder, a'h, wife of Gerald Goldfeder, mother of Avi Goldfeder, (410.917.1903) Aviva Rosenberg, Chaim Goldfeder and Yael Taub. The levaya and kevurah will be held Wednesday, Jan 17, 2018 at Har HaMenuchos at 12:00 PMThe entire family will sit Shiva at 6224 Turney Way, Dallas TX  75230Bila HaMaves LaNetzach…
THE INTECHIGENCE PROJECT - COMMUNICATION #6 Using Technology Intelligently January 18, 2018 The Verdict on a Shul Ban! Dear Friends: I hope this note finds you all well.  I want to thank the incredible number of people who wrote to us in response to our last Intechigence message that solicited your input on the question of banning cell phones inside the shul.  Your input was instructive and valuable!    To review briefly, we had discussed how consistently our weekday davening, events and meetings are loudly interrupted by a cell phone ringing, most often with a ringtone full of character and noise.  I mentioned that I keep my phone on vibrate at almost all times and, while I may miss the occasional call, it seems to me a far superior alternative to ha...
Parshas Bo / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Baltimore, MD – Jan. 19, 2018 Parshas:  Bo Today:    3 Shevat Chatzos: 12:18 PM Hadlakas Nairos: 4:54 PM Shkiah:                   5:12:08 PM Tzais HaKochavim:  6:03 PM Kiddush Levanah: Friday, Jan. 19, 7:04 PM – Wednesday, Jan31, 1:26 PM Kiddush Levanah may only be said at night
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Drivers may have to pay to come into the busiest parts of Manhattan under a new plan due out on Friday. The idea called "congestion pricing" involves using electronic tolling to charge drivers for entering parts of the city during peak times.If the proposal is approved, tolling would take effect from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. weekdays below 60th Street for a total of $11.52 a day, according to multiple reports. Taxi, Uber, and Lyft drivers would be subject to a separate surcharge per ride and truck drivers would be charged even more.Mayor de Blasio has long opposed this. He would rather raise taxes on the wealthy.Ten years ago, Mayor Bloomberg proposed a similar plan but it never gained traction in the New York legislature.What changed in the last decade? There has never b...
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of intelligence agency employees would be furloughed even as tension over North Korea's nuclear program remains high. Important biomedical and public health research would be interrupted and possibly damaged. Military veterans would watch helplessly as the processing of their disability claims came to a halt. Although the government won't actually close if Congress can't pass a spending bill by Friday at midnight, there's plenty that won't get done should hundreds of thousands of federal employees be barred from working until dysfunctional Washington agrees on a plan. J. David Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said shutdowns can have dramatic impacts as jobs are left unattended. The longer a shutdo...
The United States will not provide $45 million in food aid for Palestinians that it pledged last month as part of the West Bank/Gaza Emergency Appeal led by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the State Department said on Thursday. The State Department had said on Tuesday that Washington would withhold a separate $65 million it had planned to pay the UN agency that serves the Palestinians, saying UNRWA needed to make unspecified reforms. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denied the withholding of the $65 million was to punish Palestinians, who have been sharply critical of Trump’s announcement last month that he would move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. In a Dec. 15 letter to UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl, State Departme...
Itai Mor, 44, killed while taking out trash after fight with neighbor; 'He was the kind of person everyone wanted to be with. Sweet man.' Itai Mor, 44, was killed Wednesday night in Ashdod, apparently following a dispute between neighbors over parking in their apartment building's yard, reports Israel Hayom. According to suspicions, the argument between the two began earlier that day, hours before the murder. The police investigation indicates that in the evening, Mor went down from his apartment on Eshkol Street in the city's A quarter to the courtyard of the building in order to throw out garbage. A few minutes later, Mor's wife heard screams, and when she opened the door she found her husband lying bleeding on the steps at the entrance to the ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided House voted Thursday to prevent a government shutdown after an eleventh-hour deal brought conservatives aboard. But the GOP-written measure faced gloomy prospects in the Senate, and it remained unclear whether lawmakers would be able to find a way to keep federal offices open past a Friday night deadline. The House voted by a near party-line 230-197 vote to approve the legislation, which would keep agency doors open and hundreds of thousands of federal employees at work through Feb. 16. The measure is designed to give White House and congressional bargainers more time to work through disputes on immigration and the budget that they’ve tangled over for months. House passage was assured after the House Freedom Caucus reached an accord with House Spea...
 Baltimore, MD - Jan. 19, 2018 - Bo 5778 - Locust, Consuming our Handiwork - 2nd Aliyah Click here to listen
Every word, every letter in the Torah is used for a specific reason and purpose.  We are reminded of this concept often through the teachings of Chazal where they will derive significant meanings from a word missing a letter, which it would customarily have (chaser), or a word having an “extra” letter  - one which it normally would not have  (maleh).  The Gemarah goes even further and teaches us that Hashem told Moshe Rabeinu that not only were nekudos important but that one day, a great man named Rebbi Akiva will learn halachos out of the “crowns” written on top of the letters in the Torah (Menachos 29b).  This idea is driven home quite clearly in Parshas Bo. In this Parsha, we are deep into the maccos brought upon Pharoh for his stubborn ...
Before Makkas Borod, Moshe Rabbeinu announced that anything living that is left outside in the field will be destroyed by the hail. This is the seventh plague. Six previous plagues have been predicted and fulfilled exactly as predicted. But we find that there are two groups of people—those who feared Hashem and followed Moshe’s instructions to gather their property into the field, and those who simply ignored it and went on with life as if nothing was going to happen. How could they be indifferent to what they knew was going to happen? One must realize that the chariots that were later used by Pharaoh to pursue Klal Yisroel were drawn by the horses of these very same yorei dvar Hashem! It seems that when they want to save their money, they fear Hashem. When they are losing the...
Just off a year in which the city recorded 343 murders, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh on Friday fired Police Commissioner Kevin Davis. Pugh is naming Deputy Commissioner Darryl DeSousa, a 30-year veteran of the department, as interim commissioner. The permanent appointment is pending City Council approval. Davis, the former Anne Arundel County police chief, was promoted from within Baltimore police leadership by then-Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in the summer of 2015, three months after police were criticized for the response to the 2015 riots. “As I have made clear, reducing violence and restoring the confidence of our citizens in their police officers is my highest priority,” Pugh said in a statement. “The fact is, we are not achieving the pace of progress that ou...
BALTIMORE — Mayor Catherine Pugh has fired Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.
If anyone wants to write in memories of Mrs Drabkin for the family to read, please email memoriesofmrsdrabkin@gmail.comBaltimore, MD – Jan. 15, 2018 -  It is with deep sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com (BJL) informs the community of the petirah of Mrs. Chaiya Drabkin, a’h. Levaya will take place Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 at Levinson's at 12:00 PMKevurah at Agudath Israel Cemetery - RosedaleShiva will be observed at 6302 Pimlico Road Baltimore, MD 21209Shacharis 7:30 AMMincha/Maariv: 4:50 PMVisiting Hours: After Shacharis through 12 PM....2:00 PM - 6:00 PM....8:00 PM - 10:30 PMMotzaei Shabbos 7:00 - 10:30 PMPlease respect the family and adhere to these times for visiting Bila HaMaves LaNetzach…
Elkton and Baltimore, Md. – (January 18, 2018) – The boards of Union Hospital of Cecil County and LifeBridge Health today announced that they have approved a letter of intent for Union Hospital and its affiliates to join the LifeBridge Health system. “LifeBridge Health is the ideal partner for Union Hospital as both organizations are focused on improving the health of people in our communities. As Union Hospital becomes part of LifeBridge Health, we will enhance access to high-quality care and health services for Cecil County residents, as well as patients throughout the state and region,” says Rich Szumel, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Union Hospital. He adds, “In this time of great change in health care, Union Hospital has been looking to ...
Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon reportedly attacked the House investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election as an attempt to delegitimize President Trump’s election during his testimony on Tuesday. Rep. Tom Rooney, one of the top Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, told Politico that Bannon made the remark during his ten-plus hour testimony before the committee. The former Trump strategist blasted the committee’s investigation as an attempt to “decertify the last election,” according to Rooney. Read more at The Hill.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday called out President Trump for his “unrelenting attacks” on the press in an op-ed for The Washington Post, saying he’s aiding dictators worldwide by putting the crosshairs on journalists. “Whether Trump knows it or not,” McCain wrote, his constant cry of “fake news” directed at “reporters and news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with” is being used by repressive regimes to crack down on the media. Referencing a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, McCain noted that 21 instances of journalists being charged for “fake news” were recorded in 2017. “The phrase ‘fake news’—granted legitimacy by an American president—is being used by au...
The low-cost airline will now allow passengers to bring carry-ons on flights to and from Israel. Previous policy had excluded only Israel. Ireland's low-cost airline Ryanair has reversed its policy forcing passengers flying to and from Israel to pay for check-in bags after detractors accused the company of singling out Israelis. According to the new policy, all customers on Ryanair flights to and from Israeli airports will be permitted to bring two free carry-on bags (one wheelie and one small) to the gate, subject to airport security permitting them to do so. Earlier this week, Ryanair announced a change in its baggage policy in an attempt to free up space in its airplanes overhead bins. According to the new guidelines, passengers without priority boarding would be forced to sto...
Netanyahu visits Mumbai Chabad house rocked by 2008 terror attack with 11-year-old survivor. 'Nobody can defeat the Jewish People.' Rabbi Yisrael Kozlovsky, the Chabad emissary in Mumbai, recounted Prime Minister Netanyahu's emotional visit to the Mumbai Chabad house Moshe Holtzberg, a survivor of a bloody 2008 at the site that killed his parents Rabbi Gavriel and Rivki Holtzberg. Moshe Holtzberg was two years old when Pakistani terrorists stormed the Chabad House on November 26, 2008, murdering six people, including Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, who ran the Jewish center. He now lives in Israel with his grandparents. On Tuesday, Moshe made his first visit to Mumbai since the tragedy. Samuel held his hand as the pair, along with Moshe's grandfather, bat...
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