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Parshas Vayechi: In a Single Moment Bird Flu Outbreak Confirmed in Caroline County, Maryland Bais Yaakov Middle School Robotics Team Does It Again! U.S. Adds 256,000 Jobs in December, Unemployment Drops to 4.1% Former Baltimore Mayor Sued For $2M Loan Default, Faces Mounting Financial Pressure Judge Sentences Trump to Unconditional Discharge in Secret Payment Case Brutally Cold Weather Persists with Light Snow Expected by Shabbos Longshoremen Reach Tentative Agreement With Ports, Shippers, Averting A Potential Strike Legionella Cleared From Last Two Affected State Buildings; Union Calls For More Water Testing Parshas Vayechi / Fast of Asara B'Teves Baltimore Zmanim / Eruvs Are Up Rabbi Zvi Teichman on Parshas Vayechi: Hinnei Bni! I Am Here, My Son! Explore New Build Opportunities in Jerusalem Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: The Eternal Blessing (Vayechi) Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Rebbetzin Shmuel Iser on the birth of a son Watch: A Peek into This Week at TA - 9 Teves 5785 / Jan.9, 2025 - Parshas Vayechi (Video) Daily Dvar Halacha - Jan. 9, 2025 / 9 Teves - Fast of the 10th of Teves House Passes Bill Imposing Sanctions On ICC Over Arrest Warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Fetterman To Meet With Trump At Mar-a-Lago: 'No One Is My Gatekeeper' Vigil Held In Baltimore To Honor Homicide Victims, Other Causes Of Death In 2024 OU Advocacy to Host First-Ever Attorneys Conference to Assess How to Combat Antisemitism
Parshas Vayechi represents the culmination of creation, the end of Sefer Breishis.  The world and its teva are in place, Avraham Avienu forms his Bris with Hashem, thus beginning the Jewish people and Avraham’s children lead to the birth and forming of the Shivtei Yisroel – the 12 Shevatim.  Indeed, much of the Parsha centers around Yaakov’s brachos to his sons.  Perhaps most fitting, within the brachos we find a telling piece of musar, one as applicable today as it was then, some three thousand years ago. While much commentary has been devoted to the contents...
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Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025  - A highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak has been confirmed in a commercial poultry flock in Caroline County, Maryland. The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are collaborating to contain the virus, which poses a significant threat to poultry but is considered low risk to humans. The affected farm has been quarantined, and the flock will be depopulated to prevent further spread. This marks the first confirmed case of HPAI in Maryland since 2004. Neighboring states, including Delaware and Virginia, have also reported cases in recent months. Poultry farmers in the region are urged to enhance biosecurity measures, monitor their flocks for signs of illness, and report any suspicious cases to ...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025 - For the fourth consecutive year, Bais Yaakov Middle School’s 8th-grade students have secured their spot at the top!This year’s competition, hosted at Bnos Aliyah in Manhattan, brought together fierce competition, featuring 9 schools and 43 robots. Yet, even with new team members and fresh challenges, our talented students dominated the event, winning both first and second place.Traveling by Amtrak and bus to the competition, our students arrived ready to compete with creativity, determination, and teamwork. While the competition was tough, the Bais Yaakov teams proved they were up to the challenge. Guided by our incredible coaches, Mrs. Rochelle Goldberg and Miss Chana Grier, high school assistant coaches Shana Gross and Aidee Moss, and under the...
Washington, D.C. - Jan. 10, 2025 - December 2024, the U.S. economy added 256,000 jobs, significantly exceeding the forecasted 155,000 and marking the strongest job growth since March. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, down from 4.2% in November. This robust performance signals a resilient labor market, bolstered by growth across various sectors, despite ongoing economic uncertainties. The stronger-than-expected jobs data suggests the Federal Reserve may delay interest rate cuts, opting to maintain higher borrowing costs for an extended period to manage inflationary pressures. Following the report, U.S. Treasury yields rose, and stock markets experienced declines as investors adjusted to the prospect of prolonged higher interest rates. These developments underscore the continued balanc...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025  - Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is facing a lawsuit filed by an Indiana-based bank over a $2 million business loan. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, seeks repayment after monthly payments of $28,000 stopped in May 2023, leading to a default in July. According to court documents obtained by FOX45 News, Old National Bank, which merged with CapStar Bank last year, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Maryland. The bank is seeking the outstanding loan balance, plus interest and late fees, totaling over $2 million. The funds were provided to Gulf Coast Technology Corporation, with Rawlings-Blake guaranteeing repayment if the borrower defaulted. Jeremy Eldridge, a legal analyst and defense attorney not associated with the case, com...
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President-elect Trump was spared any punishment for his hush money criminal conviction Friday when a New York judge sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, eschewing jail time while securing his status as the first felon to assume the presidency.  Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to release Trump with no strings attached caps the first and onlycriminal trial of a former president less than two weeks before he’s set to return to the White House.  New York jurors found him guilty of 34 felonies over a scheme intended to unlawfully sway the 2016 election by concealing a payment [...]which Trump has denied.  With the judge’s permission, Trump appeared virtually for the roughly 40-minute long sentencing on Friday.  Trump relentlessly sought to st...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025 - Brutally cold temperatures continue with another chance for snow by the weekend. Dry weather remains through Friday with high temperatures in the mid and upper 30s. A new winter storm will move into Maryland after dark Friday. Light snow is likely overnight through daybreak Shabbos. At this time snow totals look low with a coating or dusting for most with isolated spots seeing 1-2" of snow and areas in extreme southern Maryland ending up with 1-3". Snow will be long gone by kickoff at M&T Bank Stadium Saturday night but cold temperatures will continue with wind chills falling into the teens.
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025 - A strike has been averted at Baltimore and other East and Gulf coast ports after dockworkers tentatively agreed to a new six-year contract. The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline. In a joint statement, the two sides said the agreement protects union jobs and allows ports on the East and Gulf coasts to modernize with new technology, “making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.” They said they were not releasing details of the agreement publicly to give union members a chance to review and approve the...
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 10, 2025  - Two District Court buildings in Baltimore have been declared clear of  unsafe levels of legionella in their water systems, following four buildings at the State Center complex that were cleared of the bacteria over the last four weeks. A union representing state workers said it is pleased to see the progress for those six buildings, the only ones that have been tested for the bacteria so far. But the union says more testing needs to be done in other state buildings to ensure all employees are working in a safe environment. “We’re happy that these buildings were cleared,” a representative with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3 said Thursday. “We’re worried about other buildings. T...
Parsha Hashavua
Parshas Vayechi: In a Single Moment

Parshas Vayechi represents the culmination of creation, the end of Sefer Breishis.  The world and its teva are in place, Avraham Avienu forms his Bris with Hashem, thus beginning the Jewish people and Avraham’s children lead to the birth and forming of the Shivtei Yisroel – the 12 Shevatim.  Indeed, much of the Parsha centers around Yaakov’s brachos to his sons.  Perhaps most fitting, within the brachos we find a telling piece of musar, one as applicable today as it was then, some three thousand years ago.


While much commentary has been devoted to the contents of each Bracha, perhaps the most stunning is the “blessing” given to Shimon and Levy.  The “bracha” given to Shimon and Levy is unique in many respects.  First, they are the only brothers whose “blessing” is a combined one – that is to say neither has their own special pasuk or pesukim.  They are almost addressed as a single unit.  Second, the “bracha” is rather disheartening and chilling.  Their wrath is overtly cursed by Yaakov and they are plainly called to task for their improper behavior in killing Shechem.  Finally, Yaakov delivers the remedy for their conduct and declares that they must be split up in Eretz Yisroel so as not to egg each other on in the future. 


It is no wonder that Yaakov addressed Shimon and Levy together.  Until this point they appeared to always act in unison, with one mind, one heart and unity of purpose.  Shimon and Levy attacked and massacred Shechem with apparently little or no involvement from their other brothers. (Vayishlach 34:25)  Rashi, in our parsha (49:5) further explains that it was Shimon and Levy who wanted to kill Yoseph before Reuven intervened with the suggestion to throw him into the pit and Yehuda ultimately encouraged selling him to the Yishmaelim.  Yaakov saw them as a combined force and therefore knew they must be split up to break their damaging influence on each other.  Indeed, the harshest criticism is reserved not for Shimon and Levy personally, but rather for their wrath and misuse of weaponry.


The Musar however comes from the course of history that would take shape after this most humbling dressing down by Yaakov.  Shimon and Levy, brothers in every way could not have taken more divergent paths from this point onward.   Shimon and Levy, the extremists, prone to act on their impulses, were never heard from as a unit again.  Shimon, for the most part, continues in many ways on a destructive course while Levy quickly becomes the standard bearer for Torah and Klal Yisroel.


Levy is spared the shibud Mitzrayim.  While Bnei Yisroel is enslaved, Levy lives outside of the slavery learning Torah.  Moshe, Ahron and Miriam are born to Levy’s daughter Yocheved and grandson Amram.  Moshe becomes Klal Yisroel’s greatest Navi and teacher, Ahron is granted the Kehuna for himself and his descendants and Miriam Haneveya is Zocheh to have Malchus Bais Dovid  as her direct descendant.  Levy is further granted special status as the Kohanim were to perform the Avodah in the Mishkan and later the Beis Hamikdash with the Levyim assisting them and singing shira.  Levy’s path after Yaakov’s bracha is impressive indeed. 


The path of shevet Shimon is much more clouded.  Shimon’s next prominent appearance is with his son, Zimri.  At the end of parshas Balak, Zimri openly champions for Bnei Yisroel to intermarry with Midyan.  Zimri goes so far as to mock Moshe Rabbeinu by pointing out that Moshe is married to a Midyanite woman while “denying” them to the rest of B’nei Yisroel.  Zimri then takes his loathsomeness to a new level by openly taking Kuzbi, a Midyanite woman, for all to see.  Indeed, in Zos Habracha, shevet Shimon is the only shevet not to receive a bracha from Moshe Rabbeinu prior to his death.  Rashi explains that it was on account of Zimri that this was so.  Not only is Shevet Shimon conspicuous for its overt misconduct but also stands alone as the only shevet who never had a Shofet or Melech come from it.  The Yalkut Shimoni at the beginning of parshas Shoftim states specifically that no leader could ever come from Shimon on account of Zimri.


Shimon and Levy, the closest of brothers united against all, now stand at opposite sides of the spectrum.  Levy, the undisputed leader of Klal Yisroel, Shimon destined to forever be denied any leadership position within Klal Yisroel. How did this happen and what can we learn from it?


The Maaseh of Zimri is indeed pivotal in its illustration of how this occurred.  Shimon took the Musar of Yaakov Aveinu and rejected it.  He felt that he could not deny what he innately was - a radical - unwilling to control his anger and impulses.  Levy, on the other hand, took Yaakov’s Musar and fundamentally changed who he was and how he lived.  When Zimri the son of Shimon takes Kuzbi, who is it that kills him and won’t stand by for such a desecration?  Pinchas, Ahron’s grandson of shevet Levy. The separation is complete; the unity which formerly existed between these brothers is now a great divide. 


In order to grasp the implications of this lesson we must take a step back and gain some perspective on who Shimon and Levy were at the time Yaakov delivered his bracha.  These two brothers were well over 60 years old at the time.  They had fought wars, raised families and recognized their special status as members of the Shiftei Yisroel.  They were both quite set in their ways, even certain in the correctness of them.  Yet one of them, Levy was determined and able, after hearing the Musar of Yaakov, to fundamentally change who he was and how he lived.  Levy, still retained his Kanoyis, as illustrated by his descendant Pinchas, but he learned to only act on it L’sheim Shamayim.  Shimon chose to reject Yaakov’s musar and let his baser instincts take him wherever they led.  That lesson was passed down to Zimri and ultimately through his shevet ledorei doros.  This is why Shimon was forever denied leadership.  One who cannot see the error in their ways cannot lead.


A more profound and powerful musar is difficult to find.  Simply put, one is never too old nor is it ever too late to change one’s ways.  Any one of us can recognize a failing, even one intrinsic to our personality, and resolve to change it in an instant.  Our ability and openness to do so can completely change the course of our lives, the lives of our families and that of those who come after us. 


May Hashem grant us the insight to recognize our shortcomings, the strength to correct them and the willingness to do so.



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Yehuda is rewarded by Yaakov to be the source of royalty that would lead the Jewish nation throughout history culminating with the arrival of the Moshiach. Three words encapsulate the trait that earned him this role. מטרף — from the prey, בני — my son, עלית — you elevated yourself  (בראשית מט ט) This refers to Yehuda — although the most threatened by Yosef's aspirations, and therefore the one Yaakov suspected of having 'preyed' upon Yosef — who was the one who interceded in taking a stand to save him from death in the pit and convinced his brothers to sell him instead as a slave. This segment of the lager verse can be read in two possible ways. מטרף בני — from preying on my son, Yosef, עלית — ...
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Yaakov Avinu was preparing for his final journey. As his life was coming to an end, he took the opportunity to speak to each of his sons, conveying to them personal and necessary messages and inspiration to guide them in the generations and millennia ahead. He began with his grandsons. He summoned Yosef together with his sons, Menashe and Ephraim, and announced that these two grandsons would be counted amongst the tribes. And it was then that something peculiar occurred. And Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it displeased him. So, he held up his father’s hand to remove it from upon Ephraim’s head [to place it] on Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, Father, for this one is the firstborn; put your ...
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 9, 2025  - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Rebbetzin Shmuel Iser on the birth of a son. יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
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Washington, D.C. - Jan. 9, 2025 - The US House of Representatives passed the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act today (Thursday) to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, in response to its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The legislation passed 243-140. 198 Republicans and 45 Democrats voted in favor of the bill. All "Nay" votes came from Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif). Democrats who supported the bill included Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and other Congressmen from New York such as Dan Goldman, Grace Meng, Laura Gillen, and Tom Suozzi. One Republican representative, Thomas Mass...
 Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has accepted an invitation to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the senator's office confirmed to The National News Desk (TNND) Thursday. Sen. Fetterman said in a statement the meeting was proposed by Trump. The senator noted he represents "all Pennsylvanians," not just Democrats in the state.
I’ve been clear that no one is my gatekeeper," he said. "I will meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps me deliver for Pennsylvania and the nation.”
It is not immediately clear when the meeting will occur. The meeting will mark the first known time a sitting Democratic senator has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago since the November election, according to CBS News, which first reported...
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Baltimore, MD - Jan. 9, 2025 - Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joined other city officials and community and faith leaders in reading the names of the 201 homicide victims in the city in 2024. The vigil of remembrance took place Tuesday night on the steps of the War Memorial building. Jermaine Brown said things have been tough for him since he lost his cousin to gun violence last summer. "It's just nice to know that people actually have time to take to remember their loved ones they lost because they're still watching," Brown said "He had a family. He had multiple kids. He was free-spirited. Left his mark everywhere he went." It comes after Baltimore reported the lowest number of homicides in more than four decades. Stefanie Mavronis, director of the Mayor's Off...
Conference to Occur in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. from Feb. 2-4; Will Bring Together Top Legal Minds to Discuss Ways to Address Rising Antisemitism in America A few months ago, an Orthodox Jew was shot on a Shabbat morning as he made his way to shul in a premeditated and targeted hate crime. Political leaders in Chicago refused to acknowledge the antisemitic attack for days. Just this month, the FBI arrested a Florida man for plotting an attack on a South Florida AIPAC building. And “Israelis are the new Nazis” was recently graffitied next to an Oakland, Ca. menorah belonging to the local Chabad. American Jewish communities are experiencing exploding antisemitism across the country. To meet the demands of the moment, the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center (OUA), the public policy arm ...
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