During the Second Temple, the Greek empire reigned (over Israel),1 and they (the Greeks) passed decrees against the Jews and (tried) to erase their religion, and did not allow them to carry out Torah (study) or the commandments. They put their hands on their property and their daughters. They entered the Temple, destroyed and made the pure unclean. The Jews were in great distress because of them and were much oppressed, until the G-d of their fathers had mercy on them, delivering them from their hands and saving them. Then overcame, the sons of the Hasmonean High Priest, (the Greeks) and killed them and saved the Jews from their hands. They appointed a king from the Priests, and the kingdom of Israel was restored for more than 200 years until the destruction of (the) second (Temple). When the Jews overcame their enemies and destroyed them, it was the 25th of Kislev2 when they entered the Sanctuary (inner room) and did not find pure (olive) oil in the Temple, except one jar sealed with seal of the High Priest, and it did not contain enough to light except for one day only. But they lit from it the lamps of the Menorah3 for eight days, until they could crush olives and produce a (new quantity) of pure oil. For these reasons, decreed the Sages of that generation that these eight days that begin on the 25th Kislev, will be days of joy and praise. One lights on them lamps at evening at the entrance to the houses, every evening of the eight nights to show off and demonstrate the miracle. These days are called ''Hanukah'' that is to say ''they rested'' (chanu) on the ''25'' ('th of the month) because on the 25th they rested from their enemies. and also because of those days they (re)-dedicated the house (Temple) which their foes had defiled. Also some say that it is a commandment to increase slightly the festive meals on Hanukah. Another reason is because the work of (building) the Sanctuary (in the desert) was completed in these days. One should tell one's children the story of the miracles that were done for our fore-fathers in those days, (see Josephus) However, these meals are not considered as part of the commandment unless one says at the meal songs of praise. One should increase charity in these Hanukah days, for this can help mend any defects in our souls. This charity, should be given particularly to poor Torah scholars. (KSA 139:1)
1) 352 BCE until 70 CE
2) 139 BCE
3) The Menorah was made of gold and had seven branches.
PINNED
Scroll for more news
PLEASE SHARE THIS URGENT TZEDAKA OPPORTUNITY WITH AT LEAST ONE PERSONURGENT TZEDAKA CAMPAIGN FOR BALTIMORE CHOLEH
Goli is a single, quadriplegic woman in our community, who has not been able to move for over 30 years r"l.
NOW SHE CAN’T EVEN SPEAK r"l! She needs YOUR help NOW!
Please take a minute to read the heartfelt letter from Rabbi Hopfer and Rabbi Hauer below and make a generous tax deductible donation here. If you'd like to donate with a check, please email brochie26@gmail.com
Every contribution makes a difference and is greatly appreciated. Please also pass along to other community members or anyone else who might be able to help. Thank you and Tizku L’Mitzvos!
*Please daven for Golnaz R...
PINNED
Scroll for more news
Baltimore, MD - Feb. 6, 2019 - BGE will soon begin work on Reisterstown Road at Hooks Lane, near the north of the I-695 interchange, as part of BGE Electric Investments.
The project will begin February 11 and be complete in late-April, weather permitting.
BGE will begin underground electric utility work in the center of Reisterstown Road at Hooks Lane and will continue working 24 hours a day.
BGE will close and detour that left-turn lane from southbound Reisterstown Road to eastbound Hooks Lane, and close one lane of northbound Reisterstown Road between the I-695 interchange and north of Hooks Lane.
Around 55,000 vehicles travel on this section of MD 140 each day, motorists should plan extra travel time, BGE says.
MDOT SHA will assist BGE by providing this detour route: Motorists trav...
PM following Gantz remarks: 'I was wounded in battle with terrorists, almost lost my life in Suez Canal firefight for national security.'
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to Benny Gantz's arguments in his speech this evening and mentioned his past as a combat soldier in the Sayeret Matkal commando unit.
"As a soldier and as an officer in the Sayeret Matkal commando unit, I risked my life time after time for the sake of the State," Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post.
"I was wounded in battle with terrorists," Netanyahu said. "I almost lost my life in a firefight in the Suez Canal for the security of the country that you want to risk with unilateral withdrawals and support for the dangerous nuclear agreement with Iran. The citizens of Israel will choose between...
Rep. Ilhan Omar invites leaders of left-wing Jewish groups to conference call in order to apologize for her anti-Semitic tweets.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) plans to apologize for her anti-Semitic tweets, but has only invited leaders of left-wing Jewish groups to the conference call in which she will issue the apology, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, Omar’s office sent invitations to multiple Jewish groups, both in Washington and in New York, to the off-the-record phone call.
Omar’s office, said Haaretz, invited representatives mostly from Jewish groups that oppose Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and are generally affiliated with progressive, left-wing politics, to participate in the conference call.
The invitation stated that the ...
Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday that officials briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers after the bureau opened an investigation into President Donald Trump in May 2017, and that no one in the room pushed back.
“That’s the important part here, Savannah,” McCabe said in an interview with Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” show. “No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.”
The comments seemed designed to rebut criticism that McCabe has faced from Trump and other Republicans for initiating the investigation into Trump and participating in conversations about other, more dramatic steps against the president. McCabe told CBS’ “60 Minutes” over the weekend...
BaltimoreJewishLife.com (BJL) is proud to partner with STAR-K CERTIFICATION that realizes that there is no substitute for a person’s own Rav. In an effort to offer a possible solution, it has launched its Institute of Halachah as a public service. Over the years, the agency’s Kashrus Hotline has answered generic halachic questions from kosher consumers the world over, including inquiries regarding the kosher status of foods and certified Sabbath mode appliances. The formation of a separate official division within STAR-K testifies to the need for addressing these issues.
The Institute of Halachah is directed by HaRav Mordechai Frankel, under the guidance of HaRav Moshe Heinemann, STAR-K’s Rabbinic Administrator. It is an invaluable resource for a diverse array of rabbis to discuss general halachic matters, as well as gain access to source materials for shiurim and answers to congregants’ questions.
Shailos for regular or Kashrus shailos may emailed or discussed using this widget.
BALTIMORE —
Gov. Larry Hogan's approval among Marylanders remains strong in the second part of the latest Goucher Poll, released Tuesday morning.
The poll asked Maryland residents about their opinions toward Hogan, the state of Maryland and their trust in President Donald Trump and Congress.
Governor Hogan
The support the governor enjoys from Marylanders has not changed since the last Goucher Poll with 69 percent of those surveyed approving of the job he is doing. Only 14 percent of those polled disapprove and another 14 percent said they don't know.
Broken down by party, Hogan's approval rating is 89 percent among Republicans, 71 percent among Independents and 65 percent among Democrats.
The latest Goucher Poll also asked about how Marylanders felt about a numbe...
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a Maryland appeal to uphold the state's law against pharmaceutical price gouging.
The high court on Tuesday denied Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh's appeal without comment, letting a lower court ruling against the law stand.
The law approved in 2017 enabled the state's attorney general to sue makers of off-patent or generic drugs for price increases that state officials considered "unconscionable." That was defined as an excessive increase, unjustified by the cost of producing or distributing the drugs.
The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 last year that the law was unconstitutional, because it forces manufactures and wholesalers to act in accordance with Maryland law outside of ...
Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr.'s transition team released its final report, with more than 200 recommendations to streamline county government.
“We have a lot of work to do to address our fiscal challenges while also advancing our shared priorities to move Baltimore County forward, and I’m grateful to our entire transition team for helping to chart the course,” Olszewski said in a statement. “Over the next four years, these recommendations will help guide our work to make county government more open and transparent, and to ensure we are providing the top notch services and programs that our residents expect and deserve.”
The report is available online.
The transition team began its work before Olszewski's inauguration in December an...
Baltimore County police say they are investigating a police-involved shooting at a shopping center in Randallstown.
According to officials, officers responded to a shoplifting call from a Dollar Tree in the area.
Officers chased the suspect from the shoplifting call into the Aldi's store at the Liberty Court Shopping Center in the 8600 block of Liberty Road in Randallstown.
"The initial call that we got was for a shoplifting related from the Dollar Tree store. Our officers saw the suspect in the parking lot -- there was a small chase in the parking lot, between the officers and the suspect that led back to the Aldi store," said Shawn Vinson from Baltimore County police.
According to Vinson, the suspect had a number of weapons in his hands. Officers feared for their safety during...
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore has filed a lawsuit against the agrochemical giant Monsanto and two other companies, accusing them of polluting city waterways and stormwater.
The legal effort focuses on PCBs, the industrial chemicals that have long accumulated in animals, plants and people around the globe. Baltimore alleges Monsanto knew its PCB chemicals were toxic and didn't degrade in nature.
Baltimore Solicitor Andre Davis says Maryland's biggest city intends to "hold corporations accountable for cleaning up their toxic messes."
In a Tuesday statement, Baltimore said its lawsuit is the first of its kind on the East Coast and the 15th nationally. Places such as San Diego and Seattle have filed similar suits.
Monsanto says it believes that Baltimore's complaint is wi...
More than 2,000 children and adults are taking part in the ‘City of Light’ march in memory of Ori Ansbacher, H'yd, Tuesday evening.
One of the initiators of the event, Eliasaf Peretz, the son of Israel Prize laureate Miriam Peretz, who lost his two brothers in Israel’s wars, said during the event: “We gathered here tonight because of a terrible heartbreak. We gathered to cry, and to knock on the doors of the heart, and to grab onto those sparks of hope.”
“We have gathered here because we do not agree to let the wicked win,” said Peretz.
“We stand here in Jerusalem, different people, different faces and different opinions, in order to take responsibility. Unfortunately, we could not prevent this murder, but we managed to prevent the in...
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The federal government has acknowledged that it shares its terrorist watchlist with more than 1,400 private entities, including hospitals and universities, prompting concerns from civil libertarians that those mistakenly placed on the list could face a wide variety of hassles in their daily lives.
The government’s admission that it shares the list so broadly comes after years of insistence that the list is generally not shared with the private sector.
Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has filed a constitutional challenge to the government’s use of the watchlist, called the government’s admission shocking.
“We’ve always suspected there was private-sector dissemination of the terror wat...
Baltimore - Firefighters say a man died in a fire in a portable toilet near the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium.
News outlets quote Baltimore police as saying the Sunday fire in the parking lot of M&T Bank Stadium didn’t appear to be criminal.
Baltimore Fire spokeswoman Blair Skinner says a security guard saw a man engulfed in flames running from the burning toilet. By the time medics arrived, the man was dead and two other portable toilets were also ablaze.
The man hasn’t been identified. It’s unclear how long he had been in the toilet. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The stadium wasn’t hosting public events that day.
Washington - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat running for president, on Tuesday proposed a universal childcare program, paid for by a tax on high-net-worth individuals, to help families unable to find affordable care.
The program would be funded largely by the federal government and would use existing childcare facilities and in-home providers.
The proposed tax would apply to individuals with a net worth of $50 million or higher, which the senator from Massachusetts has dubbed the “Ultra-Millionare Tax.” Her campaign estimates the tax would generate $2.75 trillion in government revenue in 10 years.
“In the wealthiest country on the planet, access to affordable and high-quality child care and early education should be a right, not a privilege reserved for the r...
Trenton, NJ - New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law a bill expanding the state’s paid family leave program.
The Democrat signed the legislation Tuesday in Piscataway.
The bill doubles paid family leave from six to 12 weeks. Lawmakers most recent estimate that the average benefit under the new law would rise to $859 a week, from $632.
New Jersey is one of five states, along with the District of Columbia, with paid family leave.
The others are California, New York, Rhode Island and Washington, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Business groups oppose the legislation, saying it imposes a burdensome mandate.
The program is paid for through wage taxes. Legislative estimates show the new law would increase revenue by up to $364 million by 2022.
Moscow - Russian lawmakers have approved a bill prohibiting military personnel from using smartphones on duty, a move intended to block leaks of sensitive information on social media.
The bill approved by the lower house Tuesday also forbids servicemen to post photos, videos and information about themselves, other soldiers and their relatives on the internet. The new legislation formalizes restrictions on using smartphones and tablets earlier ordered by the Defense Ministry.
The move follows the publication of open source stories about the fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces, and about the Russian military campaign in Syria.
The reports relied on social media posts by servicemen and their relatives to document Russian losses and to offer de...
Washington - The United States is seeking to secure a pledge from China it will not devalue its yuan as part of an agreement intended to end the countries’ trade war, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Officials from the two countries, which resumed talks on Tuesday in Washington, are discussing how to address currency policy in a “Memorandum of Understanding” that would form the basis of a U.S.-China trade deal, the news agency reported, citing unnamed people involved in and briefed on the discussions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had told Reuters last October that currency issues must be part of U.S.-China trade negotiations and that Chinese officials told him that further depreciation of the yuan was not in their interests.
The Bloomberg report said the U.S. re...
PARIS (AP) — Rallies against anti-Semitism attracted crowds of thousands in Paris and other French cities Tuesday following a series of aggressive acts with Jewish targets, including a cemetery where about 80 gravestones were spray-painted with swastikas overnight.
In the French capital, former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy joined a rally led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Republic Plaza.
Political parties from across the spectrum participated in the nationwide rallies with the theme "That's enough", although Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party held a separate event.
French President Emmanuel Macron went to the Shoah Memorial, a Holocaust museum in Paris, to observe a moment of silence with parliament leaders.
"Every time a French pe...
Baltimore County School Board Expected To Give Teachers Raises When It Votes On Budget Tuesday Night
Baltimore County’s school board is expected to approve a spending plan Tuesday night that includes pay raises for employees, a move that is likely to strain an already tight county budget.
“We stand united in our desire to prioritize investing in our employees,” School Board Chair Kathleen Causey said in a statement Monday.
Causey said the board intends to give teachers both their step increases and a cost-of-living increase, but may cut technology, travel and administrative budgets.
Interim Superintendent Verletta White has proposed some reductions in technology spending, but Causey said the board may go further by buying less expensive laptops and reducing the one-to-one ratio of laptops to students.
Causey said in the statement that some board members are...