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Baltimore, MD - Oct. 2, 2023 - The Harborplace pavilions in downtown Baltimore will be demolished as part of a revitalization project led by developer David Bramble, with millions in investments needed for the five-year project, according to WBALTV.
During the first days of Sukkot, around 200,000 people visited the Kotel • This morning, over 50,000 people participated in the Birkat Kohanim • Another Birkat Kohanim service will be held on Wednesday at the Western Wall Plaza. Tens of thousands participated in Birkat Kohanim and in the Shacharit and Musaf prayers of Sukkot held this morning (Monday) at the Western Wall Plaza. In keeping with tradition during the intermediate days of the festival, this year marks the 53rd year of Birkat Kohanim at the Western Wall, initiated by the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gafni zz"l and organized for years by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation during the intermediate days of Passover and Sukkot. Hundreds of Kohanim (Jewish priests) bless the large congregation that streams to the Western ...
Israel's admission to the US visa waiver program, which was confirmed last week, is only applicable to people with biometric passports. According to the Population and Immigration Authority, however, 1.8 million Israelis do not hold such a passport, but only a plain "optic" passport, and they will not be able to complete the Electronic System for Travel Authorization form in order to be able to enter the US for 90 days without obtaining a visa. Furthermore, the machines for the automatic issue of biometric passports, which it was promised in May would be operating in the Population and Immigration Authority offices in Tel Aviv and Beersheva by June, are still not working properly and are not available for use by the general public. These machines were supposed to ...
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s representative in Lebanon issued the first public announcement of the Iranian regime’s role in the mass murder of American military and diplomatic personnel in the early 1980s in Beirut. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) first located and translated the bombshell interview with Sayyed Issa Tabatabai, who serves as the representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Lebanon. The state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quickly scrubbed the damning disclosure that Tabatabai made about Iran’s role in the suicide bombings of Americans, but MEMRI preserved a copy. Iran and its chief strategic ally, the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon have been blamed for bombing...
Student loan payments officially resume Sunday after borrowers were let off the hook for more than three years by a pause initiated during the economic turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite continued pushback from advocates and concerns about a government shutdown, the Biden administration is reactivating all student loan accounts, and more than 28 million borrowers now have to deal with repayments.  “It’s a sad day for student loan borrowers and for the country that student loans have to come back on, especially with the threat of a looming government shutdown, potentially on the same day. It’s just wild,” Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center, said earlier this week. Back in July, a Life and My Finances survey found...
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Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is coming out of Wednesday night’s debate with a fresh burst of momentum, but members of the party say she still faces a steep hill in toppling former President Trump. Haley’s Wednesday night performance in Simi Valley, Calif., was lauded by Republicans after she targeted several of her contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.). Trump took notice, as well. His campaign hit her during the event, and the former president himself lashed out at her Friday on social media, in what some say is an indication she’s being viewed as a more formidable opponent than before. “Make no mistake, it is a very steep mountain to climb, but she is on her way,” said Republic...
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. But he doesn't think he'll be put in that position. "I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard," he said on CBS's "60 Minutes." "And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen." The Justice Department is at the center of not only indictments against Trump that include an effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping classified documents, but also cases involving Biden's son Hunter Biden, the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, and investigations into c...
Former President Trump said Sunday that Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) should be jailed for the “egregious act” of pulling the fire alarm Saturday ahead of the House’s vote on a stopgap measure to keep the government open past the midnight deadline. “Will Congressman Jamal Bowman be prosecuted and imprisoned for very dangerously pulling and setting off the main fire alarm system in order to stop a Congressional vote that was going on in D.C.,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday. “His egregious act is covered on tape, a horrible display of nerve and criminality.” Trump’s post comes after Bowman a day earlier acknowledged he triggered a fire alarm Saturday in the Cannon House Office Building, forcing the buil...
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Sunday said he will push to unseat House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) this week, vowing to make good on his threat after McCarthy backed a measure to prevent a government shutdown a day earlier that won broad bipartisan support. “I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week,” Gaetz told CNN “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper. “I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think we need to move on with leadership that’s trustworthy.” Gaetz for months has been threatening to file a motion to vacate, which would essentially be a vote on ending McCarthy’s Speakership. Because Republicans have only a slim majority in the House, only a handful of Republicans would...
Parsha Hashavua
Sukkos 5784 - Machzikei Hadas

This coming Tuesday, 18 Tishrei, is the 18th yahrtzeit of HaRav Naftali Neuberger, zt"l, of Ner Yisroel.


This shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Naftali ben Meir Halevi.


I heard the following from Rav Tzvi Mordechai Feldheim of Mesivta Kesser Torah last year:


The four species we traditionally take and shake on Sukkos carry numerous different symbolisms. If you ask your typical student, perhaps the most well-known is the midrash (Tanchuma Emor 19) comparing each item to a part of the body. The one lulav is compared to the spine. The one esrog resembles our heart. We take two aravos whose leaves are shaped like lips – of which, of course, we have two. The leaves of the hadas resemble the eyes. Why, then, do we take three, rather than two?


Another oddity regarding the hadas is observed in the discussion in the gemara (Sukkah 32b) regarding configurations of the leaves that render a hadas invalid. The stem should have three leaves coming out together at the same level. If one of the leaves is offset from the other two, although Rav Acha would consider this a virtue, Mar bar Ameimar declared that his father would refer to such a branch as a hadas shoteh – literally, a crazy myrtle. Why is this adjective used for the hadas? We don't find any other invalid mitzvah objects being referred to as shoteh.


We commonly associate the work sukkah etymologically with the schach, the covering, to which many of the intricate halachic details apply. Rabbeinu Bachye (Devarim 16:14), however, suggests that the word is derived from socheh, to see (as in Rashi to Bereishis 11:29). More specifically, it refers to the more abstract vision of wisdom and insight.


Rabbi Feldheim explains that the theme of the sukkah demands of us to let go of our pursuit of material possessions and leave our home in favour of a flimsy hut to remind us of that which is fleeting and meaningless and focus our attention to serving HaShem, the true purpose of our existence. This is the vision to which Rabbeinu Bachye refers that this mitzvah makes so clear. In addition to our two physical eyes, we must possess the third eye to realize this vision. That is why we take three hadasim. As well, the branch with only two leaves aligned is referred to as shoteh because symbolically, it represents the individual who sees only with his eyes and lacks the awareness to understand his true purpose.


Have a good Shabbos and chag samei'ach!

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Baltimore Police arrested 40-year-old Jewel Crowder for the murder of off-duty Howard County Sheriff Deputy Ryan Demby. Crowder was on the run less than 24 hours after police say he gunned down Demby, who was likely in the wrong place at the wrong time in Federal Hill. On Saturday, Mayor Brandon Scott offered his condolences to the Howard County Sheriff's Office and to Demby's family. The mayor also gave a speech that he's given time and time again. “This again is another unfortunate example of something that you all know has continuously frustrated me, simple conflict should not end in someone losing their lives," said Scott. Crowder's arrest is opening up old questions for some residents about what is being done to stop Baltimore's gun violence. FOX45...
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter turned 99 Sunday. Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the submarine service.  After his military service, Carter — who served one term as president between 1977 and 1981 — took over his family's peanut farm before entering politics. Carter served as a Georgia state senator and the Peach State's governor before narrowly defeating Republican incumbent President Gerald Ford for the presidency in 1976. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., the dean of the Georgia delegation in Congress, wished the former president a happy birthday in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Happy birthday to President Jimmy Carter, a proud farmer, a devoted Christian, an accomp...
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Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir was excluded once again today (Sunday) from a security consultation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Defense Minister Yoav Galant, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, generals, and more came to the discussion, but the Otzma Yehudit chairman was not invited, despite his position. A source close to the Prime Minister claimed, according to the report on the Ynet website, that Ben-Gvir tends to make proposals that would embarrass Israel in the global community. According to him, "He comes to meetings and constantly strives for targeted assassinations, a ban on bringing in workers from Gaza, and various closures on all kinds of villages and cities in the 'West Bank'. He does not understand that...
Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef slammed the protests against the Rosh Yehudi prayers held in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). "I see everything that is happening in the secular public," Rabbi Yosef said. "They are to be pitied. They have no satisfaction in life. Everything is for the desires of this world. But we need to draw them closer, as various organizations do, bringing them closer and helping them return to Judaism, and that is what my father did." "They are jealous of us," he added. "It's all jealousy, which creates hatred." Yom Kippur saw clashes at multiple locations in Israel, with protesters harassing Jews - secular, religious, and traditional alike - who were attempting to pray the Yom Kippur prayers. Among these was an incident in...
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday defended Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) after he pulled a fire alarm in a House office building before the government funding vote Saturday.  Bowman has apologized for pulling the alarm, which has led to an investigation by Capitol Police and an expulsion push by some House Republicans. After CNN’s Jake Tapper suggested that Bowman’s explanation of why he pulled the alarm didn’t seem to make sense, Ocasio–Cortez said she did take him at his word and that his explanation was understandable. “I think if you actually do see some of the photos of the signs, I think there’s something to be said about, the government’s about to shut down. There’s a vote cl...
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said fellow New Yorker Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D) should “strongly consider” resigning if he pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building Saturday. “That any member of Congress would think it’s appropriate to pull a fire alarm to try and delay Congress from doing its business is shameful, it’s unbecoming, and he should strongly consider resigning from Congress if he did that,” Lawler said on Fox News. Bowman reportedly pulled the fire alarm before the House passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government funded. The New York congressman’s actions resulted in the building’s evacuation. “Congressman Bowman did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rus...
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Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on Saturday ahead of the House passing a stopgap measure to fund the government ahead of the midnight deadline, causing the building to be evacuated. Republicans are accusing Bowman of intentionally trying to sabotage the vote, launching an investigation into the incident and preparing legislation to expel him from the House.  But Bowman says it was an accident. “Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open.  I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door.  I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused,” he sai...
The House and Senate cleared a “clean” stopgap spending bill Saturday, averting a government shutdown and capping off a chaotic three weeks in the Capitol that brought Washington hours away from a lapse in funding. The continuing resolution funds the government at current spending levels until Nov. 17 and provides $16 billion in disaster relief. It does not include any funding for Ukraine — which the White House and Democrats sought — or GOP provisions addressing border security, two items that had been central to government funding fights of the past month. Members of both parties criticized the lack of Ukraine aid, and conservatives howled about border security being left on the cutting room floor. Here are the political winners and losers from the first q...
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Terrorists opened fire Sunday night at the community of Asa'el, the IDF said. During searches, hits were identified to a number of houses in the community, which is located near Hebron. No one was injured. IDF soldiers have opened a pursuit after the terrorists. The Hebron Hills Council published a notification for Asa'el's residents, writing, "In the past few minutes there has been a shooting attack outside the city of Asa'el, with fire towards the city. There has been damage to property, with no injuries. The local security force has been activated, and as well, military forces and Council members are on their way to the scene." "We request that the residents of Asa'el remain in their homes until the conclusion of the incident, and follow the security forces...
A tiny sukkah, just one meter long by one meter wide, was set up before the holiday in a park located in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Here's the explanation behind it as told by David Michael Cohen, who built the sukkah and hung this story inside it."Two years ago, my father had a serious heart attack in the United States in the middle of summer vacation. I stayed by his side in New York for several months, including during the holidays of Tishrei.On the last day of Sukkot, his condition worsened and I ate beside him in the hospital. But it was also important for me to eat in a Sukkah. So when his condition improved later that night, I went outside with some food in search of a Sukkah in the neighborhood.I searched and searched until I found a tiny sukkah on the sidewalk, one m...
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