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.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that his administration will release a full report in the next two days about the death of a Saudi journalist, which has created a diplomatic conundrum for the president: How to admonish Riyadh for the killing yet maintain strong ties with a close ally in the Middle East.
"We'll be having a very full report over the next two days, probably Monday or Tuesday," Trump said. That will include "who did it," he said.
Reporters asked Trump about the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was slain Oct. 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia's top diplomat has said the crown prince had "absolutely" nothing to do with it.
American intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown p...
Istanbul - Pakistan’s prime minister has fired back after President Donald Trump accused the country of harboring Osama bin Laden despite getting billions of dollars in American aid.
Imran Khan tweeted Monday that Pakistan had suffered 75,000 casualties and lost $123 billion in the “US War on Terror” that followed 9/11, despite the fact that no Pakistanis were involved in the attacks. He says the U.S. has only provided a “miniscule” $20 billion in aid.
In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Trump said “everybody in Pakistan” knew bin Laden was there and no one said anything despite the U.S. providing $1.3 billion a year in aid. Trump said he had cut off the aid “because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a...
Washington - President Donald Trump said there is no reason for him to listen to a recording of the “very violent, very vicious” killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has put him in a diplomatic bind: how to admonish Riyadh for the slaying yet maintain strong ties with a close ally.
Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday, made clear that the audio recording, supplied by the Turkish government, would not affect his response to the Oct. 2 killing of Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who had been critical of the Saudi royal family.
“It’s a suffering tape, it’s a terrible tape. I’ve been fully briefed on it, there’s no reason for me to hear it,” Trump said in the interview with “Fox News Sunday.” ‘&...
Washington - It turns out there is more than one Trump who can employ a few well-chosen words as a poison dart.
With a bombshell public statement this week, it was first lady Melania Trump who revealed her ability to carry out a political hit. Her extraordinary call for the removal of a top administration official forced the president to banish a top aide, exacerbated tensions within the White House and provided fresh insight into the first marriage.
Above all, the moment showed that the enigmatic first lady is increasingly prepared to flex her muscles. While it was President Donald Trump who repeatedly promised to shake up his Cabinet and staff, it was his wife who forced one of the first moves after the midterm elections. And while first ladies have long held unique positions of ...
Long Island City - Shawn Smith has heard the promises before. When new hotels sprang up near the public housing complex in Queens where he’s lived for 17 years, residents were told they would bring jobs and economic opportunity.
He hasn’t seen any of it. So he’s cynical about the announcement this week that Amazon will build a headquarters for 25,000 workers on the Long Island City waterfront, a half mile from his home. Elected officials gleefully promised that Amazon’s presence will buoy all of western Queens. Smith is not so sure.
“The hotels here, they’re not hiring nobody. They’re bringing their own kind,” said Smith, who commutes to a construction job in New Jersey. “That’s how I feel about Amazon.”
His wasn’t ...
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Warsaw, Poland - Poland’s culture minister has compared the treatment of members of his conservative ruling party by political opponents to the way Jews were treated by Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
Piotr Glinski, who is also a deputy prime minister, was describing how members of his ruling Law and Justice party were treated when they were still in the political opposition before 2015 and now. He said that while in the opposition “we were excluded, treated like lepers” and now “we are compared to fascists, dictatorships.”
In an interview published Monday by the news magazine Wprost, he said the language often used to describe the party is meant “to dehumanize” and that party members are “treated like Jews by Goeb...
Helsinki - Finland’s president isn’t sure where U.S. President Donald Trump got the idea that raking is part of his country’s routine for managing its substantial forests.
Trump told reporters Saturday while visiting the ruins of the Northern California town where a fire killed at least 76 people that wildfires weren’t a problem in Finland because crews “spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things” to clear forest floors.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview published Sunday in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that he spoke briefly with Trump about forest management on Nov. 11, when they both were in Paris for Armistice Day events.
Niinisto said their conversation focused on the California wildfires and the surveillance syst...
Tallahassee, FL - Florida’s outgoing governor, Republican Rick Scott, was declared the winner of the state’s hard-fought U.S. Senate race on Sunday, following a recount of ballots in the tight contest against three-term Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.
In the recount of the Nov. 6 election, Scott won by 10,033 votes out of 8.19 million cast statewide, Florida elections officials said on Sunday. Scott took 50.05 percent, compared with 49.93 percent for Nelson, the officials added.
Nelson, first elected to the Senate in 2000, became the latest incumbent Democratic senator toppled in the midterm congressional election in which President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate but lost control of the House of Representatives.
Scott, who was...
Sunday, November 18, 2018 - The third Jerusalem Leaders Summit Public Policy Conference was held in the ballroom of the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel. Awards were presented to Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, who were keynote speakers.
The International Leaders Summit is an independent think tank dedicated to strengthening the rule of law, advancing economic freedom and free trade, and featuring contributions from the fields of innovation and technology.
Welcome and introduction were given by Joel Anand Samy, Co-Founder International Leaders Summit and Jerusalem Leaders Summit. Natasha Srdoc, Co-Founder, International Leaders Summit and Elizabeth Saunders, President, Sanford Saunders...
Buffalo, NY - Officials say a squirrel is to blame for power outages that affected thousands of people in upstate New York.
New York State Electric and Gas says the squirrel got into its substation in the Buffalo suburb of Lancaster on Sunday and knocked out three substations, leaving 12,000 customers without power.
NYSEG says people in Alden, Marilla, Cheektowaga and Clarence were affected.
Officials say two substations were restored by 2:45 p.m. Sunday. The third was restored at 3 p.m.
Washington - The Trump administration is threatening to again suspend White House press credentials for CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
After a federal judge ordered that Acosta’s credentials be temporarily restored Friday, the White House sent Acosta a letter saying they had made the “preliminary decision” to suspend his pass when the judge’s order expires.
The White House argues Acosta did not follow “basic standards” at a news conference when he scrapped with President Donald Trump.
In a court filing Monday, CNN said the administration was creating “retroactive due process.” The network tweeted that the White House “is continuing to violate the First and Fifth amendments of the Constitution.”
A judge last week issued a ruling of a...
Jerusalem - Passengers on the nightmare El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv on Thursday night have accused the airline of lying and of a “kidnap” after a five-hour delay in taking off meant that the plane could not reach Israel before Shabbat began.
Despite El Al’s initial statement alleging that haredi fliers had been violent, numerous passengers stated subsequently that there had been no violence at all, with many blaming the late arrival of the cabin crew to the airport for the severe delay and failure to reach Israel on time.
Flight LY002 was scheduled to leave New York’s JFK Airport at 6:30 p.m. local time Thursday and arrive in Israel on Friday afternoon. But due to snow storms and the failure of the El Al cabin staff to arrive on time at the airport, the...
Washington - President Donald Trump isn’t committing to a previous pledge to keep chief of staff John Kelly for the remainder of his term, part of widespread speculation about staffing changes that could soon sweep through his administration.
Trump, in a wide-ranging interview that aired on “Fox News Sunday,” praised Kelly’s work ethic and much of what he brings to the position but added, “There are certain things that I don’t like that he does.”
“There are a couple of things where it’s just not his strength. It’s not his fault. It’s not his strength,” said Trump, who added that Kelly himself might want to depart.
Asked whether he would keep Kelly in his post through 2020, the president offered only that “it c...
Philadelphia, PA - Around two dozen traders sit in an open-layout second floor of a building in suburban Philadelphia. Surrounded by computer monitors, loud conversation and ringing phones, the energy on this trading floor is high and the commodity is blingy.
At the headquarters of Govberg, they’re not dealing in diamonds or gold but preowned luxury watches, of which company sells about $200 million worth a year.
Some 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast, 23-year-old Christian Zeron sits in his parents’ dining room in suburban New Jersey looking at around 30 preowned vintage watches. In a few days, he’ll put them up for sale on his company’s website, theoandharris.com, which sells $2 million worth of watches annually.
Govberg, in the watch business for 35 years, ...
Jerusalem - Israel avoided early elections after a key coalition partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said on Monday that he would not withdraw his party, keeping the coalition intact despite a crisis triggered by a violent flare-up with Gaza militants.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett said his hard-line, pro-settler Jewish Home party would give Netanyahu another chance to address the security challenges facing Israel, listing off threats from Gaza and Lebanon, among others, which he wanted dealt with more firmly.
“I tell the prime minister here: we are withdrawing right now all of our political demands and will stand to help you in this great mission of getting Israel to win again,” he said.
“If the government would really start leading to...
London - British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to seal business support for her Brexit deal with the European Union on Monday, but remained on a collision course with a group of lawmakers seeking to unseat her.
The draft agreement has triggered an avalanche of criticism in Britain and left May fighting to keep her job, even as she races to firm up the final deal before a crucial EU summit.
May told business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry that “an intense week of negotiations” lay ahead to finalize the framework for future relations between Britain and the bloc before EU leaders meet on Sunday to rubber-stamp the deal.
Last week — after a year and a half of tense negotiations — Britain and the EU agreed on the terms of their divorce. But whi...
BALTIMORE (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday he's donating $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to boost financial aid for low- and middle-income students.
The Baltimore university said the contribution — the largest ever to any education institution in the U.S. — will allow Johns Hopkins to eliminate student loans in financial aid packages starting next fall. The university will instead offer scholarships that don't have to be repaid.
University President Ronald Daniels said Bloomberg's contribution will also let the institution permanently commit to "need-blind admissions," or the principle of admitting the highest-achieving students, regardless of their ability to pay for their education.
"Hopkins...
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has selected Fort Worth, Texas, Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald as the city's next police commissioner, the 11 News I-Team has learned Friday.
Pugh called Fitzgerald the "best choice to lead Baltimore City's crime fight ... he understands the Consent Decree, need for reform, training and community engagement."
Fitzgerald's name surfaced a month ago when he was on the finalist list. His name became public just a couple of hours after the mayor told the I-Team in an interview that she was looking for an outsider to lead the BPD.
Details of the contract between the city and Fitzgerald are not yet known.
Fort Worth police sent a statement to 11 News, saying, "The city manager has been notified that Chief Joel Fitzgerald is the final cand...
Duisburg, Germany - The Jewish community of Duisburg-Mülheim-Oberhausen inaugurated a new cemetery in Duisburg on Sunday.
As the first act after the consecration, a Torah scroll that was no longer used was buried.
“This is a very emotional moment for me,” says Chief Rabbi David Geballe. The unfit Torah, like a faithful parishioner of flesh and blood, and the Torah as the first part of the Hebrew Bible, are not merely a collection of laws. “Jewish books have a soul and embody our history,” said the Chief Rabbi to the numerous guests.
The new cemetery had become necessary after the previously used Jewish cemetery in Mülheim had reached its capacity limits. This cemetery has been used for almost 300 years.
The community currently has about 2500 members. T...