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 indicated Saturday that his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani wants to take the information he has gathered from his investigations in Ukraine to the U.S. attorney general and to Congress.
Trump said Giuliani had not yet told him what information he has gathered, though the president said he’s heard it was plentiful.
“He’s going to make a report, I think, to the attorney general and to Congress,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before he departed for Florida. “He says he has a lot of good information. I have not spoken to him about that information.”
Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, has been traveling to Ukraine to pursue investigations into Trump’s potential 2020 Democratic riva...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Previewing potential articles of impeachment, the House Democrats on Saturday issued a lengthy report drawing on history and the Founding Fathers to lay out the legal argument over the case against President Donald Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.
The findings from the House Judiciary Committee do not spell out the formal charges against the president, which are being drafted ahead of votes, possibly as soon as next week. Instead, the report refutes Trump’s criticism of the impeachment proceedings, arguing that the Constitution created impeachment as a “safety valve” so Americans would not have to wait for the next election to remove a president. It refers to the writings of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others to link Trump’s...
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said Friday that it’s back to delivering its packages on time after bad weather and a rush of orders caused some delays earlier in the week.
“We quickly re-balanced capacity and it’s all systems go now,” tweeted Amazon executive Dave Clark, who oversees Amazon’s warehouse and delivery network.
Amazon said it received a record amount of orders on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when it offered steep discounts. And much of the Midwest experienced strong winds and snow at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, causing hundreds of flight cancellations and making deliveries difficult.
Amazon’s reputation depends on delivering orders on time. The online shopping giant has been working to cut its delivery time in half to one day fro...
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah officials say a possible dropped phone resulted in a typo that overvalued a home for almost $1 billion.
And taxpayers may have to pay for the mistake.
The Deseret News reports a house built in 1978 in an unincorporated area of the county was recorded in 2019 tax rolls with a value of more than $987 million. That’s an overestimate of about $543 million in taxable value.
Wasatch County Assessor Maureen “Buff” Griffiths told officials last month a staff member may have dropped a phone on a keyboard. Griffiths said the accident has resulted in a countywide overvaluation of more than $6 million.
Griffiths added that the blunder also produced revenue shortfalls in five taxing entities.
Wasatch County officials say residents will likely see ...
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.
HOLLYWOOD,FLORIDA (VINnews)— US President Donald Trump aroused controversy when he spoke at the Israel American Council advocacy group’s conference in Florida Saturday night. Trump claimed that some American Jews don’t love Israel enough and also boasted that he did not have to worry about getting his audience’s votes, because they would cast ballots with business interests in mind and the Democrats would take their wealth away.
Trump’s comments quickly drew quick criticism from Democratic opponents who charged him with veiled anti-Semitism.
Trump claimed that “You have people — Jewish people — and they are great people and they don’t love Israel enough.” Despite the negative insinuation, the audience roared its approval w...
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Reuben Panchol was forced to leave war-torn Sudan decades ago as a child, embarking on an odyssey that eventually brought him to the American Midwest and left him eternally grateful to the country that took him in.
“I am an American citizen, a North Dakotan,” said Panchol, a 38-year-old father of four. “And without North Dakota, I couldn’t have made it.”
Panchol hopes to share his story on Monday with members of a local commission who are set to vote on whether their county will stop accepting refugees. If they vote to bar refugees, as expected, Burleigh County — home to about 95,000 people and the capital city of Bismarck — could become the first local government to do so since President Donald Trump issued an executi...
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The Saudi gunman who killed three people at the Pensacola naval base had apparently gone on Twitter shortly before the shooting to blast U.S. support of Israel and accuse America of being anti-Muslim, a U.S. official said Sunday as the FBI confirmed it is operating on the assumption the attack was an act of terrorism.
Investigators are also working to establish whether the killer, identified as 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, of the Royal Saudi Air Force, acted alone. Alshamrani, who was killed in the attack at a classroom building Friday, was undergoing flight training at Pensacola, where members of foreign militaries routinely receive instruction.
“We are, as we do in most active-shooter investigations, work with the presumption that this was an act ...
It is with tremendous gratitude to Hashem that I present to you my first single titled “Akeida”.It was arranged and produced by my dear friend, world renowned singer and performer Eitan Katz.
I wrote this in dedication of my Mother a’h, who represented so much of what the Akeida represented for Klal Yisroel, a parent endlessly sacrificing for her child.
This song is now available on Spotify, Apple Music along with anywhere else music is played!
——————————————————-
Produced by Eitan KatzWritten & Performed by Yaakov Wasilewicz
Artwork by Sholom Denebeim, The Mint Leaf Creative – mntlf.com | @themintleafcreative
Video by Eli Schwarzblatt
Music Arran...
The attorney general in New York state has accused an upstate town of discrimination for its attempt to block a real estate development that is partly owned by chasidic Jews.
In papers filed Thursday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Letitia James accused officials of Chester and Orange County of “a concerted, systematic effort” to block chasidic families from moving to the town.
“Blocking the construction of homes to prevent a religious group from living in a community is flat out discriminatory,” James said. “This campaign to deny housing to members of the Jewish community is not only a clear violation of our laws, but is antithetical to our basic values and blatantly anti-Semitic. New York has a longstanding commitment to ensure ...
Dozens of newer Toyota and Lexus vehicles are being stolen across Ontario with a simple trick that allows the thieves to just drive the vehicle away, CBC News reports.
To steal the vehicles, the thieves use an amplifier to boost the signal of the car’s key fob, assuming it’s within range of the vehicle. The signal is then captured, and the car can be driven without the fob nearby. More than 100 vehicles from across Canada have been stolen so far.
While Toyota and Lexus vehicles seem to be targeted most often, it’s likely any vehicle with a key fob could be broken into using this system.
Read more here.
The rabbi of a neighborhood in the central Israeli city of Lod was beaten by Arab assailants Sunday afternoon, after being dragged out of his car.
Rabbi Itamar Ben-Yaakov, the rabbi of the Eshkol neighborhood in Lod, had driven to a daycare center to pick up his kids, when an Arab woman stepped out into the street, blocking his car, a resident of the Eshkol neighborhood told Arutz Sheva. Following an argument where the rabbi tried getting her to move out of the way, the woman called two Arab men who came to the scene and began to beat the rabbi.
“They forced [the rabbi] onto the ground and beat him in front of his children.”
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for nine years, and in all my time here there has never been this kind of violence,” the re...
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met on Sunday with Abdallah Chatila, a Lebanese-born Swiss businessman who purchased Adolf Hitler’s hat and other Nazi memorabilia at a recent auction and donated them to Yad Vashem.
Chatila purchased the items, including Hitler’s top hat and a cocktail dress worn by his lover Eva Braun, two weeks ago.
“Your donation is of great importance at this time, when people are trying to deny historical truth. These artifacts, which you are generously making available to Yad Vashem, will help convey the legacy of the Holocaust to the next generation who will not meet survivors,” said Rivlin.
“What you did was seemingly so simple, but this act of grace shows the whole world how to fight the glorification of hatred and incitement agains...
TEL AVIV (VINnews) — An estimated 200 people demonstrated after Shabbat opposite the house of Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai in protest over the public transport on Shabbat recently instigated by the Tel Aviv municipality. At present the new bus routes, which are free of charge as it is illegal to charge money for Shabbat transport, are being subsidized by the municipality. Organizers of the protest said that Huldai is attempting to harm Shabbat observance in Tel Aviv as well as breaching the status quo on religious matters.
Demonstrators held banners with quotes from prominent former Zionist leaders who encouraged Shabbat observance. Among those quoted was Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of Tel Aviv, who said that “Shabbat is the wondrous mark of solidarity from generation to gene...
Israel would preemptively bomb Iran in a military operation in order to stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon if necessary, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in an interview Saturday.
Speaking with Italian-language daily Corriere della Sera, Katz offered the answer after being asked if Israel was considering such an option.
“Yes, it is an option. We will not allow Iran to produce or obtain nuclear weapons. If it were the last possible way to stop this, we would act militarily,” Katz replied.
Read more at i24NEWS.
On Friday, IDF troops thwarted a smuggling attempt of illegal weapons adjacent to the village of Ya’bad, West of Jenin.
IDF troops identified two suspects transferring merchandise into Israeli territory.
Following the identification, IDF troops deployed at the scene, apprehended one of the suspects and seized three weapons including a Carlo rifle, an M16 assault rifle, a gun and magazines.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations said Saturday that denuclearization talks with the U.S. are off the table.
“We do not need to have lengthy talks with the US now and the denuclearization is already gone out of the negotiation table,” the ambassador, Kim Song, said in a statement, according to CNN.
Kim added that the “sustained and substantial dialogue” pursued by the U.S. was just a “time-saving trick” meant to benefit a “domestic political agenda.”
Read more at The Hill.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday he would not proceed with the plan to designate the infamous Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups.
While everything is ready for the move, the plan would now be put on hold, Trump said in his tweet, adding that the decision was made at the request of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The Mexican president hailed the change of heart, telling reporters that joint action with Washington on cartels needed to be done “with respect for our sovereignty.”
Read more at i24NEWS.
Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not bring up the contentious issue of annexing the Jordan Valley during a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Portugal, a senior Trump administration official told reporters Saturday.
“I can tell you that there was no annexation plan, full or partial, for any part of the West Bank presented by Israel to the United States during the meeting, and that has long been the US government position, that the ultimate disposition of territory is to be determined between the parties,” Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said in a statement.
The comments apparently contradict remarks Netanyahu made to Israeli media on Thursday, with the premier explicitly stating that he spoke to Pompeo about the annexatio...