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May 24, 2017 at 10:22 am
Israel advocates expressed relief on Tuesday following the failure of an academic professional labor union to pass a pro-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) referendum into its bylaws last week.
Aidan Fishman, the campus advocacy coordinator for B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish human rights group, said that there could have been serious ramifications if BDS had been approved by the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) of Simon Fraser University (SFU) in British Columbia (BC).
“Since the TSSU is a bona fide labor union, rather than a mere student association, any adoption of BDS would have been unlawful, likely triggering a legal response,” Fishman explained. “Section 7 of the BC Human Rights Code makes it illegal for a labor ...
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May 24, 2017 at 10:21 am
The long-awaited opening of a glatt-kosher restaurant at Arizona State University (ASU) has demonstrated to students that the administration is serious about its commitment to Jewish life on campus, Chabad.org reported on Monday.
The Chick-In eatery’s debut was called a “historical event” by the Chabad at ASU director, Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel — who was the driving force behind the initiative — for the school’s some 3,200 Jewish students. Before the restaurant opened in March, previous on-campus kosher food options were limited to Shabbat and holiday dinners at the Chabad house.
Chick-In offers Israeli-style dishes like falafel, schnitzel, shakshuka (a tomato-and-egg dish) and hummus, according to the report.
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May 24, 2017 at 10:20 am
President Donald Trump has retained his longtime attorney Marc Kasowitz as part of a still-forming outside legal team that will represent him in the investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election.
That’s according to two people familiar with the decision. They demanded anonymity because they’re not authorized to disclose personnel moves. The people stressed that other lawyers are likely to be brought on.
Since the early 2000s, Kasowitz has represented Trump on some of his most nettlesome legal issues, including the Trump University fraud case. He has another client in the news: recently ousted Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly.
Kasowitz is founding partner of a giant legal firm that since 2013 has also included former Sen. Joe Lieberman, whom Trump recen...
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May 24, 2017 at 10:20 am
The Trump administration is allowing to go forward an Obama-era rule that puts stricter requirements on professionals who advise retirement savers on their investments. But it’s leaving open the possibility that deep changes to the rule will still be made.
Wall Street and Republican lawmakers have been pushing against the so-called “fiduciary” rule, which requires that financial pros who charge commissions put their clients’ best interests first when advising them on retirement investments. President Donald Trump in February told the Labor Department to delay implementing the rule, due to be phased in starting June 9.
But Trump’s new labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, said Tuesday the department has decided not to delay the rule while it seeks public input o...
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May 24, 2017 at 9:59 am
The Israeli start-up BiomX, which last week completed a $24 million round of financing, is aiming to replace the need for conventional antibiotics by developing treatments that selectively eliminate bacteria.
BiomX’s treatments are developed using phages—special viruses intended to fight certain bacteria, as opposed to traditional antibiotics that kill all bacteria, including beneficial bacteria.
“BiomX has developed a platform with two elements. One is the ability to detect with precision what bacteria are missing, and which existing bacteria are causing damage. The second is the ability to selectively attack unnecessary bacteria,” said Assaf Oron, BiomX’s executive vice president of strategy and business development.
In theory, BiomX&rsquo...
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May 24, 2017 at 9:52 am
The media frenzy surrounding President Trump has included reports about his daughter and son-in-law’s observance of Jewish ritual, including resting on the Jewish Sabbath. On a few occasions, the media have noted puzzling exceptions to Ivanka and Jared’s observance, exceptions that raise questions about the necessity of refraining from work on the Jewish Sabbath. But employers should understand that their Jewish employees who devoutly observe the Sabbath can make exceptions in only the rarest cases, which have been voluminously delineated in a literature tracing back thousands of years.
From sunset on Friday night until dusk on Saturday night, traditional Jews observe what they count as the fourth of the Ten Commandments, by refraining from creative labor. This inclu...
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May 24, 2017 at 9:47 am
A challenge to the government’s practice of collecting certain internet communications can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court ruled the Wikimedia Foundation has standing to sue the National Security Agency over its “upstream” surveillance practice, reversing a lower-court decision tossing the group’s case.
An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, called the decision an “important victory for the rule of law.”
“The NSA has secretly spied on Americans’ internet communications for years, but now this surveillance will finally face badly needed scrutiny in our public courts,” Patrick Toomey said in a statement. “We look forward to...
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May 24, 2017 at 9:46 am
Due to severe drought conditions in areas of S. Africa, Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein is calling for tefilos and fasting from community members in the hope of Rachmei Shomayim for badly-needed rainfall.
Following is an email message sent by Rabbi Goldstein:
Dear Friends,
The drought in the Western Cape is serious. Dam levels are very low and the region desperately needs rain.
Our sages teach us that in drought, as in all situations of crisis, it is important to turn to Hashem for His blessings, as well as to introspect and find areas to improve in our daily lives.
This week Thursday, 25 May, is a significant day. It is the day before Rosh Chodesh and is known in our tradition as Yom Kippur Katan – a miniature Yom Kippur.
In light of the current circumstances, I would like to cal...
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May 24, 2017 at 9:42 am
A New Jersey Republican congressman who helped push the House health care bill to passage quit his post Tuesday as a chairman of the chamber’s moderate Tuesday Group, criticizing colleagues for having “different objectives and a different sense of governing than I do.”
Rep. Tom MacArthur, a second-term congressman, announced his decision at a closed-door meeting of the group, which has roughly 50 members.
MacArthur played a central role in reviving the GOP legislation after an initial version collapsed under opposition from GOP moderates and conservatives. He and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote language that helped push the bill over the top early this month.
It included letting states get federal permission for insurer...
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May 24, 2017 at 9:37 am
In an unanimous vote on Tuesday night, the Baltimore County school board appointed Verletta White as interim superintendent.
She replaces Dr. Dallas Dance, who abruptly announced in mid-April that he'd resign on June 30 -- after nearly five years at the helm.
White moved up the ladder quickly -- starting as a teacher and eventually becoming a principal, all within an eight-year time span. For the last several years, she served as the Chief Academic Officer of Baltimore County schools.
The system has been a family affair for White -- she is a graduate of Woodlawn High School and now, her two children attend schools in the county.
There's no official word on how long White is being asked to run the school system.
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May 24, 2017 at 9:19 am
Hatzala Beit Shemesh members are involved in a myriad of activities when not helping people with their medical issues. Computer technicians, air condition specialists, fish makers, and many more. But one of our volunteers, Moshe Braun, owner of Braun Tours - All Around Israel, was called on to help transport personnel during President Trump's recent visit.
Having been assigned to transport and stay with the Air Force One personnel, Moshe made a very interesting connection. One of the pilots inquired where he could get a Tallis Mehudar for a Jewish friend back in the states. Moshe quickly went to work... and the rest of the story can be found by clicking here.
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May 24, 2017 at 7:00 am
The Klausenberger Rebbe zt”l, R’ Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, lost his wife and eleven children in the Holocaust. After the war, he gathered a small community of followers who had also survived, and from that small group eventually rebuilt a beautiful community. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin describes a visit to the Beis Medrash of the Klausenberger Rebbe in the summer of 1952 when he was just 12 years old:
Then came the Torah reading. In accordance with the custom, the Torah reader began to chant the Warnings in a whisper. And unexpectedly, almost inaudibly but unmistakably, the Yiddish word “hecher – louder,” came from the direction of the lectern upon which the rebbe was leaning at the eastern wall of the synagogue.
The Torah reader stopped readin...
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May 24, 2017 at 6:00 am
It is the earliest memory of my life. My sister and I huddled in a bomb shelter with my mother a”h, who was bleeding profusely with a deep shrapnel wound on her shin. It was a wound she proudly carried throughout her life.
It was the Six Day War. My father z”l had gone to help dig trenches somewhere on a frontline. Later, after he had passed away, I read my father’s entire account of what happened to him, and what happened to us, in a letter he had written his parents.
My father z”l returned quickly to Yerushalayim, and he was one of the very first people to enter the Har HaTzofim campus of the Hebrew University. He described it in remarkably poignant and descriptive terms. It had been abandoned for nineteen years, but it was as if no one had left. This was emblem...
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May 23, 2017 at 6:02 pm
Our Sages have taught us that every aspect of our lives is enhanced, and every aspect of understanding is illuminated, through the study of Torah. And so, we study Torah daily. These studies inform how we behave, how we think, how we relate, and how we feel. Studying Torah changes our understanding of mitzvot, including Shabbos and holidays, directs us as parents and children, and informs how we conduct ourselves in the marketplaces of commerce and ideas.
In preparing to celebrate Yom Yerushalayim fully, we must also seek guidance and understanding from the Torah. In that spirit, the Orthodox Union has asked five of the community’s leading teachers of Torah to lead us in this study. We know that for millennia we have been praying daily for Yerushalayim. We know that Yerushalayim is ...
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May 23, 2017 at 4:54 pm
US President Trump wrapped up his day and a half visit to Israel with the address shown here. During his brief visit, he met with leaders of Israel and the PA (Palestinian Authority).
Mr. Trump appeared genuine in his commitment to Israel, bringing an air of relief over his predecessor, Barak Obama, whose administration maintained strained relations with PM Binyamin Netanyahu.
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May 23, 2017 at 4:53 pm
May 23, 2017 - UK raises threat level to 'critical' following Manchester terror attack
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May 23, 2017 at 4:25 pm
Uncertainty over the future of health care is growing deeper for millions of Americans who buy their own policies.
While insurers released a blueprint Monday for stabilizing wobbly markets, the Trump administration is leaving in limbo billions of dollars in federal subsidy payments.
The administration and House Republicans have asked a federal appeals court for a 90-day extension in a case that involves federal payments to reduce deductibles and copayments for people with modest incomes who buy their own policies.
The fate of $7 billion in “cost-sharing subsidies” remains under a cloud as insurers finalize their premium requests for next year. Experts say premiums could jump about 20 percent without the funding.
In requesting the extension, lawyers for the Trump administrat...
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May 23, 2017 at 4:23 pm
eleasing a statement to the media following President Donald Trump’s visit to the Kosel, MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Yisrael Eichler stated “Trump had an opportunity to announce to the Arab world that Israel is the sovereign authority in Jerusalem.
“I have happy that the Reform in the United States saw how the Trump family respects the Western Wall as men and women were separate, each in their respective places”.
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May 23, 2017 at 4:22 pm
U.S. helicopters airlifted soldiers to a central Yemeni province where they targeted an al-Qaida compound, clashing with suspected militants and killing at least seven of them early on Tuesday, according to the American military, Yemeni security officials, and tribal leaders.
The Central Command said the U.S. forces killed the militants using “a combination of small arms fire and precision airstrikes” to attack the compound. The Defense Department said the operation was conducted with the support of Yemen’s government.
According to Yemeni officials, the raid took place in the al-Sirim area in the province of Marib in the early morning hours. Tribal members said explosions were heard in al-Sirim, followed by helicopters and gunfire.
The helicopters landed in the outskir...
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May 23, 2017 at 4:18 pm
While President Trump’s visit to Jerusalem was a short one, it was quite packed with appearances, including the unprecedented visit to the Kosel, becoming the first president to visit the Kosel while serving in office.
The food prepared for the state leaders at the officer dinner was prepared by Chef Segev Moshe.
The menu as follows:
Taste of America
Hamburger, fries, rice and Kale chips aside ketchup, beets and mustard aioli
The path to peace
Caramelized salmon fillet in refined miso, well grilled, served with beets and sprouts
Lifting the world
Beef fillet in barbeque sauce, foie gras with red curry, served aside creamed potatoes, grilled spinach and herbs
Or
Fillet sea fish with green asparagus, served with corn soup, red chili, mirin and coconut
The big apple
Hot...
