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June 23, 2017 at 5:45 am
In an apparent moment of total exasperation, Moshe simply ‘falls on his face’. Moshe is seemingly at a total loss as to how to proceed. Having interceded with his heartfelt prayers to bring the Jewish nation back from the brink of obliteration time and again, he senses he can no longer approach G-d and proceeds to fall flat on his face.(תנחומא)
Three times during the course of this difficult interaction with Korach and his cohorts, the Torah describes how Moshe and Aharon fell upon their faces.
At the first expression of their rebellious intentions the Torah describes how after Moshe hears their harsh words he is taken aback, ויפול על פניו (במדבר טז ד), and fell on his face.
After Moshe throws down the gauntlet by challenging Korach and ...
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June 23, 2017 at 5:45 am
A Harvard graduate who just came out with her thirty-third book discusses her decades-long career as a writer of Jewish children’s books
How did you get started as a children’s author? I always loved reading as a child. Even as an adult, I am drawn to children’s books.
I like to write about deep subjects in a simple way, to simplify a deep concept and bring it down to a child’s level. I like geting to the crux of an issue. I’m not a person of many words. I don’t like a lot of embellishment.
I wrote my first book while watching my children on the playground. I decided to send it to a publisher, but I had no expectations, so I was surprised to receive an acceptance letter not long after.
What are your favorite children’s books? My favorite b...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:50 pm
Shas and Yahadut Hatorah are preparing a bill that addresses a High Court of Justice decision permitting grocery stores in Israel to open on Shabbos.
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni and Shas faction chairman MK Yoav Ben Tzur explain, “Due to the fact that the Attorney General is dragging his feet on the subject of the additional discussion requested by the supermarket owners in Tel Aviv, we are planning to bring the private bill to prevent Chilul Shabbos”.
They explain that coalition agreements will compel coalition partners to support this as these agreements call for maintaining the religious status quo.
They also explain they will not tolerate the continued foot-dragging by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit as the matter a...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:20 pm
Nevada County sheriff’s deputies are investigating a case of a man who drowned while apparently practicing face-down meditation in the Yuba River.
Deputies identified the victim as 33-year-old Yoav Timmer, a citizen of Israel.
“Based on statement’s from his friend, Mr. Timmer was practicing a type of meditation where he floats face down in the water for an extended period of time,” said Nevada County Sgt. Mike Sullivan. “His friend was doing his own meditation. A while later he went to check on Mr. Timmer and noticed he was unresponsive in the water.”
“There was nothing at that scene that led them to believe it was suspicious,” Nevada County Sheriff’s Capt. Shannon Moon told CBS Sacramento.
Moon says the death is unlike a...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:18 pm
Police on Thursday 28 Sivan announced the arrest of the suspect who threatened to harm at least six rabbonim in the Holon area earlier this week. On Monday, a son of one of these rabbonim was indeed assaulted at knifepoint. While B’chasdei Hashem he escaped due to the intervention of others with only light injuries, the assailant succeeded in fleeing.
The manhunt continued and he was taken into custody Wednesday night.
Earlier in the week, he threatened a number of rabbonim including Mekubal Rav Binayahu Shmueli, Rabbi Yosef Mughrabi, Rabbi Chaim Rabbi and Rabbi Eliyahu Shmueli. The threats were made in front of his ex-wife, who alerted authorities.
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June 22, 2017 at 10:16 pm
Americans are expected to put down the TV remote and hit the road in record numbers for the July 4th weekend.
Auto club AAA said Thursday that it expects 44.2 million people will travel at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home, a 2.9 percent increase over last year’s record for the holiday.
The vast majority of those revelers will go by car. But airline travel over the holiday is also expected to rise for the eighth straight year.
Travel industry officials expect domestic demand to remain strong, even while they worry that proposed travel bans and the prohibition on laptops in the cabins of some U.S.-bound planes could hurt travel to the U.S. from abroad.
With July 4 falling on a Tuesday, some workers will get a four-day weekend, making a quick road trip even more inviti...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:16 pm
The Frenchman killed when he drove a car packed with arms and explosives into a Paris police convoy in a failed attack had pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group and asked his family to remember him as a martyr, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said Thursday.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, citing a letter resembling a will that was dated Monday, the day of the attack on the French capital’s famed Champs-Elysees Avenue, said the man had pledged his allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and practiced shooting “to prepare for jihad.”
The letter to his loved ones asked that his attack plan be treated not as a suicide attack but as a “martyrdom operation,” Molins said.
The man, whom the prosecutor identifie...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:14 pm
In a Thursday morning 28 Sivan interview with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), Health Minister Yaakov Litzman lashed out against the former heads of the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital hemo-oncological (bone-marrow) unit. He told Galei Tzahal that the doctors did not quit for the good of the children as they claim to have been the case, but it is all about ego for them.
When asked if the lives of children are in danger, he stated “I do not know but I can say that I and my colleagues in the Health Ministry have done everything possible to end the dispute”.
He adds that when the doctors approached him some two months ago, together with the Director of Shaare Zedek Hospital Prof. Yonatan Halevy, he told them there would not be a unit in Shaare Zedek, seeking to send a message they n...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:12 pm
A protest was held in Jerusalem on Wednesday, 27 Sivan, attended by several hundred persons who demand answers regarding the missing Yemenite children. Some carried signs “Bibi, where are our children” and “The people and the nation must ask forgiveness”.
A number of Members of Knesset were counted among protestors as they blocked an area of King George Street.
In December 2016, the National Archives made over 200,000 documents and 3,500 case files available to the public, all dealing with the missing Yemenite children. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed Minister Tzachi Hanegbi to personally oversee the matter towards ensuring absolute transparency.
The Yemenite children affair refers to the was the disappearance of hundreds of babies and toddlers ...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:12 pm
A 14-year-old Jerusalem resident who is confined to a wheelchair sued Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and the city for his inability to access the library, gym, and computer room. In City Hall, the matter of accessibility has not been a high priority despite having received a special budget from the Education Ministry for this very purpose. Only after the suit was filed did the city commit to making the school accessible to disabled persons.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys of the office of Ari, Fisch & Saban, seeking 57,355 shekels. The lawsuit details difficulties in accessing the entrance of the school which is on the side of a mountain, as well as an inability in accessing the library, gym, computer room and bomb shelter. They also contend the services were only made available in 201...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:11 pm
The truck driver involved in the fatal crash earlier this week that claimed the life of prominent attorney Elkana Bishitz appears to have far from a spotless driving record. In fact, police report he has been involved in sixteen accidents. He has been arrested and police asked to extend his remand, but the court decided house arrest would be sufficient.
The question is already being asked, how such a driver continues driving a tractor trailer. However, the driver, Silmaan Utma’an, is a professional driver and when he was arraigned, police informed the court of his past record. Police are charging him with manslaughter, asking the court during the arraignment hearing to hold him without bail.
Police explained the probe into the fatal crash near Maccabim Checkpoint in...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:09 pm
Long-term U.S. mortgage rates dropped slightly this week.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.90 percent, down from 3.91 percent last week. The rate stood at 3.56 percent a year ago and averaged a record low 3.65 percent in 2016.
The 15-year, fixed-rate home loan, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their mortgages, also blipped lower — to 3.17 percent from 3.18 percent. A year ago, the 15-year rate was 2.83 percent.
The rate on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages decreased to 3.14 percent from 3.15 percent. It was 2.74 percent a year ago.
Mortgage rates have remained low even though the Federal Reserve has been raising short-term rates: The Fed last week ratcheted rates higher for the third time in six months.
To...
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June 22, 2017 at 10:09 pm
The annual Herzliya Conference was held this week, from Tuesday to Thursday, 26-28 Sivan. Each year the Herzliya Conference brings together senior personalities from Israel and abroad in the fields of government, security, business, and academia, to discuss the national, regional, and global issues on the agenda. This year the agenda will address the balance of opportunities, risks, and challenges facing Israel as the country readies to mark seven decades of independence.
On the second day of the 17th annual Herzliya Conference held at the IDC, Israel Air Force Commander, Major-General Amir Eshel addressed the strategic challenges faced by Israel and the Middle East. “There is an unusual meeting of interests between Israel and other regional states in the fight against terror. The I...
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June 22, 2017 at 5:15 pm
Chrein by any Other Name
The “Eat More Horseradish” sign on the grounds of the Tulkoff Food Products plant outside Baltimore is not exactly subtle advertising, but the largest horseradish manufacturing plant in North America was never afraid of being on the sharp side.
After we enter the state-of-the-art facility, ranging over more than 80,000 square feet of a business park in suburban Dundalk, Maryland, we leave behind our jewelry and cell phones and suit up in white lab coats and red hair nets that designate our visitor status. We’re soon met by Meir (Michael) Tulkoff, director of specialty sales. He is more familiarly known as Magic Michael, and is famous in Israeli hospitals for helping raise the standards of medical clowning in Israel. In fact, he and his wife Debb...
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June 22, 2017 at 4:39 pm
A U.S. Air Force drone the size of a small airliner crashed in a remote section of California near Mt. Whitney.
Edwards Air Force Base said in a statement that the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned surveillance aircraft, was making a routine trip Wednesday afternoon from Edwards to its usual home at Beale Air Force Base when it crashed for unknown reasons.
The Inyo County Sheriff’s Department said the crash caused a small wildfire that was quickly under control.
The aircraft with a 130-foot wingspan is designed to fly at high altitudes for long distances. It’s slowly replacing the manned U-2 spy planes used for decades by the Air Force.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
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June 22, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Washington - House Speaker Paul Ryan said he visited Rep. Steve Scalise on Thursday morning and that “his spirits are up” as he recovers from the gunshot wound he suffered last week.
“He seemed like he’s doing real well,” said Ryan, R-Wis.
Ryan said Scalise craved updates on work as he recovers at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
Scalise, R-La., is the No. 3 House Republican, the “whip” responsible for counting votes and getting lawmakers to cast votes. He was struck in the hip when a gunman opened fire at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. The hospital said his condition had improved to fair.
“I had a great meeting with Steve-O this morning and he’s bright, he’s alert,” Ryan said. “He just wante...
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June 22, 2017 at 4:34 pm
Washington - Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended her leadership on Thursday in the face of needling from President Donald Trump and grumbling from fellow House Democrats exasperated after a high-profile special election loss.
“So you want me to sing my praises, is that what you’re saying?” the California Democrat remarked dismissively to reporters when asked why she should stay on as leader. “Well, I’m a master legislator. I’m a strategic, politically astute leader. My leadership is recognized by many around the country.”
“That is why I’m able to attract the support that I do, which is essential to our elections, sad to say,” Pelosi added, in a reference to her unparalleled fundraising hauls.
Pelosi’s defens...
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June 22, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Queens, NY - A home health aide was charged with trying to aid the Islamic State group after he unwittingly planned his trip to Syria under the eye of law enforcement authorities, prosecutors said Thursday.
Saddam Mohamed Raishani, 30, of the Bronx, was arrested Wednesday night as he prepared to board a plane at Kennedy Airport to begin his travel, according to a release by U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim.
It was unclear who will represent Raishani at an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court.
Kim said Raishani wanted to join and train with the militant group after helping another man get there.
“Raishani allegedly acted on his own desire to wage violent jihad, planning to leave his family and life in New York City for the battlefields of the Middle East,” Kim said.
Willi...
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June 22, 2017 at 4:26 pm
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman on Thursday morning 28 Sivan spoke with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio). The interview addressed healthcare issues, but ended with talk about the brewing Chilul Shabbos crisis in the coalition.
Litzman was asked if the Chilul Shabbos could result in dismantling the coalition. He explained “coalition agreements must be adhered to”, making it clear these demands are not new, but were discussed prior to the formation of the coalition.
Litzman was asked if he threated PM Netanyahu with breaking the coalition over the matter, to which he responded, “ask him”.
The chareidi minister made it very clear, that Chilul Shabbos is not viewed lightly and it would not be tolerated. He insists the Shabbos status quo seen over the years will have to...
