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November 20, 2017 at 3:10 pm
Gedolei Roshei Yeshivos gathered on Sunday evening in the home of Ponevezh Rosh Yeshiva HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, Shlita, for a gathering to provide a chizuk and direction as well as discussing chinuch in the various yeshivos and seminaries.
According to a Kikar Shabbos News report, the meeting was initiated by HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, Rosh Yeshivas Slobodka. Rav Landau has been calling for such an event during recent months, feeling the need to provide chizuk towards strengthening the Torah atmosphere in the public sphere in the chareidi areas. They addressed matters including but not limited to chareidi colleges, flights and trips abroad. Others matters of importance were addressed by HaRav Meir Kessler.
Other prominent rabbonim who attended include Rosh Yeshivas Slobodka H...
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November 20, 2017 at 3:08 pm
Iran on Monday rejected a harsh statement by Arab League foreign ministers condemning the Islamic Republic and its proxy Hezbollah, saying the tirade was “full of lies” and the product of Saudi “pressure and propaganda.”
State media quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as calling on Saudi Arabia to stop its “barbaric attacks” on Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Tehran-backed rebels since March 2015. He also called on Saudi Arabia to drop its boycott of the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar, which has warm ties with Iran.
Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday lashed out at Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, accusing them of destabilizing the region and vowing to take the matter to the U.N....
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November 20, 2017 at 2:53 pm
Today, the second of Kislev marks the 55th Yahrtzeit of Rav Aharon Kotler, zt”l.
Every so often, individuals emerge in Jewish history who, by dint of their personality and intellect, change the very topography of Jewish life. One such person was Rav Aharon Kotler, zt’l, the founder of Beth Medrash Gavoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. His twenty years in this country profoundyly changed the face of Torah Jewry.
Interestingly enough, although the name of Rav Aharon Kotler is well known in Torah circles, very little biographical information of his earlier life in Europe is available. This is especially true for the English-reading public. In honor of the 55th yahrzeit of Rav Kotler, the Five Towns Jewish Times is presenting much new material in this mini-biography in a three-pa...
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November 20, 2017 at 12:13 pm
We should've listened to our parents when they told us to "eat your vegetables."
Only 1 in 10 Americans are eating the recommended daily amount of fruits and veggies, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal guidelines recommend eating 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 3 cups of vegetables each day. Two years ago, only 9% of Americans ate enough veggies, while only 12% ate the required amount of fruit.
Seung Hee Lee Kwan, Ph.D., the lead author of the study released Thursday, warns the lack of fruits and vegetables in Americans' diets raises the risks for chronic diseases including diabetes and heart disease.
"We’re missing out on the essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber that fruits and vegetables provide," he said in a st...
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November 20, 2017 at 12:09 pm
President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
"Today the United States is designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago," Trump said during a public meeting with his Cabinet.
The President said the designation will impose "further sanctions and penalties" on North Korea in support of his administration's "maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime."
"The North Korean regime must be lawful and end its unlawful nuclear ballistic missile development and cease all support for international terrorism, which it is not doing," Trump added.
The country had been removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2008, but the Trum...
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November 20, 2017 at 11:55 am
An apparent explosion rocked a cosmetics factory in New York’s Orange County Monday morning, spewing thick plumes of black smoke from the roof and from what appeared to be blasted-out sides of the building, according to witness reports and footage posted to social media.
Initial emergency correspondence indicated the apparent blast happened around 10:30 a.m. at a Verla International plant located at 463 Temple Hill Road in New Windsor.
The three-alarm fire is bringing out fire departments and EMS personnel from across Orange County.
The fire has been declared a mass casualty incident with as many as 75 people being treated.
Three choppers have been dispatched to airlift victims, and there are reports of injured firefighters.
The company manufactures private label nail poli...
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November 20, 2017 at 11:54 am
Israel Police has launched an investigation into recent incitement, including a photo on social media showing President Reuven Rivlin in a kafia after Mr. Rivlin announced he would not pardon former IDF soldier Elor Azariya.
This photo of the president in a kafia is not a lone photo, but others appears as well, including one with a PLO flag with the statement “You are no my president”. Some comments used expletives as well, while others simply wrote “Your photo makes me want to throw up”.
By and large, there is major disappointment among right-wingers vis-à-vis President Rivlin, who was perceived as being right-wing before being elected to office, after having served his political career in Likud and being from the old-guard. However, since being elec...
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November 20, 2017 at 11:54 am
[Ed. Note]: Jewish Community Services (JCS) is joining forces with Sol Levinson Bros., Inc., The Baltimore Board of Rabbis, and Myerberg Center to address this public health crisis. Confronting the Opioid Epidemic: A Free Community Forum, will take place on Tuesday, November 21 at 630pm at the Myerberg Center, 3101 Fallstaff Road in Baltimore.
The White House says the true cost of the opioid drug epidemic in 2015 was $504 billion, or roughly half a trillion dollars.
In an analysis to be released Monday, the Council of Economic Advisers says the figure is more than six times larger than the most recent estimate. The council said a 2016 private study estimated that prescription opioid overdoes, abuse and dependence in the U.S. in 2013 cost $78.5 billion. Most of that was attributed t...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:34 am
For the second day in a row, the IDF fired a tank shell close to the Syrian military outpost near the Israeli border on the Golan Heights. The reason given for the warning shot was that the Syrian military was conducting construction in an effort to build an outpost that was not outlined in the cease-fire agreements. According to the IDF, yesterday’s tank fire took place for the same reason.
Two weeks ago, a Jihadi terror cell belonging to the Al Nusra Front conducted a terror attack aimed at the village of Hader, which neighbors Israel’s Majdal Shams on the Syrian side of the border. Nine people were killed and another 23 were injured in the attack. The IDF issued an uncharacteristic statement following the attack. “We are prepared to aid the Druze living in the a...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:33 am
MK Moshe Gafne continues to threaten the coalition, that he will not participate in votes to back the coalition until such time his Shabbos Bill is advanced in the Ministerial Law Committee. Realizing that not all the chareidi elected officials back the bill, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has shelved it, preventing it from moving forward.
Gafne’s bill intends to circumvent the recent High Court of Justice ruling which permits grocery stores to operate in Tel Aviv on Shabbos.
As Gafne continues to threaten the coalition, Shas party chairman Minister Aryeh Deri expresses opposition to the bill. Deri is simply being pragmatic, well-aware that with Yisrael Beitenu and Kulanu in the coalition, the bill doesn’t have a chance of passing into law. It was agreed upon on Sund...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:33 am
The State Department is hitting back at the growing bipartisan criticism of Rex Tillerson’s leadership and accusations he is presiding over a debilitating brain drain of the nation’s diplomatic corps. At the same time, it allowed that a lack of communication with employees about Tillerson’s intent to reorganize the department had contributed to low morale.
In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Republican chairman, the department said Tillerson’s reorganization plans aren’t crippling the agency as reports have claimed. Top ranks aren’t being intentionally gutted through attrition, mass retirements and buyouts, it said, and a planned 8 percent reduction of its nearly 75,000 employees had been mandated by the Office of Management an...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:32 am
“The Ichud Leumi party will not sit in a government that recognizes a Palestinian state under any and all conditions,” Ichud Leumi leader Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel said.
As part of President Donald Trump’s principles for achieving a peace agreement in the Middle East, the establishment of a Palestinian state and the exchange of territory are part of the agenda. Alongside this, it was reported that the evacuation of Jews and the division of Jerusalem are not currently on the agenda.
The Ichud Leumi party is a member of the Bayit Leumi faction in the coalition government.
MK (Bayit Yehudi) Moti Yogev also commented, adding, “More important that what the non-Jews say, it what the Jews think and what they will do. Eretz Yisrael belongs to the Jewish Peo...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:31 am
Honenu report that in early November, 2017 a 120,000 NIS suit was filed against the Israeli Police at the Ramle Magistrate Court for false detention, interrogations, brutality and violation of the right to protest, by four youths, two of them minors, who were detained separately on their way to demonstrate opposite the residence of Major-General Roni Numa, the IDF Central District Commander, in the Ramat-Chen neighborhood of Ramat Gan, on June 19, 2017.
The youths arrived to protest the administrative restrictive orders which Maj.-Gen. Numa had issued to them. Administrative orders, such as administrative house arrest, which are issued without a trial, severely restrict personal freedom and border on violating the freedom of movement and the right to communicate. The recipient of an order...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:09 am
Am Shalem faction leader, former MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem, has decided to leave the Habayit Hayehudi party and will not be participating in the upcoming Primary elections for the party list.
Amsalem explained his decision in a statement he made on Sunday to the Israeli media. “Two years ago, after many misgivings, we were convinced by many of our friends in the Modern Zionist camp to join with the HaBayit Hayehudi party. People said that our place as Zionist Sefardi Charedim was with the national religious Zionist party. We came with the idea of bringing back the glory of the ‘old days’ and putting the Sefardim back on the proper track that we strayed from in the past few years. To return to the path of Zionism, Torah and Avodah, to valuing service in the IDF as something h...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:08 am
President Donald Trump says he thinks Sen. Jeff Flake won’t support the Republican tax overhaul, issuing an insulting tweet against the Arizona Republican two days after Flake criticized the president.
Flake was caught on an open microphone Friday saying the GOP is “toast” if the party follows Trump and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. It was not a surprising sentiment given Flake’s previous criticism of Trump.
In a Sunday night tweet, Trump fired back: “Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on “mike” saying bad things about your favorite President. He’ll be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is ‘toast.'”
Flake’s spok...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:07 am
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings, often mocked by Democrats and the media, top those of Europe’s biggest three leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain’s Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron.
A new Zogby Analytics survey of people in those countries also finds that the disapproval ratings are sky-high.
“Citizens of France, Germany and U.K. not happy with Macron, Merkel and May,” is the poll headline. “A majority of adults in France and U.K. dislike Macron and May; nearly half of adults in Germany dislike Merkel.”
Trump’s approval ratings range from 38 percent to the mid 40s, and Rasmussen set it at 42 percent this week.
Zogby found the three European leaders below that:
• Merkel approval 40 pe...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:07 am
As former Prime Minister Ehud Barak seeks media interviews, seeking to test the waters for a possible comeback, a poll shows most of the tzibur is uninterested in his return to politics.
Last week, during one interview, Barak stated clearly that while Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is suited for the post, he is the most suited of all candidates because Netanyahu does not know how to make decisions. Barak served as Israel’s 10th Prime Minister, from 1999 to 2001.
A poll was conducted by iPanel headed by Dr. Mina Tzemach for Channel 12 News. Respondents were asked if they believe Ehud Barak should return to politics. 44% of respondents do not think so as compared to 26% who favor the move. 30% are undecided if it is the correct thing to do or not.
Despite the poli...
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November 20, 2017 at 9:06 am
A Jerusalem police spokesman on Sunday Rosh Chodesh Kislev announced three indictments were handed down in the city’s Magistrate Court against participants in the expulsion from Amona, in the beginning of the year.
The persons facing indictment were told the area was a ‘closed military zone’ by police, but they opted to ignore this and enter the area anyway to interrupt the activities of police assigned to remove residents from the community.
Charges against the three include interfering with police, violating a legal order, and one of them with using force or threats to prevent arrest as well as insulting a public servant.
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November 20, 2017 at 9:06 am
US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Leslie Tsou visited US Air Force personnel and F-16 jet fighters from the 510th Fighter Squadron, Aviano Air Base, Italy, who took part in exercise Blue Flag 2017 at Uvda Air Base in southern Israel November 14, 2017.
“US Air Force participation in the exercise supports our nation’s commitment to Israel’s defense and supports Israel’s qualitative military edge. The US are significant in maintaining security and building a strong partnership”.
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