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January 12, 2018 at 10:39 am
The fifth plague to befall the Egyptian people was דֶבֶר, most often translated as pestilence, a virulent epidemic that would affect their livestock, killing them off. Although this word is often used to indicate an epidemic of sorts there is no indication how this root ד-ב-ר indicates a fatal disease. The root ד-ב-ר is the source for the word, דִיבּוּר, meaning speech, as well as for דָבָר, the word indicating ‘something’ or matter. The word יַדְבֵּר, gathering, shares this root too.
The common denominator would seem to be the notion of combining separate items into one; sounds that form words bringing forth an intelligent expression; an ‘item’, some ‘thing’ that is defined as an independent whole entity; people or artic...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:39 am
Parshas VaEira / Shabbos Mevarchim / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP!
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 12, 2018
Parshas: VaEira
Today: 25 Teves
Chatzos: 12:15 PM
Hadlakas Nairos: 4:46 PM
Shkiah: 5:04:32 PM
Tzais HaKochavim: 5:55 PM
Rosh Chodesh Shevat: Wed., Jan 17
Kiddush Levanah: Friday, Jan. 19, 7:04 PM – Wednesday, Jan31, 1:26 PM Kiddush Levanah may only be said at night
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January 12, 2018 at 10:39 am
MDOT MVA Offices to Close in Observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday All MDOT MVA Offices and VEIP Stations Will Be Closed on Monday, January 15; Offices Reopen on Tuesday, January 16
GLEN BURNIE, MD (January 12, 2018) - The Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA) will close all branch offices and VEIP stations on Monday, January 15 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. MDOT MVA’s self-service VEIP kiosks will be available. MDOT MVA’s online services and 24-hour kiosks, which can be used to complete many transactions, also will be accessible to customers.
All MDOT MVA offices and VEIP stations will reopen on Tuesday, January 16.
Customers can conduct numerous transactions online at mva.maryland.gov, including:...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:29 am
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is holding negotiations with Washington regarding a pivotal nuclear arms pact.
Putin said the U.S. plans to re-equip some of the nuclear capable aircraft and submarines to carry conventional weapons has drawn Russian concerns.
He noted Thursday that while the U.S. plans don't contradict the 2010 U.S.-Russian New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, Moscow is entitled to monitor the modifications to make sure there is no chance for a rollback to nuclear capability in the future.
Speaking at a meeting with Russian newspaper editors, Putin said "a dialogue is going on, and I hope it will be positive."
The New START allows U.S. and Russia to have no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each. It expires in 2021, but can b...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:26 am
The vandalism of a Fort Smith, Arkansas mosque in 2016 by three young local men wouldn’t seem to have any Jewish connection. But it did. Or, better, it turns out that it does.
The vandalism, which consisted of spray-painted swastikas, obscenities and messages like “Go home” and “We don’t want you here” on the mosque’s doors, came after the two men spent most of the night drinking whiskey and, eventually, railing against the Islamic State. While IS is certainly most worthy for even sober citizens’ excoriation, what Craig Wigginton and Abraham Davis, along with another friend, Ezra Pedraza, did next — drive to the Al Salam mosque and deface it — was mindless. And a crime.
The vandalized sign being cleaned.
Mr. Davis said that, ...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:11 am
Trump to pick David Schenker, former Rumsfeld adviser and director of pro-Israel think tank to serve as top US diplomat to the Middle East.
President Donald Trump is expected to tap an adviser to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for a key State Department position, a senior Trump White House official told BuzzFeed News Thursday night.
According to the report, President Trump is poised to announce the selection of David Schenker to serve as the State Department’s Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
The move would make Schenker America’s top diplomat to the Middle East. If chosen, Schenker would be the first non-career diplomat to fill the position in some two decades.
"Don’t expect an announcement today or tomorrow, but he is expe...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:05 am
Today's vision of a smart home has more to do with what's technologically possible than what people really need.
Thus the endless parade of internet-connected wine openers, water bottles, meat thermometers and refrigerators, and a dearth of automation that would clean and fold our laundry, pick up things around the house or assist aging people as their physical strength wanes.
Not that some tinkerers aren't trying to come up with life-changing tools, often while trying to persuade consumers to share their routines and shopping habits to make all this work — and potentially opening the doors to hacking or surveillance in their homes.
The annual CES gadget show, which opened in Las Vegas on Tuesday, is a showcase of the latest innovations from big corporations and tin...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:05 am
Taking the first concrete step toward the Republican tax plan's promise of fatter paychecks for millions, the Trump administration on Thursday issued new guidelines for how much employers should withhold as taxes from workers' pay.
The Internal Revenue Service published the new income-tax withholding tables to conform to the sweeping $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, the first major rewrite of the tax code in three decades, which became law last month and took effect Jan 1. The new law provides steep tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Americans while offering more modest reductions for most low- and middle-income families and individuals.
Businesses across the country must adopt the changes by Feb. 15. That means employees could start seeing the changes reflected in thei...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:05 am
PLO leadership to consider revoking recognition of Israel at upcoming meeting to consider path forward after J'lem recognition.
The Palestinian Authority’s ruling faction will plan its response to President Donald Trump’s December recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital during an upcoming meeting next week, and will weigh proposals including a plan to rescind its recognition of Israel, AFPreported Friday.
This week, the Arabic-language media outlet Wafa reported that the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council is set to meet on Sunday to discuss the “threat” posed by President Trump’s Jerusalem declaration to the PLO’s agenda.
"The city of Al-Quds is full of history, tradition and religi...
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January 12, 2018 at 10:04 am
The cost of borrowing money to buy a home rose slightly this week, but remains historically low.
The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 3.99 percent, from 3.95 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said. This week's rate matches a 5-month high set two weeks ago. A year ago, the 30-year rate averaged 4.12 percent.
The low rates — anything below 4 percent is low by historical standards — are some consolation for home buyers dealing with rising prices amid a shortage of supply.
The interest charged on U.S. Treasury notes has risen, causing mortgage rates to tick up in response. The yield on the 10-year Treasury reached its highest level since March at one point Thursday before pulling back.
The rate on 15-year fixed-...
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January 12, 2018 at 9:55 am
A lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice says the Trump administration plans to appeal a judge's ruling temporarily blocking its decision to end protections for nearly 800,000 young immigrants.
DOJ attorney Brad Rosenberg said during a court hearing Thursday that the administration was still reviewing the decision by U.S. District Judge William Alsup but had begun to take steps to comply with it. Rosenberg says the current plan is to file an appeal.
Alsup on Tuesday granted a request by California and other plaintiffs to prevent President Donald Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program while their lawsuits play out in court.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that the ruling was outrageous, and Trump tweeted that it...
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January 12, 2018 at 9:51 am
One of the measures of true greatness is a person's ability to inspire others to reach for THEIR OWN greatness.
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January 12, 2018 at 9:50 am
Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after more than five years of living in asylum at the nation's embassy in London, officials announced Thursday.
Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said officials accepted Assange's request for naturalization in December, and they continue to look for a long-term resolution to a situation that has vexed officials since 2012.
"What naturalization does is provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection," Espinosa said.
Ecuador gave Assange asylum after he sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for investigation of sex-related claims. Sweden dropped the case, but Assange has remained in the embassy because he is still subject to arrest in Britain for jumping bail.
He also fears a ...
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January 12, 2018 at 9:38 am
Democratic members of the House oversight committee asked the Republican chairman to begin a serious investigation into President Donald Trump's conflicts of interests.
They also sought a subpoena of the Trump Organization to produce documents that were requested months ago.
The letter was sent to Chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina on Thursday, one year after a news conference held by Trump and his attorney announcing efforts to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest by handing over his businesses' reins to his sons and putting his assets in a trust, among other measures. Ethics watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers have criticized those efforts as weak to begin with.
The Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Gowdy to issue...
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January 12, 2018 at 8:54 am
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The flu virus is rapidly spreading across the country, causing more deaths and hospitalizations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the flu is now widespread in 46 states, nearly four times as many compared with this time last year.
One in roughly 10,000 children under the age of four have been hospitalized with the flu this season.
Eight-month-old Kingston Smith is one of them.
“About four days ago, he started breathing hard, vomiting, having fevers,” his mother, Shareeka Smith, said. “So I drove here to the hospital and they said, ‘Yes, we need to keep him.'”
Of the more than 100 people who have died from the flu so far this season, 13 are children.
“Unfortunately, it can cause a lot of ...
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January 12, 2018 at 8:48 am
President Trump cancels first UK trip as president, planned meeting with PM Theresa May, claims 'bad embassy' deal behind cancellation.
President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a planned trip to the United Kingdom, writing in a late-night tweet just before midnight Thursday that the cancellation was due to a “bad deal” for a new US embassy in London.
Trump was expected to travel to England in February, his first trip to Britain since taking office last January. The president had planned to meet Prime Minister Theresa May and with Queen Elizabeth, and take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new US embassy in London.
But late Thursday night, Trump tweeted that he was backing out of the trip, citing the “bad deal” behind the embassy move.
&ldquo...
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January 12, 2018 at 8:46 am
While size of US Jewish population stagnates, number of US Muslims set to double by 2040.
American Muslims are expected to overtake Jews as the largest non-Christian religious group in the United States in just over two decades, a report by the Pew Research Center claims.
According to the report released last week, there are currently some 3.45 million self-identified Muslims in the United States, compared approximately six million American Jews, making Muslims the second largest non-Christian religious group in the US, making up slightly over 1% of the population. The next largest religious group, Buddhists, make up about seven-tenths of a percent of the total American population, as do Hindus. About 71% of Americans identify as Christians, according to Pew.
But while the American Je...
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January 12, 2018 at 8:45 am
In order to give Paroah a warning for the plague of blood, (7:15) Moshe is told to meet Paroah at the Nile and hamateh asher nehpach lenachash tikach beyadecha, the staff that was turned into a snake you shall take in your hand. This command begs the question, whose staff is it anyway? A staff was turned into a snake twice, once in front of B'nei Yisrael and once in front of Paroah. It would seem that in front of B'nei Yisrael, Moshe used his own staff, just as it was clearly used in the demonstration in front of the burning bush. From pasuk 9, it appears that the staff used in front of Paroah was Aharon's. Which one, then, is being referred to in this pasuk?
Klei Yekar on pasuk 9 points out that Moshe's staff turned into a nachash while Aharon's turned into a tan...
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January 12, 2018 at 8:44 am
The Ovos were given a tremendous nisoyon. Hashem promised many things to them and He displayed His ability to deliver on all those promises, but they didn’t see them come to fruition in their lifetime. The Shem of YKVK is the Shem that underlies the very existence of the world and the direct cause of everything that happens in the world and is the embodiment of emes. The Shem of Elokim means din and mishpot – justice and judgment – strict law. This is the middoh which sets up laws of nature and works through laws of nature. But the Shem of YKVK transcends everything and can override the laws of nature. With the Ovos, Hashem did not use this Shem and did not deliver on His promises until now.
Moshe Rabbeinu was under the impression that once Hashem revealed Himself to Mos...
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January 12, 2018 at 8:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has promoted a tough-on-crime agenda at the White House. But he says the nation needs to find ways to help inmates eventually re-enter society.
Searching for conservative solutions on criminal justice, Trump convened a group of governors, faith-based leaders and experts on Thursday to "break this vicious cycle" and find ways of bringing job training, mentoring and drug addiction treatment to the nation's prison population.
"We have a great interest in helping them turn their lives around, get a second chance and make our communities safe," Trump said at the White House. He added, "We will be very tough on crime but we will provide a ladder of opportunity for the future."
The round-table discussion, which included Attorney General Jef...
