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April 18, 2018 at 10:09 am
BERLIN (AP) — Two young men wearing yarmulkas were attacked and insulted in an apparent anti-Semitic assault in Berlin by three other men, who whipped one with a belt, Berlin police said Wednesday.
The German government expressed shock over Tuesday's attack in the city's trendy Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, which was caught on video by one of the victims and quickly went viral.
German Foreign Heiko Maas tweeted that "it is intolerable if young men are being attacked here just because they wear a kippa."
"Jews shall never again feel threatened here. It's our responsibility to protect Jewish life here," Maas added, in reference to the killing of six million European Jews by Germany under the Nazis in the Holocaust more than 70 years ago.
Berlin police said the two vi...
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April 18, 2018 at 10:09 am
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's presidency has banned all government bodies from using foreign-based messaging apps to communicate with citizens, state media reported Wednesday, after economic protests organized through such apps shook the country earlier this year.
Chief among those apps is Telegram, used by over 40 million Iranians for everything from benign conversations to commerce and political campaigning. Iranians using Telegram, which describes itself as an encrypted message service, helped spread the word about the protests in December and January.
Telegram channels run on behalf of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri were already shut down Wednesday.
A report on the website of Iran's state television broadcaster sai...
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April 18, 2018 at 10:08 am
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is attempting to rewrite history on his rationale for firing James Comey as FBI director last year.
In a Wednesday morning tweet sent as Comey promotes his criticism-filled new book, Trump says he "was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation." But in an interview days after the sudden firing, Trump revealed that the probe into potential collusion during the 2016 campaign was on his mind at the time he made the decision.
The White House's initial explanation for Trump's decision was Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation, and it released a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein justifying the decision. But two days after firing Comey, Trump undercut that rationale.
In the interview with...
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April 18, 2018 at 10:08 am
HAVANA (AP) — The Latest on the meeting of Cuba's legislature and the scheduled end of Raul Castro's presidency (all times local):
9:45 a.m.
Cuba's government is embracing social media as it convenes the National Assembly to elect a successor to President Raul Castro.
State-run media and government-controlled Twitter accounts are promoting what is expected to be a historic handover of the presidency to the first non-Castro to lead the country in nearly 60 years.
The accounts are using the hashtag "Somos Continuidad" or "We are continuity." It's an apparent effort to convey the message that the Cubans shouldn't expect radical change when a new president is announced on Thursday.
Internet access has increased dramatically over the past two years but the co...
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April 18, 2018 at 9:29 am
Rabbi Menachem Bombach teaches children in haredi Betar Illit of IDF fallen soldiers and obligation to remember and honor.
Rabbi Menachem Bombach of the haredi city of Betar Illit in Judea runs a junior yeshiva where he teaches his students on Memorial Day about the IDF's fallen soldiers and the obligation to honor and respect them, and to act for good in this world in their merit.
Studies have shown that 90% of haredim who complete IDF service integrate successfully into the job market. Among these are 87% of soldiers serving in the haredi Shachar program, and 88% of Netzah Yehuda infantry soldiers.
About 7,000 haredi men currently serve in the army. In 2016 2,850 haredim enlisted in the IDF, a 400-soldier increase from the previ...
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April 18, 2018 at 9:25 am
Hundreds participated in the Yom Hazikaron ceremony last night in Jerusalem’s German Colony. Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) commemorates Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror. Soldiers from a wide assortment of companies marched in memory of the nation’s fallen soldiers and terror victims, and particularly moving was watching the volunteer Special in Uniform corps among them.
Unlike many other countries, most of Israel’s wars have been fought on home turf. This, coupled with the fact that Israel is a small country with a population of only 8 million, contributes to the doleful reality that there is hardly an adult in the country who isn’t personally familiar with at least one casualty of war or terror.
Lt. Colonel (Res.) Tiran Attia, program dir...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:53 am
New poll shows over half of Charedim respect the Memorial Day siren.
A new poll by Hadashot Haskupim showed that 48% of haredim believe that the proper thing to do during Memorial Day sirens is to stand quietly in respect, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
The poll, conducted as the outlet's weekly poll, including thousands of haredi listeners.
The results showed that 48% believe that when in a haredi is in a public place when the siren goes of, she or he should stop what they are doing and stand silently. An additional 15% said that the proper thing to do is to recite chapters from the Mishnah in memory of the fallen. Nineteen percent said they believe the siren is a custom "copied" from the gentiles and should therefore be ignored, and 18% said they completely ignor...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:52 am
President Trump's daughter, son-in-law reportedly considering representing Trump admin at opening of US embassy in Jerusalem.
Will President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner attend the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem?
According to a report carried by The Times of Israel Wednesday afternoon, the president’s Orthodox Jewish daughter and son-in-law are considering flying to Israel next month to represent the Trump administration at the May 14th unveiling of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
President Trump vowed on December 6th to relocate the US embassy from its present location in Tel Aviv to the Israeli capital, fulfilling a campaign promise to implement the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, which requires the State Departmen...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:51 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Notorious Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is having psychological problems that could hinder his ability to fight U.S. drug-trafficking charges, his lawyer and wife said Tuesday.
"We have noticed that his mental state has deteriorated, not just his memory but ... the way he understands things," attorney Eduardo Balarezo told reporters following a pretrial hearing in federal court in Brooklyn. "He's not the man he was when I first met him."
Appearing alongside the lawyer, Emma Coronel said she hasn't been allowed to communicate with her husband since he was turned over to U.S. authorities in 2017.
"My worry is his health because I know that he is in bad shape psychologically," Coronel said. "He feels bad from what lawyers are ...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:46 am
This article is adapted from my upcoming sefer on the laws of Loshon Hora in contemporary times. All halachos mentioned herein are complex and part of a larger framework. The purpose of the article is to raise awareness of these essential halachos. Hence, one should not draw any practical conclusions without first consulting a rav.
Introduction
In most cases of relating Loshon Hora for a constructive purpose, it is not relevant if the speaker has been solicited for the information or not. When there is a sufficiently constructive purpose, the information may be related whether asked for it or not; when a constructive purpose does not exist, the prohibition remains in all circumstances.
Nevertheless, when it comes to shidduchim, many rabbonim draw a distinction, as we will explain. Ther...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:45 am
The Rabbinical Alliance of America joins the country in mourning the passing of former First Lady Barbara Bush. Mrs. Bush served the country as First Lady during her husband George H.W. Bush’s term as President and as Second Lady during his two terms as Vice President. She was also the mother of President George W. Bush during his two terms as President. With this unprecedented closeness to the leadership of the free world for twenty years over three decades, Mrs. Bush displayed a universally acknowledged dignity. In her unique role, she championed the cause of family literacy by encouraging parents and children to read together. She recognized that the values of family and education are critical to the success of this great country.
The Talmud teaches that the wife of a Torah schol...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that his CIA chief secretly met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea and said "a good relationship was formed" heading into the adversaries' anticipated summit.
Mike Pompeo's highly unusual talks took place "last week," Trump tweeted, and "went smoothly," with details about the presidential meeting within the next few months "being worked out now."
"Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!" Trump wrote while at his Florida estate, where he was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Trump had disclosed on Tuesday that the U.S. and North Korea were holding direct talks at "extremely high levels" in preparation for a possible summit. He said five locations were under considera...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:40 am
MOSCOW (AP) — The chief of the Russian communications watchdog acknowledged Wednesday that millions of unrelated IP addresses have been frozen in a so-far futile attempt to block a popular messaging app.
Telegram, the messaging app that was ordered to be blocked last week, was still available to users in Russia despite authorities' frantic attempts to hit it by blocking other services.
The row erupted after Telegram, which was developed by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, refused to hand its encryption keys to the intelligence agencies. The Russian government insists it needs them to pre-empt extremist attacks but Telegram dismissed the request as a breach of privacy.
Alexander Zharov, chief of the Federal Communications Agency, said in an interview with the Izvestia daily p...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:39 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently traveled to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un, two officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The highly unusual, secret visit comes as the enemy nations prepare for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim within the next couple of months.
The officials spoke about Pompeo's trip on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The Washington Post, which first reported Pompeo's meeting with Kim, said it took place over Easter weekend — just over two weeks ago, shortly after the CIA chief was nominated to become secretary of state.
Trump, currently at his Florida resort hosting Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said Tuesday that the U.S. and North Kore...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:39 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A preliminary examination of the blown jet engine of the Southwest Airlines plane that set off a terrifying chain of events and left a businesswoman hanging half outside a shattered window showed evidence of "metal fatigue," according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Passengers scrambled to save the woman from getting sucked out the window that had been smashed by debris. She later died, and seven others were injured.
The pilots of the twin-engine Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas with 149 people aboard took it into a rapid descent Tuesday and made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and passengers said their prayers and braced for impact.
"I just remember holding my husband's hand, and we just pra...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:38 am
Aish HaTorah was excited to welcome 35 UN ambassadors to their World Center in Jerusalem this week along with Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon and long-time Aish partner Marc Goldman.
Ambassador Danon expressed his appreciation to Aish HaTorah for all the work they do worldwide. “Thank you for presenting us with these important values, and for the great work with teaching not only Jews, but to anyone who wants to get involved with Jerusalem and see Jewish values.”
The secret to Israel’s success as a nation is our ambition to make the world a better place. Aish HaTorah Dan Family World Center, opposite the Western Wall, is a place where Torah comes to life. Thousands of visitors pass through the doors of Aish HaTor...
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April 18, 2018 at 8:30 am
Jerusalem, Israel - Apr. 18, 2018 - Yom HaZikaron - Ammunition Hill, was the scene of fierce fighting during the Six-Day War in 1967. Israeli soldiers lost their lives on the battlefield. A memorial was built on the site, which today is near the neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol.
A memorial for Jewish fallen soldiers, not Israeli, many from the United States, going back to 1948, is part of the Ammunition Hill Memorial site. It was near this fitting memorial that a special Yom HaZikaron ceremony was held on the eve of the Israeli memorial day, April 17, 2018.
"The Sons We Lost" was the theme of the Lone Soldier Center in memory of Michael Levin ceremony. Michael Levin z"l was a lone soldier from Philadelphia who fell in Lebanon in 2006. The Levin family has supporte...
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April 17, 2018 at 8:25 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — The IRS extends tax-filing deadline for all filers to midnight Wednesday, April 18, due to glitch with agency's website.
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April 17, 2018 at 8:23 pm
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on possible U.S. sanctions against Russia (all times local):
8:15 p.m.
Trump administration official Larry Kudlow has apologized to U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley after suggesting she was suffering from "momentary confusion" when she announced new sanctions against Russia were imminent.
A White House official says the National Economic Council director called Haley to apologize Tuesday afternoon. Haley issued a terse statement to Fox News, saying, "With all due respect, I don't get confused."
Haley said Sunday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be announcing new sanctions directed at companies associated with Syria's chemical weapons program on Monday, "if he hasn't already."
The official says Haley was unaware that the ad...
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April 17, 2018 at 8:20 pm
Barbara Bush gave the commencement address at the all-women Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on June 1, 1990.
The speech was ranked No. 47 on a list of the top speeches of the century in 1999. The list, compiled by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Texas A&M University, was based on a survey of scholars who ranked speeches by social and political impact and rhetorical artistry.
Here is the text of her speech:
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President Keohane, Mrs. Gorbachev, trustees, faculty, parents, and I should say, Julie Porter, class president, and certainly, my new best friend, Christine Bicknell. And of course, the class of 1990.
I'm really thrilled to be here today, and very excited, as I know all of you must be, that Mrs. Gorbachev could join us.
These are exciting ...
