|
August 19, 2018 at 5:43 pm
Robert Meeropol was 6 when his parents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed in 1953 by the U.S. government as spies for the Soviet Union. On Aug. 2 at age 71, he took part in an ancient Jewish ritual when he put on tefillin for the first time—something Jewish boys usually do when they turn 13.
The celebratory ritual—followed by singing and dancing with Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis and more than 1,000 participants—took place at the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute’s (JLI) annual retreat in Providence, R.I., where Meeropol spoke about growing up as the “Cold War’s most famous orphan” and his crusade to clear his mother’s name.
He told attendees that he believes he’s uncovered evidence showing that his mother, Ethel Rosenberg, was not inv...
|
August 19, 2018 at 5:36 pm
London - A Jewish group affiliated with Britain’s Labour movement has accused the heads of the left-wing faction of trying to “censor” material it had planned on presenting at a party conference in September.
Amid charges that the party condones anti-Semitism and harsh anti-Israel rhetoric, the group had planned on presenting a training session making reference to two Labour members accused of anti-Semitism.
Ivor Caplin, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said the group had withdrawn from the planned training session because its “content was censored.”
He accused party officials of acting “in a manner to deliberately undermine” their efforts and “add to further tension,” The Independent reported.
At issue was Labour’s decisi...
|
August 19, 2018 at 5:10 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Sunday, 19 August 2018), met with US National Security Adviser John Bolton over dinner at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer also attended.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made the following remarks at the start of the dinner:
"Ambassador Bolton, John, it’s a pleasure to see you. We’ve been friends for many years, and I can testify that in and out of office, you’ve been a tremendous friend – tremendous friend of Israel, tremendous champion of the American-Israel alliance.
And it’s particularly momentous to welcome you here, after the momentous decisions of President Trump, to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and get out o...
|
August 19, 2018 at 4:58 pm
ROME (AP) — The Italian engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed dozens warned four decades ago that it would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution on the concrete.
RAI state television broadcast excerpts Sunday of the report that the late engineer Riccardo Morandi penned in 1979, 12 years after the bridge bearing his name was inaugurated in Genoa. The Associated Press downloaded the English-language reportfrom an engineering news portal.
At the time of writing, Morandi said there was already a “well-known loss of superficial chemical resistance of the concrete” because of sea air and pollution from a nearby steel plant. He said he chose to write about it because the degrada...
|
August 19, 2018 at 4:34 pm
Mitzvas maakeh is mentioned in this week’s parsha.
Question #1: Who makes the brocha?
“If someone performs a mitzvah as my agent, can I still recite a brocha on the mitzvah?”
Question #2: Am I doing the mitzvah?
“Do I fulfill the mitzvah of building a maakeh if I hire a non-Jew to do it for me?”
Question #3: When do I bless?
“If I am performing a mitzvah that will take a long time to fulfill, when do I recite the brocha?”
Introduction:
Reb Gavriel*, a talmid chacham whom I know, is having his house remodeled, including adapting a roof area for use, which will require the assembly of a maakeh, a fence, wall or railing high enough and strong enough to prevent someone from falling (see Devorim 22:8). He asked me the following: “I will no...
|
August 19, 2018 at 4:30 pm
Jerusalem, Israel - Aug. 19, 2018 - Kfar Qasem, is not a village, but since 2008 an incorporated Israeli city with a population today of 24,000-28,000 residents. According to Mayor Adel Badir, an exact population count is hard to pinpoint as this centrally located Arab city is home to many doctors from the North, Bedouins, and people from Turkey, "one-third of population is from other places."
Recently at an exclusive meeting with Badir, City Hall General Director, Kobi Alon; Head of Kfar Qasim Economic Company, Najeh Amer; and co-CEO of Tsofen, Paz Hirschmann; sponsored by the Jerusalem Press Club, BJL was able to hear plans to make Kfar Qasem an Arab Hi-tech Center and also see part of the area.
In spite of a difficult history, as the town is known as the plac...
|
August 19, 2018 at 4:16 pm
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Lee Soo-nam was 8 the last time he saw his older brother. Sixty-eight years ago this month the boy watched, bewildered, as his 18-year-old brother left their home in Seoul to escape invading North Korean soldiers who were conscripting young men just weeks after invading South Korea to start the Korean War.
An hour later, his brother, Ri Jong Song, was snatched up by North Korean soldiers near a bridge across Seoul’s Han River. Lee always assumed Ri died during the three-year war that killed and injured millions before a cease-fire in 1953, but his mother prayed daily for her lost son’s return, giving up only a few years before her death in 1975.
But Ri survived the war, living in North Korea. The brothers, now 76 and 86, will be among hundreds ...
|
August 19, 2018 at 4:13 pm
Jerusalem - Israel’s Supreme Court has doubled the sentence of a former border policeman who was convicted in the death of a stone-throwing Palestinian teenager in 2014.
The court on Sunday upheld a state appeal for a longer sentence, extending Ben Deri’s imprisonment from nine months to 18 months.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled in April that Deri unjustly opened fire during demonstrations in the West Bank, killing 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara.
The court ruled Nuwara did not pose an immediate threat to Deri’s life, and that he negligently loaded live rounds instead of rubber coated bullets typically used to disperse demonstrations.
Deri agreed to a plea bargain that dropped the charge from manslaughter to causing severe bodily harm and death through negligence. ...
|
August 19, 2018 at 3:47 pm
Baltimore, MD - Aug. 19, 2018 - Although a soldier is permitted to take an eishes yifas toar, it is not presented as an ideal situation. This relationship is one of passion and 'love at first sight', not one that is sought out and developed over time. The ultimate satisfaction and meaning in life does not come through instantaneous pleasures, but rather hard work and development. Yom Kippur is the climax of this process, a day when we find pleasure in connecting to Hashem through a relationship that we have developed, without indulging in any of the temporary, physical pleasures.
To listen click here
|
August 19, 2018 at 3:45 pm
TRIVANDRUM, India (AP) — Thousands of stranded people were waiting to be rescued and officials pleaded for more help from relentless monsoon floods that have partially submerged the southern Indian state of Kerala, where more than 190 have died in a little over a week.
Heavy rains hit parts of the state again Saturday morning, slowing attempts to deploy rescuers and get relief supplies to isolated areas. Many have seen no help for days and can only be reached by boat or helicopter.
More than 300,000 people have taken shelter in over 1,500 state-run relief camps, officials said. But authorities said they were being inundated with calls for assistance, local media reported.
"We are receiving multiple repetitive rescue requests," the office of the state's top official, Pinarayi ...
|
August 19, 2018 at 3:44 pm
PARIS (AP) — An audit commissioned by the French government says about 840 French bridges are suffering from serious damage and at risk of collapse in the coming several years.
President Emmanuel Macron's government had already promised new infrastructure spending, but is coming under new pressure after Tuesday's bridge collapse in neighboring Italy that killed 43 people.
The audit, published Sunday by the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, says a third of the 12,000 government-maintained bridges in France need repairs. About 7 percent, or about 840 bridges, present a "risk of collapse" in the coming years if spending is kept at current levels, the audit says.
The audit doesn't address thousands of other French bridges maintained by private companies or local authoritie...
|
August 19, 2018 at 3:44 pm
DALLAS (AP) — A Texas jury has awarded more than $242 million to a Dallas-area family who sued Toyota over what they said were defective front seats in their Lexus sedan.
Benjamin and Kristi Reavis alleged defects caused their front seat backs in a September 2016 rear-end collision to collapse on their two young children seated in child safety seats in the back. Their attorney said the 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son suffered severe head trauma and other injuries.
The Reavises' attorney, Frank Branson, said Toyota consciously chose to protect front-seat occupants from crash injuries such as whiplash at the expense of rear-seat passengers.
The Dallas County jury determined Friday that the seats were unreasonably dangerous and Toyota failed to warn of those dangers.
In ...
|
August 19, 2018 at 3:43 pm
Washington - Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the U.S., the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs.
The position was outlined in a memo released last month in support of the administration’s proposal to relax fuel mileage standards. The government released the memo online this month without fanfare.
Growth of natural gas and other alternatives to petroleum has reduced the need for imported oil, which “in turn affects the need of the nation to conserve energy,” the Energy Department said. It also cites the now decade-old fracking revolution that has unlocked U.S. shale oil reserves, giving “the United States m...
|
August 19, 2018 at 3:43 pm
Bridgewater, NJ - Former CIA Director John Brennan says he is considering taking legal action to try to prevent President Donald Trump from stripping other current and former officials’ security clearances.
Brennan said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he’s been contacted by a number of lawyers about the basis of a potential complaint.
Last week, Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance and threatened a long list of others, including critics and those connected to the Russia investigation.
Brennan says he’ll do whatever he can “to try to prevent these abuses in the future.” He says, “If it means going to court, I will do that.”
More than 75 former intelligence officials have denounced Trump’s decision to yan...
|
August 19, 2018 at 10:56 am
Democratic candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez banned press from an event with voters in her New York district this week.
The Queens Chronicle reported Thursday that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s townhall was closed to the press on Sunday.
According to the local outlet, only people who were allowed to attend the event know what specific issues were addressed and how.
The Chronicle reported said Ocasio and attendees said they “talked about race, immigration, healthcare, disability rights and housing.”
Read more at BREITBART.
|
August 19, 2018 at 10:55 am
Federal authorities have announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a Pennsylvania man accused of having threatened President Donald Trump and other officials.
Twenty-seven-year-old Shawn Christy of McAdoo is also wanted in Pennsylvania on arrest warrants for burglary, probation violation, and failure to appear for an aggravated assault case.
The U.S. Marshals service, the FBI, and the U.S. Secret Service are asking for help for the public but warn that Christy should be considered armed and dangerous.
Read more at WASHINGTON TIMES.
|
August 19, 2018 at 10:54 am
President Trump made a “big mistake” when he fired FBI boss James Comey, former White House chief strategist and senior counselor Steve Bannon said in an interview aired Friday.
A top Trump administration official at the time of Mr. Comey’s termination, Mr. Bannon told MSNBC that he correctly predicted the president would prompt the appointment of a special counsel by firing the former FBI director in May 2017.
“I thought it was a big mistake and I thought it would lead to a special counsel,” Mr. Bannon said in an interview.
“I think if the Comey investigation had been allowed to continue, it would have taken another couple of months and wrapped up,” Mr. Bannon added.
Read more at WASHINGTON TIMES.
|
August 19, 2018 at 10:51 am
Jerusalem - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Foreign Ministry expressed sorrow on Saturday night for the passing at age 80 of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a diplomat who made the UN a tiny bit less anti-Israel.
“We will remember him as having been very active in the international arena and as someone who fought antisemitism and Holocaust denial,” Netanyahu said in a statement, sending Israel’s condolences to Annan’s family.
The Foreign Ministry called Annan a “pillar of multilateral diplomacy,” and said that during his tenure he “opposed attempts to delegitimize Israel, fought resolutely against Holocaust denial, and in 2006 supported the UN initiative to establish an International Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
In 2006, a...
|
August 19, 2018 at 10:42 am
Aug. 19, 2018 - 10:40 AM - B'Chasdei HaShem the bochur was found safe and sound in Patterson, NJ.
###
A search is currently underway for a bochur missing in Lakewood, NJ.
Hatzolah, Chaveirim, LCSW and others are assisting the Lakewood Police Department and Ocean County Sheriff Department in a wide-ranging search.
The bochur, who answers to Shragy, is 17 years old, weighs about 190 pounds, and is about 6 feet tall. He was wearing glasses, a navy hoodie, and Crocs.
The search is being conducted, with drone and K-9 support, in the area of Lake Shenandoah County Park off of new Hampshire Avenue.
The teen was last seen early Shabbos afternoon in the area where the search is being conducted.
All are asked to daven for the welfare of C...
|
August 19, 2018 at 9:43 am
Following pressure from charedi parties, Defense Minisrry waives ban on overseas flights for charedim avoiding IDF service.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman decided to relax regulations requiring those possessing exemptions from military service to receive special permission to travel overseas in order to enable yeshiva bochurim to visit Uman for the high holidays.
Under Israeli law, yeshiva bochurim who do not serve in the IDF are forbidden from flying overseas until they are 27 without obtaining approval first from the Defense Ministry. These regulations put a burden on charedim who wished to spend the Rosh Hashana holiday in Uman.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
