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September 9, 2019 at 10:29 am
Joseph’s knee hurts, badly. He can’t really get around pain free, let alone do his daily morning power walk. He takes some non-prescription pain killer. For a few hours, there is some relief although a dull ache is always there. How long can he keep taking these pills? They begin to bother his stomach by the third day of taking them. Debra’s lower back is always in pain. She has a special pillow for the back of her chair in the office she works in, but still has to get up every 20 minutes to walk around. Sleeping is difficult for her and her quality of life has been deteriorating. Elazer is in chronic left shoulder pain. He was our hiking a few weeks ago and slipped while climbing down a hill. He used his h...
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September 9, 2019 at 7:46 am
In Devarim, Perek Chof Gimmel, posuk gimmel the Torah commands Bnei Yisroel not to allow a mamzer to marry a Jewish woman.
There is a famous machlokes Rishonim on the concept in halacha that when you have a safek on a d’Oraysa, we pasken lechumra: is this psak lechumra mi’d’Oraysa or it is only mi’d’Rabbonon? The Rashba on Kiddushin, daf ayin gimmel amud bais brings a Teshuvas Ha’Rambam that since the gemara had to teach us that only a mamzer vadai is unable to marry a Jewish woman, but a mamzer safek may do so, we see that safek d’Ora...
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September 8, 2019 at 9:35 pm
Mazal Tov to Rabbi Chai Posner, who was unanimously voted as Beth Tfiloh Congregation's next senior rabbi, effective January 1, 2022. Following his retirement in December of 2021, Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg will transition to the role of rabbi in residence through December 2025, at which time Rabbi Posner will take on the full range of responsibilities of senior rabbi.
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September 8, 2019 at 9:18 pm
BALTIMORE, MD — The 2019 Urban Mobility Report presented a troubling finding that commuters across the nation — especially drivers who have to commute in the Baltimore area — already know too well: Traffic congestion in the United States is at an all time worst.
The recently released report by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute was based off hundreds of speed data points for every 15 minutes of the average day for almost every mile of major road in urban America.
Drivers in our city spend on average 59 hours each year in traffic delays, the 22nd highest amount in America. Baltimore also ranks 32nd in excess fuel per commuter, due to congestion, and 32nd in congestion cost per driver.
Here are the congestion statistics for Baltimore:
Yearly de...
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September 8, 2019 at 9:02 pm
Question #1: Required???
“Must I physically send away the mother bird? I am squeamish!”
Question #2: Keep the Babies
“Must I take the young to fulfill the mitzvah?”
Question #3: Educated!
“I am so excited about the opportunity to fulfill this special mitzvah, with all its rewards, but I want to make sure I do it properly. Can you please enlighten me?”
Well known and poorly understood
This week’s parsha includes the laws of a mitzvah, or more accurately, two mitzvos that are both well-known and yet poorly understood. The Torah teaches that when we happen to find a nest of birds, we are to send away the mother and keep the young; that is, either the baby birds or the eggs. An entire chapter of Mish...
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September 8, 2019 at 8:50 pm
At the beginning of this week’s parsha, the process of prosecuting the idolater is discussed. Regarding his or her demise by stoning it is stated, (17:7) “and you shall wipe out the evil from your midst.”
Immediately thereafter, we are taught of the procedure regarding the zakein mamreh, the elder who engages in a dispute with the Sanhedrin and advises others in contradiction to their decree. He is put to death for this insurrection, about which it is said, (17:12) “and you will wipe out the evil from Yisrael.”
R’ Moshe Shternbuch, in Ta’am VaDa’as, explains the slight discrepancy between the two phrases. He notes that the nature of the zakein mamreh is such that in his disagreement with the Sanhed...
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September 8, 2019 at 5:49 pm
With Israeli elections just days away, many American Jews are watching closely, hoping that Benjamin Netanyahu will finally be defeated.
American Jews, overwhelmingly Democrats and liberals, have a litany of complaints about Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. They believe he insulted President Barack Obama by trying to prevent the passage of his Iran nuclear deal with an address to a joint session of Congress. They claim Netanyahu’s 2018 law declaring Israel the nation-state of the Jewish people has eroded the country’s democracy. Above all, they blame Netanyahu for the lack of progress on the Palestinian front.
There is a reasonable chance that Netanyahu will win. If he does not, though, the victor will most certainly come from Israel’s ...
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September 8, 2019 at 5:48 pm
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) —
Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor and congressman, joined the Republican race against President Donald Trump on Sunday, aiming to put his Appalachian Trail travails behind him for good as he pursues an admittedly remote path to the presidency.
"I am here to tell you now that I am going to get in," Sanford said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." ''This is the beginning of a long walk."
When asked why he was taking on an incumbent who's popular within the party, Sanford, who has acknowledged his slim chances by saying he doesn't expect to become president, said: "I think we need to have a conversation on what it means to be a Republican. I think that as the Republican Party, we have lost our way."
Sanford joins Joe Walsh, ...
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September 8, 2019 at 4:56 pm
A former Hezbollah leader was found dead in his apartment outside of Beirut Sunday, Lebanese media outlets reported.
Sheikh Ali Hatoum, who was a senior member of the Iranian-backed Shia terrorist organization before his departure from the group two years ago, was found dead in his home in Bourj el-Barajneh, a suburb of Beirut.
Citing unnamed sources, Lebanon24 reported that there was “no security action related to the killing of the [Hezbollah]” official, noting that Hatoum was no longer affiliated with the terror group.
No cause of death has been reported thus far, and local officials are expected to make a public statement on the discovery of Hatoum’s remains.
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September 8, 2019 at 4:55 pm
Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, has been fined 30 million shekels ($8.6 million) for what the competition regulator said was an “abuse of the firm’s monopolistic position” in telecommunications infrastructure.
The antitrust authority also imposed a financial penalty of 500,000 shekels on a senior Bezeq official and said on Wednesday it intended to levy a further 8 million shekel fine on Bezeq for misinformation during the authority’s investigation.
The regulator said Bezeq blocked competitors from deploying wired communications networks using the company’s infrastructure, which “could adversely affect the development of competition in the supply of internet, television and wired telecoms services.”
Bezeq declined to comment.
Israe...
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September 8, 2019 at 4:55 pm
A former cab driver was recently charged in Montreal for assaulting a Jewish man in a parking garage, according to the Montreal Gazette.
Video footage of the altercation on July 28 shows a yarmulke-clad man taking a photo of a taxi driver, who then gets out of the car and punches the victim repeatedly until a parking supervisor intervenes.
According to B’nai Brith Canada, which called the attack a hate crime, the victim was waiting for the taxi to move from the entrance of the building’s underground garage when the driver allegedly yelled, “I won’t move for any […] Jews.”
The victim tried taking a photograph of the taxi to file a complaint.
The cab driver fled the scene after the attack, though his company, Taxi Champlain, discovered his identity an...
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September 8, 2019 at 4:55 pm
A 45-year-old man is in critical condition after he was shot on Chai Landau Street in Beer Sheva
United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Eliah Yitzchak Tubul who was one of the first responders at the scene said: “We treated the injured man at the scene. He was in critical condition after he was shot in his upper body. After receiving the initial treatment he was transported by an intensive care ambulance to Soroka hospital for further care and treatment.”
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September 8, 2019 at 4:54 pm
Starbucks is opening the world’s largest Roastery in Chicago.
The company said the restaurant will open on November 15, overtaking Tokyo as its biggest location of the lavish offshoot. The four-story Chicago Roastery is 43,000 square feet and is replacing a former Crate and Barrel location in the city’s Magnificent Mile neighborhood.
Roasteries are intended to be tourist attractions in themselves. They feature specialty coffees and teas, on-premise roasters and massive coffee casks where freshly roasted beans are held.
Read more at CNN.
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September 8, 2019 at 4:54 pm
Here’s some less-than refreshing news about soda: even sugar-free versions were associated with a higher risk of death in a study of 452,000 people in 10 countries.
The study, published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who drank two or more glasses of soft drinks per day were more likely to die from all types of ailments, compared with people who drank less than one glass per month.
“Results of this study appear to support ongoing public-health measures to reduce the consumption of soft drinks,” the researchers concluded.
Read more at Market Watch.
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September 8, 2019 at 4:53 pm
Two people and 76 others were injured during violent protests on Friday along the Israel-Gaza border for a 73rd consecutive week, this time consisting of 6,200 Palestinians against Israel Defense Forces stationed there.
Ali Sami Al-Ashqar, 17, was killed east of Jabalia City, while Ashati refugee camp resident Khalid Al-Raba’i, 14, was killed east of Gaza City.
Rioters threw IEDs and Molotov cocktails at IDF troops. Repeatedly, two grenades were hurled at IDF jeeps near Han Younis.
The IDF caught two Palestinians breaching the northern Gaza border.
Violent demonstrations during which around 6,200 protesters assembled in several locations along the Gaza border fence,” said the IDF in a statement. “The demonstrations were of an especially violent nature, which included ...
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September 8, 2019 at 4:53 pm
Russia and Ukraine exchanged several dozen prisoners Saturday as they moved to dial down tensions in a swap that included captured Ukrainian sailors and a suspect in the 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane.
Thirty-five from each side were involved in the handovers, which has been highly anticipated and come less than four months after Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, took office promising to open fresh channels of dialogue with Moscow.
Ukrainians, in particular, have long sought the release of those held by Russia in the five years since Moscow seized Crimea and began sponsoring a rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
At 1:25 p.m., planes from each country landed back home with the released detainees aboard.
Ukraine’s twin-engine Antonov-48 was met by a crowd of r...
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September 8, 2019 at 4:53 pm
A police cruiser crashed into the front of a Brooklyn health food store on Motzoei Shabbos, injuring five people, including two cops after it was slammed into by another vehicle, officials said.
The accident happened around 9:45 p.m. in front of the Landau’s Health Tree on 13th Ave in Borough Park, reports the NY Post. The NYPD Ford Explorer was traveling southbound on 13th Avenue when the driver of a mini-van slammed into it. Surveillance video shows the police cruiser mounting the curb and crashing into the front of Landau’s, striking at least two women. Paramedics rushed the pair to the hospital, where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries. The cops and the driver of the mini-van were also hospitalized and expected to be okay.
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September 8, 2019 at 4:51 pm
More than 6,000 Palestinians rioted on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Friday in an “especially violent” manner, the IDF said.
The rioters — hurling explosive devices, grenades, firebombs and rocks — damaged the border fence in several locations, according to the Israeli military.
A number of Palestinians were said to have breached the border and briefly crossed into Israeli territory before returning to Gaza. Two were detained on the Israeli side of the border and taken in for questioning.
IDF troops responded with riot-dispersal means. Health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza said two Palestinian teenagers were killed, and 70 other demonstrators were injured, including 38 by live fire.
Hamas warned that Israel would be “held accountable for these crimes.&rdq...
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September 8, 2019 at 4:51 pm
The acting chief of the UN nuclear watchdog policing Iran‘s nuclear deal with major powers, Cornel Feruta, will meet senior Iranian officials in Tehran on Sunday, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday.
“The visit is part of ongoing interactions between the IAEA and Iran,” the spokesman said.
The trip comes before a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors next week and after an IAEA report suggested Iran‘s cooperation with the agency was less than ideal, saying: “Ongoing interactions between the Agency and Iran … require full and timely cooperation by Iran. The Agency continues to pursue this objective with Iran.”
