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September 18, 2019 at 9:53 pm
According to official results released by Israel’s Central Elections Committee, with 90% of the ballots counted Blue and White maintains a slight lead over the Likud, with neither bloc clearly positioned to form a majority coalition.
Blue and White: 32Likud: 31Joint List: 13Yisrael Beytenu: 9Shas: 9United Torah Judaism: 8Yamina: 7Labor: 6Democratic Camp: 5—-Right-wing, religious bloc: 55Left-wing, secular bloc: 52Arab parties: 13
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September 18, 2019 at 9:52 pm
Mordechai ben David paid a visit to the gadol hador, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, at his Bnei Brak home yesterday. Mordechai met with Rav Chaim at his home on Rechov Rashbam to receive his brocha ahead of Rosh Hashanah and the yemei hadin.
Rav Chaim’s grandson, who serves as his gabbai, explained to Rav Chaim that Mordechai is “mesameiach harbeh anashim” (makes many people happy [through his music]).
Rav Chaim responded with a brocha of “kesivah vachasimah tovah” and then “ah gut yohr” (a good year).
Rav Chaim often responds to people with “Buha” (short for brocha v’hatzlacha), but this time chose the longer formulation of kesivah vachasimah tovah and ah gut yoh...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:52 pm
The ADL is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a group of men who beat and robbed an Orthodox Jew in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Tuesday.
The attack was caught on video, which shows an Orthodox man walking alone at night who is then set upon by several men. They begin beating him and pursue him as he flees.
The attackers apparently demanded the victim’s belongings before attacking him.
The incident was only the latest in a series of such assaults against identifiably Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. Statistics show a serious rise in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City.
The ADL announced its reward in a press release, and its New York and New Jersey regional director, Evan R. Bernstein, said, “The video footage of this violent enco...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:52 pm
The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking the proceeds from Edward Snowden’s book, alleging the ex-NSA contractor violated nondisclosure agreements he signed with the government by publishing the manuscript without seeking the required approval.
In a news release, the Justice Department noted it was not seeking to “stop or restrict the publication or distribution” of the book, titled “Permanent Record,” but rather “to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of his failure to submit his publication for pre-publication review in violation of his alleged contractual and fiduciary obligations.”
“Intelligence information should protect our nation, not provide personal profit,” G. Zachary Terwilliger, the U.S. attorne...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:51 pm
New York’s congestion pricing plan should include fees on motorists both entering and leaving midtown Manhattan, as well as variable rates linked to peak and off-peak hours to encourage commuters to choose the least busy times to travel, a transportation group recommended.
The plan could generate about $1 billion annually under a variety of scenarios, the Regional Plan Association said in a study called “Congestion Pricing in NYC: Getting it Right.”
The RPA, a nonprofit research group, has influenced policies in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for more than a century, including the decision more than 90 years ago to build the George Washington Bridge. Its recommendations represent the first public cost-benefit analysis of potential fee schedules since the state leg...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:51 pm
Shas chairman, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, responded on Tuesday night to the results of the exit polls which predicted between eight and nine seats for his party.
Deri said that Shas would recommend Binyamin Netanyahu to lead the next government.
“We are entering a complicated journey of forming a government. We will only recommend Binyamin Netanyahu,” he stated.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
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September 18, 2019 at 9:51 pm
Education Minister and Jewish Home-National Union chairman, Rabbi Rafi Peretz, thanked the party’s activists on Tuesday evening.
“There was a difficult and complex election campaign, we made concessions and tough decisions in order to run together and we also expected more. I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu tonight and we are fully aligned with the goal of forming a right-wing government and continuing on the road together. The best thing we have to do right now is wait for the true results,” noted Rabbi Peretz.
“I want to appeal to all my friends from all the parties, we are concluding a period of six months in which Israeli society is being ripped from the inside, a second election campaign full of videos and slander, non-stop dirt. I will tell you the truth...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:50 pm
Juul Labs did everything in the power players’ handbook to cement its status in Washington. The Silicon Valley startup worked to make friends in the nation’s capital. It hired senior White House officials wired into President Donald Trump and the first family. It sent politically connected officials to the West Wing to extol its products. It spent big on lawmakers in both parties.
But last week, the e-cigarette giant along with the rest of the vaping industry, was caught off guard when President Trump decided to take drastic action, banning almost all flavored vaping products. “We can’t have our youth be so affected,” he said in the Oval Office.
The scope of the announcement stunned most of the industry, even big companies like Juul that have carefully nurtu...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:50 pm
U.S. satellites detected Iran priming drones and missiles before striking two Saudi Aramco oil facilities on Saturday, two Pentagon officials told National Public Radio.
They told NPR that U.S. intelligence saw this as “circumstantial evidence” that Iran launched the attack from its own soil.
The more than 20 cruise missiles and drones that hit the oil facilities were launched from southern Iran, reported CBS News, citing a senior U.S. official.
“A U.S. team has been on the ground at the oil facilities and identified the specific types of drones and cruise missiles fired,” reported CBS News. “The wreckage was moved to a facility outside the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where it will be used to make what one U.S. official called, ‘a very compelling forensi...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:50 pm
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed supporters at Likud Party headquarters early Wednesday morning and urged for the formation of a “strong Zionist government.”
“We’re still waiting for the results. But one thing is clear, the State of Israel is at a historic turning point,” he said. “We are facing immense opportunities, and immense challenges, including the existential threat from Iran.”
As a result, the Israeli leader said that the country needs “a strong government, a stable government, a Zionist government, a government committed to Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.”
Netanyahu mentioned that he will begin negotiations with prospective coalition partners in the coming days to create a “strong Z...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:49 pm
At 2:26 AM, Blue and White Party Leader Benny Gantz took to the stage, addressing a tired yet energized and celebratory audience at election headquarter in the Tel Aviv Port.
“I’m happy and very excited to be here tonight. Of course we will wait for real time results. But it seems we met mission, and did it our way,” Gantz declared. “We have proven that the idea of Blue and white, an initiative we set up less than six months ago, made it big time and that it is here to stay. Over a million citizens said no incitement and division, and yes to unity. They said no to corruption, yes to integrity. No to an attempt to ruin Israeli democracy, yes to guarding Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Tonight, however it develops from here, the journey to fix Israeli societ...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:49 pm
Health officials in California confirmed that another patient has died from a vaping-related illness – at least the seventh reported death associated with a national outbreak of serious lung disease related to vaping or using e-cigarettes.
The unnamed Tulare County resident died from “from complications related to the use of e-cigarettes”, according to the county Health and Human Services agency. The death was “suspected to be related to severe pulmonary injury associated with vaping,” Tulare County Public Health Officer Karen Haught said in a statement.
The death was announced Monday, the same day Gov. Gavin Newsom, D, took executive action to crack down on e-cigarette use in the state, where at least one other vaping-related fatality has been reported, in ...
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September 18, 2019 at 5:06 pm
Mazal Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Yitzchak Polsky on then engagement of their daughter Tzipora to Avi Rosensaft, son of Mr. and Mrs. Moshe Rosensaft of Baltimore, and to the grandmothers Mrs. Miriam Jacoby and Mrs. Ranelle Kibel.
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September 18, 2019 at 2:37 pm
With sorrow we relay that the passing of
Rabbi Chaim Yitzchok (Howard) Goldman, z"l, husband of Mrs. Basya Goldman and father of Mrs. Ahuva Wainhaus, Rabbi Gershon Goldman, Mrs. Tirza Wealcatch and Mrs. Shulamith Mensh.
The Levaya will be on Thursday evening in Israel. The family is landing in Israel at 4:40 pm and going straight to Har HaMenuchos in Yerushalayim.
The Levaya will be as soon as they are able to arrive.
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September 18, 2019 at 2:34 pm
At this time of year when many of us are using figs, dates and leeks, this is a reminder to check these items properly:
DATES: It is recommended that one open and do a visual inspection on a few out of each container. If no insects can be seen, one can assume the rest are insect-free.
FIGS: Open each one and check carefully for infestation (typically wasps, beetles or worms).
Checking instructions for dates and figs apply even if they have a hechsher, due to the possibility of improper storage.
LEEKS: Examine the outside for any leaf miner trails. Check in between the leaves for thrips or other insects.
BLACK EYED PEAS: Dried peas should first be boiled in water. After they have been fully cooked, allow the peas to soak in the wat...
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September 18, 2019 at 2:32 pm
Our great king and poet, David, gave voice to his deepest desire when he wrote, “One thing I ask of the Lord...to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life...” To live in the House of the Lord! Who could contemplate anything grander or more worthwhile? And yet, after the very same verse he adds, u’lvaker be’heichalo – and to, “visit His Temple”.
Like every great poet, in these words David has captured an essential contradiction. He speaks of wanting to be what he cannot be, both a resident and a visitor! Rabbi Soloveitchik seeks to make sense of David’s contradictory desire by teaching, that permanent residence often results in losing perspective, taking things for granted, no longer appreciati...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:42 am
As Selichot commence this Saturday night (for Ashkenazim), the buildup to the Great Days begins in earnest. These are days of Judgement, of pronounced Divine Presence but also days of identity-crafting. During this period, we fashion the person we would “like to be” from the shards of the person we “have become”. Teshuva and penitence are an odyssey through the inner self, in search of rescue, absolution and heightened identity. Teshuva itself can be experienced as a ‘process’ or, alternatively, it can be transformational to our very identities. Chazal refer to a “ba’al teshuva” and not just someone who experiences teshuva- implying a deeper character renovation catalyzed by teshuva. The process can be limited to forty days or it can co...
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September 18, 2019 at 9:25 am
OWINGS MILLS, MD — Firefighters were called to an explosion at the McDonogh School Wednesday morning, according to the Baltimore County Fire Department. Multiple injuries have been reported, officials said.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the school in Owings Mills at 8:27 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. A smoke tower exploded on the McDonogh campus in the 8600 block of McDonogh Road, officials said.
Two adults suffered injuries that were believed to be non-life-threatening, according to authorities. One child was also injured, officials said after 9 a.m.
Before 9 a.m., the Baltimore County Fire Department reported its collapse team was evaluating the stability of the building.
People should avoid McDonogh Road due to emergency personnel in the area.
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September 18, 2019 at 9:23 am
Jerusalem- Despite the fact that official results of the Israeli election have yet to be published since the votes have not yet been inserted on the main database of the Central Election Committee, over 90% of the votes have indeed been counted and the picture emerging is of a virtual tie between the two main parties and no clear winner within the left-wing and right-wing blocs. Likud and Blue-And-White each have 32 seats, the Joint Arab List has 12, Shas has 9, Aguda 8, Yamina 7, Avoda-Gesher 6 and the Democratic Union-Meretz has 5 seats.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the only clear winner is Avigdor Liberman, whose party gained four seats over the April election and now has 9 seats, meaning that it can decide which party it wants to form the next government.
Liberman has often stated ...
