Baltimore, MD - Nov. 3, 2019 - This year, the Baltimore Shabbat Project, which originated in South Africa in 2013, will provide opportunities for thousands of Jews in Baltimore to observe the Jewish day of rest with added inspiration and celebration of Jewish identity. The main celebration will be the weekend of November 15-16, Parashat Vayeira, with additional programs taking place leading up to the project. Previously, Shabbat Project celebrations attracted more than 1 million participants in 101 countries across 1,511 cities and towns. This year, organizers believe the initiative will top those numbers. Last year, the Shabbat Project weekend was tarnished by the tragic loss of life and heinous act of anti-Semitism in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This year, the organizers of the internati...
Baltimore, MD - Nov. 11, 2019 - Hundreds of boys accompanied by their fathers flocked to Shomrei this past Sunday evening to attend the Pirchei Agudas Yisroel of Baltimore Hasmodah Banquet. The boys, most who attend school at Talmudical Academy and Yeshivas Kochav Yitzchak, were being honored for learning daily during the Sukkos vacation, even though school was not in session. The Hasmodah Banquet was single-handedly organized to perfection by TI 1st-grade rebbe Rabbi Ya'akov Horowitz, who oversaw the event from start to finish and MC'ed the event. The banquet started off with a feast fit for b'nei m'lachim, catered by Mr. Fishel Gross and his O'Fishel team. A group of 7th and 8th graders from TI/YKY, along with a few other young eager helpers, set up the room and...
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the widow of Maryland 7th District Congressman Elijah Cummings, has planned a “special announcement” for Tuesday morning in West Baltimore. On Oct. 31, two weeks after her husband’s death, Cummings told the Baltimore Sun that she was considering running for her husband’s seat as she would look to continue his legacy of public service. Cummings is the current Maryland Democratic Party Chairman. She had sought the Democratic nomination for governor last year but ended her campaign, due in part to her husband's poor health. Cummings’ announcement comes days after the Republican activist who sparked a week of Twitter attacks launched her own campaign for the 7th District seat. Kimberly Klacik used a FOX News Channel ap...
GOP releases impeachment probe witness list; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy weighs in.
NEW YORK (AP) – A surge in violent police clashes has left a trail of bodies across New York City, stoking tensions between officers and critics who say they have been too quick to use deadly force. Since mid-October, New York Police Department officers have shot five people, killing four of them — a torrent that left department veterans struggling to recall another time there were so many on-duty shootings in the city in such a short span. On Oct. 23, police killed a man in Harlem after they say he fired a gunshot that hit an officer’s bullet-resistant vest. Two days later, police killed a man in Brooklyn after they say he slammed an officer’s head with a chair. That officer was placed in a medically induced coma for several days. Adding to the chasm: bystander ...
PORTLAND (AP) – On Dec. 14, 2018, Aaron Cole was about to buy a new house and received an email that he thought was from his title company, directing him to make a $123,000 deposit. Cole complied, not realizing that a sophisticated hacker network had likely been spying on his communications with the title company and that although the email looked like others he had received from the title company, this time, the email address was slightly different. A week later, the title company called, advising him it was time to send money. The Oregon man suddenly realized he had given away his family’s life savings to criminals. The money was from the sale of their former house. “It was the worst feeling,” Cole said Friday. “And then having to go home and tell my wife...
LONDON (AP) — Facebook is opening up a war room to quickly respond to election hoaxes. Twitter is banning political ads. Google plans to crack down on bogus videos on YouTube. Social media platforms say they are mounting a vigorous campaign against misinformation in the lead up to next month’s general election in the United Kingdom. But digital misinformation experts believe British voters remain vulnerable to the same type of misleading ads and phony claims that played a role in the vote to leave the European Union three years ago. Government inaction on online misinformation and digital ad regulations have added to the pressure internet companies are under as they face growing criticism for amplifying false claims during the run up to the 2016 Brexit referendum and the 2016...
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York regulator is investigating Goldman Sachs for possible discrimination in the way it sets credit limits. The bank denies wrongdoing. The investigation follows a series of viral tweets by entrepreneur and web developer David Heinemeier Hansson about algorithms used for the Apple Card, which Goldman Sachs manages in partnership with Apple. Hansson said the card offered him a credit limit 20 times greater than it gave to his wife, even though she has a higher credit score. He called the algorithm a sexist program. A spokeswoman for the New York Department of Financial Services confirmed Saturday that the agency will investigate. The agency is “troubled to learn of potential discriminatory treatment in regards to credit limit decisions reportedly made b...
A man was seriously injured on Sunday after he set himself on fire inside a courtroom in southern Israel. The 48-year-old man, accused of threatening a worker at a local GMO branch, poured flammable liquid on himself and set his own body on fire during a hearing at the Be’er Sheva District Court. Medical officials said the man suffered serious burns on the upper part of his body and was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva. Read more at YNET.
BERLIN (AP) — Police and organizers say more than 100,000 people took part in an open-air party celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Despite the cold and damp, crowds flocked to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate late Saturday for music and fireworks. The boulevard leading up to the Brandenburg Gate was covered with a giant rainbow-colored net made of 100,000 streamers, many with messages of love and peace, created by American artist Patrick Shearn. Elsewhere in the city, images and video of the events around the Nov. 9, 1989 fall of the wall were projected onto buildings. In the once-divided town of Moedlareuth, auto enthusiasts re-enacted the moment when East Germans first cross the border in their modest ‘Trabi’ cars to the cheers of welcom...
Israel has denied reports of a breakthrough in talks with Hamas regarding the return of two Israeli hostages and the two bodies of IDF soldiers being held in the Gaza Strip, accusing the terror group that rules the coastal enclave of inflexibility and adopting unrealistic positions. The chief negotiator for the release of prisoners, Yaron Blum, told KAN radio that the report of progress by Saudi-based Independent Arabia was untrue, and that the lack of development was due to Hamas. “Unfortunately, and despite all of our efforts, Hamas has refused to adopt a realistic position on the issue, which has hindered any real progress,” Blum said. Read more at YNET.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused of making a veiled anti-Semitic comment in a tweet about Michael Bloomberg. While sharing an article on Twitter about billionaire chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors Leon Cooperman expressing his support for “fellow billionaire” Bloomberg’s possible run for president, Omar commented “I wonder why?” alongside a thinking face emoji. But while some viewed Omar’s reaction to the article as an observation about “billionaires sharing similar political views”, others believe she is implying that Cooperman’s support for Bloomberg is because they are both Jewish—and accused her of anti-Semitism. “Omar very carefully making an anti-Semitic tweet with just enough vagueness to claim that ack...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Back in 1973, tens of millions of Americans tuned in to what Variety called “the hottest daytime soap opera” — the Senate Watergate hearings that eventually led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. It was a communal experience, and by some estimates, more than 80% of Americans tuned in to at least part of the Watergate telecasts. They were offered by ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as PBS, which won acclaim and viewers by showing not only the live hearings but also the full-length replays in prime time. Seeing the witnesses lay out the case against the president moved public opinion decidedly in favor of impeachment. But this time may be different. When the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump begins its public phase on Wedn...
It has been a bitter harvest for some Israeli farmers on the border with Jordan. On Sunday, a 25-year-old deal between the two countries that has allowed them to cultivate land there formally expires. Under the deal, part of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, two territories straddling the border were recognized as under Jordanian sovereignty but with special provisions allowing Israeli farmers to work the land and visitors to tour the Isle of Peace park in the area. But in 2018, Jordan said it did not want to continue the arrangement, in what was widely seen as a sign of increasingly strained diplomatic relations. “It was like a punch to the face,” said Eli Arazi, 74, a farmer whose kibbutz, or agricultural community, worked one of the land parcels that in Hebrew is calle...
An El Al pilot on a flight that took off from Ben Gurion Airport to Prague on Sunday evening turned the plane around over the city of Izmir, Turkey, after an hour and a half and returned to Israel. This was due to a technical malfunction which was discovered in the aircraft. El Al said that "Flight 2523 from Tel Aviv to Prague is returning to Ben Gurion Airport due to a technical malfunction." "We are prepared to treat the passengers and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and stress that flight safety is our top priority," added the airline.
Vandals spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on cars and garages in Britain on Sunday. A car, van and garage door were found daubed with Nazi symbolism and the words “Jews out” in Canvey Island, Essex, according to the Daily Mail. The anti-Semitic attack, which took place near the Castle Point Golf Course shocked residents in the area. Canvey is a town known for its proud Jewish links, with a large orthodox community making their home there in the past few years. The imagery is believed to have been painted late last night or in the early hours of the morning, the Daily Mail said. Essex Police are investigating but they have not yet made any arrests. An Essex Police spokesman said, “We are investigating after several reports of criminal d...
A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on Sunday that while the Islamic Republic’s current need was only for uranium enriched to five percent, it had the capacity to enrich up to 60 percent. Iran “has the possibility to produce [uranium enriched to] 5%, 20% and 60%, and has this capacity,” AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said during a news conference at Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility, according to Reuters. “At the moment, the need is for 5%,” he added. While 60% far exceeds the level of enrichment required for most civilian applications, it falls short of the 90% required to construct a nuclear weapon. Iran announced last week that it was resuming uranium enrichment at Fordow, in a further step from its commitments u...
Two people were killed in New Jersey early Sunday when a Porsche launched into the air and smashed into the second story of a commercial building, investigators said. The sports car, a 2010 Porsche Boxster convertible, was traveling at “a high rate of speed” when the driver lost control, hit a center median and struck an embankment that sent it smashing through the building, Toms River Police spokeswoman Jillian Messina told Fox News. The victims were later identified as 22-year-old Braden DeMartin of Toms River and his passenger, 23-year-old Daniel Foley, also of Toms River, the department said in a news release. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. The crash unfolded around 6:30 a.m., Sgt. Vincent Pedalino told NJ.com. He said the buil...
he climate of vicious hatred and incitement based on opposing political ideologies, which is now permeating Israel and seeping down to the next generation, could spark another political assassination, President Reuven Rivlin and Dalia Rabin, the daughter of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, implied on Sunday.They were speaking at the President's Residence at the Ner Yitzhak (a candle for Yitzhak) ceremony, which marks the official beginning of a series of annual memorial events on the Hebrew anniversary of Rabin's death. A massive memorial rally is held annually at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on the Saturday night closest to the anniversary of the murder, according to the Gregorian calendar.In addition to four generations of the Rabin family – currently headed by the prime ...
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. health officials announced a breakthrough Friday into the cause of a mysterious outbreak of vaping illnesses, reporting they have a “very strong culprit.” The same chemical compound was found in fluid taken from the lungs of 29 patients across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The compound — vitamin E acetate — was previously found in liquid from electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices used by many of those who got sick. But this is the first time they’ve found a common suspect in the damaged lungs of patients, officials said. “We are in a better place in terms of having one very strong culprit,” said the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat. Agency officials cautioned they cannot rule ...
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