Yaakov is known as the “chosen” of the Avot and Torah was his staple. Yet, the Torah never directly discusses his learning in the beis medrash of Shem V’Aver, instead focusing on Vayeitze, his journey to “work” for Lavan. What’s the explanation? I heard someone say that Yaakov’s learning was no chiddush, but the fact that he was going to work using a Torah framework was a challenge. Rabbi Frand notes that the Rambam lists Yaakov’s name 18 times and only names him Yaakov HaTzaddik when he refers to his work by Lavan. Rabbi Frand understands that this is because Yaakov didn’t waste any time while working for Lavan even though Lavan was a total rasha. Yaakov was honest in his work and wouldn’t steal someone else’s time. This...
The Pentagon is considering a plan to add up to 7,000 additional forces to the Middle East to counter what it sees as an increasing threat from Iran, two U.S. defense officials tell Fox News, but the defense secretary has “not made any decision,” according to the Pentagon’s top policy adviser. “We're watching this situation where the Iranians both have conducted attacks in recent months, and we are concerned about the threat stream that we are seeing,” John Rood, the undersecretary of defense for policy said during Senate Armed Services Committee testimony Thursday when asked about the Iranian threat. Rood replied, “yes,” when asked by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., if the Pentagon was considering deploying more forces t...
Until 2006, at the great pleading of good friends of ours, who had made Aliyah a few years back, my husband Dovid - who had never been to Eretz Yisroel -  and I - who had only come once before as a teenager on a sponsored trip – flew to the Holy Land. The entire trip was a total of three weeks. But those three weeks were our turning point.  We went home knowing we were coming back, for good. We just didn’t know when. Dovid and I spent more than the last 40 years teaching, bringing up our 7 children, and involved with our Jewish community. Quebec, Canada had been our home from even before we got married. I taught Chumash, Navi, history to 4th graders in the day girls’ school and my husband taught 3rd graders and special Ed in the boys’ school. Aliyah had ...
At Maariv tonight, December 5th, residents of chutz la’aretz begin to say Vesein Tal Umatar during the Shemonah Esrei in the bracha of Boreich Aleinu. Residents of Eretz Yisroel already began saying Vesein Tal Umatar on the 7th of Cheshvan. If one became aware after completing the bracha of Mevareich Hashanim that one omitted Vesein Tal Umatar, one should wait to insert it right before “Ki atah shomeiah” in Shema Koleinu. If one has already completed the bracha of Shomeiah Tefillah, one may insert Vesein Tal Umatar before saying Retzei. If one has already started Retzei, one must return to the bracha of Boreich Aleinu, w...
Five different countries were involved in recent attempts to push forward an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would include a new prisoner swap arrangement, according to senior member of Hamas’s political wing Musa Dudin, Hebrew-language broadcaster Channel 12 reported Thursday. Speaking to Palestinian media, Dudin said that Egypt spearheaded efforts — along with Qatar, Turkey, Sweden and Germany — to release Israeli soldiers’ remains, as well as Israeli civilians believed to be held captive in the Gaza Strip, “These attempts did not progress because of the occupation’s lack of consistency and lack of ripeness to begin handling the process,” the Hamas official was quoted by Channel 12. Read more at i24NEWS.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he denied he has agreed to serve just six months as prime minister as part of the negotiations for the unity government.   "I don't want to serve six months, I want two years," he said, referring to the rotation issue.
Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott is calling for further investigations into former Mayor Catherine Pugh's book dealings with the city, according to WBAL-TV 11. The calls come not long after Pugh pleaded guilty to four counts related to her children's book sales in federal court. Scott said CEO and president J.P. Grant of Grant Capital Management was "closely-tied" to Pugh, and he wants to discover if there were any questionable deals made pertaining to city contracts, WBAL-TV 11 reports. In 2016, Grant paid $100,000 to Pugh's Healthy Holly LLC, according to court records. Last month, prosecutors alleged Grant violated state election laws by paying $50,000 for books, and the money went to Pugh's mayoral campaign. The company's website shows it ente...
Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday announced a $3.8 billion proposal to more than clear local school systems' capital funding requests. Hogan also announced a measure to allow communities to take over struggling schools. "Education has been and will continue to be our administration's highest priority because I believe very strongly that every single child in Maryland deserves a world-class education, regardless of what neighborhood they happened to grow up in," Hogan said. The state has received a total of $3.7 billion in requests from school systems, Hogan said. "No governor in the history of our state has ever invested more in K through 12 education," Hogan said. Hogan also announced a proposal, modeled on a similar law in Massachusetts, to allow schools that get two straig...
WARWICK, PA (VINnews) – A Pennsylvania man faces charges of ethnic intimidation and harassment after spending part of his Thanksgiving sending antisemitic images and videos to a Jewish man via text message. Hunter Robert-William Ryan, 21, of the 2600 block of Fallow Hill Lane in Warwick Township, was arrested Tuesday night and arraigned on the misdemeanor charges. District Judge Maggie Snow ordered Ryan to have no contact with the victim and set bail at $50,000 unsecured. “People deserve to feel safe across all forms of communication,” said District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub. “While we review these incidents on a case by case basis, generally hate speech becomes criminal when it is implicitly harassing or threatening towards someone else. If you are threatene...
BERLIN (AP) — An activist group has apologized to Jewish organizations outraged over their use of purported Holocaust victims’ remains in an installation outside Germany’s parliament building meant to draw attention to the perils of far-right extremism. The Center for Political Beauty, a Germany-based activist group known for provocative stunts, installed an urn outside the Reichtstag building on Monday, saying it contained victims’ remains that it had unearthed from 23 locations near Nazi death and concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Soil the group said contained the remains could be seen in the transparent orange urn, about the size of an oil drum, set atop a metal pillar. Following the uproar from Jewish organizations decrying the stunt as an in...
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that the House is moving forward to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. ‘’Our democracy is what is at stake,” Pelosi said. “The president leaves us no choice but to act.” Pelosi delivered the historic announcement as Democrats push toward a vote, possibly by Christmas. She said she was authorizing the drafting of articles of impeachment “sadly but with confidence and humility.” “The president’s actions have seriously violate the Constitution,” Pelosi said. At the heart of the impeachment probe is a July call with the president of Ukraine, in which Trump pressed the leader to investigate Democrats and political rival Joe Biden as Tr...
JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Tzipi Rimel, who was tragically killed in a road accident Sunday evening together with her three-week old daughter Noam, was a dedicated and much loved teacher who recently spent four years in Chicago with her family where she taught, inspired, educated and motivated her students at Ida Crown Jewish Academy (ICJA). Many of her proteges have successfully made Aliya and established themselves in Israel, after she encouraged and advised them on how to integrate into Israeli society and how to make a meaningful contribution to others, just as she did for so many. Tzipi Rimel’s (z’l) family has requested that we share stories about Tzipi so that they can share them with her children. The stories reveal a multifaceted woman who was both mother and te...
CHESTER, NY (VINnews) – Attorney General Letitia James today took action to fight discriminatory housing practices that the Town of Chester and Orange County have utilized to prevent members of the Jewish community from moving to Chester, New York. Attorney General James filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit against the Town of Chester and Orange County alleging that they have engaged in a concerted and systematic effort to prevent Hasidic Jewish families from moving to Chester by blocking the construction of a housing development. The original lawsuit, filed in July 2019 by the developers of the “The Greens at Chester,” outlined countless discriminatory and unnecessary actions that Chester and Orange County have taken to stop the homes from being built in order to pr...
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is bristling over a question about whether she “hates” President Donald Trump. Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference Thursday that as a Catholic, she resents the suggestion that she hates anyone. She fired back at the questioner: “Don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.” The reporter asked: “Do you hate the president, Madam Speaker?” “I don’t hate anybody,” Pelosi responded. She went on to call Trump, the subject of only the fourth presidential impeachment inquiry in history, a “coward” on gun policy, “cruel” on immigration and “in denial” about climate issues. Earlier, Pelosi announced that the House will draft a...
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 3, 2019 - This year (5780/2019) in chutz la’aretz we will begin reciting vesein tal umotor livracha at Maariv of Thursday night, December 5th.  It is well known that in chutz la’aretz we usually begin saying vesein tal umotor livracha in Shemoneh Esrei at Maariv of December 4th. Why is this year and every four years different? The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 117:1), based on the Gemara in Maseches Taanis (10a), says that in chutz la’aretz, we begin reciting vesein tal umotor on the 60th day of tekufas Tishrei. [Note: “Tekufos” are seasons.] In the 20th and 21st centuries, Tekufas Tishrei always occurs on October 7th. If we count October 7th as Day #1, then December 5th is Day #60. The halachic day of December 5th begins th...
Extending the chain of learning begun by Rav Meir Shapiro, ZTL, as the 14th Daf Yomi cycle begins anew, Klal Govoah aims to maximize Torah study by rallying Klal Yisroel to join Daf Yomi on the first day of the new cycle and experience its joy and fulfillment even for one day. The initiative is dedicated in memory of Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, z’l, whose efforts sparked an explosion of learning. Revolutionizing Torah study through ArtScroll’s many volumes, Rabbi Zlotowitz made Gemara accessible to the masses and Daf Yomi an attainable goal.  With the new cycle beginning on Sunday, January 5th, Klal Govoah is recruiting an even larger number of people to start Daf Yomi with a free live stream that will give anyone, anywhere in the world, the ability to participate as the daily ...
Jerusalem, Israel - Dec. 5, 2019 - The Condition of the Brisker Rosh Yeshivah, Hagaon Reb Dovid Soloveichik, Shlita, has worsened. He is now hospitalized in the ICU and is in need of Rachamei Shamayim.Please Daven for R’ Meshulam Dovid Halevi ben Alta Hendel.
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 5, 2019 -  I love to attend Rabbi Silber’s parshah shiur on Wednesday nights. He is very clear and articulate. If I stare at his face, I’m OK. But I miss a few words when he turns his head the other way.  That is why I am so excited about the unearthing of a fabulous speech-to-text technology made in Australia called OTTER. Otter is a free download on any smart phone or device that can transcribe everything you say in real time. It picks up a voice from within three feet but if you attach a microphone, you can stand further away and still enjoy its benefits. I started losing my hearing about 40 years ago and more recently I had to stop attending public lectures. But one year all my friends were talking about going to attend WIT’s video pres...
19-year-old Tamar Fenigstein from Petah Tikva identified as the woman killed in light rail accident in Jerusalem. The young woman killed in an accident involving Jerusalem’s light rail train system has been identified as 19-year-old Tamar Fenigstein, the daughter of the director of the pre-army preparatory yeshiva in Givat Shmuel. A resident of the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva, Fenigstein was a volunteer in Israel’s civilian National Service, an alternative to military service in the IDF. Fenigstein had recently begun working at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. “Tamar began her service three months ago at the Shaare Zedek hospital, and with her wonderful smile and cheerfulness which characterized her, she brought light to the place,” said Y...
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