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May 22, 2020 at 12:15 pm
El Al, Israel’s national airline, announced on Wednesday that it is extending its suspension on commercial flights until June 20 as a result of ongoing coronavirus outbreaks, though would continue with cargo and special passenger flights.
“In light of the low demand for passenger flights, the company has decided to extend the temporary cessation of flights,” it said in a regulatory filing, according to a Reuters report.
Israel has been reopening the company in stages, but extended its policy requiring incoming passengers to enter quarantine and a ban on foreigners entering the country.
Flights were stopped in late March with about 6,000 of the company’s 6,500 workers on unpaid leave until June 30, said the report.
According to the Israeli business daily Globes, ...
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May 22, 2020 at 11:52 am
Baltimore, MD - May 22, 2020 - At the time of an epidemic in the city of Yerushalayim, Dovid Hamelech instituted a daily recitation of 100 brachos to cure the Jewish people from their illnesses. Since then, the Poskim have written that saying 100 brachos every day continues to protect and cure us from all harm. Thus, The 100 Brachos Project was born here in Baltimore at a time of such need with the hope that our brachos inspire our Creator to send us a speedy salvation.
In light of the truncated nature of Shabbos davening, the Gemara advises us to compensate for the missing brachos by eating extra snacks and smelling pleasant spices. To this extent, we have put together a package with all of the necessary foods and spices to help you reach your goal of 100! A user-friendly guide is includ...
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May 22, 2020 at 11:39 am
The family of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Friday that they had forgiven the men who murdered their father, paving the way for a legal reprieve for five defendants sentenced to death for the October 2018 killing.
“If a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah,” Khashoggi’s son Salah tweeted. “Therefore, we the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi announce that we pardon those who killed our father.”
In Saudi Arabia, which lacks a codified legal system and follows Islamic law, forgiveness from a victim’s family in cases of murder can allow for a formal pardon.
The Saudi court which issued the five death sentences in December said the killing was not premeditated, a ruling which backed assertions by Saudi of...
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May 22, 2020 at 11:36 am
The coronavirus will infect more than 5 million people — and kill nearly 300,000 — across the US by late July if states fully reopen without social distancing measures in place, according to a new analysis, the NY Post reports.
The projected figures, detailed in the new Penn Wharton Budget model, forecast potential outcomes under various reopening scenarios. If states fully reopen, with “reduced distancing,” more than 5.4 million people nationwide will be infected and 292,692 will have died by July 24, the analysis indicates.
Partially reopening states while keeping social distancing measures in place will result in a different scenario — about 3.2 million positive cases and nearly 173,000 deaths by the same date, according to the modeling.
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May 22, 2020 at 11:33 am
Ohio will allow wedding and banquet receptions of up to 300 people to be held again starting June 1, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced yesterday, Cleveland.com reports. The move is the latest in a series of steps by Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration to roll back social-distancing rules set up weeks ago to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Husted, speaking at DeWine’s coronavirus briefing, said catering and banquet centers will be allowed to reopen under the same rules as restaurants and bars. That includes six-foot distancing between tables and no congregating, he said.
“We recognize that there are a lot of weddings and events that are important to people’s lives that can and should go on,” Husted said. “We are just asking that it be done safel...
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May 22, 2020 at 11:32 am
1. Maryland hospitalization peaked at 1,700 beds on 4/30 and as of 5/22 is down to 1,329. A decrease of 21.8%.2. Also, worth noting that the daily fatalities are declining significantly each day, yesterday’s number was the lowest since 4/6
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May 22, 2020 at 11:19 am
Of course, no one needs to be told that yesterday May 21st, Governor Cuomo allowed religious gatherings of up to 10 people to take place in NYS. The OU/RCA guidelines, based on our great poskim, HaRav Schachter and HaRav Willig shlita, with approval of many other gedolim including HaRav Asher Weiss and HaRav Dovid Gohen, shlita, therefore authorize the start of the 14 day “clock” to allow us to properly assess the situation and prepare for safe minyanim in a very careful manner. I look forward to discussing various aspects of this motzei Shabbos at 9:40 PM on the shul zoom, Meeting ID: 980 3243 6809; Password: 5TFRBM.
What new studies of importance were published this week?We truly are learning more about COVID-19 every day, some confirming beliefs, some shattering t...
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May 22, 2020 at 11:08 am
Palestinian security forces posted to areas B and C of the West Bank on Thursday retreated into the Palestinian-controlled Area A, Haaretz reported.
The move reflects the Palestinian Authority’s decision to halt the security coordination with Israel over Israeli plans to formally extend its sovereignty over Area C.
Area A refers to parts of the West Bank placed under Palestinian security and administrative control under the Oslo Accords, whereas Area B designates territories under mixed Israeli and Palestinian security control. Area C, which represents some 60% of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control.
Read more at i24NEWS.
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May 22, 2020 at 11:05 am
The Hamas government in Gaza announced on Thursday the closure of two major border crossings due to a new outbreak of coronavirus in the coastal enclave.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that medics diagnosed 29 new COVID-19 cases in the Gaza Strip, raising the overall count in the Gaza Strip to 49.
Hamas authorities put in quarantine another 2000 residents feared to having been in contact with recently diagnosed patients.
Read more at i24NEWS.
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May 22, 2020 at 11:02 am
After researchers at Columbia University this week estimated about 36,000 lives in the United States could have been saved from the novel coronavirus had social distancing and other restrictions been put in place a week earlier in March, the White House on Thursday pointed a finger at China, and the president called it a “political hit job.”
Disease modelers at Columbia University said in a study released Wednesday that 61.6% of deaths and 55% of infections nationwide could have been avoided if preventative measures in place on March 15 had been enacted a week earlier. That equates to about 35,927 deaths and 703,975 cases.
Asked about the study on Thursday, President Donald Trump said “Columbia’s an institution that’s very liberal,” and without providi...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:55 am
President Donald Trump has placed more pressure on states to reopen for business despite continuing concerns about the coronavirus.
“I don’t think people are going to stand for it” in states that do not resume normal activities quickly, the president told reporters as he toured a Michigan automotive plant repurposed to produce ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
All 50 states have announced plans to reopen at least partially following shutdowns that have crippled the American economy. If there is a second wave of the coronavirus, “we’re not closing our country,” Trump vowed.
In a speech to the workers at Ford Motor Co.’s Rawsonville Components Plant, the president said, “a permanent lockdown is not a strategy for a healthy state or a health...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:39 am
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called the state’s nursing homes “the optimum feeding ground for this virus,” and these shocking figures might show why that’s the case. The Associated Press reports that New York health officials sent more than 4,300 recovering coronavirus patients directly to nursing homes under a state directive that was later reversed over fears that it was acting as a catalyst for the nation’s worst outbreak.
The directive, which was intended to help free up hospital beds, was made on March 25 and reversed on May 10. Cuomo said this week that he didn’t believe the directive contributed to the more than 5,800 nursing and adult-care facility deaths in New York. Daniel Arbeeny, who pulled his 88-year-old father out of a Brooklyn nursing ...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:36 am
Dear Parents, Staff, and Alumni,I vividly recall being dropped off at the bus for my first
summer at camp. As a third grader, it was no doubt an intimidating and
emotional experience. As I said goodbye to my parents with tears in my eyes,
they turned to me and said: “We promise you – once you get to camp, you’ll
never want to leave.” They couldn’t have known how right they would be. It’s
been almost 30 years since that moment, and I haven’t left camp since.
Camp quickly became the gravitational force around which
everything revolved. At a young age, I could see my Jewish identity being
formed through camp and closest friendships forged at camp. When choosing a
career, I knew that nothing would be more fulfilling than to help create t...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:35 am
This week is parshas Bamidbor—it is the parsha always read before kabbolas haTorah. But let us first look at the parsha on its own. It is all about counting Klal Yisroel and it is puzzling. What is the necessity? It has been only a year since the half shekel for the adonim was collected for the mishkon and Klal Yisroel were counted—why count them again so soon afterward?
The Ramban quotes the midrash which raises a different problem. When you look at the numbers of both tallies, there is no difference. Exactly the same! How can that be? Does it make sense that after an entire year, the exact number of people who turned 20 exactly matched the number of people who died?
Another striking feature about this counting of Klal Yisroel is that the term tzeva’ah is used repeated...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:15 am
NEW YORK – The Orthodox Union’s (OU) Yachad, the leading group for individuals with disabilities in the Orthodox community, has taken its annual Family “Shabbaton” online in order to allow participants to experience the program’s unity and support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Where the program would traditionally be an in-person retreat for families, the event has been turned into a week-long virtual conference with the same inspiring speakers who would have been at the weekend event.
Yachad has already been offering digital and virtual options to its members through Yachad On Demand and a partnership with the Sruly App and Moxtra. The Sruly team created a safe and secure app for individuals with developmental disabilities to connect with Yachad staff an...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:12 am
We are exactly one week away from זמן מתן תורתנו, the time of the giving of our Torah.
This fact that the Torah was given on Shavuos is strangely omitted from the Torah.
The expression מתן תורה, though, is mystically embedded in a verse that appears in this week’s portion which always falls out prior to Shavuos.
After listing the outstanding tribal leaders by name the verse reiterates, ויקח משה ואהרן את האנשים האלה אשר נקבו בשמות, Moshe and Aharon took these men who had been designated by [their] names. The letters of the last eight words in this verse spell out in reverse מתן תורה.
Certainly, these great men towered in their stature of Torah. But why the mention of its ‘giving’ per se?
What was the purpos...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:04 am
Parshas Bamidbar commences with the tziva from Hashem to once again take a census of Bnei Yisroel. (Bamidbar 1:2) Hashem is very explicit that the census is to be taken “according to their families and according to their father’s household”. (1:2) The Torah then recites the tally for each family (except Shevet Levi, who was excluded from the count) (1:48) reaching a total of 603,550 (1:46). This stands in stark contrast to the census taken in Parshas P’kudei where the tally was taken of the entire B’nei Yisroel, without any regard to the amount in each particular Shevet. (Pikudei, 38:26)
This raises two significant questions. First, why are we doing another census so close to when the last one was done? Second, why in the 2...
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May 22, 2020 at 10:04 am
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Another 51,000 Marylanders filed for unemployment claims last week, but frustration over getting benefits from the Department of Labor remains high.
State Senate President Bill Ferguson is suggesting ways to fix the system right now.
The labor department said it must follow state and federal guidelines as it approves claims with so many people needing their benefits. Now the senate president suggests a different approach.
“I try to stay positive, wake up, ‘It's going to be taken care of today.’ It's never taken care of,” said Jamie Meyers.
Meyers tries to remain upbeat, but admits he's feeling despair.
“I'm almost like defeated in a sense. You make every call and do what you're supposed to do, and still don&...
