The Taz in Orach Chaim 494 writes that we delay davening Maariv on Shavuos night so that the counting of the Omer should be complete. The Magen Avraham 494 says that on the night of Shavuos we don’t make Kiddush until after tzais hakochavim so it should be temimos. The question can be asked; is it permissible for women, who are exempt from the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer because it is a time bound mitzvah, to daven Maariv earlier or make Kiddush early? Is the concept of temimos necessary in order to bring in Shavuos?  The Teshuvos Lehoros Nosan Vol 7:31writes that women, despite the fact that they are exempt from ...
In a report to Congress, the Trump administration is pledging to buy 100 million swabs by the year’s end and distribute them to states to help expand the nation’s capacity to test for the novel coronavirus. But the report, delivered on the Sunday deadline Congress set for a national testing strategy for the novel coronavirus, doubles down on the administration’s stance that individual states, not the federal government, should bear primary responsibility for carrying out diagnostic tests to help curb the pandemic. The Washington Post obtained the 81-page document, called Covid-19 Strategic Testing Plan, from an individual on Capitol Hill who was not authorized to disclose it. Federal health officials did not release it publicly, submitting it to four congressional commi...
Baltimore, MD - May 25, 2020 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Dani and Ora Zuckerbrod on the birth of a son. Mazel Tov to the grandparents Shalom and Syma Kelman and David and Sharon Zuckerbrod. יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
Baltimore, MD - May 25, 2020 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Yosef and Rochel Zuckerbrod (Pittsburgh) on the birth of a daughter. Mazel Tov grandparents David and Sharon Zuckerbrod and Jeff and Adele Sidney (Ottawa) יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
Baltimore, MD -  May 25, 2020 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Vromie & Sara Mutterperl  on the birth of a son. יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
Baltimore, MD - May 25, 2020 - Yeshivat Mekor Chaim (YMC) opened its doors in September 2019 with an inaugural 9th grade class. With an emphasis on academic excellence in both Torah Studies and General Studies and focus on the whole child using project-based learning empowered by excellent educators, students jumped straight into their high school experience adjusting to a new schedule, new routine and new classmates.  The first year of any new school will undoubtedly involve unexpected challenges and unanticipated roadblocks to be navigated. Certainly, what no new school could ever account or plan for is a world-wide pandemic closing the school doors in March for the rest of the academic year. After a single day off for teacher training the YMC students logged on to their school-issu...
The tablet, made of clay, depicts a captor leading a naked and humiliated captive. This tablet opens a visual window to understanding the struggles for control in the south of the country during the Canaanite period. *The boy turned the find over to the National Treasures Department, and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) presented him with a certificate of good citizenship. Six-year-old Imri Elya from Kibbutz Nirim near the Gaza Strip, went on an outing last March with his parents to tour the Tel Jemmeh archaeological site near Kibbutz Re'im. Suddenly, a small, square clay object 2.80 x 2.80 cm caught his eye. The curious boy picked up the object, and to his surprise saw two figures engraved on it. Imri's parents contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority and they handed ov...
Baltimore, MD - May 25, 2020 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rabbi Eli And Keren Perles on the birth of a daughter. Mazel Tov Grandparents Marvin & Linda Diamond of Boynton Beach/Baltimore and Stuart & Kathy Perles of Monsey NY. Great Grandmother Mrs. Dorothy Perles of Monsey NY. יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
Millions of dollars earmarked for the Palestinian’s COVID-19 coronavirus response have been misappropriated for use by organizations with links to terrorism, a new NGO Monitor report has claimed. The research watchdog found that several of the groups in receipt of funds that the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinated, are tied to the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), as cited in The Jerusalem Post. The PFLP is a proscribed terrorist organization in Israel, the EU, US and Canada. NGO Monitor’s report questioned whether the stated activities the money was earmarked for, were actually vital or lifesaving. It argued that rather than the money being used for “public health needs...
Yosef Chaim Machlouf, a haredi religious Israeli from the Givat Ze'ev area, noticed a bag on the road in the neighborhood a few days ago. Picking up the bag, he discovered 40,000 shekel ($11,347), along with checks for more. Later, it turned out that the bag belonged from an Arab residing in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. In an interview with Kol Hai Radio, Machlouf said, "According to Jewish law, not only did I not have to return the bag, it was even forbidden to return the bag, unless doing so would sanctify G-d's Name, and then it would be permissible. So I returned it." "Because of the situation with coronavirus, I decided to go above and beyond, and I asked G-d to act the same way with us." Read more at Arutz-7
President Trump warned Monday that planners would be "reluctantly forced" to find a new site for the Republican National Convention if North Carolina's governor can't guarantee the party will be allowed "full attendance" at the event currently planned in the state's largest city. The convention has been planned for the week of Aug. 24 in Charlotte. In a rapid-fire series of tweets, Trump complained that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is in "Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed ... full attendance in the Arena." He continued: "[Planners] must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced ... to find, with all of the jobs and...
As coronavirus lockdowns loosen and some Americans flock to restaurants, beaches and other outdoor spaces for Memorial Day weekend, the question of reopening too quickly is striking an eerily familiar echo. The global flu epidemic of 1918 remains the deadliest on record. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the pandemic killed an estimated 50 million worldwide and over half a million in the United States. J. Alexander Navarro of the University of Michigan’s Center for History of Medicine is one of the organizers of the “Influenza Archive,” a collection of information cataloguing and studying the effects of the 1918 pandemic in 43 major U.S. cities. The research sought an answer to a key question: Was social distancing effective in 1918 as a way o...
The government approved on Sunday a plan that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz proposed to inject an additional NIS 14 billion ($4 billion) into the economic aid program in order to resolve the crisis caused by the coronavirus. Thanks to this new contribution, the aid plan will amount to a total of NIS 100 billion ($28 billion). The funds will help revive businesses and new projects to encourage employment and reduce the unemployment rate. Read more at i24NEWS.
The coronavirus fatality rate estimate has fallen, according to the latest estimates of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to 0.26%, far below previous estimates. The updated CDC figures show a 0.4% death rate for symptomatic cases of coronavirus, down-grading the estimated fatality rate from 1% of symptomatic cases. With the CDC now estimating that more than a third (35%) of coronavirus cases are completely asymptomatic, the total fatality rate for the coronavirus is now believed to be 0.26%. That still makes the current coronavirus pandemic twice as lethal as the seasonal flu, which kills about 60,000 people in the US every year. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
The U.S. jobless rate may still be in the double digits when President Donald Trump stands for re-election in November, a top White House adviser said. While jobless data is a lagging indicator, business activity is already close to an “inflection point” toward recovery, White House aide Kevin Hassett said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. The job market, as shown by unemployment figures, is “probably about a month away” from that point, Hassett said. The jobless rate probably will peak above 20%, he said. Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, said the unemployment rate would remain over 10% through 2020, risking a “severe outcome” in the labor market. The insured unemployment rate, or the number of pe...
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about with giant murder hornets invading the US and a global pandemic, millions of 17-year cicadas will emerge from the ground this year. As many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre may emerge, and people living in Southwest Virginia, parts of North Carolina and West Virginia could witness this unique phenomenon, Virginia Tech says in a news release. Luckily, cicadas are harmless to humans. At most, the noise they make could become a nuisance. “Communities and farms with large numbers of cicadas emerging at once may have a substantial noise issue,” said Eric Day, Virginia Cooperative Extension entomologist in Virginia Tech’s Department of Entomology. Read more at CNN.
There are several articles on the various topics germane to Shavuos available at RabbiKaganoff.com under the search engines, Dairy bread, Eruv Tavshillin, Nat, Shavuos, Yom Tov  Question #1: Plan-overs on Yom Tov “I have been told that there is a way to cook more than you need on Yom Tov in order to have plenty of leftovers for Chol Hamo’ed or for after Yom Tov. How does that work?” Question #2: Muktzah Grill “I own a portable, charcoal-fired grill. Is it muktzah on Yom Tov?” Question #3: Fireplace on Yom Tov? “May I use my fireplace on Yom Tov?” Answer: When discussing the laws of Yom Tov, the Torah teaches kol melacha lo yei’aseh bahem, ach asher yei’acheil lechol nefesh hu levado yei’aseh lachem, “No work sh...
Jerusalem, Israel - May 25, 2020 - It is the week before Shavuos. The Israeli radio has commercial breaks with ads for cheese and dairy products. Photos of cheese products and ingredients to make cheesecakes are at the top of the supermarket flyers found in mailboxes. Lists of speakers for Tikun Leil Shavous are published. This year online, but programs and scheduled for those Israelis who identify as secular have become increasingly popular over the past few years. The celebration of Shavuos illustrates a major difference found in the Jewish world. How many non-Orthodox Jews in the United States know of Shavous, or observe the holiday? Yet in Israel, the holiday of Shavuos is part of the culture.   Recently a nearly full-page newspaper advertisement sponsored by the R...
The latest: - There have been more than 1.6 million coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. - The U.S. death toll has surpassed 97,000 people, according to Hopkins. - Coronavirus outbreaks at meat processing plants are forcing North Carolina farmers to euthanize 1.5 million chickens, according to a state official. - There will likely be longer air travel security lines as the Transportation Security Administration adjusts staffing with more people taking to the skies, according to Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. - During an unannounced press conference Friday, President Donald Trump said his administration would label houses of worship as "essential" to mandate their reopening. With more sweeping reop...
Two Palestinians storm troops patroling near Amichai, try stabbing them using what the IDF described as "sharp agricultural instruments." Soldiers engage, wounding their assailants. Troops unharmed, wounded terrorists taken to a hospital in Ramallah, the IDF says. Two Palestinian terrorists were shot Monday while trying to carry out a stabbing attack against a group of soldiers operating near a central Samaria settlement, the military said. According to available details, a group of eight Palestinians approached soldiers who were on patrol near Amichai, a settlement northeast of Ramallah. Two Palestinians then stormed the troops and tried to stab using what the IDF described as "sharp agricultural instruments." The soldiers engaged, opening fire at their assailants and hitting them in...
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