Group calling itself "BlackShadow" hacks Shirbit Insurance, whose clients include many civil servants. "The organization that claimed responsibility for this hack could be a cover for a foreign intelligence agency, maybe even the Iranians," cyber expert says. The personal information of thousands of Israelis was compromised Tuesday following a massive hack into the database of a major local insurance company. The Capital Markets Authority and the National Cyber Directorate confirmed that there had been a cyberattack on the Shirbit insurance company and that its clients' information had been leaked in the breach. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an...
“The Jews stole our land ... I hope to return to Lod, my city,” says 12-year-old Abd Al-Rahman Baba on a televised children’s program. Palestinian children born decades after Israel’s establishment in 1948 are being educated by the authorities in Ramallah to envision themselves as residents of the cities “stolen by the Jews” and as “refugees” temporarily living in the Palestinian territories, Palestinian Media Watch reported on Tuesday. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     In “A Child and a Refugee Camp”—a ch...
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Vateizei Dina.  And Dina went out.  Today, the mere words conjure up thoughts of negativity and of the recklessness of Dina in venturing out of the protective environment of her home.  Indeed, it is hard to find many words in the Torah which have drawn such a magnitude of interpretation, most which use this tragic episode as a warning against women straying to far into the outside world.  As is often the case though, those who use a tragedy to advance an agenda are often missing the more profound lesson which can be found with a simple reading of our most trusted commentary, Rashi.  Rashi comments that Dina is referred to as “Bas Leah” but not “Bas Yaakov” since Leah too had “gone out”.  Rashi (Vayishlach 34:1).  Rashi...
President-elect restates his advocacy of going back to 2015 nuclear deal US President-elect Joe Biden stressed Thursday night it would be “hard to tell” to what extent the killing of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh will complicate his dealing with Iran, reiterating his preference to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     “The bottom line is that we can’t allow Iran to get nuclear weapons,” Biden told CNN. But the Democrat criticized outgoing President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iranian ...
'This is triple the number of vaccines in the original contract with Moderna,' Netanyahu notes Israel’s Health Ministry has signed an agreement with US biotechnology firm Moderna to triple the amount of COVID-19 vaccine doses for 2021, a joint statement by the Prime Minister’s Office and the ministry said Friday. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     From two million doses, the new agreement will increase the quantity procured to six million which could be provided to three million citizens (the vaccination process requires two doses). Prime ...
The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, pointing to a slowdown in the labor market's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as a surge of new infections triggered a fresh wave of shutdowns by state and local governments. The Labor Department's monthly payroll report, released Friday, also showed the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.9%. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv expected the report to show that unemployment dropped to 6.8% and the economy added 469,000 jobs. Read more at FOX Business
Within the Torah’s depiction of the encounter between Yaakov and Esav lay many lessons for our survival in dealing with this physical enemy called Edom, and the more arduous battle against its spiritual representation, our ultimate adversary — the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination.  Yaakov’s initial reaction is to send a message to his brother through מלאכים. Malachim is a term used throughout the Torah to describe either a mortal agent or an angel. Rashi offers the opinion in the Midrash that here it refers to, מלאכים ממש — ‘real malachim’, intimating angels.   Why are angels more real than mortal proxies? The usage of the word malach simply alludes to a representative, at times a physical one, at times an ethereal one, what m...
Joe Biden says he won’t immediately lift tariffs placed by President Donald Trump on many imports from China or break Trump’s initial trade deal. Biden says he wants to maximize his leverage in future talks with the United States’ geopolitical rival. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     Speaking to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Biden said, “I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs.” Biden adds in Friedman’s column published Wednesday: “I’m not going to prejudice my opt...
The levayah of Rav Aharon Dovid Chodosh zt”l, beloved mashgiach of Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim, was held today at the Mir with the participation of thousands. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     Rav Chodosh, a son of Rav Meir Chodosh and a son-in-law of Rav Chaim Zev Finkel, served for over 55 years as the mashgiach of Mir Yerushalayim. At the levayah today, it was announced that Rav Binyomin Finkel has been appointed as the new mashgiach. Known as “Rav Binyomin Hatzaddik” due to his renowned righteousnes...
Scientists said Wednesday they have restored sight in mice using a “milestone” treatment that returns cells to a more youthful state and could one day help treat glaucoma and other age-related diseases. The process offers the tantalising possibility of effectively turning back time at the cellular level, helping cells recover the ability to heal damage caused by injury, disease and age. “I’m excited about being able to rejuvenate organs and tissues that fail due to ageing and disease, especially where there are no effective treatments, such as dementia,” senior author of the study David Sinclair told AFP. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click...
Pharmaceutical giant Moderna said it would start testing its COVID-19 vaccine on children ages 12 through 17. The study, listed on Clinicaltrials.gov, is ”designed to primarily evaluate the safety and reactogenicity of a single dose level of mRNA-1273 vaccine administered in 2 doses 28 days apart to an adolescent population” and will include 3,000 children. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     Participants will receive one intramuscular injection on Day 1 and Day 29. Half of the participants will get placebo shots of saltwater. Moderna’s vaccine has no...
Violent carjackings in Minneapolis spiked by more than 530% in November compared to last year, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. ”The numbers are staggering,” said police spokesman John Elder. ”It defies all civility and any shred of common human decency.” Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     The state has seen at least 375 car jackings this year, more than three times higher than all of 2019. The report comes as violent crime has surged to record-highs in Minneapolis amid talks of cutting the Minneapolis police budget by nearly $8 milli...
President-elect Joe Biden said he would ask all Americans to wear a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus for the first 100 days of his administration as well as issue a “standing order” requiring face coverings in federal buildings and on all interstate transportation. Biden also told CNN in an interview on Thursday that he had spoken to Dr. Anthony Fauci and asked him to stay on as the government’s top infectious disease expert in the Biden administration. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a role he’s held since the Reagan administration. But Biden suggested that Fauci would have an outsized role in his administration, advising the president directly. “I asked him to stay on the exact same role he&rsqu...
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to get their Covid-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in the vaccine’s safety once the US Food and Drug Administration authorizes one. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     The three most recent former presidents hope an awareness campaign to promote confidence in its safety and effectiveness would be a powerful message as American public health officials try to convince the public to take the vaccine. Freddy Ford, Bush’s chief of staff, told CNN that the 43rd Presi...
Alyssa Farah, who entered the administration as Vice President Pence’s press secretary in 2017, heaped praise on the president and touted his accomplishments. “I am deeply proud of the incredible things we were able to accomplish to make our country stronger, safer, and more secure,” she said. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     “Under this Administration, the ISIS caliphate was destroyed, American hostages were returned home, NATO is stronger than ever, we’ve brokered historic Middle East peace deals, and I was on the ground in Kabul ...
Former President Warren G. Harding’s remains will stay right where they have lain since 1927 after a judge rejected a request to exhume them. The grandson of the nation’s 29th president and his lover, Nan Britton, went to court in an effort to get the Republican’s remains dug up from his presidential memorial in Marion, the Ohio city near where Harding was born in 1865. Join BJL on WhatsApp Status: Click here to Join BJL status for engagements, births, deals, levayos, events & more Join BJL on WhatsApp Groups: Click here to Join an official BJL WhatsApp group for breaking news as it happens     James Blaesing said he was seeking Harding’s disinterment as a way “to establish with scientific certainty” he is Harding’s blood ...
[Ed. Note] Out of the respect and recognition of the impact made by longtime BJL friend and contributor, Reb Shaya Gross, z’l, we will maintain a living memoriam to Shaya through the sweet words and thoughtful insights of  his Divrei Torah. BJL readers will remember his weekly column on the Parsha and on various Torah ideas and concepts. These meaningful words will help us remember this special young man who will be sorely missed and for those who did not merit to know him, this will be the most appropriate way for them to become familiar with who he was This week's Parsha contains the story of Dinah being taken by Shechem. It's interesting that at the beginning of the story, the Torah says that Dinah had gone out to see the DAUGHTERS of the land. It seems that Dinah ...
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