My Sunday Zoom shiur for the next several weeks will be in depth explaining what we do when Erev Pesach falls on Shabbos. Please note that this coming Sunday, February 28th, the shiur will begin a little later than it usually is, at 8:45pm, Israel time, which is 1:45pm EST! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87579473464?pwd=MUJCSDdDQUgzckE1OGdVa0FyU3ZmZz09Question #1: When do we distribute shalach manos and matanos la’evyonim on different days? Question #2: When do we read Megillas Esther after a tefillah in which we did not recite Al hanissim? Question #3: When do we read the daytime Megillas Esther without first reading the Torah? Question #4: How can one bensch on the Purim Seudah without saying Al hanissim? The answer to all these questions is: When the fourteenth of...
The rules: No intercity public transportation, intracity buses will be cut back and limited to 50% occupancy, public to stay within 1,000 meters of their homes. In an attempt to avoid a surge in new COVID cases due to close contact at Purim parties and Adloyada celebrations, the cabinet has approved a nationwide curfew for this coming weekend. Starting  During the hours of curfew, the public is banned from visiting other people's homes and may not go farther than 1,000 meters from their own homes. Intercity transportation will be stopped entirely for the hours of curfew, starting at 8 p.m. Thursday. Intracity public transportation will be cut down, and occupancy limited to 50%. Police will also be setting up roadblocks on intercity arteries and at entrances and exits to...
Rava said, It is one’s duty levasumei, to make oneself fragrant [with wine] on Purim until one cannot tell the difference between ‘arur Haman’ (cursed be Haman) and ‘barukh Mordekhai’ (blessed be Mordecai) - Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 7b Over the centuries, the “duty” to make oneself “fragrant” (drunk) on Purim has represented the great example of “the exception proves the rule” when it comes to Jewish practice.  After all, while we Jews have been accused of many things over the centuries, no one has ever suggested that we do not strive to distinguish between good and evil.  In fact, making that distinction between good and evil, right and wrong is essential to who we are.  We are also well known for moder...
Filings for initial jobless claims dropped to 730,000, the lowest weekly level since late November The number of workers seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, adding to signs that the job market could be stabilizing after layoffs edged higher earlier in the winter. Initial weekly unemployment claims decreased by 111,000 to a seasonally adjusted 730,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the lowest weekly level of new applications to regular state programs since late November and the biggest weekly drop since last summer. 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 i...
Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office have reportedly subpoenaed financial records related to Stephen Bannon and his crowd-funded southern border wall project, according to a CNN report. The network reports that the subpoenas were sent shortly after former President Trump issued Bannon a pardon for federal conspiracy crimes in connection to the southern border wall. Trump’s pardon only applied to federal crimes, meaning Bannon could still possibly be charged in state courts. 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 Reports came out early in Februar...
President Biden’s nominee to lead the CIA, William Burns, spent more than three decades as a diplomat. Yet Burns sounded very much like a national security chief at his confirmation hearing Wednesday as he described how the U.S. should be wary of China and its leader Xi Jinping. 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 “There are a growing number of areas in which Xi’s China is a formidable, authoritarian adversary,” Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee in his opening remarks. He said China was working to “methodically strengthen its capabilities to steal intell...
One of Israel’s top public health officials has expressed skepticism over a five-step plan presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how the country plans to reopen the economy and “return to normal life.” 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 Sharon Alroy-Preis, Israel’s top public health expert in the Health Ministry, told Army Radio on Thursday that she did not agree to sign off on the government’s plan to reopen the country’s economy, which is estimated to take place around the end of March. “I only sign off on things I know, [and]...
A pair of new studies show that an ominous new variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in New York City, showing up in 1 out of 8 infections tracked in a scientific database. The results are preliminary — neither study has been peer-reviewed, and one has not been made public — but scientists say that vaccines could be less effective against the mutation, and that it is spreading fast. 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 According to The New York Times, “The new variant, called B.1.526, first appeared in samples collected in the city in November. By the middle of thi...
President Biden on Wednesday reversed a series of actions issued by former President Trump, lifting certain visa bans, undoing an order that sought to set new standards for federal architecture and revoking a memo that called for potential funding cuts to cities that saw major protests last summer. The White House issued an executive order that undid several Trump actions in one swoop. Among those targeted were the orders on architecture and funding reviews for “lawless zones,” as well as measures that restricted labor rights for civilian Pentagon workers and rolled back regulations during the pandemic. Trump in September signed a five-page memo ordering federal agency heads to submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget detailing all feder...
US media report links Saudi crown prince with jets used by hit squad who killed Khashoggi in Turkey The intelligence report on the assassination of Saudi insider-turned-dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey that is to be released on Thursday is set to zoom in on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Reuters reports. 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 its Wednesday's report, the agency cited four US officials as saying that the report accuses the prince, known as MBS, of giving the green light for the hit. The assessment, led by the CIA, also says that the prince likel...
Palestinian health authorities recommend two-week lockdown to stem new cases The West Bank is facing a third wave of COVID-19 coronavirus infections amid an uptick in new cases, Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said on Wednesday. In her comments for al-Arabiya, al-Kaila warned of a "substantial" increase in the number of confirmed patients. She also said that new strains of COVID-19 have made their way into the Palestinian territories. 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 minister called for a two-week lockdown to be implemented by the government, warning of an uptick i...
Former President Barack Obama says that “the politics of White resistance and resentment” kept him from pushing for financial reparations for Black Americans while he was in office. In the second episode of his podcast with Bruce Springsteen, “Renegades: Born in the USA,” released on Monday, Obama said that he thinks reparations are “justified,” despite having opposed it during the 2008 election. 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 Obama said, “there’s not much question that the wealth … the power of this country was built in sign...
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday condemned fellow California Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney and the lower chamber’s hearing by the Energy and Commerce Committee for what he called the power to “coerce and control the information Americans can watch and access in their own homes.” In a “one-minute speech” on the House floor, McCarthy vilified Eshoo and McNerney for their letter to 12 cable, satellite providers demanding to know their “moral and ethical principles” for deciding which cable news channels to carry on their service. It derided Newsmax, Fox News and One America News Network for “disinformation, lies, and half-truths.” McCarthy excoriated the letter as an oppressive action ...
President Joe Biden was a moderate senator, but the administration is implementing all these progressive policies in his first weeks in office shows it just is not him in charge, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed on Newsmax TV. “I like Joe Biden, but the agenda is AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.], [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, Sen. Bernie Sanders,” Graham told “Greg Kelly Reports” of his former fellow senator Biden. “So, no, I don’t think Joe Biden’s in charge.” 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 ...
Israel’s flight ban has been extended until March 7. As has been well documented, limited flights continue to operate during this time. However, Israeli citizens or permanent residents are required to obtain special permission form the Vaadat Charigim (Exceptions Committee) to leave the country. The Vaada has been exceptionally parsimonious with granting these permits. This, unfortunately, has affected persons traveling for bona fide emergencies, as well. Over the past several days, Chaim V’Chessed has dealt with dozens of requests for emergencies, such as medical needs, dying relatives and so on, which were either ignored or denied by the Vaada. We have been able to be assist in many instances, but at times we have been unsuccessful. At one point, permits were not ...
Baltimore, MD – Feb. 24, 2021 - As most know, Rabbi Moshe Juravel, together with a team of volunteers, reads the Megillah on Purim for those unable to attend a public reading. Due to this being a very different Purim, and being overloaded with those who need a ‘personal’ reading, Rabbi Juravel is asking for help from anyone who knows how to lain the megillah. Please contact him, immediately: 410.358.9215 443.416.0974 (Call/text anytime)410.258.4379 (call/text - do not text this # on Purim) 
Two families who arrived on a flight to Israel from New York on Wednesday forged their entry permits and will be deported, according to Hebrew media reports. The 13 members of one of the families were all foreign nationals. The second family had an Israeli mother, a foreign father and six children, Channel 12 reported. The police were summoned to deal with the forgeries, which are criminal offenses. 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 It wasn’t clear if there was a connection between the two families on the United Airlines flight. They will likely be sent back to New York on Wednesday ni...
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