Baltimore, MD - May 6, 2021 -Through pain and suffering klal yisroel has a way of shining glimmers of hope and warmth in response to tragedy. One such event occurred last evening in Baltimore. At the local Dougies party room, Mendel & Chana Bisk, chosson and kallah by just a few days, were celebrating their Sheva Brachos. Most of the guests who had planned to partake in this simcha had escorted the cousin, H’yd, of the kallah, who had been fatally shot while walking into his family's home, back to his final resting place in Eretz Yisrael. The Baltimore community then offered support with a text blasted to groups such as Shomrim, Chaveirim, and multiple other local Baltimore chats, "to make it a little Leibadig" and being misameach chosson v'kallah. In r...
In this week's Torah portion, words appear that are difficult to read. Side by side with the blessings, there are also curses and descriptions of horrific future scenarios. "Each man will stumble over his brother, as if fleeing from a sword, but without a pursuer." (Leviticus 26:37)  The Torah describes here a troubling scenario in which we run and fall on top of each other, without an external enemy pursuing us. Sounds familiar.Yet Rashi, in his interpretation of this sad passage, reminds us of an uplifting maxim: "All Jews are responsible for one another." (Talmud Bavli, Shavuot 39a). In other words, if you can weaken someone and cause him to fall, you can also strengthen him. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that Rashi discovered consolation within a harsh curse. We are not only...
The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent, an unexpectedly poor showing falling well below expectations. The meager showing exposed unexpected gaps in a recovery that some economists were fretting would "overheat" by recovering too quickly. "For those who feared the US economy would overheat, the bigger risk may be that it is undercooked," said The Atlantic Council's Josh Lipsky. 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 "Today’s report shows there won’t be an overnight fix for millions who remain unemployed. The U.S. economy still ha...
Court employees are prohibited from wearing face masks depicting logos, including a blue line to signify support for law enforcement. 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 District Court Chief Judge John Morrissey sent an email to staff Wednesday, detailing the court's policy. Read more at WBAL
Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday his program to help Maryland school children with the mental health effects of COVID-19. Maryland's Boys & Girls clubs are getting $25 million from the state to help deal with mental illness. Hogan stopped by the gymnasium at Callaway Elementary School to pass along the news. 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 "We're here today to announce Project Bounce Back which is a groundbreaking initiative to help our young people recover from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," Hogan said. The program, in conjunction with the Maryland All...
“But despite all this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them nor will I reject them to annihilate them, thereby breaking My covenant that is with them, for I am the Lord their God. I will remember for them the covenant [made with] the ancestors, whom I took out from the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be a God to them. I am the Lord.”  (Vayikra 26:44-45)  They are difficult words to read. In the second of the two parshios we read this week, we are told in great detail of the chilling series of curses and punishments known as the Tochecha (rebuke). God tells us that if we do not follow His laws and walk in His ways; if we forsake the tradition of our ancestors and forget all He has done for us, there will ...
We are all still reeling from the terrible events that transpired in Meron just last week.  Intensifying the trauma is the reading this week of the Tochacha/Admonition, that foretells of the horrific tragedies that will unfold during our long galus/exile.  Particularly harrowing, considering current events, is the description how ‘they will stumble over one another as in flight from the sword, and they will fall, but without a pursuer.’  This depiction of falling over one another, the Sifra teaches, is reflecting on one of the most vital principles of the Torah.   We are all responsible for one another — kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh — we are each other’s guarantor in assuring that we all adhere to the precepts of Torah and must take on...
The conservative organization Club for Growth on Wednesday came out against Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as a replacement for Rep. Liz Cheney as House Republican Conference chairwoman. “Elise Stefanik is NOT a good spokesperson for the House Republican Conference,” the group tweeted. “She is a liberal with a 35% CFGF lifetime rating, 4th worst in the House GOP. House Republicans should find a conservative to lead messaging and win back the House Majority.” The group was referring to its own scoring system that it uses to grade federal lawmakers. Out of all GOP House members, Stefanik currently has a ranking of 197, placing her among the bottom five Republican lawmakers who have a score from the organization. Read more at The Hill.
Investors are undermining the gold industry’s ability to grow by demanding a bigger share of profits from high prices, according to the CEO of the world’s second-largest producer. “Fund managers just bash the table and want money — they’re not interested in this industry reinforcing its foundations,” Barrick Gold Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said in an interview Wednesday. “Then they turn around and get hysterical when a host country demands returns.” 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 While Toronto-based Barrick is returning a siza...
Two California students have been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison over the 2019 killing of an Italian police officer in a drug deal gone bad. A jury in Rome deliberated for just over 12 hours before delivering the verdicts against Finnegan Lee Elder, 21, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20, on Wednesday and handing them Italy’s stiffest sentence for the murder of Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, 35. 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 Elder and Natale-Hjorth, who became friends while attending Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California, were found guilty on al...
Your grocery list could be eating away at your budget, without you noticing. Nearly everything at the store, from beef and cereal, to fruit and veggies, costs more than it did a year ago. Shannon Bjork, an expecting mother from Spring Lake Park, says the grocery bill in her house has raised a few eyebrows. “At the end of the total is when you’re like, ‘Holy cow, $200 for all this,’” Bjork said. The average prices in March of 2021 for chicken breasts are up more than 10% compared to March of 2020. Eggs and cheddar cheese are both up 6%. 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 h...
Our Torah contains many Dinim, Chukim and Mishpatim.  By definition, some of theses Mitzvos have reasons that are known to us or obvious, and others which are quite mysterious and elusive.  In Parshas Behar, there are a number of Mitzvos at the end of the Parsha, which seem to provide “explanations” for their existence.  The first of these is the issur of lending with or charging interest on a loan made to a fellow Jew.  (Behar 25: 36-37) The Torah follows this prohibition with an apparent “reason” for its enactment.  In pasuk 38, immediately following this issur, the Torah says “I am Hashem your G-D, who brought you out of the land of Mitzrayim, to give to you Eretz Canaan, to be your G-D.”  This is, for lack of a better t...
One of the most impactful of all of Agudah’s programs is the COPE Junior Accounting program. And the recent graduation of its latest cohort demonstrated that the impact is now global, with a special guest who flew in from Eretz Yisroel to attend. Mordechai Haberfeld lives in Yerushalayim. But, via Zoom, he joined the Junior Accounting program – one of the many new students who can now attend, even if they don’t live in Brooklyn. Mordechai couldn’t miss his own graduation, so a quick plane journey, a taxi from the airport, and there he was – addressing the crowded auditorium as student representative of the graduating class. He expressed his appreciation to the teaching staff for their clear, concise and highly professional presentations and their concern for...
Jerusalem, Israel - May 6, 2021 - A week of Yom Yerushalayim תשפ''א 2021 special events began Thursday night, May 6, 2021, at the Israel Museum on Givat Ram with the awarding of the annual יקירי ירושלים (Beloved, Dear or Cherished of Jerusalem). The committee which selected the dedicated and diverse long-time residents was headed by retired Judge David Cheshin. This year two rebbetzins born in the United States were among the honorees. From Baltimore, MD, Malke Bina immigrated to Israel at the age of 21 and taught at various schools for many years.  She established MATAN, an institution for women's Torah study. One million Jerusalem female students from adolescence to adulthood have benefited to study at MATAN over th...
Have you ever been to a movie theatre, or perhaps a movie theater (depending on where you are from)?  A person watching a movie has absolutely no say in the events that play out. Still, however, there is always that one guy in every movie theatre that decides to yell at the screen during a climax moment, “NO! Don’t do it! It will kill you!” It is at that moment, when the rest of the audience unanimously says, “Shhhh!”   But what happens next? I would put down all the Monopoly money in the world that never, ever, in the history of movies, did the actor in the screen turn to face the guy who was yelling and say, “You know what, you are so right. How come I didn’t think of that? Thanks for bringing it to my intention. I won’t do it a...
Baltimore, MD - May 6, 2021 - Below is a statement from the Vaad HaRabbonim of Baltimore on the tragic murder of Ephraim Gordon, Z'L, H’yd. For a larger, printable copy, click on the graphic below.
Baltimore, MD - May 6, 2021  - In an effort to obtain answers in the senseless murder of Efraim Gordon, Z’L, H’yd, Baltimore City Police and approximately 30 community members gathered on Fords Lane where Ephraim had been shot and killed early this week to distribute “REWARD" fliers in the immediate area. Rabbi Shmuel Silber, Rav of Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim, standing alongside Ephraim's many cousins, spoke to those assembled gratefully acknowledging their participation and thanked them for their support. Delegate Dalya Attar and Baltimore City Councilman Yitzy Schleifer split the crowd into small groups in order to cover as much ground as possible. Groups went door to door to residences and businesses alike, passing out the fliers highlighting...
Baltimore City will issue more than $2 million in additional grant funding to caterers, restaurants and taverns, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Thursday. The funds, which were made available by the state, are restricted to COVID-19-related expenses. The Baltimore Development Corp. will administer the grants. 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 "Small businesses are the backbone of a healthy Baltimore economy and our road to recovery must run through them. But further support is required to navigate the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic," Scott said in a statement. "The additional resources fro...
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