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July 19, 2021 at 2:32 pm
A Jerusalem yeshiva student now in his 30’s who for many years helped a childless elderly man has inherited all of the possessions of the man, despite the objections of the state to the will of the elderly man, who recently passed away at age 88.
The state had objected to the will, claiming that the yeshiva student had cynically exploited the mental state of the elderly man and created a dependency on him when they prayed in the same Jerusalem synagogue. The state also claimed that the fact that he had left all of his property to the student and not to his own wife (who has since passed away) proved that the elderly man’s mental state was not lucid. It was also claimed that the student had submitted a request to be appointed guardian of the possessions of the elderly couple ...
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July 19, 2021 at 1:03 pm
In a communique published today, Ben & Jerry's announced the end of sales of its product in West Bank setttlements:
"We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners.
We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year.
Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangemen...
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July 19, 2021 at 12:10 pm
President Herzog, Foreign Minister and Alternative Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other government officials condemned Sunday the disruption by orthodox elements of a Tisha B’Av prayer service, which was held at the egalitarian “pluralistic” prayer plaza near the Western Wall used by the Conservative Movement for prayers.
“On the day we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, a group of extremists decided to desecrate the holiness of the day and the holiness of the place and start a violent struggle at the Kotel,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted Sunday.
“That’s the baseless hatred that led to the destruction of the Temple and our exile,” he added.
Yizhar Hess, former executive director and CEO of the Conservative Judaism Movement in ...
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July 19, 2021 at 10:48 am
In a stunning upset, Gabriel Boric defeated Daniel Jadue in the left-wing primaries for the Chilean presidential race.
Boric, a former student leader, received 60% of the vote, handedly beating Jadue, the Communist party representative who was considered the frontrunner.
Jadue, the mayor of the Santiago-region, is a member of Chile's large Palestinian Arab community. He has faced accusations of anti-Semitism since images from his high school yearbook surfaced.
In the yearbook, Jardue's classmates wrote that the best "gift" they could provide him would be "a Jew to target." The yearbook describes him as an "anti-Semite" and jokingly predicts that he would become the “Chief of PLO, to clean the city of Jews.”
Accusations of anti-Semitism have dogged Jadue over state...
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July 19, 2021 at 10:36 am
"I hope it was an easy fast for all who fasted." This was the first sentence spoken by Omri Casspi, among the greatest Israeli basketball players, at his press conference yesterday evening in which he announced his retirement. I have nothing to add to all the praises of the world's elite basketball players who spoke of the professionalism, the humility, and the perseverance of the boy who grew up in Yavneh and made it to the NBA. But I was reminded of when Casspi interviewed me on his podcast and opened our conversation with this surprising statement: "I departed for the United States as an Israeli only, but I returned also as a Jew. He explained this transformation as follows:"Outside of Israel, if you do not create an identity, it will not happen on its own. I lived in places like S...
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July 19, 2021 at 10:06 am
This past year has been a difficult time as we have tried to transition back to school after the lockdown. It has been amazing to see how the students have continued to persevere and even pursue extra engineering programs! The Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE) is a non-profit organization that works with over 200 Jewish schools in 18 states across America, impacting over 45,000 students annually. I would like to give a special recognition to our local CIJE winners.
This year’s annual CIJE Middle School Robotics Tournament challenged student teams to build a robot that could navigate the playing field and stack risers in designated goals. Extra points were awarded for combining stacks and rows of the same color risers. Our Baltimore...
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July 19, 2021 at 9:53 am
Worshippers at a Beit Midrash in Ramat Gan were shocked to find bread intentionally laid put across the entrance to the synagogue when they arrived for prayers on the fast of Tisha B'Av.
Bread was also placed on the handles of the door to the synagogue.
"There are a series of [anti-religious] events that have occurred in this neighborhood," Ramat Gan resident Ran Feingold told Arutz Sheva. "On Seder night in two synagogues, chametz (unleavened bread products) was smeared at the entrance. On Lag B'Omer they burned the door of another synagogue. And now this happened on Tisha B'Av."
He said, "At about a quarter to eight in the morning the Rebbe picked up the phone. 'Again they threw bread, come quickly.' I came and took pictures, I made some noise in the...
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July 19, 2021 at 9:13 am
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett appeared to walk back support for the Jewish right to freedom of worship on the Temple Mount Monday, a day after seemingly endorsing a change to long-standing Israeli policy.
On Sunday, the Prime Minister’s Office responded to Arab stone-throwing incidents on and around the Temple Mount and protests against Jewish visits to the holy site, saying that the government would continue to enable Jews to visit the site, protecting their right to “freedom of worship” on the Mount.
In addition, Jewish groups visiting the Temple Mount were allowed pray and sing Israel’s national anthem – marking a departure from the country’s years-long discriminatory policy against non-Muslim prayer at the holy site.
But a day later, the Prime Mi...
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July 19, 2021 at 6:45 am
The number of active coronavirus cases in Israel has risen to 6,952, data from Israel's Health Ministry showed Monday.
Of those, 125 coronavirus patients are hospitalized, 66 are in serious condition, and 18 are in critical condition. The number of patients on ventilators has dropped to 12.
However, the number of coronavirus deaths rose to 6,450, after three people died of the virus on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry reported 829 new coronavirus diagnoses on Sunday, up from Saturday's 431 but less than Friday's 1,127.
On Sunday, 56,107 coronavirus tests were performed, and 1.71% of test results received were positive.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that, "I want to say here, and clearly: The government's decisions are not recommenda...
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July 19, 2021 at 6:44 am
A senior haredi rabbi excoriated the national unity government over the weekend, calling for it’s elimination.
Rabbi Meir Mazuz, the dean of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva and a leading halachic decisor for the Tunisian haredi community, called Sunday for the Bennett government to be “erased from the world”, and accused it of depriving the haredi sector of funding in order to benefit the Arab sector.
During the traditional lamentations recited during the Tisha B’Av fast Sunday, Rabbi Mazuz blasted planned government cuts to daycare and preschool subsidies for children of full-time yeshiva students, saying the move was meant to take food “from the mouths of religious school children in order to benefit the Arabs.”
Finance Minister Avidgor Liberman, who ha...
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July 19, 2021 at 6:39 am
Israel’s Ministry of Health issued new Corona restrictions on July 18, 2021.
The new restrictions add more countries to Israel’s Travel Warning list. All persons entering Israel from countries on the list, including those who are vaccinated or recovered, will be required to observe full quarantine. Quarantine may be shortened from fourteen to seven days with negative tests on Days 1 and 7, see here.
Effective Friday, July 23, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Turkey, Georgia, Uganda, Myanmar, Fiji, Panama, Cambodia, Kenya, and Liberia will join Travel Warning list. See the entire list here.
Chaim V’Chessed has ascertained, that at the current time, foreigners with valid student visas will still be permitted to enter Israel from these countries.
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July 18, 2021 at 10:23 pm
Gov. Larry Hogan has signed a proclamation that officials say will help the state continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proclamation signed last Monday, and posted on the governor's website, "declares that a State of Emergency and Catastrophic Health Emergency continues to exist in Maryland."
A spokesman for the governor says the measure does not renew the State of Emergency that was lifted on July 1, but it does keep conditions of the emergency in place through a 45 day grace period, ending Aug. 15.
“As the order states, it is a technical measure to support administrative procedures such as renewing expired driver’s licenses," said Hogan communications director Mike Ricci.
Under the grace period, driver's licenses that expired to the pa...
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July 18, 2021 at 10:23 pm
430 coronavirus diagnoses were made from tests conducted on Shabbat, according to official reports. 29,475 tests were conducted, with a positivity rate of 1.47%.
63 people are currently defined as in serious condition in the country’s hospitals, of whom 16 are on ventilators. 6,448 people have died so far of coronavirus-related complications.
Speaking on Radio 103FM, Prof. Doron Gazit of the Rokeach Institute of Physics at Hebrew University said: “Our situation is getting worse and worse. Right now, things aren’t terrible, even in the hospitals, but we aren’t seeing an improvement along the line. The general public has not changed its behavior and it appears that the regulations are not helping.”
Gazit added that, “The new wave of infection is al...
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July 18, 2021 at 5:34 pm
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Sunday said he is “worried about what is to come” in the COVID-19 pandemic as cases increase throughout the U.S., primarily among those who are not vaccinated.
“I am worried about what is to come because we are seeing increasing cases among the unvaccinated in particular. And while if you are vaccinated you are very well protected against hospitalization and death, unfortunately that is not true if you are not vaccinated,” Murthy told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The U.S. has seen an increase in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks, especially as the more contagious delta variant spreads rapidly throughout the country.
The new infections have mainly infiltrated un...
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July 18, 2021 at 5:33 pm
Americans are growing increasingly concerned about the delta variant of the coronavirus and are split along party lines on President Biden's handling of the new strain, according to a new poll.
A CBS-YouGov survey published over the weekend found that 62 percent of Americans said they are concerned about the delta variant, now the dominant strain in the United States, including 48 percent of people who indicated they are not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated.
Seventy-two percent of vaccinated Americans said they are concerned about the delta variant. Of the respondents who said they are not vaccinated, 53 percent listed "worried about side effects" as their reason for declining to get the shot.
Federal health officials have said repeated...
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July 18, 2021 at 5:26 pm
Must Watch: Legendary Mechanich Rav Dovid Trenk Z'TL leads Rav Schwab's Kinnah commemorating the Holocaust in Camp Munk, reminding Klal Yisroel just incredibly special we are.
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July 18, 2021 at 5:01 pm
One of the permitted areas of Torah study on Tisha Be’av is the Gemara in Gittin (55-56) which discusses the famous story of Kamtza Bar Kamtza. During the times of the Bais Hamikdash, there was a certain Jew who made a large banquet and by mistake, instead of inviting Kamtza (his friend), the attendant invited Bar Kamtza (his enemy). In short, as Bar Kamtza was sitting at the banquet, the Jewish host picked him up and threw him out. Bar Kamtza was so upset, and he ultimately incited the Roman government against the Jews, and the rest was history: The Bais Hamikdash was ultimately destroyed.
If you ask most people, “Why was the Kamtza Bar Kamtza story a deciding factor for the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash?”, they will probably say, “Well, look how Bar Kam...
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July 18, 2021 at 4:58 pm
Jerusalem, Israael - July 18, 2021 - Israeli Knesset Member Michael Biton, the former two-term mayor of Yeruham, hosted a special session for lone soldiers on Thursday, July 15, 2021, in the Knesset. Lone soldiers are members of the Israeli Defense Service who do not have family in Israel to support them. The inaugural conference, Israel’s New Pioneers: The Strategic Impact of Lone Soldiers on Israel was co-sponsored by The Lone Soldier Center in Memory of Michael Levin (LSC).
Michael Levin was a lone soldier from Pennsylvania who fell in the Second Lebanon War. His mentor Tziki Aud, instrumental in establishing the center in Michael's memory, was seated at the head of the table and was one of the speakers.
Aliyah and Integration&...
