Baltimore County announced plans on Thursday to require masks for students, teachers and staff returning to school for the fall, and some parents are already pushing back against that idea. Amy Adams and Mary Taylor are members of a parents' group that earlier this year threatened legal action to force schools to return to in person learning sooner than they planned. Now, the group has issues with the announcement about new mask rules for when students return next month, stating it was too confusing. “This has been a really confusing week," Adams said to C4 and Bryan Nehman. "We would like more information. We would like the school system to educate us on the data they used and the advice they got from Hopkins and the health department to make this decision for our children. W...
The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my father, Reuven Pinchas ben Chaim Yaakov, a"h. The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h. In parshas Kedoshim, we are taught for the first time that we must go out of our way to show love towards a convert. The pasuk says (19:34) regarding the convert, "ve'ahavta lo kamocha," you shall love him as yourself. The authorities on the specification of each of the 613 mitzvos, such as Sefer HaChinuch and Rambam, do count this as a mitzvah unto itself. However, their source is not from Kedoshim. Rather, this mitzvah is not discussed until this week's parsha where it is said (10:18) "ve'ahavtem es hageir," and you shall love the convert. Asks R...
Agudath Israel of America welcomes President Biden’s nomination of Dr. Deborah Lipstadt as the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. The President made the announcement after weeks of speculation, and amid calls that the position needed to be filled without further delay. “Dr. Lipstadt is a unique blend of scholar-activist,” observed Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel’s Vice President of Government Affairs and Washington Director. “She is a prominent historian and thinker on the Holocaust and antisemitism and that puts her in a position of being able to turn her knowledge and understanding of these issues into informed and creative thinking about how best to fight this scourge, which is plaguing countries around the wor...
BrightFarms has voluntarily expanded its recall of packaged lettuce products that were distributed to major retailers over fears that they may be contaminated with salmonella.  The recall now includes another packaged salad product, which is already past the expiration date, according to the recall notice posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website.  The product, which has "best by" dates through July 26, was produced in the company's ...
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reversed course to say the admin is not considering lockdowns The White House walked back a statement regarding the possibility of enforcing new coronavirus lockdowns due to the spread of the Delta variant. On Thursday, Fox News' Peter Doocy asked White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during the daily briefing if the administration would support future COVID-19 lockdowns. Doocy asked, "So if you're listening to the science, if scientists come to you at some point down the line and say it is our opinion that there should be shutdowns and there should be school closures, you would do that. " Jean-Pierre replied to Doocy, saying that the Biden administration has not ta...
Congress sent President Joe Biden an emergency $2.1 billion spending bill to cover costs associated with defending the Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6 pro-Trump protest and to grant immigrant visas to Afghans who aided the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan. The House cleared the legislation 416-11 on Thursday shortly after it passed the Senate on a 98-0 vote. Biden is expected to sign it into law. Looming funding shortfalls for the National Guard and the Capitol Police along with the prospect of Afghan allies being executed by the Taliban as it claims territory in the country drove quick action in Congress.
The Justice Department on Friday said the Treasury Department must turn over former President Trump’s long-sought tax returns to the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee. In a memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), acting Assistant Attorney General Dawn Johnsen said the Treasury Department was required to defer to the congressional committee. “The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee,” Johnsen wrote in the 39-page memo. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) first requested Trump’s personal and ...
NEW YORK – NCSY, the flagship youth movement of the Orthodox Union (OU), has named Rabbi Gideon Black as the new chief executive officer of its New York region. Rabbi Black succeeds Rina Emerson following her appointment as NCSY’s national chief operating officer. Rabbi Black joins NCSY following a decade working with the OU-JLIC, first as a campus Rabbi at New York University, and then in a national role as director of professional recruitment and leadership development. OU-JLIC is the Orthodox Union’s premier organization which provides religious resources, rabbinical support and community leadership to Jewish students on secular college campuses. “Rabbi Black brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding to New York NCSY, specifically from his work with OU-JLI...
The U.S. reported the highest number of new COVID-19 infections in the world in the last week as the delta variant fuels a surge of new cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO’s latest epidemiological report shows the U.S. tallied 500,332 new cases for the week ending July 25. That’s a 131-percent increase in new infections compared with the week prior. The U.S. was followed by Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and India. The global number of new infections was up 8 percent, with more than 3.8 million new cases. “An average of around 540,000 cases were reported each day over the past week as compared to 490,000 cases reported daily the week before,” WHO said. “This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantia...
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that nuclear talks with Iran “cannot go on indefinitely” but that Washington was “fully prepared” to continue negotiations. The US is indirectly involved in Iran’s talks with world powers to revive a nuclear deal that gave Iran some relief from international sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The deal was torpedoed in 2018 by then US president Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and imposed punishing sanctions. “We’re committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot go on indefinitely… we look to see what Iran is ready to do or not ready to do and remain fully prepared to return to Vienna to continue negotiations,” Blinken sa...
A former CIA officer who is accused of spying for China claims to have memory issues, saying he believes he has early Alzheimer’s disease. In a court filing on Wednesday, an attorney for Alexander Yuk Ching Ma requested a competency evaluation and a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial. Birney Bervar, Ma’s court-appointed attorney, said that Ma’s condition is “making it hard for him to remember things and affecting his ability to assist properly in his defense.” Ma, who worked at the CIA from 1982-1989, was arrested in August and charged with violating espionage after meeting with Chinese intelligence officials and allegedly sharing information about the CIA. Video of the meeting, which took place 12 years after Ma retired, sho...
A charity organization is working to create a memorial with Jewish gravestones that have been discovered around Belarus, Israel Newsstand reported. Jewish headstones from the former Brest-Litovsk Jewish cemetery, which is today a sports field, began resurfacing at an old prisoner of war camp from World War II and in construction sites across Belarus eight years ago. Using the recovered headstones, “The Together Plan” is now working to build a memorial for the Jewish cemetery, where people can learn about its history. The project will be completed in the next three years. “This is only one part of the story,” said Debra Brunner, the organization’s co-founder and CEO. “This memorial will honor a community that had lived and died...
Taiwan’s Jewish community announced the expected December opening of an extensive center to serve tourists and locals alike. The Jeffrey D. Schwartz Jewish Community Center will house a synagogue that can hold more than 100 people, a banquet hall for 300 people and Taiwan’s first kosher restaurant, i24News reported on Wednesday. The $16 million complex will also include a mikvah (Jewish ritual bath), library, kindergarten, classrooms for adult-education programs, rooms for group and individual study, and a courtyard for outdoor events. Almost 500 objects of Judaic art from a private collection will also be on permanent display at the Jewish center. Community spokesperson Glenn Leibowitz, who has lived in Taiwan for 30 years, said approximately 700 to 800 ...
Two crew members died in the drone strike A "senior Israeli official" on Friday accused Iran of being behind the "criminal terrorist attack" against an Israeli-managed ship off Oman coast, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported. Two crew members died in the drone strike against the Japanese-owned Mercer Street vessel, which was sailing in the Arabian Sea under the Liberian flag. The ship was managed, however, by the London-based Zodiac Maritime, a company that is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group.  Referring to the so-called "shadow war" between Israel and Iran, the unnamed official told Ynet that there could be no equivalence between the respective actions of the countries.  "There is no symmetry between the countries an...
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog, this morning (Friday, 30 July 2021), at Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, started the campaign to receive the third dose booster of the coronavirus vaccine. President Herzog and his wife Michal received the third dose together. Health Ministry Director General Prof. Nachman Ash, national coronavirus project director Prof. Salman Zarka, Chaim Sheba Medical Center Director Prof. Yitshak Kreiss and hospital staff also participated in the event. Prime Minister Bennett then met with Chaim Sheba Medical Center experts including Prof. Arnon Afek, Prof, Galia Rahav, Prof. Gadi Segal, Dr. Itay Pesach, Dr, Sharon Amit, Dr. Galia Barkai. Following is Prime Minister Bennett's statement to the media [translated from t...
No more homework, no more books. . . Summer is for fun, and Bnos is all about fun with a purpose. The less structured and academic days of summer offer opportunities to reach girls in new ways. During the Three Weeks at the beginning of this year’s vacation, Bnos programming showed girls of all ages how to make a difference during this time. Fast Day Events It’s not enough to make it through a fast day without a headache. We need to help our children tap into the power and potential of the day. With that in mind, Bnos held three call-in events on our recent fast days. On Shiva Asar b’Tamuz, high school girls joined Mrs. Chani Juravel for inspiration to take into the Three Weeks. We always hear about &ldqu...
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Is there anyone who has not heard this question before? But what is the actual answer? According to MyLandPlan.com, New York state wildlife expert Richard Thomas found that a woodchuck could (and does) chuck around 35 cubic feet of dirt in the course of digging a burrow. Thomas reasoned that if a woodchuck could chuck wood, he would chuck an amount equivalent to the weight of the dirt, or 700 pounds!  This is incredible, if you think about it. A little animal, a simple woodchuck (also known as a groundhog), can produce an amazingly large home, by simply gnawing and chucking away at the dirt little by little.  In life, we often strive to go after the big stuff. We aim for the big leagues, sometimes forgetting...
Baltimore, MD – July 30, 2021 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Leibi Laks and Adina Sofer (Monsey) on their engagement.   יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
More articles