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September 20, 2021 at 2:22 pm
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 20, 2021 - An Important COVID-19 Update from the Baltimore Vaad HaRabbanim.
For a larger, printable copy, click on the graphic below
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September 20, 2021 at 12:50 pm
Our community does not have a unique problem, but we are small enough that we can create unique solutions
“We need to leave the Kiddush club in place.”
Those weren’t the exact words I used, but it was the message I conveyed to the president of my shul, who wanted to shut down the Kiddush club. I was a placeholder — interim rabbi was my exact title — while the shul was searching for a new rabbi. I had a slim chance of getting the job and figured there was nothing to lose. Was I trying to curry votes? Hard to believe, as a vote would be lost for every vote gained. Maybe I was just an inexperienced 27-year-old who was out of his depth.
Shuls have been fighting over Kiddush clubs for as long as they have existed, and our shul was no exception....
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September 20, 2021 at 12:09 pm
Collections Resume on Modified Schedule Starting October 2 Bulk trash collection for residents will resume on Saturday, October 2, 2021, with a modified schedule. Collections will occur on Saturdays from 7 a.m. - 3 p.m., with services focused on a different sector of Baltimore City each week. Residents can call 311 to schedule bulk trash or white goods collection. Each household will be allowed the removal of up to three items per month. Residents can begin contacting 311 to request a collection date starting September 17, 2021. The collection schedule will be as follows: Second Saturday of the month: Northwest & Central DPW will make up all missed bulk and white goods collections during the week. When residents call 311, service representatives will share the next collection...
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September 20, 2021 at 11:26 am
Most of the 11 Jewish groups set to receive funding serve families and young people in the SF Bay area
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are donating $1.3 million to 11 Jewish organizations, eJewishPhilanthropy reports.
“Mark and Priscilla have made some personal commitments in the past, but these new grants reinforce their interest in learning and deepening their connections with the community,” a spokesperson for the Chan-Zuckerberg family office told the news publication.
The funding comes from the Chan-Zuckerberg family office and not the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).
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September 20, 2021 at 11:22 am
Tonight it happens. We enter the sukkah. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz once wrote about this moment as follows:"In a life that is too settled and fixed, there is a danger of becoming complacent with an exaggerated sense of security. People and nations that feel too self-satisfied in their present situation can actually be on the edge of an abyss. The Sukkah jolts us out of our comfortable existence, takes us out of our well-built homes and instills within us a feeling of transience. The Sukkah liberates us from dangerous feelings of ‘I deserve this’ or 'this belongs to me.' This new awareness sharpens our senses and immunizes us against forgetting what truly matters in life. Instead of predictability, there is flexibility. Instead of feeling burdened, there is a lightness of ...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:52 am
A U.S. auto safety agency opened an investigation into roughly 30 million vehicles over possible faulty airbag inflators on Friday, affecting over 20 automakers, Reuters reported, citing a government document it reviewed.
The vehicles, with model years from 2001 and 2019, could have potentially faulty air bag inflators that were manufactured by Takata Corporation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which opened up an investigation into the affected vehicles, according to Reuters.
The news wire noted the probe had not yet been publicized but the agency has notified the companies.
Takata air bag inflators have been previously recalled over metal elements causing potential explosions with faulty inflators. More...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:50 am
Flight bookings rapidly declined in August and early September amid a surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant.
Online customers spent $4 billion on flights within the U.S. in August, down 24 percent from July and 35 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to an analysis from Adobe Digital Insights.
Through the first 10 days of September, flight bookings remained weak, down 39 percent from the same period in 2019.
“Historically, July and August have similar consumer spending levels when it comes to domestic flight bookings,” says Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. “The fact that August came in over $1.2 billion under July is striking when you consider the historical benchmark, and it shows how mu...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:41 am
We have real data (from a federal agency, no less) that proves the 2020 election was a mess.
Based on data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an analysis by the Public Interest Legal Foundation shows almost 15 million mail ballots effectively disappeared after election officials gave them to the U.S. Postal Service to deliver to voters.
Some ballots were lost. Some may have ended up on the floors of apartment complexes, never to be claimed. Some went to addresses where the registrant no longer lives. Some may have gone to vacant lots and businesses. Some, having never been requested by the voter, were never returned. Others were rejected by election officials when they were returned.
To put that 15 million figure in perspective, consider this: President Jo...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:38 am
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that President Joe Biden and the Democrat-led Congress should take a “strategic pause” from the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill, according to Axios.
Manchin reportedly told workers at a Procter & Gamble facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia, that he wanted to pause all negotiations on the $3.5 trillion bill until 2022. This comment mirrors his call for a “strategic pause” that he floated in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this month.
The strategic pause until 2022 would significantly delay the $3.5 trillion and the $1.2 trillion so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plan to vote on the larger infrastructure bi...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:38 am
The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November on those from abroad who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, ending a travel ban implemented to limit the spread of disease and reopening the United States to relatives who have been separated from families and employees from businesses.
Foreign travelers who provide proof that they are fully vaccinated before boarding a flight will be able to fly to the United States starting in “early November,” Jeff Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said Monday.
“International travel is critical to connecting families and friends, to fueling small and large businesses, to promoting the open exchange ideas and culture,” Mr. Zients said. “That’s why, with science and publ...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:14 am
The Maryland Department of State Police expresses condolences after the passing of one of their own, Trooper First Class Alec Elijah Cohen.
Trooper First Class Cohen, 29, of Baltimore County, graduated from Northeastern University with a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice. He then joined the ranks of the Maryland State Police after graduating with the 146th Academy Class. TFC Cohen was a member of the Maryland State Police for 4 ½ years and was assigned to the North East Barrack at the time of his death.
TFC Cohen was found unresponsive at his home on September 17, 2021. He was taken to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit where he remained in critical condition. At 11:35 a.m. yesterday morning, Trooper First Class Alec Cohen succ...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:13 am
Data shows the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11, the companies announced Monday morning.
"We are eager to extend the protection afforded by the vaccine to this younger population, subject to regulatory authorization, especially as we track the spread of the delta variant and the substantial threat it poses to children," Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. "Since July, pediatric cases of COVID-19 have risen by about 240 percent in the U.S. -- underscoring the public health need for vaccination."
There were 2,268 participants ages 5 to 11 in the trial, which, while it still followed a two-dose regimen, used a lesser dose than the amount given to people ages 12 and older, for the "safety, tolerability and immunogenic...
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September 20, 2021 at 10:09 am
Stocks were under pressure Monday as concerns over China’s property bubble roiled global markets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 586 points, or 1.7%, while the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite index declined 1.69% and 1.99%, respectively.
Chinese real estate developer Evergrande's shares tumbled more than 15% Monday amid worries the company will not be able to make a debt payment later this week.
Some market watchers have called Evergrande China’s "Lehman Brothers moment," drawing comparisons to the collapse of the U.S. investment bank, which began the 2008 financial crisis.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tanked 3.3% while China’s Shanghai Composite was close...
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September 19, 2021 at 10:49 pm
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez submitted an amendment last week to the annual United States defense spending bill which would block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Israel.
According to a statement released by her office Thursday, the suggested amendment would prevent the transfer of $735 million worth of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits to Israel. The kits turn unguided bombs into GPS guided missiles.
At the same time Ocasio-Cortez submitted amendments to prevent weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and Colombia over alleged human rights abuses.
Ocasio-Cortez explained her move in a tweet, stating that her amendment referred to Israels’ “bombing of Palestinian civilians [and] media centers” in a reference to the recent Protective Edge...
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September 19, 2021 at 10:47 pm
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke is preparing to run for governor of Texas in 2022, with an announcement expected later this year, Texas political operatives tell Axios.
O’Rourke’s entry would give Democrats a high-profile candidate with a national fundraising network to challenge Republican Gov. Greg Abbott — and give O’Rourke, a former three-term congressman from El Paso and 2020 presidential candidate and voting rights activist, a path to a political comeback.
But he would be running in a complicated political environment. Immigration is surging at the southern border and Democrats at the national level are bracing for a brutal midterm election and potentially losing the House of Representatives in 2022.
A new poll for the Dallas Morning New...
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September 19, 2021 at 9:24 pm
The thousands of migrants that have converged under the bridge that connects Del Rio, Texas and Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña, creating a makeshift camp with few basic services in intense heat is proof of a continuing problem at the border that is just getting worse under the Biden administration, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton insisted on Newsmax Saturday.
“Every day that we don’t get this resolved, that brings more drugs into the country, more COVID, more crime, and more people,” Paxton said on Newsmax’s “Saturday Report.”
“It’s out of control and the Biden administration is not just allowing it to happen. They’re inviting them.”
The Biden administration is reportedly working on plans to fly many of the thousands...
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September 19, 2021 at 9:19 pm
President Emmanuel Macron will speak in the coming days with President Joe Biden in what will be their first contact since a major diplomatic crisis erupted between France and the United States over a submarine deal with Australia, an official said Sunday.
The phone call is at the request of Biden, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said, adding that there was “shock” and “anger” at first. But now it’s time to try to move forward, he said.
What the French now call a “grave crisis” erupted over the sudden, surprise end to a 2016 contract worth at least $66 billion between France and Australia to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Instead, Australia signed on with the United States and Britain for eight nuclear powered submarines. Fr...
