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December 2, 2021 at 11:03 am
Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt, was selected by the White House to light the Chanukah menorah alongside President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff. Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt is Associate Rabbi at the Young Israel of Woodmere (NY) and an expert in infectious diseases who serves as a professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau (NY).
The White House celebrated the 4th night of Chanukah with the annual Menorah Lighting Ceremony. The Chanukah party taken place annually since 2001 when it was first hosted by President George W. Bush was fewer in number from previous years due to the administrations ongoing concern of the pandemic.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, the husband of VP Harris, excitedly tol...
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December 1, 2021 at 11:53 pm
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 1, 2021 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Sima Goldman (Baltimore) & Moshe Dovid Cohen (Baltimore) on their engagement.
Mazel Tov parents Mr. & Mrs. Yerachmiel Goldman and Mr. & Mrs. Elie Cohen and grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Felix Usher Bamberger and Rabbi & Mrs. Aron Tendler.
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
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December 1, 2021 at 11:20 pm
The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution 129-11 on Wednesday, that disavowed Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and called it solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.
The text, referred to as the "Jerusalem resolution," is part of a push by the Palestinian Authority and the Arab states across the UN system to rebrand Judaism's most holy site and as an exclusively Islamic one.
The United States, which opposed the text, said that the omission of inclusive terminology for the site sacred to three faiths was of "real and serious concern."
"It is morally, historically and politically wrong for members of this body to support language that denies" both the Jewish and Christian connections to the Temple Mount and al-Haram al-Sharif.
The U...
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December 1, 2021 at 9:56 pm
Lawmakers from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties harshly criticized Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana on Tuesday over his planned conversion reform.
“The destruction and devastation of the Chief Rabbinate and Jewish religion that ‘Religious Destruction Minister’ Matan Kahana leads is unprecedented. The conversion system is the very soul of the Jewish people and harming it would lead to vast assimilation,” said Shas Knesset member Yoav Ben-Tzur.
Yakov Margi, also from Shas, concurred.
“They’ve learned nothing from the Reform movement and how it destroyed a large part of the Jewish people. Due to mass assimilation, since the terrible Holocaust we have not grown numerically,” said Margi. “We have lost no fewer Jews to assimil...
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December 1, 2021 at 9:49 pm
At least one get refuser succeeded in leaving Israel in the past few days as a result of an oversight by the rabbinical courts.
In the last few days the courts had suffered from a computer glitch which meant that injunctions preventing get refusers from leaving the country were not being processed. This allowed the refusers to leave the country without anyone stopping them at passport control, as would be required by law.
The rabbinical judges (dayanim) were only informed on Tuesday of the glitch and sent a hand-written list of all the get refusers to passport control.
The issue was noticed by the registrar of the Petah Tikva rabbinical court nearly a week ago but despite this the director of the rabbinical courts did not update the dayanim and they in turn did not update passport contr...
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December 1, 2021 at 9:45 pm
A car carrying two Breslav chasidim mistakenly entered Ramallah Wednesday evening and was attacked by Arab hooligans. The hooligans torched the car and attacked the occupants, who were rescued by Palestinian security personnel who took them to the nearby checkpoint where they succeeded in crossing into Israel without further issue.
Clips from the scene show the two chasidim being menaced by local Palestinians as they sit in their car. Eventually they were thrown out of the car and it was torched as depicted in other clips from the scene.
Palestinian Authority police rescued the two Jews and transferred them to the nearby checkpoint. The two were unharmed.
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December 1, 2021 at 9:45 pm
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chairwoman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, suggested Wednesday that former President Trump could be held responsible for any falsehoods exchanged with the panel.
“President Trump continues to make the same false claims about a stolen election with which he has misled millions of Americans. These are the same claims he knows provoked violence in the past. He has recently suggested that he wants to debate members of this committee,” Cheney said.
“This committee's investigation into the violent assault on our Capitol on Jan. 6 is not a game. When this committee convenes hearings, witnesses will be called to testify under oath. Any communications Mr. Trump has with this commit...
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December 1, 2021 at 9:35 pm
Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat and leading voting rights activist, said Wednesday that she will launch another campaign to become the nation’s first Black woman governor.
Without serious competition in a Democratic primary, the announcement could set up a rematch between Abrams and incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Their 2018 contest was one of the most narrowly decided races for governor that year and was dominated by allegations of voter suppression, which Kemp denied.
Yet Abrams’ strong showing convinced national Democrats that Georgia should no longer be written off as a GOP stronghold. Her performance and subsequent organization convinced Joe Biden to invest heavily in the state in 2020, and he became the first Democratic presidential candid...
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December 1, 2021 at 9:30 pm
Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days before his first presidential debate in September 2020 with Joe Biden, according to a new book by Trump’s former chief of staff.
In “The Chief’s Chief,” obtained by The Guardian before its Dec. 7 release, Mark Meadows writes that the then-president received a negative test shortly after the positive test and resumed his usual activities, including attending the debate against his Democratic challenger. Trump on Wednesday called the story “Fake News.”
The revelation, if confirmed, would further show that the Trump White House did not take the virus seriously even as it spread among White House and campaign staff and eventually sent Trump to the hospital, where he required supplemental oxygen...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:53 pm
A 15-year-old who opened fire on classmates at a Michigan high school, killing four and injuring seven, was charged on Wednesday as an adult with one count of terrorism and four counts of first-degree murder.
The news came shortly after the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a fourth victim, a 17-year-old, had died this morning at McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, Mich.
“There are facts leading up in the shooting that suggest this was not just an impulsive act,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. She said “charging this person as an adult is necessary to achieve justice and protect the public. Any other option would put all of us at risk of this person because they could be released and still a threat.”
The four people slain...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:51 pm
Who am I?
Jean Valjean cries out this question in Les Misérables. For Javert, the authority chasing him, the answer was and always is a number. But for Jean Valjean, it is his name.
Who am I?
In Shmuel I, we read ki’shmo, kein hoo – for as his name is, so is he. Names and being are intrinsically tied together. In fact, the Midrash teaches that there is no prophecy today save for in one small aspect, the naming of children.
When we name our children, we bestow upon them a gift and a future. Names are not simply identifiers. They speak to who we are and, in a deep sense, who we might become
In Hebrew, neshama is the word for “soul”. Interestingly, the middle two letters of “neshama” ar...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:51 pm
The U.S. government on Wednesday teetered one step closer to a potential shutdown, as a number of Republicans seized on a fast-approaching fiscal deadline to mount fresh opposition to President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing mandates.
The emerging conservative campaign quickly divided GOP lawmakers, enraged congressional Democrats and threatened to unravel days of delicate bipartisan talks on Capitol Hill, just three days before a current federal spending agreement is set to expire.
“We’re opposed to the mandate,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. “We don’t want the federal government to be able to fund them in any way shape or form.”
Under Biden’s directive, issued earlier this year, private businesses that employ more than 100 workers must ...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:48 pm
Jerusalem, Israel - Dec. 1, 2021 - The third in the series of closer looks at artists originally mentioned in the BJL column for the 5th Jerusalem Biennale of Contemporary Jewish Art, highlights Sam Griffin.
Sam Griffin was born in 1979 and raised in South London, United Kingdom. After spending a year studying Fine Art at the Cyprus College of Art in Larnaca, he enrolled at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Israel. He has been described as both a British Postwar & Contemporary artist.
His exhibition “Wise Old Man” is seen at the Beit Alliance (Alliance House) near Machane Yehudah Market, as part of the current Jerusalem Biennale project “Four Cubits.” Griffin explains tha...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:45 pm
Toys R Us is taking another shot at opening up a store in the United States after its comeback plans were thwarted earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The toy retailer’s parent company, WHP Global, an Orthodox Jewish-owned company, said Wednesday that it will open a two-level, 20,000-square-foot Toys R Us location at the American Dream megamall in New Jersey in the middle of this month, which will operate on extended hours for the remainder of the holiday season.
In addition to a variety of toy brands and gaming merchandise, WHP said the location will offer experiences for kids, including a two-story slide. It will also have a cafe and ice cream shop. The store will be located nearby the Nickelodeon Universe theme park and DreamWorks water park at the American Dream,...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:37 pm
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 2021 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddishkeit and for HaShem with their children. Unfortunately, our schedules are hectic and many people don’t have the time to prepare themselves to utilize the Shabbos table to its fullest. Therefore, we at ACHIM created TableTalk as a pre-packaged talking points pamphlet which is attractive, fun and has something for everyone. Limited copies are distributed to many shuls on a weekly basis but they are snatched up very quickly. Get yours ASAP or click on the graphic below and print your own.What’s in it and what’s all the excitement about?TableTalk features:• Weekly halachic dilemma creating l...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:32 pm
Only a credible military threat will stop Iran from continuing its race to a nuclear weapon, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Tuesday.
Lapid’s remark came during what he called a “long and warm meeting” with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, on the last leg of a three-day trip to Europe.
“I reiterated Israel’s position that Iran is trying to buy time in order to move forward with its nuclear program,” Lapid tweeted after the meeting, held as representatives from the European Union, Russia and China resumed nuclear negotiations in Vienna with their Iranian counterparts.
The Israeli foreign minister, who is slated to replace Naftali Bennett as premier in 2023, said that he also impressed upon Macron “the immediate need for the ...
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December 1, 2021 at 8:31 pm
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 1, 2021 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Yechiel Goodwin (Baltimore) and Rochel Singer (Brooklyn, NY) on their engagement.Mazal Tov to parents Rabbi & Mrs. Hershel Goodwin, Rabbi & Mrs. Shimshon Singer and grandparents Mr. & Mrs. David Canotr
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
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December 1, 2021 at 8:14 pm
According to Israel’s Population Authority, Bnei Brak’s population has hit 218,592, overtaking Beer Sheva to become Israel’s eighth largest city. Its population is expected to reach 230,000 within a few years.
Bnei Brak has been growing at a rate of about 2.9% annually since 2015, when it had 190,000 residents.
As reported on Matzav.com last week, Israel’s Bureau of Statistics announced that 27% of Jews in Israel aged 0-17 (and defined as children) at the end of 2020 were chareidim. The town with the highest concentration of children was Modiin Illit, with 63%, compared to Tel Aviv, where the concentration was only 20.5%.
Israel had 3.049 million children at the end of 2020, comprising 33% of the population. Some 2.207 million of them were Jews (72...
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December 1, 2021 at 7:49 pm
It is estimated that 37 percent of the global population, around 2.9 billion people, has never used the internet, according to data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency within the United Nations.
Despite this figure, the ITU has seen a strong growth in internet use across the world. The predicted number of those who have been online has risen to 4.9 billion in 2021, up from 4.1 billion in 2019.
The atypical uptick in internet users is likely attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic and campaigns throughout the pandemic during lockdowns to engage with people by getting them online.
That brought an estimated 782 million more internet users, increasing connectivity by 17 percent from 2019, stated the ITU.
Of the ...
