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January 12, 2022 at 10:28 pm
The bill would have ended subsidies for some 18,000 families with fathers that learn full-time in yeshiva.
Israel's High Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that daycare for families of yeshiva students will remain subsidized until the end of the school year - drawing the ire of Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who proposed the bill to cut the subsidies.
Lieberman introduced the plan in July, saying that the subsidies would only be granted if both the child's parents work at least 24 hours a week or are involved in academic or vocational studies, not Torah studies.
This would have ended subsidies for some 18,000 families with fathers that learn full-time in a yeshiva.
The implementation of the plan was delayed until after the current school year b...
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January 12, 2022 at 10:24 pm
Just days after appointing his younger brother as deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, Mayor Eric Adams seems to have reconsidered his decision. Bernard Adams will now instead serve as executive director of mayoral security, according to city officials. He will be solely responsible for his brother’s security. Mayor Adams had previously defended installing a family member as deputy commissioner by saying, “My brother understands me. And if I have to put my life in someone’s hands, I want to put it in the hand of the person I trust deeply.”
The officials could not confirm whether the mantle of executive director of mayoral security had existed prior to Bernard taking it up, The New York Times reported Wednesday. His new position comes w...
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January 12, 2022 at 10:23 pm
The U.S. Consumer Price Index continued its historic rise last month. According to The New York Times, the inflation-tracking index climbed by 7 percent in the year through December, making it the steepest increase recorded in the U.S. since 1982. Much of the rise can be blamed on the increased cost of used cars, housing, and food.
The Times reports that the price of full-service restaurant meals shot up by 6.6 percent over the year, and food at home became more expensive, too. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday: “If we see inflation persisting at high levels longer than expected, if we have to raise interest rates more over time, we will.”
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January 12, 2022 at 10:20 pm
The explosion of omicron cases along the I-95 corridor from the Mid-Atlantic to New England is showing signs of slowing down, according to health officials and epidemiologists, offering reason for cautious optimism that the turning point could be near and that the variant’s U.S. trajectory is similar to that of other countries.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said Tuesday that the rates of tests returning positive and case increases seem to be slowing – particularly in New York City, which emerged as an early epicenter of the highly contagious variant.
“They’re still high, but we are not at the end, but I want to say that this is, to me, a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of hope in a time when we desperately need that,” Hochul said at a news conference....
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January 12, 2022 at 10:20 pm
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Wednesday evening that he will not cooperate with the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, asserting the panel "is not conducting a legitimate investigation."
McCarthy, in a statement released hours after the committee asked him to voluntarily cooperate with its probe, maintained that the "illegitimate" panel was seeking to interview him about “private conversations not remotely related to the violence that unfolded at the Capitol.”
The panel noted in its letter to McCarthy earlier Wednesday, however, that the GOP leader previously acknowledged speaking with former President Trump as the attack on the Capitol was un...
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January 12, 2022 at 10:19 pm
Americans Against Anti-Semitism has asked Amazon to remove from its platform more than 30 Nazi propaganda films that are available for purchase and streaming.
Israel Bitton, the watchdog group’s executive director, wrote an open letter to the online retail giant in which he listed the names of Nazi-produced films currently for sale via DVD on Amazon, or offered for rent or purchase via Amazon Prime Video.
“Amazon is a hotbed of Nazi propaganda. Literal, original, unadulterated Nazi propaganda that was produced in the Third Reich,” wrote Bitton. “Considering the severity of this issue and the need for speedy remedy, it’s my sincere hope you will look into it without unnecessary delay.”
The watchdog group said in a separate statement&...
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January 12, 2022 at 10:19 pm
A Republican member of Congress drew swift condemnation Wednesday after comparing D.C.’s upcoming vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany – marking the latest instance in which a GOP lawmaker has chosen to compare measures intended to quell a public health emergency to Nazi practices that culminated in the genocide of millions of Jews.
Rep. Warren Davidson, Ohio, made the comparison while responding to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s, D, reminder on Twitter that, beginning Saturday, patrons will need to show proof of coronavirus vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, theaters or other places where people congregate indoors. Religious and medical exemptions are allowed.
Davidson tweeted, “This has been done before. #DoNotComply,” and included a Nazi-era identifying document...
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January 12, 2022 at 10:19 pm
Two months after President Joe Biden said migrant families separated at the border under the Trump administration deserve compensation, his administration’s lawyers are arguing in federal court that they are not in fact entitled to financial damages and their cases should be dismissed.
The Justice Department outlined its position in the government’s first court filings since settlement negotiations that could have awarded the families hundreds of thousands of dollars broke down in mid-December.
Government lawyers emphasized in the court documents that they do not condone the Trump administration’s policy of separating the children of undocumented migrants from their parents. But they said the U.S. government has a good deal of leeway when it comes to managing immigrat...
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January 12, 2022 at 10:18 pm
The U.S. congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol asked House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday to voluntarily answer questions about Donald Trump's actions on the day of the riot.
In a letter to McCarthy released publicly, the House of Representatives Select Committee requested he sit for an interview in early February.
McCarthy later issued a written statement saying he would not cooperate with what he described as an "illegitimate" committee. "As a representative and the leader of the minority party, it is with neither regret nor satisfaction that I have concluded to not participate with this select committee’s abuse of power that stains this institution today and will harm it going forward," McCarthy said ...
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January 12, 2022 at 9:58 pm
"Shalom Sivan, here's a picture of grandma Shulamit Toledano, together with her grandsons, Neriya and Uri Tzadok. Two months ago grandma Shula became a widow after her dear husband Zion passed away from the coronavirus. Last week she tested positive for the virus and the thought that she would have to isolate alone was deeply concerning. But then both Neriya and Uri tested positive as well. Immediately, without any hesitation, they declared that they would isolate together with grandma Shula.
And now they are together during the isolation period, alone and yet together. Cooking, playing, reading, talking, recalling pleasant memories, and on Shabbat they made kiddush and had a wonderful dinner together. Let no one disparage our youth for being apathetic, having become addicted to di...
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January 12, 2022 at 8:47 pm
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 12, 2022 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Yehuda Leib Tendler and Chana Goldman on their engagement.
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
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January 12, 2022 at 8:47 pm
Baltimore, MD – Jan. 12, 2022 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rena Grunhaus (Baltimore) and Yosef Wilheim (Cincinnati) on their engagement.
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
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January 12, 2022 at 6:00 pm
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 12, 2022 - What is a true fan? Can there be more than one "number one fan"? How were all the Jews able to say "This is MY G-D", isn't that mutually exclusive? Tune in to this week's Torah Sparks podcast to find out the answer to these intriguing questions and more!Click here to listen
Powered by: TYA of Baltimore
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January 12, 2022 at 3:44 pm
A Neo-Nazi leader convicted in a plot to intimidate Jews and journalists has been sentenced to seven years in prison, NBC News reports.
The man, Kaleb Cole, 25, the former leader of the Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, was convicted in September of conspiracy, mailing threatening communications and interfering with a federally protected activity, the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday.
“The group focused primarily on those who are Jewish or journalists of color,” the Justice Department said.
A co-conspirator in the plot, Cameron Shea, 25, another Atomwaffen Division leader, was sentenced to three years in August, the Justice Department said.
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January 12, 2022 at 3:40 pm
The White House is promising to provide 10 million free coronavirus tests each month for schools, aiming to help keep classes in person at a time when testing across the country is uneven and, in some cases, virtually nonexistent.
President Joe Biden has pushed schools to open and stay open for in-person learning, mindful of the academic and social-emotional damage wrought by remote learning, as well as the political risks among frustrated parents who crave normalcy and fully functioning schools.
Last year, the administration said it was providing $10 billion for school-based testing. Nonetheless, before the omicron variant began racing across the country, relatively few districts even attempted testing for students and employees absent symptoms of covid-19.
Experts point to confusing...
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January 12, 2022 at 3:05 pm
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 12, 2022 - A brief update on the winter
storm potential for Sunday night into Monday.
What we know, is that a low pressure system will ride up the
coast. There will be plenty of moisture and cold air at the surface for a high
impact event. Confidence is increasing for a significant winter weather event.
The question remains the track, and how much warm air aloft
works it’s way into our area. A track further to the east (but not out to sea)
would bring widespread heavy snow to the area.
A track further west would result in heavy snow west of
I-95, with sleet and rain with minor snow accumulations SE of I-95.
It’s far too early for any more details.
There is still great uncertainty in th...
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January 12, 2022 at 1:41 pm
Jerusalem, Israel - Jan. 12, 2022 - The flags at Beit Hanasi, the official residence of the Israeli President were flying at half-mast on Wednesday morning, January 12, 2022, in Jerusalem, Israel
On Monday, January 10, 2022 / 8 Shevat 5782, the Office of the President announced with great sorrow Aura Herzog. a'h, mother of President Isaac Herzog and wife of the late sixth Israeli President, Chaim Herzog z"l, had passed away overnight at her home at the age of 97. A prominent public figure and social activist for many decades, she was the founder of the Council for a Beautiful Israel among a long list of accomplishments and is credited with initiating the Bible Quiz, which has taken place every year since its inception in the 1950s.
In 1946, she made ali...
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January 12, 2022 at 1:35 pm
It has been released for publication that as part of a joint investigation, the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) and the Israel Police Lahav 433's Unit of International Crime Investigation (Yahbal) have been looking into a secret Iranian Espionage Network that recruited Israeli women with the aim of performing various tasks inside the state of Israel.
The activities that the suspects were manipulated into by the Iranian Espionage Network, have been under extensive surveillance until it was revealed that relationships had been forged between an Iranian intelligence operative and the Israeli suspects. The investigators have accumulated extensive evidence of these ties, and accordingly, a number of the suspects have been indicted.
The Israeli women were approached on Facebook by a man nam...
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January 12, 2022 at 1:29 pm
State officials provided an update Wednesday on the "network security incident" affecting the Maryland Department of Health's website in December, confirming it was a ransomware attack.
Read the statement in its entirety
Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents authorized users from accessing data and systems until an extortion payment is made.
The state's chief information security officer, Chip Stewart, said in a statement released Wednesday morning that the investigation continues and that the state did not pay any extortion demands and will not pay any such demand.
Stewart said the state could not address any possible motive. He said MDH was able to isolate and contain its systems within hours of first detecting the incident. As a result, the state has not, to this ...
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January 12, 2022 at 1:26 pm
If words are the pen of the heart, then song is the pen of the soul
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
Az Yashir.
In his article, “Words of Song”, on Chabad.org, Tzvi Freeman wrote, “You can’t think prayers without speaking them, or speak without thinking them. And they aren’t prayers until you sing them.” In short, he suggests that prayer is not fully prayer until it contains that ineffable spark that only true song brings to it.
Az yashir – then Moshe and B’nei Yisrael will sing. “Az” exists in the past; “Yashir” speaks of the future. When B’nei Yisrael stood on the far shore of the sea as a free nation, its song was not solely of a temporal triumph, not merely of ...
