Baltimore, MD – Sept. 19, 2022 - It is with regret that Baltimore Jewish Life (BJL) informs the community of the petira of Irvin Goldberg, Z’L, brother of Rabbi Sander Goldberg. The graveside levayah will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 3:00 PM in Chicago Shiva will be observed beginning Wednesday morning at 6410 Cross Country Blvd., Baltimore, MD, 21215 Minyanim: Shacharis: 8:00AM (No Shacharis on Sunday, Erev Rosh Hashanah) Mincha: 6:35PM Maariv: 7:05PM Bila HaMaves LaNetzach For more details as available click here
Interacting with legislators and candidates for office is critical to effective advocacy. Conversations with community members gives legislators an opportunity to get to know who they are representing and hear their concerns first hand, and conversely, gives the community an opportunity to learn about and appreciate legislators’ work and accomplishments on behalf of the community. Candidate forums are also very helpful in allowing the community to learn about the positions of the candidates so they can cast an educated vote. Agudath Israel of Illinois recently held a series of community events with current elected officials and candidates for office.   The first event was a legislative barbecue for the Peterson Park neighborhood with State Representative Mike Kelly (HD 15)...
Baltimore, MD – Sept. 21, 2022 - Today, Baltimore City Councilman Yitzy Schleifer, who initiated our community’s expansive Yomim Noraim security coverage in both city and county, visited with the New York Police Dept (NYPD) to attend its Yomim Noraim security meetings to learn ideas, methods, and strategies to bring back and possibly meld into current procedures. After meeting with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the councilman met with, among others, Inspector and Commanding Officer of Community Affairs Richie Taylor, the NYPD’s highest-ranking officer who wears a yarmulke in uniform, NYPD Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Klass, Kenneth Corey, chief of department, the highest-ranking uniformed position within the NYPD and NY City C...
Baltimore, MD – Sept. 21, 2022 - The Star-K Yoshon Quick Reference Guide for 5783/2022 has been updated as of today.Click on the graphic below for a larger, printable copy.
Rising interest rates are sending mortgage-loan rates skyrocketing. It's now nearly twice as expensive to borrow money to purchase a home as it was at the start of the year. Mortgage rates have surpassed the 6% mark for the first time since 2008 — double the 3% rates from this January and much of last year — which is enough to significantly cool off the red housing market the country has seen for the past few years. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Realtors Association, says this means total monthly mortgage payments are now 50% more than what they were for the same home bought a year ago – pricing many would-be buyers out of the market. Less competition means the days of regularly seeing offers of $10,000, $20,000 or even $50,000...
Baltimore, MD – Sept. 21, 2022 - It is with regret that Baltimore Jewish Life (BJL) informs the community of the petira of Mr. Freddie Karlip, Z’L, husband of Dina Karlip and father of Joshua (Shoshana) Karlip and Rachel (Josh) Dreeben. The levayah will take place at Levinson's Thursday, Sept. 22, 9:30 AM The kevurah will be at Workmen Circle Cemetery - 6845 German Hill Road, Baltimore, MD, 21222.Shiva details to follow  Bila HaMaves LaNetzach For more details as available click here
Two Alabama veterans captured while fighting with the Ukrainian Army after Russia's invasion earlier this year were freed Wednesday, Congressman Robert Aderholt announced Wednesday. Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh were captured in early June, according to the Drueke family. Aderholt said his office was given the news by Huynh's family. “The family of Andy Huynh has informed my office that the two veterans have been freed from their captivity in eastern Ukraine,” said Aderholt. “My office is working to get more information from the United States Department of State about the health of these men and how soon they will be brought home to their families in the U.S.”
The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged Tuesday that its response to the U.S. infant formula shortage was slowed by delays in processing a whistleblower complaint and test samples from the nation’s largest formula factory. A 10-page report from the agency offers its first formal account of the factors that led to the ongoing shortage, which has forced the U.S. to airlift millions of pounds of powdered formula from overseas. The review zeroed in on several key problems at the agency, including outdated data-sharing systems, inadequate staffing and training among its food inspectors, and poor visibility into formula supply chains and manufacturing procedures. “For things that are critical to the public health, if you don’t have some understanding of ...
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday boosted interest rates by three-fourths of a percentage point, the latest in a series of aggressive steps to tame stubborn inflation. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — the panel of Fed officials responsible for monetary policy— hiked its baseline interest rate by 0.75 percentage points Wednesday to a span of 3 to 3.25 percent. It is the fifth Fed rate hike since March and the third consecutive FOMC meeting ending with a 75 basis point hike. The Fed had long been expected to issue another 75 basis point hike in September as inflation continued to rise through much of the summer and linger near four-decade highs. While monthly price growth has slowed slightly, the annual inflation rate of 8.2 percent in August, according to the consume...
The drive to get people to the polls for the Nov. 8 midterm elections in Maryland started in earnest Tuesday with National Voter Registration Day, and efforts continue for the next month. The last date to register to vote in Maryland’s general election is Oct. 18. Races on the ballot include Delegate Dalya Attar, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, one U.S. Senate seat and members of the U.S. House of Representatives. To vote by mail, residents must request a mail-in ballot from the State Board of Elections or your local board. Your request for a mail-in ballot for the gubernatorial general election must be received by Maryland's State Board of Elections by Nov. 1. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked or placed in a designated bal...
President Isaac Herzog: “Yesterday’s awful terror attack in Holon, in which Shulamit Rachel Ovadia, an elderly woman, a family woman, was shockingly murdered by a Palestinian terrorist comes from the same dark hatred of the depraved murderers at Munich. The same blind, awful hatred that we will not allow to win. I extend my deepest condolences to Shulamit’s family and loved ones. The State of Israel will continue to defend its citizens with uncompromising might, and I support the security forces doing so day and night.” President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog attended an event today marking the fiftieth anniversary of the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Culture and Sports Minister Hili Tropper, International Olympic Commit...
Prime Minister Yair Lapid is expected to announce his support for the establishment of a Palestinian State during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly tomorrow, sources close to the Prime Minister stated. According to the sources, Lapid's speech will focus on four issues. The first issue is Iran and the nuclear threat the Islamic Republic poses. Prime Minister Lapid will emphasize that the State of Israel will, if necessary, act by itself to defend itself from Iran and does not need anyone's permission to defend itself. Lapid will also tell the global body that there is an alternative to the current bad deal being negotiated in Vienna and armed conflict, a better deal that does not include sunset clauses, has proper inspection mechanisms to ensure Iran's comp...
In a conversation with reporters today (Wednesday), Central District Commander Police Chief Avi Biton said that every day, about 10,000 Palestinian Arabs illegally enter Israeli territory within the Green Line through breaches in the security fence. "Everyone thinks that the breaches in the fence should be blocked, but in practice, nothing is done. The fence is breached along its entire length," Biton warned in a briefing to reporters, and voiced an implicit criticism of the security establishment's disregard of the danger. Biton said these things against the background of an increase in property crimes, which is evident mainly in the Sharon region, the central coastal plain lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the Samarian hills. Then he related to the army's activities las...
Baltimore, MD – Sept.  2022 - 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 cre...
At its root, the recent critique of Hasidic schools in The New York Times is not about education, much less "substantial equivalency." Rather, during a time of increasing antisemitism, with violent incidents centered specifically in Hasidic neighborhoods in the New York area, a pair of Jewish writers decided to engage in deliberate incitement, using stereotypes, exaggerations, and generalizations to portray Hasidic Jews as foreign, money-grubbing, incapable of independent decision-making, and worthy of the hatred directed against them. Some would say that one cannot accuse a pair of journalists with obviously Jewish surnames of antisemitic bias. But the Talmud teaches that an ignorant Jew hates Jewish scholars even more than antisemites hate Jews; and throughout history, in...
The New York Attorney General's office has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, several of his family members, as well associates and businesses, alleging "numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation" regarding financial statements.  Attorney General Letitia James said at a news conference Wednesday morning that Trump "inflated his net worth by billions of dollars," and that his children Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric helped him. "Mr. Trump and the Trump Org repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company," James said, "to pay lower taxes, to satisfy continuing loan agreements and to induce insurance companies to pr...
President Biden accused Russia of an "extremely significant" violation of the United Nations international charter in its "brutal, needless war" against Ukraine, delivering harsh words directed to Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying the war was "chosen by one man." Biden, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City Wednesday, reflected on the past year. "In the last year, our world has experienced great upheaval— growing crisis and food insecurity; record heat, floods, droughts, COVID-19, inflation, and a brutal, needless war—a war chosen by one man," Biden said in his first words to UNGA. "To be very blunt, let us speak plainly. A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase a sovereign ...
Canada — A massive crisis has been averted that could have impacted the ability of hundreds of thousands of Canadian Jews to fulfill the mitzvah of Lulav. Thanks to Jewish activists and specifically Jewish MP Rachel Ben-Dayan, Canada’s Food Inspection Agency has reversed course and allowed the commercial import of daled minim into the country. Earlier on Tuesday, word quickly spread that the country was banning import of lulavim, hadasim and aravos. Dovid Leib Silverstein, owner of Rodal’s Judaica in Montreal, sent an urgent message asking for anyone who could intervene. He said that the CFIA, the Canadian government agency that regulates the import of plants, banned all commercial and even personal imports of the products. As a result, the only way for Canadian Jews ...
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