Baltimore, MD – Dec. 8, 2022 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Pasey and Shaina Wealcatch on the birth of a daughter. Mazel Tov Grandparents Chaim & Aviva Wealcatch and Adam & Adina Rishe.Mazel Tov to the great grandparents, William and Noemie Wealcatch,  and Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Abelow and Mrs. Linda Rishe and Mr. & Mrs. Danny Jacoby יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 8, 2022 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Chavi & Shawn Burstyn on the birth of Bracha יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בתם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
'The change that UTJ is demanding is nothing short of a revolution and threatens Israel’s democratic nature' Israel's ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party has reportedly demanded during coalition negotiations with prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu that all mixed-gender prayer be forbidden at the Western Wall. Army Radio reported on Thursday that the party wants to enact "significant measures of deterrence" to prevent people from "desecrating the holy place" - meaning praying "according to the custom of the Chief Rabbinate."  The law would bar groups such as Women of the Wall from praying at the holy Jewish site, including in the egalitarian section, as the law does not consider the area to be an officially separated space.
During the first half of the government's term, Aryeh Deri will serve as Health Minister and Interior Minister Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party reached an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party regarding the latter's roles in the next government, according to an early Thursday morning announcement.  According to the agreement reached, during the first half of the government's term, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri will serve as Health Minister and Interior Minister. Then, in the second half of the government's tenure, he will serve as Finance Minister, replacing far-right Religious Zionism head Bezalel Smotrich.  Additionally, the ultra-Orthodox party will receive the Religious Services, Welfare and Social Security...
The three killed were named as Atta Shalabi, Sidqi Zakharna and Tarek al-Damej An overnight Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin left three Palestinians dead early on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.  According to reports, Israeli military forces raided the city in an attempt to arrest wanted Palestinians, resulting in an exchange of gunfire. Three Palestinians were arrested in Jenin, according to the Israeli army. Palestinian media confirmed the three dead as Atta Shalabi, Sidqi Zakharna and Tarek al-Damej. Shalabi was 46, from the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin. Zakharna and al-Damej were both from Jenin, 22 and 32, respectively.  Multiple circulating images show Zakharna and al-Damej with assault rifles, indicating ...
Tasks included exposing the identity of Shin Bet agents and gathering intelligence on sites in Israel Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency revealed on Thursday it arrested a Palestinian from Gaza last month accused of gathering intelligence for Hamas while using a work permit.  In November 2022, Sabar Mahmoud Yosef Abu Thabat, 28, a resident of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, was arrested for questioning at Erez crossing while trying to enter Israel.  The Shin Bet investigation found that officials from the Hamas militant group were using him for the purpose of gathering intelligence and carrying out missions in Israel. The tasks Hamas asked him to perform included exposing the identity of Shin Bet agents and gathering intelligence on sites in Isr...
The security unit charged with protecting ministers and deputy ministers, which operates under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office, is making arrangements in advance of the expected influx of ministers and deputies living in Judea and Samaria. Among them are Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in Kedumim; Itamar Ben-Gvir and Orit Strock who live in Hebron, Ohed Tal from Efrat, and Avi Maoz, head of the Noam party, who lives in the City of David just outside the Jerusalem Old City walls. According to the limited information made available for publication due to government censorship, the ministerial security unit will be purchasing new types of protective equipment appropriate for the security situation in sensitive regions, as well as new types of weapons and ammunition not hitherto...
Naftali Bennet launched an NIS 1 million ($290,000 USD) lawsuit for defamation on Tuesday against a rabbi who claimed the former Prime Minister’s mother is a Reform convert. The lawsuit charged that Rabbi Ronen Shaulov made defamatory statements, including “appalling epithets and curses." It said the allegations were read by over 700,000 online, the Jewish Chronicle reported. The lawsuit stated that a Google search for Bennet’s mother suggested adding the words “Christian” or “convert” to the search. This was evidence that Rabbi Shaulov’s claims had taken a “deep hold” with the public, the lawsuit claimed.
Mirna Bennett, the mother of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, spoke about the lawsuit that her son filed against individuals who allegedly slandered him, including Rabbi Ronen Shaulov who claimed that she and her late husband are not Jews. "My life is very interesting. Suddenly I'm not Jewish anymore," Mirna said sarcastically in an interview with Radio 103FM on Thursday and added: "When it first came out half a year ago, I was in shock. I thought about my parents who came to the US from Poland and Russia because of pogroms and half of their families stayed in the hands of the Nazis. Suddenly it happened to me in the beginning, I thought that it was something weird that would pass and now I understand that it all begins to be fact to those who want to believ...
Houston native and WNBA star Brittney Griner has been freed as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia, according to the White House.  Griner was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, labeled the “Merchant of Death.” This was a one-for-one swap. American and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan was not part of the exchange. Earlier this month, Griner began serving a 9-year sentence for drug possession at a Russian penal colony in Mordovia, which is about 210 miles east of Moscow. The all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medal winner was detained in February when customs agents said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sher...
 
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 7, 2022 - Baltimore City Fire Union and Department officials are sounding the alarm about an aging fleet and the agency's readiness to respond to emergencies. Those concerns were raised Wednesday at a city council committee hearing called to get a status report on fire equipment and personnel. Fire department officials described an antiquated purchasing system. They cited a chronic lack of funds and ongoing supply chain problems as reasons for concern. Looks can be deceiving according to Baltimore City's Fire Union. The two-alarm fire Wednesday on South Monroe Street prompted a rapid response by multiple trucks, firefighters and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) crews. But union officials point out, there is an overall shortage of vehicles. Five ladder truc...
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 7, 2022 - Bais Yaakov Impressions Auction 2022 did just what it sought to do; leave an impression.  For the more than 600 women attending this gala event, the impression was that of a stunning evening, with delicious gourmet food with a twist (grilled fruit in caramel sauce!) prepared by Catering by Yaffa, and fun fare by way of an interactive game with friends. There was also the exciting silent auction with incredible prizes to be won! Walking into the brightly and well-lit Martin’s West main ballroom, one immediately felt the glamour and panache that was so beautifully, creatively and tirelessly prepared for months in advance by the team of volunteers led by chairwoman, Mrs. Perri Goldenhersh, along with the hardworking Bais Yaakov development staff, u...
Baltimore County, MD - Dec. 7, 2022 - The Baltimore County Police Department is now under the leadership of Chief Dennis Delp. The interim police chief was sworn in by the Honorable Julie Ensor, Clerk of the Circuit Court, yesterday morning. Congratulations, Chief Delp.
New York, NY – Dianne Lob, Chair, and William Daroff, CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement: "Today’s roundtable with the American Jewish community reaffirmed the commitment of the Biden administration to take necessary and immediate steps to combat antisemitism in all its manifestations. We thank Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, senior domestic policy advisor Ambassador Susan Rice, senior director of public engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, for their work to shine a light on antisemitism and to defend our community from existential threats. "We welcome the administration's efforts to fight antisemitism and are encouraged ...
Former President Trump’s legal team has found at least two documents with classified markings at a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Fla., in the wake of the FBI’s August search of Mar-a-Lago, several outlets reported on Wednesday. The documents were immediately turned over to the FBI, according to The Washington Post. The storage unit, which is maintained by the General Services Administration, was one of several locations searched by an outside group hired by Trump’s lawyers to look for any remaining classified materials. The move comes after a federal judge asked the former president’s legal team to ensure they fully complied with a subpoena from earlier this year that asked Trump to turn over any remaining classified documents. The National Archives has ...
Turn on the television news and you’ll hear about an attempted car ramming or a stabbing attack. Tune in to the radio and you’ll hear about a man clobbered with a motorcycle helmet in a road rage incident. Open up the newspaper and you’ll read about extortion and “protection” rings operating in the South. Not to mention horrific reports of car accidents, polio outbreaks, and salmonella in Sabra hummus. It’s enough to make you shout out the title of that 1961 musical: “Stop the world – I want to get off.” Surrounded by a drumbeat of negative news in this country, a recent survey on the least and most safe travel destinations around the world, by a US insurance comparison website called The Swiftest may come as a jaw-dr...
Ofer Ohana, who was critically wounded last month in a terrorist attack, went straight from rehabilitation to his daughter's chuppah. One of the guests at this special wedding, Rabbi Hevron Shiloh, who heads the Or Otniel high school yeshiva, wrote about the wedding as follows."I was privileged to take part in the wedding of children of two of our generation's giants (gedolei hador). You may not have heard of them and certainly have not read their books since their stature is not that of sages, but of purveyors of lovingkindness. Ofer Ohana is a man of Hevron. He is an ambulance driver and a medic, someone who saves lives. Around a month ago, for the umpteenth time, Ofer dashed out of his home, in order to save those wounded in an attack, and a terrorist's bullets wounded hi...
People with non-severe Covid cases can isolate at home instead of centralized government facilities China announced Wednesday a nationwide loosening of Covid restrictions following protests against the hardline strategy that grew into calls for greater political freedoms. Anger over China's zero-Covid policy - which involved mass lockdowns, constant testing and quarantines even for people who are not infected - stoked unrest not seen since the 1989 pro-democracy protests. Under the new guidelines announced by the National Health Commission, the frequency and scope of PCR testing - long a tedious mainstay of life in zero-Covid China - will be reduced. Lockdowns will also be scaled down and people with non-severe Covid cases can isolate at home instead of centralize...
The decision was made despite 'credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder' A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of the U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. U.S. intelligence concluded that the Saudi de-facto ruler had ordered the brutal killing of the opposition activist by Saudi agents inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. However, District Judge John D. Bates accepted the U.S. government’s motion to clear the crown prince from the lawsuit regardless of what the judge called “credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.” Last month President Joe Biden’s administration said that the prince shou...
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