The Senate on Thursday night capped four months of contentious debate and voted to send a compromise bill to President Biden’s desk that extends the government’s borrowing authority until January of 2025 and staves off a potential default next week.  A large bipartisan majority of the Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill, which passed the House on Wednesday night.  The approval came after the Senate clinched an agreement to conduct a series of amendment votes on Thursday night and move directly to final passage. The normally slow-moving chamber raced through a dozen votes in just over three hours. Senate conservatives such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) joined Republican defense hawks such as Sens. Roger Wicker...
Mashgiach? Check. ✔️ Fishy Business? Let's get a look behind the scenes in the sushi industry with Rabbi Moshe Kaufman, Kashrus Administrator for KVH Kosher ~ Rabbinical Council of New England.
This week’s Parsha continues with the theme of counting the tribal families and enumerating their responsibilities and tasks. The Torah begins with what appears to be a simple phrase, “Naso Es Rosh Bnai Gershon, Count the sons of Gershon …. (Bamidbar 4:22).” It is interesting that this mirrors the verbiage found in last week’s Parsha, “Se’u Es Rosh Kol Adas Bnai Yisroel, Count all the congregation of the Children of Israel …. (Bamidbar 1:2).” In each of these instances, the Torah uses the word, Rosh, head. The Shelah HaKadosh (Rav Yishaya Horowitz, 1565-1630), explains that in the eyes of God we are each considered a Rosh, a head, someone exceptionally significant. Society has many metrics by which it measures the success, value, and ...
Baltimore City Public Schools announced that due to high forecasted temperatures on Friday, June 2, schools without air conditioning will close early. District offices and schools that do have air conditioning will remain on their regular schedules. The district re-emphasized their commitment to install A/C in every school.
According to BGE and city officials, a widespread power outage occurred Thursday in Annapolis. More than half of the reported Annapolis-area power outages were restored as of 8 p.m. Thursday. Remaining outages are expected to be restored later Thursday night into Friday morning. BGE's outage map showed over 40,000 customers affected across the entire service area as of 4 p.m. Thursday. But at it's peak, BGE said around 72,000 customers were affected. The outage began at around 3:15 p.m., according to city officials. In a statement, they said, "Our best information is that a power disruption at the Cedar Park substation has impacted the Annapolis peninsula and surrounding communities." BGE spokesperson Nick Alexopulos also released a statement saying, "At 3:15 p.m. an equipmen...
The Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office on Friday launched a new way in which they will pursue some criminal cases. Starting June 12 police will issue criminal citations rather than make arrests for quality of life crimes. For now the initiative will only impact adults committing offenses such as panhandling, public urination, and dirt bike violations. It aims to get away from the practice of mass incarceration while maintaining accountability. "Ultimately, the hope is that this approach will help to shift us away from the history of brutal criminalization that has been tied to the enforcement of low-level offenses while not letting these quality-of-life concerns go unaddressed," said Mayor Brandon Scott. Each citation given by a law enforcement officer will have an ini...
Jerusalem, Israel - June 1, 2023  - After more than a decade of planning and three years of construction by a multidisciplinary team that included archaeologists, architects, curators, researchers, designers, and creators, the new Tower of David Museum of Jerusalem opened today to the general public.  United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Meir Porush as Minister of Jerusalem and Israel Tradition was the first speaker at the opening event program. MK Zev Elkin who served in that position in a previous government attended along with the dozens of invited guests. The Tower of David Citadel, located by the Old City Jaffa Gate, is layered with almost 3,000 years of history. It is a unique location to tell the story of Yerushalayim to the world. The visito...
Baltimore, MD - June 1, 2023 - On Tuesday, May 23rd, a group of Bais Yaakov High School STEM students traveled to American Dream Mall in New Jersey to participate in the CIJE Annual Innovation Day. Since January, students from grades 10 through 12 worked in groups to build capstone projects featuring a new innovation that they designed, engineered, and coded themselves. They also conducted market research and put together pitches to sell their products. At Innovation Day, the groups presented their pitches to an audience of fellow students and adult judges. There were 1200+ students and 450 innovation projects. Aside from the pitches, the students were able to enjoy the shops and amusement park at the mall, and participate in the CIJE award ceremony at the end. Mazel Tov to our Bais Yaak...
After the participation of all the tribes in the inauguration of the Tabernacle, the Torah tells of Moshe's entry into it to hear the word of G-d. Several perplexing details regarding the way G-d communicated His words are enumerated. Firstly, is the fact that the voice emanated from between the two cherubim atop the ark cover. What is the significance of specifically projecting from between the cherubim? Secondly, G-d is depicted as a מִדַבֵֵּר — in the reflexive form, literally, 'speaking to itself', as Rashi explains, the voice would speak to itself, and Moshe would listen to it. Does G-d talk to Himself? Additionally, the verse emphasizes how G-d spoke to 'him', Moshe, excluding expressly Aharon from the 'conversation'. Why is it ne...
So, there I was, standing and talking with my brother-in-law outside of Shul one evening. He pointed to a car driving nearby and said, “Hey, there’s a car driving without his headlights on.”  At that moment, an idea occurred to me. You see, the Jewish people are called, “A light unto the Nations.” This statement is not just a fact; it is a calling of our destiny. We are a light, and as such, we are meant to shine that light to the rest of the world.  Unfortunately, however, so many Jews don’t realize their sense of value and holiness, and as such, so many of the Jewish people today are simply driving “without their headlights on.” They are driving in the dark, clueless of their identity and unknowing of their spiritual potential. ...
It was with a great deal of mixed emotions that I learned of the decision by  Diversified Business Communications (Portland, ME), producers of Kosherfest since 2003, to cancel Kosherfest 2023 and beyond. It was nearly 33 years ago that I launched Kosherfest with great trepidation. Looking back, I can proudly say that the show was an amazing run and the impetus for a glorious chapter in the growth of kosher and the Jewish community. I very much cherish all the relationships I have made over the years and am particularly grateful to the wonderful people at Diversified who went beyond the call of duty to assure Kosherfest’s success.    The exponential growth of kosher in all categories is extraordinary. The last three plus decades of the show was a period when tens of th...
The beginning of Sefer Bamidbar is truly a magical time.  Klal Yisroel has received the Torah.  They have been given instructions for and built the Mishkan and its Keilim.  They are then counted and have “heads” of all the Shevatim named.  The Kohanim and Leviyim are separated out for counting, anointing and are prepared to do the Avodah.  Leadership, roles, instructions are all in place.  Indeed, Hashem is prepared to bless them when one more set of Halachos are offered – the option of becoming a Nazir.  (Naso, 6:1) The Torah makes it clear that Neziros is not the preferred way for a Jew to live.  In fact, the very first verb used to describe the act is “Yafli” – to disassociate or separate.  Moreover at the...
Baltimore, MD - June 1, 2023 – 3:42PM - Traffic has come to a standstill due to an accident on 795 just before Exit 4. This incident is causing significant backups extending to I-95. If you're in the vicinity, expect considerable delays. Use alternate routes.
Baltimore, MD – June 1, 2023 – Due to a flooding issue at the DoubleTree, the Epstein-Norman Chasuna to take place tonight has been moved to Valley Mansion - 594 Cranbrook Road, Cockeysville, MD
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