Baltimore, MD – Dec. 8, 2023 - A strengthening storm system is set to hit Maryland over the weekend, bringing waves of steady rain and gusty winds on Sunday afternoon and evening, according to Pikesville Patch. While there may be flooding in poor drainage areas due to Sunday evening's heavy rain, moderate to severe drought conditions in parts of Maryland could help absorb some of it. The heaviest rain and strong winds are expected on Sunday evening and night, potentially causing disruptions. Along the East Coast, high winds could lead to powerful gusts and travel delays. Before the storm, Marylanders can expect mild and tranquil days on Friday and Shabbos, with the storm bringing downpours and possible thunder on Sunday. Drier and colder temperatures will follow on Monday ...
Jerusalem, Israel - Dec. 8, 2023 - Thursday night, December 7, 2023, marked two months since the start of Operation Iron Swords, the war which began when Hamas breached the borders of Israel and went on a killing rampage.
Thursday night was also the first night of Chanukah 5784, and in Yerushalayim though the crowds were significantly smaller, people were out to celebrate.
At the Kotel official ceremonies went on with government officials. At Chabad Houses around Yerushalayim there was music and suffganiot, those jelly filled donuts.
The celebration at Mamilla Mall by Chabad of Talbiya went on as usual, though fewer people attended than usual, they were enthusiastic and singing and dancing to the music. (Actually it was more pleasant than in the past, with a smaller attendanc...
The FBI said Friday that a man suspected of firing gunshots outside a Jewish temple in upstate New York yesterday been federally charged.
"Thanks to the swift coordination between the ATF, FBI, and our partners at Albany Police Department and New York State Police, Mufid Fawaz Alkhader has been arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person," the FBI said in a statement.
Alkhader was expected to appear in a federal courtroom in Albany on Friday, according to the Associated Press.
Officials say Alkhader is the man who was arrested shortly after the shots were fired at Temple Israel at around 2 p.m. Thursday. Police did not initially release the man's name, but Gov. Kathy Hochul said he was a local resident.
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said t...
The White House says it condemns “in the strongest terms” the “shocking, antisemitic” remarks that surfaced earlier today by the founder and executive director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) following Hamas’s shock October 7 attacks on Israel.
Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) convention in Chicago last month that he was “happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in,” referring to the unprecedented onslaught two months ago when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst through the enclave’s border with Israel and massacred 1,200 people and took some 240 ...
Employers added 199,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department said in its monthly payroll report released Friday, beating the 180,000 jobs forecast by Refinitiv economists.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, unexpectedly fell to 3.7%.
We approach this Chanukah with conflicting emotions.
On the one hand we identify with the battle of light against darkness, as the Chashmonaim fought against an enemy that sought our spiritual destruction. We face an adversary that not only denies our values but seeks our utter destruction. So as our brothers and sisters are waging a fierce and courageous war with a vile enemy, the victories of the past certainly inspire our troops to risk life and limb to preserve our tradition and destiny, waiting for a glorious victory in the image of our ancestors.
A dear friend, Rabbi Akiva Fox, shared an anecdote regarding a student of his who finds expression in art and music rather than words. In preparation for Chanukah, he devised a Menorah from a spent machine gun cartridge, gluing nine bullet...
Ross Stevens, a University of Pennsylvania donor. is withdrawing a gift worth around $100 million in protest against the school's response to antisemitism on campus, Axios reported on Thursday.
According to the report, the final straw for Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, was Tuesday's widely criticized congressional testimony by UPenn president Liz Magill.
Magill, along with several college presidents, danced around a question from Rep. Elise Stefanik on whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” is against the universities’ respective codes of conduct.
The gift from Stevens, a Penn undergrad alum, was given in December 2017 to help establish a center for innovation in finance, according to Axios.
It was in t...
House members voted again Thursday to punish one of their own, targeting Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in one of the U.S. Capitol office buildings when the chamber was in session.
The Republican censure resolution passed with some Democratic votes, but most Democrats stood by Bowman in opposition of an effort they said lacked credibility and integrity. The prominent progressive now becomes the third Democratic House member to be admonished this year through the censure process, which is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House.
“It’s painfully obvious to myself, my colleagues and the American people that the Republican Party is deeply unserious and unable to legislate,” Bowman said Wednesday as he defended himself d...
Maryland Transit Administration officials revealed that Light Rail services will be suspended effective Friday.
Officials held a news conference at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to officially announce the suspension.
“The decision to suspend service is based on two issues. First, we’re discovered that high voltage conduits on our vehicles have been punctured. This was discovered as a result of inspections following a fire event on Oct. 21,” MTA administrator Holly Arnold said.
The MTA also found issues with the cables that connect Light Rail cars. Those cables have caused six smoke events since Nov. 2021, Arnold said.
Follow-up inspections assessments determined that further inspection was needed of the entire Light Rail fleet.
“While the risk level remains acceptable, we...
There is excitement in the air. The beautiful and holy Yom Tov of Chanukah is here. It is on this Yom Tov of Chanukah that we remember our brave ancestors who after defeating the Syrian Greeks, rededicated the Temple, lit the spark of Jewish rejuvenation, and breathed new life into our collective soul.
There are two parts of our Chanukah celebration. We commemorate and celebrate the military victory. “Masarta Giborim B’Yad Chalashim, You delivered the strong into the hands of the weak;” a small army of Kohanim (priests) defeated the mighty Greek fighting machine. We celebrate the miracle of the Pach Shemen, the little cruse of oil which lasted for eight days. Interestingly, the military victory receives almost no attention (aside from a mention in Shmona Esrei...
The United States has not given Israel a firm deadline to end major combat operations against Hamas in Gaza, and if the war ended now, the group would continue to pose a threat, White House national security aide Jon Finer said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
"We have not given a firm deadline to Israel, not really our role. This is their conflict. That said, we do have influence, even if we don't have ultimate control over what happens on the ground in Gaza," Finer was quoted as having told the Aspen Security Forum in Washington.
Israel has two objectives in Gaza, Finer said, ensuring Hamas can no longer govern Gaza and it can no longer pose a threat to Israel following the deadly October 7 attack.
"Frankly, if the war were to stop today, (Hamas) it would continue to pose ...
The White House has faced backlash over its response to cancellations of public celebrations of Hanukkah.
Speaking during a briefing earlier today, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said "every action" had been taken in attempting to make sure the Jewish community feels safe amid an uptick in antisemitism and cancellations of Hanukkah celebrations in the U.S. She added: "We have seen an uptick in hate, just more broadly, in different communities—obviously, also in the Muslim community. And so, we will do everything that we can to make sure that these communities feel safe."
The response caused some ire on social media and criticism that Jean-Pierre criticized the rise in Islamophobia in response to a question about antisemitism.
Referring to the beginning of the Israe...
Jerusalem, Israel - Dec. 7, 2023 - The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) is based in Jerusalem, Israel in the Malha Technology Center. However, the GPO has opened up a site in Tel Aviv to accommodate the hundreds of international journalists who arrived in Israel after the invasion by Hamas on Simchat Torah on October 7, 2023.
From Tel Aviv, the GPO is providing press conferences in English and in multiple languages. On December 7, two months into the war Israel did not start, a special briefing was presented by Colonel Elad Goren, Head of the Civil Department at COGAT, The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. COGAT is the unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defense dealing with coordination of civilian issues between the Gover...
Hunter Biden has been charged with tax crimes in California, his second indictment from Special Counsel David Weiss as he faces mounting scrutiny over his financial dealings.
Hunter Biden will face three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.
“Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns,” prosecutors wrote in a Thursday night press release.
Together, the charges carry up to 17 years in prison upon conviction and come as Hunter Biden is fac...
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 7, 2023 - The annual public Chanukah Menorah lighting ceremony took place this evening at McKeldin Square near the Inner Harbor. Holocaust survivor Isak Danon lit the Esther Ann Adler, a'h, Menorah and was joined by Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, Director of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Maryland Region, Mayor Brandon Scott, and Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby.
