Waterbury, CT - Oct. 13, 2024 - Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to read my articles. I hope that you had an uplifting Yomim Noraim. Below is a practical idea that I hope could help you propel some of the growth that you had. It’s an idea that was originally published in Hamodia Magazine during Elul and I hope it could inspire others as well. Please feel free to share feedback with me mdheber@ykwaterbury.org
A Life Changing Siddur
As a sixth grade rebbe who teaches seventh and eighth grade in the afternoon, I have a unique vantage point in the growth of my talmidim over these three crucial years. Middle school is a bridge between childhood and adulthood. The boys come in as children just beginning to learn gemara and leave as yeshiva bochurim ready for a mesivta. D...
Iran sent a message to Israel, via European countries, regarding the expected Israeli retaliation for Iran's massive missile attack earlier this month, Saudi Arabian Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
"The Iranian message to Israel, sent mostly indirectly, is that it will ignore a limited Israeli attack, and will not respond to it as it is threatening to do," the report said.
According to the sources, "Iran will not have any choice but to respond to the crossing of red lines, if it is subjected to an attack on its oil facilities or nuclear facilities."
Earlier this week, three US and Israeli officials told Axios that US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have inched closer to an agreement regarding Israel's planned retaliation agains...
In the years before the October 7, 2023 , attack on Israel, Hamas leaders planned a "far deadlier" wave of terror attacks, potentially including a September 11th-style attack on a Tel Aviv skyscraper, the Washington Post reported.
The report said that plans included using trains, boats, and potentially horse-drawn chariots, as well as parallel attacks by allied terror groups for a simultaneous assault on Israel's northern, southern, and eastern borders.
The report, based on 59 pages of letters and planning documents in Arabic, are a "fraction" of what the IDF has confiscated since Israel began its ground invasion into Gaza on October 27, 2023.
Iran is extremely anxious to prevent an Israeli attack on its territory, sources told CNN.
According to the sources, Tehran is "extremely nervous and has been engaging in urgent diplomatic efforts with countries in the Middle East" to determine whether it is possible to either reduce the scope of Israel's response, or to garner aid in protecting Tehran.
The source added that Iran's worries stem from "uncertainty about whether the US can convince Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites and oil facilities," as well as from the blows that Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy in the Middle East, has sustained in Israel's operation in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, according to CNN, an official confirmed that the US has been urging Tehran, through "backchannel...
CNN reports that the United States will be giving THAAD air defense batteries to Israel to assist in intercepting ballistic missiles, effective immediately.
The THAAD system to be deployed in Israel can intercept missiles outside the atmosphere and is considered one of the best air defense systems the Americans have. The transfer of the batteries is done at Israel's request, as part of preparations for a potential Iranian response to the expected Israeli strike.
In recent days, the United States has made it clear to Israel that it does not want to see an attack on strategic sites in Iran on the eve of the presidential elections that will take place at the beginning of next month. Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia, have clarified that they wil...
The scene is bustling with young and old. From knitted kippot to sable fur streimlach. Excitement is palpable and contagious. The majestic scent of esrogim and hadassim permeates the air. Treasured melodies of the upcoming Chag emanate from every street corner. Your heart whispers to you: “grab a fellow Yid and start dancing…”
Hands down, the highlight of our Succos Trip to Yerushalayim, over twenty years ago, was joining the honorable ranks at the famous Zupnik Daled Minim Shuk. Coming on the heels of the inspiring and tearful tefillos of the Yomim Noraim, now it was time to act. To bring out those noble aspirations, brewing since the start of Elul. To stand shoulder to shoulder amongst Acheinu Kol Beis Yisroe...
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 11, 2024 - Former Governor Larry Hogan and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks faced off in the first, and only, Maryland Senate debate at Maryland Public Television on Thursday.
Chuck Todd was the moderator, with MPT’s Jeff Salkin, NBC Washington’s Tracee Wilkins and WBAL’s Deborah Weiner as the panelists.
Alsobrooks began her opening statements by introducing herself to the voters. Hogan started saying he “likes and respects” Alsobrooks.
During his introduction, Hogan started to talk about the reason he decided to run for governor, before quickly correcting himself by saying he’s running for senate.
Abortion
The first question of the night focused on abortion and control of the Senate.
Alsobrooks res...
A Jewish school in Toronto was hit by gunfire Saturday for the second time this year, local police say, amid a rise in antisemitic attacks in Canada in the wake of the war in the Middle East.
No one was injured after shots were fired from a vehicle at around 4 a.m. local time at the Bais Chaya Mushka girls school, with the only damage being a broken window, according to authorities.
The school in the North York area of Toronto was targeted in a similar incident in May, and police believe the two shootings are connected.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is “very disturbed” by the incident, which comes as Jewish people celebrate Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.
“As we wait for more details, my heart goes out to the students, st...
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 11, 2024 - As the יום הדין approaches, Suburban Orthodox prepares for כל נדרי with an עמוד draped in a beautiful covering, bearing the names of all the hostages from the October 7th tragedy. With their names prominently placed before us, we beseech השם with broken hearts, filled with hope and תפילה. May it be His will that before the final תקיעה גדולה after נעילה, these holy נשמות will be reunited with their families, and that we may all see the גאולה and peace for כלל ישראל, swiftly and in our days.
After halting donations to his alma mater last year, a former University of Pennsylvania donor has redirected $5 million to Israeli universities instead, citing the Ivy League institution's refusal to address antisemitism on campus.
David Magerman, a venture capitalist and philanthropist, has reallocated millions in donations to universities in Israel after witnessing the anti-Israel protests and antisemitism that has permeated U.S. college campuses in the months following October 7, he told Fox News Digital.
Magerman said he will give $1 million grants to five institutions of higher learning across Israel, including Tel Aviv University, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Bar-Ilan University and Jerusalem College of Technology.
He also revealed that he int...
N- Fisher-Price is recalling more than 2 million infant Snuga Swings due to a suffocation risk found after reports that five children died sleeping in the device.
In an alert issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the $160 device "should never be used for sleep and bedding materials should never be added to it" because the headrest and body support insert located on the seat cap "can increase the risk of suffocation."
Five deaths were reported between 2012 and 2022, and all were infants aged between 1 and 3 months using the swings for sleep. The agency said that in "most" of the incidents, the children were unrestrained, and the swing had bedding materials added to it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping loose blankets, pillo...
Over the course of the holiday of Yom Kippur (including Erev Yom Kippur Mincha), we recite viduy 10 times, and we end up hitting our hearts with our fists literally hundreds of times in total, either 660 or 674 depending on different minhagim . Most people view this act of hitting as exactly that, hitting. We view the procedure as a process of hitting and striking ourselves, albeit not too hard, to show that we did aveiros and regret our misdoings. As we begin our entrance into the Holy of Holies, the holiest day of the Jewish year, it is imperative that we reframe what’s really going on. We are not hitting ourselves in the sense of beating ourselves up over past deeds; rather, we are knocking on a door, the doorway of our pnimiyus , our inner sanctum, our true essence. When you go t...
Baltimore, MD – Oct. 11, 2024 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Mordechai and Esti Wiener on the birth of a son.
יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!
In this tumultuous presidential election campaign season, there has been no shortage of entertaining memes. One video clip shows one of the candidates repeating the exact same line over and over again in various different speeches. In numerous different settings, this candidate is seen claiming to “see what can be, unburdened by what has been.” While it is certainly a laughable string of clips, there might actually be a valuable message behind this catchphrase, extremely pertinent to Yom Kippur and the ideas of teshuvah.
This point is best brought out with a beautiful thought I heard from R’ Tzvi Mordechai Feldheim in the name of R’ Shimon Schwab, zt”l. Each and every night, in the hashkiveinu prayer we recite during maariv, we beseech HaShem to “remove...
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 11, 2024 - Baltimore City officials have received -- but will not yet release -- a much-anticipated report from a law firm that reviewed heat safety protocol and culture issues at the Department of Public Works, 11 News Investigates has learned.
DPW Director Khalil Zaied exclusively told 11 News Investigates on Wednesday, after he was officially sworn in as the 17th director of the city agency, that Washington, D.C., law firm Conn Maciel Carey LLP delivered its report to the city on Monday.
Zaied said the city intends to make the report public, but he couldn't say when.
"I am not really sure about that," Zaied told 11 News Investigates. "The intent at this point is to make it public."
When asked why, Zaied told 11 News Investigates: "We need to debrief t...
Professor Anne Bayefsky, Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President of Human Rights Voices, spoke to Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about a newly-released United Nations report downplaying the atrocities Hamas committed during the October 7 massacre while excoriating Israel for its response to the massacre.
"The United Nations has just released a report that is a full-throated effort to emasculate the Jewish state and terrorize its supporters. The new report was produced by a UN 'Commission of Inquiry' created by the UN 'Human Rights' Council back in 2021. It is headed by the notoriously anti-Israel campaigner, Navi Pillay, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights," Prof. Bayefsky said.
"Pillay, along with two...
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 11, 2024 - The race for Maryland’s open U.S. Senate seat continues to be one to watch, with many electeds, politicos and others believing the winner could determine what political party holds majority control.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan attended FOX45’s U.S. Senate Candidate Forum Thursday evening hosted by Political Reporter Mikenzie Frost. Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks was also invited to participate and FOX45 News made every attempt to accommodate her schedule, but she did not participate.
The questions ranged from Hogan’s history on abortion access, transportation and Baltimore’s Red Line project, foreign policy, democracy, and ...
Baltimore, MD – Oct. 11, 2024 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Yehuda Leib & Aviva Stefansky on the birth of a son.
Mazel Tov grandparents Yitzy & Sheindy Stefansky and Mickey & Faige Katz
יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן!