Hillary Clinton has appointed to her leadership team a former congressman who blamed his defeat on “Jewish interests” and the “Jewish media,” her campaign announced earlier this month.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/politics/clinton-appoints-ex-congressman-who-blamed-defeat-on-jews-to-leadership-team/
VaYimtzaayhu Ish Vihinay Soeh BaSadeh" - "A man found Yosef and he was blundering in the field". Rashi tells us that this "man" was. Malach Gavriel. If you take a look in Parshas VaYishlach the pasuk says, "Vayaovek Ish Imo Ad Alos HaShachar". There Rashi says that the "Ish" was "Saro Shel Esav" - Esav's Malach. How did Rashi know to diffrentiate between the 2 words "Ish"?
I once heard a pshat, if you look in Parshas VaYishlach the pasuk says that this Ish was fighting with Yaakov ("Vayaovek Ish Imo") - that was the Middah of Esav (Yadayim Yiday Esav) - therefore Rashi says that it was Esav's Malach. However, in Parshas VaYeishev, this Ish asked Yaakov, "Mah Tivakesh" - you look lost, what are you looking for? This was a Malach that was concerned about the welfare of another person. This had to be Malach Gavriel!
http://revach.net/tefila/article.php?id=1435
30 Nov 2015
The expulsion
On Monday Israel will hold the first annual commemoration of the expulsion of some 850,000 Jews from Arab and Muslim countries in the course of the 20th century.
Read more: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/94025-151130-jewish-nakba
Jewish Lives Matter
Former NYPD Jewish Cop Reveals ‘Hard to Listen to’ Recordings of Antisemitic Abuse From Fellow Officers
How Chai from China became a Hasidic Jew
Read more: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/94025-151130-jewish-nakba
Jewish Lives Matter
Former NYPD Jewish Cop Reveals ‘Hard to Listen to’ Recordings of Antisemitic Abuse From Fellow Officers
How Chai from China became a Hasidic Jew
29 Nov 2015
Hishtadlus
VIDEO: 7th grader calls school board ‘liars’ over ‘God is myth’ lesson cover-up
Despair and Hope in Israel
Being In Israel at this Difficult Time Remembering Ezra Schwartz.
Yosef was punished with two years additional years in jail because he asked the Sar HaMashkim to mention him to Paroh in the hopes of gaining his freedom. This request, says Chazal constituted a lack of Bitachon. The Meforshim ask that Yosef was merely doing Hishtadlus and trying to procure his freedom through normal ways. Isn't Hishtadlus not only permissible but required? To understand this we must first understand the true meaning of Bitachon and Hishtadlus.
Does Bitachon or reliance on Hashem mean that when I am faced with a problem I must be confident that things will turn out the way I'd like them to? No, says the Chazon Ish. Bitachon is an offshoot of Emuna, and the definition of emuna is that I believe that nothing in this world is by chance and everything is directed by the hand of Hashem. It follows that no matter what situation you face you must believe the outcome is the will of Hashem, and that Hashem can bring any outcome he desires without anything standing in His way. So back to our question. If I am facing danger I can't know if I will be saved, but I must believe that whatever happens is Hashem's will, and since Hashem only wants what's good for us, whatever happens is by definition good. There is no bad outcome to any problem.
So then what is Hishtadlus? How can my efforts change what Hashem knows is good? One would reason that the only Hishtadlus needed is to daven to Hashem, for everything else is for naught. So why would I work on my behalf at all? The Chazon Ish explains that Hashem wants us to take action that in the eyes of the the world seem to achieve our goals because Hashem wants to run the world according to the laws of nature. Hashem wants to remain hidden as much as possible and not need to reveal His hand in running the world.
This seemingly logical explanation has far reaching implications in dictating how we must behave with regard to Hishtadlus. Since Hishtadlus means achieving our goals in a perfectly natural way, it rules out any action that has only a remote possibility of succeeding. If one takes action that has little chance of working or doesn't make too much sense, that is not Hishtadlus. Once something falls out of the realm of Hishtadlus it becomes an act of desperation and is forbidden since it shows a lack of emuna. It shows that you don't believe Hashem can solve your problem and will do anything to help yourself however remote.
The proper way to solve your problems is to daven to Hashem and hope for his salvation. At the same time you should take normal steps to solve your problem. Anything beyond that is a waste of time and a lack of emuna, so don't take a desperate shot in the dark. It will hurt you spiritually and won't help you come close to your goal even one iota. Rav Dov Yaffa says that the Chazon Ish explained that this was the charge against Yosef for asking the the Sar HaMashkim to remember him. A minister of the stature of the Sar HaMashkim is not of the nature to return favors by humbling himself and rehashing his shameful past before the king. Yosef's request crossed the line of Hishtadlus and bordered on desperation, and for that he was punished.
http://revach.net/avodah/emuna/Parshas-Vayeishev-Chazon-Ish-Bitachon-amp-Hishtadlus-What-They-Are-amp-What-They-Aren039t/5262
Despair and Hope in Israel
Being In Israel at this Difficult Time Remembering Ezra Schwartz.
Yosef was punished with two years additional years in jail because he asked the Sar HaMashkim to mention him to Paroh in the hopes of gaining his freedom. This request, says Chazal constituted a lack of Bitachon. The Meforshim ask that Yosef was merely doing Hishtadlus and trying to procure his freedom through normal ways. Isn't Hishtadlus not only permissible but required? To understand this we must first understand the true meaning of Bitachon and Hishtadlus.
Does Bitachon or reliance on Hashem mean that when I am faced with a problem I must be confident that things will turn out the way I'd like them to? No, says the Chazon Ish. Bitachon is an offshoot of Emuna, and the definition of emuna is that I believe that nothing in this world is by chance and everything is directed by the hand of Hashem. It follows that no matter what situation you face you must believe the outcome is the will of Hashem, and that Hashem can bring any outcome he desires without anything standing in His way. So back to our question. If I am facing danger I can't know if I will be saved, but I must believe that whatever happens is Hashem's will, and since Hashem only wants what's good for us, whatever happens is by definition good. There is no bad outcome to any problem.
So then what is Hishtadlus? How can my efforts change what Hashem knows is good? One would reason that the only Hishtadlus needed is to daven to Hashem, for everything else is for naught. So why would I work on my behalf at all? The Chazon Ish explains that Hashem wants us to take action that in the eyes of the the world seem to achieve our goals because Hashem wants to run the world according to the laws of nature. Hashem wants to remain hidden as much as possible and not need to reveal His hand in running the world.
This seemingly logical explanation has far reaching implications in dictating how we must behave with regard to Hishtadlus. Since Hishtadlus means achieving our goals in a perfectly natural way, it rules out any action that has only a remote possibility of succeeding. If one takes action that has little chance of working or doesn't make too much sense, that is not Hishtadlus. Once something falls out of the realm of Hishtadlus it becomes an act of desperation and is forbidden since it shows a lack of emuna. It shows that you don't believe Hashem can solve your problem and will do anything to help yourself however remote.
The proper way to solve your problems is to daven to Hashem and hope for his salvation. At the same time you should take normal steps to solve your problem. Anything beyond that is a waste of time and a lack of emuna, so don't take a desperate shot in the dark. It will hurt you spiritually and won't help you come close to your goal even one iota. Rav Dov Yaffa says that the Chazon Ish explained that this was the charge against Yosef for asking the the Sar HaMashkim to remember him. A minister of the stature of the Sar HaMashkim is not of the nature to return favors by humbling himself and rehashing his shameful past before the king. Yosef's request crossed the line of Hishtadlus and bordered on desperation, and for that he was punished.
http://revach.net/avodah/emuna/Parshas-Vayeishev-Chazon-Ish-Bitachon-amp-Hishtadlus-What-They-Are-amp-What-They-Aren039t/5262
28 Nov 2015
Blue eyes
The NYT has an article about Paris's new vulnerability, in the wake of the attacks this past month.
Below are two excerpts from the article in which various individuals opine about the attacks.
A small older woman hovered near the statue of Marianne, fumbling with her umbrella and her purse. She brought a candle to honor the dead, but it was too wet that day, she said, so she would come back later.
“I came also to pay respect to the victims of 1939-44,” she said. “The victims of the Holocaust are the same,” casualties of the same kind of hatred.
...Asked about the attacks in Paris, Mahdi, 21, born in France to Moroccan parents, said, “It’s a Zionist plot.” Why? “I’ve seen these videos that prove it,” he said, declining to provide his last name. “It’s the Zionists and it’s all about money.”
His friends all agreed.
Another video, he said, proved that Mohammed Merah, who in 2012 killed Muslim French soldiers and then Jews in Toulouse in the name of Al Qaeda, “really had blue eyes” and was not a Muslim at all. “They pretend that Muslims are the terrorists, but it’s not what religion is about,” Mahdi said. “We as Muslims are always humiliated.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/world/europe/paris-slowly-coming-to-terms-with-a-new-vulnerability.html?_r=0
Swastika is a symbol of peace, elite school tells sixth-graders
Tony Schwartz writes about his atempt to spend less time on the internet in an article titled Addicted to Distraction. If you find yourself agreeing with what he wrote, perhaps it's time to rethink how much time you spend on the internet.
I was spending too many hours online, checking the traffic numbers for my company’s website, shopping for more colorful socks on Gilt and Rue La La, even though I had more than I needed, and even guiltily clicking through pictures with irresistible headlines such as “Awkward Child Stars Who Grew Up to Be Attractive.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/opinion/sunday/addicted-to-distraction.html
Below are two excerpts from the article in which various individuals opine about the attacks.
A small older woman hovered near the statue of Marianne, fumbling with her umbrella and her purse. She brought a candle to honor the dead, but it was too wet that day, she said, so she would come back later.
“I came also to pay respect to the victims of 1939-44,” she said. “The victims of the Holocaust are the same,” casualties of the same kind of hatred.
...Asked about the attacks in Paris, Mahdi, 21, born in France to Moroccan parents, said, “It’s a Zionist plot.” Why? “I’ve seen these videos that prove it,” he said, declining to provide his last name. “It’s the Zionists and it’s all about money.”
His friends all agreed.
Another video, he said, proved that Mohammed Merah, who in 2012 killed Muslim French soldiers and then Jews in Toulouse in the name of Al Qaeda, “really had blue eyes” and was not a Muslim at all. “They pretend that Muslims are the terrorists, but it’s not what religion is about,” Mahdi said. “We as Muslims are always humiliated.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/world/europe/paris-slowly-coming-to-terms-with-a-new-vulnerability.html?_r=0
Swastika is a symbol of peace, elite school tells sixth-graders
Tony Schwartz writes about his atempt to spend less time on the internet in an article titled Addicted to Distraction. If you find yourself agreeing with what he wrote, perhaps it's time to rethink how much time you spend on the internet.
I was spending too many hours online, checking the traffic numbers for my company’s website, shopping for more colorful socks on Gilt and Rue La La, even though I had more than I needed, and even guiltily clicking through pictures with irresistible headlines such as “Awkward Child Stars Who Grew Up to Be Attractive.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/opinion/sunday/addicted-to-distraction.html
27 Nov 2015
Parshat Vayishlach
Parshas Vayishlach - A Dose of Inspiration
Charges after alleged assault at Adass
Ancient Jewish community endures on Tunisian isle
Parashat VaYishlah: We are the Answer to Yaakob’s Prayer
INN has an article titled Germany: Teacher fined for erasing swastikas
Court fines elementary school teacher 1,000 euros for painting over swastika graffiti to hide them from students.
One comment posted under the INN article caught my eye.
"We live in a day when right is wrong, black is white, good is bad and day is night."
Charges after alleged assault at Adass
Ancient Jewish community endures on Tunisian isle
Parashat VaYishlah: We are the Answer to Yaakob’s Prayer
INN has an article titled Germany: Teacher fined for erasing swastikas
Court fines elementary school teacher 1,000 euros for painting over swastika graffiti to hide them from students.
One comment posted under the INN article caught my eye.
"We live in a day when right is wrong, black is white, good is bad and day is night."
Compare and contrast
Parshas Vayishlach: Jealousy Rots; Envy Can Redeem
"האדמו"ר מויז'ניץ: "ממחלוקת לא רואים ברכה
Compare and Contrast
"We are free to worship the Almighty as we choose....Let us thank G-d for the bounty and goodness of our nation."
Thanksgiving message, President Regan, 1985
"Thanksgiving is a day for food and football and for hoping the Turkey didn't turn out too dry." Thanksgiving message, President Obama, 2015
"האדמו"ר מויז'ניץ: "ממחלוקת לא רואים ברכה
Compare and Contrast
"We are free to worship the Almighty as we choose....Let us thank G-d for the bounty and goodness of our nation."
Thanksgiving message, President Regan, 1985
"Thanksgiving is a day for food and football and for hoping the Turkey didn't turn out too dry." Thanksgiving message, President Obama, 2015
26 Nov 2015
Two choices
CNN wipes Israel off the map
Help a lost Family in a Tragic Time
Law students in huge show of support for UT-Austin Israel Studies Prof. attacked by BDS
Glenn Beck interviews, a man who was diagnosed with ALS.
“If I were only given two choices, choice one is to be totally healed but return to my former relationship with God or, choice two, live with this wretched disease but have my current relationship with God,” Paine told Beck. “I’ve already made the choice. I’ll keep what I have.”
Click here to watch a powerful excerpt from the interview.
His words remind me of the curse received by the snake. Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb writes about the insight we can learn from the snake's punishment. Below is an excerpt from his article.
This idea is reminiscent – and the inverse – of a famous insight of R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk regarding the punishment of the nachash, the snake, after the sin of the Etz Ha-da’as. The nachash is punished for its role as the instigator of the whole affair by having to eat the dust of the earth. (3:14)
The Kotzker is bothered by this choice of punishment; after all, it resulted in the fact that the snake is never wanting for sustenance. While other creatures must struggle to find food, the snake never experiences that problem. This actually appears to be a great blessing; where is the punishment?
He suggests that the very fact that the snake is never wanting is itself the punishment because there is, therefore, no need for it to be dependent on Hashem. And when there is no dependence there is also no relationship. And the absence of a relationship with God is the ultimate curse that any creature can receive.
Read full article: http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/739260/Rabbi_Dovid_Gottlieb/Parshat_Toldot-_Relationships
A relative once related to me, "If I had tons of money, I would donate millions to Chai Lifeline."
She had seen the amount of help Chai Lifeline provided to her nephew and niece, who had a number of children with medical issues.
This past weekend, a Shabbaton was held in Lawrence for 150 children, family members and Chai Lifeline counselors. Due to a miscommunication with the caterer, there was no Shabbos lunch awaiting the crowd who had assembled at the synagogue. When women in Lawrence heard the news at shul, they went to their homes to bring food from their Shabbos tables. A veritable feast was prepared in a matter of minutes.
Mi keamcha Yisrael.
Help a lost Family in a Tragic Time
Law students in huge show of support for UT-Austin Israel Studies Prof. attacked by BDS
Glenn Beck interviews, a man who was diagnosed with ALS.
“If I were only given two choices, choice one is to be totally healed but return to my former relationship with God or, choice two, live with this wretched disease but have my current relationship with God,” Paine told Beck. “I’ve already made the choice. I’ll keep what I have.”
Click here to watch a powerful excerpt from the interview.
His words remind me of the curse received by the snake. Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb writes about the insight we can learn from the snake's punishment. Below is an excerpt from his article.
This idea is reminiscent – and the inverse – of a famous insight of R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk regarding the punishment of the nachash, the snake, after the sin of the Etz Ha-da’as. The nachash is punished for its role as the instigator of the whole affair by having to eat the dust of the earth. (3:14)
The Kotzker is bothered by this choice of punishment; after all, it resulted in the fact that the snake is never wanting for sustenance. While other creatures must struggle to find food, the snake never experiences that problem. This actually appears to be a great blessing; where is the punishment?
He suggests that the very fact that the snake is never wanting is itself the punishment because there is, therefore, no need for it to be dependent on Hashem. And when there is no dependence there is also no relationship. And the absence of a relationship with God is the ultimate curse that any creature can receive.
Read full article: http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/739260/Rabbi_Dovid_Gottlieb/Parshat_Toldot-_Relationships
A relative once related to me, "If I had tons of money, I would donate millions to Chai Lifeline."
She had seen the amount of help Chai Lifeline provided to her nephew and niece, who had a number of children with medical issues.
This past weekend, a Shabbaton was held in Lawrence for 150 children, family members and Chai Lifeline counselors. Due to a miscommunication with the caterer, there was no Shabbos lunch awaiting the crowd who had assembled at the synagogue. When women in Lawrence heard the news at shul, they went to their homes to bring food from their Shabbos tables. A veritable feast was prepared in a matter of minutes.
Mi keamcha Yisrael.
25 Nov 2015
Feeling the pain
Feel the Pain
Emuna Daily lesson
Guests Fly to Cheer Grieving Bride
Students Forced to Pay Attention Achieve Higher Grades
Documents Reveal How Anti-Israel Group at California Public Universities Got Campus Funding for Highly Charged Political Activities
Reuters has an article titled Palestinian stabs Israeli soldier and is shot dead: army
The violence, fueled in part by Muslim agitation over increased Jewish visits to East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound - Islam's third holiest site and also revered by Jews as the location of two biblical-era temples, prompted Kerry to come and sound out both sides on Tuesday.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/25/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKBN0TE1QI20151125#fLyXUyaEOkDlZRZ1.97
EXCLUSIVE: Texas School District Assigns Islamic State Recruiting Homework to Teach ‘Critical Thinking’
Emuna Daily lesson
Guests Fly to Cheer Grieving Bride
Students Forced to Pay Attention Achieve Higher Grades
Documents Reveal How Anti-Israel Group at California Public Universities Got Campus Funding for Highly Charged Political Activities
Reuters has an article titled Palestinian stabs Israeli soldier and is shot dead: army
The violence, fueled in part by Muslim agitation over increased Jewish visits to East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound - Islam's third holiest site and also revered by Jews as the location of two biblical-era temples, prompted Kerry to come and sound out both sides on Tuesday.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/25/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKBN0TE1QI20151125#fLyXUyaEOkDlZRZ1.97
EXCLUSIVE: Texas School District Assigns Islamic State Recruiting Homework to Teach ‘Critical Thinking’
The holiday ad
A Yeshiva student and his grandmother represent the joy of Chanukah in an ad for one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.
Read more and view ad: http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=38018&alias=bochur-in-tylenol-holiday-ad
Mrs. Sigal Buchris Speaks About Her Daughter, Terror Victim Hadar Buchris HYD
Why 20,000 Israelis are suing Facebook over Palestinian attacks
מסר הרב ניר בן ארצי שליט"א ליהודים בארץ ובעולם כולו - וישלח - י' כסלו תשע"ו
The Obama Administration and the Anonymity of Jewish Death
Owner of New England Patriots Pays Shiva Call to Ezra Shwartz's Parents During Game
Einstein once kept kosher, and 7 other Jewish facts for relativity’s 100th b-day
The Blaze reports Leaked Emails Reveal Suspended CNN Reporter Worked With Clinton Aide to Target Rand Paul in 2013.
Parashat Vayishlach: The Shelah HaKadosh Reveals The Amazing Underpinnings Of Yaakov’s Encounter With Eisav
Read more and view ad: http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=38018&alias=bochur-in-tylenol-holiday-ad
Mrs. Sigal Buchris Speaks About Her Daughter, Terror Victim Hadar Buchris HYD
Why 20,000 Israelis are suing Facebook over Palestinian attacks
מסר הרב ניר בן ארצי שליט"א ליהודים בארץ ובעולם כולו - וישלח - י' כסלו תשע"ו
The Obama Administration and the Anonymity of Jewish Death
Owner of New England Patriots Pays Shiva Call to Ezra Shwartz's Parents During Game
Einstein once kept kosher, and 7 other Jewish facts for relativity’s 100th b-day
The Blaze reports Leaked Emails Reveal Suspended CNN Reporter Worked With Clinton Aide to Target Rand Paul in 2013.
Parashat Vayishlach: The Shelah HaKadosh Reveals The Amazing Underpinnings Of Yaakov’s Encounter With Eisav
24 Nov 2015
Introspection
Rabbi Shmuel Silber on Parshas VaYishlach: Vayishlach: Introspective Identity
- Excellent Torah thought.
Everything or a lot – the key to happiness
Staying on the topic of happiness, the Daily Mail reported today about Samra Kesinovic, 17, and Sabina Selimovic, 16, who had fled Austria to Syria. It seems that "Sabina insisted she was enjoying life in Syria, where she felt free to practise her religion in a way that she did not in Austria."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3331846/Teenage-Islamist-poster-girl-fled-Austria-join-ISIS-beaten-death-terror-group-trying-escape-Syria.html#ixzz3sRw2g0bq
Unfortunately, one can't ask the girls if they are still enjoying their lives as they don't seem to be alive anymore.
A reader at TLS posted an idea if an offer to donate money to a charity of his choice is rejected by an individual who gets to decide whether his brother should be cremated or receive a Jewish burial.
In the event that the large amount of money raised is not taken, it would be very appropriate to it donate to Poile Tzedek – the shul in New Brunswick that had a fire where all the Sifrei Torah were burnt.
http://www.thelakewoodscoop.com/news/2015/11/court-of-appeals-rejects-appeal-for-stay-in-mendelsohn-cremation-case.html#sthash.TQhZTZLJ.dpuf
Mark Knoller tweeted about President Obama bestowing the Presdential medal of freedom on the likes of Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Itzhak Perlman.
"I didn't know you were Jewish, Barbra," kids Pres Obama, as he mentions Streisand's childhood in Brooklyn.
Listen to Itzhak Perlman play John WIlliams' theme from Schindler's List. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLePhm-xGs … Hard not to tear up.
https://twitter.com/markknoller
Everything or a lot – the key to happiness
Staying on the topic of happiness, the Daily Mail reported today about Samra Kesinovic, 17, and Sabina Selimovic, 16, who had fled Austria to Syria. It seems that "Sabina insisted she was enjoying life in Syria, where she felt free to practise her religion in a way that she did not in Austria."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3331846/Teenage-Islamist-poster-girl-fled-Austria-join-ISIS-beaten-death-terror-group-trying-escape-Syria.html#ixzz3sRw2g0bq
Unfortunately, one can't ask the girls if they are still enjoying their lives as they don't seem to be alive anymore.
A reader at TLS posted an idea if an offer to donate money to a charity of his choice is rejected by an individual who gets to decide whether his brother should be cremated or receive a Jewish burial.
In the event that the large amount of money raised is not taken, it would be very appropriate to it donate to Poile Tzedek – the shul in New Brunswick that had a fire where all the Sifrei Torah were burnt.
http://www.thelakewoodscoop.com/news/2015/11/court-of-appeals-rejects-appeal-for-stay-in-mendelsohn-cremation-case.html#sthash.TQhZTZLJ.dpuf
Mark Knoller tweeted about President Obama bestowing the Presdential medal of freedom on the likes of Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Itzhak Perlman.
"I didn't know you were Jewish, Barbra," kids Pres Obama, as he mentions Streisand's childhood in Brooklyn.
Listen to Itzhak Perlman play John WIlliams' theme from Schindler's List. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLePhm-xGs … Hard not to tear up.
https://twitter.com/markknoller
No difference
Watch: New England Patriots' moment of silence for Ezra Schwartz
Below is an excerpt from the State Department briefing of November 23rd regarding Ezra Schwartz.
...it has come to the notice of some people that both the – when the President and the Vice President spoke about American victims of terrorism last week, they mentioned the Americans who died in Mali and in Paris, but didn’t mention the American who died in the West Bank. And I’m not asking you to – the White House is the place to ask about why that happened or why they said what they said, but I’m just wondering, in the Administration, more broadly, does it regard these acts – all of these acts as terrorism? And if so, does it have – do you have a different – are there different kind – does the Administration believe there are different kinds of terrorism?
MR TONER: No, I don’t think so. You’re speaking about the death of Ezra Schwartz, and John spoke about it from the podium on Friday. And I know the – Secretary Kerry did reach out to his family personally today. Look, I mean --
QUESTION: So you believe that – so the Administration believes that the attacks that killed --
MR TONER: I don’t want to – also want to parse out the --
QUESTION: -- all three of these people are the same? There’s no difference between one terrorist attack and another attack?
MR TONER: Again, I don’t want to necessarily parse out the word – the definition of terrorism, but we – yes, I think we would view them as terrorist attacks. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249907.htm#TERRORISM
Scottish university staff accused of anti-Jewish discrimination
One student told Scojec: "I was told by my university that either I sit exams on Shabbat or I fail."
In another case, a student said she no longer went to the business school or library and was worried about attending classes "due to fear of being harassed or attacked". http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14096083.Scottish_university_staff_accused_of_anti_Jewish_discrimination/
PJMedia reports MSNBC's 'No-Fly List Is Islamophobia' Poster Boy Arrested in Turkey as Part of ISIS Cell
Disinvited: College cites ‘safety concerns’ to cancel Robert Spencer speech
Judicial Watch opines on what led to Harry Reid's abrupt retirement.
CHAZAQ Event with R’ Dovid Orlofsky on the “Power of Kindness/Chesed”
Below is an excerpt from the State Department briefing of November 23rd regarding Ezra Schwartz.
...it has come to the notice of some people that both the – when the President and the Vice President spoke about American victims of terrorism last week, they mentioned the Americans who died in Mali and in Paris, but didn’t mention the American who died in the West Bank. And I’m not asking you to – the White House is the place to ask about why that happened or why they said what they said, but I’m just wondering, in the Administration, more broadly, does it regard these acts – all of these acts as terrorism? And if so, does it have – do you have a different – are there different kind – does the Administration believe there are different kinds of terrorism?
MR TONER: No, I don’t think so. You’re speaking about the death of Ezra Schwartz, and John spoke about it from the podium on Friday. And I know the – Secretary Kerry did reach out to his family personally today. Look, I mean --
QUESTION: So you believe that – so the Administration believes that the attacks that killed --
MR TONER: I don’t want to – also want to parse out the --
QUESTION: -- all three of these people are the same? There’s no difference between one terrorist attack and another attack?
MR TONER: Again, I don’t want to necessarily parse out the word – the definition of terrorism, but we – yes, I think we would view them as terrorist attacks. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249907.htm#TERRORISM
Scottish university staff accused of anti-Jewish discrimination
One student told Scojec: "I was told by my university that either I sit exams on Shabbat or I fail."
In another case, a student said she no longer went to the business school or library and was worried about attending classes "due to fear of being harassed or attacked". http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14096083.Scottish_university_staff_accused_of_anti_Jewish_discrimination/
PJMedia reports MSNBC's 'No-Fly List Is Islamophobia' Poster Boy Arrested in Turkey as Part of ISIS Cell
Disinvited: College cites ‘safety concerns’ to cancel Robert Spencer speech
Judicial Watch opines on what led to Harry Reid's abrupt retirement.
CHAZAQ Event with R’ Dovid Orlofsky on the “Power of Kindness/Chesed”
23 Nov 2015
Inconsistent
Attorneys representing the family of Ahmed “clock kid” Mohamed sent a letter to Irving, Texas, officials demanding $15 million in compensation for “damages” as well as written apologies from the city’s mayor and police chief.
Read more: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/11/23/ahmed-clock-kid-mohameds-family-demands-10-million-from-city-of-irving-and-thats-not-all/
Is Ezra Schwartz's family suing for damages? Is an AVIS customer suing for damages?
As many are aware, the AVIS car rental company found itself in the news regarding employees denying rental of a car to a man with an Israeli driver's license. The man had no problem renting from the company on previous occasions.
AVIS writes on its Facebook page:
...We are aggressively investigating the customer’s allegations regarding the handling of this matter, as we do not tolerate any form of discrimination. So far, our ongoing investigation suggests that this customer is unfairly maligning us with unfounded allegations.
The post has been replaced and the comments under the post have been deleted. The page now reads:
We have investigated the denial of a rental that recently occurred in Manhattan. We have found that we have been inconsistent in applying our policies with respect to documentation requirements with this customer, who has rented from us in the past without providing a second form of identification. We are committed to providing an outstanding car rental experience to our customers and believe that we should have done better here. We have spoken with the customer and apologized for the misunderstanding that occurred as a result of this inconsistency in applying our documentation policy, and the customer has accepted our apology.
An individual asked if any employee had been fired but AVIS responded, "the customer has requested that no one lose their job over this."
https://www.facebook.com/avis/?fref=nf
The FBI has published its 2014 Hate Crime Statistics, anti Jewish hate crimes tops the religious list.
These Interviews Of Muslims In Paris Are Mind-Boggling: ISIS Terror Attacks Were ‘Jewish Actions’
Vayishlach - Rabbi Yitzchok Isbee
Read more: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/11/23/ahmed-clock-kid-mohameds-family-demands-10-million-from-city-of-irving-and-thats-not-all/
Is Ezra Schwartz's family suing for damages? Is an AVIS customer suing for damages?
As many are aware, the AVIS car rental company found itself in the news regarding employees denying rental of a car to a man with an Israeli driver's license. The man had no problem renting from the company on previous occasions.
AVIS writes on its Facebook page:
...We are aggressively investigating the customer’s allegations regarding the handling of this matter, as we do not tolerate any form of discrimination. So far, our ongoing investigation suggests that this customer is unfairly maligning us with unfounded allegations.
The post has been replaced and the comments under the post have been deleted. The page now reads:
We have investigated the denial of a rental that recently occurred in Manhattan. We have found that we have been inconsistent in applying our policies with respect to documentation requirements with this customer, who has rented from us in the past without providing a second form of identification. We are committed to providing an outstanding car rental experience to our customers and believe that we should have done better here. We have spoken with the customer and apologized for the misunderstanding that occurred as a result of this inconsistency in applying our documentation policy, and the customer has accepted our apology.
An individual asked if any employee had been fired but AVIS responded, "the customer has requested that no one lose their job over this."
https://www.facebook.com/avis/?fref=nf
The FBI has published its 2014 Hate Crime Statistics, anti Jewish hate crimes tops the religious list.
These Interviews Of Muslims In Paris Are Mind-Boggling: ISIS Terror Attacks Were ‘Jewish Actions’
Vayishlach - Rabbi Yitzchok Isbee
Katonti
Hadar Buchris, the vibrant young woman who was murdered Sunday by an Arab terrorist, discussed the deteriorating security situation with friends just ten days ago.
"Listen, I get it: we need Messiah now!!!," she wrote friends from the Chabad House in Pushkar, India, in an internal WhatsApp group.
Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203796#.VlLbUnarTIU
The Gemara says that a person is allowed to have "Shiminis ShebeShiminis of Gaavah" - 1/8 of an 1/8 (1/64) of arrogance. What is the meaning of this unusual terminology - "an eighth of an eighth"?
The Vilna Gaon explains, the Gemorrah means the 8th pasuk in the 8th parsha. Parshas VaYishlach is the 8th parsha and "Katonti Mikal HaChasadim" is the 8th pasuk. A person's level of haughtiness must be on the level that he is unworthy of anything. - "I have been diminished by all the kindness and all the truth you have done for me." Whatever Hashem does and will do for me is not coming to me. It is a gift from Hashem, "Katonti" - I am unworthy!
Maharsha explains that a person who has more than 1/64th of Gaavah is considered a showoff. An allusion to this is that "Gas" - "Gimmel" Samach" - 63 - means haughty. http://www.thejewisheye.com/rev_pvayishlach.html
Jake tapper of CNN tweeted Hadar Buchris, 21, stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist today while waiting for a bus in the West Bank.
מה שלמדתי מהחסיד שגר בקומה הראשונה
"Listen, I get it: we need Messiah now!!!," she wrote friends from the Chabad House in Pushkar, India, in an internal WhatsApp group.
Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203796#.VlLbUnarTIU
The Gemara says that a person is allowed to have "Shiminis ShebeShiminis of Gaavah" - 1/8 of an 1/8 (1/64) of arrogance. What is the meaning of this unusual terminology - "an eighth of an eighth"?
The Vilna Gaon explains, the Gemorrah means the 8th pasuk in the 8th parsha. Parshas VaYishlach is the 8th parsha and "Katonti Mikal HaChasadim" is the 8th pasuk. A person's level of haughtiness must be on the level that he is unworthy of anything. - "I have been diminished by all the kindness and all the truth you have done for me." Whatever Hashem does and will do for me is not coming to me. It is a gift from Hashem, "Katonti" - I am unworthy!
Maharsha explains that a person who has more than 1/64th of Gaavah is considered a showoff. An allusion to this is that "Gas" - "Gimmel" Samach" - 63 - means haughty. http://www.thejewisheye.com/rev_pvayishlach.html
Jake tapper of CNN tweeted Hadar Buchris, 21, stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist today while waiting for a bus in the West Bank.
מה שלמדתי מהחסיד שגר בקומה הראשונה
22 Nov 2015
Mitzvah day
Mitzvah Day unites Jewish and Muslim leaders in kitchen
Who Killed Five Yesterday? CNN Won't Say "Palestinian attacker."
Cancel the Debate! CNN Caught Selectively-Editing Trump’s ‘Muslim’ Comments
Fear of Muslim Hate Scaring US Jewish Leaders from Pro-Israel Rallies
A firefighter who was allowed to graduate the Fire Academy despite failing physical tests has already gone out on medical leave — just 10 days into the job, The Post has learned.
Read more: http://nypost.com/2015/11/22/struggling-firefighter-injured-after-just-10-days-into-new-job/
An Open Letter Deploring Hunter College’s Tolerance for Palestinian Incitement
Shocker: Avis Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive from Renting
Who Killed Five Yesterday? CNN Won't Say "Palestinian attacker."
Cancel the Debate! CNN Caught Selectively-Editing Trump’s ‘Muslim’ Comments
Fear of Muslim Hate Scaring US Jewish Leaders from Pro-Israel Rallies
A firefighter who was allowed to graduate the Fire Academy despite failing physical tests has already gone out on medical leave — just 10 days into the job, The Post has learned.
Read more: http://nypost.com/2015/11/22/struggling-firefighter-injured-after-just-10-days-into-new-job/
An Open Letter Deploring Hunter College’s Tolerance for Palestinian Incitement
Shocker: Avis Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive from Renting
Builders
A Nation of Builders - excellent article by Rabbi Pinchos Lupschutz.
Hillary presses with false ‘Muslim database’ Trump story…
Read more: http://therightscoop.com/hillary-presses-with-false-muslim-database-trump-story/#ixzz3sE5u7t5g
VIDEO: The Aron of Terror Victim Ezra Schwartz HYD at Ben-Gurion Airport
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg Reflects on The Schwartz Tragedy
The State Department Spokesperson was questioned on Friday about the murder of Ezra Schwartz, as well as about the other Americans injured in the attack.
MR KIRBY: Yeah, Said.
QUESTION: Follow-up on that. Do you know, were they dual citizens? I mean these five Americans that were attacked.
MR KIRBY: I don’t know.
QUESTION: Don’t know.
MR KIRBY: I don’t know.
QUESTION: And the person who was murdered, was he – do you know what he was doing where he was killed?
MR KIRBY: I don’t.
QUESTION: Or was that where he was working maybe with Israeli army soldiers and so -- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249834.htm#MIDDLEEASTPEACE
A Wedding for the Jewish People
Why I Can’t Marry You
Hillary presses with false ‘Muslim database’ Trump story…
Read more: http://therightscoop.com/hillary-presses-with-false-muslim-database-trump-story/#ixzz3sE5u7t5g
VIDEO: The Aron of Terror Victim Ezra Schwartz HYD at Ben-Gurion Airport
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg Reflects on The Schwartz Tragedy
The State Department Spokesperson was questioned on Friday about the murder of Ezra Schwartz, as well as about the other Americans injured in the attack.
MR KIRBY: Yeah, Said.
QUESTION: Follow-up on that. Do you know, were they dual citizens? I mean these five Americans that were attacked.
MR KIRBY: I don’t know.
QUESTION: Don’t know.
MR KIRBY: I don’t know.
QUESTION: And the person who was murdered, was he – do you know what he was doing where he was killed?
MR KIRBY: I don’t.
QUESTION: Or was that where he was working maybe with Israeli army soldiers and so -- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249834.htm#MIDDLEEASTPEACE
A Wedding for the Jewish People
Why I Can’t Marry You
21 Nov 2015
Trove unearthed
Holocaust document trove unearthed in Budapest apartment
The people of Shchem were no match for Shimon and Levi. Shimon and Levi could have wiped out the entire Shchem whether they were in pain from their Bris Milah or not. Why after hearing about Dina did they employ trickery and make believe they would make peace, despite the despicable act that Shchem did. Why didn't they immediately go and wipe out the city?
Rav Yehonoson Eibushitz in Tiferes Yehonoson says that Shimon and Levi were worried that all the Kena'anim would attack them to avenge the blood of Shchem. They insisted that the people of Shchem undergo a Bris Milah so that Kena'anim would view them as Jews and would not care that they were murdered.
http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Vayishlach-Rav-Yehonoson-Eibushitz-Shimon-And-Levi-Knew-That-The-Murder-Of-Jews-Is-Acceptable/3114
A Father Reflects on Yesterday's Tragedy
Help Sarah & Ariel Celebrate!
PATHETIC: American kids told to make PRO-ISIS propaganda posters in school!!
The Daily Surge identified a man who disrupted Donald Trump during a speech as someone "who pleaded guilty in 2005 for attempt to blow up a Marine Recruiting Center in Worcester and was sentenced to one year in prison."
http://dailysurge.com/2015/11/convicted-bomber-disrupts-trumps-speech-trump-responds/#
One year while men who pleaded guilty to "one count of traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion" receive a sentence of four years?
The people of Shchem were no match for Shimon and Levi. Shimon and Levi could have wiped out the entire Shchem whether they were in pain from their Bris Milah or not. Why after hearing about Dina did they employ trickery and make believe they would make peace, despite the despicable act that Shchem did. Why didn't they immediately go and wipe out the city?
Rav Yehonoson Eibushitz in Tiferes Yehonoson says that Shimon and Levi were worried that all the Kena'anim would attack them to avenge the blood of Shchem. They insisted that the people of Shchem undergo a Bris Milah so that Kena'anim would view them as Jews and would not care that they were murdered.
http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Vayishlach-Rav-Yehonoson-Eibushitz-Shimon-And-Levi-Knew-That-The-Murder-Of-Jews-Is-Acceptable/3114
A Father Reflects on Yesterday's Tragedy
Help Sarah & Ariel Celebrate!
PATHETIC: American kids told to make PRO-ISIS propaganda posters in school!!
The Daily Surge identified a man who disrupted Donald Trump during a speech as someone "who pleaded guilty in 2005 for attempt to blow up a Marine Recruiting Center in Worcester and was sentenced to one year in prison."
http://dailysurge.com/2015/11/convicted-bomber-disrupts-trumps-speech-trump-responds/#
One year while men who pleaded guilty to "one count of traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion" receive a sentence of four years?
20 Nov 2015
Religious zeal
Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum began his 13th year of learning classics of mussar last month with the sefer Ruach Chayim by Rav Chaim Volozhin. If you have some time, click here to listen to the excellent shiur. If your time is limited, the rabbi tells a great story at the 55 minute mark of the video.
Teacher Writes Song for 7th Graders to Sing About Islam
CNN Reporter Suspended for This Tweet…
Below is an excerpt form the State Department Briefing of November 19th.
QUESTION: ..., the prime minister of Israel basically lumped everything together. He’s saying that the Paris horrible attacks and so on and what is happening in the West Bank are part of the same sort of larger paradigm and the same kind of ideology. Do you believe that? Do you also believe that these incidents are motivated by religious zeal, for instance?
MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen the prime minister’s remarks, so I’m going to refrain from specific comment. And as I have said before, I’m not going to get into parsing and characterizing everything said in that part of the world. What I’ll tell you – back to your asking about our reaction to the stabbings, yes, of course, we’ve seen these reports and condemn in the strongest sense these terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. And as we’ve said many, many times, Said, we remain deeply concerned about the situation there, the violence, and we want to continue to encourage all sides to take affirmative steps to restore the calm and to prevent actions that are only going to further escalate the tensions.
QUESTION: One of them was a soldier. He was not a civilian. One of them -- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249796.htm#ISRAEL
The New York Times reported on victims of the stabbing attack that took place yesterday, as well as the shooting attack. Below is a description of the American. Is this the victim that the journalist described as a soldier? He seems to be the only victim to fit the age category.
I came across a video (second video) which I posted below in which Rabbi Kahane speaks about Jews being stabbed in 1987. Very disheartening to see the situation hasn't changed since then.
Acquaintances of the American victim, Ezra Schwartz, from Sharon, Mass., said he had been spending a gap year in Israel between high school and college and was participating in a program of study and volunteering at a yeshiva in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. On the day he was killed, according to Ynet, an Israeli news site, Mr. Schwartz and fellow students had distributed food and candy to Israeli soldiers in the Etzion district and visited a memorial for three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and killed in June 2014 after they hitched a ride near where Thursday’s shooting attack took place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/world/middleeast/palestinian-stabs-israelis-in-tel-aviv.html?hpw&rref=world&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
Teacher Writes Song for 7th Graders to Sing About Islam
CNN Reporter Suspended for This Tweet…
Below is an excerpt form the State Department Briefing of November 19th.
QUESTION: ..., the prime minister of Israel basically lumped everything together. He’s saying that the Paris horrible attacks and so on and what is happening in the West Bank are part of the same sort of larger paradigm and the same kind of ideology. Do you believe that? Do you also believe that these incidents are motivated by religious zeal, for instance?
MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen the prime minister’s remarks, so I’m going to refrain from specific comment. And as I have said before, I’m not going to get into parsing and characterizing everything said in that part of the world. What I’ll tell you – back to your asking about our reaction to the stabbings, yes, of course, we’ve seen these reports and condemn in the strongest sense these terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. And as we’ve said many, many times, Said, we remain deeply concerned about the situation there, the violence, and we want to continue to encourage all sides to take affirmative steps to restore the calm and to prevent actions that are only going to further escalate the tensions.
QUESTION: One of them was a soldier. He was not a civilian. One of them -- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249796.htm#ISRAEL
The New York Times reported on victims of the stabbing attack that took place yesterday, as well as the shooting attack. Below is a description of the American. Is this the victim that the journalist described as a soldier? He seems to be the only victim to fit the age category.
I came across a video (second video) which I posted below in which Rabbi Kahane speaks about Jews being stabbed in 1987. Very disheartening to see the situation hasn't changed since then.
Acquaintances of the American victim, Ezra Schwartz, from Sharon, Mass., said he had been spending a gap year in Israel between high school and college and was participating in a program of study and volunteering at a yeshiva in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. On the day he was killed, according to Ynet, an Israeli news site, Mr. Schwartz and fellow students had distributed food and candy to Israeli soldiers in the Etzion district and visited a memorial for three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and killed in June 2014 after they hitched a ride near where Thursday’s shooting attack took place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/world/middleeast/palestinian-stabs-israelis-in-tel-aviv.html?hpw&rref=world&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
19 Nov 2015
Current events
Parshas Vayeitzeh - The World's Current Events - Channuka 5776
Rabbi Shmuel Silber on Parshas Vayetzei: Living, Learning, Accepting
Daily Emunah lesson
Ezra Schwartz Killed in Israel: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Hillary Clinton: Muslims have NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with terrorism
US set to release Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel
The NYT has published an article titled Comparing Jewish Refugees of the 1930s With Syrians Today.
A tweet drawing a historical parallel to the current plight of Syrian refugees drew thousands of retweets this week.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/us/comparing-jewish-refugees-of-the-1930s-with-syrians-today.html
The NYT Editorial Board published a piece yesterday titled Refugees From War Aren’t the Enemy.
Can we point to a historic parallel of the NYT writing such a piece in 1939 in support of Jewish refugees?
Rabbi Shmuel Silber on Parshas Vayetzei: Living, Learning, Accepting
Daily Emunah lesson
Ezra Schwartz Killed in Israel: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Hillary Clinton: Muslims have NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with terrorism
US set to release Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel
The NYT has published an article titled Comparing Jewish Refugees of the 1930s With Syrians Today.
A tweet drawing a historical parallel to the current plight of Syrian refugees drew thousands of retweets this week.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/us/comparing-jewish-refugees-of-the-1930s-with-syrians-today.html
The NYT Editorial Board published a piece yesterday titled Refugees From War Aren’t the Enemy.
Can we point to a historic parallel of the NYT writing such a piece in 1939 in support of Jewish refugees?
The two tests
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be back in town on Tuesday for another round of pressing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to give Mahmoud Abbas another boost in confidence by surrendering more sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Read more: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/kerry-in-israel-next-week-to-squeeze-bibi-for-good-will-for-abbas/2015/11/19/
Parashat VaYese: The Two Tests by Rabbi Eli Mansour
No, Muslim Refugees Are Not Jewish WWII Refugees. Here Are 5 Reasons Why.
Instant Inspiration Parshas Vayetzei
If France were Israel
Read more: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/kerry-in-israel-next-week-to-squeeze-bibi-for-good-will-for-abbas/2015/11/19/
Parashat VaYese: The Two Tests by Rabbi Eli Mansour
No, Muslim Refugees Are Not Jewish WWII Refugees. Here Are 5 Reasons Why.
Instant Inspiration Parshas Vayetzei
If France were Israel
The rising tide
Emuna Daily lesson
November 2015
A teacher at a Jewish school in the southern French city of Marseille was stabbed Wednesday evening by three people shouting anti-Semitic obscenities and expressing support for the Islamic State group, local authorities said.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/jewish-school-teacher-stabbed-gang-marseille-police-203828676.html
February 2015
European leaders have reacted with anger at Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extraordinary plea for Jews to leave Europe to escape the rising tide of antisemitic terror attacks. ...French President Francois Hollande said. 'I will not just let what was said in Israel pass, leading people to believe that Jews no longer have a place in Europe and in France in particular,...'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2955293/French-PM-slams-Israel-s-call-Jews-leave-amid-fears-terror-attack-tells-France-wounded-you.html#ixzz3rtC7EcVi
November 2015
A teacher at a Jewish school in the southern French city of Marseille was stabbed Wednesday evening by three people shouting anti-Semitic obscenities and expressing support for the Islamic State group, local authorities said.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/jewish-school-teacher-stabbed-gang-marseille-police-203828676.html
February 2015
European leaders have reacted with anger at Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extraordinary plea for Jews to leave Europe to escape the rising tide of antisemitic terror attacks. ...French President Francois Hollande said. 'I will not just let what was said in Israel pass, leading people to believe that Jews no longer have a place in Europe and in France in particular,...'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2955293/French-PM-slams-Israel-s-call-Jews-leave-amid-fears-terror-attack-tells-France-wounded-you.html#ixzz3rtC7EcVi
18 Nov 2015
An analogy
Ed Straker has written an article at American Thinker titled HuffPo compares Syrian refugees to Jews in the Holocaust.
This is an offensive analogy. Jews who came to America were not themselves violent. They did not strap bombs on themselves and blow themselves up in theaters; they did not go into restaurants and execute diners, one by one; and they did not attempt to set up a caliphate wherever they moved to, although they did tend to dominate the deli, bagel-making, and stand-up comedy fields.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/huffpo_compares_syrian_refugees_to_jews_in_the_holocaust.html#ixzz3rpPa1nL2
New Video supports UT-Austin Israeli Studies Prof. after confrontation by protesters
Stabbing attack thwarted in Hevron
This is an offensive analogy. Jews who came to America were not themselves violent. They did not strap bombs on themselves and blow themselves up in theaters; they did not go into restaurants and execute diners, one by one; and they did not attempt to set up a caliphate wherever they moved to, although they did tend to dominate the deli, bagel-making, and stand-up comedy fields.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/11/huffpo_compares_syrian_refugees_to_jews_in_the_holocaust.html#ixzz3rpPa1nL2
New Video supports UT-Austin Israeli Studies Prof. after confrontation by protesters
Stabbing attack thwarted in Hevron
17 Nov 2015
Jewish refugees
The WashingtonPost has an article titled What Americans thought of Jewish refugees on the eve of World War II.
Two-thirds of Americans polled by Gallup’s American Institute of Public Opinion in January 1939 — well after the events of Kristallnacht — said they would not take in 10,000 German Jewish refugee children.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/17/what-americans-thought-of-jewish-refugees-on-the-eve-of-world-war-ii/
Chabad Students in Missouri Launch Good Deeds Initiative Amid Soaring Racial Tensions
A Jewish Mom Fed an Entire Plane of Passengers in Montana
Iraqi-Born Writer Brutally Satirizes Liberals Who Refuse to Blame Islamic Terrorists for Their Atrocities
Two-thirds of Americans polled by Gallup’s American Institute of Public Opinion in January 1939 — well after the events of Kristallnacht — said they would not take in 10,000 German Jewish refugee children.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/17/what-americans-thought-of-jewish-refugees-on-the-eve-of-world-war-ii/
Chabad Students in Missouri Launch Good Deeds Initiative Amid Soaring Racial Tensions
A Jewish Mom Fed an Entire Plane of Passengers in Montana
Iraqi-Born Writer Brutally Satirizes Liberals Who Refuse to Blame Islamic Terrorists for Their Atrocities
Kenos Hisorarus
The target
Jews and Jewish institutions were the target of a majority of last year’s religiously motivated crimes in the US, according to an FBI report released on Monday.
Read more: http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/11/16/fbi-reports-that-majority-of-religious-bias-crimes-in-us-last-year-were-against-jews/
Op-Ed: The New Israel Fund and those who support it are helping terrorists
No, State Governors Can’t Refuse To Accept Syrian Refugees
CER: Open Orthodox Rabbis are Not Rabbis
What Is Mesorah (Tradition)? מאי מסורה
Read more: http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/11/16/fbi-reports-that-majority-of-religious-bias-crimes-in-us-last-year-were-against-jews/
Op-Ed: The New Israel Fund and those who support it are helping terrorists
No, State Governors Can’t Refuse To Accept Syrian Refugees
CER: Open Orthodox Rabbis are Not Rabbis
What Is Mesorah (Tradition)? מאי מסורה
16 Nov 2015
The untold story
Shlucha Pulls Through For El Al
Obama Adviser Ben Rhodes: Our Refugee Plan Will Proceed, Despite #ParisAttacks
The Litman Murders: The Untold Story Of An Empty Wedding Hall
What a headline at USA Today regarding a group of Jews praying at the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. - Jewish activists secretly pray at Muslim holy site.
GELLER: THE WEST HAS LOST THE WILL TO LIVE
On the same day that Missouri University (MU) President Timothy M. Wolfe resigned over “racism,” the MU Black Studies Department co-sponsored a lecture by David Sheen, a journalist who regularly compares Israelis to Nazis.
Read more: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260795/mizzou-black-studies-dept-co-sponsors-speaker-who-daniel-swindell
Obama Adviser Ben Rhodes: Our Refugee Plan Will Proceed, Despite #ParisAttacks
The Litman Murders: The Untold Story Of An Empty Wedding Hall
What a headline at USA Today regarding a group of Jews praying at the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. - Jewish activists secretly pray at Muslim holy site.
GELLER: THE WEST HAS LOST THE WILL TO LIVE
On the same day that Missouri University (MU) President Timothy M. Wolfe resigned over “racism,” the MU Black Studies Department co-sponsored a lecture by David Sheen, a journalist who regularly compares Israelis to Nazis.
Read more: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260795/mizzou-black-studies-dept-co-sponsors-speaker-who-daniel-swindell
15 Nov 2015
Yaakov's ladder
Nordstrom Pulls Hannukah Sweater Seen as Spreading Jewish Stereotypes - I don't know about you, but I thought "chai maintenance" was humorous.
Joseph Steinberg, CEO of SecureMySocial, quotes from Hillel the Elder in an article appearing at Fortune about leadership.
Two millennia ago, the Jewish sage, Hillel, taught that “one who is easily embarrassed cannot learn” as the fear of appearing stupid can cause a student both to refrain from asking necessary questions and to fail to experiment with new concepts and theories.
http://fortune.com/2015/11/15/bad-habit-holding-back-at-work/
The Klausenberger Rebbe zt"l says Yaakov's ladder symbolizes the two approaches to self improvement. One way is to decide what you want to improve and map out a plan where you improve step by step until you reach your decided goal. This slow but steady journey has a good chance of success. If you work hard you will ultimately get there. That is what the pasuk says "V'Hinei Sulam Mutzav Artza V'Roishoi Magiah Hashamayma"; if the ladder is planted firmly on the ground, by climbing it one rung at a time you get you all the way as far as the heavens.
The second way is to go straight to the top and immediately begin to act according to your loftiest ideals, like the perfect tzaddik. This method usually ends rather quickly in miserable failure. To this the pasuk says "V'Hinei Malachei Elokim"; if you want to be like a malach right away, then "Olim V'Yordim Boi" you will rise very quickly but you will go right back down just as quick. http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Vayeitzei-Yaakovs-Ladder-Climb-It-Slowly-Or-Else-You-Could-Fall/1314
Joseph Steinberg, CEO of SecureMySocial, quotes from Hillel the Elder in an article appearing at Fortune about leadership.
Two millennia ago, the Jewish sage, Hillel, taught that “one who is easily embarrassed cannot learn” as the fear of appearing stupid can cause a student both to refrain from asking necessary questions and to fail to experiment with new concepts and theories.
http://fortune.com/2015/11/15/bad-habit-holding-back-at-work/
The Klausenberger Rebbe zt"l says Yaakov's ladder symbolizes the two approaches to self improvement. One way is to decide what you want to improve and map out a plan where you improve step by step until you reach your decided goal. This slow but steady journey has a good chance of success. If you work hard you will ultimately get there. That is what the pasuk says "V'Hinei Sulam Mutzav Artza V'Roishoi Magiah Hashamayma"; if the ladder is planted firmly on the ground, by climbing it one rung at a time you get you all the way as far as the heavens.
The second way is to go straight to the top and immediately begin to act according to your loftiest ideals, like the perfect tzaddik. This method usually ends rather quickly in miserable failure. To this the pasuk says "V'Hinei Malachei Elokim"; if you want to be like a malach right away, then "Olim V'Yordim Boi" you will rise very quickly but you will go right back down just as quick. http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Vayeitzei-Yaakovs-Ladder-Climb-It-Slowly-Or-Else-You-Could-Fall/1314
On one day
Clinton has early, commanding delegate lead for nomination
NYPD: Eggs Thrown Shabbos On Two Jewish Teens In Borough Park
Dude Drags His Piano To The Bataclan Music Venue And Plays ‘Imagine’
It has been cleared for publication that a joint security operation between the Shin Bet security forces and IDF Duvdevan counter-terrorism forces succeeded in capturing one of the terrorists behind in the murder of Rabbi Ya'akov Litman and his son Netanel on Friday.
Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203393#.Vkg_2narTIU
Rabbi Lau spoke at the funeral and commented how in the week's parsha of Toldot, Rebecca said to Jacob, לָמָ֥ה אֶשְׁכַּ֛ל גַּם־שְׁנֵיכֶ֖ם י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד - Why should I be bereft of both of you on one day?
Unfortunately, the Litman family were bereft of their Yaakov and Netanel on one day.
NYPD: Eggs Thrown Shabbos On Two Jewish Teens In Borough Park
Dude Drags His Piano To The Bataclan Music Venue And Plays ‘Imagine’
It has been cleared for publication that a joint security operation between the Shin Bet security forces and IDF Duvdevan counter-terrorism forces succeeded in capturing one of the terrorists behind in the murder of Rabbi Ya'akov Litman and his son Netanel on Friday.
Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/203393#.Vkg_2narTIU
Rabbi Lau spoke at the funeral and commented how in the week's parsha of Toldot, Rebecca said to Jacob, לָמָ֥ה אֶשְׁכַּ֛ל גַּם־שְׁנֵיכֶ֖ם י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד - Why should I be bereft of both of you on one day?
Unfortunately, the Litman family were bereft of their Yaakov and Netanel on one day.
14 Nov 2015
The Friday night attacks
A friend recently showed me a story written in Yiddish about a shidduch that was made because of a talmid chacham's absoulte trust in Hashem. She told me it was a segulah for people looking for a shidduch to read it on Motzaei Shabbos. I found the story over here in English, for those who wish to read it.
On October 31st, the Mirror reported, "A teenage Palestinian boy has been shot dead Israeli security forces shot after he ran at them with a knife in the occupied West Bank yesterday.
An Israeli police spokeswoman said that at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank an 18-year-old Palestinian holding a knife ran towards a security officer who called for him to stop." http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/teenage-palestinian-boy-shot-dead-6745349
The New York Times coverage of the Friday shooting attack on an Israeli family included, "Yehuda Glick, an official at Otniel, the settlement close to where the attack occurred, said witnesses had identified the slain men as a father and son, 45 and 18." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/world/middleeast/israelis-are-killed-on-west-bank.html?_r=0
When a Palestinian 18-year-old is killed, he is identified as a teenager. When an Israeli 18-year-old is killed, he is identified as a man.
Michael Weiss was interviewed on CNN regarding the Friday night attacks in Paris. He spoke about ISIS's goal of killing the kufar. He mentioned that President Obama recently spoke about ISIS being contained. He opined that if this is what containment looks like, he wouldn't like to see what hemorrhaging looks like.
Air France flight GROUNDED at Amsterdam airport after social media threat to blow up the plane
Barack Obama: Let’s Increase Number of Syrian Refugees to US by 100,000 in Next 2 Yrs.
I am currently reading a book titled City on Fire which contains stories and Torah insights about the September 11th attacks. Sorah Shapiro compiled many articles by rabbis who wrote about what we had to learn from the tragedy. As I read the rabbis' words, I was struck by how little we applied their messages 14 years later and how the profound impact of the tragedy changed us for the better for only a short time.
Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman wrote in the Jewish Observer (October 2001).
If we do not have mesiras nefesh, the requisite dedication in our service to Hashem, then less deserving creatures - our adversaries - will assume mesiras nefesh and sacrifice their lives for ra....
The majority of the rabbis quoted the gemara about what a person should do to save himself from chevlo shel Mashiach. Rabbi Eliezer's response was, "Ya'asok baTorah u'vigemilus chassadim."
On October 31st, the Mirror reported, "A teenage Palestinian boy has been shot dead Israeli security forces shot after he ran at them with a knife in the occupied West Bank yesterday.
An Israeli police spokeswoman said that at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank an 18-year-old Palestinian holding a knife ran towards a security officer who called for him to stop." http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/teenage-palestinian-boy-shot-dead-6745349
The New York Times coverage of the Friday shooting attack on an Israeli family included, "Yehuda Glick, an official at Otniel, the settlement close to where the attack occurred, said witnesses had identified the slain men as a father and son, 45 and 18." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/world/middleeast/israelis-are-killed-on-west-bank.html?_r=0
When a Palestinian 18-year-old is killed, he is identified as a teenager. When an Israeli 18-year-old is killed, he is identified as a man.
Michael Weiss was interviewed on CNN regarding the Friday night attacks in Paris. He spoke about ISIS's goal of killing the kufar. He mentioned that President Obama recently spoke about ISIS being contained. He opined that if this is what containment looks like, he wouldn't like to see what hemorrhaging looks like.
Air France flight GROUNDED at Amsterdam airport after social media threat to blow up the plane
Barack Obama: Let’s Increase Number of Syrian Refugees to US by 100,000 in Next 2 Yrs.
I am currently reading a book titled City on Fire which contains stories and Torah insights about the September 11th attacks. Sorah Shapiro compiled many articles by rabbis who wrote about what we had to learn from the tragedy. As I read the rabbis' words, I was struck by how little we applied their messages 14 years later and how the profound impact of the tragedy changed us for the better for only a short time.
Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman wrote in the Jewish Observer (October 2001).
If we do not have mesiras nefesh, the requisite dedication in our service to Hashem, then less deserving creatures - our adversaries - will assume mesiras nefesh and sacrifice their lives for ra....
The majority of the rabbis quoted the gemara about what a person should do to save himself from chevlo shel Mashiach. Rabbi Eliezer's response was, "Ya'asok baTorah u'vigemilus chassadim."
13 Nov 2015
Social media posts
Watchdog’s Exposure Has UNRWA Warning Teachers Not to Reveal Jew-Hatred on Facebook
It All Started With A Dollar - Incredible story!!!
A Scottish Nationalist MSP was at the centre of a race-hate storm last night after sharing an anti-Semitic image online which was compared to the ‘very worst of Nazi propaganda’. Sandra White made a humiliating apology to a Jewish group which condemned the ‘bizarre and hateful’ image she circulated to her thousands of followers on social media website Twitter.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3316442/SNP-forced-apologise-race-hate-row.html#ixzz3rMDzOMNg
משגיח ישיבת 'לייקווד' פונה במצב קשה לביה"ח
Someone posted a comment under an article titled Two killed in shooting attack near Hevron.
We are now reported that an ambulance of the Red Crescent passed by after the attack and refused to extend first aid to the victims, to the Jews....
Another individual posted at the Muqata, "They were on their way to the shabbat chatan of his daughter. The wedding is next Tuesday. "
Sotheby’s is offering what experts consider the world’s most important private library of Hebrew books and manuscripts, collected by a London diamond dealer.
Read more: http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=3&ARTICLE_ID=66672
Parshas Tol'dos - Avoiding Depression
It All Started With A Dollar - Incredible story!!!
A Scottish Nationalist MSP was at the centre of a race-hate storm last night after sharing an anti-Semitic image online which was compared to the ‘very worst of Nazi propaganda’. Sandra White made a humiliating apology to a Jewish group which condemned the ‘bizarre and hateful’ image she circulated to her thousands of followers on social media website Twitter.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3316442/SNP-forced-apologise-race-hate-row.html#ixzz3rMDzOMNg
משגיח ישיבת 'לייקווד' פונה במצב קשה לביה"ח
Someone posted a comment under an article titled Two killed in shooting attack near Hevron.
We are now reported that an ambulance of the Red Crescent passed by after the attack and refused to extend first aid to the victims, to the Jews....
Another individual posted at the Muqata, "They were on their way to the shabbat chatan of his daughter. The wedding is next Tuesday. "
Sotheby’s is offering what experts consider the world’s most important private library of Hebrew books and manuscripts, collected by a London diamond dealer.
Read more: http://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=3&ARTICLE_ID=66672
Parshas Tol'dos - Avoiding Depression
12 Nov 2015
The epic struggle
The United States Flag Code establishes advisory rules for display and care of the national flag of the United States of America. It is Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code (4 U.S.C. § 1 et seq). This is a U.S. federal law, but the penalty described in Federal Law 18 USC Section 700[1] for failure to comply with it is not enforced.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code
Pic Of The Day: Black Lives Matter Radicals Raise Black Liberation Flag While Stomping On The American Flag…
Parshas Tol'dos - The Epic Struggle Between Yaakov and Esav
18-Year-Old Valedictorian Gives Inspiring Speech a Week After Cancer Diagnosis
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code
Pic Of The Day: Black Lives Matter Radicals Raise Black Liberation Flag While Stomping On The American Flag…
Parshas Tol'dos - The Epic Struggle Between Yaakov and Esav
18-Year-Old Valedictorian Gives Inspiring Speech a Week After Cancer Diagnosis
11 Nov 2015
A public apology demand
A rabbi is demanding a public apology from Heathrow airport after being told to remove his shoes inside its multifaith prayer room.
Continue reading: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/149102/rabbi-complains-after-being-told-remove-shoes-heathrow-multi-faith-prayer-room
UPDATE:
Heathrow Apologizes to Rabbi Asked to Remove Shoes in Airport’s Prayer Room
I don't know what to make out of this "he said - she said" - court case - Quebec's Human Rights Commission supports complaint by Jewish hair stylist.
The Vilna Gaon writes in a Chad Gadya in the Hagaddah that had Eisav received the Brachos the Shevatim would have come from him. The Seforim HaKedoshim say that Eisav's head was buried in Meoras HaMachpela because intellectually he was a great man. The Chida goes as far as saying that Eisav's mind was one thousand times greater than Yaakov's!
Reb Yeruchom says Eisav's downfall was that he felt his place was in the field rather than in Yeshiva. They both spent time in the field and in Yeshiva, but when Eisav was in Yeshiva his mind was in the field and Yaakov was the opposite. "This attitude," says, Reb Yeruchom, "is the fine defining line between the greatest Rasha and the Avos HaKedoshim."
http://revach.net/article.php?id=5166
Parashat Toldot: The Collapse Of Yishmael And The Rise Of Mashiach
Yoely Greenfeld ''יואלי גרינפעלד ''רחמנה ליבא בעי
Continue reading: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/149102/rabbi-complains-after-being-told-remove-shoes-heathrow-multi-faith-prayer-room
UPDATE:
Heathrow Apologizes to Rabbi Asked to Remove Shoes in Airport’s Prayer Room
I don't know what to make out of this "he said - she said" - court case - Quebec's Human Rights Commission supports complaint by Jewish hair stylist.
Terror Attack Wound Saves Man’s Life, Reveals Tumor
The Kotzker Rebbe said that if Eisav were to walk into the room and we didn't know who he was, we'd think he was the Gadol HaDor. The L'Sitcha Elyon brings other interesting Mekoros to this idea. Reb Yeruchom of the Mir says that Eisav must have had some incredible qualities, for his father to have loved him. "Chalila for us to think Yitzchok erred."The Vilna Gaon writes in a Chad Gadya in the Hagaddah that had Eisav received the Brachos the Shevatim would have come from him. The Seforim HaKedoshim say that Eisav's head was buried in Meoras HaMachpela because intellectually he was a great man. The Chida goes as far as saying that Eisav's mind was one thousand times greater than Yaakov's!
Reb Yeruchom says Eisav's downfall was that he felt his place was in the field rather than in Yeshiva. They both spent time in the field and in Yeshiva, but when Eisav was in Yeshiva his mind was in the field and Yaakov was the opposite. "This attitude," says, Reb Yeruchom, "is the fine defining line between the greatest Rasha and the Avos HaKedoshim."
http://revach.net/article.php?id=5166
Parashat Toldot: The Collapse Of Yishmael And The Rise Of Mashiach
Yoely Greenfeld ''יואלי גרינפעלד ''רחמנה ליבא בעי
10 Nov 2015
Under fire
A trustee of a charity called the Ghulam Mustafa Trust has made a video in which he claims Jews track Samsung smartphones by implanting secret devices in the handsets.
In a development that sparked widespread outrage, the man who created and shared the footage has been allowed to continue to run the organisation by the Charity Commission.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3311102/WATCH-trustee-Ghulam-Mustafa-Trust-unleashes-foul-mouthed-tirade-claims-f-ing-Jews-track-Samsung-smartphones-anti-Semitic-video.html#ixzz3r3qDydFk
WND has an article about Kuwait Airways refusing to sell a ticket to an Israeli citizen.
Dartmouth College is under fire for using its largest auditorium to host a Hillary Clinton campaign event, after previously telling the Donald Trump campaign that it would now allow said auditorium to be used by presidential candidates.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/09/dartmouth-college-bars-trump-from-top-venue-freely-admits-hillary/#ixzz3r3u1MMcF
A Jordanian officer shot dead two U.S. government security contractors, a South African trainer and two Jordanians at a U.S.-funded police training facility near Amman on Monday before being killed in a shootout, Jordanian authorities said.
...A U.S. official said the two Americans were working for the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau training Palestinian security forces.
Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/10/us-mideast-crisis-jordan-shooting-idUSKCN0SY19G20151110#l0ZbtyXe1dZmcOIK.99
Appeals court rules against Obama's executive actions on immigration
Israel and Gaza: Residents rescued from flooded streets as storms batter Middle East
The NYT has an op-ed article about Ben Carson.
Ben Carson appears to have a somewhat complicated relationship with the truth, or at least that is the picture emerging of him as new challenges to the truthfulness of his biography surface.
...Carson may no longer be a practicing physician, but he is a full-time profiteer, selling his story in books and speeches and paid handsomely to do so. Good work, if you can get it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/opinion/ben-carson-and-the-truth.html?hpw&rref=opinion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
Was President Obama subject to the same scrutiny and comments when the NYT wrote about his books?
In a development that sparked widespread outrage, the man who created and shared the footage has been allowed to continue to run the organisation by the Charity Commission.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3311102/WATCH-trustee-Ghulam-Mustafa-Trust-unleashes-foul-mouthed-tirade-claims-f-ing-Jews-track-Samsung-smartphones-anti-Semitic-video.html#ixzz3r3qDydFk
WND has an article about Kuwait Airways refusing to sell a ticket to an Israeli citizen.
Dartmouth College is under fire for using its largest auditorium to host a Hillary Clinton campaign event, after previously telling the Donald Trump campaign that it would now allow said auditorium to be used by presidential candidates.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/09/dartmouth-college-bars-trump-from-top-venue-freely-admits-hillary/#ixzz3r3u1MMcF
A Jordanian officer shot dead two U.S. government security contractors, a South African trainer and two Jordanians at a U.S.-funded police training facility near Amman on Monday before being killed in a shootout, Jordanian authorities said.
...A U.S. official said the two Americans were working for the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau training Palestinian security forces.
Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/10/us-mideast-crisis-jordan-shooting-idUSKCN0SY19G20151110#l0ZbtyXe1dZmcOIK.99
Appeals court rules against Obama's executive actions on immigration
Israel and Gaza: Residents rescued from flooded streets as storms batter Middle East
The NYT has an op-ed article about Ben Carson.
Ben Carson appears to have a somewhat complicated relationship with the truth, or at least that is the picture emerging of him as new challenges to the truthfulness of his biography surface.
...Carson may no longer be a practicing physician, but he is a full-time profiteer, selling his story in books and speeches and paid handsomely to do so. Good work, if you can get it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/opinion/ben-carson-and-the-truth.html?hpw&rref=opinion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
Was President Obama subject to the same scrutiny and comments when the NYT wrote about his books?
9 Nov 2015
A sea of green
Legal Insurrection reports New docs reveal Third Grade Anti-Israel event much worse than thought.
Teenage girl caught on CCTV punching 87-year-old woman in face on bus - Ayin Roah Veozen Shomaat – There is an eye that sees and an ear that listens
Moishy Holtzberg Moves Banquet
Boris Johnson has hailed Israel’s hi-tech achievements as “an absolute education” as he opened the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange this morning.
...He said opening the markets around the world usually meant an immediate sea of red – joking that Israel already had a Red Sea – but that this time it was green. “Everyone wants to buy shares today and quite right too.”
http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/boris-johnson-praises-israels-hi-tech-success-as-an-absolute-education/
Teenage girl caught on CCTV punching 87-year-old woman in face on bus - Ayin Roah Veozen Shomaat – There is an eye that sees and an ear that listens
Moishy Holtzberg Moves Banquet
Boris Johnson has hailed Israel’s hi-tech achievements as “an absolute education” as he opened the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange this morning.
...He said opening the markets around the world usually meant an immediate sea of red – joking that Israel already had a Red Sea – but that this time it was green. “Everyone wants to buy shares today and quite right too.”
http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/boris-johnson-praises-israels-hi-tech-success-as-an-absolute-education/
8 Nov 2015
Religious studies
The Roman Catholic Church is at the centre of a row after ordering its schools to teach Judaism alongside Christianity in GCSE religious studies – ruling out Islam or other faiths.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3308725/The-Roman-Catholic-Church-centre-row-ordering-schools-teach-Judaism-alongside-Christianity-GCSE-religious-studies-ruling-Islam-faiths.html#ixzz3qu9BXGyO
Law enforcement sources say UC Merced attacker was on TERROR watch list, college was WARNED of threat
Yitzchok said to a disguised Yaakov (Toldos 27:22), "HaKol Kol Yaakov V'HaYadayim Yidei Eisav; The voice is sweet like Yaakov, but the hands are rough like Eisav." Chazal tell us that this teaches us that if the voice of Yaakov is strong in Torah, Eisav will not be able to lay his bloody hands on us. However, in the absence of the voice of Torah, Eisav will have free reign to destroy us.
Rav Zalman Sorortzkin in Oznayim LaTorah asks that since Hashem punishes Mida K'Neged Mida, how can an aveira committed by our voice be punished with the hands of Eisav? Eisav's voice should have power to inflict punishment upon us, but not his hands.
He answers that the key to Torah learning is financial support of Torah. Im Ein Kemach Ein Torah, without support, the voice of Torah will become silent, as those learning will slowly leave the Bais Medrash to earn a living. If the voice of Torah is heard, then the hands of Yaakov are obviously very active in supporting Torah. In this Zchus, Eisav's hands will be neutralized. But when the voice of Torah in not heard, then apparently the hands of Yaakov are folded and are not giving very generously to Torah. In that case, the hand of Eisav will be active in making us suffer. http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Toldos-Rav-Zalman-Sorotzkin-The-Hands-Of-Yaakov-The-Hands-Of-Eisav/4801
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3308725/The-Roman-Catholic-Church-centre-row-ordering-schools-teach-Judaism-alongside-Christianity-GCSE-religious-studies-ruling-Islam-faiths.html#ixzz3qu9BXGyO
Law enforcement sources say UC Merced attacker was on TERROR watch list, college was WARNED of threat
Yitzchok said to a disguised Yaakov (Toldos 27:22), "HaKol Kol Yaakov V'HaYadayim Yidei Eisav; The voice is sweet like Yaakov, but the hands are rough like Eisav." Chazal tell us that this teaches us that if the voice of Yaakov is strong in Torah, Eisav will not be able to lay his bloody hands on us. However, in the absence of the voice of Torah, Eisav will have free reign to destroy us.
Rav Zalman Sorortzkin in Oznayim LaTorah asks that since Hashem punishes Mida K'Neged Mida, how can an aveira committed by our voice be punished with the hands of Eisav? Eisav's voice should have power to inflict punishment upon us, but not his hands.
He answers that the key to Torah learning is financial support of Torah. Im Ein Kemach Ein Torah, without support, the voice of Torah will become silent, as those learning will slowly leave the Bais Medrash to earn a living. If the voice of Torah is heard, then the hands of Yaakov are obviously very active in supporting Torah. In this Zchus, Eisav's hands will be neutralized. But when the voice of Torah in not heard, then apparently the hands of Yaakov are folded and are not giving very generously to Torah. In that case, the hand of Eisav will be active in making us suffer. http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Toldos-Rav-Zalman-Sorotzkin-The-Hands-Of-Yaakov-The-Hands-Of-Eisav/4801
7 Nov 2015
Worrisome
Munich mayor snubs Israel's request to cancel city-funded anti-Semitic BDS event
Toronto Jewish Leader Dr. Frank Dimant: "Foreign Affairs Minister’s remarks worrisome to friends of Israel.".
Tefilos Requested for Admor Who was Struck by a Vehicle on Motzei Shabbos
POLITICO EDITS BEN CARSON HIT PIECE, DROPS CLAIMS OF ‘FABRICATION’
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins has been broadcasting his “Washington Watch” radio program from Israel this week, where he is helping to lead an FRC tour group. Also on the tour is former Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bachmann-convert-many-jews-possible-because-christ-coming-soon#sthash.XPUeSXts.dpuf
Chazal tell us (Rashi Toldos 25:28) that the lentils Yaakov was cooking was because Avrohom had died. Although Avrohom was supposed to live 180 years, he life was cut short by five years so that he would not have to see his grandson Eisav's wicked ways.
Five years! When the Rosh Yeshiva of Radin the beloved Rav Naftali Trop was gravely ill, they held an appeal for people to donate part of their lives to extend the life of Rav Naftali. The boys donated years to save the Rosh Yeshiva. One person was sent in to the saintly Chofetz Chaim and asked him if, and how much he'd be willing to donate. The Chofetz Chaim said he would need to think about it. Later he called the person back and said that after deep thought he was willing to donate five minutes! By the Chofetz Chaim five minutes was eternity times 300. Yet, he was willing to part with it, for Reb Naftali, after serious contemplation.
Reb Yeruchom points out that a tzaddik's avodah becomes more and more precious with each passing day. The avodah of Avrohom at 175 years old, after everything he had gone through, was unimaginable. He could have soared to new heights in those five years. Yet, Hashem did him a great "favor" by taking away this opportunity in order not to see Eisav. This gives a small bit of insight into the depth of pain of watching a grandchild go off and certainly a child!
http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/life-lessons/Parshas-Toldos-Reb-Yeruchom-The-Price-Avrohom-Was-Willing-To-Pay-To-Avoid-Eisav/5169
Toronto Jewish Leader Dr. Frank Dimant: "Foreign Affairs Minister’s remarks worrisome to friends of Israel.".
Tefilos Requested for Admor Who was Struck by a Vehicle on Motzei Shabbos
POLITICO EDITS BEN CARSON HIT PIECE, DROPS CLAIMS OF ‘FABRICATION’
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins has been broadcasting his “Washington Watch” radio program from Israel this week, where he is helping to lead an FRC tour group. Also on the tour is former Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bachmann-convert-many-jews-possible-because-christ-coming-soon#sthash.XPUeSXts.dpuf
Chazal tell us (Rashi Toldos 25:28) that the lentils Yaakov was cooking was because Avrohom had died. Although Avrohom was supposed to live 180 years, he life was cut short by five years so that he would not have to see his grandson Eisav's wicked ways.
Five years! When the Rosh Yeshiva of Radin the beloved Rav Naftali Trop was gravely ill, they held an appeal for people to donate part of their lives to extend the life of Rav Naftali. The boys donated years to save the Rosh Yeshiva. One person was sent in to the saintly Chofetz Chaim and asked him if, and how much he'd be willing to donate. The Chofetz Chaim said he would need to think about it. Later he called the person back and said that after deep thought he was willing to donate five minutes! By the Chofetz Chaim five minutes was eternity times 300. Yet, he was willing to part with it, for Reb Naftali, after serious contemplation.
Reb Yeruchom points out that a tzaddik's avodah becomes more and more precious with each passing day. The avodah of Avrohom at 175 years old, after everything he had gone through, was unimaginable. He could have soared to new heights in those five years. Yet, Hashem did him a great "favor" by taking away this opportunity in order not to see Eisav. This gives a small bit of insight into the depth of pain of watching a grandchild go off and certainly a child!
http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/life-lessons/Parshas-Toldos-Reb-Yeruchom-The-Price-Avrohom-Was-Willing-To-Pay-To-Avoid-Eisav/5169
6 Nov 2015
Chayei Sarah
Parshas Chayai Sarah - Chaver!
Parshas Chayai Sarah - The Years of Sarah's Life: A Timeless Lesson
Parshas Chayai Sarah - Matchmaking or Something Infinitely Worse?
Jewish News staff do a Mitzvah
Breitbart has an article titled VIDEO PROOF: CNN’S ATTACK ON BEN CARSON’S BIOGRAPHY IS RACIALLY-MOTIVATED.
Obama agrees with Bibi, without the media calling him a warmonger
Parshas Chayai Sarah - The Years of Sarah's Life: A Timeless Lesson
Parshas Chayai Sarah - Matchmaking or Something Infinitely Worse?
Jewish News staff do a Mitzvah
Breitbart has an article titled VIDEO PROOF: CNN’S ATTACK ON BEN CARSON’S BIOGRAPHY IS RACIALLY-MOTIVATED.
Obama agrees with Bibi, without the media calling him a warmonger
5 Nov 2015
Poll indications
Three Arrested After Renowned Israeli Scholar Shouted Down at University of Minnesota
American Jews Growing More Religious, Poll Indicates
Video of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D in Lakewood Days before He’s Assassinated
Below is a question asked to the State Department Spokesperson during a briefing today.
QUESTION: Moving on, let’s go to – in the Middle East. One of the major planks of the Secretary’s platform that he announced to reduce tensions between Israelis and the Palestinians was the installation of cameras to monitor the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary 24/7. At the time that it was announced, he said that they would be hopefully up and running soon, and then in subsequent comments you talked about how this video would be available to everyone live, 24/7. Now there are reports out of Jordan, which is an integral part of – an integral player in this, that not only will there not be any cameras in the two mosques up there but that the video will not be seen anywhere except in Amman, and that it could take another six weeks for this to actually come to that. Is this okay with you guys? Is this – does this – is this in keeping with the agreement that you thought had been reached?
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249221.htm#MIDDLEEASTPEACE
I received an email with a link to a daily emunah lesson which included these words.
Rabbenu Bahya writes (in Parashat Ekev) that prayer is so powerful it can even overturn nature. In fact, the letters of the word תפלה can be read as an acrostic for תפלה פועלת לשנות הטבע - "Prayer is effective in changing nature."
Some interesting comments posted at the end of a Blaze article titled Suspect in UC Merced Stabbings Identified as 18-Year-Old Faisal Mohammad — Here’s What We Know.
Gun free zone? Knife free zone? Blunt object zone? Hidden foreign object in your headband zone? No Free Speech Zone? Gender Identification free zone? Conservative thought free zone? God mentioning free zone?
Yet another well run California Institution of Higher Learning. Intelligence free zone!
American Jews Growing More Religious, Poll Indicates
Video of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D in Lakewood Days before He’s Assassinated
Below is a question asked to the State Department Spokesperson during a briefing today.
QUESTION: Moving on, let’s go to – in the Middle East. One of the major planks of the Secretary’s platform that he announced to reduce tensions between Israelis and the Palestinians was the installation of cameras to monitor the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary 24/7. At the time that it was announced, he said that they would be hopefully up and running soon, and then in subsequent comments you talked about how this video would be available to everyone live, 24/7. Now there are reports out of Jordan, which is an integral part of – an integral player in this, that not only will there not be any cameras in the two mosques up there but that the video will not be seen anywhere except in Amman, and that it could take another six weeks for this to actually come to that. Is this okay with you guys? Is this – does this – is this in keeping with the agreement that you thought had been reached?
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/11/249221.htm#MIDDLEEASTPEACE
I received an email with a link to a daily emunah lesson which included these words.
Rabbenu Bahya writes (in Parashat Ekev) that prayer is so powerful it can even overturn nature. In fact, the letters of the word תפלה can be read as an acrostic for תפלה פועלת לשנות הטבע - "Prayer is effective in changing nature."
Some interesting comments posted at the end of a Blaze article titled Suspect in UC Merced Stabbings Identified as 18-Year-Old Faisal Mohammad — Here’s What We Know.
Gun free zone? Knife free zone? Blunt object zone? Hidden foreign object in your headband zone? No Free Speech Zone? Gender Identification free zone? Conservative thought free zone? God mentioning free zone?
Yet another well run California Institution of Higher Learning. Intelligence free zone!
4 Nov 2015
Man plans
I thought of the expression "Der mentsh trakht un G-t lakht - Man plans and G-d laughs" when I read the headline of an AP article, Mideast sandstorm disrupts Michelle Obama's trip to Jordan.
BTW, while searching for the above expression, I came across Yiddish proverbs at Wiki. Check them out over here.
How Orthodox Jewish Style Became an Unlikely Inspiration for Fall 2015’s Sexiest Trend
Givat Ze'ev residents mobilize for synagogue showdown
BTW, while searching for the above expression, I came across Yiddish proverbs at Wiki. Check them out over here.
How Orthodox Jewish Style Became an Unlikely Inspiration for Fall 2015’s Sexiest Trend
Givat Ze'ev residents mobilize for synagogue showdown
3 Nov 2015
One hundred years, twenty years and seven years
Micah Lakin Avni has written a NYT op-ed titled The Facebook Intifada.
THREE weeks ago, my father was riding on a public bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood when terrorists from East Jerusalem shot him in the head and stabbed him multiple times. Afterward, as he lay unconscious in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, fighting for his life, one question was on my mind: What inspired the two young Palestinian men to savagely attack my father and a busload of passengers?
My father, Richard Lakin, dedicated his life to the cause of Israeli-Arab reconciliation.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/opinion/the-facebook-intifada.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region
Breitbart reports, "The Federal Bureau Of Investigation has suspended the unveiling of a new counter-radicalization website designed for kids after fringe Islamic advocacy organizations said the anti-terror programming discriminates against Muslims."
Continue reading: http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/11/02/fbi-suspends-counterterror-program-pressure-fringe-islamic-groups/
Palestinian Human Rights Activist: Media ‘Full of Antisemitism, Hatred for Israel’
Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff speaks about this week's parsha and offers an interesting explanation to Rashi's explanation of the first pasuk regarding Sarah's age.
And the life of Sarah was one hundred years, twenty years and seven years. (23:1)
At the age of twenty she was like age seven in beauty, and at the age of one hundred she was like age twenty in piety.
(Rashi; Midrash Rabbah)
Rabbi Lieff spoke about the words Bat Meah kebat Esrim - He said that Perek Kuf (100) of Tehilim begins with the words, "Mizmor Letodah." The whole world is heralding and singing the praises of Hashem.
Perek Chaf (20)begins with the words, "Mizmor Ledavid, yaancha Hashem beyom tzarah."
By Sarah Imeinu, whether it was a period of "Yaancha Hashem beyom tzarah" or whether it was a period of "Mizmor Letodah," "kulan shavim letovah."
Click here to listen to Parashat Chayei Sarah: It’s All Good.
THREE weeks ago, my father was riding on a public bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood when terrorists from East Jerusalem shot him in the head and stabbed him multiple times. Afterward, as he lay unconscious in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, fighting for his life, one question was on my mind: What inspired the two young Palestinian men to savagely attack my father and a busload of passengers?
My father, Richard Lakin, dedicated his life to the cause of Israeli-Arab reconciliation.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/opinion/the-facebook-intifada.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region
Breitbart reports, "The Federal Bureau Of Investigation has suspended the unveiling of a new counter-radicalization website designed for kids after fringe Islamic advocacy organizations said the anti-terror programming discriminates against Muslims."
Continue reading: http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/11/02/fbi-suspends-counterterror-program-pressure-fringe-islamic-groups/
Palestinian Human Rights Activist: Media ‘Full of Antisemitism, Hatred for Israel’
Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff speaks about this week's parsha and offers an interesting explanation to Rashi's explanation of the first pasuk regarding Sarah's age.
And the life of Sarah was one hundred years, twenty years and seven years. (23:1)
At the age of twenty she was like age seven in beauty, and at the age of one hundred she was like age twenty in piety.
(Rashi; Midrash Rabbah)
Rabbi Lieff spoke about the words Bat Meah kebat Esrim - He said that Perek Kuf (100) of Tehilim begins with the words, "Mizmor Letodah." The whole world is heralding and singing the praises of Hashem.
Perek Chaf (20)begins with the words, "Mizmor Ledavid, yaancha Hashem beyom tzarah."
By Sarah Imeinu, whether it was a period of "Yaancha Hashem beyom tzarah" or whether it was a period of "Mizmor Letodah," "kulan shavim letovah."
Click here to listen to Parashat Chayei Sarah: It’s All Good.
Kol Korei
South African newspaper pulls ad about Hamas, says Jewish group
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah Issues Kol Korei on Open Orthodoxy
"הילדים בכיכר האדומה זעקו: "אנו לא מפחדים
Looters dig up Holocaust victims' graves at Nazi death camp Sobibor in hunt for gold
High school football player ejected for thanking God during game
"I was just trying to thank my God for everything that he has given to me and for all of the power that he's given to me to play this sport because not everyone can do it."
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/43066167-story
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah Issues Kol Korei on Open Orthodoxy
"הילדים בכיכר האדומה זעקו: "אנו לא מפחדים
Looters dig up Holocaust victims' graves at Nazi death camp Sobibor in hunt for gold
High school football player ejected for thanking God during game
"I was just trying to thank my God for everything that he has given to me and for all of the power that he's given to me to play this sport because not everyone can do it."
http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/43066167-story
2 Nov 2015
Cutting-edge
Cutting-Edge Palestinian Fashion: Gaza Store Displays Mannequins with Knives
The RightScoop has an article titled DESPICABLE: Palestinian stabs ELDERLY WOMAN in murderous spree, gets TRAPPED by Israelis until police arrive
A comment posted under the article reads, MSM Alternate Headline suggestion: "Palestinian taken hostage by group of Israelis during stabbing incident."
Philly Shul Holds Tanakh-a-thon to Usher in Peace for Israel
BERNIE SANDERS REWRITES JEWISH HERITAGE IN 1ST CAMPAIGN AD
The RightScoop has an article titled DESPICABLE: Palestinian stabs ELDERLY WOMAN in murderous spree, gets TRAPPED by Israelis until police arrive
A comment posted under the article reads, MSM Alternate Headline suggestion: "Palestinian taken hostage by group of Israelis during stabbing incident."
Philly Shul Holds Tanakh-a-thon to Usher in Peace for Israel
BERNIE SANDERS REWRITES JEWISH HERITAGE IN 1ST CAMPAIGN AD
1 Nov 2015
Strengthen Emunah
Rav Shteinman in Letter to Rav Dovid Abuchatzeirah: Mitzvah for This Generation is to Strengthen Emunah and Bitachon in Hashem and Not Man
Here's an excerpt from a comment posted at the Tomer Devorah blog.
...Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, ztz"l told Esther Pollard that when Jonathan goes free, it will be the beginning of the Ketz of America and the Geula of Israel.
http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.be/2015/11/binyamin-world-war-three-broke-out-q.html
Here's an excerpt from a comment posted at the Tomer Devorah blog.
...Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, ztz"l told Esther Pollard that when Jonathan goes free, it will be the beginning of the Ketz of America and the Geula of Israel.
http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.be/2015/11/binyamin-world-war-three-broke-out-q.html
The Jewish burial
Cruz: Justice Kennedy compares own ruling to Nazi Germany
Can I be buried next to my Jewish husband?
"And Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to cry over her"; The word "to cry over her" is "ViLivkosa". The Torah spells it with a small "Chaf". What is the significance of this small letter?
The Satan has many ways to get us to sin. He tries at times to stop one from doing a Mitzvah beforehand. If he doesn't succeed, he will try to make us regret that we did the Mitzvah, therefore lessening our reward. Avraham did a great Mitzvah by offering his son a Korbon by the Akeidah. It was because of the news of the Akeidah where Yitzchok was almost killed, that caused Sarah to die. The Satan wanted Avraham to regret the Akeidah because it killed his wife. Avraham did not want to show this regret. He therefore minimized his weeping by the funeral of Sarah to show that he did not regret the Akeidah. That is why it says a small "Chaf' - because he minimized his weeping. http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Chayei-Sarah-Avrohom-Held-Back-Some-Tears-Over-Sarah/1234
Can I be buried next to my Jewish husband?
"And Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to cry over her"; The word "to cry over her" is "ViLivkosa". The Torah spells it with a small "Chaf". What is the significance of this small letter?
The Satan has many ways to get us to sin. He tries at times to stop one from doing a Mitzvah beforehand. If he doesn't succeed, he will try to make us regret that we did the Mitzvah, therefore lessening our reward. Avraham did a great Mitzvah by offering his son a Korbon by the Akeidah. It was because of the news of the Akeidah where Yitzchok was almost killed, that caused Sarah to die. The Satan wanted Avraham to regret the Akeidah because it killed his wife. Avraham did not want to show this regret. He therefore minimized his weeping by the funeral of Sarah to show that he did not regret the Akeidah. That is why it says a small "Chaf' - because he minimized his weeping. http://revach.net/parshas-hashavua/quick-vort/Parshas-Chayei-Sarah-Avrohom-Held-Back-Some-Tears-Over-Sarah/1234
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