Biden Wore a Wire During Debates

 

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Kid whose ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ went viral sings at NY synagogue Yom Kippur service

 

The first time 6-year-old Bibi Shapiro found out just how widely viewed the video of him singing “Avinu Malkeinu” had been, he was sitting on his mother’s lap in Australia being beamed into Yom Kippur services at one of the largest synagogues in the United States.

Like so many others who saw the video over the past several weeks, Angela Buchdahl, the senior rabbi of New York City’s Central Synagogue, was touched by the passion Shapiro brought to his performance. She also noted that Bibi, who is Black, did not conform to stereotypes about what Jews look like, the topic of her Kol Nidre sermon.

So Buchdahl reached out — and began a conversation that ended with Bibi leading her congregation in the iconic High Holiday song.

“Our community just got to hear you sing and I think our hearts are all just opened up,” the rabbi told the Perth boy before his performance. Afterwards, she said, “Connecting with both of you today — it feels like that’s what reminds us that we are a huge Jewish family.”

That was the theme of Buchdahl’s Kol Nidre sermon, in which she argued that Jews should stop thinking of themselves as a race — a historically dangerous, exclusionary concept — and instead as a family.

Buchdahl told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she had reached out to Bibi and his mother, Nina Shapiro, after reflecting on her own experiences as a Korean-American woman who, despite holding one of the most influential pulpits in American Judaism, still elicits confusion when people learn she is Jewish.

“I was taken with how clearly Bibi’s Jewish neshama [soul] comes through, and how much is at stake for us to make sure he never feels as marginalized and othered as so many Jews of color feel in our community,” Buchdahl told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about her outreach.

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Did These Archeological Finds Just Settle Debate on How Long a "Tefech" is?

Storage jars from Khirbet Qeiyafa 

Storage jars form one of the main ceramic types which were produced and abundantly used ever since pottery was invented.

The need to collect, store, and distribute agricultural products such as grains, oils and wine in large vessels has littered excavation sites with an abundance of ceramic jar fragments of various designs, sizes and shapes.

However, for all of their variety, three Israeli archaeologists Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Ortal Harush, Israel Antiquities Authority’s Avshalom Karasik and Weizmann Institute’s Uzy Smilansky found an astonishing common denominator among storage jars in Israel over a period of 350 years: the inner-rim diameter of the jar’s neck.

The distribution of this diameter is consistent with measurements of the palm of a (male) hand and, according to the authors, this match is not coincidental. It may reflect the use of the original metrics for the biblical measurement of the “tefach,” a unit of measurement that was used primarily by ancient Israelites, appears frequently in the Bible, and is the basis for many Jewish laws. Their findings were published in BASOR, the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

“It was natural for the ancient potters to adopt the handbreadth—tefach--standard. It was a unit of length that was widely used in ancient times, and is mentioned both in Assyrian and Egyptian sources and in the Old Testament, for instance: Numbers 25-25, Numbers 37-12,” the researchers shared.

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After Bolting Coalition, Litzman Begs to rejoin government

 MK and former Construction and Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) is looking to rejoin the government, just weeks after resigning in protest of the nationwide lockdown.

According to a report Walla Wednesday, Litzman has turned to senior Blue and White officials, asking them to help him be brought back in to the government, this time as Deputy Construction and Housing Minister.

This arrangement would allow the UTJ chief to serve as a de facto minister, without officially being a minister in the government – returning to the UTJ’s tradition of maintaining a symbolic distance from the governing coalition by not officially serving as ministers.

Under the plan put forth by Litzman, he would be appointed as Deputy Construction and Housing Minister, using one of Blue and White’s deputy ministerial appointments. All of the right-wing bloc’s deputy ministerial appointments have already been filled, forcing Litzman to turn to Blue and White.

Another member of the coalition would officially serve as Construction and Housing Minister, though Litzman would in effect carry out the duties of the minister.

Blue and White is considering the request, and has yet to issue a response.

Earlier this month, Litzman resigned from the government in protest of the decision to impose a nationwide lockdown during the holiday season.

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Herd Immunity - "won't help" Says Director-General of the Health Ministry Prof. Hezy Levy,

Speaking with representatives of haredi media outlets on Wednesday, the director-general of the Health Ministry, Prof. Hezy Levy, said that the haredi sector accounts for just over one third of all coronavirus infections in Israel.

Levy said that the number of coronavirus patients in the haredi sector had increased significantly in recent weeks, as has the number of coronavirus-related fatalities.

Along with accounting for 34% of all coronavirus infections in Israel, Levy continued, roughly one out of every three haredim who is tested for the virus is found to be carrying it, a far higher rate than in the general population.

“That’s twice as high as in the general population, and add to that the fact that there are many tests being conducted in the haredi community.”

The director-general also dismissed the possibility of attaining herd immunity, whereby a large enough portion of the population becomes infected and develops immunity so as to effectively block large outbreaks.

"We're not interested in gaining herd immunity," Levy said, "not in the haredi community, and not in the rest of the population either. We haven't seen that it achieved anything significant in countries where it was attained. It doesn't decrease the fatality rate.

"This is why I am so distressed at the tishes [chassidic gatherings] I see," he added, "with people behaving as if there was no such thing as coronavirus. This is not the right way - it is irresponsible and lacking all concern for others. Who are you endangering? You are endangering your own families, your own grandparents."

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Iranian chess referee who ditched her country over hijab reveals Jewish roots

 

A world-class Iranian chess referee who made headlines after announcing she would not return home following an international championship as she no longer wanted to keep her hair covered with a hijab, has revealed that she has Jewish roots.

Shoreh Bayat, 33, told the Telegraph newspaper that she kept her heritage hidden all her life while in Iran, but this year, as she waits for asylum in Britain, was able to celebrate her first Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year.

“All my life was about showing a fake image of myself to society because they wanted me to be an image of a religious Muslim woman, which I wasn’t,” she told the paper from her temporary home outside London at the family of a chess player friend.

Bayat, one of the top chess referees in the world, was born in northern Iran and said it was her father who encouraged her to take up chess at the age of nine. By age 12 she was a national champion in Iran, where chess is a state-sponsored sport. She went on to became general-secretary of the Iran Chess Federation, as well as becoming Asia’s first top-level chess arbiter.

But there was part of her family’s history that she kept hidden from Iranian authorities. Her paternal grandmother, Mary, was Jewish, arriving in Iran from Baku in Azerbaijan during World War II.

“If they knew that I had a Jewish background, I would never ever be general-secretary of the Iranian Chess Federation,” she said and recalled that she had heard anti-Semitic remarks from chess officials.

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Travelers Back From Uman Board Planes to Tel Aviv Despite Having COVID-19

Confirmed coronavirus carries have been identified on 17 different flights to Tel Aviv from Ukraine and Belarus, senior Health Ministry officials told Channel 12 Tuesday.

An annual pilgrimage over the Rosh Hashanah holiday in Uman, Ukraine, which usually draws tens of thousands of Hasidic Jewish pilgrims, was curtailed this year due to the pandemic. Despite Health Ministry warnings, however, thousands of Israelis flocked to Ukraine to the pilgrimage site of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, before Kyiv closed its borders in September to avoid an outbreak.

Thousands of others then traveled to neighboring Belarus in an attempt to cross the border to Ukraine, but were blocked by local authorities.

Many of the pilgrims have since returned to Israel — some of them with COVID-19.

Some returning pilgrims boarded planes to Tel Aviv while displaying symptoms of the disease, health officials told the network.

Others refused to cooperate with contact tracing or get tested for the coronavirus, the officials added.

“It’s one failure after the next,” an unnamed official said. “They aren’t willing to get tested, are unwilling to cooperate and aren’t declaring that they’ve entered quarantine. It will simply hurt us all.”

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CIA Says that Hillary Clinton Conjured Trump-Russia scandal

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday released a bombshell allegation that Hillary Clinton ordered “a campaign plan to stir up a scandal” by linking President Trump to Russia in 2016 — and that then-President Barack Obama knew about the possibility.

Ratcliffe disclosed the information in a letter published by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) just hours before Trump debates Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time.

Clinton’s alleged July 2016 plot would tar Trump by “tying him to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Russians’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee,” Ratcliffe wrote Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Handwritten notes by then-CIA Director John Brennan, who now is a fiery anti-Trump commentator, say that Brennan briefed Obama on “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisors to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.”

The FBI opened its investigation of possible Trump-Russia collusion on July 31, 2016 — five days after Clinton allegedly hatched the plan — premised on Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos allegedly telling an Australian diplomat that Russia had damaging information on Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee..

It’s unclear when Obama was briefed or if Biden also was informed.

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Biden's Token Jew ... Aaron Keyak Agrees that Trump is "Hitler's Hero"

 

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Bliden Tells the President of the USA ‘Shut up, man!’

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday told President Trump to “shut up, man!” while refusing to say if he wants to add justices to the Supreme Court during the first presidential debate.

Biden declined to tell debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News whether he would support adding justices to the court if Trump’s conservative pick Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Whatever position I take on that, that’ll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. You’re in voting, now vote and let your senators know how strongly you feel. But vote now,” Biden said.

Trump interjected: “Are you going to pack the court? Are you going to pack the court? He doesn’t want to answer.”

“I’m not going to answer the question, because the question is, the question is, the question is —” Biden said, as Trump continued to press him to answer.

“Will you shut up, man?” the former vice president said.

Trump persisted: “Who is on your list, Joe? Who is on your list? He’s going to pack the court.”

After telling the president to shut up, Biden scoffed, “This is so unpresidential.”

“Keep yapping man!” Biden said in a departing shot.

“The people understand, Joe. In 47 years, you’ve done nothing. They understand,” Trump said. 

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Young Lady sings "Kwartin's" Ve'Tiher Reb Yishmoel Atzmoi

 Kol Isha Alert!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Flatbush Girl (@flatbushgirl) on Sep 27, 2020 at 8:43am PDT

So below is the composer of the tune ..... 

So who did it better?

AOC Slaps Liberal Jews in the Face With Her Decision to Withdraw From Rabin Memorial

 

Yitzhak Rabin was famous for saying that people make peace with their enemies – not with their friends.

Israelis were reminded of this maxim on Saturday by Rabin’s granddaughter, Noa Rothman, who tweeted her grandfather’s saying in response to a decision by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the popular, progressive New York congresswoman, to withdraw from an event in memory of the late prime minister.

The October 20th event was being organized by Americans for Peace Now in memory of Rabin who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist for his efforts to achieve peace with the Palestinians.

Ocasio-Cortez – or AOC as she is known – had initially confirmed her participation alongside Rothman and “Homeland” actor Mandy Patinkin.

But she then came under fire from a number of pro-Palestinian groups which described Rabin, a career IDF officer before entering politics, as a war criminal, for reportedly expelling Arabs from their homes in the War of Independence in 1948, and for calling for brutal measures to repress the First Intifada, a violent Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s.

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How Zionists Saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews during the waning months of World War II.

Hungarian Jews During WW2

You will not find the following testimony in "der yid" or any "frum" publications.... Why? .... because it defeats their narrative...

In some "frum" articles I did find that they admitted that the Zionist organizations saved thousands of Jews... but they write that the Zionists  saved only Zionists.... 

Well... of course.... ,,,first of all, the "frummies' didn't believe that Hitler would come to Hungary and they also refused to cooperate with any Zionist organizations... which is well documented; second of all... people tend to first try to save those they know and are close to ... it's not that they refused on principle to save those that weren't Zionist but they did what all organizations do ...

I remember when Chabad did everything to get Chabad Chassidim out of Communist Russia, it's not that they wouldn't save any Jew but their priority, understandably was to Chabad Chassidim. In Williamsburg and Crown Heights I remember Satmar collecting money to send packages to Jews in Rumania.. so who got those packages? Of course Satmar sent packages to people that they knew who were followers.. and I have no doubt that they meant well .... but do you think that a Zionist Jew living in Communist Roumania got a Satmar package? I don't think so ....

Also I remember well when the Heimishe Rabbanim and All Roshei Yeshivos were against the Communist Russia protests in Manhattan ...

They never sent anyone to the protests but were there early to protest the Israeli Consulate ..

Turns out that all those who escaped Communist Russia praised the protests and said they were comforted to know that they were not forgotten .

************

by Alex Sternberg

My Hungarian parents were both survivors of Auschwitz. I heard their stories often while growing up. I never asked, but always wondered why there was no resistance. Why did 600,000 Hungarian Jews go “like sheep to their slaughter?”

As we reflect 75 years after the end of World War II, we have much documentation about great resistance to the Nazis in many countries: Poland, France, Belgium, Greece, Albania and more. From Britannica to Wikipedia, there are long lists. But Hungary is missing. 

In fact, there was resistance in Hungary, as I discovered in my research for Recipes from Auschwitz, a book I wrote. I came across Brothers for Resistance and Rescue, by David Gur, a Hungarian Jew who was part of the Resistance. Rafi Benshalom, another leader, also described the resistance movement in We Struggled for Life.

I met with Gur in Israel and was inspired to learn more.

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Covid is Spreading in Frum Communities. Why are people still not wearing masks? ... "if it’s meant to be, I’ll get sick.”

 

A sign on a shoe store said customers would be required to wear masks. Inside, however, two women shopped with their faces uncovered.

At an electronics store nearby, a sign posted on the window instructed customers to wear masks “due to local mandates.” Still, a man was served, unmasked, at the counter.

The scene repeated itself Wednesday all over Williamsburg, a section of Brooklyn where it’s common to see few people on the street wearing masks that are considered among the strongest lines of defense against transmitting the coronavirus.

In the New York borough’s Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, cases of COVID-19 are on the rise. New cases from six Orthodox neighborhoods, including Williamsburg, make up 20% of the city’s total, according to data released this week by the city’s Department of Health. Three more in Brooklyn — Borough Park, Midwood and Bensonhurst — as well as Kew Gardens and Edgemere-Far Rockaway in Queens are the others.

While those neighborhoods encompass a wide range of Orthodox practice, including yeshivish Orthodox, Syrian and Hasidic communities, they have one noticeable attribute in common: Mask wearing is not consistent.

In Williamsburg, home to the Satmar Hasidic community, mask wearing on the street is rare.

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Watch Donald Trump's Perfect Debate Response To His Tax Forms

 

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Last year in Jerusalem

by Penny Cagan 

Last year I spent Yom Kippur in Israel. It was my first time in Israel, and I had neglected to check the calendar. When I booked my Jerusalem hotel and flight, I had failed to realize that coming at a time when everything was shut down for two days was not optimal.

I have never considered myself a religious person and was raised essentially as a “Yom Kippur Jew.” My family went to synagogue only on the High Holidays to mostly appease my grandparents who came to the United States from Lithuania. My paternal grandfather was deeply religious, and I never remember seeing him without a prayer book by his side. He terrified me because he had a deep stillness within him that was unknowable.

What does a non-religious Jew do on Yom Kippur in Jerusalem when there are no tours, or open restaurants or shops? I walked through the Old City of Jerusalem until I reached the Western Wall and I spent Yom Kippur afternoon there just sitting with all the women dressed in white. There was the same stillness in the air that I remember emanating from grandfather. It was one the quietest and most moving experiences of my life.

The moment I came home to New York, I started planning to return to Israel the following year. Unfortunately, with the pandemic, that will not happen this year. But I also started seeking a place in the Jewish community that I felt so disconnected from. I spent last Autumn visiting synagogues in the city each Friday night. New York City is blessed with so many diverse and inclusive synagogues. I visited the large, grand synagogues that are deeply established in the city’s Jewish roots and the small upstarts that hold services in church community rooms.  I finally found my place in the Romemu synagogue on the Upper West Side and became a member a week before the coronavirus shut down.

In early January I read about the Daf Yomi cycle where people from around the world read one portion of the Talmud each day. I jumped into the cycle with the hope I would discover the secrets of my religion and heritage, and everything that I found unknowable in my grandfather’s quietness. The journey has been difficult and at times I have been convinced that I cannot carry on and am not sure how much more of eruv concentric circles of 2,000 cubit feet I can bear. But I have come to connect with wonderful, dedicated, kind-hearted friends from around the world who are on the same journey. We have found each other in our common struggle to decipher the text and live our lives during the time of a pandemic. And through this all, I have found my Jewish center. I have traveled very far to come home.

Best wishes for an easy fast on Yom Kippur and your own coming home this year, wherever that will take you.

Visit my website at: https://brokentabletsfrompennycagan.me

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Rabbanit Miriam Levinger passes away

 Rabbanit Miriam Levinger, the wife of the late Rabbi Moshe Levinger, passed away overnight Monday, at 83.

She had been evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital on Yom Kippur night in serious condition.

A spokesman for the Jewish community in Hebron, Noam Arnon, said, "The Jewish community in Hebron and all lovers of Hebron and the Land of Israel mourn the passing of Rabbanit Miriam Levinger, who passed away on the night of Yom Kippur. She was a symbol and role model of devotion and pioneering, and with her own hands brought about the redemption of the city.”

“Rabbanit Levinger's leadership and power led the settlement in the heart of Hebron and the historical return of the Jewish people to their first hometown. Her pioneering deeds will be written forever in the history of the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. Our condolences to her entire family.”Rabbanit Levinger led the return to the historic Beit Hadassah building in Hebron and the reestablishment of the Jewish community of Hebron in 1979. Residents of Hebron are currently praying for her recovery at the Cave of the Patriarchs while adhering to Health Ministry guidelines.

Rabbanit Levinger and her husband Rabbi Moshe Levinger, who passed away in 2015, have 11 children and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In 2019, Miriam won the Jerusalem Prize "for her blessed work over the decades with great dedication for the Jewish settlement in the city of Hebron."

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R’ Moshe Harari 46, Niftar From COVID-19, Twenty Others Hospitalized in Lakewood

 R’ Moshe Harari Z”L of Lakewood. He was 46.

Sourcess ay that he was Niftar from complications from COVID-19. He was taken to the hospital on Erev Yom Tov, and was Niftar on Yom Kippur.

R’ Moshe Z”L is the son of Chacham Eliezer, a prominent Rav in Flatbush.

He leaves behind his wife and two children.

Meanwhile, there were around twenty Lakewood residents hospitalized in the past few days, it what is clearly a “second wave”.

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Biden Predicted that He would be "Dead and Gone in 2020"

 

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Nadler "Craps" On Live TV

 

 I’m not kidding. I mean, look at the footage. 

It sure looks like something bad happened and he tried to scurry off as quickly as possible. 

There’s no way no one noticed obviously. First, he’s right there next to Nancy Pelosi. Second, he’s a top Democrat, chair of the House Judiciary Committee. And third, he’s front and center at the speaker's presser. That shuffle is not going to fool anyone. There’s no covert slide away from the Speaker of the House in any situation. Also, we all know that’s not how you walk, sir.

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Police pull infected worshiper from Jerusalem synagogue

 

Police removed a man who was infected with the coronavirus from a Jerusalem synagogue on Sunday, shortly before the start of the Yom Kippur holiday.

The man was apparently aware that he had the virus and was supposed to be in quarantine.

“A short time ago, police received a report of the presence of a diagnosed coronavirus carrier in one of the synagogues in the Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood in Jerusalem,” police said in a statement.

“Police officers arrived on the scene, located him, wrote him a fine of NIS 5,000 and escorted him back to his home where he is required to stay in isolation,” police said in a statement.

Prayer services have become a bone of contention in Israel’s coronavirus policy, as cases surge during the Jewish High Holiday season.

Authorities fear group prayer services during the holidays could further spread the virus, but lawmakers were unable to agree on prayer and protest restrictions in lockdown measures approved by the cabinet last week.

Officials are reportedly worried about students in ultra-Orthodox yeshivas returning home to their families and infecting them with the virus after Yom Kippur, which ends on Monday evening.

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