Meron 1924 in pictures Lag Be'Omer

The Holy Tanna Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) grew in his Torah learning to become a gigantic luminary for his generation and for all generations to come.  Rashbi’s life spanned many important periods throughout our nation’s history: he saw the Holy Temple and its destruction while thousands of Jews were being led to their deaths by the Romans. He witnessed the destruction of Beitar and the cruel deaths of the Ten Martyrs.

Rebbe Shimon felt the Romans would soon come for him, fearing for his life he and his son fled to the caves of Tekoa. For twelve years they delved into the depths of Torah while surviving on the miraculous Carob tree and water spring Hashem provided for them. Elijah the Prophet came and stood at the entrance to the cave, “Who will notify bar Yochai that the Caesar has died and the decree is nullified?” Rebbe Shimon and his son came out of the cave and started to return home. Unable to handle the mundane world, they went back into their cave for another 12 months to ease their way back into the physical world.

On the day Rebbe Shimon left this world, he gathered his closest students together and shared with them the secrets of the Holy Torah. He told them that this day should be a day of rejoicing and celebration because it is my day of joy.The Zohar describes, as his bed was entering the cave floating on air with a pillar of fire in front, a Heavenly Voice called out, “Come and gather for the hillulah of Rebbe Shimon”.

Today, Hundreds of thousands of people from Rabbonim to simple people flock to Meron to partake in this special day. Rebbe Shimon is for all Jews and all walks of life.

The tradition of celebrating the hillulah has spanned thousands of generations. More than 430 years ago, the first Rashbi hachnassas orchim group was formed to prepare for the special day’s gigantic crowds. Rav Chaim Vital describes the Arizal visiting Meron on Lag B’omer. The Arizal brought his 3 year old son and gave him his first haircut.  In the 15^thCentury thousands would travel from all over Asia and Africa to visit Meron on this holy day. Families came from Damascus and Baghdad. Bonfires were lit in honor of the Rashbi and people danced and study Zohar the whole night. Later in history, The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh crawled up the mountain with his hands and feet crying the whole way up to celebrate this holy day, when he reached the top he was overcome with emotion and was very joyous on this special occasion.

The Rebbe in the white Bekishe is R’ Menachem Nachum of Boyan-Cheznovitz the brother of R’ Mordechai Shlomo of Boyan. He is wearing the Rhiziner rebbes bekishe.

We invite you to come and join us in the Simcha L’kavod Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai. By donating to Yeshuos Rashbi and contributing to the simcha of the day. In the merit of Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai, Hashem will surely increase the simcha in your life!

You can donate by visiting www.yeshuosrashbi.com or call 718-705-8430

These pictures were taken in year  תרפ״ה (1924

Aharon Ramati arrested, ran a girl seminary in Yerushalyim!

Seminary in Sanhedria raided and Rabbi Aharon Ramati arrested amid media storm; since 2014, parents have said he is running a 'cult.'

Be'er Miriam, Sanhedria

Nati Shohat/Flash90

The director of a Sephardic charedi girls' seminary in Jerusalem has been arrested on Sunday, following a string of accusations from concerned parents that he was running a "cult" and using mind control techniques to exert his influence over the girls' private decisions. 

Earlier Sunday, the Israel Police raided the Be'er Miriam seminary in Sanhedria following a media storm over the allegations. The raid is being conducted as part of criminal investigation into its director, Rabbi Aharon Ramati, a social worker involved in the case said. 

The raid team included investigators from the Jerusalem District Police's fraud unit, its leader, Superintendent Isaac Simon, as well as a team of social workers. 

The team was accompanied by representatives of all the emergency agencies including the Fire Department, the Gas Authority, representatives of the Jerusalem income tax depot, the Social Security, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the collection enforcement authority at the Justice Ministry, and municipal officials. Each of the representatives conducted their own investigation of the premises during the raid. 

The Gas Authority has determined that the seminary's gas connection is pirated; gas has been shut off for the building and for several nearby buildings for security reasons as the investigation continues.  
Fraud investigators seized evidence upon entering the 
premises and have questioned six of the women involved so far, they said. 

In May 2014, Ramati was asked to leave Jerusalem within 30 days after the allegations first surfaced. Ramati never left, however, and there has been little police involvement in the case until now. 
Tensions have mounted over the intervening months - so much so that concerned parents staged a protest in April. 

Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Girls involved with the seminary, including one escapee, spoke to Channel10 earlier this year and revealed that Ramati had allegedly an iron grip on his students, specifically who they married - and even details of their married lives. 

Parents stated that they had been banned from their daughters' weddings after questioning the rabbi's authority. 

The seminary has no connection to the similarly-named Ba'er Miriam Seminary in Har Nof, which is a one-year program for English-speaking students. 

Group of Satmar Chassidim becoming Zionists making Aliyah!

They take part in anti-Israel demonstrations but secretly, they plan a Charedi-Zionist agricultural community in Israel.

The Satmar Chassidim are infamous for its anti-Zionist creed, but according to a weekend exposé by Zvika Klein of Makor Rishon & NRG, a small group of the chassidim in New York City is secretly planning to make aliyah and establish a Zionist agricultural community.

The organization is named “Zoreah – Hassidim for Settling the Land of Israel” and includes mostly Satmar chassidim, as well as some chassidim from other dynasties. 

They were all raised to hate Zionism and the state of Israel, and some of them even attend anti-Israel protests to this day. But they all decided, after deep study, that making aliyah should be their main goal in life.

"There is great hatred for Zionism in the community I live in,” one of them told Klein. “Anything I say that can be understood as support for Zionism, will haunt me and my family. There is a real mafia out there that can threaten to throw my children out of the educational institutes, and since we do not have an alternative at the moment, I and the rest of my friends cannot expose our identities yet.”

Instead, the chassid said – they are opting for an approach to their dream that is gradual – “like everything having to do with the Redemption.”

The Satmar stream was established in Satu-Mare, Transylvania, in 1905, and moved its center to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, after World War 2. 

Its founder, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, saw Zionism as the root of all evil and the main cause of the misfortunes that befell the Jewish people in the 20th century. The stream is currently divided into two sections, both of which abhor Zionism.

"I grew up as a complete anti-Israeli,” one of the members of the secret stream told Klein. He is 34, married with seven children, and works in marketing. 

“In the Satmar institutes we were taught that there are 613 mitzvot plus the 'three vows' of the nation of Israel, one of which is not to make aliyah to the Land of Israel in an organized fashion. Once in a while, the Yeshiva Head would give a speech and tell the students that the State of Israel is based on the uprooting of religion, and that it tries to turn Jews into non-Jews.”

Starting to ask questions

In addition, he said, the students would be bused to 2nd Avenue several times a year to demonstrate opposite the Israeli consulate, when an Israeli prime minister or MK visited. 

However, in his late 20s, he began asking questions. 

“When friends in the yeshiva told me stories, I simply fell in love with the Land of Israel. The access to internet and to the world also exposes you to a different reality, one you did not previously know. I decided that Israel is the place for me.”

The man, who is referred to by the pseudonym Aaron in the report, went on to relate that he and other Satmar chassidim who were frustrated with the anti-Zionism they were raised upon, began praying together in Williamsburg, at their own “shtibel,” and did so in the style of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, which is not accepted in any other local synagogue.

"Bit by bit, more congregants who were looking for something more free joined us. It made sense that these people would also open up and begin to love Israel. We have a Whatsapp group with 50 members and an internet blog as well.”

The plans to make aliyah are very real. Members of the group have already visited Israel in search of a suitable location for their agricultural community. Aaron visited Givat Ze'ev, became enamored with the scenic view and the proximity to Jerusalem, and told the other members – “this is the spot.”

The members' wives and children speak Yiddish and some English. However, Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Bet Shemesh and other charedi concentrations are “irrelevant for us,” Aaron said, because the charedim in Israel “are not in love with the Land they live on, like we are.” Finding the right place is not easy, he conceded: “finding a Yiddish-speaking congregation that is not anti-Zionist is very hard. If you are a nationalist, you do not speak Yiddish.”

The first group of Zoreah olim will take a few years before it makes aliyah, according to Aaron, but he does not intend to wait. He plans to make aliyah this summer, with his family.

The group does not have a spiritual leader, but informally, they are guided by a 35-year-old resident of Monsey who is identified by the pseudonym "Shabtai." Shabtai's own rabbi introduced him to the writings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hakohen Kook, one of the founders of modern religious-Zionism. He sees Rabbi Eliezer Melamed of Har Bracha as his halachic decisor.

Asked by Klein how he defines himself, Shabtai answered – “nationalist-chassidic.” When he is asked about service in the army, his answer is clear: “I am from the Levite tribe, which was always in the front ranks, with the Ark of the Covenant and a drawn sword. Until the Sanhedrin of 72 wise men is established, the IDF is apparently the holiest organization in the Nation of Israel. And if there are religious problems in the army, that will be only be solved through communication and carrying the burden together, not by running away.”

Between Feiglin and Kahane

Zoreah's advisor on aliyah and contact to Israel is journalist and aliyah activist Yishai Fleisher.

“They are Zionists in the full sense of the word,” he explained. “They want to live in the Land of Israel, fulfill Zionism and serve in the army. In the basement where they meet, you can see a book by Rabbi Kook leaning on a book by the Satmar Rebbe. It moved me very much.”

Some of the members dream of living in Judea and Samaria and establishing farms, but according to Aaron this is “probably less possible in reality, because our children are not used to that kind of life.”

The group is very knowledgeable about Israeli politics. “We love Moshe Feiglin very much. Regrettably, he did not enter the Knesset, so some of our guys support Eli Yishai, others Naftali Bennett. Our guys are further rightward than Bennett, some are even in the direction of Kahane.”

A member of the group identified as Yaakov told Klein he wants to live in the Land of Israel and does not care where. “It can be in Damascus, as far as I am concerned. I'm not joking, That, in my eyes, is the problem of the religious-Zionist public, which is always fighting not to give back territory. It's absurd – we should talk about annexing more territory. “

In New Square, 4 goyim caught making "Eyer mit Tzveeble for Melava Malkah!

2 of the teens in handcuffs

Four teens were arrested after they were caught driving around New Square and throwing eggs at the Orthodox Jewish pedestrians, 

At approximately 2:38AM, the Ramapo Police Department responded to the area of Washington Avenue in the Village of New Square after they received reports of occupants of a vehicle throwing eggs at pedestrians.

Upon arrival, bystanders directed officers to a vehicle occupied by 4 individuals. Officers on scene conducted an investigation and the four occupants of the vehicle were placed under arrest. No injuries or damage to property were reported. They are currently being processed at the Ramapo Police Department and will be arraigned. They are being charged with Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, a misdemeanor.

The four teens under arrest are:

• 19 year old male from Pearl River, New York,
• 18 year male from Pearl River, New York,
• 16 year old male form Nanuet, New York,
• 19 year old female from Nanuet, New York.

This Week's Haftorah Debunks Satmar Anti-Israel Philosophy!

Those of you following this blog are aware of the irrelevant $atmar SHIT'ah that prohibits Jews from moving to Eretz Yisroel.

 The Shitah's philosophy mimics the now defunct radical ideas of the Minchas Eluzer, the first Muncather Rebbe, that basically states that only when Moshiach comes can Jews make Aliyah... 

This shitah is contrary to the Rambam and other Rishonim that explicitly state that the Geulah will come in stages.  

The first stage will be the in-gathering of Jews from "the four corners of the world." The Second stage will be the rebuilding of the barren land of Eretz Yisroel. The third stage will be the coming of Moshiach and finally, the re-building of the Bais Hamikdash!

See Derashos Chasam Sofer 27 Elul 5580, where he implies that the people of Israel will gather together in Eretz Yisroel, without the Bais Hamikdash, even before Moshiach comes.

The first two stages have already come to fruition with the massive aliyah to Eretz Yisroel; over 6 million Jews live there, bli ayen harah, and the massive infrastructure already in place.

Those of you listening to the haftorah this past Shabbos, must have heard the Baal Mafter, read from the Novie Amos, predicting what is already in place. and which the blind $atmars cannot see and believe!

The Novie states: 
(Verse 13)"Behold days are coming..... so says Hashem,
When the plower will encounter the reaper, and the one who threads upon the grapes will meet the one who brings the seeds, the mountains will drip with wine, and the hills will melt (with fat)...
I shall bring back the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the desolate cities, they will return and plant vineyards and drink their wine, they will make gardens and eat the fruit.
I shall implant them upon their Land, they will not be uprooted again from upon their Land that I have given them, says Hashem, your G-D!

Oh Oh! Ed Day, County Executive of Rockland cracks down on illegal housing! The party is over!

Ed Day standing in front of house that has 19 violations 

The Rockland Health Department and other county agencies are launching a new crackdown on the spread of substandard and illegal housing to improve safety for residents and firefighters responding to emergencies.

The Rockland Codes Initiative includes hiring more housing inspectors, levying larger penalties against landlords and an online reporting system where residents can file anonymous complaints when they know of illegal dwellings.

Officials have also started an online Worst Landlord Watch List in an effort to bring anonymous LLCs to the light of public scrutiny. The list's top five worst offenders are posted now.

"We all know firefighting is dangerous enough," County Executive Ed Day said Thursday, standing on the sidewalk in front of a dilapidated three-story home at 76 Fairview Ave., the first property on the Worst Landlord Watch List. "It should not be made more dangerous when property owners motivated by greed illegally carve up apartments. We cannot allow a child or one of Rockland County's bravest to die in a converted attic or hidden stairwell."

Officials said the 2,522-square-foot tan stucco home has racked up 19 violations. On five visits, inspectors found faulty or inadequate sprinkler and alarm systems and emergency exits, as well as possible illegal dwellings in the basement and third floor.

The property is managed by Yaniv Razak through Metallic Sunburst LLC. Razak could not be reached for comment.

Buy Photo

Rockland County Executive Ed Day gives his State of the County address Feb. 3, 2015, at legislative chambers in New City. (Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)

The crackdown reveals the extent to which illegal housing has transformed huge swaths of suburban Rockland.

While towns and villages are supposed to enforce fire and zoning codes, there are widespread concerns about landlords who illegally convert single-family homes, chopping them into small rooms and stuffing them with recent immigrants — many of them illegal.

"The driving force of this is money," Day said. "It's not unlike drug-dealing in the city."

Frustrated inspectors and fire officials warn that these illegal dwellings often lack emergency exits — a huge fire hazard that could mean a disaster in an emergency.

The new initiative stems in part from a perceived lack of enforcement and negligible penalties against absentee landlords in many town and village courts. Reports from the state have singled out Ramapo and Spring Valley, in particular, for serious problems.

Penalties under the county initiative can reach $2,000 per day per violation. As part of the crackdown, the county will also report landlords who are found to be taking rental payments in cash to the IRS for possible tax evasion.

"The cost of doing business has gone up," Rockland Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Rubbert said.

One landlord, Clarel Jean, already has been slapped with $38,000 in fines by the Rockland Board of Health for violations at 73 S. Madison Ave. in Spring Valley, she said. Another home at 57 S. Madison — managed by Jonathan Weiss, who oversees many properties in Spring Valley — was hit with a $2,200 fine.

The stepped-up enforcements will be conducted under the Rockland County sanitary code, which allows the county's inspectors to issue summonses forcing repairs and bringing the landlord before the Rockland Board of Health.

The Health Department can inspect properties without permission and also can review schools with dormitories and kitchens, many of which face town and village violations in Ramapo.

The Health Department will get two more housing inspectors, bringing the number to four, plus two new supervisors.

The additional inspectors, if approved by the Rockland Legislature, will get paid $46,000 annually with benefits. Day said the county also might hire retired police officers and firefighters to supplement the efforts, as long as they earn less than $30,000 a year to comply with their retirement plans.

Day said the enhanced inspection program will pay for itself through fines, penalties and registration fees.

John Kryger, chairman of the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force, said the more aggressive response is what the fire services have been seeking and "reaffirms our goal of safety for the tenants and first responders of this county."

Gordon Wren Jr., coordinator of Rockland Fire and Emergency Services, also supported the move.

"I am encouraged by this giant step taken by the county," Kryger said. "It's just one piece in a puzzle that includes the District Attorney's Office, the state codes division and the FBI, to name a few."

Elements of the Rockland Codes Initiative

■ Web-based complaint form for people to confidentially report suspected illegal housing or unsafe conditions. The form will appear on the county government website at http://rocklandgov.com/ and the Rockland Health Department website athttp://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/. Or call the Health Department with complaints at 845-364-2585.

■ Rockland County Worst Landlords Watch List of property owners operating the most dangerous and dilapidated buildings with the most violations.

■ Multiple Dwelling Registry Law: Landlords must pay a fee and provide their names, addresses and contact information, including for their building managers.

Satmar Rebbe of Monroe Blesses Boro-Park Salami

Satmar Rebbe Of Kiryas Yoel Putting Up a Mezuzah at The New Satmar Butcher in Boro Park (Photos By JDN) - 

BALTIMORE COUNCILMAN SLAMS OBAMA AND MAYOR: ‘JUST CALL THEM N*GGERS’

Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes (D) criticized President Obama and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) for referring to rioters in Baltimore as “thugs” saying, “just call them n*ggers” in an interview on Tuesday’s “OutFront” on CNN.

Carl Stokes

When asked if “thugs” was the right term to describe the riot, Stokes said, “no, of course it’s not the right word to call our children thugs. These are children who have been set aside, marginalized, who have not been engaged by us. No, we don’t have to call them thugs.”

He was then pressed on whether that justifies the rioting, he stated that while the rioting was unjustified, “calling them thugs — just call them n*ggers. Just call them n*ggers. No, we don’t have to call them by names such as that. We don’t have to do that. That is exactly what we have set them to. Now, when you say ‘come on,’ come on what? You wouldn’t call your child a thug if they should do something that would not be what you would expect them to do.”

Earlier, he declared, “today has been a tremendously good day in Baltimore. We woke up this morning at 5:00 a.m., cleaning up the streets, cleaning up the neighborhoods. People have come out of their doors, no one is staying behind closed doors in Baltimore. The residents are coming out and saying ‘this is our town, this is our city.’ Our issue is justice being served. So, there were a few aberrant, and I know that that was a terrible scene that we saw last night and a little bit on Saturday, but the greater majority, so a few hundred people versus hundreds of thousands of residents of Baltimore city, have come out of their homes and said, ‘this is Baltimore. This is our Baltimore.’ And they’re showing just who we are and why we’re standing up for justice, not only for Freddie Gray, but for all of the Freddie Grays that have been killed or brutalized in Baltimore.”

Stokes did defend the woman who cameras caught disciplining her son during the riots, arguing, “she was trying to save his life. It is clear that it’s better that she hit him than the police hit him and brutalize him and take his life from him.”

(h/t The Right Scoop)

Black Baltimore woman now jobless and homeless after rioting blacks burned CVS where she worked as manager

Katrice Gardner speaks with New York Daily News reporter Edgar Sandoval (pictured) in the aftermath of the riots in Baltimore. Gardner lost her home and her job in the same night

In one night of mayhem Katrice Gardner lost her home, her job — and nearly her life.

And when dawn broke Tuesday, the 30-year-old Baltimore woman said she couldn’t understand why the Black mob that battled the police all night firebombed her house and reduced the CVS where she worked as a manager to ashes.

“I was yelling at them, pleading at them not to burn my house," Gardner, 30, said outside her boarded-up rowhouse. “They had set the houses around me on fire. The black hoodlums were throwing stuff into the house. They were throwing Molotov's and very flammable stuff. All I could do was beg them not to burn my house."

Gardner said she — like most African-Americans in Baltimore — is deeply upset about the death of Freddie Gray, allegedly at the hands of police.

But Gardner said she didn’t recognize the people who starting lobbing bricks at cops and looting businesses after Gray’s funeral on Monday.

“These guys aren't from here, they go from place to place causing trouble,” she said. “This doesn't accomplish anything. This is our neighborhood."

Gardner, who is married, said she now has no place to live and no place to work.

"I can't live in my house while it gets renovated and the place where I work got burned down,” she said. “I don't have a home and a place to work. This is a lot of calamity."

Horrific video shows White Baltimore store owner hauled from his premises, sucker punched and kicked by BLACKS as he lay in the street

A shocking video has emerged from the riots in Baltimore showing a mob of Black 'protesters' dragging a white shopkeeper into the street and assaulting him.

The video, shot by a witness, sees the white man being forcibly removed from his store, believed to be located in downtown Baltimore, as dozens of black protesters gather outside.

One of the black rioters knocks him flat out with a sucker-punch, and as the white man lies in the street, the black mob gathers around him. 

A male Black protester wearing a hoodie appears to be stomping on the white man's head as others kick him while he is out. 

Even though the video is only 20 seconds long, it captures the horrific violence that has swept the city since yesterday following the funeral of Freddie Gray who while he was alive was arrested 18 times.