There is no future for Jews in Europe', says Brussels' chief rabbi

Brussels' chief rabbi has warned there is 'no future for Jews in Europe' following the Paris attack and lockdown across Belgium

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Rabbi Avraham Gigi was interviewed on Israeli radio when he gave the bleak outlook for Jewish people in Europe. 

He warned that people were afraid to walk the streets or meet up in large groups following the attacks which claimed the lives of 130 people and injured more than 300 others. 

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Chief Rabbi of Brussels Avraham Gigi, centre, said Jewish people had 'no future in Europe predicting that an ever greater number of people will move to Israel or Canada

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Speaking to Israeli radio, Rabbi Gigi said that people were afraid to meet up in large groups due to the threat

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Rabbi Gigi said the synagogues in the city have been closed for the first time since the Second World War

Belgium raises threat risk to the highest level in Brussels

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The Jerusalem Post reported Rabbi Gigi's comments to local radio station 103FM. 

He said:'There is a sense of fear in the streets, the Belgians understand that they too are targets of terror. Jews now pray in their homes [as opposed to at synagogues] and some of them are planning on emigrating.' 

Rabbi Gigi told listeners that Brussels has been paralysed since the attacks. He said: 'The synagogues were closed, something which has not happened since World War Two. People are praying alone or are holding small minyanim [small prayer groups] at private homes. Schools and theatres are closed as are most large stores and public events are not permitted. We live in fear and wait for instructions from the police or the government,' 

He said Brussels had a Jewish population of approximately 25,000 with a further 18,000 in Antwerp. In total there are 50,000 Jewish people in Belgium with the remainder scattered across smaller communities. 

Rabbi Gigi claimed that many Jewish people in Belgium were considering leaving the country.

He added: 'There has been aliya to Israel as well as emigration to Canada and the US. People understand there is no future for Jews in Europe. Jews should not make aliya out of fear because this will result in a poor absorption experience as a feeling that something was left behind will always remain. People should make aliya out of a love for Israel.'

Jonathan Pollard’s Final Cruel Punishment

by  Rabbi Benjamin Blech

After thirty long years of imprisonment, unprecedented punishment for the crime of spying on behalf of an American ally, Jonathan Pollard is at last a free man.

Almost.

Pollard’s incarceration in a maximum security prison which he spent in solitary isolation for lengthy periods of time is finally over. Even those appalled by his offense must surely find sufficient compassion in their hearts to be gladdened by his long-awaited release, having more than paid for his unlawful actions many years ago. Today Pollard is a frail and sickly man, far from a threat to American security, anxious only to live out his remaining years with a small measure of comfort and tranquility.

But Pollard’s punishment is not yet over. By the terms of his release, he will be denied the one dream most precious to him, the one hope for which he prayed while fulfilling the terms of his sentence. Jonathan Pollard wants to end his days on earth together with his wife in the land of Israel. And this, the American government has told him, he is not allowed to do for at least five years.

What is the rationale for this cruel ruling? Why add this restriction if Pollard’s release from prison clearly makes the statement that he has paid his dues to his country, to his government and to society? We just learned the answer from Joseph E DiGenova, the former United States attorney who prosecuted Pollard. “If Mr. Pollard were allowed to go to Israel, where his case has been a cause celebre, there would be a parade and events just rubbing it in the United States’ face.”

The United States was afraid to release Pollard earlier and continues to be afraid to let him now emigrate to Israel because there might be some who will publicly express approval for his past actions - and the highest priority must be given to prevent criminals from becoming lionized.

But, with galling hypocrisy, that is a policy which America chose for itself but never deemed necessary when it came to Israel. For years, the United States has pressured Israel to release Palestinian prisoners as “a goodwill gesture,” an indication that Israel “truly wants peace,” a step forward “demonstrating compassion.” These were not people who merely spied for a friendly ally. These were butchers of innocent civilians, men, women, children and infants. These were terrorists guilty of the cruelest and most barbaric acts imaginable. At White House urging, all too often, Israel complied. And brutal murderers became Palestinian national heroes, released killers turned into heroic role models for a new Arab generation to be guided by hatred and brainwashed into martyrdom.

Palestinian society’s habitual glorification of terrorists is one of its most effective means of promoting terror. This is how the Palestinian authority entices future terrorists by offering them an opportunity for future glory and honor. Terror and murder are the Palestinian’s tickets to fame and national adoration

Those who are idolized are a veritable rogue’s gallery of sadistic and brutal killers. Those who have killed the greatest number are paid the greatest honor. Abd Al-Baset Udeh, killer of 30 at the Passover Seder massacre, had a soccer tournament for 14-year-olds named for him. His brother was honored with distributing the trophies. Dalal Mughrabi, terrorist bus hijacker who led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history in 1978, when she and other terrorists killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children, has had summer camps, schools, graduation ceremonies and sporting events named for her, as well as many TV documentaries honoring her.

We might imagine, based on America’s antipathy to criminal glorification with regard to Pollard – albeit only as a possibility – there would be strong denunciation of this continued ongoing practice among Palestinians, particularly coming from the supposed “moderate” camp of Prime Minister Abbas. Yet there is not a peep of protest, in the aftermath of the horrific stabbings and killings of innocent Israeli victims, when stabbers become saints and killers become poster models for martyrdom.

On Oct. 3, 2015, Palestinian terrorist Muhannad Halabi, 19, attacked Aharon Bennet, 21, and his family, who were on their way back from prayer at the Western Wall through the Old City of Jerusalem. The terrorist killed Aharon and Nechemia Lavi, who came to the family's aid, and injured Aharon's wife and 2-year-old son. The Palestinians honored “Martyr (Shahid)” Muhannad Halabi by naming a football tournament after him.

The PA Ministry of Education is now planting olive trees honoring the “Martyrs” who have taken part in brutally murdering and injuring Israelis throughout the country.

“This event is meant to illustrate the devotion of the ministry and its staff to honoring the Martyrs, among them school students, and to strengthen the sense of belonging to the land… [and] in order to highlight the permanent presence of the Martyrs and to honor their sacrifices,” PNN, an independent Palestinian news agency.

And the list goes on and on.

If the fear of glorifying criminals was strong enough to delay Pollard’s release for years and to prevent him now from going to Israel to avert a possible parade in his honor - a fear which is far from a certainty – why is it not reason enough to be applied to the Arab world which continues to do precisely that for its terrorists? Can we still maintain the absurd delusion that those who idolize terrorists want anything other than ongoing terrorism?

And can we – America and the civilized world – not demand that if Palestinians truly seek peace they cannot continue to hold up as saintly role models those who know only the ways of fanatic extremism and violence?

Tzipporah Unger gets killed in Monsey Accident

Tzipporah Unger seen in photo

Mrs. Tzipporah Unger tragically lost her life Wednesday night, after her car collided with a Monsey Trails Bus in the Town of Ramapo. 

The Ramapo Police Department in a statement said that Mrs. Tziporah (Holly) Unger A”H (57) was driving on Viola Road near Ramapo High School at around 7:15PM Tuesday evening, when she collided with the bus.

According to the police investigation, for reasons unknown her vehicle suddenly left her lane and struck the bus which was stopped at the time with no passengers in his lane going in the opposite direction.

Hatzolah Paramedics transported the woman to Westchester Medical Center, but unfortunately she was Niftar a few hour later due to serious injuries.

Police said they had not determined a cause of the accident, and the investigation is ongoing at this time.

Mrs. Tzipporah Unger A”H, is the wife of R’ Shmuel Unger.

According to a GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money for funeral expenses, the family had moved to Israel several years ago, but moved back to the Monsey area for financial reasons.  

The Levaya will take place today, Thursday, in Bais Medrash Tefila Lemoshe, 35 Brockton Road at 1:00 PM.

From tears to joy, bereaved couple marries

Sarah-Tehiya Litman had to postpone her wedding after her father and brother were murdered in a drive-by shooting near Hevron almost two weeks ago, 

but on Thursday night she and her fiance Ariel Beigel went from tears to joy as they got married in Jerusalem.

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The couple are to be married at Binyanei Hauma in the capital, at an event they invited the general public to attend at 10:30 p.m.

Aside from those attending, yet others are donating to help, and Jews have arrived from as far as the US and Canada to take part in the mitzvah (commandment) to bring joy to the bride and groom.

Litman's father, Rabbi Ya'akov Litman, and her brother Netanel Litman, were gunned down by an Arab terrorist as they made their way to a Shabbat Hatan – the Sabbath celebration for the groom before a wedding – at Beigel's home.

Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira is to manage the wedding ceremony, and the traditional sheva brachot - a set of seven blessings said at the marriage - will be said by the bride's two grandfathers, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau, Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, and former Hevron Chief Rabbi Dov Lior.

Ezra Klein the self hating Jew tells Goyim to cook Pork instead of Turkey on Thanksgiving!

Some Jews when they go off ...go so far off !

This Ezra Klein thinks that the goyim will love him if he licks their bottoms! 

Little does he know that Hitler threw all Jews in the ovens even the ones that ate pork!

He has a name like "Ezra Klein" and keeps bashing Jews whenever he gets a chance.... now the "oiber chuchem"  links his facebook page to a site that tells goyim that they can abandon their Thanksgiving traditions of eating turkey and fress chazir!

Ezra Klein the "tuchis lekker"

Here read a response from a reader on Face book

I happened upon this Facebook post and was taken aback that a Jewish man with two very Jewish names (Ezra & Klein) would publicly promote a food forbidden by Jewish law. This is not about what you may or may not eat in the privacy of your abode. It is rather about brazenly going on public record and promoting the food item most verboten out of any other.

You may perhaps posit that you don't believe in, or abide by the Jewish religion with all its minute tenets. But surely you're keenly aware that your name symbolizes far more than a sequence of letters - It embodies a rich, albeit bloodied history. A history that includes parents, grandparents, and generations of jews that endured torture, rape and starvation to avoid eating treif.
My own grandmother would not touch non-kosher food during her stay at the concentration camps in Germany - even though the religion absolutely allows, and even condones the consumption of non-kosher food should it be a matter of life and death.

I recall this poignant, relevant anecdote that occurred here in the United States whereupon Sandy Koufax, a non-religious Jewish man, would not play ball on Yom Kippur. He did play on Shabbat though for he was not in fact religious at all. But he did abstain from playing his most pivotal World Series game on one day of the year: Yom Kippur; for it was THE most sanctimonious day in the Jewish calendar.

We are proud when we read your articles; proud that we reside in a country where a talented Jew can triumph and publish insightful articles on any subject matter. But please understand that you are linked to your people, whether you choose to be or not. That is not a choice you can make.

I will end with a quote from our beloved slain journalist Daniel Pearl:

“My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.”

- Your brethren,
Mo & Charles

Mouthwatering image of Momofuku pork shoulderYummy Supper

There's a reason people basically don't eat turkey save on one day in November (and then a few more as they're desperately trying to rid their refrigerators of the disappointing leftovers).Turkey isn't a very tasty meat to begin with. It's leaner even than chicken — and fat is where most of the flavor resides. But the bigger problem is turkey is a terrible bird to roast whole.

TURKEY IS A TERRIBLE BIRD TO ROAST WHOLE

There's virtually no way to put an entire turkey in an oven and have the the dark meat cook to the point of safety without the white meat cooking beyond the point of edibility.Or, to be more precise, the problem with roasting a whole turkey is that the leg meat needs to get to 165° but the breast dries out over 150° (and note that USDA tells you to cook the breast to 165° which is, as Serious Eats says, "a guarantee you'll have dry, tough meat").

That's why we cover turkey in jellied, sugared cranberries and thick gravy at the same time in order to enjoy it. We're making up for its lack of fat and the fact that it is almost always badly overcooked.

You don't see people doing that with, say, pork shoulder.

I don't want to be too dogmatic on this. There are ways to make turkey delicious. But they tend to mean betraying Thanksgiving tradition and cutting the turkey into parts so that the different pieces can be cooked properly, as with Mark Bittman's braising method, or cutting out the backbone and flattening the turkey so the entire bird cooks at the same rate, as with spatchcocking. Or they take an enormous amount of work (one of my closest friends smokes his turkey and it's amazing — but it's also incredibly labor intensive, and you need a smoker).

THE BEST WAY TO COOK A TURKEY IS TO COOK A MOMOFUKU PORK SHOULDER INSTEAD

So if you're an adventurous cook and you want to prove yourself by making something delicious out one of the worst proteins around, then go nuts. But if you're a normal human being who already has too much to do on Thanksgiving, then the best way to cook a turkey is to cook a Momofuku pork shoulder instead.

State Department says Iran NEVER SIGNED nuclear deal and it's not 'legally binding' as it tells Congress to butt out of Obama's 'political commitments"

Here is the letter from the State Department saying that the Iran deal was never signed!

Yated "letters to the editor" answer anti-Zionist "letters to the editor"

Three weeks ago in the "letters to the editor" column of the English Yated,  a reader spewed hatred and venom against the State of Israel and its founders! 

Two week ago a reader refuted the anti-Zionist garbage the initial writer wrote. 

Last week the Yated chose to print a bunch of hateful letters backing the initial  writer who bad mouthed the Zionist founders of Israel!

Here, read this week's response from two different readers!

Letter #1

Dear Editor 
Two weeks ago, the Yated printed a letter to the editor purporting that Jews lived peacefully with the Arabs until the advent of Zionism, and that Zionists colluded with the Nazis to kill Jews during the Holocaust. I found this letter's message horrifying.

In my naivete, I sent a letter, which your paper titled "Indoctrination." My goal was to try to refute the hate-filled canards of the first author. I tried to show that, historically, the Arabs always oppressed the Jews. I also hoped that anti-Zionist readers might be encouraged to examine their anti-Zionist beliefs with which they may have been indoctrinated from early childhood. The unfortunate result of these beliefs is mindless hatred, sinas chinam, of wonderful Jews, and hatred of Israel.

I was horrified to open the paper this past week and find that you gave a public forum to more letters filled with hatred that would gladden the heart of any anti-Semite.

These letters disillusioned me totally of my naive belief that underneath, all Torah Jews love on another. I always suspected that many streams of Jews were indoctrinating and infecting their children with hatred against other Jews. These letters brought the "machalah" the cancer of deep hatred, out into the open in great detail. These horrific letters shattered any illusions that this illness was not so profound and pervasive as it seems to be.

The entire Jewish nation is now under siege. Jews from every stream of Jewish life are being brutally murdered in Eretz Yisroel daily. The entire world is boycotting us economically, and anti-Semitism is rampant and spreading.

Eis tzzarah hee l'Yaakov

We are fortunate to have Gedolim, Ashkenazic and Sefardic, Yeshivish, Chareidie, Chassidish and Zionist. 
Gedoilim are teaching Am Yisroel to collectively work on the middah of achdus, and ahavas yisroel.

From past experiences with anti-Zionist and anti-Israel articles in the press, I am certain that if you showed Rav Chaim Kanievsky, or Rav Ahron Leib Shteinman the letters you published this week, they would pasken not to publish such letters, because they only result of reading them is to stir up hatred against
Jews.

Especially during the great eis tzarah in which we find ourselves today, the way to awaken Hashem's rachamim towards Am Yisroel is to show Him that we love and care for one another.

My father z"l was a survivor of Warsaw. He used to tell me how some Jews went to the boxcars still arguing with each other about socialism, Zionism and whatever beliefs they had. The enemy did not care who they were. They were all slated for annihilation.
Yidden, isn't it time to learn something?
A Reader
Yerushalyim

Letter #2

Dear Editor,
Your 8 Kislev/November 20 Readers Write column contained two lengthy letters severely castigating the approach of certain Zionist leaders during World War II, including the following representative statement:
"It is actually well-documented that the Zionist leaders were at best indifferent and at worst actively helped move along the destruction of European Jewry."

Regardless of whether or not the extreme allegations of these writers are entirely true, partially true, or misleading, the very expression of these statements in your paper is incredibly distressing.

The Gemarrah Kesubos 112a clearly indicates that Eretz Yisroel is so suffused with kedusha that it is considered motzei sheim ra to say something critical even about the inanimate objects of Eretz Yisroel (the condition of the roads, in the Gemarrah's example).
I would think that this principle would be so much truer in the case of slander of the people of Eretz Yisroel. What to'eles could there possibly be that would justify in any way the scurrilous statements made by these two letter writers?

At a time when it seems that the entire world is against us and our brethren are being brutally murdered on almost a daily basis, are these letters the method by which those readers hope to gain the sympathy and rachamin of Hakodosh Borch Hu?

It also seems a bit incredible that one of those letter writers admits to having spent several hours gathering facts for his letter and encourages others to do the same in order to verify his allegations.

Does this letter writer believe that those few hours, with no apparent purpose other than digging up dirt, were well-spent, when he could have used that time to be engaged in Torah learning, performing chessed, or davening heartfelt tefillos on behalf of our besieged brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel?

Could these letter writers conceivably be motivated by a bizarre belief that the current prime minister of Israel and his cabinet are willing to callously sacrifice Jewish lives in order to promote their political agenda?
If not, then why dredge up, almost gleefully it seems from the tone of the letters, what allegedly happened over 70 years ago?

As we all know, in an extreme manifestation of the severe and lasting damage lashan hara about Eretz Yisroel can cause, the slanderous statements of the meraglim managed to turn an ordinary day into Tisha B'Av for the ages. At a time when our main task should be to turn Tisha B'Av on its head into a day of geula, is it really productive to spend one's time and energy digging up old dirt and publicizing it?

Let us hope that future letters will reflect the achdus we so desperately need that such letters will lead us in a constructive direction, rather than fostering resentment and divisiveness for no conceivable good reason.
Respectfully
Thomas Furst
Great Neck, NY

IAF hit advanced Russian missiles outside Damascus

IAF F-16

Flash 90

A day after Syrian media reported that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck a base belonging to the Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah, a Saudi news site gave new details on Wednesday.

The site Elaph, as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, quoted a security source in Tel Aviv revealing that the IAF struck Hezbollah sites on Monday night at the feet of Mount Qasioun, which overlooks Damascus in Syria.

That version of events contradicts earlier reports, according to which the target was a base or group of military posts in the mountainous Qalamoun border region with Lebanon.

The Saudi site quoted the source as saying that Israel estimates Hezbollah is storing advanced Russian anti-tank missiles that are capable of piercing the defense of the Merkava Mark IV, Israel's most advanced tank.

According to the report, the Israeli airstrike consisted of seven missiles which hit a site adjacent to the elite Fourth Armored Division of the Syrian army.

That brigade includes special forces loyal to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, is lead by his brother Maher al-Assad, and is said to consist mostly of members of Assad's Alawite sect, which is a branch of Shia Islam.

Reports in Syria on Tuesday had indicated that as many as 13 pro-regime fighters were killed in four strikes, including many Hezbollah terrorists who are fighting to prop up Assad.

The new report indicating Israel struck outside Damascus comes following Arab media reports two weeks ago, which stated that the IAF struck near Damascus International Airport, in a bombing apparently targeting a weapons transfer to Hezbollah.

Earlier in the month it was reported that the IAF struck an advanced missile transfer including long-range Scud missiles as they made their way through Qalamoun en route to Hezbollah.

If true, the report would mark the second time Israel blocked a Scud missile shipment to Hezbollah, after having reportedly done so last April as a shipment was leaving Damascus.

Daily Miracles in Israel! "My tzitzit saved my life" & "I was saved from gunfire"

Yair Ben-Ezra, who was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in Ra'anana last month, sent a moving thank you letter to Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, in which he asserted his tzitzit (ritual fringes) had saved his life.

"My name is Yair Ben-Ezra," he wrote to the president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which has raised thousands of dollarsto help Israeli victims of terror.

 "On October 13, 2015, I was attacked and stabbed five times all over my body by a terrorist from eastern Jerusalem who came at me while I was waiting at the bus stop."

Ben-Ezra recounted how on the morning of the attack, he had debated about wearing the new pair of tzitzit he had purchased for his sister's wedding, to be held the next day.

"The morning of the attack, all of my tzitzit were hanging on the clothesline to dry, and I had only the new pair, folded in the closet, waiting for me. But then my yetzer harah (evil inclination) came and said to me: 'Nothing will happen - don't wear them today, save them for tomorrow and the wedding.'"

Ben-Ezra said his misgivings nearly prevented him from wearing the new tzitzit, until he gave in to wearing the garment. "I told myself, no! (...) I cannot let my yetzer harah dominate me. [The tzitzit] are my personal protector."

"In the minutes after I was stabbed as I waited for the paramedics," Ben-Ezra recounted, "the tzitzit that enveloped me were used by Hatzalah medics as a tourniquet for my stab wounds."

Despite his serious injuries, the brave Ben-Ezra struggled with the terrorist, preventing him from attacking additional civilians. 

Ben-Ezra concluded the letter by thanking Rabbi Eckstein: "I am moved to tears from the financial aid you have given me, which has helped me and my family in these difficult times. Thank you for your life's work and the activities of the fellowship you run."

Chani Apiryon, a mother of five and resident of Kida in the Binyamin region of Samaria, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Wednesday about her miraculous escape from death Tuesday, when an Arab terrorist fired on her car.

Apiryon was driving from Beit El to her home, and while riding on the Beit El-Givat Assaf road she was ambushed by an Arab terrorist who opened fire at her from the side of the road.

"At a quarter to six I returned from work and I spoke with a friend on my phone's hands-free device," Apiryon recalled, reenacting the harrowing moments for Arutz Sheva.

"Suddenly I saw a young guy with a kheffiyeh (Arab headscarf, ed.) coming up on the road, before Hazevel Route, and then I realized he had a weapon in hand."

Apiryon said, "I shouted on the phone that they're shooting at me, and then he really started to shoot. I continued driving and he continued shooting."

"I looked back because there was someone driving behind me, but I didn't see her. My friend from Kida contacted the (police) hotline in the meantime, and I signaled to other cars coming from the other direction to be careful. When I reached Givat Assaf Junction, I told the soldiers that I was shot at."

The mother found that a number of the bullets had struck her car but miraculously did not hit her.

"There is damage to the front and back doors, the bullets hit the back seat and a bullet was under my seat."

This coming Shabbat, Apiryon said she intends to hold a party at Kida thanking God for her miraculous escape from death, saying, "thank God for making a miracle for me, for making a miracle for my people and my family."

"I will say the 'Gomel' blessing and hold a party of thanksgiving," she said. "It truly is a great miracle."

Terror coming to Monroe? Aron Weiss Shot at a Store near Monroe, NY

Aron Weiss 

Aron Weiss 18 was reportedly shot twice this Tuesday evening near the Quick Shop Kosher in the town of Woodbury, near Monroe, New York.

It has been reported that the victim is a student at the Satmar Yeshiva in the nearby town of Kiryas Joel, Monroe. People are asked to Daven for Aron Ben Esther Chai L’Refuah Shlaimah.

The suspect walked into the Quick-Shop Kosher store on River Road and shot the victim twice before fleeing the scene. Hatzolah responded and transported the victim to Westchester Medical Center in stable condition.

It appears the injuries are not life-threatening. Police are currently investigating the incident. Reports have described the suspect as a white male with a goatee beard. He was reported to be wearing a backpack and a black sweatshirt.