Pediatrician Against Fathers Leaving Families to Travel to Uman For Rosh Hashana

The following letter was posted to Facebook by a pediatrician, Dr. Staurt Ditchek

“Hey Dad, Please Stay Home With Us For Rosh Hashana”

At the risk of alienating many people who I am close with and a few who are patient families in my practice, I write this op-ed at great peril. However, certain things must be said when an issue runs the risk of negatively affecting families.

As we approach Rosh Hashana many fathers in our communities are picking up and flying to Uman under the claim that they need to be there to pray for their families well- being throughout the year. We have all heard the arguments pro and con of why this annual trip to Uman is justified or not. My perspective is that of a pediatrician. Children who are privileged to have a living father and wives who are fortunate enough to have a living spouse, should not lose those benefits at such a critical time of the year. The argument that Yom Tov prayers can only be heard properly in Uman is frankly contrary to all Jewish thought and practice. The argument that a father is not needed in the home over Rosh Hashana is a bizarre and empty argument for obvious reasons. The argument that their spouses all support their missions without concern for the pressures of spending Yom Tov as a single parent is disingenuine.

You, as a father belong at home with your children, to guide them to love them and to cherish them. It is NOT a Jewish concept to disappear on Rosh Hashana. I have heard all of the excuses, sometimes reinforced by the wives of these dedicated travelers. (Sic) davening at the rebbes kever is a guarantee that our family will be successful, the davening has so much more meaning in Uman, 30,000 Jews can’t be wrong, my wife supports me going, my kids will be with their grandparents to make up for me not being there, my kids don’t need their father at their side to daven on Rosh Hashana, I go for my family’s benefit, there is no drinking in Uman, there is no drug use in Uman, there is no inappropriate behavior in Uman and on and on.

As far as the wives are concerned, you control much of the decision process. Your husband belongs at home on Rosh Hashana with you and your kids. There is no excuse. Furthermore, allowing your husband to take your boys to Uman especially at young ages is a very bad idea. The behavior of some in Uman can have a very negative effect on young minds. While many do go for inspiration and achdus, both important concepts in prayer, many are there for the party, drinking and lack of responsibility to their families. Inspiration and achdus can happen at home and should.

It’s not personal, it’s parenting….

Chareidi Soldiers Sing & Dance At The Kosel

Don’t believe NY Times about anonymous White House snitch

I smell a rat, as would anyone who’s spent years in one newsroom or another, where every reporter has a half-finished novel hidden in the bottom drawer.
This feels like fiction, the preposterous notion that an unnamed White House official has spilled the beans on Trump “to thwart the president’s misguided impulses.”

He’s been published “anonymously” and, we are told, is part of a resistance movement within the White House to surreptitiously stop the president from ruining the country.

That’s the gist of the op-ed topping The New York Times Wednesday edition…a story swiftly picked up in bold print everywhere else and taken to be true…true that this tattling columnist is really a White House official. 

In fact…amazing… that I’ve heard no one else wonder about another possibility; that this snitch came from outside the White House.

He was someone from inside The New York Times itself, a staffer…which is my guess. Can the Times prove otherwise?
If so. Hello? I’m here.
Unleash, unbind that imposter, and for once tell the truth.
I cannot be the only writer who sees through this stunt. We’re talking about the Times, fake news central.

Even Fox News, while properly ripping the Times, believes the “White House Official” gambit. So does everyone.
Or with so much garbage-for-news being sloshed our way, from everywhere, perhaps it is understandable that we have become entirely cynical, or gullible to a fault.

I know news. I know newsrooms. I’ve written two thrillers on the subject and you are welcome to open your eyes here and here. I know the business.
I know a slow day in the newsroom until someone says, “Hey, I’ve got an idea.”
The only question is – who got the assignment? I can think of 10 columnists over there who would love to use their untested novelistic skills for such a plumb.
Keep the novel in the drawer, but try your hand at fiction passing as fact, Charlie.

We all know the Times, which will say anything to destroy Trump. Anything and everything – and this doozy is being presented as Sui Generis, the final word, the ultimate expose’.
Beat that, says the Times.
Strangely, no byline. I cannot say that this is a first. But I cannot remember any story, anywhere, a story intended to be so damaging, running as Anonymous.

I do not know what we call it today. They used to call it Yellow Journalism.
That’s how smut tabloids still operate, but I doubt that even the National Enquirer would run such a hoax.

I’m calling it a hoax because the tag-team effect is plain obvious, from last week’s anti-Trump “bombshells” being dropped through Bob Woodward’s book on Trump, which delighted CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS, until it got old. You can stretch a story only so far. Even for Liberals there’s a limit to Trump bashing. Got to be.
I take that back.
No, it’s never enough…and when one story gets old…here comes another one…even juicier.
What’s for next week? They’ll think of something. On that you can trust The New York Times.

New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva.
He is the author of the international book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal” and most recently the noir novel “Slot Attendant,” plus the two inside journalism thrillers “The Bathsheba Deadline” and “News Anchor Sweetheart, Hollywood Edition.” Engelhard is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

Mossad op to retrieve Iran's nuclear files took a surprising turn

The Mossad agents who appropriated Iran’s nuclear secrets from a warehouse in Tehran in January knew they would be taking a large number of folders, but did not realize there would be a large volume of disks, Yediot Ahronot’s Ronen Bergman reported on Wednesday.

Cohen’s ad hoc call mid-operation ended up having important repercussions as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to break with precedent and publicly present the intelligence materials in a major press conference on April 30.

Many say that Netanyahu’s presentation moved US President Donald Trump the final mile toward deciding to exit the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Further, the report said that information contained on the disks proved a variety of additional points about Iran’s nuclear activities to a much greater degree than what was merely contained in the files.

According to his report, the Mossad agents involved were so surprised that they checked in with Mossad chief Yossi Cohen who was observing the mission from Israel.
Cohen quickly gave the order to take as many of the disks as they could get as well.

The report said that earlier on in preparing the operation there had even been a debate about whether to merely take photos of the files or to physically bring the files themselves – a more complex operation.

At all stages, including mid-operation, Cohen pressed for bringing back as much physical original evidence as possible in order to deflate any objections from Iran that the evidence was doctored.
 

Cuomo dodges questions about endorsement deal with Satmar Rebbe

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday did not refute reports that he assured a prominent rabbi he would keep his hands off yeshivas in exchange for an endorsement — instead pointing to his lack of control over the state Education Department.

The department is currently reviewing a long-delayed city Department of Education probe of whether 30 yeshivas have been meeting minimum requirements for secular education, a 3-year effort in which officials were blocked from visiting half the schools.

Asked about reports  that he had essentially told Satmar Rebbe Zalman Tietelbaum not to worry about the matter last week, Cuomo wouldn’t address the question head on.

“The State Education Department will enforce the law, but it’s not the governor’s responsibility. I have no control of the state Education Department,” he told reporters following a press conference at the Tappan Zee Bridge, which has been renamed for the governor’s father, Mario Cuomo.

City officials punted their probe to the state because the state Education Department has ultimate oversight over what’s taught in non-public schools.
Advocates had complained in 2015 that many yeshivas were violating the state requirement that they provide a secular education equivalent to what students get in public schools.
The advocates accused Mayor Bill de Blasio of purposely dragging out the probe to appease the Hasidic Jewish community, which is a powerful political voting block.

Roseanne Barr coming to Israel

Fresh off a racism controversy that got her fired from her award-winning television show, comedian Roseanne Barr says that she will travel to Israel in order to study with a Rabbi.
'I have an opportunity to go to Israel for a few months and study with my favorite teachers over there, and that's where I'm going to go and probably move somewhere there and study with my favorite teachers,' Roseanne, 65, said on a recent podcast with celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

"I have saved a few pennies and I'm so lucky I can go ... and study with any rabbi that I can ask to teach me, and it's my great joy and privilege to be a Jewish woman."

ABC canceled her show in June over a tweet mocking Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama and an African-American. The tweet said the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

The reboot of Barr’s immensely popular late 20th-century sitcom had drawn high ratings.
Barr later deleted the tweet about Jarrett, which drew widespread criticism, and issued an apology, saying she had made “a bad joke about her politics and her looks.”

Barr, who is Jewish, and Boteach, a rabbi to several stars, have been friends for 20 years. She has not given any in-depth interviews on the tweets and her firing.

Barr has been an increasingly vocal supporter of Israel, saying in April that she hopes to one day make aliyah and maybe even run for prime minister of Israel. “I want to move to Israel and run for prime minister. I do have that fantasy. If God calls me, I’ll go,” she said at the Jerusalem Postconference.

“I want to make aliyah, I do…I still have this fantasy of being an old Jewish lady living in the Jewish homeland... I want to buy a farm there and maybe bring my family,” added Barr.

Barr has consistently lambasted BDS in recent years. Speaking at a conference in 2016, she said, “BDS is right-wing and fascist….BDS [members] do not want peace, nor do they want peace negotiations.”

More recently she blasted 21-year-old New Zealand pop star Lorde after she decided to cancel a show in Israel.
“Boycott this bigot: Lorde caves to BDS pressure, cancels Israel concert,” Barr said at the time.

89% of Israelis satisfied with their lives

Some 8,907,000 residents live in Israel, of which 74.4% are Jews, 20.9% are Arab, and 4.9% are other minorities, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics published today, Tuesday, ahead of Rosh Hashanah 5769.

The average life expectancy in Israel continues to rise: the average for men is 80.7 years and remains the same as last year, but the average age of women has risen to 84.6 compared with 84.2 last year.

89% are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives in Israel, while 6% - about 340,000 people - often feel lonely. 37% of Israelis, who constitute 2 million people, are not satisfied with their financial situation and 31% have difficulty covering their monthly expenses.

In the past year, 52,809 couples married and established a home in Israel, while 14,819 came to the rabbinate to divorce.

The average number of persons in the Israeli household as of the past year is 3.32, while Israel has about 2,057,000 nuclear families.

Regarding the level of religiosity, 44.3% define themselves as not religious or secular, 21.4% define themselves as traditional, not so religious, 12.3% define themselves as traditional-religious, 11.5% define themselves as religious, and 10.2% haredim.

As of 2017, 175,000 teaching staff members are employed in the education system, compared with 170,000 in 2016. The rate of recruitment of new teaching staff is on the rise: from an average of 7,500 between 2008-2010 to 11,700 on average in 2017-2018. In 2015, 6,471 teaching staff members left the education system, compared to 5,059 in 2008.

The average gross monthly wage is NIS 10,109 for Israeli workers and 5,928 for foreign workers, and the average weekly hours are 36.2 hours. The largest sector for employed persons is the education system, with 471,000 workers, followed by 431,000 workers in wholesale and retail fields and vehicle repairs and 690,000 sales and service workers.

Ponivitz One Week Before Rosh Hashana .....

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Potato Knish Lekoveid Yom Tov

Ingredients (18)

Dough I

3 cups flour

4 ounces margarine 

1 teaspoon salt

1 medium potato, cooked, peeled and mashed

1 cup lukewarm water

 Matzo Meal, for sprinkling

Dough II

4 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces margarine

1 cup lukewarm water

2 teaspoons  Baking Powder

3 egg yolks

Filling

3 large onions, diced and sautéed

8 large potatoes, cooked, peeled and mashed

3 eggs

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Prepare the Dough

Combine ingredients for desired dough and knead until smooth.

Divide into three parts.

Using well floured surface, roll out each part.

For Dough I, sprinkle lightly with matzo meal.

Cut each part into two- by three-inch rectangles.

Prepare the Knish

To prepare potato filling, combine all ingredients, mixing well.

Place one tablespoon of the filling onto each piece of dough. Roll up.

Brush with beaten egg. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until golden brown.