Bein Kese L'Asor - Reflections

Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

Two Destructions and Two Redemptions: 
“You are standing this day all of you before the Lord your God, your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even every person of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 29:9)

Rashi quotes the Midrash Tanĥuma, explaining the connection between the multitude of grim warnings (tokhaha) unloosed in the prior portion of Ki Tavo, and this week’s opening words: 
You are standing. Our sages teach: since the Israelites heard one hundred curses minus two, in addition to the forty-nine in the book of Leviticus (chapter 26), their faces turned green and they didn’t understand how they would be able to stand up to so many chastisements (curses). Moses thus began to comfort them: “You are standing here today. You have greatly angered the Almighty [after all, you constantly complained in the desert, you worshiped the Golden Calf, you refused to conquer Israel] but nevertheless you have not been destroyed and behold you are standing here today.” In effect, therefore, our opening has to be taken as a divine statement of consolation: You may well suffer, but you will never be destroyed!

Yeshivishe Pervert Looking to Shake A Lulav Before Sukkot

A worker at a Brooklyn yeshiva was groped by a man who is now wanted by the police for forcible touching.

This incident took place just before 10 a.m. on September 2nd, at the Talmud Torah Tiferes Bunim yeshiva in Borough Park. According to a statement distributed by the NYPD yesterday, an "unidentified male approached" a 47-year-old man and "groped his private parts before fleeing on foot."

The Daily News reports the suspect said, "Show me your d---," before grabbing the man. The victim was not injured.

The suspect was described as being about 60 years old, 6' and 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark hat and all dark clothing. Police released images and surveillance footage of him:

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Rabbi: Anorexics must eat on Yom Kippur

Anorexia patients must eat on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), even if they are in advanced stages of treatment, Schneider Hospital's Rabbi Dr. Tomer Mevorach said.

In an article published by the Zomet Institute, Dr. Mevorach explained that anorexia is actually a psychological disorder which reduces food intake, influences body weight, and is characterized by a fear of gaining weight and an obsession with body weight.

Anorexia typically influences teenage girls. It can be difficult to treat, and if left untreated can be fatal.

Frum Teen Wns ‘Chopped’ Championship

Jewish teen from Staten Island becomes first kosher champion in 'Chopped' history, wins $10,000.

Rachel Goldzal, 13, of Staten Island, won the episode that aired on September 4, beating two 12-year-olds and a 10-year-old. She was 12 when she filmed the Food Network cooking reality show in the spring.

Goldzal is the first kosher champion in the show’s history, which includes more than 450 episodes. Her win earned her a check for $10,000. There have been other kosher-keeping contestants in the past.

Goldzal is in the eighth grade at the Jewish Foundation School of Staten Island.

The pre-teen chefs were required to create an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert in three 30-minute rounds and to include four random, pre-selected ingredients per course.

Producers worked with Goldzal and her parents to make sure that all the ingredients were kosher and gave her new pots, pans and utensils to use. They also made sure that she would not have to mix meat and dairy products.

She was very open with the judges about being an Orthodox Jew and about keeping kosher. She told them that between Shabbat (the Sabbath) and all the holidays on the Jewish calendar she cooks “all the time.”

She said she learned how to cook by watching her grandmother and mother. She also was enrolled in the culinary program at her summer camp, Camp Nesher in Pennsylvania. She worked with a private chef ahead of the competition as well.

The teen said that she wants one day to work as a private chef in a kosher kitchen, as opposed to opening a restaurant like many competition winners.

She has her own website, and over one thousand followers on Instagram.

US Investigating Rutgers anti-Semitism that Obama Ignored and Refused

What happens when the US government takes cases of anti-Semitic discrimination seriously?

You would think that even President Trump’s critics would be cheering the announcement that the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will look into evidence about anti-Jewish activity at Rutgers University. The charges stem from a series of incidents dating back to 2011, in which groups dedicated to demonizing Israel and Jews engaged in threats and discriminatory conduct without the university lifting a finger to stop it or hold those responsible accountable.

But the reaction speaks volumes about the way partisan loyalties and hostility to Israel have altered the discussion about anti-Semitism. Instead of applauding, critics are accusing the administration of trying to suppress free speech. Worse, The New York Times coverage not only mischaracterized the issues at stake but was also a thinly veiled hit piece on Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Kenneth Marcus.

According to the Times, the Department of Education is seeking to inject the federal government into disputes about Israel because Marcus is “a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights.” The result would, they say, chill free speech about the Middle East. Israel’s foes see the investigation as in line with other Trump policies, such as moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cutting off US aid to Palestinian institutions that support terrorism and oppose peace.

Fraudster Disappears With NIS 15,000 Paid For Har Menuchos Levaya

A family was preparing to bury a 30-year-old son on motzei Rosh Hashanah after he was niftar in Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem.

The family explains that a religious-looking man approached them and offered to handle all the burial matter, asking NIS 15,000 for his services. They claim to have paid the man NIS 15,000 in cash, and the levaya was set for motzei Yomtov at 10:30PM.

The family and hundreds of friends waited innocently for the chevra kadisha vehicle to arrive with the body of the niftar. After about a half hour, they checked with Hadassah Ein Kerem, learning no one had come to deal with the body, which remained in the hospital morgue, awaiting the chevra kadisha.

They phoned the man who arranged the levaya, but the phone number was not working. They then realized they handed NIS 15,000 to a con artist. The friends returned home as clearly, the levaya was not going to take place soon.

Late at night, members of Chevra Kadisha Yerushalayim organized the levaya, which took place at 2:00AM. An announcement was also made for persons to come for kovod hameis due to the situation and the late hour. It included the fact the niftar volunteered at MDA for many years, working to save lives, asking people to come and pay respect to him at his kvura. Dozens of persons arrived for the levaya.

The family has filed a complaint with police.

Avraham Getz of Boro Park Dies in Uman

Over the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, United Hatzalah volunteers treated some 2,700 injured people in and around the city of Uman, Ukraine. One of the people treated, whom first responders attempted to revive via lengthy resuscitative efforts, passed away. The Niftar is R’ Avrohom Getz Z”L from Boro Park (23).

He was suffering from an advanced illness and fulfilled his dying wish to be near the grave of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

He leaves behind a wife and two children.

United Hatzalah, who provided medical response to anyone in need in and around the city over the holiday, including taking over the operation of the local medical clinic, issued a statement saying that they treated over 2,700 people, of whom, many were evacuated to hospitals in Kiev over the New Year.

Yisrael Stark, the head of the United Hatzalah branch in Uman, said that: “United  Hatzalah will continue to provide medical support in Uman through Yom Kippur. Hundreds of our volunteers helped strengthen the life-saving unit of United Hatzalah’s full-time Uman branch in order to help care for the tens of thousands of Jews who come to Uman for the holiday, in honor of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov,” he said.

Happy New Year!

@Flatbushgirl Says "long Sheitels has no connection to spirituality"

Esther Adina Sash has received hateful online messages about her long wig, which some in her Orthodox community view as immodest.

“People always say the longer it is, the sluttier it is,” said Esther Adina Sash, a 30-year-old mother of two from Flatbush.

Specifically, she’s referring to the sheitels, or wigs, that she and other married Orthodox women wear as mandated by Jewish law, so as to not entice men who aren’t their husbands. Now a heated debate is brewing over hair that some in the community view as being too sexy.

Traditionally, sheitels reflect what is considered modest: shoulder-length or shorter — almost Jackie Kennedy-esque — and synthetic, which is seen as more humble than wearing human hair. (Prices can range from a few hundred dollars to as much as $5,000 for a 28-inch, waist-grazing wig of European hair.)

On her Instagram account (@flatbushgirl), which has some 38,000 followers, Sash regularly posts photos of herself in wigs that cascade and curl down her back, prompting hateful comments. “Go drown yourself in a lake — you’re negatively influencing young girls,” she recalled one reading.

She’s been criticized by rabbis, including one who challenged her to cut her wig as a good example to others — and to receive an “astronomical” spiritual reward.

She didn’t take the bait.

“I was laughing that he would think hair length has a connection to spirituality,” said Sash, who crusades for women’s issues in the Jewish community and is running for district leader in the 45th Assembly District. Although, she admitted, “The wig is a very charged item.”

Air hand dryers should be 'banned' say scientists as study finds they spread five times more germs than using a paper towel

Air hand dryers should be banned from hospital toilets because they blow bacteria around the room, scientists say.

Using paper towels significantly reduces the risk of germs being spread between sick patients, warn University of Leeds researchers.

They found high levels of dangerous bacteria that cause blood poisoning, pneumonia and gastroenteritis when dryers were used.

Writing in the Journal of Hospital Infection, they called for the dryers – which can leave up to five times as much bacteria on the floor as paper towels – to be taken out of hospitals.