Cannabis inflicts long-term damage on teenage brains: Those who use the drug as teens struggle with reasoning, memory, and inhibitions in later life

Teenagers who use cannabis are inflicting long-term damage on their brains, a new study has warned.

Researchers tracked nearly 4,000 teenagers over fours years and found clear evidence of marijuana use being linked to struggles with reasoning, memory and inhibitions later in life.

Previous studies have shown that cannabis misuse has been linked to impairments in learning, attention, and decision-making, as well as lower academic performance. 

But the team, led by the University of Montreal in Canada, says its findings are the first to show the causal and lasting effects of teen pot use on cognitive development. 

For the study, the team followed more than 3,800 Canadian adolescents between seventh and 10th grade for a period of four years.

Once a year, the participants rated how much they used cannabis on a zero to five scale - zero meaning 'never' and five being 'every day'.

For alcohol specifically, the teens were asked to provide the typical number of drinks they have in a day.

Researchers also looked at year-over-year changes in four cognitive areas: recall memory, working memory, perceptual reasoning and inhibitions.

Tasks included being able to find a phone among a group of images, learning a pattern and being able to reproduce it 30 minutes later, and completing a sequence of puzzles with increasing difficulty.

Christine Ford's Boyfriend says that She is a Liar!

An ex-boyfriend of Christine Blasey Ford reportedly wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee contradicting her testimony last Thursday on polygraphs — prompting Sen. Chuck Grassley to raise doubts about her truthfulness.

The man, who says he dated Ford from 1992 to 1998, wrote in the letter — obtained by Fox News — that he once saw Ford help ease the nerves of a friend preparing to take a polygraph by ­“explaining in detail what to ­expect” and how they work.

During last Thursday’s hearing, Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell asked Ford if she had ever talked with anyone other than her lawyers about “how to take a polygraph.” Ford said “Never.”

The man, whose name was not released, also said that during his relationship with Ford she never mentioned Brett Kavanaugh or her experience as a victim of sexual assault.

In a letter late Tuesday, Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Ford’s lawyers for the polygraph results, saying the ex’s claim “raises specific concerns about the reliability of [Ford’s] polygraph-examination results.”

Beit Shemesh Mayoral Race Neck & Neck Between Chareidi & Dati Leumi Candidates

The polls show the mayoral race in Beit Shemesh, between the incumbent from the chareidi community, Mayor Moshe Abutbul, and the dati leumi challenger, Dr. Aliza Bloch, is neck and neck, Yediot Achronot reports on Tuesday, 23 Tishrei.

Last week, the candidates had to submit their lists ahead of the deadline and clearly, Aliza Bloch poses a threat to Abutbul, armed with support of both the Likud and Bayit Yehudi parties. Bloch is the Bayit Yehudi’s candidate and enjoys the backing of Likud too while Abutbul appears on the Degel Hatorah list, backed by the chareidi tzibur.

Abutbul is now looking at the Shlomei Emunim faction of Agudas Yisrael, realizing it may decide to take revenge against Degel Hatorah and Shas as they did not back its candidate in the Jerusalem mayoral race, Yossi Deutsch. If Shlomei Emunim wants to use the Beit Shemesh race to take revenge, it might back the Peleg Yerushalmi candidate, Rav Malachi Kitov, 34, instead of Abutbul. Such a reality could result in Bloch becoming the city’s next mayor.

Yediot reports there are 109,800 residents in Beit Shemesh, of which 64,163 are registered voters. This represents a 22.3% increase in population since 2012.

Hopefully Dr Aliza Bloch Wins and Cleans Up the mess the Chareiidim in Bet Shemesh Bet,  have created.

Beit Shemesh Woman Struck And Killed By Vehicle

A woman was hit by a passing vehicle on Ben Ze’ev Boulevard in Beit Shemesh on Tuesday evening. Emergency medical teams from United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom attempted to treat the woman for her injuries but they were too severe and paramedics in the field were forced to pronounce her death.

United Hatzalah EMT Yechiel Rosenberg said: “Together with the ambulance teams, we performed CPR on the woman at the scene of the accident in an attempt to revive her. The elderly woman suffered from a multi-system trauma due to being hit by the vehicle. Unfortunately, following a lengthy resuscitation effort, paramedics in the field were forced to pronounce her death due to the intensity of her injuries.”

Police have taken the driver of the car into custody and traffic investigators have opened an investigation into the cause of the fatal accident.

Eliyahu Moscowitz Murdered by Black Guy on Yom Tov In Chicago

Two men killed in a pair of brazen Rogers Park shootings over a 36-hour period were shot in the head at close range with bullets that came from the same gun — and likely the same shooter, police said Tuesday.

Calling for help from the public, Chicago police released a surveillance image of a person in a mask wanted for questioning in the two murders — one of a 73-year-old man walking his dogs on Sunday morning, the other of a 24-year-old man of the Orthodox Jewish faith found dead on the lakefront path Monday.

“This person is clearly trying to disguise themselves,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said at a Tuesday press conference at the 24th District police station. “Clearly he or she knows what they are going out to do.”

Chicago Police

✔@Chicago_Police

 · 13h

Comminty Alert: @Chicago_Police are looking to identify this subject in relation to a Homicide that occurred on September 30, 2018. The victim was walking his dog on the 1400 block of West Sherwin when the offender approached and fatally shot the victim. pic.twitter.com/24DRmHdvT3

Chicago Police

✔@Chicago_Police

After shooting the victim, the offender fled westbound on Sherwin Ave and then southbound in the west alley. The offender is described by witnesses as a male black, thin build, wearing dark clothing.

Detectives : (312) 744-8200
Anonymous tips : http://CPDTip.com  pic.twitter.com/8olRpa2VSd

5:11 PM - Oct 2, 2018 · Rogers Park, Chicago

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Tzadeikas?????????????? Identity of perfectly preserved black female found buried in an iron coffin in NYC is revealed to be 26-year-old who died from smallpox in 1851 and was laid to rest in church founded by first generation of free African-Americans

The secret identity of 150-year-old female body found buried in an iron coffin in an abandoned lot in New York City has finally been revealed. 

Construction workers in 2011 had been shocked when they discovered the human remains buried under an an abandoned lot in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York.

The body, wearing a white gown and knee-high socks, was in such good condition they called 911, worried it could be a recent homicide case.

Brave Israeli Takes Down Palestinian Flag in Meah Shearim

Hoshanas with the Ethiopians

הושענות אצל האתיופים

Chol Hamoed Sukkot in Israel & outside of Israel ...

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

What is the true symbolism of the succa? 

The Talmud (B.T. Succa 11b) cites a difference of opinion between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer as to whether the succa commemorates the actual huts in which the Israelites dwelt in the desert, or the “clouds of glory” which encompassed us as a sign of Divine protection.

Leviticus chapter 23 catalogs all the holy days of the Hebrew calendar, beginning with the Sabbath and concluding with Succot. The 33rd verse begins a description of Succot:

“The 15th day of the seventh month shall be the festival of Succot (Booths), seven days for the Lord; the first day shall be a holy convocation, when you may not perform creative work…”

The text goes on to mention the festival of the Eighth Day of Assembly (Shmini  Atzeret), and then seemingly concludes the entire calendar sequence with the words: “These are the special appointed times of the Lord” (23:37).

But just as we thought the description of the festivals was complete, the narrative inexplicably reverts to the festival of Succot. This time, however, the Bible stresses the connection to the Land of Israel, and the agricultural cycle:

“But on the 15th day of the seventh month, when you harvest the grain of the land, you shall celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days, with the first day being a day of rest and the eighth day being a day of rest” (23:39).

Another curious feature of this second account is that having repeated the command to observe Succot in the context of the farmers’ request, the Bible now introduces other crucial themes of the festival, including the command to take up four species of plant indigenous to Israel (citron, palm frond, myrtle branch and willow), and rejoice on our holy days, wrapping up its description with a repetition of the command to dwell in booths, this time stressing the historical aspects of the festival:

“You shall dwell in booths for seven days, so that your generations shall know that I caused the Israelites to live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (23: 42-43).

It seems that the Bible is making a clear distinction between the significance of the Succot Festival before the Israelites entered the Land and the nature of the festival once we were living in Israel. How so?

Outside Israel, the hut-like booths symbolized our temporary dwellings while we wandered across the desert and, by extension, throughout our long exile when we were a people without a homeland. Once we entered the Land of Israel, however and harvested the grain of the land,” we could celebrate the harvest with special blessings and rituals involving the four species – vegetation unavailable in the desert.

In the Promised Land, the entire festival and even the symbolism of the succah itself assumed a heightened significance. Now, the shabby, makeshift desert huts came to represent the sheltering wings of the Divine Presence, the clouds of glory with which God protected us so that we’d be able to fulfill our mission as His divine ambassadors. When we are living in the Diaspora, the succa can only teach us to be grateful to the Lord who preserves us under difficult and dangerous conditions; whereas living in Israel, we understand that as the people of God’s covenant, no matter how flimsy the walls of our temporary homes may seem, we constantly live under His protective grace, with the borders of our homeland for protection and the food provided by our land for life-giving sustenance.

This essential difference in the significance of the succa prior to our inhabiting the Land of Israel and afterwards could also be seen when we returned to the Land after our Babylonian exile. Then, Ezra exhorted us to dwell in booths during the Festival of the Seventh Month, and to make our booths with “olive leaves and olive branches, with myrtles, psalms and willows” (Nehemiah 8:15). In the Land of Israel, the succa is adorned and enhanced by the local vegetation, thespecial fragrance of which symbolizes God’s shelter and fulfillment of the Divine covenant. Seen in this light, as the Vilna Gaon noted, Succot is the festival which celebrates our entry into the Land of Israel!

God’s revelation and gift of forgiveness (initially for the sin of the Golden Calf) took place on the 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur. The following day, He commanded the building of the Sanctuary; and the Israelites collected materials for the next two days.

Then, on the 15th of Tishrei, the work of building the Sanctuary began, marking the restoration of the relationship between God and the Jews. This is noted by the Ramban, who explains that this is why the Book of Exodus is indeed the Book of Redemption.

“Then the Holy One Blessed be He returned and rested His Divine Presence among them and they returned to the exalted level of the patriarchs, which was the secret of God, with Clouds of Glory upon their tents, and they were considered to be redeemed. And so the Book of Exodus ends with the completion of the Sanctuary and with the Glory of God filling it always.” (Ramban – Introduction to Book of Exodus).

Hence the succa in Israel became clouds of divine glory, symbolizing the Sanctuary and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem – which will eventually bring the entire world to peace and redemption.  And indeed He has begun the process in our generation, when He brought us home to Israel thereby restoring and uplifting the fallen Succah of David, which has now become – after 2000 years of Exile – clouds of Divine Glory presaging the Third Santuary and World peace. (Isaiah 2)

בברכת התורה והארץ‎

שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

B'Birchat Hatorah V'Haaretz

Shabbat Shalom

“Go to the army” rather than be involved in Machlokes.... .Rechnitz to the Litvishe Yeshivah Guys

As has become an annual event, philanthropist R’ Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz spoke at the Thursday night Simchas Bais Hashoeva at the Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. The event was attended by thousands of Yeshiva Bochurim, Kollel Yungerleit, and supporters of the Yeshiva – and watched by thousands more on live webcast.

In previous years, Rechnitz stunned the crowd as he pledged astronomical support to the Yeshiva and its Yungerleit. Additionally, it is widely known that when delivering speeches around the globe, Rechnitz tackles issues that many shy away from. One of those speeches occured in Lakewood where he spoke about children not being accepted into Lakewood Yeshivas.

On Thursday, R’ Shlomo Yehuda spoke about the too-long-lasting split in the “Oilam Hatorah” of the Litvish community, which has torn apart families, Mosdos, and well known Yeshivas.

Rechnitz called the current situation “one of the biggest divides and unrest Klal Yisroel has faced,” and warned “it can only lead to the obliteration of KLAL YISROEL as we know it today.”

It is well known that Rechnitz gives donations to practically all Mosdos of Torah and Chesed – on all sides of the spectrum. He stated: “Anyone who includes themselves in the ugliness of trying to convert this from a mere CHILUKEI DEIOS to an outright destructive MACHLOKES in a public manner, should not and cannot be NEHENE from any money that I contribute.”

Rechnitz also bemoaned the fact that “innocent children who are now 11 or 12 years old, know of nothing but Machloikes”, describing them as “BA’ALEI MUM”.

He compared the indoctrination of these children to Holocaust denial, describing the “sheer abuse” when a child describes a NAZI as a “Frum Bochur or Yungerman who joins the Army”.

He told the crowd point blank, “go to the army” rather than be involved in Machlokes.