Jewish-American author Herman Wouk dead at 103

Jewish American Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk died on Friday at the age of 103.

Wouk was just 10 days shy of his 104th birthday and was working on a book until the end, said his literary agent Amy Rennert, according to The Associated Press.

Rennert said Wouk died in his sleep at his home in Palm Springs, California, where he settled after spending many years in Washington, D.C.

Wouk was born in the Bronx in 1915, the second of three children born to Esther and Abraham Isaac Wouk, Russian Jewish immigrants from what is today Belarus.

The household was religious — his mother was a rabbi’s daughter — and devoted to books. His father would read to him from Sholem Aleichem.

His Jewish faith inspired his stories of religious values and secular success.

Wouk won the Pulitzer in 1952 for The Caine Mutiny. A film adaptation, starring Humphrey Bogart, came out in 1954 and Wouk turned the courtroom scene into the play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

Other highlights included Don’t Stop the Carnival, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.

One of Wouk’s most influential books was This Is My God, published in 1959 and an even-handed but firm defense of Judaism. For much of his life, noted AP, he studied the Talmud daily and led a weekly Talmud class. He gave speeches and sermons around the country and received several prizes, including a lifetime achievement award from the Jewish Book Council.

Entire Neturei Karta Family Goes "Off the Derech"

Nadler's Russian Ties! ..... Paid Ezra Friedlander $1,000.00 Per Month For 16 Years

You would think that Nadler who keeps torturing President Trump on Russian Collusion, while he himself is up to his neck with Russian ties .... would hide in a closet! 

A NEW DAY IN BEIT SHEMESH...

The 2018 municipal elections in Beit Shemesh shocked Israel and the Jewish world. A religious-Zionist woman, Dr. Aliza Bloch, defeated the incumbent ultra-Orthodox mayor in a city in which the ultra-Orthodox are the majority. 

by Dov Lipman 

Since then there has been a noticeable improvement in municipal services, and appointments have been made based on skill, ability and experience, and not on political deals and nepotism. 

But what happened at the Beit Shemesh Remembrance Day ceremony reflects the greatest change the city is experiencing since the election.

Thousands of residents gathered at the city memorial for those who have been killed while serving in the IDF or in terror attacks. The ceremony included prayers, musical presentations, a moving video about the 100 residents who lost their lives for the country, and speeches from the mayor, a member of Knesset and a relative of one of those who had been killed. 

The very first musical presentation shocked the audience. A choir made up of ultra-Orthodox men and boys walked onto the stage, along with a hassidic cantor. They sang the prayer for IDF soldiers. That’s right. In Beit Shemesh – a city where religious extremists ruled in past years and where soldiers have had to use caution and not enter certain ultra-Orthodox areas in uniform – an ultra-Orthodox choir and cantor openly sang the prayer for IDF soldiers. 

That never happened when the city had an ultra-Orthodox mayor. But with the victory of a religious-Zionist mayor whose stated goal was to unify the city and create an atmosphere where all populations could feel comfortable, the previously silenced moderate ultra-Orthodox population – which believes in tolerance, coexistence and the integration of the ultra-Orthodox into society – is now able to make its voice heard.

Greedy & Corrupt Developers In Monsey Causing Huge Chillul Hashem

Flatbush Paper Celebrates and Places Win of Farah Louis Who says "Jews Annoy Her" On Front Cover !

Wondering......Why are the Flatbush "Askanim" so happy with this win?

 What possessed Mordy Mehlman, publisher of FJJ  that he had to put this Haitian win on his front cover?

Did he ask her to explain her tweet that "Jews Annoy Her?"

What is the relationship between Shimon Lefkowitz, Leon Goldenberg, Peter Rebenwerzel  and Flora Louis? 

Rivka & Dovid Weber of Chicago Turn Out To Be Christians!

By COLlive reporter

A couple who have recently moved to a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago has been exposed to be non-Jews posing as Orthodox Jews, with the mission to influence others.

Rabbi Levi Notik of Chicago has informed the community that the couple who go by the names David and Rivkah Castello were recognized by a visitor from Brooklyn to be a couple who had been exposed there last year.

David and Rivkah Castello moved to West Rogers Park in Chicago a few months ago, and they dress, act and behave like Frum Jews, and Daven in local Shuls, Rabbi Notik warned. Rivkah works as a babysitter for young children in the neighborhood.

David looks like a Frum yid, wearing the traditional clothing and sporting long peyos.

When asked, the couple admits that she is not Jewish, and he claims his maternal great-grandmother was.

Notik says that he met with the couple, and they did not deny being in the neighborhood “on a mission to specifically live among the Frum community and actively influence others.”

“They have beliefs of Kefira and Christianity,” Notik says. “He doesn’t deny any of it, on the contrary, he insists that he is correct in his way, and has no regrets.”

Notik says by Hashgocha Protis, a Sofer in town from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, saw David Castello in Shul, and recognized him immediately, alerting others to the imposter.

The couple has done the same thing in Brooklyn last year (at Beis Midrash Razlo and other Shuls) until they were exposed and told to leave, the visitor said.

After doing research, Notik discovered that the couple has ties to the international Christian group Global Gates, whose vision according to their website is “to see gospel transformation of the world’s most unevangelized people groups who have come to global gateway cities, and through them reach their communities around the world.”

The newsletter for JCFI, a Church in Texas, ran an article on the couple in 2016, describing their mission to infiltrate a Chasidic community. 

Israeli arrested after being accused of spitting at Polish ambassador

Too bad that the guy who did the spitting wasn't a "brisker" .. if he was, he would have spit at him with the full shiur of the Chazon Ish!

A 65-year-old Israeli man has been arrested for allegedly spitting at the Polish ambassador, police said Wednesday, adding to tensions between the two countries.

The lawyer of the man named as Arik Lederman claims the incident was "blown out of proportion" and Lederman apologized for the act, reported the Times of Israel. 

Israel's envoy to Poland Anna Azari was summoned to the Polish foreign ministry in Warsaw over the incident, Polish foreign ministry spokeswoman Ewa Suwara said.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called it a "xenophobic act of aggression" while President Andrzej Duda said it appeared to be an "anti-Polish act of hatred."

Polish ambassador Marek Magierowski was sitting in his car on Tuesday when a man approached and "spat at him", police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Lederman's attorney told the court that an embassy guard had addressed him with an anti-Jewish slur and refused him entry to the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv where he was seeking to inquire about restitution for Jewish property lost in the Holocaust.

Police arrested Lederman later Tuesday, Rosenfeld said. The suspect appeared before the Tel Aviv magistrates' court on Wednesday, where he was ordered to remain under house arrest for another day, the police chief added.

Lederman was also banned from approaching the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv for 30 days.

Moshe Yaakov Schwartz 16-year- old Novaminsk Boy Killed Riding His Bike In Boro Park

A 16-year-old Novaminsker Yeshiva Bochur was R”L killed after he was struck by a truck while riding his bike in Boro Park on Wednesday afternoon. He was identified as Moshe Yaakov Schwartz of Parkville Avenue.

The horrific incident occurred on 17 Ave and 53 Street just before 6:00PM.

Moshe Yaakov was heading north bound on 17 Avenue on his bicycle when he swerved to avoid a parked car that was opening it’s door. The bicyclist struck the door, which caused him to fall to the ground where he was struck by a white 2013 Econoline E350 truck that was also heading north on 17 Avenue.

Boro Park Hatzolah rushed the boy to Maimonides Hospital in traumatic arrest with CPR being performed.

He was rushed into surgery but tragically succumbed to his wounds.

The operator of both vehicles remained on scene.

There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing by the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad.

The Levaya will take place at Novaminsk Yeshiva at 1:30PM on Thursday. 17th Ave and 60th Street in Boro Park.

Did Flatbush "Askanim" Just Elect An Anti-Semite in the 45th District????

In 2010, Fararah Louis approvingly retweeted a comment  "these Jews are annoying me"

I'm not so sure that this constitutes being an "antisemite" but it is certainly very troubling!

The Flatbush "Tzadikim" couldn't get enough of the newly elected Haitian Councilman, fawning and hovering over her like she was the Belzer Rebbetzin (Lehavdil). 

And they didn't vet her...  all they cared was to knock out a Frum "vaibel" because she didn't conform and made "choizik" of their hypocrisy! 

These "askanim" and may I add rabbonim who made a big deal of the Flatbush Girl's fight for a lady, who is a lesbian comedian, to perform in a Kosher restaurant for Ladies only, didn't say one word and were totally silent when one of their own, ....Assemblyman Eichenstein ...yes that one ... with the langeh rekkel ..der Bobover, voted for the "Gay" law! 

Meanwhile calls to Farah Louis's office for an explanation of her disgusting tweet went unanswered! 

HT: Michael