The Virus has strengthened Americans' faith - but not for Jews'

To be honest I don't know how many those surveyed were frum, but this is very scary.... even if the ones surveyed weren't frum...

There is a virus out there that's killing people left and right...the economy shut down, malls and bars and nightclubs are shut down... and practically every country in the world is effected, yet there are Jews out there that won't make a "din ve'cheshbon" a self accounting? 

I think that there is something very wrong in our "religious" education. Even if you want to say that those surveyed were not  frum.... then we have to rethink the way we do  "kiruv"..
It seems that we are not reaching our brothers and sisters that have yet to become more observant. 

A new survey found that only 7% of American Jews feel that the coronavirus crisis has strengthened their faith, as opposed to nearly a quarter of Americans as a whole.

The survey, published Thursday by the Pew Research Center, found that Jews had the lowest percentage of respondents whose faith has been strengthened by the crisis. 

Along with the 7% of Jews whose faith has grown stronger, 69% say their faith hasn’t changed much and 22% say they weren’t religious to begin with. A very small percentage, not represented numerically in the study, say their faith has gotten weaker.

In the United States as a whole, 24% of people say their faith has gotten stronger, 2% say it’s gotten weaker, 47% say it hasn’t changed much and 26% say they aren’t religious. 

The group with the largest number of respondents say their faith has gotten stronger is black Protestants, 56% of whom reported strengthening faith.

Maybe we can "dan lekaf zchus'" and say that It’s possible that few Jews responded positively to the “faith” question because the question’s wording referenced “religious faith,” a terminology that tends to be less common among Jews than among Christians.

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B&H Photo furloughs 400 workers after resisting cuts during Pesach

B&H Photo & Electronics furloughed hundreds of employees this week — a move the iconic retailer had resisted for more than a month after its megastore in Manhattan was forced to shutter because of the coronavirus lockdown, The Post has learned.

The 47-year-old electronics seller — whose Manhattan flagship is known for its Orthodox Jewish staff and the elaborate conveyor-belt system that moves merchandise around the shop — furloughed about 400 of its 2,000 employees on Wednesday, sources close to the company said.

In a memo to affected employees, human resources director Izzy Friedman said B&H “waited as long as possible” before making the cuts, and noted the company had been paying and providing benefits for affected workers “through the Passover holiday break, and beyond to make this easier.”

B&H was likewise waiting to “evaluate the various stimulus benefits available,” but was forced in the end to furlough workers because the “crisis has continued with no clear end in sight,” Friedman added.

The furloughs came as a surprise to one B&H staffer, who said the company’s call center, which takes orders from customers across the US, has been “busy as hell” fielding demand for “computers, movie cameras and accessories for setting up a home office” as COVID-19 forces millions nationwide to work from home.

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B&H closed its two-story store at 420 Ninth Ave. at the corner of West 34th Street on March 16, but customers can still pick up their purchases at the side entrance within 30 minutes of placing an order, according to the website.

Owned by the Schreiber family — married couple Blimie and Herman Schreiber opened the first store in 1973 at 17 Warren St. in Tribeca — B&H waited longer than most retailers in the Big Apple to trim its ranks.

“It is our sincerest hope and prayer that this global pandemic and its economic impacts will be temporary, and that in the future we will be able to reverse many of these furloughs,” Friedman wrote in the Wednesday memo.

Kiryas Joel's Open Letter Supporting De'Blasio

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows Satmar mentality ..... They are always  "rosh ve'rishon" first to write "open letters" to rashaim that want to destroy the Jewish people.

It wasn't long ago that the Satmar Rebbe, R' Aron Teitelbaum wrote and encouraged his naive Roumanian followers to write letters to congress backing the murderous Iran deal, that literally handed nuclear weapons to the Mullas of Iran who vowed to wipe Israel off the map! ....

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Zera Shimshon............ Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim

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Saudi Writer Attacks Palestinians: You Aren’t Arabs, The Land Belongs To Israel

During the last few days social media has seen a “tweeting war” between Palestinians and Saudis after Palestinian media published caricatures gloating over the Saudi losses from the sharp drop in oil prices. 

The Palestinians even mocked Saudi consort Mohammed Bin Salman and criticized them for broadcasting pro-Israel sitcoms. 

The Saudis, incensed at Palestinian ingratitude for their financial support, responded angrily. A prominent Saudi writer, Rawff Bin-a-Sa’in, harshly condemned the Palestinians.

Bin-a-Sa’in wrote: 

Palestinian, you are no Arab. You have no land and there is no such thing as the “Palestinian issue.” The land belongs to Israel. Yitzhak Shamir, Rabin, and Golda were heroes. Netanyahu is a coward. Netanyahu, burn these gangsters! Free us and the world from the presence of the Palestinians. Why leave them?

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A Chasidic Woman in Israel asks: Will this Virus cause Many To turn their Backs to Religion?

One of the most highly regarded rabbis in the community said recently that the word “corona” — the first syllable of which means coldness in Hebrew — has “brought a great spiritual coldness into hearts.”

Before we start shivering, let’s clarify: 

spiritual warmth, or varemkeit, as it is called in Yiddish, is one of the essential components of the Haredi lifestyle, in studying the Torah, and in keeping the commandments. The great rabbi, the Chofetz Chaim, said: The only difference between people is that they are either cold or warm Jews. The ardor, or bren, in performing the commandments, the ever-renewing excitement, the devotion and the joy — this is the glue that binds the one who fulfills the commandments with the holy law, and with all others who perform likewise. The moment these actions turn into a recurring ritual, a technocratic exercise, they lose their taste and are in danger of dissipating.

But this is what the coronavirus has done. It has injected coldness into the entire system. When talk first surfaced about calling off the prayer quorums, I chuckled. I, not one of the fanatics, said to my friends: there’s no way they’ll stop praying in minyans in the synagogues; it just won’t happen. It hasn’t happened since the founding of the state.

But then it did. After a week of trying hard to digest the decree, followed by half a week of outdoor prayer, the daily rituals were then conducted in houses and on balconies. The ritual of skipping out thrice daily to the synagogue was severed! When you pray at home, you can abbreviate the service or skip over the arid passages or not pray at all. When a ritual starts to disintegrate, it keeps on disintegrating and does not stop at a pre-determined point.

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Germany bans Hezbollah, raids mosques

Germany on Thursday completely banned Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement from carrying out activities on its soil, as police raided mosques and venues linked to the group.

Like the European Union, Germany had until now only outlawed Hezbollah's military wing while tolerating its political wing.

But in a shift immediately welcomed by the United States and Israel, the German interior ministry said it now considered the entire movement a "Shiite terrorist organisation".

"Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation deemed responsible for numerous attacks and kidnappings worldwide," Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Germany's Bild daily.

The interior minister "has banned the operation of the group" in Germany with immediate effect, his spokesman tweeted.

"Even in times of crisis the rule of law is upheld," he wrote.

Raids were taking place in several places across the country, he added.

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Satmar Chassidim Go to Ben Gurion's Grave to Beg Forgiveness

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FBI Notes Reveal that they Deliberately Planned An Attack on General Flynn

FBI notes unsealed on Wednesday show that bureau officials discussed whether the goal of an interview with Michael Flynn just days into the Trump administration was “to get him to lie” in order to get him fired or in legal jeopardy, Flynn’s lawyers say.

“What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Bill Priestap, who served as FBI’s chief of counterintelligence, wrote in the notes, according to a transcription from Flynn’s attorneys.

Sidney Powell, Flynn’s lead attorney, said Wednesday that the newly unsealed FBI documents show that the FBI “pre-planned a deliberate attack” against Flynn.

She said the records also show that FBI officials intentionally avoided warning Flynn that making false statements to the FBI is a crime.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea produced the documents to Flynn’s lawyers on Wednesday. They were discovered last month by the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri, who has been directed to review the Justice Department’s handling of Flynn’s prosecution.

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U.S. Postal Service is Suspending Deliveries to Israel

The US Postal Service is temporarily suspending international mail for certain destinations due to service impacts related to COVID-19, including ISRAEL.

These service disruptions affect Priority Mail Express International, Priority Mail International, First-Class Mail International, First-Class Package International Service, International Priority Airmail, International Surface Air Lift, and M-Bag items.

In addition, any mail that does make it through is subject to these rules by Israel Postal Service.

Israel Postal Service advises that they will continue to process incoming and outgoing mail, giving priority to premium services such as express mail service and PRIME, and will make every effort to ensure regular distribution of mail.

However, due to government restrictions to minimize spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the post can no longer guarantee service delivery standards and is invoking force majeure with respect to any such standards. Additionally, a signature is no longer required for items requiring signature on delivery, and such items will be left at the door after being scanned and photographed to prove that delivery has been made.

See here for more details: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/

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