The Song of Megillah ... Great Chazara

 

BMG to Buy Massive Parcel of Land From nearby University

 

Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood is in agreement with Georgian Court University, also of Lakewood, to buy a large parcel of land in order to build apartment buildings, The Voice of Lakewood is reporting.

According to The Voice report, BMG has entered into a contract with the University to buy 44 acres of its current campus, upon which the yeshiva plans to build 13 buildings with a total of 465 apartments to address the dearth of living spaces for its yungeleit.

The parcel of land – bordered on three sides by 14th Street, 9th Street, and Forest Avenue – represents less than a third of Georgian Court University’s sprawling 157-acre campus.

Askanim have told The Voice that although the new housing units will assist to provide places to live for a large number of yungerleit, it will not ease the ongoing housing crunch in Lakewood.

BMG’s deal with Georgian Court University was reportedly the result of years of work on the part of former BMG CEO Aaron Kotler, who departed the institution at the end of 2021.

The university agreed to go into the deal in part because of its failing finances, The Voice says.

The university has been struggling to attract students to the school for over a decade now, and the sale of this parcel of land is expected to keep the college financially solvent for several more years.

Viznitzer Rebbes with hundreds of his Chassidim travel to Eilat to re-create the Splitting of theYam

Zera Shimshon Parshas Beshalach

 

After Reading this article, I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry!

 

Rebekah Erev, co-founder of the Queer Mikveh Project, blows the shofar at the first QMP mikvah event at the Albany Bulb in Albany, California, 

Queer Mikveh Project co-leader Kat Johnston is neurodivergent and has had a lifelong mental struggle with water, but says the group’s work has helped her develop a relationship with water. (Julie Jensen)

 Last Passover, a group of 125 Jews gathered via Zoom for a community mikvah ritual. Dr. Harriette Wimms, a queer Black Jewish psychologist and kohenet (Hebrew priestess), opened the ceremony by pouring libations, an African tradition of granting a water offering for ancestors. Some people immersed themselves in their bathtubs, spilled water down their bodies or waded into their local lakes. They sang prayers and shared artwork. 

Zuriel Biran, a transgender Black poet from Chicago, read one of his poems: “I reorient myself to a future of interconnectedness. Where my life is so woven alongside others that I cannot seriously entertain the notion of cutting it short, or vanishing. I must allow myself to be known.”

The ceremony was organized by the Queer Mikveh Project, a grassroots initiative seeking to transform the traditional mikvah practice into a communal experience, centering queer Jews of color leading spiritual rituals. (“Mikvah” can be alternatively spelled with an “a” and an “e.”)

Inspired by similar efforts such as MKV, an art project that tailors mikvah experiences for queer Jews run by the Canadian artist Radiodress (Reena Katz), the Queer Mikveh Project’s goal is to create a safe space for marginalized Jews to connect to their bodies and each other. Its other major aim is to create leadership roles for queer Jews of color who are often denied such roles in mainstream Jewish organizations.

Charedi Mafia Use Death Threats, Vandalism, and Protests Against Cell Phone Stores

 

The Charedi “Cell Phone Mafia” has been wreaking endless havoc on stores in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. Extremists have vandalized and threatened phone stores, in a pressure campaign to force them to comply with the guidelines of the Communications Vaad.

B’Chadrei Charedim has reported multiple instances of harassment, threats, and vandalism against stores and owners.

In one piece of surveillance video Wednesday, a thug was seen gluing shut the lock of “Ink Print”, a phone accessory store in Bnei Brak. The owner was forced to delay opening for two hours until the damage could be repaired.

In another piece of footage, a vandal placed paskvillim on the front of a store in the middle of the night, and filled the doorway with paper.

The owner of “Giant Cellular” in Jerusalem was threatened multiple times, including death threats. An unknown individual called him claiming to know his home address, and threatened to come to his home and kill him. They also threatened to burn down his store in the middle of the night.

That is the most recent development, following a number of protests which have been held against that store in recent weeks, despite the fact that they do not sell smartphones.

The store owner told the Israeli news outlet, “I do not sell any smartphones or any devices that are not accepted by the Charedi community. I just refuse to comply with the strict criteria of the Vaad, which would bring about a financial loss.”

Open Letter To The Warriors Who Spoke Out

 

Very few people are fortune to go to their deathbeds knowing that they made a real change in the world; that they made waves, and made the world a better place. I know I myself have always wanted to be one of these people. I’ve always tried to be a good person and spread kindness and truth.

But I don’t think I’ll ever create ripples like the ones created by the victims of this monster. They didn’t just makes waves;

They created a tsunami.

Chaim Walder was a coward. His actions were so heinous and odious, that he left so many victims living lives filled with guilt and shame. He made a career out of creating a space for these victims. And in his last moments of his life he was thrown into that same puddle of guilt and shame. And he couldn’t even sit in it for a short moment.

Rabbi Benzion Mutzafi, leading Sephardic rabbi : 'Coronavirus deniers will sit with murderers'

 

Rabbi Benzion Mutzafi, a leading Sephardic rabbi, on Thursday morning slammed COVID-19 deniers, saying that "their blood is on their own heads."

The incident occurred when one of Rabbi Mutzafi's students questioned, "How will those who incite and instigate against vaccines fare when they get to Heaven?"

In his answer, quoted by Kikar Hashabbat, Rabbi Mutzafi said, "He will sit with the murderers and criminals, since with the propaganda that he spread, he prevented innocent people from being vaccinated, and because of that they became ill and were harmed for their entire lives, suffering difficult and complicated issues."

"We also know hundreds of people, personally, who avoided the vaccine and died young," he added. "Their blood is on the heads of the propagandists. May G-d bless His nation with peace."

Last month, Rabbi Mutzafi claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is "a known liar," but added that, "The Holy Torah commands us to listen to the doctors and to get vaccinated."

Miss Iraq Tells off Ilhan Omar in a Tweet "Mind your own business"

 

The war in Iraq is over???

Sure to you and your Irani regime loving Mahdi Hassan it is with Iran-backed militias killing & oppressing Iraqi people.

Stay out of Iraq affairs and focus on deceiving people about domestic policies as you always do. https://t.co/fDsNDthPNO

— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) January 11, 2022

Twitter allows Iranian threats to assassinate Trump

 

Twitter is allowing official Iranian government accounts to issue death threats against former president Donald Trump and other Trump administration officials.

Twitter’s refusal to remove these ongoing threats is renewing congressional scrutiny on the social media platform. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the regime’s paramilitary fighting force that engages in terrorism and assassination plots, tweeted during the weekend that it will take revenge for the death of terror mastermind Qassem Soleimani, who two years ago was killed in Iraq in a drone strike ordered by Trump

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers vengeance against those responsible for the Baghdad crime to be the right of all believers; whether they are drops in the ocean or bits of sand in the desert they’ll seek vengeance next to the criminals’ homes,” the corps’s official account tweeted in Farsi, alongside a picture of Trump golfing. The post was independently translated for the Washington Free Beacon.