3 Weeks After Throwing Eggs At Nes Tziona Tefillin Booth, Man Returns To Apologize, Place Tefillin

 

A man who threw eggs at a Nes Tziona Tefillin booth three weeks ago, arrived at the booth Friday to apologize to the two Chabad youths who man the booth.

The two warmly received the man, Elad Levi, and accepted his apology, asking him if he was willing to put on Tefillin. Elad surprised them by saying that he would place Tefillin and would make a daily habit of doing so. He put on Tefillin and said the Shema and other prayers.

Elad is pictured wearing Tefillin and beaming with the two youths next to him.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Re'eh

 

Child Drowns but the Crown Heights News Blog Says "He passed away suddenly"

 

Can we talk about the way many frum sites cover tragedies?

When a child tragically drowns, they did not "pass away suddenly". They drowned. That should be written.

Why? Because while some accidents will always happen, others may be prevented by taking safety precautions.
1/4 pic.twitter.com/gQ6I1EBV0H

— Mendel Kalmenson (@mendelkalmenson) August 10, 2023

DemonRat State Senator Apologizes For Visiting Israel

 

A state senator in Michigan has apologized to her Arab and Muslim constituents for a recent visit to Israel with her fellow lawmakers.

Sylvia Santana, whose district includes part of Detroit. as well as Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, with a high concentration of Arab Muslims, posted the apology on social media.

“I recognize my presence on this trip has sparked anger and disappointment by many in the Arab/Muslim community,” she wrote.

A president who undermines Israel and Usefull Jews who support him

 

by Matthew M. Hausman, J.D.

The adage “Hanlon's Razor” states that one should “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity” and aims to eliminate improbable explanations for human behavior. T

he term “useful idiots” describes those who should know better than to support causes that threaten their natural interests but do so anyway (the phrase was famously applied to western progressives who shilled for the Soviet Union despite its totalitarian contempt for western freedoms). Hanlon’s Razor never assumes ill-intent, while useful idiocy suggests a degree of willfulness; but both presuppose the inevitability of bad acts. Thus, negative conduct is the one constant, whether motivated by animus or ignorance.

And either term can be used to describe those who – irrespective of intent – continue to support an administration pushing policies that disregard Jewish historical rights, reward terrorism, interfere with Israeli domestic politics, seek appeasement with Iran, and threaten Israel’s safety and security

As has been widely reported, the Biden administration recently reinstituted an Obama-era prohibition against the use of American tax-dollars to subsidize joint US-Israeli research and development projects at institutions in Judea and Samaria. 

Efraim Fishel Grinfeld a Charedi Extremist Loses Extradition Appeal After Rioting At Yerushalayim Electronics Stores

 

Efraim Fishel Grinfeld, a Charedi man residing in London, has met a brick wall in his attempts to avoid being extradited to Israel to face charges over his participation in riots outside an electronics store in Yerushalayim.

A judge has denied his appeal against extradition, citing the numerous times he’s been involved in such rioting incidents.

Grinfeld fled Israel in December 2012 shortly before a verdict was scheduled to be delivered in his trial for his alleged participation in riots that took place between June and August 2008. These riots transpired outside a DVD and MP3 player store in Yerushalayim’s Geula neighborhood.

The extradition request, initiated by Israeli authorities in 2021, outlines the accusations against Grinfeld and his fellow protesters. According to the request, they obstructed the store’s entrance, engaged in confrontations with customers, store employees, and owners, vandalized property, and even threw dirty diapers at the store’s entrance. Grinfeld’s alleged actions included cutting off the store’s electricity to carry out acts of vandalism under the cover of darkness and physically assaulting employees who tried to intervene.

Grinfeld faced indictment in Israel on two charges involving seven offenses, including rioting, common assault, blackmail by threats, and aggravated wounding. Throughout his trial, Grinfeld maintained his innocence, denying any involvement in the violence and asserting that he was a victim of it instead. He claimed to have been saying Tehillim at the scene.

After leaving Israel with his wife and three children for Canada, Grinfeld arrived in London in 2016. He has since worked as an office assistant in a property business. His youngest child (he now has 8) is currently six months old.

In January, a judge at Westminster Magistrates Court ruled that the decision regarding Grinfeld’s extradition should be made by the Home Secretary. Despite acknowledging that Grinfeld had led a law-abiding life in the UK, the judge also considered him a “fugitive from justice.”

Grinfeld’s wife presented her concerns, explaining that relocating to Israel was not a viable option for the family. She said that sending her husband back to Israel would have a profound negative impact on their family dynamics, as their children were well-settled and content in school in the UK.

In his appeal, Grinfeld argued that the conditions of incarceration in Israel would violate his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and that his extradition would disproportionately affect his family. While two High Court judges acknowledged that one count of common assault should not be considered for extradition, they ultimately dismissed his appeal on other grounds, citing his alleged participation in the riots as a significant factor in their decision.

Get Refusers Have Help from Enablers

 

 

by Yisroel Picker

I often write about child abusers, and how sadly the community chooses to side with the abuser rather than the victim.

This is done for numerous reasons, none of them justifiable.

But abuse takes many different forms. It can be physical, spiritual, emotional or even psychological.

Sometimes the pain in the victims is visible to all, sometimes the pain is hidden to the naked eye.

As I sit here trying to put my thoughts properly into words, I’m troubled by the recent death of Morah Chaya Gansburg, who recently passed away at the age of 76.

I didn’t know Ms. Gansburg. But one thing about her story is extremely disturbing to me.

She was an aguna for the last 38 years of her life.

The only thing that severed her bond between her and her estranged husband was Hashem taking her Neshama back.

The Debate Whether One Should Light a Yurzeit Candle for a Dear Departed

 

 

DIN: I am bringing you a debate between Rabbi Yair Hoffman who is in favor and emailimbatorah  who writes that there is no obligation to light a candle at the yurzeit or by the grave site , and he questions where this minhag came from.

Personally, I have a good feeling lighting a candle in memory of my parents, and I feel I'm doing something good for their neshama.

But having read Rabbi Hoffman's side, I am completely taken aback as he brought absolutely zero proof for his argument? All he writes is that a child has an obligation to honor his father even in death, but what does lighting a candle have anything to do with? 

 Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Home

It is the custom within the community, Klal Yisroel, to light a Yahrzeit candle on the day that a relative had passed away.  This article will discuss the reasons for it, but first – a tefillah:

The lighting has no accompanying blessing, and I am sure that many people find themselves looking for something appropriate, some way to express themselves in a prayer when lighting the candle.  This is not only true on a Yahrzeit but whenever Yom Tov comes as well and Yizkor is said.

The author of the Peleh Yoetz, Rabbi Eliezer Papo (1785–1828), did in fact compose such a prayer.  Rav Papo was the Rabbi of the city of Selestria in Bulgaria.  Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time.  The Tefillah of the Pelehe Yoetz is reproduced in Hebrew and translated below, as a public service.

 

 הריני מדליק נר זה למנוחת ולעילוי נשמת אבי מורי (אמי מורתי) ____ בן ____

 

תפילה הנמצאת בספר אלף המגן  מבעל הפלא יועץ על פרשת ויצא עמוד כ”ד

יהי רצון מלפניך ה’ אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו, שתקבל ברחמים וברצון כל מעשה הטוב שאני עושה, בין במחשבה, בין בדיבור, בין במעשה ויהיה הכל לזכות ולמנוחת ולעילוי לנשמות עמך ישראל, ובפרט לנפש רוח של (אמי/אבי/נפטר) _____.  יהי רצון שתהיינה נפשותיהם צרורות בצרור החיים.

 

Behold I am lighting this lamp for the rest and uplifting of the soul of my father (or deceased), my teacher _______ the son of _______.

May it be Your will before you, Hashem our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers, that all my good deeds whether in thought, speech or action be done for a merit and a resting and an elevation of the souls of your nation Israel.  It should be especially for the soul of my mother/father/ deceased _____.  May it be Your will that their souls be bound in the bond of life.

NYT Worked Closely with State Government to Target Chassidim

 

Breitbart News obtained hundreds of pages of government emails, exposing the NY Times for working closely with New York State’s Education Dept to craft its disgraceful series of anti-Chassidic articles. 

In the groundbreaking story, Breitbart wrote:

The Times’ Eliza Shapiro…is seen in the massive volume of communications, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, discussing with the State Education Department how “we” can craft comment for the first story…targeting yeshivas, and giving the government almost a full business-week longer than the schools to comment. Emails also show she worked with the government to direct blame for the Times’ allegations, and coordinated timing on publishing with a vote to regulate the religious schools.”

The story added:

As Breitbart previously reported, the “investigation” dropped in what appeared to be unbelievable timing, the day before the Board of Regents held a unanimous vote, without debate, to allow state functionaries heavier say in the education of Orthodox children. Those children happen to be of parents vehemently opposed to the social justice curriculum that has been injected into most other New York schools.

The article observed that the two “journalists” were far more responsive to the government than to yeshivas. 

In one correspondence, Shapiro is seen working with the government to produce the state’s comment on the reporting, with almost a week longer to respond than the private religious schools being maligned.

“Hi! Hope all is well with you. We are aiming to publish the yeshiva investigation late next week and I wanted to walk you through it on a high level and we can talk about what might make sense for comment. I’m flexible today if you have some time. Thanks so much,” reporter Eliza Shapiro emailed then-Education Department Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, Emily DeSantis, on August 29. The subject line of that email was “Walking you through the yeshiva story.”

The story concluded with a stunning allegation, suggesting that Governor Kathy Hochul is targeting yeshivas as an act of revenge. 

The Hochul administration is using yeshiva regulations as a cudgel against the Hasidic community, which turned on Democrats in the last gubernatorial election, following the action taken against their children’s schools, according to a report in the Gothamist.

“As Zeldin made repeated stops in Hasidic neighborhoods, the Hochul administration was keeping close watch: Those who levied especially bad faith attacks on the governor, the source said, may find themselves cut out of future discussions about yeshiva oversight,” the article says in a stunning revelation, attributed to a person in the governor’s office who did not have permission to speak on the issue.

Chaim Ber Meisels Loses His Battle with Cancer at 45

 

Reb Chaim Ber Meisels, known for his giving heart, his perpetual joie de vivre and his passion for philanthropy, lost his battle with cancer over the weekend, passing away at the age of 45.

A longtime member of Williamsburg’s Satmar community, Meisels had a unique ability to connect with Jews from all across the religious spectrum, offering a kind word and going above and beyond to assist in situations of all kinds.

A mover and a shaker whose capacity for helping a fellow Jew was seemingly boundless, Meisels loved encouraging others to step up to the communal service plate, heralding them for their accomplishments without taking any credit for himself.

“He was always able to smell out who was in need,” Yoel Friedman of WellTab told VIN News. “He would approach people in shul, asking them how he could help and people would spill their hearts. He didn’t wait for people to come after him – he ran after the mitzvah.”

Friedman was the beneficiary of Meisels’ efforts in the early days of COVID when he created WellTab to keep hospitalized patients in touch with their families by providing them with free to tablets to facilitate communication.

Finding himself with a concept that he knew would benefit patients and their loved ones, Friedman had no way of raising the funds he needed to get WellTab up and running.