“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Female NYT reporter Tweets that she is annoyed that she had to be in the Women's Section at the Kotel


 A female New York Times reporter who accompanied Mayor Eric Adams on his trip to Israel, tweeted her annoyance about the fact that she needed to be in the women’s section, while Adams visited the Kosel.

Now she is getting major backlash from orthodox Jews and others, at her complete disrespect for ancient and sacred Jewish halachos and customs.

Emma Fitzsimmons, City Hall Bureau Chief for the Times, tweeted a picture of herself on the other side of the mechitza. She wrote: “TFW you’re at the Western Wall in Jerusalem as a female journalist and you have to climb a bench and look over a fence to see the mayor.”

In response, she has been slammed for her complete disdain and irreverence for hallowed and ancient traditions and guidelines. In addition, some on social media are outraged that Fitzsimmons has injected herself into the storyline, when as a journalist, she should remain “invisibly” on the sidelines where she belongs.

Ben Shapiro sarcastically tweeted: “TFW you think others’ religious standards ought to bow to your secularism at one of their holiest sites”

Avraham Moshe Rabinowitz killed in a Paragliding Accident in the Swiss Alps!

 

R’ Avrohom Moshe Rabinowitz, a young charedi man from Manchester, England, was killed on Wednesday in a paragliding accident in the Swiss Alps.

Rabinowitz, 30, was married and father to a son who was born just a few months ago. He was the grandson of the Lugano Biala Rebbe, Rabbi Bezalel Simcha Rabinowicz, who is the senior rabbi of the European Board of Torah Scholars. His sister is scheduled to be married next week in Jerusalem. This is unfortunately not the first time the family has known tragedy- when R’ Avrohom Moshe’s brother was six years old, he died of an asthma attack.

Rabinowitz was in Switzerland for a family vacation and went missing. Swiss authorities found his parachute and Hatzalah Switzerland assisted in the searches for him. His body was later located.

R’ Avrohom Moshe was born in Israel to Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Dov Rabinowitz, the Biala rosh yeshiva. His mother Rivka is the daughter of the Kapitchnitzer Rebbe. He studied at the Kamenetz yeshiva in Jerusalem and later established his home in England, marrying the daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Issler of Manchester.

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

POLICE: Monticello Gunshots Did Not Target Jews

 

According to police officials, the gunfire which erupted on Tuesday was a gang-related incident.

The gunshots took place not far from the high school in the Village of Monticello.

According to village police, a man driving on Forestburgh Road stopped, got out of his vehicle, and exchanged gunfire with other persons who were along the shoulder of the northbound lane of Forestburgh Road.

Several shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Police said the shooter did not target the Jewish community, although several people were walking along the road at the time. Police did not confirm if anyone was injured.

The police statement says in part:

A preliminary investigation at this time shows that a male operating a vehicle on Forestburgh Road, did stop and then exit his vehicle. After exiting his vehicle, he did exchange gunfire with other persons who were along the shoulder of the northbound lane of Forestburgh Road. Multiple shell casings were recovered at the scene.

This incident is believed to be Gang related in nature and was NOT targeted in any way towards members of the Jewish community, who have summer residences and colonies in that area.

Tel Aviv Light Rail Permitted For Use Despite Being Built On Shabbos: R' Yitzchok Zilberstein

 

A significant debate has arisen in recent days over whether the Tel Aviv light rail system can be used immediately. The light rail is closed on Shabbos but the tunnels and railroad works took place on Shabbos as well and therefore deriving benefit from the system could be deemed Maaseh Shabbat which is prohibited.

A number of poskim suggested that even though one can use the train (since work done by Jews is permitted for others after Shabbos immediately) it would be correct as an act of protest against the shabbos construction not to use the light rail during the first few days.

When Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein was initially asked about the matter a year ago, he responded based on Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, (Chut Hashani 1:22:15) who discussed a bridge built on Shabbos and ruled that the usage of such things should be permitted because a person cannot prohibit the use of land designated for the general public. However Rabbi Karelitz added that there could be an issue of desecration of Hashem’s name if there was flagrant desecration of shabbos in building the bridge and therefore people should refrain from using it.

However when Rabbi Zilberstein’s grandson posed the same question now, adding that the light rail could ease the commute of many wives of avreichim who work in the greater Tel Aviv region, Rav Yitzchok answered that the system can be used immediately, stating that “It is a Kiddush Hashem, since the government said that it would not be working on Shabbos and in this the government demonstrated honor to the Torah, closing all of the stations and trains on Shabbos.

Thus, the ruling reverts to the original one by Rabbi Karelitz that a person cannot prohibit a public resource like land, and the issue of desecration of Hashem’s name is not applicable since there is a Kiddush Hashem in the way the train is not operated on Shabbos.

Chareidim Slash Bus Tires, Spray Paint Messages Over Pictures Of Women Who are Dressed Tzneeisdik!

 

The following story is already almost a week old, yet, not one, Gadol, has said one single word condemning this disgusting act! I didn't post this incident nor the one two weeks ago, and waited to see if this would be reported on any of the Israeli Chareidie sites, it wasn't!! 

I say that the Zionist police should take these buses whose tires have been punctured, fix them, and ship the chareidim on these very buses to an army base near Gaza, after drafting them to the IDF!! 

Radical chareidi extremists have struck again in the heart of Yerushalayim, with a group of the zealots puncturing the wheels of Egged buses and spray-painting them with messages reading, “Enough with the non-tznius pictures.”

All this over modest photos of women on the busses.

Israeli police are investigating the incident, which is now the second such occurrence in the last two weeks. Authorities reportedly have surveillance footage of the suspects and are expected to bring charges against them.

U.S. EMBASSY: Do Not Travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah

 

The U.S. Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens do not travel to Ukraine.  This recommendation applies to U.S. citizens considering travel to Uman during Rosh Hoshanah for the pilgrimage to the grave of Rebbe Nachman.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, all parts of the country have experienced Russian airstrikes hitting civilian buildings and critical infrastructure, including houses of worship, often with little or no warning.  Uman has been the site of multiple Russian missile attacks as recent as June.  The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv continues to operate with reduced staffing and has limited capacity to assist U.S. citizens in Ukraine.

The State Department’s Current Travel Advisory for Ukraine Is Level 4: Do Not Travel

SHIDDUCH CRISIS: Elevating the Status of the “Working Boy” in the Yeshiva Community

  

by Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin

 — There are many angles and dimensions to the Shidduch Crisis within the American Yeshiva world.

There is a consensus that there are more girls than boys in the dating pool and various suggestions have been offered to reduce the gap between the numbers of young men who are dating and the young women available to date them.

One mostly unspoken and perhaps unnoticed aspect is the attitudes in the American yeshiva world towards those young yeshiva educated men who have decided to leave the world of full-time learning in yeshiva and have chosen to start a life in the working world. Sometimes they are called “earner-learners” who are kovea ittim meaning they “fix a set time” to learn Torah but they dedicate the bulk of their time to working and earning money on their own.

Perhaps they have gone into their parents’ businesses or gotten jobs in wholesale or retail stores, or doing something in real estate or working in the lucrative nursing home business, or maybe working in sales or construction or making money from a technology or an Internet business or many other potential areas of employment.

Then there are those who have taken the step to go to college, such as to Touro College that has separate classes for yeshiva educated males and females with campuses in Brooklyn and Queens and a few other places. Perhaps they eventually plan on becoming accountants, computer programmers, or obtain degrees in business management, marketing or some area of finance.

These working boys are generally not the initial prime candidates for many of the American Litvish yeshiva world’s girls who have spent their lives in great Bais Yaakov-type schools in Brooklyn or Lakewood for example and then to top it off have spent a year in post-high school seminaries in Jerusalem where they are intensively educated to seek Kollel full time learning boys to marry.

The girls then return to America and live at home mostly in yeshivish communities where they prepare to date and look primarily for full-time learning boys. These are the girls who eventually mount up in numbers in the American yeshiva communities and many remain single well into their twenties and some even longer as they cling to the hope and dream and ideal of marrying a full time learning boy.

Sometimes, as the time passes and they remain single, these girls land up becoming big earners themselves or getting degrees and become professionals but they still cling to the dream of marrying a potential Kollel yungerman.

As reality would have it, a lot of the learning boys are looking for very pretty girls and wealthy father in laws and families of girls who can support them in full time Kollel learning plus also looking for other additional benefits like cars and houses in many cases. Obviously this aspiration for good looking girls and a higher standard of living that not many can provide or support and sustain in families with many children is not doable for many frum yeshivish middle-class and lower-class families, so they land up with single daughters at home pining for a good shidduch for a long time, hence the so-called Shidduch Crisis.

Many outstanding daughters of long-term Kollel families and of Rebbeim, the idealistic teachers and in yeshivas and girls schools who lack financial means to support full-time Kollel sons in law see their daughters wait and wait in vain for the right outstanding male yeshiva boy candidate to fulfil their own and their families’ dreams of a Kollel life.

At this point in time some serious cheshbon hanefesh “soul searching” should be the order of the day. If after a number of years of trying without success a girl and her family see that they are not getting what they want in terms of a suitable full-time Kollel learner, they should not have a mental block and personal prejudice to thinking or putting into action other plans and options such as considering an ehrliche working or even a frum college boy who might be ready to date such a girl if he was given the right chance and opportunity.

This requires compromise and a change of attitude because those boys who have gone into the working world and have not spent additional years in bais medrash full time will not be the equals of bochurim (young men) who follow the path of aspirant Toraso Umnaso (Torah study as a full-time career). They have the advantage however of making the commitment to marry a good Bas Yisroel and make a good living and support her and their family that they will build together to create a Bayis Ne’eman BeYisroel (a true Jewish home).

There have arisen quite a few exemplary communities of thousands of such couples where the young yeshiva educated husbands have full time jobs in all sorts of fields and support their wives and growing families and then send their young children to great yeshivas and Bais Yaakovs in turn continuing Torah life and many of them even support the full time Kollel yeshivas where they have family members and friends.

It is time for those who are suffering from the Shidduch Crisis from the point of view of having single daughters at home to consider broader options and help avoid the delay of their daughters to not only want full time Kollel learners, the valued Yissachers who uphold Limmud HaTorah (Torah learning), but to think of welcoming into their midst working boys who are worthy of being the true Zevuluns who practice Torah, Avoda, U’Gemilas Chasadim (Torah, service and loving kindness)!

Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin was born to Holocaust survivor parents in Israel, grew up in South Africa, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is an alumnus of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and of Teachers College–Columbia University. He heads the Jewish Professionals Institute dedicated to Jewish Adult Education and Outreach – Kiruv Rechokim. He was the Director of the Belzer Chasidim’s Sinai Heritage Center of Manhattan 1988–1995, a Trustee of AJOP 1994–1997 and founder of American Friends of South African Jewish Education 1995–2015. He is also a docent and tour guide at The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Downtown Manhattan, New York.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Israeli fighter Natan Levy beats up online troll who supports Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes

 

Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy during his fight with an online troll in Las Vegas

As only the third Israeli to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, Natan Levy is not afraid to showcase his Jewish identity in and out of the ring.

He gave himself the chance to do just that as he invited a follower of white supremacist provocateur Nick Fuentes to a fight that was filmed and posted to YouTube on Thursday.

Levy and the man, identified only as Ben, had dueled on Twitter before doing so in person.


“I’ll drive to Vegas any day of the week to spar you on behalf of Nicholas J. Fuentes and America First,” Ben wrote to Levy, referencing Fuentes’ online show where he regularly espouses antisemitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial.

Levy accepted Ben’s challenge, even offering to pay for his gas. (Last year, Levy had issued a similar warning to rapper Kanye West after he praised Hitler, telling him, “if you’ve got a problem with me or my people, come see me, bro.”)

In the video, Levy is shown greeting Ben at a mixed martial arts dojo in Las Vegas. Levy wears a shirt with his “Jew-Jitsu” nickname.

Ben explains to Levy that Fuentes is a leader of  the “America First” movement, which he describes as “a political movement based on furthering Christian values in the United States.” He says he was just “messing around” online and claims he is “not a hateful person.”

When Levy points out that Fuentes is a Holocaust denier, Ben says that Fuentes is merely a “revisionist.” And when Levy asks Ben how many Jews were killed in the Nazi genocide, Ben said, “I wouldn’t know that off the top of my head… they say six million.”

“He’s just a kid, probably a dumb kid,” Levy said to the camera before they step into the ring. “I’m not gonna hurt him too bad, but a lesson has to be taught here about trolling. Education is painful sometimes.”

They fight for two rounds, with Levy pinning Ben both times. At the end of the second bout, Ben can be heard saying “I’m sorry.”

After the fighting is over, Levy and Ben stood outside the ring, arms around each other, as Ben looks into the camera and says, “Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.” Levy corrects his verb choice, interjecting with “murdered,” before adding “F–k Nick Fuentes!”

Ben admitted he “needs to be more well-researched,” while Levy offered a warning: “This one wasn’t that painful. The next one will be twice as painful.”

The video then ends by showing Shimon Smotritsky, an Israeli mixed martial arts fighter, heading into the ring with another man, identified as Cee-Jay, who said he’s “not defending Nick Fuentes, I’m defending my friend’s honor.” Their fight doesn’t last long, but it ends in bloody fashion.

“Don’t talk sh–t about Jews, baby,” Smotritsky says with a wink.

5 Jewish facts about Guatemala’s new Hebrew-speaking president

 

Guatemala elected a new president on Sunday: Bernardo Arevalo, a center-left former congressman and son of a former president.

In an election that was marred by controversy — and included the government’s disqualifying of multiple opposition candidates — Arevalo was able to emerge victorious by running on an anti-corruption platform. He defeated Sandra Torres, a former first lady who many Guatemalans view as corrupt.

Decades-old statistics put the Jewish population of Guatemala, Central America’s most populous country, at about 900. But despite that small number, Guatemala’s president-elect has a unique history with Jews and Israel.

Here are five Jewish things to know about Arevalo:

Inside the SECRETIVE World of Jewish Matchmaking