Mom Shares Heartbreaking Warning After a Single Cookie Kills a Florida Teen

It should have been a moment of bliss for Florida teenager Alexi Stafford. Instead, a sweet indulgence proved fatal.

When 15-year-old Alexi Stafford reached into a package of Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies while she was at a friend’s house, she did not see that they contained an “added ingredient.”

That ingredient was Reese’s peanut butter.

“Our hearts are broken and we are still in shock. Our whole lives we dedicated to keeping our child safe from one ingredient, peanuts,” the young woman’s mother, Kellie Travers-Stafford, wrote Thursday on Facebook.

“On Monday June 25, our 15-year-old daughter, Alexi Ryann Stafford, while at a friend’s house, made a fatal choice,” she continued. “There was an open package of Chips Ahoy! cookies, the top flap of the package was pulled back and the packaging was too similar to what we had previously deemed ‘safe’ to her.”

“She ate one cookie of Chewy Chips Ahoy! thinking it was safe because of the ‘red’ packaging, only to find out too late that there was an added ingredient … Reese peanut butter cups/chips,” the mom went on. “She started feeling tingling in her mouth and came straight home. Her condition rapidly deteriorated.”

The mother then shared the terrible result: Her daughter had died due to her ingestion of the allergen.

“She went into anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing and [became] unconscious,” she said. “We administered 2 epi pens while she was conscious and waited on paramedics for what felt like an eternity. She died within 1 & 1/2 hour of eating the cookie.”

Travers-Stafford called for stricter packaging guidelines to help prevent more peanut allergen deaths like her daughter’s.

“As a mother who diligently taught her the ropes of what was OK to ingest and what was not, I feel lost and angry because she knew her limits and was aware of familiar packaging. She knew what ‘safe’ was,” she wrote. “A small added indication on the pulled back flap on a familiar red package wasn’t enough to call out to her that there was ‘peanut product’ in the cookies before it was too late.”

“I want to share our story with everyone because we want to spread awareness,” the mother added. “The company has different colored packaging to indicate chunky, chewy, or regular, but NO screaming warnings about such a fatal ingredient to many people. Especially children. It’s important to us to spread awareness so that this horrible mistake doesn’t happen again.”

The Chips Ahoy! brand responded to the controversy via its official Facebook page, as Medium reported.

“We take allergies very seriously and all of our products are clearly labeled on the information panel of the packaging for the major food allergens in the U.S. (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans),” the company said.

“Across our Chips Ahoy! product portfolio, packaging color is indicative of product texture (i.e.,Chewy, Chunky, Original) and is not indicative of the presence of allergens,” it continued.

“The packaging for Chips Ahoy! made with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups prominently indicates, on both the front and side panels, the presence of peanut butter cups through both words and visuals,” it went on.

“We always encourage consumers to read the packaging labeling when purchasing and consuming any of our products for information about product ingredients, including presence of allergens,” the company added.

The Stafford family is accepting donations for their daughter’s funeral and associated bereavement costs through GoFundMe.

PBS Interview Reveals Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has No Clue What the H She is Talking About in Reference to Israel

Go to Minute 18:26 in the video above. The host, Margaret Hoover, asks: What is your position on Israel?

Ocasio-Cortez: Well, I believe absolutely in Israel’s right to exist. I am a proponent of the two state solution. And for me this is not a referendum I think on the state of Israel. For me, the lens through which I saw this incident, as an activist, as an organizer: If 60 people were killed in Ferguson, Missouri, if 60 people were killed in the South Bronx– unarmed– 60 people were killed in Puerto Rico, I just look at that incident more through– through just, as an incident and to me it would just be completely unacceptable if that happened on our shores. But–

Hoover: Of course the dynamic there in terms of geo politics and the Middle East is very different from people expressing their First Amendment right to protest.

Ocasio-Cortez: Well, yes, but I also think that what people are starting to see in the occupation of Palestine is just an increasing crisis of humanitarian conditions and that to me is just where I tend to come from on this issue.

Hoover: You use the term the occupation of Palestine, what did you mean by that?

Ocasio-Cortez: Oh– I think, what I meant is that the settlements that are increasing in some of these areas and places where Palestinians are experiencing difficulty in access to housing and homes.

Hoover: Do you think you can expand on that?

Ocasio-Cortez: Yeah I think — I am not the expert on geo-politics on this issue. You now, for me, I’m a firm believer in finding a two-state solution in this issue. And I’m happy to sit down with leaders on both of these… for me, I just look at things through a human rights lens, and I may not use the right words– I know this is a very intense issue.

Hoover: That’s very honest and you’re gong to — and when you get to Washington and you’re an elected member of Congress you’ll have an opportunity to talk to people on all sides and visit Israel and visit the West Bank.

Ocasio-Cortez: Absolutely. And especially with the district that I represent, I come from the South Bronx, I come from a Puerto Rican background. And Middle Eastern politics is not exactly at my kitchen table every night. But I also recognize that this is an intensely-important issue for people in my district, for Americans across the country. And I think at least what is important to communicate is that I am willing to listen. And that I’m willing to learn and evolve on this issue as I think many Americans are.

Ex-Neturei Karta leader's daughter gets top honors at university

The daughter of a Charedi rabbi from Antwerp was among eight recipients of a special distinction for excellence from one of Belgium’s largest colleges.

Rezi Friedman, who graduated this year with a bachelor’s degree in child psychology, received the Karel de Grote University College’s annual Grote Award on Saturday night, the Het Laatste Nieuws daily reported.

Although she grew up in one of the world’s most insular Charedi communities, Rezi Friedman said at the award ceremony: “My Jewish faith was never an obstacle. I never had to go against my religion.”

Karel de Grote University College has 12,000 students and is made up of more than a dozen smaller colleges.

Rezi Friedman is the daughter of Moshe Aryeh Friedman, a 45-year-old Brooklyn native. He has been excommunicated in Vienna and later in Antwerp for his anti-Israel views and legal fights against representatives of Belgian Jewry. “I am of course very proud of my daughter,” he told JTA.

Moshe Friedman was criticized by many in the Jewish community in 2006 for his participation in a Holocaust revisionist conference in Tehran, the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust. At the time, Friedman argued that number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust had been greatly exaggerated, and was likely one million, rather than the six million generally accepted by mainstream historians.

In 2013, he enrolled his two boys in a Charedi all-girls school to challenge gender segregation at such institutions that are recognized by the Belgian authorities.

“Even some of my enemies told me that my daughter’s bringing an honor to the community with this award, it offsets the anger from these fights,” he said.

Beit Shemesh Fanatics Declare War On Teenagers that are "Off the Derech"

The fanatics of Beit Shemesh declared war on the "shabavnikim" (OTD Teenagers)  who sit and spend their time in the neighborhood, which they claim is damaging to local youth.

During the night (Monday), the Fanatics arrived on Nahar Yarden Street, corner of Rival, the area where the dropout youths gather nightly, instructing them to leave the area.

Bechadrei Chareidim reports two young men were injured during the fight and were taken to a hospital in Jerusalem for treatment. Beit Shemesh police officers who were called arrested one of those involved in the fight. The police opened an investigation to locate those involved in the violence.

The crazed fanatics intend to continue to confront the dropout youths who wander around the neighborhood.

Trump invaded Europe and let them know who's boss.

Later they kissed and made up. But before that, at that NATO summit in Brussels, President Trump let them know who’s boss.

No more rolling over…and while he was respectful to the Queen, and contrary to the habits of his predecessor, he did not bow.

He focused on Angela Merkel, since she represents them all. He schooled her for double-dealing – that pipeline to Russia that puts Germany at the mercy of Putin who can turn off the energy spigot any time he wants, and then who ya gonna call? The United States, of course, which will have to come to the rescue, as usual.

Which is why the 28 heads of the EU circle around Trump like small trembling fish around a Whale. Twice before America had to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

So Merkel makes that deal with Russia and then expects the United States to continue paying most of the tab for NATO, which exists as a deterrent against Russia.

To which Trump says – Are you nuts?

If not in so many words, and in the end, it was all patched up. It was agreed that NATO is solid and that the United States can always be counted on as a friend.

But Europe will have to start paying its fair share.

Though a particular French diplomat – perhaps horrified that Trump was using the wrong fork – was heard saying he resents being pushed around.

He said it (like Trudeau once did) after Trump left the meeting. Funny how brave they get when Trump is out of sight.

Vintage Photos of R' Yoel Teitelbaum Founder of Satmar Chassidus

Photo Credit: Shmuel Knopfler 

The Satmar Rebbe kissing a Sefer Torah that has a Magen David on its cover... photo was taken in 1948 when the State of Israel was established!

Photo credit: Shmuel Knopfler

Above photo depicts R' Yoel Teitelbaum for the very first time after his escape on the Kastner Train.

R" Moshe Gross supplied him with new clothes. Notice the Rebbe wearing boots like the Skverer Chassidim. 

Rabbi Borland The Breslover Being Worshipped Like the Golden Calf!

International observer slaps Jewish boy in Hebron

A member of a monitor group in Hebron was ordered on Friday by the Foreign Ministry to immediately leave Israel after video showed him slapping a child from the West Bank city’s Jewish settler community on Wednesday.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z"l called Ashkenazim who do not shower in the nine days "donkeys"

מצות ישיבת ארץ ישראל

מצות ישיבת ארץ ישראל

בצלאל נאור

א]

רבי אבא הוה קא משתמיט מיניה דרב יהודה, דהוה קא בעי למיסק לארעא דישראל, דאמר רב יהודה, כל העולה מבבל לארץ ישראל עובר בעשה, שנאמר "בבלה יובאו ושמה יהיו עד יום פקדי אותם נאום ה' [והעליתים והשיבותים אל המקום הזה]" [ירמיה כז, כב].

אמר, איזיל ואשמע מיניה מילתא מבית וועדא והדר אפיק. אזל¹ אשכחיה לתנא דקתני קמיה דרב יהודה, היה עומד בתפלה ונתעטש, ממתין עד שיכלה הרוח וחוזר ומתפלל. איכא דאמרי, היה עומד בתפלה ובקש להתעטש, מרחיק לאחריו ארבע אמות ומתעטש, וממתין עד שיכלה הרוח, וחוזר ומתפלל ואומר, "רבונו של עולם, יצרתנו נקבים נקבים, חלולים חלולים. גלוי וידוע לפניך חרפתנו וכלימתנו בחיינו, ובאחריתנו רימה ותולעה". ומתחיל ממקום שפסק.

אמר ליה, אילו לא באתי אלא לשמוע דבר זה, דיי!

(ברכות כד, ב)

An author predicts Diaspora Jewry’s death, at the hands of Tikkun Olam liberals

Liberal Jews in the United States have “distorted” Jewish teachings to align with a narrow political agenda, according to the author of a new book called, “To Heal the World? How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel.”

Published on June 26, the book “sets out to slaughter the sacred cow of Tikkun Olam, at whose udder too many unlearned Jews have suckled,” according to author Jonathan Neumann. He blames American Jewry’s leaders for not only reinventing aspects of their ancient heritage, but also for causing damage to Israel by aligning with groups hostile to the Jewish state.

For much of the book, Neumann explains how the concept of Tikkun Olam — or “repair the world” — has been co-opted by liberal Jews to advance their vision of “social justice.” The author claims that based partly on a reading of isolated words in the Hebrew prayer “Aleynu,” a generation of American Jews have come to equate their religion with a commandment to tackle all of society’s ills.

Calling this application of Tikkun Olam “the bastardization of an ancient civilization,” Neumann claims the movement “was conceived by Jews who had rejected the faith of their fathers, and midwifed by radicals who saw it as a pretext to appropriate Jewish texts and corrupt religious rituals — such as the seder — to further political ends.”

Peter Strzok’s arrogance is the product of a corrupt FBI

Watching FBI agent Peter Strzok battle with Congress, my initial reaction was pure anger. His repeated, arrogant insistence that he had done nothing wrong despite tons of evidence to the contrary convinced me he deserved immediate firing — if not the firing squad.

Gradually, though, anger gave way to amazement as Strzok grew increasingly combative and condescending. Given his predicament, the sneering and smirking were stupid, and yet he persisted.

Who is this jerk, I wondered, and how in the hell did he get to be a big shot at the FBI? And why are taxpayers still paying for the privilege of his malignant presence on the FBI payroll?

My answers can be summarized in four names: James Comey, Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray. They are chief culprits in the death of public trust in the Department of Justice.

The cause of death was murder, and it was an inside job.

Parshat Matot-Masei ...

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler
This weeks double portion of the Parshiot how the Jews finally cross the Jordan River on their way to conquer the Promised Land. The tribes of Gad, Reuven and half the tribe of Menashe possess a great multitude of cattle, and “paradise” for cattle is good grazing land, which happens to be what these two and a half tribes find in their present nlocation of Trans-Jordan. They then petition Moses with a special request. “If you would grant us a favor, let this land be given to us as our permanent property, and do not bring us across the Jordan.” (Bamidbar 32:5)

Explosion At Strzok Hearing As GOP Reps Clash With Anti-Trump FBI Agent

Avraham Abish Goldberg Killed in Bobover Camp on a Hike

טרגדיה קשה: הבחור אברהם אבוש גולדברג ז"ל, בן 21 נפטר באופן פתאומי, עת ששהה בקעמפ "המתיבתא" של חסידות באבוב בהרי הקטסקילס שבניו ג'רזי.

ל'בחדרי חרדים' נודע, כי הבחור יצא לטייל במרחבי הקעמפ, כשלפתע מעד במקום אין איש, לאחר שנתקל באבן. הוא לא הצליח לקום וגם לא הצליח להזעיק עזרה וכעבור זמן הוא נפטר.

המנוח ז"ל, הינו בנו של הרב החסיד ר' אלכסנדר זושא גולדברג מחשובי חסידי באבוב בבורו פארק. הוא נודע כבחור שקט ועדין נפש, שישב ושקד על התורה בדיבוק חברים שאהבו והעריצו אותו.

הלוויתו יצאה אמש (שלישי) מבית המדרש הגדול של חסידות באבוב ברחוב ה-48 בשכונת בורו פארק שבברוקלין. בהלוויה השתתפו קהל רב מבני החסידות ומתושבי השכונה אשר הגיעו לחלוק כבוד לבחור הצעיר שהלך לעולמו בדמי ימיו ולא זכה להשאיר אחריו זש"ק.

Avrahanm Abish Goldberg, a 21-year-old Bobover Chasid got killed by a falling rock while he was hiking by himself near the Bobover Camp. 

The levayeh took place yesterday in front of the Bobover Bais Ha'Midrash on 48th street in Boro Park!

Avraham Abish was the son of R' Alaxander Zusha Goldberg, a Chushiver Bobover Chasid.

Two fresh faces from NY – and both are dangerous

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Does it make me sexist if I refer to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a pretty woman? 

Well she sure is prettier than Rep. Joe Crowley, the Dem heavyweight she beat for District 14, which makes this femme fatale a rising star for the Party, and she did not do it on looks alone. The lady is young, witty, smart, and most definitely anti-Semitic.

That makes her a shoo-in when she runs as a self-described Democratic Socialist. The Bernie Sanders wing, which includes Keith Ellison and Tom Perez – they love that type. They love it even more when she talks dirty like Farrakhan, blaming the Jews for everything. Just listen to her. She knows the whole story about that and everything else, and she’s only 28.

No doubt about it – she is a quick learner from the schools that brought us Obama’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who preached hatred of America and Israel Sunday to Sunday.

But that was Chicago, that toddling town, and we’re talking New York. If you can make it there, ask Sinatra, you can make it anywhere.

So cue Ocasio-Cortez as she says – “I don’t think he knows how to deal with a girl from the Bronx.”

She meant Trump, of course – and notice, she said GIRL. I didn’t. So all bets are off.

Told you she was witty, and about that other girl running for high office – Cynthia Nixon, aiming to unseat Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- let Dershowitz fill us in.

Cynthia Nixon

As follows from a tweet:

“Cynthia Nixon may run for Gov of NY. She has collaborated with Israel haters Jewish Voice for Peace and Vanessa Redgrave in boycotting Israel. Do not support her bigotry.”

Hikind After Boro Park Doctor Who Allegedly Abused Children

 

Allegations of possible improprieties have surfaced against a Borough Park doctor, according to an elected official from Brooklyn.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind took to Twitter this morning to announce that his office is looking into possible instances of abuse perpetuated by “a prominent Boro Park doctor.”

Hikind said that he first began researching the matter after being contacted by two separate people and has spoken with a number of potential victims in alleged instances that took place as far back as approximately ten years ago. All of the reported incidents involve the same physician who Hikind declined to identify at this time.

Since his tweet was posted this morning, several other people have reached out to his office, said Hikind, who hopes others who have been abused will follow suit.

“We need to get the message out there,” Hikind told VIN News. “People need to know that if something inappropriate happened to them they can’t and they shouldn’t run away. You can’t just turn your back on what happened to you because it is going to happen to someone else. This has been going on for so many years and we cannot let this go on any more.”

Hikind said he plans to continue looking into this matter, and any others, even if it extends past the end of his final term in office.

“I am committed to this for years ahead,” said Hikind. “If anyone thinks that after January 1st I will not be around, they are very sadly mistaken. I will be around even more than ever and, as always, I continue protecting the privacy of anyone who reaches out to me.”

The assemblyman is asking anyone with firsthand information of any improprieties to contact his office at hikindnews@gmail.com or at 718-853-9616. 

All names and information will be kept strictly confidential.

Fanaticism & The Covenant of Peace ...

Parshas Pinchos 

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

Fanaticism, particularly when garbed in the clothing of myopic fundamentalism, rarely evokes in us a sympathetic bent. How could it, given its association with an an uncontrollable zeal and violence for the sake of heaven?

But when we turn to the opening of this week’s portion, the Torah lauds Pinchas for zealously killing a Jewish man and a Midianite woman in the very heat of their sexual passion as they recklessly defy Hashem's command. For responding so quickly and decisively, we read that, “Hashem spoke to Moses saying, Pinchas, a son of Elazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, was the one who zealously took up my
cause among the Israelites and turned My anger away from them …Therefore tell him that I have given him My covenant of peace…” (Bamidbar 25:10-12)

The Torah summation is certainly one of praise and approbation. Indeed, Pinchas’ full genealogy is presented in this sequence; we are also given the name of his father as well as of his grandfather, Aaron the high priest, indicating that the Torah wants to underscore his linkage to Aaron, “lover and pursuer of peace”. Moreover, both grand-father and grand-son succeeded in stopping plagues sent by the
Almighty to punish the Israelites.

Hikind Tells Off Cryi'n Schumer

Open Letter by Dov Hikind to Cry'in Schumer

DEMOCRAT HIKIND RESPONDS TO SCHUMER’S PLEA FOR DONATIONS WITH ‘HELL NO!’

COUNTERS SLAM ON ‘HARD RIGHT AGENDA’ WITH UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS ABOUT ‘HARD LEFT’

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D, Brooklyn) said he recently received a mailer from fellow Democrat, Senator Charles Schumer asking for contributions. The letter was riddled with attacks on the “hard right” but omitted vital information. In an open letter to Schumer, Hikind filled in the blanks.

“Senator Schumer, in your letter you promise to fight for Democratic values and go on at great length to fully villainize the current administration, but you left out certain facts that my fellow Democrats, to say nothing of all Americans, should also be aware of.

“You forgot to tell us about the economy. As good as it’s been, economists expect even more growth through the end of the year. That’s very good news, Senator.

Israelis Have One Of The Highest Life Expectancies Worldwide

A report released by the Israeli Ministry of Health that compares Israeli health care to that of the 33 other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries revealed that Israel’s average life expectancy is among the highest in the world. While the average OECD life expectancy is 80.8 years, the average Israeli lives 82.5 years, with women reaching an average of 84.2 years old and men 80.7.

Clouds Stolen from Iran Discovered in Jerusalem

Perhaps the Iranian claim that Israel stole their rain clouds is justified.

While walking in downtown Jerusalem, past the Italian Quarter, we couldn’t help but notice the clouds that were tied up to the buildings It didn’t take a genius to realize that these must be the missing clouds that the Iranian general claimed were stolen from them by Israel.

First Lady Visits a Kid's 'Concentration Camp in Arizona

92-year-old woman 'kills son' because he tried to put her in an assisted living facility

A 92-year old woman allegedly shot dead her son after he tried to put her in an assisted living facility.

Anna Mae Blessing, of Fountain Hills, Arizona, appeared in court, in a wheelchair and orange jumpsuit, to face charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. 

She shot her 72-year-old son Thomas dead on Tuesday with one of two weapons she stored under her bed in her room in his girlfriend's condo. 

They moved her there six months ago and Anna had become worried that the pair were plotting to move her into a home.  

On Monday morning, Blessing hid two pistols inside her house robe and walked into her son's room and show him twice.

One bullet struck his neck and the other pierced his jaw. 

She then turned the gun towards her son's girlfriend, who has not been named, but the 57-year-old was able to wrestle it out of her hands.   

It was at that point, Blessing allegedly reached into her robe pocked and pulled out her second weapon, which the girlfriend also managed to wrestle out of her hand.

All out of guns, Blessing simply took a seat in a recliner chair and waited for the police to arrived.

As she was arrested, she announced: 'You ended my life, so I'm taking yours.' 

Israel Hit By Second Earthquake in 24 Hours; Emergency Teams

A second earthquake in less than 24-hours rattled Israel’s north and central regions on Wednesday night. Reports in the Israeli media listed the quake as a 4.3 on the Richter scale, eclipsing the one felt earlier in the day which ranked at 4.1. The epicenter of the quake was listed as being close to the border with Syria and Jordan just south of the Golan Heights.

Worried citizens who felt the quake contacted emergency services and reported feeling the tremors. One rescue service, United Hatzalah issued the following statement:

“United Hatzalah Dispatch and Command Center hotline of 1221 fielded dozens of calls by concerned citizens reporting feeling an earthquake in Israel’s north and central regions.

As of the time of this message, no physical injuries have been reported. United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Team, which provides emotional and psychological stabilization to anyone suffering emotional or psychological stress or trauma, has been instructed to put all volunteers in the north and center of the country on standby in order to provide immediate assistance to anyone who needs it

Hailen Schacher MISSING in the Mountains!

A 17-year-old Jewish teen has gone missing in Ulster County, and police have released details to the public.

Missing is 17-year-old Hailen M. Schacher of Ellenville, NY. She was last seen on Monday. She is 5 foot 6, 120 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a necklace with a Magen David on it, and a black color watch.

She has an illness which requires her to take her medication.

If you have any information that can assist police, please call the Ellenville Police Department at 845-647-4422.

It should be noted that although Catskills Hatzolah is involved in the search, it remains a law enforcement search as of this time, and no official search has been organized. Hatzolah stresses that people should not be offering assistance, but just to keep their eyes and ears open if they see this individual

Reform Rabbis remove 'Aleinu' prayer because it Offends Goyim

The Israeli Reform movement has decided to expunge a prayer recited by Jews for thousands of years due to concerns that it is offensive to non-Jews.

According to the Hebrew-language Makor Rishon newspaper, the Israeli Reform movement is in the final stages of editing a new prayer book. The culmination of four years of labor, the new prayer book will replace the previous edition that was last edited in 1982.

The updated liturgy will also include major alterations to the classical 'Aleinu' prayer. Recited by Jews at the end of its thrice-daily prayers for over a millennium, the prayer thanks God for creating the Jewish people and proclaims the supremacy of the traditional Jewish belief system.

The wording of the prayer upset Jerusalem's Kol Haneshama Reform congregation, who decided to phase out parts that dismissed non-Jewish belief systems after deciding that it was "problematic".

According to Reform spiritual leader Alona Lisitsa, who teaches at their Hebrew Union College's Jerusalem campus, the changes were made in order to render the prayers less disparaging towards non-Jews. "This is a historic procedure for the movement," she told Makor Rishon. "We tend to replace the prayer that is formulated with negative language to a prayer that is formulated with positive language."

Professor Dalia Marx, who is tasked with overseeing the prayer book, maintained the alternations were strictly cosmetic and did not change Aleinu's meaning. "We don't feel that we need to bring down others or nullify others in order to cite our uniqueness," she told 103FM's Eral Segal in an interview on Wednesday.

"To recite that 'they bow to nothingness and vanity and pray to a God that does not save' means that their belief is worth nothing," Marx added.

Traditionally believed to have been written by the biblical leader Joshua, the Aleinu prayer had been altered in the past by medieval European Jewish communities, who feared that the phrases belittling other religions brought on mortal danger by their wrathful Christian neighbors.

Other than the Aleinu prayer, the Reform prayer book will feature other changes as well, such as featuring contemporary Israeli poetry and returning elements of the Shabbat liturgy that had been left out in the previous edition.

Chassidim Play the "not sitting near women" Game with Austrian Airlines

The pilot of an Austrian Airlines flight had to leave the cockpit and convince several women to change their seats after haredi Orthodox men refused to sit next to female passengers.

The Friday morning flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna left 40 minutes late and was delayed for another half hour in Austrian airspace after failing to miss the morning rush hour, Ynet reported.

The 26 haredi men had been scheduled to fly to Vienna on the Polish national airline LOT, but when that flight was cancelled moved to the Austrian Airlines flight.

Stewardesses on the flight reportedly tried to convince the men to take their assigned seats but those next to women refused. Eventually, the pilot came out and convinced several women to move their seats, Ynet reported.

Austrian Airlines said in a statement: “We regret any inconvenience which may have been caused to our passengers. The flight was delayed due to the boarding and seating of passengers of the LOT airline whose flight had been cancelled and who boarded the plane at the last moment. Since it was a large group of passengers, 26 people, the cabin crew did everything in its power to help the passengers as much as it could.”

The incident comes a week after an El Al flight from New York to Israel was delayed by more than an hour after four haredi Orthodox men refused to take their assigned seats next to women. Two women eventually agreed to change their seats in order to allow the flight to take off.

Days later, the company CEO announced that the airline will “immediately” remove any passenger who refuses to sit next to another passenger for any reason, hours after a major Israeli tech company announced it would no longer fly its employees on the airline due to gender discrimination.

One year ago, an Israeli court ruled that El Al cannot ask women to move seats to accommodate a man who does not want to sit next to a woman. The court was responding to a lawsuit filed by a female Holocaust survivor in her 80s.

Amir PeleegJewish Man Killed in Florida two kids fighting for the lives UPDATED!!!!!!!!!!!

One person was killed when the driver of a car lost control on Collins Avenue and slammed into a bus stop bench Sunday night in Sunny Isles Beach, police said.

The 911 calls started pouring in just after 8 p.m.

Officials said a van was headed north on Collins Avenue when it veered onto the sidewalk and struck two adults and two children standing near the bus stop.

"I went southbound and I saw a body laying here, covered in the yellow tarp, and I saw a baby stroller here," witness Michael Schnitzler said. "It made me cry. It's -- it's a tragedy."

Police said one of the adults was pronounced dead at the scene. The rest of the victims were airlifted to area hospitals.

Schnitzler, who lives nearby, said a valet attendant told him he heard the children crying out for help after the crash.

"He told me that right after the accident, he heard people screaming, and a baby crying, 'Mommy, Mommy,'" Schnitzler said.

Though it's unclear what caused the driver of the vehicle to lose control, that person remained at the scene and is cooperating, investigators said.

The northbound lanes of Collins Avenue were closed from 163rd Street to 178th Street for hours after the crash.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Amir Pelleg, his wife Zulma, and their young daughters Aviva and Ariella had gone to the Gilbert Samson Oceanfront Park across from their Sunny Isles Beach home on Sunday evening and were waiting at a bus stop to cross Collins Avenue at 174th at approximately 8 PM when they were hit by a driver in his mid twenties.

Pelleg, a 33 year old associate legal counsel for Kayne Anderson Real Estate, died of his injuries.  Zulma Pelleg and her two daughters were airlifted to local hospitals with serious injuries but are expected to recover.

The driver of the late model Honda Odyssey was identified as 26-year-old Joseph Franco, according to ABC News (http://bit.ly/2z6obri).  Franco remained on scene and tested negative for alcohol.  The Sunny Isles Beach Police Department is continuing its investigation of the crash, including whether the driver may have been distracted when the accident occurred.

Fast of Tammuz: Area Set Aside for Reform Jews At The Kotel ..... empty

Amid attempts to approve a plan that would see the expansion of the mixed Western Wall prayer section at Robinson’s Arch, pictures from Fast of Tammuz prayers are being published this morning at the Western Wall, showing the plaza empty.

The pictures, published by Hadashot Kotel Ha’maravi, point to the futile debate between the Reform community in Israel and the United States against the traditional position that prayers should not be allowed at the Western Wall without separation of men and women.

"It's strange that the Reform is fighting for mixed prayer at the Western Wall even as, on one of the days most identified with the destruction of the Temple they are not there, not one of them. That needs to be looked into,” a source from the haredi parties said this morning.

A special ministerial committee will soon convene to approve the expansion of the “Israel Plaza” located on the southern side of the Western Wall.

The meeting of the committee will be possible after the authority of the chair of the committee is transferred from Minister Regev to the Prime Minister. Later, the Knesset will be required to vote on the matter.