NO SHUL, YESHIVAS, SHABBOS GUESTS, LEVAYOS, SHIVA: Vaad Harabanim of Bergen County Releases Letter

Dear Friends,

We are writing with an important update regarding COVID-19 and the ongoing health situation in our community.

Last night, the rabbis of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County (RCBC), the presidents of our shuls, and the heads of our local schools gathered to meet with representatives of local government, including the Teaneck Department of Health and expert physicians from our three local hospitals: Englewood Health, Hackensack University Medical Center, and Holy Name Medical Center.

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Jews Worldwide may Miss Last Chance to Return to Israel as Prophesied in Deuteronomy

By Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler 

Amidst news that, due to the coronavirus,  all passengers landing in Israel must enter a 14-day quarantine period, hundreds of flights to Israel have been canceled and El Al, Israel’s flag-carrying airline placed 80% of its workforce on unpaid leave, open access to Israel can no longer be taken for granted.

For tourists, especially those who had trips to Israel planned for the upcoming Passover and Easter seasons, these restrictions are an inconvenience, perhaps even a costly one. The ultimate economic impact on Israel’s tourism industry is just beginning to be felt.

Arguably, the group that stands to lose the most are Jews who do not yet live in Israel.

Breaking Israel News spoke to several well-known advocates of aliyah (immigration to Israel), each of whom spends countless hours encouraging Jews to return to their ancestral homeland.

Josh Wander, founder of the Bring Them Home project calls himself a Redemption Expediter. He Breaking Israel News, “Perhaps for the first time in recent history, we have a situation in which Jews that are here in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) are not going to leave for Pesach (Passover) and the Jews that are in chutz l’aretz (outside the Land of Israel) are going to say L’shana Haba B’Yerushalyim (Next Year in Jerusalem! – a phrase recited at the end of every Passover seder) and actually mean it.

“Thousands of Jews that would have come to Israel during the Pesach holiday are being restricted from doing so.

“This could be a sign for those Jews for times to come that there will be a time when the doors will not be open to Israel and this is their chance to make aliyah while they can.

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Trump Takes on Coronavirus With Bravery and Dignity

Big and bold, optimistic and compassionate. President Trump’s Oval Office address was exactly what America needed to hear

This is what it looks like when a president rises up to meet a crisis head-on.

With fear and panic spreading across the land and threatening to take down the economy, Trump is facing the greatest test of his presidency. Although battle-hardened by brutal fights with Democrats, the biased media and foreign adversaries, he is presented with problems of a different magnitude with the coronavirus.

It is a global menace that has declared war on America. Truth be told, sometimes in recent weeks, the president has appeared to be a reluctant commander in chief.

Thankfully, as of Wednesday night, that reluctance is history, replaced by a president who left no doubt that he is all in on the battle against this deadly scourge. Now effectively a wartime president, Trump’s repeated assurances of victory were music to the ears of a rattled nation.
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Easy Personal Pizzas While You're Home Being Quarantined

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Assemblyman Eichenstein: Eliminate Driver’s License Suspension Due To Unpaid Fines

Is your driver’s license valid? It may not be. In the last 28 months, New York issued nearly 1.7 million driver’s license suspensions for not paying traffic tickets. That is nearly two thirds of all license suspensions in New York.

New York State lawmakers are saying enough is enough. A new bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter and co-sponsored by Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein seeks to amend the vehicle and traffic law so that drivers who owe unpaid fines will not face arbitrary license suspension.

“License suspension has significant adverse consequences,” said Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein. “Without a driver’s license a person cannot drive to work or to school or even to court to pay their fine. It’s an unfair and unjust practice that’s been going on for too long and I’m proud to be co-sponsoring Assemblywoman Hunter’s legislation.”

Currently, those who continue to drive with a suspended licenses, even unknowingly, risk criminal charges and more unaffordable fines and fees. Assemblyman Eichenstein pointed out that this is totally unnecessary and unproductive. Instead, this legislation would end traffic debt suspensions and make affordable payment plans available to help pay fees that are owed. That would considerably reduce prosecution and arrests, allowing law enforcement and the courts to focus on more serious crimes and on drivers who pose an actual danger on the roads.

This proposed legislation is gaining momentum in the State Assembly, as legislators are eager to see license suspensions curtailed.

“Let’s keep our safe and responsible drivers on the roads instead of being embroiled in needless and wasteful court appearances,” said Assemblyman Eichenstein. “This new legislation would represent a victory for all New York drivers.”

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Trump Cancels All US Travel From Europe Except U.K.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is suspending all travel between the U.S. and Europe for 30 days beginning Friday as he seeks to combat a viral pandemic.

Trump made the announcement in an Oval Office address to the nation, blaming the European Union for not acting quickly enough to address the “foreign virus” and saying U.S. clusters were “seeded” by European travelers.

“We made a lifesaving move with early action on China,” Trump said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.”

Trump said the restrictions won’t apply to the United Kingdom and the U.S. would monitor the situation to determine if travel could be reopened earlier.

Trump said he was also directing agencies to provide unspecified financial relief for “for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus,” and asked Congress to take action to extend it.

Trump said the U.S. will will defer tax payments for some individual and business filers for three months to lessen the impacts of the virus outbreak. He said the Small Business Administration will also make low-interest loans available to businesses to help them weather the storm.

“This is not a financial crisis,” he said. “This just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.”

Trump also reiterated his call on Congress to pass a cut to the federal payroll tax in order to stimulate the economy.

Trump said “we are marshaling the full power” of the government and private sector to protect the American people.

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In Israel: No Chasunahs, Shuls, Batei Mdrashim or Any Gathering With More Than 100 People Allowed

Israel is limiting public events in closed areas to 100 people as part of increasingly strict measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in the country, PM Netanyahu announced Wednesday evening.

The ban includes Shuls, Batei Midrashim, and weddings, the Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman-Tov elaborated.

On Tuesday, Israel limited the gatherings to a maximum of 2,000 people, a substantial decrease from the previously allowed number of 5,000 people.
The new instructions means that studies in universities might be postponed

Netanyahu also said that younger people are not in danger from the virus, but older people are, and thus its spread must be prevented.

“If you get sick and you’re in your 20s or 30s,” he said, “you’ll get better. But if we can’t prevent the spread, we’ll infect the older people — and they’re in much greater danger… I’m talking about their lives…We have to look after dad and grandpa and grandma.

“With God’s help and everybody’s cooperation, we’ll beat this,” he said.

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Bnei Brak Yeshivah Teaches Arabs How to Shoot Missiles ....

This is against the law in Israel, and against the  local law of Bnei-Brak

But Yeshivah students that learn Torah don't give a damn

One boy blew his fingers off .... but even after the word went out that there was a major injury 

..they continued

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Two-week isolation ordered for all who enter Israel

All people entering Israel from abroad will be required to spend 14 days in home isolation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. The measure became effective at 8 p.m. Monday night.

“After a day of complex discussions, we have made a decision: 
Whoever arrives in Israel from abroad will enter quarantine for 14 days,” Netanyahu said in a video statement Monday as 50 Israelis were diagnosed with coronavirus. “This is a difficult decision but it is essential to maintaining public health, which takes precedence over everything.
The message came less than an hour after Israel’s Health Ministry announced that three more people were diagnosed with coronavirus: patients No. 40, 41 and 42. It also came two hours before patients No. 43 through 50 were announced.

“This decision will be in effect for two weeks,” he continued. “At the same time, we will make decisions to safeguard the Israeli economy.”

Specifically, the isolation requirement applies to both Israelis and foreign travelers alike. No non-citizens will be able to enter Israel without proving they have a place to stay out their quarantine.

Tourists who are already in Israel will be given a few days to organize their flights back home.

The Health Ministry is asking that these tourists follow five guidelines: 

1) Call Magen David Adom if they experience any symptoms; 
2) pay careful attention to their personal hygiene; 
3) stay away from public gatherings; 
4) understand that they cannot leave and then return to the country and; 5) report on their whereabouts while in Israel.
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Delta Airlines temporarily suspends flights to Israel

Delta Airlines officially announced Tuesday that it is suspending its operations for the New York - Tel Aviv line from March 14 to March 24.

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Two Authors Predicted The Coronavirus Outbreak Years Before It Arrived

Two novelists may have predicted the Covid-19 Coronavirus outbreak long before it took place. In 1981, author Dean Koontz wrote a thriller called The Eyes Of Darkness. 

In the book, he describes a killer virus named ‘Wuhan-400’ after the Chinese city it originated in — the same city where COVID-19 was first reported. 

While there are numerous differences between the virus that Koontz describes and the one current creating a global epidemic, the similarities that exist are uncanny. 

One of the big differences between the two is the virus that Koontz described was developed as a weapon and has a death rate of 100%. The Coronavirus only has a death rate of about 2 percent.

Another author, Sylvia Browne, who died seven years ago, wrote in 2008 a book that visualized almost exactly the current Coronavirus. 

The book was titled “The End Of Days Predictions and Prophecies About The End Of The World” and it described a virus that very much resembled pneumonia and would have an outbreak in the year 2020. The virus spread quickly across the globe and would affect people’s lungs and their ability to breathe. The virus would be impervious to all treatments known to modern medicine. It would baffle doctors. Browne envisioned that the disease would disappear as quickly as it arrived and would only resurface a decade later before disappearing forever.

Browne claimed to be a medium with psychic abilities.

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Chag Purim Samaich!

Transgender Chusid??

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Benny Ganz's Partner In a Coalition Wants To Abolish "Law of Return"

Joint Arab List Aida Touma-Suleiman stated on Sunday that one of the conditions her party will present to support any coalition would be the repeal of the Law of Return.

The Joint Arab List, an alliance comprising the Arab or mostly Arab parties: Balad, Ra'am-Ta'al, and Hadash, won 15 parliament seats in the March 2 general elections. Although coalition talks have yet to begin, it is widely believed that the Arab lawmakers would most likely support Likud challenger Blue and White leader Benny Gantz for prime minister.

The Law of Return, passed in 1950, gives every Jew the right to come and live in Israel and to gain Israeli citizenship.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Touma-Suleiman reiterated the demand, originally presented by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, saying, "I don't think the Law of Return is needed anymore. Anyone who wanted to return to Israel has already done so. Those who chose to live in the US or France have already made their choice.

"The law is unnecessary. At the time, it greatly wronged my people, but now it's time to rethink it – and many other things."

She further stressed that the Joint Arab List "will not support anyone who supports the [Trump administration's] 'deal of the century.'"

Asked whether she recognizes Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, Touma-Suleiman replied, "We have been excluded from the civil collective of the State of Israel. We were marginalized and ignored. If that's what you call a Jewish state then yes, I want to change it. I suggest that you decide among yourselves what is a 'Jewish state' first. "

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Shul in Yerushalyim Goes to the Dogs

Southern Jerusalem is famous for its variety of progressive synagogue options, but one congregation has can claim its bark is worse than its bite.

"Kehilat Kelev" bills itself as Israel’s first dog-friendly congregation. “Pet-ition God with your pet by your side,” the shul’s website proudly proclaims.

Chairs at the egalitarian shul are arranged with extra space between them so that prayer-goers have room for extra paws among the pews. A separate section with more tightly packed seating is designated for members with lap dogs.

"Kehilat Kelev" ups the ante over notoriously dog-affable Tel Aviv, where it’s common to find man’s best friend welcome in the trendiest of restaurants.

Midway through services, dogs are invited to leave the building for “Tefilat Klavim” – aka the dog service. There, the dogregants are pampered for 45 minutes with a trip to the nearby park where tummy rubs are dispensed along with rebbe-themed games of fetch. (“Rashi says, ‘go long.’”)

The portion of the week is explained in dog-appropriate language. Snacks are brought in a doggie bag and a dog kiddush concludes the service before the dogs return excitedly to their owners and “the prayer for the welfare of dogs” is recited.

The highlight of "Kehilat Kelev’s" programming for pets is when a bark mitzvah takes place. Dogs that are turning 13 are invited up to the bima, where they are pelted with dog treats and chew toys while congregants sing out “That’s a good boy” or “That’s a good girl” while dancing around the room. Dogs that are especially vocal are offered a platform to bark out a short divrei barka and to thank any special trees, curbs or plastic bags they have befriended over their decade plus of life.

The bark mitzvah concludes with the assembled congregation crying out in unison, “Muzzle tov!”

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Megilas Ha'Corono

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"Shtickl" Show About Reform Jews Is a Surprise Hit Among the Very Frum

Who knew that a half-hour comedy/drama about the loves and lives of a Reform Jewish family would be such a runaway hit in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community? 

* Purim Spoof

That’s exactly what’s happening with “Shtickl,” the new series from Ori Kumi and Elchanan Duranduransky, now showing on Netflix.

The series stars Jeff Goldblum as Arthur Shtickl, the patriarch of a loving but complicated Reform Jewish family living in Syosset, L.I. Arthur, a psychiatrist, goes to synagogue three times a year and feels bad about it, but feels even worse that his daughter Lindsey is becoming a rabbi and will probably be dependent on him until she pays off her student debt. His wife, Shelly (Fran Drescher), a real estate broker, has opened a boutique selling scented candles, and has been feuding with Linda (Christine Baranski), the synagogue administrator, who refuses to carry her products in the Beth Elohim Judaica shop.

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Ger, Belz And Pinsk Karlin Cancel Purim Tish Due To Coronavirus

With coronavirus spreading in Israel, some chassidish Rebbes took the initiative to contain the viral epidemic by canceling their annual Purim tish.

Ger, Belz and Pinsk Karlin all announced to their chassidim that they would not be holding a public Purim tish this year due the risk of spreading the dangerous virus. A chassidish tish at by these Rebbes would have thousands of chassidim converged into one room and the close encounters with others can make it a breeding ground for the virus to spread.

17 Israelis have already contracted coronavirus and over 100,000 are in self imposed quarantine.

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Trumpeldor's 100th Yahrzeit Was This Shabbat.... Died Al Kiddush Hashem

The 100th yahrziet of Yosef Trumpeldor was this Shabbat eve before Purim this year. 

A century after his combat death, Trumpeldor stands out as one of the most important individuals who played a part in the founding and building of the State Of Israel. 

A courageous soldier, a brilliant and indefatigable organizer, and a highly principled and selfless pioneer, Trumpeldor was universally mourned by Zionists of all ideological persuasions.

Born in Russia in 1880, Trumpeldor lost an arm during the Russo-Japanese War at the 1904/1905 Siege of Port Arthur. Taken off of the front-lines because of his injury, he pleaded with his commander: “Even though I have only one arm, it is my right arm, and my request is that I be given a sword and rifle to continue to fight.”

Later he was a prisoner of war and organized Zionist activities for hundreds of Jewish fellow captives.

Trumpeldor rose to become an officer in the Czarist army, an extremely rare accomplishment for a Jew. After returning from the war, the intensification of Russian anti-Semitism convinced him that as a Jew, he had no future in Russia. His thoughts turned again to practical Zionism and he decided to leave Russia for the Land of Israel.

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Nazi Flag Display at Sanders Rally

The display of a Nazi flag by a man at a Bernie Sanders campaign rally in Arizona drew condemnation from Jewish American groups on Friday amid ongoing worries about Democratic candidates’ security at public events.

Images of a flag depicting the Nazi swastika symbol that was displayed at Sanders’ Thursday night rally in Phoenix began circulating online after the incident. 

“Good people, regardless of how they vote, should call this out in no uncertain terms,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in an interview, adding that “I worry we’ll see more of this” given the anti-Semitism that emerged, particularly online, during the 2016 campaign.

The American Jewish Committee tweeted in response to reports of the Sanders rally display that “Nazi flags are symbols of pure hate and have no place anywhere in America, much less in a rally for a Jewish presidential candidate.”

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US Sending 94 Year-Old Nazi Back To Germany

A Tennessee man who served as a guard in a Nazi concentration camp at Neuengamme has been sent back to Germany. 

Friedrich Karl Berger was ordered by judge Rebecca L. Holt on Thursday to return to his home country, where he is still a resident and continues to receive a pension 'for wartime service'. 

The now 94-year-old was said to have been 'willing' to work at the subcamp in Meppen, where prisoners were held during the winter of 1945 in 'atrocious' conditions.   

Widower Berger, who came to the US in 1959 with his wife and daughter and has two grandchildren, told The Washington Post: 'After 75 years, this is ridiculous. I cannot believe it. I cannot understand how can happen in a country like this. You’re forcing me out of my home.

Berger is said to have been 'part of the SS machinery of oppression that kept concentration camp prisoners in atrocious conditions of confinement', according to Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski. 

The court heard that Berger, who came to the US legally, admitted that he guarded prisoners to prevent them from escaping. 

And with the advance of Allied forces Berger even helped guard the prisoners during their forcible evacuation to the Neuengamme main camp after the Nazis abandoned the sub camp at Meppen. 

The two-week move, in March 1945, claimed the lives of some 70 people.  

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Israeli Researcher Finds 2000 year-old Caves with Help of Josephus Flavius.

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List of 12,000 Nazis Living in Argentina during the 1930s Who hid Jewish money in Swiss banks

Researchers have discovered a list of 12,000 Nazis who lived in Argentina in the 1930s including many who hid stolen money in Swiss bank accounts. 

The long-forgotten list was found in a store room at a former Nazi headquarters in Buenos Aires and handed to the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre.  

The centre said it believed that the 'long-dormant' bank accounts could still hold funds which were looted from Jewish victims under Nazi rule. 

Although Argentina is better known as a refuge for exiled Nazis after World War II, many also lived there in the 1930s while a pro-Nazi military regime was in power. 

Many such records were burned when another pro-Nazi regime took power in 1943. 

However, the surviving list was discovered by Argentine investigator Pedro Filipuzzi and handed to directors at the Wiesenthal Centre. 

Many of the Nazis on the list held funds that were sent to a bank called Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, now known as Credit Suisse. 

'We believe very probable that these dormant accounts hold monies looted from Jewish victims, under the Nuremberg Aryanization laws of the 1930s,' the Wiesenthal Centre said in a letter to Credit Suisse. 

'We are aware that you already have claimants as alleged heirs of Nazis in the list.'  

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Zera Shimshon ... Parshas Tetzaveh

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Eretz Yisroel ..... Explaining the Different Views ..... by DIN. Part 2 .."Rambam's View"

Before we begin discussing the Rambam's view on the Mitzvah of "Yishuv Eretz Yisrael,"

 I would like to preface our discussion with a  Shlah Hakodesh 

(d. 1630):(he is buried right next to the Rambam)

צריך כל איש ישראל לחבב את ארץ ישראל ולבא אליה מאפסי ארץ בתשוקה גדולה, כבן אל חיק אמו, כי תחילת עונינו שנקבע לנו בכיה לדורות יען מאסנו בה

{ספר השל''ה שאר האותיות ק-קדושת המקום ד''ה עוד כתב( [בשם ספר החרידים )

I am translating loosely ...

"Every single Jew must be a lover of Eretz Yisrael, and come to her from the corners of the earth with a great desire, like a child running to his mother's lap, Because Hashem designated a day (Tisha Bav) of crying for generations because of our sins ....the sin of hating her (Eretz Yisrael.) 

Powerful words!

Let us together learn the view of the Rambam.

The last post was Part 1, and it was our introduction to the series of the Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael!
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Trump's Purim message to the Jewish People

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The Guy With Two Beautiful Voices......

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Lamma Lo?

A Jewish man from Cleveland, Ohio, brought a llama wearing a tuxedo and a kippah to his sister’s wedding, following through on a 5-year-old vow.

Mendl Weinstock arrived with Shocky the llama, which he rented from a llama farm, on Sunday to the wedding of his older sister Riva.

Mendl told Riva five years ago, when she wasn’t even dating, that he would bring a llama to her wedding to tease her over how often she spoke about getting married, he told Insider in an interview for an article that was published Tuesday.

“She tried to use reverse psychology on me and said, ‘OK, the llama is invited to the wedding,’” he said.

Riva was engaged in October, and Mendl told her that he intends to hold her to her words.

And he made sure she remembered.

“He has been torturing me with this, in good fun, and has been reminding me of this probably twice a week for the last five years,” Riva told Insider. “I have tried striking so many deals, I have tried doing literally everything possible to make sure it didn’t happen, and lo and behold, there was a llama at my wedding.”

Mendl had the tuxedo and kippah specially made for his guest.

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