Israir Will No Longer Fly On Shabbos

 Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd. announced that it is stopping the operation of flights on Shabbos, Globes reported.

The move comes four months after the acquisition of the airline by supermarket mogul Rami Levy and Shalom Chaim through BGI investments. Both men are Shomer Shabbos.

 I’m a religious Jew, shomer Shabbat, and all my businesses are closed on Shabbat,” Chaim told Globes. “We respect those who observe Shabbos, and this is not a personal whim of mine, it’s the DNA of Judaism.”

“On the business side, we’re at the examination stage. We’ll examine the economic implications of reducing activity on Shabbat. We want to reach a situation in which there’s a weekly day of rest for the pilots as well. There are many businesses that don’t operate on Shabbat and aviation can be included as well.

“The discussion about the Shabbat was mainly in the media, as a consequence of the world view of the shareholders, but we haven’t yet examined the subject in depth. We understand trade but we’re not as well-versed in aviation. We’ll know more on the subject within two to three months.”

El Al subsidiary Sun D’Or International Airlines halted flights on Shabbos in January following its acquisition by a frum Jew, Eli Rozenberg.

That leaves Arkia Airlines as the only Israeli airline operating flights on Shabbos.

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Biden's Admin Policy on Immigrant Shelters Forced Migrant Children to Relieve Themselves in Plastic Bags.

 The Biden administration abruptly closed a shelter in Houston for unaccompanied migrant girls this weekend. ABC News reports there were multiple allegations, including girls being forced to spend most of their day on cots and having to use plastic bags to relieve themselves.

One can’t help but be reminded of a statement by Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki who was asked in February about something Former President Trump had said.

“We don’t take our advice or counsel from former President Trump on immigration policy”, Psaki said.

“We’re gonna chart our own path forward, and that includes treating children with humanity and respect….”

That seems to include forcing children to relieve themselves in plastic bags.

A White House spokesperson told ABC News that the site was closed because it “did not meet the Biden administration’s very high standard for child welfare.”

ABC reports: The National Association of Christian Churches (NACC), a Houston-based organization with its roots in disaster relief, was awarded a $4 million contract to operate the warehouse despite having no record of caring for unaccompanied migrants.

In a statement to ABC News on Sunday, Dean Hoover, a spokesperson for NACC, sought to redirect blame toward the Biden administration — who NACC claimed had control over the site after bringing in its own subcontractors.

“NACC officials were personally requested by HHS Secretary [Xavier] Becerra and President Biden to open the doors of their large Houston facility to refugee children on an emergency basis,” Hoover said. “It is deeply hurtful and unfair to the folks at NACC that anyone would now think of criticizing them when all they were trying to do is be good Samaritans and help the HHS help these children.”

In recent interviews with the Houston Chronicle, Jose Ortega, NACC’s founder and president, claimed that his organization had not sought out this work — but rather that Becerra had personally “begged” him to accept the contract and house the children.

“I’m a humble pastor that was thrown into this mess without asking for it,” Ortega told the newspaper. “We were not looking for a contract, we were not applying for a contract for us to make money — this was thrown on us.”

Ortega also pinned the deterioration of his group’s facility on the government’s failure to provide funds.

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Anti-Semitic car ramming attack in Brooklyn injures five Jews

 

The driver of a minivan deliberately backed up twice over five hasidic men as they stood on a street corner in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn on Saturday evening after Shabbat before speeding away.

The attack was caught on camera and began circulating on social media. The attacker was arrested a day later after a neighborhood watch group found his van.

The surveillance footage clearly shows the parked minivan backing up, even though there are no parked cars in front of it, and hitting a group of hasidic men standing on the street corner. The car backs into the five men, who fall to the ground. The driver pauses and then backs over them a second time being fleeing the scene.

The attack took place at 10:15pm on Saturday.

According to police, the driver initially stayed at the scene briefly as one witness tried to get his attention. He then drove away.

The victims are all related and range from 11 to 82-years old. None suffered life threatening injuries. The 82-year old man injured his foot and need medical care at a nearby hospital.

On Sunday, members of the Shomrim volunteer neighborhood patrol group spotted the minivan in Bedford-Stuyvesant. They called police.

Twenty-six year old Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinov was arrested shortly after, reported the NY Daily News. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) called the hit and run a “horrific antisemitic attack in Williamsburg.”

“A driver pulls over, waits for a group of Jewish men to cross the street, and intentionally hits them twice with his car. We stand in full solidarity with the victims and thank @NYPD90Pct for the swift arrest of a suspect,” the AJC tweeted.

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Father Who Murdered His Son Has his letter from Jail read at his Son's Kever

 

Loosely translated

"שאולי, בני בכורי, אהובי, ידידי ורעי, הילד שהייתי קרוב אליו מאוד מאוד. אני יודע שאתה יודע היום יותר טוב ממני, יותר טוב ממה שאני יודע, ואני בטוח שאתה מבין יותר טוב ממה שאני מבין".

Sholi, my son, my first born, my love, my friend, the child that I was so close to, I know that you know,  better than me today, and I'm sure that you understand better than what I understand 

"לי אין מושג בעולם הזה, בעולם ה'תיקונים', אבל אני יודע שאתה נמצא היום במקום גבוה, ויש לך כוחות לדרוש ולבקש מעל כיסא הכבוד".

I cannot grasp this world, the world where one can make corrections, but I do know that you find yourself today in a very high place, and you have the power to seek and request from the "holy throne"

"אני לא יכול לשכוח את הרגעים היפים שלנו, היציאות בבוקר שלנו לתפילה, ברכות השחר בחברותא, ההתמדה שלך בתורה, כמה שרצית לעשות נחת לקדוש ברוך הוא

I cannot forget our beautiful moments together, going out to pray in the morning shachris; our "chavrusah",your diligence learning Torah and how much you wanted to please G-d.

"אתה בטוח מבין את הסיבה מדוע הקב"ה לקח ממני את הדעת, וגרם לכזה 'הסתר פנים' מסביב, שלמרות שזעקתי לכל כך הרבה אנשים, ששמו לב שאולי יכולה להיות בעיה, ובכל זאת הם לא ראו, והיה הסתר פנים גדול מאוד

For sure you understand why G-d took away my cognition, which caused a "Hester Panim" and despite that I cried out to many people who noticed that there could be a problem they didn't see, and there was a great "Hester panim.

"אבל שאולי, זה כמו שהקב"ה אמר 'שתוק, כך עלתה המחשבה מלפני'... שאולי, אני נמצא רחוק, אני לא נמצא ליד הקבר, ולא זכיתי ללוות אותך בהלוויה, אבל אולי משמיים יזכו אותי ואותך ללכת יד ביד עם משיח צדקנו, במהרה בימינו, ואז נבין הרבה יותר טוב את הכל".

But Sholi,it was as if G-d said "quiet, that's what I want you to do" ..... 

Sholi, I find myself very far, I am not anywhere near your grave, and didn't go to the levayeh, but perhaps from heaven I will have the merit to walk with you hand in hand with Moshiach, quickly in our day, then we will understand everything much better.

"שאולי, אני ממש מתנצל בפניך, אם במהלך החיים נהגתי משהו שלא כשורה בפניך, אני מבקש שתתחנן בפני בורא עולם עבור המשפחה, עבור אמא, אחיותיך ואחים שלך; הם אומרים לי, הם שולחים לי מכתבים שהם רוצים שאני יבריא ושנחזור להיות משפחה מאושרת כמו שהיינו"

Sholi, I apologise, if during your lifetime I didn't do the correct thing, I ask that you pray to G-d on behalf of the family, on behalf of your mother, your sisters and your brothers,

They are telling me via letters that they want me to get better and to return to the family like it once was.

"שאולי, אם זה רצון השם, אז שזה יקרה בקרוב: תתחנן בפני הסבים שלנו, רבי נחמן מברסלב והבעל שם טוב הקדוש, שכבר תבוא הגאולה ושלא נשמע עוד שוד ושבר בגבולינו".

"אנשים אומרים שהיו פה דברים גבוהים ונסתרים, אבל אני לא מבין בדברים גבוהים, אלא רק בדברים נמוכים, וכל עוד שלא יגיע משיח צדקנו, אנחנו לא נצליח להבין".

"תתפלא שאולי, שנבריא בגוף ובנפש, אני - וכל המשפחה. 'בזכות האמונה של נשים צדקניות נגאלו ישראל', ובעזרת השם, בזכות האמונה של אמא עכשיו, נזכה לגאולה הקרובה".

Sholi, if it be the will of Hashem, and this should occur soon: Request from our grandparents, Rebbe Nachman from Breslov, the Baal Shem Tov, that the redemption come and there should never be anymore tragedies in our borders

People say that what occurred was "high and hidden" things, but I dont understand "high things" only "down to earth things", and as long as Moshiach doesn't come, we will not be successful to understand all this.

Pray, Sholi, that I and the family be healed , because it was in the merit of the faith of the righteous women that we were redeemed, and with Hashem's help, in the merit of the faith that your mother has now, we will merit soon the redemption 

בשלב זה הוסיף הדוד: אבא סיים את השיחה, אבל צלצל אחר כך שוב, ואמר לי שהוא רוצה שאגיד עוד משהו:

"שאולי, תלך ותגיד לאייבישטער (להקב"ה), שעל אף כל ההסתר פנים שאנחנו נמצאים פה, אנחנו עדיין אוהבים אותו, ואנחנו יודעים שהכל לטובה".

"באהבה גדולה, אבא. תהא נשמתך צרורה בצרור החיים".

Note: this was the original letter from the father, but then he called to add the following:

"Sholi, go and tell G-d, that despite His Hidden Continence, we continue to love him, and we know that its all is for good

With great love, your father,May your soul be tied to those alive ...

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Deputy Commander Of Iran’s Quds Force Drops Dead Of ‘Heart Condition’?

 

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Hussein-Zada Hejazi, the deputy chief of Iran’s Quds Force, has died of a “heart condition” aged 65, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced in a statement on Sunday.

The announcement comes at a tense period of what has been described as the “shadow war” between Israel and Iran, with Israel reported to be behind a blackout at an Iranian nuclear plant; meanwhile Iran is trying to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which Israeli leadership has repeatedly slammed as inadequate.

Hejazi was known for working directly under Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani until the latter’s death by a US drone strike in January 2020. Thereafter Hejazi was named the second-in-command of the IRGC’s extraterritorial operations unit, or the Quds Force.

Israel named him as the main man behind Iran’s project of manufacturing precision-guided missiles for its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.

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Shekel at NIS 3.30 to the dollar is 'the new normal'

 

The shekel-dollar rate is likely to hover around NIS 3.30 for the near future, Bank Leumi analysts said.

"In our estimation, the NIS 3.30 dollar rate has become the 'new normal,' in contrast to recent years, when we were accustomed to seeing the shekel at an average rate of NIS 3.60, and reaching 3.80 at some point almost every year," Leumi head of market strategy Koby Levi wrote in a recent note to investors.  

"Assuming a weakening of the dollar worldwide, by the end of 2021 the average exchange rate of the shekel will be in the range of NIS 3.25-3.35 per dollar," he wrote. "This forecast takes into account the continued massive intervention of the Bank of Israel in trade, in volumes that exceed the annual framework of $30 billion. The shekel may exceed this range for short periods of time as a result of the realization of risk events or unforeseen events."

The shekel-dollar rate stood at NIS 3.27 as of Monday morning. It reached 3.34 at the end of March, and has been below 3.40 since early November.

"There are a number of opposing forces that will affect the strength of the shekel in the coming year," the bank said. "Supporting the shekel are Israel's current account surplus and the surplus in the balance of payments. On the other hand, the Bank of Israel's interventions, the huge volume of purchases and the expanding interest rate policy would serve to weaken the shekel."

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Spies with Tzizit: Mossad, Shin Bet, Cyber Charedi agents speak for first time

 

The spy world just got a lot wilder in a way that even creative persons might have never imagined.

The Mossad, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and special sensitive cyber units of the police are filling up with Charedim.

Since 2019, there has been a smattering of articles about the Pardes, which is leading the charge to incorporate some of the smartest and most talented ultra-Orthodox men aged 24 to 34 into analyst and cyber units of the security establishment.

But recently the Magazine became the first to sit down with four of these new recruits.

Arrangements leading up to the meeting took months, requiring sign-offs from the highest levels of the Mossad, Shin Bet and police in order to allow us to meet face to face with secret agents who, in normal circumstances, would never come anywhere near the media.

With all four individuals who the Magazine met – known as “G” (from the Mossad), “Y” (from the Shin Bet), Yisrael and Yoni (from the police) – only their wives are in the know, with even their parents not having a clue what their real day jobs are.

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Watch 102 Year Old Lady Write $250,000 Check to Satmar Rebbe

 

R' Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe and leader of the "zalonim" managed to get a 102 year-old lady to write him a $250,000.00 check towards a new Satmar wedding hall in Lakewood.

The lady is Rebbetzin Blier the widow of R' Aron Bleir z"l, and she is also the daughter of R' Yonasan Shteif z"l....

The Satmar Rebbe sat and listened how Mrs Bleir told stories about the connection of her father R' Yonasan Shteif and Satmar.The new Hall will be named for her father. 

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Watch How Young Gerer Boy Pushes Lady With a Baby Carriage Because Her Husband Belongs to Opposition

 

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In US, Young Murderers are Imprisoned. Why would American Lawmakers Object to Justice in the case of a Palestinian murderer?

Khalil Yusf Ali Jabarin Blood Thirsty Murderer 

 Accompanying this essay is a picture of Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin. At the time the picture was taken Jabarin was a 16-year-old Palestinian minor from the Arab village of Yatta, south of Hebron. Israeli police detained, arrested and jailed Khalil. Like so many other Palestinian minors, he will never be free again, and the Israeli army destroyed his family home to “act determinedly to prevent terror attacks and to deter terrorists.” His family will never be with him again and they’ve lost their home. It’s heartbreaking.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum’s bill, co-sponsored by Representatives Bobby Rush (D-IL), Danny Davis (D-IL), Andre Carson (D-IN), Marie Newman (D-IL) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and supported by J-Street and Americans for Peace Now, aims to “Prohibit U.S. taxpayer funding to the Government of Israel from being used for 1) the military detention, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention; 2) supporting the seizure and destruction of Palestinian property and homes in violation of international humanitarian law.” McCollum wrote, “U.S. assistance intended for Israel’s security should foster peace and must never be used to violate the human rights of children, demolish the homes of Palestinian families.”

The insinuation inherent in McCullum’s bill and statements is that the detention, arrest and jailing of teenagers like Khalil, and the destruction of his home by Israel’s military is a violation of children’s human rights and the destruction of his family’s home was a violation of international law.

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Kosher Instant Pot cookbook aims at home cooks facing 52 soups a year

 Kosher cookbook author Paula Shoyer was admittedly late to the Instant Pot game.

The Washington, DC-based kosher chef had resisted buying one of the electronic multicookers, mostly because she did not feel like making space for it in her appliance-crowded kitchen.

When she finally gave in, and discovered the game-changing methods of the combined pressure cooker and slow cooker, Shoyer was hooked. The appliance and how to put it to good use became the topic of her latest cookbook, “Instant Pot Kosher Cookbook” (Sterling Books).

Shoyer had cooked just three recipes — split pea soup, rice and short ribs — before marveling at the benefits of the Canadian-made multicooker, which, like a stovetop pressure cooker, cooks dishes quickly.

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Many Satmar Chassidim Making Carlebach Minyanim and Hanging Maps of Israel in Williamsburg

I could hear the rousing voices of Friday evening prayer as my host, Sholom, led me down the stairs to the cellar of a century-old tenement building, the home of a Williamsburg minyan. Inside, a Satmar hasid took my hand and drew me into dance with a packed throng of some 80 men in long bekishe coats, whose streimels brushed the low ceiling. The beautiful harmonies and Hungarian inflections (e.g. “OO-myne” in response to a blessing; eloikeini for “our god”) swept me away. I mused to myself that our Carlebach minyanim are but hasidic wannabes; ah, but this — this is the real thing. This is what it was like in the old world.

“Gevaldig!” I whispered to Sholom.

“It’s our Carlebach minyan,” he replied.

Satmars for change

This shul is the epicenter of a small but growing phenomenon in the heart of Williamsburg: the progressive Satmar hasid. These are far removed from the rebels depicted in the Netflix drama Unorthodox. Committed to the Satmar lifestyle, they also feel a need for change. Some are dissatisfied with the staid mode of prayer found in most of the neighborhood shuls, almost entirely lacking in singing. “Our shul is non-judgmental,” one of its founders explained to me; “we take the boys that are on the fringe and ask them to lead our services and instill within them a sense of self-worth.” Hanging on the wall is a full-length map of Israel and several hasidim there told me that they were looking for shuls nearby that recite Hallel on Israeli Independence Day — an anathema in mainstream anti-Zionist Satmar. But these hasidim are online, increasingly engaging the wider world and asking questions. I am here because many of them have read my recent book, Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Faith and the Thirteen Principles of Faith, and wanted to engage with me and hear more. Although wearing a white kippah, a blue suit and no payus, I am, if you will, a rebbe for a shabbos.

These winds of change co-exist alongside a commitment to a deep conservatism. In the home of my host for Friday night dinner, Sholom, I had hoped to play a bit with the children. But unlike the children of Israeli hasidic homes who are bilingual, these kids understand nothing but Yiddish until the age of ten. I asked Sholom, 31, how many siblings he has. He laughed saying that his mother had just given birth a few months prior, her fourteenth. “It’s a record for Satmar,” explained his wife (whose name was not introduced to me, nor did I dare ask). “We had to send the kids to school with notes explaining that it was really true what they were saying that their Bubbe had just had a baby.”

I asked Sholom how shidduchim (matchmaking) work. “Well, in my case, I was 18 and given two options of whom to marry,” he said. “So I met with each of the potential shvers (fathers in law), and made my choice. Then I was introduced to my wife to be, and we made it official.” Sholom is from the Satmar community in the Catskill Mountains and I asked how he and his wife decided to settle in Williamsburg. “Decide? It was determined.”

A painful quest for meaning and truth

But why would hasidim dedicated to such a conservative lifestyle have any interest in hosting a Bible scholar from Israel to talk about academic approaches to the Bible?

Satmar is a way of life; a tight-knit community that holds steadfastly to its customs. But even its thick walls are porous. It entirely lacks an articulated approach to modernity secularism, and liberalism. If you are Modern Orthodox, for example, then you have been influenced, either directly or through rabbis and teachers, by the teachings of the likes of R. Abraham Isaac Kook, R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik or Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, all of whom confront the questions posed by modernity. Within the hasidic world, the teachings of Breslov and Chabad equip followers to address these pervasive challenges. Satmar, though, never produced the theological resources to help its followers respond to and engage the modern world they now inhabit. Many are left bereft and asking questions that were unthinkable even a generation ago: What is the purpose of life? Of leading a life of Torah and mitzvot?

My hosts invited me to give a formal presentation in the afternoon on the thorny topic of the Sin of David and Bathsheba (2 Sam 11-12). But they also scheduled a kiddush gathering in the morning for a dozen of these searching hasidim to sit around the table and ask me questions. Their long coats and payus did little to conceal the pain in their queries: Is everything in the Tanakh historically true? And if not, what do we do with that? What is the difference between the yiddishkeit of someone who took observance on his own (as I did) and someone who is born into an observant culture? Can they trust me to speak objectively about biblical criticism when I myself am Orthodox? Some are well-read and raise the names Spinoza, Hobbes, Plato and Nietzsche. As the bottles of whiskey — new following Passover — flowed and the incredibly good herring was passed round, there was an energy to the deliberations; a hasidic man-cave at its apex. At the close, the host, Baruch, called for a niggun, and they reached for a Carlebach melody, “mizmoir, mizmoir shir, shir le-yoim ha-shabbos..” And to my amazement they continued in English, swaying, ”… the whole wide world is waiting, to sing this song of Shabbos.”

“Most of those fellows are struggling in their marriages over this,” confided Baruch over lunch. “Their poor wives have no idea what’s come over the husbands they married. And the women here don’t have the orientation or the wherewithal to relate to what their husbands are going through.”

I had long noticed that the Satmar hasidim who approach me on these issues are in their thirties, never older. Baruch explained why. “The community is thickly bound together; there are no secrets here. When word begins to get out that a husband is struggling in his faith, it’s a mark on the whole family. It means the boys won’t get into the right yeshivas and the girls won’t get offered good shidduchim. That’s when the wives confront their husbands, “Why are you doing this? You’re destroying the family.” And so the men at that stage of life give up their pursuit of truth and meaning and just swallow it.

Of snowmobiles and mobile phones

Over lunch with Baruch, I learned that a committed Satmar’s engagement with modernity can take on many forms. He and a handful of Satmar friends had just returned from several days of snowmobiling in Alaska. Although he told me that they were properly equipped, I couldn’t help but picture in my mind Baruch’s bekishe and payus blowing in the wind of the Alaskan tundra.

I also learned the answer to a riddle: How many cell phones do you need to be a Satmar hasid? Baruch reports that for nearly half the community, the answer is two. You’re expected to be accessible and so you must have a cell phone. But the official Satmar line is that only a kosher phone is permissible. If a yeshiva, for example, discovers that you have a smartphone your child will be denied admission. If you possess a smartphone so you can have internet access, you still need the kosher phone, lest you need to take a call in a public setting.

Bat-mitzvah, Satmar style

The most inspiring moment of my visit came over lunch with Baruch’s family. Baruch pointed to his oldest child and said, “Bayla, here has just celebrated her bat-mitzvah. We took her out to a restaurant for dinner, just the three of us.” But he made no mention of a party.

“Did you do anything else to mark the occasion, or was there anything in terms of observance that she took on? I asked.

“Yes,” said Baruch. “On the day of her bas-mitzvah, we gave her an egg. And for the first time, Bayla was the one in the house to check the egg, because now as a bas-mitzvah her word could be relied upon concerning issues of kashrus.” Baruch and his wife and the little girl all beamed with pride.

And I thought to myself what a lucky girl Bayla was and how much healthier it would be if our bnei- and bnot-mitzvah could have the experience that she had. She had approached her becoming a bat-mitzva without the distraction of a wagon load of gift-wrapped presents, without a party placing her at the center of the universe for three hours, and without the pressure of a public performance disconnected from the ebb and flow of her daily life. Instead, Bayla looked toward her bat-mitzvah with the anticipation of shouldering responsibility for her entire family’s observance of Hashem’s will through the laws of kashrut. And to top it off, she got to spend a special and memorable evening out with her mother and father.

I have to admit that when I entered the shul on Friday evening I felt alienated among the sea of black coats and hats. We so often define ourselves by who we are not — and never more so than in this past year of pandemic. How liberating it was to break down the barrier to celebrate Shabbat together and to learn Torah together; how liberating indeed it was to finally see the other as a brother.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joshua Berman is a professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and is the author most recently of Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth and the Thirteen Principles of Faith (Maggid).

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Women Can’t Sing In Front of Men. Instagram Is Giving Them a Voice

 

Devorah Schwartz is fixing her lapel mic.

Decked out in a blonde wig, a full face of makeup, and a long-sleeve high-neck gown made by a Hasidic designer in Brooklyn, Schwartz is ready to step onto the stage.

Her audience? Only women and girls, who purchased tickets for her virtual concert, which features a team of Rockette dancers.

A decade ago the idea of an Orthodox Jewish woman pop star was something out of a wild fantasy. While a secular young woman with dreams of a singing career might start a YouTube channel, try to land an agent, and book gigs at local venues, in the Orthodox Jewish community, being a woman with musical talent is more complicated. Here, traditional laws of modesty dictate that men are forbidden from hearing female singing—kol isha, which translates to “the voice of a woman” and is taken literally.

Devorah Schwartz getting her hair done backstage

 Sara Rishty

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