No safe haven for Diaspora Jews but Israel

 

About the prospect of raising his Jewish family in Belgium: "I believed I could. Now I doubt I can," wrote Joel Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Antisemitism, in an opinion piece published in a local newspaper.

This sentiment is increasingly common in Europe and the United States alike. Despite the rise in antisemitism in Belgium, the government there decided to remove military security from Jewish institutions. Now without state protection, the Jewish community is asking for help from Israel. This or any other security scheme would be useless until they realize where Jews can really find a safe haven and their role.

Should the State of Israel intervene in the security situations of the Jewish communities in the Diaspora? Absolutely not. Today it is Belgium, tomorrow it will be another country in Europe or elsewhere. The State of Israel must urge Jews living abroad to fend for themselves and not become involved in safeguarding the Jews in other countries against antisemitism.

The Jews in Belgium are not so poor as to lack the means to maintain security around themselves, so why do they demand the State of Israel to do so? Why should Israeli money fund security services to guard them so that they can live comfortably in Belgium? I am definitely opposed to the Jews in Israel taking responsibility for the Jews of Belgium and the Jews of the Diaspora in general. We have no interest in keeping them there.

Even if the Jews decide to move from Belgium to another country where they feel safer, they will have to learn firsthand that the place for Jews is the Land of Israel. Beyond Jews realizing that they have a state and a homeland here in Israel, they must decide on their own to return to fulfill the exalted role of the Jewish nation – to create a model society of love that covers any hatred that might reveal itself within it, a society of mutual guarantee in accordance with the laws of the supreme power.

The phenomenon of antisemitism is revealed in the world as a natural response designed to remind the people of Israel why it exists in the world. Our only option and shield for defending ourselves against hatred is the implementation of our role as "light unto the nations."

Therefore, the solidarity we feel with the Jews of Belgium should not be expressed by rushing to invest our money in safeguarding their institutions – a move that would be futile – but by explaining, both to ourselves and to them, the cause of the animosity against Jews, and what we must do to fix the problem for the world and ourselves.

If we do not start moving towards carrying out our role, we will find ourselves with no place to hide. As it is written, "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees and the stones and trees will say, 'O Muslim, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." (First extract, The Victory of Muslims Over Jews, Hadiths)

Our Jewish sources say that eventually all the Jews, including the Ten Tribes we lost along the way, will return to the Land of Israel to unite. Although there seems to be no place to absorb them all, there is plenty of room. The Book of Daniel calls the Land of Israel the "land of the deer."

As the Talmud explains, "Just as the hide of the deer has the capacity to encompass its body, but shrinks when separated from its flesh, so too can the Land of Israel expand to encompass its rightful inhabitants but shrinks when we are exiled from it."

As in this allegory, in the same way that the deer can expand its skin, we can accordingly expand our hearts to be as one, a safety net for the Jewish people and for peace in the world.

Rabbi says electric shavers compatible with Torah

 

One of the first things ultra-Orthodox boys are taught once they start shaving is that they cannot just use any electric razor they want, because under Halachah (Jewish law) damaging your skin is forbidden. 

According to most interpretations, this means electric shavers are forbidden in the many Orthodox communities.  The few that were allowed had to carry a special hechsher (rabbinical approval).   

However, in what could be unprecedented, a new halachic interpretation in the Tchumin religious journal, which brings together rabbis from different streams of Judaism to discuss and innovate on matters of Jewish law under the auspices of the Tzomet Institute, has made this prohibition all but obsolete. 

The institute announced the decision in a special post claiming that based on the latest inteprertation, "almost every type of electric shaver which operates as described above can be used."

The decision followed extensive deliberations by American Rabbi Chaim Jachter and his son Benjamin, who wrote the new article in the journal. The two based their analysis on their correspondence with senior engineers at several leading manufacturers, such as Philips and Procter & Gamble, and learned that modern electric shavers use a so-called "lift-and-cut" technology, which lifts the hairs and cut them without the blade injuring the skin.

According to Tzomet, "If anything, this mechanism makes the operation even closer to that of scissors, since it uses three elements in the cutting process: the blade, the screen, and the 'lift and cut' device," and therefore it would make no sense to take it out of such electrical appliances for religious reasons. 

New Evidence Indicates Enough Illegal Votes In Georgia To Tip 2020 Results

 

New evidence indicates that more than 10,300 illegal votes were cast in Georgia in the November 2020 general election — a number that will continue to rise over the next several months, potentially exceeding the 12,670 votes that separated Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

While this evidence does not change the fact that Joe Biden is our president, all Americans who genuinely care about free and fair elections and the disenfranchisement of voters should demand both transparency and solutions to prevent a repeat in future elections. This evidence also vindicates former President Trump and his legal team for the related public (and private) comments and legal arguments made in challenging the Georgia election results.

Under the cover of COVID-19, Georgia, like many other states, flooded residents with absentee ballot applications. Also like sister states, Georgia ignored various legislative mandates designed to prevent fraud and to ensure the integrity of the vote. These facts, coupled with the closeness of the presidential contest in Georgia and other states, led to a flurry of accusations and litigation charging vote fraud, illegal voting, and violations of the Elector’s Clause of the constitution.

In Georgia, there was both an audit and a statewide recount confirming Biden’s victory, but ignored in the process was evidence that nearly 35,000 Georgians had potentially voted illegally.

Under Georgia law, residents must vote in the county in which they reside, unless they changed their residence within 30 days of the election. As Jake Evans, a well-known Atlanta election lawyer, told me, outside of the 30-day grace period, if people vote in a county in which they no longer reside, “Their vote in that county would be illegal.”

Israel’s Mossad Behind Recent Iran Cyberattacks

 

A view of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility 250 km (155 miles) south of the Iranian capital Tehran, March 30, 2005.

The former head of Iran’s Commission of National Security and Foreign Policy claimed on Sunday that recent cyberattacks on Iranian infrastructure are the work of Israel’s Mossad security service.

London-based Iran International reported that Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told the Iranian Etemad newspaper that the attacks have been “done by Mossad and no one has given a serious thought to the problem.”

Israel, he added, is “the Islamic Republic’s rival in security and intelligence.”

Israeli news site N12 reported that Falahatpisheh’s statement came after a series of weekend cyberattacks that severely disrupted Iran’s public transportation system.

As part of the attacks, screens showing train schedules suddenly displayed the personal cell phone number of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and directed frustrated commuters to contact him for further information.

The attacks caused serious delays and numerous train routes were shut down completely.

The computer system used by workers at the Transportation Ministry was then struck by another attack, shutting down the ministry’s main websites.

In addition, a “suspicious item” exploded in a large park in northern Tehran, causing no injuries. It is unclear if the explosion was connected to the cyberattacks.

Major League Baseball Set to Draft First Orthodox Jewish Player

 

An openly Orthodox Jewish player may be soon be drafted for the first time by Major League Baseball.

The New York Post reported that Jacob Steinmetz — an observant Jew who walks to tournaments on the Sabbath, brings his own kosher food on tour, and recites the traditional prayers daily — has already received a sports scholarship to Fordham University and is projected to be picked by the MLB draft in rounds 3-7.

He has already worked out with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels, and is ranked as the draft’s 181st top prospect by the outlet Baseball America and 121st by MLB.com.

“It’s never been frustrating to me,” Steinmetz said of his Judaism. “It’s just something I’ve always done. It makes me who I am.”

“It’s definitely made [my life] different, but in a good way,” he added.

Fordham has agreed to accommodate Steinmetz’s religious practices, and MLB teams who have been in touch with him and his family have agreed to do the same.

Steinmetz’s father Elliot said his son’s discipline and his commitment to baseball “comes from his relationship with religion. The fact he’s able to interview the way he [does] or have poise the way he does or figure out things the way he does, a lot of it is because of his religious background.”

Steinmetz hit his stride during the COVID-19 pandemic, when without distractions, he began lifting weights and developing his pitching. Within a short time, he was throwing above 90 mph on a consistent basis.

His summer coach, Daniel Corona, said, “He’s already got good stuff and you feel he can get better. He’s not done maturing physically.”

“There’s a difference between being committed, doing all this hard work and having this extra layer,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s ever going to be another Jacob, as far as this whole process goes. He set an example that anything is possible as far as being committed to multiple things at once and still believing in yourself, your dreams, to make them happen.”

Elliot Steinmetz sees his son as a role model, saying, “It’s a great opportunity for [Jacob] to continue to evolve as a leader and continue to show people you can break down certain walls, do certain things, and not have to necessarily sacrifice your background for it.”

“I think he’s the right kid for it, just because he has a good head on his shoulders and he’s mentally tough,” he added. “Hopefully, he’s able to be a light for everybody else.”

Tamir Goodman, a youth basketball star who eventually went professional in Israel after US teams would not accommodate his Orthodox practices, said, “When I look back at it and hear stories about what Jacob’s doing, it just makes me so happy because it makes me feel that these ups and downs I went through [happened] so the next generation — Jacob’s generation — could be a little smoother for them.”

“Maybe he doesn’t need to explain as much, or God forgive he doesn’t have to go through some of the things I went through,” he said.

“It’s very exciting for the Jewish community,” Goodman added.

Did the Newly Found Artifact Belong to the Biblical Judge Gideon? Who was a "Shoifet"

 

For the first time: an inscription from the time of the biblical Judges and relating to the Book of Judges has been recovered from excavations at Khirbat er-Ra‘i, near Qiryat Gat. The rare inscription bears the name ‘Jerubbaal’ in alphabetic script and dates from around 1,100 BCE. It was written in ink on a pottery vessel and found inside a storage pit that was dug into the ground and lined with stones.

The site, which is located at the Shahariya forest of the KKL-JNF, has been excavated every summer since 2015 and the current excavation season is its seventh. The excavations are being conducted on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, under the direction of Prof. Yossef Garfinkel, Sa‘ar Ganor, Dr. Kyle Keimer and Dr. Gil Davies. The program is funded by Joseph B. Silver and the Nathan and Lily Silver Foundation, the Roth Families Sydney, Aron Levy, and the Roger and Susan Hartog Center for Archaeology at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology.

The inscription was written in ink on a jug – a small personal pottery vessel that holds approximately one liter, and may well have contained a precious liquid such as oil, perfume or medicine. Apparently, much like today, the vessel’s owner wrote his name on it to assert his ownership.

The inscription has been deciphered by epigraphic expert Christopher Rolston of George Washington University, Washington DC. It clearly shows the letters yod (broken at the top), resh, bet, ayin, lamed, and remnants of other letters indicate that the original inscription was longer.

Prof. Garfinkel and Ganor explain, “The name Jerubbaal is familiar from biblical tradition in the Book of Judges as an alternative name for the judge Gideon ben

912% increase in antisemitic content on TikTok

 

Antisemitic content on TikTok has rapidly increased this year, a new study has revealed, with an alarming 912% increase in antisemitic content.

The study, led by Dr. Gabriel Weimann, a professor of communication at University of Haifa, in conjunction with Natalie Masri, a research assistant at the IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), discovered a seismic increase in antisemitic tropes, images and rhetoric when compared to their 2020 study.

In addition, the study also revealed a 41% increase in antisemitic postings and a 1,375% uptick in usernames with antisemitic titles (e.g. @holocaustwasgood or @eviljews). The analysis reached its findings through systematic content analysis of videos, comments and usernames over a four-month period in 2021.

TikTok is one of the most rapidly growing social media platforms online and attracts mostly young people, with 41% of its 1.2 billion users between the ages of 16 and 24. The combination of popularity, exposure, and openness of TikTok is recognized by many extremist, racist, and radical groups including neo-Nazi and antisemites.

“It may be easy to dismiss the platform as an innocuous forum for children who want to be creative, however, TikTok’s catering to young, impressionable and naive audiences, combined with bad-faith actors who are posting hateful content online, is something that should be taken very seriously,” stated Weimann, who is also a senior researcher at ICT.

How to dine with your chick

5,000 New Immigrants from the US and Canada are Scheduled to Make Aliyah by the end of 2021

 

Nefesh B'Nefesh, the non-profit organization who in conjunction with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA facilitate Aliyah from North America reports incredible increase in numbers as its summer season is readily underway.

According to data published by the organization, an expected 5,000 new immigrants from the US and Canada are scheduled to make Aliyah by the end of 2021. During the COVID pandemic the number of Aliyah requests and files opened spiked and in 2020 Nefesh B'Nefesh recorded a total of 14 000 requests, compared to 4,582 in 2019. As of July 2021, over 4000 applications have already been submitted.

In 2020, a total of 3,168 immigrants from North America arrived in Israel through Nefesh B'Nefesh. Since January 2021, 1500 Olim from North American have already arrived in Israel, showing a 95% increase over the same time period in 2020 and 22% more than in 2019, the organization reported.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, despite all the challenges and uncertainty, interest in Aliyah has continued to rise. As a result, we have worked harder than ever to overcome the hurdles and prepare for the unexpected as best as we can,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “Our dedicated staff has been working round the clock to support and help facilitate the Aliyah of our Olim, who have shown incredible resilience in the face of delayed dreams and continue to inspire us with their commitment to the Zionist dream of living in Israel.”

This year's Aliyah wave is expected to reach its peak this summer with over 2000 Olim, where 1000 are planned to arrive in August alone.

"We have always wanted to live in Israel but leaving family has always been a big deterrent. Our parents both live in America but we really believe that the best place to live is Israel and we hope that our parents will come to visit and also eventually move after us,” said Lilian Aharon, one of the hundreds of Olim making Aliyah this summer with her husband Joseph and their two sons, Michael and Nathan from Florida to Efrat.

“We have always wanted to move but were always too scared to make the jump, but we have come to understand that now is the best time for us and we are very very excited!" She added.

3-year-old Emunah Cohen dies after getting trapped in family's car while playing during the Sabbath in southern Israel.

 

The toddler who died over the weekend after becoming trapped in a locked car has been identified as Emunah Cohen, a resident of the town of Ma’agalim, an Orthodox town in the Sdot HaNegev Regional Council in southern Israel.

Cohen, 3, was the great-granddaughter of Rabbi Baruch Hori, a prominent Tunisian rabbi.

According to an investigation of the incident, the girl apparently entered the car on her own Saturday while playing. She was unable to open the car door from the inside, and was trapped inside for some two hours, before family members found her.

A team of MDA emergency first responders rushed her to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba while performing resuscitation techniques. However, doctors were ultimately forced to pronounce her dead.

Shimon Maman, a senior MDA paramedic, said: “When we got there, we saw a girl about three years old unconscious outside of a car with a high body temperature. She had no vital signs. We provided medical treatment and performed advanced resuscitation techniques, then we evacuated her to the hospital while she was in critical condition.”

Aliyah Can Save American Jews – And Israel

 

By

Faigie Heiman

 

We’ve been told a picture is worth a thousand words, yet sometimes additional text creates a clearer understanding of the photograph. I refer to the photo snapped last week in the White House of President Joe Biden kneeling before Rivka Ravitz, Israeli President Rivlin’s chief of staff and Orthodox Jewish mother of twelve children.

Biden was impressed by Ravitz’s maternal status. His introduction to Mrs. Ravitz – her work title as well as her maternal title – sincerely touched the president. He led Ravitz into an adjoining room and showed her a picture of his mother, whom he remembers fondly.

So how does one explain the fact that the same president, who claims to be an observant Christian who personally believes in family values, heads a party and a nation that has accepted non-Christian values, a party and nation that is slowly turning hearts and minds toward a far-left ideology that was considered nearly dead when John Kennedy became president, in the early sixties of the last century?

An article on The Jewish Press’s website informed me of the politically correct expression for the institution of motherhood today. No longer referred to as “Mom” or “Mother,” we are now expected to perceive women like Rivka Ravitz and refer to them as “birthing persons!”

Too many parts of The United States are under sway to a far-left, almost Marxist, ideology, the foundation for a crumbling empire. Is that where America is headed? If the politically correct term for “mothers” has now become “birthing persons,” then yes, America is self-destructing.

The Charedi Conundrum

 The repugnance and absurdity of Dan Perry’s Jerusalem Post screed against Haredim is readily apparent from the headline:

 “Haredim, not Arabs or Iran, are the biggest threat to Israel.” 

Although you can’t always blame the writer for the headline, in this case you can, because in his text he calls Haredim the “primary threat” to Israel’s future.

One must be filled with loathing to reach the conclusion that faithful Jews are a bigger threat to Israel than hostile Arabs who wish to dismember the state or Iran that yearns for Israel’s nuclear destruction. From where does such antipathy arise? One never knows the internal motivation and biases of another but we can ascertain the sources of his fears from his world view.

According to Perry, the Haredim endanger Israel’s existence because they have no discernible or foreseeable role in the “Start-up Nation that is a world leader in cybertechnology, agrotech and venture capital, punches above its weight on Nobel prizes and exported television formats, is a global leader on gay rights and decriminalizing cannabis and has developed Iron Dome to zap rockets out of the sky.”

In other words, the writer’s conception of the Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, is a sort of weird hybrid of Singapore and Sodom. While the technological feats should make us all proud (some others are more dubious), they hardly constitute sufficient reason for Israel’s existence and the sacrifices required to sustain it.

Centuries of Jews did not dream of returning to Zion so that Jews should be world leaders in cybertech. 

How the Zionist IDF Rescued 102 Jews 45 Years Ago in a Daring Mission in Africa

9 Minute Version  

44 Minute Version 

Vintage Video of Rav Chaim Kanievski with his Rebbetzin Visiting Harav Eliyashiv in the Sukka

'

Towards the end of the video , Rebbetzin Kanievski the daughter of Harav Eliyashiv tells him a bizarre story, that a neighbour of hers has an aquarium with 5 fish, and when the neighbour's husband left for shul on Erev Yom Kippur, the fish stood up in the aquarium and wouldn't move until the husband came home from shul. 

She asks her father Harav Eliyashiv "what the significance of this story is?"Rav Eliyashiv brushes off the story ....

Clueless "Camel'eh" says voter-ID laws wouldn’t work for rural voters Because "they cannot photo copy their ID"

 

Kamala Harris absurdly says it’s “almost impossible” for rural Americans to photocopy their ID pic.twitter.com/J94IuGBFLv

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 10, 2021

 Vice President Kamala Harris was criticized Saturday for suggesting that rural Americans wouldn’t be able to comply with new voter-ID laws because they lack photocopying equipment.

Harris was asked on BET-TV about whether she believes there is room for compromise with Republicans on measures requiring voters to include a copy of identification with their ballots.

“I don’t think that we should underestimate what that could mean, because, in some people’s mind, that means, well, you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove that you are who you are,” the Democrat told host Soledad O’Brien in an interview aired Friday night.

“There are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don’t — there’s no Kinko’s, there’s no Office Max near them,” Harris continue

Critics blasted Harris on social media over the comments. 

“Kamala and her party think rural communities don’t have cars, or shopping, or retail, or internet, or phones, or computers or mailboxes,” conservative commentator Steven L Miller postedon Twitter.

“This reminds me that they made Kamala Harris who has only ever lived in cities an envoy to rural Americans,” freelance journalist Zaid Jilani wrote.

Harris was referencing recent measures passed in Republican-led states like Georgiaand Texas that supporters claim will reduce election fraud, but that detractors argue will disenfranchise voters.

Benny And Malki Weisz From Lakewood Are Both Found In Rubble

 

R’ Yisrael Tzvi Yosef (Benny) Weisz, Z”L,  from Lakewood, was found in the rubble of the Champlain Towers on erev Shabbos. His wife Malki A”H was identified on Shabbos afternoon.

Plans are being formulated to have both Niftarim flown to Lakewood for a Levaya on Sunday. Details will be published when available.

The Weisz couple had traveled to Florida that fateful Thursday to spend Shabbos with Malki’s father, Chaim Rosenberg, z’l, who had purchased a condo in Champlain Towers only last month. His body was found on Thursday.

Benny, 32, who grew up in Vienna, and his wife Malki, 27, from New York, settled in Arzei HaBirah in Yerushalayim after their marriage and moved to Lakewood at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Sadly, he and his wife did not have children.

“Benny was on one hand very gifted, I think he bordered on genius, but on the other hand he was very humble and part of the chevrah,” one of Benny’s friends in Israel told Kikar Shabbat. “He never tried to show that he knew more than others but his accomplishments in limmud Torah was way above the usual.”

“Benny was very connected to the Rosh Yeshivah HaGaon HaRav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi and attended his shiurim on Kodshim. Even after he moved to the States, he would get up in the middle of the night to hear HaRav Ezrachi’s shiur, which he delivered via teleconference during the pandemic.”

“Benny also felt connected to many tzaddikim and learned many sifrei Chassidus and incorporated what he learned into his life. He used to give shiurim on the parsha from his house and would say words of emunah and chizzuk.”

A friend of Benny’s from the US told Kikar: “What especially set Benny apart was his ben adam l’chaveiro. He knew how to really give to others. One of his neighbors told me that he once told Benny a vort on the parsha, and from then on, every year on that parsha he would thank him for the vort and tell him how he remembered it when he was reviewing the parsha.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get award for having only two kids

 

A British charity, committed to limiting family size to help save the environment, this week gave Prince Harry and Meghan Markle an award for their decision to have just two children.

Population Matters will award the couple, who welcomed their second child last month, the equivalent of $695 for their “enlightened decision” to have a small family and for serving as “role models for others,” according to reports. 

“Having a smaller family reduces our impact on the Earth, and provides a better chance for all our children, their children and future generations to flourish on a healthy planet,” the charity said in a statement. “We commend the duke and duchess for taking this enlightened decision, and for affirming that a smaller family is also a happy family.”

The couple told British Vogue in 2019 that they were planning “two maximum” to reduce their impact on the environment. Last month, they welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lilibet. Their first child, Archie, was born in 2019.

Far-left network Had Avenatti on air over 100 times and now that he is a convicted Felon ...SHHHHHHHHHH!

Our old friend Michael Avenatti is about to be sentenced to prison.

Never forget 👇
pic.twitter.com/P3W7b9ysXz

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 8, 2021

Satmar has new Talmidim... Goyim Burning the Israeli Flag

 

Activists in New York City spit on and burn the American and Israeli flags.

Shameful and disgusting.pic.twitter.com/SoBycrmivG

— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) July 7, 2021

‘Oh Really?’ – Dems claim they never called for defunding police!?! Republican video trolls back

 

Masked bandit shoves 6 year old Chassidishe boy & robs him of his e-scooter

 

Not even little kids on scooters are safe from the Big Apple’s crime wave — as a 6-year-old Brooklyn boy found out when his ride was swiped by a masked bandit, cops said Friday.

The heartless robber targeted the tyke while the child was zipping around near his home in Borough Park about 10 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

The e-scooter belonged to the little boy’s special-needs brother, their father told The Post.

“There is no humanity,’’ said neighbor Ruhul Amin, a cabbie. “I don’t know who would do this. He is a sick guy.’’

The thief had walked up to the little boy in front of 3528 12th Ave. and asked, “Where is your mommy?” before pushing the child off the scooter, cops said.

The punk then grabbed the scooter and took off, police said.

The shaken little boy ran to an older sister who was nearby and told her what happened, and their parents later called the NYPD.

A neighborhood surveillance camera captured the boy riding the scooter before the heist — and the unidentified robber on it afterward, the dad said. Both the boy and his sister identified the crook in the video, he said.

“At the police station, he was a little afraid,” the father said of his son. “We got him to say a few words.”

The boy, a second-grader who turns 7 next week, is so traumatized about what happened that he hasn’t been to school since and is terrified of ever riding a scooter again, his dad added.

“We are working on it,” the father said. “We are going to have therapy for him, for sure. We are not going to let him fall behind.”

The father of the boy said he wouldn’t press charges if the suspect (right) returned the scooter. 

Family handout

The father — a rabbinical student with 15 kids — said he bought the $500 scooter three weeks ago for one of the boy’s older brothers, who has special needs and is attending summer camp.

“When he comes back, I have to replace it,” the dad said.

But the father said he didn’t have enough money to buy another scooter.

“I wish someone could help me.. … My child needs it. That’s what he uses to get around,’’ the dad said.

The suspect getting away with the scooter.

Family handout

The father appealed to the thief to “bring it back, no questions asked.

 “Turn the scooter back, I’m not going to press any charges,” he said.

“But if the police catches you, it’s going to be worse.”

The suspect is believed to be in his late 20s and was wearing a dark gray shirt, light gray shorts and gray sneakers at the time of the robbery, cops said.

The disturbing incident comes amid a terrifying uptick in crime in the city.

The scooter theft occurred just weeks after another robber snatched a gold chain from around the neck of a 4-year-old boy inside a Washington Heights apartment complex.

The thief pushed the child off the scooter before taking it.

Paul Martinka

The tiny victim, who was with his grandmother at the time, was left with a minor cut on his neck from the June 12 robbery. 

Zera Shimshon Parshas Matos/Massa

 

Sam Friedman Director of Hillel is Married to a Christian Pastor

 

Sam Friedman & his Shiksa Jen

By

 David Israel

Sam Friedman is the director of Hillel at Stetson University in Greater Orlando, Florida. The announcement of his selection to this role, back on April 1, 2018, went (Stetson Selects Sam Friedman as Hillel Director): 

“In this position, Friedman will help shape Hillel as the center of Jewish student life on campus and engage students in Jewish life, learning, and Israel.” 

There’s nothing wrong with this job description, and Friedman was well suited for the job, having worked before as director of community relations and then as assistant director for Central Florida Hillel; and even earlier as Israel and Global Initiatives Associate for the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County.

But then Sam Friedman decided to update his resume as a leader and shaper of young Jewish minds when he started dating an ordained Christian minister named Jen.

“Our first date was a whirlwind of excited conversation around spirituality, ethics and how funny it was that we—professionals in our different religious traditions—were on a date together,” Friedman reported in the Forward last Tuesday

 (I’m a Hillel director. My fiancé is a pastor. Here is how we are making it work.).

I don’t want to sound mean, but the depth of Friedman’s commitment to what the readers of this article and myself would define as Jewish was best illustrated by the explanation he says he gave his father about the change in his life: 

“It’s like when one person likes chocolate and one person likes vanilla, but they both hate bigotry.”

It really isn’t. First, because no one has ever been accused of bigotry for their choice of ice cream flavor; and second because the implication that whoever objects to the intermarriage of a Jew and a Christian must be a bigot is terrifyingly shallow and dishonest coming from a Jewish educator in charge of the Jewish experience of young Jewish students.

Iran’s doomsday clock for Israel’s end halts amid power cuts

 

Who says that Hashem doesn't have a sense of humour?

A clock in Iran that counts down to the destruction of Israel has reportedly ceased working as power cuts sweep through the nation.

According to former Al-Monitor journalist Asaad Hanna in a tweet on Monday, the “countdown to Israel’s annihilation clock” stopped displaying following a power outage.

The clock was unveiled in 2017, counting down to 2040, which is when Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicts there will no longer be a State of Israel.

In recent days, the regular blackouts in Iran have spread chaos and confusion on the streets of the capital, Tehran, and other cities, knocking out traffic lights, shutting factories, disrupting telecommunications and affecting metro systems.

Repeaters — devices around cities that enhance cellphone signals — have failed, along with electronic cash registers.

Some towns in Iran’s north reported limited access to water because the power cuts affected the piped supply. Traffic police in the capital have said the sudden power cuts have caught officials completely by surprise.

Iran’s outgoing president apologized Tuesday for the blackouts that have crippled businesses and darkened homes for hours a day.

In a government meeting broadcast live on state TV, President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged that chronic power outages over the past week have caused Iranians “plenty of pain” and expressed contrition in an unusually personal speech.

“My apologies to dear people who have faced these problems and pain,” he said.

Officials have blamed the outages on the country’s stifling heat, escalating electricity demand and deepening drought that has threatened to snuff out hydroelectric generation.

Power demand has peaked in recent days at 66,000 megawatts, surpassing the country’s practical generating capacity of 65,000 megawatts. Companies can actually provide people with even less electricity, closer to 55,000 megawatts — in large part because the aging, sanctions-hit electrical infrastructure leaves power plants prone to repeated technical failures.

Last month, Iran’s sole nuclear power plant underwent an unprecedented emergency shutdown. The facility in the southern port city of Bushehr returned online over the weekend after engineers said they repaired a broken generator.

Electricity facilities have not been properly maintained, and a lack of spare parts has complicated the construction of new plants to keep up with the country’s runaway growth. Over the last two decades, modest apartment blocks and local markets have become high-rises, residential complexes and colossal shopping malls all humming with air-conditioners.

While power cuts during the sweltering summer heat happen sporadically in Iran, the lack of recent rainfall has compounded the country’s electrical problems. Rouhani said precipitation had decreased by almost 50% in the last year, leaving dams with dwindling water supplies to fuel the country. Hydroelectric power generation has plummeted to 7,000 megawatts, Rouhani said, down from an estimated average of 12,000 megawatts in recent years.

Mazal Tov ... Israeli Snakes Born in Beit Shemesh ... Big Kiddush Planned

 

Shayna and Cuddles are unlike many new parents in Israel, in that they are pythons. But that doesn’t mean their offspring won’t be feted in a traditional way.

Israel’s Biblical Museum of Natural History is holding a public kiddush on Friday to celebrate the first baby snakes that have emerged from a crop of 38 eggs that Shayna, a 12-foot albino Burmese python, laid several months ago.

“Waiting and watching has been an incredible experience and opportunity to share more about these amazing creatures, and there is no more fitting way to celebrate their entrance to the Biblical Museum of Natural History, than with a traditional, haimish [“cozy”] Kiddush!” said Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the museum’s director and founder, in a press release announcing the event.

It’s the first time that the museum, which Slifkin opened in 2014, has held a kiddush, the celebratory Jewish ceremony associated with Shabbat services and festive occasions.

The event will include refreshments; an opportunity for visitors to meet Shayna, Cuddles and their babies; and a lesson about Jewish perspectives on snakes.

Slifkin is an Orthodox rabbi who has published multiple books on the intersection between animals, zoology and Torah, such as “Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash” and “In Noah’s Footsteps: Biblical Perspectives on the Zoo.” His works have been banned in some Haredi Orthodox communities over his views on evolution.

Pervert Who Exposed Himself In Front Of 9-Year-Old Girl In Borough Park Roaming the Streets

 

Police are on the hunt for a pervert who exposed himself in front of a 9-year-old girl in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

The man committed the lewd act near 55th Street and 12th Avenue in Borough Park at about 8:15 p.m., according to police.