Inna Vernikov a Republican Wins Big in Flatbush A Smack in the Face to Askanim

Thank G-d, the sheep finally saw thru the garbage that Askanim like Ezra Friedlander, Leon Goldenberg and the other "machers" and realized that were feeding them the crap that Jews ought to vote strictly Democrat because a Republican will never make it.

 Dov Hikind did endorse Inna while the Flatbush "gedoilim" endorsed her opponent the fake DemocRAT Saperstein. It seems that the voters were giving a clear message to the "kockers" I mean the "machers" that they don't need their unsolicited advice. 

The same thing happened in Fakewood, where the "kockers" were pushing the "murf" but the voters voted for his opponent the Republican Candidate Ciattarelli. Ciattarelii lost by a tiny margin embarrasing the DemocRATS in New Jersey where Murphy was expecting to win by a landslide.

My advice to the sheep in Brooklyn .... Baaaaaa Baaaa

Stop listening to "Kocker-Machers" and vote Republican all the time, you may lose some but in the long run this is the best strategy for the benefit of the Jewish people... 

 Republican Inna Vernikov won the New York City Council’s 48th District seat on Tuesday, flipping the seat to the GOP in one of the city’s few conservative districts.

“This victory sends a loud message that this district is fed up with the progressive policies that have been destroying our city and our district,” Vernikov told Hamodia Tuesday night. “I think this will open up a lot of doors for Republicans, and will also restore the faith of the people in our election process.”

With 96% of the vote tallied early Wednesday morning, Vernikov, who also ran on the Conservative line, led her Democratic opponent, Steven Saperstein, 64% to 36%, a margin that shocked political observers.

Red Wave: 12 Republican Nationwide Wins in Tuesday’s Election

 Republicans won big Tuesday around the nation with 12 significant accomplishments that bode well heading into the 2022 midterms.

1. Pennsylvania’s Judicial Victories 

Republican Kevin Brobson defeated Democrat Maria McLaughlin for a position on Pennsylvania’s highest court with about 52 percent of the vote.

The win will maintain the composition of the states’ court. The victory is important because in 2022, the court will weigh cases on election integrity, state redistricting, and abortion.

Former Pennsylvania deputy attorney general Megan Sullivan also defeat Democrat Timika Lane for a spot on the appellate court, which hears cases on civil and criminal appeals.

Attorney Stacy Wallace won her race for the Commonwealth Court, where suits involving state agencies are heard.

Read more at Breitbart

Secrets of the Me'aras Ha'Macpeilah in Chevron

 

On August 25, 1859, the Italian archaeologist and engineer Ermette Pierotti, tried to sneak into the sanctuary at the Cave of the Patriarchs with the assistance of some Muslim friends. But before they had even made it down five steps, they were caught by the guards who dragged them back out. "The beatings I received and the curses I was subjected to in no way diminished the satisfaction that I felt," Pierotti wrote in his diary, "I can say that I managed to see something of the cave - ossuaries of white stone... a wall of rock separating the lower and upper caves. When the day comes that someone is able to enter this dark place, they will see that my description was accurate."

Beit Shemesh Widow of Murdered Chareidie Claims that her son the murderer "is the victim"

 

Last week we posted the tragic story of a 17 year-old Beit Shemesh boy who stabbed his father to death during the Shabbos Seuda.

During the shiva she spoke to reporters and told them that her husband, a father of ten, had severe emotional problems but refused to get help. She said that the last ten years was "a life of hell" for her and her children. Police were called many times and they were very familiar with the abuse that was going on over the years. 

She added that her son was "the victim here."

Yanki Kanievski Buys 3 Level Luxury Home in Bnei Brak... No Mortgage... How did he do it?

 

Yanki "in the middle"

Yanki has never held a job, his parents are poor like church mice, so how did he manage to buy this home? 

A few weeks ago the Hebrew Blog "Bechadrei Chadorim" claimed that 98% of all monies collected in some "high-profile" tzedakkah campaigns do not go to intended but to the pockets of those running these "tzadaka" organizations. Very scary! 

Read the  article below to get a feeling what is really going on?

This from the Rationalist Judaism Blog

Yanky Kanievsky, grandson and manager of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, just bought a new home. It's a stunningly decorated, three-floor home, very different from the standard apartments in Bnei Brak. He paid the entire sum outright, without taking out any mortgage. He didn't even have to sell his previous home in order to buy it. After all, he didn't need his own money for it. 

He had mine.

I'm still not clear as to exactly how it happened. True, I don't check my credit card statements as carefully as I should. There are several standing monthly payments to various charities. Back in 2018, I received a receipt from one such charity, called Beit David, but I was suddenly suspicious, because I hadn't remembered ever donating to it. Looking into it further, I saw that it was based in the Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet - the extremists' neighborhood, which I couldn't imagine housing a charity that I would give to. The receipt was for a standing monthly payment that was taking place over two years! I immediately stopped the payments. 

I vaguely remember calling them and asking how they had started processing donations from me, and not receiving any satisfactory answer. Meanwhile, on the local Beit Shemesh email list, it turned out that there were others in the same position. Beit David had taken thousands of shekels from their bank account, over a prolonged period, without their knowledge or consent.

I had forgotten all about this until a few days ago, when I learned about Yanky Kanievsky's extraordinary new home. How did a thirty-year-old kollel student afford such a property?

One friend of mine told me that many people simply give him gifts. They are so enthralled to have someone as special as Rav Chaim in the world, that they gladly give money to him. Of course, the physical act of giving is done via his family manager. Who uses it to buy a luxury home.

That in itself is distasteful, but it seems that there are much, much worse things taking place.

Who Remembers Cafe Feenjon?

 

by Andrew Silverstein

The most important table in stand-up comedy can be found in the back corner of the Olive Tree Cafe, a dark Greenwich Village restaurant. The two slate tables pushed together serve as a makeshift green room for comedians who perform downstairs at the legendary New York club, the Comedy Cellar. Both “The Cellar” and the Israeli café are owned by Noam Dworman. They share a kitchen and a bathroom and are connected by a narrow stairway lined with signed photos of famous comics who got their start at the club, which opened in 1981.

After their sets, comedians make their way up to the “comedy table” for free hummus and banter, joining other Cellar performers, including major stars who may have dropped in. The table reserved for the club’s comedians began in the late 1990s when it was first implemented by the previous owner, Manny Dworman, who also happens to be Noam’s father.

This table is so sacrosanct that in 2016 when the table was moved 10 inches, a New Yorker article recorded the complaints of a who’s-who of stand-ups. “This is not the table where Robin Williams sat, this is not where Ray Romano sat, this is not where Jon Stewart sat,” Chris Rock protested.

"Trick or Treat" Guy in Halloween mask randomly attacks pedestrian with ax in NYC

 

A creep in a Halloween mask attacked a random pedestrian with an ax on the Upper West Side this week, cops said Tuesday.

The 51-year-old victim was on Broadway near West 61st Street just after 10 p.m. Monday when the suspect — shown in one photo wearing the toothy mask over his face — threatened to kill him and struck his arm with the ax without provocation, cops said. 

The suspect then bolted into the 59th Street/Columbus Circle subway station.

He is shown in another photo sans the getup and wearing a blue surgical mask. He also wore a dark-colored coat, blue jeans and black boots.

The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside in stable condition, cops said.

Fired Park East Rabbi holding rival services blocks from his old synagogue

 

It looks like the Chassidim don't hold the license for break ups. The feuds and civil wars in Satmar, Bobov, Ger, Viznitz and Sadugere has now spread to the Modern Orthodox. Reminds me of the joke about a Jew landing on the moon looking for a shul to daven in and he finally finds one and asks him where the shul is, the moon guy answers him "we have two" so the visitor asks "how many Jews here on the moon" he answers "one" ...so the visitor asks "why do you need two shuls for only one guy?" He answers "just in case I have a fight with myself"

The rift at Park East Synagogue may widen, as Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, who was fired as assistant rabbi last month, has starte!d his own Shabbat service three blocks away from his former synagogue.

This will be at least the second service hosted by Goldschmidt since he was fired from the wealthy Orthodox congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Oct. 15. Last week, according to multiple sources, he hosted Shabbat services in his apartment with dozens of attendees.

Teacher Who Won ‘Teacher of the Year’ Award Beats the crap out of her student who dared question the award

 Good Way to prove your critics wrong.

An educator was arrested and charged for child abuse just two days after being named “Teacher of the Year.” The abuse? Hitting a student who criticized her receiving the award.

Caroline Melanie Lee, 60, a Florida educator, was labeled “Teacher of the Year” by the Duval County Public Schools last Wednesday and then arrested Friday for punching a student in the nose.

The student reportedly made the egregious error of reading a comments thread that questioned Lee being given the award and accused her of using the N-word in class.

According to a complaint filed by the girl, the teacher ordered her into a vacant classroom and then began slapping, punching, kicking and verbally abusing the offending student who dared question how wonderful she really is.

The school said that “Teacher of the Year” Lee has been removed from classrooms, “and will not return,” pending judicial and internal school procedures.

MK Abbas offers Chareidim 100 million Shekel

 

Mansour Abbas, the chairman of the Islamist Ra’am party which is part of Bennett’s coalition, requested to transfer NIS 100 million of the funds he received in coalition agreements to the Chareidi sector, Kan News reported on Monday.

Abbas explained to coalition officials that he feels an alliance with the Chareidim since, like the Arab sector, it is considered a disadvantaged sector of Israeli society.

Of course, Abbas may also be interested in maintaining political ties with the Chareidi parties and some think he is trying to divert attention from a recent incriminating report about his party.

Abbas’s move follows a speech by UTJ chairman Moshe Gafni last week during a Knesset session chaired by Abbas. Gafni took the opportunity to compare the struggles of Chareidi society to Arab society and warned Abbas that based on his own experience in the past regarding funds promised to the Chareidi sector he may not see a shekel of the money promised to him by the coalition

“The Israeli culture only recognizes mainstream Israeli culture,” Gafni said. “No one has any desire to assist anyone who is a bit different, to help them, their children, their neighborhoods, their cities. They promise you money and say; ‘True, there’s great injustice in the Arab sector, we promise you NIS 53 billion. I’m not sure you’ll receive one shekel.”

Following Gafni’s speech, he and Abbas spoke privately for an extended period of time. Abbas later told other Chareidi MKs that “Gafni’s speech touched my heart.”

In response to Abbas’s offer, UTJ MK Yaakov Asher turned it down and slammed the members of the coalition in a speech from the Knesset plenum on Monday night, saying: “Something drastic happened in Israel today. On this day, Yamina members need to put on masks – not just over their noses and mouths but over their whole faces – if today, Ra’am chairman Abbas, your partner in the government, says that his compassion was kindled due to what you’re doing to your Jewish brothers – those with the kipos and payos – and he issues a press release, like a philanthropist, swearing to ‘donate’ NIS 100 million to the Chareidim from his coaliton funds.”

“How is it that Abbas feels what you don’t feel over these past months when children and working mothers are being stomped on just because they’re religious and davka Abbas is the one that requests to take care of them?”

“So first of all, I’ll tell him ‘No thanks.’ But if he wants to donate to some organization, I suggest that instead of the Assistance 48 Association, he donate to Kupas HaIr – they also take care of widows and orphans.”

“Abbas told me: ‘I’m sensitive to disadvantaged societies,'” Asher continued. “He’s sensitive to the disadvantaged and you’re sensitive to Lieberman. You can’t manage to take yourselves in hand and do what’s necessary!”

“What abyss have we reached that Mansour Abbas requests to donate to us? I’m not saying this as a joke, my heart bleeds – how did we fall to this? My Jewish brothers – definitely the ones with kippos on your heads – shame on you that you’ve descended to this.”

Lakewood Community defy the "vaad" and Vote in a landslide for Jack Ciattarelly

 

Meanwhile their is no clear winner as the election is still as of this writing in a dead heat!

As the vote between incumbent New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelly comes down to a razor-thin margin, the numbers from the overwhelmingly frum city of Lakewood were released, showing that Ciattarelli won it by a landslide.

Despite endorsements from the Lakewood Vaad and numerous askanim, Governor Murphy was unable to gain the support of the majority of Lakewood’s voters, who lean conservative and in general feel that Murphy’s policies do not align with their values.

Ciattarelli won 61.6% of the Lakewood vote, with a total of 11,644 votes.

Lakewood has over 50,000 registered voters, but saw less than a third of them turn out to vote in Tuesday’s election.

MASSIVE BLOW TO BIDEN AND DEMS: Republican Glen Youngkin Wins Gubernatorial Race In Virginia

 

In a crushing blow to President Joe Biden and Democrats across the country, Trump-backed Republican Glen Youngkin is projected to win the Virginia gubernatorial race, beating incumbent Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

Youngkin was the target of numerous attacks in recent weeks, including a political stunt by the anti-Trump Lincoln Project that aimed to paint him as a candidate with numerous white supremacist supporters.

The race in Virginia is believed to have boiled down to issues parents have with the state’s public school curriculum, with Youngkin decrying the teaching of Critical Race Theory and Democrats accusing the Republican of being a racist for opposing it.

At Least 9 Former Nazis Died In The U.S. While Awaiting Deportation. 3 House Democrats Want To Know Why.

 

Jack Reimer, a Ukrainian immigrant accused of being a Nazi war criminal, enters Federal District Court in Manhattan on Aug. 17, 1998. He was later stripped of his U.S. citizenship and ordered deported, but died at his home in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

In 1992, the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations learned that before moving to the United States, a Brooklyn potato chip salesman had participated in the liquidation of Jewish ghettos in Poland, including those in Warsaw, Lublin and Czestochowa. And there was evidence that he helped other SS men execute 50 to 60 Jews in a ravine near Trawniki.

Jack Reimer was tried in 1998 and denaturalized, or stripped of his U.S. citizenship, in 2002. An appeals court upheld the decision in 2004, and the following year the U.S. sought to deport him. He agreed to leave for Germany but died in August 2005 before that could happen. He was living in Fort Lee, New Jersey, at the time and died surrounded by his family.

Sixteen years later, three New York House Democrats are asking the State Department to conduct a review of their records to learn why Reimer and eight other Nazi war criminals who were found living in the U.S. after the war were prosecuted, convicted and ordered deported but then allowed to die “comfortably in the United States.”

“Some of these men were stationed at Nazi concentration camps,” they wrote. “Others participated in the horrific liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto. The Department of Justice established beyond a reasonable doubt that each of them contributed to the atrocities of the Holocaust.…

Rebbitzin Berland Arrested And She's talking .. Reports are that she is tying her pervert husband to the murders and will disclose where the bodies are

 

 

Spectacular ancient gold ring unearthed in Yavne

 

In an enormous excavation conducted at Yavne by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), as part of the Israel Land Authority's initiative to expand the city, a spectacular gold ring with an inlay of a purple stone was recently uncovered.

An examination of the ring by Dr. Yotam Asher at the analytical laboratory of the Israel Antiquities Authority, showed that the stone is mostly made of silica, a material from which many gemstones are composed. This examination ruled out the possibility that the purple inlay is made simply of glass. The ring weighs 5.11 grams.

70 Men Women and Children from the Helbrans Cult Caught in Kurdisan Escaping Guatamala ...

 

70 men, women and children of the crazed and sick Helbrans cult,  managed to escape Guatamala in the middle of the night and flew to Kurdistan where they were detained by the Kurdistan army. 

They told the army that they didn't intend to enter Iran and just wanted to escape to take a break from Guatamala. Of course they were barking up the wrong tree as the army didn't believe them.

So now the escapees are sitting at the airport hoping that they can get a chartered flight out, to who knows where.

Question: Who is funding these sickos?

Jerusalem Consulate: A Nail in the Coffin of Peace

 

Only a few months ago, US President Joe Biden betrayed a US ally by withdrawing forces from Afghanistan, bringing down the government in Kabul and consigning the country to the bitter depredations of Taliban terrorists. Now he is winding up to betray another, much closer ally — Israel.

Biden plans to open a consulate in Jerusalem. This may seem like just another diplomatic facility to issue visas, promote trade and take care of US citizens, with no greater consequence than the US consulate in Edinburgh, UK. But it is far more than a mere office for paper-shuffling diplomats. It amounts to a de facto US embassy to the Palestinians on Israeli territory. Its true purpose is to undermine Israeli sovereignty in its own capital city and will jeopardise future prospects for peace between Israel and Palestinian Arabs.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, understands the implications only too well. In a recent interview, he triumphantly predicted that the new consulate would re-divide Jerusalem.

After the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital in 2018, it subsumed the existing consulate in the city to form a single diplomatic mission. This was achieved under the administration of President Donald J. Trump and that, together with a profound misunderstanding of the dynamics of peace, explains Biden’s determination to re-open the consulate. He has devoted much of his presidency so far to undoing everything he could of Trump’s work, with the exception of the Afghanistan debacle, over which he uniquely claims to have been bound by Trump’s previous plans.

The new consulate, exclusively to manage diplomatic relations with Palestinians, is designed to give hope that one day Jerusalem will be the capital of a putative Palestinian state. Israel can and rightly should never allow that. As well as betraying Israel, Biden’s irresponsible diplomatic signalling — which also appeases his hard-left supporters — is a betrayal of the Palestinian people. They have suffered too long and too hard under the hostility of their leadership, which has consistently refused to entertain all proposals for peace with Israel that could lead to the establishment of their own state.

Successive Palestinian leaders have been encouraged in their intransigence by the US and Europe, who have for decades extracted concession after concession from Israel while Palestinians make none. The impossible aspirations of the PA leadership — who intend to see not a two-state solution but the destruction of the Jewish state — were dealt a severe blow by the 2020 Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab nations, and by the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 with the opening of an embassy there the following year.

Man married to divorcee discovers he's a kohen - what next?

 

Shalavim Bais Din

A young man from Bnei Brak recently paid a visit to the Religious Council in Tel Aviv in order to verify the name of his grandfather – and to his shock, discovered that his father and grandfather had apparently both been kohanim (of Priestly lineage).

Ordinarily, this would have been relevant but untroubling information – in this particular case, however, the young man was already married to a divorcee, and according to Jewish law, kohanim are forbidden to marry divorcees.

The discrepancy had apparently occurred because the father of the young man had originally recorded on his marriage certificate that he was a “Yisrael” (and not a kohen), but at some later stage, the entry had been crossed out and replaced with “Kohen.”

The young man and his wife then turned to the renowned expert in Jewish law, Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein, who told them to separate for the meantime, until their status could be ascertained.

The story then found its way to the ears of Rabbi Noam Amram, head of the Sha’alvim Beit Din (rabbinical court), which deals primarily with marriage-related issues. Rabbi Amram immediately realized how important it was to find a way to permit the couple (who have six children) to remain married, and he researched the issue and formulated a solution.

What Rabbi Amram discovered was that the young man’s father, who had been completely secular, had not bothered to clarify his own lineage either for his own edification or for the purpose of informing his children that they might be kohanim.

He also investigated the question according to the halachic conclusions of four main poskim (decisors): Rashi, Rabbeinu Tam, Rambam, and Ramban.

Based on the above, Rabbi Amram ruled in accordance with three of the four above mentioned poskim that the government document did not constitute halachic evidence and that it could not be used to prove that the man, or his father or grandfather, were definitely kohanim.

Rabbi Amram also noted that even in the opinion of the fourth posek, the document did not constitute evidence as it had been written and then crossed out and rewritten. In addition, there was only one signature attesting to the “Kohen” status, not the two required by Jewish law. He also noted that there exists some doubt as to whether people generally considered to be kohanim today really are kohanim, as definitive records have often not been kept.

Therefore, Rabbi Amram ruled that the young man could return to his family.

Vizhnitz bans single young men from weddings

 

Single young men from the Vizhnitz hasidic sect may no longer participate in community weddings, their rebbe (hasidic leader) said, according to Kikar Hashabbat.

According to Kikar Hashabbat, the instruction follows a speech by the Vizhnitzer Rebbe on Shabbat (Saturday), in which he said that, "Everyone is familiar with the history of Vizhnitz over the past seventy years, when during the time that the Vizhnitz neighborhood was built in Bnei Brak, a situation was created in which everyone knew everyone else, and therefore everyone participated in the weddings as one family."

He also said that when his father, the "Yeshuot Moshe," Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, became rebbe, he instructed that single young men not participate in weddings, since there are enough people who come to make the couple happy.

The Arabs sure know how to make a "kiddush"

Instead of Confronting the "self-hating" Jew Blinkin on his opposition of Jews Building in their own Land .. Agudah Calls for a "Yom Tefillah" Against the Israeli Government

 

Am I the only one that sees this as crazy? Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the Israeli Government which now for the first time has an Arab party as part of the coalition. I believe and hope that the government will soon collapse.

But I don't get the Agudah... They are sitting on leather chairs in the comfort of their conference room in the Unites States in lower Manhattan and calling for a "Yom Tefilah" for Jews living in Eretz Yisrael?

We don't have Gedoilim? 

We now need the Chutzlinikers?

The Agudah has its headquarters in the USA and just last week we heard that the USA's Secretary of State, the self hating Jew Blinkin, wants to open the American Consulate for the cursed Palestinians in Yerushalayim  and is putting enormous pressure on Israel to halt the building of Jewish homes in Israel. And yet "Ein Koil, Ve'in Onah"

Where is the Agudah? Where is the "Moetzes Gedoilei Hatorah?"

"How Dare You" Iraqi Beauty Queen Scolds Mandela’s Grandson Over BDS

 

By Pesach Benson, United With Israel

Glitz and glamor are coming to Israel in December as Eilat hosts the 2021 Miss Universe pageant. Women from around the world will vie for the crown in a contest expected to draw 600 million viewers. It’s the first time the competition is being held in the Middle East.

Of course, no international event can happen in Israel without criticism from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. But a call from Nelson Mandela’s grandson to boycott the pageant was met with a fierce scolding from — of all people — a former Iraqi beauty queen. And Miss South Africa was curiously silent.

On October 19, Inkosi Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, the 47-year-old grandson of Nelson Mandela, took to Instagram to urge countries to boycott the Israel-hosted pageant. Mandela inherited the position of tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and is a member of the South African parliament.

In a statement, he praised announcements by Miss Indonesia and Miss Malaysia to boycott the tournament and then denounced Israel as an “apartheid state.”

“Daily Apartheid Israel violates the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people and commits crimes against humanity,” Mandela wrote.

“Israel is an apartheid State and persists in its heinous occupation and expansion of its illegal settlements in violation of international law. We must persist in isolating Apartheid Israel in the same way that we isolated Apartheid South Africa.”

While South Africans overwhelmingly support the Palestinians, some key activists, such as Kenneth Meshoe, bristle at the apartheid analogy. The comparison, they say, is dishonest and cheapens the suffering of blacks who lived under strict racial segregation.

According to South African media reports, organizers of the Miss South Africa tournament are distancing themselves from Mandela’s statement. A terse statement by the organizers said, “The Miss South Africa organisation is not getting involved in a political war of words and has no further comment to make.”

Reports also note that Lalela Mswane, who was crowned Miss South Africa last week, is facing heavy pressure not to attend. A 24-year-old former ballerina, Mswane has not indicated whether she plans to compete in Eilat. Her views on the Mideast conflict are not known.

Miss Iraq Speaks Out

Former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan called out Mandela in a video posted on Twitter. During the 2017 pageant, Idan made headlines by posting a selfie with her new friend, Miss Israel — Adar Gandelsman. For that, she was labelled a traitor by many Iraqis.

Idan has since visited Israel and spoken out at the United Nations about Jewish refugees from Arab countries. A musician, she also has U.S. citizenship and currently lives in Los Angeles.

“All I can say is, how dare you? How dare you as a man try to tell an organization for women and women empowerment what to do? This is an opportunity that millions of women dream of having — to go on world stage and represent their people, their nation, their culture. Not governments, not politics, and definitely not your political agenda,” Idan said in her rebuke to Mandela.

“The term you used to attack Israel, in calling it apartheid, is a term only being used by radical Islamists, terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Taliban and the Iranian regime — all of them who hate women and women’s rights. Please allow Miss South Africa to go and experience Israel up close on the ground and let her be the judge for herself.”

“And I’m positive, just like me, she will be shocked to see that the Israeli government consists of Muslims, Jews, Arabs, Christians. And those people, not only they get to vote on policies to shape their future, but they’re also part of the Knesset and they also have political parties — and some of them are even Israeli ambassadors to the world.”

“Last but not least, I would like to congratulate the new Miss South Africa, and I hope that she will enjoy her trip and learn not only about Israel but about all these beautiful other countries. This is what the Miss Universe pageant is all about. And I hope to see you there soon.”

Idan’s video has more than 63,000 views.

Why Israel is Hosting the Pageant

This year’s competition comes on the heels of the 2020 pageant, which was delayed by COVID-19 restrictions and held instead in May 2021. That contest, held in Miami, was won by Andrea Meza of Mexico.

Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, told the Jerusalem Post that Israel’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was the main reason it was selected to host the event.

Crediting Israel’s vaccination campaign, Shugart said, “We decided if we were going to hold the competition outside of the US, it would be in a country that has handled the virus well.”

So far, 3.9 million Israelis have received three vaccinations against COVID-19 and another 5.7 million have received two. With the number of active cases down to 8,526, Health Ministry officials are cautiously optimistic.

Sixty countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, have already confirmed their participation. The UAE has never participated in the pageant, while Morocco will be competing for the first time in 43 years. Organizers expect women from 90 countries will participate.

Israel will be represented in the competition by Noa Cochva, a 22-year-old former IDF medics commander and aspiring pediatrician.

When a Monkey Shares

 

Lubavitcher Boy Tell Subway riders that "G-d is Homeless"

 

Lev Tahor leaders Will be Extradited to US from Guatemala

 

A court in Guatemala has approved the extradition to the US of two senior leaders of the Lev Tahor ultra-Orthodox cult – brothers Yaakov Weingarten and Shmuel “Shmiel” Weingarten – where they face child exploitation offenses.

The Third Criminal Sentencing Court in Guatemala authorized the extradition of the two men on Thursday and Friday, after they were charged in April this year by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York for the kidnap of a 14-year old girl and for smuggling her across the US-Mexico border to reunite her with her adult husband.

According to media in Guatemala where the Lev Tahor cult is currently located, the court has verified that there are currently no legal proceedings against the Weingarten brothers and that the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry is therefore authorized to begin extradition proceedings.

Suspect Turns State Witness: Major Development In Shuvu Banim Murder Cases – Berland To Be Questioned

 

A dramatic development in the cases of two murders that occurred in Jerusalem over 30 years ago occurred last week when one of the suspects signed a state witness agreement.

The agreement, according to which the suspect will incriminate the others involved in the case, is expected to significantly expedite the pace of the investigation.

The suspect who signed the agreement played a part in both murder cases.

At least two of the suspects detained by police are cooperating with the police and have volunteered details about the cases to investigators. Kan News reported that the female suspect who admitted her role in the murder plot of Nissim Shitrit was brought by the police to the apartment where she claimed she told Shitrit to go to prior to his disappearance.

The detention of five suspects arrested by the police in the past several weeks was extended again by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for another seven days.

Disgraced Shuvu Banim leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who is currently serving a prison sentence for fraud, exploitation, attempted intimidation, tax offenses, and money laundering, is expected to be questioned on the murder cases as well.

Zionists Create "Flight Simulator" to help children with Cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries and burns

 

Yaniv Wanda is studying law and he’s certified to teach guided meditation at the program he participates in, House of Wheels, in Herzliya, Israel. He calls House of Wheels his “second home”– he’s a regular, there almost every day.

The life skills center is a welcoming place for those who rely on their own wheels, as in wheelchairs – whether because of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy or other physical disabilities. Participants master various abilities, but most importantly, they are taught “the maximum self-confidence and the tools of social interaction that can help them live their lives,” says Yonatan Karni, House of Wheels CEO.

That includes the recent addition of an adaptive cockpit that enables House of Wheels participants like Wanda to play “Microsoft Flight Simulator,” enjoyed worldwide by real-world pilots, flight enthusiasts and virtual travelers.

Three team members from the Microsoft Garage in Israel and five engineers from Microsoft Israel R&D Center created the cockpit. The goal for each creator: To make Microsoft Flight Simulator, which lets players simulate piloting a plane just about anywhere around the globe in real-time weather conditions, more accessible to everyone.

“The minute that we heard about the opportunity to receive the cockpit, we were thrilled,” says Karni. “But at the same time, we were afraid that our participants wouldn’t be able to enjoy it, or even worse, they would feel an experience of failure trying to fly.”

Staff from the Garage in Israel made sure that didn’t happen, giving occupational and physical therapists at House of Wheels a demonstration of the cockpit and teaching them how it works. (Two of the five Microsoft Israel R&D Center engineers who worked on the cockpit also are licensed commercial pilots.) The Garage also enlisted a volunteer group of commercial pilots to help guide participants during their flights.

The team from the Garage also “stayed with us patiently the first times our participants tried it,” Karni says. “Yaniv had an amazing experience using it, learning something new and having success.”

The cockpit was created during the Microsoft Global Hackathon at the Israel Garage, one of 12 Microsoft Garage locations around the world where experimental projects are created that can make a difference in people’s lives. Among the Garage hacks that have come to life: the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Eye Control for Windows 10, and Seeing AI.

The adaptive cockpit includes a portable aluminum structure and three monitors that provide a 180-degree, panoramic viewing angle for the pilot. From their cockpit perch, they fly alongside birds over oceans, urban landscapes, forests carpeted with trees and golden deserts.

There is enough space for those who use motorized or regular wheelchairs to easily maneuver around, and there’s also room for a co-pilot to sit. Cables are hidden so they don’t get in anyone’s way. The cockpit doesn’t require using a keyboard, except for a sign in, which can be done by a staff member. Players use a hand-operated throttle and joystick to maneuver the plane. While that can be an issue for patients whose hands are not agile, the team modified the joystick’s sensitivity to allow for easier distance control. The next step in refinement is developing an alternative to the joystick.

The team wants to move the cockpit every three months to a new hospital or rehabilitation facility to not only help benefit those who are using it, but to also get feedback on how to improve it.

Before House of Wheels, the cockpit’s first home was the ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, which specializes in pediatric rehabilitation for infants, children and adolescents with congenital and acquired physical disabilities including cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and burns. It is the only facility of its kind in Israel.

Earlier this year, 13-year-old Etai Rimel was one of the first patients at ALYN to try out the cockpit. Growing up, he enjoyed playing video games and sports, and watching basketball, baseball and football on TV.

On his 12th birthday, he and his father survived a car accident that took the lives of his mother and sister. Etai suffered head injuries and his left leg had to be amputated. Since then, he has been receiving care at ALYN Hospital.

He misses home, although it is not certain when or if he will return to it. But he flew over it recently with the help of a professional pilot who helped guide him over Etai’s house. The teen was thrilled.

“It was a once-in-a lifetime experience to be able to fly wherever I want,” he says.

“Etai enjoyed seeing the world from a bird’s eye-view,” says Hilla Boral, an occupational therapist who is also director of the hospital’s PELE Center for innovative technology solutions for disabled children. “For a long time now, Etai has been watching the world from his wheelchair, and everything has become ‘lower.’ Suddenly, with the adaptive cockpit, there is a sense of height, of levitation.”

“I really enjoyed controlling the machine,’” Etai says “For a whole hour, I was in a very different world from my everyday life, like a free bird, like escaping from reality.”

Etai’s rehabilitation is going to take time – and practice when it comes to trying new ways of doing things.

“We want every child, no matter what happened to him or her, to learn to be independent and to function with his or her peer group as normal as it can be,” says Boral. “Their whole life is ahead of them and if they learn, for example, from age 3 to serve themselves, to eat by themselves, to get dressed by themselves, even if they’re in a wheelchair, then they will grow up being able to do that. If they depend on everyone in their lives, it will be like that for the rest of their lives.”

At ALYN’s innovation center, volunteers with technology backgrounds work with children to develop “tailor-made solutions” for the kinds of things the children want to do, Boral says, which is why the adaptive cockpit was such an inspiring addition.

“The Microsoft cockpit is especially helpful since it involves hand-eye coordination,” says Dr. Maurit Beeri, director general of ALYN. “It’ll give the child an experience of occupational therapy, speech therapy, concentration, cognitive development – and most importantly, it’s fun.”

ALYN and the Garge in Israel are working together on other accessible technology projects, including one that uses a game-like approach to teach children in motorized wheelchairs how to operate them.

At House of Wheels, Wanda, 28, and Netanel Gvili, 26, were among the first participants to try out the adaptive cockpit. The two men, born with cerebral palsy, are friends and have been coming to House of Wheels for years.

“If I am not at home with my family, I prefer to be here because here I have a second family,” says Wanda, who also attends classes at Bar Ilan University as part of a program supported by the House of Wheels Day Center. “I have my place, which no one can take from me. I feel good here.”

“I saw the way Yaniv entered the room where the adaptive cockpit is, and the way he left it – he was like a gladiator,” says Karni. “He came to fire up his skills, and he was very, very proud of himself.”

Gvili was excited to use technology that allows him to feel like he is piloting a plane. A longtime video game player, he counts car racing games among his favorites. He’s also a music enthusiast who likes to produce his friends’ music on Cubase, a digital audio workstation for music recording, arranging and editing.

“Independence” was the feeling Gvili says described his experience with the adaptive cockpit and Microsoft Flight Simulator. “I can choose where to fly. How to fly. It really simulates a flight. Computer games are not new to me, but all of the additional connected devices with the adaptive cockpit are really cool.”