Following Friday's deadly terror attack, in which the Dee sisters, Maia and Rina, were murdered by an arab terrorist, the two sisters were laid to rest together on Sunday afternoon.
When the bodies of the victims entered the funeral hall, the two remaining sisters broke down crying and fell on their sisters' bodies.
The ceremony opened with the reading of Psalms for the recovery of the victims' mother, Leah, who remains in critical condition following the attack.
Reb Chaim Bloom Z”L, was tragically killed after being struck by a car that collided with another vehicle at 13th Avenue & 50th Street moments after the zman on Wednesday, Erev Pesach.
Reb Chaim z”l was just 23 years old.
The Levaya took place on Friday morning (2nd day Yom Tov) 10:00AM in front on the Bobov45 Shul.
The names of the two young sisters murdered in Friday’s shooting attack in the Jordan Valley have been announced, as their mother who was also injured in the attack remains in very grave condition.
20-year-old Maya and 16-year Rina Dee HyD were residents of Efrat who had immigrated from Britain. Maya was doing her national service in Yerucham. The two were travelling in a car with their mother when terrorists opened fire on their vehicle, shooting 22 bullets at the car and killing both sisters. Their mother, 48-year-old Leah Bas Tzipora (Lucy), was rushed by helicopter to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in critical condition and remains in very serious life-threatening condition after undergoing an operation in the hospital Friday.
The father of the girls and their siblings who were travelling ahead in another car were uninjured but heard the shooting and returned to the scene to treat their family members.
An army spokesperson said the attack had occurred near the Israeli town of Hamra, and that the IDF had launched a manhunt for the terrorists responsible for the shooting. As of Saturday night the terrorists had not yet been apprehended.
“Following the reports of a shooting attack at the Hamra Junction, a report was received regarding a car accident between a Palestinian and an Israeli vehicle. IDF soldiers who were dispatched to the scene located numerous bullet hits on the Israeli vehicle, indicating that the accident was in fact a shooting attack.”
“As a result, three Israeli women were injured, two of them were killed. IDF soldiers are blocking routes adjacent to the scene of the shooting attack, a pursuit after the terrorists has begun.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that “in the name of Israel’s citizens I wish to send condolences to the family from Efrat over the murder of the wonderful sisters, Rina and Maya of blessed memory, in the harsh terrorist attack in the Jordan valley. At this time the mother of the family is fighting for her life and together with all the Jewish nation I pray for her welfare and we all send condolences and strength to the dear family at the time of their heavy grief.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that “my heart breaks to see the smiles of the sisters Maya and Rina who were murdered by a foul terrorist. I pray with all the Jewish nation for the mother’s recovery and offer strength to the family in its difficult hour.”
The “cleansing” of Jewish students and lecturers from German universities from 1933 to 1935 was one of the Nazis’ first goals met.
Ninety years later, in the metropolis with the world’s largest Jewish population, the City University of New York has successfully completed a yearslong initiative to expunge all Jews from its senior leadership.
Spring will see the exit of the last two remaining Jews on the school’s 80-member senior-leadership team, in a city whose population is about 20% Jewish.
It will be the first time since its 1961 founding that CUNY’s senior leadership will be Jew-free or Judenrein, for those who fear the horrors of history repeating itself.
This is just one of many systemic initiatives designed to expel the Jewish presence at CUNY.
The once-vibrant recruitment of students at New York City’s Jewish schools has all but ceased at most campuses, and there is now abundant evidence demonstrating it’s more difficult than ever for a Jewish professor to attain a CUNY faculty position.
But what bodes even worse for the city’s Jewish students and academic leaders is that CUNY seems hell-bent on replacing its Jews with anti-Semites.
Five goats were seized by the police and confiscated, and two activists received an administrative removal order signed by Homefront Command Major Rafi Milo.
All the detainees were released under restrictive conditions. The district court canceled the restrictions imposed earlier this week on Raphael Morris, the chairman of the movement.
The movement offered this statement: "A big thank you to all the dedicated activists who came to Jerusalem today intending to offer the Passover sacrifice, especially to the Honenu organization and attorney Nati Rom for the legal assistance provided to all the detainees."
Yesterday, against the background of reports and intentions to offer a Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount, Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinovitch prohibited the bringing of animals to the Mughrabi Gate. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation prevented the entry of animals into the area in accordance with regulations governing the holy places.
It was reported that "the Western Wall Heritage Foundation operates according to the instructions of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which for generations has opposed any act of this kind, and under the authority of the Western Wall Rabbi, has been preventing such actions for years, and will continue to do so this year as well."
On Monday, the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, sharply criticized those who went up to the Temple Mount and those who call to go up there. "According to the Halacha, there is a strict and absolute prohibition to go up to the Temple Mount. The dangerous calls to go up to the Temple Mount on the eve of Passover, in particular, and in general, are irresponsible and contrary to Halacha. No man or woman should trample the Halacha by going up to the Mount," said Rabbi Yosef.
The rabbi also said: "The seal with a prayer for a complete redemption and hope that our prayer will be accepted and we will be healed and we will be able to eat there from the sacrifices and from the Passovers, happy in the building of your city and happy in your work.
An 18-year-old Hudson Valley resident has been charged with leaving the scene of a crash last year that left another woman dead.
The Rockland County teen, from Monsey, was charged on Monday, April 3, said Lt. Michael Gannon, with the Ramapo Police.
Her name was not released due to her age at the time of the incident, making her eligible for youthful offender status, Gannon said.
The crash took place in Rockland County around 12:45 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 28, on West Carlton Road in Ramapo, Gannon said.
Gannon said officers responded to the area after 52-year-old Miriam Sussman of Monsey was found dead in a wooded area adjacent to the roadway.
Sussman had been reported missing on Monday, Nov. 29, causing police to search for Sussman, reported ABC 7.
An investigation found the woman was struck and killed by a vehicle. The vehicle left the scene, Gannon said.
Following her arrest, the teen was arraigned and released without bail.
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by Ittay Flescher
A prayer of thanks – that was my first reaction to the guilty verdict of Malka Leifer. It’s a sex-abuse case I've followed for over 13 years years as a former teacher at Melbourne's Adass Israel School, then as a member of the city's Jewish community and a friend of the victims, and later as a journalist in Israel with Plus61J Media.
I still remember the shock when journalists Ashley Browne and Naomi Levin broke the story in 2008, writing in The Australian Jewish News that Leifer had fled to Israel in the middle of the night with the help of the school's leaders.
I remember how many people criticized the brave victims who came forward and the journalists who told the women's stories; they were charged with sinat hinam and lashon hara – baseless hatred and slander.
I remember the civil court case in 2015 where the Supreme Court of the state of Victoria ordered the school to pay more than 1.1 million Australian dollars ($740,000), with Leifer having to pay AU$150,000, one of the largest sex abuse payouts in Australian history.
I remember the concerns that many people raised – that talking about this story would stoke antisemitism and harm the Jewish community's reputation, or damage Australia-Israel ties.
In 2018, as I entered the courtroom on Jerusalem's Saladin Street for the first hearing in the Leifer case that I attended, I was struck by the fact that the only ultra-Orthodox Jews there were family and supporters of Leifer's campaign to avoid justice in Australia. Some were holding mezuzahs or reciting Psalms, while others were holding texts with writings from the kabbala.
Leifer's sister would often hold an image of Reb Shaya'la of Kerestir up toward the judge, as this Hungarian rabbi who died a century ago was believed to possess the power to heal the sick and comfort the afflicted.
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| Zev Brenner |
I’m Zev Brenner. Heshy Goldstein joined us. I think it’s been a long time since he’s been on the program. He runs Aryeh Hospitality. They’ve been running weekends throughout the year and they were scheduled to run a Pesach program in Atlantic City, the Claridge Hotel for just a couple days ago. He sent out an email directly saying that the program’s been canceled due to fraud and he’s here to explain exactly what’s going on. Thank you for joining us, Heshy. I thank you Doni Schwartz of Passover Listings. To anything Pesach, you can check out Passover Listing for helping to putting together the segment. So, thank you for joining us.
Heshy Goldstein:
Hello. Reb Zev, how are you?
Zev Brenner:
Good, thank G-d. So, you’ve been running Pesach program running proper throughout the year. You were going to be running a big Pesach program for Atlantic City. So, what happened a couple days ago?
United Airlines not paying $1200 to Dave Carroll might be their worst decision ever.
After boarding a United Airlines flight, musician Dave Carroll got himself seated. He heard another passenger exclaiming that the baggage handlers were literally throwing the guitars.
After arriving at his destination, he opened the case to inspect his $3500 guitar and found broken and ruined which was beyond repairs.
Dave went through hell to try and get United to pay for their sins. After nine months of struggle he agreed to settle for $1200 flight voucher but later was informed by the airline that he wouldn't get it as he missed his 24 hours of reporting window at the time of his initial complaint.
However, this wasn't the case. He informed several airline executives when he was at the airport but everyone just ignored him.
He finally decided to make a music video about his horrible experience with United and called it 'United Breaks Guitars'.
The music video went viral and the airline gave his money but the damage to their reputation was already done.
And if you think that United only lost their reputation and not any big money than hear me out.
The song gathered enough bad PR for the company that their stock was reduced by 10% costing the shareholders $180 million and this happened only within four days after the song was launched.
With that money United could have bought Dave more than 51000 guitars.
The indictment of Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Thursday sent shockwaves around the country.
Trump’s defenders — and even some legal experts — haven’t been shy about describing the prosecution of Trump as politically motivated. While the specific indictment has yet to be revealed, Bragg appears likely to charge Trump with felony “falsifying of business records” pertaining to a Federal Election Commission violation relating to buying the silence of pornographer Stormy Daniels, who alleged the two had an affair.
Bragg is further employing a dubious and novel legal theory to charge Trump because the statute of limitations on this crime has expired.
Daniels would later publicly deny she had an affair with Trump and that she had been paid hush money to stop talking about it. Her personal lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who was a driving force in bringing the allegations against Trump, would later end up in prison for tax fraud and stealing from clients, including Daniels.
April 19 is the 80th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Here are five stunning facts about the revolt that most histories of the Holocaust hardly ever include.
After the naming of the Yad Mordechai kibbutz, with its physically stunning Memorial to Mordechai Anielewicz, and the heroic story of its defenders in the 1948 War of Independence battle fought there, the name Anielewicz became forever cemented in the public’s mind as the commander of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters. However, Anielewicz led only one of the two main armed resistance organizations in the ghetto. Anielewicz led the ZOB (Jewish Fighting Organization). The other organization was the ZZW (Jewish Military Union), and its frontline commander was Paweł Frenkel (also spelled Frenkiel). The ZZW’s chairman was psychiatrist and neurologist Dr. David Wdowinski, who survived the war and testified against Adolf Eichmann in 1961. Two years later, he published a short, personal account about the uprising called And We Are Not Saved (1963). Both the ZOB and ZZW are best described as Zionist organizations, and the majority of their leaderships and fighters came from Zionist youth movements.
While many accounts of the revolt in the ghetto report that the uprising ended with the destruction of the main ZOB command bunker at Mila 18 on May 8, 1943, the truth is that fighters in the ghetto continued to strike at Nazis well into 1944. That address was used as the title of the novel by Leon Uris, which may be entertaining but strayed far from the true narrative. In 1979, Dan Kurzman’s popular book The Bravest Battle: The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was published, and it solidified in the minds of many that the uprising lasted less than a month in total. Ghetto fighters who hid in other bunkers beneath the rubble carried out sporadic armed attacks on Nazis until the Warsaw Uprising began in August 1944. Hundreds of Nazis were killed by ghetto fighters in all.
It was just hours before the Passover seder, and both the ZZW and the ZOB knew that it was urgent that they agreed to coordinate their efforts. Hitler’s birthday was April 20, and a final deportation action was scheduled to be completed before that date.
A more balanced look at the history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising can be found in the 2011 book Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto by Moshe Arens, a former Israeli defense minister who was a senior Betar leader in the United States in his younger years. Both that and the Wdowinski volume will leave you inspired and awed by the courage of the young Zionists who chose to fight the Nazis against all odds.
A Pesach getaway program scheduled to take place at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ, has dissolved into disaster due to what the director of the Pesach program described as a “huge financial scam.”
People who signed up for the Pesach program, which had been slated to run from April 4-14 and featured a full roster of singers and personalities, were notified Wednesday of an “unfortunate and unprecedented situation.”
“While the program was moving along nicely, while our dedicated team was working tirelessly to make it a true success, we were hit with a huge financial scam, and we are not sure at this point if we can continue,” a message from Aryeh Hospitality said.
“We are trying to find an alternative option,” the message continued. “Should we be successful at it, we will notify you immediately.”
It wasn’t clear what the scam alluded to was, though unconfirmed rumors have been spreading like wildfire across social media.
Malka Leifer, the former principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, Australia was found guilty of rape and sexual abuse of children Monday.
After six weeks of hearings, a jury in the County Court of Victoria found the 56-year-old Leifer guilty on 18 of 27 counts of rape, indecent assault, child abuse, and other sex crimes, while dismissing 9 of the counts. Earlier, Leifer was acquitted of two other charges.
The charges stemmed from claims of rape and sexual abuse against three sisters – Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich, and Nicole Meyer – from 2003 to 2007.
The jury found Leifer guilty on all counts with regards to the 18 charges against her pertaining to Elly Sapper and Dassi Erlich, and not guilty on all 9 of the charges linked to her alleged abuse of Nicole Meyer.
When an investigation was launched into the abuse of the three sisters in March 2008, Leifer, a dual Israeli-Australian citizen, fled the country, moving to the town of Emmanuel in Israel.
For years, Leifer evaded extradition, feigning mental illness in order to be declared unfit to stand trial.
While a Jerusalem court ruled in 2016 that Leifer was not fit for extradition, a private investigator later proved that Leifer had deceived the court.
In July 2019, a panel of medical experts working for the court found Leifer fit to strand trial, with a the court ratifying the decision in May 2020.
After nearly 13 years abroad, in 2021, Leifer was finally extradited to Australia.
The County Court of Victoria will reconvene on Leifer's case on April 26th to set a date for the sentencing.
The journalist took to Twitter to announce the exciting development with a simple picture of her wearing a Star of David necklace overlaid with her new Hebrew name: Devorah Rut. She later added in a comment: "Thank you, everyone. It’s been a very long journey with a lot of ups and downs. I hope to share the story soon. And for those asking: Yes, I converted orthodox."
Later, she explained that although she could trace her lineage back to Jews who were expelled from Spain, the rabbis who converted her are Ashkenazi, and she will therefore follow those customs.
Following the announcement, Twitter was abuzz with the news, with many Jewish users congratulating her and welcoming her to the tribe.
On Saturday night, one Twitter user asked the journalist how her first Shabbat was, she answered: "Beautiful. Lighting candles for a real purpose just brought me so much happiness."
Ami Magazine's Whitehouse correspondent, Jake Turx, shared a humorous conversation between the two when he asked if it ever occurred to her to hold off on the conversion until after Passover. Dillon answered, "Since I have to 'kosher' my kitchen anyway, by doing it before Passover, I get two for the price of one."
Unfortunately, following Dillon's announcement, antisemitism soon followed, with Twitter posts calling her a race traitor, alleging that she was 'groomed' by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire to convert, and sharing despicable Holocaust imagery.
Dillon commented on the antisemitism in a Tweet: "And the antisemitism begins! In reality, they've been sending me this nonsense for years. In a way, the antisemites knew I had a Jewish neshama (soul) before I did."
Earlier this year, Dillon attended the Grammy Awards carrying a luxury purse emblazoned with the Israeli flag.
Dillon later posted a picture of herself with the purse at the awards ceremony, writing on her post: "I heard people here like to boycott Israel. What a shame."
In the wake of the Belzer Rebbe’s health issues over the past few weeks, chasidim have called for a worldwide prayer vigil to take place at 6:30 PM Israel time (11:30 Eastern Time).
The chasidus announced that “in light of the call by the Rav Hatzadik [Rav Aharon Mordechai Rokeach, the only son of the rebbe] that everyone should pray for the health and speedy recovery of strength for our father, our guide and leader the Rebbe Shlita, the Belz chasidim around the world will unite in a worldwide Tefillah. Today, the 11th of Nissan, with Mincha at 6:30 PM in the Beis Midrash Hagadol, and a public tefillah at the same hour in every location.”
On Wednesday Hatzalah organizations were summoned to the Rebbe’s house after he felt unwell. The rebbe’s situation stabilized afterwards but he has remained in his home and it is estimated that he suffered a hypoglyclemic incident.
The chasidus announced that the rebbe had undergone thorough tests by a specialist doctor who reported that the rebbe is now feeling better.
During the course of Shabbos the rebbe did not leave his home, and was under observation by a resident physician. It is presumed that he will not be leading a communal Seder this year as is his annual custom.
The Knesset passed the Meron law regulating the Lag Ba’Omer festivities for 5783. Seven MKs supported the bill and there was no votes against it.
The Jerusalem Ministry headed by Meir Porush submitted the bill as a temporary bill allowing the regulation of the current year’s festivities while maintaining the safety of participants and without harming the joyous atmosphere at the site.
The new law regulates the number of people who can ascend to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon in accordance with safety officials advice as well as the recommendations of the Meron Investigative Committee. The recommendations take into account the significant renovations at the site enabling larger numbers of participants to gather there.
There will be just one Hadlakah (ceremonial lighting of a fire) on the roof of the tomb as it previous years. Other lighting ceremonies will take place in large areas which have been restructured near Moshav Meron to serve as assembly sites for additional ceremonies.
The law also says that “The Ministry for Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition will be authorized to grant permits for other events based on the recommendation of the director of events who will allow additional events according to the professional conditions required at the main lighting ceremony.”
The law allows for various temporary structures to be erected for the festivities, including food tents and other temporary structures approved by relevant engineers.
In the wake of the committee’s recommendations, safety inspectors can warn in real time of dangerous crowding and can disperse the crowds and even shorten various events for this purpose.
Minister Porush said that “we have presented a bill allowing us to organize the current festivities in a safe and joyous manner, with the maximum permitted number of people participating in the Hillula, while maintaining the safety of all the visitors. With the cooperation of the public and the able efforts of project manager Yossi Deitch, we will G-d willing reach the best possible results. Immediately after Lag Ba’Omer we’ll begin to work on the next year in order to make it as perfect as possible.”
Israeli actress Noa Tishby revealed on Sunday that she was dismissed from her position as Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism.
The move comes just weeks after she denounced the government’s judicial reform program as a “coup.”
“It is with disappointment and sadness, but an enduring determination, that I can confirm that the current Israeli government has dismissed me as Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel,” Tishby wrote in a letter posted to social media.
“It is not possible for me to know if their decision was driven by my publicly stated concerns about this government’s ‘judicial reform policy.’ But given the reality that antisemitism continues its dangerous rise globally, and the threat to Israel’s existence through delegitimization policies has not slowed, it is difficult to come to any other reasonable conclusion,” she added.
Tishby was appointed to the role in April 2022 by then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.
Last Tuesday, US Ambassador Tom Nides told Army Radio (US Ambassador: Netanyahu Will Be Invited to the White House after Passover) that Benjamin Netanyahu “is the prime minister, he is in charge, he was democratically elected, he is the prime minister of this country and the president has confidence that he will do the right thing.”
Also last week, an image that was posted by Itay a Lapid Official on Instagram featured mostly Itay, in a restaurant, but behind him sat Ambassador Nides and Ehud Olmert, one of the hardcore organizers of the anarchist protests. In fact, Olmert, who did a stint in a white-collar prison cell on corruption, is on the record as advocating moving the protests to real war, head-to-head war, the whole combat thing.
Olmert did his IDF service writing for the IDF magazine. Yair Lapid also did his army service there. Probably not much hand-to-hand combat was involved.
Now, this could be Photoshopped fake news, but according to Channel 14th Gilad Zwick, he inquired with the former prime minister/convict, who orchestrated the expulsion of some 8,000 Jews from Gush Katif back in 2005, and confirmed: “I had lunch with the American ambassador and we really enjoyed the food.”
Olmert was not the only man with violent ideations at that table. On March 3, Nides told reporters about Minister Bezalel Smotrich: “I’m really angry with him, he’s stupid. He has a flight to Washington with [Israeli businessman and former Likud MK] Danny Naveh and if I could, I’d throw him off the plane.”
Temper, Mr. Ambassador.
As the war that Russia launched on Ukraine in early 2022 continues unabated, it has become abundantly clear that the international community of nations, for the most part, are throwing their support behind Ukraine as they battle for their survival against the Russian onslaught.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky even addressed a joint session of Congress and is the recipient of tens of billions of dollars in US military aid.
Since the war began between Putin’s troops and the civilian army of Ukraine, the one nation that has provided extensive humanitarian aid to Ukraine but not military aid, despite the repeated requests and even demands from President Zelensky has been Israel. The question that begs to be answered is why has Israel taken this position of reluctance to in helping to arm Ukraine with technologically advanced military hardware.
Ukraine has had an historically adverse relationship with Jews and were unapologetically supportive of the Nazi regime during World War II. Moreover, Ukraine has consistently voted against Israel in the United Nations and has taken positions that foster the support of Israel’s hardened foes.
In January 2020, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel told Jerusalem to butt out of the debate about the country he represents honoring Nazi collaborators.
