Gerer Rebbe: A Chazan Must Have A Beard To Lead Tefillos, Even If He Is A Chiyuv

 DIN: In these chaotic times it is amusing to see how out of touch chareidim are!  We are losing children in uniform every single day, but they are obsessed with trivial stupidities and narishkeitin! I remember the Gerer Shtiblich in Brownsville, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Williamsburg when 98% of the Chassidim were clean-shaven but wore bekishis on Shabbos! If they had tried this shtick then, the survivors would have told them where to shove it! BTW Satmar always had these "regulations" but some gabbaim look away when someone is a chiyuv! 

A new "halachic" imperative has been issued for those seeking to lead the Tefilos in the Gur chasidic sect’s shuls and yeshivos, according to a report on Bchadrei Charedim.

Rabbi Chaim Bunem Shatz, a Gerer posek from Jerusalem, wrote several rules which have been displayed in the various Gerer institutions.

1. One whose beard has not yet grown, will only be allowed to be a chazan (lead the Tefilos) if he is over the age of 20.
2. One whose beard has begun to grow but is not fully grown will be allowed to be chazan from the age of 18.
3. These rules apply even for one who is leading the Tefilos on any random day.
4. Mussaf can only be led by a chazan who is over 20
5. One who is in the year of mourning for a parent or who has Yahrzeit, can lead the prayers at Shacharis or Mincha in accordance with rules 1 and 2. If his beard has not grown yet, he may lead the tefilos from Ashrei [towards the end of the Shacharis] and for Maariv he may lead even from the age of 13.

The new rules were issued in the wake of a discussion the Gerer Rebbe had with one of his grandchildren. The rebbe heard that a young boy had led the tefillos and was shocked, stating that this is a violation of the halacha which stresses that the chazan should have a beard. The grandchild tried to explain that the boy was an orphan and had an obligation to lead prayers but the rebbe dismissed this stating that it was enough for him to say kaddish and he should not be chazan unless he has a beard.

Fat Nadler Mocked & Criticized For "Chapping a Shluff" While Witness Describes How Her 12-Year-old Daughter Was Raped & Murdered by Illegal

 He was resting his case.

Longtime Manhattan Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) was mocked and criticized after he appeared to shut his eyes and rested his head during an emotional House Judiciary Committee hearing on the border crisis Tuesday.

Lawmakers were hearing from family members of victims who had suffered at the hands of violent illegal immigrants, including the mother of murdered Texas 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.

Two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee quickly blasted Nadler — the panel’s top Democrat — claiming he wasn’t taking the testimony seriously.

“From frustrated families in the audience⁦ @JudiciaryGOP hearing listening to witnesses who lost loved ones to violent illegal aliens. Hardly any Dems present – those who are…….,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote on X alongside an image of the sleepy-looking Nadler.

“In Judiciary Committee, we’re hearing from moms of girls and women beaten, raped, strangled, discarded and a boy poisoned to death by fentanyl. Democrats:” Rep Dan Bishop (R-NC) also swiped alongside a photo of Nadler.

During his opening remarks, Nadler expressed sympathy to those who lost loved ones, but also accused Republicans of excessive partisanship.

“I would like to take a moment and express my sincerest condolences to all of our witnesses who have lost loved ones, and to all of their families.  I cannot imagine how difficult this loss has been for you, and I appreciate your being here to share their stories. May their memories be a blessing,” Nadler said.

“Instead of working in a bipartisan fashion to find meaningful solutions to our broken immigration system, we are sitting in yet one more partisan hearing designed to divide us and to score political points before an election,” he added.

The panel heard testimony from eight witnesses during the hearing.

Among them was Alexis Nungaray, who retold how her 12-year-old daughter was allegedly stripped naked and strangled to death by two illegal immigrants from Venezuela.

Sitting next to Nungaray was Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel was allegedly raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant after going for a run not far from her home.

“One of the ladies that came with me, she took a picture of the Democrats on the other side as we were speaking and telling our stories, us, the mothers, mothers crying, telling our stories – and one of them is sleeping, and the other one’s on his phone,” Morin told Fox News.

“It was so disheartening.”

That friend who took the photo, Cathie Groenewold, lambasted the New York congressman.

“I was astounded at the careless attitude of Jerry Nadler,” she told the outlet. “They are pouring out their hearts, these women, who have lost their children to fentanyl and the most gruesome murders you could imagine, and they don’t have the common decency to sit up and give them their undivided attention.”

The Post contacted Nadler’s office for comment.

Nadler been caught nodding off during official business before, including during a 2021 hearing featuring Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Oldest map of the world on nearly 3,000-year-old Babylonian tablet deciphered to reveal surprisingly familiar story

The “oldest map of the world in the world” on a Babylonian clay tablet was deciphered over multiple centuries to reveal a surprisingly familiar story, according to a recent video published by the British Museum.

The cuneiform tablet from the 6th century BC shows an aerial view map of Mesopotamia — roughly modern-day Iraq — and what the Babylonians believed lay beyond the known world at the time.

The ancient artifact, discovered in the Middle East, was acquired by the British Museum in 1882 but remained a mystery for centuries until curators found a missing part and transcribed its cuneiform.

The tablet has several paragraphs of the cuneiform on its backside and above the map diagram describing the creation of the Earth and what its writer believed existed beyond it.

The map shows Mesopotamia surrounded by a double ring — which the ancient scribe labeled the “bitter river,” a river that created the borders around the Babylonians’ known world.

Inside the bitter river, small circles and rectangles represent different cities and tribes in Mesopotamia including Babylon and another rectangle represents the Euphrates river.

“You have encapsulated in this circular diagram, the whole of the known world in which people lived, flourished and died,” British museum curator and cuneiform expert Dr. Irving Finkel said in the video. “However, there’s more to this map than that.”

“When it comes to operating beyond the limits of the known world into the world of imagination, [the tablet] is indispensable,” Finkel added.

The Babylonian scribe also mapped out what they believed existed outside their world, including mythical creatures and lands as well as a reference to a well-known story today — essentially the Babylonian version of the biblical story of Noah’s ark.

The ancient Babylonians believed the remnants of the giant ark built in 1800 BC by their version of Noah, named Utnapishtim, at the instruction of god lay beyond the bitter river on the backside of a mountain — the same mountain that Noah’s ark crashed on, according to the Bible.

“That’s quite a meaty thing, quite an interesting thing to think about because it shows that the story was the same, and of course, that one led to the other,” Finkel concluded.

21 False Claims & Hoaxes by Kamala Harris that ABC’s Debate Moderators Did Not Fact Check

 

Vice President Kamala Harris issued a slew of false claims and hoaxes that ABC debate moderators did not fact check during Tuesday’s debate against former President Donald Trump.

Here are 21 false claims and hoaxes that Harris uttered on live television, in front of millions of Americans:

1. “Very fine people” hoax

Harris claimed Trump called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people,” a widely known hoax that Democrats continue to repeat, despite it being debunked for years by numerous outlets, including by the left-wing fact checking website Snopes.

2. Project 2025 hoax

Harris accused Trump of wanting to implement Project 2025. This is false. Trump has repeatedly stated that he has nothing to do with it and hasn’t even read it.

Trump promptly corrected Harris on the debate stage, saying, “I have nothing to do — as you know, and as she knows, better than anyone — I have nothing to do with Project 2025. I haven’t read it, I don’t want to read it, purposely. I’m not going to read it.”

“I have nothing to do [with it],” Trump added. “Everybody knows I’m an open book. Everybody knows what I’m going to do: cut taxes very substantially, and create a great economy like I did before.”

3. False claims on Trump trade deficit

Harris claimed “the Trump administration resulted in a trade deficit” that was “one of the highest we’ve ever seen in the history of America.” This is patently false.

The trade deficit climbed to around $653 billion in Trump’s final year as president, in part because of depressed global demand for U.S. goods and services and a U.S. economy that recovered sooner than most other developed economies.

But the trade deficit never rose to the levels seen under former President George W. Bush or the Biden-Harris administration.

4. Putin can “do whatever the hell he wants”

Harris claimed that Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could “do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine.” This is false. Trump never told Putin he could do “whatever the hell he wants,” and he never told Putin he could invade Ukraine.

To add insult to injury, this false claim is also coupled with stark gaslighting, given that Putin appears to be doing whatever he wants during the Biden-Harris administration — such as invading Ukraine — and not during the Trump administration.

5. “Dictator on day one” hoax

Harris claimed that Trump “wants to be a dictator on day one.” This is false. Trump has never said this.

Oddly, Harris attempted to justify her false claim by making another false claim (the aforementioned erroneous claim coupled with gaslighting), which was that the 45th president told Putin he could “do whatever the hell he wants.”

Remarkably, Harris failed to mention that Putin has actually been doing whatever he wants during the Biden-Harris administration.

Moldova bars Israeli Jews from annual pilgrimage to Uman for Rosh Hashana

 The government of Moldova is taking steps to block Jewish pilgrims from visiting a popular religious site in Eastern Europe this fall, complicating plans for tens of thousands of Jews to pray there during the upcoming holiday season.

With the war between Russia and Ukraine still raging and air travel to Ukraine limited, Jewish pilgrims to Uman have relied on roads from the neighboring state of Moldova to access the tomb of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the late 18th-early 19th century founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.

A popular pilgrimage destination for Breslov Hasidim and other Jewish visitors during the High Holidays – and in particular Rosh Hashanah – Rebbe Nachman’s tomb in Uman is located some 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Moldovan border.

Despite the war in Ukraine and the difficulties in reaching Uman, tens of thousands of visitors took part in last year’s Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage, with most of the pilgrims reaching Uman from Moldova.

In 2023, Moldova coordinated with Israel to facilitate the influx of Israeli tourists into the country, with Israel compensating the Moldovan government for the special security preparations necessary to handle the surge in tourists and the need to adhere to Israeli standards of security.

This year, however, Moldova has indicated it will not permit the mass entry of Israelis seeking to reach Uman, Yedioth Aharanoth reported Wednesday, claiming that Israel has yet to pay Moldova back for last year’s security arrangements.

A number of flights from Israel to Moldova ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday – which begins on October 2nd – have been canceled, and Moldova is reportedly planning on blocking access to the roads used to reach the Ukrainian border by Israeli pilgrims last year.

Daniel Voda, spokesman for Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean, said that without repayment for last year’s security provisions, his country would not facilitate the mass entry of Israelis this year.

Moldovan Chief Rabbi Pinchas Salzman said he was “surprised by the news,” claiming that an agreement was in place between Israel and Moldova.

“I am trying to schedule meetings to cancel this decree,” Rabbi Salzman said.

“The State of Israel gave the Moldovans a guarantee to pay the debt. Maybe someone thinks that Israel is weak because of the war and can be blackmailed, but they are wrong.”

IDF avenges the abduction of Noa Marciano,

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have avenged the abduction of Noa Marciano, successfully neutralizing her captor in a precision airstrike. Marciano, who was taken hostage during the October 7th massacre, and was murdered in Shifa Hospital, Gaza.

Among those eliminated were:

❌Abdallah Abu Reala of the Hamas Shati Battalion, responsible for holding Corporal Marciano. The operation, carried out by the Israeli Air Force, targeted several terrorists involved in the attack.

❌Ayman Khaled Ahmed Abu Allahyani, a Nukhba terrorist who participated in the assault on the Erez Humanitarian Crossing, was also killed in the strike.

 

Hamas commander to Sinwar: ‘We are broken, our people don’t tolerate us anymore’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed a document on Wednesday written by a now-deceased Hamas commander to Yahya Sinwar describing the “difficult situation” the military wing of the terror group was facing.

The former commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, Rafa’a Salameh, who was killed with Mohammed Deif in an airstrike in July, wrote to Sinwar, “We have lost 90-95% of our rocket capabilities, and we have lost some 60% of our weapons.”

The letter continued, “We have lost at least 65-70% of our anti-tank launchers and rockets, and most importantly, we have lost at least 50% of our fighters between those who are martyred and wounded, and now we are left with 25%. ”

Salameh added, “The last 25% of our people have reached a situation where the people do not tolerate them anymore, and they are broken on a mental or physical level.”

Gallant pointed out that the letter emphasizes that even Hamas’s most senior commanders have reached a breaking point.

The Defense Minister commented on how Salameh “cries out” to the Sinwar brothers “but they, of course, cannot save him.”

“Why? Because we are continuing the effort that started in October and continues step by step… and reaches all senior Hamas officials,” said Gallants.

Salameh worked closely with Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, including the planning of the execution of the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the 2005 suicide bombing at the Orkhan outpost.

There was initial doubt that the airstrike that killed Salameh in July also eliminated Deif, but the news of Deif’s death was later confirmed.

Yoav Gallant tweeted in August, “Muhammad Deif, the ‘Osama Bin Laden of Gaza,’ was eliminated on 13.07.24,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tweeted Thursday.

“This is a significant milestone in the process of dismantling Hamas as a military and governing authority in Gaza, and in the achievement of the goals of this war.”

 

Biden Appearing Confused Wears Trump 2024 Hat During Shanksville Visit

 

During a visit to a fire station in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden was seen putting on a red Trump 2024 hat. The event took place just one day after a presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Many of the attendees inside were reportedly wearing MAGA hats and other Trump gear.

Witnesses at the event claim that Biden appeared confused, with one attendee asking, “Do you even know what your name is?” Kamala Harris was reportedly present in the room when Biden put on the hat, adding to the unusual nature of the moment.

‘Pretty insane,’ comedian says of pro-Hamas frat ‘social experiment’

 Pretending to recruit for a pro-Hamas fraternity on a college campus taught two Jewish comedians how much future leaders can be sheep.

Zach Sage Fox, CEO and founder of a production company, and Yechiel Jacobs posed as recruiters for a fictitious pro-Hamas fraternity and sought members.

In a 90-second video titled “Rush Hamas” that they posted on social media, the two comedians don red visors, sunglasses and red tank tops that approximate the word “Hamas” in Greek Letters—eta, delta, mu, delta, sigma.

“It’s back-to-school season, and you know what that means,” they say. “Antisemitism.”

“We’re starting a new fraternity,” they say, gesturing to the text on their shirts. “Hamas.”

They ask one group, “Are you guys anti-Israel?” Several students say that they are. “We’re putting together a Hamas fraternity,” the two say. “This is a Hamas represent come together.”

Some students identify themselves as freshmen at New York University. The undercover comedians are told another student goes to Columbia University. “Dude, Columbia is like one of the biggest, like, Jew-hating schools out there,” the duo says.

“You down?” they ask a girl wearing headphones. “Yeah,” she says, as she appears to sign.

“Just a quick sig,” they tell others, using shorthand for “signature.”

“Throw me your sig right here,” they tell another.

“Don’t you need, like, our emails or something?” one student asks. “Yeah. Yeah. Emails and signatures,” the duo says.

The terms and conditions of the new “fraternity,” the duo says, include “taking a road trip to Jewish-owned businesses to protest.”

“We’re literally going to be, like, chanting outside of synagogues, like harassing Jews,” they tell another student. “Keffiyeh fashion show,” they say to another student. “It’s a lot of fun.”

They also appear to tell students, “Death to America!”

“We’re doing this anti-Zionist keg stand,” they tell a student in a head covering. They tell others, “Obviously chant to obliterate Israel.” To another, they say “boycotting Jewish businesses, protesting synagogues, all the good stuff.”

“What do you think, kick out all of those Jews?” they tell someone on a park bench. “Burning Israeli and American flags, you down for that?” they tell another. “I’m down for that,” he says.

“Some of the schools are starting to crack down on the encampment,” they tell a student. “We want a safe space for Jew-haters.”

How One Woman’s Divorce Transformed the Jewish Divorce Conversation

 

Yeshiva Bochrim Prayed For Rain For the Texas Farmers.... And it Rained That Night!

 

Look at this Fancy Home in a Tunnel ..

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Priyam Saraswat (@priyamsaraswat)

Iran’s New Plan: Lost Gaza, So Take West Bank

 

by Khaled Abu Toameh

 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has condemned Israel for initiating a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, near Jordan, but it has purposely chosen to overlook the reason behind the Israeli security’s operation. Israel’s counterterrorism operation, called Summer Camps, targets numerous Iran-backed armed terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), that have been operating freely in PA-controlled territories in the past few years.

The main objective of Israel’s operation is to thwart Iran’s intention, with the help of the armed groups, to turn not only Gaza, but also the West Bank into another terror base to be used as part of the Islamists’ Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel.

The PA should applaud Israel’s security forces for pursuing the terrorists, rather than criticizing them. These armed groups, which refer to themselves to as “battalions,” pose a direct threat not only to Israel, but the PA as well. The gunmen have created their own state within a state in the areas under PA administration, openly contesting the PA’s legitimacy and making a mockery of its security forces.

Most of the gunmen there belong to Hamas and PIJ, which are strongly opposed to the Palestinian Authority and its policies, especially the security coordination between the PA security forces and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The two groups do not recognize Israel’s right to exist and seek to replace it, through Jihad, with an Islamist state. One of the reasons the PA is reluctant to crack down on the “battalions” is because PA officials are aware that the terrorists enjoy widespread support among the Palestinian public.

The Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank could have been avoided, had the PA fulfilled its duty of combating terrorism by dismantling the armed groups.

Article XIV, “The Palestinian Police,” of the Oslo Accord signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993 states:

Harris survived the debate with a huge assist from the moderators but Trump scored crucial points

 

Donald Trump got to Kamala Harris’ core problem in his debate close, waving off all her promises about what she’d do in office: “Why hasn’t she done it already?”

Hard to think of a better riposte to her “We won’t go back” slogan — which aims to appeal to Americans’ desperate desire for change from the Biden policies she shares.

Harris had a pretty smooth night: She did her homework for once, including prepping lines guaranteed to get under Trump’s skin — some of which plainly did put him off-balance.

And of course she had backup from the moderators, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis — who targeted far more tough questions at Trump than at Harris, and all of their “fact-checking.”

Worse: Whenever she started to babble in trying to defend her own record, they rescued her by changing the subject.

And by changing it again whenever Trump was truly on a roll.

Still: Whenever she talked about having “a plan,” it was more of what she and Joe Biden have pushed these last four years — even when it came to the border.

Offered multiple chances to say what she’d do differently than Joe, she dodged every time.

She even fell back on the same seeming strong support for Israel to defeat Hamas, with the same caveats that “how it does so matters” — a passive-aggression ratification of Hamas propaganda smearing the IDF’s incredible restraint, sacrificing hundreds of Israeli lives to minimize civilian casualties.

Answering a question about how she’d get a ceasefire, she went on a meandering review of the war before saying it had to end with a ceasefire that releases the hostages — without a hint of how to get one.

And of course she followed by demanding the same old “two-state solution” that Hamas and its allies don’t want, and is a clear impossibility for the foreseeable future.

Crucially, she also wouldn’t call for Ukraine’s victory in its defense against Vladimir Putin’s invasion, but only brag about how she’d met with Volodomyr Zelensky right before the war began, and isn’t it a wonderful alliance we have helping him now.

Trump at least was honest: He wants the war ended ASAP.

But he also made a powerful point that Putin didn’t do any invading on his watch, and later connected the dots — quite correctly — from the feckless Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the weakness it signaled, to Russia’s invasion.

Harris actually praised Biden’s Afghan bugout, then talked up the importance of “stability,” when Europe and the Middle East are aflame in this administration.

Trump was erratic — notably taking her bait when she claimed people walked out of his rallies and when she fictionalized his remarkable business success.

Yet he could also be fast on his feet, as when he countered her brag that 200 Republicans have endorsed her by noting that was mostly people he’d fired — and that Biden-Harris have fired no one, not even for the Afghan debacle nor the disastrous inflation.

He scored again on inflation when she insisted his tariffs would raise prices, by noting his presidency was inflation-free — and that Harris-Biden “never took the tariffs off.”

On the economy, the No. 1 issue for voters, all she really had to offer was her empty “Opportunity Economy” label; he pointed to his record of achievement.

With a huge assistance from the moderators, Harris got through the debate without repeating Biden’s June disaster.

We’re glad to see she’s now asked for another debate, and hope that encourages her to also finally do press conferences and long interviews.

Trump’s been edging up in the polls as voters say they don’t know enough about Harris: She needs to take more risks, and on less-friendly ground, or she’s still headed for defeat.

Footage of Hamas tunnel where hostages were murdered| Liberman: Stop all the aid to Gaza

 

Israeli political officials reacted on Tuesday evening to the publication of the difficult footage from the tunnel where six hostages were executed by Hamas terrorists.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said, "The same killing pits that the Nazis used to murder Jews during the Holocaust are being repeated by the Nazi monsters of Hamas. All humanitarian aid to Gaza must be stopped today. No food, no water, no cigarettes, no fuel and no goods. Everyone who had a part, everyone who had a hand in the matter, must not die a natural death."

Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said in response that "Hamas kept our hostages under substandard conditions, and murdered them in cold blood. The response to this should be clear: the cessation of humanitarian aid and the fuel trucks that reach Hamas."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded, "The shocking images are a painful and chilling testimony to the unimaginable cruelty of Hamas, but they are also a red flag and a wake-up call to the Israeli government - if we don't do everything to reach a deal now, we are imposing a death sentence on the hostages who are still alive. We cannot afford any more videos like this."

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote, "A detestable Nazi enemy." The chairman of the United Torah Judaism Party, Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, responded, "The shocking footage of the tunnel where the six were murdered is infuriating and outrageous. The voice of our brothers’ blood cries out to us from the ground. We will support any deal brought to the government."

"And one more word about hypocrisy: While we are having discussions on improving the living conditions of Nukhba terrorists and the visits of representatives of the Red Cross, in The Hague they are asking for an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister. We will not defeat a cruel enemy by groveling. The State of Israel must use an iron fist against the enemy," added Goldknopf.

The chairman of New Hope-The United Right, Gideon Sa'ar, said that "the gut-wrenching video from the murder tunnels of Hamas - is shocking. We are obliged to continue our efforts to return all the hostages and the campaign to defeat Hamas - which kidnapped them, held them in inhumane conditions and brutally murdered them. This campaign must be conducted on the basis of knowing the reality and not on the basis of wishful thinking. In Washington, I heard only yesterday from knowledgeable senior officials in the American administration (more than one): Hamas is not interested in a hostage deal. We are not close to such a deal. The thought that if Israel just makes one more concession or another and then the matter will be resolved - is simply not true. It's a grave mistake to tear the nation apart over something that doesn't exist!"