Parshat Matot-Masei ...

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler
This weeks double portion of the Parshiot how the Jews finally cross the Jordan River on their way to conquer the Promised Land. The tribes of Gad, Reuven and half the tribe of Menashe possess a great multitude of cattle, and “paradise” for cattle is good grazing land, which happens to be what these two and a half tribes find in their present nlocation of Trans-Jordan. They then petition Moses with a special request. “If you would grant us a favor, let this land be given to us as our permanent property, and do not bring us across the Jordan.” (Bamidbar 32:5)

Explosion At Strzok Hearing As GOP Reps Clash With Anti-Trump FBI Agent

Avraham Abish Goldberg Killed in Bobover Camp on a Hike

טרגדיה קשה: הבחור אברהם אבוש גולדברג ז"ל, בן 21 נפטר באופן פתאומי, עת ששהה בקעמפ "המתיבתא" של חסידות באבוב בהרי הקטסקילס שבניו ג'רזי.

ל'בחדרי חרדים' נודע, כי הבחור יצא לטייל במרחבי הקעמפ, כשלפתע מעד במקום אין איש, לאחר שנתקל באבן. הוא לא הצליח לקום וגם לא הצליח להזעיק עזרה וכעבור זמן הוא נפטר.

המנוח ז"ל, הינו בנו של הרב החסיד ר' אלכסנדר זושא גולדברג מחשובי חסידי באבוב בבורו פארק. הוא נודע כבחור שקט ועדין נפש, שישב ושקד על התורה בדיבוק חברים שאהבו והעריצו אותו.

הלוויתו יצאה אמש (שלישי) מבית המדרש הגדול של חסידות באבוב ברחוב ה-48 בשכונת בורו פארק שבברוקלין. בהלוויה השתתפו קהל רב מבני החסידות ומתושבי השכונה אשר הגיעו לחלוק כבוד לבחור הצעיר שהלך לעולמו בדמי ימיו ולא זכה להשאיר אחריו זש"ק.

Avrahanm Abish Goldberg, a 21-year-old Bobover Chasid got killed by a falling rock while he was hiking by himself near the Bobover Camp. 

The levayeh took place yesterday in front of the Bobover Bais Ha'Midrash on 48th street in Boro Park!

Avraham Abish was the son of R' Alaxander Zusha Goldberg, a Chushiver Bobover Chasid.

Two fresh faces from NY – and both are dangerous

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Does it make me sexist if I refer to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a pretty woman? 

Well she sure is prettier than Rep. Joe Crowley, the Dem heavyweight she beat for District 14, which makes this femme fatale a rising star for the Party, and she did not do it on looks alone. The lady is young, witty, smart, and most definitely anti-Semitic.

That makes her a shoo-in when she runs as a self-described Democratic Socialist. The Bernie Sanders wing, which includes Keith Ellison and Tom Perez – they love that type. They love it even more when she talks dirty like Farrakhan, blaming the Jews for everything. Just listen to her. She knows the whole story about that and everything else, and she’s only 28.

No doubt about it – she is a quick learner from the schools that brought us Obama’s Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who preached hatred of America and Israel Sunday to Sunday.

But that was Chicago, that toddling town, and we’re talking New York. If you can make it there, ask Sinatra, you can make it anywhere.

So cue Ocasio-Cortez as she says – “I don’t think he knows how to deal with a girl from the Bronx.”

She meant Trump, of course – and notice, she said GIRL. I didn’t. So all bets are off.

Told you she was witty, and about that other girl running for high office – Cynthia Nixon, aiming to unseat Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- let Dershowitz fill us in.

Cynthia Nixon

As follows from a tweet:

“Cynthia Nixon may run for Gov of NY. She has collaborated with Israel haters Jewish Voice for Peace and Vanessa Redgrave in boycotting Israel. Do not support her bigotry.”

Hikind After Boro Park Doctor Who Allegedly Abused Children

 

Allegations of possible improprieties have surfaced against a Borough Park doctor, according to an elected official from Brooklyn.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind took to Twitter this morning to announce that his office is looking into possible instances of abuse perpetuated by “a prominent Boro Park doctor.”

Hikind said that he first began researching the matter after being contacted by two separate people and has spoken with a number of potential victims in alleged instances that took place as far back as approximately ten years ago. All of the reported incidents involve the same physician who Hikind declined to identify at this time.

Since his tweet was posted this morning, several other people have reached out to his office, said Hikind, who hopes others who have been abused will follow suit.

“We need to get the message out there,” Hikind told VIN News. “People need to know that if something inappropriate happened to them they can’t and they shouldn’t run away. You can’t just turn your back on what happened to you because it is going to happen to someone else. This has been going on for so many years and we cannot let this go on any more.”

Hikind said he plans to continue looking into this matter, and any others, even if it extends past the end of his final term in office.

“I am committed to this for years ahead,” said Hikind. “If anyone thinks that after January 1st I will not be around, they are very sadly mistaken. I will be around even more than ever and, as always, I continue protecting the privacy of anyone who reaches out to me.”

The assemblyman is asking anyone with firsthand information of any improprieties to contact his office at hikindnews@gmail.com or at 718-853-9616. 

All names and information will be kept strictly confidential.

Fanaticism & The Covenant of Peace ...

Parshas Pinchos 

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

Fanaticism, particularly when garbed in the clothing of myopic fundamentalism, rarely evokes in us a sympathetic bent. How could it, given its association with an an uncontrollable zeal and violence for the sake of heaven?

But when we turn to the opening of this week’s portion, the Torah lauds Pinchas for zealously killing a Jewish man and a Midianite woman in the very heat of their sexual passion as they recklessly defy Hashem's command. For responding so quickly and decisively, we read that, “Hashem spoke to Moses saying, Pinchas, a son of Elazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, was the one who zealously took up my
cause among the Israelites and turned My anger away from them …Therefore tell him that I have given him My covenant of peace…” (Bamidbar 25:10-12)

The Torah summation is certainly one of praise and approbation. Indeed, Pinchas’ full genealogy is presented in this sequence; we are also given the name of his father as well as of his grandfather, Aaron the high priest, indicating that the Torah wants to underscore his linkage to Aaron, “lover and pursuer of peace”. Moreover, both grand-father and grand-son succeeded in stopping plagues sent by the
Almighty to punish the Israelites.

Hikind Tells Off Cryi'n Schumer

Open Letter by Dov Hikind to Cry'in Schumer

DEMOCRAT HIKIND RESPONDS TO SCHUMER’S PLEA FOR DONATIONS WITH ‘HELL NO!’

COUNTERS SLAM ON ‘HARD RIGHT AGENDA’ WITH UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS ABOUT ‘HARD LEFT’

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D, Brooklyn) said he recently received a mailer from fellow Democrat, Senator Charles Schumer asking for contributions. The letter was riddled with attacks on the “hard right” but omitted vital information. In an open letter to Schumer, Hikind filled in the blanks.

“Senator Schumer, in your letter you promise to fight for Democratic values and go on at great length to fully villainize the current administration, but you left out certain facts that my fellow Democrats, to say nothing of all Americans, should also be aware of.

“You forgot to tell us about the economy. As good as it’s been, economists expect even more growth through the end of the year. That’s very good news, Senator.

Israelis Have One Of The Highest Life Expectancies Worldwide

A report released by the Israeli Ministry of Health that compares Israeli health care to that of the 33 other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries revealed that Israel’s average life expectancy is among the highest in the world. While the average OECD life expectancy is 80.8 years, the average Israeli lives 82.5 years, with women reaching an average of 84.2 years old and men 80.7.

Clouds Stolen from Iran Discovered in Jerusalem

Perhaps the Iranian claim that Israel stole their rain clouds is justified.

While walking in downtown Jerusalem, past the Italian Quarter, we couldn’t help but notice the clouds that were tied up to the buildings It didn’t take a genius to realize that these must be the missing clouds that the Iranian general claimed were stolen from them by Israel.

First Lady Visits a Kid's 'Concentration Camp in Arizona

92-year-old woman 'kills son' because he tried to put her in an assisted living facility

A 92-year old woman allegedly shot dead her son after he tried to put her in an assisted living facility.

Anna Mae Blessing, of Fountain Hills, Arizona, appeared in court, in a wheelchair and orange jumpsuit, to face charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. 

She shot her 72-year-old son Thomas dead on Tuesday with one of two weapons she stored under her bed in her room in his girlfriend's condo. 

They moved her there six months ago and Anna had become worried that the pair were plotting to move her into a home.  

On Monday morning, Blessing hid two pistols inside her house robe and walked into her son's room and show him twice.

One bullet struck his neck and the other pierced his jaw. 

She then turned the gun towards her son's girlfriend, who has not been named, but the 57-year-old was able to wrestle it out of her hands.   

It was at that point, Blessing allegedly reached into her robe pocked and pulled out her second weapon, which the girlfriend also managed to wrestle out of her hand.

All out of guns, Blessing simply took a seat in a recliner chair and waited for the police to arrived.

As she was arrested, she announced: 'You ended my life, so I'm taking yours.' 

Israel Hit By Second Earthquake in 24 Hours; Emergency Teams

A second earthquake in less than 24-hours rattled Israel’s north and central regions on Wednesday night. Reports in the Israeli media listed the quake as a 4.3 on the Richter scale, eclipsing the one felt earlier in the day which ranked at 4.1. The epicenter of the quake was listed as being close to the border with Syria and Jordan just south of the Golan Heights.

Worried citizens who felt the quake contacted emergency services and reported feeling the tremors. One rescue service, United Hatzalah issued the following statement:

“United Hatzalah Dispatch and Command Center hotline of 1221 fielded dozens of calls by concerned citizens reporting feeling an earthquake in Israel’s north and central regions.

As of the time of this message, no physical injuries have been reported. United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Team, which provides emotional and psychological stabilization to anyone suffering emotional or psychological stress or trauma, has been instructed to put all volunteers in the north and center of the country on standby in order to provide immediate assistance to anyone who needs it

Hailen Schacher MISSING in the Mountains!

A 17-year-old Jewish teen has gone missing in Ulster County, and police have released details to the public.

Missing is 17-year-old Hailen M. Schacher of Ellenville, NY. She was last seen on Monday. She is 5 foot 6, 120 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a necklace with a Magen David on it, and a black color watch.

She has an illness which requires her to take her medication.

If you have any information that can assist police, please call the Ellenville Police Department at 845-647-4422.

It should be noted that although Catskills Hatzolah is involved in the search, it remains a law enforcement search as of this time, and no official search has been organized. Hatzolah stresses that people should not be offering assistance, but just to keep their eyes and ears open if they see this individual

Reform Rabbis remove 'Aleinu' prayer because it Offends Goyim

The Israeli Reform movement has decided to expunge a prayer recited by Jews for thousands of years due to concerns that it is offensive to non-Jews.

According to the Hebrew-language Makor Rishon newspaper, the Israeli Reform movement is in the final stages of editing a new prayer book. The culmination of four years of labor, the new prayer book will replace the previous edition that was last edited in 1982.

The updated liturgy will also include major alterations to the classical 'Aleinu' prayer. Recited by Jews at the end of its thrice-daily prayers for over a millennium, the prayer thanks God for creating the Jewish people and proclaims the supremacy of the traditional Jewish belief system.

The wording of the prayer upset Jerusalem's Kol Haneshama Reform congregation, who decided to phase out parts that dismissed non-Jewish belief systems after deciding that it was "problematic".

According to Reform spiritual leader Alona Lisitsa, who teaches at their Hebrew Union College's Jerusalem campus, the changes were made in order to render the prayers less disparaging towards non-Jews. "This is a historic procedure for the movement," she told Makor Rishon. "We tend to replace the prayer that is formulated with negative language to a prayer that is formulated with positive language."

Professor Dalia Marx, who is tasked with overseeing the prayer book, maintained the alternations were strictly cosmetic and did not change Aleinu's meaning. "We don't feel that we need to bring down others or nullify others in order to cite our uniqueness," she told 103FM's Eral Segal in an interview on Wednesday.

"To recite that 'they bow to nothingness and vanity and pray to a God that does not save' means that their belief is worth nothing," Marx added.

Traditionally believed to have been written by the biblical leader Joshua, the Aleinu prayer had been altered in the past by medieval European Jewish communities, who feared that the phrases belittling other religions brought on mortal danger by their wrathful Christian neighbors.

Other than the Aleinu prayer, the Reform prayer book will feature other changes as well, such as featuring contemporary Israeli poetry and returning elements of the Shabbat liturgy that had been left out in the previous edition.

Chassidim Play the "not sitting near women" Game with Austrian Airlines

The pilot of an Austrian Airlines flight had to leave the cockpit and convince several women to change their seats after haredi Orthodox men refused to sit next to female passengers.

The Friday morning flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna left 40 minutes late and was delayed for another half hour in Austrian airspace after failing to miss the morning rush hour, Ynet reported.

The 26 haredi men had been scheduled to fly to Vienna on the Polish national airline LOT, but when that flight was cancelled moved to the Austrian Airlines flight.

Stewardesses on the flight reportedly tried to convince the men to take their assigned seats but those next to women refused. Eventually, the pilot came out and convinced several women to move their seats, Ynet reported.

Austrian Airlines said in a statement: “We regret any inconvenience which may have been caused to our passengers. The flight was delayed due to the boarding and seating of passengers of the LOT airline whose flight had been cancelled and who boarded the plane at the last moment. Since it was a large group of passengers, 26 people, the cabin crew did everything in its power to help the passengers as much as it could.”

The incident comes a week after an El Al flight from New York to Israel was delayed by more than an hour after four haredi Orthodox men refused to take their assigned seats next to women. Two women eventually agreed to change their seats in order to allow the flight to take off.

Days later, the company CEO announced that the airline will “immediately” remove any passenger who refuses to sit next to another passenger for any reason, hours after a major Israeli tech company announced it would no longer fly its employees on the airline due to gender discrimination.

One year ago, an Israeli court ruled that El Al cannot ask women to move seats to accommodate a man who does not want to sit next to a woman. The court was responding to a lawsuit filed by a female Holocaust survivor in her 80s.

Amir PeleegJewish Man Killed in Florida two kids fighting for the lives UPDATED!!!!!!!!!!!

One person was killed when the driver of a car lost control on Collins Avenue and slammed into a bus stop bench Sunday night in Sunny Isles Beach, police said.

The 911 calls started pouring in just after 8 p.m.

Officials said a van was headed north on Collins Avenue when it veered onto the sidewalk and struck two adults and two children standing near the bus stop.

"I went southbound and I saw a body laying here, covered in the yellow tarp, and I saw a baby stroller here," witness Michael Schnitzler said. "It made me cry. It's -- it's a tragedy."

Police said one of the adults was pronounced dead at the scene. The rest of the victims were airlifted to area hospitals.

Schnitzler, who lives nearby, said a valet attendant told him he heard the children crying out for help after the crash.

"He told me that right after the accident, he heard people screaming, and a baby crying, 'Mommy, Mommy,'" Schnitzler said.

Though it's unclear what caused the driver of the vehicle to lose control, that person remained at the scene and is cooperating, investigators said.

The northbound lanes of Collins Avenue were closed from 163rd Street to 178th Street for hours after the crash.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Amir Pelleg, his wife Zulma, and their young daughters Aviva and Ariella had gone to the Gilbert Samson Oceanfront Park across from their Sunny Isles Beach home on Sunday evening and were waiting at a bus stop to cross Collins Avenue at 174th at approximately 8 PM when they were hit by a driver in his mid twenties.

Pelleg, a 33 year old associate legal counsel for Kayne Anderson Real Estate, died of his injuries.  Zulma Pelleg and her two daughters were airlifted to local hospitals with serious injuries but are expected to recover.

The driver of the late model Honda Odyssey was identified as 26-year-old Joseph Franco, according to ABC News (http://bit.ly/2z6obri).  Franco remained on scene and tested negative for alcohol.  The Sunny Isles Beach Police Department is continuing its investigation of the crash, including whether the driver may have been distracted when the accident occurred.

Fast of Tammuz: Area Set Aside for Reform Jews At The Kotel ..... empty

Amid attempts to approve a plan that would see the expansion of the mixed Western Wall prayer section at Robinson’s Arch, pictures from Fast of Tammuz prayers are being published this morning at the Western Wall, showing the plaza empty.

The pictures, published by Hadashot Kotel Ha’maravi, point to the futile debate between the Reform community in Israel and the United States against the traditional position that prayers should not be allowed at the Western Wall without separation of men and women.

"It's strange that the Reform is fighting for mixed prayer at the Western Wall even as, on one of the days most identified with the destruction of the Temple they are not there, not one of them. That needs to be looked into,” a source from the haredi parties said this morning.

A special ministerial committee will soon convene to approve the expansion of the “Israel Plaza” located on the southern side of the Western Wall.

The meeting of the committee will be possible after the authority of the chair of the committee is transferred from Minister Regev to the Prime Minister. Later, the Knesset will be required to vote on the matter.

The Left needs to face reality: Trump is winning

To understand the madness gripping American leftists, try to see the world through their eyes. Presto, you’re now part of the raging resistance.

Like the Palestinians who mark Israel’s birth as their nakba, or tragedy, you regard Donald Trump’s 2016 victory as a catastrophe. It’s the last thing you think of most nights, and the first thing most mornings.

You can’t shake it or escape it. Whatever you watch, listen to or read, there are reminders — Donald Trump really is president.

You actually believe The New York Times is too nice to him, so you understand why a Manhattan woman urged a reporter there to stop covering Trump to protest his presidency.

And where the hell is Robert Mueller? He was supposed to save us from this nightmare — that’s what Chuck Schumer banked on. Well?

You spend your tax cut even as you rail against the man who made it happen. And you are pleased that cousin Jimmy finally got a job, though you repeat the daily devotional that Barack Obama deserves credit for the roaring economy.

And now this — Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring, and Trump gets another Supreme Court pick. The court might tilt right for the rest of your life. He’s winning.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

In a nutshell, our visit to the tortured mind of a Trump hater explains everything from Saturday’s mass marches to why a Virginia restaurant owner declared No Soup for Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Their loathing for Trump is bone-deep and all consuming. This is war and they take no prisoners.

For most marchers, border policies offer a chance to vent. They didn’t make a peep when Obama did the same thing.

If children are their main concern, they could help the 23,000 New York City kids living in shelters. Or they could have attended the funeral of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, the innocent Bronx teen hacked to death by a Dominican gang.

Jewish Identity ... Can it be saved in America ...? Parshat Balak

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

Fearing an Israelite takeover of Moabite territory should the People of Israel pass through his realm, King Balak of Moab summons the prophet Bil'am and asks him to curse the Jewish people. Try as he
might, Bil'am proves unable to do the king’s bidding, and the Parsha draws to a close with a host of marvelous blessings, perhaps the most beautiful things ever said about the Jewish People.

Bil'am also plays a crucial role in why this Parsha concludes on such a dramatically dismal note. “Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with Moabite women”. Nothing in this verse
could prepare us for the depravity that resulted in the terrible plague that cost the lives of twenty-four thousand Israelites.

The juxtaposition is striking. We have just finished reading about Bil'am’s wonderful blessings, only to discover that the people bfaltered on an epic scale, publicly fornicating with gentile women.
And a short while later, they worship idols of Baal Peor, committing some of the basest forms of idolatry in the ancient world. How did this happen?

5 Back-Stabbing Jewish girls ditch Birthright trip, join far-left group

Birthright group arrives in Israel

A bunch of naive misguided young Jewish girls . 

Who gave them such a rotten, dreadful , dishonest education?

 These useless idiots recite the Kaddish for terrorists.

A group of five American Jewish women who flew to Israel on a Birthright trip for a tour of the Jewish state earlier this month left the group on Thursday to join a far-left organization critical of the IDF.

Since 1999, Taglit-Birthright Israel has brought more than 650,000 young Jews from across the Diaspora to Israel, in an effort to deepen the connections between Diaspora Jews and Israel, and to strengthen Jewish identity.

Funded in part by the State of Israel and partially by private donors, Birthright Israel’s primary program offers young Jewish adults aged 18-32 free ten-day trips to Israel.

While the program touts its apolitical message and offers a wide variety of tours catering to different Jewish communities – with separate tour groups aimed at Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox youths – some far-left Jewish groups have attacked Birthright over its pro-Zionist message accusing it of avoiding difficult political issues stemming from Israel’s defensive actions.

The Jewish Voice for Peace, for instance, promoted a campaign against Birthright Israel, dubbed “Return the Birthright”, calling on Diaspora Jews to boycott the program.

Last week, far-left anti-Israel activists from the IfNotNow organization attempted to recruit Birthright participants departing from New York’s Kennedy Airport.

"They set up a table with a sign and snacks and when the groups arrived they turned to them as they waited in line," said one of the group members, Miss Ariel Tidhar. "They told them they had to learn the truth about the State, and claimed that Birthright was working against Jewish morality." Operatives demanded "to stop American-Jewish support for the occupation."

"This was an ambush, although there's no doubt they're allowed to be at the airport," Tidhar said. According to Miss Tidhar, they tried to engage the students "using snacks".

On Thursday, it appeared that the group’s efforts to recruit Birthright participants had paid off.

A group of five American Jewish naive women in their 20s made a very public exit from a Birthright tour, publicly protesting Birthright with text and video messages released via social media.

The group blasted Israel’s use of force to defend its border with Gaza from terrorists and rioters attempting to breach the security fence, and condemned Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria as an unjust “occupation”.

The five young women, all of whom are between the ages of 22 to 25, also hit Birthright for not sharing their political views regarding Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria.

"Over the past ten days,” the five wrote in a statement spread on social media by Danielle Raskin, “we have engaged deeply and honestly with our Birthright tour guide and the other participants, who we feel are members of our community.”

“We built strong relationships with them and feel sad to leave them without saying a proper goodbye, but we could no longer go on with this trip that was so deliberately hiding the truth from all of us. For us, grappling with this important place in our tradition means grappling with it in all of its complexity."

"We each came on this trip separately with hope that - especially in light of the recent killings of more than 100 protesters in Gaza and Trump moving the US embassy to Jerusalem - Birthright would trust its participants enough to give us an honest education. We came with questions about what's happening in the occupied territories and wanted to engage with new perspectives, but what became clear over the course of ten days was that Birthright did not want to truthfully engage with our questions. It's clear that young Jews who have critical questions about Israel are not welcome on Birthright. It's shocking that given all the recent violence, Birthright would continue to act as if we can't handle the truth."

At the end of the message, the five traitors announced their plans to join a tour of the city of Hevron hosted by the radical left-wing “Breaking the Silence” organization.

"Our message to the American Jewish community - young Jews who have not yet gone on Birthright and their parents who want to send their children on this trip - is to now that Birthright is not providing the education our generation deserves. It is morally irresponsible to participate in an institution that is not willing to grapple with reality on the other side of the wall. That's why we're on our way to Hebron now."

“Birthright wouldn’t show us the occupation so we are going to see it for ourselves,” Katie Anne wrote on Facebook.

In April, members of IfNotNow were arrested in Los Angeles after they entered a Jewish Federation office and began reciting the traditional Jewish “Kaddish” prayer to mourn the deaths of Arab rioters killed while attempting to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip.