Foodborne illnesses have nearly DOUBLED

Longer summers and more imported fruit and veg are driving up the amount of bacteria on our plates

Diagnoses of foodborne illnesses nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest report.

Just today, the agency announced that 88 people have been sickened by Salmonella from live chickens they keep in their back yards.

Danger lurks not only in backyards, but in grocery stores, and cafeterias.  

TRUMP’S CURRENT APPROVAL RATING HIGHEST EVER, STUNS MSNBC

President Trump’s approval rating jumped up to 45 percent, the highest it has been throughout his presidency, according to a new poll released by the Wall Street Journal and NBC. The poll left an MSNBC panel shocked Sunday night by the improvement.

“President Trump has shown throughout his campaign and polling what I took away from the 2016 election is the American people authenticity,” said Kevin McLaughlin of Cogent Strategies Principle. “May not like what authenticity is, what he’s saying or how he’s doing it, but he doesn’t back down from it. When he goes out and does these events, I will call them, it actually helps him in fly over country.”

“He defies political gravity,” he continued.

“So is he right when he basically says he ‘can walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot people’ and people would still stand with him?” asked host Kasie Hunt.

According to the poll, President Trump’s approval rating was up one point from the month of June, at 45 percent.

88 percent of the Republicans surveyed approved of the job the president is doing. (RELATED: Poll: A Staggering Number Of Republicans Approve Of Trump’s Helsinki Performance)

“President Donald Trump’s approval rating edged higher during a week in which he faced withering criticism following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling that he is positioned to weather the latest controversy sparked by his unusual brand of politics,” the Journal said.

The survey was conducted from July 15-19, a day before the president’s highly criticized press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It spanned past the length of the controversy. While the president received heavy backlash for his comments, it clearly was not reflected in his approval rating.

Two scientists From Gaza found dead in Algeria

Both men from Khan Younis, Gaza killed by either electrocution or gas inhalation..

Nothing further at this time.

Gay Black Rabbi Installed in Upper West Side in New York

Din: My mother a"h would always say "az men lebt, derlebt men alles'" if you live long enough, you will live to see everything.'

As a Black Jew , Rabbi Georgette Kennebrae has had her fair share of experiences that have made her feel less than welcome in the Jewish community. People sometimes assume that she is a member of the synagogue janitorial staff rather than the rabbi. Sometimes when visiting a synagogue, she’ll be asked if she’s lost.

In her position as the newly installed rabbi of West End Synagogue, a Reconstructionist congregation on the Upper West Side, Kennebrae aims to challenge notions of what a Jew looks like.

Kennebrae, 42, wants to make people “understand that I’m not rare as a Jew of color, that there are many of us and that it shouldn’t be an automatic assumption that I’m a Jew-by-choice because I’m brown,” she said at a coffee shop near her congregation.

Reform Rabbis Fight For More Space at the Kotel ..... Yet was totally Empty on Tisha Be'Ov

"Lying" CNN Deceives World .... Reports Outright Lies About Murder of IDF Soldier

The Israeli Foreign Ministry chastised the Cable News Network (CNN) over the weekend, after the network released a news brief which appeared to reverse the order of events in the latest clashes between Israel and the Hamas terror organization.

On Friday, terrorists operating out of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip opened fire on Israeli soldiers stationed on the border, killing 20-year-old Givati Brigade Staff Sergeant Aviv Levi.

In response to the terror attack, Israeli fighter jets pounded Hamas positions inside the Gaza Strip, hitting roughly 60 different terror targets in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave. A day later, Gaza-based terrorists breached the Israeli border fence, prompting the IDF to shell a Hamas observation post in the Strip.

But a news brief by CNN International on Saturday presented the events in reverse order, and made no mention that the Israeli airstrikes had been in direct response to the Hamas attack.

“Israel says one of its tanks targeted a Hamas military post in Gaza Saturday in retaliation for a border fence breach, one day after violence that left four Palestinians, including three Hamas militants, and an Israeli soldier dead,” CNN International wrote.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon responded via Twitter to the CNNnews brief, accusing the media outlet of “manipulation”.

“No @cnni !!! You got it wrong and not for the first time - an Israeli soldier was killed by #Hamas and #IDF retaliated, protecting its country and citizens against murderous terrorists. By misrepresenting the facts you manipulate against #Israel! @cnni- STOP YOUR MANIPULATION !”

While CNN made no official response to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Nahshon vowed that the ministry would confront media agencies which “deliberately distort events taking place in Israel,” Nahshon told Yediot Ahronot.

“We will respond to every distorted headline and demand its immediate correction.”

Neighbors Want To Shut Down Koshert Cafe near LA Because Owner is pro-Trump 😳

10 Mind-Blowing Facts About President Trump's Vehicle

Aviv Levi Murdered by Arabs

Mindel Rivka Gross 3 year old dies from drowning

Are companies coating Roman Lettuce in Plastic to Maintain the crunch?

Austrian politician wants to make Jews register to buy kosher meat

An Austrian far-right politician has said he wants to register Jews, in a chilling echo of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

The disturbing plan was unveiled by Gottfried Waldhausl, the minister in charge of animal welfare for the populist conservative Freedom Party of Austria.

He said he wanted to create a registry that would allow Jewish citizens to buy only kosher meat, thereby reducing the number of animals slaughtered every year.

Followers of Judaism are only allowed to eat meat that comes from beasts that have had their throats cut in a ritual slaughter.

According to Waldhausl, who is a local minister in the state of Lower Austria, Jews would only be allowed to buy kosher meat if they are officially registered and granted a special permit.

Satmar in Lakewood Stage Anti-Zionist Protest On Busy Road; Children Dressed In Sack-Cloth

What may be a first for the "Ir Hatorah" of Lakewood, the new Satmar Williamsburg Community in Lakewood has staged an anti-Zionist protest.

The protest was held on Cross Street, just west of Route 9 (River Avenue), where Satmar is in the process of building a few hundred homes.

As is the case in many Satmar protests, children were dressed in sackcloth and held anti-Israel signs. No children were dressed in Auschwitz uniforms in this protest.

Satmar Teaching Girls to burn Jewish Flag

Satmar has a a girls camp in the Catskill Mountains on 350 Cherrytown Road, Kerhonkson, NY, (845) 626-2767, and the camp has apparently run out of activities to keep the girls busy, so they decided to engage  the future Jewish mothers in violence and hatred toward the Jewish flag.

Nice activity days before Tisha Ba'Ov!

Parshas Devorim

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

This Shabbat, we begin the fifth and final volume of the Five Books of Moshe. This Shabbat is also commonly referred to as “Shabbat Chazon”, so named for the opening word of the Haftarah reading: “The vision (‘chazon’) of Yishayahu the son of Amotz”. This Haftarah is always read on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B’Av.

The connection between the Haftorah and the destruction of the Holy Temple is clear: the prophet is warning us that government corruption may end in the Holy Temple’s destruction: “Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and runs after payments; the orphan they do not judge, and the quarrel of the widows not come to them” [Is. 1:23].

It is obvious that this Haftarah was chosen due to the proximity of the events described to the day of the destruction of the Temple. But upon a closer look at the parsha, we will realize that it, too, is intrinsically linked to the destruction. In Parshat Devarim, Moshe delivers a series of addresses over the course of thirty-seven days, from the first of the month of Shevat to the seventh of the month of Adar, the date of his death.

The incident Moshe characterizes as the first and formative event is the Sin of the Spies. We might have expected him to dwell on the Sin of the Golden Calf, or perhaps, on the Jews’ intermingling with the daughters of Midian and Moab, but he did not. Why, of all of the events of the Israelites’ sojourn in the desert, would Moshe have chosen to focus on the Sin of the Spies?

Our Sages tell us that five incidents occurred on the Ninth of Av, most notably, the destruction of the two temples [Mishnah, Taanit 4:6]. The first incident, however, was the Sin of the Spies. It stands to reason that when our Sages determined that this was the first event to take place on this ominous day, they understood that it laid the foundations for the misdeeds that would ultimately result in the subsequent tragedies.

Moses uses a unique format to describe the sequence of events. According to what he reports, the spies returned and said that the land was very good, noting that “you [the Israelites] did not want to go up, and you rebelled against the commandment of the L-rd, your G-d.”

In other words, the main reason that the nation tarried in the desert for forty years was not the spies’ harsh intelligence briefing. Rather, it was because they simply did not want to enter the land. Moshe continues, saying that “You murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because God hates us, He took us out of the land of Egypt…’” That is, once no one wanted to put any effort into conquering the land, they began whining and complaining.

Moshe’ description does not fully correspond to the verses in the Book of Bamidbar that discussed the events that occurred when the spies delivered their report, and the nation’s response. There, alongside the spies’ praise of the land and its fruits, we find their conclusion concerning how hard it will be to defeat the inhabitants of the land, who, in their words, were valiant giants.

None of this is mentioned here, and not because someone had forgotten or attempted to conceal or rewrite history. The speech was intended to highlight the message that should have resonated concerning what occurred there. The main concept Moshe was trying to teach the nation was that success and prosperity are rooted in a person’s will to put in the required effort, and the person’s faith in Hashem & His promises.

Conversely, a person who does not embody these qualities sows the seeds of calamity and destruction. People could find dozens of excuses, from the price of chocolate pudding to Israeli bureaucracy, to justify their decision not to live in our land and prefer living in the diaspora with their families, and plenty of people do just that.

Yet these are only manifestations of what Moshe calls “not wanting to go up” and “complaining”. You did not want to do it, and that is why you started fishing for drawbacks that could justify your hesitation to invest the required effort.

Our Sages were able to link the expression in this week’s Parsha that begins with the word “Eichah” – “How can I bear your trouble, your burden, and your strife all by Myself?” – with the opening verse of
the Book of Lamentations, which also begins with the word “Eichah”: “Oh, how has the city that was once so populous has become lonely.”

If we reflect on the special word “Eichah”, we may remember that this very word appeared when the world was created, at the moment Adam ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which was forbidden to him. Back then, God used another pronunciation of the word – Ayekah – “where are you?”

“Eichah” is a very personal question. Since the days of Adam, the question has been directed at each and every one of us. It encapsulates not only the question itself, but also the challenge of coping with staggering phenomena, such as the solitude Moses experienced when forced to bear the burden of an entire nation, the desolation of a capital city, or any other difficulty we might encounter as we live our lives. These same difficulties give rise to the question to us posed by God: “Where are you? Have you managed to make the place you are inhabiting any better, despite the challenges?”

בברכת התורה והארץ‎

שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם

B'Birchat Hatorah V'Haaretz

Shabbat Shalom

Shmuel Knopfler

New Square Prohibits E-Mails andf even "Flip phones"

New Square has established new "issurim" (prohibitions) on its chassidim, prohibiting e-mails and even to have an e-mail address for all who are not in business.

"Flip phones" are in the category of "smartphones," according to this new edict!

Good luck! 

🤣

Chareidi Soldier Attacked by Extremists in Jerusalem 3 Days Before Tisha Ba'ov

In Jerusalem’s Geulah neighborhood on Wednesday, Charedi extremists attacked a Charedi soldier and physically assaulted him.

The soldier was located inside of the Ma’adnei Gan Eden store on Malchei Yisroel Street, when he was surrounded by a large number of extremists who began shouting derisive remarks at him. Shortly thereafter, the situation deteriorated into cursing and screaming, as the extremists were joined by dozens of additional members who gathered quickly to the scene.

Passersby who saw what was happening called the police, who succeeded in evacuating the soldier from the location without injury.

Evyatar Elbaz, the head of the city council party called Me’urav Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Mix), was one of the people who rushed to aid and protect the soldier.

“I saw the extremists begin to congregate around the Charedi soldier who was minding his own business on the street. The extremists began to spit at him, to curse him and scream derogatory insults at him. They threw whatever they could find at him. I rushed over to the soldier and grabbed him and pulled him away from the angry mob that was forming. Police officers arrived very quickly and continued evacuating the soldier. It was simply shocking to see these scenes unfold and to hear such horrible curses just before Tisha B’Av.”

Starbucks Treif?

Kosher observers who pick up their coffee at Starbucks may need to look elsewhere for their caffeine fix.

A kosher-certifying agency said it can no longer vouch for the kashrut of many beverages served by the coffee giant. The Star-K agency said this week that it was ending a program under which it deemed many Starbucks products permissible without actually certifying them as kosher.

Plenty of kosher consumers aren’t taking the news lying down: As of Thursday afternoon, more than 7,000 have signed a change.org petition calling to “Make Starbucks Kosher Again.”

Star-K for years has kept a list of the drinks prepared at Starbucks that it called “kosher friendly.” The stores were not under the certifying agency’s supervision, but Star-K regularly checked in with the company to determine which items were kosher friendly — that is, contained no objectionable ingredients. 

In recent years, even Frappuccinos were considered OK for kosher observers.

But several years ago, Starbucks began selling sandwiches, including some made with bacon and non-kosher cheese. That brought up kashrut issues, like whether the utensils used to make the coffee were washed with utensils that had been used with non-kosher items in the store.

Nevertheless, Star-K has posted a new list of Starbucks drinks that can be considered acceptable for kosher observers. They include cafe Americano, espresso, iced caramel brulee latte and nitro cold brew served in paper cups. 

Exceptions are also made for drinkers who are traveling (in other words, “when no other viable option is readily available”) or at stores that don’t serve meat or cheese items.

But the petition signers are looking for more.

Under the reasons for signing, one person wrote: “For a company that closed down all their stores for 8 hours for sensitivity training when people want to use their bathrooms without making a purchase they can at least show a little sensitivity to Orthodox Jews who would like to be paying customers!”

Mom Shares Heartbreaking Warning After a Single Cookie Kills a Florida Teen

It should have been a moment of bliss for Florida teenager Alexi Stafford. Instead, a sweet indulgence proved fatal.

When 15-year-old Alexi Stafford reached into a package of Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies while she was at a friend’s house, she did not see that they contained an “added ingredient.”

That ingredient was Reese’s peanut butter.

“Our hearts are broken and we are still in shock. Our whole lives we dedicated to keeping our child safe from one ingredient, peanuts,” the young woman’s mother, Kellie Travers-Stafford, wrote Thursday on Facebook.

“On Monday June 25, our 15-year-old daughter, Alexi Ryann Stafford, while at a friend’s house, made a fatal choice,” she continued. “There was an open package of Chips Ahoy! cookies, the top flap of the package was pulled back and the packaging was too similar to what we had previously deemed ‘safe’ to her.”

“She ate one cookie of Chewy Chips Ahoy! thinking it was safe because of the ‘red’ packaging, only to find out too late that there was an added ingredient … Reese peanut butter cups/chips,” the mom went on. “She started feeling tingling in her mouth and came straight home. Her condition rapidly deteriorated.”

The mother then shared the terrible result: Her daughter had died due to her ingestion of the allergen.

“She went into anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing and [became] unconscious,” she said. “We administered 2 epi pens while she was conscious and waited on paramedics for what felt like an eternity. She died within 1 & 1/2 hour of eating the cookie.”

Travers-Stafford called for stricter packaging guidelines to help prevent more peanut allergen deaths like her daughter’s.

“As a mother who diligently taught her the ropes of what was OK to ingest and what was not, I feel lost and angry because she knew her limits and was aware of familiar packaging. She knew what ‘safe’ was,” she wrote. “A small added indication on the pulled back flap on a familiar red package wasn’t enough to call out to her that there was ‘peanut product’ in the cookies before it was too late.”

“I want to share our story with everyone because we want to spread awareness,” the mother added. “The company has different colored packaging to indicate chunky, chewy, or regular, but NO screaming warnings about such a fatal ingredient to many people. Especially children. It’s important to us to spread awareness so that this horrible mistake doesn’t happen again.”

The Chips Ahoy! brand responded to the controversy via its official Facebook page, as Medium reported.

“We take allergies very seriously and all of our products are clearly labeled on the information panel of the packaging for the major food allergens in the U.S. (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans),” the company said.

“Across our Chips Ahoy! product portfolio, packaging color is indicative of product texture (i.e.,Chewy, Chunky, Original) and is not indicative of the presence of allergens,” it continued.

“The packaging for Chips Ahoy! made with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups prominently indicates, on both the front and side panels, the presence of peanut butter cups through both words and visuals,” it went on.

“We always encourage consumers to read the packaging labeling when purchasing and consuming any of our products for information about product ingredients, including presence of allergens,” the company added.

The Stafford family is accepting donations for their daughter’s funeral and associated bereavement costs through GoFundMe.