Frum Teen Wns ‘Chopped’ Championship

Jewish teen from Staten Island becomes first kosher champion in 'Chopped' history, wins $10,000.

Rachel Goldzal, 13, of Staten Island, won the episode that aired on September 4, beating two 12-year-olds and a 10-year-old. She was 12 when she filmed the Food Network cooking reality show in the spring.

Goldzal is the first kosher champion in the show’s history, which includes more than 450 episodes. Her win earned her a check for $10,000. There have been other kosher-keeping contestants in the past.

Goldzal is in the eighth grade at the Jewish Foundation School of Staten Island.

The pre-teen chefs were required to create an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert in three 30-minute rounds and to include four random, pre-selected ingredients per course.

Producers worked with Goldzal and her parents to make sure that all the ingredients were kosher and gave her new pots, pans and utensils to use. They also made sure that she would not have to mix meat and dairy products.

She was very open with the judges about being an Orthodox Jew and about keeping kosher. She told them that between Shabbat (the Sabbath) and all the holidays on the Jewish calendar she cooks “all the time.”

She said she learned how to cook by watching her grandmother and mother. She also was enrolled in the culinary program at her summer camp, Camp Nesher in Pennsylvania. She worked with a private chef ahead of the competition as well.

The teen said that she wants one day to work as a private chef in a kosher kitchen, as opposed to opening a restaurant like many competition winners.

She has her own website, and over one thousand followers on Instagram.

US Investigating Rutgers anti-Semitism that Obama Ignored and Refused

What happens when the US government takes cases of anti-Semitic discrimination seriously?

You would think that even President Trump’s critics would be cheering the announcement that the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will look into evidence about anti-Jewish activity at Rutgers University. The charges stem from a series of incidents dating back to 2011, in which groups dedicated to demonizing Israel and Jews engaged in threats and discriminatory conduct without the university lifting a finger to stop it or hold those responsible accountable.

But the reaction speaks volumes about the way partisan loyalties and hostility to Israel have altered the discussion about anti-Semitism. Instead of applauding, critics are accusing the administration of trying to suppress free speech. Worse, The New York Times coverage not only mischaracterized the issues at stake but was also a thinly veiled hit piece on Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Kenneth Marcus.

According to the Times, the Department of Education is seeking to inject the federal government into disputes about Israel because Marcus is “a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights.” The result would, they say, chill free speech about the Middle East. Israel’s foes see the investigation as in line with other Trump policies, such as moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cutting off US aid to Palestinian institutions that support terrorism and oppose peace.

Fraudster Disappears With NIS 15,000 Paid For Har Menuchos Levaya

A family was preparing to bury a 30-year-old son on motzei Rosh Hashanah after he was niftar in Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem.

The family explains that a religious-looking man approached them and offered to handle all the burial matter, asking NIS 15,000 for his services. They claim to have paid the man NIS 15,000 in cash, and the levaya was set for motzei Yomtov at 10:30PM.

The family and hundreds of friends waited innocently for the chevra kadisha vehicle to arrive with the body of the niftar. After about a half hour, they checked with Hadassah Ein Kerem, learning no one had come to deal with the body, which remained in the hospital morgue, awaiting the chevra kadisha.

They phoned the man who arranged the levaya, but the phone number was not working. They then realized they handed NIS 15,000 to a con artist. The friends returned home as clearly, the levaya was not going to take place soon.

Late at night, members of Chevra Kadisha Yerushalayim organized the levaya, which took place at 2:00AM. An announcement was also made for persons to come for kovod hameis due to the situation and the late hour. It included the fact the niftar volunteered at MDA for many years, working to save lives, asking people to come and pay respect to him at his kvura. Dozens of persons arrived for the levaya.

The family has filed a complaint with police.

Avraham Getz of Boro Park Dies in Uman

Over the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, United Hatzalah volunteers treated some 2,700 injured people in and around the city of Uman, Ukraine. One of the people treated, whom first responders attempted to revive via lengthy resuscitative efforts, passed away. The Niftar is R’ Avrohom Getz Z”L from Boro Park (23).

He was suffering from an advanced illness and fulfilled his dying wish to be near the grave of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

He leaves behind a wife and two children.

United Hatzalah, who provided medical response to anyone in need in and around the city over the holiday, including taking over the operation of the local medical clinic, issued a statement saying that they treated over 2,700 people, of whom, many were evacuated to hospitals in Kiev over the New Year.

Yisrael Stark, the head of the United Hatzalah branch in Uman, said that: “United  Hatzalah will continue to provide medical support in Uman through Yom Kippur. Hundreds of our volunteers helped strengthen the life-saving unit of United Hatzalah’s full-time Uman branch in order to help care for the tens of thousands of Jews who come to Uman for the holiday, in honor of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov,” he said.

Happy New Year!

@Flatbushgirl Says "long Sheitels has no connection to spirituality"

Esther Adina Sash has received hateful online messages about her long wig, which some in her Orthodox community view as immodest.

“People always say the longer it is, the sluttier it is,” said Esther Adina Sash, a 30-year-old mother of two from Flatbush.

Specifically, she’s referring to the sheitels, or wigs, that she and other married Orthodox women wear as mandated by Jewish law, so as to not entice men who aren’t their husbands. Now a heated debate is brewing over hair that some in the community view as being too sexy.

Traditionally, sheitels reflect what is considered modest: shoulder-length or shorter — almost Jackie Kennedy-esque — and synthetic, which is seen as more humble than wearing human hair. (Prices can range from a few hundred dollars to as much as $5,000 for a 28-inch, waist-grazing wig of European hair.)

On her Instagram account (@flatbushgirl), which has some 38,000 followers, Sash regularly posts photos of herself in wigs that cascade and curl down her back, prompting hateful comments. “Go drown yourself in a lake — you’re negatively influencing young girls,” she recalled one reading.

She’s been criticized by rabbis, including one who challenged her to cut her wig as a good example to others — and to receive an “astronomical” spiritual reward.

She didn’t take the bait.

“I was laughing that he would think hair length has a connection to spirituality,” said Sash, who crusades for women’s issues in the Jewish community and is running for district leader in the 45th Assembly District. Although, she admitted, “The wig is a very charged item.”

Air hand dryers should be 'banned' say scientists as study finds they spread five times more germs than using a paper towel

Air hand dryers should be banned from hospital toilets because they blow bacteria around the room, scientists say.

Using paper towels significantly reduces the risk of germs being spread between sick patients, warn University of Leeds researchers.

They found high levels of dangerous bacteria that cause blood poisoning, pneumonia and gastroenteritis when dryers were used.

Writing in the Journal of Hospital Infection, they called for the dryers – which can leave up to five times as much bacteria on the floor as paper towels – to be taken out of hospitals.

Pediatrician Against Fathers Leaving Families to Travel to Uman For Rosh Hashana

The following letter was posted to Facebook by a pediatrician, Dr. Staurt Ditchek

“Hey Dad, Please Stay Home With Us For Rosh Hashana”

At the risk of alienating many people who I am close with and a few who are patient families in my practice, I write this op-ed at great peril. However, certain things must be said when an issue runs the risk of negatively affecting families.

As we approach Rosh Hashana many fathers in our communities are picking up and flying to Uman under the claim that they need to be there to pray for their families well- being throughout the year. We have all heard the arguments pro and con of why this annual trip to Uman is justified or not. My perspective is that of a pediatrician. Children who are privileged to have a living father and wives who are fortunate enough to have a living spouse, should not lose those benefits at such a critical time of the year. The argument that Yom Tov prayers can only be heard properly in Uman is frankly contrary to all Jewish thought and practice. The argument that a father is not needed in the home over Rosh Hashana is a bizarre and empty argument for obvious reasons. The argument that their spouses all support their missions without concern for the pressures of spending Yom Tov as a single parent is disingenuine.

You, as a father belong at home with your children, to guide them to love them and to cherish them. It is NOT a Jewish concept to disappear on Rosh Hashana. I have heard all of the excuses, sometimes reinforced by the wives of these dedicated travelers. (Sic) davening at the rebbes kever is a guarantee that our family will be successful, the davening has so much more meaning in Uman, 30,000 Jews can’t be wrong, my wife supports me going, my kids will be with their grandparents to make up for me not being there, my kids don’t need their father at their side to daven on Rosh Hashana, I go for my family’s benefit, there is no drinking in Uman, there is no drug use in Uman, there is no inappropriate behavior in Uman and on and on.

As far as the wives are concerned, you control much of the decision process. Your husband belongs at home on Rosh Hashana with you and your kids. There is no excuse. Furthermore, allowing your husband to take your boys to Uman especially at young ages is a very bad idea. The behavior of some in Uman can have a very negative effect on young minds. While many do go for inspiration and achdus, both important concepts in prayer, many are there for the party, drinking and lack of responsibility to their families. Inspiration and achdus can happen at home and should.

It’s not personal, it’s parenting….

Chareidi Soldiers Sing & Dance At The Kosel

Don’t believe NY Times about anonymous White House snitch

I smell a rat, as would anyone who’s spent years in one newsroom or another, where every reporter has a half-finished novel hidden in the bottom drawer.
This feels like fiction, the preposterous notion that an unnamed White House official has spilled the beans on Trump “to thwart the president’s misguided impulses.”

He’s been published “anonymously” and, we are told, is part of a resistance movement within the White House to surreptitiously stop the president from ruining the country.

That’s the gist of the op-ed topping The New York Times Wednesday edition…a story swiftly picked up in bold print everywhere else and taken to be true…true that this tattling columnist is really a White House official. 

In fact…amazing… that I’ve heard no one else wonder about another possibility; that this snitch came from outside the White House.

He was someone from inside The New York Times itself, a staffer…which is my guess. Can the Times prove otherwise?
If so. Hello? I’m here.
Unleash, unbind that imposter, and for once tell the truth.
I cannot be the only writer who sees through this stunt. We’re talking about the Times, fake news central.

Even Fox News, while properly ripping the Times, believes the “White House Official” gambit. So does everyone.
Or with so much garbage-for-news being sloshed our way, from everywhere, perhaps it is understandable that we have become entirely cynical, or gullible to a fault.

I know news. I know newsrooms. I’ve written two thrillers on the subject and you are welcome to open your eyes here and here. I know the business.
I know a slow day in the newsroom until someone says, “Hey, I’ve got an idea.”
The only question is – who got the assignment? I can think of 10 columnists over there who would love to use their untested novelistic skills for such a plumb.
Keep the novel in the drawer, but try your hand at fiction passing as fact, Charlie.

We all know the Times, which will say anything to destroy Trump. Anything and everything – and this doozy is being presented as Sui Generis, the final word, the ultimate expose’.
Beat that, says the Times.
Strangely, no byline. I cannot say that this is a first. But I cannot remember any story, anywhere, a story intended to be so damaging, running as Anonymous.

I do not know what we call it today. They used to call it Yellow Journalism.
That’s how smut tabloids still operate, but I doubt that even the National Enquirer would run such a hoax.

I’m calling it a hoax because the tag-team effect is plain obvious, from last week’s anti-Trump “bombshells” being dropped through Bob Woodward’s book on Trump, which delighted CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS, until it got old. You can stretch a story only so far. Even for Liberals there’s a limit to Trump bashing. Got to be.
I take that back.
No, it’s never enough…and when one story gets old…here comes another one…even juicier.
What’s for next week? They’ll think of something. On that you can trust The New York Times.

New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva.
He is the author of the international book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal” and most recently the noir novel “Slot Attendant,” plus the two inside journalism thrillers “The Bathsheba Deadline” and “News Anchor Sweetheart, Hollywood Edition.” Engelhard is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

Mossad op to retrieve Iran's nuclear files took a surprising turn

The Mossad agents who appropriated Iran’s nuclear secrets from a warehouse in Tehran in January knew they would be taking a large number of folders, but did not realize there would be a large volume of disks, Yediot Ahronot’s Ronen Bergman reported on Wednesday.

Cohen’s ad hoc call mid-operation ended up having important repercussions as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to break with precedent and publicly present the intelligence materials in a major press conference on April 30.

Many say that Netanyahu’s presentation moved US President Donald Trump the final mile toward deciding to exit the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Further, the report said that information contained on the disks proved a variety of additional points about Iran’s nuclear activities to a much greater degree than what was merely contained in the files.

According to his report, the Mossad agents involved were so surprised that they checked in with Mossad chief Yossi Cohen who was observing the mission from Israel.
Cohen quickly gave the order to take as many of the disks as they could get as well.

The report said that earlier on in preparing the operation there had even been a debate about whether to merely take photos of the files or to physically bring the files themselves – a more complex operation.

At all stages, including mid-operation, Cohen pressed for bringing back as much physical original evidence as possible in order to deflate any objections from Iran that the evidence was doctored.
 

Cuomo dodges questions about endorsement deal with Satmar Rebbe

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday did not refute reports that he assured a prominent rabbi he would keep his hands off yeshivas in exchange for an endorsement — instead pointing to his lack of control over the state Education Department.

The department is currently reviewing a long-delayed city Department of Education probe of whether 30 yeshivas have been meeting minimum requirements for secular education, a 3-year effort in which officials were blocked from visiting half the schools.

Asked about reports  that he had essentially told Satmar Rebbe Zalman Tietelbaum not to worry about the matter last week, Cuomo wouldn’t address the question head on.

“The State Education Department will enforce the law, but it’s not the governor’s responsibility. I have no control of the state Education Department,” he told reporters following a press conference at the Tappan Zee Bridge, which has been renamed for the governor’s father, Mario Cuomo.

City officials punted their probe to the state because the state Education Department has ultimate oversight over what’s taught in non-public schools.
Advocates had complained in 2015 that many yeshivas were violating the state requirement that they provide a secular education equivalent to what students get in public schools.
The advocates accused Mayor Bill de Blasio of purposely dragging out the probe to appease the Hasidic Jewish community, which is a powerful political voting block.

Roseanne Barr coming to Israel

Fresh off a racism controversy that got her fired from her award-winning television show, comedian Roseanne Barr says that she will travel to Israel in order to study with a Rabbi.
'I have an opportunity to go to Israel for a few months and study with my favorite teachers over there, and that's where I'm going to go and probably move somewhere there and study with my favorite teachers,' Roseanne, 65, said on a recent podcast with celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

"I have saved a few pennies and I'm so lucky I can go ... and study with any rabbi that I can ask to teach me, and it's my great joy and privilege to be a Jewish woman."

ABC canceled her show in June over a tweet mocking Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama and an African-American. The tweet said the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

The reboot of Barr’s immensely popular late 20th-century sitcom had drawn high ratings.
Barr later deleted the tweet about Jarrett, which drew widespread criticism, and issued an apology, saying she had made “a bad joke about her politics and her looks.”

Barr, who is Jewish, and Boteach, a rabbi to several stars, have been friends for 20 years. She has not given any in-depth interviews on the tweets and her firing.

Barr has been an increasingly vocal supporter of Israel, saying in April that she hopes to one day make aliyah and maybe even run for prime minister of Israel. “I want to move to Israel and run for prime minister. I do have that fantasy. If God calls me, I’ll go,” she said at the Jerusalem Postconference.

“I want to make aliyah, I do…I still have this fantasy of being an old Jewish lady living in the Jewish homeland... I want to buy a farm there and maybe bring my family,” added Barr.

Barr has consistently lambasted BDS in recent years. Speaking at a conference in 2016, she said, “BDS is right-wing and fascist….BDS [members] do not want peace, nor do they want peace negotiations.”

More recently she blasted 21-year-old New Zealand pop star Lorde after she decided to cancel a show in Israel.
“Boycott this bigot: Lorde caves to BDS pressure, cancels Israel concert,” Barr said at the time.

89% of Israelis satisfied with their lives

Some 8,907,000 residents live in Israel, of which 74.4% are Jews, 20.9% are Arab, and 4.9% are other minorities, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics published today, Tuesday, ahead of Rosh Hashanah 5769.

The average life expectancy in Israel continues to rise: the average for men is 80.7 years and remains the same as last year, but the average age of women has risen to 84.6 compared with 84.2 last year.

89% are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives in Israel, while 6% - about 340,000 people - often feel lonely. 37% of Israelis, who constitute 2 million people, are not satisfied with their financial situation and 31% have difficulty covering their monthly expenses.

In the past year, 52,809 couples married and established a home in Israel, while 14,819 came to the rabbinate to divorce.

The average number of persons in the Israeli household as of the past year is 3.32, while Israel has about 2,057,000 nuclear families.

Regarding the level of religiosity, 44.3% define themselves as not religious or secular, 21.4% define themselves as traditional, not so religious, 12.3% define themselves as traditional-religious, 11.5% define themselves as religious, and 10.2% haredim.

As of 2017, 175,000 teaching staff members are employed in the education system, compared with 170,000 in 2016. The rate of recruitment of new teaching staff is on the rise: from an average of 7,500 between 2008-2010 to 11,700 on average in 2017-2018. In 2015, 6,471 teaching staff members left the education system, compared to 5,059 in 2008.

The average gross monthly wage is NIS 10,109 for Israeli workers and 5,928 for foreign workers, and the average weekly hours are 36.2 hours. The largest sector for employed persons is the education system, with 471,000 workers, followed by 431,000 workers in wholesale and retail fields and vehicle repairs and 690,000 sales and service workers.

Ponivitz One Week Before Rosh Hashana .....

Watch Monica Lewinsky Storm Off the Stage When Asked About Bill Clinton

Potato Knish Lekoveid Yom Tov

Ingredients (18)

Dough I

3 cups flour

4 ounces margarine 

1 teaspoon salt

1 medium potato, cooked, peeled and mashed

1 cup lukewarm water

 Matzo Meal, for sprinkling

Dough II

4 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces margarine

1 cup lukewarm water

2 teaspoons  Baking Powder

3 egg yolks

Filling

3 large onions, diced and sautéed

8 large potatoes, cooked, peeled and mashed

3 eggs

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Prepare the Dough

Combine ingredients for desired dough and knead until smooth.

Divide into three parts.

Using well floured surface, roll out each part.

For Dough I, sprinkle lightly with matzo meal.

Cut each part into two- by three-inch rectangles.

Prepare the Knish

To prepare potato filling, combine all ingredients, mixing well.

Place one tablespoon of the filling onto each piece of dough. Roll up.

Brush with beaten egg. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

The Chasidisheh Rebbe Who Left Judaism, Became a Businessman, a Psychologist and then Returned to Yissishkeit

Yabloner Rebbe Sitting next to Achad Ha'om and Lord Balfour 

Yabloner Rebbe Sitting Next to Harav Kook z"l

The Chasidishe Rebbe you never heard of who was a ardent Zionist, later left Judaism but eventually returned. The fascinating and little known tale of the Yabloner Rebbe, Rabbi Yechezkel Taub.

Giving the lecture is Rabbi Pini Dunner. He is the person who did all the research on this fascinating story.

Cryn' Chuck Schumer's Constant Lies

Sudden Death Of Mrs. Kreisel Goldstein of Monsey

 

Mrs. Kreisel Goldstein (Rottenberg)  52, wife of R’ Chaim Yankel Goldstein. suffered a massive heart attack on Thursday morning, at her home in Monsey.

They have six unmarried children at home, and a one married child.

Just last night, Mrs. Goldstein danced at the wedding of her niece (her sister’s daughter) in Monsey.

The Levaya will be held today in Monsey at 4:00PM on Nesher Court.