Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler Passes Away Suddenly

It is with great sadness that we inform our readers of the sudden passing of Rabbi Shmuel Knofler זל may his soul rest in peace. R' Shmuel was niftar on Shabbos Koidesh in his sleep in his home in Flatbush.  

Rabbi Knofler contributed regularly to this blog with his Dvar Torahs. 

R' Shmuel z"l was a true Talmud Chachem and his love of Eretz Yisroel was so deep that every single Dvar Torah that he uttered reflected his yearning for all Jews to return to the  land that HKB"H gave us and for the Geulah Shleimah.

R' Shmuel was buried minutes ago in Bet Shemesh Israel...

May he be a Meilitz Yoisher for his entire family and for Klall Yisroel that he loved so much.

He will be missed ..... 
DIN 

Rivi Schwebel chanting the Keil Moleh Rachaman at his Levayeh in Brooklyn, yesterday. 

'This is not a 'terror attack' - it's an execution'

execution' - the room where 2 were murdered in Barkan

Media personality Shai Golden published a post on Facebook following the deadly shooting attack in Barkan Sunday and the particularly brutal manner in which the murders were carried out.

"When bodies are found handcuffed and shot, this is not a shooting attack, it's an execution" Golden wrote shortly after the shocking details were published.

"It is important to be precise in terms of terminology and not to tell stories about a struggle for Palestinian freedom, occupation, stagnation in diplomatic negotiations and rage against the siege in Gaza."

"It's an act of blind hatred, a cold-blooded murder of civilians, that there is no way in the world to explain it," Golden said.

"We did not get to the Land of Israel from the Diaspora, after all the pogroms, oppression, and the Holocaust, so that Jews would be tied here and shot like dogs ... No, that's not why we ran away from the Diaspora to the Land of Israel."

He's In

Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as 114th Supreme Court justice Saturday, hours after the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm him.

The quick swearing-in enables Kavanaugh to begin work immediately in advance of arguments at the court Tuesday.

The court says Kavanaugh took the oath required by the Constitution and another for judges that is part of federal law in the same room where the justices meet for their private conferences.

The 53-year-old justice’s wife, children and parents were in attendance.

Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy administered the judicial one. Kavanaugh is replacing Kennedy on the bench and once served as his law clerk.

Earlier in the day, the street outside the Supreme Court was the scene of anti-Kavanaugh protests that led to dozens of arrests.

President Trump beamed over Kavanaugh’s confirmation as he belittled the demonstrators.

“I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme Court,” he tweeted.

Ahead of a Saturday night rally in Kansas, he stated, “The crowd in front of the U.S. Supreme Court is tiny, looks like about 200 people (& most are onlookers) – that wouldn’t even fill the first couple of rows of our Kansas Rally, or any of our Rallies for that matter! The Fake News Media tries to make it look sooo big, & it’s not!”

Kim Yehezkel 29 Murdered by Arabs Execution Style

Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel HY”D, 28, from Rosh Ha’ayin, has been identified as one of two Israelis murdered in the Sunday morning terrorist attack in the Barkan Industrial Park by a lone Arab terrorist. She is survived by her husband and their two-year-old son.

Levaya arrangements for the first victim have not yet been released.

She and the other victim were bound before executed by the terrorist, who fled the scene, still armed with his automatic weapon. The extensive manhunt continues. Security forces, including elite units, Shin Bet agents and a police chopper, continue the manhunt for the PA (Palestine Authority) resident who perpetrated the attack, a male in his 20s.

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

The name of the man who was murdered in the attack at the Barkan recycling plant was later revealed as Ziv Hajbi, 35, of Rishon Letzion.

UNEMPLOYMENT LOWEST SINCE 1969 TRUMP APPROVAL RATINGS AT 51%

• The unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.7 percent, the lowest level since December 1969 and one-tenth of a percentage point below expectations.
• The closely watched average hourly earnings component showed a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase, in line with Wall Street estimates.
• August's initial jobs count was revised up dramatically, from 201,000 to 270,000, while July's numbers came up as well, from 147,000 to 165,000.

Unemployment among black Americans declined three-tenths of a point to 6 percent, slightly above its record low of 5.9 percent achieved in May.

"The labor market is in excellent shape heading into the end of 2018, perhaps the best it has been in 50 years," said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC. "Job growth was a bit softer in September, but some of that was from Hurricane Florence, and it should bounce back through the rest of 2018 and into 2019."

After the report, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to the highest in seven years. Stock indexes edged higher at the open.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 38% who Strongly Approve of the president is performing and 39% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -1. (see trends).

This is Trump’s highest Presidential Approval Index rating since early March of last year, shortly after he first took office.By comparison, Barack Obama earned a presidential approval index rating of -11 on October 5, 2010, in the second year of his presidency. 

Crazy Elizabeth Warren Asks "What Is the Purpose Of Bombing ISIS"

My Grandfather "The Vilna Hero" Was A Cold Blooded Nazi Murderer of Jews

Barring unexpected delays, Silvia Foti is months away from fulfilling an old promise that’s become her life’s work: to write a biography of her late grandfather, who is a national hero in his native Lithuania.

Foti, a 60-year-old high school teacher from Chicago, made the pledge to her dying mother 18 years ago. She has spent a long time studying the life of her grandfather, Jonas Noreika, as well as acquiring the writing skills necessary for chronicling it and finding a publisher.

But rather than celebrating Noreika’s legacy as her mother requested, the biography that Foti wrote confirms and amplifies the findings of Holocaust scholars who for years have called for stripping Noreika of his honors.

The national hero, she and they insist, was a Nazi collaborator who helped murder thousands of Jews and steal their property.

The unpublished biography, which Foti summarized  in a bombshell Salon article  in July, split her own family. She said her father and his second wife asked Foti not to publish the book because it would “make Lithuania look bad.” And it would have distressed her mother if she were still alive — the author said this causes her “great pain."

Singer “Dedi” In Critical Condition

Businessman and world renowned singer Dedi Graucher is in critical condition, and his family is asking everyone to please have him in mind in their Tefillos.

Dedi, 57, was hospitalized after Sukkos at Ma’anay HaYeshua hospital in Bnei Brak.  He told his family he wasn’t feeling well and moments later he collapsed. He is suffering from a a serious kidney infection (possibly kidney failure) and was placed on a respirator.

He underwent emergency surgery on Thursday, and is still in need of Rachmei Shomayim.

One of Dedi’s sons got married on the day after Yom Kippur.

Dedi began his musical career in the 90’s with the release of several albums and performances around the globe.

His name for Tehillim is Oded Dovid ben Tzipora.

Weiss YM'S Says that the Arab Girl That Slapped a Jewish Soldier is "A Pure Child"

Zalonim Beat The Crap Out of a Chusid With a Cellphone

US Jews help families of Arab terrorists

The New Israel Fund supports assistance to terrorists, this time funneling its funds through Hamoked.

On January 4, 2017, a Palestinian-Arab terrorist drove a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers, killing four and injuring 17 others. The attack was immediately identified as terrorism, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene of the attack and said the perpetrator was “by all indications a supporter of the Islamic State.”

Fast forward to October 2018, Israel decided to expel the terrorist's family from Israel, as they have links to ISIS, are not citizens and present a security concern.  

Opposing the state in court is Hamoked, an organization supported by the New Israel Fund, which assisted the relatives of the terrorist to petition against their deportation from Israel.

Thankfully, they lost and this family – and their security concerns – have been expelled. 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Is Dangerous for Israel 5 Reasons

Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Senator running for reelection, has advanced troubling views, legislative decisions and associations that evidence an alarming ideology when it comes to support for America’s only democratic ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel.

In recent years, Gillibrand has seemingly moved away from traditionally mainstream Democratic politics when it comes to bipartisan support for the Jewish state. Below are five reasons Gillibrand is dangerous for Israel.

Samuel Israel "derr groiser tzaddik" Sentenced to 8 Years For Raping a 10 year-old

A Brooklyn man who admitted to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old family member [https://nypost.com/2017/09/19/ex-reality-show-pi-used-sex-tape-to-intimidate-witness-da] was sentenced to 8 years in prison Wednesday, but not before the woman he preyed on confronted him over the years of abuse.

“He has absolutely no morals,” 

Samuel Israel’s now-grown victim told the packed courtroom, as her abuser hung his head at the defense table, avoiding eye contact.

“He stole my innocence, and my childhood. I was 10-years-old at the time he started to sexually abuse me. He groomed me to the point where I didn’t know it was wrong or, at 10-years-old, how sick it was,” she stated.

The woman, who is now married with two children, said Israel molested her until she was 16, taking her on trips with his family and buying her silence with lavish gifts. She told Judge Matthew D’Emic she felt alienated from her peers, because while they were talking about school or their weekend plans, Israel “was having oral sex with me.”

“I felt like it was my fault,” she said “I felt dirty.”

Israel, who declined to speak before sentencing, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal sex act and witness tampering in July in exchange for the lesser sentence.

He also confessed to hiring onetime reality TV gumshoe Vincent Parco to try to scare his victim out of taking the stand.

Israel was led out in handcuffs Wednesday after D’Emic sentenced him to 8 years behind bars. He’d faced up to 25 years in prison prior to cutting the deal.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles declined to comment on Israel’s behalf as she left court.

Prosecutors say Israel paid Parco $17,000, and in turn the P.I. set up video cameras in hotel rooms, and plied the victim’s relatives with hookers in order to record them in compromising situations.

Israel was originally scheduled to head to trial on the sex assault case in June 2017, but two days before jury selection, a stranger approached a member of the victim’s family to show him footage of another relative having sex with a prostitute, and warned him against cooperating.

But the relative went to authorities, and videos of the blackmail tryst were found on Parco’s computer, prosecutors said.

Parco, who starred on two seasons of the reality show Parco P.I., remains charged with various counts of unlawful surveillance and promoting prostitution.

Un-Vaccinated Israeli Chusid Exposes Measles in Newark Airport and New Square

The New York State Department of Health today announced that an international traveler from Israel who has been confirmed to have measles flew through Newark Liberty International Airport on September 28, 2018 and visited multiple venues in Rockland County, potentially exposing others to measles from September 28 to October 1.

Remember When Hillary Clinton Defended a Rapist & Trashed the Victim

'Hey Siri, I'm getting pulled over': iPhone owners use new shortcuts app in iOS 12 to automatically record cops

A savvy iPhone user has developed an ingenious way to use the new Shortcuts app in iOS 12. 

The Shortcuts app, which was launched at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference back in June, lets users build their own multi-step routines for Siri to run across a variety of apps. 

Cannabis inflicts long-term damage on teenage brains: Those who use the drug as teens struggle with reasoning, memory, and inhibitions in later life

Teenagers who use cannabis are inflicting long-term damage on their brains, a new study has warned.

Researchers tracked nearly 4,000 teenagers over fours years and found clear evidence of marijuana use being linked to struggles with reasoning, memory and inhibitions later in life.

Previous studies have shown that cannabis misuse has been linked to impairments in learning, attention, and decision-making, as well as lower academic performance. 

But the team, led by the University of Montreal in Canada, says its findings are the first to show the causal and lasting effects of teen pot use on cognitive development. 

For the study, the team followed more than 3,800 Canadian adolescents between seventh and 10th grade for a period of four years.

Once a year, the participants rated how much they used cannabis on a zero to five scale - zero meaning 'never' and five being 'every day'.

For alcohol specifically, the teens were asked to provide the typical number of drinks they have in a day.

Researchers also looked at year-over-year changes in four cognitive areas: recall memory, working memory, perceptual reasoning and inhibitions.

Tasks included being able to find a phone among a group of images, learning a pattern and being able to reproduce it 30 minutes later, and completing a sequence of puzzles with increasing difficulty.

Christine Ford's Boyfriend says that She is a Liar!

An ex-boyfriend of Christine Blasey Ford reportedly wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee contradicting her testimony last Thursday on polygraphs — prompting Sen. Chuck Grassley to raise doubts about her truthfulness.

The man, who says he dated Ford from 1992 to 1998, wrote in the letter — obtained by Fox News — that he once saw Ford help ease the nerves of a friend preparing to take a polygraph by ­“explaining in detail what to ­expect” and how they work.

During last Thursday’s hearing, Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell asked Ford if she had ever talked with anyone other than her lawyers about “how to take a polygraph.” Ford said “Never.”

The man, whose name was not released, also said that during his relationship with Ford she never mentioned Brett Kavanaugh or her experience as a victim of sexual assault.

In a letter late Tuesday, Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Ford’s lawyers for the polygraph results, saying the ex’s claim “raises specific concerns about the reliability of [Ford’s] polygraph-examination results.”

Beit Shemesh Mayoral Race Neck & Neck Between Chareidi & Dati Leumi Candidates

The polls show the mayoral race in Beit Shemesh, between the incumbent from the chareidi community, Mayor Moshe Abutbul, and the dati leumi challenger, Dr. Aliza Bloch, is neck and neck, Yediot Achronot reports on Tuesday, 23 Tishrei.

Last week, the candidates had to submit their lists ahead of the deadline and clearly, Aliza Bloch poses a threat to Abutbul, armed with support of both the Likud and Bayit Yehudi parties. Bloch is the Bayit Yehudi’s candidate and enjoys the backing of Likud too while Abutbul appears on the Degel Hatorah list, backed by the chareidi tzibur.

Abutbul is now looking at the Shlomei Emunim faction of Agudas Yisrael, realizing it may decide to take revenge against Degel Hatorah and Shas as they did not back its candidate in the Jerusalem mayoral race, Yossi Deutsch. If Shlomei Emunim wants to use the Beit Shemesh race to take revenge, it might back the Peleg Yerushalmi candidate, Rav Malachi Kitov, 34, instead of Abutbul. Such a reality could result in Bloch becoming the city’s next mayor.

Yediot reports there are 109,800 residents in Beit Shemesh, of which 64,163 are registered voters. This represents a 22.3% increase in population since 2012.

Hopefully Dr Aliza Bloch Wins and Cleans Up the mess the Chareiidim in Bet Shemesh Bet,  have created.

Beit Shemesh Woman Struck And Killed By Vehicle

A woman was hit by a passing vehicle on Ben Ze’ev Boulevard in Beit Shemesh on Tuesday evening. Emergency medical teams from United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom attempted to treat the woman for her injuries but they were too severe and paramedics in the field were forced to pronounce her death.

United Hatzalah EMT Yechiel Rosenberg said: “Together with the ambulance teams, we performed CPR on the woman at the scene of the accident in an attempt to revive her. The elderly woman suffered from a multi-system trauma due to being hit by the vehicle. Unfortunately, following a lengthy resuscitation effort, paramedics in the field were forced to pronounce her death due to the intensity of her injuries.”

Police have taken the driver of the car into custody and traffic investigators have opened an investigation into the cause of the fatal accident.