Bennett refuses calls from Putin during Shabbat

 

In light of the prolongation of the meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which took place on Friday afternoon in the city of Sochi, Bennett postponed his return to Israel and remained in Russia with his entourage and Minister Ze'ev Elkin.

On Saturday, a phone call was received from the Russian president's office, stating that President Putin wanted to talk to Prime Minister Bennett. Bennett's entourage replied to Putin's office that the prime minister keeps Shabbat and will only answer a call if it is an urgent matter.

Arutz Sheva has learned that even after repeated attempts to talk to Bennett on Saturday, his aides replied to the hosts that the Israeli prime minister speaks on the phone on Saturday only about issues that cannot be postponed.

When Shabbat ended, Putin called Bennett, inquired about his well-being after the weekend and thanked him for their good and in-depth meeting. Prime Minister Bennett thanked the Russian president for his warm hospitality and their meeting, which he said will help strengthen ties between the two countries.

President Putin invited the prime minister and his wife to visit the city of St. Petersburg. Bennett accepted the invitation and replied that he would be happy to visit the city at a later date,

New Iranian governor slapped during inauguration

 

The new governor of a northwestern Iranian province was slapped in the face by an angry man during his inauguration on Saturday in an unusual breach of security in the Islamic Republic.

A motive for the attack in Iran’s Eastern Azerbaijan province remains unclear, though it targeted a new provincial governor who once served in the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and reportedly had been kidnapped at one point by rebel forces in Syria, according to The Associated Press.

One report referred to the incident as a personal dispute.

The new governor, Brig. Gen. Abedin Khorram, had taken the podium in the provincial capital of Tabriz when the man came in from offstage and swung at the official.

Video aired by state television recorded the gathered crowd gasping in shock, the sound of the slap echoing on the sound system. It took several seconds before plainclothes security forces reached him.

They dragged the suspect off through a side door, knocking down a curtain. Others rushed up, knocking into each other.

Later footage showed Khorram return to the stage and speak to the crowd.

“I do not know him of course but you should know that, although I did not want to say it, when I was in Syria I would get whipped by the enemy 10 times a day and would be beaten up,” he said, according to AP.

“More than 10 times, they would hold a loaded gun to my head. I consider him on a par with those enemies but forgive him.”

Though Khorram said he didn’t know the man, the state-run IRNA news agency later described the attacker as a member of the Guard’s Ashoura Corps, which Khorram had overseen. The report described the attack as coming due to “personal reasons,” without elaborating.

Khorram had been recently nominated by Iran’s hard-line parliament to serve as the provincial governor under the government of President Ebrahim Raisi.

Germany 1945: Restored film footage by George Stevens

 

These original color film recordings of the U.S. Army show various cities and locations in Germany after the surrender in 1945.

The pictures were taken under the command of George Stevens, a Hollywood director who later became famous for movies like "A Place in the Sun" and "The Diary of Anne Frank".

Na Nachs Celebrate the Death of a 47 Year old Cancer Victim

 

Below see the 47 year old being interviewed months before he died

 

Drone Video of Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s Chassidim Commemorating his Yahrzeit at his Gravesite

 

Thursday marked the 27th anniversary of the passing of Reb Shlomo Carlebach, who once told his friends that he had stood at an intersection where three different wedding halls stood and heard his songs emanating at the same time from all three simchas.

Our good friend Ezri To Be sent us an unusual sky drone video, bearing down through the clouds on the assembly of holy Chassidim who commemorated the Rebbe the way he would have wanted it: singing his songs with a lot of strumming.

Reb Shlomo was only 69 when he was taken away from us – way too early. He showed us a sweet and uplifting Judaism the likes of which we hadn’t seen anywhere else before. We miss him today more than ever before, in our era of strife and war among brothers.

Park East President Writes Letter Explaining the Dismissal of Rabbi Goldschmidt

 Dear Park East Community,

As President of Park East Synagogue, I am writing to you  today about the recent events that have transpired over the last two weeks.
On Sunday October 10th, a meeting was held in the Synagogue with Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, myself and a respected leader of the congregation. At this meeting, Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt unequivocally admitted to taking and disseminating, the full, non-public contact list of all synagogue members as well as parents of the Day School to two individuals that he has aligned himself with.  Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt did this without first discussing it with and getting the approval from Rabbi Schneier or myself.  Moreover, he did this without asking the permission of the individuals and families who were contacted – an obligation that the Synagogue takes seriously.  After his admission, Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt refused to apologize for his rogue actions.  In fact, he further enflamed the concerns of Rabbi Schneier and myself by additionally stating that he would continue to use and disseminate the list at his discretion. 


Divulging the personal information in this manner likely carries significant concerns for those involved. To date, and though he has been asked to do so, Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt has also refused to return this confidential information and instead, has hired an attorney to threaten our institution in connection to his dismissal.Rather than discussing his concerns with Rabbi Arthur Schneier and myself, Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt deliberately circumvented us, and permitted two other members, Brad Colman and Brian Kaufman, to communicate with the entire congregation.  Messrs. Colman and Kaufman are neither trustees, nor actively involved in the Synagogue or the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Park East Day School.  It is therefore not clear what led them to take such drastic action now, without first raising their concerns with Rabbi Schneier or myself.
All of us have come to love Rabbi Schneier – a Holocaust survivor and beacon for humanity- and we are fortunate to have been guided by his wisdom for the past 60 years.  For all these years, Rabbi Schneier has always conducted himself strictly and solely with the best intentions of each and every member of this congregation.  Please be assured that the termination of Assistant Rabbi Goldschmidt was done with much thought and consideration for all involved.  As such, the professional relationship between Assistant Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt and Park East Synagogue has been permanently severed.   


The motto of our Synagogue, L’dor V’dor, from generation to generation, is not challenged, compromised or stymied as a result of recent events.  I am pleased to inform you that an executive search committee has been established to find prospective leading rabbis with a view toward choosing one who has the intellectual heft, dynamism, and experience in leading a congregation, someone with wisdom and a demonstrated ability to inspire Jews of all ages and levels of observance. Our motto speaks as loudly today as ever before, and we will continue to strengthen our Synagogue for future generations.
Sincerely,
Herman Hochberg

Zera Shimshon Parshas Va'yeirah

Beit Shemesh Chareidie Woman Stabbed to Death by Her 27 year-old son

 Tamar Stern was 52 years old and a mother of 9, initial reports from the media indicate that the son, Shimon Stern,  had mental issues and just yesterday was begging his neighbors for cigarettes and told them that his mother refuses to let him buy cigarettes.

Dr Robert Bierenbaum Threw His wife out of an Airplane in 1985

 

Robert Bierenbaum said he strangled his wife, Gail Katz, in 1985 in a fit of rage because he was “immature.”

A former Manhattan plastic surgeon convicted in his missing wife’s murder has fessed up to tossing her body from a private plane into the Atlantic Ocean, more than three decades later.

Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a trained pilot serving 20 years to life in prison, admitted to the crime at a parole hearing for the first time since his wife, Gail Katz, 29, vanished in 1985, ABC News’ “20/20” reported.

“I went flying. I opened the door and then took her body out of the airplane over the ocean,” Bierenbaum told the parole board in December 2020, according to a newly obtained transcript.

Bierenbaum told the board that he strangled her in a fit of rage because he was “immature” and “didn’t understand how to deal with his anger,” the outlet reported.

“I wanted her to stop yelling at me, and I attacked her,” he said.

Though Katz’s body has never been found, Bierenbaum was found guilty of her murder in 2000.

Prosecutors were able to secure the conviction based on circumstantial evidence, presenting a theory of what happened to Katz identical to the doctor’s confession.

“I was like, ‘Holy s—, are you kidding me?’” one of the prosecutors, Dan Bibb, told the outlet of the admission.

“I was stunned because I always thought that that day would never come, that he would own up, take responsibility for having killed his wife.”

Bierenbaum was denied parole. His next hearing before the board is set for November.

Katz’s family has found little solace in the bombshell confession.

“This is exactly the same man that I knew 35 years ago,” Katz’s sister, Alayne Katz, told ABC News. “He hasn’t changed … he is incapable of a shred of remorse.”

She added, “My sister’s body has never been found … Gail doesn’t rest anywhere.”

Anti-Zionist Lev Tahor Cult Members Exposed as Really Praising Israel

 

A video has come to light of two Lev Tahor members praising the state of Israel, a stark departure from their usual vehement anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric and quite risky since they currently are engaging in efforts to reach Israel’s archenemy Iran.

Uriel Goldman, who is now in the Kurdistan area along with two other cult members, is seen in the video praising Israel for its behavior during its recent war with Gaza and in previous operations, when the Israeli army does everything it can to avoid harming civilians.

The Zoom video was recorded shortly after Operation Guardian of the Walls, which took place in May.

‘Sleeper cell’ of evangelical Christians posing as Orthodox rabbi who Peformed Giyur, Taharos, Gittin

 

Transformed: Michael Isaacson recently and years ago (

A father and son practicing as Orthodox rabbis in America have been accused by anti-missionary investigators of being secret evangelical Christians.

The claims over Michael and Calev Isaacson — who have changed their family name from Dawson — would cause disastrous halachic problems for the Jewish community if true.

Sacred rituals performed by the two men include writing holy scrolls, washing the dead, and conducting weddings, divorces and even conversions.

Investigators allege neither man is Jewish, making any rituals in which they took part invalid.

They are suspected of being a “sleeper cell” of evangelical Christians who may ultimately attempt to make aliyah and embed themselves within Israeli society.

The Isaacsons have been accepted and welcomed in a number of Orthodox Jewish communities in locations across the US.

Extensive research has uncovered no evidence of traceable Jewish heritage or any official conversion by members of the Isaacson family.

An investigation by the JC has revealed that Michael Dawson grew up in a Lutheran home and he and his wife were married in a Lutheran wedding.

An aunt of Michael Isaacson was shocked to hear about his professed Jewish identity, telling the JC she found his claims over his background “bizarre”.

There is no evidence that the Isaacsons are attempting to convert Jews to Christianity, but when confronted over their true faith they have refused to renounce their belief in Jesus.

The Isaacsons currently reside in Phoenix, Arizona. The family was based in Texas between 2014 and 2016, when Michael Isaacson worked as a supervisor in the Houston Kashrut Association.

They have also lived as Orthodox Jews in Portland, Oregon and Milwaukee.

Vaccinated tourists to be allowed into Israel starting November 1

 

srael will begin allowing tourists who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus into the country starting November 1, the Prime Minister's Office announced Thursday.

Tourists will be allowed from all countries except 'red' countries and countries which are seeing an outbreak of the new AY4.2 variant.

Six cases of the AY4.2 variant have been discovered in Israel so far.

The first case to have been discovered in Israel was that of an eleven-year-old boy who had recently returned from Moldova and was already in quarantine when his test came back positive.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a consultation with senior government and ministry figures on ways to combat the spread of the new mutation. The Prime Minister stressed that developments must be closely monitored and acted upon quickly.

Bennett ordered that each case of the new strain in Israel be focused upon with an increased epidemiological investigation. It was also decided to contact countries in which the variant exists, in order to clarify and share information.

Park East Synagogue pushes out Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt the assistant rabbi, sparking protest

 

Park East Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, fired its popular assistant rabbi after the longtime head rabbi rebuffed a congregant-led push to “revitalize the synagogue.”

Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, 34, had been working for the synagogue for a decade and was known for his outreach to Russian-speaking families. He began at Park East as a rabbinic intern and congregants told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that many hoped he would lead the synagogue one day.

But his tenure there abruptly ended with an email from Senior Rabbi Arthur Schneier that went out to community members on Monday. Schneier wrote, “Assistant Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt is no longer employed by our Synagogue,” but did not elaborate on the decision.

Israeli Court Exonerates Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz for Calling Yona Weinberg a Convicted Pedophile "an Armed Terrorist"

 

Five years after being sued for libel for warning Har Nof parents on social media to consider a convicted sex offender in their neighborhood as dangerous as “a terrorist with a machete,” a Monsey rabbi has been found not liable for his tweet.

Yona Weinberg the "Armed Terrorist"

Jerusalem Magistrate Court Justice Michal Hirschfeld’s verdict was issued in September and made public on October 19th, blocking Yona Weinberg’s "chuzpedike" demand that Rabbi Yakov Horowitz pay him 200,000 NIS for defamation.

In her decision, Hirschfeld said that Rabbi Horowitz had acted in good faith and that his warning was truthful, her verdict including an implicit criticism of Israel’s lack of a public sex offender registration and failure to monitor immigrants who are convicted sex offenders.

“The law of return is being terribly abused,” Rabbi Horowitz said  “These people come in emboldened that they evaded justice and they just disappear. Nobody in Israel knows who they are or what they have done.”

Rabbi Horowitz, a long time child safety advocate, said that Americans typically don’t understand the dangers child molesters pose in Israel.

“In Monsey, Flatbush or other neighborhoods, when someone moves in people take notice, but in place like Har Nof, there are large buildings with people constantly moving in and out and it is much easier to be anonymous,” said Rabbi Horowitz. 

Equally important is the fact that children in Israel frequently play outside without supervision and that people feel that they are in a safe place and often let their guard down.

Weinberg spent 13 months in prison in 2009 for sexually abusing two boys who were coming to him for bar mitzvah lessons.  As a level three sex offender, Weinberg was considered to be a high repeat offense risk as well as a public safety threat, and police discovered that he had fled to Israel in 2014 after going to his Brooklyn home to arrest him for sexually assaulting an 11 year old boy.  Ten days after news broke in January 2015 that Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson’s slow reaction to charges against Weinberg had given him an opportunity to leave the country, Rabbi Horowitz tweeted “Har Nof residents Convicted sex offender Yona Weinberg is LEVEL 3!! Treat him as a terrorist with a machete.” 

Weinberg filed his defamation suit nine months later. Rabbi Horowitz said that he never once considered backing down, even with Weinberg’s lawyer accusing him of inciting violence against his client.

“I looked him in the eye and asked him if he ever buried a child who committed suicide and told him ‘I shoveled dirt on the graves of children who had killed themselves so don’t tell me who is a terrorist with a machete,’” said Rabbi Horowitz.  “Yona Weinberg posed an existential life-threatening danger to children and I told the judge that if she wanted to punish me for saying that, she could.”

Rabbi Horowitz also recalled a Har Nof community leader telling him that he had contacted someone in Brooklyn about Weinberg and was told that the accusations of sexual abuse were “just a story.” 

“I asked him, what if I’m right, and he answered that that they were keeping an eye on him,” said Rabbi Horowitz.  “I asked him if he would just keep an eye on a terrorist with a machete, and that became the warning that I tweeted.”

Hirschfeld did order Rabbi Horowitz to pay Weinberg 3,000 NIS for statements he made categorizing him as a fugitive and alleging that he was giving children non-kosher candy. 

Rabbi Horowitz was also instructed to pay Weinberg an additional 3,000 NIS to cover expenses and half of his court costs. Despite those relatively minor penalties, Hirschfeld made it clear that she felt that Rabbi Horowitz’s tweet had been intended to protect children from harm, writing in her decision that it came “out of an honest concern for the public’s safety,” and noting that Jewish sex offenders were free to become Israeli citizens and live their lives without any restrictions imposed on them.

Rabbi Horowitz described Hirschfeld’s verdict as “an incredible victory for children.” With the defamation suit now behind him, he is continuing his campaign to create a sex offender registry in Israel and hopes that parents will use news about his defamation case to open a discussion with their children about the dangers of sexual predators in an effort to keep them safe from harm.

Brian Laundrie's body found?

 

The “probability is strong” that the human remains found in a Florida park on Wednesday belong to Brian Laundrie, a representative for the family said Wednesday night.

Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino made the shocking statement in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, but added “we are going to wait for the forensic results to come in to verify that.”

A backpack and a notebook belonging to Laundrie were also discovered in the park Wednesday on the same day Laundrie’s parents, Chris and Roberta, showed up to help search for their fugitive son.

Bertolino told Cuomo that the findings were made near a bridge that connects the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park and adjoining Carlton Reserve.

“This is the very area of the park that we initially informed law enforcement on, I believe it was Sept. 17, that Brian would be most likely in the preserve in this particular area,” the lawyer said.

“It was quite near the entrance,” the lawyer said, “About 30 minutes in.”

The parents filed a missing persons report on Sept. 17 after Brian apparently failed to return home after going for a hike in the park.

The FBI explained at a Wednesday press conference that the area where the remains and items were found had “up until recently been underwater.”

Brian, 23 has been the subject of a massive police and FBI manhunt since he went missing and was named a “person of interest” in the murder of his 22-year-old girlfriend Gabby Petito.

Petito’s remains were found on Sept. 19 in a Wyoming park and her death was later ruled a homicide by strangulation.

Laundrie’s parents left their North Port home about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday for the park.

Bertolino told Cuomo that he reached out to North Port police on Tuesday night to give them a heads up that the parents intended to help search the next morning.

The Laundries later discovered a white bag and another object after making their way through a thicket.

They could be seen putting the object into the bag and handing it over to an officer, Fox News reported.

The couple could be seen making and receiving phone calls before being joined by the officer, who patted Chris on the shoulder.

Bertolino said Wednesday night that Brian’s parents are “heartbroken” over Wednesday’s developments.

Police Arrest 3 More Suspects From Berland’s Shuvu Banim In Jerusalem Murder Cases

 

Nissin Shitrit, z’l, 17, disappeared from his home in Sanhedria Murchevet in 1986 and is believed to have been murdered.

Israel Police on Tuesday morning arrested three additional suspects of alleged involvement in two murders that occurred in Jerusalem over 30 years ago.

The suspects are all in their 60s – two are residents of Jerusalem and one is a resident of Haifa.

The suspects are or were members of the Shuvu Banim kehilla and include the son of a former Israeli minister and the husband of the woman who admitted her role in one of the crimes.

The woman’s attorney said that her client was a victim of the Shuvu Banim cult and she is cooperating with the police.

The court extended the detainment of the three suspects arrested on Sunday for another eight days.

Shuvu Banim is led by Rabbi Eliezer Berland who was convicted in 2016 after admitting to two counts of indecent acts and one “assault.” In June, he was convicted on charges of fraud, exploitation, attempted intimidation, tax offenses and money laundering.

"Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg are Horrible People" Says Meghan McCain

 When Meghan McCain suddenly left The View, one TV critic hailed her turn as “a highly effective heel, a love-to-hate reality villain.” But Meghan McCain’s forthcoming audio memoir Bad Republican insists her liberal partners on the show were the villains. Howard Kurtz at Fox News revealed some of the details of her “scorching response.”

Under the Taliban, Afgan families in debt are selling off their children

 

Desperate to feed her family, Saleha, a housecleaner here in western Afghanistan, has incurred such an insurmountable debt that the only way she sees out is to hand over her 3-year-old daughter, Najiba, to the man who lent her the money. The debt is $550.

Saleha, a 40-year-old mother of six who goes by one name, earns 70 cents a day cleaning homes in a wealthier neighborhood of Herat. Her much older husband doesn’t have any work. Such is the starkness of deepening poverty in Afghanistan, a humanitarian crisis that is worsening fast after the Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, prompting the U.S. to freeze $9 billion in Afghan central-bank assets and causing a halt in most foreign aid. 

A reporter spoke to the lender to who Saleha owes the money. He admits that he made an offer a few weeks ago to cancel her debt if she hands over her daughter to be “married” to one of his sons when she reaches puberty. Until that time, the daughter will do domestic work around the house. In the phone interview, the lender made no bones about the arrangement. “I also don’t have money. They haven’t paid me back,” said Mr. Khalid Ahmad, reached by phone in Badghis. “So there is no option but taking the daughter.”

 Let that sink in for a moment. “So there is no option but taking the daughter.” Something that struck me when I was reading this horrifying story was the realization that our failure in Afghanistan didn’t only come with the botched evacuation. (Though that was a massive failure also.) We were never going to “remake” the country into some democratic bastion of freedom because we never really changed the culture of that nation, aside from perhaps among some of the younger women in urban areas. After twenty years of western influence, it took a matter of weeks before the locals (and we’re not even talking about the Taliban here) were back to treating females as literal property. This lender clearly has no qualms about buying that toddler – another human being – and forcing her into a life of servitude until she becomes the closeted sex slave of one of his sons… when she reaches puberty. 

In other words, when she’s somewhere between eight and fourteen years old. And that assumes there are enough scraps of food in the home to keep her alive until then.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal

At least 14 Iranian officers killed in Damascus bus blast ???

 

At least 14 people were killed in central Damascus Wednesday morning in an explosion targeting a Syrian military bus, Syrian state TV reported. Several others were wounded in the apparent attack.

According to additional reports from Syrian and Lebanese outlets, the casualties were Iranian officers. At this stage, no organization has claimed responsibility.

Two explosive devices reportedly went off as the bus was on the Hafez al-Assad bridge, the report said, adding a third device was defused by an army engineering unit.

The attack was the deadliest in Damascus in years, and a rare event since government forces captured suburbs formerly held by insurgents in Syria's decade-long conflict.

Syrian state TV showed footage of the charred bus in central Damascus, saying the blasts occurred while people were heading to work and school.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred at a main bus transfer point under a bridge, where vehicles converge and head out to different neighborhoods of the capital.

"It is a cowardly act," Damascus police commander Maj. Gen. Hussein Jumaa told state TV, adding that a police force had cordoned off the area immediately and made sure there were no more bombs. He urged people to inform authorities about any suspicious object they see.

Such attacks in Damascus have been rare in recent years after government forces captured suburbs that were once held by Sunni Islamist insurgents.

Personal letters by the 'Chazon Ish' Donated to National Library of Israel

 

Fourteen letters penned in the 1940s by the legendary rabbi known as the "Hazon Ish" have been donated to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem by the family of their recipient, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda, one of the rabbi's students.

The "Hazon Ish" (Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, 1878-1953) is considered to be one of the most influential rabbis of the 20th century. The letters reveal a very personal side to the revered spiritual leader.

In one example relating to Yehuda's decision to join the army and enroll in secular studies, Karelitz responded: "I am rich with love for others, particularly toward you, a young person armed with talents and with an understanding heart. … But when I saw the sudden change in you recently … I had to wait and process my great pain."

Born in what is now Belarus, in 1933 Karelitz moved to what was then British Mandatory Palestine with the help of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi there and a formative figure in the modern religious Zionist movement.

Countless visitors flocked to Karelitz's humble home in Bnei Brak during the last two decades of his life, from simple devout Jews to the leaders of the secular Zionist movement, including Israeli founding father and first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, despite the fact that Karelitz was an opponent of Zionism.

A teacher and expert in Jewish law, he left an enduring mark on ultra-Orthodox Jewish thought and culture.

The letters have been donated to the National Library by Yehuda's widow, Hassia, and their children: Rachel Yehuda, Talli Yehuda Rosenbaum and Gil Yehuda.

A free online event celebrating the arrival of the collection will be held on Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. Israel time/1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, moderated by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda's daughter, Professor Rachel Yehuda, vice chair of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

 Reprinted  from JNS.org.