Will the Real "Chief Rabbi" of Ukraine Stand Up?

 

The chief rabbi of Ukraine is a 57-year-old U.S.-born former member of Israel’s Karlin-Stoliner Hasidic sect who was once an executive member of the World Jewish Congress.

The chief rabbi of Ukraine is a 55-year-old Russian-born member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who is close to associates of former President Donald Trump and recently created “Anatevka,” a village for displaced Jewish families inspired by “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The two men – Rabbi Yaakov Bleich and Rabbi Moshe Azman – have since the Russian assault on Ukraine began a week ago each posted a series of dramatic videos about their efforts to evacuate Jews and raised millions of dollars to support them. Their dueling claims to be the country’s top Jewish leader date back two decades, a fraught history involving many questionable characters.

“Remember that he who does not care and he who agrees silently — that is an accomplice to a crime, a war crime, a crime against humanity!” Rabbi Azman declared in a video posted on Wednesday, of him holding a Torah scroll in front of the ark in a Kyiv synagogue.

Warning Russian Jews that their silence would be remembered and pledging to stay and care for those unable to flee, he added in Russian: “I never thought, even in my worst nightmare, that I might have to perish under the shells of Russia, where I was born, where I went to school, where I have many friends, who are silent.”

Meanwhile, Bleich has been publishing “live updates” via YouTube on a daily basis, using an Ukrainian flag as a backdrop.

“We already have evacuated some people,” he said when the assault began last Thursday. That evening, he released another video, pleading for help: “We are sheltering in place outside of Kyiv in our camp until tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. when we hope we will be able to hit the road,”

For viewers, it might seem as if Bleich is on the ground assisting his flock at a time of great need. In fact, he has been making the videos from his home in the Hasidic enclave of Monsey, New York, where he received a call from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this weekend and, as of Wednesday morning, had raised more than $1.4 million online for Kyiv’s Jewish community.

Bleich didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the Knesset today

 

Heroic Chief Rabbi of Odessa Rescues 250 Orphans by Traveling on Shabbos

 

Now! That's a real hero!

This past Shabbos, the Chief Rabbi of Odessa heroically rescued 250 orphan children from potential tragedy. Rabbi Shlomo Baksht determined that it was permissible to travel on Shabbos in order to flee the country.

The terrifying drama began Thursday evening, when heavy Russian bombings rocked the area near the orphanage.

“We just received an update that there were three terrible explosions near the orphanage. The girls were very anxious, sitting and crying. We are trying to move them to the city center next to us. The situation is becoming more dangerous from one moment to the next,” said Rabbi Baksht.

After speaking with senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Jewish community decided to flee westward.

On Friday morning, eight buses set off, with all of the orphans onboard, as well as the orphanage staff, Rabbi Baksht, his daughter Shira and his partner Rabbi Rafael Kruskal.

A few hours after they fled Odessa, Russian missiles landed near the Jewish community where they had been located hours earlier.

“We had a great miracle that we got out of there on time,” said Rabbi Baksht, “a really great miracle.”

The journey lasted through Friday night into Shabbos morning, and the Rabbi decided that the proper decision was to continue traveling for pikuach nefesh.

“I told them that we are here to fulfill God’s will, and on this Shabbat, His will is for us to escape to save lives,” he said

On Friday the Rabbi told community members, “We will continue to travel on Shabbos because it is a matter of mental supervision. Everyone will turn off their mobile phones, but on every bus there will be one mobile left open in case of an emergency.”

At one point they stopped in the dark and Rabbi Raphael Kruskal recited Kiddush, adding a taste of the Shabbos atmosphere during an unthinkably difficult time.

Rabbi Baksht described the superhuman effort of the staff.

“The babysitters on the baby bus held the toddlers in their arms for many hours. It was not easy.”

Monkey Eating Strawberries From Shmitah .. Where is R' Yair Hoffman's "psak?"

 

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Hamas Flag Flying Proudly in Meah Shearim

 

Gedolim Point to Signs of Mashiach’s Arrival Amid Ukraine Crisis

 BNEI BRAK: The Gadol Hador, Hagaon Reb Chaim Kanievsky Shlita was asked by many what should one be Mechazek in due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

His Response was – to Daven and learn Torah B’Hasmada.

Reb Chaim also pointed out to a Medrash in Parshas Lech Lecha which says – “If you have seen kings provoking one another, expect the footsteps of Moshiach.” — “אם ראית מלכיות מתגרות אלו באלו צפה לרגלו של משיח”.

Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, Rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe of South Fallsburg, as well echoed the message of R’ Chaim last week once the invasion had began.

R Elya Ber had put on Shabbos clothing last week when he heard news of the movement of Russian warships. The response of the rosh yeshiva is based on a Kabbolah that he has that when the Russians will cross the Dardanelles River, it will trigger the start of a series of events before Moshiach comes, and therefore, in his words, “Men ken shoin untun Shabbosdike kleider.”

5 TownsCentral Editors Note: There have been many points in history when Gedolim informed of the imminent arrival of Mashiach and it didn’t happen. However, that does not mean we should become skeptical, rather it truly could have been the right time, only that Klal Yisroel was not deserving. Hashem runs the world with cheshbonos that we can not understand.

We hope that this time our generation is worthy and that this current period of conflict ushers in the Geulah Shleima.

Colorized Photo of Jewish New York Market from the 1900's

 

A fascinating but little-known chapter in the history of a campaign by a Brooklyn Housewife to help create the State of Israel.

 

"Irish, sympathetic, hates British, will definitely help.” So read an entry in the diary of Brooklyn housewife Esther Kaplan, after meeting with Rep. John J. Rooney, an Irish-American congressman from New York City, seventy-five years ago this week.

Mrs. Kaplan had no background in lobbying or political activism, but when her son David was arrested by the British for trying to smuggle Holocaust survivors into Palestine in 1947, she reinvented herself as a Zionist lobbyist and took her case straight to Capitol Hill.

The arrest of David Kaplan and other crew members of the S.S. Ben Hecht, and the protests that ensued in the United States, comprise a fascinating but little-known chapter in the history of the campaign by Americans to help create the State of Israel.

On a chilly morning in late February 1947, six hundred Holocaust survivors trudged up the gangplank of the S.S. Ben Hecht in the French harbor of Port de Bouc. The ship was sponsored by the activist Bergson Group, and named in honor of the journalist and Hollywood screenwriter who authored the group’s most controversial newspaper ads denouncing British rule in Palestine (the name of the region and not connected to a specific people).

The ship’s captain was Robert Levitan, a burly six-foot-four former Merchant Marine who said he “jumped at the chance” to participate in the mission because he had "felt impotent in the 1930s and early 1940s, hearing about Hitler's persecution of the Jews and not being able to do anything about it.”

"We had twenty men, with twenty different reasons for joining up," Levitan remembered. "We had some very young boys who were reared in Zionistic homes and were gung-ho Zionists. We had an Irishman who hated the British, and he volunteered just because it was against the British. Our cook was a black man, one of the gentlest men you could ever meet, and he just liked helping out the underdog."

How Ukrainians Murdered 100,000 Jews 20 Years Before the Holocaust

 

Statue of Bohdan Chmelnytskyi  Still Standing Kiev 

In the early 1920s, thousands of Jewish child refugees flooded into Moscow from Ukraine, fleeing a terrifying series of pogroms. Legendary Jewish artist Marc Chagall remembered giving art lessons to some of the refugees at a Jewish orphanage outside the Soviet capital. He recalled the horrifying atrocities they spoke about — their parents murdered, their sisters raped and slain, and the children themselves chased out in the cold, threadbare and starving.

Unlike the Holocaust, this earlier wave of antisemitic violence has largely been forgotten by history. Yet at the time, it was front-page news. From 1918 to 1921, more than 1,100 pogroms killed over 100,000 Jews in an area that is part of present-day Ukraine. Such large-scale violence led to fears that six million Jewish lives across Europe were at risk from antisemitic hate. Those who made such dire predictions included writer Anatole France; less than 20 years later, these fears were realized.

The story of these fateful pogroms is chronicled in a new book, “In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust,” by University of Michigan history and Judaic studies professor Jeffrey Veidlinger.

“I think right now they’re not very well-known at all, mostly because they’ve been so surpassed by the Holocaust,” Veidlinger told The Times of Israel in a phone interview. “In the interwar period, they were very well-known. In some ways, it seems like it was all anybody was writing about then.”

Rooted in a previous linguistic research project with elderly Yiddish-speaking Jews in Ukraine who told Veidlinger about surviving the pogroms, the book takes readers back to this disturbing moment in history during the Russian Civil War.

“It’s terrifying and horrifying,” Veidlinger said. “It takes a toll on you to write [down] that testimony. I’m sure it takes a toll on the reader… It was difficult for me to hear, and probably difficult for them to tell.”

The title phrase comes from France’s fears for the future of European Jewry. The French poet and journalist noted that some of the pogroms occurred at the same time as the peace talks at Versailles tasked with ending World War I. One was perhaps the largest single mass murder of Jews in modern history up to that point — the pogrom of Proskuriv on February 14, 1919, with 911 listed deaths, which Veidlinger estimates is one-third of the actual total.

“I think it was almost genocidal,” Veidlinger said of the Proskuriv pogrom. “It shows how the violence escalated during the very short period of time between November 1918 to February 1919.”

Chief Badatz Extortionist of Kosher Cell Phones Arrested and the Badatz Backs the Chareidie Mafia

 

This is pathetic.

The phones should be under “supervision,” not the stores. There is no reason to believe that a store owner would substitute a type-B phone or account for a customer requesting type-A service.

Maybe the situation on the ground will change when the shop owners organize themselves. Learn something from the Ukrainians.

Hours after the arrest of a senior leader of the Comunications Vaad on charges of extortion and harassment of cell phone stores, the BADATZ has released a letter, saying that kosher cell phone stores are currently not being supervised. 

Following the detention of the Supervisor of Cellular Stores, the BADATZ Eidah Charedis issued a special warning to the public.

Under the headline “Warning to parents and educators”, the Rabbanim wrote that “After the authorities arrested the supervisor of cellular stores, and extended his detention for a week, there is currently no supervision of cellular stores in Yerushalayim.”

They added that it is incumbent upon parents and educators to supervise children regarding this matter. 

The judge who extended the detention said at the hearing: “On numerous occasions the defendant extorted and threatened cell phone shop owners while asking them to pay him money to get kosher. The shop owners who did not pay were allegedly attacked.”

Single Mom forced to sell home after Bnei-Braker conman Copycat tricked her out of $100K

 

A mom was forced to sell her home after her own slippery “Tindler Swindler” conned her out of more than $100,650.

Jordan Alexander, 54, was left heartbroken when her whirlwind romance came crashing down — leaving her with a mountain of debt.

She thought she had met the man of her dreams after connecting with “millionaire” businessman James on a dating website.

The single mom-of-two, who lives in New Zealand, was duped by the cruel crook after signing up to the site in 2012.

James painted himself as a hardworking dad who traveled around the globe as a railway consultant while raising his teenage son.

Zionists readying for 10,000 immigrants from Ukraine in coming weeks

 

Israel's government estimates that around 10,000 Ukrainians will immigrate to Israel in the coming weeks, government officials told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday. 

The Ministry of Immigration and Absorption would not comment on this estimate, but responded saying: "The Ministry of Immigration and Absorption is prepared for the emergency immigration of Ukrainian Jews, and in view of the escalation in Ukraine, the ministry, headed by Minister Tamano Shata, is preparing all sectors to assist and absorb any Jew seeking to immigrate to Israel."

"In light of the drastic increase in applications for immigration from Ukraine and in view of the security situation in the region", the ministry said that Tamano-Shata and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman agreed on providing additional budgets to actualize the emergency immigration operation from Ukraine.

The Ministry of Immigration and Absorption convened an emergency discussion last Thursday during which Tamano-Shata assembled an inter-ministerial team to remove bureaucratic hurdles for potential olim and to issue immigration visas digitally, in light of a drastic increase in applications. This is in addition to reinforcements in the Absorption Division at Ben Gurion Airport and the cooperation with the IDF.

The Ministry concluded, "We call on the Jews of Ukraine to immigrate to Israel - your home."

Saturday Night Live makes "choizik" and parodies ‘Fiddler’ — and B&H camera store

 “Saturday Night Live” is famously “Live from New York,” and in the latest episode the show doubled down on the promise.

In a skit on Saturday’s episode, guest host John Mulaney led the cast in a parody of Broadway musical numbers that included an homage to “Fiddler on the Roof.” Mulaney plays a newsstand operator who sings about the horrors of the New York subway system, from erratic service to sketchy passengers to, yes, the “Mole Men” who are said to live in the tunnels.

“If I were a mole man,” he sings, adding in some “yubba-dubbas” from the “Fiddler” classic, “If I Were a Rich Man. “All day long I’d drink a shoe of rum, if I were a mole per-son!”

Soon Mulaney is joined by a chorus line of Hasidic dancers, who do a credible version of the tavern scene from the show. But wait, there’s more: When someone asks, “Was that the actual cast of ‘Fiddler’?”, Mulaney replies, “No, there’s just a lunch break at B&H Photo.”

Even many New Yorkers may need a footnote here: B&H Photo is an electronics megastore in Midtown Manhattan famously owned and staffed by Satmar Hasidic Jews. It was once even slapped with a lawsuit claiming it discriminates against non-Jewish employees (the suit was dismissed).

The skit, called “Subway Churro,” went on to include parodies of “South Pacific,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Music Man,” “Les Misérables” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” The “Hasidic” dancers returned for the finale — based on, what else, “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Ukranian Soldier Kills a Jew and wounds his wife at Checkpoint and Claims He thought they were "Russian Combatants" ..Who believes that?

 

So a guy sitting in a car with his wife and two children are mistaken at a checkpoint for "Russian Combatants" and they kill the jew and wound his wife! If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell.

The cursed Ukrainians ym"s even convinced his step mother that it was Putin's fault. A Ukrainian Goy shoots her step son who was part of a convoy at a checkpoint, and it was Putin's fault!

You know what it was? An opportunity for a Ukrainian to follow the minhag of his father to kill Jews!

As I pointed out in the past two weeks, the Ukrainians are the most vicious anti-semites! I also sincerely believe that it's the Jewish "askanim" who are interested in constantly going to "kevarim" are pushing this "Nice Ukrainian" agenda! This is a huge business for for the chassidim and now the Litvaks having learned from the Chassidim how to make money and are making the Chafetz Chayim's town, Radin, into a shrine. The Chafetz Chayim wanted with all his heart to leave that place and make Aliya to Petach Tikva, and these clueless naive Jews want to revive a dead town whose Jews were murdered!

I know people are wondering.. so what do you want? Do you want Putin to win?

The answer is I want Putin to destroy Ukraine. The Jews should leave now! And then I want Putin to go into Poland, Hungary and Romania in that order. I don't think that Putin is a "tzaddik" I think he is a blood thirsty murderer but since he is on a roll I want him to finish the Job, and then of course I want Putin to get his end!

Jews protesting in Tel Aviv and other places in support of Ukraine have not learned anything from the past. When did Ukrainians protest in support of Israel? Especially when Israel was defending itself in Gaza?

Why are Frum Jews defending the Ukrainian Goyim? Why? The answer is they are afraid of losing $$$$$$ from their trips to kevarim. This has to be the only reason. Even Agudah came out with a statement supporting the Ukrainian government. Because the Aguda askanim are all for the "kevarim" escapades!

Brodsky was reportedly part of a car convoy headed to the Moldovan border when he was shot at a checkpoint by a Ukrainian militia that mistook him for a Russian combatant.

Ministry officials spoke to his wife who was also wounded in the shooting and is still stranded in Ukraine with their two children. Brodsky's parents who live in Israel were informed of his death.

"The Foreign Ministry wishes to express its sincere condolences to the family in its difficult time and will continue to assist the family as much as possible," a statement read.

Brodsky's father Efim told Ynet that Roman and his family grew increasingly desperate due to the harsh conditions.

"It's gotten worse and worse all the time. At night they slept in an underground parking lot. He wanted to come to Israel but I did not know he was making the trip today," he said.

His stepmother said: "He was a good guy and said the situation was getting worse by the day. Both Russians and Ukrainian soldiers were dying. Putin started the war. He is a dictator. A tyrant. We want to bring him here for burial. We ask for help."

The shooting took place in the Ukrainian city of Bila Tserkva, 84 km (52 miles) south of Kyiv.

The Israeli embassy, which is currently based in Poland due to the fighting, received the initial report from a contact in the country's Jewish community.

Since the outset of hostilities, over 2,000 Israelis have fled Ukraine through its various land borders. There are hundreds of Israelis who are currently making their way out of the country, some as part of similar car convoys.

Long queues stretch for miles around border crossings and some 100 Foreign Ministry personnel stationed there are trying to fast track passage for Israelis in medical distress, but they note that their ability to assist all Israelis is very limited.

Meshiginar Chabad Chasid joins Ukrainian army: 'Willing to die for Ukraine'

 

David Cherkski, a Chabad-Lubavitch hasid from Dnipro, Ukraine, has joined the war against Russia, together with his father.

Wearing his army uniform, the young Cherkski told Channel 13 News that the Ukrainians will do everything to win.

"I am now in Dnipro, and we are doing everything we can," he said. "We don't have a war yet here, but it's a matter of time. We are waiting for the Russians, so that we can show them."

"Half of them have already died, and the other half have gone home," he said of the Chechnya forces, who took part in the invasion.

Cherkski added: "We will not give the Russians anything. They can say what they want... That they will take Kyiv in two days, but we understand that now our army is the best in Europe."

"I am willing to die for Ukraine. I am willing to die for the Jews who are here, for the Ukrainians who are here. I was born here, my family is here. I am with my father here."

When asked if he would be willing to carry out a suicide operation blowing up one of Ukraine's bridges, he responded, "I think so."

Tinder Swindler Gives his Side of the Story ..In Hebrew

 

This former Bnei-Brak  guy is the biggest chutzpehnyak in the entire world.

Israel Releases Rules for Entry to Unvaccinated Tourists

 

Israel announced just over a week ago that it would open its skies to unvaccinated tourists beginning March 1st. The full set of rules for entry has now been released.

The following rules will take effect on March 1.

1. All tourists will be permitted to enter Israel, regardless of vaccination or recovery.
2. Israeli citizens, toshavei  keva and toshavei arai (A5 and A1 visas) will no longer be required to present pre-flight Covid results.
3. All other travelers, including visa holders, will be required to present negative PCR results, from within 72 of departure, prior to travel to Israel. Antigen tests will no longer be accepted.
4. Recovered travelers, with a positive PCR or antigen test from no less than eight days and no more than ninety days, are exempt from the pre-flight PCR test.
5. All passengers will still be required to fill out the Entry Form within 48 hours of departure.
6. All passengers (Israeli and foreign) will be required to undergo a PCR test upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport.
7. All passengers, regardless of vaccination or recovery, will need to quarantine only until receiving negative Covid results from their airport test, or 24 hours, whichever comes first.
8. Full quarantine of five days will only be required for those who test positive in the airport or unvaccinated persons who are in close contact with a confirmed patient (such as on the plane).

It is unclear what the rules will be for travelers departing for Israel on February 28 but landing in Israel on March 1. Unvaccinated travelers should consider traveling on or after March 1 to avoid difficulties.

Watch Rabbi Bleich Making Believe that he is in Ukraine with a Ukraine flag in the background but he is reporting from Monsey New York Where he fled

 

Listen to a Ukranian say that the Ukrainain People are the most Evil on Earth!

 

Now listen to an Israeli explain that the Ukrainians murdered one and half million Jews and who liberated the Jews...? The Russians

Watch how the Ukranian Tzaddikim Welcomed the Nazis in Lvov in 1941. Watch the smiling faces of the Women and Children

 

כיבוש לבוב. אוקראינה, 1941. pic.twitter.com/0RAI7YhAFF

— תהיות (@Historyinpic6) February 27, 2022