Israeli singer defends refusal to shake Biden’s hand on religious grounds

 

An Israeli pop star who caused an outcry in Israel when she refused to shake hands with visiting US President Joe Biden due to her religious beliefs, has defended her actions and called on her critics to apologize.

“Respect and human dignity are values that I was raised on and which I will raise my children on in the future,” Yuval Dayan wrote in a Facebook post on Friday after her actions drew widespread criticism.

“I ask all those who claimed that I have no respect to take back their words and apologize — not to me — but to my parents,” she wrote.

On Thursday,  Dayan and another singer Ran Danker performed at a ceremony marking Biden’s receipt of Israel’s highest civilian honor. Afterward, Biden and Israeli president Isaac Herzog approached the artists to thank them.

Danker took Biden’s outstretched hand, but Dayan bowed instead, clasping her hands together and smiling.

Dayan said she did so because she has committed to refrain from touching members of the opposite sex for reasons of modesty. She is famous in Israel in part for becoming more religiously observant, embracing the principle of shomer negiah, a prohibition on opposite-sex touching that some Orthodox Jews believe is required, as well as not performing on Shabbat or Jewish holidays.

The prohibition is rooted in the idea that any touch can lead to sexual impropriety.

But many said she should have made an exception to avoid embarrassing the US president, pointing to the example of Tzipi Hotovely, currently Israel’s ambassador to the UK.

When Hotovely, who is Orthodox, became deputy Foreign Ministry in 2015 while serving as a Likud lawmaker, she said she would shake hands with men who offered her theirs despite ordinarily refraining from touching. She noted that traditional Jewish law makes allowances for honoring dignitaries.

“It’s not a problem at all,” Hotovely told Israeli media at the time. “When someone meets foreign representatives the Jewish halacha [law] recognizes respect, etiquette and politeness.”

The incident with Biden went viral in Israel Thursday. Dayan, who came to fame as a contestant on Israel’s version of “The Voice,” said she had sought to avoid appearing to slight Biden and had communicated her needs to Herzog’s staff.

“I made sure to notify everyone in the president’s office that I am shomeret negiah,” she said, according to Israeli media. “God forbid, I did not mean to offend.”

She reiterated the claim in her Friday Facebook post, saying she had repeatedly informed multiple officials at Herzog’s residence. “They were joking that even the olive trees at the president’s residence knew that Yuval Dayan was shomeret negiah.”

“Anyone who knows me, from age zero, knows that I did not do this maliciously and that I don’t like being involved in public hysteria,” she wrote.

Biden, himself, had raised handshake etiquette issues on his trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, preferring to fist bump some. The White House indicated it was for COVID protection reasons, while others speculated it was designed to avoid having to shake hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Biden removes Israeli flag from presidential vehicle - in Jerusalem

 

US President Joe Biden's staff on Friday morning removed the Israeli flag from his armored vehicle, before visiting Jerusalem's Arab areas.

Danny Danon, head of World Likud and a former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, slammed, "It starts with a visit of a US President to a Palestinian institution in east Jerusalem. It continues with the inability of [Prime Minister Yair] Lapid to set a red line, to act as a diplomat and prevent this dangerous precedent. And it ends with the removal of the Israeli flag from Biden's entourage - in the capital of the State of Israel."

"Lapid gets a clear and unequivocal 'fail' on this visit, and it's scary to think what future visits here by diplomats will look, in the coming months. We must replace this awful government."

Earlier on Friday, Biden visited the Augusta Victoria Hospital, and then met in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, after which the two delivered statements.

Saudi Prince tells off Biden

 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman scolded President Biden for America’s past treatment of Iraqi prisoners during their private meeting — minutes after the two leaders fist-bumped for the cameras in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom’s de facto leader, known as MBS, rebuked Biden Friday over the brutal abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison camp in 2004 in response to the president’s mention of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist murdered in 2018, a Saudi official said Saturday.

“His Royal Highness mentioned to the President that mistakes like this happen in other countries,” said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir. “And we saw a mistake like this being committed by the United States in Abu Ghraib.”

Scores of Iraqi prisoners were tortured and abused by members of the US military at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad under the Bush Administration during the Iraq War. Horrifying pictures of naked and hooded Iraqis, some forced to assume sexual positions, caused international outcry when they emerged in 2004.

MBS has been under fire from human rights advocates ever since Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the prince’s regime, was killed and dismembered in Istanbul in 2018. US intelligence later found that the crown prince personally approved Khashoggi’s murder — leading Biden to vow that, as president, he would make Saudi leaders “the pariah that they are.”

The comment chilled the relationship between the US and the Middle East’s largest oil producer — a state that Biden sought to thaw with his visit.

But the president has faced sharp criticism for his willingness to mend fences.

In their meeting, MBS told Biden that he regretted Khashoggi’s death, al-Jubeir said — but did not take personal responsibility for it.

The ‘Not Accepting Students Into Schools’ Issue Needs To Change

 

This year 65 girls were not accepted to high school. It was only 3 years ago that I was one of those “unlucky” ones who didn’t get accepted anywhere. As my friends and neighbors began to talk about where they chose to go and which friends they’d be together with, I felt embarrassed, sad, and very afraid.

My parents supported me constantly by telling me how amazing I was and that not getting accepted had nothing to do with who I was or who I wasn’t. I lay awake at night worrying whether any school would ever change their mind about wanting to accept me.

I struggled academically but I had worked hard and had gotten good grades, albeit with modified tests. I was kind, caring and always followed the rules never causing any problems. I had thought that I was liked by my friends. But suddenly I began to question everything about myself. Maybe it was my personality.. ? Did the girls not like me? Was I different? I guess I just wasn’t enough.

Graduation came and went and as all my classmates walked up proudly to accept their diplomas, I walked up feeling embarrassed and unworthy knowing that I had nowhere to go next year. After the ceremony, I walked around the room with my mother and grandmother talking with friends and family. Many of them asked me where I planned to go for high school. I wanted to sink through the floor. I tried to leave as fast as possible but of course my mother wanted to go thank my principal and teachers, so I walked around with my heart pounding hoping that no one would ask me that horrible question again.

In the meantime my parents made phone call after phone call as well as ran from vaad member to principal to school owner. No one seemed to be able to do anything. There wasn’t a place for me. They didn’t want me. I cried myself to sleep night after night. The jealousy, the fear, the sadness.. it was so overwhelming.

I’m not sure how I pulled through that summer. I went to sleepaway camp not knowing what my future held. Every day I listened with a pit in my stomach as the girls discussed how nervous they were to have so many teachers, which uniform was the nicest, and which knapsack was the best choice. Each time school was mentioned, my heart felt like it was stabbed again and again. I returned from camp feeling empty and hollow. While everyone began packing school supplies and shopping for uniforms, I sat at home listening from the next room as my mother made call after call. I wasn’t supposed to know. I wasn’t supposed to hear. But again and again she locked herself in a room and ran anxiously to get the phone when it rang. What is so wrong with me I wondered. I felt so unwanted and alone.

The day before school began, my mother came into my room and sat down on my bed with a smile. She looked worn out and exhausted. “Mazal tov, “ she said. “You’re gonna be going to Bais Yaakov Pninim (name has been changed). I’d never heard of the school. It was new. And I knew no one going. I began to sob. My mother hugged me and cried with me. The pent up emotions ran wild. Two hours later I had dried my tears and we went to get a uniform, supplies and a knapsack. I was worn out from this war and I had no strength left to fight.

It’s three years later now and bh I have found my place slowly but surely. I have made some new friends and the teachers are nice. But I am deeply scarred by what I have been through. There is a place deep within that still feels unworthy and unwanted. I am angry at the teachers and the principals and I am angry at the rabbanim for allowing this to happen and for not standing up to change the system.

When I sit in class and the teachers speak about middos, about caring, about saving another from embarrassment and about rebuilding the bais hamikdash with love and acceptance, I roll my eyes inwardly. I have slowly accepted that Hashem has a reason for what He did and I have rebuilt my connection with him. But I am still resentful to all those who sat quietly and allowed this to happen. If we stand for Torah, then how can we let this continue on? Each one of us will be asked when it is our time to face the Ribono Shel Olam, why were you quiet when you knew others were being pained and embarrassed? What did you do to protect these hailege yidishe neshamos of these beautiful precious bais yaakov girls, the mothers of the future generation and hopefully moshiach.. and I’m not sure that most of you will have an answer.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Pinchos

 

Ivana Trump 73 Grandmother of Jewish Grandchildren Dies

 

Ivana Trump, who formed half of a publicity power couple in the 1980s as the first wife of former President Donald Trump and mother of his oldest children, has died in New York City, her family announced Thursday. She was 73.

“I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!”

The Trump family also released a statement. “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Ivana Trump. Our mother was an incredible woman — a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend. Ivana Trump was a survivor.

“She fled from communism and embraced this country,” the statement continued. “She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination. She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.”

The Trumps were a power couple in New York in the 1980s before their equally public, and messy, divorce after Donald Trump met his next wife, Marla Maples. But in recent years, Ivana Trump had been on good terms with her former husband. She wrote in a 2017 book that they spoke about once a week.

Ivana told the New York Post in 2016 that she was both a supporter and adviser to the former president.

“I suggest a few things,” she told the paper. “We speak before and after the appearances and he asks me what I thought.” She said she advised him to “be more calm.”

“But Donald cannot be calm,” she added. “He’s very outspoken. He just says it as it is.”

She was born Ivana Zelnickova in 1949 in the Czechoslovak city of Gottwaldov, the former city of Zlin that just had been renamed by the Communists, who took over the country in 1948. She married Trump, her second husband, in 1977.

Yuval Dayan Israeli Pop Star Who Recently Turned Frum Wouldn't Shake Hands Wit Biden

 

 Israeli folk singer Yuval Dayan recently became religious and now dresses modestly at her performances. However she is still willing to sing in front of men and was invited together with fellow singer Ran Danker to sing in front of President Biden when he visited the Israeli president’s residence Thursday.

Thousands Attend Satmar Business Expo

 

(VINnews/SandyEller) – More than 4,000 people flocked to the Garden State on Wednesday for the first-ever trade show dedicated to furthering business within the Satmar community.

Held at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, the full day expo was a project of Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar and the Hisachdus Avreichim D’Satmar. The show cast the spotlight on the community’s thriving entrepreneurial spirit, with over 300 booths reflecting the Satmar presence in a wide variety of industries including finance, insurance, real estate, construction, technology, health care, food, publishing and more.

Designed to encourage members of the Satmar congregation to support each other’s businesses, the event was open to the entire Jewish community, with all exhibitors and vendors hailing from the Satmar community.

The event was heavily subsidized by the Satmar congregation, with admission kept to just $5 a person in order to encourage attendance. Running from 9 AM to 8 PM, the expo provided a wealth of networking opportunities, three full meals and discussions on matters of Jewish law and business, with prominent rabbonim and leaders of the legal, accounting and financing worlds sharing their experience and advice throughout the day at informative lectures.

Biden Kneels While Meeting Holocaust Survivors in An Emotional Embrace at Yad Vesham

 

President Biden told Holocaust survivors he met Wednesday upon his visit to Yad Vashem to remain seated, and to not get up for him, instead the President kneeled on one knee, held their hands, smiled and gave each woman a kiss, while wiping a tear.

The President spoke with them for more then 20 minutes, longer than scheduled. As he wrapped the meeting, he said to one of the women. “My mother would say, ‘God love you dear. God love you.’”

The Holocaust survivors, were identified as Rena Quint and Giselle (Gita) Cycowicz.

Cycowicz was born in 1927 in Chust, which was then part of Czechoslovakia. She was rounded up and confined in the ghetto before being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and later to forced labor camps, according to Yad Vashem.

Quint was born in 1935 in Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland. In 1942, her mother and her two older brothers were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp, where they were murdered. Rena and her father were sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where her father was murdered. She was eventually sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Below the entire ceremony 

Video

Watcha Biden's Arrival ..Politically weak Biden meets Lapid an interim prime minister

By HERB KEINON

 of JP

 Prime Minister Yair Lapid greeted US President Joe Biden on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday, it was an interim premier who very well may not be in office in another five months, meeting with a president whose own political future is looking increasingly uncertain.

In other words, this is not a tête-à-tête between two leaders at the height of their political strength with a strong mandate and few immediate electoral concerns.

Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, according to the most recent polls, is trailing Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud significantly and would find it highly difficult right now to put together a government after November’s elections.

Likewise, Biden is at perhaps the lowest point in his presidency in terms of public support.

DISTURBING: Watch: New Uvalde Footage Shows Cops Running Away From Gunshots During School Shooting

 

Today, the Austin American-Statesman published portions of the hallway surveillance footage taken during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in May. The edited clips, which run to just over four minutes in total, show the police response to the shooting, as well as the gunman entering the Uvalde school and heading towards a classroom. Audio and video from the published footage shows heavily armed officers failing to breach the room even as the shooter releases a second burst of gunfire.

At one point in the footage, an officer looks at his phone, and uses a hand sanitizer dispenser attached to the wall. The American-Statesman’s Tuesday report comes ahead of state and local leaders’ promise to release the full, unedited surveillance feed to the public. The footage, which will capture what law enforcement officers lingering in the hallway did for more than 70 minutes on May 24, was given to affected members of the Uvalde community on Sunday, according to state Rep. Dustin Burrows.

Ami's Favorite Cult "Lev Tahor" Found Schnorring in London

 

Meah She'arim "rashaim" Now using their toddlers in carriages to protest the "Light Rail"

 

Israeli liberals cheered for Trump’s downfall because of their need to appear enlightened. We are all paying for their sin

 

Many Israelis are concerned over U.S. President Joe Biden’s impending visit. His itinerary is already published, the issues on the table are known and people are worried about the Palestinian Arab consulate, construction in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and Sheikh Jarrah. A dark cloud will hang over the visit, with the Palestinian Authority's desire to extract a win from it and Biden’s desire to give them one.

We can only hope the visit comes and goes in peace, and that Prime Minister Yair Lapid can charm his sleepy guest and mitigate any potential damage. Either way, the general feeling is one of immense frustration with the Biden administration, mainly from the chorus of foolish Israelis who cheered it on while ignoring the magnitude of the wasted historical opportunity we had when Donald Trump was in power.

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main achievement in terms of the Trump administration shouldn’t actually be judged according to the bottom line, although this would be quite sufficient (and in my opinion not enough). The main success was of the spirit.

When we look at the Biden administration’s positions on Israel, the impression is one of identification with a Palestinian Arab narrative that seeks to persuade the world that Israel’s very existence is a “problem.” There are those who support this “problem” and others who have their reservations, but this has been our story since 1948: We are a “problem.” An established problem, a successful problem, a problem the Americans share many interests with, but a “problem” nonetheless.

The Trump administration’s collaboration with the Netanyahu government showed a fundamentally different perception of Israel. It approached Israel naturally, as an indisputable fact, not just because of aligned interests but because of complete identification with the Zionist narrative predicated on the natural and historical rights of the Jewish people. And it saw the Palestinian Arab opposition to those rights as the “problem.”

Perhaps the affection for Biden among some Israelis was caused by Trump’s abrasive and problematic personality. But who the hell cares? Beggars can’t be choosers. Does Israel have the luxury of picking and choosing the source of its salvation?

Most Israelis understand this. Then why the cheers and joy over the Democratic victory and open disgust at anything connected to Trump? First, the need to look like a universalist and approach every dispute in the United States as if it’s happening here. Second, because of the need to be considered enlightened.

This is the powerful engine driving, for example, many Israelis’ emotional reaction to the issue of abortion in the U.S., as if (the longterm dispute over states versus federal rights, which is the real issue and just happens to have risen about abortions this time around, ed.), is any of their business. No, friends, it’s not your business. And yes, Trump was a gift. Biden is the punishment for our sins of denial and falsehood.

Kobi Arieli is a modern-Orthodox writer, columnist and stand-up comedian.

This article was originally published by Israel Hayom.

Why Do The Extreme Leftists Admire R' Yoel Teitelbaum z"l

 

I have always thought it one of the advantages of Modern Orthodoxy that we see value outside of our own orbit. We celebrate the profound thinking of R. Yitzchak Hutner, the bold and sensitive halakhic rulings of R. Moshe Feinstein, and the saintly personality of R. Shomo Zalman Auerbach. 

Contrast this with how the Charedi world tends to talk about R. Soloveitchik or R. Kook. The same applies in terms of communal evaluations. We candidly admit that the narrow focus of Charedi ideology has advantages in fostering passion for Talmud Torah and commitment to halakha.

That being said, we should retain the right to reject and the ability to refuse. We need not endorse the legitimacy of every Charedi position, accept every work in their pantheon, and support each Rav they consider a gadol. 

For example, an entire community not serving in the army without showing gratitude to those who do cannot be morally justified. Such matters are not subject to elu v’elu. It should be legitimate for us to say that R. Elchonon Wasserman was an outstanding lamdan but that his Jewish thought does not reflect the same greatness.

Dangerous Biden weighing call for settlement building freeze

 

Finished with the American People now aiming at Israelis 

President Joe Biden is considering making a public statement during his upcoming visit to Israel, calling on the Israeli government to freeze all construction in Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria, Kan Bet reported Tuesday morning.

The Palestinian Authority is pressing the US to use Biden’s trip this week to extract major concessions from Israel, including a total cessation of all construction in Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria.

Tuesday’s report cited Biden administration officials who said that the White House is taking the request seriously, with the president reportedly weighing the possibility of publicly declaring that he believes settlement expansion endangers the two-state solution, and calling on Israel to impose a building freeze in Judea and Samaria.

The White House is also considering including a statement by the president during his visit in which he declares that the two-state solution is the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict that the US finds acceptable.

Palestinian Authority officials quoted in the report hinted that President Biden may limit his call for a building freeze to Israeli towns outside of the major settlement blocs.

“The leadership in Ramallah is pressing the American government to have Biden include in his comments during the visit to the region a call for a building freeze in the settlements – or at the very least, outside of the blocs.”

When Archie Bunker had to Eulogize a Jew

 

Here watch him try to make Kiddush Friday night!

Conservative Rabbi Against Dogs Getting Bar-Mitzvah

 

Belzer Rebbe's Son is a bigger Rebbe Than both Satmar Rebbes Combined as he has more cars on his motorcade to Lakewood

 

US Won't Allow Israeli government officials to join Biden's upcoming visit to Palestinian Arab hospital in it's own country

 

The US rejected an Israeli request to allow Israeli government officials to join President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to the Augusta Victoria Palestinian Arab hospital in Jerusalem, four Israeli officials told Axios’ Barak Ravid on Monday.

Biden is expected to visit the Augusta Victoria Hospital on Friday morning before heading to Bethlehem for a meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

At the hospital, Biden is expected to meet with Palestinian civil society activists, according to Israeli officials.

He is also expected to announce during the visit $100 million in US assistance to the Palestinian Arab hospitals network in eastern Jerusalem, Axios reported on Sunday.

According to Monday’s report, Israeli Ministry of Health officials spoke to US officials on Sunday and asked if Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz or a lower-level Israeli health official could join Biden’s visit to the hospital.

The Israeli officials told Axios that Biden administration officials rejected the request, saying it is a “private visit," not a political one.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli government did not like the US response. A senior Israeli official told Axios that this is a matter of Israeli sovereignty.

Israeli officials said they are going to continue discussing with the US in the coming days the possibility of Israeli officials joining Biden’s visit to the hospital. The senior Israeli officials added they think the issue will be solved by Friday.

Such a move has political implications, as a visit by a US President to the eastern part of the capital "divides Jerusalem" in principle and can even be perceived to be a non-recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the area.