Bibi's granddaughter |
“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l
Just that you know, his father is not dead yet!
It's hard to grasp, but Lonna has been an aguna for 18 years - chained against her will to a man who has, himself, remarried, while her life is at a standstill until he releases her.
This morning Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll joined well over a dozen supporters in addition to the legal representation of Lonna Ralbag (Kin) & יד לאישה, עזרה למסורבות גט ועגונות-Yad Laisha at the Supreme Court to request that the State refuse the burial of the men who has supported his son in refusing to give Lonna Get for over 18 years .
But what stolen land is she on? https://t.co/WMX36rDydC
— NEWS MAKER (@NEWS_MAKER) July 26, 2022
She had to look at her suit to make sure it was "blue"
On one side are allegations of mismanagement, self-enrichment and poor performance putting Brooklyn residents in danger.
On the other is a dismissal of these complaints as a disinformation campaign — spread by mailers, leaflets and on social media — meant to disparage the quality of care.
In politics, this would be business as usual.
But this fight is happening over Maimonides Medical Center — Brooklyn’s largest safety-net hospital, in Borough Park.
Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against Unilever earlier this month after the parent company sold its Israel division to a local franchisee — contravening the ice cream maker’s ban on doing business in Israeli settlements.
The franchisee, Avi Zinger, will resume selling the ice cream under the Ben & Jerry’s brand in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
Despite the lawsuit, Jope said that Unilever has no plans to sell off Ben & Jerry’s.
“The long-term future of Ben & Jerry’s is squarely part of Unilever,” Jope told the Journal.
Last year, Ben & Jerry’s ignited controversy when it announced that it would halt the sale of its ice cream in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to establish an independent state.
The decision was denounced by supporters of Israel as anti-Semitic and state governments in the US applied financial pressure on Unilever by pulling tens of millions of dollars in equity investments from pension funds.
Ben & Jerry’s wants a federal judge in Manhattan to issue a preliminary injunction to block the sale of the brand to Zinger.
The company and its corporate parent then agreed to a two-week mediation period to see if the two sides can strike a deal to avoid litigation.
If no agreement is reached by Thursday, Ben & Jerry’s will continue seeking an injunction.
A former staffer for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was killed by a passing car after he was kicked out of a Lyft by an angry driver while in the middle of a Delaware thoroughfare.
Sidney Wolf, 43, was fatally struck on Coastal Highway (Route 1) at about 1:44 a.m. Sunday when the driver stopped in the left lane and told Wolf and five of his friends to get out, according to the Delaware State Police.
“Shocked & saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cuomo tweeted about his former senior policy advisor. “Sid was a phenomenal public servant who worked relentlessly for the betterment of all NY’ers.”
A driver of a Toyota Corolla behind the Lyft – which was possibly a Honda Pilot – switched lanes to avoid the stopped SUV and hit Wolf who had just gotten out of the rear passenger side and was standing in the roadway.
The other five passengers were uninjured. The driver of the Toyota remained on the scene but the Lyft driver fled and is still at large.
The Lyft driver had picked up the six friends in Dewey Beach and was taking them to Bethany Beach when he “terminated the ride” after an unspecified argument. The crash happened south of Anchor Way, cops said.
Wolf was a married father of two daughters who coached youth hockey, according to Fox 5.
“This is an extremely difficult time for our family,” Wolf’s family said in a statement to the station.
“The level of shock and pain we feel right now cannot be measured as we continue to grieve. We truly appreciate the outpouring of love and support we’ve received and kindly request that the family’s privacy is respected as we move through this process.”
Lyft told Fox it was cooperating with law enforcement’s investigation.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday with the family of a Palestinian-American reporter killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.
The State Department said Blinken met with relatives of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh and vowed that the U.S. would demand “accountability” for her death.
“The secretary is deeply appreciative of the opportunity to meet with Shireen’s family,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. “Not only was she an American citizen, she was a reporter whose fearless pursuit of the truth earned her the profound respect of audiences around the world.”
Price said Blinken would use the meeting “to underscore for Shireen’s family our deepest condolences on her tragic death and to reiterate the priority we attach to accountability, something we continue to discuss with our Israeli and Palestinian partners as well.”
He could not say, however, what that accountability might mean.
After reviewing investigations by Israeli and Palestinian authorities, the U.S. concluded on July 4 that Abu Akleh was likely killed by Israeli fire, although not intentionally. But it has not conclusively blamed Israel for her death and has left the question of accountability to the Israelis, prompting anger from the Palestinians and her family.
Relatives — including her brother Tony Abu Akleh, her niece Lina Abu Akleh and her nephew Victor Abu Akleh — have been seeking a meeting with President Joe Biden to make the case for pressing Israel to account for her death. Blinken invited them to visit Washington after Biden was unable to see them while on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories earlier this month.
“We are in Washington, D.C., to insist on a thorough, credible, independent, and transparent U.S. investigation into the Israeli military’s killing of our dear Shireen,” the family said in a statement. It called the July 4 U.S. conclusion “an affront to justice” that “enabled Israel to avoid accountability for Shireen’s murder.”
“This is totally unacceptable to us,” they said. “If we allow Shireen’s killing to be swept under the rug, we send a message that the lives of U.S. citizens abroad don’t matter, that the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation don’t matter, and that the most courageous journalists in the world, those who cover the human impact of armed conflict and violence, are expendable.”
The police have arrested two suspects in the disappearance of 16-year-old Moishe Kleinerman, who went missing after visiting Meron on Lag B'Omer, it was cleared for publication Tuesday.
The suspects' detention has been extended by six days from today.
As the case is still subject to a gag order, the only available details about the suspects are that they were arrested seperately from each other.
Kleinerman is from the city of Modi'in Illit. He disappeared from near the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron 122 days ago.
On Tuesday morning, it was reported that there had been an additional development in the investigation.
Kleinerman's family said that "the investigating unit is in continuous contact with the parents and keeps them informed about the progress of the investigation. We see a deep commitment on the part of all those involved in the case, starting from the level of the commissioner, the district commander, the head of the District Attorney's Office, to the last police officer of the investigating unit. We trust the police to take whatever action is necessary to locate Moishe, who has been missing for 122 days, and bring him home. Accordingly, we demand that the issue not be dropped from the agenda."
Chen Hollander, the lawyer of one of the suspects, said that "In my opinion, this arrest is a completely unnecessary arrest, it is part of a fishing expedition taken as part of an investigation that did not start today, and I very much hope that my client will be released from custody as soon as possible. This is a case that did not begin one or two days ago. I believe that, as in past cases, my client will also be released from custody very quickly and this case will be behind him soon.""
Roee Attias, the lawyer of the other suspect, said: "I am very sorry for this arrest. Already from the arrest warrant it can be understood that the suspect I represent is in no way connected to the disappearance of the boy, but on the contrary - he did everything he could to help with the information he had in order to find him. There is no I have no doubt that the suspicions will be cleared up and soon he will be released with the understanding that he had no hand or foot in this matter."
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com
Recently, it was widely reported that Ben Shapiro and others travelled to and entered he Temple Mount. While the sentiment that lies behind his action is certainly admirable in that he wishes to ensure Jewish sovereignty over har habayis, the action itself lies in stark contrast to the position of the great poskim of the generation, Rav Edelstein shlita, Rav Elyashiv zatzal, Rav Chaim zatzal, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, and so many others. What follows is a halachic analysis of why we should not, at this point, be praying on the Har Habayis. The author feels bad because Ben Shapiro is someone that the author admires greatly.
This is what happens when you don't work, there is plenty of time to be busy with "sheigatz shtick"
With less than 100 days to go to elections, disputes have broken out in the UTJ party between its current head, MK Moshe Gafni of the Degel HaTorah Lithuanian faction, and the Chassidic Agudat Yisrael faction.
According to years-old agreements, the two factions rotate leadership of the party over election cycles, which should mean that Agudat Yisrael takes the lead in the run-up to elections this winter. However, now that veteran Knesset member Yaakov Litzman has resigned, the leadership of the Agudat Yisrael faction has passed into the hands of Yitzhak Goldknopf, the representative of the Gur Chassidic group, the largest within Agudat Yisrael, leading MK Gafni to protest that a man with no political experience whatsoever should not be leading the party into elections.
Gafni would therefore like to see his own tenure at the head of the party extended for the meantime; furthermore, he wants the 50:50 arrangement between the two factions of UTJ altered to 60:40 in Degel HaTorah's favor, arguing that changes in haredi demographics justify this.
Meanwhile, another dispute is continuing to simmer between Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the spiritual head of the Degel HaTorah faction, and the Belz Chassidic group (represented by MK Yisrael Eichler of Agudat Yisrael) regarding changes made to boys' schools within the Belz Chassidic group, increasing the hours spent studying mathematics and introducing English into the curriculum.
The two factions have run together in elections for years to ensure that both pass the electoral threshold, but disputes are nothing new, and this year haredi politicians have also expressed the concern that votes may "leak" to the Otzma Yehudit party of MK Itamar Ben Gvir, possibly even losing UTJ a seat to the Religious Zionism party with which Ben Gvir is allied.
The coin was minted under the emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE) in Alexandria, Egypt. The reverse depicts the zodiac sign Cancer beneath a portrait of the moon goddess Luna. The coin bears the date ‘Year eight,’ the eighth year of Antoninus Pius’s rule, or 144/145 CE. It belongs to a series of thirteen coins, twelve depicting the different signs of the zodiac and another the complete zodiac wheel.
According to Israel Antiquities Authority Maritime Archaeology Unit director Jacob Sharvit, “This is the first time such a coin has been discovered off Israel’s coast and it is a rare addition to the National Treasures collection. Israel’s Mediterranean shores and waters have yielded many archaeological sites and finds that attest to connections in antiquity between Mediterranean ports and the countries along it.”
“These finds, which were lost at sea and disappeared from sight for hundreds and thousands of years, have been remarkably well preserved; some are extremely rare and their discovery completes parts of the historical puzzle of the country’s past.”
The coin was discovered during a survey conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority to locate, document, research, and preserve antiquities sites and ancient finds — cultural assets that are being endangered by accelerated marine development.
According to Israel Antiquities Authority’s Director, Eli Eskosido, “In the last decade, the State of Israel has changed its perception of the sea. Rather than marking the country’s border, the sea is now recognized as an integral part of it in terms of its cultural heritage, in addition to security considerations and strategic and economic concerns. Israel’s territorial waters contain natural resources and cultural assets that must be explored and protected in light of different interests and potential development. The maritime survey off Haifa is part of this process. The rare coin recovered during the survey is a vivid reminder of the importance of the survey.”
Interestingly, the ruler who minted the coin, Antoninus Pius, was a Roman emperor who ruled between 138 and 161 CE. Unlike his predecessors, he was not a military man and never participated in battle. His reign was the quietest during the whole of the Roman Empire and marked the height of the period of “Roman peace” (Pax Romana) throughout the empire. Antoninus had a different approach to running the Roman Empire, preferring to deal with any foreign crises through provincial governors; in fact, he never left Rome himself. He encouraged and initiated the construction of temples, theaters, and magnificent mausoleums, and promoted science and philosophy.
During his rule, the empire’s relations with the Jews were greatly improved, the decrees of Hadrian were revoked, and Jews were allowed to practice circumcision. These steps led to amicable relations between the emperor and Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi.
Incarcerated sex offender Rabbi Daniel Greer left his prison cell Wednesday to come to a New Haven courtroom — where one of his alleged victims testified that Greer had indeed had sex with a former student … but waited until the boy was over the age of 16 years.
Greer was the one who arranged to have the witness come say that, in the hopes of obtaining a new trial.
That was the focus of a four-hour hearing held in Room 6C in New Haven’s Church Street state courthouse.
Greer is petitioning the court for a new trial based on what he claims is “new evidence” provided by Aviad “Avi” Hack. Greer is arguing that the 2019 criminal case in which he was convicted on four counts of risk of injury to a minor was based on an incorrect assessment of the victim’s age.
He is currently serving 20 years in prison for the attack on a former student at his Elm Street yeshiva, Eliyahu Mirlis, who was supposedly between 14 and 15 years old at the time.
Since then, on Oct. 29, 2021, Hack — a former student and then a former employee at the yeshiva who has also described having had a sexual relationship with Greer — signed an affidavit stating that, to his knowledge, Greer did not have sex with Mirlis until Mirlis was 16 years old.
The statute defines a minor as being under 16.
Hack, now 47, testified in court on Wednesday, and asserted that based on his close relationship with Greer, he believed the “truth” was that Greer did not have sex with Mirlis until the boy turned 16. Just as Hack said he himself did not have sex with Greer until he was 16.
After hearing the testimony, state Judge Jon Blue continued the proceedings until Sept. 23, when Greer may choose to testify.
Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, who was serving as the government’s Cultural Minister, also opposed plans focused on the “Judaization” of Old Manama neighborhoods.
The handshaking refusal occurred on June 16, at a memorial service held by US Ambassador Stephen Bundy to Bahrain for his father. During the event, Shaikha Mai refused Na’eh’s outstretched hand while the service was being filmed. She then left the ambassador’s house after requesting that the US embassy refrain from publishing any photos of her at the event.
Shaikha Mai has served in various government positions for over years and has been described as a “controversial figure,” according to an Al-Mayadeen report.
A 2014 Forbes report listed her as number six on the Middle East list of the most powerful Arab women.
Turkish forces thwarted another attempt by Iranian agents to murder Israelis in Istanbul, local media reported over the weekend
According to reports, the police arrested four Iranian agents last week. Some agents tried to escape from the police by escaping out of a window of their hotel room but the police caught them close to the hotel.
According to a report by The Daily Sabah, the agents were paid $35,000 by their Iranian handlers to murder three female Israeli tourists in their hotel room in Taksim Square, a popular tourist hotspot. The police found a rifle, two pistols with silencers, and ammunition in the men’s possession.
The Sabah published a video showing an Iranian agent photographing the tourists’ hotel room.
Last month, Israel and Turkey thwarted three Iranian attempts to kidnap and murder Israeli citizens in Istanbul.
Prominent personality Ben Shapiro and his father, currently in Israel, visited the Temple Mount on Sunday and prayed Minchah (the afternoon prayer) there.
It was the first time the elder Shapiro had ascended to the Mount. His mother passed away recently.
Ben Shapiro himself has visited the Temple Mount before but was removed by security guards during his visit, which he made with his wife. Guards ordered the entire group of Jews to leave after several members of the group (the Shapiros apparently not included) began to sing while on the Mount.
On this visit, Shapiro expressed his satisfaction with the positive atmosphere and improvements in the conditions for Jews visiting the holy site.
"You can't come to Israel and not visit the Temple Mount," he said.
Accompanying the Shapiros on Sunday was Rabbi Yehuda Levi from the temple Mount Yeshiva and Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum, the head of the Temple Mount administration.
Rabbi Elbaum lauded the visitors for prioritizing the Mount during their visit. He also blessed that they merit to see the rebuilt Temple in their lifetimes.