Belzer Rebbe Establishes Organization For Those Who Leave Chareidi Lifestyle

 

 In a historic move, the Belzer Rebbe announced the establishment of a new organization for former chareidim, both those who maintain a religious lifestyle and those who are not religious.

The new organization is not meant to do kiruv but to provide a warm embrace to all those who have chosen a different lifestyle from their parents. The new organization, dubbed Ahavat Kedumim, will serve to maintain the connection to these people, deal with their concerns and help them keep associated with their families.

The initiative stemmed from a tragic case involving a former member of the Belzer chassidus, who took his own life after his parents and the community broke off relations with him. The tragedy triggered the establishment of the organization, as the Rebbe understood that breaking off relations is not the solution for those who leave religious practices and embark on a new path.

The organization was warmly received by former chareidim. One of them who was interviewed by Galei Tzahal said that “we feel like we are in a dream, we received a true embrace from one of the great men of our generation.”

A senior person involved in the establishment of the organization said that “those who studied in chasidic institutions, need to be taken care of and loved unconditionally even after they decided not to keep mitzvos.”

Meir Tamari, 32 married father of two brutally murdered by Arab Savages

 

The Israeli man brutally murdered near the town of Hermesh in northern Samaria has been identified as Meir Tamari, a 32-year-old Hermesh resident.

Tamari, who was shot dead by terrorists on Tuesday afternoon, is married and the father of two children, ages one and three.

Tamari moved to Hermesh four years ago, after marrying his wife, who grew up in the town. Just recently, the couple finished building their home.

Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva, Passes Away At Age 100

The Torah world was plunged into mourning with the news that Maran Rabbi Yerachmiel Gershon Edelstein, leader of the Lithuanian chareidi sector and Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovezh, passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 100.

As the celebrated spiritual leader of Ashkenazi Haredi Jewry, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, was a major advocate for compromise and coexistence at a time of growing estrangement between religious and secular Israelis.

The head of the Bnei Brak-based Ponevezh Yeshiva and a top leader of the United Torah Judaism party, Edelstein was a pragmatist who tried to steer Haredim, and especially the Ashkenazi-Litvak (Lithuanian) communities that he headed, in a conciliatory direction and away from confrontation with Israeli authorities at various junctions.

Internally, he focused on strengthening the Haredi education system and healing the divides that have polarized Litvak Jewry in recent decades. He advocated attentive pedagogy, instructing teachers in cheiders — Haredi schools and kindergartens — to refrain from shouting or intimidating students, according to an profile in Israel Hayom from 2017

Externally, he consistently worked toward coexistence with secular Israelis and authorities, speaking favorably of secular Jews’ sacrifice for the Jewish People.

One memorable ruling by Edelstein said of the secular, 

“If they give their souls to save others out of love for others, they have a place in the afterlife just like the martyrs of Lod,” referencing a well-known story from the Talmud of self-sacrifice for the sanctification of God’s Name. The ruling is viewed by some as having opened the door to service in the army by Haredi soldiers.

Edelstein also, in his writings and rulings, ascribed non-observance of religious laws to ignorance and error rather than the wickedness cited by more radical Haredi leaders.

In 2017, Edelstein was tapped to replace the late Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman at the helm of the majority of what is often referred to as the Litvak stream, several hundred thousand people, most of whom live in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, which is a major and politically influential component of the Haredi community.

Edelstein, who was born to a family of rabbis and rebbetzins in western Russia and immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1934, was not a natural-born politician, preferring for most of his life to focus instead on Haredi education and halacha, Jewish Orthodox law. But as Shteinman’s health deteriorated, Edelstein gradually took over his predecessor’s tasks, becoming a leader of policy and political strategy for his community.

Analysts said his death would be a major blow to the community and the traditions he stood for.

“Rabbi Gershon Edelstein was the sole leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community and the dominant leader of the ultra-Orthodox community until his death at the age of 100,” said Gilad Malach, director of the Israel Democracy Institute’s Ultra-Orthodox in Israel program.

“Rabbi Edelstein’s leadership style combined a moderate attitude towards the State of Israel with a determined stand in favor of the continuity of the ‘world of Torah.’ With his passing, for the first time in many years the ultra-Orthodox Lithuanian community stands without a clear leader to guide them during an era of change and potential turmoil,” he said.

“It’s never a good time for such a righteous man to be taken, but if there was ever a time when we needed a figure like Rabbi Edelstein, if there were ever a time when we could not afford such a loss, then that time is now,” Yemima Mizrachi, an influential female Orthodox public speaker and lawyer, wrote in a eulogy of Edelstein.

“During a time of terrible divisions, when many view people who are merely different to them as evil, Rabbi Edelstein shone with his love of fellow man, his attention to every student, every issue presented to him and everyone he saw.”

His role as a bridge between Haredim and secular people is reflected in the diversity of the Jews who eulogized him within minutes of his passing, and the warmth of their tone.

How BLM used Random Dead Blacks to cash in

 

Some lottery winners have described their situation as being at the right place at the right time to receive their fortuitous ticket to wealth.

Their windfall immediately changes their lives, making them responsible for managing an amount of money they’d never dreamt of having.

People believe money changes a person, but I believe it only accentuates what was already within: The money just makes it easier to exhibit it.

The national Black Lives Matter organization got its golden ticket off the corpses of black people and leveraged their unfortunate deaths against the emotional turmoil of a nation for profit.

Instead of coming upon a random sequence of lucky numbers, it found the names of unlucky black people who died in a random sequence of events and cashed in.

And just like many lottery winners, its leaders squandered their millions by enriching themselves, friends and family.

Thousands flock to see "Tzadeikis" Nun, whose body shows no decay 4 years after death

 

Nu? A "groiser tzaddik?"  What do you guys think?

A nun whose exhumed body showed nearly no signs of decomposition four years after she died is drawing thousands of Catholics hoping to witness the alleged “miracle” to the sister’s rural Missouri monastery.

The visitors are coming from all over the country to see and touch the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, who died at age 95 in 2019 and was exhumed in April with her body and clothing still intact.

Between 10,000 to 15,000 worshippers were expected to visit the chapel of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in Gower, a small town 40 miles north of Kansas City, each day over Memorial Day weekend, Clinton County Sheriff Larry Fish said in a Facebook video.

The nun’s body was coated in a protective wax and displayed inside the chapel as travelers touched her face and prayed over her.

Her remains — which were initially exhumed to be put in a new shrine — will be placed in a glass case on Monday.

Local officials said they expect visitors to continue making the pilgrimage from as far as Canada and Mexico for several months.

Fish said the rural area’s gravel roads weren’t designed to serve that level of traffic.

“We are going to put a very large pressure on our infrastructure that is not designed for it,” he said.

Local police created a mobile command center to deal with the size of the crowds in the town of just 1,8000 people, and additional land was cleared for more parking spaces near the monastery, according to FOX4 Kansas City.

Samuel Dawson came with his son from Kansas City to see Lancaster’s body last week.

“It was pretty amazing,” he said. “It was very peaceful. Just very reverent.”

Outraged Taxpayers rip CUNY law grad’s ‘hate-filled’ commencement speech, demand billions in tax dollars be stripped

 

What is interesting is that the video of this "klavta" dog would have never come to light, if it wasn't for her demanding CUNY put it on their website. CUNY originally had the ceremony on their website but hid this video. 

Outraged critics are demanding CUNY’s billions of dollars in taxpayer funding be stripped away after a law grad delivered a “hate-filled and dangerous’’ commencement address ripping NYPD “fascists” and Israel.

In her vitriolic May 12 graduation speech at the public City University of New York’s law school, newly minted grad Fatima Mousa Mohammed called for a “revolution” to take on the legal system’s “white supremacy’’ while blasting city cops and the US military and claiming Israel carries out “indiscriminate” murder.

“This hate-filled and dangerous speech has been brought to you by @CUNY and paid for by New York taxpayers,” tweeted Simcha Eichenstein, a Democratic state assemblyman representing Brooklyn. “Keep this in mind next time our elected leaders highlight their commitment to fighting antisemitism.”

Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said, “Imagine being so crazed by hatred for Israel as a Jewish State that you make it the subject of your commencement speech at a law school graduation.

“Anti-Israel derangement syndrome at work.”

Chutzpah .. US Criticizes Israel for Allowing a Yeshiva to be Built IN ISRAEL

 

The United States on Monday criticized the relocation of the Homesh Yeshiva to a new, permanent location.

“We are deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s recent order that allows its citizens to establish a permanent presence in the Homesh outpost in the northern West Bank,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the move is “inconsistent with both former Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon’s written commitment to the Bush administration in 2004 and the current Israeli government’s commitments to the Biden administration.”

“The expansion of settlements undermines the geographic viability of a two-state solution, exacerbates tensions, and further harms trust between the parties,” the spokesman said. “This is consistent with the views of previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican. We regularly engage with Israeli officials on this issue and will continue to do so.”

The yeshiva in Homesh was quietly relocated to the new location overnight Sunday. Students from the Homesh Yeshiva and volunteers moved the yeshiva several hundred meters, from disputed land to the school’s permanent location on state land.

The operation was funded by donations from around across Israel and around the world.

The move was made possible after the Knesset amended the Disengagement Law, which prohibited Jews from entering the four Samaria communities which were evacuated in the 2005 Disengagement Plan.

Earlier this month, Yehuda Fuchs, head of the IDF's Central Command, signed an order implementing the end of the ban in Homesh.

Lipa Schmeltzer reveals in his message of healing that he was sexually abused

 

Hasidic pop singer Lipa Schmeltzer, one of the prominent singers in the haredi sector, went public last week with a pair of YouTube videos revealing that he suffered sexual abuse as a child.

The videos, released in Hebrew and English, touched on Schmeltzer’s difficult childhood, and the therapy he has since undergone.

. "I have gone through many difficult things in my life," he shared in the Hebrew video, posted on his YouTube channel just before the Shavuot holiday.

"At that time, they would take this child to live elsewhere, without going to court, without calling it rape. I don't want to make a story out of it. I'm not looking to go back and judge people; I want to move forward."

"I am sharing this after much thought, in order to be whole with myself, with all the families who hear my music, so that they truly know who Lipa Schmeltzer is from within." He added that he prays his video “changes someone's life."

In the English video, Schmeltzer elaborated about the therapy he underwent for years, following various childhood traumas.

“I’ve been through a lot of trauma. I’ve been through every type of abuse – physically, mental, verbal, and I’m not here to point fingers.”

Regarding the handling of such abuse within the tightly-knit Skver Hasidic community he grew up in in New Square, New York, Schmeltzer linked the inability of his parents and teachers to support him as a child to the legacy of the Holocaust.”

“I will tell you not to judge. The teachers who were teaching me… were taught by Holocaust survivors.”

“The Hasidic community, the ‘black-and-white’ community, the haredi community, was founded by people who came out of the concentration camps. We carry this in our DNA, we carry the trauma, we carry the pain.”

“These people, including my father and mother, never went for therapy. My father never saw the funeral of his father, because his father is in a mass grave. And he carried that.”

“Why am I sharing all this? All my fans know me, they are connected to me. They know my music, but I get all these judgments sometimes – ‘why do you do this or that’.”

“I feel like talking about my real me will help me move forward.”

Well Financed Anarchists Plan to Ruin Israel Day Parade in NYC And Shuls With Israeli Speakers ...Here are the Events on the list!

 

An email sent on Sunday by a group calling itself “NYC for Democracy” is planning to interrupt next Sunday’s Israel Day Parade in Manhattan.

Celebrate Israel Parade in support of Israel runs north along Fifth Avenue, from 57th to 74th Street., on Sunday, June 4, from 11 AM to 4 PM. According to the organizers, this is the world’s largest expression of solidarity with the Jewish state.

So, how can the anti-judicial reform anarchists mess with it? 

Here’s the email:

Chareidie Opposed to Vaccines and Woke Agendas Protests other Chareidim Who Join DemonRats and Support Them!

 

Ami's Frankfurter Wonders Why Israel Won't Build More Graveyards On the Uninhabited Hills

 

Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter, the CEO and publisher of Ami magazine, has been described in Yiddish by many people as "nish der groiser chuchem un nisht der kleiner naar" "not a great chachum, and not a small fool." 

In this week's Ami where he interviews R' Moshe Brandsdorfer, he doesn't disappoint. 

We all know that Israel is rapidity growing out of space in cemeteries and so the Asra Kadisha decided to give the "go ahead" to excavate underneath Har Hamenuchos to create more space. In fact they have already done so. They have excavated miles underground with multiple floors with elevators. 

It is all indoors and when you go there you feel like you are in a mall. I have been there many times and one can go there in winter in summer, in rain and in sunshine, the temperature inside is regulated to make the people visiting, very comfortable.  

Frankfurter is questioning the young posek R' Moshe Brandsdorfer on whether this is fact permitted. Not that anyone in Israel really cares what R' Brandsdorfer thinks about this, since this method has already been approved and implemented since Talmudic times, and in fact, none other, than members of the Sanhedrin themselves were buried with this exact method two thousand years ago, except for the elevators and chandeliers, just go to Sanhedria Marchevet and you can pass the burial site on the bus, in fact the entire neighborhood Sanhedria is named after the Sanhedrin buried there.

I want to ask my readers a question, and I want you to stop and think about this for a minute or two.

When you visit Israel and you see the beautiful mountains and uninhabited hills, what goes thru your mind? 

I'll bet that you think "wow" "how beautiful are these mountains?",

 these were all barren not too long ago and now they are lush with trees, 

or you possibly would think, 

"wow, we have mountains so that we can build new communities to bring more Jews to Israel before Moshiach" 

and I'll bet you are thinking:

  "wow, the words of the neveeim are coming true right before my very eyes, what  zchus to witness this phenomenon in my own lifetime."

And you wouldn't be alone in this thinking, since the talmud in Mesactas Megillah 17b already thought about this as well, over 1800 years ago. 

The gemarra wonders why in the Shemona Esra the Chazal established the blessing of קיבוץ גליות 

after the blessing of ברכת השנים ?

In other words, why does the bracha of תקע בשופר גדול לחרותנו the bracha of the "Ingathering of the exiles" come AFTER the bracha of ברך עלינו the "blessing of the years?"

Read carefully what the gemarra answers:

דכתיב ואתם הרי ישראל ענפכם תתנו ופריכם תשאו לעמי ישראל כי קרבו לבוא 

"For it is written: You mountains of Israel sprout forth your branches and give forth your fruit to My people Israel, for they are close to returning."

This verse in Yechezkel prophesizes that the ingathering of the Jewish people will happen only after the mountains bear fruit and so Chazal decided to establish the order of the blessings in the Shemona Esra in the same order mentioned by the Navi Yechezkel. 

Yes! This is happening in our times, may Hashem give us health and years to continue witness these miracles of nature/ 

So, what does Yitzchok Frankfurter see when he sees those very mountains? 

He sees the mountains and hills of Eretz Yisrael as a place to bring the dead!!! 

After all they are "deserted." 

And he has the solution: 

He asks R' Brandsdorfer, can't we just solve the lack of graves situation, by destroying all these beautiful hills and mountains that shout the words of the neveeim, and just bring the dead "Boro Park Fat-Cats" and dump them into the "deserted" holy hills and mountains?

Only someone who doesn't value Eretz Yisrael thinks like that, only someone who when the word "Eretz Yisrael" comes up, thinks "cemetery" would ask this blasphemous question.

It was only 3,500 years ago, that a group of "chareidim," leaders of Klall Yisrael, that saw it the same way.  

The meraglim! 

They said that Eretz Yisrael is ארץ אכלת יושביה הוא

"A land that consumes its residents" 

See Rashi: 

בכל מקום שעברנו מצאום קוברי מתים "wherever we went we saw people burying their dead"

Frankfurter like the meraglim sees Eretz Yisrael as a place to bury the dead!

Now read what this young "posek" answers him. 

"The Tziyonim don't want to give land for it."

This statement of R' Brandsdorfer is an unmitigated lie!

But let us assume for a minute that this statement is in fact true, that the "Tziyonim don't allow it,"

I ask, why should they? 

I don't see the Chareidie Bnei-Brak community set aside their building sites to make room for cemeteries. Why doesn't the Satmar Community buy land in Yerushlayim,  Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh to make room for cemeteries? Who is stopping them?

The truth is, that not for the dead from chutz le'aaretz, there would be plenty of room. 

So let's go back to "R' Brandsdorfer answer.

Every single city in Israel has been allocated land for them to bury their dead. The State of Israel grants every single citizen of Israel, a burial spot, gratis! Yes! You read that correctly, again, every single citizen of Israel is entitled to a free burial spot in the city he or she resides!

For example in Beit Shemesh there are two cemeteries, one is for Beit Shemesh residents and every single resident of Beit Shemesh has a spot for free. the other one known to Americans is called Eitz Chayim and is privately owned, and anyone wanting to be buried there has to pay the owners. 

The Zionists grant each and every city, adequate land so that they can bury their dead, and Rabbi Brandsdorfer knows it. 

DeSantis: I will pardon Jan. 6 defendants - including Trump

 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Thursday that if elected president, he will consider pardoning all the Jan. 6 defendants — including former President Trump — on his first day in office, The Hill reported.

“On day one, I will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases, who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive in issuing pardons,” DeSantis was quoted as having said on “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” when asked about whether he will consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump, who is currently facing a federal investigation over his role in the Capitol riots.

“I would say any example of disfavored treatment based on politics, or weaponization would be included in that review, no matter how small or how big,” he added.

DeSantis also accused the Justice Department and the FBI of weaponizing their authority by pursuing ongoing investigations into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Trump has also previously said he would pardon many of those convicted for their involvement in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

He made similar comments last January, saying at the time, "If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly."

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) later distanced himself from Trump’s suggestion and said the comments are “inappropriate.”

DeSantis’ comments came one day after he officially launched his presidential campaign with a video announcing that he is running in order “to lead our Great American Comeback”.

He also joined a Twitter Spaces conversation with Twitter owner Elon Musk, in which he was to have announce his presidential bid, but that did not go well, as Twitter's servers could not handle the surge in traffic, causing the site to crash.

Missing Israeli Found Safe in Jordan…After 2 Years

 

 A young Israeli man has miraculously been found alive in Jordan, after disappearing for two years.

Shalom Rotban, a Chabad man in his twenties from Kiryat Malachi, suffered post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) after a rocket strike near his home in 2012 when he was a child.

Rotban went missing several times in the years following the strike, but then he disappeared without a trace in May 2021, leading his family to fear for his life.

Several weeks ago, Rotman was found wandering aimlessly near Amman. He was taken to a mental institution, where a nurse realized he was Israeli and contacted Israeli authorities to report that she located one of their citizens.

Rabbi Ronen Shaulov who claimed Bennett is not Jewish loses defamation lawsuit... Yossie Mizrachi Next!

 

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett notched his first legal victory Wednesday in a series of lawsuits filed for defamation last year.

Last December, Bennett filed a one-million shekel ($290,000) lawsuit against Rabbi Ronen Shaulov, after Rabbi Shaulov claimed during a live-stream online lecture that the former premier and his parents are not Jewish according to Halacha, or traditional Jewish law.

During the lecture, Rabbi Shaulov cited rumors claiming that both of Bennett’s parents, Jim and Myrna Bennett – both American-Jewish immigrants to Israel – had not been born Jewish and in fact had converted through the Reform Movement.

“Bennett is not Jewish, look it up on Google,” Rabbi Shaulov said, before accusing Bennett of “selling out the country to non-Jews.”

“He was their dog.”

Reform conversions are not recognized by Orthodox Judaism.

The Magistrate’s Court ruled in favor of Bennett Wednesday, though the presiding judge has yet to determine to what extent Rabbi Shaulov must compensate the former prime minister. Bennett has vowed to donate whatever he is awarded in the lawsuits to charity.

Following the ruling, Rabbi Shaulov issued a statement retracting his previous claims against Bennett, Israel National News reported

“During the year 2022, I spoke out against the former Prime Minister, Mr. Naftali Bennett, and against his mother, Mrs. Myrna Bennett, based on information which I received which later turned out to be incorrect – that the Jewishness of Mr. Bennett’s late father, Mr. Jim Bennett, and that of his mother, Mrs. Myrna Bennett, was in doubt.”

“After an investigation, I would like to emphasize that these things are false. These things said by me reached a wide circulation. I regret saying these things and apologize from the bottom of my heart to the Bennett family for the heartache caused to them by this publication.”

Bennett and his legal team touted the win, calling a victory against the “spreading of lies.”

“It is important that the court sends a clear message of its unwillingness to put up with the spreading of lies, and specifically – that the claims that Mr. Bennett is not Jewish are a complete lie,” Bennett’s attorneys, Oded Gazit and Eliram Bekel, said in a statement Wednesday. “Mr. Bennett has already stated in the past that he will donate the compensation he receives.”

Bennett has also filed a lawsuit against Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, an Israeli-born lecturer, Holocaust Denier and popular online personality who lives in Monsey, New York.

During his sermons, Rabbi Mizrachi also claimed Bennett is not Jewish and that he “doesn’t have a Jewish soul,” and that he should be “impaled with a spear.”

Chareidim Protest British Interference in Chareidie Education

 

 

A DeSantis presidency is a win for Jewish Americans

 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has just announced his candidacy for President of the United States. While there are many favors and no shortage of opinions, there should be no question that this is great news for the American Jewish community and the pro-Israel community at-large. DeSantis has proven time and time again that he stands with the Jewish people and Israel, at every turn.

Wisconsin attorney who spat at BLM protester rejects probation deal: ‘Rather go to jail’

 

A white Wisconsin lawyer who spat at a black teen during a Black Lives Matter protest rejected a sweetheart deal to walk free from court — saying she’d “rather go to jail right now.”

Stephanie Rapkin, 67, was told at her sentencing Tuesday that her 60-day sentence would be stayed if she agreed to a year of probation with 100 hours of community service.

“It’s not viable,” she said, interrupting Milwaukee County Judge Laura Crivello as she offered the deal as credit for her “working to rebuild your faith and your trust in the community.”

“Your Honor, I am outright refusing the probation,” said Rapkin, who’d initially been charged with a hate crime for spitting at the then-17-year-old teen protest leader.

“I’d rather go to jail right now and take care of it.”

Rapkin’s attorney, Anthony Cotton — who’d initially asked her to be sentenced to time served in the case — was left noting to the judge that his client had the right to reject her offer.

“She does,” the judge acknowledged. “Then at this point in time, the 60 days that I imposed in stay will be starting today.”

“Thanks To You, I Stopped Attending Anti-Chareidi Protests”

 

A Chareidi tzedaka organization recently received a surprising message from a man who said he will no longer attend anti-Chareidi protests due to the assistance his needy relative in Tel Aviv received from the organization.

“My name is S.,” the message, sent to Chasdei Yosef, a well-known tzedaka organization in Jerusalem, began. “In recent months, I participated several times in protests against the Chareidi sector, including in Bnei Brak. On Thursday, I visited a relative whose financial situation has deteriorated in recent years. While I was there, I saw gift vouchers for Shavuot. He told me that he appealed to several organizations but the only one that helped him was yours.”

“I asked him if he knows you personally and he said no. I realized that you assist people without ‘checking their tzitziot’ and without asking about their political opinions. I was astounded. I realized that the hatred against you is not necessarily justified and it’s forbidden to generalize. It suddenly dawned on me that all the stories about the chessed of the Chareidim are true. I still have differences of opinion with you but not everything is black and white and hating others is a terrible thing. I regret it and promise not to go to protests against you anymore and I would be happy to meet you personally and hear your opinions on the current issues.”

“We were very happy to receive the moving message,” a source at Chasdei Yosef said. “It’s a bonus for helping a Jew in need.”

Woody Allen Saves His Jewish Friend With Heimlich Maneuver While Eating Pork At Dinner

 

87 year old Woody Allen stepped into a different kind of starring role this week: the good Samaritan who saves someone with the Heimlich maneuver.

The embattled Jewish Oscar winner helped his friend, Andrew Stein, a former Manhattan borough president, when Stein choked on a piece of pork at the Caravaggio restaurant on the Upper East Side last Tuesday, the New York Post reported.

“I am embarrassed to say it, but Woody actually saved my life,” said Stein, who is Jewish. “I normally order fish, but this time I went for the pork.”

Allen, Stein and Allen’s wife Soon-Yi Previn were joined at the dinner by the prominent lawyer and political analyst Alan Dershowitz.

“It really was like a scene from one of his movies,” Stein told the Post, which noted that the diminutive Allen leapt to the rescue with “surprising strength and vigor,” according to witnesses.

The longtime power player Stein, who was also president of the New York City Council from 1986-1994, shortened his name from Finkelstein when he entered politics. His father, Jerry Finkelstein, was the publisher of the New York Law Journal and his brother, Jimmy Finkelstein, is also a media mogul, having founded The Messenger after partially owning The Hollywood Reporter and The Hill. Stein, a Democrat, left politics in the mid-1990s.

Stein failed to pay over $1 million in income tax in 2008, leading to a sentencing of 500 hours of community service.

In a recent op-ed co-authored with Dershowitz titled “Why Biden might be the Dems’ last pro-Israel president,” Stein wrote that he will now be voting Republican because of the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel. (Dershowitz wrote that he “is planning to remain a Democrat and vote for Biden while seeking to marginalize the radical anti-Israel elements in that party.”)

As the Post reported, Allen has saved another person with the Heimlich maneuver at an Upper East Side Italian restaurant: In 1992, he sprang to the rescue of Jean Doumanian, a former “Saturday Night Live” producer, at Primola on 2nd Avenue.

Alan Dershowitz: I will represent Rabbi Leo Dee against CNN pro bono

 

Professor Alan Dershowitz has announced that he will be representing Rabbi Leo Dee, whose daughters and wife were killed in a shooting attack in the Jordan valley, at no charge in a lawsuit against CNN.

In an interview with I24NEWS, Professor Dershowitz denounced the apology given by CNN anchor Christine Amanpour after she stated during a broadcast that Lucy Dee and her daughters Rina and Maia had been killed in "a shootout".

"This was not a slip of the tongue," Professor Dershowitz claimed. "It comes as a part of a pattern that CNN and Amanpour have created over more than a decade."

"Amanpour constantly creates a false equivalence between terrorists who murder people in cold blood and the innocent victims, like the victims in this case," says Professor Dershowitz. "An organization called Camera, which documents these things, has documented a long pattern by CNN and by Amanpour of constantly siding against Israel and trying to create a moral equivalence between innocent victims of terrorism and actual terrorists."

"Let's see what Amanpour has to say - not in a scripted apology, but under my cross-examination and that of other lawyers," Professor Dershowitz challenged.