From tears to joy, bereaved couple marries

Sarah-Tehiya Litman had to postpone her wedding after her father and brother were murdered in a drive-by shooting near Hevron almost two weeks ago, 

but on Thursday night she and her fiance Ariel Beigel went from tears to joy as they got married in Jerusalem.

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The couple are to be married at Binyanei Hauma in the capital, at an event they invited the general public to attend at 10:30 p.m.

Aside from those attending, yet others are donating to help, and Jews have arrived from as far as the US and Canada to take part in the mitzvah (commandment) to bring joy to the bride and groom.

Litman's father, Rabbi Ya'akov Litman, and her brother Netanel Litman, were gunned down by an Arab terrorist as they made their way to a Shabbat Hatan – the Sabbath celebration for the groom before a wedding – at Beigel's home.

Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira is to manage the wedding ceremony, and the traditional sheva brachot - a set of seven blessings said at the marriage - will be said by the bride's two grandfathers, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau, Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, and former Hevron Chief Rabbi Dov Lior.

Ezra Klein the self hating Jew tells Goyim to cook Pork instead of Turkey on Thanksgiving!

Some Jews when they go off ...go so far off !

This Ezra Klein thinks that the goyim will love him if he licks their bottoms! 

Little does he know that Hitler threw all Jews in the ovens even the ones that ate pork!

He has a name like "Ezra Klein" and keeps bashing Jews whenever he gets a chance.... now the "oiber chuchem"  links his facebook page to a site that tells goyim that they can abandon their Thanksgiving traditions of eating turkey and fress chazir!

Ezra Klein the "tuchis lekker"

Here read a response from a reader on Face book

I happened upon this Facebook post and was taken aback that a Jewish man with two very Jewish names (Ezra & Klein) would publicly promote a food forbidden by Jewish law. This is not about what you may or may not eat in the privacy of your abode. It is rather about brazenly going on public record and promoting the food item most verboten out of any other.

You may perhaps posit that you don't believe in, or abide by the Jewish religion with all its minute tenets. But surely you're keenly aware that your name symbolizes far more than a sequence of letters - It embodies a rich, albeit bloodied history. A history that includes parents, grandparents, and generations of jews that endured torture, rape and starvation to avoid eating treif.
My own grandmother would not touch non-kosher food during her stay at the concentration camps in Germany - even though the religion absolutely allows, and even condones the consumption of non-kosher food should it be a matter of life and death.

I recall this poignant, relevant anecdote that occurred here in the United States whereupon Sandy Koufax, a non-religious Jewish man, would not play ball on Yom Kippur. He did play on Shabbat though for he was not in fact religious at all. But he did abstain from playing his most pivotal World Series game on one day of the year: Yom Kippur; for it was THE most sanctimonious day in the Jewish calendar.

We are proud when we read your articles; proud that we reside in a country where a talented Jew can triumph and publish insightful articles on any subject matter. But please understand that you are linked to your people, whether you choose to be or not. That is not a choice you can make.

I will end with a quote from our beloved slain journalist Daniel Pearl:

“My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.”

- Your brethren,
Mo & Charles

Mouthwatering image of Momofuku pork shoulderYummy Supper

There's a reason people basically don't eat turkey save on one day in November (and then a few more as they're desperately trying to rid their refrigerators of the disappointing leftovers).Turkey isn't a very tasty meat to begin with. It's leaner even than chicken — and fat is where most of the flavor resides. But the bigger problem is turkey is a terrible bird to roast whole.

TURKEY IS A TERRIBLE BIRD TO ROAST WHOLE

There's virtually no way to put an entire turkey in an oven and have the the dark meat cook to the point of safety without the white meat cooking beyond the point of edibility.Or, to be more precise, the problem with roasting a whole turkey is that the leg meat needs to get to 165° but the breast dries out over 150° (and note that USDA tells you to cook the breast to 165° which is, as Serious Eats says, "a guarantee you'll have dry, tough meat").

That's why we cover turkey in jellied, sugared cranberries and thick gravy at the same time in order to enjoy it. We're making up for its lack of fat and the fact that it is almost always badly overcooked.

You don't see people doing that with, say, pork shoulder.

I don't want to be too dogmatic on this. There are ways to make turkey delicious. But they tend to mean betraying Thanksgiving tradition and cutting the turkey into parts so that the different pieces can be cooked properly, as with Mark Bittman's braising method, or cutting out the backbone and flattening the turkey so the entire bird cooks at the same rate, as with spatchcocking. Or they take an enormous amount of work (one of my closest friends smokes his turkey and it's amazing — but it's also incredibly labor intensive, and you need a smoker).

THE BEST WAY TO COOK A TURKEY IS TO COOK A MOMOFUKU PORK SHOULDER INSTEAD

So if you're an adventurous cook and you want to prove yourself by making something delicious out one of the worst proteins around, then go nuts. But if you're a normal human being who already has too much to do on Thanksgiving, then the best way to cook a turkey is to cook a Momofuku pork shoulder instead.

State Department says Iran NEVER SIGNED nuclear deal and it's not 'legally binding' as it tells Congress to butt out of Obama's 'political commitments"

Here is the letter from the State Department saying that the Iran deal was never signed!

Yated "letters to the editor" answer anti-Zionist "letters to the editor"

Three weeks ago in the "letters to the editor" column of the English Yated,  a reader spewed hatred and venom against the State of Israel and its founders! 

Two week ago a reader refuted the anti-Zionist garbage the initial writer wrote. 

Last week the Yated chose to print a bunch of hateful letters backing the initial  writer who bad mouthed the Zionist founders of Israel!

Here, read this week's response from two different readers!

Letter #1

Dear Editor 
Two weeks ago, the Yated printed a letter to the editor purporting that Jews lived peacefully with the Arabs until the advent of Zionism, and that Zionists colluded with the Nazis to kill Jews during the Holocaust. I found this letter's message horrifying.

In my naivete, I sent a letter, which your paper titled "Indoctrination." My goal was to try to refute the hate-filled canards of the first author. I tried to show that, historically, the Arabs always oppressed the Jews. I also hoped that anti-Zionist readers might be encouraged to examine their anti-Zionist beliefs with which they may have been indoctrinated from early childhood. The unfortunate result of these beliefs is mindless hatred, sinas chinam, of wonderful Jews, and hatred of Israel.

I was horrified to open the paper this past week and find that you gave a public forum to more letters filled with hatred that would gladden the heart of any anti-Semite.

These letters disillusioned me totally of my naive belief that underneath, all Torah Jews love on another. I always suspected that many streams of Jews were indoctrinating and infecting their children with hatred against other Jews. These letters brought the "machalah" the cancer of deep hatred, out into the open in great detail. These horrific letters shattered any illusions that this illness was not so profound and pervasive as it seems to be.

The entire Jewish nation is now under siege. Jews from every stream of Jewish life are being brutally murdered in Eretz Yisroel daily. The entire world is boycotting us economically, and anti-Semitism is rampant and spreading.

Eis tzzarah hee l'Yaakov

We are fortunate to have Gedolim, Ashkenazic and Sefardic, Yeshivish, Chareidie, Chassidish and Zionist. 
Gedoilim are teaching Am Yisroel to collectively work on the middah of achdus, and ahavas yisroel.

From past experiences with anti-Zionist and anti-Israel articles in the press, I am certain that if you showed Rav Chaim Kanievsky, or Rav Ahron Leib Shteinman the letters you published this week, they would pasken not to publish such letters, because they only result of reading them is to stir up hatred against
Jews.

Especially during the great eis tzarah in which we find ourselves today, the way to awaken Hashem's rachamim towards Am Yisroel is to show Him that we love and care for one another.

My father z"l was a survivor of Warsaw. He used to tell me how some Jews went to the boxcars still arguing with each other about socialism, Zionism and whatever beliefs they had. The enemy did not care who they were. They were all slated for annihilation.
Yidden, isn't it time to learn something?
A Reader
Yerushalyim

Letter #2

Dear Editor,
Your 8 Kislev/November 20 Readers Write column contained two lengthy letters severely castigating the approach of certain Zionist leaders during World War II, including the following representative statement:
"It is actually well-documented that the Zionist leaders were at best indifferent and at worst actively helped move along the destruction of European Jewry."

Regardless of whether or not the extreme allegations of these writers are entirely true, partially true, or misleading, the very expression of these statements in your paper is incredibly distressing.

The Gemarrah Kesubos 112a clearly indicates that Eretz Yisroel is so suffused with kedusha that it is considered motzei sheim ra to say something critical even about the inanimate objects of Eretz Yisroel (the condition of the roads, in the Gemarrah's example).
I would think that this principle would be so much truer in the case of slander of the people of Eretz Yisroel. What to'eles could there possibly be that would justify in any way the scurrilous statements made by these two letter writers?

At a time when it seems that the entire world is against us and our brethren are being brutally murdered on almost a daily basis, are these letters the method by which those readers hope to gain the sympathy and rachamin of Hakodosh Borch Hu?

It also seems a bit incredible that one of those letter writers admits to having spent several hours gathering facts for his letter and encourages others to do the same in order to verify his allegations.

Does this letter writer believe that those few hours, with no apparent purpose other than digging up dirt, were well-spent, when he could have used that time to be engaged in Torah learning, performing chessed, or davening heartfelt tefillos on behalf of our besieged brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel?

Could these letter writers conceivably be motivated by a bizarre belief that the current prime minister of Israel and his cabinet are willing to callously sacrifice Jewish lives in order to promote their political agenda?
If not, then why dredge up, almost gleefully it seems from the tone of the letters, what allegedly happened over 70 years ago?

As we all know, in an extreme manifestation of the severe and lasting damage lashan hara about Eretz Yisroel can cause, the slanderous statements of the meraglim managed to turn an ordinary day into Tisha B'Av for the ages. At a time when our main task should be to turn Tisha B'Av on its head into a day of geula, is it really productive to spend one's time and energy digging up old dirt and publicizing it?

Let us hope that future letters will reflect the achdus we so desperately need that such letters will lead us in a constructive direction, rather than fostering resentment and divisiveness for no conceivable good reason.
Respectfully
Thomas Furst
Great Neck, NY

IAF hit advanced Russian missiles outside Damascus

IAF F-16

Flash 90

A day after Syrian media reported that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck a base belonging to the Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah, a Saudi news site gave new details on Wednesday.

The site Elaph, as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, quoted a security source in Tel Aviv revealing that the IAF struck Hezbollah sites on Monday night at the feet of Mount Qasioun, which overlooks Damascus in Syria.

That version of events contradicts earlier reports, according to which the target was a base or group of military posts in the mountainous Qalamoun border region with Lebanon.

The Saudi site quoted the source as saying that Israel estimates Hezbollah is storing advanced Russian anti-tank missiles that are capable of piercing the defense of the Merkava Mark IV, Israel's most advanced tank.

According to the report, the Israeli airstrike consisted of seven missiles which hit a site adjacent to the elite Fourth Armored Division of the Syrian army.

That brigade includes special forces loyal to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, is lead by his brother Maher al-Assad, and is said to consist mostly of members of Assad's Alawite sect, which is a branch of Shia Islam.

Reports in Syria on Tuesday had indicated that as many as 13 pro-regime fighters were killed in four strikes, including many Hezbollah terrorists who are fighting to prop up Assad.

The new report indicating Israel struck outside Damascus comes following Arab media reports two weeks ago, which stated that the IAF struck near Damascus International Airport, in a bombing apparently targeting a weapons transfer to Hezbollah.

Earlier in the month it was reported that the IAF struck an advanced missile transfer including long-range Scud missiles as they made their way through Qalamoun en route to Hezbollah.

If true, the report would mark the second time Israel blocked a Scud missile shipment to Hezbollah, after having reportedly done so last April as a shipment was leaving Damascus.

Daily Miracles in Israel! "My tzitzit saved my life" & "I was saved from gunfire"

Yair Ben-Ezra, who was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in Ra'anana last month, sent a moving thank you letter to Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, in which he asserted his tzitzit (ritual fringes) had saved his life.

"My name is Yair Ben-Ezra," he wrote to the president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which has raised thousands of dollarsto help Israeli victims of terror.

 "On October 13, 2015, I was attacked and stabbed five times all over my body by a terrorist from eastern Jerusalem who came at me while I was waiting at the bus stop."

Ben-Ezra recounted how on the morning of the attack, he had debated about wearing the new pair of tzitzit he had purchased for his sister's wedding, to be held the next day.

"The morning of the attack, all of my tzitzit were hanging on the clothesline to dry, and I had only the new pair, folded in the closet, waiting for me. But then my yetzer harah (evil inclination) came and said to me: 'Nothing will happen - don't wear them today, save them for tomorrow and the wedding.'"

Ben-Ezra said his misgivings nearly prevented him from wearing the new tzitzit, until he gave in to wearing the garment. "I told myself, no! (...) I cannot let my yetzer harah dominate me. [The tzitzit] are my personal protector."

"In the minutes after I was stabbed as I waited for the paramedics," Ben-Ezra recounted, "the tzitzit that enveloped me were used by Hatzalah medics as a tourniquet for my stab wounds."

Despite his serious injuries, the brave Ben-Ezra struggled with the terrorist, preventing him from attacking additional civilians. 

Ben-Ezra concluded the letter by thanking Rabbi Eckstein: "I am moved to tears from the financial aid you have given me, which has helped me and my family in these difficult times. Thank you for your life's work and the activities of the fellowship you run."

Chani Apiryon, a mother of five and resident of Kida in the Binyamin region of Samaria, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Wednesday about her miraculous escape from death Tuesday, when an Arab terrorist fired on her car.

Apiryon was driving from Beit El to her home, and while riding on the Beit El-Givat Assaf road she was ambushed by an Arab terrorist who opened fire at her from the side of the road.

"At a quarter to six I returned from work and I spoke with a friend on my phone's hands-free device," Apiryon recalled, reenacting the harrowing moments for Arutz Sheva.

"Suddenly I saw a young guy with a kheffiyeh (Arab headscarf, ed.) coming up on the road, before Hazevel Route, and then I realized he had a weapon in hand."

Apiryon said, "I shouted on the phone that they're shooting at me, and then he really started to shoot. I continued driving and he continued shooting."

"I looked back because there was someone driving behind me, but I didn't see her. My friend from Kida contacted the (police) hotline in the meantime, and I signaled to other cars coming from the other direction to be careful. When I reached Givat Assaf Junction, I told the soldiers that I was shot at."

The mother found that a number of the bullets had struck her car but miraculously did not hit her.

"There is damage to the front and back doors, the bullets hit the back seat and a bullet was under my seat."

This coming Shabbat, Apiryon said she intends to hold a party at Kida thanking God for her miraculous escape from death, saying, "thank God for making a miracle for me, for making a miracle for my people and my family."

"I will say the 'Gomel' blessing and hold a party of thanksgiving," she said. "It truly is a great miracle."

Terror coming to Monroe? Aron Weiss Shot at a Store near Monroe, NY

Aron Weiss 

Aron Weiss 18 was reportedly shot twice this Tuesday evening near the Quick Shop Kosher in the town of Woodbury, near Monroe, New York.

It has been reported that the victim is a student at the Satmar Yeshiva in the nearby town of Kiryas Joel, Monroe. People are asked to Daven for Aron Ben Esther Chai L’Refuah Shlaimah.

The suspect walked into the Quick-Shop Kosher store on River Road and shot the victim twice before fleeing the scene. Hatzolah responded and transported the victim to Westchester Medical Center in stable condition.

It appears the injuries are not life-threatening. Police are currently investigating the incident. Reports have described the suspect as a white male with a goatee beard. He was reported to be wearing a backpack and a black sweatshirt.

Hatikvah!

Is Israel considering giving land to the PA?

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel

Hadas Parush/Flash 90

Israel is considering the possibility of transferring land from Area C, which is under complete Israeli control in accordance with the Oslo Accords, to the Palestinian Authority, Channel 2 News reported on Tuesday.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel later made clear that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu goes through with the plan, he will not have a coalition.

According to the report, the Civil Administration is looking into the idea of transferring some 10,000 dunams of land in Area C which are either state-owned land or private Palestinian Arab land that borders Areas A and B.

The move is part of a series of “gestures” that Israel is considering making to the Palestinian Authority.
This plan, which is being examined under the heading "thickening the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas", has yet to be approved by the Cabinet, but officials in the Civil Administration told Channel 2 it is definitely being examined and formulated.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon’s office refused to comment on the report.

Responding to Tuesday evening’s report, Ariel made clear that approval of such a plan could result in the dismantling of Netanyahu's current coalition.

"Again it is being reported that a ‘gesture’ in the form of transferring land to the PA is being considered. Therefore I will be clear, if Netanyahu goes through with this, his current coalition will fall apart," tweeted Ariel.

Interestingly enough, news of Israel’s plan came hours after the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's Subcommittee on Judea and Samaria held a follow-up discussion regarding the response to illegal Arab construction in Area C.

Representatives of Regavim, an NGO watchdog group for Jewish national property rights, spoke at the discussion saying, "In the region of Ma'ale Adumim (east of Jerusalem - ed.) alone there are around 1,000 illegal structures, and the trend is only building strength."

MK Moti Yogev (Jewish Home), who heads the committee, said during the discussion that in practice those in enforcement are doing nothing on the subject, both in terms of the operational and the legal aspects of the matter.

"The enforcement on the ground is not being managed equally between Arabs and Jews. In general the construction is directed by the Palestinian Authority mainly on strategic land - E1," he said, noting a highly important stretch linking Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim.
He added that the illegal construction is "funded by the European Union in   breach of the Oslo Accords."

'Dad, I'm going to carry out an attack today'

Arab father from northern Israel turns to police after receiving chilling SMS from his son. Transcript reveals frantic conversation.

An Arab-Israeli from northern Israel was arrested Tuesday after sending an SMS to his father informing him he was going to carry out a terrorist attack - prompting his father to turn to police.

The father, who lives in a village close to Nazareth in the Galilee, alerted the police emergency hotline as soon as he received the message, which read: "Today you will hear good things about me - I'm going to carry out an attack."

Other family members received the same message, according to Israel's Channel 2, which released a transcript of the father's frantic conversations with the police call center, during which he repeatedly urged them to send a patrol car to his home.

Father: Can I order a patrol car to my house?

Operator: Why, what happened?

Father: There is an important issue

Operator: What kind of important issue?

Father: An important issue. My son has been away from home for nearly 10 days and he is threatening people and (threatening) the security of the state

Operator: Your son is threatening state security?! Does your son want to do something?!

Father: Yes, yes. He has someone else from our village

Operator: You don't know where he is?

Father: If I knew, I'd conduct an operation against him myself

In a second conversation the increasingly agitated father asks how long it will take for police to arrive.

Father: I don't feel good. Send me a patrol car. Just in how many minutes? Tell me how many minutes!

Operator: I don't know how many minutes (it will take). I have sent a patrol car to you

Nazareth District Commander, Chief Superintendent Shai Dichter, said police acted as soon as possible to locate and arrest the suspect, and opened an investigation immediately after receiving the father's report.

"We carried out many activities to locate the youth, including the arrest of five suspects including him. After interrogation an indictment was served against the suspect."

It is not the first time a would-be terrorist has been handed over to police by concerned family members after being radicalized.

Last month, a 19-year-old Arab woman, also from northern Israel, was placed in administrative detention, after police determined she posed a real risk to the public following messages she sent to her family expressing her desire to become a "martyr."

Israeli authorities have blamed the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement - which is based in the Galilee - for inciting much of the violence. Last week, after much posturing, the Hamas-linked Muslim extremist group was finally banned

How The New York Times whitewashes Palestinian terror

This week began as the last one ended — with more Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israeli Jews, and more dead. And yet, this information might surprise readers of The New York "Slimes."

On Sunday, a 20-year-old Israeli woman was stabbed to death, another Israeli was rammed by a car and attacked with a knife and a third was assaulted by a knife-wielding teen affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group.

All three assailants were killed in the course of their attacks.

But the headline to the Times’ story about Sunday’s attacks did away with cause and effect, muddled victim and aggressor: “1 Israeli, 3 Palestinians Killed in Attacks in West Bank.” The online headline was later changed, but the print headline Monday morning was equally obtuse: “West Bank Faces Spate of Assaults That Kill 4.” The “West Bank” faced nothing. It was Israelis who faced assaults.

This was par for the course — and in some ways, even mild — for how the Times has covered the so-called “stabbing intifada,” the recent spate of Arab-on-Jewish murder.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recently called on his people to protect Jerusalem holy sites from the “filthy feet” of Israeli Jews, and terrorists have heeded the call, taking to the streets to thrust knives into any Israeli they encounter — other recent stabbing victims include an 80-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy on a bike.

But even this incitement, and even this terror, is no match for the creativity of The New York "Slimes." When a Palestinian assailant was caught on film last month wielding a knife and rushing at Israelis, before quickly being neutralized by Israeli security personnel, Times reporters simply avoided telling readers about the video.

And instead of mentioning this incriminating piece of evidence, they repeatedly cited false Palestinian allegations that Israelis planted the knife next to the “innocent” attacker. Creatively, and unethically, they turned an empirical fact into an unknowable case of police vs. “witness.”

When Israel released a photo of the butterfly knife held by the attacker, the Times’ bureau chief in Jerusalem absurdly called it a “Boy Scout” knife. Again, it was a masterstroke of creativity. Butterfly knives are infamous for being flipped back and forth by ’80s movie villains, and are illegal in several US states and in countries around the world. To confuse a butterfly knife with a Boy Scout knife is to confuse nunchucks with a nun’s ruler.

Similarly, after Palestinians stoned a Jewish car, resulting in the death of the driver, a reporter insisted they weren’t attacking the Israeli but merely pelting “the road he was driving on.” The death, reporters insisted, was an “accident.” Attacking the asphalt? A Boy Scout knife? Such verbal ingenuity might be commendable in creative writing. In journalism, it’s an embarrassment.

And so was the newspaper’s recent suggestion that there might never have been a temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, despite unanimity among serious scholars to the contrary. The timing of this attack on Jewish history was no coincidence. Palestinians have explained that the wave of violence is fueled by rumors that Israel plans to change the status quo on the Mount, and by continued Jewish visits to the site.

Instead of explaining the historical connection between the Jewish people and their holiest site, the newspaper chose to rewrite history to better fit with a Palestinian narrative that Jews are foreign to the Temple Mount. (This article and the one about the Boy Scout knife were eventually corrected.)

The newspaper has long been criticized for its obsessive scrutiny of Israeli flaws, real and imagined, coupled with soft-glove treatment of Palestinians. Even its own public editor has urged reporters to strengthen coverage of Palestinians because, she incredibly had to remind colleagues, “They are more than just victims.” Clearly, the message hasn’t been heeded.

This journalism-gone-wild isn’t good for Israel, of course. But it’s also bad for the newspaper’s readers, who want an honest account of what’s happening across the world. It’s bad for students, who risk harassment and ostracism on campus if they come out in support for the Jewish state. And if our democracy, and by extension our foreign policy, depends on a well-informed electorate, it’s bad for us all.

Gilead Ini is a senior research analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

Non Licensed Chasiddishe Therapist Counseled the Mayer Sisters!

Modal Trigger

Brooklyn relatives on Monday mourn Sara Mayer, who killed herself months after her sister's suicide.Photo: Paul Martinka

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Tragic family: Suri or Sarah Mayer (right) has taken her own life five months after her sister Faigy (left). The two are pictured here as children at a family wedding with their mother Chava

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Family time: Sarah Mayer (fourth from left) killed herself at her parent's home in Brooklyn. She was 30. She is pictured here at the same wedding with her sisters Faigy (third from left) and Este (second from left)

The Hasidic woman who committed suicide four months after her sister also killed herself suffered years of depression following her forced marriage to a first cousin, a family insider told The Post on Monday.

Sara Mayer, 31, of Borough Park, who hanged herself Sunday, had a nervous breakdown on the eve of her arranged wedding about five years ago — and had already endured years of physical and mental abuse by relatives, according to the source.

“[Her suicide] was a family mental-health and abuse issue on top of being forced into marriage with her first cousin,” the source said, recalling how the union was annulled just months later.

“Ever since [her marriage], she has been in and out of mental hospitals,” the source explained. “She had been coerced by her mother’s side of the family’’ to marry her cousin. “She married the son of the mother’s sister.”

Some members of the Brooklyn family apparently didn’t find out about Sara’s torment until just recently.

The source added that Sara and her younger sister Faigy — who jumped to her death from a Manhattan rooftop bar in July — had been seeking advice from a family member for their depression, even though the relative wasn’t a licensed therapist.Growing up, some relatives “kept calling her retarded, ugly, etc. We didn’t know this until later,” the source said.

“In Williamsburg, it was so bad that the rabbis got together and they put a poster up warning the community about her and the lack of her credentials,” the source said. “But despite the rabbis’ warning, people are still seeing her for family therapy.”

“To have lost two girls in less than a year shows that something is up with this family. It’s very sad.”

Modal Trigger

Friends, relatives and members of the Brooklyn Hasidic community load Sara Mayer's coffin into a hearse.

Photo: Stefan Jeremiah

Sara, who was said to be still very observant of her Jewish faith, was remembered by loved ones Monday during her funeral at Shomrei Hadas Chapels in Borough Park.

Grief-stricken dad Israel Mayer described the difficulty of losing two daughters to depression as he eulogized Sara in Yiddish.

Israel Mayer delivers a tearful eulogy for his daughter Sara on Nov. 23.Photo: Reuven Fenton

“Both my eyes are crying, one for each child,” the anguished father said to a crowd of about 100 people.

“I’m asking forgiveness from you if I didn’t do enough for you,” he added, addressing Sara. “I saw you suffering, and I tried my best.”

The dad went on to describe how he had tried to help both Sara and Faigy with their depression by hospitalizing them.

“We put her in this hospital, we put her in that hospital, until her soul left her,” he said of Sara, who had just been released last week from the South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island, where she had been an inpatient for two years.

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton

Young French Jews Bolt for Israel; 127% increase since 2014

Birthright Israel, the charity founded in 1999 to bring young Jews on trips to Israel, has witnessed an unprecedented increase in participation among French citizens over the past two years.

The Observer has learned that 2500 French Jews will have visited Israel as part of the program this year—more than double the 1100 who went last year and a stunning 2400% increase over the 98 who visited as program participants in 2013.

The gains come amid a string of high-profile attacks by radical Islamists in France, many targeting Jewish institutions. In March 2012, three linked shootings in Toulouse and Montauban targeted French military personnel as well as four people at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school, where a self-identified mujaheed who claimed ties to al-Qaeda killed a rabbi who shielded his two sons from attack and then shot one of the boys as he crawled away, and then shot an 8-year-old girl at point blank range while he held her by her braids. Early this year, the office of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was attacked as 11 people were killed by gunmen identifying themselves as Al-Qaeda while their accomplice, who identified with ISIS, took hostages in a kosher market and killed four of them before being killed himself.

Jeunes juifs de France partent en masse pour Israel.

Even last week’s horrific coordinated ISIS attacks had a Jewish angle, with the bulk of casualties coming at the Bataclan theater, which had long been owned by Jewish brothers Marcel and Joel Laloux and had hosted fundraisers for Friends of IDF and other Jewish causes.

According to Birthright Israel, France has until now been underrepresented in these free 10-day educational trips aimed at Jews between the ages of 18 and 26. trips. A statement the group plans to release tomorrow claims that, “Despite having the third-highest population of Jews in the world (behind Israel and the U.S.), only a small percentage of Birthright Israel participants have historically come from France. Following the attacks on Jewish targets at the beginning of this year, Birthright Israel increased outreach in France to encourage participation in the program.”

Birthright Israel International CEO Gidi Mark echoed that thought. “During a time when many of Jews in France endure violent acts on the account of their Judaism, it is a basic act of solidarity for Birthright Israel to focus its efforts on this community.”

Mr. Mark is running a program that’s universally admired in the Jewish community, perhaps as much (at least among nervous Jewish parents) for its reputation of Jews hooking up with other Jews as for the love of homeland it instills in its participants. The program was started more than 15 years ago by philanthropy titans Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt and is said to take over 30,000 young people a year to Israel – more than half a million to date from 66 countries. Sheldon and Miriam Adelson have donated some $250 million over the last decade.

Mr. Mark said, “In 2014 we made a strategic decision to dramatically increase our engagement with the Jewish community in France and the results have exceeded all of our initial expectations. The reaction of the younger generation of the community in France is overwhelming and moving in the way they cherish the gift of Birthright Israel.”

Kerry's Trip to Israel will only bring more problems! Kerry is clueless!

US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) this week will only heighten tensions - not calm terrorism, former Israeli ambassador to the US Dr. Yoram Ettinger opined Tuesday. 

"This visit unfortunately will not not mitigate terrorism, but on the contrary, pour oil on the fire of terrorism," he stated, in a special Arutz Sheva interview. "Why reward and meet Mahmoud Abbas, the chief instigator?"

Washington continues to remain disconnected from reality, he said. 

"The former senator met with Assad, both the father and the son, and ate dinner with their wives," he noted. "The senator refers to the Golan Heights as 'trivial' and pressured Israel to give up the Golan. He used to hold [PLO archterrorist Yasser] Arafat in high regard and referred to him as a 'statesman of peace'; as Secretary of State he still maintains that the Arab Spring is leading Arab countries to democracy." 

Ettinger added that Kerry's career is characterized by 
'erroneous assessments," - "so surely, again, he will call on Israel to make gestures [toward the Palestinians] and give over the immoral equivalence comparing terrorist to victim." 
"Experience shows that all the attempts and plans the US have made [regarding Israel] have failed one by one, due to lack of understanding of the complexity of the Middle East," 

He concluded. "Both the peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan were the result of Israeli initiatives and direct negotiations - not indirect negotiations and not through middlemen."

See two girl terrorists taken down in Machneh Yehuda

Funeral of Hadar Buchris a beautiful soul!

Mourners react during the funeral of Hadar Buchris, 21, in Jerusalem on November 23, 2015. Hadar Buchris was murdered in a stabbing attack at the West Bank's Gush Etzion Junction yesterday. Photo by Mirian Alster/Flash9

Jerusalem - Once again, Jews worldwide are mourning the loss of a life cut all too short, as 21 year old Hadar Buchris was buried this afternoon at Har Hamenuchos in Jerusalem.

Hundreds turned out to say goodbye to Buchris who was killed yesterday in stabbing attack in Gush Etzion.

Buchris’ family traveled from Netanya for the funeral and her mother, Segal, told Yediot Aharanot that she had been concerned about her daughter’s choice to live in Gush Etzion, in order to study in a women’s college.

“We know the Gush well,” said Mrs. Buchris.  “She was born there in Beitar Ilit and we lived there for years.  Her whole childhood was spent in Beitar Ilit and she was tied to the place.”

Hadar Buchris returned from a vacation to India just two weeks ago.

“When she was in India I didn’t worry about her at all,” said Mrs. Buchris.  “When she came back is when I first started worrying.”

Many could be seen at the funeral leaning on each other for support as they surrounded the body, draped by a dark velvet cloth adorned with a gold Magen Dovid, wondering how a 21 year old who was known for her oversized heart could have been brutally murdered in cold blood.

Hadar Buchris leaves behind her parents, Aryeh and Segal and four siblings, as reported by Israeli news sites Walla and Maariv.

Aryeh Buchris described his daughter as wise and sensitive to the needs of others.

“You had a big heart and everything was open for you, how much you wanted to please others,” said Aryeh Buchris.  “Your tragic departure has left us in pain.  We are stunned and aching. We can barely carry this.  You are the type of girl who was larger than life.  The ache is immense, enormous, but we will stay strong and keep the family together, now more than ever.  I promise you that. We won’t stop missing you or thinking about you.”

Hadar Buchris’ grandmother, Sara Dror eulogized her granddaughter, saying that her three daughters had given her 13 grandchildren.

“Our Hadari, you grew up early and you left your parents house at age 14 to study in ulpan. Today we are standing by your grave and we can’t believe we are burying a granddaughter at such a young age.”

Family members and relatives of Israeli Hadar Buchris mourn next to her body during her funeral ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel, 23 November 2015. Hadar Buchris, 21, was killed by a Palestinian attacker who stabbed her to death at the central bus station in the Gush Etzion settlement block junction in the West Bank on 22 November.  EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Mrs. Dror noted that the family had expressed concern about Hadar’s decision to live in Gush Etzion.

“We told you it was dangerous there, but you reminded us that everything is in Hashem’s hands.”

In her remarks, sister Noa Buchris spoke about her feelings one day after her sister was savagely murdered.

“Hadar, you are with us, but you will not be with us ever again,” lamented Noa Buchris. “We are not separated because you will continue to live on inside of me.  Only recently have I begun to understand how privileged I am to be a part of the Jewish nation, which is alive and will live on forever.”

Noa Buchris also read remarks written by her brother Hillel.

“Just one day before I had spoken about the five korbanos who were taken from us on Thursday.  I never dreamed that we would be standing here, burying you. I love so, so much.”

FILE - Hadar Buchris

Sister Maayan Buchris said that even after her death, Hadar continued to inspire and she recalled how the two embraced and took care of each other just one week earlier when they spent Shabbos together.

“Your light influences us even now,” said Maayan Buchris.  “It doesn’t stop, it just comes from a greater place, on high.  I don’t know what I will do now.  Who I will call when things are difficult?  I am coming to terms with the idea that you are not alive and it is hard for me that you are no longer here with me. I wanted to get married and to bring my children to visit you but it seems that you were destined for greater things.”

Buchri’s older brother Zohar noted that his sister’s death was incomprehensible.

“We can’t accept that a cold blooded killer took you,” said Zohar Buchris.  “We miss you already and we will always remember you.  We can only hope that you will be the last korban in this cruel world ... Go rest my beautiful sister.  We already miss you. You know how much I loved you and we will always remember you.  Go rest beautiful girl.”

Among the mourners were Israel’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Dovid Lau and several elected officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat, all of whom expressed their condolences to the Buchris family.  Elan Shochet, mayor of Tzefas, spoke about Hadar Buchris’ love of Eretz Yisroel, a concept reiterated by Knesset member and Minister of Religious Services, David Azoulai.

“Hadar you traveled on roads that were long and dangerous but your last journey is being made in the land that you love,” said Azoulai.  “You are in an elevated place now and nothing can prevent someone who dies al kiddush Hashem from the highest rewards.  All of the heavenly court is coming out to greet you.”

The brother (R) of Israeli Hadar Buchris cries as family members and relatives mourn during her funeral ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel, 23 November 2015. Hadar Buchris, 21, was killed by a Palestinian attacker who stabbed her to death at the central bus station in the Gush Etzion settlement block junction in the West Bank on 22 November.  EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Family members and relatives of Israeli Hadar Buchris mourn during her funeral ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel, 23 November 2015. Hadar Buchris, 21, was killed by a Palestinian attacker who stabbed her to death at the central bus station in the Gush Etzion settlement block junction in the West Bank on 22 November.  EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Mourners react during the funeral for Israeli Hadar Buchris, 21, in Jerusalem, November 23, 2015. Reuters

Mourners react during the funeral of Hadar Buchris, 21, in Jerusalem on November 23, 2015. Hadar Buchris was murdered in a stabbing attack at the West Bank's Gush Etzion Junction yesterday. Photo by Mirian Alster/Flash90

Mourners react during the funeral of Hadar Buchris, 21, in Jerusalem on November 23, 2015. Hadar Buchris was murdered in a stabbing attack at the West Bank's Gush Etzion Junction yesterday. Photo by Mirian Alster/Flash90

Mourners react during the funeral of Hadar Buchris, 21, in Jerusalem on November 23, 2015. Hadar Buchris was murdered in a stabbing attack at the West Bank's Gush Etzion Junction yesterday. Photo by Mirian Alster/Flash90

Family members and relatives of Israeli Hadar Buchris carry the body to her funeral in Jerusalem, Israel, 23 November 2015. Hadar Buchris, 21, was killed by a Palestinian attacker who stabbed her to death at the central bus station in the Gush Etzion settlement block junction in the West Bank on 22 November.  EPA/ABIR SULTAN

The covered body of Israeli woman Hadar Buchris, 21, is carried to burial during her funeral in Jerusalem, November 23, 2015. Reuters