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Thursday, August 24, 2023

Female NYT reporter Tweets that she is annoyed that she had to be in the Women's Section at the Kotel


 A female New York Times reporter who accompanied Mayor Eric Adams on his trip to Israel, tweeted her annoyance about the fact that she needed to be in the women’s section, while Adams visited the Kosel.

Now she is getting major backlash from orthodox Jews and others, at her complete disrespect for ancient and sacred Jewish halachos and customs.

Emma Fitzsimmons, City Hall Bureau Chief for the Times, tweeted a picture of herself on the other side of the mechitza. She wrote: “TFW you’re at the Western Wall in Jerusalem as a female journalist and you have to climb a bench and look over a fence to see the mayor.”

In response, she has been slammed for her complete disdain and irreverence for hallowed and ancient traditions and guidelines. In addition, some on social media are outraged that Fitzsimmons has injected herself into the storyline, when as a journalist, she should remain “invisibly” on the sidelines where she belongs.

Ben Shapiro sarcastically tweeted: “TFW you think others’ religious standards ought to bow to your secularism at one of their holiest sites”

Avraham Moshe Rabinowitz killed in a Paragliding Accident in the Swiss Alps!

 

R’ Avrohom Moshe Rabinowitz, a young charedi man from Manchester, England, was killed on Wednesday in a paragliding accident in the Swiss Alps.

Rabinowitz, 30, was married and father to a son who was born just a few months ago. He was the grandson of the Lugano Biala Rebbe, Rabbi Bezalel Simcha Rabinowicz, who is the senior rabbi of the European Board of Torah Scholars. His sister is scheduled to be married next week in Jerusalem. This is unfortunately not the first time the family has known tragedy- when R’ Avrohom Moshe’s brother was six years old, he died of an asthma attack.

Rabinowitz was in Switzerland for a family vacation and went missing. Swiss authorities found his parachute and Hatzalah Switzerland assisted in the searches for him. His body was later located.

R’ Avrohom Moshe was born in Israel to Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Dov Rabinowitz, the Biala rosh yeshiva. His mother Rivka is the daughter of the Kapitchnitzer Rebbe. He studied at the Kamenetz yeshiva in Jerusalem and later established his home in England, marrying the daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Issler of Manchester.

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

POLICE: Monticello Gunshots Did Not Target Jews

 

According to police officials, the gunfire which erupted on Tuesday was a gang-related incident.

The gunshots took place not far from the high school in the Village of Monticello.

According to village police, a man driving on Forestburgh Road stopped, got out of his vehicle, and exchanged gunfire with other persons who were along the shoulder of the northbound lane of Forestburgh Road.

Several shell casings were recovered at the scene.

Police said the shooter did not target the Jewish community, although several people were walking along the road at the time. Police did not confirm if anyone was injured.

The police statement says in part:

A preliminary investigation at this time shows that a male operating a vehicle on Forestburgh Road, did stop and then exit his vehicle. After exiting his vehicle, he did exchange gunfire with other persons who were along the shoulder of the northbound lane of Forestburgh Road. Multiple shell casings were recovered at the scene.

This incident is believed to be Gang related in nature and was NOT targeted in any way towards members of the Jewish community, who have summer residences and colonies in that area.

Tel Aviv Light Rail Permitted For Use Despite Being Built On Shabbos: R' Yitzchok Zilberstein

 

A significant debate has arisen in recent days over whether the Tel Aviv light rail system can be used immediately. The light rail is closed on Shabbos but the tunnels and railroad works took place on Shabbos as well and therefore deriving benefit from the system could be deemed Maaseh Shabbat which is prohibited.

A number of poskim suggested that even though one can use the train (since work done by Jews is permitted for others after Shabbos immediately) it would be correct as an act of protest against the shabbos construction not to use the light rail during the first few days.

When Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein was initially asked about the matter a year ago, he responded based on Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, (Chut Hashani 1:22:15) who discussed a bridge built on Shabbos and ruled that the usage of such things should be permitted because a person cannot prohibit the use of land designated for the general public. However Rabbi Karelitz added that there could be an issue of desecration of Hashem’s name if there was flagrant desecration of shabbos in building the bridge and therefore people should refrain from using it.

However when Rabbi Zilberstein’s grandson posed the same question now, adding that the light rail could ease the commute of many wives of avreichim who work in the greater Tel Aviv region, Rav Yitzchok answered that the system can be used immediately, stating that “It is a Kiddush Hashem, since the government said that it would not be working on Shabbos and in this the government demonstrated honor to the Torah, closing all of the stations and trains on Shabbos.

Thus, the ruling reverts to the original one by Rabbi Karelitz that a person cannot prohibit a public resource like land, and the issue of desecration of Hashem’s name is not applicable since there is a Kiddush Hashem in the way the train is not operated on Shabbos.

Chareidim Slash Bus Tires, Spray Paint Messages Over Pictures Of Women Who are Dressed Tzneeisdik!

 

The following story is already almost a week old, yet, not one, Gadol, has said one single word condemning this disgusting act! I didn't post this incident nor the one two weeks ago, and waited to see if this would be reported on any of the Israeli Chareidie sites, it wasn't!! 

I say that the Zionist police should take these buses whose tires have been punctured, fix them, and ship the chareidim on these very buses to an army base near Gaza, after drafting them to the IDF!! 

Radical chareidi extremists have struck again in the heart of Yerushalayim, with a group of the zealots puncturing the wheels of Egged buses and spray-painting them with messages reading, “Enough with the non-tznius pictures.”

All this over modest photos of women on the busses.

Israeli police are investigating the incident, which is now the second such occurrence in the last two weeks. Authorities reportedly have surveillance footage of the suspects and are expected to bring charges against them.

U.S. EMBASSY: Do Not Travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah

 

The U.S. Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens do not travel to Ukraine.  This recommendation applies to U.S. citizens considering travel to Uman during Rosh Hoshanah for the pilgrimage to the grave of Rebbe Nachman.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, all parts of the country have experienced Russian airstrikes hitting civilian buildings and critical infrastructure, including houses of worship, often with little or no warning.  Uman has been the site of multiple Russian missile attacks as recent as June.  The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv continues to operate with reduced staffing and has limited capacity to assist U.S. citizens in Ukraine.

The State Department’s Current Travel Advisory for Ukraine Is Level 4: Do Not Travel

SHIDDUCH CRISIS: Elevating the Status of the “Working Boy” in the Yeshiva Community

  

by Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin

 — There are many angles and dimensions to the Shidduch Crisis within the American Yeshiva world.

There is a consensus that there are more girls than boys in the dating pool and various suggestions have been offered to reduce the gap between the numbers of young men who are dating and the young women available to date them.

One mostly unspoken and perhaps unnoticed aspect is the attitudes in the American yeshiva world towards those young yeshiva educated men who have decided to leave the world of full-time learning in yeshiva and have chosen to start a life in the working world. Sometimes they are called “earner-learners” who are kovea ittim meaning they “fix a set time” to learn Torah but they dedicate the bulk of their time to working and earning money on their own.

Perhaps they have gone into their parents’ businesses or gotten jobs in wholesale or retail stores, or doing something in real estate or working in the lucrative nursing home business, or maybe working in sales or construction or making money from a technology or an Internet business or many other potential areas of employment.

Then there are those who have taken the step to go to college, such as to Touro College that has separate classes for yeshiva educated males and females with campuses in Brooklyn and Queens and a few other places. Perhaps they eventually plan on becoming accountants, computer programmers, or obtain degrees in business management, marketing or some area of finance.

These working boys are generally not the initial prime candidates for many of the American Litvish yeshiva world’s girls who have spent their lives in great Bais Yaakov-type schools in Brooklyn or Lakewood for example and then to top it off have spent a year in post-high school seminaries in Jerusalem where they are intensively educated to seek Kollel full time learning boys to marry.

The girls then return to America and live at home mostly in yeshivish communities where they prepare to date and look primarily for full-time learning boys. These are the girls who eventually mount up in numbers in the American yeshiva communities and many remain single well into their twenties and some even longer as they cling to the hope and dream and ideal of marrying a full time learning boy.

Sometimes, as the time passes and they remain single, these girls land up becoming big earners themselves or getting degrees and become professionals but they still cling to the dream of marrying a potential Kollel yungerman.

As reality would have it, a lot of the learning boys are looking for very pretty girls and wealthy father in laws and families of girls who can support them in full time Kollel learning plus also looking for other additional benefits like cars and houses in many cases. Obviously this aspiration for good looking girls and a higher standard of living that not many can provide or support and sustain in families with many children is not doable for many frum yeshivish middle-class and lower-class families, so they land up with single daughters at home pining for a good shidduch for a long time, hence the so-called Shidduch Crisis.

Many outstanding daughters of long-term Kollel families and of Rebbeim, the idealistic teachers and in yeshivas and girls schools who lack financial means to support full-time Kollel sons in law see their daughters wait and wait in vain for the right outstanding male yeshiva boy candidate to fulfil their own and their families’ dreams of a Kollel life.

At this point in time some serious cheshbon hanefesh “soul searching” should be the order of the day. If after a number of years of trying without success a girl and her family see that they are not getting what they want in terms of a suitable full-time Kollel learner, they should not have a mental block and personal prejudice to thinking or putting into action other plans and options such as considering an ehrliche working or even a frum college boy who might be ready to date such a girl if he was given the right chance and opportunity.

This requires compromise and a change of attitude because those boys who have gone into the working world and have not spent additional years in bais medrash full time will not be the equals of bochurim (young men) who follow the path of aspirant Toraso Umnaso (Torah study as a full-time career). They have the advantage however of making the commitment to marry a good Bas Yisroel and make a good living and support her and their family that they will build together to create a Bayis Ne’eman BeYisroel (a true Jewish home).

There have arisen quite a few exemplary communities of thousands of such couples where the young yeshiva educated husbands have full time jobs in all sorts of fields and support their wives and growing families and then send their young children to great yeshivas and Bais Yaakovs in turn continuing Torah life and many of them even support the full time Kollel yeshivas where they have family members and friends.

It is time for those who are suffering from the Shidduch Crisis from the point of view of having single daughters at home to consider broader options and help avoid the delay of their daughters to not only want full time Kollel learners, the valued Yissachers who uphold Limmud HaTorah (Torah learning), but to think of welcoming into their midst working boys who are worthy of being the true Zevuluns who practice Torah, Avoda, U’Gemilas Chasadim (Torah, service and loving kindness)!

Rabbi Yitschak Rudomin was born to Holocaust survivor parents in Israel, grew up in South Africa, and lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is an alumnus of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and of Teachers College–Columbia University. He heads the Jewish Professionals Institute dedicated to Jewish Adult Education and Outreach – Kiruv Rechokim. He was the Director of the Belzer Chasidim’s Sinai Heritage Center of Manhattan 1988–1995, a Trustee of AJOP 1994–1997 and founder of American Friends of South African Jewish Education 1995–2015. He is also a docent and tour guide at The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Downtown Manhattan, New York.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Israeli fighter Natan Levy beats up online troll who supports Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes

 

Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy during his fight with an online troll in Las Vegas

As only the third Israeli to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, Natan Levy is not afraid to showcase his Jewish identity in and out of the ring.

He gave himself the chance to do just that as he invited a follower of white supremacist provocateur Nick Fuentes to a fight that was filmed and posted to YouTube on Thursday.

Levy and the man, identified only as Ben, had dueled on Twitter before doing so in person.


“I’ll drive to Vegas any day of the week to spar you on behalf of Nicholas J. Fuentes and America First,” Ben wrote to Levy, referencing Fuentes’ online show where he regularly espouses antisemitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial.

Levy accepted Ben’s challenge, even offering to pay for his gas. (Last year, Levy had issued a similar warning to rapper Kanye West after he praised Hitler, telling him, “if you’ve got a problem with me or my people, come see me, bro.”)

In the video, Levy is shown greeting Ben at a mixed martial arts dojo in Las Vegas. Levy wears a shirt with his “Jew-Jitsu” nickname.

Ben explains to Levy that Fuentes is a leader of  the “America First” movement, which he describes as “a political movement based on furthering Christian values in the United States.” He says he was just “messing around” online and claims he is “not a hateful person.”

When Levy points out that Fuentes is a Holocaust denier, Ben says that Fuentes is merely a “revisionist.” And when Levy asks Ben how many Jews were killed in the Nazi genocide, Ben said, “I wouldn’t know that off the top of my head… they say six million.”

“He’s just a kid, probably a dumb kid,” Levy said to the camera before they step into the ring. “I’m not gonna hurt him too bad, but a lesson has to be taught here about trolling. Education is painful sometimes.”

They fight for two rounds, with Levy pinning Ben both times. At the end of the second bout, Ben can be heard saying “I’m sorry.”

After the fighting is over, Levy and Ben stood outside the ring, arms around each other, as Ben looks into the camera and says, “Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.” Levy corrects his verb choice, interjecting with “murdered,” before adding “F–k Nick Fuentes!”

Ben admitted he “needs to be more well-researched,” while Levy offered a warning: “This one wasn’t that painful. The next one will be twice as painful.”

The video then ends by showing Shimon Smotritsky, an Israeli mixed martial arts fighter, heading into the ring with another man, identified as Cee-Jay, who said he’s “not defending Nick Fuentes, I’m defending my friend’s honor.” Their fight doesn’t last long, but it ends in bloody fashion.

“Don’t talk sh–t about Jews, baby,” Smotritsky says with a wink.

5 Jewish facts about Guatemala’s new Hebrew-speaking president

 

Guatemala elected a new president on Sunday: Bernardo Arevalo, a center-left former congressman and son of a former president.

In an election that was marred by controversy — and included the government’s disqualifying of multiple opposition candidates — Arevalo was able to emerge victorious by running on an anti-corruption platform. He defeated Sandra Torres, a former first lady who many Guatemalans view as corrupt.

Decades-old statistics put the Jewish population of Guatemala, Central America’s most populous country, at about 900. But despite that small number, Guatemala’s president-elect has a unique history with Jews and Israel.

Here are five Jewish things to know about Arevalo:

Inside the SECRETIVE World of Jewish Matchmaking

 

Monday, August 21, 2023

Prosecutor David Weiss did NOT plan to charge Hunter Biden .. It Was Only after IRS whistleblowers came forward sounding the alarm on DOJ interference

 

Special Counsel David Weiss - the top investigator into Hunter Biden's criminal case - did not plan to charge the president's son with any crimes until after two IRS whistleblowers came forward. 

It was only until after the IRS agents accused the Department of Justice of improper influence in the federal investigation into Hunter that Weiss decided to charge Hunter with tax crimes, according to correspondence obtained by the New York Times.

Attorneys for the whistleblowers said that if it weren’t for their 'courageous actions' Hunter would never have been charged at all.

According to the New York Times, four years into Weiss' five-year investigation, Weiss determined he did not have enough evidence to charge the president's son.

During negotiations with Hunter's lawyers earlier this year, Weiss reportedly was working on a deal where Hunter would not have to plead guilty to any charges at all - including misdemeanors. 

At the same time, whistleblower Gary Shapley came forward and alleged that DOJ in Washington, D.C., and California had refused to indict Hunter due to 'political pressures' and the president's son received 'special treatment.'

And only a few days later, Weiss then changed his tune and wanted Hunter to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, according to the New York Times.

That was the plan, until the deal blew up spectacularly in court last month.

Hunter appeared in federal court on July 26 prepared to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and walk away with just a slap on the wrist and no prison time. Republicans slammed as a 'sweetheart deal' that Biden's DOJ put together to protect the president's son.

However, after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the 'diversion agreement' of Hunter's plea deal - a clause that gave him blanket immunity for a wide range of other potential charges, including illegal foreign lobbying - the deal blew up spectacularly. 

Noreika dismissed the charges in Delaware after requests from the prosecution last week. 

In addition, Attorney General Merrick Garland promoted Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss - the main Hunter prosecutor - to special counsel status earlier this month. 

As a result, DOJ lawyers are not planning to enter into a new plea deal with the president's son anytime soon, and he is likely to head to trial for tax and gun crimes following the appointment of the special counsel.

Hunter's attorney Abbe Lowell slammed prosecutors for changing their decision 'on the fly standing up in court' and also pledged that the DOJ will find 'no new evidence' against the president's son.

Garland's decision to promote Weiss to special counsel comes after recent whistleblower allegations that Hunter received 'special treatment' during the criminal probe.

IRS agents Joe Ziegler and Gary Shapley testified under oath to House Republicans that their investigation 'supported felony and misdemeanor tax charges,' which were ultimately not brought against the president's son Hunter due to political pressures.

Weiss tried to bring felony charges against him in Washington, D.C., they said, but was blocked by the district's top federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, a Biden appointee.

over, said the whistleblowers who were told they would get in 'hot water' if they tried to speak with President Joe Biden's adult children and grandchildren over the course of their investigation.

The collapse of Hunter Biden's original plea deal also presents more problems for his father, Joe Biden. The president will now face more headlines and questions involving his drug-addict son's case as he hits the 2024 campaign trail.

The unraveling of the agreement between prosecutors and the defense team means Hunter could now face more charges. It also means that Hunter is likely to face additional prosecutions down the road.

Those may include any crimes related to his business deals with Ukraine, Romania and China that raked in millions of dollars.

And Republicans say Joe was at the center of them.

The White House has maintained that the president has never been 'in business' with his son. 

WhatsApp launches a HUGE update that transforms the way you send photos to your friends

 

It's the go-to messaging platform for millions of people around the world. 

But WhatsApp users will know the frustration of sending photos to their friends on the platform, only to discover that they're grainy.

Thankfully, the days of having to meet up to AirDrop the photos are finally a thing of the past, thanks to a huge WhatsApp update. 

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of WhatsApp's parent company, Meta, has announced that you can now send photos on WhatsApp in HD quality. 

Here's everything you need to know about the update, including how to send high definition photos to your friends. 

Zuckerberg shared the news on his Facebook page, posting a video showing how the feature works, alongside the caption: 'Sharing photos on WhatsApp just got an upgrade -- now you can send in HD.'

WhatsApp says the new feature is suited 'for special moments that you want friends and family to enjoy in every little detail'.

To try it yourself, simply open the WhatsApp app and tap on the conversation you'd like to send an HD photo in. 

Tap the '+' symbol at the bottom left of the screen, then Photo & Video Library. 

Select which photo you'd like to share, and you should now see a new HD option at the top of the screen. 

Tap on this, then tap the blue arrow icon at the bottom right of your screen and the photo will send in HD. 

'To ensure sharing photos over WhatsApp remains fast and reliable, Standard Quality will continue to be the default option photos are sent in,' WhatsApp explained. 

Saudi's Solution to African Migrants ...Kill Them! The world Silent!

Border guards in Saudi Arabia have regularly opened fire on African migrants seeking to cross into the kingdom from Yemen, killing hundreds of men, women and children during a recent 15-month period, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Monday.

The guards have beaten the migrants with rocks and bars, forced male migrants to rape women while guards watched and shot detained migrants in their limbs, leading to permanent injuries and amputations, the report said.

The shooting of migrants is “widespread and systematic,” it said, adding that if killing them were Saudi government policy, it would constitute a crime against humanity.

The Saudi government’s Center for International Communication did not respond when asked via email about the findings.

The report provides chilling new details about the conditions along one of the world’s most dangerous smuggling routes, a patch of isolated, war-torn territory rarely visited by journalists, aid workers or other international observers.

It focuses on the plight of migrants from Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, who seek to enter Saudi Arabia — the Arab world’s richest nation and one of the globe’s largest oil exporters — and on the increasingly harsh efforts by the kingdom’s security forces to keep migrants out.

Faisal Othman, a migrant from Ethiopia, told The New York Times that he was trying to cross the border with about 200 others last September when a projectile exploded near the group and shrapnel tore apart the women around him.

“Most of them ended up as remains,” Mr. Othman, 31, said by phone from the Yemeni capital, Sana. “They were shredded like crushed tomatoes.”

Destitution pushed people to make the trip, he said.

“They’re just poor people looking to make a living on bare feet, but they face rockets,” he said.

For years, streams of migrants have fled Ethiopia because of poverty, drought and political repression and have headed for Djibouti, where smugglers transport them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, which has been torn apart by years of war.

Times of Israel Blogger Yossi Klein Halevi Keeps Lying about Judicial Reform



A trinity of respected names on the Left:

 Matti Friedman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Daniel Gordis, penned a blog post in the Times of Israel imploring Diaspora Jews to “support Israel” by joining the fight against the “judicial revolution” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s democratically elected government.

They invited Diaspora Jews to learn more about the far Left’s narrative against the government in a Zoom seminar hosted by a TOI deputy editor, which will host leaders of the protests.

We do not expect much critical pushback against the leftwing narrative from that unbalanced panel. Nor is this the first time this unholy trinity of the left has called on Diaspora Jews to interfere and save the Left from the results of Israel’s democratic election.

They question the legitimacy of the vote and the electoral system which didn’t yield the results they wanted.

The Right Won the Popular Vote

Belz schools to implement core curriculum

 


The Belz hasidic sect is in the advanced stages of implementing the core curriculum in exchange for 100% funding from the State, as the schools join the Bnei Yosef network run by Shas.

According to a report by Galatz journalist Yoeli Brim, two schools will join the network as part of an initial pilot program, and the agreement is later expected to expand to all of the hasidic sect's schools, which include approximately 9,000 students.

The move has caused a rift in the joint United Torah Judaism party, which includes the Chasidic Agudat Yisrael and the Lithuanian-haredi Degel Hatorah: Last year, Degel Hatorah threatened to split from Agudat Yisrael if the program to teach the core curriculum goes through.

At the time, the two parties agreed that if the right-religious bloc did not succeed in forming a government, Degel Hatorah would allow some of the Belz schools to join the independent haredi school system. Under that agreement, those schools which do not become part of the independent haredi system would be added to the Shas-run Bnei Yosef chain.

Shas initially opposed the proposition, but eventually the sides hired lawyers to see if it would be possible to overcome the legal difficulties involved in the merger.


Biden pays $16 billion ransom to Iran, fails to free 3 Americans

 


Critics are livid as US President Joe Biden prepares to pay the Iranian regime a hefty $16 billion for five hostages held by Tehran. Not only does the huge ransom provide a lifeline for its sanction-stricken economy and help continue exporting terror across the world, the deal leaves out three American nationals held as bargaining chips by the Islamic Republic.

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Zelensky the "Little Tyrant" Threatens to Bar Israelis from Uman for High Holy Days, Again ..Wants his Ukrainian Nazis to Enter Israel

 

Welcome to the annual hate fest from Kyiv.

Ukraine is once again threatening to block Jews – and particularly, Israelis – from access to the city of Uman during this year’s Yomim Naroim.

Uman is home to the tomb of the revered Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (who died in 1810), where tens of thousands of Hasidim and other followers gather each year to celebrate Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized this Saturday during his weekly address that the “rights of Ukrainian citizens must be guaranteed” – a statement believed to have been a reference to Israel’s restrictions on the entry of his citizens.

The next day, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk made it clear that Zelensky was indeed aiming his message at Israel.

“The Ukrainian government will not tolerate the humiliation of its citizens upon entering Israel, Korniychuk declared.

“We will suspend our bilateral visa waiver deals, according to article seven of the intergovernmental agreement,” he threatened.

Monsey Village Demands 6 Months Advance Notice Before the Impending Death of a Rabbi

Following a mass levaya near Monsey last week which reportedly created major traffic disruptions, the town of Chestnut Ridge has made a puzzling demand from cemetery officials.

The Rebbe of Rachmastrivka, Rabbi Chai Yitzhak Twersky, passed away last week and was laid to rest in a mass funeral that apparently disturbed the leaders of the town of Chestnut Ridge, just south of Monsey.

The kevurah took place in the Har Shalom cemetery in Airmont, which is near Chestnut Ridge.

Following the levaya, Chestnut Ridge village officials sent a letter to the cemetery, upset that they did not receive sufficient advance notice prior to the large levaya which caused extensive traffic and gridlock in their village.

In fact, their Special Counsel Alak Shah wrote a letter demanding that in the future, they be provided notice “at least six months in advance” of a big funeral.

The letter discussed “an unacceptable situation in Chestnut Ridge on August 16, 2023, which was the direct result of Har Shalom Cemetery’s failures”.

It added that “Chestnut Ridge officials, including the Mayor or its Village Board of Trustees, were never consulted or even so much as provided any advance notice of the significance of the funeral event for Grand Rabbi Twersky.”

The letter stated: “If there is any anticipated funeral or related procession or event such that Har Shalom orchestrates a plan ahead of time, the notice must be provided at least six months in advance and Chestnut Ridge officials consulted so proper traffic plan arrangements can be made.”

In the cemetery’s response to the village, it wrote: “…if Har Shalom is notified of an impending death that may result in such anticipated funeral six months in advance of the occurrence, Village of Chestnut Ridge will be notified.”