In a Jan. 8, 2019, address to the nation, Trump described the border under his watch as a “crisis,” and pleaded with Congress to pass most of the exact same proposals that were in the bipartisan border bill in the Senate that was negotiated by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) with Democrats earlier this year, but ultimately rejected by Republicans.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Dershowitz: Trump 'can call me crazy American Jew,' but he may vote for Biden
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syzzmdqxc
Dershowitz said that, despite his criticism of the current president, he may vote for Biden in the November elections and rejected Trump's description of any Jew that would vote for the president as crazy. "If he wants to call me a crazy American Jew, that's fine," he concluded.
Terrorist who murdered Jewish shepherd is arrested
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388892
On Sunday night, the ISA, Israel Police, and IDF arrested Ahmad Dawabshe, the terrorist who murdered Binyamin Achimeir, a Jewish shepherd, in a bloody and brutal terror attack last week.
How to Wish "Happy Passover"
The traditional Ashkenazic greeting is “gut yom tov” (with “u” as in “put”). “Yom tov,” which literally means “good day” in Hebrew, denotes a holiday. In Yiddish, it is normally mangled into something that sounds more like “YON-tiff.” Thus, the greeting can sound like “gut YON-tiff” or even “gutJONtiff.” (Translated into English, the “gut yom tov” greeting is strangely redundant, meaning “good good day.”)
Sephardic Jews prefer the biblical term for a festival, “chag.” Thus, when wishing someone a joyous festival, they say “chag same’ach” (pronounced CHAG sah-MAY-ach). This greeting has its roots in the Torah, where forms of these two words are used in the commandment to rejoice on the festivals.1
Now, not all holidays are considered equal. The intermediate festival days of lesser sanctity, when many of the work restrictions are relaxed, are called Chol Hamoed. On those days, the traditional Ashkenazic greeting is “gut mo’ed” (or “gut MOY-ed”), and Sephardim say “mo’adim l’simchah,” to which some respond “chagim u’zemanim l’sason.” (As before, the Sephardic salutation has liturgical roots; these phrases are lifted straight from the holiday kiddush.)
If you want to greet someone, but are not sure what to say, just let the other person greet you first, and then repeat the greeting. Works every time.
Lastly, have you ever wondered what to wish people after Passover has ended? The traditional Yiddish Post-Passover greeting is for “a gezuntn zumer,” a healthy summer.
NYC Mayor on Columbia protests: 'We will not be a city of lawlessness'
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-798189
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he is “horrified and disgusted” with the antisemitism being spewed at and around Columbia University’s campus, according to a statement from the mayor’s office on Sunday night.
Adams said he condemns the hate speech heard during the protests such as a woman who yelled ‘We are Hamas’ and another woman who held a sign with an arrow pointing to Jewish students stating ‘Al-Qasam’s Next Targets.’
Adams said supporting an organization that threatens to kill Jews is “sickening and despicable.”
‘Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous’: White House responds to chaos at Columbia
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/21/chaos-columbia-jewish-moskowitz-santos-white-house-00153545
“Silence is complicity,” Biden’s statement read. “Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
Biden denounces antisemitism in Passover message: Reprehensible and dangerous
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388878
“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad. My Administration is working around the clock to free the hostages, and we will not rest until we bring them home. We are also working to establish an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza as a part of a deal that releases the hostages and delivers desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians. We will continue to work toward a two-state solution that provides equal security, prosperity, and enduring peace for Israelis and Palestinians. And we are leading international efforts to ensure Israel can defend itself against Iran and its proxies, including by directing the U.S. military to help defend Israel against Iran’s unprecedented attacks last weekend.”
Infected houses never happened?
The Netziv notes that we have the famous statement of the Rashby that houses were infected as a present from G-d to reveal the hidden treasures and we have the contrary statement from his son that there never was an infected house
He concludes that this halacha is actually concerned with describing the proper foundation of a Jewish home, the Caanites were merchants who as a class are prone to lashon harah, slander etc etc - as opposed to farmers. So their houses were built on immoral foundation also on idolatry. The halacha advises removing (when possible) the moral decay and replacing it with a holy foundation. However sometimes the structure needs to be totally replaced. That is why only a cohen can decided whether the infection is impure and not a talmid chachom
Interestingly the Rambam also says it is a miraculous sign indicating spiritual impurity
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Number of people seeking conversion to Judaism surges amid Gaza war
In the aftermath of these developments, a notable number of Israelis, including a substantial portion of the roughly 560,000 "unaffiliated" people in the country, reported feeling a deeper affinity to their Jewish heritage and traditions. A significant segment of this secular population, who identify as Jews but aren't recognized as such by Halacha, initiated a conversion process.
Israel aghast as US said poised to sanction IDF unit with history of abuses
Centrist war cabinet minister Benny Gantz joined the criticism, saying the infantry unit was “an integral part of the IDF” and was bound by military and international law. He added that Israel has “strong and independent” courts capable of dealing with alleged violations.
“We have great respect for our American friends, but imposing sanctions on the unit is a dangerous precedent and sends the wrong message to our shared enemies at a time of war,” Gantz said, while pledging to “take action so this decision does not pass.”
Saturday, April 20, 2024
The US is expected to announce sanctions against IDF unit for human rights abuses
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-798035
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the next few days, according to three American sources.
The sanctions are a result of human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.
This will be the first time that the United States government has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit for its activities in the West Bank.
Fred Neulander, rabbi serving life sentence, dies in prison at 82
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-797974?obOrigUrl=true
In a case that riveted the Philadelphia area and American Jewry for years, Neulander, the founding rabbi of the 1,000-family M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was convicted in 2002 of paying confessed killers Len Jenoff and Paul Michael Daniels to murder his wife so that he could freely carry on a love affair with former Philadelphia radio personality Elaine Soncini.
Israeli weapon damaged Iranian air defenses without detection - NYT
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-798022
An Israeli weapon launched in the strike against Iran on Friday damaged a defense mechanism responsible for detecting and destroying aerial threats near Natanz without detection, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Saturday, citing two Western and two Iranian officials.
The weapon struck an S-300 antiaircraft system at a military base in Isfahan province. Natanz is a central city in Iran and a base for Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
What the data says (and doesn’t say) about crime in the United States
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-read/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/
Both the FBI and BJS data show dramatic declines in U.S. violent and property crime rates since the early 1990s, when crime spiked across much of the nation.
In 20 of 24 Gallup surveys conducted since 1993, at least 60% of U.S. adults have said there is more crime nationally than there was the year before, despite the generally downward trend in national violent and property crime rates during most of that period.
While perceptions of rising crime at the national level are common, fewer Americans believe crime is up in their own communities. In all 23 Gallup surveys that have included the question since 1993, no more than about half of Americans have said crime is up in their area compared with the year before.
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