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October 21, 2016 at 8:42 am
Succos; Appreciating Value
Succos is almost upon us so I will forgo the opportunity of discussing this week’s Parsha, Ha’azinu, and focus on this most beautiful holiday. Succos is referred to as “The Time of Rejoicing”. This needs explanation. Is not every holiday a time for rejoicing? Would we not consider the holiday of Pesach which celebrates our exodus from Egypt, the birth of our nation a more significant time of rejoicing? The Torah refers to Succos as the Festival of the Harvest because it occurs at the period of the harvest. The summer has ended and all the grain has already dried and is ready to be milled. We are getting ready to hunker down for the winter. Could it be that this is the reason why it is the Time of Rejoicing? The problem with this explanation is that it seems to be ...
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Local News
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October 21, 2016 at 5:49 am
Shabbos Chol HaMoaid Succos 5777 / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP!
Shabbos Chol HaMoaid Succos 5777 / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Baltimore, MD – Oct. 21, 2016    Parshas:  Shabbos Chol HaMoaid Succos 5777 Today:    19 Tishrei       Chatzos: 12:51 PM Hadlakas Nairos: 6:00 PM Shkiah:                   6:18:42 PM Tzais HaKochavim:  7:09 PM Pisku Tuvu  
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October 21, 2016 at 5:49 am
"A Good Night's Sleep...or Not" A Moral Dilemma for the Yom Tov Table
As we all know, it is a mitzva to spend as much time as possible in a succah. This includes eating, sleeping and even socializing in the succah. However if one is mitztaer, if one is uncomfortable in the succah because of the weather, insects or another persistent annoyance, one is exempt from the mitzva. In fact when one is exempt from the succah, there is no mitzva at all to stay in the succah. (click here for some inspirational stories about Succos.) This brings us to the following interesting moral dilemma. There were four Jewish college students who shared an apartment. They were going to be in their apartment for Succos  so they decided to pool their resources and build a succah together. Each student contributed $250 and together they had $1000 to purchase a nice succah. They...
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October 21, 2016 at 5:49 am
Teshuva and Its Unique Relationship to Shabbos and Yom Tov
A New Understanding of ‘Shabbos Shuva’  As we all know, there is always one ‘plain’ Shabbos between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. That is to say, there could be two Shabboses that fall out during the Aseres Y’mai Teshuvah (the ‘Ten Days of Teshuvah’) between the first of Tishrei (when RH begins) and the tenth of Tishrei (when YK falls) – but only one of them will be a ‘regular’ Shabbos (not concomitant with either RH or YK). And, of course, this Shabbos is known as Shabbos Shuva – most conveniently translated as ‘the Shabbos of Teshuvah’, since it comes during the Ten Days of the year when doing teshuva is the dominant theme. That would be the simplest, most direct way to understand this term and the appell...
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Local News
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October 21, 2016 at 5:31 am
Mosby Calls For Reforms In Police Misconduct Investigation
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is pushing for policy reforms to investigate and prosecute police misconduct. Thursday morning, Mosby announced five proposals that she would like to see take effect in Baltimore. "The ultimate goal will be to provide the community with a seat at the table," Mosby said. "My first proposal involves replacing the typical police investigative team with one that includes impartial investigative representation from the Police Department, the prosecutor's office, state police and the investigator and civilian review board." Mosby said a collaborative approach will improve transparency, remove the pressure of police investigating fellow officers and eliminate bias and skepticism during the early investigation stages. "My second ...
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Chesed Chesed
Local News
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October 21, 2016 at 5:26 am
Baltimore Elections Officials Working For Smoother Voting Process
The general election is set for Nov. 8. That is the day when voters across the country will decide who they want as their next president. Several key offices are up for grabs in Maryland that day, including for U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and Baltimore's mayor and City Council. Local leaders are working to ensure the general election is smoother than April’s primary. Concerns with the primary election eventually led the state to temporarily decertify the results Baltimore City due to problems with provisional ballots. City Elections Board Director Armstead Jones said the number one issue his office had during the primary was not having enough election judges, along with not enough training for those they did have. According to state election officials...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 11:47 pm
Chales Krauthammer: Who I’m Voting For, and Why
The case against Hillary Clinton could have been written before the recent WikiLeaks and FBI disclosures. But these documents do provide hard textual backup. The most sensational disclosure was the proposed deal between the State Department and the FBI in which the FBI would declassify a Hillary Clinton email and State would give the FBI more slots in overseas stations. What made it sensational was the rare appearance in an official account of the phrase “quid pro quo,” which is the currently agreed-upon dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable corruption. This is nonetheless an odd choice for most egregious offense. First, it occurred several layers removed from the campaign and from Clinton. It involved a career State Department official (he occupied the sa...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 11:19 pm
Two Men Arrested In Connection With Murder on Menachem Stark, H'yd
Two men have been arrested in contention with the murder of Menachem Stark, Law enforcement sources told JP. one man was picked up in lower Manhattan the second man was busted in brooklyn the sources said. both were inside the 90 precinct detectives squad at 8:45p.m. sources added. Kandall Philex, 28-years-old and his brother Erskine Philex, have been arrested NYPD officials said. Kandall has been charged with hindering prosecution, and tampering with evidence, Kandall was charged with murder.
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October 20, 2016 at 10:51 pm
Watch: Daily Dvar Halacha - Oct. 20, 2016 - 18 Tishrei - Shopping on Chol Ha 'Moed?
Baltimore, MD - Daily Dvar Halacha -  Oct. 20, 2016 /  18 Tishrei 5777 - Shopping on Chol Ha 'Moed?
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Israel News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:39 pm
Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of Ancient Siege of Jerusalem
Archaeological evidence of the breaching of Jerusalem’s Third Wall by the Romans at the end of the Second Temple era was discovered last winter thanks to an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Israel’s GPO reported Thursday. The siege culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple still mourned by the Jewish people thousands of years later. The remains of a tower and numerous ballista and sling stones fired by Roman catapults were discovered as well. “This is a fascinating testimony of the intensive bombardment by the Roman army, led by Titus, on their way to conquering the city and destroying the Second Temple,” excavation directors Dr. Rina Avner and Kfir Arbib said in a statement. The archaeologists noted that the bombardment targeted sentries ...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:34 pm
US Imposes Sanctions on Hezbollah Leaders
The US State Department has labeled Hezbollah Commander Haytham ‘Ali Tabataba’i from Beirut, Lebanon a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), according to a press release this week. Treasury said it was a joint action with Saudi Arabia aimed at “disrupting Hezbollah’s worldwide commercial and financial infrastructure.” This effect will hope to diminish it’s military branch that has a strong influence in the Syrian conflict. The State Department said Tabataba’i has operated in Syria and Yemen. Tabataba’i’s actions in those countries are believed to be part of a broader effort by Hezbollah, a Lebanese terror group, to provide training, materiel, and personnel in support of what the State Department described as “destabilizi...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Clinton Confirms Voter Fraud? – “Bush Selected Not Elected” (Video)
Much of the media has been up in arms over Trump’s claim that elections are rigged, but the question is what does he really mean when he claims that the election is rigged? Hillary Clinton had once said that George W. Bush was selected not elected, referring to the victory over Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election involving a miscount in ballots in Florida where Al Gore could have contested the election. This could be taken that Hillary may have insinuated that the election, at least the 2000 election, was rigged in some kind of way. But is Trump’s idea about a rigged election the same as what happened in the 2000 election or is this a false equivocation? One claim that Trump has made about rigged elections is that dead people tend to vote democratic. USA today...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:28 pm
New Yorkers Protest Nazi Flag With “Trump” Superimposed On It
Controversy has been sparked over a large Nazi flag with the name “Trump” and the slogan “Make America Hate Again,” recently displayed in the window of a New York bookstore. The display was protested Wednesday by 25 people in the town of Saugerties, where the bookstore is located. The flag was put in place by the store’s owner, Brian Donoghue, and was created by artist Daniel Radovanovic, according to Daily Freeman.com. Donoghue said he created the display as a protest against Trump, and a statement of the parallels he perceives between the candidate and the rise of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nevertheless, the display was condemned in no uncertain terms by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who viewed it as tasteless and misguided. “Using the sy...
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Israel News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:17 pm
B’chasdei Hashem: A Major Terror Attack In A Southern Israeli Simcha Hall Was Prevented
Cleared for Release: Shin Bet officials on Thursday 18 Tishrei removed a gag order, permitting publication of a conspiracy to perpetrate a major terror attack in southern Israel. According to the information released, the terror cell planned to target a simcha hall but B’chasdei Hashem, they were apprehended before they could carry it out as they were arrested by police on September 21, 2016. Hassin Abu-Taheh, a resident of Khan Yunis (Gaza) was arrested as he tried passing through the Erez Crossing. Officials report the cell members are aligned with the Islamic Jihad in Gaza and they planned a large attack in a simcha hall that included abducting and murdering an IDF soldier. Others Gazans were also enlisted by the cell including at least one Gazan who was inside Green Line Israel...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:12 pm
Judge in El Chappo Case Assassinated While Jogging
MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- As federal authorities in the United States await a decision on whether Mexican drug lord Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman will be tried here, the danger to anyone close to El Chapo was underscored in an assassination Tuesday. The judge in his Mexico case was gunned down while jogging. The judge assigned to the El Chapo case in Chicago may have been paying closer attention than anyone to what happened in Mexico. Chief federal judge in Chicago Ruben Castillo would oversee the case if El Chapo were extradited there. His counterpart in Mexico on the El Chapo case was executed on a street near his home 30 miles west of Mexico City, a bold attack caught on camera that left authorities with few clues. In a video, you see judge Vicente Antonio Bermudez Z...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:08 pm
US Postal Carrier Filmed Dumping Bins of Mail Into a Ditch
The U.S. Postal Service has launched an investigation after a metro Atlanta resident says she filmed a worker dumping hundreds of pieces of mail in the woods. Kellie Campbell of DeKalb County tells WSB-TV ( http://2wsb.tv/2dQ81mT ) she recorded the postal worker walking near a fence and dumping several bins of mail into a ditch. Campbell called the Postal Service, which sent workers to collect and deliver the mail. In a statement, the Postal Service condemned the unlawful disposal of mail and said it was...read mail at ABC News
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International News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Philippines President Announces 'Separation' From The US
The controversial president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, announced what he called his “separation” from the U.S. Thursday in his latest speech aimed at rankling Washington. “I announce my separation from the United States both in military and economics also,” Duterte announced to a cheering crowd in Beijing. He added, "America does not control our lives. Enough bulls---," according to AFP. Duterte has previously said the Philippines would stop joint military exercises with the U.S., and he opposes joint patrols with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea. But U.S. officials say its commitment to the treaty alliance with the Philippines remains "ironclad."
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Clinton Server Email At Heart Of 'Quid Pro Quo' Controversy Contained Benghazi Intel
The email at the heart of a "quid pro quo" controversy involving a senior State Department executive and the FBI contained intelligence about suspects in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, two government sources told Fox News. Heavily redacted FBI interview summaries, known as 302s, state that Patrick Kennedy, a top lieutenant to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state, wanted to deep-six the email – which was one of two on her personal server that kick-started the FBI investigation into the mishandling of classified information on her unsecured system.   The Nov. 18, 2012 email sent to then-Secretary Clinton by aide Jake Sullivan contains the subject line "Fw:FYI - Report of arrests -- possible Benghazi connection."  It contains “B1” redactions for ...
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National News
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October 20, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Fact-Check: No, 33,000 Not Killed with Guns Each Year
During the third presidential debate, Hillary Clinton claimed that “33,000 people a year…die from guns.”  Fact-Check: FALSE This is a claim Clinton often makes to make gun violence appear to be raging out of control; to justify the government stepping in with more rules and regulations to keep the American people safe.  However, a Fact-Check shows Clinton’s claim is not only false, but is exaggerated by 66 percent.  She is using figures from 2013, and reporting them in a way that distorts what really happened with guns that year. Clinton first began making this claim in November 2015, repeated it in April 2016, and has since repeated it again and again. In April Breitbart News highlighted the method Clinton used to swell the numbers: ...
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International News
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October 20, 2016 at 4:52 pm
British Prime Minister May Calls Out Labour Leader Corbyn: We Must Have Zero Tolerance for Antisemitism (Video)
The leader of Britain’s Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn must “think very carefully” about antisemitism within his party, British Prime Minister Theresa May declared on Wednesday. May — the head of Britian’s governing Conservative Party who succeeded David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in July — made the statement during a Prime Minister’s Questions session, just days after the publication of a House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee report which found Labour had shown “demonstrable incompetence” in dealing with antisemitism within its ranks. In response to a question posed by Conservative MP Oliver Dowden, Maysaid: “I absolutely agree with my honorable friend that this house should send a very clear message that ...
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