During the Second Temple, the Greek empire reigned (over Israel),1 and they (the Greeks) passed decrees against the Jews and (tried) to erase their religion, and did not allow them to carry out Torah (study) or the commandments. They put their hands on their property and their daughters. They entered the Temple, destroyed and made the pure unclean. The Jews were in great distress because of them and were much oppressed, until the G-d of their fathers had mercy on them, delivering them from their hands and saving them. Then overcame, the sons of the Hasmonean High Priest, (the Greeks) and killed them and saved the Jews from their hands. They appointed a king from the Priests, and the kingdom of Israel was restored for more than 200 years until the destruction of (the) second (Temple). When the Jews overcame their enemies and destroyed them, it was the 25th of Kislev2 when they entered the Sanctuary (inner room) and did not find pure (olive) oil in the Temple, except one jar sealed with seal of the High Priest, and it did not contain enough to light except for one day only. But they lit from it the lamps of the Menorah3 for eight days, until they could crush olives and produce a (new quantity) of pure oil. For these reasons, decreed the Sages of that generation that these eight days that begin on the 25th Kislev, will be days of joy and praise. One lights on them lamps at evening at the entrance to the houses, every evening of the eight nights to show off and demonstrate the miracle. These days are called ''Hanukah'' that is to say ''they rested'' (chanu) on the ''25'' ('th of the month) because on the 25th they rested from their enemies. and also because of those days they (re)-dedicated the house (Temple) which their foes had defiled. Also some say that it is a commandment to increase slightly the festive meals on Hanukah. Another reason is because the work of (building) the Sanctuary (in the desert) was completed in these days. One should tell one's children the story of the miracles that were done for our fore-fathers in those days, (see Josephus) However, these meals are not considered as part of the commandment unless one says at the meal songs of praise. One should increase charity in these Hanukah days, for this can help mend any defects in our souls. This charity, should be given particularly to poor Torah scholars. (KSA 139:1)
1) 352 BCE until 70 CE
2) 139 BCE
3) The Menorah was made of gold and had seven branches.
PINNED
Scroll for more news
Baltimore, MD – Oct. 25, 2021 - It is with regret that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petira of Mrs. Naomi Staiman a'h, mother of Karen (Rabbi Ken) Greene, Cathy (Dr. Steve) Schuss, Kalman (Dr. Aliza) Staiman, Jeremy (Chana) Staiman, and Maish (Tzivia) Staiman .
The Levayah will take place Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 AM (Baltimore) at Eretz HaChaim Cemetery. Live stream link to follow
Shiva details to follow
Bila HaMaves LaNetzach…
PINNED
Scroll for more news
Baltimore, MD - Oct. 25, 2021 - A capacity crowd of approximately 250 filled both the main section and the entrance foyer of the Khal Chassidim "Chassidische" Kollel building on 6004 Park Heights for the dinner honoring the Yahrzeit of the great Gaon HaRav Michoel Forshlager, ztk"l. The fact that the crowd never thinned out until the event ended and people were continuously leaving and entering indicated that they were coming mainly for the event and not just for the food. Besides the Kollel and many community members, several Rabbonim came as well. Among them were HaRav Yaakov Hopfer, HaRav Yissochor Dov Eichenstein, Rav Jonathan Seidemann, Rav Uri Milrod, Rav Shmuel Friedman, and Rabbi Eitan Mintz. HaRav Moshe Heinemann expressed interest, saying that it was...
PINNED
Scroll for more news
Baltimore, MD – Oct. 25, 2021 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Rutchie (Ruti Shira) Weiss (Ramat Beit Shemesh, formerly Baltimore) and David Shaked (Yerushalayim) on their engagement.
Mazel Tov to Chevy Fleischman Weiss and grandmother Mrs. Esther Kayla (Reb Shmuel, Z’L) Fleischman
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן!
Breakfast food giant Kellogg’s is being sued for $5 million by an Illinois woman who says the filling in the strawberry Pop-Tarts are mostly other fruits.
Anita Harris is suing because she says the filling used in the Whole Grain Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries are mostly other fruits.
According to Kellogg’s Smart Label, dried pears and apples are listed as ingredients before strawberries.
In the lawsuit, according to WIVB 4, Harris says that the red food coloring also gives a “false impression” that the breakfast pastries contain more strawberries than they actually do.
“Whether a toaster pastry contains only strawberries or merely some strawberries … is basic front label information consumers rely o...
BaltimoreJewishLife.com (BJL) is proud to partner with STAR-K CERTIFICATION that realizes that there is no substitute for a person’s own Rav. In an effort to offer a possible solution, it has launched its Institute of Halachah as a public service. Over the years, the agency’s Kashrus Hotline has answered generic halachic questions from kosher consumers the world over, including inquiries regarding the kosher status of foods and certified Sabbath mode appliances. The formation of a separate official division within STAR-K testifies to the need for addressing these issues.
The Institute of Halachah is directed by HaRav Mordechai Frankel, under the guidance of HaRav Moshe Heinemann, STAR-K’s Rabbinic Administrator. It is an invaluable resource for a diverse array of rabbis to discuss general halachic matters, as well as gain access to source materials for shiurim and answers to congregants’ questions.
Shailos for regular or Kashrus shailos may emailed or discussed using this widget.
Vaccines for kids between the ages of 5 and 11 will likely be available in the first half of November, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Sunday, predicting a timetable that could see many kids getting fully vaccinated before the end of the year.
“If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, it’s entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November,” Fauci said in an interview with ABC’s This Week.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials are reviewing the Pfizer/BioNTech application seeking authorization of its 2-dose vaccine for younger children, with its panel of outside advisers scheduled to weigh in on Oct. 2...
Facebook employees have warned for years that as the company raced to become a global service it was failing to police abusive content in countries where such speech was likely to cause the most harm, according to interviews with five former employees and internal company documents viewed by Reuters.
For over a decade, Facebook has pushed to become the world’s dominant online platform. It currently operates in more than 190 countries and boasts more than 2.8 billion monthly users who post content in more than 160 languages. But its efforts to prevent its products from becoming conduits for hate speech, inflammatory rhetoric and misinformation — some of which has been blamed for inciting violence — have not kept pace with its global expansion.
Internal company documents ...
New York City’s attempts to divorce itself from Donald Trump have turned into a comedy of errors — one that could end up sticking taxpayers with a not-so-funny $30 million bill.
After the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Mayor de Blasio vowed to rid the city of Trump. Aiming to become a hero to progressives, on Jan. 13 the mayor said he would yank the Trump Organization’s longtime concession contracts to operate the historic Central Park carousel, Wollman and Lasker skating rinks in the park, and the Trump Ferry Point Golf Course in The Bronx.
“This president has committed an unlawful act, he has disgraced himself, he will no longer profit from his relationship with New York City,” de Blasio told reporters. The city then moved to strip the Cent...
Some inflation had been expected after the deep recession in 2020, but with the frictions between supply and demand not matching up, inflation pressures will remain until some time in the middle of 2022, according to Gita Gopinath, the chief economist for the International Monetary Fund.
“We’ve had a rebound in global demand,” Gopinath said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We’ve seen commodity prices come back up after crashing last year, but we’re also now seeing the frictions between supply and demand not matching up. We’re seeing supply chain disruptions around the world because the fact is the grip of the pandemic remains, even though maybe it’s somewhat lighter.”
But more normal levels of inflation should r...
Former President Donald Trump bemoaned multiple crises facing the country —from the migrant surge to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — and said the first remedy should be to “finish the wall.”
In a statement from his website, declared the country “is dying from within and nobody is doing anything to stop it.”
“Our Country is being poisoned with the millions of people that are illegally flowing through our Borders, in most cases not even questioned or stopped,” he said. “Many are criminals from the emptied prisons of other countries, most of these are very dangerous people.”
“The first thing that should be done, and it can be done quickly, is FINISH THE WALL,” he wrote. “A deal must be made with ...
Facebook held back from doing all it could to stop users from being radicalized and US election misinformation from flooding the social network, according to media reports Friday.
An array of US news outlets cited documents from former Facebook worker Frances Haugen, adding to a series of critical revelations already published based on information she provided.
Articles in the New York Times, Washington Post and elsewhere on Friday focused on how Facebook apparently intensified political division.
Examples included an internal finding that 10 percent of political content viewed by US users in the days after the election perpetuated the falsehood that the vote had been rigged.
What has come to be known as the “Big Lie” has been repeated relentlessly by former US President Do...
Hertz on Monday announced an order of 100,000 Tesla Inc cars, taking a step toward changing its fleet to electric vehicles just months after emerging from bankruptcy.
Tesla stock was up 4.3% and was set to open at a record high following the order. Shares were also buoyed by news of the company’s Model 3 becoming the first electrical vehicle to top monthly sales of new cars in Europe.
Hertz said it has ordered 100,000 Tesla Inc cars for delivery by the end of 2022.
The car rental firm also said it was installing thousands of chargers throughout its network. Customers who rent a Tesla Model 3 will have access to 3,000 Tesla supercharging stations throughout the United States and Europe.
Tesla’s cheapest Model 3 sedan starts at about $44,000, making this the largest order for...
The Arizona State University Police Department is recommending charges over the viral bathroom confrontation between activists and Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema this month.
Following an investigation by ASU police, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and Sinema’s office, asked county prosecutors to charge four people with misdemeanors after interrupting a class and harassing the senator in a bathroom, said ASU police spokesman Adam Wolfe, according to an Arizona Mirror report Thursday.
Maricopa County prosecutors are considering the request, KTAR News reported.
Activists from the group Living United for Change in Arizona followed Sinema into a bathroom on campus where she had been teaching a class on Oct. 3.
In several videos post...
As a cold front moves in to Maryland, stormy weather is in the forecast, including the potential for flooding in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
Strong thunderstorms may hit before the cold front Monday night, according to the National Weather Service, which placed five counties and Baltimore under a flash flood watch.
About 1 to 2 inches of rain could fall through Monday night, with up to 4 inches possible in some areas.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Sunday that he is looking to enact legislation that will provide a $5,000 bonus to police officers to relocate to Florida, where they can avoid vaccine mandates.
DeSantis told host Maria Bartitomo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that Florida is “actively working” to recruit law enforcement officers from other states who are being fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We’re actually actively working to recruit out-of-state law enforcement, because we do have needs in our police and our sheriff’s departments. So, in the next legislative session, I’m going to hopefully sign legislation that gives a $5,000 bonus to any out-of-state law enforcement that relocates in Florida,”...
Democrats are eager to finish talks over President Biden‘s sweeping spending bill, arguing the party is gaining little by dragging out negotiations.
The push to wrap things up quickly comes as months of haggling has led to pent-up frustrations that have dominated headlines and conversations around Capitol Hill. Democrats missed a self-imposed deadline of working out a framework by Friday, though talks continued into the weekend.
Even once Democrats lock in a framework, they’ll likely still have days of drafting and ironing out details. But, after days of patience wearing increasingly thin, lawmakers are eager to take the first step and show that they and Biden can deliver on the massive spending package.
“It’s hurting Biden. It’s hurting the Democ...
The Russian-based agency behind last year’s massive SolarWinds cyberattack has targeted hundreds more companies and organizations in its latest wave of attacks on U.S.-based computer systems, Microsoft said in a blog post.
Microsoft, in a blog post dated Oct. 24, said Nobelium’s latest wave targeted “resellers and other technology service providers” of cloud services. Those attacks were part of a broader campaign over the summer, Microsoft said, adding it had notified 609 customers between July 1 and Oct. 19 that they had been attacked.
Just a small percent of the latest attempts were successful, Microsoft told The New York Times, which first reported the breach, but it gave no further details.
U.S. cybersecurity officials could not be immediately reached to...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday that it was serving a Montana man with $9.9 million in fines for allegedly making close to 5,000 anti-Semitic, xenophobic and racist robocalls to residents in several states.
Scott Rhodes, 52, of Libby, Montana is being fined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for thousands of “unlawful and malicious spoofed robocalls” that allegedly targeted individuals with “harmful pre-recorded messages” dating back to 2017.
In January, the FCC said in a statement that the “robocalls included xenophobic fearmongering (including to a victim’s family), racist attacks on political candidates, an apparent attempt to influence the jury in a domestic terrorism case, and threatening language toward a lo...
US prosecutors are asking for a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist with white supremacist ties to receive a a 25-year prison term, CTV News reported.
Earlier in the year, Patrik Mathews, 28, pleaded guilty to four charges, including illegally transporting a firearm and obstruction of justice.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom called on U.S. District Court Justice Theodore Chuang to add a “terrorism enhancement” to the charges, stating that Mathews’ motives involved attacking federal officials and government facilities.
Mathews’ lawyer, Joseph Balter, denied that accusation, stating that his client never had the intention of committing terror acts and should only get 33 months in prison.
Mathews was arrested along with two Americans by...