The History of the Mir Community Before the Holocaust Religious Life The Mir Yeshiva

The yeshiva is described by L. Mendelstam:

"The yeshiva was situated in a large building with just one floor, in a large hall that sprawled across its entire width and length. Next to the walls were 14 large, long tables… and each table had a name: the "Rabbi's Table," and next to it the "Yeshiva Table" and so on. The Rabbi's Table was the most exalted, and it was a great honor for a student to be placed there. Other tables were on a lower level of importance, like the "Table Behind the Heater," where the loafers were placed, and the "Educated Table" where the apikorsim(heretics) were seated."L. Mendelstam, "Memories of the Mir Yeshiva Students," Mir, p. 119

‘Fake Orthodox’ couple accused of trying to convert Jews to Christianity

nypost.

David Costello and Rivkah Weber look every bit a young Orthodox Jewish couple.

Costello sports a yarmulke and sidelocks and Weber dresses modestly and covers her head.

They keep kosher and never miss Sabbath at the synagogue.

But they do share one little oddity: They believe Jesus is the Messiah.

And they are not shy about spreading their gospel, according to angry members of the Jewish community who say the couple are really Christian infiltrators fishing for converts.

Their presence has rocked synagogues in Brooklyn, and earlier this month in Chicago, after a visitor from New York recognized Costello from a Williamsburg shul and “outed” him.

Polish priest blames 'devil' as he's confronted by alleged victim whose life was ruined

.Cnn

"Father, I wanted to look you in the eye ... I wanted to ask you why?" demands Anna Misiewicz as she confronts the parish priest she says abused her when she was just seven and eight years old.

"You touched me where you were not supposed to, my private parts," Misiewicz says, matter-of-factly, telling him that his actions "really scarred my adult life deeply."

"I still have nightmares ... I am unable to sleep at night," she tells her alleged abuser. "I still carry it inside me."

The elderly man she is addressing exhales and shifts in his orange and brown striped chair, as a religious service plays out on a TV nearby, in a home for retired priests in Kielce, central Poland.

The priest, identified only as Father Jan A., has never been charged with abuse. He pauses briefly, before saying: "I should never have done it, I should not have touched or kissed you ... I know I shouldn't have."

How a DNA Testing Kit Revealed a Family Secret Hidden for 54 Years

http://time.com/5492642/dna-test-results-family-secret-biological-father/?iid=obinsite

In 1961, my parents, Orthodox Jews who married later in life, were having trouble conceiving. My father was part of a large family that took seriously the commandment to be fruitful and multiply. My mother, nearing 40, was desperate to have a child. They went to the now long-defunct Farris Institute for Parenthood near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. There, they were told that a “treatment” was available to help solve my dad’s infertility. A practice of the day was to mix donor sperm with the intended father’s sperm, in order to keep alive the possibility that the child was biologically his. There was a commonly used term for this: confused artificial insemination.

Donald Trump falls for Nancy Pelosi's trap

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/24/politics/donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-democrats-republicans/index.html

President Donald Trump keeps taking Nancy Pelosi's bait.

The House speaker has spent the last two days provoking Trump, questioning his self-confidence, condescendingly confiding that she prays for him and suggesting a "family intervention."

The President's wild, improvised response Thursday suggests that so far, the speaker is winning the hugely consequential clash between Washington's top two political forces.

It's not often that Trump, the man who dismembered the most talented Republican primary field in years in 2016, seems to be struggling for traction in a face-to-face political fight.

But Pelosi is turning Trump's own arsenal against him, using the politics of mockery and provocation to leave him for once, off balance and forced to respond to a more nimble rival.

And Trump's increasingly livid reactions are helping Pelosi out of a delicate political spot.

This week opened with the Beltway narrative that she was under growing pressure from a Democratic caucus impatient with her reluctance to open an impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Trump calls himself a 'stable genius' at wild press conference

WHAT THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT GETS RIGHT: THEY HAVE LEGITIMATE CONCERNS, EVEN IF CLAIMS OF PERSECUTION ARE EXAGGERATED

https://www.newsweek.com/religious-right-christian-persecution-same-sex-marriage-freedom-exaggerated-1434800

But it’s important to understand that traditional American Christians are not hallucinating when they express concerns about their own religious status and rights.

Look at it through their eyes.

Religious motivations are denigrated. After the passage of Alabama’s anti-abortion law, some progressives claimed that it was a violation of the separation of church and state because the sponsors had religious motivations. “One of the tenets of our democracy is that we have a separation of church and state, and under no circumstances are we supposed to be imposing our faith on other people,” said Kirsten Gillibrand. “And I think this is an example of that effort.”

Think about the logic. It means that public policy positions that are driven by religion are off the table while stances driven by secular reasons are legitimate. It would be like saying that Democrats could oppose the Iraq war for practical reasons but not for moral/religious reasons. That subordinates and minimizes religious teaching and motivation.

Religious institutions get second class status. Again, religion is mostly quite privileged in America. But not always. Sometimes, an overly rigid application of separation of church and state can lead to disadvantaging religion. For instance, a federal law allowed for financial aid loan forgiveness for people who go in to “public service” professions. But the Department of Education ruled that joining the ministry didn’t count. I can understand their impulse: they no doubt bristled at the idea of government funds going to help make people ministers. But the result was not equality but inferiority. You got loan forgiveness if you became a social worker but not minister.

Similarly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency at one point refused to provide financial support to assist churches after devastating hurricanes in Texas. And group of residents in Acton, Massachusetts, sued to block the state from using historic preservation funds to preserve old churches along with secular buildings. Religious institutions shouldn’t get preference but they also shouldn’t be subordinated.

Rabbis agree: Get vaccinated, already

https://nypost.com/2019/05/21/rabbis-agree-get-vaccinated-already/

Despite a massive campaign by New York health officials urging people to vaccinate their children, the measles outbreak continues to worsen here in New York and nationally.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that 880 new cases in 24 states have been identified. Most of those cases are in New York, with the Empire State’s total now standing at more than 725.

That’s the highest number of infections in a quarter-century, and the problem shows no signs of abating anytime soon. Indeed, if the anti-vaccine rally held last week in Rockland County is any indication, the rash of cases will only continue to grow.

Sadly, the event attracted hundreds of attendees and featured speaker after speaker fervently spreading anti-vaccine propaganda.

As the chief executive officer of Chai Lifeline, North America’s largest Jewish children’s health-support network, I feel obliged to push back against such cavalier, irresponsible and dangerous attitudes about vaccines.

Rav Gifter writing from Europe in the 30's regarding Yeshiva University and Zionism

בעוד ב' שבועות, ז"א, ראש חדש אב, אי"ה, אצל הקרובים שלי בעיירת לינקעווע משום  אז צריכים לאכול

מאכלי חלב והמאכלים שניתנים במסעדת הישיבה קשים לי . אחי' שם ער עשרה באב. הנה כת"ר כותב לי אורות הנבלה הנעשית ע"י הסאמער סקולי הנה ידעתי גם ידעתי שכבר בהיותי שם כבר התחילו חילול הקודש הזה, והדנה מאגורת הרבנים נכשלים בעוון חמור מאר של מי שיש בידו למחות ואינו מוחה נתפס בעוון הדור' וכולם יודעים את הנבלות של רד . רעוועל והרבצת הכפירה שמרביצים בקאלערזש שלו ואין מוחה בידו, ובא לירי המודעה אורות חג הסיום של הקאלערזש בשנה זו' וראיתי שם שרעי מלפנים דור פיטעגאדסקי נשא נאום

אמר שמבינים חם "האחריות שנושאים

על שכמם ועליהם להפיץ אורה באפלתה של אמעריקא, כמה ריקים דברים אלו וכי אינו יורע בסתרי לבו שאין בידו וביד כל המסיימים דק להפיץ חושך ואפלה ולהוסיף על חשכתה של אמעריקא, הדבר מביא לירי גיחוך שצריכים להביא את השופט קאדריזי שיסכים, אז די אלטע געלעכזאמקייט אז א וויכטקע זאך" )וכן כמרומני הלשון שם במודעה( שומו שמים ער מתי יעשה רשע זה מה שלבו חפץ' וכי אינו מאמין במאמר חז"ל כל הרודף אחר הכבוד הכבוד בורח ממנוי אבל יבא היום והל ואי במהרה, שיוכח באמתת מאמר זה. יבא היום שיפורסם באמעריקא שתלמידי הישיבה כמעט כולם הולכים ברחוב בגילוי הראש כידוע לכת "ו שבצאתם

מבנין הישיבה מסלקים הכיסוי מעל ראשם, יבא היום שידעו שיש בהם שמגלחים זקנם ושאינם לובשים ציצית ותפילין בכל יום ויום, ובידי לכתוב לכת"ר השמות של הבחורים שעוברים עבירות הללו ואין אני בודה זה מלבי' ויותר על כולם יבא היום שידעו שיש בתלמידי הישיבה שפרוצים בערן עריות, בועלי נדות וזונות, את אלה המנוולים מחנכים בישיבה קאלעדזש. ברור לי שעד עתה לא ידע כת "ר הרבה מזה וישתומם בשעה שיקרא דברי אבל אמיתיים המה בתכלית האמת, והאיש רעוועל יודע זאת ושותק, סוף החילול השם הגדול הזה תלוי בידי השם שהוא מאריך אף אבל גם מדת חרון אף יש לה גבול וקצתי מלכתוב עוד בענינים אלו, וכן על פיטעגארסקי וגאלדמאן שכבר איבדו חייהם, חיי נצח ואף חיי

8שעה לא קבלו בתמורתם.

ביום הראשון היו בכאן הבחירות בעד הקאנגרעס הציוני' גם עניך הציונות הוא מהנבלות הגדולות שאנשי אמעריקא אינם מבינים אותו כראוי' משום שהציונות אינה כ"כ פעילה שם בחיי היהודים, אבל כאן שהיא פעילה מאד ורואים תוצאותו, כל יהודי חרד הירא לדבר ה' רואה בהם סם המות ליהדות ונפשי בוערת בי כשאני חושב עליהם, וכיחוד הציוניסטען סאציאליסטען שבאמעריקא נקראים פועלי ציון' שמחללים בפרהסיא כל דבר שבקדושה בארצנו הקדושה, ימה

שמם וזכרם. רכבו אמדתי שכל יהודי מאמין צדיך לירא שהתוצאה של כל הטומאה שמכניסים באוצנו הקדושה תברא לידי הקללה של ותקיא הארץ אתכם. וכבר יצאנו בגלות מארצנו משרם שרצתה הארץ את שבתרתי'. רה' יתברך יתן לנר נח להעמיק בתורתו

הקדושה ולראות נפלאות. אכי"ר .

אקרה שיבריא במעון הקיץ , ויהא לו הצלחה רבה עם תלמידיו כראוי לו , ונראה בהרמת קרן התורה,

Berel6 hours ago

Translated

In two weeks, ZA, Rosh Chodosh Av , God, in my relatives in the town of Linkawa, then they have to eat
Dairy food and the food in the restaurant is hard for me. My brother 'was awake there in the tenth of Av. Here I am, You writes to me Regarding s of the villain made by the Summer School . Here I also knew that already when I was there, this blasphemy had already begun, and the Agudas rabonim e was failing for the grave punishment of those who had the ability to protest Yeshiva College and . Revel and the heresy of the heresy who see his College and do not protest with his dark hand, and the announcement of the closing lights of the College in this year came to the end of the year and I saw a Shar'i in the front Dor Pietagadsky delivering a speech
Said they understand hot "responsibility that carries
They must spread light in the dark of America, how empty these things are, and that he does not know in his secret that he and all the finishers can not spread darkness and darkness and add to the darkness of America, which leads to a ridiculous shooting that should bring Judge Kadrizi to agree. "And when the adverts of the language are written in the ad
," Heaven is awake when the wicked will do this what his heart desires, "and that he does not believe in the article of the Sages.
In America, the students of the yeshiva are almost all walking in the street with their heads uncovered, as is known, as they know also

The day they come to know that there are those students who shave their beard and do not wear tzitzis and tefillin every day, and fornicate with nidah and znus and worse

and I write the names of the young men who commit these offenses and I do not believe in them. It is clear to me that until now, You did not know much of this, and his astonishment when You read the words of the truth is true, and the man
Revel knows this and remains silent.

The end of the desecration of this great name depends on the hand of the name that he extends. But even from the religion of anger, it even has a border, and I have no longer written about these matters Fitagarski and Goldman have already lost their lives, immortality and life
They did not receive their money for 8 hours.
On the first day there were elections for the Zionist Congress . "Zionism is also one of the great scoundrels that American people do not understand properly" because Zionism is not so active in Jewish life, but here it is very active and sees its results. Every Jew who fears the word of God sees them The death drug for Judaism and my soul burns in me when I think of them, and like the Zionist Zionists, they call themselves the Poalei Zion, who publicly desecrate everything sacred in our Holy Land,
Their names and their memories. I have estimated that every Jew believes in your side to fear that the result of all the impurity that you put in our holy treasure will be created by the curse of the land. And we have already set out in exile from our land, from the land that the land desired my inheritance. ' The Almighty will allow Noah to deepen his Torah
Holyness and seeing wonders. Chief of Staff.
And he will have great success with his students as he deserves, and he will see the raising of the Torah ,Rosh Chodesh Av

Can We Live Longer but Stay Younger?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/can-we-live-longer-but-stay-younger

Aging, like bankruptcy in Hemingway’s description, happens two ways, slowly and then all at once. The slow way is the familiar one: decades pass with little sense of internal change, middle age arrives with only a slight slowing down—a name lost, a lumbar ache, a sprinkling of white hairs and eye wrinkles. The fast way happens as a series of lurches: eyes occlude, hearing dwindles, a hand trembles where it hadn’t, a hip breaks—the usually hale and hearty doctor’s murmur in the yearly checkup, There are some signs here that concern me.

Deputy minister accused of protecting sex offenders in at least 10 cases

timesofisrael

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman allegedly helped at least 10 serious sex offenders obtain improved conditions, including home visits and other benefits, by pressuring state psychiatrists and prisons service officials, according to a report Tuesday.

Litzman, who hails from the Gur Hasidic community, has been accused in the past of using his influence to protect Malka Leifer, who has been fighting extradition to Australia for allegedly abusing students at a Jewish school there.

According to Channel 13 news, Litzman is suspected of a pattern of pressuring corrections officials to be lenient with other ultra-Orthodox offenders as well.

13tv

המקור, עונה 16, פרק 4: שערוריית ליצמן נחשפת

סגן שר הבריאות יעקב ליצמן, שצפוי להמשיך לשלוט במשרד גם בממשלה הבאה, פעל למען אנסים ופדופילים בעשרה מקרים שונים לפחות. זאת, לאורך כמה שנים, שכללו גם את הקדנציה הראשונה שלו, וגם בזמנים שבהם שלא היה במשרד הבריאות - כך עולה מתחקיר "המקור"

חשד: לפחות חמש ילדות חרדיות הותקפו בשכונה

http://www.bhol.co.il/news/998984

וּבִעַרְתָּ הָרָע מִקִּרְבֶּךָ: בתקופה האחרונה הגיעו מספר דיווחים ותלונות על כך שצעיר כבן 20 מבצע מעשים חמורים בילדות בגילאי 6-7 בשכונות סנהדריה ואזור רחוב שמואל הנביא בירושלים. בעקבות שורת התלונות, נבדקו מצלמות אבטחה ואותר חשוד במעשים.

ל'בחדרי חרדים' נודע, אותו חשוד הופנה על ידי תושב אל פעיל חרדי העוסק רבות בתחום ביעור הרע - בגיבוי רבנים, השניים נפגשו במשרד כלשהו השוכן בשכונת גאולה בירושלים, שם שוחחו. במקביל, הפעיל דיווח למשטרה את הפרטים הידועים לו, וכך, בצהרי היום הגיעו שוטרים למשרד ועצרו את החשוד.

"המשיב ביקש מילדה קטנה להיכנס למקלט ניסה לתקוף אותה והיא ברחה מהמקום"' אמר הטוען המשטרתי. בדיון בבית המשפט סיפר הטוען כי החשוד הגיע אתמול למשרדו של פעיל בקהילה החרדית העוסק כאמור בעבירות אלו, שם "התוודה בפניו" כי ביצע מעשים חמורים במספר קטינות. "לטענתו, עשה זאת מספר רב של פעמים בהם שידל להגיע עמו למקלט וביצע עבירות", אמר.

בחקירתו במשטרה, טען החשוד כי התוודה בפני הפעיל, "רק כדי לרצות אותו", וגם כי "פחד שלא יכו אותי אנשים אחרים". המשטרה ביקשה מבית המשפט להאריך את מעצרו בחמישה ימים, מחשש ל"מסוכנות בעוצמה גבוהה כלפי בטחון הציבור". לדברי הטוען המשטרתי, מדובר בלפחות חמישה מקרים בהם הוא חשוד כי ביצע עבירות חמורות בילדות קטנות.

ל'בחדרי חרדים' נודע, כי אותו 'פעיל', עוסק מזה שנים בתחום זה בכפוף להוראות הרבנים והתייעצות עמהם, חשודים רבים נעצרו על ידי המשטרה הודות לפעילותו. 

What did Rashida Tlaib say about the Holocaust? It’s probably not what you think

https://www.timesofisrael.com/what-did-rashida-tlaib-say-about-the-holocaust-its-probably-not-what-you-think/

Republican lawmakers like Rep. Lee Zeldin were criticized, deservedly, for distorting Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s comments about the Holocaust by suggesting she said that she gets a “calming feeling” when she thinks about the genocide.

If you read or listen to the Michigan Democrat’s comments, it is crystal clear that she said no such thing. The Republican pile-on, joined by US President Donald Trump, is a further weaponization of anti-anti-Semitism, this time based on a comment that the target never made.

But it’s not just Republicans who appeared to distort Tlaib’s now notorious remarks. It was the ostensibly nonpartisan Jewish commentariat and media as well, in which I will include our own site, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and take full responsibility.

Saudi Arabia is Blaming Iran for a Drone Attack Amid Calls for U.S. Strikes

http://time.com/5590840/saudi-arabia-drone-attack-iran-us-airstrikes/

 Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of being behind a drone strike that shut down a key oil pipeline in the kingdom, and a newspaper close to the palace called for Washington to launch “surgical” strikes on Iran, raising the specter of escalating tensions as the U.S. boosts its military presence in the Persian Gulf.

Concerns about possible conflict have flared after the U.S. dispatched warships and bombers to the region to counter an alleged but unspecified threat from Iran. There also have been allegations that four oil tankers were sabotaged Sunday off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, and Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on the Saudi pipeline.

Here's What Eating Processed Foods for Two Weeks Does to Your Body

http://time.com/5589702/processed-foods-weight-gain-diet/

It wasn’t a shock to find ultra-processed foods weren’t healthy—other research has linked them to a higher risk of cancer and obesity. What was unexpected was that sugar, fat and salt didn’t seem to be what was driving people to overeat. “I was surprised by the results,” says Kevin Hall, lead author of the study and senior investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. “It’s the first trial that can actually demonstrate that there is a causal relationship between something about ultra-processed foods—independent of those nutrients—that cause people to overeat and gain weight.”

Trump Admin Moves Fueled Iran’s Aggression, U.S. Intel Says

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admin-moves-fueled-irans-aggression-us-intel-says

Trump administration hawks have spent the last two weeks decrying an increased threat from Iran. But U.S. intelligence officials assess that Iran’s aggressive moves came in response to the administration’s own actions.

Three U.S. government officials familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that officials in multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran’s new, threatening activity–which the administration points to in justifying its military presence in the Persian Gulf–is in response to the administration’s aggressive steps over the last two months. The National Security Council, the CIA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not provide comment for this story.

Congress Must Stop Trump From Blundering Into America’s Most Dangerous War in Decades

http://time.com/5590697/trump-bolton-iran-war/

It’s time for the American people to become fully alert to a dreadful possibility. The United States, led by an erratic chief executive who is frequently ignored even by his closest advisers, may find itself stumbling into its worst war in more than a generation — in spite of publicly-expressed reservations from the president himself and without the Congressional authorization that the Constitution requires. The result could be a perfect storm of danger and distrust, culminating not just in a military emergency abroad but also a simultaneous and serious political crisis at home.

SHOULD TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BE TRUSTED ON IRAN? ISRAEL GAVE U.S. MISSILE REPORTS AND EXPERTS ARE WARY

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-iran-israel-reports-1428048

As The New York Times previously reported Thursday and confirmed by Newsweek, the Trump administration’s recent escalation was rooted in intelligence suggesting Iran was arming its fast attack fleet with missiles, an apparent sign of potential attacks to come in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the world’s top oil traffic chokepoint. Newsweek has further learned from one Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that this evidence was based on satellite imagery provided to U.S. officials by Israel, an avowed foe of the Islamic Republic.

Much of the information regarding alleged Iranian threats has also been streamed from the National Security Council (NSC), whose hawkish chief—John Bolton—has similarly hyped up the threat posed by Tehran for years. A second source, a U.S. military official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that the council’s warnings of heightened threats posed by Iran-aligned Iraqi militias such as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) did not appear to match the Pentagon’s own observations.

“The threat stream I’ve seen doesn’t line up with what the NSC is leaking, let me put it that way,” the second official told Newsweek. “The PMF is no more or less a threat than before all this bullshit began.”

With Bolton leading the charge against Iran at home and Israel feeding information from abroad, concerns have been raised that the U.S. was once again on its way to war against a Middle Eastern adversary based on a questionable pretext, as it did in 2003 against Iraq.

“Be on the lookout for Iraq 2.0 justifications. I’m not even kidding,” the second official told Newsweek. “Think about the intel indicators prior to the Iraq invasion. Compare. Then get really uneasy.”

Trump's irritation with top aides grows over Iran strategy

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/16/politics/donald-trump-iran-john-bolton-mike-pompeo/index.html

President Donald Trump has become irritated at an emerging impression his hawkish national security advisers are marching him closer to war with Iran despite his isolationist tendencies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, Trump is signaling his intent to speak with the Iranians as tensions rise in the Persian Gulf, and his national security team has taken steps they hope could facilitate a new diplomatic opening.

IRAN THREAT IS ACTUALLY MISSILES ON SMALL BOATS, AND AMERICA'S ALLIES THINK TRUMP IS OVERREACTING: REPORT

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-threat-missiles-intelligence-warning-donald-trump-overreacting-allies-1426979

According to The New York Times, multiple unnamed U.S. officials told the newspaper that the U.S.’s dire warnings of devastating retaliation against Iran were based on photographs of paramilitaries loading up small boats with missiles, threats against commercial shipping and indications of possible attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

The Times report said overhead imagery had captured Iranian paramilitaries arming small boats in the Persian Gulf with fully assembled missiles, prompting fears they might be used to attack American ships in the region. Images showed the boats—believed to be under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—being armed at several ports, raising concerns of imminent attack or that the weapons would be transferred to regional Iranian proxies for use in more deniable operations.

Iran’s low-tech navy is no match for the world-leading American vessels, but asymmetric tactics using small boats for conventional missile and even suicide attacks could still inflict significant casualties on a U.S. naval formation and could shut down commercial shipping in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

As well as freshly armed vessels, American officials told The Times the U.S. had picked up threats against commercial shipping in the region. Last weekend’s sabotage attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates showed the impact such operations could have. Iran claimed innocence, and the U.S. said it did not yet have conclusive proof of Tehran’s involvement. The U.S. Maritime Administration warned all ships to exercise caution when traveling past the area.

Other intelligence reportedly indicated Iran might try to use pro-Tehran militias in Iraq to attack U.S. troops or facilities there. This convinced the State Department on Wednesday to withdraw all nonemergency staff from its embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil.

https://www.newsweek.com/us-iran-trump-little-support-war-1426578

U.S.-IRAN CRISIS: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS LITTLE INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR WAR

With the U.S. drawing up military options against Iran and pulling diplomatic staff Wednesday from neighboring Iraq amid alleged Tehran-tied threats to U.S. interests in the region, temperatures were running even higher than usual in the Persian Gulf. The U.S., traditionally a nation of robust international alliances, has managed to gradually erode its partnerships since Trump took office in 2017, however, and Washington has found itself largely alone in its approach to the current crisis.

Having unilaterally walked away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal also signed by China, the E.U., France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom and having threatened the world with sanctions for trading with Tehran, a hawkish White House's "maximum pressure" campaign has been met with deep skepticism by friends and foes alike.

"The administration’s policy has clearly been to portray Iran as the bad guy here. Iran isn't the bad guy here for a change," Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at The Century Foundation think tank and the Belfer Center at Harvard University's Kennedy School. "It's important to highlight that, on this issue, America is really isolated; Europe, Russia, China, no one is really buying into this push against Iran."

https://www.kikar.co.il/317089.html

בני הזוג ה"חרדים" התגלו כצמד מיסיונרים

דוד ורבקה וובר, הוא עובד בחנות מכולת כשרה והיא כמטפלת - אורח חייהם לא עורר כל חשד בקהילה החרדית של שיקגו • כעת הם נחשפו כמיסיונרים - והרבנים מזהירים מפניהם (חרדים)

http://crownheights.info/photo-galleries/641075/missionaries-exposed-in-chicago-hiding-in-the-chicago-frum-community/

A missionary couple has been exposed hiding as a Frum couple in the Chicago Jewish community. The couple was exposed by a visiting Sofer who recognized them.

by CrownHeights.info

A couple who called themselves Dovid and Rivkah Weber were exposed in the Chicago Frum community as missionaries.

The couple, who look and act like Frum Jews, had moved to Chicago only two months ago, and had already integrated with the frum community.

David, whose real name is Dovid Costello, was working in a local kosher store, while Rivkah had a job as a babysitter for members of the community.

FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST SAYS TRUMP VIOLATED CONSTITUTION'S 'SEPARATION OF POWERS' THREE TIMES IN PAST WEEK

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-violated-constitution-separation-powers-three-times-1427253

Napolitano outlined the three directives from Trump and explained how they violated the Constitution. The first was the president’s order to acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to not purchase a missile defense system approved by Congress and instead use the funds to construct a wall on the southern border of the U.S. with Mexico. Second, the former judge cited Trump’s order to send troops to secure the border and said it “violates the separation of powers,” as the president’s oath does not allow military forces to be deployed to deal with domestic issues. Napolitano also argued that Trump’s decision to implement 25 percent tariffs on Chinese goods was akin to levying a “national federal sales tax” on American consumers, which the president does not have power to do under the Constitution.

“It is dangerous when presidents write their own laws, impose their own taxes, spend money how they want and Congress looks the other way,” he asserted. “It’s dangerous because its too much of an accumulation of power in the presidency, and it imbalances that delicate balance that the separation of powers created.”

Hundreds of haredim attend anti-vaccine symposium in Monsey

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/263231

Jews are being persecuted as disease carriers amid the outbreak of measles, a New York haredi Orthodox rabbi said at a symposium with leaders of the anti-vaccination movement attended by hundreds of haredim.

“We Hasidim have been chosen as the target,” said Rabbi Hillel Handler, a Holocaust survivor from Monsey, a Rockland County town with a large haredi population, according to The New York Times. “The campaign against us has been successful.”

Top Anti-Vaxxer Says He Learned All He Needs to Know From Being a Producer on ‘Dr. Phil’ and ‘The Doctors’

the daily beast

Last month, Del Bigtree stood behind a podium at a Texas rally, his flowing gray hair blowing in the wind, to talk about the supposed perils of government-mandated vaccines—a speech he has given all over the country.

This time, he had a prop: Near the end of his speech, he affixed a yellow Star of David to his coat. It was a symbol, he said, of solidarity with New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, which is in the throes of a measles outbreak.

Bigtree is one of the most visible members of the growing anti-vaxxer movement. He produced the headline-grabbing film Vaxxed, and his nonprofit raked in more than a million bucks in 2017. He has 13,000 Twitter followers and 114,000 likes on the Facebook page for his streamed show.

What he doesn’t have is a medical degree or scientific training, though he does say he read a lot of medical material while working as a producer on the TV talk show The Doctors.

Andrew Wakefield, others hold anti-vaccine rally amid raging measles outbreaks

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/andrew-wakefield-others-hold-anti-vaccine-rally-amid-raging-measles-outbreaks/

Ars Technica

Join Ars Technica and

Get Our Best Tech Stories

DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX.

Will be used in accordance with our

Privacy Policy

Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree, and other prominent anti-vaccine advocates unleashed fear and toxic misinformation last night at a well-attended symposium in New York’s Rockland County. The area is currently grappling with one of the largest and longest-standing measles outbreaks in the country, mainly in its tight-knit, ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cake-coffee-and-misinformation-inside-an-anti-vaxxer-meeting

Rocking babies and munching on cake, hundreds of people—many of them members of New York’s Orthodox Jewish community—gathered late Monday night at an anti-vaxxers rally in the Atrium, a ballroom in Monsey, about an hour north of New York City.

The event, advertised on WhatsApp and robocalls as a “Vaccines Symposium” and “a night of science, discussion, and truth,” featured mainly secular speakers, including anti-vax YouTuber Del Bigtree, “holistic pediatrician” Lawrence Palevsky, and Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced gastroenterologist and author of a now-retracted 1998 study linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.

“Your news anchors and the media outside this building just want to talk about measles,” Bigtree told the rapt crowd. “I want to talk about autism. I want to talk about the greatest epidemic of our lifetime.” The audience burst into applause.

Measles is galloping through New York’s Orthodox community at a rate not seen in years, with nearly 500 cases reported so far. The outbreak has led to yeshiva closures and spread fear among parents of infants who are too young to be immunized and are at risk of infection.

Although study after study has shown childhood vaccinations to be safe and effective, there are still parents who refuse to get the shots for their kids.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/nyregion/measles-vaccine-orthodox-jews.html
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2019/05/14/measles-rockland-speaks-out-against-anti-vaccine-forum-monsey/3664266002/

Rabbi Asher Weiss: Jewish law obligates vaccination

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/263137

Rabbi Asher Weiss, one of the leading halakhik authorities of the generation, participated in the biennial convention of the Conference of European Rabbis in Antwerp, Belgium this week.

Rabbi Weiss addressed many medical issues and presented how Jewish law views the many technological developments made in medicine and genetics.

In his remarks, Rabbi Weiss spoke clearly and decisively on the phenomenon of people choosing not to receive vaccinations or to vaccinate their children. The rabbi emphasized that this is a severe halakhic prohibition and that according to all rules of halakha (Jewish Law), a parent must ensure that his children are vaccinated.

"It's a halakhic obligation to vaccinate our children," Rabbi Weiss said.