Yeshiva World News

This is a real tragic story –  happening right now. The family is sitting Shiva – as you read this. A mother left alone with her 6 children: After a long, difficult, and unexpected battle, Gideon Aharonoff (Yosef Gideon Yaakov Ben Yitzchak) succumbed to his cancer and been called up to the Olam Haemet at a very young age. He was the primary breadwinner. He left behind an Almana and 6 young children under the age of 13 (including the youngest two being a set of twins). Your donation will help them get back on their feet financially and help them recover from such a terrible tragedy. We greatly appreciate your contribution. This campaign has been verified by the following Rabbonim of Queens:Rabbi Weinberger of Khal Bais YitzchokRabbi Niasov of Congregation Anshei ShalomRabbi Nasirov of Congregation Bet-ElRabbi Zvi Gluck of Amudim PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE. May you be zoche to much Bracha.

The post A young mother of 6 still In Shiva for the loss of her husband – Lets join and support her however much we can. appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

In just a few hours, we will all be on our way to Kol Nidre. We prepare in many ways for Yom Kippur, including by making sure our clothing is neat and clean, and our kittels are pressed. That is because when we are dressed properly, we daven properly. For thousands of families, that is easier said than done. They simply don’t have the resources to buy new clothing for their children. That’s where Bobbie’s Place comes in. Thousands of families and more than 11,000 children and teens rely on Bobbie’s Place for their clothing. They will go to shul this Yom Kippur and daven proudly, confidently and beautifully. Bobbie’s Place is truly tzedakah done the right way – respectful of the dignity of the recipients and of the contributions of the donors. Bobbie’s Place has no paid employees and minimal overhead, so every dollar donated is used to purchase new clothing. Donate today, and ensure that the tefilos of these tinokos shel beis rabban will also be your tefilos. Watch this 30 second video with Rav Elya Brudny and Rav Yisroel Reisman explaining the importance of helping these children and families. May we all merit a gmar chasima tova and a gut g’bensht yahr.

The post Want To Make Sure That Tefillos Of Tinokis Shel Bais Rabban Will Also Be Yours? appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

A father and son nearly drowned at the beach in Ashkelon as they were toiveling ahead of Yom Kippur. The 54-year-old father and his -y19ear-old son were pulled from the water after exhibiting distress, and medics quickly arrived to treat the patients. “I performed CPR on the father, and then he was then taken to Barzilai Hospital in critical condition. The son was evacuated in light-to-moderate condition,” said medic Chanan Kadosh. “About a half hour earlier, we performed CPR on a man who drowned at a nearby beach. That man miraculously survived, even regaining consciousness before being transported to the hospital in moderate condition,” he added. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The post Father and Son Nearly Drown in Ashkelon While Toiveling for Yom Kippur appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Trading in shares of Twitter was halted after the stock spiked on reports that Elon Musk would proceed with his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months of legal battles. Musk offered to buy the San Francisco company at $54.20. Shares jumped nearly 13% to $47.95 before trading stopped. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the case who were not identified. Musk has been trying to back out of the deal for several months after signing on to buy the social media platform in April. Shareholders have already approved the sale. Musk claimed that Twitter under-counted the number of fake accounts on its platform, and Twitter sued when Musk announced the deal was off. Neither Twitter nor lawyers for Musk responded to messages seeking comment on Tuesday. The trial seeking to compel Musk to buy Twitter is set to start in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17. Musk’s argument for walking away from the deal — has largely rested on the allegation that Twitter misrepresented how it measures the magnitude of “spam bot” accounts that are useless to advertisers. But most legal experts believed he faced an uphill battle in convincing Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the court’s head judge, that something changed since the April merger agreement that justifies terminating the deal. (AP)

The post Report: Musk Proposes Going Ahead with Deal to Buy Twitter appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

  As you begin Neilah in America, the children of the Zichron Moshe families we are supporting will gather with the Rabbonim to daven that all the donors be zoche to a gmar chasima tova. TODAY ONLY, Erev Yom Kippur- ALL DONATIONS MATCHED 2X! Donate now, and submit your kvittel to be recited by the children and the Rabbonim at this mammad tefillah in Yerushalayim. JOIN HERE   WITH JUST A FEW HOURS LEFT TO YOM TOV, OVER 200 FAMILIES STILL NEED TO BE FUNDED. About the Campaign: The past year has been a very difficult year for the Yidden in Zichron Moshe. The cost of rising inflation coupled with the weakened dollar has impacted many families, causing us to add over 100 families to the Kupah. As we approach the Yamin Noraim we ask you to remember the Talmidei Chachamim and Tzadikim that rely on our assistance every Yom Tov. This year, you can personally adopt a family from Zichron Moshe and provide for their Yom Tov needs. Every family has its own struggles – a sick child, a family member struggling with mental illness, a father who lost his job. The Jews of Zichron Moshe have always been an inspiration to countless people, including the hundreds of American bachurim who flock each year to learn in Eretz Yisrael. Now is our chance to show this precious community that we care about them and that we stand by their side. As we celebrate Yom Tov with our own families, let us give our brothers in Eretz Yisrael a reason to celebrate as well. CLICK HERE TO JOIN   CLICK TO VIEW MORE FAMILIES To Our Brothers in Klal Yisroel, You are fortunate that you have merited to be the emissaries of Hashem, to take the zchus in the mitzvah of tzedakah, for poor Talmidei Chachamim that toil in Torah with bare necessities, on an unimaginable level of devotion to Torah and Mitzvos while it is hard for them even to bring bread for their children. These are talmidei chachamim that the world stands on, that are living in extreme poverty. Baruch Hashem, in our neighborhood we have a group of local trustworthy individuals, that took upon themselves to worry for these families and to assist them in every way possible. We know these gabaim and that all their activities are all lshem shamayim . It is a tremendous zchus to help them and to take part in this great mitzvah and fortunate is the one that will stand with these chashuve askanim. In this zchus may you all be blessed with all good, and Hashem should grant you all your heart’s desires, and you will merit nachas from your families, with health and great hashpaah. HaRav Gamliel Hakohen Rabinovitch Harav Moshe Elyashiv HaRav Ahron Fisher HaRav Yitzchak Soloveitchik CLICK HERE TO DONATE  

The post Rav Gamliel Pleads: This Is Your greatest Zchus For Yom Kippur! appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The Badatz released a call on Erev Yom Kippur for people to daven for Harav Moshe ben Devorah Sternbuch, who is experiencing breathing problems and general weakness. The gadol is currently being treated at home by a 24-hour team of medical professionals, but his general matzav is not good, according to his gabbaim. In a letter, the Badatz requested that everyone work to tear open shaarei shamayim to achieve the gaon’s refuah sheleima. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)  

The post TEHILLIM: HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch in Need of Rachamei Shamayim appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Twitter wants a Delaware court to order Elon Musk to buy the social media service for $44 billion, as he promised back in April. But what if a judge makes that ruling and Musk balks? The Tesla billionaire’s reputation for dismissing government pronouncements has some worried that he might flout an unfavorable ruling of the Delaware Court of Chancery, known for its handling of high-profile business disputes. Musk hopes to win the case that’s headed for an October trial. He’s scheduled to be deposed by Twitter attorneys starting Thursday. But the consequences of him losing badly — either by an order of “specific performance” that forces him to complete the deal, or by walking away from Twitter but still coughing up a billion dollars or more for breach of contract — has raised concerns about how the Delaware court would enforce its final ruling. “The problem with specific performance, especially with Elon Musk, is that it’s unclear whether the order of the court would be obeyed,” retired Delaware Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Berger told CNBC in July. “And the courts in Delaware — courts all over — are very concerned about issuing a decision or issuing an order that then is ignored, flouted.” Berger, who was also a vice chancellor of the Chancery Court in the 1980s and 1990s, stood by those concerns in an interview with The Associated Press but said she doubted the Delaware institution would go so far as to make him complete the deal. “The court can impose sanctions and the court can kind of coerce Musk into taking over the company,” she said. “But why would the court do that when what really is at stake is money?” Berger said she expects San Francisco-based Twitter to prevail, but said a less tumultuous remedy for the company and its shareholders would make Musk pay monetary damages. “The court doesn’t want to be in a position to step in and essentially run this company,” she said. Musk and his lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment. Other legal observers say such defiance is almost impossible to imagine, even from a famously combative personality such as Musk. He acknowledged he might lose in August in explaining why he suddenly sold nearly $7 billion worth of Tesla shares. “I take him at his word,” said Ann Lipton, an associate law professor at Tulane University. “He wants to win. Maybe he’s got his own judgment as to what the odds are. But he’s also being sort of practical about this. He’s getting some cash ready so he doesn’t have to dump his Tesla shares if it turns out he is ordered to buy the company.” A ruling of specific performance could force Musk to pay up his $33.5 billion personal stake in the deal; the price increases to $44 billion with promised financing from backers such as Morgan Stanley. The Delaware court has powers to enforce its orders, and could appoint a receivership to seize some of Musk’s assets, namely Tesla stock, if he doesn’t comply, according to Tom Lin, a law professor at Temple University. In a precedent set just this week involving contempt for noncompliance with a court order, a judge affirmed that shares of a company incorporated in Delaware are personal property subject to the Court of […]

The post What If Musk Loses the Twitter Case but Defies the Court? appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case, a sign that the wide-ranging probe has entered a new phase. The revelation came Monday in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury seated to help the investigation. In an order sealing any search warrants and related documents from being made public, McBurney wrote that District Attorney Fani Willis’ office is “now seeking to obtain and execute a series of search warrants, the affidavits for which are predicated on sensitive information acquired during the investigation.” Disclosure of the information could compromise the investigation, McBurney wrote, “by, among other things, causing flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, and intimidation of potential witnesses.” It could also result in risks to the “safety and well-being” of people involved in the investigation, he wrote. It wasn’t immediately clear who the targets of the search warrants are or whether any search warrants had yet to be approved by a judge. To obtain a search warrant, prosecutors must convince a judge they have probable cause that a crime occurred at the location where authorities want to search. As Willis’ investigation ramps up, the public court filings in the case have provided a rare window into the workings of a special grand jury that meets behind closed doors. Willis, a Democrat, opened the investigation early last year, shortly after the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump suggested that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In addition to the Trump-Raffensperger call, Willis confirmed early on that she was investigating a call that Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made to Raffensperger, the sudden departure of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in early January 2021 and statements made during legislative committee meetings by people pushing debunked claims casting doubt on the legitimacy of the state’s election. Court filings in recent months have also shown that Willis is interested in a slate of fake electors who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. She said in a court filing that the 16 Georgia Republicans who signed that certificate have all been notified they are targets of the investigation, meaning they could face criminal charges. Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor and Trump lawyer, say their client has also been notified that he’s a target of Willis’ investigation. He appeared at state legislative committee hearings in December 2020 and made claims of election fraud in Georgia. Giuliani was also involved in coordinating the fake elector plan, Willis wrote in a court filing. He testified before the special grand jury in August. Willis’ investigation has also expanded into a breach of voting equipment at the elections office in a rural Georgia county, some 200 miles southeast of Atlanta. Documents, emails, security video and deposition testimony produced in response to subpoenas in a long-running lawsuit have shown that lawyer Sidney Powell and other […]

The post Georgia Election Probe Enters New Phase with Search Warrants appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Federal officials are warning ahead of the November midterms that Russia is working to amplify doubts about the integrity of U.S. elections while China is interested in undermining American politicians it sees as threats to Beijing’s interests. An unclassified intelligence advisory, newly obtained by The Associated Press, says China is probably seeking to influence select races to “hinder candidates perceived to be particularly adversarial to Beijing.” In the advisory, sent to state and local officials in mid-September, intelligence officials said they believe Beijing sees a lower risk in meddling in the midterms versus a presidential election. While officials said they’ve not identified any credible threats to election infrastructure in the U.S., the latest intelligence warning comes amid the peak of a midterm campaign in which a rising number of candidates and voters openly express a lack of confidence in the nation’s democratic processes. Foreign countries have long sought to sway public opinion in America, perhaps most notably in a covert Russian campaign that used social media to sow discord on hot-button social issues ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The U.S. government has been on high alert since, warning about efforts by Russia, China and Iran to meddle in American politics and shape how voters think. The U.S. faces foreign influence campaigns while still dealing with growing threats to election workers domestically and the systematic spread of falsehoods and disinformation about voter fraud. Former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters — including candidates running to oversee elections in several states — continue to lie about the 2020 presidential election even as no evidence has emerged of significant voter fraud. “The current environment is pretty complex, arguably much more complex than it was in 2020,” Jen Easterly, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm, told reporters Monday. Russia is amplifying divisive topics already circulating on the Internet — including doubts about the integrity of American elections — but not creating its own content, said a senior FBI official who briefed reporters Monday on the condition of anonymity under terms set by the bureau. Overall, the official said, China’s efforts are focused more on shaping policy perspectives, including at the state and local level, rather than on electoral outcomes. Still, China appears to have focused its attention on a “subset of candidates” in the U.S. it sees as opposed to its policy interests, the official explained. In one high-profile case, the Justice Department in March charged Chinese operatives in a plot to undermine the candidacy of a Chinese dissident and student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 who was running for a congressional seat in New York. The briefing Monday came weeks after DHS distributed an advisory that described China’s approach during this midterm as different from the 2020 election, when the intelligence community assessed that China considered but did not deploy efforts to influence the presidential election. There were publicly revealed examples during the last presidential election of influence campaigns originating in China. Facebook in September 2020 took down pages that posted what it said was a “small amount of content” on the election; that effort focused primarily on the South China Sea. The DHS advisory doesn’t list specific races or states where it thinks China-linked actors might operate, but cites the March indictment alleging […]

The post US Warns About Foreign Efforts to Sway American Voters appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Help Israel’s hungry before it’s too late!! BEFORE YOM KIPPUR Fill the plates of Israel’s impoverished! CLICK HERE TO DONATE CLICK HERE TO DONATE

The post Help Israel’s hungry before it’s too late!! Help them before Yom Kippur appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t take up two cases that involved challenges to a ban enacted during the Trump administration on bump stocks, the gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns. The justices’ decision not to hear the cases comes on the heels of a decision in June in which the justices by a 6-3 vote expanded gun-possession rights, weakening states’ ability to limit the carrying of guns in public. The cases the justices declined to hear were an appeal from a Utah gun rights advocate and another brought by the gun rights group Gun Owners of America and others. As is typical the justices made no comments in declining to hear the cases and they were among many the court rejected Monday, the first day of the court’s new term. The Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks took effect in 2019 and came about as a result of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. The gunman, a 64-year-old retired postal service worker and high stakes gambler, used assault-style rifles to fire more than 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes into the crowd of 22,000 music fans. Most of the rifles were fitted with bump stock devices and high-capacity magazines. A total of 58 people were killed in the shooting and two died later. More than 850 people were injured. The Trump administration’s move was an about-face for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2010, under the Obama administration, the agency found that bump stocks should not be classified as a “machinegun” and therefore should not be banned under federal law. Under the Trump administration, officials revisited that determination and found it incorrect. The high court previously declined a different opportunity to take a case involving the ban. The cases the court rejected Monday are W. Clark Aposhian v. Merrick B. Garland, 21-159, and Gun Owners of America v. Merrick B. Garland, 21-1215. (AP)

The post Supreme Court Rejects Bump Stock Ban Cases appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

North Carolina’s State Board of Elections directed county election officials on Monday not to engage in signature matching when reviewing absentee ballot envelopes this fall after a judge rejected the GOP appeal of a state board ruling prohibiting the practice. According to a directive sent to county election directors from the board’s legal counsel Paul Cox, the judge’s ruling maintains the status quo outlined in state law, which requires that all absentee voters fill out their ballots in the presence of two witnesses or a notary. Absentee ballot request forms in North Carolina must also include a date of birth and either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security Number. The North Carolina Republican Party had filed motions in Wake County Superior Court last week, asking the court to block the state board from enforcing its declaratory ruling that prevented county election officials from comparing signatures on absentee ballot request forms and return envelopes with the signatures included in voter registration records. Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell ruled from the bench Monday afternoon, denying the party’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preventing the use of signature matching in the 2022 general election, state board spokesperson Pat Gannon said. “Under state law, absentee voter identity is confirmed via the confidential personal information provided by the voter in requesting a ballot, the voter’s attestation on the ballot envelope and the attestation of two witnesses or a notary that the voter voted the ballot,” Cox wrote in a directive obtained by The Associated Press. The board’s Democratic majority in July had rejected an initial signature matching proposal introduced by Republicans, citing concerns that it could create unequal voting access and allow partisan bias to contaminate the electoral process. Republicans, for their part, argue signature verification is another necessary element of electoral transparency. In addition to pushing for its adoption, they are also fighting the state board’s proposed restrictions on party-appointed poll watchers. “When we have those signatures on file, it is ludicrous not to be able to use them,” said North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley. “This is a very common sense tool, and I think it’s inexplicable that the board had instructed not only that the boards don’t have to use it but that they can’t use it.” (AP)

The post Judge Denies GOP Appeal for Signature Checks on Mail Ballots appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Russia’s retreat from a key Ukrainian city over the weekend elicited outcry from an unlikely crowd – state-run media outlets that typically cast Moscow’s war in glowing terms. A series of embarrassing military losses in recent weeks has presented a challenge for prominent hosts of Russian news and political talk shows struggling to find ways to paint Ukraine’s gains in a way that is still favorable to the Kremlin. Frustration with the battlefield setbacks has long been expressed in social media blogs run by nationalist pundits and pro-Kremlin analysts, and the volume grew after Ukraine’s counteroffensive last month around Kharkiv in the northeast. But it is now spilling out on state TV broadcasts and in the pages of government-backed newspapers. The less conciliatory tone from state-run media comes as President Vladimir Putin faces widespread Russian discontent about his partial mobilization of reservists and as government officials struggle to explain plans to annex Ukrainian regions at the same time they are being retaken by Kyiv’s forces. “The Russian defeat in Kharkiv (region) and Lyman, combined with the Kremlin’s failure to conduct partial mobilization effectively and fairly are fundamentally changing the Russian information space,” Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a report. On Sunday, after Ukraine recaptured Lyman, a city in the east that Russian troops had used as a key logistics and transport hub, Putin’s media allies dropped the niceties and more directly criticized his military, saying tougher measures were necessary for the sake of victory. “What happened on Saturday, Lyman – it is a serious challenge for us,” Vladimir Solovyov, host of a prime-time talk show on state TV channel Russia 1 and one of the Kremlin’s biggest cheerleaders, said on air Sunday. “We need to pull it together, make unpopular, but necessary decisions and act.” Ukrainian forces retook Lyman one day after Moscow celebrated its illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk, roughly 40% of which — now including Lyman – is under Kyiv’s control. The move paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push even further into land that Moscow illegally claims as its own. Ukrainian forces scored more gains in their counteroffensive across at least two fronts Monday, advancing in the very areas Russia moved to absorb. The leader of Chechnya, a Russian region in the North Caucasus, blamed the retreat in Lyman on one general. In an online post, Ramzan Kadyrov, an outspoken supporter of the Kremlin, said the general’s incompetence was being “covered up for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff,” and called for “more drastic measures” to be taken.” A story about the Lyman retreat in Russia’s popular pro-Kremlin tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, painted a bleak picture of the Russian military. The story, published Sunday, said the Russian forces in Lyman were plagued by supply and manpower shortages, poor coordination, and tactical mistakes orchestrated by military officials. “It’s like it has always been,” according to an unnamed soldier quoted in the story who was part of the group that retreated from Lyman to Kreminna, another strategically important city that is in the sights of the Ukrainian army. “There is effectively no communication between different units.” Posting on the social media app Telegram, Russian war correspondents working for state media were also abuzz with reports of the retreat, and some […]

The post Frustration with Ukraine War Spills Out on Russian State TV appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

President Joe Biden promised to “rebuild it all” while visiting Puerto Rico on Monday, as tens of thousands of people remain without power two weeks after Hurricane Fiona struck and residents worry that Washington’s dedication to their recovery could prove fleeting. “I’m committed to this island,” he said after receiving a briefing from local officials, acknowledging that Fiona was only the latest in a string of disasters that have pummeled the U.S. territory in recent years. “Puerto Ricans are a strong people,” Biden said. “But even so, you have had to bear so much, and more than need be, and you haven’t gotten the help in a timely way.” The damage from Fiona, which came only five years after the even more powerful Hurricane Maria, will test his administration’s ability to help the island of 3.2 million people recover and bolster its defenses. Puerto Rico has a higher poverty rate than any state, and it remains vulnerable to storms that are only becoming more powerful and frequent as climate change continues. “What happened with this hurricane is that even though it was Category 1, in terms of water it was like Category 4,” Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, told Biden. Fiona made landfall on Sept. 18, knocking out power to the entire island. Although electricity has been restored to 90% of its 1.47 million customers, more than 137,000 others, mostly in the hardest hit areas of Puerto Rico’s southern and western regions, continue to struggle in the dark. Another 66,000 customers are without water. The weather remained ominous during Biden’s visit on Monday. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed in the distance. “I don’t want the headline to read, ‘Biden brings storm to Puerto Rico,’” he joked. “So I’m gonna maybe have to cut this a little short.” Biden announced the administration will provide $60 million through last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law to help Puerto Rico shore up levees, strengthen flood walls and create a new flood warning system so the island will be better prepared for future storms. Puerto Rico isn’t the only corner of the country that’s reeling from disaster. Florida is cleaning up after Hurricane Ian churned across that state last week, killing more than 60 people, decimating some coastal communities and flooding others. Biden plans to visit Florida on Wednesday to survey damage. “At times like these, our nation comes together, puts aside our political differences and gets to work,” Biden said. The president was accompanied by first lady Jill Biden, who joined volunteers in a sweltering school gymnasium. She helped stuff plastic bags with canned goods, fruit cups, snack packages and rice. Pallets of bottled water were stacked along the wall. Little storm damage was visible during Biden’s few hours on the ground in Puerto Rico after he touched down in Ponce, a city on the southern coast. Fiona caused catastrophic flooding, tore apart roads and bridges, and unleashed more than 100 landslides when it hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 18. At least two people died after being swept away by floods, and several others were killed in accidents related to the use of candles or generator during the island-wide power outage. Government officials have estimated some $3 billion in damages, but warn that costs could rise significantly as evaluations continue. Some people in Puerto Rico […]

The post Biden Tells Puerto Ricans He’s ‘Committed to This Island’ appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

An analysis of the accounting books at Kibbutz Chofetz Chaim, which observes the shemita year, provides moving evidence of Hashem’s bracha for the sixth year. From the data compiled on the kibbutz over the last decade, it can be clearly seen that in the sixth year – in the years 2014 and 2021 – the land had a double bracha and provided double the profit of other years. Shai Reichner, head of the Nahal Sorek Regional Council said: “During the shemita year, I often had the opportunity to pass near the fields of the council’s farmers, which in normal years are full of grain and in the shemita year, all work is stopped, and I am filled with immense pride for the privilege of chairing a council where all the farmers observe the shemita according to halacha.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)  

The post The Neis Of The 6th Yr.: Kibbutz Chofetz Chaim Yielded Double The Profit appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

A state board on Monday rejected claims for $1 million payments for 52 prison inmates who were given six times the proper dose of COVID-19 vaccines last year. The three-member State Appeals Board, which considers state legal financial obligations, unanimously denied the claims from inmates who received the extra doses in April 2021. The 52 inmates who each sought a $1 million payment were among 77 prisoners at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison who had been given overdoses of the Pfizer vaccine by prison nursing staff. The board — made up of State Auditor Rob Sand, State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald and Iowa Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen — accepted the recommendation of the Iowa attorney general’s office lawyers to reject the claims. The lawyers advised that under the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act “the state is immune from claims arising out of administration of the COVID-19 vaccine.” The mistaken doses occurred after the vaccine was delivered in concentrate form that was supposed to be diluted with saline solution. Two nurses were fired after the incident. A spokesman for the union representing prison staff said the overdoses happened after the prison abruptly switched from using the Moderna vaccine to the Pfizer version. Pfizer packages its vaccines in vials that contain six doses apiece and must be diluted with saline solution before use. Moderna’s vaccine does not require dilution. Price said the nurses were given 90 minutes notice and no training on the change in how the new vaccines were to be prepared and delivered before they were to begin administering shots. A corrections department spokesman said the agency expects its nurses to be able to read and follow instructions for administering vaccines to those under their care The inmates experienced side effects commonly associated with the vaccine including soreness at the injection site, body aches, fatigue and fever, a corrections spokesman said. (AP)

The post Panel Rejects $1 Million Payouts to Inmates Given Covid Vaccine Overdoses appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was having none of it when a CNN reporter attempted to corner him over evacuation orders in certain counties that came late – barely a day before Hurricane Ian struck the areas. CNN national correspondent Nadia Romero asked DeSantis about the late issuance of evacuation orders in Lee County, following a New York Times report that other counties issued evacuation orders on Monday, but Lee County waited until Tuesday. “Why do you stand behind Lee County’s decision to not have that mandatory evacuation until the day before the storm?” Romero asked DeSantis. “Well, did you – where was your industry stationed when the storm hit?” DeSantis shot back. “Were you guys in Lee County? No, you were in Tampa.” “So they were following the weather track and they had to make decisions based on that,” DeSantis said. “But, you know, 72 hours, they weren’t even in the cone. 48 hours they were on the periphery, so you have to make the decisions the best you can. I will say they delivered the message to the people. They had shelters open. Everybody had adequate opportunity to get to a shelter within in the county.” Romero kept pushing, trying to get a good soundbite of her pushing DeSantis into a corner, saying that “some of the neighboring counties did have mandatory evacuations before Tuesday.” “I think it’s easy to say in hindsight,” DeSantis said, again noting that Lee County wasn’t even in the cone until just a day before the storm. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The post WRECKED: DeSantis Destroys CNN Reporter Harassing Him Over Evacuation Orders appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear two cases seeking to hold social media companies financially responsible for terrorist attacks. The cases are seen as an important test of the federal law that generally makes internet companies exempt from liability for the material users post on their networks. In the cases the court agreed to hear, relatives of people killed in terrorist attacks in France and Turkey had sued Google, Twitter, and Facebook. They accused the companies of helping terrorists spread their message and radicalize new recruits. One of the cases was thrown out, mostly under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, while the other was allowed to proceed. The court, which began its new term Monday, is expected to hear arguments in the cases this winter with decisions before the court recesses for the summer, usually in late June. One of the cases the justices will hear involves Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen studying in Paris. The Cal State Long Beach student was one of 130 people killed in Islamic State group attacks in November 2015. The attackers struck cafes, outside the French national stadium and inside the Bataclan theater. Gonzalez died in an attack at La Belle Equipe bistro. Gonzalez’s relatives sued Google, which owns YouTube, saying the platform had helped the Islamic State group by allowing it to post hundreds of videos that helped incite violence and recruit potential supporters. Gonzalez’s relatives said that the company’s computer algorithms recommended those videos to viewers most likely to be interested in them. But a judge dismissed the case and a federal appeals court upheld the ruling. The other case the court agreed to hear involves Jordanian citizen Nawras Alassaf. He died in the 2017 attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul where a gunman affiliated with the Islamic State killed 39 people. Alassaf’s relatives sued Twitter, Google and Facebook for aiding terrorism, arguing that the platforms helped the Islamic State grow and did not go far enough in trying to curb terrorist activity on their platforms. A lower court let the case proceed. The cases are Reynaldo Gonzalez et al. v Google, 21-1333, and Twitter et al. v Mehier Taamneh, 21-1496. (AP)

The post High Court Will Hear Social Media Terrorism Lawsuits appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Rav Kolodetsky and Rebbetzin Kolodetsky will daven at the kever of Rav Chaim ZT”L in Eretz Yisroel Motzei Yom Kippur, just as Neilah will be taking place in the United States! Submit your names now HERE.One of Rav Chaim’s final WISHES and PROMISES was to assist his beloved relative.Rav Chaim Z’l mentioned that this is an issue of pikuach nefesh, and whoever donates $375, equivalent to שנה טובה, will be guaranteed a good year.CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW

The post Rav Chaim Zt”L Promised A Good Year For Those Who Help His Relative appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The federal government is scrapping another of its responses to the pandemic. On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped its country-by-country COVID-19 travel health notices that it began issuing early in the pandemic. The reason: Fewer countries are testing for the virus or reporting the number of COVID-19 cases. That limits the CDC’s ability to calculate travelers’ risk, according to the agency. CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said the agency will only post a travel health notice for an individual country if a situation such as a troubling new variant of the virus changes CDC travel recommendations for that country. The CDC still recommends that travelers remain up to date on vaccines and follow recommendations found on its international travel page. That page divides countries into three categories – practice usual precautions, enhanced precautions or avoid nonessential travel. Restrictions such as testing and quarantine requirements greatly slowed international travel earlier in the pandemic, but many countries eventually lifted those rules for fully vaccinated and boosted people to increase tourism. In early 2020, before vaccines were available, the United States barred people who had recently been in any of more than three dozen countries. In 2021, the U.S. instead began requiring people to test negative for COVID-19 shortly before boarding planes to the U.S. That rule too was eventually dropped. (AP)

The post CDC Drops Traveler Health Notices for Individual Countries appeared first on The Yeshiva World.