Yeshiva World News

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday the U.S. Open tennis tournament will be held on its scheduled dates starting in late August – but without spectators – as part of the state’s reopening from shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Tennis Association had decided to go forward with its marquee event in New York City, pending an OK from the state. “We’re excited about the U.S. Open, (which) is going to be held in Queens, Aug. 31 through Sept. 13. It will be held without fans, but you can watch it on TV — and I’ll take that,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing in Albany. “The tennis authorities are going to be taking extraordinary precautions, but that’s going to take place.” Like many sports leagues, the professional tennis tours have been suspended since March because of the COVID-19 outbreak, wiping out more than 40 events around the globe. Soon after Cuomo’s appearance, USTA CEO Mike Dowse released a statement confirming that the hard-court tuneup tournament normally held in Cincinnati in August would move to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows before the U.S. Open. “We recognize the tremendous responsibility of hosting one of the first global sporting events in these challenging times,” Dowse said, “and we will do so in the safest manner possible, mitigating all potential risks.” The U.S. Open normally is each season’s fourth and final Grand Slam tournament but would be the second of 2020, following the Australian Open, which concluded in early February. The French Open was postponed from May and currently is scheduled to start a week after the U.S. Open ends. Wimbledon was canceled altogether for the first time since World War II in 1945. Even with the go-ahead from the state, one significant question remains for the U.S. Open: Which players actually will participate? Such top names as both No. 1-ranked players, Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty, and defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal, have expressed reservations about heading to Flushing Meadows, where an indoor tennis facility was used as a temporary home for hundreds of hospital beds at the height of the city’s coronavirus crisis. Already ruled out, regardless: Roger Federer, who has won five of his men’s-record 20 Grand Slam singles titles at the U.S. Open but announced recently that he is out for the rest of the year after needing a second arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. With international TV contracts — including an annual average of $70 million from ESPN alone — helping offset the loss of money from ticket sales and other onsite revenue, and facing a recession that already led to the recent elimination of more than 100 jobs at the USTA, the association’s board decided to go forward with the U.S. Open despite concerns about COVID-19 and international travel. Cuomo opened Tuesday’s news conference by touting “good news on the numbers, good news on the facts” in New York, which he said now has its lowest number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations since the outbreak began. The USTA plan shared with his government includes limited player entourages; assigned hotels; increased cleaning at the tournament grounds; extra locker room space; daily temperature checks and occasional testing for COVID-19. There would be no qualifying for singles and likely reduced fields for doubles. […]

The post Gov. Cuomo Gives Go-Ahead For US Open Tennis In NY In August appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Davening at the kever of one of the great Tanaim, Rebbi Yonasan Ben Uziel, is commonly known as segulah for finding one’s zivug. Rebbi Yonasan Ben Uziel was a talmid of Rebbi Hillel Hazaken and never married. As he neared the end of his life, he promised that anyone who came to his grave to daven for their bashert would have their tefilos answered. Since then, for generations, many Jews have flocked to his grave in order to pray for success in finding a suitable marriage partner. Rebbi Yonasan Ben Uziel’s Yartheit is a particularly fulfilling day to daven near the graveside. Every year, on the 26th of Sivan, hundreds of people make the trek to Amuka, all with one goal in mind, to pray for themselves or people they know to get married. This year, as Rebbe Yonasan Ben Uziel’s Yartzheit approaches, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita strengthened the powers associated with davening at Rebbi Yonasan Ben Uziel’s grave by blessing everyone that donates $180 to Yesomim and Almanos to be married at the end of this year. HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, along with other Gedolei HaDor, will also daven Tefilas HaShlah on the donors’ behalf on Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Additionally, HaGaon HaRav Chaim will send his sons-in-laws, Rav Yitzchok Kolodetsky and Rav Shraga Steinman to daven on behalf of the donors. Every single individual donor will merit personal tefilos from these Talmidei Chachamim.  Kupat Hair, also wanting to play their part in this unique opportunity, will be sending messengers to Amuka for 40 consecutive days in order to daven for all those who donated.  Take advantage of the rare opportunity HaGaon HaRav Chaim has given us! All those who donate should be blessed to build a Bayis Ne’eman BiYisroel. 

The post Unique Opportunity From HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky; Find Your Zivug! appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

A group of Peruvian Jews made aliyah on a special charter flight on the background of one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Latin America and resulting street riots, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported. The group of 37 landed at Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday and immediately entered a two-week quarantine. Despite being one of the first Latin-American countries to go into lockdown, Peru has suffered the second-largest outbreak in the region, recording 232,992 infections and 6,860 deaths, with the actual numbers believed to be far higher. Almost half of the cases are in Lima, the capital and largest city in the country and where most of the Jewish community lives, a tiny population of about 2,000 in the country of almost 33 million people. “We were required to stay at home as a result of the closure,” Gabriel Shnaider Ackerman, 20, told JTA. “From the window of our house, we could see the riots happening outside.” Peurvian President Martín Vizcarra imposed an early and strict lockdown on March 16, mobilizing police and army forces to enforce it, shared health data with the public, implemented testing and adhered to all the WHO’s recommendations. So what went wrong? Peruvian health officials say that citizens have not been respecting the law. The consequences have been devastating with public hospitals collapsing and tens of thousands fleeing the cities to their rural home villages, many on foot, after the loss of their jobs left them homeless, with some even begging for food door to door. The migration to the country has reversed years of urban migration. Many of Peru’s poor citizens are just not capable of following guidelines, with one out of three poor households not even having access to running water and half of Peruvian homes lacking refrigerators. The poor have no savings and cannot afford to sit at home without working. The coronavirus crisis has become a sad saga for Peru, which in recent years has become a Latin American success story, with years of increasing economic growth allowing millions of poor people to improve their circumstances. Unfortunately, the pandemic has reversed years of growth. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)  

The post 37 Peruvian Jews Make Aliyah, Fleeing From Street Riots & The Coronavirus appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

House Democrats have subpoenaed two Justice Department lawyers to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the politicization of the agency in the Trump administration, the committee’s chairman said Tuesday. The subpoenas set up a potential showdown between Congress and Attorney General William Barr about whether the prosecutors would be allowed to appear before the committee and what they would be permitted to discuss. The subpoenas were announced Tuesday for Aaron Zelinsky, a career Justice Department prosecutor who worked on cases as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, including the case against Trump ally Roger Stone, and John Elias, a career official in the department’s antitrust division. Zelinsky was one of the four lawyers who prosecuted Stone and quit the case after the Justice Department overruled them and said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for the president’s longtime ally and confidant. He currently works in the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. “The Attorney General — who cites his busy schedule as a basis for refusing to appear before the House Judiciary Committee but has made time for multiple television interviews — may have abdicated his responsibility to Congress, but the brave men and women of our civil service have not,” the committee’s chairman, Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement. Nadler said the committee wants to hear from prosecutors and former department officials who “will speak to the lasting damage the President and the Attorney General have inflicted on the Department of Justice.” He said in a statement that Zelinsky could shed additional light on the circumstances surrounding the Stone case and Elias can speak about “improperly motivated activity” in the antitrust division. Whether or not line prosecutors can testify about internal department matters without permission remains the subject of legal dispute, though other Trump administration officials who have been subpoenaed by Congress and want to comply with the demands have done so. Barr told the AP last year that the Justice Department would seek to block any attempt by Congress to subpoena members of the special counsel’s team. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the subpoenas. A former official — Donald Ayer, who served as deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and is a frequent critic of Barr — is also scheduled to appear before the committee at the June 24 hearing. Stone was convicted in November on all seven counts of an indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He was the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted on charges brought as part of Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Before his Feb. 20 sentencing, the Justice Department leadership backed away from its initial recommendation just hours after Trump tweeted his displeasure at the recommendation of up to nine years in prison, saying it had been too harsh. Trump’s tweeting led to a brief flare-up between him and Barr. Stone was sentenced to serve more than three years in prison plus two years’ probation and a $20,000 fine. He’s scheduled to report to prison by the end of the month. (AP)

The post House Subpoenas Justice Dept Lawyers Over Politicization appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Bezeq Israel Telecom, Israel’s biggest telecommunications company announced last week that it is collaborating with Magen David Adom in an initiative to convert thousands of public phone booths into defibrillator stations. In case of an emergency requiring a defibrillator (to restore a patient’s normal heart rate  though an electric shock in the case of cardiac arrest), Israelis would call emergency services which would direct them to the nearest defibrillator while an ambulance is en route. Defibrillators will be locked and will only be able to be accessed with a code, which will be provided over the phone by emergency services. “The concept of repurposing phone booths exists elsewhere in the world,” the MDA project leader of the MDA-Bezeq Israel Telecom collaboration told NoCamels. “There are also a few cities that have changed public phone booths into homes for public access defibrillators as we’re doing. But no one has done so on a national level. We’ve taken the idea up a level and thanks to Israel’s compact size and leading technology capabilities, this lifesaving project will stretch across the country, from Dan to Eilat, and be connected to the national emergency services, Magen David Adom (MDA).” About 11 phone booths have already been converted in a pilot program and “so far, it has proven itself,” the MDA project leader said. “The earlier an electric shock is given to someone in cardiac arrest, the better chances of survival,” MDA said. “Bystanders have the potential to save a life. The first few minutes are critical. Any passerby can call emergency services and then use the defibrillator, even without any medical knowledge until emergency services arrive.” “Public telephones have been a part of us but naturally with the advancement of technology they have become redundant, and we are happy they will be renewed,” Bezeq, which is donating the use of the rarely used phones, said in a statement. Israel had attempted  to install defibrillator stations in the past but the initiative failed, according to the NoCamels report. In August 2017, Ganei Yehoshua Park, Tel Aviv’s largest park which is visited by about 16 million people annually, installed six defibrillator stations. The special cabinets for the defibrillators were all stolen within weeks and were never replaced. However, according to the MDA project leader, the new yellow medical device container is “vandalism-proof” and also has temperature-controlling sensors to keep the device from overheating. “Any citizen can easily operate The Magen David Adom Defibrillator without prior medical knowledge,” MDA Deputy Director-General, Dr. Rafael Strugo, said in a press statement. “The device provides an electric current as needed, dictates the rate of resuscitation, and provides clear voice and visual operating instructions, in Hebrew and in other languages. “Additionally, the device connects to the MDA Emergency Dispatch Center, and the citizen receives additional instructions from medics and paramedics at 101 Dispatch Center. At the same time, MDA teams receive details of the patient, and are on their way to the scene of the incident.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The post Bezeq & MDA Converting Payphone Booths To Defibrillator Stations appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Overturning a previous decision by five Chareidi rabbonim from last week, Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Hagaon HaRav Yitzhak Yosef, has ruled that it is permitted to go to the hospital on Shabbos even when an automatic temperature reading is taken at the entrance to the building. The reading is used to help prevent COVID-19 Coronaviru carriers from spreading the disease. Rav Yosef believes that the reading is an instance of pikuah nefesh and therefore supersedes the ruling against using electricity on Shabbos. Last week, Rabbi Sriel Rozenberg, Rabbi Shevach Tzvi Rosenblat, Rabbi Yitzhak Mordechai Hacohen Rubin, Rabbi Shalom Yosef Gelber and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Lubin instructed people not to go to the hospital on Shabbos unless their situation was life-threatening in order to avoid the automatic body-temperature checks. As this may violate the laws of Shabbos even when automatic temperature devices are used. Rabbi Rozenberg and Rubin are both affiliated with the Karelitz Beis Din, and Rabbi Rosenblat is the Rabbi of the City of Bnei Brak. All five rabbonim said that both manual and automatic temperature readings were forbidden whether when entering hospitals, hotels, or other similar places unless the situation was a case of pikuach nefesh. The automatic readings also generate electricity as a panel lights up with the result thus causing a use of electricity. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The post Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Yosef Permits Use of Automatic Temperature Checks on Shabbos in Public Spaces appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW We are the parents of two boys, and two twin girls 1.5 years old.These kids were born to us after 15 painful years of endless medical treatments, that cost us thousands of dollars which we are still in debt from.This year, 3 days before Rosh Hashana our life turned around and was changed dramatically! After a routine blood test, instead of going home we were headed to the hospital, our one year old Yarden Chaya was found sick with Leukemia and needs an urgent bone marrow transplant! No need to mention..our life was over!Since then i had to leave my job, and i spend most of the day at the hospital with our Yarden Chaya, while my wife is home taking care of the rest of our little kids. CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW You can just imagine how broken we are spiritually and financially.Forget the physical pain and difficulties, we were from the givers and always helped others, and now we are here begging for your help to cover the endless treatments and medical bills, and even our daily basics. The stress and worries are bringing us down and we feel like we just can’t any more.We are asking and pleading for you to open your hearts, and help us as much as you can so at least the financial burden will ease off our shoulders, and we will be able to focus on our baby Chaya.בברכה שתמיד תהיו מהנותנים ולא מהמקבלים! CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW

The post our 2 year old Yarden Chaya was found sick with Leukemia and needs an urgent bone marrow transplant! appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The head of the U.S. communications regulator said T-Mobile’s nationwide, hours-long outage Monday was “unacceptable” and that the Federal Communications Commission will investigate. T-Mobile, one of the country’s three largest cellphone service providers, said it had a “voice and text wireless issue” that began around noon EDT Monday. The company said at 1 a.m. Tuesday that all problems should be resolved. The company blamed an internet-traffic issue that caused problems with its network for the outage. AT&T and Verizon both said their networks were operating normally. But calls between their customers and T-Mobile customers could have run into trouble because of T-Mobile’s issues, creating the impression of a widespread communications failure. The FCC has fined telecom companies in the past for network outages. T-Mobile paid a $17.5 million fine for two nationwide service outages on the same day in August 2014, which together lasted three hours and prevented customers from being able to call 911. Public-safety officials were worried about lack of access to 911 on Monday as well. For example, the Redmond, Washington, police department tweeted that T-Mobile customers should have “an alternate plan in place in the event you need to call 911.” T-Mobile became one of the country’s largest carriers, along with AT&T and Verizon, after buying rival Sprint. The company has started integrating the two networks. (AP)

The post FCC Calls Hours-Long T-Mobile Service Outage ‘Unacceptable’ appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

A new policy will require New York City police to release all body camera footage of shootings and other instances when force is used and injury or death occurs, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday in what he billed as an additional step toward police reform. The announcement regarding body cameras overturns a policy that gave the New York Police Department wide discretion on when it made the videos public. It came a day after the nation’s largest police department disbanded a plainclothes anti-crime unit long criticized for its aggressive tactics. “Body-worn cameras are only as powerful as the transparency that comes with them,” de Blasio said. “This is a good thing for everyone involved. … When people see this kind of transparency, it will build trust.” Starting in 2017, the NYPD began deploying 24,000 body cameras for its patrol force and other street units, the most in the nation. The previous policy required that the department make videos involving force public if the police commissioner found it would address a specific “public concern” and “preserve peace.” The new policy calls for mandatory release of footage within 30 days if an officer fires a gun and hits someone or could have caused injury, uses a stun gun, or makes use of any other force that causes harm. The videos will be posted on the internet after civilians who were involved have seen it first, the mayor said. A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from the Police Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union. (AP)

The post New Policy Requires NYPD To Release Body Camera Footage appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday played down concern that the United States will rush to pull thousands of its troops out of Germany, as doubts swirled in Europe about when such a withdrawal might take place. President Donald Trump has said that he is ordering a major reduction in U.S. troop strength in Germany, from around 34,500 personnel down to 25,000. Members of his own party have criticized the move as a gift to Russia and a threat to U.S. national security. Germany is a hub for U.S. operations in the Middle East and home to its European command headquarters. “The U.S. has made it clear that no final decision has been made on how and when,” Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of two days of video meetings between NATO defense ministers, where the issue is to be discussed. Stoltenberg has spoken to Trump about the move and says he’s also in contact with Germany. “What matters for me is that we maintain credible deterrence and defense and that we maintain the strong link between North America and Europe,” he said. He underlined that Washington has increased its military presence in Europe in recent years, and that European allies are spending more on defense. Trump on Monday lashed out at Germany for failing to pay enough for its own defense, branding the NATO ally “delinquent” for not meeting a goal set in 2014 for members to halt budget cuts and move toward spending at least 2% of gross national product on defense by 2024. Stoltenberg declined to speculate on whether the timing of Trump’s announcement has anything to do with the approach of the U.S. elections in November. NATO’s European allies will be hoping that U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper can shed light on the plans over the next two days. With concern mounting about Russia’s military spending and posturing, NATO is determined to show it stands ready to defend the trans-Atlantic area. But its efforts to demonstrate resolve are undermined by internal bickering, particularly involving its most powerful member. The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said she wasn’t aware of preparations for any possible troop withdrawal. “Any kind of actual planning, I think, has not happened yet,” Hutchison told reporters at a video news conference Tuesday. “I don’t think that we have any kind of timeline that we have heard of.” She described Germany as “a good partner” of the United States at NATO and said that “it should not be thought that there is any walking away from Europe, and Germany.” Pulling out thousands of troops or transferring them — speculation is rife that some of the U.S. personnel might move to Poland should this even happen — is likely to take a few months and would be costly. Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said the Polish government has been in talks with the U.S. about an increase of U.S. troops in Poland, but he said that that issue was “unrelated to recent U.S. declarations and U.S.-German relations regarding a possible reduction of the U.S. presence in Germany.” Czaputowicz also said that the U.S. troop presence in Germany serves the security of Poland. “We would like this presence in Germany to continue,” he said during a visit to Poland’s capital by German Foreign Minister […]

The post NATO Chief Plays Down Concern Over US Troop Plans In Germany appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Israeli start-up Oxygenium, has developed a portable machine that can generate high-flow oxygen that could be utilized as a solution for the growing need of first responders as well as hospitals to offer a regular oxygen supply for COVID-19 patients, as well as for many other emergency situations. According to The Jerusalem Post, CEO of Oxygenium, Oded Weiss, established his company and began working on a practical solution to the issues surrounding hand-held oxygen tanks in the IDF. IDF medics embedded into each individual unit, are not allowed to carry oxygen tanks due to their high susceptibility to flame and exploding ammunition. A like-minded group of Israeli partners got together three years ago in order to answer one of the toughest tactical and logistical questions facing IDF teams with regard to their bringing oxygen into battle in the hopes of saving a fellow soldier’s life, weighed against the volatility of the gas within the canisters. The co-creators began to cultivate their vast medical and military experience in an effort to bring oxygen to the battlefield, which could result in lives being saved. “Oxygen tanks are not allowed in the battlefield because they risk exploding and are therefore considered too dangerous,” Weiss said. “However, we have seen that in wars that Israel has fought, the complications related to the evacuation of injured soldiers without the possibility of providing them with oxygen in the meantime has caused several fatalities.” Oxygenium eventually found a solution that would not only eliminate the dangers related to traditional oxygen tanks, while simultaneously making it easier to carry the canister. The resulting research and developments enabled the group to build a prototype device, about 45×18 centimeters in size, that produces oxygen without the need of a thermo-dynamic process. Weiss added, “Our device can create a stable high-flow of oxygen and it is easy to operate. In order to ensure the continuity of the flow, it works with cartridges that can be replaced.” Over the years, Oxygenium has collaborated with numerous partners, including United Hatzalah, the US Army Medical Materiel Development Activity, and the New York City Fire Department. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The post Israeli Company, Oxygenium, Develop High-Flow Oxygen in Portable Containers, Perfect for Combat or COVID-19 appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett fiercely attacked the Netanyahu-Gantz unity government on Monday while submitting a motion of no-confidence in the government entitled: “The Failure to Prepare for Another Wave of The Coronavirus.” Bennett accused the government of neglecting to take care of the financial needs of the Israeli citizens in the wake of the coronavirus crisis and ahead of a second wave. “The most important job of a leader is to provide the basics [bread],”  Bennett said. “Don’t talk to me about ideology, don’t talk to me about the court and Mandelbit, Shmandelblit. That’s nonsense, nonsense!” “When a citizen of Israel wants to bring home bread – bread! He doesn’t want favors from you, he just wants that you don’t close his business.” קטע של כמה שניות מתוך ״נאום הלחם״. דיברתי מדם לבי. אסון כלכלי נורא מתקרב לארצנו. אפשר למנוע אותו, אך הממשלה עסוקה בשטויות.לינק לנאום המלא:https://t.co/jhO6PFcNXc pic.twitter.com/FQtwsccbcE — Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) June 15, 2020 “So get up already, start working. Start being serious. Relate with respect to the most basic issue – your responsibility to enable Israelis to bring bread home.” “A huge tsunami wave is going to hit Israeli businesses – a more difficult situation than wars,” Bennett warned. “Businesses won’t survive the second wave of the coronavirus. They won’t survive another month and a half of closure. What will they do? It’s not okay to shut down a person’s livelihood.” “Why aren’t we raising money? It’s grushim [nothing, like pennies] – NIS 300 million. Every day that the economy is closed is worth NIS 2 billion. A business that closes won’t reopen. People will go into debt for the rest of their lives due to the government’s apathy.” Bennett also criticized the government for not increasing the rate of testing for the coronavirus and the lack of efficiency in the testing that is being done. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The post Bennett: “Huge Tsunami Will Hit Israeli Businesses With 2nd Wave, Worse Than War” appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Researchers in England say they have the first evidence that a drug can improve COVID-19 survival: A cheap, widely available steroid called dexamethasone reduced deaths by up to one third in severely ill hospitalized patients. Results were announced Tuesday and researchers said they would publish them. The study is a large, strict test that randomly assigned 2,104 patients to get the drug and compared them with 4,321 patients getting only usual care. The drug was given either orally or through an IV. After 28 days, it had reduced deaths by 35% in patients who needed treatment with breathing machines and by 20% in those only needing supplemental oxygen. It did not appear to help less ill patients. “This is an extremely welcome result,” one study leader, Peter Horby of the University of Oxford, said in a statement. “The survival benefit is clear and large in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment, so dexamethasone should now become standard of care in these patients. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide.” Even though the drug only helps in severe cases, “countless lives will be saved globally,” said Nick Cammack of Wellcome, a British charity that supports science research. “Dexamethasone must now be rolled out and accessed by thousands of critically ill patients around the world,” said Cammack, who had no role in the study. “It is highly affordable, easy to make, can be scaled up quickly and only needs a small dosage.” Steroid drugs reduce inflammation, which sometimes develops in COVID-19 patients as the immune system overreacts to fight the infection. This overreaction can prove fatal, so doctors have been testing steroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs in such patients. The World Health Organization advises against using steroids earlier in the course of illness because they can slow the time until patients clear the virus. Researchers estimated that the drug would prevent one death for every eight patients treated while on breathing machines and one for every 25 patients on extra oxygen alone. This is the same study that earlier this month showed the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was not working against the coronavirus. The study enrolled more than 11,000 patients in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who were given either standard of care or that plus one of several treatments: dexamethasone; the HIV combo drug lopinavir-ritonavir, the antibiotic azithromycin; the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab; or plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 that contains antibodies to fight the virus. Research is continuing on the other treatments. The research is funded by government health agencies in the United Kingdom and private donors including theBill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (AP)

The post First Drug Proves Able To Improve Survival From COVID-19 appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

There was a powerful explosion and then R’ Chanoch was enveloped in flames.This was to the horror in front of the eyes of his children. Click here to donate! When Reb Chanoch’s wife, Mrs. Chayelle Regal (Chaya Reizel bas Soreh Rivka Alte Gittel), saw her husband enveloped in flames, she ran to save his life, grabbing a hose and spraying water on him. As a result of her heroic attempt, she, too, was badly burned, sustaining second and third-degree burns.A story hard to imagine. Tragically, Reb Chanoch returned his pure neshamah to his Maker a week later. Reb Chanoch was truly a unique individual, a yarei Shamayim and a tremendous talmid chacham. He was very involved in klal work, though he insisted on remaining behind the scenes. Countless families were saved by his clandestine tzedakah activities. He had a special radar that picked up opportunities to be mechazek and mesameiach others. Reb Chanoch was really special and forged a very close relationship with many tzaddikim including the Belzer Rebbe and Rabbi David Abichazira, shlit”a. Rabbi Abichazira told R Chanochs’s son”Your father was supposed to recover, but he was taken as a korbon tzibbur. He is now in a place in Gan Eden that is loftier that I can attain.”He referred to him as “Rabeinu Hagaon Reb Chanoch.” Click here to donate! Now that there is no father, WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Their mother is fighting to heal from her burns.There’s a long road ahead – full of recovery, lots of medical treatments, high medical bills, and healing. We therefore are setting up a fund in US together with Charity Extra in Uk and Rayze it for the family of Reb Chanoch Regal, zt”l, Yidden! -please help raise money for this respectable family For he went as a korban tzibbur We are still missing funds to get to our goal of $400,000. Rare opportunity from the Mekubalim Rabbi Dovid and Harav Rafael Abichazira שליט”א “Bracha to those who donate to help the yesomim !! From Rabbi Dovid שליט”א and R’ Rav Rafael Abichazira שליט”א in Eretz Yisroel” “התורמים הנכבדים לקרן היתומים יוזכור שמם לברכה אצל האחים האדמו”רים לבית אביחצירא”Checks can be made out to: Kolel Chassidei Gur 1727 51st Brooklyn Ny 11204 Donations will be tax deductable! Click here to donate! Please help save this special Family Today! ​

The post There was an explosion and he was enveloped in a ball of fire in front of the eyes of his children appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

U.S. airline passengers who refuse to wear facial coverings during the novel coronavirus pandemic could have their flying privileges revoked, the industry’s main lobby group said on Monday. Major U.S. airlines may prevent anyone not wearing a mask from boarding and provide the coverings to passengers who have none. Once on board, however, flight attendants have little power to enforce the policy if passengers remove their masks. Carriers with the policy include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, Airlines for America said in a statement. The airlines will clearly inform passengers about their individual policies on face coverings before flying, followed by an announcement with specific details onboard, it said. Each carrier will determine the appropriate consequences for passengers who fail to comply, up to and including being put on that airline’s no-fly list. Airlines offer certain exemptions, including when people are eating or drinking. United, which last week said passengers would have to agree to wearing a face covering on a pre-flight checklist, said any passenger that does not comply with the policy onboard beginning June 18 will be placed on an internal travel restriction list that would prevent them from flying with the airline “for a duration of time to be determined pending a comprehensive incident review.” Delta said it was doubling efforts to ensure customers are aware of, acknowledge and comply with its mask requirement, which it said is one of the most important ways to “stay safe while flying.” The measures are expected to remain in place throughout the coronavirus crisis. On Twitter, Senator Ed Markey, who has been vocal along with about a dozen other Democratic senators on airline issues during the pandemic, praised the tougher enforcement policies, adding “But we still need federal action immediately.” The U.S. government has not mandated any airline safety requirements since the pandemic hit global aviation, despite calls from unions and industry. “The federal government has completely abdicated its responsibility to keep the flying public and aviation workers safe during COVID-19,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendant-CWA said, adding “the industry alone cannot fix this.” The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Stephen Dickson, is expected to be questioned about masks at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. (AP)

The post Airlines Vow to Ban Passengers Who Refuse to Wear Masks appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Owner of the wildly successful supermarket chain named after himself, Rami Levy, is donating more than 1 million shekels worth of tefillin to European Jews who cannot buy these important religious articles themselves. The Rabbinical Centre of Europe published a protocol that was created with the blessing of Rami Levy outlining who is eligible for a donation of Tefillin. According to the protocol,  every Jew who does not have a talis and tefillin, can apply through the rabbi of their community and request a pair of tefillin. At this time, the donations will be limited to two sets for every community in an effort to prevent hoarding and to ensure that the sets will go to those who need them. The beneficiaries will be required to promise to wear the Tefillin every weekday. Levy joined the initiative after a special request was made by Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, CEO of the European Rabbinical Center. The project is in memory of the late Rabbi Benjamin Wolf, the Rabbi of the community of Hanover, Germany. who died about a month and a half ago from the coronavirus (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The post Self-made Supermarket Tycoon Donates NIS 1,000,000 Worth of Tefillin To European Jews appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The post Maran Sar Hatorah Nasi: The Best Yissachar-Zevulun Pact of Our Generation Is At Shas Yiden appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

YWN regrets to inform you that a third victim has R”L been Niftar from the horrific crash in New Square on Monday afternoon. Tziporah Deutsch A”H, 20-years-old, was Niftar moments ago after succumbing to massive injuries she sustained in the crash. As YWN previously reported, the Levayos of her father R’ Aryeh Shmuel Deutsch Z”L, and her brother-in-law, R’ Shlomo Birnhak Z”L were held in New Square on Monday night. In a bittersweet twist of this horrific tragedy, Mrs Birnhak, who remains in serious condition, gave birth to a healthy baby boy last night. UPDATE – AN EMERGENCY FUND WAS SET UP FOR THE BIRNHAK FAMILY – PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE

The post TRIPLE TRAGEDY: Third Victim Passes Away From New Square Crash appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Following weeks of national protests since the death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on policing Tuesday that would encourage better police practices and establish a database to keep track of officers with a history of excessive use-of-force complaints. In Rose Garden remarks, Trump stressed the need for higher standards and commiserated with mourning families, even as he hailed the vast majority of officers as selfless public servants and held his law-and-order line, while criticizing Democrats. “Reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals,” he said before signing the order flanked by police. Trump and the GOP have been rushing to respond to the mass demonstrations against police brutality and racial prejudice that have raged for weeks across the country in response to the deaths of Floyd and other black Americans. It’s a sudden shift for the Republican Party — and one Democrats are watching warily — that shows how quickly the protests have changed the political conversation and pressured Washington to act. But Trump, throughout the crisis, has continued to emphasize his support for law enforcement and even on Tuesday railed against those who committed violence during the largely peaceful protests. Trump’s executive order would establish a database that tracks police officers with excessive use of force complaints in their records. And it would give police departments a financial incentive to adopt best practices and encourage co-responder programs, in which social workers join police when they respond to nonviolent calls involving mental health, addiction and homeless issues. Trump said that, under a new credentialing process, chokeholds will be banned “except if an officer’s life is at risk.” Chokeholds are already largely banned in police departments nationwide. Trump framed his plan as an alternative to the “defund the police” movement that has emerged from the protests and which he slammed as “radical and dangerous.” “Americans know the truth: Without police there is chaos. Without law there is anarchy and without safety there is catastrophe,” he said. Trump’s audience included police officials and members of Congress, and came after he met at the White House with the families of men and women who have been killed in interactions with police. “To all of the hurting families, I want you to know that all Americans mourn by your side,” Trump said. “Your loved ones will not have died in vain.” Yet Trump made no mention of systemic racism in his comments. The Rose Garden announcement comes as Senate Republicans are preparing their own package of policing changes. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the GOP legislative package, which will include new restrictions on police chokeholds and greater use of police body cameras, among other provisions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared that Republicans are developing “a serious proposal to reform law enforcement.” The Senate Judiciary Committee was to conduct a hearing Tuesday afternoon on “Police Use of Force and Community Relations,” drawing testimony from leading civil rights and law enforcement leaders. “Now is the time to reimagine a more fair and just society in which all people are safe,” Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, was to tell senators, according to advance testimony obtained by The Associated […]

The post WATCH: Trump Bans “Chokeholds” Unless Officer’s Life In Risk appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

by Shmuli Mogelowitz Yes, it is true.  In the past six weeks, this one individual is responsible for more Torah being learned in this state than all of the aforementioned organizations combined.  This one man is, yes, George Floyd. On account of Mr. Floyd, people got up the nerve to restart the gzairos against chinuch when it was safe to do so.  Before this, people did not wish to take on the mayor.  Only when they saw the double standard – numerous mosdos of chinuch realized the tremendous disparity in how Klal Yisroel is being treated and how the protestors are being treated. A ZCHUS Is it a zchus?  We know that Balak offered korbanos to give a klallah to klal Yisroel.  Yet, in that zchus, he was zocheh to have rus and Dovid HaMelech emanate from him.  There is no question, it seems, that Mr. Floyd gets a zchus here. And yes, it is true that he robbed a pregnant woman at gunpoint.  It is true that he may have passed on a forged twenty dollar bill and that he may have had a drug problem.  But yesh, koneh olamo b’shaa achas – there is something that he had done that earned him having the zchus of having so many tinokos shel bais raban studying Torah for so long. The mussar haskel to us is that we may be reshayim, we may have done terrible avlahs.  But we can also have one zchus, one merit, that can be responsible for remarkable turnarounds and we can get incredible zchusim for doing that.  We should use this thought as an inspiration.

The post Who is Responsible for More Torah Learning than Torah uMesorah, Agudah, the OU, Chabad and Both Satmar Combined? appeared first on The Yeshiva World.