47.8 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Home Blog Page 2054

Parshas Vaera – The Art of Comfort and Consolation

0

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis

To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. At the beginning of the parsha, G-d charged Moshe with the mission of announcing to the Jewish people that the time of their liberation was at hand. HaShem used four different expressions in describing their redemption. “I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land” (Exodus, 6).

Despite this awesome promise however, the Jewish people remained dispirited and incapable of absorbing the good news. The explanation for this reveals the nature of suffering and how one may best comfort those who are hurting. When someone is in pain, he does not have the patience or the ability to comprehend that which will occur in the future. His agony is so overwhelming that he is aware only of the here and now. In his pain he cannot contemplate the future. Therefore, the Almighty G-d instructs Moshe and Aaron once again and commands them to bring the children of Israel forth from Egypt (Exodus 6:13) teaching us that when someone is in distress, we have to extend immediate help. Thus, when encouraging those who have lost hope, let us not content ourselves with visions of the future. Rather, let us do something concrete to relieve their pain and infuse them with hope.

In this same passage, G-d also instructs Moshe to be gentle and patient with the people–a basic ingredient that is required of all leaders. The Midrash teaches that HaShem told Moshe and Aaron: “My children are often stubborn and recalcitrant. They are quick to anger and troublesome. It is under these conditions that you should undertake to accept leadership over them..” This teaching has bearing, not only for leaders, but for each and every one of us. In every family, there are situations in which one`s patience is sorely tried. At such times, we must exercise forbearance, remain calm and respond with strength and dignity.

This passage has yet a third interpretation. It is written in the Talmud that it was at this moment of crisis for the Jewish people that G-d told Moshe to command the nation regarding the emancipation of slaves that would take place once they entered the promised land. At first glance, this appears far-fetched. The nation is in bondage, so what possible relevance can such instructions have? But the Torah is teaching us that it is precisely when you are in the throes of suffering that you must make a commitment to banish suffering–to convert that pain into a healing experience. It is in this spirit that the Torah calls upon us to remember our bondage and exodus from Egypt (Zeicher l`Tziyas Mitzraim) and relate to the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and all those in need with compassion and love.

 (Hineni.org)

January 27th Marks the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

0
Liberation by Soviet soldiers surviving prisoners of Auschwitz (Auschwitz). Above the gate of the camp is the famous sign-slogan "Arbeit macht frei» (Arbeit macht frei), which means - "Work makes you free". Concentration released January 27, 1945 part of the 100th Infantry Division of General Fyodor Krasavina. 1st Ukrainian Front.

By: Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg

What is evil, and how does one comprehend its place in our lives? In Judaism, the question of evil and suffering is expressed in the following statement: “Tzadik v’ra lo, rasha v’tov lo,” a righteous person, and bad comes to him, a wicked person and good comes to him. Why do righteous people suffer and experience hardship, while the “wicked” seemingly do not experience pain and suffering?

After the Shoah one would have expected Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Rav, to analyze and lecture on this unique tragedy and period of Jewish suffering. Although the Rav refers to the Shoah, he does not provide his students with a comprehensive explanation for this horrific period.

To explain the Rav’s understanding of the evil of the Holocaust one must read his views on evil and suffering throughout Jewish history and extrapolate from these writings lessons for the Holocaust. In his most extensive work on suffering, Kol Dodi Dofek — The Voice of my Beloved Knocks — the Rav says that we cannot comprehend the nature of evil, because we do not have the full understanding of the world. He unequivocally affirms that evil does exist, but any effort to romanticize evil is not intellectually honest.

The Rav writes: “Judaism, with its realistic approach to man and his place in the world, understood that evil could not be blurred or camouflaged, and that any attempt to downplay the extent of the contradiction, and fragmentation to be found in reality will neither endow man with tranquility, nor enable him to grasp the existential mystery” (p. 53).

People have an obligation to recognize that evil exists, but understanding its essence is beyond human intellectual capacity. How can one struggle with the question of suffering? The Rav elaborates further on the idea of evil in Fate and Destiny: From Holocaust to the State of Israel, in which he states that the distinction between the two is where the answer to suffering lies. Rabbi Dr. Walter S. Wurzberger, a prominent disciple of the Rav, writes, “The Rav … maintains that it is senseless to raise the metaphysical question of why there is evil in the world. The human mind is simply not equipped to tackle this problem.

To engage in theodicy is an exercise in futility. Instead of looking for an explanation of our fate — for example, why a particular evil has struck us — we should ask ourselves how we can respond to evil in a manner that will enable us to emerge from this experience as better moral and spiritual beings” (p. VII). Fate, the Rav says, is an existence of compulsion — “Against your will you will live out your life” (Pirkei Avot 4:29, p. 52, Kol Dodi Dofek, Theological and Halakhic Reflections on the Holocaust). The man (or woman) of fate has no free will, nor ability to choose his own life’s path.

Things happen to this person, without his involvement. The fated existence is passive, and arbitrary. Destiny, however, is the different.

The Rav characterizes it as “Against your will you are born and against your will you will die, but you live of your own free will” (p. 54, Kol Dodi Dofek). An existence of destiny is a life of choice, innovation, strength and action; one engages with his surroundings.

The Jewish approach, says the Rav, is to transition from a fated life, to a destined life (p. 54 Kol Dodi Dofek). In “fated lives,” evil happens to us. We suffer, and we have no control. In a life of destiny we do not focus on the tragedy that befalls us. “What must the sufferer do, so that he may live through his suffering?” is the Jewish legal question the man of destiny asks. “What obligation does suffering impose upon man? … We do not inquire about the hidden ways of the Almighty, but rather about the path wherein man shall talk when suffering strikes,” says the Rav.

This reaction to suffering and evil is extremely unique. It seems that the Rav is suggesting that people have an obligation, when bad things happen to them, to use their suffering in a productive manner. The Rav tells us that according to Halachah, “Afflictions come to elevate a person, to purify and sanctify his spirit … to refine his soul and to broaden his horizons. In a word, the function of suffering is to mend that which is flawed in an individual’s personality.

The Halachah teaches us that the sufferer commits a grave sin if he allows his troubles to go to waste and remain without meaning or purpose” (p. 56 Kol Dodi Dofek). The Rav therefore maintains that it is a uniquely lonely experience to be a man of religious faith. The individual who suffers and keeps his religious faith has the obligation to respond in a positive fashion to repair the world.

This is God’s response to Job, a righteous individual who has suffered tremendously. In the Biblical narrative, Job struggles to understand why terrible things happen to him. Eventually, God comes to Job and informs him how to productively use his suffering.

In the Rav’s Days of Deliverance: Essays on Purim and Hanukkah, he states, “Not too long ago we lost six million Jews, one third of our population. But, on the whole, we have emerged victorious. We still maintain our identity; we are still committed to the same goals to which our ancestors were committed millennia ago” (p. 188).

He references the Holocaust through the six million who perished. By commenting on the strength of Jewish identity and the fortitude of the Jewish nation, the Rav implies that the fate of the Jewish people and its destiny are linked to the lessons learned during the Holocaust. By emphasizing the revitalization of the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust, the Rav focuses on the destiny aspect of life, rather than fate.

The Rav writes, “ During the terrible Holocaust when European Jewry was being systematically exterminated in the ovens and crematoria, the American Jewish community did not rise to the challenge, did not act as Jews possessing a properly developed consciousness of our shared fate and shared suffering as well as the obligation of shared action that follows therefrom, ought to have acted. We did not sufficiently empathize with the anguish of the people and did very little to save our afflicted brethren” (p. 97, Kol Dodi Dofek).

(Originally published at: israelbehindthenews.com)

Sonia Kaplan, 98, Stood Up to Stalinist Persecution & Raised a Chassidic Family

0
From left: Sonia and Rabbi Moshe Binyomin Kaplan, with their children Rabbi Shmuel and Rochel Kaplan

She inspired her children and grandchildren to spread Judaism around the world

By: Menachem Posner

Sonia (Sarah Pesha) Kaplan, who stood up to Stalinist persecution and survived a Polish pogrom to raise a Chassidic family after emigrating to England and then America, passed away Monday. She was 98 years old.

She was born in rural southwestern Russia in 1921 as the fledgling Communist regime was tightening its iron grip on Russia’s Jews. Her father, Rabbi Nochem Pinson, was a devoted Chabad Chassid who lived and breathed Torah study and mitzvah observance. Her mother, Chera, was the daughter of Chaim Chaikel Schapiro, a wealthy Chassid in the town of Starodub.

Living near her maternal grandparents, young Sonia Pinson lacked nothing in those first years. Like her father, her brothers were students in the Chabad yeshivah system, which by then had gone underground since propagating religious belief among youth was illegal.

By the time she reached adolescence, however, her grandfather’s businesses had been confiscated, and the family was destitute.

Desperate, the family moved to a kolkhoz, a farming collective. However, Nochem’s staunch devotion to Shabbat meant that the family was not allowed to benefit from the farm’s produce, and they found themselves starving.

From there, they moved to Kharkov, which was then home to a thriving secret Chabad community. Sonia attended public school but was always careful never to break Shabbat. Naturally bright, she helped other students with their work in exchange for small favors that would help her cover her repeated absences and refusal to write on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.

The Pinson home was often the site of spirited farbrengens, Chassidic gatherings where words of inspiration and soulful singing would transport participants to a better time when Jews need not hide their fealty to Judaism.

But disaster struck. In 1939, many of the leaders of the Chassidic underground, including Nochem Pinson, were arrested for their counterrevolutionary activities. Chief among Nochem’s crimes were the farbrengens that he hosted.

Recently translated documents from the copious files kept by the secret police reveal that throughout the months of his arrest and torture, Nochem Pinson remained tight-lipped, refusing to divulge information that would implicate anyone.

When Sonia, by then a 10th-grade student, was taken in for questioning, she too didn’t give any information away.

Even though she completed her schooling as a chemical engineer, she never received her diploma because she would not renounce her father and his “anti-social” ways.

Nochem was sentenced to five years of forced labor in Siberia from which he never returned. The family relocated to Samarkand, far from advancing Nazi troops and prying Communist eyes.

Making Their Way From Europe to America

In Samarkand, in 1944, Sonia was introduced to a young scholar by the name of Moshe Binyomin Kaplan. Like her, he was an orphan, as his father had also been taken by the Communists for the crime of upholding Judaism. The two married in 1945, determined to rebuild all that Stalin and his minions were determined to destroy.

After the war’s end, Moshe Binyomin obtained false identity papers, presenting the couple as Polish refugees who were allowed to leave Russia.

Sonia went into labor with her eldest son, Nochem, named for her father, while still in Russia. In the hospital, she could not remember her assumed name or date of birth, and pretended to be mute the entire time rather than risk revealing her true identity.

As they traveled from Lviv (then Russa) to Łódź, a doctor told her that her infant needed more air and was in danger if he were to remain in the cramped railroad car. She crossed the border to freedom between two careering train cars clutching her gasping baby, while her husband held onto her to prevent her from falling off the train.

Upon arriving in Poland, they spent the night in the remains of the Łódź ghetto, during which she and her sister-in-law clutched their infant boys, both named Nochem, while their husbands held shut the rickety door, which drunken Poles tried to force open. Even though the Germans had been defeated, the atrocities of the Holocaust had yet to subside.

Living in the Poking DP camp in Germany and then among fellow refugees in France, the Kaplans welcomed their next son, Leibel, named for his paternal grandfather, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Kaplan. In the DP camp, the families lived in large halls, with sheets providing a modicum of privacy. They bunked “next door” to Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, mother of the Rebbe, who shared parenting advice, and developed a lifelong friendship with Sonia and her children.

During this time, Moshe Binyomin completed his rabbinic ordination and soon attracted the attention of Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, chief of the London Rabbinical Court. Impressed by the young Chassidic scholar, Abramsky invited the couple to settle in England, where Moshe Binyomin engaged in shechitah, teaching and the rabbinate.

In the mid-1950s, the Kaplans and their family, which by then included another son, Shmuel, and a daughter, Cherry, made their way to New York, settling in Brooklyn.

Well-educated and technically inclined, Sonia was involved in her husband’s sweater factory. Aristocratic by nature, she maintained her European good taste and comportment.

She watched with pride as her children and grandchildren fanned out across the globe to serve as Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries, carrying on the work for which their grandfathers had given their lives.

Predeceased by her son Rabbi Aryeh Leib Kaplan in 1998, and her husband in 2005, she is survived by Rabbi Nochem Kaplan (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan (Baltimore); and Cherry Ulman (Hashmonaim, Israel); as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

         (Chabad.org)

Ancient Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt Rededicated

0
An ancient synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt has been reopened by the government.

By: Howard M. Riell

An ancient synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt has been reopened by the government.

Renovation work on the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, built in 1881, started in 2017, a year after the two-story building suffered a partial collapse

The process actually began years ago. Sadly, there are no longer very many Jews there to enjoy it. Most of Egypt’s Jews took it on the lamb over six decades ago during times of friction between Egypt and Israel.

In the twentieth century, Jews in Egypt faced pogroms, looting, murders and eventually expulsion, with many in the community finding refuge in the Jewish state, according to a World Israel News report.

Renovation work on the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, built in 1881, started in 2017, a year after the two-story building suffered a partial collapse. The location was the home to a previous synagogue that historians say was erected in 1354 CE.

The synagogue is distinctive architecturally, as well, known for its ruby columns and marble floors. The recent rededication of the building took time, and is the result of three years of construction work and several million dollars.

The Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue is said to be the last active Jewish house of worship in the coastal city of Alexandria, a sprawling metropolis that at one time was home to as many as 40,000 Jews. Today “there are a handful of Jews living in Alexandria and estimates put the number of Jews living in all of Egypt at fewer than 20,” reported JTA.

The synagogue is distinctive architecturally, as well, known for its ruby columns and marble floors

WIN reported that according to Israel’s Museum of the Jewish people, “Following the United Nations decision [to] partition [the land of] Israel (November 1947), the Jews of Egypt became hostages of the authorities, their property was confiscated and many were arrested. About half of the 80,000 Jews emigrated to Israel and in 1956 only about 40,000 people remained. Following the Sinai campaign (1956) many more escaped to Israel. In 1967, only about 2,500 Jews remained in Egypt. When the Six Day War broke out, all Jewish men were arrested. They were released and expelled from the country in 1970. In 1996, only some 100 Jews were living in Egypt, in two communities, Cairo and Alexandria.”

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to make peace with Israel.

The location was the home to a previous synagogue that historians say was erected in 1354 CE.

The damage to the synagogue has been going on for some time. “Rainwater began leaking through the roof into the women’s section of the synagogue about eight years ago,” the French news agency AFP reported. “The synagogue was forced to close about three years ago after a staircase and part of the roof collapsed.”

Last month, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement that the renovations included the structural reinforcement of the synagogue, the restoration of its main facade, decorative walls, and brass and wooden objects, and the development of its security and lighting systems.

Magda Haroun, the leader of Cairo’s shrinking Jewish community – only three Jews showed up for the festivities — noted during the ceremony that she was “very proud of what my country has done, and it symbolizes living together, today there is no difference between Egyptian Muslim, Christian and Egyptian Jew. It is recognition that we have always been here and that we have contributed to a lot of things just like any other Egyptian.”

“With tears in her eyes, she said that she had been struggling for years to preserve Jewish heritage in Egypt and she never thought that the Egyptian government would spend the money to rebuild the landmark Sephardi house of prayer,” The Jerusalem Post reported. The Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, “with green and violet stained-glass windows and towering marble columns, is one of two remaining Jewish houses of worship in Alexandria.”

The damage to the synagogue has been going on for some time. “Rainwater began leaking through the roof into the women’s section of the synagogue about eight years ago”
Last month, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement that the renovations included the structural reinforcement of the synagogue, the restoration of its main facade, decorative walls, and brass and wooden objects, and the development of its security and lighting systems.

‘We’ve Made Contact With Chabad,’ Raises a Cheer on Diverted El Al Flight

0
Passengers stranded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sit down for a festive meal before the onset of the Jewish Sabbath. (Photo: Eran Aloni)

Passenger pens note of gratitude after unexpected Shabbat in Halifax

By: Chabad.org Staff

(The following letter was written to Rabbi Mendel and Bassie Feldman, co-directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Maritimes, when they assisted passengers on a diverted El Al flight)

Dear Rabbi:

On behalf of my family and everyone else onboard El Al Flight #26, I would like to thank you and the Rebbetzin for your incredibly gracious, generous and heartfelt hospitality in Halifax. I know I speak for all of us when I say we literally could not have made it through Shabbat without you.

When we were told by the pilot that our Newark to Tel Aviv nonstop would be making an actual stop due to mechanical difficulties, we were certainly taken aback. For many of us, Shabbat was the first worry, as we landed in Halifax late Thursday night. We imagined davening [praying] in a hotel conference room at best and an airport lounge at worst.

But once El Al told us that they had made contact with Chabad, a cheer rose up from the plane.

Only later did we learn that in addition to preparing a large amount of food to accommodate the many passengers, and being instrumental in coordinating the generous shipment of meals (from very caring askanim [communal activists] in Montreal) delivered by wonderful yeshivah bochurim [students] Yossi and Dovid, you even helped organize the buses and hotels, and many other details.

Friday night was emotional, to say the least. With campus students gone for vacation, we had a beautiful minyan [prayer quorum], and the davening [prayers] and zmirot [songs] were quite literally overwhelming. As we sat down to eat a sumptuous meal, you and others gave beautiful divrei Torah [Torah insights] that touched us all.

When the El Al staff arrived to give us updates and their first concern did we eat enough, we knew that we were dealing with a Jewish airline. And when they said we were in good hands with Chabad, they were right.

My wife Allison and my daughter Dora agreed as we walked back that this was the definition of turning lemons into lemonade.

Saturday morning was a more intimate affair as some of our group walked to the local Orthodox shul to help augment their minyan, and the rest of us joined you. Then we all came together from both minyanim to eat another great meal.

Singing. Dancing. Divrei Torah. New friends. Stories. Young people schmoozing. Older folks schmoozing.

We had Mincha and then we took our leave back to the wonderful Lord Nelson Hotel, whose staff could not have been better.

After a couple of hours of sightseeing, we davened Maariv at the hotel, did an impromptu Havdalah and boarded our buses back to the airport.

I write to you as we are over the Adriatic Sea, according to the screen keeping me awake above my head. G‑d willing, Allison and I will be seeing Eretz Yisrael for the first time as we visit our twins Max and Eden, who are learning at Lev HaTorah and Machon Maayan, respectively. Dora is back after her year at MM [Machon Maayan] as well.

We will be seeing family and friends, G‑d willing, all over the country. Of course, the irony of another Mr. Magoo moment for me does not escape those who know that the twins were born on Sept. 11, 2001, which is why I was not at the World Trade Center that day.

Regards and we hope to see you, as we hope to see all our new friends in good times, in Canada, the U.S. or Israel, perhaps with the coming of Moshiach! Amen!

Sincerely

Barry Schechter–New Jersey

                                                (Chabad.org)

Jersey Shore University & Ocean Medical Centers Earn 2019 Leapfrog Top Hospital Awards

0
Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Highlighting their nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality, Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and Ocean Medical Center in Brick were named Top Teaching Hospitals nationally. The Top Hospital designation is awarded by The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety and quality. The designations follow the academic medical center’s and hospital’s “A” Hospital Safety Grades announced in November, also from The Leapfrog Group.

The Leapfrog Top Hospital award is widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive honors American hospitals can receive. “I’m extremely proud of our team members at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Ocean Medical Center on receiving this recognition,” said Kenneth N. Sable, M.D., MBA, FACEP, regional president, southern market, Hackensack Meridian Health. “What better distinction can a hospital receive, than to be noted for our efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. We remain dedicated to enhancing the quality of the care and safety we provide as well as improving our patient experience.”

About 2,100 hospitals were considered for the award. A total of 120 hospitals were selected as Top Hospitals, including:

  • 10 Top Children’s Hospitals
  • 37 Top General Hospitals
  • 18 Top Rural Hospitals
  • 55 Top Teaching Hospitals

Performance across many areas of hospital care is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, practices for safer surgery, maternity care, and the hospital’s capacity to prevent medication errors. The rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Hospital Methodology.

“We are pleased to recognize Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Ocean Medical Center as 2019 Leapfrog Top Hospitals,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “This demonstrates extraordinary dedication to patients and the community. We congratulate the board, staff and clinicians whose efforts made this honor possible and know they share pride in this achievement.”

To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must rank top among peers in the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance on the highest known standards for quality and patient safety, and achieve top performance in its category. To see the full list of institutions honored as 2019 Top Hospitals, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.

For more information or a free physician referral, visit www.jerseyshoreuniversitymedicalcenter.com or www.oceanmedicalcenter.com.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information, they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

About Hackensack Meridian Health

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals–Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals–JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 34,100 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018” list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

World Health Experts Assess Global Risk of Deadly China Virus

0
wikimedia

By: Lisa Schlein 

Experts meeting in emergency session at the World Health Organization will look at the spreading Coronavirus to see whether it constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and decide on recommendations needed to manage it.  The WHO has confirmed 440 cases of the disease, including 17 deaths. 

Since the new coronavirus was detected in a fish market in Wuhan city, China three weeks ago, the previously unknown virus has moved with frightening speed internally and abroad.  Deaths have been reported in China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Chinese health officials announced Wednesday that the coronavirus has killed 17 people in the country, a sharp increase from the nine fatalities that were reported earlier.

The announcement was made by China’s health commission, according to state media reports that cited provincial officials.

Authorities said the deaths occurred in China’s Hubei province and that there were 440 confirmed cases of the virus in 13 provinces.
 
The higher death toll was announced as the World Health Organization held an emergency meeting Wednesday on the outbreak that has sickened people across China and beyond.

The global health agency says it is considering whether the outbreak should be declared a global health emergency.

The first case of the disease has been reported in the United States in a man who returned to the West Coast city of Seattle last week from Wuhan.  He is hospitalized in good condition, but the appearance of the case has put officials in the U.S. and other countries on heightened alert.  

Many airports are screening travelers from China.  U.S. President Donald Trump, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has told media that he trusts the information coming out of China on coronavirus and that the situation was under control.

Nevertheless, the World Health Organization is urging countries to continue preparedness measures to protect themselves from the possibilities of a large-scale outbreak.  

WHO spokesman Tarek Jasarevic says WHO experts and health officials in China are conducting investigations into the outbreak.

“Much remains to be understood about this novel coronavirus.  Not enough is known to draw definitive conclusions about how it is transmitted, clinical features of the disease, its severity, the extent to which it has spread or its source,” he said.

Based on previous experience with respiratory illness, Jasarevic says limited human to human transmission is likely occurring.  But he adds, this is not an airborne disease and people have to be in close contact to get infected.  

He says WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has convened the emergency meeting because little is known about the coronavirus and expert advice is needed to calm nerves and to know what protective actions are required.  

He notes a Public Health Emergency of International Public Concern has been declared only five times by the WHO. (VOA News)

Nadler: Trump’s Belief He Cannot Be Impeached is ‘Dangerous Nonsense’

0

By: Ken Bredemeier & Kenneth Schwartz

House impeachment manager Jerrold Nadler calls President Trump’s argument that he cannot be impeached for abuse of power “dangerous nonsense.”

Nadler, the head of the House Judiciary Committee, kicked off the second day of the Democrats’ case of the Trump impeachment trial in the Senate Thursday, where the 100 Senators will decide the president’s guilt or innocence.  

“A president who sees no limit on his power manifestly threatens the republic,” Nadler said as he accused Trump of “abuse of power, betrayal of the nation, and corruption in elections into a single unforgivable scheme” — all of which Nadler says meets the Constitutional standard for high crimes and misdemeanors and removal from office.

“It is wrong, it is illegal,” Nadler said, adding that the 44 U.S. presidents who preceded Trump “would be shocked to the core.” Nadler contended that Trump’s abuse “puts President Nixon to shame,” the scandal-ridden 1970s-era president who resigned in disgrace before he could be impeached.

“President Trump has made clear in word and deed that he will persist in such conduct. He poses a continuing threat to our nation, to the integrity of our elections, to our democratic order. He must not remain in power one moment longer,” Nadler said.

Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to open a corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden — a major Democratic challenger to Trump’s re-election bid. He also allegedly withheld military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publically announced a probe into Biden, his son Hunter’s job with a Ukrainian gas company, and a debunked theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. No evidence against the Bidens ever surfaced.

Intelligence committee head Adam Schiff said Trump didn’t care about the facts or his purported interest in fighting government corruption in Ukraine. Schiff said all Trump cared about was investigating Biden, especially after early polls showed the former vice president would soundly beat Trump in the election.

Florida’s Val Dennings said Republicans believe the only thing Democrats are worried about is winning the next election and keeping Trump from a second term. She said the case is truly about making sure the vote of every American matters.

Trump again ridiculed the Democrats’ impeachment case Thursday, tweeting “The Democrat House would not give us lawyers, or not one witness, but now demand that the Republican Senate produce the witnesses that the House never sought, or even asked for?”

Trump and his lawyers were invited to appear before the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment inquiry, but declined.

The two articles of impeachment accuse Trump of abusing the office of the presidency and obstructing congressional efforts to investigate his Ukraine-related actions.

The Democrats have one more day to present their case before the president’s legal team begins its three days to lay out their case.

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lawyers, said after Wednesday’s session that the fact the impeachment proceedings are even taking place is “ridiculous.”

“Are we having an impeachment over a phone call?” he asked reporters. “Or has this been a three-year attempt to take down a president that was duly elected by the American people? And we’re doing this with 10 months to go to a general election. Pretty dangerous for our republic, in my view.”

Trump has said throughout the process he did nothing wrong in his discussions with Zelenskiy, frequently describing their half-hour phone call as “perfect.”

Sekulow said, “We believe, without question, the president will be acquitted. There is not a doubt.”

That outcome is widely expected with members of Trump’s Republican Party holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate and impeachment rules requiring a two-thirds vote for conviction in order to remove him from office. Democrats would need to convince 20 Republicans to vote for conviction, and no Republican has, at least not so far, called for his removal from office.

Trump eventually released the military aid to Ukraine and Zelenskiy never opened an investigation into the Bidens — proof, Republicans say, that Trump did not engage in a quid pro quo with Ukraine — the Biden probes in exchange for the defense assistance.

But Schiff said Trump only released the funds because “he got caught,” when a still unidentified intelligence whistleblower filed a complaint that Trump in the July 25 telephone asked Zelenskiy to “do us a favor,” to start the politically investigation against Biden.

Trump is only the third U.S. president to be impeached and tried before the Senate. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 because of a post-Civil War dispute over states that seceded from the union.

Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for lying to a grand jury over a sex scandal. Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted and remained in office until the end of their terms. (VOA News)

 

Putin Receives 2,000-Year-Old Coin Uncovered in Jerusalem

0
Russian President Vladimir Putin received on Thursday from a 2,000-year coin uncovered in Jerusalem at the City of David excavations. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 23 January, 2020

By: TPS Staff

Russian President Vladimir Putin received on Thursday from a 2,000-year coin uncovered in Jerusalem at the City of David excavations.

Putin is in Israel together with 45 global leaders and royals to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Putin was awarded the coin by Jerusalem’s Mayor Moshe Leon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance, on the sidelines of a dedication ceremony of the monument in memory of the heroism of the soldiers and residents who were killed during the siege of Leningrad in World War II.

The coin is an original, inscribed with the ancient Hebrew words “Liberty of Zion.” On the other side of the coin are the words “year two” and refer to the second year of the Great Revolt during the years 66–73 CE.

The coin was minted by Jewish rebels in Jerusalem on the eve of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE by Rome’s 10th Legion.

Coins that were minted in the second and third years of the revolt are plentiful and easier to find, but coins from the fourth year are much rarer.

This archeological artifact is a piece of evidence of the Jewish People’s ancient ties to Israel, and especially Jerusalem.

 

In another development, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Putin in Jerusalem on Thursday and discussed with him several issues, including the release of Na’ama Issachar, the Israeli jailed in Russia for a minor drug offense.

Putin is in Israel together with 45 global leaders and royals to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Yaffa, Na’ama Issachar’s mother, joined the meeting the two leaders towards its end.

Netanyahu stated after the session that they “have just concluded an excellent working meeting.”

“At its conclusion, President Putin asked to bring in Yaffa, Na’ama Issachar’s mother. This was a very moving meeting. I am very grateful to you for this gesture, my friend the President,” he told Putin.

Putin added that after meeting Na’ama’s mother, “it is clear that Naama comes from a very good family.”

“The Prime Minister’s position is known to me – to decide appropriately. All of this will be taken into account when a decision is made,” he stated cryptically.

He promised that Na’ama will meet today “with the person responsible for maintaining human rights in Russia.”

“Her mother was very moving and supports her daughter. I said to her and I will say it again – everything will be alright,” he concluded.

While it is unclear what the practical meaning of Putin’s statement is, Israeli officials expressed optimism about the prospects of Issachar’s release in the near future.

Another issue the remains shrouded in secrecy is the price Israel will pay in return for her release.

Officials close to Netanyahu credited the “significant progress” towards Issachar’s release to the “close and personal relationship” between Netanyahu and Putin.

Netanyahu spoke to Putin seven times about Issachar’s release, and along with conversations held between Israeli and Russian officials, the issue was raised about 20 times since Issachar’s arrest on April 9 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where she had stopped for a connecting flight to Tel Aviv from New Delhi. Russian authorities found 9.5 grams of cannabis in her luggage and arrested her.

Netanyahu spoke on Thursday with Putin about Issachar’s release and expressed “optimism that the issue of the release of Naama Issachar is advancing towards a solution.”

Netanyahu called Putin at the end of December to discuss foreign policy and request Naama’s release.

This was the 14th meeting Netanyahu and Putin have held since September 2015. (TPS)

 

 

Trump says Israel-PA peace deal will be unveiled Prime Netanyahu and Gantz arrive in Washington next Tuesday

0
Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that Netanyahu and Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration's invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration's upcoming Middle East peace plan. Photo Credit: US Embassy in Israel Trump: 'Deal of the Century' Will be Unveiled in the Coming Days

By: Elad Benari

President Trump announced on Thursday that he will unveil the “Deal of the Century” in the coming days and before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz arrive in Washington.

Trump added that officials in his administration had briefly spoken to senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and will be speaking to them again soon.

“They may react negatively at first, but it is actually positive for them and they have a lot of incentive to do it,” Trump told reporters.

“It’s a great plan. It’s a plan that really would work,” he added. “I’d love to be able to do that deal. They say that’s the hardest of all deals.”

Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that Netanyahu and Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration’s invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration’s upcoming Middle East peace plan.

“President Trump asked me to extend an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week, to discuss regional issues as well as the prospect of peace here in the Holy Land,” Pence told reporters.
The Vice President added that he invited Gantz at Netanyahu’s suggestion.

Netanyahu said, “I suggested that Benny Gantz be invited to this event as well, because I think that it’s important that we do not lose this historic opportunity. With such friends in the White House, with such backing from the United States, we should get as broad a consensus as possible around the efforts to achieve security and peace, peace and security for the State of Israel.”

“I look forward to doing both, and I thank you again for your extraordinary friendship. Thank you,” he added.

Meanwhile, Channel 12 News’ Amit Segal published details of what he said was the Trump administration’s peace plan.

According to Segal, the plan would allow Israel to apply sovereignty to all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria immediately.

In addition, all but 15 Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria would be included in a territoriality continuous bloc which would come under Israeli sovereignty. The remaining 15 Israeli towns would also be placed under Israeli sovereignty, but as smaller enclaves outside of the larger bloc. In total, Israel would apply sovereignty to about 30% of all the land in Judea and Samaria.

Jerusalem would remain entirely under Israeli sovereignty. Israel would be required to recognize a Palestinian Arab state on the remaining 70% of Judea and Samaria.

Trump dismissed the report, saying that “reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative.” (INN)

New Bail Reform & Sanctuary City Laws Continue to Unnerve NYers

0
The latest examples of how New York state and NYC’s lax laws on criminals and “undocumented” people are making NY more dangerous by the minute.  Photo Credit: Shutterstock

By: Wayne Numanstein

A bank robber who was arrested in connection to four robberies on January 9th, was let go without bail and was free to rob two more banks, before turning himself in. 

A 21-year-old illegal immigrant who was released from prison late last year after attacking his father went on to brutally rape and murder a 92-year-old woman in Queens after being released from prison because of de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies.

These are 2 of the latest examples of how New York state and NYC’s lax laws on criminals and “undocumented” people are making NY more dangerous by the minute. 

The N.Y Post reported: “Under the new bail reforms, which took hold Jan. 1, Gerod Woodberry, 42, is considered a non-violent defendant because he allegedly used notes to demand dough from banks in Brooklyn and Manhattan. State law forbids judges from setting any bail for him under the new law”

After the suspect turned himself in to the Manhattan Criminal Court building last Friday, federal prosecutors had to take over the case, in order to prevent him from being released from jail once more without bail. 

“No sound, rational and fair criminal justice system requires the pre-trial release of criminal defendants who demonstrate such determination to continuously commit serious crimes,” Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue said in announcing the criminal complaint against him and calling the spree “unprecedented”, the N.Y Post reported. 

The suspect himself was amazed that he was initially released from prison. “I can’t believe they let me out,” sources told the Post, after he was released from jail in early January after the first slew or bank robberies. 

The combination of the new bail reform laws and de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies have made New York City a very crime friendly city and the entire state powerless to stop crime in general.

Reeaz Khan was previously arrested for assaulting his father in November of 2019 but was released almost instantly because of his “undocumented” citizenship status. 

Khan then went on to violently rape a 92-year-old woman on the streets of Queens, resulting in her death. 

In a statement issued by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement last  Tuesday, officials said Mr. Khan was “an unlawfully present Guyanese national” who had been released “due to New York City’s sanctuary policies”, the N.Y Times reported. 

ICE officials said they had issued what is known as a detainer in November requesting that law enforcement turn over Mr. Khan for possible deportation after he was arrested and charged with attacking his father with a broken coffee cup.

The New York City Police Department disputed the claim on Tuesday, saying that it “did not receive an ICE detainer in regard to this individual” after he had been arrested on Nov. 27, said Sgt. Mary Frances O’Donnell, a department spokeswoman.

On Wednesday, ICE released a copy of the fax transmission form appended to the detainer, which was dated Nov. 27.

It would appear that local police are literally ignoring ICE detainers, due to the bleeding-heart leftist policies of Bill de Blasio.

Thomas Decker, field office director for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, said in the statement issued on Tuesday: “It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets”, the NY Times reported 

He added: “New York City’s sanctuary policies continue to threaten the safety of all residents of the five boroughs.”

 

Survey: 70% of French Jews Experienced Anti-Semitism

0
Flowers and a French flag outside the Hypercacher kosher supermarket. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

By: Aryeh Savir
A staggering 70% of French Jews say they have been victims of anti-Semitism, 59% suffered physical abuse in school and 46% suffered verbal abuse at work, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) on the issue.

Other disturbing findings in the survey showed that young French Jews between the ages of 18-24 are most vulnerable to anti-Semitism.
More than 8 out of 10 young French Jews have suffered at least one anti-Semitic incident, and 39% have been the victims of physical violence.
Attempting to avoid anti-Semitic attacks, more than a third of French Jews refrain from wearing Jewish symbols in public, and a quarter avoids revealing their Jewish identity at work, and 40% avoid arriving at certain areas to circumvent attacks.

The report did not touch on the perpetrators’ identity, whether they be neo-Nazis or Muslim immigrants from Africa.
Overall, 44% of the Jewish respondents said the situation for French Jews is worse than a year ago, only 11% say it is better and 42% said it was not better or worse.
Some 52% of French Jews have considered leaving France while Israel has seen several large waves of Aliyah of French Jews in recent years.
Between the years 2000 and 2017, 10 percent of the French Jewish community, the largest in Europe, immigrated to Israel.

Some 38,000 arrived in Israel in the past decade. The number of Olim from France peaked this decade, with the new Olim coming in the past 10 years constituting nearly one-third of the total Olim from France since the establishment of Israel. In 2015, a record number of Olim came from France with the arrival of 7,892 French Jews.

Interestingly, 73% of the French general public and 72% of French Jews agree that anti-Semitism affects all of society and not only the Jews.

The National Assembly in France in December voted in favor of a resolution that endorses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which also defines anti-Zionism as a form of Jew-hatred.

“This has to stop,” said Ann Sebban-Bécache, Director of AJC Paris. “The fight against anti-Semitism must be a national priority which has the adequate means to cover all of France.”
The AJC Paris study was conducted by IFOP, a leading polling firm, in partnership with Fondapol, a major French think tank. They polled 505 French Jews and 1,027 French people between October 14 and November 19, 2019. (TPS)

Parshas Vaera – The Art of Comfort and Consolation

0
"I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land" (Exodus, 6). Photo Caption - To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis

To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. At the beginning of the parsha, G-d charged Moshe with the mission of announcing to the Jewish people that the time of their liberation was at hand. HaShem used four different expressions in describing their redemption. “I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land” (Exodus, 6).

Despite this awesome promise however, the Jewish people remained dispirited and incapable of absorbing the good news. The explanation for this reveals the nature of suffering and how one may best comfort those who are hurting. When someone is in pain, he does not have the patience or the ability to comprehend that which will occur in the future. His agony is so overwhelming that he is aware only of the here and now. In his pain he cannot contemplate the future. Therefore, the Almighty G-d instructs Moshe and Aaron once again and commands them to bring the children of Israel forth from Egypt (Exodus 6:13) teaching us that when someone is in distress, we have to extend immediate help. Thus, when encouraging those who have lost hope, let us not content ourselves with visions of the future. Rather, let us do something concrete to relieve their pain and infuse them with hope.

In this same passage, G-d also instructs Moshe to be gentle and patient with the people – a basic ingredient that is required of all leaders. The Midrash teaches that HaShem told Moshe and Aaron: “My children are often stubborn and recalcitrant. They are quick to anger and troublesome. It is under these conditions that you should undertake to accept leadership over them..” This teaching has bearing, not only for leaders, but for each and every one of us. In every family, there are situations in which one`s patience is sorely tried. At such times, we must exercise forbearance, remain calm and respond with strength and dignity.

This passage has yet a third interpretation. It is written in the Talmud that it was at this moment of crisis for the Jewish people that G-d told Moshe to command the nation regarding the emancipation of slaves that would take place once they entered the promised land. At first glance, this appears far-fetched. The nation is in bondage, so what possible relevance can such instructions have? But the Torah is teaching us that it is precisely when you are in the throes of suffering that you must make a commitment to banish suffering – to convert that pain into a healing experience. It is in this spirit that the Torah calls upon us to remember our bondage and exodus from Egypt (Zeicher l`Tziyas Mitzraim) and relate to the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and all those in need with compassion and love. (Hineni.org)

Trump Impeachment Trial Ready to Begin

0
The impeachment trial of President Trump begins in full Tuesday in the U.S. Senate — only the third time in U.S. history a president faces removal from office for allegedly violating his oath. Photo Credit: C-SPAN

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The impeachment trial of President Trump begins in full Tuesday in the U.S. Senate — only the third time in U.S. history a president faces removal from office for allegedly violating his oath.

One of the first pieces of business for the Senate is a vote on Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed timeline for the trial.

McConnell’s resolution would give Democratic House impeachment managers — who will act as prosecutors — and Trump’s legal team 24 hours each over two days to present their cases. The resolution says nothing about whether witnesses would be called and new evidence allowed to be introduced.

McConnell and the Republicans have made no secret of wanting the trial to be a quick as possible resulting in Trump’s acquittal.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said late Monday that McConnell is going along with what he calls Trump’s “cover-up hook, line, and sinker.”  

“On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace,” Schumer said, accusing most Republicans of bring frightened of the president.

Lawyers: Trump did ‘absolutely nothing wrong’

Trump’s lawyers are assailing the impeachment case against him as a “dangerous perversion of the Constitution,” asserting he did “absolutely nothing wrong” in pressing Ukraine to launch investigations to benefit himself politically.

The lawyers say Democrats pushing for Trump’s removal are not trying to find the truth about Trump’s Ukraine-related actions, but are looking to overturn his 2016 election and interfere with his 2020 reelection campaign.

The House impeached Trump on two articles. One alleges he abused the presidency by pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate one of his top 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden. The second charge is allegedly obstructing Congress in its investigation.

Democratic lawmakers had earlier said it was clear that the “evidence overwhelmingly establishes” that Trump is guilty of both charges.

The Trump lawyers, in their 110-page filing, said that president was conducting normal foreign policy affairs in dealing with Zelenskiy.

They said he did not commit a crime, even though conviction of an impeached U.S. president and removal from office does not depend on a specific violation of a criminal law. Rather, it is how the 100 members of the Senate, acting as jurors, interpret the standard for conviction set out in the U.S. Constitution, whether a president has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”  

No matter the legal arguments for and against Trump, he almost certainly will be acquitted by the Republican-majority Senate, where a two-thirds vote against him would be required for a conviction and removal from office.

At least 20 of the 53 Senate Republicans would have to join all 47 Democrats to convict Trump, and no Republican has called for his ouster.

The White House predicts Trump’s acquittal within two weeks. But the trial could last much longer if Democrats succeed in persuading four Republicans to join them in calling for testimony from key Trump aides about the president’s Ukraine-related actions.

Democrats want to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and others about how Trump asked for investigations of Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company, and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats. Trump’s Ukraine efforts came at the same time he was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid that Ukraine wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Trump has said he wants to call the Bidens as witnesses at his trial, along with the still-unidentified whistleblower who first disclosed that Trump in a July phone call asked Zelenskiy to launch the Biden investigations. But on Twitter Monday, he seemed averse to hearing testimony from Bolton, whom he ousted in September.

Democrats, Trump said, “didn’t want John Bolton and others in the House” to testify. “They were in too much of a rush. Now they want them all in the Senate. Not supposed to be that way!”

Democrats pushing for Trump’s impeachment had sought testimony from Bolton and others in Trump’s orbit; however, the potential witnesses complied with the president’s edict to not cooperate with the House investigation, although others ignored it and testified. Democratic lawmakers abandoned efforts to subpoena some witnesses out of fear that the legal fights over their testimony would extend for months and instead moved ahead to adopt the impeachment articles without hearing them testify under oath.

Bolton now says he is willing to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed by the Senate.

Trump, who almost daily ridicules the impeachment effort, tweeted Monday, “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer is now asking for ‘fairness’, when he and the Democrat House members worked together to make sure I got ZERO fairness in the House. So, what else is new?”

Trump eventually released the Ukraine military aid in September after a 55-day delay without Zelenskiy launching the Biden investigations. Republicans say that is proof Trump did not engage in a quid pro quo — the military aid in exchange for the investigations to help him politically.

Two other presidents — Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 — were impeached by the House but acquitted in Senate trials and remained in office.

President Richard Nixon faced almost certain impeachment in 1974 in the Watergate political scandal, but resigned before the House acted. (VOA News)

Pardon Deal for Naama Issachar Advances Prior to Putin Arrival in Israel

0
Yaffa Issachar, mother of Naama Issachar, an Israeli jailed in Russia. (Flash90)

According to reports in the Israeli media, Israel and Russia agreed to the broad contours of a pardon for the young backpacker jailed in Moscow over drug possession.

By: WIN Staff & JNS

On Monday evening, reports on Channels 12 and 13 in Israel indicated that a deal was moving forward for the release of Naama Issachar from Russian prison.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, during a meeting many hope will result in an announcement regarding Issachar’s release.

According to Times of Israel, the two nations had “agree[d] in principle” on pardoning Issachar as of Monday evening.

Reports related to the pardon indicated that Israel would be required to make concessions to Russia in exchange for the pardon, including potentially altering the status of a Russian building near Jerusalem’s Old City.

Yaffa Issachar, Naama’s mother, commented on Sunday, “We’ll know this week when Naama will be released. I want to go see [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and show him my support. I believe that Putin will pardon her.”

Issachar was arrested in April during a layover in Moscow on the way back to Israel, after 9.5 grams of marijuana were found in her checked luggage. Though she denied having any intention of leaving the airport, she was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Putin is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday to take part in the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum along with dignitaries and heads of state from around the world.

Ahead of his arrival, rumors have swirled in the Russian and Israeli press that the Russian president is considering pardoning Issachar.

At the airport on Sunday, Yaffa Issachar urged the supporters who had arrived to welcome her not to protest or cause an incident during Putin’s visit.

“I appreciate everything you have done to bring Naama’s plight to the public sphere,” she said, “but now is the time to let negotiations play out.”

Following a conversation with Putin last week, Netanyahu on Sunday alluded to the possibility of a pardon, stating at his weekly Cabinet meeting, “I hope that on the occasion of the visit, we will also hear good news soon.”

According to Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is scheduled to meet with Israeli Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a pardon for Issachar. (World Israel News)

Read more at: World Israel News

 

 

Should the 5th Ave Frick Museum Buy Jeffrey Epstein’s Old Mansion?

0
Preservationists are reportedly calling on the Frick Museum at 1 East 70th Street to buy the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s old Upper East Side mansion. Photo Credit: thirteen.org

By: Jeff Sagorties

Preservationists are reportedly calling on the Frick Museum at 1 East 70th Street to buy the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s old Upper East Side mansion.

The museum is currently in the process of expanding its facilities, a move that has riled some neighbors.

Several groups, including ones called Save the Frick and Stop Irresponsible Frick Development, are involved. Indeed, the Frick Collection’s planned expansion has had local residents upset over the prospect for years. One part of the expansion involves getting rid of the Frick’s music room and using the space instead to expand an exhibition area.

The director of Save the Frick, an architect and preservationist named Theodore Grunewald, has voiced the opinion that the planned changes to the museum’s music room would not be necessary if it purchased several nearby houses, including the one that belonged to Epstein.

However, Frick COO maintains that the Frick would not have to do this if it buys Epstein’s mansion at 9 East 71st Street and other nearby houses.

According to Frick’s chief operating officer Joe Shatoff, however, such a move would do nothing to help the museum realize its goals. “Our renovation and revitalization plan has been guided carefully by two key tenets — first and foremost, to preserve the unique, intimate experience of the Frick, and secondly, to ensure the long-term future of the museum and library,” he said in a statement to the New York Daily News. “A separate building across the street does not answer these needs and would not provide the critical adjacencies required to make it a functional solution.”

Facets of the Frick’s expansion strategy include remodeling nearly 6,000 square feet for use as an education center. It would also improve wheelchair accessibility and allow greater public access.

Internationally recognized as a premier museum and research center, the Frick is known for its distinguished Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts, the museum points out on its web site.

“The collection was assembled by the Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) and is housed in his former residence on Fifth Avenue. One of New York City’s few remaining Gilded Age mansions, it provides a tranquil environment for visitors to experience masterpieces by artists such as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Goya, and Whistler. The museum opened in 1935 and has continued to acquire works of art since Mr. Frick’s death.”