Despite the chance of rain in the forecast for Wednesday evening, the Twelfth Siyum HaShas which is scheduled to take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, WILL be taking place. Sources tell YWN a meeting was held between the organizers, and the decision was made for the event to proceed as planned. The event is scheduled to start on time.

The Orthodox Draft

In an step that could intensify a major rift among Israelis, the defense minister on Tuesday ordered the army to prepare for a universal draft of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 2 TV Tuesday night that the army would begin widening its list of recruits immediately.

Brotherhood Notes

Egypt’s new Islamist president has sent his first letter to an Israeli leader, Israel said Tuesday, in which the Egyptian leader expresses his hopes that the Mideast peace process can be restarted and that the ‘‘Israeli people’’ can achieve security. In the letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres released by Peres’ office, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood said he hopes to revive regional negotiations.

Sanctions: It Works, It Doesn’t Work

The White House is breaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defending the efficacy of the administration’s sanctions on Iran, saying they have punished Iran’s economy. ”Sanctions are having a significant impact on Iran and its economy,” said Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications. But Netanyahu said on Sunday that the sanctions have not had the intended purpose of slowing Iran’s nuclear program “by one iota.”

China & Iran Sitting In A Tree

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling a visit to Israel by U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney as “kissing the foot” of the Jewish state to boost his bid for the White House. Ahmadinejad did not specifically name Romney, but his comments were an unmistakable jab at the Republican contender’s stop this week in Israel.

China’s official press agency slammed Mitt Romney for asserting that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem, saying his remarks “totally neglect historical facts” and could even “reignite” a war with Palestinians. “U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s statement that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel is likely to worsen the already tense Mideast situation, and even reignite a war between Palestinians and Israelis,” the Xinhua news agency wrote in an editorial Tuesday.

The post Tuesday, July 31st 2012 appeared first on Jewish Update.

Romney says Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, vows to move embassy: “A nation has the capacity to choose its own capital city, and Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview set to air Monday. “I think it’s long been the policy to ultimately have our embassy in the nation’s capital of Jerusalem.” Former Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Mitt Romney’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was “unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who suggested his comments were racist and out of touch with the realities of the Middle East.

Unscheduled Landing

An El Al 737 with 100 passengers on board traveling from Ben-Gurion International Airport to Brussels landed in Budapest on Sunday, due to technical issues pertaining to the plane’s fuel system that compelled the unscheduled landing. The plane took off at 21:50 and was scheduled to touch down at 03:15. El Al technicians in Budapest addressed the faulty valve and the plane was scheduled to return to service after the repair.

Obama Uses His Clinton Card

Former President Bill Clinton is set to play a central part in the Democratic convention, aides said, and will formally place President Obama’s name into nomination by delivering a prime-time speech designed to present a forceful economic argument for why Mr. Obama deserves to win a second term.

Siyum Hashas

On August 1st, he anticipates a similar feeling when he looks around New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, where some 92,000 Jews will be gathered for the 12th Siyum Hashas. Many, but not all of those in attendance, will have completed the cycle by having studied one Talmud page each day, known by Jews around the world as Daf Yomi, literally, a page a day.

Silence Is Golden

Italian officials joined Israelis at the Olympics in London for a minute of silence to honor the 11 Israeli athletes killed by terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Following a Mass Sunday celebrated by the chaplain of the Italian Olympic squad, the Italian delegation, including Sports Minister Piero Gnudi and the head of the Italian Olympic Committee, Giovanni Petrucci, joined Israeli sports officials at the Olympic Village.

The post Monday, July 30th 2012 appeared first on Jewish Update.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney heads to Israel on Saturday, hoping to present himself to American voters as a candidate more in tune than President Obama with Israel’s concerns and needs.

Pennsylvania Camp ‘Terrorized’

In three separate episodes earlier this month, three adults and two juveniles caused property damage as they sped dangerously through Camp Bonim in Wayne County in a pickup truck, shouting anti-Semitic epithets and firing paintball guns at campers and staff, District Attorney Janine Edwards said in a press release. The three adults were arrested Wednesday morning and face felony and misdemeanor charges, including ethnic intimidation, terroristic threats and assault.

Circumcision Decisions

Senior Christian, Jewish and Muslim representatives are demanding that Austria formally declare its backing for circumcisions of male infants on religious grounds. Last month’s verdict by a German regional court did not ban male circumcision of Muslim or Jewish infants. But it led the German Medical Association to recommend that no unnecessary circumcisions be performed until the legal situation is clarified. That is prompting calls for restrictions in Austria, which does not forbid the practice.

Brooklyn State Assemblyman Dov Hikind says he’s “frankly aghast” at Mayor Bloomberg’s comments concerning a controversial circumcision under review by the city Health Department. Hikind said Bloomberg’s comments on metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel performing a bris removes the blood from the baby’s circumcision wound by mouth, were insensitive and disrespectful.

Israeli Politics

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama’s latest move to improve ties with Israel doesn’t go far enough. Obama is set to sign legislation Friday to expand military and civilian cooperation with Israel. The bill reiterates U.S. support for a negotiated two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In other news: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney won’t say which city – Tel Aviv or Jerusalem — is the capital of Israel, despite repeated questioning in today’s press briefing. Carney was caught flat-footed when asked which city is Israel’s capital. “I haven’t had that question in awhile,” he said after some hesitation. Our position has not changed. You know our position.” The reporter said she didn’t know, but Carney moved on to another question.

Madonna’s Swatika

Madonna defends use of Nazi iconography in concert: ‘Music should be about ideas, right?’ The outspoken Material Girl claims that her decision to use a swastika symbol is meant to remind, not offend. Even after angering an entire nation following a recent performance in France and being threatened with a potential lawsuit for her uncouth behavior, Madonna is standing firmly by her art.

The post Friday, July 27th, 2012 appeared first on Jewish Update.

A Republican group backed by the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is starting a new effort in battleground states to win over Jewish voters who could be persuaded to turn away from President Obama and support Mitt Romney.

The group, the Republican Jewish Coalition, plans to begin a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in the coming weeks called “My Buyer’s Remorse,” targeting voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, aides said. The campaign uses testimonials from people who say they regret supporting Mr. Obama because of his economic policies and his posture toward Israel, in hopes of cutting into the wide advantage Democrats have held over Republicans among Jewish voters.

Israel, Iran & Us

Have Israeli leaders gotten tired of waiting for Obama on Iran? Defense Minister Barak says Jerusalem won’t rely on Washington and is “committed to doing everything it can in order to stop Iran from going nuclear.”

Immodesty Be Banned

Williamsburg storefront sign bans immodest attire. Is it okay for shopkeepers to require its customers to wear modest attire? Restaurants with a “no shoes, no service” rule have been commonplace for years. That rule is partly for health purposes, but it is also partly because many people are turned off by seeing someone else’s bare feet when they eat. But for some reason the ban by certain Orthodox Brooklyn shopkeepers on customers’ cleavage and bare shoulders has raised the ire of some local consumers, and confused the general public and even law professors concerning permissible limitations on public attire.

6-Alarm Fire in Brooklyn Building

Firefighters are currently battling a six-alarm fire at a seven-story apartment building in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. Photos from the scene that show flames leaping from the roof of the building as thick black smoke billows into the sky. The complexes houses 115 residential units. No injuries have been reported at this time.

Olympic Silence

The International Olympic Committee rejected an in-person appeal for a minute of silence at the opening ceremonies of the London Games by the widows of two of the 11 Israelis slain at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Palestinian Authority has thanked the International Olympic Committee [IOC] for refusing to allow a minute’s silence at the opening ceremony in London to mark the 40th anniversary of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in the Munich Games.

The post Thursday, July 26th 2012 appeared first on Jewish Update.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday rebuffed rabbis’ threats of legal action if the city goes through with a proposal to restrict a controversial Orthodox Jewish circumcision procedure. “We have an obligation to keep people alive and safe and the courts have held that up repeatedly,” Bloomberg said yesterday at a press conference.

A group of Orthodox rabbis warned Wednesday that the ancient Jewish practice of infant male circumcision could face further restrictions in Europe after some hospitals in Austria and Switzerland suspended the procedure by citing a German court ruling that it could amount to criminal bodily harm.

2012 Elections & Israel

America’s relationship with Israel, always reliable for campaign rhetoric, will come under renewed examination this week when presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney heads to the country as part of his foreign swing.

Brooklyn Stories

Fire officials say a stubborn warehouse fire in East New York that burned for more than 15 hours is now under control. Officials say flames broke out around 3:30 p.m. yesterday at 3301 Fulton St. Hundreds of firefighters responded to the seven-alarm fire. Fire officials say it was a complicated operation because the warehouse contains nine interconnected buildings, some of which suffered extensive roof collapse.

Stuck in traffic by the Verrazano Bridge yesterday? Here’s why: NYPD ESU and Hostage Negotiators aided by a Cantonese-speaking NYPD Police Office rescued a despondent man in his 30s threatening to jump from the Verrazano Bridge, Monday afternoon.

Colorado Shooting

James Holmes, the Colorado graduate student who is suspected of killing 12 moviegoers and wounding 58 others on Friday during the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” worked as a camp counselor in Los Angeles County in 2008 that was run by Jewish Big Brothers and Sisters (JBBBS), the group’s CEO told NBC4 on Saturday.

Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, zt”l

The birth of Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv – who died in Jerusalem last week at the age of 102 – is thought by many to be a miracle. “Everyone has a relationship with Rabbi Elyashiv,” Rabbi Weil said. Whether as the final authority on halacha in a rapidly changing world, or as role model of scholarship and love, Rabbi Berg believes that Rabbi Elyashiv’s “impact…will continue to be felt for generations to come.”

The post Wednesday, July 25th 2012 appeared first on Jewish Update.

With the 12th Siyum Hashas just one week away, organizers of the massive event have stepped up efforts to ensure the highest standards of security in and around Metlife Stadium. In addition to nearly 600 New Jersey State troopers – all of whom have undergone eight hours of cultural and hands- on training – more than 1,500 law-enforcement personnel from local, state and federal agencies have been assigned to the Siyum. Security personnel will also be stationed on the highways leading to MetLife Stadium, at bus departure points, and at rest areas along the way.

Preparations are underway to host more than 10,000 people in Israel alone for the worldwide Siyum HaShas; the completion of the cycle of study of Torah learning in the tractates of the Talmud, the entire set of which is known as the “Shas.”

NYC Circumcision Hearing

At a hearing yesterday in Queens, New York City rabbis defended a controversial circumcision practice that has been blamed for infecting infants with herpes, in some cases causing their death.

The practice, called “metzitzah b’peh,” requires the circumciser, or mohel, to suck the infant’s wounds after circumcision, and has led to at least two cases of infant death in New York since 2000.  The city wants to amend the health law to require mohels to obtain written consent from parents indicating they are fully aware of the risks involved in the ritual circumcision, or bris.

Obama To Visit Israel (In Second Term)

The Obama campaign said in a conference call Monday that the president is likely to make his first visit to Israel in a second term, and denounced attempts by Mitt Romney’s campaign to make political hay out of his failure to do so up to this point.

Rabbi Spivak told Vos is Neias that this is chutzpah: “The arrogance of the White House knows no boundaries. In light of the upcoming Romney trip to the Holy Land, and due to the fact that in his almost four years in office this President has never visited Israel (in spite of going to Egypt), Mr. Obama is telling the Jewish community that in his second term he will take a trip to the Jewish State. Evidently, the President is of the opinion that his re-election is a given. Secondly – and this is a bit unsettling – Obama is basically telling American Jews that if they re-elect him he will do them a favor and deign to visit Israel.”

Olympic Moment Of Shame

It is a comfort to know that on the eve of the XXX Olympiad, which starts Friday night in London, the 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Games will be recalled at memorial services here and around the world.

Still, it is deeply disappointing, if not at all surprising, that despite an extensive international lobbying campaign — spearheaded by the Israelis’ survivors, the Rockland JCC and a coalition of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations — there will be no moment of silence or official mention of the martyred Israelis at the opening ceremony in London.

The post Tuesday, June 24th 2012 appeared first on Jewish Update.