By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
With Elul upon us, the mood in Jewish communities is changing. The frivolity and care-free attitude of summer are gone, having faded out for the more severe tone of Elul. Serious days are ahead and we need to prepare.
A person who stands trial and groups awaiting a governmental decision on their fate as independent citizens look for people to write letters for them, sign petitions, and submit amicus briefs.

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/VIDEO-2019-09-04-23-26-13.mp4

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/376061c4-b585-4ef3-bf64-f74bc6d69218.mp4

The official death toll in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian has risen to 20, according to Wednesday reports, and is expected to climb further.
Dorian, the strongest hurricane ever to hit the Bahamas, devastated the archipelago nation. Winds up to 185 mph and torrential rains destroyed or severely damaged nearly half the homes of the 70,000 residents in Abaco and Grand Bahama, The Associated Press reported.
Bahamian Health Minister Duane Sands told the AP that 17 of the deaths are from Abaco and three are from Grand Bahama. Dorian is also blamed for one death in Puerto Rico as well as one in North Carolina.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

As rescue crews continue to look for and evacuate people from the devastated islands of Great Abaco and Grand Bahama, relatives and friends are trying desperately to find loved ones in the Bahamas amid the chaos of recovery after Hurricane Dorian.
Access to the battered northern islands, where the storm caused catastrophic damage, has been limited. Search and rescue teams, including the U.S. Coast Guard and the British Royal Navy, were on the islands Wednesday trying to find survivors.
But amid communication lapses and widespread decimation, news about individuals is slow to arrive and difficult to find, so thousands of people have taken to social media to track down their kin.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has staked his job on his ability to deliver Brexit, suffered two major losses in Parliament on Wednesday, leaving his governing authority in doubt and the terms of Britain’s pending divorce from the European Union unclear.
The resounding votes against Johnson capped a dramatic week in which protesters marched across the country and legislators switched loyalty or were excommunicated from their party. Britons of every ideology have been left angry, frustrated and often overwhelmed by a national emergency that won’t seem to end.

Google will pay $170 million to settle allegations that it illegally collected data about children younger than age 13 who watched toy videos and television shows on YouTube, settling a long-running government investigation but leaving some in Washington once again furious that regulators had been outmatched by Silicon Valley.
In a sweeping complaint, state and federal regulators alleged Google knew that some channels on YouTube were popular among young viewers and tracked kids’ viewing habits for the purpose of serving them targeted ads, ultimately raking in “close to $50 million” from just a short list of channels that violated federal children’s privacy laws.

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/DAILY-DOSE46.mp3
To receive Matzav.com’s Daily Dose of Chesed podcast by email, send your email address to dailydoseofchesed@gmail.com. For more information about Rabbi Makovsky and additional shiurim, click here. For speaking engagements, call 732.275.4358.
 

Top Democratic presidential contenders talked tough Wednesday on cutting climate-damaging emissions from oil, gas and coal, turning their focus to global warming in a marathon evening of town halls that gave the candidates a chance to distinguish themselves on a topic of growing importance to their party’s liberal base. The unique and lengthy climate conversations […]

Rav Dovid Zvi Shlomo Biederman, known as Reb Dovid’l (1844-1918), leader of Chassidic community of Yerushalayim. Born in Lelov, his parents were Rav Eliezer Menachem Mendel of Lelov and Rebbetzin Matil Feiga. His mother’s grandfather was the Chozeh of Lublin. Reb Dovid’l was named after the founder of the Lelov dynasty, Rav Dovid (1745-1813) who was a direct descendant of Dovid HaMelech and a talmid of the Chozeh. Rav Dovid of Lelov was succeeded by his son, Rav Moshe (1776-1851). His son, Rav Eliezer Menachem Mendel, who decided to stay on in Yerushalayim. At that time, the Chassidic community of Eretz Yisrael was based mostly in Tzefas and Teveryah, and for the next few decades, the sole Chassidic court in Yerushalayim was that of Lelov.