An increasingly growing amount of Gerrer chassidim are leaving the city of Haifa in recent months, and others are planning to move in the near future, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. The report said that a source told them that the Gerrer exodus from Haifa is due to a recent Ministry of Health report on the dangerous level of pollution in the city. A few chassidim who spoke to the Gerrer Rebbe about moving from the city received his bracha and many began following in their footsteps. However, no one was specifically instructed by the Rebbe to leave. “It’s reminiscent of the wave of Gerrer chassidim who left Tel Aviv over a decade ago, when many of them moved to Bnei Brak for their chinuch of their children,” a Gerrer chassid told B’Chadrei Chareidim.

President Donald Trump set a presidential record for activity on his favorite social media platform Wednesday, tweeting and retweeting at length about the Senate impeachment trial, the Democrats who want to replace him and much, much more. By 4:25 p.m. ET, Trump had barreled through his previous record of 123 Twitter postings in a day that he set a little over a month ago, according to Factba.se, a service that compiles and analyzes data on Trump’s presidency. Trump’s previous record for tweets on a single day during his time in the White House was set on Dec. 12, 2019, the day the House Judiciary Committee opened its marathon session to approve two articles of impeachment against the president.

A Jerusalem Magisterial Court extended the detention of Aharon Ramati who is accused of running a cult in a Chareidi community in Yerushalayim. During the discussions at the hearing, police asked for a warrant to search Ramati’s phones. Police currently suspect that the testimony of one of the suspects points to an obstruction of justice. “When we brought the suspect into custody, we were told that he had to undergo a medical checkup outside of our custody and we, therefore, did not have time to present him with all of the evidence that we had collected.

Tariq Kurd, 18, was indicted by the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday morning for negligent manslaughter for causing the deaths of Tzipi Rimmel, a’h, and her infant by recklessly driving and crashing into the car of the Rimmel family on Highway 443 near Givat Ze’ev in late November. He was also indicted for causing severe injury, excessive speeding, driving without insurance and damaging people and property. The indictment stated that apart from the fact that he was speeding, Kurd also had very little experience driving a manual shift car and had only driven it a few times before the accident. “Since he purchased the car a few days before the crash, the defendant decided to ‘test-drive’ the car to see how it responded to high speeds,” the indictment stated.

A 36-year-old woman who was brought by MDA to Hadassah Har Hatzofim in Jerusalem on Tuesday night collapsed and died at the entrance to the delivery room. Following extensive and prolonged resuscitation techniques, the hospital was forced to declare her death. A senior midwife saved the baby through an immediate C-section and the baby is now in the NICU. The medical staff believes that the death was the result of a cardiological issue which caused the woman’s aorta to rupture on the way or at the entrance to the hospital. “The hospital staff is supporting the family at this difficult time, including a social worker who is at their side, and is providing all possible support in this extremely difficult incident,” the hospital stated.

The Degel Hatorah party met on Tuesday with Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky and Hagaon Rosh Yeshivah Gershon Edelstein regarding the disqualification of Arab Joint List MK Heba Yazbak (Balad) for running for the Knesset in the upcoming elections. A petition was filed by Likud MK Ofir Katz to the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Yazbak in light of her public statements supporting terrorists, including Samir Kuntar, who killed a four-year-old girl in Nahariya in 1979 by smashing her head on rocks after shooting her father, Danny Haran, in front of her. Kuntar was released in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of IDF reserve soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser and later became a senior Hezbollah terrorist.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com While everyone is focusing on the impeachment trial, there is another impending and more serious crisis.  If we do not deal with it, this crisis will seriously affect the Torah world.  It can affect bochurim, young marrieds, Yeshivos, shuls and even young children. We need to get ahead of […]

The man behind the network recruiting hundreds of Chareidi young men and women to smuggle Khat into Europe lives in Kiryat Sefer, Chareidim10 reported. Attorney Mordechai Tzivin, who specializes in international crime, extradition and Interpol and has voluntarily assisted in over ten cases of Chareidi youth arrested in Europe for smuggling Khat, said that the Kiryat Sefer resident, “D.B.,” convinces the youth that smuggling Khat isn’t dangerous since it’s not an illegal drug in Israel. Tzivin added that the police are aware of the identities of the Khat operators but they have no legal means to stop them since there is no law that bans taking Khat out of Israel. D.B.

Against the backdrop of rising Anti-Semitism in America, I was surprised this week when Dr. Richard Roberts, a major GOP donor who gave over $1 Million to the Trump campaign sent me an open letter he sent to the Mayor of Jackson, New Jersey (which is next to Lakewood) where he accused the township government of Anti-Semitism. Roberts served as Vice Chair of the Israel Advisory Committee for the Trump campaign and has donated to the political campaigns for South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Rand Paul, Governor Scott Walker and former Congressman Allen West.  This isn’t someone crying wolf – he’s a political veteran.

A 12-year-old boy R”L fell to his death in Ashdod on Wednesday afternoon. It happened at around 6:20PM, when the boy fell of a 5th-story window in Ashdod.  After receiving initial medical care at the scene by United Hatzalah volunteers and MDA ambulance staff, the boy was transported in critical condition while still undergoing CPR to Assuta hospital. Unfortunately, he was Niftar at the hospital. He was identified as Max Edelstein Z”L. Police officers who arrived at the scene opened an investigation into the incident, and are working to determine what caused the fall. Additional information will be published when available. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)