By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com It is known as the MQ-9 Reaper Multi-Purpose Drone, and it is the deadliest unmanned aerial vehicle in the sky.  The cost of this unit is some sixty-four million dollars and it flies at about 300 miles per hour.  It was used by Air Force personnel hundreds or perhaps […]

Last Friday morning, a resident of Beitar Illit noticed some damage on the roof of his car over the driver’s seat, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. When he examined the roof more closely he found a hole that was roughly the size of a bullet. He snapped a picture of it and sent it to a friend, who told him that it looked like the hole was actually caused by a bullet. The car owner couldn’t stop thinking about it throughout Shabbos, wondering who could have tried to shoot a bullet in his car. On Motzei Shabbos, he drove to the Beitar police station and told the officer on duty about the damage to his car and his concern that it may have been caused by gunfire.

Channel 13 News reported on Tuesday about a strange phenomenon that’s been occurring recently in one of the wings of the Chermon prison, located in the Galil. In the last few weeks, four separate incidents occurred when prisoners with no history of psychiatric issues suddenly “going crazy” and screaming that a “dybbuk” had entered them. The latest incident was on Tuesday when one of the prisoners had an outbreak, screaming for a half-hour that “there’s a soul inside me” and “they want to kill me.” Six prison guards tried to calm him down without success. “These are normal people who have absolutely no background of psychiatric issues and suddenly they’re caught by a dybbuk and begin to go crazy,” a prisoner of the wing told Mako, an Israeli news website.

Today, Councilman Kalman Yeger took to the floor of the New York City Council to publicly condemn politicians and members of the media who “tinker at the fringes of antisemitism.” If it had a title, the three minute speech would be called “You Did This.” In his remarks, Councilman Yeger repeatedly used the phrase to excoriate those who pretend to stand with the Jewish community, but actually stand with anti-semites. Councilman Yeger specifically pointed to “those who spent Sunday posing for pictures with Jews, but spend the other 364 days of the year festering hate against my community.” Councilman Yeger said, “we have the right to live in our city like anyone else. We have the right to go about our day without being assaulted. We are not doing this to anyone.

The attached video is fascinating and the Psak Halacha is timely: A Rav from Monsey asked Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky if guards with weapons should be posted at shuls in America due to the recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents. Rav Chaim first answered that everyone should do as they want. But then Rav Chaim was told that the mispallelim want to do what the Rav tells them and Harav Chaim said not to post guards. The second question was should some mispallelim acquire weapons to bring to shul? Harav Chaim answered that they should if it’s pikuach nefesh. The question was explained further that it’s not a matter of “immediate” pikuach nefesh, but of potential pikuach nefesh due to the recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks. Harav Chaim answered that mispallelim can bring weapons to shul.

Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg of Congregation Netzach Yisroel in Monsey will be delivering the Invocation at the NY “State of the State” address at 1:30PM today. This will mark the first time a Chassidish Rav has given the blessing. NY Governor Cuomo visited the home of Rabbi Rottenberg following the vicious attack in his home on Chanukah. Governor Cuomo’s 2020 State of the State agenda includes more than 30 proposals that he has outlined on his website. The proposals include those that would not immediately impact the budget, as well as those that could bring in revenues for the state. Currently, the state is beginning the new year facing a $6 billion budget gap.   

Following a long period of time that police abstained from indicting extremist Chareidim who participate in various protests, the direction seems to have changed, Kikar Shabbos reported. An indictment was filed on Tuesday by the criminal division of the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s office to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court against a Chareidi protester, charging him of trying to assault policemen. The indictment said that on October 30, 2018 (the day of Israel’s municipal elections) at about 9 p.m, a protest began at the Bar Ilan intersection in Jerusalem. In the course of the protest, several protestors blocked traffic and a Special Patrol Unit (riot police unit) was sent to the area.

President Donald Trump faces one of the greatest tests of his presidency after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops and plans to address the nation on Wednesday. Iran’s attack was its most brazen direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The strikes pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to war and put the world’s attention on Trump as he weighs whether to respond with more military force. The Republican president huddled with his national security advisers on Tuesday night but offered no immediate indication of whether he would retaliate. “All is well!” he said in a tweet. The White House said Trump plans to address the nation at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday.

Heavy rain began falling overnight in Israel’s north and by Wednesday afternoon, there was heavy flooding in several cities and snow accumulating in Ramat Hagolan. A 32-year old resident of Nahariya drowned on Wednesday afternoon when he was swept away by a stream of water as he was trying to rescue a mother and daughter who were trapped in a flood. His body was located after several hours by a rescue unit. His neighbor said: “A tragic drowning that to my knowledge has never occurred in Nahariya.” Earlier on Wednesday afternoon in Nahariya, two cars were caught in a heavy stream of water, with one car flipping over, when the Ga’aton river which bisects the city overflowed its banks due to the torrential rain.

A Ukrainian airplane carrying 180 passengers and crew crashed Wednesday near an airport in the capital, Tehran, state TV reported. There was no immediate word on casualties. The plane had taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, the report said. The crash is suspected to have been caused by mechanical issues, it added, without elaborating. An investigation team was at the site of the crash in southwestern outskirts of Tehran, civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said. Flight data from the airport showed a Ukrainian 737-800 flown by Ukraine International Airlines took off Wednesday morning, then stopped sending data almost immediately afterward, according to website FlightRadar24. The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.