Following a public outcry, Israel Railways has modified their ticket selling platform to allow for religious Jews to be able to purchase tickets in on Friday, for renewed train service across the country that begins on Monday. With the reopening of the trains in Israel, it was decided to limit the number of passengers on each train to 500 people and to force all passengers to purchase tickets in advance. Passengers had the option of buying tickets as of 48 prior to their departure times. With trains scheduled to renew service on Monday morning, tickets for the entire first day of travel would have gone on sale on Shabbos. Israel has not had train service in the past three months, as trains closed to the public on March 25th.

Israel’s Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that starting as of next week, the HMOs across the country will begin conducting serological testing of more than 70,000 people across Israel during routine blood tests. Serological testing is already taking place in Bnei Brak by Magen David Adom on Wednesday. “The serological tests are an important tool that will give us a much more informative scope of where the coronavirus hotspots are in Israel,” said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein. “With this information, we will be better equipped to deal with a second wave of the virus if it hits us.” According to the CDC website, a serological test is a “laboratory test to help estimate how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Health Ministry Officials have noted a dramatic and worrying rise in the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the Belz neighborhood of Yerushalayim. 38 people, from different families, have all been confirmed carriers of the virus in the past few days. Charedi journalist Yair Sharki tweeted that: “A lot of people are talking about Meah Shearim and a lot less about what is taking place in Kiryat Belz. This is the neighborhood with the fastest rise in confirmed cases in Yerushalayim in the past five days.” Sharki added that the situation makes a lot of sense when taking into account the behavior of the populace there. “There have been countless reports of people violating safety regulations.

United Hatzalah volunteers across Israel have initiated a campaign working together with social services of local and regional councils to deliver food packages to those in need of financial assistance, people stuck in isolation and the elderly. Volunteers have already begun to distribute food packages in Kiryat Ata, Nahariya, Bnei Brak, Ma’alot, Yokneam, Megiddo, Arad, […]
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Israel’s police have opened a community assistance and services center for Chareidim in Yerushalayim, the first of its kind in the country.  A number of Chareidi officers will be serving at the center and one of them is a Chassidish Yiddish speaker. Commander of the Yerushalayim area for the police, Deputy Commissioner Doron Yadid, visited the center on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by the police, the center was opened as part of a long-term strategic plan in order to strengthen the connection between the police and the Chareidi community and in an effort to provide better serve the Chareidi communities inside the regional auspices of the Yerushalayim branches.

Hamas operatives inside the Gaza Strip continue to launch balloon bombs at Israel in the hopes of igniting large fires and injuring civilians. Police sappers were called to various locations in the Gaza periphery to dismantle explosive devices attached to bombs that were launched at Israel. The bombs landed in Sderot, Kiryat Gat, and in other locations throughout the regional council district of Sha’ar HaNegev. The areas where the balloons landed was cordoned off by police until the bombs could be defused. In numerous instances, United Hatzalah provided medical security for the police officers often using ATVs, especially when the bombs landed in fields or deserted areas that were difficult to access by car.

A federal grand jury handed up hate crime charges Thursday against the man accused of stabbing five people with a machete during a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City. The indictment charges Grafton Thomas with five counts each of attempting to kill victims based on their religion and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon. Thomas, 37, also faces state charges in the Dec. 28 attack inside the home of a rabbi in Monsey, N.Y. He is being held without bail on the federal charges. “We now allege that he did this with the intention of targeting his victims because of their religion,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a news release.

According to the annual report by the Israel advocacy group known as Boomerang, Arab terrorists have carried out 2,370 terror attacks against Israeli inside Judea and Samaria in 2019 alone. The report states that these attacks include hurling rocks and fire-bombs at moving vehicles, setting explosive charges, vehicle ramming attacks and more. Some of these attacks have proven fatal. The data compiled by Boomerang is based on reports from seven municipalities in Judea and Samaria, which run emergency first response centers to assist civilians injured in such attacks. According to the data, 2019 saw 1,671 stone throwings, 569 firebombing incidents, 36 incidents involving pipe bombs, 81 instances of arson, 32 violent personal attacks, and 14 shootings. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Thousands of Bnei Brak residents joined in celebration in the return of the four stolen sifrei Torah to the Orchos HaTorah shul.
As YWN had reported, last week on Tuesday the shul was broken into and vandalized and four sifrei Torah were stolen.