NEW YORK (JTA) – Before most New Yorkers had ever heard the word “coronavirus,” another public health scare dominated local news: the measles outbreak of 2019, which shared key parallels with the pandemic to come. In 2019, when the United States saw 1,282 reported measles cases — the highest number since 1992 — most them were concentrated in under-vaccinated Orthodox […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) —  Rabbi Chaim Kanievski issued a dramatic new ruling on Monday, calling on the heads of Talmud Torahs and schools to vaccinate children against coronavirus in their school systems. In a letter written in response to a query by educators, Rabbi Kanievski responded that “they should arrange for vaccinations to take place in […]

ALBANY (VINnews) — Could New York State become the next Australia? A bill has been proposed by the legislature that would enable the government to detain ordinary citizens who are deemed a public health threat. In other words, the government may soon be able to lock people up if they are exposed to a contagious […]

FORSHAY (VINnews) — A large fire broke out at Yeshiva of Spring Valley Girls School on Monday. The entire school was immediately evacuated. Although the fire happened on school campus, it was not inside the school building, rather a separate facility behind the school which is under construction. Girls were safely evacuated from the campus, and […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A staff member at a school in Washington D.C. was suspended after he made a group of third graders reenact scenes from the Holocaust, including pretending to dig mass graves and shoot victims. The teacher also allegedly told the children that the Germans were angry “because the Jews ruined Christmas,” parents […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Leading Chasidic singer Mordechai Ben David Wergyger made a number of controversial statements regarding coronavirus in an interview with popular chareidi Israeli radio anchor Menachem Toker. Speaking on Radio Kol Chai on Toker’s Motzash Chai program, Werdyger called coronavirus a “pandemic of lies”. Toker did not air the statements but a number […]

NEW YORK (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Brad Lander, the incoming New York City comptroller, vowed to do everything in his power to coax Orthodox yeshivas to teach a secular curriculum. Lander, who is Jewish and a Democrat, discussed the issue Thursday night in a virtual Q-and-A with the New York Jewish Agenda, […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) – Nearly 1000 people attend the funeral this morning of Yehuda Dimentman, who was killed yesterday in a terrorist attack in Samaria.

KFAR SABA (VINnews) — One of the survivors of Thursday’s horrific terror attack near the Chumash outpost has spoken to reporters from the hospital about the attack. He was asked about his friend who was killed, and said that the two were very close friends. The man who was killed was Yehuda Dimantman HY”D of […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) – A 20 year old Israeli Yeshiva student was killed in a shooting attack near the Chumash outpost in northern Samaria. He was shot while driving in a vehicle near the outpost, and two other young men who were with him in the vehicle were injured in the shooting: Prime Minister Naftali Bennett […]