Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Chezy Levy said on Wednesday that a very steep rise in seriously ill Chareidi coronavirus patients has been confirmed in recent days. “If I look at the trend of severely ill coronavirus patients in the Chareidi sector, there’s a rise in the weekly average,” Levy said at a press briefing to the media. “Out of the new seriously ill virus patients – almost 100 today – we know how many are from the Chareidi sector and there’s an increase in severely ill Chareidi patients.” “The infection rate in the Chareidi sector, both because of its population density and because of tefillos and events held contrary to the law, has soared,” Levy continued. “This must be taken care of.

Prof. Eliyahu Sorkin, the head of the ICU at Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak said that 40% of the seriously ill coronavirus patients in the hospital are young people – aged 19-50. “This is a completely new phenomenon,” Prof. Sorkin said. “The virus is completely different than the first wave. Young people are becoming seriously ill enough to be ventilated.” “We’re encountering situations that we don’t recognize from the first wave. Patients arrive from home, they’re still speaking on their cell phones, and then within a day they’re sedated and ventilated. All the prior classifications [of the virus] don’t hold true today.” Prof. Sorkin, who is a Chabad chassid, said the above observations during a meeting with Chabad Rabbanim before Yom Kippur.

President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden will meet in their first debate Tuesday in a presidential election year marked by extraordinary turmoil. With the election 35 days away and early votes already being cast in some states, Biden has kept a lead over the Republican president in most national polls. While debates have not significantly shaken up the election in recent years, Tuesday’s highly anticipated matchup will offer the clearest contrast yet between the two men. The debate, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern Time in Cleveland, is the first of three between Trump and Biden.

At Tuesday’s press conference with Mayor DeBlasio, Dr Mitchell Katz of the NYC Health Department made note of how they are reaching all segments of the Jewish community to wear a mask and properly social distance. Katz mentioned that “one of the colleagues we have been working with sent us a photo of the ‘Bubobovich’ wearing a mask with his shTeimel, and that picture had gone viral all over the city…..” Katz was referring to a viral photo (attached to this story) of the Bobov-45 Rebbe, HaRav Mordchei Dovid Unger Shlita, that was taken on Erev Yom Kippur. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Addressing the UN General Assembly, PM Netanyahu revealed what he says is a previously unknown Hezbollah “missile factory” in the heart of Beirut. Following is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, today (Tuesday, 29 September 2020), to the UN General Assembly: “Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Middle East is not exactly renowned for producing good news, and few expected this year to be any different. You know, the pandemic is ravaging our part of the world like everywhere else. But I am pleased to report to you that this year, I can tell you about good news from the Middle East. In fact, I can report two pieces of good news.

The attached video speaks for itself. A Boro Park resident filmed a news crew on Tuesday afternoon that was deliberately looking for the 1% of people seen walking on the street without a mask. Additionally, the news camera did not bother filming a non-Jew without a mask. News crews have literally flooded Jewish communities around New York City on Tuesday, literally desperate to catch a person without a mask. While YWN in no way condones people not wearing masks, it begs the question why the media never sent the number of news crews currently in Flatbush and Boro Park to any other neighborhood where hundreds of thousands are walking freely without a mask. We know the answer. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Tuesday that there is no chance the current lockdown will end after Simchas Torah as was originally planned. “There’s no chance that the lockdown will be lifted immediately after Simchas Torah – unequivocally,” Edelstein said on Kan News. “There’s no scenario that in ten days we’ll lift everything and say ‘everything is fine now.'” “We learned our lesson from the first wave and this time the exit fom the lockdown will be implemented gradually and responsibly.” A Channel 12 News report said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu believes that the lockdown will be extended for about a month.

COVID-19 cases continue to grow at an alarming rate in eight neighborhoods in the city, outpacing the citywide average by 3.7 times over the past 14 days. Six of the 8 neighborhoods saw increases even from the prior day’s report, based on our preliminary data. These areas account for over 25% of new cases citywide over the past two weeks despite representing just under 7% of the city’s overall population. The data below is based on a 14-day average, which can more accurately reflect sustained trends than data pulled from a single day.

Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky fulfilled the minhag of kapparos on a chicken on Motzei Shabbos. Later that night, the Rav of Modiin Illit, Rav Meir Kessler, asked HaRav Chaim: “What can we do in order to be saved and merit a good year, that the next year will be better than the one that passed?” HaRav Chaim answered: “Daven.” “Daven for what?” Rav Kessler asked HaRav Chaim answered: “That Moshiach will come.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
The post What Did Hagaion HaRav Chaim Kanievsky Say To Daven For On Yom Kippur? appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

The disastrous press conference we all saw on Friday in Boro Park, is indicative of the entire fiasco that is Mayor DeBlasio and the NYC Health Department. The Mayor’s office continued lack of real and meaningful engagement with community leaders, and the glaring absence of those recognized leaders at Friday’s disastrous press conference, allows disgruntled self-anointed malcontents to misrepresent themselves as the voice of the community. Make no mistake, Friday’s embarrassing actions – which turned into headline stories on every single NYC news outlet (see videos below) – are the direct result of the Mayors office pretending to work with community leaders — but actually ignoring them!