Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman listed five conditions on Sunday for his party to join a coalition, of which four out of five relate to matters of religion and state. Blue and White leader Benny Gantz quickly agreed to all the conditions. Liberman’s conditions are: 1. Stipends and income support for the elderly would be at least 70% of the minimum wage. 2. Public transportation and business activity on Shabbos will be controlled by local authorities rather than government ministries. 3. Legislation for increasing Chareidi enlistment in the IDF which was approved in the 20th Knesset will be passed. 4. Legislation for civil marriage in Israel will be passed. 5. Local rabbanim will be allowed to establish their own courts for giyur to ease the conversion process.

New City, NY, – Rockland County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert advises residents that two Rockland County residents who have been confirmed to have Coronavirus (COVID-19) potentially exposed others to the disease from February 28 to March 2. Anyone who visited the following locations in Rockland County may have been exposed to Coronavirus (COVID-19): 150 Remsen Avenue, Monsey, NY Friday, February 28, 2020, between 11:00 am and 11:45 pm Saturday, February 29, 2020, between 11:30 am and 4:00 pm The Atrium Ballroom, 401 NY-59, Monsey, NY Monday, March 2, 2020, between 2:30 pm and 11:45 pm STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group.

A 30-year-old man is on a respirator and in serious condition, with a possible case of Coronavirus. YWN has learned that the man is a member of the Sephardic community in Flatbush and resides on Ocean Parkway. Results have still not confirmed he has coronavirus, but are treating him as such. The man had just returned from Milan, Italy, from a vacation. Please say Tehillim for Yosef ben Esther. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. A male in his 30s from Brooklyn is currently in the hospital in serious condition after returning from a trip to Italy. — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) March 7, 2020 (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

After five more Israelis were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Friday and Motzei Shabbos, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated that the coronavirus outbreak is a global pandemic and that there is no basis to the assumption that the virus will disappear when the weather grows warmer. The prime minister also warned that the virus is now spreading to Africa and no one knows how the pandemic will end. Netanyahu said that the government is working on a multifaceted plan to address the coronavirus crisis, including disinfecting public areas such as train stations and bus stations, opening a line of credit for affected businesses and enlisting the Air Force to ensure Israel has essential supplies.

New York State now has 33 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, including two cases in Rockland County, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today. All the new cases connected to the New Rochelle lawyer who was the initial Westchester patient, the governor said. The two cases have been tracked to a Bar Mitzvah attended by an earlier confirmed case. Of the 33 people with positive results, five of them have been hospitalized. The governor said their conditions continue to improve. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. Cuomo also announced that 4,000 people across the state are in quarantine as a precaution — that includes 2,700 in NYC, 1,000 in Westchester and 70 in Nassau County.

The Rabbi at the Young Israel of New Rochelle, who also teaches at Yeshiva University, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the school announced overnight. Rabbi Reuven Fink is among 17 patients connected to a 50-year-old lawyer from New Rochelle and 22 statewide. YWN has confirmed that he is home and resting, and gave a Daf Yomi Shiur from his home over video hookup to dozens of people from the Shul who are quarantined. The rabbi oversees Young Israel of New Rochelle, where the man Davens. “Rabbi Reuven Fink, the Rabbi of the Young Israel of New Rochelle, who has been in self-quarantine for being in contact with his congregant who has tested positive has announced to his congregation that he also tested positive with the coronavirus,” the school posted overnight.

It’s a question that is on many people’s minds. What happens to Yeshiva Bochrim, Seminary girls, and other students who will be travelling to Israel with the ongoing Coronavirus quarantine regulations. With Pesach just a few weeks away, many students currently in Eretz Yisroel will be coming home for a few weeks and returning. Hopefully, coronavirus will be a thing of the past by that time, but if things stay the way the are now, they will have to enter a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon their arrival. This does not (yet) apply for visitors arriving from the United States, but that can change at any time.

Three questions were posed today to the Gadol Hador, Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky regarding coronavirus. Rav Chaim was first asked by a French Rov if people return from France to Israel now, they will require going in to mandatory 14-day isolation and will miss “Parshas Zachor” this Shabbos with a Minyan as well as Megilla on Purim. Rav Chaim responded that people should return to Eretz Yisroel anyways. When pressed once again that they will not be able to go to Shul, Rav Chaim said they should return anyways and added “Shomer Mitzvah Lo Yeida Davar Ra”. SEGULA AGAINST CORONAVIRUS: Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky was asked by Yeshiva Bochur today what he should a person do to protect themselves. Rav Chaim responded “Learn Shas”.

An American Jewish woman from New York City who visited Israel from February 23 -27 was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Wednesday night, Israel’s Health Ministry stated. The woman, in her 50s, stayed in Jerusalem and was at many local cafés, restaurants, stores and a bank and traveled on local buses and the Jerusalem-Ben Gurion train line. The Health Ministry has published a detailed list of the places the woman visited and the times she was there and has instructed anyone who was present in the same areas at the same time to self-quarantine for 14 days. The full list of places and times the woman frequented while in Israel: STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com The Corona Virus is a very serious issue, and it is something that should not joked about. There are people whose very lives are in the balance.  Creating and forwarding false information that causes people to worry, whether knowingly or unwittingly, is a Torah prohibition of “Lo Sonu ish es amito.” There are three types of people who receive social media information: (a) Those who forward them without checking them out; (b) those who don’t forward them at all, and (c) those who forward information from social media only after ensuring that they are true. Most people know someone who fits into the first category. The problem is that a good percentage of the time, the item that is being forwarded is patently false.