Vice President Mike Pence was vaccinated for COVID-19 on Friday in a live-television event aimed at reassuring Americans the vaccine is safe. In remarks after his shot, Pence called the speed with which the vaccine was developed “a medical miracle.” “The American people can be confident: we have one and perhaps within hours two” safe vaccines,” Pence said, referring to expected FDA approval for Moderna’s vaccine. Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine was the first to be approved. “Building confidence in the vaccine is what brings us here this morning,” he added. Pence’s wife Karen and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also received shots during the televised White House event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Hate has come to Forest Hills, Queens in the worst possible way. Avi Cyperstein, candidate for city council (D-29) took action at a local hate crime. At 10:25 a.m. this morning New York State Assembly Member Daniel Rosenthal (D-27) was contacted by a Forest Hills resident via social media of vulgar anti-Semitic graffiti on a neighborhood fence. On arrival just a few short minutes later, Rosenthal became aware that the homeowner had not been made aware and that NYPD was not alerted. When the homeowners departed at 10:15 a.m. there was no sign of damage. Within minutes Avi Cyperstein was with the homeowners long with the local 112th Precinct. The homeowners were distraught, “We are extremely upset and distressed by these circumstances.

A woman who was shoved to the ground by a New York City police officer during a protest over the death of George Floyd in a widely seen video sued the city in federal court. Dounya Zayer said in a lawsuit filed Monday that she was “brutally struck” by officer Vincent D’Andraia at a May 29 protest in Brooklyn as she exercised her constitutional right to protest. Bystander video of D’Andraia pushing the Zayer was viewed millions of times on Twitter and spurred outrage among protesters and elected officials. D’Andraia was charged with assault and suspended without pay. The altercation sent Zayer to the hospital with what she has said was a concussion and a seizure after hitting her head on the pavement. She also experienced anxiety, fear and humiliation, according to the lawsuit.

A fast moving blaze fire destroyed a Shul in Boro Park on Wednesday morning. The fire started at around 8:00AM in Rabbi Felder’s Shul located at 4901 18th Avenue. Heavy fire was seen blowing out the windows and heavy fire conditions were reported. As of this posting (8:20AM) there were no reports of any injuries. Bichasdei Hashem there are no injuries reported. Misaskim tells YWN that a Sefer Torah was rescued from the basement. The handle of the (fireprooof) Sifrei Torah safe in the Shul has melted from the heat and is sealed shut. It will take time to have it opened to check the condition of the Sifrei Torah. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell officially recognizes Joe Biden’s election victory after the Electoral College voted yesterday. Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell said, “As of this morning, our country officially has a president-elect and a vice president elect.” Today I want to congratulate president-elect Joe Biden.” McConnell is the most prominent Republican to concede that President Trump lost the November election and congratulate Biden on his victory. Most Republicans on Capitol Hill have refused to acknowledge that Biden had won given Trump’s extended legal battle contesting the elections results.

The Chief Rabbi of Tehran, Rav Yehudah Grami, lit the first Chanukah light at home with his family rather than in a large ceremony at shul as he usually does due to the raging coronavirus pandemic. “Most of the shuls here are closed due to the spread of the coronavirus and we’re in lockdown so we couldn’t light the menorah in a big ceremony in shul like we usually do,” Rav Grami said, according to Kikar H’Shabbos. “The regime has no problem with Yiddishkeit. On the contrary, at times their representatives participate in our ceremonies. But the situation this year doesn’t allow it.” חנוכה שמח

Israel received its first batch of Pfizer coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday morning, a day ahead of schedule. The charter United Airlines flight, organized by the international courier company DHL, flew from Brussels with the initial delivery of between 3,000 to 4,000 vaccine doses. Hundreds of thousands of additional doses are scheduled to arrive on Thursday, and another million doses are scheduled to be delivered next week. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein were at Ben-Gurion Airport to receive the shipment. Netanyahu spoke at a brief ceremony and said he would be the first in Israel to be vaccinated. “We brought the vaccines to Israel!” Netanyahu later wrote on Twitter.

An astonishing sight was seen in Tehran this week, with pictures and videos of the scene quickly spreading on social media. An Iranian, apparently pleased by the elimination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, bravely [or recklessly?] decided to show his support for Israel’s Mossad, hanging a sign bearing the words “Thank you Mossad” and an Israeli flag. The sign was hung sometime overnight on a traffic overpass over a major intersection in the Pars neighborhood, in the heart of Iran’s capital Tehran.

An Emirati tourist who recently visited Israel posted a video on his social media account documenting the warm welcome he received from Chareidi Jews at the Kosel. A Chassid welcomed the tourist and his Jewish companion to the Kosel and when he heard that the tourist was from Dubai, he greeted him warmly with “Salam Alaikum!” The tourist encouraged his Jewish companion to don tefilin and excitedly filmed and narrated the scene for his followers. He captioned his post: “An Emirati tourist in Israel received a wonderful welcome from the most religious Jews in the holiest place in the world for Jews. They are not like they’re portrayed by the media!”

The unbelievable humility of HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky can be heard in a video below in a conversation between the Gadol HaDor and his student. On Sunday, Rav Shai Grucher, one of HaRav Chaim’s close talmidim, told him about the happy ending to a saga of a 19-year-old girl who hadn’t been able to move her arm for over four years. All the doctors had given up hope, saying that there’s nothing to do and surgery will only exacerbate the problem, causing even more damage. Rav Shai had asked HaRav Chaim advice about the girl’s predicament and HaRav Chaim said that the girl should undergo surgery, despite the doctors’ dire predictions. The girl recently had the surgery and a week later she began to move her arm and her arm is now completely healed.