President Donald Trump made a dramatic entrance at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, setting off a raucous celebration at the famed NASCAR track. Thousands cheered as Air Force One performed a flyover and landed at Daytona International Airport a few hundred yards behind the track. Trump’s motorcade arrived a few minutes later, prompting another loud ovation. Both entrances were broadcast on giant video boards around the superspeedway. At least a dozen drivers were escorted from the pre-race meeting to a private introduction with Trump. “I got to meet the president! How cool is that?” driver Aric Almirola said. Trump is the grand marshal for the Daytona 500, meaning he will give the command for drivers to start their engines.

Last week, the New York State Legislature held its annual joint Senate and Assembly budget hearings on the topic of education in New York State. These hearings directly impact the final budget allocations for education-related expenses in the state. The Legislature heard testimony from Interim State Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe, New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, and other stakeholders. Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Agudath Israel’s Director of New York Government Relations, testified on matters of concern to the Orthodox community. On the matter of substantial equivalency, he related how over 140,000 individuals and groups commented last summer opposing the regulations proposed by the New York State Education Department.

A woman who said her reclined seat was repeatedly punched by an airline passenger sitting behind her, now says she wants to press charges against him. Wendi Williams, who posted a now-viral video of the tense encounter, said the unidentified man should be charged with assault. What’s more, she said the attendant on the American Eagle flight (a subsidiary of American Airlines) should be fired. The dispute between the two passengers was over Williams’ reclining her seat, which the man complained took up his space. He asked her to put up her seat while he ate, and Williams said she obliged. However, she reclined her chair again once when he finished.

Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, A.K.A. Vovan and Lexus, posted a video to YouTube Thursday purportedly containing audio duping Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. The duo came to notoriety by fooling House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) into seeking nude photos of President Donald Trump. In their newest video, Sanders appears to initiate the call, thinking he is talking to climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father. “I just wanted to congratulate you on the extraordinary role you are playing in rallying young people and people throughout the world on this terrible, terrible crisis of climate change,” the person believed to be Sanders says.

A new religious versus secular debate arose in Israel this week when media outlets reported on Tuesday that the Tel Aviv municipality has banned stands, including tefillin stands, within 100 meters of publicly owned buildings which service minors, such as schools. The decision was led by the Green Secular party, part of Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai’s coalition, which is headed by Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Reuven Ladianski. The news was condemned by religious political parties, religious groups and even secular personalities. A secular television host fiercely attacked the municipality’s decision, saying: “I heard the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv saying that they’re banning stands outside schools. What type of stands!? Tefillin stands of the wonderful Chabad who work with such ahavas Yisrael.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu joined reporters Yinon Magel, Erel Segal and Shimon Riklin in singing “Shabichi Yerushalayim” as part of Magel’s “Niggun L’Shabbos” program. Magel learns Gemara and Parshas HaShavua every Shabbos with Harav Dovid Druk and also sings a “niggun Shabbos” together with Segal and Riklin and posts it on Twitter, according to a Kikar HaShabbos report.

By Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky
By no stretch of the imagination is Newark, New Jersey, the epicenter of the Torah world. Yet for one evening, the city of Newark hosted the most significant celebration of Torah accomplishments in the United States: The World Siyum of Dirshu...
The post Dirshu World Siyum North America Highlight Video appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

German comedian Atze Schröder, 54, tearfully apologized to Auschwitz survivor Eva Szepesi for his father’s war crimes on a talk show last week and was slammed on social media by far-right extremists, JTA reported. Schröder told Szepesi that his father, who was drafted by the Nazis in 1941 and served for four years, “did horrible things as a soldier…He told me about them later.” The comedian’s apology was a spontaneous one in response to Szepesi, 87, sharing her experiences in Auschwitz on the talk show for a broadcast marking 75 years since Auschwitz’s liberation. Visibly moved by Szepesi’s harrowing memories, Schröder told Szepesi that his father “would probably apologize if he was sitting here.” He then arose and extended his hand to Szepesi, saying: “I am sorry.

New recordings obtained by police investigators revealing how Eliezer Berland, the leader of Shuvu Banim who was arrested on Sunday along with his associates, tried to intimidate people with physical violence, were aired on Channel 12 News on Wednesday evening. Berland is heard talking with the Shuvu Banim chief of operations Aharon Schwartz (Oren Amit) on one of the recordings, instructing him to use violence against two people. The conversation was recorded when Berland was in police custody in Tzalmon prison following his extradition to Israel after fleeing the country due to criminal charges against him for assaulting women.

Attorney General Bill Barr told ABC News on Thursday that President Donald Trump “has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case” but should stop tweeting about the Justice Department because his tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Barr’s comments are a rare break with a president who the attorney general has aligned himself with and fiercely defended. But it also puts Barr in line with many of Trump’s supporters on Capitol Hill who say they support the president but wish he’d cut back on his tweets. Barr said he was prepared to accept the consequences of speaking out against the president. “I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me,” the attorney general said. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)