On Sunday, on Abarbanel Street in Bnei Brak, a number of teenagers were sitting in a car and demanded cigarettes from passersby. When they were refused, the teenagers jumped out of the car and pulled out knives threatening people. A number of Avreichim decided to intervene and began a brawl during which a car’s windshield was smashed. Police officers were called to the scene and came to intervene. One local resident reported to Kikar Shabbos that the scene was “terrifying”. He explained: Four young people who he termed as “whippersnappers” came through the neighborhood and demanded cigarettes from one of the Avreichim.

Ryan Newman was involved in a ghastly crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500 on Monday night, hospitalizing him with non-life-threatening injuries. NASCAR delivered the news nearly two hours after Newman was extricated from his car, saying he is in serious condition at nearby Halifax Medical Center. The wait for the update was excruciating for fellow NASCAR drivers and fans across auto racing who spent the time wondering how seriously he was hurt. Safety crews rushed to Newman’s No. 6 Ford and worked to get the 42-year-old driver out of his seat. The car was on fire as it skidded to a stop and had to be turned onto its tires first. Fox opted not to broadcast Newman’s removal, which was shielded by large black screens put up by track crews.

Apple Inc. is warning investors that it won’t meet its second-quarter financial guidance because the viral outbreak in China has cut production of iPhones. The Cupertino, California-based company said Monday that all of its iPhone manufacturing facilities are outside Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, and all have been reopened. But the company said production is ramping up slowly. “The health and well-being of every person who helps make these products possible is our paramount priority, and we are working in close consultation with our suppliers and public health experts as this ramp continues,” Apple said in a statement. The death toll from COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus, was 1,770 as of Monday.

Tiveria’s residents rejoiced on Monday following the news that former Tiveria mayor Ron Kobi’s ouster from his position was finalized after the Supreme Court rejected the appeal he filed against the decision of Likud Minister Ze’ev Elkin last month to remove Kobi from office. “Today we’re seeing [Kobi’s downfall] in practice but the matter was already sealed in Shamayim prior to today,” one of the students of the mekubal Harav Dov Kook, a resident of Tiveria, said, according to a B’Chadrei Chareidim report. The student said that two months ago, Harav Kook recited tikkun chatzos, as he customarily does every night, and his student who stood near him suddenly heard the Rav repeating the name of Tiveria in all the pessukim. “Suddenly I saw a startling sight,” Harav Kook’s student said.

China reported 1,886 new virus cases and 98 more deaths in its update Tuesday on a disease outbreak that has caused milder illness in most people, an assessment that promoted guarded optimism from global health authorities. The update raised the number of deaths in mainland China to 1,868 and the total confirmed cases to 72,436. On Monday, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a study of earlier cases of the disease, finding more than 80% of people infected had mild illness and the number of new infections seem to be falling since early this month. Monday’s report gives the World Health Organization a clearer picture of where the outbreak is headed, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference.

Israeli health companies Passport Card, Migdal, and Clal, have leased a plane whose objective will be to bring home the healthy Israeli passengers stuck on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that has been quarantined off the coast of Japan for the past two weeks. The health insurance company Passport Card issued a statement on Sunday night that said: “The plane is currently in Turkey and awaiting instructions by Israeli authorities as to when they can fly. Our objective is to bring home the Israelis stranded on the ship. The plane is operationally ready and will depart once it receives the okay from all necessary authorities in Israel.

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers, union officials, state leaders and party strategists agree that Bernie Sanders is a risky nominee to put up against President Donald Trump. There’s less agreement about whether — and how — to stop him. Critics of the Vermont senator, who has long identified as a democratic socialist, are further than they’ve ever been from unifying behind a moderate alternative. None of the viable centrists in the race is eager to exit the campaign to clear a path for a candidate to become a clear counter to Sanders. And Sanders is looking to Saturday’s Nevada caucuses to post another win that would further his status as an early front-runner. With fear and frustration rising in the party’s establishment wing, a high-stakes math problem is emerging.

Recordings of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and Blue & White leader Gabi Ashkenazi discussing issues surrounding the Harpaz Affair in 2010 were aired by Channel 13 News on Sunday night. At the time Mandelblit was the IDF’s top legal officer and Ashkenazi was the IDF chief of staff. The Harpaz Affair was the result of a conflict between then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak and then outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Ashkenazi about who would succeed Ashkenazi as IDF chief of staff. The conflict led a former IDF intelligence officer, Boaz Harper, who was then a private defense adviser and close to Ashkenazi, to forge a document intended to undermine Yoav Galant, whom Ashkenazi opposed but was Barak’s first choice for the next IDF chief of staff.

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com This article was written l’zecher Nishmas the author’s father-in-law, Rabbi Yaakov Hirsch z”l, whose 16th yahrtzeit is this evening the 23rd of Shvat. Recently, an askan passed away and in his private papers – a letter from Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l was found.  The letter was brought to light by Rabbi Chaim Dalfin of Borough Park. It seems that the askan had asked one of the Jewish hospitals as to why they did not provide Cholov Yisroel dairy meals to their patients. The hospital administrator replied that they relied upon the leniency of Rav Moshe zt”l.  The Askan asked Rav Moshe directly about whether New York hospitals should be lenient and the following responsum was his reply: Oct.

Last week, Harav Tzvi Cohen, z’tl, the Rav of the Ohel Avraham shul in Bnei Brak and author of over 50 halacha sefarim, passed away. Harav Cohen, who lived in the same building in Bnei Brak that the Gerrer Rebbe used to reside in, used the miklat of the building for years to store the many sefarim he published. Eight years ago, one of the Gerrer Rebbe’s gabbaim called up Chanoch Gavrielev, a Gerrer chassid who was friendly with Harav Cohen, and asked him to speak to Rav Cohen about allowing a parking lot to be built under the building for the Rebbe. Gavrielev passed on the request to Harav Cohen but since a parking lot would mean that Harav Cohen wouldn’t be able to store his sefarim in the miklat, the Rav refused on the grounds that he had a chazakah for use of the space.