Meron this year looks different.  There isn’t 100,000 people there. However in a free service, you can send names for tefillah for free through Yad L’Achim to Meron now As you know, Tuesday is Lag B’Omer a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶s̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶J̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶M̶e̶r̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶v̶e̶n̶.

Mayor Deblasio condemned the anti-Semitic attack against Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg last night, but made no mention of the Tweets he fired off last week which named the entire Hasidic community by name. A tweet by NYC COuncilman Kalman Yeger mentioned the Mayor’s condemnation and wrote “Gee. I wonder what rhetoric could have possibly led to THIS.” At the Monday morning press conference, Deblasio said the following: “I want to talk about an incident that happened last night and this is something that we’ve seen in the context of this whole painful crisis. Remember, there were too many times, way too many times over the last 10 weeks when I’ve had to talk to you about incidents of bias directed at Asian Americans in the context of the coronavirus crisis.

Israel’s current Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan will be heading to the United States after accepting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer to serve as the country’s next ambassador to the United Nations, replacing Danny Danon. But in an unconventional move, the Prime Minister’s Office also announced that Erdan will be taking over as Israel’s next Ambassador to the US for Ron Dermer, who has served in Washington since July 2013. “I am proud and emotional about the honor to fight for the justice of our cause in the international arena and defend Israel in the face of the challenges ahead,” Erdan said in a statement. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A worldwide (FREE) Lag B’omer virtual event for your entire familyJoin the one and only Rav Gav, a world-renowned lecturer, and the host of this worldwide (FREE) Lag B’omer virtual event that your entire family will enjoy!  One Chance from The Rosh Chodesh Project on Vimeo.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com Tomorrow, a number of Jews will be getting haircuts.  If they are not careful, however, they could be in grave danger of violating a Torah commandment. Regardless, whoever reads this article before their haircut and follows the instructions below – will fulfill a Torah Mitzvah. If you tell someone who is going to get a haircut about this Mitzvah – then you have been mezakeh that person with a Torah Mitzvah too. Oh, and one last thing. Reading it will help you avoid violating a Torah prohibition too. TORAH MITZVOS REQUIRE INTENT The Shulchan Aruch (OC 60:6 and 589:8) rules that when performing a Torah Mitzvah – intent (kavana) is required. The issue is a debate among the Rishonim, but the final halacha is that it does.

New York City’s death toll from the coronavirus may be thousands of fatalities worse than the tally kept by the city and state, according to an analysis released Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between March 11 and May 2, about 24,000 more people died in the city than researchers would ordinarily expect during that time period, the report said. That’s about 5,300 more deaths than were blamed on the coronavirus in official tallies during those weeks. Some of those excess fatalities could be COVID-19 deaths that went uncounted because a person died at home, or without medical providers realizing they were infected, the researchers at New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said.

Plastic spacing barriers and millions of masks appeared on the streets of Europe’s newly reopened cities Monday, as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school and Spain let people eat outdoors. All faced the delicate balance of trying to restart battered economies without causing a second wave of coronavirus infections. Fears of infection spikes in countries that eased their restrictions have been borne out over the past few days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus started; and in South Korea, where one nightclub customer was linked to 85 new cases. Health officials in the U.S.

As he encourages the country to “reopen,” President Donald Trump is confronting cases of the coronavirus in his own home, spotlighting the challenge the White House faces in instilling confidence in a nation still reeling from the pandemic. Two known cases of COVID-19 among staffers in one of the most-protected complexes in America have sent three of the nation’s top medical experts into quarantine and Vice President Mike Pence into “self-isolation.” The scare comes as the White House this week is emphasizing to the American people the steps being taken to assure their safety — in hopes that will coax them to resume normal activities.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is currently investigating more than 90 cases of “Covid-related diseases” in young children. “We have 93 cases we’re investigating of young children that have Covid-related diseases,” the governor said during his daily coronavirus press briefing Monday. Cuomo on Sunday said New York state was investigating 85 cases of a coronavirus-related illness that is afflicting children across the state. So far, three young New Yorkers have died from an illness that may be related to Covid-19 include a teenager in Suffolk County, as well as a 7-year-old in Westchester County and a 5-year-old in New York City, according to the governor’s office.

As you know, Tuesday is Lag B’Omer a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶s̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶J̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶M̶e̶r̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶v̶e̶n̶.