New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took to morning TV shows Tuesday to push back against President Donald Trump’s claim of “total” authority to reopen the nation’s virus-stalled economy, noting that a president is not an absolute monarch. “We don’t have a king,” Cuomo said on NBC’s “Today. “We have a president. That was a big decision. We ran away from having a king, and George Washington was president, not King Washington. So the president doesn’t have total authority.” The Democratic governor, whose state has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, was reacting to Trump’s assertion Monday that “when somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total.” “Nope,” Cuomo said.

Former President Barack Obama will endorse Joe Biden on Tuesday, multiple news outlets are reporting. Obama will make the endorsement of his former vice president in a video message, offering why he believes Biden is the candidate needed at this moment of crisis in America. The endorsement reunites the former running mates and positions Obama, whose endorsement of Biden was seen as a forgone conclusion once Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race last week, to be one of Biden’s most powerful surrogates in the race against President Donald Trump. It also marks the public re-emergence of Obama into the political arena. The former president kept a low public profile throughout much of the Democratic nomination fight, but he was active behind the scenes.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5TJT.com Last night, the Poskim of Lakewood’s Beth Midrash Gavoha released protocols as to how Lakewood residents should conduct themselves in light of the Corona virus, and Rabbis and other residents of the Five Towns have reacted to the guidelines. The protocols were in minyanim, shopping, family visits and children. The four Poskim who signed the guidelines are Rav Shmuel Yitzchok Felder, Rav Asher Chaim Lieberman, Rav Ephraim Forsheimer and Rav Shmuel Meir Katz. In terms of minyanim, the Poskim made 4 points: Minyanim are prohibited and you are not allowed to participate in a minyan in any way. This includes, but is not limited to, minyanim in courtyards, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks, or on porches.

Chareidi politicians and media outlets are slamming Israel Police after they illegally entered an apartment in Bnei Brak to stop an online Hallel that was being broadcast live on the internet. In attached videos, you will see a police officer climbing down from a ladder to a balcony outside an apartment in which singers Yoeli and Ruli Dikman were performing. There were a total o 4 people in the “Minyan”, as thousands watched from their homes online. Police had no search warrant to make this “raid” whatsoever. The officer walks past them to open the door to let other policemen into the apartment, before returning to take the microphone and unplug the musical equipment.

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Family and friends are in profound shock and sadness by the sudden petirah of R’ Mordy Weiner z”l, Mordechai Ziskind ben Meir Elchonon. The family just marked his 57th birthday this week, as he lay in the hospital with the dreaded coronavirus disease. Mordy was greatly beloved and cherished by family, friends, and all who were zoche to know him. He leaves behind his beloved daughters Hennie and Tova, his beloved mother Devorah, sisters Esther, Naomi, and Fraidel, as well as his cherished grandchildren. He was always the life of the party, putting a smile on the faces of young and old alike. He had a giant heart, and extended it to the care of the elderly and sick, who truly adored him. He drove countless sick to hospitals for treatments, and selflessly took care of their families.

On Monday evening just after 9:00 p.m., an infant, just barely one-week-old choked and suffered severe aspiration in a small town in Gush Etzion. His mother screamed for help and a neighbor called emergency services. Within less than one minute a volunteer EMT who lived nearby was at the home of the stricken child and began resuscitative efforts on the child. The EMT, Ariel Drai, began finger compressions on the newborn as well as measured back blows and succeeded in getting the newborn to spit up a large amount of fluid. A minute passed and two other volunteer EMTs from United Hatzalah, Moshe Oraf, and Boaz Rosenblum, rushed into the home. Boaz pulled out suction equipment which was hastily connected and applied to the newborn.

The Treasury Department and leading airlines continued negotiating Monday over terms of coronavirus-relief payments, with Treasury sticking to a proposal that could give the government an ownership stake in the nation’s leading carriers. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said agreements with the airlines over terms of the $25 billion in payroll assistance could come soon. “I think you will see very quickly decisions coming out. I’m very pleased with the discussions,” Mnuchin said at a White House briefing. The Treasury Department payments were supposed to begin a week ago.

The Jerusalem municipality has arranged for “street concerts” to take place throughout Jerusalem to contribute to the simchas hachag of residents stuck in their homes throughout Pesach. Each area was visited by musicians and singers appropriate for the makeup of the neighborhood with Chassidic neighborhoods enjoying concerts in Yiddish and secular neighborhoods enjoying concerts by secular singers. On Monday, the fourth day of Chol Hamoed, it was Ramat Eshkol’s turn to watch a concert, with everyone enjoying “front row seats” from the roofs of their building, their porches or their windows.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israel will once again undergo a full lockdown for the 7th day of Pesach and that no travel will be allowed between towns or cities anywhere in the country. The lockdown will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday Erev Chag and continue until 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. Netanyahu opened his speech by paying respects to the former Rishon LeZion and Separdic Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron: “During normal times tens of thousands of people would have accompanied his funeral procession. However, his family and students kept all of the restrictions of the Health Ministry and held the levaya according to those restrictions.” Netanyahu then announced the lockdown.