By Rabbi Berach Steinfeld

If a person is worried that he won’t remember to count all the days of Sefirah, should he count with a Bracha or not?

The Torah tell us to count forty-nine days from the bringing of the Omer until the bringing of the korban of Shtei Halechem.

The Rishonim argue whether the Mitzva of counting sefirah is Min HaTorah only during the times of the Bais HaMikdosh or not. The Chinuch in mitzvah 306 says that sefirah is only Min HaTorah during the time of the Bais HaMikdosh. The Rambam in Tmidim Umusafim 7:24 disagrees and says it is Min HaTorah even today.

Family getting up: Shacharis: 8:15 am Mincha: 7:15 pm Maariv: Following Mincha Mrs.

Channel 14 aired footage from a recent interview with Iyad Jaradat, the terrorist responsible for orchestrating the 2003 attack in Gadish that resulted in the murder of the moshav’s security chief. Jaradat, who was serving a life sentence, was freed as part of the most recent hostage exchange.
In the segment, Jaradat reflected on what prison life was like before Itamar Ben-Gvir took over as Israel’s National Security Minister.
When asked by the interviewer to describe the conditions in prison prior to the October 7th massacre, Jaradat replied: “Honestly, there was respect, there were understandings. Ben-Gvir called it a summer camp. People may say Ben-Gvir was exaggerating. If someone wants, they can get mad, but these prisons really were like summer camps.”

Many Americans were forced to postpone cancer screenings — colonoscopies, mammograms and lung scans — for several months in 2020 as COVID-19 overwhelmed doctors and hospitals. But that delay in screening isn’t making a huge impact on cancer statistics, at least none that can be seen yet by experts who track the data. Cancer death rates continue to decline, and there weren’t huge shifts in late diagnoses, according to a new report published Monday in the journal Cancer. It’s the broadest-yet analysis of the pandemic’s effect on U.S. cancer data. In 2020, as the pandemic began, a greater share of U.S. cancers were caught at later stages, when they’re harder to treat. But in 2021, these worrisome diagnoses returned to prepandemic levels for most types of cancer.

Israir Airlines is gearing up to launch direct flights to New York next year, having received initial authorization from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the company confirmed on Monday, according to a report by JNS.
With this move, Israir is set to enter the highly trafficked Tel Aviv–New York route, where it will face competition from established players like El Al, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and its local rival Arkia, which began flying the route earlier this year.
Israir aims to kick off its service in time for Passover, a peak season for travel. According to JNS, the airline is planning to operate six roundtrip flights each week connecting Ben-Gurion International Airport and New York.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is once again urging the Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges against Andrew Cuomo, accusing the ex-New York governor of deliberately misleading Congress about his administration’s handling of COVID-19 policies that affected nursing homes and resulted in significant loss of life.
Comer issued a renewed referral to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, following the Biden administration’s decision not to act on an earlier referral sent in October under Merrick Garland’s leadership. In a letter dated Monday, Comer wrote that the White House “ignored” the matter despite compelling evidence that Cuomo had misrepresented his involvement.

The Trump administration is currently weighing possible replacements for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, amid a fresh wave of criticism related to allegations of mishandling secure information, according to a U.S. official who spoke to NPR on Monday.
The source, who requested anonymity due to the delicate nature of the conversations, emphasized that the process is in its early stages and that no definitive choice has been made regarding leadership changes at the Department of Defense.
The uproar centers on accusations that Hegseth shared classified military data using Signal, a private encrypted messaging app, with people who were not part of any official defense channels.

The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold a key preventive-care provision of the Affordable Care Act in a case heard Monday. Conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, along with the court’s three liberals, appeared skeptical of arguments that Obamacare’s process for deciding which services must be fully covered by private insurance is unconstitutional. The case could have big ramifications for the law’s preventive care coverage requirements for an estimated 150 million Americans. Medications and services that could be affected include statins to prevent heart disease, lung cancer screenings, HIV-prevention drugs and medication to lower the chance of breast cancer for high-risk women.

Nadine Menendez was found guilty on Monday for orchestrating a bribery operation alongside her husband, disgraced New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, trading his political clout for a series of lavish kickbacks, including gold, a luxury vehicle, and cash.
After deliberating for roughly eight hours over the span of two days, the jury convicted the 58-year-old from Englewood Cliffs on all 15 counts of corruption brought against her in federal court.
Clad in black and wearing a pink face mask, Nadine showed no outward response as the jury foreperson delivered the verdict in a nearly empty courtroom in Manhattan.
Her husband, who played a central role in the corruption case, chose not to appear in court during her trial, which stretched over the course of a month.

A shocking video published by Channel 14 on Monday reveals one of the terrorists released in one of the recent prisoner release deals describing his enjoyable 22-year imprisonment in Israel, saying it was just like “summer camp.” Islamic Jihad terrorist Iyad Jaradat was sentenced to life imprisonment for dispatching the terrorists who infiltrated Moshav Gadish in 2003 and opened fire, murdering Eli Biton, H’yd, and wounding four others. Jaradat’s “life imprisonment” ended earlier this year when he was released to his hometown of Jenin. In an interview immediately after his release, he publicly praised the Nukhba terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre.

​Harvard University has initiated legal proceedings against the Trump administration, challenging the federal government’s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in research funding. The university contends that this action is an attempt to exert undue influence over its academic operations. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, Harvard argues that the administration’s demands—such as auditing faculty for plagiarism, reporting international students accused of misconduct, and ensuring “viewpoint diversity” in academic departments—are unconstitutional and threaten the institution’s independence.

Family getting up: Mrs. Sara ChernoffDaughter

Harvard University announced Monday that it has filed suit to halt a federal freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus activism on campus. In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, the Trump administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs. Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday proposed laying off more than 1,600

Family getting up: Friday (4/25/25)PM Rebbetzin Malka DavidSister

Pages