BCC’s Most Significant Jewish News & Events of 2017-2018, 5779

BCC’s Most Significant Jewish News & Events of 2017-2018, 5779

1. United States President Donald J. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel: “Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital.”

2. United States President Donald J. Trump’s moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, keeping his pre-election promise.

3. United States President Donald J. Trump’s commutation of the 27-year prison sentence of Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin on Chanukah.

4. United States President Donald J. Trump’s withdrawing from the disastrous Iran JCPOA nuclear deal

5. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incredible PowerPoint Presentation on Iran: “I’m here to tell you one thing: Iran lied. Big time.”

6. Israel acquisition of Iran’s secret nuclear archives in a daring Mossad mission.

7. United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley’s courageous speech exposing Arab lies and terrorism at the UN Security Council: “Those who suggest that the Gaza violence has anything to do with the location of the American embassy are sorely mistaken. Rather, the violence comes from those who reject the existence of the state of Israel in any location. Such a motivation – the destruction of a United Nations Member State – is so illegitimate as to not be worth our time in the Security Council, other than the time it takes to denounce it.”

8. United States President Donald J. Trump’s change of former U.S. policies regarding UNRWA and its false refugee narrative.

9. United States President Donald J. Trump’s  passage of the Taylor Force Act, co-sponsored in the United States Senate in 2016 by U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham, Dan Coats, and Roy Blunt, officially cutting funding to the Palestinian authority over payments to terrorists and their families.

10. United States President Donald J. Trump’s repudiating  the demand that the descendants of the Palestinians who fled or were displaced – now allegedly 5.3 million – be entitled to return to Israel. A Palestinian right of return has been one of the central demands by the Arabs although no Israeli government could contemplate such a move, which would amount to the demographic destruction of the Jewish state.

11. The death of one of the Gedolei Hador, Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the long-time leader of the Torah world at age 104.

12. The tragic deaths of engaged couple: Yisrael Levin & Elisheva Kaplan

13. The tragic deaths of Aliza Azan, 39 along with her sons Moshe Azan, 11, Yitzah Azan, 7, and daughter Henrietta Azan in the Flatbush fire during Chanukah, sparked by an un-left Menorah.

14. The incredible archeological discovery of the Seal impressions and tower re-dating in City of David, the oldest area of Jerusalem, rom roughly the time of King Hezekiah (700 B.C.) to the end of the Judean monarchy (586 B.C.). One of the sealings bears the name of Achiav ben Menachem, which suggests a connection to two kings of the northern kingdom: Ahab and Menachem. Archaeologists believe this is evidence that refugees from the northern kingdom of Israel found their way into senior positions in the southern kingdom of Judea.

15. The State of Israel marked the 70th anniversary of their independence.

16. The State of Israel passing the Nation-State law, which specifies the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

17. A large 220-pound chunk of stone dislodges, falling out of the Kotel, Jerusalem's Western Wall, barely missing worshipper.

18. Hamas’ low-tech terror kites and arson balloons that set the south of Israel on fire.

19. The battle of the Two Uncle Moishys: Who is the real Uncle Moishy? That's the question that was recently thrown at the doorstep of the Machon Le'Hora'ah, a private beis din in Monsey, NY, led by Rabbi Avraham Boruch Rosenberg. A business dispute between creators of the favorite children's entertainment character has led the rabbis to rule on who owns the iconic brand and trade name "Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men."

20. The Viral Video that Ridiculed a Chassidic Boy: A disturbing video showing a young Chassidic boy being ridiculed with foul language about his looks has gone viral, drawing condemnation of the person who filmed it. The clip showed the boy walking down what seemed to be a street in Brooklyn and being met at an adult ranting about his haircut - a shaved head under the kippah and long payos, a typical Chassidic look. "I'd be crying if I looked like that too bro," the man behind the camera is heard saying to the boy, and continues to use profanity in talking about "what they be doing to you."

21. The State of Israel’s incredible success in its desalination program, which provides 80% of its needs. Israel also discovered significant gas reserves and has become an energy exporter.

22. The State of Israel’s deepening relations with India, China, Japan and nations in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia – most of whom had previously shunned Israel.

23. The State of Israel’s close relationship and liaison with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent. After his second election, Putin chose Israel as the first country to visit, sent greetings to his former countrymen and even visited the Western Wall.

24. The State of Israel’s largely clandestine relationship and sharing of intelligence with hitherto bitterly hostile Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states.

25. BCC published his book "Grieving and Healing: through the Prism of Torah; A bereaved parent's spiritual journey beyond pain & grief - in loving memory of Hindy Cohen" now available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Grieving-Healing-bereaved-parents-spiritual/dp/1981710671/

26. The death of BCC’s mother, Mrs. Mira (Hager) Cohen Wein, the wife of Rabbi Berel Wein (Jerusalem), former wife of Rabbi Dr Samuel Cohen zt”l and mother of Baruch Cohen (“BCC”) (Los Angeles), Michael Cohen (Brooklyn), and Miriam Silberberg (Monsey). A proud descendant of the Vizhnitz Kosov Ontinia Zalishchik Rizhin Chassidic dynasties, she was a Holocaust survivor of the Transnistria concentration camp.