Congregants who worship at the nation’s oldest synagogue in Rhode Island are asking an appeals court to reconsider a decision that gave control of the building to a congregation in New York City. Lawyers for the Newport congregation on Tuesday asked the federal appeals court in Boston for a rehearing, saying the decision ignored Rhode Island law and made several constitutional errors. A three-judge panel last month found that New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel, the nation’s oldest Jewish congregation, owns Touro Synagogue. Touro was dedicated in 1763 and is a national historic site. A Shearith Israel lawyer says the unanimous opinion of the panel was well-reasoned and the litigation was meritless. The congregations have been fighting for years over Touro and a set of Colonial-era bells valued at $7.4 million. (AP)

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that she has directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, following through on the president’s campaign promise to vigorously pursue capital punishment. It is the first time the Justice Department has sought to bring the death penalty since President Donald Trump returned to office in January with a vow to resume federal executions after they were halted under the previous administration. “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement. She described Thompson’s killing as “an act of political violence.” Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, faces separate federal and state murder charges after authorities say he gunned down Thompson, 50, outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 as the executive arrived for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference. The killing and ensuing five-day manhunt leading to Mangione’s arrest rattled the business community, with some health insurers hastily switching to remote work or online shareholder meetings. It also galvanized health insurance critics — some of whom have rallied around Mangione as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims. Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said Tuesday that in seeking the death penalty “the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric.” Mangione “is caught in a high-stakes game of tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man’s life,” Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement, vowing to fight all charges against him. Bondi announced her decision the same day the Trump administration began mass layoffs at federal health agencies. Mangione’s federal charges include murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The state charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to a state indictment and has not yet been required to enter a plea on the federal charges. Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state case expected to go to trial first. It wasn’t immediately clear if Bondi’s announcement will change the order. Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City and whisked to Manhattan by plane and helicopter. Police said Mangione had a 9mm handgun that matched the one used in the shooting and other items including a notebook in which they say he expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives. Among the entries, prosecutors said, was one from August 2024 that said “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance company CEO. UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, has said Mangione was never a client. Friedman-Agnifilo has said she would seek to suppress some of the evidence. Former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department filed the federal case against Mangione but left it

President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. “Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” he wrote on his social media site. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!” Presidents historically have no involvement in dictating or recommending the punishments that federal prosecutors seek for defendants in criminal cases, though Trump has long sought more direct control over the Justice Department’s operations. The president-elect wrote that he would direct the department to pursue the death penalty “as soon as I am inaugurated,” but was vague on what specific actions he may take and said they would be in cases of “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.” He highlighted the cases of two men who were on federal death row for slaying a woman and a girl, had admitted to killing more and had their sentences commuted by Biden. Is it a plan in motion or more rhetoric? On the campaign trail, Trump often called for expanding the federal death penalty — including for those who kill police officers, those convicted of drug and human trafficking, and migrants who kill U.S. citizens. “Trump has been fairly consistent in wanting to sort of say that he thinks the death penalty is an important tool and he wants to use it,” said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Ohio State University’s law school. “But whether practically any of that can happen, either under existing law or other laws, is a heavy lift.” Berman said Trump’s statement at this point seems to be just a response to Biden’s commutation. “I’m inclined to think it’s still in sort of more the rhetoric phase. Just, ‘don’t worry. The new sheriff is coming. I like the death penalty,’” he said. Most Americans have historically supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to decades of annual polling by Gallup, but support has declined over the past few decades. About half of Americans were in favor in an October poll, while roughly 7 in 10 Americans backed capital punishment for murderers in 2007. Death row inmates are mostly sentenced by states Before Biden’s commutation, there were 40 federal death row inmates compared with more than 2,000 who have been sentenced to death by states. “The reality is all of these crimes are typically handled by the states,” Berman said. A question is whether the Trump administration would try to take over some state murder cases, such as those related to drug trafficking or smuggling. He could also attempt to take cases from states that have abolished the death penalty. What were the cases highlighted by Trump? One of the men

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Jewish Home With profound sorrow, we remember a giant of Torah, compassion, and humanity – our beloved Moreinu HaGaon HaRav Yehoshua Kalish zt”l, whose pure soul returned to its Maker on Motzei Shabbos, leaving our community bereft of one of its brightest lights. A Man of Many Dimensions How does one capture the essence of a man who contained multitudes? A scholar who completed Shas forty times, yet remained humble enough to laugh with children. A leader who carried the weight of communal responsibility, yet made each person feel as though they were the only one who mattered. A father and grandfather, Rebbe and Rabbi, whose pride in his family, his students, and congregants radiated like sunshine, warming all who came near. Early Years and Dedication to Torah His journey in Torah began in his youth, when he made the courageous decision to dedicate his life entirely to learning, foregoing the conventional path that others expected. As his cousin Rav Mordechai Willig recalled, in the mid-1960s, when pressured to attend college, the young Yehoshua declared with conviction, “I will learn, I don’t need the things that people aspire to.” This determination led him to the hallowed halls of the Mir Yeshiva, where he studied under giants like Rav Chaim and Rav Nachum, before receiving his semicha from Beit Medrash Govoha in Lakewood. A Living Sefer Torah Rabbi Kalish was not merely a repository of knowledge, though his mastery of Torah was legendary. He was a living embodiment of Torah’s teachings – a walking Kiddush Hashem whose every action reflected the divine wisdom he studied so devotedly. His favorite masechta was Beitzah, which he completed one hundred times, finding in its pages the delicate balance between the spiritual and material worlds that he himself mastered so beautifully. In his final days, he completed a remarkable achievement – a sefer containing insights on every single daf of Shas. Leadership and Teaching For twenty-eight years, he served as the beating heart of the Harborview Beit Medrash in Lawrence, while simultaneously inspiring countless talmidim as Rosh Mesivta at the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway. His Daf Yomi shiur at Shaarei Tefillah, which he maintained for over four decades, was not merely a lesson in Gemara – it was a masterclass in how to live as a Jew. Dedication to Teaching His dedication to Torah teaching knew no bounds. Each year in Camp Mogain Avrohom, on Tisha B’Av between Mincha and Maariv, he would deliver a six-and-a-half-hour shiur on Meseches Moed Katan. Those who participated in these marathon sessions emerged transformed, many becoming leading Talmidei Chachamim in their own right. Character and Middos In his personal conduct, he exemplified the highest ideals of middos tovos. As Rav Moshe Brown remembered, “I don’t think in all the years – I never saw him get angry.” His son-in-law testified that he lived by the principle of “Mah hu rachum, af attah rachum” – just as Hashem is merciful, so too was Rabbi Kalish merciful. There was no pretense about him – he simply wanted to know “what’s the Din, what’s the halacha,” always maintaining absolute integrity in every situation. A Heart of Chesed His chesed knew no bounds. How many almanos and yesomim found comfort in his counsel? How many troubled souls

By Chaim Gold  Rare. It is extremely rare to witness a gathering of the senior elder Gedolei Hador from across the spectrum as they gather together in one room to issue a call to Klal Yisrael. That is what happened earlier this week in Bnei Brak as the Nesius of the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha gathered at the Slabodka Yeshiva. Among the venerated senior Gedolim who addressed the assemblage were HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, HaGaon HaRav Avraham Salim, shlita, Nasi of Shas Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, the Sanzer Rebbe, shlita, and HaGaon HaRav Chizkiyahu Yosef Mishkovsky, shlita. The asifa was also attended by HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva, the Alexander Rebbe, shlita, HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Bezalel shlita, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva Porat Yosef, the Dushinsky Rebbe, shlita, HaGaon HaRav Shraga Shteinman, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Orchos Torah, the Seret-Vizhnitzer Rebbe, shlita, and numerous other luminaries from the Yeshiva world, the Sephardic Torah world and the Chassidishe world. The event was also attended and addressed by Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, Nasi of Dirshu.  The gathering was held for one reason and one reason alone. To give chizuk to Klal Yisrael and to encourage Klal Yisrael to undertake the limud of hilchos Shabbos and Masechta Shabbos. This year on Shavuos, the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha will embark on the learning of hilchos Shabbos, Chelek Gimmel of the Mishnah Berurah in its machzor shelishi. Simultaneously, Dirshu’s popular, new Amud HaYomi program is in the middle of Masechta Shabbos. One who participates in both programs has the distinct opportunity to learn both the practical halachos of Shabbos along with its underpinnings in the sugyos of Masechta Shabbos.  In a unique, historic call and message to Klal Yisrael, the senior Gedolim took time from their busy schedules with many even traveling to Bnei Brak to speak with one united voice and encourage Klal Yisrael, k’ish echad b’lev echad, to be mekabel Shabbos; to accept upon themselves to learn the halachos of Shabbos and incorporate the limud into their daily schedules either with a chavrusah or by attending one of nearly 1,000 available shiurim.  This remarkable achdus of purpose among the Gedolim and Poskim of Klal Yisrael was not limited to Eretz Yisrael. In the United States as well, three very important gatherings of Rabbanim were held last week, where the Rabbanim, with one voice, encouraged Klal Yisrael and their congregants to grab the opportunity and join the limud of hilchos Shabbos and Masechta Shabbos.  The first asifa at the home of the venerated Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta of Lakewood and Telshe, HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, shlita, was attended by more than a minyan of Rabbanim. The second asifa, held at the home of HaRav Shmuel Blech, shlita, the Zekan Harabbanim of Lakewood, was attended by numerous prominent Lakewood Rabbanim.  The third gathering was held at the home of HaRav Shaul Simcha Friedman, shlita, Rav of Khal Shemen L’Mincha of Lakewood with many chassidishe rabbanim in attendance. The most remarkable thing about all these gatherings was the profound sense of achdus among all the different shevatim of Klal Yisrael as they called on Klal Yisrael to engaged in the ultimate shemira for Klal Yisrael – Shabbos! The gatherings were held

An election this month in Pittsburgh and some of its suburbs is emerging as an early test of whether Israel’s war with Hamas poses political threats to progressive Democrats in Congress who have criticized how the conflict has been handled. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a first-term lawmaker who has aligned herself with the “Squad,” is facing a primary challenge from Bhavini Patel and the war has become a flashpoint in the race. Patel frames Lee’s criticism of Israel as part of a broader pattern of left-wing politics that are extreme for the district and potentially damaging to Democratic President Joe Biden in a state is crucial to his reelection bid against Republican Donald Trump. Lee counters that she has helped move calls for a ceasefire in Gaza more into the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The war has scrambled Democratic politics across the United States. It’s dividing traditionally progressive groups, including Pittsburgh’s sizable Jewish community, in ways that don’t always fall neatly along ethnic or cultural lines. But it’s an especially potent issue in Lee’s district, which is home to the synagogue where a gunman in 2018 killed 11 congregants in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. The April 23 primary could shed light on whether the war alone is enough to turn a critical mass of Democrats against Lee. “It clearly is big enough with a certain group in this district,” said Sam Hens-Greco, the party chair in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh. “Whether it is big enough for the entire populace, we’re going to find out.” If Lee is defeated, she would be the first Democratic incumbent in Congress to lose a primary this year. Other progressive Democrats, including Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, face primary challengers this summer. Lee has raised far more money than Patel and has backing from Pennsylvania’s Democratic establishment, including Sen. Bob Casey, and a constellation of progressive groups that include both liberal Jewish and Muslim organizations. The first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania, the 36-year-old Lee is a Howard University law school graduate and community activist who began her political career in 2018 with a successful challenge from the left to an entrenched Pittsburgh-area state lawmaker. In this year’s campaign, Lee has promoted herself as a hardworking representative who delivers for constituents and speaks in Congress for marginalized communities on issues from fighting inequality to climate change and bigotry, including antisemitism and Islamophobia. On the Israel-Hamas war, Lee has condemned Hamas’ attack, but has also accused Israel of committing “war crimes” in Gaza, demanded an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and called for a ceasefire within days of the war starting as the best way to end the cycle of violence and work toward peace. That set her apart from Biden’s stance and that of most House Democrats, although now dozens more have joined her in calling for a cease-fire. At Biden’s State of the Union speech, Lee donned a kaffiyeh, a checkered scarf that has come to symbolize solidarity with Palestinians. Patel, 30, a small-town municipal councilwoman who worked in former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s administration, declared her candidacy a few days before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Patel, who is Hindu and of Indian

As he prepared to take office three years ago, Joe Biden’s incoming administration considered a host of possible options to fulfill a campaign pledge to end the federal death penalty. One idea was an executive order, according to people familiar with the matter. But the White House did not issue one or push for legislation in Congress. Six months later, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used to execute people, a narrower action that has meant no executions under Biden. The Justice Department has since pushed for the death penalty against the suspects charged with mass shootings in Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Biden doesn’t discuss the death penalty much today. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, consistently vows in campaign speeches to seek execution for drug dealers as part of a national crackdown on crime. Capital punishment hasn’t shaped a U.S. presidential race since 1988 when Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis was criticized for offering little emotion when asked during a debate if he’d favor the death penalty for the perpetrators if his wife were raped and murdered. But the issue could quickly return to the national spotlight if Trump retakes the White House and hustles to resume federal executions as he has repeatedly promised. That’s left some Biden supporters frustrated he hasn’t done more to prevent a future president from resuming executions, especially considering Trump pushed through 13 in his final six months in office. “It’s always been used as a political talking point. It has for centuries and it probably always will be,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which takes no official position on capital punishment but criticizes problems in its application. “But I think the American public is seeing through that now and is really looking for more serious answers to these very serious problems in our communities.” The incoming Biden administration’s deliberations were disclosed by former officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. According to Gallup, support for the death penalty against convicted murderers has fallen from 80% in 1994 to 53% last year. And, in November, Gallup found in a separate poll that, for the first time, more Americans believe the death penalty is applied unfairly, 50% to 47%. The vast majority of condemned inmates are sentenced at a state level. Just 44 of the 2,331 people facing death sentences were held in federal prison at the start of this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In addition to the federal government, 21 states allow the death penalty, and it remains legal in six more that have presently declared moratoriums or otherwise paused executions. Alabama drew international attention for its use of nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith, a convicted murderer, last month. Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes. For at least two minutes, he shook and writhed on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints. Biden is the first president to openly oppose capital punishment. His 2020 campaign website declared that he’d “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.” Similar language doesn’t appear on his website this year. His campaign declined requests to comment. Following Garland’s

Demolition got underway Wednesday at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, as part of the effort to reimagine the building to honor the 11 people who were killed there in 2018. The demolition work began slowly, with crews picking away at the building’s exterior. Most of the building will be removed, although portions of the sanctuary walls will be preserved. The new building will include spaces for worship, a museum, an education center and a movie theater. Carole Zawatsky, who heads the new nonprofit overseeing the project, was at the site as demolition began. She said she had a mix of emotions, including feeling bittersweet knowing why the old building was being demolished but also feeling tremendous excitement about seeing the project moving forward. It was sobering and a physical manifestation of healing, she said. “It is an incredible symbol of great resilience and moving forward,” she said. The building has held decades of important moments, including weddings, weekly services, and bar and bat mitzvahs, said Alan Hausman, the president of the Tree of Life congregation. To see if be demolished is difficult, but it also lays the foundation for the beginning of groundbreaking work the congregation hopes to accomplish, he said. “It just runs the whole gamut of emotions, all wrapped up into one in the same day,” Hausman said. Andrew Stewart’s family has belonged to the synagogue for more than 60 years. His bar mitzvah was one of the first events held in the social hall, which was the last addition to the main building and was one of the first sections to be demolished. “The synagogue means so much to so many. It’s an institution in the community,” said Stewart, who was the chairman of the construction working group. “It’s time to say goodbye to it, to let go of it and to create something that is fitting to memorialize the lives that were tragically lost and — more — to create worship space and to bring forth an institution that can make a dent in hatred and can help educate people about antisemitism.” The Oct. 27, 2018, attack claimed the lives of 11 worshippers from three congregations meeting at the synagogue – Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life. The three have been meeting at nearby synagogues since then. In a related project, a memorial to the victims is being planned for a site just outside the synagogue. The process of planning that memorial was left to representatives of the congregations and victims’ families. The design calls for a walkway that will lead visitors into garden memorial with 11 sculpted forms of open books, each representing one of the people who were killed. They represent the “Book of Life,” where, according to Jewish tradition, the righteous are named. The man who killed the congregants was sentenced to death last year, after the conclusion of a long-delayed federal trial. (AP)

A self-proclaimed white supremacist was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison Wednesday for making online threats toward the jury and witnesses at the trial of a man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Hardy Carroll Lloyd, 45, of Follansbee, West Virginia, was sentenced in federal court in northern West Virginia for his September guilty plea to obstruction of the due administration of justice. Lloyd admitted that the actual or perceived Jewish faith of the government witnesses and victims in the trial of Robert Bowers prompted him to target the jury and witnesses. The U.S. Justice Department described Lloyd as a self-proclaimed leader of a white supremacy movement. Prosecutors said Lloyd, who was arrested on Aug. 10, sent threatening social media posts and emails along with comments on websites during Bowers’ trial. Bowers was sentenced to death in August in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate. In May 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety offered a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to Lloyd’s arrest after he allegedly posted a series of comments online threatening to carry a firearm onto the Texas Capitol grounds and challenge any police officer who tried to “take enforcement actions” against him. A statement from the department said Lloyd was a convicted felon. (AP)

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday at prayer vigils and in church, in frustration and exhaustion, to mourn yet another racist attack in America: this one the killing of three Black people in Florida at the hands of a white, 21-year-old man who authorities say left behind white supremacist ramblings that read like “the diary of a madman.” Following services earlier in the day, about 200 people showed up at a Sunday evening vigil a block from the Dollar General store in Jacksonville where officials said Ryan Palmeter opened fire Saturday using guns he bought legally despite a past involuntary commitment for a mental health exam. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — who is running for the GOP nomination for president, who has loosened gun laws in Florida and who has antagonized civil rights leaders by deriding “wokeness ” — was loudly booed as he addressed the vigil. Ju’Coby Pittman, a Jacksonville city councilwoman who represents the neighborhood where the shooting happened, stepped in to ask the crowd to listen. “It ain’t about parties today,” she said. “A bullet don’t know a party.” DeSantis said that on Monday the state would be announcing financial support for security at Edward Waters University, the historically black college near where the shooting occurred, and to help the affected families. He called the gunman a “major league scumbag.” “What he did is totally unacceptable in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.” Sheriff T.K. Waters identified those killed as Angela Michelle Carr, 52, who was shot in her car; store employee A.J. Laguerre, 19, who was shot as he tried to flee; and customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Gallion attended St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Bishop John Guns told the crowd. He was the 33rd murder victim in the 27 years Guns has been there, he said. “In two weeks I have to preach a funeral of a man who should still be alive,” Guns said. “He was not a gangster, he was not a thug — he was a father who gave his life to Jesus and was trying to get it together. “I wept in church today like a baby because my heart is tired. We are exhausted.” The latest in a long history of American racist killings unfolded early Saturday afternoon after Palmeter first parked at Edward Waters University. The sheriff said a video posted on TikTok with no timestamp showed Palmeter donning a bullet-resistant vest. A university security guard spotted Palmeter and parked near him. Palmeter drove off and the security guard flagged down a Jacksonville sheriff’s officer who was about to send out an alert to other officers when the shooting began at the store. Palmeter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock handgun in the shooting, Waters said. He had legally purchased the guns in recent months even though he had been involuntarily committed for a mental health examination in 2017. Because Palmeter was released after the examination, that would have not shown up on his background checks. Palmeter killed himself as police arrived, about 11 minutes after the shooting began. Palmeter lived with his parents in neighboring Clay County. He texted his