Rav Shlomo Eliezer Alfandri, the Maharsha Alfandri (1820-1930). Born in Istanbul, Rav Shlomo Eliezer served as the chief rabbi in Istanbul, Damascus, and subsequently in Tzefas for 20 years. He passed away at age 110 in Yerushalayim. Many of his halachic responses are included in his book, Saba Kadisha.

A new Colorado law will ensure that those living with diabetes will spend no more than $100 per month on insulin, making it the first state to limit the cost of an increasingly expensive medication millions of Americans rely on.
More than 30 million Americans have diabetes, and some 7.4 million of them must take insulin every day to live, according to the American Diabetes Association. Although insulin was discovered nearly a century ago, costs continue to rise. A January report from the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, found the price of an insulin prescription roughly doubled nationwide from 2012 to 2016.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has launched another conspiracy-theory laden attack on US policy toward his country, claiming that the Trump administration’s rhetorical barbs against the Islamic Republic were “written by Zionists word for word.”
In a speech on Tuesday night in the Iranian province of West Azerbaijan, Rouhani — a key supporter of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the former Obama administration — stated that “current US actions against the Iranian nation are not just war and sanctions, but a crime against humanity.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday that the US decision to deploy more troops to the Middle East in response to the perceived threat from Iran was “extremely dangerous” for peace.
The United States said it was sending 1,500 troops to region in what it called an effort to bolster defenses against Tehran, and it accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of direct responsibility for attacks on tankers this month.
“The Americans have made such allegations to justify their hostile policies and to raise tensions in the Persian Gulf,” Zarif told state news agency IRNA.
“Increased US presence in our region is extremely dangerous and it threatens international peace and security, and this should be addressed,” he said.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani implied on Sunday that the Islamic Republic could hold a referendum over the country’s nuclear program.
Rouhani was quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency saying he proposed such a referendum in 2004 to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who initially accepted the idea, but that former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “changed the situation and things went on another path.”
Last week semi-official Fars and Tasnim reported that Iran quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium, citing an official in Natanz nuclear facility.
Read more at i24NEWS.
{Matzav.com}

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Sunday that Germany’s recommendation that Jews not wear a yarmulke in public marked the government’s “capitulation to anti-Semitism” and was evidence that Jews are not safe in the country.
Germany’s commissioner on anti-Semitism said in an interview published over the weekend that he “cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” given increasing anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish attacks.
The Israeli president said he was deeply shocked by the government’s statement that “it would be preferable for Jews not wear a kippa in Germany out of fear for their safety.”

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