Jooish News

The Thai agricultural worker killed in the Iranian missile strike in Moshav Adanim has been identified in Israeli media as 34-year-old Chaiwat Vallnil, who arrived in Israel about 10 months ago to work in agriculture and left behind a wife in Thailand. Reuters earlier reported that a foreign worker was killed in Adanim during the same barrage. 

Local officials said the victim was a newly married young man who came to Israel “with hope for a better life” and instead was killed in one of the war’s latest strikes on central Israel. The attack underscores a brutal reality that foreign laborers, especially in agriculture, remain exposed to the same missile threat facing Israeli communities. 

Thai labor authorities said their embassy in Tel Aviv is coordinating assistance for the family, repatriation of the body, and the benefits process. Before the post–October 7 disruption, roughly 30,000 Thai workers were employed in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the country’s largest migrant labor forces.

A newly surfaced report claims that Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, previously shared social media content expressing support for Palestinian terrorists, drawing renewed attention to her past online activity.

According to material reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, Duwaji — who serves as New York City’s first lady — used a Tumblr account years ago to post favorable content about figures associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, including well-known hijacker Leila Khaled.

The report states that Duwaji, now 28, operated the since-deleted account while living in the Middle East. The outlet said it linked the account to her in part through facial recognition analysis.

In one post dated September 2017, she uploaded an image of Khaled, who participated in airplane hijackings in 1969 and 1970, alongside a quote attributed to her: “If it does good for my cause, I’d be happy to accept death.”

In another post, she shared a photograph of a Bangladeshi stamp bearing the message, “We salute the valiant freedom fighters of Palestine,” according to the report.

The Beacon also reported that in 2015, Duwaji reposted a strongly worded message criticizing American military personnel, stating that U.S. troops “fightin in imperialist wars are not brave nor are they fighting for anyone’s freedom.”

That same post accused the military of “mercilessly slaughtering 3rd world civilians” in order to uphold “American hegemony.”

Another repost from December 2015 attributed responsibility for the creation of al Qaeda to white individuals.

“You can’t blame muslims for terrorism because they didn’t construct, fund nor train Al-Qaeda,” the post said. “White People did that too.”

Additional posts from that period included statements about Israel, including one in which she wrote that Tel Aviv “shouldn’t exist in the first place,” referring to its residents as “occupiers.” The report also noted that she used a racial slur in a 2013 tweet when she was reportedly 15.

The resurfaced material follows earlier reports indicating that Duwaji had interacted with controversial content more recently, including liking an Instagram post on October 7, 2023, that marked Hamas’ attack on Israel with celebratory imagery.

She was also reported to have liked another post that described claims of Hamas committing immoral violence during the attack as a “mass hoax.”

In response to the scrutiny, Mamdani — who has been outspoken in his criticism of Israel — said that his wife has not played any official role in his political activities. He stated that she “has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall” and argued that her past social media activity should not be a focus of public attention.

{Matzav.com}

Gulf states may be loudly condemning Israeli actions in the war against Iran, but quietly they are offering support. An Israeli official familiar with the discussions said that the Gulf states have told Israel and the United States the war must end with nothing less than regime change, or else Iran will remain a threat to the region.

“The Gulf states are praying that we finish the job, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others,” the official said. “For them, Iran has been a nightmare that has terrorized them for decades, and finally someone has risen to put an end to it. In closed conversations, the messages we receive are, ‘Go all the way and may God help you.’”

The countries in the Persian Gulf have also requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to condemn Iran’s attacks against them following strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. At the session, the Arab states are expected to raise the problem of the Strait of Hormuz and to seek a diplomatic resolution to Iran’s chokehold on the waterway. About a fifth of the world’s oil is exported through Hormuz, and the disruption has caused oil prices to spike and stock markets to drop.

This video from X purports to show Iranian attacks against Gulf countries.

Meanwhile, Gulf countries are absorbing Iranian attacks without retaliating, out of fear that the regime will emerge from this war unscathed and exact retribution. Nevertheless, they support the war effort behind the scenes.

“Despite the recent Iranian strikes, the Iranians are still observing certain rules of the game,” the official said. “Another reason, and perhaps the most important, is that they believe Iran will survive the war and are worried about the day after.”

According to Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, the Gulf states have accepted Israeli assistance in dealing with the attacks, however. “There are those who are benefiting from our expertise in those areas right now,” he said.

President Trump is considering whether to deploy additional American forces to the Middle East, including the possibility of sending troops into Iran for operations on the ground, according to a new report.

Officials have examined scenarios that would involve U.S. forces landing on Iranian territory, including efforts to secure strategic locations such as the Strait of Hormuz and Kharg Island, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Another option under discussion includes using American troops to take control of Iran’s reserves of highly enriched uranium, the report said.

Despite those deliberations, sources emphasized that no immediate move to insert ground forces into Iran is expected at this time.

Officials acknowledged that any such operation would carry significant danger, as American troops would be exposed to Iran’s missile systems and drone capabilities.

“There has been no decision to send ground troops at this time, but President Trump wisely keeps all options at his disposal,” a White House official told Reuters.

“The president is focused on achieving all of the defined objectives of Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capacity, annihilate their navy, ensure their terrorist proxies cannot destabilize the region, and guarantee that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” the official added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has already taken steps to bolster U.S. military presence in the region. According to a Wall Street Journal report last week, additional Marines and naval assets have been approved for deployment as Iran continues targeting commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth is said to have approved the movement of “an element of an amphibious ready group and attached Marine expeditionary unit, typically consisting of several warships and 5,000 Marines and sailors,” according to the report, which cited U.S. officials.

The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship similar in appearance to an aircraft carrier but designed for operations closer to shore, is reportedly making its way from Japan toward the Middle East.

Iran’s continued assaults on ships in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz have effectively choked off much of the traffic through the vital oil route, driving up global energy prices.

Last week, Trump authorized airstrikes on Kharg Island, located roughly 16 miles off Iran’s coastline and responsible for handling about 90% of the country’s crude oil exports.

Trump said military targets were “totally obliterated” in the strikes, which spared the island’s oil infrastructure.

U.S. and Israeli officials are also believed to be exploring the possibility of eventually taking control of Kharg Island as part of the broader campaign, according to prior reporting.

{Matzav.com}

We’re looking to feature kids doing mitzvos in the upcoming Oorah Auction book!

Send us a photo of your child doing a mitzvah (helping a parent, giving tzedakah, learning Torah, visiting someone who needs company, or any other mitzvah).

Selected photos will appear in a special spread of the book! If you’d like your child to be included, please send in a photo of them doing a mitzvah to [email protected].

For many U.S. Jews, following current events these days can be emotionally tumultuous. Simultaneously, there is widely shared anger at the upsurge of attacks targeting their communities, and deep divisions within those communities over whether to support or oppose various policies and actions by Israel in the conflict-wracked Middle East.

Just last week, there was unified condemnation of the attack by a man who drove his pickup truck into a Detroit-area synagogue where more than 100 children were attending a preschool program. The driver, who had lost family members during an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, exchanged gunfire with a guard before killing himself, according to the FBI.

“To hold American Jews — let alone children in a preschool — accountable for the actions of a foreign government is a dangerous double standard that we don’t apply today to any other group,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “One can be deeply critical of the policies of the State of Israel and still recognize that targeting synagogues or any Jewish institutions with violence is not political protest; it is antisemitism, plain and simple.”

Jewish author and commentator Peter Beinart also denounced the attack, while reiterating his vehement criticism of Israeli policy in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere.

“No matter what Israel does, no matter how immoral or brutal or horrifying, it doesn’t justify attacking a synagogue or justifying attacking American Jews in any way,” he said this week on his podcast. “Americans are not responsible for the actions of foreign governments or foreign organizations, just because they share a religion, an ethnic national ancestry, a race.”

A debate over displaying pro-Israel signs
Beinart added, however, that U.S. synagogues displaying “We stand with Israel” signs should take them down “because those signs make the congregants less safe and because they’re immoral.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, has numerous policy differences with Israeli government, yet said she wouldn’t ask that “We stand with Israel” signs be taken down.

“We live in a country where people are entitled to their beliefs,” she said. “No one should have to risk violence because they’re expressing them.”

It’s important, Spitalnick said, for Jews to acknowledge that these interrelated issues are nuanced.

“I believe deeply in the need for a Jewish homeland,” she said. “And I have fundamental disagreements with this government, the humanitarian crisis it created in Gaza.”

Beth Kissileff, a journalist whose husband survived the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue attack that claimed 11 lives, agrees the issues are complex.

“On the one hand, I do feel the fates of Jews the world over are linked,” she said. “On the other hand, I don’t feel it’s fair for Jews the world over to be the proxies for the actions of the government of Israel.”

She noted that she and many others strongly disagree with various actions of Israel’s current government. She faulted its failure to curb Israeli settlers who are attacking West Bank Palestinians and its policies favoring Orthodox over non-Orthodox expressions of Judaism.

But scapegoating Jews because of Israel is unacceptable, she said.

“It’s outrageous to take anything out on anyone,” she said. “It’s outrageous that Iranian schoolgirls were killed,” she added, referring to the apparent U.S. missile strike based on faulty intelligence, which killed many children, both boys and girls. “I’m outraged when any innocent life is taken.”

Outrage over blaming Jews for the Israeli government’s actions
Even so, Kissileff said, antisemites will find any excuse — whether Israel or something else — to attack Jews.

Her husband, Jonathan Perlman, is rabbi of New Light Congregation. It was one of three Pittsburgh congregations to lose members in the 2018 synagogue attack, the deadliest antisemitic massacre in U.S. history. The gunman, now on federal death row, claimed to be outraged by Jewish support for refugee resettlement.

At Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, Nicole Guzik serves jointly as senior rabbi along with her husband, Erez Sherman. While they try to avoid broaching politics from the pulpit, they have convened events designed so congregants hear diverse views.

Like many rabbis nationwide, they are dismayed by the high cost of security for their Conservative synagogue — more than $1 million a year. A surge in criticism of Israel and anti-Israel protests, triggered by its war in Gaza following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, have at times spilled over into violence, prompting synagogues and Jewish institutions to beef up security.

“But we are going to live as Jews as proudly as possible,” Guzik said. “There’s no reason Jews should not be able to express their love for their homeland. … A love for Israel is intrinsic to Jewish belief.”

Motti Seligson, director of public relations for Chabad-Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish movement, also lamented the need for stringent security measures. But he welcomed another trend, saying many Jews are strengthening ties to their religion and other Jews worldwide following the Hamas attack.

“This is something that we’ve been seeing from Oct. 7, just a tremendous amount of people who want to connect with their faith and connect with their people,” Seligson said.

Conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism challenges Jewish communities
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue, a large Conservative congregation in New York, said Jews have “grown uncomfortably accustomed to this new reality,” including the recent attacks in Michigan and Australia.

It shows, he said, “the blurred line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the frightening manner by which violent rhetoric becomes violent action, and the enabling that occurs when people in authority refuse to draw clear moral lines.”

Cosgrove, author of “For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today,” said Jews have an ancient connection to the land of Israel, even while many are critical of specific actions of its leaders.

“As a proud Zionist, an expression of that love of Israel can come and oftentimes does come in the form of dissent with the Israeli government,” Cosgrove said. “Love of Israel … is different from love of the Israeli government. And the problem of this moment is that it’s all being conflated into one.”

He was grateful that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the congregation last week, advocating for proposed legislation requiring a buffer zone where demonstrations would be prohibited near houses of worship. It followed recent anti-Israel protests outside New York synagogues.

“I urged my community that, shocked as we were, we need to be mobilized, not paralyzed,” Cosgrove said.

Israel’s historical role figures in the debate
Israel was founded 1948 as a homeland and refuge for the world’s Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. Its leaders consider themselves representatives, partners and defenders of Jewish communities around the world.

Mark Mazower, a history professor at Columbia University, last year published “On Antisemitism: A Word in History,” tracing how the meaning of “antisemitism” had evolved since the word was coined in the 19th century. He asserts that gradually, after Israel’s founding in 1948, antisemitism was applied with increasing frequency to hostility to Israel.

Over the same period, Mazower notes, many U.S. Jews and the major organizations that served them closely embraced Israel — a trend that now has fueled divisions within the U.S. Jewish community over whether to support or criticize various Israeli policies in the Middle East.

“It’s obviously wrong to blame all Jews everywhere for what Israel does,” Mazower said. “Yet large American Jewish organizations have wrapped themselves in the Israeli flag and said it’s the duty of American Jews to stand with Israel.”

Among those organizations is the Anti-Defamation League, which last year reported that incidents related to Israel constituted — for the first time — more than half of the antisemitic incidents in its annual tally.

“We will not apologize for our love and support for the Jewish state of Israel. Not now, not ever,” the ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, told the organization’s national conference this week.

MAMARONECK, N.Y. (VINnews) — New York State Police released video Thursday of a chain-reaction crash that injured a trooper during a traffic stop on the New York State Thruway in Westchester County.

Authorities said two troopers had stopped a 2025 Mercedes sedan driven by Siiyer W. Walker, 52, of Connecticut, on the right shoulder shortly after 5 a.m. March 15 when a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban, driven by Kevin Ariel Cunache Moyolema, 24, of Connecticut, struck the patrol vehicle from behind.

The impact pushed the patrol car into the Mercedes, which then struck one of the troopers. The injured trooper was taken to Westchester Medical Center with minor injuries and later released. The second trooper was not struck.

Moyolema was taken to the hospital for evaluation of minor pain, while Walker was treated at the scene and declined further medical transport.

The investigation remains ongoing, authorities said.

A new analysis has found that fewer than 2% of the most prominent stories on Apple News last month came from right-leaning outlets, a slight uptick from zero the month before that critics say reflects little more than a response to mounting scrutiny over alleged bias.

The findings follow earlier reporting that Apple faced backlash after a Media Research Center review revealed that in January, not a single top story on the platform came from a conservative source.

That criticism escalated when FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Feb. 11, cautioning that the company’s practices could potentially run afoul of federal laws prohibiting “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” The very next day, Apple News highlighted its first conservative-sourced article in over three months—a Fox News report covering the death of actor James Van Der Beek.

In a follow-up review conducted by the Media Research Center in February, researchers tracked 560 top stories and found that just eight—1.4%—originated from conservative outlets. By contrast, 400 articles, or 75%, were attributed to sources considered left-leaning. The remaining 152 pieces came from either centrist organizations or outlets that had not been categorized, such as smaller local publications.

“2% is not progress. It’s damage control,” MRC president David Bozell said in a statement. “If public exposure and a federal inquiry only yield a modest adjustment, that suggests the bias we documented was deeply embedded.”

“Apple News should not require public pressure to reflect viewpoint diversity,” Bozell added. “This is not about token inclusion. It’s about whether one of the most powerful information gatekeepers in the country operates fairly.”

The Media Research Center based its classifications on ratings from AllSides, a nonpartisan group that evaluates media bias using panels made up of individuals from across the political spectrum. These panels, composed of representatives from the left, center, and right, are trained to assess bias. The organization also conducts blind surveys of everyday Americans and combines those results to determine overall ratings. AllSides itself did not participate in the MRC’s analysis.

“Apple would need to make much more substantial changes to help reduce news polarization and give Americans a broader, more balanced view,” said Julie Mastrine, director of AllSides’ media bias rating system.

The issue has drawn attention at the highest levels, with President Trump sharing The Post’s earlier report on Truth Social, amplifying concerns about the data.

Critics argue that Apple News wields significant influence because it is preloaded on millions of devices, including iPhones, and is marketed by the company as the leading news app in the United States.

Since 2017, the platform’s editorial direction has been overseen by editor-in-chief Lauren Kern, who previously held positions at New York Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. In 2018, The New York Times described her as having “quietly become one of the most powerful figures in English-language media,” citing the app’s vast reach.

Another study released last month by AllSides examined only the manually curated sections of Apple News. During a two-week period in October included in that review, editors did not feature a single article from a conservative outlet in the app’s “top news” section.

For its February report, the Media Research Center reviewed the top 20 stories displayed each day at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time from Feb. 1 through Feb. 28. The feed includes a combination of stories selected by Apple’s editorial staff and others generated through algorithmic recommendations.

Among the most frequently featured sources in February were the Associated Press with 57 articles, The Washington Post with 44, and NBC News with 38—all categorized as left-leaning. Among centrist outlets, The Wall Street Journal appeared 46 times, while Reuters was featured 40 times.

Of the eight conservative-sourced articles identified, seven were from Fox News and covered topics including a delayed NASA launch, U.S. operations against drug smuggling vessels, and former President Bill Clinton’s deposition related to the Jeffrey Epstein files. The remaining article came from the British publication The Telegraph and focused on the arrest of the former Prince Andrew.

In his letter, Ferguson called on Cook to “conduct a comprehensive review of Apple’s terms of service and ensure that Apple News’ curation of articles is consistent with those terms and representations made to consumers and, if it is not, to take corrective action swiftly.”

Separately, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee pressed Cook for answers, asking whether Apple had “systematically suppressed” conservative perspectives.

“The American public increasingly relies on services like Apple News to provide them with information, and they deserve to have access to perspectives across the political spectrum,” Blackburn wrote in a letter on Feb. 19.

{Matzav.com}

(AP) – In the Trump administration’s campaign to promote healthy eating, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not stopped at his slogan urging people to “eat real food” to prevent disease.

In recent speeches and podcast appearances, the nation’s health secretary also has claimed that diet can “cure” schizophrenia and diabetes and allow people to rid themselves of bipolar disorder diagnoses. Researchers say the comments overstate current evidence about the real and promising role that food can play in managing illness.

“Food is medicine, and you can heal yourself with a good diet,” Kennedy said on comedian Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast in February.

The talking point aligns with an idea from Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” allies that has gotten some bipartisan support: The role of food in health deserves more attention.

Scientists agree that diet can contribute to some diseases and also can be valuable in treating them. But public health advocates say Kennedy’s exaggerations are part of a pattern in which he cherry-picks and misrepresents scientific research, a tendency that he has regularly applied to vaccine science, enraging doctors.

It is the latest example of Kennedy being “incredibly careless and irresponsible” in talking about health issues, said Kayla Hancock, director of a public health project at the advocacy group Protect Our Care.

Dr. Theresa Miskimen Rivera, president of the American Psychiatric Association, fears the language could drive patients to self-medicate with food alone.

“The concern always is that people can have hope and they might interpret that as, ‘Well, I don’t need medication. I do not need treatment. I just need to follow the diet,’” Rivera said.

Kennedy oversteps the evidence on diet and psychiatric disorders
In an early February speech at the Tennessee Capitol, Kennedy cited the work of Dr. Christopher Palmer, a Harvard Medical School researcher who in 2019 wrote about two patients with schizophrenia who experienced remission of their symptoms following a high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet.

Kennedy said that Palmer had “cured schizophrenia using keto diets.”

Palmer has called that inaccurate. He told The Associated Press that “as much as I wish we had cures for mental illness or other chronic diseases, it is important that we use more precise language.” Palmer prefers the word “remission.”

During the same speech, and later on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Kennedy referred to studies “where people lose their bipolar diagnosis by changing their diet.” He said “there’s a big paper about to come out” showing results.

Kennedy spokesman Andrew Nixon said those comments referred to a “growing body of research” on the issue, including a University of California, Los Angeles, study investigating the effect of a keto diet on teenagers with bipolar disorder.

That study is still recruiting patients and will not be completed until March 2027, according to a posting on a federal website. Any publication would come months after that.

Rivera, of the American Psychiatric Association, said Kennedy’s claims exaggerate the evidence. Studies testing the role of the ketogenic diet on mental health conditions have been small, anecdotal or pilot studies, she said. Many did not include a control group of patients following a regular diet.

“At this point, it’s premature. We cannot draw definitive conclusions,” Rivera said. “There is not enough evidence to recommend a specific diet or as a standalone, without medication such as antipsychotics or mood stabilizers.”

It is true that research into the effects of ketogenic and other diets on psychiatric disorders is accelerating, Palmer said. He said 20 controlled clinical trials using the keto diet for severe mental illness are underway, with results of two trials set for publication within the next year.

Palmer said he is “very enthusiastic” about diet as a promising therapy for serious psychiatric disorders, but that patients with mental illness should still talk with their doctors.

“I want to implore patients: Please do not stop your medications on your own,” he said. “Please do not even try a ketogenic diet on your own as a treatment for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.”

Diabetes experts are split on the impact of Kennedy’s words
Kennedy’s comments on Von’s podcast that “most diabetes can be cured through diet” also have been scrutinized. Some experts say the health secretary overstated the role of diet.

Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder, cannot be cured by diet alone, said Dr. Willa Hsueh, an Ohio State University endocrinologist and researcher. A healthy diet and exercise are keys to managing Type 2 diabetes, but it can be difficult to use those tools alone to reverse the disorder, she said.

“The secretary is not wrong that it can work,” Hsueh said. “But it’s not common for people to cure themselves … by diet alone.”

Others defended Kennedy’s claims about the disease that affects 40 million people in the United States.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, said a healthy diet could help “most individuals” with Type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugar levels, reverse symptoms and allow them to stop taking medications for the condition.

“Whether you consider that a cure or remission, that’s medical speak, right?” Mozaffarian said.

He acknowledged that Kennedy is not “always perfectly precise in the terminology and there could be risks to that.” But he welcomed the high-level focus on the role of diet in improving chronic disease.

“I’d rather exaggerate and get some attention and action than keep doing what we’re doing, which is have millions of Americans suffering from diet-related diseases,” Mozaffarian said.

MAHA supporters want to see more focus on food
Mark Gorton, president of the Kennedy-aligned MAHA Institute, said he was not familiar with the studies Kennedy referenced, but that nutrition has been “an incredibly overlooked area in our medical system for decades.”

“I think to the extent that it is possible, we should be prioritizing focusing on diet and getting back to living healthy rather than taking sick people and medicating them forever, which is the current way our system works,” Gorton said.

Kody Green, a mental health advocate with schizophrenia, said that he supports healthy eating, but that he needed psychiatric medications. He worries that Kennedy’s comments could deter schizophrenia patients from trying drugs that are already stigmatized.

“For some people, maybe food can help with the issues they have, but schizophrenia is a very serious mental illness,” Green said. “Until further research is done, making claims like that can be really dangerous to people in my community.”

In a stunning moment inside the Oval Office, President Donald Trump delivered a sharp and unexpected response when pressed by a reporter about U.S. coordination with Japan ahead of the Iran war.

When asked why Japan was not informed in advance, Trump pointed to the need for maintaining the element of surprise in military operations.

“Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” Trump replied. “Why did you not tell me about Pearl Harbor, right?”

The remark referenced the 1941 surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, which was carried out without warning and thrust the United States into World War II.

The Japanese Prime Minister appeared caught off guard by the comment and seemed visibly mortified during the exchange, underscoring the tension of the moment.

The exchange immediately drew attention for its historical reference and blunt delivery, highlighting Trump’s signature off the cuff style during high stakes diplomatic moments as tensions surrounding the Iran conflict continue to rise.

New Jersey Assemblyman Avi Schnall (D-Lakewood) today announced a major breakthrough for families across New Jersey who keep kosher: the state’s WIC program has approved, for the first time, a cholov yisroel infant formula for purchase through WIC benefits.

The approved formula, Baby’s Only Infant Formula, met all nutritional and regulatory requirements set by the program, including appropriate iron levels—an issue that had previously prevented other cholov yisroel formulas from qualifying.

“For years, families who rely on WIC while maintaining a commitment to cholov yisroel faced an impossible choice,” said Assemblyman Schnall. “They were forced to either compromise on their standards or shoulder an extra financial burden. This approval is a true game-changer that will take strain off so many parents.”

Assemblyman Schnall credits the achievement to a coordinated effort involving advocates and staff who worked persistently to ensure that families’ needs were addressed.

“I want to express my deep appreciation to Rabbi Shlomo Schorr, whose tireless advocacy was instrumental in pushing this forward,” Schnall said. “I am also grateful to my Chief of Staff, David Dolan, and our Director of Constituent Affairs, Mrs. Horowitz, who worked diligently behind the scenes to help make this a reality.”

“This is a major victory for families who have long struggled to uphold their kosher standards while managing the financial demands of raising an infant,” Agudath Israel NJ Director Shlomo Schorr said. “With this change, parents across New Jersey can provide for their children without added financial strain or compromising on cholov yisroel.”

With the approval, eligible families across New Jersey are now able to purchase Baby’s Only Infant Formula through their standard WIC benefits.

“This is what good government looks like,” Assemblyman Schnall added. “Listening to the needs of our communities and working collaboratively to deliver practical, meaningful solutions.”

A new survey indicates that Republican voters remain firmly behind President Trump’s decision to launch military action against Iran, pushing back on claims of significant divisions within the party.

According to polling conducted by J.L. Partners and shared with The New York Post, overwhelming support exists among likely Republican voters for Operation Epic Fury. The data shows that 83% either “strongly” or “somewhat” back the military campaign, while only 9% express opposition.

The survey also found that most respondents favor continuing the offensive. Nearly three-quarters—74%—said the United States should press forward until Iran’s military strength is fully dismantled, compared to 16% who believe the war should end immediately.

When asked whom they trust more on matters related to the conflict, Republican voters overwhelmingly sided with Trump over media personalities who have voiced criticism. While figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly have taken issue with the war, 83% of respondents said they trust Trump’s judgment more, while just 6% indicated greater confidence in the former Fox News hosts.

Similarly, 84% said they align more closely with Trump’s approach to foreign policy, compared to 6% who favor the views of Carlson and Kelly. Another 85% reported taking the president more seriously on global affairs than commentators and podcast hosts, with only 6% saying otherwise.

Trump has mostly avoided directly addressing criticism from Carlson and Kelly, though he did publicly defend talk radio host Mark Levin, who has strongly supported the war and recently clashed with Kelly.

“Mark Levin, a truly Great American Patriot, is somewhat under siege by other people with far less Intellect, Capability, and Love for our Country,” the president wrote on Truth Social on the evening of March 15.

“He is a true Conservative, and Intellect, far smarter than those who criticize him but, above all, he is a man of Great Wisdom and Common Sense who truly loves our Country,” Trump went on. “When you hear others unfairly attack Mark, remember that they are jealous and angry Human Beings, whose ‘sway’ is much less than the Public understands, and will, now that they know where I stand, rapidly diminish.”

“Those that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies, and footings are not sound. THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM, and MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a Sick, Demented, and Violent Terrorist Regime, to have a Nuclear Weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the World. MAGA is about stopping them cold, and that is exactly what we are doing.”

The poll further suggests that Trump’s position on Iran could play a major role in upcoming elections. A significant 78% of Republican voters said they would be more inclined to support a congressional candidate who backs the military campaign, while just 10% said they would favor a candidate opposed to it.

On the other hand, candidates aligned with critics like Carlson and Kelly could face resistance within the party. A majority of respondents—55%—said they would be less likely to vote for such candidates, while only 19% said they would be more likely to support them.

The survey was conducted between March 17 and March 18 among 1,018 likely Republican voters and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK (VINnews/Yair Hoffman) – To those who have recently lost a loved one: may you find comfort in knowing that the neshamah of your dear one has embarked on a profound and purposeful journey, guided by the loving hand of HaKadosh Boruch Hu.

There is a fascinating Abarbanel on the verse in Bereishis (2:7): “Hashem formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became — lenefesh chaya — a living soul.” The Abarbanel explains that Hashem created the soul to be living constantly — everlasting, without death and not lost.

This and other Torah sources teach us that the neshama is immortal — a foundation of Torah-true Judaism. This truth is reflected in the emphasis placed upon Shabbos observance. Although we keep Shabbos primarily because the Torah commands us to do so, it is also the flagship of Jewish belief. We cease all forms of creative activity because Hashem ceased from creation and rested on the seventh day. By resting as well, we declare to the world our belief in the Creator, that He is the essence of all that is good, and that He rewards good and punishes evil. In order to receive this reward and punishment, the soul must be immortal.

The Zohar (Vol. II 118b) explains that the body and the neshamah, or soul, are two separate things. The body houses the neshamah (Vol. II 142b). The neshamah becomes attached to the guf, the body, while yet in the womb. The Talmud (Niddah 30b) derives this from the verse in Iyov (29:3): “When He lit His candle over my head; by His light I would go through the darkness.” The Talmud further explains that the soul is taught the entire Torah during the nine months in the womb, and that this time is replete with remarkable goodness.

The soul is likened to a lamp, as it says: “Ner Hashem nishmas ha’adam — a lamp of G-d is the soul of man” (Mishlei 20:27), and “For You light my lamp, Hashem; My G-d brightens my darkness” (Tehillim 18:29).

The Soul Departing

The Midrashei HaZohar on Koheles (p. 1196) explains that 30 days before a person’s death, the neshamah begins to fade. However, it remains with the body until the actual moment of death — yetzias ha’neshamah. When the soul departs, it is compared to the extinguishing of a lamp (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 6:1).

The connection that binds the soul to the body is quite strong. The Gemara in Avodah Zarah (20b) teaches that in order to sever this connection, the Malach HaMaves — the Angel of Death — frightens the person, causing the soul to detach from the body. If the person developed a close connection to Hashem during his or her lifetime, there is “ein macharid” — no frightening on the part of the Malach HaMaves. Rather, the soul departs out of its own desire to attach itself to the Shechinah, which arrives at that moment.

Seeing the Shechinah

In the third chapter of Kallah Rabbasi, the verse in Shmos 33:20 is explained: “For no man shall see Me and live” — this refers to their lifetime. But at the time of death, they do see. The Rash MiShantz in his introduction to the Toras Kohanim explains that it is similar to the state of the soul before it was bound to the body.

There are different levels, however. Some perceive more of the Shechinah than others, though almost everyone perceives a type of light. It appears from Pirkei Rebbi Eliezer (chapter 34) that this is part and parcel of the process of death.

The Megaleh Amukos (Parashas Emor, ofen 17) cites the Sefer HaTemunah, a Kabbalistic work, that when the soul departs the body, it sings the hymn of “Mizmor Shir L’Yom HaShabbos.” This likely refers to those on a high spiritual level — individuals who merit to see the Shechinah at the time the soul departs (Avodas Yisroel of Rav Yisroel of Kozhnitz, Parashas Parah).

The severing of body and soul is sometimes painful and sometimes not, depending upon the spiritual level of the deceased (see Ohr HaChaim, Parashas Bechukosai 26, and Gemara in Berachos 8a). According to Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer (34), the sound of the separation is one of the six sounds that reverberates throughout the universe, yet is not audibly heard.

The Five Facets of the Neshamah

The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 14:9) refers to the neshamah with five names or forces: Nefesh (soul), Ruach (spirit), Neshamah (breath), Chayah (life force), and Yechidah (unique singularity). The master Kabbalists explain that these five names describe five dimensions of the soul. Nefesh is the engine of physical life. Ruach is the emotional self, imbuing the individual with personality. Neshamah is the intellectual self. Chayah is the life force that instills will, commitment, and faith. Yechidah connotes the very essence of the soul — its unity with its source, the singular essence of Hashem.

The Time of Confusion

Immediately upon death, the neshamah can be in a state of utter confusion. It is therefore considered a great chesed to remain with a dying person so that he or she does not die alone.

During this time, the soul may forget, out of confusion and fright, who it was. The Shla HaKadosh therefore recommends that one become familiar with a verse in the Torah that alludes to his or her own name — that is, a verse whose first and last letters match the first and last letters of one’s name. These verses are typically found and recited at the conclusion of the Shacharis Shemoneh Esreh.

The soul, now detached from the body, is painfully aware of all things that physically surround it — particularly before the body is buried. It can also hear words spoken by those near the body. The Talmud (Shabbos 152a) tells us that the soul mourns for its body for a full seven days, as derived from the verse “His soul mourns for him” (Iyov 14:22).

For this reason, those who perform the taharah, and those who watch the body before burial, should refrain from frivolous conversation, so that the neshamah not be further bewildered.

The First Twelve Months After Death

For the first twelve months after death, portions of the soul hover near the body. For most neshamos, until the body reaches a certain level of decomposition, the soul wanders nearby and has no permanent resting place — a source of pain and discomfort. During this time, the soul is aware of and pained by the physical changes occurring to its body. Reciting Tehillim is a source of comfort for the confused neshamah.

The Talmud (Shabbos 152a) states that “worms are as painful to the dead as needles are to the flesh of the living” (Iyov 14:22). The Mekubalim call this “Chibut HaKever” — the affliction of the grave. For some individuals, what transpires in the grave can be even more painful than Gehinnom itself.

Judgment

During that first year after death, the soul is initially judged by the Heavenly Court. In addition to this initial judgment, the souls of the wicked are further reproved for twelve months. Others are reproved for a lesser time, depending upon the severity of their deeds and whether they performed teshuvah.

If teshuvah mei’ahavah — repentance out of love of Hashem — was performed, then the sins of one’s lifetime are not only erased but actually count as mitzvos. This remarkable gift, beyond our full comprehension, also lessens the time the neshamah spends in the cleansing process.

Because those who are particularly righteous or who performed teshuvah mei’ahavah do not require the full twelve-month stay in Gehinnom, Kaddish is traditionally recited for only eleven months — so as not to imply that the deceased requires the maximum period.

We thus see that how one is regarded here on earth affects, to some degree, the disposition of the individual in Heaven as well.

For this reason, when mentioning a parent’s name during the first year after death, one should say: “Hareini kaparas mishkavo — May I be an atonement for his resting place.” The main judgment after death occurs in Gehinnom, where the soul is cleansed in a spiritual fire and purified to receive its eternal reward. The fire abates every Shabbos.

Souls Sent Back

There are souls judged at the initial judgment as not yet ready for the spiritual purification that Gehinnom accomplishes. These souls are sent back to this world so that they may gain some form of merit. Once they do, the judgment process can then proceed. Even if this takes longer than twelve months, we treat everyone as though their maximum time is twelve months.

The souls of the truly righteous are in one sense even greater than the angels on high: they are able to progress higher and higher in their ultimate heavenly abode. Zechariah the Navi was shown a vision of stationary angels and told (3:7), “If you go in My ways . . . then I will give you a place to move among [the angels] standing here.” Angels, with their limited form of bechirah, remain at one level of Gan Eden. A truly righteous person can ascend — both before and after the neshamah has departed.

Merit for the Neshamah

How can a soul continue to ascend after it has departed? If, during one’s lifetime, one raised children who perform mitzvos, helped create Torah learning, or has descendants and others who learn Mishnayos or recite Kaddish on his behalf, the soul can shift its Heavenly station upward.

What Others Can Do

It is crucial to know that there are six degrees of tikkunim one can perform for the deceased — and Kaddish is actually the lowest of these six levels. They are enumerated by Rabbi Eliyahu Gutmacher, a primary student of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, in his sefer entitled Sukkas Shalom. Each ascending level is a higher form of tikkun for the soul:

1. The recitation of Kaddish.
2. Davening before the amud for the congregation.
3. Fulfilling a mitzvah that one’s father or mother instructed in their lifetime.
4. The study of Torah.
5. Teaching Torah publicly.
6. Teaching Torah publicly in a manner that bridges day and night — that is, between Mincha and Maariv, or after Shacharis in the morning.

Lighting a Candle

Shlomo HaMelech compares the neshamah to a lamp (Mishlei 20:27): “Ner Hashem nishmas Adam — the lamp of Hashem is the soul of a person.” Dovid HaMelech likewise stated, “For You light my lamp, Hashem; My G-d brightens my darkness” (Tehillim 18:29).

The neshamah remains in the home during the shiva period and is comforted by the presence of a candle lit in its honor. The candle mirrors the nature of the neshamah, which is drawn toward it in a state of glory and happiness (see Rabbeinu Bachya, Shmos 25:31). Ideally, the candle should be lit in the home where the deceased lived; if not, it should be lit where the mourners are sitting shiva.

Ideally, the candle should be lit by the child of the deceased. When lighting it, one should say: “Harei ani madlik ner zo l’zecher nishmas _____ ben _____.” The candle should remain lit for the entire shiva. If the candle burns out, it should be replaced.

Conclusion

The Zohar tells us that from the mitzvos a person performs in his or her lifetime, the Holy One fashions garments that clothe the neshamah. These spiritual robes allow the soul to stand in the courtyard of the King. Without them, the soul cannot perceive the pleasantness of Hashem — Noam Hashem. The converse is equally true: when sins are committed, a decrepit robe is placed over the neshamah and its time in Gehinnom is set in motion.

The processes that occur to the neshamah after it departs from the body are complex and, at times, sobering. Yet it is entirely possible to prepare for this passage properly. We see the tremendous importance of cultivating a dveikus — a cleaving to Hashem — of performing teshuvah out of genuine love of Hashem, and of supporting Torah study throughout one’s lifetime. May Hashem speedily bring about the removal of death laNetzach.

The author can be reached at [email protected].
This article is dedicated in memory of the author’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Sally Hirsch a”h, Tzalcha bas R’ Moshe HaKohen,

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, traces his close bond with the president to a scary personal moment in 2020, when Mullin’s son suffered a severe brain injury during a high school wrestling match.

At a rally later that year, Trump invited the Oklahoma Republican and his son on stage. He afterward asked Jim Mullin, then 15 years old, to sit on his lap and tell him about his rehabilitation. Trump had taken a special interest in the teenager, offering to fly the family to medical specialists and pay for treatments.

“You know, someone loves your kids, you’re going to love that guy forever,” Mullin told a crowd at a campaign rally in 2024. “He’s a friend of yours.”

It’s a relationship poised to grow even closer as Mullin, 48, prepares to join Trump’s cabinet as the next leader of the Department of Homeland Security, the massive agency whose immigration crackdown became a target of widening criticism under Noem, who was fired earlier this month.

Trump’s selection of Mullin, one of his fiercest defenders in the U.S. Senate, is a reflection of a president who places high value on loyalty and personal relationships. The goal is to steady a department vital to Trump’s centerpiece policy of mass deportations with a trusted ally.

During his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Mullin was asked to describe how his connection with Trump came about.

Mullin said he’d try to tell the story without crying and then relayed the details of how his son woke up after the injury a “different kid.” He couldn’t touch his nose or do basic math equations and had short-term memory loss, Mullin explained.

Throughout the family’s ordeal, Mullin said the president would call and ask how his son was doing.

“He was running in one of the toughest elections he had been in, and the guy was still that concerned about my son,” said Mullin. “We were acquaintances before that. We’ve been friends ever since.”

Mullin is one of the few people who can disagree with Trump and still maintain his respect, said Mike Stopp, the senator’s former chief of staff.

“He has no problem telling the president what he thinks,” he said. “They’re at that point in their relationship.”

From a frustrated business owner to a member of Congress
Mullin was 34 and the owner of a fast-growing plumbing company in 2012 when he decided to run for an open seat in Oklahoma’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from the foothills of the Ozark Mountains to the Red River border with Texas.

A political newcomer, Mullin was particularly upset with a provision of the Affordable Care Act that would have mandated providing health insurance to his employees, said Trebor Worthen, Mullin’s campaign adviser at the time.

“Markwayne was fed up,” Worthen recalled.

In the largely rural district, Mullin’s hiring of blue-collar workers and his experience in cattle ranching resonated with voters in both parties and gave him an everyman appeal. “Anybody who lives in Oklahoma or who has family in Oklahoma, you know somebody like Markwayne Mullin,” said Worthen, who spent a year traveling the district with Mullin in a red diesel pickup truck.

Mullin won handily and vowed to only serve three terms in Congress — a promise he broke when he announced plans to run again in 2018, saying he “didn’t understand politics” when he made the pledge. Despite some criticism, he easily won reelection and served a total of five House terms before joining the Senate in 2023.

Mullin is a MAGA loyalist who is close to some Democrats
After arriving in Washington, Mullin was known for forging friendships with Democrats, many of which he developed while leading early-morning workouts inside the members-only House gym.

A former mixed martial arts fighter and collegiate wrestler, Mullin grew close to powerful players in both parties during the fitness sessions. His workout partners have included former Massachusetts Democratic congressman Joe Kennedy III, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Noem.

“What I like about him is he’s willing to not just share his views but to listen to yours, which really helps when you’re trying to get something done, especially in a bipartisan way,” said U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey who met Mullin through the workout group and considers him a close friend. Gottheimer was at Mullin’s confirmation hearing in a show of support.

Also there in support? The man Mullin almost got into a brawl with during a 2023 Senate hearing: Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He sat directly behind Mullin at Wednesday’s hearing, during which Mullin said the two had worked through their differences and that he considered O’Brien a “close friend.”

Since joining the Senate, Mullin has taken a leading role in amplifying Trump’s messages in the hallways of the Capitol and behind closed doors. He tamped down concerns over cabinet picks, including Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And he has helped Senate Republican leaders navigate the occasionally tricky relationship with his former colleagues in the House, walking across the Capitol to deliver messages from one side to the other.

He also supported Trump’s failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election, casting his vote in the House even after helping confront rioters during the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters on the Capitol.

Mullin led a group of Republicans who helped police barricade the doors to the House as lawmakers huddled inside. As a group of rioters tried to break down the doors, Mullin talked to them through the broken glass in the doorway and tried to convince them to retreat.

He later visited police officers who were injured in the attack.

“They weren’t cowards. They stood the line and took a beating,” Mullin told C-SPAN in a 2021 interview.

Mullin is a staunch supporter of Trump’s immigration crackdown
Mullin has cheered on construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and defended federal immigration agents following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota. He said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” last summer that children born in the U.S. to immigrants living in the country illegally should be deported along with their parents.

Stopp said the senator has needed immigrant labor while running the family plumbing business. “He hired folks who were on visas. He helped them go through the citizenship process. He was very proud of that,” Stopp said.

Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, would be the first Native American person to lead the agency. His role as DHS secretary would give him authority over the training of federal immigration agents, who have come under criticism for stopping, and in some cases detaining, tribal citizens or calling into question their tribal IDs.

“He should meet with tribal leaders and say, ‘Let me hear your concerns,’” said Patrice Kunesh, a former commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans during the Biden administration and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She also hopes Mullin would institute better training for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on identifying tribal IDs.

“Direct consultation with tribal governments, tribal leaders, would be incredibly important,” she said.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A missile fired from Lebanon struck a residential building in Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday, leaving two people injured, including one in serious condition, according to emergency officials.

Rescue teams said the impact caused damage to a multi-story building and prompted a search operation for anyone who may have been trapped inside.

Medical responders reported that a man in his 60s sustained serious abdominal injuries, while a woman in her 70s was moderately hurt. Both were evacuated to hospitals for further treatment.

A man in his 60s was seriously injured with abdominal trauma, and a woman in her 70s sustained moderate abdominal injuries when a Hezbollah missile struck a 5-story building in Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel.

🎥MDA pic.twitter.com/Pi42MZlOs9

— Israel National News – Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) March 19, 2026

Fire and rescue crews continued working at the scene amid smoke and debris as they searched the structure and secured the area.

Israeli authorities said residents were allowed to leave protected spaces but were instructed to stay close to them as a precaution.

The incident comes amid ongoing cross-border tensions and repeated rocket fire from Hezbollah into northern Israel.

In a striking moment on CNN, chief data analyst Harry Enten revealed that President Donald Trump currently holds a perfect 100 percent approval rating among MAGA Republicans, a level of political loyalty that is virtually unheard of in modern American politics.

“You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know you can’t go higher than 100 percent,” Enten said, emphasizing just how extraordinary the number is. At a time when most political leaders struggle to maintain unity even within their own party, Trump’s complete dominance over his base stands out as remarkable. 

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – OCTOBER 31: Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump sits down for a conversation with Tucker Carlson during his Live Tour at the Desert Diamond Arena on October 31, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. With less than a week until Election Day, Trump is campaigning for re-election in New Mexico and the battleground states of Nevada and Arizona on Thursday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The data comes despite growing criticism from prominent conservative voices, including Tucker Carlson, who has openly broken with Trump over the Iran war and called the conflict “disgusting and evil.” 

Others in conservative media and politics have also voiced opposition, signaling what many expected would be a fracture within the MAGA movement. Yet the polling shows no such collapse.

Instead, the movement appears to be growing. According to the data cited by CNN, 28 percent of Americans identified as MAGA in November 2024, compared to 30 percent today, suggesting the base is not shrinking but expanding. 

Enten stressed that the 100 percent approval rating is not due to a smaller or more selective group, but rather reflects Trump’s exceptionally strong grip on his supporters.

Even as critics peel away and media narratives predict division, the numbers tell a different story: Trump’s core base remains completely unified behind him, delivering a level of internal support rarely seen in American political history.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes Wednesday night on Iranian naval targets in the northern port city of Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea, destroying several vessels and infrastructure, the military announced.

The strikes targeted an Iranian Navy corvette, four missile boats, several auxiliary ships and guard boats, along with a command center and a shipyard, the IDF said. Some vessels were docked at the port while others were at sea.

Footage of the attacks was released by the military.

The IDF described the operation as a significant blow to Iran’s military capabilities, even though the Caspian Sea assets do not pose a direct threat to Israel from that location. Officials noted that the missile boats possess anti-aircraft systems that could endanger Israeli aircraft operating over Iran, as well as anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Planning for the strikes began only days earlier and was not part of the IDF’s initial target list for operations in Iran. Researchers from the Naval Intelligence Division identified the vessels’ locations and collaborated with the Military Intelligence Directorate and Israeli Air Force to execute the mission.

This marks the first time the IDF has struck in northern Iran, both in the current conflict and in previous rounds of hostilities, according to the military.

The port of Bandar Anzali serves as a base for Iran’s northern naval fleet and has been linked to maritime supply routes between Iran and Russia. The strikes extend Israel’s campaign beyond the Persian Gulf region amid the ongoing war.

WATCH:

HAIFA, Israel (VINnews) — Israeli authorities said environmental ministry staff and emergency responders were en route to an oil refinery in Haifa after it was struck by fragments from an intercepted Iranian missile.

The Environmental Protection Ministry said in a statement that its teams were responding to the site and coordinating with relevant agencies, adding that the circumstances of the incident were under investigation. Officials urged the public to rely only on confirmed information.

The Israel Defense Forces said the impact at the refinery was caused by falling fragments from a missile that was intercepted, not a direct strike. The military said there was no evidence of a direct hit on infrastructure in the northern coastal city.

Energy Minister Eli Cohen said there was no significant damage to key infrastructure sites following the attack. He added that parts of the electricity grid in northern Israel sustained minor damage, but crews had restored power in some areas and were continuing repairs where outages remained.

Israeli media reported seeing black smoke rising from the refinery after the incident. Early assessments suggested that parts of a cluster munition may have fallen on the facility, though officials did not confirm a direct strike.

Authorities said the situation remains under review as teams continue to assess the extent of the damage and monitor for any further risks.

IMG_5174

(AP) – It was no surprise when Joe Kent showed up on Tucker Carlson’s podcast a day after quitting his counterterrorism job in President Donald Trump’s administration. Here was a top official who resigned to protest the war with Iran turning to right-wing media’s leading critic of the conflict.

“The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” Kent said in Wednesday’s interview.

But before long, the conversation moved in a different direction as Kent nodded to conspiracy theories that pro-Israel forces were behind the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“I’m saying there are unanswered questions,” Kent said.

The conversation encapsulated two schisms within the Republican Party and the right-wing media system, both of which have reached high into the national security establishment of the Trump administration.

There’s a foreign policy debate over the wisdom of Trump’s war with Iran and the future of the United States’ longstanding alliance with Israel.

But there also are fears that the focus on Israel is the leading edge of an antisemitic fringe that has gained ground by portraying Jews as shadowy manipulators, echoing some of history’s most hateful tropes.

Tucker Carlson is playing a central role
At the center of both issues is Carlson, a former Fox News host who remains influential among conservatives. He was previously denounced for hosting Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and antisemite, on his podcast last year. During the interview, Fuentes complained about “organized Jewry in America.”

On Wednesday, Carlson was sharply critical about Israel, saying “its lobbying in the United States pressured the president.”

Matt Brooks, president of the Republican Jewish Coalition, described Kent’s appearance on Carlson’s podcast as “part of an ongoing problem.”

He noted that his group opposed Kent’s nomination as director of the National Counterterrorism Center because of ties to right-wing extremism. Trump ignored those concerns even though, as he said after Kent’s resignation, “I always thought he was weak on security” and “I didn’t know him well.”

Kent’s resignation letter trafficked in antisemitic conspiracy theories while raising concerns about the war with Iran.

He blamed “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media” for encouraging conflict. Indeed, Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged Trump to join forces in an attack on Iran.

But Kent also went further, saying it’s “the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war.” He also said his wife, a Navy cryptologist who was killed by a suicide bomber in Syria, died “in a war manufactured by Israel.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, described the letter as “virulent antisemitism.” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, said “scapegoating Israel isn’t just a tired antisemitic trope — it’s anti-American.”

Kent has previously rejected all forms of “racism and bigotry.”

Trump has said nothing about Kent’s remarks on Israel. He previously disputed the idea that Israel pushed him toward war, saying, “I might have forced their hand.”

Unified Republican support for Israel has fractured
Questions about Israeli influence are not unique to right-wing circles. Progressives have also faced accusations of antisemitism for their response to the war in Gaza, which began with an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

But it’s been a widening fault line within the Republican Party, which has been a bedrock of support for Israel over the years. Conservatives are still reckoning with the fallout from Carlson’s interview with Fuentes.

For example, board members and other staff members resigned from the Heritage Foundation after the think tank’s president defended Carlson.

Trump tried to sidestep the issue, declining to criticize Fuentes and praising Carlson for having “said good things about me over the years.” The president previously dined with Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, between his two terms, and Carlson has continued to visit the White House.

Mort Klein, president of the conservative Jewish group the Zionist Organization of America, said Wednesday that he supports Trump but “I’d like him to do more” about antisemitism.

“I want him to be stronger on those issues,” Klein said.

Carlson has said that he is not antisemitic. But he has said that anti-Jewish hate is less pervasive in society than bias against white people and that some Christian politicians who were fervent supporters of Israel were guilty of heresy.

Israel divide simmers in right-wing media
The Iran war is poised to continue fracturing right-wing media.

Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, called Carlson’s Fuentes interview “an act of moral imbecility” and accused the host of misleading his audience with falsehoods and conspiracy theories.

He’s also feuded with Candace Owens, who has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. Dennis Prager, a conservative commentator, wrote in an open letter to Owens that “I cannot think of anyone in public life engendering as much suspicion of Jews, Zionism and Israel as you.”

Megyn Kelly, like Carlson a former Fox News Channel anchor now helming her own independent media empire, said the war was sold to the American people by “Israel firsters, like Mark Levin.” Levin, a radio and Fox personality, has been among Trump’s most fervent supporters of the war.

Levin, for his part, called Kelly an “emotionally unhinged, lewd and petulant wreck.”

It promises to continue.

Levin posted on social media an invitation to Kent to appear on his show in the coming days.

“Sure,” Kent replied. “Let’s go.”

Israeli national security officials are casting doubt on the authority of Iran’s newly installed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, describing him as largely symbolic and lacking real control over a regime they say is increasingly unstable.

Mojtaba, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28, has been elevated to the top position but is viewed by analysts as presiding over a weakened and disorganized leadership structure.

“The new leader is an empty entity,” Kobi Michael, a defense analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital.

“Mojtaba Khamenei does not appear in public, but we also have reliable information that he does not control or lead the regime or what has been left of the regime.

“The current Iranian leadership is broken, confused and is almost misfunctioning.”

Reports indicate that Mojtaba narrowly avoided being killed in the same strike that claimed his father’s life, having stepped out of the compound shortly before the missile hit. Details of the incident emerged from leaked audio said to be from a March 12 internal meeting, first reported by The Telegraph.

The recording allegedly includes remarks from Mazaher Hosseini, who serves as head of protocol in Khamenei’s office, informing senior officials that Mojtaba suffered “a minor injury to his leg” during the incident.

Since assuming leadership, Mojtaba has yet to appear publicly. Instead, a statement attributed to him was broadcast on Iranian state television, warning of continued attacks and calling on Gulf states to shut down American military bases in the region.

Conflicting reports have circulated regarding his condition, with some suggesting he was critically injured or even in a coma, while Iranian officials have insisted he remains in good health.

Mojtaba Khamenei vowed retaliation Wednesday following the killing of senior Iranian official Ali Larijani in an Israeli strike.

“Such acts of terror only reflect the enemies’ hostility and will strengthen the resolve of the Islamic nation. Undoubtedly, justice will be served,” the statement said.

Larijani, considered one of Iran’s top security figures, was reportedly targeted and killed after Israeli intelligence tracked his location near Tehran.

Additional senior figures have also been eliminated in recent operations, including Basij militia leader Gholamreza Soleimani, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

“This is not a new phase, but a continuing effort and a very successful and impressive one and a crucial component of the strategy meant to weaken the Iranian regime,” Michael said of the continued strikes at regime figures.

“This is to the degree that it will not be able to reconstitute itself and/or to become again a severe threat and destabilizing player in the broader Middle East.”

Following the initial wave of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, President Donald Trump addressed the Iranian public, signaling support for potential internal change.

“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said, suggesting the U.S. would help bring down the Iranian regime.

“At the very same time, by weakening the regime and paralyzing its capacities generally speaking and its domestic control specifically, the U.S. and Israel are facilitating the required conditions for the Iranian people to topple the regime,” Michael added.

“This is the ultimate victory in their eyes, and the route to this destination is that they are trying to increase any damage wherever they can.”

{Matzav.com}

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the escalating war in Iran, the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs would ordinarily be at the center of the geopolitical fray.

Typically led by a veteran diplomat, the bureau’s role would be to coordinate U.S. foreign policy across an 18-country region, much of which has become a chaotic battlefield scarred by drone and missile strikes as the U.S. and Israel remain locked in conflict with Iran.

The Trump administration for a time put Mora Namdar, a lawyer of Iranian descent with limited management experience, in charge before later moving her to a different post. One of her credentials was her contribution to Project 2025, a conservative think tank’s blueprint for the second Trump administration. Namdar’s last Senate-confirmed predecessor was a longtime Middle East expert who had been with the department since 1984 and had served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Now that bureau is also working with far fewer resources. The administration’s most recent budget proposed a 40% cut to the bureau, though Congress eventually enacted less dramatic cuts. The administration also eliminated the dedicated Iran office, merging it with the Iraq office.

Staff reductions and management choices hamper emergency response
These kinds of personnel and management choices — coupled with President Donald Trump’s moves to shrink government and confine decision-making to a tight circle — are limiting the ability of the United States to handle a global emergency, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials, many of whom recently left government.

In divisions of the State Department that typically would handle the Iran response, numerous veteran diplomats with decades of collective experience were fired, retired or were reassigned — replaced by more junior officials or political appointees. The administration cut more than 80 staffers in Near Eastern Affairs, according to numbers compiled by a State Department employee who was terminated last year based on surveys of colleagues. (The department does not release official figures on Foreign Service officer staffing levels but did not dispute the number.)

The Trump administration has left the assistant secretary position in charge of Near Eastern Affairs vacant, along with key ambassadorships in the Middle East. Four of the five supervisors in the bureau have temporary titles.

The current and former officials, some of whom asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters during an active conflict, paint a portrait of an understaffed government workforce struggling to execute the president’s agenda. Those who remain tell colleagues that their analysis, recommendations and advice go unheeded.

The State Department vigorously disputed those assessments.

“As far as we can tell, AP’s entire ‘report’ on the evacuations does not include any conversations with people actually involved. Instead, it relies on ‘outside’ or ‘former official’ sources that have no idea what they are talking about. We walked AP through specific inaccuracy after specific inaccuracy — indeed how the whole premise was wrong,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

More than 3,800 State Dept. employees departed since Trump took office
The State Department saw a departure of more than 3,800 employees since Trump took office through a combination of reductions in force, staffers taking the Fork in the Road deferred resignation plan and ordinary retirements. According to estimates by the American Foreign Service Association, the labor union that represents foreign service officers, senior foreign service ranks were disproportionately represented in the layoffs compared to their share of the overall workforce.

“He’s making choices without the larger expertise of the United States government that would flag issues of consequence,” said Max Stier, CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that studies federal workforce issues. “Sometimes government is slow-moving because there are a lot of different factors that need to be balanced against each other.”

For instance, the administration appears to have been caught off guard by what would happen once the U.S. struck Iran — something Trump himself acknowledged this week when he expressed surprise that Tehran retaliated with strikes on American allies in the region. “Nobody expected that. We were shocked. They fought back,” Trump told reporters this week.

Pigott said staffing reductions “are not having any negative impact on our ability to respond to this operation, our ability to plan, and our ability to execute in service to Americans.” He added that the department “rejects the premise that key decisions were made without meaningful input from experienced professionals.”

But Iranian retaliation on U.S. allies was predictable, according to former officials, as well as previous wargames and conflict models run by both the U.S. military and private organizations. The National Security Council, which Trump has pared, typically would have presented the president with analysis from experts within the bureaucracy.

Instead, decisions are made by a small group of officials close to the president without the planning or coordination of the larger machinery of government, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as the president’s national security adviser.

“In the Trump Administration, decisions are made by President Trump and senior administration officials and not by no-name bureaucrat leakers who whine to the press about not being consulted about highly classified operations,” White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson said.

Advice from career officials often went unheeded
“In the time that I was there, there was no policy process to speak of,” said Chris Backemeyer, who served in Near Eastern Affairs as a deputy assistant secretary of state before resigning last year. Backemeyer was a major proponent of the Iran deal that Trump abandoned. He recently left government to run for Congress as a Democrat in Nebraska.

“They did not want to hear any advice from career people,” said Backemeyer.

Namdar was later moved to be the head of consular affairs, the part of the department responsible for providing assistance to American citizens overseas and issuing visas to foreign visitors.

When the U.S. made the decision to strike Iran, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee offered embassy staff in Jerusalem the opportunity to evacuate — a sign that he knew strikes were coming. But some other embassies in the region did not make similar arrangements — leaving nonessential personnel and their families stranded in a war zone.

The department said it has been issuing travel warnings since January and was fully staffed to handle the crisis the moment the strikes were launched.

Evacuation planning was chaotic
Still, little planning appears to have gone into how to evacuate the Americans who were living, working, visiting or studying in many of the countries that became engulfed in the conflict — in part because the White House seems to have underestimated the possibility of the strikes expanding into a prolonged multi-country war, as evidenced by Trump’s own remarks.

After Iranian attacks on allies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department began calling for Americans to leave the region. But numerous former Consular Affairs staffers say such planning should have begun long before U.S. strikes started.

In a statement posted to social media, Namdar only told Americans to evacuate several days into the conflict, when airspace was largely closed and many commercial flights were unavailable.

“The messaging that went out to American citizens — after the U.S. struck Iran — was woefully late and, initially, confusing,” said Yael Lempert, who served as U.S. ambassador to Jordan until 2025. Lempert is one of five former ambassadors expected to speak about the department’s failures at an event Thursday at the American Academy of Diplomacy in Washington.

Other poorly executed evacuations, such the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, have drawn criticism.

But this time they’re compounded by the loss of experienced people, officials say. Consular Affairs has lost more than 150 jobs in the Trump administration due to a combination of reductions in force, dismissals of probationary employees and retirements, according to a U.S. official who asked for anonymity — though other parts of the department were hit much harder.

The department notes that it has offered assistance to nearly 50,000 Americans impacted by the conflict, with more than 60 flights evacuating citizens from the region. In total, the department says more than 70,000 Americans have been able to return home since the outbreak of hostilities on Feb. 28.

Democrat says personnel reduction imperiled safety
“The loss of experienced personnel through these RIFs has clearly undermined the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ ability to fulfill its most important mission, to protect Americans abroad,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.

Language skills at the department are also atrophying. Thirteen Arabic speakers and four Farsi speakers, all trained at taxpayer expense, were among employees let go, according to a draft letter being circulated by former foreign service officers.

It can cost $200,000 to train a foreign service officer in a language. The letter estimates that the total number of people fired by the State Department in the name of efficiency received more than $35 million in taxpayer-funded language training and more than $100 million in total training and other career development.

The State Department has set up two temporary task forces to deal with the crisis in the Middle East. One aims to bolster the capacities of Near East Affairs and another is aimed at helping Consular Affairs evacuate Americans.

A group of more than 250 Foreign Service officers were part of the administration’s reduction-in-force last year but still remain on the State Department’s payroll. Many have volunteered to return to the department to work on either a task force or do any other job that needs to be done with the outbreak of a global crisis.

“I haven’t been given any separation paperwork. I still have an active clearance. I could go back to the department tomorrow, either to backfill or staff a task force,” said one foreign service officer who asked for anonymity because they are still technically on the department’s payroll and are not authorized to speak to the press. “I will do the scutwork jobs.”

The department hasn’t responded to their offer but said in a statement that the task force is “fully staffed.”

A former New York City Council employee is facing deportation after an immigration judge ruled he must be removed from the United States, a decision that has drawn sharp backlash from city leaders who say they will challenge the outcome.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced the ruling on Wednesday, calling it a “miscarriage of justice and wholly deplorable” and confirming that an appeal will be filed in an effort to reverse the decision.

The case centers on Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, 53, who was taken into custody two months ago during a scheduled immigration appointment. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security identified him as a Venezuelan national who had overstayed his visa and described him as a “criminal illegal alien” with a prior assault arrest.

Federal authorities have also stated that Rubio Bohorquez worked for about a year as a data analyst for the New York City Council despite lacking formal authorization to be employed.

City officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Menin, have strongly pushed back on those claims, insisting that Rubio Bohorquez was legally permitted to remain in the United States and had the right to work.

“Today, Judge Conroy ordered the removal of Rafael Rubio, our City Council employee, from the United States,” Menin said. “We are outraged and will continue to pursue every legal avenue to secure his release and ensure his case is properly heard on appeal.”

“This is an affront to justice,” Mamdani added in a post on X. “A dedicated public servant with legal authorization to remain in the country, Rafael showed up for a routine immigration appointment and, despite following the rules, he was detained and has now been held for months.”

According to DHS, Rubio Bohorquez entered the United States in 2017 on a B2 tourist visa and was required to leave that same year. Menin, however, said he had been granted permission to remain in the country through October 2026.

Menin further argued that the deportation ruling stemmed from what she described as a procedural issue tied to his asylum case. She said the problem involved a missing signature on paperwork and that he was not given a chance to correct it—something his attorney reportedly said could have been resolved within an hour.

“Today’s ruling appears to hinge on a procedural issue related to his asylum application,” Menin added. “That is extremely troubling. A technical error should not determine the fate of a man who has done everything right and poses no risk to anyone.”

Local officials said they intend to move quickly to appeal the decision and are calling for Rubio Bohorquez to be released while the legal process continues.

“Let me be clear: Rafael should not continue to be detained while this is sorted out,” Menin said. “An appeal will be filed, and we demand that Rafael’s case be properly heard by the deadline on April 17. At a minimum, he should be released pending that appeal. There is no justification for continuing to hold him under these circumstances.”

{Matzav.com}

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing at an American airbase in the Middle East after being struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, according to sources familiar with the incident.

U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the stealth aircraft was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when the incident occurred. “The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” he said, adding that the matter is under investigation.

If confirmed, this would mark the first known instance of Iran successfully striking a U.S. aircraft since the war began in late February.

The incident comes as senior U.S. officials continue to project confidence in the campaign. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is “winning decisively” and that Iran’s air defenses have been “flattened.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

LEBANON (VINnews) – Reporter Steve Sweeney and his cameraman were injured after an Israeli strike during filming near a bridge in southern Lebanon, according to RT. The Kremlin-backed outlet said an Israeli aircraft fired a missile that landed less than 10 meters behind the crew as they reported live.

The footage, published by RT (Russia Today), shows the moment of impact as Sweeney ducks for cover. RT said both journalists were struck by shrapnel and later received medical treatment at a local hospital.

The crew said they were wearing press markings and claimed they were deliberately targeted. That allegation has not been independently confirmed.

RT also shared additional footage showing Sweeney being treated for shrapnel wounds, while the cameraman said both were conscious and recovering.

The footage circulated widely online. In a conflict zone, such incidents can occur amid ongoing military activity.

The incident comes amid Israel’s ongoing military operations in southern Lebanon, where tensions with Hezbollah have escalated in recent weeks.

Turns out you can hear the missile when it's flying at you — RT cameraman Ali Rida

The RT crew keeps it positive even after the strike https://t.co/hxAL6EENtQ pic.twitter.com/Gw42DdxnpF

— RT (@RT_com) March 19, 2026

❗️ Moment Israel DIRECTLY HITS RT crew https://t.co/cxNTq2htyY pic.twitter.com/IWLmKGHwSj

— RT (@RT_com) March 19, 2026

❗️Israeli army ‘DELIBERATELY’ targets RT crew despite clearly marked press uniforms — injured Ali Rida reports from southern Lebanon https://t.co/5Elgars8i2 pic.twitter.com/zOqxULSxcu

— RT (@RT_com) March 19, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber says it will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian Automotive to help launch up to 50,000 robotaxis.

Uber, or its fleet partners, are expected to buy 10,000 fully autonomous Rivian R2 robotaxis, with the option to purchase up to 40,000 more in 2030.

The companies said Thursday that initial deployments of the vehicles are expected to begin in San Francisco and Miami in 2028 and will expand to 25 cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe by 2031.

“We’re big believers in Rivian’s approach—designing the vehicle, compute platform, and software stack together, while maintaining end-to-end control of scaled manufacturing and supply in the U.S.,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. “That vertical integration, combined with data from their growing consumer vehicle base and experience managing the complexities of commercial fleets, gives us conviction to set these ambitious but achievable targets.”

Uber’s investment in Rivian will be spread out up to 2031 and is subject to hitting certain autonomous milestones by specific dates. An initial $300 million investment has been committed to following the deal’s signing, subject to regulatory approval.

Rivian of Irvine, California, makes a high-end R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV, as well as delivery vans for Amazon and others. It will begin making the smaller R2 this year. The automaker started long-delayed work on a $5 billion facility in Georgia last year.

There’s a conversation that needs to be had, not out of complaint, but out of honesty.

We are a frum family of five, bringing in about $225,000 a year before taxes and deductions. On paper, that sounds like we should be comfortable. But in reality, we’re constantly trying to keep up, not with luxuries or status, just with the basics of living a Jewish life.

And that’s the part people don’t always see.

The Cost of a Jewish Life

Living a frum life is beautiful. It’s meaningful. It’s something we wouldn’t trade for anything.

But it’s also expensive, not because of extras, but because of what’s required.

Tuition alone can feel overwhelming. With multiple children in yeshiva, the numbers add up quickly. This isn’t optional. It’s the foundation of how we raise our children.

Kosher food isn’t a choice, it’s a necessity, and the higher cost is felt every single week.

Shabbos and Yom Tov are central to our lives, but between food, preparation, clothing, and hosting, the expenses are constant.

And then there’s housing. Simply living in a frum community, near shuls, schools, and everything our lives revolve around, comes at a premium.

These aren’t luxuries. They’re basics.

Before You Even Begin

What often gets overlooked is what happens before we even see a paycheck.

From that $225,000 income, a large portion is already gone to taxes and pre tax deductions like health insurance and other essentials. These aren’t upgrades. They’re basic responsibilities.

At the same time, because of our income level, we don’t qualify for government assistance that might help offset these costs. So while a big chunk is taken off the top, the financial pressure doesn’t go away. It just falls entirely on us.

What’s left is what we have to stretch across a very high cost of living.

Not Looking for Luxury, Just Stability

This isn’t about wanting more.

It’s about wanting the basics to feel manageable.

To pay tuition without constant stress.

To shop for groceries without calculating every item.

To go into Yom Tov with simcha, not financial pressure in the background.

We’re not living a luxurious life. We’re just trying to meet basic requirements, and even that feels like an uphill battle.

The Quiet Reality No One Talks About

There’s something else that needs to be said, and it’s not easy.

Families in this position are often too embarrassed to ask for help. On paper, it looks like we’re doing fine. It looks like we make enough. It looks like we shouldn’t be struggling.

But behind closed doors, many of us are barely making it.

We’re juggling bills.
We’re pushing things off.
We’re constantly trying to stay afloat.

There’s a level of stress that doesn’t show from the outside. And there are very few, if any, organizations designed to help families in this in between space.

So we stay quiet.

But if you were to sit down with these families and ask honestly if help would make a difference, most would say yes without hesitation.

They just won’t be the ones to ask.

A Painful Reality

No family should have to go into Yom Tov, especially Pesach, wondering:

Do we prepare properly for Yom Tov, or do we make sure rent gets paid?
Do we buy what we need, or do we push off another bill?

This isn’t about extras.

This is about the basics.

And it’s a reality in more homes than people realize.

A Call for Awareness

This isn’t written with anger. It’s written sincerely.

There needs to be more awareness that the cost of basic frum living has reached a point where even solid, hard working families are feeling the strain.

That income on paper doesn’t reflect reality.

That there’s a large group of families quietly carrying this burden, responsibly and respectfully, but struggling nonetheless.

Final Thought

We are proud to live this life, deeply proud.

But it shouldn’t feel this hard just to sustain the basics.

Maybe the first step is simply acknowledging that this is real, that it’s happening, and that it deserves to be seen.

Because no one should have to choose between living a proper Yom Tov and meeting their most basic financial obligations.

Anonymous

TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to us via  Whatsapp  or via email  [email protected]

BALTI, Moldova (AP) — Tens of thousands of Moldovans have been left without water after a Russian strike on a hydroelectric plant in neighboring Ukraine resulted in oil polluting a major river that flows through both countries.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu has blamed Russia for the pollution on the Dniester River following an attack on Ukraine’s Novodnistrovsk hydropower plant on March 7, saying it’s “threatening Moldova’s water supply” in the European Union candidate country.

The Ukrainian plant is situated about 15 kilometers (9 miles) upstream from Moldova’s northern border with Ukraine and supplies water to about 80% of Moldova’s population of about 2.5 million. Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, such as dams and river ports, since it fully invaded the country in 2022.

“Russia bears full responsibility,” Sandu said on Sunday in a post on X.

Moldova declares environmental alert
Moldova’s environment ministry on Sunday declared an environmental state of alert for 15 days, giving the authorities a legal mechanism to boost technical interventions and impose temporary restrictions on water supplies.

“We are taking this decision to make sure we prevent any risk to the population’s health,” it said. “Because of the continuous wave of pollution with oil products, the risk of the pollution spreading, and the exceedance of contaminant levels in the northern area of the Dniester River.”

While oil pollutants have been confirmed in the river following the strike, the exact source of the pollutant is not yet clear.

The situation has forced the authorities to cut the water supply to several districts, including Moldova’s second-largest city of Balti, which has a population of about 90,000 people. As well as humanitarian aid from neighboring Romania, Moldova’s military stepped in this week to distribute drinking water in the northern city from a 10-tonne tanker.

Water shortage impacts residents
“It’s very hard, very hard,” said 84-year-old Balti resident Liuba Istrati, who has been carrying buckets of water up to her apartment. “We live on the fifth floor, it’s just the two of us, old people, my husband is sick in bed.”

The water shortage has also forced some schools to close and move learning online.

“It’s a complicated situation, I have to come every day to get water,” said Irina Mutluc, a teacher living in Balti. “Even for one person you need quite an amount of water to consume, for the bathroom and so on, so it’s really complicated.”

The authorities are now racing to clean up pollution and analyze and monitor the river water. Neighboring Romania, which has close relations with Moldova, has dispatched teams and equipment, such as absorbent materials for dams, to aid cleanup efforts.

Tests show improvement in water
“The latest samples taken show an improvement in the water indicators, which confirms the effectiveness of the filters and barriers for the capture and disposal of pollutants,” the Ministry of Environment said on Wednesday.

The ministry added that the authorities are “working at an accelerated pace” to resume water supplies, “but this decision will be made exclusively on the basis of at least two consecutive sets of analyses, taken on two different days … Protecting the health of citizens remains the absolute priority.”

Moldova’s environment minister Gheorghe Hajder said Wednesday at a press briefing that for the first time since the crisis began, three critical monitoring points on the river “reached the admissible limit” of oil pollution.

He added that if the analyses show the same results or improve in the next 48 hours, authorities will consider reopening a pumping station on the northeastern border with Ukraine, which supplies several districts and Balti.

“It is clear evidence that upstream oil diversions have been greatly mitigated, and the absorbing dams have had their effect,” he said.

The Dniester River originates in southwestern Ukraine and spans more than 1,300 kilometers (846 miles), continuing downstream through Moldova, back through southern Ukraine and empties into the Black Sea.

“Although at some points values may temporarily return within acceptable limits, matter continues to come in waves, making it difficult to accurately anticipate evolution,” the environment ministry said.

Moldova plans criminal case
Moldova’s General Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday that it will open a criminal case to investigate the matter, while Moldova’s foreign ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador to Chisinau, Oleg Ozerov, who was presented with a bottle of brownish water.

In an online statement on Wednesday, the Russian embassy in Moldova argued that the Moldovan authorities have not presented any evidence of Russia’s complicity, aside from “a container with an unknown murky liquid, with no markings regarding where and when it was obtained,” and that “by definition cannot be proof of anything.”

The statement claimed that Moldovan authorities “publicly claim a lack of precise information about the nature of the incident, the type, and the amount of pollutants,” putting forward “conflicting theories.”

Ilya Trombitsky, a biologist at Eco-TIRAS, an umbrella of nongovernmental organizations in Moldova and Ukraine, says that while it’s difficult yet to determine the short or long-term consequences of the pollution, the fact that “several cities are without water is an evident social damage.”

“It depends on the nature of the pollutant … we still do not know either the source or the substance of pollution,” he told The Associated Press. “It is evident that it is not healthy for birds, wetland birds. It is evident that some invertebrates were killed, especially upstream … crustaceans, but small ones, (which) can be food for fish.”

“Moldova does not have experience in such spills,” he added.

Dozens of Israeli passengers who flew in recent days from Mumbai to Amman on Royal Jordanian say they arrived without their luggage, in a highly unusual situation that has left many frustrated and demanding answers.

According to the passengers, a decision was made even before departure not to load their checked baggage onto the aircraft. When they landed in Amman, they were told the suitcases would be sent on a later flight—but only within Jordan, with no option to forward them to Israel.

The incident involves dozens of travelers, with some reporting that a similar situation occurred on another flight that same day. Passengers say the airline’s demand that they return to Jordan in order to collect their belongings is unreasonable, particularly given the current security situation and the complications involved in such travel.

Beyond the safety concerns, passengers say the requirement would impose significant financial costs, including visa fees, transportation expenses, and lost work time.

“We flew from Amman to Aqaba and from there entered Israel without our luggage. Now they expect us to go back to Jordan to get it,” said Miron Karlik, one of the passengers, in a conversation with Ynet. “I have a feeling this is something anti-Israeli—there’s no reason this should happen only to us.”

Other passengers on the same flight reportedly did not encounter the issue, raising further questions about how the situation was handled. Meanwhile, travel industry sources have begun offering private transport options to deliver the luggage to a border crossing, at an estimated cost of about $1,000 per group.

The passengers have turned to the Israeli embassy in Jordan, asking officials to intervene with the airline and ensure that the luggage is transferred to Israel without requiring them to return to Jordan.

{Matzav.com}

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any U.S. allies assisting efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be considered “complicit” in war crimes.

Speaking during a call with Japan’s foreign minister, Araghchi claimed the current situation in the strategic waterway was caused by the United States and Israel, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.

He cautioned that any country participating in attempts to break the Iranian blockade would be seen as taking part in “the aggression and the heinous crimes committed by the aggressors.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A family was safely ensconced in their reinforced room in their home in Neta in the Lachisch region when the father heard noises. Thinking it was someone who needed shelter, he stepped out to investigate. Finding no one there, he returned to the safe room. Just as he closed the door, a blast shook the house, inflicting extensive damage to their home.

“We had a great miracle,” the father, who wished to remain unnamed, said. “I was outside and heard the siren. I ran to the safe room and my wife and the children were already there. When the siren ended, I heard noises. I left the safe room because I thought someone was in the house looking for shelter and wanted to get in. I shouted, ‘Is anyone here?’ No one answered, and I went back to the safe room.”

“The moment I closed the door, I heard a huge explosion,” he continued. “When we came out, we saw smoke and dust. The house was badly hit and there is massive damage.”

CCTV footage shows the impact of a strike on a home in the Lachisch region.

Next-door neighbor Dina Gavrieli said that her house sustained light damage from the strike.

“There is minor property damage, but the main thing is that everyone is safe,” she said. “We are still processing and slowly recovering from this incident.”

“My husband and I are both in reserve duty, and we hadn’t seen each other all week,” she said. “It was a quiet evening. There was a siren and my husband was at prayers. I went into the safe room with the children, and within two minutes we heard interception explosions that I’m not used to hearing. It sounded closer, and within moments there was a very loud boom. The house shook and there was a strong blast wave.”

“I realized a missile had fallen outside the house,” she continued. “We were all in shock, and I told the children something had happened outside our window. Later I went out and saw stones and shrapnel in our yard, the neighbors’ house and all the destruction. I was worried at first, but after I heard them speaking I calmed down. I helped them a bit with the children and held them until they were evacuated. We are glad they are safe.”

Amid the closure of Israeli airspace due to the war, the Ichud Bnei HaYeshivos organization carried out a complex logistical operation to bring hundreds of French bnei yeshivos, stranded in Israel due to the war, back to their homes.

The Ichud, which recently expanded its work outside Israel, arranged the journey, which began in Jerusalem, continued via Sharm el-Sheikh, and is set to conclude in the French Alps, where a historic Shabbos will be held, led by HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, the Rosh Yeshivah of Chevron.

The journey began late at night, as around 200 French yeshiva bochurim gathered in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem, where a fleet of buses awaited them. The convoy then traveled south to the Taba border crossing, where they crossed into Egypt under the supervision of representatives from the French Embassy.

From Taba, the group continued to Sharm el-Sheikh Airport in Egypt. There, they received tickets purchased by the organization for two separate flights that departed within the past 24 hours and landed safely in France.

Arrival in France marked only the first stage. From there, the bochurim continued to the French Alps, where a special “extended yeshiva zeman” has been established — a unique initiative taking place for the first time in France, designed to maintain the yeshiva framework for several extra days.

The program will culminate on Shabbos when the bochurim will be zocheh to a special visit by HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, who serves as the Nasi of the Igud Bnei HaYeshivos. HaRav Cohen will spend Shabbos with the bochurim and deliver shiurim and divrei chizzuk.

The project will culminate at a major event scheduled for Sunday, expected to draw Rabbanim, public figures, and community leaders from across France — marking both the conclusion of the rescue operation and the launch of the organization’s expanded activities in the country.

The chairman of the Igud, Rabbi Yehuda Weisfish, updated HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch on the operation, and the Rosh Yeshivah personally reviewed all the details to ensure the safe arrival of the bochurim in France.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Footage circulating online from a protest in Jerusalem on Thursday showed clashes between police and demonstrators during a demonstration against light rail construction, with some images appearing to show force used near a stroller with a baby inside.

Police said hundreds of protesters disrupted public order, blocked work and damaged infrastructure, and that some demonstrators attempted to attack workers at the site. Officers said they responded after repeated calls for the crowd to disperse, using crowd-control measures including stun grenades.

תיעוד חסר תקדים: אלימות משטרתית חסרת רסן כלפי תינוק בעגלה

צילום: יהוידע בן ציון@milenmualem pic.twitter.com/cl3rhE8Q8T

— C14 (@C14_news) March 19, 2026

Three police officers were injured during the clashes, including one who was bitten, according to police.

Following the footage, Jerusalem District police said officers involved in the incident were removed from the scene and would be investigated, and that operational suspensions could follow pending review.

The incident drew strong reactions online as officials continued to assess the circumstances surrounding the confrontation.

תיעוד חריג ומטריד מהפגנה בירושלים מעורר סערה בחברה החרדית, שוטרים הופכים עגלה עם תינוק ומכים מי שמנסה לחלץ מהם את העגלה. pic.twitter.com/iRDNFTKqES

— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) March 19, 2026

Dear Matzav Inbox,

It’s that time of year again. Matzav readers, you know what I’m talking about.

The doors swing open, and suddenly—almost overnight—the quiet, orderly rhythm of our neighborhoods is replaced by a familiar and unmistakable presence: the bochurim are back.

Yes, those same acne-faced, growth-spurted, slightly sleep-deprived teenagers who disappeared months ago into the holy confines of their yeshivos have returned, hats slightly askew, suit jackets that may or may not still fit, and an uncanny ability to travel in packs of no fewer than six at a time.

Our shuls are suddenly fuller. Much fuller. The aisles at the local grocery store now require strategic navigation. The pizza shops are…well, let’s just say they’re doing fine. And the noise level? Baruch Hashem, it’s alive and well.

And so begins the annual murmuring.

“They’re everywhere.”
“They’re loud.”
“They take over the place.”
“Why are they standing in the middle of the aisle like that?”

To which I would like to respond, with all due respect: What exactly were we expecting?

These are our bochurim. Our sons. Our future talmidei chachomim, our future baalei batim, our future leaders. They have spent months immersed in Torah, pushing themselves, growing, struggling, and yes, occasionally surviving on questionable dormitory schedules.

And now they’re home.

So yes, they walk into shul like they own the place, because, in a sense, they do. They fill the seats, they crowd the shtenders, they bring a certain electricity that you simply cannot manufacture. A weekday minyan that was once a quiet affair suddenly feels like a small yeshiva.

That’s not a nuisance. That’s a brachah.

Yes, they linger in stores, debating life’s most pressing issues, like whether to get pizza or sushi, and whether they should get a Borsalino or Bollini. They stand around, they laugh too loudly, they block the aisle. It’s true.

But let’s pause for a moment and consider the alternative.

Empty shuls. Silent streets. A generation that has nothing better to do than scroll endlessly or drift aimlessly.

Instead, we have bochurim who still wear their hats, who still come to daven, who still gather with friends in ways that are wholesome, spirited, and deeply rooted in who they are.

So perhaps instead of rolling our eyes, we can smile a little.

Instead of seeing a nuisance, we can see a living, breathing yeshiva that has spilled out into our neighborhoods.

Instead of complaining about the noise, we can appreciate that it is the sound of Torah’s future.

Yes, they may be a little messy. A little loud. A little in the way.

But they are ours.

And frankly, if our biggest problem is that our shuls are too full and our stores are too crowded with bochurim during bein hazemanim, then I’d say we’re doing just fine.

Sincerely,
A grateful (and slightly displaced in the grocery aisle) neighbor

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The University of Florida’s chapter of College Republicans was disbanded over the weekend because its members made Nazi salutes and otherwise engaged in antisemitic activity.

The group filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging violations of its First Amendment rights.

“The University of Florida punitively deactivated and shut down the UFCR, in response to alleged viewpoints expressed by a member of UFCR, and in an effort to silence the club and chill its future speech,” the lawsuit says.

The president of the national College Republicans umbrella organization supports the lawsuit, saying the students have the “right to free speech.”

University of Florida. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

This is not the first time right-wing Republican university groups have found themselves at odds with the Jewish communities in their colleges. Florida International University’s GOP chapter ignited a firestorm when leaked chats exposed jokes using slurs like “kike,” saying they would not marry Jewish women, renaming the chat for an imagined Nazi heaven and discussions of carrying out a Black Holocaust similar to the Jewish one. Similar antisemitic chats from chapters of Young Republicans in several states, including New York, were also leaked.

The University of Florida defended its decision to dismantle the group by saying that members of the College Republicans “engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture.” Jewish activists posted photos that showed members making Nazi salutes, posing with well-known antisemites Nick Fuentes and Myron Gaines, and leaks of them saying that Hitler “didn’t do enough.”

“The University of Florida has emphatically supported its Jewish community and remains committed to preventing and addressing antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment that are threatening and disruptive to our students and to the teaching, research and expressive activities of the campus community,” the university said in a statement.

The crowd applauds Jamie Fishback’s use of the term “goyslop” at a campaign event at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, February 4, 2026. (From a post on X)

UF’s College Republicans’ decision to host Jamie Fishback, a GOP gubernatorial candidate who has waded into the morass of antisemitic rhetoric, has also ignited a backlash. The College Republicans at UF said that they were being punished for this as well.

“48 hours after we hosted James Fishback (@j_fishback) at the largest Candidate event at UF in nearly 10 years, @UF terminated our organization,” they posted on X. Their lawsuit makes the same claim: “UF likely further deactivated Plaintiff because UFCR hosted republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, a critic of Israel, at a March 11, 2026, event attended by 500 students.”

Fishback blasted the university’s decision.

“It is disgraceful for Florida’s taxpayer-funded universities to punish student groups for their protected speech,” he wrote. “In 2023, it was Students for Justice in Palestine. Today, it’s College Republicans.”

“As Governor, I will defend the First Amendment rights of all citizens,” he concluded.

It is disgraceful for Florida's taxpayer-funded universities to punish student groups for their protected speech.

In 2023, it was Students for Justice in Palestine.

Today, it's College Republicans.

As Governor, I will defend the First Amendment rights of all citizens. https://t.co/XYeexShYtw

— James Fishback (@j_fishback) March 16, 2026

KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y. (VINnews) — The former superintendent widely credited with helping establish the Kiryas Joel school district and guiding it through years of legal challenges has died at the age of 78, an announcement by current Superintendent Joel Petlin said.

Steven Benardo became the district’s first superintendent in 1989 after a career in New York City public education. Supporters say he played a central role in establishing the district and was instrumental in defending it through a decade of litigation.

He served as superintendent for 18 years and was regarded as a strong advocate for students, staff, and the broader Satmar Hasidic community.

Benardo worked closely with educators, officials, and community leaders throughout his career, with a particular focus on special needs students.

Petlin said the Kiryas Joel community is mourning his passing and credited Benardo with shaping the district and leaving a lasting impact on generations of students.

The Kiryas Joel community mourns the untimely passing of our first School Superintendent, Dr. Steven Benardo.

After a successful career in public education in NY City, Steve became KJ School Superintendent in 1989. Under his visionary leadership, the school district was… pic.twitter.com/WTSh2neTrJ

— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) March 19, 2026

LONDON (AP) — Two men appeared in a London court on Thursday accused of carrying out “hostile” surveillance last year of the U.K.’s Jewish community on behalf of Iran.

Iranian-British national Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and 22-year-old Iranian citizen Alireza Farasati are accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between July 9 and Aug. 15 last year.

Prosecution lawyer Louise Attrill said the defendants “are suspected of assisting the Iranian intelligence service by conducting hostile surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Israeli and Jewish community.”

She told a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court that surveillance targets included the Israeli embassy in London, a Jewish community center, a college and Britain’s oldest synagogue.

Neither defendant was asked to enter a plea during the hearing, but Farasati’s lawyer said he intends to fight the charge.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ordered both men to be detained until their next hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court on April 17.

The men, who both live in London, were arrested March 6. Two other British-Iranian nationals arrested as part of the same investigation have been released without charge.

Ken McCallum, head of Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service, said in October that more than 20 “potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” had been disrupted in the previous 12 months.

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Even as sirens wail, missiles fall, and families across the country rush into bomb shelters, Israel has once again ranked among the happiest nations on earth.

According to the latest World Happiness Report, Israel placed 8th globally, maintaining its position from last year and continuing a remarkable upward trajectory over recent years. But behind the headline lies a far more complex and deeply human story, one of an unbreakable national spirit.

“Israel’s ranking has consistently gone up since 2021,” said Anat Fanti, a happiness policy researcher at Bar-Ilan University. “It doesn’t surprise me because Israelis have a sense of meaning and purpose, which contributes to their overall satisfaction with life.”

Anat Fanti, a happiness policy researcher at Bar Ilan

That sense of purpose is being tested daily.

The report was released as Israelis across the country were hunkering down in bomb shelters, with schools closed, flights severely limited, and daily life disrupted by relentless missile and rocket attacks from Iran and Hezbollah since the war erupted on February 28. In such a reality, the idea of “happiness” may seem almost disconnected, but the data suggest there is something else going on.

Fanti explained that the ranking does not measure daily emotions, but rather a broader perspective on life itself. “The ranking represents the overall evaluation people have about their life, which paints a larger picture, rather than their emotions, whether negative or positive, which come and go each day,” she said.

Israelis under the age of 25 ranked as the happiest demographic within the country, and third in the entire world! This stands in extreme contrast to other Western nations, where youth happiness has sharply declined. In the United States, for example, young people rank around 60th globally.

“Young Israeli’s are much more grounded compared to their age group in other countries,” Fanti said. “They go to military service while their peer group goes to college, thinking about where they will get booze under 21. They make decisions between 18 and 21 that are far beyond their years.”

She added that Israel’s social life plays a critical role: “The level of social support and genuine friendships in Israel are part of Israeli society.”

Israel’s rise in the rankings has been steady. From 12th place in 2021, the country broke into the top 10 the following year, reached as high as 4th in 2023, and has remained among the global leaders ever since , even after the trauma of October 7 and the wars that followed.

The report is based on six key factors: economic stability, life expectancy, social support, charitable giving, freedom to make life decisions, and perceptions of corruption.

“What’s not measured directly includes family ties, community, faith, a sense of belonging, and strong social bonds,” she explained.

She pointed to a uniquely Israeli phenomenon to prove this: “In their latest book, ‘The Genius of Israel,’ Saul Singer and Dan Senor said Israelis have a Thanksgiving dinner every Friday night and show their gratitude. It is one aspect of Israeli culture that helps Israelis remain well above the global average.”

While Israelis continue to rate their overall life satisfaction highly, with Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reporting a striking 91.1% satisfaction rate among adults, emotional distress has also surged dramatically.

Feelings of depression rose from 25.5% in 2023 to 33.9% in 2024. Stress levels climbed from 58.2% to 67.9%. And data on worry, sadness, and anger also got worse, jumping from 119th place globally before October 7 to 39th.

“Israel’s result in this year’s World Happiness Report does not erase the psychological cost of the war,” Fanti explained. “On the contrary, it highlights the gap between the resilience of Israeli society and the difficult emotional reality of daily life.”

Jews praying along the Western Wall in Jerusalem in Israel

The report itself is based on a three-year average spanning 2023 through 2025, meaning the full impact of the current war may not yet be fully reflected. What it does show, however, is that even under extraordinary strain, Israeli society remains deeply happy, content, and full of purpose.

“We cannot take for granted the population’s resilience in the face of such difficult years,” Fanti said. “The 2026 report shows that Israeli society is still very strong. It is crucial to strengthen social and mental health services, and reinforce the sources of cohesion that enable Israeli society to endure even under difficult conditions.”

A devastating house fire in Bloomingburg, New York, claimed the life of 64-year-old R’ Yitzchok Dovid Vann z”l late Wednesday night, as emergency responders battled the flames and community volunteers worked to preserve items from the home.

R’ Yitzchok Dovid was a resident of Bloomingburg in Sullivan County.

Despite the efforts of emergency medical personnel who arrived at the scene, he could not be saved.

The fire broke out at a residence on Linda Lane and quickly escalated into a second-alarm blaze, prompting a large-scale response. Fire departments from Bullville, Mechanicstown, Circleville, Silver Lake, Howells, Otisville, Washington Heights, and Pine Bush all assisted in bringing the fire under control.

Hatzolah members were among the first on the scene and undertook efforts to remove several Sifrei Torah from the burning home. The Sifrei Torah remained undamaged despite the intensity of the fire.

Volunteers from Misaskim and Chesed Shel Emes also responded, ensuring that proper kavod hameis was maintained at the scene throughout the night.

Authorities have not yet determined what caused the fire, and the incident remains under active investigation.

R’ Yitzchok Dovid had previously served as president of Congregation Ahavat Achim in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

He was a son of Avrom and Shirley Vann, longtime members of the Ahavat Achim shul.

Community members noted his longstanding commitment to Torah learning, particularly his dedication to Daf Yomi with the shiur of R’ Eli Stefansky. Acquaintances describe him as “the sweetest Yid you could meet.”

He is survived by his daughter, Malka Miriam Vann.

The levayah will be held at 12:00 noon at Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, located at 150 Route 4 in Paramus, New Jersey.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump lashed out at Israel for its attack on Iran’s — and the world’s — largest natural gas field, the South Pars field in the Bushehr Province in southern Iran Wednesday. Trump wrote that the United States was not aware of the attack and that Qatar had nothing to do with it. He condemned Iran for striking Qatar’s liquefied natural gas field and warned that if Iran continued to retaliate against Qatar, the U.S. would destroy the remainder of the South Pars field, only 20 percent of which had been destroyed in the strike.

“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran,” Trump wrote. “The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen. Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.”

He added that if Iran “unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar — In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”

Israel reportedly struck the South Pars gas field Wednesday, the world’s largest gas field. Iran obtains 70% of its gas from South Pars and shares the massive field with Qatar, which condemned the strike. The field, located in the Bushehr Province in southern Iran, houses a facility that processes natural gas. Other facilities associated with the South Pars Offshore Gas Field and Asaluyeh Oil Industry were also struck, with several phases at South Pars now offline.

This unverified video on X shows Iranian attack drones striking a fuel depot in Saudi Arabia.

Iran has been developing infrastructure in the oil field since 1990. The authoritarian regime vowed to retaliate by attacking oil and gas production facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, singling out Saudi Arabia’s SAMREF Refinery and the Jubail petrochemical complex, the UAE’s Al-Hasan Gas Field, and some of Qatar’s petrochemical plants, as well as a refinery there.

However, Israeli officials said earlier that the strike against the world’s largest gas field in Iran Wednesday was coordinated by the United States and Israel to signal a warning to Iran over its threat to the Strait of Hormuz.

The attack destroyed only part of the field, so officials estimate that this has decreased the natural gas available to the people of Iran by about 20 percent. This will have enough of an impact, according to one official, to increase internal pressure on the regime.

Qatar’s largest LNG field is on fire following Iranian strikes in this unverified video on X.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a senior administration official says.

The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.

It’s an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year in President Donald Trump’s big tax cuts bill.

Congress is bracing for a new spending request but it is not clear the White House has transmitted the request for consideration. It is unclear the spending request would have support.

The new funding request was first reported by The Washington Post. Asked about the figure at a press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not directly confirm the figure, saying it could change. But he said “we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to to ensure that we’re properly funded.”

“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said.

In a dramatic escalation, Qatar has ordered the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from its territory after repeated attacks attributed to the Islamic Republic.

Qatar announced that the military attaché and security attaché at Iran’s embassy in Doha, along with all staff working in their offices, have been declared persona non grata. Authorities instructed all personnel connected to these offices to leave the country within 24 hours. The move comes in response to ongoing Iranian attacks against Qatar.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry stated: “This decision stems from repeated attacks by Iran against Qatar, a violation of its sovereignty and security, and a breach of the principles of international law, United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the principles of good neighborliness. If the Iranian side continues this approach, Qatar will take further measures to ensure the protection of its sovereignty, security, and national interests. Qatar reserves the right to take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and security, in accordance with the provisions of international law.”

Earlier, Qatar reported that it intercepted two missiles launched toward the gas city of Ras Laffan, shortly after an Iranian missile strike caused significant damage to a liquefied natural gas production facility.

The Iranian attack inflicted major damage on the Ras Laffan industrial city, home to one of the world’s most important and largest LNG production facilities. The assault included five missiles, four of which were intercepted, while the fifth struck its target.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia reported that four people were injured when interception debris fell on a civilian structure in Riyadh during an earlier Iranian missile attack. “Four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh were intercepted and destroyed. Fragments of one of the missiles fell near a refinery south of Riyadh,” the Saudi Defense Ministry said.

{Matzav.com}

This article is written l’zaicher nishmas Tzalcha Bas R’ Moshe HaKohen, Mrs. Sally Hirsch, the author’s mother-in-law, whose levaya will be at Shmorei HaDas in Boro Park at 1:00 PM

NEW YORK (VINnews/Rabbi Yair Hoffman) – The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 401) rules that it is forbidden to deliver a hesped on Rosh Chodesh. The reason is that Rosh Chodesh is a partial Yom Tov status, when expressions of public mourning and lamentation are lessened.

There is another prohibition of eulogizing throughout the entire month of Nissan. This is because Nissan is the month of past redemption (from Mitzrayim) and destined for future Geulah. It is permeated with holiness and rejoicing.

The Scope: Days of Rosh Chodesh vs. the Month of Nissan

There are two separate applications of this prohibition:

Rosh Chodesh throughout the year: On Rosh Chodesh of any month, eulogies are prohibited. However, this is limited specifically to Rosh Chodesh itself and does not extend to the rest of that month.
The month of Nissan: During the month of Nissan, the prohibition applies to every day of the month — including regular weekdays (chol). The reason for this extension, as noted by the authorities, is that Nissan is distinguished from all other months by its singular holiness as the month of redemption.

Some Poskim distinguish between a hesped — formal lamentation designed to cause weeping and grief — and a divrei shevach, a praiseworthy eulogy or divrei Torah that honors the deceased without inducing grief.

The Taz makes the further point that a hesped is halachically more severe than Tziduk HaDin: Tziduk HaDin is an acceptance of Divine judgment and not lamentation per se, and therefore some opinions permit it even where hespedim are forbidden. But a full hesped — which aims to cause the listeners to cry — is entirely prohibited on the days in question.

The Exception for a Talmid Chacham — The Basic Rule

The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 401:5) carves out a fundamental exception: it is permitted to eulogize a Talmid Chacham on Rosh Chodesh — but only “bifanav,” meaning while the body is still present, i.e., before burial. The Taz (ibid.), Magen Avraham (ibid.), and Chochmas Adam (169:25) all affirm this ruling. The Gesher HaChaim (Chapter 20, Section 5) confirms it as well.

The rationale for this exception is that a hesped for a Talmid Chacham is not an act of personal grief that conflicts with the day’s joy — it is an act of Kavod HaTorah, honoring the Torah that the scholar embodied. As such, it does not fall under the general prohibition.

The Definition: Who Is a “Talmid Chacham” for This Purpose?

The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 401:5), based on the Tur in the name of the Maharitz Geios and Talmidei Rashi, defines a Talmid Chacham for this purpose as someone who is “asked about halacha in every area” — that is, a recognized halachic authority whom people consult on halachic matters across the full range of Torah law. This is an exacting standard: it is not sufficient to be a serious Torah scholar or even a distinguished learner. The scholar must function as a posek, a decisor of halacha, in a broad and comprehensive sense.

What About a Talmid Chochom’s Wife?

The Gemorah in Shavuos (30a and b) discusses the notion of Aishes Chaver k’Chaver – a Torah scholar’s wife is like a Torah scholar.  There is a debate as to whether this is true even after the Torah scholar passed away.  One should consult one’s own Rav as to how we rule.

The Strict View Regarding the Earlier Debate: The Magen Avraham and Mishnah Berurah

The most far-reaching ruling in this area comes from the Magen Avraham (Siman 547, Se’if Katan 8), who writes with striking directness: “It seems that today we no longer have a Talmid Chacham who knows halacha in every area.”

The significance of this ruling means that the exception carved out by the Shulchan Aruch is practically inapplicable in our times: since no individual meets the standard of knowing halacha in every area, there is no one for whose hesped the prohibition may be overridden. Every hesped — even for a great Torah sage — would fall under the general prohibition on Rosh Chodesh and during Nissan.

The Mishnah Berurah (Siman 547, Se’if Katan 26) codifies the ruling of the Magen Avraham as normative halacha. The Biur Halacha (Siman 547, s.v. “Shemutar”) reinforces this, writing explicitly: “We do not eulogize on Chol HaMoed even for a Talmid Chacham, as explained by the Poskim.” The Chayei Adam (118:7) and Yosef Da’as (401) adopt the same position.

It is important to note that the Magen Avraham’s ruling appears in the context of Chol HaMoed (Siman 547), where the prohibition on hespedim is generally stricter. The Mishnah Berurah extends this reasoning to Rosh Chodesh as well (Siman 547:26), treating the “no Talmid Chacham today” position as applicable across the relevant contexts.

Dissenting View: The Levush and the Eliyahu Rabbah

Against the Magen Avraham stands the Levush, who explicitly rules that even in our day we do have a Talmid Chacham for this purpose. The Eliyahu Rabbah (Siman 420, Se’if Katan 2) cites the Levush’s position as a significant dissenting opinion, noting that the Levush holds that the category of Talmid Chacham remains operative and applicable to qualified Torah scholars in every generation.

Additional Leniencies: The Pri Megadim and Eliyahu Rabbah

Even if one accepts the strict position of the Magen Avraham — that we no longer have a Talmid Chacham who “knows halacha in every area” — both the Pri Megadim and the Eliyahu Rabbah note additional grounds for leniency that may apply in specific circumstances:

The requirement that the hesped be “bifanav” — before burial, while the body is present — is itself a leniency granted by the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 401:5). The Pri Megadim (Siman 547, Mishbetzos Zahav 4) holds that this as an operative element of the ruling. Even under the Magen Avraham’s view, if the deceased was a scholar of any meaningful distinction and the hesped is delivered before burial with the body present, some opinions would be more lenient.
The Eliyahu Rabbah (Siman 420:2) records that the custom in cities such as Prague and other communities was to permit the hesped under certain conditions, relying on the combination of “bifanav” (body present) together with the scholar’s recognized status in his community. The Pri Megadim (Siman 420, Aleph Aleph 1) confirms this was the accepted custom of Prague and other cities.
The Nitei Gavriel (Aveilus, Siman 52, footnote 10) records that numerous Poskim hold that we do have a Talmid Chacham today for this purpose — a position supported by a broad range of authorities who reject the Magen Avraham’s limitation as overly restrictive.

Rav Ovadia Yosef and the Sephardic Ruling

Rav Ovadia Yosef in his Chazon Ovadia (Aveilos, Vol. 1, p. 288), rules categorically that we do have the halacha of Talmid Chacham for this purpose today.

Rav Ovadia held that genuine Torah sages — those who are broadly consulted on halachic matters — do exist in every generation and must receive a proper hesped even on Rosh Chodesh.

The Chazon Ovadia (Aveilos, Vol. 1, p. 282) also confirms the general prohibition of eulogies on Rosh Chodesh (consistent with all authorities), while at the same time carving out the Talmid Chacham exception.

Ashkenazic Practice: The Nitei Gavriel’s Summary

While the Mishnah Berurah’s strict position is widely cited in Ashkenazic halachic literature, the Nitei Gavriel (Aveilus, Siman 52, Se’if 10 and footnotes 10, 23) documents that many Ashkenazic authorities also hold that we do have a Talmid Chacham today for this purpose.

The Requirement of “Bifanav”

Even according to the permissive view — that we do have Talmidei Chachamim today — the hesped for a Talmid Chacham on Rosh Chodesh is only permitted “bifanav”: while the body is present and before burial. This qualification appears in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 401:5) itself, confirmed by the Taz, Magen Avraham, and Chochmas Adam (169:25).

The Kol Bo, cited in the Rama (Yoreh De’ah 401:6) regarding Tziduk HaDin, extends this: even the saying of Tziduk HaDin follows the same rules as the hesped, and the same conditions apply.

The practical implication is clear: even for a Talmid Chacham, once burial has taken place, a formal hesped on Rosh Chodesh or during Nissan is no longer covered by the exception. The exception applies at the graveside or in the setting of the funeral itself, not to post-burial community gatherings held on prohibited days.

All this is for discussion purposes and each person should consult their own Rav or Posaik.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

This article is written l’zaicher nishmas Tzalcha Bas R’ Moshe HaKohen, Mrs. Sally Hirsch, the author’s mother-in-law, whose levaya will be at Shmorei HaDas 3803 14th Avenue in Boro Park at 1:00 PM

The price of Brent crude oil spiked to $118 per barrel Thursday as markets tumbled, marking the second time since the war began that the price reached nearly $120 per barrel. The spike followed Israeli strikes on the largest natural gas field in the world, South Pars in Iran, and Iran’s subsequent retaliation in the form of a strike on the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar.

Brent crude oil is the benchmark by which oil is priced globally.

Meanwhile, the U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, rose slightly to $96 per barrel, up from $95.46 on Wednesday. The national average for gas Thursday was $3.88 per gallon, while diesel prices shot to $5.10. The price at the pump follows the Brent crude oil trend, which has risen sharply since the war began and Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Rising oil prices directly impact the stock market, and Thursday was no exception as stock markets took a nosedive in Europe and Asia following the spike in oil prices. The European Stoxx 600 was down nearly 2 percent, the Japanese Nikkei 225 dropped 3.4 percent, and the Hong Kong Seng Stock Index fell by about 2 percent. In the United States, the S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent, down 3.7 percent since the war began.

The inflationary impact from the war will restrain the Fed’s hands from lowering interest rates any time soon, according to Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A resident of the charedi town of Modiin Illit was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of what police described as “public incitement against various security forces.” The suspect was taken in for questioning at the local police station.

Earlier today, during an operation to enhance the safety of local residents and while patrolling the city, officers noticed a sign posted publicly on a building on Meshech Chochma Street.

According to police, one of the signs contained inciting content, stating that: “Enlistment, volunteering, or working in the army of destruction, the police, or in national or civil service by any name they may be called is forbidden to the point of ‘be killed rather than transgress (Yehareg V’Al Yaavor).’”

Following the discovery of the sign directed against security forces, officers arrested the 30-year-old suspect who lives in the apartment, after he allegedly attempted to ignore and evade them despite their demands. He was subsequently taken for questioning at the Modiin Illit police station.

It should be noted that throughout the city, there are many homes inhabited by members of the anti-enlistment “Jerusalem Faction” who display signs opposing enlistment in the army or other security services.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

It’s Rosh Chodesh Nissan ⏳ Two Weeks to Pesach.

Hundreds of families who travel abroad and go door-to-door each year… can’t go this time.

They are stuck!

In past years, many of the needy in the Zichron Moshe neighborhood in Yerushalayim travel abroad and raise the necessary funds to be able to make Yom Tov in addition to many that visit Yerushalayim for Purim and Pesach.

This year, everything has changed.

Due to the war, travel is extremely difficult. Many families are unable to leave, and those who can are unsure if they will be able to return in time for Yom Tov.

Kupas Zichron Moshe was established by Rav Aaron Nimersovsky to assist the needy families in Shchunas Zichron Moshe in Yerushalaym, including almanos, yesomim, and those that are in crisis.

Unfortunately, the numbers have been growing over the last few years, with over 800 families on the list for this year.

This year more than ever, the aniyim are relying on the Kuppah.

Click here to donate

Started twelve years ago, Kupas Zichron Moshe has become a respected organization that has grown past natural bounds. Run under the auspices of Rav Gamliel Rabinovich, Rav Moshe Elyashiv and Rav Yitzchok Soloveitchik, Kupas Zichron Moshe has continued to provide for the Yom tov needs for over 700 choshuve families in Zichron Moshe/Geula Yerushalayim who cannot live on their own means.

These are not families that are looking to buy luxuries. These are families that would literally not have fish and chicken on Shabbos and Yom Tov without y(our) help.

This year we are having a much harder time than usual. 700 families are relying on us and we cannot do it without your help!

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A Chabad House in Salzburg, Austria, was defaced in a terrible act of antisemitism. Vandals spray painted swastikas alongside Palestinian flags on the outside of the building

The attack, which took place overnight, left the local Jewish community shaken and outraged. The combination of Nazi symbols with anti-Israel stickers and writing continues a trend of a growing and dangerous rhetoric of antisemitic expression across Europe.

Members of the community discovered the graffiti early in the morning and immediately called local authorities. Austrian police launched an investigation and are working to identify those responsible. Unfortunately, as of now, no arrests have been announced.

A Chabad house in Salzburg, Austria has been vandalized with Swastikas.

This is a war on the Jewish people and Jewish life. @dovidmargolin @ChabadLubavitch https://t.co/LGvizq2nf1 pic.twitter.com/6GzVqB7OsB

— Rabbi Poupko (@RabbiPoupko) March 19, 2026

Local Rabbonim and communiy leaders condemned the attack, calling it a blatant act of hatred aimed at intimidating Jews and undermining Jewish life in the city and Austria at large. The Chabad House, which serves as a center for Jewish residents and visitors, has long been a symbol of a strong Jewish presence in Salzburg.

Austrian officials have previously pledged zero tolerance for antisemitism, and pressure is mounting on authorities to respond swiftly and decisively to this latest incident.

JERUSALEM (VINnews)-Israeli airline Israir has canceled all regularly scheduled flights through March 31, citing ongoing wartime airspace restrictions and limited operations at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.

The decision, announced Wednesday, comes as a significant setback for travelers planning trips ahead of the Passover holiday, which typically sees a surge in demand for flights to and from Israel.

Israir attributed the cancellations to the current security situation and guidelines from the Home Front Command. The airline emphasized that the move affects only pre-war scheduled flights and does not impact ongoing repatriation flights, which continue to operate to and from Ben Gurion under an outline set by the Transportation Ministry.

“In line with the Transportation Ministry’s outline which restricts the number of seats on each flight, Israir will do its best to accommodate some of the passengers whose flights were canceled on flights operating during the current period,” the airline said in a statement. “The supply of seats is significantly lower than the demand and number of planned flights before the start of the war, and it may not be possible to accommodate all requests.”

Passengers affected by the cancellations are being offered options including a full cash refund or a future credit voucher worth 130% of the original reservation amount if booked directly through Israir’s website or service center. Those who purchased tickets via travel agents should contact their agent directly.

Israir has also halted ticket sales for regular scheduled flights through April 30, pending changes in the security situation. The airline said it stands ready to resume sales and expand operations once Israeli airspace is fully reopened and air travel normalizes.

The cancellations reflect broader disruptions in Israeli aviation stemming from the ongoing conflict, which has led to airspace closures and strict limits on flights at Ben Gurion since late February. Other Israeli carriers, including El Al and Arkia, have similarly adjusted or canceled scheduled services in recent weeks, while many foreign airlines have suspended routes to Israel through the spring or beyond.

Joe Kent on why we actually went to war with Iran.

Joe Kent is a former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and the President’s principal counterterrorism advisor, who served 20 years in the U.S. Army with 11 combat deployments fighting terrorist networks with the 75th Ranger Regiment, Army Special Forces, and U.S. Army Special Operations Command, earning six Bronze Stars. Joe is also a Gold Star husband whose first wife, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, also served and was killed while fighting ISIS in Syria in 2019.

WATCH:

Zach, a successful entrepreneur in his fifties, is a friend I met recently at a dinner. He was intrigued to learn that I work in alternative medicine and asked for some advice. First, he told me his story.

Zach was 35 years old when he went to his doctor for a routine annual checkup and was informed afterward that he needed to start cholesterol-lowering medication.

He felt fine. He wasn’t sick. Zach was surprised—but reassured when his doctor prescribed a cholesterol medication, which he dutifully began taking. Problem solved—or so it seemed.

A few years later, Zach had gained weight. His blood pressure was now elevated, so another medication was added. Soon after, his blood sugar crept up, and he was told he was prediabetic. A few more years passed, and he was started on diabetes medication as well.

By the time Zach was in his mid-40s, he was significantly overweight, taking multiple medications, and struggling with low energy. Some of his symptoms were related to his conditions. Others were side effects of the drugs meant to control them.

What no one had clearly explained to Zach was that these weren’t separate problems.

They were all part of the same condition.

One Problem, Many Names

High cholesterol.
High blood pressure.
High blood sugar.
Weight gain.

In modern medicine, these are often treated as separate diagnoses. But together, they form what is known as metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is not a disease you suddenly “get.” It’s a gradual process in which the body becomes increasingly unable to properly handle fuel—especially fat and sugar. Over time, this dysfunction drives many of the most serious health problems we see today, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and even certain cancers.

In patients like Zach, plaque slowly builds up inside the arteries. Years later, they may suffer a heart attack or stroke—sometimes in their 50s or 60s. Tragically, this outcome is often seen as inevitable.

It isn’t.

A Disease of Affluence

When I was in acupuncture school, one of my mentors—a physician from China who was also trained in conventional medicine—shared something that stuck with me.

She explained that in China, conditions like type 2 diabetes are sometimes called “rich man’s diseases.” Not because wealthy people are inherently unhealthy, but because these diseases emerge when societies adopt diets high in meat, fat, and processed foods.

Metabolic syndrome is largely driven by dietary excess, particularly excess animal fat combined with sugar.

In medical research, there is a well-known method for inducing heart disease in monkeys: feeding them saturated fat—such as coconut oil—along with sugar. This combination reliably produces arterial plaque.

It’s worth pausing to consider that.

This is essentially the same dietary pattern that drives metabolic syndrome in humans.

Treating Numbers vs. Treating the Cause

Modern medicine is very good at lowering numbers. Cholesterol can be lowered with medication. Blood pressure can be controlled. Blood sugar can be managed.

But controlling numbers is not the same as restoring metabolic health.

Zach’s medications didn’t address the root cause of his condition. They simply managed each marker as it appeared. Meanwhile, the underlying metabolic dysfunction continued to progress.

Over time, the list of diagnoses grew—and so did the list of prescriptions.

A Different Path

How did I respond to Zach? I told him gently about a patient of mine named Nathan.

Nathan came to see me at age 32 with a very different story. After routine blood work, his doctor told him he had high cholesterol and would likely need medication.

Nathan asked a simple—yet revolutionary—question:
“Is there something I can do with my diet first?”

Fortunately, he had a doctor who supported that idea and explained how to eat more healthfully. Nathan made significant dietary changes, focusing on whole, unprocessed foods.

A few weeks later, his labs were repeated. His cholesterol was normal. Nathan never even started medication.

That was over ten years ago. Today, Nathan remains active, energetic, and healthy—without needing the medications many of his peers take for granted.

Rethinking “Normal Aging”

Many people believe that heart disease, diabetes, and weight gain are simply part of getting older—and that the best we can do is manage them with drugs.

Metabolic syndrome challenges that assumption.

These conditions are not inevitable consequences of aging. They are, to a large extent, the result of dietary patterns that overload the body’s metabolic systems.

The good news is that metabolic syndrome is often preventable—and reversible, especially when addressed early.

Taking Back Control

A diet closer to a whole-food, plant-based pattern—rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and fiber—directly addresses the root of metabolic syndrome. It improves insulin sensitivity, lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, and supports healthy weight regulation.

For people like Zach, earlier dietary changes could have altered the course of his health dramatically. For people like Nathan, those changes made all the difference.

Metabolic syndrome isn’t a mystery. And it isn’t destiny.

Until next time, stay well—and remember that treating the cause is always more powerful than treating the symptom.

Want to learn more about dietary changes that support metabolic health?
Here is a short, accessible video that explains these ideas further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E04WICTiL0o

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, remaining in the same range of recent years despite a broadly tepid labor market.

The number of Americans filing for jobless aid for the week ending March 14 fell by 8,000 from the previous week to 205,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 215,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

Filings for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, dipped by 750 to 210,750.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending March 7 rose by 10,000 to 1.86 million, the government said.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) —  Eli Klutstein is a researcher at the Misgav center for National Security. In the following Op-Ed, he analyzes the dispute between Trump and European countries over securing the Strait of Hormuz

By its very nature, an alliance is usually a two-sided arrangement. If it does not provide benefits and gains for each of its members, the likelihood that they will maintain it over time decreases. This is true for regional alliances in the Middle East, but also on the broader international stage with institutions such as NATO.

For years, U.S. President Donald Trump has been calling on NATO countries to increase their defense spending and take on a greater share of the burden of the collective security provided by the alliance.

Long before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, he asked member states to distribute the financial burden more evenly, and in 2018 he demanded they raise defense budgets to about 2% of GDP so that in times of need, the United States would not be the only one supplying weapons against the enemy. After the war dragged on for years, he pushed them to raise that threshold even further, to 5%.

The United States, it should be understood, is NATO’s largest contributor. It pays about one-fifth of the alliance’s operating costs and is responsible for more than 60% of NATO’s total budget. In an organization of 32 countries, the burden-sharing is heavily skewed toward one side.

By December 2025, Washington had also provided Ukraine with total assistance of about $188 billion, roughly one-third of all external aid to Kyiv, and only slightly less than the combined contributions of all European Union countries.

Against this backdrop, Trump’s disappointment this week may be easier to understand, when NATO countries decided not to comply with his request to assist in escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is not acting solely for his own interests: in recent years, the United States has become the world’s largest oil producer and has managed to prevent prices from soaring in the direction Iran had hoped.

After three weeks of war, prices have so far remained relatively stable following an initial spike. It is likely that even if the situation continues for several more months, the United States will be less affected than others.

Roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through the strait, and Iran is pursuing a discriminatory policy: it allows countries it favors, such as Russia and China, to pass, while preventing others, including European nations, from accessing the oil they need.

Those who benefit most from this are the Chinese, the Russians, and ultimately the Americans as well, especially if Trump has indeed secured access to Venezuela’s oil reserves. The Europeans, by contrast, are left with little to gain.

The European refusal is therefore all the more striking. Countries on the continent fear becoming entangled in a prolonged war and prefer to continue preparing patiently for a possible future Russian invasion. However, they may not fully grasp the extent of the damage being done to them.

Trump’s close ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, said he had never seen the president so angry. The two have already begun issuing statements reflecting the depth of the rift: “We don’t need them,” “We will remember this,” “There will be consequences,” and more. It appears that Americans are deeply disappointed with European leaders and what they see as their isolationist policies.

Some of the criticism even became personal: Trump said that the French president would soon leave office; he complained that relations with the British prime minister had been excellent until he took office; and the German chancellor also faced criticism, with Trump arguing—correctly, in his view—that he speaks out of both sides of his mouth: on one hand, he supports action against Iran’s nuclear program, which he says threatens Europe, while on the other hand he refuses to help.

This situation, in many ways, resembles the approach taken by European countries toward Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II, when they preferred to absorb blow after blow rather than act. One could imagine Neville Chamberlain taking pride in his modern-day successors, who remain passive and unwilling to act even in their own interest.

For Israel, however, this situation presents an opportunity. In this war, it has proven its value to Trump not as a junior partner, but as one that carries the offensive and military burden with determination and strength, without hesitation. Its intelligence, air, and defense capabilities have proven highly beneficial to the Americans, and the cooperation between the militaries has been effective.

At a time when Gulf states are also not particularly assertive in responding to the Iranian threat, it can be assumed that the current U.S. administration clearly recognizes who stands by its side in critical moments.

Recent polls in the United States, conducted by several media networks, show overwhelming support, close to 90%, for the war, even among voters identifying with the MAGA movement, which is typically associated with American isolationism. Although Democrats generally oppose the war, the surveys show they still identify with its objectives, including stopping Iran’s nuclear program and countering its proxy organizations.

On the day after the war, Israel should reap the dividends of this partnership with the United States. While European countries may bear the brunt of the administration’s anger, Israel should approach from a position of confidence, as a proven and successful ally, and work to strengthen its political and military standing in Washington. It is not certain that a better opportunity will arise.

A coalition of international anti-Israel flotilla groups revealed Wednesday that they are joining forces to launch a coordinated large-scale maritime operation to Gaza, scheduled for the spring of 2026.

In a joint announcement, organizers said the effort, named the “Global Sumud Flotilla,” will combine several existing initiatives into a single campaign. Participating groups include Thousand Madleens to Gaza, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Freedom and Sumud Flotilla Eurasia, the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, the Global Movement to Gaza, Sumud Nusantara, and the People’s Flotilla Movement.

According to the organizers, the operation will not consist of separate voyages but will instead function as a unified mission, bringing together ships, delegations, medical personnel, and reconstruction teams under one coordinated structure.

They described the initiative as the “largest civilian maritime action for Palestine to date,” pointing to appeals from Palestinian Arabs for a more organized and collective international civilian response.

The plan outlines six central goals: ending what organizers called Israel’s “illegal siege,” creating a maritime access route, rallying international involvement, delivering humanitarian assistance, aiding rebuilding efforts, and challenging what they termed global complicity.

The statement indicated that the flotilla is expected to involve more than 100 vessels carrying supplies such as food, infant formula, educational materials, medicine, and other critical items.

Organizers also said a specialized medical fleet will be part of the mission, with more than 1,000 healthcare workers expected to participate alongside local medical staff in Gaza. In addition, the effort is set to include educators, medical experts, and rebuilding teams tasked with assisting in the restoration of homes, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure.

The announcement further emphasized that the initiative opposes reconstruction models that, in the organizers’ view, frame Gaza’s recovery as a geopolitical undertaking instead of one directed by local needs.

Organizers added that the flotilla is part of a wider campaign addressing ongoing conditions in Gaza, while acknowledging that the planned voyage represents only one component of what they believe is necessary for long-term recovery.

More information, including launch locations in the Mediterranean, participating groups, and operational stages, is expected to be released in the weeks ahead.

{Matzav.com}

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

As Jews, we are trained to look at world events differently than others do. My rebbi, the famed Rav Mendel Kaplan, would sometimes interrupt his daily shiur to teach us how to read a newspaper. He would quip that when he was in Shanghai with the Mirrer Yeshiva during the Second World War, he would know the news simply from glancing at the Chinese newspapers, “because the main news is written between the lines.”

Headlines speak about presidents, armies, alliances, and wars. Analysts discuss strategy and politics. But a Yid knows that beneath the noise of world affairs, there is something deeper taking place. History unfolds through the constant Hand of the Ribbono Shel Olam guiding events.

Because we live in a time of hester, that guiding hand is often concealed. Yet, when we read between the lines and look at events through the prism of Torah, it becomes easier to recognize that Hashem is causing events to unfold and guiding the course of history.

As we approach the Yom Tov of Pesach, the time when we relive the great revelation of Hashgocha, we are reminded that what appears to be the unstoppable power of great nations can disappear almost overnight.

Mitzrayim was the superpower of its era. Paroh ruled with absolute authority over a vast empire. To the enslaved Jews, his dominance must have appeared permanent.

But when the appointed time for that golus came to an end, that empire was shattered, its ruler humbled, and the Jewish people walked out to freedom.

Pesach teaches a lesson that repeats itself throughout history: the forces that appear strongest at any given moment are ultimately revealed to be nothing more than pawns in Hashem’s plan, and they fade away when the Divine plan determines that their time has ended.

This week, we begin the month of Nissan, the month of geulah. It was in this month that our nation was formed when Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim.

Pesach, the Yom Tov when we celebrate our freedom, is upon us.

In 1948, as Israel was fighting its War of Independence, people were deeply worried about what the next day would bring. Rav Refoel Kook traveled to the Chazon Ish.

“People are asking me about what is going on now and how they are to understand the terrible situation they are in. Rebbe, I don’t know what to answer them.”

The Chazon Ish told him to tell the people, “Everyone can see that from Shomayim we are being led somewhere, but we are not able to figure out where until we get there. We cannot fathom the ways of Hashem.”

Pesach is the Chag Hageulah, but it is also the Chag Ha’emunah, the Yom Tov that strengthens our faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It was through the faith of the Jewish people in Mitzrayim and at the Yam Suf that they merited redemption.

Throughout the years of slavery, they could not understand why they had to endure such suffering and hardship. Yet, when they were redeemed, they realized that because of the intense subjugation they had experienced, they were freed nearly two hundred years earlier than the time Hashem had originally indicated.

When they witnessed the makkos and the many miracles at the Yam Suf, they understood that everything that had happened to them was directed by Hashem. As the posuk states, “Vaya’aminu baHashem uveMoshe avdo – And their belief in Hashem and in Moshe was strengthened.”

In our own time, we see the people of Eretz Yisroel suffering. The country is once again at war. Sirens sound day and night, and people are constantly running to and from shelters. The economy is shaken, there is little calm, and no one knows how long the situation will continue.

Some say that President Trump is running out of patience and wants to bring the conflict to an end. Others believe that it will continue until Pesach, while still others predict that the war could last several months. Once again, Israel is forced to fight for its existence against an existential enemy, and once again it seems that the nations of the world are waiting for the moment when they can pressure Israel to end the war prematurely before a complete victory is achieved.

At the same time, anti-Semitism is rising across the world, and Jews are discovering that danger exists everywhere, even in this country. Synagogues have become targets of attacks, and in many places, Jews are fearful for their safety. The nation that incurred the world’s enmity at Har Sinai when the Torah was given continues to be hated and despised.

I do not understand why so many people pay attention to podcasters and other purveyors of hatred, but that is the reality of the world today. Millions follow and listen to individuals who spread irrational conspiracies and tropes against Jews. It would be foolish to ignore what is happening and comfort ourselves with the thought that these messages have no effect. The Democrat Party has largely adopted anti-Israel positions, and its leaders frequently promote narratives against Israel. Recent polls demonstrate the cumulative impact of all of this, as more Americans are turning against Israel and Jews.

People ask why all of this is happening, and everyone offers a different explanation. As believing Jews, we know that Hashem is directing what unfolds. What we understand is that in an eis tzarah, we are meant to call out to Hashem for salvation and to engage in teshuvah.

We also remember that those who possess emunah are able to maintain calm and serenity. Because we know that nothing occurs unless Hashem wills it, we do not live in constant fear of the events of the day. We recognize that everything Hashem does is ultimately for our benefit. Some things we understand immediately, and others we come to understand later. But we remain confident in the knowledge that everything is part of a Divine plan that will ultimately unfold for our good.

The month of Nissan and the Yom Tov of Pesach remind us that when there is a deluge of negativity and painful news, we respond with faith, not fear; with tefillah, not despair; and with the knowledge that with every missile that falls, we are drawing closer to the geulah.

Three times a day, in Modim, we thank Hashem for the daily miracles. Some we recognize and some we do not, but we know that they are there. Be on the lookout for them, write them down, and appreciate the good that we have. Doing so helps us cope with our difficulties and reminds us that we are never alone.

Eighty-five years ago, when murder and destruction spread across Europe, a small group of yeshivos were brought through Divine intervention to Shanghai, where they spent those terrible years in relative peace. In that hot, distant city they had never previously heard of, they flourished. Their suffering produced tremendous growth in Torah, ultimately gifting our people with a generation of gedolim, roshei yeshiva, rabbonim, and maggidei shiur.

When the war ended, the full weight of their situation finally struck them. Free to travel, they realized that very few among them had parents or families waiting to reunite with them. There was nowhere to return to. Everyone had been killed. Everything had been destroyed.

As a steady stream of talmidim headed to Eretz Yisroel and America, several were left behind, waiting for visas. For the first time, they were overtaken by despair. The Gerrer Rebbe, the Imrei Emes, penned a letter to a group of stranded Polish bochurim. He wrote, “The main thing now is to know that everything comes from Hashem and no bad emanates from Him. Everything is for the good… As the seforim teach, ‘Vayehi erev vayehi voker yom echod,’ both the darkness and kindness are from one source and for one goal: to illuminate the world for us later on.

“We believe that just as the Tochacha, the prophecies foretelling difficult times, were fulfilled, so will the hopeful and comforting prophecies come to be. The hester ponim is a test, an illusion, and in the end, everything will turn out very good.”

The Gerrer Rebbe quoted the Rambam’s Iggeres Teiman, where he encouraged the beleaguered Jews of Yemen during a difficult period.

“The Rambam writes that a cord of Torah and mitzvos connects heaven and earth. To the degree that a person grasps it, he will be strengthened…”

The rebbe sought to sustain the refugees with the eternal message that g’nus leads to shevach, winter leads to spring, and darkness leads to light. This message goes back to the first day of creation, when night and day were formed, as the posuk states, “Vayehi erev vayehi voker yom echod.”

The Sefas Emes explains that Nissan is considered the first of the Hebrew months because it was during this month that Hashem revealed the hanhogah that became visible in this world during Yetzias Mitzrayim.

Until that time, it had been a hanhogah of hester, but during the month of Nissan, Hashem revealed His presence and strength in Mitzrayim b’yad chazokah uvizroa netuya.

Each year, during Nissan, that spiritual energy returns to the world, offering an opportunity to reveal Hashem in the lower realms and to fill this world with His presence. Pesach, the Yom Tov of emunah, gives us the opportunity to fill our hearts – and those of our children – with this awareness of freedom and protection.

As the month of Nissan begins, it reminds us that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here, just as He was in Mitzrayim, directing events and preparing the world for redemption.

When the Imrei Emes passed away in 1948, his oldest surviving son, Rav Yisroel, became rebbe. It was an extremely difficult period. The people had not yet recovered from the devastation they had suffered in the Holocaust. Israel was fighting for its survival, and there were regular attacks on settled areas and cities.

When he spoke on the first Shabbos, he quoted his grandfather, the Chiddushei Horim, who shared a remarkable explanation of why the halachos of eved Ivri apply only when there is Yovel. When Yovel ended with the churban, the phenomenon of a Jewish slave ended as well.

He explained that this teaches the Jewish people that every period of difficulty, every challenge, does not last forever. Every tzorah has a time when it ends and when good times return. When Yovel, which frees the slaves, is no longer active, there can no longer be Jewish slaves, because there would be no mechanism to bring their painful period to an end.

Throughout Jewish history, we have repeatedly seen this pattern. Periods of great darkness are followed by periods of extraordinary light.

After the darkness that descended upon Klal Yisroel with the killing of the Asarah Harugei Malchus, the world was illuminated by the teachings of Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai and the revelation of the Torah’s hidden wisdom in the Sefer HaZohar. Following the terrible era of Tach V’Tat, when tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered and communities were destroyed, Klal Yisroel was blessed with towering lights such as the Vilna Gaon, the Baal Shem Tov, and the Ramchal. And after the unspeakable darkness of the Holocaust came the remarkable rebuilding of Torah life, with flourishing communities in Eretz Yisroel, America, and throughout the world.

Rav Tzadok Hakohein of Lublin explains that this pattern reflects the way the Ribbono Shel Olam created the world. As the posuk describing creation states, “Vayehi erev vayehi voker,” evening is followed by morning. Periods of darkness and sadness are followed by periods of light and renewal.

Rav Yisroel Eliyohu Weintraub quoted the Sefer Hachassidim, who explains that Hashem wishes to bestow goodness upon man, but the Soton interferes and claims that man does not deserve it. The Soton questions why Hashem should be so kind to undeserving people. It is for this reason, he explains, that Hashem brings periods of great pain and nisyonos to silence the evil Soton.

And today, just as in Mitzrayim, for us to merit Hashem’s light and goodness, we must first endure darkness and pain. Let us strengthen ourselves in Torah, tefillah, and maasim tovim.

As we approach Pesach, let us strengthen ourselves in emunah and bitachon, so that on this Yom Tov of emunah, we will merit to see our faith rewarded.

We must know that the difficult time will end, hopefully soon, and that better days will return. Have no fear. Do not despair.

Which brings us to what is happening in the world today.

For decades, American presidents have repeatedly vowed that Iran would never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

In Washington, there is a phrase that has been repeated for so many years that it has almost become background noise: Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

President after president said it. Republicans said it. Democrats said it. The statement appeared in speeches, press briefings, and policy papers. It was presented as an unshakable principle of American foreign policy.

And yet, for decades, it remained mostly words because presidents were afraid of confronting Iran.

Sanctions were imposed and then eased. Negotiations were conducted and agreements were signed. Red lines were drawn and then moved. All the while, Iran’s regime continued enriching uranium, developing missiles, and spreading terror through its network of proxies across the Middle East.

Washington promised that Iran would never get the bomb, but Tehran learned to believe that the promise would never truly be enforced.

For all his failings, President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the United States into World War II to confront the Nazi menace before it could reach American shores. In a famous fireside chat he declared, “The United States has no right or reason to encourage talk of peace until the day shall come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world.”

Those words could easily have been echoed by President Donald Trump as he explained why he has taken this nation into confrontation with the Islamic theocracy of Iran that has spent decades and untold sums plotting the destruction of Israel, America, and the Western world. He pursues this course despite the loud objections of isolationists and political demagogues who condemn his actions, much as figures like Father Coughlin railed against Roosevelt.

When President Donald Trump moved from declarations to action against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, many Democrats and large segments of the media reacted with outrage – not at Iran, but at Trump.

Yet, working closely together, the United States and Israel have carried out coordinated strikes against key elements of Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure. Missile sites, command centers, and strategic facilities tied to the regime’s military machine have been struck. The goal has been clear: Dismantle the capabilities that allow Tehran to threaten Israel, destabilize the region, and move toward nuclear weapons.

While Tehran has responded with missiles and drones, much of that firepower has been intercepted or neutralized.

For the Jewish people, all of this is unfolding during the months of Adar and Nissan, when we are reminded that the sight of great power collapsing is nothing new.

All the firepower that Iran accumulated and the infrastructure it had established to destroy Israel has been evaporating at a historical pace.

On Pesach, we will sit at the Seder and retell the story that defines our nation. Mitzrayim was the greatest superpower of its time. Paroh ruled over an empire that appeared eternal. To the Jews enslaved there, Egypt must have seemed invincible.

But history turned in a single dramatic moment.

The Haggadah reminds us, “B’chol dor v’dor omdim aleinu l’chaloseinu,” that in every generation, there are those who rise against us to destroy us. Empires arise. Tyrants make threats. Powerful regimes boast that they will eliminate the Jewish people.

Yet, the next words are the ones that have defined our history: “V’Hakadosh Boruch Hu matzileinu miyodom.” The Ribbono Shel Olam saves us from their plans.

Time and again, forces that appeared overwhelming crumbled. Egypt fell. Persia faded. Rome disappeared. The Soviet Union collapsed. Gamel Nasser, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Hafez Assad, and his son Bashar are gone and almost forgotten. As all who threatened us have been struck down, the Jewish people endure.

Pesach reminds us that what seems like the iron grip of power can collapse overnight when the Master of the world decides that the moment of redemption from that particular golus has arrived.

As Pesach approaches, we prepare not only to remember the past, but also to understand the present.

At the Seder we proclaim, “Avodim hoyinu…vayotzieinu Hashem Elokeinu mishom b’yod chazokah u’vizroa netuyah.” At that moment, we are reminded that history is not written in the halls of power or on the battlefields of empires.

It is written by the Ribbono Shel Olam.

Empires rise. Threats come and go. The headlines of today will one day fade into the pages of history. But the Jewish people continue forward with emunah, knowing that the Yad Hashem that redeemed us from Mitzrayim continues to guide the world today.

And that is the most powerful message we carry with us into this chodesh of geulah.

As others debate the war and speculate about how it will end and what victory will look like, events continue to unfold before our eyes.

Drones, bombs, and missiles continue falling on Eretz Yisroel. Travel is curtailed, and much of daily life in that country has been placed on hold.

At such moments, we must remember the truth that has sustained our people for thousands of years: The nations may rage, the mighty may boast, and tyrants may threaten, but Klal Yisroel lives on, because the One who redeemed us then continues to watch over us now.

We must know that just as in Mitzrayim, the pain we endure – the battles, the struggles, and the difficulties we face in our personal lives, in our communities, and in the world around us – are part of a process that will ultimately lead to geulah, when our suffering will finally come to an end.

The Jews in Mitzrayim were unable to listen to Moshe Rabbeinu when he brought them words of consolation and told them that their redemption was near. Let us not be like them.

Let us strengthen our emunah. Let us carry the simcha of Adar into Nissan. Let us remember that the difficult period will lead to better times. And may we merit that in the month in which geulah began, we will witness its completion once and for all with the coming of the final and everlasting geulah.

The FBI is investigating former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent over allegations that he leaked classified information, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The probe reportedly began before Kent’s departure from government service.

Kent resigned Tuesday from his position as the nation’s top counterterrorism official, citing his opposition to the U.S. war against Iran.

In a public statement, Kent said he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war,” arguing that Iran posed no imminent threat and that the conflict represents a shift away from previous efforts to avoid prolonged wars in the Middle East. He also claimed that Trump was influenced by Israel to go to ar.

A senior administration official previously told Fox News Digital that Kent was a “known leaker” and had been excluded from intelligence briefings months prior to his resignation.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — During the days leading up to the Pesach holiday, the head of the Eda Charedis, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, personally handed out holiday support funds to the kollel students of his kollel “Teshuvot VeHanhagot.”

Rabbi Sternbuch requested to distribute the envelopes himself to the students immediately after delivering a halachic lecture to them at the end of the study term. Those present could not help but wonder why he did not spare himself the effort, especially given the heavy workload he carries during the busy Pesach period.

In response, Rabbi Sternbuch shared a powerful and moving story he had heard from Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, a story that sheds a completely different light on the significance of every action in fulfilling a mitzvah. He said:

“Rabbi Abramsky told me that while he was in Vilna, he once looked through the ledger of the Chevra Kadisha and saw a recorded incident about the wife of the Vilna Gaon. She used to go with a friend to collect charity for the poor of the city. Over the years, the two agreed with a handshake that whoever passed away first would appear in a dream to the other and describe what happens in the World of Truth and how judgment is conducted there.

Years passed, and the friend died first. After some time, she appeared in a dream to the Vilna Gaon’s wife and told her that it is impossible to describe how exacting Heaven is regarding even the smallest actions, and that she was not permitted to reveal what takes place there. However, since she had made a promise, she was allowed to share one detail:

‘Do you remember that we were once on a certain street in Vilna and saw a poor man on the other side of the road? I motioned for him to come over so I could give him charity, and he came and was happy. Know that in Heaven they held me accountable for this: Why didn’t I make the effort to walk across the street myself to merit the mitzvah of going to the poor person? They said this showed a lack of appreciation for the value of mitzvot. That is how deep and awe-inspiring the judgment is.’

The next morning, the Vilna Gaon’s wife was shaken and told her husband about the dream. The Gaon instructed that the members of the Chevra Kadisha be called so they could hear the story and record it in their ledger for future generations, so that all would reflect on the depth of divine judgment. And indeed, it was written there: ‘By the instruction of the Vilna Gaon, we record this incident here.’

Rabbi Abramsky added,” concluded Rabbi Sternbuch, “that from then on, whenever he would send money to a poor person or an institution, he would make the effort to physically walk to the mailbox himself, so as not to lose the merit of exerting himself personally for the mitzvah.”

The resonating message from Rabbi Sternbuch was clear: when it comes to the mitzvah of charity, there is no substitute for personal effort. For him, the act of distribution is not merely technical, it is a rare opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah in its fullest sense, with personal involvement and dignity.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, issued a sharp warning to Iran on Wednesday, condemning its actions against neighboring countries and stating that the kingdom may respond with military force if necessary.

Speaking to reporters following a gathering of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers, Prince Faisal accused Tehran of refusing to engage constructively with countries in the region and instead attempting to exert pressure on them.

He said that Iran “doesn’t believe in talking to its neighbors”, adding that “it tries to pressure its neighbors” and emphasized that such tactics would not succeed.

“The kingdom is not going to succumb to pressure, and, on the contrary, this pressure will backfire … politically, will backfire, I believe, morally, and certainly, as we have stated clearly, we reserve the right to take military actions if necessary,” he stressed.

Prince Faisal also dismissed Iran’s justification for targeting civilian infrastructure in neighboring countries, calling its explanation—that such attacks are tied to the presence of U.S. military bases—“unconvincing”.

He added that participants at the Riyadh meeting agreed Iran must immediately halt its support for proxy groups operating throughout the region.

According to Prince Faisal, whatever limited trust once remained between Iran and its neighbors has now been completely eroded.

“Iran’s attacks on neighboring countries were premeditated, and what we are witnessing now confirms this,” he said, adding, “I would hope that they understand the message of the meeting today, recalculate quickly and stop attacking their neighbors.”

Following recent U.S. and Israeli strikes inside Iran, Tehran has carried out a series of retaliatory actions across the region, including against Saudi Arabia.

Among those incidents were multiple attempted strikes on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, including one attack involving two drones that resulted in a small fire and minor structural damage.

A report by The Washington Post, published shortly after the military campaign against Iran began, claimed that President Donald Trump moved forward with the strikes after weeks of behind-the-scenes pressure from Israeli and Saudi leadership.

According to sources cited in that report, the Saudi crown prince held several private conversations with Trump in recent weeks urging military action, even as he publicly promoted diplomacy.

Saudi officials strongly rejected that account, with a spokesperson for the kingdom’s embassy in Washington stating, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been consistent in supporting diplomatic efforts to reach a credible deal with Iran.”

“At no point in all our communication with the Trump Administration did we lobby the President to adopt a different policy,” he added.

In a more recent development, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia has increased direct diplomatic contacts with Iran as part of an effort to prevent further escalation and contain the broader regional conflict.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s Health Ministry reports that 177 people were taken to hospitals over the past 24 hours as a result of the ongoing war with Iran.

Of those injured, one person is listed in critical condition, two in moderate condition, and the vast majority — 167 — in good condition. One additional individual was treated for anxiety.

Officials noted that not all injuries were necessarily caused directly by missile or rocket fire, with some sustained while civilians rushed to reach shelter.

Since the start of the war on February 28, a total of 3,924 people have been hospitalized, with 74 still receiving treatment.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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Israel’s carrier EL AL has issued an urgent update, that due to a new Home Front Command directive slashing passenger capacity on outbound flights to the United States by 50%, roughly 130 per flight, approximately half of currently booked passengers are expected to receive cancellation notices, a spokesperson to Belaaz said.

EL AL says that affected travelers will receive full refunds or vouchers. The airline said it is also halting assignment of additional passengers to these routes for now.

No changes are anticipated for inbound flights from the US to Israel.

In a statement, EL AL apologized for the disruption and says it will adjust quickly if guidelines change to restore more capacity. This follows ongoing security measures at Ben Gurion Airport after a few planes were damaged by Iran missile shrapnel amid regional tensions.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Viznitzer Rebbe of Yerushalayim, Rav Eliezer Hagar, was involved in a accident while arriving at the Kever of his father in Monsey in honor of the Yahrtzeit

Belaaz is told that the Gabai drove into a truck and moments later the Rebbe was picked up by another vehicle to continue his journey to the Tzion

• One of the Rebbe’s family members tells Belaaz that the accident was minor, the Rebbe was not injured and was left the scene without needing medical treatment.

Maran Rosh HaYeshiva Rav Dov Landau delivered powerful words of chizuk at Yeshivas Beis Medrash Elyon, marking the close of the winter zeman and concluding a broad chizuk trip across the heichalei haTorah in Eretz Yisroel, during which he visited more than 40 yeshivos.

Addressing the oilam, the Rosh HaYeshiva spoke with clarity about the current matzav, especially in light of the ongoing war.

“Boruch Hashem, the olam haTorah is flourishing. Thousands upon thousands are learning Torah, despite the difficulties, despite the decrees, despite the מלחמות. ‘Shivti b’veis Hashem kol yemei chayai.’”

He emphasized that the protection of Klal Yisroel comes through Torah.

“There is no ספק that Torah is what protects. According to derech hateva, there is no explanation for all the nissim that are happening before our eyes. It is very troubling that there are those who are making it difficult for lomdei Torah. What do they want—to drill a hole in the very ship we are all on?”

The Rosh HaYeshiva stressed the proper perspective a Yid must have during such times.

“A person must know something fundamental—we place our bitachon in the Ribbono Shel Olam. We believe with complete emunah that He watches over us and protects us. Of course, one must be careful and take precautions, but ultimately we are in the hands of Shamayim. There is no reason to live with fear and panic. Nothing is in the hands of man—everything is in the hands of Shamayim. Our tafkid is to increase Torah and tefillah in order to bring more rachamei Shamayim upon those dwelling in Tzion.”

Turning to the upcoming bein hazmanim, he issued a strong call to bnei yeshiva.

“We are now heading into bein hazmanim, which by nature can be a time of weakness in learning. But a true ben yeshiva cannot disconnect from Torah—even during bein hazmanim.”

He added that in the current situation, the responsibility is even greater.

“In times like these, when we need so much rachamei Shamayim, the obligation to increase Torah is doubled and redoubled. Not a single day should pass without several hours of uninterrupted, focused learning. Klal Yisroel needs our protection—the protection of lomdei Torah. If not us, then who?”

The Rosh HaYeshiva also reminded the bochurim of their broader responsibilities.

“Of course, one must fulfill kibbud av v’eim, but always remember our main mission—to increase Torah, to live a life of Torah, and to be mekadesh Shem Shamayim, so that people will say, ‘Ashrei rabo shelimdo Torah, ashrei aviv shelimdo Torah.’”

He concluded with a heartfelt bracha.

“Yehi ratzon that the roshei yeshiva should be zoche to continue increasing their תלמידים for many good years, and that we should all merit the geulah shleimah speedily in our days, amen.”

{Matzav.com}

A wave of curiosity spread through the Knesset and across the country after an unusual and cryptic remark by Tourism and Welfare Minister Chaim Katz, who suggested that Israel may be approaching a breakthrough that could make air-raid sirens unnecessary.

Speaking during a Knesset session, Katz alluded to a developing technological capability that could fundamentally change how Israel handles incoming threats. “I believe we are, hopefully without needing it, approaching a solution where before a launch we won’t need a siren,” he told lawmakers, before quickly adding with a smile, “I said it, and I don’t know if I said too much, but I said it.”

The vague statement immediately sparked widespread speculation among both officials and the public, raising the possibility that Israel is nearing a system capable of stopping enemy projectiles before they even enter Israeli airspace.

Security analysts point to the advanced laser defense system known as “Magen Or” as the most likely candidate behind Katz’s remarks. Developed entirely in Israel, the system has undergone extensive operational testing over the past two and a half years of fighting since the war began on October 7, demonstrating highly effective interception capabilities.

Katz’s comments suggest that this laser technology—possibly combined with other classified systems—could soon render traditional warning sirens obsolete by eliminating threats either within enemy territory or immediately upon launch, before they pose any danger to populated areas.

Despite the cautious optimism surrounding these developments, the reality on the ground remains painful and fresh. While most incoming missiles and drones from the north and from Iran have been successfully intercepted b’chasdei Hashem, the nation still carries the trauma of the deadly strike in Beit Shemesh, where a single interception failure resulted in the deaths of nine civilians, including three children from the Biton family Hy”d. That tragedy continues to underscore the urgent need for a fully reliable defense system that can prevent any breach.

Whether Katz’s statement was an intentional reveal or an offhand remark, it has injected a sense of hope into a public weary of constant sirens and disruptions. A shift from reactive defense—relying on warnings and sheltering—to proactive systems that eliminate threats before impact could mark a turning point in Israel’s security reality. For now, attention turns to whether this hinted-at solution will soon become an operational game-changer.

{Matzav.com}

(AP) – Upgraded graphics in video games sound like they would be popular amongst players and enthusiasts, but Nvidia is finding that the opposite appears to be true with its latest tech.

The company announced at a conference Monday that the new version of its artificial intelligence technology designed to boost performance will enable game developers to deliver “photoreal computer graphics previously only achieved in Hollywood visual effects.”

DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is Nvidia’s image enhancement technology. First released in 2018, the technology was initially used to upscale resolution, but now it can generate entirely new frames. It has been integrated in over 750 games, according to the company.

DLSS 5 will arrive this fall, but Nvidia presented a sample of what games will look like with the new technology earlier this week.

So why and how are gamers mad about what the company calls its “most significant breakthrough in computer graphics” in recent years?

Because the examples it used in a presentation look —as those on the internet would say — “yassified,” or heavily edited in an attempt to look more attractive, often to the point of comedy.

A brief clip of the character Grace Ashcroft from Resident Evil Requiem shows a before and after shot of her with DLSS 5 both off and on, and the difference is significant. While some aspects of the image vastly improve its appearance, like enhanced details and texture in the background, the character’s face looks significantly different. With DLSS 5, she has more plump lips, the bags under her eyes don’t appear as dark and it looks like she’s wearing makeup.

As the sample clips continue, more characters from Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield and EA Sports FC get similar treatment.

“DLSS 5 is the GPT moment for graphics — blending handcrafted rendering with generative AI to deliver a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said in a release Monday.

Many gamers responded with criticism, with one commenter on YouTube writing, “The obsession with fidelity over art direction is reaching terminal levels.” Some felt the technology undermines artistic intent from the game designers, changing lighting choices and facial features instead of simply enhancing the image. Some also said the clips with DLSS 5 on had a general uncanny feeling, featuring hallmarks of AI-generated imagery.

Others responded with memes.

One person posted side-by-side images on X of the famous Great Depression-era photograph “Migrant Mother” with a heavily edited version where the once despondent woman is flashing a bright smile and sporting heavy makeup. The text reads “Nvidia presents DLSS 5.”

DLSS 5 has prompted a new meme template, which other posts have followed a similar format. Two similar images appear, with one clearly edited, and often have accompanying text like “DLSS 5 off vs. DLSS 5 on.” One post uses the popular and often-memed image of actor Kevin James and juxtaposes it next to a version of the photo in which his face looks entirely different.

Others take images that were clearly designed to be in an animated, cartoon-like style and put them next to an unsettlingly realistic version of that image.

In a comment pinned to its YouTube video showcasing what the technology can do, Nvidia said “game developers have full, detailed artistic control over DLSS 5’s effects to ensure they maintain their game’s unique aesthetic.”

Huang also responded to the criticism during a press Q&A on Tuesday, saying that critics are “completely wrong.”

“The reason for that is because, as I have explained very carefully, DLSS 5 fuses controllability of the geometry and textures and everything about the game with generative AI,” he said in response to a question about the criticism from Tom’s Hardware. Developers can still “fine-tune the generative AI” to make it match their style, he said, adding that DLSS 5 “doesn’t change the artistic control.” Nvidia said DLSS 5 will come to games including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Delta Force, Justice, Phantom Blade Zero, Sea of Remnants and several other titles when it arrives in the fall.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top intelligence official told lawmakers Wednesday that Iran’s regime “appears to be intact but largely degraded” yet repeatedly dodged questions about whether President Donald Trump had been warned about the fallout from the weeks-old war, including Iran’s attacks on Gulf nations and its effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, also stated in prepared remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee that U.S. attacks on Iran last year had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program and that there had been no effort since then to rebuild that capability.

The statement was notable given Trump’s repeated assertions that a war with Iran was necessary to head off what he said was an imminent threat from the Islamic Republic. Gabbard pointedly said that conclusion was the president’s alone to draw as she declined to directly answer whether the intelligence community had likewise assessed that Iran’s nuclear system presented an imminent risk to the United States.

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she said at one point.

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia shot back: “It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States.”

The testimony came at the first of two congressional hearings held each year to offer the public a glimpse into the largely secret operations of the government’s intelligence agencies and the threats they confront.

The hearings this week take place at a time of scrutiny over the war with Iran and heightened concerns about terrorism at home after recent attacks at a Michigan synagogue and a Virginia university. Wednesday’s hearing also came a day after the resignation of Joe Kent as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Kent said he could not “in good conscience” back the war and did not agree that Iran posed an imminent threat.

But the hours-long hearing offered few revelations from Gabbard, who repeatedly declined to discuss conversations with Trump, or other senior intelligence officials who testified.

“I am very disappointed,” said an exasperated Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It’s the only one time of year the public gets to hear from you guys in this kind of setting.”

Gabbard deflected questions about intelligence given to Trump
A frequent line of questioning for Democrats: What intelligence, if any, had been given to Trump about the war’s potential consequences? Trump, for instance, has said he was surprised that Iran responded to strikes from the United States by attacking Arab nations and has been contending with the economic impact of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a body of water connecting the Persian Gulf to the world’s oceans and a vital passageway for oil and gas.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that Trump was “fully briefed” on the possibility of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and that the Pentagon has been planning for the possibility of Iran closing it “for DECADES.”

But Trump’s plan to secure the waterway is unclear, especially after he said this week that NATO and most other allies had rejected his calls to help secure it. Iran has said the strait is open except to the U.S. and its allies.

Democrats got few direct answers when they pressed administration officials on what Trump understood about that possibility, with Gabbard saying she would not divulge her conversations with him and CIA Director John Ratcliffe observing that he had been in countless briefings with the president.

“We’re trying to figure out if the president knew what the downside was of the Strait of Hormuz being closed,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat. “Did he know this was going to happen or did he just disregard it?”

Gabbard appeared to try to thread a needle between emphasizing the intelligence community’s views of Iran’s risks — she said, for instance, that internal tensions would continue to increase even if the regime’s leadership remained intact — and not completely echoing the president’s arguments of an imminent threat.

At one point, Warner noted that Gabbard, in her prepared written statement submitted to the committee, said Iran’s nuclear enrichment program had been obliterated in strikes last year, but her opening remarks on Wednesday did not use that language.

He asked whether she had omitted that reference to conform to Trump’s claims of an imminent threat. Gabbard insisted that she had skipped some of her written statement in the interest of time.

Trump has sought to distance himself from Kent. Ratcliffe tried to do the same Wednesday when he was asked whether intelligence supported Kent’s assessment that Iran was not an imminent threat. “The intelligence reflects the contrary,” Ratcliffe said.

Questions about other attacks and Gabbard’s presence at an FBI search
Gabbard and Ratcliffe fielded the majority of questions, but other witnesses included the heads of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel, who was pressed about the terrorism threat amid a spate of attacks this month. Those include a man with a past terrorism conviction who opened fire inside an Old Dominion University classroom in Virginia and a Lebanese-born man in Michigan who drove his car into a synagogue.

One subject that did not receive attention: a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran, which people familiar with the matter have said the U.S. likely carried out as a result of outdated intelligence.

Apart from Iran, Gabbard was pressed on her presence at an FBI search in January of the main election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, where agents seized voter data related to the 2020 presidential election. Her appearance at a domestic law enforcement operation raised eyebrows given that Gabbard’s office is meant to focus squarely on foreign threats.

Warner described her appearance there as part of an “organized effort to misuse her national security powers to interfere in domestic politics and potentially provide a pretext for the president’s unconstitutional efforts to seize control of the upcoming elections.”

Gabbard responded that she was present for the search at the request of the president but did not participate, though she later said she helped to oversee it.

The House Intelligence Committee will hold its own threats hearing on Thursday.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is now conceding that progressive calls to “defund the police” and relaxed border policies were mistakes, offering a sharp reassessment of positions he once defended.

De Blasio, who recently found himself confused with another individual sharing his name in a news report, made the remarks during a friendly appearance with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Hannity’s podcast, “Hang Out with Sean Hannity.”

“In retrospect, the whole concept of ‘defund the police’ made no sense,” de Blasio said as the Democrat sat with a margarita.

“It made sense to say, `how can we do better?’ It made sense to say, hey—and by the way, a lot of cops told me this. A lot of police leaders told me this—we’ve got to do a lot more for young people to give them positive alternatives, because that’s good for the police too. That’s good safety too.”

Hannity responded, “We’re not disagreeing, right? This is amazing.”

De Blasio responded, “So far we’re doing good. We’re doing—so defund was a mistake. And I understand where it came from, but it was a mistake.”

During another portion of the discussion, de Blasio also acknowledged that President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern border had fallen short.

“We’re going to have some common ground. Are you ready?” de Blasio teased Hannity.

“I’m shocked,” Hannity said.

“OK – I don’t like what Biden did with the border,” said de Blasio, who served as mayor from 2014 to 2021.

Hannity asked him, “Why didn’t you say it then?”

“Because honestly,” de Blasio said, “I didn’t think it was as bad as it was. And then, when I saw it during Biden’s time, that he was able to reverse course in that final year and tighten up the border—no, I mean, that’s the irony.”

Hannity pushed back, arguing that Biden acted too late and should not be credited for tightening border enforcement after the situation had already escalated, which he said led to a surge of migrants arriving in cities like New York.

“Something changed. Obviously, something changed,” de Blasio said.

“So we better drink more of your margarita,” Hannity joked. “This is going to get tougher.”

De Blasio then confesses, “We, as Democrats, rightfully deserve that critique.”

The comments drew reactions from conservative figures in New York, some of whom welcomed the shift while noting it came long after de Blasio left office.

“Even a stopped clock is right twice a day,” quipped state Conservative Party chairman Gerard Kassar.

“Unfortunately, de Blasio didn’t say this when he had the power to make a difference. But I’m glad he’s admitting he’s wrong.”

Kassar added that de Blasio could have seen the scope of the migrant crisis firsthand by visiting areas such as the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, which was used temporarily as a shelter.

While in office, de Blasio did not explicitly embrace the slogan “defund the police,” but he did back a major reduction in police funding during the unrest following George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The City Council ultimately approved an $88.1 billion budget that redirected roughly $1 billion away from the NYPD.

At the time, de Blasio defended the move, saying he believed the city had reached the proper balance.

“We are reducing the size of our police force by not having the next recruit class,” he said at the time. “We are reducing our overtime levels. We’re shifting functions away from police to civilian agencies.”

However, less than a year later, in April 2021, de Blasio reversed course and approved $105 million for the construction of a new NYPD precinct in Southeast Queens, responding to strong demand from local residents and reversing an earlier decision to scrap the project amid pressure to cut police spending.

{Matzav.com}

📰 Headline News

• Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib killed in Israeli precision strike.

• Israel is reportedly expanding a targeted campaign against Iranian regime figures across the country.

• Iran escalates conflict, opening a new front targeting infrastructure in Qatar.

🕍 Jewish News

• The Yeshiva World News website was hacked by an Iranian group.

• 30-year-old Breslover chassid killed in car accident en route to Uman via Egypt at Sharm El Sheik

• 50 new olim arrive in Israel despite ongoing war and uncertainty.

Israeli News

• Defense Minister Israel Katz says “significant surprises” are to come across Iran.

• IDF authorized to eliminate senior Iranian and Hezbollah figures on sight without additional approval.

• IDF strikes Hezbollah-controlled gas stations in southern Lebanon overnight.

• IDF continues targeting Iranian naval assets near the Caspian Sea.

• Foreign Thai worker killed in latest Iranian missile barrage on Israel.

• Iranian missile debris damages three private planes at Ben Gurion Airport.

• Israel lowers incoming flight capacity to 130 passengers per flight.

• El Al cancels 25,000 tickets, with disruptions continuing through March 29.

🌍 International News

• Iran launches additional drone attacks toward Dubai.

• UAE among the most heavily targeted Gulf countries amid Iranian aggression.

• Fires erupt at major Iranian gas fields, after Israeli strikes; these are some of the largest gas fields in the world.

• Iranian missile strike kills multiple Palestinians in Beit Awwa.

• French President Macron says France will not participate in efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

🏛 Political News

• Trump issues 60-day waiver of the Jones Act to increase oil flow into U.S. ports.

• Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio admits defunding the police “made no sense.”

National News

• Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady for second straight meeting.

• National gas prices rise to $3.84 per gallon.

• Record number of TSA agents call out amid ongoing pay issue, during this government shutdown.

• Trump to attend dignified transfer of six airmen killed in KC-135 crash over Iraq.

💼 Business News

• Amazon rolls out 1-hour and 3-hour delivery options in thousands of cities.

• Tesla announces new Roadster set for release this spring.

• Elon Musk says Tesla Superchargers in Israel will be temporarily free during the war.

• X is preparing to launch a “dislike” button feature.

🏙 New York

• NYC Mayor Mamdani files lawsuit against landlord over failure to make repairs, charging him $1,000 per day.

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Nine Things to Remember When Saying Tehillim for a Choleh

1. There is a Zohar (parshas vayishlach p. 179) which states: “Come and see, in these songs and praises that Dovid HaMelech recited – there is within them secrets and and matters from Above that are of the very mysteries of wisdom.  And since they were all said in Ruach HaKodesh, for Dovid HaMelech possessed Ruach haKodesh and he recited the shira – therefore they were said with the very secrets of wisdom.”  This is why these words are particularly effective.
2. One who recites Tehillim for a sick person fulfills the Torah Mitzvah of v’ahavta larayacha kamocha (Chashukei Chemed Brachos 12b citing numerous Poskim).
3. When saying Tehillim for someone it is very important to attempt to reverse the “strict judgement” that has been placed upon him to “Divine mercy.” One way in which this can be done is to focus on our love for that individual.  The Belzer Rebbe and the Chida have both stated the following interpretation of the pasuk regarding loving our fellow man:   V’ahavta la’rayacha kamocha – ani Hashem.  Kamocha is in gematriah 86 which is equivalent to the Name of Hashem that represents strict justice – Elokim.  If one focuses on loving one’s fellow – specifically, this individual, then ani Hashem.  The Name that represents Divine mercy, the yud kay vov kay is invoked.
4. The Rambam (Hilchos Avodah Zarah 11:12) writes that it is forbidden to use words of Torah to effect a cure for someone. Therefore, one should have in mind that the person be healed by virture of the supplications being recited on behalf of the sick person (Likutei Teshuvos v’Hanhagos p. 400, Rav Moshe Shternbuch shlita).  Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l advises that one focus on the limud of Torah in the Tehillim (Halichos Shlomo Tefillah, 8:22)
5. Rav Chatzkel Levenstein zt”l (Ohr Yechezkel, Yirah uMussar p. 330) advises people when reciting tehillim for a sick person in a tzibbur to also pray for their own growth in spirituality. [YH: as even the partial success of this part of the Tefillah may further help the choleh as well].
6. When praying in front of the person it is preferable not to recite the person’s name (see Chasam Sofer Nedarim 40a) as it may bring some strict judgement upon that individual. When praying for the person not in his presence it is best to recite his name.  This is perhaps why Moshe Rabbeinu, when davening for Miriam said the words, “Refah Na La.”  The name recited is that of the person ______ the child of _________ (the person’s mother).  If the mother’s name is not known, one may recite the father’s name and if that is not know the person’s own name is sufficient.
7. When in front of the person, one may recite Tehillim or pray in any language, but when not in front of him one should pray in Hebrew only (SA YD 335:5).
8. When davening or saying Tehillim, one should not affix honorary titles upon the person (Sefer Chassidim #800).
9. When reciting Tehillim for a particular individual in public it is correct and proper to inform the tzibbur of the person’s name so that the tzibbur can focus on that person and that person can receive the benefit of tefillah b’tzibbur. (Halichos Shlomo [Rav S.Z.A.], Tefilah 8:22).

May Hashem send refuos and yeshuos for kol cholei amcha. The author can be reached at [email protected]

Please be mispallel for tzalcha bas Gedgi

A pall of mourning fell over the Gerer community on Wednesday with the passing of Mrs. Esther Weitz a”h, the esteemed sister-in-law of the Gerrer Rebbe, who was niftar at the age of 72 following a serious illness in recent weeks.

Mrs. Weitz was the wife of R’ Yissachar Dov Yeshaya Weitz, one of the respected members of the Gur chassidus in both Haifa and Ashdod. She was widely known as a woman of refinement and chesed, whose life reflected deep emunah and quiet strength.

She was born on 24 Tammuz 5713 to her father, R’ Yeshayahu Wexelman z”l, a prominent Gerrer chossid in Haifa who served as chairman of Agudas Yisroel in the city.

In her youth, she married her husband, R’ Yissachar Dov Yeshaya Weitz, a distinguished figure within the chassidus. He is the son of Rav Menachem Mendel Weitz z”l, who served as a maggid shiur in Yeshivas Chiddushei HaRim and was the father-in-law of the Gerrer Rebbe.

For many decades, the couple built a home in Haifa rooted in Torah and chassidus. Her husband is known as a yerei Shamayim who worked in kashrus supervision and also served as a baal tefillah, leading the davening in the main Gerrer Bais Medrash in Yerushalayim.

Those who knew her describe a true tzadekes, whose Tehillim was never far from her hands. Her days were filled with acts of kindness and devotion. Each Erev Shabbos, she would distribute Shabbos candles throughout the city of Haifa, enabling many to bring in Shabbos with light and kedusha. Over the past year, she and her husband relocated to Ashdod to be closer to their children.

She leaves behind a large and beautiful family, including 12 children, along with grandchildren and descendants who continue in the path of Torah and yiras Shamayim.

Yehi zichrah boruch.

{Matzav.com}

A pedestrian was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle on River Avenue in Lakewood this evening.

The patient was taken to Jersey Shore Hospital by Hatzolah.

The driver remained on scene and is cooperative with authorities.

River Avenue is closed in both directions from Pine Street to Broadway.

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday condemned special interest money that poured into the state ahead of this week’s primary, including from a pro-Israel political group that the billionaire and potential 2028 presidential contender once supported.

Pritzker, a Jewish Democrat who also spent money to influence races Tuesday, was a donor to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee before he walked away more than a decade ago. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that AIPAC, which lobbies for U.S. support for Israel and is a top donor to political campaigns, lost its way as a bipartisan group focused on Middle East peace.

“It became an organization that was supporting Donald Trump and people who follow Donald Trump,” Pritzker said. “AIPAC really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of.”

Outside groups, including AIPAC, funneled roughly $70 million into six open U.S. House and Senate races in Illinois on Tuesday. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, called it “interference.”

A message left Wednesday for an AIPAC spokesperson wasn’t immediately returned.

Outside groups influence campaign issues
The open contests in Illinois — largely due to retirements — were a proving ground for some of the biggest issues before Democrats in 2026, from support for Israel to the cryptocurrency and AI industries, as super PACs poured millions into the races. Questions about U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas war, and in recent days the Iran war, permeated several contests.

AIPAC’s involvement sparked some of the primary’s harshest attacks, but the group’s success was mixed. In a 10-candidate primary for a U.S. House district that includes parts of Chicago’s South Side, AIPAC backed Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, who won the Democratic nod Tuesday. The group’s preferred Democratic candidate in a heavily Jewish district north of Chicago, however, lost to Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.

While unopposed in his own primary, Pritzker was a strong presence in several campaigns, contributing millions to support his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, in her successful bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

The move, and Pritzker’s possible 2028 presidential bid, put a fresh spotlight on his global policy views amid growing unrest over the Democratic Party’s relationship to Israel.

A supporter of Israel, Pritzker has also rejected the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has called for two-state solution with “safe havens” needed both for Jews in Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

“I do not know why the United States has walked away from that, except, of course, that Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand how to create Middle East peace and instead wants to go to war, as he has now done in Iran, simply following Netanyahu into that war,” Pritzker said.

“Are we going to now take military adventures across the world to take out leaders, who we think are bad for their countries?” he said. “If so, we’re going to be involved in a whole lot of wars going forward.”

Millions into races from Pritzker, outside groups
Pritzker himself put at least $5 million into helping Stratton get elected. She won the Democratic Senate nomination over U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who dominated in fundraising.

Outside groups also spent more than $16 million to support Stratton’s campaign, while also spending $11 million in opposition.

Pritzker said Stratton won because she was strong on issues, not because of his influence.

“She stood on her own two feet, and people saw that she’s real and she’s going to be a fighter for us in Washington,” Pritzker said.

Some voters disagreed.

Matthew Crain, 54, who is from downstate Chatham, said Pritzker’s endorsement influenced him to change his vote from Krishnamoorthi to Stratton.

“I thought with potential future running for president, I thought having one of his allies in would be a good thing,” said Crain, a state worker.

Brooke Morgan, 39, from Springfield, said she became familiar with Stratton’s politics over her last seven years as lieutenant governor.

“The governor is doing a pretty good job in Illinois, and I think that his backing, his support of her certainly gave me some confidence as well,” said Morgan, a museum curator.

Eyes on November
In November, Pritzker faces Republican Darren Bailey, a former state lawmaker who backs Trump’s agenda. It will be a rematch after Pritzker handily defeated Bailey in 2022.

In a campaign speech to supporters Tuesday, Bailey, who received Trump’s endorsement four years ago, said he doesn’t agree with the president on everything and vowed to include Democrats who feel left out.

Meanwhile in a campaign ad posted Wednesday, Pritzker’s team characterized Bailey as “still too extreme for Illinois.”

When asked about his own ambitions for higher office, Pritzker said he is not planning anything beyond his 2026 bid for a third term.

“That is not something I’m thinking,” he said.