Yeshiva World NewsGulf Arab states are urging the US not to end the war before the Islamic Republic is fully neutralized and unable to threaten the Gulf’s oil resources, three Gulf sources told Reuters.
A Gulf source said that leaders in the region are unanimous in their desire for Trump to degrade Iran’s military capacity comprehensively, seeing that as the only alternative to living under constant threat. If Iran is not severely weakened, it will continue to hold the entire region under ransom, the source said.
At the same time, the sources, along with five Western and Arab diplomats, said that Washington is pressuring the Gulf states to join the US-Israeli war.
“There is a wide feeling across the Gulf that Iran has crossed every red line with every Gulf country,” said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center and familiar with government thinking.
“At first we defended them and opposed the war,” he said. “But once they began directing strikes at us, they became an enemy. There is no other way to classify them.”
“If the Americans pull out before the task is complete, we’ll be left to confront Iran on our own,” he added.
Tehran’s attacks on the Gulf states’ oil facilities, airports, and commercial centers, along with its hijacking of the Strait of Hormuz, have reinforced decades-long Gulf fears about the threat posed by the Islamic Republic.
Regional sources say that unilateral military action by any Gulf state is not a viable option since it would expose individual countries to retaliation, leaving “collective intervention” as the only feasible way forward.
However, according to the report, “consensus is still elusive.” The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE – have held just one Zoom call, and no Arab summit to discuss coordinated action is currently on the table.
According to Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics, the Arab Gulf states are facing a strategic dilemma: weighing the ongoing threat of Iranian attacks against the far greater risks of joining the US-Israeli war, which would turn them into open enemies of Iran and expose them to reprisal attacks. The result is that they are showing “calculated restraint”—defending their sovereignty without entering the war.
However, Sager noted that Saudi Arabia, Iran’s main rival for regional influence, would be forced to retaliate if Iran crossed red lines by striking major oil facilities or desalination plants or causing heavy casualties.
“In that case, Saudi Arabia would have no choice but to intervene,” he said, adding that even in such a case, he believes Riyadh would try to calibrate its response to avoid further escalation.
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz is another thorny issue.
“Now that Iran has shown it can shut down Hormuz, the Gulf faces a fundamentally different threat,” said Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University. “If it’s not addressed, this danger will be long-term.”
Haykel asserted that much of the Gulf’s oil and gas flows east to China, Japan, and other Asian economies, and that these economies must also take responsibility.
“China helped secure maritime routes off Somalia; it may be willing to step in here too,” he said.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The Lakewood ScoopUtility poles came down moments ago on County Line Road near Twin Oaks Drive in Lakewood as a result of the strong winds.
Power outages are being reported in the area.
Multiple trees are down in the Lakewood area as well.
Do not approach downed wires.
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Vos Iz NeiasMIAMI (VINnews)-Venezuela erupted for three two-out runs in the seventh inning to overcome Italy’s early lead, defeating the Cinderella Azzurri 4-2 on Monday night in the World Baseball Classic semifinals at loanDepot park.
The victory sends Venezuela to its first-ever WBC championship game, where it will face the United States on Tuesday night. Italy, which had stunned higher-seeded teams including the U.S. and Puerto Rico earlier in the tournament, saw its improbable run end despite a strong start.
Venezuela starter — with Italy’s Michael Lorenzen taking the loss after allowing three earned runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief work. Anthony Zerpa earned the win in relief for Venezuela, and David Palencia closed it out with a scoreless ninth for the save.
Italy jumped ahead early, building a 2-0 lead through the middle innings behind timely hitting. Venezuela chipped away with a solo home run by Eugenio Suarez in the fourth to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The game remained tight until the decisive seventh. With two outs and the bases loaded, Ronald Acuña Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez delivered consecutive RBI hits — including key two-out contributions — to plate three runs and give Venezuela a 4-2 advantage.
Venezuela’s bullpen held firm from there, stranding potential rallies and preserving the lead.
The South American powerhouse, loaded with MLB stars including Acuña, Arraez and others, had already eliminated defending champion Japan in the quarterfinals. This semifinal triumph marks a historic milestone for a nation long known for producing elite talent but never before reaching the WBC final.
Italy, managed by Venezuelan-born Francisco Cervelli — adding an emotional layer to the matchup — finishes with a remarkable run that included a perfect pool phase and upsets over powerhouses. The Azzurri’s blend of MLB contributors like Vinnie Pasquantino and others showcased baseball’s global growth.
Venezuela outhit Italy 8-? (details sparse in early reporting), committing no errors while capitalizing on late opportunities.
The final awaits Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, pitting Venezuela against the host nation U.S. in what promises to be a star-studded clash.
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MatzavPresident Donald Trump offered an unusual public assessment of French President Emmanuel Macron, saying he would rate the French leader “an 8 out of 10” while discussing relations with European allies.
Trump made the remarks while speaking about his interactions with Macron and cooperation with European leaders, offering a mix of praise and humor as he evaluated the French president’s performance.
“Yeah, I have spoken to him,” Trump said. “He’s been, on a scale of 0-10, I’d say he’s been an 8.”
Trump added that while Macron had done well overall, he was not perfect, joking that perfection was not expected given the challenges of leading France.
“Not perfect — but it’s France. We don’t expect perfect,” Trump said.
The remarks came as Trump discussed ongoing diplomatic engagement with European leaders and coordination with allies on international issues. Trump has maintained a sometimes complicated relationship with Macron, alternating between praise and criticism during various international disputes.
{Matzav.com}
MatzavA striking exchange between a yeshiva bochur and the tzaddik Rav Dov Kook of Tverya about the proper approach to limud haTorah has emerged.
Last week, a bochur from Yeshivas Shaarei Shmuos visited Rav Kook and asked him to write a dedication and bracha in the sefer Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah. Rav Kook responded that now that the young man is 20 years old, the sefer is appropriate for him, adding that for younger bochurim it is not yet suitable.
At that point, Rav Kook unexpectedly asked the bochur a question: Did he know how one becomes a true lamdan in Torah?
Rav Kook immediately answered his own question with a piece of advice. He warned the bochur not to overanalyze the concept of “methods of learning.”
“It is forbidden to think about this in a literal way,” Rav Kook said. “Because someone who thinks about it in a literal way becomes very confused. You must simply learn normally. What you understand, you understand. Learn in the straightforward way, and that is all.”
Rav Kook continued explaining why he discourages discussions about formal “approaches” or “systems” of learning.
“It damages a person very much when people talk about ‘methods of learning,’” he said. “And if there is anything that could truly be called a ‘method of learning,’ it is only Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah. That is learning in the fullest sense. There is no greater lomdus than this. What is explained there is extremely subtle, the finest of the fine. It is the ultimate peak.”
Later in the conversation, Rav Kook also spoke about the bochur’s rosh yeshiva, Rav Aryeh Shapira, praising the clarity of his teaching.
“Your rosh yeshiva, Reb Aryeh Shapira, has the quality that he speaks straight and clearly, with joy and without deviating to the side,” Rav Kook said. “He speaks in a healthy way — the healthiest way. I have seen this myself. He is very thoughtful. He was here several times. I heard him and saw that he is very clear. He is not simple. He is also the son of great people — his grandfather and his father.”
Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah is the second section of the sefer Tanya, written by the Alter Rebbe, Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi. In this section, the Alter Rebbe elaborates on the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that belief in the unity of Hashem does not merely mean that there is no other higher power besides Him.
Rather, the teaching explains that Hashem is the only true reality, and nothing exists independently of Him — the concept expressed in the phrase Ein Od Milvado. Everything that appears to exist separately is not truly independent existence. The continued existence of creation depends at every moment on the divine word that sustains it; without that constant divine life-force, all creation would immediately revert to absolute nothingness, just as it was before the world was created.
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsApproximately 200 U.S. service members have been injured during the ongoing war with Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.
CENTCOM spokesperson Timothy Hawkins said the injuries occurred across seven different countries during the military campaign.
The vast majority of the injuries were minor, and more than 180 troops have already returned to duty.
The latest figures mark an increase from the 140 injuries the Pentagon reported as of March 10. At that time, eight of the wounded were described as severely injured.
U.S. officials also confirmed that 13 American service members have been killed in action so far in the conflict.
Military officials note that injury numbers often change as some troops delay seeking medical care depending on the severity of their injuries.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavSecurity forces on Monday removed a large Iranian missile that had fallen in the cemetery area of Tzfas, near the Arizal’s Mikvah, one of the city’s well-known sites visited by many people throughout the year. Despite the powerful impact and the sensitive location of the strike, the incident ended without injuries.
Authorities initially responded amid concerns that hazardous materials might be involved. The Environmental Protection Ministry said that emergency teams from Fire and Rescue Services were dispatched after reports of interceptor debris and a possible hazardous-materials incident.
Following extensive testing at the scene, officials determined that the situation did not involve dangerous materials. Instead, the fire that had broken out was caused by remnants of jet fuel still contained inside the missile. The ministry said it would continue monitoring the situation and stressed the importance of following Home Front Command instructions.
At the same time, Fire and Rescue officials in the Northern District reported that firefighters from the Galil-Golan station were handling several locations where missile fragments had landed in open areas around Tzfas. Additional monitoring teams conducted further inspections and confirmed that no environmental danger remained.
After the examinations were completed, residents who had initially been instructed to remain indoors were informed that they could safely return to their normal routines. Tzfas municipal spokesman Tamir Engel said all inspections had concluded and that there was no danger to the public.
The missile was transferred to security authorities for further handling, while city officials said emergency forces remain prepared for any additional developments.
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsRepresentatives of Hamas held talks in Cairo with envoys from President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in an effort to preserve the Gaza ceasefire, which has come under strain since the U.S. and Israel launched their war with Iran, Reuters reports.
The meeting over the weekend is the first publicly known contact between Hamas and the board since the Iran war began. The board, chaired by Trump, was created to oversee postwar plans for Gaza.
Sources told Reuters that Hamas warned it could back away from some ceasefire commitments if Israel maintains restrictions imposed on Gaza during the Iran conflict.
Shortly after the meeting, Israel announced it would soon reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which had been closed since the start of the Iran war.
Before the conflict with Iran, Trump’s Gaza plan had been a central element of his Middle East strategy. However, talks on Hamas disarmament — expected to be a key phase of the plan — have reportedly been paused since the war began.
U.S. officials confirmed that American envoys have been meeting regional partners in Cairo as part of ongoing efforts to advance Trump’s broader Gaza framework.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavA prominent kashrus expert has issued a sharp warning against efforts by the Tzohar rabbinical organization to establish an independent kashrus certification system in Israel, arguing that such a move could undermine the existing national framework.
Speaking Monday night in an interview with Avi Mimran on the program Hamehadura Hamerkazit, Rav Yochanan Reichman strongly criticized Tzohar’s petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice seeking permission to issue kashrus certificates without the approval of the Chief Rabbinate. According to Rav Reichman, the very act of asking the court to serve as an independent regulator raises serious concerns. “The very appeal to the High Court to act as its own regulator raises questions and red flags,” he said, adding that even the strictest badatz organizations operate in coordination with the Rabbinate.
Rav Reichman argued that attempts to create an alternative kashrus structure built on halachic leniencies are fundamentally flawed. “To base kashrus on bedieved, on shaas hadechak, on heterim—that is not how you run a system. No one begins with Plan B,” he said. As an illustration, he recounted a story about the renowned Yerushalmi tzaddik Rav Dovid Baharan, who once wept when he was forced to rely on a halachic bedieved ruling.
According to Rav Reichman, a proper kashrus system must be established from the outset on the highest lechatchila standards, with leniencies used only in rare and pressing situations.
During the interview, the discussion compared the national kashrus framework to other state institutions such as the military and the healthcare system. Rav Reichman warned that dismantling the centralized structure could lead to chaos. “Tomorrow everyone will set up his own army, his own hospital. That would be destruction,” he said. “You would be taking an institution that has stood for years with the backing of the gedolei Yisroel and destroying it.”
He pointed to the Military Rabbinate as an example of a successful state-run religious institution and questioned why Tzohar was not pursuing cooperation with the Chief Rabbinate in the same way other private kashrus bodies do.
Toward the end of the conversation, Rav Reichman addressed Tzohar chairman Rav Dovid Stav personally, saying that while he knows him and recognizes his positive character, he is surprised by the direction the organization has taken professionally.
“I say to Tzohar: be like everyone else. Don’t try to damage the kashrus of Am Yisroel,” Reichman said.
Host Avi Mimran concluded the discussion by noting that the issue will now move to deliberations in both the High Court and the Knesset, where it will be decided whether the Chief Rabbinate’s authority over kashrus certification will remain intact or whether the system will open to broader competition.
Religious and political leaders are closely watching the developments, as a ruling by the High Court could significantly reshape the kashrus landscape for restaurants and food establishments across Israel. Supporters of the initiative argue it could lower prices and improve service, while critics like Rav Reichman warn it could weaken the halachic integrity of the country’s established kashrus system.
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsTo preface what I’m going to write, this is to be clear – this issue doesn’t warrant an asifa, but it’s an issue nonetheless.
We all grew up with composers and singers in our lives. They weren’t singing to be role models, rather singing as a parnassah. Even today, I believe most of them are still like that.
This letter isn’t about protesting them.
We also grew up with children singing in different contexts – shuls, choirs, and small groups. In the earlier days, it was the London Boys Choir, Pirchei etc. For the last 40-plus years, it was the Miami Boys Choir. There were some others recently, like Yeshiva Boys Choir, Shalsheles Jr, Sheves Chaveirim, and so on. These choirs and groups were led by people of stellar character e.g. Yerachmiel Begun, Eli Gerstner, Ari Goldwag, etc, who composed and produced beautiful songs with messaging properly given.
Recently, however, a new group began taking over the scene. This group has been very successful at getting themselves out there, and have proven to be far more influential than any other choirs or youth groups in recent memory.
This wouldn’t be an issue at all, if the songs and messaging contained within them were proper and good for chinuch. However, due to this groups messaging, combined with their meteoric rise, we must speak up.
Childrens’ brains are not fully developed, and thereby are very impressionable, being influenced by what they hear and see. This is true when the influence comes from adults, and fifty times truer when coming from other children, due to them being much more relatable. Again, this is great when the messaging is proper.
But the songs coming out of this group are just atrocious for chinuch. Songs aspiring to be like other singers, to be a “billionare”, in “Hashem’s army” are just not the right way. They defend them and say “No – the messaging of the song is about that they are in Hashem’s army, or that איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו.”
This is incorrect. Maybe those are the words of the songs, but that’s not what the kids see and internalize. All the kids absorb is that being an “influencer” is a thing to aspire to be, and this happens by seeing this group clad in different forms of “swag”, singing that they want to be like Zusha, or in army fatigues in a military jeep, singing that they fight battles.
I believe it’s accurate to say that most parents aren’t raising their children to be influencers, so why are parents letting these songs play in their houses? We all remember the major protests that occurred against the songs “Ben Bag Bag”, “Hashem Melech” etc. Those songs are nothing compared to the latest round of songs being released by this group. Why don’t I hear anybody discussing this?
This would’ve been maybe a smaller issue, but now they’re having livestreams with these kids to talk directly to your children’s brain. Do you want that as a parent?
Signed,
Y.D.
Cedarhurst, NY
The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
Vos Iz NeiasBy Rabbi Yair Hoffman
There are several thousand more young women than young men currently in shidduchim. Several thousand more young women than young men — in the wealthiest, most educated, most resourced generation of Torah Jewry in American history. This is the documented conclusion of an extensive research survey conducted throughout the litvish yeshivah community in the United States, with the input of leading shadchanim and roshei mosdos.
True – the girls that are hurt are not the wealthy ones, they are not the Roshei Yeshivah einiklech, they are the vast hamoin am.. the daughters of the yungeleit, the struggling baal habatim, and so many others. We have girls who have not received a single shidduch call in months — if not ever.
The Torah commands us, “Lo Sa’amod al Dam Rei’echa” — do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor. The gedolei hador of the previous generation declared in writing that it is assur for anyone who can help to stand passively by. We cannot ignore the needs of half of Klal Yisroel. The time to act is now.
The Midrash in Eichah Rabbah (2:13) teaches us: “Im yomar lecha adam: Chochma baGoyim — Taamin. If a person tells you that the nations of the world possess wisdom — believe it. Torah baGoyim — al Taamin. But if they tell you that the nations of the world possess Torah — do not believe it.”
We are instructed to take Chochma seriously. The empirical sciences, mathematics, economics, the study of how systems behave — these are chochma. And Chazal tell us: taamin. Believe it. Use it.
Our gedolim have applied this principle throughout the generations
Three of the world’s foremost experts in the science of matching markets and queue theory have produced findings that apply directly — with surgical precision — to the shidduch crisis and to the structural damage caused by the Freezer. The Torah tells us: taamin. Listen to what they have found.
Nobel Laureate Professor Alvin Roth, Stanford University
Winner of the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his foundational work on matching markets — Professor Roth devoted his career to studying the precise kind of system our shidduch world represents: a two-sided market where two groups must find each other, and where price alone cannot clear the market. He uses marriage itself as his primary model.
In his landmark paper “Jumping the Gun: Imperfections and Institutions Related to the Timing of Market Transactions” (American Economic Review, 1994), Roth documented a phenomenon he calls “unraveling” — the destructive timing failures that occur in matching systems. He found that timing problems:
“…play an important and persistent role in a wide variety of settings” — explicitly including “marriage in a variety of cultures.”
— Alvin Roth, “Jumping the Gun,” American Economic Review, 1994
Roth further showed that when one side of a matching system is held back and then released in a synchronized wave — precisely what the Freezer does to bochurim — the result is “congestion”: a catastrophic overload in which a sudden surge of participants meets an accumulated backlog they cannot process equitably. In his research on the market for clinical psychologists, Roth documented that congestion left thousands of participants “stranded” without a match — assigned to no one — not because of a shortage of partners, but purely because of the structural timing failure.
The parallel to our situation is not metaphorical. It is exact.
Professor John D.C. Little, MIT
Professor John Little of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published in 1961 what is now called “Little’s Law” — the foundational theorem of all queue theory, cited in virtually every textbook on operations research, supply chain management, and systems analysis. It is one of the most proven and universally applied mathematical theorems in modern science.
Little’s Law states with mathematical certainty:
“An arrival rate exceeding an exit rate would represent an unstable system, where the number of waiting customers in the store would gradually increase towards infinity.”
— Professor John D.C. Little, MIT, “A Proof of the Queuing Formula: L = λW,” Operations Research, 1961
And the most devastating aspect of this law — the part that applies most directly to our situation:
“The relationship is not influenced by the arrival process distribution, the service distribution, the service order, or practically anything else.”
— Little’s Law, as stated universally in operations research literature
In plain language: once a timing imbalance is introduced into a matching system, the backlog will grow — inevitably, mathematically, and regardless of the goodwill, effort, or intentions of any participant in the system. No amount of harder work by shadchanim, no increase in dedication by families, no additional effort by the bochurim themselves will overcome a structural timing distortion. The math is the math. The Freezer introduced the imbalance. Little’s Law tells us: the queue will grow.
Professors Alvin Roth and Xiaolin Xing, on Congestion and Stranded Participants
In their jointly published research, Roth and Xing documented what happens when a large matching system attempts to process too many participants in too narrow a window of time:
“Congestion is an issue whenever a large number of offers have to be made [simultaneously]. The system… stranded [thousands of participants] on waiting lists… assigned to no one or to options for which they expressed no preference.”
— Roth and Xing, as documented in Roth and Niederle, “Matching,” Stanford University/NBER
This is the precise mechanism the Freezer creates. By holding back an entire cohort of bochurim and releasing them at once into a pool of girls that has been accumulating for months, the system is flooded. Bochurim cannot adequately evaluate the full pool. They gravitate toward the newest, youngest entrants. The girls who have been waiting longest — those who entered the system months or years earlier — are stranded. They are not passed over because of any failing of their own. They are stranded by a structural timing failure that science can identify, name, and measure.
To fix a problem, we must understand it. The primary cause of the crisis is well-known: bochurim generally marry girls a number of years younger than themselves. Since the Jewish population grows every year, Baruch Hashem, this age gap means more girls enter shidduchim each year than boys — and many girls are inevitably left behind.
But there is a second, compounding structural factor: the timing distortion caused by the BMG Freezer. Any bochur who arrives for the winter zman, beginning Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, must wait three and a half months until the Fifteenth of Shvat before he may begin dating. He signs a written agreement to this effect. The stated purpose was noble: to allow bochurim to become acclimated to their new yeshivah and learn without interruption.
But the road to structural damage is often paved with noble intentions. Here is what the Freezer does to the pipeline:
The Freezer does not merely delay dating. It synchronizes male entry, prevents earlier participation, amplifies the age gap, and causes each group of boys to encounter multiple groups of girls at once. Each of these four effects independently harms our bnos Yisroel. Together, compounded over thirty years, they have produced the crisis we see today.
There is a concept we must name: the Male Dating Start Date, or MDSD. Over the last twenty-five to thirty years, the age at which American litvish bochurim begin dating has crept steadily upward. What began with a few months’ restriction has become a norm where young men begin dating at 23 or 24, while our young women begin at 18 or 19.
Think of the leading cause of highway traffic congestion — rubbernecking. A car stopped on the shoulder, completely off the road, creates no physical obstruction. Yet each driver taps his brakes ever so slightly to look. That almost imperceptible slowdown cascades backward for two miles, bringing thousands to a standstill. No single driver caused the jam — yet the jam is real, the delay is real, and everyone downstream suffers.
That is precisely what happened to our shidduch system. Each incremental delay — a few more months here, a slightly older standard there — compounded upon the last. Over thirty years, the Male Dating Start Date jumped by years. And because our population has, Baruch Hashem, grown exponentially, each added year of delay leaves exponentially more young women without prospects. This may even constitute a violation of v’Asisa HaTov v’HaYashar — the Torah’s requirement that we do what is right and good.
The halachic record on this among the gedolei hador is clear. The Chazon Ish, Rav Shach, Rav Elyashiv, Rav Shteinman, Rav Auerbach, Rav Kanievsky, Rav Gershon Edelstein, Rav Yisrael Yaakov Fisher, and lbc”l Rav Moshe Sternbuch — all ruled that a yeshivah Freezer policy constitutes a condition that contradicts a Torah precept and is therefore null and void. The principle invoked by each of them is the same: masneh al mah shekasuv baTorah — one who stipulates against what is written in the Torah, his stipulation is negated.
During the lifetime of the Chazon Ish, a similar arrangement existed in Eretz Yisroel, where bochurim signed agreements not to date during the zman. The Chazon Ish ruled explicitly that a bachur may disregard such a signed agreement — because the yeshivah is guilty of masneh al mah shekasuv baTorah. A condition that contradicts the Torah obligation to marry is null and void, regardless of the signature. This ruling is recorded in Maaseh Ish, vol. 1, p. 290, and vol. 2, p. 206.
Rav Shach zt”l was asked about Freezer policies on three separate occasions. All three times, he paskened that the bachur should disregard the restriction. This author personally spoke at length with one of the individuals involved. Rav Shach’s words were direct:
“You cannot make a bas Yisroel wait for three months, and if a good shidduch comes your way, it is incumbent upon you to begin dating.”
— Rav Elazar Menachem Shach zt”l
These were not theoretical words. Rav Shach was speaking about a real bas Yisroel who was waiting. His burning concern for her is palpable across the decades.
Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l was presented with a precise, practical question: a bachur must choose between a yeshivah where he would learn better but faces a four-month dating restriction, or a yeshivah with no restriction where he would learn less optimally. Rav Chaim responded in his own handwriting:
“Any bachur — in any yeshivah — is not obligated to adhere to any such rule restricting dating because it is likened to masneh al mah shekasuv baTorah — placing a condition on something written in the Torah, and such a condition is negated.”
— Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l, written responsum
Rav Shteinman zt”l wrote in a letter:
“Although the common practice is to delay dating until at least twenty, this is only if the bachur himself wishes to delay, but we may not force him to do so, and it is prohibited for a yeshivah to stop a bachur from dating.”
— Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l, written letter
When the Mashgiach of Ponevezh sought to restrict the Tshalmers — young men from Yerushalmi families who traditionally married at 19 or 20 — from dating early, Rav Gershon Edelstein zt”l ruled that it would be forbidden to do so. [Heard directly by this author from Rav Edelstein’s gabbai on 17 Elul 5772.]
This author has it on good authority that Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlita personally called one of the Roshei Yeshivah in the United States and pleaded with him to remove the dating restriction, to help alleviate the suffering of so many bnos Yisroel. At an Agudas Yisroel symposium, Rav Elya Ber Wachfogel shlita stated that if the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah were alive today, the first matter they would address is the crisis facing our young women.
An extensive sefer on this topic — Torah B’Taharah by Rav Kalman Krohn zt”l (1947–2018) of Lakewood, NJ — was published with the approbation of many gedolim. Rav Kalman writes from the depth of his heart, imploring yeshivos to immediately rescind their Freezer policies, stating that in our time and generation there is no heter whatsoever for such a policy.
There was a previous shidduch crisis in Jewish history. Young women were not getting married. The greatest Rabbis of the generation convened, assessed the structural cause, and enacted a solution. It worked.
The Crusades, illness, and the devastation of medieval Europe produced a heartbreaking reality: when a young husband died, his wife’s entire dowry passed to his family. Parents, fearing this loss, stopped providing dowries — and without dowries, young women could not find shidduchim. The Gedolim of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz — the communities of Shum — gathered in Troyes in 1160. Among those present were Rabbeinu Tam and the Rashbam, grandsons of Rashi, and the Raavan, one of the early Baalei HaTosfos. Over 250 Rishonim attended. Their takanah reversed the dowry law for the first year of marriage. The crisis resolved. It is codified in the Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 53:3.
They identified a structural cause. They convened. They legislated. They saved our daughters.
We need a Takanas Shum 2.0.
The Midrash Eichah Rabbah told us: Chochma baGoyim — taamin. And the chochma of the world’s leading scientists in matching markets and queue theory tells us, in precise mathematical terms, exactly what our gedolim ruled through Torah logic alone: the Freezer policy is causing structural, compounding, self-reinforcing harm to our bnos Yisroel. It is not a contributing factor. It is a mathematically inevitable generator of backlog.
Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth identified that timing failures in matching markets cause participants to be permanently stranded — not because of numbers, but because of structure. MIT’s John D.C. Little proved with mathematical certainty that when the arrival rate of one side of a system exceeds the exit rate, the queue grows toward infinity — and that this result is unaffected by effort, intention, or goodwill. The chochma of the nations confirms what our greatest poskim already knew.
The halachic record is unambiguous. The Chazon Ish, Rav Shach, Rav Elyashiv, Rav Shteinman, Rav Auerbach, Rav Kanievsky, Rav Gershon Edelstein, Rav Moshe Sternbuch, and others all ruled: the Freezer is a condition that contradicts a Torah precept. It is void. At 23 or 24 years of age, the requirement to marry is paramount to the kedusha and tahara of Klal Yisroel. The logic is simple: a signed paper stating a bachur will not don tefillin for three and a half months is worthless. So is a signed paper stating he will not pursue marriage.
Some have argued that curtailing the Freezer saves only a few months — too small to matter. This misunderstands how structural damage accumulates. The rubbernecking driver barely touches his brakes. Yet two miles behind him, traffic stops. Remove the obstruction and the cascade reverses. A consistent structural correction, applied now, will change the pipeline over time. Begin. We are obligated to begin.
As a first step, we humbly and urgently call upon the yeshivos to eliminate the Freezer entirely — or at minimum to reduce the restriction so that bochurim traveling home for Chanukah may date. Let them build homes of kedusha and tahara. Let our daughters stop waiting.
V’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha. This is a mitzvah. It is also a chiyuv. And now — with the voice of Torah and the voice of chochma l’havdil – speaking in unison — we have no excuse to stand by.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (AP) — Twice on Monday, President Donald Trump said he’d wrangled a confession of sorts from an Oval Office predecessor who he said had expressed regret in a private conversation about not attacking Iran the way Trump has been doing for more than two weeks.
But there’s just a little problem: Representatives for the four living former presidents — three Democrats and one Republican — said none have been in touch with Trump recently.
Trump declined to name the former president when reporters asked who it was, saying he didn’t want to “embarrass him.”
The Republican president first told the story during extended remarks about the Iran war as he opened a meeting of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center. Trump is chairman of the board and held the meeting at the White House.
He repeated that Iran had been a threat to the United States for decades but said he is the only president who had the courage to do something about it.
“Look, for 47 years, no president was willing to do what I’m doing, and they should have done it a long time ago,” he said. “It would have been a lot easier. There’s no president that wanted to do it.
“And yet every president knew. I’ve spoken to a certain president, who I like, actually, a past president, a former president. He said, ‘I wish I did it, I wish I did,’ but they didn’t do it. I’m doing it,” Trump continued.
Asked which former president he’d spoken to, Trump said: “I can’t tell you that. I don’t want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he’s got no career.”
Representatives for each of former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden said they had not spoken with Trump recently. The individuals spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the former presidents’ private conversations.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment after being informed that none of the former presidents said he had spoken with Trump recently.
Trump and all four past presidents were last together in the same space for his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025 — well before the war.
He has been extremely critical of Biden and Obama, often saying Biden is the “worst president in the history of our country” and accusing Obama of negotiating a “horrible deal” with Iran over its nuclear weapons. Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement the first time he was president.
But the Republican recently offered sympathetic comments about Clinton, saying it “bothers” him that the former president had been called to give a deposition to Congress about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I liked Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton,” Trump said in a Feb. 4 interview with NBC News. “I liked his behavior toward me. I thought he got me, he understood me.”
Trump repeated his story about discussing Iran with a former president later Monday in the Oval Office, where he announced that Vice President JD Vance will lead a task force that was created to eliminate fraud in federal benefit programs.
“Was it George W. Bush?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Trump said.
“Was it Bill Clinton?” the reporter asked.
Trump said: “I don’t want to say. I don’t want to say,” then added that “it’s somebody that happens to like me. And I like that person, who’s a smart person. But that person said, ‘I wish I did it,’ OK, but I don’t want to get into who, OK. I don’t want to get them into trouble.”
MatzavA public dispute between Rov Yosef Chaim Ohev Tzion and radio host Menachem Toker over women’s shaitelach took an unexpected turn Monday when the rov joined Toker live on the air, turning what had been a controversy into a cordial on-air reconciliation.
Rov Ohev Tzion, a prominent speaker at the Moussaieff Shul, appeared on Toker’s program Zman Avir after recently criticizing the host over remarks related to women’s wigs. The conversation, arranged by the show’s editor Kobi Segal, quickly developed into a warm and respectful exchange.
The rov emphasized that he had no intention of insulting Toker personally. “People tried to inflame the situation. We do not want to hurt any Jew. We know the good things you do,” he said. Toker immediately responded with respect, saying, “I forgive in advance. Who am I to speak about the rov?”
Much of the discussion focused on the controversy surrounding wigs that had sparked the original criticism. Rov Ohev Tzion explained that his concern was with how wigs are sometimes presented in magazines. “I was shocked to see a certain picture of wigs that were displayed in a very inappropriate way,” he said.
He also referred to the ruling of Rav Ovadia Yosef, who strongly opposed the wearing of wigs. Rov Ohev Tzion added that even authorities who permitted wigs did not have today’s modern styles in mind. “If they were living in our times, they would certainly forbid the wigs of today,” he said. He concluded by stressing that a mother’s modesty is an important key to raising righteous children.
Toward the end of the broadcast, the rov shared several segulos connected with the upcoming month of Nissan. Among them was an unusual suggestion for preventing migraines. “A person who gets a haircut on Wednesday, which is the eve of Rosh Chodesh Nissan, will not have headaches for the entire year,” he said.
He also encouraged people to daven for parnassah on Rosh Chodesh Nissan. “This is the time to ask for parnassah. The Ribbono Shel Olam renews the entire creation,” he said. Rov Ohev Tzion added that giving Kimcha D’Pischa charity before Pesach serves as protection from serious misfortune.
The conversation concluded on a positive note, with Toker thanking the rov for joining the program and expressing hope that he would appear again in the future. Rov Ohev Tzion, who lives in Ramat Shlomo and delivers shiurim on Tuesdays and Thursdays, ended by offering Toker a bracha: “Continue doing good for the Jewish people.”
{Matzav.com}
Jewish Breaking NewsIsrael’s housing market may have just gotten an important, if still fresh, jolt from an unexpected direction. In Israel’s current market, the central problem is no longer only planning homes. It is building them on time, at scale, and with enough manpower to keep projects moving. Courts have held that the sweeping prohibition against foreign female construction workers was discriminatory and sent the issue back to the Population and Immigration Authority and the Ministry of Construction and Housing to formulate conditions under which women could be recruited for construction work, particularly in “wet works” such as steelwork, formwork, plastering and flooring.
That matters because the labor shock that hit Israeli construction after the war has still not fully cleared. Bank of Israel data show that before the war the industry employed about 365,000 people, including roughly 109,000 Palestinians and 32,000 foreign workers. After Palestinian entry was cut off, the workforce fell by more than a third. By the end of 2024, foreign workers had risen from about 29,000 to roughly 63,000, and the quota had been expanded from 42,000 to 110,000, but the industry was still about 10% below its prewar labor level. In other words, Israel has been adding labor, but not fast enough to fully replace what it lost.
From a property-market perspective, that gap is critical. The Bank of Israel said the construction sector’s labor shortage lengthened timelines, slowed completions and raised financing costs for contractors. It also noted that housing demand recovered while home prices rose 7.3% in 2024, partly because buyers were worried future supply would remain constrained. Even a modest widening of the labor pool could help relieve pressure where Israel’s market is most fragile, which is not land allocation alone but the conversion of approved units into actual delivered apartments.
On one hand, Israel’s planning machine has been aggressive. National planning bodies approved 223,164 housing units in 2025, well above target, according to a year-end Planning Administration report cited by Ynet. On the other hand, approvals do not pour concrete. The OECD has warned that increasing housing supply over the medium term requires fixing the construction-worker shortage, and the Bank of Israel has made much the same point that planning can move, but execution still collides with labor constraints, site bottlenecks and slower completions.
Israel has already leaned heavily on foreign labor and foreign construction capacity. A government tender published late last year said ten foreign construction companies already operating in Israel were employing about 10,000 foreign workers, and the state has continued expanding foreign-worker channels to support residential building. But if ministries now design a workable framework for female foreign labor, the impact could be larger than the immediate headcount. It would give manpower corporations and contractors another recruitment lane in trades where shortages remain acute, while signaling that the state is finally treating labor supply as a flexible economic variable rather than a fixed administrative category.
In court, the state argued that construction sites pose unique risks for women, especially where a small number of women would work alongside large numbers of men, raising concerns about harassment and exploitation. Those concerns are serious, and they are exactly why the next phase matters more than the headline. Israel’s own foreign-workers handbook says non-Israeli workers are generally entitled to the same working conditions as Israelis, and that employers must provide a written contract, private health insurance and proper housing. If female foreign workers are brought in, the market will need more than a court win. It will need enforceable transport, accommodation, supervision and reporting standards that developers and manpower firms can actually implement.
The market is not uniformly overheated. Recent CBS-linked data showed housing prices edging up again at the end of 2025, with the national average home price at about NIS 2.36 million, while a record 86,090 new homes remained unsold at the end of December. That means Israel’s developers are operating in a split market as demand is still there, but financing pressure is high, inventory is heavy, and buyers are more selective. In that environment, anything that helps finish buildings faster matters. Faster delivery reduces carrying costs, frees capital, and improves the odds that planned supply actually reaches the market before demand shifts again.
The ruling does not instantly solve Israel’s housing crunch, and it does not guarantee that female foreign construction workers will arrive in meaningful numbers soon. But it does expose a deeper truth about the market. Israel’s housing challenge is no longer just about approving more neighborhoods, marketing more land or drafting another national plan. It is about building capacity on the ground. If the government turns this ruling into a serious regulatory framework rather than a symbolic review, it could open a new labor channel at exactly the point where the real estate sector remains most vulnerable, the distance between permit and handover.
Yeshiva World NewsSeveral Israeli families trying to salvage their Pesach travel plans through the United Arab Emirates found themselves stranded overnight at Dubai International Airport after a drone incident triggered emergency procedures.
The situation unfolded despite warnings from Israel’s National Security Council advising Israelis not to transit through the UAE during the current conflict.
One Israeli woman told Ynet she was stuck in Dubai with her five children after flights were disrupted.
“We wanted to escape the situation in Israel and ended up with something worse,” she said.
The problems reportedly began even before arrival. While waiting for a connecting flight in Larnaca, Israeli passengers were separated from other travelers and required to undergo additional immigration checks.
After landing in Dubai, the situation escalated when a drone incident near the airport triggered emergency protocols.
“They moved everyone down to level minus one,” the woman said. “We were there for four hours… there were thousands of people, elderly travelers and babies.”
Passengers said airport staff provided little information, repeatedly saying there was “instability” without explaining what was happening or when flights would resume.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasPARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death was convicted Monday of aggravated murder in his death by poisoning him with fentanyl.
Prosecutors say Kouri Richins slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a cocktail that Eric Richins drank in March 2022 at their home outside the ski town of Park City. They say Richins was $4.5 million in debt and falsely believed that when her husband died, she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million. They also say she was planning a future with another man she was seeing on the side.
Richins stared at the floor and took deep breaths as the judge read the verdict.
Family members on both sides of the case left the courtroom hugging and crying.
She was also convicted of other felony charges, including an attempted murder charge in what authorities alleged was another effort to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him break out in hives and black out. Jurors also found Richins guilty of fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after his death.
Richins’ defense attorney said Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers and had asked his wife to procure opioids for him. Kouri Richins, however, told police earlier in a video that her husband had no history of illicit drug use.
“She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money,” said Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth.
Richins had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The most serious charge — aggravated murder — carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
What was scheduled to be a five-week trial was cut short last week when Richins waived her right to testify, and her legal team abruptly rested its case without calling any witnesses. Richins’ attorneys said they were confident that prosecutors did not produce enough evidence over the past three weeks to convict her of murder.
“They haven’t done their job, and now they want you to make inferences based on paper-thin evidence,” defense attorney Wendy Lewis urged the jury on Monday.
‘A wife becoming a black widow’
Prosecutors said Richins, a real estate agent focused on flipping houses, was deep in debt and planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, with benefits totaling about $2 million, prosecutors alleged.
They showed the jury text messages between Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, the man with whom she was allegedly having an affair, in which she fantasized about leaving her husband, gaining millions in a divorce and marrying Grossman.
The internet search history from Richins’ phone included “what is a lethal.dose.of.fetanayl (sic),” “luxury prisons for the rich America” and “if someone is poisned (sic) what does it go down on the death certificate as,” a digital forensic analyst testified.
Bloodworth replayed for the jury a clip of Richins’ 911 call from the night of her husband’s death. That’s “not ‘the sound of a wife becoming a widow,’” he said, quoting the defense’s opening statement. “It’s the sound of a wife becoming a black widow.”
Lewis responded that the prosecution “looks at facts one way and sees a witch, but if you look at those facts another way, you see a widow.”
‘
Give us the details that will ensure Kouri gets convicted’
The defense focused on trying to discredit the prosecution’s star witness, Carmen Lauber, a housekeeper for the family who claimed to have sold Richins fentanyl on multiple occasions.
Lewis argued Lauber did not deal fentanyl and was motivated to lie for legal protection. Lauber said in early interviews that she never dealt the synthetic opioid, but later said she did after investigators informed her that Eric Richins died of a fentanyl overdose, the defense noted.
Richins had asked Lauber for “the Michael Jackson stuff,” which Bloodworth said likely refers to the drug combination that killed the singer.
“She knows she wants it because it is lethal,” he argued.
The housekeeper was already in a drug court program as an alternative to incarceration on other charges when authorities arrested her in connection with the Richins case, investigators said. She had also violated some conditions of drug court.
The defense showed a video of law enforcement warning Lauber that they could pull her drug court deal and that she could face a lengthy prison sentence.
“Give us the details that will ensure Kouri gets convicted of murder,” a man in the video said.
Lauber was granted immunity for her cooperation in the case. She testified that she felt a need to “step up and take accountability of my part in this.”
Children’s book becomes a tool for prosecutors
Shortly before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published the book “Are You with Me?” She promoted it on local TV and radio stations, which prosecutors have pointed to in arguing that Richins planned the killing and tried to cover it up.
Summit County Sheriff’s detective Jeff O’Driscoll, the lead investigator on the case, testified that Richins paid a ghostwriting company to write the book for her.
Jury hears letter found in jail cell
Prosecutors showed the jury excerpts of a letter found in Richins’ jail cell that they said appears to outline testimony for her mother and brother. In the six-page letter, Richins instructs her brother to tell her former attorney that Eric Richins confided in him about getting fentanyl from Mexico and “gets high every night.”
Defense attorneys have said the letter contains a fictional story Richins had been working on. They have argued that Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers and asked his wife to procure opioids for him.
However, Richins told police on the night of her husband’s death that he had no history of illicit drug use, according to body camera footage shown in court.
Vos Iz NeiasTORONTO — B’nai Brith, along with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, have called on the Toronto Police Service to investigate antisemitic signs displayed on Bathurst Street over the weekend.
The placards included a Star of David overrun with rats, a caricature of an Orthodox Jewish man accompanied by the words “Has Iran stopped?,” and an image of a Jewish man in a kippah pleading toward the United States as missiles fall nearby. The groups said the imagery echoes historical antisemitic tropes portraying Jews as conspiratorial actors responsible for global conflict.
Toronto Police posted on X that they take the matter seriously and have deferred the case to the Ministry of the Attorney General for further review. The organizations urged authorities to identify and charge those responsible under Canada’s hate-propaganda laws and to shut down demonstrations promoting antisemitic hatred as unlawful assemblies.
Please see our statement on the demonstration on Sunday at Bathurst and Sheppard. pic.twitter.com/v3O7reFYq8
— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) March 16, 2026
B’nai Brith, together with @CIJAinfo and @UJAFederation, have written to the Chief of the Toronto Police Service regarding the antisemitic placards displayed on Bathurst Street in Toronto this weekend.
The signs included a Star of David covered in rats crawling across the Jewish… pic.twitter.com/QsmtXG5X19
— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) March 16, 2026
MatzavIDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin delivered a public briefing Monday night updating the nation on developments in the ongoing war against Iran and its regional proxies. During the address, Defrin revealed that Israeli forces had struck key strategic targets in Tehran and announced that more than 100,000 reservists have been mobilized for the expanding ground maneuver in southern Lebanon. He also shared a moving story about a chareidi mother from Bnei Brak whose actions helped save her children during a missile strike.
Defrin reported that the Israeli Air Force destroyed a strategic naval headquarters belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the heart of Tehran, along with a facility used to develop satellite attack capabilities. “The Iranian regime used this headquarters to turn the maritime arena into a theater of terror,” the spokesman said, adding that the satellite development center posed a threat to Israeli and international space assets.
At the same time, the IDF is intensifying its operations along the northern border. Defrin confirmed that forces from the 91st Division have begun ground activity at key locations in southern Lebanon as part of efforts to strengthen protection for communities in northern Israel. Addressing reports about troop levels, he disclosed that an unprecedented number of reservists have been called up. “We currently have more than 100,000 reservists… IDF soldiers will stand as a barrier between every threat and the residents of the north,” he said.
He added that the 146th Division has now joined the campaign and that the maneuver is concentrating on areas around Metula, Margaliot, and Manara in order to prevent direct rocket fire at Israeli homes.
A particularly emotional moment in the briefing came when Defrin described a recent visit to the Kass family on Rechov Yerushalayim in Bnei Brak, whose home was struck by an Iranian cluster missile. “The mother was playing with her six children in the living room, and Yehuda, the two-week-old baby, was in her arms. The responsible behavior of this brave mother simply saved their lives,” Defrin said.
The spokesman condemned Iran’s use of cluster munitions, describing them as a violation of the laws of war, and warned that Iran is attempting to spread fear through propaganda and misinformation. “They are trying to spread terror and fear. The Israeli public is not listening to those threats,” he said.
In other sectors, Defrin noted that IDF forces continue counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samaria, where more than 250 terror suspects have been arrested over the past two weeks. Israeli forces are also continuing deep strikes against terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
He also addressed a difficult incident involving the deaths of four members of a Palestinian family in the village of Tamun during an undercover operation. “Every harm to innocent people turns the stomach. The IDF does not act with the intention of harming civilians,” Defrin said, adding that the case is under thorough investigation by both military authorities and the Justice Ministry’s police oversight unit.
Defrin concluded by noting that the campaign has dealt heavy blows to Iran’s military capabilities. According to the IDF, approximately 70 percent of Iran’s launch capabilities have been neutralized and about 80 percent of its air defense systems destroyed.
“Our goal is to remove the threats against Israel for the long term,” Defrin said. “We still have many targets, and we are continuing according to our operational plans.”
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasDETROIT (AP) — When gas prices spike, filling up gets more painful. But consumers can do something to stretch their fuel just a little farther: Change the way they drive.
“It’s a hard one to swallow, right? You gotta put gas in to go about your day and get to work and pick the kids up from school,” said Michael Crossen, Consumer Reports’ manager of auto testing.
Here are seven tips from experts for drivers looking to use less gas:
Drive slower, or use cruise control
Vehicles are designed for maximum efficiency around highway speeds, said Sean Tucker, managing editor for compact and full-size vehicles at Kelley Blue Book.
“Stick to 65 (mph, 105 kph) on the highway,” Tucker said. “Today’s cars are geared to be most efficient at that speed, and you lose quite a bit of fuel efficiency the faster you go.”
Some estimates suggest slowing down increases gas mileage as much as 14%.
“If you have a hard time doing that, cruise control is your friend,” Tucker said. This maintains a set vehicle speed, which cuts the need to press on the gas pedal, and avoids fluctuations like jerky acceleration or hard braking.
Experts also recommend coasting to stoplights, whether there is a red light ahead or a green light that is likely to change soon.
Limit idling
Use a vehicle’s automatic start-stop ignition, experts say. This shuts off the engine at stoplights or when idling, and restarts it once the accelerator is pressed.
“If you’re stuck in traffic and you see it bumper to bumper for a while and you have start-stop, don’t turn that off,” said David Bennett, AAA senior automotive manager. “Allow the engine to turn on and off as it’s needed.”
That’s especially true for when drivers don’t need to blast air conditioning while waiting for long periods of time.
Reduce your car’s drag and drop extra weight
Many drivers have roof racks on top of their vehicles or bike racks on the back. It takes extra fuel to push that structure through the air — experts have found it can cost several miles per gallon.
“If you’re not actually using those devices, it’s like dragging a parachute behind your car,” Crossen said. “Any other type of accessories that basically cause drag, you want to lose those.”
If you’re carrying heavy items in your back seat, trunk or truck bed, and you don’t need them, leave them at home.
Check your tire pressure and look to other maintenance, too
Experts say it’s important that tires are properly inflated, based on what the vehicle’s manual recommends. Checking tire pressure every other fill-up is one suggestion.
“Lower-inflated tires will increase the resistance on the road, so properly inflated, the vehicle is going to drive a little bit smoother and be able to accelerate properly,” Bennett said. Expect an impact on gas mileage by as much as 10%, estimates say.
Auto shops might also be able to make some simple changes to improve a vehicle’s fuel economy.
“If you’re finding that you are not getting close to what you’re supposed to, then you need to go to the mechanic,” Tucker said.
For example, they might replace the air filter, or oxygen sensors that tell the engine how rich to make the fuel mixture.
Consider carpooling and combining trips
Figure out a carpool if you can, and you’re effectively splitting costs with the other participants.
And be more thoughtful in planning and organizing your driving to make fewer trips overall.
“Don’t make unnecessary stops. Don’t drive all the way across town just to save a dollar on eggs,” Crossen said. “Plan your trips. Don’t drive if you don’t have to.”
What fuel are you buying, and where?
Some cars require more expensive premium gas, and that’s what they should get, experts say. But sometimes drivers are filling up with premium when their vehicle doesn’t need it — and will do just fine on cheaper regular gas, they say.
Regardless of your octane choice, you can be mindful of the quality of your gas. Consider whether a local station carries what’s called “Top Tier gas” — gas developed with additives aimed at clearing carbon deposits from your engine. During periods of high prices or shortages, it isn’t a requirement, but it’s good for vehicles long term.
Apps such as GasBuddy are great resources to compare local gas prices or prices along a driver’s route back home.
Experts say to also start thinking about getting gas when you’re around half a tank. That gives you some flexibility to watch for lower prices.
If it’s time for a new car, consider a hybrid
The average age of a vehicle on the road these days is about 12 years, and newer vehicles are more fuel efficient than older ones. Not everyone can afford a new vehicle, but when it’s time, shoppers can consider a hybrid if they’re not ready to go fully electric.
And if you’re ready to get off gas entirely, EVs — including plenty of used models — are out there.
The Lakewood Scoop
MatzavIn the midst of the tense days of war and constant sirens, dozens of bochurim from Yeshivas Darchei Shlomo and avreichim from Kollel Beis Dovid have temporarily moved their limud haTorah to protected shelters in the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood of Bnei Brak. In recent days, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein descended to the shelter of the neighborhood’s central shul and delivered a stirring shmuess chizuk to the bochurim, speaking about the power of simchas haTorah to overcome fear and hardship.
The younger bochurim of Yeshivas Darchei Shlomo, under the leadership of Rav Avrohom Pollak—rosh hakahal of Ramat Elchanan and a close associate of Rav Zilberstein—have been continuing their seder halimud in the neighborhood during this period so they can remain close to protected spaces.
At the same time, dozens of avreichim from Kollel Beis Dovid, who normally travel daily from Bnei Brak to Cholon, have been learning during this period in the central beis haknesses of Ramat Elchanan. Rav Zilberstein’s presence in the neighborhood has brought a sense of calm and menuchas hanefesh to many residents and visitors who come daily to receive his bracha following Mincha Gedolah.
In recent days, the bochurim merited a special moment when Rav Zilberstein came down toward the end of the morning seder to the shelter beneath the beis haknesses and delivered an uplifting sichas chizuk, addressing the spiritual meaning of the current situation.
At the beginning of his remarks, Rav Zilberstein told the bochurim that although many people are frightened that the situation could escalate into a much larger war, he personally is not afraid. When he sees dedicated bochurim and a strong yeshiva, he said, it gives him strength and confidence.
“Today everyone is afraid that the situation may escalate into a world war… but I am not afraid, because when I see good bochurim like you and such a good yeshiva, I am not afraid.”
To illustrate the tremendous power of simchas haTorah, Rav Zilberstein shared a remarkable story about an avreich who traveled to Russia to give shiurim and spread Torah. According to Rav Zilberstein, the shiurim were so sweet and powerful that the bochurim eagerly absorbed every word.
For three years, the avreich delivered those shiurim. When the shiur ended, the bochurim would quickly open their notebooks and record everything he said.
After three years he returned to Eretz Yisroel with his wife. When they arrived, his in-laws came to greet them, having heard glowing reports about the tremendous impact he had made through his harbotzas haTorah.
However, something unexpected occurred. While davening in the beis haknesses at the airport and putting on tefillin, a small pill accidentally fell from his pocket. His father-in-law picked it up and brought it to a medical expert, who explained that the medication was used for someone suffering from epilepsy.
The family was devastated. Late that night, the wife’s parents came to Rav Zilberstein in tears. They explained that they had just discovered that their son-in-law suffered from this illness and did not know how to proceed.
Rav Zilberstein told them that he had his own reasoning. If the avreich had delivered shiurim for three years and had never once experienced an episode, it meant that the illness did not dominate him. The joy and sweetness of Torah—simchas haTorah—had the strength to overcome it.
To confirm his reasoning, Rav Zilberstein consulted a leading medical expert and presented the idea. The doctor agreed completely, explaining that if someone had exerted himself so intensely for three years teaching Torah without suffering an episode, it indicated that the illness was being subdued.
Because the wife’s father remained concerned that the original kiddushin might be considered a mistake due to the undisclosed illness, the family decided to perform a second kiddushin quietly as a precaution. The ceremony was held late at night, and they softly sang “Od Yishama,” so that the story would not become public knowledge.
Rav Zilberstein then told the bochurim the continuation of the story. The couple later had a son who grew up to be one of the finest children in the neighborhood, filled with tremendous cheshek haTorah and blessed with good health.
According to Rav Zilberstein, the child’s greatness came from the extraordinary love of Torah that filled the home.
He explained that Torah responds to love and devotion. Just as a wife responds when her husband truly loves her, Torah embraces and protects the person who truly loves it.
Turning to the bochurim in the shelter, Rav Zilberstein praised them warmly and said they were fortunate to have a rosh yeshiva and maggidei shiur of such quality.
At that point, Rav Avrohom Pollak asked how bochurim can maintain focus during such difficult days, when sirens interrupt the night and sleep is constantly disrupted, while the hanhalas hayeshiva still expects them to arrive on time and not miss even a moment of seder.
Rav Zilberstein responded that the previous night there had been several sirens while he was in Ramat Chen. The next morning he asked several bnei yeshiva how they felt after such a night.
Their answer, he said, was simple: they would overcome it, because Torah is their life and strength.
At that moment Rav Zilberstein began singing the well-known words declaring that Torah is the life and length of the Jewish people. The bochurim joined him, filling the shelter with heartfelt song.
He then described how one ben yeshiva told him that the explosions only strengthened their determination. Even without sleep, they remained happy because they knew they were spiritually stronger.
Rav Zilberstein concluded by telling the bochurim that they are the finest of the Jewish nation and beloved by HaKadosh Baruch Hu. They must feel proud of their role, he said, because bnei Torah are stronger than anything else.
Before leaving, he gave the bochurim a heartfelt bracha that they should continue rising higher and higher in Torah, and that their rabbeim should see much nachas from them.
He concluded by explaining that the highest level in Torah is for a person to become a moreh hora’ah, someone who can guide the tzibbur in matters of halacha. Such a person, he said, stands at the forefront of the Jewish nation and brings the Shechinah into the world.
Rav Zilberstein finished by bentching the bochurim that they should grow into gedolei Torah and bring pride to their rabbeim, their roshei yeshiva, and all of Klal Yisroel.
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsGas prices across the United States have surged to an average of just under $3.72 per gallon, the highest level since October 7, 2023, according to AAA.
Prices have jumped 74 cents per gallon since the war with Iran began.
Diesel prices have risen even more sharply, climbing $1.24 during the same period to an average of $4.99 per gallon — nearing $5 for the first time since December 2022.
The rising fuel costs are already impacting the trucking industry, with some companies adding fuel surcharges that could soon be passed on to consumers.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavIsraeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar raised questions about the stability of Iran’s leadership, drawing attention to the unexplained absence of the country’s new supreme leader, Mojtba Khamenei. In a television interview, Sa’ar suggested that the Iranian regime may be experiencing internal turmoil, noting that the figure expected to lead the so-called “Axis of Resistance” has not appeared publicly while Iran faces intense military pressure.
His remarks have added to speculation that the power transition following the death of Ali Khamenei may be more unstable than Iranian authorities have acknowledged.
During his interview with Fox News, Sa’ar openly criticized the Iranian leadership and highlighted the unusual disappearance of the new ruler.
“Where is Mojtba? It’s starting to become embarrassing for the Iranian regime,” Sa’ar remarked.
He said that in the midst of a major war, the absence of a visible supreme leader raises serious questions about the regime’s strength and confidence. The Israeli foreign minister added that while Iran attempts to project power through its regional proxies, its own leadership remains unseen, creating what he described as a leadership void at the center of the Iranian state.
Yeshiva World NewsThis Sunday, the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Tantzers Fischl Family Center took place, as families, friends, supporters, and local officials joined together to celebrate the opening of a beautiful new facility dedicated to families facing serious medical challenges.
The event marked a meaningful moment for the organization and the many people who helped bring this vision to life.
The new center was thoughtfully designed as a place where families can step away from the pressures of hospital visits and daily struggles. With welcoming lounges, play areas for children, activity rooms, and spaces for programs and gatherings, the center offers families a chance to relax, connect, and spend meaningful time together in a warm and supportive environment.
“Our previous space was a small basement that simply couldn’t keep up with the need,” one volunteer shared. “This new center is several times the size and opens the door for so many more programs and opportunities for families of all ages.”
More than just a building, the Tantzers Family Center will serve as a true home away from home. It is a place where families can unplug from the challenges they face, find comfort among others who understand their journey, and experience moments of joy, strength, and community when they need it most.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasSAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police released on Monday three Israeli tourists who this weekend were involved in a disturbance with pro-Palestine residents of a beachfront city in the country’s tropical northeast.
Bahia state police said in a statement that three men between ages 21 and 22 insulted officers and resisted arrest after they “conflicted with a group of people during a pro-Palestine demonstration” in Itacare, a city of 30,000 residents that has become a travel spot for former Israeli soldiers.
Itacare lies 1,340 kilometers (832 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro.
The protest on Saturday went viral on Brazilian social media and showed the Israeli tourists clashing with residents who questioned their presence in the city. Another demonstration that showed locals being favorable to the foreign visitors took place the same day, police said.
Several people involved in the protest against the Israeli tourists featured Palestinian flags and chants against Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which killed more than 72,000 Palestinians since its start.
The Lakewood ScoopEvery few months when Bein Hazmanim arrives, Lakewood sees an influx of bachurim and girls returning home from yeshiva and seminary. It is a special time for families to reconnect and for young people to recharge. At the same time, it also brings something many residents quietly notice: a sudden increase of young drivers back on the road.
Many of these bachurim and girls have spent months away without driving at all. When they return home, they often get back behind the wheel right away after not having driven for quite some time. Like any skill, driving takes practice, and when someone has not driven in months it can take time to get comfortable again.
Lakewood’s roads can also be difficult even for experienced drivers. Between the heavy traffic, constant construction, busy intersections, pedestrians, bicyclists, and buses, it requires a lot of awareness and patience to navigate safely. For someone who is just getting back into driving, or who may not yet have a lot of experience to begin with, it can quickly become overwhelming.
This is not meant as criticism of our bachurim and girls. It is simply a call for awareness. Those returning home should take a little time to get used to driving again before jumping straight into the busiest roads. Even a few short drives to get back into the rhythm can make a difference.
Parents can also help by encouraging a bit of extra caution and reminding their children that driving in Lakewood requires patience and focus.
And for the rest of us on the road, it helps to remember that during Bein Hazmanim there are many young drivers reacclimating to driving again. A little extra patience from everyone can go a long way toward keeping our roads safer.
TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to us via Whatsapp or via email [email protected]
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (VINnews) — Zohran Mamdani met Monday at City Hall with a small group of Haredi Jewish leaders to discuss public safety, community priorities and ways the city can support their neighborhoods.
The meeting lasted about 45 minutes, according to Phylisa Wisdom, who leads the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. Topics included affordable housing, child care and efforts to combat antisemitism across New York City.
“The mayor emphasized that he will continue to build strong, meaningful relationships with the broad, diverse Orthodox community of our city,” Wisdom said in a statement.
The meeting this afternoon with Jewish Community Leaders hosted by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. pic.twitter.com/h4UzwFNMls
— WILLIAMSBURG 365 NEWS (@Williamsburg365) March 16, 2026
Moshe Indig, who helped organize the meeting after Mamdani’s election victory, thanked the mayor in a social media post for hosting what he described as the administration’s first Jewish leadership roundtable at City Hall. He said the discussion included heads of yeshivas and leaders of community organizations and focused on public safety and other priorities.
According to journalist Jacob Kornbluh, attendees included Moshe Indig of the Satmar Ahronim community; David Niederman of Satmar Zalonym; Joel Rosenfeld of Bobov; Ben Barber of Bobov-45; Yeruchim Silber of Agudath Israel of America; Chanina Sperlin and Yaacov Behrman of Crown Heights; Josh Mehlman of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition; and Baruch Rothman of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Also a rep from Khal Adas Yereim Vien of Borough Park,
However, some leaders in the broader Modern Orthodox community expressed frustration that they were not invited or chose not to attend. Critics have cited Mamdani’s past positions on Israel and controversy surrounding comments related to the war following the October 7 attacks, as well as recently resurfaced social media activity attributed to his wife, as reasons for their reluctance to participate.
The meeting comes as city officials and Jewish organizations continue to grapple with concerns about antisemitism and security across New York’s Jewish communities.
Thank you @NYCMayor Zohran Mamdani for hosting his first Jewish leadership roundtable at City Hall with heads of yeshivas and community orgs to discuss public safety and priorities and to explore ways the city can support the community. We appreciate your partnership & friendship https://t.co/HICyZ9UJSS
— Rabbi Moishe Indig (@MoishIndig) March 16, 2026
Vos Iz NeiasPOZNAN, Poland (AP) — A generation ago, Poland rationed sugar and flour while its citizens were paid one-tenth what West Germans earned. Today its economy has edged past Switzerland to become the world’s 20th largest with over $1 trillion in annual output.
It’s a historic leap from the post-Communist ruins of 1989-90 to today’s European growth champion that economists say has lessons on how to bring prosperity to ordinary people — and that the Trump administration says should be recognized by Poland’s presence at a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies later this year.
The transformation is reflected in people like Joanna Kowalska, an engineer from Poznan, a town of half a million people midway between Berlin and Warsaw. She returned home after five years in the U.S.
“I get asked often if I’m missing something by coming back to Poland, and, to be honest, I feel it’s the other way around,” Kowalska said. “We are ahead of the United States in so many areas.”
Kowalska works at the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, which is developing the first artificial intelligence factory in Poland and integrating it with a quantum computer, one of 10 on the continent financed by a European Union program.
Kowalska worked for Microsoft in the U.S. after graduating from the Poznan University of Technology in a job she saw as a “dream come true.”
But she missed having a “sense of mission,” she said.
“Especially when it comes to artificial intelligence, the technology started developing so rapidly in Poland,” Kowalska added. “So it was very tempting to come back.”
Multiple factors in breaking out of poverty
The guest invitation to the G20 summit is mostly symbolic; no guest country has been promoted to full member since the original G20 met at the finance minister level in 1999, and that would take a consensus decision of all the members. Moreover, the original countries were chosen not just by GDP rank, but by their “systemic significance” in the global economy.
But the gesture reflects a statistical truth: In 35 years — a little less than one person’s working lifetime — Poland’s per capita gross domestic product rose to $55,340 in 2025, or 85% of the EU average. That’s up from $6,730 in 1990, or 38% of the EU average and now roughly equal to Japan’s $52,039, according to International Monetary Fund figures measured in today’s dollars and adjusted for Poland’s lower cost of living.
Poland’s economy has grown an average 3.8% a year since joining the EU in 2004, easily beating the European average of 1.8%.
It wasn’t simply one factor that helped Poland break out of the poverty trap, says Marcin Piątkowski of Warsaw’s Kozminski University and author of a book on the country’s economic rise.
One of the most important factors was rapidly building a strong institutional framework for business, he said. That included independent courts, an anti-monopoly agency to ensure fair competition, and strong regulation to keep troubled banks from choking off credit.
As a result, the economy wasn’t hijacked by corrupt practices and oligarchs, as happened elsewhere in the post-Communist world.
Poland also benefited from billions of euros in EU aid, both before and after it joined the bloc in 2004 and gained access to its huge single market.
Above all, there was the broad consensus, from across the political spectrum, that Poland’s long-term goal was joining the EU.
“Poles knew where they were going,” Piątkowski said. “Poland downloaded the institutions and the rules of the game, and even some cultural norms that the West spent 500 years developing.”
As oppressive as it was, communism contributed by breaking down old social barriers and opening higher education to factory and farmworkers who had no chance before. A post-Communist boom in higher education means half of young people now have degrees.
“Young Poles are, for instance, better educated than young Germans,” Piatkowski said, but earn half what Germans do. That’s “an unbeatable combination” for attracting investors, he said.
An electric bus ride to success
Solaris, a company founded in 1996 in Poznan by Krzysztof Olszewski, is one of the leading manufacturers of electric buses in Europe with a market share of around 15%. Its story shows one hallmark of Poland’s success: entrepreneurship, or the willingness to take risks and build something new.
Educated as an engineer under the Communist government, Olszewski opened a car repair shop where he used spare parts from West Germany to fix Polish cars. While most enterprises were nationalized, authorities gave permission to small-scale private workshops like his to operate, according to Katarzyna Szarzec, an economist at the Poznan University of Economics and Business. “These were enclaves of private entrepreneurship,” she said.
In 1996, Olszewski opened a subsidiary of the German bus company Neoplan and started producing for the Polish market.
“Poland’s entry to the EU in 2004 gave us credibility and access to a vast, open European market with the free movement of goods, services and people,” said Mateusz Figaszewski, responsible for institutional relations.
Then came a risky decision to start producing electric buses in 2011, a time when few in Europe were experimenting with the technology. Figaszewski said larger companies in the West had more to lose if switching to electric vehicles didn’t work out. “It became an opportunity to achieve technological leadership ahead of the market,” he said.
An aging population is still a challenge
Challenges still remain for Poland. Due to a low birth rate and an aging society, fewer workers will be able to support retirees. Average wages are lower than the EU average. While small and medium enterprises flourish, few have become global brands.
Poznan Mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak sees domestic innovation as a third wave in Poland’s postsocialist economic development. In the first wave, foreign countries opened factories in Poland in the early 1990s, taking advantage of a skilled local population.
Around the turn of the millennium, he said, Western companies brought more advanced branches, including finance, IT and engineering.
“Now it’s the time to start such sophisticated activities here,” Jaśkowiak says, adding that one of his main priorities is investing in universities.
“There is still much to do when it comes to innovation and technological progress,” added Szarzec, the Poznan economist. “But we keep climbing up on that ladder of added value. We’re no longer just a supplier of spare parts.”
Szarzec’s students say more needs to be done to reduce urban-rural inequalities, make housing affordable and support young people starting families. They say Poles need to acknowledge that immigrants, such as the millions of Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion in 2022, contribute to economic development in an aging population.
“Poland has such a dynamic economy, with so many opportunities for development, that of course I am staying,” said Kazimierz Falak, 27, one of Szarzec’s graduate students. “Poland is promising.”
Yeshiva World NewsThe U.S. government has officially designated Kamran Hekmati, a Jewish Iranian-American jeweler from Long Island who is being held in Iran, as “wrongfully detained,” his family announced.
Hekmati traveled to Iran last year to visit relatives but was arrested and has remained imprisoned since then. He is currently being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison and is believed to be among roughly a half-dozen Americans currently detained in the country.
As YWN reported in 2025, Iranian authorities jailed Hekmati after learning that he had traveled to Israel 13 years earlier for his son’s bar mitzvah.
According to the family, the U.S. State Department notified them Monday that Hekmati’s case has now been officially designated as wrongful detention. The move transfers responsibility for the case to the Special Presidential Office of Hostage Affairs, which handles negotiations for Americans held abroad.
“This designation is an official recognition by the US Government that Kamran is being held on false charges in an effort by the Iranians to leverage the US Government,” said his cousin, Shohreh Nowfar, in a statement.
The designation, she added, “reassures us that our government has our back in the effort to get Kamran home safely.”
Mr. Hekmati, who immigrated to the United States at age 13, traveled to Iran using his Iranian passport, as required by law. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, allowing it to prosecute Americans of Iranian descent under domestic law while denying them consular access.
Hekmati’s relatives describe him as a devoted husband, father of four, and new grandfather who built a successful jewelry business in Manhattan’s Diamond District. “Kamran was the glue of the family,” said his cousin Shohreh Nowfar from California. “It’s so cruel that the country he loved so much — and kept returning to — has now imprisoned him.”
Hekmati had visited Iran multiple times without incident. But when he attempted to leave Tehran this May, security forces seized his passport, interrogated him for weeks, and demanded access to his phone and social-media accounts. In July, shortly after a U.S.-brokered cease-fire between Iran and Israel, agents raided his relative’s home and arrested him.
He was convicted without legal counsel, relatives said. Only after sentencing were they able to hire a lawyer, who has since filed an appeal that remains pending. The family hopes he will be released on humanitarian grounds: Hekmati is battling aggressive bladder cancer and, they say, is in deteriorating health.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavSaudi Arabia on Monday denied a report claiming that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had encouraged President Donald Trump to continue military strikes against Iran, insisting that the kingdom does not support prolonging the conflict in the Middle East.
The denial came after a report published in The New York Times suggested that the Saudi crown prince had pressed Trump to intensify the campaign against Iran.
A Saudi official rejected the claim, stating that Riyadh’s leadership does not seek an extended war in the region. “The leadership of Saudi Arabia does not encourage prolonging the fighting in the Middle East,” the official said. “Riyadh’s foreign policy is characterized by support for strengthening peace and promoting stability — something that stands in complete contrast to the content of the publication in The New York Times regarding extending the conflict.”
The official also emphasized that Saudi Arabia remains committed to defending its national interests and security.
According to the same source, the kingdom “reserves the full right to take steps to safeguard its security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and to deter aggression, in accordance with the UN Charter.”
The New York Times report had claimed that the advice Trump was receiving from the Saudi crown prince was to continue striking Iran forcefully, echoing guidance once repeatedly given by Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah, who died in 2015. At the time, Abdullah had urged Washington to confront Iran decisively and “cut off the head of the snake.”
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsPresident Donald Trump said Monday that the war with Iran could wrap up soon, while defending the military campaign as necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said the conflict would not drag on much longer.
“It won’t be long,” Trump said. “We’re going to have a much safer world. I had an obligation to do this. I didn’t want to.”
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump whether the war could end this week after the president previously said Iran’s navy had been “totally obliterated.”
Your browser does not support the video tag.
“Yeah, sure,” Trump initially replied before adding that while it may not end immediately, the conflict would conclude soon.
Trump argued that allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons would have far greater consequences than the economic impact of the war.
“We had the highest stock market in history. We had low gas prices. Everything was good,” Trump said. “People are going to raise the price of oil. But that’s a very small thing compared to allowing them to have… you want to see a stock market go down, start letting them hit you with nukes.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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Michigan Synagogue Attacker Linked to Hezbollah: Brother Was Commander Killed by IDF Strike1 day agoIsrael Confirms Michigan Synagogue Attacker’s Brother Was Hezbollah Terrorist Commander1 day agoIDF- Intelligence Reveals: Brother Of Terrorist Behind U.S. Synagogue Attack Was A Hezbollah Terrorist1 day ago
Vos Iz NeiasDEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — The man who drove his pickup truck into a Detroit-area synagogue was described as suicidal in a 911 phone call to police by his former wife that day, a TV station reported Monday.
The call to Dearborn Heights police came around the same time last Thursday that Ayman Ghazali attacked Temple Israel and its early childhood learning center in West Bloomfield Township, WXYZ-TV reported. The FBI said he exchanged gunfire with a guard and killed himself while inside the vehicle, which also caught fire.
There was no indication in the call that Ghazali’s ex-wife knew that he had targeted the synagogue, roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) from his home.
“I feel like he’s really upset,” she told police, according to WXYZ, which obtained a recording of the 911 call.
She noted that Ghazali, who was a naturalized U.S. citizen, had lost family members during an Israeli airstrike on March 5 in Lebanon. A memorial service was held for them at the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights.
“He’s like suicidal,” Ghazali’s ex-wife told police, later adding that his “voice is not stable. I just want to make sure he’s OK.”
She said she didn’t know if he had weapons. Dearborn Heights police went to Ghazali’s house, but no one was there.
The FBI said Ghazali waited in his vehicle outside the synagogue for two hours before ramming it into the building where dozens of children were inside. No children were hurt.
Israel’s military said Sunday that the man’s brother, Ibrahim Ghazali, who was killed in the recent airstrike, was a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon. The FBI’s Detroit office, which is investigating the synagogue attack, declined to comment on that description.
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Michigan Synagogue Attacker Linked to Hezbollah: Brother Was Commander Killed by IDF Strike1 day agoIsrael Confirms Michigan Synagogue Attacker’s Brother Was Hezbollah Terrorist Commander1 day agoIDF- Intelligence Reveals: Brother Of Terrorist Behind U.S. Synagogue Attack Was A Hezbollah Terrorist1 day ago
Yeshiva World NewsA major neis occurred on Sunday at the home of Rav Moshe Kas, a Rav in Yeshivas Tiferes Mordechai. His home, located on Rechov Yerushalayim in Bnei Brak, sustained a direct hit from a large missile fragment, but b’chasdei Hashem, there were no injuries.
Footage and testimonies from the heavily damaged home show how close the incident came to ending in tragedy. The mother, who had taken the baby out of the crib just minutes before the missile hit, ran with her children to the protected room immediately upon hearing the siren.
The current state of the house leaves no doubt that had they delayed even one minute, the outcome would have been entirely different.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Srulikl Kornik, a volunteer medic with United Hatzalah’s Bnei Brak rescue unit, said: “I’ve been zoche to save many lives as a volunteer, but the destruction and the enormous neis in today’s missile strike in Bnei Brak are beyond belief. Just minutes earlier, the mother ran to take the baby out of the crib.”
“Another neighbor was working from home—her computer is still on—and her apartment was destroyed. The fact that they immediately ran to the protected room saved them all, b’chasdei Hashem.”
Reb Moshe, who entered his apartment to retrieve his tefillin, found them completely intact, while his tallis was riddled with holes from the shrapnel that tore through the home.
A neis also occurred in a nearby apartment, where a young girl had been sleeping. She woke up when the siren began and ran to the protected room. When the fragment hit the building, the window in her room shattered from the blast. A piece of metal from the missile struck the wall exactly where she had been lying moments earlier.
The hole in in the neighbor’s house next to the bed. Photo: Yediot Bnei Brak
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Jewish Breaking NewsPresident Donald Trump warned that NATO could face a “very bad future” if U.S. allies refuse to assist the United States in securing the Strait of Hormuz during the ongoing conflict with Iran.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump said countries that rely on the critical waterway should take part in protecting it, noting that the strait is one of the most vital global energy routes and carries a significant share of the world’s oil supply.
Trump also pointed to China’s dependence on the shipping lane, saying Beijing should help ensure its security as well. According to Trump, China receives roughly 90 percent of its oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz and therefore has a major stake in keeping the route open.
The comments come as tensions remain high in the region and concerns grow about potential disruptions to global oil shipments passing through the narrow channel between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
MatzavSenior officials in Israel’s economic establishment estimate that the ongoing ground operation in Lebanon will cost the state several billion shekels, a development that may force the government to reopen the national budget and impose additional cuts on government ministries.
According to a report by Kan News, the updated defense budget approved only last week did not include funding for the ground maneuver in Lebanon. As a result, officials say new budget adjustments will likely be required in order to finance the expanded military activity.
Economic officials warn that the financial burden of the operation could reach billions of shekels. To cover those costs, the government may have no choice but to revise the state budget once again, a step that could lead to further reductions in civilian spending and services.
Just last Wednesday, the government approved reopening the state budget for the 2026 fiscal year. As part of that move, the defense budget was increased by approximately 40 billion shekels, while a sweeping reduction of about 3 percent was imposed across the budgets of various government ministries.
However, although the government announced the ground maneuver in Lebanon only a few days later, the anticipated costs of that military operation were not included in the most recent budget update.
Financial officials now believe that because the maneuver could ultimately cost several billion shekels, the government will likely need to reopen the budget once again, a decision that would almost certainly result in another round of cuts affecting government ministries.
The issue is also drawing sharp public criticism. Last week, even as ministries faced across-the-board budget reductions, the government distributed approximately six billion shekels in coalition funds, a move that has sparked backlash from critics who argue that the financial priorities are misplaced.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasSAN JOSE, Calif. (VINnews) — Three men have been arrested in connection with an attack on two Israeli Americans last week, San Jose police said Monday.
The incident occurred March 8 outside a restaurant on Santana Row. Video circulating online shows the suspects striking the victims while bystanders shouted for the assault to stop. The victims said they were targeted after speaking Hebrew.
As part of the ongoing investigation into the assault that occurred at Santana Row, arrest warrants were obtained for three suspects believed to be responsible for the attack. All three individuals surrendered to law enforcement today without incident.
This remains an active… pic.twitter.com/pzO5Rd6mpr
— San José Police Media Relations (@SJPD_PIO) March 16, 2026
Police did not release the suspects’ names or charges but said the investigation is continuing. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office will provide additional details.
“Acts of hatred and antisemitism have no place in San Jose,” Mayor Matt Mahan said on X, noting he had been in touch with law enforcement and local Jewish leaders. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office also condemned the attack.
Authorities said the three suspects “surrendered to law enforcement today without incident.” The victims are Lior Zeevi, 47, and Daniel Levy, 48, both from Haifa, Israel.
Police emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and those responsible will be held accountable.
MatzavThe Iran war is testing the U.S. military’s ability to combat Iran’s drones in a cost-effective way. Emerging laser tech, designed to zap drones out of the sky, may help. 60 Minutes reports:
WATCH:
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (AP) — Robocalls, texts, and phishing emails from scammers are up this tax season compared to previous years, with artificial intelligence likely increasing fraud attempts, according to the consumer protection bureau of the Federal Trade Commission. Consumer advocates and government officials urge the public to stay wary, to stop and think before engaging with phone or text messages, and to remember the IRS will not contact you directly by text or phone.
Here’s what to know.
‘Tis the season for tax scams
Each year, the IRS releases its “Dirty Dozen” of tax scams that target taxpayers. At the top of the list is impersonation of the agency by email, text, and phone. The IRS reported over 600 social media impersonators during fiscal year 2025, and urges people not to “click links or open attachments from unexpected messages.”
The IRS also reminds taxpayers it “does not leave urgent, threatening prerecorded messages, call to demand immediate payment, or threaten arrest.”
Scammers often use alarming language and QR codes to send people to fake websites where they ask the taxpayer to “verify” accounts or enter personal information, according to the IRS. Links may also install malware or malicious software, such as ransomware, which could prevent access to files and private information. “AI-enabled IRS impersonation by phone (robocalls, voice mimicry, and spoofed caller ID),” is also increasing, according to the agency. As phone scams evolve, AI provides new computer-generated tactics and spoofed caller identification to look legitimate.
In this vein, identity theft is one of the most common forms of fraud around tax season, according to Rosario Mendez, an attorney for the bureau of consumer protection at the FTC. Mendez defines this type of theft as the misuse of one’s social security number or other personal information, often to collect a tax refund.
“People usually discover this when they go to file their tax returns and discover someone else has already filed,” she said. “For the records of the IRS, that is, it’s already happened. But it’s not the person — it’s an identity thief.”
A deluge of scams
Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said the ITRC has also tracked an increase in scams and identity theft attempts over the past several years, likely aided by AI-generated messages.
“We’re seeing an uptick in phishing emails, fake texts, and even phone calls,” Velasquez said. “Scammers are trying to get you to engage in any manner – talk to them, click the link, share your personal data, or share access to your devices or accounts.”
The “sheer volume and level of sophistication” suggests AI is being leveraged, according to Velasquez.
“‘Deluge’ is the best word I can think of, because it’s relentless,” she said.
“Type, don’t tap.”
Whenever possible, according to Velasquez, the best practice when receiving any of these messages is, “Type, don’t tap.” That is, rather than tapping on any link sent in any kind of message, type in the URL of the official website for the IRS (IRS.gov), or whichever agency is supposedly contacting you.
“Go to the source. Don’t click any of those links,” she said. “If you didn’t initiate the contact, don’t engage.”
Scammers hit all ages
According to Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs for the AARP, younger people more frequently file reports stating they’ve been scammed, but older individuals report losing more money than younger consumers.
“That’s because they have more money to lose,” she said.
If you suspect fraud, or a message seems suspicious, Stokes emphasized the importance of slowing down and talking to someone. When someone receives a notification that sounds strange, scary or urgent, if they stop to talk to a friend or family member or someone they trust, they can typically figure out it’s a scam.
“That’s also going to inoculate the people you share it with from falling for the scam,” she said.
Ask for help if your identity is compromised
If someone has already used your social security number to file a tax return before you, it’s important to let the IRS know.
You should also go to IdentityTheft.gov to report the theft, according to Mendez. At the end of that reporting process, the government will give you a personal recovery plan.
“If a scammer has used your social security number to file a tax return, it’s possible the same thief could use it to open bank accounts, credit cards, or file for unemployment,” she said. “Another worthwhile step is to monitor your credit report and freeze credit accounts so they can’t be misused.”
Alan Butler, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, echoed this, encouraging victims of scams to seek identity theft monitoring going forward as well. That said, he warns people not to pay high costs for these services, which are sometimes shady themselves, but to thoroughly vet the offerings.
“People can be victimized not only once with the theft of their identity, but a second time, because the monitoring services are trying to up-sell them,” he said.
Filing a police report is also an option
If you’ve been the victim of a scam and you’ve lost money, you may also want to file a report with local police, according to Stokes.
“Even if you get pushback from local law enforcement, you should insist on the report,” she said. “There may be a means of restitution for fraud victims down the road, and they would want that as a point of proof of what happened.”
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON D.C (VINnews) – Vice President JD Vance pushed back sharply Monday against suggestions of division within the administration over President Donald Trump’s military actions against Iran, insisting there is full alignment on preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
In remarks that appeared to address mounting questions about his past criticisms of U.S. military engagements abroad, Vance accused reporters of trying to “drive a wedge” between him and the president.
“Look, I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to drive a WEDGE between members of the administration, between me and the President!” Vance said.
He reiterated long-standing agreement with Trump’s position on Iran, dating back to 2015.
“What the President said consistently, going back to 2015, and I agreed with him, is that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance stated. “I think all of us, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, should pray for success and pray for the safety of our troops. That’s the approach that I’ve taken. Make it as successful as possible.”
When pressed on whether his earlier skepticism toward “foreign adventurism” and his past criticism of the global war on terror created any hesitation about the current operation, Vance drew a sharp distinction.
“Well, I think one big difference is that we have a smart President, whereas in the past we’ve had dumb Presidents,” he replied. “And I trust President Trump to get the job done, to do a good job for the American people, and to make sure that the mistakes of the past aren’t repeated!”
Vance’s comments come amid escalating U.S.-Israel coordination against Iranian targets and amid ongoing Israeli ground operations in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The vice president’s defense highlights the administration’s unified messaging that the current campaign is narrowly focused on denying Iran nuclear capability and avoiding the open-ended commitments of prior Middle East conflicts.
Vos Iz NeiasATLANTA (AP) — Thousands of flights across the U.S. were canceled or delayed Monday as powerful storms swept across the eastern half of the country and a partial government shutdown affecting airport security screeners dragged into a second month.
The disruptions come at an already challenging time for air travel, in part because the shutdown that began Feb. 14 has strained staffing at some security checkpoints. At the same time, airports are crowded with spring break travelers and fans heading to March Madness games, the annual NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
Flight delays and cancellations piled up Monday at some of the nation’s largest airports, including those in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The storm system that dumped heavy snow across the Midwest raced toward the East Coast with the potential for high winds and tornadoes, the National Weather Service warned Monday.
More than 4,200 flights scheduled to fly into, out of or within the U.S. on Monday have been called off, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Roughly 9,800 other U.S. flights were delayed.
Kelly Price, who was trying to get home to Colorado after a family vacation in Orlando, Florida, said her Sunday night flight wasn’t canceled until early Monday.
“By that time the only place for us to sleep was the airport floor. So we’re all tired and frustrated,” she said, adding that the soonest she and her family could book another flight doesn’t leave until Tuesday afternoon.
The nationwide cancellations included about 560 in and out of Chicago O’Hare International, more than 400 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International and over 260 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to FlightAware.
Earlier Monday, citing severe weather, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered ground stops at Hartsfield-Jackson and Charlotte Douglas International Airport, along with ground delays at JFK and Newark Liberty International Airport.
Danielle Cash found herself stranded in St. Louis on Sunday while trying to get home to Tampa, Florida, after a weekend girls’ trip to Las Vegas. Now she’s spending several hundred dollars more than planned on a hotel room in a snowy city she wasn’t dressed for.
“It was 80 degrees in Tampa when I left and then going to Vegas,” she said. “And it was 90 degrees in the desert.”
Cash said she’s now booked on a flight that will take her to Tennessee before finally returning to Tampa by Tuesday afternoon.
The storms are also unfolding just as airport security screeners missed their first full paycheck over the weekend. The current partial government shutdown affects only the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration.
Democrats in Congress have said Homeland Security won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
It is the third shutdown in less than a year to leave TSA workers temporarily without pay. Once the government reopens, employees will have to wait for back pay.
Some airports have reported longer security lines because of staffing shortages as more TSA workers take on second jobs, can’t afford gas to get to work or leave the profession altogether. Homeland Security has said more than 300 TSA agents have quit since the start of the shutdown.
TSA union leaders in Atlanta held a news conference Monday outside Hartsfield-Jackson, warning that air travelers could face increasingly long wait times as the shutdown continues. Even so, union leaders said, many officers are still reporting to work despite mounting financial strain.
Many TSA workers “are coping with eviction notices, vehicle repossessions, empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts,” said Aaron Barker, a local leader with the American Federation of Government Employees. Supporters behind him held signs reading, “We want a paycheck, not a rain check.”
Travelers flying out of New Orleans on Sunday and Monday were advised to arrive at least three hours early “due to impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown,” Louis Armstrong International Airport said on X. And the airport in Austin, Texas, shared a video on X taken at 5:30 a.m. local time showing the security line spilling out onto the sidewalk outside.
Back in Atlanta, Mel Stewart and his wife arrived four hours earlier than usual for their flight out of Hartsfield-Jackson to make up for longer TSA lines.
“I think it’s being politicized way too much — way too much,” Stewart said Monday of the shutdown. “And these people are working. They work hard, and for TSA people not to get paid, that’s silly.”
MatzavWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discusses ‘Operation Epic Fury’ against Iran and criticizes Democrats for blocking Homeland Security funding on ‘Fox & Friends.’
WATCH:
Yeshiva World NewsThe United Arab Emirates says it is strengthening its alliance with the United States after Iran launched a wave of missile and drone attacks against the Gulf nation.
“Our relationship with the U.S. is a longstanding strategic partnership,” UAE Minister for International Cooperation Reem Al-Hashimy said in a televised interview. “It’s a partnership that doesn’t falter in moments of crisis.”
Asked whether the Iranian attacks could cause the UAE to reconsider hosting U.S. military bases, Al-Hashimy responded: “Quite the contrary.”
“If anything, we are doubling down on our friends. We are further cementing the strong ties that bind us,” she said.
Iran launched nearly 2,000 missiles and drones at the UAE over more than two weeks, killing seven people, including five civilians, according to the UAE defense ministry. Most of the projectiles were intercepted by the country’s air defense systems.
The UAE hosts thousands of American troops at Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi and normalized relations with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The country has also pledged $1.4 trillion in U.S. investments over the next decade and backed President Trump’s Board of Peace with a $1.2 billion pledge toward rebuilding Gaza.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavAmid the ongoing war, the Yenuka, Rav Shlomo Yehuda Be’eri, embarked on a special journey of tefillah at the kivrei tzaddikim in Yerushalayim, beginning at the kever of the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh and continuing to the Kosel HaMa’aravi, where he davened intensely for the salvation and redemption of Am Yisrael.
Against the backdrop of the war with Iran, the Yenuka left his home in Rishon LeZion on Sunday night and traveled to the city of Yerushalayim in order to visit the resting places of great tzaddikim and to pour out heartfelt tefillos at the Kosel, which has stood unusually empty in recent days.
His first stop was the grave of the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh on Har HaZeisim. At the site, he also delivered words of chizuk, speaking about the extraordinary holiness of the Ohr HaChaim.
He then continued to the grave of the Rashash, where he spoke about the greatness of the Rashash’s immense Torah scholarship. He also cited teachings from the sefarim hakedoshim about the spiritual significance of hishtatchus at the graves of tzaddikim.
From there, he proceeded to the grave of the Kaf HaChaim. He also davened at the grave of Rav Chaim Delarosa, a disciple of the Rashash, and at the resting place of the tzaddik Rav Gershon of Kitov.
At the largely deserted Kosel HaMa’aravi, the Yenuka davened Maariv with a small minyan of people who accompanied him. Following the tefillah, he stood facing the stones of the empty Kosel for a prolonged period, offering quiet and heartfelt tefillos for the salvation of Am Yisrael.
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsSince October 7th, the Israeli aviation market has operated under extraordinary uncertainty. Airlines serving Israel have faced repeated cancellations, sudden schedule changes, and periodic airspace closures due to the ongoing security situation.
At the same time, there was significant frustration with non-Israeli carriers for failing to clearly communicate their cancellation plans and frequently canceling flights at the last minute, leaving passengers stranded.
This led many travel agents serving the Israeli market to advise passengers that non-Israeli airlines had become unreliable, while Israeli airlines were the safer choice. In the US-Israel market many agents ranked reliability in the following order. ELAL, Arkia, followed by several Middle Eastern airlines, and only then European and US carriers.
Then came the Am Kalavie war, and for the first time Israeli airlines were truly put to the test when the Israeli airspace was completely shut down.
Here is how the Israeli airlines serving the US-Israel market reacted.
EL AL
As soon as the airspace reopened, El Al quickly placed all flights back on sale both for existing passengers and for new bookings.
Travel agents were able to prioritize humanitarian passengers traveling for urgent medical reasons by contacting airline representatives directly. That system worked.
However, there were significant issues.
The rebooking process was far from smooth and passengers requesting refunds for air extras such as paid seats, luggage etc. had to wait months for the refunds to be processed since ELAL did not allow agents to refund on their own.
They had also held seats to “rescue” students of which many were holding existing ELAL tickets and made them pay for a new ticket instead of simply reissuing their original ticket as an even exchange.
These policies created significant confusion for both travel agents and passengers.
That said, many agents and passengers were willing to give the airline the benefit of the doubt. This was the first time they had faced a disruption of this magnitude, and the airline indicated it would review the problems and improve its processes should another crisis occur.
The Roaring Lion War
When the Roaring Lion war erupted, many agents hoped that lessons from the previous crisis had been learned.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case.
Refund Process
Instead of enabling agents to easily refund canceled tickets and paid extras, the airline automatically exchanged many fully unused tickets. Once that happens, agents lose control of the tickets and can no longer process refunds. I can only assume that this was done with the implications in mind since the same thing happened not long ago (during the winter storm in NY) where agents complained about lacking the ability to refund their passengers. (Important to note. The fully un-flown passengers are the ones most likely to cancel and request a refund.)
Passengers who did cancel and requested refunds were frequently sent back and forth between the airline and their travel agent. When agents requested that tickets be reopened for refund processing, the requests were often denied and directed instead to fill out an online refund form that could take months to process.
Communication
Communication has been another major challenge. Since the start of the war, travel agents have received 14 different policy updates, many of which contained outdated or inaccurate information.
For example, on March 11 the airline announced that all scheduled flights would be canceled until March 14. In reality, flights had already been canceled through March 18 at that time.
Then, on Friday, March 13 at 2:00 PM, the airline announced six non-stop flights between Tel Aviv and New York for the following week, claiming they would operate at full capacity.
Once again, the messaging was misleading. The six flights were spread across an entire week rather than replacing the nearly 30 originally scheduled flights while many passengers understood the announcement to mean that daily service would resume.
On Friday afternoon we received numerous calls from concerned parents of yeshiva students asking us to make sure their children were booked on those flights. Our job became explaining that, in reality, six flights for the entire week was far from sufficient.
The timing of the announcement was also problematic. In Israel it was already after candle lighting, and in the United States most travel agents were already out of the office for the weekend.
A PR team working overtime, but disconnected from the operational reality, ended up creating confusion not only for agents but also for thousands of passengers trying to understand their options.
Rebooking Strategy
Another major issue has been the rebooking strategy.
Agents repeatedly asked the airline to prioritize rebooking stranded U.S. passengers onto flights to European destinations, where they could then continue to their final destinations.
Instead, the airline initially focused almost entirely on rebooking passengers directly to the United States.
Given limited airport slots and aircraft capacity, with more than 3,000 passengers stranded and the number growing, this approach quickly became unsustainable. Only on March 11 did the airline begin rebooking passengers onto some European destinations. By then, much valuable time had already been lost.
Humanitarian Requests
Humanitarian rebooking requests have also been difficult.
Our office submitted two urgent humanitarian requests. As of yet, neither request has been accommodated properly.
This is particularly troubling because priority appears to be given to frequent-flyer status passengers, rather than those with urgent humanitarian needs.
One live example. We had a passenger, a single mother traveling with 5 children (all under the age of 12), originally scheduled to fly on March 6. She was rebooked for March 17 via the EU with a six-hour layover, which was later delayed by 12 hours causing a misconnection ELAL had denied rebooking them on to their added nonstop flights while some passengers originally scheduled for March 19 are already confirmed for… yes March 19. This is not a corrupt system. This is just not a system at all. (Once ELAL received allowance to operate flights to New York with full capacity. They finally rebooked them on to a non-stop flight.)
Is it the Israeli team?
For the sake of fairness, it is important to note that the US sales team has historically been a pleasure working with. They have that human touch you want from an airline.
However, many tools involving the rebooking process is managed by the Israeli team, where they unfortunately operate with a very different approach affecting US passengers negatively.
ARKIA
Before October 7th, Arkia was a relatively small regional airline operating primarily shorthaul routes to a handful of destinations.
When the crisis began, they quickly recognized the surge in demand and expanded operations dramatically, adding flights to Europe and other destinations. This expansion helped thousands of stranded passengers travel in and out of Israel.
Their growth has continued.
In February 2025, Arkia launched a nonstop flight to the United States, operating three times per week using a wet-leased aircraft. This provided much-needed additional capacity in the US-Israel market.
When regional tensions later prevented that aircraft from landing in Tel Aviv, Arkia quickly adapted. Flights were temporarily routed through Athens, with passengers continuing to Tel Aviv on Arkia-operated aircraft.
During that period, Arkia allowed travel agents to self-refund passengers, giving agents and customers flexibility and avoiding long processing delays.
The 12-Day War
When the 12-day war disrupted flights again, Arkia continued this approach.
Agents were allowed to immediately refund canceled tickets, and the airline restored its schedule shortly after the conflict ended. As a result, passengers were not severely affected.
The Roaring Lions War
When the latest conflict disrupted travel again, Arkia took several creative steps.
At a time when the Israeli airspace was completely shut Arkia was the only airline to provide a solution for standard US passengers by launching an historic direct flight to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, allowing passengers to enter or exit the region through an alternate route.
It was not the most convenient option. However, for many stranded passengers this was a lifeline.
Arkia also continued allowing agents to easily process refunds for canceled flights themselves and offered rebooking options to multiple European destinations.
As of March 12, the airline also announced limited nonstop flights to the United States for stranded passengers after securing some airport slots.
Conclusion
For years, El Al has been widely perceived as the most reliable option in the US-Israel travel market.
However, recent events suggest that reliability should not be defined only by whether an airline continues operating flights. It is also defined by how it treats passengers and partners during times of crisis.
The past two crises have shown that operating flights alone is not enough to define reliability. The true measure is how an airline supports its passengers and partners when things go wrong.
Many agents hope that Airlines including ELAL will take this moment to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and learn from the past so that the next crisis tells a better story.
Moshe Rosenberg
CEO Runway Travel LLC
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
Vos Iz NeiasPORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it’s the oldest such recording known.
The song is that of a humpback whale, a marine giant beloved by whale watchers for its docile nature and spectacular leaps from the water, and was recorded by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, said researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Just as significant is the sound of the surrounding ocean itself, said Peter Tyack, a marine bioacoustician and emeritus research scholar at Woods Hole. The ocean of the late 1940s was much quieter than the ocean of today, providing a different backdrop than scientists are used to hearing for whale song, he said.
The recovered recordings “not only allow us to follow whale sounds, but they also tell us what the ocean soundscape was like in the late 1940s,” Tyack said. “That’s very difficult to reconstruct otherwise.”
This photo provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows a Gray Audograph, a device used to record sound, on Feb. 4, 2026, in Woods Hole, Mass. (Rachel Mann/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)
A preserved recording from the 1940s can also help scientists better understand how new human-made sounds, such as increased shipping noise, affect the way whales communicate, Tyack said. Research published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states that whales can vary their calling behavior depending on noises in their environment.
The recording predates scientist Roger Payne’s discovery of whale song by nearly 20 years. Woods Hole scientists on a research vessel at the time were testing sonar systems and performing acoustic experiments along with the U.S. Office of Naval Research when they captured the sound, said Ashley Jester, director of research data and library services at Woods Hole.
The scientists didn’t know what they were hearing, but they decided to record and save the sounds anyway, Jester said.
“And they were curious. And so they kept this recorder running, and they even made time to make recordings where they weren’t making any noise from their ships on purpose just to hear as much as they could,” said Jester. “And they kept these recordings.”
Woods Hole scientists discovered the song while digitizing old audio recordings last year. The recording was on a well-preserved disc created by a Gray Audograph, a kind of dictation machine used in the 1940s. Jester located the disc.
While the early underwater recording equipment used to capture the sound would be considered crude by today’s standards, it was cutting-edge at the time, Jester said. And the fact that the sound is recorded on a plastic disc is significant because most recordings of the time were on tape, which has long since deteriorated, she said.
Whales’ sound-making ability is critical to their survival and key to how they socialize and communicate. The sounds come in the form of clicks, whistles and calls, according to NOAA scientists who study them.
This photo provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows a whale off the West Antarctica Peninsula on Jan. 4, 2017. (Tyler Rohr/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)
The sounds also allow the whales to find food, navigate, locate each other and understand their surroundings in the vast ocean, scientists say. Several species make repetitive sounds that resemble songs. Humpback whales, which can weigh more than 55,000 pounds (24,947 kilograms), are the ocean’s most renowned singers, capable of complex vocalizations that can sound ethereal or even mournful.
The discovery of long-lost whale song from a quieter ocean could be a jumping-off point to better understanding the sounds the animals make today, said Hansen Johnson, a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium.
“And, you know, it’s just beautiful to listen to and has really inspired a lot of people to be curious about the ocean, and care about ocean life in general,” said Johnson, who was not involved in the research. “It’s pretty special.”
Vos Iz Neias(AP) – A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and said U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee.
The decision halts an order by Kennedy — announced in January — to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.
A number of leading medical groups raised alarms that the vaccine recommendation changes made under Kennedy would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases. And the American Academy of Pediatrics and some other groups amended a lawsuit they had filed in July, asking the judge to stop the scaling back of the nation’s childhood vaccination schedule.
The original lawsuit, in federal court in Boston, focused on Kennedy’s decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.
The suit was updated as Kennedy took more steps that alarmed medical societies, causing the plaintiffs to ask Judge Brian E. Murphy to take steps to address those policy changes too. For example, the amended complaint asked the court to look at Kennedy’s actions concerning the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises public health officials on what vaccines to recommend to doctors and patients.
Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.
Murphy, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, said Kennedy’s reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal law. He ordered the appointments — and all decisions made by the reformed committee — put on hold.
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said: “HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing.”
ACIP was scheduled to meet this week to discuss COVID-19 vaccines, among other issues, but that gathering was being postponed.
“ACIP as currently constituted cannot meet,” said Richard Hughes IV, an attorney representing the AAP. “How can a committee meet without nearly the entirety of its membership?”
MatzavA missile fragment struck the roof of the Boyaner beis medrash on Rechov Malchei Yisrael in Yerushalayim on Monday, causing damage to the building but no injuries.
The incident occurred just two days before the scheduled wedding of the Boyaner Rebbe’s granddaughter.
Members of the chassidus said the event was a clear miracle, noting that the beis medrash was completely empty at the time the fragment struck.
When the air-raid siren sounded in Yerushalayim, everyone who had been inside the building quickly went down to the protected shelter beneath the beis medrash. Moments later, the fragment hit the roof. The impact damaged part of the newer section of the building, which is not made of reinforced concrete.
Officials from Israel’s Home Front Command arrived at the site to inspect the structure and ensure that the building remained safe.
Yossi Goldstein, CEO of Gavast, the company that built the structural framework of the beis medrash ceiling, commented on the damage: “Fortunately, the damage is minimal. The high-quality and durable construction of Gavast proves itself even in moments like these.”
Preparations had already been underway in the Boyaner chassidus for the wedding scheduled for this Wednesday, celebrating the marriage of the Rebbe’s granddaughter, the daughter of his eldest son, Rav Yosef Breyer.
Following the incident, organizers began considering moving the wedding to a different location. The celebration will likely be relocated either to the underground complex of Karlin chassidus in Givat Ze’ev or to the Agroisseh Shtib hall in Kiryat Belz.
The chosson mohl gathering that had been scheduled for Monday evening was moved to the tish hall of Rachmastrivka chassidus in the Gush 80 neighborhood.
Later in the evening, after Maariv, the Boyaner Rebbe came out to address the chassidim and spoke about the need to thank Hashem for the miracle.
“Let them give thanks to Hashem for His kindness and for His wonders to mankind. We must give thanks for what happened today, and from now on there should be a sweetening of the harsh decrees, as it says, ‘For He has satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with goodness’ — and we should pray that the wedding as well should take place at a good and successful time.”
{Matzav.com}
Yeshiva World NewsThousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered along the River Thames in London on Sunday for an Al Quds Day rally that featured a prominent rapper leading the crowd in chants calling for the death of Israeli soldiers.
Bobby Vylan, the lead vocalist of the British rap duo Bob Vylan, took the stage during the demonstration along Albert Embankment and delivered a fiery speech criticizing the British government’s treatment of pro-Palestinian activists.
Neturei Karta Muslims dressed as Hasidic Jews participated in the shocking rally.
“Here we are today as a community in an attempt to remain human and let this Government know that despite all of their scare tactics,” Vylan told the crowd. He accused authorities of harassing activists and suppressing voices supportive of Gaza before leading demonstrators in chants of “Death to the IDF.”
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In a statement posted online, Scotland Yard acknowledged the concern such rhetoric has caused, particularly among London’s Jewish community, which has faced a sharp rise in antisemitic threats since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“When this language has been used previously, we sought advice from the CPS, which determined there was insufficient evidence to bring a case,” a police spokesperson said. Authorities nonetheless confirmed that the latest footage would be examined as part of an investigation.
The rally was part of the annual Al Quds Day demonstrations, which are held in cities around the world in opposition to Israel and in support of Palestinians.
Sunday’s event featured a series of speeches and protests condemning Israel and defending activists who have been arrested in recent months during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the United Kingdom. One speaker complained that she was arrested in Brighton a day earlier after chanting in support of an “intifada.”
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Officers detained a man carrying a banner reading “Boom, boom Tel Aviv,” which authorities said glorified Iran’s attacks on Israel. As police escorted him away, the man reportedly told reporters, “I support the bombing of Israel,” according to The Telegraph.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasMIAMI (AP) — On a night when All-Stars and future Hall of Famers thrilled fans and each other until the final out, Aaron Judge proclaimed the World Baseball Classic had grown into the sport’s biggest event.
“It’s bigger and better than the World Series,” the U.S. captain said after a 2-1 semifinal win over the Dominican Republic that came down to Sunday night’s final pitch. “The passion that these fans have, representing their country, representing some of their favorite players, there’s nothing like it.”
American tradition emphasizing understatement on a team led by Judge and Bryce Harper was showcased against Latin flair on a side featuring Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. When Junior Caminero homered against Paul Skenes to put the Dominicans ahead in the second inning, he celebrated with an overhand bat flip.
In the sixth tournament of an event that started in 2006, the game featured starting lineups featuring 17 All-Stars totaling 56 selections among the 20 starters. They had won five MVP awards, one Cy Young, five Rookies of the Year and three batting titles.
Before a crowd of 36,337 at IoanDepot park, the U.S. overcame the deficit on fourth-inning home runs by Gunnar Henderson off Luis Severino and Roman Anthony against Gregory Soto.
Anthony, at 21 the youngest American player, had bought a ticket for the 2023 WBC final in Miami and watched from the seats as Japan beat the U.S. 3-2.
“Coming to the WBC here, you dream of representing this country and being here the next time around,” Anthony said.
American relievers allowed two hits over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, capped by Mason Miller topping 100 mph with 13 of 22 pitches. Miller’s last appeared to be low for ball four to Geraldo Perdomo but plate umpire Cory Blaser emphatically signaled strike three.
“Just a game we’ll remember forever, right?” U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said. “We understood this was going to be a talked-about game, probably one of the most watched games of all time.”
Dynamic defense was commonplace.
With the U.S. trailing by a run in the third, Judge threw a 95.7 mph strike from right field to third base to cut down Fernando Tatis Jr. for the inning’s final out. Judge then made a diving backland catch to rob Soto, his former New York Yankees teammate, in the fourth.
Julio Rodríguez denied Judge a home run with a leaping catch at the center-field wall in the fifth, 407 feet from the plate.
“I was like, OK, maybe we got a shot here,” Judge recalled. “But hit it to a guy like J-Rod, who’s one of the best if not the best center fielder in the game, he’s going make exciting plays like that in big moments.”
Shortstop Bobby Witt ranged to the right field side of the infield to snag Soto’s slow bouncer in the fifth, scrambled to back to touch second base and made an off-balance throw to first for an inning-ending double play. One inning later, Witt threw out Manny Machado at first from the outfield grass.
Pitching moments were memorable, too.
Dominican starter Luis Severino stranded runners at second and third in the third inning when he struck out Judge and Kyle Schwarber, and Skenes escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth when Austin Wells flied out.
Wells doubled with one out in the seventh and the relatively slow-footed catcher was held at third on Perdomo’s single to Crow-Armstrong in center. David Bednar then struck out Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte on breaking balls below the strike zone.
Before Miller got the strike three call in the ninth, Perdomo had fouled off a pair of full-count pitches.
“The whole world saw in two teams some of the best players in the game,” said Dominican manager Albert Pujols, a likely future Hall of Famer.
Rosters included 18 of the 41 players who received MVP votes last year.
Judge gave a postgame speech to teammates, looking ahead to Tuesday’s championship against Venezuela or Italy. He had perceived a special night Sunday from the start.
“You get chills standing there on the line, hearing them announce all the names,” he said. “It was like an All-Star team they got over there.”
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JET SET NO MORE: Israeli Strike Destroys Khamenei’s Private Plane in Tehran15 hours agoIsraeli Military Says Iran Campaign Moving Faster Than Expected, Will Continue for “Several More Weeks”19 hours agoIDF Says 70% Of Iranian Missile Launchers Destroyed, Some IRGC Members Beginning To Desert1 day ago
Yeshiva World NewsThe IDF says it has dealt another blow to Iran’s leadership and military infrastructure, destroying the official aircraft used by the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a precision airstrike at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
The aircraft served as a critical logistical tool for the regime, transporting senior officials and military personnel while facilitating coordination with Iran’s network of regional allies.
“The aircraft was used by Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Iranian terror regime, additional senior officials and Iranian military personnel to advance military procurement and to manage coordination with axis countries,” the IDF said in a statement.
“The dismantling of the aircraft disrupts the Iranian regime leadership’s coordination capabilities with axis countries, its military force build-up efforts and its ability to rehabilitate its capabilities,” the statement said.
Israeli forces reported striking more than 200 targets across Iran on Sunday alone. Those targets included command centers, air-defense systems, and weapons storage and production facilities believed to be tied to Iran’s missile and drone programs.
“The IDF continues to degrade the ballistic missile array and the defense systems of the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran,” the military said.
In western Iran, Israeli aircraft targeted and killed members of a drone launch unit preparing unmanned aerial vehicles for attacks.
The IDF released video footage showing the strike, saying Israeli aircraft identified the operatives through real-time intelligence before attacking as they attempted to flee the site.
Earlier in the day, Israeli jets carried out additional strikes near Hamedan in western Iran, hitting several key headquarters belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Basij paramilitary militia.
“These headquarters served the regime’s bodies to manage ongoing activities and to advance terror attacks against the State of Israel and additional countries across the Middle East,” the IDF said.
The military also released footage of its F-35I “Adir” stealth fighters heading toward Iranian targets.
IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel’s campaign against Iranian military capabilities will continue.
“We have an orderly, well-planned combat strategy,” Defrin said during a briefing. “We have thousands more targets in Iran and we generate additional targets every day.”
“The regime is already weakened,” he said. “We continue to weaken it more and more each day. The entire IDF is prepared and determined to complete the mission and remove the threats facing the State of Israel.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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MatzavIran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, reportedly escaped death during the Israeli strike that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, because he had stepped outside the compound for a brief walk shortly before the missiles struck, according to a newly surfaced report.
Details of the incident emerged from leaked audio of a private meeting discussing the February 28 attack on Khamenei’s compound. The recording indicates that Mojtba Khamenei had been with his father in Tehran but had stepped outside “to do something” just minutes before the strike occurred, The Telegraph reported.
The recording also described the devastating effects of the attack, including gruesome details about the destruction left behind. According to the audio, Iran’s military chief was killed so completely in the blast that the remains recovered amounted to only “a few kilos of flesh,” while Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son-in-law was discovered with his head split in two by the impact.
Moments after Mojtba left the building, Israel reportedly launched Blue Sparrow ballistic missiles that struck the compound. The attack killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with dozens of senior military officials and members of his family, but Mojtba himself survived.
“God’s will was that Mojtba had to go out to the yard to do something and then return,” Mazaher Hosseini, head of protocol for Khamenei’s office, reportedly told Iranian leaders in a private meeting on March 12.
Hossein said Mojtba was outside the building and approaching the stairs when the strike occurred.
“He was outside and was heading upstairs when they struck the building with a missile. His wife, Ms Haddad, was martyred instantly,” Hosseini added.
According to Hosseini, Mojtba sustained only minor physical harm in the blast, reinforcing earlier claims about the extent of his injuries.
Hosseini maintained that Mojtba only suffered “a minor injury to his leg,” echoing recent reports about the new leader’s wounds.
The official also informed senior Iranian clerics and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that multiple missiles were involved in the strike on the compound.
According to the leaked recording, at least three missiles hit the site. One reportedly struck the area where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was located, while another hit Mojtba’s residence on an upper floor as well as the home of his brother-in-law, Misbah al-Huda Bagheri Kani.
“The missile was so powerful that it went downstairs where Mr Misbah was, it went to Mr Misbah’s room,” Hosseini said. “The missiles were struck in a way that cut his head in half.”
Hosseini also reported that Mostafa Khamenei, the late leader’s eldest son, survived the attack along with his wife and emerged from the scene without injuries.
Hosseini noted that Mostafa Khamenei, Khamenei’s eldest son, survived the attack with his wife, coming out of the destruction “unharmed.”
The recording also described the condition in which Iranian military chief Mohammad Shirazi was found after the strike.
“He was blown to pieces – they could find nothing from him, and at the end they found a few kilos of flesh and identified it as his body,” Hosseini said, according to the leaked audio.
The audio recording surfaced as speculation continues regarding Mojtba Khamenei’s health and whereabouts, as the new supreme leader has not appeared publicly since the conflict began.
Rumors have circulated that his injuries may be more severe than what Iranian authorities have publicly acknowledged. President Trump also addressed the uncertainty surrounding Mojtba’s condition.
“A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg, one leg, and he’s been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
“We haven’t seen” him “at all,” Trump said, adding that US officials don’t know “if he’s dead or not. Nobody’s seen him, which is unusual.”
{Matzav.com}
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Vos Iz NeiasFLUSHING, N.Y. — Four people, including a child, were killed Monday in a four-alarm fire at a mixed-use building in Queens that also injured firefighters and forced some residents to jump to escape the flames, officials said.
The blaze broke out shortly before 12:30 p.m. at 44-49 College Point Boulevard in the Flushing neighborhood, according to the New York City Fire Department. The building contained businesses on the ground floor and apartments above.
Just before 12:30 Monday afternoon, the FDNY responded to a 4-alarm fire at 44-49 College Point Boulevard in Queens. Tragically, four people lost their lives in this fire. Two other victims were transported to area hospitals in critical condition.
During operations, a… pic.twitter.com/mX6W0WnPoR
— FDNY (@FDNY) March 16, 2026
Firefighters arriving at the scene encountered heavy fire on all three floors. During the response, a victim trapped on the second floor was rescued using a portable ladder, officials said.
As crews advanced inside, a stairwell collapsed, trapping two firefighters. They were later extricated and taken to area hospitals in stable condition.
Three victims, including a child, were found dead inside the building. A fourth person who had been transported to a hospital in critical condition later died, officials said. Two additional victims were taken to hospitals in critical condition, and several others were treated at the scene.
More than 230 firefighters and emergency medical personnel responded to the fire. Officials said firefighters also performed CPR on victims outside the building as rescue efforts continued.
“This is a difficult and tragic day,” said Lillian Bonsignore. “The Fire Department did an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances, putting this fire out and saving people.”
The fire was brought under control shortly before 2:45 p.m., officials said. Fire marshals are investigating the cause.
We’re mourning the loss of four New Yorkers after today’s devastating four-alarm fire in Flushing. My heart is with their families, loved ones and every neighbor impacted.
Thank you to the FDNY firefighters and EMS workers who rushed in within minutes, risking their lives to…
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) March 16, 2026
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani expressed condolences to the victims’ families and praised firefighters and emergency crews who responded to the scene.
UPDATE: Three people have been pronounced dead at Flushing Queens fire this afternoon. https://t.co/0CCMier86X pic.twitter.com/ZsbU3Mo0se
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) March 16, 2026
My heart breaks for those we lost in the fire today in Queens.
I’m thankful to @FDNY and our first responders who risk their lives to protect our communities, and I’m praying for a full recovery to those who have been injured.https://t.co/mWtN0lYZM6
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) March 16, 2026
Yeshiva World NewsIt is with deep regret that YWN shares the petirah of Reb Chaim Tzvi Elbaum Z”L, who was tragically niftar Monday morning after succumbing to injuries he sustained when he was struck by a vehicle in Boro Park late last year. He was 89.
The accident occurred on December 22, 2025, at approximately 11:40 a.m. at the intersection of 16th Avenue and 46th Street, when Reb Chaim Tzvi was struck by a vehicle.
Boro Park Hatzolah paramedics rushed to the scene and transported him in traumatic arrest to Maimonides Medical Center for emergency treatment. He was subsequently transferred to a long-term care center in Lakewood.
Despite months of medical care and rehabilitation, Reb Chaim Tzvi was niftar Monday morning at the Lakewood facility.
Baruch Dayan HaEmes.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (VINnews) – New York City plans to lower speed limits to 15 miles per hour near hundreds of schools as part of a major expansion of a traffic safety initiative aimed at protecting students and families, city officials said Monday.
Mayor Mamdani Holds Press Conference to Make an Announcement with DOT Commissioner Flynn https://t.co/BmUrr8J6jO
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) March 16, 2026
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced the plan alongside Mike Flynn, saying the city will introduce the slower limits at more than 800 additional school locations this year. By the end of the year, nearly 1,300 school zones across the five boroughs are expected to have the reduced speed limit.
The initiative is being carried out under Sammy’s Law, which allows the city to set lower speed limits in targeted areas.
City officials said the administration ultimately intends to apply the 15 mph limits to every eligible school location — about 2,300 sites that house roughly 3,200 public, private, charter and parochial schools — by the end of the mayor’s first term.
We're implementing the largest expansion of Sammy’s Law in city history: lowering speed limits to 15 MPH at every eligible school by the end of our first term.
And we’re not waiting to get started. This year, we’re lowering speed limits at 800 additional locations to 15 MPH,… pic.twitter.com/J8x9uZKe7M
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) March 16, 2026
Transportation officials said most of the reductions will come from converting existing 20 mph school zones and adding new slow zones where the limit is currently 25 mph.
Advocates for safer streets say reducing vehicle speeds can significantly lower the risk of serious injury or death in pedestrian crashes. The policy is part of the city’s broader Vision Zero strategy aimed at reducing traffic fatalities.
Community boards will be notified before the new limits take effect, and officials said additional street safety measures — including traffic calming designs and intersection improvements — may also be added at higher-risk locations.
Vos Iz NeiasTOKYO (AP) — Cherry blossom spotters from the Japanese government announced Monday the first blooming of the country’s favorite flower in three cities, marking the official start of the season.
Japan Meteorological Agency officials examined the benchmark tree of the Somei Yoshino variety in three locations — Kochi in the southwest, and Gifu and Yamanashi in central Japan — declaring they found more than five flowers on each tree, the minimum required for the announcement.
The tree in Kochi blossomed first, for the third year in a row, six days earlier than the average year, the JMA said. Those in Gifu and Yamanashi were nine days earlier than the average.
Shinobu Imoto from Kochi Meteorological Agency told TBS television that low rainfall during the winter and longer hours of sunshine might have helped the early blooming.
Cherry blossoms, or “sakura,” usually reach their peak in late March to early April, as the country celebrates the start of a new school and business year. Many Japanese enjoy walking or picnicking under the trees.
In recent years, communities near cherry blossom viewing venues have complained about littering, noise and other issues linked to overtourism.
Sakura have deeply influenced Japanese culture for centuries.
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (AP) — A man who spent nearly two decades in prison for a roughly $550 robbery was exonerated and freed Monday, after prosecutors said they now agree he didn’t commit the crime.
“It cost me 20 years, but they said they corrected it now. So that’s all that matters. So I’m good with that,” Kenneth Windley, 61, said as he left a Brooklyn courthouse, at liberty for the first time since 2007.
A judge threw out his conviction and dismissed his case entirely, at the request of both prosecutors and Windley’s lawyers. Prosecutors said new evidence — including confessions from two other men who were convicted of similar robberies — supported his longstanding claim of innocence.
“This case is really a cautionary tale of how things can seem one way but, without careful analysis, not be what it purports to be,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, a Democrat, said after shaking Windley’s hand outside court.
“Had we known what the evidence was, this case should have never happened,” he said, adding that he had apologized privately to Windley.
Windley was arrested in 2005, after buying a stove for his mother with a money order that turned out to be stolen.
It had been snatched from Gerald Ross, 70, by two thieves who followed him home from a trip to a bank and a post office. The thieves put Ross in a chokehold and took money orders, cash, and a bank book from him, prosecutors said in a report released Monday.
Ross regularly got money orders for his rent and life insurance payments at that post office, which helped him and authorities follow a paper trail after the robbery. The trail soon led to Windley, who had given his name, driver’s license and address when purchasing the stove at an appliance store.
From the start, Windley said he had nothing to do with the robbery. He said he’d simply bought a $542.77 money order at a discount from a couple of acquaintances, who insisted that it was valid but that they couldn’t use it for a bureaucratic reason.
“He was duped,” one of Windley’s lawyers, David Shanies, told the court Monday.
Ross identified Windley in a lineup as one of the thieves, and a jury convicted him in 2007 of robbery. Because of prior felony convictions, he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. His appeals failed.
Early on, Windley told prosecutors what he knew about the men who sold him the money order: their nicknames, and some information about their legal names. After his conviction, a friend and private investigators helped him fleshed out the men’s identities and persuade the men to come forward about what had happened, according to the D.A’s report.
In sworn statements and then in interviews with D.A.’s office representatives, the two men said that they had robbed Ross together and that Windley was not involved, according to the report. It called their admissions “compelling.”
It doesn’t give their names, referring to them only as “Suspect 1” and “Suspect 2.” Both are serving prison time on other robbery convictions, according to the D.A.’s office. Those convictions all involved male victims in their 60s and older who were followed home from banks and check-cashing offices in Brooklyn in 2005 and 2006.
If the jury had known those men’s identities and robbery records, the information would likely have raised reasonable doubt about the charge against Windley, prosecutors concluded.
No new charges have been brought in the case. The legal timeframe for bringing charges ran out years ago, and Ross has died.
Windley, heading off Monday afternoon to celebrate with his family, said he wasn’t bitter about what he’d been through
“I’m just going to move on from there,” he said.
The Lakewood ScoopThe Annual I-80 BBQ is back for its 11th year.
The pre-Pesach barbecue has in past years served thousands traveling for Yom Tov.
This year, the barbecue will be held on Tuesday, March 31st right off Exit 173 on Interstate 80 in Lamar, PA, at the FLYING J between 1-9 pm. The exact address is 5609 Nittany Valley Dr, Mill Hall, PA 17751. No reservations are needed.
There will also be continuous Minyanim for Mincha.
(The BBQ is free of charge, although donations are encouraged. All contributions will benefit Amudim, helping individuals overcoming abuse, addiction and mental illness.)
For any questions, call or message Chaim Ozer Dessler at 216-644-4704.
The Lakewood Scoop
Yeshiva World NewsAuthorities are investigating after chilling antisemitic graffiti was discovered in a Manhattan park. The message — reading “Kill a Jew, go to heaven” — was scrawled on a boulder in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, one of New York City’s most heavily Jewish neighborhoods.
Micah Lasher, the Jewish New York State assemblyman who represents the area, said the New York Police Department and the city’s Parks Department are working to investigate the incident and remove the graffiti.
“This is in the park where I raised my kids, in one of the most Jewish neighborhoods in the city,” Lasher said in a statement. Lasher, who is currently running for Congress, condemned the message and called for swift action.
The discovery comes at a time of continued concern over antisemitism both in New York City and across the United States. Jewish residents and community leaders say rhetoric connected to anti-Israel activism has become increasingly extreme in recent months, while antisemitic incidents — including threats and assaults — have continued to surface.
Statistics from New York City law enforcement have consistently shown that Jews are the most frequent targets of hate crimes in the city, accounting for a larger share of reported incidents than any other group.
Residents on the Upper West Side say antisemitic vandalism has become a troubling recurring problem in the neighborhood. Swastika graffiti has periodically appeared on sidewalks, buildings, and other public spaces in the area, which has long been home to a large Jewish population.
The Riverside Park incident is not the only recent example of antisemitic messaging appearing in public spaces.
Over the weekend, graffiti discovered at San Jose State University in California called for the “eradication of Jews” and included messages such as “Kill all Jews.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) – Israel’s military chief of staff said Monday that the “shockwaves” from recent Israeli strikes on Iran are reverberating through Hezbollah, as he approved new battle plans for expanded ground operations in southern Lebanon.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir made the remarks during a visit to Israel’s northern border alongside Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo. He described Iran as the “main arena” in the conflict, asserting that weakening the regime and its capabilities would undermine the broader “radical axis,” including Hezbollah.
“Iran is the main arena, weakening the regime and its capabilities will weaken the entire radical axis and, within that, the Hezbollah terror organization,” Zamir said, according to remarks published by the Israel Defense Forces.
He added that the campaign against Hezbollah remains a central front. “Any damage to the military build-up capabilities of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards also harms Hezbollah’s arming and financing capabilities,” Zamir said. “The shockwave of the strikes and the weakening of the radical regime in Iran are also felt in the campaign against Hezbollah.”
Since Hezbollah began attacking Israel in solidarity with Iran amid the ongoing war, the IDF has killed more than 400 members of the group, including senior officers, Zamir noted.
“We are determined to deepen the operation until all of our objectives are achieved,” he said.
The statements come as the IDF continues targeted ground operations in southern Lebanon aimed at establishing a buffer zone and neutralizing threats from Hezbollah, which has faced significant losses in leadership and infrastructure from Israeli strikes.
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Yeshiva World NewsA Knesset committee on Monday advanced a bill that would strengthen Charieidi authority over the Kosel Plaza.
The Knesset House Committee voted to send the proposal to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee to prepare it for its first reading in the Knesset plenum.
The legislation comes after a recent High Court ruling pushing the government to upgrade the egalitarian prayer area at the Kosel known as Ezrat Yisrael, which is used by Reform and other non-traditional groups.
If passed, the bill would give Israel’s two Chief Rabbis final authority over Jewish holy sites, including the Kosel area. Any activity carried out there against their instructions — including non-Orthodox prayer services — could be classified as a desecration of a holy place, which under Israeli law carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison.
Reform groups and activists promoting mixed prayer at the Kosel sharply criticized the proposal.
Supporters say the legislation is necessary to preserve the kedusha and traditional character of the Kosel, the holiest site where Yidden can daven.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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MatzavIsrael’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said Monday that Israel’s recent military moves against Hezbollah were required after diplomatic efforts failed to prevent the terror group from launching rockets from southern Lebanon in violation of international agreements.
Speaking at a press briefing, Danon said Israel had taken steps overnight to broaden its defensive posture along the northern border in response to ongoing attacks.
“Overnight, Israel expanded the forward defense area in southern Lebanon. This step was taken to remove immediate terrorist threats near our border and create an additional layer of security for the residents of northern Israel,” Danon said at a press briefing this morning (Monday).
Danon stressed that Israel had not sought the confrontation, blaming Hezbollah for initiating the escalation through repeated rocket launches targeting Israeli communities.
He emphasized: “Israel did not choose this situation. Hezbollah did. For weeks, Hezbollah has been launching rockets at Israeli communities from southern Lebanon. It has been doing so from areas where it is not supposed to be present at all.”
He also questioned the continued reliance on diplomacy by the United Nations when Hezbollah has repeatedly ignored existing agreements meant to prevent its presence in southern Lebanon.
Danon referenced remarks made during a recent visit to Lebanon by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and challenged the notion that dialogue alone could resolve the situation.
Danon questioned the UN’s continued focus on diplomacy when Hezbollah has failed to abide by any diplomatic agreements until now. “On Friday, last week, during his visit to Lebanon, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, and I quote, ‘There is no military solution, only diplomacy and dialogue.’ Israel supports diplomacy, but diplomacy only works when agreements are enforced. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Hezbollah is not supposed to operate south of the Litani River. That area was meant to be free of Hezbollah weapons. Yet Hezbollah is operating there. Hezbollah is firing from there. And the Lebanese government has not taken sufficient action to stop it.”
According to Danon, commitments made through diplomatic channels only months ago have gone unenforced, leaving Israel with little choice but to respond to continued rocket fire.
“Diplomatic commitments were made only last November. They were not enforced. When rockets continue to be fired from areas that were supposed to be free of weapons, Israel cannot sit back and pretend that diplomacy is working,” he said.
Danon further accused Hezbollah of deliberately targeting Israeli civilians while operating from populated areas in Lebanon.
Danon accused Hezbollah of “indiscriminate fire” in its rocket attacks, while using civilians as human shields. “That is their method: Launch rockets at Israeli communities, hide behind civilians, and then blame Israel.”
During the briefing, Danon urged the Lebanese government to take responsibility for restraining Hezbollah and preventing further escalation.
He called on the Lebanese government to “step up” and fulfill its obligations to confront Hezbollah and stop the terrorist organization from repeatedly dragging Lebanon into conflicts with Israel. “Lebanon must restrain Hezbollah now, or we will.”
To illustrate the scale of the attacks, Danon presented a map documenting the volume of rocket fire directed at Israel in a short period of time.
During the briefing, Danon presented a map showing that 213 rockets were launched by Hezbollah at Israel in just 16 hours, all from southern Lebanon south of the Litani River, in blatant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
The map that was presented highlights the scope of the firing and Hezbollah’s systematic violation of UN resolutions. At the same time, Israel is working to expand its buffer defense area following ongoing threats on the northern border.
Danon concluded by pointing to the figures as evidence that Hezbollah continues to operate freely in areas where it is prohibited under international agreements.
Danon said: “213 rockets in 16 hours prove that Hezbollah continues to fire freely from south of the Litani in clear violation of UN resolutions. Israel is working to remove the threat of terrorism from its border and expand its defense area to protect its citizens.”
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (AP) — A bipartisan group of 13 attorneys general sued the financial company OneMain Financial on Monday, alleging the company placed unwanted additional products and other hidden costs on its loans that led to higher costs for its borrowers.
The lawsuit, filed in New York on Monday, says OneMain employees steered borrowers into purchasing credit insurance and other loan-related products while making deceptive claims about whether the products were required and how they could be canceled. The attorneys general say the conduct affected tens of thousands of borrowers and violated state consumer protection laws.
The products include credit insurance, which claims to pay the loan if a consumer dies or becomes unemployed, as well as products like home and auto memberships that are similar to AAA. These companies are, in turn, owned by OneMain through a related company.
These products increase the cost of the loan. The lawsuit alleges that OneMain does not check whether the consumer may already have a home or auto membership service through AAA as well.
“OneMain targets people who are already struggling financially, saddling them with hidden fees and misleading loans to trap them in even more debt,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
OneMain said the practices involved with the lawsuit were already reviewed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2023. In that settlement, OneMain agreed to repay $10 million to consumers and pay $10 million in fines and penalties for allegedly selling add-on products to consumers.
“The states’ allegations are simply untrue — their case is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law and attempts to re-litigate issues that were already reviewed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and fully resolved. We will litigate this case vigorously and look forward to proving the truth in court.”
OneMain, based in Evansville, Indiana, is one of the largest U.S. non-bank installment lenders. It primarily offers loans to those with subprime credit scores, meaning much of its customers are already financially struggling when they come to OneMain.
Along with New York, the other Attorneys General joining the lawsuit include the states of Colorado, Nevada, Maryland, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Washington, Wisconsin, New Jersey, South Dakota, and New Hampshire as well as the Commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
MatzavBelow is the latest information regarding outbound travel from Israel for American citizens. Read on to learn about several important clarifications from Chaim V’Chessed.
State Department Flights Suspended; El Al Evacuation Flights
The U.S. State Department has suspended its special evacuation flights following its arrangement with El Al. In response, El Al has increased its planned flights to the United States from six to eight.
These flights are intended for passengers with existing El Al tickets, as well as those with no tickets or tickets on other airlines. At this time, however, only El Al ticket holders have been placed on these flights. Non–El Al passengers have not yet been successfully ticketed, though El Al has reportedly committed to the U.S. State Department.to accommodate all U.S. citizens.
All passengers seeking to travel are strongly encouraged to register as soon as possible using this link.
Important Clarifications
**Ticket Eligibility
**Primarily, passengers holding a one-way ticket to the United States, or those on the final leg of an itinerary returning to the United States, are being placed on these flights. Often, passengers with round-trip tickets originating in Tel Aviv, traveling to the U.S., and returning to Israel are not being accommodated. The chief purpose of these flights is to return American citizens who are currently stranded in Israel – not to provide round-trip travel. Passengers in this situation who have purchased tickets from travel agencies should reach out to their travel agent for assistance.
**Family Members of U.S. Citizens
**El Al has stated that only passengers holding U.S. passports may fly on the so-called “rescue flights.” There remains some uncertainty regarding spouses and family members of U.S. citizens who are not themselves American citizens. Based on current information, those who can demonstrate legal residence in the United States with their American family members will likely be permitted to travel. Individuals without clear proof of U.S. residency may not be allowed to board.
**Additional Flight Options
**Arkia, Israir and Air Haifa continue to operate flights to various destinations. In some cases, experienced travel agents may be able to secure seats for passengers, though availability is severely limited and fares are often high.
The Igud/Eretz HaKodesh flights from Taba began operating today, with two additional flights scheduled later this week. These flights are already fully or nearly fully booked. Separately, Lalechet continues to operate flights from Sharm al Sheikh.
{Matzav.com}
The Lakewood ScoopAn accident in Lakewood this afternoon left one vehicle overturned.
The two-vehicle accident happened approximately 3:15 PM on Main Street, near NPGS.
No serious injuries are being reported, but traffic is heavily backed up in the area. Use an alternate route.
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (AP) — Tom McGee began climbing stairs for exercise 20 years ago as part of an effort to stay off cigarettes. It hasn’t always been easy: His climbs in hotel stairwells sometimes draw the attention of security guards.
“I’ve gotten kicked out of about every hotel in the city,” said McGee, a 69-year-old market researcher who lives near Chicago.
Climbing stairs has become increasingly ingrained in exercise guidance, but many people who do it regularly say it can be challenging in an era where office tower managers commonly cut off access to stairwells.
Here’s a look at stair climbing as a form of exercise, and some of the unexpected challenges some people face in trying to do it.
Stair climbing is great exercise
Dr. Luis Rodriguez, a semi-retired pediatric pulmonologist, participates in stair-climbing events and lauds the benefits.
“You are working your legs. You are working your heart. You are working your lungs,” said Rodriguez, 66. “You can get a lot more benefit than just walking, because gravity is working against you.”
He’s backed up by research that found climbing stairs for four minutes is roughly equivalent to about 10 minutes of brisk walking or 20 minutes of slower walking.
In 2018, federal physical activity guidance was changed to promote short-burst activities — like taking the stairs every time you have to move between floors at work. The guidelines said such activities can add up over the course of a day, meaning you can improve your health even if you can’t go for a run or do a 30-minute workout.
Many people “don’t realize that they don’t have to exercise all in one bout for it to be effective,” said Stella Volpe, a Virginia Tech exercise expert.
Stair climbing also has the potential to improve mental health for many people and is associated with improved feelings of energy, said Jennifer Gay, a public health researcher at the University of Georgia.
People who might have trouble on stairs should talk to their doctors before trying a climbing regimen, experts say.
To some building owners, stairs are a potential liability
The American Lung Association holds fundraising events each spring in office towers in cities across the country. The “Fight for Air” events are widely regarded as fun, but organizers say the name draws from the shortness of breath people can experience after climbing dozens of floors — or having a lung disease.
Landlords aren’t always so accommodating.
Some law firms tell landlords and building owners that they can he held liable if someone trips or slips on a staircase. Poor lighting, liquid on steps and broken handrails are among the conditions that can be cited in lawsuits if someone falls and gets hurt.
Many building managers have taken such advice to heart, saying stairs can only be used in emergencies.
A study of hospital emergency department visits, published in 2018, concluded that more than 1 million stair-related injuries occur in the U.S. each year, with broken bones more common in older people. More than 60% of the injured were women.
Research suggests there’s very little risk of injuries for people climbing stairs, Gay said. Going down stairs can be riskier and building managers “can’t make it a one-way street,” she added.
For more than a decade, some health advocates have pressed for better access to steps.
In 2013, a California-based health policy nonprofit called ChangeLab Solutions issued a resource guide that urged property owners to open their stairwells, arguing they posed no greater liability risk than other common areas.
Gay and her colleagues have estimated that 60% of U.S. workers do their jobs in multistory buildings with stairwells. But there are no statistics showing what percentage of those buildings have restrictions on stair access.
How to find a way to climb
Many people who like to climb have stories about trouble finding staircases they can use.
Lisa Bai, a New Yorker who works in real estate, said she’s not able to use the stairs in her office building. It would seem like an easy way to get some exercise, but sometimes “it’s not,” she said.
Bai and others say they find other ways to step up. Fitness equipment such as StairMaster machines can approximate the physical work of stair climbing, although people who participate in tower climbs say it isn’t as arduous as the real thing.
You might have to get creative if you don’t have easy access to stairs at home or in public spaces.
Carmen Erickson and Vivian Dawson, who live in the Detroit suburbs, have been meeting about three times a week to climb stairs, usually in a nearby park, for roughly a decade.
But it can be trickier when they travel. When they vacation together, they make a point to stay on the top floor of tall hotels so they can use the stairs. They also look for hills and hospital parking decks.
They also have negotiated after-hours access to one building’s stairwells, agreeing to sign a waiver and check in with security officers each time.
“If you connect with the right people and tell them what they’re doing and agree to the rules, it hasn’t really been a problem for us,” said Erickson, 53.
But Dawson, 64, added: “You have to really want to do it.”
Yeshiva World NewsPresident Donald Trump publicly defended conservative commentator Mark Levin on Sunday, calling him “a truly great American patriot” amid growing infighting within the MAGA movement over the war with Iran and Operation Epic Fury.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump blasted Levin’s critics and warned their influence would fade.
“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… rapidly diminish,” Trump wrote.
Trump praised Levin as “a true conservative and intellect” and “a man of great wisdom and common sense who truly loves our country.”
The president also made clear that those opposing his Iran policy do not represent the MAGA movement.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“MAGA is about stopping them cold, and that is exactly what we are doing.”
The dispute erupted after Levin sharply criticized commentator Megyn Kelly, who has voiced opposition to the war with Iran.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Yeshiva World NewsU.S. Central Command on Monday released before-and-after photos showing the destruction of several Iranian military sites struck by U.S. forces as part of Operation Epic Fury.
CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper presented the images during a video briefing, saying the photos reveal “what’s left of” facilities that Iran used to manufacture military weapons.
The images included a naval drone storage facility near the Strait of Hormuz struck on March 1, an attack-drone production factory in Tehran targeted on March 5, and the Yazd Military Depot hit last month.
After displaying the original images of the facilities, Cooper showed follow-up photos revealing the sites heavily damaged or completely destroyed following the U.S. strikes.
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According to Cooper, eight buildings destroyed at the Yazd Military Depot were part of the IRGC’s missile command infrastructure and were used to produce both light and heavy torpedoes.
“U.S. and partner strikes are doing exactly what they are intended to do, deliver on very clear military objectives to eliminate Iran’s ability to project power against Americans and against its neighbors,” Cooper said.
Cooper also said the U.S. is focused on dismantling Iran’s ability to threaten global commerce in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Through a combination of air, land, and maritime capabilities, we have successfully destroyed over 100 Iranian naval vessels, and we aren’t done,” he said. “We will continue to rapidly deplete Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
BelaazSenior Israeli officials reportedly told Channel 13 that Iran is interested in reaching an agreement in the coming days to put an end to the war which is now in its 17th day.
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MatzavA man was moderately wounded Monday evening after being struck by shrapnel at Kabri Junction in the Western Galilee, as emergency forces across the region responded to several impact locations following launches from Lebanon.
The injured man was treated at the scene before being transported to the hospital in Nahariya for additional medical care.
דיווח על פגיעה ישירה בנהריה, תיעוד: רגע הנפילה בעירhttps://t.co/0imLHwZUoA | @OrRavid pic.twitter.com/dETGhyzxnL
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) March 16, 2026
At the same time, police units from the Coastal District, along with Israel Border Police officers and police bomb disposal teams, were dispatched to several sites in Nahariya where projectiles had landed.
Authorities reported that at one of the locations, a residential home sustained a direct strike that ignited a fire. Emergency responders managed to rescue members of the family inside the building and evacuated six individuals to the hospital due to smoke inhalation. Those hospitalized included two children and four adults.
The Israel Defense Forces is investigating whether an interceptor missile malfunctioned during an attempted interception and subsequently struck the house in Nahariya. Officials said the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under review.
Tal Volovitz, spokesperson for the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, told Kan Reshet Bet that emergency crews are having difficulty reaching some of the sites due to ongoing waves of sirens.
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Yeshiva World NewsWhite House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that President Donald Trump is pushing U.S. allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as Iran’s actions threaten one of the world’s most critical shipping routes.
Speaking on “FOX & Friends,” Leavitt said Trump has been speaking with European allies and partners in the Gulf and Arab world in recent days.
“The president is speaking with our allies in Europe and also many of our partners in the Gulf and Arab world to encourage them to step up, to do more to open the Strait of Hormuz,” she said. “And our NATO allies especially need to step up.”
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Leavitt later told reporters outside the White House that many countries in Europe and the Gulf are benefiting from U.S. military action against Iran.
“If you think about Europe, their ballistic missile capability that the United States military is currently wiping out was a direct and imminent threat to our European allies as well as our bases in the region,” she said.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a vital waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes — has been severely disrupted by Iranian attacks on commercial vessels.
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Leavitt said Iran’s actions highlight why international cooperation is needed.
“I think the president is absolutely right to call on these countries to do more to help the United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz so that we can stop this terrorist regime from restricting the free flow of energy,” she said.
She added that Trump has also urged allies to increase their involvement in protecting the route.
“He said that he wished the U.K. had stepped up sooner and quicker,” Leavitt said. “But he continues to speak with our allies in Europe and is calling on them to do more.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Jewish Breaking NewsThe University of Haifa announced Sunday the discovery of a sling bullet — an oval lead projectile fired from a sling — that was unearthed on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee during an archaeological dig. The ancient bullet was inscribed with the words “Learn your lesson” and may have been fired by a Greek soldier during a defensive campaign as a Hasmonean army led by King Alexander Jannaeus attempted to take the city in 101 BCE, a conquest that turned out to be successful, roughly 60 years after the Chanukah story took place.
Sling bullets were often made of lead, as it was a cheap material, and a few bullets have been found inscribed with words or images. However, the sling bullet recently found is the only one bearing the words, “Learn your lesson,” according to Michael Eisenberg, co-director of the excavation at the site.
“Sling bullets were made of lead, and were the most common munitions in the Hellenistic world,” Eisenberg said in an interview. “They were the cheapest ones, simple and very effective.”
A sling bullet etched with a scorpion. (Credit: Michael Eisenberg, University of Haifa)
“In the larger Israel-Syria region, many times you will see a group of thunderbolts tied up together as the ultimate weapon of Zeus, the head of the Greek pantheon, sometimes a trident, the weapon of [god of the Sea] Poseidon,” he added. “There are very rare cases when the bullets carry an inscription.”
While most of the inscribed bullets that have been found so far bear the names of cities or military commanders, the occasional jokester would inscribe his bullet with a sarcastic message, such as “Catch.” The new find appears to be a message telling the person it struck to learn his lesson and not fight the Greeks, a lesson that apparently had little effect.
BelaazThe United States has eliminated Abu Ali al-Askari, a senior commander in the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) militia in Iraq, considered the number 2 leader in the organization.
Al-Askari’s elimination is seen as a significant blow to Hezbolla-Iran operations, which have targeted US forces and interests in Iraq. Kataib Hezbollah is an Iran-backed militia and a component of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
Yeshiva World NewsCan’t beat the problem? Just hide the fact that it exists.
Just one month after acknowledging a dramatic surge in hate crimes—driven largely by attacks on Jews—the New York City Police Department has quietly changed the way it reports hate crime statistics, a move that could hide the true scale of antisemitism in the city.
In January, the NYPD reported a 152% spike from the same period a year prior, that officials themselves said was fueled largely by rising anti-Jewish incidents.
But by the time the department released its February figures, the methodology had changed.
Previously, the NYPD publicly reported all hate crimes that had been reported and were under review. Under the new system, however, the department will only report hate crimes that have already been fully investigated and confirmed by police.
The immediate effect of the change was dramatic. Using the new criteria, the NYPD reported 38 hate crimes in February—without providing any comparison to the same period last year.
Experts who study hate crime data warn that the shift could create the appearance that hate crimes are declining even when they are not.
In other words, the number may look smaller—but the underlying reality may not be.
The change raises an uncomfortable question: Is the NYPD measuring hate crimes—or managing the optics around them?
Several scholars who study hate crime reporting say the department should release both sets of numbers: the total number of hate crimes reported to police and the number that investigators ultimately confirm.
The NYPD has not responded to that suggestion.
Experts say there are numerous reasons why a legitimate hate crime might never make it into the “confirmed” category the NYPD now reports. Victims sometimes stop cooperating with investigators. In other cases, evidence proving motive may be difficult to obtain. And members of communities with strained relationships with police may be reluctant to continue engaging with investigators.
The result is that many legitimate incidents never make it to the final “confirmed” category, even when bias clearly played a role. Under the NYPD’s new reporting approach, those incidents effectively vanish from public view.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Boropark24photos by: Avrumi Blum, Hillel Las"h
Vos Iz Neias(JNS) – A low-intensity explosion caused minor damage outside a bank in a heavily Jewish part of Amsterdam on Sunday night, Dutch media reported, in what a local politician connected to recent attacks on a Jewish school in the Dutch capital, a synagogue in Rotterdam and another synagogue in Belgium.
The explosion was directed against the Bank of New York in the Zuidas area in southern Amsterdam, the AT5 television channel reported on Monday. A video that circulated on social media showed perpetrators lighting the fuse, Michael Vis, a senior councilor in the City Council of Amsterdam, wrote on X. No one was hurt in the explosion.
The video framed all three incidents in the Netherlands as actions by an Islamist terrorist cell that the video’s makers called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, said Viss, who is Jewish.
According to a report published Monday by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, the Harakt Ashab group first surfaced after the March 9 explosion outside a synagogue in Liege, Belgium. It was linked in online videos to the incidents in Rotterdam and Amsterdam on March 13 and 14, respectively.
The attacks “damaged property and did not cause casualties,” the report said, but their “main objective was psychological warfare, to sow fear in the Jewish communities.” The group allegedly published videos, accompanied by jihadist slogans, of the attacks. The videos “spread quickly on Telegram channels affiliated with Shi’ite militant networks and pro-Iranian circles, including channels linked to Hezollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the report said.
The group’s name means “the movement of the people of the right” and originates in a Quranic term describing the righteous who, on the Day of Judgment, will hold the record of their deeds in their right hands, the report said. In the Sunni interpretation, it refers generally to righteous believers, whereas in the Shi’ite interpretation, it may refer specifically to the followers of Imam Ali.
“The organization’s statements have also included references to historical battles such as Khaibar and Badr, which are often used in militant propaganda to frame modern conflicts within historical narratives from early Islam,” the ministry’s report said.
The group’s name and logos bear a resemblance to Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya’ (HAAA)—an Iran-backed Iraqi Shi’ite militia that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2025 after it killed three U.S. servicemembers in an attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan.
The attacks in Europe appear to be staged by locals rather than foreign operatives, the ministry’s report said, noting that Dutch authorities have arrested four teenagers aged 17-19 from the city of Tilburg after stopping a suspicious vehicle near another synagogue.
This adds a layer of complexity to the task of apprehending the people ordering and planning the attacks, said Vis. “The presumed use of ‘freelancers’ makes the planners difficult to catch. For now, the attacks have targeted buildings. But we must take this very seriously because of the possible next step,” he wrote on X.
The Lakewood ScoopThe New Jersey state Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee approved legislation today that would require licensed child care centers to notify parents or guardians when a child does not show up as expected.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Avi Schnall (D-Lakewood), is aimed at preventing the devastating tragedies that occur when parents accidentally leave their young children in vehicles, leading to severe injury or death from heatstroke. The bill would make the notification policy a condition for obtaining or renewing a child care center license from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.
Under the proposal, centers would be required to establish procedures to contact a parent or guardian if a child has an unexcused absence and determine the reason for the absence.
If a center fails to establish the policy, the department would be required to deny, revoke, or refuse to renew the center’s license or approval, according to the bill.
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani, widely seen as a rising progressive star, has allegedly wielded his influence behind the scenes in ways that have unsettled some allies and reshaped local politics, according to a lengthy report by The New York Times on Monday.
Sources familiar with the mayor’s private dealings claim that Mamdani pressured Councilman Chi Ossé to drop a high-profile bid for Congress, warning that pursuing the campaign could undermine the left’s political goals. Allegedly, Mamdani offered Ossé a role in his governing coalition if he complied but suggested that refusing could result in political isolation. Ossé eventually withdrew from the race.
The Times report also details alleged maneuvers in state and local politics, including efforts to influence endorsements and primary races. One example involved backing Assemblywoman Claire Valdez over City Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán in a congressional succession race, despite Cabán being a more natural ally to retiring Representative Nydia Velázquez. Sources said Mamdani’s actions were aimed at consolidating influence among progressive democratic socialists.
Critics of the mayor argue that these moves sometimes prioritize personal control over ideological consistency, bruising relationships with long-time allies. “Every successful political person has to either come to the table with the ability to be a little bit ruthless from time to time, or they have to pick it up quickly,” said Jay Jacobs, state Democratic Party chairman, to The New York Times.
Supporters counter that Mamdani has been strategically pushing his policy priorities, including expanding access to free child care, and using his influence to build a stronger progressive presence in Albany. In several instances, the Times reported, Mamdani coordinated closely with Governor Kathy Hochul to secure policy wins and limit opposition from within the left.
Other incidents cited by the Times involve alleged behind-the-scenes pressure on liberal nonprofit groups, maneuvering to shape state legislative races, and carefully managing public appearances to support allies while marginalizing perceived political threats. Some allies who spoke anonymously to the Times said they were frustrated by the mayor’s tactics, describing a contrast between his public charm and private political assertiveness.
Among the reported outcomes, a potential endorsement by the Working Families Party for a progressive challenger was allegedly neutralized after hours of private calls by Mamdani and his advisers. Sources said the mayor wanted the party to remain neutral to protect alliances with Governor Hochul.
The Times also highlighted the mayor’s engagement with high-profile figures across the political spectrum, including orchestrating interactions with former President Donald Trump to advance local priorities and secure attention for policy goals.
When reached for comment, Mamdani’s office emphasized the mayor’s popularity and his commitment to advancing progressive policies but did not address specific allegations from private sources.
The report paints a picture of a young mayor whose political acumen is matched by a willingness to act decisively — and sometimes aggressively — behind the scenes, raising questions about how far pragmatism should stretch in pursuit of policy goals.
Jewish Breaking NewsThe IDF issued a statement Monday saying that it had eliminated a cell of armed Hamas operatives in Gaza Sunday, just as it was preparing to carry out an attack on Israeli forces. The military identified two of the operatives who they said had participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel: Rami Ibrahim Harb and Mutaeb Ziyad Darah, members of Hamas’ elite Nukhba Force.
Two others were identified as Abd Muhammad Amasi, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, and Tawfiq Khaldi, a Hamas operative, along with three other Hamas terrorists.
“Yesterday, IDF forces identified an armed terrorist cell from the Hamas terror organization that was planning to carry out a terror plot against our forces,” the military posted in a statement on X. “The IDF attacked and eliminated the armed terrorists in order to remove the threat.”
The IDF released footage of its elimination of a Hamas terror cell.
The IDF then identified the terrorists.
“It can now be confirmed that among the terrorists who were attacked and eliminated were Rami Ibrahim Harab and Muaz Ziad Dra — two Nukhba terrorists who infiltrated the country’s territory during the murderous massacre on October 7 and who planned to carry out terror plots targeting IDF forces operating in the Strip in the immediate time frame. [Also identified were] Abd Muhammad Amzi, a terrorist in the “Popular Resistance Committees” terror organization, an organization operating to advance terror plots under Hamas sponsorship; and Tufiq Khaldi, a terrorist of the Hamas terror organization. Together with the terrorists, three additional Hamas terrorists were eliminated.”
The IDF insisted that its forces were deployed to the area according to the ceasefire agreement but would continue to act against threats to its forces.
“IDF forces under Southern Command are deployed in the area in accordance with the agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the military said.
MatzavPresident Donald Trump issued a pair of lengthy social media messages late Sunday sharply criticizing the Supreme Court and a federal district judge, accusing members of the judiciary of political bias and condemning a recent ruling that struck down tariffs he imposed under emergency economic authority.
Trump’s comments followed a Supreme Court decision issued last month that invalidated key tariffs he enacted using national emergency powers. The justices ruled by a 6–3 margin that the tariffs went beyond the authority granted to the president under a 1977 emergency economic law, determining that the Constitution assigns Congress—not the president—the authority to impose import duties.
In his first post on Truth Social, Trump expressed frustration with the court and took aim at justices who, in his view, fail to support the presidents who appointed them.
“The Democrats on the Court always ‘stick together,’ no matter how strong a case is put before them — There is rarely even a minor ‘waver,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “But Republicans do not do this.
“They openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them to the highest position in the Land, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and go out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how ‘honest,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘legitimate’ they are.”
Trump emphasized that the ruling on tariffs was particularly significant to him, arguing that the decision could ultimately benefit foreign competitors that he says have exploited American markets for years.
“The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS!” Trump wrote. “The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country, and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades.”
Despite the ruling limiting the specific emergency powers he had relied upon, the decision noted that the president still has the ability to impose tariffs through other statutory avenues. Following the decision, administration officials began examining additional trade actions and potential investigations aimed at reinstating tariff protections and responding to foreign trade practices.
Trump also voiced appreciation for the three justices who dissented in the case—Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh—praising what he described as their “Wisdom and Courage,” while accusing the court’s liberal members of voting in lockstep for political reasons.
“Our Supreme Court has made these Countries very happy,” Trump wrote, adding that he will “fight hard” to ensure American interests are protected.
In a separate Truth Social post, Trump shifted his focus to the federal court system and criticized a judge who recently blocked a Justice Department investigation related to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The case involved subpoenas connected to a probe into Powell’s congressional testimony about the Federal Reserve’s costly renovation of its Washington headquarters. On Friday, a federal judge ruled that prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence to justify the subpoenas, writing that investigators produced “essentially zero evidence” of wrongdoing.
Trump responded by condemning the ruling and directly attacking the judge who issued it, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, accusing him of partisan hostility.
“I strongly criticized Jerome ‘Too Late’ for his horrible performance throughout his tenure, which is either gross incompetence, total dishonesty, or both,” Trump wrote, “and, in return for this well justified criticism, get viciously and wrongfully blamed by, as usual, a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge, named James Boasberg, a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and has been ‘after’ my people, and me, for years.”
Trump argued that the renovation of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters had ballooned into an expensive and unnecessary project that deserved further scrutiny by investigators.
He concluded by accusing the judge of allowing politics to shape his decisions from the bench.
“What Boasberg has done on the ‘Too Late’ Powell case, and many others, has little to do with the Law, and everything to do with Politics,” Trump wrote.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasLONDON (AP) — The BBC filed a motion Monday asking a U.S. court to dismiss President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against it.
The British national broadcaster said that the Florida court where the case is expected to be heard does not have jurisdiction over it. It also argued that Trump could not show that it intended to misrepresent him.
Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way a BBC documentary edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and a further $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
Last month a judge at the federal court for the Southern District of Florida provisionally set a trial date for February 2027.
The BBC argued that the case should be thrown out because the documentary was never aired in Florida or the U.S.
“We have therefore challenged jurisdiction of the Florida court and filed a motion to dismiss the president’s claim,” the corporation said in a statement.
In a 34-page document, the BBC also argued that Trump failed to “plausibly allege facts showing that defendants knowingly intended to create a false impression.”
Trump’s case “falls well short of the high bar of actual malice,” it added.
The documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — was aired days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The program spliced together three quotes from two sections of a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, into what appeared to be one quote, in which Trump appeared to explicitly encourage his supporters to storm the Capitol building.
Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The broadcaster’s chairman has apologized to Trump over the edit of the speech, admitting that it gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” But the BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news last year.
MatzavAgudath Israel of America is pleased to announce the opening of its Holocaust collection on the Agudah Archive website (https://agudaharchive.org/holocaust/351).
The thousands of documents in this collection paint a picture of the Holocaust’s impact on the history of European Orthodox Jewry and World Jewry’s valiant rescue efforts during and immediately following the horrors of the Holocaust. This aspect of Holocaust history has been neglected in most public archives and collections.
Until now, these documents have only been available in physical form, in the Orthodox Jewish Archives at Agudah headquarters. With assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance, these documents are being digitized, organized and uploaded, in many themed collections.
The first three collections are now up on the website. The first, Holocaust interviews, contains over 70 audio interviews with Holocaust survivors. The second and third collections feature two periodicals, Jewish Opinion and Orthodox Tribune (originally Orthodox Youth or Agudah Youth), which were published by Zeirei Agudath Israel of America in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. These publications, over 50 issues with hundreds of pages of news and articles, give a window into the progression of the war and its aftermath. For example, the Adar 1942 issue includes a front page with the headline “On Nazi Atrocities,” news about rescue and about Agudah’s efforts to help with religious education for children that were sent to the land of Israel, and an op-ed by Jacob (Moreinu Yaakov) Rosenheim, ”The Right Answer to Hitler’s Challenge.”
These collections are the first of many that will be available to readers and scholars in the Holocaust section of the Agudah archives.
Agudath Israel’s executive vice president Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel welcomed the on-line publication of the three collections as “an important milestone in the area of Holocaust education.”
“Our Gedolei Yisroel have encouraged us to know for ourselves what transpired during the Holocaust, and to teach it to our children, so that we will never forget this dark era, and so that we will forever be inspired by the spiritual heroism displayed by so many holy Jews . With the on-line publication of these three archival collections – and b’ezras Hashem many more collections to come — Agudath Israel is making a treasure trove of primary source materials accessible to the broad Jewish public. This is a truly historic achievement.”
Rabbi Zwiebel expressed Agudath Israel’s gratitude to the many people who were involved in this project, including Rabbi Moshe Kolodny, Agudah’s Archivist Emeritus, responsible for the founding and growth of the Orthodox Jewish Archives; Rabbi Yossi Aszkenazy, who has been funding and digitizing thousands of hours of historic Agudah recordings; the Levy and Cohen families, sponsors of the online archive; the Claims Conference and the German government, who are funding the Holocaust digitization project; Rabbi Labish Becker, Executive Director of Agudath Israel and Administrator of the Holocaust digitization project; and Ms. Judith Dinowitz, Project Lead.
Yeshiva World NewsCaleb Snyder — the YouTuber and social media commentator who traveled to Lakewood last week to show viewers a side of the town that another YouTuber, Tyler Oliveira, chose not to highlight — has released his video documenting his interactions with locals, both Jewish and non-Jewish, throughout the area.
Unsurprisingly, Snyder’s experience paints a markedly different picture from the narrative presented by Oliveira. While Oliveira’s video selectively edited out encounters and context that would have offered a fuller view of the community, Snyder’s footage captures a more accurate portrayal of Lakewood — a place far removed from the caricature of a racist or “anti-goy” enclave that Oliveira attempted to present.
Watch Caleb’s video and subscribe to his channel to show him support.
The Lakewood Scoop
