In the years before the war, a young bochur learning in the famed Mir Yeshiva was presented with a rare and amazing opportunity. He had been invited to spend the nights of Pesach at the Sedorim of the great Chofetz Chaim.

For the young talmid, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. To sit at the table of the towering tzaddik, to watch how he performed each of the night’s mitzvos, to absorb the kedusha of his Seder, who would even consider giving that up?

And yet, there was another pull. His parents expected him home for Yom Tov. His father would lead the Seder, as he had since the young man was a child.

Torn over what to do, he brought his question to his rebbi, the mashgiach, Rav Yeruchom Levovitz.

Rav Yeruchom listened carefully. The bochur likely expected a nuanced answer, perhaps even encouragement to seize the rare chance to be in the presence of the Chofetz Chaim.

But the mashgiach’s response was clear and unequivocal.

“You must go home,” he said. “On the night of Pesach, there is a special obligation to hear the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim from your father.”

The young man may have missed a once-in-a-lifetime Seder with the Chofetz Chaim. But instead, he strengthened his place in the unbroken link between father and son, a link that is the very foundation of our people, stretching back to the time our nation left Mitzrayim.

The mitzvah of the Seder is not simply to recount history. If that were the case, everyone could fulfill it alone, reading the Haggadah by themselves.

The Torah frames the entire obligation of discussing Yetzias Mitzrayim by stating, “Vehigadeta levincha—You shall tell your son.”

Chazal derived from this posuk that the obligation to recount Yetzias Mitzrayim is not merely a directive to recite, but to transmit. The story of Yetzias Mitzrayim is meant to be handed from one generation to the next, alive, personal, and rooted in relationship. A father does not just convey information. He conveys identity.

At the Seder, a child does not simply learn what happened. He learns who he is. He hears not just that the Jews left Mitzrayim, but learns it from his father, who has an obligation to demonstrate, as the Rambam says, as if he himself left Mitzrayim, just as his father did, and just as his father did before him. We are all part of that story.

And that can only happen across the table, face to face.

The bochur in Mir was not wrong to want to be by the Chofetz Chaim. But Rav Yeruchom was reminding him that even the greatest Seder cannot replace the one place where the Torah says the story must be told: from father to son.

Every father at the Seder becomes a link in a chain that stretches back thousands of years. Every child who listens becomes the next bearer of that chain.

The questions, the answers, the niggunim, the family minhagim—they make us who we are and weave together the fabric of continuity.

In a world that is constantly changing, constantly pulling in new directions, the Seder night stands apart. It is the night when we reaffirm what we have received and pass it on.

The most powerful forces are those that take place in the Jewish home, laying down foundations and then strengthening them year after year. It is the way the father makes Kiddush. The way he leans over his Haggadah searching for a vort or a story to share. The way the children say Mah Nishtanah. The way the father strains to eat the marror and finishes eating two kezeisim of matzah in the prescribed time, bechdei achilas pras. And of course, it is the way he tells the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim and brings it to life.

It is the same story repeated year after year, but every year it is different. Each year, there is more to the story, more to discover, more the son understands. Each year, a deeper connection is formed—to his father, to the mesorah, to the emunah, to the mitzvos.

It is moments such as these that have carried us through thousands of years of golus, persecution, and upheaval. These are the moments that have ensured that, no matter where we have been, we have never become disconnected from where we came. Our mesorah continues, growing stronger with each passing year, son by son, father by father, family by family.

This is why we say that Pesach, the Yom Tov of emunah, as expressed throughout the Seder, the matzos, the marror, and the arba kosos, is also the Yom Tov of chinuch. This is why the entire concept of the Seder and the discussion of Yetzias Mitzrayim is rooted in the posuk, “Vehigadeta levincha,” instructing us to tell our children the story of our redemption from Mitzrayim on the night of Pesach.

Since it is all about speaking to our children, it must be done in a way they can accept and believe.

Thus, we proclaim in the Haggadah that the Torah speaks to all types of children: “Keneged arba’ah bonim dibra Torah.”

The Seforno (Shemos 12:26) discusses the question of the wicked son, the rosha, and explains that he is asking why the Korban Pesach is different from the korbanos of every other Yom Tov. Why is it, he asks, that every person has to go through the trouble of bringing their own korban?

We answer him that the geulah from Mitzrayim was not only a national redemption, but a personal one. Hashem saw how each person suffered and what each one was going through, and He redeemed the people one by one. Therefore, the Korban Pesach is not a communal offering, but an individual one.

Every person carries his own struggles, his own questions, his own burdens. And the message of the Seder is that Hashem relates to each person individually and responds to each one in the way that is best for him.

Similarly, there is no single answer for every child. Each son asks in his own way, and each must be answered in his own way.

Therefore, there isn’t one answer for all. The answers are specific to each son. The mesorah is passed down one by one, from one individual father to his individual sons—the same mesorah, but given to each one in a way he can understand.

The sefer Menucha Ukedusha, authored by a talmid of Rav Chaim Volozhiner, emphasizes that the Torah elaborates on the mitzvah of vehigadeta levincha through the framework of the four sons so that no father will ever feel exempt. If his son is wise, a father might be tempted to say, “He knows it already.” If the son is wicked, he may think, “Why waste my time?” If the son is a simpleton, he might feel that the effort is not worthwhile.

Therefore, he writes, the Torah addresses each of these attitudes and rejects them. There is no child who is beyond the reach of the Seder, and no child for whom the discussion is unnecessary.

And we see this with our own eyes.

Our children and grandchildren come home from school, from their rabbeim and moros, with pages and pages of vertlach, stories, songs, and information. We are amazed by their capacity to absorb, to retain, and to repeat. The more they are taught, the more they take in.

No effort is ever wasted. No word of Torah is ever lost. When a father speaks, when he explains, when he sings, when he tells the story, it takes root. Sometimes that is immediately obvious, and other times it comes later, but always, something endures.

This is especially so on the night of Pesach, when the holiness that enveloped Am Yisroel as Hashem separated them from the people of Mitzrayim to make them His nation becomes tangible once more. On this night, once again, we are raised from the tumah that surrounds us, and we—father and son—are better able to transmit and receive kedusha. In this heightened state, the father is better able to transmit, and the child is more receptive to receive, the eternal truths of our mesorah.

Seforim frequently quote Rav Chaim Vital, the Alshich, the Ramchal, and others who say that the energy of the miracles commemorated by a Yom Tov is present each year on the day of its occurrence. The night of the Seder is called Leil Shimurim, the “Protected Night,” because on that night, the Jews were spared and safeguarded in Mitzrayim. That same protective energy is present again each year, infusing the night with kedusha and spiritual strength.

So, at the Seder, as we recount how Hashem freed us from Mitzrayim, we recite with joy the passage of Vehi She’omdah and proclaim, “Shebechol dor vador omdim aleinu lechaloseinu,” that in every generation, those who seek to destroy us rise up. Our challenge is seemingly constant. The enemy changes names, faces, and methods, but the threat endures. Each year, a new rosha or force dominates the headlines, wielding threats and intimidation, testing our resolve.

Our zaides and bubbes faced the Romans, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Communist oppressors, the Nazis and many others. Through each trial, we endured. Though some generations suffered more visibly than others, we always emerged standing, and our people’s spirit grew stronger. Yet, their descendants, their ideas, and their efforts persist, rising in every generation to challenge our growth and attempt to extinguish our light.

Each generation has its own unique challenges. Alongside physical threats, new dangers come in subtler forms: shifting cultures, evolving technologies, and ideologies that can distance us from Torah. And yet, just as Hashem sustained us in the past, He sustains us today. The Seder reminds us that no matter the method or era of the threat, our survival is assured, our faith enduring, and our mission to live as free Jews remains undimmed, even amidst war or adversity.

We live in a time of freedom and plenty, but there are ill winds blowing, and the freedoms we have been enjoying may be at stake.

For decades, Iran has threatened to destroy Israel. They have pursued nuclear weapons and built a vast infrastructure of missiles, rockets, and drones. They have funded and armed terror groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, to attack Jews. They have targeted the United States, which they call the “Big Satan,” murdering hundreds of Americans and attempting to assassinate the president and other prominent leaders.

Six American presidents and dozens of American and Western leaders have declared, for decades, that they would never allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. Even the United Nations has issued many proclamations over the years warning Iran against going nuclear because of the danger that would present for world peace and stability.

The threat was escalating, and President Trump worked with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to counter the growing danger. Last year, the United States and Israel took action to prevent Iran from reaching the brink of nuclear capability. Either that effort was not effective or Iran had sufficiently recovered from the attacks to again approach the precipice of obtaining nuclear weapons. They had to be stopped. The United States and Israel, as of this writing, are engaged in a war to counter this existential threat.

We recognize the hand of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in all that is happening, and there have been many evident miracles in this war, even as Israel is under relentless rocket attack and there have been several korbanos, many wounded, and much damage. American soldiers have been killed and wounded in the effort, which is costing billions of dollars and has raised the price of oil and gasoline.

Though we do not know the outcome, we trust that with Hashem’s help, we will prevail over those who seek our destruction.

Already, the president’s enemies are condemning him for the action he was forced to take after his attempts at diplomacy were rebuffed. The Democrat Party has turned not only against the president, but also against Israel, and virtually everyone who wants to run for elective office in that party takes an anti-Israel stance.

Anti-Semites on the right and left are blaming the war on Israel and claiming that the Jewish country dragged the United States into the war and that now Americans will pay the cost of it.

We do not know where all of this will lead, but we do know that “shebechol dor vador” resonates so powerfully as we sit down to the Seder and proclaim, from father to his children, from one generation to the next, that our emunah is strong and we know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will redeem us from our golus as He redeemed our forefathers in Mitzrayim.

At the Seder, we tell our children the story of our geulah from Mitzrayim. We dip karpas in saltwater and marror in charoses to provoke questions. We eat matzah, the bread of the geulim. We drink the arba kosos, each one representing a different one of the four leshonos of geulah. Every gesture, every word, recalls the miracles of the past and strengthens our hope for the future.

The Seder, with its questions and answers, with its sacred mesorah and mitzvos, is a reminder that just as Hashem redeemed us then, He continues to redeem us today and will redeem us fully very soon.

We proclaim our belief that this year will be the year of our final redemption—that this war may be the last war, that this enemy may be our final enemy, that the suffering we endure may be the final suffering. We believe that we will be redeemed, each of us, everyone, emerging from our personal Mitzrayims, bekarov, with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu in this month of geulah.

When we recite Shefoch Chamoscha and pour the cup for Eliyohu Hanovi, we open our homes and our hearts, ready to follow him out the door to the geulah sheleimah.

There is no night like the Seder night. The Seder night is a night of chinuch. It is the night, the seforim teach us, when every father is given the opportunity to inculcate the foundations of our emunah into his children. It is a night when Hashem opens the hearts of children of all ages and enables all the exalted chinuch messages—emunah, bitachon, Hashgocha Protis, ahavas Hashem, and yiras Shomayim—to deeply penetrate the neshomah of each child.

That is why the Seder is such an exalted opportunity. There is no other night in the year when a father has the degree of siyata diShmaya to inculcate these foundational values into his child, and there is no other night when the neshomah of a child is as open as it is on the Seder night. That is why it is important for fathers to properly prepare for the Seder. Think about the lessons you want to impart before the Seder and make them clear and simple.

That said, it is also important to note that the Seder night is just the beginning. A person can’t be yotzei his obligation of chinuch with the Seder night alone. A person must continue to invest in this most important task of chinuch throughout the year. Even if you have a wonderful Seder and give over so many important yesodos of chinuch to your children, if you don’t follow up during the rest of the year, there will be little room for those lessons to actually bear fruit.

A Disturbing Incident

Let me share a story with you. I don’t often go away from home for Shabbos, but some time ago, I had occasion to attend a simcha in a different community. While there, I witnessed something that really bothered me. It was toward the end of Shabbos. I had just finished davening Mincha, and there was still time before shkiah, so I sat down to learn in the bais medrash and tried to finish the Rashis on the parsha.

Several tables over was a yungerman who had brought his son with him for Mincha. The child was young, I would estimate no more than five years old. After Mincha, this yungerman got into a good shmooze with another yungerman. As they were animatedly talking, I noticed the little child beginning to fidget. A couple of minutes later, he began saying, “Totty, I want to go home.” When there was no response, he began whining, “T-o-t-t-t-y-y-y. I want to go home!”

His father seemed totally oblivious and kept on talking. Meanwhile, I certainly couldn’t learn Chumash-Rashi while hearing a child whining so plaintively. The father kept talking, not even taking the time to tell his son that it would just be another minute.

Finally, the little boy began pulling at his father’s fingers, calling his father’s name in an even louder, whinier voice. When that, too, didn’t elicit a response, he began pulling at his father’s suit jacket pocket.

As this was transpiring, I was becoming increasingly upset. I wondered: Why did he even bring his five-year-old for Mincha? Clearly, a five-year-old is not holding by davening yet. But even more, if he did bring him, why isn’t he paying attention to him? Does he really want his son to view shul as a place where “I am a prisoner and my father is so taken up with his friends that he doesn’t even care about me screaming for twenty minutes straight”?

Is that how any father wants his son to view shul—as a horrible place where no one listens to him?

Furthermore, I thought, how foolish is this father! Today, his son wants him. He is calling for his Totty. However, if he continues this way, that same child will one day, chas veshalom, not want anything to do with his father. He will assume that he is unimportant to his father, that his feelings are unimportant, and he will then seek the company of others.

Rebbetzin Salomon, wife of the unforgettable mashgiach, Rav Matisyohu Salomon, would often say, “If you listen to what your children are telling you and make sure to interest yourself in what they have to say when they are five years old, they will want to talk to you when they are fifteen. And if not…”

Even if this father might have conducted the most wonderful Seder night in the world and inculcated all the right values, if this is how he follows up, he will not succeed in that ultimate, exalted, and hallowed task that Hashem has entrusted to him—the chinuch of his children.

The Lost Older/Younger Bochur Relationship

Another unrelated aspect of chinuch is that sometimes a father must recognize that he himself cannot do certain things on his own when it comes to chinuch. A prime example is learning with one’s child. There are many children today who find it difficult to learn with their fathers. Firstly, no father should feel that he has failed because his son doesn’t want to learn with him. It is extremely common in this generation. Thus, in that case, chinuch would mean hiring an excellent chavrusa or tutor who can learn with his son.

Sometimes, especially when it comes to bochurim, chinuch means finding him a yeshiva that is fitting for him (not for you, but for him), thereby placing him in an environment that will be conducive to his spiritual growth.

One thing I have noticed that is different today from when I was growing up is the fact that there are far fewer yeshivos where young mesivta bochurim have the opportunity to mix and learn with older bais medrash-aged bochurim. At one time, the lines were not drawn as rigidly, and because the Torah world was much smaller, high school-aged and bais medrash-aged bochurim often learned in the same yeshiva and the same bais medrash, offering many opportunities to have a seder at night with an older bochur or just shmooze.

The impact that a good older bochur can have on a younger bochur is incalculable. The older bochur is neither a rebbi nor a parent, but in some ways, because he is closer in age and young bochurim look up to him, he can have a transformative impact.

I am not just saying this from observation, but also from personal experience. Let me share something personal. When I was a young bochur in mesivta/high school, I was not confident at all. In today’s world, I would probably be described as “shvach” in learning. There were two older bais medrash bochurim who took me under their wings. They made sedorim with me—one a late-night, post-Maariv seder, and the other a pre-Shacharis seder.

I would like to mention one of them, because his fortieth yahrtzeit was just marked on 9 Nissan. Nuttie Rosenblum, Notta Shalom ben Reb Asher Anshel z”l, was tragically shot by a murderer while visiting the city where his in-laws lived, leaving behind his young wife and their three-week-old baby, who was never zoche to know him.

Nuttie helped ease me into yeshiva, gave me guidance in learning, made a bekius seder with me, and really taught me how to properly look at a Gemara, translate difficult words, and at the same time slip in a cupcake, a donut, and even a deli sandwich on occasion. The impact upon me was colossal.

Forty years may sound like a long time, but as long as it may sound, I have still never forgotten Nuttie and all that he did for me. Often, when I come to certain words in the Gemara that he taught me, I think about him and can still hear his voice and the niggun with which he said them.

The other bais medrash bochur would not want me to mention his name in public, but Reb Y.A. completely opened up my mind, inculcating new ideas and ideals in avodas Hashem that changed me.

These bochurim totally elevated my hasagos of what it means to be a ben Torah and an ehrliche Yid. Even after they left yeshiva, or after I left, they would send me letters full of chizuk. Yes, people actually wrote letters and mailed them back then.

That is another aspect of chinuch that I wish were more prevalent today, because when I look around, I see so many young mesivta bochurim who would soar if they only had an older bochur to keep an eye on them and interact with them.

The bottom line is that chinuch may certainly start with the hallowed Seder night, but that is just the beginning.

Gut Yom Tov.

The culmination of Pesach and indeed Yetzias Mitzrayim was Krias Yam Suf. This was clearly one of the greatest miracles in human history and has become a part of our legacy, davening and emunah. But something equally important happened then that also has a daily impact upon our lives and the hashkafah by which we live.

My rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner (Maamorei Pachad Yitzchok, 69:9, page 249), notes that the Shirah is the first time that Knesses Yisroel speaks of itself in the first person. The words are “zeh Keili ve’anveihu — This is my G-d and I will build Him a sanctuary; the G-d of my father and I will exalt Him” (Shemos 15:2). This is the first moment of Klal Yisroel’s self-awareness. When a child is born, it has no such awareness of a self. At this crucial moment, Klal Yisroel declares coronation of the Ribono Shel Olam, for without that, it cannot continue to exist.

So now we know. Beyond the exodus, beyond Mattan Torah, it seems that we received our identity as a nation at Krias Yam Suf. Why, indeed, not when, as the Haggadah tells us, “We became a nation there [in Egypt]”? Why not at Har Sinai, when we were told what to do and what to avoid? We are the nation of the Torah. Shouldn’t that be the moment when we discovered our identity?

Rav Hutner answers that all other nissim were temporary. They lasted as long as they were needed, and then the world returned to its original state of creation, which is the ostensibly natural not supernatural world. However, when Hashem split the Yam Suf, the waters would have remained suspended in midair if not for His declaration that “the water will go back upon Egypt, upon its chariots and upon its horseman” (Shemos 14:26). As Rav Hutner expressed it elsewhere (ibid. 33:15, page 135), “If when we went down to Mitzrayim, the future family of Klal Yisroel that would go toward the End of Days was created, its form and final birth happened at Krias Yam Suf.”

But we have not yet fully understood why this was the pivotal moment when we realized who we were, why we were created, and what our purpose is in the world. Rav Hutner gives a comprehensive and profound answer, which is beyond the scope of this article, but I would like to suggest a simpler approach to this important query, which is actually based upon Rav Hutner’s words elsewhere.

First of all, Rav Hutner (Pachad Yitzchok, Pesach 40:7) quotes the Mechilta (Shemos 14:21) that all the waters in the world split at the same time as the Yam Suf. He explains that this seemingly unnecessary part of the miracle “happened because, in fact, the neis of Krias Yam Suf affected the entire realm of water and earth.” In other words, this miracle was not limited to the nation’s need to be rescued from the Egyptians. It represented a new manifestation of Hashem’s power and control over every facet of the universe. This itself is an answer to Rav Hutner’s question earlier. Once we understand that the world was created for Klal Yisroel, the final part of Yetzias Mitzrayim must be felt all over the earth so that we would realize that from this point on, “everything is because of Klal Yisroel” (see Vayikra Rabbah 36:4).

To continue our study of the Pachad Yitzchok’s view of Krias Yam Suf, Rav Hutner (Maamorei Pachad Yitzchok , Pesach 96:2, page 344) quotes the Yerushalmi (Arvei Pesachim, halacha 6) that “the reason that Klal Yisroel didn’t sing shirah until the seventh day of Pesach is that the culmination of geulah (redemption) did not occur until then. He elaborates on this statement of Chazal in several maamorim (ibid. 33:15, 41:6), where he derives the relationship between the finality of geulah and shirah from a posuk in Tehillim (13:6), which we recite every day at the end of Hodu. Dovid Hamelech says, “But as for me, I trust in your kindness; my heart will exult in your salvation. I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt kindly with me.” Rav Hutner concludes, following the Vilna Gaon (commentary in the siddur on Hodu), that even if one totally believes in Hashem and has absolute bitachon that He will rescue us, shirah is not recited or sung until the redemption has actually taken place. This is also quoted by the Emek Brocha, who heard it from the Brisker Rov in the name of his father, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik (see also Rav Nissan Kaplan, Shalmei Nissan, Brachos, page 185:18).

We can conclude from the Vilna Gaon, Rav Chaim and now Rav Hutner that Klal Yisroel was able to burst into a song that has become eternal because they had experienced the miraculous completion of the process of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Only after witnessing the “Egyptians dead on the seashore” were they able to collectively and individually sing our beloved Az Yoshir.

We can now understand why we discovered our identity and voice at Krias Yam Suf. As we learned from Rav Chaim Brisker, even when one has total trust in Hashem, it is impossible to sing shirah on an incomplete event. In the case of Yetzias Mitzrayim, this was the complete annihilation of the Egyptian army. Perhaps there are analogies to the current war in Iran. We cannot be sure, but we can hope that the Yad Hashem will once again become manifest and clear enough for us to sing. This, as Rav Hutner suggests, might also be the reason why the waters would have remained standing if not for an express command from Hashem. Since this was a pivotal final moment releasing us from the threat of Mitzrayim, the miracle had to include a sense of culmination and permanence. This also explains the universal aspect of Krias Yam Suf being both visible and effective throughout the world.

Many other aspects of Krias Yam Suf now fall into place as well. The Mateh Moshe (Hilchos Pesach) quotes Rabbeinu Bachya (Parshas Va’eira), who says that Krias Yam Suf is included in the four aspects of geulah. In fact, the splitting of the sea corresponds to the kos shel brocha of Birkas Hamazon. Halachically, there is a fascinating disagreement amongst the poskim (Hilchos Krias Shma) if one can fulfill his obligation to mention Yetzias Mitzrayim by reciting the Shirah. The Mogein Avrohom is certain that one can, but Rav Akiva Eiger citing his son-in-law, the Chasam Sofer, is unsure (see Brachos 13b). In any case, it is clear that Yetzias Mitzrayim was officially over after the Shirah. This might also explain why it marks the culmination of Pesukei Dezimra, the passages that praise Hashem for many things. It also explains why the Mishnah Berurah (51) assures us that “one should recite the Shirah joyously and imagine that he, too, has crossed the sea that day. Whoever follows this regimen will surely have his sins forgiven.”

Finally, the Maharal (Gevuros Hashem, chapter 39) tells us that “when Klal Yisroel accepted the royalty of Hashem at Krias Yam Suf, we gained our new form through the singing of the Shirah. The Vilna Gaon (Aderes Eliyahu to Devorim 33:8), too, teaches that “at Krias Yam Suf, we acquired the ability to serve Hashem properly (nishlam kinyan avodah).” Thus, we see that Krias Yam Suf, on many levels, represents the ultimate perfection of the Jewish body and soul so that we can truly be avdei and ovdei Hashem. 

Just to complete the picture, let us note that the Shelah Hakadosh and Meshech Chochmah (both on Parshas Beshalach) stress the culmination aspect of Krias Yam Suf and the Shirah. They both understand those magical moments at the end of Yetzias Mitzrayim as a time of self-discovery. We know that the Ramchal (Derech Hashem) stresses that each Yom Tov brings a renewal and ability to reenact what happened on that day. The seventh day of Pesach is therefore a unique time to look deeply inside of ourselves and discover new paths to greatness and how we can help bring the geulah.

May Hashem accept our efforts and bring the long-awaited and much-needed geulah sheleimah bemeheirah veyomeinu. Amein.

A chag kosher vesomeiach to all.

Every Erev Pesach, something fascinating happens in frum homes across the world. Perfectly rational, learned, sensible people, people who can navigate a sugya in Bava Kamma or lehavdil analyze a spreadsheet, suddenly find themselves on their hands and knees, peering into crevices they haven’t thought about since last Pesach.

Their wives are even more frantic. They are looking for chometz. Tiny chometz. Invisible chometz. Chometz that is, in all likelihood, pachos m’kezayis, botul, and halachically irrelevant. And yet they cannot stop looking.

All the lomdus in the world and all the rationale won’t negate their quest to rid themselves of those tiny little particles. I used to wonder if General Mills invented the Cheerio just to have something that rolls under a refrigerator, forcing the puniest of men to suddenly become supermen in their mission to move mountains to rid themselves of even the tiniest “O.”

I recently heard a shiur in Menachos from Reb Sruly Bornstein, who quoted the Ridvaz, Rav Dovid ben Zimra, the rebbi of the Shitah Mekubetzes and the Arizal, who reframed the entire narrative as one of the most profound yesodos of the entire Yom Tov.

In cheilek gimmel of his teshuvos, the Ridvaz grapples with a question that anyone who thinks seriously about halacha must eventually ask. Why is chometz so different from every other issur in the Torah? Treife meat, cheilev, and yayin nesech are all subject to bittul. A drop of milk that falls into a pot of meat can be botul b’shishim. Sometimes you need a hundred times. But there is bittul. The halacha has mechanisms for dealing with small amounts of issur. That is how it works.

Except with chometz. Chometz on Pesach is never botul. Not one part in sixty, not one part in a million. The Ridvaz considered the conventional answers, dovor sheyeish lo matirim, and the like. But he is not satisfied. He takes another route, and here the Chida explains that “The remez is the pshat.”

The answer, says the Ridvaz, is rooted in what Chazal tell us in Maseches Brachos. The Gemara describes the yeitzer hara as se’or shebe’isa, the ferment in the dough. In the new sourdough culture, we all appreciate what that means. That starter, that tiny drop of culture, causes the entire dough to rise. It’s the starter, as they call it. It causes the dough to rise. Chometz is not merely a beautiful remez for the Shabbos Hagadol drosha. It is the yeitzer hara. And there is no room for even a drop of him.

Just as a single drop of sourdough culture introduced into fresh dough does not stay a drop—it spreads, it permeates, it transforms the entire mass—so too the yeitzer hara. Given any foothold at all, even the tiniest one, it works its way through everything. Chazal say, “Leitzanus achas docheh me’ah tochachos,” one cynical remark pushes away a hundred rebukes. It’s not botul one in a hundred. It’s not a drush. It’s a Gemara. This is the actual reason chometz cannot be botul, because you cannot be mevatel a yeitzer hara. You cannot say about your inner ferment, “It’s less than a kezayis. It doesn’t count.” It always counts.

I began to understand why there are massive asifos on issues for which many would think a simple letter and shmuess would suffice. The battle against what many perceive as a tiny drop of se’or, a small problem, an insignificant crack, is not merely that. Did physics care that the Space Shuttle Challenger had a hairline fracture in an O-ring seal? A fissure thinner than a sheet of paper caused an explosion that shook the world. The engineers who dismissed it, who essentially said, “It’s botul. The system is too large for something so small to matter,” were tragically, fatally wrong.

The yeitzer hara is the master of appearing small. And then…

We need biur chometz. And we need bedikas chometz. Active, deliberate, candle-in-hand investigation of every corner, every crevice, every place you’d rather not look. The most dangerous piece is not the loaf sitting on the counter. It’s the piece tucked away in a recess. The piece you forgot about, sitting quietly in the dark. You must shine a light on it. Shine before the rise. And if you don’t go looking, with the willingness to move heavy furniture, it will find you.

The response must be dramatic. Bittul alone is not enough, which is why we both say bittul and do biur. Because even after you have legally nullified it in your mind, the Torah says: Go find it anyway and burn it. The goal is not just halachic compliance. The goal is genuine inner freedom. Chag Hacheirus cannot coexist with a yeitzer hara that has been granted squatter’s rights in a quiet corner of the soul.

We all have our small chometz. The little grievance we’ve been carrying since Sukkos that we haven’t quite let go of. The habit we know is corrosive, but is, after all, so small. The pride that flares up occasionally, not often, just now and then, nothing serious. The cynicism about lomdei Torah, about the tzibbur, about our rov, or even gedolei Yisroel, that we’ve allowed to settle somewhere in the back of our minds like a crumb behind the stove. We don’t think about it much. It’s pachos m’kezayis. We think it’s botul.

But se’or shebe’isa doesn’t need much to work with. It needs one drop, left unaddressed, given a little warmth and a little time. And before long, the dough has risen, and you don’t quite recognize yourself anymore.

The bedikah is about looking honestly at what has been fermenting. What small resentment has been quietly rising? What minor compromise has been slowly expanding? What bit of gaavah has been working its way through the dough of the personality? The candle of bedikas chometz, say the Chassidishe seforim, is the neshomah—ner Hashem nishmas adam. Hashem gave us an inner light specifically so we could search the dark corners.

So yes, clean the kitchen. Check the pockets. Move the refrigerator if you must. The Ribbono Shel Olam loves a Yid who takes even the smallest crumb seriously.

But while you have that candle lit, point it inward, too. The most dangerous chometz is the kind that has been sitting so quietly for so long that you’ve stopped noticing it’s there. Get rid of it. Even the slightest morsel.

Just saying.

The Pesach Seder is a cherished time. With all the hustle and bustle of cleaning and preparing behind us, not to mention the sweat and tears, we sit around the Seder table like kings and queens, celebrating Hashem’s miraculous salvation. We recount the story, eat the matzah and marror, and listen to an endless flow of divrei Torah from adults and children_._

Every detail of the Seder and the Haggadah is rich with depth and meaning, and on this night, more than on all other nights, we take the time to delve into every aspect and bring it to life. Yet, precisely because of this richness, we must remember that the Seder has a central message that must not get lost in the sea of insights. It’s a message we must absorb ourselves, and one we are obligated to convey to our children: V’higadita l’vincha.

We sit at the Seder to recount and relive the experience of yetzias Mitzrayim: the enslavement, the great nissim Hashem performed, and His choosing us to be His nation. We remember how our temporary sojourn turned into inescapable slavery and the terrible bitterness of our suffering. We recall how we cried out to Hashem, and He answered. We recount the supernatural punishments and plagues He visited on our tormentors, and the wonders through which He redeemed us, leading us towards the momentous revelation at Har Sinai and ultimately to the Bais Hamikdosh.

As the Haggadah says, “Kol hamarbeh lisaper harei zeh meshubach — the more we expound on the story and all that it means, the more praiseworthy it is.” But even as we explore the details, we must not lose sight of the central point.

The Seder is more than an annual commemoration of the past. It lays the foundations of our emunah and bitachon. The Ramban, in Parshas Bo, explains that the purpose of the great miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim was not just to redeem us physically, but to establish the foundations of our emunah for all generations.

The open miracles we experienced and witnessed shattered the illusion that the world runs on its own. They demonstrated that Hashem creates the world, knows every detail, and actively guides events. Moshe Rabbeinu’s warnings to Paroh revealed that Hashem communicates directly to His nevi’im, revealing to them His will and His wisdom. These are the foundations of Torah and emunah, the source of our strength as we face our own personal Mitzrayim and our own inner Paroh.

Since such open miracles do not occur in every generation, the Ramban explains, Hashem gave us mitzvos that serve as enduring reminders. They ensure that the memory of those nissim never fades and we never lose sight of the truth they reveal. Pesach is first among them, but tefillin, mezuzah, Shema, and others also serve to keep these great nissim in the forefront of our minds.

The truth revealed by the great public miracles also reveals the truth in our personal experiences: our daily lives are shaped only by Hashem’s hand; His hidden, personal miracles direct everything we experience and every challenge we face. In the words of the Ramban, seeing Hashem’s hand in everything that happens to us is “the foundation of the entire Torah, for a person has no portion in the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu unless he believes that everything that happens to us is a miracle, not a result of nature or ‘the way of the world.’”

The Seder, then, is not simply an act of remembrance. It is an act of construction. Each year we rebuild the foundations of our perception, training ourselves and our children to see beyond the surface of events and to live with clarity, with emunah in Hashem, and bitachon that He will provide for all our needs. It leads us, in other words, to true freedom.

Chazal teach us that the word chorus, “engraved,” describing the words on the luchos, can also be read as cheirus, freedom. True freedom, they explain, comes only from Torah.

At first glance, this seems paradoxical. The Torah includes many mitzvos lo saaseh, which restrict us. Yet, they actually free us, enabling us to live in alignment with who we truly are. They don’t confine us; they define us.

Freedom is not the absence of restriction. It can’t be. Removing all bounds is not liberation, it’s total destruction. Existence requires definition, and definition is, by definition, limitation. Those limitations that reflect our true nature are not imprisonment; they are true freedom.

I lived this reality myself. Behind bars, in a place called prison, I felt truly free. Not by removing boundaries, but by embracing boundaries of Torah, halacha, hiddur mitzvah, the boundaries that define me as a Yid.

To find freedom, therefore, it’s critical to know who and what you are. Consider the midaber, the human being. To be a mentch, a civilized person, is to embrace numerous restrictions on your behavior. If someone “frees” himself from these restrictions, he’s not considered a freer person — he’s abandoned his identity as a person and is instead derided as an animal.

An animal itself is not belittled for acting this way, but to be an animal, a nefesh chayah, carries its own limitations. For example, animals each have their natural habitat or ecosystem in which they thrive. An obvious example is a fish, which is “constrained” to water. To free them from this “limiting environment” is to kill them.

A plant is a tzome’ach. It needs to grow. Give it soil, water, and sunlight, and it will flourish, but it needs to stay rooted to one place. Free it from that constraint, uproot it and move it around, and it dies.

A Yid is a neshomah, a nefesh Elokis. Our connection to Hashem is who we are. Torah and mitzvos are part of that connection. Fulfilling them, even the ones that constrain us, is our true freedom. Not only do Torah and mitzvos express our true nature, but they connect us to Hashem, who is truly without limit and limitation.

Paroh’s slavery wasn’t just the hard labor — he prevented us from going to Har Sinai and receiving the Torah. Yetzias Mitzrayim was not just the escape from the taskmaster’s whip; it was the ability to go stand at Har Sinai.

That’s what’s really on the table at the Seder. Focused on the message of the night, we can set aside the illusion of the natural order and “the powers that be” and embrace the miracles and salvations, in our history and in our daily lives, that are granted to us by the only “Power that Is.” We can recognize and affirm our own true nature and our commitment to Torah and mitzvos. We can use the night, with all of its mitzvos and minhagim, to restore and strengthen our clarity, our foundations, and, as a result, our true freedom.

There is no night in the Jewish calendar that carries the weight, depth, and transformative potential of the leil haSeder. It is not merely a commemoration. It is not even just a mitzvah of remembrance. It is the night when a Yid comes to understand through the living, breathing words of the Haggadah what his obligation is, how to fulfill it, and why it matters so profoundly.

And if one truly understands the leil haSeder, it does not remain confined to that single night. It reverberates. It reshapes one’s entire Yiddishkeit. But perhaps most significantly, it reshapes the way one approaches chinuch and becomes a mechanech, a transmitter of Torah, a builder of generations.

Because at its core, the leil haSeder is not about the past. It is about the present and the future.

The Pedagogy of Awakening: “Kaan Haben Shoel”

In truth, this is the essence of the night: “Lema’an tesaper be’oznei bincha uven bincha—So that you may tell in the ears of your son and your grandson.”  The Seder is the primary arena in which a father transmits not only knowledge, but identity. It is here where the deepest yesodos of emunah are not just taught, but experienced. That is why the structure is derech she’eilah uteshuvah. The child must ask, and the father must respond. “Kaan haben shoel.” It is the entire philosophy of chinuch distilled into a single moment. The process itself is the message: Torah is not imposed; it is awakened. In the world of education, there is a constant temptation to “speak at” a child, to pour information into a passive vessel. But the Seder demands the opposite. A child must feel that he is not being spoken at, but spoken with. And more deeply, that he is not merely receiving answers, but uncovering truths that belong to him. Each child, sitting at the same table, hears the same words but receives a different message, because each one is addressed according to his capacity, his personality, and his soul.

The Maharal’s Question: Why Only Hashem?

The Maharal of Prague sharpens this understanding through a series of penetrating questions on the Haggadah, questions that at first glance seem technical, but in truth open an entirely new window into the nature of Yetzias Mitzrayim.

We declare, “Avodim hayinu l’Porah b’Mitzrayim,” and then continue: “V’ilu lo hotzi Hakadosh Boruch Hu osanu mishom…harei anu uvoneinu uvnei voneinu meshubadim hayinu l’Paroh b’Mitzrayim.” The Maharal asks two fundamental questions: Why must the redemption be attributed specifically to Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself? Could it not have been carried out through a malach, as so many other divine acts are? And more perplexingly, if a malach had taken us out, would we today, thousands of years later, truly still be considered “meshubadim,” in some lingering sense bound to Paroh?

Furthermore, why does the Haggadah emphasize that even if we are all chachomim, all understanding, all yodim es haTorah, we are still obligated to recount the story? Why is this necessary to state? Could there be a well-founded reason that a talmid chochom would think himself exempt from the mitzvah of recounting Yetzias Mitzrayim?

And further: “Vechol hamarbeh lesaper… harei zeh meshubach.” Why is elaboration itself a virtue? In most mitzvos, there is a defined act. One fulfills it and moves on. Here, however, the more one expands, the more praiseworthy he becomes.

The questions deepen. The Haggadah recounts how the chachomim sat all night in Bnei Brak, speaking of Yetzias Mitzrayim until their talmidim informed them that the time for Krias Shema had arrived. Yet, according to the opinion of Rebbi Eliezer, the zeman of the mitzvah extends only until chatzos. Why, then, did he continue? And even according to the other view that it lasts until alos hashachar, they went beyond that time, as the story implies they would have continued even further were it not for another mitzvah interrupting them.

And then comes an even more striking shift. In the midst of discussing sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Haggadah introduces the drosha of zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim, the daily obligation to remember the Exodus. But these are two distinct mitzvos. As famously explained by Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, sippur is an immersive, experiential recounting. It demands a dialogue of question and answer, a transition from degradation to praise, and an exploration of the underlying reasons for the mitzvos. Zechirah, by contrast, is a minimal verbal mention. Why, then, are they interwoven here?

Beyond Time: The Totality of Yisroel

The Maharal’s fundamental yesod answers all of these questions in one sweeping idea.

The Haggadah later declares: “Bechol dor vador chayov adam liros es atzmo k’ilu hu yotza miMitzrayim.” A person must see himself as if he personally left Mitzrayim. Immediately afterward, however, we say: “Lo es avoseinu bilvad go’al…ela af osanu go’al imahem—Not only our ancestors were redeemed, but we, too, were redeemed with them.”

The Maharal notes a logical tension: Am I to view myself as the central figure, k’ilu ani, or am I merely part of a collective osanu go’al imahem? And how can I, living in the 21st century, say that I was “redeemed” when I was never physically there?

His answer is transformative and reframes the entire Seder.

When a human being performs an act of kindness, it is bound by time. It is directed toward those present, those known. Future generations may benefit incidentally, but the act was not for them. A grandson may feel appreciation that his grandfather was saved, but it is diluted, as the salvation was not an intentional act directed at the grandson.

But Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not bound by time. When He redeemed Klal Yisroel, He did not redeem a group that would later produce descendants. He redeemed the totality of Yisroel, every individual across all generations simultaneously. In that very act of Yetzias Mitzrayim, He saw, intended, and acted upon every future Jew. There is no “afterthought,” no secondary beneficiary. This means that the Exodus was not something that happened then and affects us now. It is something that happened for us.

Not a Descendant. A Recipient.

Consider a parable: A man lives in a country, and a wise man tells him, “Leave, for a war is coming.” The man moves to another country, is saved, and has children there. One would not say that the wise man saved the man and his offspring as a single unit. Rather, he saved the man, and that salvation naturally extended to his descendants.

But regarding Yetzias Mitzrayim, it was not so. Hashem did not set His eye upon that generation alone. He set His eye upon Klal Yisroel, the totality of Yisroel, first and last, and He redeemed them. This act is uniquely appropriate for Hashem, for He is the “All-Inclusive” who includes everything. He redeemed the totality of Yisroel according to His own level, which spans all generations.

This is the meaning of “Ba’avur zeh asah Hashem li.” Not metaphorically, not emotionally, but literally. The Exodus was done for me.

And now the Maharal’s earlier question is illuminated. A malach is a finite being, bound by the “now.” If a malach had taken us out, the redemption would have been historically complete, but existentially partial. It would have been an act directed toward a specific generation, with future generations as beneficiaries. We would have been free, yet not fully disconnected. Because it would not have been personal. It would not have defined our essence. And that which is not essential does not endure. It leaves residue, a lingering shibbud.

But because it was done by Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, it transcends time. Only the Infinite One, who spans all generations, could perform an act that reaches into the future and pulls every unborn soul out of bondage. It is direct, personal, and therefore essential and absolute. It creates permanence. It defines who we are.

This understanding transforms everything.

The Difference Between Knowing and Living

This understanding explains why the mitzvah of sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim is qualitatively different from the daily mitzvah of zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim. It is not about recalling information. It is about reliving an experience. And when something has happened to you, when it is part of your identity, you do not tire of speaking about it. On the contrary, the more you speak, the more alive it becomes.

This is why “Vechol hamarbeh lesaper… harei zeh meshubach.” It is not a quantitative measure. It is a qualitative one. The extent of one’s elaboration reflects the depth of one’s identification.

This is why even the greatest chachomim continue beyond the formal zeman. The halachic obligation may have boundaries, but the experiential reality does not. This is not just kiyum hamitzvah. This is chavivus. When something is personal, it is irrepressible.

Zechirah: The Echo of Experience

This explains why the Haggadah weaves the concept of zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim into the broader discussion of sippur. Zechirah is not an independent obligation. Rather, it is the “residue” of sippur. When one truly lives the Exodus on the night of Pesach, that experience naturally permeates every other day of the year. The daily remembrance is simply the lingering echo of that experience.

This approach resolves Rav Chaim’s famous question on the Rambam. The Rambam in Hilchos Krias Shema (1:3) mentions the daily obligation to mention Yetzias Mitzrayim both during the day and at night, yet he conspicuously omits this from his Sefer Hamitzvos. Perhaps this is because the daily mention is not a distinct mitzvah, but is instead subsumed within the overarching mitzvah of sippur, which is intended to spill over into our daily consciousness.

I Matter Infinitely—And I Belong to Eternity

From here, the Maharal adds a second dimension. While from our perspective, the redemption is deeply personal, from Hashem’s perspective, it is also national. He redeemed Klal Yisroel. Thus, both statements are true: k’ilu hu yotza and af osanu go’al imahem. The individual and the collective are not in tension. They are intertwined.

A person must live with both truths: I matter infinitely, ba’avur zeh asah Hashem li betzeisi miMitzrayim, and I am part of something infinitely greater.

This dual awareness is the foundation of chinuch.

The Chofetz Chaim’s Moshol: The Temperature of Transmission

If the Maharal provides the theology of the Seder, the Chofetz Chaim provides the psychology of its transmission.

The Chofetz Chaim offers a moshol that crystallizes this idea with disarming simplicity. He once entered a mikvah whose attendant assured him that the water was hot. Yet, upon entering, the Chofetz Chaim found it merely lukewarm. The attendant explained that he had poured boiling water into a container, which then flowed into another, and only then into the mikvah.

The Chofetz Chaim explained: When a very hot liquid is still in a kli rishon, in the pot in which it was directly heated on the fire, it has the power to cook, to transform. But once the water is transferred to a kli sheini, and certainly to a kli shlishi, it is already cooling down. It may retain the heat, but generally it no longer has the power to cook or heat something else.

So too, he said, with Yiddishkeit.

There are those Yidden who are cold. Little penetrates. There are those who are lukewarm—observant, even appreciative, but without vitality. Some are hot, engaged, even enthusiastic, yet they cannot seem to transmit that heat to their children.

But only those who are still a kli rishon, as if still on the fire, can transmit that heat to others and even ignite the next generation.

Only one who lives Torah, not merely as an obligation, but as reality, can pass it on in a way that endures.

Anything less will inevitably cool with each transfer.

The Quiet Tragedy of Lukewarm Living

A person can learn. Daven. A person can perform every mitzvah in the Shulchan Aruch and even be considered a success in the community. But if it is not alive within him, if it is not fiery, it cannot endure beyond him.

And that absence will reveal itself not immediately, but inevitably in the next generation.

It reveals itself in the lack of consistency, in the blurring of identity, and in the “lukewarm” connection of the children. What is not internalized cannot be transmitted. What is not alive cannot give life.

This is the observable reality of our generation. A parent who lives Yiddishkeit as an obligation may raise children who observe. A parent who lives it with warmth may raise children who appreciate. But a parent who lives with fire, with a sense of urgency, with the deep-seated conviction of “ba’avur zeh asah Hashem li,” that Hashem did this for me personally, creates a chain that can endure any external pressure.

Fire Is Not Taught, It Is Caught

The Seder is the laboratory where this dynamic is either created or lost. A father who approaches the Seder as a checklist will produce children who see Yiddishkeit as a checklist. A father who approaches it as a performance will produce children who see it as theater.

But a father who approaches it as a personal encounter, who is animated, who lingers, who sings, who elaborates not because he must but because he cannot help himself, transmits something far deeper than information. He transmits authenticity.

The child senses that this is real. He senses that his father isn’t doing this for the kids. He’s doing it because it is his lifeblood.

And slowly, almost imperceptibly, the child shifts. He moves from observer to participant. From hearing a story to living a reality. From “this happened to them” to “this happened to us” to “this happened to me.”

Raising a Prince: Self-Worth and Redemption

This brings us to the profound connection between the Seder and the self-esteem of a Jewish child.

What is the greatest boost to a human being’s sense of self-worth? It is the realization that they are significant. Not just significant to their peers or their society, but significant to the Creator of the Universe. “Every person is obligated to say: _Bishvili nivra ha’olam—_The world was created for my sake” (Sanhedrin 37a).

When we tell a child, “Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim,” it is a history lesson. But when we live the Maharal’s truth, that Hashem looked through the corridors of time, saw that specific child, and redeemed the totality of Yisroel, which he is part of, specifically so that that child could sit at the Seder table today, it becomes a revolution of the soul.

The Seder tells the child: You matter infinitely. Your relationship with Hashem is direct. Your avodah is essential. You are not a secondary beneficiary of your ancestors’ miracles. You are the intended target of Hashem’s love.

The Ripple Effect A Night That Never Ends

A true Seder does not end at Nirtzah. It spills into the next day, the year, and the lifetime. It becomes the lens through which a Jew sees his life:

I matter infinitely.

My relationship with Hashem is direct.

My role in Klal Yisroel is irreplaceable**.**

And when a child grows up in such an environment where limud haTorah is alive, where mitzvos are burning, where identity is personal and powerful, he does not need to be convinced. He has seen it. He has felt it. He has lived it.

Conclusion: The Call to Ignite

There is no greater gift a parent can give a child. Not information. Not structure. Not even inspiration. But fire. Because fire sustains. Fire spreads. Fire transforms. And the leil haSeder is the night when we are given the opportunity not just to speak, but to ignite.

That shift is the goal of the Seder. It is also the goal of chinuch.

Ultimately, the success of chinuch is not measured only by what a child knows, but by what he feels is his. Does he experience Torah and mitzvos as external expectations or as internal realities? Does he see himself as a recipient of a legacy or as a participant in an eternal flame?

This is why the Seder must be alive, why it must be long, why it must be filled with questions, with answers, with singing, with storytelling. Because it is not merely a mitzvah to be fulfilled. It is an identity to be formed.

And this is why the lesson extends far beyond one night.

A person who lives with the awareness that Hakadosh Boruch Hu acted for him personally cannot remain indifferent. His relationship with Hashem becomes immediate, intimate. His hakoras hatov becomes real. His avodah becomes alive.

And a parent or mechanech who lives this way does not need to lecture about “passion.” He radiates it. It is absorbed into the very walls of the home and the classroom. It becomes the atmosphere in which children grow.

As we prepare for the Seder, let us ask ourselves: Am I a kli rishon? Am I connected to the fire? Because the greatest gift we can give our children is not the knowledge of the past, but the fire of the present.

The Yahrtzeit of Rav Shlomo Wolbe

Pesach is the holiday of miracles and the source of the emunah that we carry with us throughout the year and throughout our lives. Chol Hamoed Pesach is an excellent opportunity for Torah learning, as I try to take advantage of the numerous shiurim offered in various venues in Eretz Yisroel. But there is another poignant aspect of Chol Hamoed Pesach for me: I can never forget the year 5765/2005, when we bade farewell to the mashgiach Rav Shlomo Wolbe precisely at this time. The same feelings of tragic loss are stirred within me every year on the night of bedikas chometz, when I remember the tragic car accident that took the lives of Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus, his wife Chaya Mindel, and their daughter Miriam in the year 2001, at that time. I will never forget that experience; I spent an entire day at Soroka Hospital and then at the funerals in Ofakim and Yerushalayim. On every yahrtzeit, I visit the kever on Har Hamenuchos together with the family—and 25 years have now passed since that tragic day! I wasn’t acquainted with Rav Shimshon Pincus as well as I knew Rav Wolbe; however, his son Rav Eliyohu Yitzchok has always been like a brother to me.

On the day Rav Wolbe passed away, I was at Shaare Zedek hospital together with his wife, Rebbetzin Rivka Wolbe (the daughter of Rav Avrohom Grodzinsky, mashgiach of the Yeshiva of Slabodka), and his son-in-law, Rav Schwartzmann. We knew that Rav Wolbe’s hours were numbered; his kidneys hadn’t been working for several days, and the doctors had told us that there was no natural way for a person to survive without kidneys. But the advance warning wasn’t nearly sufficient to prepare us for the moment when the doctor emerged from the room and told us that the yetzias neshomah had begun. That was an unbearable moment that I will never forget. It was Rebbetzin Wolbe who served as the pillar of strength at that time, dispensing instructions on what to do next.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Yaakovson and Wolbe families had already been connected for three generations. My grandfather, Rav Binyomin Zev Yaakovson (the right-hand man of Rav Yaakov Rosenheim, one of the leaders of Keren HaTorah and the Vaad Hatzolah) became the rov of the Machzikei Hadas community of Copenhagen, Denmark, after the war and fled with his kehillah to Sweden on that famous Rosh Hashanah when the Jews of Copenhagen were saved from the approaching Nazi army. Rav Wolbe was a young man who was living in Sweden at the time and later partnered with my grandfather to open a school that accepted 100 girls, after thousands of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust made their way to Sweden directly from the death camps. All of the girls in the school came from religious homes and had clung to their faith in Hashem and their loyalty to the Jewish people. Half of them later emigrated to America, while the other half accompanied by grandfather to Eretz Yisroel. My grandfather maintained contact with “his girls” in America as well and made a point of attending their simchos and other events that they organized. The story of Lidingo is a piece of Jewish history that hasn’t received enough attention and appreciation over the years. Many girls who did not join the students in the school were lost to the Jewish people forever, including some who hailed from prominent families.

One of the girls in Lidingo was my mother. Another girl, who was somewhat older, was Rivkale Grodzinsky. The shidduch between Rav Shlomo and Rebbetzin Rivka Wolbe was made in Lidingo, and they married in Eretz Yisroel several years later. Rav Wolbe went on to open the yeshiva in Beer Yaakov, where he served as the mashgiach and recruited my father to hold a position as a maggid shiur. My father later took over for Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro as rov of the community of Beer Yaakov, after Rav Moshe Shmuel decided that he could not simultaneously hold the positions of rov and rosh yeshiva. Many years later, Rav Wolbe moved to Yerushalayim. After my marriage, I became his neighbor; we lived in the same building for about 30 years, until the time of his passing. In short, I essentially spent my entire life in the shadow of Rav Wolbe and his rebbetzin, whom I knew as “Doda Rivka.” I don’t want to boast, but I assisted Rav Wolbe on dozens of occasions with all sorts of things, including during the period of his illness. And that is why I feel the same emotional pang every year on Chol Hamoed Pesach.

On that note, I would like to share two stories concerning Rav Wolbe with you.

“The Malach”

Shortly after Rav Wolbe’s passing, I had a conversation with two women who had been students in the Lidingo school. Both were over the age of 75 at the time, twenty years ago. One of those women was my mother, and the other was a Belzer chossid named Rebbetzin Rechnitzer, whose husband was a posek in the Belz community. When I wrote about this conversation at the time, I identified them in the published article only with their initials. Now that they have both been deceased for many years, I can use their names.

“What did my grandfather, Rav Binyomin Zev, and Rav Wolbe mean to you in Lidingo?” I asked them.

“They gave us a sense of family; they were like fathers to us,” my mother said. “Shabbos in Lidingo reminded us of all the Shabbosos we had in our own homes, with all the mitzvos we experienced there.”

The other woman added, “We both lost something very, very great…. He created our Yiddishkeit. We owe our Jewishness to your grandfather and to Rav Wolbe. We were like lost sheep…. Even I, who came from a chassidish home, did not know what would become of me after the Holocaust.”

“What was Rav Wolbe’s role?” I asked them.

“Merely looking at him was enough to strengthen our yiras Shomayim,” Rebbetzin Rechnitzer said. “He was a great man even at the time. All of us, all the girls in Lidingo, used to gather together in that small room to listen to him.”

“He gave shiurim on Tehillim,” my mother added. “He was a spiritual figure. He was able to use Tehillim as a basis for discussing anything, as we sat in a circle and listened.”

“I know that you used to call him ‘the malach,’” I said.

“That’s right,” my mother replied. “In Lidingo, that is what we called him.”

“Tzvika, you are writing for a newspaper, aren’t you?” my mother’s friend admonished me. “You can’t write such words in a newspaper. You can write that we were filled with yiras Shomayim when we looked at him, and that we cannot describe how much we owe to him and to your grandfather.

“Did you maintain contact with him after coming to Eretz Yisroel?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” my mother said. “He and Doda Rivka felt a strong sense of responsibility toward us. We often sought his advice.”

“Yes,” her friend concurred. “Morah Rivka used to visit us every time he came to the yeshiva in Gush Shmonim for Shabbos, which he continued doing until recently. We, the remaining Lidingo girls, used to meet every year on the yahrtzeit of your grandmother, Rebbetzin Baila Yaakovson, and listen to a shiur. Last year, the kinnus was held in my house, but Rav Wolbe no longer had the strength to attend. Only his wife came to the event. These two great men, Rav Binyomin Zev and Rav Shlomo, were the ones who revived us—the long-suffering girls who yearned for the release of death, for whom the fire of life had dimmed and whose smiles had faded. Your grandfather knew how to open our hearts,” she added.

Why Did Rav Wolbe Insist on Davening Mincha Gedolah?

On Tisha b’Av 5764/2004, Rav Wolbe delivered a shmuess in the Mir yeshiva, and I drove him to the yeshiva. When he concluded his shmuess, I approached his seat to inform him that I was still there and available to take him home, and he looked surprised. “Did you stay here for the shmuess as well?” he exclaimed.

As we headed toward the car, a yungerman approached Rav Wolbe and asked how to strengthen his emunah. “By davening,” Rav Wolbe replied. One minute later, a different yungerman approached him and asked how to improve his davening. “Think about every word, and remember that you are standing before Hashem,” Rav Wolbe replied. “Envision yourself before Him.”

On that subject, the following story is a true incident that I experienced, although I have heard quite a few speakers repeat it, each of them adding many details that never actually took place: The staff of the Yeshiva of Givat Shaul, which Rav Wolbe founded, asked him to join the yeshiva for Mincha during the summer zman, but he demurred. “I prefer to daven Mincha Gedolah,” he said. The rabbeim tried to persuade him to change his mind, pointing out that if he arrived for the later Mincha and remained in the yeshiva until Maariv, it would create an opportunity for the bochurim to meet with him personally between the two minyanim. “Nevertheless, I prefer to daven Mincha Gedolah,” Rav Wolbe insisted.

“Perhaps the rov can come for Mincha in the late afternoon and simply not daven with the yeshiva,” they suggested.

“Chas veshalom,” Rav Wolbe replied. “I cannot be in the yeshiva without observing the sedorim of the yeshiva.”

Thus, Rav Wolbe refused to wait until the end of the day for Mincha, and he also refused to be present in the yeshiva without davening along with them. One day, I decided that I needed to solve the mystery of his behavior: Why, in fact, was he unwilling to daven Mincha late in the afternoon? When I questioned him about it, Rav Wolbe seemed to feel obligated to explain himself to me, out of hakaras hatov for the fact that I often drove him from his home to the yeshiva.

“I am not capable of waiting from the morning until the evening to speak to Hashem,” he said frankly. And if I remember correctly, he may have added, “How can someone wait from 7:00 in the morning until 7:00 at night without speaking to Hashem?”

With that, I wish you all a Pesach kosher v’someiach.

Pesach Brings Out the Beauty of Am Yisroel

Here in Israel, the entire country shut down for Yom Tov, government offices are closed and banks maintain a half-day schedule on Pesach, even when there is no war. Of course, there are also shiurim and yeshivas bein hazemanim programs, which have become ubiquitous. As I write this, I wonder how these programs will be impacted by the temporary prohibition on large gatherings due to the war.

This year, incidentally, there are some left-wing agitators who have grown outraged by the fact that certain grocery stores cover chometz items with plastic before Pesach. They cannot tolerate the sight of chometz being made inaccessible to consumers on Pesach. Rav Uri Zohar once told me, any display of kedusha tends to provoke the eirev rav among us.

From my standpoint, there is something else that is extraordinary about this season: It is a time when the Jewish people’s grandeur is revealed. It is astounding to see how people observe the laws of Pesach with painstaking care, toiling to purge every last trace of chometz from their homes, to obtain matzos of the highest halachic quality, and so forth. This is also the holiday when we become aware of an entire world of chessed operating in our communities, including massive distributions of food and other provisions to the needy. I am always amazed by the many neighborhoods where communities organize group purchases of various goods for Pesach, using their joint purchasing power to negotiate cheaper prices. These arrangements are often handled by yungeleit who spend the entire year in the bais medrash but turn out to be shrewd businessmen as well, capable of soliciting bargains and organizing massive ventures—although they confine their business exploits to bein hazemanim.

Will Pesach Bring Netanyahu Freedom from Criminal Charges?

You may find this difficult to believe, but the Israeli media and liberal elites are focused on something that they seem to find even more important than the war and the oil crisis. And no, it isn’t that they are worried about baking matzos or purchasing wine for the upcoming Yom Tov. Instead, their attention is occupied by a decision due to be made by Amichai Eliyahu, a minister in the Israeli government in Itamar Ben-Gvir’s party and a grandson of Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, former chief rabbi of Israel. And what is the subject of this all-important decision that dwarfs even the war against Iran? You may have guessed it: It is the question of whether the government should accede to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s request for a pardon.

You are surely already aware that our president, Yitzchok Herzog, is holding a veritable ticking time bomb in his hands. Netanyahu has already submitted an official request for a pardon, and Herzog is under enormous pressure from President Trump to accede to that request. Trump used some strong words that daunted the Israeli president, and Herzog responded weakly that Israel is an independent democratic state with its own internal processes, and we must allow those processes to take place.

The first official step was for the request for a pardon to be reviewed by the Pardons Department of the Justice Ministry. Two weeks ago, the department released its professional opinion, and there was a fierce dispute between Bibi’s supporters and his detractors over what, exactly, the decision said. The anti-Netanyahu camp claimed that the department had found that Netanyahu’s request isn’t a standard request for a pardon and therefore cannot be reviewed at all. The reason it isn’t a standard request is that Netanyahu hasn’t been convicted, nor has he even admitted to any of the crimes with which he was charged. They also claimed that the professional opinion states explicitly that there are legal difficulties involved in accepting the request. Netanyahu’s supporters, however, insist that there is a precedent for issuing a pardon in this situation—namely, the 300 Bus affair, in which then-President Chaim Herzog pardoned the heads of the Shin Bet after they were accused of murdering a terrorist. In that case as well, a preemptive pardon was issued, before the defendants were tried or convicted. As for the legal difficulties cited by the opposing camp, the prime minister’s supporters pointed out that the professional opinion states only that the difficulties exist, but not that it is impossible to issue a pardon.

Once the Pardons Department has issued its opinion, the next step is for the minister of justice to make his own recommendation to the president. This time, however, the minister of justice, Yariv Levin, passed this hot potato to Minister Amichai Eliyahu instead of handling himself. Levin considers himself in a potential conflict of interest on this subject; he is a friend of Netanyahu and a member of his party, and his own opinion regarding the pardon is already well-known. To date, Levin has transferred all legal issues that he couldn’t personally address to Minister Eliyahu, and this occasion was no exception.

It would be easy enough to guess Minister Eliyahu’s opinion on the subject, but there isn’t even a need to guess. As soon as he received the professional opinion from the Pardons Department, Amichai Eliyahu unleased a torrent of scathing criticism against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for her handling of the issue. (Of course, Baharav-Miara has been vehemently opposed to pardoning the prime minister.) He then added, “I have begun a series of in-depth consultations with the relevant authorities in order to formulate my final position, before I relay my recommendation to the president.”

Minister Chikli Against the Wife of the Mayor of New York

There are many more things that I could report to you. As you know, the State of Israel creates news stories at a dizzying pace. One hot topic is the recent recommendation issued by Amichai Chikli, the Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, to bar New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, from entering Israel in light of her support for terrorism. Duwaji expressed solidarity with Hamas after the Simchas Torah massacre, and she has since described American soldiers as “imperialists.” I don’t know if Duwaji actually has any intention of visiting Israel, and I cannot be certain if Chikli’s decision was the correct move, but I felt obligated to share the information with you.

Meanwhile, a mind-boggling recent incident has demonstrated once again that the ministers in the government lack any real power. There is an investigator in the police force named Rinat Saban, who is due for a promotion on account of the amount of time she has spent in the service. (In the military and the police force, officers are promoted every few years even without showing any special abilities or qualities. The more worthy officers simply receive their promotions earlier.) However, Minister Ben-Gvir decided to block her promotion, claiming that she is a failed officer and that her file contains negative reviews. The political left promptly accused him of denying her a promotion for political reasons—namely, that she was one of the investigators on the Netanyahu case. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Ben-Gvir is required to grant Saban the promotion she desires. Ben-Gvir was aghast. “This is my authority; I am supposed to be the one making the determination. How can they obligate me?” he demanded.

We will have to wait and see how this story ends.

A Plethora of Memorial Days

As everyone anticipated, the draft law will not be passed before Pesach. We hope that it passes after Pesach. (See my interview with MK Uri Maklev this week on that subject.) For the chareidi community, the law is desperately needed to put an end to the ongoing persecution of bnei Torah. However, the war with Iran has brought almost all parliamentary proceedings to a halt; the Knesset is in a state of hysteria, and the committees are mainly busy with the state budget as they strive to ensure that it will be passed before Pesach. The Knesset speaker is barely permitting the committees to discuss any ordinary topics.

Amid all this commotion and confusion, however, one aspect of the Knesset’s work is continuing: The members of the Knesset are still placing new bills on the Knesset table, even though it is very unclear if any of those bills will ever be brought to a vote. And if the latest bills are any indication, it seems that introducing a law in the Knesset is one way to set a trend. For instance, after Avi Maoz submitted his conversion law, Meir Porush introduced a bill of his own on the subject. But unlike Maoz, whose bill states that the Chief Rabbinate will be empowered to determine whether a conversion is valid, Porush adopted a formula that was first attempted 30 years ago, which states that a convert will be recognized as a Jew only if he converted “in accordance with halacha.” This language was rejected by legal experts in the previous generation, who warned that the Supreme Court might rule that even a Reform conversion is considered “in accordance with halacha,” which would make it pointless to pass this bill.

Meanwhile, Maoz’s Kosel Law, which accords the chief rabbis the ultimate authority over the Kosel Hamaaravi, recently passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset. This law, which is a copy of a law that has been repeatedly introduced by MK Michoel Malchieli since the 20th Knesset, was assigned this week to the Constitution Committee to be prepared for its first reading. That seems to be good news, since the committee is headed by Simcha Rothman.

Meanwhile, other types of laws seem to be developing into trends as well. Israel already has laws on the books calling for days of remembrance for Rav Kook, Rav Ovadiah Yosef, and Rav Mordechai Eliyahu. Two more bills, which were placed on the Knesset table, call for days of remembrance for Rav Meir Mazuz and the previous Sanz-Klausenberg Rebbe, respectively. And the Knesset has begun reaching even further back in history, as MK Eliyohu Revivo (Likud) recently introduced a new bill calling for a day dedicated to the legacy of Rav Nachman of Breslov.

Defense Minister Admits: No Minyan in Prison

Even though I could easily write an entire article detailing the events of the winter assembly in the Knesset, I will limit myself to one more comment about it. Last week, just before the winter session ended, two important subjects were raised in the Knesset: the chareidi young man imprisoned for draft evasion who was not permitted to hear the reading of Parshas Zachor, and the arson attack on a shul in Ramle. The latter issue was raised by MK Ariel Bosso, who was born in Ramle and is a nephew of the city’s chief rabbi. (Bosso is also a grandson of the Baba Chaki, Rav Yitzchok Abuchatzeirah, the brother of the Baba Sali; the Baba Chaki served as the rov of both Ramle and Lod for many years.) The former topic, meanwhile, was raised by Yoav Ben-Tzur.

“This is a historic time for the State of Israel,” Ben-Tzur declared in the Knesset. “It is a time when the Jewish people are fighting with courage, with wisdom, and with boldness against the head of the Iranian octopus. The miracles that we are witnessing are astounding the leaders of the world when they see the Divine protection accorded to us, the children of the Jewish people. At the meetings held to prepare for the war against Iran, concerns were expressed about the possibility of them firing at us on a level we have never seen before. Preparations were made for destruction on a level that would best not be described in detail, chas v’sholom. Thanks to Hashem’s mercy, this did not happen, and we all daven that it will not happen. Along with the great miracles, we are all pained and grief-stricken over those who were murdered; may Hashem avenge their blood….

“Unfortunately, specifically during these days, when we are fighting against Amalek, a young man who was held in a military prison was prevented from hearing the reading of Parshas Zachor, which is a mitzvah in the Torah that is obligatory for every Jew. I am pained by this incident not because of my affiliation with a specific sector, but rather because I am a Jew who takes pride in his country, the land of his birth. The words ‘remember what Amalek did to you’ belong to all of us, not just to the chareidim. That is the motto we must adopt today, so that we can combat the Amalek who is attempting to destroy and obliterate us. Specifically for that reason, this is an outrage, especially in the wake of the previous incident when a young man was not permitted to wear tefillin. It makes no difference why he was detained in the military prison, where the authorities are required to abide by the laws of the religion, which they have flouted time and again. I think that it is important to pay attention to these things…. People are being arrested for the great crime of learning Torah in the State of Israel. My friends, members of the Knesset, the Torah of Israel has no connection to politics. The entire Torah was given to all of us at Har Sinai. No one asked us whom we vote for, with which camp we associate ourselves, or what ethnicity we came from. There was only one question: Are you Jewish, and if so, do you accept the Torah? Today, I call out here, after thousands of years have elapsed since the Torah was given: Yes, we are Jews. Yes, we believe in the Torah of Moshe. Above all, we are united as brothers. That is why our pain is much greater when we witness things such as this, things that would have horrified us if they happened in another country. We would surely have protested loudly if that happened. Why was it so hard to permit this to him? This is a sign of callous insensitivity.”

Minister May Golan delivered the defense minister’s response on his behalf. The minister of defense wrote in his response, “The army gives every religious or chareidi soldier the opportunity to observe mitzvos. However, for security reasons, it is not possible to permit davening with a minyan in the segregated wing, although individual prayer is permitted. For that purpose, prisoners in the wing were provided with a Chumash, in accordance with their request.”

That response is shameful!

Minister Eliyahu on a Pardon

As I mentioned, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is staunchly opposed to the pardon. For one thing, Netanyahu submitted his request without admitting to a crime or expressing remorse, and his trial hasn’t ended yet. All of these factors, she insists, make it difficult to conduct a routine review of the request. Moreover, she argues that Netanyahu should not receive preferential treatment, especially in light of the criticism that he has directed against the prosecution throughout his trial.

Amichai Eliyahu pointed out that the judges in Netanyahu’s trial recommended arbitration or an out-of-court settlement, and they also advised the prosecution to remove some of the charges (especially the charge of bribery), but Baharav-Miara ordered the prosecutors to refuse. Eliyahu feels that the attorney general has been highly unreasonable. He also pointed out that she has worked extremely rapidly to advance the charges against Netanyahu, whereas she is as slow as molasses in dealing with any other subject. The minister added, “Contrary to the attorney general’s briefings [i.e., the statements she leaked to close associates in the press] that indicate that there is nothing to discuss about granting a pardon, the opinions of professionals have established that we are indeed dealing with a completely proper and legitimate request for a pardon, which must be handled by the president of the state.”

This week, Amichai Eliyahu announced that he had completed his review of the subject and that he plans to relay his recommendation to the president. No one has any doubt as to what he will recommend, but everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how President Herzog will respond.

At the beginning of this week, a leaked report from the president’s office indicated that he plans to promote his own suggestion, which he hopes will be a respectable way to bow out of the conflict: evaluating the possibility of criminal mediation. In other words, Herzog does not intend to reject the possibility of a pardon out of hand; however, he hopes to concurrently pursue some sort of dialogue. If the mediation leads to an agreement, it will be possible to proceed from there. If there is no progress, then he will be able to resume the process of considering a pardon.

In short, Herzog hopes that the trial will end with some sort of arrangement that will receive the agreement of both Prime Minister Netanyahu and the prosecution and judges. That, however, is highly unlikely, although if such an agreement were reached, it would be a veritable lifeline for Herzog. The president’s office is remaining mum on the issue for the time being, issuing the fairly noncommittal public statement that Herzog will review all information brought to him independently, in accordance with proper protocol and based on his own discretion. But everyone knows that when Minister Eliyahu’s recommendation lands on his desk, the president will be in a serious quandary.

The Global Response

Barely a week after spurning President Trump’s appeals for support in opening the vital Strait of Hormuz, European leaders buckled, delivering a striking about-face and revealing the force of Trump’s leverage.

“22 Countries Signal Readiness to Help Secure Strait of Hormuz,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

The leaders of these countries have now signed a declaration condemning Iran’s attacks on neighboring countries “and pledging support to secure the Strait,” the article noted.

Tehran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world, while claiming safe passage for vessels from countries other than its enemies. Roughly one-fifth of the global oil supply passes through it, but attacks on ships have stopped nearly all tanker traffic.

The irony of world leaders flipping from pompous defiance to compliance in just a few days is striking. It might be one of the fastest reversals on record, leaving observers completely baffled. Europe’s initial response was supposedly based on a matter of principle: the war was “illegal” and of no concern to Europe. What happened to change that?

Germany, France, and Britain—America’s key allies within NATO—initially signaled that they owed the United States nothing.

“The war in the Middle East is not our war and we will not participate militarily,” proclaimed German Chancellor Merz on March 17. “France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz,” French President Macron vowed that same week.

British PM Starmer announced he would not be drawn into “the wider war,” whose legality was “not clear.” Japan said it had “no plans” to send ships.

Defense News summed up the sweeping rebuffs in a catchy headline: “European Allies Tell Trump “Nein,” ‘Non” and “No**.**” The media celebrated with a barrage of approving articles, applauding Europe for finally “standing up to Trump.”

“This is Not Our War!” Europe Pushes Back Against Trump’s Demands (NY Times). “EU Leaders Balk at Joining Middle East Fight_”_ (Bloomberg) “Europe Stands up to Donald Trump,” (Reuters) “European Leaders Rebuff Trump’s Call to Open Strait of Hormuz,” (Washington Post).

Trump: NATO is a One-Way Street

In the Oval Office the same day as the rebuffs from Europe flowed in, President Trump commented to reporters, “I always considered NATO, where we spend hundreds of billions of dollars per year protecting these same countries that won’t lift a finger for us, to be a one-way street. We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, even in a time of need.”

“Without the U.S.A., NATO is a paper tiger, Trump railed online on Truth Social. “Now that the fight is militarily won, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay. But they don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high prices.”

“The fact is that they need the oil going through the Strait, we do not,” Trump added, “I wonder what would happen if we let the countries that use it be responsible for the Strait? That would get some of our non-responsive ‘allies’ in gear, and fast!”

Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump repeated his stance that countries that rely more heavily on oil shipments passing through the strait should contribute to securing it.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it’s the place from which they get their energy,” Trump said. “Why are we maintaining the Hormuz Strait when it’s really there for China and many other countries? Why aren’t they doing it?”

“We’re always there for NATO. We’re helping them with Ukraine,” he continued. “There’s an ocean between us. That war doesn’t affect us, but we’ve helped them. And it’ll be interesting to see which country would not help us with a very small endeavor.”

He warned that Europe’s refusal to help escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz would be “very bad for the future of NATO,” linking NATO’s refusal on Hormuz to the question of whether Europe should continue its expectation of U.S. protection against Russia and defense of Ukraine.

America’s Energy Independence

“Thanks to President Trump’s ‘Drill, baby, drill’ policies, the United States is now a net energy exporter, producing 24.2 million barrels of oil per day, more than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, writes attorney and author Jeff Childers. [Other sources place the number of barrels at 13-14 million.]

_“_Nearly zero American crude oil transits Hormuz. Seventy percent of the oil that does pass through the strait goes to Asia —China, India, Japan, and South Korea— and most of the rest goes to Europe,” the author attests.

“No American president has ever held the hand Trump holds now: A public refusal by every major NATO ally to assist the United States during an active military operation. By their public pronouncements, the same “allies” who refused to send minesweepers and escorts to Hormuz just handed the President the leverage to restructure NATO on his terms.”

With their dismissive “Nein,” “Non,” and “No,” European leaders have opened the door for Washington to condition U.S. participation in NATO on its own terms, the article notes—a scenario the Trump administration likely foresaw and can now potentially leverage.

Unsurprisingly, the gambit slipped past a media that, where Trump is concerned, has a habit of missing the bigger picture.

Feeding the Monster

“American service members and Israeli pilots are in harm’s way at this very moment, absorbing retaliatory strikes so that the free world does not have to live under the shadow of a nuclear-armed theocracy,” writes former U.S. ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland in a Fox News op-ed.

“And what has Europe offered? The collective message from the continent was not solidarity but distance,” the writer continued. “If the transatlantic alliance cannot count on Europe for full-throated public support while Americans and Israelis bear the costs and the risks, then what, exactly, is the alliance for?”

Drawing on his own personal experience as a U.S ambassador, Sondland recalled his mission to urge U.S. allies in Europe to abandon the “toothless” Obama-led JCPOA and join America’s maximum-pressure campaign against Iran, during President Trump’s first term.

“What I encountered in Brussels was willful denial,” the author recounted, describing how European officials “performed extraordinary contortions” to avoid acknowledging what the intelligence made plain: Iran had already violated the deal and would continue to do so.

“At a moment when the democratic world should have been tightening the vise, Europe was engineering workarounds to do business with the mullahs, the writer said. “Iran took note and went on to systematically violate every uranium enrichment limit the JCPOA imposed, reaching 60% purity — a short step from weapons-grade material.”

Despite this, Europe refused to ditch JCPOA, and continued the charade. Instead of blocking Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it actually enabled them, convincing the mullahs that they were “unstoppable.”

Having fed and coddled the monster, Europe can only blame itself as it strikes back.

EU Leaders Have Second Thoughts

After some rethinking, Britain read the handwriting on the wall and signaled a change of heart. From denying the United States permission to use British military bases to launch attacks at Iran, PM Starmer executed a “180.”

Britain would now grant full permission, and not only for ‘defensive’ reasons as before. In addition, Starmer announced a British warship was on its way to the Strait, to escort oil tankers through the waterway.

Two days later, on Thursday, France signed a joint statement expressing “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.” Germany and a score of other countries immediately followed suit.

What could have possibly transformed “not our war!” into a document with 22 signatures in 72 hours?

For one thing, a news report out of Washington last week sent alarm bells ringing in Europe: the United States is considering ‘winding down’ the Iran war—even with the Strait closed—as U.S. removes sanctions on 140 million barrels of Iranian oil [to stabilize oil prices],” wrote CNN. (This ominous report was based on one of Trump’s online “tweets” that are often in conflict with his actual actions on the ground.)

Nevertheless, the message to Europe—“You’re on your own”—sparked alarm. For context:  Americans are paying around $3.80 a gallon at the pump. Germans and other Europeans are paying the equivalent of $7.85 a gallon.

Europe, suddenly confronted with much-needed oil shipments stranded in the Persian Gulf, grasped the stakes. While still uneasy with the war against Iran, its leaders had little desire to see it end before the Strait of Hormuz was reopened—a task they depend on the United States to carry out.

Shocker: Iran’s Missiles Can Reach Europe

An even more jarring wake-up call came a few days ago with Iran’s ballistic missile strikes at Diega Garcia—a joint US-British base in the Indian Ocean, 2,500 miles (4000 kilometers) from Tehran.

Obviously angered by the British allowing their bases to be used for Operation Epic Fury, the IRGC—who have grown stronger after Iran’s top leadership was wiped out—launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia.

US forces reported that one misfired and the other was intercepted by a missile defense system. No damage was reported.  But something critical took place. While the missiles missed the military base, they drove home the message: Iran’s reach extends much farther than anyone suspected was possible.

Iran’s leaders have long claimed to voluntarily cap their ballistic missiles at around 2,000 km, which would put Diego Garcia as well as vast portions of Europe safely out of reach. The problem for Europe is the 4000 kilometers to Diego Garcia is only the revealed range; the actual range of these missiles could be much farther.

A ballistic missile with an actual range of 4,500 km, if launched from western Iran, could theoretically strike most of Western Europe, reaching as far as southern England, analysts say.

“The move marked Iran’s first operational use of IRBMs,” the Wall Street Journal noted, “and a significant attempt to reach far beyond the Middle East.”

London is 2,700 miles from Tehran. Berlin is 2,500. Rome is 2,200. If the actual missile range is more like 5,000 km, then all of Europe lies within Tehran’s murderous reach. And Europe’s leaders know there is nothing their countries can do by themselves to deter an attack.

Suddenly, the war they once disdained and kept at arm’s distance looks different—not as an impulsive move by Trump or the product of pro-Israel lobbying, but as something far more thought out and crucial for Europe and the world.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed this on CBS’ Face the Nation, saying, “What we know for sure now is that the Iranians are very close to having that capability to hit European capitals. We can’t allow that.”

He asked for President Trump’s “understanding” for the hesitancy expressed by allied countries when asked to provide support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, explaining that the U.S surprise attack on Iran blindsided them and they needed “a couple of weeks” to rally around plans to open the Strait of Hormuz.

He also noted that since last Thursday, 22 countries — some that are part of NATO and others that are not — have stepped forward to address security in the passageway. “We are now coming together to make sure that we can be able to secure the Strait,” Rutte told the CBS host.

“What do we need? When do we need it? And where do we need it? These three questions are now worked through to answer the president’s call, to make sure that we secure the free sailing through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

If Rutte is correct that Europe is finally “getting it,” then Iran’s attempted strike on Diego Garcia may have done what years of diplomacy could not—triggering a near revolution in European relations with Iran, rooted in “peace through strength.”

***

48-Hour Ultimatum Stretches Into 5-day Deadline

The Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a central front in the war with Iran, with U.S. and Israeli forces intensifying operations to restore freedom of navigation, while continuing to dismantle Iran’s remaining military arsenals and weapons production facilities.

“If the Strait is not fully opened within 48 hours, the United States will target Iran’s various power plants, starting with the biggest one,” President Trump vowed over the weekend.

The ultimatum sparked radical counter-threats from Tehran and, as the clock ticked down, a flurry of emergency talks between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi.

The talks were described by the Trump administration as “productive” and possibly capable of leading to an end to hostilities, to the point that they achieved “a 5-day extension of the deadline,” the president said.

This statement was flatly contradicted by an IRGC spokesman who said “No talks are in progress—that is fake news.” Yet, Trump’s comment immediately (if temporarily) brought down oil prices and took the edge off market panic. The president now has Iran wondering what he’s actually up to and how they should respond.

If the U.S. is planning to go after Iran’s oil facilities, that could require preparations that involve a longer timetable than the 48-hour period in Trump’s initial ultimatum, commentators suggest. Another possibility is that Washington needs the time to put troops and weapons in place for another type of strike, such as seizing Kharg Island and finally securing the Strait.

“In a sense, Trump has conducted this war the same way he approaches most undertakings,” writes Commentary Magazine editor Abe Greenwald. “He likes to keep his audience guessing and ensure that no one expects the next massive surprise. In high-stakes combat, this approach has proved to be an asset—at least when paired with the outstanding capabilities of the U.S. and Israeli armed forces.”

‘Whatever you find him saying one day, Iranian weapons and regime figures get blown up the next,” the author notes. “That’s the only predictable pattern we have to go on.”

***

The Most Critical Global Threat Since World War II

Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, speaking on _Newsmax’_s “Sunday Agenda,” noted that the conflict with Iran represents the most critical global threat since World War II, and warned that failure to act could result in mass destruction.

“This is the most important war since 1939, since Nazi Germany,” Dershowitz said. “If Iran is allowed to develop nuclear bombs, it will do what Hitler did, and there will be millions and millions of deaths.”

Dershowitz also pointed to the reach of Iran’s weapons as a growing concern. “We now know that its rockets can reach Europe, and ultimately, the United States,” he said. “So, this is the most important war we have fought since the Second World War, and every decent person ought to join it.”

He added that the United States should present a united front, and that the Democrats ought to support the war. But they’re not, he said, “because they’re putting partisanship before national security.”

Dershowitz invoked a historical comparison involving President Donald Trump, suggesting that forceful early action at historical junctures could have altered past events.

“Had President Trump been in charge in 1935, 1936, I think the Holocaust could have been prevented,” he said. “We’re preventing another Holocaust, a nuclear holocaust that Iran would clearly inflict not only on Israel, but on Europe.”

Dershowitz rejected claims that Israel was responsible for past and current U.S. military decisions in the Middle East, and warned that “extremist elements” within the Republican Party pose a broader threat.

“The Republican Party has to disassociate itself from its fascist neo-Nazi wing, which is growing within the Republican Party, particularly among young people,” he said. “It’s a real threat to America, to democracy, to American Jews, to Israel, and to American values.”

One thing that a great many unhappy people have in common is insecurity.

We were born hard-wired to need love. We crave a sense of belonging. When we sense that these things are lacking in our lives, we feel insecure. And that can easily lead to feelings of melancholy, anger, jealousy and even hate. In fact, we can trace many bad middos back to this single root cause.

We are so easily thrown off balance. Feeling insecure means not experiencing ourselves as grounded in the things we need. When that happens, the very earth beneath our feet is shaky. Babies who are not given the love they need can develop deep emotional deficits, r”l. Adults facing a similar problem have more recourses and more practice at camouflaging the pain. But feeling unwanted can hurt just as much.

Suppose you’re walking down the street when you catch sight of someone you recently met. At the time, you believed that the two of you hit it off. Now you’re not so sure. If she took such a liking to you when you first met, why is she acting now as if she doesn’t even see you?

A little worm of insecurity begins to gnaw at your innards. Almost automatically, you jump to conclusions. And those conclusions are mostly negative.

Depending on our personality type, you may sink into gloom: “She must not have liked me as much as I thought. Maybe she was just pretending so as not to hurt my feelings.” Or “Guess I’m just not so good at holding onto people’s affections for long…”

You might get angry: “How dare she act so high and mighty! Does she think I’m not good enough for her?” Or “What horrible middos she has, to treat me this way!”

These negative emotions can, and often do, gouge a mark in our psyches deep enough to accompany us for the rest of the day, if not longer. Behind everything we do lies the niggling suspicion that we’re either unworthy of love or being somehow mistreated. Our mental assessment of the person in question instantly plunges to a new low, which can adversely color our interactions with them in the future.

None of this is good.

If we can brush aside that nasty worm of insecurity for a minute, we have a chance to recalibrate our reaction. To ignore our instinctive negative thoughts and substitute others in their place. We can try to come up with more generous reasons for the other person’s behavior than the ones our insecurity dictates.

For instance: “Maybe she has an appointment she can’t be late for. Rather than brush me off with a quick hello, she’d rather pretend that she doesn’t see me.” Or, “Maybe she’s got something on her mind that’s making her oblivious of everything around her. Maybe she really doesn’t see me!”

We can understand someone liking us well enough and yet be unwilling to sacrifice a longstanding appointment just for the pleasure of a good shmooze. We can grasp the notion of being so preoccupied that the world fades around us. After all, we could easily act the same way in the same circumstances. And probably have.

Still, the question hovers at the edge of our consciousness, ever ready to take center stage: Am I loved? It’s an existential question to which we feel compelled to seek answers. If this weren’t so, why would even the best relationships occasionally struggle with misunderstandings and hurt feelings? If we truly felt sufficiently loved, wouldn’t we simply be able to assume goodwill on the other person’s part and just let things go?

The fact that we so often get hung up on “what she said” and “what does he think of me” means that the love question never quite goes away. The underlying insecurity remains in place.

“Yes, he loves me,” we might think. “But does he love me enough?”

*****

Now, let’s transpose individual insecurity into national terms.

As the ones that Hakadosh Boruch Hu hand-picked, so to speak, from among all the nations of the world, you’d think we’d feel perfectly secure in His love. After all, He gave His word to Avrohom Avinu that Avrohom’s descendants would be His chosen ones, forever and ever.

But the trials and tribulations of this world can throw mud onto the clear glass of this understanding. It can leave us feeling abandoned and afraid, a child reaching out to hold his parent’s hand but not knowing whether it’s waiting there for him.

Nowhere was this truer than in Mitzrayim, where we were so cruelly subjugated thousands of years ago.

As evil taskmasters turned our lives into a living Gehinnom that stretched for decades and then centuries, we may have wondered if the G-d of our forefathers had given up on us. If He’d decided to forsake us. We clung to the memory of His bond with our forefathers: the single most cherished item in our national memory. But was it enough? Did Hashem still love us?

The insecurity that tortures an individual when he asks himself that question becomes magnified a thousandfold on the national scale. As in Mitzrayim, we become terrified at the possibility of being abandoned by the only One Who can help us. The One Who once promised to cherish us, but whose love we can’t always feel through our pain.

We can never know the mind of Hashem. We can only speculate, as so many of our Sages have done, about the reasons He subjected us to those horrific years of pain and oppression in that first, long-ago first exile. Just as we can only speculate about the suffering our people have endured in the ensuing centuries. But one thing we never need to ask ourselves is whether Hakadosh Boruch Hu still loves us.

In Mitzrayim, He “proved” His love through wonders and miracles that impacted not only the mightiest empire of the time, but also the entire civilized world. Our suffering as slaves was repaid and more than repaid in the unparalleled splendors of the Exodus, culminating in the greatest token of love of all: the giving of the Torah.

In the most magnificent and meaningful of ways, Hashem demonstrated that the bond was unbroken. More, that it is unbreakable.

And He has continued to demonstrate this all down the millennia, a truth discernable our very existence as a people as well as in our unprecedented contributions to world civilization. The hardships we’ve faced and continue to face keep us strong, united, and separate in holiness. There’s no need for insecurity when history itself keeps reminding us that we’re worthy of surviving. Worthy of carrying out our Divine mission in this world.

While we don’t know His reasons for our suffering, as we sit down to the Seder this year, we know something else. We embrace the same knowledge that our ancestors so joyously embraced back when the Pyramids were new: that there is a G-d, and that He chose us. A G-d Who cares for us with the most profound and unalterable love that we could possibly imagine… and beyond.

In that knowledge, may we all enjoy a chag kasher v’sameach!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But history turned in a single dramatic moment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is written by the Ribbono Shel Olam.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week, we reach two milestones. One is that we have entered Chodesh Nissan. Pesach is around the corner. We see it everywhere. We feel it everywhere. If you are a female, you certainly feel it, and if you are a male and don’t feel it, please don’t disclose that to your wife or mother.

The second milestone is that we are beginning Sefer Vayikra. Much of Sefer Vayikra deals with korbanos.

Two milestones, two new periods, but is there perhaps one common denominator? Is there possibly one concept that both Vayikra and Nissan share?

Learning from Adam Harishon

To answer that, let us begin by exploring Sefer Vayikra.

The first few parshiyos in Sefer Vayikra deal primarily with korbanos. You might be wondering: What can we possibly learn from korbanos? We don’t even have the Bais Hamikdosh today. Certainly, we must learn about korbanos—it is a cheilek of Torah, and we will need to know what to do when Moshiach comes—but is there any lesson for today?

The answer is yes.

The posuk that begins to teach us about korbanos starts with the words, “Daber el Bnei Yisroel v’omarta aleihem adam ki yakriv mikem korban l’Hashem—When a person from among you will bring a korban to Hashem.” There is no word in the Torah without significance. Chazal ask: Why does the posuk use the word adam when it could have used the word ish?

Chazal explain that the posuk uses the word adam to allude to Adam Harishon. We learn that just as Adam Harishon did not bring a korban to Hashem from stolen goods, so must one never bring a korban to Hashem from something that is stolen.

The Most Important Korban: A Bein Adam Lachaveiro Korban

I once saw an explanation that asks: Why is it such a big deal that Adam did not steal? When Adam Harishon was created, the entire world belonged to him. There was no one from whom to steal.

The answer given there is that stealing does not refer only to taking something that belongs to someone else. It refers more broadly to the realm of bein adam lachaveiro. When Adam brought his korban, he was completely pure in matters of bein adam lachaveiro. Similarly, a person’s korban has a very different impact in Shomayim when he is careful about his relationships with others and how he treats them.

A korban, Chazal teach us, must be brought from one’s best animal. A person should always give his best to Hashem—his best in everything, including his best in bein adam lachaveiro.

What do we do today when we no longer have korbanos? Our davening takes their place. What, then, is the “best” davening?

Certainly, we must daven with kavanah. But the davening that comes from a person who is careful in how he interacts with others—someone who is sensitive to the feelings of others, who tries his utmost to be kind and not to offend or look down at anyone—is truly beloved by Hashem and accepted by Hashem.

People often ask, “What segulah should I do so that my tefillos will be accepted?” I once heard from a gadol that the ultimate segulah is this: Hashem loves the tefillos of a person who is careful in areas of bein adam lachaveiro. Hashem cherishes the tefillos that come from the mouth of someone who sincerely tries his best to care about others—everyone, not only those whom it is fashionable to care about.

The Tefillin of the Pshevorsker Rebbe

The following story was told by the Gerer Rebbe, the Pnei Menachem, whose thirtieth yahrtzeit was marked last month. It is a story that he personally witnessed and that demonstrates what a bein adam lachaveiro korban looks like.

It was before his bar mitzvah, when the Imrei Emes told his ben zekunim, Pinchos Menachem, that he possessed a special pair of tefillin written by the famous rebbe, Rav Moshe of Pshevorsk, who was also a sofer and whose every parsha was written with the highest level of kedusha and taharah.

“I myself have used those tefillin,” the Imrei Emes told him, “and if you are worthy, I will give them to you at your bar mitzvah.”

Later, however, not long before the Pnei Menachem’s bar mitzvah, he noticed that a number of parshiyos were brought to the Imrei Emes to choose from, and the rebbe selected from among them for the Pnei Menachem’s tefillin. The Pnei Menachem also noticed that his father was trying, in various ways, to appease him and make him feel better.

He realized that there must be a reason why his father was not giving him the tefillin written by the heilige Rav Moshe Pshevorsker, but he did not have the temerity to ask why.

The Pnei Menachem later related that when he was in Warsaw at the beginning of the churban of Europe, he discovered that shortly before his bar mitzvah, a Yid had come to the Imrei Emes and told the rebbe that he had an older daughter who had finally become a kallah. The man had promised money for the chasunah, but he did not have a penny and was beside himself with worry.

Feeling rachmanus for the poor Yid, the rebbe gave him the tefillin of Rav Moshe Pshevorsker.

Before handing them to him, he said, “You should know that these tefillin, because they are so rare—among the few in the world written by Rav Moshe of Pshevorsk—are worth an exorbitant amount of money. Make sure not to sell them cheaply.”

Indeed, a true bein adam lachaveiro korban.

Cleaning Our Homes…and Cleaning Our Hearts

Similarly, when it comes to Pesach, there are many physical hachanos: cleaning and cooking, cleaning and shopping, cleaning and kashering.

Yet, it is clear that we must also make spiritual hachanos for Pesach.

Now, what would most of us assume are appropriate spiritual hachanos for Pesach? Learning the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim? Understanding the makkos? Learning hilchos Pesach or seforim that teach us about the avodas Hashem of Pesach?

Certainly, these are all worthwhile ways to prepare spiritually. But let us look at how the Bnei Yisroel in Mitzrayim prepared for Pesach. What did their hachanos look like?

The answer is not what we might expect.

The hachanah of the Bnei Yisroel was to invest their energy into remaining b’achdus, unified as one, helping each other in every possible way.

The Tanna Dvei Eliyahu teaches: “Those who left Mitzrayim had only one mitzvah to fulfill, but that one mitzvah was even more beloved to Hashem than one hundred other mitzvos. That mitzvah was that they were all together as one, and that they made a covenant to perform chesed with one another.”

If we examine further, we find that one of the central themes of the Korban Pesach is “Veshochatu oso kol kehal adas Yisroel bein ha’arbayim”—the entire congregation of Klal Yisroel shall slaughter it in the afternoon.

Every member of Klal Yisroel had to bring the Korban Pesach together, with achdus. In addition, the Korban Pesach had to be eaten together, in a chaburah, a group.

From here we see that the primary mitzvah that the Yidden had at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim was achdus, helping each other and being there for each other. Ahavah and achvah were not merely nice middos or optional additions to the mitzvos. They were the very preparation and introduction to Yetzias Mitzrayim. Without them, there could not have been a Yetzias Mitzrayim.

So as we prepare for Pesach, it is important that we clean thoroughly so that we do not transgress the issur of bal yeira’eh and bal yeimatzei. At the same time, we should remember that the ikkar hachanah of the Bnei Yisroel during the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim was sticking together, supporting one another and being there for each other, both materially and emotionally.

Yes, the ultimate korban is the korban of bein adam lachaveiro, overcoming one’s own middos and desires for the benefit of others. Similarly, the ultimate hachanah for Pesach is also about middos and achdus, trying to see things from another person’s perspective.

This year, as we prepare for Yetzias Mitzrayim, let us engage in that type of hachanah. Let us try to see things from the perspective of others. Let us place ourselves in the position of others and think about what we would want if we were in their situation.

And let us always act with sensitivity toward the needs of others, even when their needs are different from our own.

One of the most surprising aspects of the Haggadah Shel Pesach is the apparent absence of Moshe Rabbeinu. He is mentioned only once, somewhat tangentially, when Rav Yosi Haglili quotes the posuk that Klal Yisroel believed in Hashem and His servant Moshe. It would certainly seem that Moshe, who took us out of Mitzrayim and is mentioned countless times in the Torah regarding this seminal event, should be acknowledged in the Haggadah for his pivotal role. Over the centuries, this omission has been discussed many times. Let us review some of the answers before we attempt any new approaches.

The Gra, in his commentary to the Haggadah, suggests that on Pesach night, when we reach the tenth of the makkos, we recite the famous words at the Seder, “It was I, not an angel…no other shliach (agent).” Moshe Rabbeinu did nothing on his own. He acted purely and completely as the great servant of Hashem that he was. Therefore, he is not mentioned in the Haggadah, which celebrates the fact that Hashem Himself took us out of Mitzrayim.

It is quoted in the name of Rav Moshe Soloveitchik that the source of this concept is rooted in a Medrash (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 3:1). The posuk (Shir Hashirim 3:1) states, “As I lay upon my bed in the night of my desert travail, I sought Him Whom my soul loves. I sought Him but I found Him not…” The Medrash explicates that “the night” refers to the night of Egypt. “I sought him” refers to Moshe Rabbeinu. In other words, according to Chazal, it was not Hashem Whom we were seeking. It was Moshe Rabbeinu. However, he was behind the scenes and not actively visible, so as not to interfere with our total focus upon the actions of our Father in Heaven, Who was redeeming us miraculously and personally.

This Medrash a bit later (3:4) adds that “the posuk (3:4) adds that ‘I found Him Whom my soul loves…until I brought His Presence to the Tabernacle of my mother and to the chamber of the one who conceived me.’” The Medrash once again states that “the one whom my soul loves” is Moshe Rabbeinu. “The house of my mother” is Har Sinai” and “the chamber” is the Ohel Moed. If we understand the Medrash to be referring to Moshe Rabbeinu’s absence from the Haggadah and the formal sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim, then what does it mean that we found Moshe? Perhaps we can suggest that there are two stages to our awareness during the exodus. Initially, we are unaware of Moshe Rabbeinu because Hashem wanted to establish His intimate relationship with Klal Yisroel, His nation and children. However, after we have established this affinity in our hearts, we realize that for the privilege of having merited this connection, it is Moshe Rabbeinu whom we must thank for his mesirus nefesh and extraordinary leadership. Therefore, at the moment that we are imagining ourselves back in Mitzrayim (k’ilu hu yotza miMitzrayim), we must glorify not only the presence of the Shechinah. After we have fully realized that incredible moment, we are allowed and even mandated to remember Moshe Rabbeinu as we soon declared at the Yam Suf, “We believed in Hashem and Moshe His servant” (Shemos 14:31).

This process is mirrored also in the Medrash Tehillim (107), where Yeshayahu Hanovi is quoted as saying, “Then the redeemed of Hashem will return and come to Tzion with song” (Yeshayahu 35:10). The Medrash again elucidates, “The redeemed of Hashem, not the redeemed of Eliyahu, nor the redeemed of the Melech HaMoshiach, but only the redeemed of Hashem.” Here, too, the Medrash reminds us that although we have many wonderful human redeemers, we must keep in mind that it is ultimately Hashem Who is saving us.

Interestingly, the Chofetz Chaim (quoted in HaSeder Ha’aruch 2:3) attributes Moshe’s absence to his own will. Since he was such a humble person (Bamidbar 12:3) and “Hashem does the will of those who fear Him” (Tehillim 145:19), Hashem ordained that he should not be mentioned and thus allow Klal Yisroel to enjoy the moment of Hashem’s exclusive presence in our lives. As always, Moshe Rabbeinu did everything for our benefit. He was abnegating his own role, colossal though it was, so that we could focus on the primary and eternal relationship between ourselves and Hashem.

The current Belzer Rebbe’s father, Rav Mordechai Rokeach, rov of Bilgorai, offers another answer that in fact enhances the Chofetz Chaim’s explanation. He notes that there are two ways in which Hashem brings us geulah and yeshuah. One is called isarusa dele’eila, which means that when we are found unworthy, Hashem takes it upon Himself to save us despite our deficiencies. The second is when we have uplifted ourselves to the point where we deserve Divine intervention. This is called isarusa delesata. At the time of Pesach, as is well known, we, as a nation, were immersed in the forty-ninth level of defilement. Hashem reached down and lifted us out of both our slavery and out of our poor spiritual level. On the other hand, Moshe Rabbeinu had elevated himself to the level of prophesy and other spiritual madreigos. He personally could have achieved Hashem’s help through isarusa delesata, but on the night of Pesach, we want to remember Hashem’s incredible kindness when He rescued us despite, not because of, what we deserved at the time. Thus, it would have been inappropriate to mention Moshe Rabbeinu prominently in the Haggadah, so that we would better appreciate the full complement of what Hashem did for us.

Additionally, along this vein, we all know that Moshe Rabbeinu initially did not wish to accept the Divine mandate to redeem Klal Yisroel, because this would diminish his older brother Aharon’s stature (see Rashi, Shemos 4:13). Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach adds that this middah of not causing discomfort to someone is so powerful that it overrode Moshe Rabbeinu’s deep yearning to finally free Klal Yisroel from the misery and agony that Paroh was inflicting upon them. By, so to speak, staying out of the Haggadah, Moshe Rabbeinu continued this wonderful trait for all eternity. As the Chofetz Chaim and the rov of Bilgorai taught us, the instilling of proper middos is one of the prime traits of Klal Yisroel and we learned it from Moshe Rabbeinu at the very time of our creation as a people, as the Haggadah declares, “We became a nation [there in Egypt].”

We are now in a position to understand a surprising statement in the Rambam, when he speaks of the four sons in the Haggadah. He writes (Hilchos Chometz Umatzah 7:2) that “if the son is an adult and wise, [the father] should notify him of the miracles that occurred for us in Egypt, which were brought about through Moshe Rabbeinu, all in accordance with the intellectual capability of the son.” Many meforshim over the past eight centuries have found these words of the Rambam incongruous with all we have just learned about Moshe Rabbeinu’s apparent nonexistence in the Haggadah.

My rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner (Maamorei Pachad Yitzchok, Pesach No. 29), answers in his usual profound way. He cites the Gemara (Brachos 33a) that a prerequisite to receiving rachmonus — compassion — is the trait of daas, having attained a certain level of wisdom. As we mentioned, Klal Yisroel at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim was lacking in their development of this crucial ability to appreciate and understand what was happening to us. Moshe Rabbeinu became our surrogate in this matter. In the rosh yeshiva’s words, “Moshe hu daadom shel Yisroel.”  We can now appreciate the powerful forces that were at work in the geulah from Mitzrayim. On the one hand, we were unworthy of salvation, so Hashem had to release us without our full participation in the process. Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t want to intrude upon this new relationship which Klal Yisroel was enjoying, so he not only didn’t take credit, but made sure that he wasn’t even mentioned at all. Yet, it was his daas that substituted for our lack of this special wisdom. As it turned out, Moshe did give us the greatest gift of all, quietly and modestly: the present of himself and his greatness so that we could become great as well. For that,

on the night of Pesach, we must thank both our Father in Heaven and our rebbi and teacher forever, Moshe Rabbeinu.

I would like to end with a concept of emunas chachomim in our time. A woman in Belgium had hardening of the arteries and was considered in danger. Unfortunately, she was not a great candidate for surgery, but the physicians insisted that she must have an operation. The family approached the famed Rav Itzikel of Antwerp. He inquired about the woman’s middos and discovered that she was a great baalas chesed. The rebbe responded that such a woman is protected by her mitzvos and need not undergo surgery. Although the doctors declared that her rabbi was murdering her, she listened to the tzaddik. Not surprisingly, when the woman developed an infection that caused a high fever, the doctors warned the family that they had been right along. However, the infection and high fever opened her arteries and she went home healthier and more energetic than ever before. If we realize that we must believe in our gedolim as well as Hashem, we will achieve the partnership Klal Yisroel formed in Mitzrayim, which should G-d willing pave the way for the great geulah Micha (7:15) predicted long ago, “As in the days when you left Mitzrayim I will show you wonders.”

A chag kosher vesomeiach to all.

Forty years ago this week, I lost my grandfather.

Many of you readers, and most of Klal Yisroel, might say the same thing, at least in a certain way.

In the years immediately following his passing, I cannot count the number of people, many not much older than I was, who told me how close they had been with Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky zt”l. They spoke about him with deep affection, often saying that he was like their own zaide. Hearing that actually made me feel a bit upset, if not a little jealous.

Perhaps I should not admit that publicly. But as a child, that feeling did not sit well with me. Despite the towering gaon that he was in every facet of Torah, so many people felt that he was their grandfather, their friend. And when they told me how close they had been with Rav Yaakov, they did not mean close in the sense of disciples wallowing in the dust of the feet of a sage. They meant something far more personal, close like a grandson to a grandfather.

Each person seemed to have a story. Sometimes it was a witty comment he had shared, sometimes it was advice that steadied them in a difficult moment. Sometimes it was a novel approach to answer a troubling dilemma, minhag or nusach that confused people. Sometimes it was the way he calmed a troubled heart, made peace between husband and wife, reconciled congregants with their rabbi, or restored harmony between members of a community and their shul.

There was something extraordinary about that ability. Despite the enormous stature he carried, he remained humble and self-effacing.

The myriad stories of his gentle demeanor and humility extended far beyond the confines of the Torah world. The accounts of him rolling a ball back and forth with a child in a doctor’s waiting room, or the story of the nuns from the convent near his home mourning the rabbi who always greeted them with a cheerful “Good morning” during his daily walks may be apocryphal — or they may be entirely true. But one thing is certain: People do not tell such stories about many others.

My favorite story was told to me by my dear brother Zvi. Several years after our zaide’s passing, he called Schechter’s Caribbean Hotel in Miami Beach, looking for someone who was vacationing there from Chicago.

After about fifteen rings, the hotel operator — an elderly Southern black woman who had worked there for three decades — politely informed my brother that the man was not in the room.

“Would you like to leave a message?” she asked.

“Sure,” Zvi replied. “Tell him Rabbi Kamenetzky called.”

There was a gasp on the other end of the line.

“Raabbi Kaamenetzky?” she drawled. “Did you say you were Raabbi Kaamenetzky?”

She knew the name. My brother responded simply, “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Are you,” she continued, “by any chance related to the famous Rabbi Kamenetzky?”

There was silence in Chicago. My brother could not imagine that this woman had any idea who his grandfather, to whom thousands flocked for guidance, was.

Then she continued.

“You know, he passed away about ten years ago, at the end of the wintah?”

She definitely had the right person.

Still stunned, Zvi replied quietly, “Yes. I’m a grandson.”

“YOOOU ARE?” she exclaimed. “Well, I’m sure glad to talk to ya! ‘Cause your grandpa — he was a real good friend of mine!”

My brother pulled the receiver from his ear and stared at the mouthpiece.

“You’re saying Rabbi Kamenetzky was a good friend of yours?”

“Sure! Every mornin’, Rabbi Kaaamenetzky would come to this hotel to teach some sorta Bible class.” (It was Daf Yomi.) “Now my desk is about ten yards from the entrance. But every mornin’, he made sure to walk over my way, nod his head, and say good mornin’. And on his way out, he always stopped by my desk to say goodbye.

“Oh yes,” she concluded warmly, “he was a great rabbi. But he was an even greater man. A wonderful man. He was a real good friend of mine.”

It was that way with everyone.

And hearing simple Hungarian Yidden, people who may not have been versed in much more than Chumash and Rashi, claiming to be good friends of Rav Yaakov sometimes grated on me. It gridget. People were always talmidim of other gedolim, but he was called “ah gutteh friend.” It also filled me with regret that I had not spent another week, day, or even hour with him.

Being away from home since my bar mitzvah in out-of-town yeshivos certainly did not help cement a closer relationship. Even during the times when I was home, I later regretted the many missed opportunities to glean from the moments I could have spent with him.

Of course, his home was always open to me, and I spent Shabbosos and Yomim Tovim there as well. Their home also became one of my stop-off places when I was dating my wife. I remember once that a button had fallen off my suit and I was struggling to thread the needle. At about ninety years old, he took it from me, deftly threaded the needle, and lovingly chided me with a smile and the word “batlan.”

My future shver, Rav Yacov Lipschutz, was a close talmid of his. He very often turned to him as a guide during what, boruch Hashem, was a very successful shidduch process. My zaide’s home was always open to him, not only as a future mechutan, but as a talmid as well. As an alman, my shver would sometimes discuss the young men who were dating his daughters.

My zaide once asked him, “But what about the last young man your daughter met? They say he is a fine lamdan.”

“Indeed, he is,” my shver replied. “But he is flat.”

Rav Yaakov looked puzzled.

“You see, rosh yeshiva,” my shver continued, “it is like opening a bottle of seltzer and leaving it uncapped for a few days.” He paused. “The young man is missing the bubbles.”

Rav Yaakov listened quietly, then smiled. He walked into the kitchen and called his wife.

“Chana? Ich hub bubbles?”

I will never forget the smile that spread across both their faces.

His love for everyone sometimes made me feel like just another grandchild among the many others, related and unrelated, who were treated by him with the same love, sensitivity, and warmth.

Indeed, his house had an open border. People from every walk of life came in unhindered and uninhibited. He had no system of gabba’im, as has become customary in recent decades. His home was simply open to all.

He never took his phone off the hook, even when we were there. I would sometimes run to answer to shield him from annoying questions and to preserve some family time. I remember one Chol Hamoed, me running to get the phone. A boy was calling to ask if he could fix his bicycle chain that had fallen off on Chol Hamoed.

I was upset and asked him. “What’s the matter? Don’t you have a rabbi?”

The magical personality that made Rav Yaakov so beloved and sought after by Jews from every corner of the spectrum is something I have not seen replicated in the last half-century. Perhaps such universality would not even be possible today. Then again, we have lived for more than forty years without the embracing personality of Rav Yaakov, someone who possessed the rare ability to unite Jews from every corner of the world.

At times, I was also troubled that the tip of the iceberg of his brilliance, his innovative learning and astonishing bekius in every area of Torah, was often overshadowed by the stories of his sterling middos. It reminded me of what people said about the Chofetz Chaim: that his tzidkus overshadowed his extraordinary knowledge of Torah.

But his gentleness did not mean that he was, in any way, a mevater, someone willing to compromise on principle. When something truly pained him, he spoke firmly. As a grandson, I occasionally felt that side of him when he gave me mussar or corrected something I said.

The words of Chazal were always on his lips, even in family settings. One Chanukah, with family gathered around the table, he distributed dollars to the great-grandchildren. My three-year-old niece ran straight to give the dollar to her mother, my sister. Rav Yaakov quipped with his trademark wit, “V’hataf lamah bo’im? Litein s’char l’mevi’eihem — Why do the toddlers come? To give reward to those who bring them.”

I occasionally had the opportunity to learn with him, though he was often occupied with people bringing their tzaros. I remember once, when I was about fifteen and a bit cocky, he shared a pshat in a Gemara. Feeling confident, I challenged his interpretation by citing a Rav Boruch Ber.

My grandfather simply shrugged and said, “Ich bin shuldig far Rav Boruch Ber? Am I responsible for Rav Boruch Ber?” In other words, must every approach in learning follow the exact path of Rav Boruch Ber?

Years later, I heard Rav Shach say something similar during a shiur kloli in Ponovezh. After asking a strong question, he began, “Zugt Rav Chaim…,” and then stopped himself with a sigh: “Oy, Rav Chaim. Altz iz meyushav!” Once we invoke Rav Chaim, everything is already resolved.

Sometimes the things he corrected surprised me. He once saw my fingers intertwined in a certain position and gave me a small tap, not a potch, just a gentle correction, and told me not to hold them that way al pi sod. Later, someone actually showed me a Kabbalistic source that mentioned it.

His memory was astonishing. I once heard him mentally search for a source: “Not in Bavli… not Yerushalmi… not Medrash Rabbah… not Tanchuma…,” until he concluded that it appeared in the Zohar. For someone who once said that until old age he did not even know what it meant to forget, such recall was simply normal.

But old age eventually came. I remember once seeing him cry after he passed ninety. He was quoting a posuk in Divrei Hayomim and suddenly hesitated.

Then he said softly in Yiddish: “Shtelt zich fur az ich fargess ah posuk in Divrei Hayomim. Can you imagine? I forgot a posuk in Divrei Hayomim.”

His humility was just as striking. One Shabbos Shuvah, at the seudah, he turned to me and asked, “Vus zol ich zuggen di Yidden? What should I tell the people in shul?”

The man who could speak for an hour on mussar and halacha without hesitation was asking me for ideas.

When I became a chosson, my father-in-law assumed that my grandfather would be mesader kiddushin. But Rav Yaakov replied immediately, “No. Twenty-four years ago, at the bris, I was the sandek. We agreed then that the other zaide would be mesader kiddushin.”

Actually, he almost did not attend the wedding at all. When I told him the date, he checked his calendar and informed me that he already had an appointment with Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Ovadiah Yosef. To him, a commitment was a commitment. I could not accept that and contacted the offices of Chinuch Atzmai to make sure the meeting would not prevent my grandfather from attending.

At the wedding, three grandfathers were present, and the honors were shared. My mother’s father was mesader kiddushin. Rav Yaakov recited the sheva brachos. My wife’s grandfather received brocha achritah. At one point, the announcer referred to them collectively as the mesadrei kiddushin. Rav Yaakov immediately corrected him: “There is no such thing as mesadrei kiddushin. There never was, and there never will be. There is only one mesader kiddushin. If a question ever arises, he alone is responsible.”

Looking back, the world has certainly changed in the forty years since his passing, perhaps even more in the years since the stroke that limited the access he once gave people. A gadol of such stature who infused every conversation with warmth, wit, and wisdom is something we rarely see today. Access today often requires layers of protection and influence.

We are poorer for that loss.

As a grandson, I still feel it deeply.

Rav Yaakov, zeicher tzaddik livrocha, was a living reminder that greatness is not measured only in Torah brilliance, but in the warmth with which it is shared. Even if I sometimes felt like just another grandson among so many, I will always miss the brilliant mind, the caring heart, and the home whose doors, like the heart and mind, were always open.

Just Remembering.

Bein Hazemanim and Wartime

Israel is at war, and that affects everything. First of all, people are affected on a personal level due to the simple fact that everyone tries to stay near a safe room or bomb shelter at all times. That is especially true in light of the fact that air raids have become increasingly frequent. We might have grown accustomed to the missile alerts and the subsequent sirens, but there are also frequent reports of entire missiles or, more commonly, shrapnel falling to the earth, and this is infinitely more difficult to accept as a matter of course. The impacts are reason enough for us to be afraid and frightening enough for everyone to exercise special caution. There have been plenty of cases of shrapnel falling in areas where chareidim live, such as the center of Bnei Brak. In fact, even some of the most well-known areas of Bnei Brak, such as the Kikar HaYeshiva (Rechov Wasserman, near the Yeshiva of Ponovezh) or Rechov Yerushalayim (near the municipal building) have been subject to these impacts.

Last weekend, there was some talk of the possibility that the Home Front Command’s safety guidelines might be relaxed a bit. Meanwhile, the Iranians are increasing their missile fire, maybe because they are on the verge of being forced to surrender, but we cannot be sure of that. And perhaps Hezbollah, as well, is firing missiles from Lebanon because they are on the verge of collapse. But regardless of the reason, the situation on the home front hasn’t yet improved. If anything, it may have gotten worse.

We are all thinking about Pesach as well. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that the war is likely to continue until Pesach, which means that everyone will have to change their plans for yom tov, whether they registered to spend Pesach at a hotel overseas or, more commonly, they are remaining at home but were planning trips on Chol Hamoed. For the yeshivos and kollelim, which will be embarking on bein hazemanim next week, this will not be an ordinary vacation. The roshei yeshivos will be calling on the bochurim to refrain from taking trips and, instead, to participate in organized learning programs during their vacations. There are multiple reasons for this: First, there is no reason for yeshiva bochurim to be conspicuously enjoying vacations while the country is at war. Second, it would be dangerous for them to travel. But above all, the people of Israel need zechuyos now, and what could be better for that purpose than learning Torah.

Rothman Calls Out Hypocrisy

As I’ve reported in the past, Prime Minister Netanyahu froze the new draft law in light of the war. In any event, the Knesset is slated to begin its recess soon and it is doubtful that the law would have had enough time to pass even if it wasn’t frozen. In the meantime, the prime minister made it clear that he is not withdrawing his support for the law; he is simply delaying the vote in the Knesset on the bill, but he plans to bring it to the Knesset for its full approval at the earliest possible opportunity. That will probably be in the summer session, which generally begins immediately after Yom Haatzmaut on the 5th of Iyar—unless the recess is shortened this time. In addition, Netanyahu asked the chareidi representatives to support the state budget even without the draft law being passed. The budget vote is scheduled to be held within the coming days, and the Finance Committee is working hard to keep to the schedule. The committee is debating the details of the budget and hopes to approve it and bring it to the full Knesset soon. I receive updates from all the Knesset committees, and I am therefore kept abreast on what is happening in the Finance Committee. The committee is meeting in the mornings and at nights as it races to complete the process of passing the budget.

The Finance Committee isn’t the only committee that is hard at work at this time. The Constitution Committee, for instance, is busy advancing a new law that will split the position of attorney general into two, dividing the attorney general’s current authorities between a government legal advisor and a general prosecutor. This idea was universally supported for a long time, until the judicial revolution caused the opposition to take a rigid stance opposing any change concerning the judiciary, no matter how correct or proper it might be. This week, the committee chairman, Simcha Rothman, was attacked for trying to advance the law despite the fact that Israel is at war. Meir Cohen of Yesh Atid declared, “This committee discussion is a public and ethical mistake.”

Rothman responded by reminding the opposition about the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the law that canceled the reasonability clause. That provision allowed judges to annul laws or government appointments simply on the grounds that they were “unreasonable,” a subjective call made by the judges themselves. The Knesset passed a law prohibiting the court from using that judicial tool, but the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional, reinstating the reasonability standard. That court ruling was issued in the beginning of 2024. Thus, Rothman pointed out, a dramatic judicial decision was made during wartime in that case, and the opposition did not utter a word in protest.

“While hundreds of thousands of soldiers were fighting in the reserves and the hostages were being held in Gaza, with news of deaths from the front arriving every day and the north being evacuated, the Supreme Court issued an unprecedented ruling on January 1, 2024, by a margin of a single vote among the judges,” Rothman said. “The court wasn’t bothered by the fact that a war was taking place, and you, too, did not say a word.”

Rothman went on to decry the conduct of the attorney general, accusing her of selective enforcement of the law. “A week and a half ago, in the middle of a war, she hurried to submit her position calling for the dismissal of a member of the cabinet [Itamar Ben-Gvir, against whom the attorney general has been fighting a relentless battle]. When it comes to other subjects, meanwhile, she has been asking for countless postponements. And the opposition responded with silence. You are dripping hypocrisy,” Rothman declared.

Will the Judges Impose More Sanctions on Bnei Torah?

The community of bnei Torah may be about to receive yet another blow from the courts. As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, the Supreme Court received petitions against the government for its failure to implement additional sanctions against yeshivos and kollelim. The court ordered the government to discuss the matter and come up with stiffer sanctions within 45 days of its ruling. More than twice that amount of time has already passed, which led to the petitions being filed. The court discussed the case at the beginning of March, and the judges fiercely criticized the government and expressed their objections to its conduct. The attorney general, in her response to the court, agreed with the petitioners and asserted that the government was not complying with the court. Due to the war, the judges did not issue a ruling. However, they wrote, “The state respondents are requested to complete the missing information in an updated notice to be submitted no later than March 22, 2026. It is expected that this period will be used to achieve significant progress. This is especially so in light of what was stated in the previous update—that despite the fact that the time period allotted has already elapsed, no progress whatsoever has yet been made in formulating the governmental policy.”

I don’t know what the government argued in its own defense. At this point, since the draft law was frozen, the government couldn’t have argued that it is on the verge passing new legislation and that there is no need for administrative sanctions. I also do not know what the judges will decide. I do know, however, that the government cannot respond that it has a plan for additional sanctions and stiff enforcement, which is not true. While the arrests of bnei yeshivos are continuing, those arrests have dwindled since the war began (although, unfortunately, they haven’t stopped completely).

It is possible that the judges will make their own demands for specific further sanctions. There are three main sanctions already in place: the removal of stipends from yeshiva budgets, the cancellation of subsidized day care for children of kollel families, and the cancellation of discounts on National Insurance premiums. The judges, in their malice and wickedness, can easily expand this list; they might order housing benefits, property tax discounts, public transportation discounts, and other benefits to be revoked from bnei yeshivos as well. The court might also order the civilian police to collaborate with the military police so that any draft evader who is caught for another reason, such as a traffic offense, will automatically be handed over to the army. At present, the police are reluctant to do this.

This is yet another example of the opposition’s hypocrisy. While the opposition persists in condemning the government for advancing legislation during wartime, they have no problem with the court doing essentially the same thing—pushing for new sanctions against bnei Torah now. War or no war, bnei yeshivos are still being arrested and the battle against the Torah remains in full swing. The sessions of the Supreme Court continue as if the war wasn’t taking place at all. This is saddening for many reasons, but above all because of its impact in Shomayim. By continuing their crusade against Torah learning, the court is inviting the middas hadni.

Under Cover of War, Stores Open on Shabbos

Unfortunately, the war has also given some businesses a pretext to operate on Shabbos. Last Shabbos, the branch of the Super-Pharm pharmacy chain in Dimona was open on Shabbos. The religious community in the city feared that this is a precedent that will continue on the coming Shabbosos, and perhaps that other stores will follow suit as well. The religious community held a protest last week, but there is no way of knowing what will happen next.

Dimona, the southernmost city in Israel other than Eilat, is a traditional city, which makes the decision of Super-Pharm’s management all the more galling. The nearby city of Arad has also been fighting for its religious character over the past few months. Arad is home to a community of Gerrer chassidim, and two chassidim recently acquired the local mall and asked the storeowners to keep their businesses closed on Shabbos. The city is therefore embroiled in a struggle between those who are opposed to chillul Shabbos—including chareidim and other religious or traditional residents—and the elements that demand that the city remain pluralistic.

Another case in point is Ramat Hasharon, where the mayor, a member of the Yesh Atid party, has been working for a long time to erode the status quo and promote the operation of businesses on Shabbos. The municipality recently brought an “amended” bylaw, which stipulates that stores will be permitted to operate on Shabbos, to the city council for a vote. They seem to hope that they will be able to use the war as a distraction or a pretext to enable them to pass the measure. According to the proposal, the city would be divided into different zones of activity, with restrictions or dispensations to operate on Shabbos divided between the different zones.

For the time being, they have encountered opposition from the Ministry of the Interior, which is still controlled by the Shas party. Although the interior minister stepped down from his position, the ministry’s director-general is still a member of Shas. In an official letter sent to the municipality, the ministry demanded clarifications and argued that the proposed bylaw is not justified, and that it might even encourage a situation in which existing crimes are retroactively approved. The Interior Ministry’s main argument has to do with a national law. In 2018, the Knesset passed a law requiring the approval of the minister of the interior for any municipal bylaw permitting businesses to operate on Shabbos. The interior minister is authorized to give his consent only if he receives proof that there is a vital need for the businesses to open. The ministry pointed out that Ramat Hasharon’s proposed bylaw isn’t supported by evidence of such a need; the explanatory notes accompanying the bylaw do not provide specific figures or administrative research to explain the need to permit stores to operate on Shabbos.

The ministry’s letter also sharply criticizes the municipality for the gap between the existing law and the reality on the ground. According to the existing bylaws in the city, it is almost completely prohibited for stores to operate on Shabbos; only eateries and coffeehouses are permitted to open, and only under very specific circumstances. The Interior Ministry points out in its letter that a much wider variety of businesses actually operate on Shabbos in the city, and that the municipality doesn’t enforce the law. This leads to the suspicion that the new bylaw is meant simply to validate a phenomenon that has been taking place for years in violation of the law. This, the letter asserts, is highly problematic, since it will permit business owners who have violated the law for years to receive permits to operate on Shabbos legally, while other business owners, who did not break the law by keeping their stores open on Shabbos, will not have a similar opportunity. The ministry pointed out that such a situation might encourage criminal activity.

Arsonists Target Shul in Ramle

Over the past couple of months, I have written about various cases in which shuls in Eretz Yisroel have been vandalized, torched, or looted. There have been far too many such incidents—although even one case would be too much—but this week brought us yet another such occurrence, when a shul was set on fire in Ramle. At first, it was believed that the fire resulted from a piece of missile debris that fell in the area, but after further investigation, the authorities suspected that it was a deliberate act of arson. Since Ramle (like Lod, Yaffo, and Haifa) is a mixed city, this led to the suspicion that Arab criminals were behind the blaze.

On Sunday, the police in Ramle released the following statement: “The Ramle police department is investigating a case of suspected arson in a shul in the city last night. The sifrei Torah were rescued from the shul, but heavy damage was caused. At first, rescue personnel believed that the damage was caused by debris from the interception of a missile from Iran, but other avenues of investigation are currently being explored, including the possibility of arson. There were no reports of injuries.”

The statement continued, “Based on an initial probe, it seems that the fire began in a warehouse in the back of the shul where food was distributed to the needy. The fire then spread into the shul itself, causing heavy damage. Firefighting and rescue personnel managed to gain control of the fire. The commander of the Ramle police station, Superintendent Effie Teshuvah, said at the site of the fire, ‘At this point, we are examining all possibilities. We will work quickly and with professionalism to complete the investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Even if the fire in the shul wasn’t caused by missile debris, that doesn’t mean that this story is completely unrelated to the war, which might have been the background to their actions. The authorities began to suspect arson as the cause of the fire when it was revealed that the blaze began even before the air raid siren sounded. Mispallelim in the shul praised the firefighting personnel for showing up quickly and working with determination to extinguish the flames. Despite the damage to the shul building, it was a great relief that the sifrei Torah were rescued intact. A picture of a firefighter kissing a sefer Torah spread through the media, evoking an intense emotional response from the public. Captain Assaf Cohen of the Fire and Rescue Service related, “We arrived at a very challenging scene with high flames raging near the marketplace. The firefighters acted with professionalism and at personal risk within the thick smoke to rescue the sifrei Torah while stopping the spread of the fire and preventing a much greater tragedy in the heart of the commercial district.”

We are all greatly appreciative of the firefighters’ actions. At the same time, it is very saddening to learn that a shul was deliberately torched, and we hope that the perpetrators will be caught soon. Indeed, we hope that the criminals responsible for all the cases of shul desecration will soon be brought to justice.

A Stabbing in Ramat Gan

The arson at the shul in Ramle, which was most likely an act of terror, leads us directly to the story of another terror attack that occurred last week. On Thursday, a stabbing attack took place that left the entire country traumatized. For one thing, we were all taken by surprise by the fact that a terrorist struck in the middle of a war, when we expected terrorists in the country to lie low. To make matters worse, the attack occurred in the center of the country, in the heart of the city of Ramat Gan. The video also shows that the Arab stabber acted with particular gall, and no one came to the aid of his victim. The terrorist was an Israeli Arab who works in a nearby pharmacy, and the shock in the religious community was heightened by the fact that the victim was a well-known chareidi public figure: Gedaliah Ben-Shimon, a son of a rabbinic family who served until recently as a member of the Bnei Brak city council. Today, Ben-Shimon is the head of the religious council in Ramat Gan. He was stabbed upon exiting a shelter after an air raid siren, when the street was almost completely deserted.

Ben-Shimon was rushed to Ichilov Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition and the doctors began fighting to save his life. He was immediately placed in a trauma room; meanwhile, the attacker, a resident of the Arab community of Jatt, was apprehended after fleeing from the scene, disposing of his knife, and changing his clothes; his efforts to avoid detection were unsuccessful.

Mayor Carmel Shama Hakohen of Ramat Gan told the media, “The background to this incident is still unclear and is under investigation by the police. I pray that this wonderful, precious man, whom I love and respect, will recover quickly. I must emphasize that despite the rumors that there were shouts of ‘allahu akbar,’ the police haven’t confirmed this.”

Aryeh Deri arrived at the hospital and summoned the best doctors to treat Ben-Shimon, consulting with Rabbi Elimelech Firer to select the medical staff. Deri said in a statement at the hospital, “I am shaken to the depths of my soul by the horrific attack committed by a violent criminal against Gedaliah Ben-Shimon, the chairman of the religious council in Ramat Gan, who was severely wounded and is in serious condition. I call on the public to daven for the complete recovery of Gedaliah ben Yeshuah.”

As of this writing, four days after the stabbing, Ben-Shimon’s condition has stabilized and his life is no longer in danger. The doctors feel that his recovery is a miracle. When he was first brought to the hospital, they did not believe that he would survive even for a few hours. But we have all remained deeply traumatized by this attack.

Indictments Rescinded in the Sde Teiman Affair

This week brought the end of a scandal that has accompanied us since July 2024: the Sde Teiman affair. It began when a group of soldiers serving at the Sde Teiman base, where they were responsible for guarding security prisoners, were accused of torturing a terrorist. Several soldiers were arrested and condemned for the incident and were told that they would be indicted on criminal charges. This affair led to another major scandal, involving the military advocate general. After months of debate over whether the soldiers were truly criminals or the victims of a libel, Channel 12 published a video that seemed to substantiate the allegations against them. However, it was later revealed that the video was doctored—but not before it was viewed millions of times all over the world and caused a massive uproar against Israel and the IDF.

The story gets even worse. The military prosecution was asked to find out who had leaked the video to the television station; after ostensibly looking into the matter, they claimed that they had investigated it thoroughly and it was impossible to determine the leaker’s identity. The Supreme Court was then petitioned to instruct an external body to take over the investigation, but Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara argued that it was an insult to claim that the military prosecution couldn’t investigate the matter themselves. If the military prosecution had no way to solve the case, she insisted, then no one else would be able to identify the perpetrator. But then the story took a surprising turn. After David Zini was appointed to the position of head of the Shin Bet, the military advocate general’s spokeswoman was required to undergo a polygraph test administered by the Shin Bet before she was promoted to serve as a military judge. That test revealed that the MAG herself had been responsible for leaking the video to the media, as her spokeswoman had no choice but to admit. Their claim that the leaker could not be identified was merely a ploy to cover up the MAG’s role in the story. MAG Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi hurried to step down from her position before she would be fired, and the matter is still under investigation. Baharav-Miara wanted to be the one to head the investigation, but the Supreme Court ruled that she had a conflict of interest. At this time, there is no one overseeing the investigation, and it is widely feared that the story will be whitewashed.

Meanwhile, the soldiers at the center of this scandal were still considered suspects in a criminal case, facing potential indictments, until last week. Last Thursday, the current MAG, who replaced Tomer-Yerushalmi, announced that the prosecution had decided to close the case against the soldiers and cancel the indictments. The official explanation was that the decision resulted from a new assessment of the evidence and the circumstances of the case, including the fact that the security prisoner who was their alleged victim had been released to Gaza. The official statement from the IDF explained that after the indictments were filed, “significant developments” took place that led the new MAG to cancel the proceedings against the five defendants, including the fact that in the absence of their supposed victim, there was no one left to testify against them. In any event, the entire story seems to have been fabricated, which would explain why the army decided to release the prisoner at the time. Another factor in the decision was the behavior of senior figures in the military prosecution and law enforcement; the “extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances” likely have to do with the crimes of the military prosecution itself. The IDF claimed that the unusual circumstances and their effects on the defendants’ right to a fair trial led the current MAG to decide to drop the charges.

The decision evoked many reactions, including calls for the criminals in the military prosecution to be brought to justice despite the closure of the case. Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “The blood libel known as the Sde Teiman affair against the soldiers of Force 100, which caused unprecedented damage to Israel’s image around the world, has reached its end. It is unacceptable that it took so long to close this case, which was managed in a criminal fashion against IDF soldiers dealing with the worst of our enemies. The State of Israel should be prosecuting its enemies, not its valiant soldiers.”

A Blow to the Police: Urich Returns to Netanyahu’s Office

This is only a small sampling of the latest news; there is much more to report. For instance, there was President Trump’s latest statement against President Herzog and the latter’s attempt to defend himself. Amid Trump’s calls for a pardon for Netanyahu, the Ministry of Justice released its professional decision on the subject, which neither opposed the pardon nor endorsed it. The issue has now been transferred to Minister Amichai Eliyahu, since Justice Minister Yariv Levin is viewed as having a conflict of interest on the subject. Everyone is now waiting to hear whether Minister Eliyahu will recommend pardoning the prime minister.

But let me move on to a few judicial matters that are interrelated. I am not sure how much of this news has reached the United States, but these stories are in all the headlines here in Israel. From our standpoint, this is yet another piece of evidence of the deep state’s witch hunt against Prime Minister Netanyahu and anyone with a connection to him.

For a long time, two of Netanyahu’s closest confidants, Yonasan Urich and Tzachi Braverman, have been under police investigation in cases that reeked of groundless persecution. Urich is a close advisor to Netanyahu and Braverman is his chief of staff. Both men were barred from maintaining contact with Netanyahu, and Urich was held in custody for months. This week, after the case remained undecided for a long time, the court decided to permit both men to resume contact with the prime minister—which meant, in effect, that they could return to work.

Was it really reasonable to paralyze the Prime Minister’s Office in this way, especially during a war? Of course not! But the police are completely indifferent to those considerations. In fact, they even weighed summoning Netanyahu himself to testify in the case against Braverman during the war, but they relented in the face of a public outcry. The revulsion for the tactics employed by the police was repeatedly fueled by verdicts issued by Judge Mizrachi, who identified defects in the police’s work in one ruling after another. For instance, Mizrachi wrote, “There is no justification for ordering Netanyahu’s employees to cut off contact with him for endless periods of time with almost no precedent or parallel in the world of criminal justice, certainly when the external circumstances and the unique situation require them to be in contact.” But Mizrachi’s decisions were repeatedly overturned by the District Court in response to appeals submitted by the police. This week, however, the state did not appeal, realizing that they would have no chance of winning.

The Magistrates’ Court in Rishon Letzion ruled this Sunday that Yonasan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, is permitted to return to his job in the Prime Minister’s Office. Urich was removed from the office about a year ago, when the investigation began, and he responded to the court’s decision by writing, “I’m going back to work.” After the restrictions were lifted, Netanyahu spoke with Urich, and the latter wrote, “After far too long, I finally spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sarah tonight. I applauded the prime minister for his work on behalf of Israel’s security and ensuring Israel’s survival throughout the time when we were prevented from being in contact. The prime minister promised to change the Middle East, and that is what he has done and will continue to do until our victory is complete. I told the prime minister that it will be the greatest privilege in my life to continue standing at his side during these times, to help him defeat all of our enemies and to guarantee a secure, thriving State of Israel for the coming generations. Thank G-d for this moment and for everything that is yet to come…. I am going back to work. Thank you to everyone. Bibi, get ready; I am on my way.”

I believe that Urich will soon reveal many crimes committed by the police. This week, he gave the public a small glimpse into his ordeal: “At 3:00 in the morning, I was placed in a small prison cell, beneath the open sky, after an intake and a degrading search. The cell was flooded with water and leftover food, and I had nowhere to sit, and certainly nowhere to lie down and sleep. I stood at the door of the cell, leaning on the bars, and looked outside. I needed a drink of water after being questioned for twelve hours, but I discovered that the faucet didn’t work. I felt more isolated than I had ever been. I didn’t think that I would ever see my family again, and certainly not the prime minister. I felt as if my life had ended there.” I am sure that there is much more that will yet come to light.

Police Choose Not to Appeal Against Braverman

After weeks of restrictions, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, will now be permitted to resume contact with him as well. This, too, comes in the wake of a court ruling that the police have chosen not to appeal. Once again, it was Judge Mizrachi who issued the ruling, canceling all the restrictions that were placed on Braverman during the course of the investigation.

The investigation into Tzachi Braverman has been linked to what is known as the “nighttime meeting.” Braverman was accused of obstructing an investigation after he met with Eli Feldstein late at night on October 5, 2024, in the parking lot of the Kirya government complex in Tel Aviv. Feldstein is a former spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office who was implicated in the leak of a document to the German newspaper Bild. It was believed that Braverman had obtained information about the investigation into Feldstein, which he wanted to share with him. The police therefore launched a new investigation to determine how this information reached Braverman and what he hoped to accomplish by meeting with Feldstein. Their meeting came to light when Feldstein was interviewed by the media and spoke about his encounter with Braverman; his account of their meeting led Braverman to be arrested and questioned and subsequently barred from the Prime Minister’s Office. There was also a concern that he might lose the opportunity to assume the position of Israeli ambassador to London, which had been assigned to him. Time after time, Judge Mizrachi insisted that the investigation was unfounded, but the state appealed repeatedly to the District Court, which overturned every one of his rulings.

Police investigators arranged a face-to-face confrontation between Feldstein, Braverman, and Omer Mansour, another spokesperson for the PMO who was involved in the case. None of the participants denied that the meeting took place; they argued only about its contents. Braverman claimed, “I did not know about the covert investigation into the leak to the Bild. I did not know that there was such a case, and I made no attempt to obstruct an investigation.” The attorney general also permitted the police to summon Prime Minister Netanyahu for questioning on the subject.

Judge Mizrachi has repeatedly rejected requests from the police to extend the restrictions on Braverman. In his ruling, he noted that the case against Braverman rests primarily on Feldstein’s version of the story, which the judge characterized as unsupported by objective proof. After winning multiple appeals in previous weeks, the state decided this time to accept Mizrachi’s verdict.

The Betzalel Zini Case

There was another blow to the state prosecution, this one also indirectly connected to Netanyahu. Several officers in the IDF reserves were arrested a while ago on suspicion of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza. The only reason the case reached the headlines was the fact that one of those officers was Betzalel Zini, brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini. The Israeli public suspected that the case had been concocted as another attempt to strike a blow at the Shin Bet director, who is a thorn in the side of the left, the deep state, and the judicial junta. And that was only the beginning. The next step came when the prosecution decided to bring charges of aiding the enemy during wartime against all the defendants in the case. There wasn’t a single sane legal expert who could identify the rationale for adding this extremely severe clause to the indictment; the only reasonable explanation was that it was part of the effort to harm the director of the Shin Bet. After all, a group of Bedouins who had been caught committing the same crime were charged only with tax offenses. But the law apparently has a different standard for someone whose last name is Zini.

Until last week, all 15 suspects in the affair were held behind bars. Last week, the Beer Sheva District Court decided to release all of them under certain restrictive conditions. The state appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, and while the prosecution might be accustomed to having a higher court accept its position, they were disappointed this time. On Monday morning, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal from the prosecution and upheld the lower court’s decision. All 15 defendants, including Betzalel Zini, were therefore released to house arrest, where they will remain until the end of the judicial proceedings.

Judge Gila Canfi-Steinitz (the wife of Yuval Steinitz, a former longtime government minister from the Likud party) spoke about the severity of the crime but added, in another blow to the prosecution, that she saw no reason to include the charge of aiding the enemy in the indictments. “It goes without saying this that this is a very serious and egregious case,” she wrote. “During a difficult time for the state, when the citizens of Israel were suffering beneath the burden of war and our soldiers were fighting in the Gaza Strip, the defendants chose to use the war as a means of making personal profits for themselves…. There are difficulties in attributing security crimes to the defendants. To date, this unique and severe charge has not been applied in circumstances similar to those before us, namely, systematic acts of smuggling civilian goods, even in large quantities and even in circumstances in which they might have reached the enemy. The case of the respondents is far removed from any other cases described in the law.” After elaborating extensively on her point, the judge concluded that the charge has no bearing on these specific defendants.

Parenthetically, Zini has already proven that the proceeds from the sale of cigarettes were distributed to soldiers in need of financial aid.

And all this is taking place in the middle of a war.

For weeks, the media’s negative spin on America’s war with Iran has echoed claims by Democratic congressmen and left-wing pundits that the U.S. military campaign is “illegal,” “reckless,” and “poorly planned.”

They warned that Washington’s attacks on Kharg Island, Iran’s “crown jewel” containing the regime’s key oil infrastructure, could spark global crises that could end Trump’s presidency.

Democrats have tried to thwart President Trump’s authority to continue the war through a War Powers resolution. Some have gone further, calling for an investigation into alleged U.S. “war crimes” after a girls’ school in Iran was bombed—though it remains unclear which side fired the missile and evidence suggests the school served as a human shield for the IRGC. [See Sidebar]

More recently, critics have claimed the Trump administration was totally blindsided by Tehran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.

“The Trump administration appears to have been unprepared for Iran to use the choke point of the strait as leverage,” a NY Times article huffed, pushing the “reckless, poor planning” theme.

But these and other media narratives seeking to undermine Americans’ support for the war and for President Trump’s policies are collapsing under the weight of the facts.

First, the United Nations last week overwhelmingly condemned Iran for violating international law by launching missiles at countries across the Persian Gulf—without any parallel effort to censure Washington for striking Iranian targets.

“UN Security Council Condemns Iran’s Retaliatory Strikes in the Middle East,” the Wall Street Journal reported. The sub-headline added, “In an overwhelming vote, the council backed a resolution condemning Iran.”

Not that the UN retains any moral authority for anyone familiar with its track record of epic corruption. But its silence regarding the U.S. attacks and allegations that they blew up a girls’ school—even from habitual hardline critics such as Russia and China—speaks volumes.

Against that backdrop, the Democrats’ posture on the war appears purely politically driven, as they and their media allies continue to insist Trump’s Iran campaign is “illegal” and violates international law.

Interestingly, U.N. watchers say the vote produced the largest coalition ever assembled around a U.N. Security Council resolution. Thirteen of the Council’s fifteen members supported the measure condemning Iran—while Russia and China merely abstained rather than opposing it—and a record 135 additional member states backed the resolution.

(The U.N. also managed to avoid condemning Israel during the session, which may itself qualify as a record.)

Holding the Strait Hostage: A Familiar Playbook

Concerning Iran’s threats to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the regime attempted the same gambit when confronted by oil sanctions in 2019 during President Trump’s first term, only to back down in the face of Trump’s warnings of overwhelming retaliation.

In that incident, Iran sabotaged four tankers in the UAE, mined two freight ships in the Gulf of Oman, and drone-struck Saudi Aramco. But faced with Trump’s dire threats of reprisal, the regime buckled.

“Never, ever threaten the United States again, or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered,” Trump warned the ayatollahs in a 2019 online post.

In other words, the president was familiar with Tehran’s playbook and likely anticipated the ayatollahs’ present-day bluster. But the Times historical memory appears not to extend to 2019, as it continues pushing the narrative of an administration caught “unprepared.”

“Of course, we planned for it. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do: hold the Strait hostage,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told a reporter who asked him why the Pentagon had not planned for the strait being choked off to traffic, which will cause oil prices to spike.

“We planned for it. We recognize the pattern,” Hegseth told the reporter. “Iran has been exercising sheer desperation in the Strait of Hormuz. Ultimately, we want to resolve things sequentially, in the way that makes the most sense for what we want to achieve,” he said, without detailing specific plans.

Hegseth predicted that “soon and very soon, all of Iran’s defense companies will be destroyed.” He said that as of two days ago, every company that builds components of Iran’s ballistic missiles “has been functionally defeated.”

The mainstream media was even more critical of the latest attacks on Kharg Island, an essential hub of Iran’s oil industry, through whose pipelines flow 90 percent of the country’s oil exports, about 1.5 million barrels a day.

“Last night, U.S. forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island, Iran,” read a statement by U.S. Central Command. “The strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites. U.S. forces successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island, while preserving the oil infrastructure.”

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. had “totally obliterated every military target in Iran’s crown jewel.”

A wave of alarmist headlines quickly followed the U.S. action, warning that the strikes, though limited to military infrastructure and deliberately avoiding Iran’s oil refineries, would wreck the global economy.

“Oil Market Set for Tumultuous Week as Kharg Attack Raises Stakes,” railed Bloomberg.

The New York Times echoed the same ominous note, warning that “any disruption” on Kharg Island could “jolt global energy markets.” The attacks, the Times noted, “appeared to be the first to target energy infrastructure since the U.S.-Israeli air war on Iran began last weekend.”

Trump Crosses Red Line

What the Times implied was that the strikes were unacceptably radical in that they crossed an invisible red line. For decades, a tacit understanding among all major players in the Middle East —including the US and Israel— has made oil infrastructure off-limits in military conflicts.

Not because anyone signed a treaty. Rather, all parties understood that hitting oil facilities was tantamount to wrecking the global economy: oil prices soar, stock markets plunge, and the attacking country gets vilified for causing worldwide economic devastation.

When Israel struck Iran in October 2024, for example, the Biden administration explicitly pressured Netanyahu to leave nuclear sites and oil facilities alone. Israel targeted Iranian air defenses, missile production facilities, and drone sites, significantly damaging Iran’s military capabilities. At Biden’s insistence, however, Israel avoided striking major oil infrastructure or key nuclear energy sites.

Even as Israel struck back at Iran for a missile attack, Biden insisted that Iran’s oil was unconditionally off limits. And so, the “gentleman’s agreement” held.

By striking the Tondgouyan refinery right outside of Tehran last week, Trump shattered that agreement. The move threw media pundits into a tailspin, igniting all kinds of dire predictions about how torpedoing the “don’t touch the oil” edict will affect the midterm elections.

But this was the media distorting the facts once again, or totally missing the point.

Tondgouyan was the IRGC’s key military fuel depot and ammunition dump. It was a refinery for domestic fuel. The strike did not affect Iran’s export facilities like Kharg Island. Hitting Tondgouyan crippled the IRGC’s ability to keep its trucks and war machinery running.

Trump was out to bankrupt the IRGC specifically, by collapsing its parallel economy. As noted in an earlier column, far from being just another Middle East army, the IRGC is an economic powerhouse that runs oil, banking, telecom, agriculture, real estate, transportation, shipping, and even Tehran’s international airport through its network of front groups.

The attack on the refinery was a precision strike on the IRGC’s lifeline, not reckless chaos. It did nothing to degrade Iran’s oil export capability, even though that is apparently what many outlets would like their readers to believe.

“For reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the oil Infrastructure on the Island,” President Trump posted online. He warned Iran’s leaders that he would immediately reconsider that decision if they interfered with ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

An attack on the oil infrastructure could strangle what remains of Tehran’s economy – including the government’s limited ability to pay its military.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the WSJ that U.S. forces struck Kharg after seeing indications that Iran might soon reinforce the island with renewed defenses. The strikes, the official said, were designed to eliminate that possibility.

Trump Seeks International Support to Keep Hormuz Strait Open

President Trump told reporters following the strikes on Kharg Island that the United States would continue its campaign as long as necessary, noting that “we’re way ahead of schedule.” He also suggested the U.S. Navy would begin escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz “very soon.”

In addition, Trump said over the weekend that he is talking to “about seven” countries—including China, whose ships importing Iranian oil continue to cross the Strait of Hormuz unhampered—about providing military support to keep the strait open to all.

“We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the strait, far more than ours, we want them to come and help us keep it open and safe,” President Trump said. “We get less than one percent of oil from the Strait. Many of the Europeans get quite a bit.”

The countries Trump appealed to have yet to offer commitments, news reports say.

In the meantime, shipping traffic through the strait has been effectively halted, according to Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  He acknowledged during a press briefing that despite the severe degradation of its military capacity, “Iran still has the capability to harm friendly forces and commercial shipping.”

Pentagon Moving Marines, Warships to Middle East

Underscoring the gravity of the situation, the Pentagon announced it is moving additional Marines and warships to the Middle East. U.S. officials said that a Marine Corps air-ground task force will deploy on Navy vessels from Okinawa, Japan.

The task force, known as a Marine expeditionary unit, includes more than 2,200 Marines and is complemented by more than 2,000 additional Navy personnel and two other warships. The Marines are trained in amphibious landings, seizing islands, and launching rocket artillery at adversaries in a maritime environment, reported the Wall Street Journal.

“Iran’s military, and all others involved with this Terrorist Regime, would be wise to lay down their arms and save what’s left of their country,” Trump posted.

Retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane, in an appearance on Sunday Morning Futures, said the United States “could take control of Kharg Island at a time of our choosing, and we choose not to take that now.”

“Would we take it in the future? Those options are there for the president, likely towards the end of this conflict. Taking Kharg Island—either by occupying it or blockading it— would effectively put the Iranian regime in “checkmate,” given how heavily its economy depends on the island, Gen. Keane said.

“We would then own all of their major assets. That island is 50% of their budget, 60% of the revenue, 90% of the distribution points [for Iran’s oil].”

“The island has a loading capacity of about 7 million barrels per day, and roughly 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports pass through it, a Fox News report said. “Most of those exports are shipped to China and India, underscoring the island’s importance not only to Iran’s energy trade, but also to broader global oil markets.”

Endgame for The Revolutionary Guards?

Sources close to the IRGC say the regime realizes it is unable to defend the Island’s facilities and they are vulnerable to a takeover at any moment. Rumors have begun to circulate about IRGC soldiers defecting.

At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continues his defiant posture, posting online on Monday that Iran was seeking neither “truce nor talks,” and calling claims to the contrary “delusional.”

In the meantime, the Trump administration has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil shipments and taken other measures to stabilize the oil market, but prices continue to climb. Trump has said that gas prices would decrease when the conflict ends.

“Well, I think your gas prices, as soon as that’s over, are going to come tumbling down along with everything else,” the president predicted this week as he was boarding Air Force One. “I think you’re going to see a very big decrease in the price of gasoline, gas, anything having to do with energy, as soon as this has ended.”

***

Trump Called It 38 Years Ago

Life has a way of coming up with the strangest of ironies, and this one is hard to miss: Just as President Trump is being denounced by Democrats for supposedly “impulsive,” “ill-conceived” strikes on Kharg Island, a Guardian reporter resurfaced a 38-year-old interview showing that Trump had articulated the same approach decades ago.

The reporter asked then-investor Donald Trump in 1988 to describe his platform if he ever ran for president.

“Respect,” Trump said in a word. “We’re getting kicked around,” he explained. When asked for an example, Trump mentioned Iran. Not only that. He also mentioned a tiny, unknown plot of land in the Persian Gulf called Kharg Island.

“I’d be harsh on Iran,” Trump told the Guardian 38 years ago. “They’ve been beating us psychologically, making us look like a bunch of fools. One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I’d do a number on Kharg Island. I’d go in and take it. Iran can’t even beat Iraq, yet they push the United States around. It’d be good for the world to take them on.”

Nearly four decades later, what critics call impulsive sounds remarkably consistent with a course of action Trump laid out long before he ever set foot in the White House.

***

Why Is the New York Times Running Cover for Tehran?

The New York Times has relentlessly fixated on a single accidental strike on a girls’ school in Minab on February 28—the first day of the war—which killed more than a hundred people, most of them schoolchildren. In article after article, the paper has pointed the finger at the United States, even though the Pentagon’s investigation into the tragedy is still underway.

The images were heartbreaking and the wall-to-wall coverage—the Times ran a barrage of at least ten articles— prompted 120 Democrat lawmakers to write to War Secretary Hegseth, demanding that the bombing be “investigated as a possible war crime.”

This was even before the Department of Defense’s own investigation has concluded. Yet almost from the first hour, a deeper, more troubling question emerged: was this tragedy the result of a U.S. targeting error, or something far more calculated by the Iranian regime itself?

The school was not in some sleepy residential quarter. It sat inside the Sayyid al-Shuhada military complex, home to the Asif Brigade of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. That unit operates coastal anti-ship missiles and fast-attack craft directly overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.

The Times betrays its duplicity by describing the school as “adjacent” to the IRGC Naval headquarters. Yet, according to satellite imagery, the school was actually inside the military compound.

Until 2013, it was part of the sprawling base, but even after a fence was built to separate the facility, online satellite photos show the school clearly remained inside the military complex. The Asif Brigade’s command buildings are still visible from the schoolyard.

Why was this school located in such a sensitive and perilous place? The Times never raises this question.

Even more troubling, Iran had ordered all in-person classes suspended nationwide after the U.S. strikes began. Yet somehow, at this particular school, attached to this particular IRGC base, the girls were still attending class.

In a war zone, keeping children in such a location looks remarkably like using human shields—yet the Times never questioned Iran’s role in keeping this school open, and in maintaining it inside a military complex to begin with.

Negligent Journalism? Or Something More Insidious

While vilifying the United States military for a strike the Times admits was accidental (but still a possible war crime!), the paper has largely ignored Iran’s repeated, deliberate targeting of civilians across the Persian Gulf: missiles on hotels, airports, civilian water plants, offices, cargo ships, and oil infrastructure in almost a dozen nations.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations called it out: “Iran’s practice of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is reprehensible. Iran is indiscriminately attacking innocent families and civilians across eleven different countries.”

Yet the Times describes those attacks almost approvingly as “leverage.” Analysts quoted by the Times framed them as clever strategy—“spreading the pain,” “enlarging the battlefield,” “asymmetric endurance”—never labeling them terrorism or war crimes.

The contrast is stark. The Times’s coverage makes Iran’s deliberate terror appear as an unavoidable by-product of war, while America’s unintended blunder is presented as moral failure.

The paper’s reporting on the U.S.-Iran war is so laced with this double standard, it’s impossible to miss. Why is the NY Times so eager to cover for Tehran?

As the joint U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran entered its third week, Iran has been launching far fewer missiles and drones than it did during the opening days of the war, a telling indication of the effectiveness of that joint effort to reduce Iran’s ballistic missile and drone threat. According to a report issued last Sunday on the progress of the war by JINSA, the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America, Iran had launched roughly 2,800 drones, 1,247 ballistic missiles, and 28 cruise missiles since the war began.

In his comments on the war, Tuesday, during a White House press conference with the visiting prime minister of Ireland, Micheal Martin, President Trump praised Israel’s success in killing two more top Iranian leaders. One of them was Ali Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council, and the man who an IDF statement said had been Iran’s de facto ruler since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini was killed by the devastating Israeli first strike on Tehran, which began the war. The other Iranian regime leaders whose death was announced on Tuesday were Gholamreza Soleimani and his deputy. They commanded the Iranian Republican Guard’s violent Basij paramilitary force that was responsible for executing more than 32,000 Iranian citizens because they protested against the Islamic regime.

Trump also said, “We’re not ready to leave Iran yet, but we will in [the] very near future.”

Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu said that the killing of Larijani was part of Israel’s efforts to “destabilize” the Iranian regime, in an effort to give the Iranian people “the opportunity to remove” the regime from power.

“This will not happen all at once; it will not happen easily,” Netanyahu cautioned. “But if we persist, we will give [the Iranian people] the opportunity to take their fate into their own hands,”

Trump Expresses His Disappointment With NATO

Trump also said Tuesday that he was very disappointed with the refusal by NATO, Great Britain, France, and other U.S. allies to respond to his call for their naval assistance in helping the U.S. to break Iran’s blockade of the Straits of Hormuz, which has disrupted the flow of 20% of the world’s supply of crude oil from the Persian Gulf. Trump also said that NATO’s refusal to help break the blockade confirmed his suspicion that NATO would fail to come to America’s assistance during its hour of need.

“NATO is making a very foolish mistake,” Trump said. “You would’ve thought that they would’ve said, ‘We’d love to send a couple of mine sweepers.’ It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t cost very much money. But they didn’t do that.”

Iran’s Missile Barrages Have Been Reduced

Meanwhile, the number of missiles and drones that Iran is now launching daily against Israel and other Arab states in the region has been reduced drastically from the first days of the war, when Iran was firing 80-100 missiles at a time, in salvos of up to 20 at a time, in an effort to overwhelm Israel’s multi-layer anti-missile system. By last weekend, Iranian capabilities had been reduced to the point that they were launching no more than 10-15 missiles each night, 2 or 3 at a time, at roughly 90-minute intervals.

While the Iranians are still believed to have plenty of missiles stockpiled, the limiting factor has been the number of fixed and mobile missile launchers the Iranians have left with which to fire them. When the joint U.S.-Israeli military planning for the air attacks on Iran began last December, the intelligence services of both countries focused on finding out where those launchers were located so that they could be targeted in the first round of air strikes. As a result, the IDF believes, the number of missile launchers Iran has available for use has been reduced from 460, just before the February 28 first strike was launched, to no more than 140 after just two weeks of precision bombing.

Homefront Command Missile Warnings Becoming More Localized

Because of the reduced volume of the missile fire, Israel’s Home Front Command is modifying its early warning system, which currently sends a preliminary alert to every cellphone across a wide swath of the country as soon as any Iranian missile launch has been detected. As a result, millions of Israelis have been awakened by these preliminary alerts several times in the middle of the night, each night, disrupting their sleep and putting the whole country on edge.

Under the modified system, the Home Front Command will wait before issuing its preliminary alerts until the specific area of Israel at which each Iranian missile has been aimed can be determined. The new, much more localized early warning alerts will cut down on the number of Israelis whose sleep has been interrupted every night by alarms triggered by Iranian missiles falling outside of their immediate vicinity.

Israel’s Walla News service reports that the IDF estimates that Iran has fewer than 150 operational ballistic missile launchers left with which it can continue to attack Israel. That number is being steadily reduced because each time an Iranian missile is launched, the position of its missile launcher is revealed on radar, enabling that launcher to be quickly attacked and eliminated.

IDF Hunting for Iran’s Remaining Missile Launchers

As a result, it is now believed that almost all of the permanent missile launching sites Iran had before the war started have been destroyed. Its remaining mobile missile launchers are now being aggressively hunted by the Israeli and U.S. warplanes constantly patrolling the skies over Iran.

Also, according to Walla News reports, senior IDF officers believe that Iran, in recent days, has increasingly been struggling to coordinate its missile launches because of the tremendous damage that has been done by repeated Israeli and American air strikes to the Iranian missile command and control infrastructure. Another factor is the fear of exposure by the Iranian missile launching crews, who know that they are likely to come under an almost immediate U.S. or Israeli air attack because their location will be revealed by the launch.

The nature of the threat from the Iranian ballistic missiles to Israel has also changed because about half of them are now being armed with cluster warheads.

Iran Using Cluster Munitions to Maximize Civilian Casualties

The conventional warheads of long-range missiles launched from Iran have typically contained several hundred pounds of high explosives. A single direct hit can destroy or badly damage several adjacent large buildings, killing or seriously injuring those inside, even if they are in a basement bomb shelter or the reinforced room of an apartment. On March 1, the second day of the war, an Iranian missile with a conventional warhead landed on top of a shul in Beit Shemesh. The blast collapsed the building, which fell into the bomb shelter in the basement below, killing nine people and injuring dozens more.

But a cluster bomb warhead is designed to maximize casualties rather than to destroy a building or some other military infrastructure. The warhead is filled with a large number of smaller bomblets, each weighing between 7 and 11 pounds. The warhead is designed to release them at high altitude over the missile’s general target area, scattering the bomblets over a radius of up to six miles. When they hit the ground, the bomblets are designed to explode and spew deadly pieces of metal shrapnel in all directions.

The military use of cluster munitions is banned under a 2008 international convention, which has been signed by over 100 nations around the world, including Great Britain, Australia, and Canada, but not Israel, Iran, or the U.S.

Even though each bomblet is relatively small, Aaron Godiner, the former commander of the Fire and Rescue Authority for Ramat Gan and Givatayim, told a reporter from Maariv that they can still do “severe damage,” depending upon the type of building they strike and exactly where the bomblet hits it. They can also destroy a vehicle on the road, start fires, or create dangerous craters in roads.

For example, last Friday, missile alert sirens sounded across central Israel seven times. While nobody was injured, the bomblets released from the cluster warheads of those Iranian missiles damaged an empty school building in Rishon Letzion and set fire to residential buildings in Shoham and Holon, destroying the homes of dozens of people.

The falling debris from an intercepted Iranian missile, or the Israeli missile that intercepted it, can also be very dangerous. That is why, Godiner said, any Israeli who finds themselves traveling in a vehicle when a missile alert is sounded must get out immediately and seek a proper shelter, and stay there until the all-clear is sounded.

Furthermore, Israeli civilians who find missile debris or unexploded bomblets on the ground should steer well clear and report them to the police immediately.

The Iranian and Lebanese War Fronts Have Converged

From Israel’s perspective, this current two-front war is much more than just another round of the recurring military campaigns that Israel has been fighting for two decades in response to terrorism. Some Israeli strategists have called these occasional, limited wars against enemies such as Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in southern Lebanon “mowing the lawn,” because they know that, over time, the terrorists will be able to recover and threaten Israel again.

But this time, a senior IDF official told Ynet reporter Yehoshua, “We are fighting the head of the octopus [Iran and] to solve Israel’s biggest strategic problem, you have to [definitively] defeat it.” At the same time, the IDF official stressed that, in addition to the imperative of defeating the head of that octopus, Israel must also cut off one of that octopus’s strongest arms, Hezbollah, located just north of the Israeli border.

As IDF forces on the ground pushed deeper into southern Lebanon Monday evening, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir declared that the campaign against Hezbollah has become another central front in the war against Iran. He also observed that, “any damage to the military buildup capabilities of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards also harms Hezbollah’s arming and financing capabilities. The shockwave of the strikes and the weakening of the radical regime in Iran are also felt in the campaign against Hezbollah,” Zamir said.

IDF chief spokesman General Effie Defrin reported on March 15 that the IDF had “attacked more than 2,000 targets in Iran and eliminated thousands of commanders and soldiers from the regime.” He also attributed the sharp increase in the number of daily Hezbollah missile and drone attacks to “the increasing pressure” on Hezbollah from IDF attacks over the previous two weeks.

“So far, we have attacked more than 700 targets of the [Hezbollah] missile system in real time. We have managed to reduce the firing and have taken more than 70% of the ballistic missile launchers out of use,” Defrin claimed.

One of the prerequisites for the intensified Israeli air campaign against Iran to succeed was the rapid neutralization of Iran’s air defenses to give Israeli warplanes the ability to roam freely across the skies over Iran in search of their targets on the ground without fear of being shot down. The IDF was able to achieve absolute air superiority over almost all of Iran within 24 hours of the initial attack, by destroying more than 200 Iranian anti-aircraft radar and air defense installations, and reducing Iran’s overall air defensive capabilities by an estimated 85%.

Israeli leaders also believe that the joint U.S.-Israeli air strike campaign against Iran was launched just in time to prevent Iran’s existential threat to Israel’s survival from reaching an even higher level. They cite the fact that Iran’s negotiators had boasted to U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the latest round of negotiations that Iran had enough highly enriched uranium on hand to build 10 or 11 atomic weapons almost immediately. Iran was also rapidly ramping up its production of long-range ballistic missiles with which to bombard Israel’s population centers, having already added 1,000 of such weapons to its arsenal since the joint U.S.-Israeli 12-day air campaign against Iran last June.

Current Israeli Attacks Are Intended to Do More Permanent Damage

The current Israeli air strike campaign against Iran is much more ambitious than its attacks on Iran last June. Instead of aiming to inflict just enough damage to push back Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs by a few years, the IDF’s current Operation Roar of the Lion is being described as a “deep plowing operation,” designed to cripple all aspects of Iran’s sophisticated military capabilities for many years to come.

In its previous wars against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, Israel’s leaders were content to end the fighting after having achieved relatively limited military goals, leaving the enemy regimes weakened but still capable of recovering and renewing their attacks on Israel within a few years. But in its current air strikes against Iran, the IDF is seeking to inflict much more serious and widespread damage to Iran’s entire military-industrial complex, which is largely under the control of the regime’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Last June, Israeli air strikes against Iran’s ballistic missile program targeted the Chinese-built planetary mixer machines that it used to create the solid fuel for its most deadly ballistic missiles. But in the current war, the Israeli air strikes have been designed to systematically destroy the entire industrial supply chain for Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Similarly, last June, both the U.S. and Israel specifically targeted the most advanced elements of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. which the Iranians hid so deep underground that only America’s largest and most powerful bunker buster bombs could reach and destroy them. This time, the U.S. and Israel are working their way down through a much more detailed and comprehensive target list that includes the dozens of different Iranian suppliers for every significant component of a nuclear weapon, in addition to the 960 pounds of 60% enriched, near-weapons grade uranium which Iran had produced before American B-2 stealth bombers buried much of it last June deep under the rubble of the destroyed Isfahan nuclear facility.

According to a Jerusalem Post report, the IDF believes that even if the air war against Iran were to stop immediately, it would take Iran’s military-industrial complex years to recover its former capacity for producing all kinds of weapons and munitions.

Before the current war started, the United States military and the IDF had identified 2,600 Iranian military-industrial targets to be attacked. Just two weeks after the war started, the IDF believed that two-thirds to three-quarters of those sites had already been destroyed, and that the remainder had been marked for rapid destruction, which has effectively rendered Iran’s military incapable of recovering from its material losses.

Disrupting the Chain of Command of Iran’s Missile Force

In addition to dismantling Iran’s military-industrial infrastructure, U.S. and Israeli air strikes have focused upon disrupting the entire chain of command and control for Iran’s ballistic missile force, by disabling its command centers and by targeting its senior and mid-level commanders, both at work and in their homes. That is believed to be one of the reasons why the total number of ballistic missiles that have been fired by Iran at Israel since the current war started is so much smaller than in the missile attacks that Iran launched last June over roughly the same period of time.

The IDF has also been trying to undermine the stability of Iran’s Islamic regime by targeting its internal security forces, starting with the leadership of the IRGC, and including the army of roughly one million Islamic-indoctrinated members of the Basij militias whose assignment is to terrorize the rest of Iran’s civilian population and keep it aligned behind the regime.

The Israeli defense establishment reportedly believes that the side effects due to the damage it has inflicted upon Iran’s military establishment over the past two weeks are already starting to become evident. In addition to its elimination of most of the top two tiers of Iran’s political and military leadership, and the infliction of thousands of military casualties, Israel also claims it has detected telltale signs of a decline in the morale of the typical Iranian soldier, including an increase in the reported instances of insubordination and outright desertion.

A senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel that he sees “signs of cracks” within the Iranian government and that the U.S. and Israeli militaries “are creating the conditions” for its collapse. However, he noted that “at the end of the day, it’s up to the Iranian people” to ultimately overthrow the regime, and the current harsh security crackdown by the regime against any sign of public resistance makes any such effort highly unlikely, at least for the moment.

Signs of Stress Appearing in Iran’s Security Apparatus

However, according to a report by David Patrikarakos in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, the “Iranian security apparatus [is] under severe and accelerating internal strain. [Over a recent four-day period,] more than 60 incidents have been documented across virtually every branch of the regime’s military and security apparatus. . .

“There are many reports of IRGC soldiers being executed for desertion,’ the source for the Daily Mail report continues. ‘It’s happening constantly. IRGC leaders are also regularly executing subordinates for refusing to carry out orders.”

According to the report, “The killings are often carried out under secret orders so tightly classified that even fellow officers are kept in the dark. . .

“[Iranian] authorities suspect sabotage and the incidents are followed by investigations, arrest, and yet more executions.”

Meanwhile, President Trump has continued to threaten the Iranian authorities behind the mass murder of civilian Iranian protesters during the January uprising. Trump has said, “We have them on tape — we know who they are,” and “when they’re caught, they will be tried and executed.” Meanwhile, the IDF posted on its Persian-language social media account that some members of the notorious, Islamic regime-backed Basij militia have gone into hiding because some of the most recent Israeli air strikes have targeted the most prominent of the Basij operatives and their street checkpoints across Tehran.

Iran’s Leaders Realize They Are Fighting for Their Own Survival

On the other hand, because those who control Iran’s Islamic regime now realize that they are in a fight for their own lives as well as the regime’s survival, they have further intensified the reign of terror against any sign of dissent displayed by the Iranian people. Ever since the initial U.S.-Israeli decapitating air strike on February 28, suspected Iranian dissidents are reportedly being arrested by the thousands, and armed members of the Basij militias are patrolling the streets of cities across Iran with orders to shoot to kill anyone who appears to be protesting against the regime.

But because of that unprecedented level of government-sponsored repression, there are not yet any signs on the ground in Iran of a return of the kind of open public resistance against the Islamic regime which broke out in late December and early January, and which was put down cruelly by the reported mass murder, by agents of the regime, of more than 30,000 unarmed civilian protesters.

President Trump said publicly, on the morning after launching the first attack of the current war, that the U.S. was now delivering the help that he had promised to the protesters. He then told the protesters, “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take.”

But now Trump realizes that immediate regime change through another uprising by the Iranian people was an unrealistic expectation. In a radio interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News last week, Trump now concedes that when the Iranian people are told by their rulers that, “‘Anybody who protests, we’re going to kill you in the streets,’ I really think that [regime change is] a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons.”

Iran’s People Are Being Kept Captive in Their Own Homes

According to the sources inside Iran of Daily Mail reporter Patrikarakos, daily life there has become very bleak. The Iranian people “are mostly confined to their homes while U.S. and Israeli airstrikes continue to pound Iran. Trips out into the street and shops are few and mainly for basics, and retribution for those who step out of line is swift. . .

“Across the board, there is extremely heavy repression. There are checkpoints everywhere in Tehran. People are being beaten, investigated, and detained.”

Iran’s national police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, recently said in a state network broadcast, “If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester, we will see them as an enemy, and we will do to them what we do to an enemy.”

But according to the Daily Mail report, it has also become increasingly apparent that, despite the highly organized repression, “Regime forces are more scared of a mobilized [Iranian] population than [the American and Israeli] air strikes.”

Patrikarakos quotes a friend he calls “Mahmoud” who lives in Tehran as saying, “‘It’s terrifying. The bombs are very loud, and we hear them through the night. I gather with my family and try to tell them we will be OK. We are very afraid. It’s a terrible war. But we hope the Americans will succeed.”

Another friend of the reporter, identified as a 45-year-old office worker named Bager, says that, “Right now, it seems little has changed. But we hope the regime will be much weaker when this war ends. One day, Trump and Netanyahu will finish the job. Then, believe me, our time will come,” he says.

Unpaid Iranian Security Personnel Growing Resentful

According to the same Daily Mail report, “another growing source of chaos is the regime’s failure to pay its thugs. Across Iran, soldiers and security personnel from multiple branches have reportedly staged protests, threatened to abandon their posts, and, in some cases, deserted after months of unpaid salaries and pensions. Critically, the anger cuts across the ranks, from ordinary troops to senior officers.

“[But] instead of addressing the mounting financial crisis, [Iranian] authorities are doing what they always do: lash out. The result is more surveillance, more intimidation, more punishment.

“The effect is merely to breed yet more resentment among the very forces the regime relies on to keep it. . . in place.”

As a result, Daily Mail reporter Patrikarakos concludes, “When the smoke clears, people will be surprised at how degraded the regime’s machinery of terror is. It’s only a matter of time before it starts breaking down. No one seems to understand just how much trouble the regime is now in.’

More Top Iranian Leaders Reported Killed

As the U.S. and Israeli air strikes have continued to target Iran’s remaining leaders, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced that one of Iran’s top longtime security officials, Ali Larjani, was the latest to be killed. The IDF also announced Tuesday that it assassinated the head of the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary militia, Gholamreza Soleimani, and his deputy, Seyyed Karishi, as well as the IRGC’s Aerospace Force chief.

Since the start of the war, Larijani has played a far more visible role in ruling Iran than its new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he was appointed by a committee of Iran’s top Islamic leaders to replace his father, who was slain in the massive Israeli attack that began the war on February 28.

Iranian sources have confirmed that the new supreme leader was also wounded in the same attack that killed his father, but the extent and exact nature of his wounds remain a topic of widespread speculation. On March 14, President Trump cited reports suggesting that Mojtaba Khamenei might be too seriously wounded to appear in public, and that he might not even be still alive.

By contrast, according to a report from the France 24 news service, Larijani allowed himself to be seen in public “walking with crowds at a pro-government rally last week in Tehran as a sign of defiance against Israel and the U.S.”

Some observers had suggested that Mojtaba Khamenei was only appointed to serve as a figurehead replacement for his father and that Larijani was the person who was actually running the government of Iran on a day-to-day basis after the February 28 attack.

For the last two decades, Larijani had been widely known in Iran for being particularly “adept at balancing ideological loyalty with pragmatic statecraft.” He had also been closely associated in recent years with the management of Iran’s nuclear policy and its strategic diplomacy.

Last year, Larijani was appointed to head Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council. His death, if confirmed, would be yet another major blow to the leadership of the Islamic regime.

Hezbollah’s New Leader Is an Iranian-Controlled Puppet

Meanwhile, as the daily Hezbollah rocket attacks have continued to exceed those from Iran, it has become apparent to Israeli officials that Hezbollah’s current leader, Naim Qassem, is not just “giving in” to Iranian pressure.

Instead, Qassem appears to be fully committed to the destruction of northern Israel, regardless of the consequences to Lebanon and its people from the inevitable Israeli retaliation. He is acting like a puppet controlled by Iran by putting his allegiance to the radical goals of Iran’s Shiite Islamic regime first, far above his loyalty to the best interests of his country, Lebanon. Qassem’s determination to destroy Israel is not just political in nature, but rather appears to be the result of a deep ideological and religious commitment.

Therefore, when Hezbollah decided to join the fighting on March 2, it did not limit itself to largely symbolic missile fire against targets in northern Israel, which is what his predecessor, Sheik Nasrallah, did to support Hamas in Gaza soon after its October 7 attack. When Hezbollah escalated its attacks on Israel last week by firing a barrage of about 200 rockets and around 20 drones in one night, it signaled to the IDF that it was facing a major new enemy it must deal with immediately, while continuing to press its attacks on Iran.

Israel Denies That the Escalation Against Hezbollah Is a Distraction

The New York Times has reported that some people within the Trump administration view Israel’s decision to devote more of its military assets to finishing the job of destroying Hezbollah as an unwelcome distraction from the fight against their main common enemy, Iran.

But from the Israeli perspective, Iran and Hezbollah, especially today, are virtually the same. Therefore, the Israelis believe, the best time to put an end to the threat from Hezbollah to northern Israel, once and for all, is when the Iranian regime is too preoccupied with fighting for its own survival to give Hezbollah much help.

Denying suggestions that Israel’s decision to ramp up its war against Hezbollah has become a source of contention with U.S. leaders, the IDF issued a statement Sunday insisting that the Israeli and U.S. militaries are continuing to maintain a “close and ongoing security and strategic cooperation, based on professional dialogue and the highest level of transparency.”

The IDF statement also declared that, “the claim that the IDF deliberately opened an additional front with Lebanon is incorrect and misleading.” It then explained that, “Hezbollah made a deliberate decision to join the war being waged by Iran against Israel and launched a wave of strikes, acting [under] the direction of the Iranian regime.”

High Level of U.S.-Israeli Military Cooperation Still Unprecedented

It is also clear that the closeness of the cooperation between the U.S. and Israel in their joint war against Iran, at the very highest levels, remains unprecedented. Since the war began, Trump and Netanyahu have been talking to each other almost every day, and Netanyahu has clearly decided to allow Trump to make all of the most important decisions about how their joint war will be conducted against Iran, from beginning to end.

This is the first time that the Israeli military has fought a war alongside another country’s military shoulder to shoulder — or more precisely, in this case, wing to wing. As a result, there are now units within the IDF that are conducting roughly half of their internal communications in English. IDF Chief of Staff General Eyal Zamir is now speaking with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine and CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper to coordinate U.S.-Israeli military cooperation daily. Some Israeli commentators have quipped that this is the first war that the IDF has ever conducted in the English language.

The groundwork for the current high level of cooperation between the two military organizations was established with the creation of the joint U.S.-Israeli Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), located in Kiryat Gat, to oversee the implementation of Trump’s 20-point ceasefire agreement for Gaza. That center has served ever since as a model for the ever-closer military cooperation between the two countries. As a result, when the political call was made by Trump and Netanyahu to use their forces jointly to attack Iran, both CENTCOM and the IDF were well-prepared to work closely together.

As of now, more than a thousand Americans are in Israel, and in both military organizations, and there are joint coordination cells, both for defensive and for offensive operations, where senior military officers from the other country are present to actively participate in the planning and real-time direction of military operations against Iran.

The division of labor between the two militaries in attacking Iran is either geographic or by specific mission. Geographically, the IDF is responsible for handling the surface-to-surface missile batteries in western and central Iran firing at Israel, while the Americans handle the southern surface-to-surface missile batteries firing at their installations across the region.

However, in some cases, so much close coordination has been required that U.S. and Israeli fighter pilots have flown joint missions against Iranian targets.

It also should be noted that the Iranians are firing missiles with a shorter range (typically 200-300 miles) at closer American targets in the region, while the missiles that Iran is firing at Israel need a range of at least 1,000 miles to reach their targets.

At this point, the greatest concern of Israeli officials is that Trump may feel compelled to give in to the growing domestic political pressure from those within his own Republican Party and MAGA movement to declare an end to the war before the Iranian regime is totally defeated.

According to a New York Times report, Trump has also been talking frequently with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Ben Salmon, and like Netanyahu, the Saudi crown prince has been urging President Trump not to end the war against Iran before its military capabilities have been completely destroyed, even though Saudi Arabia itself has not retaliated against Iran for its recent missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

Trump Now Facing Two Crucial Decisions on the Future of the War

The two most important strategic military decisions that Trump will have to make, that will determine the future course of the war against Iran, are whether to use the 2,500-man U.S. Marine expeditionary force now on its way from Japan to Middle Eastern to forcibly remove the 970 pounds of near-weapons quality 60% enriched uranium from Iranian territory, or to invade and take over Iran’s Kharg island oil export terminal in the northern Persian Gulf, further crippling Iran’s oil exporting-based economy.

Many believe that the U.S. air strikes targeting Iran’s military assets on Kharg Island last week were intended to make it easier for the Marines to invade the island and gain direct control over most of Iran’s oil exports if and when Trump decides to give that order as commander-in-chief. On March 14, following those air strikes, Trump announced that the United States had “executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East” and had “totally obliterated every military target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.” He added that he decided “not to wipe out the oil infrastructure on the island,” but then warned that if Iran continues to interfere with “the free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”

But when asked by reporters whether he was willing to send the Marines into Iran to seize and remove the enriched uranium from the tunnels in Isfahan, he admitted that, “We haven’t made any decision on that. We’re nowhere near it.”

In the meantime, the high level of cooperation between Israel and the United States has been replicated throughout the command structure of the military organizations of both countries. For the past several months, senior Israeli and American general officers have been in constant consultation with one another in developing and implementing their joint military plans for the attack on Iran.

IDF Now Admits That It Underestimated the Threat From Hezbollah

Nevertheless, the morning after Hezbollah launched its 200-missile barrage, the leadership of the IDF publicly admitted that it had failed to properly prepare the civilians of northern Israel for the possibility of renewed missile attacks of that magnitude. They also apologized for failing to notify local elected leaders, such as Nahariya Mayor Ronen Marli and Mateh Asher Regional Council head Moshe Davidovich, so that they could anticipate the emergency needs of the residents of northern Israel, many of whom have only recently returned to their homes, due to the renewal of Hezbollah missile attacks.

In response to the daily barrages of Hezbollah missiles, the IDF responded by increasing its air strikes against the remaining Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The IDF has called for the evacuation of all Lebanese civilians from the area south of the Litani River, and expanded the number of mobile Israeli military outposts deep inside southern Lebanon, and far beyond the border fence along which they had been deployed since the November 27, 2024, ceasefire.

Displaced Lebanese Won’t Return Until Northern Israel Is Safe

In addition, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has publicly declared that the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians who have been forced to evacuate their homes in southern Lebanon will not be permitted to return until the Israeli citizens who have been forced by the current Hezbollah missile and drone attacks to abandon their homes in northern Israel will also be able to return in safety.

Towards that end, the IDF has been gearing up for a major ground invasion to seize virtually all of Lebanon south of the Litani River and destroy all Hezbollah installations in that area. Israel is surging troops to its northern border as it expands operations against Hezbollah.

The operation would, according to reports, involve a larger number of ground troops than Israel’s 2024 ground operations inside Lebanon. Two brigade-level combat teams and multiple combat engineering battalions will soon be joining the IDF’s Northern Command, and the IDF’s Golani Brigade is also now ready for redeployment in the North. All together, the additional Israeli troops will provide the IDF with enough additional manpower to push the Hezbollah fighters now in southern Lebanon further away from Israel’s northern border, while systematically eliminating all of their arms depots, missile launching sites, and other pieces of military infrastructure that Hezbollah had recently placed in that region to renew their attacks on Israel’s northern communities.

The IDF announced that it began conducting targeted raids last week to combat Hezbollah activity in the southern Lebanese town of Rab al Thalathine, less than three miles from the Israeli border. During those operations, Israeli forces reported killing dozens of Hezbollah operatives and destroying Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, a command post, and observation sites.

Weakening Hezbollah Enabled Israel to Attack Iran Directly

But if Hezbollah had been allowed to remain at the high military operational level it achieved just before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon two years ago, the IDF likely would never have attacked Iran at all, neither last June nor three weeks ago, for fear of a devastating ground and missile attack on northern Israel by Hezbollah, for which Iran had been helping it to prepare.

But Hezbollah is no longer the same formidable paramilitary organization that was ready to launch an invasion of northern Israel even more devastating than the Hamas October 7 attack. The Hezbollah attack would have been supported by a barrage of thousands of rockets per day, with enough range to inflict major damage on Tel Aviv’s skyline and every other major Israeli population center as far south as Be’er Sheva.

During Operation Northern Arrows in late 2024, which began with the detonation of Mossad-provided exploding pagers and featured the assassination of Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the IDF thoroughly defeated and demoralized the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization. The only force that ultimately prevented Hezbollah’s complete destruction at that time, Israeli officials say, was the United States under President Biden, who pressured Israel into accepting another toothless ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, which Hezbollah never had any intention of keeping.

Finishing Off Hezbollah Won’t Be Quick or Easy

But Israeli officials are still warning against harboring the illusion of a quick and decisive IDF victory over Hezbollah today, even in its current severely weakened state. “There is no such thing,” they say, according to Ynet military analyst Yossi Yehoshua.

While he writes that the IDF’s military achievements against Hezbollah since the current war started on February 28 are “enormous,” he warns that it still retains “roughly about 20% of [the capabilities] it had on the eve of the war. That is still enough to launch dozens of precision [longer-range] rockets toward central Israel [each day] as well as [an arsenal of] about 20,000 shorter-range rockets [with which it could once again paralyze] northern Israel.

As a result, Yehoshua concludes, the complete dismantling of Hezbollah’s remaining military capabilities must remain one of Israel’s central objectives of this war. But the challenge for the IDF will be finding enough military resources to pursue that goal while at the same time keeping up its pressure on the main enemy, Iran, which created, supported, and now largely directs Hezbollah’s much more numerous missile attacks, primarily against targets in northern Israel, on a day-to-day basis.

Hezbollah Now Facing More Opposition From Within Lebanon

However, by dragging Lebanon into Iran’s war with the U.S. and Iran, Hezbollah has further weakened its domestic political influence. As a result, Hezbollah has, for the first time, come under direct public criticism from Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, for dragging Lebanon, against its will, into the war between Iran and Israel. President Aoun has also made no secret of his desire to negotiate a separate ceasefire agreement with Israel, which would include the complete disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese army.

The disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese army had been one of the conditions of the November 2024 ceasefire agreement. But the Lebanese government at that time did not have the courage to carry out that task, which permitted Hezbollah to rebuild its military capabilities, despite frequent IDF raids and attacks intended to interfere with Hezbollah’s recovery.

Reportedly, former Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer has been invited by Prime Minister Netanyahu to rejoin his government in order to explore those diplomatic possibilities, not only with the non-Hezbollah-affiliated leaders of the Lebanese government, but also with the blessings of Saudi Arabian officials.

The United States and France are also said to be interested in helping to create a new post-Hezbollah Israeli-Lebanese relationship tailored on the Abraham Accords, and based upon direct negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese officials hosted by a neutral third country. According to an Axios report, France has already put forth a draft of such a ceasefire agreement, which would also require mutual diplomatic recognition between Israel and Lebanon for the first time since Israel declared its independence in 1948.

Closure of the Straits of Hormuz Is an Open Challenge to Trump

However, there is no such ceasefire agreement yet in sight between the U.S. and Israel on one side, and Iran and its weakened proxies on the other. In fact, by announcing that it was closing the Straits of Hormuz to peaceful passage by tanker ships from the Persian Gulf carrying 20% of the world’s crude oil supplies, Iran has defiantly challenged President Trump and the U.S. Navy to prove that they can break the blockade.

In response, Trump has tried to calm the panic, which has already driven the price of crude oil above the psychologically significant $100-a-barrel level on international markets, by arranging for the worldwide release of 400 million barrels of oil from the emergency reserves of several pro-Western nations, including 172 million barrels to be drawn from the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The need to draw on the oil stored in the SPR to deal with Iran’s wartime closure of the Straits of Hormuz has caused some Republicans to renew their prior criticism of then-President Joe Biden. They blame him for withdrawing a total of 230 million barrels of oil from the SPR during 2021 and 2022, purely for his own domestic political benefit, by reducing the cost of gas at the pump for American consumers. But by reducing the amount of oil in the SPR by almost half, Biden made the U.S. and its allies much more vulnerable to Iranian oil blackmail by closing the Straits of Hormuz, as we have seen over the past week.

Trump Frustrated by the Response to His Call for Persian Gulf Help

Trump is also urging those nations that rely heavily on Persian Gulf oil to join with U.S. Navy ships to provide an effective military escort for their tankers. These convoys would enable those ships to pass safely through the Straits of Hormuz, once the U.S. military has had enough time to fully eliminate Iran’s ability to attack them.

On March 14, President Trump said, “Many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending warships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.” He then added that, “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and others that are affected by this artificial constraint [on the international oil trade] will send ships to the area.”

In a conversation the next day between Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, they discussed the “importance of reopening the Straits of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide,” according to a spokesperson for the prime minister, after Trump had belittled Starmer last week for offering to send two British aircraft carriers to the Middle East to protect its own bases as well as the oil facilities of its allies in the Gulf which have come under Iranian missile and drone attacks. Trump said at that time that “We don’t need them [the British aircraft carriers] any longer [because] we don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won!”

Iran’s Initial Advantage in the Straits of Hormuz

Trump did not yet realize that the battle for control over the Straits of Hormuz with Iran was just beginning, with Iran holding the initial advantage by virtue of its geographical location on one side of the Straits and its forty years of military preparations for that phase of the war.

On Monday, President Trump said that his call upon nations heavily dependent upon Persian Gulf oil exports to provide escort ships for their tankers had met with a mixed reaction, and that even some of America’s closest allies rejected his request because they did not want to risk being attacked by Iran.

Trump also suggested that their responses were proof of their ingratitude for many years of generous U.S. support. When asked about the response to his requests for warships from Great Britain and France, Trump said that he was still expecting them to cooperate, but that their lack of enthusiasm was troubling. He also said that reopening the Straits was much more important to America’s European allies, because thanks to his leadership, the United States is now energy independent and no longer heavily dependent on imported oil.

Even though the Pentagon has sent dozens of warships, including three aircraft carriers, and hundreds of warplanes to the Persian Gulf region over the past two months, those forces are now fully committed to staging daily air strikes against targets in Iran, or defending Israel and other pro-American states in the Gulf region against the retaliatory missile and drone strikes still being launched by Iran. That is why the regional U.S. military commanders of CENTCOM have asked the Pentagon to send at least two more U.S. Navy destroyers to the region to escort civilian ships through the Straits without having to divert the other U.S. Navy ships in the area from their current missions.

In an apparent response to Israel’s controversial decision last week to attack and set fire to three oil storage depots in Tehran, Iran has attacked at least 16 oil tankers and other civilian ships in the Persian Gulf. Those attacks prompted Lloyd’s of London to cancel its war risk insurance policies on any other ships that might dare try to pass through the Straits of Hormuz without Iran’s permission. That, in turn, brought an immediate halt to shipments of oil from the Gulf through the Straits to pro-American countries around the world. It also generated a panic that spiked the price of oil on international markets, even though current supplies of oil are ample worldwide, and the promised release of an additional 400 million barrels from strategic oil reserves should prevent any shortages from developing in the near future.

Why Trump Underestimated the Difficulty of Clearing the Straits

Reportedly, President Trump was briefed by his military advisors before the outbreak of the war on February 28, on the likelihood that Iran would attempt to blackmail Trump into ending the war by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz to commercial oil traffic. Trump believed at the time that the U.S. military could easily deal with that threat.

Perhaps it was because the U.S. military had been able to do so almost 40 years ago. During a period between 1987 and 1988, then-President Ronald Reagan ended an Iranian blockade against Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz by arranging for convoys of those tankers to be guarded by U.S. Navy warships, as well as by ordering separate U.S. military attacks that sank several Iranian warships.

However, the task of protecting shipping in the Straits of Hormuz from attacks by Iran is much more difficult today because Reagan’s Cold War-era U.S. Navy had many more warships available for such tasks than it does now. In addition, Iran now has in its arsenal long-range anti-ship missiles and large numbers of sophisticated attack drones with which to harass tanker traffic, as well as any U.S. warships escorting the ships through the Straits.

Trump also admitted Monday that he and his military advisors were “shocked” by Iran’s decision to launch large-scale missile and drone attacks on its Persian Gulf neighbors, even though none of those states had accepted Trump’s invitation to join in the initial U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran that started the war on February 28. Trump insisted that “no expert would have known” in advance that Iran would make such a move in an apparent effort to expand the scope of the war across the entire region, even though Iran had warned explicitly that any country in the region that was hosting U.S. troops on its soil would be treated as a legitimate target for attack.

Reagan’s Position Against Iran 40 Years Ago Still Rings True

In remarks to reporters in the White House Briefing Room on May 29, 1987, President Regan told the American people to: “Mark this point well: The use of the vital sea lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians. . . The Persian Gulf will remain open to navigation by the nations of the world.

“Now, I will not permit the Middle East to become a chokepoint for freedom or a tinderbox of international conflict. Freedom of navigation is not an empty cliche of international law. It is essential to the health and safety of America and the strength of our alliance. Our presence in the Persian Gulf is also essential to preventing wider conflict in the Middle East. . .

“We’re in the Gulf to protect our national interests and, together with our allies, the interests of the entire Western World. Peace is at stake; our national interest is at stake. And we will not repeat the mistakes of the past,” Reagan emphasized.

“Weakness, a lack of resolve and strength, will only encourage those who seek to use the flow of oil as a tool, a weapon, to cause the American people hardship at home, incapacitate us abroad, and promote conflict and violence throughout the Middle East and the world,” President Reagan concluded.

Trump Trying to Calm the Oil Price Panic

Meanwhile, President Trump and other administration officials have been trying to assure American consumers that the sharp spike in the price of gas at the pump they have seen since the war started is temporary, and will quickly return to low pre-war levels in just a few weeks, when Trump is expected to declare that the U.S. goals for the war have been achieved.

Speaking with NBC News on March 14, President Trump stated that Iran now “wants to make a deal” to end the war, but that he refused their offer because he felt that their proposed “terms aren’t good enough yet.” The Times of Israel has also reported that Trump and his negotiators have rebuffed recent attempts by unnamed states in the region to broker a new set of U.S. peace negotiations with Iran. After Iran used the most recent set of talks with the U.S. to play for more time to rebuild its missile and nuclear arsenals, Trump is now determined to force Iran to meet his demands before he agrees to allow his negotiators to participate in any new diplomatic effort to end the war.

Trump Is Not Yet Willing to Talk to Iran About a Ceasefire

The Trump administration has also rebuffed attempts by some of America’s Middle East partners to initiate ceasefire negotiations with Iran, according to a report from The Times of Israel based upon three unnamed sources.

In his March 14 interview, Trump insisted that Iran will have to totally renounce its nuclear ambitions as a prerequisite for any renewal of peace talks. Trump then repeated the list of U.S. military achievements during the two weeks since the war started. “We’ve knocked out most of their missiles. We’ve knocked out most of their drones. We knocked out their manufacturing of missiles and drones, largely.”

Trump also predicted that within a few more days, Iran’s military capabilities would “be totally decimated,” reducing the scale of its attacks to “dropping a mine or shooting a relatively short-range missile.” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed Trump’s predictions the very next day by declaring that the war would end within the next few weeks, leading to a sharp rebound in oil supplies and a subsequent decline in energy prices back to pre-conflict levels.

Israel Has Announced Plans for a Longer War Against Iran

General Defrin, the IDF’s chief spokesman, also said Sunday that, “in coordination” with the U.S. military, the IDF has detailed operational plans for attacks on Iran “through at least the Jewish holiday of Pesach, about three weeks from now. And we have deeper plans for [another] three weeks [of attacks on Iran] beyond that. . . We still have thousands of targets in Iran, and we are identifying new targets every day.” Defrin also said that the Israeli military is “not working according to a stopwatch, or a [set] timetable, but rather [is ready to keep attacking Iran until we] achieve our goals.”

The last comment is especially interesting because Trump has indicated that he expects the joint U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran to be over no later than by the middle of April, and given his attitude after declaring the end of last June’s 12-day war against Iran, it is highly unlikely that Trump would permit continued Israeli attacks on Iran after he has declared the current war to be over.

Why Trump Is Sending More U.S. Marines to the Region Now

However, the announcement last week that the Pentagon is moving a 2,500-man Marine expeditionary unit and supporting warships from the USS Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group to the Middle East, as a response to Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, suggests that Trump may be more willing than most observers believe to put American “boots on the ground” inside Iran. In addition to its complement of Marines, the USS Tripoli serves as a launching and landing pad for 20 F-35B jump-jet stealth warplanes, which could provide close air support for an effort to capture and remove Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, most of which is believed to be buried deep underground in the collapse of the nuclear plant in Isfahan. The USS Tripoli could also occupy the Iranian shoreline along the Straits of Hormuz to help protect tanker traffic, or could attack and destroy Iran’s main Kragh island oil terminal, located 15 miles offshore in the Persian Gulf.

A sizable number of U.S. Marines were already in the Middle East supporting the Iran operation before the move of the expeditionary forces from Japan was announced. In addition, several more plane loads of Marines have landed in the region in recent days, according to U.S. officials.

However, because it will take the amphibious U.S. warships carrying the Marines that are leaving from Japan at least two weeks to reach the waters near the Persian Gulf, it suggests that Trump may be planning for the war against Iran to continue for considerably longer than he has been willing to admit so far publicly.

Israel Calls Report of an Interceptor Shortage Disinformation

Israeli officials have also vigorously denied a report that Israel is running low on its critical supply of ballistic missile interceptors, even though Iran has launched fewer long-range missiles at Israel this time than it did during the war last June. The report was published last week by Semafor, an online news site founded by Ben Smith, who, as editor of BuzzFeed in 2017, was responsible for the first publication of the false claims against then President-elect Trump from the notorious Steele dossier that was secretly commissioned, paid for, and distributed to the media and the FBI by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

An Israeli official later told The Times of Israel that in its missile defense plans for the joint air strikes against Iran with the U.S., “we prepared for a prolonged conflict.” Israel Hayom also reported, citing official sources, that Israel “has a sufficient number of interceptor missiles of all types [on hand, and that its stockpile of missile interceptors] is continuously replenished through round-the-clock production.”

Israeli officials said that they suspect that the false Semafor report of an Israeli missile interceptor shortage was the result of an Iranian disinformation effort designed to turn public opinion against the war, both in the U.S. and in Israel.

The Semafor article quoted a U.S. official saying that Israel’s shortage of missile interceptors was “something we expected and anticipated,” and that the U.S., on the other hand, is not running low, and has all the interceptor missiles it “need[s] to protect our bases and our personnel in the region and our interests.”

The Semafor article also claimed that Israeli officials are trying to “come up with solutions to address” the interceptor shortage. However, it also said that Iran’s increased use of cluster munitions “may exacerbate the depletion of the [interceptor] stock.”

Why Israel Must Use Arrow-3 Missiles to Stop Cluster Munitions

That is because preventing cluster munitions from reaching the ground requires neutralizing the ballistic missile’s warheads carrying them while they are still very high in the atmosphere, before the bomblets are dispersed. That requires Israel to use its Arrow-3 missiles, which alone are designed to intercept their targets before they can re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

If the war does continue for longer than the few weeks that Trump has been predicting, it could result in a much higher rate of usage for Arrow-3 interceptors than the types of missiles used by Israel’s other Iron Dome and David Sling anti-missile systems.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet public radio network reports that the United States has recently sent an emergency arms shipment to Israel to replace the roughly 11,000 pieces of munitions that Israel has already used against Iranian targets. Furthermore, over the weekend, Israel’s government approved an emergency allocation of $836 million to pay for the IDF to acquire unspecified armaments and spare parts for the repair of its equipment, especially its warplanes, which have been flying long-distance missions from Israel against Iranian targets around the clock, ever since the war started.

How the Current War Against Iran Has Helped Israel Diplomatically

There is another, potentially positive side to the current, very close and effective Israeli military alliance with the U.S. against Iran. It is the quiet realization by other Muslim and Arab nations, which have been reluctant, until now, to join the Abraham Accords, that Israel is the only military power in the region both capable and willing to protect them from further attacks by Iran and its terrorist proxies, and that has the ability to jump-start whole segments of their economies.

IDF sources have also said that even the Gulf states, which have never considered opening diplomatic relations with Israel, are now quietly asking it for intelligence and other forms of assistance now that they have also been attacked by their shared regional enemy, Iran. These countries now understand that the threat to the stability of the region from Iran should be their paramount concern, and downgrading in their eyes the relative importance of the Palestinian issue, as well as the ultimate fate of Iran’s proxy, Hamas, in Gaza. As a result, it is reasonable to believe that a successful outcome for the current U.S.-Israeli war against Iran could lead to the creation of an entirely more stable and satisfactory security situation across the region, and pave the way for much broader security and economic agreements between Israel and its neighboring states in the near future.

It seems as if the whole world is trying to get us ex­cited about something.

What may have started out as the rulebook for a Madison Avenue advertising blitz has infected every part of society. It’s not enough to be mildly interested in purchasing or experiencing something. You have to be completely hyped up about it! You have to feel as if you simply cannot live without it! And if you don’t, then someone, somewhere, has failed.

This pattern has crept into our own world, too. Have you recently seen a new song, book, or recipe that isn’t introduced as utterly fabulous, inexpress­ibly superb, or absolutely the best ever? The adjec­tives may change, but the intent is the same: to get us excited.

Now, I’m not against excitement. On the contrary, I enjoy it very much. There’s nothing more enjoy­able than looking forward to some much anticipated event. If a tedious household chore looms, I plug my­self into an interesting shiur or some good music to pep things up. Because boring is no fun.

Yet we can’t deny that a good chunk of life is just that. Boring. Tedious. A long, and often fairly uninter­esting, slog.

***

Beginnings are exciting. When poised to launch a new project, whether a business venture, a high-school production, or writing a book, the very air siz­zles with a sense of adventure. Discussions abound. Speculation is rife. Plans are put into place and sleeves are figuratively rolled up, as we gear up to work on something new.

As the project nears completion, too, spirits rise in a rush of satisfied accomplishment. The final product which crowns our efforts is greeted with elation. While there may not be actual fireworks on display, the at­mosphere pops with splendid technicolor.

But what about the middle? What about the long, colorless stretch between the sizzling beginning and the final glorious crescendo? What about… the slog?

The lengthy and sometimes drudge-filled middle of the process seems to have very little to do with the ex­citement that characterizes either its beginning or its end. In fact, it seems to be their polar opposite. This especially applies to new starts. The feelings that consume us as we shower congratulations on a newly engaged couple, or welcome a new baby to the world, move into our dream house, start a fantastic new job or engage in any other momentous beginning, shine in our memory as the brightest of bright spots.

Over and over again, we retell the story of begin­nings. Studies have shown that happy couples love to repeat their personal shidduch saga to each other and to anyone else who’s willing to listen. Ditto for new mothers regaling those close to them with their birth stories. A happy beginning has no lack of excite­ment attached to it, either at the time it takes place or afterward, in hindsight.

What happens next, however, can be dampening. After the initial nov­elty wears off, marriages fall into predicable patterns. Bringing up those eagerly awaited and ecstatically wel­comed children demand constant re­petitive actions that can feel distinctly unstimulating to an active adult mind. That gorgeous new house needs to be repeatedly cleaned and maintained. They say that housework is basically moving dirt around from one place to another. Where’s the fun in that? When we’re busy raising a family, it’s always time to think about what to make for supper again. Even the most longed-for job has its moments of dull routine.

In other words, the slog that follows the initial excitement can feel endless. And frankly unexciting.

Somewhere at the back of our minds, we know that what we’re doing is meaningful. So why doesn’t it always feel that way?

***

I think that part of the problem is the excitement factor we’ve been talk­ing about.

The twenty-first century has led us to expect, and then to crave, constant stimulation. Look at the explosion of video games, in which players become addicted to living on a nearly perpetual high. Modern-day existence in general is a near-constant search for the high of new experiences or new stuff. In our own world, the excitement bar has been gradually raised, too. Birthday and Chanukah parties must feature unexpected themes and a décor that dazzles. Weddings must be as far over the top as we can reasonably, or un­reasonably, afford. Ordinary, perfectly adequate, Yom Tov meals and tables­capes have become passe’. A life lived without ongoing stimulation feels flat.

But it’s not the memorable birthday party or exotic vacation that forges strong family ties. It’s the dozens, and then hundreds, and then thousands of small, daily interactions that form and strengthen the bond between parents and children and between brothers and sisters.

It’s not the launch party at the start or the celebration dinner at the end that marks a project’s success, but the myriad hours of calm, patient effort in between. The nuts and bolts of the operation are what ultimately make or break it. Excitement aside, it’s the sometimes boring but always neces­sary day-to-day work that defines the quality of what we ultimately produce.

When writing a book, I feel a thrill of excitement at the start of a new work. Long afterward, as I write the words “THE END” at the bottom of the last page, I’m filled with a sense of joy­ous accomplishment. But it’s the long, steady slog in the middle that turns inchoate imaginings into a source of reading pleasure for others. The slog may not be as exciting as the start or the finish, but it’s the solid middle course that brings fulfillment.

Imagine giving birth to a new baby and then marrying it off, fully grown, a couple of days later. The powerful bond and equally powerful happiness we feel at weddings rests on a founda­tion of years. Years of doing ordinary things for our child, of simply being there for them, over and over again. Excitement has very little to do with either the closeness of the bond or the overwhelming emotion when we fi­nally lead them to the chuppah.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that hype and sizzle are perfectly fine and lots of fun in their place. But their place is often not in the middle of the long stretch where true accomplish­ment is slowly achieved. Nor should we expect it to be.

Every single boring push of the broom or spin of the dryer is chock-full of meaning, though they don’t ad­vertise it. Each quiet conversation with a spouse or listening ear as a child re­counts her day at school… each under­standing smile or hug of sympathy for a disappointed youngster… each care­ful brushstroke in a painting or labori­ous paragraph in a slowly developing novel, adds another block to the edifice we’re trying to build.

A skyscraper is not put up in a day. Not even a day that’s exploding with fireworks.

Let’s try to appreciate the slog, even as we look forward to and take pleasure in the far more exciting high points. At the end of the day, after all the fireworks fizzle and die, our tow­ering skyscrapers, built brick by brick by tedious brick, will stand proud and enduring. And if that’s not a cause for excitement, I don’t know what is!

The kosher wine world is constantly evolving with an incredible selection to choose from. New releases from classic regions and lesser-known gems offer something for every palate, whether you prefer crisp whites, elegant reds, or celebratory bubblies. With that in mind, here are a few wines worth putting on your Pesach table this year.

Champagne Cheurlin Thomas Cuvée Spéciale Brut NV:
Cheurlin is a Champagne house that has been around since 1788! This Champagne is refined yet expressive, with fine bubbles, notes of green apple, citrus peel, and toasted brioche. Thanks to the bracing acidity, there’s a beautiful tension between freshness and depth, making it both celebratory and food‑friendly.

Sonoma Loeb Dignitary Chardonnay 2024:
For the white wine lovers, the Sonoma Loeb Dignitary Chardonnay deserves special attention. This is a classic California Chardonnay done with restraint: bright aromas of pear, lemon zest, and subtle vanilla, balanced by refreshing acidity and gentle oak influence. It pairs effortlessly with fish, chicken, and lighter dishes.

Cantina Giuliano Vermentino 2024:
A refreshing white option from Italy, aromatic and lively, this Mediterranean white offers flavors of citrus, white peach, and fresh herbs, with a distinct mineral edge. Its crisp profile makes it ideal for appetizers, salads, and vegetable-based dishes, especially during the earlier meals of Yom Tov.

Château de Parsac Montagne Saint-Emilion 2023:
On the red side, this wine is a very approachable Bordeaux. Medium-bodied and smooth, it shows ripe red fruit, hints of earth, and soft tannins. Unlike many Bordeaux wines that demand long aging, this one is ready to drink now and works beautifully with brisket, roasted poultry, and most classic Pesach dishes. And while approachable now, a recent experience of mine with the 2011 vintage proved that it can also evolve quite nicely over the long haul, a rarity at this price point.

Ben Porat Pura 2023:
For a Bordeaux-style blend with a distinctly Israeli accent, this wine is an intriguing choice. Expressive and vibrant, with dark berry flavors, subtle spice, and a touch of Mediterranean warmth. Well-balanced and versatile, it shines alongside grilled meats and hearty stews.

Lechaim, Chag Pesach kosher v’someiach.

Please help this family by donating and or sharing the link. Their son is almost 2 years old and is about to have his sixth open heart surgery in a hospital out of state so they have to travel and their expenses associated with it are enormous. Thank you.

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The United States and Israel are currently jointly fighting a war, and there is ample reason to worry about where it may lead. Our brethren in Eretz Yisroel are under almost constant attack, targeted by Iranian missiles. Lives have been lost, people have been injured, and millions are regularly rushing to and from shelters, living with a constant sense of unease.

The memories of the joy we experienced on Purim are still fresh, along with its enduring lesson: even when events appear dark and chaotic, salvation can already be quietly unfolding behind the scenes. When we place that lesson alongside this week’s laining of Parshas Hachodesh, the message becomes even more powerful.

Parshas Hachodesh announces the arrival of Chodesh Nissan, the month of geulah. But it carries another profound reminder as well. Chazal teach that Am Yisroel is compared to the moon, constantly renewing itself. Just as the moon wanes until it nearly disappears, only to reemerge and shine once again, so do the Jewish people pass through periods of darkness before returning with renewed strength and light. The bleakness never endures. The blackness is never permanent. We always come back, budding and blooming.

The special laining also reminds us that Hakadosh Boruch Hu relates to Klal Yisroel in a way that transcends the normal order of nature, lemaalah m’derech hateva, just as He did when He redeemed us from Mitzrayim. Through the makkos and Krias Yam Suf, we witnessed that even when a situation appears insurmountable, when the odds seem overwhelming, Hashem’s salvation can arrive in ways no human mind could have predicted.

The messages could not be more fitting.

Less than two weeks ago, we celebrated the deliverance of our people from Haman and what appeared to be certain destruction. And this week, as we conclude Sefer Shemos and proclaim, “Chazak, chazak, v’nischazeik,” we are reminded that no matter how unfortunate circumstances are, renewal is always within reach.

That truth is what the yeitzer hora seeks to obscure. His goal is not only to lead a person to sin, but to drain a person’s spirit and convince him that his situation cannot be improved, that he can never escape the rut in which he finds himself. He works subtly, distracting us from our purpose and persuading us that if we falter, we cannot rise again.

But his strategy rarely begins with dramatic failure. Instead, it starts with small cracks. A minor compromise here, a small concession there. When a person yields even slightly, the yeitzer hora senses weakness and drives the wedge deeper, slowly chipping away until the individual finds himself drifting further and further from where he belongs.

Then, after drawing a person into wrongdoing, he convinces him that he has fallen too far to recover, that teshuvah is beyond him, that the path back has been closed.

But the message of these days of Adar and Nissan declares exactly the opposite. Together, they proclaim that despair has no place in the Jewish heart.

Purim teaches us that even when Hashem’s presence is hidden, He is orchestrating every detail of events. In the Megillah, there were no open miracles. The geulah unfolded through what appeared to be ordinary developments: a sleepless king, an overheard conversation, a series of political decisions. Yet, when the story concluded, it became clear that every step had been carefully arranged from Above.

Parshas Hachodesh carries that message one step further. It introduces the month of Nissan, when the hidden hand of Hashem becomes revealed in open and undeniable ways. In Mitzrayim, the Jewish people were trapped in what seemed to be an irreversible reality. They were enslaved by the most powerful empire in the world, with no army, no political leverage, and no natural path to freedom.

Yet, Hashem demonstrated that the forces that appear most powerful are ultimately powerless before Him. With makkos that shattered the illusion of Egyptian dominance, and with Krias Yam Suf that overturned the natural order, He revealed that when the moment of geulah arrives, no obstacle can stand in its way.

Taken together, the lessons of Purim and Pesach form a complete picture of how Hashem guides the world. Sometimes His salvation unfolds quietly, concealed within the ordinary flow of events. And sometimes it bursts forth openly, shattering the rules of nature. But whether hidden or revealed, the Guiding Hand is always the same.

That is why these weeks are so powerful for us.

The yeitzer hora tries to convince a person that the darkness he experiences, whether in his own life or in the challenges facing Klal Yisroel, is permanent. He tells us that the situation is too entrenched, the obstacles too great, the failures too numerous. But the rhythm of the Jewish calendar testifies otherwise.

Adar teaches us that what appears to be a hopeless situation can turn upside down in a moment. Nissan teaches us that renewal, hischadshus, is built into the very fabric of Jewish existence.

The Jewish people emerged from the depths of Mitzrayim to become the Chosen Nation, blessed with Torah and a special closeness to Hashem. Just as the decree of Haman was transformed into deliverance and celebration, so too, the darkness we encounter can never define our future.

And perhaps that is the message we most need to internalize today.

When rockets fall and enemies threaten, when uncertainty fills the air and the future feels unclear, the yeitzer hora attempts to plant seeds of fear and despair. We must remember that Klal Yisroel has always been guided by the Ribbono Shel Olam, Who renews His people again and again.

And just as He has done throughout our history, He will do so once more.

That truth is not only a national one. It is deeply personal as well.

The struggle between despair and renewal does not play out only on the stage of history. It unfolds within the heart of every Jew. Each person encounters moments when he feels distant from where he wishes he were, times when spiritual goals seem beyond reach, when habits feel too entrenched to overcome, and when the distance between who he is and who he hopes to become appears too wide to bridge.

That is when the yeitzer hora presses his advantage. Having drawn a person into a stumble, he quickly attempts to redefine the failure as permanent. He tells him that change is unrealistic, that growth is reserved for others, and that the path back is closed.

But the Torah itself rejects that notion.

The first mitzvah given to Klal Yisroel as a nation was the commandment of “Hachodesh hazeh lochem.” Before Krias Yam Suf, before Matan Torah, before everything else, Hashem taught the Jewish people the concept of renewal. Kiddush Hachodesh was given to us to let us know that we can never be kept down, that the essence of Torah is that we possess greatness, and that greatness can never be suppressed for long.

We are people of destiny, each one of us, and as long as we remember that and remain loyal to our mission, we are a force of light in a world of darkness.

Chazal were mesakein that we lain Parshas Hachodesh as we approach the month of Nissan because this month not only commemorates the geulah from Mitzrayim, but is the eternal reminder that no Jew is ever trapped by circumstance.

For the generation that left Mitzrayim, the obstacles appeared insurmountable. They were enslaved by a mighty empire and surrounded by a hostile society. They were so suppressed that they could not even bear to hear, much less accept, Moshe Rabbeinu’s words of comfort when he told them that Hashem was about to redeem them.

And then, in a flash, the geulah arrived, and before they knew it, they were at the other side of the Yam Suf, a free people on their way to Har Sinai to receive the Torah.

Again and again throughout our history, the pattern has repeated itself. Periods that appear to be defined by darkness ultimately become the very moments from which renewal begins to emerge.

We do not know how events will unfold, nor can we predict the path that history will take in the coming weeks and months. But the message of these weeks assures us that what we see on the surface is never the full picture. Behind the turmoil of the moment, the unfolding of Hashem’s plan continues.

And just as the moon inevitably returns to fullness after its darkest night, so does the story of Klal Yisroel continue to move toward renewal and light. History often reads like the Megillah. While we are living through the events, the meaning is hidden. Only later do we see the pattern.

That lesson resonates powerfully in our own time.

For decades, Iran cultivated the image of a fearsome regional power. Its leaders repeatedly threatened that Eretz Yisroel could be destroyed in minutes and that American bases across the Middle East were within easy reach of Iranian missiles. It surrounded Israel with proxy armies and militant movements and projected an aura of unstoppable strength.

Governments treated the regime with extreme caution. Diplomats pursued agreements and concessions, fearful of provoking the conflict Iran claimed it could unleash.

Over the years, Iran built a vast network of armed proxies throughout the region, organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias across Iraq and Syria. The network was largely coordinated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, once commanded by Qassem Soleimani.

The strategy seemed formidable. If Iran were attacked, these groups would strike Israel and American interests from multiple directions at once, overwhelming defenses and igniting a regional war.

But when the moment of confrontation finally arrived, the outcome was strikingly different from the one Iran had long promised.

Instead of the massive regional assault that had been threatened for years, the response proved hesitant, fragmented, and surprisingly limited. The very proxies that had been built up as instruments of intimidation failed to deliver the overwhelming blow that had been feared for so long.

In that moment, Hakadosh Boruch Hu demonstrated how fragile the illusion of power can be.

Hakadosh Boruch Hu demonstrated that the country everyone feared could crumble when He decides that its time is up. Successive American presidents had made a variety of misguided deals with Iran out of fear of confronting them. Iran was sent planeloads of cash and was allowed to continue its nuclear buildup because, though Western leaders spoke strongly, vowing never to permit them to attain nuclear weapons, when it came down to it, they were afraid of the country’s power.

For years, the strategy seemed to work. Iran’s influence expanded across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, forming a regional arc of power stretching to the Mediterranean.

Hakadosh Boruch Hu blinded the leaders of Israel, and Hamas launched a devastating assault, killing over 1,200 people, wounding many more, and taking 251 hostages.

Hezbollah opened a northern front against Israel. Iranian-backed militias attacked American bases in Iraq and Syria. The Houthis began targeting international shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

But in the war that followed the Hamas attack, Israel was able to degrade much of the terror infrastructure that had been painstakingly constructed over decades.

Over the following months, Israel systematically targeted Hamas leadership, Hezbollah commanders, weapons depots, and supply routes throughout the region.

Senior terrorists were killed in precision strikes. Infrastructure was destroyed. Intelligence operations penetrated organizations long thought to be impenetrable.

When Israel and the United States eventually launched strikes against Iranian military infrastructure, the response exposed the limits of Tehran’s power.

For years, Iran had warned that any attack would trigger a regional firestorm.

Instead, the retaliation largely consisted of waves of missiles and drones, many intercepted by Israeli and American air defenses.

For decades, the regime projected the image of a rising superpower capable of challenging the United States and destroying Israel.

But when confronted, Iran was barely able to fight back.

To those who view events only through the lens of military strategy or geopolitics, these developments may appear surprising.

But to a believing Jew, the message is clear.

We are witnessing, before our eyes, another reminder that the destiny of Klal Yisroel is never determined by armies, alliances, or weapons. Behind the shifting events of history stands the guiding Hand of the Ribbono Shel Olam.

There has been terrible pain and loss, and every Jewish life is infinitely precious. Yet, within the din, there has been tremendous rachamim. The regime that openly sought the means to destroy Israel and threaten millions of Jews has been unable to achieve its goal. Many of its leaders have themselves been killed, and the instruments of power it spent decades constructing have been weakened or dismantled.

We do not know how this war will ultimately unfold or what challenges may still lie ahead. But we do know that nothing occurs outside the unfolding plan of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

And during these weeks, as we move from the hidden salvation of Purim toward the redemption of Nissan, we are reminded once again that the story of the Jewish people is never written by the forces that seem most powerful at the moment. It is written by the One Who renews His people again and again, and Who will soon bring the final geulah with the coming of Moshiach.

We are presently in the month of Adar, and boruch Hashem, we are seeing wonderful developments on the battlefield. The fact that a United States president has finally done what so many of his predecessors said in the past they would do, but didn’t, is very gratifying. The joint undertaking by the Israelis and the Americans to finally topple the vicious, bloodthirsty regime in Iran has, by all accounts, been going extremely well. So we should be happy, no?

After all, America and Israel now have complete air superiority over Iran. Iran is cowering in fear of attack. It would appear that it’s just a matter of time until the regime falls. Why, then, does this writer have a sense of foreboding, a sense that something is not right?

The reason, my dear readers, is that although there is a Chazal that states, “Eisav soneh l’Yaakov — Eisav hates Yaakov,” which we all believe to be 100 percent true, nevertheless, despite having always been exposed to some degree of Jew-hatred, we have never, ever, experienced what we are experiencing today. Let me explain.

The Resurfacing of the Old Canard

In a society where Jews are successful—and even in those where Jews are not as successful—there is going to be an underlying resentment toward the Jews. There has long been a sentiment among non-Jews, going back centuries, that “If the Jew is successful, it must be coming at the expense of the poor non-Jew.” As if there were a pie, and if someone takes a bigger portion of the pie, others are left with smaller portions. Economists, however, claim that this is not true. The more money that goes to people, the more it benefits anyone who is part of the economy. That being said, Jews have always been viewed through the lens referenced above throughout the golus.

What we are seeing today in America is completely different, and on a completely different scale. The “Jews, Israel, Bibi…”—whatever you want to call them—are completely to blame for every ill that plagues American society today. They are portrayed as the puppet masters who are controlling even our president, Donald Trump. Somehow, Bibi and the Israelis have cast a spell over him and forced him to go to war on their behalf, even though it’s a war that is going to kill our boys and destroy our economy.

Now, over the past seventy years, perhaps canards such as this were found in dark corners of the press, but they were far removed from the mainstream. Moreover, any mainstream political figure who would even insinuate such a thing would have to resign and say goodbye to his political career.

The New Mainstream Accusations

Today, it is not just the fringe elements of the left and right saying it. It has entered the mainstream, meaning that even the frontrunners for the next Democratic presidential nomination are unabashedly and unashamedly saying things like this, traveling in the swamp of the worst anti-Semitic libels. And not only are they getting away with it, but they are being lauded and applauded.

These charges—that the Jews control the world, that the Jews control everyone and do everything only for their own economic good, even though it will harm the entire world—are being broadcast daily on television networks and over the internet.

We are talking about mainstream channels, such as MS Now, CBS, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and many others who have audiences in the millions, perhaps even tens of millions.

It has become a normal thing today to debate whether the problems that America faces are the fault of the Jews, and whether this is a “Jew war” or an American war. This kind of open anti-Semitism in the United States of America has not existed since the Holocaust. Nothing even comes close.

From the Lead Democratic Presidential Hopeful…

Firstly, there is Gavin Newsom, governor of California, the largest and most populous state in the union. He is arguably the Democratic lead candidate for the next president of the United States. In an interview last week, Newsom blamed the United States’ entry into the war on Israel, saying that it is not in America’s interest to be in the war and that Bibi Netanyahu convinced Trump to enter it. He said that we should reconsider our relationship with Israel as a result of the war. He labeled Israel “an apartheid state” because of the way it treats Arabs.

Let’s quote Newsom, just to see how bad things have become: “To say this [war is] in America’s interest at a time when affordability is at crisis levels, where you have an administration that literally got elected saying this is exactly opposite of what they would ever consider doing, the fact that we are in this regional war [with] all these proxies, all the grift and the corruption that also marks a huge part of this, that’s a real conversation we need to have.”

Speaking further about Netanyahu, Newsom said that he believes that Netanyahu’s latest attacks on Iran may be motivated by domestic issues in Israel.

“He’s trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks on the hardline that want to annex the West Bank. [Thomas] Friedman and others are talking about it appropriately, [as] sort of an apartheid state,” Newsom said.

The Snake Called Friedman

Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist, is the biggest snake of them all. He begins his column by describing how terrible Iran is and how it’s good that the Ayatollah is dead, but he uses that only to pivot and say that the real problem in the region is — drumroll — Binyomin Netanyahu. Yes, Netanyahu is the boogeyman who, together with Trump, is causing all the problems in the world. Well, if Friedman, who is Jewish, places the blame for the war and all the world’s problems on Netanyahu, certainly everybody else can.

And then there is, of course, Tucker Carlson, who claimed on his podcast—viewed by millions—that it is Chabad that has somehow managed to control both Trump and Netanyahu, and that it was at their behest, “in order to liberate the Al Aqsa Mosque and build the Third Temple,” that this religious war against the Muslims is being waged at the expense of American blood and treasure.

This kind of talk has now gone mainstream in America.

The Only Defenders: Jews Themselves

Even worse, one would think that when such libelous claims are presented, there would be some who would defend the Jews and call out the libelous statements for what they are. Sadly to say, the only defenders of the Jews in any significant way have been Jews themselves.

Right-wing media personalities such as Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin have been the only ones putting up any real defense for the Jews. Even the networks that did not engage in the actual libelous slander have not stood up in any significant way to defend or protect the Jews. (Credit must also be given to Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has been the only sane Democratic voice on this and so many other important matters relevant to Israel.)

Where does that leave us for the future?

Yes, boruch Hashem, there have been amazing victories on the battlefield, even miraculous ones. Nevertheless, as a nation, I think we must start preparing ourselves and our children for a new tekufah in the history of the Jewish people in America. We are living now through a period that in many ways resembles the Middle Ages. The canard, no matter how bizarre, will be accepted as true, and the world will suffer terribly and perilously as a result.

It is difficult to see how we can put this genie back in the bottle once it has exploded in such a public, open, and stark way.

Rodeif or Nirdof?

I don’t know if there is a definitive answer to that question, but let me share a thought with you that Rav Elchonon Wasserman brings in Kovetz Ma’amarim. Rav Elchonon asks: How is it possible that we were able to survive the golus for so long? There were certainly times when our behavior should have brought the middas hadin upon us and we should have been destroyed. He explains that what has saved us was the fact that we were always nirdofim, pursued and persecuted by the nations of the world. Hashem always stands up for the nirdof. Thus, even when the middas hadin may have been correct and would have required our destruction, the fact that we were nirdofim aroused Hashem’s mercy upon us, and that is how we have survived until now.

From here we see, Rav Elchonon says, that our entire kiyum, our existence, is actually because of the persecutions. Therefore, we should not seek to be rodfim, the pursuers.

Perhaps we can say that inasmuch as now the State of Israel has a strong army that is capable of being called “pursuers,” Hashem has aroused anti-Semitism and made it go mainstream in an unprecedented way since the Holocaust, here in America and throughout the world. In this way, we are still considered nirdofim.

So, What Do We Do?

I recently came across a story that might point us in the right direction.

Rav Mottel Meirentz was an elder Gerer chossid and mashgiach in a yeshiva. He related:

“I was once shmoozing with the elder chossid, Reb Leibel Kutner, when he began complaining about the chinuch of this generation.

“Reb Leibel told me about a yungerman who came to him very upset. This yungerman, whom we will call Berel, worked in the diamond industry and didn’t make a move without first seeking the advice of the Bais Yisroel. Berel gave maaser on all his earnings and gave a lot of tzedakah. In general, he was very subservient to halacha and tried to conduct himself the way a Yid is meant to conduct his life.

“Reb Leibel continued: ‘This Berel asked the rebbe, the Bais Yisroel, whether he should make a certain investment. He received the green light. Shortly after he invested his money, the diamond market crashed and he lost an astronomical amount of money.

“‘So he came to me to complain, saying, ‘How could this have happened to me? I did everything that I was supposed to do. I tried my best to always follow what I was told. And now I lost so much money! How could Hashem do this to me?’

“‘I replied that Hashem is hidden and we do not and cannot understand His ways, but we have to believe that whatever He does is really for our own good. Even with regard to Yaakov Avinu, the Torah in Parshas Vayeitzei tells us, ‘Vehinei anochi imoch ushemarticha b’chol asher teileich…ki lo e’ezovcha — Behold, I am with you; I will guard you wherever you go…for I will not forsake you.’ Hashem reassured Yaakov that He would be with him and would not forsake him. Yet, we don’t see that things went so well for Yaakov for a long time. From here we see that we don’t know what is good. Therefore, we should stop thinking about why Hashem did this. We should stop complaining, because, in truth, we have no idea what is really good for us.’

“Rav Leibel then told me that in his opinion, the very fact that a yungerman could be upset about such a thing was a result of the fact that ‘we are not educating the young generation the way we should. When a boy is in yeshiva and a girl is in school, they have to be prepared for the fact that difficulties may happen. They have to be educated to approach difficult times in accordance with the Torah.’

“Just like Rav Leibel, I also wondered how a yungerman like Berel could have taanos on Hashem because of a crash in the diamond industry. A while later, I was discussing this very incident with one of my sons, and he explained to me that this is not even a question. ‘You have to understand,’ he told me. ‘This Berel came to learn in Eretz Yisroel from chutz la’aretz. Any bochur who came from chutz la’aretz at that time could become close with the Bais Yisroel. The Bais Yisroel would constantly interest himself in their welfare. He would shmooze with them. This Berel was a bright young man, and learning was not difficult for him. He had wonderful chavrusos and never really faced any adversity in his life. When he finally faced a difficult nisayon, he did not have the keilim to deal with it because he never had to deal with difficulty before!’

“It is important,” Rav Meirentz concluded, “that rabbeim teach young people that difficulties will happen, and they must prepare their students on how to think when they do happen.”

It should never happen, but perhaps it is time for us to prepare ourselves for times when things do not go so well, when we feel like nirdofim…

Little Yossi was having a miserable time in school. Learning was hard for him, the other boys didn’t like him, and even worse, they didn’t seem to understand him. Almost every day, something went wrong. He was picked on and bullied, and it often felt as though no one noticed or cared. One evening, he came home in tears and told his father everything that had happened. His father listened quietly and then said to him with confidence, “Don’t worry. Tomorrow I’m coming into school and will put an end to it.” Those words stayed with Yossi.

The next morning, during the first hour of class, his rebbi asked him a question. Yossi didn’t know the answer and a few boys in the class snickered. His face burned as he stared down at his desk, feeling that familiar lump rise in his throat. For a moment, he felt the sting of embarrassment and helplessness, but then he remembered what his father had said. Maybe my father will come soon, he thought. He glanced toward the door, imagining it opening at any moment. But the door stayed closed.

At recess, he tried to join a game, hoping that perhaps today things would be different. One of the boys looked at him and shrugged. “We already have enough players,” he said, and the boys ran off together without him. Yossi stood there for a moment, kicking the dirt with the tip of his shoe, trying to act like it didn’t bother him. Then he remembered again that his father might be coming. Maybe now he’s here, Yossi thought, and his eyes drifted toward the school doors. But no one called his name.

Later in the day, the kids taunted him again. They stole his snacks and called him names. Yossi swallowed hard and blinked away the tears that threatened to spill over. Maybe my father is already here, he told himself. Maybe they’ll call me any minute.

Every time footsteps passed in the hallway, he lifted his head with quiet hope, but the door never opened. By the afternoon, after hoping again and again only to feel that hope fade each time, Yossi stopped looking toward the door. It hurt too much to expect it anymore, and with a heavy heart, he told himself that perhaps his father wasn’t coming after all.

There was a man who desperately needed help. His financial situation had become unbearable and he did not know where to turn. Someone assured him that the town’s gvir would soon be calling him and would pull him out of his difficulties. The man held on to that assurance. One day passed and then another. A week went by, and meanwhile, his problems only grew worse. One crisis followed another, and slowly the confident assurances that the gvir would soon help him began to feel less certain. What had once sounded like a promise began to feel more like a distant hope, until, eventually, the man could hardly bring himself to believe that the phone would ever ring at all.

I cannot help but think about these images now, as we find ourselves in yet another eis tzarah for Yidden across the world, especially in Eretz Yisroel. Missiles streak across the sky while sirens wail through cities and towns, sending families scrambling with seconds to spare into bomb shelters and safe rooms. Children are pulled from their beds in the middle of the night as explosions echo in the distance. Parents try to calm frightened children while anxiously checking the news for updates, and fathers leave their homes and families to stand on the front lines while entire communities live day after day under the constant threat of attack. In moments like these, one thought fills the minds of so many people: Maybe this is it. Maybe this is Milchemes Gog UMagog. Maybe this is the moment when the long golus finally comes to an end. Maybe Moshiach is finally coming.

Our nation has lived through centuries of suffering since _Churban Bayis Sheini—_pogroms, inquisitions, the horrors of the Holocaust, terror attacks, intifadas, and repeated wars fought against the tiny sliver of land where the Am Kadosh lives.

Time and again, we have seen people who once seemed friendly suddenly turn against us with frightening speed. Yet, through it all, we cling to a single hope: Perhaps this will be the time when Hashem finally brings the geulah sheleimah.

But unlike the boy and the poor man in our stories, we never stop looking toward the door. We never lose hope that the phone will ring. There have been many moments in history when we felt certain that the time had arrived. It was a time when the world seemed to tremble and it felt as though history itself was approaching its climax. We expected the door to open, the phone to ring. It did not.

And when the danger passed and life slowly returned to routine, it would have been easy to grow discouraged. Yet, we do not give up hope. We continue looking upward and pleading with Hashem, knowing with certainty that the salvation will come. Whether it is today, tomorrow, or next year, we believe with complete faith that it can happen at any moment and that Hashem will never forsake His people.

Perhaps this idea is expressed clearly in the Ani Maamin that we say every day: Ani maamin be’emunah sheleimah b’vias haMoshiach v’af al pi sheyismame’ah im kol zeh achakeh lo b’chol yom sheyavo. Embedded in this Ani Maamin is the challenge of belief, yet embedded is our perseverance and our faith. We emphasize the difficulty, v’af al pi sheyismame’ah, even though he may delay. We do not phrase the other principles of faith this way. We do not embed the questions of faith inside the other 12 ikkrim of emunah. We don’t mention the difficulty we may have, an af al pi that even when we see tzaddik v’ra lo, we still believe that Hashem rewards those who keep His mitzvos.

Perhaps the answer is precisely this: Part of believing in Moshiach means believing specifically after the moments when we thought he was surely about to arrive. For our forebears before us, it was the Holocaust and the wars that followed after the partition of Palestine and the declaration of a state. For us, it could have been the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, the Gulf War, 9/11, and so many others, like the upheaval of Covid or now, as war rages in Eretz Yisroel. All of them seemed to be Moshiach moments. Then the dust settles and the world appears to return to normal. But we don’t stop waiting, hoping, looking and praying. Im kol zeh, even with all this, we continue to wait.

I cannot predict what the outcome of this war will be, and I daven that Hashem protect all Yidden everywhere. But one thing I can say with certainty: Even if the dust settles and, lo aleinu, Moshiach has not yet arrived, Yidden across the world will continue believing that he stands just beyond the door, not merely saying the words, but truly believing them.

We are not just saying

We are just believing.

The Chofetz Chaim was once in Warsaw on an Erev Rosh Chodesh, and he was looking to find a minyan for the tefillah of Yom Kippur Kotton. He asked a few chassidim if they say this tefillah, and they answered that it was not their minhag. The tzaddik persisted and asked why it was not their custom, and they answered because it was not their rebbe’s minhag. “Ah, said the Chofetz Chaim, “you remind me of a story that happened to me.”

“I was once on a train headed for a long journey, but there were no Yidden in sight to converse with. At the very first stop, I was happy to see a Yid and embarking the train. I asked him what his destination was, and I was pleased to hear that he would be getting off at the same station that I was. Now I could enjoy the company of a fellow Yid throughout my entire trip. But lo and behold, as we were getting closer to the very next stop, I noticed that my companion stood up and readied himself to get off.

“Reb Yid,” I asked, “didn’t you say that you are headed to the same place that I was? That is still quite a distance away. Why are you getting off at the next city?

“He explained that those who have the wherewithal to pay for a full ticket can allow themselves the luxury of taking a train ride to their destination nonstop. But he was a beggar who did not have the means to pay for a full ticket. So what does he do? He collects just enough money to get him to the first stop. Then he gets off and collects again, enough to get him to the next stop. He does this over and over again until he reaches his final destination.”

The Chofetz Chaim concluded, “Your rebbe is a great tzaddik. He has a great accumulation of zechuyos for himself to make it through the entire year… from one Rosh Hashanah to the next. But for regular Yidden like us, we don’t have as many credits to get us through the entire year. We must daven every Erev Rosh Chodesh and beg Hashem that He grant us another month of life, health, and parnossah that we may continue to serve Him. Every month is a new stop to get us to the next station.”

“On a day of your gladness, and on your festivals, and on your new moons you shall sound the trumpets…” (Bamidbar 10:10). Rosh Chodesh is compared to a Yom Tov. Fasting is prohibited, and it is a mitzvah to feast on Rosh Chodesh (Orach Chaim 419). Why is Rosh Chodesh special, and what is the nature of this celebration?

This Shabbos, we lein the final chapter in the series of the Four Parshiyos, “Hachodesh hazeh lochem.” There is something unique about every first, and this is the first mitzvah that we were commanded as a nation. What is so special about this mitzvah, and what overall message does it convey for our general relationship with Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Before we learn the lessons, we must first examine the precise language of the Torah in this mitzvah.

“Hachodesh hazeh lochem” (Shemos 12:2). What is the meaning of this month being “for you” and why couldn’t the Torah just have said this month will be the first in the order of the months? Secondly, it would seem that the posuk is redundant. “This month shall be for you the beginning of the months…” And then it repeats, “It shall be for you the first of the months of the year.”

Furthermore, the Gemara tells us that Hashem showed Moshe Rabbeinu what the moon looks like in its renewal and told him, “This you shall see and sanctify” (Rosh Hashanah 20a). Although we know through calculations of astronomy that the time for the new month is arriving, we must wait for the bais din to be “mekadeish” the new month, and before this process, it is not yet Rosh Chodesh. The mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 25b) tells us that if bais din and all of Yisroel saw the new moon, and the witnesses were examined, but bais din did not have a chance to say “mekudosh” before dark, it is not Rosh Chodesh until the next day.

Even if the bais din made a mistake in saying it’s Rosh Chodesh, their declaration is valid. Even more amazing is that bais din can add a day to the months on their own when they deem it necessary. For example, if they see that in chodesh Tishrei, Shabbos and Yom Kippur will occur on consecutive days, which could cause inconvenience to the community, they would add an extra day to the previous month, thus avoiding the problem. We see from all this that the Jewish calendar is dependent on the bais din.

There were those among the gentiles that scorned us by saying that for many centuries we were ignorant of the science of astronomy until we learned it from the Greeks. Their proof of this is that we wouldn’t know the arrival of the new month until the witnesses testified that they saw the new moon. But this, says Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, is nonsense. For there were many times when it was cloudy, and the moon could not be seen. Obviously, when this occurred, we had to rely on the astronomical calculations. Furthermore, we find that Dovid was able to tell Yehonoson, “Behold, tomorrow is the New Moon…” (Shmuel I 20:5). It is clear from then that they knew the calculations. Why then was it necessary to go through the process of witnesses testifying, and depending on the bais din to declare the new month?

Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch explains: the purpose of the creation of the moon is explained in the Torah, “And they shall serve as signs and for moadim” (Bereishis 1:14). A moed is not merely a celebration, but a convocation, a meeting between two parties at a given time. The Mishkon was called Ohel Moed because it was a meeting place between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and us as it says: “It is there that I will set My meetings with you and I shall speak with you” (Shemos 25:22). But that meeting must take place out of love, not because we are compelled to do so, like a servant who must report to his master.

This is why a moed is not merely a day that repeats itself annually on the yearly cycle. Hashem wants it to be special by mutual consent. A holy day of get-together between Himself and His holy nation, Klal Yisroel. This is why the new month through which the moed will be determined is not solely dependent on the natural cycle of the moon. Rather, Hashem notifies us of the general time frame in which He would like to meet us. But the specific day He left up to us to determine so that we meet Him of our own volition, not because we are forced to do it.

About this, the Torah says: “these are the appointed festivals of Hashem, the holy convocations, which you shall designate as holy convocations” (Vayikra 23:4). It is the Bnei Yisroel that establish the special days of meeting.

But not only are the three regalim called moadim, but every Rosh Chodesh is called a moed. The point of this monthly convocation is to contemplate the renewal of the moon and to be inspired by it. Whenever the moon reunites with the sun to reflect a new light, we too should awaken ourselves to repentance to reunite with Hashem so that Hashem’s light will shine upon us, and we can illuminate the world with this holiness. According to one opinion in the Gemara, the name Esther is Persian for the moon. In light of what was said, she epitomized the reflection of the light of Hashem upon all the nations she ruled over.

This is why the Torah is repetitive in its language, for it speaks about two separate mitzvos. The first one, Hachodesh hazeh lochem, is to sanctify the beginning of the month upon the sighting of the new moon. The second is that the order of the months of the year should start with Nissan, the month when we were born as a nation, when Hashem redeemed us from slavery and took us out of Mitzrayim.

What we must take from all of this is that Rosh Chodesh is a very special day. It is not merely the first of the month, but rather a day of contemplation, elevation of our tefillos, and a time to come closer to Hashem. We should rejoice in the knowledge that Hashem desires our company, He wants to be close to us, and for this reason, He blessed us with a schedule full of days of convocation. This is expressed in the Mussaf of Rosh Chodesh, “He sanctifies Yisroel and the New Moons.” Like the new moon that renews itself, we too should undergo a renewal every Rosh Chodesh.

If this is true with every Rosh Chodesh, it is much more so with Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the head of all months. For this is the month in which Hashem redeemed us from Mitzrayim and we became a nation. If so, it behooves us to think about why we were redeemed and what we represent. To any other nation in the world, liberty means freedom of expression and freedom of the ability to do as one chooses. This is a far cry from what a Yid calls “cheirus.”

“Halilu avdei Hashem…” and not servants of Paroh. We rejoice at the fact that we were freed in order to be able to accept the Torah and become the purpose of Creation, serving Hashem and being a light to the nations of the world by being a living example of Hashem’s teachings. If so, we must make a cheshbon hanefesh whether we are utilizing this gift of cheirus to its fullest, and if not, how we can improve ourselves.

As these lines are being written, we are sitting on shpilkes in this war with Iran, anxious and fearful of the outcome. Will there be an overthrow of their murderous regime, drastically changing the face of the Middle East, or will this drag on without a decisive conclusion? This could lead to the amplification of protests from both the left and right of the political spectrum in the U.S., thus stifling a tremendous opportunity for change and removal of strife.

However, no matter the outcome, this is not our ultimate wish. We daven for the day when Hashem shows us open miracles and carries us on the “Wings of Eagles” to Eretz Yisroel. But for that to happen, we must prove ourselves worthy of it by living a life of ruchniyus, which will elicit the type of yeshuos where the entire world will recognize that we are the Am Hanivchar.

War Freezes Progress on Draft Law

As the war dominates everything, the issue of the draft law remains unsolved It is not a simple matter, to put it mildly, for the law to be brought to a vote in the Knesset in the middle of a war. That should be painfully obvious. Although the prime minister is busy with the war against Iran (and against Hezbollah on another front), he is also forced to deal with politics. He simply has no alternative. On Thursday, Netanyahu asked the chareidi parties to support the state budget even if the draft law isn’t passed by the Knesset. This means that he was asking them to backtrack on their ultimatum: The chareidim had threatened to refuse to support the budget if the draft law didn’t receive first final approval. Netanyahu made this request to Aryeh Deri and Moshe Gafni by telephone, and to Meir Porush at a meeting in his office.

The draft law is essentially ready to be brought to the Knesset. Before the war began, it was agreed that the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee would vote on the bill, and then it would be brought before the full Knesset to be passed into law. At the time, there was a temporary setback due to an internal debate among the chareidim after the committee’s legal advisor, Miri Frankel-Shor, asked for some last-minute changes in the bill. Some of the chareidi politicians wanted to accommodate her requests, while others insisted on ignoring her recommendations and proceeding with the bill as it stood. There was a potential risk involved in each course of action: If they ignored the legal advisor’s requests, there would be a very good chance that the bill would be struck down immediately by the Supreme Court, given the absolute certainty that the court will receive petitions against the bill before the ink is even dry on its passage. If the legal advisor herself is not satisfied with the bill, then the judges of the Supreme Court are bound to accept her position. Therefore, the Knesset would be passing a bill that was already moribund. On the other hand, ignoring her suggestions would mean that the bill would be less draconian. Besides, as Uri Maklev pointed out, even if the court overturns the law, it could take a very long time for it to do so, and in the interim, there would be a reprieve from the current situation in which the country’s bnei yeshivos face the constant threat of arrest. For what would happen next, we would simply have to rely on Hashem’s mercy.

Maklev summed up the issue in a single astute sentence: “The current situation is the worst of all.” At the same time, he stressed that the ultimate decision about supporting the budget will be made by the gedolei hador, not by politicians. Aryeh Deri made a similar statement to the prime minister and added that the Shas party’s position would be determined after the position of Degel HaTorah becomes known. Agudas Yisroel, unlike Degel HaTorah, had already turned Netanyahu down, declaring their intention to vote against the budget as they did during its first reading.

All of this, however, was before the outbreak of war, which reshuffled the deck completely. The chareidim either agreed or deliberately requested for the committee not to vote on the law at this time. In any event, the Knesset hasn’t been meeting much during the war, although it is possible that sessions will resume at the end of the week. A session was held  Monday in an auditorium, not in the regular plenum and it is not known when the next meeting will be held. If the Knesset resumes its regular schedule of plenary sessions, then the chareidi parties will ask for the draft law to be approved by the committee and brought for a vote. Meanwhile, the prime minister has asked the chareidim to support the budget regardless of the draft law’s status. If the budget isn’t approved by the end of the March, then the law requires the government to automatically dissolve; however, it is possible that the deadline will be waived on account of the war. For now, the chareidi parties must decide whether to vote for the budget even without the passage of the draft law, in the hope that the missile fire will cease within a few days and the Knesset will resume its regular work and finally pass the long-awaited draft law.

More Outrage: Yeshiva Bochur Barred from Hearing Parshas Zachor

Meanwhile, the wave of arrests of bnei yeshivos has abated due to the war; however, the arrests continued until just before the war began on Shabbos last week. You may remember the story of Avrohom Ben-Dayan of Ofakim, the kollel yungerman who was not allowed to wear tefillin on the first day after his arrest. Last week, I quoted MK Yoav Ben-Tzur’s speech in the Knesset decrying this incident. Meanwhile, another incident has taken place, which once again illustrates the callousness of the IDF and the military prisons in particular.

A bochur named Yehuda Chayoun has been held in Prison 10, the military prison, for two weeks. He was sentenced to two weeks behind bars, and he was already in prison on the Shabbos of Parshas Tetzaveh, when Parshas Zachor was read. On that Shabbos, the prison authorities refused to permit him to hear Krias HaTorah, which made it the first time since he was ten years old that he did not hear the leining of Parshas Zachor.

Once again, this incident sparked outrage in the chareidi community. Meir Porush responded fiercely, “This is the second incident that proves that the army is not ready in any way to incarcerate bnei yeshivos, yet they continue to do so, on the direction of criminal legal guidance [i.e., due to the unrelenting pressure exerted by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara]. There may be certain things for which the army is prepared in the best way in the world [such as fighting Iran] but it is very far from accommodating religious needs,” Porush added. “It is a disgrace for bnei yeshivos to be arrested for the crime of learning Torah in a state ruled by Jews, and it is even more outrageous for them to be forced to violate the mitzvos of the Torah. These serious incidents must be addressed immediately. Despite the war against Iran, no delay can be tolerated.”

Porush mentioned the war because it began on that same Shabbos. To the best of my knowledge, no other arrests of bnei yeshivos have occurred since that time. But that does not diminish the critical importance of passing a new draft law and putting an end to the intolerable threat hovering over all lomdei Torah in Eretz Yisroel.

Supreme Court Censures Government for Failing to Enact New Sanctions

While the country’s yeshiva bochurim are already in an impossible situation, there is continuous pressure on the government to make it even worse. The Supreme Court received petitions decrying the fact that the government has apparently failed to comply with their orders to come up with new, tougher sanctions against bnei yeshivos within 45 days. Since the ruling was issued, twice that amount of time has passed. The government met once or twice to discuss potential sanctions, but no practical decisions were made, and that was apparently enough of a justification for the court to receive petitions accusing the government of showing contempt for the court and failing to abide by its rulings. This created a constitutional crisis.

The judges’ natural reaction would have been to respond with fierce condemnation of the government; however, the war got in the way. Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, the Supreme Court knew that a fierce attack on the government would not be well received. At the same time, the judges couldn’t allow themselves to remain completely silent; after all, hatred has a way of causing people to lose their capacity for reason. On the day after the war broke out, the judges of the Supreme Court released the following statement: “The need to enforce the draft obligation among chareidim is steadily increasing, yet the state is not explaining the steps that it plans to take. The court has canceled the hearing on petitions to order the government to enforce the ruling requiring chareidim to be drafted to the IDF—a hearing that was supposed to take place today but was postponed due to the war—but the Supreme Court also rebuked the government for failing to implement civil and economic sanctions to enforce the draft. The court also stated that the working relationship between the police and the army, the two bodies charged with criminal enforcement against draft evaders, is ‘very disturbing.’”

When the Supreme Court receives petitions against the government, it is the attorney general’s job to defend the government before the judges. Do you think that she stood up for the government in this court case? Absolutely not! On the contrary, in the attorney general’s official response to the Supreme Court, her aides sided with the petitioners—namely, the Movement for Quality Government, a blatantly anti-religious organization that is guilty of nonstop persecution of the religious community. The attorney general’s office sided with the movement, claiming that the government was indeed showing contempt for the court by failing to advance a package of sanctions against bnei yeshivos. With an attorney general like this, who needs enemies—or external petitioners?

But it gets even worse. Attorney General Baharav-Miara has an underling named Gil Limon, a young man who wears a yarmulke and holds the title of deputy attorney general. Limon sent a sharply worded letter to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, accusing Fuchs of trying to thwart the implementation of the court’s ruling by changing the procedure for advancing new sanctions. Limon criticized Fuchs for seeking legal guidance about the possibility of imposing sanctions before he instructed the government ministries to prepare the measures. The deputy attorney general insisted that the budget department of the Treasury already has a document listing the sanctions that can be imposed on chareidim and that there was no need for further legal review. Thus, he insisted that Fuchs should have gone straight to the ministries and ordered them to implement the sanctions that have already been drawn up. He also claimed that the proposed sanctions do not need to be enshrined in new legislation, and that the government can simply pass administrative decisions to put the measures into effect. In short, Limon claimed that the government is deliberately avoiding the passage of sanctions while hoodwinking everyone, including the judges, into thinking that it is complying with the court’s ruling.

The bad news is that the attorney general officially represents the state, which means that everything that Limon wrote is officially considered the position of the government. Therefore, the government has officially gone on record with the position that it is disobeying the Supreme Court. This is not a good situation.

The Cabinet Secretary Fires Back

The story, once again, does not end there. Fuchs did not take the hail of criticism from Limon lying down; instead, he decided to respond in kind. Fuchs sent a letter to the judges in response to the petition accusing the government of violating the Supreme Court’s order and accused Limon of deceiving the judges. He began by complaining that the attorney general, who is supposed to defend the government, has been fanning the flames of controversy instead, and then he insisted that it is impossible to institute sanctions without legislation passed by the Knesset, contrary to the claims of Gil Limon and the attorney general’s office. Fuchs declared that the attorney general and her staff are mistaken in their approach and are feeding false information to the judges.

“The assertion that these measures [the sanctions formulated by the Treasury] do not require primary legislation is based on the notion that the benefits to be revoked are themselves anchored only in legal ordinances or government decisions and not in legislation,” Fuchs wrote. “The presumption was that since these benefits are anchored in normative sources that are not actual laws, they can be changed through decisions on the same level.” Fuchs argued that legal experts have claimed that it is indeed necessary to pass an actual law to revoke the benefits, and that the ministers of the government had turned to the attorney general for that purpose. “The ministers requested a legal opinion from the attorney general’s office with regard to advancing sanctions by revoking benefits that are not directly connected to the failure to enlist but that will take effect only for draft evaders. They questioned whether this is considered improper discrimination that requires actual legislation. Similarly, the ministers asked if they would be permitted to set policies canceling benefits for individuals who commit other crimes (besides draft evasion) without appearing to be violating the principle of equality, which would require primary legislation. The ministers asked the attorney general’s office to review the ideas presented in the budget department’s document and to issue a professional legal opinion, complete with explanations, clarifying which of the measures could be implemented without legislation, for the purpose of shortening the time involved and enabling the ministers to assess only the proposals that can be implemented immediately, without new legislation.”

Can you guess what sort of response the ministers received to their request? If you haven’t guessed, Fuchs provided the answer in his letter to the judges: “In response to the aforementioned request for a legal opinion, Gil Limon refused to provide that opinion. This refusal indicates once again that the attorney general’s office is not acting to help the government advance its policies lawfully. Rather, the office is advancing its own separate agenda.”

This brings us to another astounding statement in Fuchs’s letter: “Any legislation advanced against draft evaders [Fuchs’s choice of words, a term that we would not employ] is essentially a law that discriminates against chareidim, since most of the legally defined draft evaders today are chareidim. Therefore, framing these sanctions as equal enforcement steps is a theoretical statement with no basis at all.” That is, the sanctions, by definition, are discriminatory against chareidim. The reality is that only chareidim have lost day care subsidies, only yeshivos have lost government funding, and other enforcement measures have similarly targeted chareidim alone. Fuchs added that the draft law currently in the works includes significant enforcement measures that most likely could not be implemented quickly or effectively unless the law is passed. “Nevertheless,” he added, “the government is working in response to the court’s ruling and is seeking such measures. However, as noted, the attorney general’s office has refused to take part in the administrative work for that purpose, which has therefore not been completed.” Fuchs ended his letter with a piercing barb: “The attorney general’s job is to give the government legal guidance. Her office should be providing that guidance when the government and its ministers request it, rather than acting to cause the ministers’ work to fail and to create an irreparable rift between the branches of the government.”

This is a testament to the impossible conditions facing the government and the religious parties. The judges and the attorney general are enemies of the chareidim—and perhaps one can add the legal advisor of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to that list as well.

Trump Attacks Herzog, Who Goes on the Defensive

Remember how President Trump has called on President Herzog several times to pardon Netanyahu? I am sure that you remember it. Herzog was flying from Australia to Israel when Trump made his first comment about the pardon, and the other passengers on the flight related that the Israeli president was shocked. Last week, it got worse. In an exchange with an Israeli reporter, Trump said bluntly, “President Yitzchok Herzog should give a pardon to Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu today…. I don’t want there to be anything on Bibi’s mind other than the war with Iran.” Trump slammed Herzog’s behavior as a “disgrace” and said Herzog had promised him five times to pardon Netanyahu and had failed to follow through. “I have been talking to Herzog about pardoning Netanyahu for a year already,” Trump added. “I told him that I won’t meet with him. He’s been holding this over Bibi’s head for a year.”

Herzog responded immediately but unconvincingly, “When we are all involved in the war effort, the president of this state is not dealing with the issue of a pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu. President Herzog respects and very much appreciates President Trump’s enormous contribution to Israeli security and views him as the leader of the free world and a central ally of Israel. He especially values his determined stance against Iran. The president of this state has openly expressed his opinion in the past that it is proper for the relevant authorities to hold an appropriate discussion with the goal of reaching an agreement, which includes the possibility of a plea bargain, concerning the prime minister’s case.”

Several days later, after he had recovered somewhat from Trump’s withering attack, Herzog adopted a slightly different tone. This time, it was during an interview with Fox News. “Let’s set the record straight,” Herzog told the interviewer. “First of all, during the war there are no judicial proceedings at all, so this subject is off the table, and the prime minister is also completely focused on the war. Second, to explain this to your viewers, I am the head of state, but I do not have executive powers. It is similar to what you see in Europe or other countries. Yes, I have the power to pardon, but I am obliged by Israel law. Just as you have the American Constitution for the president of the United States, I am sworn to uphold Israeli law. I said that I would evaluate everything seriously, but I am obligated by the law and the process of waiting for a legal opinion of the relevant authorities before any decision. Therefore, everything is on the table, but it must be done in accordance with Israeli law. I respect President Trump very much, and I accept his words with love and appreciation, because he is the leader of the free world who is leading historic change, but when it comes to a case that is an internal Israeli affair, I am bound by the law and I am the president of the State of Israel.”

In Netanyahu Case, the Prosecutors Are Criminals

Let us agree that Herzog’s response to President Trump is hardly convincing. Rumor has it that he is terrified of Trump. But Herzog is right about one thing: At this time, Netanyahu’s trial is on hold. That doesn’t mean that the prime minister has any special privileges; all criminal trials against all defendants in the State of Israel have been frozen due to instructions from the Home Front Command. This has nothing to do with Netanyahu’s status as the Israeli premier.

I have been inclined to write about Netanyahu’s trial for a long time. Almost every day of testimony reveals new crimes and misconduct on the part of the police, with the backing of the prosecution, throughout the investigation. The police investigated certain issues without receiving advance permission from the attorney general, which is required for any investigation of a public figure. They also failed to establish many basic facts to lay the groundwork for their case; for instance, the prosecutors decided that Netanyahu received favorable coverage from the website Walla, which was considered a bribe in exchange for favors that he performed for the website’s owners, but no one ever determined whether the coverage on Walla was more favorable than on other sites, or even how to define what constitutes positive coverage. Almost every court session has imploded when the misconduct of the police and prosecution was revealed.

One of the details of the case that has put pressure on the prosecution is what they have dubbed the “guidance meeting” between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Shlomo Filber, the director-general of the Ministry of Communications at the time. This is a key element of the prosecution’s narrative. The case against Netanyahu rests largely on the contention that Netanyahu met with Filber at a certain time and ordered him to grant certain benefits to Bezeq, the company owned by Elovitch. This was supposedly Netanyahu’s incentive for Elovitch to grant him positive coverage on his website. However, it has since been revealed that, based on the tracking information from both men’s cell phones, the police were able to determine that the meeting never took place—at least not at the alleged time, shortly after Filber was assigned to the position. Under questioning, Filber denied having received such instructions from Netanyahu; however, after he signed a state witness agreement, he recanted and claimed that Netanyahu had given him those orders. It has since been revealed that his consent to become a state witness was given under unlawful and unethical pressure from the police and prosecution. Since then, Filber has not only retracted his testimony against Netanyahu but has also filed a lawsuit against the state for the torment inflicted on him during his interrogations.

After the trial revealed that Netanyahu and Filber did not meet at the alleged time, the prosecution asked to amend the indictment and to broaden the range of dates when the alleged meeting might have taken place. The judges rejected this request. The prosecution continued pushing its version of events, and Netanyahu grew irate. “There was a series of meetings that had nothing to do with Bezeq; we met to discuss the topic of the media, which interested me,” he said. “Even before I was appointed to the position of minister of communications, he [Filber] was the third or fourth candidate to be the director-general of the ministry, and I met with him about those subjects. There was no talk about regulation or Bezeq and Yes. The fictitious ‘guidance meeting’ never happened; you extracted that confession from Mr. Filber, who became a state witness, through underhanded means. The meeting that you describe never took place. You forced Mr. Filber to ‘admit’ to it with all sorts of threats and extortion. But the guidance meeting never happened. I met with him about the ministry’s affairs…. You concocted a blatant lie. You saw that the phone tracking information didn’t work to your benefit, so you decided to change the story; when a lie doesn’t fit the facts, you change the lie. Unfortunately, you are still trying to do this here and now.”

The prosecutor, Yehudit Tirosh, quoted from Filber’s personal notes, which seemed to prove that he had received instructions from Netanyahu to benefit Elovitch. Once again, Netanyahu was outraged. “Those notes were written by Filber before his meeting. It is a list of points that he wanted to raise during a meeting with me. Once again, you are lying and trying to trick the court…. This entire case is a lie. You are lying systematically. If one approach doesn’t work, you try another one. The notes on that pad were the preparation for a meeting, not a summary of the meeting. You know very well what is happening here.”

“Your version of the story has changed. This isn’t what you said under questioning,” Tirosh said.

Netanyahu snapped, “I am telling you that you are lying! You are saying that to me, so I am saying it to you. What did you do to Filber? You coerced him to do this, and that must be investigated.”

Professor Barak Doesn’t Understand How the Knesset Works

I am not a legal expert, and even if I was an expert on the law, I wouldn’t want to debate Professor Aharon Barak, the former Supreme Court justice who is considered the father of Israel’s judicial revolution. Barak introduced the doctrine that “everything is justiciable,” which has injected chaos and corruption into our lives. He was also a key player in the ruse that led to the passage of the Basic Laws. That campaign of deception was the work of Barak and Minister Meridor, together with their left-wing collaborators in the Knesset, Virshovsky and Rubinstein. Uriel Lynn of the Likud carried out the deception, as he admits candidly in his own book.

The aging Aharon Barak recently delivered a speech at the annual convention of the Israeli Association of Public Law, which was described as a rebuke. Barak spoke tersely enough for me to attempt to dissect the speech, and I discovered that the speaker, like the proverbial emperor, had no clothes. His words sounded lofty but were hollow. He spoke at length about his conception of two different aspects of democracy: the formal aspect, or the rule of the people through elections, and the substantive aspect, which he defined as an array of moral values, human rights, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. Barak claimed that the latter is under attack and complained that the principle of separation of powers has completely collapsed. But in my view, if there was a collapse, the blame lies with the Supreme Court rather than the Knesset.

Barak continued, “Our election system and our concepts of coalition discipline and coalition rule, which grant relatively great power to minority groups, have led to a government takeover of the Knesset and its legislation. Thus, for instance, the government effectively determines the composition of Knesset committees. If a committee chairman or a member of the Knesset acts independently in the Knesset, the government can replace him with someone else or ensure the formation of a new committee under a Knesset member who follows its orders. The people elect the members of the Knesset, but the government controls the Knesset…. Even within the government itself, it is no longer possible for the ministers to resist the prime minister…. Today’s prime minister views himself as the leader, and he does not view the ministers as his equals. In his view, he appoints them and he has the ability to fire them…. The prime minister controls the government, which controls the Knesset, and therefore he alone effectively rules the country.”

In this case, Barak strayed into territory that I do understand. I know a bit about the Knesset and the government, and I can tell that he lacks comprehension of the subject. Barak’s complaints suggest that something is wrong with the way the Knesset and government function, but that is exactly the way it is supposed to be. Coalition discipline has always reigned supreme in the Knesset; without it, there would be no coalition and no government. The coalition gives great power to the majority, not to minority groups—that is, unless Barak does not view a collection of smaller groups as adding up to a majority. There has never been a government in Israel that did not dominate the coalition and, by extension, the Knesset itself. Without that, the government would have fallen. Hence, there was never a government that did not determine the composition of Knesset committees and that did not replace committee chairmen who bucked coalition discipline. There has never been a government in which the prime minister didn’t exert authority over other ministers. There is, after all, a Basic Law that authorizes the prime minister to dismiss insubordinate ministers; that is how Yitzchok Rabin fired the ministers from the National Religious Party, Yitzchok Shamir fired Simon Peres and Ezer Weizmann, and Ariel Sharon set a record by firing eleven ministers during his tenure. Of course, Netanyahu has likewise used this power to dismiss government ministers, including Lapid and Bennett. Since the days of Ben-Gurion, there hasn’t been a single government in which the prime minister did not control the government, which controls the Knesset. Therefore, according to Barak, every prime minister has controlled the state. But that is simply the way democracy works. If the prime minister does not rule the country, he isn’t doing his job!

Since the media fawned over Barak and celebrated his ignorant blather, I felt that I could be permitted to raise doubts about their praise.

Who Will Atone for Mrs. Friedman’s Spilled Blood?

Let me make another comment as this column draws to a close. This might not be the most earth-shattering event taking place right now, but it has occupied my attention for a long time.

Almost two months ago—on Rosh Chodesh Shevat/January 19, 2026—tragedy struck at a private day care service on Rechov Hamem Gimmel in Yerushalayim. Sixty-three babies from various apartments in the building were rushed to hospitals in Yerushalayim, and two of the babies, Aharon Katz and Tzipporah Goloventzitz, passed away. The operator of the day care program those babies attended, Mrs. Friedman, immediately found herself at the center of a storm. She was arrested, and the media unilaterally appointed itself prosecutor, judge, and jury and found her guilty of all charges. I, on the other hand, never allowed myself to be swept along with the current of accusations; I always try to find alternative explanations, especially when a person’s reputation is at stake. I did my own research into the subject, and I discovered that much of what was reported was slander. The media claimed that dozens of babies were in the day care program, but the truth is that the 63 babies taken to the hospital were taken from four different babysitting programs (for reasons that are currently unclear) and all of them were released fairly quickly, since there was nothing wrong with them. The media also published pictures of babies in closets, insinuating that Mrs. Friedman and her assistant had placed them there, but it was later revealed that the babies had been put in the closets by paramedics who had arrived at the scene. Mrs. Friedman was accused of negligence, and the media claimed that the babies suffocated due to gas emissions from a heater or air conditioner. Mrs. Friedman’s blood was ruthlessly spilled; she was publicly shamed and accused of the most heinous negligence.

I spoke to neighbors on the day after the tragedy, when Mrs. Friedman was under arrest, and learned that she is a righteous woman who has always been fully dedicated to the children under her care. I also pointed out that there is a theory that one of the babies died of crib death, a tragic occurrence that is a gezeirah from Above and can happen anywhere, while the second baby probably (but not definitely) died due to a young, inexperienced paramedic performing resuscitation incorrectly. Two days after the tragedy, the investigators changed their tune when one of the bereaved mothers, Chani Katz, showed up in court to ask for the day care owner to be released. Mrs. Katz told the judges that Mrs. Friedman was the victim of an injustice, and that her son would rest in peace only when justice was restored. The parents of all the children in the program, without exception, released an open letter to the public defending Mrs. Friedman, and all of them asserted that they would continue placing their children in her care. She was subsequently released to house arrest, and I can reveal that I visited her and her husband (a known figure in Romeima who is hailed as a tzaddik) to offer them encouragement and support. I showed them my own writings on the subject, along with a transcript from a Knesset session in which a minister in the government asserted that the rumors and accusations smack of antisemitism.

The reason I mention this now is that it was recently reported with certainty that the babies in the day care center did not suffer from poisoning of any kind. Dr. Saar Chashaviah, the director of emergency pediatric medicine at Hadassah Hospital, announced that none of the children were found to be suffering from significant symptoms, and after a series of tests, they did not come up with any finding that could indicate a cause of death. There was certainly no sign of toxic substances affecting the children. A similar statement came from Fire Department Commander Shmulik Friedman, who oversaw the event itself and the later investigations, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Home Front Command.

We are not neviim, and we have no way of knowing what really happened that day to cause two babies to die. Nevertheless, there is incontrovertible evidence that there was no negligence or crime involved. Now that we know that there was no negligence and no poisoning, it is even more critical to preserve the good name of the long-suffering day care owner.

On the day after the tragedy, when everyone was still lambasting the day care owner, Rav Shraga Noach Shteinman, rosh yeshiva of Orchos Torah, was asked for advice on what to tell the mothers. When he was told about the uproar in the media and on the internet against Mrs. Friedman, he replied, “No one knows exactly what happened there, but it seems that the day care was managed exactly as anyone else would manage their own home. This was a gezeirah from Shomayim, just like a car accident. If a decree was passed, then it was passed against a specific person but its purpose was to awaken all of us.” Regarding the media, he said, “They always try to incite against the chareidi community. There was no specific negligence here. It was a decree from Above. Had it occurred in a secular day care, no one would have stirred such drama over it.”

This is how Rav Shteinman responded on the day after the tragedy, while confusion still reigned everywhere. As Chazal tell us, a wise man is superior to a novi; his comments were prescient.

But that still does not answer the painful question of who will make amends for the fact that Mrs. Friedman’s blood has been spilled.

U.S. Trials Unravel Tehran’s Murder Plots

Last week’s trial of Iranian agent Asif Merchant—convicted of plotting the assassination of President Trump and U.S. officials—received little more than a flicker of media attention. Yet the testimony should have set off alarm bells across the country.

In stark detail, the trial exposed Tehran’s methodical campaign of murderous aggression against the United States and the Islamic Republic’s many critics. It laid bare efforts by operatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to arrange the killing of American political leaders and ordinary citizens on U.S. soil and abroad.

It’s hard for many Americans to believe that Iran poses a threat to the United States so great as to require military action. It can seem almost absurd that far-off violence across the ocean might make its way to our doorstep.

Living in a time when the vast majority of Americans have never experienced war between the world’s superpowers, one can begin to believe this is the norm.

“This notion is little more than a comforting illusion,” writes Commentary Magazine editor Abe Greenwald. “America is extraordinarily well-protected, but not impenetrable. We found that out on September 11, 2001.”

“It takes a lot of forgetting and a lot of ignorance to look at the Iranian regime’s heinous record, and determine that war is merely optional,” the author wrote.

The trial of Asif Merchant, with its abundance of exhibits and witness testimonies showcasing the regime’s ruthlessness, drove home this message. It comes at the same time that a federal alert has warned U.S. law enforcement of encrypted communications intercepted from Iran in recent days, which might serve as a signal for sleeper cells operating outside the Gulf country.

The trial tore away the façade concealing a series of barbaric Iranian plots—many foiled only at the last moment—to murder or kidnap U.S. officials, politicians, and others the regime branded “enemies.”

Trial proceedings, including testimony from Merchant himself, offered a chilling glimpse into how these operations were planned and carried out. Under questioning, Merchant admitted to being trained by the IRGC, Iran’s global terror force that is virtually a shadow Iranian government. [See Sidebar]

He was sent to the United States in April of 2024 and by June had recruited two accomplices—individuals who were in fact undercover U.S. law enforcement officers posing as hitmen.

Merchant tasked them with assassinating various government officials, including President Trump, Joe Biden and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. He paid the “hitmen” $5,000 advance, with the promise of hundreds of thousands more after their mission was carried out.

Under the plan, the hitmen would learn the identity of their first target only after Merchant had safely left the country at the end of July. But before he could board his flight, authorities closed in and arrested him.

“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump — instead, he was met with the might of American law enforcement,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. He now faces up to life in prison.

Recruiting ‘Kill Teams’

As revealed at the trial, Merchant, of Pakistani descent, began working for the IRGC in Pakistan in early 2023, when he received training in the tools of terrorism.  He was then sent to the United States to recruit other IRGC operatives who would execute various missions, including surveillance of enemies of the regime.

Merchant testified that in 2024, he arrived in New York with a new recruitment mission; to find “Mafia” members willing to steal documents or USB drives, stage an anti-American protest, and arrange the murder of one of three designated U.S. government officials and politicians.

The aspiring assassin was promised up to $1 million if the hit was successful.

Merchant contacted an acquaintance, Nadeem Ali, whom he thought would collaborate with him. Ali chose, instead, to report Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and began working with the government.  As mentioned above, the plan was foiled and Merchant was arrested while attempting to leave the country.

At his sentencing earlier this year, prosecutors noted that Iran had previously paid “Russian mobsters, Mexican cartel hit men and a Canadian branch of Death’s Angels” as part of a campaign to silence dissidents.

Hiding Behind Foreign Hitmen

Far from the Merchant plot being the only attempt at assassinating the president of the United States, the Iranian regime has assembled multiple “kill teams” to assassinate President Donald Trump over at least the last five years, reports the NY Post.

The Islamist regime has repeatedly sought to kill Donald Trump after he ordered the drone attack that killed Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020. Senior Iranian clerics have issued repeated fatwas against Trump—religious “death sentences” urging Muslims to assassinate him.

Instead of using their own agents to carry out the death edicts, the IRGC has increasingly sought to execute the fatwas by recruiting killers with ties to the United States, including the above-mentioned operative Asif Merchant.

In that way, “by cloaking its terrorism in a veil of plausible deniability,” the regime seeks to escape reprisals, the NY Post writes.

In January, a month before the U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes on the country, Iran issued a threat against Trump, broadcasting a picture of the commander-in-chief during the 2024 Butler rally assassination attempt, with the caption: “This time it will not miss the target.”

Months after the assassination attempt, U.S. investigators told Donald Trump they could not exclude Iranian involvement. They warned that multiple “kill teams,” operating under the direction of the IRGC, were believed to be actively plotting his assassination.

Aiming for Donald Trump on the Campaign Trail

In one meticulously planned assassination attempt, a spy was ordered by the regime to recruit a “kill team” and come up with a plot to assassinate Trump while he was still on the 2024 campaign trail. The spy, Farhoud Shakeri, recruited two US-based hitmen, both of whom were later caught.

Shakeri, speaking to the FBI from Tehran, said he was directed by his Iranian handlers to devise a plan for assassinating Trump, according to court papers. He agreed to be interviewed by the FBI in the belief that his testimony would reduce prison time for an acquaintance facing trial on terrorism charges.

Shakeri said he told an IRGC official that it “would cost a ‘huge’ amount of money. In response, the IRGC official reportedly said, “We have already spent a lot of money [to assassinate Trump] so the money is not an issue.”

The IRGC recruit was also told he had only seven days to carry out the murder plot. According to Shakeri’s FBI interview, he was told that if he couldn’t carry it out within the seven-day timeframe, his IRGC handler said the plan would be paused until after the 2024 election.

The regime had assessed that Trump would “lose the election and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate” him, Shakeri testified.

He had previously served 14 years in prison on various crimes before being deported. While incarcerated, he made the criminal connections that allowed him to eventually recruit hitmen for the regime, the NY Post article detailed.  The hitmen were an old prison buddy who went by the name of “Pop” Rivera and a man named Jonathan Loadholt, both residents of New York.

Before assassinating Donald Trump, the hitmen were given a trial mission and promised $100,000 if they could bring it off. They were ordered to assassinate a female Iranian known as an anti-regime activist living in the United States. They spent many hours surveilling her home and her movements, waiting for an opportunity to murder her.

Both ex-convicts were caught before they could carry out the assassination and found guilty of murder-for-hire. Rivera was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January. Loadholt is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Shakeri was charged with murder-for-hire by the FBI in absentia, as he remained in Iran.

“They are killers. They have a list of the people they want dead and they have dispatched many of their spies to arrange to kill them,” Yigal Carmon, a retired Israel Defense Forces colonel who is an expert on terrorism, told the New York Post.

Last week, Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. and Israeli forces had eliminated the Tehran-based “mastermind” behind multiple assassination plots targeting Donald Trump. Speaking at the Pentagon, the defense secretary said coalition forces had “hunted down and killed” the architect of the plots. He declined to name the man who had been orchestrating Tehran’s campaign of murder against an American president.

According to Israeli journalist Amit Segal, the mastermind was Rahman Mokadam, the head of an IRGC special forces unit assigned to assassinate Trump. When told that Mokadam had been eliminated, President Trump was said to have grimly noted, “I got him before he got me.”

Murder Plots Against Critics

For decades, the Iranian regime, particularly the powerful IRGC, has used its capabilities and those of proxies and partners to plan attacks globally against Jews, Israelis, Iranian dissidents, and anyone branded “enemy of the regime,” including persons abroad and in the United States.

Iran’s principal partners and proxies are Lebanese Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shia militant groups in Iraq, Syria, and the Persian Gulf, as well as Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Jihad and others.

This network enables Iran to expand influence throughout the Middle East at a relatively low cost while largely insulating itself from reprisals.

Iran supplies this network with weapons, training, and guidance, including advanced conventional weapons such as unmanned aircraft system (UAS). This arrangement gives Tehran the capability to strike throughout the region, exporting terror through its proxies, while denying any role in the attacks.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Iran has continued to direct and support the plotting of its partners and proxies, and encouraged them to focus on destroying Israel and hurting U.S. interests. These interests include military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria, and international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.

Prior to Feb 28, when U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran and began degrading its military capabilities, the regime was heavily involved in assassinating dissidents outside Iran, according to a report by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

The report documented the jarring testimony of IRGC operative Farhoud Shakeri, who told the FBI in October 2024 that he was instructed to surveil a tourist location in Arugam Bay in Sri Lanka, frequented by Israeli tourists. He was tasked to orchestrate a mass shooting at that location.

According to Shakeri, the “kill team” would be supplied with AK-47s and other weapons for the mass attack. Due to suspicions that the plot had been leaked, the scheme was abandoned at the time.

“Iranian security services have also conducted kidnapping operations to transport dissidents to Iran,” a Department of Justice report stated. In one example from June 2025, Iran was accused of abducting the family members of journalists working for foreign-based media outlets such as Iran International, in retaliation for their negative coverage of the regime. Their fate is currently unknown.

Forced to Lead a Life on the Run

Salman Rushdie, an acclaimed Indian-born British author, is another prominent example of Iran’s efforts to murder dissidents.

Since 1989, he has lived under the “fatwa” death sentence imposed by Ayatollah Khomeini on Rushdie and his publishers for committing “blasphemy” in one of his award-winning books. A group of Iranian clerics even offered a $2.5 million bounty to whoever would fulfill the _ayatollah’_s decree.

The book’s Japanese translator has been stabbed to death, its Norwegian publisher shot, and its Italian translator knifed, while Rushdie himself was once was forced to lead a life on the run, protected around the clock by Scotland Yard’s Special Branch.

Rushdie subsequently relocated to the United States in 2000 and became a citizen in 2016. Six years later, while about to give a talk in upstate New York, about the United States as a safe haven for exiled writers, Rushdie was attacked and repeatedly stabbed by a radicalized Lebanese-born American citizen.

Hospitalized with severe injuries, Rushdie managed to survive. The perpetrator, Hadi Matar, was convicted of attempted murder to honor Iran’s fatwa as well as assault charges, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

***

IRGC In its Death Throes?

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is far more than a conventional military force. It is both a shadow government and economic powerhouse that operates more or less independently of Iran’s civilian leadership, experts say.

Last week, Fortune reported that the IRGC, controls a sprawling business empire that dominates the economy— more than half of Iran’s GDP. It controls a vast swath of commercial interests through its network of front groups and subsidiaries. “This includes oil, banking, telecom, agriculture, real estate, transportation and shipping companies, and even Tehran’s international airport,” the article details.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Iran allocates a third of all oil revenue directly to the IRGC. The terror group shipped about 85,000 barrels a day to Syria, and sells the rest mostly to China through a so-called “shadow fleet” designed to avoid sanctions.

By blowing up the IRGC’s own refinery this week, Trump wasn’t just hurting “Iran” in a general sense, critics say— he was trying to bankrupt the IRGC specifically, by collapsing its parallel economy.

If such a collapse were to occur, it would almost certainly signal the endgame for the IRGC which some say is in its death throes, with its headquarters reduced to rubble, much of Iran’s naval and air forces crippled, weapons arsenals devastated and the country’s economy in ruins.

The terrorist group, however, continues to launch its remaining missiles at Israel, at its own Muslim neighbors, and U.S. military bases in the region. In a bid to burnish its hardline image, the IRGC has just installed Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of the Supreme Leader killed with his top advisors in a devastating Israeli airstrike — as his successor.

Despite its defiant posturing, analysts say it is only a matter of time before the IRGC’s resistance collapses and it is forced to surrender.

***

The Forgotten Slaughter of Marines in Beirut

On October 23, 1983, Iran-supported terrorists carried out the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, causing the death of 220 Marines. What follows are excerpts from a reprint of an article in Front Page magazine, written by Daniel Greenfield on the 40th anniversary of that atrocity.

“‘The worst part for me is that nobody remembers,” Mark Nevells said on the anniversary of the Hezbollah bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.

“A Marine had thrown his body in front of the truck to try stop the vehicle’s advance. For five days afterward, Nevells and other Marines had dug through the rubble for the bodies of their friends,” Greenfield writes.

“In Washington, the murder of 220 Marines by Iranian terrorist Ismail Ascari, who drove the truck full of explosives that tore through their barracks, is barely remembered. It is the stuff of inconvenient truths and lost memories. And it has always been that way,” the article laments.

Mohsen Rafiqdoost, Khomeini’s bodyguard who helped found Iran’s IRGC boasted about the terrorist group’s role in the bloody attack. “Both the TNT and the ideology, which in one blast sent 400 officers, NCOs, and soldiers at the Marines headquarters to their deaths, were provided by Iran,” the IRGC founder bragged at the time.

“It may be tempting to dismiss all this as ancient history,” writes Greenfield, “but in nearly 50 years, the terror against America never stopped. In 1996, 19 U.S. Air Force airmen were killed in the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia with another truck bomb.”

“The Khobar Towers bombing was planned, funded, and sponsored by senior leadership in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” ruled a U.S. court presiding over a case brought by Khobar Towers victims.

Fawning Appeasement

President Clinton responded to the Iranian atrocity with a fawning, conciliatory message to newly elected Mohammad Khatami, who was playing the part of the “reformist” President of Iran.

“The United States has no hostile intentions towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and seeks good relationships with your government,” Clinton wrote, asking—not even demanding—“a clear commitment from you that you will ensure an end to Iranian involvement in terrorist activity.”

The commitment was not forthcoming and Clinton caved.

All subsequent atrocities against U.S. servicemen by Tehran were carried out “as a result of policies of appeasement” from Carter to Clinton to Obama to Biden, the article asserts. The more these presidents waffled, compromised and caved, the more the Islamic regime became convinced that America was impotent and that ayatollah was infallible.

Last June, Khamenei was still assuring his people that America “is powerless against us.” In Bushehr, a major site of Iran’s nuclear program, a cleric claimed that ‘the U.S. cannot do a single thing to stop Iran’s nuclear progress.”

The airstrikes that soon followed proved these psychopaths catastrophically wrong.

President Trump has taken the opposite approach from that of his predecessors, “punishing Iran’s intransigence, instead of rewarding it,” the article concludes. “He has shown how weak these totalitarian despots are underneath their arrogance and cruelty.”

After having decapitated Iran’s political and military leadership in the opening minutes of the war, and then drastically reduced the rate of missile and drone fire from Iran, while systematically eliminating its air defenses during the first week of attacks, Israel and the U.S. have now shifted the targeting of their air strikes to Iran’s military and industrial infrastructure. Both the U.S. and Israel have further increased the unprecedented intensity of their attacks, and have announced their intentions to either force the Islamic regime to declare its “unconditional surrender,” or to establish the conditions necessary for the Iranian people to rise up and force regime change.

With Iran’s Russian-made anti-aircraft defenses no longer a concern, the U.S. has begun to use its B-52 and B-1 strategic bombers to increase the tonnage of the bombs it is dropping on an expanded list of Iranian targets, which it has shared with the Israelis. Meanwhile, Israeli and U.S. attack aircraft continue to attack and destroy the Iranian launching sites, which are revealed whenever Iran fires from its diminished supply of ballistic missiles and drones.

As a result, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, which controls all U.S. military forces in the Middle East, said last Thursday that Iran’s ballistic-missile attacks had decreased by 90% and drone attacks had dropped by 83% since the war began on February 28. While the vast majority of the reduced volume of Iranian missiles and drones are being intercepted by Israel’s multi-layered air defense systems, a few are still getting through. Some of the Iranian ballistic missiles have been carrying cluster warheads, designed to maximize civilian casualties by scattering explosive bomblets, potentially deadly shrapnel, across broad target areas.

While their explosions are not powerful enough to destroy large Israeli residential buildings, causing mass casualties, as happened on Sunday, March 1, when a large Iranian missile warhead hit Beit Shemesh, killing 9 people and wounding more than 60 others, the bomblets can still be potentially deadly. That was proven on Monday when the cluster warhead on an Iranian missile exploded high over central Israel, releasing bomblets that killed one man and seriously injured another at a construction site in the town of Yehud, and also seriously wounded a third man in the town of Or Yehuda. Two other bomblets from the same Iranian missile warhead also fell harmlessly in the towns of Holon and Bat Yam.

However, while the warheads of Iran’s ballistic missiles are capable of inflicting far more physical damage than the explosives carried by its much smaller drones, because the drones are much harder to detect and cheap enough to be deployed in large mass attacks, they present Israel and Iran’s other targets in the region with a far more difficult defensive problem.

U.S. Asks for Ukraine’s Help in Dealing With Iran’s Drones

It is therefore significant that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced last week that, in response to an American request, he has sent Ukraine’s leading experts on neutralizing the drone threat to share their techniques and advanced technology with the U.S. military. Over the past four years, Ukraine has developed and proven in combat with the Russian army how best to detect and destroy the same model of Iranian-designed Shahed-136 attack drones that have been used against them on the Iranian battlefields. Zelensky has also received similar requests for help from the other Middle Eastern states that have come under attack from Iranian drones, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait.

Meanwhile, by reverse engineering the original Iranian Shahed drone as a model, the United States has developed its own one-way attack drones, and then improved on the Iranian design with more sophisticated counter-jamming technology, more lethal warheads, and extended flight endurance. The Russians had previously done the same thing. With Iran’s help, the Russians are also currently mass-producing 5,500 copies per month of their own improved version of the Shahed-136 drone for its use on Ukraine’s battlefields, at a factory located 600 miles east of Moscow, safely beyond the reach of Ukraine’s longest-range weapons.

The New York Times reports that Zelensky is also offering to supply the U.S. with the special interceptor drones that Ukraine has developed, which are specifically designed to counter the Russian version of the Shahed drones, in exchange for supplies of American-made interceptor rockets for protection against repeated attacks by the long-range Russian ballistic missiles that have badly damaged Ukraine’s vulnerable cities and civilian infrastructure over the past four years.

How Iran’s Attacks on Its Neighbors Have Boomeranged

Meanwhile, despite determined efforts by the U.S. and Israeli air forces to search out and destroy them, the Iranian regime has continued to launch dozens of ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones at its neighboring Persian Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. Iran has also made more sporadic missile and drone attacks on military bases and civilian targets in Cyprus, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, in a deliberate effort to engulf the entire region in the war.

However, these attacks have boomeranged against Iran diplomatically by angering its Persian Gulf neighbors, who had refused to cooperate with the initial U.S. and Israeli attacks. Instead, some of these countries are now threatening to retaliate against Iran if it persists in attacking them, damaging their economies by attacking their oil-producing facilities, and causing random civilian casualties, some of them fatal.

The UAE, which is physically closest to Iran, has suffered the most intense attacks from Iran since the war started. According to the Emirati defense ministry, their country has come under attack from at least 221 Iranian missiles and over 1,300 drones, damaging Dubai’s iconic luxury tourist hotels, and killing one Asian man who was driving in the streets of Dubai last Saturday night.

In addition, flights to and from Dubai’s busy international airport have been sharply reduced due to the daily Iranian drone attacks, one of which injured four airport employees last week and damaged an airport passenger terminal. Bitter complaints about continuing Iranian missile and drone attacks were also issued over the weekend by government officials in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan, all of which are trying to avoid being dragged into the war between Iran and its terrorist proxies in the region and the attacking Israeli and U.S. military forces.

State Department Orders Its Middle East Diplomats to Evacuate

Since the war started, the Iranians and their Iraqi Shiite militia allies have also targeted U.S. diplomatic sites across the region, including in Dubai, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Amman, Jordan, and inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, as well as a U.S. military compound inside the Baghdad International Airport. These attacks have prompted the U.S. State Department to order its personnel serving in diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon, and their family members to return immediately to the United States for their own safety. The State Department also reported that as of Monday, more than 36,000 American citizens visiting in the region who were stranded by the sudden outbreak of the war had managed to safely return to the U.S.

Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport has also remained only partially open, with its flight operations mostly limited to repatriation flights for the thousands of Israelis who found themselves stranded abroad when the war broke out. El Al Airlines has also notified its ticket holders that its flight operations would continue to give priority to repatriation flights until the security situation in Israeli airspace has improved.

Because Iran’s leaders have ignored the threats and have continued to attack their neighboring states, some Israeli officials believe that at least a few of those Gulf States are now on the threshold of joining the U.S. and Israel in their attacks on Iran in retaliation for their own losses, or at least by mounting an active military defense of their own against further Iranian attacks.

Great Britain and France Reluctantly Getting Involved

The indiscriminate Iranian attacks on countries throughout the region have also prompted America’s strongest European allies, Great Britain and France, which initially refused to cooperate with the U.S. attack on Iran, to reconsider their position. They are now sending their own military assets to the region to help defend their allies from the ongoing Iranian attacks. Great Britain has also re-opened its military bases for use by U.S. warplanes, including its large air base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, but only for “limited defensive operations” in order to stop the ongoing Iranian attacks on its neighbors.

Iran has announced the closure of the Straits of Hormuz, through which 20% of the global supply of crude oil is exported to the rest of the world.

Iran has also targeted Persian Gulf oil production facilities, including an attack over the weekend that disabled and set fire to Bahrain’s only oil refinery, Saudi Arabia’s massive Shaybah oil field, and an oil facility in Fujairah, in the UAE. Authorities in the UAE also reported that falling debris from Iranian missiles had injured two people in the capital city of Abu Dhabi, and 32 people, including several children, were injured by another Iranian attack in a residential area in Bahrain.

Together, these Iranian actions briefly drove up the price of crude oil to almost $120 a barrel on global markets on Monday. Apparently, Iran’s strategy behind these attacks on other Persian Gulf oil sources and its threat to close the Straits of Hormuz is to increase the domestic political pressure on President Trump to bring the war to a swift conclusion by driving up the price of gasoline at the pump for American consumers.

However, President Trump has remained determined to pursue the war against Iran, in a close military partnership with Israel, to a successful conclusion. Trump has reacted to Iranian moves to close the Straits of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic by targeting the Iranian navy for swift destruction, while offering to provide commercial oil tankers in the Persian Gulf with U.S. Navy escorts to protect them against attack. At the same time, the White House is offering to provide substitute maritime risk insurance for Persian Gulf commercial oil traffic, after Lloyds of London canceled its insurance policies covering those ships. Trump has also been consulting with America’s G-7 global economic allies in order to release some of their ample reserve supplies of crude oil in order to end the current temporary supply shortage and calm the panic that has caused the price of oil to spike sharply on global oil markets.

In addition, some of the European powers have begun to discuss sending their own naval warships into the Persian Gulf to join the U.S. Navy in escorting commercial oil tankers safely through the Straits of Hormuz, in spite of Iranian threats, because European countries desperately need that oil to fuel their economies.

Trump Confident That High Oil Prices Will Be Short-Lived

Trump also sought to minimize the significance of the current spike in oil prices when he wrote on his social media account that, “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, are a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and world, safety and peace.”

When asked by the New York Post on Monday about the spike in the price of oil over the weekend, Trump responded confidently by claiming, “I have a plan for everything, OK?” He then added, “You’ll be very happy.” He also said that Operation Epic Fury is progressing far more swiftly than the four to six weeks that American military planners had originally expected, implying that he expects the current spike in oil prices to dissipate quickly once Iran has finally been defeated.

As a result of these confident and calming statements by the president, including a comment to CBS News later Monday, calling the war in Iran “very complete, pretty much,” prices for crude oil fell back on global oil markets by about 25% to below $90 a barrel by the end of trading on Monday afternoon, at least temporarily calming fears of further increases in the price of gas at the pump beyond the roughly 50-cent per gallon increase already seen since the U.S. and Israeli launched their first attacks on Iran on February 28.

But some of Trump’s advisors remain deeply concerned about the spillover effects of the oil price increase on the rest of the American and global economies and his administration’s ongoing efforts to bring down the current roughly 3% rate of inflation. As conservative economist Stephen Moore said in a comment to the Wall Street Journal, “When the price of gas and oil rises, so does everything else. Given that affordability was already an issue, this leads to real challenges.”

President Trump addressed these concerns directly in his comments Monday afternoon to a gathering of Republican House members at his Doral golf club in South Florida. He tried to reassure both his audience in the room and many more watching him on cable news channels that Iran, which is in the process of being soundly defeated within the next few weeks, would not be permitted to disrupt global oil markets by interfering with the oil tankers seeking to exit from the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz.

Trump Insists He Won’t Permit Iran to Stop the World’s Oil Supplies

The president emphasized, “I will not allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and attempt to stop the globe’s oil supply. If Iran does anything to do that, they’ll get hit at a much harder level.”

Trump described the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran as “a little excursion [we took] because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil.” He also said, “I think it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” and that it has already met many of its top military goals.

“[Their] missiles have been largely knocked out,” Trump declared. “The drones have been knocked out, and now we are hitting where they make the drones,” he continued.

The president added that “we’ve left some of the most important targets for later, in case we need to do it. If we hit [those targets having to do with energy production], it’s going to take many years for them to be rebuilt.”

Trump also noted that Iran has been threatening to disrupt the global oil supply and has been providing support for terror organizations for the last 47 years. The current military operation to end that threat should have been carried out by one of his predecessors as president many years ago.

“Almost every [terrorist] act, whether it’s [by] Hamas or Hezbollah, no matter what, you take a look and it’s [due to] Iran, or Iran-sponsored,” Trump said.

Trump also said that if he had not made the decision to strike Iran first, “Within a week, they [were] going to attack us, 100%, they were ready. They had all these missiles, far more than anyone thought, and they were going to attack us. . . [and] attack all the Middle East and Israel. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it in Israel.”

Trump declared that, “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t [yet] won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger [from Iran] once and for all.” Trump also said that, “We’re way ahead of [the original U.S. military’s] schedule,” but refused to offer a more specific timeline for ending the war beyond the four to six weeks that he had mentioned earlier.

He also claimed that Iran no longer has a navy or an air force. “They [also] have no antiaircraft equipment,” he said. “It’s all been blown up.”

Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran’s current leadership that if they dare to interrupt Persian Gulf oil shipments, “We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover [in] that section of the world.”

“The Strait of Hormuz is going to remain safe,” Trump declared. “We’re putting an end to all of this threat once and for all, and the result will be lower oil prices and oil and gas prices for American families.”

Trump said that he also knew the American and Israeli attacks on Iran would result in an immediate spike in crude oil prices, but said he that he also believed that the higher prices would be temporary.

He said of gas prices at the pump for American consumers, “They’ve gone up probably less than I thought they’d go up.”

Trump also warned that if Iran’s leaders try to “start up” their nuclear program once again, “they’ll be hit even harder” by the U.S. response.

Trump Disappointed With Iran’s New Leader Whose Future Is in Doubt

Trump admitted that he was “disappointed” with Iran’s decision to appoint assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hardline son Mojtaba as the country’s new supreme leader, “because we think it’s going to lead to just more of the same problem for the country.” But Trump refused to answer directly when he was asked directly whether the U.S. and Israel would try to kill Mojtaba Khameini as they did to his father.

Trump responded to that question, somewhat vaguely, “We want a system [in Iran] that can lead to many years of peace, and if we can’t have that [with Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader], we might as well get it over with right now.”

But Trump also made it clear that he won’t stop the continuing attacks on Iranian targets until he can claim a complete and politically satisfactory victory, especially in light of the overwhelming military advantage that the U.S. and Israel now hold over Iran.

During the question-and-answer session with reporters at the end of the Doral event, Trump refused to offer a clear response to Iranian accusations that a U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missile destroyed an Iranian school adjacent to one of Iran’s military complexes, killing 175 students and teachers. Contrary to the assumptions of the reporters, Trump initially suggested that the cruise missile responsible for the strike may have come from another source, and he then noted that the cause of the incident is still under review by Pentagon officials, and that he would be willing to accept their findings. However, nobody has accused the U.S. military of deliberately targeting the school, whereas Iran has not hesitated to deliberately target innocent civilians in its drone and missile attacks against Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Trump Pays Honor to American Soldiers Killed by Iran’s Attacks

In addition to its missile barrages and drone attacks against Israel, some of the Iranian attacks have focused on military bases across the region where U.S. military forces have been stationed. The most deadly of those attacks took place on Sunday, March 1, when six U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone strike on a makeshift command center in Kuwait, while a seventh U.S. soldier was seriously wounded during an Iranian strike on a Saudi Arabian military base the same day, and eventually died of his wounds on Sunday, March 8.

In his presentation at the Doral golf club, Trump recalled his sad visit to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware over the weekend to pay tribute to the six U.S. soldiers who were killed by an Iranian attack in Kuwait the previous Sunday as their bodies were returned to the U.S. for a funeral with full military honors. Trump also expressed his “eternal gratitude” to the families of “those great heroes,” and noted that all of the same family members had told him the same thing, to “‘make sure you win [the war], sir, make sure you win.’”

Trump also warned, sadly, once again, that more American fatalities are likely before the war against Iran is ended.

As part of its efforts to retaliate effectively, Iran has attacked the most sophisticated U.S. early warning radar installations across the region, in an effort to reduce the effectiveness of U.S. THAAD and Patriot anti-missile systems. According to commercial satellite imagery, Iranian attacks have succeeded in damaging the American wide-aperture AN/FPS-132 radar system installed at Qatar’s Al-Udeid military base, which is designed to track multiple incoming targets at once, as well as the TPY-2 radar system, which guides the U.S. THAAD anti-missile battery stationed in Jordan. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the damage to these high-tech U.S. air defense systems is being rapidly repaired, while their early warning function are being taken over by other advanced U.S. radar systems which have been brought into the region to provide redundancy.

Israel Responds Strongly to Renewed Attacks by Hezbollah

Meanwhile, after a significant delay, Hezbollah has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Israeli towns near the northern border. So far, those Hezbollah attacks have done minimal damage inside Israel, but they have triggered a furious response from the IDF. Israeli troops have launched a major operation to drive infiltrating Hezbollah forces out of southern Lebanon while also stepping up attacks on the Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut.

An attack by Hezbollah Sunday using anti-tank missiles against members of an Israeli army engineering battalion trying to free a stuck tank in southern Lebanon did kill two Israeli soldiers, Or Demry, age 20, Hy”d, from the Liman moshav in the western Galil, and Maher Khatar, age 38, from the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. In addition, it highlighted a significant IDF vulnerability in its renewed efforts to destroy the threat from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon that was rebuilt over the past year due to the transfer of a billion dollars in Iranian funding.

The latest expansion of attacks by Hezbollah under Iranian direction occurred on Monday night, when Syrian army officials reported artillery fire from Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon landing near the Syrian town of Serghaya, west of Damascus.

Trump and Netanyahu Still on the Same Page

Meanwhile, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have issued separate statements highlighting their determination to see the war against Iran through to a prompt and successful conclusion, resulting in either regime change or at least a permanent elimination of Islamic regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats, and its support for terrorist attacks against its non-Shiite neighbors throughout the region, including the Sunni government of Syria, which took power after the sudden collapse of the pro-Iranian Assad regime in December 2024.

Netanyahu promised that the joint U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign would continue unabated, and that the doomed Iranian government was rapidly approaching its “moment of truth.”

Netanyahu also declared that Israel “stands with” the other countries that have been attacked by Iran, and that “everyone now understands that the ayatollahs’ regime endangers the world.”

He also claimed that “many nations” are now turning to Israel for the first time, requesting cooperation, “because we are strong, because we are right, because we are fighting.”

At the same time, Netanyahu asked rhetorically, “Where was the U.N.? Where were many states in the West? And where was the international media that denounces us relentlessly with fake news?”

Answering his own question, the prime minister said, “They were nowhere; they simply disappeared.”

As a result, he continued, “many countries [can] see today exactly who they can count on… Israel [as] a beacon of power and hope.”

Netanyahu Calls for More Patience by Israelis for War

Netanyahu then suggested that thanks to Israel’s newly perceived power, “We can widen the circle of security, peace, and economic flourishing in the future to levels we have never seen.”

“But right now,” he said, addressing Israel’s citizens, “we are still in the midst of a hard campaign, [and] we won’t cease to hit the dictators in Iran… without compromise.”

Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters that the war “will continue for a while longer,” without suggesting any timeline for bringing it to an end.

In a brief telephone interview with the Times of Israel newspaper on Sunday, President Trump said the end of the war in Iran will be a “mutual” decision that he will make with Netanyahu “at the right time… and that everything’s going to be taken into account.”

Trump Insists on Making the Final Decisions for the U.S. and Israel

But he also said that while Netanyahu will have an opportunity to offer his input, the final decision on when to end the war will be Trump’s alone.

Trump also said that “Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it… [but because] we’ve worked together, we’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel.”

Trump also repeated his praise of Netanyahu for having done a “great job [as] a wartime prime minister,” as well as his claim that if “Bibi wasn’t around, Israel would not exist today.” He also once again called upon Israeli President Chaim Herzog to issue an immediate pardon to Netanyahu for the current criminal charges against him because “we want Bibi to be focused on the war, not on a ridiculous pardon,” Trump explained.

On Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff General Eyal Zamir issued a warning to the surviving leaders of Iran’s regime that Israel and the U.S. were determined to leave them “no safe place” to hide as long as they refuse to surrender or give way to regime change.

Noting that the Israeli Navy had carried out a successful overnight strike on a Beirut hotel that killed five members of the IRGC’s Quds Force who were providing leadership for Hezbollah attacks on Israel, General Zamir added, “I tell you that there is no safe place for Iranian evil, anywhere in the Middle East, not in Beirut and not anywhere else.”

IDF Chief of Staff Zamir Also Calls for More Israeli Patience

Zamir also warned the Israeli public that the end of the “prolonged state of emergency” under which it has lived since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack is not yet in sight, and that continued “perseverance and patience” on their part will be required as the battle against Iran proceeds.

“It will take a long time yet; you need to be prepared for that,” Israel’s top military commander warned the public, but “however long it takes, it will take,” Zamir declared.

On Sunday evening, IDF spokesman Defrin told a press conference that the latest Israeli air strikes had targeted the headquarters of the IRGC’s air force, and destroyed 16 of its aircraft, which had been ferrying arms to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The IDF also attacked the headquarters of the Iranian Space Agency, whose Earth satellite, which was launched by a Russian-supplied rocket in 2022, had been providing the IRGC with militarily significant surveillance information on Israel and other countries in the region.

Other targets for Israeli warplanes Sunday included 50 underground bunkers used by Iran’s internal security forces to store ammunition, as well as one of its security headquarters, a base in the city of Isfahan used by the brutal Basij paramilitary force, and one of the IRGC’s own compounds.

Iran’s Protective Missile Bunkers Have Failed

According to a Wall Street Journal article published last week, the elaborate network of underground bunkers that Iran had spent decades creating in order to shield its large arsenal of longer-range missiles from Israeli and American air attacks had surprisingly become a liability, because all of their suspected locations had become obvious to the U.S. and Israeli observation drones and reconnaissance aircraft loitering overhead.

As a result of the U.S. and Israeli unchallenged air superiority over Iran, every time just one of those missiles was removed to be fired at Israel or an American target, it was immediately observed and reported to U.S. and Israeli military intelligence. The missile’s removal would then prompt an immediate air attack using American deep-penetrating bunker buster bombs designed to destroy the remaining missiles stored in the bunker and their launchers before they could be fired.

Satellite imagery of those areas of Iran taken since the start of the war has shown the smoldering remains of Iranian missiles and launchers destroyed by air strikes near the entrances to several of these large “missile cities,” as the Iranian officials like to call their underground missile bunkers.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, based in Monterey, California, explained to the Wall Street Journal reporter that Iran’s missile-city concept had backfired because it turned the hidden Iranian missiles, which were “once mobile and difficult to find [into missiles that were] no longer mobile, and easier to hit.”

To prove that point, Lair’s Martin Center released commercial satellite imagery of a cluster of Iranian missile bases near the city of Shiraz showing the remains of several mobile missile launchers in a canyon near one of the underground storage sites from which they had been removed, but which had been destroyed by air strikes before they could fire their missiles.

According to Lair, additional satellite images of the same area showed a reddish plume indicative of leaked nitric acid missile fuel near one of the destroyed missile launchers, as well as signs of a fire that swept through the same canyon when the nearby missile bunker was attacked and destroyed.

Lair also produced satellite imagery of another Iranian missile city near the city of Isfahan showing evidence of heavy bombing at the entrances to the underground storage facility, as well as the identifiable debris from American “bunker buster munitions [that] can be seen around both sets of tunnel entrances.”

Other Iranian underground missile cities, which appear to have been attacked and severely damaged or destroyed, have also been identified from recent satellite photos of sites near the cities of Tabriz, Khogo, Haji Abad, and Jam.

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper was therefore able to boast last week during a video briefing that “We’re hunting Iran’s last remaining ballistic missile launchers to eliminate what I would characterize as their lingering [long-range] ballistic missile capability.” He also said that, “We’re seeing Iran’s ability to hit us and our partners [steadily] declining.”

However, Cooper also noted that the Iranian military appears to have moved some of those longer-range missiles and their mobile truck launchers out of their bunkers before the U.S. and Israel launched their first air strike of the war. That has enabled them to become among the relatively few of the thousands of missiles and hundreds of launchers with which Iran began the war, which still pose a threat to Israel and American targets scattered throughout the region.

Iran’s Decentralized Missile Authority Makes It Harder to Track

Before the February 28 onset of the war, Iran had decentralized and widely distributed the authority to fire its missiles to prevent a decapitating attack from paralyzing its command structure. Because of that, it is now difficult for Israel and U.S. intelligence experts to estimate exactly how much of its original missile arsenal still survives and poses a threat.

Also, last Sunday, the IDF reported its success the previous day in taking out the newly appointed military secretary to Iran’s supreme leader, Abolghasem Babaeian, who was also the head of its military emergency command, using “real-time emerging intelligence” to update the Israeli fighter pilots on the location of their target after their planes had taken off.

The assassination of Babaeian was also intended by the IDF to be a warning to his future boss, the newly appointed Supreme Leader.

Another significant change of emphasis in Israeli air strikes was indicated Sunday by the first Israeli attacks on Iranian oil facilities, igniting huge fires at three large fuel depots in the Tehran area, which, according to an IDF statement, served as primary fuel suppliers for the operation of Iran’s military infrastructure. According to a report from Israel’s Channel 12, while Israel had given the U.S. advance warning of its intention to begin attacking Iran’s oil infrastructure, American officials were taken by surprised and dismayed by the intensity of the attack, and fears that it could also make it more difficult for Iranian civilians to gain access to the fuel that they need to conduct their daily lives.

“We don’t think it was a good idea,” a U.S. official was quoted as saying in the Channel 12 report, adding that the U.S. military had expected Israel to conduct a largely symbolic strike on an Iranian oil site to serve as a warning of more serious attacks yet to come.

Similarly, President Trump’s Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, has publicly said that the U.S. would not target Iran’s energy infrastructure, but he also seemingly downplayed the Israeli strikes targeting oil tanks in Tehran by saying that they had targeted “local fuel depots [used] to fill up [individual] gas tanks,” rather than larger Iranian energy facilities.

Wright then emphasized that “The U.S. is targeting zero energy infrastructure. There are no plans to target Iran’s oil industry, their natural gas industry, or anything about their energy industry,” out of apparent concern for the economic viability of a future, hopefully much more benign Iranian government.

Iran Emulating Hamas Tactics by Hiding Among Civilians

Meanwhile, the CENTCOM U.S. military regional command reported Monday on a worrying new practice by the Iranian forces on Sunday. It accused Iran of taking a leaf out of Hamas’ Gaza playbook by launching ballistic missiles and drones from within some of Iran’s most heavily populated civilian areas in the cities of Dezful, Isfahan, and Shiraz.

The statement by CENTCOM said that this “dangerous decision risks the lives of all civilians in Iran since locations used for military purposes lose protected status and could become legitimate military targets under international law.

“The U.S. military takes every feasible precaution to minimize harm to civilians but cannot guarantee civilian safety in or near facilities used by the Iranian regime for military purposes.” As a result, CENTCOM’s statement urged “civilians in Iran to stay home” in order to remain safe from collateral damage due to U.S. attacks.

As of Sunday night, a total of 10 Israelis had been killed by Iranian attacks since the start of the war on February 28 (not counting the person killed in central Israel on Monday by an Iranian missile with a cluster warhead). In addition, 18 people, most of whom were foreign workers, had been killed by Iranian attacks on the Persian Gulf states, as well as the seven American soldiers who were killed in two separate Iranian attacks on bases in the region on March 1.

Israel’s Health Ministry also reported that 2,072 people had been hospitalized due to war injuries during that same period. Of those 155 war victims were still receiving intensive care, with nine reported to be in serious condition, 42 in moderate condition, and 98 in good condition.

Israel Believes That Iran’s Leadership Is Now Badly Divided

Last Saturday evening, Israeli Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu, as well as Defense Minister Israel Katz and other top Israeli security officials, were “optimistic” that the Iranian regime would soon collapse. That is because they have reportedly identified sharp disagreements between President Masoud Pezeshkian and the IRGC over Iran’s basic war strategy with regard to its attacks on its Persian Gulf neighbors, as well as an apparent disconnect between Iran’s military leadership and its forces in the field.

Channel 12 news also quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official saying that, “there is no deadline for the campaign . . . As long as the price paid by the [Israeli] home front keeps going down, and there aren’t [serious] U.S. losses, Israel and the U.S. are continuing with full force.”

Another security official was also quoted by the network as saying that “we’re optimistic about the ability to cause the regime to collapse.”

The official added that the regime’s fall “could come in an instant,” [because] it’s being hunted every day [and] it’s being slowly eaten from within. Inside the regime, there is confusion and power struggles that haven’t been there in decades.”

Meanwhile, since the war started, Iran has received little significant additional help from its allies, Russia and China, aside from issuing public statements criticizing the U.S. and Israel for initiating the attack.

IDF Now Targeting Iran’s Missile Production Infrastructure

IDF spokesman General Effie Defrin announced that the IDF’s air strikes are now targeting the main Iranian regime’s “production sites.” These included “factories for the production of explosives for ballistic missile warheads; complexes for the production of unique raw materials for missile engines; a facility for mixing and casting missile engines; and a complex used for research, development, assembly, and production of advanced cruise missiles.” The main targets of one of the more recent waves of Israeli Air Force attacks were the IRGC ballistic missile production sites at Parchin and Shahrud, where, Defrin said, “most of the missiles fired at Israel were manufactured,” and where Iran was in the process of ramping up the rate of production to hundreds of missiles per month.

Defrin also said that during the first eight days of the war, the Israeli Air Force had carried out a total of 3,400 strikes on Iran, dropping more than 7,500 bombs, twice the number of munitions Israel used during the entire 12-day war last June.

Meanwhile, the IDF Home Front Command said that it was continuing to enforce the limited restrictions on public events that it put in place late last week, when the initial high volume of Iranian missile and drone attacks drastically slowed down. Under those guidelines, educational activities are prohibited, except for a number of exceptions; while gatherings of up to 50 people and the operation of workplaces are permitted, provided that all of the participants can reach a nearby shelter in time in case a missile warning is sounded.

President Trump also told reporters in a Monday night update on the progress of the war that the U.S. had knocked out 46 Iranian ships, effectively destroying the entire Iranian navy in addition to the destruction of its air force and its anti-aircraft defenses. In a previous update, Trump said that just before the joint U.S. and Israeli attack, the Iranians “were very close to [obtaining] a nuclear weapon.” The president then added, “They are crazy, and they would have used it, so we did the world a favor” [by attacking Iran before they crossed that nuclear threshold].

Why the Attack on Iran Was an Unavoidable Necessity

Trump also referred to the sneak attack launched by Hamas from Gaza with Iran’s active support and encouragement as another justification for the joint U.S. and Israeli military operation against Iran. “When you look at October 7 and beyond October 7, when you look at all the killing they’ve done for 47 years, this had to be done,” said Trump. He also referred to the magnitude of the heinous atrocities committed by Hamas during the October 7 attack when he was asked about Iran’s accusation that Israel had attacked an Iranian water desalination plant, an attack which Trump said he knew nothing about.

“They [Iran and Hamas] are among the most evil people ever on earth. They cut babies’ heads off. They chop women in half — take a look at October 7. Take a look at [all of the attacks on America] they’ve done over the last 47 years,” Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One.

The U.S. military has announced that it is cutting back on its use of expensive standoff weapons, such as Tomahawk cruise missiles. Instead, it will be relying more heavily on precision-guided bombs dropped by conventional B-52 and B-1 bombers to complete the destruction of Iran’s military and dual-use industrial infrastructure for the production of missiles and drones, including factories, assembly plants, and other critical elements of Iran’s military supply chain. The U.S. military will also be expanding its use of heavier 2,000-pound and penetrating “bunker buster” bombs designed to reach and destroy the portions of the Iranian military infrastructure, including its remaining ballistic missile stockpiles, that are heavily fortified or buried deep underground.

In addition, President Trump has ordered a third U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W, Bush to leave its patrol area in the waters off the coast of Venezuela and sail across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea to join the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln whose warplanes are participating in the attacks on Iran and in the defense against Iranian drone attacks.

An Unprecedented Level of U.S.-Israeli Military Cooperation

Another unique element of the current war against Iran is the unprecedented level of cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli militaries from the highest levels down. That cooperation began several months ago at a meeting between the head of the IDF’s military planning directorate, General Hidai Zilberman, and the head of CENTCOM, Admiral Cooper, to review the lessons to be learned from their experiences during last June’s 12-day-long war against Iran.

The two military leaders soon realized that if either the U.S. or Israel were to strike Iran, it would immediately retaliate against both countries. As a result, the leaders concluded, it made sense for the two countries not only to plan for a joint defense but also for joint offensive operations as well.

The most significant outcome of that joint planning effort was the realization that the offensive potential of the Israeli air force against Iran could be magnified by the U.S. supplying Israel with many more midair refueling aircraft. As a result, there are now dozens of U.S. Air Force tankers operating routinely from Ben Gurion Airport. This greatly enhanced refueling capability has enabled hundreds of IDF warplanes to shuttle continually back and forth between their bases in Israel and their targets in Iran more than1,000 miles away. It also made it possible for the Israeli Air Force to fly as many combat missions against Iran during the first four days of the current war as it flew during all of last June’s 12-day war.

Who Is Iran’s New Leader?

Meanwhile, the Iranian regime responded with the defiant move of appointing the Mojtaba Khameini, the son of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated during the initial air strike which started the war, as his father’s successor. Mojtaba, age 56, who is also an Islamic cleric, has long been closely associated with the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He also served in recent years as the primary gatekeeper, controlling the access of other Iranian leaders to his father as Iran’s Supreme Leader. Mojtaba is also believed to be committed to perpetuating his father’s legacy by continuing the fight against the U.S. and Israel to the bitter end, regardless of the cost to the Iranian people.

Mojtaba’s appointment was confirmed by the Islamic regime’s Assembly of Experts, made up of 88 senior Islamic clerics, just nine days after the devastating opening Israeli air strike on his father’s executive office in Tehran. That same attack killed Mojtaba’s mother, wife, and son. Iran has also confirmed reports that Mojtaba was also wounded in that attack, but it has not confirmed other reports claiming that Mojtaba’s wounds required the amputation of one of his legs.

Mojtaba Khamenei is only the third leader of Iran’s Islamic revolution since its inception in 1979 under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who ruled until he died in 1989. Mojtaba’s father was then chosen by the Assembly of Experts to take over the post, even though he lacked his predecessor’s Islamic theological expertise, which qualified him to be designated as a “grand ayatollah.”

As a young man, Mojtaba Khamenei fought as an Iranian soldier during the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 to 1988. He also studied to be a Shiite Islamic cleric in the seminaries of the town of Qom, which is still the center of Iranian theological scholarship.

However, despite his close connections to his politically all-powerful father, Mojtaba has never before held a formal position in Iran’s Islamic government and has rarely spoken in public. Nevertheless, during the first Trump administration in 2019, the U.S. government placed sanctions on Mojtaba Khamenei over his work to “advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives.” Mojtaba was also accused of supporting the bitterly disputed 2009 re-election to a second term as president of Iran by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which sparked Iran’s nationwide Green Movement street demonstrations, which in turn sparked a violent government reaction to suppress the protests.

Immediately after Mojtaba’s appointment was announced, the leadership of the IRGC, which has long maintained day-to-day control over much of Iran’s economy as well as its military, pledged that it was “ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands of the Guardian Jurist of the time, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.”

Trump Has Demanded a Veto on Iran’s Choice of a New Leader

The confirmation of the appointment of Mojtaba to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader was also an act of defiance against President Trump, who had previously publicly declared him to be a “lightweight.” In an ABC News interview Sunday, shortly before Mojtaba’s appointment was announced, Trump warned ominously that whoever is chosen to become Iran’s next leader, “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”

Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, also issued a similar warning. Several days before Mojtaba’s selection Katz warned that “any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan to destroy Israel, threaten the U.S. and the free world and the countries of the region, and oppress the Iranian people, will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” and that threat was echoed several days later by an official statement from the IDF.

However, in a televised NBC News interview Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi defiantly insisted that Iran alone would choose its next supreme leader, and would “allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs.” Araghchi also demanded that President Trump must “apologize to the people of the region” for starting the war. But at the same time, Araghchi failed to acknowledge that it was his own country of Iran which was, in fact, terrorizing its innocent neighbors with repeated volleys of ballistic missiles and drone attacks, targeting both military and civilian targets, as well as their strategically critical oil production facilities.

The immediate reaction of the Iranian public to Mojtaba’s appointment was mixed. While state-controlled Iranian media outlets displayed video footage of people celebrating the appointment across Iran by waving flags and chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” the homemade video footage published on Iranian social media outlets portrayed people in Tehran yelling from inside their apartments, so that their faces could not be seen, yelling “Death to Mojtaba” out their windows for the benefit of their neighbors and people walking in the streets below.

Iran’s Missile and Drone Attacks Are Winding Down

Meanwhile, by Monday of this week, Iran was down to launching no more than 10-15 ballistic missiles a day at Israel as compared to 80 or more missile launches during each of the first few days of the war. About 90 percent of the missiles were still being shot down by the multi-layer Israel defenses, which fortunately still showed no sign of a widely feared shortage of missile interceptors. However, the few Iranian missiles that did get through were able to cause several scattered but often serious Israeli casualties on the ground due to the deadly cluster munitions released from their warheads. But for most Israelis, the repetitive missile alerts during the course of each day had been largely reduced to a series of annoying disruptions to daily life due to the need to rush each time a siren sounded to the nearest bomb shelter or reinforced room until the all-clear was announced by the IDF Home Front Command.

However, by the end of last week, the ballistic missile attacks launched by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon had become more disruptive and dangerous than the Iranian missiles, primarily because there was much less advance warning time for Israeli civilians to seek shelter, since the Hezbollah launch sites were so much closer to their Israeli targets.

In recent days, the Hezbollah missile attacks have seemed to coincide with those coming from Iran, even though, according to IDF spokesman Deffrin, there is no clear evidence of organized coordination between their attacks. However, some commentators have suggested that Hezbollah fighters have been able to coordinate their missile attacks by monitoring the Israeli cellphone missile alert signals that tell them when a new Iranian-launched rocket is on its way.

Lebanon’s President Finally Speaks Up Against Hezbollah

The Israeli military is eager to take this opportunity to permanently eliminate the presence of Hezbollah in South Lebanon and its viability as a military threat. Another encouraging development in that regard was a video conversation Monday between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and two top European Union leaders in which talked about the Lebanese army disarming Hezbollah as part of a larger plan to re-instate the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon signed at the end of 2024, and putting an end to the continuing attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon by Israel whenever it detects a Hezbollah violation of that agreement.

Under Aoun’s proposal, the heretofore largely dormant Lebanese army would immediately take control of the strategically sensitive area of Lebanon south of the Litani River, confiscate all Hezbollah weapons found there, and dismantle other Hezbollah weapons stockpiles known to be located in other parts of the country.

In their Monday video conversation, Aoun told European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “I speak to you now while more than 600,000 of my people are displaced. Some are in the streets, without shelter and even without the most basic necessities of life. More than 400 of my people have been killed in recent days [due to Israeli counterattacks on Hezbollah strongholds], including 83 children and 42 women. More than 1,100 have been wounded, all within just a few days.”

Aoun also clearly assigned the ultimate blame for these casualties to Hezbollah because of its decision on March 2 to open fire against Israel from Lebanese territory without the “authority” of the Lebanese state, in disregard for Lebanese national interests and the lives of its citizens.

The Lebanese president also accused Hezbollah of creating a direct military confrontation with Israel that would turn Lebanon into “another Gaza.” Aoun also said, “Whoever launched those rockets wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state.”

Meanwhile two senior Republican conservative political and economic advisors, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Trump’ first term director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, agreed during their televised conversation on the Fox Business Channel Monday that the top priority for Trump with regard to the war against Iran was the immediate restoration of the interrupted flow of crude oil to the rest of the world from the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz. Restoration of that flow is urgently needed to reassure the American public and to give the Trump administration the additional time and political space that it needs to bring the war in Iran to a successful close.

Trump Facing Unique and Historic Opportunities and Challenges

In addition, Gingrich said, the Trump administration also needs to face up to the likelihood that the new Iranian supreme leader and his IRGC supporters have no other choice but to continue to resist Trump’s efforts to remove them from power, regardless of the high cost of such resistance to the people of Iran and the best national interests of the country.

Gingrich also observed that there is still no direct government mechanism in Iran for its people who have risked their lives to protest against the hated Islamic regime and now urgently seek to free themselves from the devastating consequences of its overly aggressive and failed policies and its heinous human rights abuses.

Nevertheless, both Gingrich and Kudlow agreed that Trump’s unexpectedly bold decision to finally eliminate the longstanding threat to world peace from Iran’s Islamic regime represents a historic opportunity to fundamentally change the destructive political dynamics that have kept many of the countries in the Middle East mired in violence, government dysfunction, and poverty for decades. They also agreed that if Trump can succeed in overcoming the three most immediate challenges in dealing with the current situation with Iran, which Gingrich identified, his bold actions there could become the greatest foreign policy achievement of his presidency by making progress towards both peace and prosperity for the entire region an achievable reality.

In A Perfect World: Sleepwalking

To be a child is to live in a dream world. When I think back on my childhood, memories come back in snatches: happy moments, funny moments, painful or sad or exciting moments. The big picture was made up of a million small day-to-day snapshots, and therefore largely invisible to my childish self. Past and future are only a vague blur when the present is your whole world. There was no sense of a larger universe encasing my own little one.

That’s the way a child perceives life. Things come and go, with no explanation and little understanding. Events happen to them, or around them, unlinked to context. Feelings bubble up in response to whatever the world throws at them, only to be replaced by other feelings in response to the next set of stimuli. It’s a fragmented world. Most of all, it’s a small world.

I’ve often returned to a certain theme in these columns called self-awareness. Usually, I’ve referenced the term with regard to our inner lives: the feelings, traumas and triggers that motivate our emotional reactions, often without our conscious knowledge. Growing up, we’ve said, involves gaining an awareness of the forces that live within, so that we can subdue and shape and direct them. But there’s more.

Self-awareness also means finding our place within the larger world. Learning how to tuck our small childhood existence into a larger, grown-up framework. This involves becoming aware of the issues that propel and dominate adult life, so that we can figure out who we are and where we stand.

If childhood is like a dream, kids basically sleepwalk through it. They inhabit a dream landscape of immediate, here-and-now experiences and emotions. Like sleepers lost in a dream, the bubble in which they live is their whole world. Their parents, siblings and extended family, their teachers and classmates and playmates, school in the winter and fun in the summer are all there is. All they need to know or think about.

Growing up involves not only stretching the perimeter but also shattering the dream. As the borders of our understanding begin to expand and we start to better comprehend life, the landscape we once believed to be eternally firm and smooth can be bulldozed out of all recognition.

Sometimes kids grow up too fast because of some dramatic upheaval or catastrophe. More often, the blade that plows up the earth beneath our feet can be nothing more traumatic than time itself.

Holding On

A healthy adult lives in the real world. Clinging to non-reality may be a sign of mental illness, or it could stem from an emotional deficit that has a person holding on tight to something that ought to long ago have receded into the past. Once childhood is over, so must its trappings and beliefs be.

Growing up means stepping out of the dream world of innocent, carefree childhood and into the real one where there is great beauty, nobility and goodness, but also nasty deficits such as violence, betrayal and corruption. A place of politics and war. Of building edifices and rebuilding them when they fall. Of plans to be made and bills to be paid. Somewhere within that huge real place, we carve out our personal space.

An individual who has not moved emotionally past childhood may not look like the classic “beach bum” but, like that bum, refuses to engage with the world in a mature and productive way. The so-called “Peter Pan” syndrome refers to people who insists on living as if they never have to grow up. This places a huge burden on those who are forced to pick up the slack for them. Even worse, it doesn’t allow them to do what they were put on this earth to accomplish.

Wanting to live irresponsibility is one thing; childhood trauma is another. If a person is frozen at the precise emotional age in which they experienced trauma, they require enormous compassion and probably professional help to assist them over that deeply buried hurdle. Though they may perform well on a practical or intellectual level, their emotional responses to life will typically be on a par with someone far younger than their actual age.

On the outside, they are responsible and even high-functioning adults. Inside, they are children crying out for what they’ve lost.

Waking Up

If childhood is a dream, then adolescence can be compared to being rudely woken from a sound sleep. The disorienting and sometimes brutal moment when you’re torn from slumber and thrust, willingly or not, into the waking world.

Once they’re fully arrived in that world, they’ll be fine. It’s the transition that can be rocky. Maybe that’s why teenagers are typically moody. The passage from childhood to adulthood is not always an easy one.

The transition comes with brilliant flashes of understanding plus moments of acute embarrassment. “Why didn’t I ever notice that before?” “Oh! Now I know what that means…” Suddenly, the jigsaw pieces of the child’s life come together to form a picture she was never able to grasp. Clues trickle in to explain old mysteries. New and different aspects of the world swim into her previously narrow orbit. The free-floating now of childhood becomes attached to a meaningful past and a hopeful future.

Growing up means abandoning impulse and, to a large degree, childlike spontaneity. It involves thinking about things that may not always be pleasant or easy to wrap our brains around. And it means responding to them.

It means letting go of the yearning for the kind of happy-ever-after endings routinely fed to children in storybooks. Gaining the maturity needed to redefine happiness, and to see that even unhappy endings can also be brand-new beginnings.

Ignorance is Bliss… Sometimes

The saying that “ignorance is bliss” may well apply to youngsters. They’re entitled to their ignorance, but we’re not. Awareness of our own inner workings and of the world’s outer workings is our responsibility to attain. It’s the basis for a realistic and purposeful life. Childhood may be sweet, but mature awareness makes life truer and richer. Even if the awareness necessarily comes along with some pain.

We can be tempted to deny unpalatable realities. If something painful intrudes upon our consciousness but we feel helpless to fix it, we may act dismissively, brushing it away like an annoying mosquito. This is as unhelpful as it is futile. The child who’s acting out in school won’t suddenly settle down because you don’t feel like dealing with it. Troubled marriages don’t usually turn wonderful all on their own. Problems come up and must be attended to, whether or not we want to acknowledge them.

Attractive as the thought of sleepwalking through our days might be, life doesn’t usually let us do so for long.

Nor should it. Childhood is meant to be a prelude. It’s a preparation, not a permanent way of life. Awareness is a vital tool for a successful adult life. There’s no point burying one’s head in the sand, because reality won’t be denied. Embracing ignorance just leaves a person… ignorant. We grow by coping with reality, and we become wise by figuring out how.

Kids lack a radar for nuance. As we grow, we learn to probe beneath the surface to sense the subtler parts of our own and others’ personalities. As we gain experience, we learn to make connections between seemingly disparate things and to better understand how the world works. Pretending that people or situations are strictly black and white is just another form of sleepwalking.

This necessary and fascinating education is called Learning How to be an Adult Human Being. Rough as it can sometimes be, it’s a class we simply don’t have the option of skipping.

Tempting as it is to stay snug in bed and dreaming, to be human is to be wide awake. Not dreaming, and certainly not sleepwalking. The road is too bumpy for that. A sleepwalker runs the risk of tripping over the rough patches, not to mention courting oblivion to the needs of those around him.

Walking through life with one’s eyes closed also means missing out on some really glorious scenery along the way. Both the obvious kind, and the kind that we must develop grown-up eyes to see.

On Purim, we celebrate the deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman’s sinister plot to annihilate them. We read and study the Megillah, reliving the stunning reversal that transformed a decree of destruction into a day of light and joy, and tracing the downfall of the wicked Haman.

The Megillah is unique in the fact that the name of Hashem is not mentioned openly anywhere in the entire narrative. Unlike other moments in our history, the Hand guiding events remains concealed between the lines. Purim was the first major miracle of national deliverance in which Hashem’s presence was hidden, His orchestration discernible only in hindsight. As the story unfolded, it appeared to move forward through political maneuvering, palace intrigue, and human courage. Only once the salvation was complete did it become evident that every detail — including the seudah of Achashveirosh, Vashti’s downfall, Esther’s rise, the king’s sleepless night, and everything else described in the Megillah — had been precisely arranged as part of a Divine plan.

Until Purim, Hashem’s role in our redemption had been revealed openly and unmistakably, often through events that transcended the laws of nature. The makkos, Yetzias Mitzrayim, Krias Yam Suf, and the miraculous sustenance in the midbar proclaimed Hashem’s mastery for all to see. The supernatural was evident, the message undeniable.

But the salvation in the days of Mordechai and Esther ushered in a new era. It was accomplished b’hester, within the natural order, through seeming coincidence and ordinary events. And so it has been ever since. We celebrate Purim not only to commemorate what happened then, but to internalize what it teaches now: That nothing is random, nothing is happenstance. Even when Hashem’s name is seemingly not written into the story, His presence is there. What appears fragmented and confusing is, in truth, carefully choreographed by Hashem Yisborach, guiding His people toward their ultimate redemption.

Once again, Klal Yisroel finds itself confronting grave danger. Nearly 2,400 years after the wicked designs of Haman to annihilate the Jewish people, we faced an existential threat from the regime in Iran.

For 47 years, since the Iranian Revolution, Iran’s leaders have openly proclaimed their hostility toward Israel and the United States, funding terror proxies across the region while pursuing nuclear capabilities and long-range missile technology. Israeli officials have warned for decades that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an intolerable threat, not only to Israel but to global stability. American administrations, along with other Western governments, have insisted that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon, though diplomatic efforts and negotiated agreements often fell short of eliminating the danger.

This past Shabbos, after years of escalating tension and repeated warnings, the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes targeting senior Iranian military leadership, nuclear facilities, ballistic missile installations, drone infrastructure, and command centers.

The objective was to halt a program that had crossed declared red lines and was rapidly advancing toward operational capability. Last year’s attacks apparently slowed, but did not stop, Iran’s efforts to build and expand its nuclear and missile programs.

The regime that repeatedly pledged to wipe Israel off the map appeared to be inching closer to that goal. Negotiations were attempted, but as the threat intensified and intelligence assessments grew more alarming, leaders concluded that the window to act was narrowing. When the opportunity presented itself to rid the world of the country’s leadership, the war was launched.

And thus, in the very region where the Purim story unfolded, and in the week of Purim, we find ourselves holding our collective breath. As in the days of Mordechai and Esther, events are moving swiftly, alliances are shifting, and the stakes are nothing less than the safety of millions. We recognize that beyond the military maneuvers and political calculations, Hakadosh Boruch Hu guides everything.

We are living through dangerous and historic days. Across Eretz Yisroel, families once again began the week hearing the wail of sirens and rushing to shelters as barrages of ballistic missiles streaked across the sky. Regrettably, some of those missiles landed in populated areas and claimed lives.

We daven that this conflict ends swiftly, that innocent lives be spared, and that the threat hanging over Klal Yisroel be decisively removed.

Just as the hidden Hand became clear at the end of the Megillah, we pray that soon we will merit to see, openly and unmistakably, the yeshuah that is now unfolding.

Boruch Hashem, most of us reading these words have never had to scramble to a shelter with minutes to spare. But for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel, this has become an all-too-frequent reality. And yet, no matter how many times they have done it, they never grow accustomed to it.

War is not merely headlines and briefings. It is not maps and military jargon. It is fear. It is disorientation. It is being jolted awake in the middle of the night, or abandoning what you are doing in the middle of the day, clutching your children as you race to safety, reciting kappitlach of Tehillim as you run. It is the collapse of normalcy, with schools closed, businesses shuttered, flights canceled, and deliveries halted. It is the steady, unrelenting anxiety that settles into the body and clings to the soul.

Having your day interrupted by sirens and a frantic dash to a shelter before a missile strikes is more than inconvenient. It is nerve-racking, frightening, and life-altering. It reminds a person, again and again, how fragile life is.

And yet, amidst the chaos of sirens and explosions, a Jewish heart responds instinctively: “Hashem yishmor. Hashem will guard us.” Every rocket intercepted is a manifestation of His mercy. Every near miss is an indication of His will and rachamim. Ultimately, no defense system and no army operate independently of the Ribbono Shel Olam. He alone determines who will be protected, who will be spared, and who will emerge to say, “Hashem was watching over me.”

We are a nation that has endured more than any other in history, not because of our superior strength or political advantage, but because of our unbreakable bond with the Ribbono Shel Olam. That connection has carried us through empires that rose and fell, and through Hamans of every generation, and it sustains us still, in these days of sirens, smoke, rockets, planes, and peril.

With rachamei Shomayim, most of the intended targets inside Iran are being struck, and with each successful operation, the threat is further diminished. Missiles are intercepted. Catastrophes are averted. Entire barrages that could have wrought unimaginable destruction are stopped midair.

And yet, as we saw in Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh, Yerushalayim, and other cities, there are rockets that penetrate the shield. They land. They destroy. They maim. They are painful reminders that alongside rachamim, there is also din. They remind us how fragile life is, how dependent we are on siyata diShmaya, and how urgently we must draw closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu to merit protection.

As maaminim bnei maaminim, we understand that while armies battle on the physical front lines, we wage war on a spiritual one through tefillah, teshuvah, and tzedakah. Every added kappitel of Tehillim, every act of chesed, every extra moment of Torah learning fortifies the battlefield forces in ways we cannot measure. The unseen weapons of Klal Yisroel have always been its most powerful.

And when the war feels prolonged and the darkness thick, we cling to the promise of the novi: “Ki lo yitosh Hashem amo,” Hashem will not forsake His people.

Even now. Especially now.

In times of conflict, many are tempted to become amateur geopolitical analysts. Conversations quickly turn to speculation — why the enemy acted, what strategic calculus was at play, how deftly this leader or that one responded. Pundits dissect the decisions of presidents and prime ministers, attributing outcomes to political brilliance or failure.

But we know better.

This war, like every war, unfolds because Hashem willed it so, not because a particular leader desired it, and not because of one treaty or another speech. Events do not generate Divine plans. They implement them.

It is not that circumstances aligned and therefore history moved. History moves because the Ribbono Shel Olam directs it, and circumstances align accordingly.

Just as Paroh ascended to power to set the stage for Yetzias Mitzrayim, so are contemporary leaders positioned precisely where they need to be to fulfill a larger design. The revolutionary regime that took control of Iran in 1979 did not emerge by accident. The global powers that enabled it, restrained it, negotiated with it, or confronted it did not act outside the framework of Hashgocha. Each played, and continues to play, a role in a script authored long before any of them took office.

It’s not that Trump won and therefore the war happened. It’s the other way around. Trump won because Hashem wanted the world to move toward this moment.

Presidents and prime ministers occupy their posts because, at this juncture in history, the Ribbono Shel Olam requires them there. The world is being guided, step by step, toward its destined culmination. The threats we face, the alliances that form, and the confrontations that erupt are all part of a process moving creation toward geulah.

Because Hashem wants to set up the world for Moshiach to reveal himself and redeem us, He brought the world to this juncture.

We may not yet see the full picture. But just as in the days of Purim, when the Hand was hidden until the final moment, so too, we now live within a story still unfolding, guided with precision, purpose, and promise.

When we forget who we are and Who sustains us, when we allow ourselves to be distracted by headlines and worldly analysis, we risk becoming like the Jews of Shushan, threatened by Haman after having sinned by indulging in the feast of Achashveirosh and drinking from the keilim of the destroyed Bais Hamikdosh.

The Rambam opens Hilchos Taanis with a powerful statement: “Mitzvas asei min haTorah, it is a mitzvah in the Torah, to cry out to Hashem and to do teshuvah whenever any tragedy strikes.” This is derived from a posuk in Parshas Beha’aloscha (Bamidbar 10:9). When tragedy strikes, it is ultimately a reflection of our own shortcomings, and the path to overcoming it is through teshuvah.

Those who reduce wars or calamities to purely political or natural explanations, or who deny or ignore Hashem’s role in the unfolding of events, are engaging in a form of cruelty. They obscure the truth, prevent people from recognizing the Divine Hand, and hinder the opportunity for teshuvah. None of us wish to be counted among the cruel, especially when the Rambam is not offering opinion but articulating halacha and revealing the true nature of the world according to the Torah.

The Chovos Halevavos teaches in Shaar Cheshbon Hanefesh that someone who places his faith in Hashem is never abandoned. Hashem opens the gates of understanding, reveals the hidden depths of His wisdom, watches over him, and does not leave him to the limitations of his own strength.

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 2b) tells us that when Moshiach comes, the nations of the world will protest the punishment they are about to receive for their treatment of the Jews. They will claim that all their actions were intended to benefit the Jewish people and facilitate their service of Hashem and the Torah. Persia, modern-day Iran, will argue, “We built bridges, conquered lands, and waged wars all to enable the Jews to learn Torah.”

While it is conceivable that infrastructure projects could indirectly support Torah study, what of war? Perhaps the Gemara is hinting that even wars and threats can serve as wake-up calls — to frighten, to warn, to inspire teshuvah, and to redirect hearts toward the Torah.

When the Supreme Ruler of Iran publicly declared his intent to destroy Israel and raced to arm the nation with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, the world largely stood by, making only nominal attempts to curb his ambitions.

During last year’s twelve-day conflict, Israel cleared the skies, striking hundreds of targets and neutralizing military leaders, nuclear scientists, and key infrastructure. In just a few days, a nation seventy-five times smaller dismantled decades of buildup, despite Iran’s strength and pride. Though rockets were fired in retaliation, Hashem’s protection was unmistakable. Most were intercepted, and the death toll remained minimal. Every life lost is a tragedy, yet the contrast between what could have happened and what actually occurred can only be explained by Hashgocha Protis.

This is not strategy. This is not luck. This is not political brilliance.

This is Hashem’s Hand. This is the unfolding of a Divine plan. This is the sound of the approaching geulah.

Let us not waste this moment. As the war continues, as sirens wail and bombs threaten every part of Eretz Yisroel, let us raise our voices in passionate tefillah that Hashem spare us from the evil intentions of the anshei Poras and Yishmoel.

Let us strengthen our commitment to Torah, chesed, tzedakah, and the refinement of our middos. Let us build zechuyos with every word of Torah learned, every tefillah sincerely recited, and every act of kindness performed.

Just as in the days of Mordechai and Esther, when danger loomed and Hashem’s Hand was hidden, we live today with the awareness that nothing is by chance. Every challenge, every threat, every moment of uncertainty is part of a Divine plan. Purim reminds us that even when Hashem is hidden, His providence is real, guiding every event and protecting His people.

We are reminded that our role is not passive. While Hashem orchestrates the world, we are called to act as only we can through Torah, tefillah, tzedakah, and chesed, refining ourselves and building zechuyos for ourselves and our people. Just as Esther and Mordechai played a crucial role in the miracle of Purim by leading Am Yisroel to teshuvah, so will our spiritual efforts today help bring about the hidden yeshuah for which we all yearn.

Let us live with clarity and courage, seeing both the dangers and the opportunities that lie before us. Let us be a people who respond to fear, threats, and uncertainty with emunah, bitachon, and unwavering trust in Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

May this be the last war, and just as the Megillah ends with orah, simcha, sasson and yekor, may we soon see peace break out in the Middle East and throughout the world and be zoche to the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.

This article may be foolhardy. But I can’t help it. It is always dangerous to write about important things that are changing by the moment. Many of us found out on Shabbos — as our shul did from a gentile security guard — that the war had begun. We said Tehillim, went out to recite Kiddush Levanah and went home to prepare for Purim. However, I did have enough time to share a maamar at seudah shlishis from my rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, which seemed to resonate and perhaps even predicted the amazing events that had occurred on Shabbos. It seemed that the United States and Israel, in a coordinated attack, had killed the once-feared Ayatollah Khamenei and numerous other leaders of the regime. The Supreme Leader had threatened incessantly to destroy Eretz Yisroel and murder all the Jews. Like Haman, he is no more.

It may be that this Purim and Shushan Purim neis was presaged by the rosh yeshiva (Pachad Yitzchok, Purim, inyan 15, page 59). The rosh yeshiva cites a Yerushalmi (Megillah 1:1) that “in order to bestow honor upon Eretz Yisroel, the sages ordained the day of Shushan Purim for cities that were surrounded by a wall from the days of Yehoshua ben Nun.” The famous question is that since Shushan itself didn’t have such a wall, how does another day of Purim bring kavod to Eretz Yisroel?

The rosh yeshiva’s answer is to examine two wars between Klal Yisroel and Amaleik. In the first one, during the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, it was Amaleik who attacked us suddenly without any provocation whatsoever (Shemos 17:8). In the second, during the days of Shaul Hamelech, we attacked Amaleik first (Shmuel 1:15:2-9). Rav Hutner continues: “Since the Yom Tov of Purim represents our long-standing struggle with Amaleik, it was ineluctable that it would include both modes of this conflict. Therefore, Purim was divided into two days. First, there was the 14th of Adar, when they attacked us with the decree of genocide. Then, when Hashem performed a miracle and brought us to relief and tranquility, we asked for another day to wreak vengeance upon our enemy, even though the immediate danger had already ended.”

Indeed, the 14th of Adar corresponds to when we were “on the road,” and the 15th when “Hashem your G-d gives you rest from all your enemies” (Devorim 25:19), which resonates with the time in Megillas Esther (9:13, 16) described as “gaining relief from their foes.” At that point, we were not escaping or afraid. We were taking vengeance upon those who were totally committed to our destruction. The obligation to wage war upon Amaleik begins with the Yehoshua’s conquering of Eretz Yisroel. This was the first of our mitzvos as a nation upon entering the Land (Sanhedrin 20b). The honor of Eretz Yisroel requires the eradication of Amaleik. This explains the ruling of the Yerushalmi that the day of Shushan Purim was enacted to grant honor to Eretz Yisroel.” The idea of a walled city simply makes the connection between this day and Eretz Yisroel.

We can now draw a direct line between the two days and modes of warfare in ancient Shushan and recent events. On February 11, 1979, after the Shah fled Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran and proclaimed the Islamic Republic of Iran. Soon after, prominent Jews were arrested and the new regime became the largest purveyor of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel threats, becoming the main sponsor of world terrorism. Threats to annihilate Israel and Jews proliferated and various forms of intifada and other venues to murder Jews abounded. We sometimes responded and sometimes did not. However, this time, together with the United States, we went to do battle against radical Islam in this latest incarnation. Is there a connection? I don’t claim to know for sure, but it surely warrants some more analysis.

The first obvious question is: What does all this have to do with Amaleik? Surely, according to our own sources, the Arabs and recent Islamic groups hail from Yishmoel, not Eisav, who is the progenitor of Amaleik.

The answer was actually given by Rav Hutner himself in a shiur and later article, which I had the privilege of translating for publication (“Holocaust: A Rosh Yeshiva’s Response” in A Path Through the Ashes,” ArtScroll, 1986, page 51). For a bit of context, the rosh yeshiva was discussing the connection between the anti-Semitism of the Nazis and that of the Mufti of Yerushalayim, Haj Amin el-Husseini. Rav Hutner identifies the origin of this seemingly strange alliance as the posuk (Bereishis 28:9) which states, “And Eisav went unto Yishmoel and took Machlas the daughter of Yishmoel…for a wife.” The rosh yeshiva invoked the rule of maaseh avos siman labonim — the actions of the patriarchs are a sign of what would happen later to the children. “We learn from this passage,” the rosh yeshiva continued, “that it was inevitable for the forces of Eisav and Yishmoel to combine. We are now living in the midst of that pivotal moment in Jewish history.”

I would like to stress that the rosh yeshiva read each word of the English manuscript carefully, made changes and approved the final result. Of course, I unfortunately have no idea if he would have extended his approbation to this connection to Purim, Shushan Purim and the war with Iran. But one thing is clear. The current battle with Iran is not at all with Persia, ancient or modern. It is with the descendents of Yishmoel who seized control of the country and inflicted their enmity upon us and indeed upon most of the Western world. Are they Amaleik? I don’t know, but they are certainly the philosophic and spiritual heirs of Eisav at his worst. That would certainly seem to be Amaleik.

Since we just heard Parshas Zachor and celebrated Purim and Shushan Purim, let’s broaden the issue a bit more. The Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel (end of Parshas Ki Seitzei) states that “You must remember to eradicate Amaleik from under the heavens, and not forget even in the days of Moshiach.” This coincides well with the teaching of Rabbeinu Bachya (also end of Ki Seitzei) that we will succeed in eradicating Amaleik in the days of Moshiach. It seems from the Ramban on those pesukim as well that since there will no longer be an Amaleik in the world, the mitzvah to remember him will no longer exist. The Birkas Avrohom (end of Maseches Megillah) also quotes from the Brisker Rov that this will be the case. However, others (see discussion in Peninim M’bei Medrasha, Purim, page 428) quote the exact opposite, that in the world of Moshiach we will still have to worry that some Amaleikim who appeared to repent might return to their evil ways. Indeed, the Meleches Shlomo (on Mishnayos Megillah 3:4) suggests that even during those best of times to come, we will have to recall how Amaleik attacked us when we had become weakened in Torah so that we would never again fall into that trap.

With this concept, Rav Yisroel Yaakov Fisher (Even Yisroel on Devorim, page 176) explains the pesukim in Sefer Shmuel cited above. The novi Shmuel had exhorted Shaul that Hashem said, “I have remembered what Amaleik did to Yisroel… Now go and strike down Amaleik.” Rav Fisher asks: Why did Hashem have to mention remembering what Amaleik did? He answers that Shmuel wanted to fulfill the mitzvah of remembering what Amaleik did to us, but he feared that since Shaul was supposed to completely annihilate Amaleik, the mitzvah would soon be obsolete. He therefore wanted to perform the mitzvah while it was still possible. We see that there are varying opinions as to whether or not we will have to remember the evil of Amaleik in the World to Come. Perhaps we can add that even when we are in the process and have the ability to rid the world of Amaleik, we will first have to determine where and who they are, because their identity may have changed over the centuries and millennia.

Rav Yechezkel Levenstein (Ohr Yechezkel, “Torah Vadaas,” page 306) adds a fascinating comment to this subject. In an essay discussing the prohibition to try to “second-guess” Hashem, he cites the mistake made by King Shaul. Hashem had told him to eliminate anything to do with Amaleik, including the cattle, but he didn’t do so. His logic was that Hashem had done so many miracles for Klal Yisroel and they would want to offer korbanos to thank Hashem. Therefore, he thought, he will save some of the animals so the mitzvah of thanking Hashem could be done properly. However, as Rav Chatzkel teaches, we can never understand the true reasons for anything Hashem says or does. Our role is simply to obey. In this, the great Shaul Hamelech failed in his mandate and was punished severely, forever losing his royalty.

It is clear that dealing with Amaleik is always fraught with colossal difficulties. Apparently, even just knowing who they are and what to do about them is hard enough. Even after we have figured something out, new issues arise because after all, they are our mortal enemies and have often outsmarted us. May Hashem send us the wisdom, knowledge and siyata diShmaya to do what is right and take care of us at the same time. May Hashem guide us through this test and protect us with the coming of the geulah sheleimah bemeheirah beyomeinu. Amein.

Our homes are filled with them, and there is no lack of nosh for quite a while.

Way back in my yeshiva days in Telz, as youngsters, we had long lists of friends to whom we “just had to give shalach manos,” all of them residing in the dormitory. You can just imagine what the place looked like after Purim, and the baal tashchis was staggering. Until someone came up with the idea to collect all of the nosh and deliver it to an orphanage. In later years, with a house full of kids, the leftovers disappeared rather quickly. There were times when we tried to act as responsible parents and bought their mishloach manos from them to avoid cavities and excess energy. But that inspiration did not last very long.

Now that, boruch Hashem, they all have families of their own, our empty nest remains loaded with the goodies like never before — and wines galore. We receive bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Riesling, Chardonnay, and others. But since I cannot handle anything stronger than light cream pink Concord, most of the bottles go to relatives or neighbors. As for the nosh, I bring it to yeshiva for my talmidim, who do not seem to mind accepting it, despite the abundance of nosh they bring from home.

There is also another kind of leftovers — the pleasant memories of a family Purim seudah with children and ainiklach, with singing and divrei Torah. But even more meaningful is a machshavah that caught your attention and inspired you over Purim. This is a leftover that is eternal and could have a life-altering effect. May I share with you one such leftover, a thought so basic to our hashkofas hachaim?

Chazal tell us, “Let the honor of your talmid be as dear to you as your own honor.” They derive this from the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu said to his talmid, Yehoshua, “Choose people for us and go do battle with Amaleik…” (Shemos 17:9). Moshe included Yehoshua together with himself (Mechilta, Shemos 17:9). Why is this lesson taught specifically during the war against Amaleik?

Rav Yitzchok Hutner, in his classic sefer Pachad Yitzchok, explains that regarding Amaleik, the posuk states, “Hashem maintains a war against Amaleik from generation to generation” (Shemos 17:16). Beyond the simple meaning that there is a war against Amaleik in every generation, there is another implication: The war against Amaleik is fought through the unification of generations. Amaleik flourishes where there is a breach in Klal Yisroel. When there was a lack of achdus among our people, Haman was able to be mekatreig against us: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples…” (Esther 3:8). To rectify this, Esther told Mordechai, “Go assemble all the Jews to be found in Shushan” (ibid. 4:16). That is also why the chachomim instituted the mitzvah of mishloach manos — to bring us together (Manos Halevi).

Amaleik also thrives when there is a gap between generations — between father and son, and between rebbi and talmid. We are paying a heavy price to this day for the deviation of the Haskalah movement from the ways of our fathers and rabbonim of previous generations. They looked at their forebears with disdain, claiming that they were not in tune with the times, and forged new paths. This led to the Reform and Conservative movements, and today, because of them, most of our brethren r”l do not know what it means to be a Jew. The same could be said of the Zionist and socialist movements that led so many Yidden astray.

In contrast, see how wonderful a chareidi community is — how uniform, how organized, how strong it is in its educational mosdos and chesed organizations. How beautiful its families are, generations living side by side, celebrating many simchos together. What great energy is generated by the unification of generations and the continuity of shared values and ideals, our holy mesorah reaching back to Moshe Rabbeinu and the avos and imahos.

While Amaleik sought to cool our devotion to Hashem — “asher korcha baderech” — we sustain our dedication to Hashem and the Torah by strengthening the links of our precious legacy. This is why the close relationship between Moshe and Yehoshua, the quintessential rebbi and talmid, is emphasized in the battle against Amaleik. It is our greatest weapon against him, our insurance policy against his intrusion into our holy portals. We hold tightly to the ways of previous generations and do not allow foreign winds to enter our midst.

The other day, while on the treadmill, I heard a news commentator say, “In the olden days, people’s opinions were formed primarily by what they learned from their parents at home and from their teachers in school. Nowadays, however, with advances in technology, there is so much more available to develop our opinions — the vast number of publications, the internet, and podcasts.”

Then, almost as an afterthought, he added that perhaps there is a disadvantage to this overload of information, as it can cause confusion. One does not have to be very astute to see the confusion in America today. There are so many voices, many of them promoting corrupt ideas, bereft of moral content. Secular youth hear so much venom directed against their government that they have lost pride in their country and appreciation of true liberty.

Today, it is often detrimental for them to rely on parents and teachers, who themselves live in a state of confusion, and the teachers’ union plays a significant role in this. We cannot take comfort in present policies that enhance the country, because circumstances can change drastically with the possibility of bizarre ideologies prevailing in future elections. Amaleik has the gematria of 240, the same as sofeik, doubt. This is the power of our greatest nemesis — to create doubt and cause people to lose focus and direction. How different this is from our beautiful way of life.

How crucial it is to follow mesorah is illustrated by the following incident. One of our greatest poskim, the Maharshal, Rav Shlomo Luria, felt that at a siyum of a masechta, the brocha of shehasimcha bime’ono should be recited in the introduction to Birkas Hamazon, because there is no greater joy before Hakadosh Boruch Hu than the simcha and song of Torah. He planned to do so at a siyum, but the celebration was disrupted by great uproar and tumult. The Maharshal attributed this unfortunate incident to his attempt to institute a custom he had never heard from his rabbeim (Yam Shel Shlomo, Bava Kamma, Merubah 37).

When Haman returned home after the humiliation of leading Mordechai on the king’s horse and complained to his advisors and his wife, they told him, “If Mordechai before whom you have begun to fall is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but will undoubtedly fall before him” (Esther 6:13). This statement is puzzling. Was there ever doubt that Mordechai was a Jew? Was he not known throughout Shushan as Mordechai HaYehudi?

The Chiddushei Harim explains that it means that if Mordechai descends from generations of Jews steadfastly faithful to Hashem, untainted by foreign influences, then you have no chance of defeating him. In light of what we have said — that Amaleik thrives on a disconnect in our mesorah — this is understandable. The energy generated by continuity is the key to defeating him. This is a precious leftover from Purim that we must savor.

Even today, foreign ideas can infiltrate our midst in ways not seen in previous generations. Tznius is not merely a mode of dress. It is a way of life — living humbly, without fanfare, and with less indulgence in physical pleasures.

So many views are expressed in print today. Do we know their sources? Who are the writers, and what do they represent? Are their ideas rooted in daas Torah, or do they stem from the modern secular world? The vast scale of literature can cause confusion. We are careful with the hechsheirim on our food. At least as important is the kashrus of the material that shapes our hashkafos.

If we are not vigilant, if we do not cling carefully to our mesorah, we risk living in a state of ad delo yoda — confusion — throughout the year. Strict adherence to mesorah sharpens the sometimes-blurry distinction between arur Haman and boruch Mordechai.

It was a Shabbos that we will never forget — the sirens that accompanied the reading of Parshas Zachor, the loud booms that gave no indication of whether we were hearing interceptions or actual missile strikes, the airplanes that flew over Yerushalayim throughout the day, the deserted streets and shuls, and the reports from foreign workers that a war had begun. We were all overjoyed when we learned that the tyrannical mass murderer Khomenei had been killed, but we shed tears when a woman was killed in Tel Aviv on Shabbos, and we were grief-stricken the next day after the deadly missile strike on the bomb shelter of the Tiferes Yisroel shul in Beit Shemesh. My own family was gripped by fear as the sirens repeatedly wailed, since our apartment has no safe room or protected area. And the questions and uncertainties hover in the air: What will happen on Purim? How long will this go on? How many missiles will Iran continue launching in desperation?

On Shabbos morning, I had a strange sense that something was amiss. The streets were relatively empty, and I was one of the first to arrive at davening — and I do not daven at neitz. I soon discovered that an air raid siren had been heard in Yerushalayim an hour before I arrived at shul, which is how everyone else knew that the war had begun. I, on the other hand, did not hear the siren, perhaps because I was sleeping too soundly, but more likely because I am hard of hearing due to a combination of my age and hereditary factors. Nevertheless, I didn’t need the siren to inform me that something was happening; the clues in my surroundings tipped me off. Rechov Givat Shaul, the main street in my neighborhood, is usually filled with people on Shabbos, whether they are hurrying to shul, returning from davening, or, in some cases, running through the streets with towels draped on their shoulders (after all, our neighborhood has an eiruv) either to or from the mikveh. But this time the street was empty. What made this even more striking was the fact that it was the week of Parshas Zachor, when women go to shul as well. The local tzedokah committee had gone to great efforts to compile lists of the times when Parshas Zachor would be read in every shul in the neighborhood and in every nusach, and to post those notices in every building. They even specified which women’s readings were attended by a minyan of men. It is a wonderful neighborhood and community; there is no question about that. In any event, this time, the empty streets made it abundantly clear that this wasn’t a Shabbos like any other.

I generally daven on Shabbos morning in a shul known as Tausig. I am very fond of the gabbai, Rav Chaim Lieder (who is in charge of taharos and burials for the chevra kaddisha of Yerushalayim during the week), as well as the other mispallelim and the baal korei. Above all, I am fond of the time when davening begins, which is approximately 9:15 a.m. (Yes, we make it in time for zman tefillah; do not worry.) On a typical Shabbos, anyone who arrives after Shochen Ad will have a hard time finding an empty seat, but this time, most of the benches were unoccupied. Upon entering the shul, I made a quizzical gesture to one of the regular mispallelim, and he motioned back that there was a war. At first, I wasn’t sure how to interpret his gesture; there isn’t an easy way to signal without actually speaking that a war has begun. But I didn’t have to wait long to clarify his intent; one minute later, the shrill sound of an air raid siren pierced the air. That was frightening enough, and then someone else motioned to me that it was the third siren of the morning. At that point, I began to feel deeply unsettled.

So the other shoe had finally dropped, and we were at war. This was not a joke. Just before we read the words “remember what Amalek did to you,” a loud boom echoed in the distance with incredible synchronicity. It was impossible to know what the explosive sound signified: Did it mean that a missile had been intercepted and neutralized, or did it mean that Israel’s defenses had failed to intercept it and the missile had landed somewhere? If it was the latter, then it had surely struck nearby; the explosion had been very loud. Meanwhile, planes were buzzing and circling in the air constantly. I gathered that Trump had decided to make good on his threats and had begun crushing the “axis of evil.” He had declared that he would not allow Iran to become a nuclear power, and it seemed that he was determined to keep his word.

Air Raid Sirens Sow Terror

Everyone feels fear at some point in his life. Some people are naturally anxious and tend to fear things that do not frighten others. But even the most unflappable person surely feels fear sometimes. I believe that in most cases, when a person experiences fear, there is a way to escape from the danger. An air raid siren, on the other hand, induces mortal terror, and there is no apparent way to avoid the peril. If you haven’t experienced this, then it is likely that you have never felt fear of that nature.

When an air raid siren sounds people head for the closest bomb shelter, which is located in the basement of a building, or to a safe room, which is reinforced.

On the other hand, recent missile strikes have indeed caused damage to buildings in Tel Aviv, in Be’er Sheva, and even in Bnei Brak.

While hishtadlus is an obligation for anyone who has the opportunity, we know that only Hashem determines our fate. When the Iron Dome successfully shoots down incoming missiles, we know to attribute it to His protection. Iron Dome batteries (which were received from the United States) are distributed throughout the country. B’chasdei Shomayim, this system shoots down almost every missile that crosses Israel’s borders, making sure that the shrapnel falls into the sea or an uninhabited area. In Tel Aviv, the interceptor missed the missile, and the resultant devastation showed us the true magnitude of Hashem’s chesed in the vast majority of cases, when the missiles are indeed intercepted and destroyed. This is also evident from the events in Arab countries in recent days, where the Iron Dome system does not exist, and almost every Iranian missile causes massive destruction. May Hashem continue to protect us!

This week marked the 30th yahrtzeit of Rav Pinchos Menachem Alter, the Pnei Menachem of Ger, who passed away on 16 Adar 5756/1996. During the Gulf War, the Pnei Menachem worked hard to instill calm in the Israeli public. He famously commented that there is no reason to be afraid, since everything that occurs in the world is a function of Heavenly hashgocha and every bullet has an address (an echo of a comment once made by the Ohr Somei’ach, Rav Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk). At that time, a few bochurim decided that they did not need to take precautions, and they sat on a rooftop during an air raid to watch the missile fire. When Rav Pinchos Menachem became aware of that, he sent a messenger to rebuke them. “We never know the address on a missile,” he said. “It might very well be addressed simply to ‘people who do not take precautions.’”

The Shabbos Goyim Kept Us Informed

As I mentioned, this past Shabbos was a frightening day, with sirens sounding with rapid frequency since 8:00 in the morning. In shul, I learned that Israel had launched a joint attack on Iran together with the American army. Now, you may be wondering how anyone had this information to share with me when we are cut off from the radio and other media on Shabbos. Even the silent radio station, which is meant to broadcast on Shabbos, does not report the news; it merely relays updated instructions from the Home Front Command. But that does not mean that religious Jews have no way of learning about what is happening in the world on Shabbos.

There is one surefire indicator of something going on: When reservists are called up in large quantities, one can be certain that military action is taking place. We have seen this in previous wars as well, when people were suddenly summoned to the front lines even from their shuls. When a war breaks out, reservists are called to duty, and even many chareidim, mostly those who serve by identifying corpses, are called to serve as well. But that alone isn’t enough of a source of information, since it typically provides us only with a general picture of the situation and not with the finer details.

The details, however, are often supplied to us by foreign workers. In Eretz Yisroel, any person who requires long-term care (a status with rigid but clear criteria) is entitled to employ a foreign caregiver. To do this, one must solicit the services of an agency that recruits caregivers from foreign countries (typically Thailand, India, or the Philippines) who have been trained specifically to provide care for the elderly. Many caregivers accompany their charges to shul and then wait for davening to end so they can walk them home. In the Zupnik shul, for instance, there are three men who employ foreign caregivers. The caregivers are gentiles who listen to the news and therefore can keep us abreast of what is happening. On days like this past Shabbos, they become sources of information for the entire neighborhood.

In truth, the rest of the community makes use of these caregivers’ services all the time. Whenever someone needs a Shabbos goy, there is nothing to prevent him from “borrowing” a neighbor’s caregiver for a few minutes, even though there is also an official Shabbos goy who is stationed in the center of the neighborhood every week. Although we do not discuss compensation on Shabbos, it is understood that anyone who received such services must go to his neighbor’s home after Shabbos to pay the goy for whatever he did. The payments vary based on financial status, and perhaps based on the magnitude of the problem that had to be fixed, but the standard payment is 70 shekels, which is the equivalent of about 20 dollars, not a terribly excessive sum.

On Motzoei Shabbos, we all pounced on every source of news available to us. Having endured a long Shabbos that brought us many air raid alerts, we were all hungry for every last scrap of information. We had begun to realize that Purim would be different this year; the Home Front Command had already announced a ban on public gatherings, and we all feared that we would not be permitted to gather in our shuls to hear the megillah. On Sunday morning, the shuls were packed with people; however, that was before the tragedy in Beit Shemesh.

In the meantime, the prime minister released a message to the nation implying that the war might last for several days, and possibly for several weeks. My cell phone received several messages from the Knesset: Committee deliberations had been canceled, and the Knesset sitting initially scheduled for Sunday — the only day the Knesset was due to meet this week, on account of Purim — had been called off as well. We were also informed that the Knesset building would be locked, with no one permitted to enter the premises. This was a dramatic move, considering that the Knesset building is the symbol of Israel’s governance. I will also let you in on a secret: On Friday, an Iron Dome battery was stationed next to the Knesset building. This could mean only one thing: There was a concern that a missile would be fired specifically at the Knesset (or perhaps the nearby Prime Minister’s Office or Bank of Israel). Meanwhile, classes were cancelled in schools throughout the country. Israel had very quickly shifted into war mode.

On Motzoei Shabbos, an open letter from the gedolei Yisroel was published: “To our brethren, Bnei Yisroel, who dwell in the Holy Land and in every place. At a time such as this one, when the people who dwell in Tzion are in a state of war and great danger, and the burden of the authorities’ persecution of the talmidim of yeshivos and kollelim is increasing as well, it is our duty to increase our Torah learning and davening, to beg Hashem to pour out His mercy upon us from Heaven and to save us from all those who seek to harm us, and to show us miracles as in the days of Mordechai and Esther. Our Father, our King, thwart the plots of our enemies and annul all evil decrees! Our brethren are called upon to enter the yeshivos and shuls on Taanis Esther before Mincha and to read perokim 22, 83, and 85 of Tehillim, one posuk at a time, followed by reciting Kel Melech and the 13 middos of Heavenly mercy. It is also reported that the Chazon Ish said that reciting the kapitel of yosheiv b’seser can ward off bombs and explosions. May it be the Will of our Father in Heaven that our redemption will be hastened, our salvation will be brought near, and He will liberate us from trouble to freedom. May we achieve joy and gladness, and may sadness and sighing flee.”

The Iranian Snake and Hamas

One thing is clear: The Middle East, and the world along with it, is on the brink of change. The wicked tyrant Khomenei was responsible for a long list of terror attacks over the 40 years of his leadership. He was the epitome of evil. Even when President Trump listed several occasions when Americans were slaughtered on Khomeini’s orders, he did not manage to put together the full list. Khomenei was also indirectly — and maybe even directly — responsible for the bombing of the Twin Towers. He is the one who taught the Shiite Muslim world that murder is a religious objective. The massacre of October 7 was also inspired and encouraged by the Iranian tyrant. Some say that once the Iranian axis of evil has been crushed, Hamas will disarm as well.

Parenthetically, it is very possible that this war has already determined the outcome of the next election in Israel, whenever it may be. Netanyahu’s popularity has skyrocketed in the wake of the strike on Iran, especially since the politicians who regularly condemn and belittle him, like much of the press, have emerged from this incident looking utterly foolish. After all, they insisted with complete confidence that Trump had abandoned Netanyahu and Israel and that he was developing a peace agreement with Iran in the face of Netanyahu’s opposition. But we’ll leave the political analysis for another time.

Khomenei’s elimination was a military and political triumph, but it was a triumph of intelligence above all. Shortly before the attack on his residence, Khomenei was meeting with his senior advisors, Ali Larijani and Ali Shamkhani, along with other officials, in a secure location. Intelligence reports had first indicated that he planned to hold his meeting in the evening in Tehran, but Israeli intelligence discovered that the meeting was taking place on Shabbos morning instead, and the air strikes were moved up accordingly. The Israeli and American intelligence agencies were in constant contact. Both countries had waited a long time for this rare opportunity, when Iranian political and military leaders were meeting in a single location where they could all be killed at once. On Shabbos morning, Israeli intelligence identified not just one meeting but three, including the one with Khomenei. It was such a unique moment that the attack was carried out in broad daylight to capitalize on the opportunity, and Israeli planes dropped 30 bombs on Khomenei’s home.

Trump took credit for the attack, and perhaps rightly so. “Khomenei did not succeed in escaping our intelligence and our highly sophisticated tracking systems,” he boasted. He also praised Israel: “This was tight collaboration with Israel. There was nothing that he or any of the other leaders killed with him could have done.” It is estimated that about 40 senior Iranian officials were killed in the joint American-Israeli air strike, including the aforementioned Ali Shamkhani, as well as Mohammed Pakpour, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s minister of defense. On Sunday afternoon, it was reported that the former Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, who was considered a bitter enemy of Israel, had been eliminated as well.

And now that I have quoted President Trump, I must repeat a rhetorical question that I often raise: Why does he always end his speeches with the words “G-d bless America” (and America’s soldiers, and the world), while Netanyahu doesn’t seem to know how to invoke Hashem’s Name? Why?

After the initial attacks on Iran, it was clear that a massive missile attack on Israel was bound to come. The only surprise was the fact that Iran fired missiles at Arab countries as well. The Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to respond in a “historic” fashion to Khomenei’s elimination, and they soon acted on those threats. Rumor has it that the missile that hit Beit Shemesh carried a warhead containing hundreds of kilograms of explosives. The victims who were killed by the missile were in a bomb shelter, but even a reinforced shelter was unable to withstand a missile with such immense destructive capacity. That, of course, only added to the pain and fear. Who knows what the next day will bring?

Children in Bomb Shelters

The subject of the emotional impact of the missile attacks reminds me of Avi Mimran, the top chareidi radio broadcaster in Israel, who is also known for being Itzik’s father. Itzik is a child whom everyone knows. He suffers from profound autism to a degree that leads him to bang his head against walls, to yank every tablecloth that he encounters, and not to react to anything. Life is not easy for Itzik, nor is it easy for his parents and siblings. If I were to describe their lives with Itzik in detail, you would have a vivid picture of what it means when Hashem deposits a special soul, with unique and special needs, with an ordinary family. Several years ago, Avi Mimran founded an organization known as Mesugalim, which provides assistance to the families of children with autism. The organization’s programs include mini-vacations, Shabbos programs, and guidance and counseling.

What does this have to do with us? Avi Mimran, who has become a world-class expert on autism, recently released a video with instructions for parents of autistic children regarding the current crisis. He explained that if the average person is frightened by an air raid siren, an autistic person suffers from much greater fear. Moreover, the things that calm an ordinary child during an air raid and the rush to shelter do not help a child with autism.

“Children with autism enter a state of extreme panic upon hearing an air raid siren,” Mimran explained. “Nothing that we explained to them during a previous air raid will make any difference when another siren is heard. They do not connect one to the other; they simply become hysterical. When an autistic child hears a siren, he is certain that a missile from Iran has been fired directly at his home, or directly at his head. He cannot conceive of any alternative. And the result is abject terror. There is no middle ground and no shades of gray. If there is a siren, in his mind, it means that he is about to die. How can you possibly calm such a child? First of all, you must connect to his fear. Don’t simply tell him that everything will be all right, because he cannot understand why it will be all right. You must create communication. You must tell the child, ‘We are with you. We are afraid as well, and I know that you are afraid that a missile will fall on us.’ Once the child feels that you have connected with him, you can begin opening his eyes to other possibilities. ‘It’s not guaranteed that the missile will fall here,’ you can tell him. ‘It might be intercepted. Hashem is protecting us, and there are Arrow missiles that will strike it, and we are in a safe room.’ You must gradually build up this understanding. You must begin with the child’s fear and then give him an entire chain of possibilities, letting everything make sense in his head. You must introduce reassuring possibilities into his thought process, letting him develop the understanding that there are other possibilities besides the chance that he will die. You must also remain calm and speak to him with confidence and stability.” Mimran went on to explain the workings of the autistic mind, offering parents keen insight into the mentalities of such children. In truth, however, his suggestions are beneficial for parents of other children as well.

“Everything Is All Right”

There is another video that has been spreading through the media and has already garnered hundreds of thousands of views, and that creates a tremendous kiddush Hashem. The video features a female correspondent from Channel 11 who interviewed several residents of Tel Aviv who survived a missile strike and were left homeless. When a missile hit a building in Tel Aviv, the two uppermost stories were completely destroyed (and additional buildings in the area were damaged by the blast), and the residents of those apartments lost their homes in a split second. One of those residents was a kollel yungerman. This is how the conversation unfolded.

“We see people here with suitcases, taking the few belongings that they managed to salvage from their homes,” the correspondent said, facing the camera. Turning to one of the local residents, she said, “I’d like to talk to you about your feelings. We see the suitcases here.”

With ambulances and fire trucks in the background, the yungerman stood before the camera with a spare shirt draped over his shoulder and his tallis and tefillin in his hands. “We entered the apartment only to retrieve our tefillin,” he said. “That is enough for us. We need nothing else; we have tefillin, we will get up in the morning, and we will daven Shacharis and give thanks for the fact that we are alive. Purim is in two days, and the Jewish nation lives. Boruch Hashem. We have no home now, but that is not a tragedy. We will have another home. The most important thing is that we have our tefillin, and we will get up in the morning, and everything will be all right. There is no need to panic. I see that you seem frightened….”

Shocked by the yungerman’s equilibrium, the reporter said, “After a dramatic Shabbos with many sirens, you are leaving your home with nothing but your spirit intact.”

“My children are all right, boruch Hashem, so what reason do we have to be upset?” the yungerman replied. “We are going to stay in my in-laws’ home now, which is not a simple matter,” he added with a laugh, “but we’ll hope that everything will be all right. Purim is coming in two days; no one should be distressed. I see some people here who appear frightened. Everyone should begin learning the megillah with all its peirushim.”

“Thank you,” the reporter said.

“With pleasure,” the yungerman replied.

I will now reveal to you the identity of the yungerman who appeared on everyone’s television screens: Moshe Chaim Sorotzkin, the son of Rav Eliezer Sorotzkin and grandson of Rav Yisroel Meir Lau. Moshe Chaim, who married into the Shub family, lives in Tel Aviv, where he learns in kollel and engages in kiruv work. His name was visible on the tallis bag that he held on camera. Not only did he display incredible calm and determination, but his impromptu television interview also generated a wave of encouragement and a massive kiddush Hashem.

The reporter turned back to the camera after Moshe Chaim’s departure and said, “I am repeatedly amazed by people who come out of their homes with nothing but a single suitcase — and this is a man who emerged with nothing but his tefillin — even though they lost their homes and their property. They were left with nothing but a single suitcase or two, but with incredible spirit. That is the spirit of this people. We are still seeing people trying to get into their apartments and retrieve their belongings, but the Home Front Command is not allowing them to enter their homes, because the buildings just barely survived, as you can see.

Tragedy in Beit Shemesh Shakes the Nation

Do not be deceived, however, into thinking that life in Israel is calm these days. Hearing an air raid siren can be terrifying. Air travel in and out of Israel has been suspended, which means that the country is under a sort of siege. Even driving on the roads can be frightening. Moshe Chaim Sorotzkin might have been reassuring during his brief appearance on the news, but the stark reality is that he was spared from death, and his children might suffer from trauma for a long time, much like thousands of other children (and adults) throughout the country. The missile that struck Tel Aviv also caused the death of a 40-year-old woman, and 25 other victims of the missile strike were evacuated to Ichilov Hospital. Dozens of apartments and businesses, including some that are far from the site of the missile strike, were damaged, and the building itself sustained serious harm.

Rescue personnel continued sweeping the area for many long hours to find any victims trapped in the rubble — and, indeed, an eight-year-old boy was successfully rescued. Once the sweep of the rubble had been completed, some of the residents were permitted to enter the building and recover some of their belongings. One of the residents asserted that their lives had been saved by the bomb shelter. A woman who lives in an old building (like my own) revealed, “As soon as the siren began, I realized that we had nowhere to run. This is an old building without a bomb shelter. We ran down four flights of stairs and stood in the stairwell, and then we heard the explosion. The stairs shook from the force of the blast, and we heard the sound of shattering glass. It was a terrible sense of helplessness.”

On the first day of Operation Roaring Lion, there was one fatality — the foreign caregiver who was killed — and 121 other people were injured. Two of the injured victims were in moderate condition, while the other 119 were listed as lightly wounded. Another woman died of a heart attack and might be considered a victim of the war as well.

The second day of the war, Sunday, was many times more painful, as it gave us a stark reminder of what can happen when tragedy is decreed in Shomayim. Dozens of missiles were fired at Israel on Shabbos, and dozens more on Sunday, and one of those missiles hit a bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh containing many children. The result was a horrific tragedy: Nine people were killed, and dozens more were wounded and evacuated to hospitals.

After the devastating missile strike, Mayor Shmuel Greenberg of Beit Shemesh, a former aide to MK Gafni, was interviewed by every media outlet and spoke cautiously but with determination. On Sunday evening, he finally divulged a few details, and it was painful to hear. The missile had struck a shul building containing a bomb shelter, but the damage extended to the surrounding area as well. Forty apartments were damaged, some of them totally destroyed. My understanding is that this occurred in an older area of the city. Perhaps it was a miracle that the surrounding buildings were not high-rise apartment buildings. Another miracle was reported by the gabbai of the shul, who revealed that it had been completely empty at the time. The missile strike occurred after Shacharis and before Mincha, when the shul was not occupied.

This disaster filled the country with sorrow. The images of children being carried by paramedics were difficult to see, and the row of body bags reminded me of the aftermath of the Meron tragedy several years ago. President Herzog called Mayor Greenberg and offered his encouragement to the residents of Beit Shemesh, and the security council met in the wake of this painful incident. Meanwhile, President Trump has said that the war might continue for weeks, and the Iranians are likewise vowing to continue responding with force.

We daven to Hashem to have mercy on us and to continue protecting us.

A high-stakes showdown over the future of election integrity is widely expected in the coming days, as the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) awaits a Senate vote.

The bill would require Americans to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote and to provide photo identification before casting a ballot. These measures have inflamed Democrats who claim they will “silence millions of voters.”

The SAVE Act passed the House 218-213 two weeks ago, with Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas crossing the aisle to vote for the legislation alongside his Republican colleagues. Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman has also come out in support of the legislation.

President Trump strongly supports the bill and urged “all Republicans to fight” for its passage. He asserted in an online post that many of the country’s elections are “rigged, stolen, and a laughingstock all over the world.”

“We are either going to fix them, or we eventually won’t have a country any longer,” Trump wrote.

Bill Faces Uphill Fight

The legislation faces long odds in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to pass before it can head to Trump’s desk for his signature. Republicans hold a very slim majority in the Senate, 51-49, far from the required 60 votes at present.

However, Rep. Chip Roy, R-TX, the bill’s sponsor, has outlined a pathway for Senate Republicans to secure the bill’s passage without having to reach the 60-vote threshold. [See Sidebar]

In addition to requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID, the SAVE Act requires states to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls, and to expand information-sharing with federal agencies to accomplish this objective. It calls for criminal penalties for knowingly registering someone who fails to present proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in a federal election.

The “in-person” requirement for proof of citizenship would also eliminate many popular registration methods, such as registration by mail as well as “automatic registration,” which grants eligible citizens automatic voting rights unless they decline. The bill would heavily restrict the use of the federal mail-in voter registration form.

Popular With Voters, Condemned by Democrats

Supporters argue that voter integrity would be strengthened through the SAVE Act’s stricter safeguards and surveys reflect the public’s approval of voter ID requirements.

Democrats, on the other hand, claim that voter ID laws can disqualify eligible voters because they often require specific government-issued IDs that may be difficult to obtain.

“It’s going to be something that disenfranchises people who don’t have the proper ‘real’ driver’s license, or the necessary ID to vote, even though they are citizens,” Sen. Adam Schiff D-Calif. told ABC News.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has bizarrely compared the SAVE Act to the racist, segregationist “Jim Crow” laws of the Deep South that were, for the most part, repealed by the 1960’s Civil Rights Act.

“This is Jim Crow 2.0; it has nothing to do with protecting our elections and everything to do with federalizing voter suppression,” Schumer said earlier in February on the Senate floor.

“Republicans have adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy,” charged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY. “People of color, married people who have changed their names, as well as young and elderly people, are more likely to have difficulty in accessing these documents.”

Supporters of the SAVE Act dismiss these claims. They note that far from imposing requirements and walking away, the bill advocates using existing avenues to ensure eligible voters who currently lack documentation can obtain it without undue hardship.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., whose home state is one of 36 that already requires a form of photo identification in order to vote, argued that voter ID laws across the country did not have a chilling effect on turnout.

“They’re saying the bill is going to suppress any vote — it’s never done that anywhere,” Scott told Fox News Digital. “They said that when Georgia passed it, and instead they had a record turnout. So it’s not true at all. I mean, how many people do you know who don’t have an ID?”

When All Else Fails, Try Fear-Mongering

Listening to Jeffries on a podcast earlier this month, one gets the impression that his real beef is the fact that the bill gives states access to the citizenship database of the DHS and the Social Security Administration.

“This version, as I understand it would actually give DHS the power to get voting records from states across the country,” the NY congressman said. Jeffries cast the provision as something sinister, suggesting—by flipping the direction of the data exchange—that federal agencies would be prying into state voting records, rather than states voluntarily checking their rolls against federal databases.

“DHS and ICE who have been violently and viciously targeting everyday Americans [i.e. arresting and deporting illegals], should not be given ‘more data about the American people,’ he declared.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, scoffed at Democrats resorting to fear-mongering in trying to undermine SAVE. “The legislation empowers states to be able to check their voter rolls against the federal citizenship database that they’re currently restricted from doing,” Roy said. “It’s as simple as that.”

He noted that according to several polls, “83-84 % of U.S. adults are in favor of requiring some form of government-issued photo ID to vote, including 71% of Democrats and 95% of Republicans. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research, only 16% of American adults oppose it,” a NY Post article attests.

“Our Founders set forth our electoral processes 250 years ago, based upon the simple and ultimate principle that only Americans should vote,” Roy said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “But in this age of progressive, suicidal empathy for illegal immigrants, basic concepts such as voter ID and proof of citizenship have been falsely attacked as ‘suppression.’

Republicans argue that Democrats were being “hypocritical” in their voter suppression charge, particularly when it comes to voter ID.

“You look at some of the Democrats like Chuck Schumer feigning outrage. Where was Chuck Schumer when you tried to get into the Democratic National Convention in 2024?” asked Congressman Steve Scalise, R-LA, at a press conference with fellow GOP congressmen. “You needed a photo ID to get in. Was that Jim Crow?”

Critics of the bill also argue that it is not needed since non-citizen voting is already illegal, with offenders facing deportation if caught. While this is true, the law lacks any enforcement mechanism. Currently, prospective voters must check a tiny square box on a federal registration form attesting under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen; in other words, the honor system.

Voter ID Rebranded as ‘Silencing Women’

In a far-fetched, almost laughable allegation, Democrats claim the SAVE Act will make it harder for American women to vote — specifically, married women whose last names are now different from those on their birth certificates. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., actually claimed the nefarious goal of silencing American women is the true agenda of the bill’s supporters.

“Republicans aren’t truly afraid of non-citizens voting,” she insisted earlier this month. “They’re afraid of women voting.”

Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, parroted this allegation during the same press conference: “If your current name does not exactly fit and match the name on your birth certificate or citizenship papers, you could be blocked from registering to vote, even if you are an American-born citizen,” Sykes said.

“This is absolute nonsense,” declared Rep. Chip Roy, the bill’s sponsor, pointing to a provision that was explicitly included “to make sure that no one can be left behind.”

“If a woman wants to register to vote with different names on her birth certificate and driver’s license,” Roy said, “we literally put in the statute that all you have to do is sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury that, ‘I am the very same person. This is my birth certificate … and this is my driver’s license that is reflecting my married name.’”

Roy noted that polls show Americans overwhelmingly support voter-ID laws as common-sense and basic to election security.

“Democrats think Americans are too dumb to understand the issue, which is why they are lying about the commonsense provisions in the SAVE Act, pretending it’s all political,” Rep. Hal Rogers, R-KY, told Fox News Digital.

“You need to show ID to buy alcohol, or get on a plane — but Democrats don’t want voters to show their ID to cast a ballot? Opposition to this bill is wildly out of step with the views of the American people.”

***

To Nuke or Not to  Nuke?

From its earliest inception in the Senate in 1917, a filibuster is a procedural rule in the Senate that requires 60 votes to bring a bill to a vote. Unless a supermajority of 60 senators out of 100 vote to end debate and put a bill to a full Senate vote, the debate can technically go on forever.

Senators can—and at one time did—continuously hold the floor, talking a proposal to death, until its proponents gave up and moved on to other business. Movements to “nuke the filibuster,” also referred to as using “the nuclear option,” gather steam every few years.

Rep. Chip Roy, who led the SAVE bill, sent a letter a week ago to senators laying out a simple way that the legislation can be brought to the floor for a vote without “nuking” the anticipated Democratic filibuster.

According to Roy’s letter which was obtained by The Federalist, the legislation is stalling in the Senate, despite 50 Republican senators who co-sponsor or support the SAVE Act.

Roy said in his letter that Senate rules include a rarely used filibuster provision that would allow a bill to come to a vote if all Senate Republicans who have sponsored or publicly backed it are present to form a live quorum.

That would be sufficient to end a filibuster at just 51 votes, rather than the typical 60-vote threshold filibuster, the congressman pointed out. “We can move the legislation under current rules without ‘nuking’ the filibuster.”

GOP Filibustering Blocked Woke Agenda Under Biden

As debate swirls around the pros and cons of maintaining or eliminating the filibuster, it is fascinating to recall how some of the most progressive aspects of former President Joe Biden’s agenda, including a radical bill altering voting regulations, were defeated thanks to Republican filibusters.

Could Rep. Chip Roy have had this in mind when cautioning against nuking the filibuster?

Critics say one of Biden’s most politically dangerous goals was his own voting rights bill, called the Freedom to Vote Act, which would have radically loosened the very election laws that Trump seeks to tighten.

The divide couldn’t be sharper: Biden’s agenda moved to strip away election safeguards altogether, while the Trump-backed SAVE Act aims to seal every loophole and tighten the system at every turn.

The Freedom To Vote Act—a 780-page proposal that was rushed through the House before dying on the Senate floor—was aimed at overhauling the federal election system, replacing state jurisdiction over presidential elections with federal control.

Its provisions would have required states to enact automatic voter registration and to drop requirements for signature and voter ID verification for casting mail-in ballots.

The bill would have mandated 15 days of early voting, restored voting rights to felons who have completed their prison sentences, and compelled all states to allow mail-in voting, among other provisions. Most importantly for Democrats, the bill would have overridden new voting-integrity laws passed in Republican-led states, in the wake of the fiercely disputed 2020 presidential race.

From Emergency to Exploitation

Many believe the loosening of voting regulations during the pandemic opened the door to widespread fraud and tainted election results across the country. Although lawsuits seeking to prove election fraud were dismissed by the courts, bizarre irregularities, broken chains of custody, and countless anomalies at too many polls fueled doubt in millions of Americans about the legitimacy of the election.

Outcries over a “stolen” election galvanized many state legislatures to pass laws tightening voting laws and election administration. Lawmakers in these states felt that keeping in place the pandemic-era measures and mandating even more permissive voting policies for the future would make it easy to exploit loopholes and commit voter fraud.

“Democrats want to force all 50 states to allow the absurd practice of ballot harvesting, where paid operatives can show up at polling places carrying a thick stack of filled-out ballots with other people’s names on them,” then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time.

“They want to forbid states from implementing voter ID or doing simple things like checking their voter rolls against change-of-address submissions, or removing the names of dead voters. They want to remove nearly every protection on absentee voting, making the practice a permanent norm, even post-pandemic.”

The failure of the Freedom to Vote Act followed other stalled pieces of the Democratic agenda, thanks once again to Republican filibustering.

Democrats at the time began coalescing around the goal of eliminating the filibuster. They might have succeeded but for the opposition of two senators who refused to budge on the issue. One of those was Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema, whose argument carries a piercing relevance today.

In a statement on filibuster reform in a Washington Post in October 2021op-ed, Sen. Sinema wrote: “To those who want to eliminate the filibuster to pass the voting-rights legislation which I support, I would ask: Would it be good for our country if we did so?

“Would we not come to see that very legislation rescinded a few years from now (once political power falls to the opposite party), and replaced by a nationwide voter-ID law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections, over the objections of the minority?”

The irony is hard to miss: will today’s SAVE Act—aimed at achieving the very outcomes Sen. Sinema once warned against—now be protected or defeated by the same filibuster he helped preserve?

***

A Hated but Powerful Tool: The Filibuster

The “filibuster,” as it’s called, has been a part of the U.S. political process since the early days of the American republic. Only in modern times, however, has it become a common—and powerful—tool for political obstruction.

Its critics revile it as a practice that can bring the gears of government to a halt, as speakers incessantly drag out debate so that no other Senate business can be conducted. The technique succeeds because it often prompts the opposing party to drop the proposed legislation.

Its supporters claim filibustering is a cherished tradition that encourages bipartisanship, prevents a rushed legislative process, and keeps a minority party from being rendered voiceless.

Although the Constitution makes no mention of filibusters, long-winded Senate speeches became an increasingly common tactic in the 19th century. By 1917, most senators were ready to implement a change. They agreed that a vote by a two-thirds majority could end Senate debate. But getting two-thirds of the Senate was tough, so filibusters continued.

During the sixties, the practice became identified with Southern senators who often used them to block civil rights laws. The image of a lone senator launching into impassioned hours-long debate characterized these filibusters from earlier decades.

In 1975, the Senate modified the filibuster rule lowering the votes required to end debate to the three-fifths mark, or 60 out of the 100-seat chamber. It also changed the process so filibustering senators only needed to signal their intent to block legislation, and not physically engage in debate on the floor of the chamber.

The move was intended to prevent opposition to a single bill from bringing all work to a grinding halt, but it also had the effect of profoundly changing the nature of the filibuster.

From being an exhausting marathon involving lengthy speeches, it morphed into a mere objection, or threat to object. No longer did a senator have to mount a speech that would hold the Senate hostage for several hours. That became a thing of the past.

Most contemporary filibusters require one or two senators to just threaten to drag out debate indefinitely. That means something as simple as an email announcing an objection to the legislation on the Senate floor can trigger a filibuster. Ironically, the objecting Senator does not even have to be present.

What usually happens is that the filibuster rule forces a level of cooperation between the political parties, so that the final legislation has bipartisan backing.

At different moments, when blocked by the filibuster, both Democrats and Republicans have threatened to “nuke” it—only to pull back when the prospect of losing that powerful tool under a future hostile Congress suddenly changed the calculation.

Mashy’s mother hears bawling from the play­room and goes to investigate.

“Why is Saralah crying?” she asks her daughter.

“Because I wouldn’t give her any of my nosh.”

“Mashy, don’t you know that we’re supposed to share? That’s a rule in our house, right?”

“Right,” Mashy says. “Except when it’s someone I’m mad at. Saralah wouldn’t let me play with her new doll!”

***

Yanky is home from yeshiva and working hard to catch up on his rest.

“Yanky!” his mother says, coming into the room just in time to see him turn over in bed. “Aren’t you supposed to daven Shacharis with a minyan?”

“Sure,” Yanky says with a yawn. “Except during bein hazemanim. I can take a little break then…”

***

Mr. P. is known as a man of integrity. Everyone knows that, when it comes to his business dealings, he’s honest as the day. He’d never dream of cheating anyone or making a commitment he doesn’t keep. When it comes to his own children, however, the story is different.

“They’re only kids,” he’d explain if anyone asked him. “You don’t have to keep your word to a kid…”

***

Mrs. D. doesn’t consider herself a gossiper. She’s usually pretty good about controlling herself in the area of lashon hara… except now. She just heard a story that she simply cannot keep to herself!

Without actually articulating the pros and cons in her own mind, she impulsively decides to change her usual rule. Just this once.

We all have our personal rulebooks. The rules may be conscious, or they may be so ingrained that we hardly even think about them.

I’m not talking about the objective “rule book” that we know as halacha. I’m not even talking about the more fleeting and arbitrary set of rules imposed by government and, in a different way, by society.

I’m talking about the things we demand of our­selves. The things we expect from ourselves. The red lines we’re resolved never to cross… and the ones we allow to waver and bend a little.

In the examples above, little Mashy is a good girl who understands that it’s a nice thing to share. But her sense of fairness, outraged when Saralah re­fused to let her play with her doll, prompts her to

rewrite the rule. In Mashy’s personal rulebook, it’s okay not to share if your playmate is being mean to you.

The same reasoning applies in the case of the sleepy yeshiva bochur. When it comes to his spiritual obligations, Yanky generally toes the line. He does what’s expected of him and, indeed, what he expects from himself.

But change in location and circum­stance leads him to make an adjust­ment in his personal rulebook. Being at home instead of in yeshiva, and during bein hazemanim rather than during the zeman, offers him an opportunity to change the usual rule, to sleep late, and to daven by himself at home. Which he does, without much more than a slight pang of his conscience.

Why doesn’t his conscience bother him more? It’s because of a fallacy in his thinking. The same fallacy which Mashy embraced. The one which says that extraordinary circumstances give you permission to deviate from your usual rule.

in Mr. P’s personal rule book, hones­ty and integrity are an absolute must… when dealing with adult peers. Chil­dren do not fall into this category and are therefore subject to a less rigorous code. A promise made to a kid is the kind of “extraordinary circumstance” that allows him to break his own rule. And so, he fails to keep his word to them. In his rule book, that’s perfectly acceptable.

Then there’s the case of Mrs. D. Nor­mally a conscientious practitioner of all the right things, she assumes on the spot that a greater than usual tempta­tion to gossip, along with the discom­fort this engenders, grants her permis­sion to relieve the tension by breaking her rule just this once.

Only of course, it’s never once. Rules, once bent or broken, have a nasty way of becoming non-rules.

But Mrs. D. does not feel as guilty about her breach as you’d expect her to. That’s because, in her personal rule­book, discomfort is an excuse for all sorts of misdemeanors. The slightest irritation of her nerves can prompt her to speak in a way she normally avoids. Misconduct on someone else’s part, such as taking her intended parking space or cutting in front of her in line at the supermarket, in her rule book is justification for an unbecoming re­sponse on her part.

And because it’s okay in her personal rule book, she doesn’t even have to feel too bad about it afterward.

What gives us the right to make or change the rules? After all, we were all raised with a clear sense of right and wrong. Why, when it comes to the gray areas governing our interactions with others or our behavior in unusual cir­cumstances, do we feel free and easy about adjusting our behavior?

I think it’s because we give a lot of power to our bodies and our emotions, at the expense of our souls. Let’s take a look at the four examples above and see how that works.

Little Mashy has no problem shar­ing with her friends when they’re nice to her. But let one of them act in a way that hurts or angers her, such as deny­ing her the fun of playing with a new doll, and she instantly rewrites her own rule. Her feelings dictate her decision.

When it comes to the decision of whether or not to get up for minyan in the morning, Yanky, the yeshiva bochur, has his personal rulebook, too. His own unwritten rule is that he’s entitled to cut himself some slack when not in yeshiva. Basically, he’s letting his tired body decide for him.

Mr. P., the usually honest man who thinks it’s okay to break his word to his children, is letting himself be guided by a false premise. That premise says that grown-ups deserve the full exer­tion of his integrity, while kids deserve no such exertion. His reputation rests on the assessment of his peers; his kids have nothing to do with that. And so, on the integrity front, he cuts him­self slack when it comes to non-adults whose good opinion he doesn’t feel the need to cultivate. In other words, his kids.

And Mrs. D., sizzling with eagerness to pour a great story into someone’s ear, is well aware of the big rule against speaking lashon hara. Unfortunately, she consults her personal rule book in­stead. And it tells her that bending the rules when the temptation is so great, and the discomfort of holding back so difficult, is acceptable. Just this once.

Ladies and gentlemen, it might be a good idea to take a peek into our per­sonal rulebooks now and then. They may need a bit of dusting off. A little revision might be in order, to give us a chance to delete some of the excuses and justifications that may be lurking there. And which may have been there so long that we’ve forgotten to ques­tion them.

The more scrupulously we do that, the closer we’ll come to aligning our personal rule books with the big, objec­tive one which we all try out best to live by. The one that’s eternal!

As Jews, we are meant to live with joy. No matter the situation, we know that everything comes from Hashem, Who seeks our ultimate welfare. That is a fundamental principle of our emunah. Yet, Adar is the only time of year when the obligation to rejoice is emphasized, to the degree that Chazal teach, “Mishenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha.”

What is it about this month that obligates us to increase our joy?

It cannot simply be that there was an edict calling for our annihilation. Tragically, that has been a recurring theme throughout our history. We recite in the Haggadah that in every generation there are those who rise up to destroy us and Hashem spares us from them. What, then, was so unique about the salvation of Purim in Shushan that it continues to generate such enduring joy?

The story of Purim began, for all practical purposes, at the lavish celebration hosted by Achashveirosh to mark his reign. Jews attended that grand seudah and drank from keilim that were plundered from the destroyed Bais Hamikdosh. That desecration of holiness, that defilement of the memory of the Bais Hamikdosh, evoked a Divine wrath and set into motion Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people across the vast Persian Empire.

Mordechai and Esther gathered the nation and led them in sincere teshuvah. When their repentance was accepted, the gezeirah was annulled. The Jews were spared, and their enemies met the fate they had intended for the Jews. A great celebration followed.

But the story did not end there. The same empire that had issued the decree ultimately permitted the Jewish people to return to Eretz Yisroel and resume construction of the second Bais Hamikdosh.

The simcha of Adar is rooted in something deeper than rescue from danger. Klal Yisroel witnessed the transformative power of teshuvah. The very failing that contributed to the threat—disrespect toward the Bais Hamikdosh—was rectified through repentance, and that teshuvah paved the way not only for survival, but for rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdosh they had sinned against. It brought about a geulah for that era that endured for generations.

As we continue through our long golus, this message strengthens us. It proclaims that if we would correct the sins that delay the geulah in our days, we, too, would merit Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdosh. The teshuvah of Adar led to the geulah of Nissan in the days of Shushan, and that same thing can happen again in our day.

What could be a more joyous thought than that?

And perhaps that is precisely why this message is so urgent today.

We live in what many describe as an age of noise. Not only literal noise, though there is certainly no shortage of that, but a deeper kind: endless information, constant commentary, perpetual outrage, and a relentless stream of stimuli competing for our attention. Everything feels loud. Everything feels urgent. Everything demands a reaction.

The news unsettles us. War with Iran appears on the horizon. The choices seem bleak: Strike now and perhaps unleash a deadly war or allow a dangerous regime to strengthen its arsenal and expand its nuclear ambitions.

Anti-Semitism grows more brazen. Political instability intensifies. Economic pressures mount as expenses rise and the strain of keeping pace becomes crushing. Our world seems to have misplaced its bearings, and we pay the price.

And then Purim arrives.

Suddenly, there is joyous music. Happiness. Laughter. Mishloach manos piling up. Costumes. Friends with arms wrapped around one another, swaying in song.

The contrast is jarring.

Yet, Purim is not an escape from reality. It is a return to reality.

It reminds us of the steady Hashgocha Protis that guides history beneath the surface chaos. It reminds us that what appears random is anything but. It reminds us that teshuvah changes trajectories, that gezeiros can be overturned, that rebuilding can follow destruction.

And that certainty is a deep source of simcha.

We study the Megillah, and initially it appears as if random events are happening that have no historical importance or relevance to the Jewish people. A Persian king throws a lavish feast. A queen refuses to attend. Political reshuffling. An ambitious minister rising to power. Sleepless nights. Coincidences. And then the noose tightens around the neck of our people. Only at the end do we see what was happening all along.

Purim was a time of hester ponim—the Ribbono Shel Olam hidden behind curtains of politics, ego, power, and fear.

And if that sounds familiar, it should, because we also live in a time of hester. Things that appear to be random are actually setting up the world for geulah.

Purim reminds us that nothing is random.

One year, on Purim, surrounded by multitudes of chassidim hanging on to his every word, the Chiddushei Horim began speaking. This is what he said: “When we start reading the Megillah, we might wonder why we are being told stories about some Persian king. Why do we care that he feasted for three years after being crowned? We continue reading and are told stories about a queen who refused to attend a feast and her punishment. Then we read about the procedure of finding a new queen. And we wonder: Why do we need to know this?”

The rebbe was quiet, deep in thought. He sat up and answered his questions. “In the time of Moshiach,” he said, “many strange things will happen. Nobody will understand what is happening. And then, suddenly, they will realize that it was all tied to the geulah.”

To say that strange occurrences are taking place in our day is an understatement. We are confounded by the daily happenings, so many of which seem to make no sense. Soon the day will arrive when everything will become clear. For now, we have Purim.

We live in a period of darkness that will prevail until the coming of Moshiach. With his arrival, a great light will begin to shine and everything will become clear. But until then, we can cultivate our senses to hear and perceive the footsteps of Moshiach in all that is taking place. Purim is part of that training.

All through the year, we strain to “see”—to understand what is happening, to conjecture what this leader will say and what that one will do. Purim teaches us that what counts is what is happening behind the scenes, beyond the headlines, where we cannot see. We are reminded that it is not the politicians and bosses who dictate events, but Someone much more powerful.

The spiritual light of Purim, the Arizal says, is brighter than any other light that has shone since creation. The clarity of Purim brings joy along with it. After laining the Megillah, current events are not as menacing.

Purim declares that beneath the decrees of history stands the steady Hand of Hashem.

The Jews of Shushan believed the lot had sealed their fate. The calendar had marked their destruction. Yet, through teshuvah, tefillah, and Esther’s courage, guided by Mordechai, the script flipped.

A day designated for annihilation became a day of eternal celebration. That pattern has repeated itself through centuries of Jewish history. Again and again, we stood on the brink. Again and again, the curtain lifted just enough for us to survive.

All year long, people carry burdens, but on Purim something softens. The guarded expressions fall away. The inner emunah surfaces.

On that day, we gain clarity.

Purim is not an escape from reality. Purim is reality, unveiled.

It tells us that no Haman rises independently. No Achashveirosh rules alone. No sleepless night is insignificant. No hidden act of courage is wasted.

No matter what challenges surround us, when Purim approaches, something shifts.

Our hearts beat a bit faster. Our smiles stretch a bit wider. Even people weighed down by worry find themselves humming a niggun, singing along with the crowd, uniting in simcha shel mitzvah. Though we may be mired in personal struggles, dulled by routine, distracted by headlines and burdens, the simcha of Purim breaks through.

The joy that erupts among Jews, from the most learned to the most distant, testifies to the intrinsic greatness of the day. Something real is happening. Something ancient, yet entirely present.

The simcha that Hakadosh Boruch Hu shined into His world in Shushan so many years ago was not a one-time illumination. It was implanted into the fabric of time. Wherever Jews live, that joy can be felt every year on this day.

Purim is not just a commemoration of something that happened nearly 2,400 years ago. It is a celebration of its yearly recurrence on that day. It is a celebration of its lessons, which provide daily chizuk for us.

Every year on Purim, the kochos that saved the Jewish people from annihilation are reawakened. The miracles of Purim are not locked in the past. The days of Purim have a redemptive power that we can tap into. In Al Hanissim, we thank Hashem for the miracles that took place “bayomim haheim bazeman hazeh.”

The knowledge that Hashem guides every detail of our lives and directs the destinies of nations reminds us that our story will be as comforting for us as it was for them.

Every generation has its Hamans and Achashveiroshes. Every generation experiences threats against Jewish lives, hostile regimes, economic fluctuations, illnesses that confound doctors, political climates that feel increasingly unstable, and cultural confusion that erodes clarity. The names change. The geography shifts. The methods evolve. But the pattern is the same.

A month after Purim, at the Seder, we will declare, “Vehi she’omdah la’avoseinu velanu… shebechol dor vador omdim aleinu lechaloseinu, v’Hakadosh Boruch Hu matzileinu miyodom.”

In every generation we have challenges and Hashem saves us.

When we unroll our Megillos each year, we are not just unrolling a story that took place in the past. We are opening a channel of salvation.

The Sefas Emes teaches that just as Elul prepares us for Rosh Hashanah through teshuvah m’yirah, the month of Adar prepares us for Nissan through teshuvah m’ahavah, repentance born of love and joy.

Just as Mordechai gathered the Jews of his day and instructed them to fast, daven, and do teshuvah to bring about their salvation, that koach remains embedded in the day. The salvation of Shushan ultimately led to the building of the second Bais Hamikdosh. The teshuvah of Purim reshaped history.

Who is to say what our Purim could build?

The events unfolding around us may appear disconnected—random political shifts, unsettling global movements, personal upheavals that seem to make no sense. But the Megillah teaches us that what appears fragmented is often tightly woven.

At the time, Achashveirosh’s seudah looked like decadence. Vashti’s refusal seemed like palace drama. A sleepless night appeared trivial. Only later did those details reveal themselves as steps toward redemption.

Purim trains us to live with that awareness.

This day is marked for deliverance.

On this day in Shushan, a decree of death was transformed into celebration. Since then, Jews have experienced yeshuos on Purim in ways public and private. It is a day stamped with light and possibility.

If we are worthy, we will soon witness how the threats that intimidate us today, the forces that seem to gather strength, and the pressures that weigh upon Klal Yisroel and upon each of us personally are necessary chapters leading to a geulah.

The Megillah teaches us not only that redemption is possible, but that it is already unfolding beneath the surface.

May we merit to see it clearly.

“LaYehudim hoysah orah v’simcha v’sasson viykor kein tihiyeh lonu.” May the light that shone in Shushan pierce the darkness of our golus as well and lead us to the geulah sheleimah for which we have been waiting so long.

Ah freilichen Purim.

I bumped into a Yid over Shabbos who, although I didn’t know him, claimed to know me. How did he know me? From reading the Yated. He told me something that he does at home that got me thinking. Before I share what he told me, let me say this.

We live in a media-saturated world, a world of marketing and marketers, all vying to make headlines and “news.” The focus is inevitably on superficiality. There is no front-page headline about the hundreds of Yidden who got up this morning to learn at 6 a.m. before they davened and headed off to work. There is not usually a headline about the mesivta bochur who worked for two weeks on a chaburah, delivered an amazingly beautiful chaburah, and was mechadeish an approach to understanding a Rashba on Bava Kama.

Instead, we see bright lights and bells and whistles about a concert, a fundraiser for an important tzedakah organization, pictures of extravagant simchos, someone driving an expensive car, or a guy who proposed to his kallah in a horse-drawn carriage…

Now, most mature people are aware of what hype is and that media outlets are often paid to feature stories about certain organizations, and that, at times, the media’s fixation with entertainers or events that display fabulous wealth is just part of the media culture. They don’t really change the way we think, at least not too much.

Still, when it comes to young people — our children, teens, and even younger adults — it is a mistake to think that they are able to just turn the page and say, “Yup, the velt is crazy…”

This is the world in which they are growing up. If we don’t consistently — and, if I may dare say, aggressively — promote what we stand for, they will not know it on their own. They will think that chashivus is what the media promotes and what people are talking about.

One Limud, One Corresponding Gift for the Family

Now I can share the story that happened with this Yid. He told me that one of his daily limudim is the Dirshu halacha program. He learns it every day, and once a month he takes tests on what he learned.

He said, “I want to involve my family in what I am learning as well. I feel that it is important that they know that I am learning and what I am learning. So, every time we finish a new area of halacha, I buy something new related to that halacha and bring it home. For example, when we learned hilchos netillas yodayim,” he said, “I bought everyone new negel vasser cups and basins to put near their beds so that they could wash in the morning. When we learned the halachos of lighting Shabbos lecht, I bought something new — a silver lighter for my wife to use for hadlokas neiros. When we finished hilchos brachos for peiros, I brought home a beautiful fruit platter with all kinds of fruit, and we showed which brachos come first.

“If I don’t show my wife and children how important my learning is to me,” he concluded, “they will never know. Just because I think it is important doesn’t mean they know.”

Increase in Learning, But Do Our Wives and Children See It?

Another thing. Boruch Hashem, we live in a time when Torah has increased exponentially in Klal Yisroel. Yeshivos are bursting. There are nearly ten thousand yungeleit learning in kollel just in Lakewood. It is wonderful.

Aside from that, there have never been so many Yidden learning. Yidden who are occupied in parnossah are learning more than they ever learned. It is not uncommon for working people to have large parts of their day blocked out for limud haTorah. Some learn early in the morning before davening, others learn at night, and some learn both in the morning and at night. It is not uncommon for people engaged in parnossah to maintain first or second seder in a yeshiva or bais medrash.

Now, this is all wonderful. Yet, many times, the wife and children don’t see it. If a person does all his learning outside the house, his family may not realize the importance of what he is doing. That is why everyone should try to learn at home as well. One’s wife and children should be able to hear the kol Torah in the house. The world today is very visual. One’s wife and children have to see you learning as well. It is not enough that they know that you go out to learn.

“Make Your Siyum at Home”

I was at the Dirshu convention this past week, and one of the gedolim there described how a yungerman recently came over and asked him what he should do. There are times when he stays late to learn because he must finish his daily learning and chazarah, but his wife doesn’t understand the importance of what he is doing.

The rov said, “I asked him, ‘Tell me, when you finish a masechta, where do you make your siyum?’ He replied, ‘In shul, where I learn.’

“From now on,” the rov told him, “I want you to make every siyum at home. It should be a festive event. Find out what foods your wife and kids like the most. If it is Chinese, buy Chinese. If it is steak, buy steak. Every time you make a siyum, it should be a Yom Tov. You will see how much your family will become part of your learning when you do such a thing.”

Perhaps, once upon a time, a case could be made for an oveid Hashem not to talk about his own accomplishments with anyone and to downplay his own avodas Hashem. After all, he wanted to be humble, not chalilah arrogant, right?

In today’s environment, downplaying one’s spiritual accomplishments in one’s own home is wrong. A person must show his family what is important to him. They should see it. They should taste it. They should see how you live it. If you want to turn them on, you have to show them what turns you on.

The same is true when it comes to giving tzedakah. Many of us have a natural feeling to downplay our tzedakah giving. Why do I have to publicize what I give? Yes, when it comes to the wider world, it may not be advisable to show off how much you give to tzedakah, but when it comes to your children? For your children, it is a mitzvah to tell them what you are giving and what kind of chesed you are engaged in. If they don’t see it, how will they know how to emulate it?

There are many words associated with Purim. Some of them are simcha, Mattan Torah and hester ponim. Few would add the word “hope” to the list. There were some extremely frightening times in the Megillah, when hopelessness seemed to set in. Yet, not only is the concept of hope or tikvah mentioned prominently, but it is even everlasting hope that rings out from much of Purim and the Megillah. After the night and day readings, we recite or sing heartily in the pizmon of Shoshanas Yaakov, “You have been their eternal salvation and their hope throughout the generations. To make known that all who hope in You will not be shamed.” What exactly is the “hope” of Purim and how can we access it during times when hope seems to be a rare and elusive commodity?

Let us begin with the amazing conclusion of Rav Dovid Cohen, rosh yeshivas Chevron, that the words quoted above prove that “the hope of Klal Yisroel throughout the ages flows from the power of the Purim salvation” (Yemei HaPurim, page 20). He quotes from the beginning of the Yosef Lekach commentary on Megillas Esther that “Megillas Esther is the prototype of all miracles during our long golus that are hidden from us. Hashem is always there to save us, but we often are unworthy of open miracles. It is then that Hashem rescues us in obscure and covert ways.” That, as Chazal (Chulin 139b) teach us, is the essence of the neis Purim. Over the nine long years of the Megillah narrative, many things happened, all of which could have been natural and even the saga of a novel. However, behind the scenes, as hinted at in the Megillah by the word Hamelech and in the many allusions to Hashem’s otherwise absent Name, Hashem was always pulling the strings and totally in charge.

As the rosh yeshiva continues, “The ultimate purpose of the Purim salvation was to convey this fact to future generations that Hashem ‘peers through the cracks’ (Shir Hashirim 2:9; Pachad Yitzchok, Purim 2:6) to secretly save us from our enemies.” He also cites the Ksav Sofer (to Megillas Esther 9:28) that one of the main themes of the Megillah is “that we should always be reminded not to abandon hope no matter how bleak a situation seems to be.” Just as the Megillah teaches us to believe in Hashem no matter how impossible redemption looks, it is also a source for our emunas chachomim, trust in our leaders. Rav Yissochor Dov Rosenberg, a chossid of the Klausenberger Rebbe, was learning in his rebbe’s yeshiva in Union City, New Jersey. In a horrific accident, he fell down several flights in an elevator shaft. In the hospital, the doctors virtually gave up on bringing him back to any semblance of normal life. They predicted that he would have to be tied to his bed for nine months and that he would never again be able to stand on his own feet. However, the rebbe ordered him to be transferred to another hospital, against medical advice. They predicted that he wouldn’t even live through the transfer. Nevertheless, on Purim, when he was wheeled into the rebbe’s home in a wheelchair, the rebbe just smiled. “Okay,” he intoned, “this is a good costume for Purim, but after this, you must get up and walk.” Later, he tried to stand up but fell down several times. By the end of the day, though, he was walking, and by Pesach he was actually running. It turned out later that the rebbe had issued a halachic ruling that was accepted in heaven so that the young man would be healed and completely restored to normal life” (see Umasok Ha’ohr to Purim 2:598). As we heard from the Ksav Sofer and Rav Dovid Cohen, the power of Purim in every generation is to bring about refuos and yeshuos through what appear to be “natural channels.”

This, too, flows from the character of Purim as a day of hope. It is when desperation has set in and all feels forlorn that Purim shines the brightest. It is interesting and not irrelevant that throughout history, when a city or town celebrated a miraculous rescue, it was often called “a Purim,” such as the well-known Purim Saragosa and many others. Purim always represents the triumph of bitachon and emunah against implacable foes. This is especially so when the rest of the world will explain the events away as natural and we know best that they are actually supernatural.

Another aspect of the hope of Purim may be seen in the names of Mordechai and Esther, which both represent the sweet aroma of besamim (see Megillah 10b). My rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner (see Reshimos Lev to Purim, No. 20) explained at his Purim seudah that the connection between besamim and Purim is that spices and the sense of smell in general is associated with something that has already been at least partially destroyed or disintegrated. In other words, since Haman was already in possession of the king’s signet ring and the decree had been issued in heaven, Klal Yisroel had ample reason to be petrified. Yet, we now know for certain that Hashem was there, turning things over (Megillas Esther 9:1). This is a powerful chizuk for our nation that even when evil people seem to be in power and anti-Semitism is rampant, we should not lose hope. We must remember that even — and perhaps especially — when Hashem is hiding His face, geulah is not far away.

It has been pointed out (e.g., Shaarei Purim, page 64) that this quality of Purim is even embedded in our daily Shemoneh Esrei. We recite thrice daily in Modim, “The Beneficent One, for Your compassions were never exhausted and the Compassionate One, for Your kindnesses never ended, we have always put our hope in You.” This may also explain why Klal Yisroel ends the tefillos twice a day from Elul through Sukkos with the words “Hope to Hashem, strengthen yourself and He will give you courage, and hope to Hashem” (“L’Dovid,” Tehillim 27:14). Hope is a circuitous   process. We become hopeful, lose hope, strengthen ourselves, and become hopeful again. It is ultimately the Purims of our lives, not the open miracles that are all too rare, that give us hope that things will improve. It is Mordechai who ends up riding on the horse, while Haman is humiliated and disgraced. That is the reward for our faith when all seemed dark and bleak.

My rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, offered a parable to understand the eternality of Purim. The Medrash (Mishlei 9) records that “even at a time when all the Yomim Tovim will become obsolete, Purim will not.” The rosh yeshiva likened this to two people who were commanded to recognize individuals at night. One lit a lamp to be able to fulfill his mission, but the other, who had no lamp, trained himself to recognize them by the sound of their voices. The first one had a clearer picture of what these people looked like, but the second had developed a lifetime ability to fend for himself in the darkness. When the sun rose and the bright light of the sun drove away the gloom, the first man was able to extinguish his lamp, for it no longer served any purpose. But the second one had gained a permanent capability to survive in the darkness.

The rosh yeshiva concludes that Klal Yisroel has two ways to declare Anochi, acknowledging the Oneness of Hashem. One is the Anochi of the Aseres Hadibros after the open miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Mattan Torah. The other is the Anochi of “Anochi hasteir astir ponai,” the hiddenness of Hashem in times of darkness. The light of the sun or the lamp are nice because one can see clearly. But the majority of the time, we require our newly acquired skill of getting around in the darkness. That is our present world, where there are few or no open miracles. We navigate today by the talent we gained on Purim to “see” Hashem in the darkness and to discover Him in what others call nature.

To be clear, there was only a short period in history when we “saw the light” and could see the Yad Hashem and His presence. For most of our history, we needed the tools we gained on Purim to retain our hope that Hashem was still with us, guiding us with love, care and constant concern. That is the day of eternal hope, the day when we faced death of the entire nation r”l but were saved in a moment. At first, we saw nothing. The next moment, we saw everything.

May Hashem soon show us the rest of His power in the open and unambiguous world of Moshiach Tzidkeinu bemeheirah beyomeinu. Amein.

A freilichen and lichtigen Purim.

“Verabim mei’amei ha’aretz misyahadim ki nofal pachad haYehudim aleihem—And many from the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them” (Esther 8:17). Who were these “people of the land”? Rashi, based on the Medrash, explains that these were gentiles who were megayer and joined our nation because of their fear of the Jews.

The meforshim ask: How is this possible, when we know that a geirus done out of fear is not valid?

The Tiferes Shlomo answers that the “fear of the Jews” refers to the yiras Shomayim that the Yidden acquired on Purim. It was so powerful that it overflowed to their gentile neighbors. In the Torah we find, “Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of Hashem is proclaimed over you and they will have fear from you” (Devorim 28:10). The Vilna Gaon explains this to mean that the nations of the world will learn yiras Shomayim from you.

Here, as well, the miracle of Purim infused the Yidden with such intense fear of Hashem that the gentiles were inundated with it. This inspired them to become geirim willingly, of their own accord, and thus the geirus was valid.

Rav Moshe Wolfson, mashgiach of Yeshivas Torah Vodaas, related that when Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer moved to Eretz Yisroel, he observed that Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld was extremely meticulous about going to the mikvah, often several times a day. Rav Isser Zalman asked him about this practice, and he replied, “If the mikvah has the power to transform a goy into a Yid, then surely it has the ability to turn a Yid into a better Yid.” Rav Isser Zalman commented that this gave him a new appreciation of the potency of a mikvah.

The mashgiach applied this idea to Purim. If this holy day has the ability to transform gentiles into Yidden, then certainly it has the power to turn Yidden into better and better Yidden (heard from Rav Zelig Berkowitz, rov of Bais Medrash Mikdash Dovid). If only we would utilize this special day and absorb its vast kedusha.

There are those who disagree with Rashi and do not interpret the posuk to mean that they were megayer because of the difficulty that a geirus out of fear is invalid. Others ask how we could accept geirim during a time when Klal Yisroel was experiencing great success, such as in the days of Shlomo Hamelech. The Rokeiach explains that the “people of the land” only pretended to be Jews out of fear, but were not actually megayer. I would like to suggest another explanation, which I later found cited in the name of the Shemen Hamor. First, however, let us preface this with what we know about the Jews of that period.

Rav Elazar introduced the Megillah with the following posuk: “Through laziness the ceiling sags, and through idleness of the hands the house leaks” (Koheles 10:18). Because of the laziness of Yisroel, who were not engrossed in Torah, they weakened their siyata diShmaya from Hashem (Megillah 11a). The implication is that their bittul Torah lowered the spiritual level of Klal Yisroel and created the opportunity for a terrible decree to be issued against them.

The name Esther implies hester ponim (Chullin 139b), when Hashem conceals His Hashgocha from us. Hashem warned of this in the Tochacha: “If despite these you will not be chastised toward Me, and you behave casually with Me, then I, too, will behave toward you with casualness” (Vayikra 26:23).

At the end of Sefer Nechemya, we find that there was desecration of Shabbos. People were treading on winepresses, loading donkeys with merchandise, and bringing goods to Yerushalayim to sell on Shabbos. Jews also married women from foreign nations, from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moav. The Meshech Chochmah (Shemos 12:22) writes that this occurred because, during the times of Golus Bovel, the people did not emulate the Yidden in Mitzrayim. The Jews in Mitzrayim preserved their uniqueness by not changing their names, language, or clothing. In Golus Bovel, although they initially kept the mitzvos, they neglected the seyagim, the protective fences that separated them from the goyim. This ultimately led to neglect of even the most basic mitzvos.

In addition, they participated in the feast of Achashveirosh, which Chazal say was the cause of the death decree against them. Rav Shlomo Brevda explains that it was not merely their attendance that was problematic. Chazal say that they enjoyed themselves at the feast. Being compelled to attend out of fear of the king was one thing, but how could they enjoy themselves when their anticipated redemption from the golus had not materialized and they were surrounded by gentiles absorbed in gluttony? Their enjoyment signaled that they had despaired of the geulah. They felt, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” They were willing to assimilate among the nations.

Haman himself captured this reality when he presented his evil plan to Achashveirosh: “Yeshno am echad mefuzar umeforad bein ha’amim—There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples” (Esther 3:8). Chazal interpret “yeshno” as yesheinim heim min hamitzvos—they are asleep in their fulfillment of the commandments. They had sunk to a level where they resembled the other nations. In truth, the Medrash (Shir Hashirim 6:30) tells us that most of that generation were tzaddikim. However, a significant minority had assimilated among the people of the land.

In sharp contrast stood Mordechai HaYehudi. Although other members of the Sanhedrin were alive at the time, he emerged as the leader. Chazal compare him to Moshe Rabbeinu. He is called ish Yehudi, and Moshe is referred to as ha’ish Moshe. Mordechai was from shevet Binyomin, yet he is associated with Yehudah. The Gemara (Megillah 12b) explains that one who denies avodah zarah is called a Yehudi. Avodah zarah is not limited to idol worship. It includes anything that comes between us and our service of Hashem. Mordechai was unwavering in his loyalty to Hashem and was not swayed by the spirit of the times.

“There was a Jewish man in Shushan the capital…” (Esther 2:5). Was Mordechai the only Jew in Shushan? What is the posuk teaching us? It is telling us that Mordechai stood out as a Jew in Shushan. He dressed like a Yid and did not attempt to conceal his Yiddishkeit as many others did. He was not influenced by the foreign winds of the golus. He possessed clarity of vision and illuminated the eyes of Klal Yisroel. Though many Yidden were asleep, his determination awakened them, stirring them to repentance and renewed connection with Hashem.

Chazal teach that the removal of King Achashveirosh’s signet ring, which authorized Haman’s decree, accomplished more than 48 nevi’im. The 48 prophets were unable to bring Klal Yisroel to complete repentance, but this decree succeeded in bringing them to a teshuvah sheleimah (Megillah 14a). And who led them to this? None other than Mordechai HaYehudi.

This, then, is the meaning of the posuk, “Verabim mei’amei ha’aretz misyahadim.” The amei ha’aretz mentioned here are not gentiles, but rather Jews who had forgotten their precious heritage, those who had fallen asleep and assimilated among the peoples of the land. Now, inspired by Mordechai, they became Yehudim like him, abandoning their foreign pursuits and becoming fiercely loyal to Hashem. It is therefore no surprise that the miracle of Purim culminated in a new Kabbolas HaTorah, as the Yidden reaffirmed what they had accepted at Har Sinai.

This holy day of Purim carries the same potency it possessed more than two millennia ago, both for miracles and for awakening us from spiritual slumber. As we noted earlier, if this special day has the power to bring back completely alienated Jews and transform them into true Yehudim, then surely it can strengthen committed Yidden and elevate them even further. If only we avoid becoming distracted by the externals of the day and celebrate it l’sheim Shomayim.

As we say in Shoshanas Yaakov, “You have been their eternal salvation, and their hope for generations.”

A freilichen Purim to all.

The Yerushalmi (Taanis 2:11) strikingly declares, “All Yomim Tovim are destined to be abolished in the future, except for the days of Purim, which will never be nullified, as it is written: ‘And these days of Purim shall not pass from among the Jews’ (Esther 9:28).”

The Maharal explains that the reason the other Yomim Tovim will be nullified is that they commemorate Yetzias Mitzrayim. In the era of the final Geulah, the redemption from Mitzrayim will pale in comparison to the ultimate redemption. It will not be denied, but it will become overwhelmed and subsumed within a far greater revelation of Hashem’s sovereignty.

Based on this, a fundamental question arises: If the measure of “nullification” is that a prior redemption becomes subsumed within a greater and more ultimate redemption, then Purim would seem to qualify no less than Pesach. Why should Purim be different?

To sharpen the question further: If Pesach, the birth of our national freedom, is destined to become subordinate to the ultimate redemption, how could Purim, an episode that left us subjugated, possess greater permanence?

The answer lies in the unique character of geulas Purim. The resolution to this paradox lies in the internal essence of Purim, which I characterized in an article two years ago. To understand why Purim remains while Pesach becomes subsumed, we must look at our status even after the nes.

Akati Avdei Achashveirosh Anan

The Gemara in Megillah (14a) raises a famous question: why is Hallel not recited on Purim, even though the Jewish people were saved from total annihilation? After all, if Hallel is recited on Pesach, when we were saved from slavery to freedom, should it not be recited on Purim, when we were saved from death to life?

The Gemara offers several answers, but Rava’s response is particularly striking. He rejects the premise of the question, explaining that one of the requirements for reciting Hallel is a yetzia l’cheirus, a complete redemption and independence from our overlords. On Pesach, we were freed from bondage to Paroh to become servants of Hashem. But Purim was an incomplete salvation. Our lives were indeed saved, but “Akati avdei Achashveirosh anan” — we remained enslaved to Achashveirosh. We were still in exile, subject to foreign rule. This distinction is crucial in understanding the nature of true redemption. True redemption is not merely about survival but about freedom — freedom to serve Hashem without the constraints of foreign domination.

Incomplete Freedom

This distinction becomes even more striking when we consider the aftermath of Purim. Shortly after the events of Purim, the second Bais Hamikdosh was built. One might think that this would constitute enough of a cheirus, a bona fide liberation, to justify reciting Hallel. Yet the chachomim did not institute Hallel even at that point. Why not?

The answer lies in Rava’s choice of words. He did not say, “They were still servants of Achashveirosh,” but rather, “Anan — We are still servants of Achashveirosh.” Even after the miracle of Purim, long after the building of the second Bais Hamikdosh, the Jewish people remained essentially in exile, subject to the whims of foreign powers. The redemption was not complete, and so Hallel was not instituted.

Acceptance Of Torah In Exile

The Gemara in Shabbos (88a) recounts that in the days of Achashveirosh, while under Persian rule, Klal Yisroel voluntarily reaffirmed their commitment to the Torah, motivated by love of the miracle that Hashem performed for them.

A notable point in this discussion is that the Gemara refers to this reacceptance as occurring during the “days of Achashveirosh” rather than the “days of Mordechai and Esther,” even though it took place after the miraculous reversal of the Jews’ fortune and their salvation. This subtle phrasing parallels the aforementioned Gemara (Megillah 14a), which states that the Jewish people remained “servants of Achashveirosh” even after the miracle. Despite the redemption from Haman’s plot, they were still firmly under foreign rule.

Cheirus Defines The Self, Not The Environment

The contrast between the two experiences of kabbalas haTorah — the one at Mount Sinai after the exodus from Egypt and the one during the time of Achashveirosh — is fascinating. After leaving Egypt, the Jews were entirely free, considered avdei Hashem, and yet their acceptance of the Torah carried an element of coercion, symbolized by the “mountain being held over their heads.” In contrast, after the miracle of Purim, though the Jews remained under Persian rule, their acceptance of Torah was performed willingly, out of love and gratitude for the miraculous salvation.

The miracle of Purim reveals a profound lesson: Even in the midst of exile, when external freedom is lacking, and Klal Yisroel is subject to foreign powers, we can achieve a state of internal spiritual redemption. Our relationship with Torah and mitzvos does not depend on our political or social freedom, but on our personal choice and inner commitment. It was in these very circumstances— under the boot of Achashveirosh’s reign — that the Jews fully embraced the yoke of Torah with love and joy.

The concept of “Hodor kibluha biymei Achashveirosh” teaches us that true kabbalas haTorah is not tied to conditions of external freedom, but rather to the strength of our conviction in the presence of Hashem, even amidst the challenges of exile. The “venahapoch hu” of Purim symbolizes not only the reversal of physical danger but also the deeper transformation of living a life of redemption while still in exile. In a sense, “venahapoch hu” is the ability to be in control of oneself, to maintain spiritual autonomy, even when physically under the rule of others. True freedom lies in recognizing that, despite being in exile, we can embrace the Torah with full awareness of the Divine presence, and thus live with the joy and fulfillment of spiritual redemption.

The Dual Kingdoms: Rome, Persia, And Their Role In History

Rava’s statement speaks to a deeper reality about exile and redemption. At the beginning of Maseches Avodah Zarah (2b), the Gemara gives a vivid depiction of the future judgment of the nations at the End of Days. The Roman Empire, symbolizing Edom and our current exile, is the first to present its case before Hashem. With brazen confidence, they list their achievements, building marketplaces, bathhouses, and amassing wealth, and claim that all this was done for the Jewish people, so that they would have the freedom to engage in limud haTorah. Yet, despite their argument, the Romans were the very ones responsible for the destruction of the second Bais Hamikdosh and for inflicting immense suffering upon the Jewish people throughout history.

Their claims are dealt with sharply. “Shotim — fools,” Hashem declares, “Are you trying to deceive Me?” He points out that their actions were entirely self-serving, not for the sake of the Jewish people. Disheartened, the Romans leave disappointed and empty-handed.

Next, the Persian Empire steps forward. Like the Romans, they too argue for reward, but the result is the same — they leave disappointed and downcast. The Gemara then describes how each subsequent nation enters and makes similar claims, only to face the same outcome. However, the Gemara raises an intriguing question: Why are Rome and Persia singled out by name, while the other nations are not? The surprising answer the Gemara provides is that Rome and Persia are singled out because their kingships will continue to dominate until the coming of Moshiach. This answer is startling, even seemingly paradoxical. After all, by the time of the Gemara, the Persian Empire had already long fallen to the Greeks and was eventually overtaken by the Romans. How can the Gemara claim that Persia continues to hold power until the arrival of the Moshiach?

This puzzling claim is further compounded by a Gemara in Yoma (10a), which foretells a future war between the kingdoms of Rome and Persia. There, the Sages debate whether Rome will ultimately fall into the hands of Persia or vice versa. How can Persia, a long-defeated empire, be in a position to wage war against Rome?

Iran And Yishmoel: A Continuing Threat Until Moshiach

Tosafos in Avodah Zarah addresses this question as they grapple with the prominence of Persia (Iran), explaining that Persia remains significant even after its decline, and even in modern times. Though the empire no longer rules over Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisroel, it continues to hold sway over the Jewish people in golus. Persia, Tosafos explains, retains its importance until the arrival of Moshiach because its influence over the rest of the Middle East persists.

The Tosfos Rid in Avodah Zarah takes this concept further, explaining that while Persia no longer ruled over Jerusalem per se, it continued to exercise dominion over the Jewish people in exile, in Bavel and in Persia itself, while Rome retains control over the West. Each empire subjugates the Jewish people in their respective parts of the world, and their rule will persist until the coming of Moshiach.

The Tosfos Rid then delivers a crucial insight: “V’hi malchus Yishmoel hamoleches achshav” — the Persian Empire that will continue until Moshiach is, in reality, the kingdom of Yishmoel, which rules today. This identifies the modern manifestation of Persia as the kingdom of Yishmoel, of the Arab States, which continues to rule over parts of the Middle East today. The implication is that the influence of the ancient Persian Empire, which sought the physical destruction of the Jewish people in the time of Haman, is now manifested in the kingdom of Yishmoel (the Islamic nations), which still harbors similar animosity toward Israel. In other words, Persia and Yishmoel are intertwined, representing a force that will continually subjugate the Jewish people and exert influence until the arrival of Moshiach with the final redemption.

This statement raises an essential question: How can the kingdom of Yishmoel be equated with the Persian Empire? Furthermore, why isn’t Yishmoel mentioned among the four great kingdoms — Bavel, Persia, Greece, and Rome — that Chazal describe as having dominion over Klal Yisroel?

Amalek, Persia, And Yishmoel: The Strategic Alliance

To answer this, we turn to the Maharal. In both Netzach Yisroel and Ner Mitzvah, the Maharal addresses a similar question: Why is Yishmoel, a major world power, not counted among the Four Kingdoms? The Maharal, in his second explanation, asserts that Yishmoel is indeed included, but under the guise of the Persian Empire. The actions and characteristics of Yishmoel align with those of Persia, making them one and the same in this context. The Maharal explains that the Four Kingdoms represent four different forms of opposition to Klal Yisroel: Bavel attacked the Jewish soul, Persia targeted their bodies, Greece assaulted their intellect, while Rome brought a fierce combination of all these forms of hatred to bear against the Jewish people. Yishmoel, in line with the characteristic of the Persian empire, aims for the physical annihilation of Klal Yisroel.

The role of Amalek also becomes clearer in this context. Persia and Amalek, though distinct geographically and historically, share a common mission: the extermination of the Jewish people. Haman, a descendant of Amalek, found a willing partner in the Persian empire to carry out his plan of genocide. Similarly, the forces of Yishmoel and Persia in the future will align with Amalek in their ultimate goal of destroying the Jewish nation. Although Amalek, Persia, and Yishmoel are separated by geography and time, their mission and character are identical. This connection allows Chazal to treat Persia and Yishmoel as one entity, enabling us to understand the current ongoing struggle between the Jews and the Muslim world.

With this understanding, Rava’s statement now makes perfect sense: “We are still servants of Achashveirosh.” Chazal did not institute Hallel for the Purim miracle because the story of Purim is not yet over. The physical threat posed by the Persian Empire, the embodiment of the Kingdom of Yishmoel in our times, remains very much alive. The miracles of Purim were the beginning of an ongoing process of salvation that will continue until the final redemption, as the physical threat of Persia and the spiritual threat of Amalek will continue to haunt us until the time of Moshiach.

Gog And Magog: When The West And Iran Turn On Each Other

The Malbim, commenting on Yechezkel Hanovi’s highly cryptic nevuah, explains that at the war of Gog and Magog at the end of days, the nations will gather to conquer Yerushalayim. Persia (Iran) and its allies, representing the circumcised nations (those aligned with the faith of Yishmoel), will join forces with the uncircumcised nations of Edom (Western civilization) to wage war against Klal Yisroel. However, their alliance will crumble, and they will turn against each other, leading to their ultimate destruction. In this battle, Hashem will pass judgment upon the nations through warfare and bloodshed, as described in the parallel nevuah of Zechariah 14. This internal strife will be due to the ideological and religious divide between the groups; specifically, Edom and Yishmoel will turn against each other because of their conflicting faiths, leading to chaos within the invading forces. The Malbim further notes that in the course of this war, all of these nations, including Amalek, will be utterly destroyed.

Shushan Purim And The War Of Gog And Magog: A Miraculous Connection

A particularly intriguing aspect of the Malbim’s commentary is his interpretation of the timing of this final war. He draws attention to the posuk in Yechezkel (32:17), which indicates that the conflict will commence on the fifteenth day of a certain month. According to the Malbim, this refers to the twelfth month of the Hebrew calendar — Adar. Therefore, the war of Gog U’Magog will begin on Shushan Purim, the 15th of Adar.

This is a profound connection, as the Malbim highlights that the original salvation of the Jewish people from the Persian Empire (which now includes the Ishmaelite nations) began on Purim. The future war that will result in the ultimate downfall of these forces begins on Purim as well.

Not Nullified- Fulfilled

Thus, while other Yomim Tovim become subsumed within the final Geulah, Purim does not become secondary to it. Rather, it becomes completed by it.

Precisely because Purim is not about a past salvation, it can never be nullified. Its full meaning is not yet realized. Its story is not over. The downfall of Amalek remains incomplete. The Throne of Hashem is not yet whole. The Name of Hashem is not yet fully revealed. Even at its moment of triumph, Rava declares: “Akati avdei Achashveirosh anan.” It is the Yom Tov of geulah within golus, a redemption that begins in concealment and persists through history. Purim will climax and be completed with the war of Gog and Magog, with the ultimate Geulah, bimheirah b’yomeinu.

My husband used to have a recur­ring dream. The details of the dreams changed, but the basic theme was al­ways the same (hence the adjective “recurring”).

In the dream, he’d be walking through a house. Though it appeared to be an ordinary house, it was constantly surprising him. Everywhere he went, he’d find a new door to open and a new room to explore. He kept coming across unexpected nooks and inter­esting crannies. Passages that seemed to lead to one place ended up in another. Everything he saw filled him with delight and made him eager to see more. It was a voyage of discovery.

If I had to interpret these dreams, I’d guess that all those intriguing rooms and passages can repre­sent new ideas and fresh insights. A talmid chochom is always on a journey of exploration. He opens the Torah’s pages the way a dream-walker might open doors in an unfamiliar house, searching for knowl­edge. Every new train of thought can be a corridor leading to an unexpected destination. One discovery leads to another. The journey itself is a never-ending source of wonder and delight.

We can translate the dream’s message into other areas as well. Life itself is a journey of discovery. Every new experience has the potential to show us things we didn’t know before. Things about the world, about other people, and about ourselves.

It’s a well-documented fact that individuals under special circumstances may stun themselves and on­lookers by summoning up powers they never expect­ed to find. Like the mother who, in a surge of fear-driven adrenaline, lifts a car to free her trapped child, we all have strengths deep inside which can lift and carry seemingly insurmountable loads. Strengths which may be largely untapped… until Hashem sends conditions which call for those strengths. The crisis, the crunch, the catastrophe.

Even as we bemoan the intrusion of trouble into the even tenor of our days, and even as we cry out to be freed from its crushing talons, new and unfore­seen powers come to our aid. An acuteness we never bothered to cultivate before. A new assertiveness to meet a new challenge. An unexpected skill for re­cruiting available human resources. In time, these dredged-up strengths, recruited to cope with a spe­cific ordeal, begin to change from emergency tools to integral parts of our personality. We are trans­formed.

Nowhere is this transformation seen so clearly as in the Megillah we read on Purim. Even centuries later, Esther’s journey through the trials and tribu­lations that beset her, and the unique challenges that

confronted her, stands as an example and a signpost for every one of us.

Imagine walking through a sunny marketplace, basket on your arm, when you are suddenly surrounded by the king’s henchmen. They announce that you are a candidate for the queenship. The fact that you have no desire to be a queen, or that your only goal in life is to be a good Jewish wife and mother, means nothing to them. You are whisked away, a pawn in a game you never asked to play.

Esther chooses passivity as her prop. In the building where the women are kept before being taken to the king, she asks for nothing beyond the or­dinary. She keeps her head down and her thoughts to herself. Having lost the power to navigate the course of her own life, she submits to her new circum­stances with sorrowful docility.

Though Esther is ultimately crowned queen of the mighty Persian Empire, in some ways she wields less power than the most ordinary woman in Shushan. She is circumscribed by the rules and protocols that define her new role. Even the most basic ability to be herself is de­nied to her, as she’s forced to conceal her true identity and hide her own proud heritage.

In silent passivity she picked up the burden of her new life… until the mo­mentous interchange with Mordechai. That’s the moment when everything changes

Learning that Haman has decreed destruction on her people, Esther feels powerless to help. Achashverosh has not called for her in thirty days. He isn’t even aware that she’s Jewish. Haman, the Jews’ archenemy, also happens to be her husband’s most trusted advisor. Esther is nothing but a passive victim of her fate. A helpless pawn. What can she do?

Mordechai ruthlessly shakes up this self-image with a few well-chosen words. “Who know if this moment is not the very reason you were crowned queen?”

And then something strange and won­derful happens. All at once, the help­less Esther summons up a commanding strength. Charged with the responsibili­ty for saving her people, she begins to is­sue orders. The Jews are to fast for three days and nights, after which she will risk her life and venture into the king’s pres­ence.

It is at this precise juncture that Mor­dechai stops telling Esther what to do. Their roles are reversed. Until now, Es­ther was his charge. He dictated her moves, and she obeyed. But with the awesome responsibility now resting on her shoulders, she can no longer afford to be passive. She takes charge. She acts.

And, with Hashem’s help, she prevails.

The Big Question

A friend of our family, a well-respect­ed doctor who always goes the extra mile when it comes to helping people, says that he learned a huge life lesson from a talk he once heard my husband give about Purim.

Discussing Mordechai’s thundering rebuke to Esther, which has reverber­ated down the ages, my husband had said that this is an attitude we should all adopt in life. Our doctor friend took this message to heart. Now, he says, when­ever someone turns to him for help, he asks himself a version of the all-impor­tant question that Mordechai once posed to Esther: “Who knows if I wasn’t put on this earth for just this person, at just this moment?” And he acts accordingly.

A twenty-first century doctor, learn­ing from Mordechai and emulating Es­ther… and at the same time offering the rest of us a compelling role model. We, too, can take the message of the Megil­lah to heart in ways that can impact our every interaction in life.

Each new challenge we face is like coming across another closed door in a dream house. Whether we choose to throw open that door, or have it thrust open against our will, walking through it means stepping into new territory. The foreign land of an unfamiliar, and some­times unwanted, experience.

At the same time, we also enter a new inner territory, one which we may not yet have explored or even mapped. A place of undreamt-of power and resilience that can not only help us cope but can end up redefining us in ways we never could have imagined possible.

Esther’s courage and deeply seated emunah is not the stuff of a long-ago bedtime story. It was, and remains, as real and as relevant to us as we choose to make it. Seemingly chained by circum­stances beyond her control, Esther val­iantly threw open the door to meet the challenge those circumstances thrust upon her.

Her heroism was the acting-out of strength she may not even have known she possessed. Her clear-minded and quick-acting plot came about when she discarded the role of passive victim and took charge of the parts of her life that were hers to use. So much had been tak­en away from her, yet she willed herself to rise to her unique responsibility in a way that was staggering in its signifi­cance for our people and for the world.

As we read about Esther’s transfor­mation this Purim, may we discover the hidden strengths in ourselves… and soar to unsuspected heights of our own!

Once Again, an Attack on the Kedusha of the Kosel

Let us begin with the issue of the Kosel Hamaaravi.

Last week, I wrote about how the judges of the Supreme Court have been constantly pushing the limits of their power further and further. The events of the past week seem to have shown that my words were more prescient than I realized. Last weekend, the judges overstepped the bounds of their power even more than before, this time weighing in on an issue that seems undisputed—the sanctity of the Kosel. The verdict issued by the judges, including the yarmulke-wearing Justice Sohlberg, drew sharp condemnation from many directions, which was not limited to the chareidi representatives.

I spoke with several chareidi politicians, including some who held ministerial positions until not long ago, and I saw that they had not been properly informed about the court’s verdict. They believed that the Supreme Court decided to award the Reform movement an additional section at the Kosel, adjacent to the existing sections for men and women. This would entail dividing the two existing sections into three separate ones. This, however, is not what the court decided. When one wishes to attack a court ruling, it is important to know what the ruling is.

I will lay out the facts as precisely as possible. Six years ago, the government passed a decision to grant a specific area at the Kosel to the Reform movement. The discussion at the time concerned an area near the Kosel plaza on the right side, which is known as the Ezras Yisroel or southern plaza. The government made it clear that this referred to a third area that was removed from the main Kosel plaza. Naturally, the Reform movement was outraged even by this and complained vociferously about the “segregation” and the fact that they were relegated to a different area as if they were pariahs. Nevertheless, they were secretly pleased with the development, since it gave them a measure of recognition. At the time, there was also talk of establishing an administration for the Reform section and granting them government funding.

You are probably wondering why the chareidim agreed to this decision at all. Why allow the Reform movement a foothold at the Kosel? There were two reasons. First, Netanyahu exerted enormous pressure on the chareidi parties, since he, in turn, was under massive pressure from the Reform movement in America to create a Reform prayer section. Second, the chareidim feared that if they didn’t consent to the allocation of a separate section for Reform prayer, the Supreme Court would impose an even worse arrangement on everyone, insisting that the Reform movement deserved an equal share of the space in the regular plaza. The religious parties anticipated that the court would call for the existing Kosel plaza to be split into three sections so that it could be shared with the Reform movement—which, from a chareidi point of view, would have been the worst possible outcome. To avert this, they decided to endorse a smaller concession to the Reform movement as a preemptive measure.

But things did not proceed smoothly from there. While the chareidi politicians agreed to the government decision, albeit under duress, the chareidi public wasn’t so quick to accept it. On the contrary, it evoked a storm of outrage. Ultimately, the religious politicians informed Netanyahu that they regretted their decision to support the initiative and they considered it a mistake. The government therefore decided to freeze the decision. The Reform movement wasn’t willing to take this setback lying down, and they petitioned the Supreme Court to ignore the chareidim’s change of heart and to force the government to carry out its original decision, implementing the “Kosel compromise.” They are also perturbed by the fact that the area assigned to them at the “southern Kosel,” or whatever you may wish to call it, doesn’t actually reach the stones of the Kosel; it is separated from the ancient wall by some antiquities on the ground. Furthermore, this section can be accessed only by stairs, which means that it is not accessible to people with disabilities. The Reform movement petitioned the court to order the government to remove the antiquities and make the plaza fully accessible.

Interestingly, a simple investigation has revealed that there is hardly anyone frequenting the Reform section of the Kosel. The site is almost constantly deserted, at all times of the day or night. They claim to be fighting for a place at the Kosel, but it doesn’t really seem to interest them at all. Moreover, when the Women of the Wall and other Reform activists show up on Rosh Chodesh to create provocations, they do not utilize the area assigned to the Reform movement; instead, they insist on coming to the regular women’s section. This makes it clear that their intention isn’t really to daven; instead, their goal is to create a provocation and stir up tensions.

The Chief Rabbis Reject the Court’s Authority Over Prayer

Last week, an expanded panel of seven Supreme Court justices, headed by Chief Justice Yitzchok Amit, ruled that the original agreement regarding the Kosel must be advanced, even though it was canceled by the government. The judges ruled that the decision passed by the ministerial committee in 2018 to establish a section for Reform prayer remains in effect, and that no additional government decision is needed for construction permits for the Ezras Yisroel plaza to be approved. The judges therefore ruled that the applications for construction permits should be reviewed, and a schedule was set for the process to continue. They added that the government is required to work quickly to receive permits from the Antiquities Authority so that the construction permits can be released quickly. The judges ordered the state and the municipality of Yerushalayim to report on their progress within three months.

In its ruling, the court ordered the government to act to submit new applications for construction permits no later than 14 days after receiving approval from the director of the Antiquities Authority, in the event that such approval is necessary. The verdict also states that if no decision is made on the applications within 45 days of their submission, it will be considered a refusal, in accordance with the Planning and Building Law. In that case, the state will be required to submit an appeal to the Planning and Building Appeals Committee of the Yerushalayim district within 14 days. The court stressed in its ruling that if the matter is brought before the appeals committee, it will exercise its authority and abide by the timetables enshrined in law. The judges ordered all relevant bodies, including the Yerushalayim municipality, to work quickly to advance the approvals. The judges also ordered the state and the municipality to file an update for the court’s files within 90 days.

What was infuriating about this wasn’t only the judges’ constantly mounting audacity, or the fact that they are attempting to force the government to implement a decision that it decided to freeze, or even the fact that they always side with the Reform movement. Even more than all these things, the court showed exceptional temerity this time by exhibiting disdain for the chief rabbis, who wrote that the judges do not have the authority to rule on matters concerning tefillah and the Kosel. The two chief rabbis, Rav Dovid Yosef and Rav Kalman Ber, submitted a halachic document to the court containing a signed professional opinion asserting that the Kosel plaza has a binding halachic status stemming from its proximity to the site of the Bais Hamikdosh, and it is viewed as having the status of a shul. As a result, the Kosel plaza is subject to the same halachic rules and guidelines that apply to places of davening, including the requirement for men and women to be segregated and the preservation of minhagim that have been observed at the site for generations. The rabbonim argued that changing the regulations at the site would harm the broader community of mispallelim and impair the unity surrounding one of the Jewish people’s holiest sites. They added that this is a religious issue that cannot be determined in the courts. The document also states that it is possible to hold tefillos in a different format in the southern plaza known as Ezras Yisroel, and there is no need to undermine the existing situation in the main plaza. The rabbonim warned that any change in the status quo is likely to lead to a major public controversy and to harm the site’s sanctity. The Chief Rabbinate also announced in a public statement that the Kosel Hamaaravi is not a forum for communal conflicts, and that the traditions that have been maintained there must be upheld.

One might debate whether it was a correct move for the chief rabbis to mention the southern plaza, but the most important point is that they argued that this matter is not subject to the court’s authority. This did not make any impression on the judges, who completely ignored the position of the chief rabbis of Israel.

Kosel Law to Be Discussed in Knesset on Wednesday

The court’s decision triggered harsh reactions in the chareidi community, which accused the judges of seeking to harm and desecrate the Jewish people’s holiest site. Another sharp reaction came from Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who declared, “The radical gang sitting in the Supreme Court has crossed the last red line today with its decision to raise a hand against the Jewish people’s most sacred site, the Kosel Hamaaravi. This is an illegitimate ruling that cannot be tolerated and that contradicts the fundamental values of the State of Israel and the beliefs of the vast majority of its citizens. The government and the Knesset must take action on this matter without delay. I support the immediate passage of a law stipulating that the Kosel Hamaaravi will be managed solely by the Chief Rabbinate or a different entity that receives its approval.”

The law mentioned by the justice minister is a bill that was first formulated several years ago, which states that the Chief Rabbinate holds exclusive authority over the Kosel. Of course, there were some voices in the government that were opposed to the law, but the religious community never felt the need to insist on passing it. Now, however, it has become more necessary than ever.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation meets every Sunday to determine its position on all the laws slated to be discussed in the Knesset that week. The committee’s decisions are binding for all members of the coalition. This week, Avi Maoz’s “Kosel Law” was on the committee’s agenda. As it turns out, Maoz asked to bring his law to a vote in the Knesset even before the Supreme Court released its ruling, and Yariv Levin, who heads the committee, announced that the committee would support the bill. Curious about the timing of his request, I asked Maoz why he submitted his law to the committee before the court’s ruling was known, and he laughed. “Did anyone have any doubt about what they would decide?” he replied.

However, the committee never got the chance to express its position on the bill, for a simple reason: Prime Minister Netanyahu canceled this week’s session. He did not want the bill introduced by Maoz—who happens to be a close personal friend of the prime minister—to receive the committee’s support. It wasn’t long before Yariv Levin reacted. “A few minutes ago, I received a notice about the cancellation of this week’s session of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation,” he wrote. “Without the committee meeting, there is no official government position. I intend to vote for this bill in the Knesset, and I call on all members of the Knesset, especially the members of the coalition, to follow suit and to send a message to the Supreme Court that we are drawing the line here.”

Avi Maoz, who isn’t a member of the coalition and therefore is entitled to submit new bills freely, issued his own reaction as well: “After the cancellation of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation’s session today, I plan, b’ezrat Hashem, to bring the proposed law for the preservation of the Kosel and other holy sites to a vote on Wednesday. I call on all members of the Knesset to take a stand and to vote for the integrity of the Kosel Hamaaravi and against the Supreme Court and Bennett’s plan to divide the Kosel.”

Coalition whip Ofir Katz announced on Sunday that coalition discipline will not be imposed regarding this bill, which means that the absence of a decision from the ministerial committee will not automatically obligate coalition members to vote against it.

According to Maoz’s bill—and a similar proposal authored by the chareidi Knesset members—the Kosel must be managed in accordance with religious law, and the following actions will be prohibited at the Kosel: violation of the laws of Shabbos or Jewish holidays; holding any ceremony, including a religious ceremony, contrary to established customs at the site; visiting the Kosel in attire that is not appropriate for its kedushah; holding a mixed prayer service attended by men and women together; holding any ceremony in the ezras noshim that includes taking out or reading a sefer Torah, sounding a shofar, or wearing a tallis or tefillin; and entering a section of the Kosel plaza reserved for the opposite gender without permission from the designated authority. Violation of these prohibitions may incur a punishment of six months’ imprisonment or a fine of 10,000 shekels. The representatives of Degel HaTorah, Agudas Yisroel, Shas, and Otzma Yehudit have already announced that they will support the bill.

Realizing that they pushed the envelope too far and that the Knesset is poised to pass a bill directly contradicting their ruling, the judges hastened to issue a clarification, which is a highly unusual move on their part. “We did not change anything; we merely asked the government to implement its decision,” they wrote. But this did not impress anyone. The struggle has already begun, and I believe that the bill will pass the Knesset vote. After that, the Knesset will probably be forced to finally pass the bill curbing the judges’ authority to strike down government decisions and laws passed by the Knesset.

Justice Minister: One Cannot Boycott Someone Who Wasn’t Elected

As I mentioned last week, the conflict over the Kosel has come on the heels of a series of other power struggles between the judges of the Supreme Court and the Knesset or the minister of justice. One of the court’s recent decisions targeted the justice minister for his refusal to convene the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint new judges. It is, of course, hardly proper for the judges to issue a ruling on a case in which they are personally involved, but they have no concern for that minor detail. The judges do not consider themselves responsible to avoid bias or a conflict of interest. In their eyes, they are angels who can do no wrong.

Responding to Justice Minister Levin’s refusal to convene the committee, the judges issued an order prohibiting him from boycotting the chief justice of the Supreme Court and instructing him to cooperate with Amit. As an alternative, they demanded that the prime minister strip Levin of his authority over the committee for the appointment of judges.

Levin responded, “I am not boycotting the chief justice of the Supreme Court, because there is no chief justice of the Supreme Court. The appointment of a chief justice requires the signature of the prime minister and publication in the official government gazette. Since Netanyahu did not sign on this appointment and it was not publicized, the signature of the president does not validate Amit’s appointment.” Levin added that the petition seeking his own dismissal is contrary to the will of the voting public, as is the petition against the “excellent minister” (in his words) Itamar Ben-Gvir. Levin argued that no petitioner has the right to take a position against the will of the people, and that the court is effectively trying to impose regime change.

As usual, the attorney general was required to submit the government’s official position to the Supreme Court before its ruling was issued. As could only be expected, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara disagreed with the minister of justice. “The conduct of the minister of justice and his refusal to cooperate with the head of the judicial branch of the government is a continuation of the harm to the foundations of the State of Israel’s government and adversely affects the sector of the public that requires the services of the court system to exercise its legal rights,” she wrote.

If you believe that her conduct is utterly outrageous, I agree with you completely.

The judges and the Knesset have clashed—and continue to clash—over another issue as well. The prime minister of India is scheduled to visit the Knesset this Wednesday, and the Knesset will be holding a festive sitting in his honor. Yair Lapid has informed the Knesset speaker that if he excludes the chief justice of the Supreme Court from the event again (as was recently the case, when Amit did not receive an invitation to a festive occasion in the Knesset) then Yesh Atid will boycott the sitting. This infuriated the Knesset speaker, Amir Ochana, who wrote, “Threatening to undermine Israel’s international relations is not a legitimate course of action in an internal political debate. If the leader of the opposition is interested in harming the foreign relations of the State of Israel with an important ally, which is also one of the world’s most important powers, that is his decision. It is a distressing and incorrect decision, and I hope that he will retract it.”

At the cabinet session on Sunday, Netanyahu praised Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel and said, almost as an afterthought, “He will be speaking at the Knesset, and I hope you will all be there.”

The Attorney General’s Obsession

Having mentioned the attorney general, I must discuss another very important topic. The issue is the relentless persecution of Torah learners. The attorney general is obsessed with this subject. It may have begun with the judges of the Supreme Court, who called for tighter enforcement against “draft evaders,” but the attorney general is the one who has gone full throttle. Baharav-Miara holds regular meetings with officials in the Ministry of Justice, whom she questions repeatedly about the progress of arrests of Torah learners and what additional sanctions are being imposed.

Last week, Baharav-Miara was infuriated when police officials revealed that they do not permit the army to engage in enforcement activities to locate “chareidi draft evaders” in chareidi population centers, due to the concern of wide-scale disturbances of the order. The police also asserted that their many responsibilities make it impossible for them to allocate officers to assist the military police, and, for the same reason, that any draft evaders who happen to be apprehended by the police can be detained for only a very short time. These statements were made in response to a demand from the attorney general for draft evaders to be arrested in chareidi areas and for any draft dodgers captured in the course of other activities—such as at a traffic stop—to be held until the military police arrive to take them into custody. This discussion took place in the wake of the riots in Bnei Brak, where the appearance of two female soldiers triggered a massive surge of unrest. The police claimed at the time that the soldiers’ arrival in the area hadn’t been coordinated with them, and they asserted that they would weigh the possibility of collaborating with the IDF if they receive detailed advance notice of its plans—but not in chareidi population centers.

Baharav-Miara was not pleased with this approach. “This is a very difficult picture that does not align with the duty of all state entities to enforce the law,” she said angrily. “As army officials have made clear, this represents substantial harm to the effectiveness of the enforcement of the draft, fails to reach the potential of the draft, and leads to unequal enforcement.” In practice, Baharav-Miara accepted the police’s position—perhaps because she had no other choice—and ruled that the IDF should present concrete plans for enforcement operations to the police, for the purpose of coordinating its activities with law enforcement personnel. She also demanded a long list of sanctions against Torah learners for immediate implementation, with the goal of strangling bnei Torah even more.

During the same discussion, the IDF presented a set of statistics indicating a continued upward trend in the rate of enlistment among chareidim, while clarifying that the latest numbers still do not come close to satisfying their needs. The number of recruits in the first third of the current enlistment cycle (from July 1, 2025) exceeded 1,100, which was higher than the figure presented at the previous hearing on this subject. There has been an increase in enlistment to combat roles, and an even more significant rise in combat-support positions. The number of draft candidates who received a tzav 12 (a final summons before they are declared draft evaders) stands at 43,000, and the number of official draft evaders (those who ignored even the final summons) has reached 33,000. The vast majority of individuals in each group are chareidim. Professional sources within the Ministry of Defense and the Treasury stressed the need (in their view) for personal sanctions to increase compliance with the draft, particularly the revocation of economic benefits. The IDF, for its part, estimated that it will be able to step up its enforcement measures within two months, including expanding the authority of army officials to impose short-term military detention and lowering the threshold for cases to be handled by the Military Advocate General’s Corps in the military courts.

For the religious parties, this adds to the urgency of passing a draft law that will finally put an end to this endless persecution.

Foreign Yeshiva Bochurim in the Crosshairs

The government budget for yeshivos includes a clause providing funding for students from abroad. Every yeshiva receives a certain sum in funding from the government for each foreign student, based on organized lists of talmidim that the yeshivos submit to the government. When the Supreme Court ordered government funding for yeshivos frozen on the grounds that all chareidi bochurim are considered criminals for failing to enlist in the IDF, there was no reason to include the budget for foreign students in that measure. After all, foreign students are not subject to the draft, and no financial sanctions or funding cuts should apply to them. Nevertheless, Attorney General Baharav-Miara found a way to sidestep the dictates of logic for the purpose of continuing to hamstring the government, presumably as part of her overall scheme to torpedo the alliance between Netanyahu and the chareidim and thus bring down the government. Baharav-Miara announced that the government is required to freeze funding for foreign yeshiva students as well, or at least not to update the sums. Her reasoning was that a yeshiva with both Israeli and foreign students receives its funding from the government to a single account, and any funds received for the foreign talmidim will therefore benefit Israeli citizens—i.e., “draft-dodging” chareidi bochurim—as well. As an alternative, Baharav-Miara suggested that yeshivos should be required to maintain two separate accounts, one for each category of talmidim.

If you’ll excuse me for saying this, her contorted reasoning is utterly absurd.

The response came from Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, who rejected her interpretation and argued that the court’s freeze on government funding explicitly relates only to students who haven’t legally deferred their military service. He also disagreed with her demand for separate accounting for the two categories of students, which he denounced as an interpretation that exceeds the bounds of her authority. To highlight the absurdity of her stance, Fuchs added, “If every form of government support is to be scrutinized based on the concern that it might indirectly benefit someone subject to the draft, it will become necessary to cut funding to a long list of things that are supported by the government, ranging from cultural programs and local libraries to welfare and health services, since a person who is not permitted to receive government support may benefit from them indirectly.” Fuchs accused the attorney general of applying different standards in different contexts and engaging in unequal enforcement. However, perhaps he should have been more careful with his words, since the attorney general is liable to take his ideas at face value and call for them to be imposed as the next step. After all, the woman seems to have no limits at all!

A Law for Tallis and Tefillin

You certainly are familiar with my fondness for perusing the laws placed on the Knesset table by the members of the Knesset. For instance, the Yisroel Beiteinu party introduced a bill that would make the right to vote contingent on military or national service. In the explanatory notes, they added, “Identical bills were removed from the agenda on the 12th of Adar 5785 and the 14th of Cheshvan 5786.” Because the bill was scrapped, they decided to resubmit it. They also introduced another bill to promote the battle against Torah learners by stripping inmates in prison of the right to vote. How is this connected to the struggle against Torah learning? Well, Lieberman claims that his party will work to ensure that draft evaders are placed behind bars, and then they will be deprived of their ability to vote as well. How sad!

Another bill came from Yesh Atid and proposes withholding government funding from “institutions that instigate draft evasion.” The explanatory notes state that there are already sanctions on the books against those who encourage draft evasion, but there is no official mechanism to regulate or formalize the penalties.

Some of the bills are bizarre or deplorable, while others are worthy. One law proposes instituting a national day for awareness of blood pressure, and another deals with the preservation of green spaces in Yerushalayim. A third bill calls for financial aid for amateur soccer teams, and yet another bill would outlaw blocking major traffic arteries. Yisroel Beiteinu submitted a bill calling for Israeli sovereignty to be imposed on the city of Beitar Illit, which is home to 65,000 Israeli citizens. The imposition of sovereignty would remove the cloud of uncertainty regarding the city’s legal status and would fully impose Israeli law on the residents and their properties, as well as guaranteeing full and equal government funding, advanced infrastructure, and municipal services on a par with those in any other city. Who would ever have imagined that Yisroel Beiteinu would act on behalf of a chareidi city!

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a law submitted by the chairman of Degel HaTorah that requires every prison inmate or detainee in the country to be allowed to possess basic religious articles, including seforim for learning and davening, as well as a tallis and tefillin. The law will be brought to the Knesset for a preliminary reading and will continue the legislative process from there. The chareidi media reported that this bill was submitted in response to the incident in which a yungerman arrested for draft evasion was denied the ability to wear tefillin. It is very sad that there is a need for a law of this nature in a Jewish state, where the right to religious observance should be self-evident, but in light of the situation, it is certainly a worthy and appropriate bill. However, I must point out that the bill (titled “Prayer and Religious Observance for Prisoners and Detainees”) was introduced in Teves 5785/January 2025, a year prior to the outrageous experience of Avrohom Ben-Dayan. This bill was drafted by then-MK Eliyohu Bruchi and received the signatures of ten of his colleagues, including his fellow Degel HaTorah MKs as well as Avrohom Betzalel, Tzvi Sukkot, and even members of Yesh Atid and Blue and White. After the latest incident, Degel HaTorah asked for the law to be brought to a vote, and the ministerial committee gave its support to the measure.

In case you are wondering how Bruchi came up with the idea for this law a year before Ben-Dayan was arrested, it isn’t a sign that he was blessed with ruach hakodesh. The law was actually prompted by a similar incident that took place at the time, concerning a yungerman from Beit Shemesh who was arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran. (To be honest, the charge of espionage is almost certainly out of place; if he was guilty of anything, it was indiscretion and foolishness.) The Prison Service has been depriving this man of his basic rights, and he has been denied access to sifrei kodesh throughout his imprisonment—on the orders of the Shin Bet, according to prison officials. To Bruchi’s credit, he has been continuing to help the prisoner despite the fact that he is no longer a member of the Knesset.

A Gift for President Trump

This week, I read that Israel plans to give a unique gift to the president of the United States: a statuette designed especially in his honor by a young Israeli named Ben-Dror, who served in the IDF reserves for 600 days. According to the report, the base of the statuette is made of stones from the Kosel, with a golden magen Dovid that appears to be bursting out of the stones.

It sounds like a nice idea, but I still remember the motion for the agenda submitted by then-MK Avrohom Betzalel, which led Minister Amichai Chikli to promise that the Kosel stones on display at the Israel Museum, in the government complex in Tel Aviv, and most recently at the airport would be returned to their places if the chief rabbis of Israel ruled that it was required. The chief rabbis and Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz then issued that psak, and the stones were returned. This made me wonder how anyone could possibly have decided to gift a stone from the Kosel to President Trump. My concerns were soon allayed by Yossi Bloch, an aide to Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, who assured me that the gift contains a replica of stones from the Kosel, and that the stones were not taken from the Kosel.

You will have to join me in keeping this secret, then. Please do not tell the president that the stones are a replica.

Shortly after the Supreme Court announced last Friday that it had ruled by a 6-3 margin, in a case called Learning Resources v. Trump, to invalidate many of the tariffs that President Trump had imposed since last April, President Trump announced replacement tariffs on the imports from America’s global trading partners. These tariffs are based upon a different federal trade statute that is widely believed to be immune to legal challenges in the Supreme Court. The very next day, Trump announced that he was raising the new tariffs, which were to take effect on Tuesday, February 24, from 10% to 15%, and warned that additional new tariff announcements, based upon other federal trade statutes, would be coming soon.

“I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again — GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!” he continued.

Despite last week’s legal defeat, Trump has doubled down on his tariff strategy because, in addition to using the threat of tariffs to reach more favorable foreign trade agreements, he believes it will raise a lot of money for the Treasury to reduce the budget deficit, while encouraging more domestic manufacturing and attracting more foreign investment in the American economy.

Trump has warned nations that negotiated trade deals with him over the past year to stick with them, or risk being hit with new tariffs. “Some of them stand, many of them stand, some of them won’t, and they’ll be replaced with the other tariffs,” the president declared at his news conference shortly after the justices handed down their ruling. In the meantime, exports from all countries will apparently now face the new 15% tariff rate the president announced the day after the high court’s ruling, regardless of any previous trade concessions they have made with Trump previously.

Limitations on Trump’s New 15% Tariff

But the new global tariff does have certain exemptions that Trump carved out on certain imports, including beef and other agricultural products, whose prices the president wants to keep as low as possible because of his political sensitivity to the affordability issue in November’s midterm election.

Nor will the new 15% rate affect goods like foreign autos and steel, which are already subject to tariffs that were previously imposed on national security grounds, and which were not affected by last week’s Supreme Court ruling. Trump has also upheld the terms of a trade deal that he previously brokered with Canada and Mexico that allows certain types of imports from those countries to remain tariff-free.

Last week’s 6-3 Supreme Court decision also featured a rare alliance between the three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, and three members of its six-justice conservative majority who have reliably voted over the past year to uphold almost all of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda against liberal challenges.

Supreme Court Ruling Denies Trump His Favorite Negotiating Tool

In ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which was passed by Congress in 1977, “does not authorize the president to impose tariffs” by executive order, the high court disabled a major tool that Trump has wielded effectively to impose his will on many of America’s major trading partners around the world. Trump boasts that he was even able to use the threat of tariffs to force nations that were at war with one another to make peace in order to avoid losing their access to the domestic U.S. market for their exports.

In the majority opinion that he wrote for the case, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that permitting Trump’s tariffs to stand “would represent a transformative expansion of the President’s authority over tariff policy,” that would encroach on the authority to levy all federal taxes that the U.S. Constitution granted exclusively to Congress, as part of the system of checks and balances established by America’s Founding Fathers in 1787.

Trump and his supporters, including Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, claim that the term “regulate” in the language of the IEEPA is broad enough to include the power to impose tariffs. The three justices have also argued that tariffs “are a traditional and common tool to regulate importation,” and that Trump has interpreted the meaning of the IEEPA’s language correctly.

But Chief Justice Roberts, in his majority opinion, disagrees. He insists that the term “regulate,” as it is ordinarily used, means to “fix, establish, or control; to adjust by rule, method, or established mode.”

“Many statutes grant the Executive the power to ‘regulate,’” Roberts points out. “Yet the Government [in its legal presentation supporting the tariffs] cannot identify any statute in which the power to regulate includes the power to tax.”

It is also significant that a federal trade court and a federal appeals court both found Trump’s IEEPA tariffs to be illegal before the Supreme Court took up the case.

Roberts also noted that the IEEPA does not explicitly mention tariffs. Instead, it allows the president to “regulate … importation or exportation” of foreign property transactions after declaring a national emergency to deal with certain “unusual and extraordinary” threats.

Roberts also wrote that it’s “telling that in IEEPA’s half century of existence, no President has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs — let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope.” Roberts also emphasized that in order to justify the “extraordinary” tariff powers that Trump claimed, he needed to “point to clear congressional authorization. . . [because] when Congress has delegated its tariff powers, it has done so in explicit terms, and subject to strict limits.”

The Liberal-Conservative Dispute Over the Major Questions Doctrine

However, even though they also denied the legality of Trump’s tariffs, the three liberal justices on the high court declined to join in the part of Roberts’ opinion which cited the Major Questions doctrine which the conservative majority of justices on the court have used in recent years to bar any sweeping presidential action regarding fiscal policy that has not been specifically authorized by Congress. The doctrine insists that before taking any economically significant action, a president needs some form of express congressional authorization.

For example, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court applied the Major Questions doctrine to strike down President Joe Biden’s efforts in 2023 to forgive all student loan debt without authorization from Congress, as well as his proposed eviction moratorium and vaccine mandate during the Covid pandemic.

President Biden had wanted to forgive all student loans, citing a law previously passed by Congress that allowed the federal Education Department to “waive or modify” rules for students to pay back the loans that they took from the federal government to finance their college educations. But the majority bloc of conservative justices ruled, based upon the Major Questions doctrine, that the language of that law was not clear enough to authorize President Biden to cancel all of the $430 billion in student loans owed to the federal government.

Two years earlier, during the Covid pandemic, the same six conservative justices struck down the Biden administration’s nationwide moratorium on evictions from apartments, because they ruled that the 1944 public health law that allows the federal government to impose quarantines during health emergencies was too narrow to support a general ban on all housing evictions.

The Major Questions Doctrine Also Limits Government Agencies

In its landmark ruling in the case known as West Virginia v. EPA in 2022, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority used the Major Questions doctrine to strike down a regulation by the Biden administration’s federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which would have forced West Virginia to shift its electrical power generation from coal-burning plants to cleaner energy sources. The court found that the EPA had exceeded the power it had been granted under Section 111 (d) of the Clean Air Act, passed by Congress in 1972 to fight air pollution in order to protect the ozone layer, because the legislation made no mention of greenhouse gases or climate change.

In last week’s Supreme Court ruling, three members of its conservative bloc, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh wrote in their own dissenting opinions that they would have upheld Trump’s tariffs entirely, based upon the argument that “tariffs are a traditional and common tool to regulate importation,” which would have made them compliant with the language of the IEEPA law.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the “stakes” in the tariff case “dwarf those of other Major Questions cases.” He cites the Trump team’s own claims: “The Government points to projections that the tariffs will reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion, and that international agreements reached in reliance on the tariffs could be worth $15 trillion.”

However, in a dissenting opinion upholding Trump’s tariffs, Justice Kavanaugh argued that the Major Questions doctrine should not apply because international trade falls within the realm of foreign affairs, which the Constitution assigns to the authority of the president rather than Congress.

In a small concession to Kavanaugh’s argument, Justice Gorsuch acknowledges that “the Major Questions doctrine may speak with less force where the President and Congress enjoy ‘overlap[ping] . . . authority’ under the Constitution, such as in foreign affairs.” However, Gorsuch emphasizes that the Constitution expressly assigns the power over taxation in the form of imposing tariffs on imports to Congress and not the president.

Gorsuch Caught Between the Court’s Liberals and Conservatives

In his 46-page opinion, concurring with the three liberal justices, as well as his fellow conservative justices, John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Gorsuch criticized the other three conservative colleagues, Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh, for applying the Major Questions legal doctrine much more permissively against President Trump than they did against President Biden.

In essence, the dispute that divided the six conservative Supreme Court justices in last week’s case was whether or not the Major Questions doctrine applies, because the language that Congress used in the IEEPA law to empower the president to “regulate” foreign trade in a national emergency never mentioned tariffs specifically. According to the opinion written by Justice Roberts, whenever Congress gives some of its constitutional powers to the president or some other part of the executive branch of the government on a major question, such as imposing tariffs on imports from other countries or forgiving hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of student loans, Congress must “speak clearly” in the language of its legislation.

As Roberts explains in his decision, “Recognizing the taxing power’s unique importance, and having just fought a revolution motivated in large part by ‘taxation without representation,’ the Framers [of the U.S. Constitution] gave Congress ‘alone . . . access to the pockets of the people.’”

In his concurring opinion, Gorsuch argues that despite the vague language in the IEEPA, the Constitution gives Congress, rather than the president, the ultimate authority over tariffs, and that last week’s decision will ultimately prove to be essential for the protection of American democracy. “If history is any guide,” Gorsuch wrote, “the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today’s result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.”

Justice Gorsuch also accuses the three liberal justices on the Supreme Court bench, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, of political bias for their prior dissents in cases where the court’s conservative majority used the Major Questions doctrine to strike down efforts by a Democrat president to overreach his constitutional authority. “[The] approach [of the liberal justices] today is difficult to square with how they have interpreted other statutes, [in the past]” Gorsuch wrote in his opinion last week, suggesting that their rulings are sometimes more influenced by their partisan political interests rather than their understanding of the meaning of the law.

By contrast, a Wall Street Journal editorial praised Justice Gorsuch for taking a position roughly halfway between the liberal justices who have refused to recognize any constitutional limits on presidential power in the past, as long as that president is a liberal Democrat, and his three conservative fellow justices, who ruled that the Major Questions doctrine does not apply to tariffs on foreign countries. From Gorsuch’s point of view, the Major Questions doctrine must be upheld to protect the constitutional authority of Congress from infringement by either the president or the unelected bureaucrats of the administrative state.

Understanding the Dangers of Too Much Government Authority

Gorsuch argues that the Major Questions doctrine is neither anti-president nor anti-administrative state, but rather was intended to be “pro-Congress.” He wrote, “Our founders understood that men are not angels, and we disregard that insight at our peril when we allow the few (or the one [the president]) to aggrandize their power based on loose or uncertain authority. We delude ourselves, too, if we think that power will accumulate safely and only in the hands of dispassionate ‘people . . . found in [government] agencies.’”

The Wall Street Journal editorial also praises Gorsuch’s decision because it applies the restrictions of the Major Questions doctrine in a bipartisan way, “when liberal [Democrat] Presidents impose vaccine or energy mandates, or when a Republican President claims tariff power, based on no clear law.”

As the editorial points out, “This protects against one-man or unaccountable bureaucratic rule, which is increasingly how the U.S. has been governed under Presidents of both political parties as they seek to avoid the hard work of getting something passed in Congress.”

But from the point of view of the editorial, “as Justice Gorsuch makes clear, the difficulty of passing legislation is a constitutional feature, not a fault. ‘Deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions,’ [Gorsuch] writes. ‘And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative process, they tend to endure.’”

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Maintaining the Balance of Power

The editorial agrees with Gorsuch that “the legislative process” needs to be strengthened so that Congress can fulfill its original constitutional purpose as “the bulwark of liberty.” It also sees Gorsuch’s call for Congress to do a better job of fulfilling its constitutional mission as a rebuke to those members of Congress on the left, in particular, who “like to write vague laws that hand power to bureaucratic ‘experts’ who can dictate how Americans should live.”

From the Wall Street Journal editorial’s point of view, “Congress has. . . ceded too much tariff power to a President who refuses to use it with restraint. Putting limits on discretionary tariff authority would be a good start on reviving the proper role of Congress.”

In a separate editorial entitled “The Embarrassing Truth About Tariffs,” the Wall Street Journal suggests that the impact of Trump’s tariffs upon the economy and consumers is more mixed than the president is willing to admit. It cites the findings of a newly published analysis by four economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which found that “American households and businesses are bearing nearly 90% of the cost of the Trump tariffs,” which contradicts Trump’s claim that foreign exporters are mostly paying for them. The editorial also notes that “so far, the [American] manufacturing boom Mr. Trump promised hasn’t appeared,” and that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was right when he “warned that tariffs might raise prices.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial, therefore, concludes that “the Trump economy has been as healthy as it is despite the tariffs, not because of them,” even though it does approve of Trump’s other major economic policies, including tax reform and deregulation.

Justice Kavanaugh Would Give Trump Flexibility by Approving Tariffs

On the other side of the dispute among conservatives over the limits of the Major Questions doctrine, Justice Kavanaugh, in his forceful dissenting opinion, upholds the validity of Trump’s tariffs. Kavanaugh argues that when Congress was not specific and used broader language in the IEEPA law, it did so deliberately to “provide flexibility” to the president that he might need “to address the unusual and extraordinary threats specified in a declared national emergency.”

Trump justified his use of the emergency authority granted to him by the IEEPA law by claiming that the influx of deadly illicit drugs from China, Mexico, and Canada that have killed hundreds of thousands of American citizens in recent years, and the chronic balance of payments trade deficit that has decimated American manufacturing, both constituted dangers serious enough to be declared national emergencies. This justified his imposition of tariffs as the most effective way to counter them, even though Trump’s critics argue that the added cost of his tariffs will ultimately be passed along to American families in the form of higher prices for most kinds of imported goods.

“The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy,” Kavanaugh conceded. “But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful,” and within the additional authority that was granted to the president by Congress in the IEEPA law.

“The court has never before applied the Major Questions doctrine in the foreign affairs context, including foreign trade,” Kavanaugh wrote. In those cases, “courts read the statute as written and do not employ the Major Questions doctrine as a thumb on the scale against the president.”

In his dissent, Kavanaugh also cited the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 upholding the vaccine mandate that President Joe Biden imposed on millions of healthcare workers as a precedent supporting the legality of Trump’s tariffs. It was also an executive action that carried major consequences, even though Congress did not explicitly mention vaccines in the health and safety federal statute it passed years earlier, which Biden used to justify the mandate.

Trump’s initial public response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last Friday, which struck down the tariffs he has used to settle trade and other policy disputes with America’s foreign trading partners, was to call it “deeply disappointing.” Trump added that he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” for voting to strike down his tariffs.

Trump Singles Out Justice Kavanaugh for Praise

More specifically, Trump called two of his appointees to the high court, justices Gorsuch and Barrett, an “embarrassment to their families.” At the same President Trump applauded his third appointment to the Supreme Court bench, Justice Kavanaugh, for his “genius and his great ability” in defending Trump’s tariffs. Trump added that he was “very proud of that [Kavanaugh’s] appointment” to the Supreme Court back in 2018, which was bitterly opposed by Democrats at the time.

The president then added more generally, “I’d like to thank and congratulate Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country, which is right now, very proud of those justices. When you read [their] dissenting opinions, there is no way that anyone can argue against them,” the president declared.

In criticizing the 6-3 majority decision, Trump pointed out an inconsistency that Kavanaugh also mentioned in his dissenting decision, that his tariffs are actually a “far more modest” alternative to the other forms of trade “regulation,” such as quotas and embargoes, that even the majority of the Supreme Court concedes are within the president’s authority under the existing language of the IEEPA law.

As Justice Kavanaugh wrote, “If quotas and embargoes are a means to regulate importation, how are tariffs not a means to regulate importation? Nothing in the text supports such an illogical distinction.”

Trump also paraphrased Kavanaugh’s objection to the interpretation of the IEEPA statute by the majority of his fellow justices because it would mean that “the President could, for example, block all imports from China but cannot order even a $1 tariff on goods imported from China.”

If the Tariffs Were Illegal, Will Those Who Paid Them Get Refunds?

Kavanaugh also criticized the six justices who struck down Trump’s tariffs for ignoring the “serious practical consequences” of their silence on the crucial question of whether or how “billions of dollars” of tariffs already collected by the federal government from the “importers who paid” them could or should be dealt with, “even though some importers may have already passed on [the tariff] costs to consumers or others.”

Kavanaugh was implying that to the extent these importers have already been effectively repaid for the tariffs in the form of the higher prices they have collected from the public, they had no right to refunds from the federal government because that would amount to double compensation. If that is the case, then Trump’s proposal to issue any refund for the tariffs directly to the taxpayers who paid them in the form of higher prices would be more justified.

Kavanaugh then cited a point that was conceded during the oral arguments made by both sides in this case, this past November, that the flood of lawsuits from businesses looking for a refund of the illegal Trump tariffs that they have already paid “is likely to be a ‘mess.’” Especially if Congress does nothing to specify the details of the tariff refund process, it will likely take years to sort them out in the federal courts.

Trade groups for the retailers, apparel makers, and other businesses that paid for the tariffs have said they hoped their member companies could quickly receive refunds. The National Retail Federation called upon federal courts or Congress to provide a “seamless process to refund the tariffs to U.S. importers,” including more than 200,000 small businesses.

However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Economic Club of Dallas that litigation in the courts to provide refunds to those who paid the tariffs is likely to stretch out for months and is unlikely to yield any benefits to consumers who were forced to pay higher retail prices as a result of the tariffs.

How Tariffs Impacted U.S. Companies Large and Small

Franco Salerno, the co-owner of Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo in Warrington, PA, told the Wall Street Journal that he was worried about his retail customers demanding some of their money back because his bridal-wear prices rose an average 8% to 14% after Trump’s tariffs went into effect.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Chicken of the Sea International is studying whether the ruling could help revive production at its Georgia canning plant that relies on imported tuna.

Company president Andy Mecs said that it has paid more than $10 million in Trump tariffs ranging from 15% to 20% on frozen tuna it imports from Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries. Because of the higher costs, he said the company cut back its production at the 250-employee plant to four days a week from five. But Mecs said he would be willing to consider scaling up production again if the tariffs his company pays are now reduced.

Meanwhile, Trump has already announced that he will use his other tariff powers that have already been recognized as legitimate by the Supreme Court to replace the tariff levies that were struck down in last week’s ruling.

Justice Kavanaugh Questioned the Logic of the Court’s Decision

Recognizing this reality, Justice Kavanaugh wrote in his dissenting opinion last week that, “‘Although I firmly disagree with the court’s holding today, the Court’s decision is not likely to greatly restrict Presidential tariff authority going forward.”

Even without the emergency authority granted to the president by the IEEPA, Kavanaugh declares, “the Court’s decision might not prevent Presidents from imposing most if not all of these same sorts of tariffs under [numerous] other federal statutes.”

Justice Thomas Cites a Nixon-Era Precedent Supporting Trump’s Tariffs

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas also wrote a dissenting opinion supporting the legality of Trump’s tariff, declaring that “neither the statutory text” of the IEEPA law, “nor the Constitution” provides a basis for ruling against the President.

“This Court has consistently upheld Congress’s delegation of power over foreign commerce, including the power to impose duties [another word for tariffs] on imports. The Court has long conveyed to Congress that it may ‘invest the President with large discretion in matters arising out of the execution of statutes relating to trade and commerce with other nations,’” Thomas affirmed in his opinion.

Justice Thomas also argued that by delegating its tariff-setting power to the president in the IEEPA law, Congress did not weaken its exclusive constitutional authority over taxation or its other core legislative power to make rules affecting the “life, liberty, or property” of the American people.

While some legal scholars have argued that when Congress passed the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) in 1917, at the beginning of World War I, it was recognizing the president’s authority under Article II of the Constitution to impose taxes as commander-in-chief during wartime, which can only be declared by an act of Congress, other legal experts have argued that the same power cannot be legally exercised by a president even in a national emergency, if Congress does not clearly give its consent.

However, Justice Thomas argues that the TWEA provided a firm legal basis for President Nixon’s 1971 decision to invoke a 10% across-the-board import surcharge on imports from all foreign nations. In addition, Nixon’s tariff surcharge was upheld by a 1975 ruling of the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, which cited the “regulate … importation” language in the Trading with the Enemy Act.

As a result, Justice Thomas wrote in his own dissent against the Supreme Court’s decision last week that “the meaning of that phrase [regulate importation] was beyond doubt by the time that Congress enacted [the IEEPA] statute, shortly after President Nixon’s highly publicized duties on imports were upheld based on identical language.” Justice Thomas concludes that the IEEPA “statute that [President Trump] relied on therefore authorized him to impose the duties on imports at issue in these cases,” and that the Supreme Court “errs in concluding otherwise.”

Roberts Insists Congress Speak Clearly When Empowering Presidents

Chief Justice Roberts, in his opinion, disagrees with Kavanaugh’s argument that the vague language of the IEEPA law does give President Trump the authority to impose tariffs at will during a presidentially declared national emergency. Roberts wrote that, “When Congress grants the power to impose tariffs, it does so clearly and with careful constraints. [But in the case of the IEEPA law], it did neither here.”

Justice Gorsuch argues that when the Founding Fathers of this country wrote the Constitution, they felt that “The power to reach into the pockets of the American people is just different, and it’s been different since the Founding and the Navigation Acts that were part of the spark of the American Revolution.” They believed that giving presidents the power to raise or borrow significant amounts of money without seeking authorization from Congress was dangerous because it allows presidents to create a slush fund with which to fund their own government operations at will, without having to seek Congressional approval.

Gorsuch also noted disapprovingly in his dissenting opinion that, “past critics of the Major Questions doctrine do not object to its application in this case.” That was a reference to the refusal of liberal justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson to endorse the Major Questions doctrine in their own separate opinions, ruling Trump’s tariffs illegal for other reasons, apparently for fear that if they approved the Major Questions doctrine, it might be used once again to limit the authority of a future Democrat president. However, Justice Gorsuch noted that the substitute reasoning that the three liberal justices used to justify striking down Trump’s tariffs still seemed suspiciously similar to the Major Questions doctrine that they refused to endorse.

Back in 2022, in one of the first modern-day applications of the Major Questions doctrine, when the conservative bloc on the court struck down one of President Biden’s edicts to cut down power plant emissions to fight climate change, Justice Kagan accused her “originalist” conservative colleagues on the Supreme Court bench of hypocrisy when she wrote that “[legal] canons like the ‘Major Questions doctrine’ magically appear as get out-of-text-free cards” whenever ignoring the clear text used by Congress in writing a particular law suited the cause of advancing their conservative political agenda.

The Importance of Neutrality in Applying New Legal Principles

Stephanie Barclay, a Georgetown law professor who clerked for Gorsuch, told CNN that the debate among the conservative justices over whether the Major Questions doctrine applied to Trump’s tariffs was actually an encouraging sign, because it indicates that they were “doing the hard work” of clarifying their understanding of the important new doctrine, which is, as a result, “maturing and deepening.”

“One of the most important things about this [tariff] decision is what it tells us about the Major Questions doctrine’s [political] neutrality,” Barclay explained. “The Major Questions doctrine is not about who occupies the White House; it is about whether the person who occupies the White House can claim powers that Congress never clearly granted.”

In his immediate response to the ruling striking down his IEEPA tariffs, President Trump set his new global tariff rate at 10 percent, to go into effect at midnight on February 24. Those tariffs are based upon a widely accepted provision of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 that empowers a president to impose an across-the-board tariff to remedy a balance-of-payments deficit. However, that presidential tariff authority expires after 150 days (six months) unless Congress agrees to extend it.

Trump’s “Plan B” for Restoring His Tariffs

In addition to Section 122, U.S. Trump has several other federal trade statutes that give him broad powers to propose tariffs for a wide variety of reasons, but each of them specifies its own set of requirements and procedures that the president must follow before he can actually impose each of the proposed tariffs.

President Trump has already invoked some of these laws. They include the Section 301 tariffs of up to 25% that Trump has imposed on around half of all Chinese imports to the United States due to China’s grossly unfair trade practices.

President Trump has also imposed Section 232 tariffs of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 of up to 50% on imports from every other country of steel and aluminum, automotive goods, heavy-duty trucks, copper, and wood products, on the grounds that each of these categories of goods is essential to U.S. national security, and that it is essential to protect the domestic industries that produce them.

The Trump administration has also started the process of creating additional Section 232 tariffs to protect domestic industries that produce semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, rare-earth and other critical minerals, as well as commercial aircraft, and tariffs on various “derivative” products made from goods already subject to Section 232 tariffs.

In his press conference immediately after the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, Trump acknowledged that his economic team had been studying for some time how these well-established Section 122 and Section 232 tariff laws could be used to replace the IEEPA tariffs that the court struck down, and which are not vulnerable to the same type of legal challenges. In addition, the administration might consider using Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that have “discriminated” against U.S. commerce, but this would be legally riskier because the language Congress used in fashioning Section 338 is more ambiguous than in the other two tariff authorizing sections.

Trump’s New Tariffs Have the Advantage of Predictability

While the resulting range of these replacement global tariffs would be similar to those that Trump imposed under IEEPA, their main advantage for many American businesses and foreign trading partners is that each of these tariff statutes has limits on their size and scope, and requires Trump to follow a predictable process. Those tariff statutes do not permit President Trump to turn them on or off at will, as he did with the IEEPA tariffs, whose lack of such limits and procedural guardrails created a lot of uncertainty about the future of the U.S. economy. The volatility of Trump’s tariff decisions made it very difficult for the leaders of importing businesses and foreign trading partners to make long-term plans and pricing decisions, and did not give them the lead time they needed to make the necessary preparations before Trump’s new tariffs went into effect.

Trump said that all six of the justices who ruled against him were “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.” Even though Trump claims that his tariffs will survive despite last week’s ruling, he angrily denounced justices Gorsuch and Barrett for ruling against his tariffs, even though he nominated them to their current seats on the highest court in the land. He also called their opinions in the case “ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American.”

Trump’s condemnation of Barrett and Gorsuch was ironic because his success in putting them along with Kavanaugh on the high court has been widely regarded as one of the most important conservative accomplishments of his first term as president.

Democrats Rejoice Over Trump’s Loss at the Supreme Court

Congressional Democrats rejoiced following last week’s tariff decision. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that the tariffs were “chaotic and illegal.”

Republicans were more divided on the tariff issue. Some slammed the Supreme Court for its decision, while others argued that Congress still retains its constitutional authority to implement tariffs.

Trump announced his aggressive global reciprocal tariff policy last April at a celebratory White House event marking what he named America’s “liberation day.”

However, when his announcement stoked a sudden panic on the stock markets, Trump quickly paused the initial tariffs and has been tweaking, delaying, or fine-tuning them ever since, on a country-by-country basis, resulting in a tangled web of trade policies. The resulting confusion has strained America’s international alliances and rattled global markets. At the same time, Trump’s tariffs have increased the challenge of trying to bring down the rate of inflation while American businesses are facing an increase in the cost of their imports due to Trump’s tariffs and the temptation to pass those costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices.

That is why the Wall Street Journal editorial board welcomed last week’s Supreme Court decision as a vindication of the Constitution’s basic governing principle based upon the separation of powers.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Court’s decision for the law and the economy,” the editorial stated. “Had Mr. Trump prevailed, future Presidents could have used emergency powers [in the IEEPA law] to bypass Congress and impose border taxes with little constraint.”

On the other hand, Trump has argued, in defense of the IEEPA-based tariffs he imposed, that the chronic U.S. trade deficit is a true financial emergency serious enough to justify tariffs on any country that engages in a significant amount of trade with the United States.

Trump has also claimed that the government revenue generated by his tariffs has been so large that it may be able to substitute, to some extent, the federal income tax, or alternatively, provide the money to finance sending $2,000 dividend checks to every American taxpayer. The Trump administration reported that as of December 10 last year, the IEEPA-based tariffs had generated $129 billion in revenue for the federal government.

The Supreme Court’s Ruling Against Trump’s Tariffs Was Not a Surprise

Meanwhile, widely quoted media legal authority Jonathan Turley wrote in The Hill that while the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Trump’s tariffs was a disappointment that angered the president, it could not have come as much of a surprise.

“Many of us [in the legal profession] predicted that the administration would lose this fight,” Turley wrote. “That view was reinforced after oral arguments [in the Supreme Court last November], when a majority of justices raised possible reasons why the president might not possess this power [to impose tariffs unilaterally].”

In Turley’s opinion, the three conservative justices who ruled against Trump’s tariffs were only being consistent with the approach that they had taken in prior Supreme Court cases, which involved the Major Questions doctrine.

The Georgetown University law school professor also believes that there are “good-faith arguments on both sides” of the dispute over the validity of the Major Questions doctrine, and that all six of the conservative justices voted on the tariff issue “based on what they believed was demanded by the Constitution… regardless of the political or practical repercussions.”

The Conservative Justices Have Proven Their Impartiality

The Wall Street Journal editorial made a similar point when it noted that the decision by three of the conservative justices to join the three liberal justices in striking down Trump’s tariffs “gives the lie to the Democratic charge that the current [conservative-dominated] Court is a rubber stamp for Mr. Trump. The Court has now shown it is willing to block abuses of executive power by Presidents of both parties. This is exactly what the Constitution calls on the Justices to do.”

“By ruling against this president on his signature economic issue,” the editorial declared, “at least three of the court’s six conservative justices have proven that assertion to be false, and that they are judges first and conservative partisans second, if at all.

In the end, Turley notes that regardless of the Supreme Court decision, Trump’s tariffs are not going away. The decision only means that Trump will now have to rely on other pieces of tariff legislation passed by Congress that have more strings attached to them. But he can still use them to pursue the same goals, “such as securing greater market access [for American companies] and other concessions from foreign governments.”

The Democrat Threat to the Supreme Court’s Integrity

Finally, Turley adds that, “What is most striking is how the very people [Democrats] calling to pack the Supreme Court are celebrating this decision. The court has once again shown that it continues to exercise independent judgment on important questions. Yet figures from [Obama administration attorney general] Eric Holder and various liberal pundits will continue to demand court-packing as soon as Democrats retake control of Congress. The tariff decision exposes the dishonesty of their plan. . .

“It is all about power and radically changing our political system. It does not matter that the Supreme Court continues to rule unanimously or near-unanimously in most cases. It also does not matter that the court continues to rule both for and against the president based on the precedent, not the politics, of cases.”

Turley argues that the tariff “decision is one of the most resounding demonstrations of the court’s continued independence.” But he also warns that “if these Democratic politicians and pundits have their way, that independence may not last much longer.”

Imagine a land where people have no appreciation for music, where the sounds of song are never heard. In a country like that, instruments are viewed with suspicion, and voices raised in harmony are quickly stilled.

Unbeknownst to each other, there are lone individuals scattered throughout the country who love music, but they keep it a secret. In the solitude and seclusion of their homes, they might play a few bars and hum a melody, but only quietly.

One day, word spreads of a gathering where all of them will come together, the musicians and the singers, those who love to sing and those who love to hear. They will ignore the disdain and disapproval of the masses and congregate, their instruments and voices joining together.

It will be the most glorious song ever heard, the secret longing and hope of so many, more than a thousand sounds fusing as one.

The very fact that this gathering will take place gives vent to the song within the participants.

This analogy helps explain the way the Vilna Gaon (Shir Hashirim 1:17) describes the power of the Mishkon. Every individual Jew was walking around with a flame in his heart, but until they had a place where they could unite – a physical location where they could connect – those passions lay dormant.

The Mishkon allowed the collective fires to unite and light up the world. There, the secret could emerge. Like musicians meeting and creating song, a nation of dveikim baHashem found each other in this sacred structure, elevating the landscape.

The Shechinah resides inside the heart of every good Jew. The Mishkon is the place where all those Jews gather, as the Shechinah that dwells within them comes alive and expands, kevayachol. Hashem therefore commanded them to take a “terumah” from every “ish asher yidvenu libo,” allowing every person to contribute from his heart toward the construction of the Mishkon, enabling all the hearts to join together in this special place.

In the Mishkon, every feature reflected Divine mysteries, and each element was filled with cosmic significance. Just as the calendar ushers in the month of Adar, we begin reading the parshiyos that detail the particulars of the construction of this special place.

The month of Adar has taught us that, as a nation, we can achieve salvation. The shekolim that were collected symbolize that the Mishkon was meant to achieve the sense of shared purpose and desire that defines every Jew.

Achdus is a current buzzword, often misused as a catchphrase manipulated to paint those of us who have standards and traditions as haters. If we dare call out the falsifiers of the Torah for what they are, we are condemned for lacking achdus.

The Mishkon, which was the epicenter of unity in the universe, came with severe restrictions. While everyone could contribute to its construction, there were many halachos delineating who could approach the Mishkon and who couldn’t, who could perform the avodah there and who couldn’t. Achdus comes with rules. It is not a free-for-all, as some would have you think.

The pesukim at the beginning of Sefer Bamidbor (1:50) charge shevet Levi with assembling and dismantling the Mishkon and its keilim when the Bnei Yisroel traveled. Any outsider who dared approach and attempt to do the coveted work specified for shevet Levi would be killed. There were also precise rules for each one of the keilim.

Achdus doesn’t mean an absence of rules. It doesn’t mean that anything goes. It means that everyone who beholds holiness has a unique role to play in the mosaic of Yiddishkeit.

While detailing the laws of the Mishkon, the posuk says, “Vehayah haMishkon echad – And the Mishkon will be one.” What does the Torah mean with this addition? The Ibn Ezra explains that the oneness of the structure reflects the oneness of Hashem’s creation. It reflects harmony and unity.

The Bnei Yisroel became one, coming together at Har Sinai and then at the Mishkon, the individual sparks of fire within each person joining together in a torch. The Shechinah in each person joined together at this special place, bringing back experience of Har Sinai, forming a home for the Shechinah in this world and a place where the voice of the Shechinah could converse with Moshe.

The Me’or V’shemesh writes that chassidim would make it a priority to travel to their rebbe for Shabbos to be inspired. But the prime growth was not necessarily derived from the rebbe’s Torah or tefillah. He writes that chassidim achieved more than anything else from simply being together. Each chossid who went to the rebbe for Shabbos had tens of new teachers, as each of the other Jews with whom he had gathered possessed the ability to teach him something. From this one, he learned about kavanah in davening. In that one, he saw the definition of oneg Shabbos. And in a third, he observed extraordinary middos.

The achdus created multiple rebbes.

The Arizal told his talmidim to recite the words, “Hareini mekabel olai mitzvas asei shel ve’ahavta lerei’acha kamocha,” before starting Shacharis. These words are printed in some siddurim. What is the significance of the particular mitzvah of ve’ahavta lerei’acha kamocha before beginning a new day’s tefillah?

The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (12:2) explains: “Unity and connection in the lower realms create a bond in the higher spheres, and the tefillos join together and are beloved by Hashem.”

The feeling of connection that a person experiences as he walks into shul – Yankel’s cheerful good morning, Moishe’s careful Birchos Hashachar, the way Chaim respectfully holds the door for an older man – opens gates in Shomayim. The shared fire they have created is more powerful than their individual points of light.

When I lived in Monsey, I had a delightful Sephardic neighbor who enjoyed teasing me on Friday nights as we left shul. Week after week, he would ask me what purpose the carrot serves on gefilte fish. He would laugh heartily at his own question. While I’m not privy to the mysteries concealed in ma’acholei Shabbos, of which there are many, I enjoyed the exchange, because it hammered home a beautiful truth. He would go home and eat his traditional Shabbos foods, and I would eat mine, yet we agreed about why we were eating them, Whom we were honoring, and what we hoped to achieve. He reveled in his points of light and I reveled in mine, and together we thrived on our individual mesorah, handed down generation after generation through the millennia of the exile.

Rav Avigdor Miller would say that Shabbos is our Mishkon. He explained that this is hinted to by the fact that the 39 melachos are derived from the building of the Mishkon. Note the similarities in the way Jews prepared to enter the holy structure and the way we prepare for Shabbos. Look at how each has strict rules that must be observed, the danger of ignoring them, and, most of all, the way each is meant to create an earthy sanctuary for Hashem, carving out a physical resting place for the Shechinah.

On Shabbos, there is a sense of achdus, because we don’t see our neighbors as carpenters or lawyers, mechanchim or electricians. We are all Jews who have come together in our bigdei Shabbos – much like the bigdei avodah – for Hashem’s glory, a reflection of what life was like around the Mishkon.

With the words of the Vilna Gaon as our guide, we can understand the oft-repeated lesson that achdus will lead to geulah. It is not merely in the merit of unity. It is the synergistic effect of unity – when we camp around a place and allow the song within each of us to emerge, fusing with the melodies of others – that lays the opening for the geulah.

When that moment comes, our shared hopes, dreams, and ambitions will combine to create a place where the Shechinah will rest.

I can do it, you can do it, we can all do it – if we do it together.

Forged in a crucible of holiness, we keep the embers alive, awaiting the day when we rid ourselves of the ashes that prevent us from joining all the holy embers and bringing about the great reunion.

This brings us to Chazal’s dictate: “Mishenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha – When the month of Adar enters, we increase our joy.” With this dictum, they are teaching us not only that Adar is a month of simcha, but that we are commanded to increase it. Simcha is not merely an emotion; it is an avodah, a spiritual practice.

The obligations of most months involve us doing things. During Elul, we do teshuvah. During Tishrei, we continue doing teshuvah, construct a sukkah, eat and live in the sukkah, purchase the arba minim, and shake them. During Kislev, we light the Chanukah menorah. During Nissan, we rid our homes of chometz and eat matzah. And so on. But the defining mitzvah of Adar is unique. It is not something we do with our hands, but rather something we cultivate in our minds and souls – the obligation to be happy and to increase that happiness.

The obligation Chazal place upon us is not a superficial happiness brought about by escaping reality or ignoring pain. On the contrary, the story of Purim is born in a world of danger, uncertainty, and hidden threats. The Megillah recounts that the Jewish people stood on the brink of annihilation. Yet, the Megillah does not recount open miracles, such as the splitting of the sea during Krias Yam Suf and other open miracles described in Tanach. Instead, it describes a quiet, concealed salvation unfolding behind the scenes.

And that is precisely where Adar’s simcha lives – not in the absence of struggle, but in the discovery of meaning within it.

The Megillah does not mention the explicit Name of Hashem, yet His presence saturates every posuk. Coincidences align, reversals occur, hidden turns become redemptive. Adar teaches that joy is the ability to perceive the Hashgocha Protis – Hashem’s orchestration of events – even when b’hastorah, masked by ordinary circumstances. Simcha does not come from being naïve. It is spiritual vision.

The simcha of Adar is the joy of trust. The joy of realizing that what appears random is in fact precise. That which feels chaotic is being gently guided. In a world where so much feels unstable, Adar proclaims the quiet truth: What happens to us, to Am Yisroel, and to the world is all part of a story being carefully written.

Sadness contracts the soul. Simcha expands it. A sad person shrinks into himself. A joyful person has space for others, for appreciation, for emunah and bitachon. When Chazal say marbim b’simcha, they are telling us to widen our hearts, to make room for others and for hope.

When we widen our hearts and souls, we can appreciate all that Hashem does for us and prepare for geulah. By connecting with others through achdus, we open ourselves to experiencing simcha and allowing it to expand beyond ourselves. For simcha is not a reward for when life makes sense. It is the tool that allows us to make sense of life. It flows from the courage to smile when Hashem is hidden, to trust in His goodness before it becomes visible, to dance even when the music is faint, and to recognize that everything that happens is purposeful and, ultimately, good.

Mishenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha. When Adar arrives – in the cold of winter, in the darkness of a fearful world, in the confusion of worrisome news, as our land is surrounded by unfriendly neighbors and we feel the tightening of golus – we are joyous anyway. For we know that the megillah of our existence has already been written, and we are approaching the happy ending that will usher in Moshiach tzidkeinu bemeheirah.