Some things change, while other things remain remarkably the same. What appears to us to be new and unprecedented has often happened before. History has a way of repeating itself, and the Jewish people have learned, sometimes painfully, that the circumstances may change, the personalities may change, and the challenges may take on new forms, but the underlying story is often familiar.

Today, there is understandably deep concern about the situation in Eretz Yisroel. Many are watching the political developments with trepidation, wondering what the future will bring if the polls predicting the political demise of Binyomin Netanyahu prove accurate. There is a fear that the next government will be even less sympathetic, and perhaps openly hostile, to the Torah community and the values that have sustained Klal Yisroel throughout the generations.

The concern is real. The uncertainty is real. But before allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed by the headlines and the predictions, it is worth taking a step back and looking at the larger picture. We have been here before, not necessarily with the same names, the same parties, or the same political circumstances, but with the same fundamental question of what happens when the forces of government turn against the Torah world.

The answer, as Jewish history has taught us repeatedly, is not found merely in political calculations. Governments rise and fall. Coalitions are formed and dissolved. Leaders who seem invincible suddenly disappear from the political stage and those who appear destined for obscurity rise to prominence. But the Torah remains, and so does the eternal commitment of Klal Yisroel to it.

That does not mean that we should ignore the danger or minimize the challenges confronting the Torah community. On the contrary, we must understand them clearly. But we should remember that the Jewish people have survived far more uncertain times and that what looks like an entirely new chapter may simply be another variation of an old story.

We are obligated to remember that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is in charge. Not the polls. Not the politicians. Not the political parties. Not the pundits who confidently predict what tomorrow will bring. The Ribbono Shel Olam runs the world, and every development, even those that appear frightening or incomprehensible to us, takes place under His Hashgocha Protis.

We have a responsibility to be vigilant, to advocate for the Torah community, and to do everything within our ability to protect the interests of Torah and Yiddishkeit. But alongside that hishtadlus is the recognition that the outcome is ultimately not in human hands.

Our obligation is to maintain our emunah and bitachon even when we cannot see how things will work out. It is easy to have bitachon when everything appears to be going our way. The test comes when the polls are ominous, when political alliances seem threatening, and when the future seems uncertain. At those moments, we are reminded that the world does not run according to polls and political predictions. It runs according to the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

And perhaps that is precisely the perspective we need now. We should be concerned, but not frightened; we should be vigilant, but not despairing; we should engage in hishtadlus, but remember Who is directing the outcome.

There is a remarkable story related in the sefer Amudo Shel Olam, a biography of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, that brings this perspective into sharp focus.

During a particularly bitter Israeli election campaign, the leftist parties had made no secret of their intentions. Among their campaign promises was the drafting of yeshiva bochurim into the army. When the election results came in and those parties emerged victorious, there was apprehension in the religious community. The people who had openly spoken about imposing difficult and potentially devastating decrees on the Torah community were now in a position to carry out their plans.

One of Rav Elyashiv’s talmidim approached him and asked what would happen. The people who hated religion had won. They were about to assume power and would seemingly have the ability to implement everything they had promised during the campaign.

Rav Elyashiv’s response was astonishing in its simplicity.

He told him that thinking about what would happen was bittul Torah.

At first glance, the response is difficult to understand. How could a person be expected not to think about something that potentially threatened the entire Torah community? Surely, it was important to understand the danger and prepare for what might come.

But Rav Elyashiv was teaching his talmid a fundamental yesod in emunah and bitachon. He was telling his questioner that there is a difference between hishtadlus and worrying. There is a difference between doing what must be done as opposed to spending hours imagining everything that might go wrong. A person is obligated to act when action is called for, but once the necessary hishtadlus has been made, there is no purpose in thinking about frightening possibilities.

We do what we can do and the rest is up to Hashem. To discuss it further, to pontificate and fret, and to play out different scenarios in our minds or in discussions with our friends is simply a waste of time. We would be better off spending that time studying Torah.

The question, “What will happen now?” contains within it an assumption that we know what is going to happen. We see a government forming, we see politicians making promises, we read the polls, and we begin constructing a picture of the future. But a Yid knows that the picture we see is not the whole picture.

Politicians can make plans, parties can form coalitions, and governments can announce their intentions, but nothing can happen that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not allow. What appears to us to be a frightening political development may ultimately lead to an outcome we could never have imagined. And what appears to us to be a setback may contain within it the seeds of a yeshuah.

This is what Rav Elyashiv was reminding his talmid. Don’t spend your time trying to figure out what tomorrow will look like. Your job is to learn Torah, to daven, to do the hishtadlus that is required of you, and to leave the future to the Ribbono Shel Olam.

That message is as relevant today as it was then. In the matter of what is going on here and in Eretz Yisroel, we must always remember that the Aibishter runs the world. We have our tasks, we have our job, we have the reason He placed us in this world, and we should not get sidetracked from our missions.

We must daven. We must strengthen our own study of Torah. That is what we are here for. We do what we can, but we must never allow our concern over what people might do to consume the time and strength that belong to Torah and avodas Hashem.

Rav Elyashiv’s response was a lesson for generations: Do not waste today worrying about a tomorrow that belongs to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Have faith that you are in good hands and that everything will work out the way Hashem wants it to.

This message was brought home to me in a powerful way by a story Rav Shimon Galei related during his trip to Mexico on Sunday on behalf of Keren Olam HaTorah to raise funds necessary to help support Israeli yeshivos and yungeleit.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, when the Torah world had been decimated and much of the Torah that had existed in Europe had been lost, many wondered how, and if, it could ever be rebuilt. Generations of talmidei chachomim had been wiped out, yeshivos had been destroyed, and entire communities had disappeared. The devastation was so overwhelming that people feared that the Torah world would not be able to recover.

The Ponovezher Rov, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, viewed it differently. He was not worried about whether the Torah world would continue. Hashem promised that Torah would never be forgotten, and a promise from Hashem does not depend upon circumstances.

There was only one question that concerned him: Who would have the zechus to be part of it?

That is a very different way of looking at the present and the future. We are not asked to figure out whether Torah will survive. We are not required to calculate the obstacles or predict how every challenge will unfold. Hashem has already taken care of that.

The calculation we need to make is a much more personal one: Will we be among those who help make it happen? Will we have the zechus to strengthen Torah, to support lomdei Torah, to sustain yeshivos, to give what we can give, and to do what we can do?

We do what is within our power and leave the rest to Hashem. To continue discussing it, pontificating about it, fretting over possible scenarios, and playing out endless versions of what might happen is a waste of time that could be far better spent learning Torah and doing our part to strengthen the Torah world.

The Ponovezher Rov understood that the future of Torah was never in doubt. The only question was who would merit to have a share in it. That question remains ours.

And this is true not only regarding Eretz Yisroel. It is true regarding us here in America, regarding the challenges facing our communities, and certainly regarding the personal challenges that every individual faces.

Nobody escapes having a pekel. Every person has things that don’t go as planned, disappointments that he didn’t anticipate, challenges he would rather not have to deal with, and situations that seem to have no easy solution. Some pekels are heavier than others, but nobody walks through life without one.

The question is not whether we will have a pekel. The question is how we carry it.

Will we allow it to consume us, to fill our minds with endless calculations and what-ifs, and to make us bitter and anxious? Or will we recognize that this, too, is part of the derech that Hashem has chosen for us, do what we can, and then leave the rest in His hands?

The way we relate to our pekel says something profound about who we are. It reveals how much we trust in Hashem, how we respond when life does not conform to our plans, and whether we are able to continue moving forward even when the road takes an unexpected turn.

We cannot choose the pekel we are given, but we can choose how we carry it. And sometimes, the very pekel that we wish we could put down becomes the vehicle through which we grow, become stronger, and discover a deeper emunah in the One Who placed it upon our shoulders.

This week’s parsha, Ki Savo, is fundamentally about emunah and bitachon, about recognizing the Yad Hashem in every aspect of our lives.

The parsha opens with the mitzvah of bikkurim. After a farmer has worked the land and finally sees the fruits of his labor, he brings the first fruits to Yerushalayim. Standing before the mizbei’ach, he recites the pesukim recounting the tzaros of Yaakov Avinu and the suffering of our forefathers in Mitzrayim. He describes how Hakadosh Boruch Hu heard their cries, took them out of Mitzrayim, and brought them to Eretz Yisroel.

He presents the fruits of his labor to the kohein. Then comes the culmination of the mitzvah. The posuk says, “Vesomachta bechol hatov asher nosan lecha Hashem — And you shall rejoice with all the good that Hashem has given you.”

The Torah is teaching us the secret of simcha. Happiness does not come simply from having what we want. It comes from recognizing how we got it and Who gave it to us.

When a person understands that the ultimate determinant of his success is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he can be fulfilled even when life does not look exactly as he had imagined. And when he recognizes that the One Who created the world created him, knows what is best for him, and has a plan for everything that happens, he can begin to view even difficult circumstances through a different lens.

A person may find himself in a situation he desperately wishes were different. He may have a problem he cannot solve, a disappointment he cannot undo, a pekel he wishes he never had to carry. He has a choice. He can bemoan his fate, wonder why this happened to him, and become consumed by thoughts of how things should have been, or he can remind himself that he is not where he is by accident. Hashem placed him there.

That does not mean that he should be passive. He should do everything within his ability to improve the situation. He should daven, seek advice, make his hishtadlus, and do whatever a responsible person is supposed to do. But once he has done what he can, he should accept it and leave the outcome to Hashem.

He can say to himself, “I am here because Hashem wants me here. There is a reason for this, even if I don’t understand it. My job is to do what I can and wait patiently for Hashem to decide when it is time for me to leave this place.”

He can recognize that Hashem has placed him in this situation, expecting him to strengthen himself, confront the challenge, and do whatever he can to deal with it, rather than allowing himself to become broken and sink into yiush.

That is bitachon. And that is also the path to simcha.

The person who knows that everything is from Hashem does not need everything to be perfect or to change before he can find peace. He can find peace in knowing that his circumstances are being directed by the One Who knows where he needs to be and what he needs to become.

Three times a day, we recite the posuk, “Posei’ach es yodecha umasbia lechol chai ratzon.” At first glance, the posuk seems to be saying that Hashem fulfills the desire of every living creature. But we know that this is not how life appears to work. People have desires that are not fulfilled. They daven for things that do not happen and long for realities that never materialize.

The Tzlach (Brachos 4b) offers a profound explanation. “Posei’ach es yodecha umasbia lechol chai ratzon” does not mean that Hashem gives every person everything he wants. Rather, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives each person the ability to be satisfied with what he has and to recognize that what Hashem has given him is what is best for him.

That is a much deeper understanding of ratzon. A person can spend his life wishing for what he does not have, or he can develop the understanding that what he has is what Hashem has determined he needs.

Yaakov Avinu lived with this awareness. He was forced by his brother into exile, where he was tormented by Lovon and endured years of deception and hardship. Later, he was forced to descend to Mitzrayim. He certainly did not want these things to happen. Yet, he understood that they were not random misfortunes. They were part of the plan Hashem had prepared for him and for Klal Yisroel.

Yaakov went down to Mitzrayim with relatively little. Yet, that descent became the beginning of the transformation of his family into a great nation. What appeared at first to be another painful turn in his life was actually the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise Hashem had made.

This is the perspective that allows a person to persevere when he finds himself in a place he never expected to be. He may not understand why he is there. He may desperately wish that his circumstances were different. But he knows that he has not arrived there by accident. Hashem has placed him there for a reason, and until Hashem decides that the time has come for him to move on, his responsibility is to strengthen himself, do what he can, and trust that there is a purpose in what he cannot understand.

The mitzvah of bikkurim trains a person to develop this perspective. A farmer can look at the fruit in his hands and think only about the work it took to produce it — the planting, the waiting, the uncertainty, the labor, and the many things that could have gone wrong. Or he can stop and recognize how much he has to be thankful for.

He remembers planting the tree without knowing whether it would take root. He remembers waiting through the seasons without knowing whether the tree would produce fruit. He remembers all the possibilities for failure. And now he is standing in Yerushalayim with the fruit in his hands.

The bikkurim compel him to look at what he has and to recognize and proclaim: This came from Hashem.

That is the beginning of simcha. Not the belief that everything will always turn out exactly as we would like, but the recognition that whatever happens is being directed by Hakadosh Boruch Hu and that what He gives us is ultimately for our good.

Too often, we see the burden and forget the blessing. We complain about the struggle to make a living and forget to thank Hashem that we have a job. We focus on the difficulties of our work and not on the fact that we have an income. We see the labor required to cultivate the orchard and forget the miracle of having an orchard that produces fruit.

Bikkurim teaches us to stop and recognize the good.

And perhaps that is why the Torah describes the culmination of the mitzvah with the words, “Vesomachta bechol hatov asher nosan lecha Hashem Elokecha.” The goal is not merely to acknowledge that Hashem gave us something. The goal is to rejoice in what Hashem gave us.

A person who understands that his life is being guided by Hashem can face even a difficult pekel without being broken. He can continue to make his hishtadlus, continue to daven, continue to learn, continue to serve Hashem, and continue to believe that the situation in which he finds himself is not the end of the story.

He doesn’t have to understand everything in order to have bitachon. He has to know Who is running the world.

This is the lesson we need to take with us from Ki Savo.

We spend so much time wondering what will happen. What will happen to Eretz Yisroel? What will happen to the Torah world? What will happen to our communities? What will happen to our families? What will happen to our finances? And what will happen to us?

There is nothing wrong with making hishtadlus. We have to be responsible, we have to plan, we have to take precautions, and we have to do what we can to improve the situations in which we find ourselves. But once we have done what we can, we have to remember that the future is not in our hands.

That was the great lesson of the Ponovezher Rov. After the destruction of European Jewry, he wasn’t worried about whether Torah would survive. Hashem had promised that it would. His question was only who would have the zechus to be part of its rebuilding.

The same is true in our own lives.

We don’t know how every nisayon we experience will end. We don’t know how every communal challenge will be resolved. We don’t know what twists and turns await us. But we do know that none of it is happening outside the Yad Hashem.

Our job is not to solve the future. Our job is to live properly in the present.

To learn Torah when we can. To daven with kavanah. To do our hishtadlus. To help another Yid. To support Torah. To strengthen our families. To carry our pekelach with dignity and emunah, and never to despair.

The world currently looks very frightening. Our personal circumstances can sometimes appear overwhelming. There may be times when we cannot see a way forward. But we have been here before. Klal Yisroel has stood in places that seemed to offer no future, and from those very places Hashem brought about salvation and growth.

The farmer bringing his bikkurim to Yerushalayim understood that. He did not bring only the fruit. He brought with it the story of the uncertainty, the waiting, the hard work, and the things that could have gone wrong. And then he stood before Hashem and declared that he was thankful for what he had been given.

That is emunah. That is bitachon. And that is the source of genuine simcha.

May we all be written and sealed for a kesivah vachasimah tovah.

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of being at a chasunah at the Sands in Atlantic Beach. I am usually happy to be there, since it is close to home. However, this time, after the chupah, as we were all waiting for the chosson to emerge for the dancing, our phones began to issue loud warnings. “A tornado is coming,” they screamed. Later, we learned that for a change, the alarm was correct and a tornado had landed very close to us. When people asked me for a reaction, I instinctively responded that Shlomo Hamelech taught us long ago how react. “Hashem has acted so that man should stand in awe of Him” (Koheles 3:14). Meforshim cite various so-called natural phenomena that occur precisely to elicit yiras Shomayim from us. I mentioned that if this indeed happened, it was incumbent upon us to take this to heart, especially during Elul. To be honest, no one was interested in an Elul shmuess and fortunately the music began to play, the chosson was joyously carried in, and we all were able to be mesameiach our newly married friend.

I don’t get videos on my phone, but many others (hopefully all with filters) showed me the frightening pictures. Even later, we heard the silly statement made by one of the officials that “by pure luck, no one was seriously injured” (quoted in Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, August 21, 2026, page A6).

I quietly reflected upon the difference between us and them. We know exactly what had happened and why now. Perhaps some call this luck, but the wisest of men reminds us that this was not just an act of G-d, but His way of helping us develop and achieve the middah of the moment, which is yiras Shomayim. Indeed, one of the three primary talmidim of Rav Yisroel Salanter, Rav Itzele Blazer (Peterberger), wrote over a century ago that “fear and trepidation [during Elul] do not come easily. They have to be internalized with intense labor and exertion” (Kochvei Ohr, end of section 4).

Dancing at the wedding, with images of Hashem’s immense power before me — 30 destroyed cabanas, flooded roads and people floating aimlessly in their useless cars — I reflected upon a machlokes between several of the baalei mussar of the last generation. In Kelm, there were generally no mussar shmuessen during the Yomim Noraim by mashgichim such as Rav Chazkel Levenstein and Rav Eliyohu Eliezer Dessler. However, Rav Elya Lopian, himself a product of Kelm, did give his famous shmuessen at this time. One of them is very relevant to our own situation at this time. Because of this difference between his own minhag and that of Rav Chatzkel, he was faced with a dilemma. Rav Chatzkel, who then served as the mashgiach of Ponovezh, invited him to give a shmuess in Ponovezh. Being the quintessential baal mussar, Rav Elya accepted but decided that out of respect for Rav Chatzkel, he would minimize his words from their usual length. The following is the story that he told instead:

There was a man who had been sentenced to death by the Russian government. He was fortunate enough to be allowed to submit an appeal to an appellate court and surprisingly won. Unfortunately for him, the judge noticed that the defendant had taken out a mirror and was combing his hair. The incensed judge turned to the formerly convicted accused and said, “Although we were inclined to exonerate you based upon your appeal, I now see that you have no respect for our proceedings. Your conviction is reinstated and you will be executed as you deserve.” Rav Elya continued: “This is our situation as well. Even if we come to the Day of Judgment with a portfolio of excuses, answers and explanations, if the Heavenly Court sees that we are not serious or penitent, they will not be kind or generous.” Rav Lopian stood up and bellowed, “We must remember that we are in a time of judgment.” And he went off the bimah and sat down.

It has been recorded that the trepidation and dread of judgment that year were the most profound the yeshiva had ever experienced. We, too, are at a time of severe mishpot in Klal Yisroel’s history. Even if we have some zechusim and are reasonably decent, we must maintain our decorum and seriousness at this crucial time.

This leads to an even more sublime tightrope that we all must walk during these days of awe. The Tur (Orach Chaim, end of 581) cites a Yerushalmi (Rosh Hashanah 1:3) that teaches that Rav Chanina and Rav Yehoshua stated that “there is no nation like ours which understands its Maker like us. In general, when a person undergoes judgment, he wears black and does not shave or cut his nails because he doesn’t know how he will be treated by the court. But Klal Yisroel is not like that. They wear white, trim their beards, and eat and drink happily because they know that Hashem will perform a miracle for them. This is why we recite L’Dovid at this time, to demonstrate that we have full bitachon in Hashem.”

When Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach was maspid the Brisker Rov, he shared that he had visited him in his last days. The Rov asked him, “What will be?” and he responded with the words of the Tur and Yerushalmi above. However, the Brisker Rov was not consoled. Furthermore, he noted that the Yerushalmi seemed to contradict a Gemara (Arachin 10b) which states that we don’t recite Hallel on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because the King is sitting on His throne of judgment, so how can we sing? He said that the Yerushalmi should actually be understood in light of a well-known piyut by Rav Shlomo Ibn Gevirol titled “Keser Malchus.” In this haunting poem (printed in the Sephardic machzorim), he writes the cryptic words, “If I have sinned, I will flee from You to You.” The Rov asked, “What can these self-contradictory words possibly mean?” He answered that this phrase is echoed in the Rambam (Peirush HaMishnayos, Rosh Hashanah), as well. He explained that both the paytan and the Rambam meant that if someone is in great jeopardy but has complete trust (bitachon) in Hashem, then he is never running away, but always toward Hashem. But if the person has no realization of how dire his circumstances are, he cannot be considered one who is placing himself totally in the hands of Hashem and he is actually fleeing from the Creator instead.

The Rov concluded that this is how we are supposed to be during the Yomim Noraim. First we must be aware of and fully cognizant that we are in grave danger. Then, and only then, can we become happy that we are in the hands of the kind and beneficent Creator Who loves and wishes to save us. In his absolute humility, the Brisker Rov was expressing to Rav Shach his own concern about his status at that vulnerable time, knowing that he was going to the ultimate judgment. What should we therefore think and say?

Perhaps we can take our cue from the words of another of our recent gedolim, the beloved Chofetz Chaim. During Elul, he was visiting Grodna, when multitudes begged him to pray for them. He responded, “You are all mistaken in asking me to intercede for you. Don’t you know that a father doesn’t want his children to send intermediaries? He wants to hear their concerns and requests himself directly. It must be that you are afraid that our Father in heaven is angry at us and doesn’t want to hear from us. Please believe me that Hashem yearns to hear from each one of you. So please, go and daven for yourselves and, im yirtzeh Hashem, you will be answered accordingly” (Netzach Yisroel, chapter 2).

We, too, should follow the path set for us by the Chofetz Chaim, the Brisker Rov and Rav Elya Lopian. Yes, this is an eis ratzon and Hashem loves and wants to hear from us. But we must realize that when Hashem sends us tornados and anti-Semites, He is sending us messages. “Get serious! Show that you want to change. Then you can comb your hair and prepare for shul. But first, be aware that the days of judgment are just around the corner.” Yehi ratzon that we should be judged favorably, iy”H.

Last week, I received an envelope. On it, the word URGENT was stamped in red block letters, which is generally how I know that there is nothing URGENT inside.

Despite my better judgement, I opened it. Inside was a card. “Time is running out,” it warned me. “Your voice matters. Everything you care about is on the line. Do not assume somebody else will take care of this.”

And across the top, in big bold letters, it read: “THIS IS THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIME.”

It was interesting to me that I received this mailing in late August, quite early for an election season. Perhaps it was for the primaries, or maybe an over-eager candidate was jump-starting their campaign a tad early. But to me, it didn’t matter. Because I did something with that card that I have never done with any campaign mail. I did not throw it out. It is sitting on my desk as I write, because somewhere in a campaign headquarters, a copywriter who has almost certainly never heard of Elul wrote the finest pre-Rosh Hashanah drosha I have seen all season.

The phrase returns each year like the seasons. I have now voted in more “Most-Consequential-Elections-of-My-lifetime” than I can count. And I have received these notices in both red and blue. And in fairness to everyone involved, this is not one side’s failing. I have received the identical envelope, in the identical letters, warning me of contrary catastrophes, from two different perspectives that agree on nothing in this world except the font.

Don’t get me wrong. Elections matter. They matter a great deal. They affect our mosdos, our tuitions, our taxes, our communities and our security. Most recently, we feel it, and we know that they affect whether our children can walk to shul without looking over their shoulder.

They use the words “Most Consequential.” However, a consequence that can be reversed in two years is a serious thing. It is not a permanent thing. Almost everything decided in November can be undone by some later November, by a different room of people who will send me the same envelope in the same red letters.

But there is another consequential decision looming. And that is not dependent upon merely an electorate. It depends on each of us. Individually and collectively. The verdict written on Rosh Hashanah is not subject to midterm correction. Exactly one Authority is empowered to amend it, and He is the same One who wrote it. Depending entirely on how we spend the next few weeks, that is either the most frightening sentence in the world or the most hopeful one. Indeed, the most consequential. The true “Most Consequential.”

Every campaign produces the same weary slogan about how every single vote counts, and nobody believes it. We know what we are. We are one ballot in a box, one drop in a bucket, one man in a booth with a curtain, pulling a lever that will be swallowed by a number on a screen before we get home. (Or, in today’s vernacular, one man touching a touch-screen, filling a circle that will instantly transition to a Geico ad as we submit our vote.)

The Rambam, however, believed it. In Hilchos Teshuvah (3:4), he writes that a person is obligated to see himself, and to see the entire world along with him, as perfectly balanced, half zechuyos and half chovos. One mitzvah, a single one, tips him and tips the world with him. The Gemara in Kiddushin says it in almost those words. This is not offered as poetry, and it is not offered as encouragement. The Gemara is teaching us exactly how a Yid lives, thinks and breathes during Elul and the Yomim Noraim.

No pollster on earth would tell you what the Rambam tells you. You are not living in a swing state. You are the swing state.

I know how that can be heard, and I want to be careful with it, because I am not writing any of this from a mountaintop. I am writing it as a man who has made roughly the same Elul kabbalos for a great many years now with decidedly mixed results. We do our best and focus on realizing that we truly are the deciding factor. The Rambam is charging us with a global responsibility. He is not merely informing you that each individual is important. Instead, he is informing you that you are decisive, which is a far heavier package to carry home.

Elections are decided by turnout. So is Elul. The difference is that during Elul, nobody is permitted to vote in your place. There is no absentee ballot and no proxy. Your rov cannot daven your Shemoneh Esrei, your father cannot say your Tehillim, your chavrusa cannot do your teshuvah, and no matter which kever you trek out to during the summer, no deceased or living gadol can beg Hashem for mechilah on your personal aveiros. It is a private booth, and the curtain is real.

Now notice how our season ends. Every campaign ends with a remorseful concession speech. Ours ends with a remorseful confession speech. We stand on the holiest day of the year and recite aloud, in alphabetical order, every last reason that we deserve to lose. There is no communications team to spin our blunders and there is no liberal press to cover up our foibles. We simply say it, bang our chests, and bashfully regret it. Openly. And that, in the strangest formula in the world, is precisely how we win.

Politicians come and politicians go. Elul comes and Elul goes. The difference is in what is left behind afterward. A campaign leaves signs on the lawn that somebody has to pull out of the frozen ground in December. Elul, if we let it, transforms a person.

So take the mail seriously. Read the card. Then read it again, slowly, and notice that every single line on it is true, and that not one of them belongs to the fellow who paid for the postage.

Time is running out. Your voice matters. Everything you care about is on the line. Do not assume that somebody else will take care of this.

This is the most consequential election of our lifetime. It is just not the one on the card.

Just Saying.

Thoughts on What Goes Through the Minds of Parents on the First Day of School

It is official! In case you haven’t noticed, the new school year is here.

It is staring us in the face. Walk into any store and you will be faced with aisles of spankingly fresh school supplies. Open any advertising circular and you will be inundated with ads for new uniforms. New school shoes. New seforim. New briefcases, backpacks, school supplies…

Parents are rushing around, shopping shoulder to shoulder in jam-packed stores, trying to outfit each child with all the “things” they need to start the year on the right foot (even if it means waiting on line for hours and hours to have the perfect shoe fit on their darling child’s foot!).

The nervous energy is there. The rush, the adrenaline, the pump… But there is also something else, something beneath the surface, a feeling of…anxiety?!

I was recently speaking to a prominent mashgiach, and we were discussing the anxiety that accompanies so many parents, children, bochurim, girls and boys as they enter the new school year and the new zeman.

There is so much hope, so much fear and trepidation, and yes, a great deal of anxiety. Will she find friends — good friends with whom she will grow? Will he “click” with his rebbi? Will he find his place in this new yeshiva? Will she feel loved and valued or just like another number who has to comply? Will he finally be turned on to learning and find pleasure and geshmak in a good sevara or a good kushya? Will he feel valued for who he is, not for who they want him to be?

As parents send their children off, as they drive their bochurim to yeshiva with their heavy Gemaros and kovetzim, as their girls go out to the bus in freshly starched uniforms with new backpacks, what are they thinking?

What is an Eis Ratzon?

The mashgiach shared with me a vort that he would say to his talmidim and their parents that I think is equally applicable to both the students and parents, boys and girls, bochurim and Bais Yaakovs. It was a vort that the mashgiach of Lakewood, Rav Matisyohu Salomon, once said in a pesichas hazeman shmuess.

Rav Matisyohu cited the famous Zohar Hakadosh that says that when Yidden open the aron kodesh, it is an eis ratzon, an opportune time. Because it is an eis ratzon, the Zohar instituted that we daven the tefillah of Brich Shmei when the aron kodesh is open. The tefillah of Brich Shmei contains very powerful tefillos and bakashos for everything that we need.

The question Rav Matisyohu asked is: What is an eis ratzon? What creates an eis ratzon? And why does the Zohar say that davka the time of pesichas ha’aron, when we take the Sefer Torah out of the aron, is such an eis ratzon?

Rav Matisyohu answered that when the aron kodesh is opened and we take out the Torah, what does a Yid feel? A Yid, with a Yiddishe heart, feels one thing: “I want Torah!” Every Yid knows, when all is said and done, that it is Torah that he wants. Torah is the only thing that matters. Yes, he needs money, he needs a lot of things, but ultimately, everything that he needs is also only for Torah.

What Does a Yid Do With Gelt?

There is a famous vertel that people say, I think from Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev. Someone commented that during the Yomim Noraim, when a Yid says, “Uvechein tein pachdecha,” he is really saying, “Uvechein = gelt, tein = gelt, pachdecha = gelt.” Upon hearing this, Rav Levi Yitzchok commented, “Okay, but don’t stop there. What is the Yid really doing with the gelt? He is paying s’char limud, he is paying for bussing, he is paying so that he can buy tzorchei Shabbos and Yom Tov. When you kvetch out the gelt, what you really get is ruchniyus — Torah!”

When the Yid Wants Torah, Hashem Wants to Give It to Him

So, when the aron kodesh opens and a Yid sees the Sefer Torah, his first feeling is, “I want Torah.” When Hashem sees that what a Yid really wants is Torah, Hashem says, “This Yid wants Torah and I want to give it to him.”

That is the definition of an eis ratzon.

An eis ratzon is a time when the deep ratzon of a Yid for Torah arouses, in turn, Hashem’s ratzon to give him the Torah that he so wants.

That being said, what does someone do when there is an eis ratzon? The answer, of course, is that he davens. That is the definition of an eis ratzon: when your deepest hope and desire are exactly the same thing as that which Hashem wants from us, and that very deep ratzon therefore arouses Hashem’s ratzon.

This Eis Ratzon Is Not Just for Parents

If I were a mashgiach, a menahel, a rebbi, a teacher or a mechaneches, I would tell my talmidim or talmidos: “I want you to think about what your parents were thinking this morning and last night and in the days running up to the beginning of the school year or zeman. I want you to stop and imagine their ratzon, their whispered tefillos, their deepest aspirations, which were that: ‘My Yankele or my Saraleh should have a year filled with ruchniyus, with simcha, with shteiging, growth in avodas Hashem, growth as a Yid, growth in yiras Shomayim and in bein adam lachaveiro and bein adam laMakom.’”

Can we even begin to understand how deep the retzonos of your parents are for your success as Yidden and ovdei Hashem? It is impossible to properly quantify and encapsulate the many tefillos and the depth, fervency and yearning inherent in the tefillos that parents daven for their children as the school year begins.

All of those deep tefillos are seen and heard by Hashem, and when Hashem sees the deepest, most innermost and powerful desire of a parent — when Hashem sees that, ultimately, what really matters to parents is their children’s spiritual future, that they should be good, well-rounded ovdei Hashem and baalei Torah — He certainly says, “If they have such a ratzon, then I have such a ratzon to give it to them.”

That is why the beginning of a zeman and the beginning of a school year are undoubtedly among the great moments of eis ratzon, when all our tefillos can be answered. During those first few days or even weeks of the school year, our efforts in tefillah need to be increased,

With that understanding, I think it is similarly important for the bochurim and girls themselves, the talmidim and talmidos, no matter how old they are, to also realize: “If my mother and father — even if they don’t say it outright — are thinking so much about my hatzlocha, are davening so much for my hatzlocha, and are so deeply tapped into this eis ratzon at the beginning of the year, perhaps now is also the time for me to daven — yes, for me, the child, bochur or girl, to also tap into this eis ratzon and beg Hashem to fulfill our deepest desires for growth in Torah and as ovdei Hashem, because if you really want it, then Hashem wants to give it even more!”

Let’s take this eis ratzon of pesichas ha’aron, the pesicha of a new year of learning, to truly daven and tap into Hashem’s ratzon, because when our ratzon and His ratzon are the same, that is the key to everything.

Let’s pack our spanking-new briefcases, our crisp and clean notebooks and binders, and fill them with our tefillos, so that we can “walk” into the new school year not only with new shoes and new clothing, but with a new, fresh start.

A Stabbing on the Jordan Valley Road

This week began on a distressing note: with a stabbing attack on the Jordan Valley Road, near the village of al-Auja. The victim, a chareidi man in his twenties, was moderately wounded in the attack, and IDF and police forces were rushed to the scene and launched a manhunt for the terrorist. The stabbing took place near a store where the victim had stopped to make a purchase—a place, as a Magen Dovid Adom spokesman stressed, where many Israeli motorists stop to shop. In other words, there was no reason to presume that the victim had knowingly risked his life by entering a hostile area.

“The report about the stabbing was received at 9:18 a.m. on the Magen Dovid Adom hotline in the area of Gilboa,” the spokesman added. “EMTs and paramedics evacuated the victim to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Yerushalayim.”

A paramedic picked up the story: “We received a report about a man who was wounded in a stabbing. We found him fully conscious and suffering from stab wounds in his upper body; we provided medical treatment and transported him to the hospital in a mobile intensive care unit, while he remained conscious and in moderate condition.”

Let me make a personal comment about this story. The incident took place on Route 90, which runs from Yerushalayim to Teveria and is also known as the Jordan Valley Road. Somewhere around the midpoint of this highway, there is an assortment of stores on the right side of the road where one can buy all sorts of items. Everything sold in those stores is cheaper, for multiple reasons. For one thing, the stores belong to Arabs. In addition, they are legally considered to be located in Jordanian territory and are therefore exempt from Israeli taxes. A few years ago, I bought a can of soda in one of the stores for a very low price; when I received my credit card statement, I was surprised to discover that I had been shopping in a foreign country.

I recently drove to Tzefas (and I will soon write more about that trip) via the Jordan Valley Road. This time, for some reason, I decided not to stop at this collection of stores; I saw no reason to patronize the businesses owned by Arabs. But I can tell you from my own personal experience that no one can accuse the young man of having placed himself in a position of danger, since he was attacked in a place that is frequented by Israelis. Shopping in these stores is a completely normal activity; no one would ever have thought to suspect that a terrorist might be lurking there.

Is Kite Terror Making a Comeback?

The stabbing on Route 90 came after a period of relative quiet, as several weeks passed without a significant act of terror, Boruch Hashem. One month ago, there was a series of incidents, which began when a Jewish man was severely injured in a stabbing attack near Elon Moreh; hours later, another Jew was moderately injured in a stabbing attack near the settlement of Ganim. On the following day, there was a terror attack in the village of Tel that took the lives of two IDF officers, one of whom was a member of the security squad of Chavat Gilad. One day later, a soldier was injured by a rock and his weapon was snatched. Before this brief wave of incidents, however, there was a significant decrease in terror. According to the Shin Bet, four people have been killed in terror attacks in Yehuda and Shomron since the beginning of the year, in contrast to the total of 20 such fatalities in the year 2025 and 35 in the year 2024.

Another comment: On the one hand, one might suggest that the young stabbing victim should be thankful that he survived the attack. On the other hand, it is important to understand what it means to experience a stabbing. You will probably not remember an article that I wrote for Yated Neeman exactly ten years ago, on September 1, 2016, about a yungerman named Moshe Menachem Limui, who was stabbed in the Old City of Yerushalayim. I interviewed him in his home several years after the attack, and I discovered that he was still suffering physically and psychologically from his ordeal. And that is to say nothing of the many long months that he spent in the hospital and in rehabilitation. At the same time, he was thankful to Hashem that he was spared from death. “When I was discharged, the doctor told me that it was a miracle that the knife merely grazed my lung and didn’t perforate it,” he said. “It was also miraculous that the knife didn’t enter my heart. It hit my wallet, which tilted it downward. Without that wallet—in other words, without Hashem’s chessed—the knife would have penetrated my heart.”

This is what happens when someone is “only” wounded in a stabbing attack.

Here is another security-related item: I have written in the past about the Hezbollah drones that are a threat to the lives of IDF soldiers. The drones are Hezbollah’s newest weapon, and the Israeli army hasn’t yet come up with an appropriate solution for this problem. Last weekend, the residents of the south were frightened by a similar sight: kites flying across the border from Gaza. This is not a joke by any means; on the contrary, it is quite frightening. In the past, kites entering Israel from Gaza have led to tragedies. This Shabbos, four kites flew across the border and sparked panic among the residents of the Gaza envelope, who have been living in a state of extreme tension since October 7. One of the kites bore an inscription in Arabic: “We will never let up.” The army announced that they are monitoring the situation closely and are aware of the public’s sensitivities and the detrimental effects of these events on the residents’ sense of security. At the same time, the security establishment is seeking to lower the tension by putting the situation in perspective. Initial probes indicate that the kites were launched by children and youths, who were obviously operating under orders from Hamas. Nevertheless, at this time they have not been found to be carrying explosives or any other potentially harmful substances.

Airport Strike Sparks Chaos

As usual, I have much to report to you. We have agreed in the past that this country creates headline news at a dizzying pace, and there are many recent events that deserve to be covered in this space. For instance, several roshei yeshivos traveled from Eretz Yisroel this week to Mexico and Panama to raise funds for Keren HaTorah. Another major story was the workers’ strike that shut down Ben Gurion Airport last week. Just imagine the scene: Hundreds of thousands of people were scheduled to fly out of the country or to arrive that day, and the workers’ union suddenly decided to suspend their services as part of their battle against the Airports Authority. Suddenly, the workers refused to load baggage onto departing planes or to retrieve baggage from arriving planes, which quickly resulted in a shutdown of the airport, with no flights landing or taking off. A plane operated by Air France, which had only recently resumed its flights to Israel, circled above the airport for a short time and then returned to France without landing in Israel. Aside from the terrible damage to the economy that resulted from the strike, it caused terrible suffering and hardship for tens of thousands of people. This story generated such a fierce backlash that the prime minister decided to expel the chairman of the workers’ union from the Likud party, which is no small matter, given that he has been a member of the Likud for 40 years.

In other news, the Supreme Court decided this week to overturn the government’s decision to shut down the Galei Tzahal radio station. I am not an admirer of Galei Tzahal, to say the least; it sometimes sounds like an anti-Israeli radio station, and perhaps even an anti-Semitic one. But I am equally opposed to the judges of the Supreme Court, who have demonstrated once again that they have no qualms about overturning a decision of the elected government.

If I were to delve into the details of all the judicial machinations that took place this week, I would never reach the end of the story. For instance, the attorney general sent a letter to the prime minister warning him not to use military helicopters for political purposes. Now, she might be technically correct; however, every one of her letters and directives reeks of political bias. She also warned the government ministers to refrain from making any substantive decisions at this time due to the upcoming election. Nevertheless, when she herself is concerned, the attorney general sees nothing wrong with doing as she pleases. This week, she published yet another letter calling on all the state authorities to intensify their persecution of lomdei Torah. This is pure madness. That letter deserves to be quoted at length; it is both fascinating and highly revealing of what is actually taking place here. Perhaps I will do so at the next opportunity.

On that note, another yeshiva bochur, in this case a grandson of a distinguished rov in Bnei Brak, was arrested on Thursday night, which triggered considerable unrest. On Sunday night, yet another bochur was arrested while traveling to Yeshivas Kfar Chassidim in Rechasim. And while there is nothing that can be done about this phenomenon, it is still completely infuriating.

Egged Violates Shabbos; El Al Does Not

This Shabbos, protests were held against the Egged bus company for violating Shabbos. The news reported that dozens of people gathered to demonstrate at the entrance to Yerushalayim, but I heard a firsthand account from my son, who came to our home in Givat Shaul from the Sorotzkin neighborhood for seudah shlishis. He explained that the buses arrived in Yerushalayim from Haifa, and that an Egged supervisor decided to prevent conflict by stopping the buses at the first traffic light in Yerushalayim and instructing the passengers to disembark there so that they would not encounter the protestors waiting at the second traffic light. I explained to my son that public transportation operates in Haifa on Shabbos as part of the status quo that has existed since the state was founded. That is the reason that buses from Haifa traveled to Yerushalayim on Shabbos.

In contrast, let me tell you a story about El Al: Last Thursday night, a flight that was scheduled to leave New York for Tel Aviv was canceled. The flight was originally supposed to take off at 10:30 p.m. in New York and to land in Israel several hours before Shabbos, but the takeoff was delayed, and as concerns grew that the plane might not land in Israel before Shabbos, the airline decided to cancel the flight altogether.

Another subject that I would like to cover at greater length is the potential removal of the IDF checkpoint on Route 433, the highway that runs from Yerushalayim to the Shfela via the Shilat Junction and serves the cities of Modiin and Modiin Illit. The army is weighing the possibility of eliminating the checkpoint in both directions, which would ostensibly save a lot of time for the thousands of people who use the road every day. (Many people from the Modiin area commute on a daily basis to Yerushalayim.) And in case you are wondering how the army will continue providing security without the checkpoint, they claim that there are other means of ensuring that the road is not used by scheming terrorists.

But let us put these stories aside for the time being. For the remainder of this week’s column, I will focus primarily on the election and events in the political realm.

Eizenkot Demands Shin Bet Security

Let’s begin with what may seem like a small matter of curiosity but might actually be a subject of much greater import. Gadi Eizenkot made a demand that is causing Prime Minister Netanyahu (and the chareidim as well) to lose a good deal of sleep: He wants to be assigned Shin Bet bodyguards. His reasoning is simple: There is a chance that he will become the next prime minister after the election, and he feels that it would be appropriate for him to be assigned guards to protect him. In fact, unnamed sources in his orbit have been quoted as claiming that Eizenkot has already received threats to his life. In truth, however, there is a more devious reason for this request: When a person appears on the street surrounded by bodyguards and Shin Bet cars, flanked by muscular men with sunglasses and earpieces, it makes an impression on anyone who sees him. This scene creates the sense that he has already become the prime minister and that voting for him is merely a matter of confirming an established fact. And that is precisely what Eizenkot hopes to accomplish.

But let’s take a look at the real question: Is there a realistic chance that Gadi Eizenkot will become the next prime minister of Israel? That depends on whom you ask, and it depends which polls you consult. Some polls have shown Eizenkot’s party, Yashar, surpassing Likud’s performance in the election by one or two mandates. That, however, doesn’t yet guarantee Eizenkot the position of premier, since the determining factor is the balance between the blocs. Even if Eizenkot garners more votes than the Likud, if the Likud passes the threshold of 61 mandates together with the chareidim and the right, then Eizenkot’s electoral performance will be of no avail to him. Moreover, Lieberman has already announced that if the “bloc of change,” as he put it, receives more than 61 mandates even without the Arabs, then the candidate for prime minister wouldn’t necessarily be the person who heads the largest party (i.e., Eizenkot). Rather, he insisted, it should be the one with the most experience—by which Lieberman meant to refer to himself.

Eizenkot’s request for security was denied by the Shin Bet, which claimed that there have been no threats to his life and there is no reason to provide him with bodyguards at this time. The immediate reaction from some quarters was to scoff at the response. Of course, they said, the Shin Bet is headed by Zini, who was appointed by Netanyahu, and his decision was politicized rather than professional. But even before the echoes of derision had died down, it was revealed that the decision hadn’t been made by the Shin Bet at all. Instead, these matters fall within the purview of the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Noam Sohlberg. It was Sohlberg, not Zini, who decided to reject Eizenkot’s request for bodyguards. Which meant that the critics who trumpeted it as a sign of right-wing bias were forced to eat their proverbial hats.

Binyomin Netanyahu asked Zini to do what he could legally to protect Eizenkot.

The Winter Party—A Threat to the Right?

The next anecdote may seem like a fairly trivial matter at first glance, but it is actually an issue of great substance.

Ofer Winter is a decorated military officer who happens to wear a yarmulke. He first found himself in the spotlight when it was revealed that the army had decided to block his path to the top of the military echelon, even though he seemed guaranteed to rise through the ranks. The chief of staff at the time claimed that Ofer was too “messianic” and wasn’t an appropriate officer for a secular army. Since that time, Winter has become a vocal critic of the army and a source of fear and intimidation to IDF officers both past and present. In addition, as soon as the election was announced, he found himself in high demand, with the Likud and Netanyahu pursuing him from one side while Betzalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party vied with even more intensity to include him on their own list. Winter recently announced that he had decided to launch an independent party. He has already decided on his running mates; unfortunately, that list consists of several national-religious figures who are particularly militant about the draft of chareidim. The polls indicate that he is likely to cross the electoral threshold, albeit only by the slimmest of margins.

What could be bad about this, you ask? Let me explain. For one thing, if Winter does not make it across the electoral threshold, it could be very bad; it will mean that four mandates’ worth of right-wing votes will simply disappear down the drain. A large number of voters who would otherwise have voted for Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, or the Likud will vote for Winter, and if he does not make it into the Knesset, those votes will be lost. And that could easily tip the scales in favor of the left.

In case you are thinking that this sounds like an unlikely scenario, I will reveal to you that the same thing has occurred in the past. In 1992, a national election led to the formation of an extremely narrow government. The Labor party received 44 mandates in that election., Meretz took twelve, and Shas received six. This added up to a total of 61 votes, and those three parties formed the governing coalition. That government, headed by Yitzchok Rabin, was responsible for passing the Oslo Accords. While the Shas party did not support the agreement, the Arabs provided a security net of sorts and lent it their support. The Oslo Accords passed in the Knesset by a vote of 61 to 59; if even one of the MKs who supported it had voted against it, the agreement would not have passed. This was also the election when the electoral threshold was raised from 1 percent to 1.5 percent. One of the parties that ran in that election was the right-wing Techiya party, which received 1.2 percent of the vote and therefore failed to cross the new threshold. The result was that tens of thousands of votes went to waste. This made a world of difference: If Techiya had crossed the threshold, Rabin would never have been able to form a government. In other words, by running in the Knesset election, the Techiya party indirectly led to a left-wing government and the passage of the Oslo Accords. The trauma of that election is seared into Israel’s collective memory, and everyone fears a similar result if Ofer Winter does not pass the threshold and causes the right to lose many thousands of precious votes.

In this case, in fact, the fears are based on another potential scenario as well. Even if Ofer Winter crosses the threshold, his presence on the playing field might siphon enough votes from Religious Zionism to cause it to fall short of the crucial minimum, since the polls are showing that party hovering around the threshold as well. This, too, is a scenario in which Winter might cause the political right to lose several mandates, precisely at a time when the outcome of the election will almost certainly be determined by a few isolated mandates. Rumor has it that Netanyahu is prepared to offer Winter a reserved spot on the Likud slate (see below for more on that subject) to prevent him from obstructing the right’s path to victory. Alternatively, he might press for a union between Smotrich and Winter, just as he pushed for Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to run jointly in the previous election.

Likud Primaries Reveal Bibi’s Influence and Its Limits

Last Monday, the Likud party held its primaries. This was the final primary election among the parties that held them. There are some parties, of course, that do not have primaries, most notably the more dictatorial parties: Lapid and Bennett’s party, B’Yachad, and Avigdor Lieberman’s party, Yisrael Beiteinu. In these parties, the party leaders make up the Knesset lists on their own. On the other side of the spectrum are the chareidi parties, in which the candidates are picked by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (in the case of United Torah Judaism) or the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah (in the case of Shas). All the other parties hold primary elections. By now, primaries have been conducted in all the other parties, and the final picture is unclear only in Ben-Gvir’s party. The remaining parties’ slates are more or less clear.

More or less, that is, because the head of every party has the right to insert candidates of his own in several reserved slots on the party’s list, and the identities of those candidates haven’t necessarily been decided yet. In one case, a party leader chose to forgo his right to reserved slots: Yair Golan of the Democrats party has long been promising Einav Zangkauer (the mother of former hostage Matan Zangkauer) a spot on his party’s list in the event that she sides with the left. Zangkauer has held up her end of the deal by attacking Netanyahu in the ugliest and most extreme—and, in my view, the most atrocious—fashion. However, when the time came for Golan to make good on his promise, he informed her that he had decided not to make use of his right to assign reserved slots on the party list. This story was fairly damaging to Golan’s public image, which suffered from his failure to honor his own commitment; however, he certainly managed to rid himself of a headache that would otherwise have accompanied him for four years.

In the Likud party, Netanyahu has been insisting all along on receiving eight reserved slots for candidates of his choice in realistic places on the party list. That is a very large number of slots, especially given the large number of ministers and Knesset members vying for a limited number of places on the list. But while his demand encountered resistance from within the party, Netanyahu emerged victorious; his request was granted, and everyone is now waiting to see whom he chooses to fill those slots. I have already mentioned the American-Israeli businessman Oren Dobronsky, who is one of Netanyahu’s candidates of choice. For some reason, Netanyahu is very excited about his inclusion. Dobronsky himself, meanwhile, is probably less enthusiastic; in the event that he is elected to the Knesset, he will be required to give up his American citizenship and will undoubtedly have to pay a huge sum in taxes to the American government for that purpose.

The reason Netanyahu insisted on receiving the reserved slots is that he wants to make sure the Likud’s Knesset list will appeal to as broad a range of voters as possible. He is afraid for the list to seem too hawkish, too capitalist, or too populist. He wants a diverse list, and he is absolutely right about that.

For a while, people in Netanyahu’s inner circle have been aware that he was hoping to entice Gabi Ashkenazi, a former chief of staff, to join his party. Naturally, Ashkenazi would serve as a counterbalance to Gadi Eizenkot, another former chief of staff, and would fill the void in the Likud party’s ranks due to the absence of a security-focused candidate. The aforementioned Ofer Winter is likewise one of the candidates being considered for Netanyahu’s reserved slots. Of course, there is also Ron Dermer, the man who is responsible for the good relations between Israel and America—or, perhaps more accurately, between Trump and Netanyahu. When those relations are not good, it has nothing to do with Dermer. Former minister Yuval Steinitz is also on the list of candidates whom Netanyahu would like to add to the Likud slate. Today, Steinitz heads a defense technology company.

Whom Will Netanyahu Pick?

Netanyahu hasn’t yet revealed his final picks for the reserved slots, other than three Likud ministers—Defense Minister Yisroel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and Housing Minister Chaim Katz. Before announcing his choices to the public, he wanted to wait for the results of the Likud party’s primaries. As the party takes on a certain character, Netanyahu will attempt to balance it with the candidates he adds to his reserved slots, ensuring the party’s diversity and broad appeal.

On Tuesday night last week, one day after the primaries, the results were announced. According to all political commentators, Netanyahu should be satisfied with the results, not only because most of his recommendations were clearly accepted at the ballot box but also because the primaries demonstrated that he wields a large measure of control over the party. On the other hand, his dominion isn’t complete. There are two members of the Likud whom Netanyahu wanted to remove from the playing field but managed to find their way onto the party’s list despite his opposition—MK David Bittan and MK Tally Gottliv.

Bittan has long served as an internal opposition of sorts to Netanyahu within the Likud party, and Netanyahu considers Gottliv to be a liability to the Likud. Nevertheless, it seems that the Likud’s voters did not agree with his assessment. On the other hand, Nir Barkat, who seemed poised to defeat Netanyahu not long ago, fell to a relatively low spot on the party list. At the same time, a number of Netanyahu loyalists also found themselves low on the list. Four current ministers and nine current members of the Knesset were pushed down to slots in which they do not stand a realistic chance of being elected; it is expected that they will be sent home after the election. There are only two women in the realistic slots—Miri Regev, followed by Tally Gottliv. Therefore, Netanyahu is bound to use his reserved slots to add women to the list.

According to the polls, there were three main contenders for the top spots on the list: Knesset speaker Amir Ochana, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and MK Tally Gottliv. Gottliv ultimately took the twelfth place in the primaries, which placed her in the 20th spot on the Knesset list. The highest slot went to Minister Eli Cohen, who was followed by Ochana and Levin. Cohen’s success was a major surprise, which seemed to indicate that his habit of attending bar mitzvahs and the like did not go to waste. Netanyahu’s reaction was fairly predictable: “The prime minister is extremely pleased with the results of the primaries. The new Likud list reflects renewal and the integration of new forces at the top of the list.”

The reactions from the left were equally predictable and quite antagonistic. Golan mocked the Likud primaries as a contest for spots on the sinking Titanic, insinuating that the party is heading toward its downfall.

The ministers who were pushed out of realistic spots on the list were Zeev Elkin (Gideon Saar’s partner), May Golan, Avi Dichter (a former head of the Shin Bet), and Idit Silman, who famously defected from Bennett’s party and created a massive upheaval at the time. It is possible that Netanyahu will reward some of them by placing them in reserved slots higher up on the list. The members of the Knesset who will ostensibly not be present in the next Knesset are Nissim Vaturi, Chanoch Milwidsky (presently chairman of the Finance Committee), Avichai Boaron, Amit Halevi, Katy Sheetrit, Eti Attiya, Ariel Kallner, Sasson Guetta, and Shalom Danino. Most of these Knesset members have supported the chareidi community at every possible opportunity, including in the fight over the draft law. Once again, however, it is possible that Netanyahu will reward a couple of them by placing them in more realistic spots. Boaz Bismut, another Likud member who is valued by the chareidi community, has ended up on the border, at least in the event that the Likud receives 23 to 25 mandates. Of course, it is quite possible that the results of the election will take us all by surprise.

Hendel and Tropper, Erdan and Edelstein

But we haven’t nearly finished our overview of the political playing field; there are many more parties to discuss. One is the new political party led by Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper. The party is meant to appeal to reservists, who are ostensibly represented by Yoaz Hendel, who left the Knesset to serve in the reserves in the Gaza envelope. Chili Tropper wears a yarmulke and is meant to bring votes from the right. This party is performing beneath the electoral threshold but is close enough to the minimum that it does have a chance of entering the Knesset. What will happen if they make it into the Knesset? Hendel claims that he is not opposed to Netanyahu but he is indeed opposed to the chareidim. In his own words, “Our mission is only to establish a Zionist government, not a Netanyahu-led government with chareidim. Therefore, we will not complete 61 mandates, not even with the opposition and the Arab parties. We will only establish a Zionist government.” When he was asked why he ruled out the possibility of sitting in a government with the chareidi parties, Hendel said, “The chareidi parties are harming our ability to win a war. We are not succeeding in meeting our goals, and people are putting in hundreds of days of service at the age of exemption. As long as the chareidim are part of the government, it will be impossible to pass a draft law.”

Another new party is led by Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein. Erdan is a former Likud minister and Israeli ambassador to the UN and to Washington. Today, he is the global president of Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical service. And they have a single agenda—the IDF draft. They would like to see the Likud party establish a government together with them, Tropper, and Benny Gantz (whom I haven’t written about yet), as well as Gadi Eizenkot and possibly Bennett, Lapid, and Lieberman as well. The main thing, as far as they are concerned, is for the chareidim to be excluded.

And that still doesn’t complete the picture. I haven’t yet written about events within Shas and United Torah Judaism, and I can assure you that there is plenty to discuss. The Shas party was the first to hold a rally opening the election season, and the party has already introduced its slogan for this election: “Derech emunah bacharti—I have chosen the path of faith.” As for the composition of the party list, it will probably remain mostly unchanged, with the exception of Moshe Arbel and Yaakov Margi, who have announced that they will not join the Knesset in its next term. I wouldn’t be surprised if Aryeh Deri decides similarly that he is not interested in being a member of the Knesset and chooses to settle for remaining the party chairman. In Agudas Yisroel, the rebbes will make their own decisions; the rebbes of Ger, Vizhnitz, Belz, and Sanz will choose their respective representatives, while Meir Porush will undoubtedly continue representing the Shlomei Emunim faction. The Degel HaTorah representatives will be chosen by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, primarily by Rav Dov Landau and Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch. Some voices in the public have begun calling for the existing representatives, or at least some of them, to be replaced, but I doubt that the rabbonim will pay much heed to those calls.

The Benefits of Giving a Brocha

I have given so much space in this column to political news that I’ve had to omit many other stories, some of them quite significant—such as the preparations that are underway for tens of thousands of people to travel to Uman, or the discovery of the remains of Yehuda (Yekusiel Yehuda Nachman) Katz, a soldier in the IDF who has been listed as missing for the past 44 years. Katz was killed in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon along with two other soldiers, Zechariah Baumel and Tzvi Feldman. Amazingly, his sister purchased a kever for him on Har Hazeisim just a few days before his remains were retrieved; he was interred in the newly purchased kever this past Friday. When she decided to purchase the kever, Katz’s sister asked me to help her receive a discount, and I contacted many officials in an effort to assist her. All of them scoffed at the request. “Does she really still believe that his body will be found after 44 years have passed?” I was asked repeatedly. Well, a week later, his remains were recovered. Bli neder, I will write about this story at greater length next week.

In closing, let me move on to a Torah thought. My son, a yungerman and maggid shiur, told me this week that he had encountered a distinguished man in his eighties in a shul in Bayit Vegan who regularly shares divrei Torah with others around him. This man, Rav Michoel Sternfeld, considers himself a talmid of Rav Dov Tzvi Karelenstein, under whose tutelage he learned in the Grodno Yeshiva in Ashdod fifty years ago (“during the lifetime of the Baba Meir,” he often adds). Rav Sternfeld revealed that he has made many laminated copies of a letter from Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, the renowned mashgiach, and has distributed it to others. The letter was written in Mir in the year 1937, following the passing of Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, when Rav Levenstein returned to Mir from Petach Tikvah. Not long after that, the yeshiva and its talmidim fled to Vilna and then to Shanghai; Rav Levenstein went on to accompany some of the talmidim to America, but he decided before long to return to Eretz Yisroel, fearing that he would lose his spiritual sensitivities. He spent a period of time in the Mir yeshiva in Yerushalayim before taking a position as the mashgiach of Ponovezh in Bnei Brak.

In his letter, Rav Levenstein wrote, “I received your letter, and in exchange for your blessings, you can be confident that Hashem will give you good things, as in the posuk, ‘I will bless those who bless you.’ This is a very worthwhile trade: A person gives a few kind words to another, and in exchange, Hashem will bless him with a true outpouring of blessings. How great is the success of a man who has acquired the virtue of loving others. He will always receive Hashem’s blessings, for ‘one with a good eye will be blessed.’ I, too, send my blessings to you; may Hashem grant you a gmar chasimah tovah and a year of success and peace for all of Klal Yisroel, and ourselves among them. My friend, it is good to give encouragement to others as much as possible.”

In other words, Rav Levenstein echoed the fact that wishing others well can evoke many brachos.

For years, critics who warned of a secretive “deep state” running a shadow agenda at odds with the elected president and operating beyond public accountability were ridiculed as conspiracy theorists.

The David Morens guilty plea last week offers striking validation that such a shadow system—one that covertly carries out its own agenda in defiance of the law—does in fact exist.

Morens, who served for 16 years as top adviser to Anthony Fauci at NIAID, pleaded guilty to his role in destroying federal records about covering up the origin of the Covid-19 virus.

He also admitted to participating in a secret scheme involving other conspirators to reinstate U.S. funding to the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology. This was after the NIH, under the Trump Administration, had terminated the funding, fearing the pandemic was spawned by gain-of-function research in the low-security laboratory.

However, advocates of this high-risk experimentation, by which a virus has its genes altered and becomes supercharged, were relentless. They finagled a way to have the NIH funding restored. Fauci’s trusted advisor, David Morens, played a pivotal role in this deception.

Morens was indicted in April, and charged with conspiracy, destruction of records in a federal investigation, and concealment of records. He was accused of trying to thwart a long-running government inquiry into the pandemic’s origins. At the time, he denied all culpability.

Last week, he capitulated and pleaded guilty in a plea deal worked out with prosecutors. He faces a maximum sentence of five years plus a fine of up to $250,000.

This is the first time a U.S. court of law has confirmed a conspiracy involving federal officials seeking to distort the scientific record on Covid-19’s origins.

Secret Schemes to Continue Gain-of-Function Research

Court documents reveal that Morens did not act alone. He and at least two co-conspirators used his personal Gmail account to route communications beyond the reach of government records searches.

Morens agreed to author a scientific paper in June 2020 arguing for Covid-19’s “natural” origins (as opposed to a lab leak) in exchange for gifts from Peter Daszak, the president of New York-based EcoHealth Alliance.

Under Daszak’s leadership, EcoHealth had used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, the Select Subcommittee on Pandemic Origins found.

EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak were formally debarred by HHS in 2025, following an eight-month investigation that cited the company’s failure to report potentially hazardous gain-of-function experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; multiple violations of NIH grant terms; and a research progress report submitted two years late.

Prosecutors say that Morens and Daszak hatched a scheme to get the NIH grant restored, and then funneled part of that money to Wuhan, to enable the continuation of gain-of-function experiments. This research is outlawed in America due to the danger the experiments pose.

Emails show that the two discussed “their efforts to influence NIH to restore funding to EcoHealth Alliance, and exchanged edits to letters to NIH leadership lobbying for that aim.

In pursuit of that goal, say prosecutors, Morens and Daszak “concealed their communications” so they could publish papers and articles without directly mentioning Daszak, “to generate the appearance of objective scientific consensus supporting coronavirus research.”

Morens agreed to author a scientific paper that would underline the importance of Daszak’s research, while keeping his own name out of the article to mislead readers into believing it was independent.

He made good on his part of the bargain, soon publishing an article, “The Origin of Covid-19 and Why it Matters.” The paper argued that Covid-19 was born out of “natural” spillover from animals. Ludicrously, the paper claimed Daszak’s research was important to preventing another pandemic.

To the immense satisfaction of the two conspirators, their scheme worked. EcoHealth received a renewal of NIH grants totaling $7.5 million in 2020, some of which was ‘sub-awarded” to the Wuhan lab for gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.

Bottles of Wine, Free Meals at Expensive Restaurants

Prosecutors say the quid pro quo made the men’s arrangement a “criminal gratuity” setup, not merely a government records violation.

According to court documents which cite a host of his emails, Daszak sent bottles of wine to Morens’ Maryland home, thanking him for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” He then offered additional gifts of value, including meals at “Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C,” prosecutors charged.

“This is the first of what I hope will be a continued series of expressions of gratitude for your advice, support and behind-the-scenes shenanigans in my battle against your boss’s boss, his boss and the ultimate boss on the hill (referring to Donald Trump),” an email from Daszak to Morens said.

The two allegedly used a secret “back-channel” route to forward information about their joint plans to “Senior NIAID Official 1,” which court documents identified as Anthony Fauci.

Morens assured Daszak that he was continuously helping him “behind the scenes.” “My boxing gloves are on and laced up,” Morens said in one message.

In another, he told Daszak: “Let’s win this anti-science battle, get your grant refunded… then settle the scores.” Using foul language, Morens vowed to retaliate against fellow scientists who dared to argue that the pandemic may have resulted from a laboratory accident during controversial research.

This was a position that threatened Daszak, Morens, Fauci and anyone who helped fund gain-of-function research.

Morens’s contemptuous dismissal of scientists whose views clashed with his own bears a disturbing resemblance to the arrogance of his boss, Anthony Fauci, who similarly mocked critics and opponents of Covid vaccine mandates and took satisfaction is their being marginalized. [See Sidebar]

Co-Conspirators at NIH and NIAID

As part of his plea deal finalized last week, Morens admitted taking deceitful actions to suppress the theory that coronavirus tinkering may have caused the pandemic.

He acknowledged that between April 2020 and June 2023, he conspired with two unnamed co-conspirators and others to “defraud the United States by hampering or obstructing, by trickery, deceit, or dishonest means, the legitimate functions” of public health agencies obligated to comply with FOIA and the Federal Records Act.”

As part of the agreement, Morens admitted he had attempted to hide federal records during “an emergency period.” This included destroying and concealing records related to the termination of NIH grant for research on bat coronaviruses at Wuhan, and the subsequent scheme to have that grant reinstated.

The document he signed further states that he had “substantial influence over the decision-making process” at NIAID and used his access to Fauci to impermissibly advance the interests of EcoHealth Alliance.

The Morens emails released by the Congressional committee repeatedly mention Daszak’s name.  The emails show the two men discussing ways to hide their communications with officials at NIH and NIAID.

Politico identified one of these liaisons as Gerald Keusch, a former director of NIH’s Fogarty International Center who now works with the NIAD lab at Boston University.

“Anticipating their communications would be sought through Freedom of Information Act requests,” Reuters reported, “Morens and others agreed to correspond using Morens’ personal Gmail account instead of his government one.”

In one email cited in his indictment, Morens told the others, “We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns, and if we did, we wouldn’t put them in emails and if we found them, we’d delete them.”

In an April 21, 2021, email to Daszak, Morens emphasized the need for hiding their communications and how to circumvent FOIA. “I forgot to say there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony [Fauci] on his private Gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”

In a May 13, 2021 email to Keusch with Daszak copied on it, Morens referred to “our ‘secret’ back channel.”

In another email to Keusch dated Nov. 19, 2021, Morens wrote, “BOTH my Gmail and phone calls are now safe. Text is NOT, as it can be FOIA’d, as can my gov’t email. So you and Peter and others should email me on Gmail only.”

Fauci’s former top advisor allegedly even sought help from the NIH FOIA office for instructions on how to delete federal records.

“I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d but before the actual search starts, so I think we are all safe,” he wrote in a Feb. 24, 2021, email. “Plus, I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.”

Congressional investigators identified the FOIA official as Margaret Moore, a former NIH FOIA public liaison, and raised questions about whether others inside the agency helped officials evade transparency requirements. Moore was subpoenaed by the Select Subcommittee and pleaded the Fifth. She has not as yet been charged with a crime.

What stands out about these shocking disclosures is not merely the fact that Morens broke the law, but his striking complacency—and even braggadocio—in describing how he went about it.

He did not write as someone fearful of being caught or ashamed of violating federal “records laws.” On the contrary, his emails convey the expectation that his colleagues would understand and even approve of his methods.

The very individuals to whom he boasted about his methods are now potentially implicated themselves—and could face charges if Morens agrees to testify against them in exchange for a lenient sentence.

According to Director Kash Patel, the FBI is running an ongoing investigation into Morens and his co-conspirators parallel to the DOJ probe. While speculation abounds, it remains unclear at this writing whether Fauci’s former top advisor has ‘flipped’ and has agreed to name his fellow conspirators at NIH and NIAID.

Culture of Lies and Deceit

Morens’ guilty plea does more than expose one official’s misconduct. It opens a window into a culture inside the nation’s premier public-health agencies in which lies and deceit are routine, where laws are treated as obstacles to be circumvented or simply trampled.

When testifying before a House subcommittee on June 3, 2024, Fauci told lawmakers, “With respect to his recent testimony before this Subcommittee, I knew nothing of Dr. Morens’s actions regarding Dr. Daszak, EcoHealth, or his emails.”

Fauci’s diary entries — released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, last month — indicate this was an outright lie. Sen. Paul revealed that Fauci in fact had several private discussions with Morens about the terminated bat coronavirus grants.

Morens himself wrote in earlier emails that Fauci “is now fully aware I think and is, I am told, involved in some sort of damage control” regarding the terminated EcoHealth grant. This would not be surprising as Fauci remained one of the strongest official advocates in the country for gain-of-function research, outsourcing it to China when it was outlawed in the United States.

Were Fauci, Morens and his co-conspirators isolated rogue actors? Or were they products of a deeply entrenched system that operated in the shadows, pursuing their own agenda while circumventing or subverting White House policy—all while co-workers were nodding, winking, or turning a blind eye?

Watershed Moment? Plea Deal Suggests Broader Arrangement with Prosecutors

Although indicted on five counts, Morens pled guilty on a single conspiracy charge. This is a formulation that suggests a broader bargain with prosecutors and potentially more to come, legal experts say.

“These kinds of deals are common in ‘cooperation’ scenarios, in line with the DOJ’s classic technique of starting with the weakest defendant and then rolling the conspiracy up from there, observed Florida attorney and conservative thinker Jeff Childers.

In consideration for his deal, Morens may become a cooperating witness. “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did, and he will continue to do so,” said his defense attorney Timothy Belevetz.

“The next step is for the government to file a sentencing memo. If any part of that memo is sealed, we’ll know the former NIAID bureaucrat has ‘flipped.’ And his co-conspirators will know it, too,” wrote Childers.

That makes this story about far more than Morens and his boss, Dr. Fauci.

Fauci may have been the most visible face of the pandemic-era public-health establishment, but the Morens case suggests something deeper: an institutional culture in which officials could communicate through private channels, conceal records, obstruct congressional inquiries and manipulate the paper trail.

This travesty suggests a deep state culture in which outwardly patriotic officials and policymakers work behind the scenes to further their own private agenda, in defiance of White House policy and in defiance of transparency laws to which they are supposed to be subject.

As the scandal unfolds, it appears the Morens case is potentially the watershed moment in shining a light on a clandestine underworld, and in seeking long overdue accountability for perhaps the biggest travesty ever foisted upon the American people.

***

Bullying Opponents

In a May 2024 Select Subcommittee hearing with David Morens following an extensive investigation, Chairman Brad Wenstrup addressed the intolerance and crudeness of character that jumped out from Morens’ released emails.

“Frankly, some of the documents we received from Dr.

Morens were difficult to read,” Wenstrup observed. “I can’t imagine saying some of the things, let alone putting them in writing. The Select Subcommittee uncovered communications in which Dr. Morens acted inappropriately and entirely unsuitably for a member of the public health service who receives a taxpayer-funded paycheck.”

“It is very disturbing to witness this type of behavior from Dr. Fauci’s senior advisor, but the evidence is clear and overwhelming,” Wenstrup went on. “Dr. Fauci’s NIAID was, unfortunately, less pristine than so many, including the media, would have had us all believe.”

Congressman DR. Paul Ruiz, R-CA, pursued the issue of crude conduct at this hearing, asking Morens why his emails continuously disparaged scientists who took lab-related origin theories seriously, slamming them for “wasting time’’ and “being crazy.’’

“You have every right to evaluate the available evidence and to reach your own conclusion regarding the origins of the novel coronavirus, but the maligning of other viewpoints by someone in your position undermines scientific discourse and reflects poorly on the research institution in which you serve,” Ruiz rebuked Morens.

Culture of Arrogance

Morens’s disdain for scientists who challenged the prevailing narrative is strikingly echoed by the contempt his boss, Anthony Fauci, displayed toward those who questioned Covid vaccination. The mindset of these two bureaucrats spotlights the arrogance at the highest levels of NIAID.

That arrogance was on display in a recorded interview Fauci gave to journalist Michel Specter in 2021, in which he let his public façade momentarily slip as he described the best way to bully Covid vaccines opponents into capitulating.

All that was necessary, he asserted, was to let them feel the sting of rejection at colleges and universities and to experience failure in landing a job.

“You want to come to this college, buddy, you’re gonna get vaccinated!” he sneered. “Big corporations, Amazon, Facebook and others [will say], “Lady, you want to work for us? You get vaccinated!”

“It’s been proven,” Fauci noted derisively, “that when you make it difficult for people in their lives, they lose their ideological garbage and get vaccinated.”

This jarring recording, revealing Fauci’s contempt for the vaccine-hesitant and his satisfaction in “making it difficult in their lives” was played during a congressional investigation, as he was being questioned about the science behind vaccine mandates.

“Dr. Fauci,” a congressman asked him, “Do you believe that anyone refusing to get vaccinated is doing so because of ‘ideological garbage’?”

The former Chief Medical Advisor to the White House squirmed in his seat, fumbling for a response. “No, that is not what I meant,” he muttered lamely, shamed at having his true character exposed before the world.

Taken together, the Morens emails and Fauci’s own words reveal more than individual arrogance: they expose a pattern in which those entrusted with public health could dismiss dissent, manipulate the rules, and use the machinery of government to silence those who challenged them, believing themselves untouchable.

It is precisely this culture of secrecy, arrogantly holding oneself above the law and the relentless pursuit of private agendas that lends credence to concerns about a “Deep State” operating in the shadows, beyond the reach of public accountability.

A young man came home from shul one Shabbos feeling perturbed.

He greeted his wife, who was expecting their first child. While she’d had some experience with babies and small children, he had very little. And from what he’d just seen at the shul kiddush, he wasn’t all that sure he was looking forward to it.

“You should have seen those kids,” he grumped. “My friend and I were trying to have a conversation during the kiddush, but his kids didn’t let us get a word in edgewise. Either they were coming over to nudge their father about wanting something more to eat, or else they were climbing the walls, and he had to chase after them.” He sat down on the couch, looking pessimistic. “Is that what I have to look forward to?”

“But kids are wonderful!” his wife enthused. “They’re so cute!”

“Except when they’re not,” the husband said. What he’d just witnessed at the kiddush did not, in his humble opinion, come anywhere near the definition of “cute.”

“You’ll see,” his wife said with a wisdom beyond her years. “Just wait till you have one of your own…”

At that point, he had to take her word for it. But the pessimism didn’t go away.

Months passed, and the wife finally gave birth. The first time the young man laid eyes on his newborn child, he was blown away by the strength of his love. He hadn’t expected to feel that way. But now that the feeling had got hold of him, he knew it would never let go. This was his child. It belonged to him, to care for and to nurture and to teach. And he loved that vulnerable little baby with all his heart and soul.

Let’s fast forward a few years. The adored baby is now an active child. There will certainly be times when that beloved child will annoy his father. Even annoy him enormously. Times when the little-boy cuteness will be nothing but a memory, and the present-day irritation he causes a frequent factor in his father’s life.

Now he can understand at last why the other fathers at the shul kiddush smiled at their kids even when said kids were rampaging like wild animals at feeding time. How they had the patience to guide and provide for their youngsters even when those youngsters looked far short of lovable to outside eyes.

The memory of a parent’s overwhelming early love for his child will, even if only subconsciously, continue to inform his every interaction with that child. When times are rough, it will give the parent the strength to climb up to higher ground from which he can peer more clearly into the heart of his offspring. It will inspire him to keep on believing in his child long after others have given up. Because love like that is not easily forgotten.

Poured Concrete

In a different but similar way, a young couple getting married ideally establishes a strong foundation for the future during the early days of their relationship. We stand under the chuppah beside a relative stranger. The job then becomes to create a bond that will last.

The much talked of Shanah Rishonah, the first twelve months of marriage, is more than just something to laugh ruefully about in later years. It basically sets the tone for those later years. The focused attention and shared experiences of those early months together are meant to be the building blocks for the relationship the two of you will go on to build through the coming years.

The attachments that develop and grows during that early period is irreplaceable. Plenty of obstacles and problems will hurtle down the road at that couple as they trudge together through life. There will be times when smiles are in poor supply and understanding is in great demand. Times when the responsibilities that each has shouldered will carry them away from each other, and times when shared suffering will bring them very close. There will undoubtedly also be times when they’ll get on each other’s nerves. Times when they may wonder (hopefully not out loud), “Remind me why I married you again?”

But ideally, the underlying bond is still there. It takes a lot of determined hammering to shatter such a bond. Long neglect or mistreatment is certainly capable of erasing the memories of that early time of mutual discovery and growing caring. Absent such an extreme tragedy, though, most couples spend their whole life walking on a solid foundation. A foundation made of the poured concrete of their shared beginning.

From Wilderness to Wichita

In the Torah, Hashem often refers to the love He has for us because we followed Him into the wilderness in the earliest moments of our nationhood. Fresh from slavery in Mitzrayim, we might have been forgiven for wanting nothing more than peace and security. Instead, we plunged into a hostile desert where we faced heat, thirst, and enemy attacks. All because Hakadosh Boruch Hu asked us to.

Hashem doesn’t take that long-ago acquiescence for granted. We can see this from the many positive references He makes to those early days. Just as He expects us to remember and appreciate His many kindnesses to us, starting in Mitzrayim and continuing on through the millennia, He, too, recalls our early kindness in following Him into uncertainty.

When a child has outgrown his early adorableness, his antics may cause his parents occasional heartache. But while others may view the child in a negative light, a parent carries an inner torch of his own by which to see him. Sometimes, when the objective world has rejected a child, it’s only his parents’ subjective, loving hearts that hold fast to the knowledge that there’s someone worthwhile inside.

As a people, our story is much the same. In so many ways, large and small, we have strayed from and betrayed our covenant with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. From the most trivial nonsense to the most egregious of sins, we’ve disappointed and, yes, disgusted Him over course of our history together.

Yet, for all that, He has promised to never stop loving us. A love forged in fire at the very start of a relationship has the power to hold the ship of the relationship firmly at anchor, even in the most storm-tossed sea. Just as a parent holds tight to his love for his child and a middle-aged couple remembers the bond born in their youth, Hashem keeps the fire of His love for us burning bright. Because a love like that is eternal.

We’ve come a long way from that first epoch in the wilderness. We’ve scattered to the four corners of the globe, tasted every alien culture, experimented with every ideology and stepped off the good road to explore every tempting byway. But whether we live in Bnei Brak or Botswana, Wales or Wichita, we are descended from the Avos, the Shevotim, and the Bnei Yisroel who were fortunate enough to win Hashem’s love at the very outset of the journey.

And, in consequence, we’ve been fortunate enough to reap the reward of that first, early love down all the ages, to this very day.

Last week the Israeli air force bombed the semi-demolished Abu al-Duhur military airfield in northern Syria, cratering the runway and destroying adjacent warehouses in order to make the base unusable. The attack was triggered by an Israeli intelligence report warning that Turkey was about to install a radar-guided air defense unit on the base, located near the Syrian-Turkish border, to be manned by Turkish troops. This would pose a threat to the Israeli warplanes which have been openly operating for the past 18 months in Syrian airspace.

The installation of such an anti-aircraft system at the Syrian base would violate a U.S.-brokered agreement reached shortly after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, under which both Syria’s current Turkish-backed transitional government, led by President Ahmed al-Shaarq, a former al Qaeda terrorist leader, and Israel’s government agreed to maintain the current military status quo on Syrian territory.

The agreement permits Israeli troops to continue their occupation of a security zone just inside Syria’s southern border, including both sides of Mt. Hermon. Israel has also launched hundreds of air strikes on targets in Syria since December 2024. Many of them were intended to protect the minority Druze communities in southern Syria, which have come under repeated attacks by pro-Syrian government Sunni militia forces armed with Syrian army tanks and other military vehicles.

But Israel’s critics have noted that by acting in defense of the Syrian Druze minority, the IDF has been able to justify the expansion of its military footprint in southern Syria and occupy the strategic high ground, weakening the control of that part of Syria by the transitional government led by al-Shaarq in Damascus.

Maintaining The Benefits Of The Status Quo Agreement In Syria

The status quo agreement also allows Israeli warplanes to continue patrolling Syrian airspace, looking for signs of terrorists seeking to use the area as a base for attacks on Israel’s northern border. The status quo agreement obligated the interim Syrian government not to introduce any new military forces or installations to fill the power vacuum that was created with the collapse of the Assad regime, or that could pose a security threat to Israel’s northern border or to its forces now manning the Israeli security zone inside southern Syria.

Shortly after the Israeli air force raid took place, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office issued a statement declaring that Syria had been on the verge of violating a “status quo agreed with Israel in security matters,” and that allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the Syrian airbase would threaten Israel’s security.

Netanyahu later said that prior to launching the air strike, Israel had issued a warning to Turkey’s government against engaging in any military activity in Syria. “We made our message [to Turkey] clear: Don’t,” Netanyahu declared in a statement.

Over the weekend, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, confirmed the statements from the prime minister’s office. Katz said that, “Following several discussions that Prime Minister [Netanyahu] and I held with IDF leaders and the various other Israeli security officials, it was agreed that before approval was given for the Israeli airstrike on the Syrian airbase, a direct warning would be issued to the Syrian regime at the highest levels first in an attempt to prevent [Turkey’s military] move, and that is what was done.”

Katz also said that “at the same time, the intelligence [about the imminent Turkish military move in Syria] was conveyed to the relevant authorities in the United States,” to give President Trump advance warning about a possible Israeli air strike.

However, Katz continued, “After the notification to the Syrian government went unanswered, the prime minister and I authorized the IDF to carry out the strike, which was carried out successfully,” Katz said. He then added that “[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and was forced to back down” from his plan to install a Turkish military-operated air defense system at the Syrian base.

Katz also accused the Netanyahu-led coalition’s domestic political opponents of “zigzagging” in their criticism of the Israeli air strike on the Syrian airbase. The opponents initially accused Netanyahu of ordering the air strike to bolster his image as a strong Israeli leader ahead of the October 27 Knesset election. According to Katz, Netanyahu’s political opponents and the biased critics in the Israeli news media initially said that “the strike in Syria was superfluous and carried out for political considerations.”

Getting No Response, Israel Delivers The Message In A Different Way

But that was before Doron Spielman, the spokesman for the government’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, released a video late last week which clearly explained the information that justified the air strike and sounded the alarm over indications that Turkey intends to expand its military presence in Syria. Spielman also noted that Netanyahu had stated clearly that Israel would not permit Turkey’s military to push south [inside Syria] toward Israel’s border, and that once Syria brushed off repeated warnings, Israel had to “deliver the message in a different way” via air strikes.

Katz said that “After it was made clear [by Spielman] that the IDF recommended the strike based upon clear intelligence information, and [that] the political echelon had carefully weighed and reached the decision, Netanyahu’s critics moved to an alternative narrative. They then said that the statements by the prime minister and the defense minister about Erdogan, and the warning that Israel will not allow Turkey to entrench itself in Syria and endanger its security, were dangerous.”

Katz mocked Netanyahu’s critics for warning that Israel “must not anger Erdogan, as if [by ordering the air strike] we went out for some evening stroll that has nothing to do with anything; as if Erdogan [who has become one of Israel’s most outspoken opponents] is actually some Zionist enthusiast. Luckily they [Netanyahu’s critics in Israel] have no influence today on anything,” Katz said. He then added, “We very much hope for the sake of Israel’s security that they will not reach positions of influence with such positions in the future [after the upcoming Knesset election] either.”

It was also reported that several days prior to the Israeli air strike on the Syrian base, Roman Gofman the head of Israel’s Mossad security service, had conducted a two-hour, in-depth phone conversation with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to convey Israel’s concerns about reports that a delegation of Turkish military contractors had visited the Syrian airbase, presumably to prepare for the installation of the air defense system there.

According to a Saudi Arabian news report, during that same conversation, the Syrian foreign minister revealed a plan to deploy advanced Turkish-made combat drones at the Abu al-Duhur airbase, ostensibly for use against the remnants of ISIS forces in Syria. The Mossad chief then reportedly responded by warning that any new drone deployment at Abu al-Duhr would be viewed as an attempt to turn it into a forward operating base threatening Israeli security and would not be tolerated.

When Turkey’s President Erdogan First Turned Against Israel

Turkish President Erdogan’s vehement public criticism of Israel dates back to the May 31, 2010 incident when Israeli naval commandos intercepted a flotilla of six ships organized by a pro-Palestinian “humanitarian” organization, and led by the Turkish-flagged passenger vessel MV Mavi Marmara. The ships were trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which was imposed after Hamas had begun launching missiles from there at nearby Israeli communities.

When Israeli commandos dropped from helicopters to board the Mavi Marmara, they were immediately attacked by dozens of Palestinian terrorists armed with clubs, metal pipes, and knives, who had been posing as international civilian peace advocates. Several of the Israeli commandos were wounded, and they were forced to defend themselves by opening fire using live ammunition, killing ten of the terrorists.

The Mavi Marmara incident created a serious crisis in Israel-Turkey diplomatic relations, which had been very cordial before Erdogan became Turkey’s prime minister in 2003. Until that time, Israel had been serving as one of the Turkish military’s primary sources for high-tech armaments.

Erdogan’s diplomatic attacks on Israel escalated further after he became Turkey’s first directly elected president in 2014. Since then, Erdogan has dismantled several democratic aspects of Turkey’s government, which has become much more authoritarian in nature. He has also shifted Turkey’s diplomatic stance, giving up on Turkey’s failed efforts to qualify for membership in the European Union, and focusing instead on strengthening Turkey’s influence over its Middle East neighbors, based in part upon his embrace of the Palestinian national cause, and his open hostility to Israel.

Erdogan’s Early Connections To The Muslim Brotherhood

Erdogan’s affinity for the Palestinian cause can be traced back to his deep ideological, political, and logistical ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent organization of Hamas, going back to Erdogan’s days as an Islamic student activist in the 1970s. Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994, but in 1998, he was convicted of inciting religious hatred and temporarily banned from participating in Turkish politics.

Following the 2011 uprisings of the so-called Arab Spring, Erdogan aggressively championed the new Egyptian government led by Muslim Brotherhood activist Mohamed Morsi. After Morsi’s government was overthrown in 2013 by the leader of the Egyptian army, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Erdogan turned Turkey into the primary sanctuary for exiled Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders. To this day, under Erdogan’s rule, Turkey continues to host several international Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations which are seen as a security threat by the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

After having helped al-Sharaa’s forces to overthrow Bashar Assad’s despotic regime, Erdogan is now trying to use his enhanced influence over Syria to establish Turkey as the new leader of the Sunni Muslim nations in the Middle East. His latest move in that direction was the recent signing of a mutual defense pact by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. This is in addition to Turkey’s ongoing membership in NATO, in which it maintains the second-largest standing armed forces after the United States.

The mutual defense pact’s signing took place shortly after Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, resisted President Trump’s efforts to get the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords with Israel, on the grounds that Israel still rejects the formation of a Palestinian state.

In 2016, Israel and Turkey signed a reconciliation agreement mediated by the United States, which was supposed to restore normal diplomatic ties between the two former allies, but Erdogan has continued to attack Israel and accuse it of committing genocide against the Palestinian population in its war against Hamas in Gaza at every opportunity.

Erdogan Has Taken In The Hamas Leaders Who Have Left Qatar

Erdogan has invited Hamas’ international leaders who had been living in Qatar to move into Turkey, and has been sharpening his anti-Israel rhetoric almost daily.

Last week, Turkey’s Defense Ministry denied that a Turkish military delegation had visited the airbase, just a day after Syrian foreign minister al-Shaibani publicly confirmed in an interview with the Axios news site that such a visit had taken place.

But the Syrian foreign minister denied that there were any plans for a Turkish military deployment there. Al-Shaibani said that the visit by the Turkish military officials was nothing more than the continuation of the “ongoing military cooperation” between two allies which share a common border.

Meanwhile, in a weekend news interview with Israel’s Channel 12, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar declared that Israel has “no interest in [a military] escalation with Turkey. We are committed to preserving the status quo,” Sa’ar said, but he then added: “We will not accept the establishment of Turkish [military] bases in Syria.”

He explained that Israel has noted how Iran has infiltrated Lebanon and Gaza to attack Israel, and that the Israeli government will not tolerate “that same situation to develop with Turkey in Syria.”

Sa’ar emphasized that Israel “always prefers” diplomatic solutions to military ones, and reiterated that Israel has no intention of escalating tensions with Turkey. Israeli officials have held several rounds of direct talks with officials of Syria’s interim government, which have led to an agreement to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism designed to avoid the unintentional outbreak of conflicts between them.

Turkey Again Calls For Netanyahu’s Arrest

Sa’ar made the statement after the Turkish government issued another warrant for the arrest of Prime Minister Netanyahu last week, based upon the false accusation that he had ordered the commission of the crime of “genocide” against the civilian population of Gaza, a charge that the Israeli government has vigorously denied. Turkey also said that it would ask Interpol [the international police force] to issue a “red notice,” which is a request to police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted person pending their extradition to the country where they would be put on trial.

In response to Turkey’s issuance of the warrant, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement declaring that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “now seeks to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate it.” The statement reiterated previous accusations made against Erdogan, calling him “an antisemitic dictator who has massacred Kurds [living in Turkey and Syria], harbors Hamas terrorists, occupies half of Cyprus, and jails record numbers of [Turkish] journalists and politicians who oppose him.”

One of the most irritating factors in the reaction to Israel’s air strike on the Syrian airbase was comments made by the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who also serves as President Trump’s special envoy to Syria and Iraq.

Tom Barrack’s grandparents were Lebanese Christians who arrived in the U.S. in 1900. He was trained as a lawyer and made his fortune as a private equity investor. He has also developed close ties to the Saudi royal family. Barrack has been a close personal friend of Donald Trump going back for more than 40 years. He has served Trump as a major campaign fundraiser and as an informal advisor, and chaired Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee.

U.S. Ambassador Accused Israel Of Trying To Start A War With Turkey

During a wide-ranging podcast interview with Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur, Barrack accused Israel of launching the attack on the Syrian base to draw Turkey into an armed conflict, and offered two possible theories to explain why the attack was launched.

“One theory is they were just baiting Turkey, and it’s a very aggressive, but maybe well-received, pre-election concept,” Barrack said, implying that it was a politically motivated attempt by Prime Minister Netanyahu to burnish his credentials as a strong Israeli leader ahead of the Knesset elections scheduled for October 27.

Barrack then said, “The other theory is that between the IDF, the Mossad and the Prime Minister’s Office there was a miscommunication,” suggesting that an Israeli attack on a foreign country was launched by accident.

During the podcast, Ambassador Barrack also cast doubt on the Israeli intelligence report that Turkey was preparing to move some of its military assets to the Syrian military airport at Abu al-Duhur. He said that there was no U.S. intelligence to indicate that Turkey was planning such action.

According to a Times of Israel report, Ambassador Barrack has a long history of speaking “off the cuff” and pontificating on developments in the Middle East, making comments based on his personal opinion that do not necessarily reflect the Trump administration’s foreign policy positions.

U.S. Envoy Rejects Trump’s Recognition Of Israel’s Right To The Golan

In reaction to the podcast, Defense Minister Katz said that Barrack’s remarks were “full of inaccuracies.” Katz also said that Barrack’s statements included “positions that contradict the position of U.S. President Trump.” Specifically, Barrack claimed that, “In the Golan, with Syria, they still occupy the Golan against the U.N. resolutions, against all the international order, which has said the Golan is Syria’s [territory].”

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War and refused to return it when the war was over because Syria had been using the high ground to launch artillery bombardments at Israeli farmers as they tended their fields in the valleys across northern Israel. Soon after the Israeli government annexed the Golan Heights, on December 17, 1981, the U..N Security Council passed Resolution 497 declaring the Israeli annexation of the Golan Height to be “null and void,” and calling for Israel to withdraw from the occupied Syrian land to the pre-1967 border with Syria. However, Israel refused to comply, and, 38 years later, in March 2019, President Trump signed a proclamation formally stating that the U.S. recognizes Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Barrack’s inaccurate interview statements were harshly criticized by Laura Loomer, a controversial far-right social media conspiracy theorist, who called upon Barrack to resign his ambassadorship because “he does not understand U.S. foreign policy and supports the wrong side.”

Barrack’s podcast statements were also blasted in an editorial published by the New York Sun, which said that he rushed to condemn Israel for the strike, “before anyone at Washington had time to assess the situation.”

The New York Sun editorial also noted that Barrack falsely claimed in several interviews with Israeli television reporters that because Turkey had not been notified of the Israeli air strike in advance, its jets could have come into conflict with Israel’s warplanes over Syrian territory, even though Turkey denied that any of its aircraft were present at the Syrian airfield that was bombed.

Trump’s Ambassador Is Acting Like Erdogan’s Man In Washington

The editorial cited a statement by Sinan Ciddi, the director of Turkey studies at the Foundation for Defense Democracies, who described Barrack as “his own man” whose agenda and opinions often track closely with Turkey, which helps to explain why he was so quick to condemn the Israeli air strike. The same editorial also noted that President Trump did not criticize the air strike in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 last week, suggesting that American intelligence agrees with Israel in suspecting that Turkey does intend to stage a military buildup in Syria. The editorial concluded that, “One way to bolster Syria’s independence from Turkey is to name an American ambassador to Damascus, rather than rely on an ‘envoy’ [like] Mr. Barrack [who] seems like Mr. Erdogan’s man at Washington, rather than the other way around.”

In the wake of that criticism, Barrack conceded in a statement to the Associated Press that his comment about the Golan during the podcast interview did not reflect current “United States policy on the Golan [recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over it, which] was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged.” Nevertheless, he still insisted that Israel’s occupation of the territory goes “against all of the international order, which has said the Golan is Syria’s [territory].

During his podcast interview, Ambassador Barrack did confirm the reports of a prior extended conversation between Mossad chief Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister al-Shaibani, and he speculated that it might have led to a mistaken order to attack the Syrian air base.

Harmful Speculation By Trump’s Ambassador To Turkey

“Perhaps the Mossad director was conducting a really serious backchannel [discussion] that he wasn’t finished with, perhaps he wasn’t satisfied with, that he was going to come back the next week and have another discussion,” Barrack said.

“And in the meantime,” Barrack continued, “an [Israeli] commander someplace, based on what they thought their intelligence reading was, thought ‘we need to move quickly, and we need to move now,’” and ordered the air strike.

Barrack did add that, “to Israel’s credit,” it told the U.S. six days before the strike that it had intelligence indicating “there might be Turkish movement into this site.

“We all did our due diligence. We went back to our respective intelligence agencies. [But] the answer we got is, no, that [Turkish move of military assets] is not happening,” Barrack said.

The American ambassador then speculated further that, “Probably the most likely [explanation] is that [Israel] picked up some conversations of some contemplated strategy of the Turks increasing a training program on that site,” Barrack said, and noted that the current status quo arrangements don’t forbid Turkish efforts to “openly train and supply and help the Syrian government” in areas like the air base that lie near the two countries’ shared border.

In a separate interview with the Jerusalem Post, Barrack said that in order to prevent further military incidents, the U.S. will try to establish a deconfliction mechanism between Israel, Turkey, and Syria. Barrack said that the current government in “Syria has demonstrated itself to be a responsible and stable sovereign neighbor, and a carefully structured de-escalation arrangement would contribute significantly to greater calm and predictability across the region.”

In an independent analysis by the Kikar Shabbos, a chareidi digital news portal, of the rising tensions between Israel and Turkey, it noted that “Turkey has become a key ally of the new regime in Damascus in recent months, by assisting in training the Syrian army and rebuilding its infrastructure. Israel fears that a permanent Turkish military presence in Syria would change the regional balance of power, especially if Turkey deploys an advanced radar air defense system in Syria that could significantly limit the Israeli air force’s freedom of action.”

The Kikar Shabbos analysis also noted that according to Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, Turkey has launched a new investigation against 35 Israeli servicemen in Israel’s navy for their role in the latest incident this May in which the Turkish-supported Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of 50 ships supposedly carrying aid for Palestinians, came under Israeli fire and were boarded by Israeli commandos off the coast of Cyprus. This thereby prevented the ships from penetrating Israel’s blockade of Gaza’s ports. In addition, 430 pro-Palestinian “activists” aboard those ships were first taken into custody by Israel and then were deported.

Gurlek also declared that Turkey will use all available legal mechanisms to ensure Israel is held accountable for its crimes in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s office also issued a statement predicting that, “[Turkish President] Erdogan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere.”

Turkey’s Growing Military Footprint In Syria

Meanwhile, Israel Hayom published a report based upon an interview with a source in western Syria claiming that “Turkey’s footprint in the region has grown significantly more pronounced,” particularly in the area surrounding the strategic port cities of Latakia and Tartus on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.

The same source said that “Officials representing Turkish intelligence and the Turkish military are playing in Syria as if it were their private playground. This manifests [itself] in Turkish vehicles, some of which are armored, that soldiers are using to move around the [Syrian] roads.” The source also said that Syrian agents have been buying up real estate on behalf of Turkish businessmen in the residential portions of the same two Syrian port cities.

However, the source reported that the Syrian economy has yet to recover from its long civil war and that, “All classes [of Syrian citizens] are suffering [because] there is no security and there are economic hardships. We are heading into the unknown [and] no one knows where the fools who seized power [in Damascus] are taking us.”

According to the Israel Hayom report, the first signs of an expanding Turkish military presence in Syria became evident immediately following the collapse of the Assad regime. It cited contemporary newspaper reports from that era of Turkish troops entering western Syria’s Latakia province with engineering equipment to establish a new military outpost, as well as Turkish military reinforcements being deployed in Aleppo province in March of last year, increasing tensions with local Kurdish forces.

Today, a year and a half after the fall of the Assad regime, the footprint of Turkish forces on the ground in Syria, the Israel Hayom report says, continues to expand. This past July, Al-Araby, a Qatar-based broadcast news network, released footage of a convoy of Turkish military trucks and armored vehicles advancing toward the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.

Turkey Digging In At Its Syrian Bases

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that Turkish military forces have not abandoned a single outpost that they have established in Syria over the past 18 months. Instead, the Turks have been actively digging in, fortifying their new bases by erecting concrete blast walls, digging defensive trenches, and building up earthen berms.

The recent Turkish military expansion in Syria included a July visit to the port of Latakia by a flotilla of Turkish warships, accompanied by the commander of Turkish Naval Forces, who carried out an inspection of Latakia’s military port facilities and held high-level meetings with his Syrian navy counterparts.

Soon after the Assad regime collapsed in December 2024, the Israeli Navy systematically destroyed the bulk of the Syrian naval fleet to prevent the ships from falling into the hands of radical Syrian Islamist factions. Now Israeli intelligence indicates that the interim Syrian government wants to reconstitute its naval capabilities, raising fears that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will ask for Turkey’s help in rebuilding Syria’s maritime strength.

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, emphasized in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that, “We are not seeking escalation or war with either Turkey or Syria. But a red line was crossed,” when Turkish military officials paid a visit to the Syrian airbase, which required an Israeli military response.

Leiter said that he was one of the participants at the January 2026 meeting in Paris during which the understandings of the status quo agreement between Israel, Syria and Turkey were reconfirmed. Other officials who participated in that meeting included Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, U.S. Syria envoy Tom Barrack, then-Israel National Security Council chief Gil Reich, and Netanyahu’s military secretary Roman Gofman, who is now the Mossad director.

The Status Quo In Syria Has Worked Well So Far

According to Leiter, “The freeze [status quo agreement] means that just as the Turks don’t move, neither do we [Israel] — and they don’t force us to withdraw. And it is important to understand that while we are sitting on only 78 square miles in the [southern] Syria security zone, the Turks have carried out a creeping annexation of 3,500 square miles in northern Syria over the past several years — [representing] about 5% of [Syria’s] territory.”

Leiter emphasized that the status quo agreement has largely been successful in preventing conflict in Syria, and that the Trump administration wants it to continue, “which is why even Trump did not condemn the [Israeli air] strike,” Leiter said.

The Israeli ambassador also said that, “It is clear to us that the Syrians do not want a confrontation with us. That is why we are telling the Turks not to create conflicts.”

Leiter also said, “There is more than one indication that the [military] move planned by Turkey was imposed on the Syrians,” against their will, including the fact that the Syrian and Turkish accounts were in conflict over whether or not a Turkish military delegation had visited the Syrian airbase.

“While Syrian Foreign Minister Shaibani acknowledged that there had been a Turkish delegation in Syria several days before the strike, the Turks denied it.” Leiter then recommended that, “They [Syrian and Turkish officials] should sort it out among themselves.”

Israel Willing To Talk Peace With Syria Again But Not Turkey

Leiter also said that a resumption of direct Israeli-Syrian talks was desirable if the conditions are right. “The negotiations can be renewed. We want to continue the face-to-face dialogue that we previously held with the Syrians,” he declared.

But that is not necessarily the case with Turkey’s current government. Leiter said, “We are certainly open to dialogue with them, but according to statements by senior [Turkish] officials, they would prefer to wipe Israel off the map.”

He was referring to repeated accusations by Turkish President Erdogan that Israel has been committing war crimes, as well as the recent statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declaring that “Israel is a stain on humanity.”

Leiter’s response to those claims was to note that, “At a time when Turkey is hosting Hamas leaders and transferring funds to Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran’s [allies] against Israel, it is not appropriate for them to begin expanding their influence in Lebanon and Syria.”

Leiter expressed his disappointment that, “Under the current circumstances, Turkey cannot be a force that helps calm the region. I wish we could return to the situation of several decades ago [when there were cordial] relations between Jerusalem and Ankara. Then, we would be open to Turkish influence in the region. But it is not logical for Turkish influence in the region to [be allowed to] grow while Turkey is funding terrorist organizations.”

My grandchildren were by us for Shabbos, and they were chewing gum, as children are wont to do. As I watched them, I was thinking about something my rebbi, Rav Mendel Kaplan, would tell us. He would say, “Life is like chewing gum. Ah bissel tzuker un kei kei kei — It has a little sugar, but most of the time you are simply chewing.” His pithy comment is quite deep and has much meaning.

There is actually a lot packed into that little expression. Underneath the humor is a very profound observation about what life is all about.

Rav Mendel’s point, as I understand it, is that we tend to imagine that life is supposed to be a succession of sweet moments. We wait for the good news, the simcha, the accomplishment, the nachas, the vacation, the special Shabbos, the wedding, the birth, the siyum. Those are the moments when we taste the “sugar.” But they are not the bulk of life because, face it, most of life is the chewing.

And that doesn’t mean that most of life is bad. Chewing gum isn’t bitter or unpleasant. It’s simply…ordinary. You chew. You continue. You go through the day. You take care of what needs to be taken care of. You deal with the unexpected. You go to work, learn, daven, raise children, worry about things, solve problems, pay bills, make phone calls, wait for appointments, clean up messes, and do it all over again the next day.

There is a little sugar mixed in, and those moments are precious. But the sugar isn’t the entirety of the gum. The chewing is the experience of living.

And perhaps that is one of the great misunderstandings of life. We think that we will really begin living when everything falls into place. When the children grow up, when the parnossah is settled, when the health is perfect, when the problem is resolved, when the simcha arrives, then life will be good.

But Rav Mendel’s “ah bissel tzuker un kei kei kei” teaches something else: Don’t wait for the sugar to begin appreciating the chewing.

A person is not measured only by the dramatic moments of his life. Much of avodas Hashem takes place in the seemingly uneventful actions of ordinary days. The greatness is often not in the extraordinary moment, but in getting up every day and doing what needs to be done again and again.

The kei kei kei is almost the sound of life itself.

We chew, we chew, and we keep going.

And perhaps there is an even deeper message. When you chew gum, you don’t ask, “When is the next taste of sugar coming?” You know that the sweetness will eventually fade, but you continue chewing. Why? Because chewing itself has become part of the experience.

So, too, we have to learn to appreciate not only the moments when Hashem gives us an obvious taste of sweetness, but also the long stretches in between. The sweetness may be less apparent, but that doesn’t mean that those moments are empty. They, too, are part of the life Hashem has given us.

Sometimes, in fact, the chewing is where the sweetness is hidden.

A person looks back after many years and realizes that the days he thought were merely “ordinary” were actually his life. The rushed mornings, the chitchat with people in shul after davening, the walks home from shul, the Shabbos meals, the conversations with his children, the learning sessions, the small acts of kindness, the challenges he overcame, even the difficulties that forced him to grow — those weren’t interruptions to his life. They were his life.

Rav Kaplan managed to say all of this with a smile and a couple of words of Yiddish: Ah bissel tzuker un kei kei kei.

A little sugar.

And then you chew.

Rav Mendel was very smart. He was blessed with a life comprised of chochmas haTorah, and he sought ways to impart that chochmah to us, his young American talmidim. He was teaching us not to resent the chewing while waiting for the sugar, but rather to recognize that the sugar gives us moments of sweetness, while the chewing gives us the opportunity to live.

Life is not a bowl of cherries or a piece of candy that is sweet from beginning to end. It is chewing gum: Ah bissel tzuker un kei kei kei. There is a little sweetness, and then a great deal of chewing.

The sugar moments remind us why we are here.

We work hard at something and then are able to look back and see what we have accomplished, be it raising children and enjoying the milestones of their lives or struggling to work through a Tosafos and then experiencing the joy and sweetness of finally understanding it. Someone goes through a nisayon and later realizes that it made him stronger, deeper, and closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

The chewing itself can eventually become sweet.

There is another important dimension. If we expect life to be sweet all the time, we would become disappointed very quickly. But if we understand that life is mostly chewing, with occasional bursts of sweetness, we develop a different relationship with life.

We stop asking, “Why isn’t life sweeter?” and begin asking, “Where is the sugar?”

And I think that is perhaps the most beautiful way to understand Rav Kaplan’s bissel tzuker.

The sugar is there. It may not be everywhere. It may not last forever. Sometimes we don’t even recognize it while we’re experiencing it. But it is there, and perhaps the real avodah is to learn to notice it.

Two people can live through the same day. Both have responsibilities, frustrations, bills, disappointments, and endless things to take care of. One comes home saying, “What a difficult day.” The other remembers one small moment — a child’s smile, a good sevara, a meaningful vort, a beautiful sunset, a kind word — and says, “Boruch Hashem, there was some sugar today.”

As I get older, I think more often about Rav Mendel and his teachings and the insights he gave us when we were young and growing up. And I think about different dimensions of what he meant. Maybe that is what he meant. While it is true that life is mostly about chewing, it is also true that Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes sure that there is a little sweetness. The wise person looks for those moments and learns to savor them.

Elul is one of those doses of sugar that Hashem puts into life.

Life is filled with routine. We wake up, go to work, learn, daven, raise children, and deal with responsibilities, disappointments, and challenges. Through the “chewing” of life, we are moving forward, sometimes without even noticing how quickly the days are passing.

And then comes Elul.

Suddenly, Hashem gives us a month that is different from all the others. It is as if He puts a little sweetness into the gum and says to us, “Stop for a moment. Think about where you are going. You still have time. You can fix things. You can come closer. Ani leDodi veDodi li.”

That itself is an extraordinary kindness.

The yemei hadin are approaching. A person might look at himself and think, “How can I repair everything I have done wrong?” And then Elul arrives and tells him: Come with me. You can do it.

After Tisha B’Av and the Nine Days ended, we felt as if the rest of the month of Av was one of sweetness. It represented the sugar of life we so desperately crave. It provided us with the opportunity to get off the Ferris wheel of chewing, of working, of doing the things we have to do in life. The second half of Av gave us a break, a time to go away, to travel, to unwind — a time of leisure, swimming pools, barbecues, and enjoyment.

The past three weeks represented the physical sweetness that Hashem gives life, and now we have entered the month of Elul, which presents us with some of the spiritual sweetness of life.

The sweetness of Elul is not the sweetness of comfort or pleasure. It is the sweetness of opportunity.

Elul signals that Rosh Hashanah is coming. We are being given the weeks preceding it to prepare. To think. To regret. To apologize. To improve. To strengthen a relationship. To become more careful with our words. To daven with more concentration. To learn better and more. To examine our lives and say, “I am going to fix what I did wrong over the past year.” To say, “Next year, I am going to do better.”

That is the spiritual tzuker of life.

Teshuvah is not merely a painful accounting of our failures. It is the realization that we are not trapped by what we said or did yesterday. We can change it. We can change ourselves. The person I was yesterday does not have to be the person I am tomorrow. I can be better.

Elul is not meant to frighten us. It is meant to awaken us, as the posuk says, “Uru yesheinim mishinaschem.” Awaken from your slumber, from your actions throughout the year. The door of teshuvah is open. The door to greatness is open. Step right in.

We can literally go back and erase yesterday. What happened, happened. The words were spoken, the opportunities were missed, the mistakes were made. Yet, Hakadosh Boruch Hu created a mechanism through which a person can take those very failures and transform their meaning. We can take those chato’im, those mistakes, and, through the gift of teshuvah, turn the failures into zechuyos, merits.

Someone who recognizes what he did wrong, sincerely regrets it, accepts upon himself not to repeat it, and changes his behavior, is no longer the same person who committed that act. His past is no longer part of his history, and it does not define his destiny.

That is an extraordinary kindness. That is the spiritual sweetness of teshuvah.

Failure can become the beginning of growth. A sin can become the source of humility. A painful experience can teach a person compassion. A relationship that was damaged can become the impetus to learn how to speak differently. A missed opportunity can awaken a person to recognize the next opportunity when it arrives.

Elul is the month when Hashem reaches out to us, when Heaven touches earth and the distance between us and our Creator becomes smaller. Hashem comes closer and offers us the precious gift of teshuvah, the opportunity to find our way back home.

We may have wandered. We may have taken wrong turns, missed exits, traveled down roads we never should have entered, and sometimes gotten so lost that we no longer know how to get back. But teshuvah is Heaven’s GPS. It helps us recalculate and points us home. It reminds us that no matter how far we have traveled, the road back is still open. We are never too far gone to return. And what could be sweeter than that?

Elul isn’t merely a countdown to Rosh Hashanah. It is Hashem giving us advance notice that the yemei hadin are coming and giving us the opportunity to prepare for them.

He is telling us, “Don’t wait until you stand before Me to wish you had become different. Change now.”

Before the King judges us, He comes closer to us and gives us a month to go looking for Him.

We have spent another year chewing. There were sweet moments, bitter moments, ordinary moments, and painful moments. There were things we did well and things we wish we could do over.

Elul provides us with the opportunity to examine the past year, fix what needs fixing, and set ourselves on a good path for the coming year. Elul enables us to build a better future.

There is a little sugar. Life is still mostly chewing. But when Elul arrives, Hashem puts a little extra sweetness into the gum. He gives us a month in which the ordinary person can become extraordinary by confronting his past, learning from it, and returning to the One who has been waiting for him all along.

We can look at it a little deeper.

The Vilna Gaon writes that when Hashem created the world, He combined the middos of din and rachamim. The world could not exist through din alone, because no human being could survive if we were judged solely according to what we deserved. However, a world governed exclusively by rachamim would lack the structure and accountability necessary for creation to fulfill its purpose. Hashem therefore conducts the world through a combination of din and rachamim.

But during Elul, Hashem relates to us strictly with the middah of rachamim. The King is coming, the yemei hadin are approaching, and yet, paradoxically, the days immediately preceding judgment are days of extraordinary mercy. Prior to standing in judgment before Him, Hashem comes toward us with rachamim and invites us to approach.

What an incredible gift that is. Imagine a person who is about to stand trial. His actions are going to be examined, and he will have to answer for the choices he has made. And then, before the trial begins, the judge goes out to meet him and says to him, “Come. Let us fix this before we start hearing the case.”

That is Elul. It is a month of Divine mercy, of Divine sweetness.

Elul reminds us that our mistakes do not have to be the end of the story. Hashem gives us the extraordinary ability of teshuvah. He doesn’t wait for us to come crawling back after judgment has already been rendered. He comes closer. He makes the first move. He opens the door and beckons us inside.

And suddenly, Rav Mendel Kaplan’s words take on an even deeper meaning.

Life can indeed be a lot of chewing. We struggle, we stumble, we make mistakes, and we can wonder how we will find our way back. How will we get tzuker back into our lives? But then comes Elul and Hashem gives us a month of rachamim, a month when the distance between Heaven and earth is diminished, a month when the King is in the field and the road home is easier to find.

That is the sweetness of Elul. It is the sweetness of rachamim. It is the sweetness of knowing that the door is open. The sweetness of knowing that Hashem will help us get on the right path before He judges us.

May we all be zoche to come home and have a sweet year of goodness and kindness. A kesivah vachasimah tovah to all.

A childhood memory. During my early teen years, I had the zechus of spending time with the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, during summers in Sharon Springs, NY. Many tzaddikim and Holocaust survivors flocked there for the healing powers of the sulfur baths. My father seemed to be friendly with his legendary gabbai, Reb Yossel Ashkenazi, and he somehow arranged for us to have seats near the rebbe at seudah shlishis.

At one of those wonderful events, the rebbe delivered what I later heard was one of his well-known teachings. The Torah speaks of Rosh Hashanah in what appears to be contradictory ways. The posuk (Devorim 11:12) says that Eretz Yisroel is “a Land that Hashem, your G-d seeks out; the eyes of Hashem, your G-d, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to year’s end.” The rebbe pointed out that at first, the Torah calls it “the year,” and then just “year.” He smiled and explained gently but firmly: “Many people say that ‘this year I will be different’ and ‘this will be the year that I…’ Then, Rosh Hashanah comes around, even Yom Kippur, and nothing has changed. All the plans, hopes and even promises have disappeared like the wind.” He concluded that “our goal must be to truly make this the year of absolute change.”

This year, I have already had such a moment based upon the rebbe’s admonition. There is a line from Rav Mendel Vitepsker about Erev Rosh Hashanah. Every day we ask in Shemoneh Esrei, “Bless on our behalf — O Hashem our G-d — this year…” It would seem that at some point, we should begin asking for “next year,” since the year was almost over. But this holds true most certainly on Erev Rosh Hashanah. When the previous year only has moments left, we should certainly switch to praying for the new year. Rav Mendel’s answer was that “in a brief moment of proper davening, we can be mesakein (rectify) the entire previous year.”

I must confess that in previous years, I have always shared this beautiful thought in my shul on Erev Rosh Hashanah just before Mincha. However, this year, I discovered that perhaps I have been waiting too long. Rav Meilech Biderman (Be’er Hachaim, Elul/Tishrei, page 38-39) goes much further. He quotes from several great rabbeim, including the Sar Sholom of Belz and the Ahavas Yisroel of Vizhnitz, that since yeshuas Hashem keheref ayin (Hashem can bring salvation in a split second), our mandate is to “ask Hashem for help every second of our lives.”

With this in mind, I write these words and will, G-d willing, remind my friends much earlier this year about how precious and powerful each and every second is. Perhaps this will be the year that I can make this point early in Elul rather than at the last minute.

However, there is an even deeper message in this minhag of Rav Mendel of Vitepsk. Let us begin with an important teaching from the Chofetz Chaim (Chofetz Chaim At HaTorah, ed. by Rav Shmuel Greineman). The posuk (Bamidbar 5:10) states, “A man’s kodoshov (holies) shall be his and what a man gives to the kohein shall be his.” The word “his” is somewhat ambiguous, but it means that whatever material possessions a person accumulates in this world are only his temporarily. However, what he has accomplished religiously — the Torah he has learned, the mitzvos he has performed, the tzedokah he has given — are his forever.

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, one of the prime examples of hasmodah and meticulous use of every moment, explained this mandate with a halacha (Sefer Borchi Nafshi by his son-in-law, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, Bamidbar, page 115). We know that a goseis, one who is imminently going to pass away, may not be moved and his eyes may not be closed while he is alive. One who does so is considered a murderer. Rav Eyashiv asks: Why is this such a severe sin? After all, the person is going to die anyway very soon!

His answer is crucial, uplifting and frightening at the same time. The goseis, he explains, can still do teshuvah and, in that moment, completely reverse all of the things that he did in his lifetime. He can pass away pure and innocent of any heavenly punishment or spiritual suffering. That is the power of a moment. As Rav Zilberstein concludes, “This should impress upon us the value of a moment in time. We may think, ‘How much can I learn during moments I am waiting in line or for a medical appointment?’ However, it is these moments that can sometimes make all the difference in this word and the next.”

Another aspect of the Elul connection brings us to one of the most positive and productive aspects of this month. A moshol developed by Rav Chizkiyahu Mishkovsky is very helpful. A country bumpkin from the hinterlands is visiting New York for the first time, staring up at the skyscrapers he has never seen before. He enters the front door and begins running up the stairs to see how high this building goes. After several stories, he is panting and out of breath. A kindly resident asks him if he is okay, with the response that he just wants to “get to the top, but it’s impossible.” The New Yorker is shocked at the man’s ignorance, but asks, “Don’t you know what an elevator is?” When the visitor admits that he has no idea, he is shown the tiny room that will instantly transport him to the roof and the view. The nimshol is that Elul is our elevator to the top. The top of our middos, the top of our teshuvah, the top of our growth and the top, hopefully, of a wonderful verdict and judgment.

We must remember that Elul is an eis ratzon, a time propitious for getting where we want to go and to do it in the short span of a month or so. Of course, we will have to use every moment and take advantage of every opportunity. There is the sound of the shofar, the daily recitation of L’Dovid and, eventually, the uplifting words of Selichos. But above all, we can rise high above our mundane all-year selves and become something more.

What more we can become may be illustrated by an extraordinary story published in the biography of Rav Boruch Ber Lebowitz, rosh yeshivas Kamenitz and famed author of the Birkas Shmuel. One of the rosh yeshiva’s well-known traits was his adherence to kibbud av v’eim. When his aged father took seriously ill, Rav Boruch Ber held that he was obligated to attend to him personally day and night. Soon it was too much for the busy gadol and he became quite ill himself. Eventually, his father passed away and Rav Boruch Ber took it as a sign from heaven that he had failed in his mitzvah of kibbud av v’eim. After the shivah, the rosh yeshiva was still inconsolable and the family convinced him to consult with the Chofetz Chaim. Hearing the story, the Chofetz Chaim held Rav Boruch Ber’s hand tightly, repeating over and over, “A nei’er mentch —You are a new person. You are a new person.” Finally, Rav Boruch Ber breathed a sigh of relief and left the elderly sage’s presence consoled and refreshed. He would later often say that the Chofetz Chaim had given him a new lease on life.

Elul can give us all a new lease on life. When the “King is in the field,” He is extending a hand to us. It is not a hand of punishment or admonition. It is the hand of ani leDodi veDodi li. It is the hand of forgiveness and renewal. It is true that the Birkas Shmuel may have needed that hand because he did the right thing and we need it because we have been imperfect. But these are days when Hashem extends His hand in availability, love and conciliation. It is the eis ratzon we want and need, but we must take advantage and not lose the moment. The elevator is waiting. We just have to press the button. Yes, it can be the year, not just any year. This year can still be the zos that will save us and preserve us. It is the heref ayin we have been waiting for. It will be a time of lo yihiyeh, which belongs to us now and forever.

Let’s embrace Elul in all of its glory and grandeur. We will not be sorry that we did.

I grew up around politicians. I’m not saying it as a point of pride, and I don’t want to say it was a necessary evil. But it was epes, “necessary.” Opening a yeshiva in a dilapidated abandoned mansion smack in the middle of an otherwise pristine neighborhood was not easy. The neighbors on those “Tree Streets” were WASPS and Jews who were running from Judaism, in the Woodmere of the mid-1950s. Back then, they did not want to see the type of people who now fill the many shuls along the streets of the Five Towns. They did not want to see boys learning in a yeshiva.

In 1956, my father, Rabbi Binyomin Kamenetzky zt”l, moved to Woodmere. Not too far away, Lynbrook and Valley Stream had only recently taken down the signs at their park entrances that listed, in order, no dogs, blacks, or Jews. They had removed the signs from their parks, but they had not taken them out of their hearts.

So, my father found Uncle Pete. Peter DiSibio was the Republican leader in Inwood, and he was the first stop for anyone with a problem. When a neighbor warned my father not to bring “those fellows from Brooklyn with the peyos” into Woodmere, my father combed my sisters’ hair so that long black strands hung down the sides of their faces, and said, “I am sorry to tell you, but all of my children have peyos. However, they are girls.”

Somehow the yeshiva in the middle of a residential block, diagonally across from a WASP country club, stayed there for eight years. It took a kind gentile politician to ensure that.

I have seen a good many politicians since. So, when Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, whose friendship goes back to the time his father, Robert, was a NYS Assemblyman, arranged seats for me and my kids to attend the president’s visit to Nassau County’s Police Training Academy, I walked in with the composure of a man who has seen the drill. I did not know that I would be treated specially as I milled around the auditorium, until a man I did not recognize shouted to me. He pointed to four chairs two rows in front of the stage, and said, “Rabbi Kamenetzky, you have your names on those seats back there.”

Truth be told, it was a Friday afternoon event, and although it was only 25 minutes from my house, and the Gemara in Brachos tells us to run to see the kings of the nations, I still had some hesitation. Friday events are always concerning. And being in a big room with a president who has had three attempts on his life can also be a bit edgy.

My fears were unfounded. I saw the president, and I learned a few lessons, and I got a column out of it as well.

Wrong number one. I walked in braced for a sea of Red Necks d’Oraisa, rowdy and rude Trumpnickers, but I found myself sitting among quite a number of welcoming gentiles and many Yidden as well. Everybody was friendly and peaceful, and my beard and yarmulka were not only revered but uplifting to them as well.

Wrong number two. I expected a highly tight, austere event, where getting out of your seat would mean shotguns raised at you. Despite the fact that there were about 500 police officers and state troopers in the crowd, it was a very relaxed atmosphere. The barriers were flimsy; there were a few burly fellows near the front of the stage, but otherwise, no one stopped me from going over to the county executive, who was sitting with the FBI director and attorney general and a couple of personalities in the entertainment world of whom I have never heard.

There were speeches after speeches. Congressmen, the inspector general for the Department of Labor, the FBI director, the newly appointed attorney general of the United States, and a host of political candidates. Of course, they were highlighted by the best speaker of them all (in my opinion), the Republican candidate for governor, Bruce Blakeman. They all spoke from the same podium. It seemed simple. A large wooden podium with a lectern on top, draped in black. No logo. No symbol. Nothing about it changed.

The rhetoric was Republican, and the bashing of socialism, crime, and chaos echoed on and on.

But as much as I like Bruce, I and the few thousand people there did not come for that. We came, and we all waited for the main speaker — the president of the United States.

After the speeches ended. We were waiting a good twenty minutes. Music was playing from speakers. No orchestra. No mezamrim. Maybe someone set up an mp3. It didn’t matter. They did not come for the band, the ambience, the skyboxes. Just for one person alone. When would the president come?

Suddenly, two people who must have done it a thousand times came toward the podium in one choreographed motion. They checked it. Pushed against it. Swept it. And then they altered it in a way that distinguished it from the way it looked for the first two hours of the event. They placed the presidential seal on it. And then there was a hush.

And the room changed.

Nobody announced a thing. Not a word was said. A disc went onto a piece of wood, and every person in that hall understood in the same instant that this was real. The president was coming.

My mind flashed back to Shacharis that morning. That morning davening was a bit longer. We waited through Shacharis. Through Hallel. Through leining. Through Mussaf. And then it came. The shofar. The announcement. The King is coming. The King is in the field.

It was a little move up there on the stage in Garden City. But that small move hushed the crowd. No one was allowed to speak behind that seal until the president did. And only after he spoke did he invite others to stand with him behind that seal. As the author of Parsha Parables and having heard King mesholim all my life, my mind went racing.

Oh, the mesholim.

What came before was only an introduction. Now the president himself was coming.

For two hours, important people had spoken. Government officials. Law-enforcement leaders. Candidates. Dignitaries. Each had his moment at the microphone. But suddenly the seal appeared, and everyone understood: what came before was the introduction. Now the president himself was coming.

He walked on to the stage. Nobody asked us to put away our cell phones. There was no sign asking for silence, no gabbai banging on a table, no reminder that we were in the presence of someone important. Nobody needed one.

The president walked into the room, and we knew. We knew where to look. We knew whom to listen to.

And once again I thought of shul. Da lifnei Mi atah omeid. Halevai.

Of course, instead of the band playing “Yomim,” there were raucous chants of USA! USA!

And then total silence. Awe.

The king began. Of course, his flippant humor, sarcasm, and wit were ever-present. Then he got serious. Indeed, he began to speak about values. About police. About open borders and about crime. And then he spoke about something personal.

There was a woman in that room whose son had been murdered. She was broken.

The president mentioned her plight. He told her story, and he called out to her. But the most protected man in the room was surrounded by agents, barriers, and layers of security. She could not simply come up to him. There were protocols.

So the President left the stage. He came down to her. And he consoled her with an embrace.

The man for whom everyone had waited left the stage and descended. And I thought again: Oh, the mesholim. And I will leave it at that.

Da lifnei Mi atah omeid. Those words are not an instruction to be quiet. They are an instruction to know. Because when you really know before Whom you are standing, nobody has to tell you to be quiet. Oh, the mesholim.

We speak of the Ribbono Shel Olam as Melech Malchei HaMelachim. We spend Elul preparing for the coronation of the King. On Rosh Hashanah we tremble as we say HaMelech. There is distance. There is awe.

And yet the same King of all kings tells us something almost impossible to comprehend: Karov Hashem lechol korav. He comes close.

Indeed, Elul itself is described not as the frightened subject somehow penetrating the palace, but as HaMelech basadeh. The King leaves, as it were, the palace. He comes out into the field, to where ordinary people are standing. To people who are imperfect. To people who might never imagine that they could gain entrance to the throne room.

The King comes to them.

The seal was on the podium, but the president can come down from the stage.

And if a little seal placed on a podium can change an entire room because everyone suddenly realizes that the president is about to appear, what should the sound of the shofar do to us?

The seal has been placed on the podium. The King is coming.

Just Saying.

With the passing of Rebbetzin Esther Paler a”h this past week at the age of 99, the last living link to the home of Rav Shmuel Ehrenfeld, the prewar Mattersdorfer Rov, has been lost. For nearly a century, Rebbetzin Paler occupied a front-row seat to Torah greatness. Within the homes of her grandfather, father, husband and sons—all distinguished rabbonim and roshei yeshiva—she witnessed the transmission of an unbroken mesorah across successive generations.

Raised in the world of the most distinguished family of Oberland rabbonus, Rebbetzin Paler married into the world of Litvishe yeshivos and the Brisker derech. She navigated these worlds gracefully, ultimately leaving her own distinctive imprint upon both her home and her husband’s yeshiva_._

Born in Mattersdorf, Austria, in 1927 to Rav Shmuel and Rebbetzin Rochel Ehrenfeld, Rebbetzin Paler was raised in a home permeated by the legacies of her illustrious ancestors, Rav Akiva Eiger and the Chasam Sofer. Her father, Rav Shmuel Ehrenfeld, was the last Mattersdorfer Rov to preside over the kehillah before the Holocaust. He was the heir to successive generations of Sofer and Ehrenfeld rabbonim who led Mattersdorf, beginning with the Chasam Sofer himself. His grandfather and namesake, Rav Shmuel Ehrenfeld, was a grandson of the Chasam Sofer and the mechaber of the seforim Chasan Sofer. The Chasan Sofer assumed the Mattersdorf rabbonus after his uncle, Rav Shimon Sofer, departed to become rov of the kehillah of Kraków.

Mattersdorf was one of the distinguished Sheva Kehillos of western Hungary, situated in the region known today as Burgenland, Austria. These kehillos enjoyed a considerable degree of communal autonomy. They maintained their own rabbonim, botei din, yeshivos, tzedakos and even systems of communal taxation. Unlike the communal structure familiar to us today, in which a single city may contain numerous rabbonim, dayanim and roshei yeshiva, each responsible for a particular congregation or institution, the Mattersdorfer Rov served simultaneously as the city’s rov, av bais din and rosh yeshiva, and was the ultimate authority guiding every dimension of its religious and communal life. Rebbetzin Paler was thus born into a home that represented a veritable malchus of Torah.

At the levayah in Eretz Yisroel, Rebbetzin Paler’s nephew, Rav Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld, the rov of Kiryat Mattersdorf and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mishnas Akiva–Bais Shmuel in Yerushalayim, related a remarkable story surrounding her birth. As the time of her delivery approached, the doctors informed her parents that they did not expect the child to be born alive. Her father, the Mattersdorfer Rov, hurried to the former home of the Chasam Sofer, where a number of the Chasam Sofer’s personal belongings were preserved, and retrieved his shtecken, his walking stick. He rushed back to the hospital and placed it upon his wife, who proceeded to give birth to a healthy child.

The family mesorah is that a child upon whom the Chasam Sofer’s shtecken was placed at birth would merit arichus yomim. That mesorah was strikingly fulfilled in Rebbetzin Paler, who lived to the age of ninety-nine and retained both her physical faculties and her remarkable mental acuity until nearly the end of her life.

In a 2019 interview, Rebbetzin Paler described the Mattersdorf of her early childhood with characteristic simplicity. “It was quiet and peaceful,” she recalled. “It wasn’t easy. But it was a wonderful way of life. My family lived in the building where the Chasan Sofer started out.”

Her recollections of her father were equally vivid. “All I remember was my father learning,” she said. “In the morning, my father was learning. I returned home in the afternoon and he was learning. At suppertime, he was learning. He was always learning.”

That extraordinary devotion to Torah was accompanied by an equally profound devotion to family. When his father, Rav Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld, the Maaneh Simcha, developed Parkinson’s disease, Rav Shmuel personally attended to him. Rebbetzin Paler remembered that her father’s concern was that the time required to care for his father was detracting from his learning. The Belzer Rov reassured him that, in the zechus of the devoted care he was providing his father, he would merit to retain everything he learned.

Following the German Anschluss in March 1938, the Ehrenfeld family, together with the rest of the Jews of Mattersdorf, was forcibly expelled from the city. Rebbetzin Paler was approximately ten or eleven years old at the time. Like many Jews expelled from the smaller communities of Burgenland, the family made its way to Vienna in the hope of obtaining the documents necessary to escape Europe. Relatives in the United States provided the sponsorship required to facilitate their immigration, and the family arrived on American shores in September of that year.

Within approximately two months of their arrival, Rebbetzin Paler watched as her father re-established the Mattersdorf Yeshiva on New York’s Lower East Side under the name Yeshivas Chasan Sofer. The message was unmistakable: They might have been uprooted from the home their family had occupied for generations; they might now find themselves in a strange land, surrounded by a strange language and possessing little money; but Torah remained their lifeblood and harbotzas haTorah their first priority.

Although she never attended a formal Bais Yaakov, the home in which Rebbetzin Paler was raised provided an education of extraordinary depth. Through daily life, she absorbed her parents’ devotion to Torah and mesorah and learned what it meant to build a home around chashivus haTorah.

In her later years, after relocating to Lakewood, she transmitted those lessons to new generations. Seminaries and high schools frequently brought groups of girls to visit her, and she would guide them in building homes founded upon chashivus haTorah. She spoke with the authority and clarity of an experienced Bais Yaakov mechaneches because she had watched those values lived in their original setting.

When the time came for her to marry, Rebbetzin Paler expressed her desire for a European-trained ben Torah of the highest caliber. Rav Yeruchom Gorelick, himself one of the great builders of Torah in postwar America, suggested Rav Binyomin Paler, one of the outstanding names in the yeshiva world.

A native of Brisk, Rav Binyomin had learned for years under the Brisker Rov and was one of his closest talmidim. With the outbreak of the war, he followed his rebbi to Vilna and eventually joined the Mir Yeshiva on its journey across the Soviet Union aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway, reaching Kobe, Japan, and ultimately Shanghai, China. After arriving in America following the war, he continued learning with extraordinary hasmodah in the newly established Yeshivas Bais Hatalmud, alongside other senior talmidim who had survived the war with the Mir in Shanghai.

The sources differ regarding the precise year of Rav Paler’s birth. According to all accounts, however, there was a significant age gap between him and Rebbetzin Paler. She was not an older single who had spent years in shidduchim and was in some way “settling” by marrying someone so much older than herself. Rav Paler was simply what she was seeking. He was the real thing: kulo Torah, with no interest other than learning and teaching, and a product of the finest reaches of the prewar yeshiva world.

Not long after the Palers’ marriage, the Mattersdorfer Rov invited his new son-in-law to deliver the senior shiur at Yeshivas Chasan Sofer. Rav Paler was an immediate success. The bochurim recognized that they were hearing Torah from an authentic bearer of the Brisker mesorah and drank in his every word.

After a number of years, Rav Paler and the bais medrash bochurim from Yeshivas Chasan Sofer established Yeshivas Mekor Chaim in Boro Park. It was from that point onward that Rebbetzin Paler truly assumed the role of eim hayeshiva.

As Rav Paler’s talmidim describe it, virtually every aspect of the yeshiva—with the exception of the rosh yeshiva’s shiurim—bore Rebbetzin Paler’s imprint. She infused chizuk and positivity into the atmosphere of the yeshiva through the encounters that talmidim had with her in the Paler home. A bochur who wished to speak with Rav Paler outside the hours he spent in the yeshiva’s bais medrash would first call the rebbetzin to arrange a time to visit. When he arrived, it was the rebbetzin who opened the door, welcomed him inside and asked how he was doing.

Rav Paler ultimately taught three generations of talmidim. In numerous families, grandfathers, fathers and grandsons all regarded him as their rebbi. Rebbetzin Paler, blessed with exceptional social skills and an intuitive understanding of people, kept track of them all. She would ask a talmid about his father and grandfather, remember developments within his family and attend nearly every family simcha to which she was invited. Her connection to the yeshiva’s families continued until the very end of her life. Only two weeks before her petirah, at the age of 99, she attended the simcha of a talmid.

That attentiveness extended to her own family and to the wider neighborhood. She remained in regular contact with her siblings, nieces and nephews, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, keeping track of where each person was holding and offering precisely the encouragement that he or she needed. If a granddaughter with four children came to visit accompanied by only three of them, Rebbetzin Paler would notice immediately and ask, “Wait, where is number four?” When a great-grandson who had taken a short ten-day trip to Eretz Yisroel called her just a few days before her petirah, she immediately remarked, “Oh, when did you get back from Eretz Yisroel? She kept track of everyone at every stage.

As one close talmid and ben bayis recalled, “Rebbetzin Paler always knew exactly what to say.” When someone in the neighborhood returned home from the hospital, a visit from Rebbetzin Paler—with her warmth and carefully chosen words—would invariably follow. If a family living within a few blocks of her home was celebrating a simcha, she made a point of stopping by to wish them mazel tov, genuinely sharing in the joy of her neighbors and friends.

Although she did not formally solicit funds, Rebbetzin Paler possessed a remarkable ability to cultivate relationships, and a number of those she befriended ultimately became devoted supporters of the yeshiva. The women who came to daven at Mekor Chaim were greeted by the rebbetzin, who ensured that they were comfortable and had everything they needed. She knew each woman by name and had a few warm words for everyone. “While it was Rav Paler who built the yeshiva, it was Rebbetzin Paler who was the glue that turned it into a family,” remarked a longtime mispallel at Mekor Chaim.

Another of Rebbetzin Paler’s defining qualities was her unwavering emunah. As her eldest grandchild, Rav Yitzchok Olshin, related at the levayah, she personified Rashi’s words on the posuk, “Tomim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecha—Walk before Him with wholehearted faith, place your trust in Him, and accept with simplicity whatever befalls you.”

It was with this wholehearted faith that she weathered a heavy measure of loss over the course of her ninety-nine years. As a child, she was forced to leave behind her ancestral home and become a refugee. Later in life, she lost the husband to whom she had been utterly devoted and lived for nearly three decades without him. Then, approximately a decade ago, she lost her eldest son—who was, in many ways, the apple of her eye—when he passed away suddenly at a relatively young age. Yet, she never allowed those losses to define her. A great-grandchild recalled her frequently declaring with characteristic enthusiasm, “You take what you get, and you’re thankful for what you have.”

These were not mere words, but the motto by which she lived. She did not dwell upon what had been taken from her. She remained consistently b’simcha, filled with hakoras hatov for the many brachos Hashem had bestowed upon her.

A number of the maspidim at the levayah noted that Rebbetzin Paler’s Oberland upbringing and her husband’s Brisker mesorah emerged from two ostensibly distinct worlds. Yet, she never allowed that to be a barrier to her devotion to her husband or to the growth of his yeshiva. She recognized the common foundation beneath their differing traditions: absolute devotion to Torah, reverence for mesorah and the conviction that every aspect of life must be organized around harbotzas haTorah.

Indeed, she did more than accommodate Rav Paler’s Brisker world. Drawing upon the strength, dignity and expansive conception of Torah leadership that she had absorbed in the home of the Mattersdorfer Rov, she helped provide the structure within which her husband’s Torah could flourish.

Rebbetzin Paler was predeceased by her husband, Rav Paler, and by their son, Rav Yitzchok Paler. She is survived by her sons, Rav Simcha Bunim Paler and Rav Zechariah Paler, roshei yeshiva of Yeshiva Mekor Chaim; Rebbetzin Devorah Olshin, wife of Rav Shmuel Abba Olshin, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah of Hillside; and Rebbetzin Miriam Horowitz, wife of Rav Shmuel Simcha Horowitz, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Tiferes Moshe; as well as generations of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren who continue the distinguished mesorah of the Ehrenfeld and Paler families.

Yehi zichrah boruch.

There are certain memories of Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, mashgiach of Lakewood, that I often think about, even though it is already more than a quarter of a century since his passing. One memory, of course, is about the way he was metzapeh l’yeshuah, the way he longed for the geulah. He always spoke about “him,” Moshiach, as if he was mamish at the doorstep. The memory of him dancing with every last ounce of strength at the ne’ilas hachag on Shavuos as the tzibbur sang “Achakeh lo bechol yom sheyavo” is something that I just cannot forget. Here was a Yid who was in his high eighties, dancing like a young boy with every last bit of energy, clearly longing for Moshiach.

Another memory that sticks out in my mind about the mashgiach from Chodesh Elul is one that I would like to share and expound on. In the Lakewood Yeshiva and in many of the yeshiva’s branches all over America, the minhag during Elul is that after davening, one perek of Orchos Chaim L’haRosh is said. The chazzan says a sentence and everyone repeats after him. It is said in a mussar niggun that both arouses a person to improve and, in some ways, bemoans the fickleness of the human condition.

Don’t Act When in a Behalah!

One of the lines in the Orchos Chaim L’haRosh is only three words long. The words are “Al tevahel maasecha — Don’t be rash; don’t do things in a behalah.”

The mashgiach, Rav Nosson, would say this in such a mussardige niggun and with such feeling that the words and their message penetrated deeply: “Don’t lose yourself. Don’t just melt and fall apart when faced with a nisayon. Don’t be in a behalah and lose control. Take it slow. Don’t get overwrought. Be patient. Be deliberate. Just slow down and think before you do something you will regret.”

That was the message. That is what he was telling us, and the way he said those words with that niggun implanted itself in our minds and brains even more than the “Kars for Kids” jingle.

I was thinking about Rav Nosson this week because, in the more than twenty-five years since his passing, the behilus, the rashness, the loss of control that is prevalent in the world has gotten exponentially worse. There is no patience in today’s world. Have you ever been in a car with someone in their twenties when Waze stops working? They just melt down. They simply can’t function. This is just a nice “civil” and “kosher” example. In our generation, the generation of the text message, WhatsApp, and other social media, people expect everything to be instant, and when it is not, they often fall into a behalah.

Now, you might think that this writer is some old guy bemoaning how “today’s kids” are so deficient as compared to previous generations.

No and no. That is not the purpose of these words.

Today’s Generation — A Weaker Generation Whose Every Bit of Effort Counts

On the contrary, I recently saw something from Rav Tzadok Hakohein of Lublin that I think shows how today’s generation is, in many ways, much more amazing than many previous generations. He bases it on a posuk in this week’s haftorah.

The haftorah begins with the words of Yeshaya Hanovi, “Roni akarah lo yaladah…ki rabbim bnei shomeima… Sing out, O barren one who has not given birth; break into glad song and be jubilant, you who have not been in travail. For the children of the desolate (Yerushalayim) will outnumber the children of the inhabited, said Hashem.”

In his sefer Pri Tzaddik, Rav Tzadok Hakohein of Lublin quotes the Arizal, who once told his talmid, Rav Chaim Vital, that in our dor yasom, in our orphaned generation (note: this was said 500 years ago!), even a tiny act of avodas Hashem that is done lesheim Shomayim is far more choshuv, far more important to Hashem, than some of the greatest acts of avodas Hashem done in earlier generations. This is the meaning of the words, “Roni akarah — A barren woman sings.”

Our generation is like a barren woman. We are not producing much. It appears that each passing generation is just getting weaker and weaker. Still, even though our generation is like an akarah and “rabbim bnei shomeimah — many are the children of the desolate,” the little bit that we do accomplish is more choshuv to Hashem than the countless “offspring” and beautiful mitzvos done by previous generations. Why? Because in our dor, even a tiny bit takes so much effort. Hashem appreciates our effort. He treasures and values every bit of our effort, and it gives Him tremendous joy.

“I Will Get Sechar the First Time I Serve Hashem While the Yeitzer Hora Has His Grip on Me”

In the sefer Bikkurei Aviv by Rav Yaakov Aryeh of Radzamin, he quotes one of the early Chassidic masters, Rav Zisha of Anapoli, who said, “I do not anticipate getting Olam Haba for the avodas Hashem that I do now, when I have some level of understanding of Who Hashem is. Of course, I must serve Hashem. How would I even think otherwise? What I will, however, get s’char for is the first time I served Hashem when I was still in the dark and the yeitzer hora had a firm grip over me. At that moment, when the yeitzer hroa had a firm grip on me and I still overcame him, I persevered and served Hashem. For that first time, I will be rewarded. Yes, serving Hashem when it is hard, when everything seems dark, that is what Hashem values most.”

That is why, in this generation that is so prone to impulsivity and is often overwrought and anxious about things that in past generations would have been deemed fairly insignificant, every bit of calmness, keeping one’s cool, and not getting sidetracked by the obstacles that the yeitzer hroa puts in our way is so choshuv to Hashem. Even taking on the smallest of kabbalos, something that might seem almost worthless to us, is precious to Hashem.

Remember: Hashem Knows Us! He Created Us!

The lesson for us is clear. Now, especially now, in the month of Elul, when we are thinking about teshuvah, we should never despair and think, “Why would Hashem value the little bit of effort that I put into serving Him if I am deficient in so many other ways?”

As we think about teshuvah, let us realize that Hashem knows us and knows how difficult things are for us, and He values every bit of effort, every little bit of hisgabrus. He knows how behalah, becoming overwhelmed and unable to cope with temptation and with overcoming one’s middos, is so difficult in today’s generation. “Hu yoda yitzreinu” — He knows our yeitzer hroa because He created it!

He knows the gevurah that it takes, particularly in today’s generation. Therefore, even if our mitzvos look like an “akarah” with barely any peiros, we rejoice, because those little, tiny mitzvos and efforts at overcoming the yeitzer hora are most beloved.

By Rabbi Chanan Gordon

I had just landed back in Los Angeles after a recent trip to Florida when I looked at my phone and saw a message from an old friend, Rabbi Shlomo/Steve Baars.

There are messages you read and respond to. There are messages you read and forget. And then there are messages that cause the world around you to suddenly become very quiet. This was one of those messages.

Within a few seconds of listening to the WhatsApp voicemail from Rabbi Baars, I realized that something was terribly wrong. Steve and I have both done a fair amount of stand-up comedy in our day, and the first few seconds of almost all our messages to each other over the years inevitably included a witty comment. There was no humor in this message.

The message informed me that he was in Johns Hopkins Hospital. Doctors had discovered yener machlah in his brain. The prognosis, as he described it, was poor.

I stared at my phone.

Those of us who know Rabbi Baars know a man who has spent decades teaching Jews how to think differently about life—how to see beyond the superficial, how to recognize purpose where others see randomness, and how to discover Hashem behind the curtain of everyday existence.

And now he was being asked to live everything he had spent a lifetime teaching. What shook me almost as much as the diagnosis was the thrust of the rest of his message.

To paraphrase the heart-wrenching message from Steve: The doctors have their prognosis. The doctors have their statistics. The doctors have their scans. But the doctors are not in charge. Hashem is.

That was the message.

While reviewing this week’s parsha, I realized that Steve’s message echoes inside Parshas Ki Seitzei.

The Torah tells us: “Ki seitzei lamilchomah al oyvecha—When you go out to war against your enemies.”

The Torah could have said ki tilochem—when you fight. Instead, it says ki seitzei—when you go out.

So much of life is about how we go out to meet what awaits us. We do not get to choose every battlefield. We do not choose every diagnosis. We do not choose every financial challenge, family crisis, disappointment, betrayal, or frightening phone call. But we do choose Who we believe accompanies us onto the battlefield.

And then come some of the most important words in the posuk: “Unesano Hashem Elokecha b’yodecha—Hashem will deliver the enemy into your hands.”

The Torah is reminding us of something that modern life constantly causes us to forget: Human beings are required to act, but human beings do not control outcomes.

We confuse hishtadlus with control. They are not the same thing. A doctor must practice medicine with every ounce of wisdom Hashem has given him. A patient must seek the finest medical care available. We undergo the scans. We take the medication. We consult the specialists. But after all the appointments, expertise, technology, and statistics, there remains one truth that no MRI machine can photograph, and the life philosophy of my dear chaver, Rabbi Shlomo Baars, personifies it: The Ribbono Shel Olam is still running the world.

Doctors diagnose. Doctors treat. Doctors estimate. But doctors do not write the final chapter. Hashem does.

Here is what I found so extraordinary about Rabbi Baars’ message. It would be understandable for someone receiving such news to suddenly discover emunah. There are no atheists in foxholes, as the saying goes. But there was something deeper here.

A man was effectively being presented with what, according to the natural order of things, sounded frighteningly close to a death sentence, and rather than allowing the prognosis to define reality, he was reminding others that the prognosis was not reality.

The doctors knew the medicine. He knew the Doctor. Not as a substitute for medicine, but as the ultimate Source behind it.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that most of us need a crisis before we understand this. We wake up tomorrow morning assuming that there will be another morning after it. We walk downstairs assuming that our legs will carry us. We call our children assuming that  they will answer. We complain about our spouse, our job, traffic, delayed flights, an annoying WhatsApp message, and the person who took too long in front of us at Starbucks.

Why?

Because somewhere along the way, we started treating miracles as entitlements. The first time a baby takes a step, everyone cheers. By the time that child is forty, nobody applauds when he walks across the room.

What changed?

Nothing about the miracle changed. We simply became accustomed to it. That may be one of the most dangerous spiritual diseases of all: becoming accustomed to our blessings.

We call it “normal.” There is nothing normal about opening your eyes in the morning. There is nothing normal about your heart beating more than 100,000 times every day without you issuing a single instruction. There is nothing normal about hugging a child. There is nothing normal about hearing someone you love laugh. There is nothing normal about another Shabbos table.

These things are not ordinary. They are gifts that became familiar. And familiarity has an astonishing ability to turn gifts into expectations. This is why a person can spend years complaining about his life—until one doctor’s appointment suddenly makes yesterday’s “problems” look like blessings.

Chazal teach us that the Torah’s language of war can also be understood as the ongoing battle within the human being. Perhaps one of the yeitzer hora’s greatest victories is not convincing us that Hashem does not exist. It is convincing us to live as though we have unlimited time.

Tomorrow I’ll call him. Tomorrow I’ll apologize. Tomorrow I’ll start learning. Tomorrow I’ll spend more time with my children. Tomorrow I’ll stop worrying about what everyone thinks. Tomorrow I’ll start appreciating my spouse. Tomorrow I’ll start living.

And then, one day, Hashem reminds us that tomorrow was never part of the contract.

Ki Seitzei teaches us to go out into the battle of life knowing from the outset that the outcome belongs to Hashem. Not only when the oncologist walks into the room. Not only when the bank account is empty. Not only when the airplane hits turbulence. Not only when our illusion of control has been shattered. Every day.

That is the challenge: to have the clarity of the hospital room while sitting comfortably in our living room. To have the gratitude of the survivor before we become the survivor. To say Modeh Ani tomorrow morning and stop for three seconds to contemplate what we are saying: Thank You for giving me back my life.

Rabbi Baars’ message was a wake-up call for me. Not because I needed to contemplate his mortality, but because I needed to contemplate my own life—the kind of questions we all should contemplate in the month of Elul.

Am I using the days Hashem gives me? Am I telling the people I love that I love them? Am I carrying resentments that suddenly would look embarrassingly insignificant if I knew I had six months left? Am I postponing things that matter while obsessing over things that don’t? Am I living according to what Hashem wants from me—or according to what will impress people who are themselves busy trying to impress somebody else?

We spend an astonishing amount of our lives preparing to live. When the business succeeds. When the kids get married. When I retire. When the problem gets resolved. When life settles down… Then I’ll be happy. Then I’ll have time. Then I’ll live.

But life is not waiting on the other side of our problems. This is life. This Thursday. This conversation. This Shabbos. This hug. This breath.

The great lesson Rabbi Baars reminded me of from his hospital room is not that we should live frightened because life is fragile. Quite the opposite. We should live awake because life is precious. There is an enormous difference. Fear says, “I could lose everything.” Emunah says, “Look at everything Hashem has given me today.”

Perhaps that is how a Jew walks onto every battlefield—ki seitzei lamilchomah.

We go out. We make our hishtadlus. We fight like everything depends upon us while knowing in our hearts that nothing ultimately depends upon us.

“Unesano Hashem Elokecha b’yodecha.” The outcome belongs to Him.

Rabbi Shlomo Baars does not know what tomorrow will bring. Neither do I. Neither do you. The difference is that sometimes a hospital room removes the illusion that we ever did.

May R’ Shlomo Asher ben Adina have a speedy refuah sheleimah b’soch she’ar cholei Yisroel and may the rest of us not require a frightening diagnosis to learn the lesson he had the clarity and courage to teach from his hospital bed:

The doctors are not in charge. The statistics are not in charge. We are not in charge. There is One Who is.

Once we truly understand that, we can stop being terrified of life and finally start appreciating every precious day of it.

Rabbi Chanan (Antony) Gordon can be reached at [email protected].

Faced with a Senate resolution holding him in contempt and a potential DOJ prosecution for refusing to answer questions at a July Senate hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci took another major hit this past week as explosive revelations of incriminating text messages from his cell phone were released to the public.

The texts lift the curtain on a masquerade that played out in the early months of the vaccine rollout, with Fauci professing public certainty about the safety of Covid vaccines for pregnant women, while privately harboring doubts.

A digital copy of the contents of his Covid-era government phone had been found in HHS archives, and was turned over to Senate Permanent Investigations (SPI) Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis. following the July 29 Senate hearing.

Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, released a cluster of these messages dating back to late January 2021. This was just weeks after the first Covid vaccines became available to the public.

The text-release is part of Sen. Paul’s long-running effort to hold Fauci accountable for funding dangerous gain-of-function research in a Chinese lab, as the NIH admitted in 2023, and to scrutinize his pandemic-era policies of lockdowns, masking, social distancing and vaccine mandates.

“While I’ve been conducting oversight for years, now that we have Fauci’s government-issued phone, my investigation is just beginning,” Sen. Johnson told news correspondents.

Abandoning the ‘Golden Rule’       

Among the thousands of phone texts released were messages from Fauci to top health officials– then-Surgeon General Murthy and then-CDC Director Walensky—warning about Covid vaccination possibly causing miscarriages in pregnant women.

To the public he claimed the exact opposite, insisting that clinical studies regarding expecting women who had been vaccinated showed no “safety signal”—medical code for “danger signs.”

In line with long-standing medical practice to never expose an expectant mother to needless medication or experimental products, Pfizer’s and Moderna’s clinical trials had initially excluded pregnant women. Consequently, no reliable safety data on vaccine effects on pregnancy existed at this time.

[Pfizer would later allow female health-workers who were pregnant to join a clinical trial testing the vaccine’s safety. See Sidebar below for the shocking results of this study.]

This element of medical wisdom governing expecting was soon abandoned, with Fauci targeting pregnant women with a marketing campaign that touted the vaccines’ safety, while the medical establishment dutifully marched along in lock-step.

“It is totally unprecedented in the history of medicine to violate “the golden rule” of pregnancy – all doctors know you don’t ever use new vaccines or new drugs, experimental items – even nutraceuticals – in pregnancy,” explained noted OB/GYN Dr. James Thorpe in his testimony to a Senate subcommittee hearing. “You don’t smoke when pregnant, you don’t use alcohol. Everyone knows that.”

Yet Fauci dug in his heels. “There have been no red flags of anything that anyone would be worried about,” Fauci told CBS News on Feb. 25, 2021, on the subject of whether the Covid vaccine was safe to take during pregnancy.

He repeated this assertion in a public discussion with Howard Bauchner, the editor in chief of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

With the scarcity of data on the vaccine’s safety in pregnancy, Fauci was essentially asking people to believe that the absence of negative data qualified as evidence of safety.

The former NIAID director appeared nightly on television and news shows, urging universal vaccination, and assuring the public that in a Covid vaccine study that included 10,000 pregnant women, there were “no indications whatsoever” of any risks to pregnant women.

The CDC parroted these claims on its website, urging all women, including those in any stage of pregnancy, to get the shot.

‘Miscarriage in the First Trimester’

At the same time**,** Fauci was privately expressing concerns to his colleagues about fever and “cytokines storm (an autoimmune disorder in which a person’s immune system attacks the body’s organs), after the 2nd dose” of Covid vaccines.

These symptoms could “theoretically result in miscarriage in the 1st trimester,” he wrote, following a disturbing text from Dr. John Mascola, the then-Director of the Vaccine Research Center at NIAID.

“I am corrected on pregnancy studies. Initial studies [indicate] avoiding vaccination in first trimester due to possible fever and higher rates of miscarriage in first trimester,” Mascola had written.

This information apparently galvanized Fauci. A short while later, he texted his colleagues: “I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of.” He went on to detail the reactions to vaccination that could result in miscarriage in the first trimester.

He also texted the officials about another issue of concern to him; anxiety coming from female health-care workers about injecting a “genetic” vaccine very early in pregnancy. He labeled the fear that mRNA could “get into your genes” and affect an early developing fetus a “misperception.”

Murthy then chimed in, saying he had also been hearing concerns about mRNA causing mutations in the developing fetus. The next day these two public health gurus discussed a new WHO announcement advising against Moderna’s vaccine for pregnant women due to lack of data.

What became of all these apprehensions and uncertainties about the vaccine then in the process of being rolled out? They disappeared, but not due to ‘The Science”’ resolving them.

According to a text from Fauci; “When data are lacking, potential risks must be weighed against benefits.” He claimed —without offering evidence— that Covid presented a worse risk for pregnancy than vaccines, and went about beefing up his public statements encouraging pregnant women to get vaccinated.

There was no evidence then, and none now, to support this sweeping assertion, argued current National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.

“For pregnant women, where we don’t know all the risks and we don’t have the full picture, it didn’t make any sense to me to recommend and certainly not to mandate the vaccine,” Bhattacharya said in a NewsNation appearance.

In addition, experts have cited studies that make the case that pregnancy itself protects against fatality from Covid illness. This theory is examined in a study by the American College of Physicians, referenced on the NIH’s National Library of Medicine website.

Sen. Paul characterized the newly released texts as “an example of Fauci saying one thing in public and something completely different in private.”

“He was willing to put women and their unborn babies at risk, rather than admit he was wrong about the vaccines he attempted to ‘guilt’ Americans into taking,” Sen. Paul added.

Former FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock Sounded the Alarm

In addition to the texts from Mascola, Senators Johnson and Paul divulged an important email from Janet Woodcock, former FDA Commissioner, to Fauci and former NIH Director Francis Collins about adverse Covid-19 events.

Woodcock noted in her May 27, 2021 email to Fauci that she had received alarming information from healthcare professionals, including ones she knew personally, about adverse effects from the vaccine. She also warned that patients complaining of vaccine injury said nobody was taking their concerns seriously.

“…These problems are not the sort that a system like VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System] would be able to detect,” she said. She called for a study of [vaccine-injured] individuals, warning that her “experience is that if you let a problem fester, it will come back to bite you later and you are not prepared.”

Fauci forwarded her missive to Collins, writing, “We cannot ignore her. We should probably bring in CDC and see what Rochelle [Walensky] thinks.”

It is unlikely that any of these health officials pursued the wrenching issue of the vaccine-injured whose claims the medical establishment refused to take seriously.

What is known for certain is that when Sen. Johnson held a hearing in Oct 2022 called “The Voice of the Vaccine-Injured,” where parents told heart-wrenching accounts of their children who had suffered terrible side effects, including death, from Covid vaccination, Democratic lawmakers boycotted the hearing and their media allies refused to report on it.

Three State Attorneys General Subpoena Anthony Fauci

A Senate committee led by Sen. Rand Paul voted last Thursday to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress. The committee’s report, including a criminal referral, is now expected to head to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

In the meantime, a coalition of three Republican attorneys general subpoenaed Anthony Fauci as part of a joint probe into the former health official’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier joined forces with West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in issuing the investigative subpoena into Fauci, reported The Hill.

Uthmeier called the latest text disclosures “unbelievable.” “Pregnant women were told it was safe! How many women lost babies due to Dr. Fauci’s lies?” the attorney general wrote on social media.

“The probe will center on awards, professional opportunities, financial incentives, grants and Covid-19 guidance Fauci either received or provided that impacted citizens and businesses in the Sunshine State,” according to a release from Uthmeier’s office.

Uthmeier said the doctor could have broken Florida law if he “personally profited” off of the guidance he issued. “Fauci’s diary focused more on self-promotion than the legitimate safety concerns from the mRNA vaccines,” the Florida attorney general added in the release.

“While Fauci was pushing for book deals, awards, and amassing fortune and fame, Floridians were being deceived and harmed by his misrepresentations.”

The subpoena orders Fauci to produce documents from Jan. 3, 2020 through the present by the end of the month, the Hill article said. The list includes records related to what Fauci knew about the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, along with documents linked to the former NIAID director’s pursuit of book deals, awards and other financial opportunities while serving in government.

“We issued a formal subpoena to Dr. Fauci under Florida state law,” Uthmeier said in a Fox News appearance. “We’re really focused on his self-dealing.”

Uthmeier alleged Fauci engaged in conduct that allowed him to personally benefit from his promotion of Covid-19 policies, conduct he said that might violate Florida laws involving deceptive trade practices and fraud.

He noted that Fauci’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment “shows me he’s got something to hide. When you get a presidential blanket pardon, that should provide immunity where you can talk.”

***

“New” Discoveries were Known Five Years Ago

Although it comes as a shock to many people that Fauci harbored concerns about Covid vaccines causing pregnancy complications, the reality of these adverse effects should not be surprising.

The facts were hiding in plain sight in Pfizer’s own trove of declassified documents, released to the public by court order in Nov. 2021. Among the documents is an explosive study called “A Cumulative Analysis of Post-authorization Adverse Event Reports.”

The study tracked serious side effects from Covid vaccines on various population cohorts, including pregnant women and babies.

In the five years since these documents were released, major news outlets have ignored them, refusing to enlighten Americans about the vital information they contain. Yated has stood out as one of the only publications in the Jewish world to cover this story.

As reported in Yated in December 2021, the above-mentioned study reveals shocking information that the public should have been informed about. Within a 3-month period following the rollout of the vaccine, Pfizer had received reports of more than 150,000 “adverse events” –negative side effects, some very serious—mostly concerning women.

Included in the data is “Table 6” in the section on pregnant and nursing mothers who received the shots in the first few months of the rollout. Table 6 issues a caveat: Out of 270 pregnancies that were exposed to the vaccine in the study, the outcome of only 32 were known by the study’s cut-off point.

Of these 32 pregnancies, there were a devastating combined 28 miscarriages and stillbirths. The report is mysteriously silent about the fate of the remaining 238 pregnancies, prompting speculation about their outcomes and why they were not documented—or were perhaps concealed.

Among other reported injuries following vaccination, 26,000 related to nervous system disorders; 20,000 were about muscle-skeletal and connective tissue disorders; 14,000 were about gastrointestinal disorders; 8,000 respiratory disorders; and more than 2000 reported cardiac disorders.

Pfizer’s Own Documents Reveal the Truth

Dr. James Thorp, Board Certified Ob/Gyn, fetal specialist and author of Covid-19 Vaccinations and Pregnancy Outcomes, testified before a Senate Committee on Homeland Security hearing in 2022 on the shocking disclosures in another major Pfizer study, “Phase 2/3 Randomized, Placebo-controlled Trial in Pregnant Women.”

“What we’re seeing from this study is catastrophic,” Thorp told the senators. “A whole array of serious newborn outcomes among those whose mothers received the `Covid-19 vaccine.

The findings, released in July 2023, included “a 100% increase in low Apgar scores (indicating depressed newborns); an 80% increase in neonatal jaundice; a 70% increase in congenital malformations and a 220% increase in atrial septal defects (a heart condition characterized by a “hole” in the heart).”

In addition, the findings included a substantial increase in fetal growth restriction; and a 310% increase in congenital anomalies with developmental delays at 6 months of age.

Dr. Thorp explained the process of “trans-placental transfer” through which vaccine components “effectively vaccinate not only the mother but their unborn and newborn children as well.”

“The lipid nanoparticles carrying the mRNA breach every G-d-made barrier – the blood brain-barrier in the mom, the blood-brain barrier in the fetus, the maternal placenta, the fetal blood barrier,” Thorp said.

“You inject that into the arm. And I know you were told that it stays in the arm; but, within hours, it’s distributed to every single cell in the body, often concentrating in the ovaries.”

“Pregnant women were targeted because they are among the most vulnerable patients,” the fetal specialist said in his Senate testimony. “If they could be convinced that the vaccination was safe and effective, it would be fair to assume it was safe and effective for everyone.”

“How many women would have agreed to receive a Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy if their OB/GYNs had fully informed them of so many bad outcomes from Pfizer’s own Phase 2/3 clinical trial?” he questioned.

“One cannot forget the infamous statement made by the editor-in-chief of the respected New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Dr. Eric Rubin, on October 26, 2021,” he added. “As a member of the FDA’s Vaccines Advisory Committee, Rubin was discussing whether to authorize Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11.

What he said essentially is that we need to use the children [as well as other vulnerable groups] as guinea pigs.

“’We’re never going to learn about how safe the vaccine is unless we start giving it,’” Rubin asserted. ‘That’s just the way it goes.’”

My daughter and I were recently discussing a book we were both reading. Though the beginning was admittedly a bit lackluster, I found as I read on that the story had begun to grip me. My daughter, still plowing her way through the early chapters, had to take it on faith that the story was worth pursuing. When, she wanted to know, would she actually start enjoying the book? I had no answer. All I knew was that, at some point, I’d come to care about the characters and enjoy the plot.

Which got me thinking about all the different kinds of stories that life holds, and how we sometimes need a little time, or a lot of time, to reach that sweet spot when it all starts coming together. The spot I like to call the tipping point.

Let’s take a trivial example. Say you’ve been raising, i.e. working to civilize, your child. One of your goals is to teach him basic table manners. For what feels like an endless string of breakfasts, lunches and suppers you remind him to eat with his mouth closed, use a fork instead of his fingers and apply a napkin in place of his sleeve. It feels as though your admonitions go in one ear and straight out the other…

…Until, one day, you suddenly realize that it’s been a while since the last time you had to say anything. Your uncivilized child has acquired the rudiments of table manners. Somewhere along the way, in the midst of all the hectic busy-ness of your time together, he’s mastered a new skill that will stay with him forever.

Sweet Spot

We can extrapolate from this relatively minor example to any number of life situations.

For instance, moving to a new place can be extremely discombobulating at the start. Everything and everyone is unfamiliar, which slows down your natural social responses and leaves you feeling hesitant. Every place has its own culture and its own way of doing things. For a time, maybe even a long time, as you learn the ropes, you continue to feel like a stranger in a strange land.

And then, one fine day, you realize that you’ve somehow crossed the hurdle and reached the sweet spot. Your status as a solitary, befuddled newcomer has gradually morphed into a new status as one who belongs. You know your way around now. There are people you recognize and say hello to, and others who you can call your friend. Your days of walking the tightrope of acclimatization are over. You’re safely past the tipping point.

When trying to acquire any new skill, you’re a struggling beginner until, suddenly, you’re not. Whether it’s learning how to drive, how to knit a sweater, or how to cook up a four-course gourmet meal, you start out in one place and end up in another.

At first, every step calls for intense concentration. Mistakes are made and unmade. Lessons are learned and painstakingly relearned. Then, somewhere along the way, the struggle disappears. Discomfort has turned to comfort. Astonishingly, what was once so unfamiliar has become second nature. You’ve arrived.

Getting to Know You

Forming a meaningful relationship with another person is a process that follows the same trajectory.

We set out as complete strangers, poised at the starting line of that mysterious proceeding known as “getting acquainted.” It doesn’t matter if the other person is a new co-worker, a potential friend, or the person you just stood under the chuppah with. The process is the same, with the only differences being the details and the degree of desired closeness involved.

At the beginning, every move is carefully thought out of fear of making a mistake. You’re not only unfamiliar with the other player; you may not even be that familiar with the game. In your eagerness to get where you want to be, there’s a tendency to overthink things. You second-guess yourself. Consciously or unconsciously, you gauge the other’s reactions and try to learn what pleases and displeases them. It’s an intriguing game, though also one which can be slightly nerve-wracking.

And then, sometimes without being able to put your finger on the exact time or place when the transition happened… you find that you’re there. You’ve climbed the hill of your aspirations and crested some invisible peak that has you coasting happily down the other side. The tipping point, instead of being a longed-for goal, is already behind you.

Sometimes this realization takes us by surprise. Other times, you know exactly where and when the change in the relationship took place. A special moment together, something shared, a conversation to bring the two of you to the next level.

That magical sweet spot that makes you forget you were ever strangers to one another.

Learning Curve

A person’s learning curve is the rate at which he or she picks up and assimilates new information. As any teacher knows, every student has his or her own curve. Some grasp new material at lightning speed while others require many repetitions. Some pupils thrive on a direct lecture while others do best when material is presented in different and creative ways.

Whatever the learning curve of the student in question, the teacher knows that a certain amount of patience is required in teaching them. Each at their own pace, they’ll take in the information and the messages she’s trying to impart. Each in accordance with their unique personality, they’ll absorb that information and those messages in a meaningful way.

There’s no better feeling than seeing the light bulb of comprehension illuminate a child’s face. For some, that precious moment comes almost immediately. For others, the process can take a comparatively long time. But whenever it happens, the teacher knows that all her efforts have been worthwhile. An internal tipping point has been reached and, as a result, the child’s understanding of the world is subtly different from what it was before.

We are all our own teachers. When we undertake to master a difficult field or work on eradicating a negative middah, the process may seem arduous at first. Even hopeless. As attempt after attempt to reach your goal fails, it’s tempting to lose heart. To settle for a state of ignorance or imperfection instead of continuing to strive.

If you persist like a devoted classroom teacher, you’ll one day stand in the shoes of that frustrated pupil who thought she’d never get it. Suddenly, what was so difficult to learn has become easier. All at once, that middah you thought you’d never get the best of has retreated. You’re not feeling nearly as angry or jealous or impatient as you once were. As a student, you’re happy. As your own teacher, you’re overjoyed.

While you may not yet have reached your ultimate goal, you’ve reached a goal: the sweet spot where the struggle finally seems winnable.

The tipping point where the worst is behind you, and golden victory just within your reach.

When American and Israeli warplanes struck across Iran on February 28, 2026, Trump administration officials privately predicted the fighting would be over within six weeks. Nearly six months later, that timeline now looks ridiculously unrealistic. A 60-day ceasefire with Iran that was to begin in mid-June with the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial shipping traffic was broken by Iran before the ink on the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) had enough time to fully dry, while the strait, the maritime chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas had been flowing, remained closed creating a global energy crisis.

As a result, Iran’s disputed control over the strait has now replaced its nuclear weapons program as the most immediate point of contention in a conflict that has quietly evolved from a battle between each side’s military capabilities into a test of each side’s endurance and will to outlast the other.

This is no longer a war being fought primarily with ballistic missiles, drones, and airstrikes. It has now become a war of attrition, fought with economic sanctions, naval blockades, proxy skirmishes, rumors about the negotiations of peace deals through third parties that never seem to materialize, and mind games being played by both governments, each one betting that the other will crack first.

Trump’s Strategic Bet: Squeeze Iran’s Economy Until It Breaks

President Trump has, for now, stepped back from threats to order fresh strikes by the warplanes and ships of the U.S. Central Command on Iranian territory. In their place, his administration has doubled down on its application of the tools of economic warfare against Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has to implement additional sanctions on Iran’s Islamic regime harsher than any imposed before, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that the U.S. Navy is prepared to sustain its current blockade of Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf for as long as it takes to force Iran to meet Trump’s demands.

Trump is now apparently willing to pay the political price for this economic war of attrition against Iran, even if it means that the Republican Party will lose its majority control of one or both houses of Congress in November’s midterm election. He made that clear last week when he told the American people that he now expects them to continue to absorb the cost of higher gasoline prices — now around $4 a gallon, as a price that they must be willing to pay to deny Iran the possibility of obtaining a nuclear weapon, and framed that economic pain as a necessary patriotic sacrifice rather than a result the failure of his war policy against Iran.

The logic behind Trump’s strategic shift is straightforward. Rather than risk the lives of more American servicemen or kindling a wider regional war through the renewed bombing of the remaining targets on the ground in Iran, Trump has switched to a new strategy. He is now determined to continue choking off Iran’s flow of oil export revenue, forcing it to further deplete its cash reserves and closing its remaining trade routes until the suppressed unrest still bubbling beneath the surface of Iranian society bursts out once again. He hopes that this will be able to do what more U.S. and Israeli airstrikes could not: break the spirit and grim determination of Iran’s new hardline leaders to withstand the current U.S. military and economic siege for as long as it takes.

Trump Waiting for Iran’s Society to Crack Once Again Under Pressure

Iranian society has already cracked once under pressure. Starting at the end of last December, street demonstrations in cities across Iran continued to grow during the first week in January. They were driven by the despair of Iran’s citizens over their country’s economic free-fall, with no end in sight, and their growing anger at the Islamic regime’s repression of all public expressions of criticism or dissent.

This erupted into mostly peaceful street protests, to which the regime reacted with an unprecedented lethal military crackdown. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, personally ordered his Supreme National Security Council to “crush using any means necessary” anyone involved in the demonstration with extreme violence and no mercy.

It began on January 8 with a government-imposed, total internet and international telephone communications blackout, accompanied by the deployment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops alongside tens of thousands of mobilized members of the IRGC-controlled Basij civilian militia. These armed thugs opened fire from rooftops and public buildings into crowds of demonstrators using rifles, shotguns, heavy machine guns, and live ammunition. Over the next two days, while the rest of the world was unable to see what was going on inside Iran, it has been estimated, based upon information from Iranian health ministry officials, by various independent sources, human rights organizations and Iranian opposition groups in exile that as many as 36,500 unarmed Iranian civilian protesters were murdered in the streets by agents of their own government following the orders of the regime’s top officials. Iranian security forces also raided hospitals across the country to kill or arrest Iranian civilians who were recovering from the injuries that they suffered at the hands of regime thugs during the street demonstrations.

During the weeks that followed the street protests, as many as 50,000 more protesters were arrested and held in prisons indefinitely. In addition to ordinary citizens and neighborhood demonstrators, they included university students and teachers, children and minors as young as 13, medical professionals and doctors who treated wounded protesters, as well as defense lawyers and journalists. Thousands of them have been prosecuted in Iran’s Revolutionary Courts without being given access to independent legal counsel. Many have received lengthy prison sentences, and according to Amnesty International, at least 39 people have been executed based upon their coerced confessions to capital crimes.

The Iranian Regime Change That Never Came

Because of this unrest, both President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu believed that the deadly airstrikes that targeted and killed dozens of Iran’s top leaders on February 28, the opening day of the war, would lead to a popular uprising supported by millions of Iranian civilians that would overthrow and replace the Islamic regime with one that would agree to President Trump’s terms. Chief among these demands would be the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, followed by strict limitations placed upon its ballistic missile program and an end to its support of its terrorist proxy groups across the region, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

U.S. and Israeli officials appeared to believe that the decapitation of Iran’s political and military leadership on the first day of the war, followed by five weeks of intensive air strikes that wiped out most of Iran’s military capacity, would leave the regime leaderless and in confusion, while reigniting the street protests that had been suppressed in January. Taken altogether, Trump and Netanyahu were hoping for, and half expecting to see, a popular nationwide uprising across Iran that the remnants of the Islamic regime would not be able to contain.

However, such an uprising did not take place, in part because the Islamic regime had, beginning in 2022, carefully prepared detailed plans to deal with such a contingency under the leadership of Ari Lanjani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. The plans called for the violent suppression of any popular revolt by Iranian citizens in response to an external attack. The Iranian regime’s plans were reportedly modeled after the brutal tactics used by the government of Communist China to carry out the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy Chinese demonstrators.

Trump Learned Hard Lessons From the Failure of the MOU

President Trump has apparently learned the appropriate lessons from the quick collapse of the Memorandum of Understanding that he signed in June with the Iranian regime. Its goal was to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and relieve the pressure on global energy markets and American consumers due to the elevated prices for crude oil and gasoline at the pump because of Iran’s largely successful effort to interrupt the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf.

The rise of gasoline prices across the United States to an average of about $4.00 a gallon has become a serious political liability for Trump and Republican candidates running for seats in the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections on November 3.

Iran leaders claim that they have effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to crude oil tankers trying to transport oil to clients around the world from other Persian Gulf producers, and that they intend to maintain permanent control over the strait, which has long been considered to be international waters through which ships of all nations are legally entitled to free passage, unmolested.

Trump’s Energy Secretary Insists That More Oil Is Getting Through the Strait

However, the Trump administration’s Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, insisted in public statements last week that the strait is far more open to passage by oil tankers carrying crude oil from other Persian Gulf producers than the elevated current prices on global oil markets of around $80 a barrel would indicate.

Wright claimed that U.S. Navy-escorted tankers pushed Gulf oil exports through the strait to above 20 million barrels on August 8 — up to four times larger than the estimates of 5-7 million barrels per day reported by independent global shipping tracking firms like Kpler. In addition, some of the millions of barrels a day of crude oil from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that is no longer passing through the Strait of Hormuz is now flowing through overland pipelines to ports on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman to reach global markets. In addition, other oil-producing nations around the world, including the United States, are boosting their rate of oil production as fast as they can to ease the global shortage.

On Monday, President Trump told White House reporters that the U.S. has total control over the strait and that “we’re taking out millions of barrels of oil a week. The strait is open, and the oil prices are coming down, and they will continue to come down unless we decide to do something more drastic [militarily against Iran] than what we’ve been doing,” he added. But unfortunately for American consumers, Trump’s latest claim that the flow of oil through the strait has been restored has not been accepted by global oil markets, which is why the current global market price for crude oil remains above $80 a barrel, compared to roughly $60 a barrel before the U.S-Iran war started.

On Monday, Secretary Wright insisted that the average daily volume of oil moving through the strait in recent days is actually around 9 million barrels a day, and that the discrepancy between his estimate and those reported by firms like Kpler, is because many of the U.S. Navy-escorted oil tankers travelling through the strait have turned off their electronic tracking signals and are sailing through little-used shipping lanes to evade detection and attack by elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Wright told Fox News that more oil is passing through the Strait of Hormuz than the commercial data trackers realize, and that only the Trump administration has an accurate count of oil tankers leaving the region because “ours aren’t estimates; we have the actual data.” In a post on his X social media account, Wright further explained that “Many private businesses undercount the number of ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz due to ships moving covertly through the waterway.”

Increases in Oil Prices Filter Through the Entire Global Economy

The difference between these estimates is important because the price of crude oil on the global market is set based upon the total volume of oil that is available on any given day. Daily changes in the price of crude oil are a major factor in setting the price for all forms of energy used around the world. That includes the cost of electricity produced by the burning of fossil fuels, oil-fired home heating systems, the transportation of groceries and other consumer goods by fossil fuel-burning trucks, ships, trains, and planes, and many other segments of the economy.

As a result, the more crude that is moving through the Strait of Hormuz on any given day, the more affordable the price of energy is everywhere and for everyone, including tens of millions of Americans who will be voting in November. They are now struggling to pay the cost of gas at the pump for their cars because it is now roughly a dollar per gallon (or about 30%) higher than it was when Trump took office last year, mostly because of the restrictions now being imposed by both sides on tanker traffic passing through the Strait.

Other Factors Driving the Current Global Energy Shortage

Other factors contributed to the current historically high prices for all kinds of fossil fuels. One of them was the Biden administration’s green energy policies and its open war against American fossil fuel producers. It adopted policies that deliberately inhibited the growth of domestic fossil fuel production. It also forced the closure of many fossil fuel-powered power plants and attempted to replace them with less reliable and more expensive solar and wind energy.

Furthermore, the Biden administration’s war against the domestic fossil fuel industry, and the sanctions it imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, led to a political backlash from American consumers against the sharply increased cost of gas at the pump. In reaction, President Biden then decided to artificially reduce gas prices by holding an emergency sale of 180 million barrels of crude oil to be taken from this country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

As a result, when the Trump administration was faced with a real shortage in global oil supplies due to Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, the amount of oil left in storage at the SPR, less than half of its total capacity, was deemed to be insufficient to replace Persian Gulf oil if the strait were to remain closed for an extended period of time.

Yet another unexpected global development which has contributed to the recent sharp increases in the prices of diesel oil and jet fuel has been the success of Ukraine’s recent campaign to use long-range drones to attack Russia’s main oil refineries. This has further reduced global supplies of those fuels and driven up their price, which is now being passed on in higher airline ticket prices and the increased cost of shipping all kinds of goods by truck.

All of these cost increases impacting American consumers have created a new political issue, the so-called “crisis of affordability.” It is an issue that Democrat candidates, starting with New York City’s progressive mayor, Zohran Mamdani, have been able to use effectively against Trump-supporting Republican candidates in recent elections across the country as well as in the upcoming campaign for the midterm elections in November.

Before the U.S. war with Iran started on February 28, an average of more than 130 ships a day were able to cross the strait unmolested, transporting a wide variety of goods, including fertilizer, aluminum, helium, liquefied natural gas, as well as about 20 million barrels-a-day of crude oil. But last week, according to the tracking data from Kpler, a total of only 95 ships were able to transit the strait. In addition, the gap between Trump’s claim that the U.S. Navy has restored much of the normal flow of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz and the fact that the price of gas at the pump is still elevated raises the still unanswered question of which side’s estimate is more accurate. It has also begun to damage Trump’s credibility, even in the eyes of some of his MAGA supporters.

More Oil Producers Planning to Bypass the Strait of Hormuz

Regardless of the outcome of the current dispute between Iran and the United States over who is in control of the Strait of Hormuz, the extended disruption in the flow of crude oil from the Persian Gulf has already resulted in the start of far-reaching, long-term changes in the global oil supply. With the closure of their normal oil shipment routes through the Strait of Hormuz, some of the Persian Gulf’s other main oil producers have begun diverting millions of barrels of the crude oil they produce daily into existing overland pipelines that lead to seaports that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, including Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline leading to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, and another overland oil pipeline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leading to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. Other Middle East nations, including Israel, are also now making plans to build new pipelines to provide alternatives for transporting oil across the region, which could eventually eliminate altogether the need to get Iran to permit the Strait of Hormuz to reopen to unrestricted oil tanker traffic.

But that permanent solution to the current stalemate between Trump and Iran’s leaders is still years away. In the meantime, both sides in the conflict are now playing a waiting game. The Iranians are apparently counting on the growing domestic political pressure on Trump to reopen the strait to reduce gas prices and force him to give in to their demands before the upcoming midterm elections. Meanwhile, after having first considered and then rejected the option of launching another wave of American military airstrikes on Iran’s most crucial remaining economic and infrastructure targets, Trump has apparently decided to step up the pressure on Iran’s failing economy with increased sanctions while maintaining the existing U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports.

Many believe that this course of action is likely to be more effective at breaking the current stalemate and undermining the Islamic regime than Trump carrying out his many threats to resume U.S. military attacks on Iran. That is because Iran’s current leaders appear to be ready to withstand any amount of additional damage those attacks would inflict, because the welfare of Iran’s people is apparently of little or no concern to them.

Trump’s Latest Threats to Take Over the Strait of Hormuz Permanently

Meanwhile, in his latest public statements about the future of the conflict, Trump has mused, apparently half-jokingly, about declaring the Strait of Hormuz to be U.S. territory. More seriously, President Trump has threatened to bomb Oman, a longtime American ally in the region, because Oman’s leaders had been negotiating a deal with Iran’s leaders to share the economic benefits from their control over both sides of the strait.

That threat, which Trump delivered last week during a Fox News phone interview, marks the second time this year Trump has turned on Oman’s leaders, after accusing them in May of quietly discussing toll arrangements for the strait with Iran.

Trump said once again during that phone interview that the U.S. naval blockade of Iran is working, and that although the Iranians may be good “poker players,” they are suffering economically.

Meanwhile, in a separate conversation with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, Trump said that, “If Oman gets in the way [of his efforts to deal with Iran], we’ll bomb the [expletive] out of them.”

According to Yingst, Trump also said that Iran should “wave the white flag of surrender,” but the president indicated he did not have a timetable for ending the war.

Both Trump and Iran’s leaders have stated publicly that there are no direct or indirect talks currently in progress between them to resolve the conflict through negotiation, or any prospects for their resumption in the near future. Instead, each of them now appears prepared to wait until the other side blinks first.

Iran’s Leaders Ready to Hunker Down, Bleed the West, Rebuild the Military in the Shadows

Obviously, the Iranians never considered the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which both sides in the conflict signed in June, to be a serious attempt to fashion a lasting peace agreement to end the conflict. Instead, they viewed it as a subtle attempt by the U.S. and Israel to relieve the pressure on the global economy generated by the interruption of the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf, while the two allies quietly prepared to launch another and even larger attack on Iran with the ultimate goal of achieving regime change in Tehran. Therefore, rather than making any serious effort to end the conflict through negotiations and diplomacy, the hardline leaders of the Islamic regime, acting in the name of a new Supreme Leader who has yet to make his first live public appearance, decided to use the MOU’s 60-day ceasefire window to rearm and prepare for the next round of fighting against the U.S. and Israel, which they believe to be inevitable.

Those preparations have been extensive. Senior officers of the IRGC have been given greater authority over Iran’s regular military. Hardened veterans of the long and bloody Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s have been given top security posts. Iran’s ballistic missile and drone production operations, which have recovered much faster than expected from the extensive damage they suffered during the five weeks of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes earlier this year, are being further accelerated in preparation for another round of fighting. Finally, Iran is stepping up its counterintelligence operations in response to the deep penetration of Iran’s political, military, and security establishments by Israeli intelligence agents, which was revealed by the amazing precision of the Israeli airstrikes that decapitated the top ranks of the Islamic regime’s political and military leadership during the first days of the war.

Iran Used the MOU Ceasefire to Prepare for the Next Stage of the War

According to the Wall Street Journal, Arab state intelligence agencies have reported that the IRGC has used the period of relative calm created by the Memorandum of Understanding to lay the groundwork with its terrorist allies around the region to step up their attacks, including sending IRGC advisers to Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon to discuss their coordinated attack plans.

For example, intercepted IRGC communications sent to its commanders operating in areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthis reveal that Iran was planning to step up its long-running confrontation with Saudi Arabia by launching attacks on Saudi ports and energy facilities in coordination with the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militias. For that purpose, the IRGC advisors in Yemen supervised the redeployment of the missiles, naval weapons, and drone launchers it has been providing to the Houthis to positions overlooking the Saudi shipping routes in the Red Sea, as well as detailed target lists and advice on how the Houthis could protect themselves from the likely Saudi retaliatory strikes.

The result of that Iranian planning effort was an escalation of the fighting in late July, when the Houthis attacked Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and declared the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which the Saudis had begun using as a substitute for the Strait of Hormuz for exporting their oil, to be closed to shipping from Saudi Arabia, and then carried out those threats by firing upon Saudi ships.

As the Iranians had planned, at around the same time, the Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq began launching drone attacks on major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

In addition, during the lull which started with the signing of the MOU, IRGC leaders threatened nearby Gulf states that they would launch attacks to destroy their energy facilities if the U.S. were to hit similar sites in Iran, and to back up that threat, the IRGC also sent the leaders of those Gulf states copies of the detailed targeting information that they would use to attack those energy facilities.

During the MOU lull in the conflict, Iran also escalated its direct attacks on American troops across the region. It fired five ballistic missiles at a base the U.S. military was using in Jordan, just two weeks after another Iranian strike at a base in Jordan killed three U.S. service members.

Iran’s Missile Attacks Have Become More Effective

American allies in the Gulf were also dismayed when they realized in July that the number of Iranian attacks was growing. At the same time, the Iranian missiles became more effective at evading U.S. missile defense systems, and began hitting their targets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain more precisely. Some weapons experts attribute this improvement to Iran’s decision to use its most advanced ballistic missiles for these attacks because they can maneuver while in flight to avoid missile interceptors trying to shoot them down, while others claim that it is due to Russia’s decision to provide Iran with more accurate targeting information from its surveillance Earth satellites.

When the fighting spilled over into the first two weeks of August, the IRGC launched strikes at six United Arab Emirates ships as they tried to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

IRGC officials have made no effort to keep their attack plans secret. During a recent interview with Iran’s state-controlled Tasnim news agency, IRGC spokesman General Hossein Mohebbi boasted, “We took full advantage of the [MOU] ceasefire period. We enhanced our capabilities, accelerated our missile production rate and improved missile accuracy.”

Iran’s New Crop of Hardline Leaders

Meanwhile, earlier this month, a sweeping overhaul of Iran’s top leadership was carried out in the name of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. Its apparent goal is to keep Iran on a war footing, while maintaining its current confrontation with Trump, and keeping a tight lid on the threat of renewed domestic unrest as economic conditions in Iran continue to deteriorate due to the U.S. sanctions and blockade.

Mohsen Rezaei, who was an IRGC commander during the Iran-Iraq War and who is known to favor expanding Iran’s military operations against its neighbors, has been put in charge of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Hossein Taeb, who ran a lethal crackdown on anti-Islamic regime street protesters in 2009, is now once again in command of the notoriously violent Basij civilian militia. Taeb has also been given a mandate to expand Iran’s domestic surveillance operations to expose and plug the intelligence leaks that Israel has been so successfully exploiting.

The goal of this overhaul of Iran’s top leadership is obvious, analysts say. Mojtaba Khamenei, or whoever is really in charge of Iran’s government these days, is preparing simultaneously for a new round of military attacks that Iran’s leaders expect from the U.S. and Israel, probably sometime after the U.S. midterm election in November, and the threat of renewed domestic unrest and street protests as the economic conditions and quality of life in Iran continue to deteriorate.

War Could Break Out Again at Any Moment

Meanwhile, the recent expiration of the 60-day ceasefire called for by the now-defunct Memorandum of Understanding has, according to a New York Times analysis by Erika Solomon, “left the region in a state of uncertainty that could erupt into full-scale war again at any moment.”

The analysis also suggests that Iran’s new leadership “is still struggling to devise a sustainable strategy for deterring Washington. . . as Tehran seeks a way to end the war without giving up the strategic leverage it has gained. . . through control over the Strait of Hormuz.”

If Mojtaba Khamenei really is in charge of Iran’s new government, then it would appear that by initiating new attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz he has demonstrated a much greater willingness to directly confront the U.S. and Israel militarily than his father ever did.

Iran’s leaders currently appear to believe they now hold a significant negotiating advantage over Trump, thanks to their de facto ability to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed to oil tanker traffic, as well as Trump’s declining domestic popularity as the midterm elections approach. They are also prepared for a lengthy military conflict with the U.S., because they are confident that they will be able to absorb the pain much better than the American people, who, they believe, will eventually demand that Trump bring the unpopular war to a close.

Iran’s Three-Point War Strategy

Iran’s current operational strategy for dealing with the threat from the United States has three interlocking parts.

First, Iran’s leaders are determined to maintain their current chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz, and to advertise their power by attacking any tankers that attempt to transit the strait without Tehran’s permission, which often includes paying a hefty toll for what should be free passage through international waters. At the same time, they are keeping traffic through the strait at a small fraction of its prewar volume, forcing the U.S. Navy into the costly and open-ended jobs of policing the waterway while shepherding civilian ships through the narrow waters within easy attack range of Iran’s missiles, drones and gunboats.

Second, Iran’s leaders are trying to avoid any unintentional confrontation with the U.S. military that would invite renewed American airstrikes before they are prepared for them. Meanwhile. Iran has been quietly authorizing their regional proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen and the Shiite militias in Iraq, to open new fronts in the fighting, including the threat of Houthi attacks upon ships in the Bab al Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, and Iraqi militia attacks on military bases in the Gulf states where large numbers of U.S. soldiers and their military equipment are stationed. Using their proxies in this way permits Iran to demonstrate the vulnerability of American troops in the region without leaving its fingerprints on every attack. In addition, the recent success Iran has enjoyed in using its most advanced ballistic missiles to attack the oil facilities of its Persian Gulf neighbors shows that they have learned how to defeat the American missile defense systems stationed in those countries, and that even the American military is unable to completely protect them.

Third, Iran’s leaders will try to use their old tactics of dragging out negotiations with the U.S. and its allies that are designed to ultimately go nowhere while buying more time for Iran to recover from the severe damage it has suffered from the repeated attacks by the U.S. and Israel over the last year.

In the Calm Before a New Larger Storm

Similarly, Iranian officials close to its negotiating team have described the current relative lull in the conflict not as a step toward peace, but rather as the calm before a much larger storm that they believe is coming. They are therefore using this lull to rebuild their depleted missile stockpiles, restore damaged infrastructure, and find new ways to get around the American sanctions on its economy and oil exports. Furthermore, Iran’s leaders believe that they can absorb the costs of the current war of economic attrition with the U.S. for much longer than Trump can sustain domestic political support for an indefinite blockade on Iran as fuel prices climb and Democrats seize on the war as a potentially winning campaign issue in the November midterm elections.

Crucially, Iran’s strategy is a high-stakes bet, based more upon their assumptions about American politics and President Trump’s ability to withstand pressure than their own high threshold for enduring economic pain, while keeping a tight lid on the rising levels of domestic resentment against the Islamic regime’s repressive rule.

Iran’s hardline leaders have argued that they cannot trust the current American president because he has launched two wars against Iran over the past year while the U.S. and Iran were involved in active negotiations. They also point to the fact that during his first term as president, Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal that the Obama administration signed with Iran.

Two Strategies on a Collision Course

What emerges from these considerations is that each side has demands for ending the war that are incompatible with the essential interests of the other side. Trump wants to avoid the need to launch new airstrikes against Iran; he still needs to find a way to force Iran to capitulate by releasing its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz, hopefully before the midterm election.

But Iran’s leaders are now convinced that showing any sign of weakness by giving in to Trump’s demands, for either the re-opening of the strait or the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, could lead to their regime’s internal collapse.

As the current lull in the conflict continues, Iran’s leaders have a strong motivation to provoke another round of U.S. retaliatory airstrikes, either through more attacks on tankers trying to transit the strait under the protection of the U.S. Navy, or by encouraging more missile and drone strikes on U.S. troops stationed in the region by Iran’s proxy forces. That is because Iran’s leaders need to maintain their narrative of “resistance” to American aggression to continue suppressing domestic opposition by appealing to the patriotism of Iran’s population.

The strategies being used by both sides carry serious risks. If Iran keeps attacking ships in the strait and encouraging its proxies to attack U.S. troops in the region, while Trump continues refusing to take the bait by refraining from retaliating militarily, it could reverse Iran’s narrative by showing it to be the aggressor rather than the victim in this conflict. That could help President Trump convince more of America’s traditional allies to join a “coalition of the willing” to complete the military defeat of Iran and re-open the Strait of Hormuz.

On the other hand, if Trump decides to follow through on his many threats to order fresh retaliatory strikes on Iran or expand the U.S. naval blockade of its ports, he risks giving Iran’s hardline leaders the pretext that they have been looking for. Iran’s leaders would like to justify launching a pre-emptive attack, either on U.S. interests in the region or directly against Israel, which they will then characterize as the “great confrontation” against the “Great Satan” [the U.S.] and the “Little Satan” [Israel] that they have been promising to do for decades.

Meanwhile, both sides appear to be preparing to fight a much longer and more damaging war of attrition than either one of them had anticipated when the current conflict started six months ago, and, sadly, there are still no likely prospects in sight for ending the war anytime soon.

One Hundred Years Since the Petirah of Rabbeinu Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk zt”l, the Ohr Someiach, Whose Torah Burned and Whose Heart Embraced Klal Yisroel

Daled Elul 5686. Daled Elul 5786. One hundred years have passed since the petirah of one of the great giants whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu planted in Klal Yisroel in the later generations, Rav Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk, author of the Ohr Someiach on the Rambam and the Meshech Chochmah on the Torah. A century has gone by, generations have changed, entire worlds have risen and disappeared, yet his Torah has lost none of its freshness. In a bais medrash where a difficult Rambam is being learned, where a halacha appears to resist the simple structure of the sugya, where a few words of the Rambam seem to demand an accounting, the Ohr Someiach is opened almost as a matter of course. And when parshas hashovua arrives, and the familiar pesukim are once again placed before the ben Torah, the Meshech Chochmah has the remarkable power to show that a posuk one has known since childhood may contain a halachic foundation, a historical observation, a penetrating understanding of human nature, and an entire world of machshovah, all joined with the precision of Torah.

Yet a hundredth yahrtzeit demands more than another appreciation of the seforim. There comes a point when one must turn from the printed page to the man who stood behind it and ask what sort of person could have produced such Torah? What was the secret of Rav Meir Simcha? How did one person combine such mastery of Shas, Rambam and the entire breadth of Torah, a memory that could reach back across decades, a depth that astonished the greatest talmidei chachomim of his generation, and at the same time a heart of unusual softness toward the ordinary Yid? How could the same man who could become so absorbed in a sugya that an entire night passed without his awareness devote a long hour to a husband and wife whose home was breaking apart? How could the same mind that could build a ma’arocha in the deepest areas of Torah understand that a five-year-old child sitting in a room might accomplish more than every argument that had been presented to his parents? How could the Sar HaTorah rise from his chair and dance around a table with an ordinary couple because shalom had returned to their home? How could a man of such powerful daas know that in the middle of a serious machlokes the correct thing might be to rise and leave the room before anger entered the discussion? And how could one of the treasures of Klal Yisroel refuse to leave a city under bombardment because there were poor Yidden who had no means with which to flee?

The more one studies the episodes of his life, the clearer it becomes that these were not separate qualities gathered within one unusual personality. There was not a Rav Meir Simcha of the sugya and another Rav Meir Simcha of the street. There was one Rav Meir Simcha, and there was one source. Torah had not remained with him as an acquisition of the mind. Torah had become the very form of his life. It determined the manner in which he learned and the manner in which he thought, but it also determined the manner in which he looked at a Yid, the way he spoke to someone who had failed, the way he conducted an argument, the way he entered a troubled home, and the way he understood the responsibility of a rov toward those who could give him nothing in return. Rav Meir Simcha did not merely possess Torah. Torah had taken possession of him.

WHEN THE HOUSE IS BURNING

There are many stories through which one may describe the hasmodah and ameilus baTorah of Rav Meir Simcha, but perhaps none gives the matter its proper definition as clearly as the moshol related by the Rogatchover Gaon at the levayah. The Rogatchover said that his father had been disabled throughout his life and had been confined to a wheelchair. His physical condition was such that two men were required to lift him from his chair, and this was the reality known to the family year after year. When the Rogatchover was a child, a fire suddenly broke out in their home. The flames spread rapidly, smoke filled the house, and those present attempted to carry his father to safety. He refused to leave, insisting that his little daughter was still upstairs and had to be rescued first. They told him that the upper floor was already burning, that there was no time, and that if he did not allow them to remove him immediately, he too would be lost in the fire.

Then, before the astonished eyes of those standing there, the man who could not rise from his wheelchair stood up and ran up the stairs like a healthy young man. A short while later he came back down, carrying his daughter, wrapped in a blanket, in his arms. Those who witnessed it could scarcely understand what they had seen. His father looked at them and explained the matter in a few words, “When a fire is burning, a person discovers kochos he never knew he possessed.” The Rogatchover related the story at Rav Meir Simcha’s levayah and needed to add very little. This, he was saying, was the key to Rav Meir Simcha’s ameilus. His learning always had the appearance of a man whose house was burning. The tiredness that ordinarily limits a person, the distractions that occupy him, the question of comfort and convenience, all these belong to a world in which there is no fire. When there is a fire, hidden kochos are suddenly summoned. For Rav Meir Simcha, there was always a fire in the house, and the fire was Torah.

One may apply to him the words of the novi (Yirmiyohu 23:29), “Halo koh devari ka’eish, ne’um Hashem.” Torah is compared to fire not only because fire illuminates. Fire compels. Fire creates a reality in which indifference is no longer possible. A person does not stand beside a burning house and say that today he is not in the proper mood, that he has not slept enough, or that he would prefer to deal with the matter tomorrow. The very existence of the fire demands all that is within him. Something of this was already evident in Rav Meir Simcha as a child. It is related that at approximately ten years of age, the shamosh entered the bais medrash in the early hours of the morning and found the young Meir Simcha standing upon a ladder near the seforim shelves, a sefer in his hand, entirely absorbed in learning. The shamosh was startled because the child stood in the same place and in the same position in which he had seen him on the previous evening. When he asked when he intended to come down, Meir Simcha looked at him in genuine surprise and said, “What? They already said Borchu after Maariv?” He had not undertaken a special all-night seder, and he had not fought a dramatic battle against sleep. He had simply ceased to notice the passage of time.

After his marriage, while living in Bialystok, Rav Meir Simcha would learn for exceedingly long hours in the Gemilus Chesed shul. His manner was to walk back and forth in the bais medrash with a gemara in his hand, turning the sugya over in his mind. One night, people encountered him walking through the street without his jacket, the gemara still in his hand. When they called his attention to the fact that he was outside, it became clear that he had never noticed leaving the bais medrash. His feet had continued into the street while his mind had remained entirely inside the sugya. There is a temptation, when hearing such stories, to attribute everything to natural gifts, and undoubtedly Rav Meir Simcha possessed extraordinary gifts. His memory was already renowned in his youth, and his mental powers were of an order that few could approach. Yet another story reveals that the gift was not the secret. The gift was the kli. What filled that kli was relentless ameilus and a refusal to allow Torah to pass through him without becoming part of him.

THE SECRET OF A MEMORY THAT SPANNED DECADES

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach related, concerning Rav Shlomo Yehudah Plotchinsky, the father of Rav Eliezer, who had a regular chavrusa seder with the Ohr Someiach. On one occasion, in the middle of learning, Reb Shlomo Yehudah presented a kushya that had no direct connection to the sugya before them. Rav Meir Simcha listened and remarked that he seemed to recall having dealt with that very question more than thirty years earlier, when he had written an entire ma’arocha on the matter. He directed that a certain notebook be taken from the cabinet and indicated where it should be opened. When the passage was found, Rav Meir Simcha asked that it not be read aloud to him. He began to say over the ma’arocha himself while the other talmid chochom followed inside the handwritten text. The words were almost exactly as they had been written more than three decades earlier.

The natural reaction to such an episode is astonishment. A ma’arocha written thirty or thirty-five years earlier had remained in his mind almost word for word. Yet shortly thereafter there was a knock at the door, and Rav Meir Simcha understood that someone required his attention. Before rising from the gemara, he repeated the two lines of Rashi they were then learning. He reviewed them once, then a second time, then a third time, and only afterwards went to the door. When he returned, his chavrusa could no longer contain his question. A short while earlier, he said, the rebbi had repeated an entire ma’arocha from more than thirty years ago, yet now the rebbi found it necessary to chazer two lines of Rashi three times merely because of an interruption of a few minutes.

Rav Meir Simcha answered with the posuk (Mishlei, 23:5), “Hasa’if einecha bo ve’einenu.” Then he said with wonder, “What? Torah, about which it says ‘Hasa’if einecha bo ve’einenu,’ one can leave without chazering it at least three times?” In that answer lies the difference between the way we see the story and the way Rav Meir Simcha saw it. We look at the result and marvel at the memory of thirty-five years. Rav Meir Simcha pointed to the process. The ma’arocha had not been written once and preserved by some miraculous natural faculty. It had remained alive through chazorah, through return, through the unwillingness to be meisiach daas from Torah. The secret of Rav Meir Simcha’s memory was not merely that he remembered more. It was that he permitted himself to forget less.

This gives a penetrating meaning to the words of Chazal concerning Dovid Hamelech. The Gemara in Maseches Sotah, daf 35, says, “Mipnei mah ne’enash Dovid, mipnei shekara l’divrei Torah zemiros, shene’emar zemiros hayu li chukecha beveis megurai.” Dovid called divrei Torah zemiros, and subsequently stumbled in the matter of transporting the Aron, which was placed upon a wagon rather than being carried in the manner commanded for the bnei Kehos. The posuk says (Tehillim 119:44), “Zemiros hayu li chukecha b’veis megurai,” while concerning the carrying of the klei hakodesh the Torah says (Bamidbar 7:9), “Bakoseif yisa’u.”

One may explain the middah k’neged middah as follows. A zemirah is something that eventually flows with ease. The melody is already known, the words come naturally, and the person sings without effort. Torah too can become a shirah within a person, but before it becomes shirah, it must be carried. It demands shoulder, burden, yegiah, and repetition. Only after “Bakoseif yisa’u” can there be the ease of “Zemiros hayu li chukecha.” Torah does not arrive upon a wagon. It is acquired through carrying. Rav Meir Simcha’s astonishing memory was not the replacement for ameilus. It was the fruit of ameilus.

For us, the lesson is both simpler and more demanding than we often wish it to be. We look for methods to retain more, to cover more, to remember a larger amount of material, and there is certainly a place for systems and methods. But the first answer remains chazorah. When a person finishes a daf, he should spend a few minutes saying over what he has learned. When he hears a shiur, he should review its central points. When a chiddush has become clear to him, he should not allow it to be merely an encounter of one afternoon. Chazorah is not only a technique against shikcha. It is an expression of value. When something is precious, one is reluctant to part from it.

TO THINK IN TORAH

One of the distinctive features of the Meshech Chochmah is that its author does not merely gather mekoros and place them beside one another. He appears to enter the world of the posuk itself and to see the people who stand within it. The circumstances are real to him. Responsibility is real. Human emotion is real. The consequences of an action are real. Therefore, a halachic detail, a historical circumstance, a Midrash, and a subtle observation about the human mind may all become part of one explanation, not as separate decorations placed upon the posuk, but because Rav Meir Simcha saw no division between Torah and the reality that Torah describes.

Thus he asks why Hakadosh Boruch Hu accepted the korban of Hevel and did not accept the korban of Kayin. The Torah does not spell out explicitly what was lacking in Kayin’s offering. Rav Meir Simcha notes the distinction between fruit of the earth and sheep. Produce of the field grows to a considerable extent on its own. A flock requires the shepherd to feed, water, guard, and care for it. Hevel therefore did not merely take an object that belonged to him and bring it before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He brought something into which he had invested himself. The essential point is not merely what was placed upon the mizbeiach, but what of the giver was contained within the gift. In a korban, Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not look only at what a person has given. He looks at how much of the person himself is inside what he has given.

The same derech is seen in his explanation of why Noach was permitted to eat meat although Adam Harishon had not been granted that permission. Noach had spent an entire year in the teivah caring for the animal world. He fed the animals, attended to them, and lived for their needs. Once man had expended himself for the animal world, a new relationship existed between them. So too, Rav Meir Simcha asks why Yosef brought Yaakov Avinu and his family down to Mitzrayim during the famine rather than simply sending food regularly to Eretz Canaan. The answer is rooted in Yosef’s actual position as ruler of Mitzrayim and guardian of its grain reserves. To send great quantities of the national food supply outside the country during a famine could have been interpreted as a betrayal of the responsibility entrusted to him.

These are not merely attractive explanations. They reveal the manner in which Rav Meir Simcha learned. Inside a posuk he saw living people, with duties, pressures, fears, obligations and consequences. It is perhaps not accidental that one who saw people so clearly inside Torah also saw them so clearly when they stood before him.

AFTER THE CHET HA’EIGEL, HE IS YOUR BROTHER

A particularly revealing example appears in the different language employed by the Torah regarding the obligation to assist with a burdened animal. In Parshas Mishpotim the Torah refers to “chamor sona’acha,” the donkey of the person whom you hate, while in Sefer Devorim the Torah speaks of “chamor achicha,” your brother’s donkey. Rav Meir Simcha points to the difference in time. Parshas Mishpotim was given before the chet ha’Eigel. Sefer Devorim was spoken after the chet ha’Eigel. Before a person has himself experienced failure, it is easier for him to look at another Yid who has fallen and to define him by that failure. After the chet ha’Eigel, after Klal Yisroel itself had learned what it means to fall from a great height, the language changes. He is no longer merely sona’acha. He is achicha. After a person knows that he too can fall, it becomes far more difficult to hate another Yid because he has fallen.

This was not a Meshech Chochmah that remained inside a sefer. There was once a man in Dvinsk who had been accustomed to daven before the amud in Rav Meir Simcha’s bais medrash. A rumor began to circulate that the man smoked on Shabbos. Apparently, someone confronted him about it, and he was deeply hurt, and he ceased coming to the bais medrash. Rav Meir Simcha noticed his absence and asked the shamosh what had happened. When he heard the story, he immediately sent for the man. There was no interrogation, no demand for an admission, no public rebuke. Rav Meir Simcha said to him, “Certainly the rumor that you smoke on Shabbos is not true. Therefore return and daven before the amud as you always did.”

The chochmah of the sentence lies in what Rav Meir Simcha chose to give the man. He gave him a way back. He did not define him according to what was being said about him. He told him, in effect, that in the eyes of the rov he still belonged to the bais medrash and still belonged before the amud. There is a form of tochacha that pushes a person into the identity of the aveirah attributed to him, and there is a form of tochacha that places before him the person he can still be. Rav Meir Simcha chose the second.

The same approach appeared when young men who were not shomrei Torah u’mitzvos would enter his bais medrash on Yom Tov. Some of the members of the kehillah wished to prevent them from coming inside. Rav Meir Simcha objected. A Yid who has entered a bais medrash has already taken a step, and one does not destroy the first step because it is not yet the last. His words were simple and contained an entire derech in chinuch, “At first they will answer Amein, and afterwards they will daven.”

A KOHEIN WHO PURSUED SHALOM

One of the most moving areas in the life of Rav Meir Simcha was his involvement in shalom between husband and wife. Chazal say in Maseches Nedarim, daf 66b, “Umah la’asos shalom bein ish le’ishto amrah Torah Shemi shenichtav bikedusha yimacheh al hamayim.” In the Mishnah in Maseches Sotah 1:4, the same principle is expressed: that for the sake of restoring shalom between husband and wife, the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, written in kedusha, is erased upon the water. Rav Meir Simcha was a kohein, and the Mishnah in Maseches Avos, 1:12, immediately comes to mind, “Hevei mitalmidov shel Aharon, oheiv shalom v’rodeif shalom, oheiv es habriyos um’ekorvon laTorah.” In his life, the words “verodeif shalom” were not an expression of general goodwill. He pursued shalom in the literal sense.

A husband and wife once came before him when the husband was determined to divorce his wife. Rav Meir Simcha sat with them for a long period of time, speaking, explaining, and attempting to restore proportion to what had become a bitter conflict. Eventually the husband agreed to withdraw from the divorce, and the couple made peace. One might have expected Rav Meir Simcha to give them a brocha and return to his learning, but he did something that reveals how seriously he regarded the moment. The Sar HaTorah rose from his chair and danced around the table with the husband and wife, singing with them in joy because a Jewish home had been saved. He later explained that he wished the reconciliation itself to be fixed in their memory as a moment of simcha, not merely as the conclusion of an unpleasant dispute.

On another occasion, a couple came before him who had already decided to separate. They had a small child, approximately five years old. Rav Meir Simcha spoke with the parents at length and realized that the words were accomplishing nothing. At that point he ceased addressing the parents and turned to the child. He placed the boy upon his lap, played with him, and began speaking to him. According to one version, he told the child that his parents were preparing to make him like an orphan, but that he should not worry because if they separated, he could come to Rav Meir Simcha and Rav Meir Simcha would care for him. Suddenly the parents saw something that the quarrel had concealed from them. They saw their child. They began to cry and announced that they would remain together, and once again Rav Meir Simcha rose to dance.

There was geonus in what happened in that room, but it was not the geonus of finding a stronger taanah. Rav Meir Simcha understood that the room already contained too many taanos. What was missing was not another argument, but another view. Anger had narrowed the world of the husband and wife until only the point of dispute remained visible. Rav Meir Simcha widened the picture. He placed the child, the home, the years, and the consequences back inside it.

On yet another occasion, a husband continued to insist upon divorce despite everything Rav Meir Simcha told him. Finally Rav Meir Simcha said, “Look into the beautiful eyes of your wife. Do not be hasty in your decision. If you separate from her, the day may come when you will miss her and regret what you have done.” The words entered the husband’s heart, and he withdrew from his decision. There is something almost startling in hearing such a sentence from one of the great gedolei Torah of the generation, and precisely there lies part of its meaning. Rav Meir Simcha was not occupied at that moment with what language was expected from the Sar HaTorah. He was occupied with what might save a Jewish home. If Hakadosh Boruch Hu permits His holy Name to be erased for the sake of shalom between husband and wife, the personal kavod of the rov cannot be treated as more precious than that shalom.

TO KNOW WHEN NOT TO SAY THE LAST WORD

True strength of character is not measured only in a person’s ability to state his daas. At times it is revealed by his ability to stop before his daas becomes mixed with anger and personal kavod. One of the remarkable stories in this regard occurred at the rabbinical conference in Petersburg, where the gedolei Yisroel debated the demands of the Russian government that rabbonim acquire knowledge of the Russian language and certain general studies. The issue was regarded as one with serious consequences for the future of the rabbonus in Russia. Rav Meir Simcha and other gedolim stood on one side, while the Chofetz Chaim and Reb Chaim Brisker stood on the other.

On one occasion, the Chofetz Chaim came to discuss the issue with Rav Meir Simcha, and the conversation became sharp. Both men held powerful convictions because each believed that the matter involved kavod haTorah and the future of Klal Yisroel. In the middle of the discussion, Rav Meir Simcha suddenly rose and left the room. He had not exhausted his arguments and had not changed his position. He sensed that the discussion was becoming heated and that anger might enter, and therefore he ended it. The Chofetz Chaim later expressed great admiration for his middos.

Chazal say in Maseches Avos 4:1, “Eizehu gibor, hakoveish es yitzro.” The difficulty is that in an argument there is often a subtle point at which the subject itself changes. At first two people are debating the issue. Later, almost without noticing, each is debating his own need to prevail. It no longer pains him only that the other person is mistaken. It pains him that the other person refuses to acknowledge that he is right. Rav Meir Simcha had the strength to maintain a firm daas and, at the same time, the clarity to identify the moment when emes might begin to become entangled with personal kavod. There are times when gevurah means standing one’s ground, and there are times when greater gevurah means leaving the room before saying the final word.

“AS LONG AS NINE REMAIN, I WILL BE THE TENTH”

During World War I, Dvinsk became an area of severe fighting. Because of its military fortress, the city and its surroundings were subjected to heavy bombardment. Those who possessed the means to leave attempted to do so, and the city gradually emptied. Those who remained were, to a large extent, those who had no choice. Poor families, women whose husbands had been taken into military service, and people without money or connections remained behind while danger drew closer. It was only natural that those around Rav Meir Simcha urged him to leave. He was one of the gedolei hador. His Torah belonged to all of Klal Yisroel, and there appeared to be every reason for him to place himself beyond the danger.

His answer was one of those sentences in which an entire conception of rabbonus is revealed. “I will not abandon my brothers in an eis tzarah. As long as nine Yidden remain in the city, I will be the tenth for the minyan.” A Rav is not merely the tenth man when the bais medrash is full, and hundreds wish to stand near him. The test of leadership is what occurs when most people have gone, and those who remain are precisely those who have no ability to leave. Rav Meir Simcha remained because they remained.

He strengthened the people in emunah and bitachon, attended to their needs, and showed particular concern for the women whose husbands had been drafted. He knew the addresses of soldiers at the front and would assist their wives in writing to them. Rav Meir Simcha and his rebbetzin themselves lived in privation and at times had to chop wood with their own hands in order to heat their home, yet funds that reached him were distributed to others who had suffered through the war.

One may see here the answer to what can appear, at first glance, to be a contradiction. The same man who would not leave two lines of Rashi without chazering them three times was prepared to interrupt his learning when a Yid required him. In truth, there is no contradiction. A person who truly learns Torah does not become less aware of the Yid standing at the door. He comes to understand that the Yid standing at the door may now be part of the sugya Hakadosh Boruch Hu has placed before him.

THE TWO VERTLACH FROM KRYNICA

In the summer of 5685, two of the great Torah personalities of the generation found themselves staying in the same inn in the health resort town of Krynica, Rav Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik, the rov of Brisk, and Rav Meir Simcha Hakohein of Dvinsk. Both had come to the resort for rest and recuperation, and during the days they spent there they spoke together in divrei Torah and exchanged chiddushim. It is related that when the Brisker Rav returned home, he brought with him two particular vertlach that he had heard from Rav Meir Simcha and would repeat them with marked hispa’alus.

Something is fitting in the fact that these two chiddushim remained with the Brisker Rav. They are sharp and exact, built from a diyuk in the words of Torah, yet in both cases the lomdus reveals something hidden within the human being. One vort finds the subtle pleasure of the neshomah within the halachos of brachos. The other finds the necessity of hope within the halachos of golus. Both contain a precision that belongs entirely to the bais medrash and, at the same time, an understanding of man that could only have come from someone who saw Torah and life as one reality.

“HAPA’AM ODEH ES HASHEM”

In the names given by Leah to her first four sons, the Torah records a distinct progression. Concerning Reuven, she says (Bereishis 29:32-35), “Ki ra’ah Hashem be’oni.” Regarding Shimon, “Ki shama Hashem ki senuah anochi.” Regarding Levi, “Hapa’am yilaveh ishi eilai.” Only at Yehudah does Leah say, “Hapa’am odeh es Hashem.”

Chazal already teach that the names of the shevatim express more than the circumstances of their birth. In Bereishis Rabbah (71:3), Reb Yosi bar Chanina says, “Shemoseihen na’im uma’aseihen na’im, eilu haShevatim, Reuven, re’u bein bein habonim, Shimon, shome’a bekol Aviv shebaShomayim.” The names themselves contain a remez to the essence and future purpose of the shevatim.

Rav Meir Simcha explains that Reuven corresponds to re’iyah, sight, Shimon to shemiyah, hearing, and Levi, whose name is rooted in levayah and connection, to the sense of touch. A person can receive great pleasure through sight, hearing, and touch, yet there is no specific birkas hanehenin recited upon the pleasure itself. The sense of rei’ach is different. The Gemara in Brachos, daf 43b, derives from the posuk “Kol haneshomah tehallel Kah,” “Eizehu dovor shehaneshomah nehenes mimenu ve’ein haguf neheneh mimenu, hevei omer zeh harei’ach.” Fragrance is described as a pleasure of the neshomah, and upon that pleasure Chazal established a brocha.

Now the seder becomes clear. Yehudah is the shevet from which Melech Hamoshiach will come, and concerning Moshiach the novi says in Yeshayah 11:3, “Vaharicho b’yiras Hashem.” Reuven corresponds to sight, Shimon to hearing, Levi to touch, while Yehudah, the source of Moshiach, corresponds to fragrance. Therefore precisely at Yehudah does Leah say, “Hapa’am odeh es Hashem,” because here appears the sense upon whose enjoyment a person makes a brocha and gives hoda’ah.

The beauty of the chiddush lies not only in the correspondence between four names and four senses. Rav Meir Simcha sees the brocha on fragrance as an expression of the neshomah encountering a pleasure too subtle to be described in ordinary physical terms. And in Moshiach himself the ordinary senses are not sufficient. His judgment will not be merely “lemar’eh einav” and not merely “lemishma aznav.” There is a deeper perception, “Vaharicho beyiras Hashem.” Halacha, Midrash, the names of the shevatim, the halachos of brachos, the nature of the neshomah and the nevuah concerning Moshiach become one structure.

AN IR MIKLOT WITHOUT HOPE

The second vort concerns the din of arei miklot. The Mishnah in Makkos 2:4 says, “Leheichan golin, le’arei miklot, l’shalosh shebe’eiver haYarden veleshalosh sheb’Eretz Canaan.” The Mishnah adds, “Ad shelo nivcheru shalosh sheb’Eretz Yisroel lo hayu shalosh shebe’eiver haYarden koltos, ad sheyehu sheshtan koltos ke’achas.”

The din requires explanation. Moshe Rabbeinu had already designated three cities in eiver haYarden, as the posuk states (Devarim  4:41), “Az yavdil Moshe shalosh arim be’eiver haYarden mizracha shemesh.” There was no deficiency in their designation. The other three cities had not yet been chosen only because Eretz Yisroel had not yet been conquered and divided. Why should the cities already properly designated not begin functioning immediately as arei miklot?

Rav Meir Simcha answers by considering the position of the rotzeiach b’shogeg. A person who enters an ir miklot must remain there until the death of the Kohen Gadol. Even if years of golus lie before him, there remains one possibility in his mind. The Kohen Gadol may die, and he may return home. The golus contains punishment and kapporah, but it does not remove hope.

At that point in history, however, there was a certainty. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had already declared that Elazar Hakohein would be among those responsible for dividing Eretz Yisroel, as the posuk says (Bamidbar 34:17), “Eileh shemos ha’anashim asher yinchalu lachem es ha’aretz, Elazar Hakohen viYehoshua bin Nun.” Until the conquest and division of the land were completed, Elazar could not die. Had the cities of eiver haYarden begun receiving rotzchim immediately, the person entering the ir miklot would know from his first day that there was no possibility of leaving for the entire period of conquest and division.

Rav Meir Simcha writes that ordinarily the rotzeiach “Mekaveh tamid shema yamus hakohein hamoshiach veyeitzei bemisaso,” whereas in these circumstances he would be “meya’eish lachzor ad hisnachel ha’aretz.” He concludes, “Lachein bechai gavna shelo yihiyeh lo tikvah lashuv teikef, lo amrah Torah liglos.”

The chiddush is sharply lomdish, but its inner point is striking. The Torah commands golus. It does not command yi’ush. A person may be required to remain within the walls of the ir miklot for years, yet somewhere within his world there must remain the possibility of return. The ir miklot may close the person inside a place, but it is not meant to close hope out of his future. Perhaps this explains why the Brisker Rov retained these two vertlach with such hispaalus. In the first, Rav Meir Simcha found the pleasure of the neshomah within hilchos brachos. In the second, he found the hope of the person within hilchos golus. The lomdus does not become less exact because it sees the human being. On the contrary, the human being himself emerges from the exactness of the din.

THE TEFILLAH ON THE EMBANKMENT

One of the most powerful accounts concerning Rav Meir Simcha was preserved in the testimony of Isser Harel, who later became head of the Mossad and who had lived in Dvinsk as a child. He recalled a year in which a severe thaw occurred in the regions feeding the Dvina River, while the river around Dvinsk and further downstream remained covered with thick ice. Water and enormous blocks of ice accumulated, the river rose, and the embankment protecting the city came under severe pressure. Residents began moving to upper floors and rooftops because they feared that the embankment would break and the city would be flooded.

In the early hours of Shabbos morning, the danger reached its height. Frightened people ran into the bais medrash and announced that the water was about to break through. Rav Meir Simcha rose from his place while still wrapped in his tallis and walked out of the bais medrash. The people followed him. He climbed onto the embankment and stood there in tefillah. Isser Harel testified that as a child he stood only a few steps away. During the tefillah, the ice began to move, a passage opened for the water, the river level fell, and the danger passed. The child standing there remembered throughout his life the image of Rav Meir Simcha wrapped in his tallis, standing before the rising river and davening for an entire city.

There is an extraordinary element in the story, but perhaps there is another point that deserves equal attention. Why did the people follow him? The answer had been written during decades before that Shabbos morning. Rav Meir Simcha had stood with them in the less dramatic hours of life. He had stood with the poor, the widow, the soldier’s wife, the troubled husband, the frightened child, the young Yid who had drifted away, and the family that had nowhere to flee. When a rov stands with his people through the ordinary difficulties of life, they know whom to follow when the river rises.

“YACHSHOV KI BERLIN HI YERUSHALAYIM”

One cannot speak of Rav Meir Simcha without mentioning the celebrated and chilling passage in the Meshech Chochmah in Parshas Bechukosai. On the posuk (Vayikra 26:44), “Ve’af gam zos bihyosam b’eretz oyveihem lo me’astim v’lo ge’altim l’chalosam l’hofer brisi itam,” Rav Meir Simcha describes a recurring process in the history of Klal Yisroel in golus. A Jewish community reaches a new country after persecution and displacement. It begins again, builds botei medrash and kehillos, raises families, develops institutions, and gradually becomes established. After generations, the sense of impermanence weakens. The foreign country no longer feels foreign. The awareness of golus becomes less immediate, until a generation may arise that begins to see the land in which it lives not merely as a place of residence, but as its essential homeland.

Rav Meir Simcha explains that Yaakov Avinu did not wish to be buried in Mitzrayim because he did not want his descendants to regard Mitzrayim as the place to which they truly belonged. A Yid may build in golus, learn Torah in golus, and prosper in golus, but one awareness must remain. His roots are elsewhere. Within this discussion, Rav Meir Simcha writes the words that later history caused generations to read with a shudder (Meshech Chochmah, Vayikra, 26:44), “Yachshov ki Berlin hi Yerushalayim.”

There is no need to describe the words as a literal nevuah in order to appreciate their depth. Rav Meir Simcha identified a spiritual and historical process. The danger of golus does not arise only when a Jew is persecuted. There is another danger when he becomes so comfortable that the very consciousness of golus disappears. Yet the Meshech Chochmah does not end with despair. The entire passage is part of an explanation of the survival of Klal Yisroel, which is shaken and displaced, yet returns again and again to its Torah and rebuilds.

There is a remarkable connection between this and the story of Rav Meir Simcha’s memory. To the individual, the posuk says (Mishlei 23:5), “Hasa’if einecha bo ve’einenu.” One cannot be meisiach daas from Torah. In the Meshech Chochmah, Rav Meir Simcha places a similar demand upon Klal Yisroel as a nation. Just as the individual cannot allow Torah to disappear from his consciousness, the nation cannot allow its identity to disappear from its consciousness. There is a shikcha of information, and there is a shikcha of who one is.

WHEN TORAH MAKES A PERSON MORE GENTLE

There is a question that emerges from all these stories and perhaps deserves to stand at the center of the entire portrait. What is Torah meant to do to a person? A man may learn much and, because he understands quickly, becomes impatient with someone who understands slowly. He may be exacting in mitzvos and therefore find it difficult to tolerate someone still standing far away. He may be convinced that his position is correct and therefore react with impatience to anyone who disagrees. Knowledge itself does not automatically refine the person who possesses it.

With Rav Meir Simcha, the movement was in the opposite direction. The greater his Torah became, the greater became the space within him for another Yid. He knew how to state a strong daas, yet also how to rise and leave before anger entered the conversation. He could become so absorbed in a sugya that he did not know whether it was night or morning, yet a knock at the door could still summon him to the needs of another person. He was known throughout the Torah world as the Sar HaTorah, yet he saw no contradiction in dancing around a table with a simple couple because their home had been saved.

Chazal say in Moed Koton, daf 17a, “Im domeh harov l’malach Hashem Tzevakos, yevakshu Torah mipihu, ve’im lav, al yevakshu Torah mipihu.” A malach is a shaliach. He possesses no personal cheshbon in the fulfillment of his shlichus. He does not ask what preserves his position or what enhances his image. He asks what the shlichus requires. Perhaps this was among the deepest secrets of Rav Meir Simcha’s gadlus. He did not use Torah in order to build the figure of Rav Meir Simcha. He allowed the figure of Rav Meir Simcha to disappear before whatever Torah demanded of him at that moment. If the sugya demanded his night, he gave it the night. If a Yid required his hour, he gave him the hour. If shalom required his kavod, the kavod was placed aside. If emes required him to stop speaking, he left the room.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER

A hundred years after his petirah, we do not expect to become Rav Meir Simcha. To stand before such a figure merely in order to measure ourselves against him would lead only to distance. But the small actions from which the gadlus was built do belong to us. From the astonishing memory we need not take the ma’arocha remembered after thirty-five years. We can take the two lines of Rashi reviewed three times before answering the door. From the Petersburg conference we need not take upon ourselves the questions confronting the gedolei hador. We can take the moment in an ordinary argument when we realize that another sentence will not establish the truth and will only preserve our kavod. From the stories of shalom bayis we can learn that anger narrows the picture and that sometimes the task is not to answer the argument, but to restore everything the argument has caused us to stop seeing.

And from Dvinsk during the war we are left with one sentence whose demand is not limited to rabbonim or gedolei Yisroel. “As long as nine Yidden remain in the city, I will be the tenth for the minyan.” Every community has its nine. Every family has them. There is the person whom others have already left behind, the bochur with whom conversation has become difficult, the lonely elderly Yid, the person whose life is not going well, the one who cannot offer status or benefit in return for the attention he receives. Leadership begins in the willingness not to ask who else will stay, but whether I will stay.

THE LIGHT THAT REMAINS

The names of Rav Meir Simcha’s seforim acquire another meaning when viewed against his life. Ohr Someiach. Meshech Chochmah. Light and chochmah. The chochmah remains printed on the pages and is learned in every generation, but the ohr was not confined to the seforim. His own life contained hardship, bereavement, poverty, and the heavy burdens of rabbonus, yet those who encountered him remembered warmth, humor, concern, and the ability to bring people close. It was not the light of a person who had never known darkness. It was the light of a person who had known darkness and refused to allow it to determine what he would give to others.

Perhaps no posuk is more fitting with which to conclude than the words of the Navi concerning the true kohein (Malachi 2:6), “Toras emes haysah befihu v’avlah lo nimtza bisfasov, b’shalom uv’mishor halach iti, v’rabim heishiv mei’avon.” In those words one can almost see the figure of Rav Meir Simcha Hakohein of Dvinsk. Torah was in his mouth, shalom was in his path, and the Yid was in his heart.

One hundred years have passed since daled Elul 5686. The Ohr Someiach remains open. The Meshech Chochmah remains open. The chiddushim are repeated, the questions are asked, and his Torah continues to speak in botei medrash throughout the world. But perhaps the true measure of a yahrtzeit is not only that the sefer remains open. It is whether something of the person who wrote it remains open within us. One more chazorah before moving on. One less word spoken in anger. One Yid brought near instead of pushed away. One Jewish home strengthened. One person whom others have abandoned who discovers that someone has remained beside him. And when the place has emptied, when the easier choice is to leave, and when it seems that only nine remain, to remember the words of the great rov of Dvinsk and to be able to say them ourselves.

“I will be the tenth.”

I’m back on an El Al plane, heading for Eretz Yisroel, expecting to spend a couple of weeks in Yerushalayim.

Making the trip was not an easy decision. The specter of another war with Iran was hanging in the air. President Trump had been bombing Iran for fourteen straight nights and had repeatedly threatened to go all out against them. Had that happened, Israel would most likely have been drawn into the conflict, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be there for that.

Our flight was scheduled for Monday morning, and I decided that if Shabbos passed without incident, we would go.

When Shabbos was over, I turned on my phone and saw that not only had the president not ramped up his attacks on the evil regime in Iran, but he had announced that, inexplicably, he was putting everything on hold.

As I waited to see how things would develop, I was reading seforim describing the aliyah of the talmidei HaGra and the talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov. I read about what motivated these great people to leave behind their homes in Eastern Europe, the lives they were accustomed to, and whatever comforts they had, and to undertake the treacherous journey to Eretz Yisroel, where they knew they would face a life of deprivation and hardship.

Reading about why they went, and what they went through to get there, became a source of encouragement for me.

War or not, I would go.

I hadn’t made any particular plans for what I would do while I was there, but would simply follow the path of the multitudes of Yidden who, throughout the generations, yearned to be in Eretz Yisroel and took advantage of every opportunity to spend time in Hashem’s land.

And if there would be a war, I decided, I would make the best of it. I would not spend my time there angling for a way to get back “home.” I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in a bomb shelter, but if that was how Hashem had planned my vacation, I would accept it.

Every day, we put our lives in the hands of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and trust that He will care for us. In Eretz Yisroel, however, we feel it more.

The Torah (Devorim 11:12) tells us that Eretz Yisroel is different from every other land: “Eretz asher Hashem Elokecha doreish osah tomid einei Hashem Elokecha bah mereishis hashonah ve’ad acharis Shonah.”

It is a land upon which Hashem’s eyes are constantly focused, “from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.”

Perhaps that is part of what makes being there so different. We are always dependent on Hashem wherever we live, but in Eretz Yisroel, that dependence is palpable. You feel it.

As it turned out, there was no immediate need to worry. Despite President Trump’s bluster and threats, there was no war. Iran continues in its evil ways, and the world watches.

But perhaps the real question is not why I was willing to go to Eretz Yisroel with the possibility of war hanging over the country. The real question is why, throughout our history, Jews have been willing to do far more.

They left behind homes, families, livelihoods, and familiar surroundings. They traveled for months under conditions that are difficult for us to imagine. Some endured hunger and disease. Others arrived in a land where they had no means of supporting themselves and little of the physical comfort they had known in Europe.

And they did it willingly.

What were they looking for?

The answer is not simply that they wanted to live in a holy place. They were seeking something that cannot be measured in comfort, convenience, or even safety.

They wanted to be in the place where a Yid feels closest to the Ribono Shel Olam. They wanted to be in Hashem’s Chosen Land.

The stories of the talmidei HaGra and the talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov are especially moving because these were not people who had nothing to lose. They had homes. They had communities. They had positions of honor and lives that were familiar to them. Yet, the pull of Eretz Yisroel was stronger. The desire to live lives of kedusha in artzeinu hakedosha and help usher in the era of Moshiach pulled them out of their homes and away from their extended families to begin new lives in Eretz Yisroel. In the years since, many have followed their example, and as time passed, the challenges of settling there eased.

Those people understood something that we sometimes lose sight of.

For thousands of years, Yidden have davened, pleaded, sung, and begged to return to Yerushalayim, to Eretz Yisroel.

Every day, Jews around the world turn toward Yerushalayim. Three times a day, we ask to be returned to our land. At the end of the Seder, we proclaim, “Leshanah haba’ah b’Yerushalayim.” At its height, as Yom Kippur concludes, we cry out the same words.

And here I was, sitting on an airplane, heading to Yerushalayim, with the privilege of spending two weeks in Eretz Yisroel.

How blessed is our generation.

If only we would appreciate our blessings.

There is another thought that occurred to me as I sat on the plane.

We have become accustomed to something that is anything but ordinary.

We can wake up in New York, Los Angeles, London, or Paris, and by the next morning be in Yerushalayim.

We take it for granted.

We complain about the flight. We complain about the airport. We complain about the food. We complain about the traffic when we land.

And then we get into a car and drive through Yerushalayim.

Stop for a moment and think about that. For centuries, a Yid could spend his entire life dreaming about that moment. Our grandparents and great-grandparents longed to see Yerushalayim. They yearned to be able to walk through the streets of the Holy City.

For many of them, the dream remained a dream.

For others, the dream was so powerful that they abandoned everything they knew and undertook journeys that we would consider unimaginable.

And we?

We can book a ticket on our phone. A few clicks, a few hours in the air, and we are there. Perhaps because it is so easy, we don’t appreciate what we have.

There is a danger in miracles becoming routine.

When something extraordinary happens once, we are overwhelmed by it. When it happens every day, we begin to regard it as normal.

That may be one of the great challenges of our generation.

We were born into a world in which Jews can live in Eretz Yisroel as Jews. We can walk freely through Yerushalayim. We can learn Torah there, daven there, raise children there, and build communities there.

We can visit the Kosel whenever we want.

We can travel throughout the land that our ancestors could only dream of seeing.

And somehow, it has become ordinary.

Perhaps the seforim I was reading before the trip were reminding me not to let that happen.

They were reminding me that Eretz Yisroel is a gift.

A gift purchased with the yearning, sacrifice, and mesirus nefesh of generations.

A gift that carries responsibility, and a gift that should never be taken for granted.

Yet, Eretz Yisroel is going through a very difficult period.

Bnei Torah have been dealing with a campaign against them that would have been difficult to imagine not that long ago. Cynical propagandists have unleashed a vicious political war against the Torah community, turning the issue of military service into a weapon with which to attack an entire way of life.

The result, coming in the midst of an actual war against Israel’s mortal enemies, has been nothing short of a typhoon.

Instead of the Jewish people standing together against those who seek to destroy us, an increasingly bitter internal struggle has developed. The political and social divisions have become so deep that the country sometimes seems to be fighting a civil war while simultaneously fighting an external war.

And with elections approaching, the battle is only becoming more intense.

There is something particularly painful about this, because Eretz Yisroel is not merely a country. It is the home of the Jewish people.

For generations, the secularization of Israeli society was not merely tolerated. It was deliberately cultivated. Torah study and religious observance were pushed to the margins as the founders of the state sought to create a new Israeli Jew—more secular, more nationalistic, and less connected to the Jewish religious tradition.

The tragedy is that many of the early leaders had grown up differently.

They may not have been observant themselves, but they came from homes and communities where Torah, mitzvos, and Jewish tradition were familiar. They had parents and grandparents who were religious. They had relatives who were frum. They knew what Shabbos was. They knew what a bais medrash was. They knew that the Jewish people have a Torah.

And even when they fought against religious influence, many understood that the Torah community is an authentic and indispensable component of the Jewish people.

That understanding led to what became known as the religious status quo.

Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, despite being a secular socialist, reached an accommodation with the religious parties that included the famous arrangement granting exemptions from military service to yeshiva students.

The arrangement was far from perfect, and the Torah community certainly did not view the secular leadership as its natural ally. But there was an understanding that there was room in the Jewish state for Jews who lived according to the Torah.

There were other surprising connections as well.

Shimon Peres, who became one of Israel’s most prominent secular leaders, grew up with a Jewish religious background and had studied Torah with his grandfather. He also met the Chofetz Chaim as a youngster. Later, he played a role in preventing the draft of religious girls, for which the Torah community was eternally grateful.

Menachem Begin came from Brisk and, despite becoming a secular political leader, understood the world of Torah and the place of religious Jews within the Jewish people in a way that is difficult to find among today’s political class. He was familiar enough with Yiddishkeit that when he was hiding from the British, he hid in plain sight by living as a religious Jew in Yerushalayim.

When Begin came to power, it represented a historic change in the relationship between the government and the Torah parties.

There was still disagreement. There was still tension. There were still battles.

But there was a basic recognition that we, too, were entitled to support and rights.

That has changed.

Today, many of the politicians leading the campaign against the Torah community have little meaningful connection to Torah, halacha, or the culture and traditions of Jewish religious life.

And that lack of familiarity matters.

It is difficult to understand someone whose world you have never entered.

If you don’t understand why a person can spend his life learning Torah, you will see a yeshiva student as someone avoiding responsibility.

If you don’t understand what Torah means to a Yid, you will see Torah learning as merely another career choice.

If you don’t understand that the Jewish people survived exile because we remained connected toTorah, you will have difficulty understanding why the Torah community regards the preservation of Torah learning as an existential matter.

And if your ideal is to become “k’chol ha’amim”—like all the nations—then Torah will inevitably come to be viewed as an obstacle to that goal rather than the foundation of Jewish existence.

They don’t understand us at all.

This is not simply a political disagreement.

It is a disagreement over what a Jewish state is supposed to be.

Is Israel merely a country inhabited by people who happen to be Jewish, or is it the Jewish state whose identity is rooted in the history, heritage, and Torah of the Jewish people?

Those are two very different visions.

During my trip, I met Moshe Gafni, Knesset leader of Degel HaTorah. He asked me a question that has stayed with me: “Do people in America realize how bad the situation of the Torah community is in Israel?”

People in positions of leadership within the Torah community are deeply concerned about what the next elections will bring and what kind of government will emerge afterward. They understand that the coming political battles are not merely about personalities or parties. The decisions made now may determine the relationship between the State of Israel and the Torah community for years to come.

Every election is important. But some elections are pivotal.

President Ronald Reagan famously warned that freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction. The same principle can apply to institutions and traditions. What one generation takes for granted, the next generation may no longer understand, and the generation after that may actively oppose.

The coming elections may therefore represent a turning point in Israel’s relationship with its Torah community.

And there is another development that should trouble every Jew.

As the State of Israel has become increasingly estranged from Torah, and as the Torah community has increasingly been portrayed as the problem rather than as an essential part of the Jewish people, something else has been happening in the world.

Hatred of Jews has been rising.

Antisemitism has become more brazen, more mainstream, and more politically acceptable.

On American college campuses, in European cities, and increasingly within the Democrat Party, which once considered itself a friend of the Jewish people and which many Jews supported and still support, anti-Israel rhetoric has often crossed the line into something much darker.

It is a troubling irony. We spent two thousand years praying to return to Eretz Yisroel. We finally returned. A Jewish state was established. Cities, yeshivos, hospitals, and universities were built. Jews poured in from across the globe.

And yet, at the very moment when we have more Jewish power than we have had in two thousand years, there are those working to separate the Jewish state from the very thing that made us a nation in the first place: Torah.

That should frighten us, not because frum Jews need special privileges, but because a Jewish state without a Jewish soul is ultimately a contradiction.

Eretz Yisroel was not promised to us merely so that we could become another nation, with theaters, universities, and a government. It was given to us so that we could become the nation Hashem chose us to be.

But despite all of this, Eretz Yisroel remains Eretz Yisroel.

It is the land Hashem promised to our forefathers. It is the direction toward which we turn three times a day when we daven. Its air is holy. Its soil is holy. And many of the people who live there are visibly holy.

On this visit, I discovered a new gem.

A friend suggested that I daven on Shabbos morning at the Kerem Avrohom shul. It is literally a stone’s throw from the new developments on the Schneller property in Geulah, where I was staying.

The contrast could hardly be greater.

Jerusalem Estates is a modern high-rise development, with contemporary architecture and beautifully appointed apartments equipped with all the latest amenities.

And in its very shadow stands this little shul, a throwback to another Yerushalayim.

The shul is small and has only a few regular mispallelim. To reach it, you climb an outdoor flight of steps to the second floor. There is nothing grand about it. No marble lobby. No impressive entrance. No architectural statement.

Just a little shul.

But what a shul!

As soon as I heard how close it was, I was eager to daven there. I remembered having been there as a bochur, when I was learning in Brisk. Rav Dovid Soloveitchik’s yeshiva had learned one of the sedorim there, and I had gone there several times and regularly passed it.

Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach had lived in Yerushalayim when he first came to Eretz Yisroel and he had learned in this very shul.

Now I had the opportunity to return.

The people were warm and welcoming. After davening, several of the mispallelim came over to greet me, asking my name and where I am from.

One of the men who approached me was an older Yid who was the baal korei.

I complimented him on his laining and asked him his name.

“Yadler,” he told me.

I asked if he was related to the famed Yerushalayim maggid, Rav Bentzion Yadler.

He looked at me and told me that he was his father’s father.

I took another look at him.

I studied his face and features, trying to discern in him the remnants of the Yerushalayim of old, the world of the legendary maggid whose name is woven into the story of Yerushalayim.

Apparently, he noticed me looking at him.

He looked me straight in the eye and said very seriously: “Ihr hut ah zechus vos ihr hut gedavent du! You have a zechus that you davened here!”

Indeed, I did.

I looked around the shul and noticed a plaque thanking the Jews of Vilna who had contributed toward the construction of the building.

Then I saw the date, 5654. I made a quick calculation and realized that it was the year 1894.

I stood there for a moment, contemplating those numbers.

What did the world look like then?

What did Yerushalayim look like?

What did life look like for the Yidden who built this little shul?

The world has changed almost beyond recognition since then. Empires have risen and disappeared. Nations have been created and destroyed. Technology has transformed every aspect of human life. Yerushalayim has expanded far beyond what it was back then and become a major city.

Yet, this little shul is still there.

Torah is still being learned there.

Tefillos are still being recited there.

Yidden are still walking up those same steps to stand before Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

The rov of the shul is the fourth member of his family to occupy the position, going back to the famed brothers, Rav Yonah and Rav Eliyohu Rom.

I went over to him and said shalom aleichem. He asked my name and whether I was related to Rav Yisroel Lipschutz, the author of the Tiferes Yisroel on Mishnayos. I told him that I wasn’t, and that my family came from Kovno. He smiled and told me that I had come to the right place and should feel at home.

He then told me something else.

The famed gaon, Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin, who lived in the Old City of Yerushalayim, would venture beyond the walls during the summer and daven in this very shul.

Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin had previously served as the rov of Kovno.

Suddenly, my own connection to the place felt a little more personal.

I had been doubly blessed.

I had the zechus to be in Yerushalayim, and I had the zechus to daven in a small, unassuming shul where great gedolim had stood before me—where Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin had davened, where Rav Shach had learned, and where the yeshiva headed by the son of the Brisker Rov, populated by talmidim who would go on to become Klal Yisroel’s roshei yeshiva, rabbeim, and rabbonim, had once learned.

This is Eretz Yisroel.

For all its problems, for all its struggles, for all the political turmoil and uncertainty, there is no place like it.

Every step taken there is a mitzvah.

Every corner has a story.

Every stone seems to hold a secret.

The land preserves and transmits a heritage that stretches back thousands of years, and everywhere you turn, you encounter the people who lived there, dreamed there, struggled there, davened there, and refused to give up on it.

Perhaps that is why, especially now, we need to concentrate on the good.

It is Elul.

The month when we prepare ourselves for the Yom Hadin has arrived.

And the Torah gives us a remarkable formula for approaching that judgment.

The Kedushas Levi, in this week’s parsha, Parshas Shoftim, explains the pesukim of “Shoftim veshotrim titein lecha bechol she’arecha.”

We are commanded to establish judges and officers. But there is another message hidden within these words.

If we learn to judge others properly, with fairness, compassion, and kindness, then “veshoftu es ha’am mishpat tzedek”—we can bring about a more merciful judgment upon Klal Yisroel.

The way we judge others influences the way we ourselves are judged.

That is a powerful thought with which to enter Elul.

We are all preparing for the Yom Hadin. We are examining ourselves, thinking about where we can improve, where we have fallen short, and what we can do differently in the coming year.

And we all have much to daven for.

Klal Yisroel is in a serious situation.

Our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel are living with danger from without and painful divisions within. The Torah community is facing challenges that could have consequences for generations. Antisemitism is rising around the world. The Jewish people need rachamim.

An important thing we can all do now is to help arouse the middah of chesed.

Judge others favorably.

Speak more kindly.

Assume the best.

Look for the good.

Give people the benefit of the doubt.

And perhaps, in that zechus, we will merit that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will look upon us with that same middah.

The summer is coming to an early end this year, and the heady days of Elul have arrived.

We spent the summer trying to maximize the days of bein hazemanim. Now we have entered a different season, one in which we have to maximize something far more precious: the days of Elul.

We were given a gift in Eretz Yisroel.

We were given the gift of a generation that can travel to Yerushalayim with a boarding pass.

We were given the gift of Torah, of tefillah, of Jewish life, and of the ability to walk in the footsteps of generations who dreamed of being where we are.

Let us not take any of it for granted. Let us appreciate the blessings we have each day in our lives.

Let us see the good. Let us judge one another favorably.

And let us use these precious days of Elul to arouse the middas hachesed, so that we and all of Klal Yisroel may be judged favorably and merit a kesivah vachasimah tovah, a year of good health, yeshuah, hatzlocha, brocha, and, if he has not come before the new year begins, bias Moshiach Tzidkeinu.

A number of years ago, I wrote an article for this newspaper entitled “Learning from the Mafia,” which later appeared in my ArtScroll book Blueprints. That somewhat odd provenance sought to create a modern-day kal vachomer. A researcher discovered that when leaders of the infamous crime syndicate sought to cultivate new young leadership, they looked for certain signs of nascent “talent” or hopefully evil traits. If a young man exhibited early cruelty, flashes of sadistic behavior or similar horrible middos, he would be tested, groomed and taught the evil trade. The kal vachomer was how much more carefully we should be mechanech our children to become the tzaddikim and tzidkaniyos we dream of and Klal Yisroel requires.

Now, a number of years later, we have discovered that not one but several generations of Americans — and other western countries — have been infected by a heinous conspiracy to alter and distort our vulnerable young people. The continent of Europe has been almost completely destroyed by this dark humanly inflicted epidemic and the United States may not be far behind. For decades, the universities have been polluted by the ultimate shochad — billions strategically spent on higher and even elementary education. Teachers, professors, what today are called “influencers,” and others capable of molding naïve and unsuspecting minds have — perhaps irrevocably — ruined the most important gift a human being has, the mind itself. The power of demagogues, indoctrination masquerading as teaching, and brainwashing dressed up as intellectual courses, have all ganged up to give birth to the monster generation we are witnessing.

In point of fact, the initiation system of the mafia pales by comparison in its corruption with the patience and endurance of Qatar and other sources of funding provided by radical Islam, the evil left and classic anti-Semitism. What we, in New York, have been horrified to watch, as it metastasizes its way through the bloodstream of our city, would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago. Unfortunately, our enemies have planned for longer and been smarter than the average decent citizen, to the detriment of us all. We just learned in Pirkei Avos (4:1), “Who is wise? He who learns from every person.” Early meforshim (see Eizer Shmuel, ibid., page 415) teach that this refers to learning from our enemies.

At this point in history, they are way ahead of us. Not only the universities, but the media, and often sports and popular culture figures, have been bought off or simply overcome by the onslaught of pretense, duplicity and hypocrisy to which they have been exposed. The opening posuk of this week’s sedrah teaches, “Judges and officers shall you appoint in all she’arecha — the gates of your cites.” The Shelah Hakadosh (Derech Chaim, Tochachas Mussar) cites the Sefer Yetzirah, which identifies the “gates” as “the eyes, ears, mouth” and other organs that allow the world to enter into our brains and souls. Rav Elya Lopian (see Ohr HaTorah, page 738) used to quote this Shelah to demonstrate how dangerous it is to open ourselves up to anything the eye can see or the ear has access to hear. We, unfortunately, can now add that just as the borders of our cities throughout the world have often been opened without investigation or even torn down entirely, so have the so-called guardians of our educational institutions not only failed us but purposefully poisoned the waters.

Now that we have entered the month of Elul, it is a propitious time for us to take stock of ourselves and decide what course of action to take. Elul is the end of the year, but, more importantly, the time to look ahead. Where are we and where should we be going? How serious is all of this? Nothing could be more crucial and life-altering. When the president of the United States has faced several assassination attempts, to no great reaction; when a young man, Luigi Mangione, can shoot an innocent man in the back because he disagrees with something legal that he does for a living, and many are cheering the murderer; when thirty-four Harvard groups can express approval for the October 7th Simchas Torah massacres of innocents, it is time to take stock of ourselves and the world itself. Although many people have likened the DSA phenomenon to that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, we must be honest that it may be even worse. At that time, the Nazi threat was limited to Germany, whereas anti-Semitism is now rampant throughout most of the ostensibly civilized world. Yes, this is serious indeed.

I must add a story that I heard personally that accentuates the changes that have occurred in the world. I was extremely close with the great Sefardic leader, Rav Eliezer Ben-David, mashgiach of Porat Yosef. I had the zechus of translating and adapting his work, Out of the Iron Furnace _,_and traveling with him to many Sefardic events. He shared with me that on one of his fundraising trips to the United States, he found himself waiting in a Chicago office filled with many people. Spotting a fellow Sefardic Jew, he struck up a conversation with him in Hebrew. When they were finished, he noticed that a clearly gentile man had been staring intently at them. Although the other Jew went back to his own family, the stranger continued to look intently at Rav Ben-David. Very politely, the rov asked, in his broken English, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes,” the man responded. “Can you tell me if you are Jewish?”

Rav Eliezer was a bit nervous but answered directly, “Yes, why do you wish to know?”

The response was shocking and uplifting.

“You see,” he responded, “I am from Mexico and I have never seen a Jew before. Now that I have met you, I know that I am meeting the children of G-d. I would like to ask you a question. May I?”

The rov responded, now somewhat relieved, but still wary.

“I think of many things all the time — my job, my family, sports, politics — but you are one of G-d’s children. You must always be thinking of the Creator. Can you please tell me what you are thinking right now?”

I don’t recall what Rav Ben-David’s response was, but to me, he said, “Imagine, to a gentile who has never seen a Yid, he expects us to be constantly thinking about Hashem. I take this as a message from the Borei Olam that I must improve myself in the middah of shivisi Hashem lenegdi somid.”

Wow! There was a time, not so long ago, when gentiles looked up to us and thought that we are never meisiach daas from Hashem. Have we fallen from what Chazal (Chagigah 14a) call m’igra rama l’birah amikta — from a high tower into a lowly pit? We all know that during ikvesa d’Meshicha, there will be hard times. Surely, the Nazis, Soviet Union, and many intifadas were terrifying and horrific. But we are now facing a generation that has been infected and defiled to the point that it is almost unrecognizable as being human, sane or reliable in any way as being rational and capable of independent thought.

But this is not the time to lose hope. The essence of Elul is “Ani leDodi veDodi li.” We know, beyond any doubt, that Hashem loves us and we love Him. So what should we do now? This month. This year.

This past Shabbos, I related an extremely uplifting story told by Rav Shlomo Miller. It is a summer story, but, more importantly, it is laden with light with which we can penetrate all this darkness. Toward the end of the zeman, a yeshiva decided to reward the bochurim with a trip to celebrate a successful year of learning Torah. The yeshiva rented a water park and busses, and spirits were high. As the two busses pulled up to the destination, the rabbeim were horrified to see that another school, this time a Bais Yaakov, was also unloading several busloads of bnos Yisroel. Of course, the rabbeim immediately ordered the bus to exit the premises, leaving over 50 boys depressed, angry and certainly disappointed. However, one young boy asked for the mike and spoke into the bus P.A. system. “Guys, listen. Hashem didn’t want us to see anything with a lack of tznius, so we are leaving. What a zechus we have that we are doing the will of Hashem.” Then he began singing “Ashreinu mah tov chelkeinu umah yafah yerushaseinu.” The entire bus erupted into a holy fire of kedusha and taharah.

When the two busses met up at their now new destination, a park where they could at least play some ball, the rabbeim on bus #1 told the story to the rabbeim from bus #2.

“What?” they responded in shock. “The exact same thing happened on our bus. What was the boy’s name?”

The answer was, “Yossi Cohen.”

Now it was the other rebbi’s turn to marvel. “Our singer was his brother, Chaim.”

When the principal was told this wonderful story, he immediately called the parents to give them the nachas report. The parents who noticed where the call was coming from got very nervous, but were soon relieved and proud. “How did you raise such amazing children?” the menahel inquired. The mother gave full credit to her husband, but he told the “rest of the story.”

Six months before, his wife took the children clothing shopping. They were going to a family simcha and everyone needed something. However, it had been a long day, and the children were all thirsty. “Wait a moment. I will get drinks for everyone,” the mother said. The bus pulled up, but as they were about to finally drink, the mother announced to their chagrin, “I’m so sorry. I bought the wrong bottles. These don’t have a good hechsher. We can’t drink them.”

When they got home, the mother took out packages of ice cream and rewarded them for their patience. A little later, when the father arrived, he heard the whole story and complimented his children’s reaction, understanding and patience. Then he announced, “Let’s now go to the store. Every one of you can pick three candies or desserts that you want.”

At home, the father lit candles as if it was Shabbos and announced. “This is a Yom Tov for us all, a historic day for our family. When you accept the will of Hashem and don’t complain, that makes Hashem and all of us very happy and fortunate. Let’s sing Ashreinu. We are children of Hashem and He wants only what is good for us. You know that and we are so proud of you.”

This Elul, let us all sing Ashreinu that we different. We have our own chinuch. We have the Torah. Hashem loves us and we love Him. We may be going through a difficult time, but it will only lead to the geulah sheleimah bemeheirah beyominu. Amein.

By the time you read these words, it will probably be Rosh Chodesh Elul or later. Thus, the message should probably reflect the weightiness of this chodesh and the beginning of the preparation for the Yomim Noraim. The problem is that, at the time I am actually writing these words, we are still in the middle of the bein hazemanim vacation, and, truth be told, I am still having a difficult time transporting my mind and heart into the Elul atmosphere.

Therefore, I think it would be appropriate to present a lesson that I learned during bein hazemanim that has applications to Elul.

Those of us who live in very large, established frum communities such as Lakewood, Brooklyn, Monsey, and others enjoy what I call “the luxuries of frum life.” In these enclaves, although there are obviously many nuances, you can go days and even weeks interacting with, davening with, and even shopping with people who live lifestyles fairly similar to your own.

Yes, of course, there are differences, but the nature of these communities is that you daven with like-minded people, you learn with like-minded people, and you might even go to the local gym to exercise so that you can keep your blood pressure down by losing weight—with like-minded people.

Encountering Yidden Who Are Different While On Vacation

One of the times that we actually see, meet, and interact with others who are not exactly in the same orbit as we are is during bein hazemanim, when many of us get away. We suddenly encounter people who may be different from those we are accustomed to seeing in our large frum communities. You don’t even have to go far to meet them. You don’t have to travel to exotic or unusual vacation spots. You can meet them in places just a few hours from home—perhaps in Pennsylvania, maybe in upstate New York, or anywhere else along the Eastern Seaboard.

What happens? You walk into a shul or a makeshift shul and see other Yidden who have also come to daven. They may look a bit different from you. Their attire is often not the same. You would be horrified to come to shul in flip-flops or shorts, as some of them do, but at the same time, they are saying the same Krias Shema and davening the same Shemoneh Esrei. It soon becomes very clear that not only do they value davening b’tzibbur enough to come to Shacharis, Mincha and Maariv, but they also listen intently to a devar halacha between Mincha and Maariv, commenting and asking questions.

I remember going to a local non-Jewish chain supermarket to buy water, soda, fruits, and vegetables, and seeing Yidden I wouldn’t usually see in Lakewood shopping there. They were intently scanning the labels for kosher symbols.

I realized that, yes, they are, in many ways, different from me, but we are all sons of the same Father. They know that our Father wants us to keep kosher, and that is what we do.

No, I am not advocating saying, “Great, we are all one, and how you daven or in what attire you daven makes no difference.”

Of course it does! My point, however, is that we get to see people who don’t look like us serving the same Hashem as us, keeping the same Shabbos, and observing the same basic kashrus. In short, they are amisecha. In accordance with the Torah, they are our brothers.

Now, brothers can disagree over many things and many standards, but they are still brothers.

Together!

I remember that, a while back, my extended family got together for a simcha. My extended family is not all cut from the same cloth. Their standards of Yiddishkeit, styles of dress, and approaches to technology are quite diverse.

I remember spending that gathering thinking to myself, “Had my father, zichrono livrocha, been alive, he would have kvelled from seeing us interacting together. He would have been delighted and thought, ‘They are different, but they are all my children, and I am so happy that they are sticking together.’”

We may not eat all the same hashgachos. Some of what other Yidden do might be very troubling to me and even hurtful. But one thing is clear: They, too, are living their lives in America in 2026 with cognizance of Hashem’s presence.

No King Without a Nation

During Elul, in the famous Talmud Torah of Kelm, the mussar factory that produced so many of the primary mussar figures who transformed Klal Yisroel, the Alter of Kelm would post a sign in the bais medrash that read, “Ein Melech b’lo am — It is not possible to coronate the King, Hashem, without a nation to coronate Him.”

He explained that this teaches us that it is imperative to behave like a nation, as one, to engage in zikui harabbim, to be cognizant of the needs of our fellow Yidden, and to try to provide for them.

Part of the avodah of Elul and the Yomim Noraim is to realize that we cannot coronate Hashem as our King if He has no nation. When we are together and are helping each other—all those who are considered amisecha, even if they are not exactly like us—that is a manifestation of coronating the King. When we are a nation, together, all of us coronate the King. If we are only willing to coronate Him with those who are exactly like us, then we may be missing part of the malchus.

So, if we truly want to make Hashem the Melech and coronate Him during this upcoming Yomim Noraim, all of us—all the diverse segments of Am Yisroel—must try to better understand each other.

Diffusing an Explosive Topic

I don’t like to inadvertently wade into a minefield, and I hope that what I am about to say won’t be misunderstood. One of the hottest hot-button issues of our time is the issue of the draft in Eretz Yisroel, and I think it is important for both sides to attempt to understand the viewpoint of the other.

No, I am not referring to the judges and politicians who are not even part of amisecha and who are simply using this issue as a cudgel to beat us and as a political tool to spread hatred and divisiveness among Klal Yisroel. About them we say, “Ul’resha mah lecha lesaper chukecha…”

There is, however, a massive segment of the population, both in Eretz Yisroel and even in chutz la’aretz, that is making no attempt to understand each other, even while they disagree. We want them to understand two things: the value of Torah lishmah, limud haTorah, and intensive limud haTorah without anything else. We also want them to understand how the army, even under the best of circumstances, presents serious spiritual pitfalls, even the so-called “chareidi” divisions. I have personally spoken with bochurim who are in the army and I have heard this from them firsthand.

Understanding Each Other

On the other hand, if we want them to understand us, we must stop for a moment and think about their reality. These soldiers, both regular soldiers and reservists, have spent significant portions of the time since October 7th on the front lines. Their lives have been turned upside down. Their wives, children, mothers, and fathers have had to contend not only with their absence from home and the loss of income, but, even worse, with the gripping fear that there might be a knock on the door or a phone call that will change their lives forever.

So many have died. So many have been wounded. So many wives are sitting at home alone with their children while their husbands are in horribly dangerous places such as Gaza and Lebanon.

If we want them to understand us, we must also understand their reality, sympathize with them, be nosei b’ol with them, and have a deep sense of hakoras hatov for them, even while tenaciously holding our position that we cannot participate together with them and that we must listen to the gedolei Yisroel who guide us in these extremely weighty matters of spiritual life and death.

If, however, we are so busy with our own battle that we cannot feel for them and empathize with what they are going through, we are truly missing something fundamental.

As we enter Elul, let us at least look positively at all of amisecha, at all our brothers and sisters, because they are our brothers and sisters. No, that doesn’t mean relaxing our standards in any way. But just as I know that my father would have derived tremendous pleasure from watching the different generations in his own family get along with achdus, so too, our Father in Heaven, our Melech, will certainly look benevolently upon His nation this Yomim Noraim when He sees that we are at least trying to understand each other and stick together despite our very real differences.

Every once in a while, we meet someone from a place that catches our attention. We are all familiar with the stories of travelers visiting remote villages tucked away in the mountains or tiny towns surrounded by endless forests or miles of empty land. But recently, my son related an encounter he had with someone from a place that means a great deal more to us than it did to him.

To my son, meeting a native of that country and that particular city was even more fascinating.

The city was once a bustling center, celebrated far and wide for its greatness, influence, and accomplishment. The young man whom my son met knew nothing of that past. To him, like most others living there, although the capital of a country, the city was just another Eastern European city. The fellow never imagined that an American tourist in a Utah hotel lobby would know its history better than he did.

Here’s the encounter: A few weeks ago, while staying at a hotel out west, my son needed some help in the lobby. A friendly hotel employee came over to assist him. As they spoke, my son noticed that the fellow had an accent. Trying to make conversation, he asked where he was from.

“Lithuania,” the man replied.

Like a good scion of Litvishe ancestry, my son, without missing a beat, answered, “So am I.”

The employee looked at him quizzically before breaking into laughter.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “Most people I tell that to have never even heard of Lithuania.”

My son smiled. “You’re right. I wasn’t born there. But I still consider myself to be from Lithuania.” Indeed, his paternal grandfather was born and raised in Lithuania until the age of fifteen. His maternal grandmother was born there too, and his paternal grandfather, whose father came from Kovno, was so proud of his Litvish roots that he kept a small Lithuanian flag in his house for years, not out of patriotism, but as a reminder of where his family had come from.

My son still remembers asking his mother’s father why he displayed it. My shver, Rav Yacov Lipschutz zt”l, told him something he didn’t understand until he was older: “A man should keep his birthplace close enough to see, and far enough not to go back.” He never did go back. He didn’t have to. He carried Kovno with him the way other men carry keys to houses they’ll never enter again. Not because he expected to use them, but because a man doesn’t throw away the keys to his home, even a home that isn’t there anymore. You’ll never use them, but you don’t want to lose the memories.

So, there it was. Somewhere in Utah. A real Litvak, who knew nothing of the grandeur of his birthplace. Their conversation quickly turned into a geography lesson. They exchanged the names of cities that evoke entirely different emotions depending upon who is listening. Kaunas, better known to us as Kovno. Kelmė, our beloved Kelm, where my son’s maternal great-grandfather spent many years. Tytuvėnai, or Tzitivyan, where his grandfather grew up.

Finally, my son asked where in Lithuania he was from.

“Vilnius,” the fellow answered.

My son smiled. “We call it Vilna.”

The fellow never met anyone who had heard of those places, but he had simply never met the right Americans. He had no idea that the very name of that city is spoken with a sense of reverence in every Torah community across America and across the globe.

Consider, for a moment, what it must be like to work in the White House and think of it as just another office building where you happen to punch a clock each morning. Or to drive Rav Chaim Kanievsky from place to place for years and, when asked what you do, answer simply, “I’m a driver.” Technically true. Not even close to the whole story. That’s roughly where this fellow stood. He wasn’t wrong about anything he said. He just had no way of knowing how much history was riding in the back seat. Or like a man living out his days in an old, unremarkable house, never once imagining that kings had walked its halls generations before him, that the very floorboards he crossed without a second glance had once echoed with the footsteps of royalty.

My son tried to explain his excitement to the fellow. After all, to us, Vilna was never merely another European capital. For centuries it was one of the beating hearts of Torah, its influence reaching every corner of the Jewish world. He had no idea that the Vilna Gaon himself once walked those same streets, that his city was, for generations, the undisputed mecca of European Yiddishkeit, ir v’eim b’Yisroel in the fullest sense. Today that world has disappeared. The buildings remain; the soul has ascended.

As the conversation continued, my son decided not to let the young man leave without hearing at least a little of the history that was so personal to our family. He described what his own grandfather experienced growing up in Lithuania. The grinding poverty. The antisemitism. The beatings. The constant fear of simply being a Jew. Then came the destruction of the Holocaust, carried out not only by the Nazis but with the willing participation of far too many Lithuanian collaborators.

What surprised my son most was not the fellow’s reaction, but his lack of one. He seemed a genuine stranger to history, lost in the lobby of a Marriott in Utah, eighty years removed from a Holocaust in which many of his forebears had willingly taken part. The thriving Jewish civilization that once made Lithuania famous, its destruction, and the role his own countrymen played in it, were completely foreign to him.

That would have been enough to end the conversation right there. But my son, being my son, couldn’t resist one smaller irony sitting just beneath the bigger one, too good to leave on the table even as a footnote.

As they concluded their conversation, my son smiled and mused, “Funny how history works. The prior generation chased the generation before mine out of Lithuania. Today their grandchildren have come to America to shlep my bags in the lobby.”

Not the kindest thing to say to a hotel employee doing his job, perhaps. But true, and true things land whether or not you dress them up in mussar. A Lithuanian government once decided which of our grandfathers got to leave. Now a Lithuanian grandson carries the suitcase of the grandson of one who did.

The fellow smiled politely. Neither of them said another word.

But the encounter lingered in my son’s mind, and when he shared it with me, it lingered in mine as well.

We are still in golus. We continue to experience hatred that reminds us we are not yet home. Sometimes golus wears a uniform and marches. Sometimes it wears a black suit and tie, a trimmed beard and a wide grin. My son’s own grandfather knew the version that wore neither. It simply moved in next door, waited, and eventually reared its ugly head. The forms change from generation to generation. Sometimes it attacks, sometimes it legislates. But what doesn’t change is the arithmetic: we are, each time, the ones who leave, and someone else is, each time, the one who stays, and the ones who eventually forget why we left or that we were even there.

Yet history has a way of humbling those who assume today’s reality is permanent. Vilna was once among the most admired cities in the Jewish world; today, most who live there have little idea why.

Empires rise. Empires fall. Nations rewrite their own histories. Entire civilizations forget what once made them great.

The Jewish people, however, remember.

We remember our homes, our yeshivos, our rabbonim, our martyrs, and our dreams. We remember them not as historians remember dates, but as children remember a parent’s face, with a familiarity that doesn’t fade even when the street it lived on does.

My father-in-law’s flag was displayed  in his house for decades. I don’t know what ever became of it. But I think about it every time I hear of a Lithuanian city that no longer knows its own name in Jewish history, a name he never once forgot, even from three thousand miles and half a century away.

But we also remember something else.

Our future does not lie in Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Russia, America, or anywhere else that has temporarily hosted us through the centuries. We have been guests in enough places to know the difference between a host and a home, however gracious the host, however long the stay.

It may have been a part of a fleeting past, but our future has never been Vilna. It never will be. Our future is Yerushalayim.

Just Saying.

All are urged to learn and daven for the speedy and complete recovery of our dear and esteemed columnist, Rav Yitzchok Schwarz, Yitzchok Tzvi ben Perel, who took ill recently and is in need of rachamei Shomayim. May he have a refuah sheleimah bekarov.

Tragedies Rock the Country During Bein Hazemanim

It has been two weeks since we last met on the pages of this newspaper, and I have much to tell you. Of course, one of the top news stories these days is the upcoming election, which is drawing steadily closer as the competition heats up between the various parties. However, that is perhaps a secondary issue right now. Bli neder, I will write more about it next week. For now, we are turning our attention to the month of Elul, which lies immediately ahead of us.

But even as we look toward the future, we cannot help but reflect on the immediate past. Sadly, this year’s bein hazemanim has brought a series of tragedies: People drowned at the beaches, fell from heights, or were killed in traffic accidents or even household accidents. There was a baby boy who choked to death, a baby girl who drowned in a private pool, a young boy who drowned in a river, and a small boy who died of heat stroke after being forgotten in a hot car. It seems as if this year’s bein hazemanim has been marred by more tragedies than ever before. Not all of the tragedies are connected to bein hazemanim, but many of them are. And since Klal Yisroel is like a single unit, every death of an individual Jew brings terrible pain and grief to all of us.

It is no secret that the gedolei Yisroel have always warned us to exercise special caution during bein hazemanim, especially because of the general laxity in Torah learning that naturally manifests itself during this season. I have always felt that the reduction in Torah learning is countered by the increase in chesed performed during these days. Countless chesed organizations are especially active during the vacation period, when they organize events for the benefit of the sick or disadvantaged. I have personally witnessed the accomplishments of two of these organizations, which left me dazzled. Mesugalim, an organization that supports families of children with autism, organizes special vacation programs for the children during this period. Every child in the program is assigned an individual counselor, and some of the children even receive two counselors! With hundreds of children registered for these programs, this means that hundreds of yeshiva bochurim and seminary students volunteer to serve in this capacity, freely giving up their own vacations so that the children’s families can have a few days of respite when they can breathe more easily. Mesugalim was founded by my friend Avi (Avrohom) Mimran, who is commonly known as “Itzik’s father.” His own son, Itzik, suffers from a severe case of autism and is profoundly low-functioning. Mimran is a remarkable tzaddik who has been spurred by his own experiences to help many others.

The second event I attended this year was the annual event held by B’Lev Echad, the organization founded by Dudi Weitman to support hundreds of families of sick children. B’Lev Echad provides programs, vacations, and various events throughout the year and even maintains a special facility in Beitar Illit, but I am referring specifically to its annual summer event. Chazal teach us that anyone who has a sick family member in his home should ask a talmid chochom to daven for them; I would add that his next step should be to approach B’Lev Echad and ask to be included on the list of recipients of their prodigious chesed. I have long been astounded by B’Lev Echad’s activities. Every year, the summer event is even more outstanding and on a grander scale than the year before. At the beginning of bein hazemanim, they held the “greatest summer event in the world for special children and their families,” which the families have been eagerly awaiting since last Rosh Hashanah. There were hundreds of children there, and every child with special needs pointed proudly to the family members who were permitted to attend the event because of him (or her). There were also hundreds of counselors and volunteers, and the event featured musical performances by Amram Adar, Benny Laufer, the Neshomah choir, and Shmulik Sukkot. It was a fantastic experience. At some point, dozens of children were invited to the stage to sing with Sukkot, leaving them in a visible state of ecstasy. Not many people are aware of the immensely complex logistical coordination required for such an event, including collaboration with the police, who insisted on keeping the audience off the stage. When the gates were opened and the children were invited onto the stage, it was a nightmare for the security team, but it was also a shining moment for B’Lev Echad and a dream come true for dozens of children. It is chilling to think of how many ill or needy people walk among us while we are often completely unaware of their travails. B’Lev Echad and the many other such organizations deserve tremendous appreciation for all that they have done to ease the burdens of many beleaguered families.

Heartfelt Prayers in Meron

In light of the recent string of tragedies and hardships, a number of leading chassidish rebbes called on the public to travel to Meron on erev Rosh Chodesh Elul and to daven at the kever of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai for Hashem to put an end to His people’s suffering.

I can personally bear witness to this. I spent a day in Tzefas during bein hazemanim; in fact, I made the trip for the purpose of interviewing two people for this newspaper. On the way, I stopped at the kever of Rabi Meir Baal Hanes in Teveria for Mincha and Maariv, and I witnessed thousands of people davening with great passion, some shedding rivers of tears. To my mind, this is a clear sign that Klal Yisroel has been beset by troubles. At the ancient cemetery in Tzefas, I witnessed the same sight again: thousands of people davening, with hundreds of them shedding bitter tears. Even though it was bein hazemanim, when people often visit such sites, the volume of visitors was still far greater than usual, especially at a time when the security situation is far from simple. And the same was true in Meron: On my way back, I stopped at Meron to daven and found the area packed with people. Hundreds of cars were parked there, while thousands of people poured their hearts out at the tziyun of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai, begging Hashem to put an end to their hardships.

One of my interviewees in Tzefas was Mayor Yosef Kakun. We had a long and fascinating conversation, from which I will share just one small item here: The mayor told me that he cannot understand what he described as the disappearance of the American community. He felt that the flow of American visitors to Tzefas has dwindled, and he is perplexed by the absence of foreign tourists. I hope, however, that he is mistaken.

I will also observe that the city of Tzefas has changed significantly since my last visit several years ago, perhaps due to Mayor Kakun’s activities. The city is cleaner, the older part of the city is more colorful, and many new businesses have opened there, while thousands of tourists explore the alleyways of the old city of Tzefas every day. My son, who stayed in the newer portion of Tzefas, would perhaps be better equipped to tell you about that part of the city; I spent my time in the old city, where I stayed in a new establishment known as Beit Atzulat Europe located in the heart of the city, across from the municipal building on Rechov Yerushalayim, which is the main street in the old city of Tzefas. While I am not much of an expert on the tourism industry, I believe that Atzulat Europe may well become a leading destination in Tzefas if it continues in this fashion.

Speaking of the davening in Meron, perhaps I should mention the tefillos that were held last week in the village of Mir at the gravesite of Rav Yeruchom Levovitz. Many years ago, when Rav Yeruchom’s matzeivah was erected, Rav Shlomo Wolbe traveled to Mir for the occasion. Ten years ago, a delegation of rabbonim from Israel and America visited the site, including the mashgiach’s namesake, Rav Yeruchom Levovitz of Chicago, and Rav Nachman Levovitz, one of the roshei yeshiva of Mir in Yerushalayim. This time, an ohel was established at the kever.

Rav Chanoch’s Legacy

By now, you are probably familiar with my tradition of announcing the upcoming arrival of Elul in this column. This is my way of fulfilling the tzavaah of Rav Chanoch Karelenstein, my close friend and rebbi who tragically passed away in Elul of the year 5759/1999. I have written at length about Rav Chanoch in the past. A few weeks before his passing, just before Rosh Chodesh Elul, Rav Chanoch appeared at my doorstep. This alone was quite a feat; I live in a fourth-floor walkup, and Rav Chanoch, who was quite ill at the time, used the last dregs of his strength to climb the steps to my home. And why did he come? He had a simple request: He wanted me to make sure that the word “Elul!” appeared in large, bright red letters on the front page of the widely read newspaper for which I was writing at the time. I tried to protest that this was not an accepted practice; the front page of every newspaper was reserved for headlines, not the name of the month, but Rav Chanoch was insistent. “If even one Jew is inspired to do teshuvah because of this, it will be a zechus for me,” he said. “And do not be concerned. Perhaps people will mock you for this at first, but others will emulate your example in the future.”

Rav Chanoch Karelenstein was a man of many accomplishments. He was a brilliant talmid chochom and a confidant of all the gedolei Yisroel. He was married to Rebbetzin Tzira Levin, a renowned educator and the granddaughter of Rav Aryeh Levin, the famed tzaddik of Yerushalayim. Naturally, this meant that Rav Elyashiv, who was Rav Aryeh’s son-in-law, was Rav Chanoch’s uncle through marriage, and Rav Chaim Kanievsky was like a cousin to him. And these gedolei Yisroel were very fond of him. He was also held in high regard by the roshei yeshiva of Ponovezh and by the Steipler Gaon. As always, I must fulfill his dying wishes this year by announcing that Elul is on our doorstep. Elul!

Two weeks ago, the 55th volume of the Torah journal B’Nesivos Hahalacha was released. The latest volume, yet another masterful product of Rav Nochum Kastner’s work, contains remarkable chiddushim from all the gedolei Yisroel, along with an entire chapter dedicated to Rav Chanoch’s chiddushim and edifying anecdotes about him. I will quote two brief anecdotes: Before his wedding, Rav Chanoch’s grandfather, Rav Shmuel Boruch Werner, visited the Steipler Gaon to invite him to the wedding. The Steipler shook the grandfather’s hand and said, “This isn’t only your grandson’s wedding; it is the wedding of a person who will be one of the greatest marbitzei Torah of the coming generation.” Indeed, even though Rav Chanoch passed away at the young age of 42, he did become one of the Torah world’s greatest teachers and authors, to the point that Rav Chaim Kanievsky commented that he had achieved more in his short lifetime than many people manage to accomplish while living to a ripe old age. After Rav Chanoch’s passing, hespedim were held in the yeshiva of Yeruchom, where he served as rosh yeshiva along with Rav Shimshon Pincus. “We are paying tribute to him from the vantage point of Yeruchom, but we should really be eulogizing him from the perspective of the entire world,” Rav Pincus said. “The Jewish people have lost a leader.”

Soldiers on the Front Continue Paying with Their Lives

Sadly, we have been continuously receiving more and more tragic news. On Wednesday, the IDF announced that two soldiers in the Reserve Paratroopers Brigade, Harel Birenstock of Nokdim and Tamir Vaknin of Eilat, were killed in an explosion in the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon. Four other soldiers were also severely wounded in the blast. The IDF condemned the explosion as a violation of the ceasefire, but that does not make much difference to the soldiers and their families. In any event, the evidence seems to indicate that the blast came from an old Hezbollah bomb that was planted on the site before the ceasefire took effect. This is a very important detail; if it turns out to be true that there are explosive devices that went undetected during earlier sweeps of the area, it will mean that the IDF soldiers are in constant peril.

Last weekend, it was revealed that the IDF chose to suppress information about another incident, in which Hezbollah launched an explosive drone at IDF forces in southern Lebanon that did not cause injuries or damage. In response to reports that the information had been hidden from the public, the army announced, “The IDF spokesman will not publicize information that is assessed as being likely to harm our forces operating in the combat zones.” Incidentally, the IDF has been carrying out constant offensives against Hezbollah terrorists arriving in the area. According to sources in the IDF, seven terrorists were eliminated in the village in the past month alone. The soldiers are assigned to monitor the area and eliminate threats. Hezbollah terrorists tend to move either on foot or on motorcycles, which they use to transport weapons. In order to stop their advance and to prevent residents from entering the area, the IDF distributes leaflets warning that it is a combat zone and that returning to the village is dangerous.

At the weekly cabinet meeting this Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said in reference to the northern front, “We are hearing all kinds of rumors about Lebanon. I would like to make it clear that in recent days, Israel has operated forcefully in Lebanon and eliminated terrorists, including on the Ali Taher Ridge. I cannot go into detail about it. We are in the middle of a very important operation, and we are working with sound judgment and prudence. With determination and care, the IDF is eliminating threats.”

There are still dozens of terrorists on the Ali Taher Ridge whom the IDF is not operating to eliminate. The ridge is an area in which the IDF has limited control, mainly at its access points. In addition to the terrorists who are trapped there, the area also contains terrorist infrastructure that has yet to be dealt with. It is unclear whether the prime minister meant that the army is carrying out surgical operations on the ridge to eliminate the terrorists there or to deal with the subterranean terror infrastructures. The IDF has chosen not to comment on the matter.

There is also much to say about the steadily mounting phenomenon of Israeli citizens spying for Iran, which is utterly unfathomable. And in other news, there was a near-lynching when a family unwittingly entered Jenin after receiving directions from the Waze navigation program. The occupants of the Israeli car were almost murdered within minutes. This, too, is a mind-boggling incident that only reinforces the conclusion that almost all the Palestinians are murderers.

The Darkness Will Lead to Light

Chazal tell us that everything is dependent on mazel, even a sefer Torah in the heichal. And it seems that even a heichal itself requires mazel—or, at least, gabbaim and a community such as those that belong to Kehillas Torah U’Tefillah in Givat Shaul, with its rov, Rav Yaakov Fogel. I have had the good fortune of davening in that shul on a number of occasions, and on every one of my visits, I have found it to be developing and expanding even more. The bulletin board outside the shul features notices about a wide range of shiurim on various areas of the Torah, including shiurim on Kodshim and Taharos for children. This learning program includes tests and public siyumim for the participants. Without a doubt, if a shul is dependent on mazel, then this shul’s mazel is exceptional.

The shul serves many of the neighborhood’s distinguished yungeleit, and I have also seen some of the most prominent residents of Givat Shaul there, including Rav Chaim Cohen, who is known for his close connection to Rav Elyashiv; Rav Meir Freiman of the Bais Din Hagadol; Rav Shlomo Perlman, and others. I listened attentively to a drosha delivered by the rov, an outstanding talmid chochom and orator who also heads a kollel in the Pressburg shul. Rav Yaakov Fogel, who I believe is originally from America, spoke about the deeper meaning of recent events, pointing out that we are living through a period that seems to herald the end of days, when all ideologies have been shattered and everyone seems to be suffering from a sense of helplessness and uncertainty. Today, the entire world, and Eretz Yisroel in particular, is anxious about what lies ahead. President Trump’s mercurial nature is only serving to make things more distressing, as he appears to change his positions dramatically from one moment to the next. The natural emotional reaction is despair. This week, however, Rav Fogel pointed out that great light often comes as a result of the darkness, an idea that he drew from the writings of Rav Eliyohu Eliezer Dessler.

“Even arrogance has an end in sight, and evil will ultimately put an end to itself,” Rav Dessler writes. “To any discerning eye, there is no doubt that the events of our days are leading in that direction. We saw where a person’s haughtiness led him in the recent past, and in the present as well, we see how the world’s sense of security and material complacency has disappeared. Very soon, it will be clear to everyone that this world has already been shattered into fragments and there is no way to repair it.”

Thus, Rav Yaakov demonstrated how seemingly negative events can give rise to good. Perhaps, then, part of the process of redemption is the destruction of all that preceded it. Rav Fogel continued quoting Rav Dessler: “The destruction of human pride thus places before us a dreadful and terrifying choice. Either we can lose all hope of repairing the world and sink into the depths of despair, or we can recognize the truth of spirituality, and instead of unthinking despondence, we can recognize the utter insignificance of the physical world before Hashem’s majesty. Through this, the nature of man can be revealed…. This truth will be revealed specifically through the despair over this world and will illuminate a person more and more until he arrives at complete repentance.”

One Standard for Shas, Another for Yesh Atid

At the beginning of this week, MK Yoav Segalovich of Yesh Atid resigned from the Knesset. Segalovich is a former police superintendent and was a member of the team investigating Prime Minister Netanyahu. One might have expected him to flee from the public eye and bury his head in shame as the rampant misconduct in that investigation came to light, but he did not run away. In fact, his resignation from the Knesset was for the sole purpose of joining Raam, the Arab party led by Mansour Abbas. And if you think that sounds absurd, you are right.

I will write more about Segalovich switching parties in the future, but at this point, I would like to focus on the hypocrisy that came to light in the wake of his departure. Now that Segalovich has stepped down from the Knesset, his seat will be filled by the next member of his party’s list, who will take over his place in the Knesset and his salary for a period of two months, even though the Knesset is in recess. In response to this … no one uttered a word.

Contrast that with the hue and cry that erupted two months ago, when MK Moshe Arbel of the Shas party resigned from the Knesset and was replaced by Erez Malul. When Malul was installed in the position, cries of mockery and derision echoed from the benches of the opposition, and from Yesh Atid in particular. The left-wing lawmakers decried Malul’s entry into the Knesset, blasting it as a frivolous waste of public funds in light of the fact that the Knesset was about to dissolve.

This argument was disingenuous, for a simple reason: Malul received only the wages that Arbel gave up. There was no loss of taxpayer funds, since the salary was earmarked for whoever occupied that seat, and it was merely transferred from one man to another. But aside from the fact that the opposition’s criticism was based on a lie, it was also completely hypocritical. Eighteen days later, Boaz Toporovsky of Yesh Atid resigned from the Knesset, and Oz Chaim was sworn in to replace him. Of course, his colleagues rushed to the Knesset to congratulate him and celebrate his new position, completely forgetting the ostensible wasting of public funds. And why is that? Obviously, there is one standard for the Shas party and an entirely different standard for Yesh Atid. Or, as Yair Lapid put it when he was challenged about the different reactions of the police and prosecution to different groups of protestors who disturbed the public order, “These aren’t the same people.” Two weeks ago, Mohammed Abu al-Hija was sworn in to the Knesset to replace MK Ron Katz (Yesh Atid), who stepped down from his seat as well, and he, too, was welcomed warmly with none of the complaints or derision showered on Malul. He received handshakes from the few MKs present that day, and he beamed as he celebrated his new role. Again, the double standard is clear: Erez Malul’s salary is a waste of public funds, but when Mohammed al-Hija joins the Knesset, it is a festive occasion for democracy.

The word for this attitude, of course, is hypocrisy.

Let me add a few words about Boaz Toporovsky. I am certainly allowed to reveal that Toporovsky did not share the racist and anti-religious approach of Yair Lapid, son of Tommy Lapid, and Yesh Atid. When he was a student, Boaz Toporovsky was part of Nefesh Yehudi and absorbed a good deal of Jewish knowledge there, in addition to the traditions that he picked up from his family and upbringing. He did not ride the wave of anti-religious incitement to join the Knesset.

As for Ron Katz, I can reveal even more than has already been disclosed. Katz began his political career in Yesh Atid in Petach Tikvah, where he ran for office with the slogan, “We have come to dispel darkness.” Nevertheless, before the election, he reached an agreement with the Shas party in Petach Tikvah and with Uriel Bosso to form a bloc; neither party would enter a coalition without the other. Shas ended up with six mandates while Yesh Atid won four, and they joined the coalition hand in hand. At that time, Bosso bought a pair of tefillin for Ron Katz, which he still wears every day. During his time in office in the Petach Tikvah municipality, Bosso once encountered a situation that required him to make a decision that would harm the religious community, but he refused to do so. To his colleagues from the Shas party, he explained, “This might cause harm to lomdei Torah, and I do not start up with Torah learners.” Katz’s mother hails from a traditional Tunisian family; her father owned a grocery store in Beer Sheva. Before she passed away, Mrs. Katz said to her son, “You will find among my belongings a notebook containing a list of people who bought groceries from the store and never settled their accounts, but you should not collect the money from them. These people do not have the wherewithal to pay.”

Five years ago, Ron Katz moved into the apartment building where Moshe Arbel resides. The two families first shared a Shabbos seuda at first and went on to develop a close friendship, and Katz and Arbel ultimately began learning Gemara as chavrusos. “When we finished Megillah together,” Arbel once told me, “Ron said, ‘I am angry about the fact that this precious thing called Gemara was hidden from me. I am not speaking about becoming a baal teshuvah; I am referring to the treasure known as the Talmud Bavli.’” Before he learned with Arbel, Katz had never been exposed to Gemara. They recently completed Maseches Brachos together, which perhaps might have something to do with the fact that Katz has begun attending shul. Incidentally, Moshe Arbel has been serving for several years as the rov of a shul in Petach Tikvah known as Bais Eliyohu. Since his departure from the Knesset, he has been able to expand his delivery of shiurim and Torah lessons. I would not be surprised to learn that Ron Katz is one of the regular participants.

Families Face Financial Crunch as School Year Begins

I should really update you on recent events in the Knesset. Despite the fact that the Knesset is in recess, the Finance Committee is continuing to deal with budgetary allocations, some of which deal with the needs of the chareidi public, such as the salaries of chareidi preschool teachers. Of course, petitions were filed with the Supreme Court against the allocations of funds for chareidim, and the court saw fit to freeze the funds that the committee had decided to transfer. The petitioners argued that the decisions were made too close to the election and that it was especially inappropriate given that the Knesset is not in session. The chareidi parties countered with the argument that the Finance Committee made the same type of last-minute allocations under the Lapid-Bennett government, but those claims fell on deaf ears, as could only be expected. Once again, perhaps we are witnessing another application of Yair Lapid’s rationale that “these aren’t the same people.”

The fact that the chareidi community is buckling under the weight of financial hardship does not seem to be of much concern to the left-wing politicians or the judges. We must be thankful that the budget for food vouchers was approved quietly and on time, and that it did not trigger petitions to the Supreme Court. And in case anyone had any doubt about the necessity of the food vouchers, the recent notice from Chasdei Yosef should have put those doubts to rest. My own examination of the government database revealed that thousands of requests have been received for information about how to receive food vouchers or refill the balance on an existing card. There is no doubt about it: Many people are relying on these vouchers for some of their most basic needs. People with full stomachs and bank accounts enjoy preaching to others; in fact, Ehud Barak once proclaimed that it is better to hand out fishing rods than fish. But while they are busy pontificating, the poor are going hungry.

At this time of year, the chesed organizations are busy distributing packages of school supplies in advance of the new year. Every one of those packages represents a savings of hundreds of shekels for families that have to watch every shekel that is spent. One economic newspaper recently featured an article by Shoshana Chen-Shenker, a chareidi journalist from Bnei Brak, under the title, “Studying Is Expensive” (using the Hebrew word yakar, which can also indicate that something is precious). Her point was that school books and supplies such as notebooks, writing utensils and the like can add up to a huge bill. In another article, she discussed the price of schoolbags and knapsacks. The bottom line is that it is quite difficult for the average family to keep up with the price of a child’s schoolbag and all that it contains.

I have become closely acquainted with the chesed distributions managed by Ohr Leah, an organization founded by Rav Eliyohu Cohen at the request of his illustrious rabbeim, Chacham Yehuda Tzadkah and Chacham Benzion Abba Shaul. This year, in addition to the usual list of supplies and goods, each aid package contains a pen, a calendar for the year 5787, and a letter addressed to the “families of Ohr Leah.” The organization’s munificence is coupled with a concerted effort to maintain the recipients’ dignity: “We are approaching the end of the year, and you can see that all of our distributions have taken place, with siyata diShmaya, with generosity and abundance for the benefit and to the great joy of our beloved families. Despite the wars, the rising prices, and the decrease in some of our donations, we have succeeded in continuing and even expanding our distributions.”

“The donations that made it possible for this year’s distributions,” Rav Cohen revealed to me, “have come primarily from the standing monthly contributions of acheinu Bnei Yisroel”—that is, not from wealthy donors but from the simple, monthly contributions of ordinary members of our community.

A Visit to Rav Pam

I have much more to write about, but I am about to reach my limit for this week. I will therefore end with a story that I might have told you in the past, but that bears repeating in honor of the 25th yahrtzeit of Rav Avrohom Pam.

Many years ago, Aryeh Deri was the minister of the interior in Israel and was held in high regard by everyone. At that time, he came up with a revolutionary proposal involving some sort of privatization initiative for local governments, and he was invited to present his idea at the offices of Merrill Lynch in Manhattan. When the administration of the Mir yeshiva heard that he would be visiting America, they invited him to be the guest of honor at their dinner in New York. Even in America, there was much interest in the brilliant young Sephardic man who was reshaping the country of Israel and channeling millions of shekels in government funding into Torah institutions and other religious causes. At the time, no one knew that the Israeli government was about to declare war on Deri, fearing that he would change the character of the state.

I accompanied Deri on his trip to America; I was one of his aides at the time, and I was happy to join him. We had been told that he would be visiting the gedolei Torah of America, and I could think of nothing better. Together, we were guests of the roshei yeshiva of Bais Medrash Govoah of Lakewood, which was an exceptional experience for me. We also visited Rav Avrohom Pam, and I was assigned to approach his home and inquire if the rosh yeshiva could receive us.

While Aryeh Deri and his entourage waited on the curb, I knocked on the rosh yeshiva’s door. When the door was opened, I asked if Deri and his companions would be permitted to visit the rosh yeshiva.

“Yes,” said the man who opened the door.

I was somewhat taken aback. “Are you sure you don’t want to ask the rosh yeshiva first?” I said.

“Are you referring to Avrohom Pam?” the man at the door asked me. “That is me!”

I was astounded. Rav Pam was wearing an unpretentious short jacket and ordinary hat, and he had personally opened the door rather than sending someone else to do it for him. Flustered and embarrassed, I began stammering in response, but Rav Pam smiled his famous smile and said, “Everything is fine. I have been waiting for you; I already prepared some refreshments.” Naturally, I was shocked.

There was one other occasion when I visited Rav Pam’s home: at a seuda to give thanks for the miraculous recovery of Rav Chaim Michoel Gutterman, the director of Shuvu in Eretz Yisroel and a phenomenally gifted individual in his own right. Rav Gutterman had experienced a medical miracle, and Rav Pam, who was the visionary behind Shuvu’s establishment and continued supporting the organization until the end of his life, arranged a seudas hodaah in his own home. Rav Pam was also the one who decided to add the name Chaim to Rav Gutterman’s name during his medical crisis. I will never forget that visit to Rav Pam’s home, when I even received the privilege of delivering a speech during the seuda.

Whenever I reflect on it, I am reminded of the old adage that a great man is measured by the smallest things he does. Indeed, Rav Pam had a place in his heart for every Jew and cared for everyone, great or small.

Telltale Diary, iPhone Spill Forth Secrets

On Capitol Hill, during a high-profile Senate Homeland Security and Government Accountability Committee hearing on July 29, an ear-splitting crash seemed to echo through the halls.

Some joked it was former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci finally being knocked off his pedestal by the congressmen questioning him. Others quipped that the celebrated scientist had fallen on his own proverbial sword, as his recovered diary in the hands of senators spilled forth incriminating secrets.

Whatever the cause, the symbolism was hard to miss: a stunning fall from grace for the man who had reached the pinnacle of power and celebrity as America’s leading health authority during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Senate Committee, led by Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, was demanding accountability for years of secrecy, failed leadership, and government overreach during the pandemic that harmed millions of Americans.

The purpose of the hearing was to determine whether Fauci had misled Congress about his agency’s funding of dangerous gain-of-function research at the Chinese Wuhan Lab of Virology. Those experiments are now widely believed by the FBI, CIA, Department of Energy and other federal agencies to have sparked the outbreak of the pandemic that killed millions across the world.

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Sen. Paul has accused the former NIAID director of channeling millions to the Wuhan Lab of Virology in China to fund experiments of this sort and lying about it.

In previous hearings, those allegations sparked Fauci’s furious blowback.  Based on those heated confrontations, people expected a fiery showdown at the July 29 hearing.

They were in for a surprise. Instead of a passionate rebuttal protesting his innocence, Fauci refused to answer a single question, citing his attorneys’ advice “to remain silent under my rights under the Fifth Amendment.”

During the hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, even in response to questions that could not possibly be interpreted as incriminatory. He even pled the Fifth when Senator Hawley, R-Mo., asked what day of the week it was, the color of his tie, and the color of carpet in the room.

The move sparked fierce controversy because former President Biden had already granted Fauci a preemptive federal pardon, eliminating his risk of federal prosecution from 2014 until Biden left office.

Critics also asserted that Fauci’s opening statement at the outset of the hearing—when he accused Sen. Rand Paul of being obsessed with having him put “behind bars” —amounted to testifying, and that he cannot both testify and refuse to testify.

“Let’s just get one thing straight,” Sen. Hawley warned Fauci when his turn came to question him.  “You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you’ve been pardoned, as you very well know, as the Supreme Court has been clear for a century and more.”

Terrified of Having his Cover Blown

For those watching the hearing, Fauci came across as someone terrified of having his cover blown.

In a bombshell development, his private diary from the pandemic era had been recovered by HHS officials from government computers and servers. Four days earlier, it had been turned over to the Senate Committee on Government Accountability, which released it to the public.

If this was not enough to rattle him, an announcement a few days after the hearing dropped the shocking news that Fauci’s Covid-era cell phone—with 34,000 texts and over 500 voice mails—had just been turned over to the Senate Committee.

The earliest reports on the contents of the texts came in an explosive report on Fox News, on Tuesday of this week. They revealed that Fauci was aware in Jan. 2021 of studies showing that pregnant women given Covid vaccines in the first trimester suffered an abnormal number of miscarriages. Fauci kept this information from the public and continued pressuring pregnant women to take the shot.

“We tell pregnant women don’t even have a glass of wine and yet we coerce them, convince them, sometimes mandated them, to get an experimental gene therapy as early as the first trimester,” Johnson said. “This is truly sick.”

I’ve known about this for years,” he continued. “But finally, because we have a text associated with St. Fauci, it’s finally getting the play in the media that it’s been deserving for years. My sense is that this revelation from the phone texts is just the tip of the iceberg,” the senator added.

One might have expected that recent accounts of high-profile defendants doomed by their own texts and emails would surely have deterred Fauci from committing the same indiscretions. But as Fauci’s diary makes clear—with its hundreds of entries glorying over his sweeping influence over the government’s pandemic response—he apparently considered himself permanently untouchable. And was now, very painfully, discovering the truth.

Inflating Death Rates

The diary consists of several sections dating from 2019-2022. They had been hidden on eleven different government computers, according to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, and took eighteen months to assemble. Before leaving office, Fauci reportedly had mailed himself a copy, ostensibly to be used as the foundation for his future memoirs.

The diary memorializes his day-to-day role during the Covid-19 crisis through conversations with President Donald Trump, world leaders and media appearances. Strikingly, the entries contradict Fauci’s official narrative on a host of issues and reveal its author’s dishonesty with Congress and the American people.

The journal records Fauci’s private feelings about key pandemic issues such as the true origins of the virus, its true fatality rate and the pride he took in relentlessly pushing for lockdowns—issues he strikingly distorted when he addressed the nation in almost daily media appearances.

His words to the public were invariably laced with fear-mongering, deception and exaggerations, ostensibly to compel compliance with the government’s draconian lockdowns and mandates.

As the government’s leading health authority, Fauci and his media allies consistently stoked the panicky belief in Americans that failure to obey the pandemic rules meant that hundreds of millions would die. As many will recall, one could not even contemplate alternatives to lockdowns, masking, quarantines and vaccination—without risking being called a murderer.

Fear-mongering and doomsday predictions sold papers, drew listeners and scored higher ratings for journalists, while enshrining Fauci as the exclusive voice of Covid authority for an entire nation.

A few examples of Fauci’s key deceptions follow below:

In February 2020, he privately estimated Covid’s case fatality rate at 0.2–0.3 percent (2-3 people out of a thousand), comparing it to a “bad influenza.” Weeks later, under oath before Congress, he massively inflated these numbers to 20 to 30 people out of a thousand, calling the virus “10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu” and calling for rigorous enforcement of masking mandates and social distancing.

Denying Role in Lockdowns

Fauci gloated in his diary about his success in persuading mayors and governors (including New York’s Bill de Blasio and California’s Gavin Newsom’s office) to close schools, bars, and restaurants. He wrote of having tried to talk President Trump into “locking down the whole country.”

Months later, as evidence poured in that school closures and lockdowns were a dismal failure, devastating countless lives and wrecking the economy, he publicly denied responsibility for these measures. “Show me one school I closed, one factory I shut down!” he protested on an ABC News appearance and at other venues.

[Strikingly, the media failed to call him out on this breathtaking lie. Yated was among the handful of publications that did so. A November 2022 article, “The End of the Fauci Era” noted that “a quick online search turns up multiple televised clips of Fauci urging or affirming lockdown and closure decisions, even gloating over these ‘accomplishments.’’

“In an October 2020 clip of a speech he made to students at his alma mater, he is asked about ‘the most crucial decision’ he had made during his tenure as NIAID director,” the Yated article continued. “When it became clear that we had community spread in the country,” Fauci said, “I recommended to the president that we shut the country down.’”]

Lying About Covid Origins

Fauci’s diary reveals that he knew that respected scientists—10 out of the 12 he had handpicked to consult with—considered a lab-leak credible and even likely, as a number of entries in late January and early February 2020 attest.

In a January 26, 2020 entry, Fauci noted that the initial outbreak of Covid did not occur at a wet market, but rather that the virus had been spreading in China since the previous month, in December 2019.

“Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier,” he wrote to himself.

He then turned around and publicly promoted the opposite narrative—that the virus jumped from an animal to a human being in a Chinese wet market. He called for the shutdown of the virus-spreading wet markets, and slammed the lab-origin theory as a “fringe conspiracy.”

Why did he lie? Why this breathtaking level of dishonesty?

“Fauci knew if it was a lab leak, it would spell disaster for him, since he had for decades advocated and funded the exact kind of dangerous research that could have produced this calamity,” Sen. Rand Paul told reporters after the contempt hearing on Aug 6.

The 6-ft. Social Distancing Fantasy

Although dozens of televised clips captured Fauci pushing the 6-foot distancing rule as “the perfect solution” to stop Covid-19’s spread, he did a 180-degree turnaround in 2023, shifting the blame for the regulation to the CDC, while insisting it “had nothing to do with me.”

The former NIAID director eventually admitted that the six-foot social-distancing doctrine was never supported by clinical trials.

“It just sort of appeared,” he offered lamely at a 2024 congressional hearing. He delivered the revelation with a straight face, as if a policy that became the justification for school closures, lockdowns, and sweeping restrictions on daily life had simply materialized out of thin air.

And somehow, Americans were expected to believe that this mysterious six-foot rule also compelled officials to mask toddlers and curtail Americans’ constitutional freedoms.

His testimony then took an even more bizarre turn when he admitted at the hearing “there were no clinical trials that looked at ten feet distancing versus six feet, versus three feet—versus not even worrying about it at all. And since there was no clinical trial going one way or the other… that’s why it was accepted by the group.”

This gibberish would be comical were it not so outrageous. A draconian policy imposed on millions of Americans was adopted not because science supported it, but because science had nothing to say about it? Stymied for an answer to a question that would expose him as a fraud, Fauci simply took refuge in doubletalk.

His testimony revealed a disturbing indifference to the very real human costs of the policies he imposed.  One cannot easily forget the anguish the pandemic restrictions caused. Sick and elderly people were locked away from their families — many dying alone without a final goodbye.

Even family members who had recovered from Covid illness and were immune from being re-infected were not permitted at the bedside of a dying parent. Medical authorities with Fauci in the lead were outrageously questioning natural immunity—a foundational principle of medicine for centuries.

Children suffered the most. In addition to educational setbacks and social isolation, many suffered from domestic chaos. Physical child abuse and suicides of minors more than tripled during the pandemic lockdowns, according to US News. Small businesses were crushed, people lost their livelihoods. Cancer screenings were abandoned, surgeries cancelled, often with dire consequences.

None of this evoked any empathy in Fauci’s diary—in stark contrast to the veneer of the sympathetic, caring doctor he projected on television.  The diary revealed that the only “headlines” that mattered to him were those that highlighted his increasing fame. “The press is going wild with me,” he exulted. He was a media “superstar,” treated as a “global hero, and it was all “really unimaginable.”

“It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable,” a Feb. 2020 entry boasted.

Danger of Granting Unlimited Power to an Unelected Bureaucrat

Democrats and Fauci allies sought to dismiss the Senate hearing as a witch hunt or a vendetta against the former NIAID director. Others lauded it as historic opportunity to finally learn how a virus that took the lives of 15 million people—one million deaths in America alone—was triggered, and to institute reforms to prevent another pandemic.

The Senate hearing was also viewed as opportunity to open people’s eyes to the danger of granting almost unlimited power to an unelected bureaucrat—for nearly forty years.

“We should never again allow a single bureaucrat to exercise the sweeping and largely unchecked institutional power that Fauci wielded for decades, as the head of NIAID from 1984 until the end of 2022,” wrote a NY Post op-ed. The article noted that cumulative funding under his direction ran into the tens of billions of dollars.

Fauci was the senior federal official overseeing the bulk of US government-funded research on infectious diseases, immunology, allergies and related areas, the article noted. His long tenure gave him vast authority and influence in the science and medical communities. Countless university research departments, medical schools, hospitals, as well as independent scientists, labs and researchers depended on NIAID grants and funding.

“People who crossed him were unlikely to get funded,” the article said. “Their careers could easily go down the drain. Those who pleased him had a much better shot.”

In Contempt of Congress

“This committee and the American people have a right to know why Dr. Fauci’s agency funded dangerous research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and what role he played in approving and overseeing it, Sen. Paul said in opening remarks at the August 6 contempt hearing.

“Why did he tell his colleagues to delete emails, and then tell them to then delete the deleted file? What did his agency do with and for the intelligence community? Seeking truth is not a ‘witch hunt,’ Sen. Paul questioned.

“Accountability is not ‘vengeance,’ he emphasized. “Accountability is what stands between the American people and a repeat of the mistakes and the very real consequences of the past.”

Sen. Paul’s contempt resolution passed along partisan lines, 8-7. Paul then sent the contempt resolution to Vice President Vance, asking him to certify it, after which it would be forwarded to the DOJ and the D.C. Circuit Court, possibly bypassing a Senate vote.

The newly installed U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche will decide whether to prosecute Fauci for refusing to cooperate with Congress while enjoying a preemptive pardon. If found guilty, he could be heavily fined and even sentenced to jail time.

***

Sen. Johnson: Was Fauci Involved in Suppression of Early Treatment for Covid?

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigations (PSI) Committee, questioned Fauci at the July 29 hearing as to whether he played a role in suppressing access to Covid-19 treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. These repurposed generic drugs, he said, had solid safety profiles and were proven effective in treating Covid.

Advocates of early treatment with these and other anti-viral drugs that have been shown to wipe out Covid had fought to reach the public with this message during the earliest states of the pandemic.

Yet, faced with intense government censorship supported by the media, doctors were intimidated from prescribing them. Those who did so were threatened by medical licensing boards with having their licenses revoked—and many were in fact punished in this way.

Why the fierce opposition to two drugs known to be among the safest in the world?

The likely rationale was that if effective treatments for Covid were available, the experimental vaccines being developed by Pfizer and other drug companies, in which the federal government and many private individuals had heavily invested, would be unable to qualify for an emergency use authorization (EUA) for their rollout.

“How many people died because they lacked early treatment with safe, effective generic drugs?” Johnson asked. “We’ll never know.”

“When I was chairman of this committee back in 2020, I started conducting oversight,” Sen. Johnson recounted. “We held a hearing with Dr. Pierre Kory and leading pulmonologists and specialists who had collaborated on early treatment protocols using generic drugs such as ivermectin and HCQ.

These experts were treated with scorn by Democrat congressmen because they challenged the establishment, Johnson said.

At that time the FDA, CDC and NIH were still urging people to isolate at home, offering no treatment. Heeding these agencies’ bizarre guidelines, hospitals admitted the patient only when he was so ill, he was turning blue, unable to breathe

Besides Dr. Kory, the doctors who testified at the November 2020 hearing included Drs. Robert Malone, Ryan Cole, Harvey Risch, Peter McCullough and Jean-Jacques Ratjer.

Dr. Ratjer, a shomer Shabbos pulmonologist from Broward County, Florida, granted an exclusive interview to Yated after the 2020 Senate hearing. In that interview, quoted in a Nov. 2021 article, “Senate Committee Calls for Early Covid Intervention,” the pulmonologist noted ivemectin’s dramatic success in preventing viral replication in a person’s organs, avoiding hospitalization and death.

“The drug’s efficacy is undeniable,” Dr. Ratjer told Yated. “I’ve witnessed a 99 per cent success rate in keeping patients alive, avoiding intubation and enabling recovery.”

“Back in April 2020,” he recalled, “we were faced with a rapidly deteriorating patient population with no effective treatment. …I saw more people die in six months than I had seen in my entire medical career. My team was able to develop and implement a protocol that showed tremendous success in treating Covid 19.”

The protocol laid the foundation for the later peer-reviewed “ICON” study, published in a major medical journal in October 2020 under the title Use of Ivermectin Associated with Lower Mortality in Patients with Coronavirus Disease.

Vindicated

At the height of the pandemic’s repressive climate of censorship, it took courage to report on the importance of early Covid intervention, vaccine injuries, and other topics that public health agencies and much of the mainstream media sought to suppress.

Yated went a step further, directing readers to online sources for updates on treatment protocols and information on how to obtain ivermectin and other Covid-related medications that had been falsely maligned as “dangerous,” or made difficult to obtain in parts of the country.

During the pandemic, Yated published more than 25 articles examining a wide range of Covid-related issues, many of them running sharply against the prevailing narrative.

The coverage addressed early treatment with HCQ and ivermectin; Senate hearings supporting these interventions; gain-of-function research and Dr. Fauci’s reign of deception; the devastating consequences of pandemic policies; shocking revelations from Pfizer’s data and other studies concerning vaccine injuries; and numerous related issues.

Many of these articles raised questions and expressed ideas that violated the era’s political and scientific dogmas, and were dismissed as “sensational,” “far-out,” and “conspiracy theories.” Yet, as the evidence has emerged, most of this information has been substantiated.

As The Wall Street Journal observed, “The public-health establishment rejects an argument that threatens its authority, but eventually it’s forced to soften its position in the face of incontrovertible evidence. Yet not once does it acknowledge its opponents were right.”

Yated, along with the handful of news outlets that refused to be intimidated, deserves credit for providing readers with vital and potentially life-saving information, when doing so meant risking scorn, loss of credibility and retaliation.

***

Enriching Himself from the Pandemic he Caused?

Sen. Josh Hawley grilled Fauci at the July 29 Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing over his illegal use of federal employees to win cash prizes and awards, as documented in FOIA-released NIH and NIAID documents.

“You were using federal employees with taxpayer money to apply for and solicit cash prizes for you personally, cash prizes totaling over $1 million,” Hawley said. “You did all of that during the pandemic, didn’t you?”

The senator pointed to internal emails from Fauci’s staff discussing a nomination the team was putting together, at Fauci’s request, to have him awarded the Dan David Prize in Israel.

According to Hawley, the emails asked federal employees to buttress Fauci’s nomination package by lauding his leadership during the pandemic. “We’re working on this nomination for the Dan David Award for Fauci,” Hawley read from the email. “We need to beef up the Covid part.”

The Dan David Award carried a $900,000 cash prize and Fauci succeeded in attaining it for himself, using his own chief of staff, his personal assistant and other federal employees.

Hawley accused Fauci of enriching himself further during the pandemic by using government staff to pursue at least eight additional cash awards. “In fact, you turned your staff into a full-time application machine, and violated the law in doing all this, didn’t you Dr. Fauci?”

“Federal law, as you very well know, prohibits the solicitation of cash awards or other personal benefits for federal employees, and it certainly prohibits using your own employees to do this … It says it right there in black and white,” Hawley said.

Fauci’s only answer was to plead the Fifth.

The victory of former Detroit region public health director Abdul El-Sayed in the August 4 Democrat primary to select the party’s candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat from Michigan marked another milestone in the rapid transformation of the Democrat party during the current election cycle from the loyal, center-left half of the traditional American two-party political system into an elitist movement demanding radical changes in the federal system government as we know it under the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

If elected in the November midterm general election, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim American to serve in the U.S. Senate. In 2018, El-Sayed ran and lost as a progressive candidate for governor in the Massachusetts Democrat primary. Campaigning as a progressive Democrat, El-Sayed supports Medicare for All, the elimination of ICE (the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency), radical changes to campaign finance laws, and a promise that as a senator he would vote to end all U.S. military assistance to Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

In an analysis of the outcome of the Michigan Senate primary published by The Nation, Iman Abid, who is an apologist for Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, and serves as the director for advocacy for a group called United States Campaign for Palestinian Rights, called El-Sayed’s victory “a watershed moment for the Palestine movement in the United States.”

With endorsements from progressive icons such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), this time El-Sayed narrowly defeated four-term Democrat congresswoman Haley Stevens who has been a staunch supporter of Israel. El-Sayed has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide against the civilian population of Gaza in its war against Hamas.

In the race against El-Sayed, Stevens enjoyed the support of most Michigan state Democrat party officials, Chuck Schumer, who is the leader of Senate Democrats, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), as well as the pro-Israel AIPAC lobbying group. However, El-Sayed was the beneficiary of highly favorable coverage from the liberal mainstream news outlets, which characterized the race as the first real test of the appeal of a progressive candidate to mainstream Democrat voters in a battleground state like Michigan.

El-Sayed Facing A Strong Gop Opponent In November

However, the primary vote, which El-Sayed won by less than one percentage point, was much closer than the double-digit victory that the polls had predicted. Exit polls also indicated that El-Sayed may have difficulty getting many of the Democrats who voted for Congresswoman Stevens in the primary to come out for him in the November general election against the formidable GOP senatorial candidate running against him, former seven-term congressman Mike Rogers.

Rogers has a long track record as a strong political candidate who can appeal to Democrat voters by calling upon his genuine working-class roots as a one-time auto assembly-line worker. Leaving the factory floor, Rogers went on to serve as a U.S. Army lieutenant, and then became an FBI special agent who investigated organized crime in Chicago before he entered electoral politics.

During the 14 years that he represented his Michigan district in Congress, Rogers served as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He was also known for speaking out strongly against the economic and national security threats posed by China to the United States, and exposing the prominent role that China has played in hollowing out Michigan’s middle class by undermining its former role as a key part of America’s industrial heartland.

The open Senate seat from Michigan that Rogers and El-Sayed will be fighting for had been held by Democrat Gary Peters, who chose to step down rather than run for a third term in November. Democrats had been counting on holding that seat in their bid to recapture majority control of the Senate. To achieve that goal, they will need to pick up at least four current GOP Senate seats, while losing none of those they now hold. Because Trump carried Michigan in the 2024 election, national Democrat party leaders supported Congresswoman Stevens instead of El-Sayed in the belief that, as a more moderate candidate, she would be more likely than El Sayed to appeal to those swing voters who supported Trump the last time.

But Democrat primary voters in Michigan chose instead to follow the example that was set last year when a former political unknown, Zohran Mamdani, running as a member of the Democrat Socialists of America, twice beat the Democrat establishment’s favorite, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, to become the first Muslim mayor of New York City.

El-Sayed Found Success By Following Nyc Mayor Mamdani’s Lead

Mamdani’s campaign, based upon the issue of affordability, established a political pattern that helped three other progressive insurgent candidates to win Democrat primary elections in New York state, as well as in Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and now in Michigan.

These progressive Democrat primary candidates also campaigned against continued U.S. support for Israel, whose support among Democrat voters has fallen, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, from 59% in 2018 to just 22% in May, 2026. This was a particularly valuable asset for El-Sayed in Michigan, which has the highest percentage of Arab-Americans relative to the population of any state in the country.

Throughout his primary campaign, El-Sayed continued to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and to demand the end of unconditional U.S. military support for Israel in its fight against the enemies in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Iran, who have continued to attack it at every opportunity since October 7, 2023. In sharp contrast to El-Sayed, during the primary campaign Congresswoman Stevens vigorously continued to defend the U.S.-Israel alliance. That is why she benefited from $30 million in campaign contributions from AIPAC, which, given the closeness of the final vote count, was almost enough to tip the scales in her favor.

But despite how narrow El-Sayed’s victory turned out to be, coupled with primary wins for progressive Democrats Will Lawrence and Donavan McKinney in two Michigan congressional races, progressive leaders claimed that the Michigan results had proven that fears by party leaders that leftwing populist candidates could not win elections outside deep blue liberal Democrat strongholds were unfounded.

The emergence of successful progressive Democrat candidates in a Midwest swing state such as Michigan marks the next stage in a grassroots revolt within the party which can be traced back to the 2016 presidential primary race. The supporters of Bernie Sanders showed surprising strength against the establishment candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose supporters within the party leadership changed the rules of the game to deny Sanders a fair chance to win the nomination.

The past decade of U.S. politics has been dominated by the right-wing populism of Donald Trump. But left-wing populism, driven in large part by a pathological resentment of Trump and his unexpected political success, has been growing among Democrats on a parallel track ever since Sanders’ outsider 2016 campaign for the presidential nomination was derailed by the dirty tricks used by Hillary Clinton’s supporters who controlled the Democrat party’s presidential nominating process.

How Progressives Seized Control Of The Democrat Party

Sanders’ progressive supporters, with some justification, not only felt cheated of the opportunity to compete fairly for the nomination. They also blamed Mrs. Clinton for the incompetent and overconfident general election campaign she subsequently ran, which led to Trump’s upset victory in 2016, a defeat from which the Democrats have not yet fully recovered.

The current rise of the Democrat left got its start with the election to Congress of a political unknown, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). She began in politics as a lowly community organizer for Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign in New York City, and just two years later pulled off a stunning upset by defeating Joe Crowley, the incumbent Democrat congressman in New York’s 14th district, who was the chair of the House Democratic Caucus at the time.

As a result, at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in the House of Representatives. She then started on the path to power in Washington by organizing a small but vocal group of progressives known as “the Squad,” which immediately began to challenge the authority of the Democrat establishment under the iron rule of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

During the 2020 presidential election cycle, Democrat party leaders, desperate to field a relatively moderate candidate like Joe Biden because they believed he was most likely to defeat Donald Trump, again rigged the party’s primary process to make it impossible for Sanders to win the presidential nomination. However, to gain the support of Sanders’ voters in the general election, the Biden team promised that, as president, he would adopt Sanders’ progressive policy agenda as his own.

Biden’s Disastrous Progressive Policy Legacy

The fulfillment of that promise by the Biden administration led to four years of: open border chaos admitting more than 10 million illegal immigrants; an explosion of unnecessary federal spending, cash giveaways and increases in social welfare programs which triggered runaway inflation; disrespect for law and order which led to riots in the streets and a nationwide spike in violent crimes; the imposition of DEI and reverse racial discriminatory policies on all levels of government and society; a failed forced conversion to green energy which led to sharply higher utility bills; as well as higher taxes coupled with excessive government regulation.

The turning point for the Democrats was the disastrous decision by party leaders to support Joe Biden’s 2024 bid for re-election, when they could all see that he was clearly unfit to serve for a second term as president. Biden’s meltdown in his televised debate with Donald Trump that June finally revealed the massive cover-up. But instead of apologizing to the American people for keeping the president’s incapacity a secret, party leaders followed up with the equally disastrous unilateral decision to appoint an incompetent vice president, Kamala Harris, to head the ticket as Biden’s replacement. It made Donald Trump’s unlikely return to power in the White House inevitable, and further widened the credibility and trust gap between the Democrat party’s aging leadership in Washington and the young Bernie Sanders-inspired progressive activists who had already started to take control of the party’s apparatus, from the grassroots level and up.

Democrat Party Leaders Have Lost Their Ability To Lead

It is because of this recent record of failures and betrayals that Democrat party leaders in Washington, including both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, now lack the minimum necessary level of credibility with mainstream Democrat voters to push back against the rising challenge from progressives, led by Senator Sanders, Congresswoman AOC, and Mayor Mamdani. The progressives have already won the hearts of the college-educated elitists who have replaced the working class as the party’s main grassroots constituency, and they are now demanding control of the national and state party apparatus, as well as the political patronage and power that goes with it.

The extent of the surrender by Democrat moderates to the extreme policy demands of the progressives was indicated by a Senate vote on April 16, 2026, in which 40 out of 47 Democrat senators voted for a Bernie Sanders-sponsored resolution to block the sale of specific American weapons and military equipment to Israel. Of the seven Democrats who voted against the resolution that would have denied Israel the means to defend itself from ongoing attacks by its Iran-supported enemies on several fronts, three of them, including Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Chuck Schumer of New York, are of Jewish descent.

Progressives Trying To Match Trump’s Political Accomplishments

The progressives are now trying to emulate Trump’s now near-total takeover of the national Republican party. They argue that if Trump was able to replace the tired conservative political orthodoxies that dominated Republican party politics for decades and replace them with a much more populist agenda of policy goals, why can’t today’s young Democrat activists on the left do the same thing? In fact, they have largely succeeded by adopting an openly socialist agenda that strongly appeals to two generations of American voters who are too young to remember why and how the socialist economic system of the Soviet Union collapsed, which led to the peaceful end of the Cold War with a clear-cut victory by America’s free market economy.

Even among today’s more moderate Democrats, there is little appetite for a return to the broken and often gridlocked Washington, D.C. political system that enabled Trump’s rise to power in the first place. The moderate Democrats also have no viable domestic policy alternatives to offer to the socialist-inspired progressive agenda. Their demands were recently published by the national office of the Democrat Socialists of America. They include calls for open borders, universal free medical care (Medicare for All), as well as government subsidies for food and housing. All of these ideas have been tried in other Western countries, where they have consistently led to unsatisfactory results.

The elitist progressives who live in the safety of gated communities and under the protection of private security guards are still calling for doing away with the police, the elimination of cash bail for arrested criminals, and an end to jail sentences that protect society from those convicted of violent crimes. Instead, the permissive laws and policies enacted by the progressive elected officials in Democrat-controlled blue states and cities have seen to it that these criminals remain free to prey upon helpless minority residents living in poor urban neighborhoods, while making sure that the local police these same officials have defunded are powerless to protect them.

Progressives Want To Rewrite The U.S. Constitution

Many of today’s younger Democrats have been so brainwashed by liberal ideology during their time on American college campuses that they have lost all respect for the American form of democratic government. Many are openly calling for a major rewrite of the U.S. Constitution that would eliminate the time-tested system of federal government checks and balances, and do away with the Senate, the Electoral College, and the Supreme Court as we know them. They would also end the absolute legal protections for individuals under the Bill of Rights against the potential for abuse by an intolerant and tyrannical socialist/progressive cabal that is no longer trying to hide its attempts to seize control of the federal government.

Progressives like Mayor Mamdani and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren are calling upon the government to punish individuals who have been successful by confiscating their wealth for redistribution, while rewarding those who have failed with reparation payments and other preferences for non-whites and members of other allegedly “victimized” identity groups.

Trying To Put An End To The American Dream

Under the false banners of socialism and equity, progressives are calling for a government takeover of the entire American free market economy. They would stifle private enterprise, putting an end to the profit incentives which enabled the American Dream of success through personal accomplishment to come true for so many of this country’s citizens who have been able to work their way out of poverty over the past 250 years.

The progressive wish list includes government intrusion into virtually every aspect of our private lives, including the abrogation of the right of every individual to live in accordance with their religious beliefs.

Larry Jacobs, the director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, is one of many political analysts who believe that the party’s progressive young grassroots activists have lost all respect for their congressional leaders, Chuck Schumer in the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries in the House, who are too willing to make compromises with the Trump administration in order to permit the federal government to continue functioning.

“There’s a sense that the Democrats have been patsies in the face of Donald Trump. When Democrats say they want to fight back, they mean it,” Jacobs told a reporter for the British Guardian newspaper. The young activists also believe that the current party leaders are totally out of step with the party’s woke agenda as indicated by their continued support for U.S. military aid to Israel. “Gaza and Israel have become a lightning rod for all the other issues,” Jacobs added.

“[Opposition to] Donald Trump has radicalized the Democratic party,” Jacobs further explained. “This revolt within the party would not have happened without Donald Trump. He is provoking a kind of earthquake, raising lots of unsettling questions within the Democratic party — its direction, its leadership, its policy priorities, [and] its beholdenness to big [corporate] donors.”

The Extreme Left Has Become Well-Organized

Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, a progressive organization that emerged from Bernie Sanders’ failed 2016 presidential run, told the Guardian’s reporter: “You’re seeing a maturation of the progressive movement. You’re seeing the infrastructure that’s been built over a decade come into play. There’s a resonance of the message in reaction to the failed populism of the right, but you’re also seeing increased sophistication in the organization of the left.”

He also explained that: “Because some of their [campaign] funding depends on corporate donors, moderate [Democrats] have to pull [their leftist political] punches. They are not able to articulate the causes of people’s problems.”

But now, because of the rise of groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), financially independent progressive candidates, such as Mamdani and El-Sayed, “are able to call out the corporate class and the corruption of our politics and how that affects people’s standard of living.”

Centrist Democrats Experiencing A Crisis Of Confidence

According to Geevarghese, this has created a serious crisis of confidence and self-identity within the centrist wing of the Democrat party. At a moment when President Trump is vigorously pursuing his second-term political agenda, Democrat voters increasingly see their more moderate elected officials and candidates as too timid to stand up and block Trump’s ability to govern, and too afraid of being labeled communists to propose socialist policies such as Medicare for All and confiscatory wealth taxes. Today’s moderate Democrats also mostly lack the personal charisma and considerable political skills of the newly emerging progressive superstars, such as Mamdani and El-Sayed.

The rapid rise of the DSA to national prominence today roughly parallels a similar revolution within the Democrat party which took place at the end of a 12-year run of Republicans in the White House that began with Ronald Reagan’s 1980 victory over Jimmy Carter, an unpopular liberal Democrat president who was widely seen as weak and indecisive. During that period, any Democrat candidate who dared to publicly identify himself as a “liberal” would face an uphill battle to win the confidence of voters.

Bill Clinton And The Rise Of The Moderate Democrats

To address that problem, in 1989 a Democrat activist named Al From founded a more ideologically centrist political organization he called the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). From then handpicked the relatively unknown young Democrat governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, to lead a so-called “Third Way” national Democrat political movement. It succeeded by borrowing popular Republican political issues, such as balancing the federal budget and reviving the sluggish American economy, and suggesting relatively moderate liberal solutions to those problems.

In the 1992 national election, that strategy enabled these relatively moderate Democrat candidates, in races across the country, to beat their GOP opponents at their own game. That included Bill Clinton himself, who defeated the re-election bid of President George H.W. Bush using the memorable slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid!” coined by his political advisor, James Carville.

The result was two terms of successful presidential leadership by Clinton, who found a way to govern effectively in cooperation with House GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich. But that era of bipartisan cooperation in Washington came to a sudden conclusion with the bitter dispute over the outcome of the 2000 presidential Democrat election in Florida, and the controversial decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that awarded the Florida vote, and with it, a majority in the Electoral College and the presidency to Texas Republican governor George W. Bush instead of Clinton’s Democrat vice president, Al Gore.

The Democrat “Resistance” Was Born In The Wake Of The 2000 Election

Even though Gore reluctantly accepted the Supreme Court’s decision, many other Democrats refused to accept the legitimacy of Bush’s presidency and began to develop the tactics of political resistance to and defiance of presidential authority, which would become an all-consuming Democrat obsession during both terms of Donald Trump’s presidency.

But in the meantime, Bill Clinton’s relatively moderate Democrat political operatives had seized firm control over the Democrat party’s political apparatus at the local, state, and national levels. That led to repeated efforts by Democrat party officials to award their presidential nomination to the former president’s wife, Hillary Clinton, first in 2008, and then again in 2016. But by that point, the young activists in the Democrat party were abandoning Clinton’s relatively moderate approach to national politics in favor of the increasingly liberal positions adopted first, in 2008, by Barack Obama and then, in 2016, by Bernie Sanders.

Joe Biden’s successful 2020 presidential run was the last major political victory for the Clinton-era moderate Democrats who were still running the party’s national organization. The sudden collapse of Biden’s 2024 re-election candidacy and the party’s disastrous response to that challenge have resulted in the current crisis of confidence in the Democrat party’s national leadership by both progressives and moderates.

How Much Further To The Left With The Democrats Go?

As a result of this moderate Democrat leadership collapse, there are now serious questions being raised about how much further to the left the party’s ideological positions will go both in the upcoming midterm election in November and the presidential election in 2028.

Al From, the founder of the DLC and the originator of the Clintonian moderate Democrat approach, was asked by a Guardian reporter for his reaction to the current progressive takeover of his party as symbolized by El-Sayed’s Michigan primary victory. From responded by admitting that, “We’ve been focusing on beating Republicans [while] the Democratic Socialists have been focused on beating us. We’ve got to fight back. We’ve got to make it harder for them.”

But he also conceded that the liberals have been gaining strength among Democrat party ranks at the expense of moderates, while, in recent years, the once powerful so-called “Blue Dog” faction of relatively conservative Democrats has become a virtually extinct political species.

According to the most recent Gallup poll, conservatives make up about 37% of the general public (compared to 36% in 1992), including 77% of Republicans, 27% of independents, and a very small number of self-described Democrats. Moderates make up about 34% of the general public (compared to 43% in 1992), including 47% of independents, 30% of Democrats, and 20% of Republicans. Liberals today make up about 25% of the general public, compared to 17% in 1992. But the current liberal 25% includes a growing share of around 60% of Democrats, 24% of independents, and only 2% of Republicans, made up mostly of the GOP’s few surviving “never Trumpers.”

Nevertheless, From insisted that moderation is still the “right formula” for today’s Democrats, especially on the national political level.

“Obviously,” he admitted, “we’re in a different [political] world [today], and you have to communicate with it differently, and you’ll need ideas that further the same underlying values, as we did [in 1992], but they’ve got to be modern ideas, maybe different ideas because circumstances have changed. Our platform was for the 1990s, not for the 2030s, but the principles are the same.”

Democrat Socialists Want To Tear Down America’s Political System

However, From observed, “The Democratic Socialists want a different [political] system. They don’t want to further democratic values. You look at their platform: they want to get rid of the Senate, the presidency, the Supreme Court; they want [government] ownership of business; they want to get rid of police; they don’t want to fund the military.”

“That isn’t the historic Democratic Party,” From lamented. “It’s not the party of [Franklin] Roosevelt that saved capitalism [from the Depression] and saved democracy in World War II. It’s a different ideology, it’s a different party.”

While Democrat moderate and progressive candidates continue to struggle with each other over the future political alignment of their party, they do seem to be willing to set aside their differences over the next three months to achieve their more immediate shared goal of winning back majority control over the House and Senate in November’s midterm election, in order to make it much more difficult for Trump to govern the country effectively during his final two years as president.

According to CNN political panelist Donna Brazile, who has served as an interim chairwoman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said after the results of the Michigan primary were in: “The question is, can two different wings of the same party function, unify and function as a governing majority if the Democrats win [control of the House and Senate]? I contend that the answer is yes. We’ll agree on very important matters like the economy, improving the lives of the American people, making things more affordable again and not focusing on vanity projects, so [to] the extent that we’re all running on the same message of affordability, the answer is yes.”

Divided Democrats Trying To Reunite In Time For November’s Election

The post-primary effort to re-unite the warring wings of the Michigan Democrat Party has already begun. At a post-election rally of his supporters held last Friday night, El-Sayed was careful to avoid further bruising the feelings of his defeated opponents and their supporters whose votes he will need in November to defeat former GOP congressman Mike Rogers, who is sure to get plenty of support from the national Republican Party in the general election because his win would make it almost certain that they would retain control of the U.S. Senate.

At his victory rally, El-Sayed entertained the crowd made up of 1,300 of his supporters by reiterating several of the most popular talking points from his primary campaign, including Medicare for All, removing the influence of corporate money on political races, and increasing taxes on the rich to make them pay their “fair share” of government expenses.

El-Sayed was generous in his praise of other candidates who will run alongside him in Michigan statewide races in November. After trading barbs with them for months, El-Sayed adopted a gentler tone when he called his former primary opponents, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and state lawmaker Mallory McMorrow, “incredible public servants.” It was an apparent effort by El-Sayed to help heal the wounds he inflicted upon them and those Democrats who voted for Stevens on primary day. He also had kind words for an unofficial representative of the national Democrat party, former Biden transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was greeted as an honored guest at the rally.

Other national Democrat party leaders who have pledged to provide support for El-Sayed’s November midterm election campaign, even though they supported Stevens during the primary, include Senate Democrat Leader Schumer and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Former vice president Kamala Harris has already sent out a fundraising letter on behalf of El-Sayed’s general election campaign.

In addition, El-Sayed’s main primary opponent, Congresswoman Stevens, who had been harshly critical of him during his campaign, said during the days immediately after he defeated her that she would give him her full support in the November midterm, and that she also planned to be active in support of the other Michigan Democrats running in the general election.

Michigan Jewish Democrats Weighing Their November Options

But notably absent from El-Sayed’s post-primary rhetoric at the rally was any mention of his outspoken opposition to continued U.S. military aid to Israel, in an apparent effort not to further antagonize the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby and Michigan’s Jewish voters who are sure to support his Republican opponent for the Senate seat, Mike Rogers.

The Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus said in a statement released soon after the primary said that El-Sayed needs to “address the harm [he] caused during this campaign” by harshly criticizing Israel and its supporters, and that he also must “commit to engaging directly with Michigan’s Jewish community” and its concerns about his candidacy.

As a result, El-Sayed is likely to have trouble attracting votes in the November election from Michigan’s Jewish community, which has historically strongly backed Democrat candidates, and makes up 1.4 percent of the Michigan electorate. This is relatively small but still large enough to decide the outcome in a very close election, which is likely in a swing state like Michigan.

Dennis Bernard, a past president of the secular Jewish Federation of Detroit and the national chair of government relations for the Jewish Federations of North America, predicted that many of Michigan’s traditionally Democrat Jewish voters will cross party lines to support Rogers, the Republican candidate in the November election, or simply decide to stay home as a silent protest against El-Sayed’s Senate candidacy.

Bernard, who claims that he voted for Stevens in the Democrat primary, has also said that he intends to support Rogers in the November general election, and has described El-Sayed as “a threat to our community” due to his criticisms of Israel.

Many other Jewish voters in Michigan who do not necessarily support the policies of Israel’s current government are still strongly opposed to El-Sayed because he has falsely and repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide against the civilian population of Gaza. El-Sayed also publicly challenged the right of AIPAC and other supporters of Israel to donate to Congresswoman Stevens’ primary campaign.

El-Sayed’s Insensitive Reaction To An Antisemitic Attack In Detroit

Several Michigan Jewish community members have also criticized El-Sayed for his insensitive comments in reaction to a March 12 attack on a Reform synagogue pre-school in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, Michigan, by a Hezbollah-inspired Islamic terrorist. Lebanese-born Ayman Mohamed Ghazali drove a pickup truck loaded with 35 gallons of gasoline and commercial fireworks into the building and then used an assault rifle to exchange fire with security personnel and first responders before ending the shootout by committing suicide.

El-Sayed’s initial response was to call the attack on the synagogue “heinous,” but then noted that some of the attacker’s family members in Lebanon had been killed in an Israeli air strike. He seemed to be suggesting that “circumstances happening 6,000 miles away” could somehow justify an attempt to commit the mass murder of pre-school age Jewish children here in the United States.

Much like Mamdani did when he ran for mayor in New York City, during his primary campaign El-Sayed tried to soften the implications of his repeated public attacks on Israel by claiming, unconvincingly, that he also condemns antisemitism. In his post-primary victory speech, El-Sayed even said that his “commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”

But since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, American Jews have learned through hard experience that any public criticism of Israel’s national security policies and antisemitism are two sides of the same debased coin of blind Jew-hatred.

El-Sayed’s Underlying Antisemitic Messaging

President Donald Trump also recognized the underlying antisemitic nature of El-Sayed’s anti-Israel rhetoric last week at a rally in Las Vegas last week by calling him a “man of hate” and then added that as a progressive Democrat El-Sayed “hates” Jewish people “with a passion that burns in his heart.”

El-Sayed’s Close Ties To A Notorious Antisemitic Influencer

El-Sayed was also criticized for campaigning with Hasan Piker, the openly antisemitic far-left internet influencer. When asked, he has refused to condemn Piker for his notorious remark to his large online following in August 2019 that America deserved to be attacked on 9/11. But while Piker has since then tried to walk back that offensive 9/11 remark, he has doubled down on other, clearly antisemitic and intentionally provocative statements, such as his January comment calling Hamas “a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state [Israel].”

Earlier this month, in an interview with CNN, Piker sought to justify the atrocities that Hamas committed against Israeli civilians during its October 7 attack by claiming that “the Palestinian resistance largely does have an internationally recognized right to resist. . . militarily” even when it results in the commitment of “war crimes.” Yet when questioned about such outrageous statements by Piker, El-Sayed’s reacted by saying that Piker “is welcome to his perspective” on Israel and Hamas, which El-Sayed declared is not one that he shares, but neither did El-Sayed see Piker’s antisemitic statements as an adequate reason to stop campaigning alongside him.

El-Sayed’s Weak Support From Michigan’s Black Voters

One of the main reasons why El-Sayed’s victory in the primary was so narrow was his relatively weak support from Michigan’s Black voters, who make up about 13 percent of the state’s total electorate. In media interviews, more than a dozen Black voters across Detroit said that El-Sayed needed to do much more outreach to their communities to win their support. As a result, Congresswoman Stevens had an eight-point edge over El-Sayed in those Michigan counties with the highest Black populations.

In Detroit, a majority-Black city that Stevens won by 28 percentage points, several Black voters told interviewers from the Washington Post that they had not heard or seen enough of El-Sayed in their community during the primary campaign to believe that he cared about their issues, and therefore they did not give him their support.

In addition, some of El-Sayed’s fiercest Democrat critics during the primary campaign, such as Congresswoman Hillary Scholten, whose district includes Grand Rapids, Michigan, were notable by their absence from last Friday’s rally. Those who have endorsed El-Sayed’s candidacy in the November general election have done so only tepidly or indirectly, without even mentioning him by name.

El-Sayed also refrained from criticizing the Michigan State Democrat establishment that worked against him during the primary campaign, because he will need their support as well to win the November election.

El-Sayed’s Gop Opponent Rogers Reaching Out To Michigan Democrats

Meanwhile, El-Sayed’s November GOP opponent, Mike Rogers, has already begun reaching out directly to the Democrats who voted for Stevens in the primary and were disappointed by her loss. In a video message on X, he told them that “the fight is far greater than just left versus right.”

“If you’re among the majority of Democratic voters that woke up on Wednesday feeling, well, hopeless, because the person who won does not represent your values, well, just know there is still hope,” said Rogers, who narrowly lost a 2024 bid for the other U.S. Senate seat for Michigan.

However, regardless of which party emerges from the midterms in majority control of the Senate and the House over the next two years, the internal battle that will decide the future of the Democrat party will not start for real until the day after this November’s election, as the process begins for the selection of the Democrat presidential candidate for 2028. According to a New York Times report, preparations for that battle have already begun, with the centrist Democrat group known as Third Way planning to launch a $15 million advertising effort to discredit the DSA and its candidates in the eyes of voters before the 2028 presidential election.

How Significant Is Al-Sayed’s Michigan Primary Victory?

In the meantime, Democrat political analysts are arguing among themselves about the true significance of the recent flurry of progressive victories in what is still only a handful of high-profile races, mostly in deep-blue liberal Democrat strongholds. Does that mean that El-Sayed’s narrow Democrat primary victory in a competitive swing state like Michigan was a fluke, due primarily to his superior political skills and Michigan’s relatively large Muslim voter population? Or does it mean that, 35 years after the collapse of America’s Cold War archenemy, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), socialism has lost its character as a dirty word in American electoral politics?

Progressive activists like Geevarghese believe that their candidates are now riding a historic leftward shift in national voter sentiment which will lead to a complete takeover of the Democrat Party, much like the transformation of the Republican Party that President Trump has achieved since winning the 2016 GOP nomination.

“All of the electoral energy and enthusiasm is on the left and, at the end of the day, for a candidate to be viable in the 2028 presidential [campaign], they’re going to have to articulate a full-throated economic populism,” Geevarghese told the Guardian’s reporter. “That’s what’s needed to make it through the primary [process] and ultimately that’s what’s going to be needed to be the antidote to Donald Trump.”

Speculation is already swirling over which progressive candidate will take the baton from Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democrats’ 2028 presidential nomination. Will it be AOC, who would become, if elected, the first woman president at the age of 39, a more conventional and respected liberal Democrat, like California Congressman Ro Khanna, or a charismatic newcomer like El-Sayid after only two years in the Senate, assuming that he wins in this November’s election? New York City Mayor Mamdani is constitutionally disqualified from running for president because he was not born in the United States.

As the more moderate wing of the Democrat party labors to recover from the embarrassing way in which it lost the 2024 presidential election, the question is whether it will saddle itself again in 2028 with another weak presidential candidate chosen primarily on the basis of race and gender, like Kamala Harris, or President Biden’s ineffective Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, or term-limited California Governor Gavin Newsom, who seems like he has been auditioning for a presidential run ever since the Covid pandemic struck in 2020. The Democrat moderates could opt for one of their governors with proven bipartisan voter appeal, most notably Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, but the fact that Shapiro is proudly Jewish and a supporter of Israel could disqualify him, as it apparently did when he was briefly considered to serve as Kamala Harris’ Democrat running mate in the 2024 election cycle.

The Democrat selection of a 2028 presidential candidate could also be influenced by the identity of the Republican opponent. An extremely liberal Democrat progressive candidate like AOC would likely be more competitive running against an equally controversial Republican conservative, such as Vice President JD Vance. However, an openly socialist Democrat candidate like AOC would face a more difficult task running against a widely respected mainstream Republican, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, or Florida’s popular governor, Ron DeSantis.

Jewish Democrat Gottheimer Sounds An Alarm Against El-Sayed

But while most mainstream Democrats are willing to give El-Sayed a pass for his virulently antisemitic and anti-Israel statements and tendencies, in the hope that he can deliver control of the Senate to their party, moderate New Jersey Jewish Democrat Congressman Josh Gottheimer has spoken out in protest, In an op-ed published on the website of The Free Press, Gottheimer openly condemned El-Sayed for “making the U.S.-Israel relationship the villain of his campaign, repeatedly questioning Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state [and for spending] his last days on the campaign trail with Hasan Piker.”

But that is not the worst of it. Even Gottheimer didn’t dare to mention the fact reported by the New York Post’s Miranda Devine that El-Sayed’s father-in-law, who helped to finance his Senate campaign, is a known supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the parent organization of Hamas. His father-in-law is also a former president of the Michigan chapter of the terrorist-supporting Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

In addition, investigative reporter Devine has suggested that El-Sayed’s ties through his father-in-law to the Muslim Brotherhood may have been one of the reasons why Democrat senators last week boycotted a Republican-led Judiciary Committee hearing that looked into the subversive activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. The Democrat senators also condemned the hearing as an exercise in “Islamophobia.”

Devine also noted that during his successful Senate primary campaign, El-Sayed, “slyly distanced himself from his early roots in the Democratic Socialists of America faction of the [Democrat] party, and declared himself [to be] a “scientist” and not a socialist, but nobody [was] fooled, least of all the DSA.”

In his Free Press op-ed, Gottheimer also observed that Jew hatred “is being normalized in plain sight, and not just online. It has now manifested not only in elections, but also outside synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses. . .

Jew Hatred Is Now A Litmus Test For Democrats In Congress

“What’s most worrisome is not just the ignorance underlying so much of the heated, abusive, and violent anti-Jewish sentiment. It’s also the cowardly amplification and kowtowing by the political class. As a Democratic member of Congress, I can attest that for a growing number of my colleagues, being anti-Israel has now become a nonnegotiable moral litmus test. We’ve come a long way from Democratic president Harry Truman’s 1948 decision to recognize Israel just 11 minutes after the Jewish state declared independence. On the far right, meanwhile, we see virulent antisemitic energy in likes, comments, and posts on Reddit and X, and in podcast episodes that have accumulated tens of millions of views. . .

“From Piker on the socialist left to Tucker Carlson on the native-populist right, influencers with millions of followers now repackage age-old antisemitic conspiracies and tropes as edgy commentary. Add to that a Democratic Senate nominee in Maine with a Nazi tattoo [Graham Platner], who dropped out of his race for other reasons, and it’s clear we have a crisis on our hands,” the New Jersey congressman notes with alarm.

In his op-ed, Gottheimer also cited another outrageous antisemitic statement made this summer by New York City’s Mayor Mamdani, a proud member of the DSA, who called AIPAC and its supporters “monsters” who move “millions in dark money” to “turn us against one another.”

Gottheimer also noted that DSA member Melat Kiros will run as the Democrat candidate for a congressional seat in Colorado this November “on an anti-Israel platform, calling Hamas’ devastating October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel ‘inevitable.’” Kiros also refused to call an attack on Jewish protesters in Boulder [Colorado] in which a Holocaust survivor was injured an antisemitic incident.”

Congressman Gottheimer concludes that, “the takeaway from these races across the country is this: The socialist fringe is trying to hijack the Democratic Party, undermining its values, ideals, and leadership.

“We must not let them. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

Gottheimer’s warning was echoed by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who agreed that “antisemitism is becoming an increasingly dangerous force in American politics.”

U.S Ambassador Huckabee Calls Democrats “The Party Of The Insane”

In an interview with the Newsmax channel, Ambassador Huckabee cited the recent decision by Michigan’s Jewish Attorney General, Dana Nessel, to skip her party’s nominating convention because of concerns about antisemitism and her personal safety.

While acknowledging that he is still “a pretty partisan Republican,” Huckabee also said he believes that a healthy American political system requires two strong and responsible political parties.

“I wish there would be a competitive and a sane Democrat Party. It frankly makes both parties better to have a competitive environment.”

But Huckabee lamented the fact that today’s Democrats are “moving so far to the left with socialism on the economic side, and with Jew-hatred on the social side, that they are rapidly becoming the party of the insane.

“And it’s not healthy. Not just for the Democrats. This isn’t healthy for America,” Huckabee concluded sadly.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

There is a growing unease over the direction of the Republican Party when President Trump leaves the political stage. For decades, support for Israel was one of the few issues that transcended partisan politics. While that bipartisan consensus has steadily eroded, particularly as anti-Israel sentiment has become increasingly mainstream on the left, Republicans have largely remained steadfast allies of Israel. President Donald Trump, more than perhaps any American president before him, has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and legitimacy.

But many are beginning to ask what comes next.

Vice President JD Vance’s recent remarks have unsettled many in the Jewish community. In discussing his efforts to negotiate with Iran, Vance suggested that unnamed figures within the Israeli government were engaged in a secret, well-funded campaign to manipulate American policy. His comments echoed one of history’s oldest antisemitic accusations, namely that Jews secretly wield hidden influence over governments and push nations into wars for their own benefit. Such conspiracy theories have fueled hatred and persecution for centuries.

Antisemitism rarely begins with open expressions of hatred or explicit calls for violence. More often, it starts with insinuations about secret power, hidden agendas, and divided loyalties. That is why many Jews found the vice president’s comments so disturbing. It is not simply what he said, but what such rhetoric legitimizes when it comes from one of the most powerful elected officials in the world.

Last week, a majority of Democratic members of Congress voted to cut off aid to Israel. Candidates who traffic in anti-Israel rhetoric are moving ever closer to seats in Congress and the Senate. In New York City, the nation’s largest Jewish population is governed by a mayor who routinely vilifies Israel and has renewed his public threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu should he attend the United Nations General Assembly in September. Whether such a threat could ever be carried out is almost beside the point. The fact that it can be uttered, debated, and amplified in the mainstream without widespread outrage reflects how dramatically the public conversation has shifted and how much traction these views are gaining.

The same trend is evident overseas. Britain’s new government has signaled a far more confrontational approach toward Israel. Belgium has joined a growing list of European countries implementing punitive economic measures against Jewish communities in Yehudah, Shomron, and the Golan. Across Europe, support for Israel is becoming increasingly conditional, while hostility toward Israel is becoming increasingly respectable, and attacks on Jews and Jewish targets are becoming increasingly commonplace.

We have sadly grown accustomed to reports of Jews being assaulted in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, and other major cities. This week came word of Jews being attacked in Mongolia, a country with almost no Jewish population. It was a chilling reminder that antisemitism has never depended on familiarity with Jews. It thrives on myths, conspiracy theories, and propaganda, requiring little contact with its targets. The hatred has become global.

Viewed individually, each of these developments might be dismissed as an isolated incident. Taken together, they paint a sobering picture. The atmosphere has changed. Ideas that once lived on the political fringes are entering the mainstream. Hostility toward Israel is no longer confined to radical activists. Suspicion of Jews and Israel is increasingly expressed openly, confidently, and without apology.

Throughout our long history, the Jewish people have learned that political fortunes rise and fall. Friends become enemies. Governments change. Alliances shift. We appreciate and pray for leaders who stand with us and defend truth and justice. But our ultimate security has never rested in Washington, London, Brussels, or any other capital.

As the world around us grows increasingly uncertain, the lesson of these days becomes ever more relevant. Our task is not to panic, but to strengthen our emunah, deepen our commitment to Torah and mitzvos, and remember the promise that has sustained us through every exile. Nations may change, public opinion may shift, and yesterday’s allies may become tomorrow’s enemies, but the Ribbono Shel Olam remains the Shomer Yisroel, and that never changes.

How quickly things change. Last week it was Shabbos Chazon, the saddest Shabbos of the year, surrounded by mourning and the signs of aveilus. On Tisha B’Av, we sit on the floor as we read Eicha, recite Kinnos, mourn the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh, and reflect upon the suffering our people have endured throughout the various goluyos. We wonder when the sadness will end.

And then Tisha B’Av concludes. The mourning ends. And Shabbos Nachamu arrives. The atmosphere changes. The sadness gives way to hope. We play music again and wear clean clothes. There is a palpable feeling of relief.

But why? Has anything really changed? The Bais Hamikdosh has not been rebuilt. The Har Habayis remains off limits. The shu’olim – foxes – still roam where the Shechinah once rested, and the world has become no friendlier toward us. Why, then, are we suddenly comforted? What comfort do we have?

The answer lies in understanding the meaning of the word nechomah.

On Shabbos Nachamu, we begin reciting a series of seven haftaros from Yeshayahu, the novi of consolation, that accompany us from Tisha B’Av until Rosh Hashanah. This Shabbos derives its name from its haftarah, which opens with the famous words, “Nachamu, nachamu ami  –  Be comforted, be comforted, My people.”

The novi offers us double comfort, and we wonder about the repetition.

Following the sin of Adam Harishon, the posuk states, “Vayinochem Hashem” (Bereishis 6:6). Rashi explains that the word nechomah means more than consolation. It also means reconsidering, stepping back, and looking at a situation from a different perspective. Following what Adam had done, Hashem was reconsidering the creation of man.

But the word nechomah also means comfort. We can explain that these two definitions really go together because comfort comes in two stages. First there is consolation, the soothing reassurance that the pain will not last forever. Then comes the second, deeper form of nechomah, when the mourner steps back from the immediate darkness surrounding him and begins to see the larger picture. In truth, nothing has changed, but the person receives comfort because everything begins to look different as his perspective changes.

We can now understand why the novi says to us, “Nachamu, nachamu.” Hashem is offering us both forms of consolation, both definitions of nechomah.

We find this dual message of nechomah at the end of Maseches Makkos. Chazal recount that Rabbon Gamliel, Rabi Elazar ben Azaryah, Rabi Yehoshua, and Rabi Akiva were once standing overlooking the Har Habayis when they saw a fox emerging from the site of the Kodesh Hakodoshim. The others cried. Rabi Akiva smiled.

When Rabi Akiva explained that the fulfillment of the prophecy of destruction guaranteed the fulfillment of the prophecy of redemption, they said to him, “Akiva, nichamtonu. Akiva, nichamtonu.”

Just as Yeshayahu Hanovi did, they repeated the words. Rabi Akiva had not changed reality. He changed the way they perceived it. That is the essence of nechomah.

Unfortunately, we arrive at Shabbos Nachamu carrying burdens that feel painfully familiar.

The nations of the world continue to align themselves against us. As Israel fights enemies sworn to its destruction, much of the civilized world condemns the victim while excusing the aggressor. Jews everywhere are targeted and vilified.

The slogans change. The hatred never does.

Today’s antisemitism disguises itself as anti-Zionism or humanitarian concern. Yesterday it accused Jews of poisoning wells, spreading plagues, and consuming gentile blood. Today it speaks the language of international law, human rights, and political campaigns.

The vocabulary has evolved, not the hatred. It is still the same.

It is the ancient animosity of Yishmoel toward Yitzchok, of Eisov toward Yaakov, clothed in the fashionable language of each generation.

Europe, whose soil is saturated with Jewish blood, once again tolerates public displays of antisemitism that many believed had disappeared forever. Jews wonder if they have a future there. University campuses in America have become increasingly hostile to openly Jewish students. Public figures who once concealed their prejudice now express it proudly and are praised for it. Democrats who support Israel put their careers in jeopardy, and the vice president regularly insults Israel and speaks against it. When people gather to discuss current events, they wonder how much longer American Jews will continue to enjoy the freedom with which we have been blessed.

History rarely repeats itself in precisely the same form. It simply finds new disguises.

For us, however, none of this is surprising. Chazal taught us long ago, “Sinah yordah la’olam,” hatred descended to the world when Klal Yisroel stood at Har Sinai and accepted the Torah. Our enemies may invent new explanations for their hostility, but the source remains unchanged. We are hated because we carry Hashem’s Torah and bear His Name.

That realization does not lessen the pain, but it changes the perspective, and that is the beginning of nechomah.

As we conclude the mourning of the Three Weeks and Nine Days, we wonder how much longer the golus will continue and when it will finally end. America is battling Iran, and we fear the war will expand to Eretz Yisroel. We wonder what we can do to bring peace.

When history seems to repeat itself generation after generation, we do not find the answers to our questions in newspaper headlines, political analysis, or in the shallow conversations that often substitute for serious thought.

A young man once boarded a bus to Bayit Vegan and noticed Rav Moshe Shapiro sitting quietly nearby. Gathering his courage, he approached him and asked, “How are we supposed to understand what happened during the Holocaust?”

Rav Moshe looked at him warmly.

“Shalom,” he replied.

He did not say anything else. He did not address the question or even acknowledge it.

A talmid witnessed the interaction, and when Rav Moshe got off the bus, he followed him and asked why the well-known rosh yeshiva and baal machshovah had ignored such an important question. Rav Moshe explained, “The young man knows where I live. He knows how long this bus ride is. If he thinks that the answer to that question can be given in the few minutes before I reach my stop, then he isn’t really looking for an answer. He’s just looking to make conversation. I don’t have time for pointless conversations.”

Some questions are simply too profound to be answered with slogans. Life demands depth and understanding. To understand Jewish history requires Torah. It requires us to look beyond the surface and recognize the Hand guiding events that often appear random.

That is what Parshas Va’eschanon teaches us.

Just as the novi gives us nechomah, Moshe Rabbeinu teaches us how to attain it.

Moshe Rabbeinu takes Klal Yisroel by the hand and shows us what Rabi Akiva would understand centuries later.

The answer to Jewish history is found in the Torah.

Parshas Va’eschanon is much more than a review of events that took place long ago. It is a blueprint for every generation that would one day struggle to understand exile, persecution, and redemption.

Moshe begins with his own heartfelt tefillah. “Hashem Elokim, Atah hachilosah…” He recounts how he pleaded with Hashem to allow him to enter Eretz Yisroel and then accepted Hashem’s decree barring him from the Holy Land with complete faith.

Before teaching Klal Yisroel how to live, Moshe Rabbeinu teaches us how to trust. He reminds us that no matter how much remains hidden from our understanding, there is One Who sees the entire picture.

Rashi explains Moshe’s declaration, “Asher mi Keil bashomayim u’va’aretz asher yaaseh k’maasecha u’gevorosecha…,” by contrasting Hashem with earthly rulers. A king of flesh and blood may wish to show compassion, but he is constrained by ministers, advisors, and political realities. Hashem answers to no one. His mercy is absolute, unrestricted, and perfect.

Through those words and that idea, we begin to find nechomah as we recognize that our lives are not governed by chance or by the whims of world leaders, but rest securely in the Hands of the Ribbono Shel Olam.

Moshe then reminds us where life is found. He says, “V’atem hadeveikim baHashem Elokeichem chaim kulchem hayom.” Those who remain attached and devoted to Hashem are truly alive.

Life is not merely breathing, eating, sleeping, or playing ball. Life is attachment to Hashem. Life is found in a heartfelt Shemoneh Esrei, another posuk, another blatt Gemara, another act of chesed, another mitzvah performed with sincerity.

The world defines life by comfort, wealth, and security. The Torah defines life by clinging to Hashem.

Moshe continues: “Mi goy gadol asher lo Elokim kerovim eilov…”

What other nation possesses such a gift? What other people can call out to the Creator of the universe and know that He hears every sincere cry? And what other nation has experienced what ours has?

Who else was taken from the midst of another people through miracles, signs, wonders, and open displays of Divine providence?

Who else has survived exile after exile, persecution after persecution, only to emerge again and again proclaiming the same eternal truths?

History has no parallel. Neither does Klal Yisroel.

Moshe then brings us to the foundation upon which everything else rests: the Aseres Hadibros, the charter of the Jewish people that defines who we are, how we live, and why we endure.

Immediately afterward, we proclaim the words that have accompanied us through every generation: “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.”

Those words put us to bed each night and accompany us every morning.

They have echoed from the stirring cries of Yom Kippur to the whispered bedtime Krias Shema, and to the final declarations of martyrs ascending al kiddush Hashem.

Empires have risen and fallen. Kings have disappeared. Cultures and civilizations have vanished. But those words have never ceased to be spoken.

That, too, is nechomah.

Moshe’s message reaches its practical conclusion a few pesukim later.

“V’osisa hayoshor vehatov.”

If we seek Hashem’s protection, we must strive to become the people He asks us to be.

Not merely believers, not merely observers, but honest, compassionate, and upright Jews. When we are a nation faithful in both belief and conduct, we can ask Hashem to fight our battles.

When we fight our yeitzer hora, He fights our enemies. When we build homes of integrity, businesses of honesty, communities of kindness, and lives that reflect His Torah, the bris remains intact, along with Hashem’s promises.

Moshe assures us that Hashem will bring His people into the land promised to the avos, filling their homes with brachos and goodness.

Those promises were never abandoned. They were only delayed until we prove worthy of receiving them.

Perhaps that is the deepest meaning of Shabbos Nachamu.

Nothing changed this week. The stones of the Kosel still stand as lonely testaments to what once was and what we have lost. The Har Habayis still waits for us to return. Our enemies have not disappeared. The world’s attitudes have not improved.

So what is the nechomah?

The nechomah is that everything has changed because we have changed. Our outlook has changed.

The tears of Tisha B’Av were never meant to leave us in despair. They were meant to restore our vision. The mourning stripped away our illusions and reminded us who we are. When we perceive the churban and the losses, when we see the foxes strutting about, confident and content, that is when we know that resurrection is coming. When we see dusk, we know that there will be dawn. When the sun goes down, we know it will also rise.

Shabbos Chazon marks where we were. Shabbos Nachamu points to where we are going.

The Bluzhever Rebbe experienced unimaginable tragedy during the Holocaust and then came as a refugee to America, where he witnessed and helped lead the rebirth of Yiddishkeit. He understood this better than most.

A young bochur once stood in line after lighting Chanukah licht to receive the rebbe’s brocha. Hoping to preserve the moment, he quietly asked a friend to photograph him standing beside the rebbe.

The rebbe noticed the boy handing his friend the camera to capture the moment.

When the young man approached for a brocha, the rebbe warmly took his hand and smiled.

“Bochur’l,” he said, “you probably want a picture because I represent a world that has disappeared.”

The boy nodded shyly.

“But never forget,” the rebbe said as he held the young man’s hand, “that the future of that world that is no more is standing inside of you.”

The man who had survived destruction and came to embody the generation and world that had been lost was telling a young member of the next generation that the past itself guaranteed the future – a future of Torah, a future of Yiddishkeit, a future of Yidden.

That is why we remember. That is why we spent three weeks remembering and mourning. Not because we live in the past, and not because we are held hostage by the past, but because we believe in tomorrow, because we want to build a better tomorrow.

We rejoice on Shabbos Nachamu not because the golus has ended, but because we know that it will.

Over the past nine days and three weeks, we returned to our origins. We remembered our losses. We confronted our failures. We mourned the Bais Hamikdosh, the harugei Beitar, Rabi Akiva and the other Tannaim, the victims of Tach V’Tat, of York, England, of the Crusades, and of the Holocaust.

Now we can lift our eyes. Now we hear the words of the novi once again as he calls out to us through the ages and proclaims, “Nachamu, nachamu ami.”

Be comforted. Step back. See beyond the ruins. Look beyond the darkness. Recognize that the same Hashem Who accompanied us through every golus walks beside us today.

Our path to geulah begins long before Moshiach arrives. It begins the moment a Jew learns to see history through the eyes of Torah.

That is the gift of nechomah.

That is the message of Shabbos Nachamu.

And that is why, even before the Bais Hamikdosh is rebuilt, we are able to proclaim again and again: “Nachamu, nachamu ami.”

We know it is on the way. It is almost here.

May we merit the day when those words are no longer a promise of consolation, but the joyous proclamation of redemption itself, bemeheirah beyomeinu. Amein.

B_ein hazemanim_ is here, but have you ever stopped to think: What exactly is bein hazemanim? Is it time off from learning? Is it time off from Hashem? After all, everyone needs a break, no?

The Chovos Halevavos writes in Shaar Avodas Elokim that there is nothing “pareve” in Yiddishkeit. Whatever a person does, every action performed by a Yid, must be done because it is a mitzvah. It is the way he is serving Hashem. If not, it is an aveirah, because through that act, he is not serving Hashem. There is no such thing as something existing in no-man’s-land, as something that is neither a mitzvah nor an aveirah.

Certainly, there is no yeshiva during bein hazemanim, and the learning schedule is not the same. The real question, however, is whether there is an avodah of bein hazemanim. What is the mitzvah of bein hazemanim?

I have written about this in the past, but it is so important that I will write about it again. If it is at all possible, it is critical that bein hazemanim be family bonding time.

The Family Time Imperative

Boruch Hashem, our community consists of many large, busy families with parents, children, boys and girls of multiple ages.

During the year, life is so busy that although families are raised in the same home, for better or for worse, many of them do not interact all that much with one another. This is especially true as families grow older and bochurim go off to learn in yeshiva and high school. Even upper elementary school girls have very busy schedules and active social lives.

Often, there is very little time for families to truly bond. (This is not the subject of today’s article, but I wonder if some of the shalom bayis difficulties faced by so many young couples stem from the fact that young people did not have enough opportunity to live together as a family, do things together as a family, and understand how boys, girls, mothers, and fathers interact with one another in a healthy way.)

Bein hazemanim is the ideal time for bonding. Now, I know that most boys and bochurim—or at least many of them—go to camp, and so do girls. Therefore, bein hazemanim is often swallowed up by camp, and just as there is little time for family bonding during the year, the same is true over the course of the summer.

That said, those who are able to spend a week or two together as a family—whether by going away or simply enjoying day trips and activities together—will reap tremendous to’eles. It can be a great deal of fun and, at the same time, extraordinarily healthy on an emotional level.

If there is a way to create family time even for those who are in camp, it is so important. Families should find the time, or perhaps create the time, even if it is only a day or two before camp begins or a day or two after it ends, to take a trip together, go on an outing, play games, or simply spend time together.

Bein Hazemanim for All, Even Masmidim

Bein hazemanim is also for masmidim. Two summers ago, Lakewood and Klal Yisroel lost a budding gadol with the sudden, tragic passing of Rav Boruch Ber Ziemba, a prominent rosh chaburah at Bais Medrash Govoah who also served as the rosh kollel of the Ocean Pointe night kollel and rov of the Ocean Pointe Nusach Sefard kehillah. He was not even forty years old when he passed away, yet he left behind the richest of legacies.

Rav Boruch Ber was a tremendous masmid who rarely, if ever, missed a seder. Yes, he learned full sedorim, but that was not all. He lived and breathed Torah. His greatest chiyus was in learning. He loved to toil and horuveh over a sugya until it was crystal clear. When he learned, he was like a child in a candy store. He was truly a future gadol who had such a bright future ahead of him.

One would think that someone like that would have had no need for bein hazemanim and would have preferred simply to stay home learning. But nothing could have been further from the truth.

Why? Because Reb Boruch Ber understood that just as there is a distinct avodah during the zeman, there is also a distinct avodah of bein hazemanim.

Reb Boruch Ber felt that bein hazemanim was an essential opportunity to connect with his family, to do together the things they could not do during the year, and to create lifelong memories of family bonding and the joy of simply enjoying one another’s company.

He made it his business to pack in as much family time as possible. He did not need spectacular or “shock and awe” trips to create memories. He created memories by singing together in the car and challenging the family to compose a song that captured the “theme” of their trip. He managed to make a matzav out of something as simple as breakfast in a hotel, creating warm feelings and unforgettable memories.

The Ziemba bein hazemanim family trip, even if it lasted only a few days, was sacrosanct. It was never something he was willing to forgo.

Reb Boruch Ber liked to travel during bein hazemanim to places where they would not run into the “whole world.” He sought out off-the-beaten-path locations with a nearby Young Israel shul so that he could daven tefillah b’tzibbur. He looked for quiet hotels in out-of-the-way places where the pool would be empty and his family could enjoy it.

The food was an entire production as well. During bein hazemanim, it was Reb Boruch Ber who did most of the cooking. He would prepare breakfast sandwiches, buying all kinds of rolls and filling them with whatever his children wanted. He made eggs and pancakes right in the hotel. It became a whole production that his children still remember.

Of course, supper meant barbecues prepared with love, as he carefully cooked each child’s favorite foods. During those trips, it was obvious that he viewed his role as bonding with his children through spending time with them and giving them wholesome, happy experiences.

The Avodah of Bein Hazemanim

In many ways, the frum family is under assault. We need to strengthen it. We need to strengthen the natural bond between parents and children and among siblings. It is not necessarily a maalah for each person to do his own thing during bein hazemanim.

I remember when my son once came home and excitedly described a bein hazemanim program he had heard about. He was captivated as he explained the details. The bochurim come together in the morning and have their own minyan, davening together in the ezras noshim of a shul. After davening, the program provides a nice breakfast, followed by morning seder. After morning seder, lunch is served, and the boys eat together. Following lunch, there is a break of a few hours. Then, in the mid-to-late afternoon, they return to the shul, daven Mincha, have a two-hour seder, enjoy a fleishige supper together, learn halacha for an hour, and daven Maariv.

My son thought that it was an amazing program for a bochur who was holding by that level, and he almost seemed envious, as though he would like to join.

He noticed, however, that I did not share his enthusiasm. When he asked me, with temimus, why I was not so excited, I explained, “This program isn’t a bein hazemanim program. It’s a middle-of-the-zeman program! The avodah of the zeman is to be fully immersed in yeshiva, to learn as much as one can, to eat in yeshiva, and to have a day centered around the yeshiva, around the sedorim, and around one’s chaveirim.

“The avodah of bein hazemanim,” I continued, “is not to be part of a yeshiva, but to be part of your family. Full stop. Certainly, serious limud haTorah must be part of the schedule. But within that framework, bein hazemanim should be a different type of avodah than the year-round avodah.”

Think about it.

I’m beginning to worry. Maybe because I am writing this before Tisha B’Av. And even though it may be read Shabbos Nachamu, I am still in a golus mode.

After another set of antisemitic attacks in Queens and increased acts of blatant antisemitism in areas of New York City where Jews lived in relative peace and harmony, I worry. Those types of acts bring flashbacks to Germany and Europe in the years before the Holocaust.

But if that is not enough, there is more to worry about as well.

I have been thinking lately about the Jews who lived under the Czar in Russia during the years leading up to the revolutions that would eventually topple an empire and change the world. I wonder what went through the minds of ordinary Jewish peasants, not the talmidei chachomim living in the shtetlach, struggling under restrictions that told them where they could live, what opportunities were closed to them, and how little protection they could expect when the winds of a pogrom suddenly blew through town.

When they first began hearing about revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the Czar, did they recoil in fear, or was there perhaps a little ray of hope?

After all, life under the Czar was hardly a golden age for the Jews. There were pogroms, quotas, restrictions, poverty, and blatant discrimination. A Jewish father who watched his children struggle because of a system stacked against them might not have understood Marx or Lenin, and he certainly may not have envisioned a proletarian revolution, but when someone began speaking about equality, breaking down class barriers and creating a society in which the poor would no longer be trampled by the powerful, was he entirely horrified?

Or did part of him wonder whether perhaps something good might finally come out of all the upheaval? Of course, the gedolim were more than wary of the various new “isms” sweeping through Europe. They understood the danger of replacing the Ribbono Shel Olam and the Torah with a new belief system that promised salvation through nationalism, socialism, communism, or any other ideology created by man. But I wonder whether those focused upon the spiritual danger could have imagined the full economic and human tragedy of the evolution of the revolution.

Could a father have imagined that his son, perhaps a boy who had drifted away from Yiddishkeit and become enthralled with promises of equality and justice, might someday become part of the machinery used to close the very cheder in which he had learned? Could a mother lighting Shabbos candles have imagined that the young man who once stood beside his father in shul, but had become inspired by the dream of liberating the downtrodden, might one day grow up to become part of a government that would make the practice of Yiddishkeit nearly impossible?

Could parents who were shomer Shabbos and kashrus, even though they may not have been learned, have imagined their children shutting shuls, preventing milah and sending ehrliche Yidden, cousins and other relatives to the Gulag?

There were Jewish young men and women who became deeply involved in revolutionary movements, and I find myself wondering what exactly drew them there in the first place.

Surely some were angry. Some wanted power. Some had rejected everything their parents represented. But I have to believe that there were others who were moved by something much more innocent. They saw suffering. They saw the hatred of the church toward Yidden, and for some reason joined the antisemites in collectively absconding with spirituality and then punishing anyone who believed in G-d.

They saw peasants living in desperate poverty while aristocrats lived in luxury. They knew what it meant to be discriminated against by a government that treated Jews as an unwanted problem. They had seen families terrorized by pogroms and watched opportunities denied because of birth, religion, and class.

And when someone came along and said that the entire system was rotten and that a new society could be created in which everyone would be equal, perhaps they believed him. It was different than the thug who came to your door screaming that he hates Jews. Obviously, that did not require a great deal of philosophical analysis. Hitler never offered the Jews an attractive vision of their own future. His hatred was eventually unmistakable, even if too many people underestimated how far he would take it. The more complicated movements are the ones that arrive carrying compassion.

The other week, I was with a wise man, a dear friend of my shver zt”l, and I was discussing the wave of decent-minded, and I think good-intentioned, upper-middle-class college-educated youth who are latching on to Mamdani and the Social Democratic Movement as if it were a utopian vision for America. He explained it in three words: “Suicide by Empathy.”

They speak about fairness. They speak about people who cannot afford bread or rent. They speak about workers being exploited, minorities being oppressed, and wealth being concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. They identify real suffering, because there usually is real suffering, and they appeal to something decent inside the human being who is listening.

And somewhere along the way, almost imperceptibly, compassion becomes ideology.

The story of Shimon, or Semen Dimanstein, is almost too extraordinary to invent.

Dimanstein was born into a poor Litvish family. His father, Mordechai, was a tinsmith. From age 12, he studied at the yeshivos of Telz, Slobodka, and Lubavitch. According to my perusing, he received semicha from Rav Eliyohu Chaim Meisels of Lodz, Rav Shlomo Hakohen, and Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski of Vilna. He suffered from poverty and homelessness and soon abandoned his religious upbringing in favor of revolutionary activities.

He eventually became one of the leading figures in the Communist effort to reshape Jewish life under the new Soviet order.

Think about that for a moment. A young man who knew the inside of a yeshiva, who knew the language of the bais medrash and understood the world he was helping dismantle, became part of an ideology whose Jewish sections worked aggressively against traditional Jewish institutions.

I wonder what he thought he was doing when he began. I doubt that the first dream was to destroy a shul.

Perhaps it was to destroy oppression. But revolutions have a way of evolving.

First you identify suffering. Then you identify the system causing the suffering. Then you identify the people who benefit from that system. Eventually those people are no longer merely people with whom you disagree. They become the obstacle standing between humanity and justice.

Once that happens, empathy itself can become extraordinarily selective.

It is scary to see this happening in America, particularly among young, educated people who are increasingly attracted to movements that describe themselves openly as Democratic Socialists.

Chazal warn us that someone who becomes merciful toward the cruel will ultimately become cruel toward the merciful. It is a remarkable insight into the danger of misplaced rachmonus. The problem is certainly not rachmonus itself. Klal Yisroel is defined by rachmonus. The problem begins when compassion is separated from judgment, when someone else decides for them who deserves empathy and who has forfeited the right to receive it.

I am not yet equating the Democratic Socialists of America with the Bolsheviks, nor am I suggesting that a young volunteer canvassing for affordable housing is secretly planning the next gulag. But human nature does repeat itself, and sometimes the beginning of an ideological journey is worth examining before we know where the road ends.

What fascinates me is that much of the modern socialist movement is being energized by young people who are hardly the starving proletariat rising from the factories. Many are educated, white, college graduates who have grown up with opportunities that their great-grandparents could barely have imagined. Recent polling shows that younger, white and college-educated Democrats are among those most receptive to politicians who call themselves Democrat Socialists.

Perhaps that is not as strange as it sounds. Their grievance is often not about what happened to them personally. It is about what they have been taught to feel for someone else. Empathy. Falsely perceived and falsely placed.

They see a mother who cannot afford childcare, a family crushed by rent, a worker who cannot afford medical care, an immigrant afraid of deportation, or a Palestinian child suffering in Gaza, and something inside them responds. There is nothing wrong with that response. A person who can look at human suffering without feeling anything is much more frightening than a person whose heart aches for someone he has never met. The problem is, instead of helping, they point a finger and create a class of those responsible. The landlord. The billionaire. The corporation. The police. Capitalism. Colonialism, and of course the Jews and Israel.

Immediately an ideology has assigned the roles of oppressed and oppressor, it becomes increasingly difficult to retain empathy for anyone who has been placed on the wrong side of the ledger.

And once again, the strange phenomenon that happened back in Russia is happening in America. Young Jews who entered movements because they cared passionately about minorities, discrimination, and human rights suddenly find themselves surrounded by people chanting slogans against Israel, and find themselves as targets by those demanding that Jews prove their moral legitimacy by repudiating other Jews.

Maybe it’s not a Shabbos Nachamu essay, but in a way it is. Because the greatest nechomah for a nation that has been suffering assimilation and apathy in a Golden medinah is that the Ribbono Shel Olam wakes us up and reminds us that we are Yidden. And that comes with the golus package. Confusion, disclarity and hate. But we know the solution. And that helps us turn on the jet burners of tefillah and yearning. Maybe the misguided youngsters out there who are being targeted will wake up because of the madness, and come back to their roots. We will be waiting for them with open arms. And so will Moshiach.

Just saying.

The very name of this Shabbos proclaims a total change in the atmosphere of the past Three Weeks. We go from mourning to consolation, from sadness to joy. And, yet, the overwhelming majority of meforshim are shocked at the opening words of the haftarah. The novi Yeshayohu, the source of all the seven haftaros of nechomah, evokes what seems to be the harshest of punishments: “Comfort My people…for she has received double for all her sins from the hand of Hashem” (Yeshayah 40:1). Indeed, the very beginning of the Medrash of Eicha (Eicha Rabbah 1:57) elaborates that “she has sinned doubly, been punished doubly and will be consoled doubly.” As the Satmar Rebbe  thunders, “Can this be the middah of Hashem to punish twice for the same sin?” (Kedushas Yoel, Haftaras Nachamu, page 116). He cites the earlier reaction of the Radak that it is impossible to contemplate that Hashem would exact excessive retribution, since the Torah testifies, “The Rock! – perfect is His work, for all His paths are justice; He is righteous and fair” (Devorim 32:4).

Although many answers are given, I would like to share a few chosen explanations from our gedolim, which I feel speak most eloquently to this year’s need for consolation.

The Matamei Yitzchok (pages 578-580), son of the Maharsham, points out that the first posuk of the haftarah says both dabru (speak) and kiru (call). He alerts us to the fact that dibbur can sometimes refer to speech that is not directly said to the person (such as Bamidbar 12:1), but kriah is always direct. His point is that the novi, relating the word of Hashem, is speaking warmly and encouragingly to the heart and soul of the nation. We should add that Rashi (Vayikra 1:1) teaches the same lesson about Hashem’s call to Moshe Rabbeinu at the beginning of Sefer Vayikra. Indeed, one of the “Lions of the Arizal” (Tal Oros, page 771) points out that our posuk begins with Elokeichem, which represents the middah of din, rigorous justice, and changes to Hashem, which represents rachamim, compassion and pity. Clearly, the very first posuk of the haftarah evokes the transition from sadness to consolation.

Rav Shimon Sofer, son of the Chasam Sofer and rov of Mattersdorf (Michtav Sofer, page 177), explains this transition as coming from our own intense teshuvah. When performed properly, teshuvah not only erases sins, but turns them into zechusim, merits (Yoma 86b). Thus, what could have resulted in punishment in effect becomes reward. This, he explains, is the best of the doubling, when evil is transformed into spiritual gold. The Unsdorfer Rov, Rav Shmuel Rosenberg (Be’er Shmuel 561), channels the concept that Hashem creates the cure before the illness (Megillah 13b) to explain how this mystical transition takes place. He explains that the refuah was already there and only needed to be activated by our teshuvah and wish to change ourselves.

The Bnei Yissoschor (Nissan 9:1) utilizes the order of the Seder to understand how our fate suddenly changes for the better. He asks the classic question: Why do we eat the matzah, which represents freedom, before maror, which represents the pain of slavery? The correct order should have been the reverse.

He answers using the metaphor of the physician who gives a patient bitter herbs to cure him. At the time, they are difficult to swallow, but when he feels better, his fever is gone and he can act normally again, he becomes grateful and understands what the doctor has done for him. In the future redemption, too, he concludes, there will be extremely bitter times, when we will think that we are being punished excessively, but later we will be grateful for every moment of temporary pain.

One of the great poskim, Rav Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, rov of Yerushalayim (Minchas Yitzchok, Va’eschanon, page 64), adds that the posuk clearly indicates that this pain (laksa kiflayim) comes from the name of Hashem signifying compassion. The novi is speaking not only of the churban Bais Hamikdosh, but also about our days as well. This explains the cryptic words of the Medrash (Yalkut Yeshayohu 445) that Klal Yisroel asked Yeshayah, “Perhaps you have prophesied comfort only for our generation but not for future generations?” Yeshayah reassures us that he meant the End of Days as well. Rav Berel Povarsky (Bad Kodesh, Volume 1, Tisha B’Av, page 386-87) asks: Why would we even think that Yeshayah’s nevuah was limited solely to his generation? Actually, all the nevuos in Tanach are eternal and meant for all generations. He answers, quoting the Brisker Rov on Tehillim (27:14), that we are rewarded for our trust in Hashem by gaining even more trust in Him. Yeshayah’s call to console the people is not just to be full of emunah and bitachon when things are good. It is to see the hand of Hashem in everything, even that which seems on the surface to be intensely punitive actions. That is why the word Elokeichem, the Name signifying din, appears here. It is to enable us to perceive Hashem in the darkest of moments.

I remember hearing the Novominsker Rebbe quoting his mother-in-law, a survivor of Churban Europa. She was asked the pointed but recurring question of: “Where was Hashem during the Holocaust?” Her simple but profound answer was: “In yeder vinkel — In every corner.” In other words, where some saw only crematoria and gas chambers, she saw those who survived miraculously and rebuilt families against all rational odds.

That is the secret of the nechamah that simultaneously also speaks of suffering and pain.

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (Divrei Aggada, page 519) adds how all of this requires our active participation and activity. “Speaking to the heart of Yeushalayim” means, he explains, “building Torah communities, spreading its message, performing mitzvos and getting ready to rebuild the Bais Hamikdosh.”

The Maharam Brisk (Va’eschanon, page 266) explains that this is what Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 14:9) mean when they teach that we should thank Hashem with every breath. This refers to when we breathe easily or even when it is, lo aleinu, difficult to breathe. If we learn to thank Hashem for everything, instead of thinking that we are being punished at every turn, we become rewarded for every word and breath.

If we go back just a few days to listening to the powerful words of Eicha, we can discover this idea on the cosmic level of Klal Yisroel. Yirmiyohu Hanovi tells us early on (Eicha 2:1) that “He cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Yisroel.” The question has been asked for centuries: What place is there here for the “glory of Yisroel” when we are describing its punishment and degradation? Our meforshim refer us to Dovid Hamelech’s words (Tehillim 3:1), “Mizmor l’Dovid as he fled from Avshalom, his son.” Why is this called a song of praise when a tragedy is happening? Dovid Hamelech has no peace and he must run away from his own son, who is seeking to murder him. The answer is given that there are two types of misfortunes that can come upon a person. One is when things happen that appear to be natural. There are illnesses, ups and downs in parnossah, and some children who are more successful than others. These things can be explained as the way of the world. But if something is so spectacularly good or

G-d forbid bad, it can only come from Hashem, Who runs the world. There can be no other explanation.

Chazal (Megillah 16a) tell us that Klal Yisroel is either like the dirt of the earth or like the stars above. These polar opposites must come from Hashem. This explains the posuk that Hashem threw us down from a high place to a low pit. This, too, is the glory of Klal Yisroel, since it indicates that we are His children and the treatment we receive is always supernatural. Sometimes this is wonderful, sometimes it is painful, but it is always indicative of His presence.

Many of us learned this from a Gemara (Kesubos 66b) on Tisha B’Av. At the time of the churban, Rav Yochonon ben Zakkai was riding a donkey, followed by his talmidim, and saw a young woman collecting barley from under the dung of an animal belonging to an Arab. When she realized that the great sage was nearby, she arranged herself as best she could and begged him for help or food. He asked who she was and she responded that she was the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guriyon. Knowing that he had been one of the wealthiest men in Yerushalayim, he asked where the family riches had gone, to which she responded that there was nothing left. Rav Yochonon ben Zakai began to weep. “Ashreichem Yisroel – Fortunate are you, O Yisroel. When you do the will of the Al-mighty, no nation can conquer you, but when you do not, you are given over to a lowly nation and not only into their hands, but even to their animals.”

The Maharal, as well as others, ask: Is this the place for an expression such as Ashreichem Yisroel? What’s so glorious about this tragic scene?

The Maharsha, as explained by the Maharal and Brisker Rov, says that it means that whether we are very great or surrounded by adversity, it is clear that we are in the direct hands of the Creator. My rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, always used to comment that, as a nation, we are sometimes called Am Seridei Chorev and sometimes Am Medushnei Oneg. Either way, we are Hashem’s children and we are under His personal Providence — Hashgocha Protis.

This is the message of Shabbos Nachamu and the comfort we are being promised. Things will not always be perfect. However, we will always know that Hashem is guiding us and in charge of everything.

I must add that when we see nearly worldwide anti-Semitism, when we feel most alone and abandoned, we know that “we have no one but Hashem to Whom to turn.” That is never a bad thing. It reminds us who we are and under Whose umbrella we remain. Yeshuas Hashem keheref ayin — Hashem’s salvation can come in a moment, as long as we know that it is He from Whom we are sustained and live every day. Yes, every breath comes from Him, just as we receive many reminders that we cannot count on any human being, but must always put our trust in our Heavenly Father. When we do that, we will be helped and saved bemeheirah beyomeinu. Amein.

Av-A Month of Fatherly Mercy

Last week, the chareidi parties fought for the passage of two bills that no one ever thought would be necessary. One was the Basic Law: Torah Study, which was necessitated by judges repeatedly overturning the laws granting draft deferrals to yeshiva bochurim on the grounds that the arrangement violated the principle of equality. Since the judges based their arguments on the Basic Law that enshrines equality as a fundamental value of the state, the new Basic Law introduces another fundamental value—the importance of Torah study—to restore balance. While no one can be certain that this will cause the judges to leave bnei yeshivos alone, it was a form of hishtadlus that needed to be done.

The second law was a bill freezing the arrests of yeshiva bochurim. The chareidi parties hoped that this would provide a reprieve for the country’s bnei Torah; no one imagined that a judge would issue an order suspending the law within hours after it passed. But that is precisely what happened: Justice Grosskopf immediately issued an order freezing the law before it could take effect and declared that the petition against it will be reviewed by a panel of nine justices headed by Noam Sohlberg. (Sadly, we do not have an ounce of faith in Sohlberg.) Everyone hoped that all the bnei Torah in detention would be released as soon as the law was passed; on this past Shabbos alone, 45 bochurim and yungeleit were being held in military prison. Had the law taken effect, it would have removed the cloud of anxiety that hovers over lomdei Torah throughout the country. Of course, we anticipated that petitions against the law would be filed with the Supreme Court, and it seemed obvious that the judges would oppose the law, but most legal experts believed, based on past precedents, that the Supreme Court would not issue a ruling after the Knesset began its recess. That has always been the court’s practice, and everyone believed that it would continue following that policy. The government has always informed the Supreme Court during an election period that it is impossible to pass new legislation until a new Knesset is formed, and therefore any petitions against existing laws should be delayed. The chareidim therefore forged ahead with the new bill on the assumption that it would not be canceled immediately—an assumption that, it seems, was in error.

The 25th Knesset completed its term last Thursday on a disappointing note. Despite all the commitments and promises that were made, a new draft law was not passed. And while there may have been genuine impediments to the law’s passage, that makes little difference to the legions of yeshiva bochurim living in fear of arrest. Just imagine how this chapter in Israeli history will be recorded and read in the future: In the state of the Jews, lomdei Torah were afraid to go on errands or even visit a barbershop. Some of them were robbed or assaulted in broad daylight and fled for their lives rather than calling the police, out of fear that they would fall into the hands of hostile authorities. Who would ever have thought that bnei Torah would be oppressed by a Jewish police force?

The picture right now, unfortunately, is bleak. The Knesset members who visited Prison 10, where yeshiva bochurim are being held, were heartbroken by their plight. Uri Maklev was present for a session of the military court and emerged in a state of despondence. Moshe Abutbul recently played a recording for me of a message he had received from a young wife of a kollel yungerman. “Please, I beg you to help me,” the woman can be heard saying. “I am a young wife with three small children, and my husband was put into military prison yesterday; they want to draft him. I have no one to help me, and I can’t manage anymore. I need him to be home with me. He called me today for the first time, and he was in tears. He told me that they are being abused; he was forced to stand for four hours with a heavy bag on his back, he isn’t given enough food, he sleeps for three hours on a wooden board, and he isn’t allowed to have bedsheets. I can’t continue this way any longer.” The woman can be heard crying on the recording, and we all wept along with her.

I also have a neighbor who was sentenced to an additional 30 days in military prison last week, after completing an initial sentence of 30 days. The length of his sentence is due to the fact that he has been categorized as a draft evader for ten years; he is 28 years old, and it seems that he never properly took care of obtaining an official deferral, even while the legal arrangement was still in place. But while it’s true that he was negligent and he should have attended to his deferral, does that really make him deserving of spending sixty days in jail? According to his parents, he is on the verge of a mental breakdown.

I hope that the law freezing arrests of yeshiva bochurim, if it is allowed to take effect, will also lead to the release of bochurim already behind bars; however, I reviewed the text of the law and found no explicit mention of such a provision. We can only daven that the malicious policies of this state will be curbed by the passage of the two new laws. Meanwhile, thousands of Sanzer chassidim protested outside the military prison last Thursday night, after a member of the chassidus was taken into custody. He has since been released. On Monday, 25,000 Gerrer chassidim protested the arrest of a Gerrer chosid.

It is said that the name of the month of Av is an acronym for the words Elul ba (“Elul is coming”). Forty-five years ago, in the month of Av 5741/1981, the Shefa Chaim of Sanz-Klausenberg declared, “We are now in the month of Av, and I always explain that the name of this month alludes to the compassion of a father (av) for his children. These are days of mercy and kindness toward Bnei Yisroel, just as we saw the demonstration of Hashem’s kindness to His people at the time of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh. Even though the people’s actions were lowly and base, Hashem poured out His wrath on the wood and stones of the Bais Hamikdosh rather than on them. During these days, therefore, we see a revelation of Hashem’s mercy for Bnei Yisroel; however, the yetzer hara believes, due to the Divine concealment, that it is a time of judgment. We therefore ask Hashem to reveal His kindness before everyone and to grant us our eternal redemption soon.”

No Faith in Israel’s Judges

There is no doubt about it: We cannot have the slightest faith in the Supreme Court. The judges have already delivered two brutal blows to the religious community, taking the opportunity to attack in every direction at once. In addition to raining economic blows on “draft dodgers,” they also called to ramp up the arrests of lomdei Torah. The judges’ second verdict was signed on 9 Iyar/April 26, 2026, and dealt with petitions based on the court’s previous verdict. The petitioners accused the government of showing contempt for the judges’ earlier verdict by refusing to implement measures against Torah learners; on November 19, the judges had cruelly issued two rulings calling for economic and criminal sanctions against lomdei Torah, and the government hadn’t yet implemented that decision.

Someone might be tempted to make the argument that the judges did nothing wrong, since their duty is merely to make sure the law is obeyed, and they were only calling on the government to comply with its legal obligation to draft young men, regardless of the cost. However, there are several answers to this argument. The first is that there is no such thing as an agenda that should be pursued at any cost; one can never achieve anything with an all-out, no-holds-barred campaign, certainly not regarding an issue as sensitive as the IDF draft. That is even more true when it is an attempt to reverse a longstanding arrangement that has been in effect for over 70 years. In addition, some of the economic sanctions were opposed by professional staff in various government ministries, on the grounds that the measures are unlawful. In some cases, the sanctions were deemed extremely disproportionate. For instance, why should a child be punished by being deprived of subsidized day care because his father learns in kollel? And how will that punishment help promote the draft? Does anyone really believe that kollel yungeleit will join the army in response to the loss of a day care subsidy? The professionals argued vehemently that the sanction would have no such effect and would simply lead the wives of yungeleit to stop working. The judges are supposed to be aware of all these points and to take them into consideration, but they were callously indifferent, insisting on a full-scale war against lomdei Torah regardless of whether it had any chance of achieving their aims.

Regarding the arrests of yeshiva bochurim, the Supreme Court wrote on April 26, “In this context, we were informed both in writing and in the oral discussion that the police are still refraining from arresting draft evaders and deserters in unplanned encounters, despite their authority to do so, and that the police maintain that they do not have the ability to assist the military police in their efforts to arrest deserters and draft evaders. This is despite the fact that to carry out such activities in a civilian setting, the military police require the collaboration of the civilian police. The police explained that this policy—the non-enforcement of the law against draft evaders in chareidi population centers—is based on the fact that such operations are frequently accompanied by widespread public disturbances, and that carrying them out requires additional police manpower. Here, too, we can only state the obvious. It is true that the resources of the police force are not unlimited, and that the police have broad discretion to set priorities for enforcement, while balancing various interests and considerations. At the same time [here the judges quoted a previous ruling of the Supreme Court], ‘The police’s complete abstention from exercising their authority, in essence leaving the authority idle like an unmoved stone, cannot be justified by claims of enforcement priorities. Budgetary constraints or limited resources are not a hook on which every failure can be hung.’ … The police have a duty to assist the army’s enforcement authorities and to begin enforcing the requirement of the draft for the members of the chareidi community as well. This is even more important given the fact that, as noted above, this refers to a widespread, deliberate, and ongoing violation of the law. It is not superfluous to point out that the social message emerging from the failure to act against those who attempt to thwart enforcement with widespread public disturbances is that the offender benefits, which is a message that cannot be tolerated. We cannot accept a situation in which ‘the man of force owns the land’ (Iyov 22:8) and ‘he who is the strongest is victorious.’”

Judge Noam Sohlberg, who wears a yarmulke and wrote the court decision, felt the need to quote pesukim and Talmudic phrases to legitimize his position. But that does nothing to mitigate the anti-religious character of this ruling, which called for economic sanctions to the point of starvation and arrests to be carried out by the police even if they claim that they are both incapable and unwilling to do so. And it has already been proven that the arrests do not promote enlistment; on the contrary, the aggressive policy has the opposite effect. The judges are constantly preaching about the importance of effective steps to increase enlistment, yet they are ordering the government to implement draconian measures that will have no impact other than reducing the enlistment they claim to be seeking to promote. The only logical conclusion is that they aren’t actually interested in increasing enlistment in the IDF; their goal is only to persecute Torah learners. And even when the Knesset passed a law to temporarily halt the arrests in an effort to heal the rift within the nation and to give the government time to pass a draft law that will actually be effective, a judge decided to suspend the law before the ink had even dried. Is it any wonder, then, that the religious community has no faith in the judges?

The Judges’ True Goal Is Anarchy

The government (in its response to the Supreme Court), the officer in the IDF, and the experts on the chareidi draft have all repeatedly stressed the same point: The arrests of bnei Torah are not only failing to increase chareidi enlistment but are actually having the opposite effect. The more arrests, the more reluctance there is among chareidim to show up at induction offices. If the real goal is to increase chareidi enlistment, there should be no arrests at all. The cabinet secretary made this assertion based on the actual numbers, the representatives of the IDF Manpower Directorate made the same statement to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and Yossi Levi, who founded the Netzach Yehuda battalion and is heavily involved in this area, has practically been shouting it from the rooftops. He has begged the army to put an end to the arrests, arguing that all of his hard work has essentially gone down the drain. And while the judges are calling for “effective measures” to increase chareidi conscription, they are causing the exact opposite. There is really only one possible conclusion: The judges aren’t truly interested in drafting chareidim. Their real goal is to destroy the yeshiva world and stifle the “voice of Yaakov”—the sounds of Torah learning throughout the country. In fact, one of the petitioners was caught gloating to a colleague, “We are going to dismantle the Torah world.” This comment shocked and horrified many of the people who heard it, but it seems that his malicious agenda is shared by the judges as well.

Like politicians who are all too eager to exploit tragedies for political gain, the judges made sure to mention the war and its heavy cost in their first ruling. “Difficult times sometimes call for difficult measures,” the judges wrote. “Under these severe and dramatic circumstances, it is necessary to take exceptional steps. The current situation of widespread, deliberate, and ongoing violation of the law, accompanied by such a severe breach of equality, is unacceptable, especially in light of the pressing security need to conscript additional mandatory soldiers, and subsequently reservists as well. This has reached the point of pikuach nefesh.”

This is sheer demagoguery. For one thing, the government has never stopped trying to pass a law granting draft deferrals to yeshiva bochurim. Moreover, experts claim that the yeshiva world is not the solution for the IDF’s manpower shortage. And the statistics show that there are tens of thousands of chilonim who have failed to enlist as well, but that does not bother the judges in the slightest. In their second ruling, the judges expanded the economic sanctions to include additional measures, such as the cancelation of discounts on public transportation, and furiously insisted on the expansion of arrests. One of their demands was for the percentage of arrests of chareidi draft evaders to match the percentage in the secular community. But this should strike everyone as peculiar. Have you heard of a single secular draft evader being arrested? I certainly haven’t. Have the military police conducted proactive arrest operations in secular neighborhoods? Not that I know of….

Netanyahu Against Incitement

Some time ago, at a press conference about the agreement with Lebanon, a reporter asked Prime Minister Netanyahu a question about the draft of yeshiva bochurim. Netanyahu responded vehemently, “You accomplish nothing when the chareidi hesder yeshivos sent me messages that say, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, when you send people into the yeshivos to remove Torah learners and put them in jail, no one will enlist as a result.’ … There is a tremendous response from the chareidi community and a desire to enlist, but when arrests are carried out among people studying Torah, that creates the opposite result…. If I told you that the police were entering yeshivos in some European country and jailing young men who learn Torah, you would be horrified.” Regarding the bill to halt the arrests of yeshiva bochurim, the prime minister said firmly, “The policy of arrests must be stopped. It isn’t achieving the desired result. I would stop the arrests immediately for the purpose of reaching broad agreements. That is what I would seek to do.”

Netanyahu stood his ground even after the bill passed in the Knesset, triggering a massive uproar in the media. Motti Kastel, who has proven to be the most reliable (or perhaps the only reliable one) among the journalists disparaging the chareidi camp, reported the following: “Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu has gone on a forceful offensive against the critics of the law freezing arrests of draft evaders, against the backdrop of the public and legal controversy surrounding the legislation, which was approved by the Knesset and then immediately suspended by an interim order of the Supreme Court pending its decision on the petitions filed against it…. In telephone conversations with the ministers, Netanyahu sounded angry and unequivocal. ‘We have to push back against the false propaganda. This law will cause no harm!’ he insisted. Netanyahu explained that the goal of the law is to increase enlistment without causing unnecessary conflicts with the yeshiva world. ‘We want recruits; we don’t want detainees. The more people are detained, the fewer enlist,’ he said. The prime minister also addressed the argument that the law offers sweeping immunity to yeshiva students, a claim that he countered with a historic comparison: ‘You want to take Torah learners to jail? They did that in Russia, and we cried out against it. The Torah is our Jewish heritage for hundreds of generations. It is the only thing that has preserved the Jewish people.’”

According to Kastel, Netanyahu also expressed outrage over the lies that have been spread concerning the Basic Law: Torah Study. “What do they want?” he demanded. “The law states only that Torah study is a fundamental value of Israeli heritage. What could be wrong with that? That is all that it says!”

Subtle Messaging in the Media

It is important to have a media that reports the news, and it is very problematic when that same media chooses sides. For instance, the constant references to a potential draft law as an “evasion law” is a thinly veiled attempt to manipulate public sentiment by subconsciously influencing the audience. Maariv recently reported on its front page that the Supreme Court froze the “Deserters’ Law,” since calling it the “Arrest Law” might have created sympathy for the detainees. The title of the article itself was even worse: “Supreme Court Halts Law Freezing Arrests of Chareidi Deserters.” And the subliminal messaging isn’t limited to that particular law. Another bill, which would split the position of attorney general in two, has been dubbed by several media outlets “the law to weaken the attorney general,” with the title conjugated in the feminine in a deliberate reference to the current attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara. The law doesn’t actually relate to Baharav-Miara; it would impact any future attorney general. Nevertheless, by linking it to the current holder of the position, the media makes it sound like a petty conspiracy rather than a legitimate legislative measure.

The media has unabashedly aligned itself with one particular side. For instance, after the chief of staff of the IDF wrote a letter (which was bizarre and irrational) against the law freezing arrests of yeshiva bochurim, it was the topic of an article that spanned the entire length of the front page of two different newspapers, both of which framed it as a last-ditch effort to halt a law with disastrous effects. On the day after the Basic Law: Torah Study was passed, two newspapers reported on it with the breathless urgency usually reserved for wars. Yisroel Hayom featured the most malicious headline, and in large print, no less: “Favoring One Person’s Blood Over Another’s.” Yediot Acharonot used its entire front page for the text of the law, a move almost completely unprecedented in the history of Israeli journalism and of this newspaper in particular.

In short, this isn’t journalism; it is one-sided support for a particular camp and agenda.

Bennett’s New Plan: Malign the Chareidim

I will soon write at greater length about political developments and the election campaign; those topics are unavoidable. But for now, without getting into too many details, I would like to say that a person could easily burst with indignation over the falsehood and hypocrisy that permeates Israeli politics. Someone once said that falsehood and arrogance came together and produced politics as their offspring. A look at the current political climate in Israel certainly lends credence to that assumption.

For instance, there is a new political party named B’Yachad, which was formed by an alliance between two politicians: a charlatan (Naftoli Bennett) and a man with no accomplishments at all (Yair Lapid). How could these two possibly receive 15 mandates, which is indicated by some polls? While the joint party originally soared to 20 mandates in the polls and has since been losing ground, I am surprised by the fact that they have any support at all. How is it possible for them to pass the electoral threshold? Lapid has been in politics for 15 years (Yesh Atid was first launched in 2012) and has accomplished nothing throughout that time, and Bennett lied to his voters in the worst possible fashion. He stood before the cameras and pledged that he would not sit with Lapid or Mansour Abbas and would not form a left-wing government, but after receiving six mandates in the election, he broke all those commitments. How can anyone possibly trust him again?

Today, Bennett is trying a new tactic: positioning himself as an enemy of the chareidim. In an interview last week, he declared, “I would like to address the soldiers and to say to them, ‘I see you. Be strong. There are only another 104 days of shame and draft dodging. Reinforcements are on the way, and this awful government is on its way out. Together, we will fix this.’” In another interview, he declared, “These ridiculous laws are transferring tens of billions of shekels to healthy young chareidim. There are 100,000 chareidi youths, and if only 20 percent of them enlisted, we would have no manpower shortage. This is a problem that can be solved. We will abolish the laws of draft evasion and pass a bill that we have prepared: a law for those who serve, which will redirect the money we will save by not funding the draft dodgers to those who do serve, and the reservists above all. A reservist will receive a million shekels for a first apartment and free day care for children from birth through the age of three years. We will shower this handful of people with benefits…. If we bring the chareidim into the work force and the army, we will increase Israel’s GDP by 70 billion shekels every year. The money exists, and that is why I am returning to politics—to repair the country, the economy, and the distorted situation involving our chareidi brothers. That is my mission in life.”

Regarding Betzalel Smotrich, Bennett said, “It is terrible; it’s a disgrace to the expression ‘religious Zionism.’ I grew up with religious Zionism; I grew up in Bnei Akiva, I served in Sayeret Matkal, and my children attended state religious schools. It’s an absolute disgrace. Smotrich is the architect of the draft evasion law. No politician has sacrificed more to transfer billions to chareidi draft evaders than Smotrich has. He should be ashamed. He should go home and clear the playing field. He brings disgrace upon every person who wears a knit yarmulke.” Bennett added, “I am consistently on the political right. I am not the one who surrendered portions of Eretz Yisroel to the enemy or freed thousands of terrorists, and I will not allow us to give up even one centimeter of land.” Amazingly, some people still believe him!

This is merely a sampling of Bennett’s rhetoric. I also have much to say about Gadi Eizenkot, the latest rising star in the polls who has likewise jumped on the bandwagon of anti-chareidi incitement, apparently realizing that it is a path to power. But we will save that for another time.

Tax Authority Chairman’s Brazen Maneuver

As usual, I have much more to write about, but I will have to wrap up this column for now. But before I close the column for this week, I must write briefly about Shai Aharonovich, the director of the Tax Authority.

Last week, tax inspectors visited Bnei Brak, and a riot soon began. The inspectors were pelted with eggs, or possibly yogurts, and bystanders screamed at them. Naturally, they fled from the scene. The same scenario plays out from time to time in Mea Shearim, and while there is nothing acceptable about the crowd’s behavior, the response from the Tax Authority’s director was even worse. He informed the mayor of Bnei Brak that the city would suffer from collective punishment unless the municipality condemned the violence. “Since the city of Bnei Brak hasn’t condemned the violent acts,” Aharonovich wrote, “I have instructed my staff to stop processing claims for compensation due to damages suffered by businesses during Operation Rising Lion and Operation Roaring Lion [the military campaigns against Iran; the Israeli government launched programs offering compensation for businesses whose revenues were impacted by the wars]. The processing will resume only after an unequivocal condemnation is issued and featured in the chareidi press.”

This move on the part of the Tax Authority is completely unethical and presumably illegal as well. But Aharonovich presumably realized that he had gone too far, and he scheduled a meeting with Mayor Chanoch Zeibert of Bnei Brak at the beginning of the week.

Another story that bears mentioning is the fact that Netanyahu’s planned trip to America has been suspended since the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham was postponed. Meanwhile, it was reported that the mayor of New York City has been examining the possibility of arresting Netanyahu if he visits the city. Some say that the mayor is making idle threats, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this led Netanyahu to cancel his trip. Moreover, it is likely that he won’t make the trip to America unless he knows with certainty that he will be able to meet with President Trump, who is very busy with the war against Iran and might not have time for Netanyahu. Then again, perhaps that alone is a reason for the two leaders to meet.

In other Netanyahu-related news, many people ridiculed Sara Netanyahu for her recent request for security for herself and her children even after her husband finishes serving as prime minister. Regarding Binyomin Netanyahu himself, there was no need for a request; every prime minister and defense minister is entitled to a lifelong security detail. Naftoli Bennett, who recently attended a conference in Sun Valley in America, was seen with bodyguards for the same reason. But Sara Netanyahu asked for the same entitlement to be extended to the rest of the Netanyahu family and was mocked for it. Just two days later, the Shin Bet revealed that after the assassinations of senior Iranian officials, a plot was exposed to assassinate a member of the Netanyahu family. While he didn’t identify the exact target, it is widely believed that it was Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son who spends most of his time in Miami.

With that, I will end this week’s column. I wish you all an enjoyable and beneficial vacation, with plenty of opportunities to recharge in advance of the month of Elul. Let us hope that this bein hazemanim vacation will be peaceful and uneventful, without calamities or arrests, and we will hear nothing but good news.

Trump: China Stole Voter Data on 220 Million Americans

In an extraordinary 27-minute address to the nation last week about election security, President Trump announced the declassification of records exposing a shocking degree of Chinese interference in U.S. elections, a cover-up by the intelligence community, and a host of election network pitfalls that may have enabled the security breakdown.

Over a period of a few years, Trump said, “starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files.”

The Chinese obtained the data in different ways, he said. “Buying, stealing, and hacking.”

“That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data,” the president continued. “This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare.”

“The intelligence even shows that China assigned a “data exploitation unit” specifically to this new project,” Trump noted.

President Kept in Dark on Chinese Election Meddling

The president shared documents that highlight the intelligence community’s deliberate withholding of critical information about China’s election interference from his daily briefings (PDBs), during his first term.

“Members of the deep state — in many cases in our intelligence agencies—worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling, covering it up from both the president and the American people,” Trump said.

“One email among NSA analysts admitted that they had ‘deliberately massaged (softened) the PDB to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election,’” Trump said, quoting from the email.

Another employee expressed astonishment at the concealment, writing, “The PDB isn’t going to tie [Chinese interference] to the election? Mind-boggling.” Another official inside the FBI wrote that she was “running a shadow government to keep intelligence about China’s election meddling from becoming known.”

The documents cited by the president are among 269 pages of newly released intelligence assessments, internal emails and investigative records which can be accessed on the whitehouse.gov website.

Electronic Networks Were Breached Within Hours

The explosive documents portray electronic tabulators and voter data systems riddled with vulnerabilities. They include reports by CISA (cybersecurity experts) exposing poor password security, outdated software, weak network protections and inadequate monitoring.

“The documents we are releasing prove that for many years, Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot counting systems,” the president said in his address. “They’re vulnerable, and they’re easily compromised, and people within our government knew that.”

“Tonight, we’re publishing a series of previously classified US Intelligence Community assessments and other reports proving that our government has long known these machines are extremely exposed to attack,” he emphasized.

One CISA report documents that investigators in numerous tests were able to breach election-related computer networks “within hours,” exposing the claim that the 2020 election was “the most secure election in American history” as ludicrous—a hollow political slogan.

Another CISA report in the declassified files noted that cybersecurity analysts “assess that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea all have the technical ability to access or interfere with parts of U.S. election systems that are most vulnerable,” such as voter registration databases and electronic poll books.

Data allows foreign intelligence services to create highly customized messaging with the appearance of coming from fellow Americans. This kind of “micro-targeting” is far more effective than broad propaganda, experts say.

For example, foreign agents could target minority communities with different messages designed to suppress turnout or increase polarization. They could target suburban parents with education-slanted narratives tailored to their concerns, and religious communities with religious-themed messaging.

The CISA report noted that systems that tabulate votes, transmit vote totals, or display election results online could well be vulnerable to localized attacks. It would be difficult but not impossible to manipulate them on a large enough scale to theoretically change the outcome of a national election.

Burn Bags

Trump said administration officials discovered some of the confidential material he was releasing in “burn bags” that were supposed to be destroyed.

“The findings are stunning,” Trump charged, announcing that he was directing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI and the CIA to “investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the cover-up, and to file criminal charges if appropriate against these people.”

“In light of the brand new information I have revealed tonight,” he continued, “my administration is in the process of notifying the states whose election data was compromised by the People’s Republic of China and many others.

“We will be working closely to mitigate any harm, and we’re taking swift action to ensure that sensitive voter data is better protected so we can never be bought, we can never be hacked, and we can never watch a stolen election again.”

The president has long alleged that widespread voting fraud cost him the 2020 election. In his remarks Thursday night, however, Trump did not offer any evidence that the election was stolen or rigged. What he did was force into the record reams of evidence that made this claim credible, and more importantly, drove home the need for serious changes in election infrastructure.

“Tomorrow, the Secretary of Homeland Security will hold a briefing to outline his department’s recent work confirming cyber vulnerabilities in our electronic voting systems,” Trump announced. “We’re in the process of informing governors, senators, and members of Congress of potential issues in their states.”

Voter Registration Fraud in Michigan

Another batch of documents Trump quoted from shines a light on an alleged massive voter registration fraud operation in Muskegon, Michigan—a critical “swing state.” The documents reveal a years-long investigation in 2020 that tracked as many as 10,000 forged voter registration forms submitted in the weeks before the election.

According to an FBI email from the case file, on Oct. 5, 2020, the Muskegon clerk’s office received six hefty packages of voter registration applications via the U.S. Postal Service with thousands of forms inside.

Reviewing the contents, “elections officials determined that some applications were fraudulent based on nonexistent addresses, invalid telephone numbers and signatures on applications not matching Michigan voting or DMV records,” the document states.

Reinforcing suspicions of foul play, the 8,000 to 10,000 application forms “appeared to have all been completed in the same handwriting.”

State Police then raided a Democrat get-out-the-vote organization in Muskegon, and were so concerned by what they found, they contacted the FBI in Detroit who launched an investigation. FBI agents interviewed former employees of the voting organization and uncovered shocking reports of illicit electioneering.

The documents state that some employees “admitted to FBI agents that they signed voter registration forms in other people’s names, submitted fraudulent registration for people who did not exist, and received gift cards in amounts tied to the number of voter applications they produced.”

Employees told the law enforcement officials that “get-out-the-vote” canvassers were instructed, “if they couldn’t get enough voter applications, they should just fill them in themselves.”

“This occurred at a meeting with over 100 employees present,” an email states. One of the employees asked what the company official meant. He picked up a blank application and filled it out, making up information and said, “This is what I mean,” the investigation records claim.

One former employee estimated she submitted 100 fake voter registration applications.

Despite all the evidence of planned and premeditated criminal activity, the DOJ inexplicably shut down the Michigan investigation as it was at its peak.

“Biden’s Justice Department slow-walked the investigation and killed it,” alleged Trump in his address. “Tonight,” he said, “I’m asking the FBI Director to ensure that the matter is fully investigated and to work with the Department of Justice to prosecute those responsible for any crimes.”

Chinese Theft of Election Data: How Sinister is it?

Just the News editor John Solomon, who also serves as a member of the White House Transparency Task Force, pointed out that media pundits who claim China obtained only data that is already online “are pushing an outright lie”.

China’s data breach, he asserted, included personal information that is not available online, such as date of birth and, in some cases, Social Security numbers, voting history, and demographic information.

Combined with data from social media and previous hacks, China, even without the capacity to create false ballots or alter votes, could use this data in nefarious ways, Solomon pointed out.

The Chinese are experts in conducting psychological operations targeting specific voting blocs with tailored propaganda that sounds authentic and American.

Experts in “influence operations” know that rather than trying to persuade millions of voters, an adversary armed with intimate information about the targeted audience could focus on tens of thousands of strategically important individuals.

Some of the released documents Trump quoted from describe typical Chinese influence operations: “The CIA report explicitly stated, and I quote: ‘In mid-2018, the Chinese Communist Party’s policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign U.S. elements that were opposed to the president in an effort to reduce his votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election,’ President Trump noted in his Thursday night address.

“Separately in mid-2019, the Chinese government’s strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president,” he said, quoting the CIA report.

The document described the Chinese strategies of using Chinese contacts with big U.S. companies to influence business leaders to shift their allegiance away from the president of the United States, and to identify U.S. journalists who for large sums of money would write negative articles about Trump.

“But it gets even worse,” Trump said, claiming that raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, “yet buried by rogue bureaucrats,” stated that China’s activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden.

Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system [that is secure],” he said. “Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard.”

Forced to Carry Trump’s Message

Democrats and media rushed to “debunk” or minimize many of Trump’s allegations in his Thursday night remarks. Yet, in the process, in what was almost an amusing consequence of their rebuttals, they had to repeat and even legitimize his key factual disclosures.

For example, the NY Times downplayed the extent of China’s expropriation of American voter data, deceptively framing it as “tens of millions of files” as opposed to the 220 million number the released documents show.

The article also asserted that much of the data was commercially available for purchase.

The authors tried to soften and whitewash China’s motives, describing the regime’s intent as “seeking to influence” (something everyone does), as opposed to aiming for hard-core interference.

In making its case, the article was forced to concede that—precise quantity of data aside—Beijing “bought, stole or hacked” voter data; that there was “intense debate” in the intelligence agencies about warning the president; that he in fact was not warned, and that (at minimum) China used the data for “influence campaigns to shape voters’ perceptions.”

One is reminded of a classic debate tactic: make your opponents repeat and even validate your message while thinking they’re killing it.

The bottom line, of course, is obvious: If China can get its hands on ‘secure’ voter information on almost every American voter and the intelligence agencies are helpless to prevent it, how secure can the system be?

If Trump’s critics admit that the data is being used, in the Times’ words, “to craft influence campaigns to shape voters’ perceptions,” how can they maintain the nation’s elections aren’t vulnerable? The vulnerabilities are built into the networks, leaving an open door to potential manipulation and exploitation on a breathtaking scale.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted online before the speech that he was briefed ahead of time on its contents and that “this may be the most important Oval Office address since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The time for complacency with China is over.”

***

From Emergency to Exploitation

10,315 ballots in Georgia were cast by voters who were dead by Election Day.

Many believe the sweeping relaxation of election safeguards during the pandemic opened the door to fraud and tainted election results across the country.

Although court challenges alleging election fraud did not ultimately prevail, a host of irregularities, broken chains of custody, and problems at too many polling locations fueled lasting doubts among 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 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.”

Following the 2020 presidential election, 16 Republican states took proactive measures to ensure greater voter integrity, tightening laws and closing loopholes that made it easy to cheat.

These include laws restructuring voter ID requirements, banning electioneering in front of poll booths; eliminating drop boxes; outlawing ballot trafficking; empowering poll watchers to more effectively do their job; shortening absentee ballot deadlines to 10-11 days before an election and more.

Two examples: Georgia now requires voters who lack driver’s licenses or state ID cards to include in their absentee ballot application a photocopy of another government-issued ID such as a passport.

Previously, absentee voters’ identities were verified by matching signatures. But shocking disclosures at Georgia’s post-election public hearing revealed that a staggering 10,315 ballots appeared to be cast by voters who were dead by Election Day. This and other massive irregularities catalyzed the state legislature to pass the new voter legislation tightening voter ID criteria.

Texas’ law permits voters to use a broader set of IDs than that allowed in some states when applying for and casting mail-in ballots, Texas Tribune reported. But due to recently passed laws, the voter’s ID is rejected if it doesn’t match the ID number the voter provided when initially registering to vote.

Building Support for SAVE ACT

The Trump-backed SAVE ACT would make these and other election security adjustments the law of the land. President Trump used his primetime address Thursday night to rally support for the election security bill that would require voters to present photo ID and proof of U.S. citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate.

The legislation passed the House in February but has been languishing in the Senate.

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 to prove citizenship would also eliminate many popular registration methods, such as registration by mail and “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.

Not long ago, during the height of censorship, merely expressing concerns about election security in this country could earn someone denunciation as an “election denier,” an enemy of democracy,” or worse, an “insurrectionist.” Although it was clear that voter integrity had been compromised in many counties and states, saying so could land one in hot water.

The nation has come a long way since then.

President Trump’s address shattered the complacency into which much of the public has been lulled by an establishment slogan insisting the 2020 election and the system in general is beyond reproach.

“If you look at voting today, it’s in such bad shape in so many states, and we are committing to fix it,” the president said. “And we’re also committing to be working with those states and local jurisdictions to help them fix and patch known technical vulnerabilities before the midterm elections. We have very important elections coming up. We want those elections to be honest.”

In the Kinnos of Tisha B’Av we recite: ‘Alei zivchei temideha u’fidyonei bechoreha, ve’al chillul klei Heichal u’mizbach ketoreha.’ The expression “u’fidyonei bechoreha” requires explanation. The mitzvah of pidyon haben was not abolished with the Churban, and it remains fully incumbent even in our own time. Why, then, does the payton lament the loss of “the redemptions of her firstborn?” I heard from Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, rosh yeshivas Brisk, in the name of his father, Maran HaGriz, that the kinah is not referring to the mitzvah of pidyon haben. Rather, it mourns the cessation of the avodas halevi’im in the Bais Hamikdosh. In the poetic language of the payton, the levi’im are called “pidyonei bechoreha,” for they constituted the redemption and substitution of the bechorim in the Midbar.

According to this yesod, it may be possible to explain the opening words as well. Perhaps the correct reading is not “zivchei temideha,” the sacrifices of her daily offerings, but “zovchei temideha,” those who slaughtered her daily offerings. The reference would thus be to the kohanim, in accordance with the posuk, “Vezeh yihyeh mishpat hakohanim me’is haam me’is zovchei hazevach.” The payton accordingly mourns “alei zovchei temideha u’fidyonei bechoreha,” the kohanim who performed the avodas hatomid and the levi’im who served in the Mikdosh. With the Churban, both avodos ceased.

Many years ago, I heard from Rav Yitzchok Hutner, in the name of a certain gadol (“Kach mekublani me’kedoshei elyon”) that the text should be emended. Instead of “u’fidyonei bechoreha,” it should read “veyonei bikkureha,” with the beis of “bikkureha” pronounced with a chirik and the kaf with a dogesh. The phrase would then mean “the doves of her bikkurim,” referring to the young birds brought together with the baskets of bikkurim. Since bikkurim applies only while the Bais Hamikdosh is standing, these offerings indeed ceased with the Churban. The Mishnah in Bikkurim (3, 5) states: “Hagozalos she’al gabei hasolim hayu olos.” The birds placed upon the baskets were korev as olos. The payton may thus be contrasting two categories of korbanos that were lost. “Zivchei temideha” refers to the beheimas olah of the korban tomid, while “yonei bikkureha” refers to the bird olos that accompanied the bikkurim.

There is, however, a further possibility by which “u’fidyonei bechoreha” may be understood in its literal sense. The Gemara in Bava Basra 60b records the words of Rabi Yishmoel ben Elisha: “Miyom shechorav Bais Hamikdosh, din hu shenigzor al atzmeinu shelo nochal bosor velo nishteh yayin, ela she’ein gozrin gezeirah al hatzibbur ela im kein rov hatzibbur yecholin laamod bah. Um’yom sheposhtah malchus Edom shegozeres aleinu gezeiros kashos, um’vateles mimenu Torah u’mitzvos, ve’einah manochas osanu likaneis lishvuah haben, ve’amri lah liyeshuah haben, din hu shenigzor al atzmeinu shelo lisa isha veleholid bonim.” Rashi explains (Bava Kamma 80a) that “yeshua haben” means the seudah of pidyon haben, since “yeshuah” denotes redemption, “purkan,” corresponding to “pidyon.”

Accordingly, “u’fidyonei bechoreha” may indeed refer to pidyon haben itself. The wicked Roman kingdom issued gezeiros preventing Jews from assembling for a pidyon haben. The payton therefore laments both “zivchei temideha,” the korban tomid that was abolished, and “pidyonei bechoreha,” the mitzvah whose observance was suppressed by Roman persecution during the era of the Churban. Indeed, this stanza may revolve around Rabi Yishmoel ben Elisha, who served as Kohen Gadol during the closing period of the Second Bais Hamikdosh.

The Mishnah in Taanis (29a) teaches that one of the calamities of Shiva Asar B’Tammuz was “u’vatal hatomid.” The Meleches Shlomo writes that, according to the received tradition, the tomid was abolished by gezeirah of the wicked kingdom three and a half years before the Churban. This corresponds to the posuk in Doniel (12:11), “Umei’eis husar hatomid velaseis shikutz shomeim yomim elef mosayim vetishim.” The Ibn Ezra likewise explains that the Second Bais Hamikdosh remained without the olah for nearly three and a half years before it was destroyed. The cessation of the tomid thus occurred during the period in which Rabi Yishmoel served as Kohen Gadol. This is the lament of “alei zivchei temideha.” The continuation, “u’fidyonei bechoreha,” alludes to the Roman gezeirah against pidyon haben, explicitly described by Rabi Yishmoel himself.

The payton then mourns “ve’al chillul klei Heichal.” The Gemara in Gittin 56b describes how Titus entered the Kodesh Kodoshim, desecrated it, and pierced the paroches with his sword, whereupon blood miraculously emerged. Rabi Yishmoel, as Kohen Gadol, was uniquely associated with the kedusha of the Kodesh Kodoshim. He relates in Brachos 7a: “Paam achas nichnasti lehaktir ketores lifnai velifnim, vero’isi Akasriel Kah Hashem Tzevakos yoshev al kisei ram venisa.” Thus, “chillul klei Heichal” evokes the profanation of the very domain into which Rabi Yishmoel had entered in kedusha.

The concluding words, “umizbach ketoreha,” may refer to the chavitin of the Kohen Gadol, half of which were offered with the morning tomid and half with the afternoon tomid. The Rambam in Hilchos Temidin U’musafin (3, 19) rules: “Kohen Gadol metzuveh bemitzvos aseh lehakriv chavitin bechol yom, mechtzah baboker im tomid shel shachar, umechtzah bein ha’arbayim im tomid shel bein ha’arbayim.” A tradition is cited in the name of Rav Chaim Brisker that the chavitin are considered an integral part of the korban tomid. Hence, when the tomid was abolished, the daily chavitin of the Kohen Gadol ceased as well. “U’mizbach ketoreha” may therefore be the personal lament of Rabi Yishmoel, the Kohen Gadol, over the loss of his own daily avodah.

Thus, each phrase of the stanza reflects a dimension of the Churban bound to the world of Rabi Yishmoel ben Elisha: the abolition of the tomid, the Roman persecution of pidyon haben, the chillul of the Heichal, and the cessation of the Kohen Gadol’s daily mincha. The payton gathered these separate calamities into a single, carefully fashioned kinah, in which every expression contains an entire sugya.

The Mystery of the Timing of Destruction

To the modern, secular mind, history is a series of random events, a chaotic mix of political blunders, economic shifts, and military collisions.

In the consciousness of Torah, however, events do not merely occur in time. They emerge from it. Every moment possesses a unique spiritual quality that shapes the events destined to unfold within it.

This reality becomes strikingly clear when we examine our greatest national tragedies. Both the Gemara in Taanis (29a) and Arachin (11b) record a historical occurrence that defies mere probability: “The day on which the First Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed was Motzoei Shabbos, at the end of the Shmittah year… And so it was when the Second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed.”

We are all familiar with the tragic date of Tisha B’Av, whose vulnerability was established by the episode of the meraglim, when baseless weeping transformed that night into an everlasting day of national tragedy. Yet the chachomim do not stop at identifying the date of the month. They specifically note two additional details: the destruction occurred on Motzoei Shabbos and at the conclusion of a seven-year Shmittah cycle.

Why was the timing so exact? Why did both the Babylonians and the Romans, separated by nearly five centuries, destroy the Bais Hamikdosh immediately after Shabbos?

Furthermore, as Rashi notes, the destruction actually took place on Sunday. Why, then, does the Gemara specifically describe it as Motzoei Shabbos rather than simply calling it Sunday?

The Maharal, in Netzach Yisroel (perek ches), explains that this was far from coincidental. In fact, he characteristically writes that the Bais Hamikdosh is more susceptible to be destroyed on a Motzoei Shabbos. Every other day of the week possesses a spiritual structure that makes such destruction implausible.

To understand why the Bais Hamikdosh was spiritually protected on a Tuesday or a Friday, yet uniquely vulnerable upon the departure of Shabbos, we must journey into the heart of the Maharal’s teachings: the perpetual struggle between shleimus, meaning wholeness, and he’eder, meaning privation, absence, or the void.

Shleimus and He’eder: The Maharal’s Philosophy of Reality

The Maharal explains this based on his fundamental principle that light and darkness cannot occupy the same space.

Hashem created a world that oscillates between states of reality and states of lack. Wherever there is shleimus, representing wholeness, completion, and an unmediated connection to Hashem, the forces of negativity, destruction, and spiritual decay have no point of entry. These forces—variously identified as the yeitzer hora, the Soton, or the Malach Hamovess—cannot exist in a space that is already full.

Conversely, destruction belongs to he’eder, which represents absence, deficiency, and emptiness. Evil possesses no independent, substantive reality. Rather, it functions as the shadow cast by the absence of light. Therefore, spiritual or physical collapse can occur only during a time or in a place characterized by a vacuum.

When we examine the Jewish week, a remarkable pattern emerges. The days are not isolated units of time. We do not name them after pagan deities or planets, as is done with names such as Thursday or Sunday. Instead, we define them solely in relation to their ultimate destination, calling them Yom Rishon l’Shabbos, meaning the first day toward Shabbos, then Yom Sheini l’Shabbos, and so on.

Every weekday is oriented toward a destination. Sunday through Thursday are not independent days but stages of preparation for Shabbos. Because they are constantly moving toward their goal, they already absorb something of its holiness. They remain unfinished, yet they are never empty. Thus, although Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday have not yet reached completion, they cannot be described as a vacuum, for they are animated by purposeful ascent. They remain protected through their constant striving.

By Friday, the momentum shifts completely. It is no longer merely Yom Shishi l’Shabbos. It is elevated to the status of Erev Shabbos. It bears the title of arrival, representing a time saturated with anticipation, when the boundaries between the mundane and the holy begin to blur.

Why Motzoei Shabbos Stands Alone

There is, however, one unique point in the week that lacks this forward momentum and that is Motzoei Shabbos.

At that moment, we enter a dangerous transition. The absolute wholeness of Shabbos has just receded, yet the conscious, active journey toward the next Shabbos has not yet begun. It is the moment of yetziah, departure.

For a brief instant, we are looking backward at a light that has already departed. Motzoei Shabbos is defined by what it lacks. It is the “non-Shabbos.” This is the spiritual vacuum, and it is the very definition of he’eder. It is an existential pause in which our focus and direction are temporarily diminished.

It is precisely within this pocket of time, the Maharal reveals, that the world becomes uniquely vulnerable to destruction. The churban could not occur on a Wednesday, because Wednesday is an active building block leading toward the future Shabbos. It could only take place when the very architecture of time experienced a temporary void—on a Motzoei Shabbos and on a Motzaei Shvi’is, the conclusion of the Shmittah year.

Birth, Motion, and the Illusion of Arrival

To clarify why transition points are uniquely dangerous, the Maharal, in Derech Chaim (2:2), cites the famous dialogue in Sanhedrin 91b between the Roman emperor Antoninus and Rabi Yehuda Hanosi.

Antoninus asked: At what point does the yeitzer hora, our negative inclination, enter a person? Is it at shaas harayon, the moment of conception, or at shaas yetziah, the moment of birth, when the infant exits the womb?

Rabi Yehuda Hanosi initially answered that it must be at conception. Antoninus, however, challenged that conclusion with a practical observation. If the destructive inclination were already active in the womb, the fetus would kick and tear its mother’s internal organs, destroying itself before birth.

Rabi Yehuda Hanosi accepted the argument and cited the posuk in Bereishis (4:7): Lapesach chatos roveitz– At the opening, sin crouches. The negative inclination enters the human being only at the moment of birth.

The Maharal asks why the fetus is immune to negativity while still in the womb. The fetus is completely unformed and unfinished. It cannot breathe independently, see independently, or exist apart from its mother. It represents the ultimate state of incompleteness. By all accounts, this raw condition should be the ideal breeding ground for the yeitzer hora, as Rabi Yehuda Hanosi initially believed. Yet the yeitzer hora is entirely absent.

The Maharal explains that the embryo is protected because it is defined entirely by its journey. It possesses hishtokekus, an intense drive to develop. Since its entire existence is characterized by active, dynamic movement toward completion, there is no room for stagnation, decay, or temptation. The yeitzer hora cannot intercept a moving target whose gaze is fixed on growth.

The danger begins at shaas yetziah, birth. Once the baby enters the world, it acquires an independent existence. It breathes on its own and occupies its own space. Birth introduces a subtle but profound danger: the illusion of arrival. The subconscious whispers, “I have arrived. I am complete. I can stop striving.”

That feeling of arrival is the ultimate spiritual trap. The moment we stop moving and become self-satisfied, we create a state of spiritual standstill. Stillness leads to stagnation, stagnation creates a vacuum, and that vacuum is precisely where the yeitzer hora establishes itself.

Only later, at the age of thirteen, when the individual develops mature cognitive awareness as a bar daas and realizes that “adam l’amal yulad—man was born to toil” does the yeitzer tov enter to restore balance, reminding the soul that life is an unending ladder of spiritual ascent.

The Spiritual Vacuum of Motzoei Shabbos

The birth of a child serves as the exact parallel to Motzoei Shabbos. On Shabbos, we experience a taste of shleimus. Chazal tell us that on Shabbos, a person must view all of his creative labor as though it were entirely completed (kol melachtecha asuyah). We step out of the world of production and into a world of completion. This is why Shabbos is described as mei’ein Olam Haba, a miniature reflection of the World to Come, representing a realm of pure being, ecstasy, and direct connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

The danger arises when Shabbos departs and we make the critical mistake of carrying that feeling of completion into the regular week, where it does not belong. We treat Motzoei Shabbos as a license to coast and indulge in spiritual complacency rather than using it as a launchpad for the labor and growth of the coming week.

When we treat the departure of holiness as an independent, self-contained destination rather than as a transition point leading to further growth, we create the structural void that invites the yeitzer hora and ultimately invites the churban.

Time and Space Reflect One Another

How does a vulnerability in time—Motzoei Shabbos—translate into physical destruction in space, such as the burning of the Mikdosh?

The Maharal teaches that the three dimensions of existence—olam (space), shanah (time), and nefesh (the human soul)—reflect one another. What occurs in one dimension inevitably finds expression in the others.

Shabbos represents the manifestation of ultimate wholeness in the dimension of time, while the Bais Hamikdosh represents that same wholeness in the dimension of space. The Bais Hamikdosh is the physical manifestation of Shabbos within space, and both represent the ultimate center of peace, harmony, completion, and connection to Hashem.

We see this relationship throughout the Torah. In Parshiyos Ki Sisa and Vayakhel, the instructions for building the Mishkon are repeatedly interrupted by the prohibition against performing melacha on Shabbos. This teaches that the Mikdosh must always remain aligned with the kedushas Shabbos.

On leil Shabbos, when we welcome Shabbos with Lecha Dodi, we actually sing very little about Shabbos itself. Instead, much of Lecha Dodi expresses our yearning for the rebuilding of Yerushalayim and the Bais Hamikdosh, because entering Shabbos parallels entering the Mikdosh.

Throughout Shabbos, our tefillos and zemiros are permeated with longing for the geulah, something that is far less prominent in our weekday tefillos.

When we are spiritually aligned, our entire week becomes a continuous process of building. Every weekday lays another stone. Sunday lays one stone, Monday another, until the week itself becomes the construction of Shabbos.

But when we let our guard down on Motzoei Shabbos by treating it as an empty space for mindless indulgence, the parallel space in our world also begins to crack. The vulnerability at the “exit” in time manifests as a physical vulnerability in space. The physical walls of the Mikdosh fell because the spiritual walls we had built around our time had already been compromised.

How Motzoei Shabbos Became Sunday Morning

The Gemara in Shabbos 119b gives several reasons why Yerushalayim was destroyed. Among them are that the people desecrated Shabbos and that they neglected the morning and evening recitation of Krias Shema.

The Maharsha explains that these are not two separate reasons. Rather, they are two stages of the same downward spiral, which began on Motzoei Shabbos.

Throughout Shabbos, the people of Yerushalayim lived on a spiritual high. But when Shabbos ended, they failed to make the proper transition. Instead of using melava malka as a bridge that carried the holiness of Shabbos into the coming week, they turned it into an evening of indulgence and intoxication.

Because they overindulged on Motzoei Shabbos, they fell asleep and missed their evening Krias Shema. The following morning, Sunday, they overslept again, missed zeman Krias Shema, and began their week in a state of spiritual lethargy.

Sunday ceased to be Yom Rishon l’Shabbos—the first step toward the next Shabbos. Instead, it remained merely yetzias haShabbos, without carrying forward the kedushas Shabbos. It became a hefker day, disconnected from any higher goal or purpose and devoted solely to physical comfort and mundane indulgence.

By creating a spiritual vacuum at the very beginning of the week, they opened the door to the enemy. They tore a massive hole in the fabric of spiritual time, and through that very breach, the Babylonian and Roman armies were able to penetrate the physical walls of the Bais Hamikdosh. The physical fire that consumed the wood and stone of the Mikdosh was simply the material manifestation of the spiritual apathy that had already consumed their Sunday mornings.

The Two Enemies of Sacred Time

This insight illuminates the hidden dynamics of our ongoing golus. Throughout history, two primary forces have arisen to challenge the destiny of Klal Yisroel: Rome, which is Western civilization, and Yishmoel, the spiritual force of Islam aligned with Persia.

If one examines the religious structures of these two civilizations, it becomes apparent that their battle against the Jewish people is, at its core, a war over the calendar. They have attempted to flank our sacred Shabbos from both sides.

Sunday as an Ideology

The Romans destroyed the Second Bais Hamikdosh on a Sunday. Years later, as Western civilization evolved, the Roman world officially adopted Sunday as its alternative Sabbath. This is not merely a historical coincidence but a manifestation of its spiritual roots.

Rome’s strategy is to take the point of departure—Motzoei Shabbos, the moment of vulnerability and spiritual vacuum—and turn it into a permanent, self-contained ideology. Rome specializes in the vacuum, creating a culture in which people become comfortable, materialistic, and cease striving. It transformed Judaism’s moment of greatest vulnerability into the very foundation of its civilization.

The War Against Erev Shabbos

Conversely, the Muslim world claimed Friday, our Erev Shabbos, as its holy day. Yishmoel’s strategy is fundamentally different from that of Rome. Rather than specializing in the dramatic physical destruction of an existing reality, it specializes in preventing the future from unfolding. It serves as a wall of resistance, seeking to keep us trapped in a stressful, pre-redemption state.

Its objective is to ensure that Klal Yisroel never successfully ascends into Shabbos. It occupies the Har Habayis itself, standing at the threshold of redemption, attempting to keep the Jewish nation suspended in a perpetual “Friday afternoon” and delaying its ascent into the final Shabbos.

There is a well-known dispute regarding the Yom Tov nusach of Mussaf over whether we say “shenishtalcha yad b’mikdashecha,” that a hand was sent to destroy the Mikdosh, or “shehashlucha,” that a hand remains stretched over and occupies the Mikdosh.

The nusach of nishtalcha reflects the Roman strategy of violent, physical destruction on a Sunday.

The nusach of hashlucha reflects the Yishmoelite-Persian strategy of continually standing upon the ruins, maintaining an ongoing blockade. They have positioned themselves precisely at the gates of Erev Shabbos, working to ensure that the light of the final redemption is never permitted to break through.

Reclaiming the Twilight

How do we break this cycle and rebuild what was lost? We do so by reclaiming the twilight zones of our week.

To overcome this final adversary and heal the wounds of the churban, we must consciously transform our relationship with the transition points of our calendar. We must turn our moments of greatest vulnerability into moments of greatest spiritual growth.

Recapturing Erev Shabbos

Chazal teach that the timeline of the universe mirrors the weekly cycle. The world is destined to exist for six thousand years, followed by the seventh millennium, which is Yom Shekulo Shabbos. On this cosmic clock, the world has reached its Friday afternoon. The sun is beginning to set and the shadow of Yishmoel grows ever longer.

We must transform our Friday afternoons from periods of stress and frantic last-minute rushing into moments of conscious spiritual anticipation. The Rambam (Hilchos Shabbos 30:2) writes that a person should sit with a quiet, focused mind on Friday afternoon, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Shabbos, just as one waits to greet a beloved king: “Yosheiv bekoveid rosh umetzapeh.”

This is the antidote to Yishmoel’s strategy. By intentionally infusing our Erev Shabbos with powerful longing, we align ourselves with the true direction of history, transforming our preparation into a holy movement that no adversary can obstruct.

Revitalizing Motzoei Shabbos

We live in an era of unprecedented comfort. In the Western world, we have the freedom to build beautiful communities, yeshivos, organizations, and successful businesses. But this brocha carries a significant danger: the temptation to plateau.

Because our lives are comfortable, subtle complacency can quietly creep into our souls. We look at our thriving communities and subconsciously think, “We have arrived.”

The moment we stop yearning for the ultimate redemption and the rebuilding of the Third Bais Hamikdosh, we fall directly into the Sunday vacuum. We mistake a temporary resting place for our final destination.

We cannot allow Motzoei Shabbos to become a spiritual void. When Havdolah is over, we cannot permit our homes to immediately descend into secularity or spiritual apathy. Instead, we must transform melava malka into a bridge rather than a farewell, carrying the light of Shabbos into the coming week.

Furthermore, we must ensure that our Motzoei Shabbosos and Sundays are marked by a powerful restart of the spiritual engine. Throughout the Olam Hatorah, there is a wonderful and growing movement of Motzoei Shabbos learning programs, including Avos Ubonim, community kollelim, and shiurim. By entering the bais medrash after Shabbos ends, we ensure that Sunday never becomes an empty, disconnected day. We stitch the end of one Shabbos directly into the beginning of the next.

Turning Our Exits into Entrances

The moment Havdolah ends, the next Shabbos should already have begun. When every ending becomes a beginning, the vacuum disappears. When every departure becomes another step forward, the building of the Bais Hamikdosh begins.

There is no place called arrival. Every summit is merely the starting point of a higher ascent. When we refuse to settle, when we live with constant tzipiyah l’yeshuah, and when every Motzoei Shabbos becomes the first step toward the next Shabbos, we dismantle the void of he’eder and restore the movement of shleimus. Then the world itself advances toward Yom Shekulo Shabbos, ensuring that even before we reach that ultimate destination, the walls of the Bais Hamikdosh will rise once again, never to be destroyed.

The Pitfalls in the DSA’s Socialist Plans for America

After this November’s midterm elections, a large number of newly elected progressive liberals will take office in city councils, state legislatures, and even Congress, carrying a label that a generation ago seemed to belong only to the history books: socialist.

The Democrat Socialists of America (DSA), the largest socialist organization in the United States, has grown from a few thousand members a decade ago to tens of thousands today, most of them living in deep-blue Democrat-voting states and urban areas where they have become the young-activist base of the local Democrat party. Understanding why requires going back much further than the last election cycle — back, in fact, more than two centuries, to the origins of the French Revolution, where the underlying ideas of what became known as socialism were first proposed, tried, and finally failed repeatedly many times since.

Enlightenment Origins

The intellectual seeds of socialism were planted in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789. As the old French aristocratic order collapsed, and the leaders of the Revolution were forcibly freed from the notorious Bastille prison, Enlightenment thinkers of that era began asking not just how political power should be applied, but also questioned the legitimacy of the concept of personal property ownership versus the concept of shared communal property.

But the idealistic principles of the French Revolution — liberty, equality, and fraternity — were eventually allowed to go too far, as the mob took over the power of the government and imposed a years-long reign of terror in France. As a result, the original revolutionary quest for justice for the people ultimately led to the indiscriminate use of the guillotine, even against some of the original leaders of the Revolution themselves.

Early utopian socialists like Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier imagined societies organized around cooperation rather than private ownership and competition. The word “socialism” itself entered common use in the 1830s, describing a group of ideas based upon the core conviction that privately owned and operated industrial capitalism, for all its of its productive power, concentrates wealth unfairly in the hands of a privileged few, and leaves most ordinary workers with little control over their own lives.

Marx And The Theory Of Class Struggle

That critique was developed into a systematic economic and political theory by Karl Marx, a secular German-Jewish philosopher and economist writing in London in the mid-1800s. In his works titled The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital, Marx argued that history was driven by class conflict, and that capitalism based upon private ownership would eventually collapse under its own contradictions, giving way to a classless, stateless society in which workers collectively owned the means of production and were therefore in greater control over their own lives. Marx’s writings gave socialism a new vocabulary and a revolutionary outlook that older utopian theories and proposals had lacked, and Marx’s communist/socialist ideas would shape liberal political movements on every continent for the next century and a half.

Revolution In Russia

Marx’s theories remained largely academic until 1917, when Russia’s Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power in November 1917, overthrowing the provisional Russian government which was formed after the abdication of Czar Nicholas II. At that point, popular support for Russia’s Czarist monarchy and aristocratic ruling class had collapsed, and the Russian military had been soundly defeated on the battlefields of Eastern Europe by the German army.

Upon seizing power, Lenin quickly withdrew Russia as a combatant in World War I. He also adapted Marx’s ideas into a doctrine now known as Marxism-Leninism that justified rule by the “dictatorship of the proletariat” on behalf of the working class. The result was the Soviet Union, the world’s first avowedly communist state, which would become the template that later socialist and communist-inspired revolutionary movements would study, imitate, or react against.

The Soviet Economy’s Structural Failures

Under the Soviet Union’s centrally planned economy, free markets and private property were abolished. Industrial production targets for state-owned industries were set from government offices in Moscow rather than permitting prices and production targets to be set naturally by consumer demand in a free marketplace.

Over decades, the centrally planned Soviet system proved chronically unable to match supply with demand: shortages of consumer goods, chronic agricultural underperformance leading to food shortages, and a lack of incentives for innovation became defining features of Soviet life.

Economists generally agree that the absence of price signals and competition in the Soviet economic system made it extraordinarily difficult for the government’s central planners to know what to produce and how much to produce. In addition, most factory-made goods produced in the Soviet Union quickly gained a reputation for poor quality.

The chronic mismatch between the forces of supply and demand and the absence of free market incentives for good performance and maintaining high quality standards were serious problems for the centrally planned economic system from its inception in the 1920s until the Soviet system’s internal collapse in 1991.

Joseph Stalin’s Government-By-Terror

Economic dysfunction in the Soviet Union was compounded by political brutality. Under Joseph Stalin, who consolidated power after Lenin’s death in 1924, the Soviet state carried out the forced collectivization of agriculture that contributed to deliberately orchestrated famines that killed millions of Russian peasants, most notoriously in Ukraine.

The Great Purge of the late 1930s saw show trials, mass executions, and the expansion of the Gulag forced-labor camp system, in which millions of Russians were imprisoned mostly for political reasons. While historians have been unable to agree on a precise death toll for that period, there is a broad consensus that Stalin’s rule was one of the deadliest periods of state violence in modern history.

Western Intellectuals And The Communist Romance

However, none of these internal problems with the Soviet system were fully visible to observers in the West during the 1930s. From the low points during the Great Depression, when the American free market capitalist economic system appeared to be failing catastrophically, communism attracted a widespread admiration from intellectuals, artists, and academics in the United States and Great Britain. Many liberal writers, professors, and government officials joined the American Communist Party or ideologically sympathetic “fellow-traveler” organizations. They were attracted by the claims of the supporters of the Soviet system that it was providing full employment, personal equality, and meeting the growth targets set by the government’s five-year economic plans at a time when Western economies were mired in widespread unemployment and grinding poverty. The reputation of the USSR in liberal circles of the United States also benefited from the accounts of visitors who returned with glowing reports due to carefully managed guided tours designed to show off only the most positive aspects of the Soviet system.

The Disillusionment Of Communism’s True Believers

However, the enthusiasm of many American liberals for communism did not survive the decade. Two events in particular shattered the utopian illusions of many Western communist sympathizers. The Moscow show trials of 1936–1938, in which Soviet officials confessed to hard-to-believe conspiracy theories before being executed, which convinced many liberals that the USSR was not the workers’ paradise that it claimed to be but rather a brutal totalitarian police state.

Then, in August 1939, Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany that briefly allied the world’s leading communist power with its most notorious fascist one, forcing many well-meaning American and British Communist Party members to realize that the leader of their movement had just betrayed everything they had believed they were fighting for. Membership in Western Communist parties fell sharply, and a generation of disillusioned former true believers in communism, including prominent writers such as Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon, and George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, became some of communism’s most effective critics.

Communism’s 20th Century Of Failure

The Soviet experience was not an isolated case. Communist governments that came to power elsewhere in the 20th century tended to repeat, and sometimes intensify, its patterns of economic dysfunction, political violence, and a deliberate disregard for human rights.

In China, Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward (1958–1962) was a crude attempt at the creation of a rapid, centrally directed, and forced industrialization and collectivized farms imposed on a mostly backward rural society. It produced a famine that killed tens of millions of Chinese people. The Cultural Revolution that was then imposed by Mao’s followers unleashed further chaos and repression before China began, in the late 1970s, to reintroduce Western-inspired free market economic policies that fueled its later economic growth.

After communist revolutionary Fidel Castro and his followers seized control of Cuba’s government in 1959, he nationalized the country’s industries and agriculture, and achieved notable gains in literacy and healthcare access. But like other centrally planned economies, Castro’s socialist policies produced chronic shortages, rationing, and a stagnant economy that has been struggling ever since.

North Korea’s system of total central planning and near-total isolation produced a severe famine and starvation during the 1990s, which were estimated to have killed over a million people, alongside one of the most repressive political systems in the modern world.

Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979) pursued an extreme version of agrarian communism, forcibly emptying cities and executing or working to death an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people in one of the 20th century’s worst genocides.

Despite their differences, the economies of these communist regimes shared recurring failed socialist economic policies: the replacement of market prices with central directives, the concentration of political power in a single party or leader, and the suppression of public dissent and freedom of speech needed to correct policy mistakes before they became catastrophic.

What Lessons Apply Today?

It is against this long, grim history of the most prominent of the 20th century’s communist and socialist regimes that today’s Democrat Socialists of America position themselves — and its leaders have tried to carefully separate themselves and their political movement from those failures.

Instead, the DSA describes itself as democrat socialist rather than as Marxist-Leninist. Its policy platform focuses on winning elections and enacting liberal changes through the normal legislative process rather than following the 20th-century Communist pattern of attempting to seize control of the state by force through revolution.

The DSA’s newly adopted national policy program titled “Workers Deserve More” pushes a wide-ranging progressive/liberal agenda in four main areas.

Doing Away With The Essential Elements Of The U.S. Constitution

The radical changes it proposes to make to the three branches of the federal government with an elaborate system of checks and balances, as prescribed by the U.S. Constitution, include a call for abolishing the U.S. Senate entirely and replacing the current House of Representatives with a single legislative chamber whose members are selected by proportional representation.

To reform the process for the selection of a president, the DSA platform calls for replacing the institution of the Electoral College with the president being the winner of a national popular vote.

The DSA also wants to curb the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review of legislation and executive actions. It would also give non-citizens, illegal immigrants, and criminals with past felonies full voting rights.

On labor and economic policies, the DSA proposes a 32-hour workweek with no cut in pay, a confiscatory wealth tax on individuals with large fortunes and inheritances, and public ownership of major energy, transportation, and natural-resource industries, alongside new laws strengthening unions.

The Path To Socialized Medicine

The DSA would expand the social safety net by instituting Medicare for All, turning the current American public-private medical care system into a totally government-controlled form of socialized medicine, similar to the current, widely criticized medical systems in Great Britain and Canada.

Among the most prominent freebies featured in the DSA platform are tuition-free public colleges, and the imposition of universal rent controls paired with a major expansion of public housing. The DSA would end the detention and deportation of any immigrant, regardless of their legal status. It wants to abolish the requirement for cash bail, even for violent criminals, and “demilitarize” local police departments, seriously inhibiting their ability to enforce the laws and protect members of the public.

On foreign policy, the DSA calls for sharply reducing the U.S. military budget and ending the stationing of American troops overseas. It would impose an arms embargo on Israel, eliminating its ability to defend its citizens against October 7th-type terrorist attacks, and it would lift the current U.S. economic sanctions on notorious rogue countries including Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela.

Can The Dsa Protect The Guardrails Of Democracy?

The DSA also claims that its members hold a range of political views, ranging from those who would limit their effort to effective incremental government policy reforms through the current two-party legislative process, and others who call for achieving their desired policy changes through explicitly Marxist and revolutionary actions.

Critics of the DSA’s policy goals cite the dismal 20th-century history of the failed socialist/communist governments described above. They predict that the imposition of public ownership and central planning on the “major industries” of the national economy will reproduce the chronic problems that severely hampered the Soviet and Mao-era Chinese economies.

The DSA’s critics also warn against the proposed concentration of all government power in a legislature completely unfettered by appropriate checks and powers, including politically independent judicial review, a serious deliberative body, like the U.S. Senate, or a capable and suitably empowered leader of the executive branch of the government.

A Debate Over Government Safeguards

By eliminating the safeguards that the Founding Fathers of this country thoroughly debated before incorporating them into the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the DSA would make it more difficult to catch and correct the most egregious policy failures or mistakes they compounded and eventually led to a crisis and loss of confidence in socialist governments as they did in Beijing, Moscow, and Phnom Penh (the capital city of Cambodia).

Liberal and progressive members and supporters of the DSA argue that comparisons to the failed Soviet, Chinese, Cuban, North Korean, and Cambodian government models are unfair. They say that the DSA plans to maintain free, fair, and competitive elections, an independent press, and the rule of law.

The DSA’s critics respond that the fundamental changes that the DSA hopes to impose on the federal government will make it much harder to assure the survival of the safeguards for democracy mentioned above. But the advocates for the DSA claim those safeguards will survive to protect the reformed federal government system from the pitfalls that led the 20th-century socialist/communist governments to failure and disaster.

Good news for consumers who have been missing some of the most delicious liqueurs from Switzerland/Italy, and the Netherlands. Schmerling Liqueurs are once again available, bringing back the quality, flavor, and value that have made this Swiss brand a longtime favorite. Schmerling has earned a reputation for offering world-class cordials, combining their expertise in Swiss chocolate and quality Italian craftmanship. Schmerling liqueurs are equally at home at simchas, a Shabbos or Yom Tov table, or a casual evening with friends.

Schmerling is also introducing two brand-new flavors. Schmerling Amaretto delivers the classic taste that has made this Italian liqueur popular around the world. Rich aromas of sweet almonds are followed by notes of marzipan, vanilla, and caramel, with a smooth, mellow finish. Enjoy it neat, over ice, mixed into coffee, or paired with dessert.

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Aficionados will also be pleased to learn of the renewed availability of the popular Herman Jansen Liqueurs from the Netherlands.

The Herman Jansen Apricot Liqueur is bright, fruity, and wonderfully aromatic. Bursting with the flavor of ripe apricots, along with hints of honey and stone fruit, it strikes an appealing balance between sweetness and freshness. It is excellent served chilled or used as a versatile cocktail ingredient.

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With the return of Schmerling and Herman Jansen, kosher consumers once again have access to a range of flavorful, high-quality liqueurs that deliver exceptional value. Whether you’re looking to add a sweet touch with your desserts on Shabbos and the upcoming yomim tovim, preparing for a simcha, or searching for a thoughtful gift, these bottles offer something enjoyable for every occasion.

Schmerling and Herman Jansen liqueurs are strictly kosher and parve, and are now once again available at select kosher wine and spirits retailers.

There are many sad sounds we hear during the Nine Days, from the mournful melody of Eicha to the scraping of a chair being turned over on Tisha B’Av. There is also the sound of silence we encounter when music would otherwise be playing, when we would have been attending a simcha or gathering at a barbecue or another happy occasion that is put on hold until the Nine Days have ended.

The saddest sound, however, is one we have almost stopped hearing altogether. It is the sound of another Jew slipping away.

Every year, as Tisha B’Av approaches, we mourn the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh. We remember the flames that consumed Yerushalayim, the blood that flowed through its streets, and the millions of Jews who were killed, exiled, enslaved, and scattered.

We cry over a churban that occurred nearly two thousand years ago, and Chazal taught us that it has never really ended. Every generation in which the Bais Hamikdosh is not rebuilt is considered as if it was destroyed.

The churban is not only past history. It is also present tense.

Today, Jews once again live under physical threat. Our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel endure terrorism, rockets, and war. Around the world, antisemitism has emerged from the shadows with a brazenness few imagined possible just a few years ago. Jewish schools require guards. Shuls require security. Jews are attacked in the streets of Europe and America simply because they are Jews. Politicians openly mock and criticize us.

Physical danger has returned.

But there is another tragedy unfolding, quieter than war and less visible than terrorism, yet in many ways no less devastating. It is the disappearance of Jews.

Last week, much attention was given to a poll that purported to show that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani enjoys greater approval among American Jews than Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu. The numbers themselves are startling. Even more startling were the accompanying findings, which showed that substantial numbers of American Jews believe that the United States is too supportive of Israel, and many describe Israel’s actions in Gaza in the harshest possible terms.

The poll indicated that the antisemitic Mamdani has a 44% approval rating among U.S. Jews, while only 32% approve of Netanyahu. The Associated Press survey also found that 38% of Jews say the United States is being too supportive of Israel, and 30% say that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocide.

People argue over what the poll means politically.

Perhaps we should ask what it means spiritually.

My late uncle, Rav Berel Wein, had a way of reducing complicated sociological questions to a simple truth. He would often remark that it should not surprise anyone that Jews who eat from McDonald’s eventually lose their Jewish feeling.

It is not really about hamburgers. It is about assimilation.

When Jewish life becomes little more than an ethnic memory, when Torah is replaced by culture and mitzvos by nostalgia, Jewish identity eventually becomes so diluted that it loses its very foundation.

This did not happen overnight.

For decades, millions of American Jews convinced themselves that identity could survive without Torah. They thought that Chanukah candles, a Pesach Seder, a bar mitzvah, a few Yiddish expressions, bagels, lox, brisket, and nostalgic memories would somehow be enough. They are not.

Children were taught to be good people, but not necessarily good Jews.

They learned every fashionable ideology of the day but little about Avrohom Avinu, Har Sinai, the churban, or the return to Eretz Yisroel. They could speak fluently about oppression and colonialism, but had never studied why the Jewish people have davened toward Yerushalayim for over three thousand years.

When October 7 arrived, it did not create this crisis. It exposed it.

Many young Jews had never been given the tools to understand why Israel exists, why Jews have returned to their ancient homeland, or why Jewish survival has always depended upon remaining faithful to who we are.

A vacuum never remains empty.

If parents, schools, and communities do not fill Jewish hearts with Torah, emunah, history, and pride, someone else will fill them with other ideas.

And they have.

This, too, is churban.

So, on Tisha B’Av, as we mourn the millions who died al kiddush Hashem throughout the generations, we also weep for the millions who have been lost to intermarriage, assimilation, and indifference – Jews whose names remain Jewish, while their children and grandchildren may never know what it means to say Shema Yisroel.

Their loss is not marked by a yahrtzeit.

No Kaddish is recited. No shivah is observed.

Yet, Klal Yisroel is diminished all the same.

In Eretz Yisroel today, we are witnessing firsthand how devastating the loss of Yiddishkeit can be for the Jewish people. What we see taking place is not merely a political disagreement or a debate over public policy. It is a kulturkampf, a struggle over the soul and character of the Jewish state, the likes of which many of us have never experienced.

Jews whose grandparents lived lives of Torah and mitzvos are at the forefront of efforts to reshape the spiritual identity of the country. The painful irony is impossible to ignore. Descendants of those who once davened in shtieblach, learned in yeshivos and botei medrash, and sacrificed everything for Yiddishkeit are now leading campaigns against many of the very institutions that ensured the survival of Torah after the Holocaust and remain at the heart of what being a Jew is all about.

Make no mistake about it: What is going on now is far more than a dispute over the military draft of yeshiva bochurim.

That issue is merely the symbol of a much broader struggle.

Rabbi Wein, whose final book, A Life of Learning, was recently published ahead of his upcoming first yahrtzeit, recounts there the first time he encountered the Ponovezher Rov.

It was 1947. Rabbi Wein was not yet bar mitzvah. The Ponovezher Rov had already become a legendary figure, and when he arrived in Chicago, the city’s rabbonim, roshei yeshiva, and approximately 250 yeshiva talmidim gathered to hear him.

“We all sensed his aristocratic bearing,” Rabbi Wein writes. “The Torah shone from him.”

The bais medrash was overflowing. The Ponovezher Rov first delivered a brilliant shiur and then turned to the future of Eretz Yisroel.

Rabbi Wein recalls his astonishing prediction: “He predicted that a Jewish state would be established, but that it could very well be that the Jewish government would put a person in jail just for being a shomer Shabbos…. That was my first exposure to the Ponovezher Rov. I had never heard words like that before…. I went home with my father…. When we came home, my mother asked, ‘So what did he say?’ and my father told her [about his prediction].”

Those words must have sounded almost unimaginable to the audience in Chicago at the time. Yet, history unfolded much as the Ponovezher Rov foresaw. The State of Israel was established, and while Jews are, boruch Hashem, not imprisoned simply for being shomrei Shabbos, we are witnessing something that would have been equally difficult to imagine: Thousands of bnei Torah, whose lives are devoted to limud haTorah, are being treated as enemies of the state, facing arrests, threats, and relentless efforts to dismantle the Torah world. Alongside this has emerged a painful and dangerous rift among Jews, one that many believe is unlike anything experienced since the founding of the state.

The Ponovezher Rov foresaw the great challenge that the Jewish people would face from Jews who no longer understood what Torah is, what a ben Torah represents, and why the Torah itself is the heartbeat of Klal Yisroel.

And now, seventy-eight years later, just a couple of weeks ago, senior Israeli roshei yeshiva traveled to Chicago, among other places, to present their case and raise desperately needed funds to sustain the Israeli yeshivos and yungeleit, who are being squeezed financially by anti-Torah state forces engaged in this battle.

The battle extends far beyond yeshivos and yungeleit. It also encompasses Chinuch Atzmai, the independent Torah school system founded with extraordinary mesirus nefesh by Rav Aharon Kotler, the Chazon Ish, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, and the gedolei hador, who understood that without authentic Torah education, there would be no future for Klal Yisroel. It includes repeated efforts to weaken the autonomy of Torah institutions, reduce funding for yeshivos, alter the religious character of the public sphere, challenge the sanctity of Shabbos, and erode the kedusha of the Kosel, Eretz Yisroel, and Am Yisroel.

Each controversy may appear to stand on its own, but all are expressions of the same underlying conflict: What should a Jewish state look like? Should it be guided by the eternal values of Torah or should it resemble every other modern Western democracy, with Judaism relegated to little more than a cultural artifact?

This is the tragedy of spiritual distance. When Torah is no longer the lens through which a Jew sees the world, even the institutions that preserved the Jewish people for thousands of years can come to be viewed as obstacles rather than treasures. The yeshiva, once the pride of the Jewish people, becomes a target of resentment. The Kosel, once the symbol of every Jewish heart’s longing, becomes just another public site to be redefined. Shabbos, the gift that has sustained us, becomes an inconvenience to be accommodated rather than a covenant to be cherished. The holy city of Yerushalayim becomes a battleground over whether stores should remain closed on Shabbos.

The greatest sadness is that so many of those fighting these battles are our own brothers and sisters.

Had they been raised to appreciate the beauty of Torah, the sacrifice of previous generations, and the miracle of the Torah world rebuilt after the churban of Europe, they might see these institutions not as relics of the past, but as the very heartbeat of the Jewish future.

That, too, is part of the churban we mourn during these days.

Not only the stones that were burned, but the hearts that have grown distant.

During these Nine Days, we refrain from music and limit our joy because our nation’s heart remains broken.

Perhaps we should also allow ourselves to mourn the brothers and sisters who are still alive but are disappearing from our people.

The Gemara teaches that the second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed because of sinas chinom. It will be rebuilt through ahavas Yisroel. Love means more than merely embracing another Yid. It means seeking to bring him home.

The answer to assimilation is not better politics. It is not better messaging. It is not cute slogans or social media campaigns.

It is Torah.

It is parents who teach their children that being Jewish is not simply an ancestry, but a destiny.

It is schools that fill young hearts with pride in Hashem, His Torah, and His people.

It is communities that understand that every Jewish child who grows up loving Torah is another stone laid in the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdosh.

The enemies of the Jewish people seek to destroy our bodies. Assimilation destroys our souls. During these Nine Days, we mourn both.

And perhaps, if our mourning is sincere enough – for the Jews we have lost, for those we are still losing, and for those who can yet be found – it will help bring the day when mourning itself will disappear and the words of the novi Zechariah (8:19) will finally be fulfilled: “The fast of the fourth (17th of Tammuz), the fast of the fifth (Tisha B’Av) … shall become days of joy and gladness.”

Chazal tell us that Moshiach was born on Tisha B’Av. The Nine Days are not only about mourning. They are also about rebuilding. Every Jewish child who learns the Alef-Bais, every Jew who puts on tefillin, every family that begins keeping Shabbos, every baal teshuvah, and every person who begins learning Torah is another brick in the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdosh.

Perhaps this is the cry of the Nine Days for our generation. We mourn a Bais Hamikdosh that was destroyed because Jews became distant from one another and from our Father in Heaven. We must mourn every Jewish soul that has drifted away and believe that every soul can return. The same Jewish spark that burned in Avrohom Avinu, in the kedoshim of Europe, and in the builders of Torah in Eretz Yisroel after the churban still burns somewhere within every Jew. Sometimes it is very deep, very hidden, and very small, but it is there. Our task is not only to mourn what was lost. It is also to dedicate ourselves to bringing home what was lost.

My dear friend, Rav Eliezer Sorotzkin, who for many years led Lev L’Achim and today heads Chinuch Atzmai, was in the United States last week and shared with me a remarkable story that offers a perspective we would do well to remember.

Eighty years ago, the parent committee of the Shearis Yisroel cheder discovered that the father of two boys attending the school traveled to the beach on Shabbos, Rachmana litzlan. The committee members were aghast. They concluded that the boys could no longer remain in the cheder.

The renowned chareidi writer Rav Moshe Schonfeld was involved with the school and suggested that before taking any action, they should discuss the matter with the Chazon Ish.

The situation was presented to the Chazon Ish, and he listened carefully as the parents spoke. Then, instead of responding immediately, as was his usual practice, he sat in silence.

Five long minutes of deep concentration passed.

Finally, he lifted his eyes and quietly said, “I searched through the entire Torah. I carefully examined all the punishments prescribed for a mechallel Shabbos, and I did not find anywhere that it is forbidden to teach Torah to his sons.”

This is not to say that we should begin admitting the children of mechallelei Shabbos into our schools. Rather, the lesson is that perhaps we should look at those Jewish children in the United States and Eretz Yisroel who have wandered so far from the path of their ancestors with sadness and compassion, and ask whether there is some way we can reach them, inspire them, help bring them home, and support worthy organizations such as Lev L’Achim, Shuvu, and Oorah, which engage in this holy work.

The Kuzari, (5:27), the Maharal in Netzach Yisroel (Perek 23) and many other seforim teach us that appreciating the loss of the Bais Hamikdosh and mourning the churban bring us closer to its rebuilding. Grieving over what we have lost arouses Heavenly mercy and hastens the geulah.

May we merit to see the fulfillment of “Kol hamisabel al Yerushalayim zoche vero’eh b’simchasa,” that all those who mourn Yerushalayim will merit to witness her consolation bekarov.

During these Nine Days of mourning, let us daven that we merit to see the day when the Bais Hamikdosh will be rebuilt, when every neshomah that has become distant returns, and when we will merit the ultimate geulah, speedily in our days.

It happened at a Shabbos sheva brachos that I recently attended. What I saw there left me with such an amazing feeling and such a sense of optimism that I feel the need to share it.

I recently had occasion to attend a simcha in a European community. It so happened that the chosson had a younger brother, a 12th-grade bochur, who invited several friends from his yeshiva to come over for dessert. It was clear that this yeshiva was not a “cookie-cutter” one, because the bochurim who came didn’t all look the same. Some had longer hair, some had shorter hair, some wore black hats, and some didn’t.

One thing that united them, however, was that all the boys sang together beautifully, leading a kumzitz-style singing session before bentching.

I was enjoying watching these bochurim being mesamei’ach and being b’simcha in their own right when, suddenly, I noticed them all turn their heads toward the head table, where the chosson was sitting.

Their eyes lit up.

I then heard them excitedly exclaim to one another, “Look, R’ Yitzy* came!”

They seemed genuinely excited!

I turned toward the head table and saw R’ Yitzy. He looked like a yungerman in his early thirties, at most. There was a perpetual smile on his face, and it was clear that he was a ball of energy. I found out that R’ Yitzy was the rebbi of these boys, and he was obviously a very important part of their lives. When I saw him at the head table, he was hugging the chosson, who had been his talmid just a couple of years earlier.

After greeting the chosson, he came over to sit with his boys. Before sitting down, however, he hugged each one of them and told each one something positive.

I sat there amazed, simply watching this magic unfold.

I saw the clear, unbridled admiration that these bochurim had for their rebbi as he sat with them and sang. While the olam was singing, R’ Yitzy stopped several times to tell one talmid a vort and another talmid a piece of advice.

As I took it all in, I found myself thinking, “Wow! These kids are lucky! What a rebbi!”

After bentching, I walked over and wished R’ Yitzy shalom aleichem. Since I was probably old enough to be his father, I took the liberty of asking him, “R’ Yitzy, tell me, how do you do it? How do you have such an amazing rapport with these bochurim, and how is it that they hang on to your every word?”

Without pausing for even a second, he simply replied, “Because I love them. I love each of them and I also love the Torah that I am transmitting to them. If you really love them and love the Torah that you are giving over to them, it is impossible for it not to penetrate.”

He then continued: “I am afraid that I am going to have to ask you to excuse me, because I have to speak to a bochur. I love this bochur, but I still have to discipline him about something.”

With that, he walked away. I watched as he put his arm around a bochur and gently steered him to a quiet corner of the room for a conversation.

The Imperative to Love One’s Talmidim – From the Rambam

As I replayed the experience on the plane ride home, I couldn’t get R’ Yitzy’s image out of my head. I also kept picturing the faces of his talmidim and the pure admiration I had seen shining from them.

The thought that kept returning to me was, “Wow! This is the way a rebbi is meant to reach a talmid in 2026!”

Then another thought struck me. I realized that this ideal did not originate in 2026. More than a thousand years ago, the Rambam wrote, “Just like a talmid is obligated to give honor to his rebbi, so is a rebbi obligated to honor and love his talmidim.”

Now, I also had rabbeim who loved me, but the difference between today and yesteryear is that the rabbeim of old did not communicate their love in an overt way. Even parents did not openly communicate their love to their children. Once upon a time, physical expressions of love from father to son were often not shown openly. Certainly, that was true of the rabbeim as well.

Times Have Changed

Today’s young people are very different. This generation has a particular vulnerability. They need to see the love and feel the love in order to know that it exists. They are desperate for approval, validation, and even admiration. If they don’t receive a broad smile from their parents, rabbeim, or teachers, they begin to wonder, “Are my parents, rebbi, or teacher angry at me? Does he or she really like me?”

There was a time when a subtle message of love or admiration conveyed by a parent, rebbi, or teacher came through clearly and was understood. In today’s world, however, parents, rabbeim, and teachers must communicate that message of love and admiration openly and unmistakably, because without that validation, a child or talmid feels emotionally empty.

If, on top of that, a parent, rebbi, or teacher communicates criticism, or even a straightforward instruction such as, “We are not going to go on the trip until you do such and such…,” the child may become deeply upset and think, “Why doesn’t _______ like me?”

The Scream That…Wasn’t

Not long ago, I was giving mussar to one of my younger children about something. He immediately responded in a hurt and puzzled tone, “Totty, why are you screaming at me?”

At that moment, I realized that things had changed. In truth, I was not screaming. He simply experienced the criticism as a scream because he was so sensitive to criticism and to not always finding favor in my eyes. To him, it truly sounded like a scream, even though my actual volume was quite low.

The Oxygen for Today’s Youth

This past Thursday night, Torah Umesorah featured a nationwide lecture via Zoom on chinuch presented by Rav Avrohom Anisfeld, a longtime menahel and mechanech of mechanchim from Lakewood.

Throughout his lecture, Rav Anisfeld repeatedly emphasized that today’s generation is desperate for validation and admiration. That need can be met by peers, parents, rabbeim, teachers, and really by anyone.

As important as that validation is when it comes from friends or rabbeim, it is infinitely more important when it comes from parents. It is not merely important. It is critical. It is their lifeline. It is like the oxygen they need in order to breathe.

What many of us fail to realize is that, for many of our children and teenagers, the deeply rooted feeling is: “What Totty or Mommy thinks about me is the purpose of my life. I have to make them proud of me and feel good about me.”

If our children and teens do not receive that validation and those expressions of approval and admiration, they can become angry, anxious, and emotionally shut down. This is a critical emotional need.

Gentle Guidance Packaged with Love

At this point, some readers may think that I have crossed over to the progressive left and I am advocating that we never criticize or guide a child or talmid. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We absolutely must continue to guide our children and, when necessary, tell a child or talmid that his conduct needs improvement. But—and this is a very big but—today, more than ever, we must know how to communicate criticism and expectations.

Our expectations—and even our criticisms—must be packaged with gentleness. They should be delivered in a gentle tone and, whenever possible, even with a smile. Even when making a demand, it should be presented positively, not in an accusatory or harsh manner.

Yes, every generation is different, and every generation has its own nisyonos and challenges. Therefore, for a parent, rebbi, or teacher to say, “That is not the way it was when I was young,” is not productive. More importantly, it simply won’t work.

That is why I was filled with such chizuk when I watched the way R’ Yitzy interacted with his bochurim at that sheva brachos. He showed them unmistakably how much he loved them. You could see it in his eyes and in his body language that he truly, deeply loved them.

At the very same time, while expressing that love so openly, he was also able to take a bochur aside and offer him positive tochacha in a way that would be accepted, without the bochur ever questioning for a moment that he was loved.

Now that is chinuch.

That is the chinuch of 2026: a combination of ahavah and yirah, with a very generous dose of ahavah enveloping it all.

Of all the lines in Shas nogeia to the tragic story of Tisha B’Av that haunt me, the one that shakes me the most has nothing to do with sinas chinom and everything to do with humility.

We all know the story: Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, the mixed-up invitation, and the public humiliation at a public gathering. The slighted guest slinks off to Rome to plant the seeds of rebellion in the mind of the Caesar. It’s the story we tell when we want to personify the sinas chinom, indifference, and intransigence of a nation whose terrible middos and calamitous interactions were the cause of the churban.

But tucked into the margins of that same sugya in Maseches Gittin is a subplot that gets only a line or two in the larger picture, yet those lines hit us like a sledgehammer.

When Bar Kamtza returns with the Caesar’s korban, slightly blemished just enough to be posul according to the Torah but acceptable according to Roman law, the chachomim in the room understand exactly what’s at stake. Rejecting the korban of a foreign king is a diplomatic incident worthy of a Trump-like reaction. However, accepting a blemished korban is a halachic impossibility. Someone has to decide.

And the one in the room whose job it was to decide, Rabi Zecharia ben Avkulas, does neither. He does not offer the korban. He does not have Bar Kamtza quietly disposed of so that the whole episode disappears. He has good reasons for both sides. So he hesitates, weighing the halacha, weighing the politics, and weighing his own certainty, until the moment for deciding passes him by.

Bar Kamtza goes back to Rome. The Caesar is infuriated. He sends his legions, and the rest is history. Unfortunately, our history. From the exile through the Crusades, the Inquisition, Chmielnicki, the pogroms, the Holocaust, Gaza, and beyond, it still reverberates.

But here is the line that has never let me go. Rabi Yochanan says, in Gittin 56a, that the anivus, the excessive humility, of Rabi Zecharia ben Avkulas is what destroyed our home, burned our sanctuary, and drove us from our land.

I have read that line a hundred times, and it startles me every time. I simply don’t get it. Not the sinas chinom. Not the guest list. Not the years of pointless machlokes that came before it. Rabi Yochanan reaches past all of that and points a finger at Rabi Zecharia’s inability to make up his mind.

I understand, in theory, how a private critique of a gadol’s judgment might circulate in a bais medrash. There are disagreements among giants as well.

But this censure and condemnation of Rabi Zecharia is something that was recorded for posterity—not only for talmidei chachomim in Bnei Brak to read with the countless meforshim who try to decipher it, but for the 11-year-olds learning the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza in their summer learning groups. It’s a chastisement for posterity!

Why would Chazal take what we could have interpreted as an expression of exaggerated disappointment said in a private setting and have it become enshrined as part of the story of the churban—and as the reason for the churban, no less?

It would have been so much easier, so much more comfortable, to let the blame rest on Klal Yisroel’s sinas chinom in general and leave Rabi Zecharia’s name out of it.

Unless the discomfort is something we all must internalize.

This is not the only place that Rabi Zecharia ben Avkulas receives this treatment. There is a Tosefta, in Maseches Shabbos 17:4, that repeats those scathing words. There, Bais Hillel and Bais Shammai argue about how to remove bones and peels from the table on Shabbos. Rabi Zecharia ben Avkulas acted in a way that avoided both positions Rabi Yosi seems to dredge up the earlier misstep and adds: “The anivus of Rabi Zecharia ben Avkulas burned the Heichal.” Chazal do not let it go. They remember, and they remind us. It’s scary.

I could stop here and leave us all with a kashya, or I can proceed with something that I have gleaned from this, and I pray to Hashem that I am on the right track.

Chazal are not trying to pile onto a good man twice or vent their frustrations. Chas v’shalom. I think that they are giving us a lesson to internalize, one that can even serve as a life preserver in golus. It’s a lesson about indecisiveness. They are teaching us about the price of indecision and fear.

There are moments—and they do not announce themselves in advance—when a leader’s silence is not neutral. It is not a wise withholding of judgment until all the facts are in. It is itself a decision, dressed up as no decision at all, and it can cost everything. Rabi Zecharia’s anivus, his reluctance to be the man who takes a stand and lives with the consequences, was not humility in the way we usually praise it. It was a vacuum, and Klal Yisroel’s enemies are always happy to fill a vacuum.

I have been thinking about this Gemara a great deal these past months, watching elderly roshei yeshiva from Eretz Yisroel cross oceans and even boundaries to navigate a crisis that is costing them more than most of us will ever know. A seismic shift in the government’s attitude toward bnei Torah and limud haTorah prompted a crisis that forced yungeleit to run home in hiding, bochurim to live in fear, and yeshivos to shake their heads in shock and fear for their future existence.

And there was every reason to waver. There was tremendous political pressure, both from within and without, to “wait it out.” Hope for the best. Don’t rock the boat. Perhaps they will come to a resolution. Maybe they will unfreeze the hundreds of millions of shekolim they had once generously given to support yeshivos. Every practical incentive pointed toward compromise. Friendships built over decades frayed. Public opinion, even within parts of our own broader community, turned sharply critical.

And yet the roshei yeshiva said, “We are coming.” Some came in wheelchairs. Some left chemotherapy treatments.

From the onset of this campaign, they rallied, despite how hard and how uncomfortable it was.  And people opened their hearts and their wallets, no matter how hard or how uncomfortable it was. The roshei yeshiva did not know how they would be received yet they came and saw how so communities supported their cause and the Keren Olam HaTorah in such an unprecedented and amazing magnanimous way.

The roshei yeshiva who convened in the wake of this crisis chose to plant a flag rather than wave it in surrender. They were prepared to pay the price, for better or for worse.

Of course, we do not have the right to critique the vacillation of Rabi Zecharia. But we can embrace the critique that the Gemara has left for the ages and try to springboard into action from its conclusion. I can’t imagine that bringing the korban, or killing Bar Kamtza, would have negated the reasons for the churban, and thus I will remain with some questions on pshat. But I still can glean something from the powerful words found in Gittin and in the Tosefta.

For some reason, Chazal wanted us to sit uncomfortably with the humble Tanna whose refusal to decide became, retroactively, an act that bore enormous weight. They wanted that discomfort to outlast him by two thousand years, so that the next generation of leaders, facing their own blemished korban, would remember what indecision costs and would choose to decide anyway.

And they may have wanted us little people to realize that life is about hard choices that may determine the future of our lives, our families, and of Klal Yisroel.

Just saying.

Reclaiming the True Essence of the Churban

It is a painful, undeniable reality of our spiritual landscape: we struggle to mourn the Churban of the Bais Hamikdosh genuinely. How can we weep for what was lost when we possess so little understanding of what once existed?

In our state of yeridas hadoros, the Bais Hamikdosh looms as an abstract grandeur, too sublime for our diminished consciousness to grasp. We have never seen the Kohen Gadol in his bigdei kavod; we have never witnessed heavenly fire descending upon the mizbeiach; we have never breathed the air of a world illuminated by the presence of the Shechinah. Trapped within a spiritual vacuum, we find ourselves trying to manufacture tears for an exalted reality we can scarcely imagine. With every passing generation, the chasm between our ordinary existence and that glorious past grows even wider.

The Substitution Trap

In a desperate attempt to kindle some measure of grief, we often employ a familiar strategy. We recognize that every tzaarah, every tear, and every collective or personal tragedy throughout history is ultimately rooted in the cataclysm of the Churban. To awaken genuine emotion, we attempt to fulfill our obligation of aveilus by redirecting our focus toward the immediate, tangible suffering of our own times: We speak of terminal illnesses, sudden deaths, fractured families, and children who have lost their way. We reflect on the ashes of Europe, the resurgence of global antisemitism, and the existential dangers facing our brethren in Eretz Yisroel.

There are certainly more than enough tzaros to fill our hearts. Yet, this approach conceals a subtle but dangerous trap.

We often spend the final hours of the Taanis listening to painful accounts of contemporary suffering, watching documentaries about historical tragedies, or seeking general inspiration. In doing so, we often fail to follow the thread back to its source.

Intellectually, we know that with the coming of the Geulah, all these sorrows would disappear. In practice, however, our mourning becomes inverted. The Bais Hamikdosh is reduced to a means rather than the end itself. It becomes the vehicle through which we mourn our own pain. The primary focus of our grief remains our personal suffering, while the destruction of Hashem’s home becomes a secondary concern.

The Mishnah Berurah (siman 554) writes with striking simplicity that no matter how physically difficult the fast may be, a person must strengthen himself to endure it, because: “Kedai hu Bais Hamikdosh l’hisavel alov yom echod b’shanah — The Bais Hamikdosh is certainly worthy that we should mourn its loss for at least one day a year.”

Yet despite our best intentions, this focused mourning rarely materializes. We remain unable to cross the threshold into authentic aveilus for the Bayis Hashem. To move beyond this impasse, we must shift our focus and refresh our understanding of what the ikar Churban truly is.

Anan Ataka D’rachmana Samchinan: Seated At The Father’s Table

To understand what we are truly missing, we can look to a fascinating halachic discussion regarding the mechanics of a meal.

Halacha dictates that if individuals are dining together and explicitly declare, “Rabbosai, nevarech,” they create an immediate hesech hadaas, a definitive mental conclusion of the meal. Even if they wish to continue eating, they are forbidden from doing so until they recite Birkas Hamazon and begin a completely new meal. The Gemara similarly rules that when the attendants remove the table from before the diners, the meal is halachically concluded.

The Gemara (Brachos 42a) describes an exchange between Rava and Rav Zeira while dining as guests at the home of the Reish Golusa. After the attendants had removed the tables, the Reish Golusa unexpectedly sent them an additional portion of food. Rava immediately ate from it, while Rav Zeira questioned how Rava could partake when the removal of the table had already concluded the meal. Rava answered him with a profound principle: “Anan ataka d’Reish Golusa samchinan — We are dependent upon the table of the Reish Golusa.”

As guests, their minds are never truly detached from the meal because they possess no control over the menu or the timeline; everything depended upon the will of their host. Since the host could choose to continue serving them at any moment, the removal of the table by the attendants did not constitute a genuine hesech hadaas.

Commenting on this sugya, Tosafos extrapolates this concept to the Pesach Seder. If a person mistakenly forgot to eat the Afikoman, and has already said, “Hav lan u’nevarech” to prepare for Birkas Hamazon, standard halachic ruling should prohibit them from eating. Yet, Tosafos rules that the individual may eat the Afikoman without a new brocha. To explain why, Tosafos distills the reality of that night into four remarkable words: “Anan ataka d’Rachmana samchinan — We are dependent upon the table of the Merciful One.”

On the night of Pesach, the night of our national redemption, we are not merely dining in our own homes. The entire inner structure of the Seder is predicated on the reality that we are royal guests seated directly at the personal table of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Because we are dependent upon His table, our minds never disengage from Him. No verbal declaration or physical transition can create a true hesech hadaas from our connection with Hashem, or from His eternal desire to feed and sustain His children.

Pesach represents the pinnacle of Geulah. And the definition of Geulah is simply a state of existence where Klal Yisroel is safely gathered, cherished, and secure, around the table of their Father, Hashem**.**

The Overturned Table

Through the system of AtBash, we find that the first day of Pesach invariably falls on the same day of the week as the upcoming Tisha B’Av. This is not a mere calendar coincidence; it reflects a metaphysical symmetry.

Tisha B’Av is the exact inverse of Pesach. If Pesach is the day we experience what it means to sit confidently at the table of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, then Tisha B’Av is the horrific day that table was overturned. It marks the onset of Golus. Stripped to its essence, Golus simply means being driven away from our Father’s table.

Hakadosh Boruch Hu is a grieving Father. He sits in the solitude of Golus before an empty table, waiting for His alienated, but beloved children to return.

The Gemara (Brachos 3a) teaches that whenever we answer Amein, yehei Shemei Rabbah during Kaddish, we awaken a divine memory. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, nods His head and recalls the days of the Bais Hamikdosh: “Ashrei Hamelech shemekalsin oso beveiso — Fortunate is the King Who was once praised like this in His home.”

But that memory immediately gives rise to a heartbreaking cry: “Oy lo l’Av shehiglah es bonav, v’oy lahem labonim shegolu me’al shulchan Avihem — Woe to the Father who exiled His children, and woe to the children who were exiled from their Father’s table.”

The Father longs for His children to return to His home, and the children long to return as well. Hashem waits in solitude, longing for consolation. The Tosfos Harosh and the Tur explain that the cryptic phrase we recite in the Kaddish, “l’eila min kol birchosa v’shirasa, tushbechosa v’nechemosa,” is our attempt to offer words of consolation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, comforting Him in His loneliness.

Accessing Grief Through Empathy

Who can truly grasp and feel Hashem’s pain? Who can sit beside Him in His loneliness and sincerely say, “Imo anochi b’tzorah”?

It is here, within this image of a grieving Father, that we discover the key to authentic aveilus on Tisha B’Av.

As human beings, we possess a remarkable G-d-given capacity for empathy. When we witness another person suffering from a terrible illness or a family shattered by sudden tragedy, our hearts instinctively break for them. Ironically, it is often far easier for us to deeply feel and care for the pain of others than it is to process our own deepest spiritual loss.

If we cannot intellectually or imaginatively comprehend what we lost when the physical Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed, we must pivot our focus toward the emotional reality of the One Who lost it.

We can understand the anguish of a father whose home has been utterly destroyed, whose family has been fractured, and who sits in absolute isolation. We must realize that the Shechinah is in this state of unbearable pain. Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not have His children gathered around His table. His home lies desolate, and His family is scattered across the earth.

The Modern Paradigm

Perhaps the contemporary crisis that most powerfully captures this reality is the heartbreak of alienated children who have become disconnected from their families and their heritage.

When a beautiful Torah home experiences devastating loss, whether through death, mental illness, or children wandering into spiritual darkness, this is not merely another consequence of the Churban. It is the Churban continuing to unfold before our eyes. It is children separated from their loving Father.

Everyone who witnesses such suffering instinctively feels the parents’ pain. In those moments, we gain the faintest glimpse of the anguish of the Shechinah.

Viewed through this lens, every modern tragedy becomes an opportunity not merely to mourn ourselves but to mourn with Hashem. Instead of instinctively thinking about our own vulnerability, our first response becomes: “Ribbono Shel Olam, Your children are suffering away from Your table. Your family is scattered. Your home remains empty.” Through our capacity for empathy, we comfort a Father in solitude.

On Tisha B’Av we sit bodad upon the ground because our Father sits bodad. Within that shared solitude, something extraordinary happens. We reconnect with Him.

We then fulfill the climactic words of Eicha: “Nachpesah derocheinu v’nachkorah v’noshuvah ad Hashem — Let us examine our ways, let us search ourselves, and let us return to Hashem.”

The Bridge To The Yomim Nora’im

This deep alignment of hearts on Tisha B’Av creates a powerful, direct bridge to the Yomim Nora’im.

In Nefesh HaChaim, Rav Chaim Volozhin quotes the Zohar, which teaches that the singular focus of our tefillos on Rosh Hashanah must be the coronation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the revelation of His Malchus. Accordingly, one should refrain from praying for personal needs such as bonai, chayei, and mezonei. The Zohar sharply criticizes those who spend these holy days crying only for themselves, likening them to barking dogs who cry, “Hav lan chayai, hav lan mezonei — Give me life. Give me sustenance.”

Rav Chaim explains that Rosh Hashanah is not about us. The center of our tefillah must be the pain of the Shechinah, the concealment of Hashem’s honor, and the ongoing chillul Hashem created by Golus.

For this reason, the halachic structure of Rosh Hashanah deliberately omits the usual expressions of personal repentance. We do not confess our sins. We do not ask for selicha or kapporah in the Amidah. The lone exception is “Zochreinu lechaim,” where we ask for life only because the phrase immediately concludes: “L’maancha Elokim Chaim.” We ask for life not merely to survive, but so that we may continue serving the King and revealing His glory in this world.

Resolving The Human Paradox

Yet we know ourselves. The moment suffering enters our lives, our hearts instinctively turn inward. We worry about our health, our livelihood, and our families.

In a remarkable note in that pesicha, the talmidim of Rav Yisroel Salanter present an essential balance. Because of the spiritual decline of yeridas hadoros, the average person simply cannot detach completely from personal pain to focus exclusively on the suffering of the Shechinah.

We may recite the words, but: “Hapeh v’halev einam shavim — Our mouths and our hearts are not one.” Pretending otherwise introduces insincerity into our relationship with Hashem. It renders our tefillah mezuyaf mesocho, fundamentally fraudulent.

Therefore, Rav Yisroel Salanter teaches that we must honestly bring our personal needs before Hashem. The challenge is to elevate those needs l’shem Shomayim, desiring health, livelihood, and strength only because they enable us to serve Him.

Even this remains extraordinarily difficult.

How, then, do we bridge the gap between our natural self-concern and the selfless vision demanded by Rosh Hashanah?

The Answer Lies In The Transformation Of Our Tisha B’Av.

When we spend Tisha B’Av immersed in the tzaar of the Shechinah, we focus upon the very heart of the Churban. Fifty days later, when we stand before Hashem on Rosh Hashanah, we are no longer strangers attempting to manufacture selfless devotion. We have already spent a day sitting beside our Father, sharing His loneliness.

The day Tisha B’Av becomes the day we stop asking, “How can my pain end?” and begin asking, “How can Hashem’s pain end?” is the day the Churban has already begun to heal. For the moment children become more concerned with their Father’s honor than their own comfort, they have already found their way home.

Having absorbed the pain of the Parent during the month of Av, we are finally able to stand before the King on Rosh Hashanah with a sincere and unforced longing for His Malchus to be fully restored. And soon, once again, we will gather around the table of our Father in Yerushalayim.

Two Vital Bills on the Table for This Week

A very intense week lies ahead of us. This week, the Knesset will most probably begin its recess. (Actually, it will have no choice but to begin its recess, in order to have the legally required 90-day break before the next election.) Before the Knesset begins its break, however, there are several issues that have to be resolved. Some of those issues are vital to the Likud party; others are critical to the chareidim. In the latter category are two bills: the Basic Law: Torah Study and the bill that will put an end to the arrests of yeshiva bochurim, which is officially titled “Proposed Security Service Law—Amendment 26: Integration of Yeshiva Students, 5782/2022.” Both bills were approved in committees, one last Thursday and one at the beginning of this week, in advance of their second and third readings in the Knesset, which marks the final step before they enter the book of law. The Basic Law: Torah Study was approved on Monday.

The second bill, which will halt the arrests of yeshiva bochurim, was approved on Sunday in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chaired by MK Boaz Bismut. The bill passed the committee by a narrow margin, in a vote of eight to seven, and states that out of recognition of the importance of Torah learning, a temporary measure will be enacted to suspend the arrests of talmidei yeshivos for whom learning Torah is their full-time occupation. The measure will remain in effect from the day the law is published until 20 Kislev 5787/November 30, 2026.

The text of the bill reads in part, “A yeshiva student will be defined as someone who learns Torah and studies in a yeshiva in an orderly fashion no less than 45 hours a week, or in a kollel for no less than 40 hours a week, excluding the official vacation periods accepted in yeshivos, which will be determined by the minister of defense. The minister of defense will formulate a list of approved yeshivos for this period of time, in accordance with the standards that will be included in the regulations. A yeshiva will be included on the list if its director or another authorized individual declares that it maintains regular Torah studies for no less than 45 hours a week, or 40 hours a week for a kollel. The minister of defense will also determine the criteria for removing a yeshiva from the list, with the approval of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. To provide oversight, the minister of defense will issue instructions and designate inspectors, in accordance with the terms of section 49c. Inspectors with experience in field inspections for the Ministry of Education, who were appointed in the past to monitor yeshivos receiving government funds, may be used for this purpose, and the minister of defense will be permitted to use the oversight mechanisms of the Ministry of Education.”

The legal advisors of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee have been fiercely opposed to the bill throughout the deliberations. They claimed that there are two major flaws in the bill: First, it is considered unequal, since it prevents the arrests only of chareidim who do not enlist and does not protect other segments of the population, and second, it does not include sanctions against draft evaders. The chareidi politicians pushed for the law to be approved despite the legal advisors’ objections, and everyone is now waiting for its final approval in the Knesset. Everyone expects petitions against the law to be filed with the Supreme Court, but it is generally accepted that no existing laws are changed during an election period, so the bill should at least buy us a temporary reprieve.

Bochurim Are Afraid to Appear on the Streets

The bill freezing arrests of yeshiva bochurim is expected to result in a couple of gains. First, it will buy the community a period of several months, perhaps even three quarters of a year, with no arrests at all. In addition, those currently in custody will be released immediately. And it will put an end to the absurd situation in which yeshiva bochurim and kollel yungeleit are afraid to walk in the street or find themselves fleeing at the mere sight of a police officer. This state of affairs has resulted in some grievous incidents such as the recent assault on yeshiva bochurim by a group of ruffians in Rechasim. The assailants mocked their victims, asserting that they would certainly not dare file a complaint with the police against them. Sadly, they were right: The bochurim did not want to risk arrest by reporting to the police that they had been assaulted and thus exposing themselves to police action. And the repercussions extend even further: If a kollel yungerman is injured in a traffic accident, for instance, he is more likely to hurry home despite his injuries than to remain on the scene and risk being arrested by the police. This is the worst situation that the Torah world has faced since the founding of the state, and it is a terrible indictment of the State of Israel specifically at a time when it needs copious Heavenly mercy.

This week, one of the chareidi members of the Knesset had me listen to a recording on his phone of a message that he received. I will quote part of the recording verbatim: “You are the only ones who can help me. I am a woman with three small children, and my husband was taken to the Neve Tzedek military prison yesterday. They want to draft him, and I am alone with three small children and have no one to help me. I am asking for your help. Please, let us show our unity. I can’t continue anymore; I need help. I simply can’t go on this way; I need my husband here at home. He called me today for the first time, in tears, and said that he is being abused. They made him stand for four hours with a heavy bag on his back, they didn’t give him enough food, and he slept for only three hours. He is suffering; he is sleeping on boards and is not allowed bedsheets. I can’t deal with this anymore.” The woman can be heard weeping, and her distress moved me to tears as well.

I have a neighbor who was arrested for draft evasion. He was sentenced to 30 days behind bars, and then his sentence was extended for another 30 days. He is 28 years old and has apparently been classified as a draft dodger since the age of 18, which accounts for the severity of his sentence. That means that he never arranged a deferral for himself, even when it was possible. But even if we agree that he was negligent (and I will admit that he isn’t a particularly organized or conventional person), does he really deserve to spend 60 days in jail? According to his parents, he is on the verge of a mental breakdown. It is a very sad situation.

If the law freezing the arrests passes this week, it will be worthwhile just for the purpose of ending situations such as these.

Important Clause Struck from Torah Study Bill

The second bill promoted by the chareidim is the new Basic Law: Torah Study, which was approved last Thursday. The text of the law was altered several times due to vocal protests from the opposition, the legal advisors, and former soldiers suffering from post-trauma, who were outraged by the fact that the government wasn’t taking similar steps to assist them. Incidentally, they stressed repeatedly that they have nothing against Torah learners and even called on the government to leave them alone; they were angered solely by the attention being focused solely on lomdei Torah while their own suffering went unheeded.  During the discussions in the Knesset committee, it was decided that another law will be formulated concurrently addressing the needs of soldiers suffering from trauma.

On Thursday evening, the Knesset House Committee, headed by Ofir Katz (who is also the coalition whip), approved the Basic Law: Torah Study for its second and third readings in the Knesset. Before the vote, Ofir Katz submitted a reservation calling for the second clause in the bill, which stated that its purpose is to create a counterweight against other values anchored in legislation, should be struck from the bill. This clause appeared in the version of the bill that was approved in its first reading, but was ultimately removed under pressure for the second and third readings. Six members of the Knesset voted in favor of the proposal, while four opposed it.

Katz explained, “After extensive discussions with our partners in the chareidi parties, as well as conversations with many other individuals, including some within the coalition, it was decided collaboratively to remove the second paragraph. Thus, we remain with only the first paragraph, which I believe is not disputed, which states that Torah study is a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Not only the members of the coalition, but many in the opposition as well, stated that if the second paragraph were removed, they would vote in favor of the bill.” Katz emphasized, “No soldier will be harmed by the passage of this law. We are working on a new bill that will provide as much of a response as possible for the needs of soldiers, in reaction to the outcry that has taken place here for several years.”

At this point, there is a dispute as to whether the bill will have a practical impact. The deputy attorney general who monitored the discussions insists that with the second paragraph removed, the law is merely declarative. The Knesset legal advisor, Sagit Afik, made a similar statement for the record: “At the preliminary stage, the bill contained much stronger language with much clearer practical implications. I maintained regarding the first section that it seeks to anchor Torah study as a fundamental value. As for the second section, which deals with how this value is weighed against other fundamental values, I maintained that it had the potential for practical implications, including effects on funding for soldiers. Now that the section was removed, in my view, the repercussions for soldiers no longer exist. All that remains is the enshrinement of a value.” Which isn’t to say that Afik embraced the new version of the bill; she was opposed even to this measure, but not as strongly as she resisted the earlier version.

MK Yinon Azulai, a Shas representative who was present for all the discussions of the bill, explained, “We are not pleased with the removal of the second paragraph, but we accepted the request. Nevertheless, I will say this here: I still believe that the first paragraph of the law, while it does not speak about sanctions, can be used as a tool by a judge who can weigh it against other issues such as the value of equality.”

The Knesset Gets Ready to Dissolve

At the end of this week, the 25th Knesset will complete its term. The election will be held on its previously scheduled date: October 27th/the 16th of Cheshvan. It has been 40 years since a Knesset lived out its full term; this can be said to the credit of Netanyahu and his coalition, who managed to keep the current Knesset in power until the term ended. Netanyahu was not in favor of this election date, since it seems too reminiscent of October 7th, and he fears that his political rivals will use the similarity to manipulate public sentiment against him. Nevertheless, the date was set, and Israel is about to enter the whirlwind of activity that marks an election season. Registration for party lists is expected to take place on September 7, and one can expect plenty of intense activity until that time (except, of course, in the chareidi parties).

This week, the Knesset will be kept busy clearing its desk before it dissolves. A series of bills are expected to be brought to a vote, some government-sponsored and others proposed by individuals. Among the main bills on the agenda are some modifications to election proceedings for the 26th Knesset, including arrangements for citizens evacuated from their homes to vote in their new locales, the expansion of voting opportunities in nursing homes and assisted living facilities (measures supported by the left and opposed by the right), and an increase in transparency in election propaganda. Meanwhile, the Knesset is also expected to vote on a number of bills dealing with national security and the economy, some of which stalled during the Knesset’s term due to political disputes. The efforts to pass these laws during the last few days of the Knesset’s session are accompanied by intense political pressure; after the Knesset begins its recess, it will be virtually impossible to pass new legislation. And one must keep in mind that both the Likud and the chareidim have a couple of very important laws to pass.

As soon as the legislative work is done, the various political parties will begin dealing with the power struggle between the right-wing and left-wing blocs. Their choices of political alliances, splits, and joint lists are likely to be just as important in determining the makeup of the next government as the number of votes received by any party. The parties that appear to be poorly positioned to pass the electoral threshold, both on the right and on the left, will come under heavy pressure to merge with each other, while the larger parties will work hard to prevent votes for their respective blocs from being wasted.

The beginning of a Knesset recess isn’t merely a technicality; it is an official indication that the election campaign has begun. After that point, any decision, declaration, or political struggle will be measured above all by the overriding question of how it will affect the voting on October 7. The political establishment knows that the period of 107 days until the election is a very short time, but it is also enough time for profound changes, surprising alliances, new crises, and major shifts in public opinion. After months of uncertainty, the date of the election has been finalized, the Knesset is on its way out, and the election for the 26th Knesset is on the horizon. Bli neder, I will write more about events within the political parties and the predictions of the polls (which are not forecasting a major win, or possibly any win at all, for Netanyahu) in the near future.

Police Violence with No Consequences

Let me share something personal with you: When a government body abuses an ordinary citizen, I become outraged. And when it is an organization such as the police or Prison Service on one side, and a chareidi citizen on the other, I am utterly furious.

I generally try to help the victims in these situations without making too much of a fuss over the situation. It can certainly be said that this has been a major part of my work over the years. There were only some instances in which the stories entered the headlines, such as the case of a young man named Chaim Mizrachi who was beaten by three police officers on Rechov Malchei Yisroel in Geulah. I brought Mizrachi and his mother to a Knesset committee, and their story sparked outraged reactions. Similarly, when videos documenting police violence in Meron two years ago were publicized—including the police officer who shoved an elderly man to the ground and the policewoman who kicked an elderly woman—I made sure that the videos would reach a Knesset committee. The members of the Knesset watched those scenes unfolding and were horrified. Tzvika Fogel, the chairman of the committee, asserted that the “bad apples” needed to be removed from the police force. I have also been the driving force behind hundreds of parliamentary queries about police brutality and about the lackadaisical responses of the Department of Internal Police Investigations. But to be honest, I have begun to feel despair. The system constantly covers up its own wrongdoing, and it is difficult to fight people in entrenched positions of power. Even the episodes of violence in Meron had no consequences. The police and the DIPI take advantage of the fact that the Mea Shearim community does not recognize the state and will not appeal if a case is closed.

A recent protest of the Peleg Yerushalmi (or, more specifically, the followers of Rav Tzvi Friedman, known in Hebrew as the Ratzafnikim) yielded a number of shocking videos of police violence that evoked widespread horror. One particular video shows three police officers using clubs to viciously beat a young man who was lying on the ground. Another infuriating video shows a police officer deliberately tearing the trousers off a yungerman who was lying on the street. Yet another police officer was caught on camera punching a young man who had already been dragged to the sidewalk. And a policewoman who was wearing civilian clothes, and thus wasn’t identifiable as a member of the police force, was choking a young bochur when someone else stepped in to stop her. This triggered a reaction from a group of policemen who pounced on the man who intervened and began raining vicious blows on him. Of course, this was their way of defending the policewoman’s honor. To make matters worse, after the bochur was already handcuffed and in custody, the policewoman walked over to him and slapped him across the face. Again, this was done only for the purpose of assuaging her bruised ego, and, of course, it merely compounded her own crimes.

When these incidents came to light, the police commissioner announced that the matter would be investigated and that any “anomalous” behavior would be handled. At the same time, he expressed general support for his officers. When the minister of public security announced that he planned to suspend the commander of the Bnei Brak police station, who was caught on camera behaving like a brutal thug, the commissioner hurried to argue. And despite the passage of time since the horrific violence at the protest, nothing has been done about it yet. That is why I have begun to feel despair.

Now, the issue of police violence came to the fore again when a Gerrer chossid was accosted by police officers in Ashdod who claimed that he was wanted by the national debt-collection agency. The man refused to show ID (some believe that he is classified as a draft evader and feared that he would be arrested), and the police officers immediately began beating him. People who witnessed the incident burst into tears; the policemen beat him, broke his eyeglasses, tore his clothes, and wounded him. They ultimately discovered that it was a case of mistaken identity, but that isn’t really the main point; even if the man was precisely who they thought, police officers are not supposed to behave like wild animals. When they realized their mistake, the policemen released him from the handcuffs and allowed him to leave, but according to eyewitnesses, they did not call for medical assistance, they did not divulge their personal details, and they didn’t even apologize. Instead, they simply fled from the scene. This is the height of shameful misconduct.

Herzog Contacts the Police Commissioner

After the incident in Ashdod, the police realized that they were in trouble and that the episode had been caught on camera, and they released the following statement: “This was a police operation based on a court order and in the context of an ongoing investigation. During the operation, a man was identified who began fleeing from the scene and refused to identify himself. It was later determined that it was a case of mistaken identity, and he was freed immediately. The incident was transferred for investigation by authorized authorities, and the appropriate conclusions will be drawn. The Israel Police Force apologizes for the distress and suffering that were caused and will continue to operate with great respect for citizens’ rights.”

The police also claimed that the officers apologized to the victim: “After it became clear that it was a case of mistaken identity, the police officers apologized. The community police officer and other policemen later spoke with him as well. The entire incident could have been avoided if he had identified himself immediately. Every person who is asked by a police officer to identify himself is required to do so. The refusal to identify oneself is a criminal offense that gives the police authorization to arrest the offender.” Today, however, the average young chareidi man is afraid to identify himself to a police officer, since there is a great likelihood that he is classified as a draft evader and will be arrested on the spot. But will the police officers face consequences for their use of unreasonable force? In my view, based on past experience, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

Last Tuesday evening, I met with President Herzog. I won’t get into the reasons for our meeting, but I will tell you that I had a fairly long conversation with him in his office. I was accompanied by my son, who mentioned that he learns in Yeshivas Bais Mattisyohu and was once the right-hand man of the late rosh yeshiva, Rav Boruch Weisbecker. Herzog revealed in response that he once paid a visit to Rav Weisbecker’s home, and my son remembered the visit, which took place when Herzog was chairman of the Labor party and involved a discussion about the Tal Law.

I could write at great length about the intensive security surrounding the president and the polished atmosphere in his official residence. Our conversation yielded plenty of interesting information as well; however, it is generally accepted that such conversations are meant to be off the record, and I will honor that practice. There is one thing, however, that I can reveal to you, especially since this article will be published in America rather than in Israel: When we spoke about Herzog’s relations with the chareidi community, I remarked that I could not understand how he remained silent in the face of the videos showing brutal police violence at chareidi protests. “How can you see three police officers using clubs to beat a young man lying on the ground and remain silent?” I asked.

At that point, Herzog surprised me. “Who says that I remained silent?” he asked. “I spoke to the police commissioner that evening. Do you think it was a coincidence that he announced that there would be an internal probe? That was because of me.”

Herzog voiced severe disapproval for the violent behavior of the police. And while I don’t know what will come of the police commissioner’s investigation—in fact, I presume that nothing will come of it—Herzog deserves to be applauded for two reasons. First, he took the initiative to contact the police commissioner and presumably to express the revulsion that everyone feels for the actions of the offending officers, and second, he didn’t even publicize it. The president chose to give up the opportunity to score public relations points, which I consider no less of a testament to his character. Yitzchok Herzog is slowly but surely being revealed as one of the saner voices on the political scene, and someone who is not willing to join the chorus of knee-jerk condemnation of the chareidi community.

Mourning the Death of Senator Graham

I do not remember such a sense of grief in official Israel as there is now over the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham. Israel has lost someone who seemed to be a true friend, who believed we were in the right, who said so clearly and without equivocation, and who backed his words with actions. His influence on President Trump was apparently absolute. The country is saddened by his loss, albeit confident that new friends will be found. Netanyahu appears to be weighing the idea of traveling to the United States to attend the funeral (and, incidentally, to meet with President Trump). If he does not go, then Israel will undoubtedly send someone else high-ranking, out of gratitude for the senator’s friendship.

Senator Graham visited Israel several times after the October 7 massacre. There were two places in particular that held his interest: the Kosel Hamaaravi and the areas in the south affected by the October 7 massacre. Shlomo Elkabetz, who lost his daughter in Kfar Azza, paid tribute to Senator Graham and published a picture of the senator visiting the room where his daughter was killed. Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz published a picture of the senator visiting the Kosel and wrote, “His death is a great loss to the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the American nation. His last visit to the Kosel was during the Iron Swords War, after the murderous terror attack of October 7. Graham came to the Kosel at a time when Israel was suffering through a great calamity, and he conveyed a clear message of support and solidarity. ‘You are not alone; the United States stands with you,’ he said. Those words expressed his profound commitment to Israel and his uncompromising support for the Jewish nation.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu also released a statement: “Together with the people of America, Sara and I mourn the loss of our dear friend, Senator Lindsey Graham. At our last meeting, I said, ‘Linsey is a great friend of Israel and a dear friend to me. We have no better friend.’ Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and the United States are inseparable. He dedicated his life to protecting America, strengthening our alliance, and defending the free world. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends, America has lost a great patriot, and I have lost a beloved friend.”

President Herzog described Graham as “a great friend of Israel and a great American patriot … a beacon of moral clarity.”

Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, wrote, “Graham loved Israel and was a true idealist…. He was a true friend of Israel and of the settlements in Shomron. About a month ago, he hosted a major solidarity event for the Shomron on Capitol Hill.”

Even Aryeh Deri released a statement: “I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest friends of the State of Israel and one of the righteous Gentiles of our generation. He stood courageously at Israel’s side, fighting an uncompromising battle against the Iranian axis of evil and terror, and made a significant contribution to strengthening the powerful covenant between Israel and the United States. The State of Israel has lost a true friend. May his memory be blessed.”

The Center of Rav Bergman’s Life

As usual, I am running out space, but I have many more things to report about. There is Rahm Emanuel’s recent visit, during which he attacked Netanyahu in an interview with Israel’s most widely read newspaper. I won’t quote him, since he doesn’t deserve it, but I will note that he mentioned that he loathes Netanyahu for insulting him by referring to him as a self-hating Jew. With his interview, Emanuel only proved Netanyahu correct.

There was also an interesting story concerning the new Shin Bet director, David Zini, who announced publicly that he is loyal to the government. For this statement, Zini was fiercely condemned by the left, as if he said something forbidden. The minister of justice defended him by quoting the Shin Bet Law, which states that the head of the Shin Bet is required to be loyal to the government.

In other news, the Ministry of Education issued new guidelines requiring tefillin stands to be made available for students in any school in which there is interest. I was personally involved in this turn of events, as you may recall if you have been reading my accounts of the developing story, which began when I met Orel Malik of Ramat Gan on his visit to the Knesset.

But since I must wrap up this column, I will end with a few words about Rav Meir Tzvi Bergman, one of the most senior marbitzei Torah in Eretz Yisroel, the son-in-law of Rav Shach, and the head of Kollel Rashbi. Last week, an appeal was held for the yungeleit of the kollel, and the gedolei Yisroel called on the public to contribute.

A few years ago, I was surprised to encounter Rav Bergman at Kennedy Airport, waiting for his suitcase at the baggage carousel. Rav Bergman was alone, unaccompanied by an entourage or attendant of any sort. Like me, he had been seated in the economy section of the plane, and I presume that he was even more exhausted from the flight than I was. When I remarked to one of his grandchildren that Rav Bergman had made the trip alone, he replied, “That is my grandfather’s nature. He never wants to impose on anyone else.” Last week, when the appeal was launched for the Torah institution that Rav Bergman manages with great dedication, it was accompanied by a video in which he cries, “For over fifty years, I have had the privilege of maintaining our yeshiva, known as Kollel Rashbi. Unfortunately, it is no longer within my ability to do that. I am therefore turning to you with a wholehearted request for you to open your own hearts and help support this makom Torah that is the essence of my life.”

A few years later, I had the privilege of visiting Rav Bergman in his home. He shared his memories of his parents and his childhood, mentioning that his brother had been killed by an Arab at Kever Rochel while visiting the site along with Rav Meir Tzvi and his father. He also spoke about his encounters with the Chazon Ish, with whom he had a close relationship. Rav Bergman, who slept in the Chazon Ish’s home, revealed that the Chazon Ish did not allow him to go to bed at nights; he was required to learn until he could no longer hold his head up. The Chazon Ish once said to his father, Rav Moshe Bergman, “Your son Meir Tzvi was here, and I was pleased with his quick and clear understanding. May he continue learning in this fashion and be very successful.”

Rav Bergman recently said to a bar mitzvah boy, “I will give you a brocha for the greatest thing in the world—siyata d’shmaya!”

I asked him if the Chazon Ish was truly as frail as the stories indicate, and he replied, “He was even weaker.”

I tried pressing him for more stories about the Chazon Ish, but he demurred. “It is beyond my ability to speak about him,” he said. I also tried asking him to speak about his father-in-law, Rav Shach, and he said, “He, too, was beyond my comprehension.” I went on to ask him about my encounter with him at the airport in New York and why he had been alone, without an attendant or companion. “Why would I need a companion?” he asked.

“To help you in America,” I suggested.

Rav Bergman dismissed the idea. “Wherever I go, there is always someone who comes to provide transportation and to assist me, and everything works out. I already have a budget of over two million dollars a year,” he added.

“But what about having someone with you as a sign of honor or respect?” I asked.

Rav Bergman replied sharply, “If I use the yeshiva’s money for my own honor, I fear that I would be guilty of appropriating consecrated funds and committing meilah!”

Remembering Vel’ d’Hiv Deportations in France

Eighty-four years ago this week, on July 16–17, 1942, French police, acting on orders from the Vichy regime of Philippe Petain and Pierre Laval, carried out the notorious Vel’ d’Hiv roundup of Jews in Paris.

In two scorching days, 4500 policemen, led by Police Chief René Bousquet, arrested and interned over 13,000 Jews, including more than 4000 children between the ages of 2 and 16.

The Jews were jammed for five days into a sealed, sweltering stadium without food, water and bathroom facilities, before being shipped to Drancy internment camps, and ultimately to Auschwitz.

A Paris lawyer, Georges Wellers, who witnessed it, described the “appalling conditions” and “inhumanity beyond belief” to a BBC correspondent.

“All those wretched people lived five horrifying days in the enormous interior filled with deafening noise … among the screams and cries of people who had gone mad with fear, with hunger and thirst, and the injured and those who tried to kill themselves in despair—impossible to describe,” testified Wellers.

In the week following the arrests, the Jews were taken from the stadium to concentration camps in a region south of Paris, and to Drancy, near Paris. At the end of July and the beginning of August, they were deported in cattle-cars to killing centers—mostly to Auschwitz—and murdered.

In scenes of inhumanity that beggar the imagination, more than 3,000 babies and children were forcibly torn from their parents and left alone in the French internment camps while their anguished parents were shipped out.

At the end of August and during September, these children were deported alone in sealed railway wagons to Auschwitz, where they were murdered.

The Vel d’Hiv roundups, organized by the French authorities and carried out by French policemen, became engraved in Jewish memory as a symbol of the nation’s unspeakable cruelty and its culpability for the murder of tens of thousands of Jews.

Vichy Didn’t Wait For Nazi Orders

In the wake of France’s surrender to Germany in 1940, the Nazis took 2 million French prisoners of war and divided the defeated country into two zones. They controlled the northern zone from their headquarters in Paris; the Vichy regime ruled the southern “unoccupied’ zone.

As the Nazis’ tentacles encroached farther into southern France, Petain, Laval and their henchmen did not even wait for German orders. They independently introduced their own system of anti-Jewish legislation, implementing decrees aimed at identifying and isolating the Jewish population and ultimately deporting them to the death camps.

The Nazis issued directives to deport Jewish adults; they gave no orders regarding Jewish children. The Vichy government, acting on its own initiative, deported entire families—including more than 11,000 children.

While Nazi extermination camps were still being built, Vichy France established its own network of internment camps in the cities of Gurs and Drancy, rounding up tens of thousands of Jews, and holding them in brutal conditions until the Nazi extermination camps were in operation. More than 3000 Jews died in French internment camps from mistreatment and illness.

French police then began mass deportations of the imprisoned Jews to the killing centers. While Vichy initially focused on refugee Jews, the regime later readily agreed to hand over native-born French Jews as well.

Out of 76,000 Jewish men, women and children shipped to death camps under Laval and Petain, fewer than 2,000 survived.

‘Jewish Register’ Reveals Shocking Scale of Nazi Collaboration

For decades, the official narrative in France maintained that Vichy was an aberration, and the French state as a whole should not be accused of complicity in the Holocaust. Historians have confirmed, however, that the upper echelons of the French administration, judiciary, and police were willing participants in the persecution.

In 1992, French researchers discovered a “Jewish register” from the Holocaust era that was used in arrests and deportations of Jewish men, women and children across France. Research showed this register was compiled by French officials during the war, on their own initiative, without orders from the Nazis.

The long-buried document pointed to France’s prominent role in the extermination of tens of thousands of French Jews. But it wasn’t until 1995 that a French president actually admitted this fact.

“Yes, the criminal folly of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French state,” said past president Jacques Chirac, according to the NY Times. “These dark hours forever sully our history and are an insult to our past and our traditions.”

More recently, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed France’s role in the Holocaust, rejecting the long-standing claim that the Vichy regime was merely a helpless Nazi puppet, detached from the French nation.

“It is convenient to see the Vichy regime as born of nothingness, returned to nothingness. Yes, it is convenient, but it is false. We cannot build pride upon a lie,” Macron declared.

[The irony here is difficult to miss. Only weeks later, in September 2025, Macron formally recognized a Palestinian state, leading Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Rubio to accuse the French leader of fueling antisemitism with that act.  One cannot help but wonder why Macron, who rejected the myths about Vichy France, was willing to embrace an even bigger and more destructive lie—that of Palestinian “statehood.”]

Long-buried Documents Capture the Horror

As the tale of France’s betrayal of its Jewish community during the horrific Holocaust years began to surface, calls came from multiple quarters for the declassification of wartime records and archives.

In 2012, the Paris police opened their archives on the monstrous ‘Vel d’Hiv Roundup,’ and a new exhibition marking the largest roundup of Jews in occupied France and in all of Western Europe was put on display.

Historical information accompanying the exhibit informed visitors that although French police had already begun arresting refugees in 1941, the Vel D’Hiv raids in July 1942 brought the horror in France to a new level; they were the first roundups that saw, in addition to the arrest of thousands of Jewish men, the seizure of women, children, and the elderly.

Senior Vichy official Pierre Laval is reported to have categorically rejected pleas for mercy for the children, declaring, “Not a single Jewish child is to remain in France!”

Records from the time speak of “resistance” among some quarters of the French population to the arrest of their Jewish neighbors, the curator of the exhibit explained in a televised interview. “Many policemen had leaked the shocking plan the day before, enabling people to hide,” he said. “The Germans had hoped to arrest 27,427 Jews in and around Paris, but authorities arrested ‘only’ half that number, 13,152.”

Tragically, many tens of thousands more would be arrested, deported, and murdered before the Allies liberated France in 1944. However, the Jewish survival rate in France was comparatively high; roughly three-quarters of its Jewish population escaped the Holocaust, according to Yad Vashem. Historians credit this not to the Vichy authorities, but to the bravery of ordinary citizens and organized rescue efforts.

From National Heroes to Despised Traitors

After France surrendered to Nazi Germany and signed an armistice in June 1940, Philippe Petain, an 84-year-old WWI hero and virulent anti-Semite, was voted into office by a huge majority of the French parliament.

In a radio speech after signing the armistice, Petain addressed the French people: “I enter today down the road of collaboration,” he announced unapologetically. “This is my policy. My ministers are responsible to me. It is I alone who will be judged by history.”

Petain and his younger minister of state, Pierre Laval, would in fact achieve notoriety as two of Hitler’s most ardent collaborators in the Final Solution.

After taking office, Petain immediately dissolved the French parliament and set up a quasi-police state in which he wielded almost unlimited power. Under his regime, the press was censored, phone calls were monitored, and critics of the government were imprisoned and often executed.

The cancellation of the French Constitution left Petain and Laval free to enact hundreds of anti-Semitic laws against the Jews of France, progressively stripping them of their rights, their property, and their professions.

Minister of State Laval was also instrumental in the creation of a pro-Nazi militia, the Vichy Milice, a dreaded wartime police force known for its brutality. One of its key tasks was the arrest and deportation of Jewish families. Laval insisted that children as young as two years old be deported to meet the German demand of at least 50,000 Jews to be handed over from French territory.

The Milice also targeted members of the French Resistance, hunting them down and turning them over to the Nazis to be tortured and executed. Historians say this paramilitary force was more feared than the Gestapo.