Feed aggregator

President Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario is now making its way onto digital maps, with Google announcing that U.S. users of Google Maps will see the body of water labeled “Lake America,” even as longtime mapping service MapQuest has publicly refused to recognize the change.

Google confirmed on Shabbos that it is beginning to roll out the new designation after the U.S. Geographic Names Information System formally changed the federal name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

Under Google’s approach, however, the name displayed will depend on where a user is located.

People accessing Google Maps from the United States will see “Lake America.” Users in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario,” while people elsewhere in the world will see both names displayed.

Google said the decision follows its established policy of relying on official government geographic databases and using different labels when countries recognize different names for the same geographic feature.

“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, like GNIS, people using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names,” Google said in announcing the change.

The company used a similar approach after Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico renamed the Gulf of America in 2025. U.S. Google Maps users subsequently saw Gulf of America, while Mexican users continued seeing Golfo de México and users elsewhere were shown both names.

MapQuest, however, is taking an entirely different approach.

The veteran American mapping service declared shortly after Trump signed his executive order Thursday that it had no intention of changing its Lake Ontario label.

“We’re not changing it,” MapQuest wrote on X alongside a screenshot of its map continuing to identify the Great Lake as Lake Ontario.

The terse response went viral, attracting millions of views and giving the mapping service — once a dominant name in online directions before the rise of Google Maps and smartphone navigation — an unusual burst of attention.

MapQuest then went further, creating an online name generator allowing users to substitute virtually any name they wanted for Lake Ontario on a mock map.

“We’re not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure,” MapQuest wrote.

The company demonstrated the feature by producing its own tongue-in-cheek alternative: “Lake Are We Doing This Again?”

MapQuest’s refusal is consistent with its handling of Trump’s earlier Gulf of America order. The service also declined to replace Gulf of Mexico with Gulf of America and instead offered users a similar tool for inventing their own names.

Trump formally signed the Lake America executive order on Thursday, escalating a bitter dispute with Canada following the collapse of trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump said before signing the order.

The executive order directs the Interior Department and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to replace Lake Ontario with Lake America throughout the federal government. It calls for the Geographic Names Information System to be updated and for federal agencies to use the new designation on maps, contracts, documents and official communications.

In explaining the decision, the White House pointed to the lake’s importance to American commerce, defense and history, as well as the United States’ financial and logistical contributions to maintaining the Great Lakes.

Trump has argued that the United States bears a disproportionate share of the responsibility for the Great Lakes system, noting that the U.S. Coast Guard operates nine of the 11 icebreaking vessels serving the Great Lakes and that Washington has invested billions of dollars in protecting the freshwater ecosystem.

The order applies to the U.S. federal government and cannot require Canada to change its designation for the shared body of water. Canada has made clear that it will continue calling it Lake Ontario.

The dispute has quickly spread well beyond maps.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a massive sign near Grimsby on Saturday reading “Lake Ontario. Now and Always,” while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected Trump’s change and emphasized that the Ontario name has Indigenous origins dating back centuries.

The Seneca Nation has also called on Trump to rescind the executive order, arguing that the move disregards Indigenous history and the longstanding relationship between Native nations and the United States.

The naming battle comes as relations between the United States and Canada have deteriorated sharply amid an escalating trade war. Trump and Canadian leaders have exchanged increasingly pointed criticism following failed negotiations and the imposition of steep tariffs.

Trump has shown no sign of backing away from his latest geographic rebranding effort. During Thursday’s signing ceremony, after previously changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the president even floated the possibility of turning his attention to a much larger body of water.

“Now all we need is an ocean,” Trump said.

For millions of Americans opening Google Maps, meanwhile, Trump’s latest name change is becoming more than an executive order on paper: Lake America is beginning to appear on their screens. MapQuest users will continue seeing Lake Ontario.

{Matzav.com}

Walmart has agreed to a $50 million settlement with the Justice Department over allegations that its pharmacies improperly filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for controlled substances, conduct that federal authorities say contributed to the nation’s opioid epidemic.

The agreement brings an end to a federal lawsuit dating back to 2020, in which the government alleged that Walmart pharmacies failed to alert the Drug Enforcement Administration to suspicious prescription activity.

Federal prosecutors accused Walmart’s compliance operation of allowing pharmacies to continue filling invalid prescriptions from medical providers allegedly operating as “pill mills,” despite warnings and concerns raised by the company’s own pharmacists.

“Over an approximately four-year period, a time during which Walmart shipped an estimated 37.5 million controlled-substance orders to its pharmacies, it reported only 204 suspicious orders to D.E.A. — in other words, almost none,” according to court documents.

Beyond the $50 million payment, the settlement requires Walmart to implement additional measures aimed at identifying potentially unlawful distribution of controlled substances. The retailer will establish a hotline allowing employees and patients to report suspected improper dispensing, increase monitoring of dispensing patterns at its pharmacies, and create a process for reviewing doctors suspected of improperly prescribing controlled substances.

“This $50 million settlement makes clear that pharmacies have a responsibility to identify and prevent the unlawful dispensing of controlled substances,” DEA assistant administrator Cheri Oz said in a statement. “Filling illegitimate opioid prescriptions puts patients and communities at risk and undermines the safeguards designed to prevent the diversion and misuse of potentially addictive medications.”

Oz said the agreement is intended both to resolve allegations involving Walmart’s previous practices and to impose safeguards aimed at preventing similar problems in the future.

Oz added, “This settlement addresses past conduct while establishing clear compliance obligations designed to strengthen safeguards and help prevent these failures from happening again.”

The agreement marks the latest major opioid-related legal settlement involving Walmart, the world’s largest retail chain.

In 2022, Walmart agreed to pay $1.3 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits filed by states accusing the company’s pharmacies of helping fuel the opioid epidemic through their handling of prescriptions.

Walmart is one of several major pharmacy chains and retailers to reach large settlements over opioid prescriptions. Kroger, for example, agreed in 2023 to pay $1.2 billion to state and local governments to settle claims concerning its prescription practices.

The opioid epidemic has taken a massive toll in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 806,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription drugs between 1999 and 2023.

{Matzav.com}

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said Friday that President Trump should be immediately removed from office if he is actively considering the first use of nuclear weapons, arguing that merely contemplating such a move should render any president unfit to serve.

“The second any president actively considers the first use of nuclear weapons, that person should be removed from office immediately, because that’s got to be the red line, destroying all of humanity with a nuclear strike,” Carlson said.

Carlson delivered the sharp criticism during a discussion with Joe Kent, who previously served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center before resigning earlier this year over his opposition to the war with Iran.

Pointing to his own opposition to both attempts to impeach Trump during the president’s first term, Carlson questioned why an effort to remove a president would not be justified if that president were actually considering launching a nuclear weapon first.

“Why isn’t there an attempt to remove him from office, like, immediately?” Carlson said. “Anyone who would even tolerate that kind of talk from any of his subordinates or employees is by definition unfit.”

Trump has not publicly stated that he is considering a first-use nuclear strike.

Carlson’s remarks come amid his increasingly vocal criticism of the Trump administration’s policies toward Iran, as well as concerns he has raised about the nuclear strategy currently being developed at the Pentagon.

Earlier in August, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby said during a conference that officials are working to provide the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with “credible, rational nuclear options.”

Kent said during his conversation with Carlson that he fears the administration could consider increasingly drastic measures if conventional military action fails to achieve Trump’s objectives in Iran.

“I think we would be fools to think that this couldn’t happen here in this current scenario, especially as the administration scrambles for a way out,” he said.

The comments are the latest sign of the widening divide between Carlson and Trump over American foreign policy. Carlson, who was previously a prominent ally of Trump and the MAGA movement, has become an outspoken critic of the war with Iran.

Trump, in turn, has increasingly attacked Carlson publicly.

Last week, Trump blasted Carlson on Truth Social, calling him a “loser” after Carlson met with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

{Matzav.com}

Ontario Premier Doug Ford escalated Canada’s pushback against President Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario on Saturday, unveiling a huge shoreline sign proclaiming, “Lake Ontario. Now and Always,” as Canadian political leaders increasingly turned to ridicule in responding to the president’s decree.

Ford, wearing a Team Canada soccer jersey, presented the enormous sign near Grimsby, Ontario, and posed alongside it for photographs. The billboard measures 24 feet across and 12 feet high and is mounted on 6-foot supports, placing its top approximately 18 feet above ground level. The declaration is displayed in French as well.

The sign was erected following Trump’s executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to use the name “Lake America” for Lake Ontario. The dispute is the latest source of friction between Washington and Ottawa following months of tariffs, Trump’s calls for Canada to become the 51st state and increasingly heated personal attacks between officials in the two countries.

Ford suggested that Trump had targeted the lake’s name because Ontario and the Canadian government had been willing to challenge Washington. He predicted that the Lake Ontario name would remain long after the current dispute had ended.

“Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,” Ford said in a video posted on social media.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew joined the chorus of Canadian officials mocking the president, likening Trump’s latest renaming effort to an aging rock group trying to recreate the success of an old song.

“You know when a rock band is really over the hill and you see them like in a casino playing some song from like 50 years ago. I think that’s the part of Donald Trump’s presidency we’re at now, Like he thought they had a real hit, a real golden oldie, with the Gulf of Mexico,” Kinew said, referring to Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. “And he’s trying to bring back that, and he’s trying to play the hits for his base. But I think everybody here thinks it’s a little sad and it’s not his best work.”

Some of the most biting criticism came from outside Canada’s political establishment, including historian Robert Bothwell.

“The greatest country on earth takes this moron seriously?” Bothwell said.

Despite his mockery, Bothwell maintained that Trump’s actions toward Canada carry more serious implications than the fight over the lake’s name might suggest. He argued that the president ultimately wants “to subordinate Canada and at best make it a colony, at worst absorb it into the United States.”

University of Toronto professor emeritus Nelson Wiseman similarly characterized the dispute as part of a larger struggle over Canada’s relationship with the United States.

Wiseman said Trump “would like Canada to act like a vassal state, but it refuses to do so. That irritates him.”

The fight comes against the backdrop of a rapidly worsening trade relationship between the neighboring countries. U.S.-Canada negotiations collapsed last week, with officials from both governments accusing the other side of introducing new demands late in the talks. Ottawa has since announced retaliatory tariffs that are expected to take effect next month.

The Lake America order has also become part of an increasingly bitter personal exchange between Trump and Ford. During an interview with The Associated Press earlier this week, Ford invoked President Ronald Reagan while criticizing Trump’s approach to tariffs.

Ford said Reagan would be “throwing up” over the tariffs and would be “disgusted with President Trump.”

Trump responded with attacks of his own, characterizing Ford’s criticism as “bluster” and calling the Ontario premier a “flunky” of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The president also mocked Ford as the “less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother” of the late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.

Trump showed no indication Saturday that he was backing away from the Lake America designation. He reposted a meme depicting Canada geese with Trump-like blond hairstyles carrying rifles as they “protected” Lake America.

The president has repeatedly used geographic names and maps to make political statements. A map labeled “Gulf of America” was displayed for a time near the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, while Trump has posted other images depicting Canada as part of the United States or as its 51st state.

The name Lake Ontario, meanwhile, dates back centuries and has Indigenous origins. It comes from the Huron word “oniatarí:io,” meaning “lake of shining waters.” The province of Ontario, established in 1867, was itself named for the lake.

Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard, whose people historically lived across territory stretching from the St. Lawrence Valley to the Great Lakes and whose language is the source of the lake’s name, accused Trump of seeking to wipe away Indigenous history.

“I want to tell him that it is unacceptable for us, as a nation, to have a president who can eradicate our history, our culture and our identity,” Picard said.

Carney has likewise refused to recognize Trump’s new designation, emphasizing the Indigenous history of the Lake Ontario name and pointing out that it predates both the establishment of Canada as a confederation and the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

While Trump’s executive order can determine the terminology used by U.S. federal agencies, the president has no authority to require Canada to abandon the Lake Ontario name or adopt “Lake America.”

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reversed controversial guidance Friday that had instructed its journalists not to directly describe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as terrorism, backing away from the policy after it drew sharp condemnation from political and U.S. officials.

The controversy erupted after an internal CBC memo, first reported by the Toronto Sun, revealed that Basem Boshra, the broadcaster’s senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, had directed employees to “not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”

FBI Director Kash Patel criticized the CBC directive on Wednesday and called on other officials to speak out against it as well.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra also denounced the guidance in a social media post Friday morning, just hours before CBC announced that it was changing the policy.

“Just this year, @FBI has been instrumental in or directly responsible for multiple disruptions of significant terrorist and violent criminal organizations operating within Canada,” Hoekstra said. “Failure to recognize and confront radical and terrorist ideologies significantly endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a shared national and economic security partnership.”

Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, joined the criticism, publicly calling on CBC to “immediately apologize and retract this directive.”

“To call 9/11 anything other than a terrorist attack is an appalling distortion of history,” Poilievre wrote. “It dishonours the victims and their families, the survivors, and the first responders who suffered from the horrors of that day.”

The criticism was particularly intense because the guidance emerged shortly before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, in which Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and killed nearly 3,000 people in attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

Amid the mounting backlash, Boshra announced Friday that CBC was revising its policy and would no longer require journalists to attribute the characterization of the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorism to another source.

Boshra explained that CBC’s general journalistic practice has been to attribute terms such as “terrorist” and “terrorism” to sources rather than independently applying those labels to people or events.

“After reviewing our current language guidance, we have decided to adjust it to clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism,” Boshra wrote. “We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding.”

The dispute over CBC’s terminology comes during an already contentious period in relations between Canada and the United States, with the neighboring countries locked in an escalating trade battle involving sweeping tariffs.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced that Canada would retaliate against President Trump’s 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods “dollar for dollar.”

Trump responded by threatening further import tariffs against Canada as tensions between Washington and Ottawa continued to rise.

The president also escalated his confrontation with Canada this week by signing an executive order changing the U.S. designation of Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” adding another flashpoint to the increasingly strained relationship between the two countries.

{Matzav.com}

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed apologized for his response to an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue earlier this year, acknowledging that he should have unequivocally condemned the incident rather than attempting to place the violence in a broader context.

“I made a mistake,” El-Sayed said during an appearance before the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus at the state party’s convention in Lansing on Shabbos. “I should have issued a statement, of course condemning it, and it just should have been the full stop.”

El-Sayed was addressing the controversy surrounding comments he made following the March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Authorities said a man deliberately drove a truck into the synagogue and injured a security guard in an attack intended to target Jews.

In his original reaction to the incident, El-Sayed said there was “never a justification for attacking innocent people,” while also declaring that “violence is a cycle,” and using the phrase “hurt people hurt people.”

Authorities have said that the alleged attacker, a naturalized American citizen originally from Lebanon, had lost relatives in an Israeli attack in Lebanon earlier that month.

Speaking to the group of Jewish Democrats today, El-Sayed said his earlier comments were intended to provide a wider context for what had occurred, but he conceded that the immediate aftermath of the synagogue attack was the wrong time to do so.

“If my statement caused pain, I’m sorry,” he said. “That was not what I intended.”

The controversy comes as El-Sayed faces continuing questions over his positions on Israel and Gaza and his associations with political commentators who have been sharply critical of Israel.

During the Democratic primary, El-Sayed appeared on the campaign trail with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker. El-Sayed subsequently distanced himself from Piker after the commentator’s remarks about American Jews and support for Israel triggered condemnation from several Democratic lawmakers.

Piker had suggested that if American Jews continued advancing the idea that they are “singularly invested in Israel,” someone might eventually “take action” against American Jews.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) denounced Piker’s comments as “dangerous and antisemitic.”

El-Sayed, meanwhile, has said he has “no plans” to campaign with Piker during the general election as he seeks to reassure Jewish voters ahead of November.

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

Sponsor a child and have a special Tefillah davened on your behalf by RAV SHIMON GALAY Shli”ta at the kever of the CHOFETZ CHAIM!

Don’t miss this encredible z’chus and oppurtunity for real Yeshuos!

Donations must be submitted by September 3, 2026.

Click HERE to donate!

OR call 732-520-4000

Nearly three decades after the passing of the Divrei Emunah of Toldos Aharon, a collection of approximately 100 rare and valuable seforim from his personal library has resurfaced and was transferred this week to the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe, marking a dramatic development in an inheritance matter that has remained unresolved since the Rebbe’s passing.

The collection, which had apparently never been distributed among the Divrei Emunah’s sons, was brought to the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe on Thursday so that he could personally examine the seforim.

The discovery has generated considerable interest within the Toldos chassidic communities, which divided following the passing of the Divrei Emunah approximately 29 years ago.

According to attorney Reb Aharon Feigel, who has been appointed by the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe to handle the matter, the collection contains valuable seforim whose existence was previously unknown and which did not appear on the lists prepared when the inheritance was originally divided.

Behadrei Chareidim reported that the items are part of the Divrei Emunah’s estate and, under the terms of his will, may not be used by anyone else. They have now been brought to the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe for his review.

The discovery is particularly significant because the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe had maintained for years that additional seforim belonging to his father existed but were missing from the inheritance records.

Feigel said that of the approximately 100 seforim in the newly surfaced collection, only three had previously been known to the heirs and included on the original lists.

Those three seforim had remained undivided because of their substantial value. Their worth made a straightforward physical division among the heirs impossible, while the heirs had refrained from selling them and dividing the proceeds.

The much larger collection has now been examined, and a determination will be made regarding how the inheritance should be divided among the Divrei Emunah’s sons: the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe, the Toldos Aharon Rebbe, the Mevakshei Emunah Rebbe, the Nachlas Aharon Rebbe, and Rav Moshe Kahn, rosh yeshiva of Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok.

Feigel described an emotional scene as the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe encountered the seforim again after so many years.

According to Feigel, the Rebbe spent hours going through the collection, and his tremendous emotion and joy were readily apparent. He recognized the seforim individually from his youth, when he spent days and nights immersed in Torah and avodah in the room of his father, the Divrei Emunah.

The approximately 100 seforim may not be the final items from the Divrei Emunah’s estate to resurface.

Feigel said he recently learned of the existence of several additional valuable manuscripts connected to the estate. He is now working to have those manuscripts brought to the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe as well, so they can be examined and ultimately included in the division among the heirs.

The remarkable development comes nearly 30 years after the Divrei Emunah’s passing and the subsequent division within Toldos Aharon, bringing back into the hands of his children seforim that had been part of their father’s world and, for decades, had effectively disappeared from the inheritance record.

LISTEN:

​​For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.

LISTEN:

Sources say that some admorim and roshei yeshiva in the United States have been invited to a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House this week, with the future of Orthodox Jewish education and other communal concerns expected to be raised.

Several details now circulating — including the full list of participants — have not been independently confirmed. There has also been no public announcement from the White House confirming the meeting as of today.

The original report said that information had been received in the United States shortly before Shabbos regarding a planned White House meeting between Trump and leading American Torah and Chassidic figures.

Another source subsequently said that information it had received indicated that the meeting was expected to take place this week.

Both sources identify the same core group of invitees: the Satmar Rebbe, the Skverer Rebbe, the Bobover Rebbe, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Monsey, and Rav Aryeh Malkiel Kotler. The meeting is reportedly being planned for Thursday.

Sources say that the delegation will use the alleged meeting to express hakaras hatov to Trump for his administration’s support of the Orthodox Jewish community and its institutions.

That stated agenda is consistent with issues that the Trump administration has publicly made a priority. The White House says its religious-liberty agenda specifically includes parental rights in religious education, school choice and institutional autonomy, and Trump established both a White House Faith Office and a Religious Liberty Commission after returning to office.

There is also substantial precedent for contacts between Trump and many of the Chareidi communities whose leaders are reportedly involved.

In April, Trump personally hosted a group of frum communal representatives at the White House for a Pesach gathering. Those present included representatives of Satmar and Skver, Agudath Israel representative Reb Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Yehuda Kaploun, and Tzedek Association founder Reb Moshe Margaretten. New Square Mayor Yisroel Meir Spitzer attended and conveyed greetings to Trump from the Skverer Rebbe.

Trump also sent a personal letter to the Skverer Rebbe in August 2025 on the occasion of the wedding of the Rebbe’s great-grandchild. The letter was presented to the Rebbe by New Square Mayor Spitzer and other Chareidi activists with ties to the administration.

The relationship between the rabbinic leaders named in the current report and Trump goes back considerably further. In 2020, a letter thanking Trump for his defense of religious liberty was signed by an array of leading American admorim and roshei yeshiva, including both Satmar Rebbes, the Skverer Rebbe, the Bobover Rebbe, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Monsey and others.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rav Yehoshua Safrin zt”l, the Komarna Rebbe of Manhattan, a scion of the illustrious Komarna dynasty and the son of the Komarna Rebbe, Rav Chaim Yaakov Safrin zt”l.

The Rebbe was niftar over Shabbos, leaving behind a family and a legacy deeply rooted in the extraordinary Torah and chassidic heritage of Komarna.

Rav Chaim Yaakov Safrin served as the Komarna Rebbe in New York and later in Yerushalayim and was considered one of the outstanding mekubalim and talmidei chachomim of his generation. Rav Chaim Yaakov was renowned for his mastery of both nigleh and nistar. The Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l, is reported to have described him as unique in his generation in the realm of remez.

Rav Chaim Yaakov, born in 1891, was a descendant of the great Komarna dynasty and became one of its principal surviving leaders in the aftermath of the Holocaust, when much of the dynasty and its leadership had been destroyed. Survivors of Komarna looked to him to continue the mesorah of the famed chassidus.

The Safrin family had reached America before the Holocaust. Rav Chaim Yaakov recognized the danger developing in Europe and urged others to escape as well. He and his family arrived in the United States in 1938, and his chassidim established Bnei Yaakov Anshei Komarno for him on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

It was within that distinguished family that Rav Yehoshua grew up, surrounded by the distinctive Komarna tradition of intense Torah learning, avodah and the study of Toras hanistar.

The Komarna dynasty traces its roots to Rav Alexander Sender Safrin and, most famously, to his son Rav Yitzchok Eizik Yehuda Yechiel Safrin of Komarna, known as the Heichal Habracha, one of the leading chassidic and kabbalistic figures of the 19th century. The dynasty became particularly renowned for its emphasis on the teachings of Kabbalah and the Zohar alongside nigleh and chassidic avodah.

Rav Yehoshua was one of several sons of Rav Chaim Yaakov who continued the family’s Torah and chassidic legacy. His brothers included Rav Shalom Safrin of Yerushalayim; Rav Nesanel Safrin; Rav Menachem Monish Safrin, who served as the Komarna Rebbe in Bnei Brak; Rav Alter Yitzchok Elimelech Safrin in the United States; and Rav Yissachar Dov Safrin of Bnei Brak.

Rav Yehoshua was the son-in-law of Reb Moshe Menachem Razler zt”l.

In addition to carrying on the Komarna mesorah, Rav Yehoshua played an important role in preserving and publishing the Torah writings of his father.

Rav Yehoshua Safrin was the publisher of works left in manuscript by Rav Chaim Yaakov. Among them was Pri Chaim, containing derushim and chiddushim arranged according to the Alef Bais and based on the four levels of Pardes. Another volume of Pri Chaim contains his father’s writings on Tehillim.

Rav Yehoshua was also involved in bringing his father’s Poras Yosef to print, a collection of 267 teachings organized around Yosef Hatzaddik and the parshiyos of Vayeitzei, Vayishlach, Vayeishev, Mikeitz, Vayigash and Vayechi. The work was preserved in Rav Chaim Yaakov’s own manuscript before being prepared for publication by his son.

These efforts formed part of a larger preservation of Rav Chaim Yaakov’s Torah legacy, which includes works such as Bais Avos, Shabbos Shalom Umevorach, Pri Chaim and Poras Yosef.

Rav Chaim Yaakov eventually left New York for Eretz Yisroel in 1962 and settled in Yerushalayim, where he established his bais medrash in the Geulah neighborhood near Kikar Shabbos. The bais medrash remains active today. He was later buried on Har Hazeisim.

Rav Yehoshua, meanwhile, remained associated with the Komarna presence in New York, carrying the title of Komarna Rebbe in Manhattan and representing another living link to the family’s prewar chassidic heritage.

His passing closes another chapter in an American Komarna story stretching back nearly nine decades, to the arrival of his father and family in New York on the eve of the destruction of European Jewry.

The levayah will take place Sunday, August 30, at 11 a.m. at Shomrei Hadas Chapels, 3803 14th Avenue in Brooklyn.

The family will be sitting shivah in Manhattan.

Yehi zichro baruch.

{Matzav.com}

Senior Sefardi rabbonim are calling on the public to gather outside Israel’s Prison 10 on Sunday night for a major atzeres tefillah and protest following the arrest and imprisonment of Bnei Brak yeshiva bochur Yisroel Guchafi over his military draft status.

Rav Moshe Maya, the senior member of the Shas Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, and Rav Shlomo Machpud, a member of the Moetzet, issued a joint call urging widespread participation in the gathering outside the Neve Tzedek military prison.

“It is incumbent upon everyone to participate and protest the arrest of talmidei chachomim at the gathering for the honor of Torah,” the rabbonim declared.

The rally is scheduled for Sunday, 17 Elul, at precisely 9 p.m. outside the gates of Prison 10 at the Neve Tzedek military base.

The latest mobilization comes following the arrest of Guchafi, a Bnei Brak yeshiva bochur who was taken into custody and sent to military prison amid the ongoing enforcement campaign against yeshiva students classified by the authorities as draft evaders.

In a letter issued by Rav Machpud and joined by Rav Maya, the rabbonim placed the call under the heading “Lech kenos es kol haYehudim — Go, gather together all the Jews.”

“In light of the degradation of the honor of Torah and the persecution of those who study it, with the arrest of the yeshiva student, the distinguished bochur R’ Yisroel Guchafi of the city of Bnei Brak, who was arrested and sent to prison for the ‘crime’ of toiling in Torah,” the letter states.

The rabbonim said Guchafi’s arrest has now triggered a commitment previously undertaken by Bnei Brak rabbonim during a major gathering held on 14 Tammuz.

At that gathering, the city’s rabbonim declared that if a Bnei Brak yeshiva bochur or kollel yungerman were arrested, they would unite in defense of kavod haTorah and travel to Prison 10.

The new letter quotes that earlier resolution: “If, G-d forbid, one of the yeshiva students or kollel yungeleit from our city is apprehended, we, the rabbis of Bnei Brak, are hereby joined and united to elevate the honor of Torah, to go out to Prison 10 to cry out and daven before Hashem for the annulment of the decree.”

With Guchafi now imprisoned, the rabbonim are calling on the broader public, and Bnei Brak residents in particular, to fulfill that commitment and join Sunday night’s gathering.

The event is being characterized as an atzeres tefillah, public outcry and demonstration of support for Guchafi and his family, amid the broader confrontation over the arrest of yeshiva bochurim and avreichim who have not reported for military service.

Organizers stressed that the gathering is intended to proceed peacefully and in accordance with the instructions of the rabbonim.

“The gathering will take place with Kiddush Hashem, while observing the instructions of the law and with absolute adherence to the guidance of our rabbonim, the Gedolei Hador, and the ushers at the site,” the announcement states.

The letter concludes with a forceful declaration that the community will continue protesting arrests of those engaged in Torah learning.

“The Torah is our life and the length of our days. We will neither rest nor remain silent over the honor of Torah and those who study it.”

{Matzav.com}

A New York appeals court has rejected the latest attempt by the Gabboim of 770 Eastern Parkway to obtain further review in the years-long legal battle involving the iconic Lubavitch headquarters, denying their request to appeal a January 2024 ruling involving Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch and Agudas Chasidei Chabad.

The one-page order, entered Thursday, August 28, 2026, by the Appellate Division, Second Department, denied a motion filed by Zalman Lipskier, Avrohom Holtzberg and Shalom Ber Kievman. The three had asked the court for permission to challenge the January 2024 decision issued by the Appellate Term.

The court rejected the request.

Although the latest order is exceedingly brief, it represents another consequential development in litigation that has continued for years over the properties and shul facilities at 770 Eastern Parkway and 784-788 Eastern Parkway.

The scope of the new ruling is important. The Appellate Division was not being asked at this stage to conduct a new review of the underlying ownership dispute or issue a fresh determination regarding who owns the properties.

Instead, the Gabboim were seeking the court’s permission to pursue an additional appeal of the Appellate Term’s January 19, 2024 decision.

In Thursday’s order, the Appellate Division described the application by Lipskier, Holtzberg and Kievman as a motion “for leave to appeal” from the January 19, 2024 decision and order.

Having reviewed the submissions from both sides, the four-justice panel issued a succinct determination: “the motion is denied.”

The ruling therefore means that the Appellate Division will not hear the requested appeal.

Justice Francesca E. Connolly signed the decision, with Justices Linda Christopher, Helen Voutsinas and Laurence L. Love concurring.

The latest ruling is the newest chapter in a complicated legal fight that stretches back nearly two decades.

At the center of the litigation are Agudas Chasidei Chabad, which courts have recognized as the owner of 770 Eastern Parkway; Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the owner of 784-788 Eastern Parkway; and Congregation Lubavitch, Inc., the corporate entity associated with the Gabboim.

The buildings encompass the central Lubavitch shul as well as offices and other facilities. For years, the Gabboim have been involved in the everyday administration of the shul.

The dispute has traveled through several levels of New York’s judicial system, including Supreme Court, the Appellate Division and Civil Court.

In an earlier Supreme Court case, Agudas and Merkos secured an ejectment judgment against Congregation Lubavitch, Inc. involving 770 and 784-788 Eastern Parkway. The court determined that Agudas and Merkos were the respective property owners and were entitled to possession. The Appellate Division later upheld the portion of that judgment ejecting CLI from the properties.

A subsequent phase of the litigation began when Agudas and Merkos initiated summary proceedings seeking possession of their respective premises.

Agudas brought proceedings involving 770 Eastern Parkway, while Merkos pursued proceedings relating to 784-788 Eastern Parkway. Merkos additionally commenced a separate proceeding over office space at 302-304 Kingston Avenue, identified during the litigation as the “Gaboyim-CLI Office.”

After conducting a non-jury trial, the Civil Court issued judgments on January 6, 2022, granting possession to the respective petitioners.

The Gabboim and Congregation Lubavitch appealed those judgments.

That appeal resulted in a January 19, 2024 ruling by the Appellate Term that was considerably more complicated than some accounts of the decision indicated.

The Appellate Term dismissed the cases against several entities that had improperly been named as unincorporated associations and vacated the judgments entered against those entities.

Regarding Congregation Lubavitch, Inc., the court modified the judgments covering 770 and 784-788 Eastern Parkway. It vacated the portions entered against CLI and dismissed those portions of the petitions. The court nevertheless upheld the judgment concerning the office at 302-304 Kingston Avenue.

The reason the proceedings involving CLI and the Eastern Parkway properties were dismissed was largely the doctrine of res judicata, which generally bars parties from relitigating claims that have already received a final judicial determination.

The Appellate Term cited the earlier Supreme Court ejectment litigation, observing that CLI had already been ejected from 770 and 784-788 Eastern Parkway and that the relevant judgment had subsequently been affirmed by the Appellate Division.

Because the question of possession from CLI at those properties had already been adjudicated, the Appellate Term concluded that the later proceedings seeking possession of those same premises from CLI were barred by the previous judgment.

The Kingston Avenue office presented a different situation.

Because the 302-304 Kingston Avenue property had not been included in the earlier ejectment litigation, the Appellate Term found that the proceeding concerning that space was not barred by res judicata. It therefore allowed the judgment regarding that office to stand.

The Appellate Term also turned aside claims that secular courts lacked jurisdiction to resolve the dispute because of its religious dimensions.

The court concluded that questions involving property ownership and possession could be decided through “neutral principles of law,” such as examining deeds, corporate records and bylaws, without requiring judges to rule on matters of religious doctrine.

The Gabboim and CLI subsequently sought another opportunity to challenge the January 2024 decision.

In June 2024, the Appellate Term rejected motions asking it to reconsider its January ruling or, alternatively, to permit an appeal to the Appellate Division.

That denial left another procedural avenue available: asking the Appellate Division directly for permission to hear an appeal.

It was that effort that culminated in Thursday’s decision.

Lipskier, Holtzberg and Kievman asked the Appellate Division for leave to appeal the Appellate Term’s January 19, 2024 ruling.

After reviewing papers submitted in support of and in opposition to their application, the Appellate Division refused to grant permission.

Unlike the extensive January 2024 ruling, Thursday’s order does not reconsider the evidence or analyze the competing arguments regarding ownership, possession, religious questions or the other issues that have surfaced during the litigation.

Its determination is procedural and narrow: the court declined to permit the requested additional appeal.

The practical importance of the decision therefore centers on what remains in place.

The January 2024 Appellate Term ruling continues to govern this particular round of litigation, with the latest effort to secure review by the Appellate Division now unsuccessful.

That decision also exists alongside the earlier Supreme Court and Appellate Division rulings concerning CLI’s ejectment from 770 and 784-788 Eastern Parkway. Indeed, those earlier decisions were the basis for the Appellate Term’s conclusion in 2024 that the subsequent possession claims against CLI were barred by res judicata.

Thursday’s order does not newly rule that the Gabboim must physically leave the shul, nor does it issue a separate determination governing the everyday operation or administration of 770. Its immediate effect is to shut down another attempted route for appellate review of the January 2024 ruling.

Throughout the long-running fight, New York courts have addressed distinct questions involving legal ownership of the properties, the right to possession and the practical administration of the shul — issues that should not be treated as interchangeable.

After years of litigation across multiple courts, the August 28 order marks another significant procedural setback for the Gabboim and further narrows the remaining avenues for challenging the rulings that have shaped the legal battle over 770.

Likud minister Eli Cohen is accusing Israeli pollsters of consistently underestimating the political right, arguing that current surveys do not accurately reflect the strength of Likud and predicting that undecided right-wing voters will ultimately return to the party when elections are held.

Cohen made the comments in his first interview with Ynet since scoring a major victory in the Likud primaries, where he finished first by a wide margin and emerged in a significantly strengthened position within the ruling party.

“Actions beat populism and shouting,” Cohen told Ynet, arguing that Likud members rewarded his record in government rather than political rhetoric.

Cohen pointed to accomplishments from his tenures in the Foreign and Energy ministries, including securing visa-free travel to the United States for Israelis, the natural gas agreement with Egypt, maintaining Israel’s energy sector during wartime and breaking the Israel Electric Corporation’s monopoly.

Despite his strong showing in the primaries and his growing standing within Likud, Cohen declined to engage in speculation about the party’s leadership after Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

“That question is not relevant right now,” Cohen said, stressing that Likud is united behind Netanyahu as the party prepares for the upcoming elections.

Cohen did, however, make clear which senior government position he would like to hold next: finance minister.

According to Cohen, the Finance Ministry should remain under Likud control following the election. He said the next finance minister should prioritize economic growth, reducing the cost of living, increasing employment and narrowing economic disparities, rather than concentrating primarily on the distribution of government funding.

On the contentious issue of Chareidi military service, Cohen adopted an unequivocal position.

“Our Chareidi brothers must also enlist,” Cohen said.

He argued that those for whom Toraso umnaso does not apply should participate in military service, describing increased enlistment as a security, economic and social necessity for Israel.

Cohen also addressed Israel’s confrontation with Iran, saying the country achieved substantial successes in the campaign and significantly delayed Tehran’s nuclear program.

He warned that Israel remains prepared to act again if Iran attempts to rebuild either its nuclear program or its ballistic missile capabilities.

Turning to domestic politics, Cohen challenged the accuracy of recent election polling, maintaining that Likud and the broader right-wing bloc have repeatedly been underestimated by surveys.

Cohen pointed to previous Israeli elections in which, he said, right-wing parties ultimately performed better at the ballot box than polling had suggested beforehand. He predicted that a similar pattern could emerge in the coming election, with voters from the nationalist camp who currently describe themselves as undecided eventually returning to the right when they enter the voting booth.

Cohen also addressed the October 7 massacre, saying Israel should establish a national commission of inquiry with a mandate to examine the conduct of the country’s institutions and decision-makers over a period of years.

At the same time, Cohen argued that Israel’s position in the region has changed dramatically since October 7, saying that the country has emerged as the strongest and most formidable power in the Middle East.

{Matzav.com}

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth forcefully denied a report that he is considering a run for president in 2028, rejecting claims that he has privately discussed a possible White House campaign with friends and associates.

Hegseth, who worked at Fox News before joining the Trump administration, responded to the report on X, calling it “100% false” and saying he had directly informed NBC News that he had no plans to run.

He accused the outlet of disregarding his denial, writing that he told NBC he wasn’t running, “but they just lie w/ anonymous ‘sources.’”

The NBC News report, published Friday, said Hegseth had spoken with people close to him about the possibility of seeking the presidency in 2028. The report also pointed to his recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair as one indication that he could be positioning himself for a national campaign.

Hegseth’s trip to the politically significant early-voting state, however, was officially made on behalf of Rep. Zach Nunn, an Iowa Republican for whom the defense secretary was campaigning.

No major contender has formally entered the race for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, leaving the prospective field largely a matter of speculation.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has publicly acknowledged that he is interested in another presidential run. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have also frequently been mentioned among potential Republican contenders.

Hegseth has previously sought elected office, although his only campaign ended before reaching the primary ballot.

In 2012, he launched a bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Minnesota. Hegseth ultimately withdrew from the contest following the state Republican Party convention.

Two years later, Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor and went on to become a prominent conservative media personality.

President Trump nominated Hegseth in 2024 to lead the Department of Defense, and he has served as defense secretary since early 2025.

Speculation over the Republican Party’s post-Trump presidential field has intensified ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, although several of the figures most frequently discussed have stopped short of announcing campaigns.

Prediction markets currently show Vance receiving the most attention among possible GOP nominees. Kalshi gives the vice president a 44% probability of winning the Republican nomination, followed by Rubio at 19%, while no other prospective candidate is above 5%.

Vance has said he intends to make a decision about his political future after the midterm elections.

Rubio, meanwhile, has said he would support Vance for the Republican nomination if the vice president decides to seek the presidency.

The two men have nevertheless been associated with different currents within the Republican Party. Vance has generally been identified with the populist wing of the GOP and its skepticism toward some forms of American intervention overseas, while Rubio has historically been associated with the more traditional interventionist foreign-policy approach that held greater influence within the party before Trump’s rise.

{Matzav.com}

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that she wants U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement disbanded and replaced by the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, accusing ICE of “wreaking havoc across America” even as she insisted New York will continue cooperating with federal authorities to remove immigrants who commit crimes.

Hochul made the remarks during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” while discussing newly enacted New York legislation restricting agreements that allow local law enforcement agencies to assist ICE with civil immigration enforcement.

The Democratic governor began by drawing a distinction between cooperation with federal authorities involving criminals and the use of local police officers for broader immigration enforcement.

“New York state will never be a sanctuary for criminals, full stop. We work with federal law enforcement, including ICE, when it comes to protecting New Yorkers, and that means we always have and always will work to get criminals off the streets and in the criminal justice system, get their justice, go to jail, and then go back to their home country. That’s how we do it in New York.”

Hochul then turned to agreements that some New York counties have maintained with ICE, arguing that local police resources should not be used to enforce federal civil immigration laws.

“But what we had before was, there were counties that had relationships with ICE, formal agreements, where they would actually be using local law enforcement for civil immigration enforcement. I’m not talking about criminals. I’m talking about someone who the only offense is coming into this country, and these are people with temporary protective status, maybe they had a green card, a work permit, married to an American citizen. They’re going after everybody, because they have to hit those inane Stephen Miller quotas. So, I’ve said, and we passed a law, and it went into effect just this week, you cannot have those agreements with ICE to be using local cops for doing your job, ICE. I want local cops focused on local crimes. And crime has gone down dramatically since I’ve been Governor in the state of New York for the last five years, and it’s because I’ve invested money in law enforcement. We’re building trust between communities and law enforcement.”

The governor argued that assigning local officers to immigration enforcement can divert them from responding to violent crime and other public-safety needs in their own communities.

Hochul then escalated her criticism of ICE itself, saying the massive federal agency should be capable of carrying out immigration enforcement without relying on local police departments.

“It has nothing to do with having our local police diverted from catching the rapists, catching the murderers, responding to an emergency, and doing ICE’s job for them. It’s an $85 billion agency. I think they can take care of themselves. In fact, I wish they would just disband and go back to the old Immigration and Naturalization Service. Remember old INS? People trusted them. They did their jobs. This is a rogue policing state that is wreaking havoc across America. In New York, we say, no more.”

The INS, which Hochul invoked as her preferred model, ceased to exist in 2003 when its immigration responsibilities were divided among agencies within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, including ICE.

Hochul’s comments came as immigration enforcement remains a major point of confrontation between Democratic-led states and the Trump administration, which has pursued an aggressive nationwide campaign to identify, detain and deport illegal immigrants.

The New York governor’s newly signed legislation places the state squarely in that battle by barring local law enforcement agencies from entering certain agreements under which their officers perform immigration-related functions on behalf of ICE.

At the same time, Hochul sought to reject the characterization that her policy would protect immigrants who commit serious crimes, repeatedly emphasizing that New York authorities will continue working with federal law enforcement in criminal cases.

Her broader condemnation of ICE, however, went considerably further than criticism of individual enforcement tactics. Hochul said she wants the agency itself eliminated, arguing that the country should return to an immigration enforcement structure resembling the system that existed before ICE was created more than two decades ago.

{Matzav.com}

A weeks-long crisis over school admissions in London came to a dramatic resolution on Erev Shabbos, when all 20 girls who had remained without a school placement were successfully accepted into institutions, following an unprecedented directive from the city’s rabbonim that no school would be permitted to open until every girl had a place, Matzav.com has learned.

The development brought an end to an issue that had consumed London’s Chareidi community in recent weeks and has drawn considerable attention elsewhere, where families routinely face similar placement struggles at the beginning of the school year.

As previously reported, the rabbonim of the Badatz of Hisachdus Kehillos Hachareidim in London took the extraordinary step of ruling that none of the city’s schools could begin the new school year as long as even one girl remained without an appropriate placement.

The rabbonim had initially sent a warning letter approximately a month ago, calling for the situation to be resolved before the beginning of the new school year.

When the deadline approached and 20 girls still had no school to attend, the Badatz followed through. Last week, the rabbonim formally announced that the schools would not be allowed to open their doors at the beginning of the zeman until the placement problem was resolved in its entirety.

The sweeping directive meant that the entire school system would remain closed rather than allow the school year to begin while a group of girls remained at home.

The ruling generated considerable urgency throughout the community and triggered intensive efforts behind the scenes to find appropriate placements for each of the remaining students.

Those efforts ultimately succeeded.

By Friday, all 20 girls who had been without placements had been accepted into schools, resolving the crisis before the school year began.

Following the breakthrough, the members of the Badatz issued a new letter on Friday announcing that, with every girl now provided for, the schools could open as scheduled.

The outcome has drawn widespread praise in Chareidi circles, with many pointing to London’s handling of the crisis as a possible model for other communities struggling with the painful phenomenon of girls beginning a school year without a placement.

Supporters of the approach noted that admissions disputes can sometimes leave individual families struggling largely on their own, particularly when a girl lacks the connections or influence that might help secure her admission to a desired institution.

In London, the rabbonim effectively made the plight of those girls a responsibility of the entire community. By tying the opening of every school to the placement of every student, the directive created enormous pressure to find a solution rather than allowing the unresolved cases to linger after classes began.

The successful outcome has prompted calls for other Chareidi communities to consider adopting a similar approach.

“May everyone copy this blessed model,” some in the Chareidi community said following news that the final placements had been completed.

The episode has attracted particular attention because placement controversies are hardly unique to London. Each year, families in Chareidi communities elsewhere face the anguish of reaching the beginning of the school year while their daughters remain without an institution.

The London rabbonim’s response established a straightforward principle: the school year would begin for everyone only when there was a school for everyone.

With all 20 girls now placed, London’s schools have been cleared to open — and a crisis that only days earlier threatened to delay the start of the entire school system has ended with every student having a place to begin the new year.

{Matzav.com}

A simmering dispute over Shabbos traffic in Bnei Brak escalated on Friday when large dumpsters were placed across an access road leading into a neighborhood shared by Chareidi and secular residents, effectively blocking vehicles from entering or leaving until police arrived and cleared the roadway.

The dumpsters were positioned shortly before the onset of Shabbos at the entrance to the city’s Mitcham HaSofrim neighborhood. According to Ynet, individuals associated with the Bnei Brak municipality were responsible for placing them there, although the municipality denied that the blockade had been officially authorized.

Residents contacted police and complained that the dumpsters had effectively trapped them inside the neighborhood. Officers dispatched to the scene subsequently had the containers moved, reopening the road to traffic several hours after they had been put in place.

Police also summoned the truck driver who transported and positioned the dumpsters for questioning on suspicion of endangering a transportation route.

The driver reportedly told investigators that he had been carrying out work on behalf of the Bnei Brak municipality. City officials, however, denied instructing anyone to place the dumpsters across the road.

The incident marked the latest escalation in a growing conflict over Shabbos traffic in Mitcham HaSofrim, a relatively new Bnei Brak neighborhood constructed as part of Israel’s Mechir Lamishtaken affordable housing program.

Unlike many other areas of Bnei Brak, the development includes both Chareidi and secular residents who moved there from communities around the country. Tensions have recently intensified over the use of neighborhood roads by vehicles on Shabbos.

The dispute had already spilled onto the street the previous week, when Chareidi residents placed a barrier across the roadway in an effort to prevent Shabbos traffic. Police removed that obstruction as well, determining that the road closure was illegal.

The confrontation continued Friday evening, with some Chareidi residents accusing others in the neighborhood of deliberately attempting to change Bnei Brak’s religious character.

A police source, however, said provocative behavior has occurred on the other side of the dispute as well.

“Even the secular residents deliberately provoke the Chareidim, driving wildly and doing donuts. Anyone who enters by car via the new Landa Bridge passes by shuls. The secular residents have another way to enter,” the source said.

Police said the Bnei Brak municipality had not issued a lawful decision under its municipal bylaws authorizing the road to be closed.

Authorities have reportedly suggested that the two sides bring the dispute before a court and seek a legal determination over access to the road and Shabbos traffic.

For now, however, no resolution has been reached, leaving Chareidi and secular residents of the neighborhood locked in an increasingly bitter dispute over Shabbos observance and vehicle access in one of Israel’s most heavily Chareidi cities.

Dozens of Chareidi protesters blocked the main entrance to Yerushalayim on Shabbos afternoon, preventing Egged buses from entering the capital before the conclusion of Shabbos in an escalating protest against public transportation operating during the holy day.

The demonstration unfolded near the Chords Bridge and Weizmann Boulevard, where protesters moved into the roadway and erected makeshift barriers. At least 13 intercity buses arriving from northern Israel were ultimately prevented from continuing toward the city, according to multiple Israeli reports.

The buses operate on routes connecting northern Israel with Yerushalayim and arrive in the capital while Shabbos is still underway. According to reports, the routes have operated for years under the existing status quo, with passengers dropped off outside the Central Bus Station rather than inside the terminal.

The protesters specifically targeted the Egged buses, with reports from the scene indicating that private vehicles were largely able to maneuver around the demonstration during its earlier stages. The roadway itself was subsequently blocked as the protest expanded.

Journalist Liran Tamari, who documented the scene, initially reported that approximately 10 buses had already been stuck for half an hour while there was no visible police presence. Later reports placed the number of stranded buses at at least 13.

The protest was the second consecutive week in which Chareidim demonstrated at the entrance to Yerushalayim over buses traveling during Shabbos. A local Chareidi report said buses were unable to proceed toward the Central Bus Station for an extended period.

Police eventually announced that reinforced forces were heading to the entrance to Yerushalayim to disperse the protesters and restore normal traffic. Officers also directed motorists toward alternative routes as the blockade continued.

According to a report in Yeshiva World News, police made the announcement approximately an hour after the blockade began and only minutes before the conclusion of Shabbos. Security officials reportedly sought to proceed cautiously because of the timing and the potential for clashes with the protesters.

The demonstration eventually ended after Shabbos, with police reporting that the protesters had left the area and traffic had returned to normal. One police account said the disruptions lasted nearly two hours before the demonstration was dispersed.

The Yerushalayim protest was part of a broader series of confrontations over chillul Shabbos that unfolded in several Israeli cities over the weekend.

In Tzfas, approximately 20 Chareidi protesters attempted to interfere with bus traffic at the Meron Junction on routes operating between Tzfas and Nahariya. Similar demonstrations have taken place there repeatedly on Shabbos.

Tensions have also erupted inside Yerushalayim itself over businesses operating on Shabbos, including demonstrations outside the “Basimta” café.

Yerushalayim Deputy Mayor Adir Schwartz sharply condemned the blockade, calling it a “crossing of a red line.” He argued that attempts to shut down the capital on Shabbos through pressure would encounter resistance from Yerushalayim residents.

{Matzav.com}