LISTEN:
https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Bitachon4Life-Shiur-1691-Chikuy-Part-91-Greatness.mp3For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.
By Rabbi Berach Steinfeld
Kriyas Yam Suf was the completion of Yetzias Mitzrayim. We learn a very interesting halacha from Kriyas Yam Suf.
A person once came to the Netziv with the following question. He had a massive fight with another person and swore that he would never see the other person again. That person later died, and now he wanted to stand in front of the niftar and ask mechilah. Does the shvua of never seeing him again apply after the person has died?
The Torah Temimah brings a raya from the posuk in Shmos 14:13, which says that the Yidden will not see Mitzrayim/Mitzriyim ever again. Later, the posuk states that the Yidden saw Mitzriyim dead by the seashore. The Medrash says that every Yid recognized the Mitzri who had made him work. From here we see that seeing someone after death is not considered a violation of a shvua never to see that person again.
However, the Targum Yonasan says that the Yidden did not see the Mitzriyim dead, but rather in the final throes of life (gossessin), which would seem to contradict what we said earlier. How were the Yidden able to see them if Hashem had told Moshe that they would never see them again?
We can answer that this is similar to the halacha of returning a stolen object. The Torah states that one must return the stolen item and then adds the words “asher gozal.” The Gemara learns from this that one must return the stolen object in the same condition it was in at the time it was stolen; that is what the word “asher” teaches us. Here too, the Torah says “asher” regarding the way Mitzrayim was seen today—in that manner they would not be seen again. The Yidden were not going to see them in the same way as they had seen them that day, but rather while they were taking their final breaths.
We see the importance of Kriyas Yam Suf being the completion of Yetzias Mitzrayim from the first of the Aseres Hadibros, where Hashem said the word “anochi.” During Kriyas Yam Suf, Hashem appeared as a warrior ready to do battle, whereas during Mattan Torah, Hashem appeared as an elderly person full of rachamim. Hashem was conveying that even though He appears differently in different situations, He is the same Hashem.
In Tosafos in Brachos 13b, it is paskened that if one is in a place during Kriyas Shema where he would be permitted to respond Shalom Aleichem to a person to whom he must show respect, then it stands to reason that he may also answer amein and Kedusha. However, if one is in the middle of Shemone Esrei, it would be forbidden. It is a kal vachomer that since between Go’al Yisrael and Shemone Esrei one is forbidden to be mafsik, then certainly in the middle of Shemone Esrei one would be forbidden to be mafsik.
Rabbeinu Tam would stop between Mi Kamocha and Shira Chadasha and answer all the ameins. Only afterward would he begin Shemone Esrei. He did this because Shira Chadasha discusses Kriyas Yam Suf, and that is what Rabbeinu Tam was somech his Shemone Esrei to—not something directly related to Yetzias Mitzrayim. From here we see that Kriyas Yam Suf was the culmination of Yetzias Mitzrayim. It is therefore considered the geulah that must immediately precede Shemone Esrei without any hefsek.
May we be zocheh to be like the people in Mitzrayim who were redeemed with great miracles, including Kriyas Yam Suf.
{Matzav.com}
A Holocaust museum based in Washington, D.C., sharply criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after he drew a comparison between federal immigration enforcement and Nazi Germany, calling the remarks an offensive misuse of Holocaust history.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum responded on X by underscoring that Anne Frank had been “targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish.” The statement was issued a day after Walz held a press conference urging President Donald Trump to withdraw ICE and Border Patrol agents from Minnesota.
Speaking at the Sunday press conference, Walz said: “Allow our children to go back to school. We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”
The museum pushed back forcefully, writing: “Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.”
Walz’s remarks invoking Anne Frank followed a Border Patrol agent-involved shooting on Saturday that resulted in the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
According to reporting by Breitbart News’s AWR Hawkins, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents were “conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault.”
That incident occurred after another fatal encounter involving federal immigration authorities, in which 37-year-old Renee Good was shot by an ICE agent. Authorities said Good had “weaponized her vehicle” against ICE officers.
The DHS statement explained that agents were “conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault” when, during the operation, a man approached “U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.”
Reacting on social media, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, described as “Trump’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism at the State Department,” said Anne Frank’s experience has no connection to the state’s immigration issues, Fox News reported.
“Ignorance like this cheapens the horror of the Holocaust,” Kaploun stated. “Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally and abided by Dutch law. She was hauled off to a death camp because of her race and religion.”
{Matzav.com}
The powerful winter storm that battered the Tri-State area cleared out of New York and Mew Jersey by Monday morning, but forecasters warned that the region is now facing an extended stretch of dangerously cold weather.
Snowfall totals from the system ranged between 8 and 12 inches across New York City. Central Park recorded 11.4 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Air travel remained heavily disrupted as the city began recovery efforts. More than 1,200 flights were canceled at local airports on Monday, following over 3,000 cancellations the day before.
City officials said cleanup operations were continuing around the clock. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said thousands of sanitation workers were still clearing roadways, with the administration aiming to restore regular city operations by Tuesday.
“Our goal is for all services to be fully restored by tomorrow, with all streets cleared, students back at school in person, and our city back to normal, albeit with a lot of snow piled up,” he said during a morning briefing at City Hall.
Later in the day, the mayor confirmed that New York City public schools would reopen Tuesday for in-person instruction, with all classes, programs, and activities proceeding as scheduled.
Even as snow removal continued, bitter cold had already settled over the region. Gov. Kathy Hochul warned that the frigid conditions would persist for more than a week.
“This Arctic siege on our state is unrelenting and will continue for the next nine days,” the governor said in an interview with 1010 WINS.
“There will not be a single part of New York that goes above freezing temperature for nine days,” the governor said. “And that’s what we have to anticipate, prepare for.”
Temperatures on Monday reached a high of 28 degrees, with RealFeel readings in the teens. Overnight lows are forecast around 12 degrees, with wind chills near zero.
The deep freeze is expected to intensify through the rest of the week, with daytime highs hovering near 20 degrees from Tuesday through Friday and continuing into the weekend.
{Matzav.com}
The main beis medrash of the Gerer Chassidus in Yerushalayim was formally sold this week for the symbolic sum of just 10 shekels, sparking widespread discussion within the chassidus on the eve of a major family wedding.
The sale took place at an official ceremony in which the rights to the beis medrash were transferred for full payment of 10 new shekels. While the price raised eyebrows, those familiar with the inner workings of Ger explained that the transaction follows a long-standing practice rooted in the court’s approach to kedushas beis hamedrash.
According to the tradition observed by the Gerer rebbes, the beis medrash is deliberately not registered in the name of the Rebbe himself. The concern, chassidim explain, is that activities occasionally take place in the building that are not fully in keeping with the desired level of sanctity, such as idle conversation or insufficient decorum. To avoid any association of such conduct with the Rebbe, the property is instead placed in the legal ownership of a respected senior chossid.
This custom dates back to the era of the Beis Yisrael, and was continued by subsequent Gerer Rebbes. Following the construction of the current beis medrash and world center of Ger, the Rebbe at the time instructed that ownership be transferred via a formal deed to the late Reb Chaim Yisrael Weinstein, a revered elder chossid, Holocaust survivor, and the father of baal tokeia Reb Moshe Aryeh Weinstein.
After Rabbi Weinstein’s passing several years ago, the legal rights to the beis medrash had not yet been reassigned—until now.
On Monday, acting on the Rebbe’s directive, Reb Yitzchak Meir Tauman of the beis medrash administration completed the sale, transferring ownership for 10 shekels to Reb Yitzchak Meir Spernovitz. Rabbi Spernovitz, a distinguished elder among Gerer chassidim in Yerushalayim, previously served as mashgiach ruchani at the Gerer Yeshiva L’tzeirim and is among the leaders of the Tohar HaMachaneh initiative. He is the son of the late Gerer baal tokeia, Reb Simcha Bunim Spernovitz.
The timing of the sale added to the attention it drew. This evening, the beis medrash hosted the wedding of a granddaughter of the Gerer Rebbe, a daughter of his son-in-law Reb Chaim Yehoshua Shor, who married a grandson of philanthropist Reb Yitzchak Shapira. The chuppah took place on the roof of the beis medrash.
What might appear at first glance to be a curious real-estate deal is, in truth, a reflection of a deeply ingrained Gerer tradition, one that highlights the care taken to preserve the kedusha of the beis medrash while maintaining a clear separation between the institution and the personal standing of the Rebbe himself.
{Matzav.com}
A practical and sensitive halachic question—whether it is permissible to publicize the name of a resident who has failed to pay vaad bayis (building maintenance) fees—was addressed during a chizuk gathering held at the home of Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein.
The gathering took place as the avreichim of Kollel Chafetz Chaim B’Iyun, part of the nationwide kollel network under the nesius of Rav Mordechai Shmuel Edelstein, marked the completion of their joint study of Sefer Chafetz Chaim.
The event was attended by senior rabbanim of the kollel network, including Rav Moshe Zakai and Rav Akiva Zaritzky, as well as the noted mezakeh harabbim Rav Aharon Margalit, author of Eshaleich.
Opening the gathering, Rav Zilberstein delivered a central address in which he spoke at length about the stature of the Chafetz Chaim, sharing striking insights and accounts of his conduct.
“If I were not afraid, I would say that the Chafetz Chaim was akin to the Rambam in his generation,” Rav Zilberstein said. “In his time, the Rambam was the rav of all of Klal Yisroel, and today it is similar with the Chafetz Chaim. His seforim are accepted everywhere, without dispute. Fortunate are you for immersing yourselves in the words of this giant of Torah.”
Following his remarks, Rav Zilberstein presented a contemporary halachic question to the assembled avreichim, as well as to philanthropist Rami Feller, who studies regularly b’chavrusa with the rav every Friday night: Is it permissible to post a notice on a building bulletin board stating that a particular family has not paid its vaad bayis dues?
Rav Zilberstein then cited the ruling he heard from his father-in-law, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, that after proper warning, such publication is permitted.
“After giving prior notice, it is allowed,” Rav Zilberstein stated. “There is no prohibition of embarrassing someone or of lashon hara. The proof is from the Gemara in Kesubos, which states that one who refused to support his minor children was publicly proclaimed in the marketplace: ‘The cruel raven feeds its young, while So-and-so does not feed his children.’ We see that it is permitted to shame a person who fails to meet his obligations. All the more so in the case of a resident who benefits from the investments of his neighbors while refusing to repay them, which constitutes gezel.”
Rav Zilberstein added an additional proof from halacha, noting that Beis Din is permitted to seize a borrower’s assets in public, even though doing so may cause embarrassment, while entering the borrower’s home is prohibited. “Clearly,” he said, “the public nature of such an action is not forbidden, despite the resulting shame.”
The gathering concluded with a powerful song of tefillah, ‘Tehei hasha’ah hazos sha’as rachamim v’eis ratzon’. Rav Zilberstein himself joined in the dancing together with Rav Edelstein and the assembled participants. As the event drew to a close, Rav Zilberstein urged those present to return immediately to learning the Chafetz Chaim, emphasizing the importance of the daily practice of studying two halachos from the sefer. “It is truly extraordinary,” he said, “and it is a segulah for everything one may need.”
{Matzav.com}
A special Knesset team headed by MK Uri Maklev will examine the consequences of a banking initiative to make digital delivery the default method for sending account statements, amid warnings that the move would disproportionately harm chareidi families, the elderly, and new immigrants who lack consistent access to technology.
The review follows mounting opposition to a plan promoted by the banking sector, under the banner of “digital efficiency,” to stop mailing physical bank statements and instead send them by email unless customers actively opt out. Lawmakers from across the political spectrum have pushed back against the proposal, arguing it would leave hundreds of thousands of households without reliable access to basic financial information.
Under the proposed policy, banks would discontinue routine postal delivery of checking account statements and transaction records, shifting to email as the default option. Critics say the move is designed to cut costs for banks while transferring the burden onto vulnerable populations who do not regularly use email or computers.
Opponents warned that without paper statements, many customers could remain unaware of overdrafts, interest changes, or account seizures until significant financial damage has already occurred. In response, the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, chaired by MK David Bitan, convened an urgent discussion at the initiative of Maklev and other lawmakers to halt the measure.
Speaking at the committee meeting, Maklev said the banking system must address technological gaps rather than pushing responsibility onto weaker customers. He rejected claims by bank representatives that it is impossible to identify which clients lack digital access, telling them that banks cannot decide who does or does not have digital literacy and should not attempt to make such determinations.
Maklev said many people rely exclusively on physical statements to understand what is happening in their accounts, noting that large numbers of customers do not use email or banking websites at all. He warned that hundreds of thousands — and possibly close to a million people — have no access to a computer, leaving elderly populations especially exposed. He cautioned that such customers would become easy targets for scams and fraud, adding that banks would not exempt anyone from fees or penalties simply because they were unaware of changes to their accounts.
MK Yoni Mshariki warned that technological progress is being used as an excuse to abandon those left behind, while also threatening livelihoods tied to the printing industry. He said the decision could effectively shut down the Be’eri printing house in the Negev, calling the outcome absurd. His remarks followed warnings from the plant’s CEO that the move would cause severe harm to a kibbutz still in the process of recovery.
Mshariki added that the policy would have far-reaching consequences, saying it would significantly impact large segments of the population, including chareidim, senior citizens, and new immigrants. He stressed that the Knesset’s role is to protect consumers and ensure their basic needs are met.
MK Yossi Taieb accused the banks of trying to maximize profits at the expense of weaker sectors and said opposition to the plan unites both coalition and opposition lawmakers. He said it was inconceivable to cut off entire communities from essential communication simply so banks could save money, asking whether it was acceptable for banks to earn hundreds of millions while denying basic service to those who need it most.
Taieb also said that providing account information by mail is part of the fundamental agreement between banks and their customers and should not be changed unilaterally.
At the close of the session, Committee Chairman David Bitan accepted the position advanced by the chareidi lawmakers and announced the formation of a dedicated Knesset team led by Maklev. The team will engage with the Bank of Israel and the Banking Association and is expected to present its findings within one month.
Chareidi representatives welcomed what they described as an important first step in stopping the initiative and said they would continue monitoring the issue to ensure that physical bank statements remain the default option. Without that safeguard, they warned, hundreds of thousands of citizens could be left effectively cut off from clear information about their financial affairs.
{Matzav.com}Naftali Bennett’s political party filed a police complaint on Monday against the ruling Likud party, accusing it of circulating a manipulated image that falsely depicted Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid celebrating with Arab politicians, Times of Israel reports. The complaint followed Likud’s sharing of the image after Arab parties announced last week that they would move toward reuniting under a joint slate ahead of the next Knesset election.
“The Bennett 2026 party has filed a police complaint against the Likud party for malicious forgery, regarding an edited and false photo that was published on the official account of the Likud party,” Bennett’s party said in a statement, noting that it would also file a petition with the Central Elections Committee.
“The State of Israel is facing a fateful election campaign, and therefore it is necessary to set red lines now,” the statement said. “We will fight every attempt to produce fake news that poisons the discourse and divides the country.”
Bennett, who previously served as prime minister, is broadly viewed as the leading political rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the country heads into elections later this year.
During the 2021–2022 period, Bennett joined forces with a coalition of parties opposed to Netanyahu, including the Islamist Ra’am party, bringing an end to Netanyahu’s more than 12 consecutive years in office.
Just days before the 2021 vote, Bennett had publicly pledged on live television that he would not form a government with Lapid or Ra’am, a promise he reversed shortly after the election.
That ideologically diverse coalition, jointly headed by Bennett and Lapid, marked the first time in decades that an Arab party was included in a governing alliance.
In the 2022 election, Likud returned to power under Netanyahu at the head of a bloc made up of far-right and chareidi parties, a coalition that has remained intact even after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Since Bennett’s role in pushing Netanyahu into the opposition, the prime minister and his allies have repeatedly attacked him, arguing that he would once again rely on Arab parties if given the opportunity to form a government.
As part of that ongoing campaign, Likud Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem said in a radio interview on 103FM on Monday that Bennett “should sit in prison.”
“He conned the nation of Israel. He stole the soul of right-wing voters,” he charged.
The controversy erupted days after four Arab parties — Hadash, Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad — signed an agreement on Thursday committing to work toward reestablishing their Joint List alliance in the upcoming election.
The leaders of the parties — Hadash’s Ayman Odeh, Ra’am’s Mansour Abbas, Ta’al’s Ahmed Tibi, and Balad’s Sami Abu Shahadeh — were gathered in the city of Sakhnin during a nationwide general strike protesting police inaction in the face of escalating violent crime within the Arab community.
For months, negotiations over reviving the Joint List had stalled due to internal disputes, particularly between Ra’am and the other factions, largely centered on Abbas’s insistence that the alliance function only as a technical arrangement that would allow him to split off after the election and potentially join a governing coalition on his own.
Abbas later said that the other parties ultimately agreed to those terms, clearing the way for the signing of the agreement.
A spokesperson for one of the parties told The Times of Israel that the public announcement was effectively forced, mainly on Abbas, after intense pressure from Arab citizens demanding unity in the face of the crime crisis, with demonstrators in Sakhnin urging the leaders to act.
Arab communities recorded their deadliest year on record in 2025, with 252 people killed in homicides, and since the beginning of January, another 20 victims have been reported.
Nearly every Arab town and city shut down on Thursday as part of the protest, which grew out of a local strike in Sakhnin following a series of extortion-related shootings targeting local business owners.
{Matzav.com}
More than 55,000 children under the age of 3 in Yerushalayim — representing 79 percent of that age group — are enrolled in unlicensed and unsupervised daycare settings, the Knesset Research and Information Center reported Monday during a special discussion on early childhood education convened after two infants died last week at an illegal daycare facility in the city, Times of Israel reports.
The research presented to lawmakers showed that 55,100 children under 3 in Yerushalayim are not part of the supervised daycare system. Comparable figures include 13,400 children in Beit Shemesh, 12,000 in Bnei Brak, 7,500 in Tel Aviv, and 6,100 in Rahat who are also outside regulated frameworks.
Only 21 percent of toddlers in Yerushalayim are enrolled in supervised daycare programs, a figure far lower than in other major cities. By comparison, supervised enrollment stands at 44 percent in Bnei Brak, 45 percent in Ashdod, 49 percent in Netanya, 53 percent in Haifa, 55 percent in Cholon, 58 percent in Tel Aviv-Yaffo, 61 percent in Petach Tikva, 61 percent in Rishon Letzion, and 62 percent in Beersheva.
On a nationwide level, the highest rates of supervised daycare enrollment were recorded in Ness Ziona at 97 percent, followed by Har Adar at 94 percent, Rosh Pina at 88 percent, and Ramat Hasharon at 84 percent. The lowest rates were found in the Bedouin municipalities of Rahat, Arara, and Kuseife, where only 12 percent of young children attend licensed facilities.
The findings were presented to the Knesset Education Committee, which held a joint session with the Welfare Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child following the deaths of four-month-old Leah Goloventzitz and six-month-old Aharon Katz.
Both infants died, and another 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees, in an incident last Monday at an unlicensed daycare in Yerushalayim. Three caregivers from the facility were arrested in connection with the case.
Video footage from the scene indicated severe overcrowding, and police believe the two babies died from heat exhaustion and dehydration caused by a malfunctioning heating system.
Chareidi politicians have argued that the tragedy stemmed from efforts to conscript chareidi men into the IDF, which resulted in a 2024 High Court of Justice ruling ordering cuts to daycare subsidies for the children of draft evaders, although the prevalence of unlicensed daycare centers predates that decision by many years.
During Monday’s discussion in the Education Committee, Labor MK Naama Lazimi accused United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Yitzchok oldknopf of trying “to whitewash the disaster” and said he was “part of the problem.”
Committee chairman Zvi Sukkot of Religious Zionism responded by accusing Lazimi of inciting against the chareidi public.
Goldknopf said that while his party supports steps to prevent similar tragedies, he believes the caregivers involved were treated too harshly by authorities.
“They were held for several days in jail,” he said. “Whatever happened is in the past — you can’t charge someone if you don’t know they’re guilty.”
Likud MK Keti Shitrit, who heads the Committee on the Rights of the Child, expressed alarm that nearly half of Israel’s children under 3 are placed in unlicensed daycare environments.
“Why are the babies being neglected? There is a grave manpower shortage. Fifty percent of caregivers leave during the year. Parents are forced to send their kids to unsupervised daycares,” she said.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch told lawmakers that shutting down illegal daycare operations requires coordinated action across multiple authorities, and said his ministry lacks the ability to address the issue on its own.
“Pirate daycare centers are a phenomenon that has existed for decades. It is clear that we are trying to ensure that as many daycare centers as possible are licensed and supervised, but without cooperation between the police, the prosecutor’s office, local government and government ministries, we will not be able to deal with this,” Kisch said.
“I do not have the information or the authority to go to a neighborhood and check one apartment or another to see if there are children inside or not. Since the issue was transferred to the Education Ministry, thousands of kindergartens have registered and come under supervision,” he added.
{Matzav.com}
