Fourteen-year-old Chaim Yosef Eisenthal z”l was killed last night during a protest in Yerushalayim, an event that has left the city—and far beyond it—reeling in shock and grief.
[Pictured above is the invitation to Yosef’s bar mitzvah, held a year and a half ago.]
The morning after the tragedy did not begin with routine headlines or updates, but with a heavy sense of anguish. The loss of a child, many said, eclipses politics, sectors, and arguments, forcing a painful national reckoning.
At the opening of the Kikar FM broadcast in Israel, host Eli Gothelf said that the very fact that a 14-year-old boy lost his life in the street should shake the entire country. “Not a sector, not a camp, not a political debate,” he said. “In a democracy, protest is a right. But in a democracy, a 14-year-old child is not supposed to die in the street. He is not supposed to be killed.”
Gothelf stressed that when a child is killed, questions of affiliation or ideology become irrelevant. “When a child goes out to a protest and does not come home, this is no longer an internal dispute. This is a flashing red warning light,” he said.
Also interviewed on the program was Motti Bukchin, spokesman for ZAKA, who spoke with visible pain as he described what the organization’s volunteers encountered at the scene.
“This is a horrifying event,” Bukchin said. “I don’t know whether to call it an accident, a killing, or an attack. In the end, there is a child in his early teens who was killed for nothing. Entire families are destroyed.”
According to Bukchin, ZAKA volunteers arrived shortly after the incident, while rescue forces were still working to extricate the victim. “The bus dragged him,” he said. “People ran after the driver and shouted for him to stop—and he kept going.”
He described long, agonizing minutes as teams waited for firefighters to arrive with hydraulic equipment. “Only after they lifted the bus were they able to extricate the victim. Sadly, he was already without signs of life, with multi-system injuries, no pulse and no breathing.”
Bukchin emphasized that, from his perspective, the central issue is not only the sequence of events but their tragic result. “It doesn’t matter what came before what,” he said. “The outcome is a 14-year-old child who lost his life in a tragic way.”
He noted that the scene was especially difficult, requiring extended and painstaking work by volunteers to collect findings and care for the deceased with dignity. “This work is done in front of the public, in front of a family that understands that their child has been killed. It is true kindness,” he said.
Despite decades of experience with ZAKA, Bukchin said the pain never dulls. “Every time it is new. No two events are the same. Every family, every person who dies, is an entire world.”
{Matzav.com}
Dear Matzav Inbox,
There is something deeply disingenuous about the way many of our communal media platforms — including Matzav, by the way — operate today, whether in print, online, or across WhatsApp and social media.
On the one hand, these very same outlets regularly publish articles, op-eds, and impassioned posts lamenting the “culture of excess” that has crept into our lives. They bemoan the outrageous costs of weddings, the pressure to keep up, the corrosive effect of luxury spending on families, and the unhealthy expectations being imposed on young couples and parents just trying to breathe.
And then, without skipping a beat, the next page, post, or story is an advertisement for a five-star Pesach program in Europe, a luxury summer rental with “full staff,” a high-end restaurant opening, concierge services, boutique interior designers, or upscale apartments in Eretz Yisroel marketed as “must-have opportunities.” One minute we’re being warned about runaway materialism. The next minute we’re being sold $25,000 watches, gourmet tasting menus, and prestige real estate, all wrapped in glossy graphics and slick copy.
The uncomfortable truth is that the very platforms that wring their hands over the spending culture are, in fact, major engines driving it. Advertising does not merely reflect reality; it shapes it. When luxury is constantly normalized, glamorized, and pushed into every communal space, it inevitably seeps into expectations and behavior.
You cannot pour gasoline on a fire all week long and then publish a sermon on fire safety and expect to be taken seriously.
To then posture as critics of the problem they actively profit from is, quite frankly, hypocrisy. Sorry for saying the raw emes.
At the very least, there should be some honesty. These outlets are not neutral observers. They are nogeya b’dovor. They are making substantial money off the very excesses they publicly decry. Stop pretending to occupy some lofty moral high ground while cashing the checks that keep the cycle spinning.
If communal media truly wants to be part of the solution, it starts with self-awareness and integrity. Until then, the lectures about “crazy spending” ring hollow, drowned out by the posts and ads screaming the exact opposite message.
Sincerely,
Yehoshua Boruch Jacobs
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{Matzav.com}
It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Moshe Aryeh Sheinert zt”l, who was niftar at the age of 90.
Rav Sheinert was among the senior and most respected members of the Belzer community and served for many years as the mashgiach ruchani at Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass of Belz in Boro Park. He also served as a mashpia at Yeshivas Torah Ve’Emunah of Belz, where he influenced generations of talmidim with warmth, depth, and unwavering devotion to Torah.
Born in Sivan 5695 (1935) to his father, Reb Shlomo Sheinert, he studied in his youth at Bais Medrash Govoha in Lakewood under Rav Aharon Kotler.
Following his marriage, Rav Sheinert was among the founders and early members of the Belzer kehillah on Manhattan’s East Side, together with Rav Yosef Meir Weiss, the rov of Narol. He maintained a close relationship with the Naroler Rebbe, the Rav’s son, and together they were instrumental in establishing Belzer institutions in the United States.
Rav Sheinert later settled in Boro Park, where he served for many years as a spiritual guide and mechanech, shaping hundreds of talmidim in the mesorah handed down through generations. He was renowned for sharing stories and teachings he had personally heard from Rav Aharon of Belz and other Torah giants.
Approximately twenty years ago, Rav Sheinert moved to Kiryat Belz in Yerushalayim. At the directive of the Belzer Rebbe, he assumed the role of mashpia at Yeshivas Torah Ve’Emunah, an institution dedicated to baalei teshuvah. There, he devoted himself to drawing Jewish hearts closer to their Father in Heaven, leaving an indelible impact on countless lives.
In recent years, his health declined and he was confined to his home.
The levayah took place Tuesday, departing from the Sanhedria Funeral Home in Yerushalayim and passing the Belzer Bais Medrash, before continuing to the Machzikei Hadass section at Har HaMenuchos for kevurah.
Yehi zichro baruch.
{Matzav.com}
