After nearly four years of deliberation, retired judge David Hashin is expected to release his long-awaited arbitration ruling in the decades-long dispute that has divided Ponevezh Yeshiva. Both sides have been informed that the decision will be issued pending final payment arrangements.
The ruling will determine the future of the famed yeshiva and could finally bring closure to the bitter conflict between the two factions, know generally as the Sonim and the Mechablim.
Payments Before the Verdict
According to information obtained by sources, both parties must pay Judge Hashin a total of 700,000 shekels — 350,000 from each side — in addition to 300,000 shekels still owed by the Mechablim. Only after these payments are completed will the arbitration ruling be released.
No one — apart from Hashin himself — yet knows the content of the verdict. However, several possible outcomes have been discussed in the media and by those close to the case.
Possible Outcomes
Option 1: Dividing the Hill
One scenario would divide the Ponevezh campus into northern and southern sections — though this is considered among the less likely possibilities. Under such an arrangement, the Sonim faction would retain the southern section, including dormitories and administrative areas, while the Mechablim would control the northern side, which includes the smaller beis medrash with the gold Aron Kodesh.
Option 2: Complete Removal of One Faction
A more dramatic option would grant the Sonim faction full control over the hill, forcing the Mechablim to relocate elsewhere in Bnei Brak. Such a decision would likely come with substantial financial compensation, and possibly the transfer of the “Ponevezh” name and brand to the Mechablim — a reversal of the current situation, in which the Sonim faction legally controls the yeshiva’s title and organization.
Option 3: The Reverse — Total Transfer to the Mechablim
The least probable, though theoretically possible, ruling would be the opposite: awarding complete control of the campus to the Mechablim, requiring the Sonim faction to evacuate, with compensation provided by the Mechablim for their relocation.
Option 4: “Gud Oy Agud ” Formula
Another potential solution would allow both sides to submit sealed offers stating how much they are willing to pay to retain the campus. The side willing and able to meet the higher bid would retain the property. In such a scenario, observers believe the Sonim faction is more likely to prevail financially.
Regardless of which outcome emerges, the ruling is expected to be historic — either cementing the long-standing division or bringing about a dramatic realignment. For now, the Torah world awaits the decision, contingent on the full payment to the arbitrator.
{Matzav.com}
A senior Chareidi official involved in the ongoing negotiations over Israel’s proposed draft law has expressed deep skepticism that a final version will ever be approved. “There won’t be a draft law because there is no agreement on it,” he said Monday night in the Knesset. “It’s quite possible that it simply won’t pass.”
The official, who has been closely tracking developments around the legislation meant to define the status of yeshiva students, added, “It’s convenient for the Chareidim as well to delay the legislation, which probably wouldn’t have a majority in the Knesset and likely wouldn’t withstand a Supreme Court challenge.”
He predicted that after the failure to pass the bill, the Chareidi parties and Prime Minister Netanyahu would reach a mutual understanding on holding elections “after Pesach.”
This comes as the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chaired by MK Boaz Bismuth, has not convened this week to discuss the latest draft of the proposed law. While in the past Chareidi MKs would have protested such delays, this time they have not pressed for renewed discussions. Sources indicate that despite appearances last week that rabbinic leaders had approved moving forward, prominent gedolim remain opposed to key clauses in the current draft, stalling the process further.
Behind the scenes, Shas leader Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni have been consulting on possible revisions to the bill to address the demands of the committee’s legal adviser, Attorney Miri Frenkel-Shor. She has called for significant amendments, including raising first-year enlistment targets to around 5,700—a figure about a thousand higher than what the Chareidi side agreed to—and retaining a controversial clause requiring yeshiva students and kollel members to record attendance through fingerprint verification.
The disagreements over quotas and sanctions remain unresolved, and with the legislative window narrowing, Chareidi leaders now acknowledge that the chances of the draft law moving forward before elections are slim.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer overplayed his hand during the recent government shutdown, arguing that Democrats’ strategy backfired and left their party divided.
“I think he made a mistake in going too far,” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle. “He thought he could break the Republicans, and the Republicans broke him.”
The political standoff ended when eight Democratic senators crossed the aisle to support the House-passed plan reopening the government, which their own party had blocked multiple times. The Senate ultimately voted 60-40 to approve the measure, with final passage in the House expected later in the week.
The revolt has sparked tension within Democratic ranks, as lawmakers like Rep. Ro Khanna of California called for new leadership. Trump, reflecting on Schumer’s evolution, offered a pointed critique.
“I feel badly ‘cause I know Chuck Schumer,” he said. “I’ve known him since he was a person who loved Israel, and now he’s a Palestinian. He’s become a Palestinian… I’ve never seen a politician change so much.”
The shutdown—the longest in U.S. history—was fueled by debate over extending Obamacare subsidies, disrupting thousands of federal workers and halting major services, including flights and food aid programs.
Trump claimed Democrats’ real motivation was to fund benefits for illegal immigrants. “What they really wanted was $1.5 trillion for people that came in illegally, people that come in through and out of prisons,” he argued.
“We’re trying to get them out, because we don’t want 11,000 murderers in our country. You don’t it. Nobody wants it,” he continued. “And we have drug dealers, and we have everything else, and they wanted to make sure they got good healthcare.”
Covering healthcare costs for those in the country illegally, Trump warned, would have “hurt other people’s healthcare.”
Turning to the broader issue, Trump blasted Obamacare as “horrible” and overpriced. “The premiums have gone up like rocket ships,” he said. “And I’m not even talking about just recently, I’m talking about for years they’ve been going up.”
He said Americans should have more freedom to manage their coverage. “I want, instead of going to the insurance companies, I want the money to go to an account for people where the people buy their own health insurance,” Trump explained. “They’re actually able to go out and negotiate their own insurance.”
When asked how Republicans plan to prevent another shutdown when government funding expires on January 30, 2026, Trump hinted that legislation is in the works.
“Well, we’re trying to put in a bill, as you know, or a bill that you can never do that again,” he said. “You can’t just shut down the government because you’re trying renegotiate a deal that you didn’t.”
{Matzav.com}
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has urged that his agency be entrusted with leading Gaza’s postwar recovery, even as global scrutiny mounts over its links to Hamas.
“UNRWA, with its thousands of Palestinian personnel, has the capacity, expertise and community trust required to provide healthcare, education and other public services to a devastated population,” Lazzarini wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian.
He emphasized that “for decades, the agency’s teachers, doctors and engineers have formed a vital part of a functioning system of public services for millions of Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the region.”
Citing a recent International Court of Justice advisory opinion, Lazzarini said the court “reaffirmed the professionalism of UNRWA’s staff, underlined the agency’s indispensable humanitarian role and concluded that UNRWA remains an impartial and neutral actor.”
However, those assurances stand in stark contrast to the evidence Israel has presented linking UNRWA employees to the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre. Israeli intelligence revealed that several agency staffers participated in the slaughter, distributing ammunition, kidnapping a woman, and directly joining the attack at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were killed.
In response to the revelations, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed a panel headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to review the allegations. When the group issued its findings in April, it admitted to identifying “neutrality-related issues” within UNRWA but argued that Israel had not yet provided sufficient proof that large numbers of its employees belonged to terror groups.
Testimonies have continued to emerge since then. Emily Damari, an Israeli woman freed after 470 days as a hostage in Gaza, disclosed that she was imprisoned in a facility operated by UNRWA.
Adding to the controversy, USAID reported in April 2025 that the United Nations had actively blocked an American probe into connections between UNRWA’s Gaza staff and Hamas.
Despite mounting evidence and criticism from both Israel and Washington, the International Court of Justice ruled last month that Israel must continue to permit humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza through UN agencies — including UNRWA — a decision that reignited anger among Israeli officials and their allies.
{Matzav.com}
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is heading to Israel this Friday for a five-day visit that will extend through next Tuesday, his office confirmed.
According to the statement, the mayor’s agenda includes meetings with Israeli government officials, business and tech leaders, and other key figures in the country’s innovation and economic sectors.
“He will also visit religious sites and discuss efforts to combat antisemitism here in New York City and across the world,” the statement said.
Adams, long known for his outspoken support of both Israel and New York’s Jewish community, has made the issue of antisemitism a centerpiece of his administration. His upcoming trip marks his second to the Jewish state in just over a year. During his previous visit in August 2023, he met with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and other senior officials.
In May, Adams introduced the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism — the first such municipal department established anywhere in the United States. A month later, he took another step by signing an executive order officially adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism for New York City agencies.
Although Adams had planned to seek reelection as an independent candidate, he later dropped out of the race and threw his support behind Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo ultimately lost to Zohran Mamdani, a left-wing politician known for his anti-Israel positions.
At the time of his endorsement, Adams sounded the alarm about the growing hostility facing minority communities in the city. He also strongly condemned Mamdani’s public defense of the inflammatory slogan “Globalize the intifada.”
“When you tell Jewish residents that you need ‘globalize intifada,’ you’re saying you don’t care,” Adams said.
{Matzav.com}
