In a new and deeply troubling escalation, a fringe group of self-styled kanna’im launched a wave of robo-calls and hotline messages overnight maligning the Slabodka roshei yeshiva, Maran Hagaon Rav Dov Landau and Maran Hagaon Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, in an unprecedented bizayon haTorah.
The attacks were timed precisely as Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch arrived in the United States on behalf of the Slabodka Yeshiva.
One of the messages, dripping with disrespect, referred to the venerated rosh yeshiva simply as “the hanhala of Yeshiva Slabodka in Bnei Brak.”
This latest barrage follows a pattern of harassment in which this small faction has repeatedly defamed gedolei Yisroel, questioned their leadership, and spread incendiary falsehoods regarding the developing draft legislation in Israel, including the latest claim that the Slabodka roshei yeshiva have endorsed a law drafting 50% of bnei yeshiva.
One hotline broadcast the following message:
“Urgent message regarding the Slabodka roshei yeshiva agreeing to draft 50% of all bochurim in Eretz Yisroel. The hanhalah of Yeshivas Slabodka Bnei Brak is coming to fundraise in America. In Eretz Yisroel, a law is being passed to draft 50% of bochurim. It is being supported by the leaders of Yeshivas Slabodka.”
The message continued with inflammatory rhetoric: “Because of the Slabodka roshei yeshiva’s support for the law, 50% of all yeshiva bochurim in Eretz Yisroel are about to be sent to kill, die, and get shmadded by atheist commanders and female soldiers. Rabbi Yitzchok Kalmanovich said that the Slabodka roshei yeshivas are making a churban. Please, spread the word.”
A separate recording added: “The following is an important message regarding the ‘Slabodka chok hagiyus.’ As the hanhalah of Yeshivas Slabodka Bnei Brak travels to America to fundraise, back in Eretz Yisroel, unsavory politicians are pushing through a military draft law against yeshiva bochurim, all in the name of Yeshivas Slabodka and its leaders. It is urgent that the word gets through to the hanhalas hayeshiva about what is happening behind their backs while they are abroad. 50% of all yeshiva bochurim are now on the chopping block. Please, spread the word.”
LISTEN:
For months, these kannaim have hurled accusations at gedolei hador, spread misinformation, and aggressively attacked the leaders of the Torah world. Many are afraid to confront them; others simply hope they will fade away. But the lack of pushback has emboldened them further, until now they speak openly against the gedolei hador. Silence has allowed these individuals to operate freely and to sow confusion at will.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump has argued with the architect he handpicked to design a White House ballroom over the size of the project, reflecting a conflict between architectural norms and Trump’s grandiose aesthetic, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations.
Trump’s desire to go big with the project has put him at odds with architect James McCrery II, the people said, who has counseled restraint over concerns the planned 90,000-square-foot addition could dwarf the 55,000-square-foot mansion in violation of a general architectural rule: don’t build an addition that overshadows the main building.
A White House official acknowledged the two have disagreed but would not say why or elaborate on the tensions, characterizing Trump and McCrery’s conversations about the ballroom as “constructive dialogue.”
“As with any building, there is a conversation between the principal and the architect,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “All parties are excited to execute on the president’s vision on what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office.”
McCrery declined an interview request through a representative who declined to answer questions about the architect’s interactions with Trump in recent weeks.
Trump’s intense focus on the project and insistence on realizing his vision over the objections of his own hire, historic preservationists and others concerned by a lack of public input in the project reflect his singular belief in himself as a tastemaker and obsessive attention to details. In the first 10 months of his second term, Trump has waged a campaign to remake the White House in his gilded aesthetic and done so unilaterally – using a who’s-going-to-stop-me ethos he honed for decades as a developer.
Multiple administration officials have acknowledged that Trump has at times veered into micromanagement of the ballroom project, holding frequent meetings about its design and materials. A model of the ballroom has also become a regular fixture in the Oval Office.
The renovation represents one of the largest changes to the White House in its 233-year history, and has yet to undergo any formal public review. The administration has not publicly provided key details about the building, such as its planned height. The 90,000-square-foot structure also is expected to host a suite of offices previously located in the East Wing. The White House has also declined to specify its plans for an emergency bunker that was located below the East Wing, citing matters of national security.
On recent weekdays, a bustling project site that is almost entirely fenced off from public view contained dozens of workers and materials ready to be installed, including reinforced concrete pipes and an array of cranes, drills, pile drivers and other heavy machinery, photos obtained by The Washington Post show.
Plans for the addition as of Tuesday had not been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, a 12-member board charged by Congress with overseeing federal construction projects and now led by Trump allies. A preliminary agenda for the commission’s next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 4, does not include the ballroom project under projects expected to be covered at the meeting or reviewed by the body in the next six months. White House officials say that the administration still plans to submit its ballroom plans to the commission at “the appropriate time.”
The administration’s rapid demolition of the East Wing annex and solicitations from companies and individuals to fund the new construction have caused controversy over the project, which Trump believes the White House needs to host special events. Democrats, historical preservation groups and some architects have criticized the project’s pace, secrecy and shifting specifications. The White House initially said this summer that the ballroom would cost $200 million and fit 650 people, while Trump in recent weeks asserted that it could cost $300 million or more and would fit about 1,000 people.
McCrery has kept his criticism out of the public eye, quietly working to deliver as Trump demanded rushed revisions to his plans, according to two of the people with knowledge of the conversations. The president – a longtime real estate executive who prides himself on his expertise – has repeatedly drilled into the details of the project in their Oval Office meetings, the people said.
McCrery has wanted to remain with the project, worried that another architect would design an inferior building, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking.
McCrery, a classical architect and the founder and principal of McCrery Architects, had designed works like the U.S. Supreme Court bookstore and the pedestal for President Ronald Reagan’s statue in the U.S. Capitol. The ballroom was the largest-ever project for his firm, which has specialized in designing churches, libraries and homes.
Trump hired McCrery for the project on July 13. Eighteen days later, the White House announced the ballroom project, with officials promising to start construction within two months and finish before the end of Trump’s second term.
Trump also appointed McCrery in 2019 to serve a four-year term on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which provides advice to the president, Congress and local government officials on design matters related to construction projects in the capital region.
Democrats have pressed the White House and its donors for more details on the planned construction and what was promised to financial contributors. The ballroom is being funded by wealthy individuals and large companies that have contracts with the federal government, including Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Palantir Technologies.
Several donors have cast the decision in statements as an investment in the future of a building that belongs to the American people, pushing back on the suggestion that their largesse was intended to curry favor with Trump.
A donor list released by the White House of 37 businesses and individuals who underwrote the ballroom is not comprehensive, administration officials acknowledged, leaving open the possibility that millions of dollars have been funneled toward the president’s pet project with no oversight.
“Billionaires and giant corporations with business in front of this administration are lining up to dump millions into Trump’s new ballroom – and Trump is showing them where to sign on the dotted line,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said in a statement last week. Warren and her colleagues also introduced legislation that would impose restrictions on White House construction and require more transparency from donors.
(c) 2025 , The Washington Post · Jonathan Edwards, Dan Diamond
A major shift in West Virginia’s long-standing school immunization rules emerged this week after Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble ruled that parents may rely on their religious convictions to exempt their children from mandatory school vaccinations. The decision rewrites the practical landscape of one of the strictest vaccine policies in the country.
In a permanent injunction issued Wednesday, the judge concluded that families who object to compulsory immunization on religious grounds must be allowed to send their children to class and allow them to participate in extracurricular activities. The ruling immediately put a halt to the state’s prohibition on religious exemptions.
At the heart of Froble’s finding was the Equal Protection for Religion Act enacted in 2023 under Gov. Jim Justice. Froble determined that blocking parents from seeking religious exemptions “violates” that law and cannot stand alongside constitutional protections.
For years, West Virginia permitted only medical exemptions, placing it among the few states with no pathway for religious objectors. That dynamic changed when Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed an executive order earlier this year authorizing religious exemptions. But the state Board of Education promptly pushed back, voting in June to disregard Morrisey’s directive and continue enforcing vaccine rules without exception.
Following Wednesday’s ruling, the Board of Education announced that it “hereby suspends the policy on compulsory vaccination requirements” while it prepares an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The legal fight is expected to escalate quickly.
Morrisey celebrated the decision, saying the ruling “is a win for every family forced from school over their faith.” His opponents, however, insist he bypassed the legislature. Two organizations sued to block his executive order, arguing that lawmakers—not the governor—hold authority over vaccination policy.
Earlier this year, the Senate approved a bill allowing religious exemptions, but the House of Delegates rejected it. Defendants in the case argued that the legislature’s failure to pass the law shows that exemptions should not exist. Froble dismissed that reasoning outright, writing: “Legislative intent is not absolute nor controlling in interpreting a statute or determining its application; at most, it is a factor.”
The lawsuit was filed by several parents against the state, multiple school boards, and the Raleigh County superintendent. One parent received a religious exemption from the state health department and enrolled her child in school, only to have the local superintendent revoke the approval by email in June, prompting the legal challenge.
Froble previously issued a preliminary injunction in July ensuring the three plaintiff families could continue sending their children to school for the current academic year. Last month, he expanded the case dramatically, certifying it as a class action representing 570 families across West Virginia who had been granted religious exemptions, along with any families who may seek such exemptions going forward.
Addressing concerns that the ruling could create public-health risks, Froble wrote that the number of families involved represents only a limited fraction of the student population and “would not meaningfully reduce vaccination rates or increase health risks.”
State law still requires immunization against a wide list of illnesses—including measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, meningitis, diphtheria, and hepatitis B—before children may attend school. The ruling does not erase these requirements, but it allows religious objectors to challenge them.
West Virginia now joins at least 30 states that have some form of religious-freedom statute. These laws trace back to the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, which created a legal avenue to contest government rules that interfere with religious belief.
{Matzav.com}By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Recently, a fascinating sefer was published, woven from the cherished recollections of Rav Meir Heisler. It contains stories, anecdotes, and teachings he heard firsthand and shared with his talmidim in moments of closeness. Each page glimmers with hidden jewels, stories that had long rested in silence, unknown to the wider world. As you journey through its lines, a new appreciation blossoms for the gedolim it portrays, and life itself comes into focus with radiant clarity.
Rav Heisler recounts that he was once with Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach when somebody told him that a certain cheder had stopped learning Parshas Bereishis with its students. Upon hearing that, Rav Shach reached for the phone and dialed the number of the principal of that school. When he wasn’t able to reach him, he called the principal’s son-in-law and, with passionate urgency, said to him, “What does it mean that your father-in-law isn’t teaching Bereishis to the children? Tell him that the Chofetz Chaim would make a cheirem over this!”
The son-in-law responded that his father-in-law felt that the children would not understand Bereishis anyway, so why bother teaching it to them?
Rav Shach grew emotional and said to the man, “And today your father-in-law understands the pesukim of Bereishis? This is what sustains—what we learned when we were young children!”
The parshiyos of Bereishis that we learned when we were young fascinated us and engraved themselves upon our neshamos. Those stories we learned, the songs we sang about them, the projects we made and the little sheets we brought home all became the bedrock of our emunah, enduring across the years.
Each year, when we learn the parshiyos, those memories awaken. Although we grow in our learning and understanding, the foundation of our knowledge of Chumash remains what our rabbeim and moros instilled in us when we were young and innocent. Ask a child about these parshiyos and their eyes will sparkle as they recount the week’s story.
I remember, as a young, small child, sitting at a classroom desk and hanging on to every word of my rebbi as we learned Parshas Vayeitzei, describing Yaakov Avinu’s dream, his years in Lovon’s house, his marriages, and the birth of the shevotim. We were captivated by the image of many stones joining to become the single rock upon which Yaakov rested his head. We were taught that Yaakov slept on Har Hamoriah, site of his father’s Akeidah and the future site of the Botei Mikdosh.
The sun set early and all of Eretz Yisroel folded under Yaakov. In his sleep, Hashem promised him the land, protection, brachos, and innumerable descendants. Awakening, overwhelmed by the awesomeness, he declared, “This is a holy place. Hashem is here and I did not know.” He consecrated the stone and vowed ten percent of his possessions to Hashem.
Yaakov traveled on to Choron, discovering shepherds sitting aimlessly with their flocks at a watering hole. They explained that they had come to draw water for their sheep, but the underground well was sealed with a massive stone and they had to wait until more shepherds arrived so they could remove the rock together. When Rochel appeared with her sheep, Yaakov rolled the boulder away by himself, opening the well for all.
Yaakov was the av of golus. What unfolded as he left the home of his parents in Be’er Sheva and set out for Choron was the beginning of Yaakov’s first journey into exile, the start of a long and painful golus.
He walked until nightfall and lay down to sleep in a place that seemed completely devoid of holiness. Upon awakening, he realized that “ein zeh ki im bais Elokim—this is a place laden with kedusha, the house of Hashem and the gate to heaven.”
Yaakov Avinu was modeling for all future generations how to endure golus. Forced to leave lands that hosted us for generations, we often find ourselves in places that feel desolate, barren of anything meaningful. These places appear incapable of receiving any holiness, much less supporting lives of kedusha. They seem as lifeless as stone.
The golus experience is tragic, the Jewish family scattered across the world, enduring every form of oppression and suffering along the way. On the surface, it seems as though we have been torn from the presence of the Divine, thrust into a world stripped of holiness.
But as Yaakov Avinu taught us, even the darkest corners of the earth hold the potential for kedusha. A stone can become a mizbeiach. Ein zeh ki im bais Elokim. The secret to surviving golus is recognizing that we can bring kedusha anywhere.
We never give up on any place or any person. Not long ago, many believed that Torah could never flourish in America. The prevailing assumption was that anyone who came here was destined for a spiritually empty life, and for many years, that was the reality.
But Hashgocha arranged for giants who had internalized Yaakov’s lesson to arrive in America as they fled the horrors of Europe.
They planted yeshivos in a land where people insisted that Torah could not grow. They upheld shemiras Shabbos where it was nearly nonexistent. They persuaded parents to send their children to receive a Torah education, even when such choices were mocked as antiquated and misguided. They introduced kedusha into a place steeped in tumah.
Because of the determination of good people across the country, America is now home to vibrant frum communities from coast to coast and Torah is thriving on a remarkable scale. This transformation occurred because enough of Yaakov’s descendants believed that any place, no matter how inert, could be turned into a mizbeiach and a makom kadosh.
And not only in America. Across the globe, Torah is flourishing in places no one ever imagined. Wherever Jews go, holding fast to Yaakov’s message, the brocha he received that night in his dream — “uforatzta yoma vokeidma vetzafona vonegba” — is being fulfilled in ways the world has never before witnessed.
No matter where our people end up, they build, they believe, they plant, and they grow. And in the process, they uncover and reveal sparks of kedusha in the largest cities, the smallest towns, and in the lightest and darkest corners of the world.
We never give up on anyone. We never say that he or she is beyond repair. We never say that they are beyond hope, for we know that there is holiness and good everywhere. Our task is to find it and to help the embers flare into flames.
The anthem of golus is “Achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh.” Never think that you are alone and abandoned. Never think that anyone is too far gone. Never think that there is a place that cannot be transformed into a home for Torah and kedusha.
We are all familiar with Rav Chaim Volozhiner’s prophecy that America would be our final station of golus. When we uncover enough watering holes here, we will finally be able to go home.
We have been spread across the world, and wherever we have gone, we have established botei Elokim, spreading kedusha and Torah where others insisted it could not be done. The cycle repeated itself every few hundred years. Jews would grow accustomed to their host country after bringing as much kedusha there as possible. Then the country would turn against them and the Jews would once again move on to the next bleak outpost. At last, we are here, spreading Torah across the fruited plain, awaiting that great day of “Vehoyah Hashem lemelech al kol ha’aretz.”
We often lose sight of those who refined and prepared the American landscape, enabling the Torah world to rise. The great impact of the famed post-war giants sometimes overshadows the silent, hidden avodah of those who came before them and first uncovered the “achein yeish Hashem” on these shores.
The going was rough in those early turn-of-the-century days, as millions of Jews fled the poverty and pogroms of Eastern Europe and came here seeking a better tomorrow. They settled in cities and towns across the country, eking out a living as peddlers, tailors, knitters, and shopkeepers. The ruach was stone cold. The water pits were blocked, refusing to open.
With the peddlers came rabbonim, who sat at home and learned by themselves and with the people. They wrote seforim and corresponded with the giants of Europe. They fought for Shabbos and Jewish education. My grandfather was one of those people. He was a Slabodka talmid living in Fall River, Massachusetts. He served as rov of four shuls and oversaw the local kosher bakeries and butchers. And when he wasn’t busy with communal obligations, he sat at his desk and learned, by himself, at all hours of the day and night, rarely sleeping in a bed. He sat and learned and wrote seforim. In fact, New England was dotted with towns that had great Litvishe rabbonim.
But for the masses, the temptations were many and powerful. People who refused to work on Shabbos found it nearly impossible to find employment. They went hungry. Their children begged for food, clean clothing, and heat. There were few Hebrew schools. There was little choice but to send the children to public school, where many were lost to assimilation. Every generation has its own unique nisyonos, which cannot be overcome without great determination and belief, and it is unfair for us to judge those who lived in those times.
Many failed, and many were lost, but those who persevered increased the kedusha here. The zechuyos created by limud haTorah and mesirus nefesh for kiyum hamitzvos accumulated, countering the klipos hora and enabling frum people to live and thrive here. They made it possible for shuls and yeshivos to be built, and for botei medrash and kollelim to flourish.
In Omaha, Nebraska lived Rav Tzvi Hirsch Grodzensky, cousin of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, who toiled in Torah. In Boston, Rav Zalman Yaakov Friederman presided over huge kehillos and ensured that there would be kashrus and rabbonim in Massachusetts, all while he learned and taught Torah. The great gaon Rav Eliezer Silver of Kovno eventually settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and from his pulpit there he influenced the entire Torah world.
I once drove from Vail, Colorado, to Denver and decided to pull off at the exit for a little town named Leadville. As I drove through the town, I was astonished to see stores with Jewish-sounding names and a Jewish cemetery. I doubt that much of a Jewish community exists there today, but a hundred years ago it was a thriving Jewish metropolis.
Travel across this country and you’ll find Jewish cemeteries in the most unexpected places. You think you’re the first frum Jew ever to pass through some forsaken town off the beaten path, and then you see a bais olam and realize that neshamos were moser nefesh to uncover sparks of kedusha in that location, preparing the country for its spiritual rebirth and the world for Moshiach.
Generations of such people, who came to the final golus from Europe, brought with them Torah and mitzvos, sometimes living very lonely lives. Others were more fortunate. Whether they learned late into the night in the Rocky Mountains or led quiet tishen on Friday nights in places very far from Mezhibuzh, they were slowly but surely removing the rocks that blocked the waters of Torah from flowing. History may not record their efforts, but everything that came after those pioneers is because they uncovered the holy spark of “achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh,” and our flourishing existence here proves it.
Rav Moshe Mordechai Shulsinger recalled that during one of Israel’s wars, people asked Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach how they might help. He offered two suggestions. The first was to recite the first brocha of Birkas Hamazon from a bentcher. The second was not to be “fartayned” all day. “Don’t be perpetually aggrieved,” he said. “Some people go through every day of their lives with complaints against everyone. People have complaints against their spouse, parents, children, rabbonim, rabbeim, moros, and chazzan. They think that other people have tried hurting them, harming them, and insulting them. People become bitter, angry, and upset, and get into arguments.”
Stop, Rav Shach advised. Stop complaining. Stop seeing only the incompetence of those around you and begin seeing the blessings.
“A person can spend his day in kapdanus and bitterness,” Rav Shach would say.
Don’t say that this is an empty place. Don’t say that the water is buried beneath a rock too heavy to move. Don’t say that everything is bleak and hopeless. Instead, think, “Achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh.” See the potential. See the good. Help remove the stones and pebbles that prevent people from growing.
A person who is aware that Hashem maps every step and writes every chapter lives with emunah and simcha. Nothing happens without purpose. Yaakov Avinu, facing loneliness, poverty, and deceit, never complained. He saw Hashem’s Hand: “Achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh.”
Never do we see him offering ta’anos, focused on the evil done to him. He never assumes the role of the nirdof. He isn’t consumed by Lovon’s spite.
He saw the Hand of Hashem there too. “Achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh.”
Thus, he emerged from Bais Lovon rich in family and possessions.
Chinuch works the same way — seeing the value in every child, lovingly encouraging and motivating them from a young age to do good and be good. Chinuch succeeds by helping a child believe in himself, strengthening his confidence, and letting him know that if he aims to succeed, he will.
Hashem crafted man as a wondrous, spectacular creation, and infused each person with worth. Closing the door on a person is losing sight of Hashem’s glory. Every soul carries kedusha. Achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh.
Where Yaakov revealed Hashem’s Presence, the Bais Hamikdosh will stand, a testimony that throughout the journey of golus, Hashem has accompanied us, guiding us home.
Dark or difficult as life may seem, remember: “Achein yeish Elokim bamakom hazeh.” We have the strength to roll stones away, to clear paths for ourselves and others. Challenges are surmountable through effort, tefillah, emunah, and bitachon.
And so, Rav Shach reminds us: Do not dwell in complaints. Do not see obstacles as insurmountable. See the blessings. See the potential. See Hashem’s Hand in every step.
With this awareness, life transforms. Stones become wells. Darkness becomes light. Exile becomes home. And in so doing, we hasten the coming of Moshiach, may he arrive speedily in our day.
{Matzav.com}
Choosing whether to take a smaller reward now or a larger one later may feel like an everyday decision, but scientists say it reflects deep biological patterns that shape lifelong health, StudyFinds.com reports. Researchers have uncovered evidence that the tendency to prioritize immediate rewards—known as delay discounting—has a genetic foundation and is linked to a wide array of medical and psychiatric outcomes.
A massive study involving close to 135,000 people identified 11 regions in human DNA tied to this behavioral trait. The findings challenge the idea that impatience is only a matter of upbringing or willpower and instead demonstrate that it is partly inherited, with clear ties to mental and physical well-being.
Participants in the study, run by the University of California San Diego in partnership with 23andMe, answered a set of 27 financial-choice questions. Those who repeatedly selected smaller immediate payouts were classified as having “steeper discounting.” Through this approach, researchers mapped out several genetic clusters connected to the behavior, many of which overlap with genes already known to influence intelligence, weight regulation, risk-taking tendencies, and psychiatric vulnerabilities.
The data suggest that inherited factors make up roughly 10% of the variability in how strongly someone favors immediate gratification. While environment still plays a dominant role, this genetic signature tends to stay consistent across many stages of life.
Some of the most striking findings centered on chromosome 6, where one DNA variant sits between two genes already associated with smoking, alcohol consumption, bipolar disorder, body weight, and risk-taking. Another genetic region on chromosome 16 contains 18 genes involved in brain development, intellectual functioning, and appetite-related behaviors. Abnormalities in this area have previously been observed in autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, and obesity.
Among the genes highlighted in the study was SULT1A1, which produces a dopamine-responsive enzyme within brain cells. Dopamine is widely known for its role in reward processing, making the connection especially noteworthy. Researchers also pointed to SH2B1, a gene with a key role in brain growth; mice lacking this gene exhibit developmental problems and higher aggression.
Published in Molecular Psychiatry, the research reveals that impatience has a complicated genetic profile. Steeper discounting showed strong genetic ties to obesity, depression, smoking, and ADHD, while the opposite pattern emerged for conditions such as anorexia, OCD, autism, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia—where individuals genetically prone to these disorders tend to wait for larger delayed rewards. Both extremes come with their own health burdens.
The strongest overlap between impatience and other traits involved intelligence and educational attainment. Even after adjusting statistically for those factors, the researchers still found 19 significant genetic correlations—including links to chronic pain, digestive diseases, smoking patterns, brain-activity markers, and body weight.
To see how these genetic signatures play out in medical settings, scientists generated delay discounting genetic risk scores for nearly 67,000 patients in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s biobank. Higher genetic risk was associated with 212 different medical diagnoses across the lifespan.
The expected connections—such as smoking behavior, addiction risk, and mood disorders—were present, but the list extended far beyond that. People with higher genetic risk showed increased rates of heart disease, respiratory problems like chronic airway obstruction, metabolic issues such as Type 2 diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, and long-term pain conditions.
Different age groups displayed different patterns. Higher genetic risk in young adults was associated with pregnancy complications. In middle age, the correlations included substance use disorders, depression, obesity, and diabetes. In older adults, cardiovascular problems dominated the list, including coronary artery disease and heart attacks.
Although many links weakened after controlling for smoking behavior—suggesting smoking is one pathway connecting impatience to health—numerous associations remained. Persistent links to certain cancers, skin conditions, and vision problems indicate that impatience affects health through multiple biological and behavioral channels.
This trait also shows up in addiction research: individuals with steeper discounting tend to have higher relapse rates when attempting to quit cigarettes. If scientific advances eventually allow clinical interventions to target the biological roots of impatience, treatments for addiction and other impulsive behaviors may become more effective.
Still, no single gene can predict who will be impatient. Thousands of small genetic variations each nudge the trait slightly. The study’s authors stress that simple consumer DNA tests have no power to forecast whether someone struggles with delaying gratification.
“Understanding the genetic and biological roots of delay discounting opens up many new possibilities,” says the study’s senior author Sandra Sanchez-Roige, associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “In the future, delay discounting could become a clinically useful marker, one that helps us improve behavioral and pharmacological treatments aimed at impulsivity.”
{Matzav.com}
WATCH:
WATCH:
LISTEN:
https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Bitachon4Life-Shiur-1641-Chikuy-Part-41-Most.mp3For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.
A highly anticipated concert celebrating the release of singer Naftali Kempeh’s new album has been abruptly canceled after intense public backlash, legal threats, and warnings from activists who said they intended to disrupt the performance.
The production company VMP announced Wednesday evening that the show—scheduled to take place at Yerushalayim’s Binyanei HaUma—would not go forward, following a storm triggered by the decision made a day earlier to shut down the women’s section entirely.
The concert had originally been promoted as a fully separated event, with designated men’s and women’s seating areas divided by a mechitzah. Despite selling several hundred tickets, producer Shalom Wagshel suddenly informed buyers that the women’s gallery was being scrapped and that refunds would be issued to all women who had purchased seats. The move came after mounting pressure and comparisons to another large-scale concert planned for Motzaei Shabbos Chanukah at the Yerushalayim Arena.
Wagshel has now confirmed that the entire event is being canceled. He described a wave of fierce criticism following Tuesday’s announcement, alongside legal threats and reports of groups of women organizing to attend the show specifically to disrupt it in protest.
In a lengthy public letter, the producers addressed ticket holders and fans of Jewish music:
“To all Jewish-music supporters, and especially to those who purchased tickets for the launch concert of Naftali Kempeh’s new album, we want to share the difficult process we have experienced since announcing this event, an event we have invested months of work into.”
The statement emphasized that the original plan adhered to standard modesty guidelines, with separate entrances and full separation throughout the venue, “as is customary in every beis knesses, simchah hall, and community event in our circles.”
However, organizers said the uproar surrounding the Arena concert—accused by tznius activists of failing to meet accepted standards—triggered a wave of communal pressure that spilled over onto their event.
“Many in the public viewed that concert as a serious breach,” the producers wrote. “As a result, heavy pressure was placed on rabbanim, which in turn pressured us to cancel the women’s section at our event, even though this is an entirely different production, held with complete separation and in full accordance with the traditions of our community.”
The team said removing the women’s section created a public chillul Hashem in other sectors, without achieving any practical result for those pushing the campaign. Meanwhile, the Arena event remains scheduled to proceed “as usual.”
According to the statement, the past 24 hours brought “a harsh media onslaught” from “extreme organizations” attempting to use the production as a symbol in wider national battles. Organizers said they also received legal threats, and “identified a coordinated effort by groups of women to purchase tickets in order to attend the concert and disrupt it as a protest.”
They added that the public pressure forced the Yerushalayim municipality to revoke the standard “Yerushalmi discount” typically offered to local cultural events, even though similarly structured concerts had previously been held with municipal support.
“We were dragged into a massive public struggle against our will,” they wrote, “one attempting to dictate to us and to the public how to live, how to conduct ourselves, and what our way of life should look like.”
Given the escalating controversy and the chilul Hashem caused by the way the issue was portrayed in the media, the producers said they could not proceed.
“In the situation that has been created… it does not seem right to hold this concert at this time. As the title says, we only wanted to bring joy. But where there is chilul Hashem and strife, joy cannot dwell.”
The production company confirmed that the concert is officially canceled and all purchasers will receive full refunds.
They closed with a message of thanks: “We express heartfelt appreciation to the dear buyers, and we deeply regret the disappointment. Special thanks to the thousands of men and women who sent supportive messages in recent days. We pray that in the future there will be a way to host events compatible with our lifestyle, in a kosher, sensitive manner that sanctifies Heaven’s Name. ‘He Who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace upon us and upon all Israel.’”
{Matzav.com}
Shas and United Torah Judaism submitted a formal complaint to the Israel Police on Wednesday against a senior member of the Peleg Yerushalmi, accusing him of “incitement to murder and calls for violence” following extreme comments broadcast on the faction’s telephone information lines.
According to the parties, the remarks were heard on call-in lines followed by thousands of listeners. In the recordings, the senior figure compared chareidi public representatives to Nazis and appeared to encourage direct harm against them.
Among the statements cited in the complaint was the claim that, “If we had today the Sanhedrin of old, they wouldn’t just be protesting outside the homes of those so-called shluchei derabbanan. They would simply burn them with fire.”
He also declared, “They remind me very much of the Germans in World War II… these hands are stained with the blood of Jews.”
Another excerpt stated: “The Jews in the death camps said in their hearts: If only I had the chance — I would slaughter those accursed Germans right now, based on ‘If someone comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first.’”
Shas and UTJ said in a joint statement that the rhetoric represents “severe and shocking incitement that effectively permits the spilling of the blood of chareidi representatives.” They added that, in recent weeks, this “dangerous atmosphere” has already contributed to attempted violent attacks and even break-ins at the homes of senior lawmakers, including Shas chairman Aryeh Deri; UTJ chairman Moshe Gafni; MK Yoav Ben-Tzur; MK Yinon Azulai; MK Uri Maklev; and MK Yaakov Asher.
“We demand that law-enforcement authorities act to the fullest extent of the law against the sources of incitement and violence, before blood is spilled, G-d forbid,” the parties said.
{Matzav.com}
