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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani welcomed mayors and other officials from around the world Saturday for the start of a three-day Urban 20 Summit focused on housing affordability, climate policy and immigration, even as much of the gathering’s opening-day schedule remained closed to the press and several meeting locations were not publicly disclosed.

New York City and Los Angeles are co-chairing this year’s U20, which brings together major cities to develop recommendations intended to influence discussions among national governments at the G20. The 2026 agenda is centered on affordable housing and homelessness, climate and sustainability, and immigration and human mobility.

Mamdani delivered opening remarks in New York on Saturday, where he and other city leaders were scheduled to discuss what his administration described as “practical solutions” to “rising housing costs, the climate crisis and migration.”

While City Hall publicly announced the summit and its policy agenda, access to many of Saturday’s events was restricted. Most activities were closed to the general press, and only selected news organizations were permitted to attend Mamdani’s opening remarks. The location of the event was also not publicly disclosed, according to the New York Post.

Mamdani’s public schedule also included a visit to an undisclosed wastewater treatment facility alongside Helsinki Mayor Daniel Sazonov, Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni and Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri. According to the Post, media footage approved for release was expected to be distributed later rather than allowing general press access to the visit.

The mayor was additionally scheduled to hold private meetings at undisclosed locations with Collboni and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema.

During his opening remarks, Mamdani portrayed the gathering as an opportunity for cities around the world to cooperate on problems he said transcend national boundaries. Among the issues he highlighted were making cities more affordable, responding to “the growing impact of the climate crisis,” and opposing right-wing political movements that, in his words, make it “their mission to demonize and terrorize immigrants.”

“As we hold panels, conversations and plenary sessions, my sincere hope is that this conference marks only the beginning of a new era of cooperation and emulation,” Mamdani said in remarks he subsequently posted on social media.

City Hall said the summit is expected to bring together 25 mayors as well as deputy mayors and other senior officials representing 34 cities in G20 countries. Participants include officials from cities across the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The summit’s official agenda includes discussions about increasing affordable housing, protecting tenants, reducing energy costs, supporting immigrant communities, creating jobs and preparing cities for extreme heat, flooding and other effects associated with climate change.

Los Angeles is serving as co-host of the New York-based gathering. New York and Los Angeles assumed leadership of the U20 following Johannesburg and Tshwane, South Africa, which co-chaired the organization in 2025.

Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of International Affairs Dilpreet Sidhu addressed participants and is co-chairing the summit alongside Mamdani, according to the Post.

Among the international officials reportedly attending are Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung and Mexico City Head of Government Clara Brugada, in addition to leaders from European cities including Barcelona, Rome, Helsinki and Amsterdam.

The Urban 20 was launched in 2017 as a mechanism for major cities to coordinate policy priorities and present a collective position to G20 national governments. Its principal annual product is a communiqué containing proposals and requests from participating cities for consideration by national leaders.

This year’s gathering runs from September 19 through September 21 and coincides with the beginning of Climate Week NYC. According to City Hall, the summit is scheduled to conclude Sunday with participating officials ratifying a communiqué setting out their shared agenda, after which representatives of national governments, the United Nations and other international organizations will be invited to respond.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the sudden and shocking petirah of Rav Chaim Yisroel Weinfeld zt”l, the longtime rov of Khal Toras Chaim of Flatbush, a distinguished talmid chacham whose life was defined by unwavering devotion to Torah and decades of selfless dedication to his kehillah.

Rav Weinfeld suffered a heart attack at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Despite efforts to save his life, he was niftar shortly before 4 p.m.

The devastating news has spread rapidly throughout Flatbush in the hours before Shabbos, leaving his family, mispallelim, talmidim, friends and countless others stunned by the sudden loss.

For many years, Rav Weinfeld was synonymous with his shul, Khal Toras Chaim D’Flatbush, the shul located at 2201 Avenue L, near East 22nd Street in Brooklyn. To generations of families in the neighborhood, however, it was known far more simply: “Rabbi Weinfeld’s Shul.”

That informal name captured something fundamental about the relationship between the rav and the kehillah he served. This was not merely a shul at which Rav Weinfeld occupied the rabbinic position. It was a kehillah whose members he carried with him, rejoicing in their simchos, standing alongside them in difficult moments, answering their shailos, teaching them Torah, and making their concerns his own.

Indeed, an extraordinary glimpse into Rav Weinfeld’s life as a rav was provided several years ago by his daughter, Mrs. Tzippy Halioua, who wrote about growing up in the home of the rav of Khal Toras Chaim.

She described a father for whom every member of the shul was precious, writing that “every one of the mispallelim in my father’s shul is like his child.” She recalled that her father would go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that he did not miss a simchah of a member of the kehillah. The same devotion was present when families experienced hardship, although Rav Weinfeld’s deep respect for their privacy meant that even his own family often did not know the details of what he was quietly doing for others.

That discretion was emblematic of Rav Weinfeld. The avodas hakodesh of a true rav often takes place away from public view — the phone calls, the private conversations, the shailos, the worries carried home, the visits and words of encouragement that never become known beyond the people involved. Rav Weinfeld’s rabbonus was built upon that intensely personal relationship with his mispallelim.

Yet even before he was the rav whom others turned to, Rav Weinfeld was, at his essence, a ben Torah.

His extraordinary attachment to learning was not something reserved for a shiur or a public setting. It formed the rhythm of his life.

His daughter recalled that throughout her childhood, regardless of the season or circumstances, there was one thing she could know with absolute certainty: if she awoke at 4 o’clock in the morning, she would find her father in his study with his Gemara.

It was, she wrote, as predictable as sunrise.

And when she returned home from school later in the day, he would again be learning, this time with a chavrusa. Torah was not something the Weinfeld children needed to be told was important. They saw its primacy every single day in their own home.

That image — a quiet home in Flatbush in the predawn hours, with Rav Weinfeld already sitting over his Gemara — perhaps captures his life better than any lengthy description could.

Day after day, year after year, the learning continued.

It was not occasional inspiration or a schedule adopted for a particular period. It was constancy. His days were constructed around Torah, with his responsibilities as a rav and his responsibilities to others woven into a life whose foundation remained uninterrupted limud haTorah.

Rav Weinfeld was known as a massive talmid chacham, but those who encountered him understood that his Torah knowledge was accompanied by the sense of responsibility that comes with it. His Torah was there to be learned, taught and lived — and to provide direction to those who turned to him.

Over the years, he maintained regular chavrusa learning and delivered a Daf Yomi shiur, among his other learning commitments. His daily schedule reflected the consistency with which he learned and transmitted Torah to others.

His daughter would later write that there was no single dramatic anecdote that encapsulated her father. Rather, it was the accumulation of innumerable moments: the time invested in his Daf Yomi shiur, his daily chavrusa learning, his determination to be home for Shabbos, and the way he placed his time for others ahead of his own needs.

That, in many ways, was Rav Weinfeld.

There are lives defined by individual accomplishments, and there are lives defined by consistency — thousands upon thousands of ordinary days lived extraordinarily. Another early morning with a Gemara. Another chavrusa. Another shiur. Another shailah. Another simchah at which the rav made certain to appear. Another family experiencing difficulty that discovered that its rav was quietly standing beside it.

Together, those days became decades of harbotzas haTorah and avodas hakodesh.

Khal Toras Chaim became an established fixture of the Flatbush Torah landscape under Rav Weinfeld’s leadership. For decades, he served as a source of Torah, guidance and stability to the families who called the shul their spiritual home.

His influence was felt not through fanfare, but through the daily life of a kehillah. A rav sees families through generations. He watches young couples become parents and grandparents. He celebrates births, bar mitzvahs and weddings, and stands with the same families through illness and loss. He answers questions whose importance outsiders may never understand and becomes a constant presence through the changing stages of people’s lives.

That was the bond Rav Weinfeld cultivated with his mispallelim.

And yet, for all that he gave to his kehillah, his family saw something else: the source from which it all came.

His daughter wrote that only as an adult did she fully recognize what it meant to have grown up in a home with a father “whose entire life is only Torah.”

There could scarcely be a more succinct description of his existence.

The Torah he learned at 4 a.m. was the Torah he brought to the people who sought his guidance later that day. The hasmadah his children witnessed privately was the foundation of the authority and wisdom his mispallelim experienced publicly. His life as a talmid chacham and his life as a rav were not separate endeavors; they were two expressions of the same avodas Hashem.

Rav Weinfeld also leaves behind an important continuation of that legacy through his family.

Among his sons-in-law is Hagaon Rav Yosef Halioua, who serves as one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin. Rav Yosef is the son of Hagaon Rav Shlomo Halioua zt”l, the late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, whose own sudden petirah in 2024 shook the Torah world. Following Rav Shlomo’s petirah, Rav Yosef Halioua and Rav Tzvi Fink were appointed roshei yeshiva of Chaim Berlin.

The sudden petirah of Rav Weinfeld on Erev Shabbos brought an abrupt end to a lifetime in which the constancy itself was so striking. A man whom his family could expect to find learning before dawn, whom his mispallelim could expect to find at their simchos, and whom so many could approach for Torah and guidance was suddenly no longer there.

For the mispallelim of Khal Toras Chaim, the loss is intensely personal. They have lost not merely the rav who stood at the front of their shul, but the person who had accompanied their families through the milestones and challenges of life.

For Flatbush, the loss is that of a longtime rav and talmid chacham who was woven into the fabric of the neighborhood’s Torah life.

And for his family, the loss is of the husband, father and grandfather whose quiet example taught perhaps more powerfully than words ever could what it means for Torah to occupy the center of a person’s existence.

Rav Weinfeld is survived by his Rebbetzin, his children, grandchildren and extended family, including his daughter Mrs. Tzippy Halioua, wife of his son-in-law, Rav Yosef Halioua, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin.

The shock of the petirah is compounded by its suddenness. Only hours separated an ordinary Friday from the devastating news that a longtime marbitz Torah and rav had been taken from his family and kehillah.

But the thousands of hours Rav Weinfeld spent over a Gemara, the Torah he taught, the shailos he answered, the families he guided, the simchos he attended, and the quiet acts of responsibility performed over decades remain embedded in the lives of those he touched.

The image his daughter described now takes on a painful new meaning: Rav Chaim Yisroel Weinfeld sitting with his Gemara in the stillness of the early morning, long before most of the neighborhood had awakened.

For his children, it meant they never needed to be told how important Torah was.

For his mispallelim and all those who knew him, that lesson will now remain part of his enduring legacy.

Levayah and kevurah information will be published as details become available.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

Hezbollah has reportedly begun staging unusual propaganda tours at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in which supporters are blindfolded and taken through an experience intended to recreate aspects of the devastating September 2024 pager attack against the terror group.

Reports emerging from Lebanon on Friday said Hezbollah operatives were conducting the tours at the country’s main international airport, located adjacent to Beirut’s southern suburbs, including the Dahiyeh area long regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold. Participants are reportedly blindfolded as part of an effort to simulate the confusion and vulnerability experienced during the attack.

The tours are being held as Hezbollah and its supporters mark two years since the extraordinary intelligence operation that struck thousands of the organization’s members and associates across Lebanon.

Details about the airport program remain limited. JFeed reported Friday that Hezbollah operatives are offering supporters what it described as an “experience” of the pager attack, with participants wearing blindfolds during the presentation. As of Friday, major international news agencies and Lebanese news organizations reviewed by Matzav had not independently reported the airport tours, and it was not immediately clear whether Lebanese airport authorities had formally approved the activity.

The reported event comes amid renewed attention in Lebanon to the September 17 and 18, 2024 attacks, in which pagers and other communications devices used by Hezbollah suddenly exploded across the country.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. on September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah members began detonating nearly simultaneously. A second wave followed the next day, when walkie-talkies and other communications equipment exploded. The blasts killed dozens and wounded thousands, including numerous Hezbollah operatives as well as civilians.

The operation was eventually acknowledged by Israel. The IDF has since publicly described the pager attack as a joint Mossad and Israeli military intelligence operation whose preparations stretched back years. According to an IDF account published in 2025, Israeli intelligence personnel monitored the devices before the order was given to activate them simultaneously on September 17.

Reuters subsequently reported that the pagers had been constructed with a small quantity of PETN plastic explosive concealed within specially designed batteries. The devices were built to survive Hezbollah’s security checks, including X-ray screening, while appearing to be ordinary communications equipment. A network of fake commercial material was also created to give the devices a convincing history and help them pass Hezbollah’s scrutiny.

The operation dealt Hezbollah one of the most unusual intelligence and security blows in its history. Many of the victims suffered severe injuries to their hands, faces and eyes because the pagers sounded shortly before exploding, prompting users to pick them up and look at their screens. Accounts from survivors have described blindness, amputations and other permanent injuries.

The blasts also triggered immediate security concerns at Beirut’s international airport. Within days of the attack, Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation prohibited passengers from carrying pagers or walkie-talkies aboard aircraft departing from Beirut, whether in checked luggage, carry-on baggage or air cargo.

The timing of the reported Hezbollah tours is particularly notable: September 17 marked the second anniversary of the pager operation. Lebanese media this week have published extensive retrospectives examining how Israeli intelligence penetrated Hezbollah’s communications procurement system and how the organization failed to uncover the operation before the devices were activated.

The airport “experience,” if the reports are accurate, appears to represent an effort by Hezbollah to incorporate one of its most damaging security failures into its own narrative for supporters — transforming the episode into an immersive presentation two years after the attack.

There is also an unusual irony surrounding the choice of venue. Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport was precisely where authorities imposed restrictions on pagers and walkie-talkies after the 2024 explosions. Now, according to Friday’s report, Hezbollah is using the airport itself to stage an experience recalling the attack.

{Matzav.com}

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Friday aimed at accelerating state oversight of artificial intelligence, including exploring a requirement that developers of advanced AI systems create an emergency “kill switch” that could shut down frontier models if they pose a serious threat. The order also calls for faster implementation of California’s recently enacted independent AI auditing and oversight programs.

Newsom coupled the announcement with criticism of the Trump administration’s approach to regulating the rapidly developing technology, accusing the federal government of abdicating “its responsibility to protect Americans.” The governor called for Washington to adopt stronger national AI safeguards as increasingly capable systems are developed.

Under the executive order, California will convene experts to develop recommendations for strengthening the state’s existing AI safety laws. Among the proposals to be considered are independent safety assessments of frontier AI companies and mechanisms allowing advanced models to be shut down during emergencies.

“We’re not waiting to act – we’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late. We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action,” Newsom said.

Newsom also used a video posted to his personal YouTube channel to criticize President Donald Trump’s position on additional AI regulation.

“There’s still no comprehensive federal law, none, requiring AI companies to report dangerous incidents when they happen, and President Trump has rejected calls for new regulation. No new regulation. Let it rip. He’s dead wrong,” Newsom said.

The executive order is also intended to accelerate implementation of California laws establishing a system for independent organizations to evaluate artificial intelligence models for safety and risk. Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405 earlier this month, establishing frameworks for independent AI verification organizations and a state registry for AI auditors.

The order moves up the implementation timetable for California’s AI auditor registry and oversight program, with the governor seeking to have key elements in place by December 2027 rather than January 2029.

Newsom acknowledged that precisely what an AI “kill switch” would entail remains unsettled. His order calls for experts to study the issue and develop recommendations, rather than immediately imposing a finalized shutdown mechanism on AI companies.

A kill switch “means a lot of things depending on who you talk to,” Newsom said, adding, “So we want to flesh out exactly what that means and how to come up with a framework that works.”

The issue has also surfaced in Washington. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., sought this week to advance federal legislation addressing an emergency shutdown mechanism for powerful AI systems, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked the effort.

“I think it would be crazy to get on the floor one day and regulate an entire industry,” Paul told reporters. He argued that passing such a piece of legislation would require input from industry leaders.

President Trump has generally favored accelerating American AI development while resisting regulatory measures that his administration says could impede innovation and weaken the United States in its technological competition with China. At the same time, the administration has adopted AI-related rules in national-security settings, including a June directive requiring military and intelligence AI systems to be robust, controllable and subject to clear lines of accountability.

Trump has also repeatedly promoted the construction of data centers and other infrastructure needed for the rapidly expanding AI industry, while warning that slowing American development could allow China to gain an advantage.

On Monday, Trump rejected calls for additional federal restrictions on artificial intelligence amid warnings from prominent figures in the technology industry, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk, about potential risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are being barred from the White House, accusing the three news organizations of repeatedly disseminating false reporting about his administration and warning that additional media outlets could face similar restrictions. The move, which Trump said was effective immediately, was confirmed by multiple news organizations Friday.

Trump disclosed the decision in a post on Truth Social, where he sharply criticized all three outlets and explained his reasons for excluding them from the White House.

“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them ‘alive.’ Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote.

The President said the action was prompted by what he characterized as persistent falsehoods in coverage of him, his administration and the country, while indicating that Friday’s announcement might not be the last such action.

He continued, “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

The announcement marked the latest chapter in Trump’s long-running clashes with major news organizations, with CNN in particular having frequently been the target of his criticism. The Associated Press noted that the scope and enforcement of the newly announced ban were not immediately clear, while the restrictions are expected to raise legal questions involving press access and First Amendment protections.

One of Trump’s most prominent confrontations with CNN came during his first term in 2018, when the White House temporarily revoked the press credentials of CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta following a contentious exchange at a presidential news conference.

In the aftermath of that dispute, Trump suggested establishing a new U.S.-based international television network that could compete with CNN and present what he said would be a more positive picture of the United States to viewers overseas.

Trump’s disputes with members of the press have extended well beyond CNN. During an April 2020 White House briefing, he clashed with Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker after Rucker questioned him about a Department of Homeland Security presentation concerning research into the possible effects of heat and humidity on the coronavirus.

“I’m the president and you’re fake news,” Trump responded, adding, “It’s a just a suggestion from a brilliant lab, from a very very smart, perhaps brilliant man. He’s talking about sun, he’s talking about heat. And you see the numbers. That’s it, that’s all I have. I’m just here to present talent. I’m here to present ideas.”

The latest restrictions also come after other battles between the Trump administration and news organizations over White House access. In 2025, the Associated Press challenged restrictions placed on its access after it declined to adopt the administration’s preferred terminology for the Gulf of Mexico, a dispute that resulted in ongoing litigation.

Shelly Meshel-Yogev, the mother of Libby Cohen Meguri, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023 massacre, confronted Aharon Haliva, the former head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, during an unexpected encounter in a park on Friday, accusing him of failing to personally face her family in the aftermath of the disaster.

Cohen Meguri was murdered while trying to flee the Supernova music festival massacre. During the emotional confrontation, Meshel-Yogev told Haliva that despite the fact that he lives close to the family and knows Libby’s father, he had never reached out to them or come to see them.

“You live a kilometer from our house, and you never came. You know her father, and you didn’t come. Don’t lie,” Meshel-Yogev said in a video of the encounter posted to her Instagram account.

Meshel-Yogev continued, directly blaming Haliva for the intelligence failures preceding the Hamas invasion and demanding that he acknowledge the magnitude of what happened.

“Where are you? Where were you? My daughter was buried because of you! You should feel humiliated and carry responsibility, and not breathe and say, ‘I want to come to you, I want to cry with you, because I am also suffering.’ You should say you are suffering like me! You don’t understand this?” she told Haliva.

She contrasted Haliva’s conduct with that of Herzi Halevi, the former IDF chief of staff, who she said had personally contacted the family.

“You didn’t bother to talk to us once – unlike [former IDF Chief of Staff] Herzi Halevi, who called and said I want to come. Where are you? Where have you been?”

Video from the encounter shows Haliva standing and listening as Meshel-Yogev speaks to him. He does not answer her during the recorded exchange.

Haliva stepped down as head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate in 2024, announcing his resignation in April, approximately six months after the October 7 massacre. In his resignation letter, Haliva publicly accepted responsibility for the Intelligence Directorate’s failure to provide the warning expected of it before the Hamas attack. His departure officially took effect in August 2024.

“The Intelligence Department under my command did not fulfill the mission we were entrusted with. I carry that dark day with me since then, day by day, night by night. I will forever carry with me the tremendous pain of the war,” he wrote.

Haliva returned to the subject publicly in August 2025, when Channel 12 aired recordings in which he discussed at length the failures surrounding October 7 and his view of the responsibility borne by Israel’s military and political leadership.

“I took responsibility. They won’t forgive me for October 7th – I failed,” he said.

Haliva argued in the recordings that the catastrophe resulted not simply from an individual mistake, but from deeply rooted assumptions that had taken hold throughout Israel’s security establishment.

“It’s not arrogance, it’s a whole culture. We got used to thinking we knew everything – IDF Intelligence, Shin Bet, Mossad – and the enemy was deterred. This wasn’t an accident that you just change four tires and move on. It requires deconstruction and rebuilding.”

In those recordings, Haliva also addressed Halevi’s conduct before the attack, contending that the prevailing assumptions about Hamas were shared broadly among senior security officials.

“Herzi was not negligent – he was paranoid. He didn’t wake me up at night, but even if he did, I would have gone back to sleep. That was the mindset we all had.”

Haliva also offered a harsh assessment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as an “attentive, situation-reading man – but a coward. He failed the test of results.”

Discussing his own responsibility as the officer who headed IDF Intelligence at the time of the massacre, Haliva said that he had not sought to conceal his role in the failures and had acknowledged it openly before other officers.

“I’m accountable for the investigations at IDF Intelligence, to dozens of officers, in bright sunlight. Nothing was hidden. This happened on my watch. I despise anyone who says, ‘That wouldn’t have happened to me.’ I was the CEO of a monster – and I’m responsible. Period.”

A Sefer Torah stolen nearly two weeks ago from the Chabad House in Haifa’s German Colony has been returned to the shul in an extraordinary turn of events, after a Jewish man recognized the Sefer Torah from publicity surrounding its disappearance, paid the non-Jew who was holding it, and personally arranged for its return.

The recovery, which took place Thursday, came just days before Yom Kippur and brought tremendous relief to the Chabad House, which had been left without its only kosher Sefer Torah.

The saga began on Shabbos Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech, when the Sefer Torah disappeared from the Chabad House. The disappearance was subsequently publicized in an effort to locate it.

At the time, police issued a statement saying that the Sefer Torah had been located and returned to the shul and that the incident apparently had not involved a theft. Chabad officials, however, disputed that account, insisting that the Sefer Torah had indeed been stolen and remained missing.

With Rosh Hashanah only days away, the disappearance caused particular distress because the stolen Sefer Torah was the only kosher one belonging to the shul.

“There was a theft, and the Sefer Torah was not returned,” Rabbi Ben Tzion Gagula said at the time. “The Sefer Torah that disappeared was the only kosher Sefer Torah in the shul. We are three days before Rosh Hashanah and we have no Sefer Torah. The door was locked, everything was locked. Apparently, they entered through the window.”

The breakthrough finally came Thursday evening.

A Jewish man who had seen the publicity surrounding the missing Sefer Torah contacted Rabbi Gagula with startling news: the Sefer Torah was in his possession.

According to the account provided by the Chabad House, the man had encountered a non-Jew who was holding the Sefer Torah. Having seen the reports about the theft, he realized that it appeared to be the missing Sefer Torah from the Chabad House.

Rather than risk losing track of it, the man used his own money to purchase the Sefer Torah from the individual who had it, intending from the outset to return it to its rightful home.

Once the Sefer Torah was safely returned, members of the Chabad House offered to reimburse the man for everything he had spent to recover it. He refused.

The man, who asked that his identity remain private, explained that once he realized he had encountered the stolen Sefer Torah, he felt there was no question that he had to do whatever was necessary to bring it home.

“It was truly a miracle,” Rabbi Gagula said emotionally. “This righteous Jew acted quickly, redeemed the Sefer Torah with his own money and brought it to us. He called me in the evening and informed me that he had the Sefer Torah in his possession. He even brought it all the way to the area of my home.”

For Rabbi Gagula and the members of the Chabad House, seeing their Sefer Torah again after nearly two weeks of uncertainty was an emotional moment made all the more powerful by its timing, just before Yom Kippur.

“It was an excitement that is impossible to describe,” Rabbi Gagula said. “After almost two weeks in which we did not know where the Sefer Torah was or what had happened to it, suddenly it was found and returned to us. To see again the Sefer Torah that we had been missing, especially when it is just a few days before Yom Kippur, is truly an enormous joy.”

The anonymous man’s refusal to accept reimbursement added another dimension to the story.

“We told him that we wanted to reimburse him for what he paid, but he would not agree under any circumstances,” Rabbi Gagula said. “He did it for the sake of Heaven, to save the Sefer Torah and return it to its place. It is an act of kindness that is difficult to remain indifferent to.”

During Rosh Hashanah, while their own Sefer Torah remained missing, the Chabad House had been forced to use a borrowed Sefer Torah for the Yom Tov davening.

Now, just days before Yom Kippur, their own Sefer Torah is back where it belongs.

“We thank first and foremost Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who performed this miracle for us, and we thank that righteous Jew who redeemed the Sefer Torah, as well as everyone who helped, worried, publicized and prayed,” Rabbi Gagula said. “After we held the Rosh Hashanah prayers with a borrowed Sefer Torah, now, just a few days before Yom Kippur, the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranged matters so that the Sefer Torah returned to us. We are entering the holy day with a feeling of gratitude and tremendous joy.”

{Matzav.com}

A 49-year-old Breslover chassid from Beitar Illit was detained while attempting to leave Ukraine following Rosh Hashanah in Uman and was reportedly taken for compulsory service in the Ukrainian military after authorities determined that he was subject to the country’s wartime mobilization requirements.

The man, an Israeli citizen who was originally born in Ukraine and has lived in Israel for many years, was stopped at the Romanian border while making his way back to Israel. According to sources, his family has since lost all contact with him and does not know where he is being held.

The man, who became religious later in life and subsequently settled in Israel, had traveled to Uman for Rosh Hashanah together with the thousands of Breslover chassidim who spend the Yom Tov near the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov.

The trouble reportedly began when Ukrainian authorities examined his documents as he attempted to cross the border into Romania.

A source familiar with the incident described what happened at the crossing.

“He spoke to them in Ukrainian, and then they took him aside and checked him and discovered that he was required to enlist, and they simply arrested him. The family has no communication whatsoever with the father, and they are extremely worried.”

The incident has left the man’s family and members of the Breslover community scrambling for assistance, with efforts underway to determine both his whereabouts and whether there is any legal avenue through which he can be released and permitted to return to Israel.

A Breslover community activist involved in efforts to help the family said that numerous rabbis and communal figures in Ukraine had already been contacted, but thus far no solution had been found.

“We are at a loss. We have reached out to all the rabbis and community activists in Ukraine, and no one has a solution for how to get him released.”

Friends and acquaintances of the detained man are now urgently reaching out to individuals with connections and influence in Ukraine in the hope of securing his release and returning him to his family in Israel.

Compounding the family’s distress is the fact that they reportedly have limited financial resources and have not been able to retain an attorney to represent him.

A community activist familiar with the case said that the situation appears particularly difficult because neither the detained man nor his family has the connections or resources that might help them navigate the Ukrainian system.

“The story is tragic because the man has no connections and the family does not have the money to hire a lawyer, and it looks like the man may simply remain there for a long time. No one has any idea where he is.”

According to the sources, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has been contacted and is attempting to assist the family. At this stage, however, officials reportedly have not even been able to establish precisely where the man was taken after his detention.

The Foreign Ministry told the family that its immediate effort is to determine his whereabouts, since his current location remains unknown.

The case comes against the backdrop of Ukraine’s wartime mobilization rules, under which Ukrainian men who fall within designated categories can face restrictions on leaving the country and may be subject to military service.

For the man’s family in Israel, the immediate concern is establishing contact with him and determining where he has been taken.

As of Friday, his relatives and members of the Breslover community were continuing urgent efforts to locate him and find a way to secure his release, with the family anxiously awaiting any word about his condition or whereabouts.

After nearly six decades at the helm of one of France’s longstanding Torah communities, Rav Shmuel Akiva Yaffe-Schlesinger, the longtime rav and av bais din of Strasbourg’s Eitz Chaim kehillah and one of France’s senior rabbonim, has announced that he intends to step down from his position.

Rav Schlesinger made the announcement during the regular shiur he delivers each Thursday via Zoom to members of his kehillah, bringing toward a close an extraordinary period in which he has been virtually synonymous with the Torah community of Strasbourg.

During his remarks, Rav Schlesinger also addressed his absence from Strasbourg for Rosh Hashanah, the first time in decades that he had not spent the Yom Tov together with his kehillah. He apologized to community members for not being present and explained his circumstances before turning to the question of the kehillah’s rabbinic leadership going forward.

Rav Schlesinger stressed that the selection of his successor is not his decision to make and that he cannot determine for the members of the kehillah who should serve as their next permanent rav.

For the interim period, however, Rav Schlesinger recommended Rav Yosef Chaim Waknin as a rabbinic address for the community until a permanent decision is reached.

Rav Waknin, a native of Aix-les-Bains, France, currently serves as a maggid shiur in a kollel in Strasbourg. Rav Schlesinger spoke warmly of him during the shiur, describing him as a yerei Shomayim and also noting his experience as a mohel and the excellent manner in which he performs brissim.

His comments were widely understood as a clear recommendation that members of Eitz Chaim turn to Rav Waknin during the transitional period, even as Rav Schlesinger carefully reiterated that the ultimate choice of the kehillah’s next permanent rav belongs to the community.

The announcement marks the end of a remarkable chapter in the history of Strasbourg’s Orthodox Jewish community.

Rav Schlesinger was born in 1939 into a distinguished rabbinic family. His father, Rav Mordechai Yaffe-Schlesinger, served as the final rav of Eisenstadt, Austria, before World War II. The family fled Europe during the year of Rav Shmuel Akiva’s birth and settled in Eretz Yisroel.

Rav Schlesinger subsequently learned at Yeshivas Slabodka and later continued his learning in the United States, where he was privileged to study, among others, under Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l.

Over the course of his many decades in Strasbourg, Rav Schlesinger became one of the central figures of Torah life in the city. As the leader of the Eitz Chaim kehillah, he delivered shiurim, rendered halachic rulings and provided guidance to generations of families.

His responsibilities extended far beyond the walls of the shul. Rav Schlesinger was deeply involved in matters of kashrus, the local kollel and bais medrash, and other aspects of communal Torah life. Over the years, he became one of the most prominent rabbinic figures not only in Strasbourg and the Alsace region, but in French Jewry as a whole.

The extraordinary length of Rav Schlesinger’s tenure had already been formally celebrated nearly a decade ago. In 2017, Eitz Chaim held a special kiddush commemorating 50 years since he had assumed leadership of the kehillah.

Nearly another decade has passed since that milestone, meaning that Rav Schlesinger’s retirement comes after close to 60 years during which his name and that of the Eitz Chaim community have been closely intertwined.

Eitz Chaim itself is one of Strasbourg’s veteran Orthodox kehillos. Its shul is located on Rue Turenne, where the community established itself after moving from its previous location in the late 1990s.

Over the years, a broad Torah infrastructure developed around the shul, including a bais medrash, kollel and regular shiurim, with Rav Schlesinger serving as the central rabbinic figure of the kehillah throughout those decades.

The past several years also brought Rav Schlesinger a profound personal loss. In Tammuz 5784, his wife, Rebbetzin Sarah Schlesinger a”h, passed away following more than 60 years of marriage.

Rebbetzin Schlesinger, a daughter of Rav Chaim Tzvi Kruger zt”l, av bais din of Brussels, stood alongside her husband for decades as he carried the responsibilities of the rabbonus and built the Strasbourg kehillah. Following her petirah, she was brought to kevurah in Yerushalayim.

The Schlesinger family has long been prominent in the rabbinic world of Europe and the United States. Two of Rav Schlesinger’s sons, Rav Yisroel Dovid Schlesinger and Rav Yehoshua Eliezer Schlesinger, serve as rabbonim in Monsey, New York.

Rav Schlesinger’s brother, Rav Avrohom Yaffe-Schlesinger, author of Be’er Sarim, served for decades as the rav of the Machzikei Hadas kehillah in Geneva, Switzerland.

Toward the conclusion of his remarks, Rav Schlesinger made a special request of Strasbourg residents, urging them to attend the Shabbos Shuvah drashah that will be delivered by Rav Waknin.

The members of Eitz Chaim will now face the consequential task of determining the future rabbinic leadership of their kehillah following an era spanning nearly 60 years.

Rav Schlesinger made clear that the final decision rests with the community. At the same time, for the immediate transition, he left his longtime mispallelim with a clear recommendation: Rav Yosef Chaim Waknin should serve as a rabbinic address as Eitz Chaim prepares for a new chapter in its storied history.

{Matzav.com}