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Israel’s Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich strongly pushed back against MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism following Gafni’s sharp criticism of Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer over the ongoing debate surrounding the gezeiras giyus.

Smotrich did not hold back, making it clear that the religious Zionist camp does not require validation from Gafni or his circle.

“Knesset Member Gafni, religious Zionism and its Torah world really don’t need your approval. Certainly not Minister Ofir Sofer, who has proven his dedication to the people of Israel with his body when he was severely wounded on the battlefield and received a medal.”

He went on to turn the focus back on Gafni, calling on him to take a more direct and consistent position. “Instead of attacking religious Zionist heroes, it’s best you put out a clear statement: whoever doesn’t study Torah should immediately enlist. It’s that simple,” Smotrich stated.

The argument erupted Thursday, when Minister Sofer addressed the chareidi Knesset members ahead of their meeting with gedolim to discuss the proposed draft law. Sofer urged them to reconsider their current approach and adopt a more practical path forward.

“Instead of talking to rabbis who will advance a bill that doesn’t have a majority, since I will oppose it together with other coalition Knesset members, ask them to call on those who don’t study to enlist and assist in the war,” Sofer said.

Gafni reacted sharply to those comments, expressing strong objection to Sofer’s remarks and his involvement in the issue. “Ofir Sofer has no idea about the importance of Torah study and its place in protecting the existence of the Jewish people for generations. He should focus on the matters of aliyah and integration he is charged with, and not intervene in matters which he does not understand.”

{Matzav.com}

A deeply moving story of chesed surfaced during a recent Israeli radio program hosted by Menachem Toker, when a listener shared a personal encounter that revealed a lesser-known side of singer Meidad Tasa.

The caller, identified as Dovid, recounted that several years ago, as a young yungerman shopping for Shabbos on a tight budget, he found himself short on funds at the checkout. “I got to the register and realized the total was more than what I had,” he said. Standing nearby at the time was Meidad Tasa.

According to Dovid, Tasa did not know him and did not wait to be asked for help. “He called me over to the side while the cashier was scanning the items and said to me, ‘I get tips at events,’” Dovid recalled. Moments later, Tasa quietly handed him money—almost exactly the amount he was missing. “He gave me 200 shekels; I was short 190-something,” he said, still emotional. The entire act was carried out with complete tznius, without drawing any attention. “He really did it humbly, quietly, from his jacket.”

Toker was visibly moved by the account and immediately tried to reach Tasa live on air. At first, the singer’s wife answered the phone and expressed surprise upon hearing the story. “About Meidad, who is a tzaddik, I can testify to that in every sense of the word,” she said. Shortly afterward, Tasa himself joined the broadcast, explaining that he had just woken up from a nap and was on his way to pick up his children from gan.

When Toker mentioned the supermarket incident, Tasa sounded both embarrassed and taken aback. “Wow, wow, wow, I can’t believe it,” he said. He then shared a personal story that sheds light on his approach to giving.

He described how, on the day of his wedding, as he was heading to the mikveh, he realized he had only two shekels in his pocket. “I said to Hashem, I’m a chosson and I only have two shekels in my pocket?” At that moment, he encountered a poor person and chose to give him the last coins he had. “I said: Ribono Shel Olam, I’m giving him these two shekels and You will take care of me.” Since then, he said, he has felt that he is constantly being taken care of from Shamayim.

During the conversation, Tasa also repeated a phrase he often attributes to his mother, which has become a guiding principle in his life: “Minus in the bank, plus in the home.” When asked what he meant, he explained, “A person shouldn’t worry too much about the bank… The main thing is that there should be a plus in the home.”

The story left a strong impression on listeners, as Tasa emphasized that for him, the ability to help another Yid is itself a privilege. “I feel it’s a great merit that I was even able to give to him. He did a chesed with me,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

A widow of the Meron tragedy has come forward with a painful account of her experience traveling to the tziyun of Rav Shimon bar Yochai, describing what she calls a ten-hour ordeal marked by mistreatment and insensitivity at the hands of police, as she attempted to mark her husband’s yahrtzeit.

Racheli Goldberg, whose husband was among those killed in the Meron disaster five years ago, set out with her yesomim to visit the kever despite ongoing restrictions and the security situation. Armed with all the necessary legal permits, she expected a journey of hisorerus and tefillah. Instead, she says, it became a distressing experience of “mistreatment under the auspices of the Israeli police.”

According to Goldberg, the difficulties began early in the trip, at the Gush Halav junction, where they were left waiting for hours in the rain and cold. She recounted that a police officer at the scene refused to recognize their official permits. “I stood in the rain, I pleaded respectfully, and in response I received brutal treatment and a police officer who shined a flashlight into my eyes as if I were a criminal… The insensitivity reached its peak at the Safsufa junction. The officer saw the permits and still chose to violate the procedures and block us. When I told him it was illegal and that we had the right to enter, he simply shouted: ‘There is no entry, the hilula is over.’”

She said the most painful aspect of the experience was its impact on her children, who continue to carry deep trauma from the tragedy in which they lost their father. Goldberg described how the conduct of police on the scene triggered those emotions once again. “My children carry deep trauma from the first year after the Meron disaster, where the police also behaved with brutality and a lack of sensitivity. When they were forced to again see uniforms acting with aggression and shouting, the result was a severe anxiety attack in the middle of the road.”

Goldberg also expressed anguish over what she described as a glaring contradiction throughout the ordeal. While her family was being held back for hours in harsh conditions, she said they saw police vehicles freely entering and exiting the area, along with empty buses passing by without allowing them to board. “The absurdity cried out to the heavens the entire time,” she wrote. “While they blocked us and forced my children to stand in the rain and cold, we saw police vehicles going in and out constantly with no apparent purpose.”

She concluded her account with a demand for accountability from authorities, calling on the state and senior officials to answer for what took place. “The State of Israel sent me with a legal permit in hand, but officers on the ground decided they were above the law. We reached the tziyun after 10 exhausting and unnecessary hours, after the emotional damage to my children had already been done. I will not remain silent about this bizayon.”

{Matzav.com}

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rebbetzin Meira Edelstein a”h, widow of the revered rov of Ramat HaSharon, Rav Yaakov Edelstein zt”l. She was 89.

The Rebbetzin was the devoted eizer kenegdo to Rav Yaakov Edelstein zt”l during the later years of his life, standing faithfully at his side as he led the community and received the many who came seeking brachah and eitzah.

Her life story was widely regarded as one of the most remarkable and moving teshuvah stories of recent generations.

In her earlier years, she was a well-known and respected figure in Israel’s cultural world, enjoying success and recognition at the highest levels.

In the year Tav Shin Mem Beis, at the height of her career, she began a profound journey of teshuvah. With unusual courage and unwavering determination, she chose to leave behind the world of acting entirely and dedicate herself fully to avodas Hashem. She changed her name first to Mira and later to Meira, and undertook a life marked by exceptional prishus and tznius.

In her second zivug, she married Rav Avraham Lewis zt”l, a talmid of the Chazon Ish and among the early talmidim of Yeshivas Kaminetz, known as a tzaddik and a parush. She stood by his side with complete devotion until his petirah in Tav Shin Ayin Beis.

Following his passing, she was introduced—through the efforts of the rov of the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein—to her third zivug, Rav Yaakov Edelstein zt”l, rov of Ramat HaSharon.

Despite her advancing years, the Rebbetzin merited to serve Rav Yaakov with extraordinary dedication during his final years. She played a central role as his eizer k’negdo in guiding the kehillah and in welcoming the many thousands who came to their home seeking brachos and hadrachah.

Those who knew her spoke of a woman of rare refinement and greatness, whose entire life reflected unwavering emunah and bitachon. Members of the community said, “She was a living example that one can leave behind the hevel ha’olam hazeh and rise to true kedushah.”

She is survived by a son and descendants who continue to walk in the path of Torah and yiras Shamayim.

Tehei nishmasah tzerurah b’tzror hachaim.

{Matzav.com}

In a major development in an ongoing defamation case, a court has instructed Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to submit his complete and updated medical records for the judge’s confidential review, as part of a legal battle over claims regarding his health.

The directive was issued Thursday by Judge Menachem Mizrachi, president of the Magistrate’s Court in Ramla, in connection with Netanyahu’s lawsuit against protest activist attorney Gonen Ben Yitzchak and journalist Uri Misgav, whom he accuses of publishing false reports about his medical condition.

Under the ruling, the medical file must be delivered in a sealed and secured envelope directly to the judge’s chambers for private examination. Judge Mizrachi specified that the submission must include a signed statement from Netanyahu’s personal physician, Dr. Tzvi Herman Berkowitz, confirming that the file represents the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of the prime minister’s health.

The central issue in dispute is the timing of the discovery of a cancerous finding in the prostate. Judge Mizrachi noted that although an official annual health report released by the Prime Minister’s Office stated that Netanyahu underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, it did not clearly indicate when the condition was first detected.

“This point is critical to the dispute at the center of the trial,” the judge wrote. About two weeks ago, the Prime Minister’s Office published a medical update stating that on December 29, 2024, Netanyahu underwent a procedure due to benign prostate enlargement, and that a later MRI scan revealed a small area with suspicious characteristics. The key legal question is whether the defendants’ claims were false or based on information that had not been made public.

The lawsuit was filed after attorney Gonen Ben Yitzchak posted allegations on social media claiming that Netanyahu was suffering from pancreatic cancer. “Following your visit last night to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, I received information that you were treated for pancreatic cancer,” he wrote in a post that sparked widespread attention. “I wish you good health, but it is appropriate that the person leading the system stand courageously before the public and reveal his true condition.”

Journalist Uri Misgav later echoed more general claims about Netanyahu’s health, asserting that his condition was impaired in a way that affected his functioning. These claims were strongly rejected by the Prime Minister’s Office, which described them as “absolute lies.”

In addition to requesting the medical file, the defendants asked the court to summon for testimony Prof. Aharon Popovtzer, head of the oncology department at Hadassah, and Dr. Berkowitz. At this stage, Judge Mizrahi declined to call them immediately in order to avoid unnecessary harm to medical privacy, though he left open the possibility for later.

“At the stage of presenting evidence, after the plaintiff’s testimony, the court will issue a further decision regarding the request to summon the two doctors,” the judge ruled. The decision reflects the careful balance between preserving medical confidentiality and establishing the truth in the legal process.

According to the court’s timetable, the medical documents are expected to be submitted by May 13. The judge’s review is expected to clarify the timeline of diagnoses and treatments and help determine whether the contested publications were false or based on undisclosed facts.

Sources close to the prime minister have consistently argued that the claims, including the allegation of pancreatic cancer, are entirely unfounded and were intended to damage Netanyahu’s reputation and public trust. With the medical file now set to be reviewed by the court, further clarity is expected.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump is moving ahead with plans for a grand meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week, but uncertainty over the White House strategy for ending the Iran conflict along with tensions over Beijing’s support for Tehran suggest the two-month postponement of the summit did little to strengthen Washington’s hand.

Trump said that he and Xi would discuss the war in Beijing next week, praising the Chinese president as “very respectful.” The remarks came despite anger in the Chinese capital over sweeping U.S. sanctions targeting trade with Iran, culminating last week in the unusual step of Beijing ordering companies and ships to openly defy the measures.

Diplomatic dust-ups over the Iran war have injected uncertainty into preparations and overshadowed potential deliverables from the high-level summit, at which the two leaders are set to discuss a packed agenda on trade, Taiwan, fentanyl and artificial intelligence.

“It’s a huge distraction,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington. “The original date had to be postponed because Trump couldn’t handle two things at the same time, so the war obviously has already had an impact. But now, the question is, is the war going to critically affect the substance of the trip?”

Behind the scenes, U.S. and Chinese officials have been working to broker a deal that experts say is likely to include Chinese agricultural purchases, investment agreements, a consensus statement on AI guardrails and orders of U.S. commercial aircraft – a package of deliverables Trump could bring back to Washington as a foreign policy win. Analysts say Beijing, meanwhile, is hoping to extend a trade truce, ease sanctions and technology restrictions, and potentially secure assurances the United States will pull back on arms sales to Taiwan.

Those discussions will unfold amid rapid developments in the Iran conflict. On Tuesday, Trump abruptly paused an operation to escort trapped ships through the Strait of Hormuz less than two days after it began, citing ongoing peace negotiations – precisely the kind of high-intensity diplomatic management Trump had hoped to avoid when he postponed his original meeting with Xi in March.

Underscoring how deeply the Iran conflict is entwined with the summit, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Beijing on Wednesday, where the Iranian envoy briefed Wang on the Pakistan-mediated negotiations with Washington, according to the semiofficial Iranian Students’ News Agency.

“I think it’s a deliberate design that the Iranians are coming to tell the Chinese what is their bottom line position, what they think that China can help deliver and what China can do to massage Trump,” Sun said.

Beijing has avoided taking a strong public position on the war and has quietly urged Tehran to consider a U.S. peace deal. At the same time, it has maintained support for the regime, holding a number of official calls with Iranian officials in recent months while lashing out at what its Foreign Ministry has described as “dangerous” U.S. tactics in the strait.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has sharply escalated pressure on Beijing, imposing sweeping sanctions on dozens of entities and a major Chinese oil refinery tied to the shadow trade that funnels hundreds of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to the country each year, roughly 13 percent of its total imports.

Washington also took the unusual step of physically seizing two Chinese-linked vessels transporting Iranian goods – one of which Trump said was carrying “a gift from China” which “wasn’t very nice.” Beijing condemned the sanctions, calling them “illegal.”

With a week to go before the summit, senior U.S. officials expected to form part of the sizable delegation to Beijing have zeroed in on China’s role in the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urged Beijing to use its meeting with Araghchi to help loosen Tehran’s chokehold on the strait.

“I hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told, and that is that what you are doing in the straits is causing you to be globally isolated,” Rubio said ahead of Wang’s meeting with Araghchi.

That request could soon be tested. Rubio on Tuesday urged China not to veto a U.S.-backed U.N. resolution calling on Iran to halt attacks and mine-laying operations in the Strait of Hormuz. The measure could go to a vote just days before Trump’s visit. Last month, Beijing vetoed a separate U.S.-backed resolution supporting a coordinated international effort to secure the strait.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a key figure in preparations for the U.S.-China summit, accused Beijing of helping fund a “state sponsor of terrorism” through its support for the Iranian regime.

Analysts have downplayed expectations for major breakthroughs from the summit, saying both sides are likely to focus instead on stabilizing relations and extending a fragile trade truce.

“After all these years of ups and downs, China has significantly lowered its expectations,” said Ren Xiao, a former Chinese diplomat and director of the Center for Chinese Foreign Policy Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Since Trump first previewed the summit in February – saying he hoped it would be the “biggest display you’ve ever had in the history of China,” the agenda has been scaled back from three days to two. It is also unclear whether he will receive the lavish welcome he has anticipated. Beijing does not publicly confirm high-level meetings in advance, wary of last-minute hiccups, and preparations have been kept under wraps.

On the U.S. side, preparations have forged ahead amid continuing distractions in the Middle East and periodic clashes with Beijing over the war. This week, images appearing to show U.S. military C-17 transport planes landing at Beijing airport circulated widely on Chinese social media, fueling speculation about what advance equipment Washington may be sending ahead of the summit.

Such flights are a routine part of advance preparations for presidential travel, which typically involve transporting security personnel, communications systems and armored vehicles including the presidential limousine known as “The Beast.”

Trump in February spoke enthusiastically about wanting a grand display of parading Chinese uniformed guards, and said last month that Xi will give him a “big, fat hug” in Beijing following his efforts to reopen the strait.

China maintains a tiered system of welcome ceremonies for foreign leaders, including 21-gun salutes and elaborate receptions at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square or more muted meetings depending on expected outcomes and the standing of the guests in Beijing. Privately, Chinese officials are concerned that an overly extravagant welcome could send awkward signals that it Beijing is being too accommodating toward the U.S. amid the fracturing conflict, according to the official.

“We know that Trump loves grand ceremonies, but China also hates to be seen as fawning over him at this sensitive point, worried that a grander-than-2017 welcome would contradict China’s role as a peacemaker and friend of the Middle East,” said Wang Yiwei, a former Chinese diplomat who is now a council member in the state-affiliated Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs.

(c) 2026, The Washington Post · Cate Cadell