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Matzav.com regrets to report the petirah of Rebbetzin Rivka Steinwurzel (Rabinowitz) a”h, a longtime mechaneches who for decades helped shape generations of Bnos Yisroel, and who stood at the side of two distinguished marbitzei Torah, Rav Moshe Dovid Steinwurzel zt”l and, later, the Biala Rebbe.

Rebbetzin Steinwurzel was known to generations of families in Brooklyn through her many years teaching at Bais Yaakov of Boro Park. Her influence extended well beyond the classroom, as she devoted her life to chinuch, her family, and supporting the avodas hakodesh of the distinguished Torah home she helped build.

She was first married to Rav Moshe Dovid Steinwurzel zt”l, the renowned Rav of Khal Bais Ephraim in Flatbush and a rosh yeshiva in Bobov. Rav Steinwurzel was an exceptional talmid chacham and marbitz Torah whose life revolved around learning and harbotzas haTorah.

Born in 1934, Rav Steinwurzel established Khal Bais Ephraim in 1967, during an era when the Torah landscape of Flatbush was far different from what it is today. The kehillah grew into an important center of Torah and tefillah in the neighborhood, and the Steinwurzel home became intertwined with the growth of Torah life in Flatbush.

Throughout those years, Rebbetzin Steinwurzel stood devotedly at her husband’s side, carrying the responsibilities of a Rav’s home while simultaneously pursuing her own lifelong mission of educating Jewish girls. Those who knew the family recalled a home whose rhythm revolved around Torah, the kehillah, chinuch and service to others.

Rav Steinwurzel was also a prominent figure in Bobov, where he served as rosh yeshiva. His absorption in Torah was legendary. One well-known story relates that on his way out of his home one morning, the Rebbetzin asked him to take out a bag of garbage. Deep in thought, Rav Steinwurzel boarded the bus and traveled all the way from Midwood to Boro Park still carrying the bag, only realizing what had happened when his talmidim asked him why he had arrived with it.

Rav Steinwurzel was niftar in 1991, leaving behind his Rebbetzin and a distinguished family. Khal Bais Ephraim continued under the leadership of their son, Rav Yitzchok Steinwurzel, who serves as its Rav today.

In later years, Rebbetzin Steinwurzel married the Biala Rebbe, Rav Benzion Rabinowitz zt”l, the author of the Mevaser Tov seforim. The Rebbe, a scion of the Biala dynasty, spent many years in Lugano, Switzerland, before later settling in Eretz Yisroel.

The Rebbetzin became a devoted ezer kenegdo to the Biala Rebbe, accompanying and assisting him in his avodas hakodesh. Accounts published following the Rebbe’s passing specifically recalled the important role she played at his side, first in Lugano and subsequently in Eretz Yisroel, continuing until illness made it impossible for her to do so.

Her life thus spanned several distinct worlds of Torah: the classrooms of Bais Yaakov of Boro Park, the Flatbush kehillah built by Rav Moshe Dovid Steinwurzel, the Bobover world in which he served as a rosh yeshiva and dayan, and later the Biala chassidus and the home of the Mevaser Tov.

Through it all, Rebbetzin Steinwurzel was remembered for the devotion with which she supported those around her and for the dignity with which she carried the responsibilities placed upon her.

Most enduring, however, is the legacy she leaves through the countless students she taught during her years at Bais Yaakov of Boro Park. Generations of women passed through her classroom, carrying with them lessons and values imparted by a mechaneches whose own life was deeply rooted in Torah and mesorah.

The Rebbetzin’s levayah took place today at Khal Bais Ephraim on Avenue J in Flatbush.

Yehi zichrah boruch.

{Matzav.com}

Children who survived the attempted attack aboard the flydubai flight to Israel have described the terrifying moments when the aircraft suddenly began plunging from the sky, with one 16-year-old passenger saying he began speaking to Hashem and asking forgiveness because he believed he was about to die.

New accounts from passengers and their families are also shedding light on the remarkable chain of events that led to the alleged attacker being discovered and subdued. According to the father of 8-year-old Omer Shalom, a woman who happened to get up to use the restroom near the cockpit heard the screams of the captain, who had been stabbed. She alerted her husband, Yaniv Hayoun, who rushed toward the cockpit and ultimately helped overpower the co-pilot.

Omer’s father described the horrifying moments as the aircraft descended at an extreme angle, saying the speed and force of the dive damaged part of the plane.

“The rear wing broke from the speed of the fall. Everything went through my mind, all the things I can’t bring myself to say again in front of the girls.”

Sixteen-year-old Peleg Itali was traveling with his parents and sister and was seated near the front of the aircraft, giving him a close-up view of the chaos as it unfolded.

“The plane started going crazy, and I heard a woman screaming that he had been stabbed,” Itali told Ynet. “Two heroes jumped forward toward the cockpit. No one tells you that there’s a terrorist. I saw the floor and felt that we were falling. I started talking to God, asking forgiveness for everything and asking for Heaven. I almost wrote a eulogy.”

The fear was especially intense for the many families aboard the flight. Itali recalled mothers desperately trying to calm frightened young children as screams could be heard throughout the cabin and passengers struggled to understand what was happening.

Omer, just 8 years old, also recalled the terrifying descent and the belief that the aircraft was about to hit the ground.

“I was terrified because I thought we were going to crash,” she said.

Only after the alleged attacker had been subdued did Omer’s mother explain to her that the immediate danger had passed and that the aircraft was now heading for an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

The flight ultimately landed safely in Tabuk after Hayoun and other passengers subdued the co-pilot and additional pilots aboard the aircraft took control, bringing an end to an ordeal in which passengers had believed for several terrifying moments that they were witnessing their final minutes.

{Matzav.com}

An Israeli plumber who helped overpower the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a flydubai flight bound for Israel says an aviation-disaster television series gave him the basic knowledge he needed to help stop the jet from plunging toward the ground.

Yaniv Hayoun was among the passengers who rushed the cockpit Wednesday after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed Captain Smit Machchhar and sent flydubai Flight FZ1073 into a terrifying dive. Hayoun says that after dragging the attacker away from the controls, he grabbed the aircraft’s control yoke and pulled back — remembering what he had seen while watching the television series “Mayday.”

“Someone screamed that there had been a stabbing, and then the plane started losing altitude and control, leaning from one side to another,” Hayoun, who was sitting right behind business class, told The Free Press.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 had departed Dubai for Tel Aviv and was cruising at roughly 34,000 feet when the violent cockpit incident erupted approximately two-and-a-half hours into the flight. Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft suddenly losing an enormous amount of altitude, dropping roughly 14,000 feet in well under a minute.

Hayoun described the aircraft going “into a steep dive” as passengers were thrown around the cabin. He made his way toward the cockpit as the plane continued descending.

“I jumped back in there, grabbed the controls, started pulling the controls,” he said, adding that he had some understanding of flight controls thanks to the Canadian disaster documentary series, “Mayday.”

The long-running program reconstructs real-life aviation disasters, using cockpit recordings, flight data and expert analysis to explain what went wrong and how pilots responded. Hayoun said those episodes left him with one crucial piece of information: if the aircraft’s nose was pointed sharply downward, pulling back on the controls could help bring the nose up.

“The plane started leveling out a little more, and then the pilot told me he was taking over from there,” Hayoun added.

Two additional flydubai pilots who were traveling aboard the aircraft were ultimately able to enter the cockpit and take control, guiding the damaged jet to an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

President Trump also highlighted Hayoun’s extraordinary actions Wednesday while recounting the episode to reporters.

“An Israeli plumber, never flew a plane, was rarely in planes, very rarely flew,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office Wednesday.

Trump described the chaos aboard the aircraft and the moment Hayoun and other passengers confronted the alleged attacker.

“And he saw what was going on and he heard the screaming…he ripped this guy out of the seat, threw him back, the crowd got him, the passengers got him.”

The drama began inside the cockpit when the co-pilot, reportedly an Omani national, allegedly attacked Machchhar with a knife. Despite being wounded, Machchhar reportedly fought back and managed to unlock the cockpit door before collapsing, giving passengers and crew members access to the flight deck.

Machchhar is an experienced Indian pilot who joined flydubai in 2022 after more than a decade with SpiceJet. His professional background lists nearly 10,000 hours of Boeing 737 flight time, including extensive experience as a captain and training pilot.

“When I went in, I saw the terrorist on the control,” Hayoun told Netanyahu. “I grabbed the terrorist, put him in a hold, and pulled him outside.”

Hayoun said the scene inside the cockpit was “complete chaos.”

“One of the pilots stabbed another pilot. He tried to crash us. When it leveled out a little, just a little, we managed to get back up,” he told The Free Press.

According to Hayoun, the co-pilot was attacking the aircraft’s controls and instruments as the passengers fought their way into the cockpit.

“I managed to open the cockpit door with the help of another crewmember. We physically fought with the co-pilot, he was going wild,” he said of the unidentified pilot.

Hayoun eventually got the man away from the controls and restrained him.

“I put him in a chokehold, took control of him, and dragged him out of the cockpit,” Hayoun added.

His wife, Meital, explained, “They tied up the attacker using headphones at first,” and later “found zip ties and restrained him with those.”

Hayoun said he and “three other Israelis” then guarded the restrained co-pilot while attention turned to saving the badly wounded Machchhar, who had been “stabbed multiple times.”

A medical professional aboard the flight helped treat Machchhar and control his bleeding as the replacement pilots headed toward Saudi Arabia.

“We kept him alive the entire way,” Hayoun said.

Machchhar was hospitalized after the emergency landing. Reports Wednesday indicated that he survived the attack and was receiving treatment for his wounds.

The accused co-pilot was taken into Saudi custody. His identity has not been publicly released, and investigators are still working to determine his motive and whether he acted alone. Israeli authorities have treated the incident as a suspected terror attack, while flydubai has urged against speculation while the investigation continues.

After landing safely in Tabuk, the passengers were later placed aboard another flight and brought to Ben Gurion Airport, where Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu personally greeted Hayoun and others involved in stopping the attack.

Hayoun arrived wearing the same white T-shirt he had worn during the struggle, still heavily stained with blood. When he approached Netanyahu, he stopped short of a normal embrace because he did not want to smear blood on the prime minister’s clothing.

Hayoun then demonstrated for Netanyahu how he grabbed the co-pilot and pulled him away from the controls, recounting the frantic moments in the cockpit.

Netanyahu praised Hayoun and the other passengers for their intervention, telling Hayoun that their actions had prevented what could have become a mass-casualty catastrophe.

“It’s a miracle that we’re alive,” Meital said. “We’re incredibly emotional to finally be back in Israel.”

Netanyahu hailed Hayoun and his fellow passengers as heroes who “saved many lives and displayed great bravery.”

“They prevented a serious tragedy,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a sweeping new round of changes to the U.S. military Wednesday, ordering an overall 20% reduction in general and admiral positions while unveiling a new four-star command devoted to drones, robotics and autonomous warfare.

The move doubles the 10% overall reduction in general and flag officer positions Hegseth ordered last year and is expected to affect positions across the Army, Navy, Air Force and joint military structure. Some posts are expected to disappear entirely, while others could be downgraded so that they no longer require a general or admiral. The services have been directed to complete the reductions by Jan. 1, 2027.

Hegseth announced the changes during his “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, where he spoke before junior officers and enlisted leaders. It was the second consecutive year that he delivered such an address, an event that is not traditionally part of the Pentagon chief’s annual schedule.

The Pentagon chief framed the reduction in senior officers as part of his effort to flatten the military bureaucracy and place more resources and authority closer to troops in the field.

“I call it accountability and long overdue,” he said.

There are roughly 800 general and flag officer positions across the military, though not every authorized position is necessarily filled at any given time. Generals and admirals represent only a tiny fraction of the overall force. Hegseth has previously described his effort as a “less generals, more GIs” approach, arguing that excessive layers of senior leadership can create unnecessary bureaucracy.

The reductions are part of a much broader transformation Hegseth has pursued since taking charge of the Pentagon under President Trump. His tenure has included the removal or departure of numerous senior military leaders as well as changes to diversity programs, physical standards, grooming policies and other personnel rules that Hegseth has argued distracted the armed forces from combat readiness. Critics have disputed that characterization and questioned whether some of the personnel changes have been politically driven.

Hegseth’s Quantico address came as the U.S. military remains heavily engaged overseas, including in the ongoing war with Iran. American forces have expended large quantities of interceptors defending U.S. personnel and allies against Iranian missiles and drones, while Tehran has retained the ability to threaten military and commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.

Alongside the leadership cuts, Hegseth announced one of the Pentagon’s most ambitious attempts yet to reorganize around the rapidly changing nature of warfare: a new four-star Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM. The organization is intended to accelerate the military’s development and deployment of drones, robotics and other autonomous systems across the armed forces.

Hegseth described the effort as “the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”

The Pentagon plans to take an interim step through “Project Agincourt,” which will help develop the organizational and acquisition structure for the future command. Hegseth’s goal is to establish AUTOWARCOM by October 2027, although creating a command with the authorities envisioned by the Pentagon is expected to require congressional involvement.

The announcement comes amid growing recognition inside the Pentagon that inexpensive drones and autonomous systems have transformed modern battlefields. The war in Ukraine in particular has demonstrated how rapidly forces can modify and deploy unmanned systems and how comparatively inexpensive drones can destroy or disable far more costly military equipment.

The Pentagon’s renewed emphasis on drones follows controversy over an Army unit in Europe specializing in drone warfare that was directed to return to a traditional infantry role. A bipartisan group of lawmakers subsequently demanded answers from the Army, arguing that the military should be expanding rather than abandoning efforts to master technology that has become central to modern combat.

Hegseth also used Wednesday’s address to highlight the Trump administration’s push to dramatically expand American weapons production. The Iran war has intensified longstanding concerns about whether the U.S. defense industrial base can manufacture missiles, interceptors and other weapons quickly enough to replace systems being consumed in combat.

Some military analysts have estimated that replenishing inventories of certain heavily used weapons could take years at existing production rates, adding urgency to the administration’s pressure on defense contractors to expand manufacturing capacity.

Hegseth also repeated his assessment of the damage inflicted on Iran’s military during the conflict, pointing to the destruction of Iranian naval, air-defense and other military capabilities. Iran, however, has continued intermittent missile and drone attacks and retains capabilities that can threaten American and allied forces in the region.

Beyond drones and personnel reductions, Hegseth announced several additional Pentagon initiatives. Among them is Project Meridian, a group that will examine the future of warfare and identify emerging technologies and capabilities the U.S. military will need. Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are slated to help lead the effort, with a report due in January 2027.

Another initiative, dubbed “FORTRESS America,” calls for major U.S. military installations to develop the ability to generate their own power independently of the civilian electrical grid. Hegseth also announced a competition among states for the location of a new major military base, an expanded military-college initiative and a new Office of Religious Affairs intended to provide chaplains with a direct avenue to Pentagon leadership.

The proposed reduction in generals and admirals has already triggered debate on Capitol Hill. Supporters of trimming the upper ranks argue that a leaner command structure could reduce bureaucracy and push decision-making downward, while critics warn that eliminating too many senior positions could cost the military decades of accumulated experience.

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat who previously served as a Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut, sharply criticized Hegseth’s approach.

“He’s got some kind of like deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut, who has been critical of Hegseth. “He’s purging a generation of great leaders of the military, and it’s going to take a generation to recover from it.”

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, took a more cautious position, saying he wanted to examine exactly how the Pentagon intends to carry out the reduction before reaching a conclusion.

“If it’s simply a matter of eliminating a very heavy top, there may be some validity to it, but I want to see it first,” Rounds said.

{Matzav.com}