An inspiring encounter took place in Yerushalayim when the Rebbe of Sanz paid a visit to the home of the Slonimer Rebbe on Rechov Salant. The meeting between the two rebbes centered on reflections about the recent war, the miracles that Klal Yisroel has witnessed, and the extraordinary flourishing of Torah learning across the nation.
The two rebbes spoke at length about what the Jewish people have endured over the past two years. The Sanzer Rebbe expressed deep gratitude to Hashem “for the chassodim gedolim and open miracles experienced during this difficult period.”
The Slonimer Rebbe, filled with wonder, noted that baruch Hashem, “the number of benches in the batei medrash has multiplied to a degree never before seen in Jewish history.” In response, the Sanzer Rebbe remarked that “perhaps this very growth explains why there is such fierce opposition to the Torah hakdosha today.”
The visit concluded with the Rebbes sharing a lechaim and parting with warm brachos for peace and continued hatzlacha in spreading Torah throughout Klal Yisroel.
{Matzav.com}
Israeli security officials informed Vice President JD Vance on Thursday that Hamas is capable of handing over the bodies of most of the hostages who were murdered and remain in Gaza.
During a meeting attended by Defense Minister Yisroel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and other senior defense figures, the Israeli delegation presented Vance with the latest intelligence assessment on the situation in Gaza. According to Kan public broadcaster, the officials “stated unequivocally” that Hamas can return the remains of at least 10 of the 13 hostages who are confirmed to have been killed, even before international recovery teams arrive in the Strip.
Israel has long been aware that Hamas might not be able to locate every body. Previous reports have suggested that several of the deceased hostages may never be found. An Israeli official quoted by CNN earlier this month said that between seven and nine bodies may be unrecoverable, while another assessment placed that number between 10 and 15.
Before the recent ceasefire, Hamas was holding the bodies of 28 hostages who were killed on or after October 7. Since then, the terror group has returned 15 of those bodies, in addition to releasing 20 hostages who survived captivity.
{Matzav.com}
During Wednesday night’s heated mayoral debate, socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani argued that New York City should prioritize mental health professionals rather than police officers when handling certain crises, signaling a sharp policy shift from the current administration.
When asked whether he would retain Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch if elected, Mamdani said he would, insisting that his government would be “relentless in its pursuit of safety and affordability for every New Yorker.” He praised Tisch for breaking from what he described as a corrupt leadership structure within the NYPD, saying, “Eric Adams stacked the upper echelons of the NYPD with corruption and incompetence. Commissioner Tisch took on a broken status quo, started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption, and reducing crime across the five boroughs.”
Mamdani continued, “I have said time and again that my litmus test for that position will be excellence and the alignment will be of that position and I am confident that under a Mamdani administration we would continue to deliver on that same mission.” He explained that this vision includes launching a new “Department of Community Safety to ensure that mental health experts were the ones responding to the mental health crisis.”
He added, “Because safety and justice is at the cornerstone of our pursuit of public safety and in doing so we will also be able to deliver our agenda for affordability.”
Mamdani’s approach aligns with previous comments he made rejecting the use of police officers in cases such as domestic disputes or minor offenses. On the “Immigrantly” podcast in July 2020, he said: “Police do not create safety… there are so many responsibilities we’ve given to police that, frankly, should have nothing to do with their departments… if somebody is jaywalking, if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence — there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun.”
Republican contender Curtis Sliwa also voiced support for Tisch remaining commissioner but cast doubt that she would agree to serve under Mamdani or Andrew Cuomo. “She has railed against no cash bail,” Sliwa said, calling the policy a root cause of rising crime. “Cuomo, the architect of no cash bail, Zohran, the apprentice of no cash bail. That’s why criminals are running in the street.”
Cuomo, for his part, said he would ask Tisch to stay on as well, but he was skeptical that Mamdani’s words matched his true agenda. “The DSA’s position, his position has been to defund, disband the police. She wouldn’t take that. His current position, today’s position, was freeze the budget. That would cause a reduction in police. She has called for more police. I’ve called for more police. Mayor Adams has called for more police… DSA calls for eliminating misdemeanors. He wants to decriminalize prostitution,” Cuomo said. “I don’t think she would support any of that.”
The mayoral election is scheduled for November 4, 2025, setting the stage for a fierce ideological showdown over the future of law enforcement and public safety in New York City.
{Matzav.com}
A US official warned that Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu risks serious consequences if he undermines the Gaza cease-fire deal with Donald Trump. According to a report on Channel 12 reported by Times of Israel, the official put it bluntly: “Netanyahu is walking a fine line with President Trump. If he keeps going, he’ll [profanity] up the Gaza deal. And if he [profanity] up the deal, Donald Trump will [profanity] him.”
This sharp commentary comes amid mounting frustration in Washington over recent developments in Israel. In particular, the Knesset voted to advance two bills that would annex parts of the West Bank, a move that reportedly caught US officials off guard.
The source said that JD Vance, visiting Israel as Vice President at the time, was taken aback by the Knesset’s decision and felt that Israel was acting in an “unsupervised” way. Netanyahu briefed Vance during the visit on the vote, describing it as just a “preliminary vote” that would “go nowhere,” according to public broadcaster Kan.
Reacting to the update, Vance declared: “This cannot happen while I am visiting here.”
The Channel 12 piece adds that American officials had warned Netanyahu the vote had the potential to trigger backlash and destabilize the ongoing negotiations surrounding the cease-fire.
{Matzav.com}
In an unusual and noteworthy encounter, Rav Yoshiyahu Pinto met Thursday morning with Palestinian-American billionaire Bashar al-Masri, a prominent businessman known for his involvement in regional peace efforts. The two discussed the importance of pursuing understanding and unity between peoples.
Al-Masri, a native of Shechem who holds American citizenship, is the founder of Massar International, a company established in 1994 to strengthen the Palestinian private sector. He is best known for founding Rawabi, the first privately planned city in Judea and Samaria, a project estimated to have cost over one billion dollars.
During their conversation, Rav Pinto expressed appreciation for al-Masri’s ongoing work to encourage peace and kindness. “We must continue to work for global and regional peace. This is the time for connection and unity,” said Rav Pinto.
The rov later emphasized that lasting peace cannot be achieved through politics alone, but through human decency and moral strength. “Peace begins from one person to another, from small acts of kindness to major efforts of building and repair,” he said. “There is no longer room for division in the world.”
Rav Pinto has recently been involved in numerous high-level meetings with Israeli government figures. Among those he met with in recent days were Defense Minister Yisroel Katz, Finance Ministry Minister Ze’ev Elkin—who heads the National Renewal Directorate—Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman.
A few months ago, Rav Pinto traveled to Washington, D.C., where he met with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu during Netanyahu’s diplomatic visit to the United States and his meeting with President Donald Trump. While there, Rav Pinto also conferred with Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer regarding ongoing regional challenges and opportunities for cooperation.
{Matzav.com}
Stepping in for the late Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson headlined a Turning Point USA event, which reportedly drew about 3,000 people, at Indiana University Bloomington.
The former Fox News host with a more recent history of antisemitic remarks told attendees that the Republican coalition is “fracturing over foreign policy, Israel specifically.”
Carlson said that he is hated for his views and that Israel is “the only thing its advocates care about.”
“You don’t have to hate people just because they don’t worship Bibi or something,” he said, of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asked why Christianity should guide the moral framework of the United States, Carlson pivoted to Israel. “Collective punishment is immoral. It’s why what’s happening in Gaza is disgusting,” he said.
When discussing parenting, he noted in passing that “kids are every bit as entitled as Netanyahu.”
At Kirk’s funeral last month, Carlson drew widespread criticism for echoing centuries-old antisemitic tropes when he said that the man who assassinated Kirk was like the “guys sitting around eating hummus” who killed Jesus.
Before his assassination, Kirk faced pressure from donors to disinvite Carlson from Turning Point events. “Just lost another huge Jewish donor. $2 million a year because we won’t cancel Tucker,” he reportedly wrote in a message that was leaked to reporters. In the message attributed to him, Kirk reportedly added that he was thinking of inviting Candace Owens, a commentator who also circulates Jew-hatred regularly, as a speaker.
Carlson is listed as a speaker at Turning Point’s AmFest conference, slated to be held from Dec. 18 to 21 in Phoenix. JNS
{Matzav.com}
Michael Smuss, one of the last remaining fighters from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, passed away this week at the age of 99.
Born in 1926 in Gdańsk, Poland, Smuss later moved to Łódź and then Warsaw. In 1940, he was among the hundreds of thousands of Jews imprisoned within the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto. Initially home to about 380,000 Jews, the population eventually swelled to nearly half a million, crowded into inhumane conditions. Disease and starvation were rampant, and bodies were often seen lying in the streets, Ynet reported.
Smuss joined the Jewish underground resistance in the ghetto, becoming part of a fighting group led by Mordechai Anielewicz. While working refurbishing helmets of German soldiers returning from the front, he gained access to a thinning chemical that could be used to make Molotov cocktails. Smuss stole as much as he could and secretly delivered it to the underground.
“We filled bottles and placed them on the rooftops near the ghetto entrance,” Smuss recalled in a 2022 video for the Sumter County Museum in South Carolina, which showcased his artwork. “We hoped that when they came in, we’d be able to throw them down.”
When the Nazis stormed the ghetto on April 19, 1943, with the intention of destroying it completely, hundreds of Jewish fighters rose up in resistance. That day, Smuss himself hurled Molotov cocktails at Nazi soldiers from the rooftops, according to his relative Paul Diederich, who lives in Germany and spent several months with Smuss in Israel earlier this year.
He was among the few fighters to survive nearly a month of fierce combat. Captured by the Nazis, Smuss was sent toward Treblinka, but, according to Diederich, the guards sent him back because they needed laborers. He was later transferred between several concentration camps and ultimately survived the death march in the spring of 1945.
In a January interview with Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Services, Smuss recounted:
“In April 1945, they took us on a death march that lasted seven days and nights… in the rain, without food. When we reached the village of Stammsried, a few of us escaped to a farm. The old German farmer gave us milk to drink — after seven days and nights of nothing but rainwater. I drank the milk, fainted, and woke up in an American army ambulance. That was my second birth — once in Danzig, and once in Stammsried.”
After the war, Smuss immigrated to the United States, where he built a family. Years later, he moved to Israel, where he began a profound journey of processing his Holocaust experiences through art. There, he met his second wife, Ruti, who became his partner in life and inspiration.
“From that moment, Michael began to express his experiences through art and traveled to schools in Germany to show the descendants of his persecutors the unimaginable,” Diederich said. “Despite everything he endured, he kept his unmistakable sense of humor. Even at 99, he smiled and laughed with me.”
In recent years, Smuss lived in Ramat Gan.
{Matzav.com}