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President Donald Trump on Monday renewed his pledge to provide a $5,000 “dividend” to adult Americans if Republicans retain control of Congress in November, using a new Truth Social post to insist that the promised payments will become a reality.

“$5,000 DIVIDEND TO ALL AMERICAN ADULT CITIZENS, IF REPUBLICANS WIN THE MIDTERMS. IT WILL HAPPEN!” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

The post marked Trump’s latest effort to emphasize a proposal he first unveiled last week at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where he promised a $5,000 payment to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans maintain control of both the House and Senate.

“Because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000” if Republicans win both chambers, Trump said at the convention.

Trump has repeatedly doubled down on the pledge in the days since, arguing that the federal government will have sufficient revenue to finance the payments. The President has pointed in particular to tariff revenue and broader economic gains as justification for the proposal, although a detailed funding plan has not yet been released.

The proposed payments would be significantly larger than the $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” provided to approximately 1.45 million members of the U.S. military in December 2025. Trump has cited those payments while promoting his new proposal for the broader American public.

The scale of a nationwide $5,000 payment would be enormous. Census figures indicate that there are roughly 245 million adult U.S. citizens, meaning payments of $5,000 apiece would carry a price tag of approximately $1.2 trillion.

Questions also remain about how the payments would be authorized. Under the Constitution, federal spending generally requires congressional authorization, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has said Congress would have to act on the proposal.

Trump, however, has expressed confidence that the money will be distributed if Republicans prevail in November. His emphatic Truth Social declaration Monday — “IT WILL HAPPEN!” — appeared intended to dispel doubts about whether the proposal was merely an idea floated during his convention speech.

The President has also said that recipients would be required to spend the money inside the United States, though the administration has not explained how such a requirement would operate or be enforced.

Trump has framed the dividend as one of the tangible benefits Americans would receive if Republicans retain their congressional majorities. The proposal has quickly become a prominent element of the political debate surrounding the midterm elections, with questions focusing on its cost, funding and the legislation that would be required to implement it.

For now, Congress has not authorized the payments and the administration has not released a complete legislative or financing plan. But Trump’s message Monday was unequivocal: if Republicans keep Congress, he says adult American citizens will receive $5,000.

Former hostage Sasha Trufanov has opened up about the profound spiritual transformation he experienced during his 498 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, describing how the ordeal led him, a previously secular Israeli, to recognize the presence of Hashem in his life.

Trufanov and his wife, Sapir Cohen, who herself spent 55 days in captivity, spoke about the role that emunah and tefillah came to play in their lives following the October 7 massacre and during their captivity. The couple shared their experiences on the first episode of “Thirsty Souls,” hosted by Eden Harel on Israel’s Channel 14.

Trufanov, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, said that he entered captivity without a religious background. When the life and future he had built for himself were suddenly ripped away, he discovered that he did not possess the tools he needed to cope with his terrifying new reality.

“When I got into the situation of October 7,” he recalled, “I didn’t have the tools to deal with this challenge.”

One of the most difficult moments came after he had already spent months as a hostage. Following what he described as “hell in Khan Yunis,” Trufanov said he was transferred to Rafah, where he was placed inside a small wooden cage surrounded by armed, masked terrorists.

It was precisely under those circumstances, he said, that something within him began to change. Trufanov tried to come to terms with the realization that he had no control over what would happen to him. The only thing he could control was how he responded to the situation in which he had been placed.

“If God gives you this life, then you’ve won,” he recalled telling himself. “If not, that’s your portion. You had 27 good years, a few bad months, overall it’s okay.”

Sapir revealed that even before October 7, their relationship had been going through a difficult period. She had asked Hashem for a sign as to whether Sasha was the man with whom she was meant to build her life.

Then Sasha returned from captivity.

According to Sapir, one of the first things he said after his release stunned her.

“Mom, I know there is a God,” Sasha said.

“It was really among the first sentences,” Sapir recalled. “I said, ‘Wow.’ I sat there and… like, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe this was happening.”

Sasha’s mother later told him that she herself had become religious. Sapir said that she was apprehensive about how Sasha would react to the news, but his response was very different from what she had feared.

“Mom, I’m happy. I’m happy to hear it, you’re on the right path,” he told her.

Sasha’s mother, Yelena, has previously related that while her son was being held captive in Gaza, she, her mother and Sapir accepted upon themselves the observance of Shabbos and additional mitzvos as a zechus for his release.

Following Sasha’s return, Yelena said that her son had come to understand during captivity that his life was not in his own hands, but “only in the hands of the Holy One, Blessed be He.”

Sapir, who was freed after 55 days as a hostage, also described the central place that tefillah assumed in her own life. She said that even before October 7, she had begun to daven as she struggled with difficult feelings. During captivity, she continued to daven every day and repeatedly recited a perek of Tehillim.

“I didn’t even ask to be released tomorrow,” she said. “I asked that I be released at the time that was right for me.”

Sasha’s connection to emunah continued after his release from Gaza. Just one day after returning to Israel, he was photographed putting on tefillin alongside Russia’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Berel Lazar.

He later traveled with Sapir to the Kosel, where the couple participated in a tefillas hoda’ah, giving thanks for his return.

During the visit, Sasha said that after the period he had spent in what he called “the dark tunnels of Gaza,” he could feel the holiness of the Kosel. He also learned of the countless tefillos that had been recited on his behalf during his captivity and appealed to Klal Yisroel to continue davening for the hostages.

Now, as he looks toward the future, Trufanov says that alongside his hopes of building a family and becoming a person who makes a meaningful contribution to the world, he wants to preserve the lessons he learned during the ordeal that transformed his life.

“I have many dreams,” he said. “Some of them are practical, like starting a family, like developing myself and being something meaningful in this world. And some of them are more private, like developing myself, my soul and preserving what I learned.”

“I also truly have a very strong faith that everything will be okay in the end,” he added. “Like, as long as I do my part, everything will work out.”

{Matzav.com}

The public is asked to daven for Rav Mordechai Auerbach, rav of Kehillas Abir Yaakov in Tel Aviv and nosi of Taharas Hamishpacha, who has been hospitalized at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv after suffering from pneumonia.

Rav Auerbach was admitted to the hospital following a bout of pneumonia that came after an extended period of general weakness.

Despite his weakened condition, Rav Auerbach participated in the first night of Selichos and served as shaliach tzibbur at his bais medrash in Tel Aviv. However, last Wednesday, shortly before Rosh Hashanah, his condition necessitated that he be taken to the hospital, where he remained throughout Rosh Hashanah.

Family members and talmidim who had traveled to spend Rosh Hashanah in Rav Auerbach’s presence at his bais medrash instead spent the days of Rosh Hashanah at his side in the hospital.

Those close to Rav Auerbach are asking the public to increase their tefillos for his complete recovery and for his health to be strengthened.

All are asked to daven for Rav Mordechai ben Chaya Rivka.

{Matzav.com}

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is prepared to return to negotiations with the United States, including over its nuclear program, but conditioned renewed diplomacy on Washington lifting sanctions, abandoning what he described as unilateral policies and ending efforts to pressure Iran militarily. His comments came as President Donald Trump separately indicated that Washington remains open to possible negotiations with Tehran.

“We are ready for dialogue,” Pezeshkian told India Today, while maintaining that negotiations concerning Iran’s nuclear activities must take place within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and international law.

Pezeshkian questioned why Washington was seeking a new round of negotiations instead of proceeding on the basis of an understanding that he said had previously been formulated through diplomatic efforts involving Pakistan.

“I don’t know what was wrong with what we wrote in Pakistan that the United States now wants us to talk again from scratch,” he said. “What was illogical there? What did we say that was outside the logical, legal and scientific frameworks recognized in the world?”

The Iranian president praised Pakistan for what he described as extensive efforts to promote peace and stability in the region. He said Qatar had also played a role in attempting to advance the understanding that had emerged through the Pakistani diplomatic effort.

Pezeshkian said Tehran’s conditions for moving forward had not changed, insisting that Washington would have to alter its approach toward Iran before meaningful negotiations could take place.

“Our position is the same as what we said before: the United States should lift its sanctions, abandon unilateralism, not speak to us through force, and open the way so that we can live like the rest of the world,” he said.

The Iranian leader also said Tehran was uncertain about which of President Donald Trump’s various public statements should be viewed as representing Washington’s ultimate position.

“We don’t know which of the things Trump says we are ultimately supposed to accept and stand by,” Pezeshkian said.

Pezeshkian additionally rejected assertions that Iran had initiated the current conflict, portraying Tehran’s military actions as defensive.

“We did not attack anyone. They attacked us, and we defended ourselves,” he said.

Trump, meanwhile, said Monday that Iran was urgently seeking an agreement and suggested that the United States remained receptive to the possibility of renewed engagement, while stressing that he would decide whether Washington ultimately enters negotiations.

“The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage – the concept of which we are open to.”

Washington and Tehran have participated in several rounds of negotiations during the ongoing conflict, but those diplomatic efforts have so far failed to produce an agreement. The continued deadlock has coincided with additional military exchanges and attacks on interests and targets throughout the region.

The tensions escalated further last week when U.S. forces struck several Iranian oil tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran subsequently retaliated by firing a barrage of missiles toward American military bases in Jordan.

A day later, Trump predicted that the fighting would come to an abrupt conclusion following the U.S. midterm elections in November, arguing that Tehran could not sustain the conflict indefinitely.

Iran “can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said.

The President also accused Iranian leaders of intentionally prolonging the war in hopes of influencing the outcome of the American elections and ultimately dealing with a U.S. government that would take a less confrontational approach toward Tehran.

“They’re desperate to try and affect the election so that we could get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon.”

Pezeshkian’s latest comments nevertheless provided another indication that both Tehran and Washington are publicly leaving open the possibility of returning to the negotiating table, even as major disagreements remain over sanctions, Iran’s nuclear activities, the terms of any future talks and the continuing military confrontation.