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An emotional and unsettling discovery was made during a difficult winter journey in Poland, when a group traveling to visit the grave of the Kotzker Rebbe uncovered a long-hidden piece of Jewish history beneath the snow.

The story was shared by Rabbi Pinchas Sitbon during the Bedidi Hava Uvda segment on the Kol Berama radio program hosted by Ami Maimon. Rabbi Sitbon described a grueling two-hour trek he and a group of friends undertook through winding roads and a fierce snowstorm, determined to reach the kever of the Kotzker Rebbe.

Upon arriving at the cemetery, the group encountered an unexpected setback: the entrance gate was locked, and the local caretaker was nowhere to be found. Despite the freezing temperatures and severe conditions, the group decided not to turn back. They climbed over the iron fence and pushed forward, carving a narrow path through deep, unbroken snow.

As they made their way through the cemetery, one of the participants suddenly stumbled over a protrusion hidden beneath the snow. While clearing away the ice to regain his footing, the group was stunned to realize that the fall had not been accidental. Beneath the snow lay a tombstone, the grave of one of the righteous women of the Kotzker dynasty.

The sense of awe deepened when the group discovered that the very day of their visit coincided with her yahrtzeit. Those present described a powerful feeling that the encounter was not mere chance, but guided by Hashgocha. Moved by the moment, the group altered its plans and paused to recite tefillos as an aliyah for their neshamah, standing in the silent, frozen landscape that had concealed the grave until their arrival.

{Matzav.com}

Families of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a Trump administration boat strike last October sued the federal government on Tuesday, calling the attack a war crime and part of an “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful U.S. military campaign.” The lawsuit is thought to be the first wrongful death case arising from the three dozen strikes that […]

Please keep David ben Margolit in your tefillos—and please help urgently. The family is overwhelmed with medical and living expenses.

Against the backdrop of growing antisemitism across Europe, a leading rov of the Jewish community in Paris sought guidance this week from the Yenuka, asking for a decisive ruling on whether the community should consider relocating to Israel or remain in France.

Rabbi Shlomo Senyur, one of the prominent rabbanim of the Paris Jewish community, traveled to the home of the Yenuka in Rishon Letzion, where he joined the Shacharis mnnyan in the beis medrash before presenting the pressing question, one described as critical to the future of the Jewish community in Paris and, more broadly, to Jewish communities across Europe.

Rabbi Senyur laid out the dilemma facing many Jews in Paris and throughout France: in light of the intensifying waves of antisemitism in various parts of Europe and France, should the community uproot itself and move to Eretz Yisroel? At the same time, he noted the concern that many community members would not make aliyah, potentially leaving behind a weakened and unsupported Jewish presence.

In his response, the Yenuka stressed that there is an immense and invaluable merit for individuals who genuinely desire to ascend to Eretz Yisroel, attach themselves to its soil, and establish their lives there. However, when it comes to an organized, communal move, he advised that the priority should be to strengthen the existing community rather than dismantle it.

The Yenuka explained that even if a collective plan were formed to move together, in practice not everyone would follow through. As a result, those who remained behind would be abandoned and left vulnerable. He added that the current reality of a large, strong, and cohesive community provides resilience and protection for its members, whereas a partial departure that leaves only a small group behind would place those remaining in a dangerous and unstable situation.

“I say that one must strengthen the place there, to fight and not to be afraid. No matter what happens,” the Yenuka said. He reminded Rabbi Senyur of the example of the Or Sameach of Dvinsk, who remained with his community during World War I and did not abandon them, even though he knew war was imminent.

“Do not be afraid. Stay, strengthen, and put things in order, and may it be the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to nullify all this antisemitism. And the rov will continue to increase Torah there. Let your wellsprings spread outward. And to the members of the community I say: they should be careful with lashon hara, for this is the greatest protection from all calamities and all harm.”

{Matzav.com}

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock closer to catastrophe on Tuesday, setting it at 85 seconds to midnight — the closest point to global disaster in the symbolic clock’s 79-year history. The shift, which advances the clock four seconds from last year, reflects what the group described as a worsening convergence […]

FLATBUSH: An NYPD helicopter is hovering over the area of Avenue M and East 13th Street as police search for a possible suspect. Sources tell Flatbush Scoop that there is no threat to the public at this time, and the situation remains under investigation.

BREAKING: Rep. Ilhan Omar was charged at by a man during a town hall event in Minneapolis. Video from the incident shows the man spraying a substance in her direction at the beginning of the encounter.

Rabbi Eli Sadan, the founder and head of the Bnei Dovid pre-military academy in Eli, published a sharply worded letter on Monday following a Golani ceremony earlier this month that featured female singers. Dozens of religious oldiers left the ceremony in protest. “I was told that there was a Golani Brigade gathering marking two years […]

Iranian security forces are coercing families of slain protesters to falsely identify their relatives as members of the regime’s Basij paramilitary force, according to multiple accounts from inside Iran shared with The Times of Israel and relayed by anti-regime activists abroad. The allegations come amid the bloodiest wave of unrest in the Islamic Republic’s history, […]

A heartbreaking tragedy was uncovered in Kyiv on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, when a Holocaust survivor born in the city was found frozen to death in her apartment amid an intense cold spell gripping Ukraine.

Yevgenia Mikhailovna Bespamilnaya was discovered only after a burst water pipe in her apartment caused flooding throughout the building, with ice spreading across multiple floors as temperatures plunged to minus 18 degrees Celsius. According to reports, residents pressed police to force entry into the apartment, where Bespamilnaya was found lifeless in a completely frozen home. Authorities believe she had died several days earlier.

Bespamilnaya survived the Holocaust in Ukraine as a child. After the war, she was sent to an orphanage, where she was given her surname, meaning “without family.” She lived alone with no known relatives and spoke only Yiddish and Russian. Neighbors knew her as Baba Zhenya and described her as a quiet, withdrawn woman who rarely opened her door but made a point of attending the nearby shul.

Residents of the building said that in recent weeks they had tried to look after her, bringing basic supplies and offering assistance whenever possible. When she stopped answering phone calls and was not seen for several days, concern for her safety grew, but it was only the flooding incident that ultimately revealed what had happened.

The tragedy unfolded against the backdrop of a harsh winter in Kyiv, marked by unusually severe cold waves, infrastructure damage, and prolonged outages of electricity and water. In a cruel twist of fate, Bespamilnaya, who survived the horrors of the Holocaust, died alone decades later in the freezing cold of the city where she was born.

{Matzav.com}

Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry submitted a formal complaint to the United States after a U.S. ICE officer attempted to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis without authorization. The incident occurred around 11:00 a.m., when consular staff blocked the officer’s entry. Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld delivered a diplomatic note of protest, requesting assurances that such incidents […]

Israeli defense company Elbit Systems unveiled its Iron Fist Active Protection System (APS), designed to protect armored vehicles from anti-tank threats. The system detects, identifies, and intercepts incoming fire using a blast interceptor that neutralizes threats without detonating the warhead, reducing risk to both the crew and the vehicle. Iron Fist is offered in lighter […]

As the new robot called Sprout walks around a Manhattan office, nodding its rectangular head, lifting its windshield wiper-like “eyebrows” and offering to shake your hand with its grippers, it looks nothing like the sleek and intimidating humanoids built by companies like Tesla. Sprout’s charm is the point. A 5-year-old child could comfortably talk at […]

At least one person was killed after an SUV crashed into a lake in Deerfield Beach, north of Miami, early Tuesday morning, authorities confirmed. Police said the suspects in the vehicle were connected to car break-ins in the area.

TikTok has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the platform contributed to youth addiction. The lawsuit claimed TikTok intentionally designed features to keep minors engaged, encouraging excessive use; the company did not admit wrongdoing, and the settlement still requires court approval.

Families of two men killed in a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela in October filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, calling the strike “manifestly unlawful.” Six men from Trinidad were killed; families allege the victims were fishermen returning from Venezuela to Trinidad when their boat was attacked.

ICE agents will help protect the U.S. delegation at the Winter Olympics in Italy, sparking political uproar in the country.

Israeli defense company Elbit has unveiled SLING, a fast-deploying 120 mm mortar system designed for high mobility. Mounted on light vehicles, it can be brought into action and fire within about a minute, delivering up to 16 rounds per minute over a wide 90-degree firing arc. Equipped with electronic fire-control systems and a manual backup […]

Dr. Esi Sharon, the dentist who confirmed the identity of the last fallen hostage, Ran Gvili Hy”d, shared a powerful account of the experience in an interview with Yedioth Acharonot, describing the intense emotions surrounding the moment he was identified.

Recalling the instant she saw the first photograph, Dr. Sharon said, “When I opened the image that they say sent me from the open grave, I shouted, ‘It’s Rani, it’s him.’ I yelled to the doctor to enter the grave and pull out the body for final identification, which would determine with certainty that he returns home to his family, but inside I already knew. The initial image they sent me was enough for me to conclude that it was Rani. I knew his dental records and their identifying marks by heart. My entire body shook from excitement.” Dr. Sharon serves as commander of the Dental Volunteer Unit within the Police Forensics Department.

She went on to explain how the identification effort unfolded on the ground. “The engineering vehicle operators began to dig holes together with soldiers from the Search Unit, and the dentists entered them to take photos and initial identification. After some time, [pictures of] bodies that the dentists photographed while still in the graves and sent us began to accumulate. Through that method, throughout the night, we ruled out 200 bodies whose graves were opened.”

Since the outbreak of the war, Dr. Sharon has worked alongside fellow dentists and forensic professionals to identify hundreds of victims of the Hamas massacre. Under her leadership, the unit successfully identified every deceased hostage whose remains were returned from the Gaza Strip.

During the mission to recover Ran Gvili, a team of 20 dentists examined roughly 250 bodies in a period of less than 24 hours, completing the painstaking process under extreme pressure and time constraints.

{Matzav.com}

Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney – The administration’s reset on its immigration crackdown is the most significant pivot Trump has ever made, and it’s the right response to the public furor that’s arisen over the killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis.