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It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yosef Yehoshua Levi zt”l.

Rabbi Levi, who studied at the Ponevezh Yeshiva and later became a central pillar of the Torah community in Toronto, was widely known as a gifted and respected writer. For decades, he was a prominent contributor to the Hamodia newspaper, where his weekly columns earned broad acclaim.

He was born in Yerushalayimin 5698 (1938) to his father, Rav Shmuel Zev Levi, a respected member of the Gerer chassidus and a notable presence in the Beis Yisrael neighborhood. As a child, Rabbi Levi absorbed the spirit and Torah of Yerushalayim while studying at the Chayei Olam Talmud Torah.

He later continued his studies at Yeshiva Tiferes Tzion in Bnei Brak and then at Ponevezh Yeshiva, where he formed a close bond with the mashgiach, Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, author of the Michtav M’Eliyahu. Known for his diligence and depth, Rabbi Levi stood out as a serious and thoughtful talmid chochom.

After reaching marriageable age, he wed his wife, Mrs. Malka Levi, daughter of Rav Mordechai Asher Friedman of Bnei Brak. She became his devoted partner in all his endeavors in chinuch and Torah dissemination, standing by his side with dedication and strength.

Following their marriage, the couple moved to Canada, beginning a significant chapter as communal emissaries in the field of education. Rabbi Levi served for many years as a beloved mechanech at a girls’ high school in Toronto, while his wife devoted herself to teaching first-grade students. Together, they were among the foundational figures of Toronto’s Torah community, opening their home as a center of warmth, chessed, guidance, and wisdom.

They merited raising generations of students who continued on the path of Torah and mitzvos, inspired by the personal care and radiant countenance they encountered. Alongside his educational work, Rabbi Levi became known as a prolific and talented writer.

For many years, he was a regular columnist for Hamodia, with his essays in the weekly supplement becoming widely read and appreciated. His writing was marked by clarity, rich language, and a deep Torah perspective on contemporary issues, with his passionate worldview clearly reflected in his words. Even in his later years, until only a few years ago, he continued to enrich readers with his insights through his weekly column.

In recent years, Rabbi Levi returned to Eretz Yisrael and lived in Yerushalayimin the home of his son, Rabbi Yeshayahu Levi. Approximately two years ago, during Sukkos, his wife, Mrs. Malka Levi, passed away. From that time, his strength gradually waned, and he accepted his yissurim with quiet dignity. On Wednesday night, he was niftar.

He is survived by his son Rabbi Yeshayahu Levi of Yerushalayim, author of the sefer Mikra Ani Doresh; his daughters, Mrs. Weisbaum of Toronto and Mrs. Klein of Flatbush; and his son, Rabbi Shmuel Levi of Lakewood, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Yehi zichro boruch. {Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump reacted forcefully on Thursday to a report claiming that Somali couriers transported unusually large sums of cash out of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, using social media to demand immediate action.

“Arrest them all. They are criminals!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social while sharing a Just the News report describing what it called a “Somali cash exodus” from Minneapolis, which the president said far exceeded similar activity at other major U.S. airports.

The repost drew attention to newly published reporting that quoted Homeland Security Department officials who said the volume of money leaving Minnesota was “substantially abnormal” and should have raised red flags during the Biden administration.

According to Just the News, Transportation Security Administration personnel detected and flagged close to $700 million in cash carried out of Minneapolis in luggage by Somali couriers during 2024 and 2025, an amount that averaged nearly $1 million per day.

The outlet reported that travelers departing Minneapolis alone accounted for $342.37 million in 2024 and $349.4 million in 2025, with officials saying some individual trips allegedly involved as much as $1 million in cash.

Investigators also raised concerns about the alleged routing of the money through Amsterdam before continuing on to Dubai, a pattern that has attracted heightened scrutiny from intelligence agencies and federal investigators.

One official familiar with the activity likened it to “like a cash ATM draining American dollars and moving them overseas,” noting that the transfers were openly carried out using legal cash declarations under customs regulations.

Just the News reported that the sums detected leaving Minneapolis were between 10 and 100 times greater than foreign cash totals seen at much larger airports and, in some cases, nearly unprecedented by comparison.

Officials told the outlet that the Minneapolis figures were “99% larger” than foreign cash detected or declared in 2025 at airports such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, or JFK, and still significantly higher than totals recorded at Seattle, another major international gateway.

Although the cash was reportedly declared legally, the outlet said the scale of the outbound money is now part of a broader Homeland Security Investigations probe connected to a multibillion-dollar fraud investigation centered in Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community, where dozens of people have already been charged or convicted in earlier schemes.

Trump has repeatedly argued that the alleged Somali-linked fraud in Minnesota could be far more extensive than what investigators initially uncover.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said that if authorities have identified $19 billion in fraud, “that means it could be 50,” calling the figures “astronomical” and declaring that the “gravy train is over.” He also said individuals found complicit should be deported.

The ramifications could widen beyond criminal cases.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the administration is considering revoking the citizenship of Somali Americans convicted of fraud tied to Minnesota’s major welfare scandals, highlighting the administration’s broader effort to crack down on large-scale abuse of taxpayer-funded programs.

Among conservatives, the revelations surrounding the Minneapolis airport cash flows are prompting fresh questions about why the pattern was not flagged earlier, how much taxpayer fraud may be connected to it, and how long federal authorities may have failed to act while American dollars allegedly moved overseas in plain sight.

{Matzav.com}

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that European governments should pay close attention to President Donald Trump’s statements about Greenland, as the White House escalates its rhetoric toward the Danish-controlled Arctic territory.

Speaking at a White House briefing, Vance faulted Denmark and other European allies for what he described as insufficient efforts to safeguard Greenland, a strategically important region he said is increasingly drawing interest from Russia and China.

“I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the president of the United States seriously,” Vance told reporters when asked about the administration’s posture toward Greenland.

His remarks came amid heightened diplomatic activity across Europe after the White House said earlier this week that Trump wants to buy Greenland and declined to rule out the use of military force. European capitals have been scrambling to coordinate a response to the statements.

Vance pointed specifically to Trump’s argument that the United States requires Greenland for national security reasons, including “missile defense,” citing growing military activity by Moscow and Beijing in the region as Arctic ice recedes.

“So what we’re asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that land mass more seriously, because if they’re not, the United States is going to have to do something about it,” Vance said.

“What that is, I’ll leave that to the president as we continue to engage in diplomacy with our European friends and everybody on this particular topic,” he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with officials from Denmark and Greenland next week, as tensions continue to rise.

Trump has spoken for years about acquiring Greenland, but his language has intensified following last week’s U.S. military operation that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power.

The comments have angered Denmark, a founding member of NATO and a long-standing American ally, while setting off alarm across Europe. Any invasion of Greenland would put the United States in direct conflict with a fellow NATO country and could fracture the alliance’s mutual defense framework.

European leaders have launched a wave of diplomatic efforts aimed at defusing the situation, seeking to prevent a crisis while also avoiding a direct clash with Trump, who is approaching the end of his first year back in office.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed Greenland during a call with Trump on Wednesday, “set out his position on Greenland,” and followed up with another call on Thursday in which he said more could be done to protect the “high Arctic” from Russian influence, according to Downing Street.

Vance was also meeting in Washington with British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy for talks primarily focused on the war in Ukraine, though Greenland was expected to be part of the broader discussion.

European nations have publicly backed Denmark, with several leaders joining Copenhagen in a joint statement affirming that decisions about Greenland’s future rest solely with Denmark and Greenland.

French President Emmanuel Macron went further, warning Thursday that the United States was “turning away” from its allies in what marked some of his sharpest criticism yet of Trump’s approach.

Macron argued that “global governance” was essential at a moment when, he said, “every day people wonder whether Greenland is going to be invaded.”

Vance has previously taken a hard line on Europe’s defense posture, writing in a leaked group chat with senior U.S. officials last year that he hated “bailing out” the continent.

That sentiment was echoed in the Trump administration’s national security strategy released in December, which sharply criticized Europe, warning of “civilisational erasure” driven by migration and urging the United States to support “cultivating resistance” among right-wing political movements.

{Matzav.com}

More artificial intelligence is being implanted into Gmail as Google tries to turn the world’s most popular email service into a personal assistant that can improve writing, summarize far-flung information buried in inboxes and deliver daily to-do lists. The new AI features announced Thursday could herald a pivotal moment for Gmail, a service that transformed […]

Federal prosecutors have opened a review of financial activity connected to New York Attorney General Letitia James and a longtime associate, according to a report by The New York Times.

At the center of the inquiry is Iyesata Marsh, whom investigators reportedly want to question about past transactions involving James or her political operation. Those include payments from James’ 2018 attorney general campaign to Marsh for the rental of a Brooklyn studio Marsh owns.

Investigators are also examining other payments tied to Marsh, including compensation connected to a musical performance at a political event held in Albany, New York.

The renewed scrutiny is being driven by Department of Justice Special Attorney Edward Martin Jr., who previously pursued parallel mortgage fraud investigations involving James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California.

Those earlier efforts stalled last month, when the Department of Justice failed to obtain an indictment after determining that the U.S. attorney who brought the case, Lindsey Halligan, had been improperly appointed.

James’ lawyer told the Times that the latest investigation reflects irritation over “the string of failures in carrying out President [Donald] Trump’s political vendetta.”

He characterized the focus on Marsh as an effort “to shake down people based on their association with Ms. James.”

“Like their earlier attempts, this attack on Ms. James is doomed to fail,” he said. “The desperation of those working for Trump is palpable and makes indelible the stain already put on this Justice Department.”

James and President Trump have sparred for years in courtrooms and in public, with James overseeing prominent investigations into Trump’s business dealings and financial disclosures.

That long-running conflict has kept James in Trump’s crosshairs, while Trump’s legal battles in New York have highlighted the depth of the confrontation between the president and the state’s chief legal officer.

{Matzav.com}

A frum schoolgirl from Teaneck, NJ, in Bergen County, was seriously injured after a rock was thrown at her school bus while it was traveling on a New Jersey highway.

The incident occurred as two buses from a school were returning from a class trip. While driving on the highway, a rock roughly the size of a baseball was hurled at one of the buses, striking a third-grade girl, approximately nine years old, in the head and causing severe injuries.

The child sustained a skull injury and was transported by ambulance to a local medical center. Volunteers from Hatzalah of Bergen County also responded to the scene. She is currently in need of surgery. Her name for Tehillim is Gila Bracha bas Michal Ilana.

A joint investigation is being conducted by the Teaneck Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Authorities have not yet announced any arrests or identified suspects and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump is now on board with a hard-hitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Moscow as his administration continues to negotiate a deal to end the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday, during which the president […]

  This story goes back 15 years. My parents took my siblings and me on a trip to South Africa for vacation. It started out fun and enjoyable, but quickly turned into a nightmare. We were traveling through a dense forest in the hopes of finding our next destiantion. All of a sudden and out […]

The teachers at a Beis Yaakov school in Ramot approached the administration, asking what to be mechazeik in following the horrifying death of Ramot resident Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, who was killed at a Chareidi protest against the draft, and other recent tragedies in the neighborhood, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. The question was passed to the director […]

Peleg Yerushalmi issued a furious condemnation on Thursday following the decision of a Jerusalem District Court judge to release the driver who killed Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, to house arrest. The statement not only expressed outrage at the decision but also stated that the judge is completely unfamiliar with the technical details of the incident. “Deep […]

Vice President JD Vance said the White House will not accept violence directed at federal law enforcement and pledged to confront what the administration views as organized efforts to provoke attacks on immigration officers.

Speaking at a press conference, Vance said President Donald Trump and he fully support Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out their duties. “The president stands with ICE. I stand with ICE. We stand with all of our law enforcement officers,” Vance said.

Vance warned that the administration will respond forcefully to any attempts to intimidate or attack federal officers. “These people should not feel emboldened because they have, for the first time, maybe in American history, an administration that is not going to tolerate political violence of any kind from anywhere,” he said.

Vance also cautioned state and local officials against attempting to pursue charges against the ICE officer involved in the Minneapolis incident. “You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That is a federal issue,” he said. “That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job.”

The vice president criticized Minnesota’s political leadership, singling out Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and city officials in Minneapolis, accusing them of fueling hostility toward federal agents. “What I would like Minnesota to focus on is the real issue, that they are encouraging people,” Vance said, while calling on the governor to resign. “Minneapolis officials are encouraging people to commit violence against ICE officials,” he added.

Vance said easing political tensions requires halting attacks on officers and enforcing the law, pointing to claims that violent crime has fallen by 20% over the past year. “Have your debates about policy. Attack me. Attack the President of the United States. Do not attack our law enforcement officers,” he said. “They are not policy actors. They are enforcing the law.”

He urged opponents of the administration’s immigration policies to pursue change through elections rather than confrontations with agents. “Why don’t you take this to the ballot box? Why don’t you vote? Why don’t you organize?” Vance said, adding that some activists are “encouraging people to get violent with our law enforcement officials.”

Turning to the Minneapolis shooting itself, Vance said federal investigators are reviewing the incident involving Renee Nicole Good, who was shot during an immigration enforcement operation. He repeatedly described the officer’s actions as self-defense and rejected claims that the shooting was unjustified.

“She was trying to ram this guy with her car. He shot back. He defended himself,” Vance said.

Vance said the officer had “every reason to think that he was under very serious threat for injury, or in fact, his life,” adding that the woman “accelerated in a way where she ran into the guy.”

Addressing questions about intent, Vance said the circumstances warranted scrutiny but dismissed allegations of wrongdoing by the officer. “Was she panicking when she drove into this officer, or was she actually trying to ram him? That is a reasonable conversation,” he said. “What is not reasonable is for so many of you to plaster all over the media that this was an innocent woman and that the ICE agent committed murder.”

He said he was careful in how he characterized the encounter. “And I say attack very, very intentionally because this was an attack on federal law enforcement. This was an attack on law and order. This was an attack on the American people,” Vance said.

Vance also sharply rebuked media coverage of the shooting, saying it misrepresented the facts and endangered officers. “The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace,” he said. “And it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”

He accused some reporters of promoting what he described as false narratives about the woman who was killed. “Everybody who has been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single one of you,” Vance said.

Pressed on whether he was prejudging the investigation, Vance said he could not know what motivated the woman but said the officer’s response was justified. “Look, I do not know what is in a person’s heart or in a person’s head,” he said. “What I am certain of is that she violated the law.”

Vance said the administration believes the Minneapolis incident is part of a broader pattern aimed at disrupting immigration enforcement nationwide. “There is an entire network, and frankly, some of the media are participating in it, that is trying to incite violence against our law enforcement officers,” he said.

He said federal authorities are working to trace those efforts. “Part of our investigatory work is getting to the bottom of it. Who is funding it, who is supporting it, who is cheerleading it … who told protesters to show up and engage in violent activity against our law enforcement officers?” Vance said. “There’s an entire network.”

WATCH:

This story goes back 15 years. My parents took my siblings and me on a trip to South Africa for vacation. It started out fun and enjoyable, but quickly turned into a nightmare. We were traveling through a dense forest in the hopes of finding our next destiantion. All of a sudden and out of […]

Demonstrations against Iran’s ruling establishment escalated sharply over the past day, with unrest reported in multiple cities. Early accounts said opposition forces had taken control of Karaj, while large crowds flooded the streets of Tehran, Mashhad, and other urban centers, shouting slogans against the government and its religious authorities.

As the turmoil has widened, the Chief of Staff of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Amir Khatami, issued a pointed message aimed at US President Donald Trump, cautioning him against any involvement in the unrest shaking the country.

Khatami dismissed the idea that the protests have any connection to Washington or to Israel, referring to the Prime Minister of “the criminal Zionist entity.” He asserted that ordinary Iranians have conducted themselves in a “dignified and admirable” way, standing firm against what he described as “rioters” and declining to follow the course he claimed the United States and Israel had anticipated.

According to the Iranian general, public demonstrations are a normal occurrence worldwide, but he argued that when protests descend into violence, that shift is “certainly” the product of deliberate orchestration by “the enemy.”

Khatami’s remarks came after Trump publicly warned Iran’s leadership that harming civilians amid the protests could trigger a direct response from the United States. Trump said America would not remain on the sidelines and would hold Iran’s leaders personally accountable for any injury inflicted on their own people.

{Matzav.com}

The State Department said Wednesday that it has suspended all U.S. assistance to Somalia’s federal government over allegations that Somali officials destroyed an American-funded warehouse belonging to the World Food Program and seized 76 metric tons of food aid intended for impoverished civilians. “The Trump Administration has a zero-tolerance policy for waste, theft, and diversion […]

[Videos below.] Public dissent continued to surface across Iran, with demonstrators in the capital and outlying regions using increasingly blunt symbols and slogans to denounce the ruling system and its leadership.

Earlier in the week, protesters in Tehran echoed language used by Elon Musk in a recent social media post criticizing the Iranian regime, adopting the term “murderer” in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In a highly symbolic gesture, one protester displayed a sign in the heart of the city bearing the words “President Trump Street.”

In western Iran, unrest was reported Wednesday night in the city of Ilam, where demonstrators gathered in the streets chanting “Death to Khamenei,” according to videos sent to the Iran International website.

Separate video clips circulating on social media showed protesters in Fars Province tearing down and destroying a statue of Qassem Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

That act followed a similar incident last week in the southwestern city of Lali in Khuzestan, where demonstrators set fire to another statue of Soleimani.

The latest destruction occurred on the eve of the anniversary of Soleimani’s killing in a US drone strike in Iraq on January 3, 2020, a date that continues to carry deep symbolic weight amid Iran’s ongoing unrest.

WATCH:

Protesters took to the streets in Ilam, western Iran, on Wednesday evening, chanting “Death to Khamenei,” according to videos sent to Iran International.pic.twitter.com/kKxTpbDmw3

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) January 7, 2026

— Protesters destroy and topple a Qasem Soleimani statue in one of the counties of Fars Province pic.twitter.com/kxdnq03PwC

— The Palestinian Observer (@TPObserver) January 7, 2026

Israel’s Defense Ministry and the IDF announced Thursday that they have completed the distribution of thousands of advanced Arad assault rifles to rapid response teams across the country, marking a key milestone in the government’s postwar community defense strategy. According to the ministry, the weapons were distributed as part of a joint initiative led by […]

After approving a plea agreement, the Yerushalayim District Court imposed a custodial sentence on Lev Tahor cult leader Elazar Rompler, ordering him to serve 24 months behind bars, less time already spent in detention. The ruling also included suspended sentences, a fine of 10,000 shekels, and an order to pay 12,000 shekels in compensation to the victim.

In its decision, the court described the incident in stark terms, writing that “the facts detailed in the first count, which concerns the assault, are severe and chilling,” and stressing that the violence displayed especially serious characteristics.

Rompler was convicted of aggravated assault causing actual bodily harm after he struck a 10-year-old boy in front of other students within the Lev Tahor cult. The verdict noted that the attack took place publicly, in the presence of the child’s peers.

The court also found Rompler guilty of breaching a legal order by leaving Israel despite a stay of exit order and evading the proceedings. He fled the country while the case was pending.

Following his escape, Rompler was apprehended abroad and returned to Israel through an extradition process carried out by the International Department of the State Prosecution.

During sentencing submissions, the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office, represented by attorney Tzur Huta, underscored the extraordinary gravity of the offense. Prosecutors pointed to the abuse of a position of authority within a closed community, the targeting of a defenseless minor, and the fact that the violence occurred in front of other children.

{Matzav.com}

Protests in Iran sparked by economic woes have spread nationwide across the Islamic Republic, activists said Thursday, as stores across the country shut their doors and authorities appeared to be selectively slowing internet access. Wednesday saw the most-intense day of demonstrations, reaching rural towns and major cities in every province though still localized enough for daily […]

California will lose $160 million for delaying the revocations of 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants, federal transportation officials announced Wednesday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy already withheld $40 million in federal funding because he said California isn’t enforcing English proficiency requirements for truckers. The state notified these drivers in the fall that they would lose their licenses after a […]

Over the past 12 days, protests across Iran have left at least 45 people dead, including eight minors, according to human rights groups. More than 2,000 people have been arrested, according to activists. Tonight, authorities imposed an internet shutdown for the first time since the unrest began, as the crackdown intensified. The protests were sparked […]