A wave of joy swept through Beis Medrash Elyon in Bnei Brak in recent weeks, after one of the yeshiva’s distinguished students, Yoel Aharon Tzarfati of France, experienced a miraculous recovery from a life-threatening illness and returned to his place in the beis medrash.
During the past summer, doctors discovered that the young man was suffering from a severe and dangerous disease. He was forced to leave the yeshiva for an extended period and travel back to France for a complex surgery followed by a series of difficult treatments.
Throughout his ordeal, the entire yeshiva cried out and prayed for the recovery of Yoel Aharon ben Rus, as doctors had given grim predictions regarding his chances of healing.
Seeking additional merit on his behalf, a group of students traveled to the home of the renowned posek, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein. They asked him to bless the young man and to guide them in taking on something meaningful for his recovery.
Rav Zilberstein instructed them to strengthen themselves in uninterrupted learning and to refrain from idle conversation in the beis medrash. Such an undertaking, he told them, would serve as a powerful and proven source of merit.
A few days later, the yeshiva received a special letter of encouragement from Rav Zilberstein. In it, he wrote that many people in this generation suffer from terrible illnesses, and that one who influences others not to speak during davening, during krias haTorah, or in the middle of learning, merits “supreme protection and safeguarding.”
He explained further by citing the teaching from the Yerushalmi: “Honor your physician before you need him.” The message, he wrote, is that one must honor Hashem — the Healer of all flesh — in advance, before trouble arrives. Whoever honors Heaven by refraining from talking during prayer and during learning in the beis medrash, he wrote, is granted protection from distress, harm, and illness.
Rav Zilberstein concluded with a clear promise: that in the merit of strengthening themselves not to speak idle words during prayer and learning, Hashem would send His word and heal “all 248 limbs and 365 sinews,” together with all those in Klal Yisroel who are ill.
The letter was joined by Rosh Yeshiva Rav Yerachmiel Ungarischer, who added his tefillah that Hashem remove illness from among them, especially on behalf of the young man from their group.
The yeshiva’s mashgiach, Rav Shmuel Schulman, also joined, writing that one cannot fathom the great merit in strengthening themselves in this area for their friend’s healing, and that all who do so will be blessed from Above.
Then, during the Tishrei season, the astonishing news arrived: the illness had vanished completely. Doctors were stunned by the dramatic turnaround. By the mercy of Heaven, Yoel Aharon recovered fully and returned from France to Israel at the start of the winter zman, where his fellow students greeted him with tremendous emotion.
A deeply moving scene took place when Yoel Aharon visited Rav Zilberstein to thank him for his blessings and his letter of encouragement, and to receive a new blessing for continued health.
Rav Zilberstein was overjoyed to see the young man healed, yet in his humility he refused to attribute the recovery to his own promise. Instead, he told him:
“Since you live in France — the home of the Baalei Tosafos — I am afraid that it was they who intervened on your behalf. You immerse yourself all day in Gemara, Rashi, and Tosafos, and since you live in their land, it seems they advocated for you Above. Through that merit you were granted complete healing.”
Rav Zilberstein then bentched him warmly that he continue to grow in Torah, merit strong and enduring health, and in the right time build a faithful home filled with joy and happiness.
{Matzav.com}
Ponovezh Yeshiva has submitted a formal request to the Tel Aviv District Court seeking judicial approval of the recent arbitration ruling issued by retired judge Dovid Cheshin. The move sets in motion a 15-day window for Rav Shmuel Markowitz to respond, either consenting to the ruling or filing an objection.
According to last week’s arbitration decision, ownership of the entire Ponovezh Yeshiva was awarded fully to its nosi, Rav Eliezer Kahaneman. The ruling further directs Rav Shmuel Markowitz and the Masores HaTorah Yeshiva to vacate the yeshiva’s hilltop campus by the end of the academic year, in the month of Av. In addition, Rav Markowitz and his yeshiva were ordered to pay 10 million shekels in damages to the Ponovezh corporation owned by Rav Kahaneman.
Today, Ponovezh Yeshiva filed its request for confirmation of the arbitration award through attorneys Ehud Artzi, Ran Feldman, and Rivka Ariel. Under Israel’s Arbitration Law, submitting such a request is a standard legal step intended to grant the ruling the enforceability of a formal court judgment.
Rav Markowitz and Masores HaTorah now have 15 days to respond. Their options include opposing the confirmation, submitting a formal motion to annul the arbitration ruling, or informing the court that they accept it.
The coming two weeks will therefore clarify Rav Shmuel Markowitz’s position and whether he intends to challenge the decision. Legally, courts rarely overturn arbitration awards; annulment is considered an exceptional measure, granted only when a severe and fundamental flaw is demonstrated in the arbitration process.
{Matzav.com}A revamped peace initiative crafted jointly by the United States and Ukraine emerged Monday, replacing the uproar-inducing 28-point outline circulated days earlier with a far more balanced 19-point framework, according to multiple reports. The newly drafted proposal sharply departs from the earlier document that had sparked intense criticism for tilting heavily toward Moscow’s demands.
Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya said that negotiators on both sides came away “positive” after reshaping the proposal. This latest draft drops the suggestion of capping Ukraine’s troop levels and removes language offering sweeping amnesty for atrocities committed during Russia’s invasion, the Financial Times reported.
Kyslytsya emphasized that the new version bears virtually no resemblance to the earlier leaked text, which had placed lopsided burdens on Kyiv while asking little of Moscow. The details remain mostly under wraps, but Ukrainian officials made clear that the reworked plan drastically shifts the balance.
“Very few things are left from the original version,” Kyslytsya told the outlet about the revised document. “We developed a solid body of convergence, and a few things we can compromise on.”
The abandoned 28-point draft had insisted Ukraine shrink its armed forces from roughly 900,000 service members to 600,000, and even required Kyiv to surrender the entire Donbas region—territory Russia has repeatedly tried and failed to seize for over a decade.
That earlier proposal also demanded that Ukraine permanently forfeit aspirations for NATO membership, offering in return only ambiguous security assurances that critics warned would do nothing to deter another potential Russian onslaught.
Following Sunday’s discussions in Geneva between Ukrainian representatives and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Kyslytsya confirmed that any plan to slash Ukraine’s military strength “was no longer on the table.”
US and Ukrainian officials similarly agreed to remove the blanket amnesty provision for Russian war crimes. The updated framework, according to the FT, would instead aim to address “the grievances of those who suffered in the war.”
Still, major questions remain unresolved. Russia’s territorial demands—and its insistence that Ukraine be permanently barred from joining NATO—have yet to be negotiated. Those thorny issues, Kyslytsya noted, will ultimately require direct talks between Trump and Zelensky, with Washington preparing to present the revised document to Moscow in the coming days.
“It’s on the Russians to show if they are genuinely interested in peace or will find a thousand reasons not to engage,” Kyslytsya said.
Earlier Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the original 28-point outline as something that could “form the basis for a final peace settlement” with Ukraine. He remarked that its terms largely reflected discussions he held with Trump during their Alaska summit earlier this year, signaling Moscow’s readiness to continue negotiating.
Whether the Kremlin will view the updated plan as acceptable remains an open question. Kyiv’s input has significantly reshaped the contours of the agreement, leaving Moscow to decide how far it is willing to bend.
Trump, who has repeatedly said that the initial 28-point plan was not a “final offer,” characterized the Geneva meetings as encouraging—hinting that “something good just may be happening” as his administration presses ahead in pursuit of an elusive peace.
{Matzav.com}
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir made a deeply personal appearance last night at a wedding in Kfar Chabad — the wedding of a young man whose life he saved as an infant more than two decades ago.
Zamir attended the wedding of Menachem Kirshenzhaft, a resident of the village. Twenty-two years earlier, during Zamir’s tenure as commander of the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade, he thwarted a terror attack and eliminated the gunman, an encounter that saved the life of baby Menachem and his family.
The original attack occurred on October 24, 2003. The family of Rabbi Yigal Kirshenzhaft, a Chabad shliach, was driving near the community of Neve Dekalim when, at around 9:30 p.m., a terrorist opened fire on their vehicle from the side of the road.
Rabbi Kirshenzhaft later described the frightening moments in an interview with Arutz Sheva. The car was carrying his family and several hitchhikers when suddenly, “about a hundred meters after entering the Gush, gunfire erupted toward the vehicle from the shoulder of the road. We heard the shots and bullets started flying inside the car. The windows shattered and I yelled to my wife,” he recalled.
The family continued driving for another hundred meters as the barrage continued. The rabbi’s wife was lightly injured, as were three of their children. Their one-year-old son was struck lightly by shrapnel. “The entire baby seat next to the window that shattered was filled with fragments,” the rabbi said at the time.
Ynet reported that Zamir raced to the scene in a military jeep with additional soldiers, located the terrorist hiding behind a bush, and fatally shot him. Since that night, Zamir has remained in contact with the Kirshenzhaft family.
At the wedding, Zamir told the family emotionally: “I’ve had many encounters with terrorists, but this was a miracle from Heaven. The entire vehicle was riddled with bullets while the whole family — including the baby who is now the groom — was inside, and no one was hurt. So that today we can stand here and celebrate Menachem’s wedding.”
{Matzav.com}
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Four years after the deadly terror attack near the community of Chomesh, a military court has convicted one of the terrorists involved in the murder of Yehuda Dimentman Hy”d as part of a plea bargain arranged with the Military Prosecution.
As outlined in the agreement, the defendant admitted to murdering Dimentman and to trafficking in military equipment. In return, prosecutors removed the charges relating to the attempted murder of Dimentman’s two friends, who were wounded during the shooting.
The December 2021 ambush occurred just outside Chomesh in the northern Shomron. Dimentman, a resident of Shavei Shomron, was heading home from yeshiva with two fellow students when terrorists lying in wait opened fire at close range. He was killed instantly, and his two companions were injured.
According to the indictment, the attackers had prepared an ambush for the car carrying Dimentman and his friends, firing from close range into the vehicle. The document also reveals that the terrorists planned to abduct Dimentman’s body and hide it along a side trail near the village of Burka, a plot that security forces ultimately prevented.
Dimentman leaves behind his parents, eleven siblings, his wife Atia, and their nine-month-old son, David.
The shooting also wounded two other Israelis — Avia Antman and Neriya Shlomo Feldman — one moderately and the other lightly.
Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization, who represents the Dimentman family, issued a forceful statement condemning the attacker:
“This is a vile terrorist who acted to harm the existence of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The terrorist did not act in a vacuum but came from a society of murderers. It is time to expel the Islamic enemy from the land to prevent any possibility of the terrorist’s release in the future. We will demand in court that he be required to pay substantial compensation, thereby deterring future attackers.”
{Matzav.com}
