Veteran composer Rav Hillel Paley delivered a sharp and emotional critique of contemporary wedding music in a rare radio interview, warning that celebrations in the frum community have veered far from their spiritual roots and, in many cases, have become deeply inappropriate.
Speaking with Reb Menachem Stein on the Sichat HaYom program on Israel’s Kol Chai Radio, Rav Paley said that weddings today often resemble “a disco of chaos,” arguing that much of the current music has lost any connection to Yiddishkeit or kedusha. “A wedding has become a nightmare,” he said. “People are just waiting for the music to stop so they can escape and go home.”
Rav Paley sharply criticized what he described as shallow hit songs that take pesukim from sacred texts and turn them into mockery. He said he is disturbed by scenes in which yeshiva bochurim remove their jackets and yarmulkas and engage in frenzied dancing that runs completely counter to the values they are supposed to represent. “This music is a desecration,” he said. “It would be better to sing about oranges than to turn holy pesukim into a joke.” He added that even in the broader public, many people prefer authentic Jewish melodies over what he called cheap imitations.
During the broadcast, Rabbi Stein cited guidance from Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, who advised bochurim to study mussar works for a few minutes before attending a wedding in order to remember their purpose and responsibility. Addressing drunkenness and unruly behavior on the dance floor, Rav Hirsch was quoted as saying, “A ben Torah must remember who he is and not behave like a wild, uncivilized person at a wedding celebration.”
Rabbi Stein reinforced Rav Paley’s message, noting that some roshei yeshiva refuse to enter wedding halls until what he termed “the wild singer” is removed from the stage. Together, they decried a situation in which parents spend enormous sums of money only to see their children’s weddings turned into what they called a circus. “Parents are paying a fortune so that someone can ruin the wedding and middlemen can take over the event,” they said, urging families to take responsibility and demand music that is appropriate, dignified, and worthy of the occasion.
In closing, Rav Paley issued a direct appeal to yeshiva students, calling on them to recognize their own value and stop chasing cheap trends that embarrass the Torah world. “When we truly understand our worth and the holiness of marriage,” he said, “this kind of music will naturally lose its appeal, and souls will once again know how to rejoice in a genuine way.”
{Matzav.com}Arad Mayor Yair Maayan ignited a major political and communal storm in a blunt radio interview in which he said the city has no interest in welcoming additional chassidic groups beyond the existing Gerer community, while also exposing what he described as severe anti-chareidi hostility within the city.
Speaking on the Bonim Atid program on Kol Chai Radio with hosts Chanoch Rapoport and Yisrael Melman, Maayan addressed Arad’s rapid development, tensions between different populations, and his long-term vision for the city. During the interview, he recounted disturbing incidents of hatred directed at chareidim. “Today someone sent me a message saying there are cockroaches everywhere,” he said. “I asked, where? He told me, no, I’m calling the religious people cockroaches. That’s horrific antisemitism. It’s a disgrace and a shame.”
Maayan, who was elected about two years ago, said he deliberately changed the city’s approach toward the Gerer community, the largest and most established chassidic group in Arad. He sharply criticized previous municipal leadership, accusing them of racism and illegal discrimination. “The prior administration acted with racism and unlawful discrimination and diverted funds away from chareidi education,” he charged. To address housing needs and reduce friction in mixed neighborhoods, Maayan announced plans for a new chareidi neighborhood comprising roughly 2,000 housing units.
Addressing claims surrounding a recent land tender won by developers identified with Ger, Maayan rejected allegations of improper coordination. “I assume that in the chassidus, many miracles happen,” he said sarcastically. “So it turned out that no one competed with anyone else over the same plot.”
Asked whether Arad plans to open its doors to additional chareidi communities, Maayan delivered his most controversial statement of the interview. “Here in Arad, we’re satisfied with Ger,” he said. “We don’t want any other chassidic groups here. Other communities should go to Kesif.”
Beyond the chareidi issue, Maayan outlined an ambitious plan to double Arad’s population to 50,000 residents within five years through large-scale residential construction involving thousands of housing units. He also announced plans for an advanced medical center in the city and said the government is expected to approve the construction of a new airport in the Negev region near Beit Kama as early as Sunday.
Maayan concluded the interview with a sharp message aimed at residents he accused of inciting hatred against chareidim. “People like that — antisemites — don’t belong living in the Land of Israel at all,” he said. “We hope their hatred will push them to leave the city and the country.”
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump used his address at the 74th National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning to argue that his presidency has strengthened religion’s role in American public life, telling attendees that no previous president has done more for people of faith. Speaking to a packed audience at the Washington Hilton, Trump praised religious freedom, highlighted policy achievements, and accused Democrats of pushing faith to the margins.
Calling the event a cherished national custom, Trump told the crowd, “This is a beautiful American tradition, and it’s a true honor to be back,” noting that he has participated in the breakfast nearly every year.
He described the gathering as a rare pause from the demands of office, saying it offers a moment to reflect amid constant pressure, and quipped that he needs “all the help I can get.”
In remarks broadcast live on Newsmax, Trump declared that religion in the United States is experiencing a resurgence, saying it is “back now, hotter than ever before,” and credited his administration’s policies with bringing faith back into the public square.
While conceding personal imperfections, Trump said his record shows tangible achievements for religious Americans after what he described as years of being overlooked.
“I’ve done more for religion than any other president,” Trump said, arguing that many modern presidents have effectively “bailed out” on faith, opting for neutrality or even opposition.
He went further in his criticism of the opposition party, stating bluntly, “The Democrats are against [religion],” and questioned how “a person of faith can vote for a Democrat.”
As an example, Trump pointed to voter ID laws, which he said enjoy overwhelming support among Americans of all backgrounds, including religious voters.
Referring to polling data, he said support for such laws exceeds 90 percent and framed the requirement as basic common sense.
“When you go to the polls, you show who you are,” Trump said.
“They don’t want to approve it. Everyone’s trying to figure out why.”
He accused Democrats of blocking voter ID measures for political reasons, despite broad public backing.
Trump also used the speech to praise congressional Republicans, singling out House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and GOP lawmakers for pushing conservative goals through a closely divided Congress.
Joking about placing late-night calls to persuade hesitant members, Trump said Republicans eventually come together and “always get there.”
Turning briefly to other topics, Trump cited achievements beyond religious policy, including rebuilding the military, expanding domestic energy production, and restoring American influence abroad.
He described the current economic climate as one of historic investment and momentum, calling it a “tremendous success.”
In closing, Trump thanked the bipartisan leaders of the National Prayer Breakfast and stressed the importance of keeping faith central to the nation’s character.
“We have a great country,” he said. “And when you put religion back where it belongs, everything else gets stronger.”
The National Prayer Breakfast, an annual Washington tradition, brings together elected officials, religious leaders, and public figures for reflection and prayer—an event Trump said continues to play a vital role in the country’s future.
{Matzav.com}
A Jewish woman who, as a young girl, refused to present flowers to Adolf Hitler during the opening ceremony of the Berlin Olympics has passed away at the age of 102. Mrs. Yocheved Gold a”h, sister of two prominent rabbonim from the Neuwirth family, passed away after a life that spanned Nazi Germany, the Holocaust era, and the entire history of the State of Israel.
Yocheved was 13 years old when she entered Berlin’s Olympic Stadium in August 1936 to watch the opening ceremony of the Games. Because she looked German, she was asked to join a group of children selected to hand flowers to Hitler, who had been appointed chancellor of Germany three years earlier. She refused.
“I saw him face to face and I was a little afraid,” she later recalled. “That I, a Jew, should give Hitler flowers? I refused.”
By the time of the 1936 Olympics, Germany under Hitler had already enacted sweeping legal discrimination against Jews, effectively pushing them out of public life. The passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 stripped Jews of German citizenship, barred them from most professions, and isolated them socially and economically.
Yocheved was born in 1923 in the town of Halberstadt in central Germany. Her father, Rabbi Dr. Aharon Neuwirth, served as a rov and dayan in several communities, including Mainz, Halberstadt, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Her mother was Mrs. Sara Chaya Neuwirth.
In 1938, when Yocheved was about 15, she witnessed the destruction of shuls during Kristallnacht. A year later, at the age of 16, she fled to Haifa in Mandatory Palestine, leaving her parents behind in Europe.
She managed to maintain correspondence with her parents until the final year of World War II, when their letters suddenly stopped. “I was sure they had been killed,” she later said. Unexpectedly, her parents survived the war and the Holocaust.
According to Yocheved’s own testimony in interviews and accounts recorded in the sefer Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasa, written by her brother Hagaon Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth, her parents were saved through a series of extraordinary events. One such incident occurred when her father went to a pharmacy for treatment. Because it was Shabbos, he refrained from taking the medication that night. The substance later turned out to be rat poison.
Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth, who headed Yeshivas Chochmat Shlomo, was niftar in 2013. He was widely known as the author of the aformentioned Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah, a foundational and widely used work on the halachos of Shabbos.
Another brother, Rav Reuven Yosef Raphael Neuwirth, was renowned for running one of the most prominent free-loan funds in the chareidi world. He passed away nine months ago at the age of 94.
Yocheved spent the rest of her life in Israel. She was among the founding members of Kibbutz Sa’ad, located near the Gaza border. In 1942, she married Shmuel Gold, one of the kibbutz’s founders. He died in 1961 at the age of 40.
Over the course of decades, Yocheved worked in a wide range of administrative and organizational roles at the kibbutz. She was eventually appointed as the kibbutz nurse, despite lacking formal medical training, and held the position for approximately 40 years before retiring at age 69.
Remarkably, she lived through every major war fought by Israel since its founding, including the War of Independence and later conflicts in Gaza. On October 7, 2023, she spent 30 hours in a fortified safe room with her son during the Hamas attack. She was later evacuated to a hotel near the Dead Sea but insisted on returning home.
“I’m not willing to die in a hotel,” she told her family. “Take me back home. If I die, I will die there.”
She returned to Kibbutz Sa’ad at the age of 100. She passed away at 102, leaving behind children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
Yehi zichrah boruch.
{Matzav.com}
