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by Rabbi Eliezer Sandler

The concept of the Yissachar-Zevulun Torah Learning Pact goes back well over 3,500 years, to the time of Yaakov Avinu and his sons. It is named for the Torah pact between two of his sons – Yissachar the scholar and Zevulun the merchant. Not only was it an equal pact but, Chazal explained, the deed of Zevulun/the Sponsor is considered even greater than that of Yissachar, because without the support of Zevulun, Yissachar would not have had the wherewithal to study Torah undisturbed.”

It is well-known that when it comes to learning Torah, people who sponsor the learning, often do so, not just as a donation. By financially supporting specific Torah scholars, they enter into a binding, written, signed and sealed learning partnership pact whereby the Sponsor (the Zevulun) is deemed by Halacha as if he personally studied the Torah completed by the Scholar (the Yissachar). (See below.) 

Thus, those who support the Talmidei Chachomim at Shas Yiden via a Yissachar-Zevulun Pact merit a portion in every daf of the entire Talmud Bavli and associated texts that they study, and complete the entire cycle in the space of ONE year. Some of the Sponsors opt to continue sponsoring repeat cycles of Shas which accrue to them.

Sar Hatorah, Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, Nasi Shas Yiden, emphasized: The most mehudar Yissachar-Zevulun pact to support in our times is that offered by Shas Yiden – it comprises the entire Shas, Rashi and Tosfos – all in just one year!

Rav Chaim explained why this pact with Shas Yiden is the most mehudar. Chazal say that the highest level of learning is when one understands what he is learning b’iyun u’ve’amkus. However, even higher than that is when one remembers b’al peh all what he has learned. I have farhered the Shas Yiden avreichim geonim many times and can attest ZEI KENNEN SHAS (they know Shas)!

YES! YOU CAN MAKE

The Yissachar-Zevulun Pact in Halacha

The Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh De’ah Chapter 246 regarding the efficacy of the Yissachar-Zevulun Sponsorship Pact for the Zevulun (the Sponsor) states clearly:  It is deemed as if he (the one sponsoring the learning) himself learned all the Torah studied under the pact. 

All the learning under the Shas Yiden Yissachar-Zevulun Pact is yours בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב (in both This World and the World to Come)! Concerning this, the Netziv of Volozhin comments that in Olam Habah, the Zevulun sponsor will sit together with the Gedolei Torah of the past and merit to participate in their discussions and pilpulim on all the Torah learned.

Achieve Almost 7 million Mitzvos in One Year

The Vilna Gaon in Shnos Eliyahu Pe’ah 41 states that one should hold precious every word of Torah that he learns because each word is considered a mitzvah of its own. 

Thus, since in Talmud Bavli, Rashi and Tosfos there are 6,608,891 words, that translates into almost 7 million mitzvos accruing through Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden. 

Official Shtar from Shas Yiden

Each Yissachar-Zevulun pact is confirmed by an official contract (shtar) from Shas Yiden specifying the learning of the entire Shas, and is witnessed by talmidei chachomim.

All who wish to enter into a Yissachar-Zevulun Pact for the entire Shas during ONE year should contact Shas Yiden to make arrangements: 718-702-1528.

The opportunity to complete the entire Shas has been a cherished way to honor family members and others as a prized achievement. It has also proven to be a source of comfort for mourners to obtain such a zechus for their dear ones during the year of mourning – a siyum of the entire Shas can be completed on the yahrzeit!

Yissachar-Zevulun Pact –

The legendary visionary and “Father of Yeshivos”, Reb Chaim of Volozhin, was the founder of the famous yeshiva in the town of Volozhin and the beloved talmid of the Vilna Gaon. 

Reb Chaim had an ongoing Yissachar-Zevulun pact with a local shoemaker – a man who was not learned but who dearly valued Torah learning. They had a ‘deal’ whereby the shoemaker would pay the monthly financial support needed for Reb Chaim and his family. For this financial support, the shoemaker would have an equal share in all Reb Chaim’s daily Torah study – both in the mitzvah of Torah study בעוה”ז and that the knowledge of the Torah learned would continue to be his בעוה”ב (in the World to Come).

One day the shoemaker passed away suddenly. During the shiva period, Reb Chaim was facing a perplexing halachic question and researched high and low for a solution. That night the shoemaker appeared to him in a dream and gave him the full solution that he sought. Reb Chaim was amazed and commented, “Azoi gich, Azoi Gich – So quickly, so quickly has he acquired the zchus and knowledge of the Torah that I have studied!”

In the words of Gedolei Torah:

Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, Nasi Shas Yiden:

“In just ONE year, through Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden, you can be zoche to the entire Shas forever – בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב (in olam hazeh and olam habah).

“Moreover, whoever supports Shas Yiden is zocheh to fulfill both Yissachar-Zevulun and support of aniyei (the poor of) Eretz Yisroel in the fullest sense of the word.

“Those who support Shas Yiden will be saved from chevlei (the travails of) Moshiach – spiritually and materially, and will be zoche to have ehrlicher bonim u’vanos yir’eishomayim ”

Maran Hagaon Harav Dov Lando, shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva, Slabodka:

“Who compares to the Shas Yiden? Incredible talmidei chachomim geonim who raised the bar in limud Hashas b’iyun u’v’amkus. Blessed are those who enter a Yissachar-Zevulun pact with them.”

Hamashpia Hagadol Reb Meilech Biederman, shlit”a:

 “Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden – best possible deal, and in just 1 year! 100% partnership! 100% Shas x 5 times! 100% Shisha Sidrei Mishna – בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב”

Sanzer Rebbe, shlit”a:

“A first in 2000 years of Jewish history! Until Shas Yiden, never a Torah institution where ALL the avreichim metzuyonim v’geonim know the entire Shas by heart”

Harav Yaakov Hillel, shlit”a:

“Therefore, the great mitzvah to support the efforts [of the Talmidei Chachomim] with generous donations in order that they should continue diligently with their studies to enhance the greatness of the Torah and its glory. 

ShasYiden.com

An American has tested positive for Ebola while working in Congo and is being transported to Germany for treatment along with six other Americans who are high-risk contacts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The CDC also is enhancing public health screening and traveler monitoring amid a growing Ebola outbreak, and non-U.S. passport holders face entry restrictions if they have been to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo or South Sudan in the previous 21 days.

“To the American public, the risk to the United States remains low,” said Satish Pillai, CDC Ebola response incident manager. “Travelers to the region should avoid contact with sick people, report symptoms immediately, and follow our travel guidance.”

Health experts are growing increasingly alarmed about this outbreak, arguing that cases have been spreading undetected in a volatile region as public health authorities are stretched thin amid funding cuts and the ongoing hantavirus outbreak.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking before the World Health Assembly on Tuesday in Geneva, said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” adding that WHO would convene its emergency committee that day to seek temporary recommendations.

CDC officials noted the Americans impacted are being transported to Germany, a country that has experience caring for Ebola patients and is a shorter flight from Congo. Their travel itinerary is evolving, and the CDC is looking into lab-made antibody treatments.

“We are doing this to ensure that they are at the level of care that they can receive the either treatment or observation that’s required,” Pillai said.

The American who tested positive is Peter Stafford, a doctor working for the missionary organization Serge in Congo since 2023, according to a statement put out by the group. He tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola after treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital. The group has two other physicians being monitored, including Rebekah Stafford, his wife, and Patrick LaRochelle, as well as the Staffords’ four children.

“All three medical professionals have strictly adhered to established quarantine protocols since the potential exposure,” the statement said.

On Tuesday, the group said he had been “safely evacuated” and is “receiving specialized medical treatment.” Rebekah Stafford and LaRochelle “remain asymptomatic and continue to follow established quarantine and monitoring protocols.”

The missionary organization has not returned requests for comment.

Stafford met his wife, also a physician, at medical school at Ohio State University before the family went to work in Congo, according to a fundraising page on the nonprofit’s website.

“They are excited … to participate in the work being done to share God’s love and grace for a place that has suffered so much and experienced incredible loss,” the page says.

The National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska has not received a request for Ebola patients, said spokesperson Taylor Wilson, noting it has 20 beds and 18 are occupied by people linked to the outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship.

Although there isn’t another federally funded quarantine unit in the U.S., there are 13 “regional emerging special pathogen treatment center” locations nationwide.

The travel screenings come under a Title 42 order that allows banning non-U.S. passport holders who have traveled from those countries for up to 30 days.

The announcement comes as the WHO has declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency with more than 500 suspected cases and 130 suspected deaths. Although the United States withdrew from the WHO officially this year, CDC officials have said they have been working with international partners and the health ministries in the affected countries. The agency also said it has been supporting response efforts through CDC country offices in Congo and Uganda to help with contact tracing, border screening, personal protective equipment and disease monitoring.

The U.S. is also coordinating with airlines, international partners and port-of-entry officials to identify and manage travelers who may have been exposed to Ebola virus.

Signed by Jay Bhattacharya, who is temporarily running the CDC, the Title 42 order says its purpose is to “reduce the risk of introduction of Ebola disease into the United States” and help establish a full public health risk profile for this outbreak.

The order notes that while South Sudan has not reported confirmed cases, “it is considered at high risk because of its close border with affected areas in eastern DRC and Uganda.”

The order highlights that travelers departing from outbreak-affected regions frequently fly through airports in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Nairobi; Doha, Qatar; and Istanbul that are connected to major U.S. gateway airports including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Washington Dulles International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

The order said the amount of international travel increases “the likelihood that individuals exposed to Ebola virus disease could enter the United States before symptoms become apparent.”

In the largest Ebola outbreak – which killed more than 11,300 people and infected 28,600 people and was centered in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 – passengers from affected countries underwent temperature checks, answered a health questionnaire and were visually assessed for markers of disease.

The Trump administration first implemented Title 42 during the coronavirus pandemic, in March 2020. Its use triggered skepticism from public health officials at the time because the virus was already spreading widely in the U.S.

Last year, Trump administration officials also weighed issuing a public health order to close the southern border to migrants from a dozen countries, administration officials have said, but that order was ultimately not issued.

Health authorities have said they are particularly concerned about this Ebola outbreak because it was discovered after scores of people became ill. This strain of Ebola, the Bundibugyo virus, does not have a vaccine and treatment consists of supportive care, according to the CDC. This strain has death rates of 25 to 50 percent.

The CDC said patients in this recent outbreak have experienced typical Ebola symptoms: fever, headache, vomiting, severe weakness, abdominal pain, nosebleeds and vomiting blood.

Symptoms may begin within two to 21 days after contact; the average is eight to 10 days.

In Congo, the majority of cases so far have been in patients ages 20 to 39, with two-thirds of them among female patients, according to the WHO. WHO officials have said they are concerned about spread among household contacts and caregivers.

Tedros on Tuesday said that 30 cases have been confirmed in Congo, in the northeastern province of Ituri. He said two cases had been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda, as well, among two people who had traveled from Congo.

The CDC also said it is working on interagency efforts to extract Americans in the affected areas and is sending a technical expert from Atlanta to Congo at the country’s request.

The CDC announced Monday that in early May, a hospital in northeastern Congo “identified a cluster of severe illnesses affecting healthcare workers.” That has grown into the 17th Ebola outbreak in Congo’s history, one that is expected to exponentially expand in the coming weeks.

The risk of the spread was compounded, the WHO said Sunday, by “the ongoing insecurity, humanitarian crisis, high population mobility, the urban or semi-urban nature of the current hotspot and the large network of informal healthcare facilities.”

(c) 2026, The Washington Post · Lauren Weber, Lena H. Sun 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – The Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport, unveiled the country’s first remote TSA checkpoint site, with ticket reservations opening yesterday and service starting on June 1.

During the three-month trial, passengers screened at the Framingham facility can ride a secure bus from the Boston suburb straight to their gate, bypassing the airport’s busy departures terminals and security lanes. If all goes well, airport and ground transportation authorities say the new Logan Airport Remote Terminal could become a permanent fixture and a model for other airports.

“This is all about making the travel experience more seamless and convenient by bringing air and ground transportation together and expanding the footprints of the biggest airports in the U.S.,” said David Sunde, co-founder and CEO of the Landline Company, which will oversee the buses. “It’s about reducing the stress and anxiety of going to the airport.”

Who can use the remote terminal and when
For now, the program is eligible only for passengers flying Delta or JetBlue between 5:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The 55-passenger buses will run hourly from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m.

To use the remote terminal, you must buy a $9 adult ticket (free for ages 17 and younger) on MassPort’s website. At the Framingham facility, ticketed passengers can now check their luggage at the airline counter (one for each carrier) and undergo screening at the TSA security checkpoint. They will then board a secure bus to the airport, which is 22 miles away or about 50 minutes without traffic. The bus will drive onto the airfield and drop off passengers on the air side of Terminal A (Delta) and C (JetBlue).

“All the functions you do at the airport, you’re just shifting that time to here,” said Peter Howe, MassPort’s deputy director of roadway management. “So when you get to Boston Logan, you’re going to be inside the terminal, within the gates, so you can go to the bathroom, get a drink and sit right down at your gate.”

Howe said the remote terminal is an especially good option for families who would otherwise have to navigate a much larger, possibly busier departures hall and screening area with a gaggle of children and bags in tow. It may also appeal to budget travelers who balk at paying $37 a day to park in Logan’s economy lot. The new terminal charges $7 a day for its 400 spots.

The micro-terminal, a new construction a half-mile from the Logan Express station, feels like the private wing of an airport with a small, bright waiting room on each side of the checkpoint, plus bathrooms and vending machines. The screening area has one lane that accepts standard and TSA PreCheck passengers, one CT-scanning machine and one metal detector. No liquids are permitted on the bus, so you will have to live without your morning Dunkin’.

“Even though you’re still in Framingham, the bus becomes part of the sterile side of the airport in Boston,” said Sheldon Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “You’ll be locked in a cocoon, but if anything compromises that cocoon, then the screening goes away.”

Timing your remote terminal experience
MassPort recommends passengers arrive at least 45 minutes before the bus departs, so they don’t miss the checked baggage or screening window (45 and 35 minutes, respectively). Reservations are available 90 days to 90 minutes in advance.

People who do not enjoy counting backward or lingering too long at the gate will appreciate a booking feature that suggests the best bus departure time for your flight. For a Delta flight leaving for Detroit at 9:05 a.m., the site recommends a 7 a.m. bus for a gate wait time of roughly 50 minutes.

Jacobson questions whether the terminal is more efficient.

“My initial reaction to this is why? I don’t see any gain in terms of efficiency,” he said. “If you make TSA PreCheck free for everybody, you will have a very efficient, effective and secure air system.”

Of course, it depends on your starting point. The remote terminal makes more sense if you live or are staying near the Framingham terminal. (According to MassPort, the Logan Express in Framingham is the busiest station in the airport shuttle network, which transported 2.7 million passengers last year.) Conversely, if the drive adds another stressful step to your travel day, it might be best to go directly to the airport.

The buses will travel the same route as other airport-bound vehicles, contending with morning rush hour traffic. Sunde said only about 1 percent of buses break down. In the event of an emergency, Landline, which built its business on transporting connecting passengers between regional and international airports in Philadelphia and Chicago, will transfer passengers to a replacement vehicle. They will not have to recheck their bags, but they will have to go through the screening process again.

But not everyone is convinced this off-site option is an upgrade for consumers.

“I don’t know why they’re doing this, except they think there’s too much congestion at Logan,” Jacobson said. “But there are other ways this could be done, so I remain cautiously skeptical.”

Several major airports offer an alternative to the standard TSA security experience. However, these options often reside on the airport’s premises and cater to higher-end travelers.

At JFK International in New York and Los Angeles International airports, Delta One business-class fliers file through a private screening area connected to the Delta One lounge. PS operates “private” security at LAX and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, charging from $1,295 per person for the exclusive experience.

“In general, programs like [TSA’s Reimbursable Screening Services Program] support innovative passenger processing outside traditional screening checkpoints while maintaining TSA oversight and security standards,” said Katie Chaumont, a spokesperson for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. She added that PS, which will open a facility next month at the airport’s Corporate Aviation center, can provide “the company’s clients with streamlined security screening as part of their paid experience.”

If Boston Logan’s trial proves successful, Howe said MassPort and its partners could expand the hours, numbers of participating airlines and locations in the Boston region.

Sunde is casting his eye beyond the Bay State to other sites popular with the flying public, such as Disney World.

(c) 2026, The Washington Post · Andrea Sachs 

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said Tuesday that the Trump administration is launching a major initiative to combat PFAS contamination in drinking water, including a $1 billion effort aimed at helping communities remove the chemicals from public water systems.

Speaking on Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE,” Zeldin said addressing PFAS contamination remains a top priority for President Donald Trump and senior administration officials.

“This is something that is an important priority for President Trump, the Trump administration, for the MAHA commission, including [HHS] Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr.], our chairman,” Zeldin said on “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE.”

Zeldin noted that the administration’s focus on PFAS began during Trump’s first term and is now continuing under the current administration.

“This started in a big way during the first Trump administration and is now continuing here through this latest Trump administration.”

He said the administration wants to avoid placing the financial burden for PFAS cleanup directly onto ordinary consumers through higher water bills.

“What we don’t want to have happen is a water system responsible for picking up the cost to remove PFAS from the water system, and they pass it off to the ratepayers so that people then are on the hook for cleaning up contamination of their own water supply,” Zeldin added.

“That is not the right approach to this.”

Zeldin also emphasized that the EPA is working to maintain legally sustainable standards governing PFAS contamination while complying with federal law.

“We are making sure that we have standards that are on the books with regard to PFOA and PFOS and also making decisions that are legally durable following the law, specifically the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Zeldin continued.

“All of these and more add up to a very robust, comprehensive PFAS-fighting strategy,” he said.

Under one proposed EPA rule, public water systems would still be required to comply with federal limits on PFOA and PFOS contamination, though qualifying systems could seek an extension giving them until 2031 to meet the standards.

Water systems that do not apply for extensions would still be required to comply by the previously established 2029 deadline.

According to the EPA, the proposed extension period would provide utilities additional time to complete water testing, engineering analysis, financing arrangements, and construction projects needed to implement PFAS treatment technology. Officials also said the additional time may allow treatment methods to improve and become less expensive.

The agency further announced plans to reevaluate drinking water regulations involving additional PFAS-related substances, including PFHxS, PFNA, GenX chemicals, and broader hazard index standards tied to PFAS contamination.

{Matzav.com}

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HealthSharing began gaining popularity as a way to alleviate the strain of these exorbitant costs. Since the late 1900s, other religious factions have used HealthShares to combat healthcare expenses and to create a medical system in-line with their beliefs. 

The results were enticing:

      – significantly lower healthcare expenses        
      – choice of providers without “out-of-network” limitations
      – no fighting with insurance companies and their bureaucracy 

Slowly, members of our community started joining other religious HealthShares, reaping the benefits they had to offer. 

But there was one catch. 

By definition, HealthShare means a group of people coming together under shared religious beliefs to share in each other’s medical expenses. Shared beliefs are a necessary government regulation for legally recognized HealthShares – and something all members must sign in agreement on. 

The questions emerged. 

Are there halachic ramifications for frum individuals and families joining a Christian-based HealthShare? 

What if there are no alternatives for the frum community? 

United Refuah HealthShare, the first and only Jewish HealthShare, was founded in 2017 by Rabbi Boruch Chaim Manies and other prominent members of the Cleveland community.

There was one goal: to bring affordable healthcare to the frum community – without the questionable halachic and hashkafic participation in non-Jewish HealthShares. 

It has since exploded, saving members an estimated $180 million to date. 

Find out if United Refuah is the right fit for you and your family. 

Limited time offer! Switch from another HealthShare and get your 3rd month of membership free*! Promo Code: Shavuos-Matzav

*applied as a refund. Expires June 1st. New applications only.

[Video below.] Vice President JD Vance sharply rebuked a reporter during Tuesday’s White House press briefing after accusing him of delivering a politically charged monologue instead of asking a straightforward question.

The tense exchange began when Andrew Feinberg of The Independent spent roughly 90 seconds posing a lengthy question alleging that President Donald Trump “seems to be talking up stocks that he owns, selling them, and enriching himself.”

As Feinberg continued his extended setup, Vance interrupted at one point and remarked that it was a “hell of a question.”

When Feinberg finally concluded, Vance immediately criticized the framing of the question.

“Let me answer your question here. That was a doozy,” Vance said. “Before I answer your question, I want to just observe there are different ways to ask a question, okay.”

Vance then accused the reporter of embedding accusations and political commentary into the question itself.

“You can just ask a question, try to get your answer, or you could do like a speech where you say, ‘You know Mr. Vice President… you know you’re a terrible human being and so is the president and so is the entire cabinet,’ and then I’m like ‘What’s your question,’ and then your question is ‘How dare you.’ Come on, man, have a little bit of objectivity in the way that you ask these questions because there were a lot of things in that speech masquerading as a question that didn’t actually get asked,” Vance added.

After criticizing the question, Vance proceeded to respond directly to the substance of Feinberg’s claims.

“Number one, the president doesn’t sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his, like, Robin Hood account, buying and selling stocks, that’s absurd. He has independent wealth advisers who manage his money. He is a wealthy person. He has had success in business,” he said. “He’s not making these stock trades himself, and your question imputes that… It doesn’t say it exactly, but a reasonable person listening to that question would assume the president is sitting around and doing that; he’s not.”

Vance also addressed congressional stock trading and said both he and Trump support banning lawmakers from trading individual stocks while in office.

“Second of all, you’re right, I’m a big fan of banning members of Congress from trading stocks, so is the president of the United States,” he added. “All of us believe that nobody should be taking proprietary information gained from public service and buying and selling stocks… We want to ban that process. And I think the way to lead by example is banning that process, banning that approach, and making it illegal, which is exactly what the president has proposed doing.”

WATCH:

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a Jewish American Heritage Month reception at Gracie Mansion, which leading Jewish leaders boycotted, that he planned to add $26 million in funding to prevent hate crimes to his proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year.
Few Jewish government officials or nonprofit leaders attended the reception, which came on the heels of a video that the mayor posted shortly before Shabbos began marking “Nakba” day, which Palestinians say marks the “catastrophe” of the founding of the modern Israeli state.

The mayor’s annual event is usually full of crowds of elected and organizational representatives shmoozing and networking. This year, every major Jewish organization in the city, from the Anti-Defamation League to the Jewish Community Relations Council-N.Y. to the UJA-Federation of New York, declined to attend the reception, which doubled as a dairy-filled gathering ahead of Shavuos.

The mayor, who has said that he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York City and whose spokeswoman said that shuls violate international law if they host pro-Israel events, said at the reception that Jews, who comprise about 12% of city residents, are victims of more than 50% of the hate crimes in the Big Apple.

Hate crimes targeting Jews were up 182% in the city in Mamdani’s first month in office. Since then, the New York City Police Department has twice changed the way that it reports hate crimes and has said that such crimes are dropping. The NYPD and the mayor’s office have denied that Mamdani directed the police to change the way it reports such statistics.

Prior to the event, the UJA-Federation of New York said its leaders would not “be attending the Jewish Heritage Month celebration at Gracie Mansion being hosted by a mayor who denies a core pillar of our heritage—the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.”

Among those noshing on blintzes and mini-cheesecakes with the mayor this year were representatives of the anti-Zionist groups Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, as well as the liberal group New York New Jewish Agenda, which says that it supports “a democratic vision of Israel.”

Satmar’s Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman and Rabbi Moishe Indig, also of Satmar in Williamsburg, were both among the 150 attendees.

The few Jewish elected officials in attendance were former city comptroller Brad Lander, who is now running for Congress and who features Mamdani in his campaign, and two New York City Council members: Lincoln Restler, who represents downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights, and Harvey Epstein, who represents Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side.

Irwin Kula, president emeritus of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, gave the evening’s invocation.

“When the Torah was given at Sinai, the rabbis insist not just the generation of the desert, but every generation across all of time stood at that mountain,” Kula said. “Every age. Every class. Every persuasion. In other words, the tradition insists—even those who would one day deeply disagree with one another, who would one day be almost impossible to reach across the divide to, who would wound each other—all stood together at Sinai.”

“So we are all, even now, standing at Sinai. Together. Receiving the same revelation,” he said at the invocation. “Hearing it differently.”

Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council-N.Y., which hosts the Israel parade in Manhattan, in which Mamdani, breaking with decades of mayoral tradition, has said he will not march, did not attend the Gracie Mansion reception. He told the New York Post prior to the event that “it’s a really telling and concerning sign of where things stand in New York City right now.”

Kula told JNS after the reception that he found it to be “filled with hope.”

“One of the striking things was the very different cross-section of Jews who were in the room—liberal-progressive folks rather than mainstream, legacy institutional leadership,” he said.

Kula also told JNS that he found it “ironic, sad and illuminating” that most of New York City’s Jewish leaders boycotted the event. That, he said, “highlights the ongoing collapse of the mainstream, liberal Zionist consensus around which legacy leadership and institutions organized for the past 50 years.”

He closed his invocation with a blessing for the mayor.

“May you be given the continued strength, the emotional depth and the wisdom to hold the complexity of this city, to parse and nuance, with care and precision, the meanings of Zionism, of antisemitism and the inextricable connection of Jewish identity and Palestinian dignity, in ways that open new possibilities of solidarity among all New Yorkers who believe in the infinite value of every human being,” he said. JNS

{Matzav.com}

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin sharply criticized Israel on Tuesday following the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, calling the operation “absolutely unacceptable” and pledging to raise the matter before the European Union.

Martin condemned Israel’s actions after Israeli naval forces stopped a convoy of 57 vessels that had departed from Turkey carrying hundreds of anti-Israel activists attempting to challenge the naval blockade surrounding Gaza.

“In the first instance, what happened is absolutely unacceptable and is wrong,” Martin declared, as quoted by the BBC, adding that Ireland intends to elevate the dispute to the “European Union level.”

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris delivered even stronger criticism, accusing Israel of violating international maritime law during the operation.

“My heart goes out to President Connolly and her family, and indeed all of the families of those detained,” Harris stated. “What Israel has done is, in my view, illegal.”

Harris argued that the arrests violated international law and claimed Israel continues to ignore criticism from world leaders.

“unfortunately Israel seems to ignore the condemnation of the international world,” Harris said. “That’s why I think it’s important that we look at the actions that can be taken.”

Among those detained aboard the flotilla was the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. The president said Monday that she was “very proud” of her sister’s participation in the mission.

The flotilla had set sail from Marmaris, Turkey, and consisted of dozens of vessels carrying activists seeking to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday evening that the Israeli Navy had completed the interception operation and taken all activists aboard into custody.

“Another PR flotilla has come to an end. All 430 activists have been transferred to Israeli vessels and are making their way to Israel, where they will be able to meet with their consular representatives,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Israeli officials dismissed the convoy as a propaganda effort designed to benefit Hamas.

“This flotilla has once again proved to be nothing more than a PR stunt at the service of Hamas,” the statement added.

Israel also reaffirmed that it intends to continue enforcing the maritime blockade around Gaza.

“Israel will continue to act in full accordance with international law and will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,” the statement stressed.

{Matzav.com}

Authorities investigating the deadly shooting attack at a San Diego mosque are examining a disturbing manifesto believed to have been written by the two teenage gunmen before the massacre, according to law enforcement sources.

Investigators are working to determine whether the 75-page document was authored by 17-year-old Cain Clark and 19-year-old Caleb Vasquez prior to the attack that left three people dead before the two suspects turned the guns on themselves.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, the document contains extremist ideology, racial hatred, and repeated calls for societal collapse and violence.

The manifesto reportedly includes Nazi imagery and symbols identical to those seen on Clark during a livestream of the attack, including references to the Black Sun symbol associated with Heinrich Himmler and Atomwaffen, a violent neo-Nazi organization.

Officials described the writings as a chaotic mixture of antisemitic, anti-liberal, anti-Trump, homophobic, and misogynistic rhetoric, driven largely by anger and resentment over the authors’ personal grievances and frustrations.

Law enforcement sources said investigators possess a copy of the manifesto and currently believe it is authentic.

Jennifer Du, who lives across the street from Clark’s Southern California home, said she encountered the teen one day before the shooting.

“It’s been unreal. I saw him literally the day before. He just stood there,” Du, 30, told The California Post.

“I didn’t know if he was watching me or something, but he just got food delivery and went back in.”

Another neighbor, identified only as Marne, said Clark’s family appeared ordinary and recalled frequently seeing the teenager practicing martial arts.

“As far as we knew he was very nice. They were a nice family,” said the neighbor, Marne, 85, who declined to provide her last name.

“We were just flabbergasted,” she added of finding out about the attack. “We thought, ‘Oh my god,’ we couldn’t believe it. Just flabbergasted.”

One section of the document, believed to have been written by Clark, reportedly rejected both left-wing and right-wing politics while expressing hatred toward both sides.

Investigators said Clark allegedly wrote that he identified ideologically with Adolf Hitler and cited notorious mass murderers including Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, and Anders Breivik as inspirations.

The document also reportedly praised the gunman responsible for the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand, referring to him as “Saint Terrant” and describing that attack as a model for livestreaming mass violence intended to inspire copycat attacks.

Authorities said the writings contained racist and hateful attacks directed at numerous groups, including Muslims and Jews, while describing the authors as “accelerationists” seeking to ignite an “all-out race war” that would lead to societal collapse.

In another portion believed to have been written by Vasquez, he allegedly expressed anguish and humiliation over his height.

Investigators said Clark also wrote that he felt no remorse over the planned attack and indicated that, if he survived, attorneys would deal with the aftermath.

The manifesto further reportedly stated that the shooting was not motivated by a desire for fame, but rather by hatred toward the victims and other cultures, while also indicating that Clark never expected to survive the assault.

Online accounts linked to Clark allegedly featured Nazi slogans as well as images of Adolf Hitler and German military formations from World War II.

Police said Clark and Vasquez killed three people during Monday’s attack, including mosque security guard and father of eight Amin Abdullah, whom authorities credited with helping prevent an even larger loss of life. An online fundraiser established for Abdullah’s family raised nearly $2 million within its first day.

The other two victims were identified as mosque members Nader Awad and Mansoor Kazziha.

Investigators also said at least one of the suspects allegedly took a firearm from his parents’ residence and left behind a suicide note referencing racial pride.

According to authorities, the livestream footage appears to show Clark fatally shooting Vasquez before turning the weapon on himself.

The FBI and local law enforcement agencies continue to investigate the massacre and are expected to carry out additional search warrants in the coming days.

{Matzav.com}

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A terrible tragedy struck the Los Angeles frum community on Tuesday when a 4-year-old girl was niftar after being unintentionally left for hours inside a hot vehicle following her morning ride to school in Valley Village, California.

According to sources, the young child was picked up in the morning as part of a carpool headed to Yeshiva K’tana of Los Angeles. For reasons that remain unclear, the girl never left the vehicle upon arriving at the school.

Authorities believe the driver, seemingly unaware that the child was still seated inside, parked the vehicle and left, not realizing the little girl remained trapped in the intense heat for hours.

The devastating discovery was made later in the day when the child’s mother arrived at the school expecting to pick up her daughter, only to be told that the girl had never entered the school building that morning.

Panic immediately spread as the horrifying realization set in, and emergency responders rushed to the scene in a desperate effort to save the child. Despite their efforts, the girl could not be revived.

The tragedy has sent shockwaves throughout the Jewish community, leaving families and neighbors shattered by the unimaginable loss.

Israeli officials currently expect Ben Gurion Airport to remain operational even if fighting with Iran resumes, marking a significant shift from previous rounds of conflict in which Israeli airspace was shut down immediately after hostilities began.

According to a report by Channel 14, the assessment is based on what Israeli officials describe as a dramatic decline in Iran’s missile-launch capabilities following earlier military operations.

During Operation Am K’Lavi, Iran reportedly opened the conflict with barrages of roughly 100 missiles. In the later Operation Shaagas HaAri, the opening salvos had already declined to only several dozen missiles.

Now, Israeli security assessments reportedly indicate that Iran is no longer capable of launching large-scale barrages and could likely fire only limited volleys consisting of several missiles at a time — perhaps 10 to 15 at most.

As a result, current planning calls for Ben Gurion Airport to continue functioning even during renewed hostilities, although officials stressed that the policy could be reevaluated continuously depending on developments on the ground.

Under the current outlook, Israeli airlines are expected to continue operating flights, though many foreign carriers that recently resumed service to Israel would likely suspend operations again if conflict breaks out.

{Matzav.com}

Deep concern continues to spread among the talmidim and admirers of the tzaddik of Tiveriah, Rav Dov Kook, whose condition reportedly worsened suddenly on Tuesday morning after several days of cautious optimism.

Rav Dov Kook has been hospitalized in serious condition at Poriya Medical Center in Teveria since the end of last week and remains in need of rachamei Shamayim.

Family members and close associates had expressed guarded hope earlier this week after a slight improvement was recorded in the rav’s condition, including a successful attempt by doctors to reduce the level of sedation.

However, talmidim were informed Tuesday that Rav Dov’s condition had suddenly deteriorated, forcing the medical staff to return him to full sedation in an effort to stabilize him.

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri visited the hospital Tuesday to fulfill the mitzvah of bikur cholim. During the visit, he met with the rav’s sons, Rav Shmuel and Rav Yisroel Meir Kook, as well as hospital director Prof. Noam Yehudai, ICU director Dr. Moshe Matan, MK Uriel Busso, Deputy Mayor Yossi Oknin, and city council member Yosef Chaim Bernes.

The visit came one day after Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, father-in-law of Rav Dov Kook, broke down in tears at the conclusion of his shiur while pleading for tefillos on behalf of his son-in-law.

Rav Zilberstein emotionally declared, “He is a person that the generation stands upon.”

Rav Moshe Chaim Schneider, a close talmid of Rav Dov Kook and chairman of the Sifsei Kohen Institute, which disseminates the rav’s Torah teachings, issued a heartfelt call urging the tzibbur to intensify tefillos ahead of Shavuos.

“We are now approaching Shavuos, an especially auspicious time, when all of Klal Yisroel was healed at Har Sinai,” Rav Schneider said. “Precisely now, we must unite כאיש אחד בלב אחד for the recovery of our rebbe, who dedicated his entire life for the benefit of the tzibbur, worked tirelessly on behalf of the sick, and whose pure tefillos stood by countless Yidden in their times of distress.”

He continued, “The zechus of our rebbe, who serves as a support for thousands and through whose brachos countless people have experienced yeshuos, should stand for all of us. We beg the tzibbur: tear open the gates of Heaven and arouse abundant Heavenly mercy for the complete recovery of our master and rebbe.”

All are asked to daven for the complete recovery of Rav Dov ben Shoshana.

A massive atzeres tefillah is scheduled to take place Wednesday evening, ערב חג השבועות, at 6:00 p.m. on the soccer field facing Rav Dov Kook’s home in Teveria.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is facing growing criticism within his own party over efforts to appoint his longtime personal attorney, Michael Ravilo, as Israel’s next state comptroller, with senior Likud figures warning the move could politically backfire just months before elections.

According to a report by Channel 12 News, several coalition members had sought to advance the candidacy of Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron, who in the past challenged Supreme Court President Yitzchak Amit. However, sources inside Likud claimed Netanyahu’s office applied heavy pressure surrounding the appointment process, leaving Elron without enough political backing.

The controversy has now drawn in opposition lawmakers as well. Although opposition parties reportedly had no initial intention of supporting Elron, they ultimately decided he was a suitable candidate for the position.

Senior Likud officials sharply criticized Netanyahu’s push for Ravilo, arguing that appointing the prime minister’s former personal lawyer to oversee state accountability would create serious public backlash.

“The insane pressure coming from Netanyahu’s office surrounding the appointment of attorney Ravilo as state comptroller is a strategic mistake that will come back to hit us like a boomerang,” a senior Likud official said. “It is not appropriate for someone who served as the prime minister’s personal attorney to be the person overseeing him. This is a secret-ballot vote, and this whole situation could blow up in our faces.”

The official added even harsher criticism, warning that the political damage could hurt Likud at the ballot box.

“Just months before elections, Netanyahu is doing everything possible to push voters away from Likud,” the official said.