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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will remain New York City’s top cop under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a move aimed at easing concerns from business leaders and moderate Democrats about the incoming progressive administration. Tisch, 44, accepted Mamdani’s offer following weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes lobbying from political and business power brokers. The decision fulfills Mamdani’s campaign […]

After more than thirty years of tension and division at Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, a final ruling has been issued that will dramatically reshape the future of the yeshiva. Retired judge David Cheshin, who has served as the official arbitrator between the two sides for the past four years, released his long-awaited ruling this afternoon, establishing that the camp led by Rav Shmuel Markowitz must vacate the yeshiva’s hill in Av 5786.

The decision brings to a close one of the most prolonged and painful internal conflicts in the Torah world, dating back to the early 1990s, when tension erupted between the brothers-in-law, Ponovezh nosi Rav Eliezer Kahaneman and Rav Shmuel Markowitz.

For decades, the split cast a shadow not only over Ponovezh but across the broader chareidi community. On the yeshiva campus itself, the two groups have functioned as effectively separate institutions for close to twenty years, the Rav Markowitz camp in the beis medrash with the famed golden aron, and the Rav Kahaneman camp in the adjacent Ohel Kedoshim building.

Four years ago, both sides formally agreed to appoint Judge Cheshin as arbitrator. Over that period he heard thousands of hours of testimony and reviewed extensive documentation. His final ruling, spanning more than 160 pages, was emailed to both sides today.

The ruling states clearly that the Rav Markowitz camp—including Rav Markowitz himself, the mosad Masores HaTorah, staff, and talmidim—must fully vacate the Ponovezh hill, including dormitories and batei midrash, by July 30, 2026. This timetable was chosen to avoid disruption to talmidim in the middle of a zman. Judge Cheshin concluded that Rav Markowitz had violated the original “Psak 2000,” acted independently of the yeshiva’s hierarchy, and effectively established a competing institution on the grounds of the yeshiva.

The ruling also prohibits Rav Markowitz and his mosdos from using the Ponovezh name or logo, and bars him from presenting himself as a rosh yeshiva of Ponovezh. The ruling affirms that the name Ponovezh constitutes a recognized trademark belonging to the entities controlled by Rav Kahaneman.

In addition, the arbitrator ordered Rav Markowitz’s side to pay Rav Kahaneman’s entities a total of 10 million shekel plus VAT—7.5 million to the Ponovezh company and 2.5 million to the associated amutah. This amount represents “fair usage fees” for properties over many years, as well as a share in maintenance costs. The award is significantly lower than the original claim of approximately 45 million shekel due to the arbitrator’s authority to apply “compromise close to judgment.” Counter-claims filed by the Rav Markowitz side were dismissed.

Judge Cheshin noted that the attempt at forced coexistence since the year 2000 had failed completely, leading to repeated conflict and tension. His conclusion: full separation. Under the ruling, Rav Kahaneman remains the sole owner and administrator of the original Ponovezh Yeshiva and its properties, while Rav Markowitz and his group must relocate, cease using the Ponovezh name, and compensate the yeshiva financially.

A separate decision regarding the kever of the late rosh yeshiva, Rav Asher Deutsch zt”l, is expected later today.

{Matzav.com}

BREAKING: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has referred former special-counsel deputy Thomas Windom to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution, accusing him of obstructing a congressional investigation by refusing to answer questions about his work on the Jack Smith probe.  

Additional footage from the ongoing IDF airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

Alphabet ($GOOGL) surged over 5% today after unveiling its new Gemini 3 AI model, which the company says delivers major advances in reasoning and multimodal performance across text, images, and video. Investor enthusiasm around the launch pushed the stock to fresh record highs.

SENATOR MARKWAYNE MULLIN: Affordable healthcare doesn’t work. The Democrats had a community organizer in President Obama that tried to sell us a bill of goods. It isn’t working. So let’s let a business guy that actually knows business help negotiate a healthcare for the American people.

Target reported weaker third-quarter results, with net sales falling 1.5% to $25.3 billion, comparable store sales down 3.8%, and operating income dropping to $900 million — an 18.9% decline. The company says it expects “low single-digit declines” to continue into the holiday season.

MOMENT OF IMPACT: A Russian missile hit a residential building in Ternopil, western Ukraine, killing at least 19 civilians, including two children, and injuring 66 others.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Shin Bet head David Zini visited an IDF position in southern Syria today. They were joined by acting national security adviser Gil Reich, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. […]

PHOTOS: On Tuesday, newly appointed NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force Captain Bekim Becaj visited the Central Hatzolah headquarters in Boro Park. He met with Hatzolah leadership, including CEO Rabbi Yechiel Kalish, along with several community askonim. The visit was arranged and coordinated by NYPD Deputy Chief Richie Taylor.

Sec. Turner: “The first thing we’ve been doing at HUD is tackling the regulatory environment… When you build a multi-family housing project, 40% of the cost of that is in regulation — and a single-family project, about 20-25%…”

Billionaire investor and former 2020 presidential candidate Tom Steyer has officially entered the California governor’s race, releasing a campaign video in which he says Californians are being “run over” by the state’s cost-of-living crisis. Steyer is running on affordability, climate and corporate accountability, joining an already crowded Democratic field that includes Katie Porter, Xavier Becerra […]

WATCH: A group of hot air balloon riders had a rough landing in Mexico when their balloon got caught in a tree.

New York City’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani will begin his administration without shaking up the leadership of the nation’s largest police force. Instead, he is choosing continuity by retaining Jessica S. Tisch as commissioner of the NYPD.

His transition office revealed the decision on Wednesday, noting that “Today, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced the appointment of Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch to serve as the New York City Police Commissioner in his incoming administration,” and emphasizing that the two intend to “advance a coordinated approach to public safety built on partnership and shared purpose.”

The announcement outlined the administration’s broader vision, explaining that “That includes ensuring police officers remain focused on serious and violent crime, while strengthening the city’s response to issues like homelessness and mental health. A new Department of Community Safety will support this work while collaborating closely with the NYPD.”

Mamdani’s team highlighted Tisch’s record, pointing to sweeping changes she enacted from within. “As the 48th Commissioner of New York City Police Department, Commissioner Tisch has rooted out corruption in the upper echelons of the NYPD and led a department-wide focus on accountability and transparency, while delivering historic reductions in violent crime,” the statement said.

In his personal remarks, Mamdani praised her forceful leadership. “I look forward to working with Commissioner Jessica Tisch to deliver genuine public safety in New York City,” he said. He added his appreciation for her past work: “I have admired her work cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, driving down crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism. Together, we will deliver a city where rank-and-file police officers and the communities they serve alike are safe, represented, and proud to call New York their home.”

Tisch responded with her own commitment to the partnership, pointing to the success of current anti-crime strategies. “Thanks to the men and women of the NYPD, the strategies we deployed this year have delivered historic reductions in crime,” she said. She noted that the two have already spoken several times and added, “I’ve spoken to Mayor-elect Mamdani several times, and I’m ready to serve with honor as his Police Commissioner. That’s because he and I share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work.”

Her elevation to commissioner took place in November 2024, when Mayor Eric Adams administered her oath, marking the start of her tenure atop the NYPD.

Mamdani’s office underscored the measurable impact of her first year in charge, citing major drops in violence and gun seizures. Murders, they reported, are down “nearly 20 percent citywide year-to-date,” and officials had taken “More than 4,800 illegal guns…removed from the city’s streets in 2025.”

{Matzav.com}

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Prime Minister Netanyahu paid a visit Wednesday to the buffer zone in Syria, receiving an operational overview of the tense northern sector and meeting with IDF forces stationed in the area. According to an official press release, Netanyahu arrived together with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, […]

The White House dinner held in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became the backdrop for President Donald Trump’s announcement that the newly formed Board of Peace—tasked with directing Gaza’s administration through 2027—will be populated by an unusually high-profile roster of world leaders.

In welcoming the Crown Prince, Trump expressed his desire for Saudi participation. “I hope your highness will be on the board,” Trump said, adding that “everybody wants to be on the board, and it’ll end up being quite a large board because it’ll be the heads of every major country.”

The Board of Peace had been formally empowered only a day earlier, after the UN Security Council approved a resolution authorizing the US-led body to supervise Gaza for the next two years as a central component of Trump’s 20-point plan for stabilizing the region.

During the dinner, Trump acknowledged the Crown Prince’s involvement in helping secure last month’s ceasefire. He refrained from detailing the negotiations but voiced optimism about the ongoing efforts. “While it looks a little bit messy… [Gaza] is getting very close to being perfected,” Trump claimed.

He also highlighted the return of hostages since the end of the conflict, though his remarks misstated that Hamas still possesses two bodies of hostages rather than the confirmed total of three. Still, he emphasized the significance of the concessions achieved so far, saying, “A lot of work has been done by Hamas, and a lot of a lot of people said they wouldn’t be doing that.”

Earlier, Trump and the Crown Prince held a separate working meeting at the White House. According to the administration, the session concluded with both sides locking in a broad package of new accords intended to substantially expand and reinforce the strategic relationship between Washington and Riyadh.

{Matzav.com}

We are pleased to inform you that the sugya d’kallah of this year’s Agudas Yisroel Yerushalayim Yarchei Kallah is “אם כסף תלוה :מצות הלוואה – Im Kesef Talveh: Mitzvas Halva’ah.”

The Yarchei Kallah is set to take place be’ezras Hashem in Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh during President’s Week, from Sunday, כ”ח שבט תשפ”ו / February 15, 2026, through Thursday, ב’ אדר תשפ”ו / February 19, 2026.

This year’s limud will explore the many dimensions of this vital mitzvah, including the obligation to lend money, the borrower’s responsibility to repay, the halachic framework of loan collection, the role of the ערב (guarantor), and numerous practical scenarios. Topics will range from gemachim and bankruptcy to halachic discharge, as well as many other timely and challenging issues.

Below are two documents:

1. A memorandum authored by the head of our program, Rav Shlomo Gottesman, which outlines in greater detail the subtopics and methodology of this year’s limud.
2. A tentative schedule of hachanah shiurim, to be delivered by Rav Gottesman along with distinguished dayanim and rabbonim, both live and via Zoom. The schedule is still in formation, but we hope to begin shortly so that participants can be as well-prepared as possible. A preliminary list of mareh mekomos is also attached.

Please note that all Zoom shiurim will include scanned source materials for convenient limud. Everyone is invited to participate in these shiurim, even if one is unsure about attending the Yarchei Kallah in Yerushalayim, as the hachanah program itself provides a valuable Torah experience.

We also plan to establish a dedicated chat/text group to facilitate communication among the maggidei shiur, participants, and organizers.

If you have not yet registered for the Yarchei Kallah, we encourage you to do so by clicking HERE. Please note that the early bird registration special of $774, instead of $899, expires shortly.

If you would like assistance with purchasing a plane ticket, we can connect you with our recommended travel agent.

Looking forward to providing you with additional updates in the weeks ahead, be’ezras Hashem.

Sugya D’Kallah Overview

One of the defining features of the AIA Yarchei Kallah is its structured program of hachanah. Over the past two decades, we have consistently seen that the more yegiah that participants invest in preparing the sugyos beforehand, the more meaningful and enduring their limud becomes.

Despite the many Torah responsibilities that our participants already carry, a remarkable number devote significant time to advance study, an investment that yields extraordinary dividends. Coming prepared to a shiur from Rav Dovid Cohen, Rav Issamar Garbuz or Rav Nissan Kaplan transforms the entire experience. The geshmak in learning and the clarity achieved through prior preparation are immeasurable.

With the help of Zoom, lomdim have been able to engage in pre-program learning and discussion, building lasting relationships with maggidei shiur and fellow participants. Our goal is to maintain, and further expand, what has effectively become a four-month pre-Yarchei Kallah yeshiva. To date, this initiative has produced thousands of hours of limud b’iyun, and we look forward to continuing this avodas hakodesh in the months ahead.

Overview of the Sugyos

This year’s sugya, “אם כסף תלוה :מצות הלוואה”—the mitzvah of lending—encompasses many complex subtopics. While we will not be able to cover every detail, we have identified several core areas that will provide participants with a deep understanding of both the yesodos and the pratim of the halachos.

1. The Mitzvah to Lend Money

We will explore the yesod of this mitzvah and its sources in Chazal, both Shas and Medrashei halacha. The major shitos of the Rishonim, including the Rambam, Sefer HaChinuch, Sefer Mitzvos Gadol, and Rabbeinu Yonah, will be examined, along with the poskim—the Tur, Shulchan Aruch, and their commentaries.

The Acharonim have written extensively on this subject, particularly the Chofetz Chaim in Sefer Ahavas Chesed, which will serve as a central reference. Among the questions to be studied:

• To whom does the obligation to lend apply (including lending to the wealthy)?
• The relationship between lending and tzedakah and which takes precedence.
• The duty to lend even when it may entail financial loss (chayecha kodmim considerations).
• The heter iska and its place within this mitzvah.
• Related issues such as store credit, non-monetary loans, and gemachim.

While ribbis will not be the main focus, its intersection with halva’ah will be noted.

1. Loans and Collections

We will delve into the issur of “Lo sihyeh lo k’nosheh,” which governs the lender’s behavior toward the borrower, including taking a mashkon, entering the borrower’s home, and avoiding coercive collection tactics.

Additional discussions will include:

• The permissibility of requesting repayment when uncertain of the borrower’s means.
• Whether a lender may require the borrower to work to repay.
• The concept of mesadrin l’baal chov (arranging payment terms).
• The modern definition of assets in halachic terms.
• How these principles interact with priyas baal chov mitzvah.

1. The Role of the ערב (Guarantor)

This section will explore the lomdus behind the concept of ערבות, focusing on sugyos in Kiddushin and Bava Basra. We will analyze:

• Whether a kinyan is required and why ערבות is not considered an asmachta.
• Various classifications of ערב and their obligations.
• The shitos of Rishonim and Acharonim regarding acceptance of liability.
• The implications if the lender did not rely on the ערב.
• Potential issues of mazik and shlichus in assuming responsibility.
• Practical applications in modern finance, such as title insurance, corporate guarantees, and mortgage arrangements.

1. Forgiveness and Bankruptcy

We will study the halachic frameworks that dissolve debt, including shemittas kesafim, yei’ush, and mechilah. Each has distinct implications for both lender and borrower.

The modern issue of bankruptcy in halacha will be analyzed through the lens of contemporary poskim, considering how secular financial systems align—or conflict—with Torah law.

While the scope of this sugya is vast, we will, as always, strive to present it in an accessible, organized, and engaging manner, ensuring that every participant gains clarity, lomdus, and simchas haTorah at their own level.

Appendix B — Hachanah Shiur Schedule (Tentative) and Maareh Mekomos

Our goal is to accommodate the widest possible audience. This schedule will be updated as the program develops.

Segment 1: The Mitzvah of Lending Money

Opening Session:
Tuesday, November 18 — 8:00–9:00 PM

Subsequent Sessions:
Thursday, November 20 — 8:00–8:40 PM
Tuesday, November 25 — 8:00–9:00 PM
Thursday, November 27 — Thanksgiving Schedule

Special Live Shiur:
Bais Medrash Chayei Yisroel, Lakewood
Thursday, November 27 — 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Maggid Shiur: To Be Announced

Continued Schedule:
Thursday, November 27 — 8:00–8:40 PM
Tuesday, December 2 — 8:00–9:00 PM
Thursday, December 4 — 8:00–8:40 PM

The weekly schedule will continue similarly, with additional special live shiurim announced as applicable.

מראי מקומות לימוד מצות הלואה

א. שמות כב, כד – כז, דברים ט”ו, ז-י”א וברש”י.

ב.מכילתא  פ’ משפטים פ’ יט

ג. ב”מ ע”א. “ותני רב יוסף”

ד. ספר המצות להרמב”ם מצוה קצ”ז

ה. ס’ החינוך מצוה ס”ז

ו. סמ”ג מ”ע קס”ב

ז. שערי תשובה (ח”ג אות ס”ז)

רמב”ם ה’ מלוה ולווה פ”א

שו”ע חו”מ ס’ צ”ז סע’ א.

חפץ חיים ספר אהבת חסד – מצות הלואה

{Matzav.com}

Ayman Abu Khalil, who was released in the Shalit deal, is now serving as Hamas’s terror architect in Yehudah and Shomron, Kan News reported. Abu Khalil, originally a resident of the Beit Hanina neighborhood in east Jerusalem, was deported to Turkey after his release in the Shalit deal and currently uses Turkish soil as his […]

A team of Australian scientists has delivered a stark warning to academics leaning on AI to speed up their work: ChatGPT’s newest model, GPT-4o, still produces an alarming number of fake or flawed citations. The Deakin University researchers found that more than half of the references the system generated for mental-health literature reviews were either fabricated outright or riddled with inaccuracies.

In their experiment, the researchers asked GPT-4o to craft six literature reviews across three psychiatric conditions. The chatbot produced 176 citations. Of those, 19.9 percent were entirely made up. And even among the 141 references that actually existed, nearly half—45.4 percent—contained mistakes ranging from incorrect publication years to bogus page numbers and broken digital object identifiers.

Just 77 citations, or 43.8 percent, were both real and correct. The rest—56.2 percent—were unusable for scientific purposes, a finding the authors say should trouble any academic who relies on generative AI to support scholarship. The study, published in JMIR Mental Health, also examined when and why the model was especially prone to errors.

The fake citations frequently appeared legitimate at first glance. GPT-4o provided DOIs for 33 of the 35 fabricated entries, and 64 percent of those links sent users to actual published papers that had nothing to do with the AI-generated claims. Another 36 percent were pure fiction—non-functioning or invalid DOIs that went nowhere. In either case, the references were completely disconnected from the content ChatGPT had written.

Lead researcher Jake Linardon and his team tested how the accuracy shifted depending on topic familiarity and specificity. They chose major depressive disorder, binge eating disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder—conditions with dramatically different public profiles and research volume. Depression is widely studied, with hundreds of clinical trials on digital therapies. Body dysmorphic disorder, by contrast, has far fewer digital-treatment publications.

The differences were striking. When GPT-4o wrote about major depressive disorder, only 6 percent of the citations were fabricated. But when it covered binge eating disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, those numbers shot up to 28 percent and 29 percent. Even among the citations that were real, accuracy varied wildly: 64 percent for depression, 60 percent for binge eating disorder, and a mere 29 percent for body dysmorphic disorder.

The researchers then compared general summaries with narrowly focused reviews. For binge eating disorder, the specificity mattered enormously—fabrication jumped to 46 percent for specialized requests, compared to 17 percent when the AI wrote general overviews. This pattern did not hold uniformly across all disorders, but it demonstrated that precision prompts can dramatically increase the hallucination rate in some areas.

These findings come at a time when AI use in scientific work is exploding. Nearly 70 percent of mental-health researchers report using ChatGPT for tasks like literature summarization and early manuscript writing. Many praise the efficiency boost, but the risk of misleading content remains a serious concern.

The authors warn that citation errors aren’t minor inconveniences—they damage scientific integrity. Citations are the scaffolding of academic discourse, guiding readers to supporting evidence and linking new work to existing knowledge. When references point to unrelated or nonexistent material, the entire chain of scholarship falters.

The study highlighted that DOIs were the most error-prone element of AI-generated references, with a 36.2 percent failure rate. Problems with author lists were least common at 14.9 percent, but publication dates, journals, volume numbers, and page ranges all showed significant error levels.

Linardon’s team stresses that every AI-generated reference requires verification against original sources. They encourage academic journals to adopt more stringent safeguards—such as using plagiarism-detection software to flag citations that don’t match any known database entry. Universities, they add, should create clear rules around AI use in scholarly writing, including training researchers to spot fabricated references and requiring transparency about AI involvement.

Importantly, the study found no sign that more advanced AI models have solved the hallucination problem. While direct comparisons across versions are difficult, citation fabrication remained prevalent across every test condition, despite expectations that GPT-4o would perform more reliably.

The authors argue that topic maturity and public familiarity heavily shape citation reliability. AI may be safer for well-established subjects but becomes increasingly unreliable when handling niche or newly emerging research fields. Accuracy, in other words, is not random—it is tightly linked to the strength of the underlying training data.

For now, the researchers say ChatGPT should function only as a starting tool, one that can help outline ideas or generate draft material, but never as a source of dependable citations. Human oversight remains essential, and verification cannot be outsourced.

The study also raises broader questions about how generative AI systems should be designed for academic use. If topic-based predictability can indicate when hallucinations are more likely, AI platforms might incorporate built-in alerts or verification prompts for specialized or sparse research areas.

As journals and funding agencies increasingly require explicit AI-use disclosures, the findings underscore why these policies matter. Without strong editorial safeguards, fabricated references could pass through peer review, seep into published work, distort future research, and create long-term damage across scientific disciplines.

The researchers caution that the challenge isn’t merely individual—it’s systemic. Once false citations enter the academic ecosystem, they can spread through citation networks like contaminants. Preventing that outcome requires institutional policies, editorial vigilance, and a clear understanding that while AI can accelerate research tasks, it cannot yet be trusted to anchor the scientific record.