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Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz warned Monday that any Iranian leader who seeks to destroy the Jewish state would be eliminated, as the funeral procession for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei got underway in Tehran.

“Khamenei, whose funeral is taking place now, was eliminated by Israel because he initiated and led the plan to destroy Israel in Iran and across the region,” Katz said in a Hebrew-language statement.

“The destroyer has been destroyed. Any Iranian leader who again tries to advance plans for Israel’s destruction will likewise be eliminated,” he vowed.

Katz said chants of “Death to Trump” during the funeral reflected “the true nature of the ayatollahs’ regime, beyond its campaign of smiles and deception.

“The powerful attack on Iran, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, removed the immediate existential threats hanging over Israel and severely damaged Iran’s strategic capabilities,” he continued. “Israel is prepared to once again defend itself, by its own forces, at any time and against any threat.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid Party) told JNS on Monday that Israel reserves the right to act independently.

“Israel has always said that we’re going to retain the possibility of acting separately if any threat is being held against the security of the people of Israel,” Lapid said, speaking in English after his faction meeting at the Knesset in Yerushalayim.

“The United States is our greatest ally; we work with them, we have conducted this war, we’re engaged in this war with them, but if needs to be, Israel will act on its own in order to protect the people of Israel against this regime that is out for the total destruction and obliteration of the State of Israel,” he added.

A funeral procession for Khamenei kicked off the fourth day of week-long burial ceremonies on Monday morning.

Khamenei’s remains are set to be taken through the streets of Tehran on their way to Mehrabad International Airport in the western part of the capital.

The funeral cortege will last some 10 to 12 hours, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, who is overseeing the event, told state media.

Hassanzadeh said preparations for the procession began at 4 a.m. local time and that the procession would move from east to west.

Regime supporters lined the streets of Tehran early Monday, many carrying red flags symbolizing revenge, the IRGC-linked Fars News Agency reported.

Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies have been marked by repeated calls from Iranian officials, state media and regime supporters for the deaths of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said on Monday that Tehran had used the ceasefire with the United States to rebuild its military capabilities, according to Iran International.

“We are fully prepared and have used the ceasefire opportunity to improve our combat capability,” he said, warning that any attack on Iran would be met with a response “more crushing and more regret-inducing than before.”

The funeral ceremonies are scheduled to run through Thursday, when Khamenei is to be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed as the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader following his father’s death, had not been seen at the ceremonies.

Three of Ali Khamenei’s other sons—Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam Hosseini Khamenei—appeared in public on Sunday for the first time since the war began on Feb. 28, offering prayers over their father’s body at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla of Tehran mosque, Iran International reported.

The New York Times, citing two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a source involved in planning the funeral, reported that Mojtaba Khamenei told officials he wants to attend the burial ceremony in Mashhad and lead the traditional prayer for the dead.

The newspaper cited the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the funeral preparations, as saying security officials had rejected the proposal over concerns Israel could attempt to assassinate the supreme leader at the ceremony or use it to track his whereabouts.

The younger Khamenei was injured in the airstrike that killed his father. While it is generally believed that Mojtaba is still alive, he has not appeared in public since the start of the war, and no images or audio recordings of him have been released. JNS

{Matzav.com}

Of the 4,384 offenses in 3,750 hate crime incidents from Jan. 1 until this month, Jews have been targets of 15% of incidents, according to FBI data. The 566 anti-Jewish hate-crime incidents so far this year include 613 offenses—a number that in other circumstances Jews happily note corresponds to the number of commandments in the Torah.

Overall, hate-crime offenses are down 43%, and incidents have decreased 41.5% compared to last year, although the FBI’s 2025 data came from self-reported state statistics covering between 95% and 96% of the U.S. population. At the beginning of this year, the January data covered about 88% of the country. By April, it was about 75%, 55% by May, and by June, it had only covered nearly 19.5% of the nation.

Last year, there were 1,062 anti-Jewish offenses in 957 incidents, according to the bureau’s data.

Jews make up about 2.4% of American adults, according to data from the Pew Research Center. That means that so far this year, Jews are 525% likelier hate crime targets than their population share suggests, according to the FBI data.

The 978 religion-based incidents recorded this year made up 25.1% of all incidents. After the 15% of religion-based incidents targeting Jews, the next most likely targets were Sikhs and Muslims (2% each) and Arabs (1%).

The majority (55%) of anti-Jewish incidents involved destruction, damage or vandalism of property, followed by intimidation (31%), simple assault (8%), and aggravated assault and all other larcenies (2% each).

The largest amount (17%) took place on the highway, a road, alley, street or sidewalk, followed by an elementary or secondary school (16%), home (15%), and college or university (9%).

A smaller number of anti-Jewish incidents have occurred so far this year at a park or playground or house of worship (6% each) or commercial or office building, parking lot or garage, government or public building or online (3% each). And 1% each of incidents have taken place at an air or bus or train terminal, drug store or medical facility, construction site, field or woods, restaurant, grocery or supermarket, shopping mall, specialty store, abandoned or condemned structure or department or discount store.

New York state had only reported 88 anti-Jewish hate crimes to the FBI so far this year, even though New York City alone recorded 26 anti-Jewish hate crimes last month, and there were 178 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes in the Big Apple from Jan. 1 to June 30, per New York City Police Department data.

The FBI data suggests that the NYPD reported 74 anti-Jewish hate crimes to the bureau so far this year.

California has reported 158 offenses from 142 anti-Jewish hate crime incidents to the FBI so far this year.

Florida has reported 9, Illinois 17 (16 incidents), Maryland 10 (9 incidents), Massachusetts 5, Michigan 29 (26 incidents), Minnesota 6, New Jersey 102 (92 incidents), Pennsylvania 22 (18 incidents), Texas 13, Virginia 24 (23 incidents) and Washington state 15 (12 incidents). JNS

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump marked the launch of the new federal “Trump Accounts” investment program on Monday by ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange from the White House, commemorating the first day of trading under the initiative that provides eligible children with a $1,000 government-funded investment account.

The event took place in the Oval Office, where Trump welcomed executives from both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq for a joint ceremony and press conference. It marked the first time the two exchanges participated together in opening the trading day and the first occasion the opening bell was rung from the White House.

“Those accounts will begin to grow along with our booming economy,” Trump said. “We’re giving this money to children so they can have a good life.”

Although the accounts bear Trump’s name, the concept of providing children—especially those from lower-income families—with long-term investment accounts has existed for years and has received bipartisan backing. The program was ultimately authorized by Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“I did not ask for it,” Trump claimed of the accounts being named after him. “I have done that in other cases.”

During the ceremony, Trump joked that he hoped to keep the ceremonial exchange bell brought to the Oval Office and place it on display in the new White House ballroom once construction is completed.

Under the program, every child born between January 2025 and December 2028 will automatically receive a $1,000 contribution from the federal government. Parents, relatives, friends, and employers may contribute up to $5,000 annually, with parents or legal guardians managing the account until the child turns 18. At that point, the beneficiary gains full control and may use the funds for purposes such as higher education, purchasing a home, or launching a business.

The money will automatically be invested in a diversified index fund, and parents can establish the accounts through the IRS.

“They can have a lot of money,” Trump said of the accounts. “We should have acted faster. It’s too bad.”

The initiative has also attracted major philanthropic support. Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies, and his wife, Susan, pledged $6.25 billion to provide an additional $250 for each of 25 million children under the age of 10 living in lower-income communities. Hedge fund investor Ray Dalio and his wife, Barbara, also contributed funds that will provide an extra $250 to roughly 300,000 children from lower-income areas across Connecticut.

“We’re going to get him that money back one way or another,” Trump said on Monday, encouraging people to buy Dell computers.

SpaceX President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell also announced a major donation Monday morning, committing $350 million to the program. She said the contribution would benefit children living in lower-income communities, with additional emphasis on youngsters residing near SpaceX’s central Texas operations.

“With a bit more emphasis for those that live near our central Texas home”, she wrote in a post on X. “We have been fortunate in our careers and hope this gift encourages the next generation to continue the journey of enabling humanity to live and fly amongst the stars.”

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{Matzav.com}

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yoel Yaakov Sperka zt”l, an outstanding talmid chochom, tzaddik, and yerei Shomayim whose entire life was defined by limud haTorah, harbotzas haTorah, and unwavering avodas Hashem.

Gentle in demeanor, refined in character, and deeply beloved by all who knew him, Rav Sperka leaves behind a legacy of Torah scholarship, humility, and selfless dedication that spanned decades.

From his earliest years, Rav Sperka devoted himself completely to the pursuit of Torah. Seeking to continue his aliyah, he traveled to Eretz Yisroel and learned at Yeshivas Ponovezh in Bnei Brak. There, he became a close talmid of Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l, with whom he enjoyed a particularly warm relationship, and grew close to the Ponovezher Rov, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt”l. Those formative years helped shape him into the distinguished marbitz Torah he would become.

He merited to learn under Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l in Lakewood, NJ, where he absorbed not only profound yedios haTorah but also the ideals of total devotion to Torah that would define the course of his life.

Rav Sperka then dedicated himself to teaching and spreading Torah. He served as a marbitz Torah in Los Angeles and in other communities, inspiring generations of talmidim through his profound scholarship and his gentle, caring approach.

He eventually made his home in Detroit, where he served as a rov for more than three decades. During those years, he became a beloved rov at Congregation Bnai Israel-Beth Yehudah, offering psak, guidance, encouragement, and Torah wisdom to numerous individuals and families. His shiurim reflected both remarkable depth and exceptional clarity, while his personal example of humility and yiras Shomayim left an indelible impression on all who encountered him.

Those who knew Rav Sperka speak of a man whose greatness was matched only by his modesty. Soft-spoken, aidel, and unfailingly gracious, he carried himself with quiet dignity. Every aspect of his life revolved around Torah and avodas Hashem. He sought neither recognition nor honor, content to spend his days immersed in learning, teaching, and serving Hashem with sincerity and purity.

His Torah scholarship lives on through his acclaimed seforim, Chazon Yoel, a collection of his original chiddushei Torah. The seforim reflect the brilliance of his mind, the breadth of his learning, and the depth of his understanding, and continue to illuminate the batei medrash of those privileged to study them.

Following his retirement from the Detroit rabbonus, Rav Sperka relocated to Lakewood, where he settled in the Pine River Village community, continuing to devote himself to limud haTorah, inspiring others through his quiet example until his final days.

The petirah of Rav Sperka is a tremendous loss for his family, his talmidim, the communities he served, and the broader Torah world. His life was one of complete dedication to Torah, marked by extraordinary scholarship, unwavering emunah, and exceptional refinement of character.

The levayah is taking place now at the Congregation Sons of Israel Holocaust Memorial Chapel, located at 613 Ramsey Avenue in Lakewood, New Jersey. Watch the levayah live HERE. The aron will then be flown to Eretz Yisroel for kevurah there.

Rav Sperka is survived by his devoted rebbetzin, Mrs. Fayge Sperka, together with a wonderful family of children and grandchildren who continue his legacy of Torah and yiras Shomayim.

The family will be sitting shivah at 142 Liberty Drive in Lakewood, NJ.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}