Dear Matzav Inbox,
We love talking about kids and screens. Phones are ruining them. Screens are destroying their attention. Technology is poisoning the next generation.
And then we check our phones.
We tell teens to put their devices away while answering messages during supper. We complain about boys zoning out while scrolling through WhatsApp. We warn about addiction while saying, “I just have to check something quickly,” ten times an hour.
Children learn more from what they see than what they’re told. And what they see is very simple: Adults who can’t sit still without a screen.
A father tells his son to focus while his phone buzzes on the table. A mother lectures about limits while reading messages late into the night. A therapist speaks about self-control while glancing at updates between sessions.
Then we’re shocked when kids don’t take us seriously.
We banned phones. We made rules. We gave speeches. But we never looked in the mirror.
Teenagers aren’t inventing this behavior. They’re copying it. They see adults who are anxious without their phones, distracted during conversations, and irritated when interrupted from scrolling. They hear complaints about “this generation,” while watching the previous one refresh group chats over and over.
We say kids can’t handle responsibility. But how responsible do we look when we can’t leave our phones in another room for an hour?
The problem isn’t that teens love screens. It’s that they grew up watching adults love them first.
If we want our children to have boundaries, we need to show them what boundaries look like. If we want them present, we need to be present. And if we want them to believe that phones are tools—not lifelines—we have to prove it with our own behavior.
Otherwise, all our warnings sound hollow. And kids don’t rebel against hypocrisy. They tune it out.
Dovid Nachman
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{Matzav.com}
Amar’e Stoudemire, the former NBA star who has embraced Orthodox Judaism, met Monday night with Rav Dovid Yosef, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, during the Rishon L’Tzion’s trip to Miami.
During their meeting, Rav Yosef offered Stoudemire a warm bracha, encouraging him to persevere in his spiritual path and public example, telling him: “Continue to strengthen yourself and sanctify God’s name in the world of sports.”
The Chief Rabbi also bestowed a special bracha upon Stoudemire’s newborn son, expressing the hope that the child should be raised to a life of Torah, chupah, mitzvos, and maasim tovim.
Stoudemire, who enjoyed a long and accomplished career in professional basketball, has in recent years undergone a personal journey of geirus and growth in Yiddishkeit. He is now known by his Hebrew name, Yehoshafat ben Avraham.
That journey culminated in August 2020, following years of Torah learning in yeshiva, when he formally completed his geirus through the Beis Din Tzedek in Bnei Brak founded by Rav Nissim Karelitz.
He now spends most of his day learning Torah.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said in a recent interview that certain civil rights measures designed to combat racial discrimination ended up unfairly disadvantaging white Americans, particularly in college admissions and hiring, even as he acknowledged that those policies also achieved positive outcomes.
Speaking with The New York Times, Trump argued that some initiatives born out of the civil rights era produced unintended consequences that harmed people who were otherwise qualified for opportunities. “White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university to college,” he said, pointing to affirmative action practices in higher education. “So I would say in that way, I think it was unfair in certain cases.”
Trump added that while those policies helped address historical injustices, they also created new inequities. “I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people — people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.”
Those comments come as the administration presses forward with a broad effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across government and the private sector, framing the push not as an erosion of civil rights protections but as a restoration of equal treatment based on merit.
That approach is increasingly reflected in federal policy decisions.
Last month, the Justice Department announced a final rule revising regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, eliminating the use of “disparate impact” liability, a legal theory that allows penalties based on unequal statistical outcomes even without evidence of intentional discrimination.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the move is intended to reaffirm the constitutional requirement that individuals be treated the same under the law, arguing that prior regulations effectively encouraged race-based decision-making by institutions receiving federal funds.
“For decades, the Justice Department has used disparate-impact liability to undermine the constitutional principle that all Americans must be treated equally under the law,” Bondi said in a statement. “No longer. This Department of Justice is eliminating its regulations that for far too long required recipients of federal funding to make decisions based on race.”
{Matzav.com}
Leading rabbinic figures addressed the issue of yeshiva students and the draft on Sunday night at the “Levaker Beheichalo” chinuch conference in Yerushalayim, delivering sharp remarks in support of Torah learners facing increasing pressure from state authorities.
Speaking at the conference, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Rav Yitzchok Yosef called for strengthening those immersed in Torah study, particularly at a time when yeshiva students are being targeted. He stressed that Torah learning provides spiritual protection to the Jewish people, especially in times of war.
Referring to recent attacks in southern Israel, Rav Yosef said that terrorists had managed to seize 12 communities, but were stopped from advancing further due to the merit of Torah study. He said that without the protection generated by yeshivos and kollel families, additional cities would have fallen, asserting that the spiritual defense of Torah learners played a decisive role.
Also speaking at the gathering was Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah member and Porat Yosef Rosh Yeshiva Rav Shmuel Betzalel, who shared a personal story about a detained yeshiva bochur from Ponovezh.
Rav Betzalel said that the young man regularly discussed Torah learning with him at the Kosel and was exceptionally knowledgeable in the entire Shas. According to Rav Betzalel, the bochur’s father later informed him that his son had been jailed after arriving three days late to his initial draft summons. “Do you understand what this means?” Rav Betzalel said. “Shas is sitting in prison.”
The conference was organized at the initiative of Yerushalayim Deputy Mayor Tzvika Cohen and was attended by senior members of the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah, including Rav Moshe Maya and Rav Avraham Salim, along with numerous roshei yeshiva and rabbonim
Among those present were Rav Chaim Cohen of Be’er HaTalmud, Rav Shmuel Beitan of Daas Chaim, Rav Zvi Cohen of Avnei Nezer, Rav Yitzchak Lasri of Eish HaTalmud, Rav Chaim Suissa of Torah V’Daas, and Rav Yisrael Rokach of Mishkan Chaim.
Earlier in the evening, Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri also addressed the conference.
{Matzav.com}
