Yeshiva World News

Fighting at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, between Palestinians and Hamas terrorists.

After months of job cuts, leadership turnover and other turmoil at the Social Security Administration, the agency’s newly minted commissioner faced pointed questions from lawmakers about the future of the agency and its ability to pay Americans their benefits and protect their privacy. Frank Bisignano, who was sworn in last month as President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, told lawmakers he intends to improve accuracy in payments and raise morale at the agency, which has already lost 7,000 workers since billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency embarked on a cost-cutting mission at the agency earlier this year. “Increased staffing is not the long term solution,” Bisignano told lawmakers, vowing instead to invest in technology so that the agency could function with fewer workers. “We will do this by becoming a digital-first, technology-led organization that puts the public as our focal point.” He called it his “personal goal” to have a “highly motivated workforce” and raise the agency’s standing after three straight years of ranking last among government agencies in employee satisfaction. Bisignano testified that roughly 2,000 workers have been voluntary reassigned into direct-service positions at SSA, and nearly 3,700 employees have voluntarily left the agency. In 2026, he said, “we will focus our hiring efforts on highly skilled IT staff and field offices with staffing gaps that impact our ability to deliver.” Bisignano took over an agency after a series of chaotic customer service changes, leadership exits, and false allegations made by the president and Musk that millions of dead people were receiving benefits. The chaos at the agency began shortly after acting commissioner Michelle King stepped down in February, a move that came after DOGE sought access to Social Security recipient information. That prompted a lawsuit by labor unions and retirees, who asked a federal court to issue an emergency order limiting DOGE’s access to Social Security data. The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided not to lift restrictions on the access that DOGE has to Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans. In February, the agency announced plans to cut 7,000 people from the agency payroll through layoffs, employee reassignments and an offer of voluntary separation agreements, as part of an intensified effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce. During the Wednesday hearing, Bisignano was called to answer for several statements by Musk, including the billionaire’s claim on a podcast earlier this year that Social Security was “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” The SSA provides benefits to roughly 72.5 million people, including retirees and children. In disagreeing with Musk, Bisignano repeated the phrase: “I agree it’s a promise to pay.” The Social Security Administration could have to cut benefit to recipients if Congress does not act to adequately fund the program. The go-broke date — or the date at which the programs will no longer have enough funds to pay full benefits — was recently pushed up to beginning in 2034, instead of last year’s estimate of 2035, because of new legislation approved by Congress. Social Security ’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — would then only be able to pay 81% of benefits, according to an annual report released last week. The potential deficit has not been addressed in the tax cut and […]

“In our generation it is impossible to maintain and sustain one’s spiritual achievements with Torah learning alone. One needs to combine Torah learning with mussar learning… Rabbeinu Yonah contains many foundational mussar lessons that strengthen a person in his avodas hammusar.”  These words of the distinguished Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, stressed the concept that as important as limud haTorah is, it is not possible to truly achieve shleimus in avodas Hashem without also learning mussar. One of the foundational mussar sefarim that has sustained Klal Yisrael throughout the generations is the sefer Shaarei Teshuva written by Rabbeinu Yonah, one of the Rishonim.  It is therefore with tremendous simcha in the Torah world that Kinyan Chochma, Dirshu’s daily mussar program, will be embarking on the sefer Shaarei Teshuva this coming Shiva Assar b’Tammuz.  Kinyan Chochma is a daily mussar program wherein, a short piece of one of the mussar classics,  is learned daily. The sefarim learned are the classics, Mesilas Yesharim, Chovos Halevavos, Shaarei Teshuva, Orchos Tzaddikim, and others.   The program was instituted to encourage learning mussar every day among all members of Klal Yisrael. The Gedolei Yisrael from both Eretz Yisrael and chutz la’aretz have enthusiastically called on Yidden the world over to join the program and incorporate daily learning of mussar into their lives together with their other learning sedarim. Lomdei Dirshu participating in the Kinyan Torah program have the added advantage of being able to take monthly tests on the mussar learned and receive stipends for excellent results.  The venerated mashgiach of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and Rav of Beis Medash Emunas Yisroel, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Wolfson, zt”l, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Kinyan Chochma program when it was first established in 2017. He said, “The importance that our earlier sages attached to learning works of yiras shomayim and mussar is well known. Nevertheless, the yetzer hara tries to get us to neglect learning mussar, to the extent that even bnei Torah overlook it. We must therefore feel indebted to Dirshu for encouraging Yidden the world over to strengthen themselves in this…” The Lakewood Mashgiach Rav Mattisyohu Salomon, zt”l, despite being ill at the time of Kinyan Chochma’s establishment pushed himself to give the program his enthusiastic haskama saying “The obligation to learn mussar daily is well known, as Rav Yisrael Salanter explains at length in his sefer Ohr Yisrael, in the name of the poskim. It does not require a haskama. Nevertheless, because of its great benefit, the yetzer hara tries to find all kinds of excuses to deter a person from learning mussar.  “That is why we are so glad that the Dirshu Organization has included mussar learning as one of their daily learning programs. This will encourage people and make it easy for lomdim to learn mussar daily, to know mussar and then to absorb the lessons into their lives…” Now is the time to bring limud hamussar into your life. Now is the time to inject more meaning and more shleimus into your avodas Hashem by beginning the learning of the sefer Shaarei Teshuva of Rabbeinu Yonah, this Shiva Assar b’Tammuz. Is there any better way to prepare for the upcoming Yamim Noraim?! Join now! For information on how to join Kinyan Chochma and to receive a copy of […]

More than 100 pro-Palestinian activists caused over $1.1 million in damages at a Belgian defense facility this week in a raid that inadvertently disrupted aid to Ukraine, not Israel. The group, affiliated with the “Stop Arming Israel” campaign, broke into the OIP Land Systems warehouse in Tournai around 4:50 a.m. Monday. Armed with hammers and spray paint, the vandals shattered windows, defaced equipment, and rendered dozens of armored vehicles temporarily inoperable. The company confirmed the vehicles were intended for Ukrainian forces fighting Russia—not for Israeli use. The raid took place at one of Europe’s largest private weapons storage facilities. OIP Land Systems has played a key role in supplying Ukraine’s military since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The protestors claim their attack targeted “Belgian companies with connections to Israeli armament,” citing the fact that OIP Land Systems is part of OIP Sensor Systems, a subsidiary of Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems. But company president Freddy Versluys pushed back hard on those claims. “We don’t sell anything to Israel,” he said in a statement. “The vandals entered the hangar and damaged extensive equipment. The only damage they caused is a one-month delay in delivering the vehicles to Ukraine.” Photos posted on social media by members of the group show the words “Stop Genocide” and “No Arms for Israel” scrawled across Ukrainian military vehicles, with shattered windshields and ripped cables visible in the background. The Belgian Ministry of Defense and local police have launched an investigation. So far, no arrests have been reported. The incident has sparked frustration from both Belgian officials and Ukraine’s European backers, who argue the protest misfired—undermining Ukraine’s defense efforts at a critical time. OIP Land Systems has supplied hundreds of armored vehicles and surveillance systems to Kyiv over the past two years, and its Tournai facility has become a logistical hub for Western support to Ukrainian troops on the frontlines. The raid also underscores the growing complexities of European defense supply chains in a time of escalating geopolitical tensions. While Elbit Systems’ ownership stake may make OIP a political target for some activists, the company’s operations in Belgium have remained focused on Ukraine. Versluys confirmed that the company is working to repair the damaged vehicles and expects to resume shipments to Ukrainian forces by late July. “This was a reckless and misinformed act,” he said. “And unfortunately, the only people they’ve hurt are Ukrainians defending their country.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

TRUMP EFFECT: Summer road trips appear to be safe from a big spike in gasoline prices. The national average price of gasoline has hovered around $3.20 a gallon this week. The last time the cost for drivers was lower in late June was in 2021, when the pandemic depressed demand for the fuel.

ANOTHER ONE CONFIRMED: IRGC Quds Force’s Palestine department head, General Izadi, was killed in an Israeli strike in a few days ago.

A piece of suspected missile debris was found this morning floating in the water near the shore of the Kinneret. Israeli police marine officers and inspectors secured the area and removed the left over threat.

TRUMP ON FORDOW: The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!

Pete Hegseth on Iran: “We’re watching very closely what they do… our job is to be prepared… but the President has created the contours, the opportunity for a deal; for peace — and we got that peace, that ceasefire… because of strength.”

Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine demonstrates how GBU-57 MOPs work: “Unlike a normal surface bomb, you won’t see an impact crater because they’re designed to deeply bury and then function … All six weapons at each vent at Fordow went exactly where they were intended to go.”

Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth: “What President Trump accomplished in NATO yesterday was game-changing and historic … 32 NATO countries committed to spending 5% of their GDP on defense on actually investing in the NATO alliance.”

A former Venezuelan spymaster who was close to the country’s late President Hugo Chávez pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug trafficking charges a week before his trial was set to begin in a Manhattan federal court. Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal was extradited from Spain in 2023 after more than a decade on the run from U.S. law enforcement, including a botched arrest in Aruba while he was serving as a diplomat representing current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Carvajal pleaded guilty in court to all four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism, in an indictment accusing him of leading a cartel made up of senior Venezuelan military officers that attempted to “flood” the U.S. with cocaine in cahoots with leftist guerrillas from neighboring Colombia. In a letter this week to defense counsel, prosecutors said they believe federal sentencing guidelines call for the 65-year-old Carvajal to serve a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison. Nicknamed “El Pollo,” Spanish for “the chicken,” Carvajal advised Chávez for more than a decade. He later broke with Maduro, Chávez’s handpicked successor, and threw his support behind the U.S.-backed political opposition — in dramatic fashion. In a recording made from an undisclosed location, Carvajal called on his former military cohorts to rebel a month into mass protests seeking to replace Maduro with lawmaker Juan Guaidó, whom the first Trump administration recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader as head of the democratically elected National Assembly. The hoped-for barracks revolt never materialized, and Carvajal fled to Spain. In 2021 he was captured hiding out in a Madrid apartment after he defied a Spanish extradition order and disappeared. Carvajal’s straight-up guilty plea, without any promise of leniency, could be part of a gamble to win credit down the line for cooperating with U.S. efforts against a top foreign adversary that sits atop the world’s largest petroleum reserves. Although Carvajal has been out of power for years, his backers say he can provide potentially valuable insights on the inner workings of the spread of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua into the U.S. and spying activities of the Maduro-allied governments of Cuba, Russia, China and Iran. He may also be angling for Trump’s attention with information about voting technology company Smartmatic. One of Carvajal’s deputies was a major player in Venezuela’s electoral authority when the company was getting off the ground. Florida-based Smartmatic says its global business was decimated when Fox News aired false claims by Trump allies that it helped rig the 2020 U.S. election. One of the company’s Venezuelan founders was later charged in the U.S. in a bribery case involving its work in the Philippines. Gary Berntsen, a former CIA officer in Latin America who oversaw commandos that hunted al-Qaida, sent a public letter this week to Trump urging the Justice Department to delay the start of Carvajal’s trial so officials can debrief the former spymaster. “He’s no angel, he’s a very bad man,” Berntsen said in an interview. “But we need to defend democracy.” Carvajal’s attorney, Robert Feitel, said prosecutors announced in court this month that they never extended a plea offer to his client or sought to meet with him. “I think that was an enormous mistake,” Feitel told The Associated Press while declining further comment. “He has information that is extraordinarily important to our national security […]

Sen. Eric Schmitt: “Just think about that feat—of being in the air for 30 hours… and execute something that precise… we accomplished that particular goal, and then immediately moved toward peace and a ceasefire. It’s pretty remarkable.”

HEGSETH: “When someone leaks something, they do it with an agenda. When you leak a portion of an intelligence assessment but just a little portion… that makes it seem like maybe the strike wasn’t effective, then you start a news cycle.”

HEGSETH: “When someone leaks something, they do it with an agenda. When you leak a portion of an intelligence assessment but just a little portion… that makes it seem like maybe the strike wasn’t effective, then you start a news cycle.”

Secretary of Defense Hegseth reads intelligence assessments that confirm the Iranian regime’s nuclear facilities have been obliterated: “Rendered the enrichment facility inoperable” “Enormous damage to Iran’s nuclear sites” “Destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program” “Destroyed”

Secretary of Defense Hegseth reads intelligence assessments that confirm the Iranian regime’s nuclear facilities have been obliterated: “Rendered the enrichment facility inoperable” “Enormous damage to Iran’s nuclear sites” “Destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program” “Destroyed”

Ayatollah Khanemei delivered a live televised speech, his first public statement since the ceasefire was declared. Unsurprisingly, Khamenei spouted lies and propaganda about Iran’s “victory” and even claimed that the Islamic Republic delivered a “harsh slap to America’s face” and “crushed the Zionist state.” He added that the US felt forced to join the war out of fear that “the Zionist regime would be totally destroyed.”

Ayatollah Khanemei delivered a live televised speech, his first public statement since the ceasefire was declared. Unsurprisingly, Khamenei spouted lies and propaganda about Iran’s “victory” and even claimed that the Islamic Republic delivered a “harsh slap to America’s face” and “crushed the Zionist state.” He added that the US felt forced to join the war out of fear that “the Zionist regime would be totally destroyed.”

MASSIVE OUTAGE: Nearly 6,500 customers in Lakewood and Jackson are without power this morning, as JCP&L continues to fail in its basic job of keep the lights on. ETA for restoration is currently 10:30 am.