It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Mr. Eliezer (Louis) Glick z”l.
Mr. Glick is survived by his son, renowned machzik Torah and baal tzedakah Reb Shimon Glick, along with extended family and friends who remember him with affection and respect.
The levayah will take place today, at 3 p.m., at Riverside Chapel, located at 180 West 76th Street in Manhattan. The kevurah will take place in Eretz Yisroel.
Yehi zichro baruch.
{Matzav.com}
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid on Monday sharply responded to remarks made by United Torah Judaism chairman MK Moshe Gafni, declaring that a proposed military draft law will not pass and accusing Gafni of crossing red lines.
Lapid’s comments came during a speech in the Knesset plenum, hours after Gafni referred to him in an interview using harsh language. Addressing the interview directly, Lapid said, “A few hours ago, in an interview with Kikar HaShabbat, MK Gafni called me ‘zero.’ I want to remind MK Gafni of what I told him here already 13 years ago — we are done taking orders from you.”
Turning to the substance of the dispute, Lapid added, “MK Gafni must understand, the draft law will not pass. Because it is an un-Jewish act to evade your obligation to fight alongside your brothers who are battling to save this homeland.”
Gafni’s remarks that sparked the response were made in an interview with journalist Yishai Cohen, in which he launched a broad attack on Lapid. Gafni accused Lapid of losing control and acting irresponsibly, claiming that delays in salary transfers and budget approvals that Lapid criticized were practices that also took place during Lapid’s own tenure as finance minister.
In the interview, Gafni escalated his rhetoric, accusing Lapid of obsessively targeting the chareidi public and using inflammatory language whenever related issues arise. “Now this brazen man comes along,” Gafni said, arguing that Lapid selectively ignored similar budget items benefiting religious state schools. He claimed that the accountant general had already explained that the same procedures existed under Lapid’s watch, and accused him of seeking to destabilize the government at any cost. Gafni concluded his remarks with a personal insult, saying of Lapid, “Who is he anyway? Zero.”
{Matzav.com}A special Yerushalayim-themed broadcast captivated listeners on Monday night as audiences were invited to vote for the greatest Yerushalayim song based on classical Jewish sources. As part of the festive programming titled “Yerushalayim – Oro Shel Olam,” aired during the popular radio show Ba B’Arba hosted by Kobi Brumer, the emotional contest drew hundreds of listener responses.
The broadcast focused on a particularly stirring category: Yerushalayim songs whose lyrics are drawn from seforim hakedoshim. Listeners at home were asked to choose which of the iconic classics deserved to advance to the grand finale later this week and earn a place in the program’s “hall of fame.”
The lineup pitted some of the giants of Jewish music against one another, featuring performances that have long become part of the Jewish musical canon. Competing for listeners’ votes were Avraham Fried with “Yerushalayim Oro Shel Olam,” Mordechai Ben David with the nostalgic favorite “Od Yeishvu,” “Shabchi Yerushalayim,” the moving ballad “Ivru BaShe’arim” by Naftali Kempeh, and “Im Eshkachech” performed by Yaakov Shwekey.
Im Eshkachech was composed by Yochanan Shapiro.
After tallying the many votes that poured in, the outcome was decisive. First place went to Shwekey’s “Im Eshkachech,” whose lyrics are drawn from Tehillim. Over the years, the song has become a staple at Jewish weddings, widely embraced as an emotional chuppah song.
Mordechai Ben David secured second place with “Od Yeishvu,” while Avraham Fried placed third with “Yerushalayim Oro Shel Olam.”
Listeners who took part in the live phone-in vote were also eligible for a prize. Among those who called in to rank their favorite songs, a high-quality karaoke microphone was raffled off toward the end of the program.
LISTEN:
{Matzav.com}
Dear Matzav Inbox,
In response to the recent post on Matzav from Rav Gershon Ribner, I feel compelled to share a painful observation that too many of us are noticing but few are willing to articulate.
There is a deeply troubling trend of girls marrying bnei Torah not out of shared values, yiras Shamayim, or a desire to build a true Torah home, but for cultural, social, or superficial reasons alone. The result is not harmony, but dissonance — marriages that look “frum” on paper yet are hollow at their core.
I recently overheard a so-called frum woman casually shmoozing with a neighbor, her language, attitude, and worldview indistinguishable from the surrounding culture. This is not an isolated incident. This is what happens when shidduchim are driven by money, status, and looks rather than middos and commitment to Torah.
And the image that has haunted me most: Standing in a grocery store, I saw a young man dressed like a slob, next to a woman whose appearance and demeanor could only be described as completely foreign to any notion of tznius or Torah values. The store manager — a man who certainly doesn’t keep 613 mitzvos — muttered under his breath, “Beauty and the beast.” When even the outside world sees the contradiction so clearly, something is terribly wrong.
Hashem yerachem.
This is not about clothing alone, nor about judging individuals. It is about the erosion of standards and the dangerous normalization of marriages built on everything except the foundations that are supposed to define a Torah home. If we continue pretending this isn’t happening, we will bear responsibility for the consequences — for our children, and for the future of our community.
Sincerely,
A. C.
To submit a letter to appear on Matzav.com, email MatzavInbox@gmail.com
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{Matzav.com}
Rav Dov Landau delivered firm remarks regarding demonstrations against the military draft, warning yeshiva bochurim to stay far away from protests and reassuring them that gedolim are working tirelessly on the issue.
The comments were made ahead of the Fifth Annual Chinuch Conference of the Ha’azinu Center, scheduled for this coming Thursday. In response to questions posed by the organization about the current situation surrounding draft decrees, Rav Landau addressed the growing anxiety among bochurim amid intensified public discussion of enforcement actions by the authorities.
Asked how mashgichim and mechanchim should calm talmidim who feel confused and unsettled by talk of arrests and decrees, Rav Landau acknowledged the gravity of the situation. “The harsh decrees, the draft decree, are something very serious,” he said. “We are making every effort so that the situation should be good.”
When pressed on how an individual bochur can strengthen himself and avoid worry, Rav Landau emphasized caution and trust in the efforts of the gedolei hador. He stressed that talmidim must know that everything possible is being done on their behalf.
Rav Landau sharply criticized those promoting public demonstrations, describing them as deeply harmful. “There are those who go out against [the efforts], and they hold protests, and they are very damaging,” he said. “Do not participate in protests. You must give the bochurim a good feeling that people care deeply about them — that they are cared for very, very much.”
In further remarks, Rav Landau reiterated that the issue is occupying the foremost Torah leaders day and night. “It concerns the elders of the generation greatly,” he said. “They are making every effort. And there are also those who interfere, who hold protests and other foolishness. Do not participate in protests. Tell them that the elders of the generation care very much and are doing everything possible.”
He concluded with a call for vigilance and faith. “There are those who cause damage with protests and other actions. One must be careful and guarded, and we hope, with Hashem’s help, that the actions of the elders of the generation will succeed. Everything is in the hands of Heaven.”
WATCH: {Matzav.com}President Trump issued a stark warning to Minnesota residents on Tuesday, telling them to “fear not” because a “day of reckoning and retribution is coming,” as his administration intensifies efforts aimed at illegal immigration enforcement and rooting out large-scale benefits fraud in the state.
Highlighting what he described as progress made through federal intervention elsewhere, Trump pointed to Chicago as an example, arguing that tougher enforcement leads to improved public safety. “Every place we go, crime comes down. In Chicago, despite a weak and incompetent Governor and Mayor fighting us all the way, a big improvement was made. Thousands of Criminals were removed!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Turning his criticism directly toward Minnesota’s leadership, the president accused Democratic officials of enabling unrest. “Minnesota Democrats love the unrest that anarchists and professional agitators are causing,” the president continued.
He followed with a message directed at residents of the state, writing in all caps, “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
Trump’s comments come after earlier federal actions in other cities. He had previously sent National Guard troops into Chicago in an effort to curb violent crime, though he announced late last year that the deployment would end following adverse court rulings.
At the same time, Vice President JD Vance disclosed last week that the administration plans to appoint an assistant attorney general dedicated exclusively to combating fraud, with Minnesota set to be the first focus of that initiative.
Tensions in the Twin Cities have escalated in recent weeks following the fatal Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, an incident that sparked widespread protests.
The White House has defended the agent involved, maintaining that he acted in self-defense in response to what it described as an act of domestic terrorism.
Legal challenges have followed. On Monday, officials in Minnesota and Illinois filed lawsuits seeking to block the Trump administration’s plan to significantly increase the number of ICE agents operating in their states, arguing that the move violates the 10th Amendment, which reserves certain powers to the states.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that hundreds of additional federal officers would soon be deployed to Minnesota, on top of the roughly 2,000 ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents already stationed there.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back on that plan during a CNN appearance Monday night, saying, “Quite honestly, we need ICE to just do what ICE is supposed to do, which is immigration enforcement. They’re doing far more than that … by harassing people, by using excessive force on a routine basis.”
Trump, in another Truth Social post, framed the issue as a matter of public safety, asking, “Do the people of Minnesota really want to live in a community in which there are thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners, dangerous people from foreign mental institutions and insane asylums, and other deadly criminals too dangerous to even mention.”
He added that federal agents are motivated by a desire to protect communities, writing, “All the patriots of ICE want to do is remove them from your neighborhood and send them back to the prisons and mental institutions from where they came, most in foreign Countries.”
The president also suggested that demonstrations following Good’s death are being used to divert attention from what he described as massive financial wrongdoing, claiming that billions in taxpayer funds were “stolen by really bad and deranged people.”
While estimates of the total fraud losses differ, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said publicly last month that approximately $9 billion has been stolen since 2018. According to the Justice Department, nearly 100 individuals have been charged in connection with the scheme, with 64 convictions secured so far.
Amid the fallout from the welfare fraud scandal, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced on Jan. 5 that he would not seek a third term in office.
{Matzav.com}
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All are asked to daven for the recovery of Rav Yitzchok Hacker, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno Yeshiva and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah, who underwent an emergency catheterization procedure in his leg overnight at Sheba Medical Center.
It has emerged that Rav Hacker has been suffering from a serious infection in his leg. Just last week, he underwent two catheterization procedures in that leg. Doctors have now detected a more severe infection in his other leg, raising concern for a possible life-threatening condition.
Rav Hacker is a son-in-law of the Ponovezh rosh yeshiva, Rav Shmuel Rozovsky zt”l. He has served for four decades as rosh yeshiva of the Grodno Yeshiva, initially in Ashdod and today in Be’er Yaakov.
In the beis medrash of the Grodno Yeshiva in Be’er Yaakov, as well as in the beis medrash of Ponovezh Yeshiva, talmidim and mispallelim recited three chapters of Tehillim for his refuah.
All are asked to daven for the refuah sheleimah of Rav Yitzchok ben Nechamah.
{Matzav.com}
Days after the fatal anti-draft protest in Yerushalayim that tragically claimed the life of 14-year-old Yosef Eisenthal z”l, the boy’s father has drawn attention with blunt remarks reaffirming his opposition to military enlistment.
In an interview with Israel Army Radio on Monday, Rabbi Shmuel Eisenthal addressed the slogan often heard at such demonstrations — “We will die and not enlist” — and said it still reflects his position. “They asked me whether the phrase ‘we will die and not enlist’ still stands. Honestly, I would prefer that he die and not go to the army,” he said.
Yosef Eisenthal was killed after being struck by a bus during a chareidi protest against military conscription in Yerushalayim. The incident unfolded amid severe disorder, as demonstrators blocked major roads, set trash bins on fire, and attacked a bus that entered the area before the deadly collision occurred.
During the interview, Rabbi Eisenthal acknowledged the public reaction his comments would provoke. “I understand that this is difficult to digest, and I am saying this as a bereaved father,” he said. “If they were to ask me whether I had two options — that Yossi go to the army or that he die the way he died — my answer is that I would prefer that he die.”
He stressed that his opposition to the enlistment of yeshiva students has not changed, even after the loss of his son.
The remarks come nearly a week after the deadly demonstration, which has since drawn heavy scrutiny over police handling of the protest. Following the incident, it was revealed that the bus driver had contacted the police emergency center during the unrest and requested assistance, later saying that no officers arrived at the scene in real time.
Last week, N12 reported that, contrary to the police’s initial account, a prior directive had been issued instructing Yerushalayim District officers not to deploy patrol vehicles into the protest zone. The instruction, coordinated with protest organizers and documented in an internal police document, prohibited police vehicles from entering major thoroughfares in the Bar-Ilan area and surrounding streets. As a result, no patrol cars were present in the area even as disturbances intensified.
{Matzav.com}
