it is with great sadness that Matzav.comreports the the passing of renowned philanthropist and devoted patron of Torah and chessed Rabbi Yehuda Friedlander z”l, who was niftar over Shabbos at the age of 90.
Rabbi Friedlander, widely respected as one of the foremost benefactors of the Vizhnitzer and Sadigura courts, was known for his vast charitable contributions.
Throughout his life, Rabbi Friedlander divided his time between the Jewish community in Brazil — which he helped build and strengthen — and Yerushalayim, where he settled in his later years. His reputation as a generous supporter of thousands of Torah and charitable institutions preceded him, yet his heart was especially bound to the holy courts of Vizhnitz and Sadigura.
Within Vizhnitz, he was regarded as a central member of the chassidus’ board of trustees. His name is prominently associated with the grand and majestic Vizhnitz beis medrash in Beitar Illit, which he funded and dedicated from his personal wealth out of deep attachment to his rebbe, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe.
Rabbi Friedlander also maintained a profound and enduring relationship with the Sadigura court. He enjoyed close ties with the previous Sadigura Rebbe, and that connection continued with even greater strength with the current Sadigura Rebbe.
Beyond his financial generosity and acts of righteousness, Rabbi Friedlander was known for his rare diligence in limud haTorah. Just a month ago, an acquaintance recounted a moving example that illustrated his character. During a flight to the United States lasting more than ten hours, the 90-year-old philanthropist sat with a sefer open before him, immersed in learning without interruption or rest for the duration of the journey, like a young man in the prime of his strength.
The levayah was held at the main beis medrash in Kiryat Vizhnitz and proceeded to the Kfar Nachman cemetery in Ra’anana for kevurah.
Shivah will be observed at the home of his daughter, the Shargovitz family, at 2 HaHagana Street in Ra’anana.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com}
Peak excitement has gripped Toldos Aharon. With the arrival of the month of Adar, the dam has burst in the chassidus. Eighty-three couples celebrated their engagements over the past week, with nearly every home in the neighborhood marking a family simchah. And behind it all lies a closely guarded secret that the mechutanim kept in their hearts throughout the winter so as not to disturb the shteiging in the Toldos Aharon yeshiva.
In recent years, the chassidus instituted a well-known rule that second-year talmidim in the Toldos Aharon yeshiva gedolah do not enter the shidduch world before the month of Adar. As a result, the end of this past week saw an extraordinary outpouring of simcha.
A fascinating detail reveals the depth of discipline: in some cases, even when a shidduch was finalized during the winter months, the matter was kept strictly confidential. The mechutanim, the chosson, and the kallah guarded the secret carefully and did not reveal it to anyone, not even to their closest family members.
All of this was done to preserve the concentration of the chosson’s fellow talmidim in yeshiva and to prevent any disruption to the learning. Only with the arrival of Adar was the news made public. Then, all at once, families learned of the joyous occasions.
In the official community bulletin released ahead of Shabbos, chassidim were informed of the staggering figure: No fewer than 83 shidduchim were completed in a single week among members of the community, bli ayin hara. (See the listings below.)
The reality on the ground is remarkable. There is hardly a family in the chassidus that does not have a first-degree relative, brother-in-law, or cousin who celebrated a l’chaim this week. The streets of Meah Shearim and its alleyways have turned into one continuous parade of mazel tov platters, flowers, and the sounds of singing emanating from homes.
The focal point of the celebrations is, of course, the residence of the Rebbe of Toldos Aharon, where the mechutanim hold their l’chaim gatherings.
The successful model of Toldos Aharon has, in recent years, spread to additional chassidishe yeshivos. At the Rachmastrivka yeshiva and other prominent chassidic institutions, roshei yeshiva have likewise implemented the rule that the winter term is dedicated solely to limud haTorah.
{Matzav.com}
“Conservative” commentator Tucker Carlson is facing sharp criticism following remarks he made during his interview this week with Mike Huckabee in which he floated the idea of conducting widespread DNA testing in Israel to determine biblical lineage connected to land claims.
During a podcast episode titled “Tucker Confronts Mike Huckabee on America’s Toxic Relationship With Israel,” Carlson suggested using genetic analysis to identify “who Abram’s [Abraham’s] descendants are,” citing the promises described in the Book of Genesis. “Why don’t we do genetic testing on everybody in the land and find out who Abram’s descendants are? … We’ve cracked the human genome. We can do that,” Carlson said.
The comments arose in the context of a larger exchange about Jewish identity, ancestral claims to the land and comparisons to Palestinian heritage. Carlson maintained that some Palestinians could potentially trace deeper genetic roots in the region than certain Jewish immigrants from Europe. He questioned how theological arguments about ancestry align with Israel’s demographic framework if lineage is central to the claim.
Huckabee rejected the premise, voicing discomfort with grounding national or civil rights in biological lineage. “I have no idea what that would prove… I’m comfortable with secular nation states where it’s none of this is done on the basis of blood. I’m uncomfortable with that,” he said. Huckabee instead pointed to archaeology, religious tradition and longstanding historical continuity as the foundation for Jewish ties to the land, distancing himself from Carlson’s proposal for genetic screening.
The reaction was swift. Among those criticizing Carlson was pro-Israel activist Laura Loomer, who accused him of advancing ideas reminiscent of eugenics and antisemitism. She argued that the suggestion would effectively require “every single Jew to take a DNA test.”
In a series of social media posts, Loomer labeled Carlson a “rabid Jew hater.” Other critics connected the controversy to earlier remarks Carlson made in a December 2025 interview, when he discussed regulations on commercial DNA testing in Israel related to privacy and identity issues. While such testing is regulated in the country, it is not banned.
{Matzav.com}
As a powerful nor’easter bomb cyclone barreled toward the region, New York City issued an urgent appeal today for temporary snow shovelers — requiring applicants to present multiple forms of identification, a policy that stands in contrast to the city’s voter identification rules.
The National Weather Service issued the city’s first blizzard warning in nearly ten years, forecasting between 19 and 24 inches of snow along with wind gusts reaching 55 miles per hour. Officials warned that the combination of heavy snowfall and strong winds could create dangerous travel conditions and widespread disruptions.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a State of Emergency covering New York City, while Mayor Zohran Mamdani said city outreach teams had been deployed in preparation for the storm’s impact.
The New York City Department of Sanitation announced that it is hiring temporary, per diem workers to clear snow and ice from public spaces such as bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants and step streets. The agency said the additional manpower is necessary to address the expected accumulation and maintain public safety.
Compensation for the emergency positions begins at $19.14 per hour and rises to $28.71 per hour after 40 hours worked within a week. However, applicants must satisfy several eligibility requirements before being hired.
According to the department, candidates must be at least 18 years old, physically capable of performing strenuous labor and legally authorized to work in the United States. In addition, applicants are required to present two small 1.5-inch square photographs, two original forms of identification along with copies, and a Social Security card at the time of registration.
The documentation standards for emergency shovelers differ from the rules governing most voters in New York City. The New York City Board of Elections does not require identification from the majority of registered voters at polling sites.
Individuals voting for the first time are asked to provide one of three identifying numbers: a driver’s license number, a non-driver ID number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. Voters who did not submit identification when registering are permitted to cast an affidavit ballot.
{Matzav.com}
WATCH:
Shock swept through Bnei Brak over Shabbos after Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Weiss, noted senior poskim, was verbally attacked during a Shabbos morning gathering at a local beis medrash.
Rav Weiss, who serves as the rav of Satmar chassidim in Antwerp, was present at a Kiddush celebrating his grandson’s aufruf at the Bobov 45 beis medrash on Rechov Chagai when the incident occurred.
According to witnesses, the dayan was seated at the mizrach table, engaged in animated Torah discussion with rabbanim and admorim in attendance, when an individual approached him and began shouting harsh and insulting remarks. The verbal assault reportedly continued for approximately ten minutes and was said to be connected to recent halachic rulings Rav Weiss had issued regarding matters of communal property.
Those present, including family members and rabbonim, were stunned by the brazenness of the confrontation and sought to intervene and remove the man from the premises.
Observers say it was at that moment that Rav Weiss’s composure stood out. Remaining calm throughout the tirade, he signaled to those around him not to respond. Maintaining a steady expression, he allowed the man to finish speaking. When the attacker concluded, the dayan simply responded softly, “Gut Shabbos,” and resumed his Torah conversation as if nothing had occurred.
Within hours, news of the episode spread throughout Bnei Brak and chassidic communities. Rav Weiss is regarded as one of the leading halachic authorities in European Jewry, and the affront against him was widely viewed as an act of severe disrespect.
In wake of the incident, preparations are underway for the upcoming wedding of Rav Weiss’s grandson, scheduled to take place Tuesday at the Ganey Hadekel hall in Bnei Brak. Associates say urgent meetings are being held with event organizers and security professionals to ensure the celebration proceeds without disruption and to prevent any repeat of such an occurrence.
Community activists in the chareidi sector expressed strong condemnation of the attack. “We will not accept the ביזיון of תלמידי חכמים within Bnei Brak,” one representative said. “Anyone who raises a hand or opens his mouth against the dayan will face a firm response.”
{Matzav.com}Rabbi Liraz Zeira, a Chabad shliach serving university campuses in Yerushalayim, is recovering after losing both legs in an explosion during military service in Syria and says that he has chosen life, faith and even laughter over despair.
“Don’t say Shema Yisrael over me — I’m staying alive!” he shouted seconds after an IDF grenade detonated beneath him, severing both of his legs. Now, in an emotional and at times darkly humorous interview on the “Hashem Echad” program in Israel with Yossi Abedo, Zeira recounts the moment his life changed, the medical drama that followed and the faith that carried him through.
Sitting in a rehabilitation room at Beit Levinstein Hospital, Zeira smiles — not just politely, but with what appears to be genuine joy. Just five months ago, he accidentally stepped on a grenade while stationed in Syria. Today, speaking openly before the cameras, he reflects on the ordeal that nearly cost him his life.
The incident occurred on the seventh of Tishrei, shortly before his battalion was scheduled to be released from duty. Zeira, who served both as a combat commander and as the battalion rabbi, set out on what seemed to be a routine final mission: inspecting the eruv at a military outpost in Syria.
“Soldiers told me there was a rumor the eruv was invalid,” he recalls with understated irony. “I said to myself: ‘Oh, finally the rabbi has a real job.’” He walked along the trenches surrounding the post, lifted his eyes to check that the eruv wire was intact — and in an instant, everything changed. “While I was looking up, I slipped and fell on my back. My legs fell downward and then I heard the ‘pak-boom.’ Later we understood it was an IDF grenade that flipped me onto my stomach.”
What followed was a desperate fight for survival. Zeira immediately realized he could not move his legs. He began crawling across the ground, his face pressed toward the earth, focused on a single goal: to stay alive. “It’s hard to look back in a situation like that, and my focus was only forward,” he says. He crawled dozens of meters until he reached a visible position and called out for help.
His fellow soldiers acted quickly. Within two minutes and twenty seconds, tourniquets were applied. But it was the radio report that seared itself into his mind: “I heard the company commander report: ‘One wounded, two legs amputated.’ That sentence, instead of breaking me, gave me tremendous clarity.”
The drama intensified inside the military Humvee during evacuation. Zeira lay bleeding, struggling to remain conscious, when a frightened soldier beside him began reciting “Shema Yisrael,” believing Zeira was in his final moments. “I opened my eyes and shouted at him: ‘No! Not Shema Yisrael!’” Zeira recounts with a smile at the absurdity of the moment.
“I think it’s the first time in history a Chabadnik tells someone not to say Shema Yisrael. But at that moment, ‘Shema Yisrael’ was, for me, a confession before death, like Rabi Akiva. I told him: ‘I’m not going anywhere! I have a mission and I’m going to carry it out with all my strength.’”
Rather than mourn what he had lost, Zeira chose a different perspective, drawing inspiration from a 1976 address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to wounded Israeli soldiers. “The Rebbe said that someone whom G-d chooses to function without a certain limb is not ‘disabled’ but ‘exceptional,’ a person with special strengths. I told my children: ‘I was accepted into a special club.’ I don’t feel damaged — I received an upgrade. If G-d takes legs, He gives wings to influence an entire generation.”
Today, as he begins basic training on prosthetic legs and continues delivering his daily Tanya class via Zoom from the hospital, Zeira says he feels embraced by the Jewish people.
“When I woke up in Rambam Hospital, I told my wife I feel like a child who jumped from the stage into the crowd, and the crowd is holding him up in the air. The prayers and good deeds of the Jewish people are what hold me. All the checks I handed out to students about faith and trust — now it’s time to cash them.”
When he arrived at Rambam, his condition was critical. He had lost nearly half of his body’s blood volume, and during the helicopter evacuation no pulse was detected in his arms. Doctors managed to stabilize him, but then faced a harrowing medical decision. Professor Norman, one of the senior surgeons, told Zeira’s wife he did not know how to save the knees — a vital component for future mobility and rehabilitation.
The choice was stark: a shorter, safer surgery that would leave him permanently wheelchair-bound, or a risky series of 12-hour operations for each leg in hopes of preserving function. “My wife wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe that she was at a loss,” Zeira says emotionally. “And I told her the Rebbe would find a way to answer.”
The response, he says, came unexpectedly. A stranger named Yinon Cohen entered the intensive care unit. “At first I didn’t understand who he was, until I realized he himself had lost both legs and was walking on prosthetics,” Zeira recalls. “The first sentence he told me was: ‘Your mission not only hasn’t ended — it has just begun.’ He explained exactly which medical path to choose and resolved the dilemma in a single moment. I felt it wasn’t coincidence — it was a direct message from Heaven sent to me in the darkness.”
The chain of what Zeira calls divine providence continued before the decisive second surgery. Searching for someone to pray on his behalf at the Rebbe’s gravesite in New York, he discovered that a close friend was there at that very moment and sent him a live video of the prayer. Even the surgeons’ skepticism about the complex procedure met with Zeira’s unwavering faith. “The doctor told me ‘two out of two is hard to believe,’ I answered him: ‘Doctor, not only do miracles happen to us — we count on miracles.’ And that’s what happened.”
Yet Zeira says the most difficult moments were not the major surgeries or the explosion itself.
“Everyone thinks the hardest moments are the big surgeries or the injury,” he tells Abedo candidly. “But the truth is the breaking point comes in daily life, in the small things.”
He describes summoning enormous effort to get out of bed on his own, maneuvering his wheelchair down the hallway to the water dispenser — only to discover there were no disposable cups left. “I got all the way to the water, victory already in hand, and I had no way to drink. At that moment, it’s a harder test than a grenade exploding on you. That’s where you break.”
Another time, when he slipped from his wheelchair and fell to the floor on a Friday afternoon with no one around to hear him, he made a surprising choice. “I sat on the floor and just burst out laughing. I realized how surreal the situation was. The tests that come without a sign saying ‘test’ are the real examination of faith, and there I chose to laugh instead of cry.”
At the close of the interview, when Abedo calls him a hero of Israel, Zeira declines the title for himself.
“Anyone who thinks being a hero means I slipped on a grenade — I’m not with him. But anyone who thinks a person who is willing to give everything for the Jewish people is a hero — then okay, I agree. And Baruch Hashem, we have many heroes like that.”
{Matzav.com}14Fresh satellite photos and aviation tracking records indicate a sharp increase in American military aircraft at a strategic air base in central Jordan, according to a report published Friday by The New York Times, as concerns intensify over Iran’s nuclear program.
Imagery taken Friday shows more than 60 U.S. combat aircraft stationed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base — about triple the number normally deployed there.
Flight-tracking information further reveals that at least 68 cargo aircraft have touched down at the base since Sunday, pointing to a substantial influx of troops, supplies and logistical equipment. Additional fighter jets may also be housed inside fortified hangars.
The photographs depict sophisticated aircraft, including F-35 stealth fighters, as well as drones and helicopters. The base has also been reinforced with new air defense systems designed to guard against potential missile attacks.
Jordanian officials, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of military operations, said the American deployment is consistent with an existing defense agreement between the United States and Jordan.
The military expansion coincides with deliberations within the Trump administration over how to address Iran’s nuclear activities. President Donald Trump said Friday that he is weighing a limited military strike intended to push Tehran toward a nuclear accord.
The increased American footprint in Jordan appears to form part of a wider regional repositioning as diplomatic talks move forward.
Government officials in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have recently voiced backing for continued diplomacy and have publicly stated they do not want their territories used as launch points for strikes against Iran.
{Matzav.com}
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed nearly $30 million in funding reductions for the city’s public library systems, a move that contrasts sharply with his campaign vow to increase their budgets and his prior criticism of similar cuts as “cruel.”
Mamdani’s $127 billion preliminary budget outlines significant decreases for all three major library systems. The New York Public Library’s Manhattan branch would face an $11.6 million reduction, while the Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library would see their budgets trimmed by $8.7 million and $9.2 million, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Library officials warn that the proposed reductions would affect services including programming for seniors and resources for individuals pursuing U.S. citizenship.
The plan marks a reversal from Mamdani’s campaign pledge to allocate 0.5% of the city’s total budget to the three systems. He reiterated that commitment following his election during a December press conference at the Greenpoint branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
“We’re not going to be doing a dance around things that are critically important to New Yorkers. If there is something that we believe in, we will make that clear in our own preliminary, and we will be making announcements soon on our approach to the budget at large,” Mamdani said to boisterous applause.
As a candidate, Mamdani had sharply criticized then-Mayor Eric Adams for implementing similar budget reductions that led to temporary suspensions of weekend library service.
“As Mayor, I’ll end this absurd budget dance that keeps our beloved libraries in limbo year after year,” he wrote on social media in August.
During Adams’ term, all three library system leaders publicly objected to the $58 million in proposed cuts, though that funding was later restored.
“In one breath, Mayor Adams tells NYers that such cruel budget cuts to libraries, sanitation, and parks are necessary fiscal measures,” Mamdani railed in a 2023 tweet.
“And in another, he offers to restore funding to some of those very cuts in exchange for shielding the NYPD from accountability. Ridiculous.”
Mamdani’s campaign website still includes his pledge to dedicate 0.5% of the city’s overall budget to libraries, describing the system as “critical to our city’s success” and promising to undo what he characterized as the “devastating” impact of Adams’ policies.
Adams responded Friday on X, highlighting what he described as inconsistency in the mayor’s position.
“WHERE IS THE “SAVE THE LIBRARIES” GANG?!” Adams fumed on X Friday.
The activist group Occupy Wall Street also criticized the proposed reductions, arguing that Mamdani’s plan allocates less to libraries than “disgraced & former NYC Mayor Adams.”
“Get active to make sure our libraries receive 0.5% of the city’s expense budget, as he promised during the campaign and reaffirmed after his election,” the group wrote.
Under the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, $2 million remains allocated for Sunday openings at libraries, a provision initially included in Adams’ previous budget, according to a library spokesperson.
The three library systems refrained from directly condemning the proposed cuts but signaled their expectation that the mayor would fulfill his earlier commitments.
“We look forward to working with the Administration and City Council to ensure that the FY27 budget fully funds the city’s libraries so that we can maintain vital services while also supporting enhanced Sunday hours,” spokespeople from the Brooklyn, Queens and New York systems said in a joint statement.
“We are also highly encouraged by the Mayor’s pledge to dedicate 0.5% of the city’s budget to libraries.”
Mamdani’s office defended the proposal, citing financial challenges inherited from the previous administration.
“Libraries and city parks are the jewels of our city and embody the promise of public spaces,” Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani, said in a statement.
“But the budget crisis we inherited compels us to take an all-of-government approach and use every tool at our disposal to meet the legal mandate to balance the budget, including achieving efficiencies and cutting waste.”
