It is with great sadness that Matzav.comreports the petirah of Rav Meir Berlin zt”l, one of the distinguished talmidei chachamim of the Ezras Torah neighborhood and a devoted talmid muvhak and close confidant of the Rosh Yeshivah of Brisk, Rav Meshulam Dovid HaLevi Soloveitchik zt”l. He was 78 years old.
The levayah was held today at his home at 13 Even Ha’azel Street in Ezras Torah, proceeding past Bais Medrash Bais Yisroel in the neighborhood, and continuing to Har HaMenuchos for kevurah.
Rav Meir was born on 19 Teves 5708 to his father, Rav Chaim Berlin, and his mother, Mrs. Ruchama Berlin. His father, Rav Chaim, was among the close associates and attendants of the Brisker Rov.
In his youth, he learned in Yeshivas Brisk, where he became a beloved talmid and close disciple of the Rosh Yeshivah, Rav Meshulam Dovid HaLevi Soloveitchik. He remained deeply connected to the Brisker mesorah and its hanhagos throughout his life.
Upon reaching marriageable age, he married his wife, daughter of Rav Yehoshua Schiff, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Bais Shraga in Monsey, New York.
Throughout his life, Rav Meir was wholly bound to Torah, which was the joy and essence of his existence. He toiled in it with extraordinary diligence and strength, investing constant amal and yegiah, teaching and transmitting it in its pristine purity.
He served as a living model for many in attaining elevated levels in the precise fulfillment and beautification of mitzvos, sparing no effort or expense. With tireless exertion and unwavering resolve, he charted his path in accordance with the ways of his rabbeim, the great luminaries of the generation from the house of Brisk, to whom he cleaved from his earliest years.
Beloved by all, he shouldered the burdens of others with humility and selflessness. His heart was open wide to assist both the community and individuals, materially and spiritually alike. His radiant joy in avodas Hashem brought happiness to all who came near him.
Rav Meir served as a R”M at Yeshiva Torah V’Yirah in the Meah Shearim neighborhood of Yerushalayim. In Ezras Torah, he was among the founders of the Ashkenaz minyan at the Bais Yisroel Shul, which he maintained, led, and guided for many years.
He is survived by sons and daughters and many grandchildren who continue in his path.
His brother, Rav Zev Berlin zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Gaon Yaakov, passed away one year ago, during the month of Adar.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com}
Saudi Arabia temporarily closed its largest domestic oil refinery on Monday following a drone strike, according to a source, as escalating Israeli and US operations against Iran — and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks — triggered disruptions to energy infrastructure across the Middle East.
The latest round of strikes marked the third consecutive day of violence affecting the region’s oil and gas sector. In response to security concerns, most crude production in Iraqi Kurdistan was halted as a precaution, and several major Israeli offshore gas fields were also taken offline, curbing exports to Egypt.
Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery, which has a processing capacity of 550,000 barrels per day, was shut down as a preventive measure. The refinery forms part of a major energy hub along the kingdom’s Gulf coastline and functions as a key export terminal for Saudi crude.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, where approximately 200,000 barrels per day were shipped via pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in February, companies including DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Dana Gas and HKN Energy suspended operations at their fields as a precaution. No physical damage was reported at those sites.
Off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, the Leviathan natural gas field, operated by Chevron, was shut on Saturday, sources said. Energean also halted operations at its floating production unit servicing smaller gas reservoirs.
The situation at Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery is under control, the source said. Two drones were intercepted at the facility, with debris causing a limited fire, the Saudi defense ministry’s spokesperson said on Al Arabiya TV, adding there were no injuries.
Saudi state news agency SPA reported, citing an unnamed energy ministry official, that while some refinery units were taken offline as a precaution, domestic supplies of petroleum and refined products were not disrupted.
Even so, the refinery’s temporary closure is likely to intensify concerns about global supply. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical waterway through which roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption passes — has slowed sharply after vessels were targeted in the area on Sunday. Brent crude futures jumped about 10% on Monday, climbing above $82 per barrel.
“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.
“The attack is also likely to move Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf states closer to joining U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran.”
Saudi energy infrastructure has been targeted in the past. In September 2019, coordinated drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais facilities temporarily knocked out more than half of the kingdom’s crude production capacity.
Ras Tanura itself was previously targeted in 2021 by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
{Matzav.com}
With Purim just a few hours away amid the ongoing war, the Rishon Letzion, Rav Dovid Yosef, published a psak halacha emphasizing that obedience to Pikud HaOref directives takes precedence over reading the Megillah b’rov am when there is even a chashash pikuach nefesh.
In detailed guidelines addressed to “Acheinu Bnei Yisroel b’Eretz Yisroel,” the Rav stressed that safeguarding life overrides any hiddur mitzvah. He wrote that it is self-understood that we are obligated to heed the instructions of Pikud HaOref regarding security, and since there is a concern of pikuach nefesh, it is absolutely forbidden to act against those directives.
One of the primary questions raised was the fulfillment of the principle of “b’rov am hadras Melech” in a time of sirens and security alerts. While in an ordinary year there is a mitzvah to hear Krias HaMegillah with a large gathering, this year — given that security authorities have determined that large assemblies in unprotected areas may pose a danger — the Rav ruled that the Megillah should be read in a protected space or shelter. This applies even if it is not possible to gather a crowd, and even if one must read the Megillah individually without a minyan.
The Rav further clarified that one does not fulfill the obligation by listening to the Megillah via telephone, radio, or online platforms such as Zoom. One who does not have access to a kosher Megillah should read from a printed Chumash without reciting the berachos.
Special guidance was issued for chayalim serving on the front lines. For soldiers who, due to operational demands, cannot read the Megillah at night, the Rishon Letzion ruled that in a shaas hadchak they may read from plag hamincha.
In the event that a siren sounds in the middle of the kri’ah, the instruction is unequivocal: the reading must be stopped immediately, and everyone must proceed at once to a protected area or shelter. The Rav reassured the public that even if the interruption is prolonged and includes conversation, there is no need to return to the beginning of the Megillah; rather, one resumes from the place where he left off.
Concluding his psak, Rav Yosef called upon the tzibbur to strengthen themselves in emunah and tefillah on behalf of Klal Yisroel and the chayalei Yisroel. He expressed a heartfelt tefillah that the Ribono Shel Olam protect His people and perform nissim v’niflaos as in the days of Mordechai v’Esther, and concluded with a prayer for the salvation of the people dwelling in Tzion, the success of Israel’s soldiers in battle, and that we merit the swift arrival of the Goel Tzedek b’karov.
{Matzav.com}
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Click Here to Place Your Ad and Reservations Today!President Donald Trump delivered a forceful message to Iran’s leadership, declaring that the current round of US strikes represents only the opening phase of a broader military operation and signaling that more significant action is imminent.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump said the campaign is progressing effectively and emphasized the strength of the American armed forces. “We’re knocking the crap out of them,” Trump said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it.”
The president made clear that, in his view, the most intense phase of the operation has yet to begin, suggesting that additional strikes are forthcoming. “We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”
Trump also indicated that the United States is taking further steps aimed at supporting the Iranian population in its struggle against what he described as an oppressive regime led by the Ayatollahs. At the same time, he cautioned civilians in Iran to remain indoors while hostilities continue.
{Matzav.com}
Allies of Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the state Legislature have introduced a proposal that would empower New York City to levy an additional 25% surcharge on corporate tax liability, a move that would significantly expand the city’s authority to raise revenue from businesses.
The legislation reflects the Democratic socialist mayor’s broader push to increase taxes on corporations and high earners to fund a series of costly initiatives promised during the 2025 campaign.
“This legislation would authorize New York City to charge a surcharge on corporate taxes, allowing the city to increase its corporate taxes should the mayor and City Council deem this necessary and appropriate,” said Assemblywoman Diana Moreno and Sen. Kristen Gonzalez in a memo summarizing their legislation.
Moreno, who is also aligned with the Democratic Socialists, succeeded Mamdani in representing Astoria in the Assembly after he vacated the seat to assume the mayoralty.
Gonzalez represents areas that include western Queens, parts of northern Brooklyn and Manhattan’s East Side.
“Revenues generated from a corporate tax could contribute to addressing the affordability crisis and strong public services for residents of the city,” the lawmakers said.
The bill summary, however, does not estimate how much additional revenue the surcharge might produce, instead noting that the fiscal impact is “to be determined.”
Mamdani has indicated that his preference is for Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature to raise taxes at the state level—either by increasing the income tax on millionaires or boosting the corporate tax rate—to help close a multibillion-dollar shortfall in his proposed budget and bankroll his policy agenda. He has described a 9.5% property tax increase as a last-resort option, one that appears to lack sufficient support in the City Council.
“New York City is home to dozens of Fortune 500 companies. Yet, for corporations with over $5 million in annual profits, the corporate tax rate is only 7.25%, significantly lower than neighboring states like New Jersey, which is set at 11.5%,” the lawmakers said.
Business advocates dispute that comparison, arguing that it does not account for additional levies already imposed on companies operating in the city.
They note that when other charges, including an MTA corporate surcharge, are factored in, the city’s highest combined marginal corporate income tax rate currently stands at 17.44%, exceeding New Jersey’s rate. Under Mamdani’s proposed increase, they contend, that figure would climb to 22.48%.
“I don’t think the tax conversation is productive because we are going to be 100% higher than New Jersey if we take that proposal,” Steve Fulop, the new CEO of the Partnership for The City of New York, said last week on 77 WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable” program.
“New Jersey’s current corporate tax rate is 11%. If we do what the mayor has recommended, will be at 22% — 100% over New Jersey,” he said during his appearance. “People don’t have to move to Texas or Florida. They can just move a mile away, which is a real risk for the economy here in New York.
“People want to be in New York, but you have to have an economy that’s competitive. We’re getting close to a place that it isn’t,” he said.
Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, also urged restraint, arguing that the focus should be on reducing spending rather than increasing taxes.
“Raising taxes makes New York even more expensive for people we want to come and stay here, people whose taxes support our teachers, cops, libraries, health services and more of what we all need,” Citizens Budget Commission president Andrew Rein said last week.
“New York and its localities are already top of the charts — collecting more taxes per person than anywhere else in the nation.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for re-election to a second term, has said she does not support broad-based tax increases this year. Still, observers note that it remains unclear whether she would maintain that position if faced with pressure from members of her own party after the November elections.
Hochul is being challenged by Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
{Matzav.com}
In a moment that has left many shaken and reflective, fragments from the Iranian missile that fell Sunday in a shelter adjacent to a beis haknesses in Beit Shemesh struck one of the Sifrei Torah, landing precisely in Parshas Zachor, the very parsha that Klal Yisroel read just this past Shabbos.
The parsha, which reminds us of the eternal battle against Amalek and resonates so powerfully with the story of the Megillah, carries profound relevance in these days, as we face a modern-day Persia — Iran. That the shrapnel found its way specifically to those words seemed, to many, far beyond coincidence.
Misplallelim in the beis haknesses stood in stunned silence when they discovered where the fragments had pierced. The sight of the damaged Sefer Torah, struck in the very section commanding us to remember Amalek, was viewed by many as a stirring remez min haShamayim — a call to introspection, teshuvah, and strengthened emunah.
In days when missiles fly and sirens wail, this remarkable occurrence has left the community contemplating the clear and present message: that even amid the noise of war, the Ribbono Shel Olam speaks — sometimes in ways that pierce straight to the heart of the parsha.
{Matzav.com}
