Iran’s Revolutionary Guard declared that it had detained eight people accused of trying to provide Israel’s Mossad intelligence service with details about senior Iranian commanders and sensitive military coordinates, according to Reuters.
The arrests are tied to Israel’s aerial offensive in June, which struck Iranian nuclear facilities and left both senior officers and civilians dead.
Officials in the Revolutionary Guard claimed the suspects had undergone virtual training sessions led by Mossad. The group was reportedly caught in Iran’s northeast before they could carry out their mission, and authorities say they confiscated equipment designed for building bombs, launch devices, and booby traps.
Tehran has long alleged that Israel is behind sabotage and covert actions inside Iran, and frequently announces arrests or executions of people it says spied for Mossad.
Last year, Iran announced the execution of a man it called a “terrorist” who had been accused of working with Mossad in connection with a drone strike against a defense ministry facility in central Iran the previous year.
One month earlier, Iranian officials claimed they had executed four individuals for spying for Mossad, asserting that the group had been in contact with Mossad director David Barnea, received training in Africa, and slipped into Iran through Iraq’s Kurdish region.
In December 2023, Tehran further reported that it had executed what it described as an “Israeli Mossad spy” in the country’s southeast.
Over the last several months, Iran has carried out executions of at least eight people on espionage charges. Among them was nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, who was put to death on August 9, accused of passing intelligence to Israel concerning another scientist killed in Israeli strikes.
Just days after Vadi’s death, Iranian authorities revealed they had taken 20 more people into custody, claiming they too were tied to Mossad. Officials have warned that those found guilty will receive the harshest penalties.
{Matzav.com}In this episode, Rabbi Reinman shows how Galus Bavel foreshadowed the good and bad times in the Jewish diaspora.
Chapter Thirty-five: The Babylonian Exile
Unlike the Assyrians, the Babylonians were astute victors, and the ten thousand captives carried off from Yehudah eleven years before the destruction of Yerushalayim had been treated well. Nevuchadnezzar recognized the nobility of the Jewish core element that had maintained its high moral standards in the face of adversity, and he sought to integrate this elite group into the multiethnic Babylonian tapestry, along with the elites of other communities in the far-flung empire.
As part of this program, the king invited the best and brightest young men from the various communities to live in the royal palace where they would be educated and trained for service. Among these apprentices were four young Jewish prodigies named Daniel, Chananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and in order to integrate them better, Nevuchadnezzar gave them the Babylonian names Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel’s rise in the imperial government was meteoric, and he became governor of Babylon. The others also rose to high positions.
At this point, there was a religious crisis. Nevuchadnezzar erected an enormous golden idol on the plain of Dura near Babylon, and he decreed that at specific times everyone had to bow down to it. All who refused would be thrown into a fiery furnace. This was not a religion decree. Those who bowed down were free to practice their own religion any way they saw fit. Rather, it was a political decree. Honoring the king included honoring his god. Failure to do so disrespected the king. Chananiah, Mishael and Azariah refused to comply and were thrown into the furnace. When they emerged safely, Nevuchadnezzar declared, “Praise be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants … for no other god can save in this way.”
Protected by royal sanction, the Jewish exiles began to lay the foundations of the great Babylonian Jewish community that would endure for a thousand years.
The immediate concern of this first group of exiles was the preservation of the Torah, especially the Oral Law without which the Torah cannot be understood. From the beginning, the Oral Law had been passed down by a system of transmission supervised by the leading Torah sage of each generation. After Yehoshua, this task had been shouldered by the Judges, the Torah sages who were also the unofficial political leaders. With the rise of the monarchy, the stewardship of the Oral Law had been assumed by the unbroken succession of Prophets, which ran parallel to the royal succession. But now the kingdom was on the verge of collapse, and the dispersion had already begun. Yirmiyahu had prophesied that the exile would end after seventy years, but what form would the restoration assume? Would there always be prophets to teach the people? And if not, how would the special bond between the Jewish people and God and His Torah be sustained?
Paradoxically, exile and captivity had brought the core element of the Jewish people more freedom than it had enjoyed in a century. In Babylon, there were no corrupt monarchs and pagan enthusiasts to battle for the Jewish soul. Confined to this distant land but breathing the heady air of spiritual freedom, these elite exiles, among whom there were a thousand sages, understood that the future of the Jewish people rested on their shoulders. They knew that it was their mission to form the nucleus of a rejuvenated Jewish nation, and they poured all their energies into creating a solid bedrock of Torah for the future. They established numerous yeshivahs in all the cities and towns where they settled, and the intense study of the Torah flourished …
Read full chapter and earlier chapters at www.rabbireinman.com.
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The Torah world has been stirred by an extraordinary discovery: The handwritten signature of Rav Avrohom Dov of Avritch zt”l, author of the Bas Ayin, has been uncovered on a rare document.
Last week, the rare treasure was presented to Rav Elimelech Biderman: the original signed document of the Bas Ayin.
Rav Avrohom Dov, who lived in the holy city of Tzefas, was famed already in his lifetime as a source of salvation, with countless stories told about his deeds, especially his heroism during the great earthquake that struck Tzefas in 1837, when he saved many Jewish lives from destruction.
For over a decade, Rav Biderman has been closely attached to the teachings and path of the Bas Ayin, organizing the annual hilula gatherings at his resting place and encouraging young people to learn his holy works, which are regarded as a segulah.
The newly revealed handwritten note is of immense rarity, as very few documents survive from the Bas Ayin.
This particular manuscript confirms the sale of a designated place of tefillah in the Arizal’s ancient shul, verified and signed by him.
At the bottom of the document, beneath the signatures of the gabbaim, it is written: “And for greater strength and confirmation, it is further signed by the holy rov.” Indeed, on the reverse side of the page appears the Bas Ayin’s sacred signature: “The transaction detailed above is valid and binding. Signed, Avrohom Dov of Avritch, residing in the holy city of Tzefas, may it be rebuilt and reestablished speedily in our days, Amen.”
Reacting emotionally to the document, Rav Biderman declared: “If in his lifetime he brought about yeshuos, then surely, as Chazal say, tzaddikim are greater in death than in life. To hold a sacred object connected to him is a most elevated and wondrous segulah.”
He was particularly moved by the date inscribed on the contract: “Twelve days into the month of Elul, in the year 5600 (1840)”—exactly 185 years ago, in the very days leading into the Yamim Nora’im.
Rav Biderman concluded with deep emotion: “Even just to gaze upon the handwriting of the Bas Ayin inspires the heart and serves as a wondrous segulah for teshuvah and good deeds.”
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Local officials in a Bergen County borough are accusing the operators of a major shopping complex of violating long-standing restrictions on Sunday sales, labeling the property a “public nuisance” and taking the matter to court.
The lawsuit, filed by leaders in Paramus, a community located just a few miles from Hackensack, was reviewed by USA TODAY. According to the filing, Mayor Christopher DiPiazza and the entire borough council authorized the action, their attorney Richard Malagiere confirmed on August 29.
In the complaint submitted to the Superior Court of New Jersey on August 25, the borough asserts that American Dream Mall, a 3-million-square-foot complex, has ignored Bergen County’s “blue laws.” These rules forbid Sunday sales of items such as apparel, lumber and construction materials, furniture for homes or offices, and both residential and commercial appliances.
Officials in Paramus maintain that the blue laws are binding only if county residents vote to keep them in effect. In Bergen County, voters chose to uphold the rules. Yet, the lawsuit claims that businesses inside American Dream have chosen to ignore them.
“These businesses, with the encouragement and support of the mall’s ownership and the acquiescence of the other defendants here, have violated the law hundreds if not thousands of times since January of this year,” the filing says.
The lawsuit explains that although the mall initially followed the prohibition, stores began trading on Sundays in 2024. According to reporting by The Bergen Record, which is part of the USA TODAY network, the mall had already been opening on Sundays for at least a year by January 2025.
Paramus officials argued in the complaint that businesses violating the law could face fines or even forced closures if the practice continues. They also noted their intent was to pressure the mall’s management to return to compliance.
Mayor DiPiazza said that American Dream had “promised on record” it would abide by Bergen County’s blue laws when opening its doors, according to the Associated Press.
The legal action lists several defendants: Ameream LLC, which owns the mall, the Borough of East Rutherford where the property is situated, Bergen County itself, and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), which owns the land American Dream sits on.
“The lawsuit is a meritless political stunt driven by private competitors’ interests,” American Dream said in a statement obtained by the AP.
On August 29, USA TODAY reached out to Mayor DiPiazza along with the other defendants named in the case. The NJSEA and a Bergen County official replied, though the NJSEA declined to comment, citing active litigation.
Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, in a statement to USA TODAY, defended the importance of the blue laws, saying they safeguard quality of life for county residents and provide retail employees with needed rest. He emphasized that the matter comes down to “fairness.”
“When American Dream was preparing to open, its operators personally assured me and the State that they would honor the Sunday closing law and keep their retail doors shut,” Tedesco said. “They broke that promise.”
Tedesco added that operating on Sundays not only violates the statute but gives the mall “an unfair advantage” over local retailers that continue to comply.
American Dream, located in East Rutherford, is the second-largest retail and entertainment destination in the country, surpassed only by the Mall of America in Minnesota. According to Visit New Jersey, the complex contains more than 400 shops.
The mall’s official website lists its Sunday hours as 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for retail and dining, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. for The Avenue, a luxury wing featuring brands like Gucci and Balenciaga.
The roots of blue laws trace back centuries. The National Alcohol Beverage Control Association notes that as early as 1617 in Virginia, residents were required to attend church, with militia tasked to enforce the rule. In the 1800s, reformers advocated bans on commercial and “immoral” activity on Sundays.
The U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on the issue, finding in some instances that Sunday restrictions are constitutional. In McGowan v. Maryland (1961), the justices upheld a ban on Sunday sales, reasoning the law’s aim was to promote health, rest, and general welfare rather than advance a particular religion.
The Bergen Record, also part of the USA TODAY Network, has noted that Paramus’s blue laws date back to colonial times and were first adopted in 1704, later codified in 1798. The rules once prohibited leisure activities and even nonessential travel, far stricter than today’s targeted sales bans.
According to Wyckoff Township’s municipal clerk, Bergen County residents voted to continue the laws in 1980. More than a decade later, in November 1993, county voters once again rejected a proposal to repeal the restrictions, with a two-to-one margin in favor of keeping Sunday closures.
The complaint against American Dream cites evidence that the mall has defied those rules, including a sign inside the complex stating, “All stores open Sundays.”
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