Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Haredi youth hit by bus & killed while returning from protest
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/421194
A haredi youth has died after being struck by a bus at the entrance to Komemiyut this afternoon (Tuesday) while returning from a protest against a plan to perform autopsies on infants who died at a daycare center, Zaka reported.
An initial investigation indicates that the boy was walking with his friends on the side of the road as they returned from the protest, and for a reason that has not yet been determined, the bus hit him.
High Court of Justice blocks autopsies of dead infants from Jerusalem daycare disaster
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-883961
The High Court of Justice has blocked the plan perform autopsies on the two infants who died in Monday's Jerusalem daycare disaster, ZAKA rescue and recovery said in a Tuesday post to X/Twitter.
"Attorney Dror Shoshayim, Chair of ZAKA's Legal Department, represented the families of the toddlers, and after hearing the arguments, it was determined that no post-mortem autopsy will be performed, while emphasizing the need to preserve the dignity of the deceased," ZAKA's post read.
The director of Hadassah-University Medical Center, Professor Yaniv Sherer, where many of the injured children were taken to for treatment and observation, told Maariv that the injuries and deaths probably resulted from "some kind of poisoning, with or without a combination of crowding, fever, or dehydration."
Haredi extremists riot against autopsies of babies who died at unlicensed Jerusalem daycare
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox extremists clashed with police in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh on Monday night as they protested authorities’ plans to perform autopsies on the bodies of two babies who died in an overcrowded, unlicensed daycare center in the capital.
Police and the State Prosecutor’s Office are pushing for the autopsies in order to uncover the exact cause of death for 4-month-old Leah Goloventzitz and 6-month-old Aharon Katz, whose bodies were found on Monday morning, along with 53 other babies and toddlers with varying degrees of injuries at the Haredi daycare center.
Police arrest 16-year-old from Bnei Brak suspected of setting fire to Pride flag in Tel Aviv
Looming In NY, Any Day: NY State Legislature To Vote on DOCTORS LEGALLY Helping Kill Their Patients
BS"D
January 19, '26/ Parshas Bo El Pharaoh
Looming In NY, Any Day: NY State Legislature To Vote on DOCTORS LEGALLY Helping Kill Their Patients
Dear Editor,
Everyone in the esteemed NY tzibbur over 17 is beseeched to please call their own state senator and assembly member NOW, to demand that they vote AGAINST bills A9515 and S8835. Those are Gov. Hochul's "Chapter Amendments" to the Assisted Suicide bill (voted on in June). Their passage would enable passage of Assisted Suicide and Stealth-Euthanasia in NY.
Prominent Rabbonim have urged us to do all we can to stop this murderous legislation from passing. Tell your reps that we cannot vote for anyone who in any manner advances the institutionalization of murder.
Call now: NY State Senate: (518) 455-2800 and NY State Assembly: (518) 455-4100, open Mon - Fri. 9-5.
Even if you don’t know their names, they'll direct you. Urge every Republican rep to ensure that their leadership "enforce Party Discipline" - to ensure every Republican votes NO.
•• Important clarification for those misled by reports to the contrary: Despite mistaken news reports [confusing Governor Hochul’s “pledge” to sign Assisted Suicide after Chapter Amendments S8835 and A9195 pass, with her actually signing it into law] - Assisted Suicide has NOT become law yet.*
(* In order for the original Assisted Suicide Bill to become law, it must be signed within 30 days of delivery to the Governor, which occurred on Dec. 31, 2025.)
Governor Hochul’s Amendments make this lethal legislation more passable by making it ostensibly "safer." Those Amendments just passed the Senate Rules Committee last week - making it possible for the full Senate to vote on the bill, S8835, any day now.
The Amendment bill in the Assembly, A9195, has been sitting in the Assembly Health Committee, and is not scheduled for a vote this week. However, it is possible that could change. If it doesn’t change, it is likely that they will vote on it in the Assembly Health Committee - and in the full Assembly - next week, Parshas BeShalach.
The Governor pledged that IF S8835 and A9515 pass, she will sign Assisted-Suicide into Law. IF either S8835 or A9515 do not pass, it's extremely unlikely that she will sign it into Law.
Thus, THE only realistic way to stop Assisted Suicide now is to stop A9515 and S8835 from passing.
It's crucial to realize that even with Governor Hochul’s proposed changes in A9515 and S8835, this legislation would not only “legitimize” assisted suicide - as terrible as that is from the Torah perspective - it would also enable the outright homicide of vulnerable individuals who do not wish to die.
The legislators supporting this need to realize that we see through the "Autonomy" mantra. This legislation undermines personal autonomy in the very name of advancing it.
This is due to the remaining loopholes, and due to the absence of a non-severability clause - which would disable the entire bill if any part is declared void -
讘讟诇讛 诪拽爪转讛 讘讟诇讛 讻讜诇讛.
In a bill without a non-severability clause, even meaningful protections are ultimately worthless, because they can be easily eliminated over time by an activist court - leaving the bill's killing machinery operating at full speed, without those protections.
Thus, these protections in the Amendments ultimately serve to "Aid in Killing," by enabling initial passage of Assisted Suicide. They do not at all protect the vulnerable - in the long term - because the protections/amendments will likely be removed from the bill, over time. This is being done in other places that have passed such bills, due to the absence of a non-severability clause, as explained above, or by subsequent legislation, with little fanfare.
Accordingly, "the Road to Assisted-Suicide is Paved with Amendment Protections."
To for a copy of the broad-based Rabbinic statement urging everyone to do what they can to stop such legislation, please email TorahJewsForDecency@gmail.com.
Also realize that even if it passes R"L, the more controversial we make Assisted Suicide/ Stealth Euthanasia, the harder it will be to implement, in the face of an uncooperative community.
May we merit the Ultimate Redemption in the merit of countering its' impediments.
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
845-642-1679
Monsey, NY
Monday, January 19, 2026
2 babies die in incident at unlicensed Jerusalem daycare; 3 caregivers detained
Two infants died and 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in an incident at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare on Monday, prompting the arrest of three of the caregivers working there.
“We heard children screaming, we went in and checked and what did we find? That there were children in closets, in strollers, everywhere, hidden on top of one another with blankets,” he said.
Other medics and paramedics recounted similar information, telling news outlets that at least one child was found sleeping in a bathroom, close to the toilet.
The National Council for the Child, in a statement issued as the incident unfolded, demanded an immediate investigation by the Israel Police and Education Ministry into “not only the serious negligence, but the issue of the daycare’s operating license, as well.”