Pro-Trump TV ad funded by government draws fire from both sides

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6110237-trump-government-ad-criticism/

Democrats and some Republicans are criticizing an ad from the Trump administration paid for by the U.S. government that pushes back against communism, socialism and Marxism in the U.S. just weeks before the midterm elections.

The 30-second commercial features Trump’s voice, saying, “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” and, “America will never be a communist country.” The song “Love Me” by JMSN, whose name is Christian Berishaj, plays in the background.

In the ad, photos and videos of the president quickly flash by, touting the “largest tax cuts in history,” along with “reigniting American manufacturing” and “defend law and order and police.”

Outlets reported that AdImpact said the advertisement cost $14,000 and ran during conservative shows on Fox News and Newsmax starting Wednesday night

In fiery UN speech, Netanyahu blasts Iran, Qatar, Turkey, slams Gaza genocide accusation

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-fiery-un-speech-netanyahu-blasts-iran-qatar-turkey-slams-gaza-genocide-accusation/

PM calls genocide allegation ‘lie of the century,’ defends IDF’s morality, underplays settler violence; many envoys walk out before he starts; he doesn’t mention Saudis or Abraham Accords

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit many of his favorite themes in a combative speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, including the threat Iran poses to the world and the Jewish people’s determination to stand up to antisemitism and attempts to annihilate them.

He also surprised many observers by mentioning US President Donald Trump only once, and failing to offer new evidence on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program — despite Israeli officials saying he would do so.

Two other Middle Eastern countries were singled out by Netanyahu for “spreading lies” and backing Hamas — Qatar and Turkey.

HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen: ‘There Were Educators Who Abused Children And It Was Covered Up; It Is Literally Murder!’

 https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2602044/hagaon-harav-dovid-cohen-there-were-educators-who-abused-children-and-it-was-covered-up-it-is-literally-murder.html

HaGaon Rav Dovid Cohen, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron and a member of Degel HaTorah’s Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, has spoken out directly and publicly for the first time about the phenomenon of abuse in the Chareidi community.

Rav Cohen made the remarks during a meeting with Rabbanim from the Mafteach Le’Asid organization, headed by Yedida Goldberg, which works to promote safeguarding in Chareidi society. The organization, under the leadership of Raav Yehoshua Eichenstein, has implemented the “Safe Environment” safeguarding program of the Social Platform nonprofit in dozens of Litvish chedarim in Jerusalem, after HaGaon Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch gave the initiative the green light.

“There have been many cases of abuse that I have become aware of over the years, and I have presumably encountered only a small portion of them,” HaRav Cohen said. “Every person who was abused — it is as though they were murdered.”

“By my estimate, every single year there are dozens, and perhaps more than dozens, who are abused, and they are destroyed spiritually and emotionally. We cannot tolerate this anymore. We cannot tolerate it. Unfortunately, there were periods when abusers were protected — including educators.”

Ambassador's son critically wounded in terror attack: 'Neria needs a miracle'

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/09/23/ambassadors-son-critically-wounded-in-terror-attack-neria-needs-a-miracle/

Neria Leiter was critically injured in a car-ramming attack. His older brother, Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed in battle in Beit Hanoun during the Swords of Iron War. Their father, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter: "They choose death, we choose life."

According to police, a terrorist drove his vehicle toward a Judea and Samaria District Police patrol car in which a policewoman and an IDF soldier were operating as part of a joint mission, deliberately attacking them. Leiter suffered head injuries and was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where doctors are fighting to save his life. Security forces killed the terrorist at the scene.

Leiter's critical injuries are another tragedy for a family that has already paid the heaviest possible price. Neria's older brother, Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya Leiter, may God avenge his blood, was killed in November 2023 in a powerful explosion in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, alongside several other soldiers.

Trump’s approval plunges into the 20s, and Republicans give up

 https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/6104722-trump-approval-low-gop/

It was received wisdom during President Trump’s first term that his hard floor of support sat somewhere around one-third of Americans. Those were the MAGA true believers, the die-hards, the folks who stood in line for hours to attend their fifth Trump rally of the year. That rule of thumb proved to be true. Trump’s approval was still hovering in the 40s before ending around 34 percent on Jan. 4, 2021.

It was received wisdom during President Trump’s first term that his hard floor of support sat somewhere around one-third of Americans. Those were the MAGA true believers, the die-hards, the folks who stood in line for hours to attend their fifth Trump rally of the year. That rule of thumb proved to be true. Trump’s approval was still hovering in the 40s before ending around 34 percent on Jan. 4, 2021.

An American Research Group poll published this week found Trump’s approval at just 29 percent — a new low for his presidency and a flashing warning sign for the congressional Republicans being dragged beneath the waves by the president’s plummeting popularity. 

'Stunning numbers': Enten evaluates Trump's new polling low

Macron says Hamas was ‘never active’ in West Bank. Nearly 40 years of terror campaign say otherwise

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hkmomwzqgl

French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech Tuesday night at the UN General Assembly immediately sparked an uproar in Israel after he claimed that Hamas had never “caused trouble” in the West Bank, a statement contradicted by nearly four decades of the terrorist organization’s activity there.

Just two days earlier, hours before Yom Kippur began, Netanel Shukrun, a French citizen and father of six, was killed in a shooting attack at the Ein Re’iya spring. The attacker, Qadri Samara, was identified as a Hamas operative.

Hamas’ presence in the West Bank did not begin this week. In fact, its activity there dates back to the late 1980s, not long after the terrorist organization was founded in the Gaza Strip in December 1987, with the outbreak of the First Intifada.

Macron's blatant lie is only a sideshow

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433518

Macron’s false statement about Hamas is grotesque, but the real story is the lethal "palestine" fairytale dreamed up by the KGB and now believed the world over. 

Everyone is going crazy over French leader Emmanuel Macron’s blatant lie at the United Nations today that Hamas has “never been active in the West Bank"-Judea and Samaria.

Yes, the statement is a total lie. Hamas has operated networks and carried out terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria for decades.

Macron's Hamas comments at UN were translation 'misinterpretation

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-909407

French President Emmanuel Macron's earlier comments on Hamas's West Bank operations were a translation "misinterpretation," a French diplomatic source told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

According to the source, the statement was translated as "Hamas has never been particularly active," but the meaning of the French phrase stated by Macron, "le Hamas n'a jamais sévi en Cisjordanie," is "Hamas has never governed the West Bank."

The apparent clarification follows criticism from several Israeli officials after Macron made the comments during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Netanyahu decries Macron’s ‘grotesque’ claim that Hamas ‘never operated’ in West Bank

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-decries-macrons-grotesque-claim-that-hamas-never-operated-in-west-bank/

PM notes an Israeli with French citizenship was killed by a Palestinian terrorist just days before; French official tells ToI that Macron meant Hamas ‘doesn’t govern’ the territory

Israel shot back angrily Tuesday at French President Emmanuel Macron who, in an address to the United Nations, criticized Israeli actions in the West Bank and claimed Hamas was never active in the territory that is home to the Palestinian Authority.

“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to deliver a defiant address to the world body on Thursday.

“Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day. They have murdered countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria,” it said, using the Biblical name for the West Bank, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six Day War. “Ignorance is no excuse for erasing their blood.”

Responding to the Israeli criticism, a French diplomatic official told The Times of Israel that Macron “meant to say that Hamas does not govern the West Bank.”

Hidden Rewards

 https://aish.com/479983793/

Fascinatingly, the Midrash in Vayikra Rabbah tells us that Tsara'at HaBayit comes as a reward. Now how can this be possible? You lose your home and it's a reward? Explains the Midrash. When the Canaanites were fleeing from the Holy Land, they hoped that one day they would return to their homes. And so they hid their most valuable possessions inside the walls of those homes. And so Hashem identified those homes by placing the discolouration on the walls.

Consequently, once the homes were raised to the ground, the owners were able to find that hidden treasure.

I believe that there is a powerful message here for all of life. Sometimes things go wrong, and we cry out to God and we say: 'Why have you cursed us in this fashion?' Little do we realise that actually we are taking a few steps backwards in order to move hundreds of steps forwards. Sometimes the greatest of treasures in life come through difficulty and travail. This is how the Gemara in Masechet Brachot puts it, Kol man d'avid Rachmana l'tav avid. Whatever God does, he does for the good.

Birkas Asher (Vayikra 14:34) Rashi notes that the affliction of the house was actually a good thing since it revealed the treasure hidden in the walls by the Canananites though that implies that the phenomenon happened only when they were first conquering Israel, This requires further study.. In addition there is an additional question as to why the benefit of finding treasure was only for those who spoke lashon harah. The Maskil l’Dovid explains that when the Jews first came to Israel it was not a punishment but a reward

Or HaChaim (Vayikra 14:34) When you come to the land…and I will give a plague of "leprosy," etc. How can one describe the plague of "leprosy" breaking out on one's house as good news so that the Torah describes it as a gift from G'd? Why did the Torah not merely write: "when the walls of your houses develop certain stains, etc." in the same way as the Torah described such a skin disease in 13,9? Vayikra Rabbah 17,6 was conscious of this and explained that the Canaanites who heard that the Israelites were approaching hid their valuables inside the walls of their houses. When the walls would display signs of "leprosy," the Jewish owner would investigate and discover the hidden treasure. This is homiletics, of course. Rabbi Levy explains in that same Midrash that when G'd wishes to reprove us He does not immediately inflict pain on our bodies, but He first afflicts our houses, and in the event this does not help He afflicts our clothing. Only if we fail to respond to these two warnings does G'd inflict the plague on our bodies, i.e. our skin. When viewed in this light the affliction on the house is indeed a "gift" i.e. a demonstration of G'd's loving concern for us.

Gunman who fired on police outside Canada synagogue dies of gunfight wounds

https://www.timesofisrael.com/gunman-who-fired-on-police-outside-canada-synagogue-dies-of-gunfight-wounds/

 Like many Western countries, Canada has seen a rise in reported incidents of antisemitism over the last three years amid criticism of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught.

Sunday’s shooting comes months after Carney warned that Canada was failing its Jewish community amid a surge in antisemitism.

Carney cited shootings at Jewish schools, firebombings of synagogues and attacks on community centers and Jewish-owned businesses. His government announced millions in additional funding to help faith-based institutions pay for security infrastructure, training and personnel.

Tzaras is Natural or Miraculous

Bamidbar Rabbah (19:03) On what account is a leper cleansed with the aid of the tallest of tall trees and with the lowest of low ones, namely, with the cedar tree and the hyssop? He had been punished with leprosy owing to his having exalted himself like the cedar tree. Having humbled himself like the hyssop he was healed by the aid of a hyssop.

Birchas Asher (Vayikra13:01) According to those who agree with the view of Rambam one can ask from the words of the gemora that  there is no tzuras in Babylonia because they eat beets, drink beer, and bathe in the waters of the Euphrates.\that means that Tzuras is physiological In contrast there is a medrash about turas of houses in which it was a sign from God to find hidden treasure. Thus we see that our Sages were not in agreement about this and there are conflicting views

Kesubos (77b) Rabbi Yoḥanan said: For what reason are there no lepers in Babylonia? Because they eat beets, drink beer, and bathe in the waters of the Euphrates, all of which are good for the body. It is prohibited to go four cubits to the east of a leper. R. Simeon b. Lakish said: Even a hundred cubits. They did not really differ; the one who said four cubits referred to a time when there is no wind blowing, whereas the one who said not even a hundred cubits, eferred to a time when a wind is blowing. R. Meir would not eat eggs that came from an alley of lepers. R. Ammi and R. Assi would not enter a leper's alley. Resh Lakish, when he saw one of them in the city, threw stones towards him, and said: ' Go to your place, and do not defile other people,’ as R. Hiyya taught: He shall dwell alone of them, hid himself from him, 

Magen Avraham (O.C. 173:1): The combination causes leprosy – It is possible that in modern times there is not so much danger because we know that many things that are mentioned in the Talmud as being a danger because of ruach rah and other reasons do not cause harm today because nature has changed. Also it is a function of the nature of the particular country…

Moreh Nevuchim (03:47) Tzaraas is a miracle received in our nation by tradition, in the same manner as the effect of the trial of a faithless wife. The good effect of this belief is evident. Leprosy is besides a contagious disease, and people almost naturally abhor it, and keep away from it.

Ralbag (Vayikra 13:47) Tzara’as on these objects is caused by moisture and heat… this causes them to be damaged and destroyed… the discoloration is what you’d find in moldy places, like water near a dump, where things turn green or red.

Ramban (Vayikra 13:47) AND WHEN THE PLAGUE OF LEPROSY IS IN A GARMENT. This is not in the natural order of things, nor does it ever happen in the world outside Israel, and similarly leprosy of houses is not a natural phenomenon. But when Israel is wholly devoted to G-d, then His spirit is upon them always, to maintain their bodies, clothes and houses in a good appearance. Thus as soon as one of them commits a sin or transgression, a deformity appears in his flesh, or on his garment, or in his house, revealing that G-d has turned aside from him…

Ramban (Vayikra 14:34) Scripture states with reference to plagues in houses, and ‘I’ shall put the plague of leprosy, in order to allude to the fact that it was G-d’s hand that did this, and not an act of nature at all, 

Vayikra Rabbah (17:03) For ten sins does leprosy come upon the world: (i) idol-worship, (ii) gross unchastity, (iii) bloodshed, (iv) the profanation of the Divine Name, (v) blasphemy of the Divine Name, (vi) robbing the public, (vii) usurping [a dignity] to which one has no right, (viii) overweening pride, (ix) evil speech, and (x) an evil eye. 

Vayikra Rabbah (17:06) When the Canaanites heard that the Israelites were approaching, they set to and hid their valuables in the houses and in the fields. Said G-d: ' I promised the Israelites’forefathers that I would bring their children into a land full of all that is good,’ as it is said, And houses full of all good things. What did G-d do?-He brought plagues upon a house

Trump criticizes the press for failing to report fake accomplishments

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/22/politics/trump-press-fake-accomplishments

 President Donald Trump, defending his decision to ban CNN and two other media outlets from the White House, argued Monday that the press has “an obligation” to report on his accomplishments.

But Trump immediately cited two supposed accomplishments that do not actually exist.

We don’t report that he “settled eight wars” because he didn’t. We don’t report that there is “$21 trillion pouring in” to the United States because there isn’t. Both numbers are wildly inflated.

Trump’s claims about having won a “landslide” victory, having “the best economic numbers for the country” and that “we’ve done so well” with Iran are some combination of too subjective and too vague to debunk, though it’s clear all three can be reasonably challenged. But his claims that “I’ve settled eight wars” and “we have $21 trillion pouring in” are incorrect, as CNN has repeatedly noted when he has made the same or similar claims on numerous previous occasions.

Gaza journalist who met with Mamdani admits he buried Oct. 7 footage of Israeli hostages being beaten to protect perpetrators

 https://nypost.com/2026/09/21/world-news/gaza-journalist-who-met-with-mamdani-admits-he-buried-footage-of-israeli-hostages-being-beaten-to-protect-perpatrators/

A Gaza journalist who has met with Mayor Mamdani and been honored with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and a spot on the Time100 list admitted that he buried footage of Israeli hostages being beaten by a Palestinian mob on Oct. 7, 2023 in order to protect the perpetrators.

Photographer Motaz Azaiza also revealed that all media in Gaza is controlled by Hamas through a single WhatsApp group — and the terror group will target any journalist who publishes criticism.

Azaiza — who has become one of the most famous journalists in Gaza — was in the territory on Oct. 7, when Hamas marched the hostages taken from Israel through the streets of Gaza, where all hell broke loose.

“Photographers in Gaza have become accustomed to lowering their cameras the moment someone says something bad about Hamas, he said, “because anyone who dares to show reality is persecuted relentlessly.”

He said he had to flee the territory after publishing people criticizing Hamas. He now lives in Qatar.

Despite Azaiza withholding the footage of the hostages being beaten as part of his coverage of the war, some of the hostages who were paraded around the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 eventually spoke out about the ordeal.

Itay Regev, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre, said Hamas had driven him and others around the streets of Gaza and displayed them like human “trophies” to the angry crowds.

Revelation raises questions about reporting from Gaza

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433489

Motaz Azaiza says he filmed Gazans assaulting hostages but withheld the footage out of concern that Israel would identify them. He also revealed pressure exerted by Hamas on journalists.

Palestinian Arab photographer Motaz Azaiza says he possesses footage from October 7 that he did not publish, including recordings showing Gaza residents beating and assaulting hostages in the Gaza Strip.

According to Azaiza, the decision to keep the material off the internet was deliberate: He feared that the footage would help Israel identify those involved and take action against them.

One of his revelations concerns a WhatsApp group called “Smart." According to Azaiza, its members include journalists from Gaza, and it is managed by a media figure affiliated with Hamas. He said the group was also used to organize attacks against media personnel who dared to publish criticism of the organization.

“Photographers in Gaza have become accustomed to lowering their cameras the moment someone says something bad about Hamas," he claimed.

An eight-step guide to blaming Israel

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433475

The beginner should start with a simple rule: Never permit an event to have more than one cause if Israel can be blamed.

Next up is correct chronological selection. History is dangerous because it contains events that interfere with arguments. The solution is simply to begin the story after those events.

Israel must never be crudely compared with what its enemies do. It should be measured against an imaginary country operating under ideal conditions available only in thought experiments.

Tumah

 Kuzari (3 49) The Rabbi: Impurity and holiness are contradictory ideas; one cannot be thought of without the other. Without holiness we should not know the signification of impurity. Impurity means that the approach to holy objects, hallowed by God, is forbidden to the person so affected. Such would be priests, their food, clothing, offering, sacrifices, the holy House, etc. In the same way the ideas of holiness include something which forbids the person connected with it to approach many ordinary objects. This chiefly depends on the vicinity of the Shekhinah, which we now lack entirely. The prohibition which still holds good, of cohabiting with a woman in her period or after confinement has nothing to do with impurity, but is an independent divine law. The practice we observe to keep aloof from them as much as possible is but a restriction and hedge to prevent cohabitation. The regulations of impurity proper ceased to exist for us, because we live in 'an unclean land and in unclean air,' especially as we move about among graves, vermin, lepers, persons affected with issue, corpses, etc.

Zohar (1:64a) As the Left Arm above grasps the Female and lovingly draws her to him, so below the serpent, which is the left arm of the unclean spirit, and joined with it he that rides on it, draw near to the moon and draw her tightly to them, so that she becomes defiled. Israel, therefore, here below offer up a goat, to which the serpent is drawn away. The moon then purges herself, ascends on high, and unites herself to the higher sphere to receive blessing, and her lower face, which was darkened, becomes bright. So here on the Day of Atonement, since the evil serpent is occupied with the he-goat, the moon breaks loose from him, and earnestly pleads the cause of Israel, and watches over them like a mother over her children, so G-d blesses them from above and forgives their sins. Afterwards, when Israel celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, the “right side” is awakened on high, so that the moon may attach herself to it and her face may become completely bright. She then shares out blessings to all those presiding chiefs of the lower world, so that they may be fully occupied with their own portions, and not attempt to draw sustenance from the side from which Israel obtained their portion. 

Zohar (1 70a) G-d will one day sweep away the unclean spirit, as it is written, And the unclean spirit I will cause to pass out of the land, and further, He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. God  will also one day restore the moon to its full light, and dissipate the darkness brought on her by the evil serpent, as it is written, And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days , the reference here being to the primordial light which G-d stored away during the period of the creation.’

Zohar (1 125b) ‘I marvel at the wicked Balaam, how all his actions proceeded from the side of impurity. We here learn the mystical lesson that all species of witchcraft are linked up with, and proceed from, the primeval serpent who is the foul and unclean spirit. Hence all sorceries are called serpents. And whoever becomes addicted to them pollutes himself, nay more, he has first to become polluted in order to attract to himself the side of the unclean spirit. For it is a dictum of our teachers that corresponding to the impulses of a man here are the influences which he attracts to himself from above. Should his impulse be towards holiness, he attracts to himself holiness from on high and so he becomes holy; but if his tendency is towards the side of impurity, he draws down towards himself the unclean spirit and so becomes polluted. For this reason, in order to draw towards himself the unclean spirit from that supernal serpent, the wicked Balaam besmirched himself nightly by bestial intercourse with his ass, and he would then proceed to his divinations and sorceries. To begin with he would take one of the familiar serpents, tie it up, break

Yona and Whale

Ibn Ezra (Yona 02:01) and Jonah remained:no one can survive in the belly of a fish even for an hour, so if this is the duration, it must have been a miracle. 

Malbim (Yona 02:01)Hashem appointed a great fish. Hashem prepared a great fish at that place, which swallowed Jonah whole without breaking his bones. It is well known that it is naturally impossible for a person to survive inside a fish for even a single hour, since a human being must breathe cool air from outside. However, because death had already been decreed upon Jonah and he was regarded as though he had been born anew, Hashem endowed him with the nature of an unborn child, which is formed and sustained for nine months within its mother’s womb without breathing external air, as Abravanel explained. This was one of the Creator’s wonders, like the miracle of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in the fiery furnace, and similar miracles. 

Mamdani and Trump emerge from Gracie Mansion sit-down with nothing but praise

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/21/mamdani-trump-gracie-mansion-meeting-01086582

 In a continuation of one of the most unexpected bromances in American politics, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump praised each other Monday after meeting privately at the mayor’s residence in New York City for a wide-ranging discussion about everything from interior design to housing to immigration.

“I want what’s good for New York. I want what’s good for the country. So if I had a choice of having him be a bad mayor, or a horrible mayor — I don’t want that. I want him to be a great mayor, and he’s certainly got potential, got great potential,” Trump, standing alongside Mamdani, told reporters on the lawn of Gracie Mansion before giving the mayor a slap on the back.

Mamdani — a democratic socialist who once freely called the Republican president a fascist but has taken a softer approach since taking office — returned the compliments by thanking Trump for committing to take conversations to “a new level” about securing federal funding for building more than 12,000 units of housing on top of an old rail yard in Queens.

Terror before Yom Kippur: Netanel Shakron, a father of six, murdered near Neveh Tzuf

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/433422

Netanel Shakron, arrived at the spring with his eldest son to immerse ahead of Yom Kippur and was murdered by an Arab terrorist. The terrorist was apprehended at a Ramallah hospital.

The Samaria Regional Council announced on Sunday afternoon that Netanel Shakron, a resident of Alei Zahav, was murdered in the shooting attack at the Ein Raya spring near Neve Tzuf in Binyamin.

Shakron, a father of six, arrived at the spring on Sunday morning with his eldest son to immerse ahead of Yom Kippur. He is survived by his wife, Meirav, and their six children. The eldest is in 11th grade, while the youngest is four years old.

Mamdani blasts Netanyahu again: A ‘war criminal’ and ‘architect of a horrific genocide’

 Mamdani blasts Netanyahu again: A ‘war criminal’ and ‘architect of a horrific genocide’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani renewed his criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, describing him as a “war criminal" while acknowledging that, despite statements made during his mayoral campaign, he does not have the authority to arrest the Israeli leader.

Mamdani had pledged during his campaign that he would instruct the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if the Prime Minister entered the city. In a July interview with The New York Times, he said he was exploring potential means of detaining Netanyahu. However, he later conceded in a video that the mayor of New York City lacks the legal authority to enforce an ICC arrest warrant and instead urged the federal government to act.

Israeli Yeshivos are in Dire Financial State

 https://belaaz.com/news/first-litvish-rosh-yeshivah-ever-to-spend-rosh-hashanah-in-uman-rav-sorotzkin-breaks-with-years-of-us-fundraising-trips-after-10m-offer

HaGaon Rav Shalom Ber Sorotzkin, Rosh Yeshiva of the mosdos, has landed in Uman on Thursday and checked into the Hotel Zakopna ahead of Rosh Hashanah, making him, according the first Litvish Rosh Yeshiva to spend Rosh Hashanah at the tzion of RebNachman of Breslov.

According to the report, the donor, a close supporter of the Rosh Yeshiva, committed to a massive gift, in the range of millions of dollars and tens of millions of shekels, toward sustaining the Torah and chesed institutions under Rav Sorotzkin’s leadership. But he attached a clear condition: the Rosh Yeshiva would have to join him in Uman for the Yom Tov itself.

Facing that condition, and with thousands of Ateres Shlomo avreichim owed three months of stipends, Rav Sorotzkin chose to accept the arrangement, securing his institutions’ financial footing for the year ahead.

Police officer critical, gunman fighting for life after shooting near Ontario synagogue on Yom Kippur

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-officer-critical-gunman-fighting-for-life-after-shooting-near-ontario-synagogue-on-yom-kippur/

A police officer was hospitalized in critical but stable condition and a 29-year-old gunman was in life-threatening condition after an exchange of gunfire Sunday near a synagogue in Ontario as members of the Jewish community marked Yom Kippur, authorities said.

Canada’s CBC identified the shooter as Sean Ward, a resident of Quinte West. The officer was named as Const. Jeff Smith.

Ward drove up in a truck, was stopped half a block from the synagogue, and opened fire, authorities said. The province’s Special Investigations Unit said it would make sense to believe that the synagogue was deliberately targeted, but stressed that this was speculation.

Networks pull out of White House TV pool in solidarity with CNN

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/6101588-tv-networks-donald-trump-pool-disruption-msnow-cnn-politico-white-house-ban/

Fox News Media, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and CNN responded to the ban in a rare joint statement, saying “the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government.”

“No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting,” the outlets added.

The statement came after the White House pool said in a note to subscribers on Monday that “effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President.”

‘Handled Well’: Dutch Officials Legally Euthanize Toddler in First-Ever Killing of New Child Euthanasia Law

 https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/handled-dutch-officials-legally-euthanize-toddler-first-ever/

Dutch officials euthanized a 2-year-old suffering from multiple medical conditions, and an official investigation reacted positively to the decision.

NL Times, an English-language news outlet based in the Netherlands, reported that the child, who was born at 26 weeks gestation and lived for two years afterward, was killed at the end of 2025.

But investigators concluded the euthanasia procedure was “handled well,” in the words of NL Times.

The child had brain damage, cerebral palsy, and visual impairment, according to the outlet.

CNN, MS NOW, Politico say their journalists have been denied access to the White House

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/6099619-trump-bans-ms-now-cnn-politico/

The White House denied CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists access to its grounds Saturday, the networks announced, a day after President Trump said he was banning them from the premises after accusing them of producing “purposefully negative stories.”

“Earlier this morning MS NOW journalists were denied access to the White House grounds. The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,” MS NOW wrote in a statement posted just after 8 a.m. Saturday. “MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”

Trump announced his decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House “effective immediately” in a Friday Truth Social post, accusing the three outlets of reporting false information about him and his administration.

When “Healing” Means Cutting Off Your Parents?!

 https://matzav.com/matzav-inbox-when-healing-means-cutting-off-your-parents/

I am talking about this increasingly common idea that “healing” somehow means going back through your childhood, identifying everything your parents did wrong, giving it a psychological label, and then deciding how much access your parents deserve to have to you.

Suddenly, every difficult mother is a narcissist. Every controlling father is toxic. Every disagreement is a boundary violation. Every uncomfortable family dynamic is trauma. And every adult child who doesn’t want to deal with his or her parents anymore is “protecting my peace.”

Parents are human beings. They make mistakes. Some make lots of mistakes. They lose their tempers. They say stupid things. They favor one child sometimes. They push too hard. They don’t listen enough. They worry too much. They interfere. They have their own baggage from the homes they grew up in. Sometimes they hurt their children deeply without even realizing it.

Rav Ruderman's Daughter

 https://jwa.org/print/pdf/node/29295

JEAN FREEDMAN: This is an interview with Hanna Weinberg. It's June 10th, 2001. We're in Baltimore, Maryland. I'm Jean Freedman, recording this for the Jewish Women's Archive, Weaving Women's Words project. OK. I always start out my interviews the same way, and that's by asking the interviewee to tell me the full name and when and where they were born?

HW: Well, my father was a rabbi. Established, in America, the Ner Israel Rabbinical  College. My mother's family also was -- her father was a rabbi. We come from a long line of Talmudic scholars.

HW: Through my husband's people -- coming to my husband with problems -- I saw that this was needed and started that in somebody's house. Not in -- right in the proper, like where we live. And started working on domestic abuse.

JF: OK. So, you were telling me how your work with domestic violence started. You said your father had known this problem in Europe -- and people just closed the shutters. But you decided you wanted to do -- open the shutters.

Therapy Has a Relationship Problem

 https://time.com/article/2026/08/29/therapy-has-a-relationship-problem/

Psychotherapy itself is predicated upon the healing power of human connection, yet therapists can be surprisingly quick to undervalue relationships outside the therapy room. Furthermore, relationships themselves teach basic psychological capacities such as regulating emotions, tolerating disappointment, and negotiating differences—skills which therapy is supposed to cultivate.

Too often, we mistake relational distress for relational dysfunction. Wall Street Journal columnist Elizabeth Bernstein recently highlighted this eloquently. She reported on therapists who encouraged adult children to go “no contact” with their parents, often after surprisingly little effort to mend ruptures. In a survey of roughly 7,000 estranged parents, one-third believed their adult child’s therapist had influenced or even recommended the decision to cut ties. That should give us pause.

The issue extends well beyond parents and children. Similar patterns appear in marriages and among siblings, friendships, and other close bonds. Therapists have become too quick to support ending difficult relationships instead of helping people develop the skills to repair them.

Stories of gedolim are often fabricated for inspiration

 Originally published 6/14 - relevant to the current discussion of the Chofetz Chaim's Dybuk.

Rav Hillel Zaks (Mishpacha – "Living the Legend" page 55 June 2, 2014): Rebbetzin Faiga Chaya Zaks was once quoted as having said that 85 percent of the stories told about her father aren't reliable. In response, Rav Hillel and his brother Rav Yaakov Yehoshua asked, "How could di Mamme have said that? It's surely over 90 percent?!" 

In the family, the biography written by Rav Moshe Meir Yoshor is considered the most reliable of all that's been written about the Chofetz Chaim, in part because it was done during his lifetime. Reb Yisroel Meir once left a certain work on the Chofetz Chaim on the table just to see Rav Hillel's reaction to it. 

"You know, the writer of this book is afraid to face me," Rav Hillel remarked. 

"What's wrong with it?" Reb Yisroel Meir's wife asked. 

"Let me show you," said Rav Hillel. Opening to a random page, he read out loud a story about a Radin bochur who went to take leave of the Chofetz Chaim before going home, The Chofetz Chaim looked at him and said, "Is that the way a ben Torah looks when he goes home?" At that, he went into the back and came out with a jacket to replace the torn one the bochur was wearing. 

"Now, what do you think," Rav Hillel said. "The Chofetz Chaim had a rack of clothes in the back and said, 'You know, you look like a 45 regular'? The only part of the story that could be true is that somebody came in to say goodbye to him." 

Twenty-two years ago, Rav Hillel, Rav Yaakov Yehoshua, and Rav Yisroel Meir sat shivah in Yerushalayim for their mother. A visitor sat down in the front and said, "I know for certain that the Chofetz Chaim had a ramp in his house, which he'd practice running up and down in anticipation of the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash." 

Just then, the brothers heard someone in the back of the room say with obvious dry humor, "Mir dacht zich az der salon fun der Chofetz Chaim iz nit gevehn azoy groys ... [I don't think the Chofetz Chaim's living room was that big]." 

It was the voice of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Soloveitchik.
======== update  6/20/2014

Rav Nosson Kaminetsky (Making of a Godol page xx):  (In composing this book, I have generally accepted as authentic stories about earlier generations even when they were not conveyed by my father or some other unusually reliable individual. I was reluctant, of course, to rely on reports that emanated from people whom I considered unable to judge events properly, but I did not suspect anyone of prevaricating intentionally. Similarly, unless the writer was blatantly' tendentious, I assumed that printed facts were credible. (I have this faith in people despite a report by R' Velvel Kercerg that Rebbitzen Feigel Zaks, the Chafetz-Chaim's youngest daughter, told him, "Eighty percent of what they tell about [my father] is not true." I cannot help but assume that in order to bring out bluntly the idea that not everything told about R' Yisrael-Meir Kagan, author of Chafetz Chaim, is true, his daughter exaggerated the percentage of untruths.)

Rav Nosson Kaminetsky(Making of a Godol page xxv): R' Mordkhai Schwab, however, had a negative view of "storytelling" when he told me, "The Satmarer Rav, R' Yoilish Teitelbaum, never told stories because he said, 'You cannot educate through lies - sheker].'" R' Mordkhai agreed with R' Yoilish in reference to stories intended to glorify their principals while dehumanizing them. R' Yoilish echoed a statement by R' Yehoshua'-Yoseph Preil, Rav of the Lithuanian town of Krok. In a 5656 (1896) review of Toldos Yisroel of Zev Ya'avetz, published a year earlier in Warsaw, R' Preil set down the following ethic: "To create stories that never happened and present them as facts for the sake of teaching morals - woe is to the musar precept built on as brittle a foundation as a lie! '' Even hasidim, the celebrated story tellers who are more suspect than others in creating legends about their leaders (from whom the Satmarer Rav was evidently trying to distance himself by his statement), are careful in separating fact from fiction. I was told by R' Shimon Deutchy that he had asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Menahem-Mendel Schneerson, whether when writing about the arrest and release of his father-in-law, R' Yoseph-Yitzhaq Schneerson, he should mention or omit the fact that R' Yoseph-Yitzhaq's secretary, R' Hayyim Lieberman, was arrested and released with him. (R' Lieberman was opposed to R' Menahem-Mendel's ascendancy to the Lubavitch throne and did not recognize him as Rebbe after he assumed the position.) R' Menahem-Mendel responded, "History must be written   [true to its truth]" - and explained his redundancy: "This includes not polishing up any word.  Also Pulmus HaMussar  (The Musar Controversy), a book about the dispute in the late 5650's (1890's) in which most of the great Torah figures came out publicly against the Musar movement. The author, Musar adherent R' Dov Katz, tells how "many opinions were heard" by him "that we should avoid the entire affair "; but "several Musar personalities" including R' Yehiel-Yankev Weinberg and R' Hatzqel Sarna insisted not only that he should write about the controversy, but - as R' Sarna put it - that "he set down in writing the full affair without omitting any detail, be what it may." 

Moderation and Extremism in the Scheme of Creation

 https://traditiononline.org/good-and-very-good-moderation-and-extremism-in-the-scheme-of-creation-by-norman-lamm/

On the verse, “And God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good” (tov me’od) (1:31), the Midrash comments – enigmatically and paradoxically:“‘very good’—that is death.” When the individual parts, assigned the mission of tov, presume to the glory of the very good, of tov me’od, a prominence reserved by the Creator for the whole, death establishes its ominous foothold. And, as the late talmudist and kabbalist R. Joseph Engel commented: every “very” leads to death..

The biblical account of creation and the emergence of man is therefore largely a tale of virtue run amok, and thus the ideal whole – earth as Paradise – reduced to a meaner and more perilous place as a lower level of equilibrium replaces that of Genesis, an attenuated “whole” which accommodates itself to mortality and immorality, to exile and homelessness, to pain and suffering as the price for man’s absurd rejection of moderation. In the words of Ecclesiastes (7:16), “Be not righteous overmuch, neither make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself?”

Passionate Moderation in an Age of Extremism: Rabbi Norman Lamm’s Message for Today, with Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Sinensky

 https://scottkahn.substack.com/p/passionate-moderation-in-an-age-of

What Rabbi Lamm called “passionate moderation.”That phrase can sound almost contradictory. We often associate moderation with compromise, caution, or a reluctance to take a strong stand. Rabbi Lamm meant something very different. His moderation demanded the ability to hold multiple values at once, to recognize complexity without sacrificing conviction, and to combine passionate commitment with intellectual and theological humility.

Rabbi Lamm believed that it was possible to be passionate without being extreme, confident without being dogmatic, and deeply committed without pretending that every difficult question has a simple answer. Perhaps that vision of passionate moderation is something we need today more than ever.