New Proposal by Rav Dovid Leibel and the Stoliner Rebbe Seeks Way Out of the Draft Crisis

 Against the backdrop of mounting tension over Israel’s draft law and growing anxiety about the future of the Torah world, a new framework has been put forward that aims to defuse the crisis. The initiative is being advanced by the Rav Dovid Leibel, president of the Achvas Torah communities, together with the Stoliner Rebbe.

The emerging plan is designed to extricate the chareidi public from what supporters describe as a legal and political deadlock, while preserving the foundational principle of Toraso umnaso. Its architects argue that the current impasse stems from a lack of clear differentiation between full time yeshiva students and those who are formally registered but do not actually learn.

At the heart of the proposal is a rejection of any system of enlistment quotas or numerical targets. According to the plan, no fixed draft goals would be imposed on the yeshiva world, thereby shielding bona fide Torah learners from sanctions or coercive measures.

In parallel, the framework calls for what is described as airtight and meaningful oversight. Under this model, military authorities would conduct thorough and consistent verification to ensure that anyone listed as a yeshiva student is indeed attending and learning on a regular basis.

Those found not to meet the criteria of Toraso umnaso—and who also do not enlist—would face firm consequences. The proposal envisions enhanced enforcement, including significant economic penalties and additional sanctions, directed specifically at individuals who are neither learning nor serving.

Proponents of the initiative say its logic is straightforward: 

there is no realistic way to defend draft evasion by individuals who are not part of the yeshiva system in practice. They contend that genuine enforcement would remove thousands of non-learning registrants from the rolls, thereby addressing the army’s manpower needs without harming authentic yeshiva students.

The outline has already drawn notable interest from reserve soldiers’ organizations as well as figures within the Religious Zionist community, who view it as a practical avenue for increasing enlistment among those not engaged in full-time Torah study, while leaving the core of the Torah world intact.

Highest alert ...Iran activates ‘missile cities’ as Iran Burns

 Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the “brave people of Iran” on Saturday as the supreme leader placed the country’s security services on its highest alert as protesters continue to burn Tehran — while fears grow that the death toll has climbed to more than 200.

At least 65 people, including 50 protesters and 15 security personnel, have been killed as of Jan. 9, according to the Iranian rights group HRANA, but fears are growing that the true toll could be much higher.

A doctor told TIME that at least 217 protester deaths have been recorded across just six hospitals in Tehran — “most by live ammunition.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Revolutionary Guard Corp to activate “missile cities,” or giant underground caches of ballistic weapons, sources told The Telegraph.

“The IRGC’s underground missile cities – which were deliberately kept intact during the 12-day war – are all on high alert,” the insider said, adding that any intervention by the US could trigger an “apocalyptic” war.

The IRGC warned the public Saturday that safeguarding security was a “red line,” and the military vowed to protect public property.

Jewish bakery owners flooded with support after pro-Palestine union demands they cut ties with Israel

 A massive crowd of Israel supporters swarmed a popular Jewish bakery Friday to stand in solidarity with its owners after a group of employees demanded it cut its ties with the Jewish State.

The line for Breads Bakery’s Upper West Side outpost stretched down the block on Broadway, with some hungry crusaders wrapping themselves in the Israeli flag as they waited for hours.

“We’re pushing back quietly and with Jewish dignity against anti-Zionism and a hate moment,” said Elisha Fine, 34, one of the dozens who purchased a baked good at the store said in a show of good faith.

Fine admitted he rarely visits the Big Apple’s biggest Jewish bakery chain, but felt compelled to show support the day after The Post reported on the newly formed “Breaking Breads Union.”

Instead of just usual union complaints about working conditions and pay, the employees also insisted that the owners stop supporting Israel.

The list of demands from the union — which is made up of about a third of the bakery’s workers — included “an end to this company’s support of the genocide happening in Palestine.”

The bakery’s management has denied the “genocide” claims, saying “Breads Bakery is built on love and genuine care for our team. We make babka; we don’t engage in politics.” Breads has in the past baked for Jewish events, including a fund raiser that sent money from challah sales to Israel after the Oct. 7 terror attack.

Many people who showed up Friday — some wearing stickers that said Zionist — wanted to return that support to the bakers.

“That strikes me a lot like entryism: the way that people end up walking to a place and then try to change the culture dramatically,” said Fine, a born-and-raised Manhattan Jew.

“We’re perfectly fine with them having a union, but it’s not okay to make Israel politics a part of that.”

Fine, who runs a pro-Jewish art Instagram, encouraged other “open Zionists” to swarm the bakery’s Upper West Side location in a show of support for Jewish New York.

“To see this, it’s awful because I’m born and bred here. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Leonor Katz, 71, told The Post, calling the union’s demands “very upsetting.”

Avi Mendelson, 31, showed up to the bakery for the first time ever after hearing about the union, stating he felt a shift in support for Jewish New Yorkers after Oct. 7, and is worried about what the Mamdani administration will bring.

“I don’t feel as confident for the well-being of the Jewish community as I felt with our previous mayor,” Mendelson said.

Breaking Breads Union did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Remembering the Rambam 822 years since his passing

There is a lot to write about the Rambam z"l, but it's "kedei" to learn what the Rambam would think of a society that refuses to work and instead has a policy that everyone must sit and learn! 

משנה תורה, הלכות תלמוד תורה ג׳ 

כָּל הַמֵּשִׂים עַל לִבּוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲסֹק בַּתּוֹרָה וְלֹא יַעֲשֶׂה מְלָאכָה וְיִתְפַּרְנֵס מִן הַצְּדָקָה הֲרֵי זֶה חִלֵּל

 אֶת הַשֵּׁם וּבִזָּה אֶת הַתּוֹרָה וְכִבָּה מֵאוֹר הַדָּת וְגָרַם רָעָה לְעַצְמוֹ וְנָטַל חַיָּיו מִן הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. 

לְפִי שֶׁאָסוּר לֵהָנוֹת מִדִּבְרֵי תּוֹרָה בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה.

 אָמְרוּ חֲכָמִים (משנה אבות ד ה) "כָּל הַנֶּהֱנֶה מִדִּבְרֵי תּוֹרָה נָטַל חַיָּיו מִן הָעוֹלָם". 

וְעוֹד צִוּוּ וְאָמְרוּ (משנה אבות ד ה) "אַל תַּעֲשֵׂם עֲטָרָה לְהִתְגַּדֵּל בָּהֶן וְלֹא קַרְדֹּם לַחְפֹּר בָּהֶן".

 וְעוֹד צִוּוּ וְאָמְרוּ (משנה אבות א י) "אֱהֹב אֶת הַמְּלָאכָה וּשְׂנָא אֶת הָרַבָּנוּת", (משנה אבות ב ב) "וְכָל תּוֹרָה שֶׁאֵין עִמָּהּ מְלָאכָה סוֹפָהּ בְּטֵלָה וְגוֹרֶרֶת עָוֹן".

 וְסוֹף אָדָם זֶה שֶׁיְּהֵא מְלַסְטֵם אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת

Anyone who sets it in his heart to engage only in Torah study and not work, and to support himself through charity — this person profanes the Name, disgraces the Torah, extinguishes the light of religion, brings harm upon himself, and forfeits his share in the World to Come.

For it is forbidden to derive benefit from words of Torah in this world.

The Sages said (Avot 4:5): “Anyone who benefits from words of Torah removes his life from the world.”

They also commanded and said (Avot 4:5): “Do not make them (the words of Torah) a crown with which to magnify yourself, nor a spade with which to dig.”

And they further commanded and said (Avot 1:10): “Love work and hate authority,” and (Avot 2:2): “Any Torah that is not accompanied by work will ultimately cease and leads to sin.”

And the end of such a person is that he will become a burden upon others.

Zera Shimshon Parshat Shemot

 

Letter a Mother wrote to her son a 1,000 years ago found... could have been written yesterday

 

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A post shared by Ariella- Jerusalem Tour Guide (@ariellabattzion)

Yerushalyim Yeshiva Bochrim Have NOT learned their lesson and came out to throw rocks on the buses again today!

 

Gali Baharav‑Miara expected to block pardon for Netanyahu

 

 Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is expected to announce that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon is unlawful, according to a report on Channel 13 News on Wednesday evening.

The emerging legal opinion will argue that granting a pardon while legal proceedings are still ongoing does not comply with statutory requirements or existing case law.

‘Same Recklessness’: Meron Victim’s Brother Links Tragedy to Jerusalem Protest Death

 

 A man whose brother was killed in Israel’s deadliest civilian disaster says the fatal bus incident at a Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox protest reflects the same pattern of recklessness that led to the 2021 Meron tragedy.

Speaking to Arutz 7 (Israel National News) hours after the deadly ramming at a protest against military conscription, Yisrael Diskind — whose brother Simcha Bunim Diskind died in the Meron crush — said the two tragedies are “directly connected” by what he called systemic irresponsibility among protest organizers and community power brokers.

The Jerusalem incident left 14-year-old Yosef Eizental dead and several others injured.

“This was an unnecessary death,” Diskind said. “A child should never return home in a coffin — not from Meron and not from a protest. When that happens, it’s because of the same reckless people who organize events without taking responsibility and then rush to blame the state and the police.”

‘The same pattern of failure’

Diskind said police had designated a safe area for the demonstration, but organizers failed to keep protesters within it, allowing chaos to spill into active traffic zones.

“The police are not babysitters,” he said. “They cannot chase every hot-headed young person through the streets. The organizers must take responsibility — not shift blame afterward.”

He urged protest leaders to publicly apologize to the Eizental family and to commit to ensuring that future demonstrations are conducted safely.

“They should go to the family’s home, repent, apologize and promise that no other parents will ever have to sit shiva because of their negligence,” Diskind said.

Warning over incitement

Diskind also said the tragedy comes amid what he described as dangerous public incitement against Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community.

“There is a climate where people feel it’s permissible to harm Haredim,” he said. “My own brother served more than 300 days in reserve duty, and still people shouted ‘parasite’ at him in the street. That kind of hatred poisons everything.”

He called on national leaders to separate legitimate debate over conscription from attacks on individuals.

“Nothing — no anger, no frustration — justifies hatred toward a person because he is Haredi,” Diskind said.

Call for accountability

Diskind placed responsibility not only on protest organizers but on what he called unelected power brokers within the ultra-Orthodox community who shape decisions behind the scenes.

“They dictate the tone in the street, pressure lawmakers and disappear when disaster strikes,” he said.

The death of Eizental has reopened painful wounds from the Meron disaster, where 45 people were killed in a crowd crush during a religious gathering in 2021.

“If we don’t learn from Meron,” Diskind told Arutz 7, “we will keep burying children.”

Mahmoud Haqiqat, the police chief who led the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters Assassinated

 

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

Mahmoud Haqiqat, the police chief who led the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters, just got GOT.

Assassinated in broad daylight.

This is the man who hunted down freedom-seeking Iranians in cold blood.

And now? He’s gone.

The Islamic Republic is rotting… pic.twitter.com/RviniTfYVn

— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) January 7, 2026