Yom Hazikoron "Faith in Fire" A Mother's Pain

 

Jen Airley With her Murdered Son Binyomin z"l

Just one year ago, on Yom HaZikaron, we stood on Har Herzl, hearts heavy, honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our people and our Land. It was a moment suspended between grief and gratitude - the kind that defines what it means to live here. And then, as if the weight of the day itself wasn’t enough, fires began raging across the hills of Jerusalem.By the time we made it home, ready to host friends - Binyamin’s friends, neighbors, and loved ones who had planned to gather, to share stories, to remember together - the roads were closing.

 One by one, messages came in: “We’re stuck.” “We can’t get through.” Entire routes were blocked by flames. The hills burned, the skies darkened, and the air itself carried a sense of devastation. I remember feeling shattered. How could this be? How could Hashem allow His beautiful Land to burn - trees reduced to ash, homes destroyed? It felt like a drawn-out Tisha b’Av, two days of mourning layered on top of each other because Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations were cancelled everywhere. A day we - personally and nationally - had been so desperate to embrace and celebrate was taken from us.I tried to comfort myself with the only thought I could hold onto: it is sticks and stones, homes and trees - not His people.

Fast forward one year

Now, we find ourselves in a place we never imagined - feeling not only gratitude, but even joy, when it is “only homes” and not people who are destroyed. (Compared to the anticipated mass destruction and devastation) 

Forty days of war with Iran that began on Shabbat Zachor and concluded on the seventh day of Pesach. Forty days. A number associated with spiritual formation and transformation. Forty days in which we witnessed miracles and salvation in ways that are almost impossible to articulate. Missiles fell between buildings. Rockets struck structures yet failed to detonate. Towers remained standing when they should have collapsed. Ballistic missiles landed in “open areas” mere meters from residences. 

And time and again, people walked away - shaken, yes - but for the most part, with only minor injuries.

 Our Air Force pilots flew missions that defy logic - four hours each way, deep into enemy territory - and returned home safely. Again and again. And we know this is only a fraction of the story. Only a glimpse of the successful missions and the greater miracles that took place behind the scenes. No Hollywood movie could capture our reality - it would be dismissed as completely unrealistic. 

I have even been told that many of the army’s accomplishments were simply impossible. Except - they happened. It feels as though we have lived an entire cycle of Jewish history and holidays within these forty days. We have lived the “v’nahafoch hu” of Purim - the complete overturning of fate.

 Even in moments where Hashem’s name feels hidden, His presence has been unmistakable. Enemies who sought our destruction were dismantled with breathtaking precision, while the world watched the strength, resilience, and strategic upper hand of our nation. We have felt the miracles and redemption of Pesach - pursued by missiles, drones, and threats from all sides, with nowhere to turn  but upward. And just as we sing in Az Yashir, we have watched our enemies fall again and again, swallowed before they could reach us.

There has been a spiritual awakening across the nation. A return toward Torah, toward mitzvot, toward something deeper. Like Shavuot, there is a renewed acceptance - not through coercion, but through recognition, inspiration, and clarity. 

And we are living Sukkot in real time. The ענני הכבוד that once surrounded us in the desert now take the form of Iron Dome, Arrow systems, the IAF, and countless layers of protection we have come to take for granted. We speak about these systems as if they are purely technological, but deep down, we know:  This is Hashem’s protection manifesting through human hands. 

And then there is Chanukah. We have been living the story of the Chashmonaim - a small nation standing against overwhelming mighty” powers. But even that comparison falls short, because we are not facing one front, but many. And still, we defeated and stand. 

Yes, there is a cost. We have lost precious lives. Families have been shattered. Hospitals continue to care for the wounded. And the effects of these forty days have seeped into every home: children out of school for weeks, rising fear and anxiety, financial strain, overextended parents, and fathers once again called up to fight in Lebanon and beyond. 

The exhaustion is real. The pain is deep. But we are here. Alive. Connected. Proud. Growing stronger. And perhaps most profoundly - we can almost taste it. The excitement, the anticipation of a greater redemption that feels closer than ever before.

 As if we are standing at the edge of something immense, something historic, something incredibly holy. 

This is life in Israel. This is what I want to celebrate this Yom Ha’atzmaut: Living in a Land where the connection between a people and their Land, between a nation and their Creator is so undeniable.  ארץ אשר ה׳ אלוקיך דורש אותה ,תמיד עיני ה׳ אלוקיך בה I will never have enough words to thank Hashem for the privilege of living in ארץ  Not just living - but living now, in .הקודש this moment in history.

 To call this country my home. To know that my house is not just where I live, but part of something infinitely larger. And yes, I admit - I am running out of patience. I long for the complete picture and I want it now! For the בית in Yerushalayim radiating with Hashem’s Presence. For the day when the story is whole.  But until then,אחכה לו. בכל שניה שיבוא Because here, in this land, our story is still being written and we are living it in real time. And in this Land, the pain and the miracles are not contradictory- they are chapters of the same unfolding Geulah. 

The Airleys have built Beit Binyamin, a retreat center in Tzfat for those directly affected by the war. Soldiers, Zaka members, security forces,  bereaved families and widows can come for respite, relaxation and rejuvenation. For more information and to donate, visit Beitbinyamin.org

Yom Ha’atzmaut: Recognizing Redemption

 

Chazal understood that redemption does not arrive all at once. It unfolds in stages. To describe this, they, in the Yerushalmi (Yoma), compared geulah to sunrise. At the first light of dawn, the world is still dark. A faint streak appears on the horizon. Slowly, the light expands. Darkness begins to recede. Only later does the full day arrive. Sunrise does not happen all at once, and neither does geulah.

In 1947, when the United Nations voted to grant a foothold in Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish people, many Rabbanim opposed it. This fell far short of the redemptive vision we carry. It did not resemble the geulah we had imagined.The Gerer Rebbe responded by citing this Yerushalmi, which compares redemption to sunrise and teaches that it unfolds. Slowly and gradually ,קמעא קמעא

Iran Is Rearming in Plain Sight: Tehran Retains 40% of Its Drones and 60% of Its Launchers After the Ceasefire

 

U.S. intelligence, as reported by the New York Times, now says Iran held onto roughly 40% of its prewar drone stockpile and more than 60% of its ballistic missile launchers, after using the ceasefire to literally dig its underground "missile cities" back out. 

Satellite imagery, stalled Islamabad talks and IRGC gunboats firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz all tell the same story: 

the regime is bruised, not broken, and the next round isn't a question of if, but when.

Rav wonders why emperor won't put on clothes ....The shidduch initiative and army debacles return

R Binyomin Cohen

by Daas Yochid

DY: "Someone sent me a great article in Hamodia (motto: “more boring than Yated”) from the Pesach supplement ‘Front Burner 3’.

 In it, they asked a chashuve rav, R Binyomin Cohen, a lot of pretty hard-hitting questions.

I missed it, and I imagine many others did too - I don’t know who still reads anything but Mordechai Schmutter there.

 Here are two standout questions:

There is a certain type of person who was once very committed to asking a daas Torah, followed rabbinic guidance faithfully and then felt he was led in the wrong direction. He’s now disillusioned and hesitant to ask again or to follow a decision. What would you say to someone like that?

RBC: Answer: I have to be honest: the phrase “asking a daas Torah“ is one I don’t particularly care for. The phrase implies that only some talmidei chachamim are capable of dispensing the Torah’s view on matters of hashkafah. The truth is that “daas Torah“ is the Torah’s view on a subject and is not its own category of Torah. It’s applying one’s chochmas haTorah in areas of hashkafah and public policy. It’s not the purview of a “specialist” in daas Torah.

That said — the answer I would give to someone who has been disillusioned is this: find a Rav or a Rebbe or a Rosh Yeshivah you can have a real relationship with, and ask him your questions directly. Not what you heard this one says in a shiur, not what that one posted online. A personal and sincere question deserves a clear answer.

Try to engage the person and try to understand what’s bothering him in his question. Try to answer his question and have a discussion with him about it. When we talk in learning, sometimes there’s a clear answer and sometimes there’s not. But one of the most important things a Rav can do is simply say: “I don’t know.” I cannot overstate how much comfort those words can give. If someone who had been stung by what he felt was overconfident guidance were to go to a Rav and ask a genuinely hard question, and if the Rav were to sit with it for a moment and say, “I don’t fully understand this either — let me think about it,” that person would feel validated in a way that years of confident declarations never could accomplish.

The starting point on issues of public policy and hashkafah is that we should implicitly trust and accept what the Gedolei Yisrael are saying about these issues. That doesn’t mean that I understand everything that is being said by them or in their names. My confidence in them doesn’t require me to understand every decision and every nuance. That doesn’t mean questions should be stifled or explanations shouldn’t be given. In general, the tzibbur is entitled to ask questions respectfully and sincerely, and we should do our best to answer their questions.

The Pope's Perfidy Against His own Faith

The Pope signing the “Golden Book” ceremonial guestbook in the Great Mosque in Algiers

When US President Donald Trump sent Vice-President JD Vance to negotiate with members of the Iranian regime in Islamabad, people initially thought that Vance — reportedly the most outspoken voice in the Trump administration against going to war with Iran — would be a soft touch.

When the talks in Pakistan broke down, however, Vance’s position could hardly have been tougher. Having seen the Iranian regime up close, he said, he was absolutely certain that these people must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons.

In recent days, he has again taken a position which contradicted previous assumptions about his worldview.

The MAGA movement is currently convulsed by a faction of poisonous, unhinged Jewish-conspiracy theorists, led by podcaster and political commentator Tucker Carlson. Believing that Israel drags America into needless foreign wars, they’ve been inflamed to the point of hysteria by the war against Iran.

A number of these people are Catholics who have positioned themselves against Christian Zionism, largely associated with evangelical Protestantism. Younger Catholics, particularly recent converts who reject modernity, are leaning into older, more “authentic” versions of the faith — and are thus embracing its earlier virulent antisemitism.

Vance, a passionate Catholic convert, has caused great unease among the Jewish community by refusing to distance himself from this tendency.

This past week, an explosive row was detonated between Trump and Pope Leo XIV that played straight into the MAGA convulsions.

Is the "mezizia be'peh" practice an actual requirement of a Bris! Not so fast!

 

 From 

 EMAILIM BATORAH <friedmanmoishe771@101211442.mailchimpapp.com>

The Most Controversial Teshuvah of the Chasam Sofer Of the 1,246 printed Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, there is one Teshuvah that stands out as the most controversial ever written by the Chasam Sofer. This Teshuvah was intentionally omitted from the original printed editions of Teshuvos Chasam Sofer and remained unpublished until recently, when it appeared in the Biton edition. In this Teshuvah, the Chasam Sofer writes that מציצה בפה is not mentioned anywhere in Halacha, but is practiced only according to קבלה. He then adds, “אין לי עסק בנסתרות”—“I do not involve myself in mystical matters”—indicating that he does not attach particular importance to Kabbalistic practices. He further states that even if the משנה had explicitly required מציצה בפה, it would not necessarily apply today, since מציצה is not part of the מצוה of מילה itself, but rather a medical procedure. Therefore, if it can be safely performed in another manner—without using the mouth—it would be entirely permissible to do so. When this Teshuvah first became known, some Gedolim claimed that it was a forgery fabricated by opponents of מציצה בפה. However, this was later proven false. The original manuscript of the Teshuvah still exists and is currently in the possession of descendants of R. Yisroel Stern זצ״ל of London. The מהר"ם שיק and others argued that the Teshuvah was a הוראת שעה—a temporary ruling made under exceptional circumstances—and therefore cannot be used today as a היתר (leniency) to refrain from מציצה בפה. Although the Chasam Sofer himself does not describe it as a הוראת שעה and the wording of the Teshuvah does not suggest that it was one, Chassidic and Hungarian (Heimish) communities accepted the Maharam Schick’s interpretation. As a result, they do not rely on this Teshuvah as a basis for permitting Milah without מציצה בפה. On the contrary they are the biggest opponents of those not requiring מציצה בפה

Fragile Ceasefire: Strikes in Lebanon and Escalating Iranian Moves

 

IDF forces carried out multiple strikes in southern Lebanon in response to Hezbollah ceasefire violations. Several militants were eliminated.

Iran announced a renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the American naval blockade violates the ceasefire terms. At least two vessels reported being attacked over Shabbos.

The United States is warning that military action could resume within days.

The bridge used by Hezbollah that the IDF destroyed just yesterday has already been rebuilt by the Lebanese Army

 

Question: This bridge was only a benefit to Hezbollah, why did the Lebanese Army rebuild it?

Could it be that the entire "peace talks" are fraudulent?

Zera Shimshon Parshat Tazria - Metzora

 

Video of Reb Shayele of Krestir

Some of my nephews from the USA planned a trip to Europe to visit our Kever Avos and to visit the grave of Reb Shayele of Krestir, and they invited me, and we were to meet in Budapest! 

Because of the war, my tickets were cancelled, but my nephews were kind enough to send me the video of Reb Shayele! I had no idea that the rebbe was still alive, and here I thought we were going to his Kever! Everyday I learn something new, B"H!

Shout out to Sendy, Binyamin, Chesky

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