A celebration was held Thursday evening at Yeshivat "Shvut Yisrael" in Efrat, part of the "Merkaz HaRav" network, marking the completion of the Shas by 12th-grade student Tuvia Cohen, a resident of the community of Revava. Cohen began studying the Shas [Talmud] in ninth grade, alongside his regular yeshiva studies.
The yeshiva described the event as a special celebration of Torah, attended by yeshiva students, members of the Cohen family, friends from Revava, and rabbis. Among those present were Rabbi Rafael Eifres, one of the leading rabbis of the Netherlands and among Europe's prominent rabbinical judges, as well as the Kaliver Rebbe.
Yeshiva head Rabbi Yaakov Elimelech shared with students' parents remarks he wrote following the event. According to him, during the dancing, one of the students approached him and said, "Rabbi, the floor is shaking." He replied, "Dear student, you are mistaken. The floor is dancing, and not only is the floor dancing, but the heavens are also dancing." He added that this was how a new interpretation of the verse, "Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult," was revealed to him.
Rabbi Elimelech further wrote that the joy at the yeshiva was "as great as the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai," adding: "Fortunate is the eye that witnessed all this... Fortunate are the students, fortunate are their parents, and fortunate is the entire nation that it has such."
The yeshiva noted that in the month of Elul, Tuvia Cohen is expected to join, along with some of his friends, the hundreds of young Torah scholars at Yeshivat "Merkaz HaRav," where he will continue his studies.
A ceremony was held at Yeshivat Nachalat Yosef in Shavei Shomron celebrating the remarkable achievement of Elimelech Schmidt, who completed the entire Shas (Talmud) for the second time - at the age of just 16.
Elimelech is the son of Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Schmidt and the grandson of Rabbi Yehoshua Mordechai Schmidt. The occasion was particularly significant, as he had already completed Shas once at his Bar Mitzvah and has now completed it a second time following years of unwavering dedication and consistent study.
His father said that from a young age, Elimelech established a structured daily learning schedule and remained committed to it without exception. “Everything depends on perseverance and determination," he said. “Anyone can achieve their goals when they set a clear objective and remain dedicated to it over time."
Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Schmidt emphasized that his son’s accomplishment was not solely a result of natural ability, but primarily the product of commitment, discipline, and determination.
Elimelech’s grandfather, Rabbi Yehoshua Mordechai Schmidt, highlighted the importance of joy in Torah study. He recalled the words of the author of the *Yam Shel Shlomo*, who initially held that the blessing “May He who dwells among us bring joy" should be recited upon completing a tractate of the Talmud. Although he later withdrew that ruling, the idea itself reflects the profound significance of Torah study and the joy that accompanies its completion.
Israel’s political leadership has instructed the IDF to freeze all operations considered “sensitive” in southern Lebanon following a request from the United States, Kan News reported Friday.
The directive will remain in effect until further notice and until it becomes clear how the current escalation between the United States and Iran develops, as well as what happens with the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon.
U.S. officials, who have been focused in recent days on the confrontation with Iran, have expressed concern that Israel could also be drawn into the fighting. A security official said Israel is prepared to use any Iranian attack against it as an opportunity to carry out significant strikes in Iran. However, following the White House request, the IDF was instructed to wait so the current confrontation does not expand to include Israel.
The IDF is also expected to begin withdrawing from the pilot areas in southern Lebanon as early as next week, when another round of talks between Israel and Lebanon is scheduled to take place in Rome.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Yechiel Leiter is expected to lead the Israeli delegation together with the team that participated in previous rounds of negotiations with Lebanon.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the third-largest shareholder in German automaker Volkswagen, is reportedly putting hundreds of additional jobs at the company’s German plants at risk.
According to a report in the German newspaper Bild, Qatari representatives have vetoed an agreement for an alternative use of Volkswagen’s struggling plant in Osnabrück. The potential partner in the deal was Israeli defense company Rafael.
Initially, it appeared that a solution had been found to save the factory. At the end of April, Volkswagen signed a letter of intent with Rafael, which planned to manufacture components for the Iron Dome missile defense system at the plant. However, Volkswagen’s Qatari shareholders have now reportedly objected to the agreement due to the strained relations between Qatar and Israel.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-owned sovereign wealth fund, holds 17% of Volkswagen’s voting rights and 10.4% of the company’s total share capital, giving it significant influence over decisions made at Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.
Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority, along with two former Qatari government ministers, serves on Volkswagen’s supervisory board.
Qatar, which for years has been regarded as a major financial supporter of Hamas in Gaza, reportedly opposes an agreement to manufacture weapons components intended solely for Israel’s defense against rocket attacks.
Security expert Peter R. Neumann of King’s College London warned in an interview with Bild that while investment from Gulf states is welcome, “the same principle applies here as elsewhere: we must not become dependent on any one country.”
Neumann added that Germany should adopt “a more pragmatic approach” toward the region. Since Germany’s economy began slowing, Gulf states have sought to expand their strategic influence in the country.
The Skverer community is abuzz today after New York State Police allegedly stopped the Skverer Rebbe’s motorcade on Route 17 as he was returning home from the airport following a trip to Malibu, California.
According to sources withing the community, troopers pulled over the Rebbe’s entourage while it was traveling along Route 17 and issued a total of 14 traffic tickets to members of the motorcade.
The incident delayed the procession before it was allowed to continue toward New Square.
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City and a frequent critic of Israel whom many Jewish leaders have decried as an antisemite, wanted to attend.
“He’s still the mayor of the city of New York, and we have to show respect,” Wiener told JNS. “He wants to do the right thing for the city of New York, and whether we agree or disagree with his policies, the best that we can do as a social service agency is try to impress upon and educate him to the greatest extent possible of what works, what’s needed, what unmet needs there are.”
One of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island’s programs that aims to curb violence is Operation H.O.O.D. (Helping Our Own Develop).
“I hope that he’ll agree and support initiatives that will make a positive change in the lives of the residents of the city,” Wiener said of the mayor.
“It was really extraordinary that he stayed there for the full hour-and-a-half,” said the rabbi, who is part of the Chabad movement but doesn’t hold an official or leadership role. “He was very, very compassionate. It was very impressive the way that he interacted with them.”
Mamdani even “stayed the extra time” at the end of the event to “talk to them and comfort them and encourage them,” Wiener said, of the shooting victims’ family members.
Wiener used the community gathering to urge the mayor and lawmakers to invest in violence prevention, trauma recovery and vocational training.
“Law enforcement is indispensable,” he said in his public remarks at the gathering. “Violence interruption is indispensable. Families are indispensable. Schools are indispensable. Faith communities are indispensable. Each has a unique responsibility that no one else can fulfill.”
Wiener asked the city to revive plans for a long-delayed vocational training center in Coney Island. Stable employment is one of the strongest long-term prevention tools, he said.
“City-owned property at Surf Avenue and West 28th Street was designated” for the site more than 25 years ago, he said at the gathering. “Then circumstances changed.”
The rabbi cited frozen land-use approvals and canceled funding and called for funding to be renewed. “That dream should not remain unfinished,” he said at the event.
He also called for permanent funding for H.O.O.D’s trauma recovery center, which relies on annual New York City Council appropriations.
“May the tragic shootings that have brought us together today become more than moments of grief,” he told attendees.
Wiener told JNS that he entered social services work 45 years ago, after seeking a rabbinic position in education.
What began with one contract in an office that “was a large closet in the local Jewish Y” has grown into a citywide organization with nearly 400 employees providing services across New York City’s five boroughs, he said.
Israel’s Knesset gave preliminary approval Wednesday to legislation establishing a national center to preserve and promote the legacy of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the influential 18th-century Hasidic leader.
The bill, sponsored by Likud lawmaker Eliyahu Revivo, passed its first reading by a vote of 19-0 and was referred to the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee for further consideration.
Under the proposal, the center would be established as a statutory public corporation responsible for preserving Rabbi Nachman’s teachings and historical legacy. It would include a research institute, archive, scientific and educational committee, and a museum dedicated to his life and work.
The legislation also outlines the creation of a public governing council and provides for state funding of the center. Oversight would fall under Israel’s minister of culture and sports.
Supporters of the bill said Rabbi Nachman’s contributions to Jewish thought and spirituality warrant national recognition similar to memorial institutions established for Israeli prominent rabbis, including Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Haim Druckman.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810), the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement and great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Hasidic Judaism. His teachings continue to attract followers around the world, and tens of thousands of pilgrims travel annually to his burial site in Uman, Ukraine.
וּנְטַעְתִּ֖ים עַל־אַדְמָתָ֑ם וְלֹ֨א יִנָּתְשׁ֜וּ ע֗וֹד מֵעַ֤ל אַדְמָתָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָתַ֣תִּי לָהֶ֔ם אָמַ֖ר יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃I will plant them upon their land and they will never again be uprooted from their land that I have given them said Hashem, your God"
That's a homework assignment sheet, but this is not an ordinary sheet it has 4 key Ger beliefs!
1) The rebbe is the one who spiritual and gashmias to all of Klall Yisrael
2) The rebbe is a malach elokim that walks amongst us
3) The entire world exists because of tzaddikim and it is in the merit of our rebbe that we even exist
4)The rebbe is the light of our generation, he directs us and his eyes can see the distance (future)
Rabbi Yitzchak claimed in his defense that the entire argument began over the question of whether the world is flat or round.”
But "how it began" is not why he was fined, he was fined because he publicly shamed a married women to thousands of people!
The survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research arrives at a moment when a once-consensus foreign policy issue is increasingly polarizing Americans along partisan and generational lines, driven by criticism for Israel’s conduct nearly three years after the outbreak of its latest war with Hamas in Gaza, which began after the terror group led a brutal massacre of southern communities on October 7, 2023.
About one-third of US adults — including roughly half of Democrats — believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
Israel insists that it fights in accordance with international law, and has rejected allegations of genocide or other war crimes in its campaign against Hamas. It has noted evacuation warnings sent in advance of airstrikes; efforts, throughout most of the war, to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid; and Hamas’s systematic use of human shields.
About 2 in 10 Americans say Israel has not committed genocide, and the rest — about half — don’t know enough to say.
A similar share — 30 percent — of Jewish adults say Israel has committed genocide, although about half, 49%, say it has not.
President Trump said Wednesday that he believes his memorandum of understanding with Iran is dead after he ordered overnight airstrikes on 80 targets after Iranian forces attacked three commercial ships.
“I don’t like them at all. And frankly, I think we wasted a lot of time with them, I think we should just do our business,” Trump said in his first public remarks after ordering the airstrikes.
When asked by a reporter if the preliminary peace deal, which Trump signed June 17, was dead, Trump replied: “To me, i think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.”
“They’re vicious, violent people… so far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump said. “So far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars”
“They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people,” he added. “Frankly, I don’t want to waste my time with them. Now I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it.”
This story is developing.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that the Trump administration's immigration agencies have been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, violating national immigration regulations and endangering countless Iranians, court filings argue.
The lawsuit depicts a coordinated campaign between the U.S. and Iranian governments to identify Iranians in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and pressure them to return to Iran — a marked departure from decades of diplomatic hostility between the two governments and an ongoing war.
