Rav Nota Schiller, Rosh Yeshiva Of Ohr Sameach, Passes Away At Age 88

The Torah world mourns the passing of Rabbi Nota Schiller, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Sameach and one of the founders of the Teshuva movement 60 years ago, who passed away Friday night at Shaare Tzedek hospital after a short illness.

Rabbi Schiller was born in 1937 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where he attended the high school division of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, studying under Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Weinberg. He graduated from Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore.

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of searching for meaning by Western-educated, college-age men and women. In 1972, Rabbis Noah Weinberg, Mendel Weinbach, Nota Schiller, and Yaakov Rosenberg founded the Shma Yisrael Yeshiva to teach young Jewish men with little or no background in Jewish studies.

After a few years, Rabbi Weinberg left the yeshiva over a difference in approach and founded Aish HaTorah in 1974, whereas Rav Rosenberg left and founded Machon Shlomo in Har Nof. Shma Yisrael subsequently changed its name to Ohr Somayach, after the commentary on the Mishneh Torah written by Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, the Ohr Somayach. Rabbi Schiller succeeded in creating a cadre of Talmidei Chachamim who established Torah homes worldwide. He believed that even in a yeshiva for ba’alei teshuva, the emphasis should be on studying Gemara and led his yeshiva accordingly, educating thousands of students across the world.

Rabbi Schiller was the driving force behind the development of Ohr Somayach International, which has opened yeshivas and learning branches in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia. He founded the first international Ohr Somayach program in Yonkers, New York in 1977. The program became an independent spin-off in 1979 and relocated to Monsey.

Preparations completed for Gazan migration

 Israel has completed the necessary preparations to enable the migration of Gaza residents, provided countries are found willing to accept them. In recent weeks, a mechanism has been established, under the direction of Defense Minister Israel Katz, designed to create conditions that would allow 2,500 Gazans to leave the Strip daily. Currently, more than 2 million Palestinians reside in the Gaza Strip.

Security sources told Israel Hayom that one country has already expressed interest in accepting construction workers from Gaza, but international controversy surrounding the issue has caused it to freeze its involvement in the matter for the time being.

Migration to destination countries could be carried out via sea, with passage through Israel at the Ashdod port.

An additional route, by air, would be through Ramon Airport in Eilat. It should be noted that this route has been operating for several months for wounded individuals who have left the Strip, and so far approximately 1,500 Gaza residents are known to have left via this route to other countries.

Another departure route is the Rafah crossing. Through this crossing, according to information available to Israel, about 35,000 people have evacuated from the Strip to Egypt since the beginning of the war. In many cases, those leaving continued from Egypt to other destinations around the world.

Israel is interested in allowing as many Gaza residents as possible to leave the Strip. Therefore, the policy is to allow family members of sick and wounded individuals to leave with them to other countries. In the vast majority of cases, those who left Gaza were absorbed into Arab countries, but there are also those who have already migrated to Romania and Italy with the intention of not returning.

"Our interest is to let as many people as possible leave. That's the rationale of the Trump plan that Israel has expressed support for. We are trying to implement it," said a security source.

Meanwhile, the "The Israeli Reservists – Generation of Victory" movement has also published its own framework for the voluntary migration of Gaza residents, based on principles of international law. The plan proposes the removal of 1.7 million Gazans via air, sea, and land routes to various host countries around the world, including Egypt, Libya, Gulf states, and other countries.

The initiative includes full funding for departure from Gaza, temporary housing solutions, and a financial grant for migrants, at an estimated cost of up to $100 billion – less than the cost of rehabilitating the Strip. According to Major (res.) Gilad Ach, chairman of the movement: "We are presenting an orderly plan to remove the ongoing threat to Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip... A one-time opportunity has now been created to exploit the window of opportunity opened by the current US administration."

The Entire “settler violence” Claim is a Myth!

 Interesting! I have spoken to American Jews, frum American Jews, Chareidie American Jews who believe the Palestinian propaganda that "Jewish Settlers " are perpetrating violence against innocent Palestinian.. this is a lie! 

Once you realize how much you've been lied to about Israel, you should understand that the entire “settler violence” claim is a myth.

Here’s how they manufacture propaganda, and here’s video proof of Basel Adra and Yuval Ibrahim staging it in Masafer Yatta, where their… pic.twitter.com/JlWTjTCJvO

— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) March 5, 2025

Is his wife planning something?

 

Israel Rescues 10 Indian Workers Held Captive in Arab Village near Jerusalem

 

Rescued foreign workers from India held captive in an Arab village near Jerusalem.

In a coordinated nighttime operation, Israeli authorities rescued ten foreign workers from India who had been held captive for over a month in A-Zaim, an Arab village near Jerusalem. The workers, who had arrived in Israel for employment in the construction industry, were stripped of their passports by their captors and left without the ability to leave the village or return to Jerusalem.

Workers Lured with Job Offers, Stripped of Passports
The workers had entered Israel legally with the expectation of securing jobs in construction. However, after being promised employment by a resident of A-Zaim, their passports were confiscated by their captors in the village, leaving them stranded. Without documentation, they apparently believed they were unable to leave the village or seek legal recourse. The authorities did not say under what physical conditions the men were being held.

According to information received by the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority, the workers’ passports were misused by the Arab residents attempting to bypass Israeli security checkpoints. Israeli forces eventually identified the individuals involved and recovered the stolen documents leading them to locate the kidnapped foreigners.

The authorities did not say if any of the Arabs trying to bypass security were involved in terrorism.

Complex Operation Ensures Safe Extraction
The rescue mission required coordination between the IDF, the Population and Immigration Authority’s Enforcement and Foreigners Administration, and the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Under the cover of night, the workers were safely extracted from the village and transported them to a secure location.

The operation concluded successfully at 2:30 AM. Israeli authorities are now working to ensure the workers’ legal employment status is properly regulated.

Official Statement
The Population and Immigration Authority confirmed the details of the operation, stating [translated]:

The Enforcement and Foreigners Administration at the Population and Immigration Authority led a rescue operation last night for ten Indian workers who had come to Israel to work in the construction industry and were being held in the village of A-Za’im.
In a coordinated operation with the IDF and the Ministry of Justice, the ten workers were rescued from the village in the dead of night.”

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said that his office will do everything to protect their rights and integrate them into the Israeli labor market

Israel expressed outrage over secret US-Hamas talks

 

Israel’s deep concerns over secret negotiations between the Trump administration and Hamas resulted in a heated exchange between a top Israeli official and the US envoy leading the talks, sources familiar with the matter told Axios on Friday.

According to the report, senior Israeli officials had cautioned the US against engaging directly with Hamas, particularly without preconditions. However, despite Israel’s warnings in early February, the US moved forward with the discussions.

The report further said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly avoided direct criticism of President Donald Trump since reports of the talks surfaced, but behind closed doors, tensions have been high.

Netanyahu’s closest confidant, Minister Ron Dermer, expressed Israel’s frustrations directly in a phone call with US hostage envoy Adam Boehler. Sources familiar with the discussion described the conversation as particularly intense.

The contentious call between Dermer and Boehler came just hours after the American envoy met in Doha with Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas political official and the head of its negotiating team. The talks, which had begun a week earlier with lower-ranking Hamas officials, were part of Boehler’s efforts to secure the release of American hostage Edan Alexander, 21, as well as the remains of four other American hostages.

According to sources, the Trump administration saw an opportunity to expand the talks beyond hostages. The US signaled to Hamas that a deal could lead to broader discussions, potentially involving a long-term ceasefire, safe passage out of Gaza for Hamas leaders, the release of all remaining hostages, and an end to the war.

Despite the urgency, the discussions failed to yield the breakthrough Trump and his team had hoped for before his scheduled address to Congress. Hamas’ response was deemed insufficient, according to Axios.

The report said that the talks also broached sensitive matters Israel had not agreed to—specifically, the number of Palestinian prisoners that would be released in exchange for Alexander’s return.

Sources described Dermer’s call with Boehler as “difficult,” with the Israeli minister objecting to any US proposals made without Israel’s prior consent. In response, Boehler reassured Dermer that no deal had been reached and that he was fully aware of Israel’s red lines. One Israeli official suggested that Dermer’s strong opposition led the White House to reconsider its approach.

Following internal discussions on Wednesday, Trump and his advisers decided to publicly pressure Hamas, at which point Trump issued his latest ultimatum to Hamas, writing on his social media channels that Hamas must release all the hostages “or it is over for you”.

On Thursday, Trump commented on the direct talks that his administration has had with Hamas and stated, "We are having discussions with Hamas. We are helping Israel in those discussions, because we're talking about Israeli hostages.”

Earlier on Thursday, Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff also acknowledged the talks that Boehler had been holding with Hamas.

"We feel that Hamas has not been forthright with us and it's time for them to be forthright with us, and Edan Alexander would be a very important show [of goodwill]. We'll see how they're gonna react. The President has issued a statement about what's acceptable to him and what's not, and hopefully we'll see good behavior [from Hamas] next week and I'll be able to go in there and have discussions," he said.

Despite the focus on Edan Alexander, Witkoff stressed that "lives matter" to Trump, not just American lives, but "all lives," including all of the remaining hostages.

Time for American Jews to Come Home! Gallop Poll Says that Among DemonRats Just 21% say they sympathize with Israelis, while 59% sympathize with Palestinians.

 

Fewer than half of Americans sympathize more with Israelis than with Palestinians, according to a new Gallup poll, the lowest figure for Israelis since at least 2001.

The poll, published Thursday, found that 46% of respondents sympathize more with Israelis while 33% sympathize more with Palestinians.

The 13-point gap is also the smallest since at least 2001. That year, 51% of respondents sympathized more with Israelis, but only 16% sympathized more with Palestinians.

Sympathy for Israelis has dropped in the past few years, as Israel has been led by a hardline right-wing government and, since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, fought a war against the terror group in Gaza.

Thursday’s poll was taken in February, spanning the time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, D.C. and President Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of the Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu endorsed.

A decade ago, 62% of respondents sympathized more with Israelis, compared to 16% with the Palestinians. In 2022, the gap was 55% to 26%.

Among Democrats, the drop this year was even starker, with the Palestinians receiving more sympathy by a wide margin: Just 21% say they sympathize more with Israelis, while 59% sympathize more with Palestinians.

That’s a considerable shift from 2022, when Democrats’ sympathies were about even at 40% for Israelis vs. 38% for Palestinians. Last year, it was 43% for Palestinians vs. 38% for Israelis. Polls taken more than a decade ago show Democratic sympathies lying more with Israelis by wide margins.

Thursday’s number dovetails with a Gallup poll released in late February that found just 33% of Democrats have a favorable view of Israel, compared with 83% of Republicans.

This week’s poll found that Republican sympathies with Israelis have remained relatively steady, at 75% vs. 10% for Palestinians. Among independents, the Israeli-Palestinian split was 42% to 34%.

The poll also found that 55% of Americans, and majorities of Democrats and independents, support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Among Republicans, support for a Palestinian state was at 41%.

The poll also found that just 40% of respondents approve of the way President Donald Trump is handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump Cancels $400M in Grants to Columbia Over Failure to Protect Jewish Students

 

The federal government has canceled approximately $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing the school’s failure to address persistent harassment of Jewish students. The Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the decision Friday, warning that more cancellations may follow.

Columbia, which holds over $5 billion in federal grant commitments, was notified on March 3 that its funding would be reviewed due to ongoing Title VI civil rights investigations. Officials say the university has failed to act, allowing chaos and anti-Semitic harassment to persist on campus.

“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “Universities must comply with federal anti-discrimination laws to receive federal funding.”

The Trump administration has pledged to revoke funding from institutions that fail to protect students from anti-Semitic harassment. Senior DOJ official Leo Terrell called the funding freeze “just the beginning,” emphasizing that the government will not support institutions that neglect Jewish students’ safety.

GSA will assist in issuing stop-work orders on Columbia’s federal contracts, effectively freezing the university’s access to these funds. Federal officials say this move serves as a warning to all universities receiving taxpayer dollars: failure to combat anti-Semitism will have consequences.

Trump Says "All Palestinians in Gaza Support Hamas"

 

President Trump remarked today regarding Palestinian civilians during a recent presser. 

Trump stated that Israeli hostages who were held in Gaza told him they encountered no kindness from any Palestinians they met, claiming they were “slapped and punched.” 

Trump went further, suggesting that “they are all Hamas in Gaza,” implying widespread support in Gaza for the terrorist group.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Tetzaveh