“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Two yeshiva students arrested for draft dodging while attempting to leave the country

 

Two students of well-known yeshivas were arrested on Sunday at Ben Gurion Airport while attempting to leave Israel due to stay of exit orders issued against them after they failed to report to the IDF recruitment center.

The men were taken to the IDF's Tel Hashomer Camp, where a hearing is expected to be held on the matter.

The "Lemaancha" organization, which assists yeshiva students with draft-related issues, reported that details of the case were immediately brought to the senior haredi rabbis, who instructed the organization's representatives how to act.

"We are closely, sensitively, and quietly accompanying the boys following the instructions from the rabbis," the organization stated.

In light of the incident, the organization warns against trusting the Interior Ministry's online system to check if there are stay of exit orders.

"There are sometimes discrepancies between the various data systems," the organization explained. "Refrain from arriving at sensitive locations, such as the airport, without conducting an in-depth inquiry beforehand."

This is just one in a series of similar cases in the past few months in which yeshiva students were arrested for alleged draft dodging.

‘Shtisel’ star Sasson Gabay is happy to be back playing a complex Charedi Jew in ‘Kugel’


 “I’m preparing a tea so we can talk with leisure,” Sasson Gabay says over the phone from Israel.

The Israeli film and TV star, now 77, wants to get comfortable so he can talk about one of his favorite characters from his 50-year career: Nuhem Shtisel.

If that surname sounds familiar, yes — it’s a character from the popular and internationally acclaimed series “Shtisel,” about an Israeli Haredi Orthodox family. Now, Gabay has reprised Nuhem for a prequel series titled “Kugel,” streaming in the United States exclusively on the platform Izzy.

And if kugel sounds familiar, yes — it’s referring to the Ashkenazi version of a casserole, not another surname. The new series follows Nuhem, who frequents a kugel shop in his native Antwerp years before the plot of “Shtisel,” as he and his daughter Libbi (Hadas Yaron) navigate familial and romantic struggles. Nuhem’s heart is in the right place, but the diamond dealer often finds himself at the center of financial shenanigans that threaten his place in his family and his community.

As complex as that character sounds, it didn’t take much convincing to get Gabay — who is also well known for starring in both the Israeli film “The Band’s Visit” and the Tony-winning Broadway musical based on it — on board for the poignant and wryly humorous series that, like “Shtisel,” was created by Yehonatan Indursky.

“I loved [Indursky’s] writing. I loved his plot. I loved this poetic element in all his writing — wise, human and brilliant in my opinion,” Gabay said on a recent WhatsApp call.

On April 28, Gabay will join “Shtisel” star Michael Aloni and “Kugel” producer Dikla Barkai for an exclusive New York Jewish Week conversation about the new show at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For those who can make it in person, attendees will also be able to sample (what else?) some of the city’s best kugel, and even meet the stars at a VIP reception. For those who can’t make it, a livestream is available, and it will be recorded.

As a preview — a taste of the “burnt end” of the kugel, Nuhem might say — Gabay spoke with the New York Jewish Week about filming in Antwerp, playing a deeply religious Jew while living a secular life, and the state of the Israel film and TV industry since October 7, 2023.

Not Again! Congresswoman Going to El Salvador to get a "wife beater" back... Not One DemonRat Went to Gaza to get any Hostages Back


 

Iris Hotel in Brookline Canceled Large Pesach Seder to Accommodate Rashida Tlaib

 


Qatar Upset About Video of the Construction of the Third Bais Hamikdash

 




Orthodox Jews Couldn't Care Less What the World Thinks of Them!

 



Nikki Haley slams Tulsi Gabbard for claiming that Iran has no active nuclear weapons program-

 

"Not one person was vetted coming into the US ..DemonRats Want to Vet those Deported! LOL

 

Dalia Ziada an Arab Muslim Experiences her own "Exodus" from Egypt

 


Harvard makes the case against itself

 

Harvard faculty members are finally upset about free speech and viewpoint intolerance. Hundreds of professors signed a letter of outrage over what they called an attack on the “rights of free expression, association, and inquiry” in higher education.

The cause for this outcry is the threat to end the university’s tax exempt status, freezing federal grants, and other punitive measures. Some of those measures raise serious concerns over academic freedom and free speech.

The problem is that Harvard faculty members have spent decades denying those rights to teachers and students alike.