Remember when they shlepped Rav Landau the "Degel" the Spiritual Leader to Beit Shemesh to support the "Degel" candidate Greenberg?
“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
Monday, April 21, 2025
Finally! All Beit Shemesh Residents Agree!!!!!! The Mayor is a Clossal Diasaster !!
Netanyahu Slams Ronen Bar " a Liar "
4. Bar failed to address incitement against senior officials, including death threats against the Prime Minister and ministers. He also failed to prevent violent protesters from launching flares at the PM’s residence in Caesarea, nearly killing a security guard and setting the home on fire.
The government repeatedly demanded equal law enforcement against such incitement—not illegal actions. Despite this, Bar only reported Shin Bet activity without actual results.
Pope Francis dead at 88 Just after Having Met VP Vance
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday aged 88
Over the past year, the Pope repeatedly criticized Israel during its war against Hamas, accusing it of crimes, genocide, and bombing children
The Pontiff spent his final hours with faithful, emerging to bless thousands of people in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday after briefly meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, announced that Francis had died at 7.35am local time (5.35am GMT) in a statement.
Francis had only recently left hospital under 'protected discharge' after suffering an infection that developed into pneumonia in both lungs earlier this year.
The Conclave - where cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican to choose a successor - will not happen for at least 15 days.
Francis's body will lie in state in St Peter's Basilica during an official mourning period, and then - in contrast to most of his predecessors - he will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome's Esquilino neighbourhood.
Francis just yesterday greeted the Catholic faithful who had gathered to see him at St Peter's Square on Easter Sunday. He delivered his 'Urbi et Orbi' benediction from a balcony overlooking the square following mass to mark the high holiday.
On his way to the basilica, Francis met briefly with US Vice President JD Vance, who was spending Easter in Rome with his family. The Vatican said the encounter was 'brief' and lasted a few minutes.
Francis became the first pope from outside Europe in 1,300 years when he was chosen to replace the retiring Pope Benedict XVI.
Despite several previous health issues and reduced mobility caused in part by his advancing years and expanding waistline, Francis had kept up a busy schedule until his final weeks.
In September 2024, he carried out a 12-day tour across south-east Asia and Oceania that included visits to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore.
Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, will be remembered for his comparatively liberal attitudes on some subjects that made him both popular and controversial.
He expressed tolerance towards divorcees, allowed priests to bless same-sex couples under certain circumstances, and put concern for the environment at the heart of his papacy.
And he said in 2023 that transgender people could be baptised as long as it did not cause a scandal or 'confusion'.
But he did stand firm on the subject of abortion. In a text signed by Francis that was released by the Vatican last year, terminations were described as 'an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense'.
Is Witkoff breaking new ground - or repeating Biden’s errors?
Steve Witkoff, the real estate tycoon turned international negotiator, has become the subject of controversy with some conservatives attacking him and others rushing out to defend him.
“In a world left in chaos thanks to Joe Biden, Steve Witkoff is the diplomat America needs right now,” Sen. Jim Banks claimed.
Tucker Carlson hailed Witkoff as “the most effective American diplomat in a generation.”
But Witkoff, whatever his flaws, is far more honest than his PR men on X or Capitol Hill, and has never denied that he was just implementing the policies of the Biden administration.
In Jan, at Mar-a-Lago, Witkoff stated that
“the Biden administration is the tip of the spear” in the Hamas negotiations. Biden has “got a solid team, and I appreciated that they’re allowing us to be collaborative.”
“I think Steve Witkoff has been a terrific partner in this,” Secretary of State Blinken praised him on MSNBC.
Much later, Witkoff told Tucker, “When I first got in and I was talking to Brett McGurk, who was the envoy on behalf of Biden, he was a smart guy.”
“He said to me, ‘This is where I want to get to, Steve.’ And so when I went in there, I went in with the imprimatur of the president.”
“Steve became a close partner of mine, I think it’s safe to say a friend,” McGurk told PBS.
Whose deal was it really?
A Betrayal Beyond Repair: How the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Movements Have Aligned Themselves with Antisemitic Violence - T
| Vicious antisemite Amy Spitalnick |
In an era already plagued by rising antisemitism and deepening divisions, one might expect Jewish institutions—particularly those with long-standing reputations for community advocacy and religious leadership—to be at the forefront of defending their people against hate.
Instead, in what can only be described as a catastrophic moral failure, the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements have chosen appeasement over protection, rhetoric over reality, and leftist politics over Jewish survival. Their recent alliance with pro-Hamas sympathizers marks a moment of profound betrayal—one that will be remembered as a dark chapter in the history of American Jewish life.
As Daniel Greenfield of Front Page Mag reported,
Amy Spitalnick—formerly of J Street and now head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)—has taken pride in leading a coalition of left-wing Jewish organizations that includes the Union for Reform Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism, and prominent Reconstructionist groups. Together, they signed onto a letter that not only undermines Jewish safety on campus but extends a grotesque olive branch to individuals and groups who have openly incited violence against Jews, particularly in the wake of the October 7th Hamas massacre.
Dem Jamie Raskin threatens countries that support Trump: ‘When we come back to power … we are not going to look kindly’
Rep. Jamie Raskin threatened foreign leaders who “facilitated authoritarianism in our country” by currying favor with President Trump on issues like deportation, saying that Democrats will not “look kindly” on his supporters when they “come back to power.”
Referencing El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele specifically, Raskin (D-Md.), 62, suggested that Dems should keep score of foreign leaders who brownnose Trump, 78, during his second term.
“Implicit in it should be the idea that if and when we come back to power — and we will — we are not going to look kindly upon people who … facilitated authoritarianism in our country,” Raskin told “Pod Save America” host Tommy Vietor in an episode that dropped Saturday.
Vietor had told Raskin that a Latin American policy expert suggested to him that Democrats should “threaten to take action against any foreign government that participates in the extraordinary rendition of American citizens.”
Trump has tapped into warpowers under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to rapidly deport alleged gangbangers outside of traditional deportation channels to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) mega prison.
So far, those deportations have pertained to illegal immigrants, but Trump has publicly mused about exploring the legality of shipping extremely violent criminals who are US citizens to foreign countries.
Raskin praised the concept of putting foreign countries on notice and called for cutting off foreign aid to El Salvador in response to its cooperation with the Trump administration’s deportations of alleged gangbangers via warpowers.
“The whole idea that Bukele doesn’t have any power to return an American prisoner who was sent to him under an agreement where he’s getting paid $6 million by America is ridiculous,” Raskin contended. “He’s our legal agent in this dubious arrangement they created. Of course, he’s got the power to return them.”
Last week, Bukele met with Trump in the White House, becoming the first Latin American leader to do so, and claimed that he lacked the power to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US, calling questions about returning him “preposterous.”
Abrego Garcia, 29, a citizen of El Salvador, had illegally entered the US in 2011, and was blocked from being deported back home in a 2019 court decision due to gang threats against him.
The Trump administration deported him to El Salvador last month in what its attorneys initially described as an “error.” Top officials have since defended his deportation and alleged that he’s had ties to MS-13, something his attorneys and family deny.
Raskin added that his party needs to engage “in far more work of transnational Democrat solidarity” to try and “prevent the spread of lawlessness and the fascist chaos that’s been unleashed against us.”
Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Trump in Congress.
He had previously been a top defender of Hunter Biden from GOP-backed inquiries into the scandal-scarred first son.
A former constitutional law professor, Raskin argued that “we’re living in something like a gangster state right now” under Trump.
“We have to stop that, obviously, to prevent a slide into complete dictatorship,” Raskin said of the administration’s use of foreign prison systems.
“Donald Trump is a convicted criminal. Could he be sent off to a foreign prison?,” he mused.
“We’ve got to become the leaders of a nationwide popular movement to arrest the descent into fascism in America,” he argued before pivoting to slamming tech guru Elon Musk’s kindred spirits in Silicon Valley.
“These people really believe that democracy is defunct. They say we live in a constitutional America.”
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
NEW: Congresswoman Maxine Dexter (D-OR) announces she will travel to El Salvador to “demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia”, a deported Salvadoran illegal alien alleged to be a MS-13 gang member, accused by his own spouse of being a repeat wife beater, and previously… pic.twitter.com/VzEjJZPITn
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 19, 2025
Iris Hotel in Brookline Canceled Large Pesach Seder to Accommodate Rashida Tlaib
Meet Anwar Faisal, dubbed Boston’s worst landlord. He owns the Iris Hotel in Brookline, an area with a large Jewish population just outside the city.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) April 18, 2025
After learning that a large Passover Seder was scheduled to be hosted there, he canceled it - and instead hosted a gathering for… https://t.co/9ygZTi6ryq pic.twitter.com/c2QaqYdm8z



