Even the interviewer doesn’t know what to make of this man’s stupidity.
It really makes you wonder why anyone, the United States or any other nation, would continue to engage in negotiations with a regime like this.
It defies all logic.
“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
Last Thursday, Chol Hamoed Passover, for the first time in my life, I had the privilege of praying the morning prayer of the holiday and the Hallel prayer with a blessing – on the Temple Mount. It was a special experience to sing "בְּחַצְרות בֵּית ה' בְּתוכֵכִי יְרוּשָׁלָיִם – הַלְלוּיָה" standing in the courtyard of the House of God, and to sing "בצאת ישראל ממצרים" on Chol HaMoed Pesach – in the holiest place for the Jewish people.
As in all the times when I went up to the Temple Mount, it was a joy and exciting to meet Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum, head of the Temple Mount Administration, and his son Rabbi Chaim, whose activities and the energy they invest have made a great, very significant contribution to the regular prayers that have been held on the Temple Mount for several years. Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum is the man who helped most of all to open the Temple Mount to Jewish prayer.
Well, the prayer wasn't perfect.
1. The wheel of history has turned in such a way that Holocaust Remembrance Day, the 27th of Nissan, usually falls in the week at the end of which we read in Parashat Shmini, about the tragic death of the two sons of Aharon the Cohen. The parasha also describes the powerful reaction of their father Aharon, which was summed up in thunderous silence: "וידם אהרן." From this we learn that sometimes it is precisely the silence, in the sense of "Thy blood is praise," that is the most thunderous action.
There is no doubt that the silence that Aharon Hacohen decreed upon himself on the occasion of the death of his two sons, was the background of the Rav of the Medina's decision, in 1959, to hold a moment of communion on Holocaust Remembrance Day, accompanied by a loud siren, with the holy memory of the six million who were slaughtered and burned and who were bound to sanctify God's name during the years of rage of 5700-1945 – only because of the sin of being Jews! Since then, the siren of communion has been one of the highlights of the day, as we are indeed experiencing this year as well.
Tonight, the 30th of Nissan, marks the yahrtzeit of the great Rabbi Chaim Vital, zatzal, the primary disciple of the holy Arizal and transmitter of his teachings. On this solemn day of remembrance, we are confronted with disturbing news that demands our tefilos and perhaps of learning Rav Chaim Vital’s Torah.
Jewish leaders worldwide have expressed profound outrage after learning that the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Vital in Damascus, Syria was desecrated this weekend. The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic Countries, representing Jewish communities across Muslim-majority nations, has issued a strong condemnation of this heinous act.
This desecration occurring just before Rav Vital’s yahrtzeit cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence. We must recognize this as a deliberate act perpetrated by those who harbor ill will toward our holy sages and, by extension, toward the Jewish people. They did this just before his Yahrtzeit! History has repeatedly shown, those who raise their hands against our kedoshim invariably face Divine retribution. The neshama of this great tzaddik will surely bring about heavenly judgment upon those responsible, as we have already begun to witness.
Few realize the profound spiritual role Rav Chaim Vital zt”l continues to play in the affairs of the region. The great mekubal serves as a spiritual guardian watching over Israel from his resting place in Damascus, where he was sent by the Arizal to overcome powerful forces of tumah (spiritual impurity) known as Bais Rimon.
A career criminal with nearly 60 arrests on his rap sheet burglarized a Brooklyn wig shop and made off with $30,000 in pricey pieces — including some possibly meant for cancer patients, police sources said.
Daron Ware, 52, allegedly hit the Hustle Wig shop on Dean Street in Crown Heights on the morning of March 4, cops said. Police detectives got surveillance video of a man entering the closed shop and walking out with a stuffed sack.
“They took wigs and materials to make the wigs, including hair and some hats and some random things,” co-owner Rivky Krinsky said.
Nine of the stolen hairpieces were valued at about $30,000, around $3,300 for each, according to Krinsky.
Some of the shop’s wigs, which are created from real human hair, are sold to cancer patients, Krinsky said, but she wasn’t sure how many of the stolen wigs were for patients.
“The clients didn’t know because we were able to replace the orders very swiftly,” she said. “We were able to get everything out pretty much on time.”
Cops caught up with Ware on March 13, charging him with burglary and illegal entry, police said.
He’s currently in jail on Rikers Island.
A powerful explosion at the Port of Shahid Rajaee in Bandar Abbas, Iran, left hundreds injured.
The Saturday blast left at least four dead and around 700 injured, some seriously, state media said.
An Israeli source said that Israel was not involved in the explosion.
In recent months, shipments with chemicals used as fuel for mid-range rockets have been brought to the port. Some of the rockets were launched at Israel.
An Iranian government spokesperson said that a final determination of the cause will take time, but in the meantime, the containers, which were stored at the port - and which may have contained chemicals - exploded.
Popular Instagrammer NowJewishNanny announced to her more than 96,000 followers that she would be joining the Project Mesorah Chizuk Mission just hours before the start of Yom Hashoah. The influencer prefers to be known for safety reasons as Adina, the name she took on when her conversion to Orthodox Judaism was completed in late March.
In what is being hailed as a potential turning point in Israel’s long and fraught battle with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICC’s Appeals Chamber on Thursday reversed a landmark November 2024 ruling that had rejected Israel’s jurisdictional objections to the issuance of arrest warrants for alleged war crimes against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post, the decision is not only a major legal win for Israel—its first significant success before the ICC since 2012—but also a dramatic shift in the trajectory of a case that had, until now, been rapidly advancing through the ICC’s procedural stages. Legal experts say the ruling may halt the momentum behind attempts to criminalize Israel’s leaders for their roles in prosecuting the war in Gaza, at least for the foreseeable future.