Thursday, October 9, 2025
Rabbi Avraham Shapira zt"l on living in Eretz Yisrael.....Is Living in Israel a Torah Mitzvah?
HaRav Avraham Elkana Shapira zt"l, former Chief Rabbi of Israel and head of the Mercaz HaRav flagship Religious Zionist Yeshiva, passed away on the first day of Sukkot, eighteen years ago, at the age of 93. His son, Rabbi Yaacov Shapira shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem today, says that a few days before his father’s death, he presented him with the Four Species, the Arba Minim, he had purchased for him.
“After examining the Hadasim and Lulav, my father picked up the very large Yemenite (i.e. that is, the kind used by the Yemenite Jewish community,ed.) Etrog, the kind he preferred, which I had brought and which he had to hold in both hands because of its size. People often said the Yemenite Etrog resembled his big heart, with its great love for all of the Jewish People. Half smiling, half sad, he said that he wasn’t sure he would have the merit of performing the mitzvah that year.”
Report: Ceasefire agreement will be signed at 12:00 noon
In photos released from Egypt, members of the Israeli, American, and Qatari delegations can be seen hugging and shaking Hands.
The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported later that Hamas and Israel will sign a ceasefire agreement on Thursday at 12:00 noon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote: "With God's help we will bring them all home".
Earlier Israeli officials reported: "The agreement will be signed later today, with the first release expected either on Saturday or Sunday".
A senior US official told Channel 12 News correspondent Barak Ravid on Wednesday night that "the war in Gaza is over."
The official added that the hostages will be released 72 hours after the Israeli Cabinet approves the agreement. The assessment is that this will occur no later than Monday.
An Egyptian source close to the negotiations told Sky News Arabia, "The agreement includes a complete ceasefire, a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from 70% of the Gaza Strip, and the simultaneous release of hostages and prisoners from both sides".
A Palestinian Arab source told the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: "The disputed points in the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh have been resolved, and Trump will announce the agreement soon".
Following the recent reports regarding the hostage deal, Ditza Or, mother of Avinatan who is kidnapped in Gaza, posted the words from Isaiah 52:7 on social media: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation".
Report from a Hamas source to the Lebanese network Al-Mayadeen: Hamas has agreed to the deal. The signing will take place today in Egypt.
Yediot Ahronot Columnist Nadav Eyal related to the reports and wrote on X: "Israelis can’t sleep tonight. They wait, breath held, for the end of a nightmare that began two years ago. Above all, for the agreement that will bring all the hostages home".
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Saul Zabar, longtime lox-smith of iconic Upper West Side grocer, dead at 97
Saul Zabar, who ruled the iconic Upper West Side grocery store bearing his name for more than seven decades, died Tuesday. He was 97.
The so-called lox-smith had been hospitalized with a brain bleed at the time of his death, The Post confirmed.
“A true New York legend. He gave the city lox, love, and a place to argue over babka. Zabar’s isn’t just a store, it’s a slice of NYC soul. May his memory be a blessing,” Mayor Eric Adams posted on X.
The Manhattanite ran his family’s namesake Broadway grocery for nearly the entirety of its 80-year history — and was famously a stickler when it came to the quality of the famed store’s goods.
He fulfilled a role he had never initially intended to take on.
Saul had been studying at the University of Kansas to become a doctor when his father, Louis, suddenly died in 1950 at the age of 49, forcing him to return to the city to help his mother, Lillian, run the family business.
He never left.
Three shipwrecks from biblical times uncovered off the coast of Israel
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Some of the finds of a cargo from the Iron Age retrieved in the Dor Lagoon in northern Israel, in a discovery announced in August 2025: a) iron blooms; b) basket-handle amphora base containing resin; c) basket-handle amphora handles; d) a basket-handle amphora base containing grape seeds |
The remains of three shipwrecks and their cargoes from the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE) have been retrieved in the ancient harbor of Dor, on the Carmel Coast in northern Israel, according to an academic paper recently published by the prestigious journal Antiquity. The discovery marks the first time shipwrecks from those times have been uncovered in Israeli waters.
The Iron Age, also known as the First Temple Period, encompasses the centuries during which a significant portion of the events described in the Hebrew Bible are said to have occurred. At least for part of the time, in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, Dor was likely under the rule of the Kingdom of Israel.
While almost nothing of the actual ships has survived, the remains of their cargoes, dating to the 11th, 9th, and 7th/6th centuries BCE, provide important insights into the trade routes of a crucial period in the region’s history. Among other things, the findings challenge the long-held belief among many scholars that little commerce took place under the biblical kingdoms.
In addition, shipwrecks from the Iron Age are extremely rare, with only 11 such finds ever recorded in the whole Mediterranean basin.
NY Times covering up Biden-appointed Jack Smith spying on Republican senators
Leftist media outlets never tire of preaching that the great lesson of Watergate is that the cover-up is worse than the crime.
Fair enough, but the lesson would be more credible if those same outlets followed their own advice.
Yet the leader of the leftist pack, The New York Times, proved again Tuesday it is engaged in a massive cover-up of its own.
The evidence is that the paper failed to report what was arguably the biggest news Monday out of Washington:
that Jack Smith, the head-hunting special counsel appointed by Joe Biden’s administration to prosecute Donald Trump, also teamed up with the FBI to spy on nearly a dozen Republican senators.
Thankfully under new management, the FBI blew the whistle on itself, with Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino revealing that Smith and a team of agents investigating the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, were tracking the communications and phone calls of Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and others.
Patel and Bongino said some of the agents involved in the improper snooping have been fired and the two are continuing to probe the affair.
Amazon Lady Delivery Won't Allow Someone to Steal Her Package
Busted!! Keep up the good work lady! 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/GEiYlSjDJy
— Anna 🇺🇸 (@realAnn_29) October 5, 2025
Greta’s post-jail video tries to rewrite the flotilla story
Greta Thunberg dropped a new video after being deported from Israel, filming in Athens and pivoting the spotlight to Gaza rather than her short detention. At the airport she told supporters, “I could talk for a very long time about the abuse in prison, but that’s not the story,” before blasting governments for “failing” Palestinians.
Here are the facts: the Israeli Navy intercepted the Global Sumud flotilla as it tried to breach the lawful naval blockade of Gaza. Authorities detained roughly 479 activists and have been deporting them in batches; 170+—including Thunberg—were flown to Greece and Slovakia, with 161 landing in Athens. Israel says detainees received food, water, access to counsel, and that abuse claims are false.
The dramatic “we’re being kidnapped” clip circulating from Thunberg was recorded in advance to auto-publish if the boat was boarded, and Israeli outlets flagged it as misleading. Israel’s Foreign Ministry released photos of her smiling in transit and said all activists were “safe and healthy.” That context didn’t make her video.
This episode isn’t about celebrity martyrdom. It’s about a flotilla with political aims, intercepted without mass casualties, followed by orderly deportations—and a narrative fight playing out on social feeds. Expect more removal flights and continued enforcement at sea, while Israel flatly rejects the abuse storyline.
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