DemonRats Have no "Hakoras Hatoiv" After Trump Pardons one their own

President Trump unleashed on Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) after the congressman, freshly pardoned on federal bribery and corruption charges, announced he would seek reelection as a Democrat.

Cuellar, 70, had faced sweeping allegations — including bribery, money laundering, and acting as an unregistered foreign agent — stemming from what prosecutors said was $600,000 in payments funneled through shell companies tied to Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil enterprise and a Mexican bank. The Biden-era Justice Department accused Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, of concealing the funds through “sham consulting contracts” and corporations that performed “little to no legitimate work.”

Trump issued the rare, unconditional pardon last Wednesday, but within hours Cuellar declared he would run again in Texas’ 28th District — one of the most vulnerable Democratic seats in the country.

“Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be ‘running’ for Congress again… as a Democrat,” Trump wrote in an extended Truth Social tirade. “Such a lack of LOYALTY… next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”

EX- Con Aryeh Deri calls "Religious Zionism the heirs of Dathan and Abiram" ... You cannot make this stuff up!

 

Shvut Ra’anan

In recent days, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee headed by Likud MK Boaz Bismuth has been the scene of a sharp public outcry which has gained the attention of all national media outlets.

As Bismuth discusses the explosive issue of a draft deferral bill for yeshiva students (and for others who are not part of the charedi quotas required by the bill), numerous elements have protested the bill’s exemption and lenient demands from the charedi community. 

In particular, a young religious lawyer named Shvut Ra’anan, a leader of the “Reservists” party, was unstinting in her criticism of the bill, claiming that it states that “Your blood (charedim) is bluer than ours” and that other sectors are bearing the brunt of the charedi isolationism.

In response, the Shas party launched a harsh and unprecedented attack against the religious activists who are leading the campaign against the draft bill. In an editorial published in the party’s newspaper it was written, among other things: “At the forefront of those raising the raucous voices stand people wearing kippot, but the messages coming from their mouths are far more repulsive and sickening than those of any adversary from other sectors.”

The party further claimed: “The poisonous and horrific statements being heard these days in the general media, led by women wearing head coverings who speak in the name of the Torah against those who toil in Torah, are unprecedented in their brazenness. They have no fear whatsoever of the severe spiritual pitfalls awaiting their husbands and sons, those who keep Torah and mitzvot, if they serve in the army.”

In even sharper language they added that these religious activists “stand in arrogant insolence as the modern-day heirs of Dathan and Abiram. They are not willing to tolerate even a single Torah student.”

Shas claimed further: “This is the same intense hatred that characterized Akiva before he became Rabbi Akiva — ‘Give me a Torah scholar and I will bite him like a donkey.’”

“They now orchestrate the bonfire of incitement. They pour oil and fuel onto the flames of hatred bursting out in public,” the editorial said.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett responded: “To all those in Shas who disgrace the sons of Religious Zionism (and to all those who support this in silence): You will not be granted forgiveness, not in this world and not in the next,until you walk past the hundreds of graves of the holy fallen soldiers from Religious Zionism, who combined Torah and arms in their lives and in their deaths. You will go past each grave one by one and ask forgiveness for degrading them and their wives (‘women who do not understand the spiritual dangers their husbands face’).”

“And by the way,” Bennett added, “regarding the citation about Rabbi Akiva: Rabbi Akiva, even as a rabbi, served as the armor-bearer of Bar Kokhba in his war against the Romans. I am certain he would be ashamed of you for saying such things.”

Former minister Yoaz Hendel commented: “A government that relies on such a party will never be able to fix anything here. A party that denies the basics.”

Former minister Matan Kahana wrote in response: “Aryeh Deri calls Religious Zionism the heirs of Dathan and Abiram. Shame has disappeared. We need a coalition of servants!”

Convicted killer of Leiby Kletzky dies in Prison

 The man convicted of kidnapping and brutally murdering 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn more than a decade ago has died, New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision confirmed to PIX11 on Saturday.

Levi Aron, 49, was serving a sentence of 40 years to life at the Wende Correctional Facility for the 2011 killing that shocked the Jewish community in the United States and abroad. According to the Department of Corrections, Aron had been admitted to an outside hospital, and officials noted that his death was expected. The family therefore did not request an autopsy. He had previously been hospitalized in August due to an undisclosed medical condition.

Aron pleaded guilty to abducting Kletzky in July 2011 after the young boy became lost while walking home alone from summer camp for the first time. Aron, then working in a hardware store, drugged and murdered him, later dismembering his body. Most of Kletzky’s remains were found in a dumpster, while his feet were discovered inside Aron’s freezer.

The murder prompted an outpouring of grief across the Jewish community in Brooklyn and beyond, with thousands joining the search efforts during the hours Leiby was missing. His death led to an intense communal response, including calls for improved child safety measures and initiatives to assist families in crisis.

The exact cause of Aron’s death was not immediately released. In 2017, his 29-year-old brother was also found dead inside Aron’s home.

The canonization of the Blood-Thirsty Terrorist Marwan Barghouti

(JNS) Celebrity narcissists looking for another virtue to signal have alighted upon a fresh cause appropriate to their moral stature: freedom for a notorious mass murderer of the innocent.

Some 200 high-profile actors and musicians, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Simon, Sting and Brian Eno, have called for pressure on Israel to release the former Fatah terrorist leader, Marwan Barghouti, from prison.

Barghouti, 66, consistently comes top of opinion polls asking Palestinian Arabs who they want to replace 90-year-old Mahmoud Abbas as head of the Palestinian Authority.

Now these celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon, describing Barghouti as a “powerful symbol of unity and a longtime advocate for freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people” and claiming that he has been “illegally held by Israel” for more than two decades.

A bill seeking to eliminate dual citizenship may endanger Americans Holding Israeli Citizenships

 

A bill seeking to eliminate dual citizenship could further inflame tensions between the MAGA movement and Israel.

Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio this week introduced the “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025.” The text of the bill states that maintaining foreign citizenship as a U.S. citizen “could create conflicts of interest and divided loyalties.”

Jewish advocacy organizations told Newsweek that questioning Americans’ allegiance based on dual nationality is troubling, saying it revives harmful “dual loyalty” accusations that have historically been used to marginalize Jews.

Moreno’s bill comes at a time when some in the MAGA movement have become increasingly critical of Israel over its military actions in Gaza and pushed for the U.S. to stop sending aid, breaking with the Republican Party’s decades-long approach to the U.S. ally.

Others have gone further, with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson calling for U.S. citizens who serve in the Israeli Defense Forces or any another foreign army to be stripped of their U.S. citizenship.

The "Saar of Eisav" was a Talmid Chacham!

 

In this week’s parsha, the Torah describes a mysterious and pivotal moment:

וַיִּוָּתֵ֥ר יַעֲקֹ֖ב לְבַדּ֑וֹ וַיֵּאָבֵ֥ק אִישׁ֙ עִמּ֔וֹ עַ֖ד עֲל֥וֹת הַשָּֽׁחַר 

 “And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”

Rashi explains that this “man” was none other than the Saar shel Eisav — the spiritual force or angel representing Esau.

וּפֵרְשׁוּ רַזִ"לִ שֶׁהוּא שָׂרוֹ שֶׁל עֵשָׂו

The Gemara in Chullin (91a) offers a fascinating debate about how this angel appeared to Yaakov:

רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר כעובד כוכבים נדמה לו

 רב שמואל בר אחא קמיה דרב פפא משמיה דרבא בר עולא אמר כת"ח נדמה לו

• Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani says he appeared as a goy, a pagan.

• Rav Shmuel bar Achai, quoting Rava bar Ulla, says he appeared as a talmid chacham, a Torah scholar.

This contrast is striking. What could it mean that the angel of Esau — the embodiment of spiritual opposition — looked like a Torah scholar?

I’d like to suggest a deeper explanation.

Yaakov was on his way to Eretz Yisrael — making Aliyah, returning to the land of his fathers. At that vulnerable moment, the Saar of Eisav came to stop him.

According to Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani, the angel appeared as a non-Jew, arguing that Eretz Yisrael is not holy because it’s inhabited by goyim. This mirrors the mindset of some Jews in Chutz La’Aretz today who claim that since the land was built by Zionists or secular Jews, it lacks holiness. The Satan whispers: “It’s dangerous there. Goyim want to kill Jews. Stay in exile.”

But Rav Shmuel bar Achai’s view is even more subtle — and perhaps more dangerous. He says the angel appeared as a Torah scholar. In this version, the Satan doesn’t use fear or foreignness. He uses Torah itself. He tells Yaakov: “Aliyah isn’t a mitzvah from the Torah. It’s only rabbinic. There are halachic reasons to stay in Chutz La’Aretz.”

This is the spiritual struggle of our generation. The resistance to Aliyah isn’t always external. Sometimes, it comes cloaked in Torah arguments, dressed in piety, and spoken in the language of halacha.

Yaakov’s wrestling match wasn’t just physical — it was ideological. And it continues today.

Zera Shimshon Parshat Vayishlach

 

Bnei Brak kollel student returns hidden 150,000 shekels found in apt. wall

 

An extraordinary story and example of halachic adherence unfolded in Bnei Brak on Thursday when a student at the Slabodka Kollel returned a sum of 150,000 shekels in cash to the woman who sold him an apartment.

The Hod Hasharon resident recently sold the apartment, which had been used by her ill brother and returned to her after he passed away, to the haredi student. During renovation work in the apartment, a substantial amount of money was found well hidden in one of the walls.

The discovery raised a complex halachic question: Does the money belong to the brother, who saved it and didn't mention it in the will, or does it belong to the new owner of the apartment according to the Talmudic principle of unknowing forfeiture (Yei’ush shelo mida'at)?

The conundrum was brought to Rabbi Yehuda Silman, who ruled that, according to halacha, the full amount should be returned to the previous owner, who was unaware of the cash's existence. On Thursday, a special ceremony was held at the Rabbi's home, during which the money was returned to the woman, in the presence of the student's peers and relatives.

The woman, who is not religious, was moved to tears by the honesty and pondered aloud: "Why don't they report such good things in the media?"

Rabbi Silman blessed the student that, in the merit of his good deed, he should receive abundant blessings in his home and sons and daughters who follow in the path of Torah and mitzvot.

In a Strange Twist the OU is More Machmir on Beers Than Satmar CRC Hashgachas

 In light of growing public uncertainty over the kashrus status of common beers, the CRC (Williamsburg) has released a new clarification addressing which beverages remain free of concern. The announcement comes amid an influx of questions regarding the possibility of non-kosher additives appearing even in well-known brands.

According to the CRC, many widely purchased beers remain entirely kosher and present no kashrus issues whatsoever. Among the brands listed as acceptable are Blue Moon, Corona, Carlsberg, Coors, Heineken, Keystone, Miller, Modelo, Samuel Adams, and Stella Artois. The CRC notes that this is only a partial list and that additional brands will be evaluated and publicized once verified information is obtained.

The CRC explains that standard, unflavored beers continue to be permissible, as the traditional brewing process of water, hops, barley, and yeast remains intact for many major manufacturers. At the same time, the CRC emphasizes that beers containing added flavors should be consumed only when bearing reliable kosher certification. For those seeking higher kashrus standards, the CRC points to beers produced under constant supervision, such as Yamiltz under its own certification and Nesher under the Badatz Eidah Chareidis.

The CRC’s policy stands in sharp contrast to the direction being taken by the Orthodox Union (OU), which recently announced a major policy overhaul set to take effect on January 1. In a letter to mashgichim and food-service operators, the OU stated that the beer industry has changed dramatically, to the point that the old assumption—that unflavored beer requires no certification—can no longer be relied upon. The explosion of craft breweries, the widespread use of unexpected additives, barrel-aging techniques involving wine or spirits, and the sharing of equipment with flavored or potentially non-kosher products have, in the OU’s view, introduced too much uncertainty into the beer market. Even beers that appear to be “plain” may include post-fermentation additives that do not appear on labels.

As a result, the OU will now require that only beers with proper kosher certification be permitted in OU-supervised establishments. Craft beers will need visible certification or written confirmation, while national brands already operating under kosher oversight will remain acceptable. The OU is distributing a list of nearly one thousand certified breweries to mashgichim around the country.

While the CRC affirms that many mainstream beers remain perfectly acceptable without certification, the OU is moving to a stricter model that treats beer with far greater scrutiny than in past decades. The two agencies, operating from different assessments of the industry landscape, have reached divergent conclusions on how to best safeguard the kashrus standards of the tzibbur.

57 Year-Old Lady Has a baby after being Childless for 30 Years

 

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