Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Ilana Gritzewsky held hostage by Hamas, took the floor at the UN to confront Reem Alsalem, the UN rapporteur on violence against women.
New York Screwed! The Satmar-Mamzarani political movement wins their entire slate! AOC, Lander, Chevalier All Win
Zohran Mamdani’s political movement scored a major victory Tuesday night as all three congressional candidates he personally endorsed won their Democratic primaries.
The most controversial victory came from Darializa Avila Chevalier, who defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Chevalier attended an anti-Israel rally in Times Square on October 8, 2023, only one day after the Ham*s massacre, where Israeli flags were burned and swastikas were displayed. Ironically Mamdani and Brad Lander had both said that the flag burning and celebrating Ham*s at that protest was Innapropriate, but Darializa has refused to apologize or retract anything she has said.
She later posted, “Trick question — Israel doesn’t exist!” and has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide while reportedly refusing to directly condemn Ham*s when asked.
Critics have also highlighted her support for abolishing prisons, opposition to all deportations, attacks on police and the military, and social media posts calling America a “f—king disgrace.”
Chevalier has additionally faced scrutiny over her role as a protest organizer connected to the Columbia University encampment movement alongside pro-Ham*s activist Mahmoud Khalil.
She was one of three candidates endorsed by Mamdani. The other two, Brad Lander and Claire Valdez, also won their primaries.
The sweep is already fueling concerns among pro-Israel Democrats and moderates who fear the party’s center of gravity in New York is moving further to the left, with candidates once considered fringe now winning major elections and reshaping the future of the city and potentially the nation.
Progressive New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.
The race was one of the most closely watched contests of the night, pitting Goldman, one of the Democratic Party’s most outspoken supporters of Israel, against Lander, a progressive candidate who was backed by Zohran Mamdani and has frequently criticized Israeli government policies.
Lander’s victory marks another significant win for the progressive wing of New York politics. The district includes parts of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, including portions of Borough Park, home to a large Orthodox Jewish community.
The result comes just hours after Goldman found himself at the center of a viral controversy involving a Brooklyn coffee shop. According to Goldman, he stopped at the store while his daughter needed to use the restroom and purchased coffee from the business.
The shop later posted a photo of the congressman online and claimed that had staff recognized him at the time, they would not have served him because of his pro-Israel views. The post quickly sparked outrage online, with critics accusing the business of openly discriminating against a customer based on his political beliefs and support for Israel.
Many observers noted that refusing service on such grounds could expose a business to legal scrutiny under New York anti-discrimination laws.
Goldman, who has consistently defended Israel in Congress and has been a vocal supporter of the U.S.-Israel alliance, has frequently found himself at odds with the party’s progressive faction over issues related to Israel and the war against Ham*s..
With Goldman’s defeat, many political observers are now asking whether the balance of power within New York’s Democratic Party is continuing to shift toward candidates aligned with Mamdani and the progressive movement.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Left-leaning Wikipedia blocked founder from editing site — after he campaigned to make it more balanced
Left-leaning website Wikipedia took the drastic action of blocking one of its founders from editing pages on Monday — after he had campaigned to make it more balanced and fair.
Last month, Larry Sanger launched WikiProject Intellectual Diversity (WID), a group designed to help reinforce the online encyclopedia’s “original, firm commitment to intellectual diversity,” by emphasizing neutrality and transparency.
BOO HOO! Charedim now complaining with crocodile tears " ‘Bochurim Can’t Fly To Get Engaged’"
The entire article below is based on half-truths and whole lies, no one is being arrested for draft dodging, they are being arrested for not registering for the draft!
I have chassidihe cousins who travel back and forth all the time and no one has been arrested, simply because they registered.
If someone is a sincere learner he is allowed to continue learning if he registered, unfortunately these bochrim are victims of their own rabbeim who gave them the unfortunate advice that they shouldn't register, If someone is not learning fulltime they must serve, but it doesn’t have to be in combat or even in the army. They can serve as part of national service (sherut leumi) in many different positions, including magen David/Hatzala, hospital workers, yad Sara, working with disadvantaged youths, etc
Here are some reactions to that article:
I know religious families who have sons who won’t be able to get married even after this “crisis” ends. They died in Gaza and Lebanon.
And what of the thousands of Frum soldiers who can’t be involved in Shiduchim because – hmm – they’re busy defending the lives of their fellow Jews, including those ingrates like the ones in this article? Cry me a river – I have less than zero sympathy for entitled spoiled brats like the Vizhnitz spokesperson in this article.
No the real crisis is that for the first time in history us Jews won’t fight for hashem. Our entire history is other nations trying to wipe us out and us fighting for our survival. This is the first time fighting is assur ? I grew up orthodox and never understood this issue, why all of a sudden are we too good to fight for ourselves?
The article is wrong. There is no travel ban. They can travel, as long as they aren’t on the draft dodger list. if they are, it’s not a travel ban anyway. It’s also not a shidduch crisis as who said that their bashert is international. Maybe it’s next door. If it’s that important, and both sides think it’s a shidduch, let the other side make the international trip. It’s anyhow going to be by chasidic standards only a few days. Not litvish style where the process can last several weeks.
This disconnect of this article to the actual matzav is truly astounding.
Your brothers are leaving their families to defend your lives for over two years now – getting limbs blown off, dying- and you are crying for sympathy for not being able to travel for a wedding?
Delays and travel bans imposed on yeshiva students who have been classified as “draft evaders” in Israel are creating a deep crisis in the Hasidic matchmaking world, according to a Kikar Hashabbat report.
Rabbi Shlomo Weiss, a spokesman for the Vizhnitz Merkaz Hasidic community, described the situation as painful and chaotic:”Young men can’t fly to get engaged, families can’t attend weddings, and married yeshiva graduates are being arrested at the airport in front of their children.”
He added:”We are in complete chaos. There is no one to talk to.”
Monday, June 22, 2026
OTDs Celebrating Friday night and not one ever enlisted in the IDF
One of the excuses of the Chardeie Torah leadership for not having their students enlist in the IDF is that they fear that they will go OTD! It seems that they don't really believe that the chinuch instilled in their bochrim can last any challenges in life and the ruchinyois that they embedded is very fragile, and are therefore fearful that the influence in the IDF will destroy the entire Torah perspective they had in their chardeie institutions!
Well here are Chardeim that went off the derech and they were never in the army!
Israeli kinetic art pioneer Yaacov Agam dead at 98
Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, considered to be the father of the Kinetic Movement in modern art, died on Sunday at the age of 98, the Agam Museum announced.
Agam, who was awarded the Israel Prize for Visual Arts in April, was known for works that incorporated movement, light, color and viewer interaction.
A public memorial ceremony will be held on Monday at the Agam Museum in the central city of Rishon Letzion from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. local time, followed by the funeral, which is scheduled to depart from the plaza of the military cemetery in Rehovot.
“The art world in Israel and around the globe is bidding farewell to one of its great innovators,” the Agam Museum said in a statement. “Yaacov Agam dedicated his life to groundbreaking artistic creation that transformed modern art and influenced generations of artists worldwide.”
Born in Rishon Letzion in 1928, Agam studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem before continuing his education in Zürich, Switzerland. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, he created works exhibited at major institutions worldwide, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Among his most notable works are the Fire and Water Fountain in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square, the kinetic fountain in Esplanade de La Défense in Paris and a giant Chanukah menorah displayed annually on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
Between Torah study and the responsibility to earn a living
The Value of Work
Many questions arose in response to my previous column, in which I explained the value of work and wrote that according to the Torah it is proper for a person to work and set fixed times for Torah study, rather than to learn all day as a kollel student and receive a living stipend. I explained that there is inherent value in a person working. In this column I will address some of those questions, and with God’s help, more in the next column.
Q: Is work not a curse imposed upon man as a result of Adam’s sin - so why did you write that it has value?
A: Before Adam’s sin, man was destined to be a worker and partner in the settlement of the world, as it is written: “And the Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to guard it" (Genesis 2:15). Our Sages added that man was not given permission to eat from the fruits of the Garden of Eden “until he had done labor" (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 11). And this too is part of God’s kindness toward man - that God created the world incomplete, in order to give man a place to be His partner in building and repairing it.
After Adam’s sin, ordinary work was no longer sufficient. Man now needed to toil with great hardship to atone for his sin, as was decreed: “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread" (Genesis 3:19). But even this labor is for man’s benefit - through his hard work to obtain bread, man atones for his sins and develops both himself and the world.
The Halakhic Ruling on the Debate Over Work
We further learn the value of work from the ruling of our Sages that even a wealthy woman who has servants and has no need to do household work should nevertheless work, because “idleness leads to boredom" - that is, to deterioration and distraction of the mind (Ketubot 59b). Admittedly, if she occupies herself with games such as chess or keeping pets, she will not be subject to boredom - yet there remains the concern that idleness will lead her to sin, as Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: “for idleness leads to licentiousness" (Ketubot 61b).
Therefore, if there is a dispute between husband and wife - the wife wishing to be exempt from all work while the husband wants her to work in some household or income-producing capacity - the wife is obligated to work. Conversely, if the husband wishes his wife to be exempt from all work while she wishes to work, the husband is forbidden to prevent her from doing so (Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 80:2-3).
Those Who Are Idle Are Disqualified from Giving Testimony
Our Sages further stated (Sanhedrin 24b) that those who pass their time in idleness - such as dice players - are disqualified from giving testimony, “because they do not engage in the settlement of the world" (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 34:16). The Rambam likewise wrote: “One who occupies himself neither with Scripture, nor with Mishnah, nor with a way of the land (i.e., work) - is presumed to be a wicked person and is rabbinically disqualified from testifying, for anyone who has sunk to such a level is presumed to transgress most transgressions that come his way" (Laws of Testimony 11:1).
WHAT IRAN IS REALLY TESTING AND WHY SO MANY ISRAELIS FEEL THE TABLE HAS SUDDENLY TURNED
For the past several days, I've been receiving variations of the same question from readers. Not about a specific Hezbollah attack. Not about a specific statement from Washington. Not even about the details of the latest U.S.-Iran negotiations.
The question is much simpler:
How did the pressure suddenly shift from Iran to Israel? It is a fair question.
Only a short time ago, Iran appeared to be on the defensive. Israel and the United States were closely coordinated. Tehran and its proxies were under pressure. Hezbollah was constrained. The strategic momentum appeared to be moving in one direction.
Today, many Israelis feel as though the entire table has somehow been turned.
Whether that perception is fully accurate or not, it is worth examining why so many people have reached that conclusion.
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