By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
We are meant to learn lessons from current events. Today’s headlines connect to the first Rashi in this week’s parsha.
A new president took office three weeks ago, promising to tackle waste and fraud in government while returning power to the people. Since then, he has worked forcefully to root out corruption and inefficiency in government spending. Taxpayers, stunned and disgusted, are learning the full extent of how billions of their hard-earned dollars were squandered.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Finally, after generations of enslavement in Mitzrayim and a dramatic redemption, Klal Yisroel reaches the apex of creation, standing at Har Sinai and receiving the Torah from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They hear the Aseres Hadibros and are awed and inspired to live lives of holiness, following the will of the Creator.
One of the mitzvos included in the Aseres Hadibros is Shabbos. We study the posuk of “Zachor es yom haShabbos lekadsho” (20:8), which literally translates as “Remember the Shabbos day to make it holy.”

Dear Editor,
We are writing this letter with heavy hearts, deeply torn between our gratitude for all that President Trump has done for us and Eretz Yisroel, and the undeniable frustration and anguish that we feel over the handling of the hostage situation. We have long admired his unwavering support and the numerous ways he has championed the cause of the Jewish people, but when it comes to the issue of the hostages in Gaza, he has failed us. It’s as simple as that.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Recently, we’ve become all too familiar with the heartbreaking news from Eretz Yisroel: surprise attacks, bombings, hostages, deaths, and soldiers killed and suffering grave injuries. Each day brings new challenges—political unrest, legal battles, and the looming threat of the giyus. We long for the day when peace will finally prevail in our ancient homeland, and our brothers and sisters can live in safety and harmony.
Good news is rare, and when it comes, we cherish it.

By Alex Traiman
President Donald Trump, sitting alongside Israeli Prime Binyomin Netanyahu, issued a geopolitical earthquake on Tuesday, doubling down on calls to resettle “1.7 or 1.8 million” Palestinians outside of the Gaza Strip.
The calls go beyond any concept of “total victory” that Netanyahu has verbalized and possibly even considered at any point during the current war with Hamas in Gaza. A little more than a week ago, the questions on the table were whether Israel could ever return all of its hostages and who would rule Palestinians living in Gaza on the “day after” the war.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
I took a week to gather my thoughts after the recent mesivta farher/application debacle. I needed time to calm down and clear my mind before writing this letter. I am deeply troubled by what’s happening in some communities, and I feel compelled to speak out.
And I write this letter as a longtime mechanech myself.
Let me just say it: Any rosh mesivta, any rebbi, any menahel, anyone who operates a mesivta with the sole focus of taking in only “top boys” should be ashamed of himself. Is this what Hashem wants? Is this the standard we should be setting for our boys?

By Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Klugman
Yeshiva Ohr Somayach
The actions of *Agam Berger* תחי’ and her mother are something that one witnesses maybe once in a lifetime.
That a mother and a daughter independently begin to keep Shabbos as a result of the daughter being taken into captivity by murderers, without one knowing of the Shmiras Shabbos of the other.
That a mother whose daughter is about to be released after almost 500 days begs Klal Yisrael not to be mechalel Shabbos upon her release.
Who declares that she won’t even travel to see her on Shabbos, so as not to cause chilul Shabbos.
And then Hashem moves around the pieces so that instead of Agam being released on Shabbos, she is released on Thursday and causes no chilul Shabbos.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
I am writing about the glaring hypocrisy that is “Yeshiva Week,” or “Midwinter Vacation.” (The first is the Modox term that somehow has become en vogue. Frankly, it’s weird, because it’s actually “Non-Yeshiva Week,” but whatever.) The level of inconsistency and double standards being displayed is nothing short of infuriating, and it’s time someone called it out.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
The world is moving so fast that we can barely keep track of what is going on. After experiencing four years of a weak, ineffective, and incompetent leader who caused the world’s leading country to suffer economically, politically, and morally, last week Hashem brought us a new leader, albeit one with whom we have become familiar.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
As a young frum family, we are finding it increasingly impossible to make ends meet, even as we tighten our belts and cut back on anything that’s not absolutely essential. It’s hard to imagine how anyone in our situation is expected to save or even plan for the future when the day-to-day costs are so overwhelming.