The East Ramapo Central School District (ERCSD) announced a surprising $30 million budget surplus during Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, sparking calls for accountability and reforms in financial oversight, Monsey Scoop reported. This discovery, confirmed by an independent audit conducted by EFPR Group, contrasts sharply with earlier warnings of a $30 to $40 million deficit projected for the summer of 2024. The audit, which reviewed the district’s finances for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, found that financial statements complied with generally accepted accounting principles. The unexpected surplus comes on the heels of concerns raised by a state-appointed monitor last year, who predicted a severe fiscal shortfall.

The missile that hit the border of Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan on Monday evening caused panic and destruction, with missile shrapnel fragments, some still on fire, falling from the skies and falling on a commercial area. Although the IDF initially reported that the fragments that fell were from an interceptor missile, the police district chief later contradicted the report, saying that the missile itself hit the area. The Ramat Gan municipality also said that a missile had struck the area. The missile was an Iranian Fateh-110 surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can carry a high-explosive warhead of up to 500 kilograms.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman The Power of Student

Israeli soldiers in Lebanon have found large troves of Russian weapons in Hezbollah areas, surprising security officials who were unaware of the large cache of modern Russian arms Hezbollah had acquired in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The report quoted an IDF major who said that 60% to 70% of the weapons that troops found in southern Lebanon in the first days of the ground war were Russian-made. More recently, reservists told the WSJ that they continue to locate large amounts of Russian weapons inside Lebanon. Although the IDF was aware that Hezbollah had some older Russian-made weapons, their withdrawal from the country in 2006 meant that they lacked information from the ground in the almost two decades since then.

Red alert sirens blared in central Israel and northern Israel at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday, including Netanya, Herzliya, Hadera, Ra’anana, Kfar Saba, and the surrounding areas. After scanning the areas, the police said that they are at the scenes of two sites where missiles hit open areas, near Kfar Yona and in the Beit Lid area, both in the Sharon area in central Israel. There is an IDF base in Beit Lid. Four people were lightly injured after windows shattered in a “concrete building” in Beit Lid. The building was not identified. Another person was lightly injured in the Karmiel area in northern Israel. Also, shrapnel from an interceptor missile fell in the central Israeli town of Kadima-Tzoran, causing damage but baruch Hashem no injuries. U.S.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter, as I feel profound concern for the spiritual direction of our collective kehilla. Week after week, I see the so-called “kosher” magazines pushing the boundaries further and further, yet no one seems to bat an eye. Our sensitivity to kedusha and Yiddishe values is being eroded in ways never seen before. These publications, which were once modest and uplifting, have become filled with content that blatantly undermines the values of tzniyus. The advertisements are disgusting, glorifying material excess and promoting a lifestyle of indulgence that stands in stark contrast to our Torah values. Sukkos editions, for instance, now stretch to 300 pages, with most of that space dedicated to outrageous and extravagant ads. Where are our values?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a pointed critique of the Biden administration’s policies during a speech in the Knesset on Monday, highlighting disagreements over major decisions in Israel’s ongoing war against Iran and its proxies. Netanyahu alleged that the United States had opposed Israel’s military actions at critical junctures in the conflict. “The US had reservations and suggested that we not enter Gaza,” he said.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have agreed in principle to a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, marking what a top Lebanese official described as the most serious effort yet to end the ongoing hostilities. Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, confirmed Lebanon’s written response to the proposal had been delivered to the U.S. ambassador in Beirut on Monday. He also revealed that White House envoy Amos Hochstein is traveling to Lebanon to continue discussions. Hezbollah has backed Berri as the primary negotiator for the ceasefire.

Activists from the right-wing Noam party erected a huge banner on a bridge over the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv on Monday morning featuring photos of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, with the statement: “His (chalilah) blood is on your hands.” The party explained that the sign is part of a protest against Baharav-Miara’s lack of action against the incitement and anarchy on the streets against Netanyahu, which caused the situation to escalate to the point where Israelis felt free to shoot flares at Netanyhau’s home in Caesarea on Motzei Shabbos, causing a fire. Three people suspected of shooting the flares, including a senior IDF reserve officer, were arrested following the incident and are still being held by the police.

In the aftermath of the November 5 presidential election, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed a finger at the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, suggesting its influence might have played a role in the Democratic Party’s underperformance. The New York congresswoman, known for her frequent criticism of Israel, made her remarks in a post on the social media platform X. “If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats, then they should be discussing AIPAC,” Ocasio-Cortez, commonly referred to as AOC, wrote on Sunday.