In an audio recording released by the Kan public broadcaster, the former Sephardic chief rabbi can be heard suggesting that all chareidi men should be excused from compulsory military service, including those not actively studying in a yeshiva.

“All bnei Torah are exempt from going to the army, even if they’re deadbeats and don’t study,” Rav Yitzchok Yosef states.

“There are female soldiers, officers and profanity [in the army]. There are terrible things there — don’t go there, period.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Avrohom Tzvi Shmulevitz zt”l, one of the great Torah giants of Eretz Yisroel. He was 77.
Rav Shmulevitz was born in Yerushalayim on the 29th of Nissan in 1947, the second son of his father, Rav Chaim Leib Shmulevitz, rosh yeshiva of Mir, and his mother, Mrs. Chana Miriam, a daughter of Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Mir.
Rav Shmulevitz was also a grandson of Rav Yosef Yoizel Horowitz, the Alter of Novardok, as his paternal grandmother was the Alter’s daughter, and on his mother’s side he was a grandson of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka.

The Orthodox Union has granted kosher certification to Skittles Littles Original. Although some Skittles versions, including those from Israel, were kosher, they lacked official certification in the United States.
An OU spokesperson commented on the decision, saying, “Skittles Littles Original are kosher even without OU on the packaging. This applies to both bags and tubes.”
These Skittles can be found at major retailers, including Amazon, as well as certain drug and grocery stores.
Despite the absence of the OU symbol, all Skittles Littles products in the U.S. are certified as OU kosher parve.

Three Israeli citizens have been arrested on suspicion of harming the country’s national security on behalf of the Iranian regime, the Israel Security Agency and Israel Police revealed on Tuesday.
One of the suspects, Elimelech Stern, a 21-year-old chareidi resident of Beit Shemesh, was charged on Tuesday with illegal contact with a foreign agent.
According to the charges filed at the Yerushalayim District Court, Stern first came into contact with the agent, who identified himself by the name “Anna Elena,” through the encrypted Telegram messaging app.

Synopsis: Yes! Don’t blame the rabbi. Maybe you didn’t make yourself worthy of the blessing. Just because it didn’t work the first time doesn’t mean it won’t work the next, just like prayer.
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A heart-wrenching incident occurred in Lakewood, NJ with the tragic passing of Chana Ahuva Chaitovsky a”h. She was approximately two months old.
Chana Ahuva was discovered unresponsive just before 2 p.m. after being inadvertently left in a vehicle parked at a kollel in the Central Avenue/New Egypt Road vicinity.
With temperatures in Lakewood soaring to the low to mid-nineties, the inside of the car became dangerously hot.
Hatzolah paramedics arrived swiftly and attempted resuscitation, but their efforts were sadly unsuccessful.
Askanim are now working to ensure proper kavod hameis and that arrangements for her timely kevurah are made.
Umacha Hashem dimah me’al kol ponim.
{Matzav.com}

NYPD recruit Allan Pearlman was jogging laps in the gym last May during his police training when he heard a loud crash behind him. Pearlman, a Modern Orthodox Jew from Staten Island, turned around to see a fellow recruit on the floor, unmoving.
With his EMT training kicking in, Pearlman grabbed a medical bag from the academy, rushed to the classmate, checked for a pulse, and administered aid until an ambulance arrived.
The next month, Pearlman encountered another recruit for NYPD traffic enforcement in distress on the police academy’s muster deck, an outdoor meeting area. The recruit was experiencing a diabetic episode, and Pearlman once again provided emergency care until help arrived.

A crucial section of 7th Street in Lakewood, NJ was scheduled for closure and detours starting Monday, but local officials have successfully postponed it.
The closure was planned for the short stretch between Mary’s Lane and Park Avenue for railroad crossing repairs, which would have exacerbated the town’s notorious traffic congestion.
The closure, now rescheduled for the week of Tisha B’Av, aims to replace and rebuild the current railroad crossing with new concrete crossings and asphalt approaches.
This project, funded by federal money, is part of the New Jersey Transportation Department’s railroad grade-crossing safety program, which annually repairs, upgrades, or removes around 50 crossings statewide.
{Matzav.com}

According to information that Matzav.com received shortly before Shabbos, Camp Malka girls who returned home and could not be accommodated by the camp will now have the opportunity to attend a new overnight camp.

This new camp will be situated in Lakewood, NJ and is set to begin on Tuesday, July 16.

Picture Perfect Kiddush: Focus on Shabbos
Are the waiters at your simcha allowed to take pictures for you on Shabbos? What happens if you run out of ice? These questions and more answered by Rabbi Moshe Zev Kaufman – Rav of Khal Adas Bnei Yisroel in Chicago, Menahel of the Midwest Bais Horaah, as he walks us through the intricacies of Amira L’akum on Shabbos and benefitting from a Melocha done by a non-Jew on Shabbos.
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