Any proposed legislation related to chareidi enlistment must take into account concerns about its potential impact on Torah study and the fear of secularization, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs warned on Monday. He cautioned that arresting yeshiva students for evading the draft could lead to a backlash that would undermine any efforts to increase conscription.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rav Shlomo Isaacson zt”l, rov of Kehillas Beis Dovid in Passaic, New Jersey. He was 72.
His father, Rav Meir Isaacson, was the second Rebbe of Romun and the Av Beis Din of Pukshin, as well as the author of Shu”t Mevaser Tov. He established his bais medrash in Philadelphia and later in Staten Island until his petirah. His mother, the late Rebbetzin Gittel, was a daughter of Rav Isamar of Nadvorna.
His grandfather, Rav Shlomo Isaacson, was a son-in-law of Rav Meir of Kretchnif. They were descendants of Rav Dovid’l of Romun, who was a brother of Rav Meir of Premishlan.

On Sunday night, vandals forcibly entered a shul situated within a public bomb shelter on Bat Yam’s David Remez Street, desecrating a Sefer Torah by throwing it onto the floor and stomping on it.
The perpetrators, using electric tools, managed to saw open the aron kodesh, seemingly aware that the noise would go unnoticed due to the shul’s location within a bomb shelter.
The damage was discovered early the following Monday morning when mispallelim arrived for Shacharis. Police were called to the scene, but according to the mispallelim, the officers who arrived showed little concern and left shortly afterward, telling those affected that they could file a formal complaint at the station if they wished.

The Park Slope, Brooklyn location of the Israeli restaurant Miriam was the target of an antisemitic attack on Sunday, hours before the beginning of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Vandalizing an Israeli restaurant with the libel ‘genocide cuisine’ simply because it is Israeli is an act of antisemitism,” stated Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). “The distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism might exist on paper, but it collapses in the real world.”
Torres, who visited the restaurant on Sunday, posted a picture of himself with the restaurant owner. “Jew-hatred will find no refuge in the City of New York,” he stated. “A hate crime against the Jewish community is a hate crime against all of us.”

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It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rabbi Moshe Herson z”l, regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch of New Jersey, at the age of 90 after a prolonged illness. His petirah follows that of his wife, Pearl, who passed away just one month ago at 85.

A historic handwritten letter by the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh, Rav Chaim ibn Attar (c1696-1743), sold for $700,000 (2.5 million shekels) at auction in Yerushalayim on Wednesday.
The sale, conducted by Kedem Auction House, includes an additional 25% commission fee.
The manuscript, which emerged from a comprehensive collection assembled by Israeli attorney Avigdor Klagsbald, features the distinctive signature of the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh and addresses the dayanim of Meknes regarding tax relief for a community member. The letter was discovered within a remarkable volume containing hundreds of manuscripts and signatures from prominent 18th-century Moroccan gedolim, including Rav Yaakov ibn Tzur and Rav Yehudah ben Attar.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Avrohom Moshe Altusky zt”l. He was 63 years old.
Rav Avrohom Moshe, a resident of the East 8th Street/East End neighborhood of Lakewood, NJ, was a marbitz Torah for many years. He was a maggid shiur at Yeshiva Gedolah of Deal, NJ, greatly uplifting talmidim with his dedication and passion for harbotzas haTorah, his yiras Shomayim, and his ahavas Hashem.

With great sadness, Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Menachem Mendel Yitzchok Halevi Belsky zt”l.
A son of Rabbi and Mrs. Dov Belsky zt”l, Rav Mendel was the former rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah of Midwood in Brooklyn, NY. He dedicated over a quarter of a century to teaching, raising, and molding countless talmidim, always carrying himself with great humility and gentility. His impact on his talmidim, and the Torah community at large, was profound.

Lakewood, NJ – The mesivta farher system in Lakewood, which has long been a critical part of the transition for eighth-grade boys to mesivta, has fallen apart in dramatic fashion, sending shockwaves through the local community, Matzav.com has learned. Several mesivtos reportedly broke from the established takanah by accepting boys before the agreed-upon date, which had traditionally been set for the week of Tu B’Shevat. The premature acceptance of talmidim has triggered a cascade of disarray, as other mesivtos scrambled to adjust their plans to accommodate the influx of boys ahead of schedule.