Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) falls on May 6 this year. On Wednesday, the state’s Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority released up-to-date data on survivors in Israel.
A total of 133,362 Shoah survivors and victims of antisemitic harassment during World War II live in Israel, according to the authority.
About 96% of the survivors were children (under the age of 18) at the time of the Holocaust and were born after 1928.
“The average age of Holocaust survivors is currently 87, the oldest of whom is a 111-year-old native of Tunis, the youngest 78, born about 10 months after the end of World War II,” the authority said.
“About 61% of all Holocaust survivors in Israel are women,” it added.

The Israeli government submitted an affidavit to the High Court of Justice on Wednesday informing the court that it has begun formulating “action plans to realize the conscription of chareidi men in the immediate time frame.”
The state added that the Ministry of Defense and the IDF were working on a plan with a longer-term view that would involve the gradual enlistment of chareidi men.
The state also requested an extension of several weeks to give the staff developing the plan enough time to complete it, after which the plan will be presented to the court.

Israeli security forces on Wednesday evacuated the Givat Or Meir outpost, located in the Binyamin region of Samaria, and arrested some two dozen people who tried to prevent the demolition.
According to the IDF Civil Administration, Givat Or Meir—established last year near Ofra—is built on privately owned Palestinian land. Authorities have repeatedly evacuated the community, most recently in February.
The HaKol HaYehudi news site reported on Wednesday that large numbers of Israel Police officers and Civil Administration inspectors showed up with bulldozers and destroyed Givat Or Meir‘s access road.

We have all been stunned and outraged by what we have been hearing and seeing on America’s college campuses: Antisemitic and anti-Israel vitriol from students and professors; praise for Hamas and its butchery; threats, assaults, and violence against Jewish students; tepid response from university officials.
Jewish students are rightfully scared for their safety. And we must support them!

A large crowd gathered on Isru Chag on Techeiles Mordechai Street in the Romema neighborhood of Yerushalayim to express gratitude for the nissim that were experienced in the terror attack on Erev Yom Tov.
Seated on the dais were the four survivors who miraculously sustained only minor injuries and were released from the hospital to their homes before Yom Tov.
Also present were the neighborhood rabbonim and the rosh yeshiva of the Ohr Yerushalayim Yeshiva, Rav Dovid Shapira.

Amid mounting security concerns in northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces have proposed the abandonment of this year’s customary Lag Ba’omer celerbations in Meron.
This proposal, first reported by Yediot Acharonot, comes three weeks ahead of Lag Ba’omer and follows a series of consultations held by the IDF’s Northern Command and Home Front Command.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yisroel Moshe Fried zt”l, who was niftar on Acharon Shel Pesach.
Rav Fried was the rov of the Neustadt Bais Medrash on County Line Road in Lakewood. He had battled illness recently.
Rav Fried was an outstanding talmid chochom and posek who was supremely dedicated to his mispallelim and those who sought his counsel and psakim.
The levayah was held today at the Neustadt Bais Medrash in Lakewood. Kevurah took place in Monsey.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com Israel}

Rav Asher Halevi Soloveitchik zt”l, youngest son of Rav Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Brisk, and a grandson of the Brisker Rov, was niftar on Isru Chag in Yerushalayim.
On Chol Hamoed, Rav Asher collapsed in his home on Rechov Nechemiah in Yerushalayim, and after prolonged resuscitation efforts, he was transferred to Shaarei Tzedek Medical center, where it was determined that he suffered a severe stroke.
Rav Asher was 54 and was niftar this morning at the hospital. He was an outstanding talmid chochom and boki who was known at Yeshivas Brisk for his hasmadah, learning at Brisk since his younger years.

Tonight is known in many circles as “Rumpelnacht,” as the post-Pesach cleanup gets underway. With pots, pans and dishes all over the place and kitchenware being moved from here to there, the name “Rumpelnacht” has been found appropriate by some to describe the hectic atmosphere.
So as you “turn back over” from Pesach to chometz, Matzav.com wishes you bracha and hatzlacha and all the best to your families and loved ones.