Ida Nudel, one of the most prominent activists to campaign for the right of Jews to leave the Soviet Union in the 1970s and ’80s, died in Israel on Tuesday, Israeli media reported. She was 90. Nudel was born in the Soviet Union in 1931 and came to prominence in the 1970s as a leading activist for the rights of jailed Soviet Jews, and as a refusenik — one of thousands banned from leaving the country at the time. Nudel sought permission to leave for 16 years, but Soviet authorities denied her an exit visa on the grounds that she may have heard state secrets while working as an accountant at a state institution. Her sister and family were allowed to emigrate to Israel in 1971, leaving her behind.

Not long before his passing, HaGaon HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l, who was an enthusiastic supporter of Dirshu’s programs, voiced his feelings about the importance of the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program when he said, “The Gemara teaches us, ‘We learned in the beis medrash of Eliyahu that one who learns halacha every day is assured a place in Olam Habah, as it says, ‘Halichos olam Lo [the ways of the world are His]’ – do not read the word halichos, but rather halachos.’” Rav Shteinman asked, “Why didn’t the passuk just say the word ‘halachos’?

Drama unfolded on Tuesday night as a large police force gathered on Zonnenfeld Street in the Beis Yisroel neighborhood of Jerusalem in order to tear down the large porch Sukkah of Hagaon HaRav Moshe Brandsdorfer, which had been built with an engineering permit. The Sukkah, which had kicked up a noisy backlash on social media platforms both in Israel and abroad due to its abnormal construction, was built in a way that left more than half of it hanging off of a balcony and over the sidewalk and street. According to reports in the Israeli media and claims made by the owner, the Sukkah has been built in this style for many years and each year is inspected by an engineer to certify its safety.

The situation for Jews in Australia this Rosh Hashanah is unfortunately no different than last year, when minyanim were forbidden. The cities of Melbourne and Sydney are again in lockdown and gatherings are strictly forbidden so minyanim are completely out of the question. But what about tekias shofar? Askanim worked tirelessly to convince Australian authorities to allow an exemption for tekias shofar and at the last minute, the sought-after exemptions were received, Australian Jewish News (AJN) reported. In Sydney, shofar blowing will be allowed at designated outdoor locations.

Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, the head of the non-profit Tzedek Association, is still hard at work carrying out rescue operations in Afghanistan, together with Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana. One recent operation was carried out after Margaretten received an unusual request – to save an Afghan who donated a kidney that saved the life of a frum Jew. The kidney donor was already reportedly in the Taliban’s crosshairs, branded as an “infidel” and sentenced to death for his assistance to a Jew. Margaretten and Kahana successfully rescued the Afghani kidney donor but further details of the incident are currently being kept under wraps for safety reasons.

A US Foreign Service officer is still employed at the US State Department six months after his-anti-Semitic blog posts were discovered and over a month after 70 Department staff members sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding his dismissal, Foreign Policy reported. In a post on his website dated October 4, 2020, Fritz Berggren wrote: “Jesus came to save the whole world from the Jews — the founders of the original Anti-Christ religion, they who are the seed of the Serpent, that brood of vipers.” “Not only is his propagation of antisemitic ideas highly disturbing and offensive to Jewish and non-Jewish employees alike, but as Jewish employees, we feel his presence at the Department is threatening,” the letter to Blinken stated.

Jewish Delta pilot Alexander Kahn flew Afghani evacuees from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Dulles Airport outside Washington D.C. as part of a program that mobilized US commercial airlines for the Afghanistan evacuation program. The experience was a special one for Kahn because as he told CNN New Day, he was able to put himself in the refugees’ position due to his father’s experience of arriving in the US bereft of everything after the Holocaust. It wasn’t only Kahn who empathized with the plight of the refugees. “Our flight attendants on their own initiative went out the night before and purchased a bunch of supplies for the children that we knew were going to be on the flights,” he said.

When Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association heard about four siblings in Afghanistan who needed help, he decided to take action. Suneeta, an Afghan woman living in the US since 2018, has four children under 18 living alone in Afghanistan. Suneeta’s husband, who worked as an interpreter for the US army, disappeared eight years ago and is presumed to have been taken and killed by the Taliban. After her husband’s disappearance, Suneeta fled with her children to Pakistan but her children were later kidnapped by her brother-in-law who took them back to Afghanistan to her late husband’s family. When the Taliban gained control over Afghanistan, Suneeta feared that her children would be targeted by the Taliban.

The Muslim man who assaulted two frum Jews last week in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London was implicated in at least two additional attacks on Jews. On the same day that he assaulted a man in his 60s and a 12-year-old boy, he also struck a chassid in his 30s in the face with a glass bottle. The man is still at large. #HateCrime #Antisemitism Yet another racially motivated #Assault Wed 6:40pm Orthodox Jew struck in the face with a bottle @MPSHackney are urgently trying to identify the assailant who went on a racist rampage assaulting multiple Jews over a 3 hour period CAD 6513 22/08/21 pic.twitter.com/9VeTCyTnqK — Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) August 24, 2021 London police said they have been informed of a fourth victim as well who has yet to contact them.

A terrible tragedy occurred in the Chareidi community in Antwerp, Belgium on Tuesday morning when two sisters crossing the street in the Jewish quarter were run over and killed by a truck. The accident occurred when a truck turned onto a main street lined with shuls and Jewish stores and failed to notice the two sisters in the crosswalk, crossing the street after the light turned green. The sisters were identified as Hindel Adler, a’h, age 9, and her sister Gittel, a’h, age 1.5, from a well-known family of six children belonging to the Gerrer community in the city. Their father, Reb Gavriel Adler, is one of the heads of the kehilla. Hatzolah of Antwerp quickly arrived at the scene but sadly could do nothing but determine the girls’ deaths.