YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of Hagaon HaRav Yoel Kahan ZT”L, who served at the chief choizer (reviewer and teacher) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L’s teachings and the Head Mashpia of the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch. He was Niftar after suffering a massive heart attack on Thursday. He was 91. Known as “Reb Yoel,” he was revered by generations of Chabad students and scholars for his brilliance and his ability to distill and communicate subtle, complex concepts of Chabad philosophy to a wide and diverse audience. He was also the editor-in-chief of the highly acclaimed encyclopedia of Chabad Chasidic thought, Sefer Ha-arachim.

The Yankees’ post-All-Star break opener against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night was postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests among vaccinated New York pitchers Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta. “It’s a fluid situation that could spread. It has spread to some degree,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “We have three positives and we have three pending that we’ve had rapid tests on. … We’ll wait now for the lab tests to come back, which I’m assuming is going to be positive, as well. So that would increase our number to six, but we’re not at six yet. We’re at three confirmed.” Loaisiga went on the COVID-19 injured list Saturday, when the Yankees were in Houston, and he did not travel home with the team Sunday.

The Monsey community is invited to hear Divrei Zichronos and Divrei Hisorerus from Reb Shmuel Beller. He will be speaking [IN ENGLISH] about the Nissim and Hashgacha Pratis he experienced before, during and after the Holocaust. Hear his unique story how he survived numerous Nazi Concentration Camps, survived the “Death March” and witnessed the actual building of the Auschwitz concentration camp. R’ Beller was 12 when World War II began and spent five years being transported to ghettos and labor camps until he was sent to a concentration camp at the end of the war. He survived the camp, endured a death march, and was ultimately liberated but ironically almost didn’t survive eating solid food after being liberated. He became critically ill and was hospitalized for three months.

A serious incident occurred at Oorah’s “The Zone Boy’s Division” on Thursday morning. Sources tell YWN that emergency officials were on the scene at the camp located on Scotch Valley Road in Schoharie County for reports of multiple victims suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. As many as 23 staff members – all over the age of 18 – were transported to the hospital, and 15 others treated in the camp and released. Our sources tell us that all the victims were conscious and alert when they were evacuated to the three local hospital, and are all in stable condition. Most victims walked to the stretchers when the ambulances arrived, and are Bichasdei Hashem expected to be released today.

New York Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams signaled Wednesday how he might navigate and perhaps reshape City Hall’s choppy political relationship with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. At a joint news conference, Adams — the current Brooklyn borough president and a former police captain — sounded similar notes to the Democratic governor on confronting violent crime as the city tries to lure office workers and tourists back after pandemic shutdowns. “We see eye-to-eye that we must put in place real changes for people on the ground,” Adams said during Wednesday’s appearance in Brooklyn. Cuomo praised Adams as a leader with ”courage and competence,” and pledged “to work in full partnership” with him.

Every day at Camp Agudah is exciting and memorable. However, this past Monday, 3 Av, July 12, was truly special. It was on that day that the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah held a meeting at Camp Agudah. Rabbi Elya Brudny, Rabbi Hillel David, Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Rabbi Yosef Frankel, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rabbi Shlomo Eliyahu Miller, and Rabbi Shimon Yehuda Svei all attended the meeting in person while Rabbi Aharon Dovid Goldberg, Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, Rabbi Yeruchim Olshin, Chacham Yosef Harari-Raful, and Rabbi Yitzchok Sorotzkin, joined by phone. After the meeting the gedolim addressed the campers in different settings, undoubtedly an experience that will leave a lasting impact on the campers.

The move by Donald Trump’s company to strip its top finance chief from several leadership positions less than two weeks after his criminal indictment suggests it is facing a tricky, new business environment as it seeks to reassure lenders and other business partners. Allen Weisselberg, the top numbers man for Trump stretching back decades, has lost positions in companies overseeing a Scottish golf course, payroll operations and other businesses under the Trump Organization, according to government registry records. He retains his role as chief financial officer of the parent company. The moves weren’t unexpected, but they mark a possible delicate stage in Trump’s legal fight with the Manhattan district attorney’s office and his efforts to protect his company.

The COVID-19 curve in the U.S. is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings. Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins University data. And all but two states — Maine and South Dakota — reported that case numbers have gone up over the past two weeks. “It is certainly no coincidence that we are looking at exactly the time that we would expect cases to be occurring after the July Fourth weekend,” said Dr. Bill Powderly, co-director of the infectious-disease division at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis.

It will be weeks before New York issues any payments from the state’s $2.4 billion COVID-19 rent relief fund, state officials told The Associated Press Tuesday, adding to delays in a program that has been beset by technical glitches with its online application portal. At least 1.1 million New York households that rent have at least one family member who was economically impacted by the pandemic, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration. But New York is one of four states that did not distribute any of the tens of billions of dollars in rent relief that Congress has paid out to states this year, according to a U.S. Treasury report of spending through May. Virginia dispersed over $155 million by May 31, while Texas has distributed over $450 million so far.

A 29-year-old Union City, NJ, man has been arrested and charged with first-degree aggravated arson, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez. Oswaldo Domingo Xil-Argueta was charged with Aggravated Arson and Burglary in connection with a fire set at Mesivta Sanz Yeshiva on 34th Street in Union City. Because the arson occurred at a place of public worship, the aggravated arson charge has been elevated to a first-degree offense. At this point, there is no evidence that this was a bias incident, Suarez said. On July 3, just before 3 a.m., members of the Union City Police Department and the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue responded to 318 34th Street on reports of a working fire.