Shlomo Rotenberg, z’l, 22, a Biala chassid and talmid of Yeshivas Shaarei Torah in Jerusalem, was killed in a head-on collision on Monday, a week before his wedding. Shlomo, z’l, was on his way to daven at kivrei tzaddikim in Israel’s north ahead of his wedding when the private car he was driving toward Meron was involved in a head-on collision with a truck. The car was completely crushed and Shlomo, z’l, was killed instantly. The truck driver was lightly injured in the accident. Emergency rescue forces pronounced Shlomo’s death at the scene and his body was extricated from the car in a complex operation using hydraulic tools.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that he believes the coronavirus pandemic originated with a leak out of a lab in Wuhan, China, and that under the Trump administration the U.S. came close to uncovering the details of how it began. “We have a really good idea what happened here,” Pompeo said. “There is an enormous amount of evidence that there was a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. There is a pile of evidence a hundred feet high, I have high confidence that that’s the case.

Zip codes with strong Orthodox Jewish populations are among the lowest vaccinated rates in New York. NY Governor Cuomo announced on Monday that seven zip codes are the lowest rates are in NYC: Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is the lowest in NYC with a 32.7% vaccination rate. Ocean Hill and Far Rockaway, Queens, both have a 33.4% rate. Canarsie, Brooklyn, has a 34.3% rate, Crown Heights 35.3%, and Brownsville and Borough Park are both at 35.8%. The lowest vaccinated rate in the entire New York State is in Monsey, coming in with a 17.8% rate. Other Hudson Valley municipalities among the 25 fewest vaccinated in New York include Monroe at 29.3 percent and Spring Valley at 29.3 percent.

Joe Biden repeatedly confused Syria with Libya while discussing ways of working with Russia during a G-7 press conference on Sunday. The 78-year-old gaffe machine spoke of working with Vladimir Putin to provide economic assistance to the people of Libya, prompting some confused glances from the press pack at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England. ‘I’m hopeful that we can find an accommodation where we can save the lives of people in — for example, in — in Libya,’ the president said, mentioning the north African country for the third time instead of Syria, which is in the Middle East. The blunder came days after he called Britain’s Royal Air Force the ‘RFA’ while addressing US military personnel at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk during his first-ever speech as President on British soil.

Thanks to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Hatzalah of South Florida is now a full fledged EMS provider. In an event attended by Rabbonim, Hatzalah volunteers, and many community activists and members, DeSantis signed the bill into law at The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside. Hatzalah of South Florida is now legally allowed to use lights and sirens while responding to emergencies in their private vehicles, and allowed to transport patients to the hospital in their state of the art ambulances. Hatzalah of South Florida is the first — and for the time being – only private volunteer faith-based 911 response team in the state. Hatzalah was launched 13 years ago in Florida, with a dream that was fulfilled today, thanks to Governor DeSantis.

Brooklyn Boro President Eric Adams holds a seven point lead over former sanitation boss Kathryn Garcia in the NYC mayoral primary – and Adams would edge out Garcia to ultimately win the Democratic nomination after 12 rounds of ranked-choice votes are counted. That’s the result of a WNBC/Telemundo 47/POLITICO/Marist Poll, which shows Adams extending his lead over Garcia, Maya Wiley and Andrew Yang, with all other candidates far back in single digits. It was conducted after Wiley picked up a endorsements like Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and AOC. ADAMS: 24% GARCIA: 17% WILEY: 15% YANG: 13% ALL OTHER CANDIDATES: <7% (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

On the first day of the new Bennett-Lapid government on Monday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz submitted a proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster. The proposal is identical to the proposal Gantz submitted to the previous government. The new government’s coalition agreements called for a proposal for a state inquiry to be presented and approved at its very first meeting. “This is a moral and ethical obligation for the families but no less important, it is a matter of an obligation to investigate [the disaster] and prevent such tragic incidents in the future,” the proposal stated. The estimated cost of managing and operating a commission of inquiry is about NIS 5 million a year. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Hours before the swearing-in of the Bennett-Lapid government on Sunday, Shas published a video from eight years ago of HaRav Ovadia Yosef, z’tl, speaking against Bayit Yehudi, then led by Naftali Bennett. In the course of his weekly shiur, Rav Ovadia had said: “There are people who think they’re religious – Mafdal [National Religious Party, precursor of Bayit Yehudi]. Who are these people? They call themselves ‘Bayit Yehudi’ – it’s not a bayit of Jews, it’s a bayit of goyim. They want to uproot the Torah, to establish civil marriage, public transportation on Shabbos. What type of religious people are they? It’s forbidden to call them religious, it’s forbidden to vote for them.

Israel’s parliament has narrowly voted in favor of a new coalition government, ending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic 12-year rule. Naftali Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu turned bitter rival, becomes prime minister, presiding over a diverse and fragile coalition comprised of eight parties with deep ideological differences. Netanyahu remains head of the Likud party and will hold the post of opposition leader. Sunday’s vote, passed by a 60-59 margin, ended a two-year cycle of political paralysis in which the country held four elections. (AP)

Naftali Bennett is heckled repeatedly by members of the right as he attempts to begin his speech at the plenum. Religious Zionist Party MKs Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Orit Strook were all removed from the Knesset plenum due to their comments.
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