A group of Chasidic Lakewood residents received a tour of Beth Medrash Govoha on Monday morning, Lakewood Alerts reports, during which they visited the yeshiva’s batei midrashim, met Rav Malkiel Kotler shlit”a, and were addressed by BMG CEO R’ Yosef Heinemann. In describing the resources necessary to keep the largest yeshiva in the United States running smoothly, R’ Heinemann made a startling revelation: in the past 12 months alone, BMG’s talmidim and yungerleit consumed around 3.6 million coffees. “For somebody who hears that, it sounds like a crazy number. But if you times it by 8,500 and [do the math], it’s only about about 1.5 cups of coffee per day per talmid,” he said.

Despite the official end of the coronavirus pandemic, its devastating impact continues to reverberate, having claimed the lives of over 80,000 New Yorkers and a staggering 1.13 million Americans nationwide. Recent data from the CDC reveals that among the COVID-19 casaulties are 80,485 individuals in New York state, with approximately half of them residing in New York City. From March 2020 until recently, when a federal law approved by Congress and President Biden terminated the emergency status, the virus claimed the lives of 1,127,928 Americans, the CDC said. Elected officials and public health experts are strongly urging the population, particularly the elderly and immunocompromised individuals, to prioritize COVID vaccinations and stay up to date with immunization efforts.

The NYPD is searching for a violent suspect who reportedly placed a 73-year-old man in a chokehold and then punched him in the face before throwing him to the ground. Police said the incident occurred on Sunday afternoon in the vicinity of Hooper Street and S. Fifth Street in Williamsburg. After violently throwing the elderly man to the floor, the suspect then went through his pockets and removed his wallet, which had a debit card and $60 inside. Despite the horrific nature of the crime, there have been no calls for protests, in stark contrast to the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless and mentally ill man who died after being placed in a chokehold after threatening subway riders. Do only mentally ill people who are uncared for by their own liberals-led city deserve to be defended?

You know the feeling of annoyance when buying a coffee for a dollar and being prompted by the payment processing machine to give another dollar as a tip? Well, it’s a lot more annoying when you pick up some products at a store, head to the self-checkout, and are still urged to give a tip. Such prompts are becoming increasingly popular at retailers – including many frum-owned stores. According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, numerous companies – including airports, bakeries, coffee shops and sports stadiums – have introduced self-serve tipping options, despite patrons having zero interactions with an employee. The tip is of course optional, but as anyone who has encountered them can attest, they leave you feeling guilty if you choose not to tip.

A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign with withering criticism of the bureau. The report Monday from special counsel John Durham represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Instead, Durham’s investigation delivered some results, with prosecutors securing a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they took to trial.

Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday evening that the Palestinian worker from Gaza who was killed by a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad will be recognized as a terror victim and his family in Gaza will receive compensation from Israel’s National Insurance Institute [Bituch Leumi], Israel Hayom reported. Abdullah Abu Jaba, a 34-year-old father of six, was killed on Shabbos while working at an agricultural construction site in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. No air raid siren was activated in the area and there was no Iron Dome interception because the IDF’s policy is not to intercept rockets headed for open areas. The victim’s brother, also a resident of Gaza, was seriously injured, and an Israeli-Bedouin who worked at the site as a security guard, was moderately injured.

Iran promised the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group $5 million for every day of conflict with Israel, Channel 12 News reported on Sunday. The report also said that the Hamas terror group aided Islamic Jihad following the launch of Operation Shield and Arrow by providing hiding places for its leaders. Senior Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Al-Hindi, who led the cease-fire talks in Cairo, spoke about Iran’s support for the terror group’s attacks against Israel, telling the media: “Iran is the only country that supports the Palestinians with weapons and money.” Apparently, Al-Hindi has the same line of thought as some Haaretz columnists, claiming that Israel “created” the conflict with PIJ to distract Israelis from their internal problems.

Anti-judicial reform protesters broke into the dining room of a hotel in the Galil on Monday morning where Economy Minister Nir Barkat (Likud) was staying for a conference along with members of the conservative Kohelet Forum. The “protesters” physically pushed the hotel employees in order to reach Barkat but the hotel employees fought back and pushed the protesters back. One protester hit a security guard in the shoulder with his flagpole and when the employee tried to protect himself, the protester fell to the floor. Another protester threw a chair, hitting a hotel employee on his back. A third protester fell down while backing away from the employees.

Most people have ceased to be surprised by the content published by the self-hating Jews at the leftist Haaretz newspaper but one of its articles in its English-speaking edition during Operation Shield and Arrow was particularly shocking. An opinion article by Yossi Klein published on Thursday was entitled: Killing Children Brings Israelis Together. In the article, Klein claims that the killing of Gazan children in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip is a deliberate act by the Israeli government and the IDF. Why? He claims that the purpose is to frighten the Palestinians, bring happiness to Israelis and provide a sense of unity to the country in the wake of the divisive judicial reform protests.

The levaya of Aviel Hadad, H’yd, an Israeli-Tunisian citizen who was killed in the shooting attack in Djerba on Lag B’Omer, took place on Friday in the southern city of Netivot amid the sounds of explosions in the background from Iron Dome interceptions. Hadad, z’l, 30, was killed alongside his cousin Binyamin Hadad, H’yd, a 42-year-old French citizen who was buried in his city of residence – Marseille, France. The levaya was held against the background of flying rockets amid Operation Shield and Arrow. Baruch Hashem, no air raid sirens sounded in the city during the levaya. “We thought he went to Djerba to bring home a kallah and we would see him rejoicing under the chuppah,” the niftar’s brother-in-law said in his hesped.