HaGaon HaRav Kalman Epstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah-Grodno, has announced his endorsement of Eretz HaKodesh in the upcoming WZO elections. For those unfamiliar, Rav Kalman founded Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, in 1974. His father, HaGaon HaRav Zelik Epstein ZT”L, served as Rosh Yeshiva until his petira in 2009. Over the past 50 years, Shaar HaTorah has produced thousands of Choshuva Bnei Torah, many of whom are now mechanchim worldwide. Just last week, Rav Kalman was featured on the cover of Mishpacha Magazine, where he addressed the urgent issue of the shidduch crisis. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Askonim including Rabbi Moishe Indig of the WJCC, Moshe Weiser, Yanky Itzkowitz of Williamsburg Shomrim, and Sam Stern of the UJO—met on Wednesday with NYC Sanitation leadership and Community Affairs officers from the 90th and 79th precincts, which serve Williamsburg, to coordinate pre-Pesach garbage preparations.

On Wednesday, construction continued at the site of the newly built Breslover Beis HaMedrash on Main Street, where the original Shul was completely demolished and is now being rebuilt from the ground up. Workers poured concrete for the first floor’s exterior walls, along with the initial layer of walls for the Mikvah.

Air-raid sirens pealed across central Israel on Thursday following missiles launched at the Jewish state by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist group, sending millions of civilians running for bomb shelters.
“Following alerts that were activated a short time ago in several areas of the country, two missiles launched from Yemen were intercepted,” the Israeli army said. “Both missiles were intercepted before they crossed into the country’s territory, alerts were activated according to policy.”
Sirens were activated as far north of Kfar Saba, some 15 miles from Tel Aviv, and as far south as the Chevron area in southern Judea, the Israel Defense Forces said. Alerts also sounded in Yerushalayim.

The U.S. economy expanded at a healthy annual 2.4% pace the last three months of 2024, supported by a year-end surge in consumer spending, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its previous estimate of fourth-quarter growth. But it’s unclear whether the United States can sustain solid growth as President Donald Trump wages trade wars, purges the federal workforce and promises mass deportations of immigrants working in the country illegally. The Commerce Department said that growth in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — decelerated from a 3.1% pace in July-September 2024. For all of 2024, the economy — the world’s biggest — grew 2.8%, down a tick from 2.9% in 2023. Consumer spending rose at a 4% pace, up from 3.7% in third-quarter 2023.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed that it had terminated 113 contracts, totaling $4.7 billion, including a consulting agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for climate change efforts in Peru.
On X, the department stated, “On [Tuesday], agencies terminated 113 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $4.7B and savings of $3.3B, including a $145K USDA consulting contract for ‘Peru climate change activities.’”
Additionally, DOGE announced that the Department of Labor had canceled grants worth $577 million, which resulted in savings of $237 million.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.

CAI

Aliza Silverberg’s dream is to open up her own pediatric dental practice and provide children with a positive, relaxing experience at the dentist. Aliza chose Touro to help make her dream a reality. “I chose to attend Touro’s Lander College for Women (LCW) for my undergraduate schooling because it was an exciting opportunity to live in New York City and it allowed me to meet some incredible people, both socially and among the faculty. Additionally, I was confident Touro would offer me the academic opportunities to excel in my coursework and continue on to dental school,” Aliza said. Indeed, LCW was instrumental in ensuring Aliza was ready for the next step. “One way in which Touro helped prepare me for professional school is with their one-week pre-dental experience program.