By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Last week, Mrs. Shoshana Ovitz celebrated her 104th birthday at the Kosel. She asked that all her offspring join her there and they would jointly recite Nishmas. The picture of the gathering melted Jewish hearts around the world. Hundreds of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren of a woman who faced down the evil Eichmann in Auschwitz gathered in her honor. She survived some of the worst torture known to man and with faith and trust, she married and moved to Haifa.

A New York Times editor is in trouble for what the Times calls repeated poor judgment on social media.
The editor, Jonathan Weisman, works in the Times Washington bureau with the title “deputy Washington editor” and is the author of the 2018 book (((Semitism))): Being Jewish in the Age Of Trump.

Rav Yosef Naftali Stern, rosh yeshivas Pressburg in Yerushalayim (1971)
Rav Tzvi Hirsch of Liska, Hungary (1798-1874). Rav Tzvi Hirsch spent several years at the court of the Yismach Moshe of Uhel, who spent a dominant role shaping his life. Rav Tzvi Hirsch authored Ach Pri Tevua and Hayashar Vehatov. His son mand successor was Rav Chaim Friedlander of Liska.
Rav Yitzchak Friedman, the Bohusher Rebbe (1903-1992). Born in Spikov, Russia to his father Rav Shalom Yosef.
Today in History – 14 Av
· Arabs took control of Eretz Yisrael from the Byzantines, 636.
· Pope Nicholas III requires compulsory attendance of Jews at conversion sermons, 1278.

Yaron Galai, the co-founder and CEO of online content distribution company Outbrain, has asked Israel’s Central Elections Committee to call on Facebook and Google to keep online discourse clean in the weeks leading up to Israel’s general election.
The last election, held in April, was rife with violent discourse and fake news, Galai said, requiring the setting of clear boundaries for advertising and content companies on the one hand, and an update of the committee’s regulations regarding online advertising on the other hand.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said on Tuesday that, if elected, he would be even-handed on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and even leverage U.S. funding “to end some of the racism” in Israel.
“All that I have ever said on this issue [the Israeli-Palestinian conflict], is that U.S. foreign policy should be even-handed. That’s all—even-handed,” he said in response to a question at a New Hampshire town hall meeting from an activist affiliated with the anti-Israel group IfNotNow, which has been approaching Democratic candidates as representatives of the Jewish community and asking them about ending the so-called “occupation” of the West Bank.

The Nazareth District Court decided to accept the Shas petition against the Women’s Lobby and canceled a previous directive prohibiting a performance with separate seating for the charedi community of Afula.
The judge ruled that the municipality will decide how the show by singers Moti Steinmetz and Chaim Israel should proceed. Afula Mayor Avi Elkabetz spoke with Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and compromised that the event will be held with full separation between men and women with an activity in the adjacent lawn area for families where huge screens will be placed to view the event.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

Israeli security officials are holding secret deliberations in preparation of a possible visit by US lawmakers Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar to Har Habayis, Hebrew-language broadcaster Channel 13 reported on Wednesday.
According to Channel 13, Israel’s deputy national security adviser held a classified meeting to prepare for the visit, where he concluded “there is high probability” that they will want to visit the Har Habayis due to the fact both congresswomen are Muslim.
The two congresswomen, who are expected to arrive in Israel on Sunday, will reportedly be accompanied by Palestinian Authority officials while touring the holy site.

A group of Palestinian Authority residents penned a special message to the family of murdered hesder yeshiva bochur and IDF soldier Dvir Sorek this week, after he was killed in a stabbing attack by Hamas-linked terrorists last Wednesday night:
Salam Alaykom,
For two years we have been meeting in one room, Palestinians and Israelis. At every meeting we talked about ourselves: our daily lives and the future that we want to build together. We used to meet every two weeks, bringing together young men between the ages of 18 and 25.

The question of who will be Israel’s next ambassador to the UN remained open on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top pick officially turned down the position.
Israel’s Interior Security Minister Gilad Erdan was offered the post last June, Israeli news site Mako reports, but refused to give an answer.
Last month, it was reported that Netanyahu had lost patience with Erdan and was considering other candidates, among them his former education minister Naftali Bennett.
On Wednesday, Erdan officially turned down the offer in a Twitter post, saying, “After I considered the offer to serve as Israel’s UN ambassador, I decided that I must continue in my post.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has announced the appointment of a former chief rabbi as his envoy to the State of Israel, more than ten years after the regime of the late President Hugo Chávez severed diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.