A Russian Jew who underwent a bris at the age of 26 in Netanya on Thursday named himself “Kfir Ariel” after the Bibas boys, H”yd. The bris was arranged by Chabad shaliach Rabbi Menachem Mendel Teichman. Rabbi Teichman formerly served as a shliach in the Ukraine. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

WATCH: A bomb disposal robot is advancing toward a bus believed to harbor more bombs that failed to detonate

2 of the buses that were torched by bombs places by terrorists in Bat Yam

A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination to serve as President Donald Trump’s education secretary, bringing her closer to leading an agency the Republican president wants to shut down. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 along party lines to send her nomination to be considered by the full Senate. At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she wants to “reorient” the Education Department. Since his campaign, Trump has called for the department to be abolished, but McMahon acknowledged that only Congress could shut it down completely. “We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with,” she said.

All Light-Rail Traffic in Tel Aviv has been suspended due to the discovery of suspected explosives on two more empty buses in Bat Yam and Holon. The National Federation of Bus Drivers’ Organizations has directed bus drivers nationwide to stop their routes.

Two buses went up in flame in separate explosions in Bat Yam, a coastal city south of Tel Aviv, on Thursday evening local time, jolting residents and prompting an urgent response from Israeli authorities. The blasts, which occurred minutes apart, took place in bus depots within the city, with Bichasdei Hashem no passengers were aboard either vehicle at the time. While no fatalities or injuries have been confirmed, the incidents have sparked fears of a possible terrorist act. The first explosion was reported at around 8:40 PM local time (1:40 PM EST) near a bus parking area adjacent to the Bat Yam municipal stadium. Eyewitnesses described a loud boom followed by flames leaping from the bus, which had reportedly returned from its route shortly before the blast.

The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as director of the FBI, moving to place him atop the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency despite doubts from Democrats about his qualifications and concerns he will do Donald Trump’s bidding and go after the Republican president’s adversaries. “I cannot imagine a worse choice,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told colleagues before the 51-49 vote by the GOP-controlled Senate. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the lone Republican holdouts.

CCTV footage captured the suspect fleeing the scene following the bus bombing in Bat Yam, triggering an ongoing manhunt for the individual.

A Vision of Over 60 Years 64 years ago, in 1961, a young talmid chochom, Harav Yissachar Meyer, zt”l, arrived in the small town of Netivot, north-west of Beer Sheva, that had been established just 5 years earlier. At that time its population was 2000-3000. Rav Yissachar Meyer had a singular vision, one of kedusha and kvod shomayim, to turn Netivot into an Ir Torah (Torah City) of choice for avreichim and talmidei chachamim from across Eretz Yisrael to make their homes and to put down firm roots.   With just 12 talmidim in a ramshackle tzrif (shack) Rav Yissachar Meyer began his life’s work – Yeshivat Hanegev – and laid the foundation for his eternal legacy. All who met him were captivated by his sincerity, his warmth and his scholarship.