Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Grodzenski, z’tl, known as the “Tzaddik of Bnei Brak,” who passed away last week at the age of 91, was one of the last survivors of the Kovno Ghetto. A few hours after the Rav’s petirah last Tuesday at midnight, before he was even buried, he appeared in a dream to Harav Yitzchak Gibraltar (יבדלחט”א), his childhood friend and fellow survivor of the Kovno ghetto, and said to him: “I’m already in Gan Eden,” Kikar Hashabbat reported. Rav Gibraltar, who is known for the sefarim on emunah he authored following the Holocaust, went to be menachem avel the family on Thursday and told them what happened. He related that he went to sleep early on Tuesday evening and of course knew nothing about Harav Godzenski’s petirah (who passed away on Tuesday at midnight).

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Four years after President Donald Trump drove the rules of politics over a cliff to win the Republican presidential nomination and ultimately the White House, Democrats will go through their own version of the same test. In less than a month, Democratic voters will begin the formal process of sifting through a historically large field of candidates. The options include progressives who have inspired energy — and strong opposition — by rejecting traditional party politics and pushing for fundamental changes to America’s political, social and economic systems. Voters could pick the oldest nominee in the party’s history — or the youngest. Ironies abound at the outset of the Democratic primary. The oldest candidate at 78, Vermont Sen.

The Department of Homeland Security is agreeing to share citizenship information with the U.S. Census Bureau as part of President Donald Trump’s order to collect data on who is a citizen following the Supreme Court’s rejection of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census form. Trump’s order is being challenged in federal court, but meanwhile the Department of Homeland Security two weeks ago announced the agreement in a report. It said the agency would share administrative records to help the Census Bureau determine the number of citizens and non-citizens in the U.S., as well as the number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Information to be shared includes personally identifiable data, the Homeland Security document says.

The Judea military court near Jerusalem convicted Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin, 18, of the murder of Ari Fuld in Gush Etzion on September 16, 2018. Jabarin, a resident of a Palestinian town south of Chevron, was convicted of intentional homicide [military court equivalent of murder] for murdering Fuld and three counts of attempted intentional homicide. Fuld, a 45-year-old father of four, a well-known American-Israeli activist and resident of Efrat, died a hero after chasing the terrorist despite his mortal stab wounds to save a Jewish woman who was the next intended victim of the terrorist. Despite his wounds, he managed to jump over a low stone wall and shoot and wound the terrorist before collapsing.

President Donald Trump insists that Iranian cultural sites are fair game for the U.S. military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law. He also warned Iraq that he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian official. But Congress is pushing back, in what’s expected to be a pivotal week as lawmakers return from a holiday recess. On Monday, two top Senate Democrats called on Trump to immediately declassify the administration’s reasoning for the strike on the Iranian official, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, saying there is “no legitimate justification” for keeping the information from the public.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced at a press conference today that the NYPD will begin to track hate crimes in Compstat, their recording method for major index crimes. This move comes after a 20% increase in hate crimes in 2019, of which the majority targeted Jewish New Yorkers. Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who Chairs the NYC Council’s Jewish Caucus, drafted legislation requiring the NYPD to make this change in their hate crimes reporting. He recently met with the NYPD’s chief legal counsel Oleg Chernayvsky, to push for hate crimes to be reported in Compstat. “Compstat has proven to aid in reducing crime, so I think it’s important that we include hate crimes in these metrics.

Global stock markets took another hit Monday while oil and gold prices surged in response to the escalating tensions in the Middle East following the U.S. killing of Iran’s top general. The death of Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike has heightened geopolitical risks for financial markets, including concerns about potential disruptions to the global oil supply. The U.S. has reinforced its presence in the Middle East in preparation for reprisals from Iran, which has vowed revenge. Iraq, meanwhile, has called for the expulsion of American troops from its territory. The moves in financial markets illustrated the concerns of investors. In time of volatility, traders often seek the sanctuary of assets like gold and steer clear of those that are considered risky, such as stocks.

The US military informed its counterparts in Baghdad on Monday it was preparing for “movement out of Iraq,” a day after the Iraqi parliament urged the government to oust foreign troops. The head of the US military’s Task Force Iraq, Brigadier General William Seely, sent a letter to the head of Iraq’s joint operations command, a copy of which is attached. The letter said forces from the US-led coalition in Iraq would “be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement.” “In order to conduct this task, Coalition Forces are required to take certain measures to ensure that the movement out of Iraq is conducted in a safe and efficient manner,” said the letter, dated Monday.

Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai is facing a deluge of criticism for the tragic drowning of a young couple in a flooded elevator in south Tel Aviv. Others are pointing fingers at Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services which reportedly took a half-hour to an hour to respond to the building residents’ frantic calls for help. Dean Shoshani and Stav Harari drowned in a flooded elevator on the basement level of a residential building in south Tel Aviv on Shabbos, when the entire Gush Dan area received an unprecedented amount of rain within two hours.