Klal Yisrael has lost a very special and holy individual with the sudden petirah of R’ Boruch Alexander Zisha Ritterman ז״ל. R’ Zisha was niftar on Friday morning, the second day of Yom Tov. R’ Zisha was one of the pillars of R’ Avraham Schorr Shlita’s shul and early morning kollel, and a member of the Chevra Kadisha for many years. The son of Rav Nechemia Chaim Ritterman זצ״ל, the famous first grade Rebbe in Yeshiva Toras Emes Kamenitz, R’ Zisha was well known for his integrity, soft-spoken nature and never wanting to charge people for his computer repair services. He was a resident of the Flatbush community, where he was beloved by all for his warmth and many quiet acts of chesed.

OHEL’s ‘tent’ has always remained open and available to the most vulnerable, providing an array of services for over 50 years. This ‘tent’ has expanded like never before. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the demands for OHEL supportive services persist. While there are so many impacted by the global health crisis, thousands of individuals rely on the care, comfort, and support that OHEL offers to nearly 15,000 unique individuals on a yearly basis. OHEL is caring 24/7 for 500 young adults and adults in our group homes and apartments,individuals with developmental and psychiatric disabilities, who call OHEL ‘home and family’.

Israel’s Health Ministry eased the lockdown on Jerusalem neighborhoods and the city of Bnei Brak as of Sunday night at midnight following encouraging signs that the infection rate in these areas has leveled off. The mayors of both cities also promised to continue to remove coronavirus patients to “coronavirus hotels” – with the goal of removing at least half of the remaining patients in the cities by the end of the week. The majority of restrictions in Bnei Brak were already lifted last week with only public transportation continuing to be banned. A total of 2,349 Bnei Brak residents and 2,672 residents of Jerusalem have been diagnosed with the coronavirus as of Monday morning. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A US judge has found Grafton Thomas, charged in the anti-Semitic stabbing of 5 people – one who later died – in a Monsey Shul suffers from mental defect rendering him unable to assist in his defense. Judge Cathy Siebel wrote in a decision made public Monday that Grafton Thomas be committed to a treatment facility for no more than four months to determine if “in the foreseeable future he will attain the capacity to permit criminal proceedings to go forward against him.” “The defendant is suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent he is unable to assist properly in his defense”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz have signed a deal to form a unity government in which they would share the premiership under a rotation agreement. This news comes after three elections and 17 months of election campaigns and coalition negotiations. The deal between Netanyahu’s Likud Party and former military chief Benny Gantz’s Blue and White ends months of political paralysis and averts what would have been a fourth consecutive election in just over a year. After March 2 elections ended in a stalemate, the two leaders agreed late last month to try to form an “emergency” unity Cabinet to cope with the burgeoning coronavirus crisis. Ending weeks of negotiations, the sides announced a deal on Monday.

For many years, Rebbetzin Toiba Jungreis was the main breadwinner in her house. She juggled the responsibilities of caring for her growing family and paying the bills in order to allow her husband, the Tchenger rebbe of Boro Park, pursue a life of spreading Torah and of avodas Hashem. The vicissitudes of the coronavirus, however, came down hard on the esteemed Jungreis family. The rebbetzin, the backbone of the family, was abruptly taken away on the second day of Chol Hamoed, during the worst of the pandemic. She had been suffering for awhile with the debilitating ALS disease, requiring the family to expend enormous sums for her support and medical expenses. Her husband, Rav Asher Anshil shlita, is a quiet but strong influence on his kehillah.

A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared. While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life. In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California. The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 25% of infected people might not have symptoms. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a case from Georgia about the reach of a federal computer hacking law. The case involves Nathan Van Buren, who was a police sergeant in Cumming, Georgia. The FBI set up a sting operation to find out if Van Buren would provide law enforcement information in exchange for cash, and he was offered money in exchange for searching a Georgia license plate database. Van Buren was ultimately convicted of fraud and violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Van Buren argued the law didn’t apply because he accessed a database that he was authorized to access. The case won’t be argued before the fall. (AP)

There are 13,654 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Israel as of Monday, with 150 patients in serious condition and 174 fatalities. A total of 3,872 people have recovered from the virus. Israel is marking its first virtual Yom HaShoah on Monday night and Tuesday. All official ceremonies, commemorations and events have been moved online due to the coronaviurs pandemic, with the annual Yad Vashem ceremony being pre-recorded. Yad Vashem is encouraging Israelis to make use of its digital information on the Holocaust. Next Tuesday and Wednesday, on April 28-29, Israel will mark its first virtual Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma’ut.

Oil prices plunged below zero on Monday as demand for energy collapses amid the coronavirus pandemic and traders don’t want to get stuck owning crude with nowhere to store it. Stocks were also slipping on Wall Street in afternoon trading, with the S&P 500 down 0.9%, but the market’s most dramatic action was by far in oil, where benchmark U.S. crude for May delivery plummeted to negative $3.70 per barrel, as of 2:15 pm. Eastern time. Much of the drop into negative territory was chalked up to technical reasons — the May delivery contract is close to expiring so it was seeing less trading volume, which can exacerbate swings. But prices for deliveries even further into the future, which were seeing larger trading volumes, also plunged.