YWN readers know that there have been significant recent developments in the long-running battle to protect our yeshivos from the State Education Department. Last week, important and helpful legislation was enacted, and yesterday the State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, heard argument in the challenge to SED’s onerous substantial equivalence regulations. At the argument, SED conceded for the first time that parents can supplement any supposedly deficient instruction at their child’s yeshiva with a tutor, homeschooling or an extracurricular class. The state had insisted otherwise for three years, and had used that to try to force parents to enroll their children at other schools. In fact, many parents have received letters to that effect in recent days.

The drama surrounding the recruitment of Chareidim continues, with Kan News reporting on Wednesday evening that the IDF is preparing a large-scale operation aimed at capturing Chareidi draft dodgers. In a policy change, the arrest operation, unlike the three previous operations that have taken place since the beginning of the war, will include bnei yeshivos. Additionally, even bnei yeshivos who only received their first draft orders will be arrested, a group that includes a high percentage of bnei yeshivos. In previous operations to capture deserters and draft dodgers, the IDF refrained from operating in Chareidi areas. Reports that an arrest operation against Chareidi draft dodgers took place earlier this week were mistaken, with only one Chareidi draft dodger arrested out of 38.

Australian authorities have released images of suspects involved in the arson attack on the Adass Yisroel Shul in December, causing devastating damage. The attack took place on the night of December 6, when three masked individuals arrived in a stolen blue 2020 Volkswagen Golf sedan, parked outside the shul, and violently breached its entrance with an axe. They then doused the interior with accelerants from red jerry cans and set the building aflame, fleeing the scene moments later. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT)—which includes Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)—said the incident is being treated as an act of terrorism and is a top national security priority.

Tal Shachar Carmon, a friend of Tze’ela Gez, H’yd, who died of her wounds sustained in a terror attack on Wednesday evening, told Kan News about the heartbreaking conversation Tze’ela’s husband, Chananel, was forced to have with his children on Thursday morning. Chananel was lightly injured in the attack and, after being treated in the trauma unit, was released from the hospital. “These were unbearably difficult moments,” Tal said. “He told them in a well-thought-out way and allowed each child to react as they needed.

The measles outbreak in Israel continues to spread, with the Health Ministry reporting on Thursday morning that 48 people have been diagnosed across the country, 77% of whom are unvaccinated. There are currently 13 patients hospitalized with measles, including 11 children. Three of the children, all unvaccinated, are in critical condition and being treated in intensive care units. A Health Ministry spokesperson stated that the current data indicates a worse outbreak than was previously reported to the Ministry. The Ministry has warned that many of the cases are in Chareidi areas, where vaccination rates are low. Ministry officials are concerned that the outbreak could worsen considerably due to the upcoming mass event at Meron on Lag B’Omer.

Israel Police has completed its preparations for the Rashbi event at Meron which will take place on Lag B’Omer, on Thursday evening and Friday. Thousands of police, Border Police, National Guard, and traffic police officers are already deployed in the town of Meron, at the Rashbi compound, and on access roads in order to maintain public order and direct traffic. At the same time, Israel Police is operating a helicopter, observation equipment, drones, ATVs, off-road vehicles, and motorcycles in the entire area. Thousands of ushers from the Chareidi community will operate in all areas of Meron. The number of attendants has been limited through pre-purchased Ministry of Transport travel tickets. The drive up to Meron will only be permitted to public buses and shuttles.

Amid an outbreak of measles in the city of Modi’in Illit, the city Rabbanim published a letter this week calling on the public to urgently vaccinate themselves and their children against the disease. An outbreak of measles in Israel began last month, including in several Chareidi cities. There are currently 14 cases in Modi’in Ilit, eight in Jerusalem, and eight in Bnei Brak. According to data from the Health Ministry, there are about 350,000 Israeli children under the age of 10 who are not vaccinated – 100,000 of them in the Chareidi community. The Health Ministry is working to raise awareness of the risks and provide accessible information about vaccinations to the Chareidi public.

Tze’ela Gez, a resident of Bruchin and nine-month-pregnant mother of three, was identified as the victim killed in a terrorist shooting attack on a vehicle between Bruchin and Peduel Junction in the Shomron on Wednesday night. Her husband sustained minor injuries. The couple was on the way to the hospital to deliver the baby when the attack occured. Doctors at Beilinson Hospital managed to deliver her baby, who is now reported to he in stable condition. A security source said that, according to an initial investigation, the terrorist opened fire on three vehicles but only hit one of them. It was also reported that the terrorist pointed lasers at the vehicles before opening fire. IDF forces are still pursuing the terrorist who carried out the heinous act.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote about Hamas’s use of human shields on social media on Thursday. “Hamas’ use of human shields is not just a tactic,” he wrote. “It’s the very basis of Hamas’ existence.” “Almost every home, school and hospital in Gaza is part of Hamas’ terror apparatus. Hamas turned Gaza into one huge terror machine.” “While the IDF bends over backwards to minimize deaths of non-participants, there is no magic formula to defeat this terror machine without casualties. The responsibility is of Hamas, which engineered this. “Here’s the harsh truth: If Israel is forced to stop, every terror organization on earth will use human shields because it brings them victory.

I write with disbelief regarding a policy recently introduced in a local frum school: a “Free Pass” initiative that exempts students from a final exam if they raise or donate $550 to a designated organization. Encouraging chesed and tzedakah among our children is admirable. But linking a mitzvah to an academic incentive is, at best, misguided and, at worst, a distortion of the very values we claim to uphold. Tzedakah is not a bargaining chip. It is not a ticket to privilege or a means to bypass accountability. It is one of the foundational mitzvos of a Torah life, meant to be done lishmah, out of a pure desire to help Klal Yisrael—not in exchange for skipping an exam. This policy does more than blur the lines between ruchniyus and reward—it erases them.