Margot Friedländer, one of the oldest Holocaust survivors in the world, was niftar this past week in her hometown of Berlin at the age of 103. Friedländer, née Bendheim, was born in Berlin in 1921 and survived the Holocaust after losing her mother and brother in Auschwitz. Her mother’s final words, “Try to make your life,” became a guiding principle for Friedländer in the decades that followed. She was captured in hiding at age 21 and deported to Theresienstadt, where she met her future husband, Adolph Friedländer, also a survivor. The couple moved to New York in 1946 and lived there for over 60 years. After her husband’s passing, she made the remarkable decision to return to Berlin in 2010 to dedicate her life to Holocaust education and remembrance.

With Lag B’Omer’s pilgrimage to Meron approaching, Magen David Adom (MDA), alongside Israel Police and Fire & Rescue Services, will conduct two large-scale drills on Monday night and Tuesday afternoon to prepare for potential mass-casualty incidents. The exercises, led by the police, will simulate scenarios like terror attacks, rocket fire, crowd stampedes, and road closures, following the 2021 tragedy where 45 people R”L died in a stampede. Dozens of MDA paramedics, doctors, EMTs, and volunteers will participate, using ambulances, motorcycles, ATVs, a mobile ICU bus, field clinics, and a helicopter.

The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official , Shira Perlmutter, days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office. The office said in a statement Sunday that Perlmutter received an email from the White House a day earlier with the notification that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.” On Thursday, President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress, as part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.

In advance of this year’s hilula of the Tanna Rav Shimon bar Yochai, several leading gedolei Yisroel from the Sephardic community have issued a powerful letter urging the public to avoid traveling to Meron close to Shabbos.
The letter, signed by Rav Yitzchak Yosef, Rav Moshe Tzadka, Chacham Nissim Ben Shimon, and Rav Shlomo Machpoud, declares that visiting Meron in the days surrounding Lag Ba’omer—either before or after—is to be treated as equivalent to visiting on the actual day of the hilula.

UPDATE: The emotionally disturbed individual at Ocean Parkway and Avenue P has been taken into custody and is being transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

FLATBUSH: A significant police presence, including the NYPD Emergency Service Unit and Drone Team, are currently at the scene of a barricaded emotionally disturbed person (EDP) who is throwing objects from their apartment near *Ocean Parkway and Avenue P.* Police sources confirm to Flatbush Scoop that there is no threat to the community despite heightened public concern over the activity in the area.

Nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran concluded in Oman on Sunday without a major breakthrough but with both sides expressing cautious optimism and committing to continue the diplomatic process. The meeting marked the fourth and most recent round of high-level discussions between the two longtime adversaries, the first such sustained engagement since the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Talks resumed nearly a month ago and have been described by officials as the most substantive since the collapse of the original deal.

A man of faith, Rabbi Pinchas z”l was niftar suddenly after the Seder, leaving behind a young widow and seven orphans—the youngest only a few months old, the oldest around 11. Despite a life full of yissurim, including severe asthma, sudden sleep episodes, and the tragic loss of their firstborn to crib death, he never complained and always said, “It’s all for the best.” He was deeply devoted to his children’s chinuch and lived a life of emunah and ahavas Torah, always seeking guidance from his Rav. His last Seder was full of simcha, and he passed away that very night. The family lives in a cramped two-bedroom apartment, and five of the children require special education. The widow, just 30, has no stable income and now faces the burden of raising the children alone.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has reportedly blocked any open discussion on a controversial bill that would implement the death penalty for Nukhba terrorists involved in the October 7 atrocities, citing concerns that it could put the remaining Israeli hostages in Hamas custody at greater risk, according to a report by Maariv.
The bill—known as the “Genocide Prevention Law”—was put forth by Knesset members Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist Party and Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu. It seeks to apply capital punishment to individuals convicted of aiding or promoting genocidal acts. As it stands, captured Nukhba operatives are being charged under conventional criminal law statutes.