In a deeply moving and joyful event that has stirred the Erlauer Chassidic community, a 60-year-old ger tzedek, Rav Yehuda Rahav, celebrated the bris of his firstborn son last week, thanks, he says, to the heartfelt bracha he received from the Erlauer Rebbe a year and a half ago.
The story began on Erev Rosh Hashanah a year and a half ago, when Rabbi Rahav and his wife visited the Rebbe of Erlau to receive a bracha. The couple, childless after decades of marriage, tearfully asked for a blessing to be granted zera shel kayama.

President Donald Trump’s agreement with China to temporarily slash tariffs for 90 days offered the world a bit of welcome relief. But what persists is a sense of uncertainty and the possibility that some damage from the trade war could already be done. The Trump administration agreed after talks this weekend in Switzerland to pare back its 145% in tariffs charged on imports from China to 30%. The Chinese government chose to reduce its retaliatory import taxes on U.S. goods from 125% to 10% while the sides continue to negotiate. Trump declared the de-escalation of the trade war a victory, saying he would soon chat with Chinese President Xi Jinping about how to preserve the financial relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey expressed profound relief and happiness following the return of Edan Alexander, a hostage from his home state who was held by Hamas for 583 (584) days.
Taking to X to share his reaction, Booker wrote that he was “overjoyed” by the news and emphasized the urgency of freeing all the other hostages, “living or dead.” He also called for renewed efforts toward a ceasefire in Gaza and a ramp-up of humanitarian support for those affected.

This past Motzei Shabbos, a historic Melava Malka asifa brought together nearly 350 Roshei Chaburah from Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG) in Lakewood, representing over 300 chaburos across the yeshiva’s six campuses, 21 buildings, and 22 batei medrash. These roshei chaburos, pivotal in shaping the growth of the yeshiva’s talmidim, gathered for chizzuk under the guidance of BMG’s Roshei Yeshiva. The event featured powerful divrei chizuk from Rav Avraham Birnbaum shlit”a, son of Mir Yeshiva’s late Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon Rav Shmuel Birnbaum zt”l, and son-in-law of BMG Rosh Yeshiva HaGaon Rav Yisroel Neuman shlit”a. Rav Birnbaum spoke passionately about the unique shlichus and responsibility of a Rosh Chaburah.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed a first-in-the-nation executive order to block the federal government from collecting personal health data related to autism, a direct rebuke to the Trump administration. Democrat Pritzker, who has been one of the more vocal critics of Trump’s second administration, signed the order last week, saying he wanted to protect “dignity, privacy, and the freedom to live without fear of surveillance or discrimination.” It came two days after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan to use data maintained by the National Institutes of Health, and claims submitted for Medicare and Medicaid coverage, to determine the causes of autism.

(AP) – A federal judge on Monday r

The federal agency tasked with protecting workers’ civil rights has moved to terminate a New York administrative judge who has resisted compliance with directives from the White House, including President Donald Trump’s executive order decreeing male and female as two “immutable” sexes. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in response to Trump’s order has moved to drop at least seven of its own pending cases representing transgender workers alleging discrimination, and is classifying all new gender identity-related discrimination cases as its lowest priority, signaling a major departure from its prior interpretation of civil rights law.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S.

A year and seven months after they were evacuated in the wake of the October 7 assault, former residents of Gaza border communities up to four kilometers from the border were told not to return to their homes in the near future, Channel 12 News reported on Sunday evening. According to the report, security officials in the Gaza border area were recently told that due to the current preparations to expand the war in Gaza, the commander of the Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor has recommended against the return of residents to border communities at this stage. Some of these residents were slated to return to their homes at the beginning of this month, after an extended stay outside their communities since the beginning of the war.