Rav Ephraim Hakohen Katz of Vilna, the Shaar Ephraim (1616-1678). Father-in-law of the Chacham Tzvi. In 1678, he accepted the position of Chief Rav of Yerushalayim. Originally from Vilna, he had been living in Budapest for the last few years. At this time, his oldest son died suddenly at the age of only 30. Then, while sitting shiva, his only other son, Rav Yehuda Leib, fell ill and lay in critical condition. Rav Ephraim davened that Heaven take him rather than his son. Immediately, he fell ill, and his son’s health improved. He instructed his son to publish his sefer, then he passed away.
Rav Avraham Yitzchaki (1729). Author of Zerah Avraham.

President Donald Trump is “all in” for a constitutional amendment banning desecration of the American flag, he said in an early morning tweet Saturday, backing such an effort by two Republican senators.
To commemorate Flag Day – which also happens to be Trump’s birthday – Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota introduced the amendment on Friday.
“All in for Senator Steve Daines as he proposes an Amendment for a strong BAN on burning our American Flag. A no brainer!” Trump tweeted.
This isn’t a new position for the president, who a few weeks after the 2016 election tweeted: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

The Secret Service arrested a man who climbed over a fence onto White House grounds shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, according to a report released by the District of Columbia police.
Dayton Hershey, 21, of Paradise, Pennsylvania, was detained immediately after crossing a barrier on the northwestern side of the Treasury Building fence along Pennsylvania Avenue at 9:09 p.m. Hershey was taken into custody by the D.C. police and charged with assault on a police officer and unlawful entry.
Police did not say why Hershey jumped the fence. Attempts to reach Hershey’s family members Saturday were unsuccessful. According to court documents, Hershey pleaded guilty to speeding charges earlier this year and last summer.

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/TixjYW_m9h2oNvuN.mp4
 
Israelis participated in a wedding held this week in the village of Deir Qaddis in the Ramallah area, sparking a furor on social media, as reported by Kan journalist Nurit Yohanan.
Arab residents of the village were furious that Jews participated in the wedding, who were there on the invitation of Palestinian Arab guests, who work together with them in a car repair shop.
In the video of the wedding, young Jews wearing religious garb dance with the local Arabs to the sound of Middle Eastern music as PLO flags are seen in the background.

A 41-year-old Pennsylvania Jewish native who later converted to Christianity has been arrested by authorities in connection to the fire that destroyed three homes in Flatbush, Brooklyn, last week.
No less than a dozen people – including a 6-week-old baby – as well as several firefighters were injured in the fire, though not seriously.
The suspect is Matthew (Menachem) Karelefsky, who for years has been threatening to kill or injure one of the occupants of the homes.
Karelefsky, who lived in foster care and an Ohel home, has broken the law many times in the past and, sources told Matzav.com, was arrested a year ago for an email threat against the person whose house he eventually burned down in an act of arson this past week.

The Shas party on Saturday night responded to Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Leiberman’s call to create a unity government without the charedi parties or the United Right.
“Liberman is no longer relevant. He’ll remain outside the next government,” Shas said in a statement. “He’s done with the Right, he’s locked in with the Left, and therefore he’s stressed, hysterical, trying to garner votes, but he’ll fail as always.”
“Liberman, who once said this and then said that, has proven again that he is a cynical and unreliable politician. This is another of Liberman’s jokes.”
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

Prime Minister Netanayhu took to Facebook to defend his wife Sara, whose reputation has been slammed by the media for years.
Below is a rough translation of the post, which was originally written in Hebrew:
What the media doesn’t tell you about my Sara:
n recent years an ugly practice has developed in the media. Whenever someone who worked for me leaves office, or when someone fails to be selected for a position, the media immediately reports, “Sara is guilty.” “All because of Sara.”
It doesn’t matter that in many cases Sara doesn’t even know these people and doesn’t even know that the appointment process is being carried out for the position in question.

Avigdor Liberman, the leader of secular right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, called for a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and Gantz and Lapid’s Kichol V’lavan party after the September 17 elections.
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 13, Leiberman reiterated his harsh criticism of the ultra-Orthodox parties, calling for a unity government with Likud and Kichol V’lavan to prevent a “Halakhic” state.
“They want a charedi-halachic government. I was astonished to see the contemptible race of Gantz and Netanyahu who would surrender more to the charedim. We will impose a government with the Likud and with Kichol V’lavan. We will do everything in order to block a charedi government,” Liberman said.

Thousands of Palestinians rioted on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Friday, hurling rocks, firebombs and explosive devices at IDF troops.
Also on Friday, numerous blazes were ignited in southern Israel by incendiary balloons sent over the border from Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Early Friday morning, the Israeli Air Force struck several Hamas targets in Gaza, in response to a rocket attack the previous night in which a religious school in Sderot was damaged.
“The IDF will continue to act against attempts to harm Israeli citizens and sees the Hamas terrorist organization as responsible for all actions in and from the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military stated.

All flights were halted temporarily in and out of Newark Liberty Airport Saturday afternoon when a plane apparently skidded off a runway.
“Due to an airport emergency there are currently no arrivals nor departures from Newark Airport. Please check with your carrier before coming to the airport,” according to the airport’s Twitter feed.
United Airlines Flight 627, which was coming in from Denver, landed on a runway at the airport around 1 p.m., but “then skidded off the left side of the pavement,” a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson told the Post.
No injuries were immediately reported, authorities said. Service at the airport restarted shortly after 3 p.m.