it is with great sadness that Matzav.comreports the petirah of Rav Menachem Rotenberg zt”l, who for many years served as mashgiach ruchani at Yeshivas Kol Torah. He was niftar this morning at the age of 79.
Rav Menachem was born in 1946 in Yerushalayim to his father, Rav Avraham, who had been expelled from Germany by the Nazi regime due to his status as a Polish Jew, and his mother, Mrs. Sheina, originally from Poznan, Poland.

As fresh data revealed that the overwhelming majority of chareidi men summoned for military duty have refused to report, Avigdor Lieberman urged law enforcement on Wednesday to take legal action against prominent gedolei Torah who have publicly advocated for draft resistance.
Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Beytenu party, singled out former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchok Yosef and Slabodka rosh yeshiva Rav Dov Landau, accusing these gedolim of inciting yeshiva students to ignore enlistment orders.

At a special event that took place in Kiryas Yoel, the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum, distributed a total of one million dollars in cash to kollel yungeleit who had successfully completed rigorous exams on the entirety of Shulchan Aruch.
The initiative was generously funded by philanthropist Reb Yossi Brach, who personally took part in the distribution alongside the Rebbe.
The event, held in the main beis medrash of the kollelim in Kiryas Yoel, was attended by hundreds of yungeleit who had participated in the learning program and undergone the comprehensive tests. Each one was handed $6,000 in cash as a token of recognition and chizuk.

In a fiery speech delivered Wednesday, MK Moshe Gafni of Yahadut HaTorah sharply criticized the Religious Zionist Party and Minister of Aliyah and Integration Ofir Sofer for taking part in a demonstration calling for the drafting of bnei yeshiva into the IDF.
Speaking at the annual gathering of the Yeshiva Student Union in Ashkelon, Gafni painted a grim picture of the current government’s makeup: “We face a nearly impossible reality.
“Our partners are secular, Torah study isn’t at the forefront of their minds, and that’s at best. At worst, they oppose it.”

Due to the overwhelming interest from the public in joining the annual Birkas Kohanim at the Kosel on Chol hamoed, the Western Wall Foundation has announced that this year, the event will take place twice—on Tuesday and Thursday of Chol Hamoed Pesach.
These gatherings at the Kosel will be attended by a distinguished group of participants, including former hostages who have been freed, their families, relatives of those still in captivity, injured chayalim, heroes of the IDF, the chief rabbis, the mayor of Yerushalayim, and throngs of mispallelim.

As part of the annual tradition before Pesach, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation conducted its routine clearing of the kvitlach placed between the stones of the Kosel on Wednesday morning.
Tens of thousands of notes, which had been tucked into the crevices over the past six months, were carefully removed and taken for proper genizah.
Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, rov of the Kosel and mekomos hakedoshim, personally oversaw the operation, as he does each year.

Rabbi David Stav, Chief Rabbi of Shoham and head of the Tzohar organization, was among the demonstrators who joined Wednesday’s “March for Conscription” in Yerushalayim, a rally calling for members of the chareidi community to be drafted into the IDF.
In an interview with Arutz Sheva during the event, Rabbi Stav acknowledged that attending public protests is not his typical mode of expression. “My way to express myself is through writing, through talking to the people, not through physical participation in demonstrations.”

The New York State Attorney General has intervened to stop a discriminatory pricing practice at a car wash in Rockland County, where Jewish customers were being unfairly charged higher rates under the pretense that their cars required more cleaning.
An official inquiry determined that Super 4 Seasons Car Wash had, for years, taken advantage of Jewish clientele in the weeks before Pesach. The business imposed exorbitant fees—up to three times the regular cost—for the same cleaning services that were offered to others for much less.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Dovid Wolpin zt”l,Mashgiach of Yeshivas Kol Yaakov in Monsey, who was niftar this morning at the age of 82.
Rav Wolpin was recognized as a brilliant talmid chacham from a young age. He learned in Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, where he was deeply connected to the Roshei Yeshiva and his rabbeim, from whom he absorbed a lifelong foundation in Torah and mussar.
He later continued his learning at Bais Medrash Elyon of Monsey, immersing himself in the highest levels of limud haTorah.
Throughout his life, his hasmadah, humility, and depth of character earned him the respect and admiration of all who knew him.

In a historic and emotionally charged evening, thousands of Belzer Chassidim gathered Sunday night at Binyanei HaUmah in Yerushalayim to celebrate 45 years since the founding of the Beis Din Machzikei Hadas, the bais din of Belzer Chassidus.
In a momentous appearance, the Belzer Rebbe left his home to participate personally in the event, something he has not done for the past two years, aside from occasions marking the yahrtzeits of his father and uncle, the previous Belzer Rebbes.