The Jewish community in Damascus and rabbinic leaders from Islamic countries issued a statement of deep shock and protest after the desecration of the kever of the famed mekubal Rav Chaim Vital zt”l at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Syria’s capital.
According to Bechor Simantov, head of Damascus’ small Jewish community, a formal complaint has been filed with Syrian authorities, demanding a full investigation into the incident.
Unidentified vandals reportedly broke into the historic cemetery, severely damaging the kever of Rav Chaim Vital, the talmid muvhak of the Arizal.

The Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Dov Landau, successfully underwent surgery on Friday to repair a fracture at Maayanei HaYeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak.
As previously reported on Matzav.com, Rav Landau had suffered a fall at his home and was subsequently transported to the hospital.
Following medical consultation and a series of tests overseen by the renowned medical advisor Rav Elimelech Firer, the decision was made to proceed with surgery to address the fracture.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Itay Holzer, director of the hospital’s Orthopedic Department. Boruch Hashem, the Rosh Yeshiva emerged from surgery and was transferred to the recovery room, where he remained over Shabbos.

Minister Meir Porush paid a visit to the home of Maran Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, one of the Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka, and during the visit, a conversation unfolded between the minister and the Rosh Yeshiva, centering on the grave situation currently facing Eretz Yisroel. Porush asked Rav Hirsch about the challenges surrounding the ongoing war and the looming gezeirah of forced conscription.
In the conversation, Porush asked, “What will be with our situation?”
Rav Hirsch replied, “Hashem will help. What can we say? We have no one to rely upon except Avinu Shebashomayim. That is clear in such a situation. The entire Eretz Yisroel is in a terrible state.”

Israel bid farewell on Thursday to Nechama Grossman, the nation’s oldest Holocaust survivor, who passed away at the remarkable age of 109. Her passing coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day devoted to memorializing the six million Jews who perished. Grossman’s funeral was held the next day in Arad, the southern city where she had made her home for most of her life.
Born in 1915, Grossman survived the horrors of Europe during the Holocaust and eventually made her way to Israel, settling in Arad and raising a family there. Her resilience became a living testament to the strength of the Jewish people in the aftermath of unimaginable suffering.

Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel’s national director of government affairs with executive director of the Indiana Nonpublic Education Association John Elcesser and associate director Chris Bunson, outside House chambers just prior to the vote.
A high res version of the image above is available for download here or by clicking on the image.
In the early hours of Friday morning, the Indiana General Assembly voted in favor a budget that provides school vouchers to all students in the state regardless of their income. This victory for families comes sixteen years after Indiana passed its first school choice program in 2009.

During a visit that the Rebbe of Toldos Aharon paid to the home of the senior posek, Rav Moshe Sternbuch, in the Har Nof neighborhood of Yerushalayim, the meeting quickly turned into a weighty and emotional discussion on the looming threat of the Israeli military draft of bnei yeshivah.

A large group of demonstrators hostile to Israel assembled outside Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood on Thursday evening.
The protesters, many of whom wore keffiyehs and covered their faces, were rallying against the arrival of Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir’s visit to the U.S. includes stops in Florida, New York, and Washington, DC, where he has been engaging with both Jewish communities and political leaders.

Agudath Israel of America proudly celebrates a historic victory for parents and students across the Lone Star State as the Texas Legislature passes a landmark universal school choice bill.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was originally slated to deliver a speech this coming Shabbos at the Young Israel of Woodmere in Long Island, New York.
Today, the shul, which boasts more than 2,500 members, announced that the event would no longer take place.
No official explanation was issued by the shul, but individuals close to the minister indicated that the rov who was supposed to host the gathering experienced a petirah in his family, which led to the cancellation.
There has not yet been any update on what alternate plans Ben Gvir may have made for his time in the United States.

In a powerful reiteration of his support for Torah-oriented engagement with the World Zionist Organization (WZO), HaGaon Rav Avrohom Gurwicz, Rosh Yeshivas Gateshead, has released an updated endorsement, urging all shomrei Torah umitzvos to register and vote for the Eretz HaKodesh party in the current WZO elections.
The new statement, dated today, 26 Nissan 5785, follows and builds upon a foundational letter issued by Rav Gurwicz earlier, in which he echoed the directive of Gedolei Yisroel—Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l and Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlit”a—emphasizing the critical importance of Torah Jewry having a voice in decisions affecting Eretz Yisroel through the WZO.