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oday a video was released by Dikla Tzoref, the mother of Jewish prisoner Odel Tzoref. She recounts the terrifying moments when they received a call from Bulgarian prison, and her daughter’s pleas to save her life:
 
“They took them to a dark cell, literally a dungeon,” she says, choking back tears. “Her mattress is moldy, they have no food, no bathroom, no shower.”
 
Odel’s family has until Wednesday to raise the money necessary to pay for her release in time for her to leave together with her two imprisoned friends.
 

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Every Shabbos, nearly one million Jews rely on a local eruv to permit carrying in their communities. But how many of us have a real grasp of the complex halachic and engineering feat we call “The City Eruv”? Indeed, the most common aspects of our lives can sometimes be the least understood.

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost a year since The Siyum. It’s even harder to believe that just a year ago we joined together—over 90,000 yidden at MetLife Stadium. There were no masks (well expect a few ski masks because of the cold) and there was no social distancing. On the contrary, we danced together as one in celebration of the Torah which unites us all.
Since The Siyum, tens of thousands have embarked on a journey through shas. And though it may have been hard at times, they’ve pressed on. With the words of Rabbi Frand ringing in their ears, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”, they have persevered through Brachos, Shabbos and now Eruvin. No lockdown, distancing or pandemic can stop them.

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The famous adage says “It takes an entire village to raise a child.” For one family, it’s even simpler than that. All it takes is one back surgery.
 

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22-year-old Rivka Zuaretz has been in the news regularly for the past month, as readers have followed her shocking story: Zuaretz was part of a small group of religious Israeli girls who were tricked into travelling internationally with goods that are legal in Israel but illegal elsewhere. Much to the girls’ shock, they were arrested at the airport in Bulgaria and have since been imprisoned in difficult conditions. The Bulgarian legal system seeks to keep them for 15 years, an extremely harsh sentence.
 

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22-year-old Rivka Zuaretz has been in the news regularly for the past month, as readers have followed her shocking story: Zuaretz was part of a small group of religious Israeli girls who were tricked into travelling internationally with goods that are legal in Israel but illegal elsewhere. Much to the girls’ shock, they were arrested at the airport in Bulgaria and have since been imprisoned in difficult conditions. The Bulgarian legal system seeks to keep them for 15 years, an extremely harsh sentence.
 

When most people have an ‘off day’ at work, it can be a set back, but is mostly fixable. For the rabbanim of klal yisroel, however, the stakes are so much higher. In their hands is the literal survival of families who come to them in situations that are a matter of life and death.