YWN regrets to inform you of the petirah of Rabbi Sholom Lipskar zt”l, the longtime Rav of The Shul of Bal Harbour and founder of the Aleph Institute, who was niftar after decades of transformative avodas hakodesh and recent medical complications. He was approximately 77 years old. Rabbi Lipskar, born in 1946 in Tashkent in the former Soviet Union, was a lifelong servant of Klal Yisrael. As a baby, he was miraculously smuggled across the Soviet border and taken to a Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Germany, before eventually settling with his family in Ontario, Canada. His early life, marked by mesirus nefesh, shaped a neshama that would later inspire countless Jews across the globe.

Revered investor Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of his shareholders Saturday by announcing that he wants to retire at the end of the year. Buffett said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board on Sunday that Vice Chairman Greg Abel should replace him. “I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett said. Abel has been Buffett’s designated successor for years, and he already manages all of Berkshire’s noninsurance businesses. But it was always assumed that he would not take over until after Buffett’s death. Previously the 94-year-old Buffett always said he had no plans to retire. Buffett announced the news at the end of a five-hour question and answer period without taking any questions about it.

Tens of thousands of cyclists will bike through New York City tomorrow for the 47th Annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour. The first wave of riders will start at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 4, with subsequent waves departing at 8:30 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 9:50 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The tour takes participants on a 40-mile ride from Lower Manhattan, through the Bronx, over to Queens and down through Brooklyn to Staten Island. Five Boro Bike Tour street closures The route closes to vehicular traffic at 7:15 a.m. Sixth Avenue will reopen to cars at noon. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will be open with significant road closures to accommodate the bike tour. Motorists should expect delays. The Staten Island-bound lower level of the bridge will be closed to vehicles from 12:01 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

The IDF overnight Friday carried out airstrikes on dozens of military targets in Syria, including anti-aircraft guns and a surface-to-air missile launcher. IDF Chief Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar and Northern Command chief Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin commanded the operation from the Air Force headquarters. In addition, five Syrian-Druze citizens were evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel after being injured in clashes in Syria. “IDF forces are deployed in the southern Syria area and are prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into Druze villages,” the IDF spokesperson stated. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu postponed his scheduled visit to Azerbaijan due to security developments in Gaza and Syria and a packed political-security agenda, his office announced on Motzei Shabbos. “In light of the developments in Gaza and Syria and due to his intense diplomatic and security schedule, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to postpone his visit to Azerbaijan to a later date,” the statement said. “The Prime Minister thanks President Aliyev for his invitation and appreciates the warm ties between the two countries.” Netanyahu was slated to travel to Baku on Wednesday for a five-day visit. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

Missile alert sirens blared in several locations in Israel at about 6:30 a.m. on Shabbos morning, including Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Modi’in, the Negev, and the Dead Sea area. The missile, launched by the Houthis in Yemen, was successfully intercepted by Israel’s missile defense forces. A 26-year-old man was lightly injured while rushing to a protected area. The Houthis launched two missiles at northern Israel on Friday. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a security assessment on Friday before the start of Shabbos, at which a decision was made to significantly expand the military operaton in Gaza in light of the failure to reach a new hostage release deal with Hamas. The plans do not include the conquest of the entire Strip, but rather a significant step up in military activity, with the hope that increased military pressure will create leverage for a hostage release deal. The IDF is preparing to call up tens of thousands of reservists beginning on Sunday.

In a heartwarming update, 4-year-old Pinchas Raphael ben Sara (Saada) has returned home following a miraculous recovery from a horrific car accident in Flatbush that claimed the lives of his mother and two sisters a few weeks ago. Initially listed in critical condition, Pinchas’ survival and return home on Friday afternoon, are being attributed to the fervent tefillos of Klal Yisroel, bringing joy and gratitude to the community. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman There certainly may be heated discussions in the shuls of New York where there are multipl

President Donald Trump said Friday that he will revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, the latest move in the escalating clash between the administration and the Ivy League school. “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. The president had previously suggested the university should lose its tax-exempt status. His latest statement came after Harvard sued the administration over its decision to freeze more than $2 billion in funding to the Ivy League school. The administration claimed the university was refusing to follow the administration’s demands that it take actions aimed at ending antisemitism on campus.