As Adirei Hatorah puts the final touches on its massive maamad hatorah taking place on Sunday night, a team of 15 Lakewood Alerts reporters and editors has assembled to bring you live coverage of the evening’s events. Providing photos and videos, real-time updates, and key moments from every inch of the Wells Fargo Center, Lakewood Alerts is the ONLY media outlet offering comprehensive, blanket coverage of the most momentous gathering of the year – for the fourth year! Don’t miss a moment of the historic maamad! Follow Lakewood Alerts’ coverage by clicking here!

Wildfires forced a further 1,000 people to flee their homes in Manitoba, one of two Canadian provinces under a state of emergency that has led to thousands of evacuations. The town of Snow Lake, Manitoba, issued a mandatory evacuation order for its residents Friday as a large wildfire threatens the area. That fire, which has now grown to more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,058 square miles, or over twice the size of Los Angeles), has already forced out all 5,000 residents of the nearby city of Flin Flon and a thousand more in surrounding cottages and homes. When the Snow Lake evacuees are added in, Manitoba has about 19,000 displaced from their homes. There are 27 total fires in the province of Manitoba, eight of them out of control.

As President Donald Trump’s administration targets states and local governments for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities, lawmakers in some Democratic-led states are intensifying their resistance by strengthening state laws restricting such cooperation. In California alone, more than a dozen pro-immigrant bills passed either the Assembly or Senate this week, including one prohibiting schools from allowing federal immigration officials into nonpublic areas without a judicial warrant. Other state measures have sought to protect immigrants in housing, employment and police encounters, even as Trump’s administration has ramped up arrests as part of his plan for mass deportations. In Connecticut, legislation pending before Democratic Gov.

Russian attacks targeting the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed at least four people and wounded more than two dozen others on Saturday, officials said, as hopes for peace dimmed further. The first wave on Ukraine’s second-largest city was a large Russian drone-and-missile attack in the early hours. It killed at least three people and wounded 21 others, according to local officials. In the afternoon, Russia dropped aerial bombs on the city center, killing at least one person and wounding five more, Kharkiv’s mayor said. The warring sides also accused each other of trying to sabotage a planned prisoner exchange, nearly a week after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia.

Thousands gathered Thursday night at Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo in Rishon L’Tzion for the inauguration of the world’s largest and most ornate Aron Kodesh and the dedication of a new, exceptionally small Sefer Torah.
The celebration began with the writing of the final letters of the Sefer Torah at the home of Rabbi Moshe Buchris in Rishon L’Tzion. From there, a majestic procession made its way through the streets, which came to a standstill as throngs of locals joined.

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In a dramatic effort to stabilize the financial future of Gerrer mosdos across the globe, the Gerrer Rebbe departed Eretz Yisroel shortly after midnight on Motzoei Shabbos for a high-stakes fundraising mission in the United States.
The emergency trip comes amid the ongoing political crisis and sweeping cuts to yeshivah and kollel budgets in Israel. With the looming uncertainty surrounding the draft law and the status of bnei Torah, Gerrer leaders have launched a bold campaign to raise a massive sum — enough to support all Gerrer institutions in Israel and abroad for the next two years.

TEHRAN – A dramatic report by Iranian-affiliated media on Saturday claim