By Rabbi Moshe Dov Heber
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon when I received a phone call from a mother who had just returned from the Waterbury Sunday Baseball League.
“Rabbi Heber,” she said, her voice full of emotion, “I have to share something with you.”
She described a middle school boys’ baseball game she had just watched. Ezzy, a strong hitter known for his power, was up at bat. On the mound stood Yehuda, pitching one impressive throw after another. Ezzy struck out—a rare sight.
But what happened next is what stayed with her.
Instead of reacting with frustration—no bat throwing, no helmet slamming—Ezzy turned to Yehuda and said two simple words:
“Great pitch.”
That was it.

New details were published on Wednesday evening on Kan News regarding the Puma APC disaster in Khan Younis, in which seven soldiers were killed by the explosion of a bomb thrown by a terrorist into the IDF vehicle. According to chilling details revealed in the IDF’s internal investigation, the APC’s exit hatch was broken. The soldiers tied it with a rope, leaving it open, and the terrorist threw the bomb into the vehicle through the opening. In addition, the cameras on the APC had not been working for a long period. Soldiers testified that the commanders knew about the malfunctions, but no action was taken to improve the situation. A father of a soldier in the battalion said last week that the soldiers were using outdated equipment without perimeter cameras due to budgetary concerns.

The State Attorney’s Office has filed an indictment in the Nazareth District Court against Yoni Segal, 18, and Nehorai Mizrahi, 20, both from Tiveria, on charges including contact with a foreign agent, providing information to the enemy, and obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, the defendants initiated contact with Iranian operatives via Telegram in mid-May. Initially, the Iranian contacts posed as “Kaplanist leftists” and tasked the pair with symbolic acts such as writing “Bibi Dictator” on a note and burning it, offering cryptocurrency in return. As contact progressed, the Iranians instructed the defendants to purchase secure “operational phones” to conceal their identities and engage in more advanced espionage tasks.

Hope is rising on Thursday morning in Israel regarding the chances of reaching a hostage release/ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip. If Hamas responds positively to the deal, an Israeli team will leave for negotiations in Qatar as early as the end of next week. According to Israeli media reports on Wednesday evening, Israel is making major efforts to reach a deal ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House next week. Israeli sources say that Hamas is showing “flexibility” to a revised US-brokered proposal. According to the proposal on the table, Israel will halt the war for two months but will agree to extend the ceasefire even after the two months to try and reach an agreement that will end the war.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exposes Zohran Mamdani’s radical record and touts the layout of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ on ‘Hannity.’
WATCH:

NEW YORK – Billionaire investor Bill Ackman revealed W

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller tore into tech billionaire Elon Musk on Fox News Tuesday night, dismissing him as an “outside voice” whose views hold no sway over Republicans rallying behind President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending bill. Miller’s remarks came after Fox host Laura Ingraham pressed him about Musk’s growing threats to primary Republicans who campaigned on fiscal restraint but ultimately backed what Trump calls his “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Musk, furious over what he describes as reckless spending, has publicly vowed to target those lawmakers.

Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and one of the regime’s most influential security officials, has emerged alive after weeks of reports claiming he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. The New York Times confirmed Shamkhani’s appearance over the weekend at a funeral procession in Tehran, contradicting Iranian state media accounts that declared him dead last month. Frailer and leaning on a cane, Shamkhani was seen paying tribute to senior Iranian military officers slain in Israel’s recent barrage — a 12-day offensive that targeted Iran’s nuclear and military command structure.

The gradual loss of Kovod for our present day Gedolei Yisroel. First it was the important ad in Yated that everyone is being Mechalel Shabbos in Japan. A full page announcing to Klal Yisroel that one must follow the Psak of the Chazon Ish. No one can Chas v’Sholom say anything to diminish the Kovod of the Chazon Ish ZTL. However, Klal Yisroel has been following the psak of the Gedolim of our Dor, Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv ZTL, Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman ZTL and Rav Shlomo Zalamn ZTL, all who pasken that we follow the Shita of Chachmei Yerusholayim and the Yidden in Japan are keeping the correct Shabbos. This writer doesn’t have the chutzpah to discuss the actual halacha, but he does know that we have been following these Gedolim in all our Shailos and they were post Chazon Ish.