A 64-year-old man remained missing Thursday after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside the day before. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90% of the village was destroyed. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was underway for the man, whose name wasn’t made public, and it involved a drone with a thermal camera.

QUESTION:   I know that according to many poskim the brachos of Elokai Neshama and Hamaavir Sheina are not recited in the morning if one did not sleep. How long must a person sleep at night to justify reciting the brachos? ANSWER: The Mishnah Berurah (46:24) quotes the Chayei Adam (7:8) that if one slept at night for a duration of sixty breaths, he may recite the brachos of Elokai Neshama and Hamaavir Sheina in the morning. How long is a duration of sixty breaths? The Chayei Adam writes that it is the length of time it takes to walk 100 amos. Since it takes 18 minutes to walk 2,000 amos, 100 amos would take slightly less than a minute. The themes of these brachos are emotions of hakaras hatov for the neshama‘s return after temporarily departing while we sleep.

During a heated Knesset debate on Wednesday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of alienating the Trump Administration and diminishing Israel’s standing with its most critical ally.
“I once told you that you no longer understand the new America. That you’re stuck in the 1980s. You argued with me and said you’re still in the loop. That argument is over. There has never been such a low point in the relationship. Ever,” Lapid said in his opening remarks.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Shavuos may be the shortest of the Shalosh Regolim but its impact is immeasurable. For on this one day (or two, in chutz la’aretz), we remember and relive the special occasion which defines us: the giving of the Torah. This is the day for which the world was created, when Heaven touched Earth and a nation found its purpose. While our footsteps once led to the Beis Hamikdosh, our hearts still ascend year after year toward that same sacred encounter at Har Sinai.

JERUSAL

A delegation of Gedolei Eretz Yisroel will be traveling to the United States two weeks after Shavuos in support of Keren Olam Hatorah, the fundraising initiative established to sustain yeshivos and kollelim across Eretz Yisroel amid deep and painful funding cuts by the Israeli government.

The baby of Tze’ele Gez, who was shot and killed near Bruchin in the Shomron while on the way to the delivery room two weeks ago, was niftar on Thursday morning. Following the attack, the doctors at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah delivered the baby in an emergency C-section. He has remained in the hospital in intensive care since his birth, in serious but stable condition. His father, Chananel Gez, who expressed great emunah following the attack, chose to name the baby before his bris so Am Yisrael can daven for him with his name, Ravid Chaim. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to the news by stating: “It is with deep sadness and pain that we received the news this morning of the death of the infant Ravid Chaim, son of Tze’ele, z’l, and Chananel Gaz.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Rav Chaim zt”l

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