This summer, those heading upstate on Thursday evenings can now daven Mincha in comfort, thanks to the relocation of a popular minyan site to an air-conditioned indoor facility.
For the first time, the well-known Tefilas Mordche Mincha Area will be operating inside the Marketplace shopping center in Spring Valley, just moments from exit 14 on the New York State Thruway. Starting today, June 26, and continuing weekly through August 28, minyanim will be held every Thursday in a newly designated area within the mall. Visitors can use the mall’s first entrance for quickest access, with clear signage directing them to the minyan.

Georgia has become the latest state where a federal judge has blocked a law requiring age verification for social media accounts. Like in seven other states where such laws have been blocked, a federal judge ruled Thursday that the Georgia law infringes on free speech rights. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg means that the Georgia measure, which passed in 2024, won’t take effect next week as scheduled. Instead, Totenberg granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law until there’s a full ruling on the issue. Georgia’s law would require some social media providers to take “commercially reasonable” steps to verify a user’s age and require children younger than 16 to get parental permission for accounts.

A widely accepted assumption in recent years has been that any child diagnosed by medical professionals as a “special needs” child is automatically considered a shoteh (halachically exempt from mitzvos). That belief has now been directly challenged by a significant new ruling from one of the leading poskim, Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein.
In a detailed conversation with Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Goldknopf, director of the P’tachiyah organization, who sought halachic guidance on various matters related to children with special needs, Rav Zilberstein addressed a critical question: Who is truly considered a shoteh according to halacha?

Having just recently read some gender-based letters (that is, letters from women complaining about men) in a Jewish publication, I was confronted with a mailbag letter from a female high school student complaining about the dress code of the seminary she will be attending next year. Besides saying that the code would stifle her self-expression, the student alleged that parallel standards are not applied to yeshiva bochurim, in that rules against “hoodies” and guidelines about haircuts are allegedly not being enforced in men’s yeshivas. Excuse me??? Last time I checked, Yeshiva boys have the most restrictive dress code of all, being required to wear black suits/pants and white shirts.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz shared in a conversation with Channel 13 that Israel was prepared to carry out an assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but circumstances never allowed it.
“If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” Katz said, continuing, “We wanted to eliminate Khamenei, but there was no operational opportunity.”
When pressed on whether Israel had coordinated with the United States in seeking approval for such a strike, Katz made it clear: “We don’t need permission for these things.”
{Matzav.com Israel}

During a speech delivered Thursday at the White House, President Donald Trump unleashed pointed criticism at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, accusing him of turning his back on the Jewish community.
Trump’s comments were made at an event promoting the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping Republican-backed tax and spending measure that GOP lawmakers are aiming to pass and send to Trump’s desk by Independence Day.
While discussing his broader grievances with the Democratic Party, Trump singled out Schumer—who is himself Jewish—as an example of what he sees as the party’s abandonment of traditional values, especially in its embrace of transgender rights.

Conagra Brands, the parent company of Duncan Hines, Slim Jim and other brands, is the latest big food company to say it’s discontinuing the use of artificial dyes. In a statement released Wednesday – the same day as a similar statement from Nestle – Chicago-based Conagra said it will remove artificial colors from its frozen foods by the end of this year. Conagra’s frozen brands include Marie Callender’s, Healthy Choice and Birds Eye. Conagra said it won’t offer products containing artificial colors to K-12 schools by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, and it will work to discontinue artificial dyes across its entire portfolio by the end of 2027. Kraft Heinz and General Mills made similar pledges earlier this month.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena Thursday to Anthony Bernal, a senior aide to former first lady Jill Biden, as part of their rapidly expanding investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness while in office. The subpoena signed by Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the Republican Oversight chairman, requires Bernal to appear for a deposition on July 16. It came after several weeks of back-and-forth with Bernal’s lawyer over the timing of a voluntary interview. “Given your close connection with both former President Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden, the Committee sought to understand if you contributed to an effort to hide former President Biden’s fitness to serve from the American people,” the subpoena reads.

In a moment reminiscent of the aftermath of the Gulf War, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, together with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, will hold a festive Rosh Chodesh ateres tefillah at the Kosel tomorrow, Friday, Rosh Chodesh Tamuz, June 27, 2025, at 8:00 a.m.
The event is being organized as an expression of gratitude to Hashem following the miraculous outcomes of Operation Am KeLavi, Israel’s recent military campaign. In addition to the standard Rosh Chodesh tefillos, the gathering will include special kappitlach of Tehillim to acknowledge the Divine kindnesses experienced during the war.

Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) delivered a combative and unfiltered monologue on CNN Wednesday night, accusing systemic racism — and the psychological toll of being “called the N-word directly or indirectly every day” — of driving chronic health disparities in the Black community. The ex-congressman, who lost his seat last year in a bruising primary challenge, took center stage during a panel discussion on CNN NewsNight, blasting Republicans, invoking slavery, and tying health outcomes to racism in a performance that quickly veered into territory more suited for a protest podium than a policy roundtable. “You can’t be calm about this!” Bowman shouted at former Trump adviser Marc Short, barely allowing him to speak. “I’m a Black man in America!

The victory of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday sparked an immediate and intense reaction from conservative figures across the country.
Outside of the five boroughs, many on the political right reacted with fury, with some commentators zeroing in on Mamdani’s Muslim faith as a central theme in their criticism.
“New York City has fallen,” wrote Donald Trump Jr., quoting another post that said, “I’m old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared an AI-generated image that portrayed the Statue of Liberty cloaked in a black burka, adding the caption: “This hits hard.”

As historic events indicate, we are approaching the days of Moshiach, stage by stage. The Toldos Aharon Rebbe has decided to begin preparing for the days after Moshiach’s arrival. Under the Rebbe’s initiative, the chassidus recently established a kollel exclusively for Kohanim, where Bnei Aharon will study all the halachos pertaining to Avodas HaKohanim in the Beis Hamikdash, Kikar H’Shabbat reported. The initiative of the Rebbe, who is himself a Kohen and known for his longing for the speedy rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdah, recently expressed that—’כי הנה ימים באים—we clearly see that we’re at the time of Ikvesa d’Meshicha and the third Beis Hamikdash will be built soon in our days.

The State Prosecutor’s Office filed a formal indictment today (Thursday) in the Yerushalayim District Court against a 23-year-old resident of Beitar Illit who is accused of deliberately setting two separate fires, one of which targeted the shul where the Rishon LeTzion, Rav Yitzchak Yosef, regularly davens. The acts resulted in property damage and posed a serious risk to human life.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, conducted secret negotiations with retired Supreme Court President Aharon Barak to end Netanyahu’s Case 4000 trial, Channel 12 News reported on Thursday evening. A secret meeting took place at retired President Barak’s home in Tel Aviv regarding mediation between the prosecution and the defense to bring the Netanyahu trial to an end. “I offered my services again,” Barak told Channel 12, referring to his support for a plea deal in 2022, which also began with secret contacts between him and Netanyahu. This time, Aharon Barak himself was intended to be the mediator. According to the law, a retired judge who has been trained to do so can mediate between the parties in a criminal trial.

Andrew Cuomo will remain in the New York City mayoral race beyond Friday’s deadline to withdraw from the general election, according to sources who spoke with CNN. His continued presence on the ballot means the strategic groundwork he laid before the Democratic primary — anticipating a potential face-off against both Zohran Mamdani and current Mayor Eric Adams — remains in play for the fall.
Although Cuomo acknowledged defeat on Tuesday night and conceded to Mamdani, insiders say he hasn’t made a definitive commitment to campaign actively in the coming months. Nonetheless, the former governor will retain his place on the “Fight & Deliver” party line for the November election, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian forces have halted Russia’s recent advance into the northern Sumy region and have stabilized the front line near the border with Russia, Ukraine’s top military commander said Thursday. Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said that Ukrainian successes in Sumy have prevented Russia from deploying about 50,000 Russian troops, including elite airborne and marine brigades, to other areas of the front line. His claim couldn’t be independently verified, and Russian officials made no immediate comment. Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor.

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York threw his support behind Zohran Mamdani for mayor following Mamdani’s surprise victory over Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. The 33-year-old state lawmaker’s upset win earned him comparisons to major political breakthroughs of the past.
Calling it a “seismic election,” Nadler likened Mamdani’s win to Barack Obama’s rise in 2008. His endorsement, which was first reported by The New York Times, signaled a shift in support after Nadler had initially backed former city comptroller Scott Stringer, who now appears likely to finish low in the ranked-choice count.

A majority of American voters disapprove of the United States joining Israel in its recent military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, as public support for the Jewish state continues to decline, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. The survey found that 51% of registered voters opposed the U.S. role in the bombing campaign, while 42% supported it. The partisan divide was stark: 81% of Republicans backed the strikes, while 75% of Democrats opposed them. Among independents, 60% disapproved, compared to 35% who approved. “No ambivalence from Republicans on the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites,” said Tim Malloy, polling analyst at Quinnipiac.

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