Shavua tov!

Just FYI, before you read these other comments, the Rav said last week that the “the war finished May 8th.” He qualified that, saying he was talking about WW2 81 years ago, but nothing the Rav says is stam, and maybe, the really horrible part of this ‘war’ did actually finish May 8th.

Here’s the entry for May 8th from the Wiki on ‘war with Iran‘:

On 8 May, Trump officials and advisors told The Atlantic that Trump was growing “bored” and frustrated with the war and Iran’s refusal to comply to his demands despite his frequent exclaims of “victory” over it. According to the article, officials hoped that the naval blockade of Iran will force them to come to the negotiating table. Trump administration officials were also said to be unwilling to end the ceasefire, with Trump repeatedly issuing deadlines before resumed attacks only to repeatedly back down from them.

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Looks like for once, someone was actually reporting some real information.

Today’s headlines are talking about a ‘deal for peace’ with Iran.

Let’s hope so.

(And btw, looks like the US lost the war, for Trump to be doing this, now.)

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In the meantime, this is a Bibi election video that apparently ‘went viral’.

I’m posting it up here for 2 reasons:

1. It’s actually very funny, and we can all use all the laughs we can get.
2. It’s incredibly deceptive – no-one is voting for Bibi this time around, everyone is sick of him, and the real discrimination in Israel is against religious Jews, particularly chareidim, and not ‘Bibi’ists’. If it read: “Imagine having to tell your leftist parents that you are coming out of the closet as a baal teshuva / chareidi” – then it would be accurate.

Imagine having to tell your leftist parents that you are coming out of the closet as a right-wing 🤣 pic.twitter.com/gujkb3uerz

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) May 21, 2026

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Here’s the Rav’s comments:

Now, let us return to tiferet she be tiferet.

Here, we’re bringing [from the book] ‘The Man on the Walls’, all the founders [of Israel] were with payot. Yavniel – today, it’s totally chiloni, just he turned them around, a little, HaRav Shick.

But also there, it’s turned into murderous blows between the two kehilot, one belonging to the gabbai [of the late Rav Shick], one belonging to the son [of the late Rav Shick]. The son was broguez with his father.

I made peace between them, with this son. The Rav Shick sent him away, because he thought that he was trying to take his place. He came to lament to me, today he’s the head of the kehilla there. There are two kehillot there, but it was a totally chiloni moshav.

And who founded it, was the [religious] founders. And they entered it with a horse – the Rav Kook, with the Rav BenZion Yadler [the Jerusalem Maggid], who was the biggest darshan. He went to all the kibbutzim to give drashot.

And there was another one, Yonatan (Binyamin) Horowitz, he was also from the BADATZ.

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They travelled with horses, from Afula to Yavniel in the year 5674 (1913/4). They rode on horses, they said:

We want a few horses, to be pioneers like everyone else.

They entered Yavniel, and lay down on shrubs. Everyone used to sing about Yavniel… To ‘El’… Only ‘El’. Everyone said the name of Hashem.

Rosh Pina, Yesod HaMaalah, Kfar Tavor – everything was [founded by religious Jews], they founded these, five settlements. A long time before Herzl, who needed him?! They founded all the yishuvim before 5680 (1919/20), 5680, a few kibbutzim began. Degania, 5680, Nahalal.

But long before that, there was…

Everyone walked around with payot, with beards.

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There was one , (Yoav) Dubrovin, Dubrovin, that they came from there to Sejera, it seems. I was there three times on Shabboses, it’s next to Tzomet Golani. It’s five minutes away, in the car, two hours if you go by foot.

So, (the rabbanim] came, so they said to them to stay for Shabbat.

And then, one person by the name of Dubrovin came up to the bima (in shul) – he was a convert. He spoke in Russian. And he started to weep over his children, who went to a chiloni school.

The children didn’t want to keep Shabbat.

They were telling them [in the school] this happened a long time ago, three thousand years ago. He was wailing, he cried for quarter of an hour, that the rabbis should save them [his children]. That they should close down this school.

He lived until the age of 104. This Dubrovin (died in 1935), he’s buried in Rosh Pina. He got to 104. Whoever is part of Shuvu Banim, they will reach the age of 104. Come every motzae Shabbat, you’ll live until 120. And then you complete everything.

Excerpted and translated from the Rav’s shiur given on motzae Shabbat, Parshat Emor, 5786.