Latest news with #Yosef
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Shas spiritual leader: Edelstein should have stayed in USSR
'His [Edelstein's] soul is an abomination, he was a Prisoner of Zion and came to the land [of Israel], it is too bad he came, he should have remained there," Yosef said. Former Prisoner of Zion and current Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud), who is responsible for the bill proposal to regulate haredi IDF service, should have 'stayed' in the USSR, Shas spiritual leader and former Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said at a conference in Beit Shemesh on Thursday morning. Yosef's comments, a recording of which was published by Kol Berama Radio, could not be independently verified by The Jerusalem Post. In the recording, Yosef is heard saying, 'His [Edelstein's] soul is an abomination, he was a Prisoner of Zion and came to the land [of Israel], it is too bad he came, he should have remained there. He is causing trouble for yeshiva students … Edelstein and Netanyahu, all this [political] right-wing is a lie. Evil villains!' The comments came hours before Edelstein was set to meet with former Shas minister Ariel Atias and Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, to continue negotiating over the content of the bill. The three met a number of times this week in an attempt to find a solution that will end what appears to be a spiraling political crisis, following haredi threats to topple the government if the bill does not advance. Members of Shas, which has publicly taken a hardline stance and demanded that the bill exempt a majority of eligible men from service, have taken a more pragmatic approach in private. The prime minister is concentrating his efforts on reaching an agreement with Shas, since even if its Ashkenazi counterpart, United Torah Judaism's seven MKs, leave the coalition, the coalition will still enjoy a 61-59 majority in the Knesset. Shas's Council of Sages will meet at the beginning of next week to decide on the party's next steps. The equivalent of UTJ's Hassidic faction, Agudat Yisrael, will meet on Thursday night for the same purpose. Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, spiritual leader of UTJ's Lithuanian faction Degel Hatorah, said on Wednesday that he was 'close' to ordering the faction's MKs to quit the government and support a bill proposal to disperse the Knesset. The FADC's legal team has been working on formulating the text of a new bill, which will reach the committee in the coming weeks. However, this may not leave enough time for the bill proposal to pass into law by the end of the Knesset summer session in late July, in which case the current law, which requires that all eligible haredi men serve in the IDF, will continue to apply as is at least until October. In any case, if the Knesset disperses, the bill cannot proceed. The bill proposal will likely include draft quotas from the haredi sector that will increase annually, eventually reaching 50% of each graduating class, as well as sanctions on individuals who ignore draft orders. Despite the fact that the previous legal exemption expired in June 2024, a vast majority of the approximately 24,000 draft orders to haredi men since then have been ignored. The IDF has already stated that it will not meet the goal it committed to in the High Court, of 4,800 haredi draftees in the 2024-2025 draft year, which will end on June 30. Supporters have argued that the bill will lead to an immediate increase in the number of draftees and bring thousands more haredim into the army. Critics, however, have countered that there is no guarantee that even with new sanctions, those who receive orders with the new law in place will actually respect them; and that there is no legal justification to enable 50% of haredim to continue being exempt from service, while secular and religious-Zionist Israelis do not enjoy the same privilege. A recording of a conversation between Netanyahu and Rabbi Hirsch from March, which was published by Channel 13's Lior Keinan on Wednesday, revealed that the prime minister had requested to receive more time in order to ensure that the bill's legislative process remains legally sound. The prime minister also told Hirsch that removing former defense minister Yoav Gallant and former Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy from their positions served as proof that he had acted to 'remove barriers' hindering the bill.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
101-year-old Hasidic family matriarch who fled Russia after WWII fatally struck by unlicensed driver in NYC: ‘Independent till her last day'
A 101-year-old Hasidic family matriarch who fled Russia after World War II – and was 'extremely independent till her last day' – was fatally struck by an unlicensed driver in Brooklyn, according to cops and her family. Taibel Brod was walking home from a birthday party for a rebbe around 8:25 p.m. on April 8 when a 65-year-old man behind the wheel of a 2023 GMC Yukon SUV plowed into her as she crossed at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and Montgomery Street in Crown Heights, authorities and relatives said. Brod was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, where she was initially listed in stable condition – but succumbed to her injuries less than two weeks later, on Sunday, police said. Brod left behind five children – three sons, two daughters — and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to her loved ones. Born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, Brod was among many Hasidim who fled Russia on escape trains to Poland, according to an online obituary. She met her husband, Reb Chatzkel Brod, at the Poking displaced persons camp in Germany, the obit said. They married there and had two daughters before moving to the US in 1951, according to Brod's relatives. The growing Chabad family lived in Brownsville before moving to Crown Heights in the mid-1950s. Brod lived alone after her husband died 20 years ago. On Thursday afternoon, her Crown Heights home – a short walk from the deadly crash – was filled with grieving family members sitting shiva, a seven-day Jewish mourning ritual. Her son, Yosef Brod, 73, who works as a building engineer in Los Angeles, said his mother spent decades feeding patients at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center. 'For over 50 years she would feed patients,' said Yosef, as he sat next to three lit candles. 'Over 50 years day in and day out.' Yosef said his mother, who was 'very active in the community,' had 'goodness and kindness going for her.' Another son echoed his sentiments. 'My mother was deeply committed to the community as a volunteer in many areas. She did a lot of praying on a daily basis,' added son, Yisroel, 69, of Israel. 'A very open house and visitors would come from other countries to be in this community. She'd welcome them for a weekend, a holiday. She was a very giving person.' The great-grandmother was walking alone – with the light in her favor – when driver Menachem Shagalow tried to make a left turn eastbound onto Montgomery Street and struck her in the crosswalk, according to police. 'She was [a] very independent woman,' said her 38-year-old grandson, also named Yisroel, of Miami, who works in business development. 'Extremely independent and strong. She would take the bus by herself. She was extremely independent till her last day.' Shagalow was arrested at the scene and charged with aggravated unlicensed operator, failure to exercise due care and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, cops said. He was released on a desk appearance ticket and is set to be arraigned on April 28, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Shagalow has only one prior arrest, for grand larceny in 1998, cops said. The family declined to talk about the driver, with the elder Yisroel only saying, 'It was an accident.' Yosef said he had the chance to visit his mother in the hospital on Thursday and Friday, days before her death. 'From time to time, she did open her eyes,' he said. 'I sensed that she did recognize me. The day that she passed away, my brothers and two sisters walked from Brooklyn to the hospital and she smiled at them. That was before she passed away.' He said he looks to his faith as he grieves his mother's death. 'I don't know God's mystery, how he wants the world,' Yosef said. 'We are taught that everything that happens in the world is called Divine Providence.'
