Wednesday March 19 News Updates Lakewood

Weather:60° Sunny to partly cloudy.

- A asifas rabbanim took place tonight at yeshiva Toras Aaron  in Lakewood to address the inyan of WZO elections so Rabbonim can hear  first hand from gedolim and educate their kehilos. The Lakewood roshei yeshiva were their with  participation of Rav Aaron Feldman shlita and Rav Yitzchok Lichtenstein shlita.

- BDE: Petirah of Rebbetzin Chaya Malka Rottenberg a”h, the Kosoner Rebbetzin of Lakewood/Oak & Vine she was 68.

A daughter of the Desj Rebbe ZTL

Levaya tool place tonight at the bais medrash of the Kossoner rebbe shlita with kevurah in Deans, NJ at Floral Park cemetery 

- A packed crowd earlier tomight At the Atzeres in BMG against the WZO Thousands attended Rav Aaron Feldman spoke very detailed refuting the video posted about Rav Chaim Kanievsky. He also said he called Rav Shmuel Kamenetzkys house and was told that Rav Shmuelbis not supportive of Eretz Hakodesh.

Rav Feldman  put blame on the frum news media calling for a boycott on Mishpacha and Ami Magazine he mentioned the Yated email list was used to advertise as well.

Rav Yisroel Neuman spoke out strongly against wzo.

- All those Prime trucks at blueclaws parking lot  are being used for the The Chasdei Lev Lakewood distribution  taking place this Sunday

- A Toms River man has been convicted of vehicular homicide in a high-speed crash that killed R' Feivy Mandel ZTL a Lakewood youngerman in 2022, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said. Alejandro Huerta-Arias, 26, was found guilty Tuesday following a nearly two-week trial before Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicari, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. "The jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Huerta-Arias recklessly operated a motor vehicle which caused the death of Mr. Mandel," Authorities later said Huerta-Arias,was driving an average of 93 mph at the time of the crash. The speed limit in the area is 40 mph. Huerta-Arias is scheduled to be sentenced by Vicari on May 16 and faces 10 years in prison, subject to the terms of the No Early Release Act, officials said.

- Trump: Reports are coming in that while Iran has lessened its intensity on Military Equipment and General Support to the Houthis, they are still sending large levels of Supplies. Iran must stop the sending of these Supplies IMMEDIATELY. Let the Houthis fight it out themselves. Either way they lose, but this way they lose quickly. Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse — It's not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!

- Bingo: New Sushi Department now open at Lakewood location buy 2 rolls get one free or lesser value 

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- Tefillos for a young child suffered serious injuries after being struck by a vehicle on Hickory Street in Toms River this morning name is s Yair Yehoshua ben Chaya Atara

- Bde: Petira of Mrs. Baila Mandel z"l, Mother of R' Mike Mandel shlita The levaya at Chapel off 7th st 11:15am

- Lakewood planning board denies yeshivas Chemdas HaTorah application that will add 500 cars to Cross st and James faa reports 

after the developer's attorney John Doyle stated he could not answer whether or not he agrees with the Board, and also that he could not answer whether or not the property is currently owned - and will remain owned - by Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah, and also whether or not the Yeshiva is fully accredited, the Board voted to deny the application, stating they are confident this denial is fully supported by the record and is a separate issue which is not in violation of Judge Hodgson's ruling that the planned educational campus was deemed "a complete application." Faa 

Giyus: Protests  will take place today by the Peleg faction against the drafting of yeshiva bochurim and incarceration of some who defied draft orders.

-The Lakewood Board of Education unanimously rejected a proposed $307.3 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year that would have included job cuts, school closings and a request for a $130 million state loan. 

It would have brought that average tax bill for school funding to $3,725.56.an increase of $200 per home. That does not include taxes from the township, fire district and Ocean County that have yet to be set.

The State Monitor Louise Davis called the budget’s reliance on such a large new loan “irresponsible” and hinted that she might have rejected the budget if it had been approved.

-Elon Musk tells Sean Hannity on the increasing number of terrorist acts against Tesla dealerships and owners and about the ongoing death threats against him. "I always thought that Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy and caring, and yet they are burning down cars, firebombing dealerships.”

So what do the JFK Files tell us so far?

- JFK called Joe Biden a Traitor

- CIA orchestrated the entire assassination

- Links to Mossad & Israel

- Ties to the Khazarian Mafia?

- Gary Underhill was murdered after revealing it was a CIA operation

An important letter from Rabbi Yaakov Bender about boys collecting on Purim for extravagant prizes, from organizations they know little to nothing about.

Dear Parents,

 

I hope that your Purim went well.

 Every Purim, many children of all stripes and ages come to our home. The boys are often collecting for some cause or another, and I am more than happy to give them $5 or $10 each, aside from some of the major campaigns. In years past, I have always encouraged the talmidim of our Yeshiva to feel the pain of others, urging them to find a way to alleviate the burdens of Yidden. One of those ways is to raise money for the indigent and poor. I felt honored to be part of a Yeshiva where hundreds of talmidim are out there every Purim helping others. Not only that, but the children themselves felt good to help others.

 

Lo and behold, this year, more boys visited than ever, despite the short day. As always, I asked them for whom they were collecting. Many of the children answered with the names of an organization with which I was not familiar. I asked the children what the organization does; not a single child knew. I let it go on Purim day, but on Shabbos, when one of our children came for the seudah, they showed me glitzy booklets delivered with the weekly Jewish magazines. I was stunned. Basically, children were promised prizes worth nearly 45% of the amount collected, or even more!

 

Please understand: For many decades, Klal Yisroel has incentivized children to collect, but the prizes were minimal—to thank them for their work. I remember, as a little child, being asked to collect for Chinuch Atzmai. Sure, we ultimately got a prize—but Chinuch Atzmai representatives went around to all the classes explaining what the organization did. We felt part of a sacred mission: to help Klal Yisroel build Torah in Eretz Yisroel.

 

(In terms of our Yeshiva, every spring, as part of our highly successful Bike-a-thon campaign, we include incentive prizes that cost a small fraction of the amount collected.)  

 

This Purim, it seemed that these children were in essence collecting for themselves—e.g., if a child collected $650, he would receive a beautiful, expensive, electric scooter. (Agav, why would any parent allow their child to drive an electric, high-speed scooter? It is beyond my understanding.)

 

What have we come to?

 

Children collecting for their own bicycle, drone, robot, and who knows what else? And the organization has the chutzpah to advertise that ‘if you don’t see the item you want, call us; we will get it for you.’ Further chutzpah—that ‘if any other organization offers a better deal, we will match it.’

 

Here in our Yeshiva community, where we work, day and night, to inculcate middos, to care for others—to have these terrible types of collections happening? To me, such an organization seems fishy.

 

I want to emphasize that this is not an “anti-kids-collecting” message. On the contrary, how great it is to instill the proper chinuch in children, to walk outside their own daled amos, raising funds to help others! The Satmar Rav zt”l, who I was zocheh to observe in the Williamsburg of my youth, trained an entire generation of chassidim to look out for and actively take care of each other.

 

Parenthetically, our older bachurim gave away their Purim, once again, to raise over half a million dollars for total strangers, local families and individuals in real need—all without one penny of incentives. Ashreihem.

 

Our job as parents and mechanchim is to imbue middos tovos; not to teach our children to be greedy and busy with themselves. I understand that this started with an organization many years ago, but the prizes then were very limited.

 

We must not allow this to happen in the coming years.

 

 Rabbi Yaakov Bender

- The Lakewood Board of Education unanimously rejected a proposed $307.3 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year that would have included job cuts, school closings and a request for a $130 million state loan. 

It would have brought that average tax bill for school funding to $3,725.56.an increase of $200 per home. That does not include taxes from the township, fire district and Ocean County that have yet to be set.

The State Monitor Louise Davis called the budget’s reliance on such a large new loan “irresponsible” and hinted that she might have rejected the budget if it had been approved.