All Mishnah Jr., part of the Orthodox Union, had a record number of middle school participants register for its current cycle, drawing some 2,100.

“All Mishnah Jr. reflects the OU’s commitment to making Torah learning accessible, engaging and meaningful for all ages,” stated Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the OU’s executive vice president.

The OU’s main All Mishnah program is a seven-year, daily cycle of study of the rabbinic text—similar to Daf Yomi, a program of daily Talmudic study. The youth version, All Mishnah Jr., runs five days a week between the four months between Sukkot and Pesach, over a three year cycle.

It aims to cultivate “a love and excitement for Torah learning among young students,” which is “the foundation for a lifelong and consistent commitment to Torah,” Hauer stated.

Launched in 2021, the program has quadrupled in size, from just eight Jewish day schools participating to 32 in 12 states. Students study two passages during their free time and are encouraged to document it for chances to win prizes, such as gift cards, Airpods and drones.

“Students feel great about their accomplishments and many have been inspired to learn other Mishnayot on their own,” stated Rabbi Matthew Faigen, the junior high dean of students at Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood, Ohio, in the Cleveland area where some 60 out of about 100 students signed up for the program.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, which he called “A great but very troubled place.”

“They will serve as special envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to foreign countries, back—bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” Trump stated. “These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest.”

“It will again be, like the United States of America itself, the golden age of Hollywood,” he added.

Trump drew criticism for his selection of Mel Gibson for the role.

StopAntisemitism stated that it is “deeply concerned” by the selection.

“Mel Gibson referred to a Jewish actress as an ‘oven dodger’ and is known to be one of Hollywood’s biggest Jew haters,” the group wrote. “We strongly urge Donald Trump to reconsider.”

Democratic Majority for Israel stated that “Trump is appointing Mel Gibson, who has a long record of antisemitic remarks, to a made-up position.”

“This is yet another attempt by the incoming administration to distract from the problems everyday Americans face and a troubling example of the antisemitism Trump normalizes,” the pro-Israel group added.

“If Jews really ran Hollywood, I’m pretty sure our first pick for special ambassador would not have been Mel Gibson,” wrote the rabbi and Jewish educator Dovid Bashevkin.

In 2006, Gibson apologized “specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.”

“Please know from my heart that I am not an antisemite. I am not a bigot,” he added. “Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.”

Israel's Security Cabinet met in Jerusalem on Friday and recommended that the full Cabinet approve the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The full Cabinet was set to convene for the final vote at 3:30 p.m.

The accord's first stage is to see the phased release of 33 hostages—alive or dead—over a six-week period starting on Sunday, in return for the release of about 1,000 Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.

The ceasefire is expected to go in effect at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, with the first three hostages, women, to be freed around 4 p.m. Their names were slated to be revealed Saturday afternoon by Hamas, 24 hours before their release.

Ninety-four hostages abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre are still being held in Gaza, at least one-third of them dead. Two mentally ill Israelis who entered the Strip on their own are also being held by the terrorists, as are the bodies of two slain IDF soldiers.

The second phase of the agreement would see the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for more Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli jails, and an Israeli army withdrawal from almost all of the Gaza Strip.

The 15-month long war was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw another 250 abducted to the Gaza Strip, in the single worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

British low-cost carrier EasyJet announced on Friday that it will resume flights to Israel this summer.

The news comes as an increasing number of foreign airlines are renewing flights to Ben-Gurion International Airport as regional tensions de-escalate.

The budget airline said it would operate 38 weekly flights to and from Israel starting June 1, servicing London, Amsterdam, Basel, Berlin, Geneva, Milan and Nice.

The Lufthansa Group of airlines announced on Thursday that it will restart service to Israel next month. The global aviation heavyweight includes Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways and Eurowings.

Air France and British Airways are expected to follow suit in the coming months.

The renewed service by major European airlines follows the lead of two popular low-cost European carriers.

Hungary-based Wizzair has already resumed flights, while Ireland’s Ryanair is due to follow suit this spring, returning to a full schedule in the summer.

The three major U.S. legacy carriers are still not flying to Israel.

You know I am an optimistic guy, or at least I am in the public sphere. I definitely have my moments, but I try not to bring others down with me. Usually, I snap out of it quickly. It is 5:38 a.m. as I write these words after I was woken up by the pit in my stomach. I can’t shake the feeling.

Now, I know I’ve shared multiple posts expressing the nuance in this deal and specifically the joy we will all feel seeing live hostages hug their loved ones again. That is true. I await that moment. We all do. We’ve waited for that moment for a year and a half.

Usually, with most events, that positive thought will outweigh the negative. I’d write a post focusing on the positive, hope for the best, and move on. This time is different. I know from past experiences that I should never watch those videos of our enemies celebrating what they call a victory. I know how deeply it disturbs me to see those things. I also know that their celebrations are baseless and that they won nothing.

This time is different.

I do badly want to believe that with this deal, there is more than meets the eye. I so badly want to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was given a massive incentive to agree to this. Perhaps, there was a guarantee of an Abraham Accords 2.0. Maybe a guarantee that the United States will join Israel when it attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities. Or, maybe, it was a large financial or military incentive. Maybe, if one of those things is part of this deal, then I’d understand why Netanyahu agreed to this deal.

The thing is, I am told by someone in the know that there is no such incentive. I am told that Netanyahu agreed to this months ago, and now that Hamas agreed to it, the pressure was on him to accept “His plan” that he offered all those months ago. I am told that my brother Ari’s murderer could be part of this deal. (I am not saying we know he will be, but it is a possibility.) I find it hard to believe that there is nothing else going on behind the scenes, and I told that to my “source.”

He told me, again, that there aren’t any incentives.

I refuse to believe it. But chances are I am wrong, and I’m being optimistic where there is no room for optimism.

I try to grasp onto the good things, here. We’re getting our people back. “Only 200” out of the thousand we’re releasing are actual murderers. Yes, I fully understand the absurdity of celebrating 200 murderers going free, but I’m grasping here. We will have a few months of relative quiet. Of not losing soldiers. Our soldiers get a breather. My son, Tzvi, is in less danger. (Call me selfish all you want. You can’t understand how it feels until your son enters the hell on earth that is Gaza.)

These things are true, and they are good.

But I simply can’t get rid of this lump in my throat. I can’t get rid of this feeling that this is a disengagement 2.0. That our threats of “If they break the ceasefire …”  are bogus. That’s what we said after we left the Gaza Strip in 2005, “If one rocket is fired … .”  I can’t shake this feeling that, in the very near future, we will regret this deal when it comes back to haunt us.

Now, many have reassured me that all of this will change when President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week. Maybe they’re right. But how? Will Trump reverse the deal? Obviously not. He’s bragging about it. In fact, there are rumors that he was the one to pressure Netanyahu to take the deal. So, what exactly can Trump do for us when he enters office?

I can’t, for some reason, find optimism here that will overpower the pit in my stomach. Why not? Because this time is different. This deal is killing me. Tragically, I am asking myself, for the first time ever, if those lunatics dancing in the streets of Gaza have a right to dance. Did they win? Now, hold up. There is no universe in which Hamas won this war. No matter how you spin it, they did not win. But did we? Is the war over? Did we fail to achieve both our objectives of obliterating Hamas and bringing our hostages back?

Maybe the war isn’t over, and Netanyahu knows exactly what he’s doing. Maybe. It wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe this is the thought I need to hold onto. Maybe that’ll calm me down. This war isn’t over. We will still win. Maybe Trump promised Netanyahu that as soon as he enters office, he’ll send over a massive amount of weapons that President Joe Biden refused to send and that Netanyahu will be able to instruct the Israel Defense Forces to end Hamas once and for all.

Maybe … but this darn deal. It’s so terrible. Releasing all those monsters? Pulling out of Gaza? Sending in insane amounts of aid to be stolen by Hamas? Not even getting all the hostages back? What the heck, Bibi?! I have muted my social media accounts, and I am going to try hard to ignore all the negativity. I won’t watch their celebrations. I won’t read all the pundits explaining why Israel just shot itself in the foot. I don’t want to know. Call it sticking my head in the sand. I call it maintaining my mental health.

So, here is my take. I can’t wait to see our people back home. The deal—if, indeed, it is simply what you see is what you get—is a disaster of historic proportions. Yet, it can’t be that simple. There must be more to it. And, honestly, the thing that brings me back from the sadness, fear and anxiety that this deal is causing me is one very big thing I am guilty of forgetting. There IS absolutely one thing that guarantees that this ends well: Hashem.

Hashem, God, has our back. We’ve been through darker times. We’ve been through much harder things. And we made it out alive and stronger. I don’t know how He is going to do it, I don’t know what role Trump will play, but I do know that it’ll be OK. Somehow.

So that’s it. I found the thing I need to grasp to feel optimistic again. Hashem. There. Solved. Thanks for listening. It was very therapeutic for me. Hashem has got our backs. We got this. Now we wait to cry tears of joy together as our loved ones cross the border into the Land of Israel. It is time for me to put away my political science degree, stop watching those infuriating videos, and bring out my prayer book. It is time to turn to God and say, “Hashem, we did what we can. Now it’s your turn. Do your thing. Work your magic. Because magic is what we need now for this to end well.”

Following security warnings about escalation in Judea and Samaria due to the release of hundreds of terrorists into the area, the Security Cabinet is expected to approve on Friday a comprehensive decision to address this front.

This is one of the demands that Finance Minister and Religious Zionism Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich presented in his discussions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prompted by numerous warnings about increased terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria following the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The decision is expected to establish a new war objective focused on Judea and Samaria that will address all required aspects of the war: prevention, thwarting celebration of terrorist releases, offense and deterrence.

To implement these measures, expanded forces will be deployed to the Judea and Samaria area. The matter was agreed upon between Netanyahu and Smotrich on Thursday evening.

During a discussion held over the weekend, a security source warned that the release of hundreds of terrorists to Judea and Samaria—out of approximately 1,000 to be released in total—raises serious concerns about security escalation.

"Hundreds of prisoners are expected to arrive in Judea and Samaria. This release will serve as an encouragement for terrorism as a large portion of them will certainly return to terrorist activities," the source said, adding that the released terrorists will also "try to inflame the region in the long term."

Settlement umbrella group Yesha Council chairman and Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz sent a letter to the prime minister this week stating: "Releasing terrorists into Judea and Samaria areas poses a direct and tangible danger to the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Additionally, releasing terrorists to the region will constitute a strategic mistake that will allow Iran to continue establishing itself in the heart of Israel and advance the next massacre, this time within central Israeli cities."

Gantz and Yesha Council CEO Omer Rahamim held several discussions throughout the week, including consultations with Smotrich, asking officials not to allow the release of terrorists into Judea and Samaria.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

With chants such as “We want the hostages back, but in an agreement of victory, not surrender!” relatives of captives held in Gaza from the Tikva Forum and bereaved families from the Heroism Forum led a mass protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening.

Representatives of the families took to the podium to decry the proposed hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal, describing it as “dangerous” and “a surrender to terrorists.”

“We all want the hostages home,” one of the organizers told the crowd. “Every Jew in the world wants the hostages home, but not at the cost of countless more deaths of Israelis, civilians and soldiers alike, who will be killed as a result [of the release of more than a thousand terrorists]. We want them home, but not at this price.”

Representatives of the Nachala Movement and numerous others were also present, condemning what they said would be the severe harm to the remaining hostages and the security of the State of Israel if the proposed deal is implemented.

Rabbi Eliav Turgeman a major in the IDF reserves who served more than 200 days in Gaza in the past 15 months, told the protesters: “We can’t run a country based on our emotions. We are looking at a terrible agreement in which we will only receive some of the hostages, and this is a surrender by Israel. Decisions need to be made by using our logic, and this deal is illogical. We are an eternal nation who relies on God, not on foreign leaders, not [President Joe] Biden, and not [President-elect Donald] Trump.”

Yitzchak Fitusi, father of slain Golani Brigade soldier Staff Sgt. Yishay Fitusi, told the assembly that his family was expelled from Gaza as part of the disengagement 19 years ago.

Yishay, who was 3 years old at the time, returned to Gaza, and fought and died one kilometer away from the same piece of land that he was kicked out of, while fighting to protect the IDF's Nahal Oz Base on Oct. 7, 2023, the bereaved father said.

Fitusi calling on the government and on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Don’t agree to this deal. Don’t agree to a deal that will release thousands of terrorists. A released terrorist is tomorrow’s murderer. Back and empower the IDF to finish the job it started.

"Do not accept any agreement that brings back only some of the hostages. We can’t do selection of lives and which mother will see the return of her child while other mothers won’t. Make one agreement that brings them all home, that returns security to Israel and from a position of strength,” Fitusi said. 

Daniella Weiss, founder of the Nachala Movement and a former mayor of Kedumim, told the crowd, “Netanyahu, look around you. All of our enemies are happy because we are surrendering in this deal. Trump promised hell to pay to Gaza, and Netanyahu is allowing hell to take place here in Israel.”

Tzvika Mor, father of kidnapped Eitan Mor, who had spent the first nine hours of Oct. 7 rescuing people from the Supernova music festival where he had been working as a security guard, before he was kidnapped and taken hostage, told the crowd, “We need to release all of the hostages, but if we don’t do it in the proper way, then other civilians in this country will pay the price, just like we are paying the price today for the Gilad Shalit agreement [when Israel freed 1,027 terrorists in exchange for solider Shalit in 2011]."

We need "to free the hostages in a way where only the enemy pays the price. That is a deal of victory. That is a deal where we can release the hostages while caring for the security of the people of Israel in the present and in the future," Mor said.

"Who would have believed after what we saw on October 7, that we would accept such a ceasefire deal and surrender to the enemy? We all thought that this would be it and we would go the distance to finish the job and ensure the protection of Israel in the future, that these games would end. But that apparently is not the case.

"The selection you are making today, of which hostages to release and which will stay, is signing a death warrant for those who stay behind. I call on the government to reject this deal and bring the hostages home in the proper way,” Mor said.

Iranian-backed terrorist militias in Yemen and Iraq announced on Thursday that they would cease their attacks against Israel following the agreement on a ceasefire with Hamas.

This marks a significant de-escalation in the multi-front war that Israel has faced since Oct. 7, 2023. 

Mohammed Abdul Salam, the Houthi spokesperson, declared the group's "battle reaching its conclusion with the declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza," though maintaining a cautionary stance toward Israel.

The Nujaba Movement in Iraq, through its secretary-general Akram al-Kaabi, confirmed the suspension of "military" operations while emphasizing its continued readiness to respond if hostilities resume.

Al-Kaabi, according to a report in Newsweek, said, "With this important development, we announce that we will suspend our military operations against the entity [Israel] in solidarity with its halt in Palestine, and to strengthen the continuation of the truce in Gaza. However, let the usurping entity know that any foolishness on its part in Palestine or the region will be met with a harsh response and that our fingers are still on the trigger and our missiles and drones are fully prepared."

Ansar Allah, the formal name of the Houthi movement, is expected to release a more detailed position through its leader, Abdul Malek al-Houthi. The group has significantly harmed international maritime security in recent months, attacking vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as well as firing dozens of ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel over the past year.

The suspension of hostilities represents a potential turning point for regional stability, particularly for international shipping routes that have faced disruption since the conflict's escalation following the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Across the Middle East, some groups herald the ceasefire agreement as a victory, others maintained more measured positions.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry issued a formal welcome of the agreement while continuing to advocate for broader regional peace initiatives. 

The ceasefire agreement with Hamas awaits confirmation from Israel's Security Cabinet and full Cabinet.

The Israeli Air Force overnight Wednesday struck and eliminated Muhammad Hasham Zahedi Abu al-Rus, a member of Hamas's lite Nukhba Force who participated in the massacre at the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023.

The IAF conducted strikes on approximately 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip, targeting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, "military" compounds, weapons storage facilities, launch posts, arms manufacturing sites and observation posts.

"Prior to the strikes, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the use of aerial surveillance, precise munitions and additional intelligence," the military said.

"The Hamas terrorist organization continues to exploit the civilian population for its terror attacks against the State of Israel in violation of international law. The IDF will continue to operate against the threat of these terrorist organizations," added the statement.