Meir Kass

Taking the bird’s-eye view, we see the hiccups that felt like earthquakes, the earthquakes we wrote off as hiccups.

We feel the desperation of yesterday and its ramifications on today.

We find the faith in the present, the hope for tomorrow.

As the fate of 5784 is sealed, we take a final glance back at last year before ushering in the new year.

We hope and pray it will be one of good tidings, the era of Mashiach.

World News

Politics

October

• Venezuela freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicholas Maduro’s wife, who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug-smuggling convictions.
• Donald Trump sued CNN, seeking $475 million in damages, saying the network had defamed him primarily by calling his efforts to overturn the 2020 election “the Big Lie.” The lawsuit was thrown out months later.
• New York City mayor Eric Adams, who previously declared the Big Apple a sanctuary city, declared a state of emergency over the influx of illegal immigrants, saying the demand being put on the city to provide housing and other assistance was “not sustainable.” Despite nearly a year of pleas, the crisis in New York City has only gotten worse.
• British prime minister Liz Truss resigned, bowing to the inevitable after a tumultuous six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority. She was replaced by Rishi Sunak, becoming the third British prime minister in a single year.
• Massive protests took place in Iran following the death of a woman targeted by “morality police” for not covering her face in public. The incident sparked waves of demonstrations and attacks against Iranian institutions. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the US and Israel for the riots.

December

• Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $10 million in restitution after admitting he cheated four of his clients out of millions of dollars. The sentence capped Avenatti’s rise to and fall from fame, during which he became one of Donald Trump’s leading adversaries as he represented a woman suing the former president.
• The Trump Organization was found guilty of all charges in a tax fraud scheme following a three-year investigation by Manhattan prosecutors. Trump himself was not on trial, but prosecutors alleged he “knew exactly what was going on” with the scheme, though he and the company’s lawyers denied that.
• Russia freed Brittney Griner, a professional female basketball player, in exchange for the US releasing notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout. The deal drew intense criticism from many, who described it as lopsided and claimed it ignored another American, Paul Whelan, who is still being held in a Russian prison.
• The January 6 House Select Committee released its long-awaited final report, capping an 18-month probe of the 2021 breach of the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The 845-page report was issued three days after the bipartisan committee voted unanimously to refer Trump to the justice department for criminal investigation over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
• The Libyan man suspected of making the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 was handed to the US by Scotland. Pan Am flight 103, traveling from London to New York, exploded over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing all 259 people aboard the plane and another 11 on the ground. It remains the deadliest terror attack on British soil.

January

• Classified documents were found in an office used by Joe Biden after leaving the vice presidency in 2017. The revelation ignited accusations of hypocrisy—Biden had criticized Trump’s mishandling of classified documents—and led to further discoveries of classified material in two additional locations, including his home in Delaware. A special prosecutor is still investigating whether the president broke any laws.
• The discovery of classified documents in Biden-frequented spaces prompted former vice president Mike Pence to search his personal home in Indiana for any such material—and he found some. The former veep immediately handed them over to the FBI. Following an investigation, Pence was cleared of any wrongdoing.
• New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly handed in her resignation, saying she no longer had “what it takes” to properly carry out her duties. She was lauded worldwide for her strict covid policies, but those policies weren’t quite as popular among the people living with them.

February

• A Chinese spy balloon that meandered its way over sensitive military installations was eventually shot down off the South Carolina coast by a US fighter jet as tensions over the incident reached near boiling point.
• Former president Jimmy Carter entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia, after a series of short hospital stays. The Carter Center said that Carter, 98, “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
• Nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered that Iran had enriched uranium to 84 percent purity, the highest level Iran had ever achieved and just a technical step away from weapons-grade. The finding flew in the face of Iranian claims that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, as nuclear energy production requires a far lower level of enrichment.

March

• Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was hospitalized after tripping during a fundraiser at a hotel and suffering a concussion. Though he returned to his regular duties several weeks later, McConnell has had a pair of public “freezing” incidents in July and August, which have raised questions about his health.
• Donald Trump was indicted by Manhattan prosecutors on 34 counts of falsification of business records over hush money payments he made during his 2016 presidential campaign.
• North Korea claimed to have tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone designed to generate a gigantic “radioactive tsunami,” which would destroy naval strike groups and ports. The test came as the United States reportedly planned to deploy aircraft-carrier strike groups and other advanced assets to waters off the Korean Peninsula.
• Chinese leader Xi Jinping was awarded a third five-year term as the nation’s president, putting him on track to stay in power for life. The endorsement of Xi’s appointment by the ceremonial National People’s Congress was a foregone conclusion for a leader who has sidelined potential rivals and filled the top ranks of the ruling Communist Party with his supporters since taking power in 2012.
• Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a deal brokered by China to restore diplomatic ties that were cut off in 2016. It was a dramatic moment of diplomacy for China, which Beijing touted as evidence of its ability to be a diplomatic player in the Middle East.
• Republicans in the Florida House passed a “universal school choice” bill, which expanded Florida’s school voucher program to all students—a huge win for the state’s frum residents.

April

• Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested while on assignment in the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg on accusations of spying. The first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since the end of the Cold War, Gershkovich remains in custody and faces 20 years in a penal colony if convicted.
• President Joe Biden’s administration placed the blame on his predecessor, Donald Trump, for the deadly and chaotic 2021 withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which brought about some of the darkest moments of Biden’s presidency. The White House took little responsibility for its own actions and asserted that Biden was “severely constrained” by Trump’s decisions. A later report from the state department did acknowledge Biden’s failures in the saga.
• A Massachusetts Air National Guard member identified as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira was arrested for leaking highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues. The alarming breach raised fresh questions about America’s ability to safeguard its most sensitive secrets.
• An IRS whistleblower later revealed as Gary Shapley came forward with testimony that a massive cover-up was underway to protect Hunter Biden regarding shady overseas business deals he was involved with.
• Former CIA director Michael Morrell told the House Judiciary Committee that an infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials before the 2020 election that called the Hunter Biden laptop story “Russian disinformation” was orchestrated by the Biden presidential campaign.
• Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787 million. Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion, arguing that the news outlet damaged the company’s reputation by peddling conspiracy theories that claimed its equipment switched votes from former president Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.
• The media world was shaken up by the firing of two influential broadcasters. CNN fired anchor Don Lemon following multiple scandals, including revelations of his treatment of others; and Fox News fired its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson, in a move believed to be connected to the Dominion settlement.
• Finland became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), marking a major shift in the security landscape in northeastern Europe, adding some 830 miles to the alliance’s frontier with Russia. The invasion of Ukraine drove non-aligned Finland and Sweden to abandon their neutrality and seek protection within NATO. Sweden would be accepted into the alliance several months later.
• Fresh off its victory in achieving a peace breakthrough between Saudi Arabia and Iran, China offered to facilitate peace talks between Israel and Palestinians as it seeks to increase its clout in the Middle East.

May

• The California Reparations Task Force voted to recommend that black residents receive payments of up to $1.2 million from the state and that California issue a formal apology to black residents for years of discrimination.
• House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer released bank memorandums indicating that the Biden family received millions of dollars in mysterious payments from foreign countries, which Republicans say prove the Bidens were involved in influence peddling and business schemes.
• Special counsel John Durham, appointed by former attorney general Bill Barr to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, concluded that the FBI should never have launched a full investigation into connections between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. Durham’s report said the FBI used “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence,” to launch the “crossfire hurricane” investigation into Trump and Russia but used a different standard when weighing concerns about alleged election interference regarding Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
• Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old US Marine Corps veteran, was arrested on a charge of second degree manslaughter after he placed Jordan Neely, a mentally unstable homeless man, in a chokehold on a New York City subway. The incident brought out deep divisions across the country regarding how to deal with crime and mentally ill individuals.
• President Joe Biden and House speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement in principle on legislation to increase the nation’s borrowing authority to avoid a federal default. The agreement kept the government funded until the end of September.
• At a coronation with displays of royal power straight out of the Middle Ages, King Charles III was given an orb, a sword, and scepter and had the solid gold, bejeweled St. Edward’s Crown placed atop his head as he sat on a 700-year-old oak chair.
• A long-running Russian cyber espionage campaign that infected computer networks in dozens of countries and resulted in the theft of sensitive information from governments was disrupted. Prosecutors linked the spying operation to a unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service.
• Reports revealed that Iran is building a secret nuclear facility so deep inside a mountain that it is likely beyond the range of specialized US weapons designed to destroy such sites. Experts warned that the completion of the facility would present a “nightmare scenario” for Iran’s enemies. An Israeli official, however, said that even the new facility could be destroyed if necessary, though he didn’t provide specifics.

June

• Joe Biden launched a new effort to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear program following failed attempts early in his presidency to revive the 2015 Obama-brokered deal, which President Trump unilaterally withdrew from in 2018. The new bid for a deal was being mediated by Oman. Little progress has since been made.
• Donald Trump was indicted on 37 counts of mishandling classified documents, allegedly keeping them unlawfully at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House. Trump is accused of keeping documents related to “nuclear weaponry in the United States” and the “nuclear capabilities of a foreign country” along with documents from White House intelligence briefings, including some that detail the military capabilities of the US and other countries. He is also accused of showing classified documents to individuals without the necessary security clearances.
• A North Korean attempt to put its first military spy satellite into orbit failed as its rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast. The country tried again in August and again failed, but its ruler vows to try a third time.
• Violent riots rocked France after a police officer shot and killed a teenage immigrant during a traffic stop. Tens of thousands of police officers had to be deployed across the country as demonstrators attacked law enforcement and businesses, carrying out massive vandalism across most of France’s major cities.
• The Wagner Group, a Russian government-funded mercenary company, staged a rebellion after a period of increasing tensions between the Russian ministry of defense and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Mercenaries made significant progress into Russia before Prigozhin backed off, agreeing to a deal with Putin and sending his fighters back to Ukraine. It didn’t end well for Prigozhin.

July

• The US Secret Service found a bag containing cocaine in the White House, prompting an investigation and speculation into who owned the illicit substance. The Secret Service said its probe turned up nothing, but many believe the cocaine belonged to Hunter Biden, who has a long history of drug addiction.
• A US soldier facing discipline back home escaped into North Korea while on a tour of the demilitarized zone separating it from its neighbor and foe, South Korea. Travis King claimed he fled to the dictator-led regime because of racism in the US. He remains in North Korean hands, and it is unclear what his ultimate fate will be.
• Republicans held multiple hearings into alleged wrongdoing by Joe and Hunter Biden, calling in IRS whistleblowers and Hunter’s former business partner to testify to Congress. The hearings revealed that Joe had been on numerous calls with Hunter’s business associates and that the justice department interfered with an investigation into the first son’s actions.
• Shortly after the Congressional hearings, the justice department announced a plea deal with Hunter Biden in which he received a slap on the wrist for failure to pay taxes and had gun charges dismissed. The deal included a clause that would provide him immunity from any future prosecution. A judge struck down the plea deal, saying it contained ridiculous provisions.
• Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan agreed to greenlight Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance, ending months of drama over an issue that had strained the alliance. The country is currently being slowly integrated into NATO’s existing military and operational structures.

August

• Donald Trump was charged by federal special counsel Jack Smith following an investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the January 6th storming of the Capitol. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States government and witness tampering.
• Iran transferred five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars that were frozen in South Korea. The UN mission said that money will be transferred to Qatar before being sent to Iran if the agreement goes through.
• Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia, accused of scheming to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. It was the fourth criminal case to be brought against the former president and the second in August to allege that he tried to subvert the results of the vote. It was the first case in which Trump had his mugshot taken.
• Months after leading a short-lived attempted coup against Russian president Vladimir Putin, Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed when a bomb downed a business jet he was flying on.
• In response to Israel’s deportation of Ukrainian tourists, Ukraine threatened to close its borders to those seeking to spend their Rosh Hashanah in Uman, leaving the two nations locked in a tense standoff.
• An Iranian Jew was taken into custody at Ben Gurion Airport on suspicion that he was spying for the Iranian government under the guise of visiting family in the country. The unidentified man had been provided a small box filled with spying apparatus and was likely coerced by Iranian officials into becoming a spy, according to Israeli officials.

Finance

October

• After months of waffling, lawsuits, and mudslinging and the near-miss of a full blown trial, Elon Musk closed his deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion. The ultra-wealthy Musk immediately cleaned house and began implementing new free speech rules on the platform, which have received mixed reviews.
• Major oil-producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, decided to slash the amount of oil they deliver to the global economy. The decision by the OPEC+ alliance to cut 2 million barrels a day came as Western allies were trying to cap the oil money flowing into Moscow’s war chest after it invaded Ukraine. The cuts have remained in effect and will continue until the end of this year, causing gas prices to spike worldwide.

November

• A 30-year-old California man named Edwin Castro won the largest lottery prize in US history, snagging the winning ticket for a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.
• Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the third-largest in the world, failed spectacularly, causing billions of dollars in losses to investors and sparking an investigation which has landed founder Sam Bankman-Fried in prison as he awaits trial for a range of crimes.

January

• What had been a cheap household staple became a luxury for a number of weeks when egg prices soared. The problem had been growing for nearly a year, kicked off by a one of the worst bird flu outbreaks in US history, with egg prices reaching their zenith in January before eventually declining to more acceptable levels.

March

• Over a period of just two days in March, Silicon Valley Bank went from solvent to broke as depositors rushed to withdraw their funds, resulting in federal regulators closing the bank for good. The collapse marked the second largest bank failure in US history after Washington Mutual’s in 2008. It was followed by further bank collapses, igniting fears of a banking crisis, which appears to have since mostly resolved itself.

July

• UPS reached a contract agreement with its 340,000-person strong union, averting a strike that threatened to disrupt logistics nationwide for businesses and households alike. The Teamsters union called the agreement “historic” and “overwhelmingly lucrative,” as it would raise workers’ salaries and add air-conditioning to delivery trucks.

August

• Fitch Ratings downgraded the United States government’s credit rating, citing rising debt at the federal, state, and local levels and a “steady deterioration in standards of governance” over the past two decades. The rating was cut one notch to AA+ from AAA, the highest possible rating.
• Mortgage rates, which had been rising thanks to the Federal Reserve’s multiple interest rate hikes, hit their highest levels in more than 20 years, jumping to 7.23 percent. Back then, the median sales price of a home in the US was $157,500. As of July, it was $406,700.

 

US Elections

November

• Republican hopes for a red wave in the November midterms fizzled; the GOP retook control of the House of Representatives with a slim majority, but Democrats gained seats in the Senate. Interestingly, a third of American Jewish voters cast a ballot for Republicans in the midterms, a significantly higher percentage than in previous elections. It would take more than a month of Republican infighting and dealmaking to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker. Former speaker Nancy Pelosi subsequently stepped down from Democratic House leadership following decades in power.
• Former president Donald Trump announced that he would mount a third White House campaign, launching an early start to the 2024 contest, barely a week after a disappointing midterms, which some in the Republican Party blamed on him.

February

• Nikki Haley launched her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination with a call for generational change in Washington and a rejection of what she derided as “identity politics.” Although she is popular among Republicans, her candidacy has taken a back seat to the clashes between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

April

• President Joe Biden formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish the job” he began when he was sworn in to office and to set aside their concerns about extending the run of America’s oldest president for another four years. He would be 86 by the end of a second term.

May

• Florida governor Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential sweepstakes in a glitch-filled Twitter announcement. The popular conservative, who gained national fame thanks to his opposition to covid lockdowns and masking, immediately became the most significant challenger to Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

June

• Former vice president Mike Pence and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie jumped into the 2024 race, declaring themselves the true standard-bearers for conservatism across the country. Pence has been trying to sell old-school conservatism to voters, while Christie has made his campaign mostly about attacking Donald Trump.

August

• Republican presidential contenders engaged in their first primary debate in Milwaukee, the future site of the 2024 Republican National Convention. Former president Trump, the clear front-runner in the race, did not participate. While torturously acrimonious at points, the debate did not result in a clear winner.

Israel News

October

• The Mossad suffered a crisis when an operation in Malaysia went awry. Agents had kidnapped a Palestinian believed to be involved in terrorist activities, but an onlooker summoned police, who rescued the Palestinian and arrested approximately a dozen Mossad operatives.
• IDF, Shin Bet, and border police forces carried out a ground operation in Shechem against the Lion’s Den terror organization, which was responsible for numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians. The operation resulted in a gun battle, which left five terrorists dead. A bomb-producing lab was dismantled in the process.

November

• Binyamin Netanyahu rose to power again as the Likud party and its allies won enough Knesset seats to form a ruling coalition. Bibi’s return to the premiership came following multiple elections that resulted in deadlock and short-lived governments and ushered in the most right-wing Israeli government in its history.

January

• Tens of thousands of Israelis began taking to the streets to protest the new Netanyahu government’s plans to overhaul the country’s judiciary. The protests took place weekly for months, with upward of 100,000 demonstrators participating at times. Anti-government actors went further by recruiting military members, businesses, and even doctors to criticize the plans and force Netanyahu to back down.
• Israel carried out a successful drone attack on a military facility in the Iranian city of Isfahan, causing significant damage. The facility was reportedly a munitions factory that was part of Iran’s ballistic missile program.

February

• Oman announced that Israeli airlines will be permitted to pass through its airspace. That, along with the opening of Saudi Arabian airspace to Israeli planes last July, shortens flights to Asia from Israel by over two hours, significantly reducing ticket prices for Israelis and enabling Israeli airlines to compete with international airlines.

March

• A Mossad operation in Syria left an Islamic Jihad commander dead. The al-Quds Brigade, Islamic Jihad’s military wing, said Ali Ramzi al-Aswad was killed in a “cowardly assassination with bullets bearing the fingerprints of the Zionist enemy.”
• The Mossad provided Greece with urgent intelligence that prevented a terrorist attack planned against a Chabad house in Athens. Two Pakistani men were arrested for planning the attack, which was considered to be imminent and intended to incur a heavy loss of lives.

May

• Chareidim launched a boycott of Angel Bakery after the company’s chairman of the board participated in an anti-government protest outside the home of Rav Gershon Edelstein zt”l. The boycott resulted in a massive loss for the bakery.
• As tens of thousands celebrated Lag BaOmer across Israel, the IDF was lighting its own fires in Gaza. A series of precision air strikes killed three top Islamic Jihad commanders. The IDF continued pounding Gaza over the course of five days, killing another three of the group’s leaders as well as dozens of their terrorist underlings.
• US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides announced that he was resigning from the position after two years, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, which had not moved to Israel with him. In September, President Biden nominated Jack Lew to succeed Nides.

June

• A Mossad agent mysteriously drowned to death after an accident involving a yacht in Italian waters. The incident reportedly occurred during a high-level meeting between Israeli and Italian intelligence officers. Ten other Mossad agents survived the accident (if it was an accident) and were immediately whisked back to Israel.
• An Iranian terror attack targeting Israelis and Jews in Cyprus was thwarted after information about the attack was conveyed to Cypriot intelligence services by Israeli and US intelligence services.

July

• The IDF carried out more than dozens of air strikes in Jenin, killing numerous terrorists and destroying multiple terror hot spots. The purpose of the operation, unofficially dubbed Operation Bayit V’Gan, was to restore deterrence in the northern Shomron, especially in Jenin, a hotbed of terrorism.
• Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization claimed to have uncovered a “ghost network” of 56 operatives who were working for Israel’s Mossad. A Turkish report said seven of the operatives were arrested, and all of them confessed to working for Israeli intelligence. The agents were reportedly gathering information about targets in Lebanon and Syria.
• A Russian-Israeli researcher named Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped by a Shiite militia in Iraq. Tsurkov was visiting Iraq under her Russian passport to carry out academic research for her doctorate from Princeton University.
• Prime minister Netanyahu was hospitalized in Tel Aviv after feeling unwell. Following a series of medical tests, doctors implanted a pacemaker to regulate his heart’s electrical activity.
• Netanyahu also received his formal invitation to meet with US president Joe Biden. No time or place was given for the meeting, which has yet to take place.
• Reports emerged that the US is working to broker a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The latter is reportedly demanding Israeli concessions to the Palestinians as well as security guarantees from the US.
• A 79-year-old Israeli kidnapped in Ethiopia was rescued in a daring operation by special forces after an Israeli lawmaker intervened. Reports said MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, who has contacts within the Ethiopian special forces, coordinated the rescue operation.

August

• The Shin Bet foiled a plot to kidnap an IDF soldier and carry out bombings and shooting attacks against troops in the Binyamin region after identifying a group of nine terrorists involved in the planning of the kidnapping and attacks and successfully apprehending them before they could act.
• Israel’s defense ministry secured its largest-ever defense deal, selling an Arrow-3 missile defense system to Germany for $3.5 billion. Arrow-3 is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles. The deal required approval from the US state department because the system was jointly developed by the two countries.

Russia-Ukraine War

June

• Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian troops. The offensive quickly ground to a near halt as Ukrainian troops became entangled with stiff resistance and territory laced with mines. Troops more recently reportedly made significant progress, breaking though Russian’s main defensive line.

August

• Denmark and the Netherlands announced they will present Ukraine with F-16 warplanes, which could be delivered around the end of the year. However, it could still take significantly longer for the fighter jets to be ready for battle against Russia.

Terrorism and Shootings

October

• A crazed man wielding a hammer broke into then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco and attacked her husband, Paul, who suffered a broken skull.

November

• The nation was gripped for weeks by the murder of four University of Idaho students, who were massacred in their sleep in a rental home near the school. Authorities identified Bryan Kohberger, who was ironically studying criminology, as the murderer.
• A white gunman massacred 10 black shoppers and employees at a Buffalo supermarket. The murderer, white nationalist Payton Gendron, pleaded guilty to murder and hate-motivated terrorism charges, guaranteeing he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
• A terror attack took place in Yerushalayim when remotely detonated bombs filled with nails exploded near bus stops in Givat Shaul and Ramot. The explosions killed 15-year-old yeshivah bachur Aryeh Schupack and Tadesa Tshuma Hy”d. Two dozen others were injured. Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt in the Ramot explosion, as a bus filled with passengers left the stop just moments earlier. The IDF and Shin Bet captured the ISIS-inspired terrorist responsible for the attack roughly two months later.
• An Israeli Druze teen was kidnapped from a hospital by Islamic Jihad terrorists as he underwent treatment for critical injuries suffered in a car accident. Gunmen stormed the hospital, unhooked his life-supporting machinery, and fled with the boy as he died. The Druze responded by kidnapping four Palestinians and threatening to kill them if the body was not released. The terrorists complied.

January

• A terror attack took place outside a shul in Neve Yaakov on a Friday night when a terrorist opened fire, killing seven individuals heading home from shul before being taken down. It was the worst terror attack in Israel since 2011. In a second incident that Shabbos, a father and son were seriously injured in an attack in Ihr Dovid.
• A shipment of uranium headed for an Iranian cell on British soil was found at London’s Heathrow Airport, raising fears over possible plans to detonate a radioactive weapon, colloquially known as a “dirty bomb,” by extremist actors.

February

• A ramming terror attack in Ramot killed 19-year-old newlywed Shlomo Lederman and two young brothers, Yaakov Yisroel Paley and Asher Menachem Paley, Hy”d. The boys’ father, who was critically injured in the attack, was released from the hospital months later. Their mother exhibited such resilience and emunah during shivah that it made news worldwide and resulted in multiple people becoming ba’alei teshuvah.

March

• A strike by a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a US contractor and wounded five American troops and another contractor in northeast Syria. American forces retaliated soon after with precision air strikes in Syria targeting facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, killing four.

April

• Two Israeli sisters and their mother were murdered in a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley. The victims were identified as Leah Dee and her daughters Rina, 15, and Maya, 20, Hy”d.

June

• 22 years after the Sbarro bombing in Yerushalayim, a16th casualty was claimed when a critically injured victim passed away. Chana Tova Chaya Nachenberg Hy”d was a young mother at the time of the attack and had been in a coma ever since. Her daughter, who was two years old at the time, was miraculously uninjured.
• Two terrorists carried out an attack near the city of Eli in the Binyamin region, opening fire at a gas station before shooting at diners at a nearby restaurant. Both terrorists were eventually eliminated, one by a civilian and the second by the IDF, but tragically, four Jews had already been killed and another four were injured.

August

• An armed Utah man accused of making violent threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president landed in the state. Craig Deleeuw Robertson posted online that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and begin “cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle.”
• A cyberattack crippled the Mayanei HaYeshua hospital in Bnei Brak, grinding its administrative computer systems to a halt. The hospital was forced to briefly turn away new patients until cybersecurity experts resolved the situation. The attack was reportedly financial in nature, with the hackers threatening to release information about chareidi politicians if they were not paid off.

Medical/Health

October

• The CDC dropped its country-by-country covid-19 travel health notices, which it began issuing early in the pandemic. It explained that fewer countries were testing for the virus or reporting the number of cases, limiting its ability to calculate travelers’ risk.
• The supply of commonly prescribed antibiotic amoxicillin dwindled across the US, particularly the liquid form of the drug, which is often given to young children. The shortage lasted months, forcing doctors to prescribe second-choice drugs to treat routine infections.

December

• Worry spread through the US as health experts warned of a “tripledemic”—waves of covid, flu, and RSV infections, which they predicted would overwhelm hospitals over the course of the winter. While there were a significant number of ill people, doctors’ worst fears never came to be.
• The Chinese government abruptly lifted its draconian covid restrictions after rare mass protests across the country. China’s strict zero-covid policies, which included mass testing, border closures, and extended citywide lockdowns, kept covid cases and deaths to a minimum for much of the pandemic but triggered tremendous resentment and hampered daily life to an extreme.

January

• Israel officially declared the covid-19 pandemic over and downgraded the country’s handling of the virus to that of the flu. As a result, the country’s pandemic control center was shuttered, and covid patients were no longer required to isolate themselves from others.

February

• Reports revealed that the US Department of Energy believes the origin of the covid-19 pandemic was most likely a lab leak. The department suggested that the virus could have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and was likely genetically modified.

April

• President Biden signed a GOP-led resolution bringing an end to the national emergency over the covid-19 pandemic. The White House officially wound down the national emergency and public health emergency around covid-19 on May 11, giving states the go-ahead to begin undoing measures enacted under the emergencies.
• Diabetes drug Ozempic, approved under the name WeGovy for weight loss, faced shortages worldwide as users flooded social media with posts boasting its properties as a “wonder” weight-loss hack. A similar drug, Mounjaro, was found to have similar astounding weight-loss effects.

May

• The US approved the first vaccine for RSV to protect older adults against a respiratory virus that’s most notorious for attacking babies but endangers the elderly too. RSV vaccines for infants were later approved, as well as shots for expectant mothers that protect newborns for up to six months.
• US surgeon general Vivek Murthy said widespread loneliness in the US poses health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually. About half of US adults say they’ve experienced loneliness.
• CDC director Rochelle Walensky submitted her resignation, saying the waning of the covid-19 pandemic was a good time to make a transition. Walensky was succeeded by Dr. Mandy Cohen, a former state health secretary in North Carolina.
• Pfizer received full approval for its covid-19 pill Paxlovid, which had become the go-to treatment against the coronavirus. The decision allowed Pfizer’s drug to remain on the market indefinitely and to be marketed similarly to other drugs.

Court Rulings

October

• Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay $965 million to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Another ruling in November ordered Jones to pay an additional $473 million, which, in addition to a separate $50 million judgement, put Jones on the hook for a total of $1.44 billion.
• Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 students at a Florida high school in 2018, was spared the death penalty; a jury decided that he should instead spend the remainder of his life in prison.

January

• Italy’s number-one fugitive, convicted Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, was captured after three decades on the run. He was the last of three longtime fugitive top-level Mafia bosses who had for decades eluded capture, and hundreds of police officers over the years had been tasked with tracking him down. Denaro had been tried and convicted in absentia of dozens of murders.
• Israel’s supreme court ruled that Shas chairman Aryeh Deri cannot legally serve as a minister in Israel’s government due to legal troubles he was embroiled in the year before.
• An Islamic extremist who killed eight people with a speeding truck in a 2017 rampage on a popular New York City bike path was convicted of 28 federal crimes. Sayfullo Saipov was facing a potential death sentence over his ISIS-inspired crimes, but a jury ultimately decided he should be sentenced to life in prison.

March

• A disgruntled former student of a private school in Tennessee went on a deadly rampage on its campus, killing three children and three adults before being killed by responding police officers.

May

• Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against New York Rep. George Santos, the new Republican lawmaker whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned the nation. Santos, who lied about nearly every aspect of his life—including claiming to be Jewish—faces charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft, and making false statements.
• Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was arrested on corruption charges in a dramatic escalation of Pakistan’s political tensions, which drew nationwide condemnation from the supporters of the popular opposition leader. He was later sentenced to prison but was freed in August when a judge threw out his convictions.

June

• The US supreme court handed down multiple historic decisions. In one, it struck down affirmative action, ruling that race-related admissions policies at public and private universities are unlawful. Another ruling said that President Biden’s plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt had to be authorized by Congress. In a third, justices found that business owners can turn away clients based on religious values. A fourth broadened accommodation that employers must make for workers’ religious practices, siding with a postal worker who was disciplined for refusing to work on Sundays for religious reasons.

July

• Three men convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting were freed from prison by a judge who deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust,” saying the FBI purposely radicalized them and convinced the men into conceiving plots to blow up New York shuls and shoot down National Guard planes.

August

• A Russian court convicted imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a fierce Putin critic, of extremism charges and sentenced him to 19 years in prison. Navalny was already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated.

Anti-Semitism

October

• Billionaire rapper Kanye West tweeted that he would be going “death con 3” on Jews, kicking off a multi-week string of wild anti-Semitic statements and conspiracy theories from the disgraced performer. In response, numerous companies that had sponsorship deals with West dropped him.

November

• Donald Trump got himself into some hot water after he invited two notorious anti-Semites to dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Kanye West and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes discussed various issues with Trump, though it did not appear that they discussed Jews. Despite numerous demands for an apology, Trump has largely remained silent about the incident.

December

• Google apologized after its top translation for the term “Jew” was listed as “bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way,” which garnered outrage for the perpetuation of an anti-Semitic trope.

February

• A neo-Nazi and his female accomplice were busted by the FBI while planning an attack on Baltimore’s power grid, which they believed would further their racist mission. Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Russell, who founded a small Florida-based neo-Nazi group, planned a series of “sniper attacks” on Maryland’s electrical substations. Authorities declined to specify how the planned attack was meant to fulfill a racist motive.

May

• Police arrested a man carrying a swastika who intentionally crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier at a park across from the White House. The suspect, Sai Varshith Kandula, was a delusional individual who was planning to overthrow the federal government.

June

• The anti-Semite who killed 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 was found guilty on all 63 counts he was charged with. Robert Bowers was later sentenced to die for the shooting, the worst anti-Semitic attack in US history.

July

• Worldwide furor was ignited when Swedish police gave a permit to a man who said he wanted to burn a Sefer Torah in front of the Israeli Embassy in Sweden. He claimed the move was intended to bring awareness to a burning of the Koran that occurred a month prior. Thankfully, the man did not follow through with his plans.

Natural and Man-Made Disasters

October

• A mass of mostly young people celebrating a holiday in Seoul, South Korea, became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley, killing at least 146 people and injuring 150 others in South Korea’s worst disaster in years.

December

• A historic snowstorm buried large parts of the US under feet of snow, with Buffalo, New York, taking the brunt of it. At least 40 deaths were reported from the storm, most of them in the northern New York metropolis.
• The Gregorian calendar concluded with headaches for hundreds of thousands of air travelers after Southwest Airlines canceled more than 10,000 flights in a single week after the aforementioned winter storm hampered its operations. No other airline was affected quite as much as Southwest, which admitted that it was using inadequate and outdated operations technology.

February

• A toxic train wreck in Ohio ignited a days-long inferno, spewed poisonous fumes into the air, killed thousands of fish and other wildlife, and left residents of the tiny town of East Palestine worried for their lives. The fiery derailment prompted fears of a catastrophic explosion of toxic vinyl chloride. That was averted, but major concerns remain about air quality in the town.
• A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake centered near the Turkey-Syria border toppled hundreds of buildings and killed nearly 60,000 people. Among those killed were the president of the Jewish kehillah in Antakya (historically known as Antioch) and his wife. An Israeli delegation that went to Turkey to assist with search-and-rescue had to evacuate due to “credible” intelligence suggesting they were going to be attacked by terrorists.

March

• Twenty-six people were killed when a tornado nearly obliterated the small Mississippi town of Rolling Fork.
• A fire at a hospital in Beijing killed 29 people, including 26 patients. The fire was attributed to welding work being done inside the hospital. Multiple people were arrested in connection with the tragedy, including the hospital’s director.

June

• Two passenger trains derailed in India, killing 280 and wounding more than 900. The accident occurred at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was increasingly focused on modernizing the British colonial-era railroad network in India.

July

• A submersible carrying five people to the Titanic imploded near the site of the shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean, instantly killing everyone onboard. The revelation brought a tragic end to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and worldwide attention.
• Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies determined that July 2023 was hotter than any other month in the global temperature record. Overall, July 2023 was 0.43 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than any other July in NASA’s record, and it was 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the average July between 1951 and 1980.
• Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies determined that July 2023 was hotter than any other month in the global temperature record. Additionally, the record for the warmest single day across Earth was broken on three consecutive days.

August

• A historic wildfire tore across portions of the Hawaiian island Maui, burning nearly the entire city of Lahaina to the ground and killing well over 100, making it the deadliest US fire in well over a century. Numerous missing people have still not been found.
• Tropical Storm Hilary drenched Southern California from the coast to the desert, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers in what was an extremely rare weather event for the Golden State.
• A United States Marine Corps V-22 Osprey aircraft carrying troops crashed on a north Australian island Sunday, killing three Marines and injuring 20. The accident came just days after a Marines fighter jet crashed in North Carolina, killing its pilot.
• Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend area, bringing sustained winds near 130 mph and a storm surge that covered bridges and homes in a torrent of water. Despite the widespread damage, no lives were lost, and the recovery from the storm is expected to cost far less than other major hurricanes.
• The heaviest rains ever recorded in China barraged the capital, Beijing, and submerged entire towns in water. Dozens of people were killed in the unprecedented floods, although the death toll didn’t come close to China’s worst flooding disaster—in 1887, nearly a million people died when the Yangtze River flooded.

 

Technology/Science

November

• China launched a rocket carrying three astronauts to complete construction of the country’s permanent orbiting space station. Named Tiangong, the space station has room to accommodate six astronauts at a time and is seen as a move by the Chinese to move away from reliance on the International Space Station.

January

• AI became all the rage when ChatGPT captured the world’s attention. The incredible capabilities of machine learning suddenly leaped to the forefront of worldwide consciousness, sparking a fierce and ongoing debate over whether AI presents an incredible opportunity for humanity or poses a tremendous risk to it.

February

• Hyundai and Kia rolled out software updates to stem a raft of auto thefts related to a TikTok trend that taught people how to easily make off with those company’s vehicles. A class action lawsuit has since been filed against the carmakers, accusing them of not doing enough to keep the vehicles secure.

March

• Israel successfully launched its new Ofek 13 spy satellite into space. Not much is known about it; the defense ministry stated simply that it is an “observation satellite with advanced capabilities.”

August

• The once ubiquitous incandescent light bulb, pioneered by Thomas Edison more than a century ago, was officially outlawed in the US, with some exceptions, under new bulb-efficiency standards.
• An Indian spacecraft became the first to land near the moon’s south pole and made India just the fourth country to land a craft on Earth’s lonely satellite. The rover has taken samples from the moon as scientists search for ice that is believed to be there.

Miscellaneous

December

• The Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates has been growing since the signing of the Abraham Accords deal with Israel. In a sign of that growth, the country’s first kosher supermarket opened in Dubai.

January

• Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi of Britian, was knighted by King Charles III, in one of the country’s greatest honors.
• Millions were stunned when a professional football player suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of a game after being struck in the chest. Damar Hamlin was administered CPR and a defibrillator was applied to his chest as millions watched in horror. He has since made a miraculous recovery and is back with his team, the Buffalo Bills.
• Boeing said goodbye to the 747 jet, fondly nicknamed the Queen of the Skies, after more than half a century of revolutionizing modern air travel. Though beloved, the 747 is less fuel efficient than newer models, which require two engines as compared to the 747’s four.

May

• An 1,100-year-old Chumash named the Codex Sassoon was sold at auction for $38 million. The buyer was former US ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses, who donated the Chumash to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.

June

• US regulators approved the sale of “chicken” made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves. Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg, or a special bank of stored cells.

July

• David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer, told Congress that the US is concealing a long-standing program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects. The Pentagon denied his claims and called his testimony “insulting” to those who dedicate their time to investigating UFOs.

August

• FBI director Chris Wray warned Congress about mega-popular social media platform TikTok, saying control of the popular video-sharing app is in the hands of the Chinese government, “which allows them to manipulate content and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.” He also asserted that China could use the app to collect data on its users, which could be used for traditional espionage operations.
• China experienced a population loss for the first time in decades, as the world’s most populous country contends with an aging citizenry. Despite the known problems, its population was not expected to go into decline for almost a decade. Over 1 million fewer babies were born than the previous year amid a slowing economy and widespread pandemic lockdowns, according to official figures.

Local News

Loss of Our Leaders

November

• Rav Feivel Cohen zt”l was niftar. He was one of the leading poskim in the US, a rav in Flatbush for decades, and a mechaber sefarim best known for his work Badei HaShulchan.
• British and worldwide Torah Jewry was plunged into mourning with the petirah of Rav Chanoch Ehrentreu zt”l, the longtime av beis din in London.

January

• Rav Shimon Badani zt”l, the nasi of the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah of Shas, was niftar. He had succeeded the former nasi, Rav Shalom Cohen zt”l, just several months prior.

April

• Rebbetzin Bruria David a”h, the legendary founder of BJJ Seminary in Yerushalayim and a world-renowned mechaneches, was nifteres. The daughter of Rav Yitzchok Hutner zt”l, she molded thousands of bnos Yisrael in their most formative years over her decades in chinuch.

May

• Rav Meir Hershkowitz zt”l, the rosh yeshivah of Stamford yeshivah known as one of the most brilliant talmidei chachamim of our age, was niftar. His levayah at BMG was attended by tens of thousands.
• The gadol hador Rav Gershon Edelstein zt”l, who served as the rosh yeshivah of Ponevezh and rabbinic authority for the Ashkenazi political parties in Israel, was niftar.

August

• The world of Yiddishkeit was plunged into mourning with the petirah of the beloved Rachmastrivka Rebbe Rav Chai Yitzchok Twerski zt”l.
• The olam hayeshivos was rocked by the petirah of Rav Aharon Schechter zt”l, the longtime rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn.

 

Politics

November

• Jackson’s incumbent mayor Mike Reina scored an upset victory in his reelection bid against powerful Council president Marty Flemming. Reina’s win was largely attributed to Orthodox Jewish residents, who turned out to vote en massein a coordinated effort to secure Reina another term in office.
• Matt Platkin was sworn in as the New Jersey attorney general, making him the first Jew to be appointed to that position in the state. Platkin, a strong defender of religious rights, had been serving as the acting attorney general for New Jersey following the departure of Gurbir Grewal to join the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Sean Gertner, a Jackson attorney who grew up in Lakewood, was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate to become a Superior Court judge. Gertner has nearly three decades of experience in real estate law, and aside from government positions he held, had been hired in numerous high-profile land-dispute cases, including many in Lakewood.

December

• The Jackson Zoning Board approved a new 253‐home development that will have entrances on Whitesville Road, East Veterans Highway, and South Hope Chapel Road. The project, put forward by developers Vito Cardinale and Randy Johnson, will include 205 single-family homes and 48 attached affordable housing units as well as a shul.
• Rob Arace defeated incumbent Manchester mayor Rob Hudak in their head-to-head runoff election. The two had gone to a runoff election after neither of them garnered more than 50 percent of the total vote in the November 8th general election. Arace was endorsed and supported by Gilmore, who was attempting to unseat Hudak following the latter’s unwillingness to support his bid to return to power as Ocean County GOP chairman.

January

• An unprecedented four frum residents were appointed to Jackson boards at its reorganization meeting. Tzvi Herman was reappointed to the planning board for a four-year term, with Shimshy Heller as an alternate member. Moshe Heinemann, a new Hatzolah of Central Jersey member, was appointed to the Safety Committee, and Motty Gottlieb was appointed to the Shade Tree Commission.
• Shlomo Schorr, a veteran frum reporter with a deep understanding of Trenton’s inner workings, joined Agudath Israel of America’s New Jersey Office as its director of legislative affairs.
• A deal brokered by Mayor Reina to swap land in the area of Cross Street with a developer who had received approval to build Jewish schools on Leesville Road was approved by the Township Council.

February

• Ocean County commissioner Joe Vicari announced that he would be retiring at the conclusion of his current term in office, prompting Lakewood deputy mayor Menashe Miller to consider a bid for the seat. He ultimately decided against it.
• Lisa Crate was appointed Brick Township’s new mayor after longtime mayor John Ducey stepped down to accept a position as a judge.

March

• The Lakewood Board of Education hired Ray Cherboni as its first-ever transportation compliance officer. He is responsible for ensuring that contractual obligations, including safety provisions, are met by transportation vendors.
• Lakewood got a new building inspector in Jeremy Kuipers days after the sudden passing of longtime inspector Mike Saccomanno.
• The Lakewood Planning Board approved a new shopping center on Avenue of the States consisting of three separate buildings containing a total of 25 stores. The stores will be located just south of the existing shopping center at the corner of Cedarbridge and Avenue of the States.

May

• The Lakewood Township Committee rejected an ordinance that would have permitted 150-foot buildings to be constructed. However, it passed an amended version of the ordinance allowing 75-foot buildings to be built.

June

• Bruce Stern and Debbie Fuentes won the Republican nomination to serve on the Lakewood Township Committee. They are seeking to succeed ailing committeeman Mike D’Elia, who is not running for reelection in November.
• Following an acrimonious primary season, Dan Rodrick defeated incumbent Toms River mayor Mo Hill in the Republican primary. Rodrick was accused of engaging in anti-Semitic campaigning, and Jewish residents largely voted for Geri Ambrosio, who ended the night in a distant second place. Rodrick will face Ben Giovine, who replaced primary winner John Furey as the Democratic nominee after he withdrew, in the November mayoral election.
• Police responded to two bank robberies in Lakewood—one at the TD bank on Route 9 and Kennedy, and the other at the Wells Fargo across the same intersection. The suspect, who made away with some money from one of his attempts, was caught several weeks later.
• Jackson Council president Marty Flemming stepped down from his position but did not resign entirely from the council. He was replaced by Steve Chisolm.

August

• New Jersey lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver, who made history as the first black woman to serve as speaker of the state Assembly, died following a brief hospitalization. She was 71.
• The Jackson Planning Board approved a plan to redraw the township’s Master Plan, a move that would make it easier to build shuls and schools. The Master Plan redrawing comes as part of Jackson’s attempts to settle discrimination lawsuits leveled against the township.
• The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that religious schools have the legal right to control their own internal operations in religious matters without external secular influences. The ruling allows religious schools to hire teachers and accept students based on religious values.
• The Jackson Township Council voted to enter into a settlement agreement with the New Jersey attorney general over a 2021 discrimination lawsuit. Under the settlement, Jackson will be required to expand the areas where schools and dorms are permitted, form a multicultural committee, redraw zoning lines for shuls, and pay more than half a million dollars in penalties.
• Agudah New Jersey director Rabbi Avi Schnall launched a bid to represent residents of the 30th Legislative District in the New Jersey State Assembly. Rabbi Schnall was appointed as the Democratic nominee by the party’s county committee after former Lakewood mayor Marta Harrison withdrew from the race to allow him to step in. Rabbi Schnall will face incumbents Sean Kean and Ned Thomson in the November election.

Anti-Semitism

November

• The FBI put out a sudden and urgent warning to Jews across New Jersey that an individual may be planning to carry out an attack against schools or shuls. The warning was lifted several hours later, after police arrested a northern-New Jersey teenager who had made terrifying threats against Jews on social media which prompted the scare.
• The NYPD said it foiled an attack by two individuals who were planning violence against shuls in New York City. The suspects were in possession of guns and knives as they were allegedly headed to carry out an attack.
• A pro-Palestinian activist pleaded guilty to hate crime charges over a spate of attacks against visibly Jewish people in New York City in 2021 and 2022.
• A group of chassidim who were discriminated against earlier in the year by Lufthansa Airlines when they were denied entry onto a connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest were each paid $20,000 by the German airline to settle a lawsuit they had filed.

December

• Agudath Israel unveiled a billboard campaign to fight back against the New York Times’ obsession with finding faults in yeshivos. Agudah also launched a website, KnowUs.org, aimed at educating people about Orthodox Judaism and yeshivos.

February

• A deranged man shot multiple Jews as they left shuls in Los Angeles over the course of several days. B’chasdei Hashem, none of the victims were seriously injured. The suspect was taken into custody.
• A terrifying report stated that Iran is mapping Jewish communities across the world in order to set retributive attack plans in the case that Israel attacks its nuclear program.

March

• Amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the US, Jewish billionaire Robert Kraft launched his Stand Up to Jewish Hate campaign, a national initiative to deter people from engaging in anti-Semitism.

May

• A Lag BaOmer celebration at the El Ghriba shul on the island of Djerba in Tunisia ended in tragedy when a Tunisian naval guard carried out a terror attack, killing a security guard and two Jews outside the shul. Nine others were injured, including four civilians.

June

• An anti-Semite burned an under-construction home to the ground and sprayed swastikas on a number of residences in Pine Lake Park. Ironically, neither the home he set alight nor the homes targeted with swastikas were owned by Jews. The suspect was identified as Ron Carr, a man with a long history of disturbing behavior. He was charged with 36 criminal counts, including arson and bias intimidation.
• Anti-Semitic graffiti was found spray-painted at the site of Chai Lifeline’s future headquarters on County Line Road in Jackson. Despite an investigation into the incident, no suspects have been identified.
• The FBI said it foiled a Michigan man’s plot to carry out a shooting attack at synagogues. FBI agents found Seann Patrick Pietila with a cache of weapons and Nazi paraphernalia.

Community

October

• Over 10,000 women gathered during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah to take part in the inaugural N’shei Adirei HaTorah gathering.
• BMG closed a deal to purchase the defunct 150-acre Woodlake golf course off New Hampshire Avenue for $18 million, to be used as batei midrashim and other yeshivah-related uses.
• Hatzolah of Central Jersey added three new ambulances to its fleet, with the vehicles now stationed in various sections of Lakewood and Toms River.

December

• Hatzolah of Central Jersey added 16 new members to its ranks from Lakewood, Jackson, Toms River, Manchester, and Howell, growing its roster of EMTs as the frum population continues to expand in size and geographic area.
• In a sign of the rapid growth of the frum communities in Manchester, the township got its first kosher eatery, Toast Café. The dairy eatery is located on Route 70 and Ridgeway, between the Holly Oaks and Pine Lake Park neighborhoods, which now boast north of 500 frum families.
• The va’ad that helps girls get into high schools sent a letter to the parents of eighth graders stating that they would be unable to help for the coming school year due to some high schools sending out acceptance letters before the agreed-upon date.
• Former president Donald Trump addressed the Torah U’Mesorah President’s Conference at his Doral Club in Miami, Florida. Notably, Trump mentioned Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, expressing wonder at his decades of leadership.

January

• CHEMED opened a new facility on the south side of Lakewood, offering an array of services including urgent care, pediatrics, and a behavioral health department, with plans to expand its offerings at the site.
• Hatzolah of Waterbury was awarded full EMS licensure, allowing the organization to provide emergency medical care and operate ambulances.

February

• Amid the growing dangers of technology, the Lakewood Cheder held its first mandatory tech-related asifah for parents. Similar gatherings were held by other schools throughout the school year.
• Torah U’Mesorah called on yeshivos to end their summer break early this year to ensure that talmidim spend significant time in class ahead of the Yamim Tovim.

March

• An ordinance was approved in Jackson to ease the requirements for the establishment of shuls and mikvaos, dropping the required land space for such facilities from two acres to one, and half an acre in certain neighborhoods.
• BMG received unanimous Planning Board approval to construct six apartment buildings with 100 apartments in each on a portion of the 36 acres the yeshivah purchased from Georgian Court University.
• The Jackson Planning Board approved Bais Yaakov of Jackson’s application to build four two-story buildings on a campus on East Veterans Highway near the Royal Grove neighborhood. Once completed, the school buildings will be able to accommodate approximately 2,350 students.

April

• Hatzolah got a new medical director in Dr. Josh Schwarzbaum following the departure of Dr. Shimshi Zimmerman, who stepped down due to time constraints.
• The Skver chassidus became the first frum sect to ban the use of artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, saying it could lead people to violate “lo sasuru acharei levavchem.”
• A collaborative effort between Chaverim of Rockland and Chaverim of Montreal brought power on Pesach to thousands of elderly, infirm, and newborn residents of Montreal after a devastating ice storm left more than a million people without power on the first days of Pesach.

May

• The Jackson Cheder received approval to build a two-story school with 54 classrooms at a site on Brewers Bridge Road, near the Flair neighborhood.
• On the first day of Shavuos, a New Jersey appellate court released a decision denying the prosecutor’s attempts to reverse a previous ruling that Rabbi Osher Eisemann should get a new trial due to exculpatory revelations. The prosecution has appealed to the state supreme court; whether it will agree to even hear the case will be decided by year’s end.

June

• Nearly 30,000 people streamed to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for the second iteration of Adirei HaTorah’s ma’amad, a heartwarming display of kavod for the men who spend their days immersed in limud haTorah and their families who enable them to do so.

July

• More than two dozen rabbanim and roshei yeshivah issued a kol korei banning the use of AI chatbots, writing that “such chats have the ability to ingrain the wrong hashkafos in people as well as outright kefirah, abominations, and other harmful content.”
• A massive recall campaign was initiated after a young Lakewood boy choked and was seriously hurt by a popular candy. The nosh was recalled by the manufacturer just days later.

August

• Pediatric Affiliates, headed by the legendary Dr. Shanik, announced that it will be constructing a new office at its River Avenue location, expanding its Brick location, and opening a new location in Jackson.
• BMG announced that its kollel checks will be raised by 5 percent, to $1,050, beginning in September. The announcement made official a statement by Rav Malkiel Kotler at the Adirei HaTorah gathering that the kollel checks will be increased.

 

Finance

March

• The state announced that it would be slashing funding for numerous school districts. Some local municipalities were hit particularly hard—Toms River had its state aid cut by 31.8 percent, Jackson’s by 18.4 percent; and Howell by 7.8 percent. Lakewood received a 7.7 percent increase in funding.
• The Lakewood School District requested a loan of $93 million—its largest-ever loan request—from the state to cover funding shortfalls for the 2023–2024 school year. The district, which must contend with a funding formula that doesn’t account for Lakewood’s demographics, was already more than $125 million in debt to the state.

June

• The state’s 2023–2024 budget raised school transportation aid-in-lieu from $1,022 to $1,165, somewhat alleviating the financial burden on parents with children who are not provided transportation to school.

August

• Agudah’s Rabbi Avi Schnall warned that the 2023–2024 school year will pose a “major challenge” for yeshivos and girls’ schools as despite increases in aid, the state’s school budget “will nowhere near cover the additional amount of services our schools need.”

Natural Disasters

April

• A tornado touched down in Jackson and Howell, causing significant damage to some structures—including the destruction of a warehouse—but did not cause any injuries. The tornado was rated an EF-2 with wind speeds up to 130 mph.

May

• Torrential rains transformed Lakewood’s roads into rivers and flooded dozens of basements, prompting more than 500 separate responses from Central Jersey Chaveirim and subsequently, commendation from the Lakewood Police Department for its assistance.
• The Jackson Board of Education voted to place a referendum on this November’s ballot to raise an additional $4 million in funds for the school district by raising taxes on residents.

June

• Smoke from wildfires in Canada blanketed the region and shrouded the sun for days as doctors warned people to stay indoors as much as possible and keep the air conditioning running due to low air quality.