Week of March 20, 2026
Week of March 20, 2026
(JNS)- Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, of Dearborn Heights, drove a truck into the largest Reform temple in North America and opened fire on security guards, injuring one, in West Bloomfield, Mich., a suburb some 25 miles northwest of Detroit. The terrorist is confirmed dead, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said. "At some point during the gunfight, Ghazali suffers a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head," said Jennifer Runyan, FBI Detroit's special agent in charge. "He has no previous...
(JNS)— The Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform Jewish movement in North America, stated on Thursday that it was “deeply saddened and alarmed” by the car-ramming and shooting attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., outside of Detroit. Security officers shot and killed the gunman, who injured the head of security at the temple, the Reform movement’s largest in the country. “Our hearts are with the injured, heroic security officer, the congregation, and especially the children and educators, whose...
(JNS) - Iran on Wednesday threatened a "war of attrition" that would destroy the global economy as it targeted oil tankers and neighboring energy infrastructure. Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief, a member of the military's "war command room" and former deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told Iranian state television on Wednesday that the U.S. and Israel "must consider the possibility that they will be engaged in a long-term war of attrition...
(JNS) - Hamas wages war on Israel through a coordinated strategy of terrorism and propaganda. They fight illegally behind human shields to frustrate enemy targeting. And whenever a human shield gets killed, they blame Israel. The terror group's propagandists specialize in crafting statistics, anecdotes and images of wartime suffering among Palestinian Arab children to evoke sympathy while slandering Israel. To the extent that outside parties such as moviemakers recycle the child-focused...
(JNS) — Israel’s flag carrier, El Al, announced Sunday that it will launch six non-stop flights to New York that started last Monday to help thousands of U.S. citizens who have been stranded in the country since the outbreak of the Iran war to return home. The flights, which are designated exclusively for American citizens as part of an agreement with the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, will operate at full capacity and will not be subject to the current 100-passenger limit per outbound flight. It was not immediately...
(JNS) — Israel’s elimination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was made possible by using Tehran’s traffic cameras to spy on the movements of those close to the cleric. Israeli intelligence “hacked” nearly all traffic cameras in Tehran over a period of years, encrypting the footage and transmitting it to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel, according to The Financial Times, which first reported the story, citing two sources familiar with the operation. One camera in particular provided a strategic vantage point, enabling...
(JNS) — The United States and its allies will release hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in a coordinated effort to bring down global energy prices, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced on March 11. “Earlier today, 32 member nations of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed to President Trump’s request to lower energy prices with a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from their respective reserves,” he said. As part of the plan, U.S. President Donald...
Thanks to a two-year grant from the S'firot Foundation, Jewish Pavilion Senior Services will dramatically expand its delivery of joy and Jewish culture to more than 400 residents of 40 senior-living communities across Central Florida. The expanded program, A World of Jewish Joy will create a consistent, monthly rhythm of stimulating, culturally grounded experiences that meet the holistic needs of older adults. "The S'firot Foundation's goals perfectly align with our mission to improve the lives...
(JNS) — The majority of the targets struck so far in Iran during “Operation Roaring Lion” were developed after the June 2025 war with the Islamic Republic, which was dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” military sources revealed on Tuesday. Since the launch of the current operation on Saturday, the IDF has struck more than 600 targets in Iran. Overnight on Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force said it acted on precise intelligence to strike and dismantle facilities within the leadership compound of the Iranian terrorist regime in the heart of...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces has ramped up operations in Judea and Samaria since the start of Operation Roaring Lion on Feb. 28, to ensure that would-be terrorists living under the Palestinian Authority don’t take advantage of the situation to launch a new front. As part of the effort, the IDF is closely coordinating with individual communities and their security personnel to prevent terrorist attacks. During an exclusive briefing with JNS, an official IDF spokesperson said that since Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, the military...
(JNS) — Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, declined to say if Iran is better off without the ayatollah when asked during a press conference on Tuesday. “I’ve said before that the Iranian government has engaged in systematic repression of its own people, even killing thousands of Iranians who were seeking to express the most basic forms of dissent earlier this year. It is a brutal government,” the mayor said, standing alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. “I’ve also said that while I may be a young mayor, I am old enough to...
Israeli Tourism Ministry: 16,000 visitors have left since start of war By JNS Staff (JNS) — Eleven days after the launch of “Operation Roaring Lion,” Israel’s Tourism Ministry says about 21,500 tourists remain in the country, down from roughly 37,000 at the start of the operation. According to the ministry on Tuesday, about 16,000 tourists have departed Israel since the operation began, while approximately 2,500 have entered the country despite the security situation and travel challenges. During the period when Israel’s airspace...
(JNS) — The Israeli military said early on Thursday morning that in the prior hours, it launched a “wide-scale wave of strikes” at Hezbollah terror infrastructure across Lebanon. “As part of the strikes, the IDF located and dismantled dozens of launchers, which were ready to launch, and neutralized dozens of Hezbollah operatives while they were preparing to launch toward the State of Israel,” the military said. It added that it hit “10 terror structures in the Dahieh area,” a Beirut suburb, “including intelligence...
(JNS) — The Los Angeles Police Department said after an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue on Thursday that it was calling for unity against all forms of hate. The department “will continue working with our local, state, national and international partners to monitor developments and ensure the safety of all Angelenos,” it said. “Together, we stand united against hate and violence in all its forms.” The department identified the target as a “Jewish institution,” saying it was “deeply saddened” and stands “in solidarity...
(JNS) — The only offer extended to Iran was “unconditional surrender,” Israeli Knesset speaker Amir Ohana, a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said on Tuesday. Ohana was responding to a post in which Ghalibaf said that the Islamic Republic was no longer seeking to negotiate a truce with the United States and Israel. “Absolutely, we are not seeking a ceasefire; we believe we must strike the aggressor in the mouth so that it learns a lesson and never again even thinks of aggressing against our...
About one-third of $4,965,000 in security funding that Massachusetts gave to 167 nonprofits in the state went to Jewish organizations, including synagogues, according to a JNS analysis. Of the listed nonprofits, 55 (about 33%) were Jewish, and they received $1,606,876 (about 32%) of the funding, which came from the Commonwealth Nonprofit Security Grant Program and the Commonwealth Nonprofit Security Personnel Grant Program. In addition to the 55, Brandeis University, which states that it is “animated by a set of values that are rooted in...
(JNS) — Scores of parliamentarians from around the world are calling for the toppling of the Iranian regime and rejecting any negotiations with it that would enable its survival. A public letter, initiated by an Israeli lawmaker in the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus, as the war approaches its third week, was signed by more than 50 parliamentarians from Europe, Latin America and Africa, including dozens who lead Israel Allies caucuses in their respective parliaments. Entitled “International Call For A Free Iran,” the March 10 letter...
(JNS) — In a moment that could have ended in tragedy, two rabbis from Temple Israel said preparation and training helped ensure that “everything went right” during a March 12 attack on the Reform congregation in suburban Detroit. The car-ramming and shooting attack at the synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., triggered lockdown procedures, a massive law-enforcement response and panic among parents rushing to their children. Authorities say Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, rammed a vehicle into the building and opened...
(JNS) — As U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets continue and air-raid sirens send Israelis rushing to shelters, thousands of international students are choosing to remain in Israel to continue their studies, volunteer and adjust to wartime realities. According to the Israel Educational Travel Alliance, an initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America, nearly 5,500 participants, including roughly 3,000 Americans, on Jewish educational programs under the umbrella of Masa Israel Journey remain in the country. Masa said in a...
(JNS) — After a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack at a Michigan synagogue, Jewish advocacy groups are pressing Congress to resolve a funding impasse they say is delaying critical security support for vulnerable nonprofits. Authorities identified Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, as the suspect accused of driving a truck into Temple Israel, a large Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., before exchanging gunfire with armed security personnel. Ghazali was killed in the exchange, and the synagogue’s director of...
(JNS) — The Samaria Regional Council on Wednesday morning erected the first residential structures on Mount Ebal, around 10 months after Israel’s Cabinet approved the establishment of a new community at the site. Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, together with the Amana settlement movement, worked overnight to establish the village after receiving formal Interior Ministry approval last month, Dagan said. “This morning, we’re privileged to feel the wings of history beating,” he said. “To make history together here by...
(JNS) — Hillel International broke ground at Cornell University on March 8 on a long-planned Jewish student center designed to strengthen campus Jewish life. The campus Hillel has operated since 1952 out of Annabel Taylor Hall, a university building shared with other faith communities. Rabbi Ari Weiss, executive director of the Grinspoon Hillel Center for Jewish Community at the private university in Ithaca, N.Y., told JNS that setting up at Harkavy Hall, a new building, has “been a dream of the Hillel and our community for at least 30...
(JNS) — In a glowing profile of a Palestinian American neurosurgeon building schools and offering hot meals to children in the Gaza Strip, The New York Times inadvertently exposed a far more consequential story than the one it intended to tell. Beneath the “feel good” narrative lies an uncomfortable truth: the curriculum used in Palestinian Authority schools is saturated with anti-Israel incitement, antisemitism and the glorification of violence—an educational framework that has served to indoctrinate generations of young Palestinians...
On the morning of March 11, 2026, Jewish Pavilion Senior Services hosted a delightful Sponsors Breakfast at Grand Living in Lake Mary. The gathering brought together sponsors, board members, and supporters who share a commitment to enhancing the lives of seniors served by the Jewish Pavilion. The breakfast provided a wonderful opportunity for guests to enjoy a delicious meal while connecting with other businesses and community leaders who support Jewish Pavilion Senior Services. The relaxed and...
(JNS) — After a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack at a Michigan synagogue, Jewish advocacy groups are pressing Congress to resolve a funding impasse they say is delaying critical security support for vulnerable nonprofits. Authorities identified Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, as the suspect accused of driving a truck into Temple Israel, a large Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., before exchanging gunfire with armed security personnel. Ghazali was killed in the exchange, and the synagogue’s director of...
(JNS) — Australia is an open, tolerant democracy and that is worth defending. But openness should never mean blindness. Currently in the country, events are being organized to honor the memory of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 86-year-old theocratic dictator slain on Feb. 28 in the joint U.S.-Israel war on Iran, who ruled the Islamic Republic for nearly four decades through one of the most repressive regimes in the modern world. The disturbing part is not only that these memorials are being planned. It is that they are proceeding openly,...
(JNS)— Iran stood at the peak of its power on Oct. 7, 2023. For decades, the Islamic Republic armed, trained and funded Hamas. On this day, the terrorist organization inflicted the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas gunned down young concertgoers in an open field, dragged children dragged from their beds and massacred residents in 21 communities dotting southern Israel. Hamas murdered more than 1,200 innocent men, women and children—some burned alive or beheaded—including 46 Americans. Another 251 were taken hostage,...
“No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight,” boasted U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to the people of Iran shortly after unleashing a joint attack that may have finally ended the theocratic nightmare that has been their miserable fate since 1979. He was right: For nearly half a century, the Iranian clerics who ruled the country with its morality police and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps did everything imaginable to deserve the retaliatory fury of the United States. Yet aside from last summer’s 12-day war,...
(JNS) — Without detracting in the least from the considerable merits of the far-reaching military operation currently being carried out in Iran by the joint forces of the United States and Israel, it must be said that if these incredible efforts and incomparable successes in the field are not ultimately crowned with regime change—with the absolute toppling of the Islamic Republic and its replacement by a moderate, friendly state—much of what has been accomplished to date will have been in vain. In fact, it may well come back to smack us...
(JNS)— On the morning of the outbreak of “Operation Roaring Lion,” which also fell on the Torah portion Zachor (“Remember”), I once again found myself exchanging my Shabbat clothes for a military uniform. As a reservist soldier in the Israel Defense Forces and the CEO of AFJS: American Friends of Judea and Samaria, an organization working to strengthen the bond between friends of Israel in the United States, and Judea and Samaria, the transition from national mission to operational duty was sharp and unmistakable. It represented a...
How would you define the word “holy?” It’s not “religious,” nor is it “spiritual.” I actually prefer the word “distinctive.” You see, one doesn’t have to be otherworldly to be holy. Take money, for example. It’s greasy, often corrupt, the ultimate expression of materialism. But give it to a pauper, and you’ve sanctified it. Last week in Vayakhel—the first of two portions read last Shabbat—the Mishkan, or sanctuary built in the wilderness, was finished. The people had contributed all the various materials necessary,...
For a long time, Jews looking for representation in video games had to make do with the possible Jewishness of William Joseph Blazkowicz, the Nazi-hunting protagonist of the popular ‘90s video game series Wolfenstein. A white, muscular, machine-gun-toting GI, with a lantern jaw and blue eyes, Blazkowicz didn’t exactly look the part. But his Polish ancestry, together with his enthusiasm for vanquishing Wehrmacht soldiers, left many Jews convinced. (Eventually, in 2017, Wolfenstein creator...
“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” – Kurt Vonnegut Laughter is more than a pleasant reaction — it is a powerful physiological and emotional tool. Research shows that laughter positively influences multiple body systems. It strengthens the immune response by stimulating the production of immunoglobulins, improves circulation by increasing oxygen intake and heart rate, and promotes the release of endorphins, the body’s...
Brownies with Marbled Cream Cheese This easy recipe is an easy snack. 18 oz. package of fudge, chewy brownie mix 2 eggs 1/2 cup oil 1 tsp. instant coffee, optional 1 T. cocoa powder, optional 8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature (I used Neufchâtel cheese with 1/3 fewer calories.) 3 T. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla, divided Chocolate curls or chocolate chips, optional to garnish Cover a 9x13 baking pan with foil, making handles or cover the pan with parchment overlapping the sides of the baking dish....
By Steven Cardonick Spring! We survived winter without too much snow this year. A few flakes came down from the skies but never made it to the ground here. According to one of my readers, Josh the joker, they were escorted off the plane by security personnel, questioned, and sent back to their northern homes. Baseball! The grapefruit league is already winding down and regular season is about to start. Did you catch an exhibition game? The closest spring training park is over in Lakeland where...
On the morning of March 11, 2026, Jewish Pavilion Senior Services hosted a delightful Sponsors Breakfast at Grand Living in Lake Mary. The gathering brought together sponsors, board members, and supporters who share a commitment to enhancing the lives of seniors served by the Jewish Pavilion. The breakfast provided a wonderful opportunity for guests to enjoy a delicious meal while connecting with other businesses and community leaders who support Jewish Pavilion Senior Services. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere encouraged meaningful...
Team Israel doubled its win total from its previous World Baseball Classic appearance and closed out the 2026 tournament with a victory on Tuesday. But it was not enough to advance to the quarterfinals. Israel defeated the Netherlands 6-2, overcoming an early 2-0 deficit to even its tournament record at 2-2—good enough for third place in the pool of five teams. By winning at least one game, the team automatically qualified for the next World Baseball Classic, likely to be held in 2029. Team Israel went 1-3 in 2023. “It’s amazing to me...
MORNING MINYANS Chabad of Altamonte Springs — Sunday morning minyan, 8 a.m. Weekday morning minyan 6:30 a.m., 407-720-8111. Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael — Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona — Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community...
