"If the rebbi does not feel like a father to his students, he is not fulfilling his mission, nor is the father discharging his educational obligation to his children. It is not merely an auxiliary advantage for a rebbi to regard his students as his children, but a very requirement and it is our duty to see that this prerequisite is fully fulfilled." These words were spoken by HaRav Boruch Dov Povarsky, Rosh Yeshivas Ponevizh and member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, to a delegration of rabbonim from the Chinuch Committee who came to his home in anticipation of the 14th Convention, headed by Torah leaders and with the participation of hundreds of mechanchim and principals, to take place from Tuesday to Thursday, the 16th to the 18th of Shevat in the Nir Etzyon convention center for three intensive days of interspection, direction and guidance on various burning topical educational issues.

Over the last three weeks, tens of thousands of people people participated in Agudath Israel's Rav Chaim Yisroel Belsky zt"l Global Chullin Initiative presentation by Rav Amitai Bendavid. His presentations were informative and included a hands-on demonstration of the complex areas of Torah that involve the treifos portions of maseches Chulin. The event series was generously sponsored by Meal Mart.

Water is flowing in the streams in the north of Israel in amounts not seen in several years. Streams are full to overflowing and the Kinneret is rising fairly fast.

A team of professional divers in Hungary in conjunction with Jewish organizations including Ichud Hatzalah have begun this past Tuesday on a search for bones of Jewish martyrs who died in Hungary during the course of the Holocaust when they were shot to death on the banks of the Danube River.  

The Fall of the Labor Party

The vociferous debate in the Labor Party's gathering and its public denial regarding the accelerating decline of this political party is a historic tolling of the bells. The parting and abandonment of this public from "the party which established the State" is taking place at a very significant time, seventy years since the establishment of the Knesset legislature, seventy years since the first elections. Someone mentioned that this party, which held high the red flag and commemorated on May 1st the national anthem in the `Internationale', is now experiencing its death throes after seventy years. This is the exact figure which the Chofetz Chaim designated as the life span of the frightful Communist Party, seventy years comparable to the seventy years of the Babylonian exile, a prediction attributed to him. Amazing, indeed, to witness how the living spirit of Israel [as a state] is now dying out, precisely after an identical period in time.

Israelis Plan to Send a Privately funded Vehicle to the Moon This Year

For the first time in Israel and perhaps the entire world, a privately-funded group is planning to try to send a satellite to the moon. This project is expected to launch this week.

Holocaust Survivors are Sicker than Average but Live Longer than Average

A new Israeli study reveals that compared to the general Israeli-born population, Holocaust survivors are less healthy but live longer.

Rain and Kinneret Watch

by Dei'ah Vedibur Staff

Our weekly report of the rain and the level of the Kineret - Winter, 5779.

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