Colors: Blue Color

Of the many camps that MTA talmidim attend, the most popular option seems to be Camp Dora Golding. Every year, MTA takes a very full group picture with current and former talmidim, and this year some prospective talmidim as well! It is always a fun visit, as Rabbi Konigsberg, principal at MTA, is also the assistant head counselor at Dora Golding, so he brings his unique ruach to the time spent there.

As he prepares to step down from his post as the outspoken Ambassador for Israel to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan attended a festive evening in his honor. Present at the program were incoming (and former) Ambassador to the post Danny Danon and esteemed guest Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Chairman of the Eretz HaKodesh Party in the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

Agudath Israel of America, along with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, submitted an amicus “friend of the court” brief in a case seeking to hold UCLA accountable for failing to address antisemitic activity on campus.  The lawsuit, Frankel, et al. v. Regents of the University of California, et al., was brought by three Jewish students attending UCLA, Yitzchok Frenkel, Joshua Ghayoum, and Eden Shemulian, and describes how UCLA administration initially permitted a pro-Hamas encampment to exist on campus and allowed the establishment of a “Jew Exclusion Zone” at the University earlier this year.

Tish’ah B’Av, observed on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, is a solemn day in Judaism, marked by mourning and fasting to commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples. The Holy Temples held immense significance in Jewish history as centers of worship and Divine presence.

The Mishnah (Taanis 26) teaches us, “Mi’she’nichnas Av m’maatim b’simchah,” at the beginning of [the month of] Av, we should moderate our joy. Numerous disasters affected the Jewish people on Tish’ah B’Av, such as the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Our practices of mourning are increased as we enter the month of Av, and they become even more intensified in the week of Tish’ah B’Av.