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From Ashes to Action: Three Lessons From California’s Wildfires
Flames rise from a structure as the Palisades fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, US, Jan. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ringo Chiu
The harrowing images of California’s wildfires have shaken us to our core. Fields, mountains, and residential areas are still burning with raging fires; homes and businesses have been reduced to dust and ashes; and the sky is darkened by heavy smoke and pollution.
“Sometimes, G-d is beyond understanding,” my beloved mentor, Rabbi Adin Even-Israel, once shared with me. Indeed, our finite, human minds will never fully comprehend the infinite G-d. Still, our hearts are shattered with pain.
Yet, within every tragedy, even the most unfathomable ones, there is a lesson to be drawn. And while we cannot reason and understand, we can — and must — learn and respond. So, here are three humble thoughts:
1. Are Fires Good or Bad?
As the California wildfires have demonstrated, fire can bring havoc and destruction to individuals and communities alike. But fires, such as bonfires and fireplaces in homes, can also bring warmth and comfort.
This also applies to the spiritual fires within ourselves. Sadly, some people spread flames of destruction with the gossip they spread, with the resentment and animosity they inflame, and with the negativity they spew. They forget that deep within lies a soul, a candle of G-d (see Proverbs 20:27), that yearns to shine and light up our world with goodness and kindness.
The choice is ours. Light a fire of hatred — with negative words and actions — and you will have engulfed our world with darkness and devastation. Ignite a fire of unconditional love — with positive words and actions — and you will have repaired our world with grace and a Divine light.
To paraphrase the words of our prayer: “Console us, O L-rd … My heart grieves for those killed; I am in anguish, I am in anguish for those killed. For You, O L-rd, consumed it with our fire (of hatred), and with our fire (of love) You will rebuild it…”
2. The Only Certainty Within Certainty
Amid the chaos, a powerful reminder emerges: What we may perceive as “certain” — our homes and our physical possessions — are all, in reality, temporary and fleeting.
After all, no one has ever taken their material wealth upon leaving this world. Indeed, after all is said and done, the only true “certainty” that will forever remain is the love that we have given, the kindness that we have shown, the wisdom that we have imparted, and the faith and dedication that we demonstrated in G-d and in fulfilling His everlasting teachings.
What about the rest? Well, everything that came from ashes, will eventually return to ashes (Genesis 3:19). In the words of my beloved Rabbi, Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz of blessed memory: “In the end, we will only own not what we took, but what we gave…”
3. “The House Is On Fire, And Our Children Are Inside”
My beloved Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of blessed memory, repeatedly shared these stirring words with profound urgency and deep pain. The Rebbe was referring to the rampant flames of immorality, lawlessness, and corruption that constantly threaten our world, while our children are trapped within it. Tragically, only a few seem truly moved to take action.
And so he implored us, time and time again, to rise, to roll up our sleeves, to enter the fray, and to rescue our young ones, and reconnect them with their holy souls, their rich heritage, and their Divine morals and values.
As we continue to watch thousands of people evacuating their homes and running to safety, let us do everything in our power to help them and all of our world’s children, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
To help the thousands affected by the California wildfires, give generously to the wildfire rescue funds, and shake the heavens with your prayers.
To help the millions affected by our world’s wildfires of moral erosion, activate your soul, roll up your sleeves, and lift up a downtrodden spirit, heal a broken relationship, do a Mitzvah, invite people to your home for Shabbat dinners or a weekday lunch, visit the sick, listen to an aching heart, serve your community, and greet everyone with a smile. Make a positive impact in every place, at every moment, and with every interaction.
Our world, and its children of all ages, are waiting for you.
Rabbi Pinchas Allouche is the founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Tefillah and the founding Dean of Nishmat Adin Hihh School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The post From Ashes to Action: Three Lessons From California’s Wildfires first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Putin Has Invitation to Visit Iran, but Dates Have Yet to Be Set, Kremlin Says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a ceremony to sign an agreement of comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has an invitation to visit Iran, but the dates have not yet been agreed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Iran‘s government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday as saying that Putin‘s visit to Iran “is currently being worked out.”
Moscow and Tehran signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement in January, the two countries have supplied each other with weapons, and Russia has defended what it says is Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.
“Indeed, President Putin has an invitation to pay an official or working visit to Iran. The dates have not yet been agreed. As soon as they are agreed, we will inform you,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about a possible visit.
“We highly value our partnership with this country and we highly value the depth of our relationship in a wide variety of areas.”
The last time Putin visited Iran was in 2022, months after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
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Israel Intercepts Missile From Yemen, Houthis Claim Responsibility
People take cover, while sirens sound in Jerusalem, May 13, 2025. Israel’s military reported that a missile was launched from Yemen towards Israel and was intercepted. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards its territory.
The launch coincides with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf. Trump has announced that he reached a ceasefire with Yemen‘s Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, that will halt attacks on US vessels.
The Iran-aligned group fired a missile towards Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
Trump announced early in May that the US would stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen as the group had agreed to stop attacking US ships.
The Houthis said they will continue to fire missiles and drones towards Israel.
The Houthis have attacked numerous vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in a campaign that they say is aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza since a deadly raid by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023.
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Netanyahu Accuses France’s Macron of Siding With Hamas, Pushing Anti-Israel ‘Blood Libels’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023. Photo: Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused French President Emmanuel Macron of standing with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and repeating “blood libels” against the Jewish state after Macron castigated Israel’s policy in Gaza.
“Macron has once again chosen to stand with a murderous Islamist terrorist organization and echo its despicable propaganda, accusing Israel of blood libels,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “Israel will not stop and will not surrender.”
The statement added that Israel is fighting “for its very existence following the horrific massacre committed by Hamas against innocent people on Oct. 7, including the murder and kidnapping of dozens of French nationals.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the ongoing war on Oct. 7, 2023, when they invaded southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and kidnapped 251 hostages while perpetrating widespread sexual violence and other atrocities. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, the neighboring Palestinian enclave ruled by the terrorist group for nearly two decades.
Speaking to French television on Tuesday, Macron said the Israeli government’s blockade of aid into Gaza is “unacceptable” and “shameful.”
“What the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing is unacceptable … there is no water, no medicine, the wounded cannot get out, the doctors cannot get in. What he is doing is shameful,” Macron told TF1 television. “We need the United States. President Trump has the levers. I have had tough words with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I got angry, but they [Israel] don’t depend on us, they depend on American weapons.”
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza aid since early March, when it resumed military operations against Hamas following a two-month ceasefire. Experts and Israeli officials have said that Hamas steals much of the aid to fuel its terrorist operations and sells some of the remainder to Gaza’s civilian population at an increased price. Jerusalem has also said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organizations, which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for the civilian population.
Netanyahu’s office slammed Macron for lambasting Israel rather than siding with the Middle East’s lone democracy.
“Instead of supporting the Western democratic camp fighting the Islamist terrorist organizations and calling for the release of the hostages, Macron is once again demanding that Israel surrender and reward terrorism,” the statement said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also lambasted Macron for his comments.
“We remember well what happened to the Jews in France when they could not defend themselves,” he said in a post on X/Twitter, apparently referring to the mass killing of Jews during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. “President Macron will not preach morality to us. It is expected of those who define themselves as friends of Israel to stand by Israel in its war against the murderous terrorist organization Hamas and the Iranian axis of evil that threaten to destroy the State of Israel — instead of trying to deny it the right to self-defense.”
He added, “The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] operates at an unsurpassed level of morality in difficult and complex circumstances — certainly more than anything France has done in its past wars.”
The spat between Paris and Jerusalem came after Macron said last month that France is making plans to recognize a Palestinian state and could do so as early as June. Israeli and French Jewish leaders sharply criticized Macron’s announcement, decrying such a decision as a “prize for terrorism and a boost for Hamas.”
The post Netanyahu Accuses France’s Macron of Siding With Hamas, Pushing Anti-Israel ‘Blood Libels’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.