RSS
The Challenge You Are Facing Right Now Might Be Needed to Help You Grow
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
Years ago, former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau shared an incredible story that continues to resonate deeply. Two elite Israeli soldiers, part of a highly specialized anti-terror unit, were sent on a critical mission: to capture or eliminate a notorious terrorist hiding in Lebanon. The operation brought them to the terrorist’s home, where they burst in to find his wife and three young children. The soldiers searched the home meticulously, but the target was nowhere to be found.
As one soldier guarded the family, the woman suddenly spoke — astonishingly, in Hebrew. She claimed she was Jewish and, to prove it, revealed a chai necklace around her neck. Skeptical, the soldiers demanded further evidence. The woman directed them to a record hidden beneath her mattress, saying it would confirm her story. They found the record as described. Its cover bore the words Kol Nidrei.
The woman then shared her extraordinary tale. “I grew up in Minneapolis and my parents were Holocaust survivors. When I went to college, I fell in love with a man of Lebanese descent. We planned to marry and move to Lebanon, but my parents were devastated. My mother, furious and heartbroken, gave me an ultimatum: If I married him, I would cease to be her daughter.”
“Confused, but deeply in love, I left. At the airport, as I stood in line to check my baggage, my father appeared. With tears in his eyes, he reassured me that no matter what, I would always be his daughter and always have a home to return to. He gave me this chai necklace as a parting gift, asking me to wear it always. Then, he handed me his most treasured possession — a record of Kol Nidrei, his favorite cantorial piece. He begged me to play it from time to time and remember my roots.”
The soldiers, moved by her story, believed her. The commander spoke plainly: “Your husband will eventually be captured or killed. Either way, you have no life here. Come with us, return to Israel, and reclaim your place among your people.”
And she did. The woman and her children left Lebanon and rebuilt their lives in Israel. She remarried — a Jewish man this time — and her parents flew to Israel to attend the wedding. They met their grandchildren for the first time, a joyous reunion that had once seemed impossible. The children were enrolled in religious schools, and today, the family lives as religious Jews in Israel.
This story feels especially poignant in light of this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach. Jacob is preparing to face his brother Esav, who remains furious over the stolen birthright blessing. Alone and vulnerable in the night, Jacob is confronted by a mysterious figure. The Torah tells us: “A man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.”
Who was this man, and why did he engage Jacob in this all night struggle?
The great medieval commentator, the Rashbam, identifies this man as an angel sent by God. His mission was to compel Jacob to confront his fears and fulfill his destiny by meeting Esav face-to-face. Based on this, my friend, Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman, suggests that this is part of a larger theme in the book of Genesis — that whenever the Patriarchs are confronted with a potentially life-altering situation and facing their covenantal destiny, an anonymous ish, a “person,” appears to help the Torah figure move in the right direction.
Later in the Torah, we see this again with Joseph. When Jacob sends him to check on his brothers near Shechem, Joseph becomes lost. Out of nowhere, an ish appears and tells him his brothers have moved on to Dosan. Thanks to this encounter, Joseph finds his brothers, who throw him into a pit and eventually sell him into slavery. Though it appears to be a tragedy, this event sets the stage for Joseph to descend to Egypt and fulfill his covenantal destiny.
Sometimes we too need to confront our most difficult challenges to become the people we were meant to be. But God also helps us get there. He sends special people or an odd circumstance to help us reach that place. We just need to learn to see those people or experiences as possibilities for growth. The problem is that we lack perspective, and when we are going through something unfortunate or difficult, we often think it is just a step back. Losing a job, ending a relationship, or encountering failure can feel devastating, yet these experiences often open doors we never imagined. Facing Esav in Jacob’s case, or going down to Egypt in Joseph’s situation, could only be perceived at the time as negative and unfortunate situations. But both circumstances ultimately put Jacob and Joseph where they needed to be to become the great men they ultimately became.
I don’t know how marrying a Lebanese terrorist could be seen as anything short of disastrous, and this young woman certainly made the wrong choice at that time in her life. But after the fact, it put her in a situation where she was given another choice to make, to leave her husband, return to her people and become committed to Judaism in a way that perhaps she might never have — had she remained in Minneapolis her whole life. God works in mysterious ways.
May Hashem help us find the strength to embrace life’s challenges with faith and openness. And may we have the clarity to recognize the ish — the people and moments that guide us toward our covenantal destiny, helping us become the individuals we were meant to be.
Rabbi Mark Wildes is the founder and director of the Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE), a vibrant community for young Jewish professionals, and the author of The 40 Day Challenge: Daily Jewish Insights to Prepare for the High Holidays and Beyond the Instant: Jewish Wisdom for Lasting Happiness in a Fast-Paced Social Media World.
The post The Challenge You Are Facing Right Now Might Be Needed to Help You Grow first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Administration Impounds $250 Million From UCLA, Citing Antisemitism
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 31, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura via Reuters Connect
The Trump administration has confiscated a nine-figure sum in federal funds from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), citing numerous complaints of antisemitism on the campus — some of which the institution recently settled in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.
The federal government impounded, according to various reports, some $250 million to punish the university’s alleged exposing Jewish students to discrimination by refusing to intervene when civil rights violations transpired or failing to correct a hostile environment after the fact. The move comes only a couple days after UCLA agreed to donate $2.33 million to a consortium of Jewish civil rights organizations to resolve an antisemitism complaint filed by three students and an employee.
On Thursday, UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk, a descendant of Jews who left Germany in the 1930s, said the loss off funds is “a loss for America” while arguing that it will not help in addressing antisemitism.
“With this decision, hundreds of grants may be lost, adversely affecting the lives of and life-changing work of UCLA researchers, faculty, and staff. In its notice to us, the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons,” Frenk wrote in a message to the campus community. “This far-reaching penalty of defunding live-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination.”
He continued, “We share the goal of eradicating antisemitism across society. Antisemitism has no place on our campus, nor does any form of discrimination. We recognize that we can improve, and I am committed to doing so. Confronting the scourge of antisemitism effectively calls for thoughtfulness, commitment, and sustained effort — and UCLA has taken robust actions to make our campus a safe and welcoming environment for all students.”
Many antisemitic incidents occurred at UCLA before the institution was ultimately sued and placed in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.
Just five days after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, as previously reported by The Algemeiner, anti-Zionist protesters chanted “Itbah El Yahud” at Bruin Plaza, which means “slaughter the Jews” in Arabic. Other incidents included someone’s tearing a chapter page out of Philip Roth’s 2004 novel The Plot Against America, titled “Loudmouth Jew,” and leaving it outside the home of a UCLA faculty member, as well as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) staging a disturbing demonstration in which its members cudgeled a piñata, to which a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s face was glued, while shouting “beat the Jew.”
Later, pro-Hamas activists erected a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on campus during the final weeks of the 2024 spring semester and chanted “death to the Jews,” set up illegal checkpoints through which no one could pass unless they denounced Israel, and ordered campus security assigned there by the university to ensure that no Jews entered it. UCLA allegedly refused to clear the encampment despite knowing what was happening there, prompting allegations that it allowed a “Jewish Exclusion Zone” on its property. The antisemitism complaint that was settled earlier this week argued that the university violated its own policies as well as “the basic guarantee of equal access to educational facilities that receive federal funding” and other equal protection laws.
On Tuesday, the university announced that it agreed to pay $6.45 million in total to settle the lawsuit.
“Antisemitism harassment and other forms of intimidation are antithetical to our values and have no place at the University of California,” UC Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly said in a statement. “We have been clear about where we have fallen short, and we are committed to doing better moving forward. Today’s settlement reflects a critically important goal that we share with the plaintiffs: to foster a safe, secure, and inclusive environment for all members of our community and ensure that there is no room for antisemitism anywhere on campus.”
On the same day, the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division ruled that UCLA’s response to antisemitic incidents constituted violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“Our investigation into the University of California system has found concerning evidence of systemic antisemitism at UCLA that demands severe accountability from the institution,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand: the [Department of Justice] will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
RSS
Michigan Senate Candidate Sits Down for Interview With Anti-Israel Streamer
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed Launches Bid (Source: WLNS 6 News/Youtube)
Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat running for the US Senate in Michigan, recently appeared on the platform of controversial anti-Israel social media personality Hasan Piker, raising questions about the candidate’s positions on the Jewish state.
El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, is mounting a 2026 progressive campaign for the open Senate seat in Michigan. His appearance on Piker’s stream, which aired on YouTube and Twitch, covered a range of topics from health care to foreign policy. But his decision to appear on a stream by Piker, who has an extensive history of repudiating Israel and defending the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, has drawn scrutiny.
The two did not talk in depth about Israel or the ongoing war in Gaza during the interview. However, Piker stated that anti-Israel politicians can now succeed in American politics as opposed to previous generations, pointing to the ascendance of New York City Democratic mayoral primary winner Zohran Mamdani, who has made activism against the Jewish state a cornerstone of his political career. Piker encouraged El-Sayed not to “back away” from condemnations of Israel, claiming that “a lot of people agree” with the far left on the issue.
Piker has an extensive history of repudiating Israel as an “apartheid state” and defending atrocities committed against its civilians. In a 2024 livestream, Piker minimized sexual assaults committed against Israeli women at the hands of Hamas, saying “it doesn’t matter if rapes f—king happened on Oct. 7.” He has also defended violence by both Hamas and the Houthis, a Yemen-based Islamist terror group, as legitimate “resistance,” and said he doesn’t “have an issue with” Hezbollah, which pummeled Israel with an unremitting barrage of missiles and rockets from southern Lebanon in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Jewish state.
El-Sayed has also positioned himself as a fierce critic of Israel. The progressive champion was a prominent supporter of the “Uncommitted movement,” a coalition of Democratic officials which refused to support the 2024 Kamala Harris presidential campaign over her support for Israel. However, El-Sayed later clarified that he would support Harris over Donald Trump in the general election.
El-Sayed has been especially critical of Israel’s war in Gaza. On Oct. 21, 2023, two weeks after the Hamas slaughter of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, the progressive politician accused Israel of “genocide.” He also compared Israel’s defensive military operations to the Hamas terrorist group’s conduct on Oct. 7, writing, “You can both condemn Hamas terrorism AND Israel’s murder since.”
In comments to Politico, El-Sayed criticized Democrats’ handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, arguing that they should become the “party of peace and justice” and said that they “ought not to be the party sending bombs and money to foreign militaries to drop bombs on other people’s kids in their schools and their hospitals.” He called on Democrats to stop supporting military aid for Israel, saying “we should be spending that money here at home.”
RSS
German Foreign Minister Tones Down Palestinian Recognition Talk on West Bank Trip
Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul gestures next to a member of clergy during the visit to the town of Taybeh, a Christian village in the West Bank, Aug. 1, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul sought to tone down previous comments about his country’s position on Palestinian statehood during a trip to the West Bank on Friday, saying Germany had no immediate plans to recognize a Palestinian state.
Wadephul’s comment followed sharp criticism from Israeli officials over his earlier suggestion, before he left for the trip, that Germany could respond to any unilateral Israeli actions with recognition of a Palestinian state.
Far-right Israeli government minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had written on X: “80 years after the Holocaust, and Germany returns to supporting Nazism.”
After meeting Israel’s foreign minister, prime minister, and president on Thursday evening, Wadephul explained on Friday that Germany did not plan to recognize a Palestinian state immediately, “as that is one of the final steps to be taken” as part of a two-state solution.
Wadephul’s attempt to clarify his remarks highlights Germany’s longstanding difficulty in taking a clear position on the issue, caught between growing international pressure on Israel amid the Gaza war and Germany’s own post-Holocaust commitment to ensuring Israel’s security.
He called on Israel to ensure safe access for United Nations agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying the current restrictions were worsening the crisis.
“The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza must end now,” Wadephul said, stressing that aid distribution through the UN needed to resume without obstacles.
He said Germany would provide an additional 5 million euros ($5.7 million) to the UN World Food Program to support bakeries and soup kitchens and fund a field hospital in Gaza City.
Asked about Israeli concerns that aid could be diverted by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Wadephul acknowledged that misuse could not be fully ruled out but said it was no reason to block relief efforts.
“The best way to prevent Hamas from misusing supplies is to deliver more aid and ensure full coverage for the population,” he said.