All U.S. citizens currently in Israel should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). This will enable you to receive important updates and alerts.

 JOINT STATEMENT: 

Travel, Evacuation Flights, and Government Services – What You Need to Know

Updated March 11, 2026 4:22 PM IST

Chaim V’Chessed continues to assist the community during the ongoing Iran crisis. Below is a comprehensive guide with the latest information on travel to and from Israel, evacuation options, and government services. https://chaimvchessed.com/travel-evacuation-flights-and-government-services-what-you-need-to-know/

All U.S. citizens currently in Israel should enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). This will enable you to receive important updates and alerts. 

For those looking to leave immediately: 

• Israeli airlines are operating outbound flights, but flights are officially limited to ~ 100 passengers per flight, that number may change at the discretion of the government. Contact the airline or a travel agent about viable options. 

• For your safety and in compliance with Government of Israel limitations on sizes of gatherings, please do not come to the airport unless you have purchased a ticket yourself or you have been contacted directly by the Department of State to inform you that you have been confirmed as manifested on a flight. 

• The State Department is organizing no-cost flights from Ben Gurion Airport to Athens, Greece. From Athens, you will be responsible for booking your own flight back to the U.S.  

To be assisted departing Israel through State Department chartered flights, you must register using the State Department Crisis Intake Form. Follow these guidelines carefully: 

When to Fill Out the Form: 

• If you are requesting assistance to leave only fill out this form a few days before you are ready or need to leave Israel. Passengers must be ready to depart immediately, and may receive very short notice. 

• All immediate family members must be listed on the same form. 

• Please fill out all details including passport information and any urgent or relevant medical issues.

• Individuals should ALSO fill out the Chaim V’Chessed Iran Conflict 2026 form.

What Happens After You Register:

Once registered, the State Department will contact you when seats become available on assistance flights. Continually monitor your email and phone for updates after submitting. 

If You Have Already Left Israel: 

If you completed the form and have departed Israel, please contact the State Department immediately by calling or responding to the email you received upon registration, so that they can focus their efforts on U.S. citizens still in need of assistance. 

For Yeshiva and Seminary Students: 

The Igud Yeshiva and Seminary Coalition for Bnei Chul sent out a survey to students in seminary and yeshiva collecting data about travel plans. It is important that you fill it out so that there is accurate information about the specific needs of the students trying to return to the US. If you or your child have not received the survey, please be in touch with the seminary/yeshiva.  

The Igud is coordinating flights for students beginning next week. See https://flights.igudys.com/ for more information.

For more information which will be updated as the situation evolves and for those looking to travel to Israel, see Chaim V’chessed’s website  HERE. 

 

https://agudah.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Joint-Memo-Re-Travel-from-Israel.pdf

 

Three commercial ships were hit near the Strait of Hormuz as Iran stepped up its efforts to halt traffic through the critical oil conduit.

The U.S. had turned down requests to escort tankers or other civilian ships through the strait. Stay up-to-date with news and analysis here. Fears over disruptions to energy flows in the Middle East flared up again. Futures for Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 4.8% to trade at around $92 a barrel, unbowed by the International Energy Agency’s announcement that its member countries would release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves. At the same time, President Trump’s plan to sell insurance for ships in the Gulf, a way of easing the war-induced crunch in oil supplies, is proving easier said than done.

 

 

Will Epic Fury finish the regime? | feat. Einat Wilf

 

The War against The Orthodox Jews by the Orthodox Jews!

 

A rabbi accused of sexually abusing roommate as a teen is now teaching at Orthodox Jewish school in Chicago

 

The rabbi’s accusations date to the early 2000s at a Jewish boarding school on the East Coast, according to a recently settled lawsuit. He was hired by Yeshiva Eitz Chaim in Chicago while that suit was pending, and school leaders won’t say why.

 

A rabbi who was accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting his roommate while they attended a Jewish boarding school out East in the early 2000s is now teaching at this Orthodox Jewish school in Chicago.

An Orthodox Jewish rabbi who was accused in a lawsuit of repeatedly sexually assaulting his high school roommate years ago while attending an East Coast boarding school is now a teacher at a Jewish school for boys on Chicago’s North Side, according to interviews and public records.

The rabbi works at Yeshiva Eitz Chaim at 6045 N. Keystone Ave., and was hired there several years ago as the sexual misconduct lawsuit was pending, according to court records from New York and Cook County.

The Chicago Sun-Times isn’t naming the rabbi because he has not been charged with a crime, and he and the accuser were minors when the alleged misconduct occurred.

Both are now adults, and their respective lawyers each declined to comment.

Filed in 2021, that lawsuit was settled this past fall quietly for undisclosed terms — confidentiality generally frowned upon by victim advocates, and restricted by other faith groups such as the Catholic church because such secrecy was used for years to hide legitimate claims and allow abuse to fester.

Typically such settlements come without an admission of wrongdoing.

Whether leaders of Yeshiva Eitz Chaim knew of the allegations when they hired the rabbi isn’t clear.

But school officials certainly have known about the accusations — which date to the early 2000s when the future rabbi and his accuser were students and dorm mates at Torah High School in Long Beach, N.Y. — for at least a year and continued to employ him, according to records and interviews.

Chicago attorney Hal M. Garfinkel released a statement Thursday from school leaders that said:

“Despite the civil claim being unsubstantiated, the School, out of an abundance of caution for the safety of its students, sought legal, rabbinical and professional guidance as to the appropriate next steps.”

“After doing extensive independent research, they unanimously advised the School leadership that there is no cause for concern. The School proceeded to notify parents, lay leaders and supporters as to the civil suit along with the School’s reaction and subsequent decision. They all wholeheartedly supported the School in its handling of the situation.”

But school officials wouldn’t say when parents were notified or provide details on their research, including who conducted it and how recently was it done.

Yeshiva Eitz Chaim’s web site says the school “provides both high school and post-secondary education to students from across the United States.”

“We cater to students who seek an honors-level program in both religious and general education, as part of a growth-oriented community,” according to the web site. “Special emphasis is placed on ethics and character building which results in graduates of the highest moral standards.”

Founded in 2019, the school is on the edge of the Sauganash and Peterson Park neighborhoods and also offers “dormitory facilities” so “in-town and out-of-town students” have “the opportunity to focus on their studies unhindered.”

Some of the allegations contained in a recently settled lawsuit against a Chicago rabbi and a Jewish school in New York where, as a teenager, he was accused of sexually assaulting his high school dormitory roommate. Both are identified under pseudonyms in the case.

The lawsuit, filed by the accuser under the pseudonym John Doe, accused the rabbi, when they were teens, of sexually abusing him “regularly and repeatedly . . . at least 300 times over the course of two years,” court records show.

The suit also named Torah High School, also known as Mesivta of Long Beach, and two rabbis there as defendants, saying they either knew the accuser was being sexually abused or should have.

The school “completely controlled what the children did hour by hour,” yet nobody there “supervised, checked on or even determined if the children were healthy and well from day to day,” the lawsuit said.

The suit said that during one “bed check,” a Torah High School leader walked in while the future rabbi was victimizing the accuser in their room and “did nothing to stop the abuse,” instead admonishing that he did not want to “see that again.”

While the suit was still active, attorneys for the New York school tried to shield the Torah rabbis from being named, and also tried to force the accuser to use his real name — prompting the accuser’s lawyer to allege that the defendants were trying to harass and shame him.

The case isn’t an anomaly, says Ariella Kay of ZA’AKAH, a group that advocates for survivors of sexual violence in the Jewish community.

Child sex abuse is relatively common in Orthodox Jewish communities, but it’s often swept under the rug or otherwise not publicly addressed, Kay said, calling Jewish communities “20 years behind” some other faith groups in dealing with this scourge.

Publicizing cases is important not only because it helps victims on their “healing journey,” they also serve as “cautionary tales for the community about what happens when you don’t deal with this properly.”

There have been other child sex allegations — and alleged cover-ups — centering on Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood where there’s a sizable Orthodox Jewish community, records show.

The New York lawsuit alleges there “were other instances of sexual abuse that occurred” at the Torah High School.

That case was sealed by the court in recent months. Before that occurred, a court filing revealed a 2019 letter said to be from the Yeshiva Eitz Chaim teacher to his accuser in which he said:

“I would like to apologize for what happened when we were together in 11th grade. As I got older, I realized the severity of what I’ve done. My words cannot undo my actions, but I would like to express my deepest regret and apology.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2026/03/06/rabbi-accused-sex-abuse-boarding-school-now-teacher-yeshiva-eitz-chaim-chicago

“Imminent Threat” - Defending Trump's Decision To Go To War With Iran

 

 "Ha-ba lehargecha hashkem lehargo" (אם בא להורגך השכם להורגו) is a Talmudic maxim from Sanhedrin 72a instructing that if someone actively seeks to take your life, you are permitted—and often obligated—to kill them first in self-defense.

For forty seven years Iran's leaders have declared their intention to erase Israel, bring death to America, and export their revolution through militias, missiles, and martyrdom. Believe Them! War is ugly. Jews, of all people, know this better than most. Our prayers plead for peace three times a day.

When the President of the United States—whether one admires him or despises him—stands before the intelligence briefings and hears the phrase “imminent threat,” he is standing, whether he knows it or not, in the shadow of that Talmudic principle.

The phrase “imminent threat” is bureaucratic and dull. But Jews raised on Talmud know that danger is not decided by paperwork. The rabbis used a different word: rodef — the pursuer. If someone runs at you to kill, the law expects you to stop him before he succeeds. That blunt rule matters when the pursuer is not a single man with a knife but a regime building weapons and proxies with open hostility toward your country.

The medieval giant Maimonides—the Rambam—codifies the law of the rodef with brutal clarity. If a pursuer is chasing an innocent person to kill him, anyone witnessing it is obligated to stop the pursuer, even with lethal force if necessary.

Notice what Rambam does not require.

He does not require that the pursuer fire the gun first. He does not require that the victim be bleeding on the ground. The law intervenes before the murder is completed.

Iran is the free world's enemy. For decades its leaders have supported militias, funded terrorist groups, and promoted a revolutionary agenda hostile to American interests and to allies in the region. That pattern — talk of destruction mixed with concrete steps to increase capability — is the modern equivalent of a pursuer drawing a blade. Treating such a pattern as mere rhetoric is wishful thinking, not strategy.

The halachic rule of the rodef does not demand absolute proof before action. Medieval authorities like Maimonides made that clear: you are not required to wait until the murderer’s hand strikes you. The law favors preemption when delay would mean inevitable harm. Applied to statecraft, the logic is straightforward. Waiting for an attack to be carried out before responding is morally and practically perilous.

Democratic leaders face an impossible calculus. They do not have prophecies; they have intelligence — incomplete, messy, often contested — and the obligation to protect their people. When the question is whether to act now or to risk catastrophe later, prudence argues for preventing a clear, growing danger rather than deferring until it is undeniable. That is uncomfortable, and it will earn criticism; history often rewards the patient, not the preventative. But history also punishes those who sleep through obvious threats.

Critics accuse leaders who act early of recklessness. That charge ignores a second possibility: that the action prevented a catastrophe and therefore looks unnecessary in hindsight. Preventive measures rarely gain monuments. They gain headlines and political attacks. Still, the moral test is not the applause of the day but whether the leader upheld the duty to protect the nation and its allies.

Jewish tradition values peace deeply, but it is not pacifist. Our texts are realistic about power and survival. The Maccabees and other Jewish leaders fought when survival demanded it. Saying “war is terrible” is not the same as saying “we must refuse to act when facing a real, growing threat.” Sometimes the moral choice is the hard choice.

So when a president hears “imminent threat” about a hostile, nuclear-capable regime that funds proxies and openly seeks regional dominance, the decision to act can be understood as the secular analogue of the halachic duty to stop the pursuer. That does not make war desirable. It does, however, make acting to prevent grave danger defensible in both moral and practical terms.

If this is the calculus a leader faces — incomplete intelligence, plausible catastrophe, and a duty to protect — then choosing to confront the threat is not swagger. It is responsibility. The preacher of delay may be sentimental; the leader who errs on the side of preventing mass harm may be judged harshly, but history will be the truer arbiter of which approach kept people alive.

Modern democracies suffer from a peculiar disease: the belief that danger must first be photographed, notarized, and confirmed by editorial boards like the New York Times before it becomes real.

But the Talmud does not think like that. The sages knew something about enemies. They lived under Rome, Persia, Byzantium—empires that rarely issued polite warning letters before persecution. Jewish survival depended on reading intentions early. The rabbis therefore developed a legal instinct that the modern West has largely forgotten: threats are judged by trajectory, not merely by the final act. When a regime builds the weapon, funds the proxy armies, and declares the coming war inevitable, the question is not whether danger exists. The question is how long you are willing to pretend otherwise.

 

 

REPUBLSHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/imminent-threat-defending-trumps-decision-to-go-to-war-with-iran/

The Haredi Draft Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point | Yehoshua Pfeffer | Tikvah Podcast

 

Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer is a prominent Haredi scholar, author, and legal expert who publishes analytical, intellectual pieces on Haredi society, Jewish law, and modern Israeli issues. His work often appears in the journal Tzarich Iyun (Need to Consider), which he contributes to or edits. 

Key aspects of his work include:

• Tzarich Iyun: His articles, such as those discussing Charedi basic training in the IDF, "Shall Your Brothers Go to War?", and theological reflections on "Yes" (Embracing the Courage of Abraham), offer nuanced, often counter-cultural, perspectives on the intersection of religious life and Israeli society.
• Haredi Thought: He is recognized for deep analysis of the Haredi world’s response to crises, social issues, and technological changes.
• Perspective: His writing often bridges the gap between traditional Jewish legal thought (Halakha) and modern,, complex contemporary challenges in Israel. 
•  
• https://iyun.org.il/en/sedersheni/idleness-anger-and-the-erosion-of-the-torah-world/

***No "Best Guy In Lakewood" For These Ladies!*** A female aircrew member said there are more than 70 female combat pilots and navigators in the Israeli Air Force.

Dozens of female pilots, navigators and technicians have taken part in Operation Roaring Lion since Saturday, as debate over women in combat roles continues and the Air Force maintains high operational tempo

More than 30 female aircrew members have taken part in Israeli Air Force strikes on Iran since Saturday as part of Operation Roaring Lion, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed Monday in response to a query from ynet.

The figure includes dozens of female pilots, combat navigators and technicians who participated in the long-range missions.

Following Operation “With the Lion” in June, Capt. N., an F-16 combat navigator from the 107th Squadron who took part in the strikes, described the prolonged flight to Iran in an interview with ynet.

(Photo: IDF)

“On the way to the target you’re tense, listening to the radio for any change and knowing what you’re doing,” she said. “There’s no moment for casual conversation in the cockpit. Only when you return to non-threatened territory do you say something to the pilot, ‘Wow, what an experience we just had.’”

Describing the intensive operational activity since October 7, she added: “You’re just waiting for them to call you. You want to defend and to strike. That’s what we trained for, that’s why we’re here. It doesn’t matter how much you slept at night, if you slept at all. You fly and you do the job.”

 

At the time, Capt. N. said she believed the confrontation with Iran was not over. “We did very good work here and it’s not finished yet,” she said. “We are still alert and ready for anything.”

 

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syrkckxfwg

This Isn’t Israel’s War. It’s America’s - Operation Epic Fury serves American interests, even if the administration is struggling to make the case. EXCELLENT JOURNALISM!

 

Rubio rejects idea Israel forced US into war with Iran....Purim Spiel...

 

Rubio walks back his suggestion that Israel forced the United States’ hand in Iran strikes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/world/middleeast/israel-iran-strikes-rubio.html?smid=url-share

Here We Go - It's The Jews --- "Lawmakers: Israeli plan to attack Iran dictated Trump’s decision on strikes" Listen To Rubio - at 1:40, 4:26 --- and the Entire Press Conference

 

Senior lawmakers in both parties said Monday that the Trump administration’s decision to launch bombing and missile strikes across Iran this weekend was largely dictated by Israel’s plan to attack Iran with or without U.S. support.

 

 RELEVANT TRANSCRIPT:

1:26

 The third is the

1:28

assessment that was made that if we

1:30

stood and waited for that attack to come

1:32

first before we hit them, we would

1:34

suffer much higher casualties. And so

1:37

the president made the very wise

1:38

decision. He we knew that there was

1:40

going to be an Israeli action. We knew

1:42

that that would precipitate an attack

1:43

against American forces and we knew that

1:45

if we didn't preemptively go after them

1:47

before they launched those attacks, we

1:49

would suffer higher casualties and

1:51

perhaps even hire those killed. And then

1:53

we would all be here answering questions

1:55

about why we knew that and didn't act.

And the imminent threat was that we knew

4:12

that if Iran was attacked and we

4:14

believed they would be attacked that

4:15

they would immediately come after us.

4:17

And we were not going to sit sit there

4:19

and absorb a blow before we responded

4:21

because the Department of War assessed

4:23

that if we did that, if we waited for

4:25

them to hit us first after they were

4:26

attacked and by someone else, Israel

4:28

attacked them, they hit us first and we

4:30

waited for them to hit us, we would

4:32

suffer more casualties and more deaths.

4:34

We went proactively in a defensive way

4:36

to prevent them from inflicting higher

4:38

damage. Had we not done so, there would

4:40

have been hearings on Capitol Hill about

4:41

how we knew that this was going to

4:43

happen and we didn't act preemptively to

4:45

prevent more casualties and more loss of

4:46

life.

4:51

US was forced to strike because of an

4:53

impending Israeli action.

4:54

No, first well I mean two things I would

4:56

say. Number one is no matter what

4:57

ultimately this operation needed to

4:59

happen. That's the question of why now.

5:01

But this operation needed to happen

5:02

because Iran in about a year or a year

5:04

and a half would cross the line of

5:06

immunity. Meaning they would have so

5:07

many short-range missiles, so many

5:09

drones that no one could do anything

5:10

about it because they could hold the

5:12

whole world hostage. Look at the damage

5:13

they're doing now. And this is a

5:15

weakened Iran. Imagine a year from now.

5:17

So that had to happen. Obviously, we

5:19

were aware of Israeli intentions and

5:21

understood what that would mean for us

5:22

and we had to be prepared to act as a

5:24

result of it. But this had to happen no

5:25

matter what. 

 

* 

Senior administration officials told Republican and Democratic lawmakers at a classified briefing on Capitol Hill that the Israeli plan to strike Iran pushed the United States to take preemptive action to protect U.S. troops stationed at bases throughout the Middle East, whom the Pentagon believed would have been targeted by retaliatory strikes.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who serves as vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee attended the briefing, said the decision to initiate a massive military assault on another country because of pressure from a U.S. ally put the nation in “uncharted” territory.

“This is still a war of choice that has been acknowledged by others that was dictated by Israel’s goals and timeline,” Warner told reporters at the briefing.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine provided the briefing to lawmakers Monday afternoon.

Warner said he supports Israel, but he questioned the decision to put American lives at risk when an imminent threat may be directed at an ally instead of the United States itself.  

“Israel is a great ally of America. I stand firmly with Israel. But I believe at the end of the day when we are talking about putting American soldiers in harm’s way and we have American casualties and expectations of more, there needs to be the proof of an imminent threat to American interests. I still don’t think that standard has been met,” he said.

Warner argued if the military operation against Iran “was being driven by imminent security threats from Iran against America, I think we would have had better planning.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), speaking to reporters after the briefing, said that President Trump faced a tough call on ordering strikes against Iran when it became clear that Israel would launch military operations, even without U.S. support, which would have put U.S. troops in the region in danger.

“Israel was determined to act in their own defense here, with or without American support. Why? Because Israel faced what they deemed to be an existential threat. Iran was building missiles at a rapid clip to the point where our allies in the region could not keep up,” Johnson said.

“Because Israel was determined to act with or without the U.S., our commander in chief and the administration and the officials [in the Cabinet] had a very difficult decision to make. They had to evaluate the threats to the U.S., to our troops, to our installations, to our assets in the region in beyond,” Johnson said.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5764030-trump-administration-iran-strikes-israel/?

We are not yet ready to celebrate

 

 

Not yet.

A cornered enemy is the most dangerous enemy of all. History has taught this lesson in blood, and we dare not forget it in a moment of adrenaline. When a regime built on fanaticism feels the walls closing in, it does not surrender gracefully; it thrashes. It claws. It fires wildly in every direction. Victory parades are for later. Now is the hour for vigilance.

Our hearts break for the lives already lost. Each name is a universe. Each funeral is a world collapsed into a grave. We sit comfortably in our kitchens and living rooms, but our brothers and sisters in Israel sit in reinforced rooms—safe rooms that are anything but safe for the soul. Children are counting seconds between sirens. Mothers are pretending not to tremble. Fathers are pretending not to calculate worst-case scenarios. Anxiety has become the national soundtrack.

And yet there they stand.

Young Israeli soldiers, barely older than the students in our yeshivot and universities, shoulder rifles heavier than their years. American servicemen and women, representing the might of the United States, position themselves not for conquest but for containment—for the ugly, necessary task of pushing back tyranny before it metastasizes.

Let us speak plainly: tyranny does not retire. It does not mellow with age. It does not negotiate in good faith when its theology or ideology demands annihilation. When such forces are cornered, they grow desperate. And desperation armed with rockets is not a theoretical danger; it is a midnight phone call.

We are not yet ready to celebrate because this is not yet over.

There is a temptation, especially among political commentators and social media generals, to declare turning points, to speak of “decisive blows,” to tweet victory emojis while others sit in bomb shelters. That temptation is obscene. Real war is not a press release. It is sweat pooling under body armor. It is a soldier whispering Shema under his breath. It is a mother clutching her child as the concrete walls shake.

Yes, we are grateful. Grateful for the bravery. Grateful for the coordination. Grateful that tyrants are being challenged rather than appeased. But gratitude is not triumphalism. Gratitude bows its head; triumphalism puffs out its chest.

A Jew must say what is uncomfortable: we do not measure success by how loudly we cheer, but by how soberly we assess the moral cost. Every missile intercepted is a miracle of engineering. Every civilian spared is a mercy. But every escalation reminds us how fragile civilization truly is.

A cornered enemy is dangerous because it has nothing left to lose. That is precisely why our side must never lose its soul. We fight tyranny not to become a mirror of it, but to prevent it from swallowing the innocent.

So pray.

Pray for the soldiers who stand in harm’s way. Pray for the families who wait by their phones. Pray for wisdom among leaders who must make decisions measured not in headlines but in lives. Pray that restraint accompanies strength.

Celebration will come when the sirens fall silent—not for a night, not for a week, but for good. Until then, we stand with our brothers and sisters. We ache with them. We refuse to look away.

And we remember: the most dangerous moment is not when the enemy advances confidently—but when it realizes it is cornered.

 *

A Very Worthy Tzedaka

 PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY:

 https://causematch.com/idfwopurim26?

 

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/we-are-not-yet-ready-to-celebrate/