Suddenly there are other cars on the road besides mine – the clearest sign that northern Israel is coming back to life, that people are starting to return home. It's happening at our place too. After more than 430 days, and for the first time since the war began, my wife and children returned to visit the home they left the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

My wife had been there once a few days earlier, but this was our first family visit. All of us together again at home, under the protection of the ceasefire, and for one moment it felt almost normal. The children rummaged through the ruins looking for treasures, remnants of our previous life. My wife and I traded fragments of memories.

Despite all the destruction around us and though our lives are far from being normal, for a moment I forgot we were evacuees. I forgot we all experienced life-altering trauma. I forgot that in this very house I nearly died. Normal life seemed momentarily within reach. But that moment passed.

The north is indeed coming back to life during the ceasefire, and people are returning home. But after everything that happened here, neither our homes nor the entire northern region will ever be the same. We're determined to return, but we also know the long journey home is just beginning. Other returning residents know this too. They encounter their past there, trying to process their future.

In the first days of the ceasefire, we still heard sporadic artillery fire, sometimes machine guns. Now several weeks in, the cannons are silent, giving us time to think. The IDF and Defense Ministry rushed to remove all signs of military presence. They dismantled positions, moved fortifications to hidden spots, and relocated forces to community outskirts. They want to project normalcy alongside security.

But you can't erase what scarred this area for 14 months. You see it when you leave the main roads – tree stumps and burn marks tell the story, and tank tracks in the asphalt always point north. The constant presence of our civilian emergency teams, the occasional buzzing of surveillance drones overhead, or the white contrail of Air Force planes heading north – all remind us there's still an enemy across the border. They're beaten and wounded, but still full of hatred.

The grove is still stubbornly green

Driving up to our house, I debated whether to show the children where the mortar shell fell, and where the Burkan rocket hit. Since they weren't here when it happened, I wondered if I should spare them the details.

Then I realized how ridiculous that thought was, given that our house – our fortress – took two direct hits. None of us broke down crying during the visit, but you could see everyone was a bit shell-shocked. My youngest couldn't decide if she wanted to see the "broken house" or not. She stayed in the playground, probably the first child to play there since everything changed, while the older ones went to face reality up close.

It feels strange standing exposed on our damaged balcony, looking out at an equally damaged Lebanon. From which house exactly did they try to kill us? Was it the reddish apartment building with windows blown out by tank fire, or the gray house whose floors collapsed in a precise airstrike? Maybe it was from the grove, still stubbornly green despite the military's best efforts? I'll never know.

Our homes took hits; their neighborhoods disappeared. According to geo-analyst Ben Tzion Macales, across southern Lebanon's frontline, IDF operations destroyed about 6,000 buildings – around 34% of the border villages' homes. The villages facing us weren't spared. Ayta ash Shab lost 36% of its buildings, Ramyeh lost 67%, and Marwahin lost 99% of its buildings. I feel no pity for them. From Marwahin, they launched one missile at me; from Ramyeh, another. The other rockets, mortars, missiles, and Burkans also came from these villages and their surroundings. These villages themselves were massive weapons depots and staging areas for organizing the raid on our homes. A missile for a missile, a house for a house.

We finish our visit to the house and gather what's important to take home – to our temporary home, that is. The dolls we salvaged hang on the lines to dry, along with shoes and dresses. Everything that leaves the house goes straight into the wash – that's the rule now. It turns out you can wash away 14 months of neglect with a gentle cycle – ninety minutes at 600 RPM. Our old washing machine, a secondhand gift from someone who helped furnish our temporary home, barely handles the load.

Fabrics can be cleaned of dust and soot, but I haven't found a way to clean damaged books. My collection, scattered by the missile blast, was gathered by soldiers who stayed in our house just before the ceasefire. They're all damaged. I'll need to sort them into two piles: books I've already read, and books I'll never read. Does anyone have a copy of 'God: A Biography' they can lend me? I promise to protect it from missiles.

Under the ceasefire, which will likely become a truce, northern roads are already getting clogged with construction supply trucks, and you can spot residents back in their communities. But there's an unwritten rule: the closer you live to the border, the shorter your time at home.

Those living right on the border fence make only brief visits – checking damage, grabbing some clothes, then leaving. A bit further back, residents allow themselves a coffee break, maybe tend to their yards, water their withering trees, and pull some weeds. Only in communities well away from the border can you see any real signs of normal life returning.

Standing taller

Another feature of the ceasefire is visits from insurance assessors and engineers. They saved the worst-hit houses for last. No one wanted to risk the assessors' lives, but this delay in bureaucracy just let the damage spread. My neighbor's house lost its tile roof to two anti-tank missiles. With no roof, rain now seeps down to the ground floor. Even houses that weren't directly hit show signs of mold, mice damage, and visits from wildlife.

The additional coverage – something most Israelis don't know about (why would they? They think it won't happen to them) – allows for higher compensation beyond the state's basic war damage insurance. Despite living so close to the border, few people opted for this extra protection.

"You're in a tight race for first place with so-and-so's house,' confides the friendly Tax Authority engineer – who had served his reserve duty right here with us just months ago. It's a dubious competition, I'll admit: which house suffered the worst structural damage requiring the most rebuilding? But the prize money is significant: consultation with another engineer, lab tests for suspicious structural elements, and wall demolition. Well, so-and-so has the edge on us – his house took three missiles, ours only two. Not exactly a fair fight.

One assessor, born in Ethiopia, fills out his forms and then hugs me. He admits it's hard for him to see our house so destroyed and broken, but says my smile helps him cope. I've gotten used to it, I tell him, inviting him to make coffee and help himself to whatever's in the fridge. One look at what used to be our kitchen tells him he'll leave our house hungry and thirsty.

Finally, my wife and I invite the assessors and engineers to come back for a visit after everything's fixed. "I'd pay a million shekels to live with a view like this," the chief assessor tells me, pointing to the green orchards and hills spread out before our balcony. But in the end, he too returns to his safer place far from the border, not before promising to return to see everything restored.

Yes, the wheel of rehabilitation has started turning. Eventually, we'll manage to fix everything, even our sense of security. I know that even after this is all over, I'd need to learn again how to walk into my house in broad daylight, instead of sneaking in under cover of darkness.

Surprisingly, it's starting to happen. During my first visits, I still entered the house with apprehension, hunched over, trying not to be exposed. These were habits burned into me by Hezbollah's anti-tank units.

But I'm starting to stand taller now. Especially after our house became a pilgrimage site for visitors like Ministers and government officials, I too have begun walking through it like it's a home rather than a military position. Habit will become second nature, I know, and eventually, we might even forget what happened – at least until we find another piece of shrapnel hiding in the grass, or when a new crack appears, echoing the hits the walls took, and the trauma.

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The phrase "Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week" echoes the tense anticipation among Israelis waiting for Iran's response to the assassinations of Hezbollah's chief of staff in Beirut and Hamas's political leader in Tehran. While the enemy completes its preparations for a possible attack, Haifa - marked by Hezbollah as a primary target - prepares for the worst-case scenario: extensive rocket fire of about a thousand rockets per day over an extended period, alongside barrages of precision missiles and explosive drones.

Two months ago, Hezbollah's media arm released footage of Haifa and the Krayot area taken from the terror organization's reconnaissance drone. The footage included the Haifa Naval Base, missile ships, the Rafael defense company plant, Iron Dome installations, rocket storage sites, and other military facilities, along with large civilian shopping centers and densely populated neighborhoods. As part of its preparations, the IDF reinforced air defenses in the area. Additionally, measures were implemented to disrupt location services, complicating navigation in Haifa as much as they hinder Hezbollah's ability to precisely target sites in Carmel and its surroundings.

For many years, the ammonia tank of Haifa Chemicals was a prime target for Hezbollah. In 2016, on the anniversary of the death of Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's military chief and the organization's "number 2," Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly declared, "The ammonia tank is our atomic bomb." According to assessments, a direct hit on the tank could have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Haifa and Krayot residents.

The tank, which held approximately 12,000 tons of ammonia, was exposed to potential direct hits. However, after a long struggle and following decisions by the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it was finally closed in September 2017 and relocated to southern Israel. Nevertheless, residents of the Haifa Bay area cannot breathe a sigh of relief quite yet, as ammonia was not the only danger: About 2.5 million tons of around 1,500 hazardous materials, including bromine, chlorine, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and ethylene, are still stored there, posing a substantial potential risk during wartime.

The IDF is likely aware of the extent of the danger. At the beginning of the month, the Home Front Command's Northern Headquarters instructed factories within the rocket fire range from Lebanon to empty their ammonia and hazardous materials stocks. One of these factories is Unilever's Strauss ice cream plant in Acre, which had to halt ice cream production due to the cessation of ammonia use. Another 27 factories within 40 kilometers of the border were instructed to minimize the amount of hazardous materials they store. According to the information we have, other factories at similar distances from the border have not received such instructions.

Haifa Municipality's Security and Emergency Services Department recently completed the installation of a system enabling the remote opening of all public shelters in the city in case of emergency. Simultaneously, the municipality is preparing for scenarios of prolonged power outages by installing generators in public and school shelters. So far, more than thirty generators have been installed, ensuring continuous electricity supply even during extended outages. Wireless routers have also been installed in underground parking lots designated as emergency shelters for residents.

Two Scenarios

It is not easy for Haifa residents to forget the harsh precedent of the Second Lebanon War when Hezbollah launched hundreds of heavy rockets at the city. The name of the "HaShmona" train station in the lower city commemorates the most tragic event in the city during that war—a deadly rocket strike that killed eight workers in the railway's maintenance garage.

At that time, Nasrallah coined the phrase "Baada Baada Haifa" ("Beyond, beyond Haifa"). While he may have intended to emphasize the word "beyond," he still mentioned "Haifa." This time, too, the city might find itself at the center of a prolonged missile attack.

It is difficult to predict which target in the city Hezbollah might choose, but Tal Berry, head of the research department at the Alma Center for Research on Northern Security Challenges, differentiates between two scenarios: a retaliatory attack and a full-scale war. "If Hezbollah opts to strike Haifa in a targeted retaliation, it will likely aim at an economic, civilian, or military target in the city, such as the civilian port, the airport, or one of the defense industries.

"But in a full-scale war, the assessment is that the entire area from Haifa northward will be the focal point of the attack. This terror army has the capability to launch missiles and rockets to every part of the country, and on paper, they could even reach Eilat. It is impossible to know if they will use these means. The reasonable assessment is that for about ten days, Hezbollah will launch approximately 3,000 mortars, rockets, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles daily from Lebanon.

"Not all will hit their targets. A certain percentage will be duds, others will fall in Lebanese territory, and others will be intercepted. But a significant number will strike, and it will not be a small amount. According to our assessment, in a full-scale war, it will be difficult to maintain normal life during the first week or two across the entire area north of Haifa, including in Haifa itself."

Colonel (Res.) Yair Zilberman, director of the Security and Emergency Services Department at Haifa Municipality, says he is preparing for severe scenarios. "During the Second Lebanon War, about 300 rockets were fired at the city, and a hundred of them hit. In a full-scale war scenario, we are talking about the launch of hundreds of rockets daily.

"To cope with such a situation, we have tripled the number of public shelters, prepared office building parking lots as mass shelters, and ensured that every shelter is equipped with a generator and wireless network. We also rehearsed food supply to these shelters. In real time, we will also open protected schools and kindergartens to accommodate residents.

"There might be power outages in the city, so we've deployed generators in a significant number of public shelters. As part of the lessons learned from 2006, each area of the city has its own command center, and there is a main crisis management center that will centralize all the information and manage the city in an emergency. We are preparing for the worst and praying for the best."

Former Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem initiated a project to equip private building shelters. Is this initiative continuing under the current mayor, Yona Yahav?

"We received a dedicated budget from the Ministry of Housing, and with it, we renovated and upgraded communal shelters in socially and economically disadvantaged areas. Another budget is expected to arrive soon to continue the process of equipping the shelters."

Not Leaving the City

Yossi Almagor (45) lived in the city during the Second Lebanon War. "It was unpleasant to be in Haifa and the Krayot back then. Many people left the city and the north altogether. My parents, who live in the Krayot, also relocated to Tel Aviv. Personally, I didn't leave the city. I lived in Carmel then, which was outside Hezbollah's rocket range, and although there was no Iron Dome at the time, I wasn't worried - because most rockets fell in the lower city and the Hadar neighborhood. Now, the situation is different, not only because the threat has become more tangible and widespread but also because today I live in a more vulnerable area, on the north-facing mountainside."

But Almagor isn't afraid. "I made sure to buy some water packs and food, as instructed by the Home Front Command, but I haven't changed my routine," he says. "I believe that if there's a pinpoint attack, I'll go to the stairwell, which is a relatively protected area. If it's a more prolonged attack, we have a shelter nearby. If it gets really serious, I'll try to move to the complexes the municipality has prepared for extended stays. To me, leaving the city isn't a reasonable option, especially since if there's a large-scale attack, other cities probably won't be safer."

In his neighborhood, the population is diverse: ultra-Orthodox Jews, immigrants from Ethiopia and Russia, and Arab citizens. Only bomb shelters are missing. "You can feel there's less foot traffic in the city, and even the shawarma vendor said he has fewer customers," says Almagor. "But it's not clear if that's due to fear of an attack or because it's the middle of August and everyone is indoors with air conditioning."

Do you feel your city is ready for war?

"Everyone is doing what they need to and are preparing. At the beginning of the war, they established 'Neighbors for Emergencies' here, a volunteer initiative under the municipality's supervision. They trained us to provide first aid and carry out basic search and rescue, so we can provide an initial response. At the same time, public shelters have been equipped, parking lots have been prepared to accommodate many residents, and the city's hospitals are preparing to operate in emergency mode.

"You can't turn the country into a bunker. They've already done everything possible, and now we're waiting. I really hope that when the war starts, the IDF will have enough resources to reduce the rocket threat and quickly take the fight to enemy territory. That's no longer in our hands, but I feel that this waiting period is terrible for everyone. It's better to already be under attack, rather than just waiting for it."

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Missionaries are increasingly trying to take advantage of the difficult plight faced by Ukrainian refugees and convert them to Christianity, according to the Yad L'Achim organization.

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According to the Orthodox Jewish group, the missionary organizations have an opportunity to convince Jews to leave their religion as they wait exhausted and in need of assistance on Ukraine's borders.

In a statement, Yad L'Achim said, "This is a difficult struggle because the missionaries feel at home there because these are countries with Christian orientations. These missionaries invest great efforts to identify Jewish refugees. At the border crossings, the missionaries offer them heated tents, food, and travel assistance without disclosing this is in fact the activity of missionary organizations."

In Israel, efforts to convince someone to convert in return for money or goods are punishable by up to five years in prison.

Israeli delegations of international missionary groups, such as the US Christian group the Voice of Judah Israel, meanwhile, operate among Jewish Ukrainian refugees who arrive in Israel through the distribution of food baskets and the organization of religious conferences.

This is not the first time missionaries have operated among Jews from Ukraine. In 2017, Jehovah's Witnesses took in several Jewish families from Ukraine and even held a mass baptism ceremony for them.

To contend with missionary activity on Ukraine's borders, Yad L'Achim hired a Jewish refugee from Odesa to locate Jews and warn them of the missionaries' activities. The anti-missionary activist, who is active on the Ukraine-Moldova border, has so far identified dozens of Jews and relayed their information to members of the Jewish community in Moldova and directed them to Chabad centers in the country to receive food and shelter.

"The motivation behind the missionaries' activity in Israel and abroad is ideological," Yad L'Achim said in a statement. "According to the missionaries' belief, the more Jews convert to Christianity, the sooner Jesus will be revealed as the messiah, and they see the conversion of as many new people as possible as their life's work. Any assistance from a missionary group, innocent as it may be, ultimately leads to one thing – joining Christianity."

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The Battle of Wadi Saluka, during which seven Israelis soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded, is considered one of the most difficult battles to take place during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Two of those wounded in the battle, Amit Maoz and Moshe Zini, would go on to meet through the Brother for Life organization, which assists wounded IDF soldiers.

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While Maoz and Zini found work in Israel's high-tech sector, according to Zini, they both noticed that the resumes of those who served in combat units but had no experience in the field were simply passed over. They decided to establish a program to enable those who served in combat units a smoother transition into the world of high-tech, where salaries are higher than the national average.

In a post to Facebook over the weekend, Maoz described seeing "those who served in technological units remove their military uniform and immediately gain entry into the most sought-after companies, while our fighters – those same people who gave the most in those years [of service] and literally risked their lives for us – find themselves at an inferior starting point for the life they want to build for themselves."

He described this feeling as a "punch to the gut. It bothers me on a personal level, as someone who passed on technological service for combat service. Don't get me wrong: These fighters will succeed despite it all. But on their path, a few questions will be raised: Combat fighters who are discharged [from military service] are usually discharged without any relevant professional experience, but they can provide great value to any male or female manager looking for employees who are dedicated, goal-driven, able to work as part of a team, capable of handling themselves under pressure … People who have been under fire, who dealt with difficulties the likes of which don't exist anywhere else in the world – they can handle anything and there's no replacement for that."

According to Maoz and Zini, one of the problems former IDF fighters face on their path to high-tech is they tend to take temporary work as security guards or in the service field that doesn't advance their professional goals. They argued those who served in combat units would be better served with professional, high-tech training that would allow them to gain experience and earn more money than they could otherwise expect to make.

With the high-tech sector suffering from a lack of manpower, such a program would be far easier to implement than the government's government talk of bringing in foreign workers to fill this gap, they noted.

According to Maoz, "Our vision is for every discharged fighter interested to be able to start on a track with the support and full cooperation of high-tech companies, within the framework of which they will undergo a few months training for their first position and start to work in the field."

He said, "Now it's our turn to show you that we appreciate you, and you deserve full support so that you can succeed in life and continue to do good for the people, the state, and yourselves."

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"You're gay, so you're an apostate," an SMS message distributed overnight Sunday to hundreds of gay men Israel reads.

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"You deserve to be punished severely, face death, and be expelled from Israel," the message continues.

However, the sender offers message recipients a way out: "Come to Ohr Elchonon Yeshiva to return to the faith. We'll be happy if you convert to the faith."

The message goes on to provide contact details for Ohr Elchonon, a Lithuanian Haredi yeshiva in Jerusalem.

The message is signed "Rabbi Haim Arie Hadash," who is director of the yeshiva.

Various LGBTQ social media groups assessed that anywhere from several dozen to several hundred gay Israelis received the message. It was unclear if the text had been sent to a list of random numbers, hoping that statistically some recipients would be either open or closeted homosexuals, or whether the phone numbers had been leaked from the popular LGBTQ dating site Atraf, which Iranian hackers targeted some three months ago.

A request for clarification sent to the number that appears on the message was unanswered as of Monday afternoon. But it appears that the yeshiva is not responsible for the message – gay and lesbian issues are not on its agenda, or even discussed. The Ohr Elchonon administration issued an official statement denying that the message had been sent in the name of its director, Rabbi Hadash, and reported that it had filed a police complaint over the incident asking that they find the person or persons responsible.

Attempts to respond to the sender were unsuccessful.

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Twelve-year-old Amitai Weizman was walking in the Gush Etzion community of Elazar when he stumbled across a pile of old books and decided to take one of them home.

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Upon closer inspection, the book turned out to be a copy of the Gemara that survived the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

A component of the primary source of religious law known as the Talmud, the Gemara is comprised of rabbinical analysis of what was once oral law.

According to Amitai's father, Rabbi Shai Weizman, the book was in fact a copy of the book of Sanhedrin.

"On the first page, it says it is a Gemara that was salvaged from the Nazi horror, and the names of its owners over the years are written in it," he said.

Rabbi Weizman planned to keep the text in the family library, but he was contacted by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum the very next day. The director of archives there informed him the text was of archival value and that it would soon make its way to the museum's archive thanks to the assistance of Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan.

In the years following the State of Israel's founding, the Religious Services Ministry embarked on a mission to preserve religious texts salvaged from the war, some of which served as veritable journals documenting events inside the ghettos and the camps.

The Gemara found by Amitai is further evidence of the Jewish devotion to Torah study, even in the most difficult of times and while risking their lives.

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While an ostrich egg would be a peculiar sight in a modern synagogue, Rabbi Yitzchak Ratzabi has recently written a book in which he claimed that "many synagogues in Yemen, the Land of Israel and elsewhere" used to have them as a fixture.

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In his new book on the subject, Ratzabi – a prominent figure in Israel's Yemenite community – says ostrich eggs used to be hung above the Torah ark or above the center of the synagogue on the ceiling.

There are as many as 66 explanations to the custom, Ratzabi explained. According to ancient beliefs, the female ostrich does not sit on its eggs but rather looks at them, which supposedly leads to their hatching. That is why putting an egg in the synagogue will help worshippers keep their gaze at the siddur (prayer book) because "eyesight gets its power from looking at something with the proper intent," Ratzabi said.

He also pointed out that there is a linguistic similarity between the Hebrew words "ostrich," "eye", and thus can help fight the evil eye. Another similarity is between the way the animal is spelled in Hebrew and the word for poor, thus reminding the worshippers they must give to charity.

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A book about faith and prayer by Israeli Rabbi Shalom Arush that is popular in Israel has recently been translated into Mandarin, a language spoken by 1.4 billion people worldwide.

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The Universal Garden of Emuna (Hebrew for "faith") was originally written by Arush in Hebrew and for an Israeli audience. Nevertheless, thanks to its universal message, it has since been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Portuguese, German, French, and Russian. 

Arush is the founder of the Chut Shel Chessed religious learning institutions and is a member of the Breslov Hassidic movement, which was founded by Rabbi Nachman in the 18th century. Rabbi Nachman's grave in Uman is a popular pilgrimage site among Breslov followers who travel to the small Ukrainian city every Rosh Hashana. 

The book attempts to answer a variety of life's questions: What is the purpose of life? How to achieve happiness? What is the proper way for a person to live? What does the future have in store for humanity? Will everything be good in the end?

Since The Universal Garden of Emuna was written in Hebrew and for an Israeli audience, the translation into Chinese posed quite a challenge for translator Noam Aurbach, who studied Hebrew and Talmud in China and has a doctorate in Asian studies. 

Certain words and concepts that are common and well-known by Breslov followers and Israelis in general, did not only had to be translated but also explained, like the subject of family purity or hitbodedut, a common Breslov practice of secluding oneself for meditation and prayer to God. 

"I worked on the translation with a Chinese translator named Eden for several years," Aurbach told Israel Hayom. "The process was lengthy and the text was proofread several times. Actually, the first person to read and proofread it was a Chiese convert to Judaism who immigrated to Israel and became a Breslov follower herself." 

With regard to the translation challenges, Aurbach said, "There is a great debate in China over the translation of the word "God," a debate that has divided Chinese churches for years because each is loaded with meaning. We decided to translate "Creator of the World" [as God is referred to in The Universal Guide of Emuna] word for word."

According to Aurbach, the word "Torah" was not easy to translate either. One option was to translate it as "Bible," but that would also include the New Testament. Another option was to use the translation of "Five Books of Moses," but this term is most often used in China in scientific discourses on religion. The word "Torah" does exist in China as "Tou-la," but might not nececcarily imply, as it does in Hebrew, the study of Mishna, Gemara, commentary, and books on Jewish law in addition to the Pentateuch. 

Such translation challenges resulted in a years-long translation process. In addition, designing and printing the book was no easy task either, as the book was written entirely in Chinese, but printed in Israel. As is known, in Israel, texts are written from left to right, whereas in Chinese, they are written vertically in columns going from top to bottom and ordered from right to left. 

"The book speaks about teshuva [repentance or return] in the spirit of Breslov," Aurbach explained. "The language is very Jewish and Israeli, and it is understood by both secular and religious Israelis, but is foreign to someone who comes from a completely different background.

"The book speaks to a secular Israeli who is looking for his true self. It invites him to do teshuva, to return to what he is already familiar with, to return to his tradition. Directly translating such a book into Chinese, with no additions and explicitation, is not easy. It is challenging, and in my opinion, even precedent-setting, as there are almost no direct translations from Hebrew into Chinese, and certainly not of texts like this." 

Nevertheless, despite Aurbach's hard work in making sure nothing got lost in translation, the book is unlikely to hit the Chinese markets any time soon.

"There is hostility towards religion in China," Aurbach explained. "Eden [the second translator] decided to remain anonymous for that reason. And from the time we started working on the translation, the situation has only gotten worse. We are not even planning to print or sell the book in China."

Instead, the book will be available for purchase in Israel and online.

With every translation of The Universal Garden of Emuna, the aim is to bring the knowledge of God to all corners of the world.

"During the lengthy process of translation, I sometimes wondered how such a specific [Breslov] text would present Judaism to a Chinese person who might have never heard about our religion," Aurbach said. "After all, there are so many ways to describe the foundations of Judaism, none of which have to include the unique Breslov concepts. 

"I still do not have a good answer to that, other than simply acknowledging the fact that there are so many kinds of texts in the world that show so many different perspectives [of Judaism], and each one is worthy of being translated. Is it possible that the Chinese person will read this book and think that this is all there is to Judaism? Perhaps. But he might also become more interested and discover that Breslov is only a part of Judaism and not its entirety." 

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Cut-price "stock" chain (Israel's version of the dollar store) Max Stock found itself embarrassed recently when tiny books festive wrapping labeled "Psalms" in Hebrew turned out to be miniature New Testaments.

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The issue came to light when members of the public reached out to the Yad L'Achim organization, which works to spread Jewish values and battle attempts to convert Jews. Volunteers from the group visited local branches and discovered that the mistake was not limited to a single store.

The volunteers reported that all the items they examined were English copies of the New Testament.

Yad L'Achim hastened to warn the public, saying, "In Israel there is a broad consensus against attempts by the Christian cult Jews for Jesus to preach Christianity. The missionaries are once again trying to get into Israeli homes through the back door, through trickery, and we are calling on the public to keep their eyes open."

The organization contacted the Max Stock management and asked that they remove the misleading items from the shelves, and said that in fact the chain had instructed all its stores to do so.

"We are certain that the owners of Max Stock were misled and did not know what was inside the Psalms books, and we thank them for quickly taking action to remove the missionary threat," Yad L'Achim said.

Max Stock said in response: "This is a problem that originated with our supplier. When there is mass production, it can happen. The moment we received the complaint, we took the books off the shelves. The traditional public is important to us."

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A popular rabbi urged his followers not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, warning them that doing so, it might "turn them" into homosexuals.

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Rabbi Daniel Asor's assertion goes against decrees issued by leading rabbis in Israel and around the world, who have called on ultra-Orthodox society to take every precaution against the global pandemic, including getting vaccinated.

The Haredi community has recorded extremely high morbidity rates due to repeated flouting of social distancing directives.

Asor, who has tens of thousands of followers on social media, is no stranger to controversy. In his latest online sermons, he argued that "any vaccine made using an embryonic substrate, and we have evidence of this, causes opposite tendencies. Vaccines are taken from an embryonic substrate, and they did that here, too, so ... it can cause opposite tendencies."

In addition to purporting a false link between vaccines and homosexuality, Assur also advocates various conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, claiming, among other things, that both the virus and the vaccines are the work of a "global malicious government," comprising the Freemasons, the Illuminati, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and others, who are "trying to establish a new world order."

He further argues that the virus was released to "cull global population" and that the vaccines seek to further this agenda.

Asor calls the World Health Organization and pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna "criminal organizations" that have deliberately mislead ultra-Orthodox leaders into supporting vaccination drives by presenting them with false data on its components and efficiency.

Further spinning his conspiracy theory, Asor claims that the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, a Department of Homeland Security that has joined forces with Israel's National Emergency Authority to battle the pandemic, maintains a "brutal army" in Israel that will be secretly embedded with local law enforcement to further the global government's nefarious agenda.

It should be stressed that leading rabbis in the Sephardi and Ashkenazi comminutes have deemed COVID-19 vaccines to be safe and are urging their followers to be immunized.

Responding to Asor's assertion that the vaccine could change one's sexual orientation, Havruta, an organization that acts to promote tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people in Haredi society, said it was "currently gearing up to welcome our impending new members."

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