Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday.

Military correspondent Judah Ari Gross and Ops and blogs editor Miriam Herschlag join host Jessica Steinberg.

Gross first looks at the Shin Bet arrests of five Israelis, all regular folk with family ties to Iran, accused of assisting an Iranian operative who often pretended to be a Jewish man.

Herschlag then speaks about blogger Shana Aronson's non-profit work providing advocacy for ultra-Orthodox victims of abuse, following the Chaim Walder sex abuse revelations and his subsequent suicide.

Gross takes a look at the recently released numbers showing a slight increase in the number of IDF soldiers’ fatalities over the past year, including a slight uptick in suicides by members of the Ethiopian community.

Finally, Herschlag discusses points made by Professor Benjamin Porat about the first stages of the privatization reforms in kosher certification and conversion currently taking place.

Discussed articles include:

Shin Bet arrests 5 Jewish Israelis suspected of spying for Iran

IDF reports 31 fatalities in 2021, a slight increase; suicide still leading cause

The survivors spoke, the tears flowed, now what?

Israel’s Rabbinate should welcome these kashrut and conversion reforms

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IMAGE: The flag of Iran waves in front of the the International Center building with the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, in Vienna, AustriaI, May 24, 2021 (Courtesy AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, FILE)

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