BUSINESS BRIEFS: Israel-based solar panel optimization company SolarEdge is planning on raising more than $100 million for an IPO early next year, say sources close to the company. The optimization technology of the company, founded in 2006, is in use in over 45 countries. [Bloomberg] • Bernie Madoff is planning to appeal a NY judge’s decision to gut his $564 million dollar fraudulent transfer suit against J. Ezra Merkin.

RISING STAR: Ryan Orbuch may not have gotten into his top-choice colleges, but his app, Finish, has made it to the top of the charts, including a 2013 finish as Apple Design App of the Year. The app, which Orbuch designed with his classmate Michael Hansen when he was just 16, has even beat out the über popular Angry Birds in rankings (for a few hours). The sleek and simple app allows users to create to-do lists for the short or long-term in a highly efficient manner. It’s easy to forget from his recent appearances in Forbes and the NY Times that Orbuch is still a teenager, but his easy writing style and casual manner of conversation reminds you that Orbuch is just getting started. He is currently feeling out the scene in San Francisco: “Made the move–new home is SF. Big things. Excited!!!” in the words of a recent tweet. If you’re in the area, Orbuch has made an innocent appeal: “SF, anyone want to get dinner?” Orbuch is looking to start college in the fall of 2015, and is reapplying to schools this year.

REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP: Cammeby’s International Group, run by New York investor Rubin Schron, has purchased the hotly disputed Rachel Gardens Montville luxury apartment community in Pine Brook, N.J. for $136 million. Rachel Gardens is comprised of 32 three-story buildings, housing 764 units total. • After a long battle between artists, architects, engineers, and patrons, the large Picasso which has graced the wall of the Four Seasons Restaurant for years has been removed. The Restaurant is owned by the Bronfman Family. [Vanity Fair]

STARTUP NATION: The Tel Aviv founded app Yo!, which allows users to… well, say “Yo!” to their friends, has been used to send more than 100 million messages. [USA Today]

TALK OF OUR NATION: Facing rising tides of anti-Semitism, many French Jews are heading, elsewhere, predominantly to the US or Israel. For those with net worths in the multi-millions, Marlen Kruzhkov is making the ride to NYC (with fortune and investments in tact) a little easier by providing advice on safe investment decisions (real estate) and connecting them with opportunities to make a new life in the states for themselves and their families. [NY Observer]   • A former hostage of Islamic State, Nicolas Henin, who was held in captivity with James Foley and Steven Scotloff, said that Mehdi Nemmouche —a French national arrested on suspicion of carrying out a deadly shooting at a Jewish museum in Belgium — was among his brutal captors in Syria. [WSJ]

MIDDLE EAST MONITOR: Riots broke out again in East Jerusalem on Sunday, following the death of 16-year-old Mohammed Sunokrot, who was wounded by a rubber bullet to the head in clashes with Israeli soldiers last week. [Vice News] • Hamas has renewed production of rockets and is rebuilding its terror tunnels that were destroyed during Operation Protective Edge, say senior diplomatic sources. [Arutz Sheva]

WEEKEND WEDDINGS: Daughter of Jill W. Smith (chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation) and Robert C. Smith (managing director at Greenhill & Company) Lilly Alexandra Smith married Sean Paul Gibson this Saturday evening at Rockefeller Center, NYC. The wedding was officiated by cantor Shira Ginsburg. • Jessica Hillary Silverman (daughter of Robert H. Silverman of Bylada Foods and Macabee Foods) and Nadav Yaakov Shaviv were married Saturday evening at the Paramount Country Club, NYC. Rabbi Benjamin H. Spratt officiated. [NY Times]

SPORTS BLINK: Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic threw the first pitch for the Washington Nationals game Sunday evening. • Co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team Bruce Levenson is selling his controlling interest in the team.

LONG-READ: Teach for America was founded in the 1990’s to inspire students at elite universities to give back by teaching in impoverished areas of the country for two years, but has come under fire for failing to address many of the nuanced issues facing the education system and the challenges of teaching in such areas. After years of scrutiny, the program is beginning to evolve in a positive way, writes Dana Goldstein in Vox.

DESSERT: NY Magazine profiles the pharma-selling furturist and highest-paid female CEO Martine Rothblatt, who stands in sharp relief to her straight-laced corporate counterparts.

BIRTHDAYS: Howard Lorber of Vector Groups Ltd. turns 66. Jeffrey Lurie, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, turns 63. — Leslie Wexner of L Brands Corporation turns 77. Senator Bernie Sanders turns 73.