יום שבת, כ״ג אלול תשפ״וSaturday, September 5, 2026
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By Tzvi Fishman
Here I was, just out of New York, not knowing what the Torah was really about, surrounded by tens of thousands of ecstatic davening Jews, with the choruses of “Amen, yihe shamai rabbahs” ringing in my ears like the blasts of the shofar on Mount Sinai. What can I tell you? New York and Hollywood were blown out of my brain, like a dream that never happened, just like the Psalm says: “When the Lord brings back the captives of Zion, we were like those who dream.”
By Tzvi Fishman
This blog is not coming to reject, or condemn, any practice of Judaism which is based on a sincere fear of Heaven, nor to reject or condemn any Jew, or Jewish community, God forbid. The blogs we write come to reject only the misunderstanding of Judaism which negates the centrality of the Land of Israel to the Torah and to the vitality of Jewish life.
By Tibbi Singer
Our JBlogs Chief Reviewer Tibbi Singer brings you fresh recommendations on 12 new articles, plus reader mail and words of wisdom about sticking magnets under your skin (you shouldn't).
The problem with turning the other cheek is: it doesn’t work. Not with bullies. Not even with Catholic school bullies. Because bullies don’t consult the “Good Book” before they do bad things.
By Tzvi Fishman
All of the directors and presidents of the Jewish organizations and federations and committees and leagues and unions who didn't and still don't call upon their members to pack up and go, they all should be replaced with braver souls. With the scourge of intermarriage decimating our ranks, all of the rabbis who didn't and still don't urge their congregations to go en mass to Israel should read through the Torah once again.
By Tibbi Singer
You want strange news? I'll give you strange news: According to a complaint filed in Federal Court, Nancy Genovese, a mother of three, was arrested for taking a picture of the decorative shell of a helicopter on display in full public view near the entrance of the Gabreski Airport in Suffolk County, New York. While […]
By Tibbi Singer
I admit, I like a bizarre news story like the next gal. So I definitely had to click to read this item from the AP: "Police say a man named Joseph Glynn Farley was arrested in a Southeast Texas city for riding his unicycle in the nude, distracting drivers and creating a hazard." Right away, […]
My earliest thought of Judaism came in Catholic school, when I cussed out my grade three teacher for being an anti-Semite. I was no Biblical expert at the age of nine, but even my cursory understanding of the Bible told me that Christians had a heck of a lot in common with Jews.
By Tzvi Fishman
Avraham Avinu packed up his belongings without saying a word and hastened to the Land, even though it was loaded with savage heathens, prostitutes, idol worship, murderers, and rapists, even though there wasn’t one synagogue, kosher butcher, or luxury villa to be found.
Years ago, I was taught by secular Jewish friend that giving away money was disrespectful to money. It devalued money to give it away. And, for years, I agreed. Until I tried it.
By Tibbi Singer
Our recent discussions in the Jewish media of gay marriages and the conflict between being a faithful Jew and being gay reminded me of a really old joke. A matchmaker comes up to a yeshiva guy, takes him aside and says, "Have I got a shidduch for you!" "Who?" "Princes Margaret." "What?" Trust me, she's […]
By Tzvi Fishman
Some people will tell you that if you put on tefillin in Brooklyn, you’ve reached the pinnacle of the Jewish journey, but it isn’t true. Other people will tell you we have to stay in exile until Mashiach arrives. But that isn’t true either. Hashem isn’t waiting for Mashiach. Before our very eyes, Hashem has brought millions of Jews back to Israel on His own, without waiting for Mashiach to do all the work.
By Tzvi Fishman
It is no secret that American Jewry is being decimated by assimilation. The longer the Jewish community remains in America the more the assimilation will grow. So I ask – what’s the point in working to strengthen something that is destined to dwindle out and end? The exile is a curse which is not supposed to continue forever.
By Tibbi Singer
Not related to the image above which is just my treat to you, the same-sex story reminds me of the joke about a guy sitting in the park, starting a light chat with a young woman. After a while, the conversation kind of dies down and the two drift into silence. So the young woman […]
By Tzvi Fishman
Not only are the streets of Jerusalem inundated with the smoke of burning embers; but hillsides and streets all over the country are lit up with the fiery love of Torah which kindles in every heart. Not only the streets, but the smoke of these holy bonfires penetrates into every single apartment and house, like the aroma of incense on the Temple’s altar, penetrating through windows and concrete walls to reveal the inner spirit of every Israeli soul, of every Israeli home.
By Tibbi Singer
Our roundup today concludes with parental anxieties, which all of us with and without children share. It reminded me of the joke about a father and his son who go into a restaurant and order soup. The soup arrives boiling hot, but the steam was trapped below the grease. The son drank a spoonful and […]
My considerable experience with bad people is: showing weakness to them never, ever works. Not ever. Never. As evidenced by the entire arc of human, and Jewish, history.
The secularists and atheists in my life don’t know enough about Judaism to know how big of deal this is, so they tend to look at my journey as a mildly exotic lifestyle choice – like a phase Madonna might go through – before they focus on the real issue at hand: circumcision.
By Tibbi Singer
One of the questions posed to PM Netanyahu and his new coalition bride Shaul Mofaz by one of those pesky Israeli TV reporters was: Only a short while ago, Mofaz called Bibi a liar. Now the two of you are headed into a long-term marriage (a year and a half is eternity in Israeli politics). […]
By Tzvi Fishman
Now that everyone is talking about elections, I’m thinking of throwing my kippah into the ring. In all modesty, my novels have won me a pretty fair following in the religious community, so I could very well garner the necessary number of votes to get elected to the Knesset.
A joint JoeSettler-Jameel post. Left behind in the wake of Netanyahu’s surprise unity maneuver are some serious winners and loser. There is no doubt that elections would have shaken things up, but this unity coalition shakes up things even more. What Netanyahu managed to do today is of historic proportions and has some serious ramifications […]
By Tibbi Singer
This Jewish guy gets to a small town out in the hinterland, and in his kosher traveler's guide he finds a motel that's run by a Jewish lady. Sunday morning the church bells are ringing and he hears the motel owner yelling out: Jimmy, the bells are ringing, time to go to church! So the […]
I was Jew-bashed, and almost killed, before I had my first thought of becoming a Jew.
On a friend’s recommendation, I went to see the Broadway musical Godspell. I found myself watching Jesus get hoisted on a cross by Judas Iscariot, surrounded by an audience with tears and/or rage in their eyes. At that moment, being the only person in the room with a Kippah on his head…made me stand out. But I forced myself to stay. Because I had never experienced this as a Jew.
Throughout my life, I have always been drawn to great speakers. As a word-lover, I have to keep an eye on this predisposition, the same way a wine-lover must be careful about that second glass.
By Tzvi Fishman
When I finally made aliyah, I knew lots of people, and was already half “Israeli”. I lived in Jerusalem with the saintly old lady I had met on my first visit, and spent my days running around with Rabbi Hazani, designing street posters and helping him with the campaign to free the Jewish Underground until he dragged me to the Machon Meir Yeshiva
By Tibbi Singer
Happy New Week. I'm trying a topical approach to my roundup, so I went trolling for new, interesting things about Lag Ba'Omer (only a couple of days ahead), the 'Asifa' in Citi Field, and stam interesting Jewish tidbits. Let me know if this format works for you, I'm trying new things. There's a classifieds ad […]
By Tzvi Fishman
"Dear God," I said. "I don’t know why you have come into my life and done this great miracle for me. But I am certainly grateful, and I would like to make You happy some way in return. Tell me what You want me to do, and I will do it."
By Tibbi Singer
It's the 12th of Iyar. On this day in the year 70, Roman General Titus breached the middle wall of Jerusalem (it was June 5 back then). It's the yahrzeit (in 1778) of Reb Shmuel Shmelke Halevi Horowitz of Nikolsburg. On his first day as the Rabbi of Nikolsburg, he made it rain. It was […]
By Tibbi Singer
It's Iyar 11, the yahrzeit of Methuselah at the 969 years of age (according to one opinion). I suppose on this day Jewish geezers go down to the park and pass judgment on the pigeons (You call that pecking?). It's also the yahrzeit, in 1884, of Judah Philip Benjamin, the second Jewish senator in U.S. history (from Louisiana), who also served in the cabinet of President Jefferson Davis (yes, yes, they lost).
By Tzvi Fishman
My bar-mitzvah ceremony was held in a Unitarian church. To me, that’s a perfect symbol for being a Jew in America, where you are totally immersed in a foreign, gentile culture. Even if you live in a strictly-kosher ghetto, the World Series, Michael Jackson, Christmas decorations, the Oscars, and the NY Daily News are waiting for you the minute you cross the street.
Standing at my tenth floor perch as the Yom Hazikaron siren blared, I was able to see directly into the open window of a room with three Arab workers in it. I heard myself gasp as the siren hit its loudest pitch, for at that moment, the workers dropped their tools, and began to dance together. And laugh. And dance some more. And as the tears of the Israelis on the street below flowed, these workers danced.
By Tibbi Singer
We're a seriously self-obsessed nation, goes without saying. And if we spot you even mumbling something under your mustache or into your beer – we just know it was about us and how we control things, and grab your money and all that. But what if you say nothing about us – and you're Gore Vidal? Tricky, right? We'll answer that and 9 more mysteries after you click.
By Tzvi Fishman
“Gevalt!’ I thought to myself. “My very first day in Israel, and my mother would turn on the TV in America and see her son making a protest speech against the Israeli government on behalf of the Jewish Underground!”
By Tibbi Singer
It's my second batch so far, and all I can say is I'm frustrated beyond belief, because there's so much good, zesty stuff out there in Jewblogia, and I only get an hour or two to look for the best. For sure I missed great pearls today, and if you want to help me correct this inequity, a.) start a new blog against me, and, 2.) send me da links. I want my links to your work. Trip well, cruise safely, it should all be G rated, maybe PG-13, max.
That’s right. I’m calling out the Dalai Lama. And here’s my problem with His Holiness in particular, and with Buddhists in general – and it also happens to be one of the first things that drew me to Judaism: Jews understand evil. Buddhists do not.
By Tzvi Fishman
I was going to start out this blog by saying that I am happy to be back at The Jewish Press. But, in truth, I have mixed feelings. After all, I’ve been living in Israel now for 28 years, yet The Jewish Press is still in Brooklyn, along with its myriads of faithful readers.
By Tibbi Singer
Our daily roundup of the Jblogosphere goes to Hirhurim, The Jew and the Carrot, Failed Messiah, and Cross Currents. We'll be here every weekday with whatever caught our attention out there. Your comments are welcome, and if you're a habitual Jblogger and just uploaded your heart online, please let us know so we'll come visit.
By DovBear
DovBear Blog: Huge argument are raging right now on Twitter about the next big Internet Asifa scheduled for the end of May in Citi Field. DovBear briefly summarize the positions, and refutes them.
Emes v'Emuna Blog: One of the sadder chapters to be written about the State of Israel will be what is happening with regard to conversions.
There exists a new type of Israeli, who sees a moral equivalence between Israel's fallen, and those of the enemy.
The borders of Israel are today under dispute, but that was also true 700 years ago. When Estori Ha-Parchi (Ishtori Haparchi), a Spanish-French scholar, came to Israel around 1313, he was shocked to discover that some Jews did not consider places like Ramla and Beit She’an to be in Israel. Ramla was called 'Gat' by […]
Numerous people sent me a blog post which has been reverberating around the internet -- its title translated into English; "One who believes isn't afraid" The article is about a trip to a wedding last night in Southern Israel, and how the wedding took place, under Gazan rocket fire. ....the scene was just as it […]
Palestinians wage a war of lies with fake photos - the latest fauxtography is coming right out of the UN.
Many of the most fascinating posts I come across are based on sources in Hebrew. These stories would fascinate you, yet I simply do not have the time to translate them all for you...
The organization "Rabbis for Human Rights’ knows exactly how to condemn the State of Israel and its authorities for any action against a Palestinian. Yet, when it comes to a letter which condemns the actions of the Palestinian Authority, the Rabbis for Human Rights would prefer not to be in conflict with Palestinian activists.
September 4, 2026 
