יום ראשון, ט׳ תשרי תשפ״זSunday, September 20, 2026
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By Adina Broder
Hashem was teaching Yonah that forgiveness is not based on justice, but rather on compassion. Justice looks to what you deserve according to your past actions.
Rambam: “I regret it and I am ashamed of my deeds.” Two verbs, not one. Regret is a judgment about the act. Shame is a feeling about the self.
When you state a person is “born that way,” it reduces moral accountability, which, for whatever reason, is a trend today that is highly destructive.
For those who have climbed the ladder of spirituality and find themselves closer in devotion to heaven than to earth, the harsh word Va’adabera is not an alienating phrase. That the good life as we know it can devolve into a life of misery, if we ignore the Torah, is a fact not a threat.
The Torah is poetically called a shira, a song. In the context of the mitzva to write a Sefer Torah, the word shira refers to the whole Torah.
Mitzmann divides the book into twelve chapters corresponding to the Hebrew months of the year, skillfully weaving together how the spiritual lessons contained within the Jewish holidays helped her radically alter and reestablish her relationship with Hashem and reclaim her mental health.
There is a kind of shame that can feel morally serious because it refuses to let us off the hook, and we are right to be suspicious of anything that seems to soften responsibility.
Rav Moshe Cordovero (RaMaK), in his commentary on the Yom Kippur service, associates the two sets of garments – each comprising four pieces – with the four-letter Divine Name.
This is one of the fundamental messages of Yom Kippur: We are responsible, and we are capable of choosing.
Some argue that a gigantic house brings a family closer together. It's a nice theory, but how often does that actually happen in practice, and what price is being paid to make it possible?
Yom Kippur is the night journey of the soul. For one day, distractions recede and we confront who we are, what we have failed to become, and the brevity of our lives against the backdrop of eternity.
We witness antisemitism, hatred, violence, and terror. Yet our enemies misunderstand the source of Jewish survival.
We talk about Jewish continuity, but for many Jews, the reality is that without observance, the likelihood of intermarriage skyrockets.
By Marc Gronich
The convention is touted as being the largest gathering of Jewish American military personnel and veterans in the nation. The JWV is the oldest active veterans’ organization in the country.
“The practice of carrying firearms to church thus goes back to the days of the Pilgrims, who thought it necessary to keep and bear arms to ensure their safety before, during, and after church services,” said Conel John Eidsmoe, senior counsel to the Foundation for Moral Law in the wake of New York’s 2022 Concealed Carry Improvement Act.
The Cold War made such fears part of the public consciousness. Americans grew up expecting that nuclear destruction, if it came, might arrive by Soviet bomber or missile. Yet the possibility that civilian aircraft already flying inside the country could be seized and turned against American cities belonged mostly to fiction.
Our dichotomous nature is at the very core of what it means to be human. To be human means to live suspended between the Earth’s gravity and Heaven’s gentle tug.
For years, we had allowed ourselves to become bitterly divided. Israelis increasingly saw those on the other side of the political or religious divide not simply as mistaken, but as enemies. Then, within hours of the attack, those divisions became irrelevant.
By Yigal Gross
I am a Jew because I believe in G-d’s presence, not simply as history’s initiator but as its continuing driver. I believe that reality reflects design rather than randomness.
The edition itself is of considerable importance. R. Yosef Karo's Shulchan Aruch had rapidly become the foundational halachic code, while the Rema's Hagahot transformed it into the practical code of Ashkenazic Jewry by recording the customs and rulings of the communities of Europe.
By Moshe Gantz and Joseph Miller
We do not generally find holiness by abandoning the physical world. We sanctify time through Shabbos, food through mitzvos and berachos, money through tzedakah, and our homes through the Torah life lived within them.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
So time in Judaism is an essential medium of the spiritual life. But there is one feature of the Jewish approach to time that has received less attention than it should: the duality that runs through its entire temporal structure.
Suffice it to say that on a practical level, we believe that although there is a fate that is likely to some degree, it can still be averted through merit and/or preventive action.
The shofar does not frighten – it awakens. It reminds us that leadership is not about certainty. It is about curiosity.
The fundamental premise of Rosh Hashanah derives from the idea that time is only demarcated when a temporal consciousness – that is, we as human beings – becomes aware of it.
We need to understand why Chazal made this g’zeira (decree) and how they are allowed to ban shofar and lulav on the days that the Torah says to do those mitzvot.
This week, we will read the victims’ names and repeat the promise: Never forget. But we should also ask: Twenty-five years later, what became of the enemy?
By Dovid Hirsch
One historian even dedicated part of a book to claim that the custom was brought to America in the second half of the nineteenth century by Eastern European immigrants because, in his limited research, he believed it was purely Ashkenazic.
We’re multifaceted people, with inclinations and inner drives toward spirituality and goodness as well as toward physicality and the opposite of goodness. This doesn’t mean that either drive is entirely positive or entirely negative on its own, but rather, we need to channel both these drives toward G-dliness.
The wisdom of the body isn’t just that it has openings and cavities, but how precisely they’re arranged. Every part is set up with an eye toward what would happen if things were arranged differently.
An early mention of cholent can be traced back to the 13th century, where it is found in the writings of Rabbi Issac ben Moses of Vienna, better known as the Riaz.
Most of us walk into Rosh Hashanah with a list. Be more patient. Put the phone down at dinner. Daven like I mean it... The items are usually accurate. Someone has thought honestly about where his life is lacking. What a list cannot tell you is who will be keeping it in Cheshvan, when the person who wrote it and the person living that particular Tuesday afternoon are barely on speaking terms.
Of course, as is so often the case when a truly antisemitic line is being crossed, it is a Jew who makes the announcement. On this occasion that Jew is called Ed Miliband who recently became Britain’s Foreign Secretary.
When we identify with Akeidat Yitzchak as a paradigm of our religious commitment, Hashem perceives us accordingly.
By Arnold Fine
Seymour, an alumnus of the nursery school fraternity, puffed out his chest and proudly exclaimed, “Yeah, yeah, that’s kid stuff. Wait’ll ya’ have to go to kindergarten – that’s real school!”
Public lectures in synagogues and community centers frequently emphasized not technical mystical doctrines but the Baal Shem Tov’s accessible teachings about joy, prayer, and the value of every individual.
Saying all debt is terrible lacks nuance. Sometimes debt is a useful tool that can help build wealth. Other times, it is a decision that creates endless financial strain.
The cipher itself appears to have been a distinctive feature of the scholarly milieu surrounding the Landau family.
A positive case for living in Israel today does not depend on dark forecasts about anywhere else. It depends on the simple claim that a home of hope should be lived in by those who can.
By Mendi Glik
As soon as he began to sing, his grandmother became deeply emotional and burst into tears. Young Blum didn’t understand what was happening.
Another important consideration is that, at this time of the year, we approach Hashem with a posture of brokenness and humility, knowing full well the litany of vices and shortcomings that we have tallied during the previous year.
Think of someone who has told you more than once that he will be there, and then wasn't. At some point another passionate assurance does nothing at all.
It is true that, in certain cases, when someone relies on the professional opinion of another and thereby suffers a loss, the professional carries liability for the loss.
By Moshe Gantz and Joseph Miller
The mezuzah is not guarding the house independently. Hashem is guarding the house.
Of course, it is difficult to make judgments, and everyone has to be careful about this because the mitzvah of tzedakah is sacred. It might appear that the person is lazy or indulgent, but there may be more complexity to the story such as depression or addiction.
Each day we wake up to a new creation because never mind how many times we have studied the same Torah, Mishna or Talmud, it is always new. We always see something in it we never noticed before.
Our knowing the workings of the Calendar – both when we have a Sanhedrin and when we don’t – shows an appreciation to HaKadosh Baruch Hu for the gift He gave Am Yisrael right at the birth of the nation.
When we shift our focus away from the mundane and from the experience of pain or fear that accompanies our own defects and precedes our repentance, we come to know, above all, that everything is a manifestation of this Divine mercy.
There was less need, and perhaps less opportunity, for us to build the structures of collective responsibility that ordinary national life requires.
The brothers exchanged surprised looks. Wurtzberger had assumed that, in the end, the Uman experience had made little difference. They quickly assured him that he was mistaken.
By Alan Zeitlin
... We are being told by non-Jews who never stepped inside a shul or even watched the Charlton Heston version of The Ten Commandments what our religion, biblical and historical ties to Israel should and shouldn’t be.”
A political party creates more than legislation. It determines whom a community regards as worthy of representation.
The idea of hundreds, if not thousands, of people gathering together in preparation for the Yamim Noraim – not as a shul program, but as a much larger convocation – reminded me of Yishay Ribo's huge performances at Madison Square Garden in 2023 and 2024. There were, of course, some differences.
'Bartov also suggested that he insists on using the term ‘genocide’ in debates not because it is legally accurate but because it is rhetorically necessary.'
The mayor’s glowing sympathy for a violent sociopath – and his chilling silence regarding the innocent victim – is not just a political gaffe. It is a defining feature of an ideological worldview that consistently elevates the welfare of criminals above the safety of law-abiding citizens.
Four nations, four entirely different temperaments, and one thing in common. Every one of them reaches for its finest hour, or its highest hope, and sets that to music.
By Ben Rothke
While the shofar is one of the most familiar sounds in Jewish life, it is perhaps one of the least understood.
One of the most immediately useful applications is automatic transcription.
By Moshe Gantz and Joseph Miller
Checking the mezuzah fits naturally into the theme of Elul. Elul is a month of inspection. We inspect our actions, our relationships with others, our tefillah, and our observance of mitzvot.
“Since there are no simanim, though, the owner will eventually have yei’ush,” Chaim reasoned. “So, what's the point of leaving it there in the meantime?”
There are years when something opens. Davening feels different. A shofar blast catches us off guard. We become more reflective, more aware of the gap between who we are and who we want to be.
Question: The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch states that an individual praying without a minyan is not allowed to recite the Thirteen Middot in Selichot. Additionally, the Selichot prayers that were composed in Aramaic may only be recited with a minyan as well. What is the reason for these restrictions? Moshe Jakobowitz Brooklyn, N.Y.
Raskin, like the academics who made anti-Zionism (indistinguishable from antisemitism) the new orthodoxy throughout American education and culture, thinks colleges and universities should be free to create hostile environments for Jews on their campuses.
Historically, community leaders and rabbis were appointed locally through an elective process or, quite often, inherited roles. In the Ottoman Empire, however, rabbinic appointments were managed via Istanbul and required the approval of the imperial government.
There is a rabbinic requirement that one must go into Shabbos with the attitude that all his business matters are complete and taken care of (Rashi on Shemos 20:9, quoting Mechilta).
Rav Soloveitchik noted that the number of aliyot relates directly to kedushat hayom – namely, the greater the sanctity of the day, the more aliyot are required.
It is all about giving. G-d is giving you the land and you are giving Him its first fruits. That sets the tone of life, the purpose of creation.
The bikkurim ritual is so central to Jewish spirituality, and the Sages were so concerned about it losing its flavor in exile, that they wrote it into the liturgy of the Pesach Seder.
G-d has repeatedly told us in the Torah what He wants of us. What He requires of us. And that should be enough for us to comply. But obviously, it isn’t enough.
More than a professional rabbinic convention, the two-day gathering became a frank discussion about the challenges of leading a Sephardic community today and how to preserve the Sephardic mesorah as a living tradition.
By Alan Zeitlin
Stoudemire said that his interest in Torah was private for many years. “At the end of it all, I wanted to go back to a place where I had a special connection to. I was learning for 20 years prior – secretly, I was learning Torah,” he said.
In retrospect, it is hard to understand why anyone would think that Israel would not act to derail Turkey’s plans by any means necessary, given that they are so inimical to Israel’s security interests and so provocative.
Someone eats the forbidden cheeseburger and later says, “It was not worth it.” That is something. But what exactly was not worth it? The price? The guilt? The indigestion? The disappointment? If so, then the regret still revolves around the person’s own experience.
Rav Mordechai Eliyahu was born in Jerusalem in 1929, the son of a leading kabbalist. At just 28, he became the youngest member ever to serve as a judge in the Israeli rabbinical courts – an early recognition of his remarkable scholarship.
It is always challenging to assess our own growth. Our evil inclination within us minimizes our accomplishments and highlights our deficiencies, making us feel woefully inadequate and feel like failures.
I’m certainly willing to have the case adjudicated in beis din, Mr. Sorscher said, but I now live in another city. I shouldn’t have to travel back just to explain to you why I don’t have to pay. We can adjudicate in my local beis din.
Belkin did not “found” Yeshiva University in the literal sense – the institution’s roots predated his presidency by decades – but he was the architect of its transformation into a university in the modern sense.
An Israeli artificial intelligence startup that was valued at about $4 billion only three months ago is now reportedly on the verge of being acquired for roughly $7 billion by Anthropic, the American company behind the Claude AI chatbot. The potential acquisition of Decart would be one of the largest-ever purchases of an Israeli technology […]
By Arnold Fine
I’ll never forget how Mama said “Ah broch tsu mir” and clapped her hands to her face when she saw my sister wearing lipstick for the first time. This really seemed like a catastrophe. Who knew where it would lead?
By Mendi Glik
It wasn’t until around age 36 that he decided to pursue a professional music career, spurred on by his older children.
May Hashem protect you, and may your heart rejoice, and may the Satan, Heaven forbid, have no dominion over the works of your hands. May the pleasantness of Hashem be upon you, and may He send your help from the Sanctuary.
Just as Hashem promised never to destroy the world with another flood, so He promised never again to exile Israel after He has returned them.
Each Rosh Hashanah we beseech G-d to show us clemency and not throw the book at us. We will be in a much better position to ask for this treatment from G-d, if we did not throw the book at others.
For families dealing with significant financial pressure from tuition, simchas, or other obligations, a reliable used car purchased with a manageable loan is usually the safest choice while preserving more cash for other priorities.
By Avi Ciment
You met some pretty amazing people in your career. From Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra, Ed Koch, Simon Wiesenthal, Yitzchak Rabin, Shamir, Ariel Sharon, Menachem Begin, Bibi and Bill Clinton. Who impressed you the most?
None of us has access to the Ribbono Shel Olam’s accounting, and people who confidently assign reasons for suffering generally reveal more about themselves than about the ways of Hashem.
In fact, the mayor’s statement was not only a robotic recitation of political talking points, which it most certainly was, but it also contributed to the problem.
For decades, advocates of the so-called two-state solution have maintained that any new Palestinian state would be demilitarized. The phrase is reassuring – and hollow.
Every speaker, friend, and relative apologized for not having understood how much Will had been suffering, for not having been able to console him or to help him find the help that he needed.
By Jessica Russak-Hoffman and Menachem Wecker - JNS
Muslims are estimated to make up about 1% of Americans, suggesting that in 2025, a Jewish American was about 190% likelier than a Muslim American to be the target of a hate crime.
By Jessica Russak-Hoffman - JNS
“Of all the things left for Shlock Rock to do, this was one of them,” lead singer Lenny Solomon told JNS.
Somehow, American consumer culture, combined with the suburban lifestyle and affordances, has led to a culture of accumulation.
By Jack Simony
Why Jews hear certain political arguments differently and what political leaders can learn from it.
By Yigal Gross
I am a Zionist because I believe history and geography are inextricably linked. Jewish history did not simply happen to occur in the Land of Israel; it unfolded because of it.
Though Lysov faces a stacked draw anchored by international superstars Tokito Oda and Alfie Hewett, his direct qualification underscores his steady rise on the world stage and guarantees a strong Israeli presence in the main draw.
While there are no Israeli players featured on either the Men’s or Women’s entry or qualifying lists this summer, four prominent international players on the official entry lists share Jewish heritage
It will rain in Israel only if we acknowledge the source of rain, like Adam HaRishon who understood that he had to pray for rain before it would come down (Rashi, Bereishis 2:6). The price we pay for rain is adherence to justice.
Led by internationally recognized presenters, participants explored research-based strategies that strengthen thinking, boost problem-solving, and increase cognitive development.
This conflict can only be resolved if the parties directly involved engage in appropriate, honest, and very difficult dialogue, which at the moment doesn’t seem likely.
September 18, 2026 
