יום שני, ד׳ אלול תשפ״וMonday, August 17, 2026
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We may have thought that the first thing Mordechai would do after hearing about the decree of annihilation would be to run to Queen Esther and work on annulling it through their diplomatic and political connections. But that is not what happened.
Some will ask: why bother? Of what use are these conferences? Personally, I say thank God that at least the Europeans are having these conversations. The issue is being addressed.
Rebbetzin Jungreis, a”h, providing guidance on Hakarat haTov--gratitude. Our thanks to you Rebbetzin Jungreis, a”h.
Many modern Jews mistake Purim for a “Jewish Halloween” or an excuse for wild parties. This view has us put on masks, like carousers at a masquerade, to “hide” who we really are. Or, perhaps, as often proves to be the case at a masquerade, we don masks to reveal who we really are.
If Netanyahu’s name were Shimon Peres or Ehud Barak, none of these affairs would ever have been publicized or investigated. This is not about corruption. It’s about politics.
The Palestinian Authority leadership promised, in the Oslo accords, to disband all terrorist groups, seize their weapons, and outlaw them – in short, to put them out of business. How can it be that, 23 years after the PA took over sole control of Bethlehem, Islamic Jihad still has active terrorist cells in and around the city?
By denying the existence of the loan, the debtor, by implication, also admits that he did not repay it.
"My son dressed up as a lion last year," exclaimed Mrs. Kahn. "We bought this great costume. It was so realistic!"
This Rashi seems difficult to understand when we focus on whom these people were and where this was taking place.
Though my father lives in another area of Staten Island, he has been intermittently involved with this synagogue since its inception.
May a person who wants to eat chametz that everybody else finds inedible do so?
Question: I anticipate soon dissolving a business partnership. How should I expect to be treated in a beit din? No Name Please
Our Turn ‘A Gentile Nullifies His Idolatrous Relic’ (Avodah Zarah 52b)
We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections, and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
We must never forget that when Aaron was left to lead, the people made a golden calf. But never forget that Moses needed an Aaron to hold the people together. In short, leadership is the capacity to hold together different temperaments, conflicting voices and clashing values.
By State Senator Simcha Felder
While comforting and well intentioned, these officers don’t stand a chance in the event of a sudden attack.
By Elliott Katz
The Talmud teaches that all Israel are responsible for one another. Risa writes that the terrorists attacked Chaim with a knife to his head because he was a Jew -- therefore the Jewish people had to take special care of him.
By Ben Rothke
The Rav astutely notes that the story of Esther tells us in the most lively, realistic fashion, with a tinge of refined yet biting sarcasm, about paradoxical, absurd events, which are both tragic and comical at the same time.
One thinks of family as an all-embracing sanctuary – a safe haven and a refuge from the outside world. But this is rarely the case.
Ben Zion held the Malach in high regard and the feeling was reciprocated. “I never met a man whose views are closer to mine,” the Malach is reported to have said.
In a democracy, where the rule of law is transcendent, police investigators should not be permitted to run roughshod over a defendant’s right to a fair trial.
I liked the promise of a new future, but I didn’t understand why it had to be anti-Zionist or anti-Jewish.
Israel annually issues a set of “Moadim L’Simcha” stamps commemorating the Jewish New Year, which are always among my favorites, but it also periodically issues stamps commemorating the other Jewish holidays, including Purim.
By Rena Reiser and Elisheva Blumberg
When we turn to cream and sugar during those emotionally-laden moments, we are acting not only from impulse, but from rational self-preservation; eating as a coping mechanism helps us.
By Sandy Eller
Let’s be perfectly honest, holidays are just a convenient excuse to indulge in our favorite activity – eating.
By Libi Astaire
There is no question that relations between the Jews and the Church have improved immensely since Vatican II.
The reality of the situation is that if your child is asking you for help that means that he has not figured out a way to master the situation on his own.
Some think that what a person wears classifies what type of person he or she is.
By Duvi Honig
Dr. Margalit founded the famed “Jerusalem Venture Partners” firm, which has raised over $1.1 billion in investment capital and spearheaded some of the most successful business ventures in Israel, the United States and Europe.
Is the way we celebrate Purim the ideal way to spiritually experience it?
Oxfam, accused of forcing and starving desperate women into prostitution offers one defense: They are not the worst of the NGO’s by any means! Great defense!
I think that Netanyahu should go home, but for the right reasons. Netanyahu should go home because he is a strategic danger to the state of Israel. He should not go home because of a political putsch by the Left.
Rebbetzin Jungreis, a”h, advice on dealing with life's crises and agonies
Yaakov looked at the will again. "Why do you say that?" he asked. "The will does not say to give $10,000 to each grandchild. It says that $10,000 is granted to the grandchildren as a group. Divide the sum among you!"
To whom does one give on Purim? Must one give to someone who, one suspects, may not really be poor? Is there a minimal amount one must give? Also, what about boys collecting for yeshivot or other institutions – may one discharge one’s obligation by giving to them? Menachem
The Maharsha explains that each mitzvah in the Torah has two angels appointed over it, one good and one bad.
An Idolatrous Eruv ‘Wood From An Asheirah Tree’ (Avodah Zarah 49b)
There was once a scalding hot bath that no one could enter. Along came one foolish individual who jumped in. Although he was immediately burned, he cooled off the bath for others.
The only inkling I had that something was amiss was that sometimes when I would greet she responds and other times she doesn't.
The prohibition of bishul akum does not cover foods which have been prepared for eating by a process of salting or pickling rather than cooking and neither does it apply to smoked foods.
By dvora
My family always found an open and warm welcome when they flew in for a family simcha, but now due to Hashem’s goodness and kindness I am now living in close proximity to several of my children.
The night of Purim should not be the first time that one is hearing the story of the Megillah. Reading it in public is intended to publicize the miracles that Hashem performed.
Unhappy Americans on the right blame the problems inherent to life, and they blame themselves. Unhappy Americans on the left blame America.
“Guns didn’t suddenly decide to visit mayhem on schools. Guns can’t decide.” But people can. And it’s the people who have changed. It is not guns that kill. It’s the minds of children and adults deprived of Godliness that kill.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
The sedrah of Tetzaveh, in which the name of Moses is missing and the focus is on Aaron, reminds us that our heritage derives from both. Moses is a man of history, of epoch-making events.
More than 40 years after his death, Robeson retains his status as an American cultural and political icon, but he also leaves behind a sad legacy as a hero who betrayed his Jewish friends.
One of the IAF planes returning from the attack was shot down by Syria after the IAF had destroyed many Syrian anti-aircraft batteries in the area.
Not to put too fine a point on it, it appears that the Russian indictments are empty gestures.
Megillat Esther is the sole book of Tanach in which God’s name is not mentioned. This too can only be understood as an irony which confirms His pervasive, but hidden, presence.
My uncles took cover on the bimah, and cries of "Mazel Tov" pierced the air.
It breaks my heart to see my once happy and confident daughter depressed and isolated from her peers.
By Pnina Baim
I underestimated how eager my children would be to buy real costumes.
When the Almighty saw the man’s struggles, He took pity on him and told Eliyahu Hanavi to give him four zuzim (coins).
Dom Bruno was clearly a courageous man, risking his own life to save four hundred Jewish lives, most of them children.
Some of the most famous and important works of literature contain passages and themes that are immodest in nature. May a G-d-fearing Jew read these works for the good they contain, or must he forgo reading them entirely?
Polish history and popular legend credits a beautiful Jewish girl named Esther, or Esterka, with the turn of Jewish fortunes in Poland.
'A Tree Grows in Sinai'--and the Jewish Nation is built.
While we rejoice at the recent release of Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin from prison, the series continues this month and beyond.
More eternal wisdom from Rebbetzin Jungreis, a”h. This week's column, final installment in a series of 5, considering how to become an agent of chesed (compassion) and rachamim (mercy)-continued from last week.
Yet, notwithstanding all of these arguments, cheese manufactured by non-Jews remains prohibited today by the halacha. Why?
By Naama Klein
They were genuinely thrilled, but tempered their enthusiasm somewhat with a sobering reality check, “You know he’s flying right into a winter blizzard, right?”
Standing in the morning on a cold winter day at the Cave of Machpelah, watching all of this unfold before me, I realized the profound and enormous responsibility a Jew has to his past in shaping his behavior in the future.
Question: We read in Megillat Esther that the name of the king of Persia who ruled a vast empire that extended from India to Ethiopia was Achashverosh. Who was he? Where did he come from? Fran Hager Brooklyn, NY
A week went by. Aryeh began finding the work lonely. "The work is lonely now that the other worker is not here," he told Mr. Farber. "I don't know if I can continue."
When Is Chalav Akum Allowed? ‘When Milked By A Gentile…’ (Avodah Zarah 39b)
Clearly, creating the menorah was beyond human capacity. Why did Moshe need to have a clear image of what it was to look like?
The borrower claimed he repaid the debt and took back the promissory note from the lender and then lost it.
Parshas Zachor follows, as Amalek will resurface before the geula, reminding us that we must rid ourselves of wrongdoing and teshuvah.
Darwin deduced that the same Creator operated in Australia as in Europe. The platypus must, as all the other animals, be the handiwork of the same Creator. Baruch meshaneh habriyot!
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
Parshat Terumah begins the seismic shift from the intense drama of the Exodus, with its wonders and epic events, to the detailed narrative of how the Israelites constructed the Mishkan--the Tabernacle. The Nation begins building its HOME.
Herzl never set foot again in Eretz Yisrael during his lifetime, but he did return decades after his death in 1904 at the tragically young age of 44.
It’s scandalous. Purim is supposed to be a celebration of kabalas haTorah, accepting the Torah.
By Sara Lehmann
“We want a Jewish presence in Portugal,” said Mendes Godinho, “and we look to Jewish investment.” Citing low unemployment and calling Portugal the “third most peaceful country in the world,” she stressed the importance of bringing Jews to visit and live in Portugal.
By Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz
Finding ourselves with a large merged family as a result of our marriage, we had little chance to contemplate a honeymoon of any kind.
So, what’s affecting us today? Sapolsky argues that our heart disease, adult-onset diabetes, Alzeheimers, and even cancer might be caused by stress.
I usually find cornbread to be dry, but this one was very moist and served with a delicious maple flavored whipped cream.
The children miraculously and unanimously agreed to wear pajamas as their costumes this Purim!
No organization (i.e.the OU) can excommunicate anyone. It does not, however, mean that our communities lack organizing principles. Those principles operate based on individual choice. People effectively expel synagogues not compliant with mainstream halacha.
August 14, 2026 
