יום ראשון, י״ג תמוז תשפ״וSunday, June 28, 2026
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By Bracha Gold
How could something I had once chosen so carefully simply… slip away? I searched my memory, trying to reconstruct that moment. But the truth was, there were several couples within my own family who were in need of such tefillot at the time.
Someone called my mother, the oak tree. If you needed someone to lean on, my mother was there for you. She knew that people were different, and she accepted them as they were.
By Naama Klein
We can generally guesstimate the time for Yizkor with an impressive degree of accuracy, but on Shavuos all bets are definitely off.
By Naama Klein
In case it is not obvious, this new flavor consists of peanut butter flavored ice cream overloaded with chunks of peanut chews and homemade Reese's Pieces, AKA chocolate and peanut butter heaven! I'm getting hungry just writing about it.
By Alan Magill
It is important to know, that in addition to my father's full-time job he fixed televisions on the side to earn extra money. Not like today's flat-screen TVs, but televisions with picture tubes and other varying shaped tubes.
By Alan Magill
I was astounded at this tremendous mitzvah she was doing. She was dispensing HOPE in a big dose.
By Michael Gati
Walking into the shul I saw an old man walking really slowly, I offered to help him down the stairs but was reluctant. He made an attempt to put on his tallis but was not able to. I walked over to help him but despite his reluctancy I insisted on helping.
Tehilla understood that nights of interrupted sleep and scampering into the safe room was a small price to pay compared to the price others paid in the terrible loss of life and limbs.
He drove and drove, enjoying every minute when suddenly the car in front of him put on the brakes! David tried to stop in time but couldn't and he went smashing into the car in front of him.
By Alan Magill
Three diseases could not stop my mother. They never had a chance. She LIVED and was a giver until the last moment she passed from this world to a better world.
By Risa Rotman
Sunday morning as I was packing up for my retreat, I threw in the Arnica even though I felt like my hand was already feeling and looking much better. It can’t hurt, I thought as I tossed in a few more maybe items.
By Adina Perez
I was stunned. Everything had lined up so perfectly. My heart cried, This was your chance! But my conscience said otherwise. I was stunned. Everything had lined up so perfectly. My heart cried, This was your chance! But my conscience said otherwise.
How many people choose to politely confront the people they’ve been hurt by without bearing a grudge, stewing, seeking revenge or sulking?
A promise is a promise and it'll only take me a minute, I can surely do this without any problems!
By Talya Gross
The front of the car where the engine was had burnt to a crisp, and all the windows were shattered.
I rummaged and rummaged through every pocket in the bag while the tag continued to beep. And lo and behold – while I was still trying to locate the tag, what did I come up with but two little packages of chametz snacks!
This bag has got to go. Please ask a clear shaila, explaining what efforts you’ve already done and what the requirement is now.
By Eliana Klein
What most people would have done is to leave all those items behind, to become the next guy’s problem. But my incredible in-laws are definitely not most people.
Every once in a while we are treated to the induction ceremony of soldiers which takes place in the large open area above the Kotel. Sweet and handsome, these 18 year olds solemnly swear to defend our country, promised to us centuries ago by Hashem to our holy Forefathers.
By Naama Klein
Lo and behold, both my niece and nephew decided on an arrangement that I had rejected just a few minutes earlier! And although it was not particularly my taste, I was so beyond grateful that they both agreed that the style, the colors, the flowers, basically everything about it, would be to our mutual in-laws' liking.
Several minutes after entering the hospital room, my father gave a tremor that sent them running for help from the nurse's station. The nurse called the doctor. The doctor told them that my father's systems were closing down, hinting that perhaps the respirator plug should already be pulled.
When walking down a sunny Jerusalem street with my father, he would attach clip-on sunglasses to his bifocals. When we would walk into an office or store, he would just flip them up so that he could let in the light. Perfectly practical and reasonable.
By Risa Rotman
I was fed up. I had this useless machine taking up space for no reason. I had an ultimatum in my mind that if by chodesh Elul there was no solution, I would bring the machine to my daughter’s house and it could take up space in their home.
Israel was on the brink of war and Yehudit served in the Haganah as a medic. She would have liked to have become a nurse but that was impossible in her circumstances.
By Yaffa Tova
The turmoil called everyday life whisked me along and before I knew it my children’s children were in that unrelenting ride of shidduchim. It was time for us to take a step back and allow our children to move into the driver seat, but once having driven down the road one’s antennas are ever sensitive for signs of new possibilities.
By dvora
I was terrified of the fall that seemed inevitable. Suddenly I felt my hands holding onto a handle which I had not seen before. Now holding onto the handle I was able to steady myself. The crisis was over. Days later I thought that Hashem put my hands on that handle.
Sunday afternoon they dropped by for a visit. He had small pieces of shrapnel on his face and left hand, and he said that the surgeon told him that, over time, the body would rid itself of the shrapnel. That was comforting to know.
For one agonizing moment, Meir thought his time in the world was about to end. But glancing at the note taped to his gun, he quickly murmured the words: Hashem Hu Elokim, ein od milvado. Then, a few meters in front of Meir, the missile changed direction in midair, as if it struck an invisible force field.
I asked her about the baby’s name, and she said, yes, they had named him after Daniel in the Tanach, but they had also thought of my late husband Dan when naming him. She sent me several photos and videos from the bris. I was overcome with emotion as I watched the segment where the baby received his name.
When the shidduch Josh was in the middle of didn’t work out, he turned back to Moishy to hear about his sister. Eventually the couple met and realized that yes, it really was a match. When Josh and Sari got engaged, Moishy was the happiest of all.
By Naama Klein
In retrospect, I really should have been clued-in as soon as I entered the store. Despite the fact that it was erev a three-day yom tov, the store looked more like a regular Tuesday night than what should have logically been a typical Thursday night on steroids.
Raffy explained to him how special the mitzvah is, and that this particular pair was donated as a merit for his uncle, who cared deeply for his fellow Jew.
Shabbat is a very holy day, but in the case of pikuach nefesh (saving lives), one is allowed to transgress the laws of Shabbat. It is a very strange feeling as a religious Jew to get into one’s car and drive off on Shabbat. But the mission needed to be accomplished, and it would most likely save lives.
By Ann Goldberg
She called her husband and told him to search inside the car and if it wasn’t there to go back to where he had parked car when they came to me and search on the road. But no – despite my confidence in the segulah after much searching it still wasn’t found.
By Naama Klein
So, although on this occasion I had initially decided to go as a favor for a visiting friend, in the end it was I who gained the most from the mitzvah.
With little choice, and even less time, I bought the clothes, thanked her and Hashem, and went to spend an uplifting Rosh Hashana, wondering if I’d ever see her again, and have the opportunity to pay her back.
By Eliana Klein
After months of packing and many weeks of divesting themselves of furniture and other belongings, they were experiencing decidedly mixed emotions as their departure date approached. We were definitely feeling likewise, and dreading having to say goodbye.
By Naama Klein
By the time we all made our way to their prospective new neighborhood, they had pretty much decided on a house to buy, but still wanted our confirmation before signing on the dotted line. So it was more or less a done deal, pending our approval.
What complicated matters is that there was no eiruv in our town. For me that meant that even if I had a bad cold (Is there a good cold?), I could not place tissues in my pocket.
By Naama Klein
Basically I felt like HaKadosh Baruch Hu was calling me, albeit in my son’s voice, reminiscent of a youthful Shmuel HaNavi reporting to Eli HaCohen several times during the night, during the era that Mishkan Shilo stood, many thousands of years ago.
As he was trying to work out the mystery of who had cleaned the shul, he mentioned it to one of the cooks in the school’s kitchens. And she admitted to having cleaned the shul herself.
By dvora
When he quoted the source as being Rabbi Charney, I jumped up, and running over to him. I cried out: Do you know that Rabbi Charney is my Uncle Rebbe? I had absolutely no idea how he had gotten this sefer!
By Eliana Klein
I thought of posting on our local email list to see whether anyone was driving to that neighborhood in the coming days, but the chances of anyone nearby to my location driving to that far off destination during the two remaining afternoons of the shiva were infinitesimal, especially since I required a seat up front.
The power of speech, both positive and negative is large part of our legacy as Jews. Guarding our speech is one of our foremost weapons in bringing blessing upon us or, G-d forbid, the opposite. We cannot underestimate the power of our words, as the following stories demonstrate.
The family told him that they would not be burying Eran but cremating him, instead. The Chassid was of course horrified by this information and started trying to convince them to have him buried. He called repeatedly until the family threatened to call the police if he bothered them again.
Without a moment of hesitation, he jumped into the water, reached out to the listless hand, lifted up the body and brought the little girl to the shore.
By Eliana Klein
Although I sincerely asked for mechila on every subsequent visit, she refused to accept my money or my apology. Instead she unequivocally announced, I don’t want to talk to you! and proceeded to ignore me.
How many times does Hashem save us without our even knowing? Most of the time our bodies function, our appliances work, things go smoothly, and we aren’t even aware.
By Naama Klein
Needless to say, in true Murphy’s Law fashion, I somehow managed to tip over the half-prepared bottle, thereby spilling powdered baby formula and liquid semi-prepared formula all over the dining room table, and wasting most of the powder in the sectioned-off Materna compartment.
The next morning when I woke up at dawn, the wind sounded fierce outside. I could hear frightening noises of destruction, but it was still too dark to see outside, and anyway as soon as I turned my phone on, there were all kinds of warnings to stay away from windows.
My mother insisted that I give this woman a hug. I refused. My mother continued to coax me to hug her and I resisted. Little by little my mother got me to go to her. I don’t exactly know how long it took but I eventually gave her a hug.
Let’s just say that I soon began covering the shortfall myself, and my group leader promptly stopped sending me the spreadsheets. And I countered by unearthing them anyway and continuing to fill the quota, most often without signing in.
In this day and age, when there is so much intermarriage and assimilation, even in Israel, should we not be thankful that this young man married a Jewish girl. Their children will be Jewish, even if their chuppah wasn’t so much. There’s still hope for their future generations.
Shaindy tried to think logically. There must be some way to signal for help. She pulled out her cellphone and dialed her husband. No reception and no service. She tried dialing 911. That should work. No service again. No way to call anyone in this underground station.
This is a true story that happened to me several years ago, but it is a story that I will never forget. Because of it, I now have a “thing” about locking front doors, though, truth to tell, I was always careful about making sure that they were locked before leaving my house.
Had so much time already passed since I took him to an amusement park and he was tall enough to go on a virtual reality ride?
Yitzchak feels privileged to have been welcomed into Am Yisrael. Having been exposed extensively to the outside world, he understands that there is no other nation like ours.
By Eliana Klein
Unfortunately, aside from my apparent penchant for misadventure, and ‘Midas touch in reverse,’ there is also my abysmal sense of direction. Add to that the fact that I get carsick on the local bus routes and consequently rarely use public transportation, and the scene was set with perfect precision for what transpired next.
I am back at my showroom working my appointments, it is now 3.00 p.m. and I still have not met anyone whom I could give these publications to. I am now walking the halls for about 5 or 6 minutes and lo and behold I see two women walking towards me.
The shul was finally opened with air conditioning, furniture, and books, and has been serving Eshel for about 40 years. But that isn’t the end of Miller’s story.
His reply was quick in coming. I’ve heard of a segula if the Pesach wine used for the makkos is poured on the doorstep of irritating neighbors they might move out, he informed him. Of course, Asher and Malkie were very excited to hear about this unusual segula and couldn’t wait for the seder to end so they could implement it.
They tried to explain he had Alzheimer’s and they implored upon them to try one more time to check that David was safe. Reluctantly they finally agreed and told them to return in two days.
The fallen tree damaged the car’s roof and broke a window. My husband covered the window with plastic in the meantime. Accompanied by a car-knowledgeable friend, Menachem went to file his claim against the city a short time later.
By Risa Rotman
My good friend knew all the above already, as a good friend does, but she listened anyway.
We lived through those COVID-19 years in a state of flux. Things were changing all the time... The only thing that didn’t change was the necessity to change many facets of our daily life.
When the askan heard this, he was devastated. After more than two and a half years of waiting for a kidney, the rabbi missed this opportunity because his 'helper' decided to go to sleep and call later. How would he break this to Rabbi Kerelenstein?!
By Naama Klein
For the two-plus years that I headed our block’s Vaad HaBayit, I was responsible to collect dues from the residents of my street and pay Avraham his monthly salary. I also brought him a drink every week when he swept our block, and I regularly purchased a modest gift for him, at my own expense, in advance of each of the Jewish holidays.
‘Uncle’ Morris had told us that when he died he wanted our eldest daughter Rachel to have his wife’s candlesticks, but we brushed it off hoping he would use them for many more years as although not young, he was healthy and active.
What chutzpah?! I thought to myself. I felt like a child being punished for taking a cookie out of the cookie jar.
Thoughts surged through my head. What to do? No point in getting to the Institute without the essential documents. But to get home, rush in, grab the folder, wait for the bus and train and then arrive late, when they may refuse to see me? I decided to take that chance.
By Adina Perez
I was in despair. I couldn't believe it, here was the exact job that I was looking for being presented to me under the condition of giving up my new principle. Could I just for the sake of money give in to my highest decisions.
On the morning of the day before the expected bris, he reluctantly cancelled the shul hall and catering when the baby's bilirubin count shot up to 18. The mohel tried to comfort him and suggested he take the baby again for a test in the afternoon to see if the numbers were going down. But they weren't.
Having lived in rented apartments myself for years long ago, I could picture myself in her situation and imagine how upset I would be. But later on, I was able to reflect that Hashem had given me this opportunity, not just to do chesed for my friend, but to see my own unpleasant experience in a new light.
By T. Gestetner
And you can’t find a technician in your neighborhood to repair your fridge? Reb Moshe asked. Try to get someone else to come down. I tried! the man protested. I called a few, but no one was available. Look, he said, I need my refrigerator for Shabbos, or my food will go bad. Please! I’ll pay you double!
This isn't just any party. It's a chanukas habayis plus seudas hodaya for your smooth recuperation. We can't just serve sponge cake.
By Naama Klein
Aside from the long hours spent in the classroom, there are many more hours devoted to preparing lessons and writing and later grading tests, among many other responsibilities. And, glutton for punishment that I suspect he is, my husband also writes curriculum and a variety of texts/workbooks for his students.
By Ann Goldberg
Always ready to be ‘dan le’kav zechus’ she pinned a note on the stroller saying I’m sure you didn’t mean to destroy my stroller – if you’d like to apologize this is my phone number… For days she waited for the phone call that never came.
My eyes tear up each morning when the name of another soldier fallen in battle is announced on the 6 a.m. news.
The volunteering spirit overcame his hesitations, and he left his unfinished job to answer the call for help. Danny was pleasantly surprised when he arrived at the scene of the vehicle on the side of the road. It was a Hatzalah ambulance that had conked out!
We were so worried about those terrorists, but when we returned to the place that we had seen them, no one was in sight. That was miracle number one.
By dvora
For quite a few years I have come to realize that when a day presents a lot of problems, it’s probably very good – because Hashem is involved and is offering a special opportunity.
By Naama Klein
For all of you readers who think that my husband committed the ultimate offense and forgot the date of our wedding anniversary AND that his issues with Social Security would therefore pale in comparison to his issues with me, allow me to clarify.
Mr. Frankel knew that thinking about it wouldn't help him or anyone else. The whole thing was in the past and though it was so painful and unjust, he tried not to think about what happened because that would only cause more suffering with no benefit at all.
By dvora
One of the triples proudly showed me his growing collection of stones he scavenged in the empty lots nearby. Each stone has its own story.
By Adina Perez
This was the moment I was most waiting for. To hear my beautiful son's voice reading in the Torah with the utmost perfection. But instead I found myself completely distracted and absent because of the candies that I myself had forgotten to arrange.
By Risa Rotman
I was relieved and rejoiced to see that the moths did not come back to visit after the renovations were done. I assumed the logical reason is because I had moved my kitchen and the windows have more effective screening.
By dvora
I had a hard time leaving family and work, but I still chose to use the time to raise myself spiritually by learning about gedolim. As a result, I was left with this meaningful experience.
By Naama Klein
During the long Shabbos afternoon hours, Motty became somewhat bored, and he set his sights on some new activities that he had not tried on his previous visits.
I made light of the loss. I produced a wan smile and announced to my caring Israeli group, Gam zu l'tovah.
Every action, every hour of learning, chesed, brachos, tefillos were done for their father’s neshama to merit a closeness to the Kisei HaKavod. That was all that was left for them to do for him.
Berta had no inkling about the journey she and Michael were going to take... For a year following the wedding, Berta’s mother kept bringing non-kosher food into their apartment; she had difficulty accepting the young couple’s choice to learn more about Judaism.
By dvora
In the end, though the young daughters had been crying while the verbal abuse was going on, they now saw how the effect a kind word and a smile could change everything.
By Eliana Klein
And while I’m already in full-blown kvetchy mode, now may be as good a time as any to mention the mess!
By dvora
Even though we know the score can even change once we are up there (through the mitzvos that our performed in our merit), what we must seriously keep in fresh in our mind is that our interactions have a lasting impact and a value for eternity.
By Ann Goldberg
It had just passed its test, when a friend offered us a newer car for a very reasonable price. It was a shame to just discard our old ‘friend’ but we also knew it wasn’t sellable.
By dvora
The lovely lady in charge asked me to sing “Happy Birthday” over the telephone. I noted that that night, Rosh Chodesh Tammuz WAS actually my birthday. I sang and I was accepted.
There may not be another puzzle piece that meshes with mine, and if so, then that is what Hashem wants. Then again, there may be one that does. Who knows?
By Naama Klein
So we just turned a blind eye to the sorry state of our chairs and prayed that they would hold up in the meantime, and that no one would get hurt chas v'shalom.
By T. Gestetner
Bentzy's heart was heavy as he thought of the implications of his tiny careless move… Hashem, he pleaded, help me figure this out!
Mynah birds are very good at adapting to new places and ousting the native bird populations. The crows and sparrows have all but disappeared since the mynah bird invasion of our neighborhood.
June 26, 2026 
