יום רביעי, כ״ז אלול תשפ״וWednesday, September 9, 2026
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Our children have learned how to maintain a connection with grandma and grandpa without hugs, how to manage with their brothers and sisters when cooped up in isolation, and how to follow new rules that changed their lives.
By Susie Dym
The WHO knows that "a lie gets half way around the world before truth has a chance to get its pants on."
A Jew who accepts the divine origin of the entire Torah except for a single letter is a blasphemer.
Introverts are also suffering from lack of independence. It’s one thing to choose to be isolated; it’s another when it is forced upon you.
For Whom The Bell Tolls ‘Royal Children May Go Out With Bells’ (Shabbos 66b)
By Naomi Kramer
We choose you and your loved ones over our own. We choose to keep fighting this nasty, scary virus even though it means we can’t be with any of our loved ones for a long time.
Why did I stuff my life into 15 duffle bags and fly with my husband and kids amidst an international pandemic to live halfway across the world?
Rather than relying on the NYPD to be alert to unacceptably large assemblages they may encounter, the mayor ordered a proactive investigative blitz in primarily Jewish areas to root out violators.
Children’s train rides and sea/river cruises have long been an important part of many Lag BaOmer celebrations, and one of the highlights for Jewish children in pre-World War II Warsaw was the annual Lag BaOmer train ride.
So while evidence that the Pope actually was aware of much of what Nazis were reportedly doing is not in doubt, some will contend that he didn’t believe most of it and was reasonable in that disbelief.
We must feel that we are creating something new at all times, and we must also realize that the path we walk on was walked on since the beginning of time.
If a person believes based on expert medical advice that wearing a mask on a quiet sidewalk is unnecessary, should he wear it anyways because of the chillul Hashem it will cause in some circles if he doesn’t? Does the answer depend on his motivation (convenience vs. making a political statement)?
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
One important lesson that several positive psychologists make is that relentlessly pursuing happiness usually does not lead to happiness.
Bar Hama was accused of murder, but Rav Papi advocated on his behalf, and he was exonerated. Bar Hama felt indebted to Rav Papi and committed to pay Rav Papi's taxes.
I’m not moving from here until the Baal Shem Tov gives me a blessing for a child. Either he can bless me, or he can step over me, but without his blessing, I’m not moving from here!
It follows that particularly in Iyar, Hashem supernaturally heals, removing sickness as if it never existed.
The issue is that the food only temporarily satisfies the emotional hunger. After eating, the person usually feels shame and guilt and has not gotten to the root of the emotion to begin with.
Taking revenge on another individual is like taking revenge on oneself.
The high priest is alone. It is forbidden for anyone to be with him, but it is precisely because of this restriction that his power is so great.
In fact, there is almost no more dissent in The New York Times than there was in Pravda.
By Sandy Eller
Hoping to ease mourners’ pain and to properly recognize those who were gone, Eli set about to build a website that, true to its name, would allow friends and family members to pay their final respects.
His fatherly manner of receiving, and maintaining a connection with, the many students who came from across Europe left a lifelong impression on them.
One would have to visit people who had never left their rural village in a developing country to find people more insular than New York liberals.
Integrity is a lesson that must be learned and practiced at all ages. Teaching children to always tell the truth may lead to occasional disappointments, but they will walk away knowing in their hearts that being honest was the right thing to do.
This sefer is notable for being the first published Hebrew book to include a portrait of its author.
Question: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an end to almost all public gatherings; hence, much of Jewish congregational ritual have come to a halt. Is there a way to make up for everything we missed? M. Goldman
The international reactions to the massacre were so predictable that you could guess what they were without reading the rest of this article.
I am not an emotional person by nature. But in the last few weeks I have found myself minutes or seconds away from tears at any given moment.
Remember, Moshe Rabbeinu, David HaMelech, Avraham Avinu, as well as Yaakov Avinu all opted to be shepherds so they could have time to be alone and contemplate. It’s a lost art.
By Eli Beer
It was no dream – there were angels, angels from all over the world, who took care of me. I discovered that when I was told what had been happening around me all that time.
He was perhaps most proud of his 40-year stewardship of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and rebuilding that testament to authentic old-world Torah Yiddishkeit to its current preeminence.
What piques our concern is the incentive of government officials to deflect blame.
Challenging medical orthodoxy, which held that only vaccines made of living viruses could provide effective, enduring immunity, Jonas Edward Salk (1914-95) produced a “killed-virus” vaccine that retained immunization capabilities. His discovery of the first poliomyelitis vaccine, which constitutes one of the greatest breakthroughs in immunology, rendered poliomyelitis (polio) a conquered disease and made Salk a […]
By Sandy Eller
It now provides twice weekly kosher food packages to the homebound and others in need of assistance, including recovering coronavirus victims.
When people asked Rav Goren why he recited Shehecheyanu, he replied with typical sarcasm: "Don't worry, I have a new tie."
They wonder: Why is he endangering his life? He approaches and tells them, “Kinderlach, we don’t know how much time we have left, so let’s learn Torah.”
News From Across The Pond.
By Tzvi Fishman
Rav Maimon spoke with a directness that Ben-Gurion admired. In addition to his erudition in Torah, he had a vast knowledge of secular subjects as well.
It seems, though, that the Progressives in charge in New York City are determined to go their congressional colleagues one better.
Should one dress up for a shiur on Zoom if no one can see anything more than your face and top of your shirt?
Suddenly our mothers who knew so much when we were young and who became old fashioned as we started growing up, whose style we didn't want to follow, takes on a new appearance.
By Dor Markush
Maybe we are being reminded that while shul is the center of communal practice, the epicenter of life is the home.
By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein / KeepJerusalem.org
For Islam, which was founded when Judaism was about 2,500 years old, Jerusalem is only its third holiest city, following Mecca and Medina.
I have always seen myself as a rosh yeshiva. The fact that no one else on the planet shared my assessment is irrelevant.
Rav Hirsch notes that “nega” comes from the root meaning “touch.” A person who has a nega has been “touched” by G-d and is being asked to take note of something.
Question: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an end to almost all public gatherings; hence, much of Jewish congregational ritual has come to a halt. Is there a way to make up for everything we missed? M. Goldman
In an apparent effort to ensure both employee and public safety, only a limited number of people were being allowed into the building at a time.
By T. Gestetner
Finally, with little time to spare, Pinchas steered his loaded minivan onto the block where their hosts lived. Then he started circling. “Who can spot a parking spot?” he called out to his restless crew.
Recognizing that uncertainty makes us think the worst, which almost never occurs, can help you overcome your worst moments.
By Marc Gronich
Kicking off this week, Cuomo declared in his daily affirmation, “What we do today will determine what happens tomorrow.”
I started keeping such a diary recently and found doing so truly fascinating.
News From Across The Pond
Great is charity, for it brings closer the Geulah.
He was reputed to have had a photographic memory, with the contents of each sefer he handled committed to his memory.
There are three categories that must be met before a couple can decide if they (with Hashem’s help) could make a happy life together.
Based on the first source, a person who hired someone for a job, but then changes his mind due to uncontrollable circumstances that could not be foreseen by either side, does not have to pay the worker since he is in possession of the money.
The Chofetz Chaim notes that despite the severe sins of individuals, if we wouldn’t speak lashon hara, the Satan would be completely powerless.
Breathe, I tell myself. Breathe. I want to call my sister, but I can’t dial. Thoughts roll through my head such as: Is this my new reality?
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
Oneg is a spiritual pleasure, which doesn’t completely negate pain, but alleviates it by infusing meaning.
Ball And Bat Substitutes ‘Cut Palm Branches’ (Shabbos 50a)
I feel useless, and helpless. Most of all I know how much my children, especially my special needs child who lives in a home, needs me.
As a district manager and city council member he was an unabashed advocate for legitimate needs facing all of his constituents.
Significant in this context is the ongoing dispute between Netanyahu and Gantz over that part of Trump’s so-called Deal of the Century, which envisages the possible Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank with large Jewish populations.
As of this writing Deutsch is seeking an expansion of the number of kosher food sites.
One exceptional way to best capture that feeling is to talk to the people who actually signed the Declaration, to experience history through those who lived it but, unfortunately, all 37 signers are gone.
By Tzvi Fishman
To foil his plan, the Jewish slaves who carried the menorah, upon crossing the Tiber River, threw it off the bridge, where it remains to this day buried in the muddy depths of the river.
This week I acquired a work titled Mesharet Moshe, published in 1858 in Koenigsberg, which today is known as Kaliningrad, Russia.
Question: First, why aren’t we obligated to recite Shema on Pesach night? Second, why doesn’t the Haggadah mention Moses, who was instrumental in rescuing us from Egypt and was the greatest Jew of all time? Zvi Kirschner
We knew that making aliyah three weeks before Pesach would be a challenge...
The Be’er HaChaim says that during moments of stress, a person’s focus should always be on the good in his life.
Making aliyah is never easy, let alone in the age of coronavirus.
Haman assassinated Daniel, one of the great gedolei ha'dor, and it's very likely that his death atoned for the nation.
The staging of a production with the scope, breadth, and vision of "The Eternal Road" represented an almost inconceivable challenge, as nothing on this scale had ever been previously attempted.
This is a golden opportunity for secular soldiers to see that Bnei Brak residents are not parasites, criminals, and terrorists.
Let’s hope that this special Pesach will mark the beginning of the end of this awful plague.
By Marc Gronich
Through decades of leadership, Torah and chesed, there is but a void left in the place of the Rebbe on the dais of gedolei Yisrael.
Nature wants the weakest eaten by the strongest. Hospitals are as anti-natural an entity as exists.
So what are we getting out of Pesach this year? Pesach itself. In this strange and difficult time, we are left with Pesach itself. With the festival of freedom.
I suddenly stopped and realized why I hadn’t seen Eliyahu HaNavi by my front door. He was right here in the hospital, saving my dear son.
A penetrating intellect with a broad range of interests, he had an uncommon gift for straightforward explication and was a persuasive voice for Torah Jewry on any number of its pressing issues.
In a bill that was designed specifically to save the economy and help people survive this pandemic, the Democrats wanted to include provisions on employee diversity, increased union representation, environmentalism, and more.
September 4, 2026 
