יום רביעי, כ״ג תמוז תשפ״וWednesday, July 8, 2026
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By Eve Glover
In the documentary, Kestenbaum explains that the lawsuit he filed against Harvard is the first case in American history pertaining to the civil rights violations of Jewish students on a college campus that’s actually going to trial.
It is not coincidental that both national periods of mourning are connected with deficiencies in interpersonal relationships.
Inactivity on our part is not an option. Head-shaking and hand-wringing are not the kinds of options or actions that will help. Communications to President Trump, one way or another – or, better still, in all possible ways – can help.
While Ms. James and her cohort have taken some care to package their arguments in legalese, they are at base actually the stuff of traditional political campaigning.
Would I remember the emotions I was experiencing when I returned to Jerusalem and my daily routine? One must write down thoughts and emotions as the occur, or they float into the atmosphere, never to be fully captured in the future.
Leprosy? ‘… Any Kohen Who Is Not Expert …’ (Shavuos 6a)
For those who are introverted, being with people often feels like it is sapping their energy – even if they themselves have great social skills. Because of this perceived depletion of energy, after a party or meeting, they will need time alone in order to recharge.
By Irwin Cohen
This is the first year I actually watched a full college basketball game during March Madness. Specifically, the game when the University of Michigan was playing with Danny Wolf on its team.
While our primary obligation is to ourselves, Hillel reminds us of our obligation to the broader community and the world.
He recalled that a week earlier, a thug had robbed the laden shopping cart that his wife was using in the supermarket, with all its contents. Rabbi Dayan had explained why his wife was not liable for the shopping cart, but did not address the question of the groceries.
By Mendi Glik
Despite the controversy and arguments between the different groups, we always need to remember that – left, right, secular, religious, haredi, Ashkenazi, Sefaradi – we are still one nation, Am Yisrael.
We may fear pain, but it’s crucial to recognize that pain leads to suffering only when it lacks proper context and meaning.
If readers take a moment to think about the role that mazal has played in their own lives, they will undoubtedly find the luck in seemingly small or seemingly insignificant decisions or events that literally changed the trajectory of their life.
Question: On occasion it has happened that a recent bar mitzvah boy was the one to do so. I’ve also had an occasion when a recent ger (convert) led the service. In both those events, how would they be allowed to lead in the counting of the sefirah if they did not start doing so at the outset? No Name Via E-mail
Some people may think it is cruel to not marry a boy because of their family background, but be forewarned: even if he is remorseful about the way he treats his mother, he will most certainly repeat it with you.
Upon assuming office as an anti-Communist conservative, he strongly opposed the notion of a P.L.O. state and supported a militarily strong Israel as America's most reliable Middle East ally. Within a few months of his election, however, he had altered his position and began to encourage "moderate" P.L.O. leaders toward possible autonomy and statehood.
We see that cutting oneself out of overwhelming pain is a basic human response, not a new phenomenon. However, in different eras and cultures, mental illness manifests differently based on perceptions, beliefs, and ego defenses.
We would have thought that President Trump would have at least coupled his call on Israel to unilaterally allow the entry of aid into Gaza with a call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages. But he didn’t.
By Marc Gronich
Too often crime victims watch in horror as their assailants walk free, not because they’re innocent but because of procedural technicalities. It’s my job to fight for those victims – many of whom are domestic violence victims – and that’s exactly what I did.
By Robert Isler
Of course, for every argument why Ben Gvir should not have been invited to speak there is an equally compelling one – sometimes using remarkably similar logic flipped on its head – as to why the decision to invite was perfectly reasonable.
Do you ever wonder what people really think about you? Whether they think you’re brilliant, caring, and fun; or lazy, self-centered, and boring? The truth is that you’ll never know; people only talk about you openly when you’re not in the room.
Recognizing and/or creating a Palestinian state is wrong not only because it threatens Israel’s security, but because it would signal a broader victory for international terrorism – particularly Islamic extremist groups.
There is always going to be times of maror in our lives. But we have to continue to wait and daven for the incredible seudah that is to follow.
While his voice was heard, and it is still heard, it was not heard loudly enough; and so, his vision still remains marginal to most discussions, whether between the religious and secular or amongst the religious themselves.
By Rabbanit Dr. Adena Berkowitz
As a religious Zionist, I say the Tefillah L’shlom HaMedina – the prayer for the State of Israel recited in shuls across the world every Shabbat. It includes the iconic words that the creation of the State of Israel is reishit smichat geulateinu – the first flowering of our redemption.
By JJ Eleff
We compare Moshiach times to the ocean because, when you stand at the shore and look at the ocean, all you see is water. But there is an entire world living inside that ocean.
Is the founding of modern Israel the beginning of our geulah? I don't have much to say about whether this is or isn't a messianic moment, but it seems fairly clear to me that the events of the past 80 years can be described as a geulah.
The Chofetz Chaim kept a Moshiach suit pressed and ready. Just as a soldier must be ready for battle, every Jew must be prepared for Moshiach.
Over the years, courts have generally held that non-citizens, even individuals who entered the United States illegally, have due process rights. Yet the current phenomenon of several million immigrants who entered the U.S. simply by crossing its borders into the country has perforce upended all prior notions of due process rights.
Although the cart was stolen, when the renter is present and unable to save the item, she is not liable – certainly if she tried unsuccessfully to do so (C.M. 303:2,5).
You would not expect me to be fond of a cemetery. It cannot seem normal. But I find comfort in knowing that this specific cemetery is occupied by many people whom I have respected and loved over the years.
A Threat To Life And Limb ‘How Many Lashes Are Given Him? Forty Save One’ (Makkos 22a-b)
By Mendi Glik
For years there was a controversy in Israel about the date of Yom HaShoah. The suggestion was for it to be on the day that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising started.
Question: I read with much interest your Q & A columns, especially those that relate to tefillah. I have a related question: In shul I’ve noticed that at the conclusion of the Shemoneh Esrei, some people take three steps backward but then they do not take the three steps forward as required. Is this an actual sanctioned practice? Zelig Aronson Via E-mail
The people who love or care about us are the ones we affect most deeply. For someone who feels they have so little control, this becomes the last lifeline - the only power they have left to hold onto.
We ate matzah – boom! We received an injection of faith for the entire year. This dose of faith is absorbed into our bodies and souls. It doesn’t matter how we felt. Consciously or unconsciously, we have been transformed by this experience.
By Ariela Davis
Two and a half years into our aliyah, our family (children and adults) have made new friends. We’ve held onto some non-Israeli habits like buying American cereal, playing baseball, flag football, and ice hockey (in Netanya) but are also slowly adapting to Israeli culture.
Of course, Hashem wants us to fight for ourselves and blesses us with the physical strength and heavenly assistance we need. We see this at the end of Parshat Beshalach in the wake of Amalek’s attack.
It is so exciting that you have met someone that you are contemplating a future with. But with Pesach and the spotlight on minhagim and customs, you now see your differences in a new light. You worry that this will be an adjustment you might never be ready for and may be too much to take on.
Aharon was silent out of pride in his sons.
Why was it preferable, then, for Hashem to penalize Nadav and Avihu for their wrongdoing on this very special day during the chanukas hamishkan when it certainly detracted from the happiness of all the people gathered?
By Irwin Cohen
Are the players better today? They are certainly bigger and the pitchers can throw harder.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
After the Flood, G-d gave humans permission to eat meat, but this was a concession, as if to say: Kill if you must, but let it be animals, not other humans, that you kill.
Specially produced beautiful and deeply poignant official postcards were issued for all of the pre-Israel Zionist Congresses (all Congresses after 1948 were held in Jerusalem).
She did legal somersaults in order to conjure up a patchwork of violations of law on Trump’s part in applying for loans, which virtually all experts opined were arguably accurate, at any rate harmless and victimless, and knowingly accepted by the lending institutions themselves.
Our history is rewritten in distorted fashion; our statues are torn down; the centrality of Judeo-Christian ethics in our society is denied; victimizers are recast as victims and victims as oppressors.
By Marc Gronich
Felder is beginning his second stint on the New York City Council, where he served for eight years from January 2002 to February 2010. Last month, on March 25, he won the seat with more than 81 percent of the vote.
There are instances in the Gemara where, though corporal punishment is accepted as a practice, there is a disapproving response when it is done unfairly or excessively...
When people or publications can't differentiate between evil and the fighting back against it, then there really is no point in engaging in conversation.
In Jewish thought, the raven/crow represents transformation, change, and the hard-earned wisdom that comes from going through darkness.
In an attempt to respond to this quirky Word Prompt word, I googled crows and I learned something fascinating. There is actual meaning behind those annoying shrills and shrieks.
Sometimes in life we are like the raven, tested by Hashem in areas that are precisely our very weakness.
When you do something – even something good – without being commanded, all you are reflecting is yourself. It is your personal form of avodah, self-contained, limited, and disconnected from Hashem.
Although the Supreme Court agreed that the migrants were entitled to challenge their deportations and that they were also entitled to reasonable notice of impending deportation in order to contest them.
Antisemitism isn’t a historical accident – it’s woven into the fabric of the human story. Though it often cloaks itself in cultural, economic, or ethnic explanations, its roots run deeper.
Question: I have been puzzled by the fact that we do not recite the Shehecheyanu blessing when we start the counting of Omer (Sefirat HaOmer). What is the reason? M. Schwartz Via E-mail
As the ego grows and our perspective narrows, unhealthy aspects of our personality begin to surface, filtered through the prism of our insecurities.
Entitlements ‘Not Returned To His Former Prominence’ (Makkos 12a)
What is the secret of our redemption? What is necessary to bring it about, and why does the Messiah seem to tarry so long, so eternally long?
Over the years, the Kibbutz movement has produced nearly 1,000 distinct iterations of the Haggadah. Each of these versions carries within it a unique vision of Jewish identity, shaped by the values of the time and the ongoing struggle for national sovereignty.
When Hashem judges us and confers upon us the things we deserve in this world, our Sages teach, He responds to us middah keneged middah, in a manner befitting the conduct we have exhibited.
By Alan Zeitlin
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a former aide to Republican Governor George Pataki and former CUNY trustee, said people should be taking Mamdani’s candidacy more seriously.
It is interesting to note that while everyone assumes that the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea was punishment middah k’neged middah for drowning our children in the Nile, this is really not such a simple explanation.
By Marc Gronich
With Homan in the Capitol building, Democrats hastily rallied together, leaving debates behind in the Senate and Assembly chambers to show their disdain toward the Trump administration and Homan in particular.
Collins was a passionate critic of antisemitism, as to which he advised his troops: “I know that there exists, in some divisions, what your people call antisemitism. It will not be tolerated in my division. Should it crop up, I will hold you personally responsible if I am not made aware of it immediately.
Often, people use hashkafa to refer to what distinguishes between different hashkafot (Litvish, chassidishe, modern Orthodox, religious Zionist, etc.). People are eager to understand and appreciate their unique approach. That said, most hashkafic issues, including most central ones, are things all Torah Jews agree upon.
The logic of definitively confronting Iran now is manifest. Iran is at the center of a multi-tentacled proxy terrorist network that continues to plague much of the world and which will inevitably become intolerable.
Rav Feldman notes that collaboration with the WZO has meant that Orthodox groups are working together with Conservative and Reform ones. This is true, but so what?
The karpas initiates a curiosity about our redemption and mission in this world. This aligns with the Sefas Emes, which comments that karpas represents the first stage of avodas Hashem.
By the time we get to that portion of the seder, we are so famished, that even a plain potato or bitter parsley and celery taste delicious!
The salt water represents the tears Bnei Yisrael shed while in servitude and the green vegetable symbolizes spring and the renewal of spirit.
Karpas in my home was parsley, although celery was another option. (We did not use potatoes as karpas...)
In Judaism we always have the ability for a fresh new start. The story of Passover depicts us as slaves in Egypt, never giving up the hope of being freed and we persevere, and gain our freedom.
Makkas bechoros was unique in that Hashem Himself performed this Makkah (Rashi, Shemot 12:12). The Ramban explains that all the principles of hashgacha pratis were displayed through these events. We were clearly then on an immensely high spiritual level.
By Avi Ciment
All of you, in your own way, came to rallies, visited Israel, sent money, spoke out and endured alienation, hate mail or worse. You did it with the full knowledge that there would be some repercussions, just as many other beautiful souls, like Patricia Heaton, Dr. Phil and Douglas Murray, to name a few, came to the forefront.
Of course, it has long been known that Hamas has regularly treated Israeli aid trucks rolling into Gaza as mobile supermarkets, making available to them, the staples necessary for their survival.
By Mendi Glik
I have a feeling that you’re going to hear about these two a lot in the future. They both grew up in very musical homes and music has been part of their lives since they were born.
Question: I have been puzzled by the fact that we do not recite the Shehecheyanu blessing when we start the counting of the Omer (Sefirah). What is the reason? M. Schwartz Via E-mail
As I pull out different suits of his which were stored in our downstairs bedroom, I am quite shocked to discover how many of them were veritable feasts for the moths.
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!
The human tendency to focus on positive memories, while conveniently forgetting about the less positive ones, is helpful.
When a person forgot to sell his chametz and does not want to destroy it, the poskim write that he should grant it as a gift to a gentile, because this is a gift for the purpose of a mitzvah – to avoid the prohibition of possessing chametz on Pesach.
Pesach is a time of freedom – not just from physical bondage but also from limitations that hold us back. Just as Bnei Yisrael prepared for their journey from Mitzrayim by refining themselves, we too can use this time for self-improvement.
July 3, 2026 
