Just answering amen with such a massive crowd to “v’chaim tovim aleinu v’al kol Yisrael” makes a severe dent in my efforts.
Now is the time for you to focus on what you have to offer to this world, to your community, and to a spouse.
The Chofetz Chaim says that if one has the power to correct a situation among Klal Yisrael and fails to do so, he is culpable for any blood spilled among them.
The sound of the shofar and of the chatzotzros are intended to awaken us to the realization that Hashem is our Melech and that He controls the world and our lives...
By Tzvi Fishman
Rabbi Abba kissed the stones – which don’t yield fruit or produce – to demonstrate that the Land was holy in and of itself.
Question: Why do some people have the custom to study Mishnayot for the departed? Also, does Pirkei Avot have five chapters or six? In my Mishnayot, it has five, but in my siddur it has six. Harold Klein
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
The remedy for external dangers is to reject the foreign cultures. Is the antidote to arrogance to discourage material wealth?
It is also a cost-effective and commercially available solution that generates fresh, pure water directly from the atmosphere at prices that are up to 10 times cheaper than local filtered water.
News from across the pond.
In 1946, Lansky ordered his men to help bring Holocaust survivors to Eretz Yisrael and facilitate the establishment of the Jewish state.
If a person only has one Jewish neighbor, he will appreciate him, but if all the neighbors are Jewish, he might not even know the name of the person living next door.
While it may not mean much to Tlaib/Omar and their supporters, there is an Israeli law on the books that prohibits entry to those who promote BDS.
As Byron York underscores in the Washington Examiner, what becomes clear from the transcript is that there was an acknowledgement of an institutional, programmatic anti-Trump bias amongst reporters.
The Supreme Court is not well. And the people know it. Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be ‘restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.
Generations lost...
By Baruch Lytle
I ran after the guy," Perry told The Jewish Press. I told him to just give me the jacket – I don’t want to hurt you and you don’t want to hurt me.
If his writings did little to sway the masses, it was his life that acted as the heady perfume. His very existence presented an alternative – a highly seductive alternative – to the ghetto Jew.
By Pnina Baim
In general, we buy good backpacks that we expect our children to have for at least two years.
When still in school, it’s easier to make friends because you are forced into social situations. As an adult, making friends can be harder – especially because your life is busy.
I've always felt too short to pull off sneakers with my dresses, thinking it made me look short and frumpy.
The agent’s plan proved to be successful. Rich people began to respect him more and more. They increased the size of their donations. One wealthy patron, however, refused to give him any money at all.
Why should we rejoice on Shabbos like those who received the Torah?
Not only is a person capable of saying Shema while being tortured and killed; he must do so.
It seemed they didn’t feel like they needed to talk much to me, so I wasn’t put on the spot, and I felt I fulfilled my duty properly.
It left a permanent mark on my conscience that we, as Americans, must be at the forefront of the fight against anti-Semitism and any other form of religious discrimination or hate.
The Sons Stirred Within Her ‘The Fetus Is a Limb of Its Mother’ (Temurah 30b)
Accordingly, the obligation to give maaser kesafim may be fulfilled not only through money, but also through goods and services.
The gematria of shira, another form of prayer, is also 515, conveying the idea that when singing to Hashem we can repeatedly have the same specific thing in mind.
The notion that a democracy must lay out the welcome mat to all comers defies logic. Israel’s democratically elected government made a decision that it believed to be in the country’s best interest.
.News from across the pond.
In the modern era, many nations introduced compulsory education and in the process tried compelling Jews to change their curricula.
When you find that flavor, whether it’s cookies and cream or butter pecan, you need to order the cone.
It’s possible that this body of water actually does not have its own name and is identified instead by the most prominent city on its banks.
By Hannah Rubin
Judaica was everywhere: crammed on glass shelves, teetering atop narrow display cases, peeking from behind cardboard boxes in the store’s sprawling interior.
By Baruch Lytle
Being welcomed here in America and going through the process of becoming a citizen was not only exciting; it’s something I will always hold dear.
The dispute evolved into a fierce fight between chassidim defending the Shapiros and mitnagdim defending the Romm printers.
By Jay Lakritz
No matter what leftist Jewish communal organizations promote publicly, the majority of their staff and lay leadership consist of “opposite spies” professing love of Israel loudly yet privately holding Israel in contempt and working to undermine her security, economy, and religiosity.
Wallace's reputation as a fearless investigator did not hold up when it came to coverage of Jews and Israel
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
Israel defies the laws of history because it serves the Author of history. Attached to greatness, it becomes great. Through the Jewish people, G-d is telling humankind that you do not need to be numerous to be great. Nations are judged not by their size but by their contribution to human heritage.
Taking morality apart one issue at a time
By Hen Mazzig
Remember that the Jewish world is centered in the East. It is in the East that the Jewish people began, and where today, in Israel, our peoplehood is maintained and continues to blossom.
“Man reached the moon. But man to man he has yet to reach.”
As the first of its kind, it aims to provide content creators with innovative, professional tools for success in the world of digital content.
“Senior services are a vitally important part of the work we do,” said COJO Flatbush CEO Louis Welz.
By Tzvi Fishman
“Why don’t all the religious Jews in America move here?” I expected to receive a long lecture on fine halachic points. Instead, the wizened sage held out two fingers, rubbed them together, and said, “Dollarim.”
All participants wore electroencephalography caps. Sounds like a mouthful? It’s actually just a cap that picks up electrical activity.
Should a frum Jew take special pride in famous people who were Jewish but not frum and whose achievements have no evident connection to Judaism (e.g., Walter Rathenau, Richard Feynman, Danny Kaye, Bobby Fischer, Milton Friedman, Jascha Heifetz…)?
Hermann Karl Hesse (1877-1962), a Nobel Prize-winning German novelist and poet, is best known for his inspired explorations of self-understanding, spiritual realization, and psychology, particularly in Der Steppenwolf (1927), perhaps his best-known work. In Der Steppenwolf, he applied the tools of psychoanalysis and the conflict between the conscious and unconscious mind to analyze a middle-aged […]
What is it that makes a person stop and look at a cute little baby and even take the time to smile and say hello?
By Tzvi Fishman
My father and my sister’s son were both fighters for Jewish independence and freedom. The loss can never be replaced, but we don’t let it break our spirits.
Unfortunately, there are those on the left who believe that only ideas with which they identify qualify for entrance into the marketplace.
By denying the Jewish claim to a homeland, the BDS Movement is fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and pushes the cause of peace for both Israel and the Palestinians further out of reach.
...the Torah is telling us that Og was so big and strong even as a baby that he needed a metal crib to contain him; otherwise he would have broken his bed.
The Contradiction That Yielded 50 Explanations 'He Says to His Maidservant: You Are Free' (Temura 25b)
If you are not attuned to the right frequency, then all of the signals in the world will pass you by.
Sadly, the most common places we meet with love and hate is in family conflicts.
Gun control is but one of many solutions necessary to address the scourge of gun violence in the country. Funding adequate mental health services, for example, is a critical piece of the puzzle.
“Whether there was ever any doubt about the accuracy, the wisdom, the propriety of U.S. President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, I certainly think this lays all doubts to rest,” American Ambassador David Friedman proclaimed at the event.
In Hebrew, an egel is a male calf, while an eglah is a female calf. Calves are immature bovines that rely on their mother’s milk to survive and grow.
Listen Faigie, I had the same dream three times. I dreamed that I owe you money. Three times is a chazaka!
Many people today are being sucked into the electronic and computerized devices. The youth suffer from this connection more than anyone else.
By Judy Waldman
Young Israel Beth El is more than a beautiful synagogue with unique and unified davening, it is a congregation with a soul.
Another Hebrew word for tax is meches, appearing six times in chapter 31 of Sefer Bamidbar.
Hurting or upsetting any person is a very serious sin, especially in the eyes of the Creator who created us all and loves all of His children.
Sadly, we also see a connection between Omar’s pro-BDS resolution and the pass she got when the House failed to rebuke her by name over her anti-Semitic comments in March.
By Marc Gronich
Only about 10 to 15 percent of the voters come to the polls in an off-year election when people run for local government office.
Having a good eye means one is able to view others positively on an intellectual level.
By Eve Glover
With this invention, writer’s cramp and constant worry about smudged ink and illegible penmanship began to wane. Yiddish typewriters ushered in a new and much easier way of life.
If G-d told Balaam not to go with Balak’s men, why did He seemingly “change His mind” and later allow him to go?
It also sends the message that Israel will not willingly give up what it achieved at the cost of much blood and treasure in the course of defending itself from murderous Arab attempts to destroy it.
When we make choices, we should try to see all the sides involved and not just our own point of view.
Amidst this most dramatic period of our 2,000 year exile, this medieval Ashkenazic Jew has somehow retained his sense of purpose, his own internal value, and his unbreakable bond.
Classical writing requires ink and paper, which are technically separable. In engraving, the material being engraved becomes the writing.
Whether people knew the Rebbe personally, or met him just once, or just read stories about him, each one feels a personal connection.
In recent weeks, however, Iran has been openly violating the deal incrementally as a transparent effort to pressure the other major powers to help it get around the U.S. sanctions which have already devastated its economy.
Rabbi Pappenheim maintains that “hayaven” is derived from the root yud-nun, which means trickery or deception.
The Torah teaches us that when it comes to controversy and dispute even the small children can be harmed. That’s how deep and internal the evil and poison of the dispute can be.
Regrettably, this notion that Iran was a full negotiating partner in the JCPOA talks was spawned by the Obama administration’s pattern of making breathtaking concessions to the Iranians.
Even traditional Democratic champions of Israel have taken to railing against the relocation of the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
By Judy Waldman
Kesser Israel is the stronghold for Torah Judaism, for Yiddishkeit, in the Pacific Northwest, and for Oregon in particular. Located in the progressive city of Portland, it is a laidback congregation that is attracting new young families and individuals. It’s origins date back to the California Gold Rush, which, from 1848-1856, brought approximately 300,000 people […]
Something that is adin or adinah (see Isaiah 47:8) is sensitive, delicate, or dainty – it is susceptible to being over-stimulated by sensory overload.
During the month of June in New York, two Judaica auctions were held; each offered ceremonial objects, paintings, and printed material that were of significant interest to collectors, dealers, and museums worldwide. Beginning with Sotheby's: An exceedingly rare pair of silver Torah rimonim (finials that adorn the tops of a sefer Torah) from Hamburg, Germany […]