יום רביעי, ט״ז תמוז תשפ״וWednesday, July 1, 2026
Follow Us
Perhaps this year we can use daylight savings as an invitation to pay more attention to those we love, and to ensure that we are not overlooking the little ordinary moments that we take for granted.
For a nation its size, Israel’s medical innovation is breathtaking – and deeply moral in its reach, extending humanitarian aid and expertise to developing countries, disaster zones, and conflict areas worldwide.
In fact, Vance’s performance even drew the ire of Jewish conservatives who, increasingly of late, have been warning of rising antisemitism on the right.
In the U.S., both the Orthodox Union and the Agudath Israel of America put out statements that sounded defiant, even somewhat hopeful notes.
When is bullying an isolated incident and when is it considered a more serious situation in that parents and teachers should become involved?
When the rule of shi’abuda d’Rabi Nosson applies, such as if B does not have other assets available, Shulchan Aruch (C.M. 86:5) rules that B cannot forgo C’s debt to him, nor extend the time of the loan and thereby undermine A’s right, since A has a direct claim against C based on this principle.
We ask for a long life, so why ask for strong bones? I realized that being blessed with many years of life, of a ripe old age – isn’t enough. One needs strong bones – physical well-being.
A Matter of Merit “They Added Four Amos” (Zevachim 61b)
In my own practice I also see grandparents who were very strict with their own children but undermine their children when they discipline their grandchildren (who are their children’s children). Perhaps these grandparents have mellowed, but they are inappropriate to undermine their children’s parenting techniques.
Mamdani has never managed a business, run a municipal or state agency, or held a position that demanded accountability for budgets, payrolls, or public safety. His resume reads more like that of a campus activist than a leader.
Pachter’s talk, Love Triangles without the Romance: Fixing the In-Law Dynamic, is about mother-in-law/daughter-in law drama and how to avoid it – a universal subject if ever there was one.
When we transgress, either willingly or unknowingly, our soul becomes tarnished, and Hashem allows us to cleanse ourselves of these spiritual blemishes.
Avraham had complete trust in G-d. But he did not have complete trust in himself. G-d, after all, does not change, fail, or sin. But people do.
A little voice seemed to chirp in his ear: You were upset with Chani for letting her family persuade her to break off your shidduch. Now you let Avraham persuade you to date a young, immature woman, and the result was disastrous. Why didn’t you follow your gut instincts?
The prophet Yeshayahu describes an unnamed individual called from the east by G-d to achieve victory over numerous nations and bring an era of peace and prosperity to Israel. But is this an event that has already happened? Or one that is yet to come?
hTe truth is that some events are too seismic to plan for in advance. During these situations, we learn the ultimate lesson from Noach, which is to …Walk with G-d (Bereishit 6:9).
As a result of the gifts Pharaoh lavished on them, both Avram and Lot became extremely wealthy. But they related to their wealth very differently.
By Irwin Cohen
Because of the timing of Yom Tov a couple of weeks ago, the local Orthodox community was shut out in catching football and baseball in person, but about 20 people I know took in the opening night game of the Detroit Red Wings hockey season.
Question: I don’t think you’ve ever received a question like this one. I live in Queens and am extremely agitated about the prospects of a socialist, anti-Israel and anti Jewish candidate being elected mayor of our great city. Is there any path for us to follow that can change the outcome of this election? Zelig Aronson (Via E-mail)
By Leah Choai
The moment I stepped inside, I was struck by how the space manages to be modern and elegant without feeling cold.
According to a 2013 study cited by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the median cost of one IVF cycle in the United States is $19,234. Some more recent estimates put this figure even higher.
Rabbi Shmuel ben Avraham Aboab, was among the foremost Sephardic Sages of the seventeenth century.
Avraham didn’t lead with certainty. He led with movement. Yeshayahu didn’t promise clarity. He promised renewal.
The Torah was given by Hashem to Am Yisrael, the Jewish People. Whatever the rest of the world has learned or failed to learn from the Torah, the Torah is ours.
By Mendi Glik
In general, Dedi did a lot of chesed. While he was considered a chasidic singer, some of his songs are very Zionist and patriotic and talk about our zechus (right) to be in Eretz Yisrael – something we find less among other classical chasidic singers.
Chazal go even further by asserting that planting takes precedence even over welcoming Mashiach. They taught that a person who hears that Mashiach has arrived while he is planting should finish planting and only then go to greet Mashiach (ADR”N 2:31).
You are certainly in command of your own decisions. And dating is hard. And exhausting. Unfortunately, you are absolutely being short-sighted and overly selective.
We learn that if one successfully persuades a disenfranchised Jew to do even one mitzvah, that individual is rewarded in this world, for his entire life, each and every time the Jew performs that mitzvah.
In Parshat Lech Lecha, Avraham shatters the assumptions of his world. Surrounded by idol worship and inherited beliefs, he dares to ask: what if there is something greater, unseen, and just?
Avram somehow seems to be consummating the spiritual process begun with Enosh, finally achieving the spiritual possibilities of humanity – in Hebrew also known as Bnei Enosh, the descendants of Enosh.
Nichum aveilim is indeed a mitzvah, but it is not like eating matzah or shaking a lulav, where the mitzvah is fulfilled through contact with an object.
The word chein is the root of the word chinam which means free. If we merit to find chein in the eyes of Hashem, He will freely give us things even if we don’t really deserve them.
Sutro opened his own estate to the public and he was heralded as a populist for various astute acts of public generosity, such as opening an aquarium and an elaborate and beautiful, glass-enclosed entertainment complex called the Sutro Baths – which housed seven swimming pools (one freshwater, six saltwater), 517 changing rooms, and could accommodate an unfathomable 7,400 bathers – a museum and an ice-skating rink.
Issues like antisemitism, contempt for law enforcement and disrespect for the rule of law, promotion of racial politics and delegitimizing American traditions, history and achievement thus undermining the glue that keeps us together as a country.
Why should tzara’as that spreads over the entire body result in purity? One would think it would indicate the opposite – corruption beyond repair.
By Rabbi Shlomo Brody and Rabbi Aaron Glatt
The National Council on Disability published a study that detailed the dangers of assisted suicide laws to people with disabilities. It found that safeguards in these laws are ineffective and often fail to protect patients.
The uneducated mind thinks of the truth as a single, factual statement. But the truth is actually the balance and harmony of opposite, seemingly contradictory ideas.
Avraham launched a religious revolution that still echoes through history. He introduced monotheism, shaping the religious imagination for millennia. Countless descendants, both genetic and spiritual, owe their beliefs and way of life to this movement.
Every Shabbos, we put aside all technology. We are perhaps the only community in the world who are active members of society all week and yet won’t check emails, social media, or the news for twenty-five hours.
This is a personal decision, not even between patients and doctors because doctors will almost always recommend a flu shot.
If someone would ask you if you would feel like eating pizza or sushi after eating straight for twenty-four hours, what would you think?
By Nachum Segal
I am amazed at the diverse ways we celebrate Motzei Shabbos and marvel at how many in our community feel the need to make Motzei Shabbos special.
When my great-grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Dubinsky, arrived in America, he was shocked that Melava Malka wasn’t the norm, and marched across the neighborhood, inviting people to take part.
After the tragedy of Charlie Kirk, who was Christian, I was surprised to learn of his call to honor the Sabbath as a means to transform our lives.
The meal need not be elaborate, but the table should be set elegantly. Hymns whose message is to take the Shabbos spirit into the week ahead are sung.
As The Wall Street Journal reported, as Israeli troops pulled back to facilitate the deal’s freeing the living hostages still held in Gaza, Hamas surged security forces in behind them – a public assertion of authority intended to make clear the group remains the enclave’s governing power.
New York City will be facing enormous governmental, fiscal and social challenges in the next four years and we believe that the former governor, who to be sure, brings a lot of baggage to his candidacy, is without question still the best suited among the three major candidates to get his arms around them.
By Alan Zeitlin
Jewish actor Saul Rubinek talks about his role as a rabbi in the 2022 film Shttl and starring in the new Off-Broadway play in Brooklyn called Playing Shylock.
The Gemara (B.M. 112b; Shevuos 45b-46a) teaches that when the parties dispute the amount of agreed wages, hamotzi meichaveiro alav har’aya – the burden of proof is on the one seeking payment, like other monetary disputes, replied Rabbi Dayan (C.M. 89:4).
The World Bank and modern economists confirm what the Torah taught millennia ago: societies that protect property rights thrive; those that don’t decay. Trust, not gold or oil, is the real wealth of nations.
Two Talleisim ‘The Residue of the Blood He Spills…’ (Zevachim 51a)
There is no doubt, it is not even a question, that Noach was G-d-fearing. Noach was not part of the depravation of the world, he did not commit adultery, he did not steal, he did not worship idols, etc.
Shem refined his father’s philosophy. For Shem, life itself was compensation enough for one’s good deeds and he did not complain if he received nothing more.
While the mitzvah of tefillah obligates us to ask for what we believe we need, we do so with the awareness that only Hashem knows what is genuinely good for us.
The hours seemed to tick by for an eternity, as the afternoon light began to soften through the windows of the hospital. They paced, they spoke a little, and they prayed, sometimes with tears.
But as the days went by and the initial euphoria began to settle, another feeling began to rise within me – a quiet, haunting sadness.
By Mendi Glik
While many of the secular Israeli songs were influenced by the Bible and respected Jewish tradition, some of them were totally inappropriate and disrespectful, and made a mockery of our tradition.
State-of-the-art campus in Chicago inspires hundreds of students at Lubavitch Girls High School to learn deeply and live with purpose.
Jewish tradition offers its own quiet rituals. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that entering the ark is a spiritual act or a retreat into truth. Cheshvan echoes that: not performance, but protection.
Even if it may have been clear to both men that theirs was the only way to assure any type of future, the isolation and opposition they must have encountered (as explored in many Midrashim) would have brought down anyone lacking the legendary fortitude of these two heroes.
Relying heavily on G-d’s promises to Noah to protect humanity from these realities is, simply put, relying on miracles.
G-d’s lesson through the story of Noach and the prophecy of Isaiah is that even in the face of all the difficulty and trauma, we must still recognize the blessings and opportunities that await us.
While corruption was more widespread and perhaps fundamental, the formal case against the generation of the flood was formulated on the basis of something they – and Noach, in particular – could understand: they were hurting each other.
Use this as an opportunity to widen your circle. Share meals with new people, attend community events, and visit new places. This will allow you to meet people who are not in your direct social circle who may have new dating possibilities for you.
What stood out for my mother, as relayed to me, was how difficult it was for Gretel to heal from the assault on her integrity and character by a Nazi regime that discriminated against her because of their unbridled hatred for Jews.
As Mishlei (25:2) states, It is the glory of G-d to conceal a matter. A relationship must have privacy and sacred boundaries, honoring the bond both from within and without.
Before you study, clarify your question. As you study, speak the words. After you study, note one connection to something you've learned before.
The tragic demise of mankind during the era of the flood was not just a punishment for that wicked generation. Even more so, it was perhaps a series of powerful lessons to be studied by G-d-fearing people throughout the millennia about behaviors that are so toxic that they can cause the absolute destruction of an entire world.
By Jeff Cohen
Rabbi Hauer epitomized loving every Jew and making everyone feel like the most important person in the world when he spoke with you.
The Chofetz Chaim writes how important it is for a person to reinforce his middah (character trait) of judging others favorably, because it will facilitate his own advancement in attaining the level of a tzaddik, a righteous person.
Hashem does not perform miracles without intention. While it may be difficult to determine specific expectations, future responsibilities can often be articulated in personal terms.
Across a long life that spanned the collapse of the Habsburg world, two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the founding of the State of Israel, Schick combined scientific innovation with leadership in Jewish medical institutions, philanthropic circles, and public-health education aimed at protecting children – an ethic he framed repeatedly with moral language rooted in Jewish concern for life.
Why was Pinchas’s act of killing even considered heroic? It appears to be violent and rash, perhaps even worthy of criticism. Why then, was it rewarded, and so handsomely at that?
He gave perspective without minimizing pain – seeing the larger story when the rest of us saw only fragments. That was his essence: he saw the good, spoke the good, and brought out the good in others.
By Marc Gronich
Earlier this year, Lawler decided not to run for governor against Hochul, but he didn’t hold back from attacking her.
Before his national acclaim as a leader within the Orthodox Union, Rabbi Hauer built something enduring here in Baltimore – a model of what a synagogue rabbi could and should be.
The Jewish people’s relationship with Hashem also began with a korban – the Korban Pesach. Though the Jews were passive during the first nine makot, for Makat Bechorot and Yetziat Mitzraim to occur, they needed to sacrifice the Korban Pesach.
Towards the end of Parshat Bereishit, the Torah records the births of Noach’s three sons – Sheim, Cham, and Yefet – when he was 500 years old. That is much older than the parental ages recorded for the births in the first nine generations.
We were all still in euphoria from Hoshana Rabbah, and the return of the hostages, so we went into the holiday in a very happy frame of mind.
An important figure on the postcolonial left for decades, Mahmood Mamdani has called Israel an apartheid state, championed the BDS movement, and portrayed America as the fountainhead of global evil.
I’m not a Washington fan, so why did I care about their Cinderella-like saga? Because being in the world of education, it symbolizes a vital truth that can’t be stressed enough: That ultimately the hundreds don’t matter.
In the Torah, the term laziness is not found; rather, unwillingness is used. This is because our mindset is geared toward being high achievers and creating outcomes that meet the expectations set for us.
The truth is, what we call laziness often has wisdom in it. Your body might be saying slow down. Your mind might be signaling, This feels overwhelming or This is scary.
It is an explanation of convenience when the adults in charge are more interested in blaming than in looking for a more accurate and helpful explanation for what is going on.
Lazy is the shorthand we use when we don’t want to do that work. It’s ironically the path of least resistance – a way to explain our behavior without actually understanding it.
There’s a fine line between lazy and intentional. It may appear like we're avoiding certain tasks, when really we're prioritizing where to expend our energy and focus. (At least, that's what I keep trying to explain to my accountant!)
Question: I have heard that in the time of Mashiach, we will continue to offer sacrifices. How can we explain that if, as we are told, these will be times without sin? Menachem Via E-mail
By Mendi Glik
As we know, Hashem created the levana (moon) on the fourth day, and it’s also the subject of one of Avraham Fried’s songs. His album Bracha Vehatzlacha was released in 1995 and is one of my favorites.
June 26, 2026 
