יום שלישי, כ״ו אלול תשפ״וTuesday, September 8, 2026
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By Adi
By re-imagining rehabilitation, ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran is advancing ability for all – empowering children, adolescents and adults with severe disabilities and pioneering cutting edge therapeutic and recovery services for anyone touched by disability.
On occasion, Hubby decides to be an independent human being who resists my regimen and refuses to ingest even one more pill. I cannot really blame him as I look at my own selection of vitamins, prescribed meds and cure-alls and wonder how I will ever get them all down the hatch.
Originally the censors focused on religious works, particularly Kabbalastic and chasidic works. However, with time, they took on a political bent as well, promoting ideas favorable to the government and eliminating any words of opposition that were suspected in any of the printed works.
By Alan Zeitlin
The message is that politics come before the safety of the Jews, Sheinkopf said.
Kipnis was a leading pioneer of the Diaspora-negating Zionist narrative and one of its most active proponents, and much of his work was purposely designed to replace Diasporan poems, stories, narratives, culture and traditions.
Kipnis was a leading pioneer of the Diaspora-negating Zionist narrative and one of its most active proponents, and much of his work was purposely designed to replace Diasporan poems, stories, narratives, culture and traditions.
She is not only my mother-in-law, but also, the first Jewish mother I've ever known, so I'm a convert. Yes, it's different from having a non-Jewish mother, but in a wonderful way.
By Eli Lebowicz
We actually had a baby earlier this year and my in-laws lived with us for a month afterwards, because I needed more comedy material. And boy did that work.
The Gemara is reminding us of the potency of this unique relationship and that it must be treated with care.
The stereotype of the meddling, overbearing shvigger can cause tension even before the relationship has a chance to develop. For many, the fear of not meeting expectations or navigating potential conflicts is significant.
As we saw in the recent Olympics relay races, the baton is passed forward and the passer steps away; so too when a man or woman marries, parents have to let go of their biological baton.
Hubby goes to his memory-day-care center, Melabev, and the staff there have mentioned his decline over the past six years. But somehow, the past year has been the worst. Of course, how foolish of me to have expected otherwise.
The star attraction of the auction was The David Moss Haggadah, which is a masterful work of modern manuscript-making by the artist David Moss.
This week I acquired a copy of this now scarce title, titled Baruch Hagever, a memorial book for Baruch Goldstein, the perpetrator of the Hebron mass shooting.
By Alan Zeitlin
I experienced the love of G-d amid the terror, which is such a dichotomy and a mind trip, he said. It’s like, what’s going on here? If you start to think about it, it’s too much to handle, but when you are active in the moment, you just look at it and that your mission is to play music every day...
To assure that its graduating students would not experience financial problems, the school paid each of them 1,000 francs, but that largesse proved unnecessary because virtually all of them quickly gained meaningful employment, in most cases very well paid jobs, because the skills that they had gained in Mikveh Israel were in high demand.
There have always been men who exploited their power over women (or children, or other men). But this is not characteristic of all men, and saying so is a terrible slur.
By Jordana Baruchov Grreenfield
In essence, shira connects to the soul by expressing, reflecting, and amplifying the deepest aspects of our human experience, making it a powerful medium for both personal and spiritual connection.
I’d been singing Birkat HaMazon since childhood. I never had stopped to consider how it sounded to others. Which is the best way to sing of all. Now I sing all the time. On or off tune, I don’t know or care.
By Akiva Kra
Song clearly can reflect deep emotions and also can represent unbound joy. However, not every time is meant to have singing.
My name is Shira. But it’s not Shira. It’s actually Tzivya Chaya Liba. I didn’t like that name very much, and I have a feeling my parents didn’t either.
A song is the pen of the heart. It expresses the deepest parts of our hearts and souls, that which cannot be expressed through the medium of finite syllables.
It is my contention that the exasperation which so many caregivers experience is a combination of exhaustion because of the physical necessities involved while being a caregiver, and the emotional gutting which is experienced from those we loved all our lives… who barely know us now, and are treating us poorly.
This year, the camp faced another significant challenge: a dramatic increase in participants. Due to the October 7 events and subsequent Swords of Iron War, 200 newly bereaved children joined the camp, doubling the number of participants to 400.
Following his elder brother's murder, the Baba Sali was appointed head of the community, but fearing continuing antisemitism, his family and much of the community moved to the town of Boudenib, where the yeshiva he led was resettled.
By Alan Zeitlin
November said while poetry will likely remain a marginalized genre compared to fiction, those who are passionate about poetry work hard to hone their craft and take great joy in the way poetry provides a vehicle for communicating poignant truths in a compressed space.
Perhaps as a result of what he himself characterized as his mother’s “made-up Judaism, Hirschfeld rejected Orthodox Judaism. Nonetheless, he always believed that he belonged to a great heritage going back through centuries, and I’ve always felt that I am very close to Jewish life, customs, food, even though I never attend synagogue. But I’ve never thought of myself as anything but Jewish.
It seems like forshpayz specifically refers to cold appetizers. In contrast, smorgasbord can include hot, cold, and a broader array of eats.
By Maayan Zik
Of course, I was generally aware of appetizers, but had no idea it held such a special space in the hearts of Eastern European Jews.
Jewish culture is just like the melting pot of America. We come in all colors, stripes, and flavors, and we are all lovable. The initial taste might be foreign at first, but when you really sit down to enjoy the meal together, you will grow to love it, too.
Picture this: It’s Sunday morning, you’ve just grabbed bagels and lox from your favorite appetizing shop. That smoked salmon? Forshpayz. Cream cheese schmear? Forshpayz. Whitefish salad? Forshpayz. This isn’t just any starter; it’s a whole production number.
It’s not just my stomach that craves forshpayz all year long; it’s my neshama.
When I returned later in the evening, Hubby was in bed but wide awake. I asked him if he remembered his birthday party. He said no” I asked if he remembered the wonderful birthday cake with his picture on it. He said Yes! thus, a bit of the day was actually savored.
These satirical works were written in the style and language of the Talmud, duplicating the layout and fonts of the standard Talmudic page, with a main text in the center flanked by commentaries in Rashi text.
The teacher who relayed this example to me told me that at the end of about a few months of this training, they could have turned any academic material that you can possibly imagine into an excuse to have these political conversations.
By Marc Gronich
I’ve always been interested in the afflictions of mental illness. My grandmother committed suicide. We’ve had a streak of mental illness in my family tragically. I myself am mentally ill. My career was destroyed by my bizarre criminal acts, Wachtler said.
Over the course of his life, his inventions and over 150 U.S. and international patents have contributed to the advancement of military defense, including tracking systems for submarines, and to television technology, video gaming, electronic toys, and other electronic consumer products.
Boker tov is not merely a salutation to others wishing them a “good morning,” it is also a mandate for myself to set a proper mindset to start my day.
By Nachum Segal
Kudos to those who give better impressions of themselves and our people by regularly adhering to these practices.
Let us all pray to Hashem for many more boker tov's when all our enemies will be destroyed.
By Martin Bodek
Reminds me of a famous Nathan Birnbaum vort: “The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and having the two as close together as possible.”
Since October 7/Simchat Torah, there has been no good morning, there has been only waking to realize that we are still in this endless nightmare of grief, pain, and uncertainty.
To add insult to injury, Dr. N. was concerned that Hubby jolted his teeth badly when he fell, and wants Hubby to eat soft foods for a few days to let the gums get over the trauma. Hubby is a difficult eater at the best of times, but he will likely be willing to eat ice cream multiple times per day to get some calories for subsistence.
In this poster, the organization expresses the idea that the majority of German Jews identify more with their German identity than with their Judaism, and that Zionists, who are not willing to assimilate, should be ousted.
While each legal and business situation is unique, the importance of the evening in helping the Jewish public conduct their own due diligence in the real world cannot be underestimated.
Poe's best-known fiction works are Gothic horror, and his most recurring themes deal with questions of death and other macabre topics, such as its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns about premature burial, and the reanimation of the dead.
The real-life edition of sardines is even more challenging. Sometimes it feels impossible. Where is Hashem in the world?
My father, who is a big sardine consumer, is currently in Israel as a new-ish oleh. Because sardine cans are nonperishable and highly unappealing to most of us, whenever he visits, he is usually able to dig up an old can in the back of the pantry that was probably leftover from the last time he was here.
By Rabbanit Dr. Adena Berkowitz
Packed with protein, Omega 3-a, Vitamin D, iron, calcium. B-12, magnesium, zinc. Improves bone, brain, eyes, heart health and eases inflammation.
How have we contributed to a more equitable world? Will we produce in ways that will benefit the diversity of mankind?
It seems that Eastern European Jews ate canned sardines out of necessity and certainly not as a delicacy. In Mediterranean cuisine, eating fresh sardines is an indulgence.
At this point, Hubby is getting frenetic. His aide, Violet, has been working with me all day to ensure the meal goes beautifully and she is feeling stressed. We really do not need this drama, literally minutes before our guests are to arrive.
A collection I acquired recently contained an unusual surviving document, an envelope sent by Leo Baeck from the Theresienstadt concentration camp, to Saly Mayer (1882-1950), leader of Switzerland's Jewry and the head of the Joint Distribution Committee in Switzerland.
As the sun set over Jerusalem the Golden, reunited at last, Jews of all backgrounds and ethnicities gathered at the Wall on Tisha B’Av for the first time in two millennia.
Is it defending democracy to bring criminal charges against people who never entered the Capitol on January 6 and to invoke farfetched extensions to charge conspiracy and justify multi-year jail sentences to the point where one defendant committed suicide?
By Anat Coleman
Jewish tradition recognizes that there are appropriate times to cry and intentionally carves out times for emotional reflection and preparation, emphasizing that life isn't solely about constant happiness but involves growth through allowing and experiencing a full range of emotions.
By Solly Hess
If we measure strength in holding back tears, we’ve got it wrong.
Maybe you just have to realize that whatever pain you’re going through in your life right now is existentially rooted to an original pain: the removal of Hashem’s direct presence in the world through the destruction of the Temples.
Crying is a powerful tool. It is an emotion that Hashem gave us to elevate pain, happiness, sadness, tefillos. May we all be zoche to have our tefillos answered.
After our meeting, a searing pain gripped me, cutting deep into my soul. The reality of his absence and the passage of time hit me with a force that left me struggling to breathe.
Discussing the conundrum with close friends has helped me to focus on what I do not want. I do not want an evening talking about our marriage and forcing our friends to sit through our stories, no matter how wonderful I may think that they are.
These rings appear from time to time in small auction houses that specialize in selling the entire contents of estates, and typically sell in the range of between $150 and $350.
Two Western Union Telegrams I acquired recently tell the story of one Jew that managed to escape from Poland and some of the challenges he encountered.
By Alan Zeitlin
Having the opportunity to look people in the eye and make them laugh when they have gone through so much is powerful, she said.
While it is now known that Yad Avshalom was built about 1,000 years after the death of the Biblical Avshalom, it is not known who commissioned the monument – although the Biblical account in Shmuel Bet (2 Samuel) suggests that it was built by Avshalom himself, as discussed below.
The destructions and subsequent exiles are part of G-d’s divine scheme. His plans are positive and purposeful though we may not understand them now.
By Ariela Davis
During the Three Weeks, we need to look at our division which led to the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash, and for which the third Beit HaMikdash is not yet rebuilt.
It's always tempting to play the victim card when something we've worked hard on is ruined. However, throwing a pity party or dwelling on the offender’s punishment is not the Jewish way.
Ceaseless, persistent negative speech, lashon hara, can cripple, devastate, and destroy a person’s future and is the verbal equivalent of a barrage of missiles that demolishes a building.
It is a day when being part of the klal will supersede being an individual; it is a day of contradictions, an awkward fusion of happy birthday wishes and the start of the saddest time period of the year.
There is a distinct pattern of behavior for each individual, but even more fascinating is that others with whom we have no contact, who live elsewhere on the globe, eat different foods, have different lifestyles, experience many of these same behaviors.
A series of documents I acquired recently tells one such situation, where a woman who survived the war, but whose husband did not, spent several years dealing with the halachic ramifications that resulted.
Over a century before the Holocaust, Rav Alkalai predicted that 1940 would be a year of great hardship with an outpouring of wrath that will lead to the gathering of our dispersed in Eretz Yisrael and urged Jews to make aliyah voluntarily before this catastrophic event forced them to settle in Eretz Yisrael.
Granted, the U.N. mainly represents governments – the great majority of which are dictatorships – rather than people. Nevertheless, to the extent that the U.N. speaks for the world, its overwhelming hostility toward Israel, and increasingly, the desire to extinguish the Jewish state, are undeniable.
I often tell my kids when they choose to take a gray path that they were born to stand out and to be unique.
By Keshet Starr
A person is always complicated, layered, and ultimately unknowable – we never know exactly what someone has been through, and what has led them to the choices they have made.
One of my fondest memories in sleepaway camp was when it became dark and cloudy out. While some were bummed that the gray sky cancelled their swimming or sports play plans, I looked forward to the downpour and what came after.
By Hillel Fuld
Most things in this world are indeed gray. And then there are indeed things that are black and white, like a war between good and evil.
Because our aide needs time off to be with her husband and to recuperate from Hubby’s constant requirements, she replaces herself with female friends from her social circle. Hubby doesn’t really mind, as they are young and usually lovely.
The Ottoman Empire, which gained prominence and world power in the 14th and 15th centuries and on, had a significant effect on the Jews of the era, and for many centuries served as a relative safe haven for its Jews.
The focus of the miscarriage of justice against Dreyfus has always been upon the fraudulently-obtained Dreyfus handwriting sample, but it may have been du Paty de Clam’s bogus telegram that was outcome determinative in Dreyfus’s conviction by the tribunal.
The secret is to use that regret to strive for more. To learn from mistakes. To make sure that when confronted with a similar situation, the best path will be clear.
By Sara Blau
There is a healthy regret that is one of the three steps of teshuva. There is a regret that can be transformed into an engine, a desire and decision to improve the relationship and do better next time.
Healthy regret arises from a conscious evaluation of a past misstep. It compels us to learn and grow.
By dvora
With maturation, and a greater understanding of her pain and suffering, I realized that she taught me and others so much.
Regret, or charata, is crucial in the process of teshuva. The Alter Rebbe offers a profound insight, linking the word charata with charita (engraving). This suggests that acknowledging our regrets helps engrave lessons learned, preventing repetition of past mistakes.
By Sandy Eller
I couldn’t believe that I found myself among thousands of people and that that moment in time had been preserved, said Stern.
In our home, I have tried many different responses to the questions about a loved one having passed away. Bear in mind that whatever response I decide to utter is forgotten within a couple of minutes by Hubby.
The recipient of the letter was Rabbi Aharon Mendel HaCohen (1866-1927), a native of Tiberias who served as Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazic community in Cairo for decades. He is best remembered for his ambitious attempt of renewing the Sanhedrin and reinstating the semicha.
When WWI broke out in 1914, he was arrested as an enemy alien and was later released in a prisoner exchange; in his memoir, he notes the irony of his freedom being secured through the intervention of the Pope’s Nuncio on behalf of a Jewish boy he had never seen.
Here in America in 2024, the danger is approaching the level of Nazi Germany in the early 1930s. Now, as then, the antisemitic wave originated in the universities.
September 4, 2026 
