יום שישי, כ״ב אלול תשפ״וFriday, September 4, 2026
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Today, zealots are the ones who refuse to let the people they disagree with speak. They like to cancel comedians and are banning books like MAUS by Art Spiegelman from public school libraries, and writing angry letters to podcasters.
Fortunately for me, I met Hubby after life-sobering events took him to a new and more mature chapter in his life.
Despite odds stacked against the work being written and published, it managed to survive and has become a classic in Torah commentary, being both brilliant and original in its content.
Any document from the Revolutionary War period relating to Jewish soldiers, particularly those killed or wounded for the cause, is truly extraordinary and monumentally rare, let alone one originally signed by Franklin.
By Eve Glover
The governments are just not interested in trying to find these people and bring them to justice. These people are not important people.
New Yorkers are like a puzzle. We may have different backgrounds, distinct lifestyles, and our own personal aspirations, but each of us is joined in a big picture and together we make a spectacular whole.
In the end, we are all crafting our own puzzles, made up of the aspects of life that we have been gifted, that we have been challenged with, that we have chosen to try to achieve, overcome, create, and manifest.
The Jewish experience has been shaped by puzzles that only an omniscience and omnipotent being can fully make sense of. Only He can bless us with puzzles that can unlock our potential and draw us closer to Hashem.
Only recently did I realize how much of an impact my 6th grade teacher had on my life; she strengthened and encouraged my love for reading, writing – and puzzles!
Our Yiddishkeit is the image our puzzle creates, and we should endeavor to make each piece of our puzzle fit this mold.
He kept repeating this phrase. Our aide had been telling him that she did not know what he was talking about. That was a big mistake. Never admit that we are that dumb! Hubby then looks down on us and gets angry.
Best known for his publication of many works of the Vilna Gaon, he was also the first to publish a Jewish edition of the Bible that was published by religious Jews and for religious Jews in Eretz Yisrael.
Apologists have engaged in all kinds of contortions to try to explain away Lawrence’s antisemitism.
The earthquake wasn't a common geological phenomenon. The earth did something out of the ordinary, thereby requiring the pre-programming of nature during the six days of creation (similar to the speech of Bilam's donkey and the other miracles listed there).
These spiritual earthquakes are not always experienced physically at all. They are the opportunities created by the opening of a new yeshiva that properly serves a mission or a population that has been falling through the cracks.
By Jordana Baruchov Grreenfield
Perhaps the Torah is trying to teach us that when your arguments are futile, like those of Korach, they are swallowed up and never to be seen or heard of again.
From the times of our sages and even to this day, natural phenomena have engendered discussion among Torah scholars about their meaning and purpose in general, and about the specific incident in particular.
Despite the brazenness of Korach’s rebellion (a machti et harabim event if there ever was one), we might still be shocked by its horrific fallout.
In older people, neglecting the teeth can be very serious. An infected tooth left to fester, can bloom into an even more aggressive infection which could go to the heart.
According to halacha, one is forbidden to spay or neuter animals. But the vets say this is a matter of tzaar ba’alei chayim.
The papal decree also shifted the center of Talmudic studies to Poland, where the Jews were still allowed to study Talmud and many of the classic commentaries on Talmud were written and printed here in this era.
LEHI characterized Bernadotte as a British and Arab puppet who threatened the establishment of a Jewish state on both banks of the Jordan River and, after gathering intelligence about his schedule and movements, it decided to assassinate him...
The soul of a Jew is a spy. The soul is G-dly, originating from an otherworldly place. Yet to fulfill its mission, it must disguise itself and function though the body like all human beings.
The facts as the spies presented them were entirely accurate. The sin was their conclusion: We will not be able to go up to that people, for it is too strong for us.
The State of Israel exists, despite 75 years of being surrounded by countries determined to annihilate it, because of brave individuals who risked their lives in order to obtain crucial information by being spies.
By JJ Eleff
This gray area is where we live most of our lives. We often face many challenges when it comes to keeping Torah and mitzvos, and if we see them as challenges as the miraglim did, then they will be! Our attitude is important.
According to Collins dictionary, a spy is a person employed to obtain secret information or a person who secretly watches others. The twelve men in Parshat Shlach (Bamidbar 13:2) were not spies.
Running Olim Advisors has been a labor of love for them and they are proud to have assisted thousands of olim and Anglos make aliyah and buy a home in Israel.
Yesterday, Violet and Hubby were sitting in the living room and he was directing her to reposition items on the cocktail tables. His brain is fascinated with his version of perfection, while I could not be less interested in his attention to such details of life.
By Alan Zeitlin
I consider it a small victory with still more to accomplish and to do, Gochin told The Jewish Press. I hope they are not simply taking it down ahead of the NATO summit only to put it up afterward.
Reading through correspondence of great Jewish leaders of old never fails to inspire, though for me, the most exciting letters are the ones that are personal in nature and that deal with challenges of the communities they led.
Even after leaving office, Cleveland continued to stand up for the Jewish people.
Above all, he wants to make his customers happy, even if it comes at his own expense.
By Akiva Kra
Glass is broken at every wedding to remind us to mourn for the Beis HaMikdash. However, people usually overlook that and scream mazal tov because the chuppah is concluding.
By Sara Blau
The story didn't exactly play out that way. Avraham became prosperous, but also too busy to help the poor.
By Martin Bodek
Did you know that nature creates glass all the time? It can form when lightning strikes sand, when meteorites impact the earth, and when volcanoes spew molten rock that rapidly cools.
By dvora
Glass, a simple object, useful and positive, took on a tragic memory for the Jewish people. Kristallnacht – never to be forgotten; never to be repeated.
Closer to the truth, however, may be that I am avoiding car-stress. I no longer have the ability to deal with additional, perceived, required, but avoidable, demands placed upon me.
While it is often compared to the Mishnah Berurah, as it served as the alternative to the Mishnah Berurah throughout the Sephardic world, it differs greatly both in structure and approach to halacha.
In honor of my grandson’s bar mitzvah, and in honor of what I hope and pray will be a long lifetime of his putting on tefillin every day, I have selected for this article some of my favorite bar mitzvah and tefillin items from my collection.
By Solly Hess
While my allergies and mop-top may have me feeling like a nazir, the fact is I’m far from it. Without Sefira and migraines, I’d be asking for a pair of scissors and a corkscrew!
Faced with the breakdown of society’s moral and ethical norms, Chazal anticipated the innate human desire to flee from the world.
By raising ourselves up to a higher spiritual level, we not only protect ourselves from temptations, but we should do so in a manner that fosters shalom, whether it is between husband and wife, between neighbors and friends, between the nations of the world or finding inner peace.
Whether good or bad, and Chazal have diverse opinions on the topic, the nazir is different. In truth, everyone is unique; we are each holy individuals at the core.
I could never be a nazir. I like to drink Moscato wine on Shabbat. And even though I love long hair, it is not flattering on me so I am forced to get a trim cut from time to time.
Concerned about what I might find when I returned home, I asked the husband of the couple who drove me home to please come with me to possibly help diffuse the situation. It never dawned on me that Hubby might think that this was the boyfriend… oops.
Despite thousands of years of exile and persecution of the Jewish people, the Tanach we have today is remarkably intact and precise and demonstrably the same text used by our ancestors thousands of years ago.
By feeding off upstanding English citizens, Stoker’s Dracula maintains the survival of his race, just as Jews newly arrived in Great Britain sustain themselves by usurping money and wealth through devious means, leaving their victims” dry.
The wonder of the Tablets, however, is that the shattered shards which remained from the first Tablets – broken when Moshe witnessed the sin with the Golden Calf – were deemed important enough to be placed in the Aron within the Kodesh Kodshim.
The lesson of all advances in technology is – moderation. Can we learn to use it when we need it and not get addicted? This is the challenge that all of us need to conquer.
By Hillel Fuld
The first tablets were shattered by Moses because the Jewish people sinned with the golden calf. Meaning, they misused their need for spirituality.
The tablets were our first tangible source of information given to us by Hashem. It is where our non-separable connection began.
By Keshet Starr
Highlighting these ten commandments on tablets is not only a choice of style and semantics. It centers our faith and practice around core concepts and values.
At 8:15 AM, a booming voice at my door announced Where is Barbara? I am here, I responded from my stupor. No! My Barbara! He responded. I thought I was his Barbara.
This tome can thus serve as a study of the evolution of the Sephardic Hebrew script, so very different from those used by the Ashkenazi Jews in the nearby countries of Central Europe.
A word of caution to collectors of Bezalel: Beware of forgeries. Since prices for some Bezalel items began reaching five figures at auctions starting in the late 1990s, an entire industry of counterfeit Bezalel items has been created by the unscrupulous...
Interestingly, by accepting the Torah, the Jewish people took on 606 new mitzvot – there were already sheva mitzvot B’nei Noach (the seven commandments that had been given to non-Jews at the time of Noah) – and the name “Ruth” in Hebrew has the numerical value of 606.
Something already touched me then; the clouds atop the hills, the winds across my face, the sun peeking between the eagle-shaped yeshiva, all contributed to a spiritual connection with Hashem, drawing me to return.
At a certain point, I realized that unless I was going to run on a treadmill, hills were inevitable.
As we approach the holiday of Shavout, it’s helpful to remember that Har Sinai was chosen because of its humility, but it was still a strong mountain.
I'm a sucker for songs that see hills and mountains as obstacles to be overcome - Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For, Climb Every Mountain, and The Climb to name a few.
Says Elifaz to Iyov: Were you born before Adam? Were you created before the hills? (Don’t you love the ring of that?)
Hubby went on to explain the poisoning in detail. She had taken a long time in the kitchen putting the water into the glass. Therefore, it was obvious that she had put other things in it as well.
The author had messianic ambitions and the book contained many prophecies and doomsday projections of what will befall world Jewry if they do not repent.
While Cardozo accepted membership in the Century Club, an elite and exclusive Washington club that discriminated against Jews – for which he was criticized by Felix Frankfurter, his later successor on the Supreme Court, and others – he also proudly joined the Judean Club.
The hadlakot on Lag Ba’Omer, remind us of the warmth and light of the Torah.
By Rachel Kohn
I fear that I won't see a symbol of celebration when I look into the leaping flames of this year's bonfires, but an echo of the conflagrations of the past – the heat and destructive potential all too present and real.
By Avi Ganz
Before allowing something to expand, it would be advisable to make sure it has the space in which to expand. Without that space, the results can be disastrous.
While the Torah is more frequently compared to water, it is also called an esh dat (fiery law). Fire takes coarse matter and turns it into something lighter that rises towards the heavens.
Fire represents the struggle between the body and the soul, which is the essence of being human.
We all repeat ourselves. We do it partly because it is easy, and partly because we don’t realize that we have said the same things before. It is all a matter of degree.
I reiterate the statement I have made on numerous occasions... that a synagogue with a mixed seating arrangement forfeits its sanctity and its halachic status of mikdash me'at (a sanctuary-in-miniature), and is unfit for prayer...
By Alter Yisrael Shimon Feuerman
At a corner table sat his father and Gila. He had a small planning book open and she was turned away slightly with her small red pocketbook on the table. Nothing could have prepared him for the assault on his senses that he experienced. It was like a nuclear flash.
The agunah situation is an extremely understudied area, and especially since it has tremendous ramifications for those who strictly follow Jewish law, it seemed like an extremely meaningful area to explore further, said Jonathan Mintz.
During his time in office, Thant oversaw the entry into the UN of dozens of new Asian and African states, and he was a steadfast opponent of South African apartheid.
By Nachum Segal
It is the ones that are accompanied by a do-over or second chance that offer an opportunity to repair a wrong or switch gears during a challenging episode.
When someone comes to meet with me, they or someone close to them recognize that a change is necessary. Yet, they still may not fully believe they can actually make that change.
Everyone wants a second chance. It’s a gift we continually grant the people we care about in our lives.
Sometimes you can’t make up what you missed. On some views, if due to reasons out of one’s control, one cannot fulfill a positive mitzvah, they have missed out and cannot remedy that at all.
I’m sure at the beginning it was about being frugal, about coming to America with nothing and painstakingly creating something; it was about scrimping pennies so you could buy the basics that we take for granted, like milk, like fresh eggs, like a tea bag.
I ask April to focus on her reaction to these moments of disappointment. Her hubby cannot process the information that she gives him when she asks him to fulfill a task. He cannot remember what he is told.
September 4, 2026 
