יום רביעי, כ״ד חשוון תשפ״זWednesday, November 4, 2026
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As concerning as it is for the patient, it is the spouse or caregiver whose life will be altered most profoundly. The luxury of having a mate who took on responsibilities in the past, which they may not be able to handle in the future life, slowly begin to dawn on us.
In Sansan Leyair published by the Hid"a first in 1794, a version of this prayer appears but from a man's perspective, of a man praying on his wife's behalf.
Every time Matatia and his wife come into Montreal, they go over the the Bauers’ Friday night – from Oneg Shabbat to Oneg Shabbat and, well, compare ties.
I have aggregated here a selection of such items, most relating to American and Israeli political leaders that I hope readers will enjoy.
He wished to return to Palestine but was unable to due to the outbreak of WWI. He decided instead to travel to the United States to raise money for the yishuv in Eretz Yisrael.
Just as there is not one ladder for every job, there isn't one way to connect with and pray to G-d.
When I graduated from college, I thought I was going to climb the corporate ladder.
When we climb a ladder, skipping a step is a near impossibility. That, of course, is a great analogy for our spiritual lives.
The profound message that Rambam extracts from the ladder dream may be instrumental in resolving the enigmatic ending to his Moreh Nevuchim.
All the years when I would leave Israel, I would stop at the top of the staircase going onto the El Al plane (remember those days) and I would say a tearful goodbye to the angels of Israel.
You are not in charge! You may think you are, but you are not! He accuses.
The book's theme is the Jewish star, the Magen David, and it features prominently on the cover and title page of the book.
When the Volozhin Yeshiva appointed the Netziv and Bais HaLevi as roshei yeshiva, Rav Dovid Luria (RADAL) was asked to be the first to sign the declaration of appointment.
Almost certainly because of Einstein’s reputation and prestige, McEwen took immediate action, the result of which was that Ehrmann was granted an exit visa to emigrate to the United States, where he arrived in New York via England on September 12, 1939, and was sworn in as an American citizen in 1945.
If Yitzchak perceived that Yaakov was in front of him, it is only because Yaakov’s voice expressed his unique personality.
Yaakov’s words were delivered softly, they were delivered with respect, humility and empathy. When Yaakov said something, he meant it. He genuinely cared; whereas Eisav’s words were superficial.
By Rachel Kohn
I know what it is like to have a distinctive voice, and it isn't because my voice is unique – it’s because I sound just like my mom.
By Nachum Segal
A voice can pierce a heart and be an effective means to uplift someone who is down. A few words in a sympathetic and loving voice can go a long way.
To me, to his family, he expressed his love constantly – teaching us that if you love someone, there’s no such thing as saying it too often.
These situations are really challenging during waking hours, but at 2:30 AM one must muster their faculties to handle it properly.
In the four years that I’ve had this column in The Jewish Press, my answer to your question will be, by far, the most helpful to readers of this column of any question I’ve ever been asked up until this point.
By Marc Gronich
When security arrived, they watched the peaceful protest instead of forcing an end to the disruption, possibly fearing litigation for intruding on First Amendment rights. The irony was not lost on the audience.
Despite being the highest paid chazzan in history at the time, Rosenblatt was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1925.
Wald asserted that Air Force data had ignored the thousands of bombers that had been unable to return to base because they’d been struck in other plane sections, including the engines, the cockpit, and the tail which, he maintained, are the very areas that must be more heavily armored.
By Marc Gronich
With the defeat of Reichlin-Melnick and Kaplan, there will be only five Jewish members in the upper house, including Brad Hoylman, Toby Ann Stavisky, Simcha Felder, Liz Krueger and Shelley Mayer.
Too often, our community's discourse about women's Torah learning treats it as suspect, a threat, a challenge: why does she want to learn?
By Chaim Saiman
Do publishing imprints and styles matter? Artscroll, Mesorah or Sha’ar? Koren, Maggid or Toby? Frum vs. academic publishers?
By Solly Hess
We may learn a new Rashi, hear a drasha that reveals a layer to a pasuk here and there, but overall we’ve seen this episode before. So why do we do it?
If a father teaches his children the laws of keeping Shabbos, it is the mother who teaches how to best experience and enjoy the Shabbos. It is our mothers and grandmothers who teach us how to feel, emote, and live Judaism.
Having exhausted myself, I turned off the lights to fall into a heavy sleep. A 2 a.m. lights-out was normal. An even later night meant that I would be dysfunctional in the morning. Essentially, I was in escape mode.
This document was written on behalf of a shada"r, (i.e. shelucha d’rabanan – rabbinical agent), an emissary sent by the Safed community to procure funds for the Jewish community.
By Marc Gronich
It took me 11 years to build the African American Museum of History and Culture. Now they want me to build another two. Well, they won't get me for another 11, Bunch said.
Rotta’s interventions not only resulted in saving Jewish lives on his own account, but he also facilitated and promoted the ability of others, including particularly Raoul Wallenberg and Carl Lutz, to perform their heroic work.
By Maayan Zik
Faith is trusting that whatever may come, in the long term or, better yet, the short, everything will work out for our personal and/or communal good.
But what does “good” even mean? Passable? Pleasant? Positive? According to our tradition, isn’t everything good if G-d wanted it?
By Eli Lebowicz
One man in the Gemara was so optimistic, he was literally called Nachum Ish Gamzu (after gam zu l’tovah).
Hashem is pure tov, and He created an entire world just to share His tov – Himself – with us.
By Avi Ganz
To quote Hypocrates: "First, do no harm." Avoid what pulls us down – personally and collectively. But then pursue good. Asei tov.
Major complication: Hubby was not following the context of the event, and decided to verbalize his contrary opinions to what he thought they were expressing.
Shatzkes would read the book to friends and it was very well received and became known in the circle of Jewish writers in Kiev.
Through his sharp wit, much of Offenbach’s work mocked the establishment, attacked political governance, and satirized societal norms, including parodies of traditional musical forms and specific works by other composers.
I am not unaware of my country's faults and weaknesses, but I continue to be proud and thankful that I live in America.
In high school, you do Model UN and everyone learns about the existence of Djibouti and Burkina Faso. But that’s not what country means for Jews. If we’re talking Jewish, there is the country and there is the old country.
Country represents the sprouting of our nation’s home in the Promised Land where we are immigrants but we are finally home. Where we begin to picture the redemption and work together to bring about kvod shamayim.
Israel. Where every tiyul is something new. Where G-d shows all the colors, the vibrancy of life, the stark contrast between vast sea, open desert, and lush forest.
The issue of identification with a country can go far deeper and far longer past a simple yom tov, too. Immigrants from all over the world come to America, yet still retain the culture and flavor along with them.
By Baruch Lytle
There’s no question there’s an international mashgiach shortage, not just in America but across the world, Dubin admitted.
The mission of Am Olam was to establish agricultural colonies in America and encourage Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia to move there and work the land.
One problem with Ologists (I will give them a capital “O” in this chapter as I have invented a proper-noun) is their tunnel-vision. Each has become a respected specialist in their field, but it is rare that they bother to consider the “whole” patient when assessing a course of action.
By Baruch Lytle
I’ve been viewed as someone who is less partisan and someone who doesn’t get involved in a lot of controversy. So, I certainly felt I could be the one to restore integrity in the office and hire the right people to get the job done.
By Baruch Lytle
Take a look at some of the most productive people in society - many are yeshiva graduates. They own real estate, hotels and nursing homes. If we are as uneducated as the New York Times is claiming, how did so many Jews become doctors and lawyers, or other highly educated professions?
Ruach is described in various contexts in Tanach as wind, spirit and breath. As the physical world had not yet been created, the first mention of ruach connotes a spiritual desire of Hashem.
Even the other Hebrew words for soul or spirit – like nefesh and neshamah – are related to the words for breathing.
It's crucial to remember that before Hashem created anything, before even light, the ruach Hashem was already everywhere, just waiting to be breathed into us...
Connecting our ruach to its source requires our avodas Hashem to not be confined to theological abstractions or routine religious observances.
Speech itself is referred to as ruach... This G-dly spirit gives us the power of intelligent speech that elevates and separates humans from other living creatures.
With the decline of memory and the increase of stress, the days in recent years were often difficult. There was little joy in a condition which was becoming more and more complex.
By Marc Gronich
Only eight of the ten Torah scrolls went to Ahavat Achim – Bavli. A ninth Torah scroll was presented to a hospital sanctuary in Islip, New York, and a tenth Torah scroll was presented to Beit Choron, which was established as a kibbutz on December 1, 1977.
Developing substantive analysis of Benjamin’s Judaism and the degree to which he used his influence and position to advocate for his coreligionists is seriously hampered by the fact that he was a very private man who remained intentionally opaque and rarely discussed his role.
Amid a time of utter chaos, Shmuel stood up to help bring order to the nation. He was the one to appoint a king, to bring order to the nation.
My husband has inherited some of his namesake's traits. He is steadfast in what he believes is truth and will pursue it, much like Shmuel HaNavi did.
Based on this small sample size you might say that the name Shmuel carries power but also is a big burden to bear. Of course, you can probably say that with every name!
By Keshet Starr
Interestingly, Shmuel’s name doesn’t say what we’d expect it to say: That G-d has answered. After all, Chana finally becomes pregnant with Shmuel after many years of waiting. So why only credit G-d for hearing? Why not more dramatic language?
By Hillel Fuld
Chana named Shmuel to commemorate her prayer to G-d for a child – Shmuel, Because I have asked him of the L-rd.
We were both upset to distraction. Yelling at one another accomplished absolutely nothing and it took us hours to calm down, each blaming the other.
Weegee’s notable photographs of Jewish New York that reflect his Jewish sensitivities include subjects such as bagel sellers, street peddlers and garment workers, and I include here four of my personal favorites of his “Jewish genre” work.
The Magen David is a testament to our mission and our existence.
This past spring, the yeshiva undertook a renovation of the beit midrash. One of the major projects, apparently, was the removal of the Magen David pattern and these light fixtures, painting the ceiling white and installing beautiful chandeliers instead.
When David Wolfson designed the Israeli flag for the Zionist Congress in Basel 125 years ago, he told Herzl that he drew his inspiration from the tallis.
I can touch on semiotics and explain how it is a shield that offers protection, but that the identity that it represents is its own protection.
By Jordana Baruchov Grreenfield
Now, when saying the words of King David I feel as if I have his personal protection.
Hubby had mixed feelings about royalty. On the one hand, they fascinated him... On the other hand, he resented terribly that there were tiers of royals who by the luck of their birth, received benefits ad infinitum to which “commoners” were not entitled.
The highest price realized for an item in the sale was on an 18th-century silver Torah crown from Italy. Assigned an estimate of $200,000-$300,000, it realized $478,000.
Though the mitzvah is understood to apply only when the Jews are all residing in Eretz Yisrael, the Aderet in this work and in an additional book he wrote on the subject encouraged to idea of reviving the mitzvah of Hakhel in modern times.
The back story on R. Morris Joseph is one of the most fascinating, albeit largely unknown, narratives in the history of British-Jewish clergy.
One part of us truly wants to improve and grow, while other parts of us are lazy and complacent.
Giving honor to another person doesn’t cost anything. Building up another is giving them life.
Sukkot was coming. By now I’d sat in too many wonderful families’ sukkot and craved my own.
We know that the original sukkah was built solely by Hashem, so clearly Hashem does not need our help to build the structure.
Years of love and caring can be hard to remember when your reality changes. Yet, one internalizes the commitment.
"More German than the Germans" is what aptly described many German Jews from the 19th century up to and occasionally including the Hitler Era.
In Kol Nidre (1918), Reik begins with a recollection of visiting the home of a music-loving friend and having an inexplicably strong reaction to a haunting minor musical passage that sounded very familiar to him but which he could not place.
Shul is where the cycle of life happens.
By Rabbanit Dr. Adena Berkowitz
As we know, the concept of shul may mean different things to different people. Hopefully, for most of us it means the place to daven with a minyan, connect to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and feel spiritually recharged.
By Anat Coleman
While I'm not about to compare Yankee Stadium to shul, I do think about the process of intentionally creating spaces that are meaningful and people want to return to time and again.
Even where minyanim gather in less grandiose houses of worship, the sums of money they expend for beautification and refurbishing are staggering.
Literary evidence from the time of the Second Temple, such as the works of Josephus and Philo, and even archeology, indicates that it was a place of instruction and learning.
I have chosen to release the chapters in the order they were written, to fully explain the changes which occur with time both for the patient and for the caregiver.
Describing the situation in 1918, R. Itshe Mater Korman, a Breslov hasid from Poland recalled, Then began the great dangers surrounding the Gathering in Uman – even from within the Ukraine – due to the bands of murderers, may their name be blotted out.
In this article, I present some of my more “off the beaten path” items that I think might be of interest to readers.
October 30, 2026 
