יום רביעי, כ׳ אלול תשפ״וWednesday, September 2, 2026
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The narrow strait, however, is not a roadblock; on the contrary, it is a mechanism for increased productivity.
I sometimes wonder what it must have felt like to be him: to not just believe but to know you have important words to share – words from G-d no less – but the people don’t want to hear it.
It seems from chapter 27, one of the sharpest chapters in his book, that the people of his age simply could not imagine that they would lose their hold on Eretz Yisrael.
Today, 2,500 years later, Yirmiyahu is welcomed in our happiest moments, as we sing: Od Yishama, his song of Yerushalayim.
In his introduction he writes of the many troubles that befell him, starting with his having narrowly escaped his home in Alt-Ofen during wartime, leaving behind his books, belongings and worldly possessions.
On September 10, 2001, Milstein attended a screening of the documentary Jihad in America, which showed radical Islamists chanting Death to America! from inside American mosques. When I woke up the next morning, it was 9/11.
There is little evidence of communal Jewish life or rabbinical leadership until the middle of the nineteenth century, when German Jews began a large American emigration to escape Germany’s tyrannical antisemitic laws.
As an influencer who speaks to many women on a daily basis, I find myself saying "oy" when someone shares an unfortunate situation with me. I guess it's my version of "oy gevalt" without the gevalt.
Some of the comments complained that religious Jews should not be speaking about this in public.
You can say things like, “It’s “mamesh a gevalt.” In this context it means wow – that is an unbelievable thing.
By Hillel Fuld
It could mean that someone is alarmed or realized something very bad. Alternatively, it could be used to express gratitude to Hashem.
By Keshet Starr
According to Webster’s dictionary, gevalt is an expression of alarm, while oy indicates exasperation or dismay.
Rabbi Steinberg also points out that while most people familiar with Hebrew are aware of the three-letter shoresh, there are also opinions that there is an entire category of two-letter roots as well.
A previous owner of the book apparently found several passages of the book not to his liking, and these passages were neatly burned out.
The Jews of Europe, who had their own dreams of a land that they heard of – i.e., Eretz Yisrael, about which their mothers had sung to them in two thousand years of lullabies – were unable to fly “over the rainbow” or go anywhere else.
By Rabbanit Dr. Adena Berkowitz
Look at the bustling city it has become – with yeshivas, seminaries, mosdos, restaurants, apartments, hotels, archeology come to life and the kaleidoscope of Jews, Sabras and those ingathered from all over the world.
Walking up Rachel Imeinu Street it is hard to feel lonely. For thousands of years, Rachel has been masterfully offering solace to lonely, wandering Jews.
Calling it home is perhaps the greatest gift I ever gave myself (with Hashem’s help, of course), one that I receive anew each day.
When we had to return to the U.S. 12 years later there was an ache in my soul.
Created in 1979 as a tribute to Simon Rockower by his sons, the Simon Rockower Awards committee seek out only the epitome of successful, honorable Jewish journalism.
While the student body at many of the major American yeshivas was slowly growing in the post-war period, the Selective Service draft resulted in a great portion of the students continuing their studies indefinitely to avoid the draft.
With the loss of the Alma oil fields – which Egypt has renamed the Shuab Ali fields – Israel’s energy costs in the first year after the agreement increased by about one-third to about $2 billion, even though Israel had adopted policies to reduce oil consumption.
By JJ Eleff
One of the things I love about the DansDeals forums is the diversity in our members – people coming together from all different walks of life. We frequently discuss our differences and educate each other on the beauty of our own traditions and customs.
By The Honorable Rachel Freier
Knowing that my children and grandchildren create another link in the chain makes tradition not just a word in my family but a way of life.
Adherence to traditions will fade away if there is no understanding of why we do what we do.
By Anat Coleman
At the height of the pandemic, for example, New Yorkers came together in a new tradition of making noise at 7 p.m. each evening in support of our essential workers.
If what you say is a received tradition we accept it. (But) if you have derived it logically then we have a response.
A cache of documents I acquired this week tells of the efforts of a group that during World War II founded the organization Sabbath Observers in Civil Service to defend and support those in the U.S. Military who were Sabbath observant.
The great visionary of the Jewish State did not bother to provide his children with even the rudiments of Jewish education or a Jewish identity; in fact, he taught them that assimilation, liberalism, and an enlightened education would finally bring an end to antisemitism and Jewish isolation.
By Marc Gronich
From one of my favorite TV shows I learned that you have to go to visit the rabbi three times to show you’re serious.
Maybe the most important lesson I learned during those years was from a rebbe who remarked that the most essential character trait developed in yeshiva by a ben Torah is curiosity.
While there is something to be said for being an eclectic learner, who in many ways pieced together my own derech, I deeply wish that I had started learning seriously earlier in my life, and that I had a derech in learning, particularly when it comes to Gemara.
By Rachel Kohn
With its derivation from the Hebrew word "to sit," yeshiva can be seen to connote continuity through hunkering down...
If next year’s tuition contract has given you sticker shock, remember that the challenge to afford tuition is nothing new.
This video highlighted something else. It was like an old couple, with decades of carpools and those daily pedestrian responsibilities of families, reading their first love letters. This video reminded us of that first love.
Schwartz spent the coming years traversing the country, studying the history of its villages and towns and attempting to determine the locations of biblical sites.
The catacombs also include beautiful illustrations of animals, which include birds, peacocks, ducks, and eagles; bulls, sheep and rams; and hens and roosters; as well as flowers and fruit trees, many of which may symbolize paradise.
Would that we could sweat out impatience, addictions, anger, and our many other self-destructive behaviors that leave us worse off, closed off, and far off the mark!
By Maayan Zik
One of the most important schvitz-making projects of our lives is the journey to be more of ourselves.
Language academics created an entire discipline – phonoaesthetics – to figure out what makes a word pleasant-sounding. Idyllic appears on that list, and so does mellifluous and cellar door. Shvitz doesn’t.
Yiddish – and by extension, modern Hebrew – offers us yet another use for this term – the 'shvitzer,' or braggart, someone who's trying too hard and constantly showing off.
Hashem views the past, present, and future in synchronization. We too must broaden our scope.
These books constituted a complete collection of texts necessary for everyday Jewish life, something that had existed among the Western Sephardim and Ashkenazim for over 200 years.
Notably – and not surprising in Nazi Germany – the reviewer praised Mitchell’s description of the patriarchal character and racial and social hierarchy in the antebellum South.
By Avi Ganz
The Gemara (Kiddushin 30b) says, I have created the yetzer hara and I have created the Torah for it as a spice. A spice? Not a defense, an antidote or a vaccine?
By Eli Lebowicz
When Sodom is destroyed, Lot’s wife looks back at the city because the angels said not to, and she gets turned into a pillar of salt.
If you describe someone as salty? It’s someone who is not in the best of moods. A sailor with salty language is not speaking eloquently; a salty person is one who is upset over minor nuisances.
Something that is salty in terms of cooking means it’s not seasoned properly, but too much salt or being salty could also be applied to balance as well.
Lot’s wife was indeed warned not to look back, a warning she ignored. But when she did, she saw the city she loved, and which she missed dearly, in a state of utter desolation.
Judaism is not just a religion, but a relationship. Our challenges are tailor-made to build character. When passing our tests, we grow and gain self-respect.
Shem-Tov ibn Falaquera was a great Jewish Spanish philosopher and author, best known for his strong defense of the Rambam in a period when Maimonides was still under continuous attack by the opponents of the study of philosophy.
I present here the official cards of the first seven Congresses accompanied by a brief description of the Congress highlights.
As reflections of the image of Hashem we must maintain our healthy bodies, selves and souls.
Health is like anything else: the set of circumstances within which we operate.
I was powerless to influence his health in any measurable way, save for fervent davening. Yet is that not what is implied when we utter gezunt in well wishes?
When we allow extremes to become norms, the community is not healthy. When we place one value over all others, the community is not healthy.
Its impact is far-reaching and beyond all proportion to its quantity.
Although well-made, with little red paste stones and a carnelian in the center, all in a tightly spun silver filigree setting, the way the Hebrew letters of “Bezalel” are formed and that the mark is rather lightly struck is not how a proper Bezalel hallmark appears.
The haskamot note that this is the first work in Ladino geared to women, despite the era being the height of the Ladino printing period, with numerous rabbinic as well as fictional works being published.
By Baruch Lytle
Josh and Caleb said they believe their invention is important because in many different sports including football and hockey, many players end up having some sort of brain damage after they end their careers...
Harding’s Zionism may be rooted in his Baptist faith and his knowledge of the Bible and, over and above his support for a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael, he often expressed positive sentiments about the Jewish faith.
Shavuos is our wedding day, when we recommit ourselves to our relationship with Hashem. We don’t just look at our photo album and videos from the wedding, we re-experience it.
Rephrasing the Gemara into the current vernacular: Good things come to those who wait.
It’s the perfect time to remember that Hashem entrusted each of us with a special mission in this world.
At the very climax of our exodus from Egypt and, arguably, the most crucial moment in our nation’s birth, we were told to keep our distance and sit tight.
As we are about to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, we treasure that gift from the Almighty.
An Italian Jewish physician and a great scholar, dei Rossi used critical methods to analyze the Aggadah of the Talmud, not understanding the literal meaning of the text.
The Rebbe always emphasized that the Land of Israel is the heart of the world and the channel through which all Divine blessings flow.
Where I grew up in Queens, N.Y., we were a little more lenient. We never cut off our peyos, but we also were allowed to cut them below the bone.
What are they really about? To make us look respectable (Bechor Shor)? Separate us from paganism (Ralbag)?
I did notice that the Hebrew word for wig is a peya, so I’m naturally going to think of a connection there.
By Keshet Starr
As frum Jews, we’re called to be different, to surpass the physical elements of life with deeper spiritual pursuits. This is, indeed, a responsibility – we feel its burden for a reason.
By Hillel Fuld
What does it mean to maintain your identity as a Jew? The answer is that the Israelites kept their names, language, and clothing.
By Eve Glover
In the 11 years since Tamimi has been freed, Roth feels completely abandoned and betrayed.
Poitier clearly stated in the interview that the waiter who helped him was Jewish. A national Kiddush Hashem was made that day.
Written from a Muslim perspective, it was published by the Supreme Moslem Council (with the notorious Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, at its helm), and it acknowledges and emphasizes the Jewish history of the Temple Mount.
A century of Jewish children have grown up picturing Abraham as depicted by this beloved and monumental work without ever knowing the identity of the artist.
Neither Noga nor her husband come from religious families, but tradition is tradition and cause for celebration is cause for celebration.
We are encouraged to perform hiddur mitzvah, putting aside the cost, to some extent, to glorify serving Hashem.
In the Torah each person is obligated to use their money to pursue justice. The common meaning of the word tzedaka is charity, but a more true definition is justice.
By Chaim Saiman
Almost everyone “believes in” money, and even the “monetary atheists” who dream of returning to the gold-standard usually lead their lives as if money really exists.
When we talk about problematic influences from the world around us, we are likely to think about matters of ideology, entertainment and mass culture, or dress.
Our approach to money should be understanding that our financial status is determined by G-d.
While little of it remains today, Maine's larger cities as well as many nearby towns had thriving Orthodox Jewish Communities in the early 20th century.
Rabbi Blau's decades-long campaign for the modesty of Jewish woman evokes comparisons to the Taliban and the Mullahs in Iran, as he established dress codes and “modesty patrols” to brutally enforce them, beginning in charedi communities and later expanding into other neighborhoods.
I’m used to playing Division III basketball at the end of the day, Turell said. It took me a game to get used to the speed and used to the size. After that, I felt very used to it and ready to go.
In 1617, French nobleman Concino Concini, Marquis d'Ancre, and his wife Leonora Galigai (who were not Jewish) were brought to trial for political reasons and accused of witchcraft and "Judaizing," and were subsequently killed.
his is not the standard look for someone who attends our shul even if just passing through, especially since there are other shuls on the block that may be considered a better fit. I'll be honest that if someone comes in looking like this, it's usually to collect tzedakah.
August 28, 2026 
