יום ראשון, י״ג תמוז תשפ״וSunday, June 28, 2026
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By JJ Eleff
Whether you read plays by Shakespeare, books by Orwell, Hemingway, or watch a movie saga you will see a common theme: good vs. evil, light vs. dark.
Orthodox groups have registered their objection to the bill, on the grounds that a lengthier period of darkness in the morning would make it exceedingly difficult to daven shacharis and go to work for large parts of the year.
One would think that dark in cooking is a bad thing. Think about burned or rotten food, but there is so much goodness in dark.
He attributes his mega success to his blindness, but it didn’t seem so at first.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Now, when saying the words of King David I feel as if I have his personal protection.
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.
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.
You can feel scared and excited, regretful and inspired to do better, broken but hopeful.
By JJ Eleff
The previous rebbe of Chabad explains that the main thing is not the content of the cry, Father, save me, but rather the cry itself.
By The Honorable Rachel Freier
The shofar blasts remind us that Hashem is the infinite and all-knowing king and judge.
One of the lessons that I teach is that to blow a teruah, you need to blow 14 small sounds.
Sometimes our most inner yearnings cannot be adequately contained in words.
There is just something very Jewish about lox. Whether you are European or South African, any Jew anywhere can identify with lox.
Our fascination with being able to consume the same delectable non-kosher offerings gave rise to kosher pizza, kosher Chinese food, and of course what simcha would be complete without sushi?
Less sublime, however, is the phenomenon of bagels and lox Judaism, when these foods become a stand-in for being Jewish as a whole.
In Israel I discovered that lox is a delicacy and quite expensive, so I don’t indulge very often.
By Nachum Segal
When salami or steak or facon is not available, what does one do?
By Rachel Kohn
Roses for me will always bring to mind my paternal and maternal grandmothers, both of whom went by the name Rose in English.
Naturally, the verse in Shir HaShirim – K'shoshana bein ha’chochim rings in my ears as well, including the songs that have been written for those words.
She told me, “Everything will be fine. I’m watching over you.” And then she vanished. I never dreamt about her again.
Open any Jewish history book. Attend any Jewish history lecture. The value of teaching about the thorns in our past will be there.
When we learn to receive graciously, men will feel respected and grow more capable of pleasing us.
By Keshet Starr
Starting from Hashem’s injunction to speak to “bais Yaakov,” to Schenirer’s efforts to strengthen Judaism through girls’ education, it is ultimately Jewish women who will lead the charge to our next stage in growing as a community.
Bais Yaakov is not a school. It is the term Moshe uses when speaking to the Jewish women. We as Jewish women are a unit. When we realize that, we are a force to be reckoned with.
While the colossus founded by the visionary Sarah Schenirer continues to animate communities across the Jewish world, it seems to me that the Bais Yaakov model has become, over time, more monolithic in hashkafa and approach.
Why the women first? Because they would learn the Torah that they needed to learn and then tell it to the children. They would teach the children!
By Hillel Fuld
The term Bais Yaakov is also referenced in our prayers, specifically the prayer of Hallel that we say on holidays.
I contemplate how I am doing as a husband, father, son, brother, friend and Jew. I replay yesterday and see where I could improve for today.
Every morning, looking out over the East River as the first lifting of darkness and lightening of the sky explodes into the brightness of sunrise, I am reminded of this promise. It's not why I wake up then, but it's a nice bonus.
As for me? I like the thought that English mornings may twinkle, but Jewish mornings are filled with inquiry and discernment.
By Maayan Zik
Over the years, looking at these schedules, I have found activities such as meditation, gratitude journaling, morning pages, and exercise to be most common in these morning routines.
Before we become that lion roaring about, we pause and start with gratitude by saying Modeh Ani. We acknowledge all that we are fortunate to have in our lives: our homes, our families, and our very breath.
As I study the pages of Gemara, the literature of Torah Sheb’al-Peh is transformed to a live discussion between Tannaim and Amoraim across generations...
Those of us who learn Gemara tend to talk about Gemara differently from the way people talk about other books. We don’t just read the Gemara; we learn it.
Gemara, where a statement made by one can and has affected millions, where a language of its own is needed to unlock millennia of history.
When I mentioned that we were newly married, the Pope remarked, jokingly, that he didn't remember seeing an invitation to our wedding.
My margins are filled with sources, questions, translations and attempted insights. You would never find such doodles or notes inside a Sefer Torah.
We see and project and imagine such possibility onto the blank slate of a baby's pudgy punim.
June 26, 2026 
