יום שני, י״ח אלול תשפ״וMonday, August 31, 2026
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There is a fundamental difference between the Torah we learn and the other disciplines that we study. In mathematics, my effort is immaterial. Either I know the equations or I do not.
Between British pubs, American delis, and supermarket branding departments, “nosh” has become one of those rare words that somehow means both comfort food and moral superiority at the same time – depending entirely on who’s selling it.
By Anat Coleman
To an outsider, it might seem excessive. After all, snacks can be bought almost anywhere. Isn’t part of being on vacation about letting go, being spontaneous, and indulging in what’s around you?
By Eli Lebowicz
Nosh as the noun also feels like it’s the comfort food you go to when coping with something tough that’s happened.
I know most people think of sweets when it comes to nosh, but I prefer a more salty, savory treat like pretzels or potato chips.
A nosh wasn’t a full meal. It was just a little something – standing in the kitchen, grabbing a bite of this and a taste of that. No rules, no plates, just enjoying food in the moment.
By Martin Bodek
Mayim – like “horse” and “sheep” – is both singular and plural, with a singular literal meaning, and a plural of figurative meanings.
By dvora
There is one additional component, without which none of earth’s bounty could thrive. It is simple yet complicated; it is a formless, shapeless, colorless liquid which has sustained human life, plant life, animal life. And that is water – mayim.
By Avi Ganz
Our default setting, as natural as water in a seabed, is "Knowledge of the L-rd." Without the distractions and challenges of our lives, we would be so powerfully aware of Hashem's presence.
Water adapts, taking the shape of whatever holds it, while also maintaining a quiet strength that allows it to carve through stone over time.
By David Curwin
In ancient scripts, the letter was often drawn with a wavy or zigzag shape, fitting for a word connected to water.
The reason the word “grace” seems a bit off may be because it has a rich and contentious Christian history.
In life we need to move gracefully as well. Sometimes there’s an unexpected turn, and we need to react. We need to learn how to react gracefully.
Grace isn’t about lowering the bar or pretending things are fine. Instead, it’s about not being harsh or rigid, with yourself or with someone else.
I didn’t know it then, but I was simply stepping into something that fit better. We don’t always understand why we are where we are, but hopefully, with time, it begins to make perfect sense.
You can pre-package grace. This means deciding ahead of time that when someone you care about – a spouse, partner, child, parent, or colleague – inevitably disappoints or hurts you, you will respond with forgiveness.
By Solly Hess
As my kids can probably tell you, I smile wider when they’re standing with me under the tallis during Birkat Kohanim.
I kiss the tzitzis of the tallis, their strings reminding me of the 613 opportunities we are given to weave holiness into everyday life.
Studies in neuroscience show that physical rituals and sensory cues can regulate the nervous system and anchor attention.
Clothes play a significant role in Jewish law and lore. The first recorded clothes were made from fig-leaves and worn by Adam and Chava.
I choose a more lightweight version of the tallis I replaced, with the identical pattern, and cleaned and remounted the atarah I had been wearing. Cowardly? Indecisive? Perhaps.
As a real cultural institution, the fool represents society's ability to self-criticize but in a contained, limited manner.
By Maayan Zik
Rashi explains that this spirit of folly leads a person to rationalize their actions and imagine there will be no real consequences.
I mean, I married a man who, at our wedding, in front of our family and friends, got up to the microphone and sang a song in fake Chinese.
How about those 25 new child care centers? Not opening. Because many of the New Yorkers raising the next generation know that nothing is free, and what is billed as "free" is not of good quality.
By David Curwin
In Hebrew, na’ar shows up in three separate forms: a noun and two unrelated verbs.
These days are meant to be days of reflection and introspection, not only days of sadness, nostalgia, and appreciation.
By Jordana Baruchov Grreenfield
On a yahrzeit, we are commemorating something one step deeper. After 120, the body may no longer be here, but a person’s actions, deeds, influence, and light still remains.
In a world often focused on the immediate and the material, a yahrzeit reminds us that our actions echo far beyond this lifetime.
I believe this tradition serves as a powerful healing method for those seeking that connection.
At birth, nobody knows how the story ends. At death, the ledger is complete. You don't celebrate a ship launching. You celebrate it arriving at port.
It wasn’t until my husband and I began building a real relationship with our shul’s rabbi that I began to understand the depth of the word rav.
I shelved it for future perusal, knowing that when the time was right, it would call to me, and a few weeks later that call came in the form of an email with the word prompt “Rav.”
It was foolish. But instead of feeling stung and stupid, I felt the love and concern of a zeidy scolding his granddaughter, trying to protect and only wanting the best for her.
When a rabbi's output of political letters exceeds their published Torah scholarship, it creates cause for concern.
There were many hespedim written about him, and a book published. But they just don’t do him justice. How could words capture his empathy? Wisdom? The way he made you feel like you were oh-so-important and valued?
The word mussar takes me back to the uncomfortable moments from childhood when I was on the receiving end of rebuke, and the equally difficult moments when now as an adult, as the teacher or the parent, it is my responsibility to be on the giving end.
By Anat Coleman
Before giving someone mussar, ask yourself if you're helping them improve, or easing your own irritation? Are you seeking their growth, or your need to feel right?
By Avi Ganz
Rav Chaim, zt"l, like other Mussar Greats, teaches that mussar isn't a negative thing at all!
By Ruchi Koval
Frum friends word association: mussar = scary, my principal, I did something wrong, I’m in trouble. Non-frum friends word association: character development, kindness, patience, forgiveness, giving the benefit of the doubt.
While halacha sets mandatory, objective boundaries of behavior, mussar goes beyond the letter of the law and addresses internal, subjective and personal refinement.
I used to dismiss a vort as a shallow thought meant for light conversation or sharing a cute idea. However, looking back, it represents a way of bringing Torah into every conversation...
I’ve realized that if I only associate a vort with a sequined dress and a party, I’m missing the actual power of the concept. The traditional definition, a meaningful connection to the words of Torah, has evolved from an event into a daily mission.
By Hillel Fuld
The first one is a small short thought about the Torah. A longer thought might be called a d’var Torah, but a short idea is often referred to as a vort.
The basic meaning is as follows. There is a simcha! One of your children is engaged to someone and a simcha is to be had for all. Everyone is invited for a vort. That means come over and have a schnapps with a piece of cake.
By Keshet Starr
Words can allow us to connect with others, to compliment them when they need a boost, and to help them feel less alone when they are struggling. Words can be a bridge, or a buoy to those lost in suffering.
By Nachum Segal
When one is sitting in a lecture or Torah class and tries to offer an out of the ordinary approach to one of the presenter's points, very often that can be classified as a kvetch.
The truth is no one likes a complainer. To hear constant complaints drains emotional energy and makes the listener feel bad.
By Akiva Kra
Complaints create instant connection. Someone mentions the weather, the food, or how the kugel managed to be both dry and somehow soggy, and suddenly everyone is involved.
By Ariela Davis
Why notice the things that don’t go right and instead focus on the good, we wonder?
We are admonished to live our lives, b'simcha – in joy. But kvetches wallow in misery, because they have no hakarat hatov, no recognition of the chesed Hashem has bestowed on them.
Because Mitzrayim (Egypt) comes from the word meitzar – constraint, limitation. Egypt represents the boundaries that hold us back, exactly what the yetzer hara wants: for us to be satisfied with sababa.
It seems that we need cool new words every couple of years or so to denote cool.
By Martin Bodek
If I was to translate it into modern slang, it would be no worries, which is an overused phrase, because "no problem" is now underused because it is not allowed to be used anymore. Someone declared it evil, and I'm not sure why.
By Rabbanit Dr. Adena Berkowitz
When someone will ask you how your day is going, let’s give it a twist: Baruch Hashem, sababa!
No matter where I am in Israel – whether it’s the calm of Yehuda and Shomron, the soul of Jerusalem, or the vibrant pulse of Tel Aviv – it’s always sababa.
Many of us picture piety as passively throwing up our hands and allowing G-d to do the fighting on our behalf. The truth is that we are experiencing a deficiency of the chutzpah required to proudly advocate authentic Jewish values to the world (Kovetz Ma’amarim, vol. 1, p. 262).
There’s a classic definition, often attributed to Leo Rosten: chutzpah is the man who kills his parents and then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan. Extreme, yes – but the structure holds.
As the world seems to fill more each day with truly heinous chutzpah (a “Globalize the Intifada” march right down the road from where Jews were just massacred!), we can take heart from the Gemara’s teaching in Sota 49b: In the lead-up to Moshiach, chutzpah will multiply.
Chutzpah, by definition, is boldness bordering on nerve. So really, expecting this article now is not ironic; it’s a live demonstration. It’s the literary equivalent of asking someone to deliver a shiur while waiting on a Disney line.
Diminishing your former spouse’s character in your children’s eyes will only diminish you in your children’s eyes. As hard as that reality may be, it’s the truth.
By Maayan Zik
The Maggid explained of his technique for creating lessons, First I decide what point I want to make, then I craft the story around it.
Spend money to enjoy life: After covering essentials and saving responsibly, use your resources to enhance your life.
I have deep gratitude for my professional teachers. But the lessons that shaped me most are the ones I learned from my students, especially those who challenged me the most.
By Eli Lebowicz
But there are informal lessons we can glean from different life experiences. Some lessons are small but still important, like make your kids’ lunches the night before so your morning self doesn’t hate your evening self.
We must learn a lesson from King David and focus on overcoming our enemies once and for all.
When we talk about doing something “for the klal,” we are speaking about Klal Yisrael, the Jewish people as a collective, not an abstract category but the very human, physical people that make up our religious nation.
Often, people feel that this kind of volunteerism exempts them from the need to tend to their personal development, their spiritual lives and their interior world.
It is well known that, by working together, people can accomplish far more than if they work apart. This is also true in the spiritual world and is presumably part of the reason a minyan is required for public Torah reading, priestly blessings, repeating the amidah, etc.
When ego or a sense of being worthier or more expert and thus the belief that my way is the only way infiltrates members of the community, it can lead to friction, discord, antipathy, antagonism, hostility and baseless hatred.
By David Curwin
Klal means a general rule or principle, set against prat, the specific case... A klal here isn’t just any rule. It is meant to organize and govern many cases at once, acting as an overall framework rather than a narrow instruction.
By Jordana Baruchov Grreenfield
In sleep-away camp, I began to think of the mistakes I had made and the sins I felt I had accumulated over the years. The weight of that realization sat heavily on my heart. I confided in my sister, unsure of what to do with these feelings. She suggested that I speak to my father.
Being a father has also given me a greater understanding of my relationship with my Father in heaven.
Some communities have renamed their motzei Shabbat learning programs from Avos U’Banim to Dor L’Dor, acknowledging that not every boy has a father or has a father who can accompany him to a learning program.
In today's world, where many suffer from emotional wounds rooted in broken trust, abandonment, or confusion around fatherhood, the Torah reintroduces us to the ultimate, unchanging Father – One who sees, hears, understands, and never withdraws His love.
He was a Torah Scholar who spent his day, every day, learning Gemara until 3 p.m. in his home study. Only after that did he set out for his office at The Jewish Press.
By Anat Coleman
Time fills quickly; we find ourselves running through days packed tightly with obligations and expectations.
By Solly Hess
Growth requires three things: Vision. Planning. Running. Without the third, we’re left in that frustrating dream state of striving, struggling, and going nowhere.
By Martin Bodek
I’ve come a long way since then, and I’m proud to say that I’m the second youngest person ever to complete 25 New York City Marathons, which is completely insanely cool.
The Jewish people weren’t particularly mindful when they left Mitzrayim. They rushed so quickly that their bread had no time to rise. It was a mad dash – they ran! Today, we too have to run when we make our matzahs, like they did. You’ve got 18 minutes: Go!
We know that our yetzer hara (evil inclination) is constantly trying to bring us down, making us feel sluggish, lazy, or insecure. Our daily task is to identify where our thoughts and feelings are coming from.
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Chazal and behavioral science converge on the same principle: inner strength is built up through repeated, values-aligned action – choosing structure over impulse and obligation over comfort.
If one is strong, why does he need strengthening; and if not, how will it help?
August 28, 2026 
