יום חמישי, כ״ח אלול תשפ״וThursday, September 10, 2026
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By Rabbanit Dr. Adena Berkowitz
Worried that the Oral Law, the Torah She'ba'al Peh, would chas v’shalom be forgotten or accidentally changed, he decided to gather the laws, organize them and compile them as a permanent record that lasts to this very day.
Most focus on the writing of the corpus of the oral Torah (which may actually not have happened until later). Yet much more significant was how he organized its contents, something one might easily dismiss as merely technical.
While we’re complaining that we don’t have time for seder because of some shtus, Rebbi was writing the Mishna with one hand, holding up the klal with the other, and still finding time to give kavod to every last talmid chacham like they were Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai himself.
Recently friends caring for their loved ones have shared with me that their spouses too are talking about their two wives with the same name. Hubby definitely refers frequently to the other Barbara, which irritates me endlessly. Now that I understand that there is a universality to this behavior, I am giving it more consideration.
As your child grows and learns more about the world, it is natural for him to be hesitant or fearful of new circumstances. In some ways, it is good your child is afraid – it will make him more cautious and careful.
You cannot blame your parents who probably suffer silently with the same situation. Please speak to your mechanechet who probably is not aware of your situation. Perhaps she can set up some kind of activity (even a chesed activity) that will foster friendships.
While Jews in certain Western European countries were abruptly thrust into modernity during the 18th century, gaining access to universities and achieving a measure of equality as citizens, Italian Jews had enjoyed the privilege of university attendance for centuries.
While this is someone you really like, someone you even imagined marrying, you are not comfortable in this place of indecision. You don’t want to make a mistake by dismissing the person who could potentially be your zivug, but you are also not happy to live without any form of real commitment.
We see a diminution of individuals’ civil rights, as exemplified by government attempts to curtail parents from expressing opposition to woke educational policies at school board meetings.
By Marc Gronich
When it comes to Israel, Matisyahu is not shy about stating his opinion. He performed for the IDF and for AIPAC and supported Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria. He voiced support for Israel in the current war.
When the British captured Savannah in December 1778, Levi lost almost everything, and after the Americans won their War of Independence and the Patriots regained control of the Georgia government in 1782, they banished him (he relocated to Charleston) and confiscated all his property.
Rabbi Jofen was described by speaker after speaker as an illuy, a gaon and baki in all facets of Torah.
Living in gratitude, with intention and purpose, especially the ultimate purpose, can positively affect your mood, outlook on life, and how your day-to-day interactions are experienced in a fundamental way.
As our table is comparable to the Altar, and our bread like an offering brought on the Altar, we wash our hands before eating bread and thereby sanctify our eating.
While we wonder if the head of the household could perhaps cut a little bit quicker, we are forced to pause at the beginning of the meal, with all the things we want to share on our minds, and wait quietly to connect the mitzvah of netilas yadayim with the lechem mishne.
By Eli Lebowicz
Washing our hands is one of the most common Jewish practices, which is also why it’s one of our most disliked practices. I’ve heard that our frequent hand-washing could be why many fewer Jews were victims of the Black Plague.
With regard to netilas yadayim, one of the points he emphasized was that we are recognizing and acknowledging the sacredness of our hands, which we use to do the daily work of elevating this world.
If one should find themselves with a doctor who is not sensitive to either the patient or to the family, unequivocally, I must recommend that the doctor be deleted from your contacts list.
Warburg, who was elected in June to the Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee in a sweeping municipal election which saw Teaneck deliver the highest voter turnout in all of Bergen County, sees Fulop’s choice as a recognition of the local Jewish community’s efforts to gain greater political representation.
In the realm of estate planning, if one son is in kollel and the other son is an investment banker, more money may be needed to support the former. The latter may appreciate a different type of non-financial support to help them achieve their full potential.
By their very existence, these siddurim attest to the fact that a general, national approach to prayer during Israel’s state holidays has yet to be established – for religious, ideological, and social reasons.
Rabbi Hutner’s correspondence is imbued with the same rich, poetic, and heartfelt language that characterizes much of his literary style.
We are Jews dating Jews. Regardless of your background or hashkafa, right or left, black hat or baseball cap, look for someone who believes in Da'as Torah.
By Alan Zeitlin
The funniest moment of the competition was when Jacobowitz questioned a member of Shevach High School in Queens, whose product was Smart Smoke Sensor. She asked who would put rice in a toaster and the student replied: Someone in my family.
By Ariela Davis
Among Elie’s aliyah perks: I don’t have to wear a tie or suits anymore and I recently graduated and got permission from my wife to wear sandals (no socks!) and my feet are finally able to breathe. They’ve needed to breathe now for a long time!
While it is virtually impossible to capture the essence and greatness of the man in a single article, or even in a full-fledged tome, I think that a good glimpse of who he was and what he represented may be gleaned through his correspondence.
By Marc Gronich
While Congress and the White House will reflect the trifecta of Republican victories, New York’s government is controlled by Democrats from the governor’s office to both houses of the legislature – the Senate and the Assembly chambers.
By Maayan Zik
The imagery of sand also illustrates the vastness and diversity of the Jewish people around the world, for there are many different types, colors, and shapes of sand, much like our people all over the world.
The Kli Yakar interprets Hashem’s comparison of the Jewish people to sand in an interesting way. He points out that sand is always subjected to forces from the waves, but it always holds together and never dissipates.
Our lives have a time limit. Some of us may have a bigger personal hourglass; some have smaller ones. Nonetheless, the sand in our unique hourglass is flowing down and our time in this world will conclude.
The Jewish people have a collective mission. Each grain of sand contributes value in restoring the world according to the Divine will.
The humble grains that mark time in an hourglass are the building blocks that make up our world.
The ride home, would be in the dark of night. The dirt road had no lighting. I was unwilling to return in a car with friends unless one of them was armed. No one thought to bring their guns to the wedding.
Our experiences quite literally shape us – and more specifically – shape our brains. That means that we will each see the world in a unique way because of the way that our previous experiences have shaped our brains.
As we know, the Torah is valid for all time, but societal attitudes toward matrimony have changed dramatically over the past three millennia. Herein lies the tragedy of our times: Marriage is going out of style.
They found that sharing similar personality traits does not necessarily mean that a relationship will be more satisfying; however, perceiving that you are more similar will usually predict more satisfaction in a relationship.
Halachically, there is typically a requirement that a tradition of kashrut exists for a species, even if such a tradition is upheld by a community on the other side of the world.
It is possible that this couple is not meant for one another. It’s possible that they will be better off going their own ways and finding different matches. It’s possible that their son knows absolutely that his feelings will never change.
Reading this book has helped direct my attention to seek out Hashem’s wisdom in the mundane.
We feel insincere and shallow during the Days of Repentance, and therein lies the problem. Do we really believe we can change? Do we even know what we are looking for?
The book is essentially a survey of the work of the entire Izhbitz library, of both the direct descendants and students.
Rabbi Juskowitz shares many insightful Torah ideas throughout the book, but the idea I most connect with is his discussion about the dichotomy of Jewish practice and faith, and how it relates to Jewish meditation.
The odds against Israel seemed daunting, and many experts believe that it never would have made it through the Ad Hoc Committee (and ultimately, through the General Assembly) but for a passionate two-plus hour speech on May 5, 1949 by Abba Eban, Israel’s designee, to plead its cause.
By Alan Zeitlin
Josephs said it was hashgacha pratis (divine providence) that she realized there wasn’t a group to fight for Orthodox and Jewish representation and that she was able to do so. She noted that positive Jewish representation is a kiddush Hashem.
Torah Judaism makes all sorts of demands on us; of practice and belief, of moral stances that conflict with the culture around us. We have to contend with them, and prepare our children to contend with them.
Rivka. The name of my grandmother. A Holocaust survivor, a partisan, and a rebuilder of worlds.
By Solly Hess
We must be careful not to limit Rivka’s legacy to a few highlights – the switch of the blessings, her zerizus in helping Eliezer – we must see the big picture and understand the foundational role she played in our history.
By Anat Coleman
I was relieved to study the parsha further as an adult and have the opportunity to re-explore what may have actually occurred to/with Rivka.
Rivka didn’t gloat to Yitzchak about the prophecies that she received. She learned from her prophecies and from her life experience about what needed to be done in order to insure proper continuity.
When we were young, we never believed that we would one day be 70 years of age, much less over 90. It all arrives too quickly. One day we wake up and wonder who the person staring back at us in the bathroom mirror, might be.
According to their misguided logic, life must have a seder – a specific order – with the oldest getting married first, followed by younger siblings. However, their thinking is so illogical.
A perfect case of a child who was twice exceptional is Albert Einstein. Even though Einstein was brilliant when it came to visual and spatial reasoning, as a child he had behavioral problem, was a terrible speller, and had trouble verbally expressing himself.
I’m sure readers can point to their own parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents, who moved to this country to improve their respective circumstances. Whether it was to flee antisemitism and pogroms, or perhaps to find a job, moving has always been an effective financial planning strategy.
Try hard not to overwhelm your kids when you talk to them or make them feel bad about their behavior.
You feel like you are close to an engagement and understandably want and expect the support of your family and friends. Yet, they are refusing to give you their blessing and have expressed concern instead.
Written by Pinchas Schon, on behalf of the Mirrer Yeshiva Association in New York, and addressed to Rabbi Eliezer Silver, rav in Cincinnati and head of the Agudas Harabonim, it pleads for his assistance in the rescue efforts.
He wrote many treatises, volumes of Jewish law, articles, encyclopedic works and compendia and was one of the first to distill and bring Jewish law to a secular law school.
Presumably with Gelman’s assurance that the Shabbat Congress would be apolitical, the Rebbe did send a lengthy 22 Shevat (February 9), 1942 letter to the Congress, in which he emphasized the dangerous state in which the Jewish people find themselves...
By Marc Gronich
One of the reasons we lost the Senate [in 2018] was because we really didn’t have a strong farm team in the Assembly, Straniere said.
By Sandy Eller
Voting is the best evidence of visibility, and here on Long Island, the presidential and congressional election came and went, but we still have county and town and village offices, all of which are important sources of resources that our community needs every year, explained Kadinsky.
My husband Daniel and I moved from New York to Los Angeles 12 years ago, and during 10 of those years, we've had an orange tree in our backyard. This is common in LA, as the weather is ideal for growing produce.
The contest was arranged by a navel orange company. The ask? Send us a photo of your family enjoying our oranges.
By Akiva Kra
I wish I could write an easy, 150-word guide on how to peel an orange; A step-by-step process of how to get the first part of the peel off, how to peel any of it without squirting the juice everywhere and getting sticky hands, and explaining how to avoid so many of the other unaddressed challenges in this underappreciated task.
I always thought it was amazing that oranges are a winter fruit loaded with vitamin c and other antioxidants allowing us to prepare ourselves and defend ourselves from all the viruses that come our way during this time.
By hashgacha, the same day, I interviewed Nova survivor Ofri Reiner, who shared an incredible story about oranges. For many Nova survivors, oranges have become a symbol of hope.
Why can I not get it through my thick skull that Hubby eats like a four-year old now? Pizza, cookies, candy, eggrolls, spaghetti, fruit, ice cream, would all suffice for him. But not for me, and do I not matter as well?
Use graphic organizers. Graphic organizers can use key words, pictures, or icons. These mental images can help arrange the information in a coherent and streamlined manner.
The failed experiment of Gaza, which could have been a prosperous little Palestinian state, but was instead made an armed camp for attacks on Israel proves the point.
I am more often than not of the belief that another chance is the way to go. If the possibility even exists that this could be your match, you are looking at a lifetime of connection and happiness at best.
The book itself is described by its author as the final revelation of G-d in which all answers to all remaining questions with respect to the Tanach were answered.
Everyone is put in this world to fulfill a mission. We do not know what anyone’s mission is, and we must try to see everyone as a creation of Hashem and to treat everyone with the respect they deserve.
One significant obstacle that the prosecution faced throughout the case was that Beilis was broadly respected, even beloved, by the Gentiles in his neighborhood, some of whom referred to him affectionately as “our Mendel,” and their high regard for him as an honest man was such that many non-Jews either refused to testify against him or even testified in his favor.
Our story begins with a seemingly chance encounter on a Jerusalem street on Shabbos afternoon as Rabbi Wein was walking home from shul, when he met a man who seemed oddly out of place.
Everything changed this year, and I venture to say I'm not the only one with this experience. My eyes have been opened. I have learned so much. I have heard so many stories. I have seen so many faces.
By Sara Blau
When I think of IDF, I think of exceptional, special spiritual powers.
This sacrifice reminds me of our brave IDF members, who have had to give up so much time with their families in order to carry out the holy work of defending the State of Israel.
To fight in the IDF, the first Jewish fighting force in 2,000 years, is an amazing honor and is a life-changing experience.
The soldiers go out to war with the Shema on their lips. It's been very hard this past year and so many holy soldiers have been killed, but they went out in the name of Hashem, very devoted to the land and people of Israel.
By Marc Gronich
The U.S. House of Representatives is still up for grabs, but New York was not any help this year in keeping control of Congress in Republican hands.
By Alan Zeitlin
He criticized Jones for proposing that convicted murderers be allowed to vote from prison and wanting to defund the police and that Jones’s positions are too radical for the Hudson Valley.
Even today at the age of 95, Hubby asks where his license is, as if he is about to fly the coop and embark on an adventure on his own. To tell him that he is too old to drive, would not be a pleasant task, and hopefully can be avoided.
In 2020, upon ratifying the bill on the eve of Rosh Hashana, Gov. DeSantis stated, I am committed to deepening the relationship between Florida and the State of Israel. This specialty license plate serves as a visible symbol of our steadfast support and friendship.
September 4, 2026 
