יום חמישי, 2 יולי 2026Thursday, July 2, 2026
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יום חמישי, י״ז תמוז תשפ״וThursday, July 2, 2026
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Sections

Eretz Yisrael

Aliyah / Geulah

Why Die in Galus, When You Can Live in Eretz Yisrael?

By Rivkah Lambert Adler

IsraelTorah.org is reaching a new audience with a very different and edgy aliyah message.

Video of the Day

When Rechavam Ze'evi Met the Rebbe

By Video of the Day

Friday, the 30th of Tishrei is the Yartzheit of Rechavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi who was murdered by Arab terrorists in Jerusalem. Ze'evi was an IDF general and a minister in the Israeli government, and who had tremendous love for the Land of Israel. In this video, Ze'evi visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe and asked him for advice […]

Guest Blog

Pain and Sacrifice: Yours, Not Mine

By Menachem Ben-Mordechai

In reality, Lipman and his ilk have learned nothing from the destruction of Gush Katif.

Op-Eds

Haredi Rabbi Revealed Why Six Million Died

By Menachem Rahat

Hungarian Haredi Rabbi Yisachar Shlomo Teichtal experienced a 180 degree change in his view of Zionism hiding from the Nazis.

Felafel on Rye

What's the Point of Celebrating Tu B’Shvat in Exile?

By Tzvi Fishman

Without Eretz Yisrael, the Torah is a shrunken, truncated, mini-version of the complete Torah of Eretz Yisrael.

Felafel on Rye

Voters Beware!

By Tzvi Fishman

Don’t cast your vote for a party that condemns Torah values and honest and dedicated people who have led the way in the education of our youth and the settlement of Eretz Yisrael.

Felafel on Rye

A Great Miracle is Happening Here Again!

By Tzvi Fishman

This is the Land of Miracles, where our Redemption is unfolding today.

The Yishai Fleisher Show on JewishPress.com

Above and Beyond on Chanukah in 5773

By Moshe Herman

Yishai is joined by Rabbi Shimshon Nadel to talk about Chanukah and finding light through the holiday.

Torah

‘Hurricane Season’

By Rabbi Dovid M. Cohen

It’s been a rough few weeks. It began with the news of a heinous crime just blocks from where I live on Manhatan’s Upper West Side: a nanny viciously took the lives of her two young charges. Hurricane Sandy came next, contributing additional loss of life and financial devastation of a magnitude never before experienced by our East Coast brethren.

Rebbetzin's Viewpoint

A Nation Of Ballerinas

By Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

Readers are always asking me how I have the strength to open my heart, to tell my personal story, my struggles, my pain. My saintly father, HaRav HaGaon Avraham HaLevi Jungreis, zt”l, taught us that whenever we have difficult challenges we should share them with others, so that they will be strengthened in dealing with their own tests. My father learned this from our Torah, which relates to us all the painful struggles of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. “Ma’aseh avos siman la’banim – that which befell our forefathers is a sign for the children” – so that we too might be fortified.

Op-Eds

Bittersweet Chanukah For Aging Lehi Fighters

By Zev Golan

They are in their 80s and 90s now, but when the British ruled Eretz Yisrael they were teenagers, or maybe in their 20s. Their faces were on “wanted” posters and those who were caught went to prison or were exiled to Africa. They are the remnants of the most feared Jewish militia that fought the British – Lehi, commonly known as the Stern Gang. Every Chanukah they met in Tel Aviv, lit candles, shared some doughnuts and watched their numbers dwindle.

Felafel on Rye

Confessions of a Brain Surgeon

By Tzvi Fishman

While my writing may be blunt and painful to some, I don’t blame the Jews in the Diaspora for their misunderstanding of what the Torah is really all about.

Travel

Jerusalem Menorot

By Vardah Littman and Rimonah Traub

The bronze, four and a half meter high Menorat HaKnesset stands in the Menorah Plaza by the main entrance to Gan HaVradim. This impressive menorah, in the shape of that which appears in the Arch of Titus, was created by Jewish sculptor Benno Elkan of England. It was given in 1956 by the English parliament as a gift to the State of Israel.

Tales of the Gaonim

The Scholars Of Brodi

By Rabbi Sholom Klass

A famous scholars of the beis midrash in the city of Brodi was Rav Avraham Gershon of Kitov. This modest and unassuming man possessed such wondrous qualities of goodness and knowledge that the great Nodah B’Yehudah referred to him, in part, as follows:

Parsha

The Merit Of Eretz Yisrael

By Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier

Yaakov Avinu received word that his brother Eisav was coming to greet him. He understood fully well that this was not to be a warm family reunion. Eisav came accompanied by a band of four hundred armed men, bent on revenge. The Torah describes Yaakov as “very frightened,” so he prepared for war.

Parsha

How Did Yaakov Marry Sisters?

By Rabbi Raphael Fuchs

At the beginning of this week’s parshah Yaakov sent a message to Eisav. In the message were the words, “im Lavan garti – I lived with Lavan.” Rashi explains that Yaakov was informing Eisav that he had kept the entire Torah, as the word “garti” is the same numerical value as the amount of mitzvos in the Torah: 613. The following strong question concerning this statement has been discussed by the Rishonim and Acharonim: How could Yaakov say that he kept the entire Torah when he married two sisters, Rachel and Leah, which is biblically prohibited? Additionally, the Gemara in Yuma 28 says that Avraham Avinu kept the Torah; presumably the other avos did as well. How then did Yaakov marry two sisters?

Rebbetzin's Viewpoint

The Secret To Defeating Our Enemies

By Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

Events have been unfolding so rapidly. First it was Hurricane Sandy, which attacked with merciless fury and left multitudes homeless, their cars and belongings swept away. Power failed, not for a day, or for a week, but in some cases for several weeks.

Lessons In Emunah

After A Few False Starts, A Match Made In Heaven

By Naama Klein

I almost never met the man I married. No, I am not from a very strict chassidishe home where dating is taboo and a brief meeting suffices before the engagement is announced. My husband and I actually dated for a few months, by which time my parents were beginning to grow concerned and the neighbors were having a heyday gossiping about us. But if not for a significant helping of siyata dishmaya, we never would have managed to get together in the first place.

Op-Eds

A Masterwork Completed – 84 Years Later

By dvora

How long does it take to write and publish a book? One recently released work took some eighty-four years to see the light of day in Jerusalem. But with its publication the Torah world has been blessed with a new, vowelized edition of the Torah Temimah, complete with the supra-commentary Meshivat Nefesh – a work begun in the 1920s by a prolific rabbi among whose works was a weekly column several decades later in The Jewish Press.

Travel

Exploring The Hills

By Shalom Pollack

One of the off the beaten track areas in Eretz Yisrael that I enjoy taking adventurous visitors to are the southern Hevron Hills. As we drive south from Yerushalayim, passing through the very cradle of Jewish history, with its rolling green hills along the Patriarchs and Matriarchs path or the “Road of Heroism" as it is some times called, we resist the magnetic pull to stop at Gush Etzion or Hevron and continue south, fully cognizant that more Jews walked on this path than on any other road in history.

Op-Eds

Tefillah L’Shlom Medinat Yisrael: A Plea For Prayer

By Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel

Minutes after candle-lighting, sirens rang out in Jerusalem, disturbing the peace and tranquility ushered in by Shabbat. Earlier that day, my wife and I assured our parents that we are far from the rockets in our home in Har Nof, a quiet suburb nestled in the Jerusalem Forest.

Felafel on Rye

Letters to My Son in Gaza: Jihad Must Be Destroyed!

By Tzvi Fishman

Dear Son, Do not be confused. Know who the enemy is. With all the meaningless talk of peace agreements and cease fires, the satanic enemy continues to fire rockets of destruction and blow up buses filled with innocent civilians. In the same breath, they demand that Israel end the assassination of its leaders, as a […]

Tevye in the Promised Land

Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter Twenty: Zichron Ya'acov

By Tzvi Fishman

With the birth of Hodel's baby, the time had come for Tevye to journey onward. Family was a matter of tantamount importance, but a Jew had an even higher allegiance to God. Had not the Almighty warned that life in the Holy Land must be lived according to the commandments of the Torah? That meant observing the laws of the Sabbath and the holidays, eating kosher food, donning tallit and tefillin, guarding the treasures of marital purity, and observing all of the six-hundred and thirteen commandments – most of which were flagrantly ignored by the young pioneers on the kibbutz.

Felafel on Rye

Get Angry at Rashi - Not at Me!

By Tzvi Fishman

Two Torah scholars were sent from Israel to Babylon. Upon their arrival, they took part in official ceremonies and didn’t reveal the purpose of their visit. They were received with great honor. Gradually, they started to vent their opposition. Finally, they entered a crowded assembly and said to the Jews of Babylon, “Behold, you are a great congregation. You can be independent. You don’t need Eretz Yisrael. You don’t need Mount Moriah.” Their sarcasm was purposely stinging in order to shock the Babylonian Jews. “And you’ve also got Rabbi Ahia here. Let Ahia build an altar, and let Haninah play on a harp. But know that if you detach yourselves from the centrality of Eretz Yisrael, you have no portion in the God of Israel!”

Felafel on Rye

Rashi Was a Zionist Racist

By Tzvi Fishman

Almost everyone is familiar with the famous first Rashi on the Torah. He asks why does the Torah begin with the account of Creation? After all, since the Torah contains the commandments which Hashem gave to Am Yisrael, it should have begun the precept concerning Rosh Chodesh - the first commandment given to the Israelite Nation.

Tevye in the Promised Land

Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter Sixteen: A Vote is Taken

By Tzvi Fishman

Ben Zion's troop returned empty-handed to the well. They found Tevye hiding behind a tree, sunburned and poised to shoot. Back at Shoshana, a community meeting was once again summoned by clanging the dining-hall bell. Everyone in the kibbutz gathered to express an opinion.

Felafel on Rye

An Etrog Tree Doesn’t Grow in Brooklyn

By Tzvi Fishman

If it did it would die. Just the way the Diaspora is destined to die. The etrog tree doesn’t belong in Brooklyn. The climate isn’t right for it. It’s the same with the lulav, hadasim, and aravot. The four species which we are commanded to take for ourselves on the Festival of Sukkot are indigenous to Eretz Yisrael, just as the Torah is indigenous to Eretz Yisrael, and the Jewish People are indigenous to Eretz Yisrael. We belong in Eretz Yisrael. All of the holidays are intrinsically connected to Eretz Yisrael. The Torah was designed and fashioned by the Almighty to be observed in Eretz Yisrael.

Tevye in the Promised Land

Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter 15: Guardian of Israel

By Tzvi Fishman

As a sign of his grief over Tzeitl, Tevye tore his shirt and sat on a low stool in Hodel's house in the traditional custom of mourners. He maintained a stalwart expression to disguise the hole he felt in his heart. His strength came from Golda. She appeared to him in a dream and told him not to worry.

Book Reviews

Title: Land of My Past, Land of My Future

By Bracha Slae

Title: Land of My Past, Land of My Future Author: Michael Kaufman Publisher: Targum Press, 2012

Felafel on Rye

Homeward Bound

By Tzvi Fishman

L eading up to the holiday of Sukkot, we’ll wrap up our condensed look at Rabbi Kook’s teachings on t’shuva with a few blogs on two of the holidays most important themes – Eretz Yisrael and Torah.

Impact Of Women On Jewish History/Prof. L. Jackson

Miriam Ben-Porat: A Woman of ‘Firsts’

By Prof. Livia Bitton-Jackson

Miriam Scheinsohn was born on April 26, 1918, in Vitebsk (Belorussia), the youngest of eight children (she had three sisters and four brothers). Soon after Miriam’s birth the family moved to Kovno (Kaunas) in Lithuania, where her parents owned a textile factory.

Tevye in the Promised Land

Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter 13: Tzeitl's Last Wish

By Tzvi Fishman

"What are we going to eat?" Shmuelik asked Tevye as they changed into their Sabbath clothing. Tevye did not understand the question. "What do you mean?" he asked. Before Shmuelik could answer, Hillel spoke up in a bard's satirical manner. "He means that though you may be overjoyed to be reunited with your daughter, the […]

Felafel on Rye

Migron Headache

By Tzvi Fishman

How can it be that in this clear time of Redemption, when millions of Jews have returned to the Land of Israel from the four corners of the world, in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy that crises and setbacks like the evacuation of Migron still occur?

Features On The Jewish World

The Gangte Family: Formerly of Neve Dekalim; Now Of Nitzan

By Jewish Press Staff

The family: My name is Avin Gangte. I am a member of the Benei Menashe community hailing from the north-eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram in India. I am married to Hagit who is also from the same community and we have five children.

Impact Of Women On Jewish History/Prof. L. Jackson

Yael Nitzan: The Museum Of Israeli Women

By Prof. Livia Bitton-Jackson

TV producer and author Yael Nitzan’s decades’ old dream is becoming a reality. Through the generosity of the Haifa municipality, an empty 200-year-old palace, once owned by an Arab sheikh, will be turned into “The Museum of Israeli Women.” Although in other countries there are museums documenting the accomplishments of women, Israel, with the world’s highest ratio of museums per person, has none dedicated to the women who contributed to the founding of the State of Israel and to its development.

Potpourri

An Appreciation: Remembering HaRav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, A Torah Giant, On His Shloshim

By Rabbi Raphael Fuchs

It’s hard to believe that for the past 30 days we have been living in a world without HaRav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, zt”l, who died at the age of 102. We may never realize the effect his longevity had on our generation. Reb Elyashiv was a true gaon and masmid beyond most people’s comprehension. Although […]

Op-Eds

Tears For Shavel

By Rabbi Eliyahu Safran

Recently, my wife Clary and I traveled to Lithuania to experience what remains of one of Judaism’s most magnificent centers of learning. My journey, organized by Zvi Lapian of Israel and led by the eminent historian and distinguished scholar Dr. Shnayer Leiman, took me to what was once the world’s center of Torah learning.

Features On The Jewish World

Tens Of Thousands Celebrate Historic Siyum HaShas

By Rabbi Raphael Fuchs

Neither the threat of rain nor heavy traffic prevented the huge throng of enthusiastic participants from attending the 12th Siyum HaShas last Wednesday, August 1 at MetLife Stadium. The event, which attracted more than 90,000 people, was in celebration of the conclusion of the seven-and-a-half year learning cycle of the Babylonian Talmud.

Tevye in the Promised Land

Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter Eight: The Holy Land

By Tzvi Fishman

Who knew what new disasters would arise on the way to Alexandria, Tevye thought? Eretz Yisrael was so close, they could almost reach out and touch it. Jews were already pushing and shoving to climb down the ladder of the ship. They jumped into the small rowboats as if the chance might never come again.

Electronics Today

If You Launch It, They Will Come: ArtScroll On The iPad

By dvora

For the Siyum HaShas in MetLife Stadium, community leaders, security officials, and even dogs (K-9 units) spent months getting ready for the close to 100,000 in attendance on Wednesday afternoon. However, members of ArtScroll have been focusing on what happens after the celebration. In honor of the 13th daf yomi cycle, ArtScroll has begun to launch its newest edition of the Babylonian Talmud – a digitized version for the iPad.

Lessons In Emunah

So Happy Together

By dvora

The day following our oldest daughter’s wedding in Eretz Yisrael was the day we had planned for my husband to return to his job in the U.S. I was staying for another week in Israel with the rest of our children and my dear mother in order to participate in the remaining wedding celebrations.

Upcoming Events

The Twelfth Siyum HaShas Of Daf Yomi

By Rabbi Yaakov Klass

This coming Wednesday evening, August 1, will see the largest convergence ever of American Jewry at a daf yomi Siyum HaShas celebration. The event, the Twelfth Siyum HaShas, to be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford in the New Jersey Meadowlands, is sponsored by the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudath Israel of America.

Jewish

‘And From Zion The Torah Will Go Forth’: Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv’s Impact On American Jewry

By dvora

The New York Times once asked Rabbi Moshe Feinstein how he became a posek hador, one of the generation’s foremost authorities on Jewish law. Rabbi Feinstein answered that, “people came and asked me questions and they liked what I said and it was accepted, and then more people came and eventually I became widely accepted as a posek.”

Tevye in the Promised Land

Tevye in the Promised Land, Chapter Six: A Wagon of Worries

By Tzvi Fishman

"If you want to read a truly important book, you should read ‘The Jewish State,’ by Theodor Herzl. He was a prophet who spoke to the Jews of today," said Ben Zion. "The Lord has many messengers," Nachman answered. "In our time, God chose Herzl to bring the message of Zion to our exiled people. But it wasn't Herzl who invented the Zionist movement. It comes from our holy Torah and the Jews who have been following its call for thousands of years."

Travel

Machtesh Ramon

By Vardah Littmann

Machtesh Ramon is considered by some to be the most exquisite site on the planet. Located south of Beersheba in the Central Negev, not only is Machtesh Ramon the most spectacular geological sight in Eretz Yisrael, it contains within it some unique geological formations that are not found anywhere else on earth.

Parsha

Parshat Pinchas

By Rabbi Dr. David Hertzberg

When national tragedy struck on November 22, 1963 Vice President Lyndon Johnson was inadequately prepared to assume the presidency. The Kennedy people had done their best to sideline him throughout the first three years of JFK’s term. Thus, he was not in the know in regards to many of the important initiatives Kennedy had proposed, but that would now become his responsibility. Additionally, there was substantial personal ill will between LBJ and Kennedy’s people - especially JFK’s younger brother Bobby, the attorney general.

Dov Shurin

Psalms, Scuds And Shamir

By Dov Shurin

Let me tell you how special it is to live in Eretz Yisrael. The other day I decided it was time for me to say the entire Book of Psalms – Tehillim. I’m the father of ten children and fifteen grandchildren (b’li ayin hara), so the power of Tehillim is where I turn, for my family’s needs.

Rebbetzin's Viewpoint

Lollipops Don’t Fall From The Sky

By Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

Last week I published a letter from a thirty-eight year old single woman who lamented that despite her having become a ba’alas teshuvah, forsaking her secular life, committing to Torah and mitzvos, going to rabbis, receiving berachot – in short, doing all the “right” things – she has failed to find her bashert, her soul mate. She wondered where G-d was and what all her sacrifices were all about. She was angry at G-d and regarded all her efforts as having been for naught. “My joy in Judaism has disappeared,” she wrote. The following is my response.

Op-Eds

A Short Man But A Giant Prime Minister

By dvora

Former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir passed away last weekend. In the course of my career as a correspondent for The Jewish Press at the UN and in Israel, as well as a parliamentary aide and spokesman for Israel’s first science minister, Professor Yuval Ne’eman, I met with dozens of world leaders, ministers, high-ranking officials and ambassadors. None of them left as indelible a mark on me as did Shamir.

Editorial

Remembering Yitzhak Shamir

By Editorial Board

The Jewish Press joins Jews around the world in mourning the death, at age 96, of Yitzhak Shamir, a key leader in Israel’s fight for independence who later served as a top Mossad official, speaker of the Knesset, foreign minister and prime minister.

Features On The Jewish World

First Of The Land

By Rosally Saltsman

There are 613 mitzvoth – we all know that. We also all know it is impossible for one person to perform all 613. Twenty-five mitzvot can only be performed in the Land of Israel, which leaves many Jews out in the cold, shall we say. After all, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel are inextricably intertwined; they are in fact dependent on one another for survival. But Judaism has a solution or as a modern Israeli would say, a “patent.” Mitzvot can be performed by proxy; by taking a part in a mitzvah one merits a share in the whole.

Op-Eds

Stereotypes And Responsibilities: A Ben Torah In Two Worlds

By Richard B. Stone

I have tried to lead a life in which the core values are Ahavas Torah and Ahavas Yisrael. To the extent I have succeeded I did so by taking an unusual route – one I do not generally recommend. I moved into the Torah world and Torah learning after I already had a sophisticated secular education and a clear path to a wide choice of prestigious professional opportunities.

Felafel on Rye

Can Gedolim Make Mistakes?

By Tzvi Fishman

How can it be that outstanding Torah scholars in Europe, before the Holocaust, and even after it started, were against the Zionist movement and told their congregations not to uproot themselves from where they were and flee to Eretz Yisrael? Even today, there are Torah leaders who tell their followers that the time has not come to go to Israel. The question arises – can Gedolim err?

Potpourri

The Wonderful Month Of June

By Naomi Klass Mauer

To all of my friends who are always telling me that I should have a weekly column, this article is for you. The truth is, I love to write and would love to have a weekly column, but I have to be inspired. I am not one of those prolific writers who sit down at the computer and the words just flow. But once those inspirational juices get started, there is no telling where they will take me.

Travel

The Negev

By Vardah Littmann

When contemplating the Negev, one must set aside any preconcieved notion of what a desert is. In Eretz Yisrael there are no rolling yellow sand dunes in softly rising and falling landscapes as unbroken as the sea. Far from being a simple expanse of sand, the Negev is marked by a mélange of cliffs, crags, boulders and dry river vadies. Where the Judean Desert ends, the Negev begins, an impressive region of low sandstone hills, rocky peaks (for example the high plateau area of Ramat HaNegev - The Negev Heights - stands between 370 meters and 520 meters), and plains rutted with narrow canyons. The Negev Desert is mesmerizing, beautiful and rich in geological history.

Felafel on Rye

Over 1,000,000 Jews in New York and God Weeps!

By Tzvi Fishman

During the night, the Holy One Blessed Be He sits and roars like a lion, saying, “Woe to the children who I have exiled among the nations of the world” (Berachot 3A). It’s like a King who builds a beautiful palace for his children, but they don’t want to live there. They prefer to hang out with the harlots.

Felafel on Rye

Diaspora Youth - It’s Time to Come Home!

By Tzvi Fishman

We mustn't forget that the gentile nations do us a favor by allowing us to stay in their lands - until they expel us. One must realize that we are on foreign soil there. It is not our society, nor government, nor culture. Nothing is ours. Only in Israel are we at home with family, living according to our customs, and our uniquely Jewish year, living in the one place designed for our holiness, for our psychological health, even for our physical wellbeing.

InDepth / The Yishai Fleisher Show on JewishPress.com

Jewish Press Radio with Yishai Fleisher: About Lehi

By Moshe Herman

Yishai presents a riveting speech from Zeev Orenstein who talks about revolutionary Zionist Avraham "Yair" Stern and his Lehi movement.

Felafel on Rye

This Sunday, Don’t Read the New York Times – Read The Kuzari

By Tzvi Fishman

Written in the form of a conversation between a Rabbi and a gentile king who is looking to find the true religion, The Kuzari lucidly explains the foundations upon which Judaism is based. What better time than “Book Week” to take another look at this wonderful classic? If you never studied its teachings, you’re missing a building block in your understanding of Judaism which the Gaon of Vilna made top priority for his students.

Felafel on Rye

WARNING! Living in Israel is a Commandment of the Torah

By A Jew In Need

For any reader who may be confused about the obligation to live in the Land of Israel, this sweeping halachic and Talmudic overview of Rabbi Kahane will surely put all uncertainty to rest. Because of its vital importance to each and every Jew, we will be presenting it in two installments.

Parsha

Gaza’s Greatness And Shimshon’s Struggles

By Rabbi Boruch Leff

We often sit through the haftorah without understanding what it is all about. “Why do we read the haftorah anyway?” we sometimes think. Krias HaTorah of the parsha makes sense—we read a portion of the Chumash each week so that over the course of the year we have completed the entire Torah. But what is the goal of reading the haftorah? We know that it is not so we can finish Navi on some kind of schedule. What then is the purpose of the haftorah?

Front Page

The Six-Day War’s Unresolved Legacy

By Jerold S. Auerbach

Nearly sixty-five years ago Israel declared its independence and won the war that secured a Jewish state. But its narrow and permeable postwar armistice lines permitted incessant cross-border terrorist raids. For Egypt, Syria and Jordan, the mere existence of a Jewish state remained an unbearable intrusion into the Arab Middle East. As Egyptian President Nasser declared, “The danger of Israel lies in the very existence of Israel.”

Felafel on Rye

The Biggest and Holiest Adventure in the World

By Tzvi Fishman

Those of you who can come, and there are millions out there, we are waiting to welcome you. And those of you who would like to come, but just can’t seem to put the right pieces together, then you can get involved, in every way that you are able, by encouraging others to come, by coming on frequent visits, by donating money, and by volunteering your time at organizations that have Israel at the top of their programs and agenda.

Midrash Stories

The Earthquake (Part I)

By Rabbi Sholom Klass

In the days of the Second Beis Hamikdash the Romans ruled over Eretz Yisrael and installed a king by the name of Hordus, or Herod, to enforce their rule. Hordus was an evil and ambitious man, and was quick to do whatever the Romans requested of him, no matter how terrible the decree was. Because of this, the Jewish people hated him, and this in turn caused him to hate them even more.

Felafel on Rye

God is the Biggest Zionist of Them All

By Tzvi Fishman

Yes, the Ribono Shel Olam, the Master of the World is a Zionist. So was Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabeinu, Yehoshua, King David, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the Macabbees, all the Prophets of Israel, including Ezra and Nechemia who led a seemingly motley crowd of sinners back to the Land of Israel from Babylon to rebuild the Holy Temple.

Felafel on Rye

"Why Should I Live in Israel? America Has Everything I Need"

By Tzvi Fishman

One of the questions a person is asked when he reaches his Heavenly rest is, "Did you yearn for Salvation?" If a Jew does not long for the Redemption, for Salvation from the exile, then something is wrong. If he is happy in the Diaspora, then his Judaism is out of focus, and he is out of touch with his soul's deepest yearnings. As The Kuzari poignantly declares, his prayers for Jerusalem and Zion are like the chatterings of a nightingale, melodious but empty of meaning.

Parsha / Torah

Parshat Behukotai: Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael

By Rav Yehuda Hakohen

According to the Ramban, the verse "your foes who dwell upon it will be desolate" (Vayikra 26:32) is a partial blessing within the curse that guarantees through all generations that the Land of Israel will not receive any foreign nation in place of her true indigenous people.

Felafel on Rye

“The People Shall Rise Up Like a Lion!”

By Tzvi Fishman

Not only are the streets of Jerusalem inundated with the smoke of burning embers; but hillsides and streets all over the country are lit up with the fiery love of Torah which kindles in every heart. Not only the streets, but the smoke of these holy bonfires penetrates into every single apartment and house, like the aroma of incense on the Temple’s altar, penetrating through windows and concrete walls to reveal the inner spirit of every Israeli soul, of every Israeli home.

Parsha

Knesset Minister Rabbi Nissim Zeev: Time To See The Light And Heal

By Rabbi Nissim Zeev

In our time we must always take advantage of the opportunity for a second chance to revive our identity as Jews in Eretz Yisrael, for without the identity of Israel as a Jewish state, we are truly at a spiritual and physical loss.

Felafel on Rye

From Hollywood to the Holy Land

By Tzvi Fishman

My bar-mitzvah ceremony was held in a Unitarian church. To me, that’s a perfect symbol for being a Jew in America, where you are totally immersed in a foreign, gentile culture. Even if you live in a strictly-kosher ghetto, the World Series, Michael Jackson, Christmas decorations, the Oscars, and the NY Daily News are waiting for you the minute you cross the street.

Lessons In Emunah

Lost And Found

By Rosally Saltsman

My son lost his backpack when traveling back to his base. He had put it in the hold of the bus in which he was traveling. He would need to replace his wallet, tefillin, clothes, books, phone charger and all of his documentation. Of course the tefillin was the most important item of all. It was a bar mitzvah gift from his grandparents and specially written for him, and we all know how expensive tefillin are. But obviously the sentimental value was irreplaceable.

Devora Waysman

Why Are We Here: Israel At 64

By Dvora Waysman

Jews all over the world celebrate Israel's Independence Day - even those who have no intention of ever coming on aliyah, and many of whom have never even visited Israel. "It's a kind of insurance policy" one overseas friend told me. "By supporting Israel financially and emotionally, I know that its sanctuary is available to me or my children or grandchildren should the need ever arise."

Parsha

The Merit Of Living In Israel

By Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier

Yaakov Avinu received word that his brother Eisav was coming to greet him. He understood fully well that this was not to be a warm family reunion. Eisav came accompanied by a band of four hundred armed men, bent on revenge. The Torah says Yaakov was “very frightened,” so he prepared for war.

Front Page

Mother Of Liberty

By Zev Golan

Chanukah and Purim have passed but they are not past, because Jewish history is not only ancient. The message of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, is that Jewish history is now. Indeed, some of the Maccabees are still alive.

Lessons In Emunah

Never Lose Hope

By dvora

It was an ordinary day and Dovid (name changed) was preparing to catch the late afternoon EL AL flight to Eretz Yisrael. He had yahrzeit for his father and planned his trip so he’d arrive there just in time to join his brother at the kever. He parked his car in the area that facilitated a faster trip to JFK for his flight. Little did he know that he was being observed by a team of thieves who were “working” the Diamond District that day in order to rob the merchants of their goods.

InDepth / Holidays

The Battle for Eretz Yisrael, Then and Now

By Rabbi Nachman Kahana

At this time of the year, "Jewish eyes are smiling" as we look back to our Egyptian experience of 3300 years ago and the great salvation that HaShem had brought forth for us. But on this 10th of Nisan, corresponding to the general calendar of April 2, the eyes of all enlightened nations are on Egypt, but for different reasons. The Moslem Brotherhood political party in Egypt, that now controls the two houses of the Egyptian Parliament, is going to have their man as the next president of that country. This group is among the most radical Islamists in the world, and they have an unabashed, open, straightforward Islamic agenda. Not only will they turn Egyptian society back 300 years, their end game is to uproot the Jewish State.

Judaism

'Kzayit': Rashi Almost Certainly Never Saw an Olive

By Rabbi David Bar-Hayim

Is Halakhic Judaism rational and rooted in reality, or is it a hypothetical construct unconducive to engaging the real world?

Midrash Stories

Who Brought The Romans To Israel?

By Rabbi Sholom Klass

If you were to ask the average Jew who destroyed the Beis Hamikdash and who sent Klal Yisrael into galus (exile), he would instantly answer, “The Romans.”

Judaism 101

Inside Purim: Insights On Purim And The Megillah

By Aryeh Pinchas Strickoff

These are excerpts from the sefer Inside Purim, which contains additional answers to the following questions and much more.

Halacha & Hashkafa

Obligating Oneself To Perform Mitzvot

By Rabbi J. Simcha Cohen

Question: Should a person try to observe mitzvot he is technically exempt from performing?

Halacha & Hashkafa

Daf Yomi

By Rabbi Yaakov Klass and Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum

Too Little, Too Late? ‘Break Down the Door and Enter…’ (Arachin 31b)

On Our Own/Cheryl Kupfer

My Life, Your Decisions?

By Cheryl Kupfer

A friend of mine recently came back from visiting her son and his family in Israel. As a bunch of her friends joined her for coffee and an update – several of them also have children who made aliyah - she shared with us her frustration at not being able to communicate with her school-age grandchildren.

Torah / Analysis

Rabbi Dov Lior - A Quintessential Jewish Patriot

By David Wilder, Tazpit News Agency

Rav Dov Lior is not only a Torah scholar; he is quintessential Jewish patriot, whose allegiance is pledged fully to God, Torah, the People and the Land. His courage in speaking the truth is undeniably tangible, without regard for any public controversy or dispute.

Impact Of Women On Jewish History/Prof. L. Jackson

Sarah Aaronson: The Heroine of NILI

By Prof. Livia Bitton-Jackson

Nearly eighty-five years have passed since Sarah Aaronson shot herself in the head, putting an end to the torture her Turkish interrogators inflicted upon her for refusing to disclose information about her associates in the NILI, an anti-Turkish spying organization that supplied the British with intelligence.

Serials

Getzlight - Chapter I

By Ruchama Feuerman

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