Lamdeni by Yonina
May the sweetness of this song light your way into Shabbat Kadosh! Shabbat Shalom!
Read MorePart 2: My Last Chumash Party
I shared in yesterday’s post that I didn’t want to attend my son’s chumash party. Here’s why I changed my mind!
Read MoreMy Last Chumash Party
My youngest child, Yoni, is having his Chumash party on Friday. That means that Friday morning the boys will walk to the synagogue next to the school, and an important rabbi will arrive and all the boys and parents will stand up and the rabbi will bless our sons and then hand each one his […]
Read MoreNahafochu! HaTikva in Bahrain for Israeli PM
This Purim Katan, for the first time in history, an Israeli Prime Minister is on an official visit to Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia. Who would have dreamed of Israel’s unlikely alliance with the Gulf States a few years ago? Like once-vilified Mordechai’s rise to power in the Persian Palace? I smiled when […]
Read MoreWant a Truly Happy Marriage? Dare to Disagree by Rabbi YY Jacobson
In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a Jewish take on the essential role of disagreement in marriage. Giving in for the sake of peace is like using a credit card. Sometimes you need to be mevater. But when you suppress your opinions and preferences too much for the sake of “peace,” you are likely to […]
Read MoreThe Africans Who Came for Shabbos
This week we hosted the first guests I remember who had to lower their heads to get inside our front door. Averaging nearly 7 feet tall, this Friday night we hosted a group of professional volleyball players who were recruited from various African countries to play for an Israeli team. When we all stood for […]
Read MoreKeeping Shemita on the Gaza Border: Jamie Geller Interviews Avichai and Keren Koch
After their young son heard about the tremendous mitzvah of keeping shemita, he asked his parents for a very big present, that they not farm their land during the shemita year. Since then, despite the fears and hardships, Avichai and Keren say they feel Hashem’s guiding and guarding hand in their lives most tangibly when […]
Read More6 Steps I’m Taking to a Happier Adar
Following an unthinkable tragedy, the Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed his Chassidim how to feel joy under any circumstances.
Read MoreEsther Pollard, Kesher Wife of the Decade: Sara Yoheved Rigler’s Remarkable Shiva Call
During her shiva call last week, Sara Yoheved Rigler and Jonathan Pollard discussed her nomination of Esther Pollard A”H, for Kesher Wife of the decade, an award inspired by her Kesher (Connection) Wife course, which encourages deep unity between wives and their husbands. When Jonathan Pollard mentioned that he tends to talk in the plural, […]
Read MoreA Struggling Teenage Boy and Shema Yisrael
Today my friend Ilana was telling me about her teenage son who has a lot of issues at school and at home. Ilana and her husband have been trying to work with him, to help their son, for years. And it’s very tempting, she told me, after all these years, to just throw in the […]
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