Locusts, the Holocaust and Today
The 17-year locusts, as many call them, won’t be singing their deafening song this spring on the East Coast. The particular brood (there are several) that we easterners are familiar with, though, is expected...
The Mashgiach on Solitude
by Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky We are experiencing an unprecedented disruption of the normal functioning of the entire world. Many people have tried to explain the message Hashem is sending us, encouraging us to be...
Thank You
To all the selfless doctors, nurses and hospital workers who have been working tirelessly and heroically throughout the current crisis… To all the government officials, police, fire fighters, emergency personnel, mail carriers, sanitation workers...
Got Mitzvos?
Got Mitzvos? We’ve done our best to find substitutes, to whatever extent possible, for our routines of davening and learning. Leyl seder, though, is going to be a hard one. We’re resigned to a...
All Shabbos, All the Time
This crisis gives us Shabbat all week long. We are home, with our spouses, our children. We spend time trying to work remotely but then we have to get back to real work… We have to deal with our family.
Different Hopes For Different Folks
“Number one…” presidential hopeful Joe Biden Jr. said at his March 15 debate with equally hopeful (though less entitled to be so) Senator Bernie Sanders, “if I’m elected president and have an opportunity to...
Sanzer Rebbe: Anger and Tension in the home is worse than Chametz
Of all the wonderful messages we have received from Torah personalities, a directive from the Sanzer Rebbe may be the most incisive and reassuring about how to prepare for Pesach this year. Kudos to...
An Open Letter to the Ribbono Shel Olam
Please forgive the temerity of addressing You in this way. Actually, for mortal Man to address You altogether doesn’t really make sense. Why would You listen? Why should You care? But You do. You...
BDE – Mara Kochba
I was devastated to learn a few days ago that Mara Kochba, a friend for decades, had passed away on Shabbos. Mara was an activist’s activist. Professionally, she was a PR guru, a fund-raiser,...
Responding to Wrath With Calm
It’s strange but true: We sometimes fail to acknowledge the most important thing in the universe. That would be bechirah, Hashem’s astonishing gift of free will to mankind. We humans are able to choose...