by Yechiel Granatstein | Nov 28, 2007 | Beginner
It was evident that within Reb Yitzchak’l there was an inner illumination, a burning flame of indomitable faith, that not all the hells of the Holocaust would quench, either in Skarszysko or afterward in Schlieben — not as long as he lived. And from the...
by Rabbi Avi Shafran | Sep 24, 2007 | Beginner
There is simply no describing the plaintive, moving melody to which Yiddish writer Avraham Reisen’s poem was set. As a song, it is familiar to many of us who were introduced to it by immigrant parents or grandparents. And, remarkably, the strains of “A...
by Rabbi Avi Shafran | Sep 6, 2007 | Beginner
An odd Rosh Hashana custom, duly recorded in the Talmud and halachic codes, is the lavishing of puns on holiday foods. Most Jews know that on the first night of the new Jewish year, it is customary to eat a piece of apple dipped in honey, to symbolize our hope for a...
by Rabbi Avi Shafran | Jul 19, 2007 | Beginner
Tisha B’Av – which falls this year on July 24 – always brings back the personal memory of a conversation between two teen-aged cousins more than thirty years ago. It took place on the outskirts of a non-religious kibbutz in the Galilee, on a hill...
by Rabbi Berel Wein | May 31, 2007 | Beginner
Now that the great holiday of Shavuot has passed, the cheesecake has been safely digested, and the summer is right around the bend, I am struck by certain ideas that the holiday inspired within me. Firstly, I am always impressed by the fact that Shavuot is celebrated...
