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A lifetime ago, on a frigid Toronto morning in a packed classroom, my enthusiastic university professor announced that we were about to begin the wondrous study of epistemology. Epistemology? Sounded…
With much siyatta Dishmaya, our community has grown exponentially. Orthodox communities are thriving and the quantity and quality of Torah education — yeshivos, Bais Yaakovs, kollelim — surpasses all reasonable…
Where is Esther mentioned in the Torah? In Devarim (31:18) it says, “And I will surely Hide (astir) My face on that day…” (Chullin 139b). Purim is the obverse of…
One of the most difficult decisions every parent has to make, on a regular basis, is what kind of cereal to buy. It seems pretty trivial, but it’s a very…
A quarter of a century has passed since the world was shaken by the passing of the great tzaddik Harav Yehudah Zev Segal, zt”l. Harav Segal was known universally as…
Dumb criminals get a bad rap. They make one mistake in their lives — besides the crimes, obviously — and everyone makes fun of them. If you’re a dumb criminal…
By Rabbi Shimon Finkelman It was some 20 years ago in Camp Agudah on Shabbos Parashas Pinchas. Rav Belsky was delivering a short dvar Torah at the kiddush following davening…
By Mordechai Schmutter If you have an eighth-grader, then you’ve probably put some serious thought so far into where your son is going for high school, unless there’s one that you…
As told to Tzipie Wolner If you were to recall one scene from your childhood, what would it be? “Well,” Mindy once said, “I certainly hope my kids are not…
By Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein “At the moment of Mattan Torah, Hashem spoke to the Jewish people and said, ‘My sons, there is a wonderful possession I have in the world.…
By Nissi Unger He was wearing a black beanie and had long, shiny black hair. That’s all I saw through the peephole. Oh, and a flashlight. He was carrying a…
In this day and age of computers doing everything for us, one of the few things that we still have to do manually is set up a new computer. And…
By Rabbi Baruch Gefner Ever since our people were exiled from Eretz Yisrael, the thought of Yerushalayim has intensified in our collective heart. We mourned over it, dreamed about it,…
By Meir Niv “So, what would you like to receive as your reward?” the king of India asked the honoree of the evening, a man who had recently invented…
By Baila Marcus Twenty-six years ago, as a newlywed, I learned how to fry schnitzel and iron my husband’s shirts. After several months of marriage, worrying bits of information filtered…
By Rabbi Yaakov Barr, MSc, PGDip, BABCP Accreditation Today, everyone is busy. I had a chat with a friend recently that went something like this: “How is everything going?” my…
BY MENACHEM POLLAK Harav Pinchas Hirschprung (5672/1912–5758/1998), whose 20th yahrtzeit was Sunday, 27 Teves, was a gaon olam who would dazzle his audience with his wide breadth of knowledge of…
BY MIRIAM GOTTLIEB The Holocaust. The hate, the horror, the throbbing hurt of a nation in ruin. Rivers of ink, museums of memorabilia, and so many words still falling woefully…
I will freely admit that I don’t understand how dry cleaners work. How do they get that stuff clean? And without water! Everyone says, “They use chemicals.” They say it…
BY MENUCHA CHANA LEVIN Creative, gracious, original, colorful, inspiring … in these ways Sheva Chaya Shaiman is similar to the unique works of art she produces. An expressive watercolor artist…