Why did God create me? Why do we have to keep Shabbat? Do my tefillot really matter? If God is so loving, why is there so much suffering? These are questions often left unanswered in many Jewish high schools. Until recently. Thanks to Kivun, a two-year-long Jewish philosophy curriculum...
Author: Bayla Sheva Brenner
Bringing God into the Classroom
Money Management for Kids: Making Cents of It All
Children need to learn that money is not a goal unto itself, but a valuable tool to help us fulfill our obligations as Jews.
Remembering Sarah Taub
She took her baby home with one question for God. “You gave me this child; what is my mission? Let me see the purpose while I’m alive.”
Pulling the Plug: Life Without Internet
In 120 years, when every one of my minutes flashes before me, I can’t bear the thought of watching myself mindlessly staring at a computer screen, reel after reel after reel.
Filling the Void: Creating Jewish Families Through Adoption
A rising number of frum couples are taking their determination to enter Jewish parenthood to the next level by adopting a child
Managing Mishpacha
Shoshana Friedman insists she didn’t choose her field. It chose her. A computer science and math major in college, she never intended on becoming managing editor of Mishpacha magazine, a popular weekly in the Orthodox world. But the signs were there nonetheless. Friedman realized early on that she had...
Rechy Frankfurter: Ami’s Woman at the Helm
When Rechy Frankfurter and her husband Yitzchok launched Ami Magazine in 2010, they weren’t the only game in town. A variety of competing frum newsprint and glossy publications were already lining the supermarket racks. Undeterred, they went on to claim Ami’s prominent place among them. As the former editor...
Unbroken Faith: American Jewish Families Who Defied the Odds
Many assume Torah Judaism came to these shores in the aftermath of the Holocaust. This is not only historically false, but it overlooks the extraordinary mesirut nefesh and devotion to Torah exhibited by hundreds of men and women who stubbornly and courageously fought to lay the foundation of Torah...
The Hartman Family, New York
When I was growing up, small farms still existed in Boro Park. I remember there were goats and chickens. It was a time when the majority of Jewish immigrants assimilated. Observant Judaism was perceived as being old fashioned, a relic from the Old Country.
The Fertig Family, New Brunswick, New Jersey
It’s a fallacy to say that Orthodox Judaism in America existed only from the 1940s onward. My grandchildren mark six generations since the arrival of the Fertig family in the US.