Jews have been able to bring the light of humor to even the darkest of times. We survive because we tell jokes, jokes that allow us to laugh even when tragedy, up to the point of death, threatens.
Not long ago, I received a halachic inquiry from a concerned congregant. His daughter was married a few days earlier in a supposedly Orthodox ceremony, but there occurred a serious breach in the tradition of Jewish weddings. The father wrote that everything was meticulously arranged: the hall was paid for, the chatan’s tisch was properly […]
By Dovid Bashevkin Much attention has been focused on the largely dire implications to be gleaned from the Pew report, which has led to the neglect of a lesser-known, but perhaps equally valuable, report issued simultaneously: The Phew Report. Commissioned by Rabbi Mordechai Leiner of the Young Israel of Izbica, the report serves as a […]
By Jack Abramowitz Shabbos. There, I said it. Shabbos. Sukkos. Shavuos. Mitzvos. Matzos. Shalosh seudos. Baba Basra. It feels good to get that off my chest. Readers may not realize how much I’m getting away with here, because at the Orthodox Union the convention is to publish those words as Shabbat, Sukkot, mitzvot, et cetera.* […]