Volume # 0

Summer 2008(5768) 5768

In this issue
Summertime Specialties
Recipes

Summertime Specialties

With the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, I am always inspired to try out new recipes during summer. I hope you will be, too!

Responsa From the Holocaust
History

Responsa From the Holocaust

Rabbi Ephraim Oshry served as the spiritual leader of the Kovno Ghetto during the Holocaust. Highly regarded as a scholar, he was presented with many questions about Jewish law amidst the hardships of ghetto life. Rabbi Oshry wrote the questions and answers on scraps of paper torn from concrete sacks, placed these notes into tin […]

Reclaiming the Music of Prayer
Jewish Living

Reclaiming the Music of Prayer

I am a mainstream Modern Orthodox Jew, a product of the Jewish day school movement. I’ve served on the boards of the last two shuls to which I’ve belonged. I enjoy opening up a Gemara and studying its wisdom. My greatest joy would be to see my children grow up to be even more religiously […]

What’s the Truth about … Sitting Shivah on Erev Shabbat?
Jewish Living

What’s the Truth about … Sitting Shivah on Erev Shabbat?

Misconception: Aveilim (mourners) stop sitting shivah on erev Shabbat at noon. Fact: Private displays of mourning continue on Shabbat, while the public aspects of shivah cease shortly before Shabbat.1 Background: For the first seven days following the burial of a first-degree relative (father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter or spouse), one observes a period of […]

On Sabbatical: A Rabbi’s Journal
Israel

On Sabbatical: A Rabbi’s Journal

In a series of weekly e-mails that Rabbi Steven Pruzansky sent to members of his shul while living in Modiin, Israel, for several months this past year, the New Jersey rabbi recorded his observations about Israeli life. Here are some of his reflections. A New Hat As my black Shabbat hat has never traveled well, […]

Torah Codes Revisited
Jewish Thought

Torah Codes Revisited

We received many letters in response to our interview with Torah Codes researcher Harold Gans (fall 2007). Here is a sampling of the letters. Ed. With regard to “Up Close with Torah Codes Researcher Harold Gans,” I have two objections. Hypothesis testing is a well-developed branch of statistics. I can’t believe that designing and executing […]

On and Off the Beaten Track in … Mazkeret Batya
Israel

On and Off the Beaten Track in … Mazkeret Batya

The past 125 years have seen the miraculous return of our people to our ancient homeland—Eretz Yisrael. This is nothing short of astounding when you consider that in 1880 there were approximately 10,000 to 20,000 Jews in Ottoman Palestine, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the world Jewish population. The first waves of aliyah, […]