While I’m glad I get to vacation during the summer months, it really throws my diet off-track. How can I have fun without regretting it later?

Almost 2,000 years ago our forebears were uprooted from Judea. Though dispersed and scattered throughout the world, They continuously and persistently remained rooted in Judea. They cherished Judea. They yearned for Judea. They continued to pray thrice daily for the redemption of Judea. With pride, they continuously identified themselves with Judea. They continued to call […]

Chef’s Secrets for Super Salads I Be Leaf: Experiment with different varieties of salad greens. Try arugula (rocket), bibb, Boston, endive, leafy field greens (mesclun), radicchio, romaine, spinach or watercress. The darker the greens, the better! Note that even pre-washed packaged salad greens should be washed in cold water and dried in a lettuce spinner. […]

One-quarter of the students who come to secular college as Orthodox Jews report that they have changed their denominational identity while at college…. Two out of three Jewish college students change their level of Jewish observance during their college years. Notably, they are almost twice as likely to decrease their observance as they are to […]

Despite my growing interest in Judaism, my exposure to Jewish people and to the Jewish religion was limited—until university. I was at Rutgers University when I got my first real exposure to Orthodox Judaism. Growing up in southern New Jersey, I never knew there were Jewish enclaves not too far from my childhood home. I […]

Though I proudly wear my kippah and am thus identifiably Jewish, I often keep my religious life to myself. Being a religious Jew on campus is an isolating experience. Despite the ongoing learning programs, daily minyanim, kosher food and the 24/7 availability of Rabbi Aaron Greenberg, the Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning on Campus […]

American Orthodoxy is in a financial crisis. Similar to other communities, in many Orthodox neighborhoods 10 percent or more of primary breadwinners cannot find employment. As a result of the tumbling S&P 500 and interest rates, many are suffering from ever-dwindling savings accounts and pension funds. Moreover, lower incomes, job insecurity and the decrease in […]

“One of the prevalent myths about dorm life is that it is hard to be shomer mitzvot. “Why on earth would you want to do that?” was a common response I got when I told my seminary friends my plans for college. I was going to the University of Maryland, and planned to live in […]

Create a Home-Spending Plan • Create a detailed analysis or spreadsheet to analyze your expenses. Classify each expense as either necessary (food, rent or mortgage, utility bills) or discretionary (clothing, vacations, entertainment) • Allot a fixed amount of money to be spent per time period • Consult with a certified financial planner for advice How […]

Moe Feuerstein, a man with a vision of the role of religion in life—a legend in his time. To be sure, Moe was a real person, with feelings, emotions, sensitivities. He was a loving husband for sixty-five years to his dear wife and partner, Shirley; a rightfully proud father, grandfather and great-grandfather; a warm, compassionate […]

Student David Elmaleh discusses how the college campus has become a hub of anti-semitism Shouting, anti-religious slurs, evil glares and anti-Semitic rhetoric often get thrown my way as I walk through the halls during one of the countless anti-Israel demonstrations at York University. Am I a walking target? I often wonder if I am drawing […]

The Catskills! About as close to Gan Eden as we can get! Fresh mountain air, no congestion, wide open spaces. We can hardly wait for those summer months. But during these months, parents must remain vigilant. The danger is two-fold: What a child may do and what may be done to a child. I have […]

Reb Shlomo: The Life and Legacy of Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld By Rabbi Yisroel Besser Judaica Press, 2008 332 pages Reviewed by Michael Sanders In the depths of memory, there abides an image vouchsafed to me alone. I see him now as he was then—more than half a century past—a man of stature in the full […]

Moses I. Feuerstein (“Moe”) left an incredible legacy to the American Orthodox Jewish community. Moe’s leadership skills were evident even when he was a young student at Yeshiva University (YU). A visionary and a doer par excellence, he founded and served as the first editor of the Commentator, the official newspaper of Yeshiva College. After […]

Written on the last day of aveilut for my father, Jerry J. Savitsky (Yoel ben Avraham), who passed away on daled Shevat 5752 (January 9, 1992). And now my trusted friend and companion let me go, After one long and difficult year, it is time for us to part. You were my shadow, never leaving […]

MISCONCEPTION: Many religious Jews do not visit Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) today. This is because we are all presumed to be in a state of tumat met (ritual impurity due to “contact” with the dead), and a tamei met is prohibited from ascending Har HaBayit. (Since the removal of tumat met requires the use […]

The umpire didn’t have to call “Game suspended” when a few dozen Orthodox men playing softball on a Catskills field a few years ago heard a child screaming. Down the road, at a Jewish bungalow colony in the middle of the once-and-still-Jewish Borscht Belt, a young non-Jewish girl had injured her foot in a traffic […]