Volume # 0

Summer 2013(5773)

In this issue
Quick and Healthy Summer Suppers
Recipes

Quick and Healthy Summer Suppers

Summer is a terrific time to explore the great outdoors. Home gardens, roadside farm stands and farmers’ markets are overflowing with a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruits that are ripe for the picking. Simple suggestions to make mealtime preparations a breeze: • Serve foods that can be enjoyed cold or at room temperature […]

Humor

The Jewish Community Confronts Its Crisis Crisis!!!

By Dovid Bashevkin No one is quite sure when this crisis began. Some point to the four symposiums on the future of Modern Orthodoxy that appeared in various Jewish publications within a six-month period; others suggest the growing trend to service “teens at risk of becoming at risk.” A third school of thought, albeit a […]

Humor

Yisrael Campbell On a Deeply (Comical) Spiritual Quest

In the competitive world of professional comedy, it pays to have a hook—some distinctive feature of biography or appearance that sets one performer apart from another. Among Orthodox comics, Yisrael Campbell has the I-was-a-Catholic/My-aunt-was-a-nun angle all to himself. And he’s the only one who had a series of brit milahs on the way to becoming […]

People

Discovering Rav Elyashiv

Since his recent petirah, much has been said and written about Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l, one of the greatest posekim of the post-World War II era. Nevertheless, despite his very public profile—as awe-inspiring as it is—Rav Elyashiv was a very private person. Although Rav Elyashiv was surrounded by many people—even great talmidei chachamim—they convey […]

Humor

Joan Weiner: A Rare Woman’s Voice

The crowds at comedy clubs around New York City aren’t sure, at first, what to make of the Orthodox woman on stage with a sheitel (wig) and long flowing dress. Is she really a comedian? They quickly get their answer: Yes. In her routine about life as an Orthodox homemaker, as wife and mother and […]

Does God Have a Sense of Humor?
Jewish Law

Does God Have a Sense of Humor?

Tremendous pressure is placed on one who addresses the role of humor within a Torah perspective. The push to “open with a joke” is intimidating enough when the subject matter is standard fare, but when the subject is humor itself, the sense is that the bar is significantly raised as to the quality of the […]

Up Close with Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich
Inspiration

Up Close with Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich

Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich’s tenacious struggle to keep Torah in Communist Russia is documented in his book Unbroken Spirit: A Heroic Story of Faith, Courage and Survival (Jerusalem, 2012). But in a recent interview with OU

Discovering Rav  Elyashiv
People

Discovering Rav Elyashiv

Since his recent petirah, much has been said and written about Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l, one of the greatest posekim of the post-World War II era. Nevertheless, despite his very public profile—as awe-inspiring as it is—Rav Elyashiv was a very private person. Although Rav Elyashiv was surrounded by many people—even great talmidei chachamim—they convey […]

A Synagogue Full of Prayers
Inspiration

A Synagogue Full of Prayers

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, famed defender of the Jewish people, was visiting a town. Approaching the community’s synagogue for worship services,

Reviews

Journeys in Talmud

Rabbi Immanuel Bernstein’s Journeys in Talmud addresses a void which has not been filled—despite the explosion of Anglo-Jewish publications of the past decade directed largely, if not exclusively, at a traditionally observant Jewish readership.

A Faithful Son Makes It Home
People

A Faithful Son Makes It Home

In 1970, a group of Jewish activists, desperate to escape Soviet Russia, devised a plan. They would fill up a small plane to a local city under the pretense of attending a wedding, and then hijack the plane to Sweden. Once there, they planned to announce their intention to immigrate to Israel. The plane never […]

Understanding Jewish Law
Reviews

Understanding Jewish Law

As a law professor for almost three decades, I am familiar with the fine Understanding series of books (Understanding Contracts, Understanding Torts, et cetera).

People

Joan Weiner: A Rare Woman’s Voice

The crowds at comedy clubs around New York City aren’t sure, at first, what to make of the Orthodox woman on stage with a sheitel (wig) and long flowing dress. Is she really a comedian? They quickly get their answer: Yes. In her routine about life as an Orthodox homemaker, as wife and mother and […]

From The Desk of Rabbi Steven Weil, Senior Managing Director

True Leadership

Leadership has always been a buzzword among the self-help gurus. Books, seminars and training sessions abound, aimed at helping people hone their leadership skills and effectively learn how to take control of their professional and personal lives. And while it is always helpful to learn from the CEOs, psychologists and motivational speakers who have dominated […]