Lessons In Emunah

I didn’t see a solution to my housing needs forthcoming. Instead of getting down, I strengthened myself with the thought that “other people manage to find a place to live, and so will I.”

The soldiers milling around were silent, staring into the distance as if willing the ambulance to arrive faster.

David was surprised at the downright refusal, but he didn’t lose hope. He set out to another vendor and another vendor and another…

“C’mon, Abba, do me a favor and stop saying, ‘That’s all I need...’ Look at me: I’m healthy and happy. It’s a mitzvah to be happy. Be happy, Abba.”

As it turned out, the apartment had been a bit neglected and needed some work to clean it out and spruce it up. That had been the reason for its vacancy.

If I had had the chutzpah which I now possess, I would have loudly protested and demanded equal rights. Since I was a 15-year-old, well behaved student I obeyed him.

When I worked in a community organization many years ago and the folks that I was attempting to assist were rude, I could hear Mommie saying: “There is no excuse for bad manners!”

To my surprise, she thanked me again for the chizuk that I had given to her. Her comment somewhat assuaged the feeling of disappointment that I felt for having lost touch with her for so long.

Here and there, we saw a few men and boys. I still had my heart set on having a minyan. But how?

We all said our goodbyes and exchanged lots of hugs and best wishes before heading to bed the night before her flight, just in case we would not wake up in time to see her off. Better too many hugs than too few…

When the Nazis began their hunt of on October 1, Rosh Hashana night, most Jews were already hiding in fishing villages along the coast.

It seems, though, that The One Above recently ensured that I was compensated for the time I have spent picking up students over the years and taking them to school.

Our daughter from the West Coast surprised her sisters and delighted us by flying in for the weekend to join the festivities and meet her new nephew and niece.

When I sat down, this is what I was about to type. However, there in front of me, on the screen, was a post on our local community email forum stating: “Leaving for Har Nof at 5 p.m. Does anyone need a ride?”

Where was little Yair? We searched the area and asked others if they had seen him. No one had seen him go off on his own.

It was getting late, the plane was set to take off soon, and the boy had no idea what to do.

Given that the fever had already passed – and getting the medication down my fussy baby’s throat would be a challenge of its own – I finally decided to wait it out.

“Literally a few moments ago, while we were driving, a young boy pushed the emergency exit door of the bus by mistake and he fell out,” the driver continued.

Imagine my joy when, last year, I received an email from Linda saying that she would be coming to Israel for the first time in the fall of 2018.

I reminded him that the government had recently changed the rules and an appointment was now required.

Eli believes in reincarnation and rectifying the soul and he believes with a hundred percent certainty that this whole episode was part of his tikkun.

Naftali nodded solemnly. He put the envelope in a safe place and Moshe left, hoping sincerely that he had left his treasure with the right person.

He was so embarrassed! Here he didn’t even belong in the business class section, and he had inadvertently made an elderly passenger with legitimate rights to the cabin uncomfortable.

This was the Sixties, and they shared the ideals of their adolescent children. Pro-civil liberties, anti-war – the epitome of unaffiliated, liberal Jews.

Our most recent attempt at sending two greeting cards to our children in the USA proved to be a comedy of errors if ever there was one.

They get on the bus and start explaining the situation, how long they've been waiting, how tired and stressed they are, how hard it is for everyone, especially the kids and the mothers with babies in their arms.

An outsider might expect that we would have moved out long ago, but we had put down roots there. We were educating our children there and it was where we intended to remain.

Hopefully this story will also strengthen our motivation to try to be mikarev a fellow Jew – even if it seems on the outside like it's a lost cause and there's no use in even trying.

It was the night of Motzei Shabbos before Rosh Hashana, and my husband and I were invited to a pidyon haben in Lawrence at...

Our daughter and son-in-law looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing. They knew!