Hurricane Sandy: Aftermath and Rebuilding (Part II)

Posted on: November 1st, 2013

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The Small Wall

Posted on: October 25th, 2013

The Kotel Hakatan is the “little sister” of the well-known Western Wall, and is reminiscent of the photos and drawings of the way the Kotel looked before 1948. It is located 200 yards further north of the Kotel, and is on the same level as Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount). Since its plaza is much narrower, and the majority of the wall is underground (thereby concealing much of its height), the Small Wall is less impressive than the Western Wall.

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Hurricane Sandy: Aftermath and Rebuilding (Part I)

Posted on: October 25th, 2013

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Halachipedia: Where Halacha Meets The World Of Wiki

Posted on: October 23rd, 2013

Sukkot was cold in Ithaca, N.Y. Josh Polevoy and friends wondered if they needed to return after dinner to the sukkah, and the frigid outdoors, to eat the few remaining pieces of deli roll. With a quick search on the web browser of his iPhone, Josh, a senior at Cornell University, found his answer.

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Red Cross Visits Magen David Adom

Posted on: October 23rd, 2013

There’s nothing like sharing knowledge. Last month a delegation of New York Red Cross leaders – including American Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern – visited their colleagues at Magen David Adom in Israel to compare notes on how they respond to natural disasters and terrorism.

Sorting Through Old Things: Reflections On September 11th

Posted on: October 18th, 2013

I left my mother a message saying goodbye and pleading with her to make sure my son grew up knowing how much I loved him.

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Phyllis Chesler Unveils Candid Memoir At 92nd Street Y

Posted on: October 9th, 2013

“This is the story of a young and naive Jewish American woman who meant to rebel against tradition but who found herself trapped in the past, stuck in the Middle Ages, without a passport back,” declared Dr. Phyllis Chesler.

New Beginnings: Netzer Hazani

Posted on: October 5th, 2013

On a fresh August morning, I toured the newly re-built Netzer Hazani. This former Gush Katif community has successfully re-established itself near Yesodot, 8 years after Ariel Sharon's 2005 Disengagement Plan. It was truly amazing to once again see road signs bearing the names of Gush Katif communities! Seeing the green road sign with the white emblazoned letters of Netzer Hazani on it made something inside me first shudder and then smile.

Before The Deluge: The Jews Of The U.S. (Part Four)

Posted on: September 24th, 2013

The Federation of Jewish Labor by the end of the 1920s consisted of some 125,000 members, of whom 60 percent were employed in the confections industry. After 1929 there was a further rise in the level of Jewish participation in workers’ unions. There were 134,020 Jewish members of the fifty largest trade unions, 34.1 percent of the total number of organized workers, which roughly reflected the level of the Jews in the population of greater New York. In the remaining centers of the garment industry, in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Rochester, almost all the owners were Jews and the workers they employed were mainly Jewish.

The Stones, Fauna And Flora Of The Kotel

Posted on: September 4th, 2013

When we come to the Kotel we may be so engrossed in our tefillos that we don’t notice the numerous birds flying close by and the plants growing out of her stones. But the Kotel—spiritual home to millions — is built of stones that serve as the physical home for various animals and plants.

Before The Deluge: The Jews Of The U.S. (Part Three)

Posted on: September 3rd, 2013

The outward orderliness of the new circumstances of life was not without inner quakings of a spiritual crisis. Mixed marriages were extremely frequent in the southern and western states, where Jews were sprinkled in among the Christian populations. They came to about a third of the marriages Jews entered. But after 1881 the picture changed, with the flood of Jewish immigrants into New York. From 1908-1912, only 1.17 percent of marriages involving Jews were mixed.

Upholding The Art Of Chazzanut At YU’s Belz School Of Jewish Music

Posted on: September 3rd, 2013

Once a week for the past seven years, New York State Supreme Court Justice Martin Schulman has made the trip from his courthouse chambers in Jamaica, Queens to Yeshiva University’s Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music on YU’s Washington Heights Wilf Campus.

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I Will Hold Your Empty Hand

Posted on: August 23rd, 2013

We had just moved to Boro Park, fresh from the DP camps. The community was new and small, but we were settling in nicely. I knew how fortunate I was to have almost my whole family survive; most had so much less. Our family was a draw for many who needed that familiar feeling of home. One Shabbos afternoon I answered the door to find one such friend and a couple I did not recognize.

Jewish Baby With Rare Disease Needs Bone Marrow Transplant

Posted on: August 21st, 2013

Amanda and Akiva Zablocki, Jewish parents on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, are spending the month of Elul on the phone battling insurance companies. Their one-year old son, Idan (“era” in Hebrew), will soon be undergoing a bone marrow transplant for Hyper IgM, a rare genetic immune deficiency disorder that affects only two in a million people. The family’s Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot will take place at the Seattle Children’s Hospital as they prepare Idan for the surgery.

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Are Cover Letters Dead?

Posted on: August 16th, 2013

Cover letters have long been associated with resumes and the job application process. In a time and a place when people were actually mailing resumes, the cover letter was a vital component that allowed the applicant to introduce himself and spell out why he was applying for a particular job.

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Rescue And Renewal – Visiting The Illinois Holocaust Museum

Posted on: August 2nd, 2013

By its very definition, a museum is a building that keeps and displays art, artifacts, scientific specimens, or other objects of permanent value. Most of us probably remember school field trips to our local history museums where we ogled at glass-enclosed displays of times long gone. They were frequently dark and musty places, and often the connection between what we were viewing and our lives was somewhat tangential.

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Before The Deluge: The Jews Of The U.S. (Part Two)

Posted on: July 25th, 2013

The (European) press began to busy itself with the problems of emigration. The Austrian Central Body of Jews, which arose in 1848, dedicated itself to this situation. In May of 1848 a Committee for the Promotion of Emigration was started.

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Advocating For Children Through Food

Posted on: July 18th, 2013

As professions go, an international children’s rights advocate is probably not listed anywhere as a low stress job. Fighting on behalf of children in places as far off as Sudan, Yvette Garfield took their plight to heart and came up with – a cookbook. Handstand Kids, Garfield’s company, was established in 2007 to connect children in a global community. In her words, “I had done a lot of traveling and wanted to introduce kids to the world and food seemed the best way to do it.”

“I’m Deaf. I’m Blind. And I’m Jewish!”: Shabbat Shines for a Deafblind Boy

Posted on: July 5th, 2013

With canes in their hands and anticipation on their faces, the participants made their way towards the Maryland retreat main lobby. They traveled from across the country to experience Shabbat with Jews just like themselves – who could neither see the light of the Shabbat candles nor hear the words of Kiddush.

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Donate A Kidney To Save YOUR Life

Posted on: June 28th, 2013

The Jewish Press recently sat down with Chaya Lipschutz, a Brooklyn woman who saved the life of a stranger.

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