Tag: message

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With Chanukah - the Festival of Lights quickly approaching, Jews the world over are busy planning get-togethers, preparing or buying latkes and donuts, shopping for gifts for children and adults alike and generally looking forward to having fun and a much welcome break from the daily grind of life.

You've probably seen the bumper stickers, bold black letters announcing "The Shmuz." They're all over the place - Brooklyn, Queens, Monsey, Lakewood. Well, now, "the Shmuz" doesn't have to be just a bumper sticker you pass on the road. "The Shmuz" is in your local bookstore.

You've heard of podcasts. Now there are "Godcasts." A week before Rosh Hashanah, Jewish World Review founder Binyamin Jolkovsky launched JWisdom.com, featuring a daily audio shiur in 11 minutes or less. Lecturers from around the world, including Rabbis Jonathan Rietti, Nosson Scherman, and Abraham J. Twerski, deliver the short inspirational talks - or Godcasts. A week before Rosh Hashanah, Jewish World Review founder Binyamin Jolkovsky launched JWisdom.com, featuring a daily audio shiur in 11 minutes or less. Lecturers from around the world, including Rabbis Jonathan Rietti, Nosson Scherman, and Abraham J. Twerski, deliver the short inspirational talks - or Godcasts.

In the months since Agriprocessors - formerly America's largest kosher meatpacking plant - declared bankruptcy in the wake of allegations of unethical and illegal business practices, speculation has abounded: Who will fill the gap in the kosher meat market? Will meat prices go up? Will an Orthodox Jew buy the Postville, Iowa plant?

Dear Rebbetzin Jungreis, I have wanted to write you for a long time because you helped me in such a profound way. I am so very thankful for your work, your message, your books, and your unapologetic call to all Jews to return to our Torah and heritage.

My talk was called "Divine Whispers." I would be sharing an array of stories, weaving them together to create a message of how even in the "ordinary" events of our lives, we can find a "divine whisper"-a lesson specially scripted for us. The talk was the highlight of a lovely afternoon and evening program arranged by Chabad emissary Chana Alta Mangel in Blue Ash, Ohio. The food, decor, workshops and program, like Chana Alta herself, were fabulous, offering a perfect balance of beautiful physical and spiritual nourishment.

We sat down for the Shabbat meal at our friends' home in Yerushalayim. The table was beautifully set, but it was the centerpiece - a simple vase bursting with flowers - that caught my eye.

The new school year is starting and parents across the board are busy getting their children ready for school. New clothing, books and study aids like calculators have been bought and bus service and car pools organized. As the year progresses parents will do whatever it takes to help ensure their offspring do well in their Limudei Kodesh and secular studies, including helping with homework or even enlisting a tutor.

Special Note: A young girl, struggling with the Angel of Death, wrote the following letter. At her request, the letter was sent to many rabbis and rebbetzinsin a position to disseminate her message among our people. Tragically, she is no longer here to see her letter published, but as we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, her neshamah will surely have an aliyah in the knowledge that her request has been fulfilled and her message read and taken to heart by many.

Like most people on this planet whose abodes are wired to electricity, I have a computer and go online. It is amazing to me that information on any subject or on any matter can be instantly retrieved with a few clicks of a mouse.

Dear Young and Not Pressured: I am responding to your letter from two weeks ago. I take issue with both your general message and with...

Are we Teaching Sinas Chinam (Baseless hatred)?

Last week I began to outline the three-fold formula that our sages advise will protect us from the painful birth pangs of the pre-Messianic era. Now with Hashem's help, I will continue, for this is a subject of great urgency. But to those who have sent e-mails and letters regarding personal problems, let me assure you that I will respond to all your correspondence personally.

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In the Footsteps of the Kuzari is a translation of Prof. Shalom Rosenberg's Hebrew work that has had significant influence in Israeli religious circles.

In the Footsteps of the Kuzari is a translation of Prof. Shalom Rosenberg's Hebrew work that has had significant influence in Israeli religious circles.

There was a time when I wore a message button daily. I wore it more to remind myself of the message than anyone else reading it.

"We must demonstrate against [Ehud] Olmert," said the voice over the phone.

Normalcy is relative. It is what you become used to. The more frequently something occurs, the more we see it as normal.

Crossing boarders always makes me nervous. Even though I do nothing wrong and always declare what I am carrying, I still feel unhinged.

The poem "The Road Not Taken" by renowned American poet Robert Frost expresses the gnawing curiosity that a traveler knows he will always have about the road that he didn't take.

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The menorahs have been put away; the scale groans with the added weight of the sufganiyot and latkes that were devoured; and people are starting to formulate their Pesach plans (so soon already!).

In this five-part series I have tried to explain what works and what doesn't when trying to send a message of support to someone in a time of crisis.

For the last two weeks I have been sharing parts of a well-meaning but inappropriate, advice-filled, e-mail that was sent to a well spouse through a third party.

The tradition of sitting shiva is a great help with grieving. For many people shiva is a buffer that helps you cope immediately with your tremendous grief.

The next two cartoons from the well spouse group I interviewed are almost identical. One seems to me to come from society and one from chronically ill spouses themselves.

In my previous column I wrote about the importance of assigning minimal value to the utterances of those who make nasty, ego-wounding comments.

It's that time of year again. You're sure to be visually bombarded at every turn of your shopping experience.