Tag: sense

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.

The argument raged on in its typical, predictable way. It was a one-sided argument where he ranted at her for something or other that she was guilty of, something he felt made her deserving of a punishment tantamount to "verbal death."

Last time I wrote about the misguided attitude toward sports and exercise that seemingly permeates many frum circles. Some askanim view physical activity as unnecessary, needlessly diverting precious time from Torah study.

Earlier this summer I went up to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see the blockbuster exhibition, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. While rarely have I seen as many masterpieces collected together in a traveling show, one painting stood out for both its Jewish subject and the surprising way it narrated the dramatic story of Esther appearing before Ahasuerus. The painting, Esther Before Ahasuerus by Tintoretto, (1518-1594) was painted just as the 29-year-old artist was making his mark in Venetian society.

After returning from a year of studying in seminary in Eretz Yisrael, Feigi was ready to join the "real world." Seminary had been a wonderful, spiritually uplifting experience, but now it was time to settle down, find a job, and think about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Feigi started job hunting. She had excellent credentials and was perfectly qualified to start a career in any of a variety of fields. Yet despite her intelligence and willingness to work, she was unable to focus on a clear sense of direction.

Throughout our lives, we will all experience endless irritations and frustrations, as well as many losses, such as losing a job, suffering betrayal and abuse, and the death of a loved one. What makes the difference between those who stay down and those who pick themselves up and start rebuilding?

Teaneck Rabbi Discusses Geirus, Unconventional Warfare, and Rav Kook's Ideal State

I was driving home from New York with my family at the end of our vacation when my cell phone rang. Since we were in Tennessee and I wasn't sure if it was legal to talk on the phone, my wife picked it up and said, "Hello."

I know Purim is over, but Megillat Esther is so rich with lessons on how people should live their lives - along with the consequences of not doing so - that I wish to share one of the many wisdoms that I have gleaned from reading it. I believe that the world wouldn't be in the mess it is in - economically, socially and spiritually - if people would only open their eyes to the megillah's masterful insights on how to behave.

The curse of thinking in "victim" mode can be removed with the author's advice to forgive yourself for human errors (goodbye to a lingering, crippling sense of shame) so that your energies can be used productively.

Will the author's Hebrew-challenged husband become stuck on his hike in the Jerusalem hills? How did band practice go at her ulpan class, where everyone on the gig is learning Hebrew?

Dear Rabbi Horowitz: We find ourselves faced with an increasingly challenging experience each year when midwinter break comes around. Some of our children's friends go on expensive vacations with their families, and our kids are asking us to send them on similar trips. Our children are respectful whenever they discuss this with us, but there is a clear sense that they feel "left out" because they don't go to the exotic location like some of their friends.

Yaakov Astor applies the time-honored tradition of examining world events through a Torah lens, which he applies to the 20th century, leaving readers wiser than they were before.

The black fly was steadily crawling up and down my kitchen window screen. It was desperately − but methodically − seeking an escape, to get beyond the imprisoning panel of the screen, into the wide, open world.

The black fly was steadily crawling up and down my kitchen window screen. It was desperately − but methodically − seeking an escape, to get beyond the imprisoning panel of the screen, into the wide, open world.

Liberal Jews have invented the myth that Judaism is a synonym for the pursuit of "social justice."

Come Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, there are extra guests for dinner; I am always looking for a tasty family meal that everyone will enjoy.

For many parents late summer is a bittersweet time. Children are going off to college, or a post- high school year in Israel, or getting married.

This past week my youngest child turned four.

Some of history's greatest paintings have explored tragedy, from Francisco Goya's "Saturn Devouring his Son" and etching series on "The Disasters of War" to Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" to John Singer Sargent's "Gassed."

A parent turns to her teenaged son and asks, "What's bothering you?" "Whatever," answers the kid with a disconsolate shrug.

To encounter God is an elemental quest of mankind.

An agnostic may be compared to one who sits on the sideline of "The Big Game" without rooting for any particular team.

Two weeks ago I wrote about a culture of self-indulgence and instant gratification that seems to have permeated Western society.

Last week I discussed some of the things that Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance is, some that it's not, and why it is important.

Vegans and anyone on a diet will appreciate Edith Rothschild's appealing paperback sized as an 8-inch by 11-inch workbook.

Author: Rabbi Lazer Brody Publisher: Kalcom Publishing

In my previous column I wrote about older singles who were undermining their chance at getting married by letting others make decisions for them on as to whether to date a proposed shidduch or not.

• Michael Beschloss, the historian whose new book, Presidential Courage, played such a prominent role in the Monitor’s last offering, apparently has become a victim of Bush Derangement Syndrome, so named by columnist Charles Krauthammer in 2003 as he sought to give a name to “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency – nay, the very existence – of George W. Bush.”

Question: Six years after 9/11, do you still fear another catastrophic attack here?