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A series of documents I acquired recently tells one such situation, where a woman who survived the war, but whose husband did not, spent several years dealing with the halachic ramifications that resulted.

Over a century before the Holocaust, Rav Alkalai predicted that 1940 would be a year of great hardship with an outpouring of wrath that will lead to the gathering of our dispersed in Eretz Yisrael and urged Jews to make aliyah voluntarily before this catastrophic event forced them to settle in Eretz Yisrael.

Granted, the U.N. mainly represents governments – the great majority of which are dictatorships – rather than people. Nevertheless, to the extent that the U.N. speaks for the world, its overwhelming hostility toward Israel, and increasingly, the desire to extinguish the Jewish state, are undeniable.

I often tell my kids when they choose to take a gray path that they were born to stand out and to be unique.

A person is always complicated, layered, and ultimately unknowable – we never know exactly what someone has been through, and what has led them to the choices they have made.

One of my fondest memories in sleepaway camp was when it became dark and cloudy out. While some were bummed that the gray sky cancelled their swimming or sports play plans, I looked forward to the downpour and what came after.

Most things in this world are indeed gray. And then there are indeed things that are black and white, like a war between good and evil.

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Because our aide needs time off to be with her husband and to recuperate from Hubby’s constant requirements, she replaces herself with female friends from her social circle. Hubby doesn’t really mind, as they are young and usually lovely.

The Ottoman Empire, which gained prominence and world power in the 14th and 15th centuries and on, had a significant effect on the Jews of the era, and for many centuries served as a relative safe haven for its Jews.

The focus of the miscarriage of justice against Dreyfus has always been upon the fraudulently-obtained Dreyfus handwriting sample, but it may have been du Paty de Clam’s bogus telegram that was outcome determinative in Dreyfus’s conviction by the tribunal.

The secret is to use that regret to strive for more. To learn from mistakes. To make sure that when confronted with a similar situation, the best path will be clear.

There is a healthy regret that is one of the three steps of teshuva. There is a regret that can be transformed into an engine, a desire and decision to improve the relationship and do better next time.

Healthy regret arises from a conscious evaluation of a past misstep. It compels us to learn and grow.

With maturation, and a greater understanding of her pain and suffering, I realized that she taught me and others so much.

Regret, or charata, is crucial in the process of teshuva. The Alter Rebbe offers a profound insight, linking the word charata with charita (engraving). This suggests that acknowledging our regrets helps engrave lessons learned, preventing repetition of past mistakes.

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I couldn’t believe that I found myself among thousands of people and that that moment in time had been preserved, said Stern.

In our home, I have tried many different responses to the questions about a loved one having passed away. Bear in mind that whatever response I decide to utter is forgotten within a couple of minutes by Hubby.

The recipient of the letter was Rabbi Aharon Mendel HaCohen (1866-1927), a native of Tiberias who served as Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazic community in Cairo for decades. He is best remembered for his ambitious attempt of renewing the Sanhedrin and reinstating the semicha.

When WWI broke out in 1914, he was arrested as an enemy alien and was later released in a prisoner exchange; in his memoir, he notes the irony of his freedom being secured through the intervention of the Pope’s Nuncio on behalf of a Jewish boy he had never seen.

Here in America in 2024, the danger is approaching the level of Nazi Germany in the early 1930s. Now, as then, the antisemitic wave originated in the universities.

Anyone who has been involved in chinuch, either as an educator or a parent, knows that adding playfulness, whimsy, and fun are the secret, critical ingredients to a love of learning.

Playfulness can turn the harshness of reality into something that is more manageable. It helps us to relax and regulate our nervous system which makes for better processing and coping.

When I close my eyes, thirty years ago at Camp Stone feels like yesterday, the lessons from holding candles by the lake on Tisha B’Av and hiding from the Greeks at late night capture the flag, will be part of me forever. Playing is learning, posting is not.

The idea behind play therapy is, some feelings are too intense for a child to express in words, but a child’s play can reveal and articulate a world of complex emotions – to one who knows how to observe.

When it comes to sports, it’s key for adults to emphasize life skills learned from the game, rather than focusing on winning and losing.

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Seemingly after seeing how all of the work that his father-in-law invested in the movement might fizzle away, he accepted the role. Now as leader, Rebbe Mendel Schneerson – who over the decades many began to refer as the Rebbe – steered the movement into being a global Jewish outreach organization.

It is impossible to fully encapsulate the impact or the influence of the Rebbe in a single article. Growing up as a young emissary (shliach) in Louisville, Kentucky, I rarely saw the Rebbe in person, but I witnessed the effect of his teachings and worldview every single day.