Succulent Meat
When working with garlic, a great shortcut I discovered in my local supermarket is fresh, peeled, whole cloves. It’s beyond worth spending the extra buck.
Skin Care
I’ve seen beautifully packaged luxury skincare filled with irritating ingredients – they remain top sellers because often people just don’t know better.
Maple Bacon Cornbread Muffins
I usually find cornbread to be dry, but this one was very moist and served with a delicious maple flavored whipped cream.
Part II: College – I Don’t Think So!
Suddenly and abruptly, everything I had always known about myself no longer applied. There would be no long yeshiva career, Kollel or the like. At that point I really had no identity. I didn’t know who I was or what it was that I was going to do.
Easy Does It!
For your average Israeli, spicy hot might be fun, but not for me. Allow me to repeat - easy does it!
Green With Money
Now that Pesach is over, we return you to your regularly-scheduled pressing questions:
Dear Mordechai,
Can I use a nose hair trimmer during Sefirah?
Harry...
Putting Your Gas Guzzler On A Diet
For those of us who have no choice but to drive, we need to find ways to make that overpriced tank of gas last as long as possible.
A Historic City: Philadelphia
The Liberty Bell is a symbol of American Independence.
Breaking Free
In the dim lights of the auditorium, the outfit screamed of loudness, and I felt different.
Menorah Contest
Each year at our family Chanukah party, we try to introduce a new activity, to keep things fun and exciting for the children and adults alike. Last year’s addition – a huge hit – was a menorah-making contest.
Gush Etzion
Honestly, it would be hard to choose the one area that could win the title “the most dramatic site” in Eretz Yisrael. However, one strong candidate has to be Gush Etzion.
It’s No Secret: Kosher Restaurant Cookbook: A Foodie Favorite
“People who never buy cookbooks are getting this one,” said Victoria. “They read it cover to cover and find it so interesting.”
Kosher Yoga
In a pinewood paneled roof studio in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, Avraham and Rachel Kolberg, Breslover chassidim, teach yoga classes to groups of men and women. Purple and blue exercise mats are neatly folded on wooden shelves. Purple foam blocks, weights of up to twenty kilos and ropes as thick as a man’s wrist are all stacked neatly along the sides of the studio. Plenty of light floods the room from large windows that face the Judean Hills. The sense of peace in this studio comes from more than just the pleasant surroundings.
Flaming Glory
I stare, and I stare, trying to connect to those deep, seeing, eyes, to the wisdom and depth within that face. And all I can think, murmurs sliding in a circle through my mind - is, hadras panim... hadras panim... hadras panim...
We Stopped Traffic On Ocean Parkway
Picture it, a busy Sunday afternoon with traffic moving briskly along Ocean Parkway, a major Brooklyn thoroughfare linking the brownstones of Park Slope in the north with the beaches and amusement parks of Coney Island in the south. Suddenly everything comes to a halt.
I Don’t Buy It
There are a lot of newspaper advice columns out there. But what makes this one different is that sometimes, you don’t want to ask an expert. Sometimes you want to ask a regular guy who might not actually know more than you.
The Hat
I do not dress like the average Orthodox man in my Brooklyn neighborhood. It’s not that I’m trying to make a statement by often going hatless and wearing blue and brown suits, it’s just that in becoming religious I have changed so much - there are certain things I don’t want to give up, especially since my religion doesn’t truly ask me to do so.
Shuttling Between Yeshiva And Recording Studio
Zevi Kaufman is not your typical singer/songwriter. While most singers find themselves in and out of the recording studio in the final weeks before the release of their album, Kaufman finds himself in and out of the Beis Medrash at Yerushalayim's Yeshivas Aderes Hatorah, where the 20-year-old Flatbush native is currently learning.
Zionism – Made In China
It’s true. My Zionism was made in China. I grew up in New Jersey in a town that was nearly one third Jewish. Everyone on my street was Jewish. Half my soccer team was Jewish. In Synagogue, my Cantor infused every message with Zionism, as did his wife and children. To my parents this was pure mishugas.
Lifetime Guarantee
Ever since I’ve started writing “You’re Asking Me?” people have been writing in to ask for advice, like they expect me to have all the answers. Seriously. Don’t these people have any friends? Or anyone else they can ask?
Reaching Overseas To Aid Victims Of Domestic Violence
Bat Melech, Israel’s most comprehensive network of social service for victims of domestic violence, has reached across the Atlantic for assistance, hoping to create a funding base in America in order to be able to help even more women in crisis.
Clean Jokes
Welcome back to “You’re Asking Me?” where we answer questions sent in by confused readers who thought they were writing in to Dr. Yael. That said, I’d like to thank all the readers who wrote in. I’m going to attempt to address your questions, not so much because I know the answers, but more so that I have an excuse to get out of cleaning for Pesach.
Why Aren’t Americans Happy?
The real question is "What is happiness?" We seem to be a very unhappy generation. Even when we say “This makes me happy”, “I am happy”, “I would be happy if you would do this”, “I will be happy to do that”, do we really mean happiness? Do we even know what happiness feels like?
AFSI Founder Herb Zweibon Dies At 84
Veteran pro-Israel activist Herbert Zweibon, founder and chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel/AFSI, passed away in New York on Jan. 20 at age 84.
You Are Your Child’s Best Advocate
When you have a child with special needs, whether it be medical or developmental, you are very familiar with signing those lengthy privacy practice information sheets. At some point we don't even bother reading them because we know that once you have a child with special needs, nothing is ever private. Every professional has an opinion. Still, the ultimate decision is up to you.
Yeshiva Derech HaTorah, Brooklyn
Question: What's your favorite Jewish holiday?
Ateret Avot Adult Living Facility, Brooklyn
Question: Which 20th century leader did you admire most?
13th Ave., Brooklyn
Question: How do you rate Michael Bloomberg's performance as mayor of New York?
Part I: The Beginning
This wasn’t supposed to happen, especially not to me. I could give you all the stats: my great-grandfather learned in Radin with the Chofetz Chaim, my grandfathers learned in Slobodka and Novardik, and my father has smicha from Ner Yisroel in Baltimore. Outside of the brief fantasy (which lasted a lot longer than I care to admit) that I would be the star player who takes the Chicago Bears to the Superbowl, I always saw myself in yeshiva. It is what I had always planned to do, and I never really contemplated anything else