One year and one day ago we made aliyah on NBN’s Chanuka 5766 flight (lit candles for the third day of Chanuka in Kennedy Aiport, for the fourth day in Kochav Yaakov). Though I am too busy to write anything substantial in commemoration, I did put together a little list of every-day things for which [...]

Last night was the official opening of the OU‘s biennial conference, which is being held in Jerusalem for the second time ever. I saw the schedule in last week’s Torah Tidbits: they had a pre-conference Yarchei Kallah learning program, and the range of speakers and honorees was quite impressive. Except for one name that is: [...]

Now for a positive experience: Scenario: We are eating the Shabbat day meal. There is a 2 year old girl, Rachel, who is walking around and causing trouble. She is a sweet little girl, not talking much yet, but very intelligent. She understands exactly what her parents tell her. She walks up to the table, [...]

Over the past couple of years, we have had many Shabbat meals with other families. Some that we hosted, some where we were guests. During that time, we have observed many different types of interactions between parents and children. I would like to share some of these. (It is sometimes so frustrating to watch these [...]

Chazal speak very favorably about a person who is able to time his (or her) morning prayers to coincide exactly with sunrise. Although I have done this on a fair number of ocassions in the past, usually when this happens, I am in a place where I am unable to actually see the sun rise [...]

In today’s Arutz-Sheva email, there is an article about how an Investigation into Police Brutality of protestors during the exile of Jews from Gush Katif was dropped. Despite lots of evidence (including eye-witness testimony, photos and video), the stated reason that the investigation was dropped is “lack of public interest”. Yes, you got that right. [...]

This past Shabbat I davened at the 7am “Hashkamah” minyan at shul. We finished up with davening just about when the main minyan was getting started. At that point, my wife showed up with our son. I had the privelege of watching Moshe while my wife went to daven. He slept for half of the [...]