Last week there was a tempest in a pot of chicken soup caused by—a spelling bee— that took over the headlines and generated more hype than important news breaking in the Middle East—a cute weapon of mass distraction with a hidden message.  The heated and mostly humorous debate over spelling and pronunciation over the Yiddish word for dumpling, or matzoh ball,

New York—For many, the summer months are associated with vacation, camp, or perhaps the beach. However, there are people unable to partake in these months of fun and excitement. Confined to their nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, or hospital beds, or as shut-ins, the sick and elderly’s only summer experience is the passing of the hot sun across their

Jerusalem—Thousands of bnei Torahfrom across Eretz Yisroel are expected to flock to Binyanei Haumah to participate in a Torah gathering of a magnitude that has not been held in Eretz Yisroel since the historic Dirshu World Siyum marking the previous Siyum HaShas.

In an unprecedented outpouring of chizukfor the

When the enemy of your enemy is about to get you, it’s time to ally with the lesser of your enemies. Jordan is a peace partner, teetering on the edge, with Daniel Pipes predicting its demise. Egypt is a peace partner that needs Israel to control the mess on the Sinai borders, with HAMAS and other extremists filtering into Egypt and causing chaos there. Saudi Arabia

Despair is one word we can use to describe how we feel when a giant among men, a man with an extraordinary mind and insight into the law, Jewish and secular, self-destructs before our very eyes. Are these implosions of character caused by hubris or mental illness? Richard Nixon comes to mind.

Last week, Dr. Michael Broyde, an outstanding dayan at the Beth Din

It’s Not So Simple:

Diogenes, Hoenlein and The Truth

At least five times a day, in the Sh’ma, a Jew prays about truth.  Diogenes spent his life looking for an honest man. And in all the chatter about the Middle East, truth is hard to find.

But if there is anyone who can figure out what is going on in the world that affects the Jewish

Every year when school starts, parents are upset when they find out where their children have to wait for the school bus, if they have a school bus, and how long the bus ride will take. Recently, the Teaneck Board of Education invited the public to a meeting about school buses for students who attend private/day schools/yeshivot in the neighborhood. Pleas went out for

Yom HaShoah commemorations began with commemorations in NY in the early 1950s. Since those early days, commemorations on the Sunday after Pesach, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on first Seder night, April19, 1943, have become ubiquitous. Yom HaShoah has become an American obligation, as candles are lit in synagogues, in parks and