Our work is cut out for us. American Jews are losing the street fight for Israel, a fact we all realized quite abruptly this past week. This affects any Jew anywhere—on social media, in a pizza store, on a walk on Shabbat in Teaneck or Brooklyn, even sitting in a car in traffic. If we have any Jewish identifier, a kippah maybe, or a skirt

The rockets from Gaza that are raining on Israel this week, that continue to be launched into residential neighborhoods even as we type, should be a wake-up call for all Jews to understand that whether we are civilians or not, our very existence is under attack. It was Kristallnacht all over again in Lod this week, as Arab bullies roamed

Like many of my columns, unfortunately, this one was written late on our deadline day and is not the piece that I originally envisioned. I had originally planned to write a nice and completely positive piece about how excited and happy I was to participate in a number of unique events this past week, such as the Hachnasat Sefer Torah for

Like most of us, I have been enjoying and savoring the gradual resumption of “normal life,” as more and more are getting vaccinated and restrictions seem to be easing, albeit slowly. I was especially delighted to hear and read the news early this week about Israel ending all outdoor mask restrictions and I was doubly overjoyed to hear

The Jewish Link staff joins the greater Jewish community in mourning for the 45 neshamot taken from us, suddenly and tragically. We all feel particularly close to the Morris and Kronenberg families in Bergenfield and Passaic, and the Koltai family who made aliyah from Passaic a few years ago. Without any attempt to minimize their

It’s not a coincidence that Yom Hazikaron, the Israeli day of remembrance, concludes with a celebration. The immense losses our people endured in the decades before and leading up to Israel’s establishment are appropriately marked on this solemn day, but they are thankfully tempered by the onset of Yom Ha’atzmaut and the joy generated

Few, if any, Teaneck families have had a greater impact on the global Jewish community than the Senters. We join the larger community in mourning the loss of Rabbi Dr. Zecharia “Harvey” Senter, who passed away on the last day of Pesach, in Teaneck.

Rabbi Senter, with his eshet chayil, Chana,

As we prepare to begin counting the omer on the second night of Pesach, we note that many of us have already spent the year counting days (and nights) toward many goals. The pandemic has given many of us nothing but time for such calculus.

Those who have already received their vaccines certainly counted

The past week, really just the past few days, was a simcha-filled and emotional week for my extended family. I was able to celebrate and join in-person, via YouTube Live, and via WhatsApp texts and pics, a number of big “milestone” smachot for us.

On Sunday, our family celebrated my Washington

As I was sitting at my desk late Tuesday and thinking that it was time to get out of the office and perhaps experience some of the thankfully warmer weather now upon us, I received a call from Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky of Bris Avrohom, one of my favorite rabbis, though I have many favorites. I assumed he was calling me to invite me to a Bris

Last November, during the darkness of the pandemic, some light broke through. Old and new friends, all wine enthusiasts, gathered around a complex, multilayered project that, despite all the regulations and distancing guidelines that have characterized this year and made our lives virtually unrecognizable, took hold. In some ways,

I am dedicating my publisher’s space to my friend, our writer, published author, longtime Teaneck resident and proud Jewish Link contributor, Joe Rotenberg, z”l, who passed away suddenly early last week.

It’s hard to describe Joe Rotenberg in one relatively short column. I laughed along