Wanna bet? If so, the Supreme Court came down with good news for you this week when the Court in a 6-3 decision ruled that the federal government cannot force states to enforce a federal rule. While the case was about the limits of the feds’ reach over the sports-betting industry, the decision, while not saying so outright, can

The minute Pesach is over, after the kitchens have been switched back to chametz and the last crumbs from the after-Pesach late-night pizza have been licked clean, the youth in Israel start getting ready for Lag B’Omer.

For Israeli adolescents it’s a very serious deal. Every youth group in

While my mother, z”l, was alive, she was the one her progeny approached when they had an assignment calling for them to interview someone from a previous generation. Now that she is not here anymore, I suddenly found myself playing the role of the grandmother being interviewed. To some of the grandchildren I probably seem

Part 28 (written 2004)

(Continued from previous week)

When the American Committee was in its infancy, it was made up of local men and women, who would meet to discuss, for example, whether to send $5000 or even $6000 to Jerusalem that week. As the

We decided that perhaps it was time for us to think about the summer and look into what musical events will be taking place not too far from here. Nina remembers the warm summer nights of the Goldman Band concerts in Central Park when she listened to the music as her family looked up at the stars. Mordechai, as well, talks about

May these words of Torah serve as a merit le’iluy nishmat Menachem Mendel ben Harav Yoel David Balk, a”h.

This week we learned Zevachim 31. These are some highlights.

Zevachim 31: Does a broker deserve a broker’s fee for selling you a home you

Today is the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim. Fifty-one years ago, as a result of the Six-Day War, the city of Jerusalem and its holy sites were once again in Jewish hands. For the first time since the War of Independence, when the Kotel HaMaaravi (the Western Wall) fell into Jordanian hands, Jews and

I’m a 22-year-old single woman who has been dating for a few years now. I’ve been set up with all sorts of young men. With some of the men I went out with, it was immediately clear to me that we were wrong for one another. Either we had different attitudes and goals about life or there were personality issues or I just didn’t

There are three major opinions regarding visitors to Eretz Yisrael on Yom Tov Sheini: Rav Yosef Karo requires two days of observance, Teshuvot Chacham Tzvi rules that one day suffices, and Rav Soloveitchik and others blend the two opinions. To which of these opinions do Sephardic Jews adhere?

Parshat Bamidbar

Sefer BaMidbar, which we begin this Shabbat, begins with the events that took place in the beginning of the second year of Bnei Yisrael’s sojourn in the desert and closes with those events that occurred only a few months before their entry into Eretz Yisrael. Clearly, the bulk

Torah is eternal and exists outside of time and outside of space. For this reason Torah was delivered in a barren desert landscape, without a clear date tagging this event. The word of Hashem is incumbent upon us regardless of where we live or when we live.

Yet the epic events of Har Sinai were

(Courtesy of Kollel Chatzos) It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s the moment you are living for.

The night is inky, the world is asleep and you’re infused with such purpose, such pleasure, such pride that your heart feels tight with joy.

It’s