Donny was having a blah day at school. As he was finishing up his work before the afternoon switch to English studies, his rebbe stopped by his desk and said, “Donny, I see you got a haircut. It looks really nice.” Donny looked up at his rebbe beaming and said, “Rebbe, I was waiting all day for someone to notice. Thank

Dear Readers,

It has been almost a year since we first started this Recovery Column.

Our thought for the column was to create a dialogue between us and our readers, and between our readers themselves, about the issues of addiction and its impact on

Amidst all of the crises the Orthodox Jewish community is facing—the shidduch crisis, off-the-derech children, substance abuse and internet addiction—no one is talking about the elephant in the room that might actually be a game changer in reducing many of our other challenges. This is what I call the divorce crisis. While most

The bell had rung and the third-grade class excitedly gathered by the door, a storm of arms grabbing coats off of hooks and knitted hats being tossed on the floor, as the kids vied to be first on line to get to recess. It had been a long afternoon and we had spent much of the time trapped at our desks, looking longingly out the

If there’s one thing I learned from my time in elementary school, it’s that kids are expected to love running around and playing sports. If you don’t…then you’re weird. The school I attended was pretty good at providing the students with a healthy number of opportunities for physical activity, but I was just one

Two summers ago, I participated in the Elaine Breslow Institute educator’s immersion program at Beit T’Shuvah, a Jewish addiction treatment facility in Los Angeles. Beit T’Shuvah integrates Jewish study, the 12 Steps, and clinical and medical techniques to address the process of recovery. I approached the new experience as

The last six years of her life, my Aunt Rose was mostly homebound. At home she used an oxygen concentrator, and on the rare occasion that she did venture out, it was with an oxygen tank on a cart, which she jokingly referred to as her doggy on its leash. She was sharp as a whip, and despite her many medical issues, she tried to

Rabbi Goldmintz’s young grandson was seriously injured just before Sukkot and needs your tefillot. Please daven for Aharon Meir ben Yael Miriam. This article is dedicated in the merit of his refuah shelaima.

(Reprinted with permission from OU.org) How different is Shabbat from any other day of

Dear Therapists,

I remember as a child spending hours playing with my friends either at their houses or at my house. Every time I try to arrange a play date for my son, it turns into a disaster. My son either spends most of the time protecting his toys or he becomes aggressive. Having Shabbos

The Torah specifically instructs us to “honor the elderly” (Leviticus 19:32): “…every old person is regarded as having a special wisdom that comes with life experience” (Aish.com).

My cousin Juliet celebrated her 105th birthday last month

(Editor’s Note: The letter below was written last week by Dena Kinderlehrer, the wife of JLNJ Co-Publisher and Founder Moshe Kinderlehrer. It was presented to the counselors last Friday before HASC ended and we have decided to reprint it here. The Kinderlehrers have a 17-year-old son, Zev, who has attended HASC for the past six

I never gave separation anxiety that much thought until I dropped off my young son for the first time at preschool many years ago. The school had mentioned it at parent orientation and there was a handout about separation anxiety included with a lot of other information in the big packet that I took home. It didn’t seem like it