Recently, I attended a full day conference and workshop on suicide prevention, sponsored by Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care and the New Jersey Traumatic Loss Coalition. The annual conference (co-sponsored by the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (AFSP), focuses specifically on suicide prevention among our youth in

Step # 5, Part 1

“You shall do what is right and what is good in the eyes of Hashem…”

ועשית הישר והטוב בעיני ה’,למען ייטב לך

Almost 50% of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation. The divorce rate in the Orthodox community is catching up, with about 30% of Jewish marriages ending in divorce.

Divorce is difficult for everyone—for the adults, and especially the children. Parents that can

As some of our readers may know, my son Eric, z”l, took his own life less than four years ago, after suffering from mental health challenges for 14 years, since he was 14 years old. While I know this column is usually dedicated to issues around recovery—usually referring to recovery from addictions—I am taking the liberty of

(Permission granted to reprint from The Yated Magazine Shidduch Forum, August 2, 2019)

 Question:

A shadchan thinks of a shidduch and suggests the idea to both sides. The boy’s side calls the references and gets very good information. The girl’s

With only one experience under my belt, I don’t know whether the phenomenon I witnessed was singular or representative of a larger trend. After tremendous collective anxiety about applying to seminary in Israel and the subsequent wondering and waiting came to an end at the beginning of yeshiva week, two amazing things happened. First,

Today’s dating scene is often hyper-focused on externals. “Great catches” are described as people who are professionally successful or physically attractive, rather than people who possess character and integrity. But behind the impeccable resume and beautiful presentation there is a real person. How does one get to know the

Step # 4
Part 3

פתח תפתח את ידך לאחיך לעניך ולאבינך בארצך

“Open your hand to your brother, to your poor and to the needy in your land.” (Devarim 15:11)

The noted psychologist

When my father returned to the States after serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, he bought a pet supply retail store in Greenwich, Connecticut, called The Pet Pantry. In those days it was not unusual for people to feed their dogs fresh ground beef and ground horse meat. My father’s employee would grind the meat and