DEDICATED IN LOVING MEMORY OF ISAAC GAMEL ז''ל BY HIS FAMILY
Idealistic Realism in Communal Leadership
I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve as a Rav in Baltimore, Maryland, involved in developing our own shul community, as well as in a range of broader communal issues and institutions. Baltimore is a unique community in several ways, but perhaps most...
Doing It All: The World of the Baal HaBayis
Life is challenging, for everyone. So much to do, so little time. This is arguably even more of an issue in the complex world of the contemporary baal habayis, with a larger family and numerous religious obligations and goals. The struggle to meet the challenge can...
The Growing Kol Shofar
Second Day of Rosh Hashana Last summer one of our members – together with members of his family in Israel and elsewhere – decided to study Mishna in memory of the three boys who were brutally kidnapped and murdered. They learned the books of (masechtos) Shevi’is and...
Life is Good: The Secret of the Chafetz Chaim
Kol Nidrei In loving memory of Mrs. Bess Krivitisky, Pesha bas Harav Chaim Rafael, who passed away Shabbos January 2, 2016, at the age of 100, and to whom every word of this message applied. This year, I officiated at funerals of three people who lived more than 100...
Four Points for Renewal
Jewish life throughout the generations has been punctuated by upheaval, by trends and events that threatened the basic fabric of Jewish life and family. The symptoms of these trends could be observed in the significant number of defections of young Jewish men and...
Shofar and the Gift of Life: First Day of Rosh Hashanah
A gentleman in Brooklyn was observed standing daily at a bus stop for an extended period of time. The city buses would come and go, but he would never get on, and just remain there waiting. After observing this unusual behavior several times, someone approached the...
Uncompromised Committment
To grasp the Orthodox perspective on Jewish unity requires an appreciation of two fundamental Orthodox beliefs, one of which challenges our religious unity, the other of which strengthens our national unity.1. “I believe with a complete belief in the divinity and the...
The Blessings of Freedom: Reflections on a Changing America
In 1812, as Napoleon and his Grand Arme̒e were approaching Russia, many Jewish leaders were eagerly anticipating their arrival, hoping that it would bring the liberty, equality and fraternity promised by the French Revolution, and with that some measure of relief from...
Wireless Teshuva
Hello. My name is Moshe and I am a phonoholic. Like many of you, I use today’s boundless connectivity in my work. Cellphones and mobile devices allow me to respond to important issues and queries anytime and anywhere. Yet despite connectivity’s many positive aspects,...
Cultivating Greatness
Together with the incredible growth that Orthodox Jewry has experienced in the last half century, a host of new challenges have developed, all of which need to be addressed with creative energy and concerted effort. I would like to focus on one such challenge, perhaps...