The position of 5770 as the 13th year of the 304th 19-year cycle (machzor katan) since Creation means that it is a “shanah peshutah,” a “regular” year of twelve months with only one Adar.
Special Section: From the Boardroom to the Beit Midrash and Back Again
Winner of the Jerusalem Prize for Torah Literature for an original Torah work. A successful businessman and philanthropist. Combine both accomplishments in one person, and you have convincing evidence that laypeople can make time in their busy lives to excel in Torah study.
In our generation, we have been witness to a man who has written a spectacularly comprehensive work on an exceptionally complex halachic subject—with a high percentage of the material compiled in waiting rooms, lobbies and crammed coach seats.
Some people reclaim the past, while others are reclaimed by it. Bernie Rosenberg has gone both ways. His connection with an illustrious forebear changed his connection to Torah learning.
In order to maintain a Jewish atmosphere while stationed in the Bahamas for a four-month work project, Levine’s family began spending Shabbat with two other Shomer Shabbat families there, discussing Torah subjects at every meal. “That is when the Kli Yakar entered my life,” says Levine.
Ari Wasserman, thirty-eight, a successful Los Angeles lawyer, is leading a double life. He’s traversing both the Torah and corporate worlds with seemingly the greatest of ease, and prospering in both.
The prayer ended and Jake deferentially closed the Ark. As he shook my hand, he whispered into my ear, “Yankees 4, Dodgers 1, end of the fifth.” For Jake, the fact that his team was winning the World Series was the closest thing to heaven on earth.
Special Section: On Prayer
Prayer is the language of the soul in conversation with God. It is the most intimate gesture of the religious life, and the most transformative. The very fact that we can pray testifies to the deepest elements of Jewish faith: that the universe did not come into existence accidentally, nor are our lives destined to be bereft of meaning.
Prayer, tefillah, is an essential component of our religion and the centerpiece of the spiritual experience of every practicing Jew. And yet it is a difficult concept to define. Prayer is not one-dimensional, but rather has a different meaning depending upon the particular circumstance and the particular individual.
Launched in 2008 by the OU’s Department of Community Services, the Tefillah Education Initiative brings scholars-in-residence to communities throughout the country to underscore the power of Jewish prayer.
A collection of successes, and struggles, with prayer.
Special Section: A Tribute to the Maharal
The 18th of Elul, 5709 (September 7, 2009), marks the 400th yahrtzeit of an extraordinary figure in Jewish history: the Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Yehudah Loew
Did the Maharal create a Golem?
Be’er HaGolah occupies a unique position among the writings of the Maharal of Prague. Its content spans a broad range of subjects, and the work’s unity is not due to any ideational consistency but to its patently polemical framework.
The Maharal says of himself that his objective, in all of his numerous works, is purely to explain the aggadot of Chazal. This objective, to demonstrate the depth of our Sages’ thinking, underlies all of Maharal’s works.
PDF
