Perhaps the most striking thing about the Jerusalem office of Nefesh B’Nefesh is its sparkling, corporate look. The quiet hum of phones ringing in the background, with rows of workers in cubicles pecking away at their keyboards, lends an aura of a thriving Fortune 500 company. But whereas corporate entities are often weighed down by a cold and unfeeling atmosphere, this non-profit organization is awash in warmth and good deeds.
Recently, it has become apparent that a sense of Jewish pride and identity among American Jewry is no longer a given. But amazingly, though a disconnect indeed exists among American Jewry, there is still an unprecedented resurgence of aliyah spanning all denominations.
The reappearance of an independent Jewish nation after a 2,000-year-long galut (exile)—one that witnessed the ingathering of more than one-third of the Jewish people, the revival of an ancient language and the ever-growing fulfillment of “Ki miTzion tetzei Torah”—is nothing short of miraculous.
It has sometimes been hard to hold onto the thought that a sudden breeze—or even a raging storm—can herald something great and wonderful to come.
The year 2008 marks the bicentennial of a significant aliyah movement, which took place from 1808 to 1810—the arrival of 511 disciples of the Vilna Gaon and their families in Eretz Yisrael. A new book by Dr. Arie Morgenstern focuses on this aliyah and presents it in an entirely new light.
At least four people came to Minchah/Maariv services at Beth Jacob on Super Bowl Sunday. They were there because of the game.
Perhaps it is because we live in twenty-first century America, a country largely immune from true epidemics, that we take vaccination for granted and some parents even consider not vaccinating their children. Unfortunately, nowadays, as a result of misleading information, some parents are confused about the issue and do not realize the importance of vaccinations.
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