I recently ran a five-part series in which I shared lessons from my back problems, surgery and ongoing recuperation. I continue to learn new things, which was no more clear than over the recent holidays. I have observed that when I work from home, sitting with my laptop in an easy chair, I am fine

From OU Holidays! What are Hoshanos? Why do we say them? Why is the schedule the way it is? What’s “Ani Vaho?” Find out all this and more with this colorful, downloadable PDF!

As I write this, we are in the midst of the Aseres Y’mei Teshuvah, the Ten Day of Repentance that last from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur. In the laws of Teshuvah (3:4), the Rambam tells us that a person should always consider himself as if his mitzvos equally balance his sins and the world’s

Once upon a time, there was a television program called The Cosby Show. (We won’t go into why it was called that. We don’t talk about B*ll C*sby anymore.) For most of its run, which lasted from 1984 to 1992, it was the show to beat. The Cosby Show was the #1 sitcom for five

(This is the fifth and final installment in the series of articles on things I learned from my recent back surgery.) After my procedure, I was in the hospital for three days. While I was there, I didn’t entertain much. The first day was the day of the operation itself, so I spent the entire

(This is the fourth of five articles I’m writing about things I learned from my recent medical experiences. It is by far the most personal.) It’s no secret that I wasn’t raised Orthodox, though my family always had such leanings. My parents switched the family from a large, ornate Reform temple to a humble shtiebel

(Continuing the series of articles about what I learned from my recent back surgery.) Starting around April, when I returned from Pesach, I became increasingly dependent on the use of a cane. I started out with an eight-ball cane that I had left over from some Grunkel Stan cosplay (don’t ask). I thought the eight-ball

In a previous article, we discussed the interplay of hishtadlus and emunah – human effort and faith in God, respectively. While the degree of our emunah may be fairly constant, the amount of hishtadlus we are able to invest can vary from situation to situation. If your car breaks down on the highway, a passenger

As I write this, I am recuperating from spine surgery. I found this experience to be very enlightening so it’s going to inform the content of my writing over the next few weeks. Long story short, I threw my back out in March. When it didn’t bounce back, I went to a doctor, who diagnosed

The following is a true story. It takes place about two decades ago in the second-floor apartment of a two-family home. The stairs led from the front door straight to the living room. In that living room was the family computer, a big, clunky desktop job with a dial-up connection to AOL because that’s how