This Passover presents a critical opportunity for us to bridge the strength of home and the power of community. Passover 2020 was a time for scrapping elaborate plans, cancelling family get-togethers and figuring out how to make the holiday yourself without the requisite Passover utensils or even being able to enter a food store. We

Explore the Haggadah through the lens of Halacha and Machshava. Plus timely massages for today’s trying times.

Often, it’s not really a good idea to inspire through contrast. For instance, “Oy, your older brother gives me such trouble; don’t be like him!” is probably not the best way to instill positive values and behavior. Another great example can be found in the old Berenstain Bears books, in which Papa Bear was portrayed

Download the Sheets Recorded at OU Israel’s L’Ayla Rosh Chodesh Nisan 5779 Women’s Event sponsored in memory of Mrs Linda Pruwer-Brachfeld, מרת חיה סאשא בת ר’ יוסף הלל.  

One of the scariest aspects of parenthood is the realization that we can never be sure what messages we’re sending our kids. We might make sure to have Conversations, we might consider what want to impart to them. But however much thought we put into it – communication is a two-way street, and it isn’t

Pesach is one of the few Jewish holidays that baalei teshuva (BTs) and frum from births (FFBs) can both reminisce about. Sure, a BT’s memories may be more about Manischewitz wine, background TV in the other room, and driving home after seder, while a FFB’s memories are more about matzah measuring charts, ziploc bags of

I met a man a few years ago who had once been a well known student of a famed Torah scholar. I was shocked when I discovered that although he could quote much of the Torah he had once learned, he was no longer entirely observant. While the intellectual rigor of Torah still excited his

With Pesach (Passover) just around the corner, there is much that needs to be done to prepare for the yom tov (holiday). Today (Thursday, 3/22/18) was a beautiful sunny day, and as I used a power saw to cut up two wooden shipping pallets, I smiled to myself as I considered the Jewish significance of

Help those in need by giving to the OU’s Maot Chitim 5778 campaign – donate now   Since the very creation of the luxury Pesach program, rabbis have been railing against them for their excessiveness, extravagance, and the forfeiting of many of the traditions involved in preparing and experiencing Pesach. Ironically, many of those same

Reposted from Yeshiva.co. One of the well-known statements of Midrash about the Exodus of Israel from Egyptian bondage is that the Jewish people, our ancestors, were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of the righteous Jewish women of the time. We tend to judge Jewish righteousness purely in terms of tradition, ritual and observance and