Dear Rabbi, I’m trying to sort out a feeling I’m experiencing: I’ve studied about Judaism in Sunday school, was bat mitzva’d, and have studied Judaism as a student of comparative…
I’m writing this early on Dec. 24 — the day marking the 22nd anniversary of Operation Solomon, the covert airlift that took 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. If you don’t…
By Rabbi Ben SternmanParashat Mikeitz Whenever I’m going to teach something based on history rather than the stories we grow up with, I always start off by asking if they…
Dear Families, Most of us cannot imagine studying Talmud but it really is possible today (you can even find a study group online). The best tractate to study is Pirke…
Dear Rabbi Fried, Thanks for your explaining the existence of various names of G-d, which makes it easier to focus knowing they’re all referring to various character traits of the…
As we light the last candles of Hanukkah and prepare to bid the holiday goodbye for another year, I recommend that you promise yourself one final gift: a new book…
As the youngest of three boys in my family growing up, I knew that I was smarter than my brothers. After all, aren’t the youngest siblings always the smartest? I…
One can scarcely appreciate the pain and suffering of a couple bound in the grips of infertility without properly appreciating that for which they so long — the one-of-a-kind joy…
Dear Families, Hanukkah is a holiday celebrating a miracle — the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days rather than the one day that was expected. If you read…
Dear Rabbi Fried, There seem to be two basic symbols of Hanukkah, the menorah and the dreidel (spinning top). The menorah commemorates the miracle of the oil, but what does…