Growing up in Israel was frightening. I was not sheltered like some of my friends. When there was a shooting or explosion, I knew the details. I would overhear my mother sobbing on the phone with her sister. When she got off the phone, she asked me to come to her. She was wisely aware […]
46-year-old father of eight Rabbi Zeev Katzenelnbogen was finishing davening the morning prayers Sunday morning when a terrorist opened fire at the Kotel. Still wearing his tallis and tefillin, Katzenelnbogen “got a really strong pain in the arm right at the spot of the tefillin,” he said. He realized that he was in the middle […]
When Moshe Margaretten, a haredi “fixer” with a passion for helping Jews out of dangerous situations learned that Afghanistan’s last Jew was refusing to leave the country, he pivoted. Instead, he helped to extract dozens of other Afghans to escape the crisis-torn country. Zebulon Simantov, the last Jew in Kabul, is refusing to leave Afghanistan […]
New York’s Hot New Trend? Prairie Dresses Inspired by Orthodox Judaism There was one event during New York Fashion Week that felt not just more old-fashioned, but positively pre-Raphaelite. Held in a diner in Tribeca, it showcased new pieces by Batsheva Hay, the New York fashion designer whose ankle-length, Orthodox Judaism-inspired prairie dresses have made […]
Of course I believe in Hashem, but he’s the Boogey Man waiting to strike me down. These horrifying words were uttered by an attendee at the first Makom shabbaton several years ago during dinner. Where did such an abhorrent idea come from? How could a person possibly have a relationship with God if she felt […]
16 years ago today, God gave me a second chance at life. I was working in a summer camp in Israel for my third summer in a row, and Thursdays were usually the day that I’d be with our cab driver from morning to night running all over Jerusalem doing errands. Every time we passed […]
