Having once beat a player ranked 18th in the world, pro tennis player Yosef Gershon spent years working on serving the ball, but at 20 years old, he began to serve God as well! Far too often, people feel that their personal passions and their Jewish observance cannot coexist. The choice, however is not always […]

Menachem Bombach may be the first person to have grown up in Meah Shearim and gone viral. A video of the midrasha he founded, the Hasidic Midrasha Torah Academy, featuring hasidic students hiking and learning math and science was shared by Israeli politician Dov Lipman a couple months ago and was an instant internet hit. Both the […]

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 […]

I once tried to run away from God – much like Jonah. I wasn’t swallowed by a giant fish at sea, but I did get pretty big wake up call on land. It was 1997, my senior year of high school. I was on a journey towards becoming more observant that year. I had started […]

  Ben Taplin was born in Israel and grew up in Lakewood in a normal Yeshivish family. But when he was in high school, he started to challenge the teachers, asking why he had to think and act the way they did. He bounced around to different high schools and ended up at Waterbury Yeshiva. […]

  Adaptation of Popular Israeli TV Show, Shtisel, to Air in US The hottest television drama on the air right now in Israel is, wait for it, about Orthodox Jews! Its American adaptation is now in the works, and is being produced by Marta Kauffman of “Friends” fame. Can a Cheeseburger be Kosher? The Jewish […]