Libi BaMizrach

As I write these words, I am enjoying the wonderful Chag of Chanukah, and hope that it will remain as it ought to be, consisting of warm, fun-filled evenings in front of the Menorah, armed with our dreidels and feasting on latkes, enjoying spending quality time with our family and friends. Lonni & I are enjoying it this year in a very special way – we traveled to Israel and are spending Chanukah with our children. It should be a completely joyous and wonderful time. But, unfortunately, just under the surface, it is not so. In fact, first among the gifts that I brought for each of my children is a can of mace/pepper spray. Much like it was many years ago, בימים ההם בזמן הזה, Yerushalyim Ir Hakodesh has become a battlefield of late. We, the Jewish people, are under attack. We are being run over at bus stations, stabbed while waiting for rides, having our children kidnapped and killed, knifed while shopping in supermarkets, shot at with thousands of missile, narro...

     We have just begun the year 5775, which is observed as a Sabbatical year ( Shemitta ) in the Land of Israel. As, unfortunately, we have chosen to live outside Eretz Yisrael (EY) for now, the impact of the Shemitta year is not as strongly felt here as it is there. Nevertheless, given that many of us plan to visit EY, and Baruch Hashem have the privilege to purchase products from EY, I decided to write this short essay, with the following objectives: To underscore that, in general, we should have a positive attitude towards purchasing products from Israel, and not fear that we are taking on unnecessary Halachic problems when encountering them. To understand what the three basic Halachic approaches to observing Shemitta are. To raise awareness of how Shemitta affects us outside EY. “Problems” with Israeli produce       When I lived on the West Coast I often supervised Kashrut in food plants. I represented the Orthodox Un...

Despite our best efforts, this past Shmini Atzeret/Simchas Torah was not quite Zman Simchaseinu (Our time of Joy); not for me nor for many others. To be sure, there was a great spirit of joy in the shul. The Young Israel of Forest Hills has been blessed to host a new Sephardic minyan over the last two months, which has brought a great deal of new energy and excitement, along with many people, into our community. The resultant boost that we had from the joint hakafos and the post Shabbos “Hakafot Shniyot” party was wonderful and enjoyed by all. But inside, I could not get my mind off of the scandal that had blown up in Washington DC just the day before, and the worry for what it meant for the future of the Orthodox community ate at me deeply inside. I leave it to the reader to discover the unpleasant details of the scandal surrounding Rabbi Barry Freundel elsewhere.   For me, it was extremely disheartening, upsetting, infuriating and saddening to see the huge Chillul H...

To the Editor of Mishpacha Magazine: Dear Sir or Madam I read the article by Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz entitled “ There IS no Shidduch Crisis ” in your August 6 edition with great interest. I want to thank him, and you, for devoting so much attention to this very serious issue. Upon reflection, I would like to make the following observations, some of which differ with Mr. Rechnitz. I base myself on my experience of having been, ב " ה , “ in the Parsha ” and married three children in the past two years, and from what I hear as a Rav and a member of the community. To begin with, let me summarize what I feel are the main points of Rechnitz ’ presentation : Too few of the young women are married by age 21. It is not a crisis, but a “ catastrophe ” that, for example in Los Angeles, only 13 of 72 girls of a high school graduating class were engaged or married by age 21-22. Furthermore, “ Any change should not have to come from the girls ” , as the risk to t...