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How a Parking Space can help us understand each other

My brother-in-law, Rabbi Shimon Galperin of Solon Ohio, shared this brain-teaser on our family’s “WhatsApp”. It’s probably floating around the internet.  I’m not always so good at these mind games and brain teasers. It took me a couple of minutes, … Read the rest

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No one cares? The children are coming!

The Vishedsky and Gorodesky families were a big part of my father-in-law’s youth in Tashkent (then Russia, today Uzbekistan), so we heard the names often. The other day I was browsing the JEM (Jewish Educational Media) APP for free videos … Read the rest

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5 Life Lessons from Snow

Rabbi Mendel teaches mornings at the Maimonides School in Albany NY. One of his classes is TNT/MC (Torah and Technology, and the Maimonides Community newsletter) which he prepares with students each week, with reporting on their learning, photos from activities Read the rest

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Let My People Go!

 

Everyone is familiar with this “Let My People Go!” which became popular during the struggle for Soviet Jewry, as well as by Charlton Heston in the classic film “The Ten Commandments. But few have heard of the end of … Read the rest

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Complaining is a Minus

by Raizy Rubin

Jacob passes away in this week’s Torah portion at age 147, which is 33 years shy of his father’s 180 years. biblical commentaries explains why he died 33 years shy of his father (though 147 isn’t a … Read the rest

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A bit more about the Dollar-Mitzvah Messenger

Last night, with the red bricks on the Shabbos Table, we spoke about the “Shliach-Mitzvah” concept, about giving someone a coin or a dollar to give to Tzedakah at their destination.

This is also part of the background to … Read the rest

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What’s this brick doing on the table?

BrickonShabbosTable

Back in my yeshiva days studying Talmud, there were times that commentaries had better questions than answers. This might be the case with the bricks on the tables this Friday Night, hopefully my explanation might be as good as good … Read the rest

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Crying for the Other

When the brothers were united with Joseph, the verse says: “Benjamin cried on Joseph’s shoulder, and Joseph cried on Benjamin’s shoulders.”

The Medrash takes note of the switch from singular to plural. Why singular for Joseph’s shoulder and plural for … Read the rest

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The Year I Missed Menorah

By Raizy Rubin

On the Shabbat of Chanukah we went to my parents. It was the first time for our whole family to stay there for a Shabbat in maybe a year. This past year they visited us several times, … Read the rest

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Chanukah & Thanksgiving: 5 Connections

So much ado and fuss has been made of this year’s Chanukah and Thanksgiving coinciding. New names have been coined from Thanksgivukkah to Chanksgiving, new contraptions such as Menurkeys have been invented (and sold), and a there’s plethora of recipes … Read the rest

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