How to Answer Difficult Questions

I met a friend recently and he told me he was reading through his Jewish Publication Society Bible presented to him by his Hebrew School at his Bar Mitzvah. He had two specific questions at the tip of his tongue: Wasn’t the conquering of Eretz Yisroel and the wiping out of the inhabitants genocide? Wasn’t [...]

Where is G-d?

By Michael Freund First published in The Jerusalem Post on May 27, 2010 Yesterday at 11 a.m., air raid sirens sounded across the country. Emergency crews went into position, security forces entered a heightened state of readiness and thousands of people made their way to public shelters. It was a chilling scene, as schoolchildren were [...]

Mazal Tov to Mark & Linda Frankel on the Engagement of their daughter Sarah Tovah to Yosef Braha of Brooklyn

It is with tremendous gratitude to Hashem that Linda and I wish to announce the engagement of our daughter Sarah Tovah to Yosef Braha, son of Steven and Meryl Braha of Brooklyn. Yosef is currently learning at Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens. We’re having a Vort in our house on Thursday night from 7:30 to [...]

A College Education?

A blast from the past. Originally posted on June 13, 2006. I’ve seen many comments in response to “Sam Smith’s” “Financial Realities in the Frum World” that talk about the undesirability of sending one’s kids to public schools. Specifically, part of Alter Klein’s comment #169 stood out to me: “If we send our kids to [...]

The Benefits of Buy In for the Newly Observant

Originally Posted on Orthonomics. My husband brought home some reading material for me on Shavout. One of the pamphlets available at our shul was from a well known Kiruv group. The first column was regarding setting priorities. The scenario set up is as follows: A man’s tefillin are stolen and he decides to replace his [...]

Chukas in a Nutshell

Here’s Rabbi Rietti’s outline of Chukas. You can purchase the entire outline of the Chumash here. Parah # 19 The Parah Adumah – Red Heifer # 20 Moshe hit the Rock # 21 The Snakes # 22 B”Y Encamped Across the Jordan Opposite Jericho # 19 The Parah Adumah – Red Heifer * The Parah [...]

How the Internet Effects Our Davening and Our Learning

Over the past view years, I’ve met more and more people who admit that they’re very distracted and find it hard to focus during davening and throughout the day. One of my favorite technology-oriented writers, Nick Carr explains in his new book, “The Shallows” that the Internet is effecting our ability to concentrate and think [...]

Making Choices

R’ Micah Segelman The Mishna in Sanhedrin (37a) teaches that the creation of the world was worthwhile even for a single person. The Alter of Slobodka explains the Mishna that the creation of the entire world is justified in order to provide an opportunity for a single person with free will to choose to fulfill [...]

Fitting In

Do you feel that “fitting in” is one of the biggest challenges facing BTs? What factors have you seen contribute to being successful in this area? What are some strategies if you’re committed to Torah Judaism, but feel the “fitting in” goal is too difficult?

Harav Mordechai ben Salman Eliyahu – A Simple Reminiscence

This is not a eulogy. It will not fulfill the demands of such. The praise is far too faint, not for any lack of the deceased’s exalted qualities; but for my inability to even approximate his true praises. Just a few hours ago, our master and teacher Harav Mordechai ben Salman Eliyahu was buried. May [...]

Please Help Lancaster Yeshiva With a Click of the Mouse

In November 2008, we all did our part in helping Leah Larson win the $100,000 grand prize in the Wells Fargo’s Someday Stories Contest. Well now we all have a another chance to help our fellow Jews. Lancaster Yeshiva is entered in Pepsi’s $50,000 good idea contest. A Beyond BT reader describes the Lancaster Yeshiva: [...]

Is it a Fair Goal to Expect a Baal Teshuva to Strive for a Level of Greatness?

Is it a fair goal to expect a baal teshuva to strive for a level of Greatness? Is that realistic? Or should we be content thinking, “we know what we know, which is a heckuva lot more than the average Jew and it’s a world different (if not two!) than how I myself used to [...]

Reunited

This weekend was my 25th college reunion. The big one. Reunions at Princeton is a big, big deal. I use the singular because “Reunions,” which is also capitalized, is an event, a time, a place, an institution among the old Tigers, in a way that, I am told by alumni of comparable schools who also [...]

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