by Rabbi Elie Mischel | f 20, 2023 | Ki Teitzei
Soon after the Communists gained power in Russia, they began placing restrictions on Jewish practices. Ultimately, all Jewish educational institutions were forced to shutter, while those spotted in synagogues risked being fired from their jobs. As the decades passed,...
by Rabbi Elie Mischel | f 17, 2023 | Ki Teitzei
John Wayne was one of Hollywood’s most famous and most successful actors, appearing in more than 175 movies. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award, winning the Oscar for Best Actor in 1969 for True Grit. And his powerful performance in The Searchers has...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 10, 2023 | Re’eih
By Rabbi Pesach Wolicki Several verses in this week’s Torah portion address the topic of charity for the poor. The subject is mentioned in the context of a discussion of the forgiving of loans during the Sabbatical year. During the Sabbatical year, every seventh year,...
by Rabbi Elie Mischel | f 26, 2023 | Kindness and Compassion, Re’eih
Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz (1793–1876) was one of the great Hassidic rabbis of his generation, and a tremendous Torah scholar. He had 15 children, all of them holy, and many great and holy Jews among his descendants. When it came time to marry off his youngest...
by Rabbi Elie Mischel | f 26, 2023 | Marriage and Relationships, Re’eih
The great Charlie Chaplin, master of the silent film era, was incredibly close with his older brother Syd. They went through so much together; their father abandoned their family and their mother was an alcoholic. And so Syd and his little brother Charlie took care of...
by Rabbi Elie Mischel | f 24, 2023 | Happiness and Joy, Re’eih
In her 2002 book, “Riding the Bus with my Sister,” Rachel Simon, a very successful but unhappy professor, tells the story of her sister Beth, a woman with special needs who spent her days riding public buses and talking to the bus drivers. In an effort to better...
