Author: Jewish Life

Two Pillars of Geulah and Emunah When Bnei Yisroel walked into the raging sea, they were not merely crossing a body of water. They were crossing a threshold of emunah – one that would define the Jewish People for all generations. By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels Pesach in Two Acts Most of us think of Pesach as a single event – the night the Jewish People left Mitzrayim. Yet the Yom Tov itself tells a different story. Pesach spans eight days, and those eight days commemorate two distinct pillars of our…

Post-Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Growth in Israel By: Paula Levin On 6 October 2023, Adir* was a loving husband and father of four. On the afternoon of 7 October, he joined his commando unit and remained on active duty for 487 days, fighting Hamas and Hezbollah in hand-to-hand combat. When he returned home, his children barely remembered him. He struggled to tell his wife what he had seen and experienced, and decided to move forward and put the war behind him. After lashing out violently in his sleep on two…

The “special relationship” between Jews, Iranians, and the Iran that once was By: Ilan Preskovsky It’s genuinely been quite astonishing to see the way the anti-Israel crowd is able to twist and distort any argument you throw their way. It’s almost always illogical, ignorant, and frequently outright nonsensical, but it’s impressive in a mental-contortionist kind of way. One of the more memorable recent examples of this is when, confronted with the – I would think – reasonable question of where all the “pro-Palestinian” activists and celebrities have gone in the…

The Lamb Leader By: Rabbi Moishe Schnerb As we array ourselves around the Seder table on Pesach night, we open our well-worn, wine-stained and crumb-littered Haggados to once again read and discuss the account of our forefathers, and indeed our sojourn through the trials and travails of our Egyptian exile. After the opening preliminaries of Kiddush, and the tiniest sliver of food – just enough to remind us how hungry we actually are – we begin the recital of these time-honoured paragraphs. Ma Nishtana piques our curiosity as to what…

…and Affection By: Rabbi Dr David Fox When my great Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Simcha Wasserman ztz”l, finally left Los Angeles for Jerusalem, I missed his warmth and guidance. My parents a”h too had a close relationship with him, and it was hard for us to accept that Los Angeles no longer had his presence in our midst. He had been our role model for the breadth of Torah Judaism: in his scholarship, his communication skills, his teaching, and in the ways in which he interacted with everyone who turned to…

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author who has championed traditional values in the culture war for more than three decades. She writes a weekly column for The Times of London and the Jewish News Syndicate, broadcasts on radio and TV, and gives public presentations across the English-speaking world. Her new book, The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians built the West – And Why Only They Can Save It, is published by Wicked Son. Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, anti-Semitism, and the power of history, was published in 2018 along with her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel. Her previous books include her 2006 best-seller Londonistan, about the British establishment’s capitulation to Islamist aggression, and The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over G-d, Truth, and Power, published in 2010. You can follow Melanie’s work at her website, www.melaniephillips.substack.com

Pesach feature Forged in water By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels “Because it lacks its own shape and form, water, as an element, represents physicality without purpose.” On the seventh day of Pesach, we relive the event of Krias Yam Suf, when Hashem split the sea for us as we left Egypt. While our mind’s eye paints a phenomenal picture of the entire Jewish people traveling on dry land between two walls of frozen sea, with the Egyptian army in hot pursuit, there are a few points that need to be clarified…

The spiritual awakening taking Israel by storm By: Paula Levin “Jews are choosing Judaism for the very first time in their lives!” Something deeply mysterious is going on in the Jewish world. On every continent, Jews are reaffirming their commitment to G-d, to the Jewish People, and to the ancient, eternal covenant forged at Sinai. It’s not actually a new phenomenon. In fact, we’ve seen it in every age, when Jews across the Persian empire stood firm when assimilation could have guaranteed their safety from Haman’s genocidal decree, when they…

Our much-needed South African allies By: Ilan Preskovsky With the way our ruling party goes on, one would be excused for thinking that South Africa is the most anti-Semitic, or at least anti-Israel, country in the world. Certainly, when I spoke to a delegation of students from Hebrew University, they were expecting the worst from their visit to Johannesburg. But as they discovered, and we already knew, there’s a world of difference between the ANC and the people of South Africa, and in Johannesburg, at least, we can safely say…

Pesach Feature Watch what you eat! By: Rabbi Schnerb “Every one of us has the power through all of our actions to completely vanquish all of our enemies.” Food! It’s one of our most enjoyable topics of conversation, and possibly our favourite pastime. We all know why food is so important. We need it to support growth and development, reduce the risk of chronic disease, and provide us with all the macro and micronutrients that we need. We all fully understand that many factors can affect the nutritional value, the…

Getting it done, not for the honour By: Rabbi Yossy Goldman “Sadly, too many of those volunteering to serve the community are themselves less than competent.” So, what’s the difference between a shlemiel and a shlemazel? Everyone knows the shlemiel is the inept fool who never fails to spill the soup. And the shlemazel? Why, he’s the born loser who, somehow, always gets the soup spilled on his lap. And then there’s the nudnik who insists on knowing what kind of soup it was, but that’s for a different essay.…

The curse of comparison By: Rabbi Dr David Fox “He sensed that he, as their oldest shared child, had been doomed to be ‘the Contrasted Kid’.” A reserved adult, he surprised me during his therapy session when he finally discovered the roots of his chronic depression. “I never felt special. Since I was young, I sensed that my parents were disappointed in me. They would compare me with other children, and I was never good enough.” This intrigued me, for I knew him to be an accomplished rabbinic scholar and…

Who, what, where, and how By: Ilan Preskovsky “When dealing with antisemites, engaging with any more than a couple of choice words is a complete waste of time.” Since the horrific massacre of October 7th and the explosion of antisemitism of October 8th, it’s hard to imagine any Jew with even the slightest connection to their Jewish identity not having spent the past four months feeling, quite literally, under attack. As both our homeland and we as Jews have come under fire from far-left academia, far-right white supremacists, Islamists, relatively…

Kosher Gourmet Pesach made easy…and tasty By: Sharon Lurie PRETZEL CHICKEN AND CHIPS 8 chicken schnitzel  (skinless, deboned breast, butterflied, then cut in half along the dividing seam) 1 cup KLP Italian Salad dressing (I used Tonelli Italian salad dressing) ½ cup KLP mayonnaise 2 eggs 2 cups Hadar* honey pressed KLP pretzels or fine matzah meal Crush the pretzels really well. Not as fine as powder, a little more texture. Combine the salad dressing, eggs, and mayonnaise and pour over chicken breasts, ensuring they are well coated. Marinate for 2 to 3…

Finding space in a world of holiness By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels “Where there is holiness, there is space!” The Yomim Tovim are not, for us, a mere recollection of past events. The times on the Jewish calendar have within them great spiritual potential, and through our observance of the laws and customs of that particular day, we can unlock and download much of this wealth. Our holy books are full of ideas that help us to connect to the spirit of the day, so that the opportunities available to us…