How can we teach our students and congregants to respond to our temporary inability to daven and learn in our shuls? Rabbi Akiva Males, rabbi of Young Israel of Memphis, addressed this topic in a remote class to his congregants. Rabbi Males kindly shared the three mareh mekomos that served as the basis of the... Read more »
Navigating the challenges of coronavirus requires sayata d’Shmaya to establish and integrate an effective strategy to maintain your physical and mental health while promoting spiritual growth. While we continue to share many resources to refer to, today we’d like to add and highlight a few more important articles
We spend seven weeks counting up to Matan Torah, culminating in Shavuos, a holiday celebrating one of the greatest moments in Jewish history.
The Gemara Berachos 5a teaches that when suffering befalls an individual he should introspect. HaGaon HaRav Chaim M’Voloshin writes in Nefesh HaChaim, based on Rashi (Ibid) that a person should contemplate carefully into the nature of the suffering that befell him, to determine what personal shortcomings were responsible for this occurring mida k’neged mida. It... Read more »
US Department of State Tweet on May 4, 2020 May is #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth. Jewish Americans have contributed in countless ways to our country and to the Department. This month celebrates their heritage and achievements and reaffirms the U.S. is committed to a world free of anti-Semitism.
As we all move to online learning, StreamYard is an important and affordable tool that any nonprofit or educational institution must know about. Why? Because it allows you to broadcast live streaming video. The host can invite up to 10 different guests to join via their incoming video connections!
With everyone in the business, nonrprofit and educational world moving to online video calls, Miro — shared white board for video calls — is an important free web-based tool that allows all participants to draw, or post notes, on the same white page in real time. All that you need to do is, open Miro... Read more »
I’ll never forget the day in 2008. One of my largest donors cut his donation to me. He said that normally he would have maintained his level, but, due to the economic downturn, he had no choice. To make things more awkward, I was staying at his house in NYC at the time. We were old friends and I
The coronavirus has forced the unprecedented closing of shuls worldwide. Moreover, because the virus is so contagious and it is difficult to ensure that social distancing will prevent inadvertent transmission, many communities have restricted davening to the home – b’yichidus. Rabbi Asher Arieli, Rosh Hayeshiva of Mir, said on Friday we face the challenge
Chazal tell us (Medrash Rabah Vayikra 2:1) that of the thousand students who enter to learn Mikra, 100 enter to learn Mishnah, and of those 100, only 10 enter to learn Gemara, and of those only one becomes the outstanding scholar. But the Rambam teaches that Talmud is the crown of Jewish learning. Does that mean that only 1% of Jewish people can
