Tonight I did a free writing class for Chanukah from Yocheved Rottenberg of Write Your Way Home. (I’m sure if you contact her through the site, she’d send it to you). The following is what I wrote for one of the exercises, a Captured Moment from a Chanukah gone by. I walk across the expansive dining room to the …
Rav Dessler writes in Michtav Me’Eliyahu that it’s natural for someone to start a Y”T on a high and then slowly lose enthusiasm over the course of the chag. (Think about the difference in the atmosphere on the first night as opposed to the last afternoon of a Y”T, if you can relate). Not so for a Jew who is …
As we know, no tefillah is ever wasted. After davening for a number of years for a yeshua that hasn’t yet come (in an obvious manner), I wrote a list of ways my tefillos and tears might have been put to use: To keep me healthy To keep me safe from danger To protect my family and all the people …
This is the work lunch that makes me happy to be at work 🙂 You know those build-your-own-salad bars at the bagel or pizza store? You can recreate the same experience at home by putting together your own tossed salad. Here are some components you can include: a base of romaine, mixed greens, etc. cherry tomatoes cucumbers red onion sliced …
Continuing on in Parshas Lech Lecha, the past week when we were learning, I got excited over a few things we read in Rashi. I just felt that they were things I had learned more than once before but never understood deeply and related to my own life. Hashem promises Avraham Avinu that he will have children, “[a]nd He took …
Here are eight gift ideas for Chanukah 🙂 . I aimed to keep the list low-cost, and most of these items are under $25. Happy gifting!
This summer, my friend and I went to Canada during the Three Weeks, so no music in the car. Instead, we talked a lot (obviously), and sang, and listened to a shiur. About a third of the way home, we hit on another form of entertainment to keep ourselves alert: reciting all the poems we knew by heart. Now, don’t laugh. …
Recently, we had a family bar mitzvah. As I sat there Friday night, it occurred to me that the topic of being single at a family simcha is one of those that periodically creates a stir in one publication or another. Why? Well, because many things about being single create unnecessary stirs, that’s why. In general, people tend to follow …
This summer, my Partner in Torah and I started learning Chumash with Rashi. We began with Bereishis and are now in middle of Lech Lecha. This is virtually my first time re-approaching Chumash-Rashi since seminary, with the exception of a few aliyos here and there, and it’s going very differently than anticipated. Before we started learning, I had assumed that this …
Puzzles are my new favorite thing. 1,000 piece puzzles. I got into puzzles about six weeks ago (starting with this) and I just can’t stop. They have this hypnotic quality — I really don’t think about anything else when I’m working on a puzzle. I usually listen to classical music while I work which makes it twice as relaxing. But anyway, …
