As I walked through the doors of Noi Due I was immediately stuck by how wonderful the restaurant smells. The aroma, a combination of dark Italian coffee and freshly baked bread, permeates the small … more

Are those the camp buses rolling back into town? Didn’t they just leave? Wasn’t it yesterday that all the trunks were being packed? It’s been a while since I’ve packed and unpacked those trunks, but the memories are still very vivid. more

The primary topic of our double parsha focuses on the affliction of tzaraat, its diagnosis and prognosis. The attention is primarily on the kohen, who is given detailed instructions for how to detect what is or is not tzaraat. He is also given tremendous autonomy in deciding whether the mark he is examining is tzaraat. Interestingly, there is no mashgiach monitoring to see that what the kohen declares is “correct.” He makes the call. more

Book collectors often have many books on their shelves that never move from their place. But sometimes it is the thin volume you never look at that contains gems of insight and wisdom. In recent years I have found this to be true of a book I purchased when I was in yeshiva. The author is Yeshayahu Moleyoff (not sure how that is spelled in English), and it is one volume on Bereshit (I don’t even know if he has more) called “Meotzarot Bereshit.” more

When I met my husband Jerry, I knew a lot of his good friends from years back, but every now and then he would say, “Look, there’s a close friend of mine.” Then, usually, he would have a conversation with the guy, and not introduce me. He would, though, always profusely apologize afterwards, for not introducing me, as he forgot his friend’s name. “You’re really good friends with the guy and you don’t know his name?” Weird, I thought. more

The jobs of the Levitic families were spelled out in last week’s Torah portion, giving us the jobs of the Kehat family; now, moving into our parsha, we view depictions of the Gershon and Merari families. more

Koach hataya — literally, “a force of deception” — is one of the most difficult roles a soldier can assume. This is the force designated to draw the enemy out of … more

Ok, I’m officially done with winter. I’ve had enough. I’m cold when it’s 50 degrees, so I’m really not happy. Forecast is for temps in the single digits with a windchill … more

Judy’s off one more week (mazel tov on her son’s wedding!), so we’re running a version of a favorite pre-Shavuot column. Seems like yesterday that I wrote about the chocolate … more

The first of our two parshiot (Matot and Masei) contains a rather quizzical pasuk: “Eleazar the kohen said to the soldiers returning from battle, ‘This is the statute that the L-rd … more