“It’s Thanksgiving every week,” said Rabbi Hershel Billet of the Young Israel of Woodmere as he described how every Thursday night, congregants gather for the Tomchai Shabbos program to pack food and deliver it to needy families who would not otherwise have the necessary items for a Shabbos dinner. more

His eyes haunt me; looking out as they do from a picture taken over seventy years ago. Just one drop of one story from amongst a sea of pain. more

A reunion of history took place on Sunday, with a long roster of honorees that highlighted the century-old history of the Young Israel movement. Current leaders feasted alongside children and grandchildren of past Young Israel presidents, speaking on the movement’s role in preserving Orthodox Judaism in America and securing its connection with Israel. more

Close to two million Jews were shot and thrown into mass unmarked graves in Eastern Europe by the Einsatzgruppen, Nazi mobile killing units, in less than three years during the Second World War. Few survived to tell the tale. A French Catholic priest, in a story worthy of a forensic detective thriller, is returning to the killing fields in a successful bid to find, record and memorialize the sites, restoring names and faces to the countless dead. Last Shabbat, Father Patrick Desbois spoke at Young Israel of Woodmere about his work. more

Calendar for the week of Nov. 18, 2011 more

More than a half century ago, a Jew from Palestine landed on these shores, warning of the holocaust and finding his efforts rebuffed by mainstream Jewish organizations. more

When the SAT and ACT test cheating scandal arose at Great Neck North High School, many of our readers wondered aloud whether the specter of dishonesty was present within the student body of our local day schools. more

I’ve heard it said a number of times that were Yitzchak and Rivkah alive today, there is no way they’d get married. more

I landed in Denver this past Thursday thinking I was simply attending BlogCon, a conference of the top conservative bloggers in the country sponsored by Freedom Works, which is affiliated with the Tea Party movement. But the weekend turned out to be much more than that because twice on Friday and once more on Saturday, the Occupy Denver crowd tried to break into our conference. more

Dear Readers, I’ve been writing this column for about 80 weeks now. I will sometimes have people comment to me in person, via email or phone about how they felt after reading one of my articles. I have never had a reaction that even comes close to the myriad comments I have received from “Fashionable and Frum.” more