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Mostly Cloudy Pesach kasher v’ sameach … in good health
While this will be a Pesach like none we’ve experienced, we believe with a full heart that, with Hashem’s help, we will be privileged to joyfully fulfill each of its attendant …
coronavirus
5 Towns rabbis emphasize: NO GUESTS FOR PESACH. None.
Many of us are asking ourselves a new question this year: "Why is this Pesach different from all other Pesachs?"
coronavirus
You Jewish? Don't even THINK about breaking the quarantine!
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Horodoker, writing from Tiberias in the aftermath of an epidemic in 1786, cited Proverb 22:3: “A clever person sees evil and hides, but simpletons pass on and are …
coronavirus
Grieving my husband prepared me for this pandemic
I’ve been preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic for the past year. No, I am not an alarmist, prophet or a hoarder. I am a 39-year-old …
opinion
Our elderly are not expendable
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe with frightening speed, pushback against the notion that shutting down our regular lives and the economy is worth the cost …
coronavirus
Chabad mega-seders give way to personal aid
Last Passover, Chabad-Lubavitch of Thailand oversaw Passover seders for more than 5,000 across the tropical Southeast Asian nation — 22 seders held in five cities, from Bangkok’s five …
coronavirus
For our charities, it’s no longer business as usual
The coronavirus pandemic is not the first deadly contagion to ravage the globe, but it is clearly the first that modern nations have sought to combat by essentially shutting down public life and much …
opinion
Love and hate in the days of COVID-19
If you were to take a wider perspective on this current pandemic, you would immediately realize that the earth is like one giant petri dish facing a universal contagion, where we are all in this …
torah
Increasing gratitude, a primary Jewish value
There are certain phrases or expressions that many of us find hard to say. “I love you” is one of them. Another such phrase is “thank you.” Although these words are …
opinion
Israel and the demise of the global village
In the face of the steeply rising number of coronavirus patients and the breakneck speed of political changes in Israel, the world we have grown accustomed to living in for the past generation is …
israeli election
Key differences bog down Bibi-Gantz unity talks
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and challenger Benny Gantz have agreed to work towards the formation of an emergency unity government to end a bitter political standoff and respond …
editorial
Gov. Cuomo, Main Street needs a hand
Covid-19 has completely changed the way we all live. But along with worrying about keeping themselves and their families healthy, thousands of small business owners across New York state are losing …
coronavirus
Humility supplants hubris as Israel goes into hibernation
My wife’s father’s cousin, Larry, a man I knew and who hosted one of our Sheva Brachot, died this past Friday. A music teacher all his life, Larry succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of …
coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic should change how we look at disability
The coronavirus pandemic has forced Israelis to make profound changes. Weddings and bar mitzvahs have been canceled. Handshakes and hugs have disappeared overnight. And it’s not just …
coronavirus
Stricken Efrat buckles down on its home fronts
Less than 20 kilometers south of Jerusalem in the Gush Etzion bloc, the community of Efrat and its 13,000 inhabitants made headlines this week as having one of the highest levels of …
recipes
Invite online faces to a Pesach ‘bruncheon’
This year, I’m not going overboard. Everything has changed in the era of corona, Pesach included. Yet we must celebrate, even if we are the lone attendee. …
coronavirus
After virus, what’s ahead for troublesome Iran?
Iran by its own accounting is the fifth-ranked among nations in coronavirus fatalities. Outside experts say the rate is likely much higher. The confluence of hard-hitting …
coronavirus
5 Towns rabbis emphasize: NO GUESTS FOR PESACH. None.
Many of us are asking ourselves a new question this year: "Why is this Pesach different from all other Pesachs?"
coronavirus
Message from Stuart Richner, president of Richner Communications
Stuart Richner is president of Richner Communications Inc (RCI), parent company of The Jewish Star. Richner is publisher of Herald Community Newspapers …
This week in Torah
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Left- and right-brain Judaism
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Increasing gratitude, a primary Jewish value
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Merciful One, send Eliyahu the Prophet
The Haftorah to parsha Yzav on this Shabbat Hagadol, contains two well-known pasukim that conclude both Sefer Malachi and the Nevi’im section of Tanach. Malachi prophesizes the eventual …
Who's in the Kitchen
Time to let go! Cleaning house, baking frittata
Sorry for being MIA recently. Aside from having the flu and bronchitis, I had lots going on. My son, daughter-in-law, adorable 2-year-old granddaughter and their English cocker spaniel are moving …
Kosher Kitchen
Stuffing potatoes and Passover kugels — oh my!
My grandmother made a potato kugel that I can still taste — maybe because of the copious amounts of gribenes and chicken fat she used in the mix. Whatever it was, the kugel was delicious, …
Viewpoint
Calling out racists in USA and in China’s party
A friend of mine this week shared with me an exchange about the coronavirus on an online bulletin board that serves the suburban New York community where she lives. It began with a …