If you walked into DRS last Thursday morning, you would be able to feel the excitement for the annual school wide Shabbaton. The spirits were high amongst all students who were just counting down the minutes to perhaps the most anticipated event of the yearly DRS calendar. On Thursday night, November 5th, 250 students drove up to Kutsher’s Resort in the Catskills to begin the 15th annual DRS Shabbaton. more

The Torah never addresses when a newborn is to be named. Just about every Biblical figure introduced at birth is named right away. This would not come as much of a shock in a pre-Avraham and pre-bris era. But the fact that Yitzchak, Yaakov, Eisav, and all of Yaakov’s sons (perhaps with the exception of Binyamin’s second name) are named the moment they are born (or so it seems) stands to leave open the idea that in Biblical times, boys were named before the bris. more

It is with the greatest sense of delight and pride that I come aboard as Publisher and Editor of The Jewish Star. more

Growing up in Far Rockaway, advertising executive and photographer Ahron Weiner knew well the holocaust survival stories of his grandparents, the vibrant Jewish life in the prewar town of Vizhnitz, and the desolation that followed the holocaust. A decade ago, Weiner settled in Prague for work, and used the opportunity to travel around Eastern Europe documenting the unused synagogues and abandoned cemeteries, which are currently on exhibit at the J Greenstein Gallery in Cedarhurst. more

Dear Aviva, How do you settle a dispute between a husband who is a pack-rat and a wife who would love to purge everything except the bare minimum? This is our relationship and we can never see eye to eye on what to keep versus what to toss. Compromising on such an issue doesn’t seem to make sense in a situation like this! What to do? -Clean and Chaotic more

Imagine that you live in a country that has just elected Adolf Hitler as its head of state. Your name is Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, rabbi, and a leading authority on Jewish law who is revered by many for your wisdom, knowledge and compassion. more

Sometimes ignoring the problem will not make it go away. It would simply continue to fester, gradually gaining in momentum, peeling away support from the mainstream, speaking a message of irreverence and rebellion in a time of widespread disaffection. more

The recent and growing SAT cheating investigation by the Nassau County District Attorney, resulting in the arrests of several local high school students, has dominated the news and should be reason for society to take a collective pause. It should also be the impetus for us to redefine how we define and measure success. Within the affiliated Jewish community, shared values in the commitment to chesed is evidence that we already ‘get it.’ more

Amid the silent evening streetscape of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, the couple of blocks surrounding the entrance to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal were bursting with traffic. Vehicles were rushing to attend the annual Kinus Hashluchim, where emissaries of the Chabad movement gathered for inspiration and celebration. more

On a rainy Tuesday evening at the Plaza Hotel’s magnificent ballroom, the America-Israel Friendship League held a dinner and a lively panel discussion, celebrating Israeli entrepreneurship, based on the best-selling book "Startup Nation — The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle" by foreign policy experts Dan Senor and Saul Singer. The dinner was held on the 64th anniversary of Partition Day, when the United Nations voted to authorize the creation of the Jewish state. more