FOSTERING A VIBRANT RENEWAL OF JUDAISM IN POLAND
A celebrated Orthodox rabbi gets to heaven and an angel takes him to a banquet that has been prepared in his honor. “We will serve you the most tender meat, the juiciest fish, and fragrant wine,” the angel tells him. “But who was the Mashgiach for this meal?” the rabbi asks. “Ah,” says the angel. “In your honor, God was the Mashgiach.” “Thanks,” says the rabbi. “But I’ll just stick with the fish.”[…]
08-29-24 – We mourn the passing of Holocaust survivor Estelle Glaser Laughlin. Estelle Laughlin was an extraordinary educator of great human depth. Her active personal witness as a teacher and active resource for insight expressed itself in her speaking and writing; most notably in Transcending Darkness: A Girl’s Journey Out of the Holocaust I am entrusted with telling her life story to the Polish-speaking world, a task I am most committed to, for the sake of Polish and Jewish identity – for the sake of our common humanity.
We had an evening in the atmosphere of Shabbat in Kalisz. It was our second meeting in this city
08-26-24 – The recovery of the October 7 hostage Alex Dancyk concluded yesterday in his burial at Kibbutz Nir Oz. The memory of the kidnapping will not fade because the tears of his granddaughter remind us of all that didn’t happen on behalf of Alex and the other hostages.
15th of Av, known as Tu B’Av, is one of the most moving days on the Jewish calendar. It’s a celebration of love and joy, which symbolizes renewal and hope. In the Jewish tradition, 15 Av is the day when the mourning for the Destruction of the Temple ended. After many difficult days and months, the Jews begin to celebrate life and love.[…]
It may be boring to start a d’var Torah again by saying “we live in times of huge societal tensions and disagreements, where everyone is fighting with each other etc”. But it’s true. Was it different one, two, three decades ago? Who knows, some say yes, some say no. We, human beings, have a pretty strong and natural tendency to idealize our past: oh, things were not that wrong in the ‘80s. Oh, the ‘90s was[…]
