Although this was not my first visit to my eldest son Shimon and his family in Modiin Illit, also known as Kiryat Sefer, being in Eretz Yisrael on Chanukah was quite a different experience. In fact, knowing that the Chanukah story all began with a confrontation in nearby Modiin and that the seven major battles of the Maccabean Revolt took place in Judea and Samaria made the holiday come to life. So did my trip to Moshav Matityahu, namesake of one of the heroes of Chanukah.

Moshav Matityahu is located between Kiryat Sefer and the village of Hashmonaim. Compared to Kiryat Sefer, with its population of over 70,000, it is small; there are only about 100 families on the moshav (60 to70 percent, Israeli). It has undergone numerous changes since its founding by a group of about 20 American families who moved there in 1981. Under its first Rav, Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin, the moshav was a Religious Zionist collective endeavor. Today, it is privatized under the tutelage of Rabbi Zev Leff (an alumnus of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland and former Rav of the Young Israel of Greater Miami) and attracts a yeshivishe element.

When Rochelle Goldberg’s eighth grade Bais Yaakov students performed her musical drama, Journey’s End, in January, 2016, little did she realize that the play – the sixth original play she has written for the school – would hit a nerve.

“When I was thinking about ideas, I realized that no one had ever done a play with a Persian theme,” recalls Mrs. Goldberg. “I have always noticed that some of the Persian girls feel like second-class citizens – not quite fitting in. Some fit in so easily, but a significant group does not. Of course, that was my personal feeling; I took a chance and gambled with my gut feeling. It’s a shame that it hadn’t been done earlier. But it ended up being so much more than a play.”

The poignant play was performed again by Bais Yaakov’s eighth grade students a few weeks ago. Renamed Generations, it was directed by Mrs. Goldberg and production heads, Mrs. Sossie Ansbacher and Miss Gila Jacobovitz, as well as student production heads, Tova Rachel Paige and Rivkah Moinzadeh. The story featured the special connection between “Elinor,” a 16-year-old Persian student, played by first-generation American Shira Shifteh, and her great-grandmother, played by Shira Shapiro (who worked with the Persian girls to get the accent down!). The role of Elinor’s mother, Mrs. Delshad, was played by Shanit Gholian, also a first-generation American.

When I was growing up, if we wanted to eat a candy bar, packaged cupcake, or ice cream cone, all we did was read the product label to deterWhen mine that it did not contain lard or other obviously non-kosher ingredients, and we considered it kosher. There were few hechsherim then on processed food, and ingredients were simpler, too. That’s why I marvel at how sophisticated the kosher industry has become, a feeling that is magnified tremendously when I attend Kosherfest, the world's largest business-to-business kosher food and beverage event. Unlike us Baby Boomers, today’s kosher consumers are spared the guesswork, needing only a glance at the label to find a reliable kosher certification logo.

This year, I was among more than 6,000 people from 21 countries who attended the 30-year-old annual event, held at the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, November 13-14. With only about four hours to enjoy the largest kosher smorg in the world, to carefully choose which milchigs to eat before seeking fleishigs – oh yes, and to interview participants for this article – I decided to focus on two aspects of the tradeshow: unique products and foreign booths.

It was noon, on November 13, and Rebbetzin Malka Faiga Taub was sitting at her kitchen window waiting eagerly for the construction workers to put up the last truss on Congregation Arugas Habosem. The shul – founded by her father-in-law, Rabbi Amram Taub, the Brider Rebbe, zt”l, in 1951 – is clearly visible from her house on Park Heights Avenue.

“All of a sudden I heard a bang,” recalls Rebbetzin Taub. “My husband came running in to tell me that the roof caved in. We were shaking.”

Three construction workers were trapped under the rubble. Fortunately, someone heard them yelling for help

Lakewood is a 164-mile ride up the New Jersey Turnpike from Baltimore, but it may be too close for comfort when it comes to guarding ourselves against a measles outbreak in Baltimore and Silver Spring. What are we doing, and what should we do to protect our community?

Dr. Sondra Heiligman, a Baltimore pediatrician, explains the basics of the measles vaccine and the ramifications the current measles outbreak may potentially have, chalila, on our greater local community.

“Boruch Hashem, we have the ability to give immunizations so we can prevent most cases of the measles. The shot is known to give approximately 93% prevention of measles after one dose; after two doses, it is 97%. All day, people call me, asking what they need to do if they are visiting Lakewood. Some parents have asked advice regarding visiting parents if they are taking children who are too young to get their first or second dose of the measles vaccine.

Many community members are well-acquainted with Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, tucked-away on the Sinai-Lifebridge Health campus on Belvedere Avenue. It is a Baltimore icon dating back to 1890 (when it was called Hebrew Friendly Inn). Fewer of us are familiar with one of its programs, which originated in the 1990s, called the Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). I had the pleasure of speaking to Director of Outpatient Behavioral Health Services, Hannah Kilburg, and PHP Admissions Liaison, Bracha Poliakoff, about the great number of outpatient successe they have witnessed in this program.

“A lot of people get turned off because the word hospitalization in the title, but it is actually an outpatient program,” notes Ms. Kilburg. “Inpatient hospitalization is what we seek to avoid, so it is ideal for folks in the community experiencing some worsening symptoms that interfere with their daily life and put them at risk of inpatient hospitalization.” PHP also takes patients who have been hospitalized and made some progress in the hospital but still have a way to go. The program helps them get back to baseline.