“Nothing was ready, not our uniforms and not our tanks. I was trained as a driver. No one knew what was happening. The warehouse lacked the amount of supplies needed for the troops, and the tanks hadn’t been serviced for months. The scene was like the Machane Yehuda Market on Friday morning. Everyone shouted out what he needed. Instead of bananas and strawberries, soldiers traded with each other for rockets, grenades, and rifles.”

You would not be alone in thinking that the above is an eyewitness report of the happenings of October 7^th. It is, rather, an account by Rabbi Elchanan Ben Nun during a September 2023 interview, describing what he experienced on the first day of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But the chaos on the military front on October 7^th, 2023 – 50 years, almost to the day, later – was just as great. 

Describing his experience on the morning of the October 7^th massacre, Guy Itzhaki, a decorated war veteran, said in an Aish.com interview, that he had read a lot of history books about the Yom Kippur War, but this was the first time in his life that he felt he was watching a scene from it before his own eyes. “People were in shock. In those chaotic early hours, there was much confusion. The scale of the attack, the number of infiltrations, the fate of the border communities – everything was fragmented, contradictory, or unknown.”

or decades, I have been connected to Yeshivas Shavei Hevron. Located in the heart of Chevron, the yeshiva was founded in 1982 by Rav Moshe Bleicher, who used to say, “We are not in Chevron because the Avos are buried there but because they are alive there.”

The Torah of the Avos continues to live, and we strive to connect to it as much as possible.? I started as a talmid, became an avreich (married student), and then headed the yeshiva’s publishing house. Today I am a Ph.D. in Jewish history and thought, but every year, I continue to come to Baltimore and other places to assist the yeshiva.?

I stayed in touch with Anne the way I’ve kept up with several high school friends for decades – by emailing annual birthday wishes. This past March 30, I had an uncanny feeling that I should call her instead.

I had lost track of Anne for years after graduation, until my extensive Google search in 2012 discovered her past and present whereabouts – a move to Hawaii, her intermarriage, and a subsequent move down South. When Anne’s husband answered the phone and shared the sad news that she had recently died, I suspected that she did not get a Jewish burial. After expressing my condolences, I did not want to hang up until I knew for sure.

“I am so sorry to hear this sad news! Was she buried in New Haven?”

“No, she was cremated. I’m trying to figure out now what she would have wanted me to do with her ashes.”

I was shocked but not at all surprised. I knew that nearly 50 percent of American Jews today opt for cremation over kevuras Yisrael (Jewish burial) – and the trend is growing. In fact, Anne’s cremation was the first of three cremations performed within the past nine months on people I’ve known for years. The second was that of a retired Jewish physician who was an avid baseball fan. He made his wishes known to his family; he did not want to take up space being buried. Instead, he requested that his ashes be strewn over second base of an undisclosed ballpark. Although his Jewish wife was appalled by the thought of cremation, her devotion to her husband and respect for his last wishes won out. The third cremation was of an intermarried Jew who never identified with being Jewish and had “converted” years ago.

Having not been in America since June 2025, I don’t know what the prevailing thoughts are regarding Israel and the war. I’ve been told that most American Jews believe the long two-year war is over. Here in Israel, however, no one shares that sentiment. Moreover, everyone in this country believes the continuation of the war is not a matter of if, but when. That being said, the last 27 months here have changed not only this country and its people forever but indeed the course of history of the Middle East and the world. On October 6, 2023, Israel was surrounded by and under constant threat from Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen. As of January 1, 2026, Iran is crumbling under the weight of its own repressive, incompetent, fundamentalist Jew-hating, paper-tiger regime; Hezbollah has been decimated, its leadership eviscerated; Assad’s Syria is no more; the Houthis are in shambles; and Hamas is nowhere near the menace it once was.

Sadly, we have lost too many of our own in Gaza and Lebanon. Argue if you’d like about how the county has conducted the war, but to comprehend the magnitude of what has transpired over the last couple of years, you have to trace it back more than a decade to understand just how monumental and – dare I say – biblical this victory is. I have written before about the daily wonders and miracles we get to witness in this land, but the ones below garnered from various sources might help give you some perspective of just how beyond this world, real things are happening here.

Special to the Where What When

 Monday, January 12, 2026, corresponding to 23 Teves 5786, marked the shloshim for the victims of the Bondi terror attack.

 All of the victims have now been buried, and one has already had a matzeiva erected. Yet the pain and suffering continue, particularly for the families and friends of the 15 killed and 40 people wounded in the attack, many of whom are still undergoing physical rehabilitation.

The trauma of the attack continues to reverberate powerfully. Although it is currently the summer school holidays here in Australia, teachers and administration from Jewish schools in Sydney have been receiving guidance from experts, including specialists from Israel, on how best to prepare for the return of students in the forthcoming school year. Tens of students lost parents, grandparents, or other close family members. Some were themselves wounded, while others are relatives or close friends of those injured. Many were present at Bondi on the night of the attack and directly witnessed its terrifying scenes – experiences tragically familiar to Jewish communities elsewhere in the world, but almost unheard of in Australia until now.

Aliyah is on the rise! Many Baltimoreans have come to Eretz Yisrael in recent years. Although most of them are singles or young families, seniors are a growing demographic of those desiring to spend their lives in our holy land. All of them face challenges: singles paving their way to marriage and career, families navigating the job market and school systems, and seniors learning the bureaucratic ropes. And Hebrew is a problem for everyone!

My husband and I are among those making aliyah as retirees. But the question is: Do all gil shilishi (the Israeli term for seniors, which literally means “third age”) actually retire? It depends on who they are! Here are the stories of a few golden age Baltimoreans who have reinvented themselves in Israel.

Meat has become one of the highest food costs on the grocery bill. Prices for chicken, beef, and deli have gone up in every store. Before filling your shopping cart with cutlets, roasts, and ready-to-eat sliced sandwich meat, it’s worth asking: Is all this meat really needed, or has it just become the go-to for most meals?

In many homes, meat is served at lunch and supper because that’s what people are used to cooking. Cutting back doesn’t mean meals become smaller or less filling. A few simple changes can lower the grocery bill without anyone noticing much of a difference.

Moshe’s poignant farewell to a generation poised on the brink of Eretz Yisrael – the parshiyos of Eikev and Ki Savo – confront us with two timeless warnings. They are not abstract theological debates but urgent prescriptions for the human heart, especially in times of abundance. Yet, in our community, these verses have too often been twisted into sources of guilt, division, and misunderstanding. One verse has been weaponized to demand perpetual happiness, as if the Torah were a self-help manual punishing honest sorrow. Another has been deployed to dismiss human effort, as if the chayalim (soldiers), engineers, and innovators who safeguard the Jewish nation were mere puppets on a divine string.

These misreadings are not harmless. They erode the very bitachon they claim to uphold, fostering either toxic positivity or fatalistic passivity. Worse, they divide us – frum from “less frum” – at a moment when Klal Yisrael needs unity more than ever. Let us return to the pshat, the plain meaning of the text, and rediscover the Torah’s elegant balance: profound, joyful gratitude to Hashem amidst the celebration of human achievement. Only then can we build a community that honors both the beis medrash and the beis hachayal – i.e., practical engagement with the world.

I started gaining weight in 2022. Two years later, I had gained over 70 pounds. Things did not look good health-wise if I continued on this path. I tried to lose weight but found it took a lot of effort to lose five or ten pounds, and then I would gain it right back, plus. I tried bars or shakes as meal replacements, the South Beach diet, the Mediterranean diet, the flat-belly diet, the 21-day diet, the keto diet, going low carb, going low fat, going vegetarian, eating limited dairy, etc. I tried skipping lunch and ended up eating cookies because I was hungry. Nothing worked long term.

In 2024, I davened for help with this issue and put myself on a tehillim list. One day, my internet wasn’t functioning, and I needed to work. This annoyance was a saving grace. I went to the library to work and met someone who told me about a support group. Some of the people in the group had lost 125 pounds or more. It was remote, but I started connecting with people who had fought my battle and won.

I found someone who explained what she did and asked me to try it for two weeks. I have never looked back. Fast forward almost two years later: I have lost over 60 pounds and kept it off. I look great and feel even better. I have energy to achieve tasks that would have been impossible before. The remote support group has been replaced by an in-person support group for Jewish women in Baltimore. I have made good friends and have learned so much about life and myself from these ladies.

When people think of home improvement, they usually picture a new kitchen, bathroom, or flooring. But one of the most impactful home improvements – especially in Maryland – is weatherization. It lowers energy bills, makes homes more comfortable, and in many cases costs the homeowner nothing at all.

I’ve helped many families apply for weatherization over the past few years, and the feedback is almost always the same: “I wish I had done this sooner.”

I usually apply for my clients for weatherization as an add-on without even telling them, and this year I got calls out of the blue thanking me very much for helping them with the weatherization – in some cases including new furnaces – because now their house is in better shape.

What Is Weatherization?

Weatherization focuses on making your home more energy efficient. The goal isn’t cosmetic; it’s comfort, safety, and lower utility bills. Depending on the home, this can include:

·         Insulation (attic, walls, crawlspace)

·         Air sealing and draft reduction

·         Duct sealing

·         Ventilation improvements

·         Energy-efficiency upgrades related to heating and cooling

Let me take you back to the days of “yesteryear.” No, I am not a retired lone ranger on disability with an Indian sidekick but a twelve-year-old boy born in Baltimore on Lakewood Avenue. I am wearing a yarmulka with a belt in back (Ivy League style) or sometimes a blue felt “Yid lid” marked with the luchos and “TA,” my school.

Growing up, we also knew about other letters, such as “AA,” which meant Alcoholics Anonymous, and “AAA,” which stood for the American Automobile Association. Fast forward about 40 years, and today, these letters indicate battery size. What would we do without batteries, the crucial “energizers” that help run our society? Back in my youth, we were very resourceful and didn’t require or value batteries. In fact, we got along very nicely without them. Our energy came from within, and our games were child-created and directed – no carpools, no fatherly coaching – and just fun.

It was in one of my psychology classes back in college that I first learned about that dog – the one who was trained to salivate upon hearing a bell. It was amazing to hear how a dog, which naturally hungers for a piece of juicy meat, could replicate that exact craving after simply hearing a bell ring. This was a well-known story and one that became a common cliché. But to think it could actually apply to me was preposterous – or so I thought. Who knew that some 40 years later, I would turn into exactly that, minus the fur and the wagging tail, of course.

It’s been about nine years since I’ve owned a smartphone. Back then, it was an enticing gadget, and I reasoned that my children were grown and gone so I didn’t need to be concerned about their chinuch. I dove into this new world headfirst and soon became part of the crowd.