Blue sky and thick sand as far as the eye can see. At some point in the distance the two blend as one. I sit on a picnic bench under an aishel tree as a cool sweet breeze is blowing. I reflect on the Hebrew vocabulary words I have learned over the past six months: tekes, hashba’ah, masa kumta, and chayal boded. The chayal boded is my son, a lone soldier. My heart beams with pride and my eyes well up with tears.

The sounds of fighter jets and explosions jar me from my thoughts. I should be alarmed, yet I know I am safe. If only I could wrap up this moment and hold on to the serenity I feel.

Shifra* needs something for her home. It could be a lamp, a food processor, a new coat, or a car. Where will she get it? Does she zero in on getting the best possible price, whether online, at a department store sale, or from a business in another city? Or does she first consider giving her business to someone in our community? Does it matter? Is there a right way and a wrong way to buy things? What do customers have to say? How do retailers feel?

This is a review of the book Manya’s Story: The Harrowing Account of a Jewish Family’s Ordeal in Revolutionary Russia by Bettyanne Gray.

In the past, I have reviewed several stories of heroism and survival during the Holocaust. Although a significant percentage of the frum/heimish community is descended from those who miraculously survived the Nazi Holocaust of 1939 to 1945, “survivors” are actually a small percentage of the overall American Jewish community. Growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, I knew only a few families who fit that description. One was the Knurr family, who were related to the Kranzlers of Baltimore. The Kranzlers once visited them in Montgomery, long before I went to yeshiva. The other was Reverend Leib Merenstein and his wife Pauline. He wasn’t the rabbi, but he was the baal koreh, shochet, and Hebrew school teacher. He taught me for my bar mitzva. He was a Gerrer chasid before the war and ended up in Montgomery because the community at that time wanted a shochet. Otherwise, I hardly recall any others.

Over the last few years, I have had many conversations about OCD with people who have called Relief for a mental health referral. Those conversations form the basis of this fabricated dialogue. OCD sufferers will find this conversation very familiar, and those who do not have experience with OCD will find it remarkable and informative. Let us now begin our discussion with Ora Chana Devora, or O.C.D. for short.

Rabbi Azriel Hauptman: Thank you, O.C.D., for making time in your busy schedule to share your story with us. Can you tell us the basic timeline of your OCD?

Ora Chana Devora: Before I begin, I would like to thank you for spreading the awareness of OCD. There are so many misconceptions about this debilitating disorder and public education can be enormously helpful.

hey say the pen is mightier than the sword. But sometimes it helps to have a gun.

The question of what to do about guns in America has come to the fore as mass shootings – whether of the terrorist or “mentally ill” variety – seem to occur more and more often, not to mention home invasions and other crimes. Might private citizens owning and carrying guns have prevented some of these terrible incidents? But what about the tragic consequences of easy access to guns, including accidents, suicides, and crimes of passion?  

Who should travel for a first date? Should it be the young man, or the young woman? Lately, this has become one of the most frequently asked questions by those who are in the shidduch parsha. Parents, young women, and bachurim are all asking this question and wondering what is the appropriate, right, and fair thing to do when deciding who should be the one to shoulder the burden of traveling for a first date.

To begin with, I would like to say that it is not my goal to definitively answer this question one way or the other, because the real answer is – it depends. As no two situations are exactly the same and no two people are exactly the same, there is no one answer that will fit every situation and every couple. Therefore, what I hope to accomplish is to lay out some of the various concerns and considerations on both sides of this matter. The more that each side can appreciate where the other is coming from, the better equipped everyone will be to make a fully informed decision and, more importantly, b’ezras Hashem, for each side to feel respected and appreciated when this question arises.

Many Americans have become increasingly interested in – even slightly obsessed with – their health. We carefully watch what we eat and have become quite mindful of calorie consumption, avoiding artificial ingredients, and using natural herbal supplements. Corporations and manufacturers have followed this new trend by creating “all natural” products, labeling their products with calorie counts, boasting of “healthy” ingredients, and opening organic food stores. Physicians, too, have realized that an important part of medicine is keeping patients from getting sick, otherwise known as preventive care.

Dear Dr. Weisbord,

I am very overwhelmed. This happens to me every summer when the kids are out of school. I don’t come from a frum family, and grew up in a two-child, calm and organized home. It is very hard for me to deal with the chaos, noise, and mess of six children under the age of 11. I do okay during the year, but when the children are home all the time, it’s extremely difficult. I really, really need those few hours to myself, when they’re in school, but it’s not possible. We can’t afford to send the children to camp. Since most of the other children in the neighborhood are in camp, my kids spend the day around the house, getting bored and fighting with each other. I know I could go places and do creative projects with them, but I don’t have the energy. The house is a mess. It’s impossible to make order, and even when I do, it falls apart in a few minutes.

In this interview with Dr. Michael Bunzel, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at

Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak, Dr. Bunzel speaks about mental health in the frum community. He was instrumental in the founding of the hospital’s recently opened, state-of-the-art mental health hospital. Housed in a seven-floor, ultra-modern building, with every possible amenity and comfort, the Mental Health Center is designed to reduce the potentially unpleasant aspects of clients seeking mental health treatment. Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital is legendary for upholding the principles of Jewish law and the sanctity of human life in all its departments, and a halachic committee of gedolei Yisrael oversees all medical ethics issues. With this groundbreaking achievement, the hospital, doctors, and rabbanim hope to apply these invaluable principles to the crucial field of mental illness.

A new initiative to help singles find their bashert has come to Baltimore from Eretz Yisrael. We hope this new program helps to serve klal Yisrael in helping to make shidduchim along with our extremely dedicated shadchanim, rabbanim, and everyone of us who tries to help with a shidduch.

This tool is unique in that it encourages likeminded singles who have a common thread not only of hashkafos and goals; they are also brought together by a new, fresh source of enthusiasm – their dear friends, the chassan and kalla! – who know or are connected in some way to all the singles at the wedding.