When Pesach is over, I feel truly proud: I served 10 Yom Tov meals, and they were all good! Never mind that I felt overwhelmed beforehand, with planning, shopping, shlepping, and cooking. Never mind that I had to post a list on the wall to keep track of all the different meals and courses. The main thing is, I did it! But when I spoke to “Rabbi Yitzchak” and his wife “Rifka” about their Pesach sedarim, I was awed! Making Pesach in my own house was really a cinch in comparison to their seder experience.

Rabbi Yitzchak is a kiruv rabbi on the NYU campus in Manhattan and lives in Passaic. This year, he and his wife and their nine children – ages three months to 16 years – moved into a small apartment in Greenwich Village so that they could be near the NYU college campus.

This week we read the Torah portion Behar. In Parshas Behar, the Torah tells us of the mitzvah to help a fellow Jew who has come upon hard times. “And if your brother becomes poor, and his hand (means) falters with you (in your proximity), you shall strengthen him…” (Leviticus 25:35). This is the basic commandment to help a Jew. The Torah uses seemingly extra words when it describes the situation of this Jew who is in need of help. It is described as he is poor “with you”. What is the expression of “with you”? The Jew who is giving the help has not fallen upon hard times. Why would the Torah describe the person who is in need as being “with you”?

To judge by the account in the Washington Post, the recent statement about the Holocaust by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas was a game-changing reversal of Abbas's previous Holocaust-denial.

In an "unusual step," the Post asserted, Abbas released "a strongly-worded statement" in which he "denounced" the Holocaust as "the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era."

Too bad the Post neglected to report the first half of the Palestinian leader's statement.

The Wrapunzelution has officially begun! Walking around Park Heighhts on Shabbos, the streets are dotted with colors that we are often only treated to in a bouquet of flowers. It’s not everyone yet, but it’s everywhere.

Every day as Andrea and I pack and fold Tichels, answer emails, make plans to do Wrapunzel shows around the US we wonder out loud what is this? What shift is happening that is making people open to challenge the stauts quo in head coverings?

The true answer, like anything Divine remains a mystery, but we’re seeing some things that may surprise you and help us to understand the depth of what’s going on.

Someone stopped me at the Goldberger wedding – which was very beautiful by the way – and asked me about a tofu recipe. So, I thought, why not include in my next column a few dishes using this versatile high-protein food that can be meat, dairy, or pareve, depending on the other ingredients you use. Many of the following recipes are quite appropriate for Shavuos, which is rapidly approaching. Good Yom Tov and good eating!

Dear Mr. Weisbord,

Pesach is over, and our daughter will soon be coming home from seminary in Eretz Yisrael. But instead of being happy, I am upset and worried. We visited her this past winter and found a different girl than the one we sent off. And according to our phone conversations, it has only gotten worse.

We are a middle-of-the-road frum family – not especially modern nor extremely chareidi, either. We fit in well in Baltimore. Both my husband and I have college degrees and work as professionals. This is our oldest daughter; she is extremely bright and talented, b”H. During her last year in high school, after discussing it with a relative, she decided to become a physician’s assistant, because she thought it would afford her opportunities for full- or part-time work with a good income.

It’s almost Shavuos, and you’re thinking, here comes yet another article about dairy, with the requisite cheesecake recipes. Well, yes and no. I am indeed writing about dairy, and there will in fact be some cheesecake recipes – but with a twist. The focus will be on a dairy food that is most likely not at the top of everyone’s ingredient list for this holiday: yogurt

We hold Eretz Yisrael in our hearts as our own special place – our home, even when we don’t reside there. We visit, if we can, to soak up the atmosphere of kedusha (holiness), and some of us actually transfer our selves and our belongings – to live there in reality and not just in our dreams.

One thing that everyone can agree on is that Eretz Yisrael is nothing like our sedate Baltimore. From the blazing sunlight to the passionate people, from the politics to the religion, things are more intense. Everything matters, and everyone cares. Besides being a land steeped in kedusha – perhaps because of it – Eretz Yisrael is embroiled in conflict. Ancient and modern, holy and mundane, beautiful and repulsive, great love and poisonous hatred – they all travel the same buses.

I am seriously dating a girl whom I like very much. She is kind and sweet, with excellent qualities of character. We have many common interests and enjoy each other’s company. There is just one problem. I have come to know her family these few months we have been dating, and have enjoyed spending time with them on Shabbos and at various family events. However, I have noticed that her numerous married sisters share one particular characteristic: None of them likes her in-laws. Many times, I have heard the sisters’ husbands say something like, “Let’s go to my parents,” and his wife says, “I don’t want to do that.” The sisters don’t seem to like to spend time with anyone but their own family. Their husbands have to work very hard to get them to go to theirs.