by Chaim Yehuda Meyer

On Monday, April 28^th, I arrived in Washington D.C. bright and early to hear arguments in the case of A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, a Supreme Court case involving a middle school student named Ava Tharpe who suffers from epilepsy. Because her seizures are worse in the morning, she wants to be able to come to school in the afternoon and receive further instruction at home in the evening. This is an accommodation that was made for her as an elementary school student in Tennessee. However, when the Tharpe family moved to Minnesota, the local school district denied this accommodation, and the family sued.

Ava’s case has gone up the court system from the administrative level to the court of appeals. Now, the Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether it’s enough for children with disabilities to show that school districts acted with indifference in denying them special education services, a lower standard, or if the children must show that the district acted with “bad faith or gross misjudgment,” a higher burden of proof. The plaintiff’s attorneys argue that the current standard adopted by many courts around the country is unfair to students with disabilities. (Currently, employees who sue for discrimination don’t have to show intent.) The school district is arguing that if the lower standard is applied, then schools that have a good faith disagreement with parents over the education that needs to be provided will still have to pay. The government agrees with the plaintiff that the more lenient standard for parents to sue should be applied.

by Jakub Lichterman and Michael Kidorf, Ph.D.

Many traits run in families, and unfortunately, substance use is one of them. Several studies show that parents impact the substance use of their children through genetic transmission, parenting styles, and their own substance use habits. This model conforms to a traditional “top down” vertical approach to understanding family problems. But perhaps there is also an overlooked horizontal process that occurs within families, in which siblings impact each other’s substance use, independent of the influence of their parents.

It makes complete sense that siblings might influence each other’s tendencies to use substances. Teenagers spend more time with their siblings than with their parents. In general, young people are susceptible to the influence of others, unlike adults who are often set in their ways. Younger siblings, for example, often view their older siblings as role models and inherit many interests from them. They might share friends, music tastes, hobbies, or pretty much anything else. It is not hard to imagine a younger sibling choosing to “experiment” with substances that his or her older sibling has already used.

Spring was always beautiful in Barcelona, and this year, 1715, was no exception. The harbor was one of the busiest in the Mediterranean, crowded with all sorts of ships 365 days a year. On this evening, Signor Bembo, the Genoese captain of a merchant vessel was loading the last of his cargo; the ship would sail with the morning tide. As Bembo looked up at the sky, which was ablaze with a thousand stars, he suddenly heard the sound of a man clearing his throat. At the bottom of the gangplank stood a Spanish gentleman of about 30 or so.

“Yes, what do you want?” barked Bembo.

“Permission to come aboard, captain,” replied the gentleman.

“Granted,” barked Bembo, who instinctively fingered the dagger he wore at his side. Although the civil war had ended over a year before, conditions in Spain were still unsettled, and one could not be too careful with strangers.

Once on board, the Spaniard removed his hat and bowed low. “I am Don Antonio Carvaljho.”

He certainly has the manners of a gentleman, Bembo thought to himself.

“I understand you are sailing for Livorno in the morning. I have urgent business there which requires my presence. Will you take me, captain?”

I must admit that when Purim falls on erev Shabbos and erev Pesach falls on Shabbos, it can be challenging. But now that Pesach is packed away and the last load of laundry is in the washer, there’s no time to waste. It’s time to start planning for another challenging yet eagerly anticipated event: Nismach’s fourth annual Labor Day Weekend Shabbaton, planned for Friday through Sunday, August 29 to August 31.

The Shabbaton attendees are primarily members of Nismach Maryland, the local friendship and activities group for Jewish almanos (widows) formed in 2016 by Stephanie Savir-Perlman of Silver Spring. They have been joined by other almanos from as far away as Boca Raton, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Lakewood, Monsey, New Haven, and Passaic.

Both of us having personally experienced widowhood, my husband, Michael Steinberg, and I – aided by a small army of our family members, friends, and neighbors – particularly look forward to hosting yet another beautiful, bekavodik, and uplifting Shabbos for approximately 60 women.

As you read this, you might think that you’ve never heard of anything sadder than a Shabbaton for widows, but nothing could be further from the truth. As the organization’s name implies, Nismach is a group that encourages happiness. It is patterned after the international group, Samchainu, which gives support to 2,700-plus widows throughout the world. Our activities are uplifting and fun with the intention of reminding the participants that, even though our husband has died, we all need to continue seeking happiness and enjoy life.

Yaakov* was at that tough age, when a child is beginning to move out of being a little kid but not quite at the grown kid stage, the age when the other kids start to look more closely at how you dress, how you carry yourself, how you look. Unfortunately for Yaakov, the boys in his class looked down on him. It was a tough time at home, too. His parents weren’t getting along; they were having money problems and fighting a lot. Neither of them had the focus or emotional availability to see what Yaakov needed. The kids noticed that he wore old clothes that didn’t fit him, they weren’t washed and ironed neatly, and he carried himself in a withdrawn and unapproachable way. That’s when Reyus got involved. 

The principal of the school had heard of our Buildup program and reached out to bring it into his school. We began working with the school and training the staff, and an amazing thing happened. The principal was walking past Yaakov and another student in the hallway, one day, and happened to hear Yaakov tell this boy a joke. The joke was genuinely very funny. He thought to himself how funny Yaakov was and was about to keep walking, as he would normally have done, but then our Buildup training kicked in, and he realized that this was a golden opportunity to provide Yaakov with a “buildup.” On the spot, he stopped and said loudly and clearly for all the boys around to hear that Yaakov was very funny. A nearby boy, then turned to Yaakov and said, “You know, what he [the principal] said is right.” That’s all it took for things to start to turn around.

Reviewed By Rabbi Mordechai Shuchatowitz, Head of the Baltimore Bais Din

In a previous article (February, 2025), we discussed the halachos of bal talin. Bal talin refers to the mitzva to pay workers on time. We will present a brief summary of the halachos previously discussed and will then discuss some new situations.

Bal talin means that if a worker was hired for the entire day, the worker must be paid that night. Conversely, if the worker was hired to work for the entire night, then the worker must be paid the next day. Let’s use an example of a babysitter hired by parents to watch their children.  If the babysitter watched children throughout the day Sunday until night, the parents must pay her some time Sunday night, before daybreak Monday morning. If she watched them for Sunday night until Monday morning, then she must be paid Monday, before nightfall.

This is also true if the babysitter watched the children for a few hours during the day; she must be paid by the end of the day before nightfall. Conversely, if the babysitter watched the children for a few hours during the night, she must be paid by the end of the night before daybreak.

The mitzva does not just apply to a worker. It also applies to a renter who rents an item to use for a day, such as rental of a car, tables and chairs, or any other utensils. The above parameters of what halacha considers to be a timely payment will also apply.[1]

It should be noted that for a rental of something that is halachically considered karka, part of the ground, there is a question whether the halachos of bal talin apply. For example, someone rents a room in a hotel that is owned by another Jew. There is a question in the poskim as to whether the halachos of bal talin will apply.[2] However, even if the mitzva of bal talin would not apply, there is still an obligation on the renter to pay in a timely fashion. This point will be explained more fully in this article.

It’s very empowering to understand how diet affects your body. So, a few years ago, when I noticed changes happening to myself and family members, I decided to investigate. I really got into the weeds of nutrition and took a deep dive into the topic of insulin resistance.

It is well known that type 2 diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent. Moreover, about 98 million Americans – one in three adults – have prediabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), although more than eight in ten don’t know

There are neshamos whose journeys stretch beyond the ordinary boundaries of time, neshamos that shine even as the body weakens, neshamos that rise higher even as the world pulls down.

Goli was such a neshama.

Her name hints to her mission. Goli, from the same root as gimel-lamed-hay – to reveal. As we plead in davening, Galeh kvod malchuscha aleinu, reveal the glory of Your Kingdom upon us. In her quiet, steady way, Goli revealed the hidden greatness and power of a Yiddishe neshama. She showed that true strength lies in spirit, that the glory of Hashem’s Malchus can be seen in a radiant heart anchored in unwavering faith.

Goli’s story cannot be measured by hardship alone. She wouldn’t want it to be. Rather, it’s a story of aliyah, a life where the physical grew smaller and the neshama grew stronger and brighter, filling every corner of her world and every heart that entered it.

Several months ago, our daughter Shani called and suggested we visit my sister Elsie Blum. Shani had learned that my 93-year-old only surviving sibling had gone through a difficult medical situation and was now recovered. Elsie lives in a retirement community in Fort Worth, Texas. Shani made all the arrangements and insisted on covering all the costs. She drove up from her home in Richmond, Virginia, and we flew out of BWI on a Sunday and returned Monday. It was a wonderful opportunity to visit our Fort Worth family and to spend quality time with my sister. Shani got especially close to her family as she attended LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a semester and visited the Blums. Elsie has always been close to us and came to all our family simchas.

Shabbos was over, and I went around the house putting everything away. I folded the tablecloth, put the dining room table pads away, cleaned the Shabbos leichter, and then started the dishwasher. I glanced over at the fridge and couldn’t help but notice the readout lights on the front panel, a glaring reminder that the Shabbos mode was indeed broken. It was fun having a light in my fridge for the short time that the Shabbos mode was working, but what can you do? It was just plain broken. The bells and whistles are officially gone, and it isn’t worth the time or money to bring them back. Broken. Now my fridge will always remain in the dark.  

My thoughts turn to other dark and broken things. Like broken engagements or broken women who would like to remarry. I watch the process of my single women friends who so want to remarry but aren’t finding it to be an easy process. A shadchan calls them with an idea. They go out on a date or talk on Zoom. Oh, how they want it to work out and how they try making different personalities and lifestyles fit together. So often, they are unsuccessful.