You have to hand it to the ever-resilient tobacco industry. While the rest of us were focused on e-cigarettes and the dangers of vaping, they were busy creating new nicotine products for our kids to ingest. The latest is called the oral nicotine pouch. It is sold at gas stations and convenience stores for about five-to-ten dollars per package, with brand names like Velo, On!, and Rogue. The brand Zyn is the JUUL equivalent in the nicotine pouch world, accounting for most of the marketing and sales.  

A Maryland State Police employee told me that the highest concentration of legal handgun ownership in Baltimore City is centered in the Jewish community. Yet even though you have never heard of a negligent discharge (inadvertent or accidental discharge of a firearm) nor of a child finding and handling a firearm nor of an illegal use of a legal firearm in our community – there is a great deal of fear and loathing when it comes to firearms and firearm ownership. On the other hand, the current rise in both crime and antisemitism creates an impetus to be licensed to own and carry a firearm – and to do it as soon as possible.

“Having a baby is earth shattering,” says Judy Yankelove, a local lactation consultant. “A new mother needs support. She should eat right, get rest, find friends to talk to, and ask for help from friends and family.”

This advice seems obvious, and this was how new mothers were treated in Europe. My father, who was born in Germany in 1930, told me that women stayed in bed for two weeks after giving birth. However, times have changed, and women today are reluctant to take it easy. Or perhaps our very busy lives make it difficult. Even the healthcare professionals have abandoned the “old-fashioned” ways and send new mothers and babies home after 24 hours, unless there is some complication.

In this article, I will review two government programs that aim to make family life more compatible with work.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave in Maryland is governed by a combination of federal and state laws, ensuring that new parents have options for taking time off to care for their newborns. Here are the key aspects of maternity leave in the state:

1) Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Under the federal FMLA, eligible employees in Maryland can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. This can be used for maternity leave following the birth or adoption of a child.

2) Maryland Parental Leave Act (MPLA):  Maryland has its own MPLA, which provides additional protections. Eligible employees can take up to six workweeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. To qualify, employees must work for an employer with 15 or more employees and meet specific service requirements.

It is well known that Rav Moshe Feinstein used to complain that the halachos of tzedakah were among those about which he was asked too infrequently. Yet some of the most common shailas I get have to do with tzedakah.  

The questions I will answer in this article are: 1) May a parent use maaser money to support married children in kollel? 2) May one can pay tuition out of maaser kesafim funds? and 3) May one ask Hashem to pay him back for the tzedakah money that he gave?

I haven’t had little children in my house for a long time, but one thing I remember is the big mess that toys make. In a very short period, a clean house can look like a tsunami hit it. Pieces of toys are strewn all over the floor, and the children in the house are playing with an empty cardboard box!

Whenever I think of a topic for an article, I ask my son-in-law Avi if it says anything about this topic in the gemara. I didn’t really think there would be anything about toys in the gemara, but to my surprise, there was. Avi told me that in the gemara Yuma it talks about taking care of a young child. Abayah relates that his rebbe (and adoptive father) Rabba would buy cracked dishes for a low price to give to his children so they could have the fun of breaking them. It seems that even children in the time of the gemara liked to make a mess.

When we daven U’nesana Tokef each Yom Kippur, we recite, “Mi yichyeh u’mi yamus – who will live and who will die.” We do not know what the judgment will be, and we pray for a year of life and health. But other than davening to Hashem, what else can we do?

Over the last 40 years, the Baltimore community has helped many widows and orphans after they have unfortunately lost their husband and father, with no plan to replace the lost parnassa that the deceased had been providing for the family. I have been involved, too often, in helping raise these needed funds. Many millions have been raised, and tzedakahs like Avigdor’s Helping Hand, a New York-based tzedakah organization, and our local Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund have provided tzedakah to these mishpachos. Rabbi Boruch Brull, the executive director of Ahavas Yisrael, has been at the forefront of many of these efforts.

Tatty, z”l, was larger than life. He excelled in so many areas. Unfortunately this article only has limited space. We have therefore picked only a minimum from each area.

Oseik B’tzarchei Tzibur B’emunah

Although Tatty was the gabbai, his devotion to the shul was so much greater than that. Once Tatty saw R’ Weiss cleaning some crumbs off a table; this bothered Tatty greatly. How could we allow the Rav of the shul to be the janitor of the shul?! From then on, Tatty took over all the needs of the shul, from making sure that there were paper towels to stocking styrofoam cups for early morning coffee. I remember him taking me along to pick up milk, coffee, etc. and bring them to the shul. He never came during zmanei tefillah so that he wouldn’t receive public recognition for his dedication. The switching of the paroches for the Yamim Noraim was also done with Tatty’s own two hands. It would be a shame not to mention that Mommy had a big hand in the shul as well as she was the dedicated shul secretary at R’ Weiss’ shul for many years.

In 2005, The Shidduch Center of Baltimore, then known as Kol Simcha, was established as one of the first and earliest pioneering shidduch initiatives worldwide. B’chasdei Hashem, since that time, it continues to be a leader in the field as communities across the globe regularly reach out, seeking guidance on how best to cultivate and institute shidduch initiatives of their own. Furthermore, in doing so, we have been able to network with shidduch initiatives across North America for the collective and mutual benefit of all our communities. Over this span of time, encapsulating the better part of 20 years, The Shidduch Center has constantly questioned itself, reevaluated itself, and reconstituted itself, as we seek at all times to remain ahead of the curve in an ever-changing shidduch landscape. Thanks to tremendous siyata d’Shmaya, since our last restructure in late 2015, we have set up over 1,600 different couples from our community on dates, resulting in 156 completed shidduchim.

We drove down winding roads with sprawling farms and rolling hills in Western Maryland on our way to visit Falling Waters, the house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I’d never been to that part of Maryland and was in awe of the beauty as we drove to our destination.

It was a lovely couple of days out there, a much needed break from everything that had been falling down around our ears lately. They were all good things, mind you, but they took up a lot of our mental energy, which can be as difficult as expending physical strength.

Our summer project was to settle my parents into their new home. Thankfully, they are happy now, but I spent a lot of time worrying whether this would ever happen. It was an adjustment on all of our parts. My parents had to work out many details of settling into a new city. They didn’t count on the merry-go-round that customer service situations often turn into. My parents weren’t used to spending hours on the phone to get basic services like newspaper delivery or telephone connections. And I didn’t realize that every one of their worries would become one of mine, too.