I heard a shiur recently by Rabbi Benzion Shafier about the potency of criticism. It is a topic that interests me, and it seems quite a propos to this season of spiritual accounting. Rebuke – or criticism – is a mitzva in the Torah. But how can one fulfill this mitzva without antagonizing people and ruining our relationship? Mishlei (Proverbs) says, “Rebuke not the scoffer, lest he hate you, and rebuke the wise man and he will love you.” Not only does the person being rebuked have to be wise enough to accept criticism but the rebuker also has to be wise enough to know how and when to deliver his rebuke!

 Vegetable Lasagna

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe, and she got it from her mother. It’s really yummy. I submitted it years ago to the Gevuras Yarden cookbook.

9 lasagna noodles, cooked per package directions

2 T. oil

1 small onion

1 8 oz. can mushrooms

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1/3 c. sliced black olives

1 16-oz. can tomato sauce

1 4-oz. can tomato paste

1 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

12 oz. frozen spinach, defrosted

16 oz. cottage cheese

8 oz. grated mozzarella cheese

Sauté onion and carrots in oil until soft. Add sliced olives and mushrooms and sauté an additional 10 minutes. Add tomato sauce, paste, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

Line a 9x13-inch pan with 3 lasagna noodles. Layer 1/3 of the cottage cheese, then 1/3 of the spinach, 1/3 of the sauce, and 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat layers 2 additional times. Bake at 375° F. for 40 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown. Cool slightly prior to serving.

Having just begun the Torah again, it is noteworthy that immediately after man’s creation the critical commandment that Hashem gives to Adam and Chava is stated in the negative: “You must not eat from the tree of knowledge.” Later, in Shemos (Exodus), seven of the Ten Commandments are stated in the negative. Of the 613 mitzvos, 365 (the majority) are thou-shall-nots. When the famous sage Hillel states what is commonly known as the Golden Rule, he speaks in the negative: “That which is hateful to you, you should not do to your fellow man.” Throughout the Talmud, the sages often put ethical maxims in the negative. For example: In Pirkei Avos 2:5: “Do not separate yourself from the community,”  “Do not judge your neighbor until you are in his place,” “Do not say when I am free I will study for you may never be free.”

A few months ago, I was reading the newspaper when I came across the headline about an internet security guru, Daniel Kaminsky, who unfortunately passed away at the age of 42. For some reason my curiosity was piqued, so I googled the name to find out more about him. It seems that Mr. Kaminsky was responsible for detecting and identifying weaknesses in computer security to the point that the list of his accomplishments is so impressive that I can’t even understand it. His illustrious career began around the age of four, when he taught himself how to code using a computer that his father bought him from Radio Shack. Unlike many precocious youths, who are happy to fiddle around in the privacy of their own homes, Mr. Kaminsky apparently subscribed to the Star Trek motto, “Where no man has ever gone before.”

This merciless and unrelenting pandemic has claimed the lives of so many: some unknown to us, some known, and some dear and beloved by us. Approximately one year ago, a special and irreplaceable individual was tragically taken by this pandemic, my dear rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Blumberg, zt”l. He was my 11^th grade rebbe at TA, but he wasn’t just a teacher of Gemara or halacha or parsha. He was the true definition of what a mechanech is and should be; he taught and led us by example through showing us his love for Torah and through displaying daily for us the lifestyle of a true ben Torah. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to lead me in learning and through my seventeenth year on this earth than Rabbi Blumberg. He taught at TA for approximately forty years so, of course, he had many talmidim. And I’m certain they all have their own stories of what he meant to them and how he impacted them. With the recent passing of his first yahrtzeit, allow me to share with you what Rabbi Blumberg meant to me and how he impacted my life.

Noach, may he rest in peace, had every animal in his tayvah (ark). Let’s review some of them, starting with the lion, known as the king of the beasts. (Who gave him such a title? Probably other lions…) When he wished to be heard, the lion gave a loud roar, and every living chayeh (animal) froze fearfully in its tracks. So how did Noach calm them down? Possibly by telling them stories; maybe by tranquilizing them with various herbs. Lions love to see things move, so perhaps a stage show, with various chayes acting the parts, was presented to the lion, since he was proclaimed to be the king.

Parenting is one of the most important jobs in the world, yet it requires no training, degrees, or education. Having a child automatically crowns you as a parent! But will you be – are you – a good parent or a bad parent? This is a question that bothers many parents. According to Rabbi Yisroel Miller, in his book Guardian of Eden, “Most people will cheerfully admit it if they happen to be incompetent at mathematics or athletics or gardening or automobile repair. Why then are so many people embarrassed to admit it, if they happen to be no good as parents? It has been suggested that it is because parents intuitively sense the truth – that children don’t learn what you preach, they learn what you are. Like it or not, our every action broadcasts to our children our attitudes towards honesty, kindliness, hard work, respect for others, and every mitzva in the Torah.” 

You never truly know an organization until you are a recipient of its services. My husband and I arrived at the Johns Hopkins emergency room the Saturday night prior to Rosh Hashanah. After spending the night in the emergency room, we were escorted to a hospital room on one of the floors.

While the physicians were deciding how to care for my husband, I was scrutinizing the hospital menu. Hopkins offers its patients and their caregivers kosher food supplied by Accents, a real gift to the Jewish community.

To the Shadchan:

 I am married for the second time after being divorced for a relatively short period. My first marriage lasted almost 30 years. As newlyweds, we don’t host much, nor do we go out except to our children nearby. (Covid started just as we finished our shana rishona.) We do try to invite at least one single person for Yom Tov meals, as we know how difficult it is to celebrate these days alone.

Our guest on Rosh Hashanah was a woman who has been trying to find a shidduch for many years and whom we know well. We were enjoying the meal when she said, “You two are so lucky to have found each other,” which we confirmed. From that beginning, she started asking questions, such as how long we dated, did I know that my husband is picky about certain things, etc. Then she asked if we had “tested” each other. I asked her what she meant by testing, and she said that a friend of hers once got tickets for a date to the opera, and since there was a woman singing in it and the man didn’t refuse to go, she concluded that he didn’t care about kol isha and nixed the shidduch!

It took me a while to connect all the dots. There was our two-hour wait in the rental car line, our new dining room table that was promised to arrive any day but got held up for months at port, the endless dealership invites to sell my 2017 vehicle for top dollar, the repeated delays of our early Friday morning Southwest flight (that finally got us home an hour before Shabbos), and the months-long wait for a dented refrigerator door replacement.

The list goes on and on – across the board and across the globe. Product lines, professional services, food establishments, educational institutions, and more, in every state, every country, and every continent. For months, we have all experienced the trickle-down effects of this unprecedented labor shortage in one way or another. I went behind the scenes of just a few of these workplaces to do some investigation.