Thank You, Hashem, for giving us Abba. HaRav Yonasan Binyomin HaLevi Jungreis, zt”l, was an extraordinary individual and most beloved father. Besides being a tremendous talmid chacham, he took a sincere and loving interest in every person he interacted with. Our Abba took great pride in his heritage and strove to instill in his children the special middos of his illustrious ancestors, the generations of Jungreis rabbanim. Abba was a direct descendant of the renowned miracle worker, the Menuchas Osher, HaRav Asher Anshel Halevi Jungreisz.

A new tax law takes effect for 2021 that provides big handouts for families with children. The child tax credit is going to $3,000 ($3,600 for those five and under), and half of it will be coming in monthly checks! That is automatic. There is also a significant increase in the child care tax credit. That is what I will be discussing.

The Old Child Care Tax Credit

According to the prior law, you got a 20% credit for the cost of care in preschool and day camp for under age 13. The maximum costs considered were $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for two or more. You could therefore save a maximum of $1,200. ($6,000 x 20% = $1,200). This credit was non-refundable. That means that if your tax liability was $500 and your tax credit was $1,000, your taxes went down to zero but you did not get any money back. Therefore, you only saved a total of $500. The concept is that daycare is a “work expense” to allow woman to go to work.

Rabbi Pesach Krohn tells a story about a guard who worked in a slaughterhouse. When he was about to lock up the facility at the end of the day, he realized that one of the shochtim had not come out. They went inside to look for him and found that the shochet had gotten locked in one of the freezers. He was slowly freezing to death, but the guard were able to revive him. How did the guard know that this shochet had not left yet?

As I write these words, Naftali Bennett is sitting with Yair Lapid and closing all the details to create a government consisting of all the left-wing parties in Israel, plus Bennett’s Yemina, plus Gideon Saar’s New Hope, plus the Arab Ra’am party of Mansour Abbas. And they’re all in a giddy mood. They’re “bringing new hope to the nation.” They’re “creating unity and ridding the nation of hatred.” They’re “restoring mature, statesmanlike leadership.” They’re “saving the nation from the calamitous specter of fifth elections.” Orwell would be thrilled.

Writing about my father, Irving J. Abramowitz, is very difficult. It is difficult because he was a modest person who would not want a “big deal” made of his passing. It is difficult because, to me, he was my father; growing up, I thought everyone’s father was like my own or did the things that my father did for us. As I grew up, I realized just how special a father I had.

A Shidduch Question:

 I’ve gone out with this guy six times. He has a good sense of humor, and we have lots to talk about. He’s good looking and has a job. We are both in our mid-20s. A friend made the shidduch. Before I agreed to go out with him, I spoke to several people. They all described him as very nice, kind, very considerate. And he is. On all our dates, I have found him to be caring. He listens well and makes appropriate and empathetic comments. He is kind and considerate to other people we encounter, like waitresses. He is, in general, just a sweet and kind person.

My first marriage didn’t end very well, so I was deliberate when I began dating again. My first date with the fellow who became my second husband was pretty casual. He was renovating a house he had recently purchased that had been neglected for 14 years. When I arrived, he climbed down from the roof, and we walked and talked around his Mount Washington neighborhood.

Although a transplanted Baltimorean, I have come to appreciate my quirky adopted city. Baltimore has its warts and has endured tough times, but over the years the city and its citizens have been ahead of the curve in many ways to the betterment of us all. It’s worth sharing a few Baltimore and Baltimorean “firsts,” some familiar and some perhaps not so well known. Readers may have their own favorite Baltimore firsts.

We are living in amazing times. Jews who have been scattered to the ends of the earth are returning home after 2,000 years of exile, and each one has a story. I want to share with you the story of an amazing young woman I met in Modiin, a neighbor of our daughter Penina Abramowitz. It shows that no matter how far away a Jew is, there is a spark, a Yiddishe neshama that can ignite a desire to return, both physically and emotionally to the Jewish people.

The story began as most crazy, hair-raising stories begin, with a wedding.

My sister met her bashert, b”H, and was engaged to be married in Atlanta Georgia, on July Fourth weekend, 2020. As Georgia was her chassan’s home state, and the first state to open up restrictions on in-person events for over 10 people, it seemed the obvious choice after months of debate about where to hold the simcha. When we were looking up flights, we found that, due to the dearth of flights during the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic, prices were sky high. We had a choice between Spirit, which is less reliable and has more stopovers, or Southwest, with its steep price. After much debate, we decided on Southwest Airlines and booked the tickets.