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(click here for print version) Why Eat Kosher?...

(click here for print version) Several years ago, we ran a couple of back-to-back Isralight weekend retreats in Orlando, Florida, which afforded me the opportunity to take a long-overdue vacation with my family in Disney world. For our children, who had just spent the better part of a year dealing with the day to day challenges of living in Israel post-Oslo, and especially watching their father constantly in and out of the army reserves, Disney World must have seemed like a fantasy world, and I was most curious to see how they would respond to the many educational challenges Disney World presented. At the end of our first fun-filled day, as we were making our way out of the park we passed through the shops and gift stores strategically situated at the exit. The Disney company cleverly places all of the toys and treats right near the park exit, and I am sure many a parent, anxious to get back to their...

Secrets Behind The Purim Mask...

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Sometimes, it's that one extra word that makes all the difference. It was only a fraction of a moment of my time in the army, but it was a lesson I never forgot, though to this day I am undecided as to whether I agree with it. I was desperate to get a day off; we were still in basic training, and I had barely been in the army three months, but my folks were landing at the airport the next afternoon, and I was hoping my commanders would give me a break as I had not seen head or hair of any family in the two months since I had joined up. My folks had done me the enormous favor of landing on a Thursday afternoon, which was the best possible day of the week for a tank crewman to get extra leave. Thursday...

Successful People are Unaccomplished Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord. (Exodus 35:2) During the forty years that the Israelites wandered in the desert they carried with them a portable temple referred to as the Tabernacle or the Mishkan. The creative acts that are forbidden on Shabbat are those acts similar to the skills that went into building or assembling the Mishkan. The Talmud outlines 39 different categories of such creative acts that are forbidden to do on Shabbat. They represent our ultimate power of creativity which is to build a temple that accommodates the presence of G-d on earth. Of course we know that G-d does not literally dwell in the Mishkan, however, the Mishkan symbolizes our ability to serve G-d and infuse every moment and every place with the presence of G-d. In other words the greatest accomplishment of a...

There are sounds that you hear and things that you see that will always make you stop whatever you are doing. People yelling, the sound of an ambulance racing down a Jerusalem street, or even the backfire of a car, if you...