I remember it like it was yesterday. While millions of Americans celebrated their nation’s independence, we were all glued to our radios and television sets waiting for news of the fate of the Israeli hostages hijacked on an Air France jet and being held captive in Uganda. more

The first thing you notice when you talk to singer Sholom Jacobs is the accent. I couldn’t quite place it. Perhaps English? A bit South African maybe? I was wrong on both counts. The son of Chabad shluchim, Jacobs, 33, was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, where he began his musical career as a child singing in shul, school choirs and concerts ran by his father. Jacobs left Scotland at 16, spending three years learning in an Israeli yeshiva before finally settling in New York. more

Avigdor “Randy” Yonah grew up in a state that prized football, but with few Jews around, his observance of Torah was a private affair, known to only a few. After a decade of growth in his Orthodoxy, Jonas is set to return to Jerusalem on Aug. 3 for his second year as the assistant coach of the Jerusalem Lions football team, living his dream of football greatness in the holy city. more

On a windy day this past February, 44 Jewish teenagers from the New York area stood upon Har Herzl, Israel’s largest military cemetery, to gain a broader understanding of Israeli casualties and the brutal truth of fighting to protect one’s country. The teenagers were part of the Write On For Israel high school Israel advocacy program, meeting with Israeli officials, IDF soldiers, and media correspondents. more

Rebbe Menachem Mendel Shneerson zt"l was a prominent chasidic rebbe who led the Chabad movement. In order to spread his message of Jewish outreach, he sent out Chabad emissaries all over the world to inspire Jewish communities of all sizes. On July 5, the Rebbe’s Gimmel Tammuz yahrtzeit, when I walked through a line separating male and females all leading towards an extravagant grave, conflict arose more

Calendar for the week of July 7, 2011 more

Dear Aviva, My wife and I just moved to a wonderful Jewish community. We are very happy with our new home and our new friends. However, we generally feel like we are the most right wing of our group and it bothers us. We can’t be 100% sure of some of our friends’ kashrus, a lot of my friends don’t go to minyan (and when they do, they shmooze throughout!) and a lot of them are more caught up in drinking than giving divrei torah at the Shabbos table. I know I must sound very judgmental, since we are all on different levels of hashkafah (philosophy) and we do like our friends; we just feel like they are not a good influence on our family. What to do? -Frummy Friend more

With the advent of the month of Tammuz now almost a week behind us, it is time to consider some of the better quality literature that will surely help us to understand the themes that make this season the most somber on the Jewish calendar. more

Bilaam desperately wants to go with King Balak’s men to fulfill what he believes is his destiny to curse the Jewish people. Knowing of his own relationship with G-d, however, he will not accept the job until he is given permission from G-d. He makes this quite clear to Balak’s first agents. more

Congregation Havurat Yisrael, a modern Orthodox synagogue in Forest Hills, has found a temporary home while their new synagogue is being built. Since a construction accident by their neighbor damaged their 70th Avenue building in 1998, Havurat Yisrael has been a shul without a home. more