For this year’s Albany Yud-Shvat Farbrengen (this year held at Shabbos House) we asked participants to share a Basi L’Gani tidbit, a favorite segment or message, to share as a part of a Basi L’Gani smorgasbord. This isn’t an exact … Read the rest
This week’s Torah portion is about the Splitting of the Sea and the Song at the Sea. Today is also Yud-Shvat, the 10th of Shvat, which is the yartzeit of the 6th Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1950) and … Read the rest
Polar Vortex is the big word this week as a huge swath of Midwest and Central United States is hit with unusually cold frigid Artic temperatures. We have friends and relatives in Chicago and Detroit hit by daytime lows of … Read the rest
An alumnus of ours Ayelet G. has been promoting a kickstarter project for a protective case for Google Glass. It seems that the original bag that Google Glass comes in doesn’t offer enough protection befitting such an expensive carry-around piece … Read the rest
There’s no chance we’re getting a Porsche. Zero chance. In fact, given our family’s size and lifestyle and budget we’re more likely to get a mini-school bus than a sporty Porsche, even a useful sports & family sedan-type like this … Read the rest
My brother-in-law, Rabbi Shimon Galperin of Solon Ohio, shared this brain-teaser on our family’s “WhatsApp”. It’s probably floating around the internet. I’m not always so good at these mind games and brain teasers. It took me a couple of minutes, … Read the rest
The Vishedsky and Gorodesky families were a big part of my father-in-law’s youth in Tashkent (then Russia, today Uzbekistan), so we heard the names often. The other day I was browsing the JEM (Jewish Educational Media) APP for free videos … Read the rest
Rabbi Mendel teaches mornings at the Maimonides School in Albany NY. One of his classes is TNT/MC (Torah and Technology, and the Maimonides Community newsletter) which he prepares with students each week, with reporting on their learning, photos from activities … Read the rest
Everyone is familiar with this “Let My People Go!” which became popular during the struggle for Soviet Jewry, as well as by Charlton Heston in the classic film “The Ten Commandments. But few have heard of the end of … Read the rest
Jacob passes away in this week’s Torah portion at age 147, which is 33 years shy of his father’s 180 years. biblical commentaries explains why he died 33 years shy of his father (though 147 isn’t a … Read the rest
