Author: Jewish Life

The Long-term Impact of COVID-19 on Today’s Youth By: Ilan Preskovsky It would be the height of chutzpah for someone like me, someone who is both unmarried and childless, to tell any parent that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the lives of their adolescent or even pre-adolescent kids. So I won’t. I certainly wouldn’t dare to presume to explain to adolescents and children how Covid has affected them. No one needs me to spell out how challenging online school classes are or how disappointing it must…

Life in the times of 2021…

Lessons from our Matric students and their teachers’ By: Chandrea Serebro Hirsch Lyons Girls High School What Corona taught me about teachers… From singing good morning songs, to wearing a pirate hat whilst exhibiting a puppet show to present the lessons, my high school teachers had to become quite ‘creative’ to keep us students coming back to their lessons each day over the lockdown periods. From my experience of online school, I have seen teachers’ major evolution in their online teaching skills. Firstly, I have been privileged to witness teachers’ transition…

Summer Salads

By: Sharon Lurie Since I started making and selling salad dressings, my fridge has looked like a science project with every sized glass beaker and test tube available. Once you start making dressings, you don’t stop experimenting. Finally, after the thumbs-up from the ‘Lury Jury’ which now, Baruch Hashem, includes over 40 tasters, “Bobba Shar’s Heimishe dressing” made it onto the shelves and is available at most kosher outlets. Please G-d, next to join our condiments family will be a dark Thai-style dressing. The search for authentic dark ingredients was…

Growing pains

Helping our teens grow into greatness By: Paula Levin Parenting teenagers is not for the fainthearted. It’s brutal, thankless, confusing, painful, scary, and often heartbreaking. My mother in law tried to warn me when my kids were little – “It’s not all coochi-coo.” Boy was she right! The worst part is that we’re flying blind. I don’t know about you, but I never got a manual, and I literally don’t know what I’m doing. Fortunately, as a writer, I get to research, explore, and investigate the world, and speak to…

Staying Relevant

Crucible and Cure

How Purim paved the way for the children to return Rabbi Dovid Samuels It once happened, about 500 years ago, that Rav Yosef Karo[1] was learning a particularly difficult part of Torah. He struggled to make sense of a certain commentary and toiled the entire night to try and figure it out. At daybreak, he finally reached a deep and clear understanding, and his hard work had paid off. As he made his way to his shul that morning, he walked past a man sitting and learning that very same…

A medical miracle

November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 Jewish Life

Aaron Lipschitz’s supernatural survival By: Sarahbelle Selig When doctors diagnosed three-year-old Aaron Lipschitz with a rare genetic disorder, a bone marrow transplant became his only chance at survival. The transplant saved his life – but almost took his life in the process. Thanks to a pioneering medical team, a dedicated community, and more than a few miracles, Aaron and his parents have withstood every family’s nightmare – and Aaron continues to defy the odds, every day of his life. The first thing you notice about Aaron Lipschitz is his energy.…

The Aftermath of COVID-19 on Mental Health

November 15, 2021January 30, 2022 Jewish Life

And how religion fits in. By: Ilan Preskovsky As of this writing, COVID-19 has been an unwanted daily presence in our lives for something like twenty months, but if there is one positive side effect to come from all this, it must surely be a renewed emphasis on the importance of mental health. With the pandemic serving as a hotbed for serious mental health crises – affecting everyone from those with existing diagnoses to those who previously would never even have dreamed of stepping foot in a therapist’s office –…

Blackout

November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 Jewish Life

Our spiritual flashlight By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels You took tears of sorrow and turned them into tears of gratitude Finally, our homes will be filled with dancing flames and the veil of darkness will have been completely peeled back A story is told that the great Tzaddik Rabbi Meir of Premishlan was once being hosted for a Shabbos meal at the house of one of his followers. During the meal, Rabbi Meir said to his host, “This challah has the taste of the Garden of Eden! Please, tell me who…

One light at a time

November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 Jewish Life

Why my darkest Chanukah ever shines the brightest Paula Levin Erev Chanukah, December 25th 2005, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. As the Parklane’s first Xmas baby, he was somewhat of a celebrity, and several newspapers came to take pictures of baby Levin for their annual feel-good story. I too was feeling good, ecstatic with my perfect, tiny, 2,8kg baby boy and thrilled with the fact that we got to publicise the miracle of Chanukah as my husband told Die Beeld and the Star’s reporters that we were…

A year on

A year on By: Ilan Preskovsky It’s hard to believe, but as of 11 Tishrei 5782 (17 September 2021), it will have been one year since Rabbi Avraham Tanzer z”l passed away. It has hardly been the easiest, let alone the most normal of years for any of us, individually, but Rabbi Tanzer’s passing has obviously left a major hole in both the Yeshiva College campus and the wider community as well. No doubt, that’s not going to change any time soon but more even than his absence, it will…

Left-Wing Antisemitism

Why the woke left has failed the Jews By: Ilan Preskovsky Though it’s undoubtedly true that the most violent, blatant, and vitriolic antisemitic attacks come from those on the far right of the political spectrum, the recent meteoric surge in antisemitism is very much also the responsibility of those on the far left. The difference between the two extremes, though, is that while right-wing extremism – be it a neo-Nazi rally or a militant Islamist terrorist attack – tends to be proud of its undisguised Jew-hatred, left-wing antisemitism is much,…

Living in “Sukkah”

The message of uncertainty, and liberation from predictability. By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels One of the ideas given as to why we are commanded to dwell in sukkahs after the Yomim Nora’im is that just in case it was decided on Rosh Hashanah that we, chas veshalom, deserved to be sent into galus – exile, our living outside in the sukkah should be a (more pleasant) fulfilment of that harsh decree, and will hopefully exempt us from the “real thing”. The question is an obvious one: how could the experience of…

En Route

A bus driver’s guide to life By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels It was just after Rosh Hashanah, 2015. At the bus stop in the middle of Bnei Brak stood tens of families with small children waiting for the bus to take them all back home to Yerushalayim. But on the horizon, no bus could be seen. A man in the crowd made a call to the bus company, and they duly promised that they would send a bus to pick them up, and finally send them all home. They had just…

Rosh Hashanah

The spiritual root of change By: Paula Levin New Year resolutions are notoriously difficult to stick to. Even we only half believe ourselves when committing to changing something about our lives. Every year, Rosh Hashanah offers us a fresh start and a blank slate, to turn over a new leaf, start a new chapter, and create lasting change – if we harness its power. To help unpack the spiritual science behind the change it offers, we spoke to experts in personal transformation: Ra’anana-based master mindset life coach Andi Saitowitz, and…

Extracurricular activities

An unintended lesson By: Rabb Dr David Fox As a teacher of Talmud, he fit the stereotype. Poised, intellectual, focused, serious. His lectures in the yeshiva were intense and deep, pushing the young men to concentrate and to absorb his explanations and contemplate his questions. I found it a challenge to get to know him, because he was self-contained, in his own league. He modelled authority, was candid and perceptive, but in our one-on-one interactions, I found him self-assured and not engaging. As a post-high school student, far from home,…

Saving money doesn’t mean sacrificing taste

By: Adrienne Bogatie To try and keep my grocery bill down, I am always looking for alternatives to meat. In my home, black bean burgers are a big hit and actually taste really close to meat burgers. Working odd hours also means I want food that is quick to make. I chose these recipes because they are so easy and convenient. Even though technically the boerewors kebabs aren’t really a recipe, they are a quick, easy, and different way to serve your boerewors. I love Chinese food, but don’t always…

In the spotlight

How Social Media is Really Affecting Your Kids By Ilan Preskovsky Considering its humble origins as an interactive platform through which creators could connect with audiences (Myspace) and as a student project that was initially just a collection of basic information of the students at Harvard (Facebook), it’s staggering to see how far social media has come in just fifteen short years. The current social media heavyweights, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (along with video sharing platforms like YouTube and, heaven help us, TikTok), aren’t just ubiquitous in our current cultural…

One at a time

The little things we do…add up By: Maria Beider As an old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a young boy picking up starfish and putting them into the sea. He asked the boy why he was doing this. The boy answered that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun. “But the beach goes on for miles and there are thousands of starfish,” countered the old man. “How can your efforts make any difference?” The young boy looked at the starfish in his hand…

That hurts!

Tuning into the pain of others and asking for help By: Robert Sussman If we look at the davening that we do each day, we’ll notice something interesting – it’s almost entirely in the plural, in particular the focal point of our davening, where we ask for the many things that we need – shemoneh esrei [lit: eighteen, referring to the number of blessings in that prayer, to which one blessing was later added making for a total of nineteen blessings (while the name eighteen was preserved) and which is…

Babi Yar

June 25, 2021August 31, 2021 Jewish Life

By: Yevgeni Yevtushenko (translated into English by Benjamin Okopnik) No monument stands over Babi Yar. A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone. I am afraid. Today, I am as old As the entire Jewish race itself. I see myself an ancient Israelite. I wander o’er the roads of ancient Egypt And here, upon the cross, I perish, tortured And even now, I bear the marks of nails. It seems to me that Dreyfus is myself. The Philistines betrayed me – and now judge. I’m in a cage. Surrounded and…

Teaching Our Kids to Save

Why the Correct Values are Everything By Ilan Preskovsky This probably isn’t entirely surprising to the average reader of this magazine, but South Africa has one of the worst savings cultures on the planet. That is to say, South Africans, on average, put away far less of their salaries or other monthly income towards their savings than the citizens of most other countries. And this is a reality that existed long before the current (but, hopefully by now, receding) pandemic wreaked havoc on the personal finances of most people worldwide.…

From their kitchens to yours

Turning a passion for food into something more By Chandrea Serebro Tastes just like pudding Little ready-made puddings for her little pudding. This was what Shevi Lurie went in search of when her second-born daughter was ready to start eating solids, ready to use whatever kosher store-bought options she could to support her in the daunting task of raising an unfussy, healthy eater. “I remember so clearly when my older daughter was at the same stage. Never mind being a new mommy and all the challenges that it brought, starting…

Festive Foods

Why We Eat Them and What They Represent By Ilan Preskovsky For Jews, food is an intrinsic and inextricable part of our culture and our religion. It is with food that we celebrate major life-cycle events, from birth to death, and all our festivals are marked by large meals and certain, usually symbolic dishes unique to each. Even Yom Kippur, our most holy of holy days, is marked by food: though in this case, the lack of it. Culturally, too, even if most “Jewish food” is borrowed cuisine from whichever…

Taking a timeout

Financial Lessons to Learn From COVID-19 By Ilan Preskovsky At the time of this writing, registration has just opened for those 60 years of age and over to receive their COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, and we’ve miraculously avoided a third wave despite the Pesach and Easter holidays being a hotbed for large gatherings. A post-COVID world looks brighter and more tangible than ever. Indeed, despite people still wearing masks and social distancing, it looks for all the world like things are almost back to the way they were.…

The Impossible Dream

Balancing a Jewish South African Budget By Ilan Preskovsky These tough, pandemic days may be particularly hard on the economy, but for so many Jewish South Africans, it seldom seems like there are anything but economic hard times. This, regardless of the fact that relative to most other South Africans, a large percentage of Jews are middle class, and relative to so-called “developed” countries, the cost of living here is fairly affordable. There are, however, unique financial challenges to being both Jewish and South African – and all the more…

Wake up

They did it so that we could do it Rabbi Dovid Samuels There is a widespread custom to stay awake learning Torah the whole night of Shavuos. Although this is not such a big feat in the northern hemisphere, it certainly tests us down here in the Southern hemisphere. The commentators[1] explain that this custom is based on a very peculiar event that took place on the eve of us receiving the Torah. The verse says: “Moshe took the people out to meet Hashem.”[2] Where were we, and why did…

18 going on 70

The story behind Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah and the day that forever changed the world By: Robert Sussman We say it every year at the Pesach seder; in fact, it’s one of the most well-known lines from the Haggadah: Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said, “I am like a seventy-year-old man…” But what does it mean? Why did he say it and what was his point that he was “like” a seventy-year-old man? He needed an afternoon nap? He was suffering from aches and pains? And why would he think his…

A Truly Wealthy Man

A Tribute to Eric Samson By Ilan Preskovsky During the more than two-hour-long tribute video to Eric Samson that was hosted by Chief Rabbi Goldstein to mark the end of Samson’s shloshim (the thirty-day mourning period), Phillip Krawitz of the United Jewish Campaign summed up just why there was such a lengthy tribute to Eric Samson in the first place. In what is probably an apocryphal tale, Krawitz tells of how a certain king approached the patriarch of the famous Jewish banking family, the Rothschilds, and asked him, “So, tell…

A final year like no other

Making matric work over miles (and Zoom) By Chandrea Serebro Yeshiva College Boys, Matan Kaplan What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19? Every human being on this planet has had challenges and missed opportunities due to Corona. The biggest hardship for me was that it fell during my final year at school. With syllabi to finish and ideas for school projects and innovations to be launched, everything was brought to a screeching and dramatic halt in March. My school adjusted and pivoted with incredible flexibility and fluidity and,…

Boomerang

Whatever we do…comes back to us By: Robert Sussman Regarding the sotah[1], a married woman who behaved in a way that gave rise to a suspicion of her having committed adultery, the gemara teaches a fundamental lesson: “B’middah sh’adam modeid, bah modi’deen lo – With the measure that a man measures, with it, he is measured.”[2] In other words, we are judged according to how we judge – and we are rewarded, or in the case of the sotah, punished – for the way that we behave. But more than…

Fashioned in the Furnace

The vaccine of our great suffering By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels The night of the seder is designed to instil in us, and all of those participating at the seder, belief and faithfulness to the truth that Hashem is completely in control of every aspect of our lives, both on a national and individual basis. Even the matzah is referred to as the bread of emunah – faithfulness. As with every mitzvah, the more we prepare ourselves beforehand, the more effect it will have on us when we fulfil it. But,…

Simply Irreplaceable

Remembering Rabbi Desmond Maizels By Ilan Preskovsky Rabbi Desmond Maizels, ztz”l, passed away suddenly on 15 January 2021 and it’s hard to overstate just how much of a void he has left behind in the South African Jewish community, but most especially in the Cape Town community that he served for decades. To say nothing, of course, about the gigantic loss felt by his family and friends and, really, anyone who knew this universally beloved giant of South African Jewry. Rabbi Maizels was born in Port Elizabeth in 1949 and,…

Cherish the moment

Brief encounters of the present kind By Maria Beider A few weeks ago, my dear uncle, the patriarch of our family, succumbed to our contemporary, common enemy, Covid. While he is one of many thousands to have lost his life to this horrific virus, I was personally heartbroken – not just for myself, but for my mother and her siblings, who could not see him face-to-face for months, and for my aunt, his wife, who was also suffering from the virus at home and was unable to say goodbye to…

A (not so) ordinary hero

Giving someone the gift of life By Chandrea Serebro The tried and tested marketing Rule of Seven says you will have to leave no less than seven impressions for people to even notice you. In the same way, Matnat Chaim, the organisation in Israel that facilitates altruistic kidney donations, wormed its way into Shaul Behr’s consciousness until he found himself being prepped for theatre to donate a kidney. But it wasn’t exactly an ‘impulse buy’. Even though all he kept hearing was how safe and relatively pain-free kidney donation is,…

Brothers at heart

We may argue, we may have our differences, but when push comes to shove, we come through for each other By Chandrea Serebro Picture it. Somewhere in Israel. 2020. The time is Corona. A second lockdown seems imminent, and everybody is feeling the strain. Social distancing is the name of the game. Socialising a thing of the past. Shuls are out of sight, but not out of mind. People are resilient, and even within the constraints of the lockdown there are outdoor minyanim popping up everywhere – in the middle…

Defiantly Prosperous

Why Jewish Life on University Campuses Continues to Thrive By Ilan Preskovsky It’s no secret that the past few years have not always been easy on Jewish students on university campuses, both in South Africa and abroad. Organisations like BDS (the boycott, divestment, and sanction movement against Israel), and its newly-minted South African variety, Africa for Palestine (A4P), have made universities a central target for their campaign to de-legitimise Israel and any Jewish claims on the land. For all that BDS and its associates insist that they’re a non-violent movement…

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Studying abroad vs staying at home By Ilan Preskovsky Of the two great questions that all South African students must ask themselves as they contemplate their future after high school, “what’s next?” is undoubtedly the more daunting, but “where next?” has become a question of increasing urgency and relevance. A tertiary education or straight to work? A more specialised, technical college or a major university? By correspondence or attendance? But perhaps most crucially, at home or abroad? Many Jewish students, of course, will be able to push this off by…

There is nothing else

Cutting through the confusion with a genuine, clear Torah perspective By: Robert Sussman We live in a time of tremendous confusion, where it can be exceedingly difficult for us to make sense of everything going on around us. The world has radically changed almost overnight. As a result, entire industries have disappeared and, along with them, thousands of jobs and careers. The economy lies in shambles. The future is uncertain. We blame our leaders. We blame our doctors. We blame our rabbis. We even blame each other. Or, we say…

Behind the mask

The Hand of Hashem, revealed By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels Perhaps the most moving and important moment in the Book of Esther is when Mordechai convinces Esther to appear before King Achashveirosh to beseech him on behalf of the Jewish people. It started when Esther sent Hasach to inform Mordechai that Haman had managed to have his ‘final solution’ passed by the king. Upon hearing this, Mordechai sent Hasach back to Esther with the command that she go to the king and plead for the lives of her people. Esther refused,…

Unleashing your potential

Practical steps to transform your life during these difficult times By Richard Sutton This year started much the same way as previous years. I had established goals, aspirations, defined projects, and I believed that anything and everything was possible in the coming year. I was excited. But, then, in a moment, everything changed. If you think about it, it sounds very much like a science fiction series that you would find on Netflix: A deadly virus crosses the species barrier. Within months, more than three billion people are forced into…

Getting back to normal

Using EMDR to process traumatic experiences and make them more manageable By: Dr Aliza Bilman Pesach 2016 was a chag I will not soon forget. I was in the third trimester of my first pregnancy. I had heard that first time mums are often overdue, so I expected that I would be too. I had packed a bag just in case, but I had no intention of using it. On the last day of Pesach, my husband and I joined a family for a lovely lunch and then went home…

Like a kiss from Hashem

The blessing of being tongue-tied By Chandrea Serebro Being tongue-tied is generally a sure way to lose an argument, but sometimes it can prove to be a matter of Divine intervention. Which is not to say that Hashem isn’t on your side, G-d forbid, but rather that it is a chance for Hashem to bring you to the place where you were always meant to be. And it is a win-win scenario. It starts in an ordinary doctor’s room. And while the place may be mundane when considering fate and…

Have a bite

But you don’t have to By: Aron Ziegler “They tried to destroy us, we survived, let’s eat” – has become a commonly heard joke to sum up Jewish celebrations. Lavan, the Egyptians, Bil’am, Haman… ‘In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us, but Hashem, The Holy One Blessed Be He, saves us from their hand’[1]. It is not at all difficult to see why this one liner came about, as we eat festive meals on all of the yomim tovim – each with its own special foods,…

A tribute to Rabbi Avraham Tanzer

Builder, developer, and nurturer of the South African Jewish community for over 50 years By Ilan Preskovsky With the spiritual cleansing of Yom Kippur just behind us and with Sukkot mere days in our future, most of us in the South African Jewish community probably barely even registered the date of 29 September 2020 (11 to 12 Tishrei 5781), so busy were we with the usual hustle and bustle of the festive period that begins every Jewish new year. In an instant, though, the ground disappeared beneath us and we…

What’s it ‘oil’ about?

Chanukah’s message of thanking Hashem for our soul Rabbi Dovid Samuels One of the most obvious difficulties with the festival of Chanukah is the emphasis placed on the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days, whereas the supernatural defeat of the Greeks at the hands of the Chashmonaim seems to be largely ignored. When we think about it, surely we would see our victory over an evil army to be more of a cause for celebration than a jug of oil lasting longer than expected. Why, then, when Chazal…

Too far to go

Forgiveness and forgetfulness By: Rabb Dr David Fox The elderly stranger sat at the far end of the table after my Talmud class. I welcomed him. “It’s too far,” he replied, sneering at me with a disdainful look in his eyes. “Too far?” I echoed, waiting for him to elaborate. “It’s too far. It’s too far for me,” he said in a mocking voice, imitating someone. I remained quiet, meeting his glare with as much warmth as I could, caught off guard by this older man’s harshness. I had no…

Taking things further

More thoughts on the shidduch crisis By Ilan Preskovsky Alex Cohen’s article in the previous issue of this magazine, entitled “The Shidduch Project?” no doubt struck a chord with many single people in our community. It certainly did with me. While rightly crediting the various shadchanim for all their hard work, Alex accurately identified a number of different problem points that have made finding the right person such an unending, uphill trudge for so many of us, while also offering a possible solution or two to our community’s version of…

Seizing the day

Opportunities abound in the changing and turbulent economy By Chandrea Serebro Pivot (v): rotating, as if on an axis – and the buzz word of 2020, a year that will go down in the annals of history as a time of sickness and fear, but also of hope and change. The whole world is reeling from the Coronavirus and the economic crisis that inevitably followed. The world looks in no way similar to the way it ever did. People have lost loved ones, businesses, and sometimes all hope. But out…

Lessons Learned

Out of the COVID-19 gloom, there have been lessons to learn and gratitude for the things we have always taken for granted. Here is just a peek at what some people have learned about life in the time of Corona. By Chandrea Serebro Lindi Markowitz Katzoff That my ex-husband and I can work as a team and still live under the same roof. And that we must wash our hands a lot! Sara Spiro Don’t procrastinate. If you can do it now, do it now. Michael Black How much I…

Round and round

Why is the concluding and restarting of the Torah reading cycle celebrated on Shemini Atzeres? By: Aron Ziegler Reading through the Torah in our weekly parsha cycle is a very old custom. The Rambam codifies[1]: “The prevailing custom throughout the Jewish nation is to complete a cycle of reading through the Torah over the course of each year. Beginning on the Shabbos after Sukkos…and (ultimately) concluding on the following Sukkos.” Shemini Atzeres is the day that has become set for the celebration of our siyum (completion) of the parsha cycle.…

Covid-19 and the sins of the fathers

A unique opportunity to reassess our lives and the structures we hold dear By David Levin The period of the Yamim Nora’im (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), far from being stand-alone times for teshuva, come at the end of an extended period of teshuva starting all the way back in Tammuz with the fast that commenced the “Three Weeks”. The seven weeks immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah are known as “shiva d’nechamusa” – the seven weeks of nechama. For each of these seven weeks, the Haftara of the week does not…

The key to Repentance

A spiritual tool to achieve lasting change, even after Yom Kippur is over By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels So Close It says in the Torah[1]: For the mitzvah that I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far from you. It is not in the Heavens, that you say, “Who will ascend for us to Heaven and get it for us, and teach us and we will do it?” Nor is it on the other side of the sea, that you say, “Who will cross the…

A not so simple childhood

With significant change comes stress and worry By Chandrea Serebro Being a kid is awesome. Exploring, playing with friends, learning new things in and out of school, hobbies and pastimes, lazy days and sleepovers, grampa’s love, and birthday parties. Then came Corona. And with the snap of its toxic fingers, any outlet that kids might have had to deal with their problems, their anxiety, their difficult feelings and experiences to make them more manageable was whisked away with their freedom and their outside time. Because, yes, says Ashley Jay, Educational…

The Shidduch Project?

A modest proposal…for increasing proposals By: Alex Cohen We are taught from a young age that one day, when we grow up, we’ll meet a suitable young person, look into each other’s eyes, discuss our life dreams, assess our compatibility on a practical level, and eventually get married, please G-d have kids, and build a bayis ne’eman b’Yisroel (a faithful home among the Jewish people). The Talmud specifies that it is forbidden for a man to marry a woman until he meets her and she finds favour in his eyes. Furthermore, a…

Juggling life

The new reality of everyone learning and working from home By: Maria Beider There is an astute meme about homeschooling that has been doing the rounds on social media recently with a picture of Mary Poppins and Miss Hannigan side by side. On day one of homeschooling we exemplified the kind, virtuous, calm image of Mary Poppins. By now many of us have become the frazzled, impatient Miss Hannigan. How have we as parents risen to the challenge of distance learning in 2020? What a novel position we all find…

Hearty meals for winter

The quickest way to warm your heart is through your tummy By: Sharon Lurie In these uncertain times, where the corona virus could be lurking on our doorstep, one thing’s for certain, we don’t want to be out shopping unnecessarily. And, as we approach colder weather, who really wants to go out anyways? Hopefully, most of the ingredients in these recipes will be in your cupboard and freezer. Although they’re soups, some of them can be served as hearty meals, especially with the crispy “as simple as that” bread. Carrot…

Law of return

What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours By: Rabbi Dr David Fox There was no doubt about it, he was dishonest. There was nothing I could do about it. True, it had been money owed to me, and it was a large sum in those days. In fact, it had been a very large sum; money which I had earned through hard work. In fact, it had been very hard work over a very large interval of time. Through a series of deceptions and other manipulative legerdemain, the…

Coping with financial distress

New initiatives in the time of Corona By Ilan Preskovsky At this point, what more is there to say about COVID-19? Most of us have never experienced a global phenomenon even remotely like this; one that has so thoroughly altered our most basic, day-to-day existence on so fundamental a level that even with all the political and social upheaval that 2020 has wrought, it will forever be defined by this pandemic. And that’s only partly because of its health implications. The forced disruption of day-to-day living by life under lockdown…

Where to from here?

COVID-19 and the Economy By Ilan Preskovsky The first two decades of this new millennium have certainly had their challenges, but 2020 seems to have taken all the uncertainty, anguish, and anxiety of the 21st century and condensed it into a single year – or, as of this writing, half a year. Hysterical premonitions of the apocalypse may be rather premature (there have been significantly worse years in human history), but we are living in the midst of the greatest global crisis of most of our lifetimes. All from a…

Outreach

Taking note of a helping hand By: Rabbi Dr David Fox The sun was still rising when we began our walk to the tiny house of worship. It was, literally, in a little house, where a select group of men gathered very early every Shabbos morning for worship and prayer. I could see and could feel the frosty mist which still covered the air around me with its soft breezy touch. We were not the only ones out at that hour. The alleyways and paths through the labyrinth of stone…

Jewish food

The Influence of and Influences on Jewish Cuisine By Ilan Preskovsky What we eat and what we drink has been at the heart of Judaism for as long as it and we, the Jewish people, have existed. From the Torah detailing what Avraham gave his visitors to eat to the often intricate laws of Kashrut and the even more intricate rules of the sacrifices (almost all of which, after all, were comprised of foodstuff), our great tradition has placed a major emphasis on food and our relationship to it. Even…

Essential Stock

The Most Versatile Budget Foods That Belong In Every Jewish Kitchen By Ilan Preskovsky In these uncertain times, the financial stability of people around the world has seldom looked quite so unstable. The fact that it’s a situation whose effect on most people around the globe may well have made the truism “we’re all in this together” relevant as almost never before doesn’t make it any less scary. Frankly, the ever-increasing cost of living in South Africa was high enough to begin with long before the arrival of COVID-19 and…

Above the clouds

Flying through life…and Israel By Chandrea Serebro From Bapsfontein to BB Netanyahu, Kevin (Akiva) Braun is flying through the ups and downs of the life of a pilot in Israel, learning Hebrew while flying over the chosen land, seeing five capital cities from Jerusalem’s clear skies and transporting prime ministers, celebrities, and not one, but two Israeli Chief Rabbis all in a day’s work. And it is a dream come true, after a lifetime of Hashem’s Divine assistance that lead him there. “It is a real privilege to live and…

The great equaliser

Learning lessons in resilience, as we search for meaning and purpose By: Maria Beider When the whole world as we know it and as our parents have known it is turned upside down, what happens to us psychologically and emotionally? When your living room becomes your kids’ classroom, your bedroom is turned into a yoga studio, people don masks and gloves in order to buy their groceries, and the price of crude oil is negative, there is pandemonium. Or is that an understatement? In the last few weeks, as the…

613 Mitzvos

An impossible task? By Rabbi Dovid Samuels At Har Sinai, we all famously proclaimed: “Na’aseh v’nishmah!” – “We will do and we will learn!” We received 613 mitzvos – 613 ways to connect to our Creator, and every single one is necessary. The Sh’lah[1] – one of the most famous Kabbalists from the 17th Century – teaches us an important concept that has become very well-known: the human body is made up of 248 limbs and 365 sinews. The 613 mitzvos of the Torah are made up of 248 positive…

The Mother of Kings

The mother of kings By: Robert Sussman We are accustomed to reading Megillas Rus (the book of Ruth) on Shavuos and there are several reasons for this. One of those reasons is because Shavuos is the yarzheit of Dovid HaMelech (King David), therefore we read about his birth and about his forefathers. We all look forward to Moshiach ben Dovid and this is one of the fundamentals of our faith. The day will come – soon, please G-d – when we will all be gathered to Eretz Yisrael and there…

Shabbos in an African village

Wherever we are when the sun sets on Friday, it’s Shabbos By Chandrea Serebro When Rabbi and Bella Grynhaus and their family decided to take a long weekend in Swaziland to experience the beauty of nature and the simplicity of being out in the African air, they thought it would be from the scenic vista of their accommodation, or at best, while on a Sunday morning walk. But, what started as an ideal way to extend their trip and have more time to enjoy the tranquillity of the scenic surroundings…

The unwitting drug dealer

He went to Israel for a yeshiva experience, he never expected to experience the inside of an Israeli prison By Chandrea Serebro Imagine a yeshiva bochur. He is a good boy in Israel learning for the year. He is not yet 18 years old. He has no money, no family in Israel, and he is just trying to enjoy the experience, despite being a bit homesick. One day, in the middle of a gemara shiur, his rabbi calls him out of the class. Outside waiting for him, he finds the…

A traditional Pesach

Recipes from my Bobba and Mother By: Lauren Boolkin It seems bizarre to be writing about Pesach in January, but in truth it’s a blessing. The key to enjoying the chag is to start thinking about it way in advance and definitely straight after Purim. Although you cannot “change over” your kitchen, you can certainly spring clean the rest of your house. Just implement the no food in bedrooms rule and you are well on your way. I also like to keep a stock book where I write down the…

Maggid like you mean it

Owning the story, before giving it over By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels Who’s listening, anyway? If we look for the festival of Pesach in the Torah, we will not find it referred to as ‘Pesach’, but rather as Chag HaMatzos – the festival of Matzos. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev[1] explains that when we mention Pesach, we refer to it by praising the greatness of Hashem as He passed (pasach) over the Jewish houses in Egypt. However, when Hashem mentions Pesach in His Torah, He refers to it as the Festival…

Good enough

Society asks that we be perfect, but there’s a tremendous value in making mistakes along the way and learning from them By Maria Beider, MSW How often do we hear expressions like “Strive for excellence” or a variation quoted in our everyday lives? When did excellence become an end goal and an aspiration? Being excellent places tremendous pressure on an individual and may cause untold anxiety. If one is deemed excellent, one must constantly continue to live up to that elite standard, with no respite. Moreover, it is not uncommon…

Cup after cup

Can I pour you another? By: Robert Sussman Who doesn’t know the Mah Nishtana? Every child learns it in school so he can give his parents nachas when he recites it at the seder. We ask about the matzah; we ask about the maror; we ask about the dippings; and we even ask about the leaning. But why don’t we bother to ask about the four cups of wine that we have at the seder, “…on all other nights, we are not obligated to drink even one cup of wine,…

Party for five

It’s one of the most famous episodes in the Haggadah, but why were all of those famous Rabbis gathered in Bnei Brak together? By: Robert Sussman The Haggadah famously speaks of the five Rabbis who gathered in Bnei Brak for the Pesach seder – Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Tarfon – and who spent the entire night discussing the going out from Egypt, until their students came to inform them that the time had come for the morning reading of the shema –…

Going Out of Egypt

This year in Jerusalem? By: Rabbi Dr Dovid Fox When the Army transport plane crash-landed, apparently an attempt at sabotage by Axis agents, the American soldiers were glad to be alive. The fire which engulfed the aircraft was extinguished by the primitive means available at this desert airfield. Having left their bases in Morocco and in Libya, the soldiers were shaken, yet excited about seeing yet another North African country, although still wary of the enemies who were moving closer to the Allied installations, and still uncertain of the domestic…

Questions about questions

March 25, 2020March 26, 2020 Jewish Life

Just what makes the wicked son so awful? By: Robert Sussman In the Jewish world, the Four Sons and their questions are even more famous than the Fab Four. Each of the questions that gets attributed to a different son comes straight out of the text of the Chumash: The Chacham (Wise Son): “What are the testimonies, ordinances, and laws that Hashem, our G-d, has commanded you?” The Rasha (Wicked Son): “What is this avodah (service) to you?” The Tam (Simple Son): “What is this?” The fourth son doesn’t actually…

Czech-mate

What happens when we face our opponent once the game is over? By: Rabbi Dr David Fox Each year, he had held a festive gathering, a Seudat Hoda’a – meal of thanksgiving – to commemorate when the war had ended for him and for his family. A teen when the Germans took over much of Europe, he had been interned in the Prague ghetto along with his parents. Life had gone from hard to tenuous, from hunger to starvation, and the curfews, the arrests, the beatings, and the murders were…

A Persian Feast

The story of Purim takes place in Persia, so celebrate Queen Esther with a menu and tablescape laden with different spices, flavours, and colours in honour of the occasion By: Lauren Boolkin Hamantaschen are the most recognisable food associated with the Purim holiday, but there are many different foods for celebrating Purim. One of the four mitzvos of Purim is to have a festive meal on Purim day, and because I have been obsessing over the plethora of Middle Eastern recipe books hitting our shelves, I’ve decided to create a…

War with Amalek

The mind, body, and soul of hating evil By: Rabbi Dovid Samuels One of the most basic and fundamental principles regarding the fulfilment of the mitzvos of the Torah is that each mitzvah has three aspects to it: machshava – thought; dibbur – speech; and maaseh – action. For example, when we approach the mitzvah of Tefillin, the contemplation of the meaning behind the mitzvah and our pure intentions occupy the realm of thought; the blessing we make just before the placement occupies the realm of speech, and the actual…

Celebrating by giving

Making the party something bigger and better By Chandrea Serebro “Yad Aharon was privileged to be chosen by a bat mitzvah girl as the perfect venue to celebrate this momentous occasion in a manner which went beyond the confines of family and friends,” says Alice Friedman of Yad Aharon. “The family and friends who attended the event actively and happily participated in the mitzvah of chessed by packing our food parcels for the following day’s distribution. We hoped that this girl’s courage to do things differently would inspire many others to celebrate…

Sing, sing a song

Two musicians taking the music industry – and events everywhere – by storm By Chandrea Serebro Reuven Garber’s Holy Music Reuven Garber always enjoyed singing when he was young. As a teenager, he felt the first stir of real inspiration when his sister got engaged and friends and family gathered together. Out came a guitar, the strumming started, and everyone was singing in a circle, the proverbial fire roaring in the middle. “For me, it was out of this world. I really felt the music and its power right through me, and…

Scaling down the simcha

The wedding is your future, but it doesn’t have to cost you your life By Chandrea Serebro He offers her the ring and the promise of forever. She says I do with a tear of happiness in her eye. Families gather, dance, and toast to the happy couple. Then they contact the caterer. And the rest is not yet happy ever after. What soon follows is a battle of wills and finances, triumphs and disappointments to plan the perfect wedding without bonding the not-yet-bought house three times over. These days,…

A truly fun mitzvah