Shoftim
Dear Friend,
This week, we greet the new Jewish month of Elul which precedes and ushers in the High Holidays and sets the tone for new opportunities, new beginnings and new resolutions.
Elul is considered a “feminine month” and the letters of its name form an acronym for the phrase, “I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me.”
The Jewish people are considered G‑d’s bride and beloved. The mood of this month is all about forging a stronger bond and solidifying our relationship with our divine Groom.
It’s therefore such an opportune time to be launching our newly revamped and restructured JewishWoman.org site.
As you peruse the new JewishWoman.org site, you’ll notice many great new features, including a strong emphasis on women’s Torah studies as well as some innovative new ideas for home and family.
But most of all, we hope you will notice our renewed commitment to make the JewishWoman.org a place where every Jewish woman will find her home—a place where you will find understanding and renewed meaning and inspiration in all aspects of your life.
I hope you will love our new site as much as we do, and I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Wishing you that the upcoming year be a year full of overflowing blessing and opportunities of positive growth.
Chana Weisberg
Editor, The JewishWoman.org
Because a prophet has privileged access to the word others cannot hear and the visions others cannot see, the real possibility existed of false prophets.
We spend our youth building up cynicism, and then we are suddenly expected to make all those big life changes, like marriage and kids, that require faith in our fellow human beings, not to mention in ourselves . . .
My body is "me," so why should anyone else care? Why should the Torah care? Why should the Torah give rules for how I treat my own body?
“Justice”—the very concept is said to be a Jewish contribution to the world. A glance at this week’s Parshah (equality before the law, due process, protection of criminals from vigilante vengeance, curbs on the behavior of kings, rules and ethics in warfare . . . ) shows why.
The Jewish Woman is a site dedicated to providing Jewish women of all backgrounds intellectually challenging, emotionally uplifting and inspirationally stimulating articles.
It is called “the month of repentance,” “the month of mercy” and “the month of forgiveness.”
The “Shunamit woman” was a perceptive, intuitive woman who merited the ultimate miracle: the revival of her dead son. Here is her story.
Clouded by emotional fog, I failed to correlate the references to abused women and myself. But one thing was clear: G-d had sent a messenger to unlock my cage.
Scientists have demonstrated that they can take stem cells and build them into hamburgers. What does Jewish law have to say?
It’s hard to say that matter is an illusion. But maybe it just isn’t as real as we think it is.
Essentially, the rules governing how to run an efficient Mishkan can teach us how to live efficiently, as well. Make a simple system for the jobs that are done every day in your personal Mishkan, also known as your home.
It is an act of tremendous kindness on our part to help our children learn to swim confidently in the deep end of life, to have all the internal resources they need in order to deal with every challenge they will face.
Elul, the month of feminine energy, is a time to incubate and grow small changes in our lives to give birth to a deeper, transformed relationship between G‑d and man.
Three perspectives on the definition of Teshuvah and the role of confession. (Based on Likutei Sichos vol. 38, parshas Naso, sicha 1)
Who but G-d could paint the most beautiful abstract skies night after night, each one slightly different from all the previous nights. And so it is with trees. Each one is created unique. My grandmother had a weeping willow tree that I will never forget.
Only one week and two days after he was shot and critically wounded in Derbent, Rabbi Ovadia Isakov was released from a hospital in Israel and offered his thanks to those who acted on his behalf and prayed for his recovery.
Growing up, college student Adam Korte went to plenty of bar mitzvah ceremonies for his friends. But when those same friends asked when his was taking place, Korte didn’t have an answer for them. Now he does.
Mitzvah tanks are on a three week summer tour of more than 50 cities and towns throughout the former Soviet Union.
Young women take part in a rigorous summer learning experience in upstate New York.
“We have put a lot of our time and passion into making the site the best it can be,” says the site’s editor, Chana Weisberg.
Full disclosure—this one is not for the kids! But it IS for us adults. And oh boy, do these slushies taste good after a long day of work.
From a letter:
Even if all your complaints about your spouse are well-founded and valid—show her your love, nevertheless. Show her unconditional love.
The sages taught that all our exile is due to the sin of senseless, unwarranted hatred.
When each one of us will start with unwarranted, unconditional love in our ow...
