The 2012 Maccabi games in Rockland County were held on August 12-17. The games brought in more than 1200 Jewish Athletes from all over the world. more

To most of us, it was not surprising that when we woke up this past Friday, we woke up. The doomsayers were wrong—there was no Mayan apocalypse at midnight on December 20th. While the Mayan myth turned out to be nothing to worry about-fasten your seat belts--the fiscal cliff, an economic apocalypse predicted for midnight December 3l, is very likely to happen. more

On Sunday, April 14, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Theological Seminary (RIETS) and Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future commemorated the 20th yahrtzeit [anniversary of death] of “the Rav,” Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l, Torah luminary and YU Rosh Yeshiva, with a full-day learning program that took place in the Lamport Auditorium on YU’s Wilf Campus. Thousands attended in-person or followed the event online to gain insight into the Rav’s life and legacy through lectures, discussions and presentations given by his family and closest students. more

My “association” with Helen Thomas began on a Friday, just over three years ago when my friend Rabbi David Nesenoff (who would subsequently become publisher of The Jewish Star) sent me a video, which contained a short explosive interview he had conducted with the veteran White House correspondent. In it, Thomas gave a statement that many people saw as telling the Jews to go face another Holocaust. more

In her role as Five Towns yoetzet halacha, Lisa Septimus is working to dispel some of the myths associated with taharat hamishpadcha (laws of family purity). Discussing “Ten Myths That Stand Between You and the Mikveh,” before an audience of women at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence, Septimus dealt with “common misconceptions … like regarding nidah (menstrual impurity) as disgusting, technical aspects such as how to count the seven clean days properly, and misconceptions of preparation.” more

When former New York Times reporter Leslie Maitland first heard that Amy Adams would be in “American Hustle,” she smiled, thinking the actress would portray her. more

The school of thought that describes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “the Middle East conflict” is dangerously misguided, because it ignores other factors that are far more important, such as the historically violent schism between Sunni and Shi’a Islam, Iran’s renewed assertiveness in Syria and Lebanon, the shared strategic interests binding Israel and the conservative regimes in the Arab Gulf in confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and the fragmentation of the various jihadi groups in Sinai, Syria, Iraq, and other territories. more

ISIS is different from other terrorist groups but perhaps not in the same way it is being reported. Some say it is unprecedented in its level of violence, pointing out that its leaders were thrown out of al Qaeda for being too violent. That is a special kind of crazy. Truth is they weren’t thrown out for being to violent but for not submitting themselves to the al Qaeda leadership. more

Ok, we had a one meal holiday, Thanksgiving. You should have all aced that one. As I said last week, it was child’s play after Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot. Now back to what we’re used … more

On Feb. 12 and 18, eighth grade girls and boys from various schools took part in the annual Day In the Life at HANC High School.  On both days, visiting students had the opportunity to … more