They call me Chametz. I don’t get to the gym very often; I’m kind of a couch potato. Actually, I’m an “in between the couch sectional” potato. Sure, I can be grainy, grimy, boxed and bagged, but I’m mostly in the cracks, crevices and crannies. I foment, ferment, leaven, rise, bloat and bellow; and I don’t clean up after myself. more

Calendar for the week of April 15 more

With Shabbos Hagadol now upon us, I thought it would be worthwhile to bring attention to a Shabbos Hagadol sermon delivered in 1962 by one of American Jewry’s most gifted thinkers who in his longtime capacity as rabbi of The Jewish Center in Manhattan delivered some of the most eloquent and meaningful d’roshos. more

Aharon's sons died three parshas ago, in Parshat Sh'mini, and nary a word has been said about them. Acharei Mot opens mentioning their deaths, picking up exactly where the Torah took a break in its narrative to discuss other things. Is there any significance to a multi-chapter tangent from the regular narrative of the Torah? Not unless the Torah doesn't view the tangent as a disruption of the narrative. more

Comedy was once a clean business comprised of short stories and one-liners and it was once a Jewish business as well. While comedy among Jews is still a thriving field, the raunchy content of mainstream comedians has driven away Orthodox audiences. more

He’s done it again. Rabbi Anchelle Perl is no stranger to innovation. For 37 years his Chabad of Mineola has presented everything from matzo factories to Rosh Hashanah apple cutting to modern day Tuesday night webcasting. more

Ping-Pong balls rocketed back and forth at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County elementary school. For the past eight weeks, HANC students ranging from the fourth to sixth grades have devoted their Mondays to skipping the school bus home and working on their serves and slammers. “It’s fun. I get to play other people who are as good as me,” Josh Chiger, 10, said. “I’m pretty good. I’d say I’m the second best one here.” more

Their field is known for cutthroat competition, as they square off with depositions, testimonies, and briefs. When they’re not wearing suits, recent Touro Law Center graduates Alex Shkolyar and Ian “Yitzi” Ribald compete on the hardwood, connecting their profession with basketball. more

Calendar of community events for the week of April 8, 2011 more

Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, in a recent Dvar Torah on Parshat Tazriah noted the following observation: “We have spoken about using speech in a way prohibited by the Torah, one of the ways in which we can use our speech for mitzvoth is relating the story of the exodus from Egypt. Although it is important that we read the text of the Haggadah, we may and are encouraged to add and elaborate on the story of yetzias Mitzrayim, as we say in the Haggadah, ‘the more one relates the story of the exodus, the more praiseworthy is he’. more