With Pesach coming in less than six weeks, it's time to be thinking about... Pirke Avot, which is traditionally studied between Pesach and Shavuot. This year, Koren Publications has two new editions -- one with commentary by Rabbi Marc Angel, and one on the Maggid imprint with translation and commentary by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg. ( Read more... )

Koren/Maggid recently sent me a review copy of the extraordinary "False Facts and True Rumors: Lashon HaRa in Contemporary Culture" by Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman.

[For those unfamiliar with the term, Lashon ha-Ra, literally "an evil tongue", is used colloquially as a catch-all term for various offenses in which ones speech causes unnecessary harm to ( Read more... )

This year's Mystery Hunt was a lot of fun. ( Read more... )

We saw "Allegiance" last night at the Longacre with the kids. It was an effective night of theater; the narrative is strong and well-presented. Although it's getting a lot of attention both because, well, George Takei, and also because the circumstances of its story find echoes in today's American political discourse, I think that misses the point ( Read more... )

At the recommendation of a friend from shul who is a rabbi and a teacher at the Maimonides school here in Boston, I recently read "Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed" by Kenneth Seeskin ( Read more... )

As I've posted before, I have circumstantial evidence that the "Green(e)" line comes from Dinaburg, also known as Dvinsk. When I search on JewishGen's Latvian database for the first name "Todros", which was my ggf's name, I find something intriguing... but probably wrong ( Read more... )

Recently, Koren/Maggid sent me review copies of books on the parsha by two rabbis whom I greatly respect: "Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible" by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and "Talks on the Parasha" by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz). I've been reading each book's essay on the relevant parsha each week, and now feel ( Read more... )

Toby Press sent me a review copy of Elliot Jager's memoir, "The Pater: My Father, My Judaism, My Childlessness", which is being released this week ( Read more... )

Just a quick note to capture yesterday's discoveries ( Read more... )

Today is my maternal grandfather's yahrzeit. Earlier this week was my grandmother's birthday and their wedding anniversary. And this week I received the most amazing thing, and the timing could not have been more fitting ( Read more... )