I've noticed that the endless media reports about the famous pro wrestler (apparently) turned mass murderer almost uniformly have two things in common ( Read more... )

A Linguistic Collision (or, Just Like In the Old Country)

A Play in One Act

The Setting: Monsey Glatt, Sunday Morning After Pesach

Dramatis Personae: Yankel the Cashier, Heshy the Stockboy (each suitably Charedi-attired)

Yankel: Heshy?
Heshy: Voss?
Yankel (scowling, holding carton of orange juice up to the light): Scan nisht.

Seasons come
Seasons go
You don't know

Not bad for a four-year-old.

This past week, I had to travel out of town on business for the first time in the year or so I've been at my current job. While waiting for my oft-delayed return flight, I had a Gemara open in front of me ( Read more... )

Our neighbor is an auditor at the IRS. She will admit to this only sheepishly, and prefers not to mention her employer at all. As she once explained, this is because she has grown tired of defending herself and worrying that every new acquaintance will view her with suspicion ( Read more... )

Here. Let's see: Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah. There you go.

Asara b’Tevet gets little respect, even in the frum community. In our hemisphere, it starts late, ends early, and is probably the least physically taxing of the fast days. Oddly, the relative ease of observance of the fast may have the perverse effect of discouraging widespread observance. Perhaps the thinking is that if it’s easy to fast for about ( Read more... )

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Can't let the evening go by without stating the obvious.

Yes, I'm emerging from my most recent hiatus to uncharacteristically take note of a sports news story. I found this storyto be shocking and sad, in part because I remember his playing career (he was really good!), and in part because it's just so stark. Egads. Shouldn't the union be offering counseling of some kind ( Read more... )