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Before Chanukah, a few weeks ago, my younger children were listening to a kid’s story about Chanukah. The storyteller shared the story behind the custom of playing dreidel. When Torah study had been outlawed by the Syrian-Greek government, the Jews would clandestinely sit together and study Torah with dreidels on hand. When the studying Jews heard the Syrian-Greek soldiers approaching, they immediately hid their scrolls and began playing with their dreidels.

One of the highlights of my winter visits to Eretz Yisrael the last four years was spending time with my rebbi, Rabbi Berel Wein, and being able to hear him speak. During my visits, on Friday morning at 10 a.m., I would make sure to be at Beit Knesset HaNasi in the Rechaviah section of Yerushalayim for Rabbi Wein’s Erev Shabbos parshah schmooze. On Shabbos morning, I would daven at Beit Knesset HaNasi so I could hear his drashah before Musaf.

The Vizhnitz cemetery in Monsey has become crowded and busy in recent years. Throngs of people come primarily to daven at the kever of the holy Ribnitzer Rebbe, who lived in the Monsey area, on Old Nyack Turnpike, during his last years.

In 1782, the American Bald Eagle was adopted as the US national emblem, symbolizing strength, freedom, and independence. It was chosen because of its long life, majestic appearance, and great strength.

During the past four years, my wife and I have had at least one child learning in yeshivah/seminary in Yerushalayim. I had the good fortune to visit and spend a few days in Eretz Yisrael each January.

This week, I attended our fourth-grade twins’ siyum on Mishnayos Yoma in their yeshivah, the Yeshiva of Spring Valley.