News

Every wedding is a special and joyous occasion. In fact, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky (Emes L’Yaakov) notes that every Jewish wedding is a national celebration. He proves it from the fact that if a mourner comes to shul, the mourner himself doesn’t recite Tachanun, but the rest of the congregation does. However, when a chasan davens in shul during the week after his wedding, the entire congregation omits Tachanun. Apparently, everyone in the shul has a share in the chasan’s celebration. The Jewish people thrive upon the building of Jewish homes.

Luck doesn’t seem to be a very Jewish concept. We don’t believe in coincidences. The concept of hashgachah pratis dictates that everything that occurs to us is part of a divine plan, tailored for us.

Like my children, all my nephews and nieces are rather precocious. It must be something in the genes.

This week, parents in the Tri-State Area gleefully celebrated the return of their children to school. No doubt they are thrilled that their children will be learning Torah and broadening the horizons of their minds again. But on a more practical level, after a couple of weeks of “Ma, I’m soooooo bored,” mothers were more than willing to wake up early to help send their children off to school. Now, they have a few weeks’ reprieve before the Chol HaMoed morning pestering begins: “Ma, where are we goooooooing today?”

“The task of a rabbi is to provide perspective and vision, to be the great communicator, to take his congregants and connect them to Sinai and that they feel proud to be Jews.” – Rabbi Berel Wein

I never had a schedule on two consecutive days that were so at odds with each other as I did last week. Last Thursday was the final day of Color War at Camp Dora Golding. One of my responsibilities in camp is to create and direct the Judges’ Skit during the Grand Sing. Anyone who has ever attended summer camp knows how memorable the Grand Sing of Color War is. It is one of the highlights of the summer and, in a sense, the crescendo. There’s a great deal of energy and emotion generated as campers and staff sing together intensely, arm in arm, in the hope of winning Color War.