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David HaMelech says, “The sound of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous... Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them and thank G-d” (T’hilim 118:15,19). The word “ohel” (“tent”) signifies a non-permanent dwelling. A “bayis” (“house”), on the other hand, is a permanent dwelling. Rabbi Yissocher Frand explains that the reason there is rejoicing – and salvation, enjoyment, and contentment – in the lives of the righteous is because their existence in this world is like that of a tent – temporary. In this world, we have work to do and mitzvos that must be performed. But our physical surroundings are only temporary dwellings – tents.

It was an exciting and impactful Shabbat for 65 students from Emet Outreach’s Forest Hills Leaders Fellowship.  Hosted by Rabbi Reuven Kigel, Emet’s Campus Director, and Mrs. Devorah Kigel, an Emet educator, women’s speaker and a dating and marriage coach, the students were warmly welcomed to the community of Passaic New Jersey. The theme of this memorable Shabbat was “Keeping Shabbat Together: Disconnecting in Order to Connect.”

“You shall do what is fair and good in the eyes of Hashem, so that it will be good for you…” – Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:18

I cannot count the number of times someone has come into my office after they have signed an agreement, and then proclaimed, “I want to get out of it.” At that point, I usually grimace and wonder why this potential client did not come to me before signing. This recurrent problem requires an analysis of the manner in which the courts treat attempts to void matrimonial agreements.

In this season of thanksgiving, it’s important to give thanks for friends, family, food, freedom, and all the other blessings we enjoy in this great nation.

 By Margie Pensak

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect as I disembarked the Baltimore coach bus to enter the Tiferes Rivka Hall in Boro Park, Sunday evening, November 24, for Agra D’Pirka’s Decade Dinner. But, from the minute I walked into the celebration of the flourishing unique national Morning Kollel learning program, I was greeted warmly and made to feel at home. I soon realized, having the experience of covering the Baltimore Agra D’Pirka Yarchei Kallahs for over a year as a journalist, that the warm ambiance of the evening was but a reflection of the program, directors, and participants.

The generation-long immigration wave that brought Soviet Jews to America and Israel followed a timeline where the religious and Zionist activists were the first to cross the Iron Curtain. They were followed by individuals with family members abroad and those fleeing in search of better economic opportunities. “Today in the former USSR, there are few Jews left who have two Jewish parents,” said Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Binsky of Kehilas Moreshes Yaakov in Brooklyn. He met such individuals on a visit to a summer camp in Belarus run by the Yad Yisroel organization.