Author: David Rutman

Photo Credit: Jewish Press The fifth great Chabad leader, the Rebbe Rashab (1860-1920), called this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, the “truly happy parsha” since “every day of the week we are living with our ancestor Avraham, the first person in history to dedicate his life to spreading knowledge of G-d in the world.” Our […]

Photo Credit: Jewish Press If my friend is gracious enough to give me a $20 bill as a present, my gratitude would appropriately be directed at him. But if I happen to find a $20 bill on the street, to whom should I direct my gratitude? For those who aren’t particularly spiritual or religious, finding […]

Photo Credit: Jewish Press In Parshas Lech Lecha the Torah tells us that when Avraham Avinu came to Eretz Yisrael he built a mizbe’ach and “Vayikra b’shem Hashem.” The Ramban explains that this means that Avraham publicized to the world that there is a creator and that He continually runs the world. He informed everyone […]

Photo Credit: Judge First “Whoever did not want to hire me as a lawyer found themselves in court with me as their judge!” With these words chareidi judge, Lee First, began our interview. In the 1950’s she became a lawyer and was later promoted to Supervising Judge for the Workers Compensation Board of the state […]

Photo Credit: Jewish Press Why Avraham? That is the question that haunts us when we read the opening of this week’s parsha. Here is the key figure in the story of our faith, the father of our nation, the hero of monotheism, held holy not only by Jews but by Christians and Muslims also. Yet […]

Photo Credit: Screenshot Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah . With its recent clash with Israel, Hezbollah is again in the news. But for all of the attention Hezbollah gets, there are still elements of its history that remain ignored — or just misrepresented. Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies […]

Photo Credit: Jewish Press All my life, I’ve seen the photos of gyro hanging in bodegas and other non-kosher delis, and wondered how it tasted. Was it the same thing as shawarma? Now halfway into my lifetime, that wish was finally granted at Bridge: Turkish & Mediterranean Grill, and exceeded my expectations. Of course this […]