Pesach with Mishpacha Magazine: Featuring a New CD

Mishpacha magazine has done it again! Every year their Yom Tov editions are packed to the brim with even more interesting articles, Divrei Torah and stories. This year, besides for anticipating all that, you can also start anticipating the release of a new CD. From TeeM Productions comes brand new songs composed by Yossi Green and Pinky Weber. The arrangments are from Mona Rosenblum, Moshe Laufer, and Leib Yaacov Rigler. The singers are Avraham Fried, Shlomie Gertner, Shlomie Taussig, Yisroel Werdyger, Shragy Gestetner, Motty Ilowitz, and Chilu Posen. For those of you who remember, this is not the first year that Mishpacha has been so nice as to include a new CD with the magazine. The Sukkos edition 2007 premiered the release of a CD featuring Lipa Schmeltzer called Eloka D'meir Aneini which can be found currently in certain Judaica stores. I always look forward to Mishpacha and their special Yom Tov editions and I look forward to seeing what interesting reads this year has to offer.

To see the cover art and the advertisment for the CD go to the Jewish Music Report


HT: Jewish Music Report

Be Your Own Library

A couple of weeks ago I had the experience to spend Shabbos with a Chassidishe Rav and his family in Boro Park. It was absolutely wonderful and I look forward to going back again. One thing that stuck out for me was that the Rebbetzin runs a library out of her home. It's not a huge, professional library but it's a great selection of some older classics and more recent publications organized neatly on around five bookshelves in an upstairs room. The Rebbetzin explained that she does this as a service for the community, allowing them to come and borrow books whenever they want. An interesting observation is that right across the street from the home is a big Brooklyn public library, but of course most people in the Chassidishe Boro Park community do not utilize this library due to their content of secular books. I am sure that many of the families on the Rebbetzin's street appreciate her smaller library too the much bigger library that they feel uncomfortable using.

I was reflecting on this small library and the chessed it provides recently and it occurred to me how much there is a need for many more such libraries in our communities wherever they may be. Unfortunately there are not really any big professional libraries that are dedicated to loaning out books appropriate for the frum world. Sometimes you do come across a couple such libraries or gemachs but they can be scarce, leaving many without access to good reading material. I am fortunate in that when I was in high school we had a fantastic library that received good funding and was able to provide us with hundreds of books, including all the new releases and other books and seforim that appealed to myself and others. Where I am now also has a very decent library but it is lacking in certain areas as well as not being available to the non-student body. In my temporary apartment I keep around 30 books that I keep on a shelf and I am try to let others know that they are able to borrow them. Back at home between every member of my family we must have a couple hundred frum books, definitely a good size library. This shouldn't be a surprise, as Jews are known for their large collections of books and I think that many of us have the resources to create miniature "libraries" as the Rebbetzin that I stayed with created.

All if takes is to let people know that you have books available to borrow, write your name and phone number on the inside cover, and keep track of who has what. This is such a great chessed on many levels. First off, books are a wonderful source of good, healthy entertainment. Your loaning out books helps contribute a good education to young children or a restful afternoon to an overworked parent or student. Depending on the type of book you loan out you could also be assisting someone in their Torah learning. Any way you look at it, it's all good. So give it some thought and see if you too can help your friends or community by creating your own Jewish library.

New Haggadahs for Pesach

With Purim over and Pesach fast approaching here are a list of some of the new Haggadahs that have recently been released. The last one is my personal favorite since it's so out of the box and combines my too favorite things, books and music.

Note: The name of the Haggadah is followed by the publishers name

• Seif Edition Transliterated Linear Haggadah - Artscroll
• The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Haggadah- Artscroll
• The Yetzias Mitzrayim Hagaddah: Bringing the Pesach Story to Life through the Haggadah- Artscroll
  
• The Family Hagaddah: Spanish Edition- Artscroll
  
• Hagaddah with Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: Illustrated and for kids- Greenfelds
  
• The Royal Table: A Passover Hagaddah- OU Press
• The Lipa Schmeltzer Hagaddah- Aderet Music

Week in Books

New Releases:

-Seek Peace and Pursue It, by Dovid Lieberman Ph.D
-Purim and Persia: A Historical and Archaeological Perspective, by Rabbi Yehuda Landy
-It Could Have Been You: Real Stories about Real People, by Nachman Seltzer
-Nefesh Shimshon: Gates of Emunah, by Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus ZT"L
-Emunat Yisrael: Developing Faith and Trust in G-d in Our Turbulent Times, by Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Lugassi
-The Yetzias Mitzrayim Hagaddah, by Samson Raphael Grunfeld
-The World That Was: The Legacy of German Jewry 843-1945, Rabbi A. Leib Scheinbaum
-Hidden Gems: Our Special Children, by Ruchi Eisenbach
-Aleinu L'Shabei'ach: Vayikra, by Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein
-Starving Souls, by Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser
-The Mishkan Illuminated, by Rabbi Dovid Meyers

Upcoming Releases:

-A Unique Perspective: Rav Breur's Essays 1914-1973, by Rav Dr. Joseph Breur
-Dawn to Destiny: Jewish History and its Hidden Wisdom, by Rabbi Yonason Goldson

Insights for Mothers: A New Book with New Perspectives

Sent in by the author, Julie Hauser:

This book speaks to women of all ages and stages of motherhood. As the reader grows, the book grows with her.

Women in our generation arrive daily to motherhood with varying backgrounds, personalities, and levels of preparation. The most warm and capable mothers can sometimes feel conflicted, isolated, or depleted. They long for validation from peers and support systems, perspective from mentors that are ahead of them, and inspiration that comes from Judaism’s appreciation of a mother’s challenges and goals.

That is just what they will find in Mothers to Mothers.

First-time author and occupational therapist Julie Hauser, (having her own “lab experience” in motherhood for the past 10 years), personally interviewed thirty mothers across the globe, ranging in age from 22 to 65, and who were chosen for their colorful personalities, depth, and honesty. Excerpts from the interviews, arranged by topic, are blended with advice and positive Torah-based outlooks from respected prominent educators, Jewish leaders, and parenting experts.

Mothers to Mothers invites the reader to listen in on some fascinating, lively, and always straightforward talk from an introspective, open and engaging group of women.

Adjusting to first-time motherhood (or grandmotherhood!), resisting the urge to compare, refining one’s character, linking with generations, making a new start, and using one’s unique gifts brought to motherhood are just some of the topics addressed herein. From learning to take care of the ‘captain’ while navigating the “ordinary” daily ups-and-downs, transitioning to new stages of motherhood and even overcoming post-partum depression -Mothers to Mothers touches on many of the concerns of contemporary Jewish motherhood, with an inspirational spin packaged in a delicate mixture of "reality” and positivity.

To view table of contents:

http://www.artscroll.com/images/insides/mtmh-3.html#view-link

Feldheim Clearance Sale

Feldheim is having another one of their clearance sales. If you're looking for the best deal on books out there, this is it. Obviously it's not going to be the latest releases but it's still a great opportunity to stock up. During a previous sale I actually was able to buy 7 books for a grand total of 40 dollars! So go and take a look and see what you find.

Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer: Questions Need to Be Welcomed, Not Disparaged

Opinion Piece in the Jewish Press from the author of "Search Judaism":

I was apprised of the fact that a renowned rav and posek in Flatbush dedicated his Shabbos morning drasha to the plight of a young lady who was recently dismissed from her Brooklyn Bais Yaakov. It seems she vexed the administration because she asked her teacher incisive questions about the nature of Gan Eden. Thankfully, due to the intervention of this prominent rav, she was reinstated to her school.

Thousands of frum individuals grow up with gnawing questions about the fundamentals of Yiddishkeit. Their questions may be trite and simplistic (i.e., Why do we keep Shabbos?) or profound and weighty (i.e., How do I know there is a God? or Hashem knows everything, including every move I make; yet I have free will. How can the two co-exist?).

It’s not the particular question that is germane - every sincere and thoughtful question is relevant and important. Rather, it’s the way the question is received and handled. Sadly, most often the questions are either rebuffed or repudiated by parents and teachers. Some adolescents are even slapped or labeled with the pejorative “apikores.” The outcome is that in some cases the seeker despondently resolves to trudge through life with lingering and unresolved doubts in ikrei emunah, and in other cases, tragically, they throw in the towel, religiously.

To continue reading click here

(HT: Matzav.com)

New Sefer from the Mevaser Tov of Biala

A new volume of the English translation of the seforim of the Biala Rebbe of Lugano, also known as the Mevaser Tov, has just been released. This new sefer is called Mevaser Tov: Sefer Hachaim, and is being distributed by Feldheim. I first saw the new volume when I was in Israel a week ago and I very quickly decided to buy a copy. The only reason that I even debated whether or not to buy it then was because I have not yet completed another sefer of his which I own, "The Merit of the Righteous Women." However, that sefer has been so phenomenal that even though I have been reading it slowly I have gotten an appreciation for the uniquness of the writing of the Biala Rebbe. Credit also goes to the translators of his works, Daniel Worenklein and Reuven Methieson. The writing is articulate and scholarly and it exudes this feeling of love for the reader and the topic being discussed, something that I have not consistently found in hashkafah based books. So now I have this new volume, Sefer Hachaim, sitting on my book shelf and I hope to be able to get to it soon. In addition to the two previously mentioned books, there are an additional two volumes of the Mevaser Tov that are translated into English and can be bought on Feldheim's website, as well as a large collection of Hebrew seforim by the Rebbe that can probably be found in larger Judaica stores.

You can read more about the Biala Rebbe of Lugano, Rabbi Benzion Rabinowitz on Wikipedia's Hebrew site here. This also includes a complete list of the Rebbe's writings.