Tomato Plants

Tomato plants are practically synonymous with vegetable gardening; you’d be hard pressed to find a vegetable garden without them! Here are a few things to keep in mind, especially with regard to young tomato plants:
  Removing the sappers: As your tomato plant starts to grow bigger, you will notice that there is a main stalk, with composite leaves coming off the main stalk at various intervals. Now, take a closer look: You will see that at the juncture of every leaf coming off the main stem, little shoots are sprouting. Left alone, these secondary shoots will also grow into large stalks – with even more secondary stalks branching off here and there – and this will result in a “bushy” plant.

Out in the Cold

It was a cold February day in the 1960s, and it was snowing on Jonquil Avenue. About two inches had covered the lawns and side walks, but the snow kept falling hard. My mom opened the front door and looked up the street, where she noticed a neighbor, an elderly gentleman, standing on the sidewalk in front of his home. He was not wearing boots and looked chilled. About half-an-hour later, she noticed the same gentleman, in a heavy winter coat and hat that was now covered with snow, was still standing in front of his home

“Good afternoon, Ner Israel.”

“Hello. Rabbi Neuberger, please.”

“Who’s calling?”

“Hillel Tendler.”

“One minute, please.”

After a few seconds, a familiar and distinct voice is saying, “Hello. Shalom aleichem, Reb Hillel. What’s doing?”

So began another of countless conversations I and so many others were zocheh (merited) to have over the past decades with the giant, but completely accessible, Menahel of one of the largest yeshivos in the world.

The reason for the call did not matter. Whatever the need, be it personal or communal, Rabbi Neuberger gave you undivided attention as if nothing else mattered to him. We all know by now that there were precious

It is almost a year since I lost my Rebbe, and yet, because a bond as strong as ours is hard to sever, I still drive by his house on the way to shul. As I move my hand to open the door of my truck, reality sinks in, and I remember that Rabbi Janowski will not be joining me in person, not today and not tomorrow. Sadly, I drive on, as Rebbe would not want me to be late for shul.

Later in the evening, as I sit in my office doing paperwork, I slowly turn my head to the

Who can forget the beautiful, meaningful, and moving delivery of Rabbi Boruch Milikowsky’s holy words of mussar. It was a real zechus to have him as a rebbe. How I cherish his kind, soft words of encouragement. When he gave his talmid mussar, the talmid went away with a good feeling. He made you feel very special, even when you did something wrong. He always gave positive reinforcement and spoke directly to the problem, speaking openly to you as his talmid and also as his friend. He had a very warm relationship with each dorm boy, especially, acting as a father in many a way. I was a Baltimore resident, and I knew Rebbe as both a talmid and as a neighbor. His experiences in Europe, the Shoah, and Shanghai were transmitted to us, his talmidim, with the deep roots of his past Torah life, with his beautiful and unforgettable mussar words, and his very warm friendship.

t’s hard to remember the time – just a few years ago – when someone tried to solicit business via the internet and was “flamed” (severely condemned) by the online community. With its origins in government and universities, the internet was only for research and education; commercial use and advertising were not permitted.

Today, the majority of businesses have a web site, and many people’s main use of the internet is as a place to shop and pay their bills. As consumers, we are no longer limited to our local store, our city, or even New York (!) but have at

During her entire life, my wife Leah Marsh, a”h, was permeated with a love for Torah and mitzvos that was transmitted to her by her parents, z”l, Avraham Yeshayahu and Shifra Botwinick, who both came to America as children in the 1920s. Mr. Botwinick was born in Rakov, in Russia, and Mrs. Botwinick (nee Mirsky) in the Bais Yisroel section of Yerushalayim. Leah always strove to follow their example and to practice all the hanhagos they observed.

Until Leah was a teenager, her family lived in a small apartment in a tenement building on Madison Street on the Lower East side, where they gladly gave the best room to Leah’s grandmother, an almana. This delivered an unspoken lesson in kibud av v’eim which Leah never forgot. Within the family, her mother relied on Leah’s help in bringing up her younger brother, and she developed the sense of responsibility that became a key part of her character. Mrs. Botwinick always said, “If you need a job done properly, give it to Leah.”

While researching Morris Siegel’s interesting life, I asked Rabbi Moshe Heinemann about his recollections. Rabbi Heinemann summed it up best: “He did everything le’shaim Shamayim (for the sake of Heaven).” Of course, when someone does everything le’shaim Shamayim, his or her life and work endure well into the future. Indeed, Baltimore today, and frum Baltimore in particular, is reaping the benefits of the vineyard of Yiddishkeit that Morris Siegel planted years ago

Yosef Moshe “Morris” Halevi Siegel was a trustworthy Baltimore businessman, eloquent orator, and outstanding father. He was an extremely modest individual who possessed many wonderful middos. He acquired

We left Rabbi Oberstein last month as a talmid in Ner Israel, where he was awed by the greatness of the Rosh Hayeshiva and rebbeim.

The first time I ever heard of the concept of a gadol was from my friend Meir Fialkoff at Yeshiva University High School, in my first year there. Meir had a picture of Rav Aharon Kotler in his wallet. I had never heard of Rav Aharon and couldn’t fathom a boy keeping a rabbi’s picture in his wallet. If you had asked me back then who the greatest rabbi in America was, I would have answered

This article is about Dina Machla bas Eliezer. It is not about Dina stories. We all have our personal stories about Dina. This article is about the friend that I knew, the friend that I loved. Dina Machla was a tzniusdik (modest) person full of integrity, emes (truth), and love.

Three for Dina

Simcha, Bracha, and Shalom: the Words of Dina Blaustein

by Lisa Friedman

“May you have a day filled with much simcha, much bracha, and much shalom.” That was the cheerful message on the phone machine of my dear friend, Dina Blaustein, a”h. Years earlier, before the illness that took her

As I sit here at the desk of my father, Rav Shimon Schwab, zecher tzadik levracha, with my mother, shetichyeh le’orach yamim tovim,* at my side, my mind wanders back over many decades to the beautiful memories of Congregation Shearith Israel, the shul in which I grew up.

Let me say that our family has the deepest feelings of gratitude, hakaras hatov, to the congregation, its officers, and members for having been the messengers of Hakadosh Baruch Hu to save our lives from the impending disaster that was developing in Germany during the middle thirties. Had it not been for men

Once upon a time, when our techter (daughters) were kinderlach (tots), I often asked them, “What’s the main thing?” Their response: “To be a mentch!” It was a doctrine that we “drilled” into their kepelach (minds). Yet being a mentch was challenging at times because of situations that arose at school or in the community. When there was a situation that warranted discussion, we had a family meeting and reviewed the problem. Next we discussed the boundaries of being a mentch.

  Voss hayst? What do you mean? you may ask. Iz dehr enfehr, the answer is that at times