I have a friend whom everyone likes. Know the type? She claims it’s because they like listening to her South African accent, but I know better. My friend Wendy has this wonderful way about her that draws everyone to her like a magnet. She is also known for the amazing amounts of chesed she does for her community. I remember when Wendy used to hold sheva brachos in her house for upwards of 60 to 70 people even if she barely knew the baalei simcha. She did more than that. Wendy organized the events and helped cook the food too. Who does that? Wendy’s kindness to others was truly amazing, but she always acted like it was nothing.

Another year is coming to a close and, that means thinking income taxes. As always, we need to see what can be done before the close of the year. Let’s go through a checklist:

Child Tax Credit: Children up to age 17 (it was 16 in the past) receive a $3,000 tax credit. (Under age six get $3,600.) This credit is fully refundable. If a family earns $40,000 and has five children, they will get back about $20,000 from the feds and Maryland, which includes the child tax credit and the earned income credit. This money is tax free. They will also get free health insurance with zero deductibles. Of course, there are also food stamps, worth maybe $1,000 per month. Doesn’t seem like a big incentive to work hard and make more money. This child tax credit is reduced for any money you have been receiving since July as that money was an advance of this credit.

To the Shadchan:

 I’m a regular Baltimore guy in my mid-twenties with a good job. I met this really wonderful girl through a dating website. Before going out, I checked into her and her family superficially as I was not really expecting it to work out. Everything seemed okay – no big red flags for the things I thought I cared about. We have gone out now several times. The girl is very nice. She is warm and funny and pretty. She is educated and hardworking – all great.

It was early in the evening when the hurricane hit. The storm was horrendous. The trees bent almost to the ground, the wind howled, and a solid sheet of rain battered the house. We thought the windows might break and didn’t know if the roof would hold. Our family huddled in the basement, just in case. The power went out, so we lit Shabbos candles. The kids were too upset and scared to play board games. My wife and I cuddled the younger ones.

The storm ended about two o’clock that night. We all went upstairs to see what was broken. Baruch Hashem, the roof and the windows were intact. We slept on our own beds that night. The power did not come back on for two weeks, however, and there was no gas in the stove. Still, we were lucky, compared to other families. Trees had fallen on roofs, and windows were blown out. A major bridge nearby was washed away.

The bizarre shortage of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, a year-and-a-half ago, brought an unexpected realization to Americans used to an abundance of everything from food to 20 different kinds of toothpaste. With each news report about backlogs in ports and shortages of truck drivers – not to mention store shelves pockmarked by empty spaces – the possibility of true scarcity seeps deeper into our psyches. While hurricanes, power outages, and snow storms continue to pose their acute, albeit familiar, dangers, these new developments awaken a sense that a chronic problem may be on the horizon.

Chanukah is a time when we recognize the miracles that Hashem has done for us both thousands of years ago and in our lives today – bayamim hahem bazman hazeh. As I sit by the last of the burning Chanukah candles, I express thanks and wonder at the open miracle our family recently experienced.

Ma’aleh Amos

When I first came as a young bachur to Eretz Yisrael, I thought, no chance I would stay to live here. I was in a typical state of denial, convincing myself that back in “my” home country everything was better; there’s nothing like America. I had two married brothers learning in Eretz Yisrael at the time, and I just came here to grow in learning in a different setting.

One of my favorite places to visit is Niagara Falls. The intense rush of water cascading over the Falls is truly overwhelming. Over the years I have visited the Falls numerous times, and have experienced them as many of us have: from in front, from behind, as well as from the boat ride. But nothing prepared me for my recent visit.

My previous trips were all to the Canadian side. It was so exciting to cross the border, and besides, “they” told us that the Canadian side is so much better. But on this recent trip, we decided to stop at the American side. Not only was it less crowded but it is situated in such a way that we could get closer than ever to the water. I stood watching six million cubic feet of water flow each minute from the Niagara River into the gorge, and I was overwhelmed by the imagery as it pertained to a famous statement of Chazal.

Finding a suitable shidduch is difficult for everyone. How much more difficult is it for people who have some kind of health problem?!

Miriam, a young woman who survived an ordeal with cancer, wanted to move on in life and start dating. “I had just finished treatment for an aggressive cancer,” she says, “and was considered cured. But since everything was still quite recent, finding a shidduch seemed very unlikely.” 

In the secular world, couples meet naturally at events, at work, or in school, and the two sides get to know each other before finding out about health problems (or they can see the problems with their own eyes). In the frum dating system, people tend to be names on a piece of paper with lists of references. It is thus very hard or nearly impossible for someone with a genetic, mental, or physical disability to be given a chance. If a prospective shidduch is just a name, why not choose to go out with a person who does not have a known problem?

As part of its ongoing campaign to defile anything and everything holy, the new Israeli government has taken aim at the kashrus status quo that has prevailed unchallenged in the country for almost 40 years. Back in July 1983, in response to numerous instances of bogus and baseless claims of kashrus, the Knesset passed the Law of Kashrut Misrepresentation, which requires the identification or advertisement of food or an eatery as kosher to be backed up by kosher supervision. The law’s small print invests the local rabbinates with the exclusive authority to grant this supervision, and a subsequent amendment enshrines the national rabbinate as the sole arbiter of the kosher status of imported products. The law also created an enforcement division that issues fines and other penalties to offenders.