Page 26 - issue
P. 26
28 BALTIMORE’S JEWISH FAMILY MAGAZINE
Special Lessons Dear Readers,
by Margie Pensak
We are now in the middle of the Sefirah, the seven weeks during which we are sup-
40 posed to “purify” ourselves of sins and faults by way of getting ready for Shavuos and
matan Torah. In past years, “purifying” meant the usual garden variety bad deeds and
Shalom Bayis habits with which most people struggle. Certain bad behaviors, however, did not require
by Yehuda Weisbord a struggle to resist; indeed, they are not even in our universe of thought. To take an
obvious example, which of us had to wrestle with the desire to murder?
46
American society has been going in some strange directions lately. Who would have
Genuine Freedom thought that the parshas of Acharei-Mos and Kedoshim would become controversially
by Esther Berkowitz countercultural? But this country is not behaving in its traditional manner. The grow-
ing divide among Americans, the difference in attitudes toward what is decent and
50 appropriate, is one of the defining features of American society in our times. The con-
sensus over morality, the oft-touted “Judeo-Christian” values (that is, values borrowed
Ask the Shachan from the Torah) upon which the country was founded, have collapsed.
by Mashe Katz
Our values are spelled out in the Torah. Unfortunately, American society is moving in a
54 different direction, and no one can predict how its norms will develop in the future. It
seems that those of us out “out there” in the workforce – or even reading a magazine
Journey to Efrat or going shopping at the local Target – are going to find ourselves under pressure from
by Shira Shugarman employers, the media, and society’s other effective organs of cultural socialization to “go
along,” to ditch our own values and replace them with theirs.
66
This is something we cannot do. It looks like we have our work cut out for us this
Close Call: A Miracle Sefirah, as the struggle to stay pure intensifies. Can we maintain islands of purity in the
by Galia Berry midst of a sea of other values? We really could do with some siyata d’Shmaya, don’t you
think?
76
The WWW wishes all a successful Sefirah and a joyous Shavuos!
Voter Fraud
by Brad Kauffman AD DEADLINE PUBLICATION DATE
78 June 9, 2016 June 16, 2016
My First War Games July 7, 2016 July 21, 2016
by Raphael Blumberg
84
The House that Yacha
Built by Eta Kushner
94
Hair Today
by Rabbi Azriel
Hauptman
100
Friends
by Eve Poupko
104
Taxes: Bunching
by Eli Pollock
110
Medigap Insurance
by Moshe Nelkin
116
Cheers for Cherries!
by Lauren Mirkin
120
The Ahmoliker Yid
by I. Kinek
Special Lessons Dear Readers,
by Margie Pensak
We are now in the middle of the Sefirah, the seven weeks during which we are sup-
40 posed to “purify” ourselves of sins and faults by way of getting ready for Shavuos and
matan Torah. In past years, “purifying” meant the usual garden variety bad deeds and
Shalom Bayis habits with which most people struggle. Certain bad behaviors, however, did not require
by Yehuda Weisbord a struggle to resist; indeed, they are not even in our universe of thought. To take an
obvious example, which of us had to wrestle with the desire to murder?
46
American society has been going in some strange directions lately. Who would have
Genuine Freedom thought that the parshas of Acharei-Mos and Kedoshim would become controversially
by Esther Berkowitz countercultural? But this country is not behaving in its traditional manner. The grow-
ing divide among Americans, the difference in attitudes toward what is decent and
50 appropriate, is one of the defining features of American society in our times. The con-
sensus over morality, the oft-touted “Judeo-Christian” values (that is, values borrowed
Ask the Shachan from the Torah) upon which the country was founded, have collapsed.
by Mashe Katz
Our values are spelled out in the Torah. Unfortunately, American society is moving in a
54 different direction, and no one can predict how its norms will develop in the future. It
seems that those of us out “out there” in the workforce – or even reading a magazine
Journey to Efrat or going shopping at the local Target – are going to find ourselves under pressure from
by Shira Shugarman employers, the media, and society’s other effective organs of cultural socialization to “go
along,” to ditch our own values and replace them with theirs.
66
This is something we cannot do. It looks like we have our work cut out for us this
Close Call: A Miracle Sefirah, as the struggle to stay pure intensifies. Can we maintain islands of purity in the
by Galia Berry midst of a sea of other values? We really could do with some siyata d’Shmaya, don’t you
think?
76
The WWW wishes all a successful Sefirah and a joyous Shavuos!
Voter Fraud
by Brad Kauffman AD DEADLINE PUBLICATION DATE
78 June 9, 2016 June 16, 2016
My First War Games July 7, 2016 July 21, 2016
by Raphael Blumberg
84
The House that Yacha
Built by Eta Kushner
94
Hair Today
by Rabbi Azriel
Hauptman
100
Friends
by Eve Poupko
104
Taxes: Bunching
by Eli Pollock
110
Medigap Insurance
by Moshe Nelkin
116
Cheers for Cherries!
by Lauren Mirkin
120
The Ahmoliker Yid
by I. Kinek
