‘This is just the beginning for me,’ says 38-year-old actor Jake Renner Jake Renner was feeling depressed. An actor and part-time Uber driver, he hadn’t picked up passengers for a year-and-a-half. On a sunny September morning in Los Angeles, Renner decided that it was time to get his life back together. He’d recently quit drinking […]

The one-of-a-kind place for Torah study and celebration serves a large student population In the 13th arrondissement of Paris, where classic Baroque and Belle Époque architecture meets modern high-risers, boats of all kinds dot the left bank of the River Seine. The neighborhood, home to several colleges and universities, is teeming with students from around […]

14 Kislev, 1928: Marriage of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin It was on today’s Hebrew date in November of 1928 that the marriage of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin, Menachem Mendel and Chaya Mushka Schneerson, took place in Lubavitch Yeshiva of Warsaw, Poland. Although the Rebbe’s parents were unable to join, they celebrated the marriage from their […]

Through the years and the courts, a small spark in Philadelphia now lights up the world It was a frigid Saturday night during Chanukah of 1974, when Rabbi Abraham Shemtov had the unusual, perhaps wild, idea of lighting a menorah right in front of Independence Hall, which houses the Liberty Bell, the icon of American […]

Shabbos is one of the most widely discussed subjects in the Talmud. Aggadic and halachic aspects of Shabbos are scattered throughout just about every tractate in the Talmud, and are fully examined in one dedicated tractate, aptly named Shabbos. A The Talmud tells a story about an elderly man rushing to get home before the […]

The first infant in four generations to be circumcised at eight days This picture says a lot more than meets the eye. Two years ago, I wrote an article about Jewish men originally from the USSR undergoing circumcision and receiving Jewish names, reclaiming an important element of their Jewish heritage and identity. The story focused […]

Community school keeps up with explosive growth in Torah-based education Amid the economic woes and rising inflation that plague Argentina and its 250,000-strong Jewish community, Chabad’s school system, Oholey Chinuch, is experiencing explosive growth. With parents attracted by quality education and traditional values, each year the need for additional space increases. “The classes are jammed,” […]

“My zaidy called it ‘di heiliger Shabbos’ (the holy Shabbos); my father called it the Shabbos; I call it ‘the Sabbath,’ my children call it ‘Saturday,’ and my grandchildren call it ‘the day before Super Bowl Sunday’.” This pithy anecdote describes a tragic trend among Jews who came over from the Old World and failed, for whatever […]

A Chabad emissary in New Jersey has taken menorah construction to new heights It was more than 30 years ago when Rabbi Boruch Klar first heard the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—speak about the importance of lighting menorahs in public places. As soon as the speech was completed, Klar saw groups of […]