We have touched on the use of comics to teach Jewish values in Mitzvot Unplugged posts in the past. Aartist Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik uses comic books in his papercuts and in his workshops. Flora Rosefsky’s mentoree, Adam, created a Purim costume for a super hero, and we talked about one of my favorite comic books about Rabbi Arye Levin in another post. ...
The Koren Mahzor for Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim a Review
The Mahzor Texts
It makes sense to have a review of the World Mizrahi Koren Mahzor for Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim on a site that was created to support a fundraiser for Mizrahi's youth movement, Bnei Akiva. There are all kinds of good things about this mahzor. The main purpose of the mahzor is to have an organized collection of the prayers said by most congregations for Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim. In the commentaries near the prayers are discussions about issues that come up with these contemporary holidays- can one say Hallel? ...Review: Koren Children’s Siddur
Some of you have had your kids back in school for a while, around here we started September 1. In honor of the new year I am posting a review of the Koren Children's Siddur. Since my kids were fairly small we've had a ritual for davening on shabbat -one of the few days where I get to daven with them- which largely consists of getting dressed, dav ...
Book Review: Be A Mensch
Welcome to the third annual Mitzvot Unplugged! The mitzvot unplugged series is largely about teaching our kids mitzvot creatively, but it is also about ways to build character or help them to become mensch. There is no question that how our kids behave is influenced how we as parents behave. If they see us doing acts of chesed, they will want to do that ...
4 Thoughts Before Passover
A few thoughts before Passover- 1. The best time to clean your fridge and freezer for Pesach is when you are hungry. 2. Very pleased to have received a review copy of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's Laws of Pesah (Peninei Halakha) (Yeshivat Har Bracha and Maggid Books) trans. Yehoshua Wertheimer and Moshe Rapps). It is helpful to have something to help revi ...
Hebrew children’s book reviews
Usually I review books in English here but this time I am reviewing three children's books in Hebrew. These are all about Rabbis some more and some less familiar. The first Hebrew children's book review, is for בשירה אל הרב צבי יהודה (In a convoy to Rav Tzvi Yehuda) by Rachel Slyter (illustrated by Naama Lahav) publisher: Hemdat Hadarom with Hemed (R ...
Review: The Temple in Flames The Story of the Final Battle for Jerusalem
I meant to review this in the summer during the 9 days, but given what was going on then, I found it too heavy to review this book. That is not to say that I did not find it to be interesting and a useful resource, just given its subject matter, it was too difficult. The tenth of Tevet seemed an appropriate time to review it. I know that The Temple i ...
Review: Every Picture Tells A Story by Chaim Natan Firszt
My daughter has been mentioning that her school, which is not in walking distance, is having learning at ten at night for students at the school for Shavuot, including for the first graders. She wanted to learn Torah too so I told her she could use the two "Every Picture Tells a Story, Volume One: Bereishis" and "Every Picture Tells a Story, Volume Two: ...
Review: The Koren Ethiopian Haggada
Review: Koren Ethiopian Haggada: The Journey to Freedom (Hebrew/English Edition) ed. Rabbi Menachem Waldman Trans. Binyamin Shalom Koren Press Pesach is coming and we've already taken out all the Haggadot and begun to think about how to make the seder and the telling of the Pesach story meaningful both for ourselves and our kids. I was very happy to ...
Review: Seven Steps to Mentschhood Training Your Child to be a Mentsch
As part of Mitzvot Unplugged I am happy to review Stanley Fischman's Seven Steps to ''Mentschhood'' - How to Help Your Child Become a Mentsch: An Interactive Guide for Parents, published by Urim Publications. Mentschhood at Home In our home we are constantly telling our children that we want them to grow up to be mentchen. However, we did not have a def ...