click to dowload our latest edition
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Have you ever experienced a moment in your life when it felt as if the ground beneath your feet disappeared? Psychologists call these moments “life shocks”.
I was speaking to a psychologist the other day, and he told me about a particular case he was dealing with and how it took him...
How do we deal with the unprecedented reality of a seder under lockdown on a practical and emotional level?
We hear from South Africans living overseas about how they envisage Pesach in the time of COVID-19
Last night, one of the parents of a recent Batmitzvah sent me a beautiful and inspiring audio clip of her singing. He described it as her...
My father-in-law recently told me a story about when he was serving in the Israeli Defense Forces on erev (the night of) Pesach in the Sinai...
Whether it’s turning to TikTok tutorials, “Zooming” in with Bobba and Zaida, sourcing a home-made haggadah hack, or preparing a platter of pantry-based bites, this year’s...
Being kept apart from your children and grandchildren might seem like punishment rather than a way to protect an elderly person. While most of the elderly...
Asher comes home from work. Late. Again. Sarah is annoyed. He’s always late. She has to manage the children on her own. She has to ensure...
While the story of the Jewish people as slaves in Egypt is an ancient one, slavery persists in our modern world. In fact, there are millions...
Every year, we recall the 10 plagues that Hashem sent to punish Pharaoh for refusing to release the children of Israel from slavery. The Egyptians endured...
Pesach is arguably one of my favourite holidays. After an often hectic first term of school, the holidays allow me to recover.
I only ever saw my father cry once. It was 1945, the war had just ended, and an envelope arrived from the International Red Cross. My...
With the seders and all the hype that goes with it behind me comes the realisation that I must produce meals for the remaining days. More...
Thirty seders after her first book, Pesach, was published, Cape Town artist and author Esther Surdut’s book has been reprinted (the fifth edition), with 450 recipes...
The coronavirus pandemic highlights the fact that homeless people have nowhere to go under lockdown. It also shows the stark contrast between those who say that...
Oral testimony of religious observance in the concentration camps has been “mostly marginalised”, skewing the real picture. This is a wrong Dr David Deutsch hopes to...
After months of planning, the big simcha is finally approaching. And then the coronavirus hits. For the many who had been planning weddings, Batmitzvahs and Barmitzvahs,...
It’s just me, myself, I. Although those who live alone may be used to their own company, being forced to stay at home by yourself for...
At a time when we all feel a little alone and perhaps detached from our people during lockdown, Netflix’s Unorthodox is ideal viewing.
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, you can watch the world from the comfort of your locked-down living-room, but if you need a good alternative...
Minnie Bersohn Nursery School brought laughter, inspiration, and Shabbos light into pupils’ homes by holding a virtual challah bake at the outset of South Africa’s lockdown...
At the time of writing, we are approaching the end of the first week of lockdown. We can only hope and pray that the radical measures...
I’m more than a little conflicted about this new and increasingly acceptable phenomenon that allows us to name and shame transgressors of the “lockdown laws” as...
What does it mean to be a teenager in a time of coronavirus lockdown? You will grow into adulthood with a scar in your understanding of...
Reggie Schwarz – the name might ring a far-off bell? If not, for sheer romance – if not the manner of his death, which strikes a...
Jewish communal leaders pleaded with certain members of the community to cease weddings and private minyanin (prayer quorums of ten men) in a desperate bid to...
We are living in unprecedented times. The entire world is hunkered down. People aren’t at work, children aren’t at school. Our daily lives have been disrupted...
A crisis is a time when many people only look out for themselves, but as lockdown loomed over South Africa, many South African Jews saw it...
Johannesburg resident Molly Paikin was devastated when her sister, Sarah Schneider, passed away this week in Florida in the United States, but even more so when...
When Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein last week called on South African Jews to daven (pray) at home on their own without a minyan (a prayer...
As lives are re-shaped in the reality of lockdown, community members are coming to terms with shul no longer being a defining feature of their daily...
Legendary hotel magnate Solomon ‘Sol’ Kerzner was known around the world as a brilliant business visionary, but when he died, he was surrounded by what he...
As we step into three weeks of national lockdown, I pray that we all take this seriously and stay home and away from each other.
I write this hours before Israel goes into a full lockdown (on midnight, Wednesday 25 March). Still, it hasn’t been easy living under a partial one...
In the face of worldwide lockdown, South African Jewish-owned small businesses have had to shut up shop. From the loss of dreams to the loss of...
“There is going to be a huge opportunity to innovate for many businesses” during the coronavirus outbreak, said Allon Raiz, the chief executive of Raizcorp, a...
Life happens. No-one is immune. Most of us have experienced unpredictable challenges or even crises. Sometimes the initial response may be, “It’s not fair, why do...
“If we don’t care for the people who care for us, there’s going to be nothing to care for in the future.”
My name is David Mrost. I have been under the Chevrah Kadisha for quite a while. I feel the chev deserves recognition for what it does...
