Three articles in Jewish Home this week: about a boys’ acrobatics program at a local school, about the first graduation at the local yeshiva for adults (my husband took the pictures — he learns there, but hasn’t graduated yet), and about Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum’s visit to LA (it’s on page 6 here).

Coming soon, IY”H: a new project I’m working on, including a new website.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

We had some amazing people visiting Los Angeles in the past couple of weeks. I wrote about two of the inspiring events: Rabbi Shalom Arush’ talk at Nessah Synagogue and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau’s visit to Beth Jacob Congregation.

Anyone interested in reading Jewish e-books? I’d like to put together a site, or a page on this one, that links to Amazon kindle pages for e-books written by frum authors. I’m always looking for those, especially when traveling, and would love to have them all in one place. Any suggestions for what to name the site? I’m thinking it would only list books that are halachically and hashkafically appropriate, but I don’t want to limit the audience to frum readers only. Non-frum Jews might like the books also. So how do I let the frum crowd know that the books are appropriate for them without scaring away the non-frum Jews, in the space of a few words? All suggestions would be much appreciated! And if I choose yours you can get a free e-book, IY”H, once the site is set up.

Have a wonderful Shabbos, and happy Purim!
Yehudis

I interviewed Sorele Brownstein, author of The Guilded Cage, a novel about Queen Esther. The article is in the magazine section of Jewish Press, on page 9. You can also read it in the online edition, page 115, here.

Another project in the works is an anthology of short stories by different authors on the subject of ahavas yisrael. If anyone is interested in contributing a story please be in touch with me.

Good Shabbos and chodesh tov!

Here and here are two articles in Jewish Home LA this week.

I’m still revising my novel, trying to find time for it, while my kids are getting excited about Purim and Pesach. I guess I’m also excited about Pesach — I already have some new books sitting in a box on top of the booksheves waiting till the house is chametz-free. Any excuse to get new books works in my house :). Now, the cleaning is a different question… It’s on my list of things to do. A long list.

Good Shabbos everyone!

Here is my latest article in the Jewish Home, about Rabbi Gordon, z”l, who passed away last week. I never met him, but it was very inspiring speaking to people about him. Why do we only learn about people’s greatness after they leave this world?

In other news, I recently finished the first draft of my first novel, and am now in the thick of revising. It’s an interesting process (do I really need this character? is this chapter suspenful enough? is this too much suspense? why does my character seem to either smile or nod in every other paragraph? and doesn’t the thesaurus have any other words for “smile?”). I’m learning a lot, not only about writing, but also about myself.

Coming up soon — two stories in Inyan and an article in the Purim issue of the Jewish Press. IY”H will keep you posted.

On another note, I’m taking a class on e-learning, and finding it fascinating. I keep thinking about how these ideas can be applied to Jewish learning.

And on yet another note, I’m learning the ropes around social media. I’ve opened an account on Twitter, so if anyone else is on it, let’s connect. And I’m growing my LinkedIn network, so if you’re there and we’re not connected yet, let’s connect there too.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!
Yehudis

Here is my latest article in Jewish Home LA. It was an inspiring evening that is hard to capture in a short article. Share in Torah is definitely an endeavor worthy of support.

Good Shabbos!

My story, The Return, is in this week’s Inyan. I’d love some feedback!

Here is my latest Jewish Home article, about an evening of inspiration we had here in Los Angeles. It’s a link, so I apologize to those subscribers who don’t have Internet.

Good Shabbos!

Here is my latest article in The Jewish Home, about Chaverim.

Also, heads up: my next story in Inyan is scheduled for January 6th.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

I am clearly not succeeding in finding more time to post. Or more time to write, for that matter. I used to think that when my kids got older I’d be able to get more writing done. But now that I have teenagers, they keep needing to use my computer to type up their essays for school. And not only that, they actually want me to help them with those essays! And they don’t go to sleep early either.

So as I was contemplating success, or lack thereof, Hashem sent me an amazing shiur by Rav Moshe Weinberger just on that subject. You can listen to it at yutorah.org here. I found it very inspiring. Who is called “ish matzliach,” a successful person, in the Torah? Yosef Hatzaddik. But if we think about, his life was just the opposite of success — hated by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, unjustly imprisoned. Yet, by Hashem’s standards, he was successful.

I don’t want to give away the point of the shiur. But I’d like to wish everyone much success!

There is a lot to be said about Chanuka. Having spent over two years researching Chanuka history for a novel I’m working on, I’ve come to the conclusion that not much has changed since then. Sure, the details of everyday life are very different. In this generation, we are blessed with technological advances that allow us to buy ground flour and ground meat and to travel across the world in a day. Though that might not have helped the Makabis to prepare pure olive oil sooner — according to one opinion, they had to wait seven days in order to purify themselves before squeezing the olives. So even with all the modern technology we still need miracles. But I digress.

The battles of Chanuka are still taking place, within our minds and our hearts. Because Chanuka was much more than a military victory. It was a victory of Torah over Hellenism which took place deep inside the Jews living at that time. Once the Beis Hamikdash was rededicated many former Hellenists returned to Judaism wholeheartedly. Then again, many didn’t.

Since Chanuka, Hellenism has morphed into various philosophies and took on many disguises, but it is alive and well. As it should be — when utilized correctly, within the tents of Shem, in service of the Torah, it could enhance our avodas Hashem. But when human logic is valued above holiness and faith then it becomes an end in itself rather than a means of connection to Hashem and to the purpose of our existence. But anyway, I shouldn’t be giving away the theme of my novel ;).

Happy Chanuka!

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