An excerpt from my new book, Secret and Sacred, is in Sasson Magazine.

My article about the latest Simxa Shabbaton is in this week’s Jewish Home LA.

Happy Chanuka, good Shabbos, and chodesh tov!

The third, and final, Chanuka novel in the series is finally available, just in time for Chanuka! Secret and Sacred, a sequel to Swords and Scrolls and Spies and Scholars, is a YA novel set in the times of Chanuka. Here is the description from Amazon.com:

Only a miracle can save the Maccabees when King Antiochus’s massive army enters the land of Yehuda to crush the Jewish rebellion once and for all. Elisha and Pinchas prepare for the biggest battle of their lives. Meanwhile, a mysterious stranger appears in Modiin. Miriam must find out if she is friend or foe. But facing one’s own relatives turns out to be the greatest challenge of all.Sequel to Swords and Scrolls and Spies and Scholars.

The first two novels in the series are currently on sale at Feldheim.com.

Happy reading, and happy Chanuka!

As part of the Ani Ve-Ami curriculum I’ve been working on short stories set in the times of the Tanach. One of them, To Rule the Land, is in this week’s Hamodia’s Inyan Magazine. More stories coming soon, IY”H.

In other news, my book Spies and Scholars, the second in the series, is now available from Feldheim, online and in your local Jewish bookstore. And the third and final novel in the series, Secret and Sacred, should be available on Amazon.com in the next few days, IY”H.

Hope you enjoy them!

Hello everyone!

I’m sorry I haven’t updated my blog in a while. I’ve been busy with a lot of things and haven’t been publishing much lately. Though I hope you saw my story in Hamodia’s Sukkos Story Supplement. A couple more stories are coming up in Hamodia’s Inyan soon, IY”H.

Meanwhile, I’ve been hard at work on the Ani Ve-Ami Curriculum Guides, which are now available in three different formats. If you homeschool, or teach elementary or middle school, or are generally interested in learning and teaching materials, please check out the guides, as well as the Ani Ve-Ami curriculum, the first of its kind.

In other news, my third book in the Chanuka series, Secret and Sacred, should be out by the end of this week, IY”H. And the previous book, Spies and Scholars, should be in Jewish bookstores by Chanuka, IY”H. I’ll do my best to keep you posted. Hope you and your family enjoy them!

Here is my dvar Torah in Sasson Magazine this week for parshas Ki Seitze.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Here’s my article on Westwood Kehilla winning the OU grant for women’s leadership.

I’ve been hard at work on curriculum guides for Ani Ve-Ami. Will post more about them soon, IY”H.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

My first trip to Eretz Yisrael was during the Three Weeks. I remember my first visit to the Kosel, and my impression of it as being tall yet unimposing, grand yet welcoming. It just felt right to be there, to stand there, to say the same words of prayers and Tehillim that my ancestors had said throughout history. I sensed Hashem’s presence there, and I tried to spend as much time as I could at the Kosel during our stay in Yerushalayim.

And then came the Nine Days. When I came to the Kosel I felt a difference. It was the same wall, but somehow it felt empty. The Shechina, the Divine presence, had temporarily left. And we, the visitors, were left to our own devices.

There is a story told about a Jew who asked his rabbi why G-d created atheists. The rabbi answered that we have what to learn from atheists — when they see a person in need, they don’t wait for G-d to help them, but they rush to help the person themselves.

Perhaps that is the lesson of the Nine Days and Tisha B’av. The darkness is greater than ever. Hashem has hid His face. Perhaps Hashem wants us to act as if He doesn’t exist, to take initiative, to take proactive steps to bring light into the darkness.

In the haftorah of Shabbos Chazon, which we will read this Shabbos, the prophet Yeshayahu tell us that Hashem doesn’t want our prayers or our sacrifices. He tells us, “Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow” (translation from Sefaria.org). Let’s forget for a moment about G-d’s presence “out there” and focus on the G-dliness within us.

That Tisha B’av, my first in Eretz Yisrael, came and went. Mashiach still didn’t come, but that feeling of Divine Presence came back to the Kosel. The darkness abated a bit. But it is still up to us to fix the wrongs, to care for the vulnerable, and to bring out that innate G-dliness that Hashem endowed each and every one of us with.

Have a wonderful, inspiring Shabbos Chazon and an easy and meaningful fast!

Two articles in Jewish Home:

THREE LOCAL INVESTORS PARTICIPATE IN WARREN BUFFETT’S ISRAEL BONDS EVENT

and

YPLA PARTNERS WITH YIEP TO OFFER COLLEGE DEGREES

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Here’s my dvar Torah in Sasson Magazine: Parshas Pinchas: How to Merit Our Spiritual Inheritance.

And here’s a bonus addition to the dvar Torah: the Kedushas Levi on Lech Lecha explains that the children who entered the land completed the work of their fathers who left Egypt, and that’s the significance of the dead inheriting from the living.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

My article on a very important local event:

PREVENTING ADDICTION AND OVERDOSE: ALEPH INSTITUTE AND PROJECT TIKVAH BRING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER FOR A COMMON GOAL

Have a wonderful Shabbos!