News

(Courtesy of OU) 

A new Torah platform has been released this week that is likely to become the go-to destination for Daf Yomi learners. All Daf, a project of the OU, is an app and website that will host an extensive encyclopedia of premium Shas-related audio, video and PDF content, and is designed to help raise the level of Torah learning for every Jew around the globe. The platform was launched ahead of the upcoming Siyum Hashas so that Daf Yomi learners can start the new cycle with every resource available at their fingertips.

When I looked at the label of my new blue camouflage puffer coat from Zara, I was a bit startled. Usually, a coat like this is made of goose down feathers and nylon. This one was composed of recycled water bottles! As explained by Zara, “This plastic is collected within 50 kilometers of waterways and coastal areas without a formal collection infrastructure in Rivera Maya coast. The collected plastic is sorted by quality so it can be recycled correctly. PET, the material used in water bottles, is recovered and transformed into upcycled polyester.” My repurposed purchase was indeed right on trend for the new millennium starting January 1, 2020.

“This Siyum HaShas is a tremendous simchah for all of Klal Yisrael!”

So said HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of the Slabodka Yeshiva, at the Dirshu Siyum HaShas at the Binyanei Haumah Convention Center in Yerushalayim.

“Someone who is not dealing with a special needs child or children, can’t appreciate the lows and the highs – the difficulties and the beautiful moments – that we go through every day, week, month, and year.”  This is what I have heard from my clients and it is clear that their experiences are the very reason that a 2018 study by Professor Meghan Burke at the University of Illinois, found that “fewer than half of parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities make long-term plans about who will take over their child’s care if the parent or other relative providing care dies or becomes incapacitated.”

“You shall not commit a perversion of justice; you shall not favor the poor and you shall not honor the great; with righteousness shall you judge your fellow.” Vayikra (Leviticus) 19:15.

Dear Diet Diary,

My weigh-in this week was great - I lost three pounds! And I am really proud of myself that after Chanukah I got right back on track, without getting discouraged by the small setback. This is so different than other diets that I have been on, where I stuck to them like a soldier, but once I went off, I went offfff! This plan is really easy to get back into because it is neither extreme nor restrictive. I finally feel like this is a lifestyle rather than a diet!