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Sep 22, 2026, 6:40 PM

Get your head out of the washing machine

Why do people have more anxiety today than ever before? You should be happy. Things are easier. There is so much gashmius (physical pleasures) available today. There is so much instant gratification. Nevertheless, we have more anxiety. You are putting your head in a washing...

Sep 20, 2026, 8:39 AM

Mental Health In The Parsha – Yom Kippur: The Hardest Person to Forgive

There's one name that never seems to make it onto my list of people to forgive. My own. I can forgive almost anyone else. I can believe, most days, that Hashem forgives me. But somewhere in the middle there's a...

Lori Prashker-Thomas

Sep 20, 2026, 1:13 AM

The Hardest Person I Have Had To Forgive is Myself

This design was created on Canva.com on September 18, 2026. It is copyrighted by Lori Prashker-Thomas/ShadowCatcher Photography (Paid Subscription)

Yom Kippur has always made me think about forgiveness. Who have I hurt? Who deserves an apology from me? Where did I fall short? What could I have done differently? Those are uncomfortable questions, but as I get older,...

Sep 17, 2026, 8:33 PM

How can you use your words to build up someone’s self-esteem?

Continued from Tuesday’s blog Your words can revive someone’s Bitachon, self-confidence and self-image. Yoni says: “Sometimes, this kind of building up of your self-esteem can only be done by someone who went through what I went through.” Yoni tells his old friend Rabbi Ha-Levy: “I am not...

Ibrahim Mukherjee

Sep 16, 2026, 5:19 AM

USPI Part 2 – Mind as a Public Good and Pathways.

Author’s note: In the previous article, the index was referred to as both UPSI and USPI while the naming was being refined. The final name used here is USPI — the ʿUmar Stewardship Performance Index. The underlying idea has...

Sep 15, 2026, 12:26 AM

Avoiding Surplus Guilt for the Day of At-One-Ment

Friends, many years ago I attended a pre-high holidays workshop at my Toronto synagogue led by psychiatrist Dr. Norman Doidge. He lectured on the concept of 'surplus guilt' that can be incapacitating and unhelpful as we navigate our Jewish...

Silas Anastacio

Sep 13, 2026, 4:58 AM

Pre-Rosh Hashanah Celebration with Grupo Chaverim

In August, Grupo Chaverim hosted a Pre-Rosh Hashanah celebration for the NGO’s beneficiaries—affectionately called “friends”—along with their families, supporters, staff, and volunteers at Clube Hebraica in the Pinheiros neighborhood of São Paulo, Brazil. The afternoon was filled with connection,...

Sep 11, 2026, 7:57 PM

Shalom Brothers: What Anger is For (Ha’azinu)

Anger has a bad reputation in both religious and secular life. Religion often warns that anger can lead us toward sin. Contemporary culture frequently treats it as something to manage, suppress, or “let go.” We praise people for staying...

Sep 11, 2026, 2:42 PM

The Shofar Awakens Us: A Call for Ethics in Social Work

As Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, 5787 approaches, everything feels loaded. The fringe has become mainstream and inversions are so commonplace we’re rarely surprised by the latest outlandish headline. As the school year begins, our newest generation of social...

Sep 11, 2026, 1:23 AM

The sound of silence

A ROSH HASHANA MUSING This coming first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Shofar will not be blown because it is Shabbat. We are taught that when the Shofar is sounded, we are meant to internalize its raw, primal sounds and reflect...

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