יום שבת, כ״ה אב תשפ״וSaturday, August 8, 2026
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One of the great strengths of this series is that it succeeds with very different audiences.
The impetus for the society’s creation reportedly stemmed from both a desire for camaraderie among Jewish officers and the need to foster religious solidarity and mutual support at a time when Jewish law enforcement personnel were a distinct minority in the department.
What unfolds throughout the correspondence is far more than a simple exchange of ideas. Rather, the letters reveal the extraordinary scholarly discipline with which Rabbi Kahana approached every aspect of the project.
By Mendi Glik
They take the music very seriously, but don’t take themselves too seriously.
From the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, this essay uncovers surprising parallels between America's most beloved fairy tale and the Jewish journey through exile, identity, and redemption.
The result is not simply more commentary, but a panoramic view of how Jews have studied and understood the Torah across the generations.
Works deemed too controversial, too politically sensitive, or too marginal for the printing press continued to survive through the older, quieter medium of handwritten transmission.
Ironically, early Zionist settlers did not initially embrace falafel, as many immigrants from Eastern Europe retained the foods of their homelands, such as bread, potatoes, cabbage, and other staples of Ashkenazi cuisine.
By Avi Woolf
I wanted to make the actual Churban relatable to people... We have a G-d who is longing to be home with His children, and He doesn't have a home.
By Mendi Glik
Borzutzky came to Israel to study at the Rimon School of Music in Israel – where, of all places, he discovered the Jewish spark buried deep within him. Since then, he has made aliyah, fully returned to his roots, and started a family.
The Jewish community in Prague under German occupation was reorganized under strict Nazi supervision and Edelstein rose rapidly within its leadership structure because of his administrative abilities, language skills, and reputation for discipline.
By Mendi Glik
“These arguments surface every 10 to 15 years,” Ari says. “Books and pamphlets were written against MBD many years ago when he started because he used rock and pop styles. Music is fluid. Many people were against it. The older generation always says the same thing: The new music is too aggressive.”
By Ben Rothke
Amital taught his students that true strength lies not in unyielding rigidity but in the courage to adapt while remaining deeply anchored in one’s essence.
On one side, you see the unmistakable, bold handwriting of none other than Rav Meir Shapiro, the legendary visionary of Daf Yomi and Lublin. On the reverse is a letter by the Imrei Emes of Ger, Rav Avraham Mordechai Alter.
For Zionist leaders, the White Paper was catastrophic. Weizmann argued that Britain was reneging on solemn commitments and Ben Gurion famously declared that Jews would “fight the war as if there were no White Paper and fight the White Paper as if there were no war.”
By Mendi Glik
I need a car with a good, high-quality sound system. Different models come with different sound systems, and within each model, different trims have different setups.
The manuscript is a unique recension of the Lurianic Kavvanot, the intricate mystical intentions associated with prayer, for Shabbat and the Jewish festivals.
Showing that reading is a challenge and doesn’t just happen automatically is something that young children will recognize and identify with.
Langlet’s long engagement with this milieu habituated him to think in supranational and humanitarian terms, and it is difficult to overstate how formative this was; decades before the Holocaust, he was already embedded in a community that defined itself against ethnic exclusion.
By Mendi Glik
He always enjoys seeing people enjoy his music, and he receives emails from all over the world.
By Ben Rothke
He writes that smoking is a significant risk factor for vision loss in most retinal diseases, particularly in diabetes and macular degeneration.
This great work was compiled by leading Torah scholars who remain true to the original text while also recognizing the modern reader’s expectations.
Hidden from public view for centuries, this extraordinary manuscript came to light only through careful examination of a collection entrusted to the shop for sale.
Deprived of formal academic training, he pursued mathematics through private study and informal mentorship, drawing on books, correspondence, and engagement with learned societies. Far from hindering him, this unconventional path fostered an independence of thought that would later allow him to see patterns in demographic data that others had missed.
By Mendi Glik
Every time Levine composed a song, he wanted people to be comfortable with it right away. The tune should seem a little familiar, but with a chidush (something new).
Historians of American education and Jewish life have noted that his dictionary familiarized non-Jewish Americans with Hebrew-derived terms without attaching stigma to Jewish identity, but for Jewish educators, this was a double-edged sword...
By Mendi Glik
When he sings at a chuppah and sees the chosson and kallah glowing, Faiden knows he is fulfilling his shlichus.
Born consistently resisted efforts by younger physicists to portray Einstein as obsolete or reactionary, and he publicly emphasized Einstein’s foundational role in creating the conceptual framework without which quantum theory itself could not exist.
By Mendi Glik
At his parents’ home, everyone sang – not professionally, but they all loved to sing. He has bli ayin hara 11 siblings, so you can just imagine their Shabbat table when they were growing up. Not only did everyone sing, but every sibling wanted to be the lead singer.
Although he did not court the approval of Jewish newspapers, he was acutely aware of their influence in liberal circles, writing privately that “Approval or disapproval in the Jewish press is of minor concern, provided that the law stands and the state remains firm.”
By Mendi Glik
Over the years, Cohen was in close contact with his uncle. He used to send him songs and consult with him. Shloime taught him that to sing is to pray.
Wells exemplifies a strain of liberal thought that underestimated the resilience of antisemitism and overestimated the protective power of universal ideals.
By Alan Zeitlin
The play presents Dahl as a man in physical pain, desperate to secure his marriage to his second wife, and increasingly cornered by public backlash.
By Mendi Glik
The album features rich orchestration, blending strings, brass, and piano with saxophone, clarinet, and electric guitar in the style of traditional chassidic music.
This week I continue with a discussion of six additional popular toys that were created by Jewish inventors.
One of the most enduring controversies surrounding Barbie concerns the question of originality; critics argued that Ruth had appropriated the idea from the Bild Lilli doll and that full credit should therefore not accrue to her.
By Mendi Glik
For thousands of years, throughout the long years of exile, the Jewish people have never forgotten Jerusalem. And indeed, after two thousand years in the Diaspora, Hashem performed a huge miracle and returned Am Yisrael to the land of Israel, and to Jerusalem.
He was certainly not a charismatic hero in the mold of Moshe Dayan, nor a political visionary like Ben Gurion. Rather, he represented the disciplined, professional officer whose contributions were essential to the survival and consolidation of the State of Israel.
By Mendi Glik
The Zionist movement drew profound inspiration from Bar Kochba’s spirit of resistance. But it is deeply ironic that today, many self-proclaimed liberals continue to refer to our ancient homeland as Palestine with total disregard for the name’s origins.
As exhibitions grew more competitive, pilots from other schools pushed for higher speeds, steeper dives, and more dangerous stunts. Wilbur and Orville Wright were steadfast in resisting this trend, emphasizing control and structural integrity, an ethos passionately embraced by Welsh.
By Mendi Glik
The field of wedding bands is crowded. There are many in the marketplace. But Shir Soul stands out because of the high standards Ross maintains for the band.
Today, Habima retains institutional and symbolic prominence as Israel’s official national theatre and it is widely treated as a foundational institution in modern Hebrew theatre.
By Mendi Glik
I asked some Israelis in the community if they knew the song. And guess what? They also were not familiar with it. I realized that most of the readers here also might not be familiar with the song, so I decided to review it in this column.
Once he became Michael Boaz Israel, Cresson’s energies turned with intensity toward the welfare of the Jewish people – spiritually, materially, and politically – and he embraced a life of public Jewish responsibility.
By Mendi Glik
In the concentration camps and the gas chambers, Jews were murdered on the cursed soil of Europe. And while their brothers and sisters in the United States couldn’t do much for them, the little they could do was to shout.
By Mendi Glik
MBD produced his son’s first album, titled “Together.” When it came to the second album, his father stepped back and encouraged Werdyger to take the wheel, offering guidance as needed.
By Mendi Glik
Classic Israeli music has many songs to offer about spring and nature. And how could it not? Just walking outside in Israel immediately inspires you.
By Mendi Glik
As the soloist who helped popularize these songs for the original Pirchei choir, Sonnenblick reunites with his younger self on the new album, Yussi Sonnenblick: Then and Now, through harmonies and melodies, bringing those timeless pieces back to life in a way that only he can.
By Mendi Glik
Shabbat is the peak of the week, explains Meir. And for him, the peak of Shabbat was always singing zemirot.
By Mendi Glik
Perhaps one of the most famous and most beloved songs about Rabbi Elimelech is the well-known popular Yiddish folk song “Der Rebbe Elimelech,” or “Harabi Elimelech” in Hebrew.
By Mendi Glik
What I like about Simche Friedman’s Purim medley, which he released last year, is that it’s not too electronic. The beat is a freilach style, upbeat, and makes you jump.
By Mendi Glik
A good Purim party needs music – good music. When you build your playlist for your upcoming Purim party, don’t forget to check the two columns from last year – you’ll find some good suggestions. And now let’s look at some more.
By Mendi Glik
At age six, Harris started to play the violin. His parents sent him to music school because his uncle had given him a violin, and he joined the school orchestra, which he played in for five years.
By Mendi Glik
Katz has this unique feature that his music speaks to a wide range of people.
By Mendi Glik
Hisyatzvu features a clarinet solo in the middle, followed by a piano solo, which sounds jazzier. I can understand why it didn’t become a first or second dance song at weddings, because it is a little complex. But it’s a great song.
By Mendi Glik
Jews and Jazz takes the form of mini-biographies of the most important Jewish contributors to jazz since the 1920s. It focuses on 140 people – 136 of them Jewish, and four non-Jewish but with connections to the Jewish world – all of whom have had significant impact on jazz since its development in the past 100 years or so.
By Mendi Glik
Chasidic music is limited. That’s the nature of the music. Think about it, Bichler says – most of the Jews in Eastern Europe were hardworking people. Many of them were in survival mode. Life was not easy. And that was reflected in the music. It was simple.
By Mendi Glik
His style is different from the typical Klezmer players. He’s not only a Klezmer violinist; he’s also a jazz violinist – he mixes the two genres.
By Mendi Glik
Right after Yaakov concludes his beracha to Ephraim and Menashe, he blesses their father, his beloved son, Yosef. Va’ani natati lecha sh’chem echad al acheicha… – And I gave you sh’chem echad – sh’chem in Hebrew means shoulder. But in Yaakov’s beracha, it means that he gave Yosef more, something extra above his brother.
By Mendi Glik
I mentioned that many tracks on his album have a traditional chassidic feel, with brass, strings, piano, and classic rhythms. He told me that was absolutely intentional. To him, this is genuine heimishe music – music that comes from the neshama.
By Mendi Glik
Whether you read this column on Tuesday, Friday, or even Motzaei Shabbat, it’s still Chanukah – and Chanukah parties are still going on. So today I’d like to review some music for Chanukah.
By Mendi Glik
Where does their inspiration come from? They tell me they are inspired by world events as well as personal experiences.
By Mendi Glik
Ahavat Yisrael – loving and caring for another Jew as though he were you – is something which is identified with Rav Neria, zt”l. Over the years, his students have told many stories about how he loved them, how he cared about each of them, and how he loved Am Yisrael.
By Mendi Glik
Yativ has always understood that music is a key to the soul. His goal is to create music with messages of emunah and closeness to Hashem.
By Mendi Glik
While there are so many wedding songs out there in the Jewish music world (which I wouldn’t be able to cover in one column), I’d like to recommend one which might not be the most well-known wedding song but is really beautiful.
By Mendi Glik
Walking the streets of Hebron is a unique experience. You can see and feel the history from every street corner. Almost every place you walk has a story.
By Mendi Glik
One of my favorite singers is Yehuda Glanz, whose album Na’ale, which was released in 1993, has been one of my favorites since I was in high school.
By Mendi Glik
In general, Dedi did a lot of chesed. While he was considered a chasidic singer, some of his songs are very Zionist and patriotic and talk about our zechus (right) to be in Eretz Yisrael – something we find less among other classical chasidic singers.
By Alan Zeitlin
Jewish actor Saul Rubinek talks about his role as a rabbi in the 2022 film Shttl and starring in the new Off-Broadway play in Brooklyn called Playing Shylock.
By Mendi Glik
While many of the secular Israeli songs were influenced by the Bible and respected Jewish tradition, some of them were totally inappropriate and disrespectful, and made a mockery of our tradition.
By Mendi Glik
As we know, Hashem created the levana (moon) on the fourth day, and it’s also the subject of one of Avraham Fried’s songs. His album Bracha Vehatzlacha was released in 1995 and is one of my favorites.
By Mendi Glik
For those of you who are hearing about them for the first time, run to YouTube or Spotify right after Havdalah. Your Chol HaMoed travels are going to be a lot of fun – their music and rhythm are very upbeat.
By Mendi Glik
When preparing for a performance, it’s very important to know how to choose a piece. It’s not enough for the cantor just to like the music. It has to be a piece that matches his voice.
By Mendi Glik
Do not have any excuses. The Torah is not far away. You don’t have to reach the heavens or cross the ocean in order to learn Torah and do mitzvot.
By Mendi Glik
The navi Yishayahu compares the return of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael as doves who return to their home. The navi continues and describes how the gates of Israel will be open day and night for Jews to return home.
By Mendi Glik
Moti used to listen to chazzanut for hours and try to analyze the pieces, to listen to the dynamics and understand their meaning.
By Mendi Glik
I’ll be very honest with you: This new trend of using different tunes for the High Holiday tefillot really ruins the davening for me.
By Mendi Glik
Yossi grew up in a musical house. His mother played accordion and used to sing with the kids every Shabbat. His grandfather on his father’s side was a ba’al tefillah. His grandfather’s brother was a cantor and knew the big cantors.
By Mendi Glik
You’ll be surprised to hear that Netanel was not pushed by his father to be chazzan – it was all his choice. But chazzanut was a big part of his childhood.
By Mendi Glik
The key to success is very simple: If you see someone you like, don’t be shy – approach her (or him), introduce yourself, be nice, and have a chat.
By Mendi Glik
Music can generate curiosity. Once young people start to listen to this music often, they might start to look for the “original.” And if it sounds almost the same anyway, why not start listening here and there to more goyish music?
By Mendi Glik
The reason, by the way, that I didn’t really pay attention to the words all those years is because the melody is just so beautiful that I didn’t really care that I didn’t understand the words.
By Mendi Glik
When Motty returned to Israel from the trip, he continued to sing and play music at events, and sometimes used to sing the Hashgacha Pratit song, but with his own words. Instead of “hashgacha pratit,” he used to sing machshavot tovot, diburim tovim (positive thinking, positive speech).
By Mendi Glik
One day, his brother brought him a cassette of Bob Marley. It was the first time he had listened to Bob Marley, and from that moment he got connected to reggae music and started to make his own reggae. It’s kind of as if reggae chose him.
By Mendi Glik
How many scary scenarios heard we heard in the last few years about the day Israel will have to attack Iran? It seemed to complicated, nearly impossible. But we must not forget that the main reason everything worked perfectly is just because of the hashgacha of Hashem.
By Mendi Glik
The yeshiva is all about authenticity and feeling, [being] real with yourself, Rabbi Wolf told me. When you have those thoughts, you think of real stuff, it generates inspiration, and the students share it with the world.
By Mendi Glik
A lot more songs during dance sets are rock or electronic style, Mordy says. It used to be more freilach, but recently the music has more of a rock, electronic, and trance vibe.
By Mendi Glik
As a teenager, we used to go on Yom Yerushalayim to the Rikud Degalim (March of Flags). The whole city filled with boys and girls dressed in blue and white holding flags of Israel in their hands, storming the streets with dancing, joy, and happiness, celebrating Yerushalayim.
By Mendi Glik
The beauty of klezmer music is that you don’t need to understand the language. Because there’s no language. It’s only music.
By Mendi Glik
The first time Mordy started to sing was in high school. First, however, he learned how to play a guitar. Just because it was cool.
By Mendi Glik
Despite the controversy and arguments between the different groups, we always need to remember that – left, right, secular, religious, haredi, Ashkenazi, Sefaradi – we are still one nation, Am Yisrael.
By Mendi Glik
For years there was a controversy in Israel about the date of Yom HaShoah. The suggestion was for it to be on the day that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising started.
By Mendi Glik
I have a feeling that you’re going to hear about these two a lot in the future. They both grew up in very musical homes and music has been part of their lives since they were born.
By Mendi Glik
As Avigdor puts it, from his father, he and his siblings got the military part, and from his mother the music part.
By Mendi Glik
The reason that I liked so much to go to the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue is because of the special nusach that they still daven there, a nusach that goes back hundreds of years. They still pray in the original style that they prayed in when the shul began.
By Mendi Glik
Many Jewish songs have been written and composed based on Rabbi Elimelech’s writings and tefillot that he composed. Rabbi Elimelech was also a composer and composed a few niggunim.
By Mendi Glik
This is one of the greatest holidays in the year for musicians, perhaps the busiest, and so there are many songs and performances of Purim songs.
August 7, 2026 
