Rabbi Paysach Krohn, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed speaker, talks to Nachum Segal. To hear this unforgettable interview, click here.
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Rabbi Spero Speaks: Making Kinnos Meaningful to Us
Posted on June 30, 2009 by mzjerusalem
To hear Rabbi Yechiel Spero discuss Tisha B’Av, Kinnos, and his powerful new book, Touched by their Tears: A Kinnos Companion, click Here.
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Meaning in Mourning: Two important new books for the Three Weeks
Posted on June 25, 2009 by mzjerusalem
For many of us, summer’s arrival means the annual trek to “the country.” The hot New York sidewalks grow deserted, and traffic on Route 17 starts backing up.
As we tie the Big Wheels to the top of the minivan and throw in still another carton of Gushers for the kids, our thoughts are on pleasant things: swimming pools, barbeques, inspiring shiurim on long Shabbos afternoons. But for the Torah-observant Jew, summer also brings with it a somber time: the Three Weeks, beginning with the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz and culminating with Tishah B’Av.
Those who mourn the Destruction of the Temple, our Sages tell us, will merit to rejoice in its rebuilding. A beautiful thought, but in practical terms, how are we supposed to mourn something we’ve never seen? And how, especially in the carefree summer months, are we supposed to feel true sadness for our loss?
ArtScroll offer two new books to ensure that the Three Weeks are meaningful to us.
In The Laws of Daily Living: The Three Weeks, Tisha B’Av, and Other Fasts renowned author and posek Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen examines the laws of fast days (except Yom Kippur), the restrictions of the Three Weeks and Nine Days, and the climactic mourning of the Tishah B’Av fast. The book is enriched by a discussion of the Temple’s role in our lives and the events that led to its destruction, based on the teachings of the author’s grandfather, Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt’l.
In Touched by Their Tears: A Kinnos Companion, bestselling author Rabbi Yechiel Spero explains carefully selected Kinnos and illustrates their message with powerful true stories that bring them to life. We read of the soldier left for dead in a forgotten corner of Vietnam, the Ponovezher Rav’s message to the only surviving child of the Kovno Ghetto, and the boy who left everything behind in Iran to learn in Eretz Yisrael. We practically hear the song of 400 children as they prepare to die to sanctify G-d’s Name. In these gripping stories we learn how to mourn – and we learn how to hope.
As we prepare for our summer’s fun, we also prepare for the remembrance and mourning that will one day lead to the fullest joy – the joy of rebuilding the Temple.
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An Interview with Mr. Zvi Ryzman
Posted on June 21, 2009 by mzjerusalem
In ArtScroll on the Air, radio personality Nachum Segal speaks with Mr. Zvi Ryzman, author of The Wisdom in the Hebrew Months. To learn more about the deep and fascinating connection between the Jewish People and the months, click Here.
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A Conversation With Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg
Posted on June 18, 2009 by mzjerusalem
Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg, Dean of Torah Academy in Minneapolis, is a creative and caring educator who is regularly consulted by Torah educators worldwide. In his new book, A Principal’s Principles, Rabbi Ginsberg is the teacher, and we parents become the students. We recently discussed parenting issues with Rabbi Ginsberg. Here are some highlights of the interview:
ArtScroll: You have a national, even an international, view of today’s children. What would you say are the greatest priorities of today’s parents?
Rabbi Ginsberg: As molders of children we have an obligation to make an on-going effort to listen to the spoken and silent messages of our children. We have to make it possible for them to have a voice and to be heard. We have to be careful with their feelings. We have to think about how to make our schools happy places for them. There is so much that can be accomplished with a foundation of happiness and we need to make sure that our children are being raised in a happy setting.
AS: Not an easy job, nowadays.
RG: A wise person once said that parenting is the most difficult position there is and the one that we receive the least amount of training for. Being a parent is an awesome job and responsibility. It is also the greatest title one can have.
AS: What led you to write A Principal’s Principles?
RG: The book began as a result of articles I wrote for my parent-body, in our weekly newsletter. The feedback I received from those articles was that I was brave to address issues head-on. Later I was invited to write a parenting and education column for Yated Neeman. While the book is not a simple compilation of the articles I wrote, they were the springboard for the book. When I learned that people were clipping my weekly articles into a scrapbook, I decided that writing a book might be a good idea.
As I wrote I stayed focused on the idea that this not be just another parenting book. It does not provide a list of dos and don’ts. Instead, it shares what I believe to be critical steps we must take to respond to the current needs of our children.
The focus of A Principal’s Principles is to make the lives of our children better. Parents and teachers have the awesome responsibility to guard and protect the treasure Hashem has placed in their hands.
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“ArtScroll on the Air”: New Radio Show With Nachum Segal
Posted on June 17, 2009 by mayerp
Popular radio personality Nachum Segal will be featuring ArtScroll authors on his new and exciting program, ArtScroll on the Air. Every Thursday night at 8 PM, join Nachum on AM620 or www.nachumsegal.com as he speaks to ArtScroll authors.
This week Nachum speaks with the principal of Torah Academy of Minneappolis, Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg, about his book, A Principal’s Principles. An expert educator, Rabbi Ginsberg and Nachum conduct an in depth discussion about chinuch strategies and much more!
Click HERE to learn about how parents and schools can work together to make children love their education!
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Twenty Great Reasons to buy an ArtScroll Book This Month
Posted on June 14, 2009 by mzjerusalem
1. ArtScroll’s 20% off sale.
2. You heard right, 20% off every ArtScroll book.
3. Savings everywhere: On our website. In the stores. And in our catalog.
4. There’s a recession on. And money counts.
5. Books aren’t luxuries. They’re essentials.
6. Essentials for Torah learning. For inspiration. And for recreation.
7. Order more than $30 worth of books on the ArtScroll website and get free shipping, in addition to the 20% savings.
8. You can buy the entire full size Schottenstein Talmud, a dream come true, and save $600!
9. Save 20% on the Kosher by Design series, and give your savings to a soup kitchen, so someone else can eat a good dinner.
10. Fight your yetzer hara, for a bargain price: 20% off Battle Plans by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller and Sara Rigler.
11. For the major new book, The Kosher Kitchen by Rabbi Binyomin Forst, get “kosher savings” of 20% off.
12. Read a gripping novel instead of slaving over a hot stove – and take the family out for pizza with the money you saved.
13. June is graduation time. Books make a great gift, and 20% off makes a great price.
14. June is also wedding season. So many wonderful books for the new couple.
15. Summer’s here: for colonies, camps, cruises, or your own backyard, there’s nothing like a good read.
16. Daf Yomi learners, think ahead. Stock up on the upcoming volumes of The Schottenstein Talmud at (you guessed it) 20% off.
17. Rashi and Ramban on the Torah. So much wisdom, at such a great price.
18. No more last minute rush to buy bar and bat mitzvah gifts. Stock up now for the coming year’s simchahs, and enjoy the simchah of 20% off.
19. You get 20% more Shabbos nap when the kids have great books to read — at 20% off.
20.Torah inspiration. ArtScroll quality. And a once-a-year price.
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Author Profile: Rabbi Yitzy Erps
Posted on June 9, 2009 by mzjerusalem
Talking to Rabbi Yitzy Erps is quite an adventure. Who else but this incomparable storyteller will punctuate his animated conversation with the sound of a beating heart, a stormy night, a five-year-old asking for his afikoman present or Eisav demanding lentil soup from his brother Yaakov?
Blessed with innate talent in art and the unusual ability to mimic voices and sounds, Rabbi Erps used these gifts throughout his more than 30 years in Jewish education. Some years ago, he became a “rebbe” not only to his own students, but to thousands more, through his popular children’s books, Tell Me a Tale, Volumes 1 & 2. Now, in his newest book, Tales to Live By, he brings his trademarks – the funny stories, the unforgettable characters, the lively illustrations – to the ultimate Jewish teaching tool, Pirkei Avot
Each of the stories in Tales to Live By takes a message from Pirkei Avot and illustrates it in contemporary terms that children can relate to. When writing his stories, Rabbi Erps says, he always begins by asking himself a question: “What lesson can I bring out?” He then adds his secret ingredient: humor. With the fertile imagination of the born artist, he then envisions his characters. Perhaps it will be Duvi, the klutzy delivery man, whose falling boxes will teach a lesson in why even small mitzvahs are important, or maybe the noble Prince Albert, who hobnobs with the peasants and brings Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi’s wisdom to life. Finally, with the lesson, the jokes, and the characters all set, he’s ready to fill in the details of the story, with every word carefully chosen to entertain – and to teach.
As an artist who illustrates his own books, Rabbi Erps is able to bring his vision to vivid life. His pictures – whether the cartoon characters of Tell Me a Tale, or the more realistic personalities of Tales to Live By — seem to jump off the printed page and into a child’s life.
Rabbi Erps is lively, fun, entertaining – and very, very wise. And so are his Tales to Live By.
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From shechitah to sushi, from pet food to Passover kitchens – and everything in-between
Posted on May 31, 2009 by mzjerusalem
Since its publication 15 years ago, Rabbi Binyomin Forst’s classic work, The Laws of Kashrus, has become a fixture in tens of thousands of homes, the English-language book of choice for people trying to understand the complex laws of kashruth and how they are implemented in today’s world. It was a scholarly, authoritative work. Now, in his new book, The Kosher Kitchen, Rabbi Forst gives us a hands-on, clear and practical guide to kashruth, as user-friendly as a good cookbook.
As a community rabbi in Far Rockaway for more than thirty years, Rabbi Forst has fielded thousands of kashruth questions. Those questions made him realize the necessity of a practical guide for the general public. He saw that many of the questions he was asked were the result of people’s ignorance of basic principles of halachah. By explaining these principles in a clear and concise manner, many problems could be avoided. Another goal was to educate the public to present their kashruth question intelligently, so they could provide the rabbi with all information he needed to give the proper answer.
The result of five years’ work, The Kosher Kitchen is a tour-de-force, a beautifully organized and magnificently-designed book, close to 600 pages of vital information. Every chapter includes a basic introduction, a clear outline of the relevant laws, practical applications, and stimulating and fascinating questions. In its pages we find everything we need to know about eating kosher: from microwaves and barbeque grills to meals cooked by non-Jewish housekeepers; from shechitah to sushi, from pet food to Passover kitchens – and everything in-between.
A newly-observant Jew wants to know what he can, and can’t, eat in his parent’s home. Can a business traveler buy a cup of tea in a non-kosher restaurant? What can I kasher in my kitchen for Passover, and what must be covered or replaced? It’s all here, as beautifully set out as a table in a five-star hotel, as clear as Grandma’s chicken soup.
We put a lot of work into setting up our kitchens. We buy food processors and garlic presses and corkscrews and non-stick pans, all the tools necessary to make our cooking efficient and pleasant. Now, here’s another useful – no, vital – kitchen implement: The Kosher Kitchen.
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Life Transformers: The ArtScroll editions of Pirkei Avos
Posted on May 25, 2009 by mzjerusalem
Millennia before self help books and life coaches were part of our vocabulary, the Jewish Sages were giving us their wise advice on how to lead moral, ethical, and fully developed lives — in Pirkei Avos, Ethics of the Fathers. The amazing thing about Pirkei Avos is that its ancient words speak as well to us today as they did two thousand years ago – to children and parents, husbands and wives, teenagers and octogenarians. Pirkei Avos takes us through all our life cycles, helping us meet our challenges, deal with our questions, and make the tough choices that often confront us.
If Pirkei Avos is the generator that powers our life choices, the commentaries that have been written are the transformers that enable us to adapt and implement them to our personal circumstances. Both classic and modern commentators look at the words of Pirkei Avos, explain their many meanings, and show us how to apply them to our lives today.
Jewish communities study Pirkei Avos on the long Shabbos afternoons of the spring and summer. ArtScroll offers a rich collection of Pirkei Avos commentaries, for every age and interest. Here’s just a sampling:
The ArtScroll Pirkei Avos by Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz: The classic edition, with a flowing translation and a clear, concise commentary.
Visions of the Fathers by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD: This bestselling author shows us how to take the lofty ideas of the Sages and bring them into our everyday lives. Brimming with provocative ideas and interesting anecdotes.
Pirkei Avos: Sfas Emes and other Chassidic Masters: The brilliant and original ideas of the Sfas Emes, augmented by the insights of dozens of Chassidic masters, blended into a flowing commentary.
Maharal on Pirkei Avos: Maharal is the inspiration for many modern schools of Torah thought. This work clarifies his complex ideas and opens a window into the thought-world of one of Judaism’s most influential thinkers of the last five hundred years.
Sforno on Pirkei Avos: A gem of a work by one of the great Torah commentators, whose 15th-century worldview is remarkably relevant to today’s world.
The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Pirkei Avos: ArtScroll’s patented interlinear translation enables the reader less familiar with Hebrew to study Pirkei Avos word by beautiful word.
After the chulent, and after the Shabbos nap, it’s time to sit down with “our fathers” and learn how to live better lives. It’s time for an ArtScroll Pirkei Avos.
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