AS: First things first — Can you tell us a little about Shaar HeBechinah? What exactly is “bechinah”?
RDK: Bechinah means to observe, reflect, and look into. It shares a root with the “bechinah” that students take in yeshivah, designed to help observe how well they are doing in their studies. The “bechinah” that this sefer is speaking about is our obligation to look into and observe Hashem’s Hand in all of creation. The perek in Chovos HaLevavos called Shaar HaBechinah is an in-depth analysis of this world through the eyes of the Chovos HaLevavos himself.
AS: The sefer is based on teachings of Rav Avigdor Miller zt’l. What was his connection with Shaar HaBechinah?
RDK: Rav Avigdor Miller spoke about this perek all his life. He said that its teachings were the greatest inspiration for his own personal avodas Hashem. Not only did he speak about it in almost every one of his 2500 recorded lectures, he also wrote about it at length in many of his sefarim.
AS: What happens to us when we learn to “open our eyes” to Hashem’s presence?
RD: When a person begins to follow the path of bechinah, it is life-changing in many, many ways. Among them, it brings a true sense of happiness and gratitude as one begins to truly focus on the endless good Hashem is bestowing upon him. It also brings a person to have a real and personal relationship with his Creator.
AS: The second part of the book looks at so many different aspects of our world — from the amazing human body to animals to the food chain — finding Hashem’s greatness and presence throughout. How did you go about researching this fascinating section?
RDK: The material in the second section of the sefer is collected from many different sources, but mostly from the Chovos HaLevavos himself, and from the sefarim that Rav Miller wrote on the subject. It also includes many of the things he spoke about often in his lectures, as well as many observations of my own.
Inside ArtScroll: Bringing the books you read, and the people who write them, to life!
The newest episode of Inside ArtScroll features Rabbi Moshe Bamberger, a respected scholar and educator, who has enthralled thousands of readers with his books on Great Jewish Letters, Speeches, Photographs, Classics, and Artifacts. Now, in his latest book, just released this week, he uses his rare talent of capturing a person, an era, or a historical event through a brief story or evocative photograph, to bring to life the greatest people and epochs of Jewish history. Great Jewish Journeys – a spiritual travel guide to kivrei tzaddikim and Torah landmarks around the world – includes hundreds of photographs, artifacts, postcards and artwork. It provides fascinating facts and stories about each destination. Rabbi Bamberger discusses his experiences during his formative years and his authorship of bestselling books. Purchase his brand new book HERE.
WATCH NOW: Inside ArtScroll Episode 14 – Great Jewish Journeys with Rabbi Moshe Bamberger
On the go? Also available to stream on all major Podcast platforms!
This weekly publication will contain a rich collection of stories, divrei Torah and insights that are suitable for the Shabbos table – or for anytime. We hope you enjoy and look forward to future issues, as we tap into the unparalleled treasure trove that is the ArtScroll Library, sharing the depth and beauty of our Judaic and Torah literature with you.
He didn’t come from the little town of Mir. Or from Vilna, Baranovitch, or Radin. He didn’t even come from Brooklyn! Yet as he grew up in Depression-era St. Louis, a city far from any Torah center, Yaakov Moshe Kulefsky, the future Rosh Yeshivah of Ner Yisroel, had already discovered something about Torah learning:
That Torah is “geshmak.”
(So geshmak, that when told to go out and play because he was too pale, young Yaakov Moshe slid down into the cellar of his home through a coal chute, emerging, sooty but happy, to get back to his sefarim!)
It was that geshmak in learning, that joy in poring over a page of Gemara, that characterized Rav Kulefsky all through his life. It was a “geshmak” that was contagious: In more than half a century of teaching Torah at the highest level, he tranmitted his joyous intensity in learning to literally thousands of talmidim — many of whom went on to become today’s Torah leaders.
In the newly published biography, Rav Kulefsky: The beloved American-born rebbe whose geshmak for Torah lit the fire in thousands, bestselling author Rabbi Yechiel Spero captures the geshmak, the ahavashaTorah and ahavas ha’briyos that characterized Rav Kulefsky. For this absorbing book, Rabbi Spero conducted more than 100 interviews. In story after story (so many great stories!), we meet a man to whom kavod haTorah was paramount, and whose consideration and caring for others was legendary.
As a rebbe and, eventually, Rosh Yeshivah of Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, Rav Kulefsky inspired hundreds — no, thousands — of American boys to become talmidei chachamim. “His koach of hasbarah was amazing,” says Rabbi Spero. “He spent hours preparing the shiur, and if he gave it again a few days later, he prepared it again.”
This week marks Rav Kulefsky’s twentieth yahrzeit. Though many years have passed, this towering figure of Torah and chesed is still remembered with both love and awe by generations of talmidim. And now, even those who did not merit to learn from him can be inspired and elevated by his life of ahavas Torah.
One Rosh Yeshivah said to a grandchild of Rav Kulefsky, “When one spoke in learning to your grandfather, it was like watching a kid in a candy store.” This biography helps us all to feel that sweetness.
Inside ArtScroll: Bringing the books you read, and the people who write them, to life!
The newest episode of Inside ArtScroll features something entirely different and unique, as host Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger welcomed singer and composer Joey Newcomb. Far from a conventional interview, Joey treats us to fascinating insights about his life and his musical journey, while often joining with the host in filling the studio with music, singing songs both new and old. Amidst humor and some good laughs, Joey shares his messages of boundless positivity, hope, inspiration, ahavas Hashem and mi ke’amcha Yisroel. You’re in for a treat. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!
WATCH NOW: Inside ArtScroll Episode 13 – Farbreng and Shmooze with JOEY NEWCOMB
On the go? Also available to stream on all major Podcast platforms!
This weekly publication will contain a rich collection of stories, divrei Torah and insights that are suitable for the Shabbos table – or for anytime. We hope you enjoy and look forward to future issues, as we tap into the unparalleled treasure trove that is the ArtScroll Library, sharing the depth and beauty of our Judaic and Torah literature with you.
A candid interview with the creators of Between Carpoolsand the latest cookbook sensation, Dinner Done!
With preorders already breaking sales records, everyone, it seems, is talking about Dinner Done, the fantabulous (no other word describes it!) soon-to-be-released cookbook, created by the team that brings us the uber-popular lifestyle site Between Carpools (BCP) and published by ArtScroll. Just to add to the excitement and the buzz, we decided to chat with the Between Carpools team about their lives, their accomplishments, and, of course, how they get Dinner Done!
So let’s meet and greet our BCP friends: Leah Schapira, Victoria Dwek, Renee Muller, Esti Waldman, and Shaindy Menzer.
ArtScroll: How did Between Carpools start?
Victoria: Four of us had been in the kosher food world and we had wanted to do something online together. Then Leah had an idea. She said, “It has to go beyond food. Food, yes, but also posts about kids, home, organizing, decor, baby gear, clothing … anything goes. A website that’s built around our lives.” Then she had the brilliant idea to call Shaindy ….
Shaindy: I knew Leah from my kids’ school and from the neighborhood. I got a message from her one day, asking if I would join BCP. Before she even had a chance to describe her vision, I remember telling her that I had no time for hobbies anymore. I’d join if it was something that she thought I’d be super passionate about. Of course, three minutes later I was super-excited about the idea and jumped onto the BCP team. It’s been the best decision ever.
Esti: It went from a vague idea of a safe and interesting online place for Jewish women to a full-steam-ahead project. Somehow, with a lot of siyata di’Shmaya, people started following along, and the trust they have in us has been unbelievable. It’s definitely become more than a little “side project” by now.
ArtScroll: This isn’t the first cookbook for three of you. Did you ever think you’d get together to write a book with your Between Carpools team?
Leah: The opposite! The three of us who have written books have frequently said that we’re not writing another one. We said, “We’re tired — and we’re retired.”
Victoria: All books should be written by a team of five! I absolutely loved being able to focus on writing … without having to worry about how the food looked, because Esti and Renee were on it! What I also loved about writing with a team is that we could all focus on the types of food we actually like to prepare. For example, first Leah and Renee worked on chicken, because Renee cooks fleishigs every night. Then Leah and I tackled the dairy chapter. Finally, Renee and I brainstormed the types of fish dishes we’d need.
ArtScroll: What did you look for in recipes for Dinner Done?
Esti: We don’t want you to have to spend a ton of time in the kitchen every day preparing dinner. So, quick prep was important. Featuring recipes that use pantry ingredients was also important. We want you to be able to pull out the book when it’s time to make dinner and be able to cook without a run to the grocery store.
ArtScroll: What are your favorite recipes in the book?
Renee: It’s hard to find a favorite. I am always working with food and I am rarely tempted to eat what I’m working with. When styling Dinner Done, it was just the opposite! Every recipe was like “Yay! Lunch!” Or, “I’m so excited; another dinner idea that I KNOW my kids will love.”
ArtScroll: How do you develop the recipes?
Victoria: If you pick any random recipe in the book, we can tell you a story behind it. I think the recipe that sums it up is the very last recipe we wrote, Salmon with Silan and Garlic Slices. One day, about two weeks before the book went to print, we had a meeting at ArtScroll. At that point, the book was almost done — we just needed one more salmon recipe. It had to be simple. And we knew we wanted to include silan. During the car ride home, we had a brainstorming session, deciding just which spices would pair well with silan and salmon. When I got home, I made the recipe, just as we had discussed. And it was spot on. The give-and-take really results in great recipes. There are so many recipes in the book that are better because we have partners we can discuss them with. But not all recipes are collaborative. Leah, tell them about the process behind Crispy Chicken.
Leah:
So, basically the cookbook was all written up. And honestly, we had enough chicken recipes, but looking through the section I realized it was missing that one addictive special occasion fried sesame chicken recipe. (In my cookbook, Fresh and Easy, that recipe is iconic). Since everyone also loves takeout crispy beef, I started working on a combo: crispy sesame chicken takeout.
For the recipe to work I knew it needed a few specific elements.
1. The chicken had to be thin so that the coating would be significant enough to be crispy.
2. The coating had to have a real crisp/crunch factor.
3. The sauce had to have a good balance of sweet, to give it that addictive special occasion vibe.
Getting the chicken crispy was easy. I knew using a mix of flour and cornstarch and both baking powder and soda would give me the maximum crispy factor. And lately I love using apple juice in chicken and meat recipes, since it adds some flavor while keeping the chicken tender.
The sauce was a bit trickier. I fried up three pounds of chicken strips and tossed each half-pound with different sauces combinations, until we got the one we wanted.
In general, when writing recipes, I think of a few things:
What do people like to buy in restaurants and take-outs? Can we make a great version at home, sometimes healthier, sometimes with a twist and sometimes as is?
What recipes am I missing in my life? A new Friday-night fish, a new soup recipe that is similar enough to chicken soup so that the kids will be willing to try it?
Can I find a new twist on an old favorite? For example, I wrote a mashup of everyone’s favorite two soups — onion soup and chicken noodle soup — so now DD has an Onion Noodle Soup!
ArtScroll: Esti and Shaindy, you have some contributions in there, too. Tell us about your own recipe testing experiences.
Esti: I’m not a recipe developer — I just take the pictures! But don’t tell that to my kids. They insist that all my food is worthy of publishing!
Shaindy: Every once in a while, Leah would try to pick my brain for recipes. “C’mon, I know you have some good stuff you’re not sharing ….” And I’m always like, “Me? Recipes? I start dinner at 3:30 without knowing what it will be! From start to finish, my dinners usually take max an hour to prepare … trust me, you don’t want my recipes.” And Leah says, “YES! We want exactly that!” I have so many recipes that I wouldn’t even think to call recipes. Like my Maple OJ Chicken … is that even a recipe? Apparently, it is!
ArtScroll: Can you share with us a little about the design and styling processes of the book?
Shaindy: I was called in pretty early on, to come up with a layout design. First, we needed the layout for the actual recipe pages, so Victoria would know how much room will be allowed for the description and for the tips and hacks. I did a lot of cookbook browsing to get inspired and ultimately, I knew I wanted a book that would be clean, easy to read and follow, yet beautiful visually. It had to connect with the style of Between Carpools, so there had to be some sketches and we had to stick to similar fonts and the color palette from the blog. Once I came up with the layout, I presented it to the team. I’m lucky to have a team that is so easy, and they approved it right away. Then I got a little break time while they all worked tirelessly writing, styling, and shooting.
The last few weeks before print is when all the “extra pages” were designed and created. I’m a real last-minute kind of person and work really well under pressure, so that worked for me. I spotted some inspiration that was awesome — it was a combo of images and sketches. I showed it to the team and everyone loved it! There! The hard part was over — we had a “look and style” for these pages. Once the concept is there, the rest flows. You’ll see these creative pages throughout the book, especially in the divider pages and front matter. I have to say this was such a thrilling project and it was fun to use my creative cells to make it work!
Renee: I wanted the book to have a casual dinner vibe. Something achievable, familiar, and unpretentious. Like your good denim skirt. So — don’t laugh — I added denims to the palette. Denim is definitely weekday. Right? And it’s comfy. Look through the book and you’ll see denim throughout, or shades of it. At one point, when we wanted to get a specific shade of dark denim, we used an actual skirt. Yup. True story. See if you can spot the real skirt on two pages!
ArtScroll: Tell us a bit about the “9 x 13 Life”
Renee: We starting posting 9 x 13 recipes on the site — that is, meals you can make in one 9 x 13-inch pan — and they became our most popular. It’s because that’s what people need. This is real life; there are so many days when we simply don’t have time to cook or can’t manage having a mess to clean up. So we decided to begin the book with a whole chapter of 9 x 13 recipes. It’s easy to turn to when you’re in a pinch or just want a great, mess-free meal. There are lots of baked goods in the chapter too, for the time when your child comes home and says he has a siyum tomorrow and needs something to take to his class, or when you realize you need an extra dessert on a Friday … we have you covered!
ArtScroll: Who is this cookbook for?
Esti: It’s literally for everyone who has to make dinner on a regular basis.
Renee: Us. All of us. Dinner happens 6x a week. We need solutions. Quick and easy ones. Walk through the door and need dinner done in 30 minutes? It’s possible. Leave for the day and you want to have a meal cooking and waiting for you when you return? It’s in the book. We know and understand what women need these days. We put it into the book.
Victoria: This is a book that’s even for the woman who never buys cookbooks! Those who love to cook will love it, but those who simply cook to feed their family need it, too.
Shaindy: To me, a cookbook is something you pull out before Yom Tov or when making a simchah. I honestly own maybe 3 cookbooks. (I don’t own Leah’s or Victoria’s either … shhh, don’t tell them!) I’ve always said about myself, “Me? Recipes? I don’t follow instructions like that …. Like, you’re gonna tell me what to do?”
As much as we said this book is going to be simple, I never really believed them until I was called on to test some recipes. I geared myself up to go grocery shopping and I put away some extra time to prepare. And then it suddenly hit me …. “Whoa, these recipes fit right into my daily last-minute routine … I have every single one of the ingredients, and hey … this is sooo easy!” Every single recipe I tested was a hit in my home. The idea of this whole cookbook really started to get to me. I was finally getting into it. This is not just another book … this one was going to be awesome!
Now that I have the printout proofs, these recipes are all I make for dinner. Honestly, I can close my eyes and pick any page and it will work for me. It’s amazing how every single recipe is a GOOD OPTION.
Another point: These recipes were tested and approved by our (bli ayin hara, many) kids. Different households, different palates, and yes, if it wasn’t great, it didn’t make the cut. We cooked the book constantly while writing it. These recipes work for our families. And they’ll work for yours.
Inside ArtScroll: Bringing the books you read, and the people who write them, to life!
The newest episode of Inside ArtScroll features an interview with Rabbi Dov Keilson, author of the new book, Open Your Eyes – Seeing Hashem Everywhere. Rabbi Keilson shows us how to open our eyes to appreciate Hashem’s magnificent world and reap the unimaginable benefits of living with bechinah.
For decades, Rabbi Keilson, mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, has studied the concept of bechinah, which leads to authentic gratitude, deep emunah, and the incomparable happiness of living with Hashem’s Presence in our lives on a day-to-day basis. Watch this uplifting conversation – and Open Your Eyes to a whole new way of living. Purchase the new book HERE.
WATCH NOW: Inside ArtScroll Episode 12 – Rabbi Dov Kielson Teaches Us How to Really Open Our Eyes
On the go? Also available to stream on all major Podcast platforms!
This weekly publication will contain a rich collection of stories, divrei Torah and insights that are suitable for the Shabbos table – or for anytime. We hope you enjoy and look forward to future issues, as we tap into the unparalleled treasure trove that is the ArtScroll Library, sharing the depth and beauty of our Judaic and Torah literature with you.
Inside ArtScroll: Bringing the books you read, and the people who write them, to life!
The newest episode of Inside ArtScroll features a special interview with Naftali Horowitz, Managing Director and Financial Advisor with J.P. Morgan and author of the brand new book, You…Revealed. As a managing director of the nation’s largest investment bank, Naftali has learned a lot about the nature of success. He is also a man with a mission: to help Jews in any way he can. And help them he does, guiding tens of thousands of people to a greater understanding of themselves, their challenges, and their hidden potential, both in face-to-face meetings and in his popular lectures. You…Revealed is not a typical self-help book for people looking for financial success – though it will certainly help them achieve that goal. Rather, it draws upon a wide range of Torah sources to help us discover our mission and purpose in life. You…Revealed combines profound Torah wisdom and time-tested mussar techniques with piercing psychological insights and fascinating true-life examples. It shows us how to achieve success while living lives of tranquility and contentment. Learn about this – and more! – in this compelling conversation.
WATCH NOW: Inside ArtScroll Episode 11 – Interview with J.P. Morgan Managing Director and Financial Advisor Naftali Horowitz, Author of “You…Revealed”
Also available to stream on all major Podcast platforms!
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