I don’t know about you, but for me, gift-giving is hardest when it comes to the men-folk. Girls are easy: some trinkets, jewelry, or the latest novel, and they’re set. But gifts for boys… What do you get for that yeshiva bachur who, baruch Hashem, happily spends his days shteiging away (short of a few hundred batches of homemade cookies, which he’ll go through in just a few days anyway)?

You’ll be relieved to hear, then, that Israel Bookshop has solved your men-folk-gift-giving dilemma—at least for this year’s Chanukah! A Treasure of Letters is the book to get for your husband/son/brother/father (or better yet, all of the above!). This truly one-of-a-kind book is a compilation of letters written by a yeshiva bachur to his parents in the early 1950’s. In the letters, he describes the world of Torah and Chassidus in Eretz Yisrael as he saw it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these original letters are worth hundreds of pages of description, as they give a fascinatingly authentic snapshot of Eretz Yisrael in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the gedolei roshei yeshivah and admorim of that era.

If you are looking for a gift that your yeshivah bachur or “yeshivah bachur at heart” will really treasure, your search is over; A Treasure of Letters is all you need to say when you walk into your local bookstore…

Click here to purchase online.

Enjoy these sample letters…

4 September 1953

…Yesterday I went to see the Tchebiner Rav [R' Dov Berish Weidenfeld] shlit”a. He asked me where I came from and my name. When I said Manchester and Reich he immediately asked me if my name was Elozor! It is either ruach hakodesh or another possibility I can think of. I asked him a few she’eilos, all of which he answered immediately. He then asked me if I knew a few of his talmidim, e.g. R’ Avrohom Rand [my rebbi in Staines Yeshivah], and abruptly wished me kesivah v’chasimah tovah, which doubtlessly meant that the interview was at an end.

The yeshivah here has an exceptionally large library which is only open a few hours a day and quite a few people come in to use it. Amongst them is one regular whom if I had not seen and heard myself I could never have believed. He is not a big lamdan but is reputed to be the biggest baki in all of Eretz Yisrael, in fact in the world. Without the slightest trace of guzma, I have seen it myself. You can ask him how many machlokes R’ Yochanan and Resh Lakish there are in Yerushalmi Maasros and he will give you the answer without the slightest hesitation. The same applies to all Bavli and Yerushalmi, all the Rishonim and all the popular Acharonim such as the Nosei Keilim of the Shulchan Aruch and the Nesivos, Ketzos, Tumim, Minchas Chinuch, Or Someiach etc. For fun I asked him to tell me all the machlokes of the Teshuvos Chemdas Shlomo and R’ Akiva Eiger. I had to listen for a quarter of an hour whilst he reckoned them out. This is not an exaggeration; it is unbelievable until one sees it. As he does nothing but learn and has no official position, he is a pauper. Such Yidden one meets in Yerushalayim! Keep Reading…

Okay, all of you creative cooks out there! Bored of chicken and potatoes and spaghetti and meatballs for supper? Itching for some kind of change…something new and trendy…something with some kick, to really spice up your meals? Well, tie your apron strings tight and whip those pots out of the cabinet, because here is a cookbook that is as different from the rest as egg kichel is from crème brulee! This is the cookbook of our times—The Best of Mexican Kosher Cooking.

So, you’re thinking to yourself, what exactly is in this Mexican kosher cookbook? Only practically any and every Mexican food you can think of, in its kosher version, of course, tweaked to perfection by veteran cookbook authors Shifrah Devorah Witt and Zipporah Malka Heller. From Nacho Cheese Dip and Homemade Taco and Tostada Shells to Chicken Chimichangas, Steak and Chicken Fajitas, and Mexican Rice, from REALLY hot and spicy dishes to those on the more mellow side, you’ll find them all in this beautiful, hard-cover cookbook with full-color photos for each recipe.

Oh, and don’t forget dessert! With delicacies such as Flan, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Sangria, and Margaritas on the menu, not to mention the heavenly Mexican Iced Coffee, you will soon begin to wonder why you ever thought that all Mexico had to boast of was a sunny climate and sombreros!

Click here for a couple of sample recipes.

Click here to order online.

Mordechai Schmutter is a freelance writer, which means that he’s available for weddings, bar mitzvahs, and any event where you want your guests to sit around and watch someone write.  He can also write speeches for said events, as well as various other copies for businesses, entertainment purposes, and personal use.    He spends a lot of his time standing in front of a classroom and trying to convince high school students to let him teach them to write.  Mordechai is also the author of the books, Don’t Yell “Challah!” in a Crowded Matzah Bakery,  A Clever Title Goes Here, and a brand new release, This Side Up! which can be purchased online by clicking here.

Here’s an excerpt to enhance your simachas Yom Tov:

Sukkos Gelt

 We are lucky to live in an age (29, if anyone asks) where we have tons of inventions to make Jewish life easier, such as shtenders and Havdalah candles and seedless watermelon.  We also have gefilte fish, which was created so that people could avoid picking out bones on Shabbos.  I think that’s amazing.  I mean, people didn’t like picking seeds out of the watermelons either, but no one decided to take them apart, pull out the seeds, grind up the rest and serve them in loaves with a piece of carrot on top.

Sukkos, in particular, has a lot of inventions associated with it, and they come out with ten new ones every year, kind of like they do on Pesach with Haggados.  Also chumros.

Take s’chach mats, for example.  This was something we didn’t even know we needed.  For years, everyone used bamboo for their sukkos, and everything was fine, except for the occasional pole coming through a window.  You bought the poles at a sukkah outlet, and you tied them to the roof of your car and drove home very carefully, with one hand on the roof, just in case.[1]  But poles were versatile, and it was easy to hang decorations from them, like fake fruit and bee traps.  (Bees love honey, so bee traps are another great invention, although they’re a lot more effective if you put them OUTSIDE your sukkah.  The same goes for bear traps.)  But then someone came up with the idea of s’chach mats, where you stand at one end of the sukkah and just roll the whole thing out like a tablecloth, and voila – it sags all over the place.  Especially when you try to hang heavy things, such as bee traps.  Also, if you don’t tie the mat down, it catches the wind like a sail and blows off down the street.    Keep Reading…

All those A Time to Laugh, A Time to Listen fans out there, take note! The third book in your favorite series has just been released!

Following the much-loved style of his previous two books,A Time to Laugh, A Time to Listen Volumes 1 and 2, author Rabbi Yehoshua Kurland has once again written a book of essays on various aspects of Jewish life, each beginning with a great joke and then leading into a thought-provoking article brimming with Torah-true hashkafah and life lessons.

In true Rabbi Kurland fashion, A Time to Laugh, A Time to Listen Volume 3 will make you laugh, learn…and come away inspired.

Click here to purchase online.

Enjoy a sample l’kavod Sukkos:

Sukkos – No More Questions

A man walked into a lawyer’s office and inquired about the lawyer’s rates.

 “One hundred dollars for three questions,” replied the lawyer.

 “Isn’t that awfully steep?” asked the man.

 “Yes,” the lawyer replied, “and what was your third question?”

Too many questions can be quite costly. Some people spend a lifetime searching, with their queries never answered. Others aren’t really interested in answers, as the absence of resolutions can serve as a solid rationalization for complacency and stagnation, and camouflage the need for change and reassessment. Keep Reading…