Sori Goldbaum was a lovely girl of marriageable age. However, practically every time a boy was redt to her, the suggestion was nixed faster than anyone had a chance to ask for a resume. No, it wasn’t that Sori had an overprotective older brother who shot down every suggestion because he “knew the boy personally” and the boy “just wasn’t good enough” for his sister. The reason for what was happening lay in the fact that Sori’s family was super stringent when it came to names for shidduchim. According to Rav Yehuda Hachassid, a girl may not marry a boy with the same name as her father, nor may a girl marry a boy whose mother has the same name as her. Sori’s family also held that the mechutanim cannot have any of the same names as each other.

What made things just a wee bit complicated here was the fact that Sori’s father, Dovid Goldbaum, had four names: Dovid Yosef Yehuda Leib. That meant that if a prospective boy, or his father, had Dovid, Yosef, Yehuda, or Leib in their names—the shidduch could not get off the ground. And…well, that explains Sori’s predicament.

Now, before all you readers become up in arms, let me assure you that there are many different opinions on this subject, and I will not be paskening any of your sheilos for you. What I will tell you, though, is that the entire topic is discussed in detail in Halachically Speaking Volume 4, the latest book in Rav Moishe Dovid Lebovits’s bestselling halachah series. In addition to the many other fascinating subjects that he discusses, such as the halachos of hafrashas challah, of paying a shadchan, and of affixing a mezuzah to a doorpost, in this book Rabbi Lebovits devotes an entire chapter to the customs brought down by Rav Yehuda Hachassid—including the ins and outs of names as they relate to shidduchim.

As is classic Rabbi Lebovits, everything is explained in a clear and forthright manner, so that you can easily understand all the various opinions on a halachic issue—and thus be in a better position to ask your own sheilah to your local Orthodox rabbi.

Oh, and about Sori…don’t worry about her. Thankfully, she got engaged recently, to a really nice boy…named Aharon Tzvi Hirsch.

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I have a relative who, though an avid reader, refuses to touch fiction books. “Why do I need to read about some imaginary person and her issues?” she says. “There are enough issues going on in real life for me to think about!”

To which I reply, “To each his own.” I personally love a good novel—I find it’s the best way to distract myself from thinking about my own, real-life “issues,” and in my opinion, a good distraction from life’s problems is sometimes a very healthy thing—but I can certainly hear her side of the coin, too.

In any case, she’s got no reason to fear a dearth of reading material in the Jewish non-fiction market. These days, there are so many true story books, non-fictional memoirs, and biographies out there in the Jewish bookstores…and, of course, now she can add another fantastic non-fiction book to her pile, as well: Visions of Virtue, by masterful storyteller Rabbi Yosef Weiss.

Rabbi Weiss and his writing really need no introduction. As the author of the wildly popular Visions of Greatness series (CIS Publishers), Rabbi Weiss knows how to tell a good—and true—story.

In the pages of this new, soon-to-become-a-bestseller, short story book, you will read many fascinating accounts of real people and their very real lives. You’ll read about an unlikely car mechanic who saves the day—or rather, the night—for an askan in need…and about a Hatzolah member who was “accidentally” called instead of a hotel’s front desk—thereby enabling him to save the life of a young boy…and dozens of more inspirational stories. And they are all 100% true!

So whether you are like my non-fiction-biased relative, or you are an indiscriminate bookworm who will read just about anything you can get your hands on, here’s a book you won’t want to pass up. Visions of Virute—A collection of elevating stories… It’s sure to elevate any reader’s day.

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The very real dangers of blogging are quite self-evident—and I say this with full sincerity, even as I write this blog piece myself. But never before had I seen an example of the havoc that could be wreaked by a blogger’s “innocent” review about a person or subject—a.k.a. authentic lashon hara—until I read the riveting novel, Sundays @ Ten.

This is a book for our times. It is suspenseful and oh-so-realistic, and it paints a very frightening picture of a life nearly ruined by another person’s unfortunate weakness with regard to his yetzer hara. 

There’s lots more going on in this book, too, of course. I mean, with Needs-No-Introduction Dov Haller as its author, how could the book not be chock-full with relatable and well-rounded characters, exciting twists and sub-plots, and thought-provoking lessons smattered throughout?

You’ll meet Rabbi Wohlberg, an exceptional, if “old-styled,” school principal…a young and dynamic assistant principal, who, at first glance, seems to be Rabbi Wohlberg’s polar opposite…a polished and professional chairman of the school board who wants nothing but to enhance the school’s image in the eyes of the public…and many more characters. But we’ll let you decide who the good ones—and the bad guys—are…

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From high school teens to busy fathers and mothers…from kollel yungeleit to venerated talmidei chachamim—everyone has heard of the famous idea of learning 2 halachos from Sefer Chofetz Chaim daily. Each year finds many, many individuals committing to this special undertaking, which, as the Manchester Rosh Yeshivah zt”l said, will always result in the individual meriting some kind of yeshuah in his or her life.

While nowadays, there is no shortage of English adaptations or explanations of Sefer Chofetz Chaim, never has there been a straight English translation of this pivotal work…until now. With the release of Sefer Chofetz Chaim in English, English-speaking readers now have access to the actual words of the holy sage on the all-important topic of shemiras halashon.

If you think about it, this really is a tremendous breakthrough for the general frum public. The Chofetz Chaim was undisputedly one of the greatest gedolim in recent history. It’s understandable that every Torah Jew would want to hear exactly what the Chofetz Chaim said and wrote in his classical sefer, and not simply rely on the explanations and summations of others, due to one’s limited comprehension of the Hebrew language. 

Now this can be done! With this beautiful book, which is divided into the daily learning schedule, you too can join the myriads of others who are internalizing the holy Chofetz Chaim’s message, halachah by halachah.

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It’s come up so many times in my home. I’ll be preparing a salad on Yom Tov, and reach for a knife to peel the cucumber…and then think to myself, Hey, it’s Yom Tov, not Shabbos. Maybe I can use a peeler? But because Yom Tov doesn’t come around nearly as often as Shabbos, even if I’ve found out the correct halachah during the previous Yom Tov, chances are that by now I’ve forgotten it. And, Yom Tov being hectic as it is, I don’t usually have the time to go and ask the sheilah right then and there. So, more often than not, I just end up shrugging and using a knife, all the while wondering if I could have made my life easier by actually finding out if I could use a peeler, after all…

That’s why I, for one, am so excited about the release of Kitzur Halachos Yom Tov and Chol Hamoed. Written in easy English and with a comprehensive index included, this halachah sefer, which is based on the Mishnah Berurah, is exactly what you need when you’re trying to find out a Yom Tov-related halachah as quickly and painlessly as possible. It covers all the bases in terms of hilchos Yom Tov and Chol Hamoed: melachos for ochel nefesh (food preparation on Yom Tov); eiruv tavshilin; Kiddush, tefillah, birkas hamazon, and Havdalah; writing and doing other melachos on Chol Hamoed; and lots more.   

For the housewife who’s trying to make a salad for the seudah… For the man of the house who needs to know whether or not he can repair his air conditioner on Chol Hamoed… For the sweating individual who wants to know if and how he can take a shower on Yom Tov…

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Are you overwhelmed? Stressed out? Feeling that you have so much to do but no time to do it all? We have the solution for you!

The Balabusta’s Daily Organizer: the ideal planner and calendar for the busy Jewish housewife.

For 7 years now, frum women of every type and stripe have come to know and love this amazing organizer, which, though slim and handy, somehow has everything in it. It includes a weekly calendar, complete with Jewish and secular dates and all the Yamim Tovim and (l’havdil) legal holidays, menu planning lists, to-do lists, grocery lists, candle-lighting times in many Jewish communities, tips, and so much more. Little wonder that so many of you have been waiting on pins and needles for this eighth edition to be released!

Available now in two convenient sizes—desktop and pocket—so no matter how you prefer your organizer to be, whether hidden away in your pocketbook or in full view on your desk, you’ve got it.

As you know, there is a time and a place for everything. You just need The Balabusta’s Daily Organizer to help you schedule all your daily activities into your busy life—and then you’ll have found what the time and place is for each thing!

Click here to purchase desktop edition online.

Click here to purchase pocket edition online.

Did you know there is a minhag to eat bananas on Rosh Hashanah in countries where French is the native language, like France or Morocco? Can you guess why? Yup, your high school French class paid off for this one–“bon annae”  means “a good year” in French!

And did you know that drinking the water in which an aravah (willow) branch was cooked is a segulah for having children, as aravah has the same numerical value as the word zera (children)? Or that some have the custom to eat round turnip slices on Simchas Torah, to signify the completion and immediate restart of the Torah? Or that some have a minhag to avoid eating black or dark-colored foods on Rosh Hashanah–because dark symbolizes sin?

I’m not making any of this up! If you’re surprised by these minhagim , you’ll want to check out Seudah Secrets, the latest book in the popular Secret series by Rabbi Dovid Meisels. This 600-plus-page book focuses exclusively on the various minhagim and segulos associated with the foods that we eat, from the months of Elul through Adar. (Other books in this series cover the foods eaten during the rest of the year.)

Astonished by how much information there can be on just the topic of the different foods that we Jews eat? We thought you’d be. But all that Rabbi Meisels brings down in his books is anchored in the sefarim hakedoshim; he’s not making any of it up either!

So allow Rabbi Meisels to take you on a fascinating journey through the what’s and the why’s of hundreds of minhagim having to do with…food!

Guaranteed to be an eye-opening (and perhaps mouthwatering) experience!

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It’s morning, I’m running late, and the kids are not cooperating. First they don’t like the clothes I set out for them; then they start squabbling with each other over something as direly important as who gets cereal first. And that’s when the milk spills. All over the table, the floor, and the baby’s clean clothes. And I close my eyes and imagine how wonderful it would be if I had my very own robot to clean up this mess for me…

What do you say—how does a world in which robots take care of all your chores, sound to you? Well, if you’re anything like Tova Klein’s mother, you wouldn’t be too thrilled about it. In fact, while all of Tova’s friends’ families have robot maids to make their beds and sweep their floors and go grocery shopping for them, Mrs. Klein refuses on principle to have any robots in her home. She wants her family to operate the old-fashioned way, where the kids themselves pitch in and know how to do chores, much to Tova’s embarrassment and chagrin. But then Mrs. Klein has to be away for a while, and she has no choice but to rent a robot nanny to help take care of the family. And that’s when the adventure really begins…

This is a book that will tickle the imagination of every tween reader out there! Set in futuristic times, Robot World is a one-of-a kind book that will fascinate kids with its wackiness, humor, and some great lessons, too! Try it out on your tween…and you’ll see exactly what we mean.

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I used to hate saying yizkor. Everyone young left the room except for me. It took many years to recognize the blessings that being orphaned at age seven, brought into my life.

As long as we are still in galus, we all have our work cut out for us. Health issues, parnasa woes, chinuch crises, middos challenges, bereavement, and other enormous tests.  In the midst of the darkness, it’s usually not enough to remind ourselves that “This too shall pass.”  What we really need is an infusion of emunah – to connect with Hashem, and to notice that our darkness isn’t as pitch black as we thought.

Rebbetzin Bluma Teitelbaum, the Sassover Rebbetzin z”l, lived through the epitome of darkness: The Holocaust. She suffered immensely, yet she also recognized the rays of chesed and humanity that illuminated that darkness and gave her the strength to carry on. The kind words and gestures, the warm coffee after a freezing night of slave labor, the gift of candies that revived her, the used black velvet garment she managed to sell in order to bribe the camp doctor, the friendship of her Bais Yaakov sisters, and more.

Read the Rebbetzin’s memoirs, see the Shoah from her lofty eyes, and then, as you step back into the tests of your own life, recognize and savor the rays of chesed that already illuminate your darkness.  The task will be easier now.

Guest Blogger: Liba Lauffer

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As he sat crouched in a foul-smelling cowshed and hayloft for months on end, with nothing but his own bleak thoughts to keep himself occupied, Chaim Yitzchok Wolgelernter turned to his pen as a means of endurance. An unusually gifted writer, this young husband and father of two made it his goal to chronicle his Holocaust experiences as they were occurring, in book form, no less.  And so, as he wandered the countryside, worrying about the fate of his family members also on the run, Chaim Yitzchok wrote. And as he hid in a dilapidated mikveh building together with his terrified younger brothers, Chaim Yitzchok wrote some more. And as he sought refuge in the cowshed of a Polish woman, who would eventually turn her back on him, Chaim Yitzchok continued to write.

The result: a personal Holocaust journal with a rare level of genius and skill apparent in each chapter chronicled by the author.

Chaim Yitzchok, unfortunately, did not survive the inferno of the Holocaust; he was brutally murdered just a few months before liberation. His diary, though, did survive. It was found by his brother and eventually made its way to North America, where it lay in a drawer, untouched, for many years.

In the meantime, Chaim Yitzchok’s surviving child, Feivel, grew up, married, and had children of his own. His son, Nafti Wolgelernter, was the one who pushed for his grandfather’s diary to be deciphered and translated, so that the family could connect with Chaim Yitzchok’s writings.

What followed were many years of meticulous work and effort, and now, seventy years after being written, the diary is finally being brought to light, released, in English, to the public.

This rare and historic work can be appreciated at many levels. Each page reveals an astounding depth of emotion, coupled with a cynical, witty—at times, even humorous—literary style. The diary is breathtaking in its eloquence and scope, heartbreaking in its descriptive account of the travails suffered by the author and his family. Given its unique perspective, this compelling account lends an entirely new dimension to the world of Holocaust literature.

The following excerpt, from The Unfinished Diary, illustrates just one of Chaim Yitzchok’s brushes with death during his time spent in hiding and on the run.

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