The Talmud says that to save one life is to save the entire world. The act involved in preserving life can be great or small, but the ultimate dedication is the giving one one’s self, even flesh and blood to aid another. It requires tremendous courage and sacrifice to undergo surgery to donate a kidney for a person one has never met, and yet Rabbi Mendy Mathless, Chabad shliach in Albany, New York, donated a kidney to an Israeli man, Yisrael Konstantini, even though neither had met. Yisroel Konstantini of Netanya had been battling severe kidney problems for years, but … Continue reading →

The Jewish world watched and waited as Laizer Galperin (Chaim Eliezer Lipman Ben Devorah Leah), a child who had endured a horrible disaster yet was miraculously still alive, was taken from his home in Kiryat Malachi to Cincinnati Ohio to undergo intensive treatment. The hospital staff in Israel admitted that they had never seen a child with such deep burns over 80% of his body conscious and breathing, and yet they were saddened by the knowledge that Laizer would have to endure a year of intensive care overseas, in indescribable pain. The then five year old Laizer barely escaped the … Continue reading →

While there is a large Jewish population of Miami, far-flung areas of Florida like Green Cove might more readily stock bacon than gefilte fish on store shelves; when people there use the term “Bible Belt,” they aren’t talking about the Tanach. “One thing Jews outside of Jacksonville have in common,” write Zalman Levin and Shmery Labkowski in their Roving Rabbis blog, “is that they are sure they are the only Jews around.” Roving Rabbis is a collection of blogs from 250 Chabad rabbinical students around the world who spend their summer vacation locating Jews in outlying areas from Ireland to … Continue reading →

Learn to read Hebrew in 20 hours or less. Does that sound too good to be true? Not for students at Chabad of Los Angeles’ Jewish Learning Academy which introduces the love of the Hebrew alphabet to Jews of all ages and backgrounds. The CAP IT program (which stands for Concept and Personality Integration) was developed by Rabbi Eyal and Tzippy Rav-Noy and incorporates the mind, heart and instinct in the process of learning the Hebrew alphabet. However, the students aren’t necessarily aware of the mystical underpinnings of the pedagogical method as they excitedly reach for toys demonstrating the sound … Continue reading →

The world looks pretty crazy from any vantage point. With riots in Greece,a nearly 1,000 drop in the Dow yesterday (it rose a bit toward the end of the day), a terror scare in Times Square, every day seems unrecognizable from the day before. And yet, we are finding more efficient ways of connecting and our lives, at least in a physical sense are made easier with every new development in technology. Concerning technology, it really is the best and the worst. While it can dramatically make our lives easier it can royally mess things up. The drop in the … Continue reading →

When I’m not blogging, chasing after my kids or trying to locate someone’s lost second shoe, I write news recaps for SeekingAlpha.com. (I bet people who Google my name think they’ve reached two different Miriam Metzingers, one who writes financial news and the other who writes about Jewish families. But no, we are one and the same person). My work includes writing summaries of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money program on CNBC. I can’t believe I’ve already been doing this for four years, and it has been educational and entertaining, as I finally think I’ve gotten some idea of the method … Continue reading →