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Our prayers come in many different shapes and forms. There are the requests we made when we were younger for outcomes that were so inconsequential but felt so important at the time. Please help me win the raffle. Please could rebbi pick me. Please make it sunny today. There are the frantic, whispered Please help […]
Read MoreAs we kick off the pre-Pesach shopping season, we take a look back at the stores that aren’t just stores. These nostalgic shops have watched Lakewood morph and mature, emerging as an epicenter of frum commerce. Through upgrades and upheavals, they’ve managed to maintain their small-town, old-time, warm, and friendly feel while keeping current in […]
Read MoreElisheva Braun There are three things you can be in Lakewood, goes the highly prejudiced, profoundly offensive joke: A gaon, a gvir, or a gornisht. What of the frum world’s middle class, the caste that can claim neither shiny Range Rovers nor 18-hour sedarim? In the exalted ordinariness of their frum lives, a number feel […]
Read MoreElisheva Braun Ubiquitous? Yes. Mysterious? Maybe. A source of melded pity and pride? Oh, absolutely yes. Welcome to the world of meshulachim, quiet witnesses to Lakewood’s homes, halls, and hearts. When three meshulachim showed up at the Voice office a couple of weeks ago—a marvelous sampling of a venerable Yerushalmi, middle-aged Sefardi, and young, wiry […]
Read MoreHis fire and fortitude in the beis midrash were legendary. He fought like a lion for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. Love and expectations were his signature style of chinuch. The multifaceted life and work of Rabbi Meir Hertz zt”l Elisheva Braun Meir Hertz was born in 1948 Haifa, amid the raging throes of […]
Read MoreRelief or rip-off? The lab-grown diamond phenomenon Elisheva Braun When I first tumbled down the rabbit hole of lab-grown diamond research, I texted Chana Miriam*, my hilarious and much-loved second cousin who’d married off two sons, Did you buy Vivi and Malka lab-grown diamonds? Writing an article about the topic. You can’t do that, she […]
Read MoreLongtime mohel Rabbi Shlomo Golish discusses his sacred craft M. Brejt It’s the most important moment in a child’s life, but one he’ll never remember. It’s a fleeting cry of pain amid shouts of joy. It’s a celebration of a new start that’s part of the longest chain in our history. “Zeh hakatan gadol yihyeh…” […]
Read MoreA Conversation with Relief Director Rabbi Binyomin Babad Zahava Emanuel Until about 20 years ago, Rabbi Binyomin Babad’s résumé looked fairly typical: yeshivah, kollel, a stint at Agudah. So what convinced a Lakewood yungerman to get into the mental health field two decades ago, before therapy was a buzzword? And what caused him to open […]
Read MoreThe Voice of Lakewood Presents… The High School Play A Drama in Three Acts S. Pruzansky Cast of characters Tenth-grade teacher and sewing head: Sari Weinman* Ninth-grade teacher: Leah Kleinman* Twelfth-grade teacher: Rivky Rudel* Mother of the main part: Chaya Rivka Katz* Mother of three high school girls: Esther Shreiber* Play director: Chani Panish Ninth-grade […]
Read MoreRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, Visits Lakewood Aharon Hirsh Cohen Photos: Langsam Studios, Zvi Wolf In the week of kabbalas haTorah, Lakewood had the honor of hosting one of the great marbitzei Torah of Eretz Yisrael, Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, rosh yeshivas Slabodka. This year’s visit was a particular simchah since the Rosh […]
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