Wrapped in Garments of Light

Aryeh Ehrlich

Who is Rav Yaakov Ades — the mystery kabbalist who chants the sunrise Shacharis at the Kosel with the kavanos of the Rashash, the Talmudic genius who knows Shas and poskim by heart, the ascetic holy man with the worn clothing and frayed yellowed tallis whose words pierce the hearts of those who seek him out?

Soul Singer

Rhona Lewis

It took a few years for Yehuda Menashe to find his niche in the Jewish music world. Who was that black young man singing Lipa songs in Yiddish? A chassid? Or just a gimmick? Today, he’s learned not to judge himself by externals

Rescue in a Manila Envelope

Barbara Bensoussan

Schindler’s list, the Mirrer Yeshivah’s miraculous escape to Shanghai — these are well-known chapters in the story of Holocaust rescue missions. But what secrets were playing out in the Philippines? It started with a weekly poker game and ended with a logic-defying safe haven for more than 1,000 Jews in Manila. Some operations, no matter how daring, are just in the cards.

Horns and Thorns in the African Bush

Ari Z. Zivotofsky and Ari Greenspan

We were bumping our way in a Jeep over the wild African terrain, while a daredevil helicopter followed us overhead, herding the game into a quarter-mile long blind. We’d never shechted antelope before, and this would certainly be an authentic way to feel what it’s like to be Jewish in Namibia.