Warditoff - Ward It Off

In a world obsessed with balance sheets and 'quid pro quo,' it can feel like an audacious act to offer assistance to those who can't reciprocate. But I say, let's be audacious. Let's tip the scales, not to our favor, but towards kindness and compassion.

Why, you ask? Because being a Mitzvah Maverick has its own rewards. Consider this: When we extend our hands to help, we're not just lifting someone else, we're also rising above our ego. It's in these moments that we encounter our best selves.

Remember, the Universe has a keen sense of humor. It doesn't always send thank you notes via express mail. Sometimes, it sends them in the form of inner peace, a sense of fulfillment, a soul-deep satisfaction that no 'quid pro quo' can match.

So, go ahead, be audacious - offer a hand, share a smile, lighten a burden. You'll be surprised at how light you feel in return. After all, generosity is the only investment that never goes bankrupt!

Rabbi Yisroel Bernath

“One day, my grandson said to me, ‘Grandpa, were you a hero in the war? And I said to him, ‘No, I’m not a hero, but I have served in a company full of them.“Major Dick Winters led perhaps the most storied U.S. Army unit in all of World War II. 

On D-Day, he and his "band of brothers” in Easy Company defeated a far larger German force and allowed the Allied advance to continue. At the Dachau concentration camp, they liberated scores of Holocaust prisoners who’d endured months, if not years, of hell. And as the war in Europe drew to a close, they captured Hitler’s personal mountaintop retreat in southern Germany — then kicked back on his terrace in triumph while sipping champagne from his wine cellar.

But for decades, Winters was reluctant to even tell his story, lest he be called a hero. Eventually, however, Easy Company’s harrowing and courageous exploits on the Western front in 1944 and 1945 would be immortalized in “Band of Brothers.”

John Kuroski

RIP Sinead O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor in “Nothing Compares” (Kathryn Ferguson, 2022)