My grandmother spit three times at her own kugel to keep the evil eye away. Here's what ayin hara really means — and the lesson about envy hiding inside it.

Forget the dictionary. A mensch is someone who does the right thing when nobody is watching, and doesn't bring it up later when they are. Here's the rest of it, the way my grandfather Velvel taught me.

Kabbalah teaches that the world is full of broken vessels and trapped sparks of holy light — and laughter, the Kabbalists believed, was one of the most powerful ways to crack a husk and free a spark. Here's why Jewish humor is older, and deeper, than the punchlines.

My grandfather used to say, English is for business, Hebrew is for prayer, Yiddish is for telling the truth. Here are eight Yiddish words that prove him right — mensch, naches, bashert, chutzpah, and four more.

Kabbalah Kronicles 36 – All Good Things Must Come to a Kabbalah                                               by Uncle Zally / Zalman Velvel _____________________________________________ Writing a blog is fun. It’s heartwarming to relate to an audience on an immediate basis. You write something that you…

Kabbalah Kronicles 35 – Kanine Kabbalah                                                    by Uncle Zally / Zalman Velvel ____________________________________ I pray early in the morning with my little dachshund, Peanut. When I start wrapping tfillin, he gets up from his doggy bed and waits by the…