MSI Press Blog

  Today's Publisher's Pride is  Since Sinai  by Shannon Gonyou, which reached #30 in biographies of Judaism.  Since Sinai  has appeared in Amazon best-selling categories nearly every week since its release. Book Description: Raised in a heavily Catholic suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Shannon grew up focusing on two things: how to do enough good deeds to get into heaven and how to stay pure enough to escape hell. In college, she followed many of her peers into an Evangelical church known for guitars, drum, religious-based shame, and the idea that without Jesus she was nothing. But when she encountered Judaism on that same campus, a spark ignited within her and refused to be put out. Judaism felt obvious, familiar. After a falling out with her biological mother and two miscarriages, she found the courage to send the most important email of her life: she asked the local Jews by Choice program to accept her as a student. Honest and unflinching, Shannon's story of comi...

  On Maundy Thursday, the Church kneels. Priests wash parishioners’ feet, and in some communities parishioners wash one another’s. The gesture is not symbolic theater; it is a reenactment of the moment in John 13 when Jesus rises from supper, ties a towel around His waist, and takes the posture of a servant. In a world where feet were dusty and status was everything, He reverses the hierarchy. He kneels before His friends. The early Church understood this act as three things at once: Humility embodied — the Lord takes the lowest place. Preparation for communion — a cleansing before receiving His Body and Blood. A command to imitate — “I have given you an example,” He says, not a suggestion. That command is the heart of the day. What “Maundy” Means “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum , the first word of the antiphon sung during the foot washing: Mandatum novum do vobis — “A new commandment I give you.” The name points not to the Last Supper meal itself, but to the c...

  In adult college language programs, pronunciation is often postponed until “later,” as if it were an advanced skill. But by the time students reach those upper‑level courses, their sound system is already set. Pronunciation taught early is foundational. Pronunciation taught late is remedial. Why Adult Beginners Need Pronunciation Instruction Right Away 1. Adults form habits fast — and keep them Adult learners are efficient pattern‑makers. Give them a sound once, and they’ll reproduce it the same way every time — even if it’s wrong. By mid‑semester of an elementary course, many pronunciation habits are already entrenched. By the time they reach upper‑level courses, those habits are fossilized. Correcting fossilized pronunciation is like trying to rewrite muscle memory. It can be done, but it’s slow, frustrating, and rarely complete. 2. Pronunciation drives listening comprehension This is the hidden cost of delaying pronunciation: If students can’t produce a sound, they...