MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Chapter 6 I didn’t convert for marriage, but I think my husband’s soul was meant to convert with mine. The day that I met Travis, I was 16 years old and had just been elected all-school treasurer of our public high school. I was wearing khakis and a white short-sleeved blouse from Hollister to look “professional,” and my hair—which my Conair straightener pulverized every morning—laid totally flat against my head. He was a year older than I and had been elected school president. I never saw boys my age wearing suits and ties, so I was enamored with his sharp outfit. He had choppy, light brown hair and nerdy glasses. He reached out and shook my hand. I decided on the spot that I was in love with him.   Alas, Travis had a girlfriend already, so I spent the rest of high school being hopelessly in love with him (as in, the “crying while listening to Taylor Swift” kind of love). Sometimes, I pretended that I needed a lift to various student government events even though my mom

  Passover and Easter   Arthur Yavelberg   author of the award-winning A Theology for the Rest of Us Best Indie Book Award Literary Titan Silver Award   People sometimes wonder about why the Jewish holiday of Passover often overlaps with the Christian celebration of Easter. There are many explanations for this—such as both are carryovers from pagan fertility rites having to do with the “rebirth” in spring. (Hence the use of “eggs” on the Passover seder plate and Easter egg hunts.) However, there are deeper possibilities.   Passover commemorates the Exodus of the Biblical Israelites from Egypt. Since God (not Moses) redeemed these slaves from bondage, it is often called a “Festival of Freedom.” While that is true, it overlooks that this freedom is essentially temporary. Once the Israelites escape and the Egyptian army is drowned in the Red Sea, they are brought to Mt. Sinai where they are given God’s Commandments—the well known Ten Commandments and, according to the Orthodox

1961 The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science.  Albert Einstein  As soon as I looked into his blue eyes, every cell in my body bubbled with joy. Yes, this must be love. I am in love for the first time. His are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. They are like the deep blue of the ocean on a clear and sunny day. My mom is sitting to my left, my sister, Edna, to my right, and I am falling in love. Ari Ben Canaan is his name. He is in charge of taking a boatload of people to Palestine. The boat, Exodus, is filled with Jewish Europeans planning to make their home in the soon to be independent State of Israel. Unfortunately, the British authorities have detained the boat in Cyprus. They are not allowing Exodus to complete its voyage to Palestine, and Ari has to take charge. His confidence is portrayed in his thin and muscular 5’9” frame. “We can go back, or we can go on a hunger strike,” he says, “but before

  Chanukah  is an eight-day Jewish celebration commemorating the rededication of the second temple by the Maccabees in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.  While there is so much more to learn about the Maccabees and the events at the time, why we celebrate Chanukah, is the result of the miracle they experienced.  Under the cruel leadership of Seleucids King Antiochus IV, the Jews, at the time, were not allowed to practice their own religion openly.  In fact, in their own country, they were faced with slavery and their religion was being eradicated. The Maccabees organized a successful rebellion against Antiochus and were trying to reestablish the temple in Jerusalem by sanctifying it while they were still under siege.    To sanctify the temple, the Maccabees were going to light a menorah lamp. They, however, only had enough oil for one day. But while they were only a small group of rebels, they also tuned into a higher power. The miracle of the Maccabees is through the connection to

  photo includes Princess Muna of Jordan (mother of King Abdullah) in the center and Dr. Betty Leaver, MSI Press editor, second from the right; others - members of a visiting delegation We are happy tp provide you with a taste of the Middle East. Each of the books below contains nuggets and insights that are hard to find elsewhere -- written by the residents of the Middle East. Follow the links to more information. Damascus amid the War by Muna Imady Written by popular author, Muna Imady, whose book, Syrian Folktales, has delighted an uncountable number of readers outside of Syria, Damascus amid the War tells the very human story of the devolution of a society. The book containts 29 pre-war poins, vibrant with imagery of daily life in a robust Damascus. The 100 war poems that follow show the devastating affect on the people who navigate a daily existence after war came. This is a posthumous publication, containing Muna’s very last works and an introduction by her mother, Elaine Imady,

  Franki Bagdade, author of  I Love My Kids, But I Don't Always Like Them , a 5-star Amazon "hot new book," was recently featured in a story in The Detroit Jewish News . You can read the interview  HERE . Go ahead and meet Franki a little more personally, check her availability for consultation, read her blog, and learn her highly experienced thoughts on parenting at her blog,  FAAB Consulting . Read more MSI blog posts about Franki and her book  HERE .

This book itself contains excerpts from the best of MSI Press's publications on triumphing over difficulties. Want to brighten your day? Find out how others did! From Good Blood by Irit Schaffer -- As soon as I looked into his blue eyes, every cell in my body bubbled with joy. Yes, this must be love. I am in love for the first time. His are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. They are like the deep blue of the ocean on a clear and sunny day. My mom is sitting to my left, my sister, Edna, to my right, and I am falling in love. Ari Ben Canaan is his name. He is in charge of taking a boatload of people to Palestine. The boat, Exodus, is filled with Jewish Europeans planning to make their home in the soon to be independent State of Israel. Unfortunately, the British authorities have detained the boat in Cyprus. They are not allowing Exodus to complete its voyage to Palestine, and Ari has to take charge. His confidence is portrayed in his thin and muscular 5’9” frame. “We can g

  Today is the feast day of St. John the Baptist, and Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission, has a book that is perfect for the day. The cover of Sains I Know shows the statue of St. John the Baptist in Sula's hometown of San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist). Here is Sula's description of SJB. St. John the Baptist Early first Century A.D. The town of San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist), where our Mission is located, was founded on the feast day of St. John the Baptist, June 24 (the reason that most of my books have been released on June 24), and named after him. Our Mission was founded on that day, too. In the beginning, the two were very connected. St. John the Baptist is one of the best-known saints, even to non-Catholics. Even so, his exact birth dates are not known. He was born six months before Jesus, whose coming he foreshadowed, and was murdered in the last year of Jesus’s ministry, so we do know the approximate dates—the first 30 or so years of the first century. He