Fwd: Turning Skills and AI into Opportunity and Independence; Navigating Egg Freezing with Halacha and Hope; Jewish Action Takes Home Five Rockower Awards for Journalistic Excellence

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From: Shabbat Shalom <shabbatshalom@ounetwork.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 5:03 PM
Subject: Turning Skills and AI into Opportunity and Independence; Navigating Egg Freezing with Halacha and Hope; Jewish Action Takes Home Five Rockower Awards for Journalistic Excellence
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Plus: Can you put ice cream back in the freezer on Shabbat? PARSHAT SHELACH June 12-13, 2026 / 28 Sivan 5786   THIS SHABBAT Mevarchim Hachodesh for the month of Tammuz   SPECIAL DAYS THIS WEEK Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is celebrated on Monday, June 15, and Tuesday, June 16  FEATURED How to Turn Skills and AI into Opportunity and Independence The conversation around AI reshaping the workforce often centers on jobs being disrupted across customer service, administrative work, media, finance, legal support, and entry-level technology roles. But a growing number of business leaders say AI is also creating new opportunities for people to build independent income streams, launch businesses, and scale ideas faster than ever before. Read More Navigating Egg Freezing with Halacha and Hope Kol Echad For many singles, egg freezing is not about delaying marriage or family, but about preserving future possibilities while life unfolds. As more women explore this option, rabbanim, physicians, and fertility experts are engaging in a nuanced conversation that touches on biology, halacha, emotional well-being, and profound questions of emunah and bitachon. Read More  AROUND THE OU Teach NJ United for School Security Following recent attacks targeting faith communities, Teach NJ brought together faith leaders and coalition partners from across New Jersey to call for increased security funding for nonpublic schools. Their unified message to state leaders: every child deserves a safe and secure place to learn. Read in NJ.com Jewish Action Jewish Action Takes Home Five Rockower Awards for Journalistic Excellence! Jewish Action won five Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism — known as the “Jewish Pulitzers”— at last week’s American Jewish Press Association (AJPA) Annual Conference. Read the Winning Articles Here OU-JLIC JLIC and Plato's Allegory of the Cave Drawing on the story of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, this episode of the Torat JLIC podcast explores why authentic spiritual growth is found not apart from the world, but within it, and how that idea became the foundation of JLIC’s approach to Jewish life on campus. Listen Now  UPCOMING EVENTS SPIRIT Between This World and the Next: Chevra Kadisha, Grief, and the Journey of the Soul June 16, at 12:00 PM EDT, on Zoom Register Now OU Advocacy OU Advocacy Mission to Washington June 22 – 23, in Washington, D.C. Register Now Halacha Initiatives National Shatnez Conference for Testers and Askanim July 6, at 12:00 PM EDT, at the OU Headquarters in NYC Register Now  TORAH L'Kadsho Havdalah Before Maariv? If one keeps “regular” Shabbos but davens at a minyan that ends Shabbos late, what’s the rule about making Havdalah before davening Maariv? Rabbi Akiva Willig investigates. Plus… Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon continues the laws of tochein (grinding), and more! Havdalah Before Maariv? - Learn Now More on L'Kadsho Rabbi Menachem Genack The Sin and Its Correction What is the meaning of the parallels between the parsha’s opening episode of the spies and the parsha’s concluding mitzvah of tzitzit? Read in Hebrew Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman The View from the Other Side Modern psychology describes a phenomenon known as threat perception — our tendency to overestimate the difficulty of a challenge while underestimating our ability to meet it. The spies in Parshat Shelach fell victim to precisely this error. Read More Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, zt"l Having Self-Respect Our aim is to be a nation with pride and self-respect, in which we appeal not to the vanity of others but to the affirmation of who we are as Jews. Only then will we have gained Israel as more than a land – but also as ourselves. Read More Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, zt"l Beyond the Fringe The Sages said that the mitzvah of tzitzit – so central that it became the third paragraph of the Shema – is equal to all the other mitzvot combined. On the other hand, it is not absolutely obligatory. It is important and praiseworthy but not categorical. Why is this so? Read More Rabbi Jack Abramowitz Every. Single. Day. The Zohar teaches that when one passes away, all of his days accompany him to the Heavenly Court and testify about him, whether it be for good or the opposite. So, it’s really important that we make sure our days are full of Torah and chesed! Read More Rabbi Ephraim Glatt, Esq. Standing for a Talmid Chacham During Kriyas Shema If you’re reciting Shema and the rav walks by, should you stand as you normally would? Should you keep saying Shema without moving? This very practical question is the topic of this edition of Halachic Highlights! Listen Now Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Caleb at the Crossroads This week’s Torah portion, Shelach, gives us the opportunity to witness individuals at the crossroads. Individuals who make radically different decisions and whose lives thereby played out very differently. Read More Halacha Yomis Tzitzis at Night? Is there a mitzvah to wear tzitzis at night? A closer look at the views of the Rambam, Rabbeinu Tam, and the Shulchan Aruch reveals when the mitzvah applies and when a bracha should be recited. Read More  THIS WEEK ON SOCIAL Orthodox Union Can you put ice cream back in the freezer on Shabbat? View on Instagram