Blog
The Matriarchs Return to Life (5 Stunning Paintings)
This past Friday, I was wandering around Tsfat’s Artist Quarter when I happened upon the gallery of artist Miriam Mehadipur. I was totally blown away by Mehadipur’s vivid and gorgeous paintings of Jewish women of the Bible, which I’ve shared below. Something nice occurred to me after I left Miriam’s gallery. Miriam Mehadipur is herself a very beautiful and very spiritual woman, and I realized that her paintings of Sara, Rivka, Rachel, etc. are, in a way, self-portraits. But the real truth is, JewishMOMs, these are...
read moreThe Most Awesome Movie EVER MADE about Israel with Tal Ben Shahar
Wow, this newly-released video entitled “Inside Israel” is something very, very special. Best-selling author and professor Tal Ben Shahar, who is famous for having taught the most popular course at Harvard on Positive Psychology, decided a few years back to leave behind his stellar career success in the US in order to move back to Israel with his family. In this intensely inspiring and true video, Ben Shahar explains why he chose to return to Israel and why he feels so much love and admiration for this unique country…Like Ben...
read moreHow My Parents Met in Dachau by Rabbi Yosef Wallis
Rabbi Yosef Wallis is the director of Arachim. He told Project Witness the following story about his father, Judah Wallis, who was born and raised in Pavenitz, Poland. Thanks so much to Rabbi Stephen Baars for sending me this powerful story. Rabbi Wallis told Project Witness: While he was in Dachau, a Jew who was being taken to his death suddenly flung a small bag at my father, Judah Wallis. My father caught it, thinking it might contain a piece of bread. Upon opening it, however, he was disturbed to discover a pair of tefillin. My father...
read moreThe Case Against Kids
I’m a huge New Yorker fan (my parents bring me a big stack of back issues every time they visit, so I am always a few months or even years behind) but I don’t think anything I’ve ever read in the New Yorker has ever made me cry, let alone enabled me to enjoy one of those delicious JewishMOM cries I love so much…until I read this letter to the editor below. This letter is a response to Elizabeth Kolbert’s recent article “The Case Against Kids,” which discusses recently published books promoting the...
read moreOur Lag Baomer Riot
For years and years, I have yearned to be in Meron for Lag Baomer. But it never worked out for 1001 reasons, until this year, when the post-high school program my husband directs organized a Lag Baomer trip to Meron. In order to add to their experience of the holiday, my husband organized a 5-hour hike from Tsfat to Meron for his 25 students along with our older children. And in order to make it easier for me, the bus dropped me off directly in Meron with two of our younger children. So I arrived in Meron in the morning, when it was still...
read moreHow I Saved a Life in 5 Minutes or Less
10 years ago, my neighbor Rena* lost her only child in a tragic car accident. Soon after the accident, a neighborhood rebbetzin confided that on top of her horrific family tragedy, Rena was married to a husband who frequently beat her. The Rebbetzin did not know what to do to help Rena, and she requested for me to go and meet with her…maybe Rena would open up to me? I could not fathom why the Rebbetzin had asked me to visit this woman when Rena had so many friends, and I barely knew her! Rena had just gotten up from sitting shiva for her...
read moreRabbi Shteinman to Frum Schools: Stop being Snobs! (5-Minute Important Video)
In this important video below, Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Shteinman Shlit”a is presented with an urgent question that has implications for Jewish schools all over the world… A Beit Shemesh principal wants to reject 2 boys from his school because their mother is “more open” and “a different type” from the rest of the parents at the school. Oy, does this sound painfully familiar to this JewishMOM who was also (in my case rightfully) judged to be “more open” and a “different type” than...
read moreFollow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story (3-Minute Official Trailer)
This looks like an amazing movie about the bravery and idealism of Entebbe Raid hero Yoni Netanyahu z”l…This quote from him is one to live by, “I must feel certain that not only at the moment of my death shall I be able to account for the time I have lived, I ought to be ready at every moment of my life to confront myself and say ‘This is what I’ve done.’” Thanks to JewishMOM Stephanie Frumkin for sending me this inspirational video…
read moreTake off that SuperMOM Cape
“Eema, I’m afraid.” “There’s nothing to be afraid of, honey…Nothing at all…Eema will make everything all better.” In this week’s issue of Mishpacha Magazine, psychotherapist Rabbi David Hochberg wrote something that hit very close to home for me, and I’m sure for a lot of readers. He explained that as parents, seeing our kids struggle terrifies us. The moment something is difficult for our children, too often our immediate reaction is to fly onto the scene with our Supermom capes on...
read moreIf I Should Have a Daughter by Sarah Kay (3-Minute Inspirational Video)
Poet and teacher Sarah Kay reflects on disappointment and tragedy and undying hope…This inspirational poem has been viewed over 1.7 million times, and I can understand why. I sobbed throughout both times I watched it… Enjoy, JewishMOM!
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