My 6-Year-Old’s Wise Riddle
A few days ago, my 6-year-old Yaakov asked me the following riddle: “Eema, imagine you are stuck in a deep pit with a grizzly bear. What should you do?” I’m terrible at riddles, so I didn’t even try to figure this one out. “I don’t know, Yaakov, what should I do?” “Stop imagining!”Yaakov rolled with […]
Read MoreMy 5 Ultimate Life Goals (2-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
Defining and defending my top priorities. One day last week I did one of my favorite Elul exercises (instructions below) which, in 15 minutes, enables us to get right to the core of our ultimate lifetime goals and dreams. And here, I discovered, are mine: To have a close, supportive family (immediate and extended) and […]
Read MoreWhat One Mother Learned from a Surgeon
I have a friend who waited for many years to become a mother. And a few days ago I ran into her on the street, pushing her long-awaited daughter who looks like a perfect china doll with her blond curls and sapphire eyes. My friend told me, “I have a relative who is a surgeon. […]
Read MoreWhat My First Year as a Widow Has Taught Me by Gafna Vanova
Last October, my husband and I were brought in by the Jewish community of Prague to give some classes as part of the international Shabbat Project. On our first day there, we met with Gafna, a long-time JewishMOM.com reader as well as director of Jewish studies at Prague’s Jewish school. Gafna is a sensitive, deep, […]
Read MoreAs For Me and My Household
I just saw this verse embroidered on a cloth banner at a tourist shop downtown. The verse was written like this: “As for me and my household, we shall serve the LORD.” With that translation, it sounded like a verse from the New Testament. But then I looked at the bottom of the banner and […]
Read MoreHearing the Shofar’s Call from a Hindu Temple (3-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
The shofar blast that reminded my daughter in India that Elul is here. My oldest daughter, 21-year-old Hadas, is traveling around India for the next month. And before Shabbat she shared an incredible story with me. That morning, she had been walking by a Hindu Temple, when she suddenly heard shofar blasts coming from the […]
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