How to Do Your Pesach Cleaning Happily In Less than 1 Day by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner

How to Do Your Pesach Cleaning Happily In Less than 1 Day by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner

Being away for the holiday: If you are going away and no one will use the house at all during the holiday, you may close up all the rooms that will not be used, sell all of the chametz, and do no Pesach cleaning at all. If some part of the house will be lived […]

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Antisemitic Attacks in Crown Heights: One JewishMOM’s Experience by Tamar Stone

Antisemitic Attacks in Crown Heights: One JewishMOM’s Experience by Tamar Stone

Last year, I was seated in a packed subway train riding back home to Brooklyn with a couple of my daughters. There were some loud people standing in the middle of the train and it seemed that most people were watching their interactions, myself included. Just before my stop, a large man seated across from […]

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My New Laundry Tower and Other Exciting Pre-Pesach Projects

My New Laundry Tower and Other Exciting Pre-Pesach Projects

A friend who is the author of a cookbook once chuckled as she pointed out, “I think it’s so funny that you never post any recipes on JewishMOM.com.” She’s right, there are almost never recipes on JewishMOM.com. Or advice on how to get a wine stain out of your husband’s kittel. Or instructions on how […]

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3 Years After Henkin Family Terror Attack, a Mazal Tov (3-Minute Video)

3 Years After Henkin Family Terror Attack, a Mazal Tov (3-Minute Video)

Reflections on the bar mitzvah of the oldest son of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin HY”D. Three and a half years ago on Succot, Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin were driving home when they were brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists in front of their 4 young children. My husband, Joshua, is a program director at […]

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The 1st Thing I Clean for Pesach

The 1st Thing I Clean for Pesach

There is a mitzvah for every Jew to be happy on the holidays. And our rabbis teach that the thing that makes us womenfolk happiest is getting new clothing or jewelry. So every year, the first thing I clean out a bit for Pesach is my…bank account. Every year, before I start seriously scrubbing, scouring, […]

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Rachel’s Blessings: My Beloved Mikva Lady HY”D by Toby Klein Greenwald

Rachel’s Blessings: My Beloved Mikva Lady HY”D by Toby Klein Greenwald

Last night I attended the Eden Center’s presentation of Mikva the Musical, Music and Monologues from the Deep. It was a powerful experience for me to hear women talking openly about their mikva experiences, something that we Jewish women rarely share with one another. Some of the monologues were moving, some funny, some painful. This […]

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The Miracle That Happened to My Friend

The Miracle That Happened to My Friend

This morning I attended a friend’s seudat hodaya, a special meal to give thanks. My friend wanted to express her gratitude to Hashem for a miracle she’d experienced. A mind-blowing miracle, in fact. When my friend told her young nieces that she was having a seudat hodaya, they responded with something akin to horror, “What […]

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Eliashiv Ettinger at Bris: And the Baby’s Name is…Achiad (30-Second Video)

Eliashiv Ettinger at Bris: And the Baby’s Name is…Achiad (30-Second Video)

Eliashiv, the oldest son of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger HY”D, announces the name of a baby named after his murdered father. If you ever wondered what Am Yisrael Chai looks like– it looks like this.

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How I Made my Surgeon Angry

How I Made my Surgeon Angry

Yesterday, I went to a plastic surgeon to get a small mole removed from my cheek. My dermatologist had highly recommended this doctor. And he seemed nice enough. First, he injected the anesthetic. OY, it really stung! And then he removed the mole. And then he turned his back and walked over to the counter. […]

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The Drug Addict Who Disrupted My Megila Reading (2-Minute Mommy Peptalk)

The Drug Addict Who Disrupted My Megila Reading (2-Minute Mommy Peptalk)

The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s teachings on the costumes we wear all year round. This Purim morning, I went with a few of my older kids to the Central Bus Station, where we heard Chabad would be having continuous Megila readings throughout the day. (G-d bless, Chabad!) There were about 15 people there for the megila reading, […]

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