If You See Something, Say Something
When I met Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi 19 years ago, she was far from being the “Chief Rabbanit of Israel” as some quip today. She was just Yemima, a Hebrew teacher at an ulpan for immigrant lawyers, the nice mother I’d say hello to when I was picking up my daughter Hadas and she was picking […]
Read MoreMy ADHD Dance
Last night I started a 4-week course for parents of kids with ADHD–to familiarize us with ADHD and how best to help out our kids who have it. Last night was the introduction to ADHD, and to be honest, what I learned was truly terrifying. Statistically. kids with ADHD are exponentially more likely to have […]
Read MoreThe Wife of the Husband who Sings Off Key
For the last few Saturday nights, about 100 Jewish mothers and I have crammed into the community center hall to hear popular lecturer Chedva Vasly talk about marriage. Last week, she was talking about how most women don’t know how to receive from their husbands: “We women know how to give. That’s our specialty. We […]
Read MoreThe Millionaire Sitting Behind Me
A neighbor recently invited me to join her at a charity Chinese auction. I really wanted to go with her, but there was one complication. This neighbor was planning to buy a $25 dollar ticket so, as a “Sponsor,” she would be entitled to sit in the front row and receive free 10 raffle tickets. […]
Read MoreStress-Free Purim (9-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
Stay calm this Purim by remembering what you required to do, and what is actually voluntary.
Read MoreThe Kibbutznik’s Son
When my husband was 17, newly graduated from a public school in Canada, he traveled to Israel to volunteer at a Shomer HaTsair kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley. Each volunteer had a kibbutz family that adopted him, and Josh was adopted by the wonderful Herman family with whom Josh became close, especially with their 15-year-old […]
Read MoreMy Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Dance
This morning, in Devora’s dance journey workshop, we went on a short walk outside to contemplate nature. Each of us chose something outside, and for 10 minutes we meditated upon it and what it was teaching us. And I was drawn to this flower… As I looked at it, I was amazed by its perfection, […]
Read MoreTalking Back to My Anxiety
I used to struggle a lot with anxiety. But over the last bunch of years, I haven’t. I changed a lot of things about the way I live (learn more here) and now B”H I’m actually quite a calm person. But occasionally the anxiety comes back. Like it did this morning. I woke up with […]
Read MoreThe 5-Year-Old Cowherd
We hosted Nishmat’s Ethiopian program for Friday-night dinner this week. After the meat and rice, we did a round of names, and one of the young women, who seemed unusually mature and poised for a 20-year-old, introduced herself as Tadla. Like all the students, she told us what her name means and a bit about […]
Read MoreA Simple Way to Get Kids to Cooperate (9-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
Get kids to cooperate through clarifying your expectations.
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