Yaakov’s Missing Tsitsit
I woke up this morning, for various reasons, even more tired than usual. Which meant that when I noticed Yaakov’s Fireman Sam t-shirt had a tomato seed dried onto its left shoulder, instead of walking up 18 steps to get a new shirt, I just scratched off the seed. A little red blotch on a […]
Read MoreMy Big Head
For a year or so I’d been dreaming about it. About my entire family coming over from America and Canada for Moriah’s bat mitzvah. My parents, my brother and his family, and (for the first time ever) my sister and her family, as well as my mother-in-law and cousin. And the family visit exceeded my […]
Read MoreMoriah’s Bat Mitzvah
Hold up your right hand with the palm facing you, and squish your fingers close together. Now imagine trying to hold a basketball in that clenched hand. Hard to imagine, right? Now put up your hand again, and stretch out the fingers as wide as you can. You could even hold a basketball in that […]
Read MoreA Moment of Kavana (3-Minute Music Video)
I discovered this sweet husband-wife singing duo, who call themselves “Yonina,” before Pesach, and since then I have become a big fan! This song below is about the happiness and meaning and passion we can discover in our lives through living a life of mindfulness, savoring each “rega mechuvan”–each moment of our lives with kavana. […]
Read MoreHealing Parenting Guilt (8-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
What’s the parenting call you would give anything to reverse?
Read MoreAs Holy as the Kotel
The following is a quote from the wonderfully inspirational newly-released book House of Diamonds [Feldheim]. Author Fay Klein writes: “Where is the best place in the world for spiritual connection for a woman? “If you entered ‘palpable spirituality” into your GPS, where would it lead you? “One might think that the Land of Israel is […]
Read MoreThe Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch wrote: “The fate of human beings, their success or failure, is decided neither in the chambers of rulers not on the battlefield. “It is not decided in business concerns, in colleges and institutes of arts and sciences, or in houses of worship. “It is sealed in one place–in the parental home… […]
Read MoreWhy I Lied to the Teacher
When I was growing up, one year my father sent in money to the IRS to contribute towards the social security of our family’s cleaning lady. A few months later, the IRS returned the money, saying my father didn’t have to pay taxes for her. But my father sent the money back, writing a letter […]
Read MoreRemembering Poetess Sorah Rosenblatt OBM
Last week in Ami magazine, author Sarah Shapiro wrote about her long-time writing group member and friend, poet Sorah Rosenblatt OBM, who passed away this year. In Sarah’s article, I discovered that Sorah Rosenblatt and I have quite a lot in common. We are both baalot teshuvah, from Baltimore, stay-at-home mothers/writers, living in Jerusalem (though […]
Read MoreMy Last Diaper (10-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
Reflections on changing my last diaper and the 1% solution.
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