When God Hands You a Rotten Apple
Did you hear the joke about the Arab and the Chassid? The Arab is trying to sell off some half-rotten apples in the market, and he tells the Chassid, “Sir, these are the best apples in the market! I guarantee you!” The Chassid glances quickly at the rotting pile of apples, and rushes off to […]
Read MorePost-Partum Depression: One Mother’s Story
The following is the final excerpt I will be featuring from Dr. Chana Katan’s wonderful book Woman’s Life. It’s late at night. The house is silent. Everyone’s sleeping. The baby fell asleep hours ago. For these past 2 hours she’s been trying to sleep, but instead she is tossing in her bed from side to […]
Read More“Hava Nagila” Propels Jewish Gymnast Aly Raisman to Olympic Finals
This week, 18-year-old Jewish gymnast Alexandra Raisman bypassed celebrity frontrunner Jordyn Wieber to the Olympic gymnastics finals by winning first place among the 82 competitors in the floor exercises competition. The song that accompanied her surprising victory was Hava Nagila (video below). Raisman, who received the Pearl D. Mazor Outstanding Female Jewish High School Scholar-Athlete […]
Read MoreAn Outsider’s View of YOU
One of Israel’s most famous baalei teshuva is Noa Yaron Dayan, who was a TV and radio celebrity before she became religious about 15 years ago. I just finished reading Dayan’s bestselling fictionalized autobiography, Mekimi (Am Oved), and I think it’s probably the most gorgeous book I have ever, ever read (sorry, at the moment […]
Read MoreThe Woman’s Perspective: Rabbi Elyashiv’s Daughters and Daughters-in-Law Share Memories
I’ve read a bunch of articles about Rabbi Elyashiv since he passed away, but the truth is the article I REALLY wanted to read was one I wasn’t finding; an article about Rabbi Elyashiv written from a woman’s perspective. And then journalist Shiffy Friedman sent me this article based on her interviews with the Rabbi’s […]
Read MoreRabbi Elyashiv Junior
Michelle gave birth a few floors up and a few hours after the passing of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l. So naming her newborn baby boy was pretty much a no-brainer. At yesterday’s bris, Michelle and her husband Nati named their son Yonatan Elyashiv. Elyashiv after the great Torah scholar who died on the same […]
Read MoreThe Baby with a Cleft Lip
Dr. Chana Katan writes in her new book “Woman’s Life”: “Ilana, one of the most beautiful and vibrant women I’ve ever met, told me that when she was still in the delivery room, in the first stages of recuperating after her birth, the doctor told her, “Your daughter has a cleft lip. Why didn’t you […]
Read MoreThe Day the Arabs Stopped Using Birth Control
Over 1400. That is the number of descendants left behind by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l when he passed away last week at 102. I know this sounds incredible, but if, over the course of 4 generations every family has 6 children, then the number of resulting great-grandchildren is 1300 (actually 1296, get out your […]
Read MoreMeet Chaya Mushka, Again and Again (4-Minute Sweet Video)
About the many, many Lubavitch girls named Chaya Mushka after the Lubavitcher Rebbetzin, Chaya Mushka Schneerson…This made me smile:)
Read MoreRegrets of a Doctor and Mother of 13 Kids…
My mom’s a doctor, and I think she did a great job of balancing motherhood and her medical career. When we were in school, she worked part-time so she was always home by 4. And now, even as she approaches 70, my mom continues to love her career as a psychiatrist with a large private […]
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