The Jerusalem Bombing: My Terrifying Personal Experience
“Jenny, where are all the kids?” my husband asked me in a voice tense with panic just after 3 PM this past Wednesday afternoon. My husband had heard the boom. And standing there together in our home, we both heard the sirens. Four kids home safe. Our oldest daughter wouldn’t be finishing school for another […]
Read MoreGetting to the Point by Anna Quindlen
Did I ever tell you that, in general, I try to only post things on this blog that make me laugh or make me cry? So I was looking all over this morning for something so wonderful and moving and true that it brought tears to my eyes or laughter to my lips, and I […]
Read MoreMy Upside Down Purim: Reflections on Rivka bat Yael
What an upside-down world we received this Purim. From Egypt to Libya. From Japan to Syria. Totally Nahafochu* just like in the days of Esther and Mordechai. And I personally attended a real Nahafochu Megila reading this Purim. At the megilla reading, I sat next to a mother who just a year ago was reeling […]
Read MoreThe Week’s Peptalk: The Professor’s Awakening
I didn’t manage to make a new peptalk this week, what with Purim and all, so I’m reposting one of my all-time favorites. I especially love this peptalk because I know that it convinced at least one Jewish woman to finally have a baby after a few years of marriage. By the way, we just […]
Read MoreThe Marshmallow Test
Stanford University researchers discovered that one of the best predictors of success in school and life is a child’s ability to delay gratification and wait 15 whole minutes to eat a marshmallow. This video below of young children trying like the dickens to overcome the urge to eat a marshmallow is very funny, and also […]
Read MoreMazal Tov to Ohad Van Leeuwen!
Who in the world is Ohad Van Leeuwen? Well, even if you don’t recognize his name, there’s a good chance that you will recognize his voice. Ohad is the angel-voiced child singing the sweet love song to Shabbat in the video below with his uncle, singer Aaron Razel. And today I will be hearing now […]
Read MoreAn Interview with 12-Year-Old Tamar Fogel
A week ago Tamar Fogel* was just another 12 year old whose greatest worry was what to dress up as for Purim this year. But that was 8 days and a lifetime ago… This moving video below is of an interview conducted last week with Tamar Fogel, the oldest child of the Fogel family of […]
Read MoreMy Husband’s JewishMOM.com Debut:When Yoel got Lost
I so loved this article my husband, Joshua, wrote about the time Yoel got lost at synagogue. Enjoy! The routine is familiar: it is half an hour before candle lighting and I am in the kitchen, white shirt untucked, drinking a quick coffee, and moving a pot of chicken soup from the stove to the […]
Read MoreRemembering Chagit bat Leah
My dear friend, Chagit bat Leah Lozon, passed away this past Thursday after a 2-year battle with cancer. When she died, she was only 39-years-old and a devoted wife and mother to 5 children ranging between the ages 3 and 11. During the hundreds of afternoons that Chagit and I shared at the neighborhood playground, […]
Read MoreOn the Bus to the Shiva: Reflections on a Tragic Adar
Am I the only person who feels this week like the world is totally falling apart? The bestial Itamar massacre of a holy Jewish mother, father and their 3 small children, the Japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster that have killed thousands and put the lives of 10s of 1000s more people in danger, and in […]
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