Today is the day after Passover and everything goes back to normal. Last night we were up late washing and drying dishes, putting away the Passover dishes and taking out the regular dishes, stripping the beds from the company that stayed with us for the holiday, and starting on the mounds of laundry that always … Read more
Tomorrow is Tu B’Shvat, the annual holiday of trees. Although this day was well known in Jewish sources for centuries, since the beginning of the 20th century, when Jews began returning to the Land of Israel in large numbers, this day took on greater significance. The early Zionist pioneers found a desolate land, with a … Read more
December 2009 We had parent teacher conferences on Sunday for my 14 year old son Avraham. Avraham’s our first boy after four daughters, so choosing a high school for him had been a new experience. Dormitory schools are pretty standard, especially for boys, and I tried not to be insulted that my independent son happily … Read more
April 2011 Just last night, Jews from all over the world sat down to the Pesach Seder, the festive meal that opens the Passover holiday. It is a culmination of weeks of preparation and anticipation. Everyone—young and old, religiously observant and secular—sits down at their holiday table, whether at a communal Seder at a hotel … Read more
September 2011 There’s been an emptiness in my life recently and I tried figuring out why. At first, I thought it was because my household recently emptied out dramatically. My daughter and son-in-law moved back to their own house after living with me for two weeks with their two-year-old and their brand new baby… my … Read more
August 2011 I remember that day as if it were yesterday, and almost feel again those pains in my stomach and in my heart… the day we left America to move to Israel. At that point we had been living for a few weeks at my mother’s house, because the cargo lift with all our … Read more
February 2011 Too many of us know, from personal experience, what it’s like when someone close to us is diagnosed with a serious illness. You feel like you have to do something… everything and anything possible in order to help. You go to the best doctors in that field; you ask for a second opinion, … Read more
March 2011 I can’t get those faces of the Fogel family out of my mind. Udi and Ruth, the mother and father, little Yoav and Elad the sons, and Hadas the baby girl. Friday night, two knife-wielding terrorist monsters infiltrated the Samaria community of Itamar, just outside of Shechem, and slaughtered these five members of … Read more