Do you remember getting your first glasses? I do. I was six when my Mom took me into a dark office, where a doctor placed a gigantic piece of equipment on my nose and told me to read off signs of dogs, boats, and cups from a chart, as he kept changing the lenses. I [...]
Posts from ‘December, 2009’
A Light for Greytowers – Movie Review
On the first night of Chanuka, I took my 13-year-old daughter to the Jerusalem Cinematheque screening of A Light for Greytowers. Although the Jewish-themed musical was advertised as playing for women only, several men did make their way into the audience (most of them left fairly quickly – the movie was clearly made with women [...]
The Gilad Shalit Deal as a Mirror of the Israeli Society
The discourse over the anticipated deal with Hamas to free Gilad Shalit has become the center of Israel’s public agenda in recent weeks. Although I oppose the release of some one thousand terrorists, which will only serve to whet Hamas’s appetite and encourage additional kidnappings, the very fact that the Israeli government would even consider [...]
Twitteleh – Twitter for Jewish Children (and their Moms)
As a proud Jewish mother (whose kids aren’t old enough to use Twitter yet), I highly recommend Twitteleh (thank you to Itamar for sharing this).
More on cholent cloth bags
Following my post about cholent, I have received inquiries about buying muslin bags in Israel.
From my experience, these sakiyot lebishul mebad are available at most health food stores. You can also order them online, for example here and here.
As to care, I have found the dishwasher to be the best way to clean the bags [...]
Chanuka in Russia
This Chanuka, I’ll be going to Russia to visit my 96-year-old grandmother. If the book of Job were to be staged in the 20th century, my grandmother would have been the perfect candidate for the role. Widowed at the age of 23 (her husband was put to death by the Stalin regime for “sabotaging” the [...]
Twitter Challa
It has become a routine. Each Thursday my neighbour calls to ask whether I’ll be baking challa come Friday. I usually answer in the affirmative and in return get a name of a sick person to pray for while separating challa. The whole project of organizing 40 women each week is spearheaded by an [...]
Fun Chanukah Salt Dough Project
My kids came home with an assignment to create a chanukiya (chanukah menorah) for the school’s annual competition. After lots of deliberations, we decided to do it together from homemade salt dough.
We used the leftovers to make magnets, by creating shapes with cookie cutters and pasting fridge magnets on the back.
Salt dough recipe:
4 cups flour
1 [...]
Delayed gratification linked to success in life
As a mother of five, fostering my children’s self-discipline is high on the priority list. Today, I came across a clip, which cites scientific evidence for something most parents know intuitively – self-discipline at a young age is a crucial predictor of success and happiness in adulthood.
To me, making a four-year-old wait 15 minutes in [...]
‘Tis the Season to Eat Cholent
Winter is here and with it the annual cholent season. While the long months of the Israeli summer make the very thought of a heavy meat meal (and an extra heat source) unthinkable, cholent is the perfect winter comfort food.
For anyone unfamiliar with this masterpiece of Jewish inventiveness, cholent (chamin in Hebrew) is a stew [...]
