As I was serving buckwheat for dinner tonight, my super-picky 10-year-old had a novel idea. “Mom,” she said, “I’ve decided to think of all the food you serve as man [as in Biblical food in the desert]. The man tasted like anything people wanted it to taste, so I’ll think I am eating passion fruit [...]
Posts under ‘Judaism’
Shavuot – the Holiday of Unity?
Have you ever watched your kids fight? I am always amazed by their ability to go from scratch-bite-hit to hug-love-play in five seconds flat. No matter how hard they clash, after the fight is over, there are no grudges left. After all, they are siblings, so once the issues are resolved, there is nothing to [...]
What Your Car Can Teach You (With Some Help from Up There)
Here’s a real story from tonight. I was returning from a PTA meeting at my son’s school with a car full of neighbors. At one point, we saw a car parked smack in the middle of the street while the driver was animatedly talking to somebody. I flashed the lights, but the guy didn’t pay [...]
Dead Ends as Opportunities
It all began a couple of weeks ago, when my husband asked our friendly neighbourhood carpenter to turn a large bookcase in the guest room into two smaller units. For various reasons, we couldn’t schedule a time for the carpenter to come by and dismantle the unit, until finally he called Thursday morning and came [...]
Easy Passover Dessert
A couple of years ago, my mother gave me the gift of my dreams – an ice cream machine. We’ve been using it a lot for making coffee slurpees and frozen yogurt, but last week I had to do something with our passion fruit harvest, and so we had Passion Fruit Orange Sorbet for Shabbat.
Truth [...]
Passover Alert: Bugs in Your Lettuce
With Passover just around the corner, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel published the results of laboratory tests, which checked the presence of bugs in lettuce and celery marketed as being bug-free. In a radio interview, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who spearheaded the initiative, said that some packages of “insect-free” lettuce had as many as 500 bugs [...]
Passover Cleaning with Serenity
Every year as Passover approaches, Rav Shlomo Aviner publishes his Guide to Passover Cleaning in One Day. The motto of the guide is that dirt is not chametz and children are not the Pesach sacrifice.
In a similar vein, last week, the Jewish Women’s Project for Ahavas Yisrael, which organizes learning groups for women, sent out [...]
The Story of a Modern-day “Evyon”
A few days ago I received an extremely poignant reminder of the true nature of Purim from a friend of mine, which I am reprinting here with her generous permission. The author wishes to remain anonymous. I am truly speechless.
I am extremely saddened and shocked over the unfortunate news I received today of the passing [...]
Homemade Purim Costume Ideas
Yesterday, while looking through a family album, I spotted some pictures of homemade Purim costumes I have made over the years. I don’t particularly like store-bough costumes, so over the years I have gathered many original Purim costume ideas to dress up my kids. Homemade costumes are cheaper, more versatile, and more fun than the [...]
Family-Work – Is there a Balance?
This week’s Matzav Haruach (a Shabbat newspaper popular in the religious Zionist community) published a story recently related by former Knesset member Gila Finkelstein from the National religious Party. Apparently, before Mrs. Finkelstein decided to take part in the previous Knesset elections, she and her husband consulted Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. Rabbi Eliyahu started the meeting [...]
