HOME & FAMILY

It has always been the tendency for one generation to bemoan the deterioration of the upcoming generation. Taking this factor into account, experts in education have seen a dramatic decline in the learning abilities of students over the past 25 years. Many truisms no longer ring true and often, standard educational techniques are no longer effective.

BOOK REVIEW
My Sister, the Jew
by Ahuvah Gray
reviewed by Judith Weil

There is an anecdote, probably apocryphal, about a Rosh Mesivta who was teaching the gemora that states that Jewish identity depends on the female line. Hearing this, one of his students, so the story goes, fell onto the floor in a dead faint. On regaining consciousness, this student went straight to the Rov who took immediate steps to arrange for his conversion.

TIME and TIME Again
by Rosally Saltsman

I've been writing a lot about saving money. But I should be devoting equal time to... well... TIME. Money comes and goes. Tomorrow any one of us could win the lottery and all of our financial worries would be over. But Time is irreplaceable.

A Mathematical Dream
by Chava Dumas

Yes, you can chase away all your boogies, too. Confront your anxieties head-on. It's as simple as one-two-three.

Picture Perfect
by Shira Levy

Shimmy's face drooped as he walked slowly away.

"I did it again," I thought miserably as I put the last freshly washed cup onto the dish drainer. I knew it wasn't right but... why couldn't I stop myself? Honestly! He'd only come to show me the picture he'd made with sequins. A simple picture of a Chanuka dreidel, but in my impatience and... drivenness, I blurted out, "That's WAY too many sequins!"

Your Medical Questions Answered!
by Joseph B. Leibman, MD

As far as the body is concerned, the boss in the physical sense is the brain. To allow us to function, it usually communicates via electrical pathways called the nerves. However another pathway is chemical. By releasing chemicals, the brain is able to influence many systems at once instead of just the end organ that the nerve activates in an electrical pathway. These chemicals are called hormones and this release of chemicals is called the endocrine system.

Poet's Corner

The Reformed Perfectionist

by Ziporah Zien

I thought I could do anything, success was "frame of mind",
And everything was possible with satisfaction probable!
I've since been weaned of fantasies of matter over mind,
And witnessed torn asunder mind with matter under.
The years have made me fatter, their price was paid in kind,
Perfection is deceiving. I tried without achieving.

Now, here is sound advice for those whose lives are intertwined,
"Forsake Praise's empty clatter! Desist one's self to flatter!"
The truth is bound to bring relief! Hashem's the Force behind.
All human gains are His, my friend. He will not compromise your end.
He knows our every limit, Creator of mankind,
And gives us each a role to play, to strive, regardless, every day!

There is but One Perfection! He waits for us to find,
That we have all one truth to share, that none of us to Him compare!
Our humble, human striving in wreaths of light, He'll bind,
These crowns of glory, fashioned well, adorn His folk, Am Yisroel!

At grand celestial tables, these souls are wined and dined.

He grants success to those who know...
their place!
V'ain Od Milvado!