HOME & FAMILY

"It's Your Turn! Effective Strategies for a Fulfilling Life" -- a powerful message in modern-day terms, with modern-day technology, is being promoted by Monsey-based BNOS MELOCHIM in fifty communities in six continents throughout the world.

A Front Row Seat
by Rivka Glick

"I let myself lose contact with everyone, with all those wonderful women who had been so kind to me. And you're not even going to believe why. It was because of the cakes..."

The power of Tehillim, legacy of Dovid Hamelech.

Potential Energy
by Bayla Gimmel

Well, Pesach 5764 -- as lovely as it was -- has become another entry in our collective memory bank. Now we are sorting through our cookbooks for cheesecake recipes as we pepare for Shavuos.

An Oven for Cheesecake
a true story by Altee Waldman

Henny surveyed the two bedrooms with satisfaction. All her belongings were in place. Now where should she put the empty suitcases?

In-laws and Customs
by A. Ross, M.Ed.

Naomi and Ruth -- the ultimate in-law relationship

So What's So Special About Being a Teenager?
by Sudy Rosengarten

Maybe it's because you want to fly but have no wings... But being a teenager means that you do have wings and that you can fly...

Tikkun: Giving Your Child a Chance to Grow
by Sue Shapiro

Close your eyes and imagine each child holding an object that symbolizes his strong point: a book for the studious one, a flower for the affectionate one, a clock for the efficient one... Now change the image...

Don't make your children feel it's out of character for them to be multi- faceted.

Keep Smiling

Short inspirational pieces by Avrohom Tzvi Schwartz, Kiryat Sefer, author of A Handful of Light, Hearts on Fire and other works on Mussar and Hashkofa.

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

Wire service articles about medical issues can be problematic. These articles generally look at one trial, and ask one or two various experts to comment. Invariably the response is positive and a miracle drug or procedure is unfolding. It just doesn't work that way, my friends.

POET'S CORNER
How does an obedient daughter behave after she converts to Judaism and finds she can't give her parents the satisfaction they would prefer? If they don't have Jewish values, she is incapable of pleasing both them and her Creator.

How can she reconcile her love for them with her rejection of what they hold dear, their religion? Here, Providentially, Hashem provided one kind of answer.

The conflicts of a convert.

Once

by T. T.

Once upon a rosy dawn I saw my mother smile,
She counted all my pudgy toes and played with me a while,
Then tucked me snugly in my bed and taught me how to pray,
But that was half a century and many miles away.

Once upon a bright blue sky I flew to greet the world,
The passages from here to there gave life a merry twirl,
My mother followed breathlessly the paths where I did stray,
Throughout that quarter century and several seas away.

Once upon a summer's heat I landed on my head,
My feet would now remove me from the paths which I had tread,
The intellect would dominate and hold opinion's sway
While this half century my life did mold and whisk away.

Once upon an evening call my father paused to cry,
It seems my mother lost her sense of memories gone by,
She'll never know: his face adorns a husband old and gray,
For half a century ago is how she feels today.

Once upon a chat we'd lost the thread which ties allow,
She wants to see her parents and forgets who she is now.
Her once familiar home became a place she hates to stay,
She lives for half a century and many moons away.

Once in an eternity I'll answer up on high,
I chose a path which mother's strict religion did decry,
Which subjects: conversations could our severed lives relay
To heal that half a century and bridge those miles away?

It seems a Greater Power has decided just what's best,
She'll never ache to know her child left home at His behest.
The pain will never surface to reveal I did betray
Her love from half a century, eternities away.

Am I but left to wrangle paradoxical melees?
I've reconciled my childhood with mature and Jewish ways.
A pity I'm not capable my mother to repay,
For life: a blessed century and twenty, so they say!

Yesterday

by Sara Gutfreund

Yesterday I dreamed of you
Your yard full of evergeens and your lavender bedroom
I dreamed of your lemon and green kitchen
and the chocolate-covered marshmallows you keep in your freezer
I dreamed of the blue and red swing set in our backyard
and I saw you standing on the porch, calling me to dinner.
I dreamed of the white shul and the wooden Aron Kodesh
and I saw us praying beside each other, holding the generations
I dreamed of you blessing me at my wedding, tears running down your face
and I saw you dancing in your navy gown, circling everyone into your joy
I dreamed of you singing and laughing with my babies
and I saw you swaying before your Shabbos candles, whispering names into your hands.

Yesterday I looked up towards the mountains
Who will comfort me?
But of course I know
The Creator of Heaven and Earth will hold me
For that is what you teach me
He Who created, creates and will always create
Will hold our yesterdays and give us our tomorrows.

Pilgrimage

by Mindy Barad

J acarandas in full purple bloom
E everyone in festive garb
R eturn O Israel
U pward to Mt. Moriah
S havuos holiday begins
A ll gathered
L aden with first fruits
E nter the palace of the King
M ighty tiny nation.