HOME & FAMILY

The festivities are over, everyone has gone home and suddenly, the two of you are alone, as you were thirty, or forty years ago. It does not take you as long to shop, cook and plan meals for the two of you as it did in those early years.

On Shoes and Schools
by Bayla Gimmel

It is time for my eighteen-month-old grandson to get his first pair of sandals. His first shoes were traditional white high-tops with laces. Those were relatively easy to buy.

The Perfect Mom
by Batya Jacobs

Is there anyone out there who really feels that title fits them? Anyone -- even if they have read every kosher parenting book that was printed, or attended every parenting group and course within a five hundred kilometer radius of their house, even if they have given parenting groups to everyone within a five hundred kilometer radius of their house?

Saga of a Returning Seminary Girl
by Debby Friedman

Part I

This true story happened many years ago, before the age of credit cards and modern telecommunications technology that would have settled this story without the drama. Though I am now a grandmother, I will never forget the Hand of Hashem that guided me safely home from my seminary year in Eretz Yisroel.

Kosher Buys
by Rosally Saltsman

The fact that I have a supermarket, a bakery, a pizzeria and two grocery stores literally within two minutes walking distance from my apartment, all containing 100% kosher food with a plethora of hechsherim, makes me forget the difficulties of keeping kosher abroad.

Flowering Societies
by Gita Gordon

A weed is a flower that is growing in the wrong place.

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

My good friend asked about his newborn who had some shaking spells of his arms. While this can be a sign of birth defects and problems in brain development, this is usually apparent at birth in the nursery. Sepsis -- severe bacterial infection -- can also be a cause.

POET'S CORNER

Me

by Drora Matlofsky

No tzadekes,
No superwoman with a spotless house,
No super-creative, patient and inspirational mother,
Not a chef, not a teacher,
Not a decorator,
Not a Nobel Prize writer,
Or a linguistic genius,
Not the greatest musician,
The greatest poet,
Nor the woman of your dreams,
Or of mine.
Just me

Time of Day

by Sara Gutfreund

This is my favorite time of day
The first rays of sunlight
And the songs of the birds
The excited voices of awakening children
And the tiny footsteps that echo down the hallway
The smell of coffee fills the kitchen
And the branches of the willow tree dance.

Thank You Hashem for the morning.

This is my favorite time of day
The laundry drying in the sun
And the laughter of children in the park
The soft breathing of the napping baby
And the rumble of buses outside the window
The smell of onions frying, chicken baking
And the midday sky is a startling blue.

Thank You Hashem for the afternoon.

This is my favorite time of day
The drawing down of shades
And the quieting of the streets
The darkness that settles over the mountains
And the fireflies playing in the grass
The smell of jasmine wafts through the window
And the moon glows it honey-colored light.

Thank You Hashem for the evening.