HOME & FAMILY

It doesn't really matter the age. Our little boys, our budding talmidei chachomim -- so sweet, so pure, and working so hard in cheider -- of course allowances just have to be made.

"Hey, Brother!"
by Ruth Fogelman

Yosef

"Hey, Brother, how ya doin?" That's how I first greeted him at the Central Bus Station. I'd never seen him before, but there was an immediate attraction to the tall, dark-haired youth, about my own age, who stood in front of me.

SomeOne is Helping You to Walk
a (true?) story by A. Lapid

Part One

Round the Latke Platter

Something very domestic hovered in the atmosphere of the tiny shared kitchenette.

Don't Cast Me Off in Old Age
as told to Esther Weil

Part II

Alzheimer's is an unpleasant illness both for the victim and for those attending him. Tzivia, whose mother has Alzheimer's, copes with the problems it poses every day, twenty-four hours a day. Tzivia has three children and directs a nursery in the mornings. Her mother has been living with her for the past three years. Let's listen to Tzivia.

Does Tightening Our Belt Include Chanuka Gelt?
by Rosally Saltsman

Adapted from an article by S. Friend

While we're waiting for an economic miracle, can we make the earnings of one day last for eight?

Chocolate Chanuka Gelt
Two Sides of the Chocolate Coin
by Raizel Foner

I used to think of chocolate as Hashem's kiss to His beloved children. It's not a necessity of life, but it's a little something `extra' because He loves us and wants to pamper us with sweetness and joy in life.

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

A few random notes. Winter is upon us, and this makes us think about winter immunizations. I am in favor of the flu vaccine, even for small children. The flu season is rumored to be rougher this year. Varilax, the vaccine for chicken pox is also recommended, even though it is made by our sponsor, and as such it may seem that I am biased. I did immunize all my children, who did not have chicken pox.

POET'S CORNER

Yavne

by Rebbetzin S. Susser

Vespasian astride the land
By Roman cohorts scorched, he scanned
A rebel outpost brutalized
An ancient heritage despised.
Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai

Witness for the persecuted
Heavens advocate, saluted
Martial rigor, purple shrouded
Lifted eyes compassion clouded.
Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai

Spoke "The light of Israel" daring
Holy prophecy declaring
"Send us to arid Yavne, Sire
My sages crushed have one desire."
Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai

"Revive triumphant learning, lore,
Academies and schools, restore
To pristine glory Israel's name
Our Torah legacy reclaim."
Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai

Girding strength, the Rabbi slowly
Bearing sages stricken lowly
From degradation gently led
The righteous remnant Rome had bled.
Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai

Rainbow

by Ziporah Zien

Gossamer the bands, hardly perceptible the hues.
Graduated shades of purplish reds and violet blues!
Fading greens and yellows. Are they real, or just a ruse?

Why should I have the right to thus regard the show on high?
Why do the blackened nights not yield this sight in rainy skies?
Does this portend a blessing, or an evil, swift demise?

Vast and empty dome, replete with air and rainy drops.
Why must I be sole witness till the sunshine fades and stops?
Such bright and splendid glory, as some cloud the heaven mops!

Now, look before the chance to see it hurries quickly on!
Make haste and make a blessing now, before the bands are gone!
The bow, which transforms light and whips the colored arrows down!

In hesitation man is held. In awe of sacred space!
Does anyone else see this sight from any other place,
Or was it meant to show each, privately, his own disgrace?

A promise, nay a covenant, which hails from ancient skies!
Remember, Earth and Seas, mankind once lived with hate and lies!
If ever yet they should forget, the rainbow will chastise!

The rain will fall to show His love and great forgiving grace!
If man were good, the rain would fall at night without a trace,
But when he sins, the rains drag down the light with studied pace.

And as the drops' incrimination punctuates the day,
A stumbling folk accommodates their plans for work and play.
This largesse benefits both rich and poor along its way.

Do any of them notice nature's neon flashing sky?
This ribbon arch is stretching out as far as eye can spy.
It quietly will beckon mankind's penitent reply.

When was the last time we refrained from judging fellow Jews?
Do we restrict our loves and tastes according to the news?
Just tell me, who's responsible for paying sinner's dues?

Each and every one of us is shown the path he treads.
With everlasting patience, He prepares the roads ahead
And quietly looks down to peek as drops from clouds are shed.

How can we fathom infinite, Divine primeval light?
The human psyche's limits tend to magnify his plight.
For only Heaven's mercy gives us time to get it right.

His hope-filled vision wields the shades of color on the breeze
And Heaven's prism thus adjusts and tempers the decrees.
The varied hues convey His love in varying degrees.