The grief of the past few days has been unimaginable.  Many of us are torn between watching and listening to the 24/7 onslaught of media coverage and the desire to turn off everything imaginable and run away into a world where horrific events could never ever

In the opening chapters of Exodus, we read about a Jewish man who failed to circumcise his son. Aside from incurring God’s wrath by not having a brit milah, or ritual circumcision, he failed to uphold the oldest Jewish ritual of the Bible that had started with

When I lead Jewish grandparenting discussion groups, the topic of creating an extended interfaith family often arises.

In raising my two daughters, I had always hoped they would have courage to face life challenges with confidence and character.

Originally posted on November 10, 2010 at Kim's Little Blog.

My mother died, and she wasn’t Jewish.  I am, and sometime after I converted, it occurred to me to wonder, “Will I sit shivashivaשִׁבְעָהSeven-day mourning period that begins on the day of burial. when my mom passes away?" The word shiva comes from the Hebrew word for

My husband was working late, so my son and I had a thrown-together dinner of leftover pasta, yogurt, and carrots. I added one touch, store-bought challah, to give our table a semblance of Shabbat.

The sight of the braided bread was enough to spark my 4-year-old

Tomorrow, my oldest child begins kindergarten, and I’m not sure who’s more nervous. My sweet, sensitive, 95-year-old-Jewish-man-trapped–in-the-body-of-5-year-old son has expressed numerous concerns, ranging from: “What if I don’t make friends?” to “Where will the bathrooms be?” I tell him not to worry, that it won’t be so different from his cherished preschool in my synagogue (where everyone knows him, where is he most comfortable outside of our home) - but I know it will be completely new and very different.

As in many families, we found that the grip of electronics in the lives of our children was becoming tighter. This was not a good thing. In the mornings, our children would claim that they were not hungry for breakfast so they could watch TV.