I spend a decent amount of time researching children’s books and games for my job. Seeing as you may have nieces or siblings or cousins or someone’s little kids to shop for, and it is afikoman season, after all, here is a round-up of items that would make great gifts. I love the Bunny Peek-a-Boo brain game. It’s clever and fun and …
Miriam Kosman wrote an article that appeared several years ago in the Family First, entitled “How Cleaning the Refrigerator Helps Us Come Closer to Hashem.” I derived tremendous inspiration from her words at the time, and clipped the article to refer to again. Recently I found Mrs. Kosman’s website (I’m reading her book with my Partner in Torah) and there was …
Sometimes on a date, it can be hard to think of meaningful questions in the moment. I decided to compile a list of dating conversation topics to help myself out, and it ended up becoming such a fun writing exercise. (I did a lot of this on the beach.) So, here it is…conversation topics to help you get to know …
Do you like to choose a new haggadah for Pesach? Or do you prefer to use the same one each year? A few years ago I felt that I was rolling into Pesach without being particularly prepared or inspired. I was peeling lots of potatoes and cooking my specialties (namely, broccoli kugel and blondies) but feeling intimidated at the thought of …
What wakes you up in the morning? I just made the switch from using my smartphone alarm to using a good old-fashioned alarm clock and I can feel a difference in the length and quality of my sleep. I was reading The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin (I have mixed feelings about that book) and one of Gretchen’s January goals was …
A few weeks ago, I went to an open rehearsal of the New York City Philharmonic. I wanted to go for a while and all of my friends had work that day (and to be perfectly honest, a Philharmonic rehearsal might not be most of my friends’ idea of fun ;-)). I think I was the youngest member of the …
My younger cousins and I have a tradition. Whenever I go to their house for Shabbos, I bring along a stack of picture books from the library to read with them. Everyone (especially me) looks forward to cozying on the couch and looking through the books I brought. It’s a simple way to connect with my cousins who are a lot younger than me and spend …
I wanted to respond to an essay that appeared in the Purim edition of the Binah. (Okay, I really started this blog to respond to “singlehood” articles printed in frum publications. Sort of kidding, sort of not.) The essay (“Making The Choice”) by Devorah Schick is written from the perspective of an older sister to Tehila, who is single …
Over the past six or seven years, as my family grew up, Purim in my house changed. It became quieter, more orderly and peaceful. There’s no preschool megillah of Esky Cook illustrations strung across the dining room doorway, no smiling Queen Esther and scowling Haman gazing at the proceedings. (Apparently this really dates us.) There are no cap-guns and pop-snappers …
I’m the one who keeps track of everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries in my extended family. I don’t really remember when this started but at some point a few years ago, I sent out a group email to get all the dates and put them into a calendar which I emailed around. Everyone loved having all the dates in one place …
