Hello, all, I hope you had a good Yom Tov. My family went away for Pesach for the first time in years. It was the most refreshing change. There’s nothing like a vacation for helping everything come back together. The only downside was that my married siblings and their kids weren’t with us. A few highlights: We spent hours and hours …
(This will be my last post before Pesach. I’ll be back in business be”H on Monday, April 24th.) Seder night is coming. I didn’t think I would be single this year at the Seder. I didn’t expect this. Did you? The Nesivos Shalom says that the entire Seder night is an incredibly potent time to ask Hashem for anything. It …
A few days ago, I went to help a friend choose a setting for her engagement ring. It was fun to have a chance to try on different settings. Do you ever think about what your engagement ring will look like? This week, I’d go with an oval cut, set in a halo. Or how incredible would this heart be? Hey, …
We’re going to be enjoying a lot of matzah next week. Here are two kavanos to have in mind while eating matzah, not only at the Seder but throughout Yom Tov (from The Making of a Nation, the haggadah incorporating Rav Avigdor Miller’s speeches, also mentioned here.) Matzah is the bread of affliction. Our forefathers in Mitzrayim underwent suffering …
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 …
