When my son was born, his sister was six and a half. I had given away all the baby furniture and items, certain that I was finished with baby times. This time around, I knew that all the junk stores sell you is more about image and profit margin than about what we truly need. […]

The second time I celebrated Hanukkah with my non-Jewish in-laws was about two weeks before Christmas.  We just happened to all get together for dinner one night during the week of Hanukkah at my in-laws’ house.  A small gift was waiting for me, which was extremely thoughtful since we hadn’t planned on exchanging […]

When I was in college, still unsure of my sexual orientation, and chronically single, I tried to explain to my friends why my parents frowned upon me dating non-Jews.My friends, who were just trying to help me get over my lack-of –dating woes would say, “Why? I don’t get it. You’re liming yourself […]

Can anyone tell me what the Chanukah story is about?
As a social worker in the Boston-area Jewish community, I asked this question to a seventh grade girls’ Rosh Chodesh group at the local Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School last year. 
Quickly, the answer came: Chanukah means “dedication,” and the Chanukah story is about the rededication […]

Yesterday I was watching 22 guys tackle the crap out of each other on the picture tube. As television ratings dictate, chances are a couple of other readers were watching the football games as well.  You may not have been covered head-to-toe in mayonnaise like I was, but we can go into that in another […]

In the last four months, I moved halfway across the country, gotten engaged, started graduate school, and started going gray prematurely.  If that weren’t enough, I’m also trying to make new friends, earn money, volunteer, explore my new surroundings, and still have time to eat and sleep once in a while.  With all of these […]

I wish I had met my friend Liza ten years ago, when I was 18. Over dinner recently, she shared with me the best relationship advice I have ever heard.
Her advice was so simple, it was almost frightening that in my 10 years as a card-carrying member of the adult nation, I had […]

In the midst of planning my wedding, my fiancé and I decided to buy our first home. After three months of looking at dozens of houses, one that was so encased in mold the smell gave me a headache, we found the perfect house. We made offers back-and-forth with the sellers, closed, painted, and moved […]

I love autumn. Love it. The cooler weather, the sweaters, the wind, and the changing sunlight . . . it’s delicious. Living in Southern California for almost my entire life, you’d think I would lap up the long days of summer –but I don’t. In fact, I find summer days tedious, arrogant, […]

I’ve been struggling to understand God for ten years.
God never really made sense to me as a child—in day school when we “prayed to him” I imagined this old guy with a long white beard, in robes, sitting in a throne amongst the clouds, and we were praying to show our love, respect, and reverence […]