As a mom, and as a person of faith, I’m struggling to figure out what to tell Josie about Hurricane Katrina. Throughout the year, but especially around the High Holy Days, we ponder life and death, justice and mercy. Katrina — the hurricane and the human response to it — gives those issues special immediacy. But while some ofRead More
The other day, I yelled at Josie. Really yelled.She has asthma, and so she tends to have a serious, multiday bout of wheezing every couple of months. I hate these times. She gasps for breath, and her eyes get glassy. But I trust our asthma and allergy doc, and I think she’s getting the right drugs, and I know that if we took her to the emergencyRead More
Fortunately, Maxine is still young enough for her favorite toy to be the kitchen spatula. (Chew it! Bang it on the floor! Hurl it like a spinning ninja star in a Hong Kong action movie!) Josie, on the other hand, is becoming more discerning in her toy selection. We’re fortunate that she’s still pretty sheltered — she doesn’t knowRead More
It’s like one of those logic problems from the SAT: Travel with children is hell. Travel in this age of attractively color-coded terrorism alerts is hell. Therefore, travel with children in the age of attractively color-coded terrorism alerts is a special total-mega googolplex super-hell, much like the process of reading a BretRead More
My children, like all Jewish children, are very, very advanced. They can perform higher calculus and split the atom. They have a 10-point plan for peace in the Middle East. As we speak, Josie, age 3 3/4, is directing an avant-garde production of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” in the backyard (she acknowledges that her stuffedRead More
An unveiling is not a thrill. It’s sad, but also drab. And it’s sort of pro forma. It happens after the Kaddish period ends but before a full year elapses. You recite a psalm. You say “El Maleh Rahamim,” the prayer about God being compassionate. (Bad form to add, “Ha!” — even if in this context that’s what you’re thinking.)Read More
It’s always fun when celebrities weigh in on sociopolitical matters. As Britney said on CNN, “We should trust our president in every decision that he makes, and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.”Read More
I am my own bad middle-of-the-road radio station. I keep finding myself singing, “Hot town! Summer in the city/Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty.” No offense to The Lovin’ Spoonful, but at this point, belting out that old chestnut in public is like warbling “Yerushalayim shel Zahav” at the cool kids’ table at camp.Read More
It’ll be a strange Father’s Day chez nous — the first since my dad’s death, the first since we had Maxine. On the actual Big Day we’ll all be at the cemetery, at my father’s unveiling. Good times.It is a testament to my husband’s wonderfulness that he has not uttered one word of complaint about having to spend his premierRead More
God knows I’m no theologian. But as we approach Shavuot, I do think about the whole idea of revelation. I don’t care to hypothesize about whether God gave us the Torah all at once, in a big ol’ Sinai thunderclap, or whether Torah is given over and over as we discover new planets, create new poems, invent new widgets. I don’t know aboutRead More
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