Linda Kriger
By Linda Kriger
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Culture IBD Patients Reveal Their Lonely Childhood Stories
Growing up can be hard under the best of circumstances. But try sharing with a friend your most intimate problem, one you secretly confront every day: that you live with a disease ravaging your waste disposal system. It’s a lonely journey, according to interviews with young people affected by Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, collectively…
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Culture Gut Wrenching Story: One Woman’s Struggle With Ulcerative Colitis
How shall I put this delicately? When we speak about the work of our gastrointestinal tract, which we rarely do, we use euphemisms. Nevertheless, I will plunge into precarious territory by being frank: I never had a friendly relationship with the toilet. From early childhood, my stool looked like hard pebbles. I was chronically constipated…
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News When Guys Are Good Friends, It’s Complicated
A few months ago, my husband, Jake, and his best friend were walking along the river in Philadelphia, deep in conversation. The friend had his hand on Jake’s shoulder. A car suddenly stopped. A group of teenagers yelled out, “FAGGOTS!” and screeched away. That’s one problem men confront when trying to be close friends. When…
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News Lending a Little Help to a Big Problem
For two weeks in June, my synagogue, the Germantown Jewish Centre, which is located in Northwest Philadelphia, housed 14 homeless people as part of a national interfaith effort to provide temporary housing for the homeless. GJC is among more than 65 synagogues around the country doing something to remedy at least a small portion of…
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Culture Jewish Farm School Gains Traction Among College Students
Rather than jet to tropical party capitals for spring break, about 105 Jewish college students are choosing to do something a little different during their time off. Some will be collecting maple sugar on the East Coast, while others will be working on organic farms in California. At the same time, they will learn about…
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News They Have Room to Spare for Those on Hospital Visits
I first encountered Hosts for Hospitals last year when a volunteer for the group promoted the program at my synagogue, the Germantown Jewish Centre, in Philadelphia. Hosts for Hospitals provides host homes to families with sick relatives so that they can avoid expensive and impersonal hotel stays while they travel to be near their loved…
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News Musing on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is bittersweet. During my childhood, I would get insanely excited about finding just the right gift and buying the most gushing card. As an angst-ridden adult, I dreaded the day and balked at sending a card to my estranged mother. It seemed too hypocritical to send one of those loving messages to someone…
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News Getting Past the Past
When my wedding photo was published in the Forward in 2002, it accompanied an article about creative Jewish rituals found online, including a blessing for children at the time of their parent’s remarriage. I remember thinking, as I looked at the photo, what’s so unusual about this? Oh, right. Most people don’t have their five…
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