‘It’s comin’ on Christmas / They’re cuttin’ down trees / They’re putting up reindeer / And singing songs of joy and peace.…” I grew up obsessed with Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album, lustily singing along with every track, mournfully noting how sad it was that she made her baby cry, during Christmas of all times. So…
Those of us who are used to reading the latest entries from Rabbi Daniel Gordis on his “Dispatches From an Anxious State” blog were surprised over the weekend to see him posting on Facebook about a different type of anxiety. Instead of commenting on Zionism, Israel and politics, as he usually does, Gordis shared with…
It’s just the prize that every seven-year-old girl wants. Not a teen-pop record or a Barbie doll, but a sticker with the faces of her male contemporaries. Take kids to the physician here in Israel and they are often rewarded for their cooperation with a sticker. If you belong to the Clalit health maintenance organization,…
Before my daughter was born, I believed I understood rules. I was sure how I’d act, as a parent, when my child was acting out. I knew, with the great certainty of the uninitiated, what I would do with a kid and what I would not. Now I understand these things, too, but the rules…
These essays were written by writers for New Voices Magazine, the national Jewish student magazine. For more essays on this theme, go to the New Voices website. Joshua Walfish What started as a beautiful, sunny day in Rockville, Md. ended with images of darkness that will be etched in my mind for the rest of…
Mazel tov to Natalie Portman, the new mother of a baby boy. Details remain scarce about the arrival of the infant, who was delivered less than a week after his mom’s 30th birthday. The actress plans to marry the baby’s French father, dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied, later this year. The pair met on the…
It was a tall order, but an Israeli couple has come up with a baby name even weirder than Mariah Carey’s. Lior and Vardit Adler have named their third child “Like,” as in the Facebook term for something you approve of. “I didn’t want to call my daughter by the name of someone I know,…
My 3-year-old daughter clambers into the car at the end of a long day, asks me what’s for dinner. When I tell her turkey burgers, her voice gets hopeful. “We cook it?” No, I made it the night before. But, she reminds me that we bought the ingredients together in the store. As I begin…
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