I have been swimming for the past 20 years, but I never consider myself a swimmer. To my mind, swimmers are people who were on a swim team when they were […]
Rituals for Transition
While the end of the school year signals the transition to summer, this year it also signals the transition to something deeper – living life ‘in person’ again – or […]
Cultivating Our Sons’ Emotional Lives
I love hearing my kids talk about their future selves. My daughter will wonder aloud, “How many kids do you think I will have?” I catch my son saying sometimes, […]
More Unconditional Love
The last day of school is coming up. Slowly but surely, we will call it a wrap on one of the most challenging school years to date. But we made […]
Baseless Love
Summer is almost here! There’s a funny thing about how we experience time these days. One dimension of our lives is moving toward summer. We are finishing up the school […]
Living “Both… And” Lives
So many of us have “both… and” identities. We are both daughters/sons and mothers/fathers. We are both dedicated to our work and value our home lives. Sometimes our “both… and” […]
Turning Toward, Not Away
Among our Shabbat guests this past Friday night, were two teenagers – a brother and a sister. Their parents are in the States for a while and when I asked […]
Keeping faith even when afraid
As I woke up to write this missive today, I read about rioting in the streets of Lod, rockets falling over Tel Aviv and retaliatory strikes over Gaza. Jerusalem has […]
Thank You Mothers
I spend so much of my time thinking about my identity as a mother. But in these days leading up to Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 9th, I am moved […]
Flexing Different Muscles
Given the recent violence in Israel between extremist groups, and the relative youth of those who were swept up in the violence, I am moved to write this week about […]
We are always in process
I wanted to give you a sneak peek of a piece I wrote for Limmud North America’s initiative 49 Steps: Jewish Ideas in your inbox from Passover to Shavuot. The […]
An Insight Around Boundary Setting
There’s a phrase from the Haggadah that I have glossed over every Passover, but this year, as I prepare for the seder, it struck me. We were slaves to Pharaoh […]
A Simple Passover Activity
With Passover just over a week away, I want to share a memory from a year ago. I am sitting with my immediate family on our coach. My kids, looking […]
The Power of a Good Question
We used to live in a world of answers. We knew when we put dates on our calendars, they happened. We knew school would be open in the morning and that our kids would […]
Open yourself to the transition
I think a lot about transitions when it comes to my kids. For one of my children, it’s quite hard. Each moment expands and takes on its own meaning, its […]
Here’s to Laughter!
Purim is here! Finally, we get to laugh a little!!! Author Anne Lamott is quoted as saying, “Laughter is a bubbly, effervescent form of holiness” she even calls it “subversive.” […]
Worry Less, Rejoice More
You know the old adage “You are only as happy as your most unhappy child”?… So in the spirit of the Purim holiday, which begins February 25th and celebrates reversals […]
A Different Calling Out
There’s a new hotline that the New York Times opened last week called the Primal Scream Line. It is capturing the exhaustion, rage, and overwhelm of mothers who have been carrying […]
What Your Kids are Learning this Year
I taught a series of classes recently on the theme of Becoming a Soulful Parent and one of the comments from the participants stopped me in my tracks. He felt like this […]
From Fatigue to Hope
On this Tu B’Shevat (the Jewish festival that celebrates the new year of the trees) how can we continue to learn resilience from the natural world?
