I am on my way to a five day vacation with three women I know from elementary and middle school. We come from very diverse backgrounds and have chosen very different paths in life. Our lives and get together could probably qualify for some mid-life chick flick. The vacation is a reunion for all of us. Read More »

I don’t have a bucket list to complete “before I die.” I was born with this strange innate clock that is always running, reminding me that my time on earth is limited so I better use it while I’ve got it. It took me a long time to realize that not everyone feels that same internal ticking. Read More »

I wanted to share with you the words I said to my daughter upon her becoming a bat mitzvah. I have not forgotten nor moved on from the situation in Nachlao t , and I hope to have updates in the future. Read More »

I have been glad to so an increase in media coverage of the situation in Nachlaot. I am so grateful for your responses with emails and letters and offers to help. I don’t believe it can be a coincidence that the media has started to finally cover this subject more, and the municipality of Jerusalem has increased their action. Read More »

Moishe Witkes, Mentor for Kav L’Noar together with input from the staff of Kav L’Noar wrote in to Ima2seven with the following information about the 8th Annual Conference Promoting Healthy Family Relationships at the Ramada Hotel on January 22,2012: CONFRONTING ABUSE IN OUR COMMUNITY. I felt is was important enough to publish as a separate post. Read More »

I have been very fortunate to be writing lately of frivolities, indulgences, and good news. I am so grateful for all of the good in my life these days. But I am also crying. I have been crying a great deal over this particular tragedy, which is tragic on just so many levels…. Read More »

I have seven children. (You might have picked up on that by now.) Five of them are of one mold. Of course they have their differences. Of course they are each their own individual “soul print” on the world, with unique traits, quirks, strengths and challenges. But five of them look so much alike it is almost eerie. Read More »

I have to blog such a big thank you to Culture Mom & Mama Doni for their giveaway of tickets to a Chanukah performance this past Sunday. It was a blast to win, and a much bigger blast to attend. Alia was right . Mama Doni was warm and engaging and did a great job on Sunday. I knew that Mama Doni’s performance wasn’t geared towards a frum audience. Read More »

I must stop working/typing/writing, and go to sleep. It seems however, that I have to choose between remaining a lapsed blogger or losing some sleep. At least until I can clear a few things off of my plate. (I am working on it.) As you might have read, I recently had a chance to meet a “rock star ” – one whose music I really enjoy. Read More »

I met David Cook last night. And I got to talk to him. For real .   What a strange way to come back to a blog I haven’t written in – wait I have to check – two months .  I tried to gain some balance between my blogging and the rest of my life as a part of Elul . Read More »

I have greatly missed blogging. I fear all will assume this blog is shut down for good. It is not. Tonight was supposed to be the time I could finally get back, and to post the many things that have been running around inside my head. … but the Shalit family is reuniting in Israel. Read More »

It has been three weeks since I have last blogged, which means I owe a very sincere Yamei Teshuva apology to all of you that have been checking in to see what I have posted that is new. I am truly sorry; it isn’t right, it isn’t responsible. Read More »

no; this isn’t my kids’ school, it’s just a random shot of the misery of class photos. Today I decided that for our “Elul Experiment ” our family would focus on davening (praying) with kavana , with proper intention. Today was picture day at school, and one might find this fact to be completely unrelated, but it isn’t. Read More »

A lot of people have written and tweeted and posted and blogged about where they were on 9/11 one decade ago. I am not sure whether I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t even know anything had happened for hours. My twins were almost 5 months old, and my daughter was a year and a half. I was drowning in child care all day every day. Read More »

So much for my blogging Elul. I haven’t been here in a number of days. We have continued our experiment , choosing a mitzvah a day to focus on as a family, but I have seen the kids so little this week that I haven’t been able to nag them monitor their progress as much as I would have liked. They chose v’ahavta l’reecha kamocha yesterday. Read More »

I wrote yesterday that my family is trying a new “experiment”. While some (maybe me) are trying to blog each day of Elul , we are trying to work on one mitzvah as a family each day leading up to Rosh Hashanah. Today I let my children choose the mitzvah we would focus on. Today was the first day back to school. Read More »

I am feeling prodded? inspired? by Rabbi Phyllis Sommers’ BlogElul project . She challenges us to blog daily for the month of Elul about the month and its process of introspection and teshuva. Since I am working on the parameters of my computer and internet use this month, it might be quite counterproductive for me to participate. Read More »

I am feeling prodded? inspired? by Rabbi Phyllis Sommers’ BlogElul project . She challenges us to blog daily for the month of Elul about the month and its process of introspection and teshuva. Since I am working on the parameters of my computer and internet use this month, it might be quite counterproductive for me to participate. Read More »

Last year I wrote a piece for Elul “If you are doing Elul right, it’s hard .” Sounds uplifting and motivating, right? Well, maybe not. Yet this year, yet again,while I am excited for the New Year to come I find this month tough . Read More »

Welcome to the August 28, 2011 edition of haveil havalim. Whenever I have the opportunity to host the Jewish Blog Carnival, I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude to be able to include myself with this group of bloggers. Thank you for everything that has been contributed and for giving me some great reading while I stayed awake for Hurricane Irene. Read More »