It was 1988. My mother had passed away and it was a rough year for me. I decided to make a modest donation to the Chabad calendar in her honor in the summer, soon before it was published. The Chabad Rabbi had called me and made a suggestion to me: There was full page picture […]

Being in the TV news business, I’ve been preoccupied with this week’s solar eclipse.  It not only makes for great TV (and price gouging on eclipse glasses), it also makes for a few Torah thoughts. The ‘experts” call this an extraordinary cosmic coincidence. But is it? The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, […]

My husband is one of the most incredible sleepers I have ever known. He really is. And sleeping well is a wonderful thing, unless of course you’re the wife of an incredible sleeper and your husband keeps falling asleep and staying asleep on couches, chairs, and various other non-bed accoutrements, as opposed to going to […]

Tisha B’Av – the ninth day of the month of Av – is usually the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, a day of fasting and mourning the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem, among other tragedies. But last year, our family’s Tisha B’Av was far from solemn. Late in June, my husband, Daniel, received […]

Today was a typical day: carpool pick-up, after school errands, and a trip to the local pizza store for dinner. When we got out of the car, I grabbed two quarters from my wallet for the parking meter. I handed the first quarter to my younger (four-year-old) daughter who promptly told me, “My sister can go […]

Too often, we see the worst in each other. This is true of all people and especially, and unfortunately, the Jewish people. We see the most extreme and negative element of the communities we don’t belong to while the more moderate and pleasant people among them hide under the radar. We often fail to see […]