Thank You to a Stranger from a Special Needs Mom

June 10, 2013 by 6 Comments
girls in swimming pool

Please welcome Hadassah Rosenthal for today's guest post. Hadassah's moving story has a lesson for all parents. Yesterday was my 5-year-old daughter's first day at the pool. I've heard way too many stories about kids on the Autistic Spectrum who wandered into water and ended up drowning. So, my husband and I decided it was time for Devorah to learn to swim. But teaching a 5-year-old on the Autistic Spectrum is much different than teaching a 5-year-old who is typically developing. Instead of a group class, she gets private lessons. Instead of a seasoned swimmer who's good with kids, she gets a trained hydrotherapist. And getting ready for swimming requires about a week of preparation. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Parenting, Special Needs Tagged With: ,

Tolerance and Women of the Wall

June 9, 2013 by 7 Comments
women praying at western wall in Jerusalem

How to relate to the prayer group, "Women of the Wall,"  has been one of the most divisive issues in the National Religious community in Israel. I wrote up my thoughts and published them on Times of Israel, and it is one of the top posts there. Today is Rosh Hodesh Tammuz. The Kotel is quiet. Wishing you all a good month. Please read: My Lesson in Tolerance image: Rahel Jaskow   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Kotel, Western Wall Tagged With: , ,

Israeli Baby Name Help, June 2013

June 5, 2013 by 6 Comments

Today we have three readers seeking help with baby names: Is Yaeli a common first name in Israel or just the nickname for Yael? We like Yaeli more, but here in Germany we have to prove that it’s a “real” name at least in another country. BTW, you already helped us last year to decide for a girls name. Finally we didn’t choose Avigajil / Abigail because of it’s bad connotation in German. Now we’ve got the sweetest Noa (almost one year already). While Noa might be a kind-of-boring-choice in Israel, in Germany there are only boys named Noah. But we – -mostly – get nice comments. And now in October Noa will get a sister – or brother? Thank you for any help! I also enjoy … [Read more...]

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Guest Post: Story of Orthodox Teen Pregnancy

June 4, 2013 by 5 Comments
pregnancy test in account of pregnant Jewish teen

The author of today's guest post wishes to remain anonymous:  This story has a happy ending, mostly. It almost didn't. I grew up in a religious household, and I knew what the expectations were, yet when I was eighteen, I became sexually active. When I was twenty, a condom tore. Ten days later, I saw two lines on a pregnancy test. My first thought was that my parents would never accept me. Not that they wouldn't accept what I'd done, but that they wouldn't accept me. The idea of abortion was brought up, but I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did it. It wasn't a possibility as far as I was concerned. I thought maybe my boyfriend and I could get married soon enough that no … [Read more...]

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Surrogate Mothering by Religious Women

May 28, 2013 by 4 Comments
test tubes used for

Rika Koren, 32, divorced and the mother of two, served as a surrogate mother for an infertile couple and plans to do so again. In an interview with the newspaper Makor Rishon, Koren expanded on the reasons for her decision. She grew up in the Gur community of Ashdod, but her mother was from a Chabad family.  When she came of marriageable age she told her parents not to match her with someone from the Ger community. (The marriage restrictions in Ger deter many women from marriage within the community, creating a shortage of women.) Riki ended up in an unhappy marriage with a Chabad chasid, who abused her. She left the charedi world but maintains religious observance. Her father has cut … [Read more...]

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Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert

May 16, 2013 by 23 Comments

Help wanted: Men to serve on the rabbinic court to supervise immersion of conversion candidates. Producer Nirit Yaakovs-Yinon, a religious Jewish woman, got interested in the concerns of female conversion candidates after hearing about the job description above from a friend who worked in the Israeli government. Both male and female converts to Judaism are required to immerse in a mikveh, or ritual bath, as the final step toward becoming a Jew. When women immerse before their weddings and monthly thereafter, another woman supervises to ensure that the woman immersing is completely under the water. But according to Jewish law, the three members of the male-only court must witness … [Read more...]

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Kotel Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich: Expanded Space for Women at Western Wall

May 4, 2013 by 2 Comments
Photo by Rahel Jaskow

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, the rabbi in charge of the Kotel (Western Wall), said last week that he intends to enlarge the women's section of the Western Wall. Photographer Rahel Jaskow documented the poor conditions for women in two photo essays, Separate and Unequal at the Western Wall and Return to the Western Wall, Passover 2013. Rabbi Rabbinovich brought up the plans at a joint meeting with the committee on internal affairs and the committee on the advancement of women at the Knesset, during a discussion of the Women of the Wall. "The reality is that the women's section is narrow and does not manage to contain all of the female worshippers. We are checkout out a solution, and there … [Read more...]

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Revisiting the Misgeret, or Is Preschool Necessary

May 3, 2013 by 57 Comments

This post was originally published in 2008, but is still relevant for many parents. Sadly two readers who commented here, Helene and RivkA, passed away within the last few years. It's bound to happen at one time or another when you are out with your toddler. Your neighbor asks you the question you were wondering yourself earlier that day, as you tried to talk on the phone while your son climbed the bookcase: "Isn't he bored at home with you all day? How old is he again? [Insert any age here.] Shouldn't he be in a misgeret?" In honor of my 4-year-old starting gan in a few weeks (we did have an informal two-child playgroup, technically a misgeret I suppose), I share my answers to the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gan, Parenting, Preschoolers, Toddlers

Breastfeeding in the Hospital after a C-Section

May 1, 2013 by 8 Comments

A reader writes: Hi Hannah, I had a question in response to your last post about the formula options promoted by the Ministry of Health.  I'm due to give birth to my third child in the next few weeks (in Jerusalem, G-d willing) by elective c-section. I exclusively breastfed both of my older children for over a year, but I remember from past experience that right after my c-section it was very difficult for me to get up in the middle of the night to go get my baby for breastfeeding, so, feeling left with no alternative, I told the nurses to give the babies one bottle during the night and the rest of the time I would only breastfeed. After a c-section, the nurses are willing to bring the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breastfeeding

New Mothers Get Choice — Between Two Brands of Breastmilk Substitutes

April 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Choosing formula in the store

I once heard a bit of sales advice, let's say for shoes. After a potential customer has tried on two pairs, you shouldn't ask if he likes one or the other. Instead say, "Which pair of shoes do you prefer?" With luck, the customer will accept your assumption that he has already decided to buy at least one pair. This advice came to mind when I read that  the Israeli health ministry, as stated back in June, will now be requiring maternity wards to offer two competing brands of breastmilk substitutes for newborns. Shoes and powdered milk are very different products, but both are sold using manipulative marketing tactics. Until now, the companies paid huge sums for exclusive distribution … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breastfeeding Tagged With: ,
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