This a guest post by reader Ruth. Two months ago, four months after giving birth to my second child, I went to the “lady doctor” to get a prescription—to delay producing baby number three if you get my drift! Lovely as they are, we need a gap! It was my first time with this doctor [...]
Why Can’t Breastfeeding Mothers Just Be Nice?
April 29, 2012 By 132 Comments
When someone posted a picture of a Jewish TV celebrity breastfeeding her three-year-old on the subway, it prompted a hot Twitter debate: Is it inconsiderate to breastfeed in public?
Seeing a mother who is breastfeeding, even if nothing is showing, makes some people uncomfortable. That feeling is legitimate and unlikely to change, at least in the short term. I believe this happens when people grow up without seeing breastfeeding as part of daily life. Our culture associates breasts with sex, not with feeding babies.
Even if the mother exposes more than necessary, the uproar over public breastfeeding exceeds any concern over women who wear skimpy outfits. Clearly the breastfeeding itself sets people off.
While acknowledging that women have the legal and moral right to nurse publicly without interference, anonymous blogger DovBear maintained that if breastfeeding makes others uncomfortable the mother should make the effort to move. He wrote: “My rule is: When possible don’t make people experience things they don’t want to experience. Why is that offensive to you?”
We Learned Not to Ask: Second-Generation Holocaust Story
April 18, 2012 By 6 Comments
Tonight and tomorrow we observe Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. A few weeks ago I listened to a moving podcast, The Suitcase by the Door, via American Public Media. APM interviewed Dr. David Wahl, a child of Holocaust survivors. Wahl’s parents had some unusual habits, like requiring everyone in the family to own a single pair of [...]
Erev Pesach 2012: My Passover Mantra
April 6, 2012 By 12 Comments
This was the first year that I got through the Passover preparations without having a panic attack (so far at least). Last year I got up from shiva for my father about ten days before the holiday. So when it came to Pesach cleaning I kept telling myself, “Good enough.” Since I usually find myself [...]
Deaf, Old or New? National Service Options for 12th Graders
April 3, 2012 By 19 Comments
Like most parents of 12th graders, I’ve been following along with my oldest daughter as she made her decisions about next year. Israel drafts both men and women at 18. Religious girls can get an automatic exemption from the army by signing a declaration at the rabbinate stating that they are religiously observant. Most female high-school [...]
Halberstam Defends Her Pro-Makeup Stance
March 23, 2012 By 17 Comments
I reread the Halberstam article about whether marriageable girls wear enough makeup, after reading a claim that it was satire. The parts about the greatness of her son including the Ph.D. he is aspiring to, and Ollie’s hair straightening salon, were indeed over the top. Her hyper-sensitivity about the girls she interviews easily qualifies as [...]
A Cosmetic Solution to the Shidduch Problem
March 20, 2012 By 31 Comments
In a marriage market where men are scarce, Yitta Halberstam of the Jewish Press advises young women to take care with their appearance. Update: Halberstam Defends Her Stance Ironically, Halberstam noticed the neglected appearance of the Beis Yaakov grads at an event intended to humanize the shidduch process. In the current system, eligible young men like her [...]
Free Tamar Epstein for International Agunah Day
March 7, 2012 By 14 Comments
Today is the Taanit Esther, a fast day to commemorate the threat of extermination faced by Jews as described in the Megillah. But did you know that it’s also “International Agunah Day“? According to Jewish law, a divorce becomes final when a man hands his wife a get, or a writ of divorce. Sometimes men [...]
Young Families in Israel Pay Twice for Formula Marketing
February 28, 2012 By 61 Comments
The Knesset economic committee met this week to discuss the law limiting formula marketing in Israeli hospitals. Last Friday, Haaretz published an article by Ruti Levi on the arrangements between formula companies and hospital maternity wards. Currently, the companies pay large sums in order to ensure sole distribution of their products to new mothers. Israel [...]
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