Tehillimthon

My friend Masha Faygel is putting together her annual Shavuot Tehillimthon. When you register, you can choose the project you want to support and include names of people for the prayer list. See here for more details.

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Ten Lessons for Our Daughters

My older sister, a long-time fan of this blog, sent me some suggestions for raising Orthodox girls (but they could apply to anyone) and challenged me to add a few of my own. Hers are marked with an asterisk.

1. *Be educated and self-confident enough to know that you can support yourself if necessary.
2. *If someone tells you that you are no good, *they* are no good for you.
3. *Stay away from leaders/teachers who tell you that the rules apply to you but not to them, especially in the realms of money, sex, and abuse/violence.
4. Don’t be alone in a room with a man. Rabbis and teachers also need to observe laws of yichud.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and to ask for help.
6. *Develop skills to talk about problems that are “too embarrassing to talk about.”
7. *Work actively to establish a set of friends, family, therapist, rabbi, blog, whatever — where you can talk safely about those problems.
8. When you think you have “no choice,” you’re probably wrong.
9. Learn, and know how to look things up for yourself.
10. You don’t have to be like everyone else. God made us all different for a reason.

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Do you wish you belonged to the "other" group?

Lily left a comment on a recent post suggesting that “working mothers” and “stay-at-home” mothers often wish they were in the opposite category. I know I occasionally fantasize about picking up a briefcase and closing the door behind me each morning, leaving someone else to deal with the mess and the tantrums. I imagine how much more people would respect me, if I had a prestigious job.

I am leaving my family behind in a few minutes, as I am on my way to a two-day conference. My husband took off from work.

What about you? (I guess this question is mainly for mothers, but all input is welcome.) Do you think about what life would be like had you chosen a different work/home balance? Either now, or in the past?

Haveil Havalim, the Jewish and Israeli Blog Carnival, is up over at Frume Sarah. Check it out.

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Lag Baomer

We celebrated Lag Baomer on Thursday night. In America, people treat fire with caution.But here, practically every holiday becomes a festival for pyromaniacs. They shoot caps on Purim and burn chametz on every corner erev Pesach. On Chanukah they let kids play with fire at gan parties. And Lag Baomer is the ultimate Israeli holiday for pyromaniacs.

My 6-year-old wanted to have a bonfire too. He called up all of his friends, until he found a boy who didn’t have other plans. He had never shown interest in most of those boys before now. We really lucked out because the boy who invited us lives next door to an empty lot. When we arrived, we found that his father had already set up things up. The boy’s parents are also olim (immigrants) from Dushanbe (points to anyone who knows what country that is in without looking it up) who arrived in Israel around the same time we did. He knows how to build a fire (see above) and was careful about safety. I was able to teach him one thing–when you roast potatoes in a bonfire it’s a good idea to cook them in advance. Otherwise the middle stays raw. Fortunately, we brought the potatoes.

We are not crazy about bonfires, but Lag Baomer is a special day for us because it’s my husband’s birthday. Happy birthday!

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Internet Radio Interview on Megeirot

Eve Harrow of Israel National Radio interviewed me about the Megeirot story. You can listen by going to the site and clicking on Judean Eve, Hour 2. I’m on during the second half of Hour 2, at 24:40.

It will be up until Wednesday, May 28.

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