An interview with the author appears below.
Chaya Rosen is a young woman living in Israel. She recently published Backstage with CBC: The Chaverim Boys Choir Live (Targum Press), a book for religious preteens.
Read more on New Jewish Book for Pre-Teens: Review and Interview…
I make a list after Pesach (Passover) noting how much we ate of critical items. Here’s why:
Cross-posted at DovBear
In some Orthodox Jewish circles, marriages are arranged by the parents (shidduchim). The parents investigate the other side before the couple can meet. Much has been written about irrelevant concerns, such as whether the family uses white tablecloths on Shabbat.
Those of us who have made aliyah to Israel from western countries experience both a sense of loss and a huge cultural adjustment. In a guest post at An Englishman in New Jersey, I talk about the things that helped me feel at home.
Haveil Havalim, the Jewish and Israeli Blog Carnival, is up at What War Zone?
Material Meidel hosts this month’s Kosher Cooking Carnival at the blog Kosher Cuisine. I’ll be hosting the next one (after Pesach!) so post your recipes and send them on over.
Next week begins the three weeks of school vacation for the seven-day Passover holiday. The organization Working Parents for Change is working for the government to have fewer vacation days from school and more activities for children during the summer holidays.
Read more on Working Parents and School Vacation in Israel: Proposal…
It’s a good thing I saved last week’s Pesach cleaning schedule from Mishpacha magazine, because you won’t find the “de-stressors” in the column below. (Something Different aptly named them distressors.) Instead Lowinger gives us “Clutter-Control Activities.”
Glossary at the end.
It’s probably not a good idea to tackle the piles of clutter so close to Yom Tov. [Can we go with that instinct?] Still, spend a few minutes each day getting all the extra “stuff” out of the way.
* Sunday. Our peripheral areas should be Pesachdig. It’s time to tackle the nitty-gritty. Today, the living room. Vacuum the couches. Ask the men to do the bookcases. [I think that's cheating.] Clutter-Control Activity: Collect all old periodicals. Clip anything you still need and file it. Get rid of everything else, after checking for sheimes. Consider donating old magazines to a local hospital or bikur cholim.
Commenter and guest poster Ariela asked me to write about breastfeeding and birth control. Since other methods generally don’t impact breastfeeding, I’ll limit the discussion to hormonal methods.
Hormonal methods include the pill, some IUDs, and patches. They contain either progestin alone or a combination of progestin and estrogen. Progestin is a synthetic form of progesterone.
Read more on Breastfeeding, Babies, and Hormonal Birth Control…
Jameel at the Muqata writes about the multi-level “pyramid” scheme used to market Agel, an overpriced and unproven vitamin supplement. The highest-level marketers have made a lot of money, but hundreds at the bottom will lose their investment unless they can convince enough others to invest and market as well. Most large “Anglo” communities in Israel have several Agel representatives. (Agel hasn’t discovered mine yet. Please stay away.)
We received an advertising supplement from a travel agency catering to the haredi public called “Pesach Plus.” According to the supplement, there has been an increase in reservations for Pesach hotels this year despite the economic downturn and the message is that you don’t need to be wealthy to go to a hotel. “Average” haredi families do it too.
I think I know why, after reading Malki Lowinger’s Pesach cleaning schedule in last week’s Mishpacha, a magazine for haredi women. If this is the standard, it’s no surprise that so many decide to go away. My friend Shelley, who sent me the article, reported that Lowinger covered the loft and the garage in a previous issue. Since Shelley lives in an apartment like most Israelis, she figured she could relax. But there’s no relaxing this week except in small increments.
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