Marjorie Ingall wrote an article in Tablet Magazine called Bottled Guilt, where she argues that Jewish women are set up to feel guilty when breastfeeding doesn’t work out. The desire to raise intelligent and healthy children is entrenched in our genes, and for most of us successful breastfeeding is our first parenting goal. The only Jewish women I have met who (admitted that they) did not intend to breastfeed either had medical contraindications or were traumatized by their first experience. I think another reason modern Jewish women are predisposed to breastfeed is that Jews in the Diaspora are used to going against the grain of popular culture. I completely agree with Ingall’s … [Read more...]
Leftovers and the Kosher Kitchen
October 15, 2009 by 29 Comments
[Glossary below.] My mother z”l hardly ever threw out food. I think she managed this by serving five meat meals during the week. On the three “fleishig” weekdays, she transferred meaty leftovers from one main meal to the next. Whatever leftovers couldn’t go in a main course were recycled in the soup. With mostly milchig meals, she would have had two sets of leftovers to juggle. I remember that she had a of milchig, cooked rice in the refrigerator at all times because (a) she used it for rice and milk, a comfort food she heated up with a little sugar whenever we got sick, and (b) it was one of the few things I ever saw her throw away. Frequent meat meals don’t always mean eating … [Read more...]
Tzniut (Modesty) and Breastfeeding in Public
August 22, 2009 by 12 Comments
I saw several women and girls in shalim (modesty cloaks) at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo the other day. One shal-wearing mother was sitting on a bench, peacefully nursing her baby. Her shirt hid her breast completely and she saw no need for a blanket, apron or other cover. Comfort with public breastfeeding has nothing to do with Jewish laws of tzniut (modesty) and everything to do with attitudes toward breastfeeding. Many women who show lots of skin become squeamish when it comes to nursing in public. The question is whether breastfeeding is seen as a way to feed a baby, or is it the idea, common in western culture, that breasts are mainly about sex? I grew up in the United … [Read more...]
Book Review: People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks
June 6, 2009 by 4 Comments
Cover of People of the Book: A Novel Geraldine Brooks' historical novel, The People of the Book, is based on the mysterious past of the famous Sarajevo Haggadah. Brooks intersperses the modern-day adventures of a book-restorer with a fictionalized account of the Haggadah's creation and its movement from one destroyed Jewish community to another. The first historical chapter, about a group of partisans in the forest during World War II, was moving. I even cried at one scene. But as I continued reading I found both the present-day plot and the historical plots to be more and more fantastical. One chapter takes place at the time of the Spanish Inquistion. Brooks describes how the … [Read more...]
Exclusive: Interview with a Former Kannai, Part I
June 4, 2009 by 5 Comments
In my series on Pashkevilim, I gave highlights of a lecture about the community of anti-Zionist kannaim, or zealots, in Jerusalem. @Jewnet invited me to interview her husband Moshe Yossef, a former kannai, for an insider's view. I've divided the interview into two parts. Part I is about Rabbi Moshe Yossef himself and his experiences. In Part II, he answers general questions about the community. My questions are in bold, and Rabbi Yossef's answers are in blue. What is your Jewish background? Rabbi Yossef responds: I was born into a traditional, modern, orthodox background. At the age of eighteen I went in search of something more meaningful to me, and found it here in … [Read more...]
Shavuot, Eruv Tavshilin, Recipes and Carnivals
May 28, 2009 by 6 Comments
The holiday of Shavuot begins Thursday evening. Known in English as Pentecost because it takes place fifty days after Passover, Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The two main customs associated with the holiday are serving dairy foods and staying up all night to study Torah. Staying up all night only became popular once coffee became readily available in Europe. This year the one-day holiday of Shavuot leads right into Shabbat. Cooking is permitted, but only for the holiday itself. This creates a problem with heating or cooking food for the Sabbath, when all cooking is forbidden. To get around this we put aside some cooked food on Thursday, before the holiday … [Read more...]
Breastfeeding, Babies, and Hormonal Birth Control
March 22, 2009 by 30 Comments
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. Most breastfeeding mothers begin using birth control after their six-week checkup, when the milk supply has already been established. In the early weeks milk supply is more sensitive to disruption by hormones and other factors, sometimes with long-term effects. Does the "mini-pill" affect milk supply? The … [Read more...]
Purim Costume Brainstorming
February 26, 2009 by 9 Comments
For an updated list for 2010, see Easy Costume Ideas. Reiza, who is pregnant and due right around Purim, tweeted that she hasn't thought about Purim costumes yet for her three kids. I always find it hard to come up with easy, inexpensive costumes. After Purim, of course, I have dozens of ideas. Reiza wrote, "Costumes should be eco-friendly (aka cheap)." Here are some ideas from readers: Nina: My brother is going to be a Jewish pirate this year. He’s wearing tzitzit over a red or white shirt, a bandana, pirate hat, blue cut off pants, boots, a sword, and gelt. Alpidarkomama: My favorite costume of all was when my son was a kohen gadol. Just took a rectangular piece of … [Read more...]
How Do Parents of Large Families Manage? Meet Tal and Talia
November 3, 2008 by 28 Comments
On Orthonomics a guest post about Orthodox homeschooling generated the following comment by "l": One problem that parents encounter is that in families where there are both older and very young children, the toddlers and infants often require many hours a day of the parents' care and leave little time left over to work with the older ones. I think the comment reflects misconceptions both about homeschooling and large families. When people learn that I have six children they often say, "Wow, I could never do that." I respond that I didn't have them all at once. Below is a somewhat idealized picture of life as parents of a large number of children: Let's imagine a couple whose first … [Read more...]
Simchat Torah Suggestions
October 24, 2008 by 17 Comments
Now that we're through kvetching about our Yom Kippur experiences, we can start analyzing Simchat Torah.Simchat Torah is a difficult holiday for Orthodox women. It seems like the men are having the fun, while the women are sitting around waiting, watching, and mostly talking. I don't mind sitting separately the rest of the year, when I am actually praying. But an hour and a half is too long to watch dancing, if you can call it that. My husband pointed out that the teenagers in the shul either went elsewhere or stood talking outside.Our synagogue cut the hakafot (seven rounds of singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls) short in the morning. This worked out well, although the rabbi didn't … [Read more...]
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