After picking my nine-year-old son up from school the other day, I asked him to sit next to me on the couch. I told him I loved him, reminded him that I would never be angry at him for being honest and then, with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, proceeded to gently ascertain whether or not he had seen pornography on the Internet while at a friend’s house. The boy’s...
Whiling the hours away at home during my son’s high-risk pregnancy, I started a blog. My friend Ashley talked me into it, and as I recall, it didn’t take too much convincing. As a technical writer I desperately needed an outlet that would satisfy my creative desires and, if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to see how my writing would be received by others –...
There’s something about my birthday drawing near that always makes me feel like putting the proverbial pen to paper to do a bit of soul-searching. In 2009, it resulted in a blog post about musical influences, and in 2010, it resulted in a mind-spill of self-reflection. Now here I am in 2013, trying to figure out how to mark my latest trip around the sun (in writing, anyway –...
When I heard that the wife of one of my brother’s oldest friends had lost a child, I sent a carefully worded email to her husband, asking if Stacey might want to talk to someone who had been through something similar. She did, and the connection was made. That was approximately eleven years ago, and over the years, Stacey and I kept up our correspondence at varying degrees of...
Several weeks prior to Passover, my editor at Haaretz contacted me with a story assignment – profiling several Israeli women’s organizations in order to mark International Women’s Day. We compiled a list of possible choices and selected three very different groups for the article – Or Chaya – The World Center for the Jewish Woman (based in...
I want to get lost with you At that moment when the sun goes down Colors dance without a sound Across the sky and I am found By love and wishes made On stars that shine as sunlight fades Fingers touching as we go Through moonlit shadows’ gentle glow I want to get lost under desert skies Lose myself when I look in your eyes Rest my head against your heart Hold you close and...
More than 25 years ago, I spent my gap year in Israel on Young Judaea‘s Year Course program. One month of that year was spent living with a family in an agricultural community (a moshav), and while I can’t remember the names of anyone from the family I stayed with, I do remember the family below, which hosted a friend of mine (and was actually much nicer to me than...
Since this current round of fighting began, I’ve been overwhelmed by the concern shown in emails, messages and chats – friends, relatives and acquaintances checking in to see how we’re doing, voicing their love and support (both for us personally and for Israel as a whole) and reminding us to “stay safe”. And yet, no matter how many times I tell friends and loved ones abroad...
I had the television news on this afternoon, but only for a little while. With my face buried in my computer screen and my ears picking up bits and pieces of the ongoing live reporting as I typed, every time I heard a siren, I jumped a little, momentarily startled and wondering for just a sliver of a second if it was coming from outside instead of the news report. We live far...
You tell me that I’m strong; the bravest person that you know And I know it’s just my journey That makes you think it’s so Dragged along a path I wish I didn’t have to see It’s not the one I chose – the path selected me You tell me I’m courageous; that my courage gives you hope And I know it’s just my journey That makes you think it’s so When every day’s a struggle and it’s...