Articles, recipes, prayers and stories about family, motherhood and Jewish traditions.
Thirty delightful girls sat in a semicircle at their first lesson in the preparatory class. They were all happily excited, each eager to introduce herself and make the best possible impression on the…
“Shalom, Chavi! This is Mrs. Cohen, Libi's mother.” Chavi held her breath and even blushed with excitement. “You came over yesterday and asked whether I wanted to send my four-year-old daughter to yo…
I also want to speak specifically about purity of speech. The Torah itself states (Genesis, 7:8): “And of the animal that is not clean.” The Torah usually uses very concise language, but here, instea…
It is written in the Gemara (Moed Katan, 18a): “A covenant is made with the lips.” This principle demonstrates the power of the spoken word. Thus, as Abraham was on his way to sacrifice Isaac, he tol…
We, the builders of a Jewish home, must be very good engineers, carefully considering our words and actions. Then we will truly be able to build. Building can also take place on ruins—a person in des…
One of the things most destructive to a Jewish home is unclean speech. How can we keep our speech clean? First and foremost, of course, there is lashon hara (speaking ill of others) and rechilut (gos…
I would like to begin with a parable that beautifully illustrates everything we will discuss next. A wealthy man of noble birth was visiting another wealthy aristocrat. They were served a lavish meal…
It is written in the Book of Job (26:7): “(The Almighty) hangs the earth on belimah (emptiness).” The word belimah, translated as “emptiness,” literally means beli mah—on nothing. From this our Sages…
We have spoken about the value of silence, of being able to restrain oneself—and say nothing. But surely we should not always remain silent? How can we tell when Torah law requires us to respond, and…