All well-informed Jews know what a dybbuk is. An evil imp, a ghost, a soul stealer. They take many forms. Remember last week you dropped the grocery bag spilling five pounds of...
It’s a big mitzvah, you know, to “dwell in booths for That’s what they tell us in Leviticus: Chapter 23. As usual, we’re at the mercy of the translation. It doesn’t mean “booths” like...
Why do we Jews have less pets than our Christian neighbors? Maybe this explains it. The cat talks: “What do they expect from me? I caught three mice last week. Of course,...
I saw my first daffodil a couple of weeks back. First the green shoots exploring a newly bright world. Tentative at first, then a few more. And evidently they decided it beat...
As I look back at my grandparents, I’m filled with wonder. Now, I’m a grandparent, too. And by the way, we never called them Bubbe or Zayde. It wasn’t cool then. Only...
Mothers, raising kids is no picnic. That is not news. Besieged parents need all the help they can get. So let me suggest we might benefit from a counseling session with a...
He knows not of Spring. So, tell him what warm winds bring. Like peaches and plums, apples and figs. They’ll soon reappear with birds on the wing. Please explain to...
I guess I don’t have a green thumb – I think it’s black. I put out thirty dollars and three hours of work for petunias and three weeks later they’re as dead...
Way back when, at the pink dawn of the 20th century, there began a Golden Age of Parenthood that survived until the Sixties. Unruly kids were rare. The great bustling world outside...
My rabbi, a man of learning and strict interpretations of Jewish guidelines, is aware of my propensity to make new Jewish holidays. “Ted, Valentine’s Day is not a Jewish holiday...
