I think I just got bullied
Although I’ve lived in Israel almost nine years, I often still feel like the new kid. Unsure of protocol. Constantly questioning my own judgement. Not certain if I can be myself – if “myself” will be...
View ArticleJudgement Abound – Where in New York and Wear in Jerusalem
My seven year old drew a picture of the two of us holding hands. In her drawing, we’re both illustrated as wearing what would be locally referred to as “tznius” clothing. We’re smiling and she explains...
View ArticleNo, I Will Not Help You Defraud My Country
Since moving to the boonies, my commercial hub has become Beitar Elite, home of its own tzniut police. Imagine how thrilled I am about that as a secular woman, but considering it houses the closest...
View ArticleFriday is Not Political Unrest Day
I have a bit of a Facebook addiction. That may be an understatement. I glance at updates – let’s say – a bazillion times each day. I’ve developed a pretty good screening system to...
View ArticleYou Can’t Make Old Friends
Apologizing doesn’t always mean you are wrong…it means you value your relationships more than your ego. I value my ego. It’s not an attractive quality – I admit. But I am Midwestern and we are a...
View ArticleYour grass might be greener, but mine is guilt and string free
According to a recent study, 87% of Israeli citizens over the age of 25 are receiving significant monthly financial assistance from their parents, to the tune of $25K per year. “Not me”, you say? “I...
View ArticleRight wing humanitarian – Oxymoron? Or just… moron?
I was given my first pistol at age eleven. Growing up in the heart of the rust belt, I was fed a steady diet of equal parts hot dish and “for every Jew a .22” ideology. I was in high school by the time...
View ArticleThese boys belong to me, to you, to us
I couldn’t tuck my kids into bed last night without crying. They had chocolate cake for Shabbat, a shower, toothbrushes and warm beds. Where are our boys? Do they have blankets? Have they had dinner?...
View Article“But why, Mommy….do they hate us?”
I have no room for anger, as I am so fully weighted with heartbroken anguish that nothing else can occupy me. I simply don’t have the capacity for any emotion beyond mourning. I’m having trouble...
View ArticleBest Sufganiya in the Shuk. Isn’t in the Shuk.
As family traditions go, I gotta say, this one takes the cake. Or the doughnut. Proper doughnuts are one of the many American luxuries I gave up when I was dragged to moved to Israel. Among other...
View ArticleThe Anglo Vote
With 3 young kids, a business in its infancy, and a house in the middle of the mountains, it takes a lot to draw me into the city at night, especially when an event promises neither wine nor sushi. But...
View ArticleFalling in love at the opera
On Thursday night, I attended my first opera, expecting to fall in love. Despite the champagne and the appreciated occasion to dress up, alas, opera and I are not meant to be. Instead, I fell in love...
View ArticleExtremism is Going to Kill Us
I was brought up in political extremism. I was 11 years old before I understood that the Kahane Chai flag was, in fact, not the Israeli flag. While questioning, activism and study were encouraged,...
View ArticleHere are the only sufganiyot you need to consider
It’s my favorite time of year. It’s sufganiyot time. Seriously, my family waits all year for this. Considering we are “bring apples to the park,” “eat your carrots before you can have dessert,”...
View ArticleMy preemie and your preemie sittin’ by the fire
Three weeks ago, my husband’s uncle died. He was no standard uncle. Uncle Larry was a motorcycle-driving, meatball-making, Woodstock-attending math genius who taught me about Bob Dylan and how not to...
View ArticleMy preemie and your preemie sittin’ by the fire
As she worried together with an Arab mother over their tiny babies, hooked up to monitors, politics disappeared
View Article300 of us, getting our mojo on
Put a bunch of career-minded, English-speaking mothers in Israel together, and the energy is invigorating
View ArticleIn unholy Doughnut Battle of 2017, pareve triumphs over dairy
I’m a dairy girl. I come by it honestly; I am from Wisconsin, after all. I spent several years as the proud owner of one of those orange foam triangle cheese hats, which, to my husband’s delight,...
View Article1,000 women gather in Jerusalem to learn how to ask real questions and get...
1,000 women who know how tough it is to hold all the pieces together and do it anyway, at the Temech conference
View ArticleThe Do-nuts and the Don’t-nuts of 2018
The best sufganiyot in Jerusalem? The ones to avoid? Here's our annual tell-all shuk survey
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