As a longtime resident of Israel, I guess I’ve come a long way since the days when I viewed all Jews not from Kovne, Lithuania, as horse thieves. Yes, I can certainly pat myself on the back now for having become the tolerant lover of all Jews that I know myself to be. Yet it didn’t happen in a day.

I can still recall, as a boy in frugal, Litvishe Baltimore, people’s disdain upon hearing of families that had married out – that is, their sons had married non-Litvak, non-Baltimorean, Brooklyn girls, and had been pressured by the girls’ families not only into holding their weddings in Brooklyn (Oy vey! Why didn’t they compromise on Wilmington?) but to holding lavish affairs with Viennese tables! – heaven help us.

A land of dreams, yearnings, hopes, and aspirations. I ask myself and wonder, is it really true? Am I really fulfilling my dream? While sitting on the plane, I am experiencing the culmination of the myriad details of the last few months being actualized. For those who know me well, it came as no big surprise when I announced that I was packing up and moving to Eretz Yisrael – because, for me, the question was never “if” but “when.” Raised by my parents, who instilled in me the desire to live in the Holy Land, my love for Eretz Yisrael only increased the more I traveled there during summer and winter breaks. And for those that don’t know me well and ask why I’m moving, especially as a young single woman, my response is simple, “Eretz Yisrael is home.” It’s not more complicated than that. Where else can you feel so acutely the atmosphere of kedusha (holiness), a sense of Jewish pride, and passion towards the study and practice of our eternal Torah?

The second week of November is National Split Pea Soup week, which is not exactly headline news, but it does give me an opportunity to write about peas and related legumes. As a clinical nutritionist, I am always happy to pontificate on the health benefits of such a humble but nutrient-dense food group.

First, let’s get some terminology straight. Legumes, also known as pulses in the UK, are the broad category that includes beans, peas, and lentils. But nowadays, many people just use the simple term “beans” interchangeably with legumes, to refer to the whole category. And that’s what I’ll use in this article.

Beans come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. In addition, they can be eaten in many forms, including whole or split, ground into flours, or as separate “fractions,” such as protein, fiber, or starch.

Vicki Kampler had a decision to make. She lived 120 miles north of her married daughter in Baltimore, 120 miles south of her married daughter in Teaneck, and 6,000 miles west of her married son in Israel. And for almost 11 years, since her husband died, her kids had been urging her to move closer to them.

“I was living in my beautiful three-bedroom, three-bathroom, two-story home in Philly,” says Mrs. Kampler. “All my memories were there. I never thought I would move away from this place, where I was exceedingly happy for 54 years.” Mrs. Kampler woke up one morning intending to redo her living and dining rooms. “The wallpaper and drapes still looked fine, but I decided that, after 23 years, it was time for a change. As I was about to leave the house to pick out new wallpaper, I said to myself, ‘No, I’m not. I’m going to move!’”

~~Did you know that reading from an iPAD can make it harder to fall sleep and affects how sleepy or alert you are the next day? According to researcher, Dr. Anne-Marie Chang,  from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston , MA, " this includes any electronic device such as eReaders, laptops, smartphone or certain TV screens used prior to going to bed."   Dr. Chang is an associate neuroscientist in BWH’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders and co-author on the study published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.   She states "The new research supports conclusions from older studies, which have also found that screen time before sleep can be detrimental. We know from previous work that light from screens in the evening alters sleepiness and alertness, and suppresses melatonin levels. This study shows comprehensive results of a direct comparison between reading with a light-emitting device and reading a printed book and the consequences on sleep."  It can also cause visual stress, visual distortions, migraines/headaches, attention & focus problems, anxieties, sensory processing disorders, and sensory overload.

New Taraveling Paraphanalia in Israel

Given the opportunity, would you choose to go back to high school and become a teenager again?  My guess is that your answer mirrors the sentiments of many people whom I asked this question: a resounding NO! What is it about adolescence that is so challenging?  Why is being a teenager so difficult?

According to Eric Erikson, one of the founders of psychology, adolescence is the age when a person is in search of their identity. An adolescent is looking inward and outward to figure out who and what she identifies with, what she wants to make a part of herself, what she will reject and how that may affect her future. Values, morals, and rules are no longer givens. An adolescent is asking questions and searching for the answers that resonate with her. She is testing the boundaries and limits of those in authority to help her identify her own boundaries and limits. She is not willing to take what is spoon-fed to her because she fears that it might taint the person she wishes to become. She is looking to her peers for approval and acceptance so that she can have the courage to accept herself.  Finding one’s identity is not an easy process.

A child is born with severe developmental disabilities in Baltimore. The doctors gently convey to the parents that their child will not only find school difficult, but his life will be profoundly affected by his disability, and he will never be able to live a “normal life.”

It is heartbreaking, but no amount of tutoring will make a child with profound intellectual disability able to function in a regular classroom. We like to think of therapy as a magic pill, but a child with severe deficiencies in a particular area will not be fully “cured” with any amount therapy, though he may be strengthened and benefit from it greatly.  

You’ve surely been told by your doctor to always put your baby on his back when he sleeps. But what you might not realize is how important it is for your little one to spend supervised time on his belly while awake.

In 1922, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Back to Sleep program successfully decreased the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the United States by 40 percent by encouraging parents to put their babies to sleep on their backs. Around the same time, a number of infant carriers that doubled as both car seats and carriers became widely used. The combination of these events greatly impacted childhood development today in unforeseen ways.  According to the American Physical Therapy Association, many physical therapists noticed an increase in motor delay in infants who spend too much time on their backs while awake.

“Twenty years after my son graduated from elementary school, I still feel pain when I see some of his teachers and rebbeim,” says Mrs. T. “Although my son is now productively employed and happily married, I still cannot forget the feelings of pain I had many years ago when he was a troublemaker in school…those horrible phone calls that filled me with dread every time there was a new infraction to report.  I often felt that the teachers had already labeled him as impossible.”“I have been accused of many things by the parents of my students,” says Mrs. R. a middle school teacher. “Parents have insinuated that their child’s misbehavior is probably my fault because their child has always been fine until he entered my class. They have suggested that I am too old to be teaching and that younger teachers are more equipped to deal with today’s children. It compounds the difficulty of a teacher’s job when we do not have the support of the parents.”