In 2002, I gave birth to my fifth child. In the months leading to his birth – and, on occasion, for years before – I suffered from head pain. Doctors would give me medications and attribute the pain to sinus infections. After my son’s birth, the pain started to get worse. Again I tried some medications. Life was stressful with an infant and four other children below the age of 10; a little pain seemed normal. In September, my husband started a new job, and we decided to purchase a catastrophic health plan, to cover the family for the three months until his new job’s insurance would kick in, rather than pay thousands per month for COBRA, which allows for continuation of the previous employer’s policy. The plan we purchased for the three-month period covered catastrophic events after a considerable deductible. The headaches continued and got progressively worse. I made an appointment to go to the doctor at the beginning of December, when the new policy would begin, but G-d had other plans.

Why would a person leave a well-established Jewish community for a completely different lifestyle? Five years ago, Galia Berry and her husband, Joe, moved from Baltimore to the rural Maine woods.  Galia began writing a blog – an online journal – about her new life in Maine. Here, she talks about what precipitated their move and what she’s learned.

After my mother passed away, I found a diary she kept as a freshman in college, when she was newly engaged to the young man who would become her husband. All her hopes and dreams and the inner workings of her mind were contained within those pages. It was a dimension of my mother that pleasantly shocked and delighted me, because this side of her was unknown to me. How much do we really know a person, even those close to us? They aren’t always what they seem to be, within our limited perspective. Now that I am older, there are so many questions I have for my parents and grandparents, questions that didn’t even occur to me as a young adult. And now it’s too late to ask. So I thought, I need to write, and let my grandchildren know who I am and how I think, because some day they will have questions, and I may not be here to answer them. I wanted them to know the inner me, because, whether we like it or not, our forbears are part of who we are, and many of their traits are inherited, for better or for worse.

From the time I was a young girl, I have maintained a keen interest in genealogy, starting with family history and later expanding that interest to the history of time and place, which has helped to provide context and greater meaning to the personal narratives that I have assembled.

And a funny thought crossed my mind as I began to explore the history of my home and neighborhood: It can be said that a house can also have a genealogy, a provenance of sorts, similar to that of a piece of estate jewelry or a work of art. These thoughts intrigued me, and led me to discover some fascinating lore about some of the homes in our neighborhood, including my own, and about the people who had once lived in them.

Remember the good old days when the only thing the Israelis had to worry about was being wiped off the map by their enemies? (Oh wait, that is still a problem.) But remember the other good old days when Jews for Jesus used to hand out pamphlets trying to convince Jews to convert? Or when the main evangelizing problem we faced was how to fit the unsolicited books and tapes we receive from Sid Roth and his ilk into the trash? It used to be, you could pretty much tell when someone was eager to share the “good news.” But in Israel, who worried about that sort of thing? It’s a Jewish State!

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On Thursday, June 11, nearly 80 high school girls and their mothers gathered for two separate sessions in Baltimore’s Bnos Yisroel High School auditorium to participate in a seminary safety workshop. The interactive workshop, based on Mrs. Debbie Fox’s newly released guidebook Seminary Savvy and facilitated by renowned Toronto mechaneches Mrs. Chana Leah Rapoport, was brought to the greater Baltimore community thanks to the efforts of parent and activist Mr. Joshua Volosov and Bnos Yisroel Director Mrs. Ahuvah Heyman.

Mr. Volosov—whose own daughter will be attending seminary in Eretz Yisrael next year—first heard about Seminary Savvy at the Torah Umesorah convention,

September 2005

Dear Mr. Weisbord,

I am a 25-year-old working boy who is kovea itim. Lately, I went out with a few girls I liked. It seems like what usually happens is that everything goes very well on the first two dates, and I get word that the girl likes me, too. Then it all collapses on the third date. We have nothing to talk about, and the date is a dud. Then she doesn’t want to go out again. Is this a common thing? What does it mean?

My interpretation is that we finished with all the small talk the first two times, but we are not yet ready to open up to the other person on a deeper level. I feel like all these relationships had potential if only the girl would not have ended it so soon. What do you say?

http://www.voiceofisrael.com/lone-soldier-from-the-us-and-his-unit-honored-by-president/

Dear Rebbetzin Weinberg,

I have a wonderful daughter-in-law. Everybody says so, and actually, I also think she is wonderful. She is very warm and friendly and always willing to help anyone. She invites people for meals, cooks for the sick, and welcomes guests to sleep at her home. In fact, she extends herself to everyone – everyone, that is, who is not in her family.

I don’t want to sound like the mother-in-law who is complaining about a daughter-in-law. I have always treated all my daughters and daughters-in-law the same in every way. If my daughter were treating her husband this way, I would say something to her. But I don’t know how to go about it with a daughter-in-law.

When addressing the subject of challenges and possible improvements to the American chinuch system, the first challenge is to identify who should be the appropriate audience.  Each constituency will readily suggest another to be in need of instruction. Mechanchim tend to find fault in the bochurim, and their poor attitudes, aspirations and performance. Parents readily place the weight of responsibility on themechanchim, citing the need for improved educational skills, greater individualized sensitivity and an increased time commitment. Bochurim, of course, find both their parents and their rebbeim at fault, rarely connecting any personal shortcomings with personal responsibility. Who, then, should be addressed?