Sonya was lost in a forest. There were several paths, but she was not sure which one to take. She was hungry, thirsty, and tired. She longed for some food and a place to sleep, but most of all, she yearned for somebody to show her the way out of the forest. Suddenly, she noticed a sign tacked to a tree: “Are you hungry, thirsty, tired, and lost? I will show you the way out of the forest and give you some food and a bed.” What a relief it was to Sonya! She followed the directions on the sign and was soon eating a bowl of soup while listening to instructions for leaving the forest. 

Have you ever felt that there was an emotional concern that you were facing and didn’t know if it needed to be addressed? Do you have an emotional concern or diagnosis that you want to see a mental health professional for, but don’t know whom to go to?

Find RELIEF

Relief Resources is a mental health referral service that can be of benefit to you. Finding the “right” mental health clinician can be challenging. Unlike searching for other types of professionals or services, where it is common for neighbors or family to discuss where to go, in mental health, people are often not comfortable reaching out to their acquaintances for suggestions.

RELIEF has one goal in mind, to get you to the best mental health clinician for you in your specific circumstance. What may work for another person may or may not work for you. There are many variables and considerations that make therapy successful. Just because someone else went to a clinician and was successful doesn’t mean it is the best match for you. Similarly, just because someone had a negative experience with a clinician, doesn’t mean that you can’t be helped.

Purim themes have gained a reputation for coordinating family costumes with accompanying shalach manos almost too cute to eat. It seems that every year the bar is raised, with the ideas more original and the effort more involved. You may be on “team-theme” and enjoy working out all the details. Or you may be on team-theme because that’s the team your sister is on, but you would rather just let the kids dress up how they want and buy most of your shalach manos contents at Costco.

Editor’s Note:

A shortened version of this article appeared in the Where What When print edition. Here is the complete article.

 I would like to thank the WWW for printing an article about infant tongue ties in the last issue. It was refreshing to see an article presenting the matter as a real issue and not a fad. As a mother who has personal experience with this, I feel that it is important for the readers, and the community as a whole, to know that, unfortunately, in many cases of infant tongue tie, parents go through a lot before getting the proper diagnosis and treatment for their babies. 

Your home – the space between four walls where you build a life, the rooms that are filled with messes, meals, and memories – tells the story of you and your family. It certainly needs to be functional, but we all dream of a house that also represents our personal style and aesthetic. Realistically speaking, home renovations may not be top priority when planning a budget, but we still want to enjoy the space we live in. Luckily, it doesn't take a full home remodel to love your house. We researched various options to spruce up your space while holding on to your spare change. 

I love nature and I’m also attracted to ruchniyus (spirituality). It was only natural that I made Eretz Yisrael my home, being the place where ruchniyus is natural and where nature is ruchniyus.

Part 1

Despite knowing that you may be at risk (family history, a bit overweight, too much of the wrong foods, etc.) and despite knowing what the symptoms of a heart attack are (foremost among them being chest pain) – when the heart attack appears at your doorstep, it’s still, well, unexpected. Stepping out of the shower Sunday night, December 4 (it was about 9:00 p.m.), I experienced chest pain across my chest; not incapacitating, but significant. My first thought was, “Really – could this actually be a heart attack?” I dried off carefully, got dressed, and then sat quietly in my studio chair waiting to see … well, you know, “maybe it will go away.” I know, I know, this is not the right thing to do if you’re having these symptoms … but I confess, I did it anyway. I popped eight baby aspirin (in lieu of two regular ones, which I couldn’t find), remembering that aspirin (not acetaminophen) thins the blood if the heart is in trouble.

When your Child Can’t Breathe

by Hatzalah of Baltimore

“It was 2 a.m. I woke up to a barking noise and ran to my child’s room, where I found my three-year-old awake and having trouble breathing. She had had a cold for a few days, but this was new. I took her into the bathroom and ran the hot water from the shower to make steam. That seemed to help a little. I was hesitant to call Hatzalah in the middle of the night, but I was really worried and decided to go ahead. Two guys arrived within minutes and started treatment.”

There is a truism in Israeli politics. It relates in particular to the past 40 years since the rightwing Likud party came into power during the great upheaval of 1977 that ended the Socialist Labor party’s hegemony: “Israeli voters vote Right and receive Left.”

As truisms go, there has been a lot of truth to this one. As the country has been growing more religious and more rightwing, its politicians have remained middle of the road. The Israeli voter always wants more religion and more fearless, principled politics than its politicians are willing to provide.

The roots of this story are grounded in the backyard of my childhood home – literally. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, in the region called the Mid-South, known for its slow-paced living and temperate climate. Life seemed more leisurely then, less pressured than today. Maybe it’s just the difference between an adult’s and a child’s perspective, but it seemed that people had time to work and time to relax and recharge. The relaxation component is something that’s touted today as essential to our well-being. It even has a name – work-life balance – and nowadays, people actually have to schedule downtime to make sure that it happens.