What celebration can beat the exuberance and excitement of a wedding festivity? Well, I was soon to find out. During my engagement to my Teimani (Yemenite) chatan, Eliyahu, it was proposed to throw the traditional Yemenite, women-only, pre-wedding ceremonial party, called the Henna. I was warned that it might be more enjoyable than the actual wedding, and in hindsight, I must agree that it was. I really did not know what to expect as I was too busy with wedding preparations to check into what happens at a Henna. I did know what my sister-in-law-to-be told me, which is that the letters of henna, in Hebrew, stand for the three special mitzvot of a woman: challa, niddah, and hadlakat neirot.

by C. M.

Writing an article on summer activities this year seemed daunting. Flipping through last year’s article on a similar topic, I realized, yet again, how drastically the world has changed. And yes, for many parents, the COVID lockdown has been challenging, even overwhelming, but as I spoke to mothers, kids, and companies, I was amazed to hear all of them describe what they’ve been doing the past few months – and their plans for the summer – with enthusiasm, laughter, and acceptance. 

In part three of my series on how to plant your very own vegetable garden, I’d like to answer some questions I often get from beginning (as well as more experienced) gardeners:

Question: Recently, my wife was very badly hurt in a car accident. Hatzalah was called, and she was rushed to the hospital. It was very scary to see here lying there helpless and bleeding. She was in Shock Trauma for about a week. I was not able to be with her because of the virus situation, although I was in touch over the phone. 

Ironically, my wife is much better, but I find that I am not feeling so well myself. I have trouble sleeping at night, meaning I fall asleep, but I wake up in the middle of the night feeling very stressed out and can’t fall back asleep. I am also much more sensitive during the day, and my tears are very close to the surface. I think I am suffering from the trauma that I experienced through my wife’s accident. I don’t want to go to a therapist. Can you suggest any techniques I could use to help myself recover from this ordeal? 

by a Baltimore Mother 

It was a cold and snowy day last winter, and all the schools had canceled classes. I was anxious about my appointment with my midwife. I was starting my second trimester and had a few concerns I wanted to check out; I did not want to wait another week to see her. Oh well! My appointment is for sure cancelled, I thought. Besides, how could I go with my two energetic boys? 

I was surprised when Bayla Berkowitz, my midwife, texted: “Do you want to keep your appointment?” 

“Yes!” I texted back, “but my boys are home!” 

“No problem, bring them along,” was her prompt reply. “I have a lot of toys they can play with.” 

I felt so relieved. When we arrived, Bayla Berkowitz and her partner Tova Brody’s kids were all there. My boys played with the kids and toys, while I was checked by my two midwives. I heard the pleasant chattering of our kids in the background and saw the heavy snowflakes drifting down outside the window. It was so peaceful – so pleasant and natural. This was the feeling I had throughout my whole home birth experience, from the first appointment through the very last postpartum visit. It was incredible to feel so well taken care of, reassuring to know I could always text my midwife a question and get a text reply right back! 

The great American writer, Mark Twain, once remarked that, in New England, the weather changes so frequently that you can study all the different types of weather by simply standing outside for the day and waiting for the weather to march by. Twain must have written this before visiting Baltimore because people here need only stand in front of their houses for a few hours to experience the full gamut of weather conditions.

Over the past few months, our lives have been turned upside-down in so many ways that we are desperate for a return to routine. Yet there is so much we still don’t know: what our children’s education will look like in September, when the economy will recover, and when we can go to shul and weddings again. Ironically, it is the unpredictability of Baltimore’s weather that is the one thing people can count on with certainty these days.

So, with the kids at home and climatic conditions right outside our windows, it’s an ideal time to learn about the fascinating phenomenon we call “the weather.”

The Jewish levaya, or funeral, is the final kavod and honor that family and friends perform when a loved one passes away. Death under any circumstance is a very difficult and painful experience. The family relies on their rabbi, the funeral home, friends, and a chevra kadisha to help them carry out their duty with the proper love, dignity, and respect for the deceased.

Sol Levinson has been Baltimore’s Jewish funeral home since 1892, and is still run by the family today. Ira Levinson and his son Matt continue the outstanding and compassionate management that their forebears taught them so well. When I interviewed them recently, Ira told me their simple motto, handed down from generation to generation: “We do everything possible to do the right thing. We do whatever we can to address the family’s needs and issues in this time of extreme sorrow and grief.”

I often work with the Levinson family as an Ahavas Yisrael trustee, and I can say that we are fortunate to have such a special organization as Levinson’s performing the burials of our loved ones. I know that the rabbanim of our community feel the same way. The professional staff makes all Jews feel comfortable with Levinson’s compassionate services. This excellence manifests itself in everything they take on: from their comprehensive, educational website to their commitment to personalizing funerals for each family’s needs.

This May was the 75^th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day. On May 5, 1945, four days after Lag b’Omer, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to General Eisenhower, the Allied Supreme Commander, ending the Second World War and the Holocaust. The Russians, understandably miffed, insisted on their own surrender ceremony, which took place a few days later. The German army and the German government ceased to exit. The entire country was occupied by the American, Russian, British, and French armies. As Jews, the end of the War left mixed feelings of joy and sorrow, joy at the destruction of Hitler and his Germany, sorrow at the six million korbanos. All of subsequent history has played out in the shadow of the Second World War.

We are now facing a mageifa, something none of us ever dreamed we would see in our lifetime. Coronavirus has brought havoc to all aspects of our lives, and simchas are no exception. The way we celebrate weddings, bar and bas mitzvas, engagements, sheva brachos has changed drastically until Ribono Shel Olam brings the yeshua.

We have been told by rabbanim and baalei mussar that Hashem wants us to change. Our habits, our tznius, our selfishness, our actions bein adam lechaveiro, our tefilos – everything needs to take a turn for the better in order for the geula to come. Surely this applies to shidduchim as well.