As tax season approaches, let’s review several tax savings opportunities related to children.

The Child Tax Credit

For every child under the age of 17, you get a $2,000 tax credit. For children 17 and over, you get only $500. A tax credit is very straightforward. It means a full $2,000 (or $500) off your taxes. Your income has to be under $400,000 to qualify. This generous income cap is a big boon to frum families.

If a family (such as a kollel couple with no income) owes no taxes, they still get the 40% of the credit, or $1,000 ($2,500 x 40%).

On September 1, 2016, my husband and I, along with cousins and other family members, gathered at the French Embassy in Washington D.C. as my aunt, Dorothy Kabat Pollack Kirby, was presented with the award of Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honor by the French government. This is the highest award the French bestow on those who served on French soil to help liberate France from the grip of the Nazi regime during World War II. Afterward, many people asked me how my aunt was awarded this great honor and what she did to deserve it. To mark our recently celebrated Veterans Day, as well as my aunt’s 100^th birthday, this past November 6, I want to share her story as well as the work I did to make this great day happen.

I remember the days when getting ready for bed meant washing my face and brushing my teeth, something that took all of five minutes to accomplish. These days, however, my nighttime routine has turned into a time-consuming evening event. Let’s see, I now use make-up remover before washing my face and an anti-oxidant facial serum for I don’t even know what, but my sister-in-law said it’s a good thing to use, and besides she gave it to me for a present. After flossing my teeth, I’ve started using a water pick and an electric toothbrush, both recommendations from my dentist. Next, I apply creams and lotions and oils because over the past year or so, my skin has dried up.

Lead poisoning? Isn’t that something that happens to poor, neglected children or to people who live in dilapidated houses? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Lead poisoning can happen right here in our community, in our own neighborhoods, to regular people who live regular lives.

Lead poisoning is a serious problem because it can have life-changing repercussions, especially in children under six. It is known to affect IQ, the ability to pay attention, and academic achievement, and its effects are irreversible. Among the symptoms of lead poisoning are developmental delays, irritability, loss of appetite, and weight loss.

Choosing a career is the most momentous decision (aside from marriage) that young people have to make. While many in our community gravitate to certain common occupations, career paths are not always straightforward. The twists and turns of life – not to mention the bumps and mountainous climbs – often play a role in deciding what we want to be “when we grow up.” The young men depicted here are entrepreneurs. Although they may have not yet arrived at their final career destination, one thing is for sure – these ambitious young men made some unconventional choices. I had the privilege of “virtually meeting” each of these young, single men, whose career callings reminded me of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” They each took the road less traveled by, and to them, it has made all the difference.

Money affects our lives from the day we are born until the day we die. We eat food that costs money, we sleep in beds with pillows and blankets that cost money, we live in houses that cost money, we send our kids to schools that cost money, we wear clothing that costs money, and we drive cars that cost money. We worry about spending money – and also about not spending money. And while we figure it all out (or not), our children watch and learn from us.

Just a few weeks ago, in parshas Noach, we read about Mt. Ararat, where Noah’s tevah rested as the waters of the mabul receded and mankind began anew. Nestled within the Caucasus mountain range, where Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran meet, Mt. Ararat is a stone’s throw from a renewed war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Although we might discount this war as a remote conflict between two obscure states over an even more obscure province, it has important implications for Israel as well as for both regional and world superpowers. An understanding of this war and its players may better prepare us for scenarios that this long dormant conflict could potentially ignite, such as a broader Middle East war.

Unsure of my exact destination and uncertain about my upcoming meeting, I felt vulnerable and queasy as the bus lurched around the sharp turns on the descent from Yerushalayim, but I soon arrived at my stop. Alighting, I surveyed my surroundings. I was a few minutes walk from Ramat Motza, a small, pretty neighborhood right outside the entrance of Yerushalayim, directly below Har Nof. I navigated to the address I was given with help from my trusty old Moovit navigation app.

“Ululations of orchestrated hysteria went up from the nation’s media,” wrote Gerard Baker, columnist at the Wall Street Journal, decrying the reactions of the mainstream media to Donald Trump’s election to the presidency in 2016. “It was 1933 again. Late Weimar America would succumb to an authoritarian with a distinctive haircut and a penchant for intolerant rhetoric.”[1]  

Fast-forward to September 2020: Former Vice-President Biden, in a television interview, described President Trump as “sort of like” Nazi Germany’s Goebbels, the head of Hitler’s propaganda machine – or, in the first presidential debate, as “the man is a clown…a liar.” Biden again: Trump is “more like Castro than Churchill.”[2]  

Believe it or not, animals residing in this neighborhood understand Yiddish! There is a squirrel named Zindel, for example, that eats morsels that I place on the porch for the faigelach (birds). Nothing fancy, you understand, just sherayim (leftovers) of bread or other scraps. I also feed them crushed matzos, and they fress it (gobble it down) like the greatest delicacy.