Even if you never met Sherri Zaslow, you have likely seen her friendly face and cheery smile at Talmudical Academy, Tudor Heights assisted living, or the Jewish Caring Network 5K Run. Since relocating from the Philadelphia suburb of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore, 17 years ago, Sherri has reinvented herself many times. In this Where What When interview, Sherri gives us a glimpse of her eclectic and inspirational life – and talks about the new service she is initiating that she hopes will help many people at a difficult junction in their lives.

According to recent reports, we should be having an early spring this year, although, I admit, there are those who doubt the reliability of Phil the Groundhog’s predictions. In the event that his forecast is wrong and the cold weather drags on, I thought I would present some tried and true suggestions on how to keep warm while avoiding a thousand-dollar-a-month heating bill. Unfortunately, hibernation seems out of the question for most humans. Moving south is something else to consider, but for many that is not practical. Following are a few other ideas:

A while back, I saw a Facebook post which suggested bringing a hot water bottle to bed, however, commentators chimed in saying this can be dangerous. If the water bottle is old, damaged, or not correctly filled, it can lead to leakage and burns. Other options include electric heating pads or electric blankets or grain-filled bed/body warmers. Personally, I don’t feel comfortable with an electric blanket. First of all, it isn’t snuggly; you can feel the wires running through it. And when I had one years ago, I was always worrying that if I turned the wrong way I would either ruin the blanket or electrocute myself. This is true of a heating pad as well, which actually has a warning to not use it while sleeping. My only choice, it seems, is the warmers you can microwave.

When a pebble is thrown into a pond, it creates rings around the spot where the stone hit the water. The ripples become wider and wider and spread across the surface of the pond until they can no longer be seen by the human eye. So too, when a person performs an act of kindness, it creates a ripple effect with the people around them, causing the first act of kindness to morph into countless others. The effects of one act of kindness can keep going endlessly, helping and impacting countless numbers of lives.

Such a phenomenon happened in Mrs. Aliza Lee’s playgroup a few weeks ago when, in honor of their unit on chesed for the letter ches, she read Kindness Is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler to her three- and four-year-old students. That same week, Mrs. Lee’s mother had to go to the hospital. After a very long night and early morning with her mother, Morah Aliza had to go to her playgroup. That is when the beautiful ripple effect begun.

When I say Birchos Hashachar, the blessings we recite each morning at the beginning of davening, I am enveloped in the love Hashem has for me and the reassurance that He is with me in my daily travels.

The Birchos Hashachar are composed from two sets of blessings, those in Berachos 60b, relating to our daily arising, and those in Menachos 43b, defining who we are not (and, by extension, who we are). We first say one bracha from the first set, in which we thank Hashem for allowing us to see distinctions (as the rooster can distinguish the coming dawn). Then the second set of brachos is inserted. We thank Hashem for not being slaves but rather free men, for not being a non-Jew but rather a Jew with the opportunity of doing many mitzvos, and for not being a woman, who has fewer mitzvos, or for being a woman whose will is aligned more closely with Hashem’s.

I recently had an opportunity to do a workshop for all the kindergarten classes at TA for Rosh Chodesh Shevat. The new building – with its tall windows and open spaces – was a pleasure to be in. The atmosphere and the entire staff were just as warm and welcoming.

The class was so much fun. I told the kids I thought I knew what the first plague was: milkshakes! Well, I got a resounding “NO!!!!!” The whole class shook with enthusiasm. And I was quickly informed, amid much giggling, that the first plague was blood. Well, with that kind of reception, I just kept going. The second plague was kitty cats? No!!! More giggling. Luckily, we got to frogs, and we got to spend a moment discussing what the Egyptians did when the great big frog came out of the Nile.

The medrash tells us that Osnas, the daughter of Potiphar, who became the wife of Yosef, was really the daughter of Dinah and Shechem. How did this come about? The shevatim (tribes), believing that it was an embarrassment to the sons of Yaakov to have a daughter from Shechem, placed the newborn baby under a tree. To protect her, they put a necklace around her neck which explained that she was from the family of Yaakov, and anyone who helped her would be taken care of. A passerby noticed the baby, and Osnas eventually ended up in Egypt, where she was adopted by Potiphar.

When Yosef became the ruler in Egypt, all the girls, including Osnas, came to get a glance at the handsome new ruler and threw their jewelry into his carriage. Later that night, when Yosef saw the necklace with the message written on it, he found Osnas and made her his wife.

What a fascinating medrash! Here we have two people who were ostracized by their families and forced to navigate a foreign culture. And these two misfits become the ruling couple of one of the largest civilizations in history. How was this possible?

Although this was not my first visit to my eldest son Shimon and his family in Modiin Illit, also known as Kiryat Sefer, being in Eretz Yisrael on Chanukah was quite a different experience. In fact, knowing that the Chanukah story all began with a confrontation in nearby Modiin and that the seven major battles of the Maccabean Revolt took place in Judea and Samaria made the holiday come to life. So did my trip to Moshav Matityahu, namesake of one of the heroes of Chanukah.

Moshav Matityahu is located between Kiryat Sefer and the village of Hashmonaim. Compared to Kiryat Sefer, with its population of over 70,000, it is small; there are only about 100 families on the moshav (60 to70 percent, Israeli). It has undergone numerous changes since its founding by a group of about 20 American families who moved there in 1981. Under its first Rav, Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin, the moshav was a Religious Zionist collective endeavor. Today, it is privatized under the tutelage of Rabbi Zev Leff (an alumnus of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland and former Rav of the Young Israel of Greater Miami) and attracts a yeshivishe element.

April 9, 2019, Israel is going to hold its 21st national elections, seven months before they would have happened anyway. In a parliamentary democracy such as England or Israel, it is the right of a ruling coalition to decide to schedule elections early if they think they cannot continue to function or if they think the timing is good for “producing a new first down,” to borrow an expression from football. If by holding the elections now they think they might win, with favorable results, and waiting seven months for the scheduled time, they might lose, they will sometimes hold the elections early.

Under the present circumstances, Netanyahu decided to hold elections early for any of the following reasons: 1) There is pressure right now from the Supreme Court to pass laws that will make army deferments for chareidi Torah learners a smidgeon harder to attain. Netanyahu wanted to avoid that through elections, this being the main type of protection Netanyahu offers the chareidim in exchange for their voting with the coalition on other issues. 2) Netanyahu has criminal charges hanging in the air, charges he denies, and he wants to try to squeeze in elections before possible indictments make him less popular. 3) In April, Netanyahu will still be under 70 years old, and 69 sounds younger than 70.

After walking into Seven Mile Market on Sunday, January 20, I asked a cashier if I could borrow a pen. It wasn’t to write a check but to capture what was going on at Seven Mile’s Customer Appreciation and 30th Anniversary Event. While winds blew wildly outside, on one of the coldest days of the year, inside, the warmth among the customers, management, and product demonstrators was worth recording.

The store was filled with the joy that comes from sharing a simcha. “This isn’t a day to shop but a day to have fun,” said one customer. Adults and children walked from table to table sampling the many varieties of food being offered. Although some people with carts were actually shopping and experienced a few “traffic jams,” no one pushed, not even the children with chocolate and vanilla ice cream on their cheeks and noses.

Have you ever found yourself eating chocolate chips in your pantry after a stressful day with the kids, or mindlessly snacking at work out of boredom? These are both typical scenarios of emotional or stress eating.

Eating for emotional reasons is completely normal, and every human being does it to some degree. Emotional attachment to food is woven into our experiences from birth. Think about a newborn baby who nurses (or bottle-feeds) from his mother. Besides the physical benefits of the food itself are the emotional benefits, like the skin-to-skin contact, which promotes bonding between mommy and baby. The newborn quickly associates feeding and sucking with comfort and a way to self-soothe.

Whether at a wedding or other simcha, celebrating Shabbos and holidays with family, or date night with your spouse, eating is a natural way of expressing emotion. These are all normal, healthy ways to use food to express emotion on these occasions.