Light at the End of the Tunnel

By Ilana Angel
Published on October 30, 2012

The Gold Man – A Guest Blog

By Ilana Angel
Published on August 27, 2012

Saying Goodbye

By Ilana Angel
Published on August 16, 2012

Helping mothers have it all

By Susan Freudenheim
Published on June 27, 2012

The much-discussed article in the July/August Atlantic magazine begins with a story that likely will be familiar to any working mother. The author, Anne-Marie Slaughter, is at an evening work event talking to very important, very professional people, and all that’s really on her mind is the plight of her teenage son, who’s floundering at home without her.

In love and defense

Published on March 8, 2012

I have a complicated relationship with Israel. My younger brother made aliyah last year and is currently serving as a paratrooper in an elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), leaving me feeling simultaneously proud, nervous and occasionally nauseous all at once. We were raised in a Zionistic home with a strong legacy of Israel support — our grandparents collected money in little blue tzedakah boxes before Israel even became a state. My own schooling taught me the importance of being informed about complex Middle East issues; as an educator, I confront the media bias and hatred of Israel and instead promote positive messages about the country and her people. Through professional work, I also lead an annual student delegation from Los Angeles to Israel, where I continually experience the Jewish homeland through my students’ eyes.

Brothers reunite with hidden ‘sister’ after 65 years

Published on March 23, 2011

During a teary-eyed meeting in Wellington, New Zealand, on Tuesday, 70-year-old Elli Mantegari met members of the family who hid her for almost two years in Nazi-occupied Holland. The reunion brings an end to a search that has lasted 65 years.

Sister Wives, Polygamy, not too bad of an idea…

By Julia Bendis
Published on March 14, 2011

Is Matchmaking a Mitzvah and how many are supposed to accomplish in our lifetime?

By Julia Bendis
Published on February 28, 2011

The Relationships in Between Your Relationships

By Tamara Shayne Kagel
Published on January 31, 2011

My sister Sarah

By Rabbi Susan Silverman
Published on November 15, 2007

"Bitch, bastard, damn, s--t." Okay, her menschiness has never taken a traditional form. But the crowds roared. The performer was 2-year-old Sarah. The stage was our living room. The set was our father's lap on one of our giant round sponges -- 1970s artsy chairs -- in orange and beige stripes, upon the bright green carpet of our living room.

I’ll love him like a brother ... in-law

By Jay Firestone
Published on June 7, 2007

When I saw how happy my sister was, I realized that this wedding experience wasn't about me. It wasn't about creating a gender balance in my family. It wasn't about gaining a big brother.

Books: Czech teen’s words and art put a face on the Holocaust for me

By Daniel A. Olivas
Published on June 7, 2007

Ginz was a Czech Jew, born in 1928, who died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz at the age of 16. His diary had been lost for 60 years but resurfaced in 2003.

Obituaries

Published on January 11, 2007

Obituaries.

Holy Doubt

By Rabbi Debra Orenstein
Published on December 7, 2006

This week's Torah portion contains a story that most of us skipped in Hebrew school -- the story of Dina.

You talking to me? When dogs are our best friends

By Merrill Markoe
Published on November 2, 2006

The story behind "Walking in Circles Before Lying Down." The book is about a woman who so loses track of the direction her life should be taking that when she finds that she can suddenly talk to dogs, she starts wondering whether they are offering advice worth taking.

Obituaries

Published on October 19, 2006

Obituaries

Obituaries

Published on October 12, 2006

Obituaries.

Obituaries

Published on September 21, 2006

Obituaries.

Obituaries

Published on May 18, 2006

Obituaries.

Obituaries

Published on April 27, 2006

Obituaries.

First Person - A Coming Out (of Egypt) Story

By Jeff Bernhardt
Published on April 13, 2006

Sixteen years ago this month; Jeff Bernhardt came out of the closet to his family, to free himself from the bondage of keeping this huge and personal part of him from them.

Obituaries

Published on November 10, 2005

Obituaries.

Writer Stepping Out With ‘In Her Shoes’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on October 6, 2005

As she wrote "In Her Shoes," Jennifer Weiner wanted to work through an obvious, but puzzling, conundrum: How can people who grew up in the same house wind up radically different individuals?

Happy Birthday, Me!

By J. Keith van Straaten
Published on July 28, 2005

In a few weeks I'll turn 33 and, sadly, I realize I'm long past being anything "for my age." I'm no longer cute for my age, talented for my age, a good reader for my age. All qualifications and special considerations have long passed. There's nothing I can get away with now because, "After all, your honor, he's only 33."

Obituaries

Published on October 28, 2004

Obituaries

Obituaries

Published on October 14, 2004

Obituaries.

A Manual for the Auntie-to-Be

By Erika Dreifus
Published on April 8, 2004

It seemed that lots of people -- including total strangers -- had plenty of advice to offer my sister and my brother-in-law before the birth of their first child, an event the entire extended family anticipated for late summer 2003. And it wasn't just a matter of kindly (if ultimately incorrect) projections about the baby's gender or rueful warnings about all those sleepless nights to come.

Ask Wendy

By Wendy Belzberg
Published on October 3, 2002

Dear Wendy, My father left my mother when my sister was 8 and I was 5. His visits became increasingly infrequent until, about 20 years ago, we stopped hearing from him altogether.

A Portion of Parshat Ki Tisa

By Abby Gilad
Published on February 28, 2002

Oh boy, do the Israelites slip up this week. They have just received the Ten Commandments, have heard God speak to them and have vowed to do all that God commands them, even if they do not fully understand why they must. Forty days later, they're dancing around a calf made of melted golden earrings and calling it a god! What happened?

The Lamb is Sure to Go

By Mike Levy
Published on September 6, 2001

Mallory Lewis grew up with a very famous sister, but she laughs if you ask about sibling rivalry. "She slept in a shoebox in the closet, I had my own room, it was fine by me."

But this is no horror story of an evil stepsister. Mallory Lewis' sister is Lamb Chop, the adorable, perpetually 6-year-old puppet of children's entertainer Shari Lewis. Beloved by millions since their 1957 debut on "The Captain Kangaroo Show," Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop would go on to entertain generations of kids with their PBS series and videos. Mallory Lewis began writing her mom's newspaper column for kids at the age of 12, and by the early '90s, she was head writer and producer for mom's series.

Childhood’s Sweet Sharp Imprint

By Gina Nahai
Published on May 17, 2001

It is summer, a long time ago, and I am lying on a terrace overlooking an ancient garden full of rosebushes and fruit trees. The days have been so hot, the asphalt on the sidewalk melts under my feet if I dare step out of the house. At night, the temperature drops. My sisters and I take the hose to the yard and stand there as the day's heat rises out of the brick floor in a cloud of white steam. My mother spreads our bed on the terrace, and we crawl into it, hours before we can actually fall asleep. We thrash about in the cool sheets that smell of dust, summer and lavender bleach; listen to the music that drifts up from our grandmother's radio downstairs; eat fresh mulberries we have picked from the tree in our own yard.

Dear Rabbi

By Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Published on May 10, 2001

Dear Rabbi.

Personal Shopper

By J. D. Smith
Published on May 3, 2001

I had to buy a present for my sister recently. Shopping for women, if you don't happen to actually be a woman yourself, is a nightmare.

I've noticed that when men go shopping for clothes, there is a sense of purposefulness about it. We're going to the store to buy something, some specific thing in response to a specific need. A shirt. I need a shirt. We march in, try something on. If it fits, we buy it and march back out. No squealing, no cooing, no fanfare. We take care of our needs. There is a sense of accomplishment. We live from shirt to shirt.

Sibling Rivalry

By Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben
Published on December 14, 2000

I have three sisters, two older and one younger. My youngest sister, Debbie, was born when I was 8 years old. In the months leading up to her birth, I remember clearly the anxiety I felt over the possibility that it might turn out to be a boy and I might end up with a brother.

Where the Heart Is

By Teresa Strasser
Published on November 30, 2000

It's a familiar story. Kids grow up, parents sell the family home and move to some sunnier climate, some condo somewhere, some smaller abode.

Sisters Recapture Their Heritage

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on September 24, 1998

Gloria Hernandez Trujillo, 51, grew up in what she thought was a traditional Catholic home in Monterey Park. Her mother sent the children to mass and catechism classes at Our Lady of Solitude church in East Los Angeles. Trujillo made her first communion at the age of 8, wearing the requisite white frilly dress. At 12, she was confirmed, like many of the Latino children in her Eastside neighborhood.

Easing the Pain

By Beverly Gray
Published on October 2, 1997

Ethan Gura doesn't remember his sister. Still, he cannot forgether. He can't forget that Rebecca Alexandra Gura died in 1991 after afour and a half year battle with leukemia. She was then six yearsold. He was three.