Judy Gruen

No more weighing protein on little scales. No more arbitrary deadlines to lose X amount of weight. After I made this decision, I felt ten pounds lighter already!

They don’t call gossip “dirt” for nothing. “Did you hear that Tony’s getting a divorce?” my coworker Stacie said in a hushed tone by the coffeemaker, interrupting an important deliberation between the chocolate hazelnut and the French roast. I had not hea...

Shortly after my bat mitzvah, I decided it was time to get a better handle on G‑d. Did He really exist? If so, did He call the shots down here on Earth, and in particular, in my own life? Despite many years of Hebrew school and listening to the rabbi’s Sh...

During his convalescence, the morning blessings assumed a new poignancy and meaning for both of us: “Blessed are You, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, who releases the bound . . . Who straightens the bent . . . Who gives strength to the weary.” For the...

“Just because you needed to lose weight, why are you taking it out on us? What did we do?” another son repined. They continued their assault by reminding me that this was Thursday, and Thursday used to be hot dog night . . .

According to certain experts in academia, I have put my kids' entire emotional and educational futures at risk because I haven't made the family dinner an immutable, Norman Rockwell-esque fixture in our lives...

Even the best among us sometimes speak or act before we think, hurt those we love, and fail to live up to our own potential. If we can own up to our mistakes, however, we can deepen the relationships most important to us...

I had been looking forward to lolling around during the waning days of summer, eating runny sugar-free ice cream while my kids savored the premium scoops. But I was forced into aerobic action: running around like a woman possessed, surrendering my credit ...

In most ways I'm a classic Jewish mother. If I'm cold, I tell my kids to put on sweaters. But I depart from the stereotypes in one significant way: I really am not interested in hearing from my kids every day when they are away at camp...

At a certain point, I will run out of food. And then we, along with about 4,000 of our neighbors, start hitting the kosher pizza joints...