Gift Giving

This is not a holiday of splurging and materialism, but one of teaching our children how fortunate we have been, and how to help those less fortunate than ourselves...

My husband had asked me a few weeks before my birthday what I wanted. Not really needing anything in particular, I smiled and said "nothing" telling him that being married to him was all I wanted. I was trying to be sweet...

My husband bought me a necklace for our 1st anniversary, and while I appreciate the gift very much, I don’t really like the necklace...

I thought about what my daughter said and realized that, no, I was not my mother, but I was so happy to become like her. By emulating her, I was keeping her close to me . . .

My four-year-old son, not to be outdone, offered to collect stuffed animals at his nursery school. Soon, the animals were arriving at all hours and without notice. With each delivery, my daughter beamed...

My wife tells me that it is tradition to give the woman in your life flowers before Shabbat. Is this true and, if yes, what is the significance? Secondly, why give something like cut flowers that die?

Chanukah has always posed a particular challenge for Jewish parents because it arrives around the same time as a certain secular holiday that is surrounded by an inordinate amount of music, lights and action...

We give our children everything they need and want. Now that they are tweens and teens, we are having a real problem…

Hodaya, my sixteen-year-old, walked in last night, past midnight, after the first day of camp. She was so exhausted she could hardly speak. But she told me the name of her camper and she said to me, "Ima, this work is a lesson for life..."

I'll never forget that guy. There we were, selling lemonade on the side of the road. Twenty-five cents a piece. We had already made a few bucks for a few hours work. Not too shabby. But that guy—well, he just changed everything.