I’ve just arrived home after an outing to dinner with my husband and sibs-in-law at El Vaqueiro, a South American/South African steakhouse near downtown Jerusalem. The restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat option that includes a parade of different meats that you are encouraged to try (they bring each to the table, one by one) and […]

I have a friend named Sara Benincasa who I have known for almost a decade, since our days tromping around Europe as part of Emerson College’s Kasteel Well program. Even then I knew Sara was not only a delight, but she was dangerously smart and laugh-until-you-lose-consciousness funny. So it was no surprise to me […]

I had a really sweet moment last night after I crawled into bed (too late, I’m afraid). As I lay on my side, my body hugged around my belly-friendly tube pillow, waiting for sleep to take over, I felt LB’s weight in my belly. I thought of the baby curling up and falling asleep […]

I haven’t officially mentioned the debate that has been going on in my house for the past several weeks on the blog because I felt it was best to keep it mum until a final decision was made. Well, we finally did it: Last night, Shuie and I agreed to come home. I booked […]

There’s this thing I’ve heard once or twice that you’re not supposed to complain about Israel, it being the gift to our people from Gd and everything. Word on the street is you may even sacrifice your chance to be here if you’ve got beef and advertise it. Well, today I’m willing to risk […]

At the moment I am feeling immensely guilty because I just dropped Yonah off at Ruchama’s, even though all I’m going to be doing this morning is sleeping and, if I can build up the strength, go to the grocery store (Dad went to yeshiva with Shuie today). To my credit I did go […]

For the past three days, Yonah has had a high fever, runny nose and today broke out in an adorable rash. Dr. Wolf says it’s just a virus and that the rash (Roseola) is the final stages of the germs leaving the body. Well, thank Gd. While Yonah’s recovery is first and foremost on […]

Last night Shuie and I went to our friends Adiella and Binyamin Yitzchak’s Sheva Brachot (Sheva Brachot [Seven Blessings] are a series of dinners that take place each night for a week after a Jewish wedding). I had really wanted to go to their wedding, but one of the Jewish laws of mourning prohibits […]

I am one of those people who don’t do well when underslept; I get cranky, short and completely scattered. It was no surprise to me, then, after two nights of waking up with Yonah that I felt like an overturned mobile home in after a Kansas hurricane. I considered skipping my meeting and session […]

Living in a country whose language is not your first means that, pretty regularly, you are going to find yourself feasting on a thick slice of humble pie. In general, I can understand what people are saying to me after a five-second delay, and with my third-grade Hebrew skills I can pretty much get […]