HOME & FAMILY

Most people recognize the necessity of good self esteem. Without it, we find ourselves groping in the dark for proofs to verify the validity of our existence. With it, we feel the strength to face the challenges of life that come our way on a daily basis. But the ability to acquire and/or maintain good self esteem seems to elude us because the knowledge of its necessity is not coupled with a deep understanding of the subject.

LETTERS, EITZES, FEEDBACK

A reader from England wishes to know more about Rabbi Zobin's FRAMEWORK program. Here it is:

THE FRAMEWORK PROGRAM has been developed over the past 20 years to deal with most of the problems which arise in "yeshivishe" education, from pre- kindergarten to kollel and after.

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Deficiencies in Tests for Learning Deficiencies
by R' Zvi Zobin

Science is the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation and theoretical explanation of physical phenomena using the physical senses. Scientists, by observing and measuring, try to find order and regularity in the physical world. If a scientist finds what might be an explanation for a type of physical behavior, he calls it a theory. If the theory withstands the tests of universal application, it becomes a Law.

BOOK REVIEW
The Spiritual Dimensions of Motherhood
HAPPY BIRTH DAY!
A Jewish Woman's Guide to Childbirth
by Aviva Rappaport
Reviewed by Y. Hall

Before I had my first child, I took a childbirth education course to find out what to expect when the time came.

The instructor, Mrs. Aviva Rappaport, a certified labor coach and lactation consultant, plied us with many facts and details to prepare us physically and emotionally for the upcoming event. Then she remarked about one birth that she attended.

PARENTING WITH MENUCHA
By the Skin of their Teeth -
How to React When Your Child Bites and How to Prevent This
by Menucha Fuchs

One of the problems parents have trouble solving is that of biting. A child who bites immediately commands attention. From then on, he is labeled as `bad' and his actions are described in various derogatory terms. This is confusing for him, since he is denigrated and related to with anger.

The Shtetl
by M. Steinberg

And who says Jerusalem is not one big shtetl? In most Jewish neighborhoods in the world, you have to put on invisible blinkers to see only `our' people and avoid what you don't want to see. Here you can fill your eyes with heartwarming sights...

In fact, a neighbor once gratefully boasted that she was able to send off nine children locally, to cheder, school and two kindergartens each morning -- without their having to catch a ride or even cross the street!

Life Marches On
Reflections by Joseph B. Liebman M.D.

Close your eyes and remember the Summer of '76. Warm, humid air surrounds my body for a second as I begin to dive into the lake at summer camp. Few people in camp can swim to the dam and back, but I am one of them. Today I am out to set an unprecedented world's record: I am going to swim to the dam and back twice without stopping.

Poet's Corner
The Story of the Mountains
by Rochel Green, Ramat Beit Shemesh

It was too funny when the "mountains" arose,
From bent on the floor, they stood on their toes,
Stripey and flowery, their small arms stretched out,
And one by one, they began to pout:

"I am the biggest" and "I am the best"
"I am the prettiest from all the rest"
But one was so quiet, said nothing at all,
Because this child was lucky to be very small.

The "Torah" was chosen to be given on him,
Despite all the wriggles visible within,
I was chosen as Moshe, to go up the mount,
I guess being Mother, I really did count.

*

When the blankets were off us, I asked my tall son,
"Does Hashem only like the littlest one?"
Understanding, he grinned: "It isn't the size,
It's the kind of a person you are inside."

Hashem loves the huge, Hashem loves the small,
He makes us with love and He loves one and all,
We try to deserve it, to be a good "mountain",
No matter our size, we strive to be counted.