HOME & FAMILY

QUESTION: My son is in eighth grade. B"H he is very clever and is learning well, but his handwriting is terrible. His rebbeim complain that they cannot read what he writes, even though he is probably giving very good answers. What can I do to help him write clearly?

Stuck-Up
by Leah Subar

One of the first things I do after the house is back in chometz-working order is examine my Grand List.

My Grand List is a list of everything I want to do in my life.

Teaching Love of Torah to Children
by Tzvia Ehrlich-Klein

This is the second section of a six-part essay especially tailored to the Counting of the Sefira up till the Giving of the Torah. We began by encouraging Torah-centered conversation instead of casual talk.

Cast Thy Apples Upon the Water
by Bruchy Laufer

"Into bed right now!" Ms. Crow cried shrilly.

"But I'm hungry," wailed little Hindy.

Ms. Crow glared at Hindy and repeated her command more toughly this time. Ms. Crow was the house mother in a New York based refugee orphanage. Never having experienced the emotion called love herself, she couldn't bring forth any for her charges. She ruled with an iron fist and made sure everyone knew who was the undisputed boss.

Bored? Try a Board Game
by R' Zvi Zobin

Board games such as chess and GO, go back many hundreds of years. In the 1960s, board games reached a high level of popularity, with classics such as Monopoly becoming best sellers. Nowadays, computers have taken over as the major pastime, yet board games still have much to offer which cannot easily be replicated by computer games.

Kindling Light / Extinguishing Light
by Varda Branfman

Sometimes you know that a conversation with a neighbor on the sidewalk is kindling light. You walk away bathed in the light, enjoying the afterglow. Sometimes when you're enjoying the cooking, the light you feel goes into the pots. Whoever sits down to eat at your table gets a portion of that light.

Your Medical Questions Answered!
by Joseph B. Leibman, MD

I could spend hours speaking about infectious diseases. Bacteria and viruses have been causing diseases from ancient times, and despite recent advances in antibiotics, they are still winning. We will spend the next few columns on the newest ones to have emerged in the last few years, but first a little history.

Poet's Corner
Cause for Optimism
by Ruth Lewis

Shanny, not quite two
presents me with her latest gift:
an onion, from the lowest shelf of
our vegetable bin.
"Oh, thank you!" I bend down to smile
into her small, uplifted face,
depositing the gift into my
housecoat pocket.
It joins there the morning's other offerings:
a sock, a dustcloth, the lid from
a jar of mayonnaise, half a yellow crayon,
three pieces of Lego.

"Klqxzlup," she replies, which I gather,
from her beaming countenance, means,
"You're very welcome!"

I have not been mother to all the human race
(It just feels, sometimes, as if I have).
But I do think this is a universal tendency:
that all young children rejoice in giving.
Only later do they discover that
there's a slight drawback --
when you give something, you no longer have it.
Surely, this trait is cause for cautious optimism.
Surely, the human race can't be all bad.