HOME & FAMILY

What better time to look favorably upon our fellow man, our fellow Jerusalemite...

Two true stories

Yerusholayim Under Siege --
Cast Your Dry Bread...
by Yisca Shimony

Part I

The year 5709 was a post War of Independence year. Residents in Eretz Yisroel suffered great shortages in food and staples, as well as lack of funds, and all were called to act frugally and to tighten their belts. Food stamps were issued according to the size of families, enabling them to purchase rationed supplies of the most necessary items.

...AND FOUND... LOST AND FOUND... LOST
adapted from a piece in YATED HASHAVUA
by F. Gefen

"An address for those lacking an address." A YATED service.

Mixed Emotions
by Bayla Gimmel

The Seventeenth of Tammuz. The Three Weeks.

After the euphoria of the Summer Wedding Season, we are suddenly plunged into a period of national mourning. Our everyday activities are curtailed step by step until Tisha B'Av, that most sorrowful of evenings, when we sit on the floor and weep.

Ma and the Truant Officer
by Sudy Rosengarten

Synopsis: We find Pa and Ma raising their brood in Toronto, but still very much in spirit in die alte heim. The boys have shaven heads and long payos, the girls have long braids and homemade dresses with long sleeves and high collars. Ma is still hoping to someday actually return to Poland, since this is what she promised the Bobover Rebbe...

Tatty's Surprise
by Raizel Foner

I was in the States recently for three weeks with all of my children for my youngest brother's wedding. Yehuda, my husband, had decided not to come. Officially, the reason was because his passport had expired. In addition, since he never registered with the army, he wouldn't be able to leave the country.

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

We will continue with evidence based medicine (EBM) in the future, but I wanted to discuss another issue, that of pain relief. Many years ago, and most of us remember this, there was no mild pain relief available other than paracetamol (in the USA called acetaminophen) and aspirin.

Reasons to Eat 5 Meals or 17 Snacks a Day
By Dr. Reuven Bruner, Ph.D.

Eating too much fat doesn't just thicken your waist, it may harm your ability to think as well.

POET'S CORNER

Memory
by Ziporah Zien

Yes, memory's a wonderful creation!
The brain cells store so many useful thoughts.
Impressions, sights and sounds will beg retention
In crannies where, when needed, they'll be sought.

However, if my head is filled with pictures
That wandering eyes haphazardly collate;
Such images will not obey the strictures
Which common decency would regulate.

One finds them cropping up and wreaking havoc,
They'd not be there if I'd not let them in.
Although my lids need not be fit with padlock,
From gaping 'round, there isn't much to win!

So if I find that visual calisthenics
Do lend a certain attitude and air
Which undermines the purest Jewish subjects
With smug, sophisticated laissez faire,

Well, then, I guess I've wandered far too freely
In neighborhoods where angels fear to tread.
A shame my Jewish instincts were not really
So firm and clearly planted in my head.

The intellect is like a tended garden
In which each tree and bush is neatly placed
And registered regarding its relation
To traffic, moisture, light and given space.

The landscape company must find solutions
For nipping growth of weeds before they bud,
Such unplanned undergrowth would cause confusion:
Uprooting useful plants: increasing mud.

The longer one neglects the garden's tending,
The harder it will be to weed the plot.
If overgrown, and one neglects its mending,
Potential gain will suffer quite a lot!

With this I'd like to warn our precious daughters:
"Be wary of the sights and sounds that lure.
There's not much in the streets or stores which ought to
Be stored within your consciousness so pure.

"You'll manage to succeed in your vocation
By storing wholesome information gained.
Prevent those weeds from spoiling the location
Your mental health will thus be well maintained."