HOME & FAMILY

She stood with us at Har Sinai... Meeting her is believing it!

Tziporah, Daughter of Yisro
by Tziporah, bas Avrohom Ovinu

She said people would think I chose the name because I liked singing and music. I wasn't changing my life to be cute!

Wishful Thinking
by P. Diamond

Puzzled, I reread the note a second time.

"Dear Mother," it said. "Since your daughter is starting to learn Alef-Beis in kindergarten this year, we will be having an Alef-Beis party tomorrow. Please send her dressed in Shabbos clothing and write a brocha for her on the attached piece of paper." There was a detachable slip at the bottom which read: "To my dear daughter" -- then a few blank lines, concluding with, "Your loving mother."

LETTERS, FEEDBACK, EITZES

"I very much enjoy your Family Page and hope more readers will respond to certain family issues," writes R. Weberman. She continues with

Sensitivity -- The Spartan Way or the Jewish Way

BOOK REVIEW
On Cab Drivers, Shopkeepers and Strangers: Israel What a Country
by Tzvia Ehrlich-Klein
Published by Feldheim

Tzvia Ehrlich-Klein has done it again. If you liked On Bus Drivers, Dreidels and Orange Juice: Life in Israel, It's More than You Bargained For, you are sure to like her new book. On Cab Drivers, Shopkeepers and Strangers: Israel What a Country presents a further collection of anecdotes that depict the inner beauty of the people living in our Holy Land.

Is This Mine?
by Tzvia Ehrlich-Klein

Racheli S. is the daughter of a friend of mine. She told this story to her mother who told it to me. Only in Israel...

A Hashgocha Protis Story
Out of the Blue
by Sheindel Weinbach

Every once in a while our PR person in Bnei Brak urges me to put in a good word about the Beged Yad Leyad clothing gemach with which I am involved. There is something about the gemach which reminds me of the mon which sustained our ancestors in the desert.

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

I often get phone calls from Hatzala to lecture. When I ask them on what subject, the answer is invariably: on something interesting. Let's face it. Not all of medicine is interesting, but all of it is vital to know and we all must have a basic knowledge. This column is not necessarily an "interesting" one, but is one that must be read and read again. I am speaking about proper medical etiquette.

POET'S CORNER
An Election Selection

A Call to Arms
by Pennee Lauders

My dearest Friends, to you I call! The signs of hatred rising
Might herald soon our country's fall, all while with blind despising!
We hear the news with bated breath. For conscience we are pleading!
We weep for someone else's death while our own souls are bleeding!
How virtue now is trampled flat; to do bad, none will tarry,
"He's not divorced? Imagine that! No doubt he never married!"

A case of mass myopia; now there's a common trial!
A garbage cornucopia adorns the public mile!
If on your way by foot, you stroll and seek a spot to rest,
That public bench, so I've been told, by fools was burnt, in jest.

The art of reprimand is stained, in reaching souls we fail,
The right to choose they would retain while earning Hell or jail!
Yes, what one wants, one claims to need, and thrills galore abound,
One's beastly inclinations heed no call for deeds profound.

So if in court your day arrives, please don't expect reprieve,
The judge his sentences derives by shaking out his sleeves!
The politician's rhetoric will carry him along,
Though once he's taken office, he will sing another song!

"When will the Force of bad retreat?" we bellow out in pain,
"Will evil not admit defeat? Will man from sin abstain?"
There comes a point when man must ask, "Wherefore was I created?"
The answer is: Accept the task to serve Him unabated!
An honest day of work will yield an honest daily wage,
If one is prone to oversleep, he'll reap the Boss' rage!

Religious Jews: accept the charge, to educate and guide!
Complaints and criticism barge the soul! Let's peer inside.

Hashem will grant prosperity to those who prune their deeds,
Uprooting hate and planting rows of learning, grateful seed.
For Heaven's sake, if not for man's improve upon the given,
The variables are in our hands. We'll reap as we have striven.

*

A Parshas Yisro Selection

How Am I a Jew? Let Me Count the Ways!

by Ziporah Zien

Which chosen qualities define the Jew?
Which rare essential elements create
A member of that race so oft renewed
While criticism stacks upon his pate?

It seems his ignominy defies description.
One is more apt to know what he is not.
He's not been conquered yet and not a `criss-tian,'
His misdeeds great or small no one forgot!

How curious and strange that all existence
Will strive to ascertain just what's a Jew,
Each age and challenge changes the description!
More nebulous than steam, this favored few.

The truth is, that just what he is, is hidden,
He's better off resembling fish at sea,
For no one is offended by the Yidden
When they engage in Torah repartee.

In small, clandestine chambers they assemble,
The experts at defining Oral Law,
Discussion brings the hallowed halls to tremble,
Defining human actions, Heaven's Awe.

Without this strict, exacting, holy science
The gentiles find impossible to gain
Insight into this holy nation's guidance,
And fail enduring wisdom to maintain.

This chosen folk is privy to the secrets
Of how and why and when the world began,
They'll learn with anyone as long as he sits
And shares their fate and future... if he can.

A Writ and Deed of Sale they have acquired
Entitling them to settle their Estate,
As their great Father lives in Heaven,
Their portion is as guarded as their fate.

Forever they will face the stormy weather,
This people and their holy Master's will,
With thirteen and six hundred ways, together,
They'll come and live to conquer ages still!