Spring 2022(5782)

How tech is affecting our kids and what we are doing about it.

Sarah’s* favorite topic of conversation is why she needs a smartphone.

The experts weigh in with some suggestions for parents concerned about the impact of technology on their children’s social-emotional development

Parents are constantly being told to do their best to raise children who have grit, the ability to cope with setbacks and a positive “I-can-do-it” attitude. The question is, how?

More than anything else, the pandemic was a vivid reminder that parents are the key to ensuring their kids’ mental health.

As told to Leah R. Lightman Torah Jews start the day by reciting the Modeh Ani prayer, thanking Hashem for the simple fact that we woke up. It would be more grammatically correct to say “Ani modeh.” Yet we commence with “thank you” in order to become habituated to having gratitude. Gratitude is a skill […]

I believe the role of parents during trauma is to nurture and support the natural resilience of their children.

The Empowered Parenting Initiative is a parenting program comprised of various resources including The Digital Citizenship Project, a curriculum about the role of technology in children’s lives, and the Healthy Habits Hub, a series of “healthy habits” that foster positive family bonding.

When we are attentive to a child’s needs, we create security and confidence, and this provides the internal strength children need to handle stress later in life.

We tend to have a set of expectations for our kids that is too narrow. . . . [and] all too often . . . kids start to view themselves as failures while in school.

Our passion for Yiddishkeit becomes contagious when it is sincere. Our students know when it is not.

What should we do to better inculcate a lifelong passion for Yiddishkeit in all of our children?

What could we do to substantially move the needle when it comes to combating assimilation?

“A farmer without emunah is not a farmer.”

While such matzah is most certainly not new—it has old roots in the Sephardic world—in recent years it has become more commercially available.

Choosing other root vegetables, building in more colorful vegetables and spices, and using strong vibrant flavors have definitely given our Pesach table a facelift.

Misconception: On Shabbat it is permitted to carry a child in a public domain that does not have an eruv because of the principle of “chai nosei et atzmo—living beings ‘carry’ themselves.”

As Jews, regardless of our professional pursuits, we are duty bound to be mekadesh Shem Shamayim—to sanctify G-d’s Name through our actions, our deeds and our behavior in the workplace.

The editors appear to have done their best to address the question, “What can we do to make prayer more accessible?”

Even those of us (perhaps especially those of us) who have had a decent and comprehensive Orthodox Jewish education have often come away with little understanding of the actual breadth and depth of Torah thought.