Adventures in Mama-Land

Are your kids bored with typical Jewish children’s books?? I know mine were! That’s actually one of the main reasons I started writing books for Jewish kids.  I was sick of stories that simply repeat the basics:  “It’s Rosh Hashanah, we dip an apple.”  “It’s Sukkos, we sit in the sukkah.”  “It’s Chanukah, we light the menorah.”  I was bored to death of these, and so were my kids, by the time they were two years old or so.  Plus – kids love to read about animals.  I really believe that animals can give us a lot of insight into ourselves and the things we do. That’s how I got the idea for my first animal book – Penguin Rosh Hashanah .  I was sitting on a train wondering what to write for Rosh Hashanah, and I suddenly had the random thought, “Penguins.”  Why penguins?  Penguins, or any animal, really, are the exact opposite of Rosh Hashanah.  And I love it.  Loved the idea of finding connections and creating a very loose, light story which davka (specifically) didn’t tell kids what Rosh H

I confess, it’s been a rocky time, writing-wise.  Not that I’m not writing!  Actually, I’m writing more than ever, probably more than most writers do in a lifetime.  The problem is that most of it is your basic blah writing for clients, translating (from Hebrew to English), or essays for school. (Did I mention I’m a full-time grad student???  More about that later…) But somehow, despite having ZERO time to write the things I truly wish I was writing, I seem to have managed to finish not one but TWO book projects, and without further ado – I present… two gorgeous new books: Oma is 100 :  "It's been almost a hundred years since Oma was born, but she doesn't want a party..."  When a young girl’s grandmother decides she's too old for  a birthday party, the simple act of crocheting a blanket teaches them both an important lesson about love, family, and belonging.  This isn’t specifically a Jewish book, in that there are no Hebrew words or references to Judaism – the me

I thought I’d shared this already, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.  Sorry if it’s a duplicate!  This is a one-page tefillah sheet I made for us to use last year in getting ready for Yom Kippur, because I couldn’t find an English song I liked to the tune of Avinu Malkeinu to help give the kids the idea of what it’s all about.  Here’s a link to the tune, so you’ll know how the Hebrew part sounds (if a little schmaltzy). Download this and other Jewish printables from my Limudei Kodesh downloads page here (under Rosh Hashanah). For general studies printables, including science, art and music, click here .

This is probably our last “normal” school week for a couple of weeks because of Sukkos next week and all our fun exciting Chol HaMoed (holiday) activities.  NOT that it was a normal week… do we ever really have one of those?  Does anybody? Here’s what we’ve been up to this week! We sure DO love chumash!  Elisheva created this picture while she was waiting for Naomi Rivka to go get dressed when we finished up our work for today. Naomi can now read pessukim (verses) 1-4 of Lech Lecha (in case you don’t know what this is… Bereishis/Genesis, Chapter 12; it’s known as “Lech Lecha” after the first two significant Hebrew words; oh, and in case you didn’t know, “chumash” = Torah = pentateuch = five books of Moses). She has mastered 18 of the Bright Beginnings flashcards, and I just added 6 more, bringing us up to 24 words in her “official” Torah vocabulary.  Unofficially, she probably knows quite a few more, but I like doing them systematically with the flashcards. Hmmm… what else did we

I provided a link to this map project / activity for the story of Jonah / Yonah, which is read on Yom Kippur, but I wasn’t sure if we’d have a chance to do it.  But yesterday evening, we did have some free time, and I printed out all the bits and pieces so we could laboriously assemble them.  I used 4 pieces of cardstock for the “underneath” layer, and 4 pieces of paper, taped together meticulously, for the top layer. We were ALL very pleased and impressed with the results!  Each little “door” has a number and one small part of the story, so you can read the story, open the little door to see the full-colour picture, and then follow Yonah along his (hypothetical, because nobody knows for sure) route from Yaffo to Tarshish and then back to Nineveh to do what Hashem asked him to do. Naomi was thrilled because I let her use the X-acto knife for the first time – ON the cutting mat, with her other hand well out of the way! For some reason, all the non-Jewish sites say the big fish (NOT

I have a soft spot for the Humber Arboretum , if you must know, because it was my father’s “find.”  He brought us there; a city boy through and through, he always DID love a good trudge through the woods, something I spent much of my childhood resenting and much of my adulthood hoping he would do the same to my kids. It occurs to me that I haven’t been to the cemeteries yet; my maternal grandparents and father and my father’s parents are across the street from one another up north.  I want to; I hope to, but I don’t have an actual PLAN, which sometimes means it won’t happen.  Maybe on Thursday, because Friday will be a zoo.  I think about this today because I may not have been to visit his grave, but walking these paths where he brought us – me and the big kids, when they were so tiny they cannot remember – I have somehow been visiting with his soul; with HIM.  If his body is (mostly) no longer underground in that spot where we covered it with dirt, and his neshama never was, then h

I guess we’re lucky.  The story of Yonah / Jonah, which we read in shul as the haftarah on Yom Kippur, is one area where Jewish interpretation mostly overlaps with the Christian one.  Which is why you shouldn’t be shocked to know that chinuch.org was NOT the first site I visited when looking for resources for the kids to use as we learn about it this week. Before I show you what I did find elsewhere (gasp!), I’ll share this simple DIY booklet from chinuch.org which kids can illustrate themselves.  We used it last year and may well end up doing the exact same one this year.  It’s not breathtakingly good, but it’s not completely appalling . Now, a few I hope to incorporate this year – depending on how much time we have this week… As with any resources from Christian sites, please read these carefully before using them.  I am NOT endorsing these sites, merely suggesting that these materials provide useful images and  background for teaching Torah lessons.  See “Full Note of Caution”

(with thanks to Phyllis Sommer’s Ima on and off the Bima for the “Blog Elul” button and meme, which I have not yet participated because I thought I had nothing to say) My friend Sara just wrote an interesting post about strollers , and running after her toddler on Shabbos. Her post reminded me – tangentially – of the olden days, before Toronto got its current eiruv.  I started to write it in her comments, but realized (for once) that my thoughts were totally irrelevant.  “Get your own blog,” I told myself.  But then I realized, “Wait a minute.  I HAVE my own blog.  And this is what it’s for – my random dull reminiscences of bygone eras.”  “Okay, then,” I told myself.  “Why not write it there?” So I am. When YM was a baby, there was no eiruv in Toronto, so young mamas just didn't go out on Shabbos.  By the time we moved to Calgary, also with no eiruv, he was walking, so on Yom Kippur I decided to walk to shul.  The shul was RIGHT across the street.  Literally, across a stoplig

(reposted from last year – sorry; too busy making my lime pie to write something original) … that we all have an easy fast and be inscribed for a gourd , sweet year.   יהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו שֶׁיִּקָרַע רֹעַ גְּזַר דיננו, וְיִקָרְאּוּ לפניך זכויותינו. I k now we don’t usually say “yehi ratzons” for Yom Kippur, but I found these old pictures from last year’s Sukkah Party , and I couldn’t resist. גמר טוב וצום קל לכולם!!! - from The Adventures in MamaLand Editorial Board, Staff, Writers and all the rest of me.   p.s.  Wondering what the “other half” does on Yom Kippur?  Here , courtesy of DovBear’s blog, are TEN different “other-half” perspectives on Kol Nidrei services. And a great key-lime pie recipe for after the fast!