It started with a young boy in Mexico who came down with an unusual and virulent flu. It’s become a global scare that is nearly pandemic. Swine flu, or Influenza A H1N1 as the experts call it, is a new strain of influenza virus that is sweeping across the world, bringing fear, cautionary measure, and

Back when I was growing up in Cleveland Ohio, Lag B’omer was a great excuse for a school trip. While I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit it, the countdown to Lag B’omer was nearly as fervent as the countdown to Shavuot. Up until about fourth grade we’d only go to some big park. But then we

Few government plans have caused more furor and fury, more debate and deliberation than the $789 billion economic stimulus plan approved by both the Congress and the Senate back on Feb. 11. President Obama’s plan will pump billions of dollars into health care, education, transportation, and other sectors. It will also provide individuals and businesses

It was a dream game from a spectator’s perspective. Super Bowl XLIII, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, was close, so close that fans were sitting on the edge of their seats until the very last minute. Both teams came to Tampa awash in hope. The Steelers dreamed of a sixth Super Bowl

It started as everyone’s worst nightmare. At 3:26 pm on Thursday, Jan. 15, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from Laguardia airport, bound for Charlotte, N. C. One minute later, when the plane was over 3,200 feet in the air, the pilot realized that birds had gotten caught in the engines. The engines were going

“Hamas leader killed, Arabs vow revenge.” There are more words below, but it’s hard for me to concentrate on the fine print. There is a fear that squeezes my heart, tighter, tighter. What will this revenge mean? Who will find themselves orphaned? Widowed? Will it. – and I think of my children, my husband, my

I was in eleventh grade when my classmate lost her mother to cancer. We had been praying for her mother’s recovery for months, and we knew that the situation was getting worse, but somehow we never expected her to die. When you’re sixteen years old, death seems very far away. But one day, the phone

“Mommy, come here and look.” The insistent voice was calling from the kitchen door. To even turn my head in his direction seemed to require more effort than I could muster. It was the end of a very long day. I had taken the kids to a large, beautiful park a short distance from our

Sometimes, when she lay in bed exhausted, but wide awake with worry, when her mind would race thinking about the latest electricity bill, the late camp payment, the roofer who charged so much but did nothing, she’d look over at her husband, tranquilly asleep, and feel a sense of rage. Adina wasn’t prone to rage,

There are moments we wish would disappear from our memories, just be swallowed up in our past, leaving no trace, no painful residue. Most of those moments involve our doing something we wish could be undone: harsh words we dream of stuffing back into our mouth, hasty actions we yearn to erase. But sometimes, our