By: Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky The month of holidays is behind us. There is much about them that I enjoy. I love to cook and entertain. I love to go to synagogue with my children, to decorate the sukkah, to spend time with friends, to read books and nap and play...
By: Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky We were driving my daughters to my in-laws’ house up north for two nights. (My husband and I were continuing on to Tremblant without them). First, I realized I left their toiletry bag in their bathroom. So we pulled off the highway...
By: Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky Girl drama. With three daughters, I’ve had my share of “she said” and “but she said,” and, unfortunately, I will likely encounter more as I am just embarking on the teen years. When their friends “hate” teachers my girls love, or...
By: Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky For our family of five, with three daughters (ages 7, 10 and 12), we have three seats in the women’s section for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and two seats in the men’s section. My children have been sitting quietly in shul every...
Next week we will all wish each other a “Happy New Year” as we prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashanah beginning Sunday evening. Last week I read an interesting Dvar Torah by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who distinguished between the Hebrew words for happiness (“Ashrei/Osher”) and...
By: Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky On the first day of school, my youngest daughter ran into my room at 6:40 AM, fully dressed, teeth brushed and ready to start grade 2. After complimenting her on her choice of outfit and telling her how proud and impressed I was that...
Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky The latest accusation of “You’re SO mean!” was whined at me when my new 2015-16 Screen-Time Rules - written in fun colour markers - was pinned to the board in my kitchen. To my surprise, however, even with little or no homework these last...
By: Deborah Abecassis Warshawsky I’m sure you’ve been there. Granola bar is unwrapped, Ziploc bag of pretzels is finished, drippy nose is wiped with a tissue, and then, the garbage is handed over to you, the parent: “Here, I’m done.” Uh what? When did mother become...
Please enjoy this beautiful dvar Torah from Camp Ramah in New England!! Parshat Hukkat begins with a profoundly strange ritual to moderns. We must sprinkle the ashes of a brown ("red") cow on a person who has been contaminated by contact with a dead body. Of course...
This week our grade six students are graduating from Akiva School. In the future they will take many different roads and face many different challenges. There is excellent advice for our graduates based on the story of the rebellion of Korach from this week’s parsha....