International Holocaust Memorial Day

In honor of Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27th, the day Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp was liberated, I lifted this picture and caption from Facebook.

In the Kutno ghetto, this lovely Jewish woman manages to smile for Hitler's personal photographer. She was almost certainly murdered by the Nazis in the years to come. 

The Germans first murdered all the elderly residents. 6,000 Jewish men, women, and children were then deported by truck or by freight train from Kutno to the train station at Kolo.

From Kolo they were sent by railway to Chelmno death camp where they were murdered in gas vans. 

For that final journey, they were stripped of their luggage. Each soul had to pay between 12 and 20 marks for their ticket to death. 

This week of International Holocaust Remembrance, we mourn for her and so many, many more. 

This woman has never been identified. Her inner beauty shines through in this photo, the only one known of her. Never forget her.

Interesting article

Fascinating article about the exodus of Jews from France to Israel. Worth a read.

The ongoing Jewish exodus from France, in 2 charts

Did you smile at your kid today?

It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day, moment to moment, errand to errand, laundry load to laundry load, dishes to dishes to more dishes... that it's easy to have the day fly by without smiling at your child. Really. I'm talking to myself here. I love my children. I love being at home with them. It's also really hard at the same time. You find yourself saying the strangest things like they are normal... get off the piano... get out of the fridge. Stop drawing on the television. Please don't disassemble the couch... get out of the toilet... stop, don't clean the bathroom mirror with the toilet brush!

It's easy to get hung up on the small things.

I try and remember something I heard from Rebbitzen Tziporah Heller many years ago. Rebbitzen Heller and her husband a"h, successfully raised 14 children. Yes, fourteen. To paraphrase what she said about raising children, what is really important is to focus on what is consequential. What is important, she said, was the children's character traits. It's easy to get upset about everything going on, but that isn't the correct way to do things. If a child is lying or hurting someone - *that* is when you get upset, to deal with something that isn't going to correct itself by the time the child is 20 years old.

Another example she used was about a child who jumped on the dude shemesh, the hot water heater, on the top of the building (because it was fun, obviously) and broke it. The mother didn't get upset - rather, she took the child to every neighbor living in that building to apologize for breaking the heater. Then, if I remember correctly, she made the child help pay to replace the heater. There was no reason to get upset. The child learned the lesson - don't jump on hot water heaters, and certainly don't break them. This is not behavior you'll see repeated again at the age of 20.

Character traits don't fix themselves. Problems must be identified and worked on. It's the parent's job to work with the child to become a better person. A child sees very quickly what their mother or father get worked up about and internalizes that. When they see us adults get upset about petty and silly things, they cannot prioritize and learn about what is most important.

It's important to not only focus on our children's character traits but on our own. The same way children notice when we get upset, they also notice when we are happy... when we smile and when we laugh. So take a moment from the mundane, a deep breath and be grateful to have the blessings that we have. Smile (and make sure they notice) at your children. It's important.

Casablanca, Morocco

I took these photographs in Casablanca, Morocco in 2007. This was an enclosed area which included a school area and a synagogue.

The first photograph has the name of the parsha being read that week and the time that candle lighting for Shabbat was.

Below is the entrance to the synagogue. Very unassuming...

...but very pretty on the inside. This is looking from the front of the synagogue toward the back.

Looking toward the front where the Ark is. Here's the back of the bima, where the baal Tefillah (the leader of the congregation) stands and Torah reading occurs.

The Aron -- the Ark where the Torah is stored.

We use the same siddur everywhere around the world. You can see the Shema on the left side of the photo, "Hear O'Israel".

Some beautiful kids playing in the yard.

And we can't live without a bakery across the street! :)

Looking for Photographs of Synagogues/Temples Around the World

One of the things I find fascinating about the Jewish People is the fact that we are all doing the same or similar things in our religious lives. Our central place of worship is the synagogue, or temple. We include certain ceremonial objects in our observance of ritual - like the wine cup when we say Kiddush on Friday nights, and menorahs/chanukiahs on Chanukah. You can go anywhere in the world and find Jews doing the same Jewish things you would find back at home.

We currently find ourselves during the three weeks of mourning which lead to the 9th day of Av - Tisha b'Av - our Jewish national day of mourning for all the horrific and terrible things that have happened to the Jewish People. Tisha b'Av, in particular, is the day that both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed.

Over this summer I would like to start to include photographs of synagogues and other places of Jewish worship on this website. I want to do this in the name of achdut - unity. We learn that one of the reasons that the Holy Temple (the Beit HaMikdash) was destroyed was because of baseless hatred toward one another. With these photographs, I'd like to focus on what we have in common - rather than on what divides us.

So keep this in mind as you travel around - or even if you stay home - and take some photos of your local temples and synagogues and please share them with us. You can email me at: shira.muller*at*yahoo.com.

Thank you and safe travels!

Blessings: G-d's Tool to Actualize the Present

Wow, it's been a while. Things have been hectic around here, and time just flies.

I came across this thought from my 'quote of the day' calendar and it really struck a chord with me.

"Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going." -Tennessee Williams, American playwright, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

To be honest, I haven't read this play - so I don't know the context of where it comes from. However, I do find two different amazing ideas here and the more I've thought about these ideas, the more deeply I feel about them.

First is the idea of creating good and positive memories - especially with children. It's so true that "life is all memory". Scary in a way too - to think in that way. As a mom, when I'm frustrated with my kids for whatever reason, it is easy to forget myself and let the frustration carry me. Then my biggest, R, asks me - to "smile Mommy". I have to remember that my lack of a smile is what she is going to remember. I have to find another way to get done what I need to get done.

It is obvious to say that we all have aggravating and crazy days where we yell and create a lousy atmosphere in the house - but on the whole, if we can keep in mind that with everything we do, we are creating memories - then perhaps we can approach our lives and our children's memories in a different, more positive way.

Second is the next part of the quote: "... except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going."

We have to stay in the present moment - a virtually impossible task. If I'm on the phone, I could be checking my email or scrolling through Facebook - am I really present when talking to my friend? If my kid is telling me about their day - am I actually listening to their voice, or am I thinking about what's going to happen next when we get home? Am I really present at all?

When I first read this quote and let it bounce around my brain, I started to attempt to be more present. When I fed my baby, I'd say to myself, 'I'm nursing my baby now'. If I was on the phone, I'd try to be an active listener, and so on...

Then it occurred to me that this point is what the brachot are about - the blessings that we make, or attempt to make - being present - taking the time to be aware of what we are doing, moment to moment.

We stop to have a cup of coffee - we make our coffee and drink it down before we even notice that we had made it to begin with! (A little depressing really.) If we actually think about the bracha/blessing that we make before drinking... that we are aware of our actions, it can change our entire perspective on life.

If we take a moment to focus on the present - if we understand that G-d gave us a tool... the brachot, to give us a way of staying in the moment, just for that moment - it's a whole new world.

Pretty amazing.

Stay positive and stay present!

Brachot Handbook
Blessings for Various Occasions

Chanukah 2014

Happy Chanukah everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their latkes.

These are great links to get everything you need for Chanukah- kids coloring sheets, recipes, how-to light etc. Check them out.
Chanukah - aish.com
Hanukkah - chabad.org

Also, a great article about the heroines of Chanukah - a must read.
Chanuka: What do girls have to do with it?

And to wrap it up, some older articles I've written.
Chanukah: The Holiday of Miracles (2008)
The Natural Miracles of Chanukah (2010)
Happy Thanksgivikah! (2013) - great ideas for how to involve your kids in giving gifts