Families

Weekend Updates

Taking stock of your summer home

By:

Gail Snyder, This Summer Feature

C enter City residents Lynne and Ed Berkowitz call their Atlantic City condo “a piece of heaven.” Year-round, it offers a weekend respite from their busy lives operating a pharmacy and a chance to spend precious downtime with their two daughters and four grandchildren, who range in age from 2 to 6 years old. Lynne Berkowitz says, “In my entire...

Health

Mothers' Daze

To be a working mom or a stay-at-homer? That is the question

By:

Elyse Glickman, Jewish Exponent Feature

Just in time for Mother's Day comes a revived battle of choices for women dealing with circumstances that can dictate their own physical and emotional health: The oft-discussed "War on Women" has brought back the old "working mom" vs. "stay at home" controversy and which is healthier for families overall. Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen was fired up about, and later,...

Learning

Making Hebrew School Accessible

By:

Deborah Hirsch

Jackie Bobrin doubted her 8-year-old son Ethan would be able to attend religious school. "Regular" life was difficult enough with the behaviors his doctors attributed to a possible combination of Attention Deficit Disorder, Asberger's and bipolar disorder, she said. What synagogue would have the interest -- or resources -- to give him the extra attention he needed? Surprisingly, the Bryn...

Local

Rina's Movie

By:

Deborah Hirsch

Toward the end of her life, 15-year-old Rina Goldberg declared her bedroom to be a no-crying zone. She tried her best to enforce that policy, too, said her father, Ari, director of the Jewish Community High School at Gratz College. "If you're going to cry, leave the room," the Cheltenham teenager once told her grandma. Even as a debilitating disease...

Local

Special Place for Special Needs

By:

Deborah Hirsch

Once a month, Nadine Silber, her husband and two little boys drive all the way from their Bucks County home in Bristol Borough for Saturday morning services at Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia. The draw: Celebrations! -- an educational workshop tailored for children with disabilities and their families. There are closer synagogues, Silber said, but none of them has programs suitable...