As I sit in my terrarium-like cubicle at Star-K Kosher Certification, trying to think how to best describe working here before Pesach, I can’t help but think of a beehive. Although the first Seder is just three weeks from tonight, and a lot of you are just now seriously cracking down on preparing for the “P-word” (with the exception of one fellow who came to sell us his chometz on February 18, because he was heading for Israel and staying through Pesach!), here at work, we have been preparing for Pesach 5774/2014 since a week after Pesach 5773/2013. And we will continue to help our Kashrus Hotline callers, emailers, and texters to the last minute possible, even past candle lighting (but before shkia, sunset) on the first Seder night.

Sara R, of Baltimore, has been making Pesach for 30 years, and by now she has it down to a science. The key, she says, is planning ahead and being organized, thinking about where you have to end up and deciding how you are going to get there.

“Get a calendar and work backwards,” says Mrs. R, whose Pesach cleaning schedule begins around Tu B’Shevat. “Your start time should depend upon how busy your household is, whether or not you work outside the house, how many children you have, and how much time you will need.”

“First, decide which day you want to start cooking, then plan to clean the kitchen a few days before you cook. Plan to clean the dining room a few days before that. You have to be realistic, though, regarding how much time you have and how long it takes to clean. For example, if you are working full time, you may need to allow more time.” She advises against scheduling your pre-Pesach chores very tightly, to allow for emergencies and catch up time.

I never want to retire. I have loved writing ever since I was eight years old, when I started to keep a journal and write poetry. It must be genetic. My father could not tolerate being unproductive. After retiring from the meat business, he drove a van for emotionally-challenged adults, until a fall on the ice caused a severe knee injury. That did not stop my father from coming out of retirement, once more. In fact, he died just days after he began volunteering in a hospital medical records department!

It seems that I am not alone. Whether fellow baby boomers

“Hysterics doesn’t seem to be the way to go,” says Mrs. Robin Alberg, recalling a personal meltdown when one of her children acted up in the middle of South Dakota. It was so bad, says this Seattle-based home-schooling mother, that she even threatened to cut short their long-anticipated six-week summer road trip. In her talk at this May’s Torah Home Schooling Conference, in Baltimore, the humorous Mrs. Alberg recommended various constructive strategies for self-care to counteract the common, albeit happy, stresses of home schooling.

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This was just one of many fascinating presentations at this year’s conference, the third one

As I pen this article, just hours before the levaya of Dovid Hess, a”h, one of Baltimore’s biggest askanim, I can’t help but wonder what will become of our community as the proverbial torch is passed to the next generation. After some research, I was reassured to find that the next generation is continuing the mesora (heritage) that Mr. Hess and other exemplary community-minded members have established. Here is just a sampling of some of the acts of chesed our youth perform, 24/7.

WOW!

Batsheva Feldman, 22, is a graduate student at University of Maryland School of Social Work. Although she tutors and babysits on the side, she also makes the time to learn weekly with a young non-observant female at WOW’s learning program for young professionals. She learns halachos of Shabbos, modesty, and other philosophical topics, and answers questions about Judaism. In addition, she learns with two other college students, weekly, through Skype.

   7 Mile Market – The Store that Jack Built

Once upon a time, before Seven Mile Market was even a thought, there was Jack’s grocery store. Little did Jacob (Jack) and Rose Boehm, its Holocaust-survivor owners, dream that their little mom-and-pop store would be the forerunner of the soon-to-be largest kosher supermarket in the nation. In an exclusive WWW interview, the behind-the-scenes story of one of our community’s major institutions is revealed.

Growing up in Czechoslovakia, Jack Boehm was extremely close to his grandfather, and spent a lot of time in his grocery/clothing business. “I remember going to the flea market with my grandfather when I was 14 years old,” recalls Mr. Boehm. “My grandfather taught me a lot about business. I used to buy walnuts and dried fruits for him from the peasants on the farms, and he would give me suits and money, as pay. I took a liking to business. Finding a job is a hard thing; sometimes you have one, sometimes you don’t. But a business keeps on going.”

When Mr. Boehm survived the war – a miraculous story in itself – and arrived in America, he worked at various jobs before going into business for himself. “It was very hard to find a decent-paying job here because of the mentality of the old-timers in America; they didn’t like the newcomers,” explains Mr. Boehm. “When I first arrived, I got paid 75 cents an hour, minimum wage. I did not know the language. I later worked for a good while in the stockroom of a men’s clothing store, receiving goods. Because the pants and jackets were made in different places, I had to match them and put them together. Another worker who was not an immigrant made more than I did, even though I knew that I was worth more than he was. I went to the boss, who spoke Yiddish, and asked for a raise,” continues Mr. Boehm. “He didn’t want to give it to me since I didn’t know English. He offered me half of what he offered the other workers, so I left.”