I recently shared with a friend that I went to a state park about an hour away with my kids over Chol Hamoed Pesach. I described to her how we made a delicious barbecue, threw around a football (yes, I can throw a football), and then walked about a quarter of a mile down a path to see a beautiful waterfall. Based on her response, it was clear to me that she gleaned from this that I love hiking. I think it was the part where she said, “I didn’t know you were a hiker.” I’m not sure how this was her take-home message, but in all honesty, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

This year, a Pesach hotel program collapsed shortly before the holiday, causing countless problems for guests and a tremendous loss of money. The reason given was a fake email from the hotel to the kosher syndicator that provided a false bank account number to wire the money to. It’s pretty surprising that a sophisticated businessman would wire hundreds of thousands of dollars to an unconfirmed bank account. But that’s how scams work – through trickery and deception.

I am sure you are all aware that scams have been increasing. The title of this article is perhaps misleading as scams are getting more sophisticated, and not only the elderly are falling for them. For example, yesterday I received a phone call from a well-known New York yeshiva. I gave the lady my credit card number to make a donation. Was that safe? She sounded frum, so I did it. All ages should pay attention, but the elderly remain prime targets.

by Shani, Dena and Daniella

The box of tissues: You pull one out… and another… and another, always expecting the box to hold one more when you need it. The toothpaste tube: You squeeze some on your toothbrush… and some more… and some more, quietly assuming that there will be enough for another morning’s squeeze – until the box of tissues runs out and the toothpaste tube can squeeze no more. Then you take notice.

The unseen commodity is truly seen only when it is gone. Gas in the car, food in the fridge, and money in the bank are obviously missed more deeply when absent. It is so easy to take things for granted and only realize they are missing when they are no longer there. Why is that? Why don’t we take the time to say, “Wow, baruch Hashem for that last box of pasta in my pantry”? Because we all know that if there’s a hungry toddler who is refusing to eat anything except for mac and cheese and we don’t have a box of elbows, that’s going to be a problem for all parties involved.

We’re acclimating to condo living and meeting a lot of very nice people. That’s not something we bargained for. Neighbors are friendly and kind, and we are still able to maintain our privacy. I’m meeting a lot of women my age, which is an added bonus, along with the elderly people who have lived here since the condominium community was built. Our next-door neighbor is the oldest resident in the complex; she’s 97 years old. She is highly respected in our community and not just because of her age. She’s a lovely person with a regal bearing. She’s someone I want to help since she lives alone. Interestingly, I find it extraordinary that I don’t stay in touch with her just because of the chesed involved. No, Mrs. Berlin has become my friend.

I recently had the privilege of sharing a ride with Mrs. Zahava List, the founder and director of Chazkeinu. Started in Baltimore, Chazkeinu is a mental health peer support network for Jewish woman who are struggling with mental illness, including providing help for the female family members.

I knew a little bit about Chazkeinu as I had attended an event during the winter and was somewhat surprised to see the lightness of the evening and the fun involved! Turning our impressions upside down on the stigma of mental health is one of the missions of Chazkeinu. Its primary mission is to offer support and encouragement and to provide the safe space that is so crucial when one is dealing with mental illness. The group’s most recent initiative, Chill House, is what piqued my curiosity about this far-reaching organization, and when Zahava told me the list of services they provide, I was in awe.

As Elul moves closer, we start to prepare for our kids traveling to Israel to learn in yeshiva or seminary or to engage in other programs. At 18 or 19 years old, our kids are in late adolescence, a developmental period often marked by desires to explore new interests, take chances, challenge established values, and become more independent. For some kids, it is also a prime time for substance use.

We often think about risks for substance use increasing during times of transition, like moving from middle school to high school, or high school to college. Advancing from high school to full-time learning in Israel might also be considered a significant transition for some kids.

When our children get married, our family expands. Not only do we welcome our children’s new spouses, we also become connected to their families. Even though Josh Levin and his wife Cheryl live only a five-minute walk from our house, I did not know them or any of their daughters until my son Nechemia married Rivka, in 2006. We got to know a wonderful couple, and now, many years later, I asked Mr. Levin if I could interview him.

Not so long ago, there was a scourge upon the land. More American men were having heart attacks at a rate not previously recorded. It was the late 1950s and 1960s, when the economy was good and food plentiful. So why was heart disease on the rise?

Scientists looked all over for a cause and solution. (The notion that the rising rates of cigarette smoking may have been a contributing factor was discounted as the tobacco companies claimed that cigarettes were harmless.)

 Geshmak is a well known Yiddish word. It means fun. It means enjoyable. It means exciting. It means…geshmak! And that is how I would describe my third-grade rebbi, Rabbi Peretz Dinovitz, zt”l.

He was kind, warm, positive, energetic, and always upbeat. When I think back to my year in his class over 25 years ago, what I remember most is how he made each class so much fun and exciting!

As a top notch karate expert (at least that was our impression), he would walk the halls between class and recess, and to our absolute amazement – quick background: there were two sets of lockers, a lower level and an upper level, and the upper level lockers we could hardly reach – he’d do high karate kicks to close any high lockers that were left open. We watched our rebbi walking the halls with his nifty karate kicks and punches in the air. How cool is that!

There is an old Chinese saying, “May you live in interesting times.” This is not necessarily a blessing, because interesting can be positive or negative. But no matter, our life experiences can teach lessons, and we can all learn to appreciate what another has experienced and thereby gain wisdom.

Menashe Shabtai is a well known and popular figure in our Baltimore community. Since I often daven at Beth Abraham-Herzberg’s, where he is the all-around “go-to guy,” the gabbai, chef, whatever-is-needed person, I decided to ask him about growing up in Israel. With the approach of the 56^th anniversary of the Six Day War, I was especially interested in his memories of that seminal event.