Ilana Grinblat
By Ilana Grinblat
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News Aharei Mot/Kedoshim: Finding Our Place on the Map
My six-year old son, Jeremy loves maps. He enjoys playing with Google Earth and finding our home and the homes of his friends and family. The other day, I was reading the weekly Torah portion and left my bible on the table. Jeremy picked it up and discovered that it contains maps. “Where do we…
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News Tazria Metzora: Just Another Boring Day
Each day, when I pick up my son up from school, I ask him how his day was, and his answer is always the same: “Boring.” When I then ask him what he did, he tells me about activities he enjoyed, who he played with on the jungle gym, and the new things he learned….
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News Shemini: The Ferris Wheel of Life
The other day, my son Jeremy discovered an unopened birthday present in his closet. It was a Kinex Ferris wheel building set. We took out all parts, and I was instantly overwhelmed. The game had 25 pages of assembly instructions! Despite my reservations, we started putting it together. The process was inordinately complicated. Although the…
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News Hol Ha-moed Pesach: Zooming In and Out
My six-year-old son Jeremy recently became obsessed with Google Earth, a computer program which shows a satellite picture of the world. When you type an address, the program zooms in and displays an aerial photo of exactly where the building is located. Jeremy loves inputting the addresses of family and friends and watching the program…
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News Tzav: Getting Messy
Recently, when I was finishing up the dishes after dinner, my son Jeremy came to me and said, “Mom, we have a surprise for you.” I followed him to his room wondering what the surprise was. Had the kids drawn me a picture or built a tall LEGO tower? He opened the door to his…
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News Vayikra: We Plan, God Laughs
This week felt like a comedy of errors. My son came down with a cold, which he was kind enough to share with me. On Saturday morning, I woke up with laryngitis. I was invited to speak as a guest rabbi — but giving a sermon is a little tricky if you can’t speak! Having…
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News Vayakhel-Pekudei: Encore
Sunday was my daughter Hannah’s third birthday party (which came just three weeks after my son Jeremy’s sixth birthday party). My husband and I threw the same kind of party for my daughter as for my son. I baked a cake — shaped like Dora the Explorer this time rather than The Cat in the…
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News Ki Tissa: A Work in Progress
A few days ago, my son, Jeremy, was drawing a picture. He took a picture of a robot and was coloring it in. I walked by him and noticed the bright colors and interesting pattern. I also noticed that his drawing skills were improving, relative to when he was younger. “I love the picture you’re…
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