I hope you will enjoy today’s selection of links.
- Interested in visiting Israel? The J
ewish Women’s Renaissance Project writes: We offer highly subsidized trips to Israel for Jewish Women 30-55 to INSPIRE THEM. Our missions run from June through November. “If you inspire a woman, you inspire a family. If you inspire enough families, you inspire a community,— says Lori Palatnik, Executive Director and co-founder of JWRP. We are hoping to bring 1,000 women this summer from 20 cities and 6 countries. See this video by one of our participants from Dallas. On our website you will find a sample itinerary. - Here’s a new website for Jewish couples who have come to terms with the fact that they will not have children: Yerusha.com. The founder writes: I’ve created a new website called for Jewish women and men past normal child-bearing age, who believe they may never have children, either biologically or by adoption. I started the site as a way to bring these Jews together, both online and in the real world, to explore the meaning and experience of being childless Jewish adults. As a childless Jew myself, I know that some childless Jews feel ashamed because they haven’t “stepped up to the plate.”
- Chaya Houpt blogs about praying at home with small children.
- Eco Child’s Play argues that co-sleeping is safer than cribs, after US statistics revealed 26 accidents a day connected to crib use.
- A longitudinal study in England, that is looking at child development over a large group, discovered that a junk food diet before age 3 results in a 5-point lower IQ five years later. From the article: The project at Bristol University took account of factors such as social class, breastfeeding, and maternal education and age. Researchers also allowed for the influence of the home environment, for example a child’s access to toys and books. They said good nutrition was crucial in the first three years of life when the brain grows at its fastest rate.
- If you find it hard to find time to cook at home, check out these tips at Cooking Manager.
- A reader sent me this cartoon illustrating a major Israel company’s new dress code.
- Meet the IDF Facebook-Twitter Commando.
Have a wonderful day!
One of the commenters in the article about the IDF social media desk had a good idea: to contact American (and I would assume, European, South American, Asian, etc) bloggers who are pro-israel and give them exclusive access to the IDF soldiers manning the FB, Twitter, and YouTube accounts.
Non-Jewish Americans seem very curious about life in Israel, and what it’s like to be in the IDF. A lot of regular Americans think Israel is full of far right religious zealots. I also got lots of questions about whether there were soldiers everywhere (Yes, but mostly young recruits touring the country like tourists, not people patrolling the streets pointing guns at passersby).
Anyway, my point is that I think it would make for some very good PR for the IDF. You have to build those sorts of relationships before you need them. You can’t wait until a crisis breaks out and then try to get the rest of the world to identify with you on a human level.
On my way home from the US this past Fall, I met lots of women traveling together as part of the JWRP. I got to speaking to some of them and was very impressed with the itinerary and content of the trip. The women looked like they were having so much fun–I wanted to join them!