How to Talk to Your Kids About Israel: Resilience, Reality, and Hope
Many Jewish parents today find themselves caught between two fears.
The first is saying too little—shielding our children so thoroughly that they grow up unprepared for the world they will inherit.
The second is saying too much—overwhelming them with conflict, hostility, and fear before they have the emotional grounding to hold it.
Lotsa Latkes
As we all know, latkes are one of the most important aspects of Hanukkah. We’ve all eaten these delicious potato pancakes and argued about whether applesauce or sour cream is the superior topping (it’s obviously applesauce). But what about other flavors of latkes?
Judaism Is a People, and Israel Is Part of That Story
I write this as we enter the holiday of Hanukkah, arguably the most Zionist holiday in existence. Not because Zionism began then. It did not. But because Hanukkah reminds us that Jewish self-determination, Jewish sovereignty, and Jewish survival in our ancestral land are not modern inventions. They are ancient. Long before modern political movements, Jews
Raising Light in a Dark Season
This time of year always feels louder than it needs to be. As the days shorten and the nights stretch, the world seems to respond by turning up the volume. Christmas music grows more insistent. Lights multiply. Schedules fill. The noise swells just as the darkness deepens. I’ve started to notice that pattern more clearly
That Hanukkah Mom
I never planned to become that mom — the Hanukkah mom. The mom who sweeps into a classroom with a menorah, PJ Library books, and a well-meaning plan to explain Jewish holidays to small children who think everything in December is Christmas-adjacent. Our older kids go to Rockwern — Cincinnati’s Jewish Day School — which
Being a Young Dad in the Cincinnati Jewish Community
“What did the stuttering quarryman say to the dump truck?” my six-year-old asks, barely containing his giggles as he practices telling the joke we made together. “Ba-dump-dump!” This is what fatherhood looks like for me these days: crafting incredible and terrible jokes with my son, watching my toddler charm everyone with what’s commonly described as
What They Got Right: Lessons From the Tree of Life Gala
Downtown Cincinnati was buzzing on Wednesday night. Babysitters were booked solid, dinner reservations were impossible to get and Music Hall became the center of gravity. Some people were dressed up for the Nas concert; others — myself included — were headed to the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) Tree of Life Gala. This year’s gala honored
Sweetness on Hamilton Road
By Anna Selman LEBANON, OH — Plenty of families head to orchards this time of year for Instagram-ready apple picking, but this was different. I wasn’t there for a photo op. I was meeting the kindergarteners from Chai Tots—a Jewish Montessori in Mason, Ohio. They come each year ahead of Rosh HaShanah to pick apples,
A League That Feels Like Home
By Anna Selman By early September, the JCC fast‑pitch softball season had settled into its easy rhythm—the kind of Sunday mornings at Triple Creek Park that felt like a breath of fresh air in a noisy world. Two diamonds going at once. Outfielders shading their eyes. Kids hanging off the fence hollering for Dad. Dugout