Calendar for the week of Sept. 9, 2011 more

When you are up high on top of the mountain, it becomes much easier to see where you are going; everything seems so clear, and often the view is breathtaking. In the valley, on the other hand, the high walls of the mountains obscure where you really are, and it is much easier to get lost. more

Dear Aviva, I feel that my husband and I don’t always see eye to eye on our child rearing. My disciplining ways don’t mesh with his, one reason being that I am a former educator and he has no previous experience with children. I feel that I am constantly telling him how to parent. I get exasperated with his lackadaisical ways, and I feel that it is confusing to our children when I say one thing and he says another. How do we get on the same page? more

You have a solution on curbing astronomic day school tuition? Send it to the Orthodox Union. This week the national organization challenged schools and communities to come up with “innovative and replicable solutions to address day school affordability,” offering challenge grants ranging between $50,000 to $150,000 for up to three-years to implement the winning plan. more

This week I present one of the strangest meals I have ever eaten. Not strange in its unique quality of food or alternative menu options, but in its entire restaurant experience. Taam Tov, located at 41 W 47th Street, came as a result of a friend’s Jdeals coupon. more

Chapter 23, verses 2-4 list a number of male types who may not enter “k’hal Hashem,” the community of G-d. On a simple level, the verses seem strange. The first two individuals – men who have become sterile on account of external, or unnatural incidents – are likely Jewish men. As is the “mamzer,” the product of two Jewish people who participated in a Torah-forbidden relationship. Don’t they enter the community of G-d the moment they are born? more

The very leaf that falls calls to the earth that births the seed in need of rain drops to bloom from the hibernating tomb of nature’s nesting life... more

When Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress, it was assumed that whoever got the Democratic Party nomination would win the race to replace him. But you cannot assume when it comes to special elections, remember in 2009 when Ted Kennedy was replaced by a Republican? more

It was a morning like any other, a clear sky above the Upper West Side, where my art studio class at LaGuardia High School was starting its fall semester. Across Amsterdam Avenue, the gates of Engine 40 Ladder 35 quickly went up and fire trucks raced downtown carrying 11 men to an unprecedented emergency. more

The upcoming High Holidays will have guest cantors, inspirational drashas, and extra security, courtesy of Department of Homeland Security, which awarded $800,000 to 11 Young Israel synagogues around the country. more