Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Susan Barth

Celebrate Family Day: talk to each other

Susan Barth — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 03:27:08 +0000

Today is Family Day (Yom HaMishpacha) in Israel. Fittingly, this is also Rosh Chodesh Adar, the happiest, most joyous month of the Hebrew calendar. Family Day should be a day of rejoicing for us all. However, unless you have children in elementary school, where events such as Family Day are still celebrated, you will most [...]

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Marriage education matters

Susan Barth — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:57:23 +0000

If you were offered a business proposition with a 50 to 60 percent chance of success, would you take it? Regrettably, these are the odds today for marriages to last beyond the first five years. The marriage education movement, virtually unknown in Israel, works to counteract these statistics and prevent divorce. It does this by [...]

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The divorce epidemic spreads in Israel

Susan Barth — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:53:55 +0000

Timing is everything in life. Just when elementary school children are making lovely cards for Family Day this coming Sunday, the Rabbinical Courts Administration released a shocking report that close to 11,000 couples divorced in 2012, up five percent from the previous year. This is unprecedented in Israel. At the same time, although Tel Aviv [...]

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I vote for Avraham and Sarah

Susan Barth — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:28:13 +0000

Hurricane Sandy and 9-11 were both devastating catastrophes that demonstrated how much our loved ones and homes really mean to us. In the Old Testament, Avraham and Sarah also weathered shattering storms. They faced famine, war and infertility into their old age. They were commanded by G-d to sacrifice their only child. Yet Avraham and [...]

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Chava and Adam — the ultimate blame game

Susan Barth — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:19:52 +0000

In his article “Marriage Problems: The Road to Ruin Begins with Blame,” relationship expert Steven Stosny, Ph.D., asked 400 couples to “think of the last three times you’ve experienced negative emotions that you blamed on your partner.” His findings show that 70 percent of the couples reported that the negative emotion attributed to the spouse [...]

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Serve yourself a heaping bowl of love

Susan Barth — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:43:21 +0000

For those who remember the “Mary Tyler Moore” show theme song of “Love is All Around..” , I cannot help but hear the music this year in particular as Tu B’AV followed directly by Shabbat Nachamu interjects a heaping message of LOVE into the atmosphere. Love of … fellow Jew, your “significant other, your country, [...]

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From Munich to Bulgaria: More moments of silence

Susan Barth — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:51:04 +0000

The timing, the parallels, the senseless deaths connecting Munich to Bulgaria on the eve of the Olympics is too chilling to contemplate – terror striking Israelis in their prime of life! At the same time that the international community is being challenged to have a Moment of Silence at the upcoming Olympic Games for the [...]

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Have a “NICE” Day Israeli Style

Susan Barth — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:54:10 +0000

Have you noticed that Israelis with few exceptions end their “customer service” conversations with English speakers with the words “have a “NICE” day? What exactly does the word “NICE” mean? According to the authority Merriam-Webster “Nice” can mean any of the following: 1a: showing fastidious or finicky tastes: particular <too nice a palate to enjoy junk [...]

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From Munich to Auschwitz – My Heroic Israeli Flag Bearers

Susan Barth — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:57:21 +0000

I have always been mesmerized by the Israeli flag. According to Wikipedia, the white of the Israeli flag (which was designed for the Zionist Movement in 1891 and adopted on October 28, 1948, five months after the country’s establishment) represents a “symbol of light, honesty, innocence and peace.” The blue (which depicts the stripes on [...]

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On your 18th Yarzheit Tonight Thank you Rebbe

Susan Barth — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:18:27 +0000

I just finished listening to former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin z”l and Ariel Sharon, current Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Moshe Levy, Yossi Ben Hanan, Moshe Ishon and other prominent Israelis speak about their various encounters with the “Rebbe” of Lubavitch in a tribute documentary entitled An Evening with the Lubavitcher Rebbe shown on the occasion of the [...]

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Happy First Time Father’s Day- Israeli Style

Susan Barth — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:23:06 +0000

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 17 is officially declared “Father’s Day” in the US, Canada and the UK. For 1st time fathers, this can be a very emotional time as the reality that “two have become three” hits “home” with all its share of joys and emotional upheavals for the couple. We have no corresponding official day [...]

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The Battle of Midway: a Textbook for Achieving Healthy and Happy Marriages

Susan Barth — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:53:34 +0000

The Battle of Midway was an epic battle fought exactly 70 years ago from June 04 – June 06, 1942 and is to this day considered the turning point of the Pacific Campaign in World War II and one of the greatest naval battles of history as the enormous might of the Imperial Japanese Navy [...]

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