What’s Your JQ? (Page 3)

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I am being urged by just about everyone I know to get on Facebook. My friends are threatening to write me off saying that I am “out of it.” I am not old nor am I not hip — I actually thinkContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, We are getting newly involved in Judaism, thanks to our little one being enrolled in a Jewish early childhood program. Each Friday she proudly brings home a freshly baked challah. She is so thrilled that I’m thinking I should hop on boardContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, It’s as if I’m paralyzed when I think about this year’s Pesach. I am unable to plan or to get up my usual excitement. Like you, this year brought the passing of a parent and I now face the reality of beingContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, As we deliberate over summer plans for our family, the idea of sending the kids to a Jewish camp keeps popping up. I never went to camp, let alone a Jewish camp. The whole camping thing seems so strange. I look forwardContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I think that Purim should be a time to educate people about the strength of Jewish women. But the day has a life of its own. It is a high-speed kind of an experience packed with a dizzying amount of activities; lotsContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Are Chinese mothers elbowing out Jewish mothers in the “super-crazed, ambitious, drive-your-child” department? How did we let this happen? I thought that Jewish mothers were firmly planted in the top slot of wild parental determination. Are we sliding? Do you think JewishContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, The good news is that we are well past our frantic winter gift-giving, overeating holiday. The bad news is that the challenge of this year’s calendar is about to begin: What to do with the end of December? I know intellectually thatContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, A friend of mine is going through a lot since being diagnosed with a serious illness. She and I have had a number of conversations about life and its messiness. I try, but I keep feeling there must be more that IContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Now that the season has ended sadly, I believe the time has come for some words of wisdom for our “Mad Men” provocateurs. As I, like many a viewer, have voyeuristically tuned in to witness the various foibles of our favorite diabolicalContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, As I prepare to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot I have been exploring the various customs, and I’ve become intrigued by the ritual of Ushpizin, the inviting of supernal beings as guests to the sukkah. From what I have read it soundsContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I am feeling less than thrilled about the High Holidays this year. First, they are really early — just two days after Labor Day. This only exacerbates my chronic challenge in connecting with the themes of repentance. It is hard for meContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Have you noticed the amount of cooking shows on TV? What is this? Have we as a society become obsessed with food? Frankly, how many ways can there be to prepare our victuals? Enough already! The hedonism is getting beyond any basicContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Is the world coming to an end? The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the latest Pandora-like circumstance to plague mankind. Except Pandora opened her box out of curiosity while BP drilled the depths of the sea with greed andContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, My husband and I have just moved back to Seattle. I am a native Pacific Northwestener and as such get great joy from being outdoors. Not so for my New Yorker husband. It is only despite many an objection that I amContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Knowing that your father has just passed away I thought it would be timely to ask about the mirrors in a house of mourning. I recall the practice of covering all the mirrors in the house from my childhood, when my parentsContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy: Every year, as the seder gets to the point of opening the door for Elijah, it reminds me of the yearly squabble that would ensue when we were kids about who got to open the door. It was always my older sister’sContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, Thinking about the story of Esther often leaves me deeply confused and disturbed. Though the holiday of Purim is festive and celebratory with a seemingly happy-ever-after ending, elements of the story give me great pause. There are questions that seem to resurfaceContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, The earthquake in Haiti really got me thinking. I donated to relief work — that was a given. Yet I find myself glued to news broadcasts, watching the reports of the dreadful situation and the efforts being made to reach out toContinue Reading

By Rivy Poupko Kletenik, JTNews Columnist Dear Rivy, I saw the Coen brothers’ new film A Serious Man, and I don’t know what to think. Is it good for the Jews or not? I couldn’t help but squirm during the film, thinking about what my non-Jewish fellow viewers were thinkingContinue Reading