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Tikkun Olam is the Jewish concept of “repairing the world”, meaning that during the course of our lives we should be working towards creating a better environment and community. This can take a lot of different forms when put to practice. It could be as simple as donating money to a charity or starting a compost pile in your backyard. It could also be as big as volunteering at your local food shelter, or supporting a cause you feel passionately about.

Have some old t-shirts? washcloths? bed sheets? Create a fun Afikomen cloth to hide the special matzah in, or a fun Matzah cover for your Shabbat dinner this Passover!

In last week’s episode of Unorthodox, Tablet Magazine’s podcast, Jesse Eisenberg spoke about his upcoming role as Marcel Marceau in the film Resistance. Not only was it an interesting conversation, but it also got us thinking about our Picture Book Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime and how we can bring this impactful book to you. Given the demand for lessons and ways to teach Judaism at home, we have created a modified lesson from the book’s eSource guide that teachers or parents can do at home! 

In Kar-Ben’s latest board book, Shalom Bayit: A Peaceful Home, different animals are depicted relaxing in their homes. From a bird family in a nest high in a tree to worms burrowing in deep in the ground, every animal has a home where they feel safe and comfortable.

It gets a little boring eating matzah for eight days straight. One of the fun things about Passover is finding those creative ways to eat all the matzah we buy. 

I have long been fascinated by how folk stories of strong girls and women have gotten hidden over the years of retelling....

I am the older sister, of a boy four years younger. My brother Steven. Steve. Stevie. Steve Yolen who lives in Brazil.

So the story of Miriam resonates for me--that oldest sister, a seeress/author, a musician, a leader of her people who both works for and sometimes defies the Lord. 

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Before I wrote MIRIAM AT THE RIVER, I wrote a bunch of Holocaust poems and Judaica poems. My first two professionally published & paid-for poems were in a magazine called The Chicago Jewish Forum...

Quite a few readers notice that the majority of my picture books read like poems. Even if they don’t rhyme. They use all the trappings of poetry: lyricism, metaphor, simile, rhythm, internal rhymes, alliteration, etc.

This is not happenstance nor mere chance. I wrote my first poem (rhymed though not particularly well rhymed) in first grade. (I was  kindergarten age but as I had been reading since three years old, my parents and teachers decided I should be skipped ahead.