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Crafts and Recipes |
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Do
you know of a new baby you want to welcome in style? Make
a special baby gift of a personalized growth chart for that
special baby in your life with Homestyles host Teresa Strasser.
Click here for instructions for
this craft.
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Whether it's Shabbat, a holiday or just a dinner with family
and friends, Teresa Strasser has great creative ideas for
dressing up your table, including decorative Centerpieces
and Tableware. Click here
for more
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Three
decades ago, at the Jewish Community Center of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
Ruth Hefter practiced an ancient craft in a modern setting. Seated
at a table-sized loom, she was one of a group of eight women learning
to weave tallito (prayer shawls) for their sons and grandsons,
who were soon to become B'nai Mitzvah (celebrate their Bar or
Bat Mitzvah. As the years went by, the familiar blue stripes of
the tallitot (prayer shawls) woven in that room made way for new
colors--threads of cranberry, green, gold, and silver. More than 500 tallitot had been woven.
For more on the how the Tallit can be meaningful, read Tallit:
Ritual of Rememberance by Helen Mintz Belitsky
Long
before there were HMOs, chain pharmacies and the Federal Drug
Administration (FDA), the Israelites and other ancient peoples
depended on herbs and other natural substances in their environment
to heal them and soothe their ailments. Some of these herbs and
plant derivatives led to current-day medications, such as digoxin
(for the heart) and aspirin (from willow tree bark). Today, there's
a big movement back toward herbal remedies, with people believing
that herbal remedies can cure almost everything if you get the
right one. The truth is that herbs didn't cure everything thousands
of years ago--and they don't cure everything today. But more than
a third of Americans now use herbal remedies, according to a recent
article in the Archives of Family Medicine. Before turning to
an herbal medicine, you need to ask yourself two questions: Is
it safe? Will it really work? For more, read Ilene Springer's
The Good and
Bad of Herbs
How
does one bring Sabbath into one's busy life and hectic schedule?
How do we celebrate Shabbat when music lessons, soccer practice,
and other things "must" be done on Saturday? And, if we do manage
to observe Shabbat in some ways, how do we keep our children involved
as their worlds expand when they become teenagers? What do the
various customs the candles, the wine, the challah‹signify.
For this and more Shabbat information, check out Shabbat
Customs, Tips and a Recipe for a Traditional Cholent by Joni
Schockett
Shabbat
Craft
Friday
candle lighting starts the weekly holiday of Shabbat. Saturday
evening Havdalah ends it. Special candles, a spice box, wine and
a brief, lovely service mark the end of Shabbat and the beginning
of the new week. The candle is a twisted braid with many wicks
and is easy to make, even for children, and is a wonderful craft
to share. For instructions and a meaningful discussion to have
while making the candles, read Of Crafts and Conversation: Havdalah
with a Personal Twist by Rebecca E. Kotkin
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One
of the greatest joys in life is a new baby. Host Teresa Strasser
will give you some clever ideas for your baby naming celebration
including Appetizers, Centerpieces and a personalized Baby Grow
Chart.
Click here to watch a clip.
About
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