by Ari Yares | Jun 23, 2026 | Jewish Time & Structure
I didn’t grow up going to a Jewish overnight camp. My first real exposure was a summer when a college roommate talked me into being a counselor at his camp. I came back different in ways I still find difficult to fully account for. My wife grew up immersed in...
by Ari Yares | Apr 1, 2026 | Jewish Time & Structure, Preventive Parenting
About twenty minutes into the Seder, a child leans over and whispers: “When is dinner?” This is not a failure. It is information. The child has been sitting, listening, and watching adults read from a book for twenty minutes. And they are a child. Planning a Passover...
by Ari Yares | Mar 22, 2026 | Jewish Time & Structure, Menu Planning, Preventive Parenting
Passover planning for families starts the same way every spring. Someone opens a notebook or pulls up a notes app and begins the list. Chametz to clear. Kitchen to kasher. Menus to build. Guests to confirm. Haggadahs to locate. The Seder plate that has somehow...
by Ari Yares | Mar 12, 2026 | Jewish Time & Structure
Every year, at some point during the Seder, an adult looks across the table and wonders: how do we keep the children engaged? It is the right impulse. But it is the wrong direction. The Passover Seder and children have more in common than most adults realize. It was...
by Ari Yares | Feb 9, 2026 | Jewish Time & Structure
Nothing dramatic is happening. Dinner is half-finished. Homework is still open. Bedtime is coming. No one is in crisis—but the clock is getting louder. You can feel the margin disappearing. No one woke up planning to argue. No one feels especially emotional. And yet,...
