Elizabeth A. Leib

by Elizabeth A. Leib

If you haven’t yet seen the movie, take a look at these video reviews and then buy your ticket!

Wall-E Movie Review from Spill.com

by Elizabeth A. Leib

We celebrated the fourth of July holiday in Carrollwood this year with friends from the Hillel School the Weiner, Ray and Sheer families. The kids rode their festively decorated bicycles in the parade and then parked them at the shore of Lake Carrollwood.

Then we all enjoyed ice-cold watermelon while watching the ski show.

July 4th Ski Show on Lake Carrollwood

Afterwards we enjoyed a holiday cook-out party at Dr. Sheer’s lovely home overlooking the lake. The kids moved seamlessly between swimming in the pool to wwII games to playing pool. Finally we all headed to our respective homes after sunset, happy and satisfied.

Weiner, Ray, Leib and Sheer Kids Enjoy July 4th Party

by Elizabeth A. Leib

In my lifelong quest to live better several ideas turn up again and again. Reading Daniel H.Pink’s excellent “A Whole New Mind - Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” reminds me of how important gratitude is to living well. Pink recommends readers make a list as long as your years of things to be grateful for.

I’m grateful because of:

1. Mark Leib 2. Jeremy Leib 3. beach weekends with #1 & #2 4. jagermeister 5. Emily Dickenson 6. our Raintree house 7. Hillel School of Tampa 8. Billy Collins 9. Harriet/Trish Leib 10. living in the internet age 11. sandy little shoes 12. garlic/rosemary/olive oil roasted vegetables 13. clean air & water 14. writers living in Temple Terrace/Greg Neri 15. my mother and father 16. Florida Healthy Kids Insurance 17. tai-chi 18. sound of frogs in our lake after it rains 19. good health 20. Studio@620 21. everything about my past life 22. WMNF 23. my little sister Lauren Brannon 24. Cafe Kili 25. good health of husband&son 26. Mary’s new baby girl 27. playing in the rain on the beach with Jeremy 28. kosher meat 29. Marla Grant 30. Jim Teixeira 31. Jeremy’s toothless grin 32. Miki 33. Paralounge Drum Festival 34. Virginia Woolf 35. my laptop computer 36. sound of beach waves 37. Brian Lau 38. Lesley Spencer 39. Micah 40. Phoebe 41. Jeremy sitting quietly 42. Mark’s new play about the holocaust “A River in the Desert” 43. opportunities to publish 44. cloud formations 45. the smell of lavender 46. Tampa Day Summer Camp 47. my hair stylist - julie 48. Papande Newman - creator of MitzvahMom image

by Elizabeth A. Leib

Tim Russert was beloved and admired for all the right reasons - his contribution to journalism, the quality of his friendships and the love he had for his family. He showed us what a life well lived looks like. I’m grateful to Russert for what I learned about politics during this unique primary season and send out a thank-you to his family and friends for sharing your stories with us who were not fortunate enough to know him personally.

by Elizabeth A. Leib

Is a spider an insect? In this video from today’s program at Brooker Creek Preserve, education staffer April provides an answer. Once we filled several containers with bugs, we went back to the education center classroom to examine them.

What is an insect?

This free program for families lasted about an hour and a half and included classroom discussion and time outside catching insects. After the program ended we walked on the trails and visited the Brooker Creek Preserve exhibit hall to play with the interactive exhibits. We had a great time and would recommend the programs like this to families interested in Florida’s natural history.

Catching Insects at Brooker Creek Preserve

by Elizabeth A. Leib

The tooth fairy visited our house last night. Jeremy lost his second front tooth at gymnastics camp yesterday. In this video I talk about an exchange we had as he told the story about how it happened with family friends. As he spoke he drifted into a free association as young children will do and the subject of race came up. For more MitzvahMom videos visit my YouTube website.

by Elizabeth A. Leib

In this video I talk to parents about where kids are connecting online and give website recommendations. For more MitzvahMom videos on being involved in positive and productive ways in the online lives of kids visit the MitzvahMom YouTube site.

by Elizabeth A. Leib

Media coverage is often politically motivated or influenced by powerful people like Rupert Murdock. This article by Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, is no exception. As a columnist for Bloomberg News, Hasset makes the case that current coverage of economic data pointing to recession favors Obama’s bid for the presidency. On the other hand, many argue that economic measurements favor corporations and the wealthy at a time when the majority of individuals and small businesses struggle disproportionately.

Responses to what we believe about the present and future state of the economy can be colorful and highly subjective. Paranoid? Then our economic system is manipulated by a powerful banking system, multi-national corporations and foreign governments. Believe the end of time is coming? Read the book of Revelations to find clues about how the digital economy may be a tool of the antichrist (think of the number 666 in a digital chip embedded on your forehead). Depressed? No one is in control and we’re all doomed.

Pick your poison I suppose.

by Elizabeth A. Leib

Mark and Jeremy and I attended Congregation Or Ahavah’s dedication ceremony today at the Jewish Community Center in memory of Rabbi Theodore Brod and in honor of Freda Brod. The dedication gave us the chance to do the last of the 613 mitzvoth, to write a Sefer Torah. We lined up to inscribe a letter on the Torah scroll and afterward JCC Director Cathy Gardner wrote in calligraphy our names on a lovely certificate commemorating the occasion.

Rabbi and Freda Brod’s Children and Grandchildren Bring in the Torah:

It was a pleasure to hear Eldra Solomon, Rabbi and Freda’s daughter, talk about the Brod legacy and of their efforts over many years to build the Tampa Jewish community. Rabbi performed my conversion almost 20 years ago and then married Mark and I thirteen years ago. We attended many of the renown Brod Passover Seders and Yom Kipper break-the-fast gatherings.

The Brod’s were generous in opening their doors to anyone who wanted to belong to the Jewish community. He will be remembered for all his hard work as will Freda. Particularly Freda is beloved for her kind and loving ways. She is a friend to the good and to the friendless alike - fulfilling the calling of a Rabbi’s wife where no one is excluded from her beneficence. She is a treasure who is much loved and appreciated by all.

by Elizabeth A. Leib

So many articles and talk about parenting are at best silly claptrap and at worst, self-serving rambles by people convinced of their superior knowledge and skills. This one has a child in law school, that one in a prestigious prep school. We must endure with good grace their golden droppings as they strut and fluff atop a nest feathered by their children’s accomplishments. It’s tiresome to be in the company of such a person who never tires of the smell of their proven theories.

The good news is the world is filled with the wise and the foolish. I happened to be leafing through Natural Awakenings, a free health magazine published locally and found one of the most helpful articles on parenting by Thomas Moore I’ve read recently. In college I enjoyed reading his book Care of the Soul (not to be confused with Thomas Merton’s Seeds of Contemplation).

Moore writes personally, sharing a story about when his daughter is diagnosed with an autoimmune illness. He connects spirituality with parenting and the ways it can, for those who are alert, remove false virtue and increase faith. I particularly share his idea of the end goal: to help a child become a thoughtful, engaged adult. For me and my parenting partner it’s a goal worthy of the effort.