Parenting adult children requires new skills and a fresh perspective. Drawing from Torah wisdom, expert insights, and personal experiences, Rabbi Paul Kipnes explores the joys and challenges of this transformative phase. Discover how to foster deeper, more authentic connections with your adult children to support this sacred work.
Category: Jewish Spiritual Parenting
Thanksgiving: Don’t Let Political Disruptions Ruin Your Dinner
Wisdom to ensure you don’t let political disruptions ruin your Thanksgiving dinner
Parenting: The Challenging of Letting Go (spoken word poetry)
In this spoken word poem, explore how Abraham's parents might have felt as he went off from Haran to the Promised Land, in search of his future.
Letter to Your Future Self: Hold onto those Silver Linings
Write a letter or a make a video to your future self who will exist five or six months from now. Remind yourself about the silver linings you want to continue to embrace. Maybe, just maybe, you will listen to yourself.
Seeing Daddy in the Mirror
Spoken word poetry about seeing Dad in the mirror, and seeing dad within me.
Father Knows How. When Will I?
I always wondered how my Dad gained all that wisdom and I wondered if I would ever gain that depth of wisdom to be able to help my children when they needed to navigate their lives.
Mensch-ify My Kid: Giving Young Families What They Want
Be a Mensch, that's what Or Ami's innovative parenting and pre-K to 6th grade learning program is all about. Mensch-ify my Kid, Mensch-ify my Home, Mensch-ify my Playground.
Creating an Escape for Teens After the SoCal Fires and Shooting
How might synagogues and Jewish communities respond to the needs of teens to express their inner turmoil and to learn new techniques for managing stress and emotional exhaustion?
We are Here for You: A Clergy Letter about Sexual Violence
The rabbis and cantor of Congregation Or Ami sent this letter about sexual violence to our adult congregants, our 9th-12th graders, recent high school graduates (18-22 year olds), and our faculty. We also sent a note to parents of 7th-12th graders with suggestions on conversations with their children.
I Held a Newborn Baby Today
Reflections on holding a newborn baby
Teen Mental Health: Rolling Darkness into Light
Why did Congregation Or Ami focus our energies on creating a mental health and wellness retreat? Because today's teens are particularly stressed out, overwhelmed by anxiety, buffetted by the emotional turmoil engendered by social media. They crave support and relief.
Lifting the Veil of Silence about Mental Illness
It is time for us to lift the veil of silence around mental illness, talking about it and our mental health journeys. Especially in the Jewish community.
How My Synagogue Helped My Child Save Herself (in her Battle with Depression)
A mother speaks about her appreciation that the Congregation Or Ami and its rabbis offered deep support for their daughter on her battle with depression.
Confessions from the Edge of a Cliff: My Teen Mental Health Journey
Teen Dani, an 11th grader, shared her mental health journey (through depression) to an overflowing synagogue on Yom Kippur.
Isaac’s Story in the Akedah: The Two Walked on Together
What are Isaac's thoughts on the Akedah, when his dad almost sacrificed him? A first person perspective about sons and fathers.