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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Nov. 19, 2008 / 21 Mar-Cheshvan 5769

Don't get all bento out of shape

By Celia Rivenbark

Celia Rivenbark
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Why are so many women determined to make more work for themselves? Remember last year's dreadful "ghosting" and "elving" craze? Women across this great land baked homemade treats, wrote clever little poems and delivered them, in secret, to their neighbors like some sort of psychotic chain letter with marshmallows.


Men, meanwhile, drafted players for their fantasy football teams and took a nap.


Ghosting and elving was bad, but the bento box craze showing up at school is even worse. Bento boxes are Japanese lunch boxes with little compartments for different foods. Fancy foods. Foods that bring out the Mommie wars like nothing I've ever seen.


Foods like faux sushi constructed from strawberry cream cheese, bananas and white bread that looks just like the real fancypants sushi you'd get from the nice place at the mall.


One Texas mom I read about cut up a boiled egg to look just like a daffodil; another carved a realistic bunny rabbit entirely out of white cheddar for her daughter's bento box. And you thought Texas cheerleading was competitive.


In Japan, the bento lunchbox is highly competitive because mothers believe a successful bento box represents the "uprightness of the household, a true measure of a mother's love."


Great. I finally got the hang of making pancakes shaped like Mickey and now I gotta make rice balls that look just like Hello Kitty for my kid's lunchbox. Wonder if it's OK to substitute Sour Patch Kids candy for miniature fruit kebobs? Probably not.


My daughter's lunchbox is just an insulated sack from Target so it would be hard to, as one parenting Web site (www.toomuchtimeour hands.com) recommended, display macaroni and cheese shaped like a VW bug, complete with fruit roll-up windows. Guess we'll just have to stick to ham on wheat or peanut butter and banana, all with crusts intact. If the Target bag gets smelly, I put it in a paper bag. I am SO not upright.


Bento boxes aren't perfect, anyway. Those tiny compartments can't hold more than two full-size Doritos at best.


In Japan, the bento box is supposed to remind the child that his mother cherishes him and that his home is a haven. Even as he is biting into a train caboose made of whittled sea urchin, his mother is literally counting the minutes until his return home. Nah, that won't give him a complex.


Far be it from me to criticize another culture's centuries-old belief system. Just kidding! Of course that's what I'm doing, but it's for the right reasons: We got enough crap to do without fretting about our kid having Most Honorable Lunchbox.


I shouldn't worry. I live in the South and it's almost impossible to make a decent Dora the Explorer out of potted meat.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Celia Rivenbark is an award-winning news reporter and freelance columnist for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Comment by clicking here.


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© 2007, The Sun News Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services

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