Iris Ruth Pastor

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Author: Iris Ruth Pastor

Three Things You Will Need in the New Year

January 1, 2021April 23, 2021 Iris Ruth Pastor

I love this picture above. It is marked The Circle of Life, but for me – it has value beyond that simple phrase. This photo to me depicts HOPE and RESILIENCE. HOPE for the future as exemplified by this little tyke as he begins to walk in his own. RESILIENCE as exemplified by this elderly Continue reading

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A Perfect Christmas Activity

December 25, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

It’s midday on a Tuesday. CNN is playing softly in the background as I routinely empty the dishwasher – ruminating over my present state of aloneness.    How much longer until I see my kids? Tickle and hug my grandkids? As I separate clean knives and forks and drop them into the slotted drawers, my Continue reading

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THE SECRET TO LIVING THE LIFE THAT YOU CRAVE DURING COVID!

December 18, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting high rates of depression – and political and economic uncertainly is contributing to our feelings of despair – even with the dawning of a number of vaccines on the immediate horizon to fight Covid-19. How can we counteract these feelings? How can we surmount our mood Continue reading

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Read this column if you like doing things YOUR way!

December 11, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

What I love: You know what I love about having my very own weekly newsletter? It can be any length It can be about any subject It can be with or without images It can be with or without subtitles And the subject line can be as long or as short as I choose For Continue reading

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What’s Guaranteed to Raise Your Spirits?

December 4, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

What’s Guaranteed to Raise Your Spirits? I’ll give you a few hints. It’s available, cheap, accessible and effective. It’s HUMOR. Take the following joke as an example: My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a Continue reading

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Thank Goodness Thanksgiving is Over!

November 27, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

Whew. Thanksgiving is over. I got past the disappointment of not being with all five of my sons sharing turkey and sweet potato casserole the first time in decades – and then looking around the table at my huge family network as it expanded and contracted over the burgeoning years. I embraced with optimism the Continue reading

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Maybe

November 20, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

Maybe tomorrow I’ll walk down to the end of my block and watch the sun rise over the bay at 6:56am. If I’m not too busy stretching out my back muscles, rotating away the tightness in my shoulders, unclenching my jaw, softening my brow. Maybe tomorrow… But the plants need watering. I promised a new Continue reading

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Barring the Belly Button at Midlife and Beyond?

November 13, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

Now that the election is over – though by some, the results are still being contested – maybe we can return to the more “important” things in life to consider, such as whether to bar or not bar our belly buttons at midlife and beyond. This is an important question – surfacing at least once Continue reading

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Turning Churning Emotions into Productivity!

November 6, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

This week was quite an emotionally packed week no matter whom you voted for POTUS. Trump and Biden fight it out to the end as election officials faced long hours and close vote counts in battleground states. History was made on many fronts. So what better thing to do in the days following this historical Continue reading

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Where’s all your junk going to end up?

October 30, 2020December 29, 2020 Iris Ruth Pastor

My kids would say I definitely have too much time on my hands – and they are probably right. Cautiously spending as much time as possible at home cocooning during Covid encourages over scrutiny of my possessions. With a plethora of time on my hands, I begin documenting which of my husband’s and my possessions are Continue reading

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Incidentally, Iris

For the past ten years, Iris’s “Incidentally Iris” column has appeared in The American Israelite, a weekly newspaper for Cincinnati’s Jewish community and the American Jewish community. Founded as The Israelite on July 15,1854, by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the paper today is the oldest English-Jewish weekly in America and the second oldest in the world. (The London Jewish Chronicle was founded in 1841.) Read Incidentally, Iris columns on The American Israelite