Sometimes you learn your most important life lessons from the person who most frustrates and disappoints you.

By Roberta Israeloff - To my mother, who inherited the holiday after my grandmother's death, producing the seder was nothing short of a colossal chore—a feeling she'd communicate with every pot she slammed on the stove. Now, it's my turn.

By Roberta Israeloff - Our son was 30, the new girlfriend just a few years younger. They continued to date. She was funny and smart. They moved in together. “Is there some kind of family ring?” my son finally asked. Soon after, my mother-in-law took a turn for the worse. She wouldn’t get out of bed in the rehab center, and she’d lie instead curled up like a fetus. When we’d call, all she’d want to talk about were her things: her dishes and cups, jewelry, and the gifts and mementos she’d accrued over her lifetime. “Every single one of them has a story,” she’d say.

A son’s decision to get married is a rite of passage for the entire family.

Our heads may tell us that we need to embrace inevitable changes as we grow older, but our hearts often tell a different story.

Not all families are related by blood.

The times and tides of 33 years of marriage

Reconnecting with old memories in a father's special place.

A young woman discovers the world of the senses.

From generation to generation, much about family rituals changes and much remains the same.