One way to understand adolescence is as a crisis of the value of life. I may take my mother’s love for granted, but it no longer seems to suffice. Father’s love seems remote and conditional on my (unreliable!) performance. My sense of self-worth is displaced by fickle fads among... Read More →

  He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children (Psalm 113:9).   I remember my father, a plastic surgeon, speaking of a woman who came to him to see if he could remove the tattoos on her hands. She no longer wanted them, and their presence had... Read More →