Hi and welcome. This page is a self-absorbed page all about me. Brief biography follows.

I was born in London to an English born mother and a Polish born father, and remained an only child. Was educated at Hasmonean schools and Gateshead seminary, following which I trained as a secretary and journalist. I worked as a journalist for the Jewish Review until my marriage to Joseph Pearlman in July 1967.

I am a woman of many interests. Mother of 7 adult children, all now happily married, We have five daughters and two sons. we had a third son, Uri, our second born child, who died tragically in January 1996,(our daughter-in-law Leora remarried in early March 1998 and is now living in Lakewood NJ USA).

I am, believe it or not, a great-grandmother seven times over! Our eldest granddaughter Leah Zucker has four children, a newborn baby boy, born 1st June 2011, two and a half year old Yudit, four year old Sasha Chaya, and six year old Tuli, short for Naftoli. The middle one was called after my mother Sasha Chaya, which totally overwhelmed me as I never dreamed a granddaughter of ours would name a baby after my mother. Then Moshe Lazar and Etty Noe have Zissi, and Rivka and Moshe Weiniger have a Sasha Chaya too! There are now five babies named for her, so I hope she is enjoying the "naches" (Jewish pride) up in heaven. Then in Tammy and Allan's family, Dina and Yehuda Harris have Ari, born February 2011. I am also a grandmother of 35 Before you think I must be really REALLY ancient, I just turned 63 this May. Well...I guess that IS really ancient!

I help run a very small web-provider company, and I run antenatal (Prenatal) classes through the National Childbirth Trust, for whom I am also a breastfeeding counsellor. I teach short courses lasting just over a week these days. I prefer it to the previous 8 week courses. I also teach a lot of breastfeeding sessions separate to the antenatal courses.

I have in recent years gone back to my first love; writing fiction (read more here!). I am a published novelist of fifteen years ago and have written 3 crime thrillers called "Dark Tapestry" "The Movement" and "Carers Ltd."

My most recent novel is not a crime thriller, but a novel on the powerful topic of Jewish teenagers at risk. It's called "Against the Wall". I think however my novels are probably out of print, but there are websites and bookshops that still stock them. However my new writing project is writing a fiction serial for Ami magazine which is nearing its completion, but Ami have already called me about the next serial they want me to write. The UK newspaper the Jewish Tribune has also asked me to write a fiction serial for them. I can see myself getting thoroughly confused if I do too many serials at once, but the discipline of having to write each episode for the magazine or paper is excellent for me, who had quite bad writer's block for several years.

I am also an observant Jewess, as you will no doubt tell if you surf my site. Any questions about Judaism or Jewish practice, click on the Jewish FAQ menu above and choose which aspect you wish to explore. Feel free to email me with any other queries; my email address is below.

I am an only daughter of a gentle English lady and a fiery Polish refugee. To read more about my father's incredible escape story from the Nazis click here

My health has always been quite good except for some osteo arthritis in my knees. Losing a lot of weight helped, but this was several years ago. The final total, achieved by December 2004, was 6 stone (88lbs about 38kg). It was a long hard struggle and continues to be so, as keeping the weight down is far harder than losing it in the first place. Six and a half years later I am not in a good place health-wise, as my osteo arthritis has spread to my spine, affecting my mobility and giving me horrendous sciatica. I have put back half of the weight I lost and it is not helping my mobility. I have recently undergone a course of 3 epidural cortisone injections to try and relieve the sciatica, and I think they have worked, at least to a large extent if not perfectly. I sometimes reflect sadly that only a few months ago, I could truthfully say I was on no medication, but now, with the pain of the sciatica and related conditions, I probably have more painkillers and anti-inflammatories than my local pharmacy!!! I also take a lot of alternative supplements and vitamins said to be good at keeping bones and joints healthy. As they say in Yiddish: "Man virt elter!" (one gets older!)

So, What exercise do I do now? As my health is more delicate than of late, I can't do as much as I used to, but I still have my personal trainer Gail 3 times a week. We do walking on the treadmill and outdoors when the weather is good, ab-crunches on the exercise ball, and sometimes hula hoop, which is something I haven't done since I was a teenager! I also love swimming, and it's good for my back, but usually only get to swim when we're in Israel. However a recent foray back to the 12kg kettlebell resulted in my back getting very inflamed and painful. So I think we'll leave that for now!

My email address is ruthie@ruthiepearlman.com