June 28, 2011
What is spirituality?
Is it about believing in God?
Is it what leads us to the love of our lives after decades of searching?
Is it what makes it possible for a 43-year-old woman to have a healthy baby?
Is it what helps us heal from loss?
When someone dies young, the loss is often doubly hard. Why? Because as mourners, we can’t help but wonder what might have been. In this post, I muse about what kind of father my late brother might have been. He died at age 23, having never had the chance at fatherhood. Continue reading
June 8, 2011
“Slowly. You don’t have to rush it,” the rabbi said. I was trying to quickly tie a bow on the belt wrapped around the Torah.
My rabbi, Howard Jaffe of Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass., held his finger in the center of the string to assist. Bow-tying is a weakness of mine. I tie shoelaces by forming two bunny ear loops. I tied the strings and reminded myself to breathe. I was not on stage. I was in the chapel of my temple during the morning Shavuot … Continue reading
June 6, 2011
Death. We talked about death. We read about death. We wrote about death. We cried about death.
Illness, addiction, disability. We learned to poke fun at our own weaknesses. We learned to treat others’ illnesses, addictions, and disabilities with respect and love. We laughed. Again, we wiped tears from our eyes.
Anticipation. Curiosity. Hope. Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll climb into my aging Honda CRV and drive about three hours west to a conference center in rural western Massachusetts. I’ll join an unknown number of strangers for a long weekend devoted to learning about, talking about, and doing writing. On a whim, well a researched whim, I decided to attend a retreat run by The Sun magazine. I fell for the description of the magazine’s retreat: “You don’t have to be a writer to attend. Our aim is to simply to create a space in which people can tell their stories from the heart.” Continue reading
May 31, 2011
Religion in a novel can be a turn-off or a gift to the reader depending on the writer’s approach. Author Rachel Simon, in her latest book, practically delivers a primer on how to artfully and provocatively incorporate religion into fiction.
Religion is a natural presence in The Story of Beautiful Girl, a novel about an intellectually disabled woman and her boyfriend, who is deaf. They meet in a state institution. Simon, the author of six books, shows faith’s presence – the good as well as the … Continue reading
Summary: For Mother’s Day 2011, I had an ideal of how everything would play out. Simon and I would make a bright yellow duckling costume with yellow wings. Simon had other ideas and taught me a lot about motherhood as a result. I wrote about the experience in an essay for Kveller.com, a New York-based parenting website.
May 23, 2011
It always sounds a little bit like Passover at our house. Nearly every day, our 3-year-old son sings Dayenu. He warbles it in the bathtub. He belts it out as he strums his ukulele and marches around the living room and kitchen. Sometimes he hums it before he goes to sleep.
You’re thinking that I should say, Dayenu (enough)? No way. Simon is equally enthusiastic about singing David Melech. Jewish music has become a part of the fabric of our family. Simon likely does not understand the meaning … Continue reading
Authors Joan Wickersham, Ann Hood, and Rahna Reiko Rizzuto taught invaluable lessons about the meaning of memoir, dialogue, and the importance of turning off that time clock when you’re writing. Continue reading
Summary: In a tongue-in-cheek piece, I respond to getting called Grandma when I’m out and about with my 3-year-old. I wrote this for Kveller.com, a national Jewish parenting website.
Subscribe to the blog feed to receive updates
