In December 2018, I watched an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, a decades-old reality show featuring a competition for drag queens. The episode was a doozy to start with, because the week's challenge was to not dress up in glamour but dress down - as nude women. This set me off on what became an... Continue Reading →
It gets harder every year. Yom HaShoah. Yom HaZicaron. Every year the ticking accelerates. Every year I realize all over again how important it is to not take any of it for granted. Every hug, every cuddle. Every whispered secret. Every question. Every silent moment, holding hands. Feeling up-down-up-down of a tiny chest against my... Continue Reading →
Yesterday two men from a neighbouring town and vastly different demographic approached me to ask for directions in my town. One did not look me in the eye as he spoke to me, but looked at the ground, eyes nearly closed. I know why. I felt lower than low. Human contact is core to our... Continue Reading →
11 Jewish congregants were slaughtered by an anti-Semite with an assault rifle. It's a timeless tale. A baby was being accepted into the covenant. A timeless tale. The blood of the akaida, delivered by an enemy, the Angel of Hatred, of Spite, of Terror, of Death. And yet... "They should have been armed." "Around the... Continue Reading →
I hadn't said the Shema in earnest or even in unearnest in over a decade. Like riding a bicycle or worshipping a childhood god, the words are not forgotten once you start to move your mouth. The מ's are plentiful; an exercise for the lips. The ך's, too, are plentiful; an age-old exercise in patience... Continue Reading →
When people ask me why I came here, my answer is that no matter what I believe religiously I'll always accept the fact that by being born into what I was born I have no choice but to cast my lot with the rest of my people. So even now, as there is this man... Continue Reading →
It's night three of my daughter's cough and it's gotten much better. I'm sitting uncomfortably on the Hello Kitty stool next to the crib, with my forefinger making lines in her palm, my phone on 'play' in the other hand, and in my left ear, an earbud is loosely holding on. The prime minister is... Continue Reading →
Independence is affording the time to celebrate your existence. Independence is getting your own Snapchat filter. Independence is being proud of someone you never met named Netta. Independence is the freedom to openly mourn your dead on your terms. Independence is enjoying making choices on a global scale. Independence is watching your kids grow up... Continue Reading →
All around, kids pick up bits and ask their parents... "What is בן האבוד בלבנון?" "What is מבצע אנטבה?" "What does רומנטי mean?" "Why is that kind of flower everywhere?" "Did that שיר really happen?" "Why do they put the flag down?" On a walk through Har Herzl (Israel's national cemetery) this morning, hearing about... Continue Reading →
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