Last night, I attended the live broadcast of the 20th annual Poetry & the Creative Mind gala of the Academy of American Poets. This celebration o f National Poetry Month doubles as a fundraiser to help underwrite the Academy’s education programs, which provide 60,000 K-12 classroom teachers each year with free resources—including online lesson plans—to … Read more
The Passover dishes are packed away for next year. Tablecloths and napkins—stains painstakingly removed—wait patiently in their basket until later this afternoon, when they’ll be returned to the table for Shabbat dinner. Sweet memories of our daughter’s whirlwind visit and my school break spent connecting with family and friends coalesce into Our Passover Story 2023, … Read more
My Passover preparation began a few weeks ago, when I started thinking about—some might say perseverating over—the afikomen gift. In my defense, this is a reasonable concern as our family Seder will be attended by all three of our grown children, their plus-ones and friends from childhood, all of whom are independent, gainfully employed adults, … Read more
“I believe in the soul of the underdog. The one who has to struggle for the victory, who learns that the challenges she overcomes to achieve it make it all the sweeter.” I wrote these words fifteen years ago, the opening lines in an essay for NPR’s “This I Believe” series. I was thinking about … Read more
Every act of communication is a miracle of translation. —Ken Lui Today is a double-holiday: it’s International Women’s Day and Shushan Purim, or the 15th of Adar 5783, which in the Jewish calendar is when the holiday of Purim is celebrated in Jerusalem. Shushan Purim is also a special anniversary for me personally: Shushan Purim … Read more
As the clock ran out on the Eagles’ last play of the game, after the Chiefs’ kicker sent the ball sailing through the goalpost for the winning field goal, our eldest turned to us and said, “You know, the real winner of the Super Bowl is that mom.” She was referring to Donna Kelce, who … Read more
I was delighted to see friends from all around Metro Atlanta at the Tu B’Shevat tree planting in Wade Walker Park on Sunday, and honored to offer a teaching and kavanah, intention, before we began our work. While there isn’t a blessing to recite upon planting a tree, I shared Rebbe Nachman’s prayer (below). The … Read more
It’s difficult to believe it’s been 3 weeks since I posted any news here. I can’t really explain why—I suppose I could offer the excuse that I have limited use of my “mouse hand,” but this would be disingenuous. The splint protecting my right CMC joint is definitely a help not a hindrance. Perhaps the … Read more
Here it is: a post about this year’s reading challenge, which has become an annual end-of-year tradition that I hope functions as both a celebration of reading and an inspiration to set reading goals for the coming year. As I’ve written in previous years: Reading is fundamental to my well-being. Challenging myself to read a … Read more
One Hebrew expression for the publication of a book is l’hotzee l’or, literally, “to bring it to light,” although most speakers of modern Hebrew would use the word l’farsem. This Hebrew word also means to publicize, and it may have come into modern Hebrew by way of the Aramaic expression pirsuma neisa, to publicize the … Read more