Meet the town of Tykocin in northeast Poland, a shtetl if there ever was one. Tykocin is pretty much as it was in August 1941, when German Einsatzgruppen obliterated [...]
This low stone wall marks the circumference of the barn in Jedwabne, where more than 300 Jews were burned to death [...]
Our November tour of the sites of Jewish history and the Holocaust in Poland and Lithuania began with a visit to the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery. With more than 250,000 [...]
Butternut squash, its color, smell and taste, are quintessentially fall. I realized that years ago when I once made this soup in March, using a butternut squash that had [...]
I can't quite believe 9/11 happened 20 years ago! Thankfully, my husband reminded me this morning that I usually do a memorial post for 9/11 every year by sharing [...]
My best writing happens when I manage to package my own experience, habits or insights into an article that might bring inspiration to others. Sometimes, my own life is too [...]
A month ago I was suffering from a broken heart (being a mother is hard...), and I found myself opening this cross stitch kit I'd ordered back in May [...]
Today is 9/11. Somehow it strikes me as odd to remember that day in the middle of a new calamity. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly is a different calamity altogether. I'm [...]
That's me one month after the surgery in the body brace I had to constantly wear for six weeks post op. This was on my first trip to the [...]
In these days of the Coronavirus Pandemic, urban unrest and ensuing heightened uncertainty, I have found trips down memory lane especially meaningful and calming. They connect me to my former [...]
In the face of depressing news I always ask myself: What can we set against it? And I always end up with the same answer: The pursuit of beauty and [...]
Having a friend in prison has been an illuminating experience for me. I have been contemplating and learning about what that life means, on a day-to-day basis, by corresponding and [...]
"May you live in interesting times" is purported to be a Chinese curse but it actually isn't. Nevertheless we currently live in interesting times, and it does feel like a [...]
This summer, I finally had to give you up. I embarked on my trip to Peru with a new version of you, Just as comfortable and snug, but water tight. [...]
One of my favorite stretches through the woods I have been out in the country, reveling in the glory of autumn. The fall foliage spectacle is on full display on [...]
Lately, I have been taken with books by young female dynamos: Tami Lahren's Never Play Dead captivated me in August, and now I have a new one to share: Girl, [...]
Wedding picture in my book A book is a connector. That's one of the surprising things I learned after Jumping Over Shadows came out in April 2017. But now it's [...]
I used to work in consulting as a project manager, so I should know this: Life is easier with a plan. Without a plan, all those tasks you should be [...]
Farewell old fridge, and thanks for your service! I have to admit: My heart sank when the delivery guys carried out our old fridge. After serving us faithfully for 24 [...]
This Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of my hip surgery. Unfortunately, this anniversary makes me sad. Recovering from this surgery sent me through hell and back, and I am not [...]
Purim is coming up — this year it begins on the evening of March 20 — and I’ve been busy planning what to put in my Mishloach Manot, the small [...]
It seems to me that a good part of life is spent trying to figure out how to best manage yourself. At least that's the case for me. Every New [...]
I was driving to my cousin's house for dinner last week when two warning lights came on in the car. Then the instrument panel went dead. When I put on [...]
I just lived without my main email for almost two weeks, and that turned out to be quite nice. Just before I left on a longer trip, I messed up [...]
Christmas at the Hemingway Birthplace Home where I was fortunate to have been writer-in-residence four years ago! Giving up Christmas is one of the advantages of converting to [...]
The destruction of the synagogue in Reichenberg (Liberec), November 9-10, 1938 Last year I wrote about Remembering Kristallnacht in Liberec, which is featured in my book Jumping Over Shadows. [...]
Postcard carousel in the colonnade at Mariánské Lázně, Czech Republic (September 2016) Whenever I travel, I send postcards to my brother and sister. They do the same. This [...]
One evening last summer, my brother and I lingered by the camp fire after the rest of the family had gone to bed. As the flames died down, we looked [...]
Yesterday I went for a walk around Promontory Point for the first time since my surgery, and I realized: a place can help restore our sense of self. Three months [...]
I always knit when I'm on a plane, or crochet. In fact, if I have a flight coming up, and I don't have a knitting project going, I frantically cast [...]
Nine weeks out from my hip surgery, I wish I could say I've learned to pace myself. My recovery seems to be largely about taking it slowly, treating myself gently [...]
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is around the corner, and so I thought this is a good time to share a few photos from my visit to the Vilna [...]
I have blogged before about the special magic of handwritten letters and postcards. But now that I am recovering from hip surgery and have been largely housebound, I discovered just how [...]
At our grandparents' grave - my sister, my brother and I Summer is the time of family reunions. Incidentally, just before my hip surgery, we had a family [...]
Cover image of my favorite children's book, given to me by my American grandparents in 1968 I feel like Cinderella these days as I am recovering from hip [...]
Yours truly visiting the Ice Palace in St. Paul, MN Sunday, January 28, 2018 Inspired by a prompt in the current winter issue of Bella Grace, I kept [...]
I can't believe I'm about to write a blog post advocating going to the store. I am not much of a shopper. I quickly get mental overload at any kind [...]
Today I'm picking up the practice of creating a time capsule of one ordinary day, namely December 12, begun back on 12/12/12 when that was simply one cool date. I [...]
With my brother-in-law's recent death, the topic of dealing with all the things the deceased leave behind has become center stage again for my husband and me. Incidentally, just prior [...]
My daughter wearing one of the hats I knitted for her after I learned to read American knitting patterns. I just began a new knitting project the other day--a hat [...]
Today I'm happy to share my essay "Jewish Encounters in a Non-Jewish Land," published recently in the brand-spanking new Sasson Magazine. Please head on over [...]
It's been my custom to commemorate 9/11 by taking my Portraits 9/11/01 off the shelf and opening it at random to read some of the obituaries the New York Times so admirably [...]
...visit the Montfort Castle in northern Israel. As my contribution to the Field Guide to Everyday Magic Blog Hop, I'm sharing how I finally did so because I have found [...]
I adore snail mail art. As a kid, I loved to draw. That pastime, along with several others, has remained in my childhood. Over the past few years, however, I've [...]
"So how many people are you having?" - For sure I am going to be asked this question today when I chat about Seder preparations with my coworkers. Read [...]
The mermaid and the astronaut mentioned in the story... This Sunday is the Jewish holiday of Purim. I used to dread the arrival of Purim because that meant I [...]
I have a new favorite winter pastime: Sitting in the sun. I've discovered that from about 9:15 in the morning until about 10 o'clock the sun, when it is out, [...]
Today is St. Nikolaus, a day I remember fondly from my childhood (see my essay Giving Up Christmas in Tablet, which, incidentally, is an excerpt from my book Jumping Over Shadows.) [...]
I've got a new little project--not that I'm lacking for work or busy-ness, but holidays happen if you want them to or not. So this year, since Chanukah is [...]
One of my longtime memoir workshop students, David Thoele, MD, is a pediatric cardiologist, but he also serves as the Director of Narrative Medicine at Advocate Children's Hospital because he [...]
