LifeLines

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

No Such Thing as Hopeless

For her and my father, who had grown up in an anti-Semitic communist environment, my leanings toward frumkeit were a dangerous return to the shtetl

LifeLines

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The Opposite of the Wrong Thing

While my parents actually got divorced over two decades into their marriage, the process leading up to it began long be ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Weighty Deliberations

I wasn’t fat, I just had a good appetite, and needed fuel to keep me going both in the beis medrash and on the ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Life After Paralysis

I remember my first panic attack as if it happened yesterday. In truth, it happened 38 years ago, when I was 20 a ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Riding the Wave

My Great-Grandfather Elyakim fought to hold onto his Yiddishkeit, but didn’t see Yiddishe nachas from his descendants. In his ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Thanking the Doctor

Doctors aren’t prophets. They have permission to heal, but not to make predictions. But only several years later did I ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Made in Taiwan

“My dad told me before he died that I have to marry a Jewish girl. Is it possible for you to become Jewish?”

LifeLines

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Mazel Tov Ups and Downs

A few months before I was due to give birth, my eight-year-old daughter, Shulamis, turned to me and asked, “Mommy, what ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

The Most Important Ingredients

I realized, much to my dismay, that I had not enjoyed one moment with Yedidya. Was this the same person I had gon ...

LifeLines

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Letter to the Next World

When you were around, Aryeh, I didn’t need company. I enjoyed having the kids over, and being invited out, and hosting ...

LifeLines

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Captain of the Sinking Ship

I couldn’t believe it — the boat was sinking! “Everybody out of the boat!” I commanded. “We’re going to have to swim ...