The Atlantic, June 2023; A Review (along with a reflection on autonomy, liberalism, and mistakes)
“Perhaps a situation that has not arisen before is, by its very nature, susceptible to incorrect conclusions, and destined to summon mistakes.”
Why I Hate Mothers’ Day
“I do resent that the recognition for my work as a mother, when it descends upon me in this way, is so incredibly shallow and fungible.
The Uri Geller Museum
On our recent trip to Israel, it took us more than a few days to shake off our jet lag and get through the first days of Passover. By the time we got out, it was to Jaffa, a place that all of us could remember fondly. By some amazing miracle by Israeli-standards, we found […]
Rattled by Road Rage (and Privilege)
I’m still shaking a little, and if I can steady my hands a bit, I’d like to tell you about it. You see, this morning, I was biking Emma to school, which I don’t usually do. But since we moved, there’s an extra intersection to cross which I worry about a teeny bit. Today, we […]
The Distraction of Uncertainty
When I was first pregnant, I drew great comfort from the internet, which supplied an endless virtual cohort. Even though I couldn’t bring myself to utter out loud any details of my delicate state, I drew comfort from stories and experiences on message boards and knew weird details of the lives of women who were […]
Anti-Semitism on Campus?
We’re just beginning the college exploration process with our high-schooler. There are a staggering number of things to think about to help him figure out what might be a good fit for him, on a campus that will allow him to pursue his interests and develop into a full-fledged independent young adult. As we think […]
Remembering the Holocaust and Honoring Jews
Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Israel, it was celebrated (as it is every year) with a siren at 10:00 am that sounds throughout the country, causing life to come to a complete halt for a solid minute. Cars stop on the highway, doctors stop in surgery, children stop in recess, and the […]
Love, Service, and Choosing a Career
It was in the course of reading Micah Goodman’s essay in the periodical Sources that I first came across the formulation of love by Erich Fromm. In the essay, Goodman explains Fromm’s work this way: In 1956, the psychologist Erich Fromm published his groundbreaking book The Art of Loving, a fascinating indictment of much of […]
Throwback: Passover 2020
I recently went back through some archives, and I found a piece that I had written at the very beginning of our county’s Coronavirus shutdown. Oh wow, the memories. Re-reading now the words that I chose then feels somewhat otherworldly, as though I can’t quite believe it was I who described the curious new world […]
Birds of a feather, agree together
This week, I stepped in the muck in a Facebook post. As a Jew, a friend had posted what she felt was an obvious response to a contemporary issue of anti-Semitism. I don’t want to get into the details, but a (seemingly well intentioned but non-Jewish) friend of hers disagreed that the issue in question […]