ESSAYS
WATCHING MY MULTILINGUAL JEWISH KIDS LEARN GERMAN IS COMPLICATED
Kveller, April 21, 2025
About two weeks into our sabbatical in Germany, my eldest pulled his yellow homework folder from his schoolbag and proudly showed me a handout written in Frau Boller’s meticulous teacher’s script. [...]
WE DON'T TALK ABOUT OUR FATHERS' HOMELANDS, JUST THE HERE AND NOW WE SHARE TOGETHER
The Globe and Mail, November 25, 2024
On a recent Saturday morning, I shepherded two seven-year-olds in matching red jerseys, shorts and knee socks through the revolving doors of a massive stadium under an inflatable bubble. [...]
IN MY GERMAN JEWISH FAMILY, WE DRINK BEER ON PASSOVER
Kveller, April 5, 2023
When we started dating, my husband — who was my non-Jewish boyfriend at the time — embraced every Jewish ritual I introduced. He held the kiddush cup and quietly repeated the blessing after me. He fasted out of solidarity on Yom Kippur and stood over the stove frying latkes during Hanukkah until canola oil dripped from his eyebrows. [...]
I THOUGHT THIS BIBLICAL TALE OF SIBLING RIVALRY WAS ABOUT BAD PARENTS...
Kveller, January 31, 2023
MY CHALLAH HAD TO BE BETTER THAN MY BROTHER'S CHALLAH: SO BEGAN OUR LOCKDOWN BREAD WAR
The Globe and Mail, November 24, 2022
It started one Friday with a phone call. “I’ve got two loaves of challah rising on the counter,” my brother said casually. “I’ll drop one off at your place in about an hour.” I was both surprised and delighted. Though my brother is no stranger to the kitchen, I’d never known him to bake. [...]
CAN A TODDLER REALLY APOLOGIZE? (AND OTHER THOUGHTS ON YOM KIPPUR)
Kveller, October 3, 2022
“Don’t you dare,” I said, just milliseconds before a red matchbox car came catapulting toward my head. I scowled at my 2-year-old and gave him a stern finger-waggle. Without hesitating, he trotted over, touched my arm gently and said, “Sorry.” [...]
A LOVE LETTER TO MY POST-BABY BOOBS
Today's Parent, September 19, 2022
My breasts have eaten themselves alive. To be fair, they were meagre to begin with. Neither tantalizing melons nor soft pillows upon which a baby soundly slumbers. Since weaning my youngest child, they look especially pitiful. It’s hard to look away. [...]
MY SON AND MY FATHER SPEAK A SECRET JEWISH LANGUAGE
Kveller, June 16, 2022
“First I eat snack, then I play Fußball and that’s my sipur!”
Translation: “First I eat snack, then I play soccer and that’s my story.”
You’d need to know three languages – English, German and Hebrew – to decipher that. [...]