Revolvers hidden in loaves of bread and teddy bears… Explosives hidden in their underwear… Jewish teenagers at Auschwitz who stole gunpowder and helped blow up a crematorium?! None of these stories had made it into the tales of the Holocaust that I’d heard.
As the Jews of Spain left Iberia, the largest number found safe haven in the Ottoman Empire. There the foods of the Sephardim, with recipes remembered and carried by the women, found a wonderful match with Ottoman cuisine.
For a few hours, we created a bubble of joy under that canopy, tuning out the pandemic fears.
Just as the form held the poems together, writing the poems held me together.
Each day, the sun lasts longer. The maple tree yields a more sap. More people receive vaccinations.
For Benjamin, and most feminists who have adopted (or adapted) Lilith in art or literature, the mythological first wife of Adam stands as an icon of independence and courage
Flory Jagoda was an instigator and inspiration who was essential to the current resurgence of Ladino language and Sephardic culture.
Our history is more beautiful, complex, tragic, and miraculous than can be covered in a lesson, a bulletin board, or in a month.
My Jewish farming journey pointed me back home to the South, and made me long to put down roots in the place that, as a Jewish teenager, I could not wait to leave.
While my tears flowed and the moment felt surreal, my five-year-old asked me if Elsa from Frozen is real.
