Members of the Scribe
Is “Schmuck” a Dirty Word?
One of the points I make in my book is that what’s dirty in Yiddish isn’t always dirty in English, and vice ...
The Best Overlooked American Jewish Novelist
Stephen Dixon is, in my opinion, the best and most overlooked American Jewish fiction writer in the country. If I ...
Can We Print “Motherfucker” Here?
There’s a little experiment I’d like to try, knowing that this blog post will be published by the Jewish Book ...
How Did You Come to Write That Book, Anyway?
It’s a completely reasonable question, though generally people have been asking it a little shyly: “Why did you want to ...
Is Revenge Justice?
A sixteen-year-old boy, driving drunk, killed four people. His attorneys cited “affluenza” as the cause of his recklessness and recommended treatment, not confinement. Affluenza is ...
Happy Merry Christmas, Ma’am! On Being Jewish in a Strange Land
Until I moved to India, I’d never viewed being Jewish as something unusual. I grew up in an upper middle ...
You Don’t Have to Be an Addict to Be in Recovery
Thirty years ago I was drawn to a classified ad in the LA Times looking for a Social Worker with an MSW ...
How I Became an Accidental Housewife—and Ignored the Labels
I was sitting on the couch in my tiny apartment, trying to decide between takeout Thai and takeout sushi for ...
Lithuania’s Past and Present
In my last blog post, I recounted the background of Yiddish linguist Dovid Katz, who has been reporting on troubling manifestations of ...
The Shameful Distinction of Lithuania
I first came across the writings of Dovid Katz while researching what happened to my relatives in Lithuania in the ...
What’s New About Hanukkah?
This year Jewish Americans will participate in an extraordinary Hanukkah celebration—they will light the first menorah candle on the evening before Thanksgiving. This ...
Red Love and Betrayed Ideals
The reissuing of my novel about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Red Love, as an e-book this month is a joyful moment for me. ...