first
Spring is here, Purim is over, and Passover is just weeks away. For the third year in a row, we are going back East to celebrate Passover with our children at the home of our older son and daughter-in-law, a home where we have always felt welcomed and included, to a seder that is open […]
They came to America on the S.S. Argentina, sailing out of Genoa, Italy, in 1952, my parents and sister, five-year old Anie. My sister said our mother spent the entire trip in their cabin below deck, fighting seasickness. Anie spent the days running around having fun, following our father who apparently spent most of the […]
Rice was a staple in my mother’s kitchen. Always prepared in the most basic way, it was never the centerpiece of the meal but occupied the role of ” the starchy” side dish. My mother bought Uncle Ben’s and cooked it in salted boiling water. Period. There were two ways that it was served, with […]
When I was growing up, the sense of community among apartment dwellers was clear. The building that I lived in on the Grand Concourse functioned as a vertical village, with neighbors pitching in and helping one another. People watched over each other’s children, helped out with errands, and some even divided their poultry order, as my mother and her closest friend Fanny […]
Growing up, all of my parents’ friends were Polish Jews. As immigrants, they wanted to surround themselves with people who had similar experiences and backgrounds, people who shared common customs, language, and food. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I met Jews who looked different, spoke Hebrew or Ladino (as opposed to Yiddish), […]
Bamitbach 