Why the lynching of Leo Frank a century ago still haunts us. A couple of weeks ago, waiting to board our plane at LAX, my husband is approached by two bearded Orthodox Jewish men, a father and son. “Are you Jewish?” asks the son. In the traditional black coats and hats, full-bearded and smiling, … [Read more...] about The Spirit of Judaism at Its Best, Antisemitism at Its Worst
Conversations with Myself
The mixed blessing of solitude. I spend a lot of time alone — taking walks by myself, meditating and doing yoga, writing and reading, listening to music. My husband spends most of his day in his home office. Our paths cross in the kitchen, a snack for me/a drink for him. A drink for me/a … [Read more...] about Conversations with Myself
Call Me Ma’am. Tell Me I’m in My Golden Years—
Just don't say I'm elderly I know it’s silly. It’s just a word. But it hit me like a shock of cold water when a doctor described me as elderly in a message summarizing a recent visit with him. Patient is a healthy-appearing elderly woman, he wrote as a prelude to the specifics of why I was … [Read more...] about Call Me Ma’am. Tell Me I’m in My Golden Years—
What’s in a name
How we get them, how they shape us A few weeks before giving birth to a baby girl, my daughter calls for a consult on the protocol of baby naming, Jewish-style. The Jewish tradition is to name a child for someone no longer living. My daughter does not tell me any of the names she and her … [Read more...] about What’s in a name
Ghost Music
Finding my way back to the music I loved when I learned to play piano I’m sitting at my office desk, scrolling through emails, fingers in a kind of dance — Delete Delete Delete. Pause — when a beckoning sound, rich and melodious, filters in from the living room. My piano is being tuned, … [Read more...] about Ghost Music
No Place like Home?
Variations on a theme sparked by wildfires My daughter lives in Los Angeles. She is seven months pregnant. When fire flared up in the Hollywood Hills, she and her husband took the precautionary measure of leaving West Hollywood at least for the night. Too close for comfort, they reasoned, even … [Read more...] about No Place like Home?
