In September 2022 a young Kurdish/Iranian woman, Mahsa Jen Amini, committed a mortal crime. She showed a wisp of her hair peeking from under her hijab, a mandatory head covering for women worn in Iran’s public places. Caught and arrested by the reviled “morality police,” Amini was…
Seated next to Louise Rackoff at Shoshanna Teitelbaum’s free, Friday night dinner, shy, Leon Rosenberg, an aspiring therapist, patiently listens to Louse’s neurotic rant about the fraught relationship between her and her recently deceased mother. “My mother was raised an Orthodox Jew…
If you haven’t yet heard about Angela Buchdahl, you must be living under a rock—as had I, until I picked up her recently published memoir titled, Heart of A Stranger. I learned therein about Rabbi Angela Buchdahl. Born to a Korean/Buddhist mom and American /Jewish dad, Buchdahl…
When Lila Pereira, executive director of the Washington Globe, dies in 2023 her passing makes front-page news. Pereira’s memorial service was mobbed with thousands of mourners. Ten speakers praised Lila’s decisive, tough-minded leadership and her illustrious career as top dog political…
Awarded the first-ever Goncourt Prize in the USA, The Postcard, a “true-novel,” is based on the factual life of the Rabinovitch family and in part on the seismic creative talent of French author Anne Berest, a member of that family. Compelling and truly a riveting search for family.
