Sample chapters from Debra Darvick’s book, This Jewish Life. Click on the links to read each section.
- And on the Eight Day of You Shall…, Debra Darvick — the story of my son’s birth.
- Beginning the New Year at Sea, Deanna Silver Jacobsen — a Jewish student celebrates Rosh Hashana away from home.
- Should War Beset me, Still Would I be Confident, Judith Kaplan — a beautiful story about a young girl who fulfilled the Jewish tradition of not leaving the dead alone after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Every Friday night for months, she sang psalms in the presence of the victims’ remains.
- It is a Tree of Life, Jules Doneson — This story is a power account of the Jewish Holiday Simchat Torah. The time: 1945. The place: The Great Rothschold Synagogue in Paris, after Liberation.
- And Miriam Led the Women, Miriam Chaya — the story of a woman who had her Bat Mitzvah at age 60, drawing on modern-day customs she created a ceremony of great meaning and fanfare.
- Making the World safe for Pastry, Valerie Peckler — In this article Valerie discusses issues of her personal Jewish identity and Purim’s role as a part of that identity.
- Out of Bondage, Joanna Berger and Sholom and Esfira Ilyasov — a Jewish family recently freed from the bondage of the Soviet Union spends a Passover Seder in the US for the first time.
- My Beloved is Mine and I am His, Daniel Shapiro — A lovely story of self-acceptance and a gay Jewish wedding.
- A Child Chooses Jewish Life, Walter Raubeson — The story of a child so taken with Jewish tradition and ritual that he follows his own path to the religion.
- She is Pure, Kathy Engber — A moving story of a woman deeply involved in the sacred Jewish traditions of preparation and burial of the dead.
