Well, this is the coolest.  Aliza Hausman — Dominican-American Latina and Orthodox Jewish convert (or as she says on her blog, a Jewminicana for short) is holding a Chanukah contest. The prize to three lucky winners — a copy of  my book, I Love Jewish Faces. 

Aliza and I got in touch the new fashioned way — blog to blog. Someone told her she should check me out; someone told me I should check her out. And now she is holding a contest: describe the Jewish face you love in a couple of sentences…whether it’s your loved one, a friend or a movie star. Start with “The Jewish face I love….” And end with “I love Jewish faces.” She’s already getting quite a few responses.

So all evening I’ve been thinking about the Jewish faces I love. Time has taken my husband’s hair but not the deep green of his eyes, nor his smile or high Russian cheekbones. Aliza’s contest has me thinking of my children’s faces: Emma’s mane of ebony hair and those dark brown eyes that laugh and smolder; Elliot’s dreamy hazel eyes and killer smile; the  hair that is kind of brown but not exactly, kind of smoky dark but not really.  When he was a child there were glints of gold, too.

Can’t remember who said that the book she wrote wasn’t necessarily the book that some of her readers read. I loved that observation because it revealed the partnership between author and reader. We put our work out there, heart, sweat and hopes. In the receiving of it our words are transformed by our readers, who see insights we never intended or imagined. I never dreamed my book would inspire the beautiful reflections that Aliza has prompted. What a wonderful alchemy.