Clik here to view.
My Nest
Here’s a joke that I recently heard. An optimist sees the glass half-full. A pessimist sees the glass half-empty. An opportunist drinks the water. Not all that coincidentally, these describe the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Grandmother’ Tallit
It’s been five years since my daughter Anna had her bat mitzvah. In her bat mitzvah state of mind she had read trope cues as easily as ABC’s. She teased out meaning from her Torah portion, which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
*My Grandmother’s Tallit – A Letter to Anna
Dear Anna: It’s been five years since your bat mitzvah. In your bat mitzvah state of mind you read trope cues as easily as ABC’s. You teased out meaning from your Torah portion, which recorded the life...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Deep Longing: An Interview with Michael Lowenthal, author of The Paternity...
Michael Lowenthal’s fourth novel, [“The Paternity Test,”](http://lowenthal.etherweave.com/) is a beautifully told story that brings myriad social issues to the forefront, and also manages to be a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The First Zangeelee: A Thanksgiving Story
My mother and I have been organizing memories and addresses. By the time this column is in your hand I will have gone to Cuba and returned. It will be a short trip—my first—in which I cram a lifetime...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Help, Thanks, Wow. And Amen by Judy Bolton-Fasman
Help, thanks, wow. Those are the touchstones of prayer identified by the writer Anne Lamott. Lamott is a person of faith, a Christian who has something to say to everyone. The word “inclusive” comes to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Painting a Child’s Spirituality by Judy Bolton-Fasman
Rabbi Sandy Sasso told the following story at Temple Emanuel in Newton: There were two brothers in town who were always getting into mischief. One day the rabbi got a hold of the younger brother and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Praying With the Women of the Wall by Judy Bolton-Fasman
What passes for contraband at the Kotel—the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site—both saddens and flummoxes me. If you are a woman praying on the postage-stamp sized real estate relegated to us at the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
After the Bar Mitzvah, the Service Continues by Judy Bolton-Fasman
This is a story about a church, a temple and a young man dedicated to feeding the hungry. For over two decades Project Manna at the Massachusetts Avenue Baptist Church in Cambridge has fed thousands of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Women and the Kaddish by Judy Bolton-Fasman
Last month 15 narrow-minded, hard-hearted men tried to outlaw women saying the Kaddish at the Western Wall. There was so much blowback for these dubious caretakers of the kotel that they were forced to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A New Year’s Resolution at the Wall by Judy Bolton-Fasman
Hallel Abramowitz-Silverman has a fervent wish—to see her younger sister Ashira celebrate her bat mitzvah at the Wailing Wall—the kotel. At just eighteen years-old, Hallel is one of the very public...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reciting Kaddish, As a Daughter by Judy Bolton-Fasman
The night before my father’s funeral, I found a tattered prayer book from my Yeshiva days. It was small and square, the kind of prayer book I’ve seen women praying with at the kotel. Its filo-thin...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Father’s Day Prayer by Judy Bolton-Fasman
The Amidah is so named because it is literally the standing prayer. As nineteen blessings unfurl during its recitation, one must stand perfectly still in the hope of connecting to G-d. I fondly...
View Article*My Grandmother’s Tallit – A Letter to Anna
Dear Anna: It’s been five years since your bat mitzvah. In your bat mitzvah state of mind you read trope cues as easily as ABC’s. You teased out meaning from your Torah portion, which recorded the life...
View Article
