Jewish Languages

What the Kids are Doing With Their Lives

I realized late in life that my parents weren’t your typical Baby Boomers. My dad wasn’t anti-establishment. My mother wasn’t a feminist. ...

Autumn in His Heart

I’ve thought a lot about Isaac Babel’s lovely characterization of the Jew as a man with “[s]pectacles on his nose and ...

The Comedienne

One of the strange things about having your first book come out is that you think you’ve written one thing, ...

Free Jewish-Books Summer Camp!

When I was a kid, I got sent to a sports camp outside of Philadelphia. Which was sort of the ...

A Bintel Brief: A Bundle of Letters

This is the first page of a comic book I’m working on. It’s based on the Bintel Brief, a popular Yiddish ...

Sweet and Sour

In my grandparents’ homes, as in the shtetlach from whence they came, the food was sweet and sour – just ...

What Is a “Jewish Bakery”?

Not too long ago, during a radio interview centered on Inside the Jewish Bakery , the host asked me, “What ...

Jews, Non-Jews, and Being Losers Together

Yesterday, I put out a Twitter call: What should I write about? The always-dependable dlevy asked, in reply, “have you ...

Welcome Fellow Noshers!

Yiddish is a difficult language to translate, yet there are endless attempts at expressing these indefinite words that have happily ...

Tzenah Urenah

How the Yiddish translation of the Torah, Megillot and Haftarot became associated with women.

Call Me Kalman

Exploring the roots of a Hebrew name.

Himmel Signaln

A Hasidic Take on 9/11