By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
A major worry of the post-World War II Jewish community was whether affluence would dilute people’s Jewish observance. After all, Jews were moving to suburbs, rather than living in close quarters in Jewish sections of large cities, and finding more acceptance in …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Essays that combine the personal with the political: that would be a good description of S. L. Wisenberg’s “The Wandering Womb: Essays in Search of Home” (University of Massachusetts Press). Her essays serve as an exploration of her identity as a Jew, woman a…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
A second chance for fame and love: that is the main premise for two recent novels: “This Bird Has Flown” by Susanna Hoffs (Little, Brown and Company) and “Once More With Feeling” by Elissa Sussman (Dell). Yet, that doesn’t adequately describe my reaction …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Family sagas have been called “kitchen sink” novels with the term used in a pejorative way, suggesting that family life is only of interest to women. But women’s lives are as greatly influenced by world events as men’s, something shown in two recent novels:…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Are we responsible for our ancestors’ sins? If we have in some way benefitted from their actions, what do we owe the descendants of those they harmed? Readers might expect a novel focusing on this topic to take a serious litera…
