By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Google defines melodrama as “a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions.” I consider melodrama to also include too many unbelievable coincidences and events. But that doesn’t mean melodrama i…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
How wonderful to read a memoir by someone who loves his mother. That love comes through clearly in Wayne Hoffman’s “The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimer’s to Solve a Murder” (Heliotrope Books). Except for a short time when he was coming to terms with his…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Even though Steve Leder conducted more funerals than he could count in his 30 years in the rabbinate, it wasn’t until he experienced personal loss – the death of his father – that he developed a new philosophy: one that says death offers people the opportunity…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
The first, and sometimes most important, relationship in our lives is with our parents. However, rarely do we read works that show that relationship from both points of view: that of a child about a parent and then a parent about a child. That’s what made reading …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
It can be dismaying to reread a favorite novel decades after its publication. Feminists, in particular, now realize many works they loved ignored women’s experiences. That’s what happened to Maggie Anton. When rereading Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” and “T…
