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And then before she had a chance to turn around, the very first night of the very first Chanukah without him arrived and it was time to make the latkes...
10m read
Two full days in Cooperstown? Sounded a bit long to Jeremiah, but the trip was his son-in-law's idea..
22m read
"A great miracle happened for me on Chanukah." "What about me, Shmuel?"
9m read Translated from Hebrew by Herbert J. Levine and Reena Spicehandler
Zalman’s casquette pinched at his temples, too snug against his skull. He sat wedged between six other young men in the van...
19m read
When I was seven or eight and my grandfather was about the age I am now, he told me this story...
17m read
One loves, the other is loved: so Nana taught us...
14m read
Along the northeastern wall of the Cementerio Israelita, in the town of La Tablada, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, are several rows of neat, evenly spaced, gravestones...
15m read
I had come to join someone. Not a man. It's always a man that one goes off to join. For whom one leaves one's parents and friends. But I had come to join my child...
10m read Translated from French by Talya Halkin
Morris sat his narrow ass on the edge of the armchair, peering at his laptop on the tray table in front of him...
16m read
Northbrook, Illinois 1961 It's called the Villa Venice, a nightclub and casino in the suburbs, done up in red tassels with waiters dressed as gondoliers....
4m read
One evening in May 1973, Ana Šomlo met the writer Zoran Gluscevic in Belgrade. In conversation she mentioned that she was reading Letters to Milena...
26m read Translated from Serbian by Maya Shlivic
“Can you tell me how the contract thing works?” Joni asks, and Rob’s face burns. Not that the question is in any way risqué...
25m read
The back window in Rabbi Schwartzman's office looked out at his students—and, he believed, their hearts..
32m read
When I had returned to New York after my father Paul's funeral, I already knew that something about his death and my presiding over his grave had changed everything...
31m read
The playing field of Paulie's day camp was little more than an open sandlot behind the rundown yellow brick building housing the Yeshiva Rav Shimon bar Yochai...
13m read
I didn't attend my wedding. True, there was no wedding either; just a wedding dinner after a secret wedding...
It is late the next day when the news reaches them. When the doorbell rings, Hannah admits the air force officer and distractedly calls out to Gadi, her husband...
23m read
"May onions grow from his belly button!" Fania stood in the doorway. Her hat was wilted, her eyes were wild, her skirts spattered with mud...
As Itsik drove down from the bungalow colony in his father-in-law's bouncy-springed old car in the dark, he whistled to keep himself awake...
26m read
Rachel Stern was taking a shower, and as she absent-mindedly soaped herself...
22m read Translated from Hebrew by Dalya Bilu
As soon as Esther entered the building, she headed to the seventh floor. She stood in the lobby, waiting for the Sabbath elevator…
9m read
He dreamed that he was a woman, not just a woman but an old woman, not just an old woman but an infirm old Jewess in an absurd wig...
31m read Translated from Russian by Yisrael Elliot Cohen
The autumn light tarnished the silver—a scalpel, forceps and a filigreed clamp—arranged like a place setting...
12m read
He dreams of them sometimes, five pairs of hands, reaching for him, swiping at his eyes, wrapping around his midsection.
24m read
The day had finally come. Thirty-four years a member of the congregation, ten of those years in apprenticeship, and tomorrow I would finally become the shamash...
21m read
The High Holiday season came late that year; there was already a nip in the air at night, and the leaves were starting to turn...
29m read
The bag stood by the bed. Ready. I had prepared it a month ago, following the recommendations...
9m read Translated from Hebrew by Yaron Regev
One winter night after closing time at his florist shop, Yankel Kline and his employee, Owen Flannery, stood side-by-side at the counter...
The cicadas are everywhere; in the grass, between the houses, along the pathways and under the garbage cans, but mostly in the trees...
33m read Translated from Hebrew by Gershon Giron and Gwen Ackerman
Annie fluffed her white hair in front of the mirror, damp from her shower and smelling like lavender soap...
18m read
My grandfather was born in 1907 in a Ukrainian village called Talalaevka. There weren’t any cars, buses or trolleys there at the time, there wasn’t the nice and fast Moscow subway...
The detainee was unsure whether to let hope sneak into his heart, and although he wholeheartedly wanted to avoid disappointment, he could not resist...
55m read Translated from Hebrew by Ruth Rowinski
Half a year has passed since the beginning of the war in Israel, which erupted on the 7th of October, 2023...
The hotel is called Corfu Silence, and it sits on a hill overlooking a bay. Mornings the tide rushes in and jostles the moored fishing boats...
Tami called in the late afternoon and asked if she could come over, so we could spend the missile attack together...
17m read Translated from Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan
The sun had been up for hours, but it still burned like it was just getting started. August in Israel...
I hear you are quite an adept seamstress…” Leora Baum nodded, staring at the steaming tea and the small plate of cookies...
There was an eminent woman in town, from a good family, who would read Scripture and review Mishnah and Midrash...
13m read Translated from Hebrew by Yehudah Cohn
By the time Herz had maneuvered his swollen feet into a pair of frayed slippers and padded to the window…
The first time Herschel Lefletsky's suspicions were aroused was the day that the scribe from Dubno came to inspect the sanctity of the deerskin Torah...
49m read
If there's a hole in one leg of my pants, I cut a hole in the other leg. If the hole I cut is bigger than the first hole...
40m read Translated from Hebrew by Sondra Silverston
Selected clippings from Josh's scrapbook: New York Times - Oct. 22, 2014 - An American male was killed yesterday afternoon by gunshot in the center of the city of Hebron...
In general, Jews suffer many bodily afflictions – especially diseases of the intestines and lower parts...
21m read Translated from Hebrew by Herbert J. Levine and Reena Spicehandler
Lying flat on the grass where the table would be, I gazed at the criss-crossed wooden slats, cornstalks...
28m read
