As any self-respecting Ashkenazi Jew, I have a bank of key Yiddish words and expressions that I pull out on occasions where no other word will do. One such word, learned from my mother-in-law - who, incidentally, also does not speak Yiddish - is the word: patchkerai....

We are evolved, sophisticated, forward-thinking twenty-first century modern men and women. We have walked on the moon, we have cured diseases, and we are exploring the universe in outer space and at the quantum level. We are the most advanced specimens our species has...

As the Aseret Yemei Teshuva come to a close, for most of us, they have felt quite different from almost every other year. Instead of feeling immersed in introspection and anticipation, our time is spent watching the daily tally of new COVID cases rise, watching yellow...

Every family has stories that get magnified over time and eventually become family lore. In my family, the story of my grandparents’ engagement and marriage is that type of story. Both families lived in Transylvania, and in the midst of the craziness overtaking Europe...