Thank you, Jay for your evocative writing--of people and places long forgotten or never remembered, of journeys taken or not, of events past or not yet. An act of Tikkun Olam.
Inspiring and hopeful to me as I evoke and release my grandmother's story.
Thank your for you kind words and good wishes, Robin. I'll wish the same to you, and now that I know of your efforts to tell Sophie's story, I'll be following along.
Dear Professor Adler. Thanks for the wonderful piece. My late father was born and raised as a child in Kamenets Podolsk and so the name of the place alone has a special place in my heart.
Emilia, thank you for reading and commenting as you do. I wonder, have you ever been to Kamenets Podolsk? (So many variations in transliteration, the head can spin.) Now is obviously not an ideal time to go, but geographically and architecturally, it offers a magical appearance. BTW, I was born in Beth Israel Hosptial -- in New York City. :)
Jay's essay is so reminiscent of my past and my grandparents' past, who all died before I was born, but whose history I carry in my heart as Jay does so beautifully here, writing from his heart.
Howard, I am so glad you published this and added to Judith Magazine's ability to speak out, to say the truth, to endorse humanity while revealing its failures.
Jay, I am SO happy to see this excerpt in Judith. Congratulations!
I think I've read this particular piece of your memoir at least three times, and each time it comes more alive, more visual, more lyrical, the yearnings and farewells more bittersweet, the dialogue "right" in the ear, the history more telling (because we know it). It reads so beautifully here. I continue to be taken by the passage relating the crossing of the river at night and the moon that must be run from, and that need not to be seen. The foretelling and foreboding both are strong throughout, and yet there is the hope in the journeying, or as your title evokes it, "reason for being in this world." I am struck by how much currency this memoir has at this time of our lives; the images this chapter paints, we see them today on our front pages and computer screens, history repeating itself, looking back and imagining what's ahead.
Thank you, Maureen I have no better reader than you -- so receptive and insightful, always. It meant much to me to see this work in Judith, a very apt home for this particular portion of the memoir.
BTW, I'm looking forward to reading your writing again once it begins to appear on Substack!
Thank you, Jay for your evocative writing--of people and places long forgotten or never remembered, of journeys taken or not, of events past or not yet. An act of Tikkun Olam.
Inspiring and hopeful to me as I evoke and release my grandmother's story.
Yasher koach!
Thank your for you kind words and good wishes, Robin. I'll wish the same to you, and now that I know of your efforts to tell Sophie's story, I'll be following along.
Dear Professor Adler. Thanks for the wonderful piece. My late father was born and raised as a child in Kamenets Podolsk and so the name of the place alone has a special place in my heart.
Emilia, thank you for reading and commenting as you do. I wonder, have you ever been to Kamenets Podolsk? (So many variations in transliteration, the head can spin.) Now is obviously not an ideal time to go, but geographically and architecturally, it offers a magical appearance. BTW, I was born in Beth Israel Hosptial -- in New York City. :)
Jay's essay is so reminiscent of my past and my grandparents' past, who all died before I was born, but whose history I carry in my heart as Jay does so beautifully here, writing from his heart.
Howard, I am so glad you published this and added to Judith Magazine's ability to speak out, to say the truth, to endorse humanity while revealing its failures.
Kudos and Mazel Tov!
🙏
Jay, I am SO happy to see this excerpt in Judith. Congratulations!
I think I've read this particular piece of your memoir at least three times, and each time it comes more alive, more visual, more lyrical, the yearnings and farewells more bittersweet, the dialogue "right" in the ear, the history more telling (because we know it). It reads so beautifully here. I continue to be taken by the passage relating the crossing of the river at night and the moon that must be run from, and that need not to be seen. The foretelling and foreboding both are strong throughout, and yet there is the hope in the journeying, or as your title evokes it, "reason for being in this world." I am struck by how much currency this memoir has at this time of our lives; the images this chapter paints, we see them today on our front pages and computer screens, history repeating itself, looking back and imagining what's ahead.
Thank you!
Thank you, Maureen I have no better reader than you -- so receptive and insightful, always. It meant much to me to see this work in Judith, a very apt home for this particular portion of the memoir.
BTW, I'm looking forward to reading your writing again once it begins to appear on Substack!