Author: Jen
Learning by metaphor
You know you are meant to learn a lesson when it’s offered to you in metaphor three times in one week. Last week, I wrote …
I see beauty
When I first moved to Israel, as when I first fell in love with my husband, everything was beautiful: The early morning mountains which framed …
The Key to the Treasure
I grabbed the nearest book: Tolstoy Lied by Rachel Kadish. I’m about ten pages from the end, but I picked up the book and opened …
The trouble with sorry
The hardest thing for me to tolerate on Yom Kippur is not absence of food; It’s the absence of tomorrow. On Yom Kippur, we are …
Today is 9/11/13
On this day, when many of us remember a September 11th that felt out-of-order (to say the least), we may find some comfort in… order. 9 11 …
All Signs Point to Yes
What does the future hold for you? The Daily Prompt wants an answer in six words only. I love a good Ernest Hemingway inspired challenge …
How to recognize a poet
If you write poetry and no one reads it, is it still a poem? What if no one likes it? Gets it? Shares it? What …
Traumatized by a long dead bug
Every time something beyond my sight touches my skin — whether it is a strand of hair, a computer wire, or a strong gust of …
Sex and gas masks and the absurdity of it all
You know you live in Israel when your in-laws offer to take 2 of your 3 children for a sleepover, you return home with your …
Crazy Jen and her digital detox
In a discussion with my mother last week, I explained to her with confidence that a group of people were surely talking about me when …
What’s worse? Jet lag or war?
As if jet lag, back-to-school prep, protecting my kids from a polio outbreak and returning to work after a 2 1/2 week long digital detox …
“Cheerful Birthday to Me:” a ballad sung solo
My birthday is this month. In two weeks, to be exact. August 19. Just about 39 times, I’ve grown older on August 19 and it still …
Torn between life and art
I am about to go on a vacation. I need this vacation. No, I mean, I really need this vacation. Now, mind you, this vacation …
The characters must fit the story
I almost forgot to punch out my 15-minute Friday piece until I checked my WordPress Reader and saw that the Daily Prompt today pushes us …
If your smartphone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?
We know our smartphones make us stupider. We know they distract us. Confuse us. Make us crash our cars into each other. And keep us …
Beyond the yellow gate
Beyond the yellow gate there is a woman. Her airy black head scarf almost shields her effervescent eyes. But when she looks up, sky blue …
What’s a little closure between friends?
I sat alone in a movie theater in Haifa last night. There were other people around me — strangers. An American guy and a Russian …
Stuck in Your Throat
Your silence is a cover-up. It’s a conspiracy between you and the way you think people see you. Your silence is a ruse. It’s a …