August 19, 2014 To my distant cousin David, I know your grandfather, Sherman. He is one of my grandmother’s favorite cousins. And while I don’t know him well, if I caught his eye at a family celebration across a buffet of chopped liver, I’d know it was him, I’d know his name to be Sherman. … More »
It’s a Tuesday, 8ish pm, mid-March in Brooklyn, and I am lying on my back staring up at the stars, the Big Dipper and Orion twinkling at me. Well not exactly twinkling. Does this count? Shemaaaa…yisraaa-ehhhl… I’m trying to commune with the universe and my assignment began with the instruction to look up at the … More »
And so, after all these things happened, the god tried something on Abraham. GOD: Abraham ABRAHAM: Here. I. Am. GOD: Take your son, your one and only, the one you love, that Isaac, and get going to the land of Moriah, and offer him up, as a burnt-offering, on one of the mountains there, the … More »
It started with a rainbow. It started with an earth-drenching flood, and then a rainbow. It started with a story. Once upon a time there was an earth-drenching, life-drowning primordial flood, and a white dove, and a simple promise written in a rainbow: Never again. And of course we all believed. Because, well… A rainbow! … More »
That pasta dinner with live music in Bloomington the first night of the residency at Indiana. The big audition I flew back for that never materialized into anything more than a big audition. The unexpected flights and airfare change fees that aren’t deductible because visiting your dying grandmother over and again all winter long is … More »
MOSES Here: I go to the people and I say something like, “Your parents’ god send me to you.” And they say to me, “What’s his name?” So? What do I tell them? GOD I will be what I will be. Say to the people, “I will be what I will be sent me to … More »
This piece was originally written and performed for Storahtelling’s B-Mitzvah Gala in 2011. The version below has been slightly updated. A letter to my mother on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah. Dear Mom, It’s so inspiring that after raising three children, sustaining a 37 year marriage, and going through menopause, you’re finally ready … More »
In early October I had the great pleasure of co-officiating at the marriage of my high school prom date to his perfect beloved. It was a brisk fall day and the wedding party poured out in patterns of black and white from the colorful chuppah woven from photographs that canopied over our heads. As the … More »