July 8, 2019
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To purloin a sentence from Shakespeare’s Shylock, ‘I am a Jew.’ As a feminist, I have been known to proclaim, ‘I am a Jew in a […]
July 8, 2019
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“Jewish women,” writes Shira Schmidt (AJN 9/6/2000 Finding Hannah’s Voice) “do not pray like Jewish men.” With that truism begins her contentious article that women should […]
July 8, 2019
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A long time ago, when it was still possible to tell the difference – intellectually and politically – between the lunatic extremes of the left and […]
July 8, 2019
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A legendary man said to have been condemned by Christ to wander the earth until the Second Coming. Or A person who never settles down. Or […]
July 8, 2019
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Published by Hippocampus Magazine, November 2017https://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2017/11/taunting-the-abyss-by-y-l-fein/ Almost 30 years ago, Mary-Claire King located the region on the genome that became known as the BRCA1 gene. Later […]
July 5, 2019
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I am waiting for the Word to crash upon creation, making ancient stars flare in skies this night. I am waiting for God to confess his […]
July 5, 2019
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She took Hitler to bed. It was hard-going. It took her a month to read the 221 pages. It took him a month to burn 8000 […]
July 5, 2019
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The mathematics of language has always enthralled me, the way it calculates. But the language of mathematics has always eluded me. Still there are those — […]
July 5, 2019
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There are two beginnings to this tale but perhaps I should allow Marc Chagall and Isaac Bashevis Singer first words. Fabulists of phrase and image, surely […]
July 5, 2019
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At eighteen, armed with a driver’s license, I found an entirely new way of indulging my old love of shortcuts. Traffic-light-evading routes, corner-cutting byways along the […]
July 5, 2019
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I remember my older sister most when I roll up my socks or read 19th century novels. A remarkable student of both, Vivienne showed me how […]
July 5, 2019
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‘I took Fieldmarshal for a walk yesterday,’ her friend said over coffee. ‘Turned my back for one second and he lifts a whole chicken from someone’s […]
July 5, 2019
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When Moses tried to etch another edict onto those sapphire tablets, God objected: ‘Five on one side and six on the other? It will ruin the […]
July 5, 2019
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There was a time when Time was brutally Australian — when we landed on this wide brown land and declared it began only then. Nothing of […]
July 5, 2019
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Jews of my age called ourselves the second generation. Our parents, Holocaust survivors, were the first. It was as though 1945 became Year 1 for them. […]
July 5, 2019
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‘Tomatoes! This climate is perfect for toma …’ The taxi driver halted mid-sentence as he sped up to overtake a petrol tanker. ‘Bloody Safeway trucks. Shit! […]
July 5, 2019
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She wonders if it happens to others? Their eyes deadbolt onto a stranger’s face. And with a shudder of recognition they identify that stranger’s source: birthright, […]
July 5, 2019
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Nothing is quite so energising as getting up from a day’s wordsmithery and heading for the kitchen. The brain’s active areas swap sides and now the […]
July 5, 2019
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The dream: performing in front of applauding thousands. The reality: the ballet master placing her to the far left in the back row of every ensemble. […]
July 5, 2019
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In the desert language of her people one word does for wind and spirit. Far from where she lives the word throws out potent lures of […]