Writings

July 8, 2019

Shakespeare’s Version

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

False Tzniut: Using Modesty as a Gag

“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

Against Irving

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

Wⱥondering Jew

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

Taunting the Abyss

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

Waiting

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

Bedtime Story

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

Numbers D’varim

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

’tis better to…

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

The Usual

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

The Candle Burns Down

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

The Grassy Knoll

‘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

The Eleventh

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

Time Lies

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

Text Through Time

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

Just Words

‘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

The Loneliness of the Non-Schnitzel Eater

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

Ragtrading to Raspberries

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

Flight

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

Wandering Jew

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 […]