Weeping is terrible for the complexion" said Leonie, holding Shayndel close, "but it is very good for the soul.

One of my favorite poets, Neruda, writes close to the bone. Though I know only a little Spanish, I like to compare the Spanish and English lines and see how the translator worked.

Egypt loved the lotus becuase it never dies. It is the same for people who are loved. Thus can something as insignificant as a name-two syllables, one high, one sweet- summon up the innumerable smiles, tears, sighs and dreams of a human life.

I would have stayed forever within the garden of Re-mose's childhood, but time is a mother's enemy.

I like the way he danced. And then I like the way we danced together.

It's a wonder that any mother ever called a daughter Dinah again. But some did. Maybe you guessed that there was more to me than the voiceless cipher in the text. Maybe you heard it in the music of my name: the first vowel high and clear, as when a mother calls to her child at dusk; the second sound soft, for whispering secrets on pillows. Dee-nah.

Since 1985, I have written about contemporary Jewish practice and the Jewish community.