What Doesn’t Kill you on Tu B’Shevat
There was no time to think, scream, blink, anything. Just trees, coming toward my windshield.
Author Archive for Jenna Zark
Contributing writer Jenna Zark is a local Jewish playwright whose plays have been produced at Circle Repertory Company, Illusion Theater, History Theatre, Minnesota Jewish Theatre, Blank Slate and elsewhere. Jenna has also written for Minnesota Bride, Woodbury Magazine and other publications, and her poem "After Birth" recently appeared in Stoneboat. More information is at www.jennazark.org.
Hanukkah, Mistletoe and the Hillel Rabbi
I circle around the room, thinking of The Gift of the Magi story by O. Henry and trying not to cast myself in an overly romanticized version of it (substituting holidays instead of gifts for the self-sacrificing lovers).
Dec 01, 2010 | 13 comments | View Post
Simchat Torah, Nerves and All
Halfway to the holiday, I start feeling nervous. “Where is Josh going for Simchat Torah?” asks Josh’s father. “I don’t know,” I reply.
Oct 01, 2010 | 4 comments | View Post
Our First House: a Sukkah
This is how you know someone loves you: when he forgoes sitting inside by the fireplace you don’t have and ventures out into the damp to help you build a temporary house for a holiday he’s never heard of.
Sep 27, 2010 | 5 comments | View Post
Importance of Being Earnest on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur always felt more metaphysical than real until I arrived at a new synagogue with my son and we apologized to each other.
Sep 16, 2010 | 6 comments | View Post
Expiration Date for JAPS Long Past Due
I suppose in some universes, Jewish American Princesses are funny. I have never found them so but since people in the audience were guffawing, I must be missing something.
Sep 07, 2010 | 6 comments | View Post
In a Restaurant for Rosh Hashanah
Finding yourself alone on Rosh Hashanah can bring surprises -including finding the One who leads us to the people we’re supposed to meet.
Sep 06, 2010 | 7 comments | View Post
Tisha B’Av: Day of Endings
There is no comfort in endings, no matter how much good might come to you at other times.
Jul 19, 2010 | 4 comments | View Post
Are We There Yet? Standing At Sinai
“Do you believe Jews are chosen above all other people?” “Chosen for what?” I reply. “Suffering?” He looks as though he wants to kick me, but does not.
May 14, 2010 | 3 comments | View Post
The Sign at the Border: Remembrances on Yom Hazikaron and Yom Hatzma’ut
An Israeli soldier is asleep under a tree, his cheek against a gun that he cradles in his arms.
Apr 16, 2010 | 4 comments | View Post
Alef, Bet: On the other side of the Holocaust
I want my son to see a flaming Alef lighting the sky above us when he dreams at night; right now it is all I have.
Apr 08, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post
A Hole in the Floor: Prepping for Passover
“My mother,” she says, in a thick Russian accent, “used to bake her matzohs in secret, in the middle of the night, and stored them in a hole in our kitchen floor.”
Mar 26, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post
Esther, me and the “I word”
I was seeing someone who wasn’t Jewish, though it had not been my intention to get involved. In fact, I tried hard not to—as Esther did, centuries ago. Perhaps she and I had something in common. Or did we?
Feb 23, 2010 | 7 comments | View Post
Tu B’Shevat: Fruits of Jerusalem
We are alive, Josh and I, like the fruits of Jerusalem. The trees, figs, noise and clatter tell us we are alive, and we cannot take it for granted.
Jan 25, 2010 | 7 comments | View Post
Hands of Light: A Traveler’s Hanukkah
It sits on my shelf, a poor relation to the stone menorah with its carvings of children holding up our candles every Hanukkah. THAT menorah is weighty with memories. THAT menorah is staying home.
Dec 07, 2009 | 4 comments | View Post
