A New Collection of Middle Grade Midrash!
The Moving Box Sukkah
A boy and his mom find a creative way to make a new apartment in a new city feel like a bit more like home as they prepare to celebrate the fall holiday of Sukkot. Everything is different and nothing feels like home for a boy who has moved to a new city with his mom. As they unpack together, he can't find his special blue blanket, he misses his old yard, and he worries that they won't be able to celebrate holidays as they once did. Calm and sensitive guidance from his mom, who describes how the Israelites had to move and adapt to new surroundings throughout the ages, also includes some hilarious ideas from the rabbis of long ago as they tried to imagine where it might be possible to build a sukkah--the temporary hut where ancient Israelites sheltered during their pilgrimages. The boy begins to see that different isn't necessarily worse, and a new place can begin to feel more like home, especially when family is together. |
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Queen Vashti's Comfy Pants
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"A feminist spin on a biblical event . . . A well-crafted revision sure to spark discussion." -Kirkus Reviews
Why did Queen Vashti, the other Purim royal, refuse to obey her king's commands? Although the traditional biblical text gives us no real clue, this story humorously imagines what it might have been like for a Queen to stand up for herself against a string of high-handed demands. In doing so, it demonstrates to children the value of understanding the worth of their own needs and desires (Apples and Honey Press, 2021). Read another review in The Sydney Taylor Schmooze! |
The World Needs Beautiful Things
"A young boy’s love for nature reminds the adults around him to appreciate the simpler things." - Kirkus Reviews
Young Bezalel is different from the other Israelites in Egypt. He loves to collect stones, bugs, bits of string—these all seem beautiful to him. He keeps everything in his Beautiful Things Box and takes the box with him everywhere. As the Israelites wander in the desert, God asks them to build a very special house. Is Bezalel the one to create something beautiful enough to honor God? |
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Read More of My Writing
Listen to me on Reform Judaism's "Stories We Tell"
King Solomon's Ring
The Missing Candlesticks
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