Even the Heavens Tell Lies
When I crossed the ocean, I carried with me the habit of speaking to the shadows, and it became my way of life. I look up at the stars that were extinguished long ago. For me they still shine with the first fire of creation. I don’t care that the heavens tell lies. I accept the fantasy along with the fact. I’m not looking for truth. I’m seeking the…
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Fiddler on the Roof
The exterior of Tevye’s house. A Fiddler is seated on the roof, playing. Tevye is outside the house.Tevye:A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of Anatevka, you…
The Pagan Rabbi
When I heard that Isaac Kornfeld, a man of piety and brains, had hanged himself in the public park, I put a token in the subway stile and journeyed out to see the tree. [ . . . ][ . . . ] On the day…
Among the Wild Things
In the past few years, I have become increasingly interested in Sendak’s work, reading his books for my own pleasure as well as for the amusement of my…
The Chosen
For the first fifteen years of our lives, Danny and I lived within five blocks of each other and neither of us knew of the other’s existence. [ . . . ]
Danny and I probably would never have met—or we…
Portnoy’s Complaint
Even if I consider myself too much of a big shot to set foot inside a synagogue for fifteen minutes—which is all he is asking—at least I should have respect enough to change into decent clothes for…
My Last Two Thousand Years
I was present at the last birth. My wife and I had done the natural childbirth exercises. We were ready. The doctor was kind and easy.
The child was born, my fourth child, a boy. After three girls…