Home Again

And now the hard part—the actual writing—begins.

Dear Family and Friends,

We’re safely home and just about over the jet lag and, for me, the post-booster crud (but I’m very glad to have added immunity!). A few of you have reached out to ask if everything is okay because after a flurry of posting, I went silent for a bit. Everything is more than okay! It’s just that the last few days of the trip, and the first several days home were very hectic, as I’m sure you can imagine. I’m headed to WV to see family tomorrow, and will resume regular posts about the writing process and what the research is turning up the week after that.

Oh, and we’ll also start our reading of Tevye the Dairyman then, too! If you’re reading along, a reminder that we’re using the Hillel Halkin translation (on the recommendation of my cousin Seth). Because this is a very complex text, as we read (I think one story every two weeks is a good pace, but I’m open to other suggestions), I’m also going to be engaging with Prof. Ruth Wisse’s video lectures on the book. I encourage you to consider doing the same! The self-guided course is free, and I’m already finding it both useful and joyful!

A few small housekeeping things:

• If you want to see the posts in this newsletter in chronological order, just click on the “archives” tab. There is probably a setting that would let me change the front page of the newsletter to do that, but I can’t seem to find it.

• There is a pay wall to some content on this newsletter because, well, Jewish content online requires a way to filter out trolls. Since the settings allow for me to say that only paid members can post, that’s the easiest way to manage that. (I bring this up only because a few folks have written to ask me why there is a subscription when it’s all, well, a little freeform and sometimes specifically addresses my family members.)

• I’m actively looking for writers who are also working with family history who would be interested in doing guest posts or being interviewed. Is that you? Please drop me a message if you’d like to talk about your work/promote your book/etc.