Author Archives: Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Meeting our Brother in a Foreign Land

Vignette: Walking out into the NY winter morning, all wrapped in my coat, scarf, gloves, hat, still feeling quite warm from the indoor heating system, my first thought is: Yeh, fresh air! Then: 20 some degrees (not Celsius!), eh, not … Continue reading

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Happy Hanukkah – “Light One Candle” with Joseph in chutz-la’aretz

Vignettes: You haven’t actually moved to another place until you spent (at least – more coming…) a day at its DMV… and – After a day of running errands in the Bronx: San Francisco drivers might have topography to contend … Continue reading

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ReJewvenate @ Pardes Grant – Once Again

For the 4th year in a row: ReJewvenate@ Pardes! The ReJewvenate@ Pardes Grant is for someone over 40 who has never had the opportunity to participate in an immersive Jewish learning program and is interested in doing so at Pardes … Continue reading

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Not Buying Skirts for my Boys!

Vignettes: New sounds have entered my East Coast experience, beyond the usual bells and Christmas songs of this season (which are almost completely absent from Riverdale): The heater pipes in the walls with their’ ticks, clicks, knocks and sudden bangs, … Continue reading

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Katonti- let’s dance again

A couple of years ago, Israeli dance choreographer Oren Ashkenazi created the beautiful and by now famous dance “Katonti”. The words, sung by Yonatan Raz’el, are said to be “from the sources”, min hamekorot; those “sources” happen to be this … Continue reading

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On Snow, Fire and the Angels in our Life

It started: that meeting between me and the wind when  we both emerge from behind a building into the open street, she twirls away carelessly while I close my suddenly teary burning eyes over a leaky face. The temperatures creep … Continue reading

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On parents and children and oh well…

In 1938, when my mom was ten years old, her family left Europe. Among their belongings, were family photos sporting her father as an officer in World War I. It was a souvenir of the past, my grandma told my … Continue reading

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Isaac & Yishama’el in the Holy Land

Life is an emotional experience, which explains why rationalizing things does not always help us take their emotional impact away; and which explains why when you escort your kid to the “Bakum”, you’re not interested in statistics on whether college … Continue reading

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Shabbat Shalom: About Getting Up Early in the Morning and more… מה אתה עושה כשאתה קם בבקר

Vignettes: Hiking on Sunday morning around a random, beautiful lake near Oakland NJ. Many of the red-orange-purple leaves have already fallen, and the trail is often lost under the crinkling sound. I’m walking in a golden-copper forest. “I got likes!”! Facebook has created … Continue reading

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Lech Lecha, go…

Vignettes: Manhattan. 11 o’clock at night. Breathless after another session of Israeli dancing in the city where one can dance more than 7 times a week, I grab my stuff and run to the subway. There is a moment of … Continue reading

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