Selected Essays from the Taking a Stab Substack

  • Black and white scientific illustration of rotifers from Ernst Haeckel's "Kunstformen der Natur," showcasing various intricate and symmetrical rotifer structures.

    Seder in Room 848

    It is Day Ten of his hospitalization and the night of the first Seder.

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  • Silhouette of a person dressed in a 1920s-style outfit with a feathered headband, standing in front of a large window.

    These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

    Needle to vinyl; the preamble of the record’s scratching announces Nancy Sinatra is in the house.

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  • Colorful historic buildings with arched doorways and balconies on a city street, vintage cars parked, and people walking.

    The First Zangeelee: A Thanksgiving Memory

    Five years ago, I went on a short trip to Cuba—my first—in which I crammed a lifetime of my bright tropical curiosity about the place in just four days.

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Selected Writing from Cognoscenti – WBUR’s Opinion Page

  • Black and white scientific illustration of rotifers from Ernst Haeckel's "Kunstformen der Natur," showcasing various intricate and symmetrical rotifer structures.

    Trump’s latest target? Free speech

    Since Donald Trump’s second presidential term began two months ago, his malicious lies and flagrant law breaking has been near-constant and demoralizing.

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  • Swirling white smoke against black background

    Raquel Welch and me

    When Raquel Welch died last week at 82, she was finally recognized as a proud Latinx woman, and a talented comedic actor with a ferocity and beauty all her own.

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  • Silhouette of a person dressed in a 1920s-style outfit with a feathered headband, standing in front of a large window.

    'Language is blood; language is family’—even if I’m losing my Spanish

    For over a decade, I have been deeply unsettled that I have been losing my grasp on Spanish.

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  • Person wearing a fedora hat sitting alone on a wooden bench by the water, facing the ocean with a distant island or shoreline in the background.

    Living In Translation

    My grandparents, who were among the wave of Cuban refugees that came to the United States in the mid-1960s, never felt malleable enough to learn English.

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  • A living room with a wall decorated with various portraits of Fidel Castro. A vintage wooden bench and two armchairs are in front, with a rolled-up poster on the bench. There's a corner shelf on the right with a decorative item, and the wall is painted in shades of green with blue accents.

    After The Castros, Can Cuba Finally Move On?

    Cuba, the forbidden country, the tropical country, has been painted in drab olive green my entire life.

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Selected American Jewish Press Association
Simon Rockower Award-Winning Articles

  • Black and white scientific illustration of rotifers from Ernst Haeckel's "Kunstformen der Natur," showcasing various intricate and symmetrical rotifer structures.

    The Antidote to Ableism

    In her new book, Rabbi Julia Watts Belser, a disability activist and scholar, takes a ‘revelatory and revolutionary’ look at everything from the story of Moses to the value of Shabbat.

    Tablet Magazine
  • Swirling white smoke against black background

    Adam's Tattoo

    My 25-year-old son is the first person in our Jewish family to get a tattoo, inspired by a higher power to reclaim his body and celebrate his queerness.

    JewishBoston
  • Silhouette of a person dressed in a 1920s-style outfit with a feathered headband, standing in front of a large window.

    Reciting Kaddish, As A Daughter

    The night before my father’s funeral, I found a tattered prayer book from my Yeshiva days.

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