I gave my son his name to free him from the weight of the dead. I wonder if I went too far.

The war between Israel and Gaza has not only created a rift in the world but a rift in our home. Read the latest instalment of The Synagogue at the End of the World

Azriel with my grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, during his pidyon haben. It’s a rare Orthodox Jewish tradition that entails “buying back” the firstborn from the Kohenim (the priestly tribe.) It’s only done for a boy who is the first born, born vaginally (i.e. not via Caesarian section), when neither grandfather is a Kohen or Levi, and not after a misc…