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Jewish Luck Blog

Meryll

Meandering Down Memory Lane

Meryll
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
At this moment I’m not on Memory Lane but on an Arizona highway with a flat tire on my rental car.  It’s a two hour plus wait for the Avis tow truck.  So, what to do—write a blog as long as the computer battery holds out. Leaving the Arizona highway for Bexley, Ohio’s residential streets, here’s what comes to mind. One of the questions that underlies Jewish Luck is what would have happened if our grandparents would not have left Russia?  Returning to Columbus Ohio for my 45th high school reunion and two book talks found me confronting a similar question---where would my life be if I had never left? As I threaded through the streets of Bexley, I made sure to vary my route so that I saw as much as possible of my childhood neighborhood.  Unlike Vera and Allawho returned to their apartments and neighborhoods in St. Petersburg and couldn’t believe how...
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Avis rental car reunion leaving home
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Leslie

Driven Crazy by Putin or Driven by Crazy Putin

Leslie
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
  In our book, Jewish Luck, Vera describes a morose chauffeur, Ivan, whose spirits cannot be lifted by any favor, big or small.  After giving Ivan money for his children’s education, finding him an apartment, and increasing his wages, this benevolent boss asks what more he can do for Ivan.  “I want to be driven,” Ivan answers. Vera used this story to illustrate the lack of initiative in Russian culture- Russians want the perks without the responsibility.  The story may reveal something deeper and more disturbing in the Russian psyche.  On a lovely Saturday afternoon in West Rogers Park visiting my second and fourth cousin, Joanie[1] and her wonderful family after a few decades of not being in touch, a guest rapped on the door.  In strolled Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern[2] with great energy and pomp and took his place at the Shabbat table.  Both of us were passionate about the books laid...
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Putin Petrovsky-Shtern Putin popularity Russia
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Meryll

Reflections on a necklace

Meryll
Sunday, 20 April 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
When Cathy Spengler asked Leslie and me what we wanted or didn’t want for our cover design, we were positive---not a Magen David!  We had already imagined that a mainstream publisher would grasp that symbol, plaster in on a cover, and retitle our book.  To us it was trite, overused.  It seems like every book with a Jewish topic has a magen david plastered somewhere on the cover.   As I’ve gazed at Alisa’s birthday photo in which she’s wearing her Magen David necklace “of my own design,” I’ve thought more about the weight of a necklace. When Leslie and I traveled to St. Petersburg in 2011, I was struck by the number of people (men and women) wearing a cross as they hurried down Nevsky Prospekt. I hadn’t expected outward signs of religion. But, it is clearly a symbol of new freedoms. Both Vera and Alla were drawn to the Magen David when it...
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Magen David
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Meryll

Passover Locovore

Meryll
Saturday, 12 April 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
Ha! Reader, you may have thought you caught a spelling error. All foodies now know locavore is an eater dedicated to eating local products. But, no, locovore, is the word I’ve coined to describe how I feel preparing for the Passover seder. For readers unfamiliar with Passover, it is the joyous holiday celebrating the Israelites’ freedom from slavery.  For traditional Jews in the Diaspora there are two celebratory feasts and a host of dietary proscriptions which differ depending if your ancestors hailed from Russia or Yemen.  The most well known of the restrictions is the ban on bread but it extends to include all products made of wheat, oats, barley, spelt, peanuts, beans, rice, etc. Got that? Enter 21st century dining. There are three aspects of Passover preparations that drive me meshuga (loco, crazy).  First, the cleaning and changing the dishes.  Someone else can write about that. Second, if you live in...
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Seder meals picky eaters Passover locavore
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Leslie

What does the Passover Seder have to do with Neurobiology?*

Leslie
Sunday, 06 April 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
  Passover is a time when Jews gather together at a seder and read from the Haggada the narrative of our journey with the instruction that we should feel as if we personally were freed from Egypt.  This ritual serves to integrate our past to our present and one generation to another.  As I prepared for this week’s consultation on EMDR (a trauma therapy), I discovered a chapter entitled “Narrative” in Dan Siegel’s Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology that opened my eyes that the seder is an ideal ritual to heal trauma and further integrate a group.  Siegel was writing about trauma in general, not our enslavement in Egypt nor Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), but the connections are clear. By narrating our story and subjecting it to further interpretation, we change the nature of our memories on a neurochemical level from bits of sensory data to a fuller, more integrated story.  In...
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Passover seder Neurobiology Memory and Passover Jewish memory Jewish memoir
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Recent Blogs

Meryll
Meryll
09 April 2021
Jewish on the Down Low
I snapped up the invitation to speak at a zoom meeting for the Jewish Affinity Group from Columbus School for Girls. Self-quarantining for almost a year has made me hungry to talk about Jewish Luck. It's certainly clear from the news that Vera and Alla's perceptions about the "New" Russia are just as relevant now as they were when Vera first encountered Putin in Leningrad.More than the intellectua...
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Leslie
Leslie
07 February 2021
American Kompromat
What I learned from American Kompromat by Craig Unger (2021) Dutton: NYC has prompted me to write a blog. Trigger Warning: This book contains potentially distressing content that could trigger trauma that we have experienced regarding the previous US President. I whisper this mantra to myself: "We're safe now. He's gone. We're safe now." The purpose of this exercise is to reduce my blood pre...
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Leslie
Leslie
31 January 2021
Alexey Navalny: Intrepid SuperHero of Russia
"Faster than a speeding bullet." .Organized anti-government rallies in 109 cities across Russia from jail for January 23 and January 30, 2021. Watch each weekend. "More powerful than a locomotive."  Able to make a miraculous recovery from Novichok poisoning on Aug. 20, 2020 after remaining in a coma for nearly a month. His is the only known case of survival of that strain of Novichok. "...
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Invite Us To Speak

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We were featured speakers at Hadassah Brandeis Institute and Levy Summer Series. Our speaking engagements include JCCs, synagogues, libraries, book groups, retirement communities, schools, and organizations (e.g. ORT, Hadassah, and Women's League). References are available. 

Invite Us To Speak
 

Talk Review

"I was very fortunate to be able to hear Meryll and Leslie speak at a Hadassah event in Israel. Each of the ~50 participants really enjoyed the event because Meryll and Leslie were so engaging. While they had a natural rapport with the audience, you could also tell they had prepared well so they could connect with our particular group's interests. I learned a lot from listening to them, and I found their sisterly interaction unique and fun. If you want an enlightening and uplifting experience, attend one of their book talks."
Lisa Shimoni, Modiin Israel

Book Review

"Truly, you have written a story that makes accessible the reality of existence in Russia, through the eyes of individuals who lived through the various regimes and dictates.  It is fascinating and very well told.  As I read Vera and Alla's story, I learned more Russian history than I had known from a textbook.  That's a big deal, women!  You tell the tale with vivid detail and hook us on the two women and their stories, then weave in the history to illuminate their journeys. It is such a necessary book.  I am thrilled that the two of you collaborated, as I can see the uniqueness of your personalities come through in the stories, and that, too, makes the book a gem."
Margaret Leibfried, Danielson Group consultant

Buy the Book

Online:

Click here to order your copy of Jewish Luck: A True Story of Friendship, Deception, and Risky Business on Amazon.com.

The Kindle version is available here

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Make a donation to Sholom Home and enjoy Jewish Luck at the same time. Jewish Luck is now available at the Sholom Home West gift store. Meryll and Leslie will donate 50% of the proceeds back to Sholom Home. Enjoy!

Tasting Torah

Nourish mind, body, and soul with Meryll's Tasting Torah, which will bring oneg (joy) and limmud (learning) to your Shabbat, broaden your culinary horizons, and draw your Shabbat guests closer together.

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Highlighted Books

Meryll
Meryll
02 July 2017
July Book of the Month:  Bloodlines by Neville Frankel
July Book of the Month: Bloodlines by Neville Frankel
Leslie and I began writing Jewish Luck with an underlying question in our minds—what would life have...
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