Andrea Simantov

Living Out Loud

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Apr 3, 2025, 10:16 PM

A most spiritual cleanse

As I write this, my living room is still cluttered with Purim masks, clown wigs, baskets of candy, and baked treats. There’s no sign that the holiday of our emancipation, zman chiruteinu, is fast approaching. Am I feeling the...

Feb 3, 2025, 4:48 PM

The waiting game

How many of us avoid reminiscing about uncomfortable chapters in our lives? Memories that cause tear ducts to swell and a surge of heat into our cheeks? You know the memories I’m talking about: The sad, the disappointing,...

Jan 7, 2025, 3:37 AM

When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon on July 21, 1969, the enormous event seemed to be encapsulated in a gilded frame. Time stopped for a bit - even as the Vietnam war waged, gay rights...

Dec 5, 2024, 6:22 PM

Mundane and Miracles

From the outside looking in, one might imagine that we are hunkering in safe rooms for most of the work day and when forced outside into the elements, we sidle alongside stone-buildings, rapidly darting in-and-out of whatever obligatory appointments...

Nov 4, 2024, 1:36 PM

We closed out the year of shock, fear, trepidation and I was here. For many years, I traveled to the US over Sukkot to visit my elderly mother, but this year I could not find the will to leave...

Oct 1, 2024, 10:45 AM

For what it’s worth

It’s becoming a prickly Sunday morning phenomenon, the result of lazy, nap-filled Sabbaths that revitalize my body and soul. Two hours before the alarm is scheduled to buzz, I toss for the last time in a long, long night...

Sep 6, 2024, 10:47 PM

The gym was full this morning

(Writer’s note: This article was written and published prior to the horrific executions of six hostages by Hamas.) I dragged myself to the car, a half-hearted shlep that indicated something about integrity. Groan. My blood test indicated that I’m relatively...

Jun 12, 2024, 11:15 PM

Only outsiders ask us “How are you doing?” and pray we don’t answer. Because that answer is murky and bleak and spotty. This isn’t to say that we don’t ask the aforementioned question of one another, already knowing the murky,...

May 7, 2024, 5:02 PM

A Google search led me to this explanation of Memorial Day in America: Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer. Many people attend parades, go to the beach or have cook-outs with friends and family. But at...

Mar 5, 2024, 7:52 AM

Flowering among thorns

“I Know We Are Your Chosen People. But Can’t You Choose Someone Else?” --Tevye the Dairyman Sometimes being chosen doesn’t feel like such a blessing. As Israeli Jews, we’ve been chosen to suffer the unimaginable. Whether one is a survivor...

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About Me

New York-born Andrea Simantov moved to Jerusalem in 1995. Writer, podcast host (israelnewstalkradio.com), life-coach and image consultant. She is spiritual, funny, cries easily (laughs harder), enjoys caravanning, celebrating her Jewishness and is always up for her next big adventure. With six children, 22 grandchildren and a mostly tolerant husband, life is busy, passionate and always evolving.

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