A writing coach and facilitator, Jena Schwartz serves as Poet Laureate of the Jewish Community of Amherst in Western Massachusetts. She holds degrees from Barnard College and Emerson College and has attended the Rabbinic Torah Seminar at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. A widely published poet and essayist, Jena is the author of "Fierce Encouragement: 201 Writing Prompts for Staying Grounded in Fragile Times" and three other books. She is a mother and stepmother to five grown children and lives with her wife in Longmeadow, MA. Follow her Substack, Dispatches from Daily Life.
![Tribunal attendees were given two slips of paper to vote on the [absent] defendants.](https://static-cdn.toi-media.com/blogs/uploads/2025/11/B9B0F524-8F7C-4095-94BC-4256C93770AC-1-640x400.jpg "Tribunal attendees were given two slips of paper to vote on the [absent] defendants.")
