Welcome to my blog

Who am I and why do I want to write a blog now? For starters, I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, but always for myself, for school, or for work. Since October 7 hit us hard, I have written almost daily posts and comments, scattered across multiple social media. Now that I am retired, I have time to focus my writing where it can have an impact. Welcome to my blog.

I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and in Rome, Italy. We belonged to a small old fashioned Conservative synagogue in Media, PA, where my connection to Israel begins: celebrating early Israeli Independence Days, learning the prayers in Hebrew, even briefly joining Young Judea. In college, I joined the Kosher Kitchen. With no real sense of a career path, I took a year after graduation to study Talmud in Israel. Some small break! During that year I married my college boyfriend. Though we went back to the US, we didn’t feel at home. So in 1981, we returned permanently to Israel. Our family of 6 lived in the Jerusalem area most of those years, and with empty nest and retirement, my husband and I have moved to Modiin.

Professionally I got lucky, turning my early writing habit into a career. I remember sitting in the gym with a friend taking down my poems – a social activity since her handwriting was much better than mine. My 10^th grade English teacher, Doris Breslow, focused on writing skills, and I owe her a lot. Even my father (z”l) had me writing essays to develop the skill. The critical skill I needed in my liberal arts BA.

In 1984 (after kids 1 and 2), a sequence of coincidences landed me in a technical writing job. In true Israeli style, this started me on a web of connections that has driven my career ever since. Even now as a semi-retiree, I found a volunteer job the same way. My role over those years has changed, but always with a large element of writing.

For years I have also written short essays, poems and narratives, about Israel, about the contrast between the US and Israel, and about life in general. Now I have time to share my thoughts with a wider audience.

I’ll be writing about many topics: Israeli hi-tech, the rhythm of life here and by contrast in the US, facing the post-October 7 world, even fireworks and a visit to a US campus.

Welcome!