Johnna Kaplan
By Johnna Kaplan
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Life Is Etsy the Only Online Community Without Jew-Baiting?
Last weekend, two seemingly unconnected things happened. First, my glasses case destroyed itself, and second, a lot of people wrote a lot of things speculating about Chuck Hagel’s possible nomination for Defense Secretary. Consequently I a) searched Etsy for glasses cases (and iPhone covers, necklaces and wristlets) and b) read a lot of articles about…
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Life Finding Judaism in Newtown Tragedy
While 26 people were being massacred at an elementary school in Newtown, I was 50 miles away in Hartford, talking on the radio about the eccentricities of Connecticut. Town nicknames, historical tidbits, “Nutmeggers” vs. “Connecticutians,” that sort of thing. The show was over at 10:00 am ET; I have no idea when the first fragmentary…
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Life Why I Absolutely, Totally Dread New Year’s
There’s a particular sort of dread that accompanies a holiday you don’t enjoy. Every year it looms on the calendar, slowly but steadily coming closer, while you try to ignore it. Every year the pressure builds and arrangements must be made — or you risk being plan-less on that most momentous of nights. You guess…
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Life The Christmas/Hanukkah Card Conundrum
Throughout high school, college and my early twenties, I exchanged holiday cards with my friends every year. Christians got Christmas cards, Jews got Hanukkah cards, and Christians-slash-Jews got semi-humorous cards about celebrating two holidays at once. I never thought to not send cards; that was just what well-behaved girls did, like wearing slips under skirts….
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Life What’s With the Lame Hanukkah Parodies?
Hanukkah begins on December 8 this year, but you probably don’t need to have it on your calendar to know that. As in recent years, the onslaught of corny holiday song parodies will have already tipped you off. Perhaps the forerunner of this genre was Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song,” which debuted on Saturday Night Live…
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Life Remembering Another Israel, Another War
There is little room in today’s news coverage for ten-year-old memories. The instant, the current, the now is what we want. We want to read about events as they happen, described by witnesses who are there, and as we read we scan the page hoping that the words aren’t all there is; we want video…
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Life Anti-Semitism In My Own Back Yard
When I woke up last week it seemed the local (that is, Connecticut) news was full of stories about unlikely dangers in our midst. First there were moose, bears and other wild animals prowling the streets. And then there were anti-Semites. I’d seen a few articles about the ADL’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents for…
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Life Finding Jewish Life in Sandy’s Wake
When the tree crashed against the house and spilled its leafy branches across the driveway, it came to a crunching stop on top of my car, taking down power lines along the way. I couldn’t get very close in the dark confusion of the storm, but the next day, after a man with a chain…
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Yiddish אַ קאָנפֿערענץ וועגן ייִוואָ קומט פֿאָר אין איר געבוירן־שטאָט — ווילנעA conference about YIVO takes place in its birthplace — Vilnius
איין פֿאָרשער האָט גערעדט וועגן דעם וואָס נישט בלויז די פֿרומע און אָרעמע ייִדן האָבן גערעדט ייִדיש, נאָר די רײַכע און געבילדעטע אויך.
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