Jordana Horn & Shannon Sarna: Mothers Of The Year
Jordana Horn and Shannon Sarna
This year, Jordana Horn and Shannon Sarna started a Kveller podcast, “Call Your Mother,” to connect with fellow Jewish mothers. With nine — yes, nine! — children between them, Jordana, a journalist and lawyer, and Shannon, an author and editor of The Nosher, share the joys and chaos of life and parenting.
The duo has many mutual friends and belong to the same synagogue in South Orange, N.J., but first met on social media, and after a challah-baking playdate with the kids ended in disarray, their friendship continued through their love of reporting and telling stories. “Call Your Mother” dives into today’s biggest topics, many of which are not often shared openly within the Jewish community. Horn, 46, and Sarna, 37, call on an array of guests, including comedians, chefs, writers and other parents, for no-holds-barred conversations about relationships, ageism, anti-Semitism and more. They’ve discussed suicide and addiction and have spoken to Jewish mothers about their abortions. In the latest episode, which welcomed Sarna back after having her third baby, the women spoke with an ultra-Orthodox nurse practitioner about the spread of measles.
They were nominated for the Forward 50 by a reader, who said the podcast “goes to the heart of being a Jew, woman and human in 2019.”
Jordana Horn
What do you have for breakfast? Horn: Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Usually around four cups, which I consider a victory because it’s not six (though I strongly believe everyone should be allowed as many cups of coffee as they have children!).
Sarna: Cinnamon toast with cream cheese and a latte.
What’s the last thing you listened to on your phone?
Sarna: The Okee Dokee Brothers and Billie Eilish
Horn: I “proof-listen” our podcast “Call Your Mother” each week, but my second-favorite listen right now is the podcast “Finding Fred,” about Fred Rogers’ effect on America.
Earliest Jewish memory:
Sarna: Passover and Rosh Hashanah meals at my Grandma Phoebe’s house
Horn: Being Jewish is inextricably part of my life, to the point where it’s actually inseparable from my memories, whether I’m thinking of lighting candles for Shabbat in my family’s kitchen or getting into an argument (so Jewish!) in the sandbox when I was a little kid at my JCC nursery school.
Heroes:
Horn: Appropriately enough, I have to say my mother. My mom taught me what it means to be a strong, generous and intellectually engaged person and parent. Appropriately enough, I “call my mother” several times a day (to her delight?). I want to be more like her when I grow up.
Sarna: Margaret Atwood, Madeline Albright, Hillary Clinton
Shannon Sarna
2019 memory:
Horn: Oddly, I would say being asked this question! Because to answer, I had to think about all the great things that happened over the past year — our podcast launching, kids graduating, great school shows, travels to the beach, Disney and Italy, no longer having a kid in diapers in my house after over a decade (!), and so many more — and in doing so, I got to be reminded of how very fortunate I am. As we say on the show, “#blessed.”
Sarna: Having my third baby
Favorite thing about being Jewish
Horn: That it gives me a scaffolding upon which to build my life, whether in terms of its demarcation of time (appreciating the ephemeral with Sukkot, evaluating my soul with the Yamim Noraim, etc) or its ethos that within every human lies that beautiful spark of the divine. Being Jewish gives my life not only structure, but meaning and purpose, and the combination of the two brings me not only community, but history and joy.
Sarna: Being part of a supportive community, and feeling instantly connected to people though perhaps just having met them.
What app can you not live without?
Sarna: NJ Transit.
Horn: I can live without every app. But my finger goes to the Facebook app much more frequently than I’d like, so maybe my finger feels differently!
Weekend ritual:
Horn: Sunday-night dinner with my sister and her family. Six kids (or three for her) can get pretty intense on weekends, so getting together on Sunday nights to catch up and reconnect (movie and pizza for the kids, dinner and wine for adults) is pure low-maintenance joy.
Sarna: During the summer and fall I love to leisurely go to the farmer’s market on Sunday morning, without my kids, and get a latte. Take photos of the beautiful produce before returning back to chaos.
Read a profile of the pair from New Jersey Jewish News.
Follow Jordana Horn on Twitter @jordanakvells Follow Shannon Sarna on Twitter @shasarna
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