Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Six Words on the Jewish Mother

There is no figure more evocative than the Jewish mother. She makes you chicken soup when you’re sick, asks you if you’re still hungry an hour after a big meal and tries to set you up with all of her friends’ kids. We all have a story about her. Now, we want to find out what she means to you — in exactly six words.

The Forward is partnering with Larry Smith, editor of SMITH Magazine, home of the Six-Word Memoir®, to celebrate Mother’s Day. Submit your six-word memoir on your mother or grandmother below before April 24th. Larry and the Forward staff will pick our 12 favorites and publish them in the Forward for Mother’s Day. Those people will receive a copy of the new book “Oy! Only Six? Why Not More? Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life,” published in collaboration with the Jewish cultural mavens at Reboot. We’ll also print another six from noted members of the Jewish community.

For inspiration, here are a few examples about Jewish moms culled from SMITH Magazine’s library of six-word memoirs. For more examples check out smithmag.net/jewish.

Mom: “Jewish boys don’t play football.”


— Michael Areinoff

Mom: “Jewish boys don’t play football.”
— Michael Areinoff

See, Mom, I’m a doctor. (Ph.D.)
— Jerry Heyman

Yes, I’m wearing a sweater, Mom.
— Mikey Franklin

Mother, our lady of perpetual dissatisfaction.
— Jennifer Glick

Secular mother, orthodox schools, reform rabbi.
— Rabbi Ruth

SMITH Magazine may contact you about inclusion of your Six Words in a future book or other media project.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version