Words of the Week: Diamond, Sassoon, and Zuckerman

This week, something a little different: brief excerpts from a few especially powerful pieces that I’ve read lately.

Presenting, in alphabetical order:

“Today, the boundaries between Ashkenazi Jewish food, New York diner food, and Eastern European food have grown less distinct. There’s a sense of balance I get around places like Streecha or Veselka, knowing that things like potato pancakes or borscht or blintzes weren’t the food of my people but that, eventually, my people learned how to cook them and they became part of the story, and now I’m part of that story too.”—Jason Diamond, “A Journey Down the Borscht River: Eating My Way Through My Ancestors’ Food, Again and Again and Again,” New York magazine (I apologize in advance if reading this piece makes keeping Passover more difficult!)

“It’s still raining, but there is an airplane length of blue sky in view. There is so much the sky can hold—all our unseen stars, darkness, the three-quarter moon. How it all fades in the rising sun, as it peeks between the rising smoke, the grey clouds—as if checking, like many Ukrainian citizens this morning, if it’s safe to emerge.”—Sarah Sassoon, “How We Drink Coffee When It Rains War,” Consequence Forum.

“On Pesach, she would host 30 guests.”—Julie Zuckerman, “On Pesach, She,” TC Jewfolk.