Skip to content
Menu
beitmalkhut.org
  • contact us
  • yizkor—minyan remembrances
  • tzaddik stories
  • seymour fromer z”l
    • mira z. amiras — san francisco
    • harold lindenthal — nyc and hartford
    • fred rosenbaum, brooklyn and berkeley
    • joe hoffman, jerusalem
  • jewish mysticism, magic, and folklore
    • study group topics and schedule
  • recommended readings
    • death and dying
    • selected articles by todd
    • selected articles by ovid
    • selected articles by mira
beitmalkhut.org

Category: tzaddik stories

Stories of the tzaddik, as I remember him. Or stories about others, that serve as a reminder of just how tzaddik the tzaddik really was. As opposed to memories of Seymour Fromer, Director of the Magnes Museum, or his earlier incarnation as Seymour Fromer, Director of Jewish Education for Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Or before that as —. You get the idea. These are my tales about my father — at home or abroad — under conditions in which he wasn’t a director of anything at all.

my father’s favorite boys

Posted on 30 May 201130 May 2011 by mira

Fred and Harold and my dad were like the Marx Brothers. Or the Coen Brothers. Or the Brady Bunch. Or. Or. Or maybe there was nothing like them at all.  A team. A pack. A family. A coven.  A comedy show. My father loved ‘those boys’ with all his heart, and all his might and…

+

malkah, magnes, and the military police

Posted on 24 May 201124 May 2011 by mira

Malkah was at the Madrid airport, as wholesome as she could be. She had a husband with her and two squeaky clean children with her. And all their camping gear. And all her archives notes. And all her permissions to conduct research. And she got detained anyway trying to leave the country.  It wasn’t the…

+

the tzaddik and the negotiator — a mother’s day meditation

Posted on 7 May 2011 by mira

Malkah was in such awe of the tzaddik that she spent most of her time with him asking questions, and nodding at the wisdom of his responses.  Of course, his responses generally started with the need to do more research.  Look things up.  Even go to the library, when he was stumped.  But most of…

+

closure, or something like it — a kaddish for milton g. nobler

Posted on 6 May 20116 May 2011 by mira

People say you need closure.  But does that mean that there are no more stories to be told? I woke up this morning with two imperatives: 1) a sense of real or imminent closure, and 2) the need to tell this tale.  It’s a tale biofather told me, and I’m pretty sure he never told…

+

on the transmigration of souls (jewish deli style)

Posted on 5 May 20116 May 2011 by mira

You wouldn’t think that the Jewish tradition was big on transmigration of souls — but it is.  I’m not even sure this concept is taught much anymore in more mainstream non-Orthodox and Hassidic circles.  But what do I know?   I’ve not set foot in a shul for a very  long time.  And even then,…

+

voices in the volvo

Posted on 1 May 20111 May 2011 by mira

There’s something I really don’t like about finishing things.  Good at starting.  Good at ongoing.  Good at thinking about.  Finishing:  very depressing. So.  I had just finished organizing the entire program for a SWAA conference one year, along with two colleagues.  SWAA would be the Southwestern Anthropological Association.  And we planned some real conference treats….

+

gypsy

Posted on 28 April 2011 by mira

I was sitting with Mrs Tzaddik this afternoon, in the glorious sunshine.  Light breeze.  Not too hot.  One of those rare perfect moments.  There too, was one of the caregivers, and my friend T, a large white male akin to a polar bear.  I was trying to convince her to record her tales so that…

+

the bookstore

Posted on 22 April 201122 April 2011 by mira

So.  The bookstore the other day — One of Malkah’s favorite things to do on planet Earth was to go with the tzaddik on his frequent forays into the dark and gloomy bowels of used bookstores.   Holmes Books, in San Francisco, was one of their favorites together.  The tzaddik would give Malkah a whole…

+

anyone who is hungry, let them come and eat

Posted on 17 April 2011 by mira

The tzaddik grew up in the Bronx, across from Yankee Stadium. That must say a lot about him, but I’m not sure what exactly. His family lived in a shvitzy little apartment, overcrowded with uncles and cousins and such. That was in addition to mamma, poppa, the tzaddik and his two younger brothers. Of course,…

+

bondage, sephardi style

Posted on 15 April 2011 by mira

I have heard this bit every single Pesach of my life when my mother has been present.  And when she wasn’t, I’ve taken it upon myself to tell it myself (albeit a short short version).  All my stories are the short short version, in case you haven’t noticed.  Mrs Tzaddik is much better on detail….

+
  • Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next

Categories

  • kaddish in two-part harmony (552)
    • essays (158)
    • guest essays (11)
    • podcasts (388)
    • project news (13)
    • tzaddik stories (31)
  • Seymour Fromer z"l (16)
  • the rebbe's queer daughters (11)

Posts

  • kaddish for anke akevit (2015-20)
  • a kaddish for too many suicide victims—but it gets better!
  • a kaddish for sigrid syltetøy vang, b. 2006, d. 27 February 2018
  • guest kaddish: velvet marquesa flicka storm, 11 august 2005–9 april 2015
  • the stones I cannot place
  • oh amy, how could you — a kaddish for amy smith
  • guest kaddish: Gudrun Fossum Vang (16 June 1905–3 April 1972)
  • occasional kaddish: for Josephine Selvig Anderson (11 April 1915– 22 January 2012)
  • and death is so much closer than it was—a kaddish for rebecca fromer
  • easy come easy go: a kaddish for adrienne cooper
  • nyt remembrances—a kaddish for departed strangers
  • guest kaddish from David Mohr—for Kimba
  • killing you loudly—a kaddish
  • anything, anything but a mystical experience
  • daily kaddish: our project’s yahrtzeit

Contact the authors

email mira and erin: kaddish@beitmalkhut.org

Archives

anthropology backstage cats Charlotte Adams China choreography collaboration dads death death and dying divorce dogs exhaustion grief japan Jewish identity John Manning kabbalah kaddish life cycle Magnes Museum Malkah Middle East moms mourning murder music musicians musicology parenting piano ritual Sephardi Seymour Fromer Space Place suicide supine text the rebbe's queer daughters tzaddik tzaddik stories University of Iowa women writing yahrtzeit

Copyright

© 2010–22 by Mira Z. Amiras and Erin Vang (beitmalkhut.org). All rights reserved worldwide.

thank you—תודה רבה

Permission to use Lev Kogan's "Kaddish," © 1982 by Israel Brass Woodwind Publications
In-kind support: Global Pragmatica LLC®

meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
©2023 beitmalkhut.org | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes