Salt and Honey
Jewish Teens on Feminism, Creativity, and Tradition
Description
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST
"Raw, vibrant, and full of love" --Kirkus Reviews
"A moving work that encourages solidarity . . . reflect(s)on race, gender, family, religious practice, and culture" --The Jewish Book Council
In 78 vibrant works by 62 gifted contributors, Jewish girls, young women, and nonbinary teens voice their celebrations and challenges, their anger and their eagerness in essays, poetry, and visual art.And their themes are universal, touching on childhood, spirituality, sexuality, race, family, friends, and the world around us.
We are writers, editors, photographers, and artists. We are multiethnic, multiracial, and multifaceted. We are nourished by the sweet honey and harsh salt of our lives.
Although we are often misunderstood, we find strength within ourselves and our communities. This book elevates our stories as we honor the past, explore the present, and look toward the future. Through poetry, fiction, essays, and art, we make our voices heard.
"Within these pages is a representation of the Jewish community at its best: a diversity of voices and experiences; a rigorous commitment to challenging the status quo; creativity; humor and heartbreak; suffering and joy. That such an invigorating and affirming work was produced by the teens of jGirls Magazine is proof that they've learned a very important lesson early in life: nobody can tell your story but you." --Molly Tolsky, from the Foreword to Salt & Honey.
The award-winning Salt & Honey and was created by a team of writers and artists brought together as part of jGirls Magazine, including editors Elizabeth Mandel, Emanuelle Sippy, Maya Savin Miller, and Michele Lent Hirsch.
Includes works by: Aliza Abusch-Magder; Lauren Alexander; Gertie Angel; Yael Beer; Alex Berman; Alyx Bernstein; Leah Bogatie; Isabella Brown; Aydia Caplan; Whitney Cohen; Emilia Cooper; Tesaneyah Dan; Denae; Alexa Druyanoff; Emily Duckworth; Elena Eisenstadt; Tali Feen; Abigail Fisher; Leah Fleischer; Lily Gardner; Abigael Good; Sequoia Hack; Madison Hahamy; Samara Haynes; Ahava Helfenbaum; Dalia Heller; Sascha Hochman; Audrey Honig; Alexa Hulse; Liel Huppert; Noa Kalfus; Alma Kastan; Rachel Kaufman; Maya Keren; Naomi Kitchen; Gavi Klein; Jamie Klinger; Emily Knopf; Aidyn Levin; Sonja Lippmann; Shoshana Maniscalco; Liora Meyer; Maya Savin Miller; Becca Norman; Juliet Norman; Dina Ocken; Zoe Oppenheimer; Lily Pazner; Annie Poole; Ofek Preis; Maya Rabinowitz; Emma Rosman; Artie Ross; Sydney Schulman; Eliana Shapere; Emanuelle Sippy; Michal Spanjer; Frankie Vega; Molly Voit; Abigail Winograd; Sarah Young; Makeda Zabot-Hall.
The included Reader's Guide by teen educator and award-winning author Michelle Shapiro Abraham, RJE makes this an outstanding resource for book groups and for teen programming in a variety of contexts.
About this Author
Reviews
"Jewish teens share their experiences, loves, hopes, and fears in this anthology of essays, poems, and artwork from the online publication jGirls Magazine.
Split into six chapters, the works trace the young people's experiences through triumphs and tragedies. "We Always Seem To Return" brings meditations on memory and inheritance, highlighting how Jewish joy and sorrow often walk hand in hand. "When We Were Small" tells stories of childhood and growing up, interrogating such themes as gender identity, substance abuse, and antisemitism. "A Healthy Collection of Blessings and Hardships" tells of the body and the mind, exploring the sacred nature of the self while making space for struggles in mental health. "Traditions, Interpretations, and Imperfections" dives into spirituality and tradition, celebrating the rich variety of the Jewish community. "Where Is the Peace?" confronts ignorance, including experiences of racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and sexist violence. Finally, in "Carving Our Own Footsteps," the artists of a new generation set out to continue the battle for justice and freedom.
The offerings in this book are emphatically and unapologetically Jewish, but the stories they tell will resonate broadly. Contributors include Jews who are Black and Asian, Sephardic and Ashkenazi, and who reflect diversity in gender identity, sexuality, and ability. The young artists and writers featured here bring an appetite for life as well as the teeth necessary to enjoy the meal.
Raw, vibrant, and full of love." (artist statements, reader's guide, resources, about jGirls Magazine, about the contributors) (Anthology. 13-18) --Kirkus Reviews
"Salt & Honey teems with the smells and images, pains and joys, memories and longings that prove that our Jewish identity is already held in spectacular trust by these voices of our future." --Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate
"Some of the works in this book will haunt you, some will surprise you, and others will buoy you. All will galvanize you." --Leora Tanenbaum, author of I Am Not a Slut: Slut Shaming in the Age of the Internet.
"This powerful work . . . is a celebration of what it truly means to be eishet chayil, a woman of valor: for to speak in one's authentic voice is valor in action." --Marra B. Gad, writer, producer, and award-winning author of The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl
"Deep and powerful, sometimes disruptive and disturbing, but most often hopeful and life-affirming . . . Don't miss this." --Ruth W. Messinger, social justice consultant
"In this collection of personal essays, poetry, and visual artwork, Jewish young adults from the online publication jGirls Magazine confront difficult truths in a changing world. Many of the pieces are unfiltered, seeking to connect with other teens rather than defending their points of view to adults. The result is a moving work that encourages solidarity. Nonbinary and LGBTQ+ teens speak out, as do biracial Jews, disabled Jews, and other marginalized Jews who refuse to accept the limitations of traditional Judaism and aim to create viable new Jewish communities.
Searching for meaning, the works reflect on race, gender, family, religious practice, and culture. In the section "A Healthy Collection of Hardships and Blessings," Abigael Good writes of trying to find "The Right Words" to articulate how anxiety has been a constant presence in her life. Emanuelle Sippy's poem, "The Menu is Overwhelming," uses metaphor to describe the universally difficult yet necessary process of making decisions. Bold truth-telling characterizes many selections in "Traditions, Interpretations, and Imperfections," where writers come to terms with rigid barriers that have limited their Jewish identities. Emma Rosman's strong convictions answer the question, "Asian Jew or Jewish Asian?" and Lauren Alexander's "My Version of Practicing Judaism" discusses the inaccessibility of some Jewish rituals, which abled Jews may take for granted.
Each of the creative responses to contemporary Jewish life is unique. Elena Eisenstadt's clever variation on bar/bat mitzvah culture, "My Jewish-Themed Bat Mitzvah," inverts a societal norm by offering a seemingly obvious alternative. In Ofek Preis's interpretation of Jewish social justice values, "The Power of Jewish Youth," she addresses Jewish teens' involvement in the fight against gun violence. Other pieces engage with the mitzvah of praying with tefillin, a practice from which women are generally excluded in the Orthodox world. Alyx Bernstein's "L'hitateif V'l'hani'ach (To Don and to Wrap)" examines the seeming contradictions of this spiritual experience for a transgender person.
The visual artists' interpretations of Jewish life are richly varied, and each work rewards repeated viewing. Whitney Cohen's Eva is an insightful portrait of old age; Alexa Druyanoff's Held depicts a mother and child and draws attention to their similarities; and Dina Ocken's visionary Kotel of My Dreams imagines a place where barriers of religious difference and gender have been replaced by harmony. Ocken's painting summarizes the first chapter's introductory remark: "We are inheritors and authors of memory; it's the most powerful heirloom entrusted to us." --Emily Schneider, The Jewish Book Council
"Making jGirls voices heard
Adults often look back at their youth through rose-colored glasses. But life is not always easy for the teenagers, something that becomes clear in the poems, stories, essays and artwork by Jewish teens that appear in "Salt and Honey: Jewish Teens on Feminism, Creativity, and Tradition" edited by Elizabeth Mandel with jGirls Magazine (Behrman House/jGirls Magazine.) The preface notes that the teens, ages 13-19, are "self-identifying Jewish girls, young women, and nonbinary teens." The magazine jGirl gave them the space to explore different aspects of their lives, including difficult subjects and joyous ones. The work is titled "Salt and Honey" because the writers "embrace the salt and the honey, the sting and the sweetness" of their lives.
It's difficult to pick out specific works to talk about because they all offer something of interest, but a few that stood out include:
- "Seeing Beyond" by Leah Bogatie that speaks about the author's disabled sister, whose example taught her to acknowledge everyone's humanity.
- The painful and moving "Dad" by Denae (whose last name was not given), who is unable to make peace with her feelings about her father and forgive him his sins.
- Audrey Honig's two wonderful poems, "Almost Thirteen" and "Seventeen," about antisemitism and the joys of being Jewish.
- An excellent and beautiful prayer/poem "21st Century Amidah" by Jamie Klinger.
- Elena Eisenstadt's "My Jewish-Themed Bat Mitzvah" that captures the true meaning of the ceremony.
- The moving "My Version of Practicing Judaism," in which Lauren Alexander writes of how her illness impacts her Jewish practice.
- Lily Pazner's poem "You Have Not Walked the Same Streets As Me," which talks about how women are not safe from harm, even when simply walking down the street.
- A class visit to the Holocaust Museum that caused Samara Haynes to ponder the reactions of her classmates in "What You See."
- Sarah Young's poem "Kyke Dyke," where she writes of discovering other Jewish lesbians who helped reaffirm her identity.
Although "Salt and Honey" was written by teens for teens, this work will also resonate with adults. Parents of teenagers may want to read this book and discuss it with them in order to better understand how they view the world. The work includes artist statement's about the drawings and paintings featured, and questions to stimulate discussion. jGirls is to be commended for publishing the thoughts of these Jewish teens. --Rachel Esserman, Executive Editor, The Reporter Group, Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton.
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