by Angela Himsel

Belly-Button Bliss Pierced at 40!

When Rabbi Akiva, the great Torah scholar, turned 40, he began studying Jewish texts. As I approached 40, I was thinking not of re-claiming my spiritual heritage but rather of repossessing my body. I wanted a belly–button ring.

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For years I’d harbored this desire. However, I’d resisted the urge out of consideration for my children’s tender feelings. They were even humiliated when I talked to strangers in the grocery store.

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Latinx, Jewish, running for office • Alleged victims of a pediatrician find each other • Is motherhood new again? • A second chance at an old relationship • How to care for children without parents •

Summer 2018

Jewish women running for office. When food endangered Jews. The challenge of raising liberal kids in Israel. A Moroccan Jew finds common ground with Muslim feminists in Tangier. The proud history of midwives?

Spring 2018

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Winter 2017-2018

A toddler daughter becomes a Jew. Golda Meir and losing elections. That intergenerational Jewish lesbian couple. Barbra Streisand, a Catholic girl’s rabbi. Holocaust games at Jewish summer camp. Lilith’s 2017 Short Fiction Contest winners.

Belly-Button Bliss Pierced at 40!

When Rabbi Akiva, the great Torah scholar, turned 40, he began studying Jewish texts. As I approached 40, I was thinking not of re-claiming my spiritual heritage but rather of repossessing my body. I wanted a belly–button ring.

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