Clare Goldfarb

Material Culture: The Samovar

She’s never had a cup of zavarka-infused tea from it, because this samovar — a treasured heirloom from Odessa — now serves only the best, long-evening inflected, artisanal stories.

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My samovar, which now sits in the center of my living room, always rested on a little table in the corner of my parents’ dining room. It’s a no-nonsense peasant affair, barrel-shaped and made of brass. It stands 18 inches high and has a round drip bowl underneath its spout.

Winter 2018-9

Money and meaning, from teaching Hebrew school to funding abortion. Three miscarriages and a crisis of faith. Candidates who didn’t win. When your family breaks up with you (or vice versa).

Fall 2018

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

#MeToo in Jewish organizations? A girl encounters her sperm-donor half-siblings. The Skokie teenager who crushed on Jesus. What can you toss after a parent dies? Repairing women’s torn bodies in Rwanda.

Material Culture: The Samovar

She’s never had a cup of zavarka-infused tea from it, because this samovar — a treasured heirloom from Odessa — now serves only the best, long-evening inflected, artisanal stories.

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