(OU.org)
“What’s a Jewminicana?”
“How a Workaholic Control Freak Learned to Relax: Adventures in Shabbat”
(Chabad.org)
Learning to relax wasn’t easy. But learning to love Shabbat was.
“Inappropriate for the Shabbos Table”
(OU.org)
Who said adopting a new culture was going to be easy? Uh, well, no one. But no one explained how embarrassing it (and by that I mean, I) could get.
(Chabad.org)
Breaking away from a family culture of hair straightening at all costs was only a curl (and a husband) away.
(Aish.com)
What it means to be an orphan with living parents? What the Jewish community had to offer me and my sister.
“A Lesson for Jews in Gates’ arrest?”
(The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles)
The arrest of one Harvard professor left me feeling violated and exposed in the Jewish community.
“From Ghetto Girl to Rabbi’s Wife” (Reprint)
(Patheos.com)
From growing up Catholic in Washington Heights to becoming a rabbinical student’s wife.
“10 Questions with Author Ernest H. Adams”
(MyJewishLearning.com)
Up close and personal with author Ernest H. Adams about his memoir, “From Ghetto to Ghetto: An African American Journey to Judaism.” Adams had some noteworthy things to say about his experiences during Jim Crow, joining in the Jewish community and what he thinks about the rift between the Jewish and African-American communities.
(Interfaithfamily.com)
A review of “The New Jew: An Unexpected Conversion” by Sally Srok Friedes, a memoir of a Reform convert’s journey to Judaism.
“Conversion is not so original”
(Orthodox Union/OU.org)
About the three Jews who were an integral part of my conversion process: from the Holocaust survivor I met at 13 to the Russian Jewish college friend whose journey to Judaism propelled mine forward to the cute guy I met in Washington Heights during the process.
(The Jerusalem Post)
I profiled Ari Hart, co-director of Uri L’Tzedek, and the work he has done in Washington Heights to get Dominicans, Jews and other residents working together.
“Ghetto Girl to Rabbi’s Wife” (Reprint)
(NJOP Newsletter)
The chronicles of my religious life beginning with growing up Catholic in Washington Heights to finally becoming a rabbinical student’s wife.
This piece was also reprinted by “The Jewish Writing Project”.
“Bagels and Locks”
(Latina Magazine-May 2009)
How the painful process of learning to love my hair ended when one sweet Jewish boy helped me find my way.
“The Do’s and Don’ts of Talking to Converts”
(Interfaithfamily.com)
This funny informational piece gets the dirt on how converts should and shouldn’t be approached in the Jewish community.
“The Do’s and Don’ts of Talking to Converts”
(MyJewishLearning.com)
This funny informational piece gets the dirt on how converts should and shouldn’t be approached in the Jewish community.
Leaving Church, and Cynthia, Behind”
(Orthodox Union/Ou.org)
How religious convictions against going to church ended a friendship.
“My big fat Dominican Orthodox Jewish Wedding” (REPRINT)
(The Chicago Jewish News)
Part service piece, part personal essay, this piece recollects how my husband and I planned our multicultural wedding.
(Interfaithfamily.com)
About living in the space between the Jew I want to be and the Jew I am.
“Not-so-Foreign Language”
(Latina Magazine-February 2009)
This personal esssay chronicles my cross-cultural journey to regain the Spanish language of my Latino heritage, from how I lost the language to how I’m working on getting it back again.
“My Love/Hate Relationship with G-d”
(Chabad.org)
About the twists and turns my relationship with G-d has taken, from the major bumps along the way to the great highlights.
“My Fertilty is None of Your Business”
(The Jewish Press)
This personal essay is about the pressures to procreate in the Jewish community and what happens to those who fall short of community expectations.
“Three Religions, Three Cultures and A Search for Identity”
(Interfaithfamily.com)
In this profile/review, I took a look at a fresh new memoir from Jewess Sadia Shepard and how it wrestled with the idea of hyphenated identity.
“Right to Reply: Secular Conversion–an oxymoron”
(The Jerusalem Post)
This Op-Ed looks at why secular conversion in Israel sounds like an oxymoron to an American.
“My big fat Dominican Orthodox Jewish Wedding” (REPRINT)
(The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles)
Part service piece, part personal essay, this piece recollects how my husband and I planned our multicultural wedding.
“Why, as a wife, I still want to see other men”
(The Jewish Chronicle of London)
Tea with a male friend made me start thinking about the state of male-female friendships in the Orthodox Jewish world I live in.
(The Jerusalem Post)
This Op-Ed looks at the current climate surrounding Modern Orthodox conversion.
(Verdad Magazine)
This excerpt is from a short story about my relationship with my father and the trip to the Dominican Republic that reconnected us after a nearly ten years of estrangement. The story story was derived from a personal essay, Daddy’s Little Girl, written shortly after the trip.
“My Big Fat Jewish Dominican Wedding”
(Interfaithfamily.com)
Part service piece, part personal essay, this piece recollects how my husband and I planned our multicultural wedding.
“My Uterus is None of Your Business”
(The Jewish Chronicle of London)
This personal essay is about the pressures to procreate in the Jewish community and what happens to those who fall short of community expectations.
“From Ghetto Girl to Rabbi’s Wife”*
(Jewish Living Magazine)
This personal essay chronicles my religious life beginning with growing up Catholic in the Dominican ghetto of Washington Heights to finally becoming a rabbinnical student’s wife. *Unfortunately, the magazine became defunct just as this piece went to press for the November/December 2008 issue of the magazine.
“Things We Have in Common: When Two Different Cultures Marry”
(Chabad.org)
This personal essay focuses on the things my husband and I have in common despite our multicultural differences.
“A Nation Divided: Coping with Racism in the Jewish Community”
(Interfaithfamily.com)
This personal essay chronicles my experiences with racism in the Jewish community and how I’ve learned to cope.
“Air Hugs: Fibromyalgia and the Power of Touch”
(Chabad.org)
This personal essay chronicles my battle with fibromyalgia and what it taught me about the power of touch.
“Converts on the True Colors of the Jewish Community” (REPRINT)
(Interfaithfamily.com)
This is an interview with Jewish converts of color who discuss their experiences with issues of race, ethnicity, and identity in the Jewish community.
“Gefilte Fish Con Maduros: A Multicultural Jewish Family”
(Interfaithfamily.com)
Like the subheader notes, this personal essay is about my multicultural Jewish family: the ups, the downs and everything in-between. Yes, in this scenario, my husband’s the gefilte fish.
“Response to Reader Reaction to Conversion Editorial”
(The Jewish Planet)
In this piece, I respond to one reader’s negative reaction to my conversion editorial.
`“A Jew-by-choice reacts to the RCA’s new conversion standards”
(The Jewish Planet)
This editorial is my response to the RCA’s new conversion standards and how they are affecting the past, present and future of Orthodox converts to Judaism everywhere.
(Chabad.org)
This personal essay chronicles the affects of a suicide in my community on my ongoing battle with depression and how depression really can effect all of us.
Excerpt from “Daddy’s Little Girl”
(Tertulia Magazine)
This is an excerpt from a short story about my relationship with my father and the trip to the Dominican Republic that reconnected us after a nearly ten years of estrangement. The story story was derived from a personal essay, Daddy’s Little Girl, written shortly after the trip.
“Funny, You Don’t Look Jewish”
(TheJewishWoman.org Magazine, Chabad.org)
This is a personal essay that talks about my personal struggles to create a Jewish identity in a world that believes that all Jews look white.
Translating Dominican To Jewish and Back Again”
(The Yeshiva University Commentator: Kol Hamevaser)
This is a personal essay about the growing schism between the Jewish and Dominican communities in Washington Heights and why there’s hope yet.
“Funny, You Don’t Look Jewish: Converts on the True Colors of The Jewish Community”
(PRESENTENSE Magazine)
This is an interview with Jewish converts of color who discuss their experiences with issues of race, ethnicity, and identity in the Jewish community.
My Neighborhood: Interview with Williamsburg Family
My Neighborhood: Interview with Boerum Hill Family
(New York Family Brooklyn Magazine/October 2007)
These are a series of interviews with Brooklyn families discussing why they love their neighborhoods and what new families should look for and expect.
Top Pediatricians Interviews
(New York Family Magazine/October 2007)
These are a series of interviews with top New York City pediatricians
about their careers and their fields.
“So, Tell Me Rabbi…I Mean, Wendy…”
(New York Family Magazine/August 2007)
This article is an interview with Dr. Wendy Mogel about her book,” The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children,” and what how we’re raising children today.
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 