Pirke Imahot : A Celebration of our Mothers

Both joyful and moving, Pirkei Imahot recalls more than 50 unsung but unforgettable mothers and grandmothers who, while utterly unique, are also familiar characters to anyone who grew up in a Jewish family. Be careful opening this book: an eclectic assemblage of women waits to spill out. They chop fish, they pull pranks, they hide secrets, they cover sofas in plastic. Mothers come to vivid life here in their children's and grandchildren's words. Though they wear other women's names, we know them as intimately as those who held us in their arms. Here, in beautifully crafted memory-words, 50 authors offer up women joyous and soulful, heroic and fragile, whose words and deeds forever remain the guideposts of our lives. Jewish mothers have had a bad rap, but this collection shows Jewish mothering as it really is. Each essay in this beautifully edited collection is a gem. Strung together, they constitute a striking necklace: memories of the mothers who raised us, of grandmothers, of the persons who shaped our souls.