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More Praise For The Books Of Abigail Pogrebin
Stars of David
“Consistently engaging . . . Pogrebin says this book grew out of her efforts to clarify her own Jewish identity. But you don’t need to be on such a quest to enjoy the wide range of experiences and feelings recorded here.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Pogrebin, a former producer for Charlie Rose and 60 Minutes, had the tools to push her interviewees beyond their comfort zone.”
—Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
“...a wide and interesting variety of stories about faith and the lack thereof, family memory, ritual, continuity, and the choices they have made.”
—The Jewish Week
One and the Same
“An enchanting, fascinating book.”
—Lesley Stahl, 60 Minutes
“Spot on. An honest explanation of how multiples feel about the relationship into which they were born.”
—Newsweek
“One and the Same is a touching, funny, smart book, written with considerable flair. Though it contains medical, social, political, and historical perspectives, it is at its core a book about love and intimacy.”
—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree
“An immensely satisfying, enlightening read.”
—BookPage
“This book about what it means to be a duplicate is smart and revealing and wise—and, well, singular.”
—The Daily Beast
Bedford, New York
Copyright © 2017 by Abigail Pogrebin
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Fig Tree Books LLC, Bedford, New York
Jacket design by Jenny Carrow
Interior design by Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available Upon Request
ISBN number 978-1-941493-20-5
Distributed by Publishers Group West
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
FOREWORD: A. J. Jacobs
Introduction: How Did I Get Here?
1 | Prepping Rosh Hashanah: Self-Flagellation in Summer
2 | Post–Rosh Hashanah: Tossing Flaws and Breadcrumbs
3 | The Fast of Gedaliah: Lessons of a Slain Governor
4 | The Truth about Yom Kippur: Death and More Death
5 | Yom Kippur Letdown: Maybe Next Year
6 | Sukkot in LA: Serious Sukkah Envy
7 | Hoshanah Rabbah & Shemini Atzeret: Left Out, Then Lingering
8 | Simchat Torah: The Mosh Pit
9 | Hanukkah Reconsidered: A Split in the Jewish Soul
10 | Hanukkah at the Bedside and the White House: Unexpected Light
11 | The Tenth of Tevet: Starting the Secular Year Hungry
12 | Slouching toward Shabbat: The Most Important Holiday of All
13 | Tu B’Shvat: Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut
14 | Tzom Esther & Purim: Preparing to Fast and Spiel
15 | The Purim Report: Mirth and Melancholy
16 | Passover: Scallions and Rare Silences
17 | The Feminist Passover: A (Third) Seder of Her Own
18 | Yom HaShoah: “We Did More Than Survive”
19 | Yom HaZikaron & Yom Ha’atzmaut: For the Fallen and the Free—Israel’s Memorial & Independence Days
20 | Lag B’Omer: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
21 | Activist Shabbat: Friday Night with the Kids
22 | Sleepless on Shavuot: Let My People Learn
23 | 17th of Tammuz: Another Fast, Seriously?
24 | Tisha B’Av: Mourning History, Headlines, and Hatred
25 | My Shabbat Landing: Comforting Consistency
Epilogue: Where Did I End Up?
Acknowledgments
APPENDIX 1: A Jewish Year in Bullet Points
APPENDIX 2: Interviews
APPENDIX 3: Bibliography
APPENDIX 4: Glossary
APPENDIX 5: Web Links for the Basics
About the Author
A. J. JACOBS
ABBY POGREBIN SUBTITLES her book 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew.
Which is an excellent way to describe it.
But let me break her year down a little further for you.
We’re talking a year filled with:
In short, a lot of Judaism.
We’re talking an Ironman triathlon of holiday observance (or so it seems to those of us not brought up Orthodox).
For most of her life, Abby was only loosely connected to her heritage. To borrow a phrase