A good story is worth revisiting. Without a doubt, the novel I have read cover to cover more than any other is Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent. I love this modern midrash about Dinah, our matriarch whose story is mostly hidden amidst the verses about her twelve brothers. Diamant’s writing is captivating and her unique version of the story incredibly touching. Over the years, I have enjoyed wonderful conversations about this book with so many people I love and respect. I was even lucky to have an opportunity to read it in sync with my beloved Grandma Miriam about ten years before she passed. My enjoyment of the story has become a special ritual I perform almost every year.
Not only is Diamant an excellent novelist, but she is also a capable journalist and researcher and has written a collection of books on Jewish life cycle and religious practice. I just reread another book of Diamant’s that was recently republished, a book called Saying Kaddish which explores our traditions around comfort, burial, and mourning. It is not easy to read about death and the range of emotions that accompany loss and facing our own mortality, but Diamant demonstrates how Jewish wisdom and ritual can offer great meaning and comfort. And just like in The Red Tent, Diamant brings new and beautiful insight to our established tradition and reminds us why we need sacred practices to help us hold our loss and our grief.
Today, in fact, is a day of memory for me. Wednesday, April 3rd or the 24th of Adar II, is my Grandma Miriam’s yahrzeit. I find myself without Diamant’s eloquence—it is not possible for me to find the words to express how much I loved and admired my grandmother. And today, my family will light a yahrzeit candle for her and share our special memories. We’ll prepare her best recipes. We will miss her immensely and we will find great comfort in our rituals of mourning. And we will tell and retell her stories for generations to come.
— Cantor Emma Lutz