For synagogues & congregations
Member memory and communal story, written so it can be kept.
Synagogues sit on decades of living memory — founding families, long memberships, rabbinic transitions, buildings that held weddings and unveilings and ordinary Shabbats. Most of it is still in people’s heads or in boxes. I turn what can still be gathered into continuous narrative that the congregation can archive, give back to families, or read from.
What congregations actually commission
A referred commission: the synagogue connects a family; I handle the interviews, writing and delivery. The congregation can be acknowledged or remain invisible according to the family’s wishes.
How the community began, who carried it, what changed. Built from living witnesses and whatever documents the synagogue already holds. Gaps left visible.
A written record of a long tenure, a transition, a centenary or a building project — not a brochure, a narrative that can still be read in twenty years.
How to elicit usable memory, how to handle incomplete or contradictory accounts, and why inventing the missing piece damages trust. Practical sessions, not theory.
Why the published work matters here
A congregation should be able to judge the writing before it hires the writer.
“The Last Injection” (Minyan Magazine, Pushcart nominee) is the closest public example of the family-history voice applied to Jewish family material. “When Lindy Saved My Life” (Missouri Review) shows the literary control. The Chicken Soup essay demonstrates a quieter, more accessible register. All three are free to read.
If the sentences feel right for your members, the rest of the conversation is logistics.