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Faye Moskowitz Quotes

There is something disorderly about the death of a young person. In a universe disturbed by so much over which we have no control, an untimely tragedy rattles the teeth of our already shaken confidence. We want to

There is something disorderly about the death of a young person. In a universe disturbed by so much over which we have no control, an untimely tragedy rattles the teeth of our already shaken confidence. We want to domesticate death, fight it on our own turf, in familiar rooms with shades drawn evenly, top sheets turned back, and a circle of hushed voices closing in.

Faye Moskowitz
Death, Fighting, Circles
Faye Moskowitz (1985). “A Leak in the Heart: Tales from a Woman's Life”, David R Godine Pub

Christmas was a miserable time for a Jewish child in those days, and I still recall the feeling. ... Decades later, I still feel left out at Christmas, but I sing the carols anyway. You might recognize me if you ever heard me. I'm the one who sings, 'La-la, the la-la is born.

Faye Moskowitz
Christmas, Children, Feelings

For who will testify, who will accurately describe our lives if we do not do it ourselves?

Faye Moskowitz
Our Lives, Ifs
Faye Moskowitz (2011). “And the Bridge Is Love”, p.32, The Feminist Press at CUNY

I still grieve for the words unsaid. Something terrible happens when we stop the mouths of the dying before they are dead. A silence grows up between us then, profounder than the grave. If we force the dying to go speechless, the stone dropped into the well will fall forever before the answering splash is heard.

Faye Moskowitz
Growing Up, Fall, Grieving
Faye Moskowitz (1985). “A Leak in the Heart: Tales from a Woman's Life”, David R Godine Pub

My adolescence progressed normally: enough misery to keep the death wish my usual state, an occasional high to keep me from actually taking the gas-pipe.

Faye Moskowitz
Inspirational, Teenage, Wish
Faye Moskowitz (2011). “And the Bridge Is Love”, p.57, The Feminist Press at CUNY

Adolescence is a twentieth-century invention most parents approach with dread and look back on with the relief of survivors.

Faye Moskowitz
Parent, Relief, Survivor
Faye Moskowitz (1985). “A Leak in the Heart: Tales from a Woman's Life”, David R Godine Pub

Jewish Christmas' - that's what my gentile friends called Chanukah when I was growing up in Michigan in the thirties and forties. Anachronistic, yes, but they had a point. Observing the dietary laws of separating milk and meat dishes was far easier for the handful of Jewish families in our little town than getting through December without mixing the two holidays.

Faye Moskowitz
Christmas, Growing Up, Holiday
Faye Moskowitz (2011). “And the Bridge Is Love”, p.33, The Feminist Press at CUNY

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