a girls’ night. But there’s one scene that I found particularly delightful. Please share, for those who have not yet read your book, the WASP noses and masks anecdote, because I think The CJN’s read- ers need to know about this. RR: My husband, whose family has been in this country for hundreds of years, has a teeny, tiny, WASP nose and his mask kept slid- ing down his face. At first, I didn’t realize why. I thought he was just bad at wearing a mask, because I didn’t have this problem. Eventually I realized, Oh, it’s your little WASP nose . And he said, nobody’s nose is shaped like a wasp. He didn’t even realize what I was saying.
RR: Oh, yeah. I’m from a very small town with four churches.
didn’t mean to write a book about St. James Town. And I didn’t mean to immediately leave after I did. It’s just how it worked out. Things were very rough for that neighborhood during the pandemic. There was a huge amount of construction. The final park went right at the end. So now there are no parks, and everything is just being built or destroyed or something. It’s still a vibrant neighborhood in many ways. But anyway, it was our time. North York is very Jewish. I’m used to, if I ever see a babka anywhere, at any time, buying it immediately, because I almost never see a babka. Now if I go to No Frills— not even a bakery—there’s a whole shelf of babkas, and you can compare. Then maybe next week you think, Oh, well, that one wasn’t as good as this one. I’m going to get the one that’s $1 more. I’ve never had that experience before.
PMB: Yes, you write about your childhood in a small town, without other family in Canada, and “being a Jew who grew up away from Jewish community.” Where was this, and what brought your family there? RR: I am from a town called Mount Hope, which is south of Hamilton towards the Grand River. My dad taught sociology at McMaster University and he moved here for the job. My parents were living in New York at the time. In Mount Hope, they wanted to live out of town. We lived among the corn. My parents were not very social. PMB: Your book has a lot of Jewish mo- ments, like when you recount High Holi- day shopping in Montreal, or find yourself thinking of the extra cup for Elijah when you have an extra Korean face mask for
PMB: Love it. So how were you brought up in terms of Jewishness or Judaism?
RR: I compare it to how a lot of gentiles live with the holidays. We celebrated Jewish holi- days in much the same way as gentiles often enjoy Christmas or Easter. We’d love them,
PMB: Is this your first time living in a more Jewish area?
THECJN.CA 51
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator