Comments on: International Borekas and Repression Day

By: Orit

Orit — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:05:14 +0000

from a ladino love(wedding) song from Sofia

Yo vos hizi nas burikita I gave you a burikita
y se las mandi with my hand
porke era mi primo hermano Because you are my cousin
del me namori that has become my lover

By: Sarah Lyford

Sarah Lyford — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 22:32:45 +0000

Oh Havi. Your post made me cry. Not because I have lost someone in that way or know this kind of pain but because you are so so so so real.

Thank you for this. I love borekas. I love anything that reminds me of Israel and the tiny slice of time I shared with my (now)husband when I went and visited him while he was a Golani infantry soldier over there.

I buy him his favourite potato ones, which aren’t nearly as good as the ones in Israel, whenever I feel like making him smile, and it always does make him smile.

Food is amazingly comforting and I loved reading your story about IBARD.

HUGS xxx

By: Havi Brooks

Havi Brooks — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:21:50 +0000

@Sonia *hug* I will use that. Thank you.

By: Sonia Simone

Sonia Simone — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:15:57 +0000

My friend Alex killed himself 8 years ago this month. I still think about him a lot, his wry brilliant sad voice is there in my ear like a friendly ghost. I don’t hear him as much as I used to. I made it a practice for awhile to tell him that the world loved and forgave him, and that he should go rest. I hope he is resting.

By: Havi Brooks

Havi Brooks — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:11:31 +0000

Thank you so much, all of you, for your good wishes, and also for meeting me in my pain.

@Laura, I’ve also had the enormous bag of sumac experience!

@GirlPie You’re the awesomest. Thank you for that.

@Maya Hug!

@Kathy, that was really beautiful. I’m touched.

And for anyone who’s wondering, yes, I went out and had borekas for IBARD.

Luckily I’m in Berlin right now so they’re not as hard to find as you’d think, as long as you’re near a Turkish neighborhood.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:59:55 +0000

Havi – This, I think is one of the marks of a true writer: that she is compelled, in the face of life or death, to write, no matter where the words come from or what the words have brought with them from their travels, or even whether the words come when called.

Thanks for writing what’s in your heart, and especially thanks not only for the delightful, witty and practical stuff, but also the bittersweet, raw and ragged stuff.

By: maya

maya — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:05:04 +0000

sending you hugs and thinking of you…
xoxo

By: GirlPie

GirlPie — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:08:42 +0000

For his encouraging you to write,
and for his massive effect on you,
and for his impact that led you to introduce him to all of us — who’ll now benefit from his new presence even as his friends miss him –
and for his part in creating a much-needed IBAR Day…
I raise a holiday toast:
to friendships that remain in our heart,
and continue to support from a new place.

Like a favorite song haunting a cafe.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:35:33 +0000

oh – my borek experience was from a Turkish friend, Turkan, who made what she called borek – filled with meat and potatoes flavored with sumac. I remember trying to make them myself and I bought the only bag of sumac sold at the neighborhood Middle Eastern market – it must have been the size of a 1 quart container – and the recipe called for 1/8 of a teaspoon. Mine were not the comfort food hers were. That giant bag of sumac, however, followed me around for years and years….from house to house.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:27:57 +0000

Wishing you Peace at this time, too.