Painting Zaidy’s Dream: Memoir of a Searching Soul

How does a nice, atheist, suburban girl become a chicken-soup-toting, kabbalah-quoting, Chassidic mother of a large family? From childhood, Miriam longed for something more. In this down-to-earth memoir, she takes you on her journey through intense searching, raucous hippie adventures, soaring delights and bitter disappointments as she discovers the world of Torah observance. She shares her struggle to learn Hebrew, her growing relationship with Israel, watching her son join the Israeli Defense Force, and other milestones. She grapples with faith, family, doubt, loss and endurance, with wry humor, poignancy, and a gritty woman’s voice. Her story opens an intimate window into the inner world of a Chassidic woman and the joys and challenges of integrating Jewish spirituality and practice into daily life. She is Pure, Chapter 29, won first place in the American Jewish Press Association Rockower Award for Excellence in Writing About Women. Judges noted, “ …beautiful, spiritual, personal…Her pacing is exquisite, her tone is deeply respectful, and her account is marked by lovely attention to detail. Karp’s experience, and her meditation on it, leaves the reader awed.”