Preeva Tramiel

Preeva Tramiel, 2012

Preeva Tramiel is a freelance writer in Palo Alto, California. She blogs at Melon Memories.

Blog Posts

Norwegian Circumcision Cartoon

Dagbladet, Dawkins, Intactivists & How Demonizing Choice Makes Militancy

Preeva Tramiel

This intimidating cartoon really got to me, a moderate believer who made what I thought was a minor sacrifice to tribal loyalty—twice—over 20 years ago when I chose the traditional ceremony for my newborn sons. Of course I did not like causing my babies pain, but I had seen the ceremony several times and knew that it did not last long at all, and having just gone through childbirth, I knew pain was part of life.

Topics: Ritual
Gifts

Holiday Giving

Preeva Tramiel

Today is Christmas, perhaps the ultimate holiday for giving, and I am reflecting on the act, ritualization, and commercialization of "giving."

In the past few weeks the media has been abuzz with commentary on the virtue or the silliness of Giving Tuesday. Social media and a consortium of charities pumped up the idea of naming the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday “Giving Tuesday,” declaring it the beginning of “The Giving Season.”

Bookshelf and Books

The Talmud: Repository of Wisdom or Masculine Tool of Oppression? Maggie Anton Weighs In

Preeva Tramiel

Writer Maggie Anton, whose "Rashi’s Daughters” series has sold 175,000 copies, believes that studying Talmud is the most feminist thing a woman can do. “Knowledge of Talmud is the key to halacha,” she says. Anton asserts that modern Jewish law is made at a table full of Talmud scholars, and that women can have a seat at that table.

Israel Road

She's Got A Ticket To Ride

Preeva Tramiel

Are women in Chassidic communities nothing more than oppressed victims? Is the Haredi threat to civil liberties in Israel, which is represented by segregated busses, real?

Esther Wojcicki: A Jewish mother of the tech revolution

Preeva Tramiel

I sometimes direct tourists toward 'the HP garage,' which is marked with a plaque and gets photographed a lot. It is three blocks down the street from my house.

Hamantashen

Cookie cleavage: How much is too much?

Preeva Tramiel

I took these pictures last Purim to illustrate a little-discussed aspect of the aspect of hamantashen baking: Cookie cleavage.

Topics: Food, Purim

One Jewish mother's approach to vaccinating her sons for HPV

Preeva Tramiel

Two people I know have had run-ins with HPV, the Human Papilloma Virus. One was a man my age that got a mouth cancer which was viral in origin.

Kreplach

A kreplach recipe that's worth the work

Preeva Tramiel

I made my first batch of kreplach, noodle dough containing ground meat usually found in chicken soup, in 1972, with my very Greek friend Mary Mastrogeannes, when I was fourteen.

Striped Hamantaschen

Rolling in Dough

Preeva Tramiel

My congregation is having a big Purim Party on Sunday. They will need about 300 hamantaschen and I am bringing enough dough to make 2/3 of them.

Topics: Food, Recipes, Purim

The battle hymn of the "bully mother"

Preeva Tramiel

Using "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," as a jumping off point, we can finally challenge some fond assumptions of educators and parents that have gotten us into trouble in the past 30 years.

Topics: Children, Motherhood

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. " Preeva Tramiel ." (Viewed on May 28, 2023) <https://jwa.org/blog/author/preeva-tramiel>.